Transcripts For WCAU Meet The Press 20170813

Never seen. Went to here if anything maybe that statement wasnt tough enough. And landed here and he threat, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast. Is it all bluster . Or a necessary warning to a rogue nation with nuclear weapons. Ill ask National Security advisor h. R. Mcmaster and the former chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen. Joining me for insight and analysis are joy reid, host of a. M. Joy on msnbc. Rich lowry,tional rereview. Amy walter. And helene cooper, pentagon correspondent for the new york times. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, celebrating its 70is is meet t chuck todd. Good sunday morning. In the opening months of his presidency, many of us have wondered how President Trump would respond to the type of crisis when the nation looks could he lead . Could he inspire . Could he heal . He didnt have one test this week. Hes had two. Well get to the north korea situation later. But yesterday we received another reminder of just how volatile race and extremism can be in america today. Violent clashes broke out in charlottesville, virginia, between whitenationalists, protesting the removal of a robert e. Lee statue, and some counterprotesters. Shortly after the Virginia Governor declared a state of emergency and the clashes broke up, a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters killing one person and injuring 19 others. The fbi has now opened a civil rights investigation into the incident. Adding to an already tragic day, carrying two Virginia State Police Officers who were hovering in the air monitoring the violence, crashed a few miles outside of the city. Both officers were killed. Heres how charlottesville city manager reacted to the violence. Hate came to our town today in a way that we had feared but we had never really let ourselves imagine it would. Our own tom costello is on the ground in charlottesville this morning. Tom, i take it, a lot more calm this morning than there has been the last 48 hours. Reporter yeah, chuck. Good morning to you. We are at the epicenter, that is the statue behind me of jem robert e. Lee. It is now emancipation park, no longer lee park. This is where those White Supremacists came yesterday. We now have an identity on the woman who was killed when the car came barreling through the counter protesters, 32yearold Heather Heyer was killed. The suspect has been arrested, 22yearold alex fields of ohio, Second Degree murder, one count of hit and run and several counts of malicious wounding. Hell be in court tomorrow. Three more arrested as well, disorderly conduct, mispeopler assaul mi misdemeanor and carrying a concealed weapon. A very heavy police presence. Ill talk to the mayor in a minute here. Some folks there are questioning the Police Response yesterday. Did they stand back too much. But there was there were times when youre watching the video that we saw a lot of armed people but those werent police. Who were they . Reporter well, whats very interesting is that some of these white nationalists and neonazis and kkk members apparently came here armed and prepared for battle. They were dressed in this almost paramilitary garb, if you will. They had body armor on. Militar say that some of that stuff looks like it came right out of the military. Also they were wearing helmets. They had shields. They had clubs. Some of them were actually carrying weapons. Keep in mind, this is an open carry state. So they came in to this very intimidating fashion. They were met with counterprotesters who were determined not to allow those white nationalists to gain any momentum in this town. And as a result, we had the clash literally where im standing, what you cant see is at my feet the street is covered in dye and in paint. Theyve had bottles and broken bottles and cans all over the streets. Theyve been picking that up today. But it does appear that those individuals, those White Supremacists, left town yesterday and they seemed to have scattered. We dont know where they all went. We presume they all went back to their homes, wherever that might be. But the locals here say that they didnt recognize any of those White Supremacists as locals. This he believe that they all came from out of state, or many of them from out of state. Tom costello on the ground for us, tom, thanks very much. Shortly after the violence in charlottesville broke out, President Trump tweeted we all must be united and condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind ever violence in america. Lets come together as one. But it was what the president said later in the day, or more to the point, what he didnt say or even tweet, that is getting, by far, the most attention. The president s comments and the sharp reaction to them put a political coda on a day that many feared for weeks would end in the kind of violence we saw unfold yesterday. [ crowd chanting our streets. Just like flying everywhere, pedestrians. It is the most horrific thing ive ever seen in my life. A 32yearold woman killed and 19 injured when a car plowed into a crowd of counterdemonstrators. Police arrested james alex fields of ohio and charged him with one count of Second Degree murder. Hours later two state Police Officers assisting with Public Safety died when their helicopter crashed. The deaths were a painful end to a violent day. As white nationalists chanting neonazi slogans, many carrying weapons, holding nazi symbols and confederal flags. In the past several weeks President Trump has condemned his partys leader in the senate, Mitch Mcconnell, members of congress and his own attorney general. The president s response to White Supremacists in charlottesville was tepid. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides. Asked to clarify, an Unnamed White House official told nbc news the president was condemning hatred, bigotry and violence from all sources and all sides. There was violence between protesters and counterprotesters today. Mr. President , do you want the support of these white nationals who say they support you, mr. President . Have you denounced them strongly enough . As some of the white nationalists cited trumps victory as validation for their beliefs. We are determined to take our country back. Well going to fulfill the promises of donald trump. Thats what we believed in. Thats why we voted for donald trump. Mr. Trump chose not to condemn them. Many elected republicans seem to agree the president did not go far enough. Colorado Senator Cory Gardner who was in charge of Getting Senate republicans elected in 2018 tweeted, mr. President we must call evil by its name. These were White Supremacists and this was domestic terrorism. Floridas marco rubio, quote, very important for the nation to hear potus describe events in charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by White Supremacists. Utah senator orren hatch tweeting my brother didnt give his life fighting hitler for nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. And texas senator ted cruz, quote, the nazis, the kkk and White Supremacists are repulsive and evil. And all of us have a moral obligation to speak out. Joining me now is the mayor of charlottesville, michael signer. Mr. Mayor, i know it has been a tough 48 hours for you in your job. Let me just ask you this right now. 24 hours later, do you look back and think, are you prepared to say what you could have done better, what you could have done to preepare for this or is this just something no city can prepare for . Well, thanks, chuck. First thing i have to start by saying is our thoughts and prayers are with the two Virginia State Police Troopers who lost their lives yesterday and Heather Heyer the civilian killed in that, i think it is clear, a terrorist attack with a car used as a weapon. Right. Our hearts are grieving right now and three people died who didnt need to die. Charlottesville is one of the great cities in the world. Were a southern city, too. Were very progressive and tolerant but we made a decision a yearandahalf ago to at long last start telling deliberately to tell the truth about race in our city in the past. That put on the map a whole bunch of folks in this country who oppose everything about that. So what we saw this weekend was a deluge of outsiders trying to intimidate us away from that work. But to your question, we had the largest assembly of Law Enforcement personnel in ha virginia since 9 11. Any were charged with one mission which was setting conditions for people to peaceably express themselves and assemble. That they didnt do that starting right at the beginning so an Unlawful Assembly was properly called. And events unfolded from there. But were going to move past this. The healing has just begun here. Weve got important work to do on our democracy and were going to get going on that now. This is the city to do it. You on one hand thanked the president for condemning the violence, but you added this. You said, i do hope he looks in the mirror himself in the mirror and thinks very deeply about who he consorted with during the campaign. What are you referring to there . Old saying, when you dance with the devil, the devil changes you. I think they made a choice in that campaign, a very regrettable one, to really go to peoples prejudices, to go to the gutter. I mean these influences around the country, these antisemites, racists, arians, nazis, kkk, theyre always in the shadows but theyve been given a key and a reason to come into light. Thats exactly what happened last week. They said the chatter on line would be a shock to the world, altright 2. 0 in charlottesville. The time has come for this to stop. This should be a turning point. This movement jumped the shark and it happened yesterday. People are dying and i do think it is now on the president and on all of us to say, enough is enough. This movement has run its course. Mr. Mayor, i know its been tough. I know you got students coming in. Uva session is about to begin. Freshm freshmen. I will pass on to them, and i know you will, charlottesville is a great city and a very safe city. It is. It is. And a bunch of outsiders cant mess it up. If anything, were going to get better. Thank you. Lets jump to the panel. Rich lowry, uva alum. Helene cooper. Amy walter. And joy reid. Rich, ill read right from your publication today. David french wrote this if there ever was a time in recent american political history for an american president to make a clear, unequivocal statement against the altright it was today. Instead we got a vague condemnation of hate, bigotry and violence on both sides. This is unacceptable. Just ask any person President Trump considers an enemy. People in charlottesville are marching in the president s name. David duke namechecking the president of the United States which you would think would make it all the more important for the president to be specific denouncing these White Supremacists. This was a moment obviously where the president could have elevated himself. Instead, he came up small. Thats one of the reasons you see such a premium on statements from other republicans on moral clarity given the president s ambiguity. Joy, it was amazing to see that. It was almost as if the Republican Party was waiting to see what he would do. Then it was a rush to say, whoa. Hes on an island right now in his party. He is. Donald trump failed the sort of fundamental test of leadership. This was an easy test for any president of the United States to clear. This is the country that heroically swooped in during world war ii. The idea that a president of the United States cannot unambiguously denounce nazism is extraordinary. And donald trump has placed himself in a history. There is no way that i think the American People could have contemplated that their president could not unequivocally condemn david duke and nazis. And he couldnt, and he didnt. Yeah. You know, the president has been very clear, you cant defeat terrorism if you cant call it islamic terrorism. Well, you cant unify the country without calling out hatred and bigotry and there is no unity. There is no way that you can say there are both sides to this or equal sides to this bigotry. There was one group that was bigoted and hateful and racist. And then there was the anti group. Whats curious is to see where we go from here. Is the president going to choose, after hes getting, as you pointed out, denounced by all sides. Will he choose tomorrow to come out and make a stronger statement . He hasnt tweeted this morning, helene. Frankly, there hasnt been the clarification. There hasnt been any of that. I want to throw in what a george w. Bush speech writer wrote this if great words can heal and inspire, base words can corrupt. Trump has been delivering the poison of prejudice in small but increasing doses. In charlottesville the effect became fully evident. Going farther saying this was not just a choice but a strategy almost. Thats i think thats a really interesting point to make. I think President Trump has had probably his worst week this past week and thats because in the two instances that you alluded to earlier in the program, he has sort of fulfilled every fear that his critics and a lot of people had about him when he became president. And that is, one, because of his campaign and because of the side of america that he brought out in his campaign, that he would not be able to detach himself from these White Supremacists who got him elected and who he has put in his government and in the white house. Thats one. Thats always been a big fear. And the other great fear that people had before he became president was that he would be too loose and this is not somebody that you necessary might want in charge of a button that can launch a nuclear weapon. This is not somebody you want receiving the 3 00 a. M. Phone call and with the way he has handled north korea this past week, and then shockingly, shockingly, what he did yesterday, and what he failed to do yesterday, just feeds, feeds that. People think that this is what i do think he should have obviously specifically denounced the white nationalists. But there are two sides to this now. This country now has a violent fringe on the right and on the left. White nationalists and socalled antifascists who like violence, who thrill to violence, like the attention that comes with it, and this is going to get worst before it gets better. I can say, i think hell lee made a very important point. I think sort of both sides doesnt serve anyone well. This is an unambiguous evil thats plaguing this country. One of the reasons donald trump cant respond to what was obviously a proper response from the american president is the people in his government. Whos writing the talking points that he was looking down and reading from. He has people like Stephen Miller, claimed as a mentee by richard spencer, an open avowed white nationalists. Steve bannon melding into the Government Employee but who ran breitbart. Com which i reread today the post thats still on their website where they selfdescribe as the home of the altright. What is the altright . It is a dressedup term for white nationalism. They them call selves white identi. Thats who is in his government. One member was paid by a taxpayer, the former blogger michael an ton in tton in the g. He is surrounded by these people. It isnt both sides. Theyre in the white house with him. Look, you have certain antifascists who dress in black and wear masks. Were they beating on clergy on yesterday . There is violence on both sides. There was certainly not. Were they attacking clergy . I speak with clergy who were being beaten with brass knuckles by neonazis. Antifascists also beat people up, break things and burn things. They both should be condemned. I want the altright to be as limited as possible. I want it to go away and die. But you arent doing folks on my side any favors by defining it so widely that it includes Stephen Miller and mike anton. Thats what they want. Youre helping them. You read the blog posts that theyve posted . Have you read what theyve done . I dont think mike anton is a white nationalist. Thats crazy. Im going to pause it here. Were going to take a break and were going to have the keep having this conversation. I promise. Changing it a little bit. But you guys will have a chance to continue when we come back. As i said, well continue our coverage on the violence in charlottesville and possible mainstreaming of these white nationalists in our political system. Well be right back. Their experience is coveted. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of researchers of technologies that one day, you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. 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Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Im still going for my best. And for eliquis. Ask your doctor about eliquis. Welcome back. In 2017, are we seeing some of the hate groups become mainstre mainstream, part of the conversation we were having . There are 917 active hate groups in the United States. Between 2015 and 2016, we saw a 197 increase in anti muslim hate groups. That was a tripling of its number and a 23 increase in the neoconfederate groups. Here is the map of all the active hate groups around the country. Amy walter, look, it is not new to have this fringe and this the Republican Party for a long time has fought very hard to keep these people out. Democratic party pushed them out. Republican party pushed them out. Until this 2015, there has been this sense that there was a permission slip. I think to take it away electric pa from pa partisanship, theres a country divided there so many different ways. The fact that we cant just have this conversation about a country that is diverse and continuing to diversify and how we have to grapple with these issues. We need leaders helping take us there. This debate starts over something thats going to continue in other cities across this country which is how do we deal with the legacy of slavery . How do we deal with the legacy of the con ffederacy . This has been building and building and building. What we dont have are people that are bringing us back together. Inste instead, were having a debate over who is responsible for this fringe, that fringe. Jennifer rubin of the Washington Post wrote on this issue of the shrines. We have erased the fictions that these monuments are about southern heritage. No. They are giant, concrete shrines to white nationalism. A lot of people will hear that and get angry on this. Let them get angry. A lot are going to say its about. This is about time. Thats right. Its very hard for me to have this conversation with you as a black woman and not personalize it. But we have talked about this before. We talked about this on the show, about the Confederate Flag and what black people think when they see that. You talk its impossible given the legacy of slavery there this country and given the what black people went through during the civil rights movement, given all of these are descendents of the people who were standing outside that Public School in new orleans throwing oranges at that little girl as she was being taken in. These are the these are the same people. This is the same fight that has been going on in this country for more than 200 years. The idea that were going to anger a few white nationalists because were taking down a statue of robert e. Lee, fine, get mad. Ive been skeptical of the rush to tear all these things down. Theres a distension between robert e. Lee and Nathan Bedford forest. If these monuments are going to be rallying points for neonazis, maybe they have to go. Why would you erect a monument the confederacy waged war on the United States. So the idea of putting up those monuments didnt happen right after the civil war. It happened during the 1960s. It happened over the fight for desegregating schools. These monuments immediately in the immediate aftermath of the civil war, no one would have thought of putting up the flag of the confederacy because they were treasonists. In the 1960s, the idea was to make a statement. The statement was being made to black people. It was being made to civil rights advocates that were going to put up these statues for a reason. Thats why those statues are there. Thats when they went there. Let me throw this challenge at all four of you. Nobody here thinks President Trump handled it well. What can he do tomorrow . What can he do tomorrow to at least begin the scabbing process, i guess, to one possible analogy is when he came out a couple weeks ago after the trip to europe saying theres going to be a u. S. Russia Cyber Security agreement and you had every republican denouncing it and mocking it. Then he backed off. Maybe he will take a second bite of the apple, sit down somewhere, maybe in the oval office, give a ten minute speech written appropriately and says the right things. Its not hard to do. Richard painter has given donald trump the way out. He has been tweeting about it repeatedly. He needs to rid his government of the alt right. If there was ever an opportunity to do so, this would be the chance. The bannonites are the problem. They are who are writing the talking points, they are whose words he is reading on the podiums. They are the source of the ideological rot inside the white house. What i really worry about is that we are going to move from this conversation very quickly because Something Else is going to be some shiny object will get thrown in front of us. We will miss the opportunity to have this conversation. There are few people who are leading this conversation beyond just the violent piece of this. I just fear that by monday, were going to be moving on to Something Else. When we come back, im going to talk to the president s National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster about north cokorea. Mcmaster about north cokorea. He 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. 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Remission can start with stelara®. Talk to your doctor today. Janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®. Welcome back. With the Nuclear Threat and the provocations from north korea growing by the day, much of the world was focused on President Trumps somewhat incendiary rhetoric from fire and fury to lock and loaded to how much and how fast kim jongun will regret attacking or even threatening the United States. The tough talk unnerved some. Even as it heartened many of the president s supporters. Still, many were asking whether mr. Trumps words were bluster or its possible we are edging towards a military confrontation with north korea. Joining me now is h. R. Mcmaster. General, welcome to meet the press. Good morning. Before i get started, i gotta ask about charlottesville and perhaps you have had a chance to talk with the president this morning or last night. Why didnt he single out the neonazis and White Supremacists. When he condemned bigotry and hatred on all sides, that includes them. Its clear i know its clear in his mind. It ought to be clear to all americans, we cannot tolerate obviously that bigotry, that hatred, thats rooted in ignorance of what america stands for. Should we expect to hear from you, from him some of those words . Im sure you will hear from the president more about this. This is important to the president to bring all americans together. He said what we have to be is all of us have to be americans first. Thats our common identity as americans. Grounded in our commitment to liberty, to human rights, to equal rights and to tolerance. Tolerance over this kind of hatred and bigotry. What was your reactikreactio . Its heartbreaking. What you see is men and women from all walks of life, all different backgrounds come together, come together in their common commitment to their country and to each other. Then you see them in combat fighting for our nation and our values. Everybody bleeds the same color. Were bound together as soldiers. We ought to be as a nation, bound together by Mutual Respect and common commitment to our values. Was that domestic terrorism yesterday . What terrorism is is the use of violence to ensite terror and fear. Of course, it was terrorism. You classify that as terrorism in. From a legal sense, there will be a full investigation. But i think we can call it a form of tearerism. You have had your own runins with the alt right. One of the selfdescribed leaders, tweeted this yesterday about you, mcmasters media allies are trying to frame bannon for charlottesville. What is going on inside this white house with you and mr. Bannon . Theres a lot of noise, from my perspective. Everybody sees the president assembled a tremendous National Security team. Its a great privilege to be able to support and enable people like secretary of state tillerson, secretary of defense mattis, director pompeo, Ambassador Haley at the united nations. Were getting quite a bit done in terms of developing and advancing strategies to prioritize the safety and security of the American People and promote american prosperity. I asked about a couple of people individually. First, sebastian gorka. The scheduling people for the media and spokes people, its not my area of responsibility. We focus on coordinating and integrating efforts across the government. With our multinational partners and allies to present the president with options about some of the very serious National Security challenges we face today. Also options to take advantage of opportunities to secure the American People and protect the American People and promote american prosperity. Should his word be taken on National Security policy or not . I have not seen anything he said lately. Ive been folk he said Rex Tillerson when he said everybody can sleep well at night, he said to the bbc, we should not take him at his word. Military matters arent his lane. We should always take secretary of state tillerson at his word. He is a talented leader and diplomat. Whats different i think about President Trumps approach in this administration is we have been able to achieve a very high integration of military efforts but really military efforts to support diplomatic efforts and economic efforts. I think what you are seeing with the problems associated with north korea but others as well is a tight integration of all elements of National Power done so in an effort to move forward with our allies and partners. You have this was this memo written by a gentleman you have fired, richard higgins. It was frankly some conspiratorial stuff, he put everybody in there, global i have and islamics, recognizedes. Is it important to the president that this world view be represented . Whats important is we have real work to do. And so we have to have people in place who are going to advance that work. What you will see in the National Security council is a team of extremely talented and dedicated, unsung heros who work very, very hard to advance the president s agenda, to provide the president with options and then once the president makes decisions to drive sgli understa. I understand that. Is that something you have gotten rid of . Im not aware of any world view at all except to serve our nation and to serve the president within the National Security council. If there are those who come in with their own narrow agendas that arent there to enable the president , who arent there to serve the nation, then there shouldnt be a spot for them. The president was asked are we going to war. He said, i think you know the answer to that, we dont. Whats the answer . The answer to that is the most effective way to prevent war is to be prepared for it. To make sure that there is a viable military option that if necessary you could execute to protect the American People knowing this is the gravest decision that any leader has to make. What were endeavoring to do is resolve this north korean crisis, a crisis that has grown over the years. As dr. Kissinger said in the wall street journal this weekend, the approach to north korea has been characterized by provocation and procrastination. We cant procrastinate anymore. The effort is to combine what we are doing diplomatically, economically and with key allies and partners and others including china to resolve this short of any military conflict. Theres been confusion. Has the president drawn a red line . Is it a threat from kim jongun . Is it a missile test to guam . Can you explain how his words should be enter printerpreted . He said even a threat was going to get a response. Whats the red line . The president doesnt draw red lines. He asks us to make sure we have Viable Options for him. Options that combine diplomatic, economic and military capabilities. Thats what we have done. Whats critical here is the president through his engagement with world leaders, with our allies, also with china, has recognize three fundamental things. The first is, this isnt just a u. S. Problem. This is a world problem. China has influence to cope with this. The third this is whats most important the goal the common goal that we have to pursue is denukization of the korean peninsula. I know tomorrow theres potential the president will sign a memo that begins the process of potentially punishing china on some trade practices. Are you concerned that that then pushes china away from being part of the solution here in north korea . Not at all. China recognizes we have to compete. America has to engage with the world. This will not be conflated . Certainly. The operative word is not punished. The operative word is to compete with not just china but with all countries. What the president is doing is everything he can to ensure a fair playing field, to make sure that american workers, american businesses are not disadvantaged by the theft of intellectual property. You can and steve bannon Work Together in this white house or not . I get to work with a broad range of talented people. Its a privilege to enable the National Security team. You didnt answer. I am ready to work with anybody who will help advance the president s agenda and advance the security, prosperity of the American People. Do you believe steve bannon does that . I believe that everyone who works in the white house, who has the privilege, the great privilege every day of serving their nation, should be motivated by that goal. General mcmaster, thanks for coming in. Appreciate it. When we come back, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff about whether its time to accept north korea as a nuclear power. 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We removed the added nitrates and nitrites, byproducts, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat. Every. Single. One. Why . For the love of hot dogs. 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 another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. With the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. Welcome back. Last night i caught up with mike mullen about the threat north korea poses and how we can keep the warfare from turning into a shooting war no one wants. I began by asking what he is telling his family and friends about the apparent escalating tensions with north korea. Im really concerned because i dont know where this goes in terms of a peaceful resolution. Its an incredibly difficult, complex problem. And we have rhetoric very strong rhetoric coming from north korea as well as from the United States. And that rhetoric, it seems to me, has taken away options or its reduced maneuver space, if you will, for leaders to make decisions. So im extremely concerned. And i have heard from family and i have heard from friends about whats going on, who are extremely concerned with where we are and what the outlook is. It seems to be one of forming critical mass. And if this results in a military strike, the unintended consequences of that, the possibility that there are disproportional responses, miscalculations, it just it can really get out of control fast. The president s rhetoric, lets get to that on north co korea. Theres been a wlohole lot of i. Is it effective or is it making things worse . I think this actually has to be resolved through beijing. Whether or not our president s rhetoric has moved i know they talked recently. Whether china actually is able to prioritize thises relew s rrs a high interest to them, a National Interest to them is will be a big indicator as to whether or not whats going on is in any way moving in the right direction. I think its got to be resolved politically, diplomatically, through negotiations to ensure that we dont have a military conflict that could get out of control. You said you are concerned the rhetoric has limited options. What options are you concerned that the president has eliminated with his rhetoric . I think it eliminates maneuver space for him, because it looks like brinkmanship to me. It looks like clearly he is verbally focused very specifically on the military options with the rhetoric thats out there. Its almost a fire and brimstone dont make another move or else. The comment that military options are locked and loaded, we have always had military options. And they are very complex, but they can be executed. It almost seems as if were leading with those, which makes an awful it sunsettled a lot of people. Jim clapper says essentially its the notion of north koreans denuclearizing he called it a nonstarter. He says its time to accept the notion that theyre going to be a nuclear regime. We kind of have to move on from that. Do you accept that . I dont accept that yet. I recognize that as an option or an outcome. Certainly, there is one option is to accept that and then contain him. Obviously, the concern you would have with that is somehow he has this weapon. He is still somewhat of an unknown to us. Unpredictable and someone thats do you think he is rational . No, i dont think he is rational. I dont think hes a rational actor. He has i dont think he is a rational actor. He has a rich history in his family, the legacy to uphold. He is on a race to gain this capability. Much different from his father or his grandfather in terms of developing capability. He is on a flat out sprint to develop this capability and then see what happens. I just cant bring myself to the point where we say, its okay if this leader has these devastating weapons. Coming up, why is President Trump picking a fight with the one man he needs the most in the United States senate . United States Senate . Yeah, that happened this we before fibromyalgia, i was on the go. I kept on top of things. Then the chronic, widespread pain slowed me down. My doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. He also prescribed lyrica. Fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. Woman for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions suicidal thoughts or actions. 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Going somewhere . Whoooo. Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more. Than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. Yet up 90 fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. Lets do more. Add one a day mens complete with key nutrients we may need. Plus hearthealth support with b vitamins. One a day mens in gummies and tablets. Welcome back. I would like to talk a little north korea. Before we get there, general mcmaster, steve bannon is that a relationship that will last the week . It does seem if steve bannon was ever in jeopardy, this would be the time when he would be in the maximum jeopardy. You have stories donald trump is concerned he is a leaker combined with the fact that his wing of the party is in the glare of the spotlight because of charlottesville. I think its a question of whether the Kelly Mcmaster access can get control of this white house, which i think the majority of americans would like for them to do. It was an extraordinary moment. Obviously, h. M. Mcmaster, he knows washington speak, but he used washington speak three times to answer your question no, i cannot work with steve bannon. Thats an important point. Where are we on north korea . Where is jim mattis on north korea . We have been asked this question, how serious is this. The last thing that jim mattis or the pentagon or the defense or general mcmaster want or americas top military leaders is any kind of military option on north korea. You heard general mcmaster right now saying, we want to say that theres a viable middle military option. Its very hard to imagine one that does not end up with retaliation, not against the United States, not even against guam necessarily, but seoul. Is about south korea. This is about south korea, 45 minutes from the demilitarized zone. 130,000 americans in seoul. You have more than 3 million foreigners there. You have 25,000 american troops in south korea. There is no way any military leader will tell you this. There is no way to strike north korea without putting one of americas biggest allies in jeopardy. That is at the end of the day, that underlies this reluctance to use military option. Do we need to be more patient with north korea . Eventually, this will collapse. I think the chinese think we can be more patient. Thats an excellent question. The president s rhetoric doesnt suggest we can be. This is really what the point of the Mcmaster Bannon question was about is, theres a Good Cop Bad Cop going on publically between mcmaster and mattis and tillerson about we can wait, we will do diplomacy. What we dont know going on internally. That really is the bigger question. Is this battle that is coming out in the public also happening who is making the decisions . Who is going to decide whether we can wait or not . We dont have we dont have an answer to that. Thats why what admiral mullen in that interview is so important. He talked about President Trump limiting his own options, limiting his own maneuverability by saying, if you even make a threat, if you north korea said they were going do missile tests near to guam. He turned that into a threat. He raised the ante to you end up limiting your ability to strike a deal. If north korea goes and does some sort of missile test in the ma civic, we have now set it up as if he will look as if he is backing down. Isnt the problem that the north koreans and chinese dont believe the United States will act militarily . They have basically called the bluff . I see this as more rhetoric around the same old strategy of detaching china from north korea and having negotiations to as tillerson says denuclearize the peninsula. Its not going to stop them. We should adopt a longer term strategy of regime change that in the shortterm would be robust policy of deterrence and containment. Thats the new debate. Do we let them have it or not . They have it. All that presupposes is a president who can exceercise selfcontrol. I dont see evidence he can do that. You dont take everything at his word at first. Back with end game and whats the outbreak of the cross fire between the president and Mitch Mcconnell. Life can be full of unexpected surprises. Having an Emergency Savings for the unexpected may help provide a little light in a possibly dark situation. The more you know. Back now with end game. It feels small now. This week, with the north korean rhetoric, before the tragedy in charlottesville, we had a president this week targeting it seem like every week he is targeting a supposed ally, political ally. He is done jeff sessions. Mitch mcconnell. Whats this about . Donald trump is protecting his brand. Its the anti establishment brand. He is going it doesnt mat fer its somebody on your side. He defined by who his enemies are, not who his allies are. The shortterm affect could be he is hoping, of course, to shame the party into getting the work done they need to get done. However, it could backfire not just legislatively but politically. The most toxic brew for republicans right now in 2018 is a disengagement by the party, a party that feels like theyre not getting anything done, were not accomplishing the trump agenda. Theyre going to blame republicans in congress for not doing it. The president s helping make that case. The timing was awkward because Mitch Mcconnell orchestrated the president s endorsement in the Alabama Special Senate race. Its quite a wild ride over there. Tuesday is the first round of that voting. It seems that this could cause primary fights all over the United States Senate Battleground next year. Thats a problem. I think trump intuits he has running room. The hierarchy of blame for his base if things continue not to go well, media first to be blamed, then congressional leadership, were in that stage. Then his staff. And then the last one is President Trump himself. This is foolhardy for a lot of reasons. He needs the party for the scandal defense and he may need Mitch Mcconnell to run his defense at an impeachment trial in 2019. I would not alienate him. You could argue the alienation, thats why thom tillis feels comfortable sponsoring a bill. Isnt it possible that donald trump is simply being donald trump and lashing out at anyone that he perceives as an enemy . He employed Mitch Mcconnells wife. If he is angry, he lashes out. I dont think he does it for strategic reasons. I think he cant control himself. We got an example during the Health Care Debate what happens, how the chickens come home to roost when you had lieisa mee l mckau ski. One important its interesting. All senators seem to be taking mcconnells side over trump. The voters may take trumps side. They are taking trumps side. When you talk to voters as i have been, look at the data, when they say why are things not happening in congress, why is trump agenda not going forward, its republicans in congress. He wins in the shortterm. The president s brand wins in shortterm. In longer term, its his party. Wow. What a week. What a show. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Thats all we have for today. Back next week because if its sunday, its meet the press. 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. Semary connors local link, the death of Darren Daulton and several other former phillies raises questions about a possible cancer cluster at veterans stadium. Bookbandit, a local business could change how College Students buy their textbooks, saving them big bucks. Well introduce you to the companys 22 year old ceo. Is bacon better for you than tilapia . Thats the claim on numerous websites. Today, well fish for answers from our partners at factcheck. Org. Male announcer nbc10 issue starts now. Rosemary good morning, im Rosemary Connors for nbc10 issue. We begin with the passing of phillies legend Darren Daulton. His death has many people wondering about a possible cluster of brain cancer. Daulton, affectionately known as dutch, died last week at the age of 55. He was with the phillies for 14 seasons. Four years ago, daulton was diagnosed with an aggressive