OFF TO THE RACES: Down on government
NBC's Elissa Nunez reports on a new Pew Research Center survey showing low trust in the federal government.
The Washington Post's Dave Weigel: "In more than two dozen interviews over the weekend in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Alabama, voters offered some clues as to why Paris has altered the consciousness so dramatically. They described feeling more afraid of the Islamic State, more horrified by the imagery of beheadings and other atrocities. They are uncomforted by Obama’s leadership. And with the pain of the Iraq war still weighing on the nation, they are even listening to the people who say the United States must send troops to the Middle East to fight the Islamic State."
CARSON: "As a surgeon, he was praised for his dedication, unassuming demeanor and attention to detail. As a candidate, he has sometimes seemed imprecise or ill informed, as when he said China had intervened in Syria, and prone to odd assertions like his belief that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. Some articles have questioned the accuracy of parts of “Gifted Hands.” His comments doubting evolution and the medically recommended schedule of vaccines have baffled people in science and medicine," writes the New York Times.
He flubbed another history fact in a C-SPAN interview.
He's upset about the "hypocrisy" of those who doubt his foreign policy smarts, writes NBC's Vaughn Hillyard.
CLINTON: She's making moves to end the primary as early as possible.
CRUZ: He told the Associated Press that "tone matters" on immigration. "Are there some in the Republican Party whose rhetoric is unhelpful with regard to immigration? Yes."
RUBIO: He's out with a new ad, airing on national cable and focusing on the Paris attacks.
TRUMP: NBC's Ali Vitali sums up his week of dubious claims, including his statement that Muslims in New Jersey were "cheering" when the Twin Towers collapsed.
The Washington Post fact-checks the New Jersey statement, giving Trump four Pinnochios.
He said of a black protestor at a Birmingham rally: "maybe he should have been roughed up."
He also retweeted incorrect statistics about race and murder.
And around the country...
LOUISIANA: The Times-Picayune: "State Rep. John Bel Edwards, a relatively unknown Democrat from a rural Amite, will be the state's next governor after toppling Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in one of the biggest political upsets in the state's history. No state in the Deep South has had a Democratic governor since Kathleen Blanco left office eight years ago. A Democrat hasn't even come within spitting distance of statewide office in Louisiana since 2008, when former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu won reelection."
More: Vitter won't run for re-election to the Senate.
OBAMA AGENDA: "Prejudice and discrimination helps ISIL”
The big picture: "Carrying out attacks far from the Islamic State’s base in Iraq and Syria represents an evolution of the group’s previous model of exhorting followers to take up arms wherever they live — but without significant help from the group. And it upends the view held by the United States and its allies of the Islamic State as a regional threat, with a new assessment that the group poses a whole new set of risks."
President Barack Obama, over the weekend: "Prejudice and discrimination helps ISIL and undermines our national security."
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told one of us(!) that Congress needs to "start getting serious" about closing loopholes that allow terror suspects to obtain guns.
The New York Times outlines why Syrian refugees spend two years in the vetting process to enter the United States.
Brussels is still on lockdown as one of the suspected Paris attackers remains on the loose.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron speaks with NBC’s Keir Simmons about the terror raids that occurred in Brussels; Congresswoman Jackie Speier from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about the President’s inquiry into intelligence on ISIS and also the political rhetoric over Paris and ISIS; MSNBC Political Analysts Joan Walsh and Chairman Michael Steele about the latest political headlines; and NBC’s Kerry Sanders about the recent violent incidents in New Orleans.
*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Andre Carson, the Wall Street Journal’s Jeanne Cummings, the New York Times’ Jeremy Peters, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and our team of reporters covering the latest on the terror investigation in Paris and Brussels.