amazing grace how sweet the sound powerful stuff to see it all over again, isn t it? different presidents consoling the american people in different ways after different types the of national tragedy. president trump was handed a leadership test this weekend in the form of an awful tragedy in charlottesville. we will talk about it tonight with two pulitzer prize winner. presidential historian, author, biographer of jefferson, jackson, fdr, churchill most recently bush 41, our friend john meecham is with us. we welcome back clarence page, columnist for the chicago tribune. before we begin our conversation i have two separate pieces of business to play for you both on videotape. the first, we don t have many
trump does not show a serious attitude toward government and seems to think that because he made it in real estate he can manage the government. we re talking about people. you re talking about folks like you and me and all the other folks out there watching. over this weekend we did not see the kind of leadership folks want. from what i hear even david duke is upset tonight because trump caved into the liberal media as he puts it. that s not the kind of spirit we want running this country. john, clarence just put his fing right on it. the sense of stewardship that to watch over and care for all of us and all these things greater than us that comes traditionally with the job of the presidency. franklin roosevelt said that the presidency is preeminently a place of moral leadership. it is, in fact it s a strange office. it s developed in ways that the founders on this very day in 1787, 230 years ago, were
i like real news not fake news. you re fake news. haven t you spread a lot of fake news yourself, sir? okay, john meecham, that s where we are. you ve seen the weekend we ve just endured. part of david gergen s comments tonight, he mentioned his childhood in north carolina growing up with the kkk as a presence as a young kid in that state, and he worried that this is going to start tearing people apart. well, it s been tearing us apart since the civil war. you know, i come from tennessee, i grew up on a civil war battlefield, missionary ridge which is where douglas macarthur s father won his medal of honor when he was 17. i remember standing on that ridge watching riots in chattanooga in 1980 after an all-white jury acquitted a klansman in a drive-by shooting of an african-american woman. i remember my grandfather saying as he watched the smoke rising from the city that the jury didn t let the facts get in the way of their bigotry and that was a damn shame.
didn t let the facts get in the way of their bigotry and that was a damn shame. so this is tragically a recurring feature in the american story. what we have hoped for in the past and what we ve often had in the past are presidents who address our better angels, who let us hear the whisper of those wings. sometimes it s just a whisper, but we are, in fact, inspired by those who encourage us to hope as opposed to letting us fear. and right now the 45th president of the united states is encouraging a climate of fear. clarence, where do you think your country and your presidency stands after the weekend we ve just witnessed? well, it is a test for all of us, i think, brian. you know, when john meecham talks about the past, i think about how i became politicized in grade school when i saw national guard troops escorting black students into little rock high school i m sorry, i
with two pulitzer prize winner. presidential historian, author, biographer of jefferson, jackson, fdr, churchill most recently bush 41, our friend john meecham is with us. we welcome back clarence page, columnist for the chicago tribune. before we begin our conversation i have two separate pieces of business to play for you both on videotape. the first, we don t have many people walking around who worked for four presidents. i found that people listen up when they do talk, at least sensible people. in is david gergen tonight on cnn. he cannot address the hatred in the country until he addresses the hatred in his own heart. that was powerful. that got our attention. and here was the exchange earlier today, again, this is cnn correspondent jim acosta asking the president questions after his state ment on camera.