Issue an outrage tweet and then return to shared priorities like tax reform. Unlike republicans in congress, or any members of the president s cabinet or senior staff, Corporate America has said enough. Their move a direct response to Donald Trumps bluster filled performance yesterday at trump tower in which he drew an equivalence between White Supremacists and those there to protest them. The president responding this afternoon via twitter, quote, rather than putting pressure on the Business People of the Manufacturing Council and strategy and policy forum, im ending them both. Thank you all. The defections began monday and accelerated throughout the morning today. The wall street journal writing of the defections quote, their decision to quit now and in such public Fashion Shows the growing political and cultural pressure that ceos and others in public life are under to distance themselves from mr. Trump. We are joined by our reporters covering all the developments. Hallie jackson, with the president in new jersey. Kimberly atkins, chief washington correspondent at the boston herald. And a cofounder of axios. Hallie, talk to me about this. It looked like he was about to get dumped but he said im breaking up with you. Thats right. Of political strategies from trump, i think he and his team saw the writing on the wall. They see the ceos already dropping out, rumblings that had been reported earlier in the day that in fact this council, a couple of the councils were considering disbanding altogether and decided im going to make it so i look like im coming out and being strong and decisive about it which is why the president tweeted he was disbanding the things. Let me get into the pieces of the puzzle here, nicolle. From a policy perspective, from sort of a what the president wants to don the economy perspective, this is a big deal. He has always talked most about how he is the jobs president. The president who will fight for the American Worker, the president who will bring back the economy, its the top talking point he mentions at nearly every public appearance. Hes talked about leveraging the private sector to help make government run more smoothly. This is an example of him being unable to do that because of what he said, as you noted in the show open there over the last three to four days since the violence in charlottesville. The other part of this is how it will play from the political or optics perspective if you will. Remember what hes done over the last 24 hours when first ceos started to drop out, ken frazier, for example. He said he said the leaders arent getting it done, they should be embarrassed because theyre sending jobs overseas. Essentially turning the arguments that its on the companies saying they werent helping you to begin with. If the companies were not being helpful to the American Worker to begin with, why were they advising the president on his Advisory Councils . Bottom line its a moot point now because the councils no longer exist. Kimberly, let me ask you if this is another chapter in the jilted president story. I mean, the rage he displays against the media day in and day out is because he viewed them as sort of a group that he used to be able to manipulate either by playing his own spokesperson or by courting favor with the new york city tabloids when he was i guess a quasi local tv celebrity. But now they cover him as real journalists would cover any president and businesses that i think he often viewed as being in his corner i think he branded himself to the voters as one of them, they have now dumped him. Can you play this string forward and who hell predict engaging them forward. He cant lose the american businesses when his plank is putting everybody to work. Youre absolutely right. Theres a part of the president s base who actually love when loves it when he rails against the media. So when he does that hes sort of feeding meat to the tigers, right . But when it comes to these Business Leaders, President Trump built himself up as the ceo president and so now all of these corporate ceos are walking away from him. Not just walking away, but issuing very public statements condemning his words yesterday during that press conference and really making this a moral issue. So its hard for him to push back against them. I mean he tried when he treated earlier he tweeted earlier for every ceo who walks away i have many to take their place, these ceos called his bluff and he lost that battle. Jim, i wonder if you think general kelly and jared and ivanka have put him on double secret probation and put up twitter and see a pretty measured response from a major rebuke from americas Business Leaders. Trump is trump. Hes not going to change. This isnt steve bannon. This isnt the altright. This is donald trump. He made the decision to respond to what happened in charlottesville. He carried out the decision on how to respond to what happened in charlottesville. And everybody who works for him knows it. They knew the bargain they were making when working for trump. Im surprised by how surprised some people are by the last couple of days. If you have watched this presidency going back a year prepresidency its one of the most predictable periods in politics ever. We knew there would be racial tension at some point, we knew he would defiantly stand up against condemnation when people lashed out against him and we knew his base would stand by him. And we knew that a lot of people who supported him would rationalize it. Whats different and why today is an awful day for the presidency, an awful day, is that he did have those Business Leaders who he needs. Hes about to do tax reform. Hes about to ask them to spend money, to spend political capital. Spend time to go get tax reform time done and now he has a Massive Public rebuke in a way we have not seen at any point in the trump reign. No way for them to spin it. I think it gets worse. These ceos are under so much pressure internally at home, in their own household. You have the exact same thing playing out with staff. I dont think anyone resigns today. Io will see a coup you will see a couple of people leave and they have had it. Thats going to hurt the presidency because he has some talented people who are reluctantly working for him, who try to do the right thing. Once you take them out its just trump. Yeah. Hallie, can you pick up this thread . I talked to folks overnight and today who said of course were going to have a National Conversation about race because donald trump ripped open the wounds and poured salt in them, but this is more akin to what jim is talking about, his reaction to the khan family. When he takes these radioactive stupid fights and he wages them until hes practically been bludgeoned to death and then says, well, my people like the fight. This source also told me that, you know, when he gets on the hill and its the wrong hill no one can talk him down from it. And that those are the kinds of conversations going on in the white house. Exactly. So the question is, that is also i think happening inside the west wing based on some conversations i have had today is if hes on that hill to use your analogy, how do you get him to make the argument that might be effective if you know hes not going to come down off that hill . To just belabor the analogy for a moment. I say that, because i think what you saw from the president over the last 18 hours or so was an attempt you and i talked about this this morning. An attempt to relitigate or explain from what folks are telling me from what he said on saturday. He felt like people didnt understand the point he was trying to make and that he was right in the point he was trying to make. He came out on monday and this is kind of the explanation if you will, sort of the pulling back of the curtain that he was trying to attempt to do according to these folks and based on this reporting. The challenge is though, i have talked to some people today who said that there were other arguments that the president could have made, other things he could have pointed to in his own career and life, and show he wants a broader conversation about race and, you know, hes done a lot in their view to support the africanamerican community, for example in his business and other ways. Those were not the kinds of arguments that he made. I know you have lots of demands on your time. So thank you for spending a little bit of time for us. Everyone else is staying with us. I to bring in i want to bring in the panel. Joining us is stephanie ruhle, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, and Public Policy and with us from washington, robert traynham, a former bush cheney senior adviser. Steph, since this news broke i have been dying to get your take on it. I have seen you throughout the day, but talk about this breakup. First of all, President Trumps tweet today that he dismantled the council is a lie. Well walk through the time line. He made the comments on saturday, the ceos were furious about it. By monday they had settled down because he restated, he warmed it up a little. They didnt like it, but they said. But last night they said enough is enough. Not because theyre calling him a nazi or a sympathizer, but they have companies to run. They dont want to deal with this nonsense. By last night, eight or nine had reached out to steve schwartz, they said were out. 12 of them were on the call today, they decided collectively were going to dismantle this. At that point, they went back to their companies, they told their employees. He then reached out to the white house i believe Jared Kushner which is when the president starts the tweet im going to dump you first. Which is nonsense. This is difficult for jared because its Jared Kushner, chris what dell and roy cordish who pushed for the initiative. If youre jamie dimon, tax cuts, this can help your company to the tune of billions and theyre walking away. Do you think theres any question in any of the ceos minds that hell be punitive . Of course he will. They thought that several months ago but at this point they look at him more and i dont want to use the word impotent, but theyre like giddyup, what are you going to do . I spoke to a source at walmart who said its a different calculation for because a lot of our workforce and customers support President Trump. But wall martz this isnt about supporting walmart. But to your point, they had to make difficult calculations so Doug Mcmillon said as we watch the response of President Trump over the weekend we felt he missed a critical opportunity to bring the country together by objecting the White Supremacists and the remarks on monday were a step in the right direction. As we pull the thread on what he did yesterday, the damage that he did, its so stunning to me that you go back to the occupy wall street era. We have Corporate America leading the way in rebuking the president of the United States on a question of race. Where are the republicans . Wheres the good leadership and capitalism to the way that unilever is the leader. They have to walk a fine line, but this isnt about politics but about humanity. And Larry Summers made a brilliant point. If the walmart ceo can make a Statement Like that but doesnt leave the council that makes no sense. If youre the biggest private employer in the country, you should have access to everyone in government that you want. But if you need to be on the council to get that kind of access, are we living in a Banana Republic . Are we, gene . Some days i think we are, and theres one guy responsible for that. Mine, its all trump. It is all him. Lets get back to the earlier point. Why are we surprised at this, given what we have seen . Go back further. Given what we have seen over his career really. The voice of birtherism. The man who led what amounted to a sort of almost lynch mob Media Campaign against the central park 5. Remember that . Five young men, then young four africanamericans, one latino, they were later exonerated by dna of a rape. And donald trump said no, theyre still guilty. He crusaded on this issue. There are there have been to my knowledge no africanamericans or latinos in key positions of authority in the Trump Organization. Now i could be wrong on that. But i kind of tried to look at the roster. Its not a very big organization. I think they would stick out and we havent seen them. So, you know, whats surprising us . He said of that he settled that housing lawsuit. Its a no fault settlement, but you dont pay millions of dollars for nothing. Jim, since we came back to your point, let me ask you to weigh in again on this idea that theres a pattern, not just on race, but on the president s temperament which is to me as big of a story as all that was revealed about his impulses and instincts on race. That hes just so temperamentally unsuited for the leadership aspects of the job. Yeah. I mean, i have gotten a lot of emails saying that the media is too harsh on President Trump and im critical of the media. But in this case its not. What i would tell anybody whos watching, it might not be in the constitution but we have a social compact thats gone through a continuum of president s that you have an obligation to remove that stain of slavery. To everything you can that when there are moments of tension which are inevitable theres going tension, when they happen you have an obligation to try to heal those wounds. If you do anything to exasperate it, youre punishing the country. Youre basically exasperating a sin, and thats where he has this moment to lead. He cant. This idea that kelly is going to control him or jared is going to control him, nobody will control donald trump. Hes the same guy as he was one year ago. And now hes a man on an island. Hes got his 35 of his base who are with him no matter what he does, whether its saying something nasty about grabbing women if their private parts, but hes losing everyone. Hes lost business. On capitol hill none of those republicans like him, he has very few friends up there. Now for first time youre seeing a couple of republicans come out and rebuke him. At some point theyll have the courage to actually put their name to it and say, listen, President Trump, you until then well read about it in axios. You read about it, but its the members of congress who say like racism is bad, but not saying its the president whos doing it. They have to stand up. I agree with you. Stephanie, let me give you the last word and a source said to me its the mythology that he created. He basically ran a mom and pop shop, he was a tv star. 100 . The Trump Organization was never an institutional climate to any u. S. Investment bank. He was not part of the business movers and shakers those were his peers. Those were not his peers but to the viewers at home who watch the apprentice, he seemed like that. But the question i asked you, did we not appreciate Reince Priebus . Maybe reince was better at his job than we realized. Maybe they misdiagnosed the problem. We thought kelly would tighten it up. Thank you for spending time with us. Tainted by trump, a staff now tainted by Donald Trumps galling comments yesterday in charlottesville is described as appalled, furious, stunned, disheartened. Will any of that outrage be followed by resignations . And is President Trump egging them on . Theres a response to news that they liked what they heard from the president yesterday. And is he breaking the back of the Republican Party with those divisive comments on race and his refusal to get president ial . You owned your car for four years. You named it brad. You loved brad. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends, three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad. Then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacementâ„¢, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. Liberty stands with youâ„¢. Liberty mutual insurance. Music Edible Arrangements for summer. Order in store or online. Hit could be the next big thing i should totally get that domain name. Get your great idea online too. Get your domain today, and get. A free trial of gocentral from godaddy vo nutritional needs. Ogs all in one. Purina one. Healthy energy, all in one. Strong muscles, all in one. Highly digestible, and a taste he loves, all in one. Purina one smartblend is expertly blended. With 100 nutrition, 0 fillers, always real meat 1. Lifelong smart nutrition. Its all in one. Purina one. I think theres blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it and you dont have any doubt about it either. And and if you reported it accurately, you would see. Just a small part of yesterdays press conference heard around the world. Apparently unplanned and unsanctioned by trumps team of aides. Aides appeared to be jumping at the chance to get their story on the record and place blame for trumps remarks on him alone. One top staffer texted politico yesterday, quote, my head is spinning. Axios was told that gary cohn was somewhere between appalled and furious and stunned an disheartened staffers told the New York Times they never expected to hear such a voluble articulation of opinions that the president had expressed in private. Thats what staffers were willing to say when the cameras were off and their identities are anonymous, but the talking points distributed to those on the hill told a different story. Quote, say the president was entirely correct both sides of the violence in charlottesville acted inappropriately and bears some responsibility. Yesterday, we asked on this show if any west wing staffers would resign. Now, 24 hours later, no resignations but lots of explanations for why they stay, delivered off the record or on background in whispered conversations. Jim, you were someone that i whispered sometimes on background and off the record in the white house you covered and the white house in which i worked. But never anything about the president. I cant imagine calling you and saying that i was galled or disheartened or furious for the president at going off script and for painting us with the broad ugly paint of racial insensitivity at best and outright emboldening and embracing the pirations aspirations of White Supremacists at worst. I cant imagine wed see a white house like this. But you have the group of people who are rationalizing their work to donald trump and i feel sympathetic to them. Listen, if were not giving good advice or putting up some guardrails lord knows what hell do when theres a real crisis and we have seen what hell do in crisis. The problem that these people have, the reason theyre so tortured, taking so much crap at home for working for him on the one hand and, two, he continues to do things they cant control. Take general kelly. One of the strongest people you can possibly put in the job. Somebody i think trump probably fears. He does have this a fear of alpha male generals hes in there. Hes a law and order guy. Hes putting in discipline, hes doing everything he can. You cant tame trump. Nobody can tame trump so i dont think anyone leaves today. I do know of several people that are likely to leave soon because they have had they had it before this. They just dont feel like they can make a difference. And the pressure is too intense, given theyre not getting much on the outcome side. I think its bad for the country. I think our government needs talent. Our government needs sane leadership and if you just have a president going rogue without a talented staff during difficult times thats bad for the country. We havent faced a massive global crisis, we will. Were vastly understaffed and were not equipped to deal with it. Robert traynham, how do you feel about the firing resignations of Reince Priebus and sean spicer in light of the fact that after they were effectively purged from the white house for being ineffective, the president has stepped in the deepest pile of his doodoo in his presidency. Im sure sean and reince are high fiving and saying thats not my problem anymore. Im sure theyre probably upset because i havent spoken to sean in a while, but maybe if i was there i could have done something differently. Is that as foolish as dating the guy that cheats on every girl and then when hes finally your boyfriend youre like ill be the one that changes him . Are they all are they all engaged in the fools errand . Are they involved in the fools errand thinking they can change donald trump . Yes. Yes. Heres why i think that. Look, the conversations i have been having over the last year and half and quite frankly i was a part of the conversations oh my goodness, you know what, if gets the nomination hell become serious. Oh, my goodness if in fact he wins the presidency, the weight of the presidency will make him much more serious. Oh, my goodness, you know, hes a manhattan liberal. He wants to be loved. He wants hell work with democrats and republicans. He has no political baggage so hes going to bring everyone together. Every single rationale conversation that me and fellow republicans were having obviously had fallen on deaf ears and everyones right. The president is an unhinged person and no one can control him, but there are some rationale people in the west wing who say, for the love of god if not me, who . Im trying to save the presidency here. So good for them for at least trying but look its one of the things that theyre just shifting deck chairs here on the titanic. Philip, let me bring you in. I want to ask you this question because this is i think jim and robert have articulated the defense. Well, you know, if theyre National Security staff, they say well, you have no idea what im dealing with. You know, if you saw what i saw on fill in the blank, isis, north korea, afghanistan, you know im serving my country. Fair enough. And thin you talk to the Economic Policy people that say that donald trump, you know, doesnt know a tax reform from a you know, a hamburger order. Im here because he couldnt reform the tax code, you know, with a magic wand. Then you talk to, you know, other people on the staff that say, well, general kellys job is just to reign in steve bannon. Hes not in charge of donald trump and twitter. Whose job is it to take care of the president . What bucket does the president fall under . Well, i mean its a great question. I think the assumption has been for months now that that bucket belongs to his children, to ivanka and to his soninlaw Jared Kushner. Thats interesting, when children take care of their parents its because something is going on. Whats going on . The reason i say that, this is someone who everyone knows no one else has control over. He values the loyalty and friendships to the extent that people are loyal to him. Thats why bannon was there in first place and why right now things are shaky with bannon because donald trump has sort of fallen out of love with him. Can i pause on bannon. What cares what bannon does. Donald trump revealed his instincts on race. And i want to jump in on that. I think that steve bannon is the one person that President Trump is legitimately afraid of and can be. Hes shifted the media ecosystem and he comes at a vengeance with whoever he dislikes. Look at the Disinformation Campaign going on against hr mcmaster and right now, the Harvard Berkman center released a report, a comprehensive look at the media landscape. It has shifted so that the polls used to be sort of left and right and now theyre center left and far right. The center right is gone. The center right media is dead basically to america. Breitbart had taken over. And if that man is spurned he will come after trump and although he calls himself a nationalist hes an altright nationalist. He uses the word kuk all the time and hes got a vengeance, and hes signaling. If trump lets go of bannon its game on like we have never seen. Let me ask you the question that i have been harassing philip about here. Whos in charge of donald trump . Well, donald trump is in charge of donald trump. Thats no question there. Nobody can reign him in. I dont like this idea that he went rogue. He cant go rogue. Hes at the top. Hes the president. He sets the policy and the tone. He sets it all. So people can try as they might. But at the same time, republicans that i have spoken to today to a person really dont want resignations from the white house. They really want these people to stay even if they are not effective at reining him in. They want somebody who knows what theyre doing somewhere in the white house, a voice of reason that can have the president s ear in time to time. Theres a real concern outside of the white house about who will replace these people if they leave. They want gary cohn in there, they want hr mcmaster in there. And they want john kelly to remain in the positions that theyre in. And they have been imploring them and letting them know that, so that will factor into whether you see people depart. An issue with bannon, a point on bannon is that hes not only someone to fear if he is cut loose. But his job in there is to remind the president who voted for him. And thats very important to donald trump as much as he may slap at him publicly a little bit when hes not happy with him. Steve bannon is there to remind donald trump about his base and thats very important to him. So i dont think i dont think hell be going out the door any time soon. Let me give you a quick last word on bannon because i feel like it can break at axios at any moment. Do you have any reporting on bannon . Listen, the president is very worried that if steve bannon left that he would not necessarily come after him. Because i dont think that he would, but what hed do is create bannon media, bannon tv. Theres a huge segment of the Republican Party that loves the America First action. If you talk to bannon hed be very loud and proud of what he thinks about immigration and thinking about this country being first, the muslim ban. If hes out there it would be hugely problematic for donald trump and donald trump is kind of a comfort blanket for him. Comfort food. He might get sick of him and put him in the doghouse but hes one guy he can talk to who shares his mischievous ways. Thats why he thinks about getting rid of him, but doesnt. All right. Thank you so much for spending some time with us. Still ahead, shock and awe. Thats the best way to describe the current state of the gop. Members take to twitter to express their outrage but never seem to have a followup move. Does anything change when the president is pouring salt in some of our countrys most tender wounds . I am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. Theso when i need to book tant to mea hotel room,tion. I want someone that makes it easy. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah gene, we came back on the air with a picture of newly minted white house chief of staff general kelly. How do you think hes doing . Well, look, you have a sense of what his old job was like, right . Every secretary of Homeland Security i ever met has lived in the constant pressure of threats coming in here and there. And theyre always that must seem like just a walk in the park compared to what he has stepped into at the white house. I mean, you know, hes got an undoable job basically. Hes got a job and people he can bring order to the to staffing. He can institute a system of access and paper flow and all that. In the end, it doesnt mean anything because, you know, donald trump is the president and donald trump is who he is and hes going to operate the way hes always operated. And hes 71 years old, hes not going to change. So theres going to be chaos and hes going to do things like he did yesterday and just go completely, you know, off the ranch. And make a statement just take back any sort of progress he made the day before. And its a constant cycle. Talk about the cycle because you and i covered Donald Trumps attacks on the khan family together. We sat shoulder and shoulder and covered the attacks on judge curiel and every time we saw it, we said you dont attack a gold star family and he survived. You dont attack a judge, an american born judge for his heritage. This feels like another one in those kind of attacks. Toxic yeah. He digs in. He gets defiant. He goes i think to his instincts which are nativist and angry in a lot of ways. I think thats a lot of whats really inside of him, and it continues out in ways that are obviously in terms of our system totally inappropriate if not appalling. Yet, he thinks its fine because his 35 base is going to stick with him. And doesnt mind. And he doesnt suffer from it. Right . Now, this time is that true though . You know, the ceos left. Thats a concrete thing. I mean, they just said, later for you. We cant sit next to you if this is what we didnt sign up for this, right . And thats really the first time we have seen that sort of mass statement in concrete. Coming from ceos. But this is whats so stun. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, coming from ceos, but half of the country has spoken out about donald trump. One of the reasons were seeing ceos saying oh, my gosh, ceos is because half the country is gone yeah. 67 of the country, right. I think that the thing thats fascinating to watch at this white house and with kelly and with others there is take sean spicer. He and i butt heads a lot of times but he had a line, that line was cross and he quit that day. And the points are taken you dont abandon trump to do what he wants to do. I think part of the challenge with what happened yesterday was we saw from donald trump a specific moral and ethical line thats different from the hiring of scaramucci. This is a particular thing a line thats crossed racism. Racism. We dont its crossed all the time. I wont annotate. Ill let you finish. But my point is if thats not a line that people think is too far and theyre going to stay in the white house at what point are you becoming complicit . People cross the racial line all the time, but they do it in quick darts. So you for example, candidates like clinton whos a democrat. Bill with the sister soulja speech. People tag the little race thing. Trump went from, you know, dog whistle to full on frontal but i think that we in the media have to do some housekeeping because during the election particularly in television there was a lot of walltowall coverage of donald trump without enough analysis of his speeches. And when dont look at me and gene. We sat here we sure did. Go go ahead. America is a country where a lot of people have latent racial believes that can be activated and so theres a researcher at princeton named pavel hanes that some people value neutral statements like make America Great again and that can incite the xenophobia. We have to look at the speeches we ran during the campaign. We know we came up short. When we come back, the reporter who got a close look what happened in charlottesville this weekend joins us. At ally, we offer low rates on home loans. But if thats not enough, we offer our price match guarantee too. And if thats not enough. We should move. Our home team will help you every step of the way. Still not enough . Its smaller than id like. Well help you finance your dream home. Its perfect. Oh, was this built on an ancient Burial Ground . Okay. Then well have her cleanse you house of evil spirits. Well do anything, spiritual chatter seriously anything to help you get your home. Ally. Do it right. [vo] progress is seizing the moment. Your summer moment awaits you now that the summer of audi sales event is here. Audi will cover your first months lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. Jews will not replace us jews will not replace us blood and soil. Blood and soil. Whose streets . Our streets. That was the chilling rallying cry of the white nationalists who gathered just days ago in the streets of charlottesville. Ellie reeve of Vice News Tonight had up close and personal access to the group. As the clashes in charlottesville unfolded. The doc is incredible. I want to show you one more clip from it though because i want to ask you about this gentleman on the other side. I think that a lot of people are going to die before were dying here. I carry a pistol before i go to the gym all the time. Im trying to make myself more capable of violence. Im trying to talk in the hopes that somebody more capable will come along and do that. Somebody like donald trump who does not give his daughter to a jew. So donald trump, but more racist . A lot more racist than donald trump. I dont think you can feel about race the way i do and watch that kushner bastard walk around with that beautiful girl. I loved your question, donald trump, but more racist . But im terrified by the answer. I wonder what you heard and what else you heard about what they like about donald trump and if you were back in touch with any of them after his response to the violence yesterday and over the weekend . Yes, one altright organizer said god bless this man, he truly has our backs. They took it as a statement of support for them. Theyre pleasantly surprised by the things that the president says about them. And do i mean, he talked about going to the gym and being ready to create more violence, to act violently to anyone that stands in his way. Do you have any sense that Donald Trumps words i mean, theyre obviously already bold so i dont want to assign emboldenment to donald trump, but can you talk about what the effects his words will have on their plans for the future weeks and months. Yes, i have talked to them a little bit about their plans. They want to avoid pr disasters like killing a person. But they also want to focus on aesthetics. That means getting rid of swastikas because they call that a dead ideology. They want to cut out as they call it white trash. They want to look like a whittle class move like a middle Class Movement with clean white men and that people will join them. Do they show any remorse for the death of a counterprotester . Some people i talked to did. The man i interviewed on camera though did not. He said this was justified. Something that took my breath away. I wasnt prepared for him to say that, i thought hed make excuses or something. You can hear me stumbling in the interview. I had no idea he was going to Say Something like that. The most chilling thing about the interview for me is that they all show their faces. I mean, when you look at investigative journalism, they cover their faces. If you look back at the neonazi movements in europe and here, they protect their identities or interview someone from al qaeda they cover their face. In america, neonazis and White Supremacists talk to you on camera. Can you talk about that experience and how open they are . They feel emboldened by the last year of political events. But they also have the internet. That means they can fund raise from their supporters. Theres a site called researcher that can raise money for an altright cause about 100,000 overnight. They dont have to worried about getting fired for their vile believes. You used the word altright. They seem intent on rebranding. Is altright, is that all part of their branding . Any distinction between the altright and White Supremacy . Only in tactics and the audience theyre looking for. They are not burning crosses. They are using social media. Theyre using jokes and memes. They want to portray themselves as witty, as intellectuals and appealing to those that you wouldnt associate with the racist movements of the past. I encourage everyone to watch the whole thing and thank you for spending some time with us, stay safe. Well talk to you soon. Well get our panels reaction on the other side of the break. So thats the idea. What do you think . Hate to play devils advocate but. I kind of feel like its a game changer. I wouldnt go that far. Are you there . Hes probably on mute. Yeah. Gary wont like it. Why . Because hes gary. phone ringing what . Keep going yeah. laughs voice on phone its not millennial enough. There are a lot of ways to say no. Thank you so much. Thank you so were doing it. Yes start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. I was playing golf so you love golf. Ess done. 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. Heri think i might burst. Totally immersed weekenders. Whatever kind of weekender you are, theres a hilton for you. Book your weekend break direct with hilton. Com and join the summer weekenders. When someone has so recently endorsed naziism it is inconceivable that such a person can legitimately aspire to leadership in a leadership role in a free society. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time. Former prsz bush 41 and 43 there didnt smins words when it came to denouncing racism when they were in office. Even today outside the white house grounds father and son had no problem releasing this statement. America must always reject racial bigotry and antisemiticism and hatred in all forms. As we pray for charlottesville were reminded of the fundamental truths recorded by that citys most prominent citizen in the declaration of independence. We are all greeted equal and endowed by our create or with unaleable rights. We know these troourts to be everlasting because we have seen the decency and greatness of our country. Joining me now, john mee chum. I wonder playing bush clips on msnbc to prove a point about how good the old days were ties my brain in a knot. But i wonder if you can talk a little bit about the damage being done to the Republican Party that in my view may be irreparable. Weve talked about this before. The Republican Party what happened in the primaries last year is one of the few recorded indicates of where a hijacker got on a plane and the passenger sided with the hijacker. And i think thats still going on with trump and the party. You know, the bushes, president reagan, senator dole, senator mccain, governor romney all represent a different kind of republican. And i think that its interesting, youre right, the sudden sent mentality for folks whom a lot of people on the left had great disdain for many years is striking. But it is one sign of how far trump has moved the goalposts of a civilized society. Someone who knows donald trump today said that in the two decades that he and his family have known him theyve never seen him carry a book or talk about history or read anything. And i know during the campaign, no one on the Campaign Staff could get him to read anything. I sent over a wreeding list once. I suggested the looming tower, road to da mass cass, the lynn lad ens. What are the dangers of probably all for the best. He wouldnt have read them any way of being governed by someone with no knowledge of american or World History . Well, its fundamentally dangerous because history is not a gps. You know this. Youve been inside. You cant just type into policy computer and say, all right, how did fdr win world war ii and here are the three ways therefore, were going to beat isis. History is not like that, but it is a diagnose nosic guide. It gives you a sense of what symptoms recur, what situations recur and what habits of mind and of heart have mattered for leaders. Great leaders and the bushes are among them in this, are like john kennedy. They learn from their mistakes. Theyre able to look at their own history and not only the history of the country. We would not have had the success arguably of the cuban missile crisis, the successful resolution of that in 1962 if kennedy had not failed in april of 61 with the bay of pigs and learned the lessons. You have to have an ability to look within, admit that when you are wrong, which is the hardest thing to do in human life. I hate doing it. I suspect you do too. Somebody gets to be president and its really hard. Bt the great ones are able to do it and so his disdain for history is both limiting and in fact hes unilaterally disarming in terms of knowing what to do in policy, but hes also in many ways a kind of curbed person himself in that he cant learn from his own mistakes. Can you quickly, i know this is a bad one to short solicit, but how do we go from our first africanamerican president to the president who created the Birther Movement . Henry adams said that washington from disproved dar win. I think were in the midst of that. I think theres a connection. In moments of great economic cultural stress, movements like the neo nazi movement, movements like the klan have fresh energy. Thats part of whats going on right now. People who feel alienated, they feel the Global Economy is not rewarding them, they feel they are falling behind. They need to blame someone, and so they blame immigrants. They blame african americans, they blame barak obama. Thanks so much. Its a treat having you join us. Well be right back. And suddenly make it all seem worthwhile . Well its you girl, and you should know it. With each glance and every Little Movement you show it. Youre gonna make it after all. It takes a long time to get to the top. Youre gonna make it after all. But with americas best youre gonna make it after all. Bumpertobumper limited youre gonna make it after all. Warranty, the allnew Volkswagen Tiguan will be there every step ow of the way. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Were back and let me give the final moment in this program to you, gene. Well, with were talking about the kkk and White Supremacists and neonazis. Thats not the conversation that any of us wants to have yet its a necessary conversation right now thanks to donald trump and so here we are. And where do we go from here . Hes still president. He is not fit to be president , but he is still president. And how does this get better and how does it not get worse . And thats kind of, i think, on all of us maybe, on all the people around him, but mostly on him. Wise final words. My thanks to you. That does it for our hour. Im nicole wallace. Mtp daily starts right now. Hi, nicole. Thanks fork making me swallow a little bit harder, gene, with that final comment. True words for sure. If its wednesday, the Republican Party has a choice to make. Tonight, the search for moral authority. After the president s two sides conflagration, will republicans continue to allow the president to define their party . I stand with the president , and i stand by t