president trump told reporters that his immigration rhetoric is not an attempt to fear monger. minutes later, the president sent out a video clearly designed to spark conversation on cable news more than anything else. joining us now to talk about the president s closing message, former republican senator from the state of pennsylvania, rick santorum. thanks so much for being with us. i think it s interesting over the last few days the message the president has sent out and the push back among republicans. i thought it was fascinating that paul ryan campaigning for republican members of congress disputed publically and outloud the president s assertion on birthright citizenship. i think it is fascinating what jeff zeleny was told yesterday, that they didn t want the president coming there to
willie horton, roger ales, fox news. donald trump. that is the genesis of it. aaron, you ve written about all these what do they call it, centrifugal circles. i think the difference sheer that this is something that the president is attaching his name to. as the other guests have mentioned, the horton ad was something people distanced themselves from. the bush campaign spent 25 days, i think it was, basically trying to play this off, not denouncing it but not accepting it. they waited until it was almost done. the other aspect that is really important is, the immigration rhetoric from the president. there s this narrative out there that while it s ugly and it s gear based and it may not be pretty that it s going to tee up republicans to go vote. that it is going to work. so maybe it s not pretty but it actually works. i think we re going to find out
tone, but when you re trying to balance the situations of immigration rhetoric with that of trade and with that of their own industry, what we heard time and again was they supported the president of the united states, and while they would like him to take a softer tone on things like immigration, ultimately they believe on behalf of this country his effort on the trade front and the future of their own industry, it s worth the battle and their support. very intriguing and nuanced. vaughn, thank you. if you ever become a musician, this shot of you on tv is going to be your album cover. it s truly remarkable. reporter: it works for me. thank you. it does. coming up, untruths floating around about protecting health care coverage for patients with preexisting conditions. this is important. something former president obama was outspoken about in wisconsin. what we have not seen before in our public life is politicians just blatantly,
i think now he s 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 non-college educated and doing racist dog whistles to it appeal to them. it s not a coincidence this comes as he doubles down on the hard-line immigration rhetoric. the embracing of the word nationalist, here, he s 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 he s grabbing nationalism now, too. let me defend dog whistles. they re silent. these are loud. let me read this to you. the woest woe washington post by claiming to be breaking a taboo by using this particular
benefits and a lot of detriments. the president is blaming democrats for immigration policies. pointing to the caravan, you heard me speak with mariana hortensio about the migrants heading for the u.s. border. president won with similar immigration rhetoric in 2016. do you think he s more in touch with americans on this issue than democrats? let s go back to 2013, when a bipartisan bill with 60 votes passed the senate. it was a tough bill. it had more than 19,000 border patrol agents, it had e-verify in terms of employment. it was augmenting the number of judges and it sat in the house under a republican majority. and nothing has transpired since then. with republicans in charge of both houses. yes there should be immigration reform. yes, we need border control. yes, we need to protect our borders. but we also have to follow the rule of law. and if people come here and seek