air force one right now. he is set to arrive in warsaw later this afternoon per haley jackson just a few moments ago. it will be nightfall there in poland when he touches down. let s bring in the panel this morning. susan and washington post opinion columnist catherine. good to have you both. good to be here. thanks for being with me. let s look back on this first trip. you might remember president trump s first trip overseas. a lot of our nato allies a bit on edge after that first trip. do you think this is a trip in which the president recalibrates or do you think this is just president trump being president trump, once again. we spend the next few days scratching our heads. i think president trump probably thinks he has a second chance to make a first impression here. but as we heard from hallie jackson on the ground. you have the leaders focused on three main things.
2,000 to 3,000 more troops. you know, craig, afghanistan used to be called the good war when it was compared to iraq. now, i m afraid it s the forgotten war when you compare it to all of our activities against isis. that s no way to run this. it can t be a ship without a strong captain at the top saying this is the path to victory. this is what we re trying to do. and, so, i think i m looking forward to the announcement because we need to no longer be sort of a drift there. we have to have some clear, clear objectives and move out. that picture of senator elizabeth warren there with senator graham and senator mccain in kabul, catherine, susan. striking to a lot of folks. how much of what we saw there and just that picture and maybe this trip in general is about the massachusetts senator trying to solidify her place, once again, as a democratic frontrunner.
lawmakers lawmakers are sti their holiday break but some got an earful on independence day about health care. protesters there greeting senator ted cruz in texas, a democrat stronghold in a red state. cruz telling demonstrators he will always defend their right to speak. texas senator not the only lawmaker who heard from voters concerned about the gop health care plan being considered in the senate. i m joined by msnbc s garrett haake, susan del persio and katherine rampell. how would you characterize the reception the senators are getting on this health care bill? it s first important to note very few of these senators are
there of susan collins getting a little bit of backup for her no vote. garrett haake for us in d.c., thank you. susan, these town halls that aren t happening, we heard from some lawmakers in the past that one reason that they don t do as many of these is because the left is organized and that they show up and they derail these town halls and turn them into these made for tv debacles that we see. what do you say to that? what about the tea party protests in whatever it was, 2010? this is democracy. if you are an elected official you face your constituents even if they are hostile. they are your bosses. it s the voters who determine who gets into office. you have to face the voters and take their questions. i think they re just cowards. you know what, if they are afraid of chanting and protests, give compelling answers to the questions that voters are asking and listen to their concerns. there are some things that
nick confessori and susan del persio. nick, starting with you. ivanka saying her father has always been a champion for women and families. is she not putting herself in an impossible seat? besides the trump family, there is absolutely no evidence to support that. in fact, quite the opposite. if you think about supporting families, you think women s health, which last i checked, though ivanka trump met with the head of planned parenthood, it s been de-funded. on one hand of the ledger you have his own business, his promotion of women in his own business over the years. she was talking about that in the speech. on the other hand a long list of incredible allegations of sexual harassment, sexuality and bad language. we heard talk about a family leave policy. we haven t seen many details. if the first daughter is going to do this, we haven t yet seen actual meat on the bone of the policies. perhaps we will. susan, i want to talk about ivanka trump s role in the white house. she doesn t