And i say, really, were not supposed to use that word. You know what i am . Im a nationalist. Okay . Im a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing use that word. Use that word. Former trump adviser and founder of breitbart, steve bannon, expressed glee to new york one reporter josh robin who tweeted, i interviewed bannon tonight and he was very, very please ed trump used the word, nationalist. The Washington Posts robert costa tweeted, the president s embrace of the word, national if ist, a label, at first he saw as a Bannon Breitbart thing, an odd fit for an exdem turned hawk. President trump waved me off when i brought up the term nationalism or populism. He hated them. The access hollywood, his misogyny, the national embrace confirms his commitment to isolationi isolationism. Loudly rebuked by president and party leade erers whove come be him. Weve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At time it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces bringing us together. Weve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, for getting the dynamism that immigration has always brought to america. To abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of National Leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth, for the sake of some halfbaked spurious nationalism, cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems, is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. And demagogues promise simple fixes. They start undermining norms that ensure accountability. And try to change the rules to entrench their power further. And they appeal to racial nationalism thats barely veiled. If veiled at all. Sound familiar . Were going to get into all of this, but first, were going to go to some remarks the president just made in the oval office. When he starts lying, not if, well break all that down for you with an allstar panel on the other side. Lets watch. We may, its being discussed right now, mike bolton as you know is in russia. Talking about various things including the whole Nuclear Situation where were not treated well for many years, it should have been done a long time ago. I think something good could come out of that. I very well meet i think we probably will. It hasnt been set up yet, but it probably will be. Mr. President confusion over your comments about what you mean when you say youre a nationalist. What does that mean . I love our country, and our country has taken second fiddle. If you look at the trade deals, nobody knows it better than me, im knocking out some of the worst deals ive ever seen. Were giving all of our wealth, all of our money, to other countries, and then they dont treat us properly. Were protecting other rich countries. Very, very rich countries. Including, by the way, a country that happens to be very much in the news, saudi arabia. Immensely wealthy. And were taking care of their military for a fraction of the cost. Not fair to us. Other countries also. Immensely wealthy countries, and we have to get reism burmbursed that. We should not be the worlds peacekeeper and not get reimbursed. By the way, when i bring up to the heads of countries like japan, Prime Minister abe, a friend of mine, i bring it up, he looks at me and he goes, i understand. They understand it. Nobodys ever asked him. I said, have you ever asked i said, you ever been asked, like, you have to be, like, help out . Nobodys ever asked. So thats a pretty unfair thing. Ill get back to you. Ill get back to you. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Im going to get back to you. Nice my no, not now. Ill get back to you, i said. All right. Cant take the whole thing. Wow ha you have a lot of other very fine reporters. Go ahead, yes. Behind you, please. Mr. President , have you can you tell us what you think about what the turkish president did today ands a have you what president er erdogan sai . Yes. He was pretty rough on saudi arab arabia, i would say. I havent gotten a full recap. As you know, i have people in turkey and i have people in saudi arabia and other places and theyre all coming back as we speak. Theyre heading back. Ill know, i think everything, in a very short period of time. Its a bad situation, but certainly president erdogan was not complimentary of what happened. That was a terrible thing that happened. Okay . Yes, maam, go ahead. I was going to ask, do you believe him, what he said, believe saudi arabia i want to see the facts first. Look, saudi arabias been a really great ally. Theyve been one of the biggest investors, maybe the biggest investor, in our country. They are doing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investments and, you know, so many jobs. So many jobs. Thousands and thousands of jobs. And if you look at other side, iran, you look at what theyve done to people, vicious, horrible. And thats no excuse for what happened with saudi arabia. No excuse whatsoever. But you take a look, its a rough part of the world. Its a nasty place. Its a nasty part of the world. But if what happened happened, and if the facts check out, its something thats very bad. At the same time, they have been a very good ally of ours. Theyve been helping us a lot with respect to israel. Theyve been funding a lot of things. I will tell you that russia and china would love to have that military order. I mean, i can say it to my democrat friends, too. I mean, they would love this is 110 billion worth of military. And russia would pick that up very quickly and china would pick it up very quickly and france would pick it up very quickly. France makes a lot of military equipment. Its very competitive market. I did a great job when i sold them thats why i went to saudi arabia first. I went to saudi arabia on the basis that they would buy hundreds of billions, many billions of dollars worth of things. And the ultimate number is around 450 billion. 110 billion for military. 150 billion. I think thats over a million jobs. A million over a million jobs. So, we do that, were just hurting ourselves. Were just hurting ourselves. And i know that from a certain standpoint, you can also say, well, it doesnt matter because it is a terrible thing. But we would be really hurting ourselves. Wed be hurting our companies. Wed be hurting our jobs. And well see what happens. But i should have a pretty good report a couple seconds i should have a pretty good report very soon. Yes, go ahead. Mr. President , just to followup on your comments about being nationalist, theres a concern that you were sended coded language or a dog bhiwhis to some americans that what you really mean is white nationalist. I never even heard that. I cannot imagine that. You mean i say im a nationalist i never heard that theory about being a nationalist. Ive heard them all. But im somebody that loves our count country. When i say a nationalist, i dont like it when germanys paying 1 of gdp for nato, and were paying 4. 3 . I dont like that. Thats not fair. I dont like it when as an example, were protecting europe. And were paying for almost the entire cost of nato. Were paying for a very, very substantial portion. Far greater than what it should be. We have Great Respect for those countries, but on top that, i dont like it when they put up barriers to our farmers. Where our farmers cannot sell into europe. They have trade barriers that make it, you guys know it better than anybody, they have trade barriers that are as severe as chinas trade barriers. Which were coming down. They want to make a deal very badly. Theyll be coming down. But i am very proud of our country. We cannot continue to allow whats happened to our country to continue happen. We cant let it happen im proud of our country. And i am a nationalist. Its a word that hasnt been used too much. Some people use it, but im very proud. I think it should be brought back. Im somebody that wants to help other countries of the world, but i also have to take a we have o take care of our country. We cannot continue to allow ourselves to be duped on military and also duped on trade. With the european union, as an example, last year, on trade, we lost 151 billion. On top of that, we lost hundreds of billions of dollars on protection, so we protect and we get killed. We do the trading and they get killed. Cant do it. I want it to be fair. I want them to open their borders. I want them to make it fair for our farmers, our companies. Our medical companies. They sell medical equipment. They just put restrictions on a year and a half ago where the medical equipment cant get into yum europe even though its better than what they have. They have to treat us well. All i want our country is to be treated well, to be treated with respect. For many years, other countries that are allies of ours, socalled allies, they have not treated our country fairly. So in that sense, i am absolutely a nationalist and im proud of it. Yes . You said this weekend, and yesterday, that you were planning a tax yeah. A new tax project. Were going to put in explain what you mean by very simple. Very simple. How this is going to work . If you speak to kevin brady and a group of people, were putting in a tax reduction of 10 , which i think will be a net neutral because were doing other things which i dont have to explain now, but it will be pretty much a net neutral. It will be great for the middle class. Its going to be a tax reduction of 10 for the middle class. Business will not enter into it. And this will be on top of the tax reduction that the middle class has already gotten. And were putting in a resolution, probably this week, i think you nofolks know about. Kevin brady has been boworking it really hard for a a couple months. Well put that in and start the work some time after the midterms. Wooefell get to the lies in second. We have to start with the incompetence. Michael bolton is the singer, not the man donald trump dispatched to russia. That was john bolton. He should learn his name. Hes been there a while. Joining us from the New York Times, peter baker, 234knows t difference between Michael Bolton and the security adviser. Former democratic congresswoman donna edwards. At the table, john than lemire for the associated press. Before question get to the president doubling down on being a nationalist, doubled down on being a proud supporter of people on both sides of charlottesville rally, the same way in tehelsinktell sinhelsink friend Vladimir Putin and denials of election meddling in 2016. Today he doubled down on being a nationalist. He is. The tweets you put up earlier from robert costa are right, this is an evolution for him. Or devolution. Perhaps. A phrase that at first he didnt want to embrace. A key moment was after the access hollywood tape, some who covered the campaign wail remember it. A week or so later he gave a speech in florida i believe. He was discredit against globalist institutions, afterwards, there was criticism that it felt antisemitic. The tone he followed through the stretch run of the campaign and has now kept since. Hes obviously withdrawn from a number of international agreements. Its very much a America First, but more than that. America first and last. Its only going to be selfinterests, not, perhaps, honoring what this countrys role around the world has been. Now, in the Oval Office Just now, we saw him splitting hairs a little bit. Like he tried to suggest he wasnt even aware of the negative connotations of that term. Because he doesnt know anything about history. Peter bake e do you think he knows some of the great nationalists of alltime included hitler, every dictator pleaded for their constituents, if you can call them that, their subjects in the case, and others, to sort of harken to their nationalist impulses. Well, you know, i think what he theres a reason other president s dont use the phrase, nationalists, to describe themselves. They use a safer term, patriot. Patriotism is something mostly people can agree on is safe politically, a more unifying word than nationalist. Nationalist, obviously, as you say, is through history. Weve seen with the president before, he doesnt care what history says. Does he not care, peter baker, or not no . Dou do you think he has any idea the history of world war ii or naziism . Lets look at the phrase, America First. The America First he might not have known at first was associated with the preworld war ii isolationists and nazi empathi empathizers. It didnt matter to him. It conveyed wa he wanted do conv convey. The phrase, enemy of the people, uses that against us, may not have stalin as the mass murders. He must have read that someplace. Doesnt matter because it conveys what me wants it to conv convey. He doesnt care what history conveys maybe it does, its okay with him because the message hes trying to get out is one that says he more than anybody else is standing up for the United States. It resonates with the crowd last night in houston. I was there. They loved it. They booed the word, globalist, they cheered the word, nationalist. When he said, im a nationalist, they chanted, usa, usa. This is a galvanizing language for his core supporters going into a Midterm Election two weeks f weeks from now. I watch enough History Channel to know they cheered at hitler, too. Nationalist isnt divorced in the capacity to cheer a crowd. It doesnt make it right, doesnt make it american and doesnt mean donald trump isnt totally ignorant of the history of the word, nationalist. Donald trump doesnt read books. I dont think any of this stems from donald trump studying the history of naziism or Charles Lindbergh or any of these other hateful trends. I think this comes from two places. One, is hes got steve bannon on his shoulder whispering in his ear and breitbart and steve bannon have been longtime tribunes for White Nationalism. And trump has never hesitated to separate himself from those. Remember, he was questioned probably three years ago about david duke. And whether or not he would disavow duke and the kkk and sort of backed away from that. The other thing to remember is he has a long history of race baiting. Going back to the 1980s. During the central park jogger case. He jumped into the middle of that. He took out big page ads in the New York Times, sensationalizing race to insert himself in a highprofile moment and make hay off it by sensationalizing race and being a racist. I think now hes going into the midterms. He understands that the base that got him elected in 2016 is still the base he needs now. And that is precodominantly whi, predominantly male and noncollege educated and doing racist dog whistles to it appeal to them. Its not a coincidence this comes as he doubles down on the hardline immigration rhetoric. The embracing of the word nationalist, here, hes making the Closing Argument of the republican midterm strategy, this caravan. And coming up toward america. And trying to fortify the borders and sending the military down there and keeping the other out. And that is how, why hes grabbing nationalism now, too. Let me defend dog whistles. Theyre silent. These are loud. Let me read this to you. The woest woeWashington Post by claiming to be breaking a taboo by using this particular nword, trump confirmed it without saying it out loud. Youre onboard with that analysis, donna . Thats exactly right. Some people described this as an overtone or undertone. Its not. It is the tone. The president of the United States, the only thing that was missing from that speech in houston last night was the tiki torches and khakis because the president of the United States understands what he believes he needs to turn out his base. Hes using that. Its xenophobic, its racist. That coupled with the caravans and even the defense of brett kavanaugh, the beleaguered white man under assault by the rest of america. All of these play into what trump sincerely believes is a way that his voters are going to turn out and it is the worst possible thing and so the president is doing this on purpose. And i think we shouldnt get, you know, fooled into thinking, well, maybe he doesnt understand what he said. He understood full well what he said. And he meant it. Charlie sykes, let me show you republican ads. Theyre not exactly running on hope and or change. As a rapper, Antonio Delgato gave voice to extreme new york city values. Hed vote the same way in congress. Working to infiltrate congress. Hes used three different names to hide his familys ties to terrorism. What is Abigail Spanburger hiding . She doesnt want us to know she taught at an Islamic School nicknamed terror high. A terrorist breeding ground. Selling out americans, cant be trusted. Im old enough to remember when it was controversial to have an image of ground zero in a political ad. What was that . Well, thats the politics of fear. Certainly not the politics of hope. But, you know, i mean, this is who donald trump is. This is the kind of campaign that got him elected. We shouldnt be surprised. You know, with egoback with go back to the use of the word, nationalist. Donald trump, does he he not know, does he not care . That word can mean a lot of different things. The context of donald trump, it means, b what is Donald Trumpian nationalism . When, weve seen it in the past. The transactional nature, America First. The focus on spreading fear of the other. This notion that he knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. But i dont know that at this point, donald trump is really telling us anything about himself that we have not seen over and over and over again in different contexts. But, and i think that this this campaign, his use of the caravan, the kind of rhetoric that hes using, is not only indicative of exactly the kind of politics he represents, but what we can expect between now and 2020 as well. Peter baker, the white houses embrace of this message, were going to talk a bit about this in the next block, either had its genesis in fox news or the president s fwtwitter feed,t usually comes from fox news, making the caravan an issue, talking about middle easterners being amid the caravan, the threat of terrorism. Fewer middle eastern terrorists, the caravan which is being followed with drone cameras by fox news is probably a bad place to hide. But talk about them settling on this as a message. Well, look, you know, hes trying, obviously, to get a reason for conservative voters to come out to vote. All year, democrats have been more motivated by their anger at trumps administration. Their anger at the president. And hes trying to find these touchstones in his last few weeks of the campaign. Brett kavanaugh was one. The caravan is another now. He said this on the campaign trail, this is going to be the election of kavanaugh and the caravan and law and order. Hes using this phrase, jobs, not mobs. Re he he recognizes simply bragging or boasting on the record of whatever he can talk about hes done so far isnt going to be enough for people to come out in a Midterm Election where theyre less motivated in the first place. He has to give reason for anger, for fear, for something that might be lost if they dont turn out. What they might lose in the way hes presenting it is their view of america. One thing hes talking about is socialism. You hear him a lot talk about that on the campaign trail. Today the White House Council of economic advisers released a study saying socialism would be a cost to the United States. Thats a fairly unusual thing, nicolle, as you know, for them to weigh in on that sort of political kind of argument. Thats also something trying to motivate people who otherwise might not show up on november 6th. Dondonna, i want to talk abo the word, mob. The mobs i see are people who go to trump rallies and mock when donald trump mimics an alleged victim of sexual assault. The mobs i see are people who cheer when donald trump trots out the word, im a nationalist and tells people to ignore the negative connotations, lessons of history of what thats associated with. The mobs are the people who think theyre faceless, but we see their faces. Its what you said, people who take the mask off and are defending and cheering these really unprecedented comments that until trump were so far out of the mainstream, not only would you not see them at a televised political rally, you wouldnt acknowledge them as part of a Political Coalition on either side. The mobs i see are the ones the president , himself, encourages and incites. He likes to see that. In fact, if you look at what goes on both in his white house but also out on the campaign trail, he likes the sort of get in there and rough it up. He talks that tough talk. Those are the mobs that i see. What i saw in washington, whether it was from the Supreme Court hearings or out across the country in rallies, these are people expressing their 1st amendment rights saying we want some check on this trump administration, and on this president and if anything, the president of the United States has been the one actually encouraging and inciting violence and its actually pretty frightening, but hes decided that his tact to win this election is to govern by anger and by fear. And hes doubling down on it. And charlie, let me give you the last word. E he hasnt just turned his mob on the democrats. He started by calling the American Intelligence Community nazis. He now wages a war from the safety of his handheld device on his own republicanled department of justice. Hes been skeptical of the assessments of the Intelligence Community, believing the leaders of saudi arabia over what he must have been hearing from his own Intelligence Community as his close allies in saudi arabia muddled through with lie after lie about the death of khashoggi. His mob hasnt just been turned against his political opponents, its been turned against his own government. No, its really been a rather concerted assault on american intelligence, meaning that in a number of different contexts. But, listen, i do want to throw out the context here that democrats have to be careful not to overplay the hand. The people who go and yell at ted cruz, or yell at Mitch Mcconnell in restaurants, are not helping the cause. They are giving donald trump exactly what he wants. Theyre giving him the images. They are giving him the talking points. So it is loathsome what was done to nancy pelosi the other day. It is politically extremely distasteful what was done to Mitch Mcconnell the other day. I do think theres a moment step back, if you want to counter trumpism, dont adopt trumpian tactics. Let me give donna the last word because he invoked democrats. All i can say, i think i agree with you, charlie. I think the way to fight donald trump is for voters to show up at the polls on election day on november 6th. Early voting has already begun. Because its really important to send a message that we want to put a check on this president. And his conduct. When we come back, is donald trump simply proving he can sow discord all by himself without any help from the russian troll farms . Is he picking up where the russians left off when it comes to fermenting divisions in the days before a u. S. Election . And joe biden with a passionate plea to democrats to take back their country by getting out to vote. And another brawl fit for a barroom that went down just outside the oval office. Brandnew reporting about two men with a penchant for scuffles. All those stories still coming up. Avel site . At hilton. Com, i get the price match guarantee. And i can choose from their 14 Different Hotel brands, so i get the right hotel for every member of my family. Like a doubletree for my cousins who love their warm chocolate chip cookies. A homewood suites for my uncle who likes a long stay. A hampton for my sister and her kids. Thats a lot of syrup. And the waldorf astoria Beverly Hills for me. But i thought your Family Vacation was in miami . It is. I hear theyre having a great time. Book at hilton. Com and get the hilton price match guarantee. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Im not letting them in. Theyre not coming in. All right . Theyre not coming in. Were going to do whatever we have to. Theyre not coming in. To try to stoke fear not at all. Im a very nonpolitical person. That was donald trump moments ago doing the work that we now know the russians did for him in 2016. Sowing discord. And exacerbating divisions among cultural lines. Typically around questions of race or the debate over immigration. His number two got in on the propaganda and lies as well. Immigrations become a major issue. The president keeps talking about this migrant caravan. And he references middle easterners that are part of this caravan without evidence. Why is that . And where is the evidence, if any . Well, its inconceivable that there are not people of middle eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people. Advancing toward our border. What . What . Every large group has lots of middle easterners in it, right . Thats good math. The thing that youre seeing with pence, i was thinking when charlie was talking earlier about were not going to learn anything more about donald trump, that were seeing donald trump revealed, actually what were going to learn about is ourselves. What were going to learn about in the age of trump is whether or not the gop has political courage. Were going to learn about i can answer that, they do not. Okay. Whether the opposition can counter this message in a constructive way. Because clearly the kind of race baiting that trump engages in, and the kind of, you know, routine serial lying that he engages in, bleeds down into his administration. And so you have a nice churchgoing man like mike pence whos comfortable sitting there lying. What were seeing there also is a continuation of a pattern where trump will Say Something without basis and fact, and the rest of the administration, rest of the white house scrambles to try to make it so. The lie comes first then they try to justify it. Weve seen that with small things like Sarah Sanders at the podium and bigger things when donald trump the size of the inauguration crowd. Totally. Donald trump lost the popular vote by 5 million, 3 million people. Suddenly, its the same number that was of illegal voters, therefore, we have to put up a whole commission to study it and, of course, there no sign of i want to get to a piece peters colleague wrote today on this topic. The things grown men do in response to a tweet from donald trump. The New York Times reports today on the source of the president s scam about the caravan. She writes, like many of the president s tweetstorms this one appears to have inspired at least in part by a report on fox news. Included attacks on democrats, immigrants and foreign countries. Thats the mediarun state for you once again. Peter, there are so many examples of this and julies piece today is fantastic at diagramming where this started, where it went when donald trump started tweeting about it and just to pick up on jonathans point, how the government, how the state, tried to make this foxinspired Conspiracy Theory true. Well, thats exactly right. Look, weve known now, almost two years in ausoffice, the president does not get information the way his predecessors did. The predecessors looked at the morning intelligence briefing, consulted with agents of government which are experts on these things. They collected as visors around them who were knowledgeable about these things. In this case, we have a president who tends to pop off depending on what he saw on television, whether he did anything to verify it or not. You have whole scenarios play out in which the president asserts something and the rest of his government, in fact, does, as we were just saying, has to find some way of fitting the facts around it to make it look like it was justified. The caravan is another example of that. So, you know, i think people have become accustom to it, but it is an unusual way to govern a country. Charlie sykes, sally yates writes theres Something Else that separates us from an autocracy, thats truth. There is such a thing as objective truth. Pick up on tim obriens point, do republican i dont think republicans can anymore. Are there enough republicans to sort of form a coalition with democrats in defense of the truth . Well, you would hope so because, you know, truth is really the oxygen of democracy. And what youre seeing here is more than just a blizzard of lies. Its almost as if the fact that the president is lying has become normalized. That we are used to it. And, you know, his point is not necessarily, i mean, you know, gary casperof has talked about this. The point is not to advance his agenda. Its to break down americas Critical Thinking capabilities. It is the annihilation of truth. And this what we are watching is extraordinary. And i know weve talked about this before, and theres kind of a numbing effect, and so people go, oh, my goodness, you know, the president seems to be lying at an even faster rate because the president realizes that if he floods the zone, if he just follows one lie up after another, we dont know how to handle it. We dont know how to keep pace with it. Neither the media nor his political opponents. Well, we do. We do, charlie. Come on. We do. We do a pretty good job. Let me ask peter and Jonathan Lemire to prespond to this, joh bolton in moscow today speaking of the annihilation of truth and russias todo list for donald trump. President putin said in the opening of the meeting today when press was there that in his words now, it would be useful to continue a direct dialogue with the president of the United States. Primarily on the fields of International Events that will take place in the near future. For example, in farris. Of course, if the american side is interested in these contacts, president putin said, i said yes, in fact, President Trump would look forward to meeting with him in paris. So we will make the precise arrangements on that, but it will happen in connection with the 100th anniversary of the celebration of the armistice that the french are hosting on november the 111 1 november the 1111th. It appears h he meets with putin more often than he takes a spin class. Hes had very few bilateral meetings since helsinki with other foreign leader, yet here we are again having another putin meeting. Has he had any . One twor two in the white house. Has he traveled to any . Hes not made an International Trip since returning from finland. There had been talk that he might meet with putin on the sidelines of the g20 in argentina. This meeting here comes a couple days after the midterms when so much of Donald Trumps immediate political future will be determined. You know, he will then fly to paris for the celebration. Thats fine. We know he loves a parade in paris. He loves a parade, yes. This suddenly takes on significantly more meaning. Isnt going to be 36 hours of photo ops near the eiffel tower. Could be a significant meeting in part two, lets remember, these two men met in private for two hours in helsinki and det l details of meeting still remain mysterious. Afterwards, the president with the world watching decided to side with Vladimir Putin as opposed to the u. S. Intelligence agencies when it came to Russian Election meddling. Hes certainly given no indication since that this coming meeting will be any different. Peter baker, two men you know very well, Vladimir Putin and now you cover donald trump. U. S. Governments position now is that when it comes to the midterms, or when it comes to meddling, china is a far worst offender. Im not sure what on chinas agenda has been carried out under trumps watch. Certainly much of whats gone on in terms of divisions being exacerbated is what russia wanted. What do you think russia wants to sit down with putin so close after the midterms before we really had a chance to conduct an afteraction report and gauge the scope of any russian interference two years after their big effort in 2016 . Well, thats a great question, of course. Robert mueller just indicted the other day a russian in connection with meddling in this Midterm Election. Not the election from two years ago but this Midterm Election. We know its still going on. To have this meeting immediately after that midterm is curious timing. The thing i dont really sort of understand yet is what it is that they think theyre going to accomplish. What are these meetings supposed to be leading up to . At the moment there doesnt seem to be a joint goal here beyond, you know, establishing a friendship and a comrade cause they have now on the verge of getting out of Ronald Reagans inf treaty from the 1980s, theres no agreement clearly on syria, what to do there. Theres no agreement on any future of ukraine or what anything like that. And theres a continuing dispute over the poisoning of the former russian spy on british soil. So what it is this meeting is supposed to accomplish still remains kind of a mystery. Tim . Well, i think i think, you know, sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one. And i wouldnt be surprised if he simply sees this as a way to thumb his nose at bob mueller. That after everything thats gone on and all the criticism hes gotten about his connections or lack thereof to russia, that hes going to march over there and take a meeting, mueller be damned. I think thats the only, you know, peters ticked off a long list of possibilities that he doesnt think is going to come out of this. I think peter is right. Why do it . I think for him its ego and strutting on the International Stage and if he wants to meet with putin, he will. And mueller has a nexus to the president s travel calendar as well. Thats right. I think the july indictments of the 13 russians for election meddling came on the eve of the president s trip to helsinki. It did. We know how that ended. Peter baker, thank you for spending so much of the hour with us. After the break, joe biden lays out the stakes in the upcoming Midterm Elections in the starkest terms yet. Take back your country, he urges. 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I got chills. Joe biden doing what he does best, adding oomph to the democratic messages now two weeks short of the midterms. As we get into crunchtime, a few bits of good news for the democrats. For starters, it seems republicans are resigned to losing the house. Axios reporting, despite seeing positive signs in polling and enthusiasm after kavanaughs confirmation, republicans behavior in the last few weeks shows how nervous they are about keeping control of the house. Between the line, the lack of confidence is showing up in where gop groups arent spending money and how the republican blame game is unfolding between trump and gop operatives. All in anticipation of losing the house. And the numbers bear that out. The Cook Political Report today says, democrats have a clear advantage in 17 gopheld seats and republicans have an a advantage in two democraticheld se seats. Democrats would score a net gain of 29 seats, 6 more than the 23 they need to retake the majority. Jonathan and tim are here, donna and charlie are here. Carly, i talked to three republican pollsters yesterday who said losing the house is is a fore gone conclusion for republicans. And that it doesnt matter in terms of control whether democrats win by 1 or 30. Well, anyone who says they know whats going to happen on Election Night two weeks from now i think is probably being somewhat somewhat disingenuous. I think this a very, very uncertain environment here. And i do think that the overconfidence would not be a good strategy for the democrats. Particularly as you see republican enthusiasm ticking up. Now, again, what we dont know are about these these voters who may be coming to the polls for the very first time. This may, in fact, make a lot of the public polling were seeing completely obsolete. But im i dont know. I mean, i feel that this is going to be quite a barn burner. Theres a lot more uncertainty than i would have said, say, a month or so ago. Donna edwards, let me show y so you some of the democrats and their closing messages, connected to what were seeing in early turnout in these state. What my grandmother was communicating to me, it wasnt just about me. Its about all of us. In trumps america, weve been led to believe we got to step on our neighbors shoulder, their face, their backs in order to get ahead. I reject that. We have an opportunity on november 6th as a collective, as a state, to say we deserve better. Is that the theme of our campaign . Our voices. Say our voices. Our voices. Our voices become our vote. Say our votes. Our votes. Because this is our time. Say our time. Our time. Our voices. Our voices. Our votes. Our votes. Our time. Our time. Lets go get it done. And we at this moment, the countrys never been more divided, more polarized, bipartisanship and bitterness and smallness. Be the big, bold, confident, strong, courageous, answer to all that. Were going to bring this country together through our leadership here in texas. Donna, i dont know how any of the races are going to turn out. To say the democrats dont have a message would be a falsehood. They have the same message biden has aboutspeaking to our better angels. John meacham has written one book about that in terms of our history. I dont know why democrats are getting kicked around so much. They seem decidedly on message and the right one. I agree. I think what you just showed was the future of the Democratic Party and Andrew Gillum and stacey abrams, beto orourke, who are really inspiring people to show up to the polls. And the key, of course, for democrats is going to be get your turnout. You know, make sure your voters show up to vote. Weve already seen some indications that, you know, voting is going to be on par to a president ial election. And this is a time where democrats need to just be focused on the goal. And never mind all this national conversation, but a real positive message going into these next two weeks, and turning voters out and i think that youre going to see not just the house flip, but i think a lot of these senate races, in fact, are going to be closer than weve seen. Tim, one of the greatest mythologies of the trump era is the size and power of his base. They were not big enough for trump to write a speech for the possibility that he would have won on Election Night. Right. Right. And hes done nothing to extend his reach beyond that base because his comfort zone no, you dont think the caravan and White Nationalism is no, thats not going to do it. Beyond those guys. Hes stuck you think the bleep was the cap . That was shuper narrowing, particularly in the suburbs. I think we know why the women have turned out. Its curious to me that Younger Voters and hispanic and latino voters dont seem to be as incentivized as female voters on the democratic side of the ledger. Theyre not regular voters. Theyre not regular voters, particularly at the midterms. But i also think theres some recognition within those cohorts that the democrats still arent speaking to them. I think thats something the Democratic Party has to fix. If it wants to widen its base. The interesting thing with trump and his narrow casting is he only has one game and only has one message. Its about himself. Its about white guys. Its about fear of the other. And around all that, hell bake this halo of bogus facts. Real quick. And trump likes it that way. That is what trump likes that way. The white house is projecting some confidence here. They feel like theyre going to hold onto the senate for sure. Yes, they know the house is an uphill climb but theyre not ruling it out entirely. All right. Donald trump has a long history with the wwe, but im not sure he envisioned his west wing as an arena for fights like the one reported in todays the New York Times. Thats next. Oh, here we go. 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For strength and energy whoohoo greattasting ensure. With nine grams of protein and twentysix vitamins and minerals. Ensure. Now up to 30 grams of protein for strength and energy weve hadfor a long time. Is in San Francisco and halfmeasures havent fixed it. Homelessness doesnt just hurt homeless people. It hurts all of us. Thats why were all voting yes on c. The plan is paid for by corporations that just got a massive tax break. Its time for them to give back by helping all of us to fix our homeless crisis. With more affordable housing. Expanded mentalhealth services. Clean restrooms and safe shelters. Vote yes on c. It helps all of us. Unreported fight that the New York Times now details. Quote, an argument last february between the white house chief of staff john kelly and Corey Lewandowski, former adviser to President Trump, turned into an altercation that required secret Service Intervention just outside the oval, according to half dozen people familiar with the event. The brawl which mr. Kelly grabbed mr. Lewandowski by the collar and tried to have him rejected from the west wing came at a time the chief of staff faced uncertainty over how long President Trump would keep him in the job. Joining us for more is katie rogers. Tell us about this brule. This is the second fight involving john kelly we heard about in less than five days. I think its important to note that this came during a period of a lot of unrest in the white house. This was in the midst of the rob porter resignation scandal, which john kelly, if you remember, was initially reluctant to let mr. Porter go. And everything i know from reporting this particular story out is that the more somebody like john kelly faces frustrations, the more likely he is to take it out in this sort of way. Katie, i read your story last night when it showed up online and the first thought i had was Corey Lewandowskis history of roughing up Michelle Fields and what we read about john kelly most recently, about him getting into a very heated debate just outside the oval office with john bolton. What did you uncover in reporting about the president s either appetite for or tolerance of such physicality . Yeah, well, its certainly tolerant of because john kelly is still on staff after a series of these sort of escalating fights in the west wing. What we know about the president is that since he was a businessman, he enjoyed sort of pitting his own aides against each other and that has followed through to his time at the white house. Corey lewandowski is, of course, an informal adviser who gains access to the west wing, has the president s ear. There are several west wing aides who do not agree with this, who try to keep him really contained. On air force one i have seen aides try to contain Corey Lewandowski when hes running around the plane. Really . Yeah. I think theres a lot of tension between informal and formal aides to the president , and the president tolerates this, i will stop there. Tolerates. I wonder if we will find out that he enjoys it at some point. Katie, were lucky to have you, i want to can you about something that just happened in the oval office. Lets watch it and talk about it on the other side. They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly, and the coverup was one of the worst in the history of coverups. Katie, that was the president talking about the saudi efforts to cover up, bad cover up in his words, the death of Washington Post columnist jamal khashoggi. Your paper has the headline, saudi account of Khashoggi Killing is one of the worst coverups in saudi history. Thats quite an analysis. Yes, and its something saudi analysts were saying last week the president appears to have adopted but i think given the president s comments last week in the oval with my colleagues saying the president captured the imagination of the world seems to tell its not about the loss of human life at the consulate, its about its a shame this got out of hand. I think katies analysis is exactly right and i thought since i read that interview that hes more upset that the bad press m. B. S. Got than the gal act of dismembering a journalist. Thats right, his relationship with the United States and saudi arabia, in the ap interview as well, he was giving an idea about a rogue killer which the conversation flies in the face of what u. S. Intelligence was telling him. Certainly he tough anticipated his rhetoric. He suggested the coverup he found here unacceptable but at the same time he seems unwilling to change anything. He also in these remarks talked about the huge arm sales of saudi arabia. As much as he does not seem to make changes with that relationship or perhaps call for m. B. S. To be sliended. Katie rogers, thank you very much. The sun comes up. The sun goes down. You did a million things for your family today. But speaking to pnc to help handle all your investments was a very important million and one. Pnc. Make today the day. In the movies, a lot of times, i tend to play the tough guy. But i wasnt tough enough to quit on my own. Not until i tried chantix. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. It reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could stop. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. My favorite role so far . Being a nonsmoker. No question about it. Talk to your doctor about chantix. My thanks to donna and charlie sykes. That did is it for our hour. Im nicolle wallace. Mpt daily starts now. Hi, chuck. Hi, nicolle. A lot of people love you out here in tampa i love tampa im jealous. Shes an old floridian. You know, shes an old floridian, right, by transplant. Thats right. Anyway, florida says hi, nicolle. Have a good show. You got it, thank you. Well, if its tuesday florida, florida, florida. Well, good tuesday. Im chuck todd. Welcome to mpt daily, and the third stop in our immediate the midterms road trip. Were coming to you live