All right. Good afternoon everybody. Im Steve Kornacki live here in new york. Day 29 in the first 100 days. Topping the agenda right now, back on the stump. Americas going to start winning again. Winning like never ever before. The campaign trail version of donald trump back in full force. It started yesterday with that press conference, today a Campaign Style speech. Next on the docket, a Real Campaign speech. Why trump is going straight to the voters just a month after taking office. And also on our agenda today, how is it playing part one . Are you disappointed with some of the stuff he says . No, because i dont read social media and i dont watch the news because its too biased. Were going to look at what some of what trump is doing and talk to the voters who made the difference back in november. They were for obama, they switched to trump, they made him president. Are they still onboard . Also, hows it playing part two . After the press conference, a guy who was given the opportunity to have the most powerful job in National Security said, no, thanks. Back inside the beltway is nervousness right now. Is trump sring away the people he needs to make his Administration Work . Vice admiral Robert Harward turning down the president s offer to be his National Security advisor. An ominous sign, some are saying. We begin though back where donald trump is most at home on the campaign trail today in north charleston, South Carolina. When American Workers win, america as a country wins big league, wins. Thats my message here today. Americas going to start winning again. Winning like never ever before. Were not going to let our country be taken advantage of anymore in any way, shape or form. We love america. And we are going to protect america. We love our workers, and we are going to protect our workers. We are going to fight for our jobs. We are going to fight for our families. And we are going to fight to get more jobs and better paying jobs for the loyal citizens. Thats donald trump today in South Carolina at boeing. Hes touting rising employment, also talking about what he says is his America First approach to regulating business. The image there trump in front of that big plane, excuse me, that obviously evoki memories of many of h Campaign Stops last fall. Also, that appearance today in South Carolina comes on the heels of yesterdays 77minute press conference. It resembled in so many ways the style and the substance of so many of his campaign speeches. It also comes todays event did ahead of an Actual Campaign speech tomorrow in melburn, florida. If any of this is giving you any feelings of deja vu, maybe all of it should. Lets take a look at it this way. First, think of the headlines yesterday about that press conference, words like unhinged and bizarre and combative. So much of the Media Coverage critical of Donald Trumps performance, conveying a sense of alarm, an idea of a presidency maybe going off the rails. Then think of the numbers right now. Donald trumps Approval Rating it is falling, its down to 39 . Worst numbers than we have ever seen for a new president this early in his term. What about the reaction . The reaction of Donald Trumps own party. We are seeing signs right now of panic. Theyre feeling frantic behind the scenes. They are terrified that hes committing political suicide right in front of them. And theyre not sure what to do about it. Do they distance themselves . Do they speak out . Do they stay quiet . All of that is whats in the air right now. And it is whats been in the air since donald trump became president. But here is the thing, it is also what was in the air for the entire president ial campaign. Remember headlines that convey chaos, controversy, alarm. It suggested a Trump Campaign that was maybe going off the rails. How about the poll numbers during the campaign . They were falling it seemed constantly. Awful numbers on favorability, on competence on whether he was even qualified to be president. They were worse numbers than wed ever seen for a president ial candidate before. What about the reaction . Members of trumps own party panicking, convincing themselves he was committing political suicide right in front of them. They werent sure what to do. Do they distance themselves . Do they speak out . Do they stay quiet . That is right now, that was back then during the campaign. And of course when all the votes were counted back then at the end of the campaign in the face of all of that, donald trump won. If youdistened to all the noise he stirred up every day of that campaign you were convinced he was doomed. Turned out he wasnt. Obviously a very close election. What it really revealed to how deeply divided america is, the popular vote 46 for trump, 48 for hillary clinton. Clinton eking out actually a victory in the popular vote there, but what this really shows big picture a country divided in half. Its also far more support than anybody most of all people in his own party thought that donald trump had. This is all something maybe worth keeping in mind right now. Candidate trump is back, if he ever really went away. So is the uproar in the media. So is the downturn in his numbers. So is the panic in his own party. It can feel like his presidency is buckling right now, but remember it also felt like his campaign was too. So that is the big question, is the different now, or is history repeating itself . Are we just going to find out that the country is as divided now as it was on election day when it turned out there were a lot more people who were with him than almost anyone ever thought. Here now to talk about it on this friday, weve got bill press, host of the bill press show, nbcs kaci hunt with reaction from the hill, washington commentary editor and msnbcs katy tur. Thank you all for being here. Katy tur, i will start with you. You were out there on the campaign trail with donald trump. Hes going back to that right now. Hes comfortable there. What do you make of this decision to go back to what he thinks worked for him . Steve, you nailed it in that intro. This is candidate trump. And when it looked like it was most chaotic during his campaign, it was actually fine. His poll numbers may have been tanking, but his enthusiasm remained. And ultimately his poll numbers didnt tank that far. Especially when it came to the Republican Party despite some pretty high unfavorable numbers. So what you are seeing is him trying to get back to his roots. You can tell that he was itching in that white house to do what he liked to do during the campaign, which was talk, get in front of the cameras, talk to the press, go and have rallies. He was on television, National Television getting cheers, or at least being combative every single day for the past for the entire 17 months of the campaign. And hes been pretty withheld now in that white house. Almost kept in a version of solitary confinement for him. Thats part of the reason why you see the cameras follow him to those roundtable meetings. Its a chance for him to maintain a presence. So hes going to go to this somebodys having a party in this newsroom. So hes going to go to this rally on saturday and hes going to probably be faced with thousands of supporters who are all going to be cheering for him. And its going to be a chance for him to remind the Republican Party that hes the one that took them to his dance. I dont know if you can hear, but somebodys having a Birthday Party right behind this camera. Its a friday before a holiday weekend, everybodys in a festive mood i guess. I want cake. So do i. We got 51 minutes maybe we can split something. Kaci hunt, let me go to you on capitol hill. Heres a sense i get from afar and tell me if this is what youre finding or not on capitol hill. Uhhuh. Republicans remember the campaign. They thought everything donald trump was doing was wrong. They feel in their guts hes probably wrong again right now strategically, but theres some pause there because it turned out that it worked in the campaign. It did work in the campaign, steve. But look, members of congress and the Republican Party are still just as uncomfortable with donald trump today as they were during the campaign. I mean, look, all the reblicans appear donald trump was going to lose the election and he didnt. Its a bit confusing as well because they of course have to go home and they have to run again. Members of the house have to run every two years. Theres a batch of republicans up for reelection every two years. And its not clear what carried donald trump to the white house is going to carry them. And so i think that that really is the dynamic that from a political perspective we want to hone in on over the course of the coming months because at the end of the day republicans here on capitol hill they want to get things done. They see things like that press conference and they feel like it gets in the way of doing big things like passing tax reform, overhauling the health care law, but if there is something that could make them nervous, its the risk of losing their own elections. And if it comes to the point where his Approval Rating is so low and they have to go home to their states and they realize, you know, theyre running, theyre not donald trump, they do not benefit from the same things that he benefits for, whatever crossover support he may have among democrats, for example, one member of congress was telling me a very interesting story about going to a rally in their state during the campaign and looking out at the crowd and saying, you know what, ive been doing rallies in my state for 20 years. And i usually know, i stand on the stage and i know every face in that crowd. And that did not happen when this person was at trump events in that state. This member said, you know what, these people are democrats. They are not people that normally come to my rallies. And so i think that phenomenon is something we want to keep a very close eye on over the course of the comingonth because there could potentially be lot of pressure on some of these members to back away from donald trump. And while, yes, what happened yesterday might invigorate that small base of supporters, i do think its still an open question as to whether those people are the ones who ultimately made the difference for him in a general election. And thats what these members are going to be running on. You know, i just think theyre headed back for the First Time SinceDonald Trump Took Office to their home states, i mean were going to learn a lot over the next week. Yeah, well bill, let me ask you. From a democrats standpoint, given the parallels were talking about between the Current Situation and what happened in the campaign, you know, democrats feeling like they look at trumps poll numbers drop right now, they look at the hit he just took from the court, the press conference and sort of the reception its gotten at least in much of the press since yesterday. I imagine democrats are feeling pretty good about their situation. Does it haunt them at all the idea that, hey, it turned out there was actually a lot more support from the last time we tested this in the election, maybe thats still the case . Well, you know, steve, i try to look at it not just as a democrat but first of all as a white house reporter. And also as an american. I mean theres no doubt, and i think the big word for washington right now is disarray. No matter what donald trump says theres total disarray at the white house. I think the first four weeks have just been a disaster on almost every front. Theres disarray in the congress as kasie pointed out. Republicans told me theyre alarmed by what they see and saw at the News Conference yesterday. And democrats i dont think really know how to read it. But at some point it seems to me and i may be wrong, at some point donald trump is a brilliant campaigner. He feeds off the crowds. They love him. Hes good at it. He knows what lines to use. At some point, i believe, you got to move beyond that and the american pple are going to judge him, if not already but pretty soon. Not by the big crowds that he gets, by what he gets done in the white house and how he governs. And so far we have seen no sign of his ability to move from campaigner in chief to the president of the United States. Well, tim, there was an interesting quote here from mitch mcconnell, a Top Republican in the senate. He said hes not a fan of what he calls the extra discussion that donald trump engages in, i think meaning twitter and a lot of things he said at that press conference yesterday. Heres a question for a republican like mcconnell though, if donald trump looks at the election as the ultimate validation of his political instincts, how do you convince him now to change . Thats exactly right. Hes not going to be a different person. And one of the things hes not going to stop tweeting. Hes not going to be focused. Today at boeing he did give a scripted speech, so that was slightly different. But for a lot of these guys when you talk to these people, we sat down with mike lee yesterday at the examiner and he was saying ive got my conservatism, trump has his populism and were going to try to make them fit together. Hes not trying to change trump. Hes trying to find the overlap. But a lot of these guys see it as providing as its a distraction but it doesnt distract them. Mitch mcconnell gets to do what he wants, gets to pass what he wants and everybody in the press is freaking out over, you know, whether trump knew what happened in the electoral college. Meanwhile the house is passing bills about planned parenthood and the senate is confirming nominees. So its distracting the media, that doesnt mean its distracting paul ryan and mitch mcconnell. And, katy tur, i wonder, i saw Reince Priebus this morning on one of the morning shows. Seemed open to the possibility that donald trump will do more in the future of what he did yesterday. Is that something you expect . Katy tur, let me try one more time. Im so sorry. Yeah, no problem. Ill say it again. Reince priebus this morning he was suggesting maybe donald trump in the future would do more of what he did yesterday, the idea of sort of going out there,cting as his own spesman, essentially it seemed delivering a message to the people. You guys arent doing this right, ill show you how its done, do you think well see more of that . Yeah, he said donald trump is his best spokesperson. And i think we could see that. I think it depends on the reaction Going Forward and whether or not this means his poll numbers drop precipitously and how the gop is able to handle it and balance it and try to get their agenda done. But i dont even think if Reince Priebus, no, donald trump, you cant do this, that donald trump would listen. Frankly, if hes going to do something, hes going to do something. Reportedly his aides told him to not get out there and have that press conference yesterday and he announced it himself and went out and did it. So i dont really think its up to Reince Priebus at this point. Its just one of those things that this is how he operated during the campaign, this is what got him to the white house. They dont see or he doesnt see any reason to change who he is. Yeah, bill, i saw you nodding there. What do you think of that idea its almost like the gm who fires the coach and takes over. Trump is the de facto White House Press secretary. Look, theres no doubt that donald trump wanted to do this because he didnt feel that his people were doing a good enough job of portraying the Positive Side of these first four weeks. So he said, damn it, you cant do it, im going to go out there and do it myself. I think he totally failed in convincing the American People that this is a well oiled machine, or whatever phrase that he used. And he ran through, i mean, so many things he claimed which were just simply not true. You talked about the electoral college, the fact he inherited a mess, on and on. And i dont think he did himself any good. So i would hope that Reince Priebus and the wiser heads would prevail, but i certainly agree with katy, i dont expect it. I think theres nobody around him who can really control him. And, tim, also raises to me i know theres been a lot of criticism, its almost fashionable in the political world to criticize sean spicer the White House Press secretary for the job hes doing, but i thought watching trump out there yesterday almost illustrated the impossibility of anybody else acting as his spokesperson. Well, thats right. Because its hard to know what his positions going to be. But also because, i mean, i disagree with bill. I think trump went out there i dont think hes trying to convince the American People that its a well oiled machine. He went out there to fight an enemy and the enemy was us, was the news media. And i think for a lot of the people he was trying to appeal to he won. It was a brawl. Sean spicer does that too. He goes out there, hes an irish guy like me, he tries to throw the punches, but nobody can throw them, nobody more importantly nobody can dodge the punches like donald trump can. And so thats how you see it. Hes fighting the news media and a lot of people think hes winning. All right. Tim, bill, katy, kasie, thank you for joining us for this mega panel on the friday before president s day weekend. We appreciate the time and we are going to take a very quick break. But on the other side of it, looking forward to this one, we are going to head out to one of those states that was for obama, thats been for a bunch of