Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why i alone can fix it. The powers of the president are very substantial and will not be questioned. Iran is a different place than when i took over. When i took over the United States when i took over the military, we didnt have ammunition. When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. Thats the way its got to be. President trump added another step yesterday well, no. In his march toward authoritarianism. He tried. He tried. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. Its tuesday. Thats the thing, he tried. Hes done this before. I know we really differ here. Youre very, very concerned when he talks like that, about the constitution and the country. Im actually mainly concerned for his Mental Health. Also, the extraordinary i feel very, very badly whenever he speaks that way, willie, for people who have to walk around in shame every day at penn, knowing he graduated from their college. Knowing no more about the constitution, madisonian democracy. He blabbered for years. Article 2 gives me all the power i need. Then youll have trump apologists going, well, thats not exactly what he meant to say. He just keeps going back to saying, yes, ultimate power as president of the United States. He did it again yesterday. That was such a perfect snapshot of the trump years. You had President Trump saying, yes, authoritarian, something that was authoritarian. Were not surprised he said that, because we just laid out, hes said things like that over and over again. The reason i said it is a perfect snapshot is a republican, mike pence, a lifelong conservative, stepped to the podium and was asked the same question. Do you agree with the president s view, that his power is absolute. When someone is president of the United States, the authority is total . You could see him swallow a bit and said, yes, the president s powers are plentery, meaning they are absolute. Along with joe, willie, and me, we have National Affairs analyst, cohost of showtimes the circus, and editor and chief of the recount, john heilemann. Big news in politics. And nbc news correspondent carol lee joins us, as well. Well get to President Trumps Campaign Rally masked as a Coronavirus Briefing in just a moment. And his claims of having total authority after a month of saying the states bear all the responsibility. And i have no responsibility. Look at the constitution. I cant do anything. Its the constitution. Suddenly, its so funny, mika, yesterday afternoon you called me up and said, hey, cuomo is holding a press conference with the other governors, and trump is going to go crazy. I go, what do you mean . Well, since hes giving them the power, theyre taking the power and, of course, theyre going to figure out when to reopen their states to Economic Business. Theyre working together to lead. That always gets to him. Since he wont lead. Yesterday,pletely melted down. Yeah. Started yapping like an authoritarian wannabe. Well also be covering the devastating impact the coronavirus is having on the crew of the uss roosevelt. This is a sad story. Almost 600 members of the 5,000 stationed aboard the roosevelt have tested positive for covid19. Now, a sailor has died from coronavirusrelated complications. Well talk about that. Were also following a huge story in the political world. In wisconsin, a liberal challenger has defeated a republican incumbent for a seat on the wisconsin Supreme Court. A victory that will have enormous implications for the november election. We will explain that ahead, as well. But we begin with the coronavirus death toll in new york state, which has now surpassed 10,000 people. 671 new yorkers died on sunday, which is about 100 less than the day before. The state continues to edge closer to 200,000 virus cases. The dizzying death rate and hospitalizations trend downward. Governor andrew cuomo says the worst of this nightmare might be over but will never be forgotten. 2,700 lives were lost in 9 11. 9 11 changed every new yorker who was in a position to appreciate on that day what happened. And the number of lives lost was horrific after 9 11. The grief was horrific. And we are at 10,000 deaths. We can control the spread. Feel good about that. The worst is over. Yeah, if we continue to be smart going forward. Remember, we have the hand on the valve. You turn that valve too fast, youll see that number jump right back. Were going to be talking to Governor Cuomo in a little bit this morning. Willie, these counts are wildly inaccurate. You had dr. Gottlieb tell rich lowry our numbers are as inaccurate as chinas. Maybe less so because we dont have communitywide testing. So the numbers are wildly low when you look at the infections. From what ive heard, talking to health care officials, talking to new yorkers, talking to reporters on this story, they all say the same thing. The death count is also dramatically undercounted. So many people are just dying in their homes that never get to the hospital, that dont want to go into the hospital. We will never know. People cant get testing. We will never know how many people are dying and have died from this disease. Without question. Talk to any doctor in any city, and they will tell you exactly what you said, joe. Which is, first of all, you and i both know people who had it but didnt get tested, either because they couldnt get a test or didnt want to waste a test on themselves, when they knew, sitting in their homes, they had it, and they rode it out. We know, without testing, the numbers are exponentially higher. Also, as you say, the number of deaths, people who have been told not to go to the hospital, people who cant go to the hospital because they werent showing certain signs, stayed home and died at home. We know thats something theyre looking at in new york in terms of the total number of deaths. Until we have testing, nationwide testing, we will never know. We will never know how many people have this. We will never be able to begin to get our arms around it. We are nowhere close, as the president boasts about having the most raw number of tests in the world. Yes, 2 million or so. But in a country of 330 million people, we havent begun to scratch the surface of the extent of this problem. Talking about going back to work, when we have no idea who even has it in this country. Only the number of people who tested positive, and there arent enough tests. Thats not enough. It wont be enough for a long time, until we get testing. You know, john heilemann, i dont know if, as a young child, you ever put your hand on a hot stove, but i can tell you, for Young Children who do you still do that . Perhaps you still do that. Oh, yeah. Routinely. Yeah. In fact, thats why youre in the kitchen right now. You do it during breaks, just to make yourself feel alive. Correct. Anyway, as a young child who sticks their hand on a hot stove, most learn. That apparently is not the case with some trumpists in the media who are trying to hawk their bo books or who want members of the extreme cult to go to their website. A lot of the mistakes these trump apologists were making throughout january and february and march, saying that this was all overrated, the coverage was a hoax, or who was saying it is just likestopped saying that, right . Suddenly, when people started dying the way they started to die. They took their hand off a hot stove. Weve been through a horrendous two or three weeks. Now, some of them are starting to put their hands on the hot stove again. Some of the very people i wont even mention their names. I dont want to promote them. They used to be important voices on the right. Some of them even worked in the reagan administration. Now, theyre going back to the whole yarn that, oh, its just the flu. Its just the flu. I wish that all of these white house people and all of the trump people that say its just a flu, id love for them, if they really feel that way, to get all their family and all of their loved ones together. They can throw a huge party in a barn. They can invite 1,000 other people. Film it, if they really believe that. Of course, theyre not going to do that. I dont want them to do that. Because i actually care about whether americans live or die from this coronavirus. Right. Its hard for me, after all weve been through, to listen to somebody that used to have a shred of respect on the right, say, this is nothing more than the flu. Theyre going back to that now. Theyre starting to say, oh, see, look, its not 2 million deaths. Its not 100,000 deaths. Its 60,000 deaths. Well, of course, thats the first wave. We dont know how many deaths there will be. This is not the flu. 25 people are dying here. Veterans are getting wiped out there. 600 Navy Shipmates on the roosevelt have it. This is a pandemic. Yet, they keep going back for mor more. Some of them on the same Media Outlets that got in trouble for lying to old people, to Senior Citizens, to the infirmed, the first time around. Right. Its sick and pathological, joe. Weve seen it all throughout the trump era. The consequences were not as great as they are now. I think it is one of the things we have to really be concerned about right now. A combination of things. One of them is, you know, if it is the case that we end up with the estimates turn out to be right, that in this wave at least, we only end up with only, i say end up with 60,000 deaths instead of 100,000 or 200,000 deaths, the missing link there is that the reason that will have happened is because of the extreme social distancing measures that were put in place. So thats the lesson. The lesson is we shut the economy down. We shut down most of the states in the country. It worked, to flatten the curve in those places. Not that the virus wasnt as dangerous, as we said. But that we were able to affect it by taking these dramatic actions. Instead, some of the people youre talking about, and it looks like increasingly the president of the United States will say, hey, maybe this wasnt so bad after all, and now we can get back to business. That is going to be an incredibly dangerous scenario. We all agree that donald trump does not have the power to open or close down the states. Those are states within states authority. The president has influence especially with red state governors. If the governors hear donald trump say, hey, its time to open for business, theyre going to open for business. That could put at risk the lives of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of americans. Of course, we do know we are all one country. It could hit the states harder. It can affect all the other states, too. Absolutely. Well, mika, it could not only put those peoples lives at risk, and it will. It will. As we heard yesterday, not just on the coasts, but in heartland america where, for the most part, in rural communities, people are older and Health Care Systems are not as good. The funding has been gutted by washington the past five years. Mika, the second part of that is the economy. Im scared to death for Small Business owners who are told, you can open your store. Then the second wave comes. Thatd be hard to survive. I dont know a single doctor that doesnt say some second wave is coming in the fall. Right. We dont know how big it is going to be. Could be very bad. We have to prepare. Well, there are governors working on filling the void in leadership the president left for them. States on the countrys east and west coasts are forming regional pacts to coordinate reopening society from the stay at home orders each has issued. The first announcement came yesterday on the east coast, where new york Governor Cuomo said his state, along with new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania, delaware, rhode island, and massachusetts, each plan to name a Public Health and economic official to help with the reopening plan. Each governors chief of staff will also be a part of the group. Later in the day, california, washington, and oregon also announced they would be joining forces to plan to ease stay at home restrictions. The group said they will study data and research from other countries in order to come up with a consistent plan. Wow. The governors made their announcements just hours after President Trump declared on twitter that it is his decision to decide when to open up the states. Wonder if he heard about the councils being set up and just felt very left out. Adding that he is working closely with the states, and that a decision would be made shortly. Then came the president s Coronavirus Press briefing. Wow. The longest and most combative to date. He lashed out at the press, disputed reports that he was slow to respond to the pandemic, and then defended his claim to have broad, executive authority over the states. What provision in the constitution gives the president the power to open or close state economies . Then numerous provisions. Well give you a legal brief if you want. The states closed, ordered schools closed. States ordered restaurants and because i let that happen. I would have preferred that. I let that happen. If i wanted to, i could have closed it up. The president of the United States has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do, which is very powerful. The president of the United States calls the shots. They cant do anything without the approval of the president of the United States. Mr. President. When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. Thats the way its got to be. Total, your authority is total . Total. You said when someone is president of the United States, their authority is total. That is not true. Who told you that . You know what were going to do . Were going to write up papers on this. It is not going to be necessary because the governors need us one way or the other. Ultimately, it comes with the federal government. That being said, were getting along very well with the governors. I feel very certain that there wont be a problem. Yeah, go ahead. Has any governor agreed that you have the authority to decide when their state i havent asked anybody. You know why . Because i dont have to. Go ahead, please. Who told you the president has the total authority . Enough, please. Wow. There was a lot more melting down than we showed you there. None of it had a lot of new information in it or news value. There was actually just zero. Lets be clear, no news coming from the president. No. Nothing new coming from the president. He was very upset. Two hours. Very out of whack. Outside of himself and angry. It was a sad display. He picked on reporters. There was this strange little video. Felt bad. On taxpayers dollar. For everybody. Staffers edited a video where sound bites were taken out of context and graphics were made to attack the media. You know what made it special . This is what the president is making his staff do on coronavirus time. The sweeping orchestra in the background that you play during campaigns. Im watching this and going, are you kidding me . This was sad. It is like taxpayers made a campaign ad for donald trump to air at this briefing. Then his top scientists were sitting there, watching this video instead of doing what they need to do to save lives. So lets see, youve got your scientists at your twohour press conferences. You wont invoke the defense production act to coordinate Something Nationally. For testing. And use your power. You wont do that . Then you say it is all on the governors. So the governors step up. They step up and they try and help. They step up to fill the void in leadership that you left wide open and you told was on them. Now, youre freaking out. This is truly pathetic. Sad for americans who are struggling through this, who need so much more from the president of the United States and the white house, the people in the white house who work for him. Carol lee, is there any information that you have heard as to what was behind this, beyond the obvious, the governors outshining the president of the United States . Reporter well, part of it is that what the president is saying really fits what he wants his agenda to be, which is to open the economy. What was so remarkable about yesterday is that, for weeks, when governors were not issuing stay at home orders across their states, and there was concern and there were calls for the president to issue a National Stay at home recommendation, not even an order, the president was saying that he didnt have the authority to tell the states what to do. Yesterday and this was just a week before his press conference i asked him this question. He said, you know, its the constitution. I cant do that. Now, we see him yesterday saying that he has absolute authority to tell the states what to do. Really, what hes trying to do here, and weve seen this before, is bend the constitution and use it as an excuse for what he wants to do. Whatever that is. Before, it was that he didnt have the authority. Now, it is that he has the absolute authority. What weve seen, as you guys have been talking about, is that while he was saying he couldnt come in and tell states what to do, he wasnt going to issue a recommendation, not even an order, stay at home orders, states took it upon themselves to cut him out. Hes not part of the conversation. Now, hes in the situation where he desperately wants to have some sort of economic opening beginning on may 1st. He needs dpov knogovernors to dm what he actually doesnt have the authority to tell them to do. Because hes so determined to have some sort of economic opening on may 1st. Hes worried, frankly, about what this is going to do for his election in november. You know, there are a couple of things that, speaking of november, there are a couple of things that upset the president. Of course, the New York Times article this past weekend, the list of the dates, all the recei receipts, all the president s screwups. There was a Washington