hey there, good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt here in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it is 9:00 in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west. let's get to what's happening now as we have new reaction from both sides to donald trump's tweets critical of civil rights icon john lewis. rallies today in the hopes of saving obamacare, but is it too little, too late? i'll speak with a congressman on the front lines of that battle. and another day, another ice storm, this one hitting the midwest again after a deadly weekend. we've got those details next. but we start with politics this morning. there's a lot to tell you about. inauguration week is here.

and to kick it off, president-elect trump is adding to his twitter attack on civil rights icon john lewis. more democrats now saying they will boycott the inauguration on friday, and this morning trump's team is responding to this public spat for the first time. >> we all, everyone agrees, that congressman lewis is a civil rights and voting rights leader, and he deserves our praise for that, but it is disappointing to hear somebody who has such an important voice and platform to say what he said about the president, which by the way is just false. he is a legitimate president. we need to work together to help the inner cities and everyone else in america, and we would like his help. >> well, nbc's kelly o'donnell is outside of trump tower right here in new york. so, kelly, with a good morning to you, if anybody thought this public spat would be over in a day or so, they would be sorely mistaken, wouldn't they? >> reporter: well, alex, you're right. and where we have seen these

interactions where trump takes on one of his critics it tends to have a couple of acts, and we have seen that already. and the trp te, of course, is trying to make that distinctioof not criticizing the accomplishments of john lewis, who has been, you know, a revered member of the democratic party for a long time, definitely a partisan. he was a hillary clinton supporter, but he's also so well known for what he did and the sacrifices he made during the civil rights struggle, so that is part of it. also today we're learning that the inauguration committee is saying that clarence thomas, justice of the supreme court, will deliver the oath of office to mike pence. mike pence has decided he will use the reagan family bible to place his hand. now, because of these boycotts with john lewis and roughly another 20 democrats, they won't see any of that. and we're also finding that donald trump is hearing critics say he should back off, but he hasn't done it yet. the self-described counterpuncher in chief.

>> i'm a counterpuncher, you understand that. >> reporter: steps up for another round in a verbal tussle. >> i don't plan to attend the inauguration. >> reporter: striking first was georgia congressman john lewis, beloved by democrats, admired beyond party as a civil rights era legend who said russian hacking makes trump's election invalid. >> i don't see the president-elect as a legitimate president. >> reporter: saturday evening, after a wave of social media urged trump to back off tweeting atlewis, he instead threw a fresh punch. "congressman john lewis should finally focus on the burning and crime-infested inner cities of the u.s." but with a twist. "i can use all the help i can get." minutes later, a michigan republican congressman pleaded with the president-elect -- "dude, just stop." democrats quickly spawned trump's slights towards lewis into fund-raising gold with e-mail appeal. demonstrators seized on this holiday that remembers martin

luther king jr. to send their message demanding social justice to the new trump administration. dr. king's son says trump must make good on his campaign promises. >> he said that he wanted to create the condition to elevate the quality of life in communities of color. then we need to hold his feet to the fire. >> reporter: organized anger toward trump threatens to sour his inaugural celebration. that pressure pushed out broadway star dream girl jennifer holiday, who is now telling you she's not going. ♪ i'm not going >> reporter: after the trump inaugural committee had announced her performance for a welcome concert at the lincoln memorial. and of course, jennifer holiday has been an icon of broadway, and she wrote an open letter to fans, saying that she apologized for what she cled a lapse of judgment, not understanding, she

said, that manf her fans, especially those in the lgbt community, did not want her to appear in anything associated with the trump/pence inaugural ceremonies. and so, she has stepped away from that, won't do it. originally said she thought it would be a healing thing to participate in the welcome concert, but she is stepping back. today there are inauguration rehearsals going on, alex, in washington for the parades and so forth. so, some of the military bands that will take part, even with the cold, they're out there practicing today to get ready for friday's series of events, the inauguration itself, the parade, and all of the hoopla that goes around january 20th. alex? >> it is quite a spectacle and it's pretty extraordinary. just a couple of things i have to say. jennifer holliday will appear with joy reid later this morning and will be able to further explain her thinking in all this. and can i just say, no laughing matter, but i did have a laugh with the "dude, just stop" tweet. that was pretty good. all right, kelly, thank you very

much. >> reporter: such a new generation of members of congress, yes. >> hey, it's direct conversation, that's for sure, very colloquial. >> reporter: yes, it is. >> kelly, thank you for that. today's front page of the "atlanta journal-constitution" calls trump wrong for his comments. meanwhile at this hour, congressional democrats and health care groups are kicking off nationwide ptes in an effort to save the affordable ca act and other health care measures. the first rally of the day has just begun in delaware. senator bernie sanders is among the prominent democrats headlining the rally there. also new this morning, incoming white house press secretary sean spicer is slamming reports citing the "sunday times of britain" that president-elect trump's first foreign trip will be a meet weg avladimir putin in iceland's capital. spicer took to twitter last night to say the reports are not true. and 100% false. nbc news has not verified the "sunday times" report. tara palmieri is the white house reporter for politico and paul singer is washington

correspondent for "usa today." with a welcome to you both, paul, i'm going to start with you. first question -- exactly how was this latest tweet flurry by donald trump received from both sides of the aisle? >> you know, the funny thing about this is that donald trump was offered an extraordinarily rare opportunity to capture the moral high ground from john lewis, who basically, you know, sets up housekeeping on the moral high ground. donald trump could have said, i'm very, very sorry that congressman lewis isn't willing to come to my inauguration, isn't ready to extend a hand and put the bitterness of the election behind us. i hope he will find a way to look inside himself and find a way to bring us together and see that i'm doing some good things and work with me. that would have been an incredible breakthrough for donald trump, and he couldn't do it. instead, once again, you know, they go low, donald trump goes lower. he decides to hit back at a cultural icon, a hero of the civil rights movement, and he

insults him as a do-nothing guy. which say what you want about john lewis, he is certainly not a no-action congressman. >> tara, as you know, reince priebus and mike pence are on the sunday morning talk shows and they will be asked about this. >> right. >> how do you expect them to respond? how can they respond? >> they're going to call this a political attack, an orchestrated attack not just by congressman lewis but by the entire democratic party. they're going to say that they're going to stay on this issue of legitimacy and the connections with russia as a way to undermine donald trump's presidency and his mandate as president. so they're going to say, you know what, he is a revered civil rights leader, no one can deny him of that, but he went low with the political attack. that's the way they're going to play it. on the other hand, when the president-elect responds to these sort of attacks in criticism, he keeps the story moving forward. like paul said, if he had just said, you know what, i'm really disheartened by this, but i want to still come together, that would have probably ended the story, but his counterpunches

keep the stories going, and that's what the democrats want. >> look, and paul, he's got advisers that can see exactly what you both are saying. do you think someone is going to step up and say to him, stop! enough is enough? >> you know, we've never seen that work. i would assume -- here's the thing, as we saw in kellyanne conway's comments, which was much more what you would anticipate. her talking about it wasn't appropriate for mr. lewis to go where he went. you know, there are people around him still talking the ght talk, saying the right things, and donald trump doesn't seem to care. i have no doubt someone is in his ear saying, mr. trump, i don't think you should do that, but he seems determined that this is how he's going to make his statement. >> so, is there a sense, tara, how much of a tolerance level republican senators and house members have for this ongoing combative nature with donald trump? look, he's now taking on one of their most respected colleagues, and it's someone they have to

work with. >> i mean, they're all trying to curry favor with the president right now, which puts them in a really uncomfortable position, even for republicans. so you know, they're going to be walking the line until they figure out what they can really fight back against and what they can't. you have to remember as well that a lot of their constituents are trump voters, and they don't want to upset them as well. but at some point, you get to a point where you really do have to take a stand. you don't want to be the last one and people saying he never said anything. in retrospect, where were you stopping some of the sort of real issues that come forward. this is a lot of banter, a lot of political attacking. he is legitimately the president of the united states and no one can really question that. he did win the presidency. but there is going to be a time where they're going to have to decide when is the right time to stand up to donald trump, because you know, the political opinion may shift. >> yeah, it may. let's get to obamacare quickly, guys. paul, with regard to the votes, democrats are certainly rallying all across the country today.

you've got 20 million people suggested at being at risk of losing their health insurance, all this as congressional action is unfolding. is that the case, or does it all depend on how this unfolds? are these 20 million at risk? >> we have no idea what's going to be in the replacement bill, so sure, they're at risk, or not, depending what happens. keep in mind, paul ryan was elected speaker by a conference that had demanded more power to the grassroots in the congress, which means the bill in theory is not going to be written by paul ryan. it's going to be written by his conference through a series of hearings. we don't know what's in it yet, and it's an interesting time to watch because we don't really know what the impact is going to be of this repeal. >> and do we know, tara, how many democrats see a need for a fix to obamacare? >> a lot of democrats agree that there are some provisions in obamacare that frankly don't work, and they obviously are going to be open to any sort of reform that would help their constituents at the end of the day. you can't fight against something that is better for the bottom line for american people. but at the same time, they're

going to have to appear to put up a fight, to say united and make sure that a lot of the good pieces of obamacare remain. the questions -- now what's interesting is you're seeing republicans realize that they can't rip the rug out from underneath the american people and take away obamacare right away, and a $9 billion subsidy that they at one time fought against, went to court against, they now are saying they may have to keep this $9 billion subsidy for obamacare, which helps low-income people because they realize that there needs to be a very graceful and easy handover of the affordable care act to the next form of health care in this country. so you're seeing republicans even giving a little bit of leeway as well. they realize they're going to have to work together. but at the end of the day, if the american people don't have health care, they're going to be angry at the congress and the senate. >> yeah, it's complicated at the very least. tara palmieri and paul singer, good to see you both. thank you. >> thank you. let's go to weather now. a damaging and potentially crippling ice storm threatening

the nation's midsection, bringing dangerous ice build-up. this follows two waves of freezing rain and sleet that led to widespread power outages and travel nightmares. the storm is being blamed for three deaths. let's get right to nbc's morgan radford who's in wichita, kansas. good sunday morning to you, morgan. what's it like out there for you? >> reporter: alex, good morning to you. six people have been confirmed dead, two overnight right here in kansas, according to the kansas state highway patrol. this is as millions are waking up trying to recover after this deadly ice storm dumped more than half an inch of ice in america's heartland. millions of americans recovering this morning after mother nature packed a one-two punch. half an inch of ice pummeling the heartland overnight, while freezing temperatures sent cars spinning off ice-covered roads and left residents scraping by. today, 21 million people in nine

states are in the crosshairs of a storm that originally stretched all the way from texas to d.c., with the midwest in its bull's eye. in indiana, cars swerved by as residents tried to melt the ice. >> i've been up all night watching the weather. >> reporter: while in missouri, neighbors digging out as officials tend the turf ahead of tonight's playoff game between the kansas city chiefs and the pittsburgh steelers. icy conditions forcing officials to push the game back seven hours. in kansas, 200 national guard troops at the ready, as crews salted icy roads that already caused a 20-car pileup. >> be careful, guys. >> reporter: putting residents on high alert. >> sidewalks were very, very slick. >> reporter: and while some in pennsylvania welcomed the fresh ice with a 40-foot slide -- >> that's the rewarding party. >> reporter: -- thousands more across the country remain without heat and electricity as officials scramble to repair ice-covered power lines.

>> we just want to be able to quickly respond to anything that does happen between now and the end of the event. >> reporter: that event is expected to last until noon when places like kansas city are under still a threat of freezing rain. but soon that freezing rain will become regular rain, and once it does, this entire storm system is expected to move north and east through tomorrow morning. alex? >> thanks for the heads-up on all that, morgan radford in wichita. too little, too late? i'll ask democratic congressman dan kildee of washington about the nationwide protests today that comes the day after the n congress took the first step to dismantle obamacare. (vo) maybe it was here, when you hit 300,000 miles. or here, when you walked away without a scratch. maybe it was all the times it got you safely out there.

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secretary's approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan. it will be repeal and replace. it will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably the same day, could be the same hour. >> donald trump there vowing to repeal and replace obamacare, but not exactly offering critical specifics. meanwhile, more than 40 rallies slated from maine to honolulu today to save health care, supported by bernie sanders and many members of congress. the day of action looks to preserve the affordable care act and planned parenthood funding. joining me, michigan congressman dan kildee, he is on the house financial services committee. welcome back to the broadcast. always good to see you. thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me back on. >> here we go.

after friday's vote, you've got the wheels to repeal all in motion. is it too late to save obamacare as we know it? >> it's not too late if the american people speak up and demand health care as a right, and that's what these rallies are about. there are enough republicans, i believe, in the house and in the senate, who know that health care now in america finally is recognized as something that should not be accessible only to people who are people of means, that it's a human right to be able to not have to worry every night that you're one illness away from bankruptcy, or perhaps not in a position to get the life-saving treatment that every human being ought to have access to. if they speak up, if america speaks up, i think we can stop this. mainly because the republicans really don't have a plan. they say they will, but of course, donald trump says a lot

of things. >> what about the partisan nature of all this? because there are a lot of democrats who say republicans are just trying to bump 20 million people from health care. is that a fair characterization? >> whether they're trying to or not, they seem committed to do it. so i think it's fair to look at the consequences of the actions. because what they're repealing -- when they vote to repeal, they repeal the prohibition on denying a person health care coverage because they have diabetes or they have cancer. they're repealing the requirement that you can't get kicked off your health care -- >> right, the pre-existing conditions. >> not just pre-existing, but basically before the affordable care act, if you got sick, your insurance company could cancel your coverage. >> true. >> so, all of the elements of the affordable care act are about giving people this essential, life-saving opportunity. and the idea that they can say, wellwe're just repealing the affordable care act or obamare without saying what they're

replacing it with puts a lot of people at real risk. >> but do you believe obamacare itself has some areas to be improved, there are fixes to be done? if so, what are they, and can those be achieved? >> it clearly could be improved, but you don't throw it away. obviously, changing the market structure. part of the problem we see in some areas of the country is a lack of competition. we've been talking about ways to do that. one of the ways is to allow plans to cross state lines so that more plans can compete for those customers. that would drive down cost. allowing the federal government, for example, to negotiate with drug companies for lower prescription drug prices, that could lower costs. so, the idea that there's nothing we can do to make this better is not something that most members of congress accept. i'm one who i've been open to changes to the affordable care act. but the idea that we should just blow it all up, throw it away, put people back in the position

we in before the ac weinke passed, which was a terrible time -- we have to remind ourselves of that. if you had an illness, you couldn't get health care. you couldn't get health insurance before the affordable care act. 20 million people have been covered since at fordable care act was passed. >> right. >> those benefits will all be lost. >> i want to play a clip from a new ad by a conservative advocacy group linked to house gop leadership. here's that. >> imagine a new path forward, health insurance that provides more choices and better care at lower costs. house republicans have a plan to get there without disrupting existing coverage. >> so your reaction to that? >> well, they say they have a plan. show us that plan. you know, the way they describe it, often they describe elements of a plan that sound a lot like the affordable care act. you know, donald trump says they're going to keep those very

popular provisions. one of my colleagues, cathy mcmorris rodgers, a republican, says no one is going to lose their health insurance. if they're going to make these sorts of promises, they have to be willing to do what democrats have done, put a plan on the table. >> right. >> people will criticize it, and obviously, no plan is ever perfect, but at least in our case we've been willing to do what put many americans in a position to get health care for the first time in generations. >> i'm sure your constituents are talking about this. what are they saying? >> they're saying make sure that we don't lose this really important moment, that we don't lose the opportunity to protect our families with health insurance. this is about the life and health of people. it shouldn't be about politics. >> all right. representative dan kildee, i'm sure we'll see you again. thanks so much for your time. >> thank you, alex. dropping poll numbers. a feud with a civil rights icon and controversial cabinet picks. i'll have a trump supporter why the president-elect is dealing with these controversies days

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york at 31 past the hour. here's what we're monitoring for you. politics and new reaction from vice president-elect mike pence on the controversy surrounding thatifts between the president-elect and coressn john lewis. >> can he really say that about the man who got his head cracked open walking across the pettis bridge in selma, alabama, on bloody sunday, all talk, no action? do you think that's appropriate? >> i think donald trump has the right to defend himself. for someone to use his stature, to use terms like this is not a legitimate president, it's just

deeply disappointing to me, and i hope he reconsiders it. but what donald trump was -- >> let's bring in steve cortez, republican strategist and a member of the advisory council. good morning to you. if vice president-elect pence has that expectation, shouldn't donald trump reconsider his tweet? >> alex, i think you know that i don't defend every single aspect or every detail of donald trump's strategy, even though i'm fully in support of his candidacy and now his presidency upcoming. so i think it was a mistake to engage with john lewis on a personal level, i do. i don't think that was appropriate and i wish he hadn't done it, quite frankly, but i will also say that john lewis was completely inappropriate in calling this presidency, this upcoming presidency illegitimate, because that is just simply factually incorrect, so he shouldn't say that either. what is more concerning to me going forward and what i think should be a real concern to team trump and to any american is that the civil rights struggle is ongoing. and how do we make the lives

better for people who live in communities of color, black and hispanic? here in my city of chicago last night, 11 people were shot. and unfortunately, that's a typical saturday night. in many ways, communities of color ar going backwards in america, whether it's law and order, economic rtunity, education. i think donald trump has a lot of excellent answers to address many of those problems, and i want to get to those policy solutions, not personal disagreements on twitter. >> do you think maybe he could have said it differently, though? >> indeed i do. i think he could have said it differently. look, anyone who says that this is not a legitimate presidency, that's insulting. it's insulting to voters, by the way, people in states like wisconsin and ohio and michigan. you're telling them that their vote didn't count or that they made a mistake and it's incorrect and it's insulting to voters. so, i think it's very appropriate for the president-elect to defend legitimacy of his election. i think that's important for all americans, it's important for our democracy. i would rather he not take on

john lewis in a personal sense. >> all right. let's go now to new poll numbers out this week which you may have seen. it shows that mr. trump has the lowest approval rating of any incoming president at this point in the transition, suggesting that regardless of who is president, the public has a reservoir of goodwill. but since his election win, hasn't trump eroded that to some degree? does that explain his approval number, which is lower than it was election day? >> well, you know, alex, as you well know, as anyone knows who wasn't on mars during this campaign, it was an incredibly bruising campaign on both sides. and so, it's not surprising to me that there is still a lot of rancor and partisanship, even though the election is over. frankly, the onus is on us as republicans. we have the white house and control both houses of congress. so, i'll admit, as happy as i am that we won and i can't wait to celebrate in person this week at the inaugural festivities in washington, d.c., that's the good news. the bad news in a sense is now we really have to get to work, and the onus is on us to

produce. we have to produce growth and security for america, which is what we campaigned on and promised. and because we control all branches of government, we have to deliver and deliver i think relatively quickly. if we do that, then i'm confident that we're going to see a lot of this partisanship and rancor dissipate in the coming months and years. >> steve, the president just sat down for his final interview in office and he took a minute to reflect on his successor. let's take a listen to that. >> i don't think there's anybody who's run a campaign like his successfully in modern history, not that i can think of. and as a consequence, because he didn't have the supports of many of the establishment in his own party, because he ran sort of an improvisational campaign -- >> can you run an improvisational presidency? >> i don't think so. >> how do you respond to that? >> well, look, no, it's not going to be improvisational, but it is going to be very different. you know, he ran as an outsider. we were an outsider movement.

this was an insurgency of the ballot box to take back our government. our government has been controlled by a political cabal that is far too controlled by k. street and exists to its own benefit to the detriment of the country as a whole. so we ran on that basis. clearly, it's not going to be business as usual. this has been a very different candidacy, a very different transition and will be a very different white house. donald trump's not going to washington to tinker around at the edges of our political establishment right now. he's looking to smash the political establishment for the betterment of the american people, and i think he's going to do that. that will upset and has already upset a lot of people within washington, but i think most americans are saying, good, it's time for us. again, it's an insurgency of the ballot box. we are taking back our government. >> all right, steve. i always welcome our conversations, which means i'll see you again soon. thank you. >> thank you, alex. new insight into what esident obamwas like toork with behind the scenes during his eight years in office. nbc news senior white house

correspondent chris jansing joins me now with more. chris, you spoke with one of the president's key economic advisers, right? >> reporter: hey, alex. yeah, i talked to jason furman, chairman of the council of economic advisers, but he's also somebody who when he went to harvard, one of the first people he met was matt damon, the oscar-winning actor, who tells the story that he almost went home because he was so intimidated by how smart furman was. president obama obviously not intimidated. the two have worked closely on key economic issues. he won the nobel peace prize, but unlike the fictional jim bartlett, he does not have a nobel prize in economics. take us inside the room. what's it like to be with him tackling a tough economic problem? >> the thing to understand about the nobel prize in economics is it's usually given towards the end of your career, for a lifetime of work. >> reporter: you think he might still get it? >> it is still a possibility for him. >> good afternoon. we've seen the longest job streak on record and wages have

gone more than any in the past 40. >> the thing i love most with meetings about him is he always has the economic people in the room and he has the political people in the room, and he always starts with the economic people. this is a guy who reads the memos we write. and when i learned that he actually read all of them beginning to end -- >> were you surprised? >> i didn't realize he was reading every word. once i realized that, we started to be a little bit more judicious and say, you know what, maybe we don't need to give him the eight different versions of the same analysis. >> reporter: the "washington post" called you "the wonkiest wonk in the white house," but is the president even wonkier than you are maybe? >> i think the president loves this stuff. >> reporter: is there one thing that the president and you wish you could have gotten done that you didn't? >> the single most important economic policy that didn't get done was immigration reform. >> i think it is heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who made their lives here, who

have raised families here. >> to me, that's the biggest regret on the economic side. >> reporter: how closely will you be watching what happens with something that you were key in putting together, and that's obamacare? >> i think it's going to be hard to do anything to it because it worked. >> reporter: what will you miss about the president? >> i'll miss talking about chinese science fiction novels with him. >> reporter: seriously. >> seriously. whenever he goes off on vacation, he puts out the list of books he was reading. and last year he put out a book "the three-body problem" by a chinese author, translated into english. it was a fantastic novel. >> reporter: thank goodness. >> i had read it. he read it. he ended up really liking it. we talked about this a bunch in a meeting. we both read the sequel at about the same time. and then when the third one came out, i got an advanced copy of it for him, prepublication, gave it to him for his birthday and he ended up talking to his

science adviser about some of the issues that are raised. i try not to be offended when i'm cut out of meetings. i'm the type of person who's really like why wasn't i in this meeting, but the fact that he did discuss this novel with his science adviser and didn't include me in the discussion, i might always be bitter of that. >> reporter: is that your low point of the white house service? >> me being cut out of that meating, yeah. >> reporter: furman takes a lot of good-natured ribbing about being a nerd, takes it well. it was said famously that when he decided he needed to lose some weight, he plotted it all out on a spreadsheet. alex? >> makes sense. got to love the wonk. thanks, chris. what donald trump has to say in his inaugural address that could begin to heal the country's divide. and next hour on "am joy," joy's exclusive interview with broadway legend jennifer holliday and her decision not to perform at the inauguration. your insurance company won't replace

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approach inauguration day, president-elect trump will become president trump. and so, as a matter of fact, regardless, i think the congressman also understands that he has to be worked with. the goal has got to be to bring america together. and unfortunately, america's very divided right now. >> that, of course, civil rights advocate martin luther king iii, weighing in on john lewis' assertion that donald trump is not a quote legitimate president. let's bring in the vice president at the bipartisan policy center and former bush/cheney senior adviser. joined by baabis schmeichel, former senate aid to hillary clinton. hi, guys! good to see you here. ba is mr. king right that unity and teamwork should be the goals for democrats right now? >> well, i think it should be a goal for everybody. when you interviewed steven earlier, he said that the republicans control the white

house and both chambers of congress. and so, the onus really is on them because they're the ones that are in positions o per and need to make sure tt folks come together, particularly around key policy issues. i don't think the onus is on the democrats here, specifically referring to john lewis. you know, regardless of his opinion about the legitimacy of trump's presidency, my concern has always been that there is an expectation that this sort of kumbaya has to be nurtured among democrats, that we're the ones that really have to do the mending of fences here. i don't think that that's the case. >> so robert, you know, 30 years john lewis has been in congress, respected on both sides of the aisle for many reasons. how do you think this spat with trump is going to play among your gop colleagues? and do you think there will be some who break away from supporting trump because of this? >> yes. john lewis is an icon. he is someone, as we all know,

who has literally written chapters in our nation's history when it comes to civil rights and when it comes to justice and equal opportunity. so look, the reality is that both sides probably need to cool off here a little bit, and the reality is, is that donald trump won this election, so therefore, he is legitimate. now, we can disagree very strongly about how he got to the presidency in terms of all the things that he said from a policy standpoint, but also from a personality standpoint. and if i can go back for a second to what my friend on the other side of the aisle said about the onus not being on the democrats. the onus is on all americans here to come together. and the onus is on for all americans to stop this partisan rhetoric, on the republican side but also on the democratic side, to come together. the reality is, yes, politically, it is that republicans own washington, d.c., right now, but the last time i looked at the constitution, the congress is a co-equal branch of government. the last time i checked, donald trump is not a conservative, and so there are a lot of republicans that are probably scratching their heads right now saying, you know what, from a

policy standpoint, i am not sure i agree with him on a lot of these things. the last time i checked, the affordable health care act still needs to be replaced and fixed. so, there are a lot of issues that need to put the partisan rancor aside, including donald trump, and actually come together from a policy standpoint. >> yeah, but here's what i would say to that. i agree with you that i do think that all americans need to participate in bringing our country together. this is true. but one thing that i think has been sort of this thread of narrative around trump's victory is that he's won, and i think you used the word handily. in another interview, others have used similar language. i think that the election or his victory is a bit more tenuous than that in that i do think that he as president of the united states has that responsibility and more responsibity than probably any of us to actually do this kind of healing and has an additional responsibility to talk about how the policies that are going to

be addressed under his administration, particularly on the affordable care act, which provided health care to millions, how that's actually going to affect people. so, when he does something like tweet about representative john lewis on martin luther king jr. weekend, that's not something that brings us together. and i think that he has to be able to understand the nuances of that and how important -- the symbolism of that. >> can i ask both of you what you need to hear from donald trump in his inaugural address on friday that can make this country a bit more cohesive than it is right now? to you first, robert. >> yeah, we all bleed american. we all put on our shoes left and right, and we all believe in the same collective ideals. and although we are republican and democrat, and although we had a hard-fought election over the last 18 months, let's try to figure this out, because the reality is, is that there are millions of people out there, regardless of the partisan

rancor, that are struggling every single day just to get by. they're playing by the rules, and they feel like the system is racked against them. i want my president, regardless of whether he's republican or democrat, to acknowledge that and try to figure out a way we can come together over the next four years. >> becauase snrnk. >> similar to that. i want our president to realize that while we share a lot of values, oftentimes the rules don't apply to all of us equally, and that in many ways the system is rigged. and donald trump i know talked about that during his campaign, but i also want him to be mindful of that as he's -- as he moves and pivots to governance. that's very important. so, look, we can talk about our partisan disagreements. we can disagree on policy. but i ultimately need the policy to work for everyone. that's what i think both democrats and republicans campaigned on, but donald trump

i think in a moment where he now will be moving the levers of bureaucratic power in this country, i hope that he decides to find ways to implement that. >> all right, thank you both so much. appreciate that. from one woman's idea to an event expecting hundreds of thousands, the message america will get from next weekend's women's march on washington. i'll ask a national co-chair.

washington is gearing up for two massive events this week, the inauguration friday, then saturday hundreds of thousands of activists will take to the streets for the women's march on donald trump's first full day as president. with me now, one of the national co-chairs of that march, tamika m m mallory. this thing has certainly caught fire. it started with one woman posting something on facebook and now we have one of the biggest events in d.c.

what can we realistically expect? >> we can expect a diverse group of people coming together from all walks of life. not just women, women will be there in large numbers but our families are coming out to support us and support the platform and the issues. you can expect to see people there who are in the area of climate justice, racial justice issues will be brought to the table, economic justice, reproductive rights, all of these issues will be in one place, which is actually very historic. we have not seen this type of convening and collaboration of groups with so many different issues coming together at once. >> so again, just one woman got this thing going. how did it start? >> so teresa shook, a woman from hawaii, sent out an invitation to 40 of her friends, and that invitation of 40 turned into 10,000 by the next morning. and now hundreds of thousands. and it really shows you the power of grassroots movements and the power of social media.

she sent it out, concerned about what had happened with the election, and since then we've been able to really harness that energy and bringo many people into the fol who wt to be there on january 21st to stand up for our rights. >> and i know you and other organizers, you say this is not an anti-trump event. but then how do you carefully thread that needle between respect for the government and fighting for change? >> i think if we go to washington, d.c., just to talk to donald trump, we've missed the mark. obviously donald trump is important, but i believe that that is a disease -- he's not the disease, he is a symptom that has always existed. so these folks who are coming together from the naacp to planned parenthood to all the organizations that are joining, we have over 300 partners, these are folks who have been out here fighting the fight. and so this is a continuation of the work we've already been doing. people will be joining together on january 21st to help some folks who may not know what

movement has existed. they may not have been involved. they're going to receive ways and entry points so they can join and work with us. >> so this is going to get a lot of attention on saturday. but what do you want these people to do on sunday, on monday, on tuesday after? >> well, obviously january 22nd is more important than the 21st. it's clearly important to show in large numbers our concerns and the fight for our rights, but when we go back home, that's where the real work begins. we're telling people to come, be inspired, get information about the differt groups, meet other people who are like-minded, folks who want to be involved and be engaged, but when you go back home it's going to be incumbent upon all of us to ensure that we're at the state house, that we're pushing from the ground level on the local level, because that's where the real work happens. >> tamika mallory, thank you so much for your time and

explaining it all to us. >> thank you for having me, alex. >> that's going to do it for me this hour. coming up next on "a.m. joy" an exclusive interview with jennifer holiday about her decision not to perform at the inauguration. then at noon eastern, a dateline special, the reality of hope. lester holt's one-on-one interview with president obama. i'll see you right back here at 1:00 p.m. we'll see you soon. that ride sy rode here on the cloud. did not feel like a cloud... that driverless car? i have seen it all. intel's driving...the future! traffic lights, street lamps. business runs on the cloud... and the cloud runs on intel. ♪ i wonder what the other 2% runs on...(car horn)