Were in support of the to right to march. Our message is plain and simple. Go dickerson but the president who built a career on to not pln any one group, enraging including some top republicans. We condemn in the strongestss display ofigoy, and violence on many sides, on many charlottesville capped a week involving a dramatic escalation of threats and cn thounter presh his countrys nuclear program. Make threats to the United States. They will and fury like the world has seen. Th kim jongun countered with of guam. President trumps response, our military is locked andan will ny with what hes doing, believey of the situation, though . And just what is the president s stgy ciareor, mike pompeo, and leon panetta weighs in first a report from charlottesville and well talk to citys mayor. Good morning. Welcome to face the nation. Im johnickerson. President trump faces two crisis this morning. Well be talking extensively about both. With cbs news justie reporter on the scene yesterday from charlottesville, and joins us from city hall. Good john. White nationalists protesters and counter demonstrators clashed charlottesville saturday morning. Jason socalled prowhite rally here to protest the citys etmove ste demonstrators. Threw tear gas and Water Bottles at one a intervene. Just before noon, the governor you are commanded to dispers. Police cleared the park, and then ointo a group of counter protesters, killing one, injuring 19. Police helicopters flew over the protestsoo a state Police Helicopter crashed, killing two officers. Police haveof the car, 20yearo resident james alex with seconddegree murder. Oing to a spoke with his mother rally. I mean, you know,stay out of hie supremacist. I thought it had something to do has opened a civil rights investigation into the attack. Fields is expected to appear in things here in charlottesville were quiet last night, and so john . Oday. Dickerson paula reed for us in charlottesville. Thanks,inus now is the mayor of charlottesville, democratic michael signer. The injured and the suspect . The mayor of a city thats grieving right now. First of all, our thoughts and pray families of both troopers, and yog woman who also perished. 19 are tgh weekend for charlottesville. Well get through it. Well through this. You know, thats where we are right now. Dickerson the washington pd a, quote, anemic response, unquote, to the clashes. Whats your response to that . Could more have been done . You know, i think thats thats totally mistaken. We had the single largest assembly of Law Enforcement officers since 9 11, almost a thousand Law Enforcement personnel. We even went as far as, on the monday before the weekend, when the rally was scheduled, the city moved the permit to a larger park, a hundredacre park within the city borders, which would have provided more speech, allowed all that assembly, with armed very people have strong opinions for this occur longer. That was struck down by a federal judge, who forced to have this event in very crowded, dense downtown charlottesville, on the event of the event at 9 00. I regret that happened. We had a very Strong Security plan in place with a lot of folks to allow people to express their views. Unfortunately they didnt want to do it peaceably. Thats what happened. Dickerson richard spencer, a white nationalist, has promised to come back to charlottesville, he said a thousand times. Whats your response . You know, i mean, this is somebody who traffics in bluster and in intimidation. Im not in the habit of making any decisions based on somebody who, you know, does those things. I think we have a responsibility as a government sworn to the constitution to to not just allow free speech, but to protect it, as long as its done peaceably, which is what we attempted to do this weekend. If you have folks who come in and act unpeacebly, youll get unlawful assemble declared, which is what happened yesterday. Dickerson mr. Mayor, the president said he wants to know whats going on in charlottesville, and we want to see whats were doing wrong as a country. Whats your answer to that . You know, i dont want to make this about President Trump. We have a lot of grieving to do as a city and a country. He should look in the mayor. He made a choice in his president ial campaign, the folks around him, to go to the gutter, to play on our worst prejudices. I think youre seeing a direct line from what happened this weekend to those choices. He has the opportunity, as do we all, to have a fresh beginning. Like i said, our democracy has been through much than this, but that requires us to rise to the occasion. Were going to do that work here. Were going to work on civility and listening, deliberation, first amendment, religious toleration, pluralism, ideas that got us here. Weve seen this tide of coarseness, cynicism, bullying, and, you know, a festival of going to the absolute worst elements that previously have been hidden. Now theyve been invited out into the daylight. A lot of people are coming here this weekend saying this will be a shot heard around the world, the altright moment, that rhetoric, and theyre getting okays for that because they were invited basically into a president ial campaign. That has to stop. It has to stop now. What i did not hear in the president s statement yesterday, as well intentioned as it may have been, i didnt hear the words white supremacy. Its important to call this what it is, this show has run its course, the shark has been jumped, lets move on. Dickerson mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being with us. Thanks. Dickerson we want to welcome the director of cia, mike pompeo to the broadcast. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Dickerson youve thought about terrorism in your career. Republican senators have all labeled this terrorism in charlottesville. Whats your view . Let me add my personal condolences for the lives lost in charlottesville. An absolute tragedy. With respect to the event, the carramming, theres a civil rights investigation that began last evening, or this morning, by the Justice Department that will make a determination about whether its appropriate to charge this as acts of terror. I have great confidence that they will investigate it with enormous rigor and get to the right outcome. Dickerson whats your personal view of this . I mean, if terrorism is using violence to send a political message, do you think thats what this is . Yeah. I think its best for the cia director to leave this to the Justice Department. Dickerson let me ask you, when you were in congress in october of 2016, three men were charged with trying to attack muslims in your state. And this is what you said about bigotry at the time. We should deal with it quickly, hashly, and ensure it doesnt grow. That was very specific and tough. Yes, sir. Dickerson should the president have been that specific yesterday . I think he was just as specific. He said bigotry is unacceptable, hatred is unacceptable, in any form, whether i was referring to the day in kansas, yesterday in charlottesville. The president was unambiguous about what his Justice Department is going to do, the way he views how utterly inappropriate it is for this hatred and bigotry. I think the president s remarks were very clear. Dickerson the criticism is hes been tough on the media, on all kinds of people quickly, and without much restraint. In this case he said all sides. People marching with nazi flags. Thats not on all sides. I agree. When someone marches with a nazi flag thats unacceptable. Thats what the president said yesterday. I think he was speaking directly to the incident there. Weve all seen the videotape. I think he was speaking directly to that, and condemning the hatred and the bigotry on display yesterday. Dickerson lets move on to north korea. What north korean action would trigger a u. S. Military response . Yeah, i cant southwestern that. First of all, its not my decision. It will be the president s working closely with the intelligence we provide him. Suffice it to say, im familiar with the facts. Were not at an imminent risk of that taking place today. An attack from north korea is not something that is imminent. The American People should know that this administration is doing everything within its power. The president has enabled the Intelligence Community, the department of defense to be sure were protecting america from this threat. Dickerson you said you didnt want to weigh in. What would trigger the president seemed to this week, and that created confusion. The president said north korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. That seems to be a president saying, if they make a threat the following thing will happen. They made a threat. Nothing happened. Explain that people . Wasnt that a red line he was drawing . No, i dont think so at all. In fact, this administration has done a fine job of not drawing red lines were not prepared to enforce. I think what the president was doing there was very effective. He was communicating to the rogue leader in north korea, communicating to him the strategic patience of the past decades is no longer were just too close to him having this capacity, to hold america at risk. I think secondly, he was communicating to the world, to china and to others, who can influence the outcome there, we had a great success. We have the whole world voting to sanction north korea, something that hasnt happened for an awfully long time. This is Real Progress as a result of what President Trump has done, the way we have communicated the threat, not only to america and to japan and south korea, but to the entire wormeworld from this rogue lead. Dickerson is it policy that north korea will not be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon that can reach the United States . The president has made it very clear, john. The president , im with him almost every day, giving him his intelligence briefing. Hes made very clear that the United States finds it unacceptable for a rogue leader like kim jongun to have the capacity of a Ballistic Missile with a warhead that its integrated and fully deliverable to the United States and hold america and the world at risk. He finds that unacceptable. Hes simply not going to permit it to happen. Dickerson the president was very critical of the iraq war. He said it was the greatest blunder in american history. It was based on intelligence. Hes going to make a decision on red line you just drew on intelligence. How is he going to know the intelligence is right in this case when hes been so critical about the previous incident when the president took action on intelligence . Yes, sir. Pollmakers are right to be critical when the Intelligence Community gets it wrong. Make no mistake, theres been times in history when the Intelligence Community has gotten it wrong. Heres the good news. The Intelligence Community has done remarkable work in understanding kim jongun, watching his Ballistic Missile develop. The intelligence is very good, and the president will be able to rely on the work that the cia and Intelligence Community provide him. Dickerson two questions about intelligence. Lets talk about the program itself. It seems to be moving faster than people thought. Is that right . If so, shouldnt that make people nervous about the level of intelligence . Thanks for the question, john. Thats actually not true. Its not moving faster than policymakers knew. As i said, youll have director panetta, and mr. Morell, on. Its their work to give us a good picture. Can we predict days or weeks . Certainly not. Weve had a good handle on the work thats been done to develop this system of systems. Dickerson what picture do you have about the north Korean Leader and his predictability . In a sense hes following a familiar north korean script. If he follows the script doesnt that suggest he has a plan, hes not irrational, and therefore wouldnt use weapons irrationally . Ive described him as rational. One can debate that term. It has lots of different meanings. He does respond to external stimulus, that he listens to clear communications. He understands that his primary goal of staying in power, keeping the regime intact, requires a balancing act, and to extent we can isolate him, we can get the russians and chinesa phone call with president macron earlier this week. Well provide good intelligence to make the right decisions to get that regime to the right place, a denuclearized peninsula. Dickerson the u. S. Contained the russians and has contained pakistan, has a Nuclear Weapon, has contained them. Why not contain north korea . This regime is different. This regime is different. I heard ive heard some say i think susan rice said we need to learn to live with. President trump finds that unacceptable. This is not a leader for whom containment is a policy that makes sense for American National security. Dickerson let me ask you about that leader. You said on the one hand, the most important thing we can do is separate these two, meaning the north Korea Nuclear program from the leader, but secretary of state tillerson said we do not accept regime change. Two men using different words. I was getting to the exact policy that secretary tillerson. Wwe cannot have kim jongun with capacity have nuclear arms. Add to that, Ballistic Missile defense, and that is the mission that the president has demanded that his team deliver to him. Dickerson mr. Director, thank you. Thank you, john. Dickerson thanks for being with us. With us. When we come back in a minute, well take a closer look at the president s response to the clashes in charlottesville yesterday. Because it tells us something powerful about progress that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. As long as they have someone to believe in them. Citi financed the transatlantic cable that connected continents. And the panama canal, that made our world a smaller place. We backed the Marshall Plan that helped europe regain its strength. And pioneered the atm, for cash, anytime. For over two centuries weve supported dreams like these, and the people and companies behind them. So why should that matter to you . Because, today, we are still helping progress makers turn their ideas into reality. And the next great idea could be yours. For the atlantic on many sides. On many sides. Its been going on for a long time in our country. Not donald trump. Not barack obama. Its been going on for a long, long time. Theres no place in america. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives. No citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our society. And no child should ever be afraid to go outside and play or be with their parents and have a good time. No matter our color, creed, religion, or political party, we are allamericans first. We want to get the situation straightened out in charlottesville, and we want to study it. We want to see what were doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen. Dickerson white spokesman Sarah Huckabee sanders has just issued a statement. The president said he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred, including white supremacist, kkk, neonazi and all supremacist groups, he called for national unity, bringing all americans together. Michael duffy, you want to start with you. Orrin hatch, senator from utah, tweeted this we should call evil by his name. My brother didnt give his life for fighting hitler for nazi ideas. Where are we here . I think we can think about john f. Kennedy, who liked to say, the hottest place in hell is reserved for those people in times of great moral crisis who stick to the neutral position. Thats where the white house was yesterday. The silence is a problem. The republican party, slowly beginning to step away from trump for a lot of reasons in the form of hatch, marco rubio, whose parents obviously came from cuba, and others, made it clear overnight that was not a strong position. Its a moral failure not to call out actions by white nationalists or white peoplists who turn up in a college town, carrying torches, shouting nazi slogans, and carrying confederate flags. Theres no ambiguity about that. Dickerson the president has called critics unamerican. In this case he talked about the violence and the bigotry on all sides. Theres the problem, the moral equivalence here . President trump can be extremely critical, when he wants to criticize somebody, whether its a federal judge or the cast of the hamilton musical. Yesterday he was unwilling to do, and gave white nationalists a propaganda victory by not specifically naming them yesterday. He still has himself not specifically named them. Dickerson what happens now, molly . Might have a press conference tomorrow, is supposed to. I mean, is this a fixable problem for a president . I think its not just a political problem for the president. It is, as michael said, you do see increasing distance put between other republicans and donald trump. This didnt have to be a story that was primarily about donald trump. What you see from him, hes obsessed with his own potential role in it. The statement that he made, donald trump, this isnt barack obama, immediately taking it personal, personalizing it, making it a story about him, his relationship, which goes back to the beginnings of the campaign, winking and nodding at socalled altright, playing footsy with the white supremacist movement, saying themselves theyre emboldened by trump. Theyre not going away. Hes showed a clear unwillingness to tell them to go away. Dickerson the president said he wants to find out what happened in charlottesville, and find out the roots of this. Whats your reaction to that . It echoes everyone on this panel, if youre looking for the roots why white nationalists and neonazis felt emboldened to march on a college town, it can be the improperly of david duke that he refused to condemn, whether its the fact that he brought someone like steve bannon, whose breitbart catered to these people into the white house. You look at the president s behavior. At a certain point youre going to have to say that maybe the reason he doesnt condemn these people because in one way or another he sees them as allies, see them as part of his activist base. I dont know how one deals with that, but if youre trying to examine the roots of this, then i think you have to look there. Dickerson ed, we have about 30 seconds left. This distance with the president from republicans, do they feel compelled to come out . I mean, who speaks to this argument . Orrin hatch does. Does anybody pick it up or hope it goes away . I think increasingly they hoped it would go, because they issued tweets, press releases, stopping us in the hallway, and say, oh, this is awful, and move on. Its so frustrating to think that sometimes they just dont do more. And you just wonder at one point the party will break and try to separate itself further. Dickerson we will do more, but have to go now. We will be back with our panel later. Stay with us. Searching for answers may feel overwhelming. So start your search with our teams of specialists at Cancer Treatment centers of america. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts you are loved this is not a cloud. This is a car protected from storms by an Insurance Company that knows the weather down to the square block. This is a diamond tracked on a blockchain protected against fraud, theft and trafficking. This is a financial Transaction Secure from hacks and threats others cant see. This is a patients medical history made secure while Still Available to their doctor at their fingertips. This is an asteroid livestreamed to millions of viewers from 220 miles above earth. This is ai trained by experts in 20 industries. Your industry. Hello. This is not the cloud you know. This is the ibm cloud. Built for your business. Designed for your data. Secure to the core. The ibm cloud is the cloud for enterprise. Yours. Dickerson coming up next, well talk with former defense secretary and former cia director leon panetta. Stay with us. Well be right back with a lot more face the nation. Stay with us. Dickerson welcome back to face the nation. Joining us now is leon panetta, who served as president Barack Obamas secretary of defense and cia director and was also chief of staff to president clinton. He joins us from his home in monterey, california. Mr. Secretary, i want to start with these two challenges for President Trump. On the one hand, increasing the rhetoric on north korea, and now the sort of blander rhetoric with respect to charlottesville, has got him on the defensive. If you were chief of staff whats your guidance . How would you handle these two issues . Well, this is a very important moment in time for his administration. And i think the entire country is looking to see whether or not this president has the capability to provide strong leadership for our country at a moment of crisis, and strong leadership demands not only that he act with with consideration, with responsibility, with an understanding of what our country is all about, and what it stands for, and with a recognition of also protecting our security. Those are all responsibilities of the president. The president s biggest role is the ability to use the bully pulpit to speak, not only to the country, but to the world. Very frankly, his use of rhetoric, particularly with regards to north korea, fire and fury, and lock and load, i think has frankly created even greater tensions in that part of the world. His failure to address what really happened in charlottesville, the role of white supremacists, i think also sends a message that he is not recognizing the real causes of crisis even within our own country. Dickerson on the question of north korea, the president s rhetoric, you heard the cia director said that tough rhetoric is snapping north korea into shape. They realize now theyve got somebody they cant push around. Whats wrong with that argument . Well, ive never felt in the period of time that weve been dealing with north korea going back 60 years that you can outbully a bully by trying to threaten that individual with words. The reality is what speaks the loudest for the United States of america is the fact that were the most powerful country on the face of the earth, and we have the military capability to wipe that regime off the face of the earth. Thats the reality. And that frankly is what has been part of our strategy of containment and deterrence. The fact that we are strong, the fact we have allies in the region in south korea and japan, the fact that we have always spoken clearly about our approach to dealing with the aggressiveness of north korea. All of that is what determines whether or not the United States and our allies can try to ensure that we do not engage in a nuclear war there. So it just seems to me that the important thing right now is to have a president who is steady, who is calm, whos responsible, and who recognizes that the most important thing right now is to find a way to ensure that we do not get into a war. Dickerson do you see the North Koreans providing any exit ramps in the way theyve behaved . And part of this issue is how the u. S. Intelligence and policymakers assess the Strategic Thinking of the north Korean Leader. How do you see it . What should the next actions be to find a way to get off this escalation . Weve had a history here of 60 years of provocation and accommodation by the North Koreans regardless of who the leader was. Theres a period of time where there is provocation, and we appear to be at the point of some kind of warfare. Then theres a period of accommodation. Weve been through that cycle. Were now in a period of obviously provocation. I think the North Koreans understand that if they take the wrong step, its the end of the regime, period. And for that reason i think its clear that theyre going to they are going to allow themselves some offramps here so that their regime does not come to an end. But in saying that i think that what the United States needs to do is to have a Clear Strategy here, not operate on a haphazard basis, but have a Clear Strategy of both containment and deterrence. That means strengthening our military presence. It means strengthening our support for south korea and for japan. It means having in place a very strong covert and overt Missile Defense capability. And it means employing strong diplomacy with our allies, increasing sanctions, to send a clear message that if theres any provocation from north korea it will spell the end of their regime, period. Dickerson and finally, in 30 seconds, mr. Secretary, whats your assessment of the speed . Is the director of the cia right that the speed of north Korean Development here has been known and its not a surprise to anyone . Well, my sense is that theyve been moving pretty quickly in these last few years to the point that they now have an icbm, and theyre close to developing a miniaturized Nuclear Weapon. I think weve been following the fact that they are you know, theyve been doing this. But i think the rapid nature of how theyve been able to come to that capability is something frankly that has surprised both the United States and the world. Dickerson all right. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being with us. We turn now to cb National Security contributor Michael Morell and david ignatius. Michael, what are you thinking . The Intelligence Community is critical to how this plays out, because theres so much we dont know, and the fundamental job of the Intelligence Community is to fully inform. Id take out my yellow pad and write down questions the president needs answers to. Number one, what are kim jonguns intentions . The conventional wisdom that hes trying to deter us from ever moving against him and ending his regime. I believe thats the case. But theres also a question whether he would, once he has a Nuclear Weapon, the ability to deliver it to the continental United States, would he use that to try to extort us, the japanese or south koreans . Thats very different than him trying to deter us. Thats a fundamental question that needs to be answered. Another question that needs to be answered is, does he have the capability today to put a u. S. City in alaska, hawaii, the continental United States, at risk . Is it a year from now . Or can he do it today . Jim clapper, the former dni, has said repeatedly over the last several months, we have to assume he can do it today. We need to take that into account when we start making our military plans. Those are two question questions for me. Dickerson david, this week we had what seemed like different signals. Help us straighten this out. The president saying fire and fury if the North Koreans make more threats. They did. Then the secretary of state saying everybody should sleep soundly at night. Help us understand those two statements. Well, that was quite a passage, fire and fury, the sleep well, and then the efforts to make people think it was all the same policy, one of the things that director pompeo stressed in his interview with you. Donald trump clearly believes in this confrontation hes the secret sauce, hes the guy whose rhetoric is going to communicate the message strongly, not just to north korea, but to china, to the extent there is a Clear Strategy here it is make china be the intermediary, the big power in the region that brings north korea to the table, that makes it impossible for kim to continue with his threats. Thats the strategy. Some of this rhetoric i think is intended to frighten the chinese into taking action. I will note one point. Everybody talks about the rhetoric being a terrible mistake in a nuclear crisis, the idea of throwing words around scares all of us, but the u. S. Doesnt really have military options for dealing with north korea. The strange thing about the president s fire and fury, all these statements, its got the whole world thinking we have a military option, and we may be about to use it. From what i know, except for covert actions, you know, preemptive, b52 raids, we do not have an option. We have a 45 to 60day runup period before we have even forces in place. The president s rhetoric has made people think that weve got more really on the line than we may have. John, theres two myths here. One is that theres a military option. Davids absolutely right. Theres not. We dont know whether these weapons are. We dont know where all the missiles are. We dont have enough firepower to take out all the artillery along the dmz. Theres not a military option that solves the problem. Thats myth number one. Myth number two is that china can solve this problem. I believe, and i think theres good evidence to back this up, that even china wanted to use the leverage it has, it would be unlikely to sway kim jongun. For kim jongun having these weapons is all about his own survival. Hes not going to give them up under any pressure, even from china. Dickerson so if thats the case, where do we go, david . Kim jongun is not going to give them up. Director pompeo said he must give them. Thats the red line for the president. Thats the trick of this diplomacy. Thats what the chinese will be thinking about. Its interesting that the u. S. And china have the identical definition. They are not divided. The question is, how do you have a formula to achieve that over time . I keep being told, as i asked questions over the weekend, as early as this morning, dont expect anything rapid. This is going to be gradual. The u. S. Will turn up the heat on china, with additional trade sanctions this week. They talk about a horizon that stretches into next year. What they want is for kim to stop testing missiles now. If he shoots the missile on tuesday at guam, you know, the four missiles at guam, i think its then a very different ballgame. Its a deliberate escalation in the face of this rhetoric. And then, watch out. We need to try diplomacy. We need to try the china angle, but i think at the end of the day well face a choice. Were going to face a choice of taking military action to try to degrade, as difficult and horrific as that would be on one end, and on the other end acceptance, containment, and deterrence. Thats the choice the president will have to face. His rhetoric ties him in, right, to the harder line. If he doesnt do that, he loses credibility. Dickerson and, you know, the director said the president had been clear. We went back and looked, hes tweeted that there, said that there, but it did seem the line today is red if they have this capability. Final question for you, david. Containment has been a part of u. S. Policy with other countries. Why doesnt it work here . Is it all about the unpredictablity of the leader . Is there a way that somebody could get to containment as a u. S. Policy if in the end thats where negotiation leads us . If kim jongun did things that conveyed the sense that he is a more rational leader, more trustworthy, you could change the pompeo on the one hand says, i judge him to be rational, that he hears the messages, and, on the other hand, we cant allow this man to have weapons. One point to note finally, it is estimated by the Defense Intelligence agency that he already has up to 60 weapons. Were talking about this as if its a future change. Its already happened. We are living with it. The question is, are there limits that would make it easier to live with it, sell to our allies, japan and south korea, so they wouldnt weapons too. Dickerson gentlemen, well have to end it there. Our Political Panel will be back. Dont go away. Atmore than one flavor, oruch texture, or color. Ing. A good clean salad is so much more than green. And with panera catering, more for your event. Panera. Food as it should be. So we know how to cover almost almoanything. Hing even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum dickerson were back with more from our politics panel, including the the atlantics molly ball, National Reviews ramesh ponnuru, time magazines michael duffy, and Washington Post reporter and cbs news contributor ed we are determined to take our country back. Were going to fulfill the promises of donald trump. Thats what we believed in, why we voted for donald trump, because he said hes going to take our country back. Dickerson ed, this is the challenge for the president , people saying the president s name in that clip. Every republican leader since george h. W. Bush of any significance, has denounced david duke, what he used to do as a kkk leader. The president struggled to do this during his campaign. He yet again has not done it. This what infuriates and scares so many people in this country, that hes behaving not as the president of the United States, but the president of 36 , the people who support him. Look at what he did this past week. Denounces Mitch Mcconnell, a washington insider. Stirs trouble with two strong men around the world. Refuses, however, to denounce what Vladimir Putin did in russia, and said what he said yesterday, trying to equate those trying to denounce david duke and his friends with what they were doing. That is what is troubling. What more will it take for his party to try to put more distance or compel him, if not tomorrow, but at some point soon, to come out, and through his words and actions denounce this . The president is quite concerned about his base. We saw him hold his Approval Rating at about 40 for six weeks this summer, from about june 16th to about august 1st, that great 72 hours, when we had the transgender tweet, th,and more. He saw the base erode. That explains the mcconnell tweet, the attacks on the foreign leaders, the north korean bravado, and belligerence, because he know it plays well. He said, my people love this. Hes aware of what hes doing. Is it an insult to 35 to 40 of people who support the president to equate them with david duke . Aligning himself with the people who did this rally, thats how going to play well . David duke ran for office in louisiana last year and came in near dead last. These ideas are repugnant to the vast majority of americans, including the vast majority of republicans, including the vast majority of people who support donald trump. I mean, i was just in alabama this week, and, you know, the president is very popular there, but the people there are not supporting the president because they believe in the ideas of david duke and the white nationalists. Im not sure if thats much of a binary. You have a david duke, right, but you also have you know, we have to remove all these dangerous hispanic immigrants, an idea cloaked in nonracial content, but it rational content at its core. Im not sure that the president is necessarily wrong in sort of this instinctive analysis, right, that not coming down with a hammer on white supremacists, the most activist part of this group of people, the president said not doing that helps him with people who may have softer views, some attenuated views, but still continuum of white reaction and white resentment. Dickerson ramesh, there are those who are conservatives who say why do i have to answer to this . They find neonazis just as repugnant as everyone else. Why are they on the hook . Its funny, because a lot of conservatives say why around moderate muscles denouncing radical muslims . Theres people who feel they dont have to denounce these white supremacists. We dont know exactly why President Trump is doing what hes doing, saying what hes saying. It could be a political calculation. I do suspect that part of it is my enemies want to link me to these people. They want to force me to do tell me i have to apologize, denounce. Im not going to give in, be weak. I do think we know that President Trump is obsessed with the idea of projecting strength and avoiding the impression of weakness. I think thats probably part of whats going on. And thats part of whats so confusing and frustrating about had, is he says these things, hes so vague, it allows misinterpretation, forces conversation, and has three Different Administration officials out this morning, saying different things, and clarifying with dickerson the man who built his career on not being vague. Exactly. Toward the end, he says we have to cherish our history. In the context of an event that was held to defend confederate statues in charlottesville, virginia, to say we need to cherish our history, to me sounds like a dog whistle to the unite the right demonstrators. So that would be my piece of evidence for this dickerson right, because they argue that keeping the general lee statue in the park is part of cherishing history. Right. Dickerson michael duff, you wrote about the new chief of staff this week. Is this something the chief of staff can take a handle of . What is the chief of staff to do . Well, hes not a miracle worker, you know. Being too loud and too strident and to belligerent on north kor, charlottesville, they have a long way to go to manage the president s messaging. I was really struck, why i think north korea is tied into this general you called it a dog whistle, but broadcasting to his base. Pompeo said to you just 20 minutes ago, this is not an imminent risk today. And that you would never know, from reading the president s tweets about or statements, excuse me about north korea this week. Hes turning up the volume himself. You know, there were sanctions this week by the u. N. Those were put in place. We learned, those of us, you know, learned that it was they could produce a Nuclear Weapon. I assume the government knew for some time. We were not the first to hear about that. Even in geopolitical matters, hes using his mouthpiece aimed at some part of his core supporters at a moment when hes feeling under pressure. Dickerson the president also criticized Mitch Mcconnell. Do we need Mitch Mcconnell as a Senate Leader . From what i understand, hes not taking it personally, but theres a clear attempt to deflect blame. His agenda is flailing. Washington isnt getting anything done. So his impulse, rather than trying to exert some kind of leadership, or be more involved in the process, is to separate himself from the mess and point the finger at his own party. This is somewhat distressing to members of his party, on the ballot a lot sooner than he is, but we do increasingly see him turning on republicans in congress, turning on mcconnell, saying its your fault, you couldnt get this done for me. My experience, talking to Trump Supporters in West Virginia and alabama the last couple weeks, theyre hearing that message. Theyre not blame trump for this. Look, mcconnell started this particular round of things by criticizing trump over the healthcare debacle in a way that didnt make sense. You know, the fact of the matter is, this was a cause that republicans took up long before trump. It was Congressional Republicans who didnt have a plan going. It was mcconnell was more involved in it than trump was. Of course everything we know about trump, if you come out and criticize him hes going to attack you back. So, yes, this doesnt make a lot of strategic sense for President Trump, but what mcconnell did started this entire fight in a way that makes no sense for him. Dickerson im afraid, we have to end it there. Thats it for us for the moment. Well be right back. Stay with us. Dickerson be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on cbs for cbs sn on assignment with access to military bases in guam and south korea. Well be right back. Hundreds of dollars on youmy car insurance. Saved me huh. I should take a closer look at geico. dog panting geico has a 97 Customer Satisfaction rating and fast and friendly claims service. Speaking of service . Oooo, just out. It was in. Out. In out. In what about now . That was our only shuttlecock. Take a closer look at geico. Great savings. And a whole lot more. Dickerson thats it for us today. Thanks for watching. Until next week for face the nation, im john dickerson. Strummed guitar you cant experience the Canadian Rockies through a screen. You have to be here, with us. Strummed guitar travel through this natural wonder and get a glimpse of amazing. With a glass of wine in one hand, and a camera in the other, aboard rocky mountaineer. Canadas Rocky Mountains await. Call your travel agent or rocky mountaineer for special offers now. Announcer the following is a paid advertisement for tai cheng, brought to you by beachbody. Two minutes, mr. Van dyke oh, hi im Dick Van Dyke. You know, back when i was doing the Dick Van Dyke show, audiences would laugh every week when id come in and tumble over the ottoman. Today, that wouldnt be so funny. 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