we re fighting different wars with a much more different enemies who are diffuse around the battlefield. and we need to do a lot more with working with countries, address needs on the ground. these are pivotal programs that you saw retired members of the military say would be devastating to the war donald trump says he wants to win. ronald reagan never cut the state department funding as i recall. when military folks make the argument for the state department as opposed to the diplomats making it for themselves, that carries more weight i think with the president. but number two, the budget director s job is frankly terrible. and no matter what administration you re in, but particularly if you re in a republican administration, where you re talking about bloated government and waste, fraud and abuse, et cetera, there is enormous pressure on this push to be mack the knife and cut out and go as fast and deep as he can. and there will always be
everlasting. reporter: but ryan s father, bill, has revealed that he refused to meet the president at dover, saying to the miami herald, quote, i told them i didn t want to make a scene about it, but my conscience wouldn t let mow talk to him. owenss goes on to say that he believes the white house is hiding behind his son s death. while the administration claimed the raid was a success, some lawmakers, including republican senator john mccain quickly criticized the operation. when you lose a $75 million airplane and more importantly, an american life is lost and wounded i don t believe that you can call it a success. the action that was taken in yemen was a huge success. american lives will be saved because of it. future attacks will be prevented. the life of ryan owens was given in service to his country, and we owe him and his family a great debt for the information we received during that raid. i think any suggestion otherwise
members could start disbursing, could start leaving them right now. they re already seeing one. mark meadows, the chairman of the house freedom caucus already saying he would be opposed to the leaked draft of the repeal bill that we saw last week. if they start losing members en masse, this whole process collapses. that is exactly what republican leaders are trying to avoid and exactly why they want president trump tomorrow night to be very explicit in his support for their path forward. anderson? joining us now, senior political reporter and political commentator, ryan lizza. trump saying, quote, nobody knew health care could be so complicated. he s the only person to ever utter those words. everyone knew this was complicated. it s almost he can be forgiven for thinking it was simple, because the approach to health
spoke to the today show. he also praised the senate intelligence committee chairman, a republican who s leading the probe. take a look. i think we all need answers. whether or not this special prosecutor s the right way to go tonight, you re talking to the wrong guy. i have great faith in really good guy. and an independent thinker, if he were to recommend a special prosecutor, i would be then i d it would have a lot more credibility with me. i never have been a lawyer, you know, i m not sure the right avenue to take. i am sure that question needs to be answered. a lot to discuss. ari fleischer is back, joining us as well. ari, obviously knowing president bush like you do, were you
secretary of robert gates who was a republican who said development programs contribute to stability and could eliminate the need for u.s. soldiers to go in a bad situation town the road. as he put it, development is a lot cheaper than sending soldiers. back now with jen psaki who once served as state department spokesperson and jeffrey lord. i ve been in afghanistan many times out with marines. a lot of what they re doing is development work, going to villages, meeting with elders. it s work that the state department was supposed to be doing and never got around to it, the level it was supposed to happen in afghanistan. and since you hear general mattis say if you don t have diplomats, you got to buy more ammunition. secretary gates used to make the statement when he was with president obama and president bush that one of the lessons learned is that we couldn t win it all with military might. and we re not fighting world war ii anymore.