And the importance to unify as a country, to the use this example to use this example of dallas to really be that unifier. What do you expect to hear from ted cruz, from president obama who are both there today, george w. Bush . I expect to hear a lot of discussion about sort of our loftier goals and purpose as americans. And really the role that the police play in our daytoday lives, trish. You know, this is a very, very meaningful moment. I think its very impressive that we do have a showing of sort of across the board. Politics, i hope, is going to be checked at the door, and i expect it will be, and we can talk about what it means to be an american, what it means today, what unites us as americans. And i think the proper dignity for the people who put their lives on the line for us every day will be on display. Trish you know what . I think thats all what were really hoping for. Ellis, this president was supposed to be the great unifier. A lot of people look at what has happened to the world and this division that we now see with black lives matter as being an example of how he really hasnt lived up to that expectation. Does he have an opportunity in these final months given some of the tragic events that have happened to change that . Well, trish, given our divided politics today, its hard to imagine what leader would be a uniter in the way that all of us hope for. Sure, these tragedies do give us an opportunity to reflect just a little bit and try and get beyond some of the sloganeering. Whether we can reach the point where, you know, there are some serious questions about the relationship between Police Officers and the minority communities across america that really dont lend themselves to those simple political, divisive solutions. And yet in our politics, those are the easy corners that our leaders so often run to. Hopefully, we can get a little bit beyond that. Trish do you think, mark, that social media has played into this in a very big way . You think about whats actually happening. Theres an interesting study that came out from some harvard professors just this week showing that, actually, when you really boil it down and you look at some of the numbers, we are not seeing a greater number of africanamericans targeted by Police Departments, at least killed by Police Departments. They make that point, and they say that this was much to the their surprise. But you do hear about them more. And that may be be in part because of the social media onslaught that we see . Absolutely, trish. You know, that study is fascinating because the professor is a black man, and he said himself he was shocked by the results of that study. That, yes, in encounters with police there may be some distinctions between the races and how theyre treated, but as it relates to shootings, there is no distinction of race. And he said he was astounded at the results, and he was glad to put them out. Social media, i think, is an equalizer in america. It puts power in regular peoples hands. And we saw that last week with the woman who was, you know, Live Streaming the death of her boyfriend. And now it can also be highly manipulated. Social media doesnt exactly mean fact, it just means a new perspective, new platforms to deliver messages and news and events. So it has a tremendous impact, and its a real equalizer of power in the communications world, for sure. Trish you know, it doesnt change the fact that, yes, these men were gunned down by police, and this is a horrible tragedy. What do we need to be doing as a nation, ellis, do you think, so that we dont have situations like what happened in minnesota . How do we change our Police Departments and also how do we change so that we also are empowering the police to enforce the law and to go after the bad guys . Right. All of those important questions. And we play a role in that. We have to reach point as a people that we dont judge these things en masse. We say there are good police shootings, there are bad police shootings. And our lives, indeed, include both of those. Weve got to reach the point where were able to make those distinctions based on the facts and on the evidence and not some kind of preconceived notions of good guys and bad guys. Until we reach that point, im not sure were going to make any progress thats where we have to adhere to the rule of law. Thats where we have to be a country based on law and order. And, unfortunately, youve got groups that like to stoke the embers, the flames of discontent. Trish do you think black lives matter has contributed to this division . Well, listen, on both sides of this, right . We have activists who seeville every time they see see evil every time they see blue, and we have apologists who will defend a cop no matter how heinous the facts on the ground. What weve got to reach as journalists, as commentators, as Television Hosts is the point where we judge these things based on the evidence. Trish youre telling people to be color blind then. And a lot of people, lets not forget, theres some politics at stake here. And partover that is race part of that is race, part of that is color, and there are people that are stoking these feelings on both sides. But thats just it. Look, democracy is always going to be an imperfect system, but thats why we have a republic, right . And it is founded on the rule of law. The if we abandon that, then we have chaos. There are groups who like chaos. They are fueled by chaos. They raise money based on chaos. And, you know, it has to stop from the very top with the bully pulpit from the white house that says no more of this. I hope, i genuinely hope it starts at this Memorial Service where we need to embrace the police, because they represent law and order. Whereas other groups represent the politics of chaos. But, mike, dont just focus on half of that equation, right . These are relationships involved. The police do have a right to expect professional behavior, we do have a right for Police Officers not to behave like an Occupying Army right, but lets not take instances [inaudible conversations] and expound it as a symptom. Thats what happens is, they get exploited as symptoms because theres this politics of chaos that wants to take incidents and expand it. Now, policing good policing absolutely. We need to demand it, we need to expect it, okay . But lets not take individual incidents, and lets let social media and this leftist, progressivedriven agenda, okay, to suggest that weve got an unfair system. We have the judicial system, for instance, is tried and tested. Its not always perfect, but it is tried and tested. Thats why investigators should be investigating these cases. Trish think about, think about how you must feel right now to be a Police Officer in america. One, youre worried because you feel like youve got a target right there on your back or on your chest with that badge. The other problem is that you may, as a result of feeling that you have that target on you, not be able to do your job as proficiently as you should otherwise do because maybe youre a little fearful of going in certain places because you know, gosh darn forbid, if you do anything absolutely. Trish people are going to come down on you pretty hard. That is an absolutely important part of this equation. Weve got to support our Police Officers and praise them when they do well and encourage productive and decent relationships between the police and those they are sworn to protect and to serve. But ive got to tell you, it is a twopronged relationship, and its got to go in both directions. Otherwise we have no hope of solving trish what do you mean by that . In other words, they need to also respect the people that theyre policing. Absolutely. Trish okay. Sure. These are important social relationships that have to be built on trust absolutely. And understanding. Thats a twoway treat. Its very easy to just point in one direction. Weve got to trish you know, growing up i was always taught a certain amount of respect for Police Officers. Sure. Trish Police Officers are a big deal. They came into the classroom sometimes, would talk to you, theyve got the uniform on officer friendly. Trish yeah. Very impressed by the police. I also grew up in a community where they were really revered, and you were taught this respect. Do we need a little more of that in Society Today . Well, we do. And ill tell you why, look, im the son of a cop. My father was in nypd a long time ago. Trish wow. Let me tell you, he was a foot cop for a number of years. He worked the streets of brooklyn and harlem. He actually delivered three black babies because of women in distress about to have a baby. Trish oh, or my goodness. Okay . And thats what Community Relations, thats what saving lives is about. More of that. He was in the position to be able to save lives and be able to deliver babies who actually at least one of them has his name Walking Around the world today. Trish oh, my goodness. I didnt know that. Thats interesting. Do you think that was a different day and age . It was a different era, but its not completely lost. You talk about a respect for not just police, but authority figures, right . Thats what we were raised with. Thats not completely lost, but that comes from law and order, the rule of lawment weve got to respect that first and foremost and then address Community Relations challenges when they come up. It may be, guys, the different segments of our society have different experiences with the police. You growing up in New Hampshire in a rellively small town might have a different relationship than a poor, black kid in one of our tougher neighborhoods. Weve got to equalize that. Trish and how do you do that, ellis . Well, you know what . It starts with moments like this. It starts when were able at least a little bit to find some kind of commonality, some basic principles we can agree on about the rule and respect for law and also the kinds of decent human relationships that we expect trish you know, i think about remember bill clinton a few week withs ago in that speech that he gave, and there was a black lives matter protester that got up, and he basically called him right out saying, look, you know, youve got a lot of problems in your community that are killing people whether its drugs or, you know, and a lot of these police are trying to protect against the very things that are killing. But its that kind of honesty that you need right now. Now, hes not running for office, his wife is, but you need that honesty. Thats true. Trish amongst the political elite. Right. We need that sort of candor which we dont p often see from clintons, by the way. But we see it from the police chief of dallas. This is a guy who has set a standard that we all should live by. In his remarks in the last couple of days. And, hopefully, well hear more trish well, and hes had an extraordinary go of it himself. Exactly. Thats one thing i think that the two of us agree firmly on. Absolutely. He has presented himself professionally, hes raised some deeper questions about what it is that we can reasonably expect of Police Officers. You know, we dump every single social problem in our country on the police; bad education, busted, families, economic disparities, drug addiction, the Mental Health problems. We expect the police trish i want to talk about that some more, because sometimes i wonder if its not so much a race issue, but also just a socioeconomic issue. There are people in society that are very disadvantaged. Look, i would argue that we dont have the policies in place to help them, that we have encouraged a society that lives off the government, and weve encouraged people to live off of welfare and such perpetuated these circumstances. And maybe more needs to be done from a socioeconomic standpoint right. Trish to address some of these issues, mark. Thats where it starts, trish, especially in these inner cities. My goodness, you take a look at city after city, and they have been ruled by progressive, social welfare policies. And that, frankly, sets up the cops for even greater challenges. Trish i agree with you on that, yeah. Weve seen it in so many cities, and weve got to find a way to put an end to that. Trish were going to take a quick break, everyone. Were continuing to watch these pictures coming to us live from the Memorial Service in dallas honoring the five slain Police Officers there. President george w. Bush, Dallas Police chief david brown and also president obama are expected to speak any minute from now. Youre looking at a live picture there of the first lady, michelle obama. Were going to continue our coverage of this and bring it to you live as soon as we return. Ill see you here. Get ready for the rio Olympic Games by switching to xfinity x1. Show me gymnastics. X1 lets you search by sport, watch nbcs highlights and catch every live event on your tv with nbc sports live extra. Im getting ready. Are you . X1 will change the way you experience nbcuniversals coverage of the rio Olympic Games. Call or go online today to switch to x1. Trish okay, everyone. You are, again, looking at live pictures coming to us right now from the Memorial Service in dallas for those five Police Officers killed in a sniper attack last week. President george w. Bush, Dallas Police chief david brown and also president obama, theyre going to be taking to the stage, speaking any minute from now. We are going to be listening in to their speeches. This, as we have been saying, is a big opportunity for the president in terms of really being a voice of unity right now. Will he live up to that expectation . Is joining me here on set, Ellis Henican and republican strategist mark serrano. Before we went to break, we were talking about the disadvantages in the Africanamerican Community right now, and i was making the point that maybe its not all about race. Maybe this is socioeconomic. In other words, policies that have been in place there for many years that have perpetuated a system of reliance, mark, on the government, you think about the number of babies being born in America Today to single moms. What chance do they have . I mean, really . I mean, granted, in some households youre better off with one parent as opposed to two, but i think most studies would show that children who grow up in a family have a better opportunity in life. But you think about the economic disadvantages to doing that right now. You get more money, basically right. Trish if youre a single mom with two kids that can live off the system. In some cases, more than even going to work. Absolutely. And it starts, you know, if you take a look at, you know, youth unemployment or particularly in the black community, you know, very, very high. We have these arguments about mi and yet we dont have jobs for those kids in the inner cities. And so theres so much despair, and itll turn to drugs, right . You know all the statistics, and youre right. A lot of it is based on the breakdown of the family structure. And so they dont have the mentoring, the guidance trish and the question is, why is that . Some of the policies, ellis, weve put in place ive used this statistic with our viewers before. A single mom in hawaii with two kids can basically earn roughly a little over 50,000. Actually, closer to 58,000, off of the government, off of government programs. What should incentivize her to go to work . I mean, if youre going to earn 45,000 a year as a secretary versus more than that staying home with your children, then why would you and it just seems as though these policies have perpetuated a system that really discourages things like family and even respect for these Police Officers as we were just talking about earlier. You need society intact to really have a system thats working. You know, trish, one of the ironies of this political election is we are not at a time of great crisis according to many of those indices. Teenage pregnancy the lowest its been in decades. Crime across america, some of the lowest trish outside chicago. Well, there are bad pockets, but overall statistically, if we believe the reports from the fbi, is lower than its been in decades in america. So i dont think were going to find the answers this those statistics. I suggest that it has more to do with the relationships on the street between our Law Enforcement officials and those commitments they are policing communities they are policing. I dont think you can find the answers this those statistics. Look, we are in a period of such economic morass, okay . For eight years. My goodness, the people who carry that burden are the people in the streets that youre talking about, ellis. These are the people who cant find jobs or can only find parttime jobs. There is such despair. Why do you think Bernie Sanders and donald trump are so successful this year . People are fed up. Theyve had enough of this economy. They hold barack obama responsible chiefly, although republicans in congress bear responsibility as well. Weve got tax burdens, regulatory burdens. There is nothing to lift us up. Theres no vision to lift us up, and theres economic stagnation and frustration in the electorate. Its at the, its at the Grassroots Level across this country. Trish stay with us, gentlemen. Joining us right now we have heather macdonald. Actually, shes going to be with us momentarily, a fellow at the manhattan institute. She has written a considerable amount on this issue and talked to so many cops across america. She has a new book out, the war on cops, and she will be joining us momentarily with her thoughts on all of this. Again, weve been talking about the policies that are in place that seem to have contributed to a lack of cohesiveness in some of these communities that may, in fact, be contributing to this challenge that our police are facing. Heathers actually with us right now. She joins us. Heat