Good morning, everybody. I am john berman. I am poppy harlow. Tonight the president will have the ears of america, and they are putting the final touches on his first congressional address and we are being told it will be an optimistic speech and the renewal of the american spirit. Its undoubtedly a huge moment, but what kind of moment . The first day of the rest of his life, or the same one, day one of a new focused presidency or day 40 of the Trump Presidency . Just a few moments ago, the president handed out grades in an untrumpian twist, he did not give himself all as. In terms of achievement, i would not give myself an a, and i dont think we have explained it well enough to the american public, and an a for what i have done, but communicating it, a c plus. How will you change that . Maybe tonight in the speech. Will he . Joe, what are you learning about what we will hear . What we do know is the white house says the president will talk a little bit about illegal immigration. We know that because among the guest of his in the gallery tonight, we expect three people members of families who are victims of undocumented immigrants. Now, interesting that President Trump, like president obama has suggested messaging is part of his problem, this would be a great opportunity for the president to change that messaging problem if he has one by laying out specifics, which members of congress say they want to see so much, especially on some of the signature programs mr. Trump is pushing, but on that issue of messaging, mr. Trump has been kind of stepped on his message by making what some would call outrageous statements, often things that cant be backed up or supported with a lot of evidence, a good example of that, perhaps, is his charge on morning tv that president obama is behind the leaks and the trump administration. Listen. It turns out his organization seems to be doing a lot of organizing to some of the protests that a lot of these organized protests around the country. I think he is behind it, and i also thinks its politics. His people are certainly behind it, and some of the leaks possibly come from that group. You know, some of the leaks, which are very serious leaks because they are very bad in terms of National Security. All i can do is speak from the heart and we have a really terrific so if we deconstruct that just a little bit, on the one hand its very difficult to figure out what the president is talking about when it comes to leaks, and we did reach out to the office of former president obama there, and his choice has been not to respond. On the other issue of supporters of president obama being involved in protests and demonstrations and the like, we do know a lot of people who supported president obama remain opposed to President Trump. Back to you. Joe johns at the white house, thank you very much. Lets talk about this with our panel, joining us is senior columnist of the daily beast, and he has been tweeting about this all morning, and a National Reporter for real clear politics. John pointed out before the show began, perhaps the most important thing that trump said when he graded himself was at the end, when he said, guys, well maybe i will change it tonight, maybe i will bring that a up to a c or b tonight . How does he do that . Hes right. Sometimes politicians blame messaging because they dont want to think his policies are bad. He has had policies explainable but he made them out to be worse by the way he communicates them. Messaging is a problem. And a bigger problem is, i am not sure he knows what a positive or optimistic message is, and he may think its going to be reaganesque, and if steve miller or bannon are writing it and he throws in a couple poetic lines at the end, i dont think that gets the job done. And rebecca, the white house says it will be an optimistic speech, and is it important to do that . He didnt do it during the inauguration or the campaign, and does he need to do it now . He may not need to. The president will have two goals tonight in the speech. One will be to speak to the American People, and that includes the more than 50 of americans who right now do not approve of the job he has been doing. He needs to try and sell his message, sell his priorities, to those americans who are still deeply skeptical of his presidency and that might need an optimistic message, and on the other hand his other priority is going to be making this a pep rally for lawmakers in congress, and getting them behind his agenda, and getting them excited to Pass Health Care and tax reform, and he has not really done that to this point. Usually you see president s come in and really make a strong push in congress right away and hes behind the ball on that and we are seeing republicans expressing reservations about the Health Care Plan out there, and the republican study committee, they are saying they may not be able to support it. They need to sell this to be public. They say that plan that has been leaked just adds to entitlements. But you bring up a good point, and the lead editorial puts it this way, the bannonmiller method has also produced as part of the conservative establishment, matt lewis, does he need to steer clear of the bannonmiller message to get more conservative supporters onboard . Donald trump is a populist nationalist, and what he needs to do is temper that with some mainstream conservative rhetoric, and maybe just a sprinkling of compassion to conservatives, and dont have to go crazy with it, and talk about lifting americans up and talk about things Ronald Reagan might have talked about, and that could go a long way. But there are problems when it comes to passing legislation, and thats what tonights speech will be, and hopefully there will be optimism, and its about laying out agenda, and hes got a real problem because not only does he have democrats lining up against him, but conservatives, he has a tax reform and a lot of conservatives dont like. If its obamacare, you know, theres the gimmick to get around the bandaids is to give out tax rebates, and a lot of conservatives say thats an entitlement program. He has a lot of serious challenges, and he has to give a very good speech tonight. Again, you know, the president said he would tonight. Hes going to get that grade up. Rebecca, i was struck by the fact we heard was something we heard consistently from president obama, which was i have been right all along, i was not just explaining enough what it was to the president. What is it about the white house where they think they might be right, they are not explaining how right they are . Thats a great question actually. What is it about the white house . It comes to the bubble of reinforcement around you, and your top aides are telling you, you are doing an amazing job, mr. President , and maybe you are not making that case or under the pressure to make that case to the American People on the outside. This is a very different environment that donald trump has ever needed to operate in. He was used to being a businessman and having the freedom to go out and talk about things in whatever way he wanted, but now theres more of the bubble around him, so he still has twitter, and obviously he has that way to communicate, but he doesnt have the campaign trail atmosphere of having rallies every day where he can talk directly to his supporters in that way, and i think you have seen his communication change as a result. Donald trump thinks of himself as a communicator. He thinks of himself as somebody who understands branding as a salesman, really. We have not seen that side of him in the white house. Tonight this could be an opportunity for him to sort of recapture that mode to reset his messaging, and certainly hes somebody who understands the messaging side of politics. Maybe better than many recent politicians and president s have. Heres the counter argument. Hes not a details guy, we know that. He did not run on details. Paul ryan said this morning on the today show, look, i look at him as the chairman, the president , and not really the details guy. To quote paul ryan, delegate the details to people who know what they are doing. So does the president need to dive into the details tonight on obamacare on this budget plan to get more of congress on his page . I am pretty sure we are not going to hear a whole lot of details, because thats not who donald trump is, hes a disrupter, and he came in with style and swagger and broad promises, and the rest will be left up to others. When he talks about keeping entitlements in place, the big ones, the highcost ones, and one that paul ryan spent half of his career trying to deal with, and he said he will keep those in place and cut 54 billion from the social side of the budget. Thats not something you will hear in the speech for one thing, but we are not going to hear it we did not see any of it in the books that he wrote about policy, and its not something we will hear tonight or tomorrow. Thats entirely delegated to his cabinet officials and commit po advisers and to congress. And they are talking past each other when it comes to entitlements, and its hard to see where they agree. Its great to have you with us, even at the very end. Thank you very much. Coming up for us, more than 100 retired generals have a message for the white house. Do not cut funding for the state department. Why they say diplomacy, not bullets, critical to making america safe. Plus, house lawmakers will investigate the Trump Campaigns reported contacts with russia, but how much . There seems to be disagreement inside the Intelligence Committee. We have a member with us coming up. Also more on the president s highstakes sales pitch tonight. What can he learn from those that have stood at the podium before him . The men with the pen, the former president ial speech writers will join us. Its our little differences, that can make a world of difference. Expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. Why are you checking i want to see if it changed. Credit scores dont change that much do they . Really . Ill take it sir, your credit. Is great, right . When was the last time you checked . Yeah, i better check my credit score. Here, try credit karma. Its free. Alright, no more surprises. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Tonight before congress the president will propose a 10 hike in military spending and a whole lot of big cuts other places. Today more than 120 retired generals are issuing a stern warning about those cuts, dont slash spending for the state department. They write we know from our service in uniform that many of the crisis in our nation faces do not have military solutions alone, and the state department and a lot of other government developmental agencies have the need to put our men and women in uniform in harms way. Retired general, david petraeus, former cia director, and retired james are two of the generals that signed it. A clear and stern warning to the administration, including from petraeus, that many said was under consideration for National Security adviser. Yeah, this is something every senior military leader has felt very strongly for a few decades now, military power alone does not win wars, and especially the war on terrorism, like a group like isis, you are not going to kill off an ideology with bombs and bullet and thats part of the point they are making here, that you need these other government agencies, departments like the state department and agencies like the peace corps can help prevent conflict in troubled areas around the world, just by virtue of their presence and what they do. Lets just look a little more at what this letter had to say, and it goes on to say, the military will lead the fight against terrorism on the battlefield but needs strong civilian partners in the battle against the drivers of extremism, and lack of opportunity, insecurity, injustice, and hopelessness. And one of their allies, not unexpectedly, james mattis, a few years ago when mattis was still in uniform as head of Central Command overseeing operations in the middle east, he testified before congress on this very point, and have a listen to what he had to say. If you dont fund the state department fully i need to buy more ammunition ultimately. I think its a cost benefit ratio. The more that we put into the state departments diplomacy, hopefully the less we have to put into a military budget as we deal with the outcome of an apparent american withdrawal from the international scene. What is also apparent in so many spots around the world, u. S. Troops the aid, more likely to get a reception. Thank you so much. Shifting gears now, lucky number 13. The dow is red hot. Smokin hot, and if it goes up today, it will be a 13day streak. Almost a record, ever. Almost. Will it happen, christine romans. I feel like a broken record, because i am a broken record, and the dow is breaking records, and if it gets to 13 days in a row, it was 1837. This is the dow jones average. If you cant do the math quickly, almost 2500 points on the dow. There have been broadbased gains in every industry, and it has done well. And we heard goldman sachs, maximum optimism, and there are warning signs flashing. This bull market is the second longest in history. Its not the post election phase. This has been going on since 2009. 2009, 13 days, a 250 gain. If you matched the longest bull market ever, that was almost a 600 gain. By one measure there could be a lot to go, and by another measure it feels tired. This has been an amazing rally. Target will be one stock that will not rally today. Had a terrible quarter, and retailers have been the one spot i have been watching here. Minnesota. Your fault. They are worried about the border adjustment tax. The National Retail board, they are saying 50 higher prices for americans if this goes through . Yeah, and other things happening in the retail sector, not a great holiday. Theres a big amazon walmart push that has been happening, and the retailers have been seeing a run here, and its remarkable and crazy just to see it. It reminds me what Warren Buffett says, you cant time the market and dont try to predict when the bull market will end. He is bull issish, and he say index funds, keep your fees down. Dont do what i do. Thats what he said. Yeah, and like trading on the set. The market opens, and boom. Christine romans, thank you very much. Still to come, lawmakers investigating russian meddling in the u. S. Election, but when it comes to what lawmakers know and dont know . They are already divided. We will ask a member of the House Intelligence Committee to weigh in next. More than a dozen bomb threats to force evacuations on Jewish Centers across the country. 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You can feel confident we can help you protect the people who matter most to you with guaranteed acceptance Life Insurance. Call massmutual today at this number. Call now. Good morning, everyone. I am poppy harlow. I am john berman. Great to see you this morning. In a couple hours President Trump delivers his first speech before congress but behind doors in congress, they are investigating the campaign and russia. They are looking at what to investigate. Its largely split along party lines. We have the latest from capitol hill. Its a he said he said kind of morning. You have the Top Republican on the house, and the top democrat on the committee both leading the investigation and coming out and saying essentially that they have contradictory views on what evidence they have seen so far and the conclusions they reached before this investigation takes off and gets into the nitty gritty. The republican on that committee saying the evidence that he has seen so far does not suggest there is any communication between the Trump Campaign officials and russian officials during the 2016 campaign, and then you have a democrat countering saying, look, its too early to tell and way too early to reach that conclusion, and heres both of them from p capitol hill. Theres no evidence i have been presented with with regular contact with anybody in the Trump Campaign. We are still in the process of gathering documents and examining documents at the I