what they had just heard. and i think the overarching feeling that i ve gotten, and i ve talked to three or four people who were there, is that this is a man who is pursuing his own personal agenda, defending himself, his own personal views, at a time when national leadership is required. so that s what s going on this week. a collision between his extreme personalization of everything, and what we normally view as the role of a president. it s a great point to end on with you and to begin our discussion with my panel here. glenn thrush, i await your 8:30 phone call from the president tonight. don edwards is senior fellow at the brennan center for justice and a former democratic congressman from maryland. sarah facten is a cnbc contributor and mark murray is nbc news s senior political editor, i mamy partner in crime along with carrie dan, on all things first read. welcome all. sarah, you worked in the white house. i ll give you the first dibs on this. not to say there s any parallel