He made the senate better. As he made this country better. With the senators daughter among others, taking aim at President Trump. The america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. President trump responds later, by tweeting, make America Great again. Plus, pressure points. President trump claims if democrats win back congress, they will overturn everything we have done and do it quickly and violently. I just hope there wont be violence. And warns he can step in against the mueller russia investigation. I will get involved and in there, if i have to. This amid signs that the white house is not prepared for what may be coming. My guests this morning is republican dan solver of alaska and democratic senator Amy Klobuchar. Plus, all about that base. Florida republicans pick a die hard trump supporter. I was able to talk to the president and thank him for his support. And the democrats elect an unapologetic progressive. Is this showdown for governor where the country is headed . This morning, i talk to democratic nominee andrew gillum. Joining me are amy walter, National Editor for the Cook Political Report. Mark leeb avich. Kimberly atkins. And Matthew Continetti from the Washington Free beacon. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning and happy Labor Day Weekend to everyone. What we saw yesterday at the National Cathedral was more than a funeral for john mccain. It was a longing for what many fear is a lost era of american politics. An era when we could agree theres more that unites us than divides us. It was a rebuke of Donald Trumps presidency and style of politics hes brought to washington. President trumps name was not mentioned, john mccain reminded us of what he thought by whom he asked to attend and asked to speak. And by what they said. There was the man he fought bitterly for the republican nomination in 2000. For every attempt to forget who we are and grow weary of our cause, johns voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder. We are better than this. America is better than this. Then there was the man who defeated mccain for the presidency in 2008. He did understand that some principles transcend politics. Some values transcend party. He considered it part of his duty to uphold those principles and uphold those values. More than anything or anyone else, there was mccains daughter, meghan. Fighting through tears, she delivered a onetwo punch of the current occupant of the white house. Here was number one. We gather to mourn the passing of american greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly nor the appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served. Then, number two. America does not boast because she has no need to. The america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. [ applause ] President Trump was not invited. He spent part of the funeral tweeting and left the white house during the funeral by motorcade enroute to his Virginia Club to play gulf. When he turned in, Henry Kissinger was speaking. As cable replayed Meghan Mccains mark over and over again, the president tweeted and retweeted simply make America Great again in caps. We have a lot to get to. Joining me is dan sullivan. Welcome. Good to be on the show. Thanks for having me. You said he was your mentor, senator mccain, became a friend, put his arm around you when you were elected. Early on. He nominated you to replace him as head of the International Republican institute that goes out there and promotes democracy. The vision that john mccain was trying to lay out for people yesterday. What did you take away from the service . First of all, that was a Beautiful Service and first more than that, my condolences to the mccain family. Cindy mccain and the children. I think they showed great grace, strength, dignity. I think the service, really the whole week, has been about unity. Theres been as you mentioned at the outset some discussion about the tension between President Trump and john mccain, but this notion of unity is what im seeing. Its unity behind the values of a Great American. Thats john mccain, courage. Someone who loved freedom. He loved freedom more than anybody because he had it taken away. Service to our nation. And mentorship as you mentioned at the outset with me. Its not just me, but democratic and republican senators so i thought its been a very, very important week to look at the values that he represented. He wasnt a perfect man. Hes the first one to admit that and celebrate those. But the notion of unity i think was actually much stronger than is only of this tension that you let me ask you this though. How do you make sure that yesterday wasnt a funeral for another era of politics . That this idea that you know what, this is that Donald Trump Style of politics is now how you win and john mccain was trying to send the message, no no no no. Dont go down that road. How do you prevent yesterday from being essentially a Memorial Service for that . Well, look, john mccain was a fighter. Theres no doubt about that. Right . And he also was somebody who famously said that honesty, integrity is the core value of keeping your word in the senate. I believe on a lot of issues there is bipartisanship and the way that senator mccain has folks i think there is too. But it doesnt get reported on all the time. Youll have Amy Klobuchar on after me. The president wont embrace it though. So the president wont embrace it. Let me give me a couple of examples. We passed the National Defense authorization act. All 85 senators voted for that. That was a mccain led bill on the Armed Services committee. It was all about rebuilding the military. All about implementing a new strategy that the president has put out. That was very bipartisan. We have right now and you follow this, chuck, were working on appropriations bills, First Time Since 1979 that were getting appropriation bills, all of them done. Certainly john mccain was somebody who believed on that part of the regular order. My point is youre right. The message of working together, particularly in the memory of john mccain is important. But i do think that a lot of that is happening. And do we have principled differences on some issues, absolutely we do. But a lot of them have been with us for a while. How do you explain the president s behavior and how he comported himself this week in regards to john mccain . Look, we know theres tension between them. I would say that the Trump Administration overall was very engaged. You had an important speech that the Vice President gave at the ceremony of laying in state in the dome. Yesterday, there was a number of folks from the administration. Trying to gloss over it, why . This is the president of the United States. It what im trying chuck, im not trying to gloss over it. But heres what i think is more important. Yes, there was tensions between the president and john mccain. This week though has been all about john mccain and the unity of his vision, of courage, of patriotism, of freedom of service before self. I think thats the lesson that we should take away from the week. Thats what i want i think thats what do you want how about what President Trump, what should he take away from yesterdays service . I think thats a lot of theres a lot of things that the president can learn about. Look, the book on john mccain, his great life, its been written. All right . Its been written. But for all of us, you know, whether you, me or the president or other americans who are watching that, you know, were still an open book. I think theres a lot of things all of us can do, the president and myself. One of the things that john mccain was all about, he knew that he was not a perfect man. He knew he made mistakes but as president obama and president bush emphasized yesterday he was looking for improvement in himself and his country and i think thats something we can all take away whether its the president or anyone else watching these important, Beautiful Services. Something else that the president said this week about the november elections. He said and it was in a meeting with evangelicals. He said if the gop loses in november, quote, they will overturn everything, quickly and violently. And then he added these are violent people, referring to democrats. Is that is there any basis here . Do you understand what hes referring to . I dont know. Why is he speaking to evangelicals this way . I have not seen that quote. I dont think you know, democrats are violent people. What i do i mean, i havent seen that quote. What i actually do think its important for the president , others to talk about, i know youll talk about it in the panel. One thing thats important for the american people, in addition to rebuilding our military is growing the economy. I mean, we are we are hitting an economy that is the strongest we have seen in decades. Consumer optimism up. Very high. 4. 2 gdp growth. And these are because of policies. Policies of less government, more freedom, tax reform, regulatory reform. Heres an important point. You know on the democratic side were starting to see leaders being elected in primaries who have a different view of the economy. More focused on even the idea of socialism. Lets have that debate in the fall. Thats an important debate to have on the vision of growing the economy. I think the vision is working and its strong. Let me ask you a few questions that may come up. Jeff sessions, the current attorney general, do you believe hes committed any fireable offenses . I supported Jeff Sessions when he was nominated. I certainly voted for him. And i think hes doing a good job. Do you think theres any reason for the president to remove him . The president has the Constitutional Authority i understand that. Is there a fireable offense . I know he can do that but it wouldnt be wise. You have been helping Brett Kavanaugh prepare for the confirmation hearing and you also on the judicial committee. Im not on the committee. Im sorry. Youre preparing him for that. I conflated the two things. When he said he believes in precedent thats suppose to be code for hes not in favor of overturning roe v. Wade. Thats what every american should take away, that Brett Kavanaugh does not want to overturn roe v. Wade . Look, i have known Brett Kavanaugh for a long time. I think he was an inspired choice, i think hed make a great justice on the Supreme Court. He has been an outstanding judge. Hes a man whos got a lot of humility which is kind a rare quality in this town. I did talk to him about precedent. Like judge gorsuch, now justice or go is up. He wrote a book on it. Hes very focused on it. With regard to roe v. Wade, i didnt get into the details when i met with him of asking about that. Okay. See how silly this to the average americans . They dont understand why we cant get a simple answer to this question from the Supreme Court nominees. I know this is a thing on both sides of the aisle. Why cant we get them answered on roe v. Wade . Which simple question does precedent meaning he doesnt want to overturn roe v. Wade . I think hes going to be asked about this a lot during the whole week so well watch on that. But i think that, you know, hes focused. This isnt just judge kavanaugh. Justice ginsburg when she went through the confirmation she famously said im not going to predict what may or may not come before the court because thats prejudging it and thats not the role of the judge. I do think on some key issues judge kavanaugh, for example, his skepticism on the power and authority of federal agencies. Its something that we need on the court. Something that is consistent with the constitution. And these are questions that hes going to be asked about. But i think hell make an outstanding justice. Will he recuse administration on the subpoenas involving the Mueller Investigation . I think hes look at the ethics with regard to the Supreme Court justice. Theres been previous questions, Justice Kagan had a question on the obamacare related situation. Hell do the code and ethics of what the Supreme Court requires. Well see what he does there. Leave it there. Thanks for come on the sgloe. Great to be on the show. As we suggested earlier, there was a sense at the National Cathedral yesterday that with the loss of john mccain came the loss of a certain civility in the politics. President obama among others made that point. So much of our politics, our public life, our Public Discourse can seem small. And mean. And petty. Trafficking in bombast and insult. Phony controversies. And manufactured outrage. Its a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. Joining me now, democratic senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota. Thanks, chuck. What did you take away from yesterday and did you see it as a rebuke of President Trump . I saw it as a story of john mccain, his grieving family. A grieving nation. People who he had run against, people who had defeated him. He invited them in. And i think it is no surprise that the subject of the administration came up obliquely from time to time. But i think that george bush actually said it best to explain it. He said that john mccains life was defined in part by the fact that he detested the abuse of power. Whether that was people who poisoned political opponents or put reporters in jail. Or yes, people who had taken who would take on immigrants in a way that he thought was imappropriate like the inappropriate like the president has done or going after fbi agents or p. O. W. S like himself. So yes, that was part of john mccains strength and character. That he was willing to stand up and take on bullies and so i think that is how you saw it come up, but it was really a part of the arc of his life and fighting for those that needed someone to fight for them. Some of us viewed this week as almost a Memorial Service for another era of politics. I talked to other senators, jeff flake in particular, he said no no, it should be a call to arms to sort of bring this center of american politics back or bring the idea of compromise back. Lets be realistic. Both parties right now punish you if you either side works too closely with the other. How do you get that back . I think you get it back by listening to john mccains words that you have to be fighting for a cause greater than yourselves. You see that in the senate, especially when big things happen. We have to do it again. Do you really see it though . I do. Go ahead. I worked with john mccain on bringing down the cost of pharma prices, by bringing in drugs from other countries. There are other republicans on the bill. I hope that someone else will take the lead. We was the only republican on the honest ads act. Im asking another republican to get on that bill. So you have a number of cases and senator sullivan went through some of them where we work across the aisle all the time, but we have to see more of it. When people are afraid of pissing off President Trump so they continue over and work with us, thats a problem. So people have to rise to the occasion. Let me move you are on the judiciary i do. I conflated both of your committees. My apologies this sunday morning. The Democratic Base is pretty upset at democratic leadership. They didnt like the deal th that they didnt like the deal that schumer cut with Mitch Mcconnell that fast tracked the judicial nominees. Why shouldnt the base be upset with that . What matters is what happens in the next week at this hearing. And i think youre going to see some really strong sets of questions from a number of us that are on the judiciary committee. The point im going to make is that this is not normal. You have a nominee with excellent credentials with his family behind him. You have the cameras there. You have the senators questioning. But this isnt normal. Its not normal because we are not able to see 100,000 documents that the archivists has just because the administration has said we cant see them . They excerpted their executive power. 148,000 documents i have seen that you cant see because they wont allow us to make them public. So i cant tell you about on the show. Do you think theyd make him unqualified . I think there are some things that i cant ask him, because i cant ask him. So it raises questions to you what you have seen in these papers that we have not seen, it actually raises doubts in your mind about kavanaughs ability to be a it would certainly bolster the arguments that i could make. Then you have the president s Campaign Chair having been just convicted. You have got his lawyer pleading guilty. You have a nominee who has had one of the most expansive views of