let s bring in tonight s panel. nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki. princeton professors and msnbc contributor andy cloud, and susan del percentio. guys, steve bannon is making trouble. there was concern about having him leave the white house. what happens when bannon is on the outside. it s proving to be problematic not only for the president but certainly problematic for members of the republican party in congress. susan, what does mitch mcconnell do to count act bannon? i think it s time mcconnell speak to the establishment republican money folks and say what are you going to do? we need your help. they need the come up with a plan. the idea they can stay focused on just a policy based relationship with donald trump is not going to work, as we move towards 2018. so it s going to have to turn political. as bannon and others start moving forward with these really aggressive nasty campaigns, the
table represented the republican establishment, except for bannon. what do you make of the fact bannon is gone, too. i don t make much of it, joy. the problem is not steve bannon. i mean he s a terrible human being with crazy ideas, the problem is donald trump. i agree with what brian was just saying. it is donald trump who doesn t know the difference between people who are neo-nazi or whatever term they want to use that the white nationalists and the people standing up against them. it is donald trump who doesn t understand that you have to have a certain level of competence in order to make things work. you know, this is he has a good habit here for himself that switches our direction and gets us to look in the other direction. it s not steve bannon, it s donald trump and he is still there. let s talk about the republican base. run in the republican party.
oklahoma for 16 years. he is vice president of the aspen institute. thanks for being here. glad to be here. this is a staff photo of the oval office in the beginning, this must be in january. steve bannon, reince priebus, sean spicer, general flynn. you can see it there. everyone at that table, with the exception of mike pence is gone. most of the people around that table represented the republican establishment, except for bannon. what do you make of the fact bannon is gone, too. i don t make much of it, joy. the problem is not steve bannon. i mean he s a terrible human being with crazy ideas, the problem is donald trump. i agree with what brian was just saying. it is donald trump who doesn t know the difference between people who are neo-nazi or whatever term they want to use that the white nationalists and the people standing up against
was next to him. he did ship maintenance before becoming ship navigator. in fact bannon was at the helm as it companied the crew of the doomed rescue mission of the iranian hostage crisis. this was a symbol of military humiliation and some say it changed the way steve viewed president carter. very much so. steve lost confidence as a lot of the nation did. when he got back home and especially here at the pentagon his friends say he became more politically aware and politically engaged. so you ended up watching the presidential debate with carter that year? it was a point counterpoint and he was animated in the debate. the pentagon job required writing reports for the admiral about the state of the navy fleet and acquired big ambitions
operation of the white house. it s a it s an operations role but also an advisory role to the president. you know, the way we ve operated last few months is steve and i have formed a great partnership in advising president-elect trump together, and that s what it really is. i think you ve seen especially over the last few months that donald trump has been very disciplined and also been very comfortable and on message and clear-minded. so you look at these hires. do they bridge the party divide? do they aggravate it? do they do both? i think the greatest way you could see that reflected is to the extent that the establishment republicans, the elected republicans, are ignoring the fact bannon is a part of this administration. last night we started getting press releases reacteding to this selection of reince priebus and steve bannon, steve bannon s name was suspiciously left off a lot of the congratulations on the emphasis it was on reince priebus. i think a lot of republicans