Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle 20180404

Crime. And is there an end game in sight . A New Washington post report revealing the president is not a criminal target in the russia probe. But that certainly doesnt mean hes in the clear. It certainly does not suggest the president is out of hot water. Theres an idea that although hes not currently a target, perhaps he still could be. And remembering a civil rights hero. Thousands gather in memphis, 50 years after the assassination of Martin Luther king jr. His legacy and his impact still being felt today. We talk about that dream. His dream is our dream. Weve got a lot to talk about this morning. Weve got to start with President Trump and the trade war he says is not a trade war. In less than 30 minutes, the opening bell will kick off the trading day. I want you to take a look dow futures, down several hundred points as concerns rise over a potential trade war with china. This morning beijing struck back hard at the u. S. With tariffs on 50 billion worth of american goods. Where do these goods come from . Trump country. 106 products on the list. Things like soybeans, cars, chemicals, and whiskey, all of this just hours after President Trump unveiled his own plans to target 1,300 chinese imports. Jason johnson, a politics editor at theroot. Com, Steve Schmidt, and democratic governor john hick en loenlooper of the state colorado. This morning commerce secretary wilbur ross actually we have the sound. I want to share this. Even shooting wars end with negotiations. Somebody sends a treaty with someone else, it has whatever terms it has. So it wouldnt be surprising at all if the net outcome of all of this is some sort of a negotiation. Even shooting wars end in negotiations. Lets make something clear. In war, death and destruction ensue, and no one wins a war. Wilbur ross went on to say hes surprised by Market Reaction. I would like to make something clear. Wilbur ross is lying to the American People. I know from people i speak to inside the white house, wilbur ross has been told by other economic advisers, by market participants, this would be the reaction. Peter navarro three weeks ago said no other country would retaliate because they cant afford to. Check yourself, mr. Navarro, they certainly can. Theyre called china. Steve schmidt. Again we see the commerce secretary, one of a cauldron of incompetence in the white house, has no idea what hes doing. We can think about these trade issues historically, smoot hawley tariff, we can see what happens when you instigate a trade war, how it can precipitate negative economic reaction, a depression. Maybe this will be experiential learning for the American People, as donald trump precipitates for no good reason a trade war that will have devastating consequences in the country, not just in the equities market but for real jobs, real people, real towns and cities in this country. And the consequences of an inept and incompetent president , whether its a from a National Security perspective with people being killed in wars or economically, will start to come home now. And i think thats what were starting to see here. This is very bad news for the American People, for people who are trying to get ahead, people trying to put their kids through colle college. You look at the attacks on amazon, for example. If youre a retired teacher, if youre a pensioner, youre devastated by the drop in stock price caused by a political attack by the president. This is such an important point. We have not seen anything like this before. We need to remember that amazon is not solely owned by jeff bezos. Its a publicly traded company. Were talking endowments, 401 k s, pensions. If anybody private citizen went after a Public Company in this form, spreading disinformation, we know the president is lying about what hes saying about the post office and amazon. The sec would be investigating it. It blows my mind why were not hearing that. Republicans have been working, and democrats, for years trying to address the issues at the post office, because its about pensions, its not about amazon who is paying the post office. Yet were not hearing from those government leaders and i dont know why. Governor hickenlooper, youre not just a politician, youre a business guy. When i hear wilbur ross and the president talk about these trade deficits, do you think they understand them . When gdp rises, when the economy is strong, the trade deficit grows, were buying stuff, were selling stuff. Do you think they dont get that . I think theyve got a twisted perspective. For whatever reason, what steve was saying about smoot hawley comes back, most of us in high school heard about smoot hawley, it was a funny word, a funny name for a law. The bottom line is, carefully constructed open trade creates wealth. We have access to one thing, we trade it to somebody else, we get it back. You obviously have to keep improving it. When you upset the whole apple cart and say were going to start from scratch, were not going to worry about what we did before, well start over, everyones going to get pushed into corners and as soon as we start raising tariffs, other countries are they have no other choice, what else can they do about come back and raise their tariffs . Ceos will stop spending. When a Business Leader doesnt know what the path ahead is, they put their pencil down, they stop driving. One person who agrees with us on tariffs is larry kudlow, the president s new economic adviser. I want to share something he wrote a few weeks ago. Tariffs are really tax hikes. Here it is. Since so many of things American Consumers buy today are made of steel or aluminum, a 25 tariff on these commodities may get passed on to consumers at the cash register. This is a regressive tax on low income families. This is the guy now advising the president , who says this is a regressive tax on the poor. Every single time the president tears up a deal, says i dont care about the paris accords, it affects solar power and clean energy, the iran deal affects the military, he says hell build a wall or attack mexico or Something Like that, or what we have happening now with china, it forces World Leaders to say, one, i cant trust this guy, and two, for my own domestic success, im going to dig in, im going to be tough with this guy so i dont end up looking like a fool in front of my own people. It leads to long term consequences for any other country we negotiate with. Yes, it will hurt people in their pocketbooks, yes, it will hurt business, but long term, no one will trust us. Nobody wants to get into a deal with somebody who lies to you or says something and changes it ten minutes later. Behind closed doors he is negotiating in ways people wouldnt understand, says fox. But people i talk to in the white house say theres no negotiating going on behind the scenes. As close as we can tell, its pretty much shooting from the hip. Hes got a basic plan. He makes a proposal. And then they walk away. Thats not the way you get to a deal. In business, certainly donald trump was successful by being a bully and pushing people into corners, things didnt work out, he would sue them. Thats not how trade works. Trade is based on predictability. People want incremental changes, they want to have some expectation that what comes out of this is going to be better for both sides, which is, you know, thats what youre trying to get to. And somehow people now are throwing up their hands and saying, were so nervous about what he might do next that well just raise our tariffs and make sure were safe. Right. Its patently obvious when you watched the News Conference yesterday, you watched the president talking about the trilateral relationship with the baltic re publpublicrepublics, a what hes talking about. Its the musings of an imbecile, really. Trade across the t trade crosses the border between the u. S. And canada. For the balance of the states save for two, its the number two trading relationship. Integrated supply chains. You want to talk about crashing the market, abrogate the nafta agreement, disrupt the trillion dollars of trade that flows across the border and this is what happens. This is an incompetent president who has no idea what hes doing, no idea what hes talking about. The consequences of incompetent actions will be paid for by the American People. Were starting to see that now. Were starting to see this with the Market Reaction. Were starting to see this in the bilateral china relationship. And so there are consequences for this type of action and behavior. And the American People are soon going to start paying the bill for it. We need to remind our audience of two things. A, Steve Schmidt is a republican. B, the United States walked away from tpp. President trump said were going to negotiate something stronger and better. We have not done that. Do you know who stayed in tpp . Canada. And the beat goes on for canada as they continue to trade with trading partners and were the cheese, standing alone. I need to turn to reports on special counsel muellers russia investigation. According to the washington post, the special counsel told President Trumps lawyers that while he is still under investigation, hes not currently a criminal target. The president s attorney, ty cobb, declined to comment while his lawyer jay sekulow said, quote, we do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the office of special counsel. I want to bring in the man who wrote this extraordinary piece for the washington post. He is also moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Roberto. This is so the people. I want to share this quote. In private negotiations in early march about a possible president ial interview, mueller described trump as a subject of his investigation into russias interference in 2016. Hes not a target but hes a subject of the investigation. Walk me through the difference. Because this morning when i woke up, i actually turned on fox and friends and i saw that headline, hes not the target, like a huge win. But i think that might not be the case. It is a complicated legal situation. Working with my colleague carol lenig at the washington post, we reported that Robert Mueller is trying to get an interview with the president of the United States. In the discussions to try to make that sitdown happen, theyve been updating the president s lawyers about his status. They have told the president s lawyers he is not a witness, hes now considered a subject, not a criminal target, but somewhere in the middle, someone who is a subject, meaning someone who they want to find out more about his intent on certain decisions, but as of yet, at this moment, is not about to be indicted. In the middle, though, it could go either way. Governor, we learned in this piece that Robert Mueller is preparing a report on a possible obstruction of justice. What do you make of that . Obviously if that turns out to be true and comes forward, thats very serious. I mean, thats probably one of the allegations that could really stick. Certainly the frenzy speculation in a fenway serves the president. Hes a master of confusing, hiding the cheese, moving things around. In a fenway, my mother used to say when we were kids, methinks he doth complain too much. That may serve him. Whats your take on this, steve . Subject and a target, to me its kind of like the difference between being engaged and married, like one before the other. Inobjecti inexorably linked. Neither ends well . No, stephanie, not necessarily. The large issue is the russian federation, vladimir putin, across all of the west, are attacking democracies and attacking the idea of democracy. We talk about this country as a place, and we talk about america as a place where people live and things happen. But we dont talk as much as we should, as much as we used to, about america as an idea. And the russian attack is on the idea of liberty, of freedom. Hes undermining the notion of the capacity of the American People for selfgovernance. Hes attacking our institutions. The lubricants of the democratic system are faith, trust, and belief. Vladimir putin is attacking that. And this president , theres a russian term, useful idiot, for an unwilling or willing collaborator to their aims, and the president is a useful idiot, referred to on russia state immedia media all the time as our president , meaning russias. When he attacks the intelligence community, when he attacks the justice department, when he attacks and undermines essential institutions, he is doing Vladimir Putins bidding, his work for him. Hes undermining the American Peoples faith in the idea of america, the capacity of the American People for selfgovernance, and the essential institutions that make our country special. And so its an extraordinary moment to watch this unfolding every day. When he attacks the free media, when he attacks the judiciary, those are all the pillars of a free democracy. And russia is aligning those similar attacks, i think steve is exactly right, this is ultimately again, it has what its doing is weakening the fiber, the fabric that holds us together. It hasnt broken it. But it is weakening it. Theres somebody who you could make the argument has felt undermined at some point this year, h. R. Mcmaster. I want to share something he said in his last speech as National Security adviser. Take a look. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs. Wow. With that, i mean, this on the same day, remember, President Trump yesterday, no ones been tougher on russia than me, and everybody is nodding their head because they know whats true. The russians know this, anyone who is halfway intelligent on National Security knows this, even republicans who wont speak out loud know this. The president has done nothing against russia. The president has not used the resources that have been allocated to combat what russia is doing. The president has stymied any attempts to protect our electoral system this fall about russia. He has done absolutely nothing. But i will say this. I think this is key, you know, what we talked about, what mueller is actually doing, being a target versus being a subject. This is like every episode of law and order. My favorite show. Minute too. Svu or the original . I like the original. Got to go with icet. But yeah, this is just come in and talk, come in and talk. If you tell President Trump that he is a target right now, hes not going to talk to you. So you basically have to keep dragging this out and suggesting that maybe, hey, were just trying to find out about those other guys, come in and chat with us. Robert costa, on a day when the president says nobody has been tougher on russia than me, when h. R. Mcmaster says we have utterly failed, what are the rest of republicans saying . We know theyre not saying anything publicly. What are they saying behind closed doors, whether its about the president and russia or your piece about Robert Mueller and the president . On the russia matter, with regard to Foreign Policy, republicans and democrats ive spoken to in recent weeks are alarmed to some respect about what they see as an Enthusiasm Gap in this administration between its Public Comments about president putin and the policies the administration has taken. They know the president and the administration have decided to expel certain diplomats as they have this standoff with russia over interference in the election and different activities russia has done over the last couple of years. At the same time, they dont see the president echoing general mcmaster in the same way, and they wonder why. And they also see the president having some kind of conversation with president putin about a possible visit to washington, even the white house. This sends up a red flag in the traditional Foreign Policy community. But of course in the white house they say the president just doesnt believe or share the same values or the same perspective as that traditional Foreign Policy community in both parties. All right, then. Governor, before we go, you had said just a moment ago that the system is not broken, but its definitely being tested, whether the president is doubting our judiciary or the free press. It almost seems like youre making a call for a stronger centrist leadership. Does that mean youre running for president . No, what im saying, and im being very clear, is that when you fray and weaken the fabric that holds things together, i mean, what it does is and steve said this, it makes people stop believing in government. Be a different kind of clear for me. Because governor kasich of ohio is sort of hinting that 2020 might be a time for President Trump to get a challenger. Could you and john kasich be the ticket . Ive told you this before, it would make a really long bumper sticker, only works for suvs. But is that in your future . No, i dont think so. Although john kasich, his points of contention with the president are always intriguing. I think hes worth paying attention to. That being said, as much as i respect him and enjoy his company, i think we disagree on too many things to really be a unity ticket. Ive seen dumb and dumber. Youre saying theres the chance. Thats what i heard right there. This is one of the most effective leaders of government in the United States, extremely successful governor. Businessman. Businessman, smart, competent, effective, virtues that are missing, you know, from a lot of our politics today. I hope hell run for president. Sounds like you have a vote here. All right. Were going to leave it there. So youre saying theres a chance. Okeydoke. Now we have to move to a terrible story. That shooting that took place yesterday in san bruno, california, police have now identified the 38yearold woman who opened fire in an outdoor patio area at youtubes headquarters, injuring three people, one of them still in critical condition, before turning the gun on herself. Nbcs Steve Patterson is at the scene in california. What are you learning, steve, about the woman and the victims . Reporter stephanie, its important to say a motive has not been given. But police are looking at this suspected shooter as somebody who may have been exclusively disgruntled against youtube the product, and not necessarily the people inside headquarters. I want to say, this is interesting because 38yearold nasim aghdam was a prolific user of youtube, uploaded dozens of clips between multiple accounts, focused on everything from Animal Rights to veganism to fitness. If you want to call these videos bizarre, you can, if it you want to call them provocative, you can do that too. Youtube took at least one of those videos down because they violated the terms of service. Aghdam took this as a personal affront and said youtube was trampling on her free speech. We know as of late she was using the platform more to demonstrate against youtube than to espouse her own views. This seems to gel with what the father of aghdam said in recent interviews, saying she was at risk of taking a road trip from her hometown in san diego to the bay area, to youtube headquarters. In fact, police in a nearby district, Mountain View police department, just minutes away, say they found her sleeping in her car at about 2 00 a. M. , some ten hours before the shooting took place. Then ten hours later, shortly before about 1 00, those first shots rang out. Witnesses described the sound as something of a stampede, they thought it was an earthquake, people were trying to get away so quickly from the shooting. People were barricading themselves in their offices. Others were trying to rush as fast as they could from the scene. We know a 32yearold woman was hit, a 36yearold man, and a 27yearold woman, all shot by 9millimeter gunfire. The 36yearold male remains in critical condition. You to be released a statement, the ceo saying theyre in solidarity with the families who are affected and theyre obviously thankful to the First Responders on scene. Meanwhile, Police Continue to investigate. They have given control back to youtube headquarters. So weve had employees come back into the building behind me. Meanwhile, theres another press conference scheduled for about 9 00 a. M. This morning. Were expected to learn a whole lot more about what happened yesterday in this tragic case. So her father did speak to police before this happened . Reporter yes. So the father reported her missing when she took that car to the bay area. What were not sure about is what agency the father spoke to, whether it was Mountain View police or whether it was police here locally in this area. Its also not necessarily known what he said. Did he say that she was necessarily a threat to the people inside . Or that she may have wanted to hurt herself somewhere in the area here . None of that is known in this case. But police are certainly looking into both of those factors at this point, stephanie. We continue to say to people, when you see something, Say Something. What happens when people do, like in parkland, or potentially this case, and still tragedy happens. All right, steve, thank you so much. One other piece of breaking news before we go to break. Nbc just learned National Intelligence director dan coats says a decision has been made on u. S. Involvement in syria. He says the white house will issue a statement soon. Were going to of course bring that to you as soon as it happens. And coming up, were keeping an eye on two big stories right now. A rally going on in the Nations Capital honoring Martin Luther king jr. As the nation marks 50 years since his assassination. And u. S. Stock futures plunged after china retaliates with new tariffs on u. S. Goods. The market is opening in just under five minutes. Well have a live report straight ahead. Last years ad campaign was a success for choicehotels. Com badda book. Badda boom. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com get your groove on with one a day 50 . 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This morning beijing struck back at the United States with tariffs on 50 billion worth of american goods. All of this comes just hours after trump unveiled his own plans to target 1,300 chinese imports. His allegation that china forged a 500 billion trade deficit with the u. S. Prompted this tweet just a couple of minutes ago. When youre already 500 billion down, you cant lose. Cnbcs Brian Sullivan joins me and the panel now. Okeydoke, brian. Lets first break this down. Does the president not understand how a trade deficit works . Because when the economy is strong, when gdp rises, youre going to see the trade deficit grow and its not a bad thing. Yeah, i mean, you know, stephanie, its a great question. Heres the thing. I think that this is really getting interesting, because we had 3 billion instituted on our side, then 3 billion, they do 50, we do 50. I wonder what might be next, how much more is there to come . I dont think were at a fullon trade war yet. Remember, these are still proposed tariffs. The idea is to get these sides to the negotiating table. If things dont change, then in a couple of weeks they could be slapped on. The trade deficit has been growing for a long time. One thing that many economists, steph, and you would know this, would counter with regards to a trade deficit is does it matter more about the dollar volume of goods or does it matter more about the profitability going back and forth . Good point. If youre selling me a bunch of low cost items and im selling you high volume or high dollar profit items, youre going to get the deficit with the volume. Either way, the dow is opening down 500 points, steph. To exactly that point, were the ones who are sending over high dollar, high value items, and theyre sending us the cheap stuff. So wouldnt you say were winning this . Here is an example. Lets say that you make something in america and you sell to china, and it costs you 50, and you sell it to them for 300 because youve got patents. You make 250 in profit. I have something in china that i sell back to america for 1,000, but it costs me 950 to make it. The deficit on that deal is 700 in favor of china. But who would you rather be . I would rather be ruhleco because you made 250 in profit. Sullivanco made just 50 bucks. I should have used sullivanco, not ruhleco. You win. Im glad about that. Walk me through wilbur ross comments this morning. Im stunned to hear him talk about hes surprised by the Market Reaction. That makes absolutely no sense because you and i both know wilbur ross is a massively successful markets guy. We also know people inside the administration have told him the opposite. And he was on his own with Peter Navarro pushing the president to move on these tariffs. And the rest of the white house said no way jose. How could he possibly be surprised by the Market Reaction . I wonder if wilbur ross is surprised by the Market Reaction, stephanie, or if wilbur ross is saying he is surprised by the Market Reaction because thats what the white house wants him to say. So what you just said to me right there is, hes lying because thats what the white house wants him to do. Listen, with mr. Ross, im sure youve interviewed him many times in your career, ive interviewed him, ive always found him to be a genuine guy. However i do agree with your thing about how could he be surprised. Peter navarro saying the same thing the other day, that the markets seemed to be overreacting and they were surprised. Our former colleague larry kudlow is in the white house at the nec taking over for gary cohn. He will be somewhat of a countervailing force in terms of proponent of trade to the Peter Navarros of the world. It was surprising to hear mr. Ross say he was surprised. You know, stephanie, as well, heres the thing. This is a market that many people say i dont want to call it priced to perfection, but its risen nicely over the years. This is one of those markets where any kind of a rattle could send things down. We saw it with amazon and the president s tweets. We saw it with facebook and their data scandal. Now were seeing it on the trade side of the story. When youre up as much as weve been, everything better be spot on or youre going to get a dow down 450 points. You said youve spoken to wilbur ross before. I have as well interviewed wilbur ross. I will point out today marks the 279th day since the white house has offered me an interview with anyone working the economic agenda. I make the ask every single day, specifically today, i reached out to the white house, after wilbur ross was on cnbc, and i havent heard back. So to those who say we dont cover the markets, to those who say we dont cover business or economics, we do, every single day. And every day i invite the white house to join me. It is interesting, today is actually gary cohns last day in the white house, and larry kudlow is making his way in. Do you think the president s moves here are that hes listening to wilbur ross or Peter Navarro or is moving based on his own instincts . That is the good question. If they would bring the interview and give you the interview, steph, we might know for sure directly because i know you would ask the tough questions, as have question. Heres the thing. I think when you go after a company like an amazon which is so important not only because of how many jobs its created but because its so heavily weighted in the market, i dont want to get in the weeds about market structure, but you know it is as massively important stock, only because its market cap is so big, with it and a few other big tech stocks, when they start to do this, its like the game of jenga, the bottom cant hold because the biggest stocks are heavy at the top. You go after amazon, go after these big Trading Companies which by the way are in the dow, gm, caterpillar makes big trucks and bulldozers, these are all the things that could be impacted most by these tariffs if they are imposed. Those are important stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial average. And they simply cant hold up when the world fears a trade war. Why arent we hearing from the sec here and where arent we hearing from other republicans as it relates to amazon . The president is spreading misinformation. I mean, what hes saying is factually incorrect. The issues that playing the post office are not amazon. Amazons paying the post office. In fact were sending less and less paper mail because of text and email and its packages where theyre making money. Republicans know this. I would say that the post office needs amazon a lot more than amazon needs the post office, stephanie, i think many people would agree with that. Theres a school of thought, its just a school of thought, that the president is being hard line because the fiveyear post Office Contract is up as of october of this year, and that maybe theres some negotiations. Its been reported by the hill that the president was having dinner or will have dinner soon with the head of oracle. Why would he do that and why would i reference that with amazon . Because oracle has this really fast growing Cloud Computing business that competes directly with amazon. Jered and ivanka have been n enthusiasts, peter thiel is closely tied to cambridge analytica. I turn to my panel. When does someone stand up and Say Something seems inappropriate here if the president is weighing in on these specific companies, saying things that are categorically untrue and impacting the stock price of Public Companies . There is nobody in this white house who has that kind of backbone. Okay. Lets go outside the white house. Wheres paul ryan . Wheres Mitch Mcconnell . Even the republicans in congress, all they care about is their regulations and what can be placed here, what can be placed there. No one seems to have the integrity or the backbone or be able to get the ear of this president to say this is bad business, this is bad for business long term. And the real problem that i see here is not just that youre attacking amazon, facebook kind of got themselves in their own trouble, this affects investment. Who wants to go big in a market where the president could attack your company and lower your stock rate with a tweet . What foreign investor wants to come in and build a new factory in tennessee or ohio and have the president come in and say, theyre coming in and stealing our jobs . People in this administration are afraid of getting fired by tweet. Shouldnt the problem be that hes not an honest broker . When you talk about all these trade issues, china, his threatening to blow up nafta, its literally, to explain it in simple terms, its like being with someone in your living room and for no good reason that person pulls a handgun out and shoot themselves in the foot and then they blame the chinese for it. Youll be sitting there and youll be like, why did you just do that . For no good reason, to pull out that gun and shoot yourself in the foot, especially when you have a race to run tomorrow. And all over my carpet. Its inexplicable. Its complete and total incompetence. Everybody in the Republican Party understands and believes that free trade is important for growth in this country. But the lack of reaction is fundamentally a result of the corruption of the Republican Party. We talked earlier, what are republicans talking about behind closed doors . Ill tell you. Please. What its going to be like in the minority and does it suck as bad as that guy just told us it was because he was in the minority a couple of years ago. And yes, it does. And theyre going to be. And thats the discussion. Because the bill is going to come due in november. Yuloull see a wave that repudiates all of this. There will be real damage to the American Economy eight, nine, ten months from now as this president continues, bull in the china shop, complete ignorance of any Public Policy issues, of the downrange consequences. People have seen this show play out for the last year and a half but now the American People are starting to get stuck with the bill for it. We have to understand how this president thinks. He didnt just go into your living room and shoot himself in the foot. A thousand russian bots said it was george soros. The echo chamber he exists in, even in the white house, tells him its somebody elses fault. Brian, congratulations on your new show. Were expecting to hear from the white house soon on syria. Nbc National Security reporter Courtney Kube has more. One of the subjects that came up in a National Security meeting was syria. The president s comments that the u. S. Military is going to get out of syria and the conflicting statements weve been getting out of the military, the pentagon, the state department, and other Administration Officials all around d. C. And beyond. So dni coats was asked specifically about this conversation and about whether isis still has a presence in syria that the u. S. Military is needed to be there to combat. And he said there were extensive discussions, significant discussions about that yesterday and a decision was made and the white house will be releasing a statement shortly, that a statement will be coming on that decision. He would not get into any of the specifics about what that decision is. To be clear, stephanie, the discussion was specifically about the u. S. Military presence mr. , whether it will continue, as we, again, have heard from the pentagon, the state department, and beyond, or whether the u. S. Military is potentially getting ready to leave syria as President Trump has said. Ive got to get my panel to weigh in here. Steve schmidt, i can think of one person who wouldnt mind us leaving syria. Vladimir putin. Well, look. I think that when we look at the security situation across the middle east, it is profoundly unstable. Its deeply complicated. As badly as we got into iraq, is how badly we left under the obama administration. And when we talk about extremism, and the president says, well, we have defeated isis, we have defeated just this latest manifestation of extremism, and it will be born again. And it will continue to threaten this country probably for the duration of all of our lives. And so the United States will continue to have a presence in the middle east. One thing is for sure. Before the next president ial election, the First American soldier, sailor, airman or marine who was born after 9 11 will be killed in combat in one of these countries. And its extraordinary to think about that. And so when we talk about the middle east, this is deadly serious business. Thousands and thousands of americans have been lost. The blood, the treasure, the trillions of dollars spent, and the lack of seriousness of this administrations approach is man fe ifested by the president s soninlaw, who has no experience or knowledge, is the chief arbiter of american policy in the middle east. Its extraordinary. Its dangerous. And again, this president s capacity to create a profound tragedy for the American People, who i think as a general proposition have a real lack of imagination for the scope of the type of tragedy that a president this incompetent can cause. But his capacity to cause it is real. And the place it would happen is more likely than any other place the middle east. And so its a dangerous hour. The president s soninlaw youre referring to is Jared Kushner, who we should also point out, in addition to peace in the middle east, which the president charged him with, hes also the head of the office of innovation, meaning he interfaces with technology heads. Weve yesterday to hear from Jared Kushner on the president s attacks on amazon. Youre thought on syria . Heres the thing. When it comes to most our conflicts in the middle east, youve got to go on offense, youve got to go on defense. Its like having a good super bowl team. We have to get more sophisticated on who were supporting in syria. Or we needed to support the humanitarian effort. If we pull out, fine. If they want to pull out and dont help anybody, at least do something about the humanitarian crisis which is affecting europe and the rest of the region. The president has no interest because he doesnt want to bring them here and doesnt wasnt to encourage anyone fleeing syria to go anywhere else. Well keep our eyes peeled for the white house statement on the next move on syria. When we come back, today marks 50 years since dr. Martin luther king was assassinated in memphis. A look at how far weve come and where we still need to go, next. Plaque psoriasis can be relentless. Your plaques are always there at the worst times. Constantly interrupting you with itching, burning and stinging. Being this uncomfortable is unacceptable. Im ready. Tremfya® works differently for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. With tremfya®, you can get clearer and stay clearer. In fact, most patients who saw 90 clearer skin at 28 weeks. Stayed clearer through 48 weeks. Tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. 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Available now for 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. Today is a solemn day to remember dr. Martin luther king jr. He was killed exactly 50 years ago today by a snipers bullet. While his voice was silenced that day, his message certainly continues to move on especially in the movements we see today. Right now in the town of memphis, tennessee, the city where dr. King gave his famous mountaintop speech, thousands are gathering to pay tribute to his memory. Msnbcs trymaine lee joins me from memphis along with reverend Mark Thompson host of make it plain on sirius xm. Germanenginee trymaine, tell us whats happening there today. Reporter hello, stephanie. Im here at the American Federation of state, county, and municipal employees here that were instrumental in the 1968 sanitation workers strike that initially brought dr. King to memphis in the first place. Back then workers were fighting and pushing for equal pay and equity. But now folks are gathering again. This sign you see here, i am a man, thats what king and the sanitation workers were fighting for. A mile and a half from here at the National Civil Rights Museum, the sight of the Lorraine Motel where dr. King was killed on this day back in 1968, theyll have a day of speakers and speeches with the family members and other people who are in 1968, there was a february members of speakers and other people here to commemorate. Hundreds of employees and workers gathered to commemorate dr. Kings legacy. So many folks now about dr. Kings legacy in terms of civil rights and equity. He said what good is it for folkings to be able to sit at a counter with white people at a deseg grated room if they cant afford to buy coffee or a burger. Everybody across the country are continuing to continue the legacy that there need to be equal pay for folks. Back in 1968 theres issue with fair housing, that persists today. Income and equality, massive incarceration. So folks again are celebrating the life of dr. Conditioning, commemorating his death but again trying to walk in his legacy. Look around, you have hundreds of people gathered here today with signs i am, and signs, justice i am 2018. Again walking in that proud legacy of dr. King. Reverend thompson what do you make of the movements and rallies weve seen . Clearly that i have been ir spired by the life work of dr. King. Of course and thank you for having me, stephanie, youre right. It is a very solemn day and somewhat an emotional one. I think these movements pick up where he left off, especially where we saw with the young people as we talked before. You had thousands of young people in birmingham go to jail and when it did it turned a tide of a movement in jeopardy. Knowing also that dr. King was a victim of gun violence, it is approach for these young people to stand up against gun violence and see a multi cultural raid of people, that is the man fes station of his beloved community. Even though he may be dead, yet he lives on in these ongoing movements, the womens march. We invoked coretta cott king over these past few days as well. Were hearing about her as a result of these womens movement. As i was stating it can be very very solemn as a bit of sadness when you think about what happened to dr. King. This is here at lorraines motel, its americas cavalry. It is where the great leader for civil rights, for human rights, the lover of justice fail. As ive said before, bullets were the nails in his cross. Even though it is sad we must do all we can to roll the stone away from hi tomb so that his spirit, life and dedication, and all the things that are important to him are resurrected. Like fights the violence and ingest, fighting for fair ways. Fighting 15 is a moment no doubt dr. King would have been involved in. For the labor of organized museum he gave his life. He gave his life after all for i am 2018. The National Civil Rights Museum is sparkling and that i have put on a lot of great work and theyre going to have a tremendous program tonight reasoning the bell at 6 01 p. M. At the precise moment in which he fell. Again, we must roll that stone away by registering voters. Every voters thats registered as a result of dr. Martin luther thing is a rolling away of that stone. He lives on in us. Reverend thomas i know youre inspired about this and when you talk about the marchs it was two weeks ago where dr. Kings grand daughter who is 11yearold got up and spoke about the march for our lives. She talks about enough is enough. Talk about the progress that weve made since dr. Kings death. Its stunning to me so many years have passed, yet here we are with his grand daughter making the same plea to the public, enough is enough as he did so many years ago. Well gun violence has gotten worse in america since dr. Kings passing. I wouldnt say we made any progress whatsoever there. Dr. King had the courage to call out an ally one time, linden b. Johnson. Lord knows dr. King would have called out no good donald trump. The thing about his daughter, i was with the family on yesterday, she spoke those words. A couple of years ago she was in the oval office with president obama and asked him busy gun violence. So, as a little girl, i think she gets it, i think shes immulative of her grandparents and proud of both her parents, martin and aundrea. Lots have got to change. Still poverty in america. Over half the children of memphis live in poverty. Were inspired but we still have a lot of work to do. Reverend, and germain thank you very much. Let me say, that main and i wouldnt be here if it wasnt for dr. King we wouldnt be able to talk on television. That is a great point. Im very lucky to have a chance to speak to you both. Thanks guys. Coming up, we expect a staumt from the white house on the future ofnitis involvement in syria. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com so allstate is giving us money back on our bill. Well, that seems fair. We didnt use it. Wish we got money back on gym memberships. Get money back hilarious. With claimfree rewards. Switching to allstate is worth it. Before we go no matter what theres good news every where. 8yearold halle dawson used her special designed 3d printed prosthetic hand to throw the pitch this weekend over the pad dress home game. That is her 4th throw over all. That is extraordinary and certainly some good news. We can not wait to see young halle at the next 26th parch. That wraps us all this hour im stephanie ruhle. Coming up right now more news with halle jackson. Miss jackson youve got a lot to cover in the next hour. Tons of cover. Im going to ask you to stay right there, steph. We are waiting for the tul story on syria. With this morning, word and decision has been made about u. S. Involvement there. Statement is expected really any minute. And if the president s hints hold up, it looks like we may be pulling out, although theres a question of when. A u. N. Meeting on syria starts right now. You can see the live look there at the united nations. Russia digging in asla