Traveling with the president who spent the weekend at his golf course in new jersey. Have we gotten any readouts of these calls today . Reporter no, we have not, kate, we are still waiting on those. Though the president spent most of the weekend attack the media on twitter, he may have heard the widespread criticism of those who thinks he needs to stay on message because he spent the morning tweeting about the work his administration has been doing. The white house says the president is focused on his upcoming foreign trip. He made several calls with foreign leaders sunday night, including the gulf coast states, japan and china, before speaking with germany and italy this morning. During his call with those gulf state leaders, the president urged unity in the ongoing dispute with qatar and some of its arab neighbors saying the importance of stopping terrorist financing and discrediting extremist ideology. During his calls with china and japan, the president raised the growing threat of the Nuclear Program from north korea. That call with china comes after the president recently said he didnt think they were doing enough to put pressure on north korea, saying while i greatly appreciate the efforts of president xi and china to help with north korea, it has not worked out. At least i know china tried. The president spent the rest of his day here in new jersey before heading back to the white house later tonight ahead of a white house celebration on the fourth of july. Kate. Off he goes later this week for that g20 summit. Thank you very much, we appreciate it. So lets get to what is becoming the main event of that whole trip, the first meeting of President Trump and president Vladimir Putin. A number of things could, of course, come up. Syria, ukraine, and possibly russia cyber attack on the 2016 election. But what exactly will be discussed . What exactly is on the agenda and what exactly will this meeting look like . Cnn is startinging to get some those details. Kevin, its great to see you. What do we know . The president plans to focus heavily on the civil war in syria and the crisis in ukraine during this highstakes first facetoface meeting with Vladimir Putin at the end of this week in germany. Those issues the president feels threaten global stability. They also threaten his commitment to foster a partnership with russia. That was something he vowed to do on the campaign trail. Its a lot less clear whether the issue of election meddling will arise. Officially the white house says no agenda has been set yet, that the president himself will decide what topics will arise. But that has led Senior Administration officials and those close to the white house to say that they do not expect the issue of election meddling to arise. Now perhaps thats not a huge surprise, given that the president has downplayed the issue. Hes even questioned whether russia was solely responsible. But of course the president will be under enormous political pressure to raise the election meldsi meddling issue. H. R. Mcmaster when asked whether the president will bring this up, he said theres no specific agenda, that its really going to be about whatever the president wants to talk about. Kate. All right. Well, i guess that just means we will have all to stand by for that. Thank you, kevin. Joining me to discuss the Major Political implications of this report, cnn legal and National Security analyst and asha is here and senior spokesman for the state department and the pentagon under president obama, retired rear admiral john kirby. Its great to see all of you. Thanks for coming in. As kevin is laying out, it seems that there is little expectation that President Trump is going to be bringing up the russian cyber attack, but its all up to him, so who knows what hell come up with in that moment maybe. That, if it does not come up, that seems that its very likely to anger some in his own party on capitol hill who talk about it quite often and who are right now pushing new sanctions against russia for this very thing. Its a seminal political moment for him, kate, for President Trump in bringing up the question of what hes going to do and how hes going to confront an adversary that his own intelligence agencies and intelligence agencies in the United States believe inappropriately meddled in the United States election. If he doesnt do this now, there are concerns that russia will try this again. But if this is dealt with appropriately in terms of sanctions to make sure this doesnt happen in the future, this could come back to haunt him and be a blemish on his legacy if nothing is done about it. Im sure youll hear demands from democrats that he bring this up. Privately many republicans many of them absolutely are concerned that the United States is not doing enough for this. His own counterterrorism officials have said that russia is going to be attempt this again. The only question is whether they succeed and what the United States does about it. Kate. And what is appropriate in coming up in these meetings . Lets talk about that. John, white house officials, theyre not saying formally like what is exactly on the agenda or even the setting of how this meeting is going to play out. Listen here if you will to the president s Homeland Security advisor, thomas bossert, he was asked about this over the weekend. Listen. We dont know if this will be a long bilateral meeting or shorter, those details havent been set. In part that format will dictate what they discuss and how they discuss it. If theres an opportunity the president would recognize that we have an extremely low point relationship based on distrust right now and while we should condemn their Cyber Security behavior, and we should condemn their behavior in the ukraine and sanction them for it and President Trump has said as much, he should also take opportunities to partner with them to defeat isis and prevent the syrians from using chemical weapons. Okay. So i have two questions from this one. Less than a week out, should they have these things settled . The time, the place, the agenda. Should they . Less than a week out for a poolside meeting like this, im not surprised theres no formal agenda proffered by either side. I suspect the teams working at lower levels are trying to set all that so im not surprised theres a specific agenda. What does bother me when i hear general mcmaster say, well, its just whatever the president wants to talk about. Im hoping hes being glib. Im hoping theyre sitting down and saying, mr. President , these are the issues you must bring up with president putin. Certainly ukraine, certainly syria. Im not surprised that kevin is hearing that theyre going to bring that up. But i do agree that this is a prime opportunity for him to raise the russian meddling in our elections. And its more than just that, kate. It cant just be, hey, im bringing it up as a sort of circumstance or a consequence, he has to actually have a point here and a warning to the russians about not doing this Going Forward. Does bossert have some kind of an argument though, john, that in the first facetoface that its not the time to bring up the russian hacking . No, hes completely wrong. This is the time. This is the prime opportunity for the president of the United States to look putin in the eye and say, look, our intelligence agencies know what you did. Were still investigating it. Were not going to tolerate this Going Forward. This is the chance. Theres no better opportunity than that first meeting between the two men. Asha, one thing that everyone is waiting for is if we do get a glimpse of it, the body language between these two men. Everyone remembers the stone cold greeting between obama and putin back in 2013. There are multiple examples of it between those two men over the years. I mean what does this personal interaction between these two men, what does it mean for the entire relationship Going Forward . Well, body language aside, i think that john and saheel are right that it matters much more what is said. Now there needs to be a strong message that the meddling in our election was unacceptable, because otherwise the russians will be emboldened and believe that theres no consequences Going Forward. You know, its interesting that the president has downplayed the russian meddling but is moving full steam ahead with this voter fraud allegation which is baseless and asking for all of this information from the states. Theres a National Security issue here because there are reports that russia may have gone at the state level to interfere in potential voting, whether they were successful or not is not clear, but if the fact that this information is dispersed among the states protects that information. If its centralized with the voting commission, thats just open season for future attempts by russia to get that information for their other attempts to meddle. So i think there needs to be a strong direct message, not just body language in this meeting. Lets talk about a different kind of body language, like the body slamming kind of body language. Asha, ill start with you. It was some kind of transition, just go with me, folks. President trump and his social and the video that he posted over the weekend, of course, hitting cnn and hitting the media in general over the weekend. But President Trumps Homeland Security advisor again, thomas bossert, he was asked about kind of this beating up cnn video right when it came out. When he was asked about it, he said that he would not perceive it as a threat. He would hope no one would perceive it as a threat and said i hope they dont. Do you see it as a threat, asha . I think that it is in direct contradiction to what Sarah Huckabee sanders said last week, that he doesnt depict or promote violence in any way. Whether or not its a threat, we know from this attack on our congressmen in the baseball field that whatever is intended, there are people out there who will unhinged, irrational who take these messages, internalize them and may act on them. Of all people the president of the United States should understand that, particularly in wake of that tragedy and be much more responsible on what he puts out on a social media platform to 30 million viewers. John, you saw that and thought what . I was i was stunned. I was aghast that this was coming from the president of the United States. Let me make two points. One, ive been at cnn now for a couple of months and ive always worked on the other side of the journalist notebook, being a spokesman, to come here and to see the rigor and the ethics and the professionalism that cnn applies to its reporting. Not that i was surprised by that, but it certainly has been brought home clear to me every single day that i come to work and im proud to be a part of this team and it just stuns me that he is able to make these wild accusations about the professionalism here. Number two, i moderated a panel at georgetown a few months ago right after the election. Four young journalists, all in their early 20s. Some were free lancers, some work for a daily newspaper here at the nations capital. All of them said in the wake of the president s election, all of them had received threats. Whether it was electronically or over the phone, all of them. This cannot be tolerated. Whether he was joking or not, hes sending a message that this kind of violence is okay and that the media are an okay target for violence. Its just unacceptable. If you just look at the politics of the moment, saheel, in your area of expertise, be it a threat or not, we do know one thing, that republicans in congress are losing patience with juvenile twitter attacks that the president has been lobbying over well, since he was elected and before, but especially since hes been president. Health care what the president did over the weekend, it has nothing to do with the key issue of health care. But do you see it impacting the debate over health care . Kate, its certainly evoking violence if not explicitly calling for violence. The president s advisers and allies can dismiss this as a joke but president s have a higher standard of behavior than this sort of thing. One thing that a new poll shows is that this rhetoric has an impact, it matters. 42 of republicans now say that the United States has gone too far in expanding the right of a free press. That is an absolutely stunning statistic. Thats according to a new npr marist poll thats out. It goes to show that this stuff has a real impact. Now, with regard to health care, its a bit of a doubleedged sword. On one hand, republicans prefer him to not get distracted but the Health Care Debate has been carried out behind closed doors. Its not a popular bill. Its polling between 12 and 18 in the polls that have come out in recent weeks. On some level i think Senate Republicans may be happy that its not at the top of the agenda while theyre trying to cobble together the votes, twist arms behind closed doors and get it done. Its a complicated thing but nobody is condoning that type of thing. Getting some of those arms twi twisted, they have been far from impressed or please wd with wha they have been seeing from the president so you wondering if hes been burning through Political Capital when he wants to get things done over in congress. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Coming up for us, its a long holiday weekend. A time when millions of headed to the beach and state parks. But in new jersey, thats not happening. But dont tell that to the governor, who ordered those beaches closed. Why these photos have caused a huge uproar over a budget battle now. How does this sound for were making progress. The Top Republican in the senate comparing the current state of Health Care Negotiations to working with a rubiks cube. Whoooo. Looking for a hotel that fits. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over 200 sites to find you the hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazie, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Im proud to make dog chow in vodavenport, iowa. An. Dog chows been a part of my familys life for over 40 years. My grandfather made it and now im making it. As a microbiologist i ensure that dog chow leads with high quality ingredients. Of your back pain . Trol new icyhot lidocaine patch. Desensitizes aggravated nerves with the max strength lidocaine available. New icyhot lidocaine patch. Right now new jersey lawmakers are meeting in an emergency session. Why . Well, the government shut down over a budget standoff. The shut down has governor Chris Christie and his Beach Vacation in the spotlight. First, what is happening in new jersey . Lets get there. Let me bring in right now joining me in the details, cnn correspondent polo sandoval. So where do things stand at the moment . Reporter at this point, this is day three, kate, of this partial shutdown of the new jersey state government. And so all nonessential agencies and properties have been closed, including liberty state park, which on any weekend is usually extremely busy and especially on the fourth of july monday, which as you can see here cars are lining up trying to make their way onto what is really a large, beautiful park with a beautiful view of lady liberty but instead state park police turning people around. That is fueling frustrations and especially after that image that was released showing the states chief executive on that beach. Of course we have heard from state officials here that are saying that there is more to that picture, that the beach that governor christie and his family were on is actually attached to the governors private residence. So it wasnt necessarily on that public beach. But you talk to some people here and they are not just going to accept that. They are quite frustrated they are not able to make their way on to public beaches or public parks what you was whats happening in trenton, new jersey. What will happen next . There is a session currently happening among lawmakers. They are debating to try to figure out a way but the last time this happened was 2006. It took them about eight days before they found a solution. Eight days. That seems to go right past the fourth of july holiday if my calendar math is correct. Great to see you, polo. Lets go to those photos of while his constituents were being turned away from state parks and beaches, governor Chris Christie and his family were spotted on one of those state beaches all by themselves. My next guest asked governor christie about his trip to the beach over the weekend. Watch his response. No, i didnt, claude, but go ahead. I didnt get any sun today. No. No. Theres no one. There are no lifeguards, theres no one to pick up the garbage. Theres no one providing any services at island beach state park. Next. Next. Excuse me, next. Next. Im done. Were talking about the closure of government and youre talking about your tmz stuff. Joining me now is the reporter who was questioning, asking questions, speaking right there for governor christie. Claude the new jersey state house reporter for the star ledger. Also with us, chris cillizza. Claude, the governor was asked again this morning about the photos that you all took. Here was his take today. This is where we live, one of the places we live. And so what a great bit of journalism by the star ledger. They actually caught a politician being where he said he was going to be with the people he said he was going to be with, his wife and his children and their friends. So its really a bit of im sure theyre going to get a pulitzer for this one because they proved they caught me doing what i said i was going to do with the people i said i was going to be with. So, claude, why did you guys decide to take the plane out and what did you think when you saw the governor there on the beach . Well, we decided to take the plane out because its a state of 9 Million People and government is shut down. The state beaches, like island beach state park, which is where the governor spent some time with his family over the weekend, are closed to the public. And its a pretty stark contrast if you look at the photos of the rest of the beaches in the state, which are many of them municipal beaches and unaffected by the closure, theyre packed in there like sardines. People are slithering their well oiled haunches to get a spot. And here you have miles of beach and just a handful of people. So when i saw the photos, it was shortly after i asked the governor about when i first went to the press conference, he was looking exceptionally red. So i began just by saying you look like you got some sun, governor. And he answered as he did, as you just saw in the video, which was puzzling to me because he looked like not quite like he was having an ischemic but he looked sunburned. We had gotten a tip from a source that it was possible that some lifeguards had been exempted from the executive order closing the beaches just for christies family. And thats why his answer was puzzling to me. We were curious to know if there were lifeguards and if they were able to swim. And he came out and said what he said was at variance of what most native English Speakers would consider to be the truth. Chris, you need to use that line later on. That was a good one. Claude, real quick for you, though, the governor is not impressed with you one bit. The reaction from his spokesman is pretty priceless and i want to make sure that we get that in. When you asked him about getting the sun, they followed up and said, no, he did not get any sun, he had a baseball hat on when you presented them with the facts. Yeah. And i think thats the reason people are having the reaction they are to this. Its not just the image of these pristine beaches empty except for a select group of the governors family while everyone else is excluded because of the shutdown, its that were this any other politician, i think people might have gone, politicians sometimes say these things. But this is Chris Christie who prides himself on being blunt and quite honestly defined his president ial bid in 2016 as telling it like it is. This seems like, you know, if youll recall the clintonism, it all depends on what the meaning of the word is, is, this is the question of what the word sun is. It begs belief from a syntax standpoint. Chris, what is going on . Let me add this to the mix. The current Lieutenant Governor of new jersey, who is running for governor, just posted this on facebook. If i were governor, i sure wouldnt be sitting on the beach if taxpayers didnt have access to state beaches. Its beyond words. That sound was kim pushing Chris Christie directly under the bus in that statement. Look, he is if not the least popular governor in the country, hes right up there. Quinnipiac did a poll in the middle of june that had him at 15 approval, which they noted was the lowest approval for any politician they had ever tested in any state. The only one i can think of who had a lower Approval Rating than Chris Christie is rod blagojevich, the governor of illinois, who is currently incarcerated. So christie, as claude pointed out, christie built his whole brand on im going to tell it to you how it is. Im going to flout conventional wisdom. Im a straight talker. Some of that is why he appealed in some ways to donald trump. This is the opposite of that. His spokesmans quote about, well, he didnt get any sub, he had his baseball hat on, is i wrote this this morning. An immediate fast tracked entry into the spin hall of fame. I mean come on. Thats absolutely ridiculous. The thing with christie is when youre at 15 , im not sure how much lower you can go. Hes term limited out of office. Was that it, he just doesnt care . I defer to claude on this because he covers him more closely but Chris Christies political future in new jersey was over prior to this incident. Hes deeply unpopular. His one track anywhere i think is to come to washington in some sort of second wave of Trump Administration hirings and this doesnt hurt him in any way, shape or form with that. Well, thats the interesting twist in all this. Claude, great to have you on. Thanks so much for bringing that reporting and bringing those photos. Chris, i appreciate it. Coming up for us, raising taxes on the rich. It sounds like a plan that democrats would propose or have several times. So why is one of the president s top advisers reportedly backing that, suggesting that, quietly pushing that plan, according to some to make the wealthiest pay for tax reform. President trump calls his twitter use modern day president ial. His advisers say there is nothing threatening about it. Americans say we need more civility in washington. Add it all up, well try to figure it out. Well be right back. Born to outperform the 1. Prestige eye cream for better hydration. And your best look yet. Olay eyes collection. Ageless. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. So he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . . With Liberty Mutuals 24hour roadside assistance, get a jump, tow, and more any time of day. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Yeah, and i can watch thee bgame with directv now. . Liberty stands with you™. Oh, sorry, most broadcast and sports channels arent included. And you can only stream on two devices at once. This is fun, were having fun. Yeah, we are. No, youre not jimmy. Dont let directv now limit your entertainment. Xfinity gives you more to stream to more screens. Steve bannon back in the headlines. According to axios he is working hard quietly pushing a radical approach to tax reform for republican, raise taxes on the rich to pay for tax cuts for the middle class. Bannon even suggesting he wants to see the top income tax bracket jump into the 40 range. Right now of course it stands at 39. 6 . Populist, yes. Republican, stand by. Maybe a question mark on that one. With us now, a cnn Global Economic analyst, Global Business columnist and the author of makers and takers, the rise of finance in the american business. Also with us adam rochelle. I made someone laugh today with the copy that i wrote. Everything is starting off right. And on steve bannon too. Im just so funny among so people. Rona, how is this going to fly in a Republicanled Congress . I think not very well with the majority of republicans. But its important to note, kate, at the state level things are starting to change. Kansas is a great case example of this. This was a state that cut taxes, were going to cut taxes, get growth. Didnt work at all. So youre starting to see republicans at a state level say, hey, maybe these economics are not really in our favor. Politically frankly, steve bannon, i disagree with him about many, many things but hes kind of a political genius because people do feel that the rich are getting a break here. But, adam, my friend, try this Bumper Sticker on for size. Raise taxes on the rich, or an alternative Bumper Sticker, raise taxes on anyone for that matter. Is this going to fly . No. The idea is preposterous. We shouldnt be talking about paying for tax cuts. The problem resides in how much we spend. We didnt get 20 trillion in debt because we didnt tax people enough. Its a spending problem. Any time you hear politicians talking about paying for tax cuts or trying to get to revenue neutrality, its a trap theyre putting themselves in and we shouldnt be bound to this idea that the only the only variable we can change is how much tax revenue comes in the door. Its really a spending problem at its base. Go ahead, rana. Can i jump in here because actually theres a lot of research to show that americans dont have a problem with the tax rates that they themselves are paying. Theres been a great brookings study about this recently. But most americans think that somebody, either the very rich or in some cases the poor, are getting a break somehow. I think that the majority of americans actually think that the rich are getting an unfair deal when it comes to paying the kind of tax rates that they do and they would like to see loopholes closed and its totally appropriate for them to pay more. By the way, American Growth was far higher in the 50s and 60s when tax rates were much higher. So the reaganesque tax curve is just bankrupt at this stage and even republicans know that. So when we talk about what americans think about taxes, its important to always start with how much taxes people already pay. The top 1 pay close to 40 of income taxes already, which is a huge portion of the amount of tax revenue. Hardly any of them pay that. When we talk about closing loopholes, we agree. Theres things like the state and local Tax Deduction that can be closed which can be used to lower rates for everyone. We shouldnt be talking about closing loopholes and raising rates on people. The process of simplification and lowering rates can benefit everyone across all of america. Just because tax reform is tough. For sure. If it wasnt, it would have been done since 86 at some point. But if you look just at the promises that this white house has made, right. Im looking at the one sheet they had in april. And reducing the tax brackets, the top rate going to 35 , so this would be absolutely changing from what they promised. And also it steve mnuchin, when they laid this out, if they would move this direction and raise taxes on the rich, couldnt they still claim what they did and lay down the marker this is the biggest tax cut in history as a way to thread that needle . The core point is that all americans on the left and the right want tax reform. And business, by the way, really wants that. In fact a lot of ceos that im talking to, they still believe that theres a chance to do a tax reform plan, but if it doesnt get done this year, i think that this white house will lose a lot of business support. If health dies frankly, they should just set that aside and go for tax reform. We could do i could imagine a politically feasible way in which you could do a tax hike for the wealthiest americans and still do a corporate cut and close some loopholes and you might get democratic support for that too. Adam, go. So when we talk about raising the rate on the highest income earners, were also talking about raising taxes on businesses, as you pointed out. Oh, hedge funds, please. Its not just hedge funds, Small Businesses across america pay their taxes through the individual income tax. And that high rate hits a lot of them, which is part of this Business Tax Reform discussion were having, which is incredibly important, we agree. So this is one of the many reasons why we cant continue to just jack up the highest marginal tax bracket. Which is why it is fascinate that reports are that suggestion is coming in from the white house to the president. Lets see where this ends up. Of course timing is always important. Indeed. In all of this. How quickly they could get it done and this is with the assumption something would happen with health care and they could move on. Stand by. Well see when this becomes a real conversation. Great to see you guys. Coming up, questions about the president s state of mind after he tweets the bizarre and juvenile video of himself laying the smackdown, thats a technical term, on a cnn logo. This as a poll finds that most americans think civility is plunging between democrats and republicans. Did you need a poll for that . President trump is now making the case also for repeal now, replace later. Mitch mcconnell, the Top Republican in the senate, of course, says the senate is committed to not doing that. They are going the path of getting both done at the same time. This as republican lawmakers head home to face their constituents. The latest on the obamacare fight. Where is this going . Well be right back. At johnsons we care about safety as much as you do. 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Megans smile is getting a lot because she uses act® mouthwash. Act® strengthens enamel, protects teeth from harmful acids, and helps prevent cavities. Go beyond brushing with act®. Juvenile, outrageous, dangerous, yeah, even dangerous. Those are some of the words being offered up by critics about President Trumps bizarre tweet against cnn. The president of the United States tweeted this, a video of himself wrestling to the ground a man with the cnn logo superimposed on his head. But the bigger question is really what does it say about the president s state of mind at the moment. What he is spending his time focused on while he is over his weekend as he faces the worlds most serious problems. Let me bring in two voices right now. Cnn political commentator, ana navarro and republican commentator joe berelli. Youre naot a democrat, lets pt it that way. Ana, first to you. Trumps advisers, when they were shown this tweet, this video, they say they do not see this as a threat. You do. Why . Trump advisers and Trump Supporters dont see anything that donald trump does under any flawed light. That is just kind of part of the cultish mentality that donald trump has brought out in people. And as far as the people around him, i think theyre afraid to say the truth because they know that he will fire them. Thats what he likes to do. They want to keep their jobs and they are theyre willing to cede their principles and convictions and knowledge of whats right or wrong in order to be close to the seat of power. Its a hell of an exchange theyre making if you ask me. You know, i see it as dangerous because, kate, we all know theres a lot of unstable people out there in america. Some people may think this is funny. Some people may think this is a call to action. And this is why its dangerous, because you and me and so many others in the media, unlike mr. Trump, do not have a secret service detail. Joe, you saw this video and you thought what . I want to correct ana. Not everyone whos a supporter of trump agrees with everything he does. Ive been on this network 100 times. When theres things hes done i disagreed with, i said so. This is wwe, acting krwrestling just like the play was acting and sill latd the assassination of donald trump. If you had no problem with the acting at assassination of the president , we cant be sank moan u. S. And say this is a threat against media and journalists. This is the president trolling. He knows in 15 seconds, he copy, paste and tweet something that will dominate the news cycle for hours. Ana, much ado about nothing . No, i dont think thats true. I dont understand this comparison of some play in central park that got seen by, what, a couple of thousand people or something to a tweet by the most powerful man in the world. A tweet from the leader of the free world. A tweet from the guy whos got, what, almost 40 million followers. A tweet from the guy whos got the biggest bully pulpit in the United States, possibly the world. You cannot compare the power of Donald Trumps words. And they have told us, they have told us at the white house that anything he tweets we should take as official statements. You cannot compare the power of donald trump, of the president of the United States to basically anything else. And there has been plenty of calls to violence from the left. A lot of them have had to apologize. People like kathy griffin, people like johnny depp. The list is endless. And a lot of us have called that out when it has happened. But you cannot make a comparison with the power, the bully pulpit, the reach, the access, the influence of the president of the United States. Its apples and oranges. Heres let me try to be apples to apples on this because i am curious on this, joe. If this is tongue in cheek, if this is the president trolling, then that means that the president , from the president on down, they are now supportive of artistic expression. That is basically where im trying to understand this. So when the next comedian or the next version of hamlet takes the stage that folks dont like, from the president on down do they need to also accept it as artistic expression . Yeah, i think they did accept it. They did not. You had some protesters who were unaffiliated with trump go and protest this play. No, they did not. Kellyanne conway there was no sanction on the top of my head, Kellyanne Conway and many of president ial advisor, they were rightfully outraged, if thats their position. They were rightfully outraged when they did not like the depictions of the president. So if this is tongue in cheek but being outraged and saying that it should stop or this is somehow going to lead to violence against journalism is not the same thing. But if they are okay with the president doing this, dont they have to be okay with other artists expressing themselves . I didnt see one person on Donald Trumps white house staff come out and say that this Julius Caesar play should be unfunded or, rather, cancelled because if it was speaking out against the president. Theres one thing to criticize that and i think its fair to criticize what the president does. I think ana and a lot of folks make a career out of that. Theres another thing to say it simply should not exist and its free speech. Joe, i would ask you if youre at cnns new york bureau, i would ask you to stop around the tables and maybe go talk to some of the anchors, go talk to some of the folks and ask them about the kind of threats and social media reaction they get on a daily basis. And ive gotten Death Threats too and some of them have needed the Police Department to intervene. I just dont go around talking about it. Well, you should. You know, you are a city official. You may have access to things that most of us do not. But i have seen colleagues of mine get Death Threats. I have seen the type of violent things that come my way. So if people think this is a madeup thing and one of those w wackos does not mean it and would not execute it if they could, thats a chanceid rather not take. And id rather the president not make it permissible. I also saw stephen millers head on a spike that they tweeted out. Im going to say this. I dont know if anyone is being sanctimonious, it seems theres a double standard to apply whos allowed to you use the word troll. Whos allowed to troll and whos not allowed to troll. And thats the thing that needs to apply to everybody or not at all. When you become president of the United States, you take on an office that requires a standard that is higher than for anybody else. When you are a public official, you are in a different level of scrutiny. We expect Different Things from you because people are looking up to you. You are the example, you are representing our country, you are representing our democracy, with enemies and allies. So you just cannot thats where you guys go wrong. You continue trying to lower the standards of the presidency of the United States in order to accommodate the insane, ridiculous, absurd, dangerous, hatemongering that donald trump does. Do not lower the presidency of the United States. Do not diminish it in order to be able to accommodate this one man. I will this one man. You do not disagree here. See who body slams you after the show. No clothes lines. Dont get me started. Joe. Great to see you both. Coming up, called the kuw e olympian level of macho. Learning what the president is likely and maybe more importantly here not likely to bring up, and it is raising eyebrows. Well be right back. Rubiks cube. Hows that for, we are making progress, folks. Friend, i have never figured that came out. Just a tanchant of mine. Forget finishing the rubiks cube occasion, the old idea, new now, repeal now, replace later got the endorsement of President Trump last week. Conservatives in the senate are pushing that forward. If we can do a combined repeal and replace over the next week, thats great. If we cant, though, then theres no reason to walk away. We should do repeal with delay. I want repeal to work. The way you do it, separated into two bills and do it concurrently. But big but senator Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell telling reporters that is not the plan. Cnn correspondent Phil Mattingly on capitol hill. My friend, how good are you at a rubiks cube . Reporter not very at all. Of your ilk, completely incapable of doing those things. What happened, repeal and replace separated . Not the plan. Go with Mitch Mcconnells words on this. Working behind the scenes trying to negotiate, figuring how to deep one end from not falling off . Same issues weve always talked about. Moderate side, more money more medicaid, easier phaseout, conservative side, cutbacks of obama regulations. How they marry those will dictate whether or not this bill survives. All senators are home. During this july 4th recesses, trying to put on the pressure not just in town halls, there arent that many, but fourth of july parades. Serious external pressure, interesting to see where senators are when he return in a week. Stand by. Well be back in a moment. I never joined in. That wasnt fair to any of us. I was covered. I tried lots of things over the years. But i didnt give up. I kept on fighting. I found something that worked. That still works. Now . See me. See me. I found clear skin that lasts. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. 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