We also have kelly kobia who is in england. Kelly, lets start with you. The president was saying how he gave total authorization to the military to do this strike. Does that mean the president was not involved in dropping the biggest bomb weve ever dropped on afghanistan . Reporter well, katy, it remains unclear, because the president was asked that question when he was at an event for a separate matter, but he did respond, and he did not say that he personally authorized the strike or was in direct communication at the time the decision was made, but instead spoke more broadly about having given authorization to his military team to act when they felt it was appropriate, to use the tactics they saw working for that time and place, but the president was very careful while praising their success to not include himself in the direct Decision Making for this specific event, but more broadly for the strategy. Judging from that, it would seem that he was not as involved and would not need to be. Hes given his team more authority to act on their choosing when they see the events in the theater of war or the potential to act that he need not be on the phone at the same time. That would not be an unusual circumstance for a commander in chief, but it is were seeing it in realtime how hes assuming this role of commander in chief with a series of military decisions now, and it seems like he might have had a little more distance from this particular one. Katy . Kelly, the white house is talking this a successful strike, but what are the standards for a successful airstrike . And so far does this meet the standards for a success . Reporter its different for every strike, really. In this case what they were aiming to do was take out this isis compound in eastern afghanistan. It wasnt just a compound, it was also a series of tunnels underneath as well as a large contingent of fighters. What they wanted to do was send a signal, frankly, with this enormous 21,000pound bomb and take out the entire target in one fell swoop. General nicholson, who is the commander there, the commanding general, he wanted to send a signal to isis to show them the full might of the u. S. Military power thats there. The military has been striking isis and afghanistan for more than a year now. President obama gave them that authority in january of 2016, but this is the largest strike that we know about to date. So it wasnt just the fact that this gbu43 was used there, this enormous bomb, but this was a large strike. And what seems to be successful in that they know they took out the compound, they know they took out a lot of isis fighters. Were just waiting to get the specific numbers on who it was, any high level fighters who might have been there at the time, katy. Courtney, youre talking about the message that this sends, and i want to get kelly kube in on this. What is this aggression were seeing from the president of the United States . Reporter katy, youre certainly seeing it in every newspaper, its in every newscast, that dramatic video of the mother of all bombs being dropped on afghanistan. People are talking about it. Its a bit of a muted response, though, on an official level, in part because its easter weekend already. Today it a Public Holiday in the u. K. But look, the u. K. Has very much a vested interest in what happens in afghanistan, a very cloe close partner in the United States with afghanistan. They still have a small number of troops to advise and assist the role to help the taliban there, so this will be playing very high on the agenda of british politicians, even if theyre not speaking about it directly. European politicians as well. But i will say that this is sort of being played in the sense of, now hes done this. Those are the kinds of headlines that are popping up on newspapers, that this is the latest in a string of sort of military actions on the part of the trump administration, and probably contributing to a sense of unease of what is next, what is the message to north korea . Could that be the next hot spot . Katy . On north korea, and of course that is something people are talking about a lot lately, especially after this nbc news report that go americans are preparing to strike preemptively if they need to. Kelly odonnell, the Vice President is going overseas. Hes got a 10day asia trip. What is the white house hoping to get out of that . Reporter katy, as you know, this trip was planned far in advance, so sort of a confluence of events where there is this highly threat level in north korea and what were seeing in other actions in other parts of the world. So the biggest thing for Vice President pence is to have a direct connection with south korea, to go to seoul and explain what the trump administrations posture is to try to provide reassurance and partnership. A key ally in that part of the world, they are most vulnerable to any provocation or act of aggression from the north, and so the u. S. Wants to reassure them that President Trump and his team would not act without their knowledge, their cooperation, that kind of thing. So being able to deliver that message in person is certainly helpful given the moment in time were at, but that wasnt the intention of the trip, it was much more broadly about the military and economic relationships for all of the countries on his multiday multiday and multicountry visit. The timing is helpful in terms of this perspective he can bring, and well follow that closely once the trip begins. For mike pence, it maybe is one of his first big moments to be the diplomat on the ground. Hes done other International Trips since taking office, but this one comes at such a pivotal time. Indicate s katy . Courtney, on this u. S. News reporting out there, they are telling us again that the u. S. Is prepared to strike should north korea test a nuclear weapon. Is there any indication they will be doing so this weekend as part of anniversary celebrations, or is there word they could be backing off . What is the status . Reporter so right now u. S. Military and intelligence analysts and officials ive spoken with, theyre pretty much operating off the assumption that kim jongun, like his father, frankly, he frequently will do some sort of military show of force on anniversaries. Now, this is the biggest anniversary, the biggest holiday in that country. So everyone assumes there will be something that will happen. In addition to that, for the past several weeks now, the military and intelligence officials have been seeing increased activity around one of the Nuclear Testing sites in north korea. They continue to see some mobile launching, missile launching systems that have been moving around the country, activity around those. So right now we just dont know whats going to happen, but everybody is prepared and ready in case we see something, katy. Courtney kube, Kelly Odonnell, kelly cubiella, thank you very much. Were with the senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and barry mccaffery, former gulf war Division Commander in the army. General, lets start with you. This is scary stuff, to put it mildly. What are the risks of even talking about a preemptive strike . Well, you make a good point. Were not quite sure what this very young, very insecure, murd murderous kim jongun gets his information. Does he process it . Does he think theres a real threat . There is a moderate uptick of military in the region. Some b52s on alert. I think there is zero likelihood of us conducting a preemptive conventional strike on north korean nukes. It would invite a general ground war, an artillery bombardment of the 25 Million People in seoul. The South Koreans will never sign up for it now, nor would the japanese. So i dont think its going to happen. But it is a tricky situation. You know, 20 years from now, looking back on this, katy, we may decide that it was a mistake to not have conducted a preemptive strike on north korean nukes. But for now its off the table, in my view. Theres been a suggestion, michael, that the strikes in syria and afghanistan were meant to send a message specifically to north korea, that the americans are prepared to act if they need to. Is there any indication whatsoever that those actions may or that message may have been heard in north korea . Well, you always hope that maybe kim jongun overestimates President Trumps willingness to use force, but i agree 100 with general mccaffery, and i would add to the argument and say even if we wanted to strike north korean nukes, we dont know if most of them are. We know where the plutonium processing facilities are located wech located. We dont know where they enrich uranium for them. Chances are the bomb, if there is one already being prepared for a test, is several hundred yards underground and we probably couldnt get at it with anything short of a Nuclear Strike ourselves. Moreover, lets say we take out some of the facilities or some of the roads at the nuclear test site, they can just build alternative roads and do the test later or do it somewhere were not expecting. So its the combination of all the factors general mccaffery mentioned, plus the unlikely hood of any military effectiveness that i think guarantees there wont be a preemptive strike. General, whats the other option . I think in the long run, ive been pounding away at this. Weve got to invest serious continuing resources in building a world class counterballistic Missile Defense in south korea, japan, u. S. Navy at sea. We do have a strategic capability in fort greeley, alaska at the air force base. It does work but we talk about it failing all the time. We have agents out in the navy, pac 3 updated. We have to build a defense capability. Katy, these people will have a sublaunch capability and an icbm capability certainly within the decade. The American People will be at peril. It seems like youre ruling out diplomacy, general. Yeah, well, i think talking to them, making sure they dont starve to death and get desperate may actually have some impact. Kim jongun is probably uneasy about his obsiqious generals. He shot at his general with an antiaircraft gun about not being attentive in a speech. Hes probably in the saddle worrying about his own people. Perhaps there is an opening for diplomacy, but well never get him to do away with his nuclear weapons. Not going to happen. The other peeiece of this is china. There was an interesting piece in the Washington Post pointing out how china is suddenly leaning on north korea and it might be thanks to donald trump. Theyre doing that by a few editorials and some semiofficial newspapers saying basically, to north korea, stop or were going to severely limit your oil. What does it mean to have china suddenly take this position . Well, lets hope its sincere. Picking up on where general mccaffery was just speaking, i would say the chances for diplomacy are quite mediocre unless and until north korea feels the economic squeeze from its major patron, which is china. And whether its oil, whether its coal, whether its a number of kinds of economic interaction, if china starts genuinely constricting the twoway flow of those resources to north korea, thats when we get kim jonguns attention. In the past, china has been willing to go along with a u. N. Security Council Resolution or a mild retribution against something north korea has done, but in the five Previous Nuclear tests, in the dozens of Ballistic Missile tests, they have not kept on the squeeze very long. I dont know to what extent President Trump has either scared president xi a little with his unpredictability, or whether hes forming a bond with president xi, or whether president xi has decided this has gone too far or if washington is seemingly putting the pressure on and theyll back off. All of that is to be determined. Thank you both for your expertise today. Thank you. That leaves us with todays microsoft pulse question. Were asking should the u. S. Launch a preemptive military strike against north korea . 8 of you say nyes. The majority of you say no, dont do it. Just days left in trumps first 100. Is his desire to win shaping his presidency . And if the messaging changes, will it stick . 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The question is, as it always is, how long will it last . Trump insiders promise this is more than a mood, its a result of trumps instinctive desire to win after a series of dropped balls. Here to talk about it, charlie sykes, and here in the studio with me, jack benningson with Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign. Whatever that means, can he win by changing policy, by changing his strategy . And do you believe its something that will stick . Well, you know, youre right, he is kind of like a chameleon. He runs to the sound of applause, which is significant. You can imagine that if there is a white house without steve bannon, without kellyanne conway, without some of the fringe characters, it would be a very different place. Maybe you wouldnt have the huge mood swings, the erratic palace coups. On the other hand, donald trump is a 70yearold man and how likely is he really to change . How many times have we gone through this conversation about now hes making the pivot, now its the new donald trump, and that last how long . How many hours before the next tweet . Clearly there is a shift in emphasis right now where hes moving toward a more conventional approach, and if hes seeing that hes getting kudos for that, thats going to reinforce that inclination. We talk about it a lot. The definition of crazy, joel, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Is that whats going on with donald trump . Is there any reason to believe that hes suddenly going to moderate himself and become, quote, unquote, president ial . I dont know about president ial. I dont think thats his personality. It really requires restraint, introspection, huhumility. He doesnt have that at age 70. Hes losing the ratings. Recent polls have shown this. Hes 89 days in. Its largely because of independents and moderate voters. Theres overlap but he has to find a way to win them. If hes going to defund planned parenthood as he did on thursday, thaet nts not going help him. The mixed messages are a sign of chaos and thaet nts not going dig him out of hole. Ts a belief that if he moves away from his conservative base, that he will lose his conservative base, that his voters will turn away from him. I dont buy that, and neither does jared peters of the new york times. He wrote today, trumps base knew all along they were not voting for a man of concrete convictions, and theyre seeing the preference for the transactional over the dogmatic as a quality they want in a chief executive. Is that wrong . No, but the base he needs to actually win elections is going to be completely satisfied with him. Look, heres a president and a candidate that paints with really broad brushes. He doesnt sweat the details, his base doesnt sweat the details. As long as he does some of these major symbolic moves, theyre going to stick with him. Plus you have the, you know, the cult of personality supporters that are going to follow him. I have to say there are a lot of mainstream republicans who are kind of at the moment tentatively breathe ag siing a relief that maybe hell be more like a president bush or president rubio or president cruz than they thought would happen, but i dont see outside the twitters fear that hes going to lose control of his base. His favored level is around 39 . Is that both his floor and ceiling here . Its probably his floor. To charlies point, thats probably what his irreversible base is, if you will. We saw those numbers go down after he started tweeting about president obama, falsely accusing him of wiretapping him. Theyve gone down and have been stuck there since then. As for his base, hes got a pretty loyal base, and i think even in the election, we saw some swing voters who would say that hes really not going to do everything he says. He really doesnt mean it, but that still doesnt get him to 50 or 51 . Hes got work to do to win over those folks. You cannot apply traditional washington politics or rules to donald trump, and they didnt apply during the campaign and they certainly are not going to apply suddenly now that hes the president. Charlie sykes, joel benningson, thank you for being here. A man was arrested accused of sendiwriting a manifesto to president. Where police found him, next. There are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. With the microsoft cloud, we can analyze