99%, sarah sanders and john kelly involved in this, as well. what was it that convinced the president to final lly bow to pressure? was it the veterans groups calling on him to do this, the american legion? i think it was the mounting pressure against him and the decision he made. we saw a similar thing after helsinki. he saw mounting pressure, especially allies on fox news, calling him out for his reaction and comments. i think we saw a similar thing here. the end of the day, it comes a little too late. we see how the president feels, plain and clear, in the way he reacted initially. i sort of think it almost discounts when he comes around at the end. there s a lot of angst and consternation in washington related to this. look at what s happening in arizona, josh. mccain s family has made very clear but their public and private comments, they don t want the conversation to be about president trump. you know what? if you look at the front pages of newspapers, we do this thing where
trumpy than she probably believes. it is the story in many primaries. i saw a private poll that had mcsally up ten. as was reporting, there was a sigh of relief among the republican establishment in washington. ten points is not that much in a primary where you don t know what turnout is going to be. one assumes senator mccain s death reminds people of a certain kind of senator, and maybe that s what mcsally is like. on the other hand, arpaio vote, i don t think he ll make it, but it could go to ward. it could be a closer primary than people think. i agree with bill. i think the assessment and the inclination to dismiss ward and arpaio because they re just in stupid land with their comments and tweets and all of that crazy how do you get to stew upid land? getting on the trump train. i m writing that one down. that s good. it takes you directly there, baby, nonstop. it is not a coach fare. it is first class all the way. they re on the train. god bless them. here s the reali
in fact, he criticized himself whenever he was being politically expedient. sometimes, i think, lindsey graham takes the politically expedient route. it doesn t mean he is in any way making light of any of the things that senator mccain had done or stood for. he was an exceptionally principled individual. my last engagement with him was contentio contentious. he hurled profanities at me over differences in policy. though it was heated, i had the greatest respect for senator mccain because he was a principled individual. stubborn, feisty, yes. but principled, patriotic, courageo courageous, someone who loved this country before all else. as senator graham said, it was country before self. you did have policy differences with mccain. gina haspel, for example, as a recent thing. what was the recent fight over, what policy? we were talking about things going on in the middle east, specifically, syria.
has gone down. and we want friends. we live in a world that is highly connected. we need friends for economic but also political reasons. ambassador car luhills, thank you very much for coming on. all of this, by the way, as mexico hopes to get this done before the new mexico president takes over this year. talking about something we brought up earlier in the broadcast, the increasing tensions between the president and his attorney general jeff sessions. in light of lindsey graham s remarks this morning here s what senator kennedy said. the attorney general has done a good job. i think jeff sessions is an honorable man. having said that, he works for the president, and if the president wants to make a change the president can make a change. it s another drop in the bucket. slowly but surely president trump is turning people against
running for senate, who got on michael s train here, which i feel like we need to talk about some more. on the one hand, someone can say, at the end of the day, if he becomes a senator or governor, i guess, he ll be different from what he sounded like in the campaign. on the other hand, if you campaign in a certain way, it leaves a mark and obviously commits you to certain things. it is not easy to walk that back. see, the problem that, you know, all of these candidates will have coming out of the primaries is how do you then navigate a general election, with an independent and center-right voting population that is not in on the trump train and doesn t want to go anywhere near that neighborhood? how do you navigate it? that s the problem republicans will find themselves up against in november. michael steele, always saying something. bill kristol. he s a brawler. thank you. i appreciate it. too tough on trump, michael. here we go. much more to come. thank you. as we hi