Lisa murkowski, dont even mention james comey or acting director Andrew Mccabe. Every one of them has gotten on the wrong side of this president , a man who definitely doesnt forget. And now there are rumblings that even some conservatives are turning against the president. So the question tonight is, is vendetta politics a winning or a losing strategy . Lets discuss now. Cnns chief Political Correspondent is dana bash, White House ReporterKaitlyn Collins and analyst Patrick Healy of the New York Times. Dana, ill start with you. The attacks on attorney general Jeff Sessions today, acting director Andrew Mccabe, also Lisa Murkowski for her no vote on health care. What do you think of these swipes . Is this vendetta politics . I dont know if this was vendett politics, because that would imply there was some good in the politics hes doing, and there just isnt. I think you can put Jeff Sessions in one category and everybody else in another. Lisa murkowski, going after her is not unlike him going after dean heller or anyone else who votes the wrong way. But going after your attorney general the way he has day in and day out, not just a regular attorney general, a guy who was the first to endorse him in the senate when everybody thought that Jeff Sessions was out of his mind. Put his political clout on the line. Put his political clout on the line, gave thenPresident Trump legitimacy with the conservative base which was no small thing for a former democrat of manhattan to be invited to alabama to be introduced to the conservative base with one of their heroes, Jeff Sessions. And not only that, Jeff Sessions was on the plane with the candidate, was very close with him. We saw it day in and day out. And i think from trumps perspective, that is why he feels so upset and so betrayed. They were so close, he doesnt understand why sessions didnt tell him if hes going to be attorney general, hes going to have to recuse himself for all things russia. Right or wrong, that is why the president is so upset and will not stop, despite white house aides trying every single day to get him to put the phone down, stop tweeting, stop talking about it, dont talk to the New York Times about it, enough. Patrick is like, why are you looking at me . The attorney general actually had to do his job and follow the law, which is interesting. What would he do otherwise . On the campaign, he attacked every one of his opponents. It did work. Im wondering if it works in governing because the public likes Jeff Sessions. The president was playing to a very specific base that he was trying to grow, and like dana said he was getting to Jeff Sessions with the hard right. Jeff sessions endorsement in february 2016 only came a couple weeks into the primaries. Donald trump had shown strengths in south carolina, but he still hadnt really proven that he was one of them. And a lot of those voters who loved Jeff Sessions listened to hard right radio. You know, they had sort of heard that message for a long time, and they were still trying to accept donald trump. But thats the thing, right now he still sees a lot of these cabinet secretaries, he sees the people who work for him essentially as people who work for him. They serve him, they dont necessarily serve the constitution, they dont serve chief Law Enforcement officer for the people, not for the president. Its interesting because the president said, oh, he saw my crowd sizes, i had 30, 40,000 people and then he came on board. Sessions didnt need that. This is how he punishes. This is how donald trump punishes people throughout his career. He expects people to deliver a result for him. There probably, in his mind, couldnt have been a bigger result than Jeff Sessions as attorney general somehow shutting down this russia investigation that so galled him as the president and then instead recuses himself. Kaitlyn, i havent forgotten you. Dana, hold on a second here. Real quickly, this is a difference here. Democrats arent necessarily on board with Jeff Sessions, but they do think that Jeff Sessions they are now. Theyre on board. Not with his policies. They want him to be attorney general. But that hes wrong, they dont want him to be treated this way. Thats the sdindistinction, i t. Even though the democrats are saying, mr. President , youre wrong, and we havent sign lot of pushback by this president and havent seen it the way were seeing this pushback because they are the ones who have to confirm a new attorney general, they are the ones saying, no, dont even try to do whats called a recess appointment because were not going to have your back on this. There is an article stating the president is letting Jeff Sessions stay for now. Well see. Why didnt Jeff Sessions replace acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe, who was in charge of the administration but got money for Hillary Clintons political run and her representatives. Drain the swamp. Whats incredible about all of this is Jeff Sessions was at the white house all day today and didnt meet with the president. Thats exactly right, john. He was at the doj for what he said was a routine meeting. Donald trump wasnt at the white house yet. He didnt have anything until 10 30. Its astounding these two men were in the same building, and instead of going and speaking to him directly and airing his frustrations with Jeff Sessions directly, donald trump is choosing to tweet about them. I would like to point out, going fwo back to that tweet that stretches the facts a little bit. Donald trump interviewed Andrew Mccabe to be followup director in may. When he interviewed him, he didnt air these concerns at all about him. He thought he was substantive enough to be the next fbi director. Then the only reason mccabe is in this position is because donald trump fired the fbi director james comey. The money wasnt 770,000. It was 765,000 from the virginia democratic party, which was a common good in virginia, and the latter, it was for attorney general mcauliffe who was a longtime clinton supporter. He wasnt in charge of the fbi when that happened. So his tweet is completely wrong, the information is wrong. Im not defending it, im just going to try to explain to you, is that this mccabe issue has been a very big issue in conservative media, on conservative radio, on web sites, the notion of this guy being in the fbi and his wife being a democratic candidate. It should be based on fact. It should be, but thats a conversation weve had many times. So, dana, talk to me about the recess appointment with Jeff Sessions. Would all break loose if that happened . What are you hearing about that . Ted barrett and i have reporting today, our executive producer, about the fact that the president has been urged by some people around him to consider, as theyre trying to figure out what to do, lets just say Jeff Sessions quits or the president finally gets up the nerve to fire him, whats next . What do you do . Who could you possibly put in there . Who would want to take the job . To have a confirmation process is one thing, particularly if the president wants to try to find somebody who will come in examiand get r bob mueller, or at least shrink the scope of his investigation, which is actually allowed. The reason why bob mueller, the special counsel, has the latitude that he has is because he was afforded that by the Deputy Attorney general. So the idea that is being floated is for the president to find somebody to put in while congress is in recess, and that person by law could stay through the end of the congress. There is one catch, though. Two catches, actually. One is for eight to ten years, the senate hasnt gone into recess for exactly this issue, for this reason, to try to prevent the president from the opposite party from putting somebody in during the recess. And secondly, there is no appetite that we can find among his fellow republicans to take this leap for him. Which would be a pretty big deal, to put somebody in there, especially if it would be somebody who might dismantle the independent probe thats going on about russia. His integrity, i would think, would instanting be questioned by at least half the country, to the degree someone comes in and is willing to accept a recess appointment, it instantly raises questions like, have they taken a loyalty oath, not to the president but as a man. In the United States we dont do loyalty oaths from the oval office, but what kind of person is willing to take that job . Patrick, i want to ask you, Sarah Huckabee sanders was asked about sessions at the white house. He didnt meet with the president , but this is what she said. He wants the attorney general to focus on what the attorney general does. He wants him to lead the department of justice. He wants him to focus on things like immigration, leaks and a number of other issues, and i think thats what his focus is at this point. If he is so frustrated and so disappointed in him, why doesnt he just ask him to resign or fire him, why does he continue to tweet about him instead . You can still be disappointed in someone but still want them to continue to do their job. Jeff, im very disappointed in you, but guess what, i still want you to come on the show. Ill be here tomorrow night. We heard a lot from Sarah Huckabee sanders there that we have not read in President Trumps tweets. Issues like immigration that donald trump and Jeff Sessions had common cause on a year ago, supposedly they still do. A border wall, going after sanctuary cities, ultimately new policy on undocumented immigrants. But youre not hearing that. Youre hearing hes weak, youre hearing, you know, whats our beleagured attorney general. These adjectives, Sarah Huckabee sanders can say what she wants from the podium, but we all know Donald Trumps tweets are the most authentic expression of what the president believes and feels. I was going to say, i think what she said today is the most authentic expression of what his entire white house staff wants him to know. Its very interesting, because in this alternative reality that were living in, the president says what he wants. He contradicts the people who are up there. Hell say what he wants on twitter, and then shell get up there and say, he still has confidence that he can still do the job. Its bizarre because he says what he wants and then they try to fix it, but does it matter . Does it even matter . Thats a great question. They also complained that reporters dont talk enough about policy in these briefings they couldnt answer policy questions today. They justified taking him off camera because they said reporters just want to be youtube stars. But when sarah was pressed on policy questions, on major policy the question laid out in tweets this morning, Sarah Sanders became irritated, and the president did not think through the specifics of this policy change, and she was annoyed with reporters and threatened to stop the briefing if there were more questions on this policy change. The white house often says the president is his own best messenger and that twitter is the way for him to reach out to his base without going to the media. But when the president tweets like he did this morning, he doesnt have to take questions from reporters, he doesnt have to clarify and he doesnt have to take specifics like our Service Members who are overseas right now and are the transgender going to be sent home today . They couldnt answer the question. Whats really behind the scenes . Whats really behind the attacks on Jeff Sessions . Can he win the war against his own attorney general . Orrow brin. Because moms love is unconditional. Even at 6am. Natures bounty melatonin. Were all better off healthy. Natures bounty knows healthy cholesterol starts in your gut. So we made cardiohealth, an innovative way to support healthy cholesterol, containing lrc, a probiotic strain that helps you metabolize dietary cholesterol. Because we all want to be healthy for whatever comes next. Natures bounty cardiohealth. Wise man, im nervous about affecting my good credit score. I see youve planted an uncertainty tree. Chop that thing down. 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Cnn legal commentator matthew whitaker, investigative editor, and a special prosecutor michael zellan. Mr. Whitaker, im going to start with you. By all appearances, it looks like the president is trying to force attorney general Jeff Sessions out of his job. Sessions made it clear that hes not going anywhere unless hes fired. What do you think the president is trying to accomplish with his repeated attacks on the attorney general . Its clear the president is trying to put enough pressure on Jeff Sessions so jeff does what the president , i believe, would think would be honorable and that is resign. I dont think Jeff Sessions, who is currently in his dream job as attorney general, is going to do that. Really, i think what ultimately the president is going to start doing is putting pressure on rod rosenstein, who is in charge of this investigation, is acting attorney general, and really try to get rod to maybe even cut the budget of bob mueller and do something a little more stagecrafty than the blunt instrument of firing the attorney general and trying to replace him. Michael, many people say if the president were to get rid of sessions, that would be a step toward getting rid of special Counsel Robert Mueller as well. Do you think thats the end game here for him . Well, its clear that the president is very upset with the Mueller Investigation and that he seems unable to go forward with what is probably sage Legal Counsel which is to let mueller investigate and exonerate him. He just cant get over that. So he keeps doing these things in an effort to undermine the Mueller Investigation, which i think is only empowering mueller and giving him more support on the hill. Legally speaking, rosenstein has some authority over the Mueller Investigation, but its not daytoday supervision. He cant control this investigation in that way. The code of federal regulations that govern this make that explicitly clear. He has given mueller a mandate. Its not the broadest mandate. It says the relationship between russia and the campaign and matters that arise out of it, which is what i think any u. S. Attorney or United States attorney would believe to be a prudent mandate. So i just dont understand from a legal standpoint what the president s end objective is because its not accomplishable. Thats why we have laura coates here. Where are you going with this, don . Do you want to answer that question for us . Walk us through exactly what would happen and who would take charge if President Trump himself was able to replace sessions. Lets play this out fully and thats why you know its quite nonsen nonsensical what the president of the United States is trying to do. If he fires Jeff Sessions, he will be replaced by next in line, who is rod rosenstein, who already sees bob mueller as the chief of the investigative probe. He can only be fired for due cause, and those due cause concerns are enumerated, and frankly, although the Deputy Attorney general, rod rosenstein, could try to overrule a decision mueller makes, he has to ask congress for permission to do so and justify in front of them. And if bob mueller is fired for any reason, and its not for due cause, congress could have a full hearing to figure out whether or not there was a substantial basis to do so. So the president s kneejerk reaction, i think vitriol he is spewing toward Jeff Sessions, really doesnt work in the grand scheme of things. Trying to replace him would need to have somebody willing, ready and able to replace Jeff Sessions. Frankly, i think the chances are narrowing as days go on if people who are so loyal to trump cant get any respect more than rodney dangerfield, why would anyone else want to take that role . Interesting way to put it. All that said, laura, is there a scenario where the president could fire sessions, appoint a replacement who could then fire mueller . Yes, that is absolutely possible if all the contingency plans fall into place, you can fire mueller. But heres what happens, don. You invite an allegation, which i think is far more substantial, to obstruction to justice. The president is quite clear about his motivation of why hes dismayed and disappointed in Jeff Sessions. It all has to do with his personal microscope overhead about the russia probe. Could he get him to do his backing . Absolutely. Could he fire Jeff Sessions and suggest a probe by someone who is trying to be a minion of russia . Then he has that battle as well. With donald trump anything is possible, but so are impeachment proceedings and criminal allegations. May i add something to that . Its not completely clear to me that mueller can be fired even if he gets a new recess appointment to attorney general without there being a showing of misconduct, conflict of interest or good cause. That is what the regulations provide. And i dont think you can you cant fire him outside of the regulations. It wouldnt be an appropriate firing. The way he would have to do it, and ive written about this in an opinion piece for cnn. Com, is he really would have to change the regulations that govern the appointment of mueller, and once those regulations are changed, that is, get rid of the good cause shown part of them, then he could fire him. So he has to go change regulations and then fire, and as laura said, that, i think, would be seen by congress as an abusive action. You do have to show cause. The final one is arbiter. Unlike Michael Flynn and james comey, they didnt have such support. Sessions did. Those same code of regulations govern the budget of special counsel and that is in the purview of the government. I could see where sessions is replaced and that attorney general doesnt fire bob mueller but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigation has to grind to a halt. To reduce his resources. What do you think the concern is for mueller . In order to fire sessions, they would have to go through all the hoops and do everything that they said. Do you think mueller is concerned right now . I dontme. First of all, bob mueller was the fbi director when i was u. S. Attorney. I have a lot of respect for him and i would be surprised if he is ultimately worried at all about this. In fact, i dont even think he pays attention to whats going on in the daily back and forth about whether or not Jeff Sessions has the confidence of the president. Bob mueller is going to continue to do his investigation. He continues to staff up. Theyre talking to people, and theyre doing their job, which you would expect. Fascinating conversation. Always appreciate having you on. Thank you, guys. Thank you. When we come back, one of Jeff Sessions former colleagues on the Judiciary Committee joins me. Ill ask her what she thinks of the president s attacks on the attorney general. I was playing golf days ago. Love golf. I used to love golf. Wait, what, what happened . I was having a good round, and then my friend, sheila, right as i was stepping into the tee box mentioned a tip a pro gave her. No. Yep. Did it help . It completely ruined my game. Well, the truth is, that advice was never meant for you. I like you. You want to show me your swing . Its too soon. Get advice thats right for you. Investment Management Services from td ameritrade. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Anyone who calls it a hobby doesnt understand. We know that a persons passion is what drives them. [ clapping ] and thats why every memorial we create is a true reflection of the individual. Only a dignity memorial professional can celebrate a life like no other. Find out how at sanfranciscodignity. Com. The president using his twitter feed to criticize attorney general Jeff Sessions again today. Joining me now is senator amy klobuchar, a democrat. I want to ask you about Jeff Sessions. He was hired just a couple months ago. Should he be fired or should he continue these attacks . No, the president should not fire him and for one simple reason. Someone should not be fired for following the law. I vehemently disagree with Jeff Sessions on a lot of things, some Voting Rights and some of his positions, but the truth is he simply recused himself from matters dealing with russia because of his own past dealings with the russia ambassador and others. He is simply allowed a fair process to go forward by having his deputy, pretty normal, oversee a special counsel who is going to look into all of what went on in the last year with russia trying to influence our election. And the president simply cant fire him over that and i dont think the senate is going to allow a recess appointment. Theres plenty of ways to block that. Then my favorite moment of the evening was Chuck Grassley and his way of sending out a tweet saying, a. G. Hearing, no way. Kind of putting his own stake down in his Iowa Farmland there. Breakdown in the middle of an iowa cornfield. And he said no. I dont see how this proceeds. Obviously the president can do what he wants in some ways, but this would create a crisis, and the republicans are drawing a line in the sand as well as the democrats. That said, lets Talk Health Care now, shall we, senator . It was republic can no votes th defeated another Health Care Vote today. The republicans have the skinny repeal bill in the works, and it would repeal the individual employer mandate, the tax on device makers, but it would keep the Medicaid Expansion and subsidies and keep preexisting condition protections. Do you think that plan could potentially get through the senate . They would have to if it did, it would be with one more tiebreaking vote by the Vice President , and im hopeful that that they wont get to that point. But lets talk about this. You know, skinny budget sounds like something kind of nice, like you want to be skinny, but in fact the Congressional Budget Office just today came out with the numbers, that this is not a skinny proposal, its a skin and bones proposal because thats how it would leave a lot of americans. 16 Million People would lose their health insurance, 20 hike in premiums, and so those are real numbers coming out of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. My hope is they will join our call to work with us on some truly bipartisan solutions, like strengthening the exchanges and reducing those costs as well as reducing the costs of prescription drugs. Why would they just push just sort of kick the can down the road with the skinny version and then you know, because ultimately theyre going to have to do it all. Is this just sort of to show something over here and then do something behind the scenes . Well, as you know, there have been so many iterations of this. Options a and b from the house, then you go over to the senate with plans c and d, and then plan e the full repeal, and now were at f. You cant get a lower grade than that. Do people actually know what theyre voting on . Not anymore, and that was real interesting what happened today. Democrats said, well talk about amendments, but only when we see what this plan is. When we see what this plan is, then we will start proposing amendments. Because they actually dont have it together yet. They keep voting on different things. And to me all of this chaos when were dealing with onesixth of the American Economy simply means that they should pull back, take up our offer to work together. There are some bipartisan bills that have been around for a while that would help the states listen to a lot of governors on both the democratic and republican side, and come up with some things that actually improve the Affordable Care act instead of causing this chaos. Can i just read something is this this is a tweet from the president because he singled out your colleague in alaska, senator Lisa Murkowski, over voting no on the health care bill. He said senator Lisa Murkowski of the great state of alaska really let the republicans and our country down yesterday. Too bad. Do you think this helps him or our country . I dont think it helps him or the country to go after someone like Lisa Murkowski. Shes one strong woman. Shes an athlete. Shes a skier. She hunts, she fishes and she can take anything. In fact, if you remember, she was booted out of her own party for a short period of time and ran as an independent. People in her state had to learn how to spell murkowski exactly right in order to vote for her, and they did it with wristwatches and other things and bands around their arm, and they went in and they voted her in again. Thats the kind of popularity she has in her state. So i know shes up for taking this on and shes simply trying to do whats right for the people of her state. Her governor and legislature came together and did something called reinsurance. Minnesota is doing the same thing, to make the exchanges more affordable, and thats something we should be looking at in the national level. Senator kaine and carper have a bill, and Susan Collins have been involved in this before. Thats exactly the kind of thing lisa is trying to push her colleagues toward. Thank you so much. Thank you, don. I have an update off congressman steve scalise. He has been discharged from Washington Medical Center six weeks after he was shot. A spokesman for the congressman says he has an intensive period of inpatient rehab ahead of him and says, quote, he is very glad to be in this new stage of the process and is very focused on his continued healing and recovery. Congressman scalise, the Republican House majority whip, was critically injured when a gunman opened fire on the gop Baseball Team as they were practicing for a charity game on june 14. The gunman was killed in the shootout with the officers. Well be right back. When i received the diagnoses, i knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breast so we sent that sample i doff to ancestry. I was from ethnically. My ancestry dna results are that i am 26 nigerian. I am just trying to learn as much as i can about my culture. I put the gele on my head and i looked into the mirror and i was trying not to cry. Because its a hat, but its like the most important hat ive ever owned. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. President trump may have finally crossed the line with his attacks on Jeff Sessions, and some of the conservative media are not happy about it. Breitbart news, former home of chief strategist steve bannon, taking sessions side against trump, and theyre not the only ones. I want you to listen to Rush Limbaugh and tucker carlson. Its all kind of a bit discomforting for trump to go after such a loyal supporter this way, especially when sessions made it obvious hes not going to resign. Dont shoot the friendlies. Sessions is the closest ally trump has in this administration. Lets discuss now with political commentator matt lewis, and talk show host john fredericks. John, we havent seen in you a while. We thought you didnt love us anymore. But now youre back. They always come back. Sali celina, your reaction to President Trump against Jeff Sessions. Chuck grassley totally put the kibosh against anything happening. He said there is not going to be any judicial confirmations for a very long time. That pretty much sets sessions in there and makes his job more secure than ever. From what i understand, sessions has no plans on leaving, anyway. I think what weve missed about this sort of whole thing is that for trump, the bottom line, this has been about sort of weakness and being wounded. And thats how he views sessions. I think its i think its great that people ive heard from both parties standing up for sessions. He is a classic law and order guy. This is what the republicans have wanted. Thats why you see so many sort of a variety of different republicans coming to stand up for him, and you also see democrats standing up for him, too. Not maybe particularly because they care for how he views the world, but because they know hes a standup guy and he has been a loyal guy. And he did the right thing by recusing himself. Also i was speaking with dana bash earlier, theyre putting country above party and thats an important thing, especially during this time. John, what do you think . Is the right turning on President Trump . For one, its great seeing cnn defending Jeff Sessions. I never thought i would see that in my lifetime, so thats interesting. Jeff sessions, Rex Tillerson and all these secretaries and those appointed in the agencies and the white house of the west wing, they all serve the president. Salena is not defending Jeff Sessions. Maybe people on cnn are defending Jeff Sessions, but if they think something is wrong, the difference here, if they think this man is being wronged, people are going to stand up for him and its about time people do that. It doesnt matter if youre a democrat or republican. Don, lets get the big pants on and get rid of these crybaby diapers. At the end of the day, Jeff Sessions is a politician. You dont mean me personally, im sure. Of course not, don. Lets get this straight. Jeff sessions is an elected official to the senate before he was attorney general. Hes a United States politician. Hes in the arena. Hes in the fray. All of a sudden were all upset because the president is criticizing him in a public format. Look, if you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Trump said this. If i knew you were going to recuse yourself and leave me naked and vulnerable here, i never would have appointed you attorney general. Secondly, i dont particularly like the job youre doing in some of these areas. So he chose to criticize the attorney general in a public format. Now, look, thats his style. You might not like the style, people in the senate might not like the style, but this is trumps style. The bottom line is Jeff Sessions has either got to respond to the president , step up, do what hes asking or get out. Its very simple. There is no ball and chain there. The door is open, he can get out. Matt, take it away. Im going to put the conservative media angle to this. Obviously the conservative media, National Review is part of the conservative media, you have Rush Limbaugh, breitbart and coulter and then you have alex jones. It means different things. I do think its interesting lets put some of the headlines up. The judge report, thai been covering the russia meddling, dnc dirt, go on. As a center right journalist who ugsed to have a conservativ world view, im for pro life, taxes, that kind of thing. But it is interesting to me that these conservative outlets were talking about and figures, they didnt really care when donald trump said bad things about john mccain, didnt care when donald trump attacked megyn kelly. Its now that all of a sudden they care, and its not because they want to prevent mueller from being fired, you know, if sessions its because they like Jeff Sessions, because sessions is one of them. But i think part of it is not just that they want to protect Jeff Sessions as somebody who agrees with them on immigration and the war on drugs and all that stuff, but its also because i think they see him as a surrogate for themselves. If donald trump is willing to stand up and not listen and attack Jeff Sessions, then hell do the same thing to Rush Limbaugh and matt drudge and ann coulter. So i think well see that happen to them next. Were going to put our big boy pants on and come back and discuss. Esurance does insurance a smarter way. Which saves money. They offer paperless billing and automatic payments. Which saves paper. Which saves money. They offer home and auto coverage, so you can bundle your policies. Which saves hassle. Which saves money. And they offer a single deductible. Which means you only pay once when Something Like this happens. Which saves money. Esurance was born online and built to save. And when they save, you save. Thats home and Auto Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. The president drawing huge crowds to his rallies this week, but his support is dropping even in some states that vote for him in november. Back with my panel. John, you first. You say President Trump isnt losing support, but heres a new gallup poll that shows trump is under water in states worldwide, including states like washington, michigan and pennsylvania who were key to his victory. Even indiana and texas President Trump has a record low 39 Approval Rating across the country. So whats your reaction to these numbers . Two things. Number one the media. The legacy media has been bashing donald trump nonstop 24 7 for six months. The other thing is these are the same polls that showed Hillary Clinton winning that showed Hillary Clinton winning all these states that said that trump couldnt win. So you got to take these polls with a grain of salt. They backfired on election day. They backfired during the election and theyre going to backfire again. If donald trump gets the economy going, get to 3 growth, get tax reform in, get our jobs going and stay out of these wars and get our troops home, hes going to gelt reelected again, regardless of what the Public Opinion surveys have already said because theyve been discredited from basically april through november, don. And i wish id bet with you in the commercial break when i said i know how john fredrics is going to answer. Was i right . Yeah, you nailed that one. Okay. What do you think . If donald trump could still win reelection. He could turn things around. The economy is doing pretty good and there are a lot of people around america who love donald trump. And 90 of my family would vote for donald trump for reelection today. And so i do think its important that we keep in mind these numbers are concerning 23 youre looking at numbers i think its always safe to assume that youre in trouble. And not to so if im advising donald trump i say take this really seriously. I would also say were in an era where it would be really hard for anybody to really be popular. I think if Hillary Clinton were president , shed be facing similar struggles. You spoke to his supporters and you write in the new york post, six months after Donald J Trump was inaugurated, he received a heroes welcome but gallop says he has a 48 disapproval in ohio. I take the polls with a grain of salt in that i dont doubt their validity. And matt is right with the constant news all the time and sort of the constant chaos all the time. Thats going to impact people. You see a lot of people moving over to dont know how they feel. But also polls are sort of gegraphical, right . You have to literally get into those counties that are important, whether this is fair or not, that are important to how you win elections. Not only in midterms but also in president ial. At the rally what i found was interesting of course the people attending that voted for him had, its only six months in. They view him in a different way. And theyre happy. It was like going to a Tailgate Party without the beer. I mean there are people all over the streets. They were walking around. Theres music. Im sure theres beer somewhere. Nobody offered me any beer. I found about six or seven people who did not vote in the last election but have found him. I always find this interesting. Found him more compelling, more interesting and they wanted to go see because they have started to like him and i find that amazing. In several counties across the country where ive gone and interviewed people who didnt vote in the last election and actually like him more. I dont know if its because he takes on the status quo, because hes different. But he does tend to make people give him a second look that were undecided before the last election. Some have suggested that the president s tweets this one today about transgender troops was a political decision. Do you think this was a play to the right with a key part of his base . I definitely think so. You have conservative media, conservative politicians who are expressing concern about the attacks on Jeff Sessions. They love Jeff Sessions. Hes seen as a movement conservative. As a hard core conservative and it does seem so these tweets about the transgender military issue, to me seemed aprupo about nothing and the only thing that makes sense is that he put it out there to sort of pasify the exact same people who are all of a sudden not happy with him for the first time. And listen. You mentioned conservatives. I have to say that some conservatives are speaking out against this whole transgender thing. So is john mccains statement that we should all be guided by the principal that anybody able to meet the standards should have the opportunity to do so and should be treated as the patriots they are. And lot of conservatives are hitting back. What does this blow back tell you, john fredric . If i may First Respond to what she said earlier. You have 30 seconds to do it. Ill do it. Theyre concerned about three ws. War, wall, work. You get those three things, he gets reelected and out of the wars. Transgender . Transgender is this. Donald trump is a progay rights, progay major republican. First one ever to do that took the issue off the table. He what about transgender people . He made a cold, calculating business decision that had nothing to do with the social impact or politics because his generals told him this is not working for us. Ive had people on active duty who said this was a pending disaster for them serving in the military in the listening area that i have. So he made a cold business decision based on what his generals are telling him. Had nothing to do with the religious rights or anything else. Progay rights republican. Transgender people arent necessarily gay. Do you understand that . Yes, i do understand that. But he is prolgbt, no question about it. He took that off the table. He made a calculated business decision, nothing to do with the social aspect. But by doing this, it does not show that he is prolgbt, at least the t part because many see it as discrimination against transgender people. And will he fire his attorney general . Who will be the last man standing . The white house in turmoil tonight and its all the president s own making. Im don lemon. President trump so far ignoring pleas to make peace with attorney general Jeff Sessions and thats got his staff nervously looking over their shoulders. Plus remember when candidate trump said this. I will do everything in my power to protect our lgbtq citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful, foreign ideology. But when it comes to protecting brave transgender citizens who risk their lives serving in Americas Armed forces, hey, youre on your own. President announcing today on twitter, of korcourse, that he l not allow transgender individuals, quote to serve in any capacity in the military. Apparently leaving the pentagon in the dark until the last min hadt and scrambling to find out what to do now. Senior fellow at a counsel of Foreign Relations and