Marker. Their blood type, their d. O. B. , their social, in case the very worst happens. Thats how dire and how broad this storm is on the coast of texas. So obviously, over these next few hours, well be covering this. Were a bit hampered because communications right at this point, after landfall, can often enter into a kind of dark side of the moon phase. Some Satellite Television trucks because of rain fade and high winds lose their ability to broadcast a signal. Even some Satellite Phones cant work. Cellphone service is down along with power. So well bring you reporting from it from our friends at the Weather Channel, from our own meteorologist bill karins, when we can. Now to the other news that is happening tonight. Somewhat under the cover of the first Natural Disaster of his presidency, a category 4 Hurricane Making Landfall in the united states, the president and
our white house stories, on the phone with us, our friend and colleague, the host of our 4 00 p. M. Hour here at msnbc, Nicolle Wallace, the former White House Communications director, of course under president bush 43. Nicolle, youre reaction. Well, its important to stipulate, after listening to the top of your show, that i was the White House Communications director during hurricane katrina, where the president for whom i worked suffered a lot of political damage for responding in a way that was judged as subpar. Most importantly, by the people who lived there, by the victims of that storm. And to see someone, those were mistakes made inadvertently, those were, you know, sequences of errors in judgment made by many people at many levels. But all the blame ultimately ended up at the doorstep of the white house, and thats how it works and thats how it should work, the buck has to stop somewhere. To see someone do something that
amounts to pouring gasoline on the open wounds in the wake of his charlottesville response by pardoning someone like sheriff arpaio while a deadly storm, a storm that from the Space Station looks as big and as dangerous as hurricane katrina, its one of those things that knocks you over with its audacity. And to suggest that this president is addicted to chaos, to connect the questions from James Clapper and republican senator bob corker about his competence and stability at this moment, would not be an exaggerated tie to draw. And to see him incapable of letting a single day be about anyone other than him and his inability to stifle a single political impulse is a stunning thing to observe. Nicolle, from the podium in the west wing Briefing Room today, in realtime, on your broadcast, you chose to highlight something the president s kind of Domestic Security Adviser said to a
briefing about government institutions. Do you recall that . And whats its relevance to what happened tonight . So the president s Homeland Security adviser tom bossard took to the white house podium and stood behind the podium and said its a dangerous thing to question your government institutions, especially on a day like today where people need to have basic trust in evacuation orders, in Weather Forecasts and whatnot, that lives are on the line. And i dont know what could be more you know, what could drive that home more than the reporting you just shared at the top of your show about first responders, writing their Vital Information on their arms with permanent pens. So to have that thrust against the pardon of a man who the mayor of phoenix described as terrorizing the citizens of phoenix, who a judge found to have committed a crime, to have violated the civil rights of the
citizens, is just staggering. I know we talk about the death of outrage. We talk about, you know, shame on us for continuing to be surprised by this president s gall, if you will. But theres nothing you know, someone pointed out today that this hurricane actually provided an opportunity for the president to for once show some interest in displaying that he has an interest in governing somewhat outside that base of 33 and to release and announce this pardon for joe arpaio shows that he simply does not. Nicolle, ive got one more for you. Thats sebastian gorka. Not a household name. But certainly a wellknown name in political circles. He did some time at breitbart. He has long been rumored to have political ties to very unsavory far right groups in europe. He had a minimal title in the white house, kind of a deputy
assistant, but he was nonetheless a lightning rod. He is out tonight, again on this friday night of a category 4 Hurricane Making Landfall in the lower 48. Fair to say that he could not have worked in any other white house but this one . Oh, more than fair to say. You know, i dont know that he could have been associated with any other moment in politics than this one. I think this is i think that john kellys tenure as white house chief of staff, why it has coincided with really some of the most controversial moments of Donald Trumps presidency, those are all because of donald trump. But at a staff level, it is clear that, you know, if you view problems with paperwork as maybe 11 of the problems that this presidency has, he is really in firm command of that 11 . And getting rid of gorka was essential to that. I see it as sort of the other half of the oreo cookie of
getting rid of steve bannon. Nicolle wallace, thank you very much for joining us by telephone tonight. As i said, a number of stories breaking. One of them just happens to be the first and perhaps theres no way of knowing, perhaps the worst Natural Disaster of Donald Trumps presidency just coming Ashore Tonight In Coastal Texas on the gulf coast. Nicolle wallace, our thanks. Lets bring in our panel of journalists who will from time to time tonight well lean on for reaction. Vivian solana is with us, were proud to say an incoming Nbc News National Political reporter, after, if you ask us, spending way too long at that wire service, the associated press. But were so happy to have her on board. Matthew nussbaum, political white house reporter, is back with us. Here in the studio, a Boston Glo Globe columnist. Indira, youre here with us. Same reaction, same question as to nicolle, your reaction to these twin stories. And were just Getting Started, there are others. Triple, quadruple, quintuple. These two lead stories from the white house. Certainly the arpaio thing, the president had telegraphed for everybody clearly, by saying let me tell you hes going to be okay, im not going to do it tonight, but you can be comfortable, all but promised it. This was clearly telegraphed. It is shocking. Its shocking because this is a man who flagrantly, although he was supposed to be Law Enforcement in upholding the law, he was clearly violating the law repeatedly in contempt of court. He was found to be so. He was doing this for years, specifically racially profiling people, picking them up not for any known offense, but simply because they were hispanic and he suspected them of being illegal aliens. And, you know, this has been a
base issue for donald trump. It fits into the whole thing with the wall and the untruths he has told about Illegal Immigrants causing so much crime in america, which the actual statistics show is not true, that Native Born Americans commit crime at higher rates than immigrants, legal or illegal. But, you know, facts matter to us, but not to the rhetoric that donald trump has promoted. Can i ask you, and i dont mean to interrupt, a version of a question i just asked nicolle, fair to say no other president would have granted this pardon were seeing tonight . Well early term, before sentencing, all of those things. Yes, i think thats absolutely right. And, you know, so that is a big surprise. I think the gorka news is you know, gorka has tried to go out on his own terms. The story out there is he submitted his resignation letter, he said forces aligned with make America Great again are descend Enter Adescendant ad
the ascendant forces are trying to get him out, and he was getting hit on all sides and wasnt able to do what he wanted to do. I agree with nicolle, he wouldnt have a job in any other white house even as an intern. There are a lot of people who question his academic credentials. Hes a onenote sally on violent extremism all the time. A lot of people will be celebrating that hes out. The question is whether it changes the president s thinking. Thats very much an open question. I dont think it will change the essential way the president sees the world and views things like violent extremism. Matthew, because weve all been in this business too long, we ourselves made warnings at our editorial meeting around dinner time tonight that this is a friday night in summer. Traditionally a time when you get news out. The problem is, you just dont
traditionally do it while so many million americans are under the gun tonight and while the National Weather service is issuing warnings for inundation along the coast of texas. Well, theres never a quiet friday, it seems, in this presidency. But youre right, its very odd to do something this politically controversial as the arpaio pardon, one, in the wake of charlottesville, which was a racially charged incident to begin with, to participated tdo sheriff who violated the civil rights and profiled the people in his district, and two, as youre saying, to make this move when were facing a major Natural Disaster. The first real disaster of this presidency that wasnt of the president s own making. I think we can all agree on that. To make something this controversial, to sort of steal the spotlight like that for something that only pleases your political base, when you have this moment where the nation should be coming together to look after the folks down in texas and louisiana, i think
its really startling. Like you guys were saying earlier, maybe we shouldnt be surprised anymore during this presidency, but sometimes its hard not to be. Vivian, of course there are other things going on, but these two are our lead stories. As nicolle and i discussed, as weve been talking about since weve been on the air, He Couldnt Have Telegraphed any more strongly to that crowd in phoenix that this was coming. Absolutely. And its really important to remember that this is basically the latest chapter in President Trumps war with the judiciary. He has taken great issue with the fact that the courts have stepped in and tried to block both his travel ban and his immigration efforts. And here, while he has been able to reverse that and he hasnt been able to sort of have a fullfledged victory against the courts, this is one way that he can push back, is by pardoning someone like sheriff arpaio, who is a controversial figure. It is also his way of Flexing Muscle and showing his supporters, look, i told you i was going to be tough on Law And Order and here is a guy who is
tough on Law And Order, lets get him out there and working for us. Theres one other thing to consider. This is President Trumps way of rewarding loyalty. We know now that he is really big on showing, you know favoring people who have shown their loyalty throughout his campaign and into his presidency. Sheriff arpaio is definitely one of them. He was an outspoken supporter from the start. The fact that he would come out, President Trump would come out and now pardon him, its really not that surprising because of how hes demonstrated, you know, his favor to anyone who has shown that loyalty throughout the course of his time in office. Indira, were starting to have this discussion about government institutions. You heard nicolle echoing what was said from the podium. Earlier today, jim acosta over at cnn said on the air, this is why the fake news label is so pernicious, because we in the News Business tonight really need the people along the coastline in texas, really need them to heed these warnings. Were not making up these stats
from the hurricane hunters, the brave people who tonight are flying through the center of the storm. Were not making up these forecasts or the inches of rain theyre expecting. But this is all of a piece. This is all a kind of slow motion attack on some of the aspects of our society. I totally agree with you, brian. I think the problem is, i dont want to sound too dark and orwellian here. Ive seen it as a Foreign Correspondent in many societies that ive covered. When president s do things like attack the news media and try to undermine our credibility, its one pillar of a democracy. They try to attack other institutions. Weve seen it going on in venezuela, attack the judiciary, attack the legislature. You want the people to only believe in you. That is what weve seen, President Trump is trying to make his people believe only in him and not trust anyone else. Where this becomes a huge
problem, as you say, once youve convinced people that the media, that the National News media is fake news, then if theyre not going to trust what we say, it becomes a danger to life and limb, as you say, if people are not heeding instructions that they should be evacuated from places like Corpus Christi, it becomes, you know, potentially Major National disaster. I dont want to get two deep this early in the evening, but vivian, youre a former Baghdad Bureau chief at your young age. How often do you reflect back on that assignment, of all the assignments youve had in your life, what it meant during that time of your life and where you were, to be an american . I mean, its fascinating to see, you know, even throughout the years before that, i mean, i was overseas in the middle east during the george w. Bush years, and there was constant fear of antiamerican sentiments because of the iraq war. Then we went into this sort of, you know, peak where President Obama came in and everyone thought things would reverse. Then they found he wasnt supporting the efforts in syria to kind of curb that violence there. So, you know, its sort of always been a roller coaster. But whats so interesting is the mix of views that i hear about President Trump throughout the middle east and even in south asia. A lot of people really welcoming the fact that he could be tough on groups like isis and take a tougher role with his military to kind of intervene in some of the conflicts overseas. A lot of people overseas really welcoming that, because they feel they have no other option but the u. S. At the same time, they also look at the u. S. As this, you know, capital of liberty and democracy in the world, and the rhetoric he says when hes really rejecting certain groups, hes not promoting sweeping unity throughout this society, it really makes peoples heads spin because they dont understand how this could be an american president , how the American People could vote someone in who wouldnt stand for everyone, who wouldnt represent everyone. I just need to pause our conversation, as we tried to make plain at the top of this broadcast, well be pivoting all night long, im afraid, between
topics, between the political news tonight, and were just Getting Started plowing through that, and the situation were following on the coast of texas. I want to show you whats being broadcast right now by our friend at the Weather Channel. We have their permission to be dipping in and out of their coverage tonight. Thats mike seidel up in the upper right hand corner. The fearless veteran meteorologist mike seidel in port lavaca, texas, where before the end of tonight, theyre going to get all the storm they can handle there. He has been at times unable to stand up in the hotel theyre staying in has quickly been surrounded by rising water. Theyre 25 miles inland, by the way. That gives you some visual idea. We are so fortunate to have in our very own studio here tonight our friend bill karins, our meteorologist. And bill, take it away. Tell us everything we need to know about the storm, including are we calling it landfall yet as the center of the eye passed
the median . I keep hitting refresh on the National HurricaneCenter Website for when they put the official word out. They have said we are very close to the official landfall. The northern eye has made landfall. The Western Eyewall is now onshore. But the center of the eye is not onshore yet. That should happen in the next hour or two. Well officially have our first major Hurricane Landfall in over 12 years in our country. By the way, this would also be the strongest since charlie hit florida, being a category 4 storm. Here it is now on the map. You can see this bright red, this is the eyewall that is clearly onshore. The first thing, the big concern was Corpus Christi. Thats the biggest Population Center on the map here, near the cen