Trump, frustrated by tales of turmoil in the white house took to the campaign trail this weekend after just a month in the office to defend his new administration. Youve seen what weve accomplished in a very short period of time. The white house is running so smoothly. So smoothly. Reporter he also served up more criticism of the media. We are not going to let the fake news tell us what to do, how to live or what to believe. We reporter and invoked a puzzling security concern. You look at whats happening last night in sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this . Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Reporter while trump was appearing to reference a reference of terrorism, nothing particularly noteworthy happened in sweden over the weekend. Trump said on twitter his comment came after watching a fox news segment related to swedens immigration policies. The swieshd Swedish Embassy offered their own response. Saying we look forward to informing the u. S. Administration about swedish immigration and integration policies. John mccain has been critical of decisions in the last month. What did he have to say about general mcmaster . Reporter he has been a thorn in President Trumps side, and he seems to have relished at that at points, but he was one of many that we saw heaping praise on this National Security pick today. This is part of a statement senator mccain put out, saying Lieutenant General h. R. Mcmaster is an outstanding choice for National Security adviser. Ive had the honor of knowing him for many years, and hes a man of genuine intellect, character and ability. He knows how to succeed. Reaction now from Global Affairs analyst, tony blinken. And later deputy secretary of state in the Obama Administration. General mcmasters got and lot of praise from a lot of different quarters, what do you make of the choice . Credit where credit is due. Its a terrific choice. He is one of the leading generals. Both in the field. Hes a leading intellectual, a thought leader when it comes to military and strategic matters. He thinks outside the box. Hes not afraid to confront orthodoxy, a firstrate pick. Its encouraging. Hes written a book critical of u. S. Generals for not taking a tougher line with political bosses during the vietnam war. Im wondering how that may play out. Given Steve Bannons presence on the National Security council. You put your finger on the problem. I think hes going to have three challenges as he assumes this job. One is to make sure all the other agencies are really around the table. The state department, joint chiefs, energy, they havent been there to date. Thats hindered the policy. Second, he needs to make sure that the National SecurityCouncil Staff is looped in and listened to. Theyve been marginalized. But third, they need to check politics at the situation room door. Having mr. Bannon in the situation room at the table as a coequal to the secretary of defense, secretary of state, thats wrong place to go. And on top of that, there are reports that hes been running a parallel process, divorce from the National Security council on National Security issues. That is a recipe for conflict, for disfunction. I hope that part of general mcmasters conditions for taking the job is that hes running the show and mr. Bannon and the ideologues are not part of the process. Donald trump sort of mocked some generals, saying he knew more than a lot of generals did or most of the generals did, he talked about how they were reduced to rubble. Im not sure which generals he was talking to. But he is certainly has, as president , decided to surround himself with key generals. Well, with key generals, and in this case, with someone who really is a great leader. Again, both on the battlefield, but also in thinking about strategic affairs, in thinking about our nations Foreign Policy and National Security strategy. So in this case hes really made a very good choice. You underscored concerns over isis and north korea. Is there one thing you can point to that is the highest priority for general mcmaster coming into the white house in terms of possible crises overseas . Or are there just, you know, a whole plateful of stuff . You know, theres a plateful, and the inbox gets bigger and bigger and bigger and the world doesnt wait. It starts sending problems and crises your way and you have to deal with them. But i think the number one priority right now has to be continuing and succeeding in the effort against isil, islamic state. Were doing very well. Were on the verge in iraq and also in syria of taking away basically the heart of their selfdeclared caliphate in mosul and raqqah. That means when that happens, there wont be anyplace for foreign fighters to go anymore. They wont have resources to exploit, and their entire narrative is going to collapse, everything thats attracted people to the cause, building a state is gone. The Obama Administration handed off a very good plan that was working. I think the number one obligation, and i hope they take this up is to continue this. Because if they do, well be in a much better place against the islamic state, but, as you said, there are many other things in the inbox. North korea. And its testing of missiles and nuclear weapons. Iran, all the questions around its activities but also i hope preserving the Nuclear Agreement which has been good for our security, good for the security of our allies and partners around the world. Joining us is steve israel, a political commentator, former obama deputy. Deputy dhs secretary julia khayyam. Juliette, youve expressed concerns about how Donald TrumpsNational Security council was shaping up. How do you see it shaping up with general mcmaster . I agree, give credit where credit is due, this is a good pick. But what we dont know is whether this is the end of the war between a National Security staff and the war led by bannon or if this is replacing one general for another. Well have to wait and see what that means. In terms of having someone who respects process and is not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, it is very important that agencies like dhs, d. O. D. Have a seat at the table so they can give the best advice to the president of the United States. That is what the staff is all about. We simply dont know at this stage what deals were made to get him on board or whether bannon is going to keep running this parallel process. And youre going to have their madness that weve seen so far, unfortunately. Do you agree with blinken . That its critical that mcmaster have the president s ear. The line to a president s ear and not funneled through somebody else . I dont think its the National Security advisers going to have to fight for the president s ear. And i think this is a great choice. H. R. Mcmaster, if you go back to 1991, captain mcmaster was the architect of the battle for 73 easting. Which is a tank battle in which he destroyed a segment of the Republican Guard in minutes. With no loss of life to the americans. Our students study h. R. Mcmaster in iraq and h. R. Mcmaster as a tank commander. So he has the full spectrum. Hes incredibly agile. Knowledgeable about National Security on all levels. I think youll have no presidob getting the president s ear. Some perspectives say that the president has do many military people around him. Do you think thats a good thing . Well, theres a difference between having too many military people and having the right and smart military people. Look, im very pleasantly surprised by this appointment. I worked with general mcmaster when i was on the Armed Services committee. We worked together on the issue of professional military education, that is how we educate our troops and invest them with Critical Thinking and very challenging and complex environments. He is a warrior scholar. I understands hard power and soft power. And i believe he can bring order to chaos. The challenge will be, will President Trump actually listen to him . Will he take the generals recommendations and implement them . If he does, i do believe we have an opportunity to institute order to chaos. So congressman, are you still concerned about Steve Bannons presence on the Principals Group . Im very concerned. There are two people who concern me most, steve bannon and general flynn. General flynn is no longer on the scene. Steve bannon continues to be extremely influential. Im hoping general mcmaster can be a reasoned judicious counter balance. The white house chief of staff was on tv emphasizing hell have total and complete say over the makeup of the nsc. Is it clear what that means . It was by executive order that steve bannon was made a part of the committee. Im not sure they were going to revise the executive order. President trump said it was unclear if he knew what was going on when he signed that executive order. What i hope happens now is that we stop talking about the people, you know, the people are relevant, but they had a transition, and theyre a little bit late in getting the white house moving forward. What we have now is a much more interesting, and i would say to our allies, disconcerting situation, which is we have a new National Security adviser. We have cabinet secretary the all around the world, seemingly disagreeing with President Trump, pence who is saying 180 degrees from what the president is saying, and so the question is, what is the trump doctrine that is going to be played out or, or manifested itself through these cabinet secretaries and the new National Security adviser . I dont think we know the answer to that question yet. We know a lot of things trump has said about china or israel or nato. He seems to have gone back on. But we dont know what the affirmative agenda is. And then we can debate it, right, instead of talking about all these individuals, we can debate the policies of trump. Do you think thats important to have a socalled trump doctrine . Or is that something that sort of takes time to sort of form . I think im seeing an entirely different movie. I think we have a return to American Power as it had been traditionally understood before president obama, where we support allies and challenge and compete with enemies. Over the last eight years, a russian and Iranian Alliance grew up in the middle east, and it was unchecked by the americans. What i hear from rex tillerson, from jim mattis, from h. R. Mcmaster, from all the top officials is that the United States is back. The passivity that our allies saw over the last eight years is over. You talk about russia in particular, mike. Are you talking about people around the president . Youre not saying you see this particularly on the president. About russia, he seems to have been saying very positive things about putin. The president said where possible he wants to try to find Common Ground with Vladimir Putin but mike pence was in europe saying that were going to push back against the russians in ukraine. In the middle east, we, all of our top officials have consistently said that iran is on notice. Iran is in an alliance with russia. If youre pushing back against iran, youre pushing back against russia. I just dont see us caving to russia anywhere. Appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up next, President Trumps first month in office. The hits, the runs, and the errors. What do you get when you combine an h r block tax pro, with the deduction finding superpower of ibm watson . Ah you get more money. Thats what you could get. H r block with watson. Get your taxes won. Man for every social occasion. Ntial so the the broom said, sorry im late. I overswept. [ laughter ] yes, even the awkward among us deserve some laughter. And while its okay to nibble in public, a lady only dines in private. Try the name your price tool from progressive. It gives you options based on your budget. Uhoh. Discussing finances is a big nono. What, im helping her save money shh men are talking. Thats it, im out. 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Starting at 14. 99, a deal this good wont last for long in just the last 48 hours, weve seen the full spectrum of the Trump Administration so far, weve seen a fullthroated effort to make sure assure allies. More attacks on the press own continued claims of great accomplishments so far. How you view the past four weeks may depend on which side of the political aisle youre on. Tom foreman takes a look. Reporter by many measures, the new administration has been a shot of adrenaline for the economy. The new president pushing u. S. Companies to keep more jobs in the country, approving longdie delayed Pipeline Projects and promising Infrastructure Improvements which could inject millions of dollars into the economy in the next years. We are going to lower taxes on american business, so its cheaper and easier to produce product and beautiful things like airplanes right here in america. Reporter the stock market rose more in President Trumps first month than it has for any other new president since lbj. How much credit he deserves is debatable, but Consumer Confidence already growing under barack obama is still climbing too. This administration is running like a finetuned machine. Reporter on key issues for his party, hes kept his word, picking a conservative Supreme Court nominee, going ahead with repealing and replacing obamacare even though details are lacking, and still preparing for a wall on the mexican border. His supporters are thrilled. We the people, our movement is the reason why our president of the United States is standing here in front of us today. [cheers and applause] reporter but President Trumps first month has also seen streets flooded with protesters infuriated by his policies. His already low Approval Rating has dropped even lower. His travel ban aimed at seven largely muslim nations has been derailed by the courts, leaving him lashing out while working on a rewrite. The new order is going to be very much tailored to what i consider to be a very bad decision. Reporter the abrupt leaving of his National Security adviser prompted reports of chaos in the white house. It has raised alarm bells abroad, but most of all, the administration has suffered from unforced errors, and to blame it on someone, anyone else. What weve been through over the last ten days has been unbelievable. The leaks, the fake stories, the anonymous accusations. That stuff is bad. Reporter in some ways it comes down to a tale of two trumps. For supporters, his first month in office has been the best of times. For opponents, the worst. And the gap between the two sides has never been wider. Anderson . Thank you very much. Joining us, David Axelrod. Also political analyst, david gergen, whos been serving democratic and republican administrations dating back, im told to the days when David Axelrod wore a handlebar mustache. Im not sure if thats true. Its hard to believe its only been a month, so much happening so fast. What has struck you so far . I think toms report was right on target. The president , the administration, weve pointed to those things that he talked about at the top. The one that he, i dont think mentioned was the appointment of the Supreme Court justice nominee, gorsuch, which was very well received by his base and beyond his base. So he has some things to point to. But theyve often been obscured by these selfinflicted wounds. And the order on the travel ban, which was poorly executed, poorly thought through. And created literally global chaos. The departure in record time of his National Security adviser and continued questions about russia. And, you know, and then of course his own performance, that press conference last thursday which looked more at times like looney tunes than fine tuned and the tweets which have completely obscured the message that i wants to get across. So, this administration is in its infancy. There are lightyears to go. And if he fulfills the promises that tom discussed in his piec