In homestead, florida, where i grew up, the conditions are horrible. They are. On jining a lautd that would kill coverage for preexisting conditions. I am in favor of preexisting conditions. So drop the lawsuit. So, we will drop your aspect of the lawsuit. And his biggest regret as president. If you could have one doover as president , what would it be . And how mr. Trump thinks impeachment could impact his reelection opportunities. If hell keep mike pence on the ticket and whether hes prepared to lose the election. This morning oneonone with President Trump. Plus, the democrats as we head into the first debates, joe biden and Pete Buttigieg confront difficult questions on race. Joining me are nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. William baker, chief correspondent for the new york times. Wall street journalist peggy noonan and lanhee chen of stanford university. Welcome to sunday and a special edition of meet the press. Announcer from nbc news, the longest running show in television history, this is a special edition of meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Its safe to say were at one of the prift points of the 2020 election cycle. At the same time, democrats will unofficially hear the starting gun for their nomination fight when 20 candidates face off for two nights of debates this coming week in miami. Even though he wont be there, President Trump will be a dominant presence at those debates. One way or the other, the 2020 election will be a referendum on donald trump. The president will argue hes a successful businessman turned president whos created a strong economy, appointed conservative judges, ended unnecessary regulations and established a sense of strong and, yes, feared america around the world. In short, hell argue hes made America Great again. Democrats will say hes a bigot whos praised neonazis, caged children, lied shamelessly and embarrassed america before the world. In short, theyll argue hes unfit for the office. I sat down with President Trump friday morning phofor an interv that touched on, well, everything. We started with his Decision Just hours earlier to call off a retaliatory strike after iran shot down an unmanned american drone. Mr. President , welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. Let me start right in. What happened last night . Well, you had a situation that was very bad because the night before they shot down an unmanned drone. And the unmanned is a very big factor. The fact there was not a person on it, a u. S. Person on it or anybody. And that had an impact on me. I said, well, you know, we got a little problem. And i think they did it on purpose because they understand that they will be hit very hard if that were a plane with a person in it. And i think they knew that there was nobody there. So, we had a very modest but pretty heavy attack scheduled. And this was a preplan you had. Something that if you did something they were sort of readymade plans. We had many of them. I have so many targets, you wouldnt believe. We have targets all over. Did you green light something or had you said, if we do it, ill do this . What was the order . Nothing is green lighted until the very end because things change. So you never gave a final order . No, no. We had something ready to go, subject to my approval. They came in, they came this about a half hour before and said, were about ready to go. I said, i want a better definition were planes in the air . No, no. They were about ready to go. No, but they would have been pretty soon. Things would have happened to a point where you wouldnt turn back or couldnt turn back. So, they came and they said, sir, were ready to go. Wed like a decision. I said, i want to know something before you go. How many people will be killed . In this case iranians. I said, how many people are going to be killed . Sir, id like to get back to you on that. Great people, these generals. They said came back, said, sir, approximately 150. And i thought about it for a second. I said, you know what, they shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it, and here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after i said go ahead. And i didnt like it. I didnt think it was i didnt think it was proportionate. Do you think they were trying to provoke you . No, i dont think so. And it was very important to them dont forget you dont think they intended to get you to respond militarily . Their economy is shattered. Shattered. Whats the their inflation is through the roof. Worse than anyplace theyre living not well. Do you want to do a separate deal with iran or get everybody involved in the same deal, get the russians, chinese. I dont care what kind of a deal. It can be separate or total. Its oneonone talks you and the ayatollah or it doesnt matter to me. Anything to get you to the result, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Its not about the straits. A lot of people cover it incorrectly. They never mention they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Theyd use it. And theyre not going to have a nuclear weapon. Did you send a message last night . Reuters is reporting you sent a message to the iranians saying, i dont want a war. I want to talk. I did not send that message. Send a message right now to the ayatollah. Its fake news. Send a message right now to the ayatollah. It wouldnt be much different from that message. Which is . Im not looking for war. If there is, it will be object lit rags like youve never seen before. But you cant have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk good otherwise youll have a bad economy for three years. No preconditions . Not as far as im concerned. No preconditions. And youll talk anyway . Here it is. You cannot have nuclear weapons. If you do, you can live in a shattered economy for a long time to come. Do you feel like you were being pushed into military action by any of your advisers . I have two groups of people. I have doves and some hawks. You have some serious hawks. John bolton is an absolute hawk. If it was up to him, he would take on the world at one time. I was against going into iraq. For years and years. Before it ever happened, i was against going into iraqi. I was a private citizen. I was against going into the middle east. Chuck, we spent 7 trillion in the middle east right now. What would candidate trump have said about a president who on his watch had iran shooting down a drone, a venezuela dictator thumbing his nose at you, no results on the border. Let me what would candidate trump say. The border is doing great. Mexico has been fantastic. Theyve been trying to get a deal with mexico for 45 years. For 45 years they couldnt get a deal. I got one in one day. We agreed in one day. Mexico just moved 6,000 people to their southern border. 6,000 troops to their southern border. The border is working out well and the wall is being built. People dont like to talk about it. Well have 400 miles of wall built by the end of next year. Thats hard because the democrats dont want to approve it. We just beat them in a big lawsuit, as you know, in washington and d. C. We just beat them in a big lawsuit doesnt it worry you your border numbers are worse than obamas . No, people are coming up because the economy is good. Obama had a lousy economy. It was a dead economy. Let me show you this chart. You see that chart . Yeah. Its the Unemployment Rate from the peak of the recession. Your economy is great. Im not saying its not great. But this recovery started and in the 28 months youve been president and the last 28 months of obamas presidency, he averaged more new jobs than your first 28. Thats because he started off with such a bad base. Okay. I mean, he hits but is it not chuck, you have to understand, nobody was working. The whole place was a disaster. And i dont ive never take that away but its very easy because when that turned around, they pumped a tremendous amount of money into the economy. He also had a Federal Reserve person who kept the Interest Rates low. I do not. Sounds like you do now. No, no. He raised them far too fast. Your threat to demote him. Do you think thats had an impact . I never threatened to demote him. There was talk you threatened to demote him to the number two spot. I can do that. Thats not a threat . I have the right to do that but i havent said that. What hes done is 50 billion a month in quantitative tightening . Thats ridiculous. He raised Interest Rates too fast. Do you think its going to hurt your reelection . I think the economy is so strong, well bowl through it but im not happy with his actions. No, i dont think hes done a good job. If he didnt raise rates obama had very low rates. Obama was playing with funny money. I wasnt. Im playing with the real stuff. Let me ask you this. Wait, wait. Obama had somebody that kept the rates very low. I have someone that raised the rates very rapidly, too much. He made a mistake. Thats been proven. And yet my economy is phenomenal. We have now the best economy maybe in the history of our country. Just to finish off. When i took over this country, the economy was ready to collapse. You take a look at the numbers. It was ready to collapse. And if i didnt win i just showed you the numbers. It wasnt ready to collapse. You showed me the Unemployment Rate. Take a look at your gdp, optimism, all of the charts when i took over, from election day on, you show me one chart i did well in that too, but im not talking about that. Take a look at the optimism charts, it went from 57 to 92. Youre right. Youre right. Optimism, youre right. Optimism is a big part of success in business. You were always hard on obama. You didnt think he was enough of a cheerleader. He was not a cheerleader. If you could have one doover as president , what would it be . It would be personnel. If it would be one doover, i would not have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general. That in your mind yes. Is bill barr your i think hes a very talented you always said, wheres my i had many, many lawyers. Roy was one of them. He was a tough guy. Cut from the same cloth, do you think . Bill barr is equally as tough. Hes a fine man. Hes a fine man. The job hes done is incredible. Hes brought sanity back. I think hes real. I dont think, i know. Hes respected. He loves the department of justice. He saw what was happening. He has done a spectacular job. Now hes in the process of doing something and i stay away from it. I really i stay away from it. But i think he feels that whats happened in this country was a very bad thing and very bad for our country. Thats part one of my interview with President Trump. Since theres a lot to unpack, well unpack it in bitesized chunks. Let me bring in my panel, peggy noonan, kristen welker, peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the new york times. First takeaway, peter. Youre jousting him in an interesting way. Its interesting hes letting you do this. Most president s wont allow you to push him that way but thats the only way you get him to talk. I think he likes that. I think he does. And i think hes enjoying giving you his case for reelection, as you already outlined, basically. Hes running the economy, despite all the things obama had done wrong. Hes the one who will be tough on iran when obama just gave away the store. The question is whether the results are going to end up being there november 2020. As you said, wall is not built. Border crossings are up. Can he make enough of a case on obamacare. He already made foils. His fed chair can slow down the economy. Democrats hurt him at the border. Jeff sessions, worse mistake he made. Those are people to blame if things arent going right. Let me start there, chuck. He mentioned Jeff Sessions, but he first said personnel. I thought that was notable. Look at how this week evolved. Hes grappling with iran but doesnt have a defense secretary in place. Hasnt had a Permanent Defense secretary for six months. Hes dealing with whats happening at the border, this decision to pull back on his threat of i. Krmplgc. E. Deportad taking aim at Jerome Powell and dangling the possibility of demoting him to the second spot. Youre starting to see him line up the excuses, but it continues to plague him as he makes these critical choices. What did you see there, peggy . All correct. I agree with everything you said but mostly what i saw was he loves this. He les talks. He loves interviewing. Hes loaded for bear. Hes thought out the forrays hes going to take in the future. I thought the most interesting thing he said was, i have doves and i have hawks. Explaining his iran decision this week. I think the American People will be sympathetic to that decision, sympathetic to the declared reasons for it. And sympathetic or supportive of the idea hes thinking about this and hes got a lot of different people and he listens to them and then he makes a decision. Ill tell you, i dont believe he ever would have ordered the strike. The person ive interviewed and known for a long time and his position on this, but he he was reveling in the fact he had everybody confused. This was the classic articulation of trumpian democracy at work. Trumpian diplomacy at work, i mean. You think about it this way. Theres a piece of leverage, that maybe hes created and he doesnt allow people to really know what hes thinkings. And so he may or may not exercise or use that leverage. He uses that to bring his adversary to the table. Youve seen it with north korea. Youve seen it with china. Youve seen it with mexico. Now youre seeing it with iran. And it is in many ways its become entirely predictable. The unpredictable has become predictable. I think youre right. I think if you look at trump from the campaign, you look at the donald trump we know about not wanting to get entangled in the middle east, it was very unlikely he was going to launch that. Was that a confident president or is he trying to show too so much confidence because hes nervous about the economy. He is nervous about iran. He is nervous about the border. Hes nervous about Jeff Sessions, which is code for investigations and mueller. Look, as you said, he Just Announced his reelection. Hes eager to get out in the fight. But theres this insecurity that fuels this cocky kind of persona he likes to project to the public. Theres always been this idea that he hasnt done enough to impress the elites, even at the same time he likes to bash the elites. I think this is part and parcel of his appeal, peggy has written about this, to a lot of americans who out there feel the same way. You guys are looking down on me, but im doing okay here. Why do you treat me this way . Chuck, i wrote this phrase down when you asked him about the economy. He said, were going to bowl through it. I thought that was striking. Ist not sort of the word or the term that you would use if youre feeling really confident about the future prospects of the economy. Thats a grinder comment. Im going to grind my reelection. Exactly. I saw a president at the white house this week and in your interview, internally conflic d conflicted. How to seem tough and not get mired in the middle east. Coming up, more of my President Trump interview. The battle over preexisting conditions and all of those children in migrant camps. Theyre in terrible shape down there, mr. President. Down there in homestead, florida, thats where i grew alarm beeping welcome to our busy world. Where we all want more energy. But with less carbon footprint. Thats why, at bp, were working to make energy thats cleaner and better. Were producing cleanerburning natural gas. And solar and wind power. And wherever your day takes you. We have advanced fuels for a better commute. And were developing ultrafastcharging technology for evs. At bp, we see possibilities everywhere. So we can all keep advancing. The one thing you learn pretty as a small bquickly,owner, is that theres a lot to learn. Grow with google is here to help you with turning ideas into action. Putting your business on the map, connecting with customers, and getting the skills to use new tools. So, in case youre looking, weve put all the ways we can help in one place. Free training, tools, and Small Business resources are now available at google. Com grow wearing powerful sunscreen . Yes neutrogena® ultra sheer. Unbeatable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer®. Neutrogena®. Hi. Maria ramirez mom maria Maria Ramirez. Mcdonalds is committing 150 Million Dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs. Prof Maria Ramirez mom and dad Maria Ramirez to help more employees achieve their dreams. Welcome back. Continuing now with my interview with President Trump. As youll see, we hit a lot of topics in this part of our sitdown, starting with the crisis on the border. I want to ask whats going down with these children in the migrant camps. The stories are horrible, mr. President. You have children without their parents. You have kids taking care of kids. Yeah. Youve read these reports. I know people are coming to you. I know you think this is the democrats problem. Well forget it. Why arent you doing something about it. Are you ready . Theyre in terrible shape down there, mr. President. Down in homestead, florida, where i grew up, the conditions are terrible. I agree. Do something. And its about enthat huawei for a long time. Do something. And president obama built the cages. They said i built them. Do two wrongs make a right. Chuck, listen for one second. Spras for president obama, i took over separation. Im the one that put it together. Whats happening are the cartels and all these bad people are using the kids. Theyre its almost like slavery. Lets not punish the kids more. This is the kids are getting punished more. Youre right. And this has been happening long before i got there. What weve done is created weve ended separation. You know, under president obama you had separation. I was one that ended it. Now, i said one thing. When i ended it, i said, heres whats going to happen. More families are going to come up. And thats whats happened. But theyre really coming up for the economics. Once you ended the separation but i ended separation. I inherited separation from president obama. President obama built they call them jail cells. They were built by the obama lets talk about, your administration, youre not doing the recreation, not even schooling these kids anymore. You got were doing a fantastic job under the circumstances. The democrats arent even approving giving us money. Wheres the money . You know what, the democrats are holding up the humanitarian aid. It looks like these kids are being used as some sort of is it hostage . Well, they are being used. They are being used by very bad people on the other side. As political they are getting paid. Money is being made using them because our laws are so bad. If you have a child, you have an advantage. You know that better than anybody. Why let the political debate hurt these children . They could be impacted for years. If the democrats would change the asylum laws and the loopholes, which they refuse to do because they think its good politics, everything would be solved immediately. But they refuse to do it. They refuse to do it. Do you know what, if they change i used to say 45 minutes. Its 15 minutes. If they changed asylum and if they change loopholes, everything on the border would be perfect. Let me ask you this. Why do you think nancy pelosi has held off her impeachment caucus . Because i think she feels ill win much easier. Ive been told do you think impeachment is good politics for you . I think i win the election easier. But i dont like look, i did nothing wrong. I was spid on. What they did to me was illegal. It was illegal on the other side. I did nothing wrong. Impeachment is a very unfair thing because nothing i did was wrong. If you look at the Mueller Report, there was no collusion. This was all about collusion. There is not a single ive read this Mueller Report both did he use the word collusion . Theres not one place he says nothing happened. Ill be honest with you, nobody mentions russia anymore since the Mueller Report. Nobody mentions russia anymore. And it was about russia. It was a hoax. Let me ask you this wait, wait. While he well give you the time you need. What hoax . A russian hoax with me. You dont believe the russians interfered what they did with respect to our election is different. Were not talking about that were talking about my campaign you were conspireing was a hoax. Good. Going back on wikileaks, knowing now that was stolen foreign material, do you regret using it . I wouldnt have but this was well known. It was in papers. Im going back a long ways it was rumored to be russian stolen property, how why would you use it . How would i know that. I made a speech. Knowing theyre a russian intelligence asset, do you regret it . Wikileaks, thats not my deal in life. I dont know about wikileaks. It was a strange name. There was something about wikileaks, they had information. I say it in a joking manner at a speech. Joking. Everybody laughing and they made it like it was serious. No. I dont want anything bad to happen to our country. Anything bad happens to this country, i will end it and ill end it fast. I dont want any of that to happen. Youre going to see Vladimir Putin in a week. Yes. Are you going to address to him directly about interference in the 2020 election . I may. If you would like me to do that derek. Your answer last week invited him to do it again. Oh, thats not true. Thats not true. Are you going to tell him not to and the consequence i said id do both except they didnt put it on. When they put it on, people understood. They didnt put it on because they put a different segment on. They asked me a question, yeah, i do both. People saw that in the last version of that because the thing played all weekend and on friday. So, its just more fake news. Chuck, theres so much fake news. The Republican Party has changed in your image. Do you think you caused that change or do you think the party was changing and you were the leader they selected . I think common sense changed it. Im common sense. People say, are you conservative i guess im conservative. Im about common sense. We need borders. By the way, mexico has done a great job. Its slowed down so much. But we have an amazing economy and people want to come up. Im about borders. Im about Great Health Care. Bomg obamacare is a disaster. I got rid of the individual mandate. Why is the economy doing so well you said obamacare is going to destroy the economy. We managed it great. I had a choice. I could have let it implode and killed it or i could have youre still trying to kill it. Why are you trying if you this lawsuit that the department of justice joined, it could get rid of preexisting conditions. I am in favor of preexisting conditions. Drop the lawsuit. Drop your aspect of the lawsuit. It has nothing to do with it. The lawsuit is one thing. Were going to put in a bill. Total preexisting conditions. And the republicans are in favor of preexisting conditions. You have full republican control and they couldnt pass anything. Chuck, are you ready . Do you think we had a negative vote from john mccain. But i got rid of the worst part of obamacare which was the individual mandate. We will always protect preexisting conditions. The reason obamacare will continue is wait. We have a man named azar, our secretary, a fantastic man, alex. A total pro. I could have managed obamacare so it would have failed or i could have managed it the way we did so its as good as it can be. Not great but its as its too expensive. The premiums are too high. I had a decision to make. I could have politically killed obamacare. I decided not to do it. But still, its not good. Were going to coming up with Great Health Care if we win the house, the senate and the presidency. Are you prepared to lose . No, probably not. Fair enough. Probably not. You choke it would be much better if i said, yeah. It will be much easier for me to say, well,y he. No, im probably not too prepared to lose. I havent lost that much. You didnt like the fact you lost the popular vote. That bothered you, didnt you . Ill Say Something that, again, is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that i dont believe. I loo, at california mr. President excuse me. Take a look at judicial watch. Take a look at their settlement. California admitted to a million votes. Million votes of what . Take a look at what are you talking about . Judicial watch made a settlement. By what . There was much illegal voting. Let me talk to you about popular vote. Do you have a second . Yes. You like popular vote. I think i do better with the popular vote. But i didnt campaign for the popular vote. You didnt see me campaigning in california and new york. If it was up to the popular vote, i would have done, i think, even better. I won 306 to 223, which was a lot, in the Electoral College. But its like youre training for the 100yarddash versus the mile. Youre totally right. I dont disagree. I went to michigan, she didnt go to michigan enough. I won michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania. I won places that she didnt do a good job. What can i tell you . No, maybe i did a great job. I never git credit for that. They always say she was a lousy candidate. I actually think Hillary Clinton was a great candidate. She was very smart. She was very tough. She was ruthless and vicious. Youd rather run against her, wouldnt you . You only talked about her in your announcement speech. You spent a lot of time talking about her. No, no. Id actually rather run against biden. That would be my preference. Why . Sleepy joe. She was not sleepy. The Electoral College is tougher for a republican to win the popular vote at least me. I feel that i go to three places. I went to 19 or 21 states. I went to maine four times because i wanted to get one. And i did get it. Thats the beauty of the Electoral College. Ive been a proponent of the other sometimes and i change. I will tell you, the Electoral College brings you to many of the states in this country. You have joked about a third term. Youve joked about i only joke. I joke and i say, watch, i will drive chuck todd crazy. Okay. You will yes you will accept the result, you will accept whatever happens in 2020 . Sure. Youre going to be, you may not like it and walk out. I said at a speech recently, watch, well drive the media crazy. Lets go for a third term and then a fourth. Some of the media said, he is going to do it. Speaking of driving people crazy, when you were asked about mike pence in 2024 and you paused about endorsing him as your successor, that got a lot of people going, if mike pence 100 on your ticket in 2020 . Well, 100 ,y he. 100 . Yes. Hes been a terrific Vice President , a friend, a lot of things. Why did you hesitate in endorsing him . It was a surprise question. I wasnt even thinking about it. Its so far out. I mean, its so far out. That would be the only reason. Now, what happens in 2024 . I dont know mike is going to run. Yes, theres much more to my interview. You can see it all unedited, soup to nuts on our website, meetthepress. Com. When he we return, the panel is back and in a few minutes, the oval office. Oval office. I think, somebody said i read so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Rkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. Chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Quit smoking slow turkey. Talk to your doctor about chantix. But some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. Fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. Some only call when they have something to sell. Fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. And while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. Fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Back now with the panel. Peggy. Yes. Theres a lot to digest in that one because we went a lot of places. I first want to start with the Child Migration issue because he just there is hes not personalizing that one. He personalizes almost everything in our interview. He wants he sounds a bit almost too dispassionate. Thats interesting you found him to be a little distanced on the subject. I know he thinks it is a big issue for him still. In the coming election. I know also there is probably a sense within him that he is perceived by others to be failing there at the border. Not only for the issues you mentioned, which are very serious, but because its been three years now and nothing is under control down there. So, maybe that has something to do with his thinking. But ill tell you, i was listening to your audience here as we were watching this interview. And, man, i thought of the old look, this president , we shouldnt lose sight of it because we see him every day. This is a compelling character who people are watching closely. In is a character. He reminded me hes got a line on every subject and he reminded me of the old real estate salesman saying, always be closing. Yes. I sense he is always closing. But i heard a lot of laughter from your audience. Im not sure i can interpret the kind of laughter, but, man, it was total engagement. You know, i think the frustrating thing about immigration, i would imagine, probably to a lot of people is this president is in a position to do the deal on immigration. Boy, he has been. He is in the position, and everyone knows the terms of the deal. Everyone understands what the democrats want out of it. Everyone understands what the republicans would like to see in terms of Border Security and a meritbased system. Hes the one that can get this done. I imagine its frustrating. Its politics involved. I get that. Its an Election Year. Its especially difficult to do immigration in an Election Year but i still inc. This the president is the one to have the opportunity and get out there and get that deal done. Did he bluff its interesting peggy said always closing, but is he going to get a reputation that he bluffs too much . Yeah, thats a great question. The last two weeks basically hes done this three times. Mexico and the tariffs. He says, im going to impose these crippling tariffs unless you give me what i want. Pulled off and got a deal. He did the same thing with iran. Not that he got a deal but pulled back on the strike. And the i. C. E. Deportation, nancy pelosi called me so i decided to hold off for two weeks. He gives democrats credit. Im not sure if thats smart with swing voters. Hes being accommodating. Even though its the crisis he set up. This weekend is going to be mass deportations. Well, maybe not. He likes to create crisis and be the solver of the crisis. Hes a showman. Its a way of getting where he wants to go. You put out a maximalist, almost extreme version of what you want to get in order to push your other side to get 70 , 80 of what you want. That works sometimes but a lot of times hes coming up with a deal thats not much of a deal. Chuck, watching your exchange with him about kids at the border, it reminds me of the phrase he uttered over and over, i alone can fix it. I think hes deeply frustrated that he cant fix it. He did walk up to the line of the deportations that were supposed to start today and say, look, now im calling on democrats and republicans to get something done on asylum. Thats not going to happen. What could happen, they are considering these bills that would add more funding to dhs, to hhs at the border. And hell claim credit and say, look, we got this done ultimately. I want to talk about what he said about Hillary Clinton and joe biden. One of your neighbors on the wall street journal editorial page, daniel henniger, had an interesting observation about joe biden and sleepy joe. Mr. Biden may be doing so well in the headtoheads against mr. Trump because many voters simply want respite from the nonstop trumpian atmosphere of disruption and volatility. For them, Sleepy Joe Biden may not be an insult. I thought that was in some ways, that interview and this column, you see how that could go together. Oh, sure. Do you remember on the Ed Sullivan Show when we were little children, there was a guy who came and balanced plates. There would be a stick, put a plate up, get it going, get another and run back and forth just trying to keep them all up. Balancing plates is part of the tone of this administration. And of this president. Look, its nonstop harem scare em. Even something in the past that might have been as cleanly, logically handled as the iran thing became harem, scare em. I did it for this reason. Hes exhausting. I think a threat for the president is that he tends to exhaust not into submission but into ultimate aversion. Many people in the middle who would like to be sympathetic towards him thinks, oh, my goodness, this is too much. Stop tweeting, stop taunting. Its too much. Thats how the president gets things done. This is his style. Its this notion that youre going to change who he is, i think we should give up on that. All the criticism about there being no process in this white house. Do you really expect there wont be a process in this white house . And the president arrives at decisions the way hes going to arrive at decisions. I dont understand. All these Democratic Candidates criticizing on process. I get it, i love good process more than anything else. Why do it . Its not a compelling argument. Hes going to do what he wants to do. It can exhaust people. I think hes struggling on how to take on biden. You saw that when he was in florida launching his campaign. He went back to his talking points bs on Hillary Clinton because in some ways hes more comfortable there. He decided she was a great candidate now. Exactly. Thats interesting. Yeah, because shes a great candidate because it would make his victory seem that much more impressive. Yes, yes. Were going to pause it here. There is another big event in a couple of days. Coming up, the democrats battle for the nomination as we head into the First Democratic Party debates. Joe biden and burke at farmers insurance, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a parking splat. Flyby ballooning. man dont. Go. Down. Oh, no aaaaaaahhhhhhhh burke rooftop parking. burke and even a hit and drone. driver relax, its just a bug. Thats not a bug, thats not a bug burke and we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum dear tech, lets talk. You blaze trails. But you have the power to do so much more. Lets not just develop apps, lets develop apps that help save lives. Lets make open Source Software the standard. Lets create new plastics that are highly recyclable. Its going to take input from everyone. So lets do it all, together. Lets expect more from technology. Lets put smart to work. Welcome back. Before we get to the democrats, we wanted to show you one more moment from my sitdown with President Trump. U. S. Administrations have long allied themselves with saudi arabia and the Trump Administration is no exception. But in view of continued human rights abuses by the saudis, including the murder and dismemberment of the journalist jamal khashoggi, i asked the president why he overruled congress to allow more arm sales to saudi arabia. His answer boiled down in a word, money. They buy massive amounts 150 billion worth of military equipment that, by the way, we use. We use their military equipment. And unlike other countries that dont have money and we have to s s subsidize. Its a big producer of jobs. It makes you overlook some of their bad behavior . No, i dont like anybodys bad behavior. The United Nations said theyd like the United States to order the fbi to investigate Jamal Khashoggis death and possibly nbss involvement in it. Will you allow the fbi to do that . I think its been heavily investigated. By who . By everybody. By the fbi . Heres where i am. Are you ready . Iran has killed people every day. This is a vicious, hostile place. If youre going to look at saudi arabia, look at iran. Look at other countries, i wont mention names, and take a look at whats happening. Then you go outside of the middle east and you take a look at whats happening with countries, okay . And i only say, they spend 400 to 450 billion over a period of time, all money, all jobs, buying equipment thats the price. As long as though keep buying, youll overlook this behavior . No, but im not a fool that says we dont want to do business with them. By the way, if they dont do business with us, theyll do business with the russians or chinese. They will buy we make the best equipment in the world, but they will buy great equipment they will buy great equipment from russia and from i have heart disease, watch what i eat, take statins, but still struggle to lower my ldl bad cholesterol. Which means a heart attack or stroke. Could strike without warning, pulling me away from everything that matters most. siren because with high bad cholesterol, my risk of a heart attack or stroke is real. Repatha® plus a statin seriously lowers bad cholesterol by 63 . And significantly drops my risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Do not take repatha® if you are allergic to it. Repatha® can cause serious allergic reactions. Signs include trouble breathing or swallowing, or swelling of the face. Most common side effects include runny nose, sore throat, common cold symptoms, flu or flulike symptoms back pain, high blood sugar, and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site. I wont let a heart attack or stroke come between me and everything i love. Neither should you. Tell your doctor to lower your ldl and reduce your risk with repatha®. Pay no more than 5 per month with the repatha® copay card. But were also a cancer fighting, hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. From the day youre born this simple banana peel represents a bold idea a way to create energy from household trash. It not only saves about 80 in carbon emissions. It helps reduce landfill waste. Thats why bp is partnering with a California Company fulcrum bioenergy. To turn garbage into jet fuel. Because we cant let any good ideas go to waste. At bp, we see possibilities everywhere. To help the world keep advancing. Back now with end game. I think we have an idea, peter baker, of what the first big challenge is for not just joe biden but for a lot of the Democratic Candidates that are in the top tier. That is, confronting the issue of race, appealing to africanamerican voters and answering for past discretions. Joe biden and this working with segregationist. Heres how a bunch of his democratic rivals ripped into him on that. What hes speaking on with such adoration are individuals who made their reputation on session gags. That civility gave us todays status quo that is not working for millions of people. As a black man in america, i know the legacy of this kind of language. I know how it still hurts and still harms. Joe biden went on al sharptons show on msnbc yesterday to try to reexplain what he meant. Take a listen. It hurts when you talk about boy. It means Something Different to us. It does. It hurts when you call a racist like you normalize. Thats not the biden i got to know. Dont you understand it . I fully understand. Thats not what i said, though. Do you know what i mean . The context was totally different. By the way, the fact of the matter is i ran against all those folks. Peter baker, what did we learn from this incident . Look, what we learned, joe biden is not prosegregationist, hes not flirting with segregationist ideas. What hes talking about is this idea were supposed to work across the aisle and the energy of Neither Party is there. I think its a generational thing. Hes talking about the 1970s when people want to talk about the 2020s. Hes talking about jim eastland. Whos going to remember jim e t eastland . Thats not a good representation. When youre the option party candidate, you need to be freshness and change. Hes not where the party energy is right now. May be enough to get him the nomination, maybe not but thats not where the activism is. I think peter is right. The way that struck me is biden handled it in a very trumpian way. Whoever wins this nomination will go up against a president who does not apologize, typically. Every once in a while. If the democrats of course, theyre sort of tearing each other apart, but if at the end of the day they apologized for various different things, does that leave the eventual nominee . Im starting to buy into the comparison, is joe biden the mitt romney of 2012 . Meaning where you have a base of the party, a base of the party that wanted something else, but he was considered, well, thats your best shot at getting obama. The base of the Democratic Party wants something else, but then theres this idea, joe biden is your best shot at getting donald trump. I think arguably mitt romney was closer in terms of having been having governed and having had a record a little closer to when he ran for president. The problem with biden is the separation between so much of his political record because, yes, he was Vice President but people dont really account for that if theyre thinking about joe bidens political identity. They think about it from the 1970s. That separation is huge. If you think the Democratic Candidates are attacking biden now, just wait. In a political primary where they agree on 90 of policy, its going to be about drawing distinctions. Youll see it in the debates this week. Well done. Thank you. The way they go after him. If you think this is bad now, just wait. He is the person in the way of the ambitions of a whole bunch of the other candidates who will be on the stage on wednesday and thursday i think biden probably has to get used to the idea that maybe starting out in subtle ways and then tougher ways, a lot of people are going to try to make hm a pinata, you know. And hes got to be able to handle that. And you dont handle it by bringing up 50yearold references to senators who made your party look very bad and whose name reminds you of their bad history in that area. The question, though, is who had the worst week in the democratic primary . Is it joe biden or is it Pete Buttigieg whos getting tested with a crisis in south bend. A white Police Officer kills a black citizen of south bend. Hes been there most of the weekend dealing with protesters and really being read the riot act. Heres a quick excerpt. Did you just ask me if black lives matter . Yes. We want to hear you say it. Of course, black lives matter. Then fire your cops welcome to the nfl. This is a big test. Pete buttigieg, is he ready for the National Stage in his own city . This to me is a big test for him. Its a big test. Unlike former Vice President biden, he doesnt have a longestablished relationship with the africanamerican community. He didnt work on civil rights. And hes really just starting to introduce himself to american voters. Right now that was taking place in south bepnd. To what extent will it resonate . Clearly a topic of the debates. What he did was he was smart, he went off the campaign trail, he went back home and dealt with people in his own community facetoface. The question is, did he do a good enough job . Were getting skrut fli here. Politico said the Police Department hasnt gotten more diverse, its gotten more white. When you look at miami, new york, l. A. , all of them realize the one big thing they had to change was diversifying their police force. Youre sitting there going, 2012 and this hasnt happened in south bend . Pete buttigieg has done very well up until now off a really good presentation on television. He presents himself really well. Well start looking at his actual record. Hes running a city of before 100,000 people. Its not been scrutinized up until now. This is going to bring that home. Youre right, he goes there, he confronts the issue headon. I think that obviously helps him in a sense. Youre right. The record is going to come back and haunt him a little bit. Bad week to have a bad week. Beyond the record, theres also a thin skinness about his response that will not wear well on the campaign trail. He had never shown that before. Right, right. Theres this one moment when you read it, it looks terrible. He didnt mean it the way it came across. I dont want your vote. I am not playing politics. It came across. A horrible exchange for him. I was in south bend recently. I got the impression talking to a lot of people that they approved of him as mayor, but they thought he had some problems. One thing is, this is the sort of cool and technocratic fellow. Interesting. Yeah, doesnt always translate higher. Fabulous way to describe him. Not always a compliment. I want to show you one final moment with my interview with President Trump. It happened in the oval office. Where we also got a surprise visit from mike pence. When i asked the president something about his legacy. Have you thought about a president ial library . I am so busy, i know a lot of people mentioned it to me, the president ial library. Yeah. Im so busy do you know where yet youd want it . I have a lot of locations, actually. I know you do. The best part, i dont have to worry about buying a location. Would you want it at one of your properties . Ive been treated so great in florida. You know, ive been treated great in so many states i take it youd want your library where your people would go. So florida my people are going to a lot of different places. People are great. I read this morning, i had the greatest base ever in politics and i really believe that. I have to see i didnt see the idea of his library coming on one of his properties. The debates are on nbc, telemundo wednesday night includes booker, klobuchar. Thursday well hear from buttigieg, harris, among others. Ill be privileged to be moderating alongside my colleagues. I hope youll join us. Well have coverage all week long. Naets all we have for today. Thank you for watching. Well be back next week with all of the debate analysis thats fit to put on the show. Because if its sunday, its meet the press. Pounding rain storms parts of missouri got five plus inches in just three hours flash floods and contaminated Drinking Water well have the latest. Today President Trump will unleash new sanctions on iran following the downing of a u. S. Drone plus major mid east meetings underway. Im not looking for war and if there is, it will be obliteration like youve never seen before. Another scare this past week for a town where many worry about the air quality. The mystery of what happened to an american medical student who vanished for five days after his friend was murdered. Now speaking out for the first time