I dont know if i have to tell you what day it is. Its thursday, january the 2nd, 2020. The second day of the new year as we begin this election year, were getting a clearer picture of the democratic field. Just today, former hud secretary Julian Castro announced that he is out of the race. Over the course of this election cycle, 26 democrats were candidates at some point. Today, were down to this. And now, the remaining campaigns are releasing their Fourth Quarter fundraising numbers. Just more than one month before the iowa caucuses. Senator Bernie Sanders leads the pack with a huge Fourth Quarter. 34. 5 million raised. Former mayor Pete Buttigieg has brought in about 24. 7 million. Former Vice President joe biden right behind him at 22. 7 million. Business man andrew yang has brought in 16. 5 million. And Tulsi Gabbard has now brought in 3. 4 million. Thats all in the last three months. Keep in mind, these are the numbers according to the campaigns. Theyre not yet verified by the federal elections commission. Lets get right to our reporters who have been covering and monitoring the 2020 race very closely. Nbc news road warriors Vaughn Hillyard and New Hampshire and Shaquille Brewster in chicago. Shaquille, lets start with you because Bernie Sanders is the news today with his big numbers all based on small donations. Thats right. Smalldollar donations. Averaging about 18 a pop. We know that over the course of the his campaign, hes hit about 5 million contributions. But the headline today that big number that you were just talking about, 34. 5 million raised in the final quarter of 2019. Thats outpacing the other candidates that youve seen. As we still wait. So far i should say as we still wait for other candidates to roll in with their totals. But one thing the campaign has been highlighting over the course of the day is a sign of growth that theyre seeing within that number. 300,000 new people donated to his campaign in the third quarter. Including 40,000 who donated for the very first time on new years eve alone. Tell you the the campaign over the course of december has used the phrase a bernie surge. They see the good polling numbers, the positive news coverage. This is just another example of that surge that theyre feeling. Theyre feeling true momentum as we hit just about a month until the iowa caucus. Senator sanders will be in iowa. He is launching this bus tour hes going on. He Just Launched a new tv ad. His eighth in the state. The campaign is feeling good about where they are and it starts with that fundraising number. Ali. Shaquille. Vaughn, you just had a conversation with the one person who had been not only nipping at Bernie Sanders heels in the polls but had overtaken him for some point. Elizabeth warren. Exactly. Senator warren is here in New Hampshire here today. She just wrapped an event in concord, a town hall. If you are looking at Elizabeth Warrens campaign, they have not released their fundraising figures. But they are going to be several million at least short of Bernie Sanders 34 million haul. I asked senator warren just moments ago about where she is in this race because when you look at polling, the latest nbc wall street journal polling, ali, a majority of democratic voters want big, bold change. The type of change that liz bigot warren and bernie sandeel warren and Bernie Sanders are proposing. If you look at the two candidates who have the most support it would be Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But warren, right now shes third in national polling. The question is how does she convince the electorate who wants to beat donald trump, how does she convince them that selecting her is the best way to do it . I want to let you hear a little bit of our exchange. Just talk to austin heely this morning. I met him in texas at your rally. He said he liked but hes expanded to buttigieg, klobuchar. But hes questioning whether you are the one. Are you the best bet to beat donald trump . Yes, i am. I know how to fight and i know how to win. What do you tell people like austin . Voters who are skeptical of that. I remember when barack obama was not electable. I also remember when donald trump was not electable. But i also remember what they got out and talked to people about. And that is big change. People all across this nation understand the countrys working better and better and better for a thinner and thinner slice at the top. And we just cant keep this up. It is literally not sustainable. Ali, Elizabeth Warren told this crowd here in New Hampshire that they need to be imaginative and believe these sort of changes are possible. And she said it is not enough to have a campaign that nibbles around the edges when it comes to policy. She is making the case and needs to do, frankly, a more significant job in convincing voters of doing that because were 32 days away from the iowa caucus. 41 days from the New Hampshire primary. Shes on her way to hanover right now. Vaughn, thank you. Vaughn hillyard and Shaquille Brewster. I want to bring in one of our top experts, beth fewy, the Senior Editor of politics and nbc news. Been an expert since my first day in the business because you were my first boss in the business. Lets talk about this. Elizabeth warren saying we dont need people who nibble around the edges on policy. She wriright or she wrong . She made good points. Both of them talked about big change as does she. Whats the difference . Well, she was riding that big wave of momentum in september and october. And then she started to really get lots of questions about her support for medicare for all, which by the way was basically anchored by Bernie Sanders in the senate. And yet she was the one that started to get all the questions. Hes really never spelled out exactly his plan for paying. Hes actually said itll figure itself out. Others will figure it out. Elizabeth warren being the one with all the plans decided she better put some numbers. It was right about then her support started to go down and we havent seen it recover and why is that . Possibly because it just scared a lot of voters who might support the notion of medicare for all. But dont want to go there quite yet or feel like the numbers she was talking about were just too big. But we also saw Something Else happening. We saw the rise of Pete Buttigieg. And people think there is a total overlap between Bernie Sanders supporters and Elizabeth Warren supporters. Not true. A lot of Elizabeth Warren supporters are women, suburban, collegeeducated folks who like her. But they are also sort of looking for a little bit more moderate of an option. Theyre looking back at biden. So she actually bleeds support out to both the Bernie Sanders world and the more moderate world. So thats the problem. Shes sort of losing some of her support from both ends. Whereas the Bernie Sanders world is very sort of solid with him. Elizabeth warren, people seem to have taken a look at her. Now, theyre looking elsewhere. Both at the more liberal side of things and the more mainstream side of things with biden and buttigieg. But what Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren people share in common is certainly policy prescriptives that would put them probably more toward the left of the Democratic Party versus the very strong numbers that joe biden continues to bring in. Right. Bernie sanders and Elizabeth Warren are not both of them cant be the candidate. So does biden look at that and say the two strongest opponents to me add up to more than what ive got. You know, he should be thinking that way because there is a very good chance that one or the other of them will do better than he does in iowa. And also, in New Hampshire where of course Bernie Sanders won against Hilary Clinton by 20 points in 2016. So there is a good chance biden is not going to win the first two states out of this fourstate, you know, kickoff time. Hes planned to do very well in South Carolina where there is a lot of africanamerican voters. So yes. The combination sort of id ideological place is very appealing to a large number of democrats but there is still a large number of democrats who are worried. Theyre just sort of falling all over themselves trying to figure out the right message, the right formula to beat trump. And that is more important to them than being, you know, on an ideological plain with another candidate. Youve covered enough campaigns to know its not necessarily a bad place to be, right . The idea were a month away from iowa and democratic voters are still thinking about who is the right person . Whats the right thing . Do we want the policy prescriptives that some of these candidates have . Do we want just the only person or the best people to beat donald trump . This is what this process is for. And it reminds a lot of people of 2004 when president george w. Bush was running for reelection. Democratic voters really wanted to to oust him. They were still doing that same sort of shopping that we see this time. Like, who is the right candidate to fit that mold . At the time, going into iowa, howard dean was the governor of vermont was the sort of progressive hero. He seemed to have a lot of momentum. But then at the end, it was john kerry who was viewed as a little bit more moderate who ended up coming out of that caucus and went on to become the nominee. So it seems a little bit like that. Its the most close parallel that weve seen. The sort of shopping that goes way into this process before people feel like they can settle on the person they think is most likely to win. Lets talk about Julian Castro. He is out of the race. Interesting character. He makes a lot of sense on paper. Hispanicamerican. He was a former mayor of a midsize city. San antonio. He was a hud secretary. Didnt gain the traction that he needed to be a toptier candidate. Whats that about . Is that just because there are a lot of other toptier candidates in the race . The large field did hurt. He was also in a field, initially at least, with beto orourke, another fellow texan, who had just come off of this big race against ted cruz and had done very well and come within just a couple points of beating ted cruz. So he sort of brought the big texas kind of sexy factor into the race. And castro had a little tough time with that. Castro also went into the debates and had a couple big moments. Neither of them really helped him. One was going after joe biden. Seeming to go after him about his age in the september debate. And of course, joe biden even if hes not your candidate is sort of a, you know, beloved figure in the Democratic Party. So that might have seemed like a bit of a gratuitous hit. He also really pushed his fellow texan in june and he seemed to say he thought Border Crossing should be decriminalized. Pretty you know, its a very sort of Left Progressive very separate perspective than every other candidate held. And he drew a lot of attention about it. That might have scared folks off as well. Hes a young man. Hes got a lot of future ahead of him. He can run for Something Else. He can be in the cabinet again. He could be potentially a running mate. Hilary clinton looked at him as a potential running mate in 2016. And he is policy savvy as well. Thanks, beth. Beth. New photos of extensive damage at the u. S. Embassy in baghdad following two days of mass protests in response to u. S. Air strikes in iraq and syria and how iranian influence played a pivotal role. Plus, chief Justice Jon Roberts has a warning about the state of our democracy and the threat of misinformation. You are watching msnbc. You need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, ill take that. Wait honey, no. When you want it. You get a delivery experience you can always count on. You get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. You get fast and Free Shipping on the things that make your home feel like you. Thats what you get when youve got wayfair. So shop now i dont use some waxy cover up. I use herpecin l, it penetrates deep to treat. It soothes moisturizes and creates a spf 30 barrier to protect against flare ups caused by the sun. Herpecin l. It does more for a cold sore. Not only facing impeachment but also new crises involving old adversaries. In iraq. Were getting a look at the damage left behind after proiranian demonstrators stormed the u. S. Embassy compound in baghdad earlier this week. The protestors made it as far as the main reception area, which they torched before they were repelled by security guards. Demonstrators gathered outside the facility in that heavilyfortified section of the iraqi capital on tuesday. Just days after u. S. Air strikes killed at least 25 members of an iranianbacked militia group. President trump blamed the violence on iran and said tehran will pay, quote, a very big price. Comments echoed by defense secretary mark esper when he spoke to my colleague Andrea Mitchell earlier today. This is part of irans maligned behavior. That they have been spreading across the region from africa all the way through the middle east into afghanistan now for 40 years. And its this type of bad behavior that simply needs to end. And we resume all the we we have all the capabilities inherent in the United States military to either respond to further attacks or to take preemptive action if additional attacks are being prepared. Joining us now to take a closer look is nbcs chief alia and former white house senior director and state department spokesperson. Ali, lets just bring this since since esper gave us 40 years of perspective. Lets just put this into perspective. There are a few superpowers in the middle east and until 40 years ago, aran was actually in our camp. And their meddling was meddling that was okay in the same way saudi arabia med ldles in a way that is generally seen as okay. What is irans involvement in what happened in baghdad . Ali, look. I mean, the militias that work in baghdad. It is an Umbrella Group that controls a large group of militias in iraq. They are directly under irans patronage. They are fiercely loyal to tehran. They pretty much take their orders from a man who is the head of the force which is the International Arm of the irgc. Yes. These are mostly iraqi people. They are not iranians in the militias. But these are shias. These are shias that are aligned with iran. Many of them ancestors during saddams time had been living in iran. So there is a very close connection with them. Iran provides them with arms. It provides them with support. And it provides them with money. And they are very grateful for that. And they have a very close working relationship. Its unlikely that they would do anything really big without the tacet okay from iran, if not more than a tacet okay from iran. So they are very closely connected. And this all plays into the larger power struggle thats going on in iraq. Iraq is basically torn between the two countries that have the most influence there. Washington and tehran. And theyre in the middle of that power struggle. And irans great power is these militias that it has mobilized. That it has carefully cultivated over the years in that country. I mean, a lot of people would argue that irans influence is much greater in iraq than the United States. So to to answer your question shortly, iran has a lot of influence and and strong ties to these militias. The guys that attacked the u. S. Embassy are called again, they answer to sorry, are called the kataib hezbollah, which answer to the larger Umbrella Group. Their members come travel to and forth from iran. Theyre trained by the iranians. So the relationship is very close. So let me ask you this. Mark esper also said. The maligned behaviors been going on 40 years and needs to stop. To the point ali just made and i want to show my viewers a map of the broader middle east outside of iran. We are talking about iraq. But iran has militias or forces that they support or fund in yemen. The houthis. In lebanon, theyve got hezbollah. In the gaza strip. All over the middle east. So when you say this has to stop, this is a challenge. Irans influence in the in the greater middle east is a challenge that the administration you served in faced. Its a challenge this administration faces. Its the one that we faced since 1979. How does it stop . Well, this is part its very complicated and everyone likes to talk about the middle east and the Trump Campaign sorry, Trump Administration in particular likes to dive in and say that its if you just have rhetorical bombs and you have maximum pressure, everything will be solved. Weve but thats not the case, right . If maximum pressure were to have worked, we would probably not have an embassy that was almost overrun and our personnel there hiding in safe rooms for almost two days. Iran has a deep, deep network throughout the region. They also have a really robust military. So its not as simple as the way the United States rolled into iraq in 2003 and decided were going to topple the governmen an would actually have a really protracted, long war shouldxclusively militarily. So under the obama administration, looked at engaging them diplomatically. Knowing that if iran was part of the world process and International Order under the iran nuclear deal, if they needed and had a reason to comply with the nuclear deal in exchange for having some economic relief, then that would potentially give space to talk about the other issues. Which is irans terrorist activities throughout the region. When the administration came in, the Trump Administration, and effectively pulled out of the iran deal, other members of the International Community stayed in. So they have diplomatic relations with iran. And the United States is effectively isolated. Iran now is also pulling out of the deal. Has strengthened the Iran Revolutionary guard. The rightwing elements in iran who never wanted to have a conversation with the United States. So we now face a situation in which we do not have a diplomatic tools that we can use and now iran has responded and reacted to a United States air strike in iraq. At the same time, we dont exactly have a great foothold in iraq. We have the ability to move in forces from kuwait. Which were moving in marines to help support. But we Supreme Court chief Justice Jon Roberts is warning about the dangers of misinformation in his yearend report on the federal judiciary. He writes, quote, we have come to take democracy for granted. And Civic Education has fallen by the wayside. In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the publics need to understand our government and the protections it provides is ever more vital. End quote. Without mentioning the president with whom he has a history of friction, roberts emphasizes the importance of Public Confidence in the judiciary through its rulings and civic outreach. And warns against mob rule. Writing, quote, we should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor. Deciding each matter with humility, integrity, and dispatch. As the new year begins and as we turn to the tasks before us, we should each resolve to do our best to maintain the Publics Trust that we are faithfully discharging our solemn obligation to equal justice under the law. End quote. Joining me now, jeff roadwrey r president and ceo of the National Constitution center and a professor at the George WashingtonUniversity Law school. And people dont necessarily know this, jeff, but your your daily work at the National Constitution center is not just Civic Education. But its, particularly, Civic Education of young people. Absolutely. And of course, we were thrilled at the Constitution Center when the chief justice gave us a shoutout in his annual report. He said that the National Constitution center is leveraging our marvelous mau ze museum in philadelphia including the drafting table which is an the food and Drug Administration is taking action to try and curve the dangerous and growing trend of vaping among teens by banning a range of flavored ecigarette products, including fruit and mint. Menthol and tobacco pods, tobac tobacco flavored pods will still be available. Beginning next month, Companies Wont be allowed to manufacture, distribute, or sell unauthorized flavored cartridgebased ecigarettes. Companies that dont comply with the new policy within 30 days risk fda enforcement action. The fda commissioner released a statement on the policy which read, in part, we will continue to use our full Regulatory Authority thoughtfully and thoroughly thats affecting children, family, schools, and communities. The toughest data privacy law is now in effect in california. Home to more americans than any other state. Just yesterday, the California Consumer privacy act or ccpa gave nearly 40 Million People the power to take back data control they might have not even known that theyve lost to businesses like banks, retailers, and large tech companies. Consumers in california now have the right to know what personal information about them is being collected and to whom its being sold or disclosed. And they can now ask businesses to delete that information from their records and direct any Service Providers to do the same. That is unless it is necessary for the business or Service Provider to maintain your personal information in order to, among other things, comply with a legal obligation, exercise another right provided for by law, or detect security instances incidents and protect against malicious activity. Joining me now is michael, he is the founder and managing partner of the Venture Capital firm heroic ventures. Michael, good to see you, my friend. Your initial thoughts. I never know what youre going to think about Something Like this. People say this is great. We finally have something in america that feels like the beginnings of a meaningful law. Do you agree . I agree. Hello and happy new year. I think this is a w. I think this is a win. I think the ccpa is a big, strong law. The first in america of its kind that puts america on the map at the same table in the global privacy discussion. Perhaps not. But is there a lot there . Yes. One major law that exists in the world is the gdpr. Right. Thats the one we normally talk about the european law. We talk about that before. A lot of people know about it. Its a very important law. A major distinction between the two is that the ccpa focuses more on how the data are used and less on how data are collected. And the gdpr focuses more on how the data are collected in the first place. So theres a difference. However, for the first time, by the way, its astonishing this is the first time in American History but for the first time in American History, you get to know what a Company Knows about you. Hey. Think about that. Thats pretty incredible. So i think its big thumbs up. I think its a really great step in the right direction. Also, you get to tell a company that has data about you not to sell it or to delete it. Its a big, big day. Remember, most of the wealth that was created on the internet in the first 10, maybe 15 years of the commercialization of the internet was created in one way. Most of it. Someone creates something that you use free. Collects your data without your knowledge or permission. And sells it to someone you cannot identify for a purpose you can never know. That terrible bargain, that false bargain, is now beginning to melt. So back in the day, when i was covering the tech boom, we would always talk about a company that was not profitable at all, which was unusual when covering public companies. But youd say theyve got a lot of eyeballs. You know, theyve got lists. Theyve got peoples information. We all sort of agreed to this bargain including those of us who enjoyed using the internet and all of its services for free. On the continuum of where we should be, what a good deal feels like where you do benefit from all the great things of technology and the internet. But you have control and perhaps ownership of your information. Where are we . Well, were at a probably a two on a scale of one to ten. Ten experiment and try new ideas and not be afraid that we discovered one day to have a barren thought. But also because its their data and thats your value. And by the way, in this world where we believe in transparency, as so many of these companies that advocate for owning your data without telling you why or what they have. Even though they say they care about transparency, turns out when it comes to your data, they dont want to be transparent. I think its very, very exciting. Now, there are some things that you can say, hey, how does this law cut . We dont know how its going to be enforced. We dont know the cost on different companies. We also see different companies, including facebook, trying weasel word Company Facebook trying to weasel its way out of the application of this law, at least in some respects by saying guess what . We dont sell your data. Well, gee, ive been saying for a long Time Facebook didnt sell your data. But they share your data and they had to admit in front of congress about a year and a half ago, they do that fact share your data for it seems economic benefit. He i think is a form of sale. So guess what . I think there will be a lot of advocacy against this bill. And the same kinds of people, generally from the left wing, who say that californias fuel control policy is good for america and should not be overridden by trumps federal fuel policy. Right. Will say that californias Privacy Policy is not good enough for america and should be overridden by federal privacy bill. Now, federal privacy bills unfortunately in the mouth of most lobbyists from Silicon Valley today really is a disguised word for antiprivacy bill. Or a watered down privacy bill. So watch this space. I think a big battle is emerging. But score one for the good guys, ali. All right. Data privacy nirvana expert. Michael, founding and managing partner of heroic ventures. Thank you, my friend. Im smarter and so are our viewers. Coming up next, as the rich get richer, the wealth gap grows. Were going to look at growing income equality in our country. Youre watching msnbc. Ountry youre watching msnbc. 2019 was a very good year for the worlds wealthiest people. A recent bloomberg analysis found that the 500 richest people in the world, all of them billionaires, gained a combined 1. 2 trillion in wealth last year, 500 people. He also saw their collective net worth soar to 5. 9 trillion at the end of 19. Many of the worlds richest people have investments and you have seen the stock market performance. Its about 25 in the last year. But Many Americans arent seeing those good fups. Even though we are in the longest economic expansion in u. S. History, the longest period between recessions. While unemployment and poverty rates are at historic low, the Census Bureau reported in september that income inequality in the United States hit its highest level in more than five decades. The department of housing and urban development says on a single night in 2018, the latest year for which we have these records, more than 550,000 americans were homeless. Its the richest country in the world. The wealthy have gained more than a quarter of their value in a year. The department of agriculture says more than 14 million u. S. Households are food insecure. Thats defined as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active healthy life. 14. 3 million households. That probably is way where peop can earn money, not be food insecure, not be homeless and have some chance at the american dream. Their argument is that until most americans are making enough money from their daily labor to survive to pay their bills and not be anxious about feeding their children, we are not going to be able to progress and address some of the other issues, even Climate Change could fall in that category. If people are hungry and worried about their own families survival, its going to be hard to convince them to look beyond their own sphere of insecurity. Right. And possibly pay more for certain things because its better for the environment. I want to quote from your article. This is about executive compensation. In the United States executive compensation has increased on average by 940 since 1978 according to one estimate during the same period, worker pay has risen 12 . Income inequality hasnt been this extreme since the 1920s. A recent study by the economists found that as a result of cuts to estate and corporate taxes as well as the 2017 gop tax bill, the 400 richest americans pay a lower overall tax rate than any other group in the country. We were actually told that wasnt going to be the case. Stephanie and i interviewed member of congress after member of congress who said this is going to be fairer for people. In a way this is just yet another referendum on this trickledown economics idea that has reigned this country for 40 years, the idea that if you give more and more, more gifts, more tax breaks, more windfall to those at the very top, its going to trickle down. And that has not really happened. It has perhaps trickled down slightly. But for the most part it has not led to widespread prosperity. And so you have this widening increment. And now economists are trying to convince people that this is not a natural state of affairs. This is not the natural result of a capitalist system. This is what you get when you make a very specific set of policy decisions that will lead to this specific outcome. If you want to change the outcome, you can tweak those policy decisions and have a different outcome. This is a very, very big and important discussion that i think we should just use 2020 to have very regularly to take all of those policy decisions and say how would you fix this and how would you fix this and how would you fix this so that we come up with a less Unequal Society . Coming up, wildfires are ravaging parts of australia killing at least eight people this week alone and forcing the evacuation of thousands, but killing half a billion animals. Youre watching msnbc. Ing msnbc. Whats going on . Its the 3pm slump. Should have had a p3. Oh yeah. Should have had a p3. Need energy . Get p3. With a mix of meat, cheese and nuts. When it comes to using data, which is why Xfinity Mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network that lets you design your own data. Choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. Giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Save up to 400 a year when you switch. Plus, unwrap 250 off a new samsung phone. Click, call or visit a store today. A state of emergency has been declared in the australian state of New South Wales with Deadly Wildfires consuming the region. Since september the blazes are raging across New South Wales and neighboring victoria. They have destroyed communities and displaced thousands. Officials say the fires have killed 17 people so far and at least eight of them since monday. Reportedly estimate around 480 million animals have been killed in the wildfires including 8,000 koalas. The enormity of these fires can be seen in these images out of new zealand where glaciers have turned brown from smoke, ash, and dust. A drought has left australia with low Drinking Water supplies. These extreme weather conditions are a mark of Climate Change. Reporter ali, the bush fires are closing in. Theyre burning just over a mile from here. But its a heat wave thats due to hit this weekend that has everybody fearing that these extreme conditions are going to get worse. There is a Mass Evacuation underway here. Police trying to urge people to get out. Thousands of people are still stranded on beaches, and they figure the water is going to be their only way to escape. Local fire brigades are doing what they can to try to keep the fire from spreading. But the threat here is unprecedented. Over a hundred fires burning in New South Wales alone, and barely half of them are contained. Over 12 million acres have been burned across australia, destroying homes and millions of animals. The military has been deployed, but the government is being criticized for not doing enough. Water bombers are set to resume their runs in the morning. They are trying to prevent the larger bush fires from merging together. The problem, of course, is that there is no controlling the weather, especially the wind, and that is expected to get stronger by saturday. Ali . Nbc news janis mackey frayer. That wraps up the hour for me. Im going to see you right back here tomorrow with stephanie rule and then again at 3 00 p. M. Eastern. You can watch or listen to this show on sirius xm, the msnbc app, and apple tv. And you can always find me on social media, twitter, facebook, instagram, snapchat, and linkedin. Thank you for watching. Deadline white house with Nicolle Wallace begins right now. Hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in washington, d. C. Where multiple National Security crises all exacerbated by Donald Trumps erratic and untethered Foreign Policy impulses await the president and his National Security team when they return to d. C. After the holidays. The New York Times david sanger with a front wage rebuke writes this. Quote, President Trump entered the new year facing flareups of longburning crises with iran and north korea that are directly challenging his claim to have reasserted American Power around the world. Trump whipsawed between talk of peace with iran over the holiday. But he did order the deployment of nearly 700 soldiers from the armys 82nd Airborne Division to the middle east. This