Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell

Fit . At the end. I was like i was like 60 of the way through the a block and just sometimes you get a little tickle and oh no. Im going to clear my throat and take a glass of water and wont be better. I just had to like throw to commercial and then lay down on the floor and like cough into the rug for four solid minutes and then came back and finished it after the break. Quite humiliating. As soon as you hang up the phone on me the chicken soup is right there. Right there. As soon as you step out of the room. Thank you, dear. Thank you, lawrence. We know how much trump loves to talk about fake news and today he decided to make the very big contribution to fake news by stepping in to the rose garden with Mitch Mcconnell and pretending to be fake friends. Looked like a hostage video to me today. My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding. Has been outstanding. We are together totally on this agenda to move america forward. I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the senate and with the people in congress. I mean, i have a with house of representatives. With the exception of a few of bob corker, jeff flake, john mccain, Lisa Murkowski and susan collins. What would be helpful is if the president got out of the way. Served up a false claim that president obama did not call families of fallen soldiers. He had no soul. Did we elect the worst person on this plan sunset. Despite what we read, we are probably now i think as far as im concerned closer than ever before. The president of the United States had a meeting today followed bay press conference that no other president in history has ever had to have. The majority leader of the senate had a meeting today followed bay press conference that no other majority leader of the United States senate has ever had to have in the history of the senate. The president and the Senate Majority leader are both in the same Political Party. But they had to have a meeting today followed by a press conference to try to prove that they dont hate each other. And i mean, hate each other with every fiber of their being. But we know that donald trump has given Mitch Mcconnell more reason to hate him than any president has ever given a Senate Majority leader and we know that donald trump uses twitter as a tool of his hatred and that no president has ever launched public attacks on the Senate Majority leader of his own party. Until now. Can you believe that Mitch Mcconnell who has screamed repeal and replace for seven years couldnt get it done . Must repeal and replace obamacare and of course, the only problem i have with Mitch Mcconnell is that after hearing repeal and replace for seven years he failed. That should never have happened. Here is the first lie of many lies that President Trump told in the rose garden today. I just want to say that we just spent quite a bit of time inside with the Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, whos been a friend of mine for a long time. Long before my world of politics. Early into his world of politics, i think. But we have been friends for a long time. We are probably now despite what we read were probably now i think at least as far as im concerned closer than ever before. And the relationship is very good. Closer than ever before. This was an emergency meeting at the white house today. It was an emergency meeting of a Political Party in crisis. A crisis of chaos. It was an emergency meeting to tell that lie that you just heard that Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump are friends. Never been closer. Because this weekend steve bannon who went from running a rightwing hatedrib website to the Trump Campaign to the Trump White House and now back at that website said that he will oppose any republican senators reelection if that senator does not attack republican senator bob corker, pledge to support the elimination of filibusters in the senate, and pledge to vote against Mitch Mcconnell for majority leader. All you folks that are so concerned that youre going to get primaried and defeated, theres time for mea c ulpa you can come to a stick and condemn Mitch Mcconnell and come to a stick, a microphone and say i wont vote for Mitch Mcconnell for majority leader. [ applause ] and you can come to a stick and you can say im going to do away with the filibuster so the president can implement his program. You have never seen that before. This is the worst chaos thats ever existed in modern political parties. Will rogers once famously said i am not a member of any Political Party. I am a democrat. And it is true that most of the 20th century the Republican Party was more disciplined than the Democratic Party. The first time incumbent president was challenged for renomination within his own party it was a democrat who did that. Eugene mccarthy. Ran against president Lyndon Johnson for the 1968 democratic nomination and he had one rule starting that campaign. He would not attack the president personally. No one has ever quit working in a senior advisory role in a Democratic White House and then instantly begun attacking the democratic leader of the senate or the democratic leader of the house of representatives. We have never seen this kind of open, public chaos in a Political Party and anyone who tries to compare any of the stresses within the Democratic Party to whats happening within the Republican Party now is just wrong. Totally and wildly wrong. There is no comparison. Theres never been chaos like this in a Political Party because donald trump has never been the highest Ranking Member of a Political Party until now. This is trumpian chaos. Mitch mcconnell served 32 years in the United States senate. One third of that time as the republican leader in the senate and this is his first year of chaos. In the United States senate. There are some democrats in the senate who have vehemently opposed everything that mcconnell tried to do in the senate but all of those democrats recommends he is a deliberate and formidable strategist and the democrats know that no republican leader of the senate has ever bent and contorted the rules of the senate to favor the republicans more than Mitch Mcconnell has including the decision to refuse to allow president Obamas Supreme Court nominee to get a vote in the senate, not even a vote in a committee. A completely unprecedented partisan move against both Senate Tradition and the constitutional intent of the Senate Confirmation process. Theres never been a more sharply partisan republican leader of the senate than Mitch Mcconnell. To believe that Mitch Mcconnell is the republicans biggest problem in the senate requires that you understand absolutely nothing about the United States senate or the politics of governing. Enter donald trump and steve bannon who understand nothing about the senate, who understand nothing about the politics of governing. And so, the democrats cannot believe their luck tonight. Senate democrats thought it was their job to fight Mitch Mcconnell every day and that is their job. Legislatively. In the United States senate. And most of them do that without ever launching personal attacks on Mitch Mcconnell. Now the democrats are watching the most vicious personal attacks that have ever been launched on a Senate Majority leader an theyre coming from the leaders own party. They are coming from a former Trump Campaign official, a former Trump Campaign official and while donald trump asked about the attacks today, he does not offer one word of defense of his fake friend Mitch Mcconnell. Mr. President , do you approve of Steve Bannons war on Mitch Mcconnell and the republican establishment . Steve is committed. He is a friend of mine and very committed to getting things passed. Look. I have, you know, despite what the press writes, i have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particular, with most republican senators. But were not getting the job done. And im not going to blame myself. Ill be honest. Theyre not getting the job done. We have had health care approved and then you had a surprise vote by john mccain. We have had other things happen and theyre not getting the job done and i can understand where Steve Bannons coming from. That was this morning before the president s lunch with Mitch Mcconnell. I can understand where steve bannon is coming from. Thats what the president had to say about the steve bannon war on Mitch Mcconnell. The question was about Steve Bannons war on Mitch Mcconnell. President trump didnt say i can understand where Mitch Mcconnell is coming from. He said, i can understand where steve bannon is coming from. The president said that in the cabinet room at a meeting of the cabinet this morning. The only cabinet in history with the member whos reported to have called the president a moron. And who for weeks now has steadfastly refused to deny that he called the president a moron. Rex tillerson is making sure that the moron story never dies. As i indicated earlier, when i was asked about that, im not going to deal with that kind of petty stuff. I mean, this is a town that seems to relish gossip, rumor, innuendo and feed on it and feed on one another in a very destructive way. I wont dignify the question. These are the games of washington. Im not dignifying the question with an answer. The question which should have been in there was, did you call the president a moron . Jake tapper asked that question yesterday on cnn. Every time the secretary of state refuses to deny that he called the president a moron, he is publicly calling the president a moron and he knows it. And it will be incumbent now on every interviewer of Rex Tillerson to continue to ask him if he called the president a mo ror before, of course, moving on to the more important issues of what happens next with north korea and iran. The moron story just might live in the Trump Presidency forever and Rex Tillerson just might be able to keep the moron story alive forever and Rex Tillerson has every personal incentive to do that because one of the features of the chaos presidency is that the president has publicly attacked his secretary of state Rex Tillerson. And publicly egged him on to resign. As the president did with his attorney general who was also at that Cabinet Meeting today. Legislating is hard. It is almost indescribably hard, hardest thing that donald trump has ever been involved in in his life. The complexity of the interaction of the congressional committees, the sequencing of the votes in the house and the senate, the budget factors, the budget rules, the compromising that adds votes to a bill and usually that kind of stuff usually takes most of a year, for big legislation, and is an allconsuming passion for everyone seriously involved in that legislative endeavor. As say, president obama, was in the passage of obamacare. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. In this kind of legislation. And it is the job of everyone involved to try to make sure that nothing goes wrong and if theres a moron in the mix at the highest level, then everyone knows who to blame when things do go wrong. Steve bannon knows who the moron is. Steve bannon knows who is to blame for the zero legislative accomplishments of the Trump Administration but steve bannon has chosen to blame Mitch Mcconnell. Senator Lindsey Graham knows what this kind of chaos means for the Republican Party. Everyone loses. Everyone. Very much including donald trump. Steve bannon has said that republicans should go to war against Mitch Mcconnell, all you all get rid of him and thats the republican rallying outcry. He is not our problem. The problem is we promised to repeal and replace obamacare and we failed. We promised to cut taxes and yet to do it. If were successful, Mitch Mcconnells fine. If we dont, were all in trouble. I thi joining us now thrush and david jolly, former Republican Congressman of florida. David, your party is in a mess unlike anything we have ever seen before and the one new factor in everything thats messed up is the trump factor and the bannon factor. Thats it. And you nailed it in the open, lawrence. Listen. This was a press Conference Today that under normal circumstances wouldnt have been newsworthy. You had a president and a majority leader speaking about party unity. The president reiterated the economys growing. The stock markets up. They mentioned their agenda. And Mitch Mcconnell rightly pointed out that dodd frank and obamacare took two years. The real reality and the trump chaos world is this is not a unified party. When he continues to throw gop senators under the bus. The real reality is the economy is not doing well if youre in the middle class facing Rising Health care premiums and tax cut package that benefits the rich and the real reality is a president that cannot articulate a discernible agenda because he doesnt understand policy and thats the chaos he created and why the party has no idea where to go with this president. He has created this situation himself. And glen, the parties, the congressional parties in the reelection campaigns, sometimes struggle to make this a run against the leadership of the party, as opposed to local congressman. They did it in the 1980s with tip oneill. They put a character in some Republican Congressional ads that was a big guy with white hair kind of looked like tip oneill trying to say that this guys the problem. You got to get rid of the local congressman to get rid of this guys power. They do it with nancy pelosi in recent campaigns. Its never really successfully been done with a Senate Majority leader. Little bit on harry reid and never really successful. Here we see the republicans, the republicans trying to raise the republican Senate Majority leader to be this target of hatred in our politics. The democrats couldnt do this if they tried. There is a precedent and it is john boehner and eric cantor. Theyre looking for a repeat of the house. Look. Steve bannon on the outside of government because he wasnt particularly effective on the inside of government. Hell tell you that himself. What he does talk about, however, when you ask him for his creation myth, how it is that he became a powerful player on the National Stage he talks about dave brats race unseetding eric cantor. They are essentially trying to do this in the senate. This is this is not a this is not a new story line from bannon. What is interesting, however, is that their attention shifted from paul ryan. Remember, breitbart and the bannonocracy was going after paul ryan. Because trump targeted ryan and has targeted mcconnell and by the way, the most important thing that donald trump said today, the thing that we need to remember is, i dont blame myself. That is manifesting apparent. But he ought to blame himself because most of these problems including the three obamacare fails on capitol hill are directly attributable to the president s lack of involvement and knowledge in the topic. Blame Mitch Mcconnell. He bears some of the credit here and the failing and the appointing of people on the staff who werent able to execute this or come up with a compromise that was going to get the votes necessary, you know, that is laid at his feet so whats this president do . What is he good at . Whenever occupying the stage by himself, lawrence, he has a problem. He needs an enemy. He needs an opponent and Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> and pretending to be fake friends. Looked like a hostage video to me today. My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding. Has been outstanding. We are together totally on this agenda to move america forward. I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the senate and with the people in congress. I mean, i have a with house of representatives. With the exception of a few of bob corker, jeff flake, john mccain, Lisa Murkowski<\/a> and susan collins. What would be helpful is if the president got out of the way. Served up a false claim that president obama did not call families of fallen soldiers. He had no soul. Did we elect the worst person on this plan sunset. Despite what we read, we are probably now i think as far as im concerned closer than ever before. The president of the United States<\/a> had a meeting today followed bay press conference that no other president in history has ever had to have. The majority leader of the senate had a meeting today followed bay press conference that no other majority leader of the United States<\/a> senate has ever had to have in the history of the senate. The president and the Senate Majority<\/a> leader are both in the same Political Party<\/a>. But they had to have a meeting today followed by a press conference to try to prove that they dont hate each other. And i mean, hate each other with every fiber of their being. But we know that donald trump has given Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> more reason to hate him than any president has ever given a Senate Majority<\/a> leader and we know that donald trump uses twitter as a tool of his hatred and that no president has ever launched public attacks on the Senate Majority<\/a> leader of his own party. Until now. Can you believe that Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> who has screamed repeal and replace for seven years couldnt get it done . Must repeal and replace obamacare and of course, the only problem i have with Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> is that after hearing repeal and replace for seven years he failed. That should never have happened. Here is the first lie of many lies that President Trump<\/a> told in the rose garden today. I just want to say that we just spent quite a bit of time inside with the Senate Majority<\/a> leader, Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>, whos been a friend of mine for a long time. Long before my world of politics. Early into his world of politics, i think. But we have been friends for a long time. We are probably now despite what we read were probably now i think at least as far as im concerned closer than ever before. And the relationship is very good. Closer than ever before. This was an emergency meeting at the white house today. It was an emergency meeting of a Political Party<\/a> in crisis. A crisis of chaos. It was an emergency meeting to tell that lie that you just heard that Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> and donald trump are friends. Never been closer. Because this weekend steve bannon who went from running a rightwing hatedrib website to the Trump Campaign<\/a> to the Trump White House<\/a> and now back at that website said that he will oppose any republican senators reelection if that senator does not attack republican senator bob corker, pledge to support the elimination of filibusters in the senate, and pledge to vote against Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> for majority leader. All you folks that are so concerned that youre going to get primaried and defeated, theres time for mea c ulpa you can come to a stick and condemn Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> and come to a stick, a microphone and say i wont vote for Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> for majority leader. [ applause ] and you can come to a stick and you can say im going to do away with the filibuster so the president can implement his program. You have never seen that before. This is the worst chaos thats ever existed in modern political parties. Will rogers once famously said i am not a member of any Political Party<\/a>. I am a democrat. And it is true that most of the 20th century the Republican Party<\/a> was more disciplined than the Democratic Party<\/a>. The first time incumbent president was challenged for renomination within his own party it was a democrat who did that. Eugene mccarthy. Ran against president Lyndon Johnson<\/a> for the 1968 democratic nomination and he had one rule starting that campaign. He would not attack the president personally. No one has ever quit working in a senior advisory role in a Democratic White House<\/a> and then instantly begun attacking the democratic leader of the senate or the democratic leader of the house of representatives. We have never seen this kind of open, public chaos in a Political Party<\/a> and anyone who tries to compare any of the stresses within the Democratic Party<\/a> to whats happening within the Republican Party<\/a> now is just wrong. Totally and wildly wrong. There is no comparison. Theres never been chaos like this in a Political Party<\/a> because donald trump has never been the highest Ranking Member<\/a> of a Political Party<\/a> until now. This is trumpian chaos. Mitch mcconnell served 32 years in the United States<\/a> senate. One third of that time as the republican leader in the senate and this is his first year of chaos. In the United States<\/a> senate. There are some democrats in the senate who have vehemently opposed everything that mcconnell tried to do in the senate but all of those democrats recommends he is a deliberate and formidable strategist and the democrats know that no republican leader of the senate has ever bent and contorted the rules of the senate to favor the republicans more than Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> has including the decision to refuse to allow president Obamas Supreme Court<\/a> nominee to get a vote in the senate, not even a vote in a committee. A completely unprecedented partisan move against both Senate Tradition<\/a> and the constitutional intent of the Senate Confirmation<\/a> process. Theres never been a more sharply partisan republican leader of the senate than Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. To believe that Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> is the republicans biggest problem in the senate requires that you understand absolutely nothing about the United States<\/a> senate or the politics of governing. Enter donald trump and steve bannon who understand nothing about the senate, who understand nothing about the politics of governing. And so, the democrats cannot believe their luck tonight. Senate democrats thought it was their job to fight Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> every day and that is their job. Legislatively. In the United States<\/a> senate. And most of them do that without ever launching personal attacks on Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. Now the democrats are watching the most vicious personal attacks that have ever been launched on a Senate Majority<\/a> leader an theyre coming from the leaders own party. They are coming from a former Trump Campaign<\/a> official, a former Trump Campaign<\/a> official and while donald trump asked about the attacks today, he does not offer one word of defense of his fake friend Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. Mr. President , do you approve of Steve Bannons<\/a> war on Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> and the republican establishment . Steve is committed. He is a friend of mine and very committed to getting things passed. Look. I have, you know, despite what the press writes, i have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particular, with most republican senators. But were not getting the job done. And im not going to blame myself. Ill be honest. Theyre not getting the job done. We have had health care approved and then you had a surprise vote by john mccain. We have had other things happen and theyre not getting the job done and i can understand where Steve Bannons<\/a> coming from. That was this morning before the president s lunch with Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. I can understand where steve bannon is coming from. Thats what the president had to say about the steve bannon war on Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. The question was about Steve Bannons<\/a> war on Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. President trump didnt say i can understand where Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> is coming from. He said, i can understand where steve bannon is coming from. The president said that in the cabinet room at a meeting of the cabinet this morning. The only cabinet in history with the member whos reported to have called the president a moron. And who for weeks now has steadfastly refused to deny that he called the president a moron. Rex tillerson is making sure that the moron story never dies. As i indicated earlier, when i was asked about that, im not going to deal with that kind of petty stuff. I mean, this is a town that seems to relish gossip, rumor, innuendo and feed on it and feed on one another in a very destructive way. I wont dignify the question. These are the games of washington. Im not dignifying the question with an answer. The question which should have been in there was, did you call the president a moron . Jake tapper asked that question yesterday on cnn. Every time the secretary of state refuses to deny that he called the president a moron, he is publicly calling the president a moron and he knows it. And it will be incumbent now on every interviewer of Rex Tillerson<\/a> to continue to ask him if he called the president a mo ror before, of course, moving on to the more important issues of what happens next with north korea and iran. The moron story just might live in the Trump Presidency<\/a> forever and Rex Tillerson<\/a> just might be able to keep the moron story alive forever and Rex Tillerson<\/a> has every personal incentive to do that because one of the features of the chaos presidency is that the president has publicly attacked his secretary of state Rex Tillerson<\/a>. And publicly egged him on to resign. As the president did with his attorney general who was also at that Cabinet Meeting<\/a> today. Legislating is hard. It is almost indescribably hard, hardest thing that donald trump has ever been involved in in his life. The complexity of the interaction of the congressional committees, the sequencing of the votes in the house and the senate, the budget factors, the budget rules, the compromising that adds votes to a bill and usually that kind of stuff usually takes most of a year, for big legislation, and is an allconsuming passion for everyone seriously involved in that legislative endeavor. As say, president obama, was in the passage of obamacare. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. In this kind of legislation. And it is the job of everyone involved to try to make sure that nothing goes wrong and if theres a moron in the mix at the highest level, then everyone knows who to blame when things do go wrong. Steve bannon knows who the moron is. Steve bannon knows who is to blame for the zero legislative accomplishments of the Trump Administration<\/a> but steve bannon has chosen to blame Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. Senator Lindsey Graham<\/a> knows what this kind of chaos means for the Republican Party<\/a>. Everyone loses. Everyone. Very much including donald trump. Steve bannon has said that republicans should go to war against Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>, all you all get rid of him and thats the republican rallying outcry. He is not our problem. The problem is we promised to repeal and replace obamacare and we failed. We promised to cut taxes and yet to do it. If were successful, Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>s fine. If we dont, were all in trouble. I thi joining us now thrush and david jolly, former Republican Congress<\/a>man of florida. David, your party is in a mess unlike anything we have ever seen before and the one new factor in everything thats messed up is the trump factor and the bannon factor. Thats it. And you nailed it in the open, lawrence. Listen. This was a press Conference Today<\/a> that under normal circumstances wouldnt have been newsworthy. You had a president and a majority leader speaking about party unity. The president reiterated the economys growing. The stock markets up. They mentioned their agenda. And Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> rightly pointed out that dodd frank and obamacare took two years. The real reality and the trump chaos world is this is not a unified party. When he continues to throw gop senators under the bus. The real reality is the economy is not doing well if youre in the middle class facing Rising Health<\/a> care premiums and tax cut package that benefits the rich and the real reality is a president that cannot articulate a discernible agenda because he doesnt understand policy and thats the chaos he created and why the party has no idea where to go with this president. He has created this situation himself. And glen, the parties, the congressional parties in the reelection campaigns, sometimes struggle to make this a run against the leadership of the party, as opposed to local congressman. They did it in the 1980s with tip oneill. They put a character in some Republican Congress<\/a>ional ads that was a big guy with white hair kind of looked like tip oneill trying to say that this guys the problem. You got to get rid of the local congressman to get rid of this guys power. They do it with nancy pelosi in recent campaigns. Its never really successfully been done with a Senate Majority<\/a> leader. Little bit on harry reid and never really successful. Here we see the republicans, the republicans trying to raise the republican Senate Majority<\/a> leader to be this target of hatred in our politics. The democrats couldnt do this if they tried. There is a precedent and it is john boehner and eric cantor. Theyre looking for a repeat of the house. Look. Steve bannon on the outside of government because he wasnt particularly effective on the inside of government. Hell tell you that himself. What he does talk about, however, when you ask him for his creation myth, how it is that he became a powerful player on the National Stage<\/a> he talks about dave brats race unseetding eric cantor. They are essentially trying to do this in the senate. This is this is not a this is not a new story line from bannon. What is interesting, however, is that their attention shifted from paul ryan. Remember, breitbart and the bannonocracy was going after paul ryan. Because trump targeted ryan and has targeted mcconnell and by the way, the most important thing that donald trump said today, the thing that we need to remember is, i dont blame myself. That is manifesting apparent. But he ought to blame himself because most of these problems including the three obamacare fails on capitol hill are directly attributable to the president s lack of involvement and knowledge in the topic. Blame Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. He bears some of the credit here and the failing and the appointing of people on the staff who werent able to execute this or come up with a compromise that was going to get the votes necessary, you know, that is laid at his feet so whats this president do . What is he good at . Whenever occupying the stage by himself, lawrence, he has a problem. He needs an enemy. He needs an opponent and Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>, the man smiling next to him uncomfortably at the rose guard season the target. You mention the shift of paul ryan. Its fascinating one to watch. Lets watch what paul ryan said today when he was asked about what his biggest obstacle is these days. Lets listen to this. What is your biggest obstacle to getting tax reform passed . Well, you ever heard of the United States<\/a> senate before . David jolly, Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> cant be happy with that. No. Look. Theres always been a divide at least in recent history of the chambers but to glenns point and yours, lawrence, listen. The Republican Party<\/a> never really recovered and found the footing from the emergence of the tea party and sarah palin and manifested in the likes of steve bannon and donald trump. What is different now is that we have a president whos known to be unstable. We have a president whos known to be risky when koit ms to matters of national security. So what was kind of this emerging rebellion within the Republican Party<\/a> and one the likes of john boehner and minkMitch Mcconnell<\/a> couldnt figured out, they havent and now its real life consequences and potentially dangerous consequences. So ill be honest with you, lawrence. I personally as a republican in the past few weeks wondered is the republic safer if democrats take over the house in 2018. I raise that issue with the leading republican in d. C. Last week an the remarkable thing is he was thinking exactly the same thing. This is a president that needs a greater check on his power than republicans in congress have offered. David, i just have to we do have to go to a commercial and double up on the line you just said. I havent heard anything like that from a republican before now. Youre saying that for the safety of the country that we may be better off you there are republicans like you thinking the democrats should be in control of congress . Realtime, theres no discernible republican ideological agenda worth fighting for right now but we do know that we have a president who very well might put the nation at risk and this Republican Congress<\/a> has done nothing to check his power. Democrats could. And we might be better off as a republic if they take the house in 2018. David jolly, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Good to be with you. Coming up, no former white house official has called a president a deranged animal until today. And in a striking speech tonight, john mccain really went after Steve Bannons<\/a> halfbaked nationalism and trumpism. We will show you the video. Each year sarah climbs 58,007 steps. Thats the height of mount everest. Because each day she chooses to take the stairs. At work, at home. Even on the escalator. That can be hard on her lower body, so now she does it with dr. Scholls orthotics. Clinically proven to relieve and prevent foot, knee or lower back pain, by reducing the shock and stress that travel up her body with every step she takes. So keep on climbing, sarah. Youre killing it. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Last 12 days the president has made several comments about National Football<\/a> league, harvey weinstein, the stock market, hillary clinton, Electoral College<\/a> without ever saying a word or tweeting a word about Staff Sergeant<\/a> brian black, jeremiah janson, Dustin Wright<\/a> and Sergeant La David Johnson<\/a> who were killed in the line of duty in niger. Not one word. And today the president claimed hes written letters to the families of then soldiers and not sure if they would be sent today or tomorrow. Now, america has every right to believe the president was lying about those letters because he lied about a lot of things today in the rose garden and there is no reason why the letters wouldnt be sent immediately after they were written. The president might know why hes busy tweeting about football, he has not actually signed letters to the families of those soldiers. He might know that and that might be why he said he wasnt sure when those letters were being sent. There was the usual stream of lies as the president spoke today in the rose garden. You look at other countries, what they have done and were competing with other countries. When china is at 15 . When i hear that ireland is reducing their corporate rates down to 8 from 12 . But you have other countries, also, reducing. We cant be at 35 and think well remain competitive in terms of companies and jobs. I hear that irelands not reducing its Corporate Tax<\/a> rate. The Corporate Tax<\/a> rate at 12. 5 . The irish finance minister said last week that rate will not be reduced. Thats what we heard last week. Chinas rate is 18 . And before the rose garden today, the president said this in the cabinet room. Obamacares finished. Its dead. Its gone. Its no longer you shouldnt even mention. Its gone. There is no such thing as obamacare anymore. And he wonders why at least one of the cabinet members in that room today listening to that has reportedly called him a moron. Joining us now, james fallos for the atlantic and former speech writer for president carter and daniel day washington kroo correspondent for the toronto star. Jim, having worked in a white house i can only imagine what it feels like to you to watch a president in these rooms, the cabinet room and the rose garden with this just relentless stream about lies about anything. As you know, in normal circumstances anything that comes out of a president s mouth is so hyper checked and the idea to make a mistake is something that everybody takes seriously and then the business about the soldiers. As you know, theres nothing that president s regardless of party take as more as a grave obligation as the troops fighting and dying under their command and republican or democrat, every previous president in touch with the soldiers, casualties and families right away. When he said today that president obama never made any calls about this, he immediately got a tweet from an obama staffer saying that that was an absolute lie. And its a lie of the gravest sort. For somebody who bears this commander in chief responsibility. You can disagree or agree with the politics but they take this really deep in their hearts and you just just lying about it. Cavalierly lying about it. Daniel, i know you have been reporting extensively on puerto rico. I want to listen to something that the president said about puerto rico today. Their electrical grid was destroyed before the hurricanes got there. It was not working. It was in bankruptcy. Owed 9 billion. And then on top of that, the hurricane came. Now, youre going to have to build a whole new electrical plant system. Daniel, your reaction to that . This is the third time in less than two weeks that trump claimed that the government was going to have to rebuild power plants in puerto rico. In the past two instances, claimed they were wiped out, destroyed. The problem is with the rest of the grid. And so, this is the kind of daily dishonesty we get from trump that only is occasionally treated as a story. You know, we got headlines today about a trump lie because his lie about obama supposedly not calling military families sufficiently new and sufficiently ghastly to merit headlines in the eyes of much of the media but what were seeing is a daily avalanche. Im counting since he took office. He said 40 inaccurate things 2 weeks ago. 34 last week. Theyre only occasionally talked about. Its treated as a sideshow to the presidency an its a central story to the presidency i think people and the press have unfortunately become kind of immune to. Daniel makes such a good point theres the one big lie that came out of the rose garden today about president obama. I do want to just read this tweet that alyssa mastermonaco wrote from the obama white house. After the President Trump<\/a> lied about president obama not calling and reaching out to soldiers families killed in action. She said thats an fg lie to say president obama or past president s didnt called the family members of soldiers. Hes a deranged animal. The reason i wanted to read that, thats not the way former white house officials like yourselves and others talk. They have to be driven to that by something extreme. Exactly. This connects to something that david jolly was saying in the previous segment, that the republicans in congress are the ones who have the power to do something about this. So he see the two conflicting trends. On the one hand, former obama aides, secretary of state saying this is abnormal. And the Congress Still<\/a> being unwilling to act. So when that tension resolves itself, what future depends on. Daniel, when i was watching the rose garden today, i thought the only way to cover this is literally with the list of lies. As well as the important thing going on there, which was this fake Friends Meeting<\/a> with Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. And that means for me leaving out all of the stuff about the nfl, just a bunch of stuff that was said in the rose garden today because that that actually starts to camouflage and get in the way of a clear view of just how many rank lies this man told in the rose garden today. Yeah. I could not agree more. I think the way for journalists to approach this president is to come armed with facts that the good thing if you will about trumps lying is selling the same lies over and over. Not unpredictable so i think Something Interesting<\/a> happened today. He was challenged on the claim of obama. Peter alexander said how can you make that claim . What was fascinating is trump backed down. He said, well, i dont know. He probably did sometimes. We also saw that in an interview where trump claimed no one has hit 3 gdp growth in a quarter. Obama never hit that. The forbes journalist said obama hit that in several quarters and trump immediately backed off it and what they sort of back to back show is that this lying doesnt have to stand. We in the media can call him on it and that can achieve something. I think journalists have been too passive and too complacent about this lying that again i think is a defining feature of this presidency and needs to be treated as such. Peter alexander did a great job. You see trump goes to the thing of, well, people tell me. That was the response when peter challenged him on the crazy assertion of president obama. It doesnt matter. During the campaign, just saying lies several times an hour. The nfl told me the debate schedule was wrong. The nfl says, no, we didnt. And so, the question is whether it starts to add up. Theres the potential that this niger soldier and comment might be something to move. Within all this, theres the outrageous story that the president simply ignored these soldiers killed in action for these 12 days. Hes just publicly ignored them. And, daniel, that is getting kind of lost within this coverage that has emerged from what happened today in the rose garden. Yeah. I think one thing thats interesting about trump is that by virtue of the outrageousness and dishonesty, he brings attention to things that make him look bad. Theres a distraction theory. A master puppeteer taking our attention away and i think he drives attention to it so people might not have heard about the soldiers or very little and now trump created an absurd controversy with virtue of the dishonesty and people googling the soldiers names. If theres a benefit its that. Daniel dale, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you. Coming up, President Trump<\/a> met with the group today, the group that has power to remove him from office. The most Important Group<\/a> in his life. They have the power to remove him much faster than the impeachment process and he was very, very nice to them. And senator john mccain tonight goes after steve bannon and trumpism in an important speech. Well show you that. Ing to save money on your Medicare Part<\/a> d prescriptions, switch to walgreens. We make it easy to seize the day, so you can get more out of life and Medicare Part<\/a> d. Just walk right in for savings that will be the highlight of your day. Walgreens has 0 copays on select plans and 100 points on prescriptions. So, swing by and save today. Walgreens, at the corner of happy healthy. Breaking news. Harsh criticism tonight from Arizona Republican<\/a> senator john mccain for President Trump<\/a>s Foreign Policy<\/a> and for Steve Bannons<\/a> nationalism. Heres what the senator said just a few hours ago when he accepted the Liberty Medal<\/a> in philadelphia. To fear the world we have organized and led the three quarters of a century to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of International Leadership<\/a> and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth, for the sake of some halfbaked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than find problems [ applause ] is as ununpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that americans consigned to the ash heap of history. We live in a land made of ideals. Not blood and soil. Glenn thrush and fallows is back with us. That is direct response to steve bannon talking about senators like mccain not being on board with trumpism and with bannonism. And theres john mccain calling the bannon approach unpatriotic. Well, first of all, lets just talk about the visuals of that particular moment. This is a man who gave his health and very nearly his life for his country and he is in i dont think im breaking any news here, in the final moments of his life. And this is what hes choosing to speak up on so i think whatever you think of john mccain, what he has said in the past and saying right now, he has no ulterior motive. He doesnt have a political future. Hes speaking directly to what he believes to be the pos tierty of this country. I have to say, lawrence, apart from the con tent of what he said, i am profoundly moved by his courage in using the twilight of his days to participate in the political arena and an inspiration to all of us. That said, i think he is clearly speaking to an element of this popul populism that his wing of the party and john mccains a very conservative republican, he is not someone who has traditionally been on the left fringe of his party. I think the challenge that he has articulated is what you have been speaking to in all of your prior segments. This cleavage in the middle of the Republican Party<\/a> from a traditional republican stance to this new nationalist stance, how the two halves reconcile themselves, i dont know. You dont know. And it seems like john mccain doesnt know either. It was a bipartisan note there tonight, jim. Joe biden on the stage with him and his last line there when he said, we live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. That is a direct reference to what the people in charlottesville with those torches talking about blood and soil as they were marching along there, people who donald trump said were nice people. Certainly a. Phrase of 1930s germany as you know. I thought it was significant what john mccain spoke for and against. He was speaking for the International Architecture<\/a> of alliances, of guarantees of trying to increase security and increase prosperity, the very things that trump has sort of dismissed as being for suckers and he was against this nationalism of blood and soil. So i thought very much i agree with glenn thrush. It was moving in the sort of human nature of it and intellectual content. Steve bannon has a hatred of john mccain and the president s antagonism of john mccain because as you say, heres a man diagnosed with brain cancer, has a pretty good idea of how much time he has left, and to go after him, the way they have continued the go after him, is one of the ugliest things that i think we have seen in washington history. And its definitional. I mean, if you are mocking people for their physical deformities as certain members of this movement have, and i will say this about steve bannon. I have not i have not personally seen or heard anything about steve bannon mocking people for their defo deformities or experiences but i think what mr. Fallows said is absolutely right. He is rejecting this notion that we have seen endorsed by the white house of this equivalence between the blood and soil nationalists who are chanting antisemitic and racist comments and the mainstream of his party. Remember, john mccain comes from goldwater, arizona. He came from an it ration of conservatism thats revolutionary in his time and what he is saying to his party is that that strain of conservatism, which, by the way, raised alarm bells back in the 1960s is a truer and more patriotic train than the brand he is seeing now. I think republicans whether or not they agree with him would do very well to heeding his message. Jim, john mccain who has tried to work on Immigration Reform<\/a> in the past, talked about that this need for some people to try to find scapegoats rather than solve problems. Which is a continuity hit in the career. Coming back from vietnam as a p. O. W. He was an early leader trying to reconcile divisions in the United States<\/a> and vietnam and the United States<\/a> and i think again significant. Senator corker not running again has taken a stand. John mccain facing mortality taken a stand. Question is what it will take for other republicans to be able to speak the two men have. And what does it mean coming down to votes in the senate . Thats something we still dont know. James fallows and glenn thrush, thank you both for joining us tonight. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Coming up, President Trump<\/a> met with the group today who have the power to remove him from office and can do it very, very quickly. With the 25th amendment. Thats next. Directv has been rated 1 in Customer Satisfaction<\/a> over cable for 17 years running. But some people still like cable. Just like some people like banging their head on a low ceiling. Drinking spoiled milk. Camping in poison ivy. Getting a papercut. And having their arm trapped in a vending machine. But for everyone else, theres directv. For 1 rated Customer Satisfaction<\/a> over cable switch to directv. Call 1800directv. You give us comfort. And we give you bare feet, backsweat, and gordos. Everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Soft surfaces trap odors. Febreze fabric refresher cleans them away for good. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up to 45 days. Breathe happy with febreze. The whole country booking on Choice Hotels<\/a>. Com. Four words, badda book. Badda boom. Let it sink in. Shouldnt we say we have the lowest price . Nope, badda book. Badda boom. Have you ever stayed with Choice Hotels<\/a> . 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Tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. Including worsening of symptoms. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Nows your chance at completely clear skin. Just ask your doctor about taltz. Today the president met with the people who can remove him from office faster than the impeachment process. We have a cabinet that there are those that are saying its one of the finest group of people ever assembled as a cabinet and i happen to agree with that. Of course, i should agree with that. But i think we have an Extraordinary Group<\/a> of people around this table. This is a tremendous amount of talent. It was reported last week that steve bannon explain to the president the 25th amendment was the most likely way for the president to be removed from office. Whereupon the president said, whats that . President had no idea what the 25th amendment is. 25th amendment can be invoked by the Vice President<\/a> with the agreement of a majority of the cabinet to remove a president. First described the workings of the 25th amendment on this program at the end of the first month of the Trump Presidency<\/a> when it became apparent that the president s fitness for office was to put it mildly in doubt. And since then, the discussion has only grown and has now been joined by a group of sigh ki tritss and Mental Health<\/a> professionals who have created a group called duty to warn. They insist that the president is unfit to serve and that their professional duty to warn outweighs the professions traditional ban on diagnose Inspector General<\/a> Mental Health<\/a> conditionses of any person publicly. Up next, one of the contributors to the new best selling book the dangerous case of donald trump. 27 psychiatrists and Mental Health<\/a> experts assess a president. T everything so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a redhot mascot. [mascot] heyooo whoop, whoop [crowd 1] hey, youre on fire [mascot] you bet i am [crowd 2] dude, youre on fire [mascot] oh, yeah [crowd 3] no, youre on fire look behind you. [mascot] im cool. Im cool. [burke] thats one way to fire up the crowd. But we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum whstuff happens. Old shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. Psychologist john gartner told the new yorker that he wants his group, duty to warn, to be the to be to the 25th amendment what the nra is to the 2nd amendment. Joining us now is john gartner. I wanted to hold up or just read this opening, the sort of the chapter title right here of your entry in this new book, the dangerous case of donald trump. It begins, you begin your section of the book by saying, dronald trump is a, bad, b, mad, and c yt all of the abo turns out a close reading of your work indicates its c, all of the above. Correct. Expand on that. Well, people have made it sound as if its a forced choice, but actually, the nature of the disorder he has, malignant narcissism, eric frumm called it the quinn scoi kin te. These are people who actually get pleasure from harming other people who are detached from reality because they see themselves as being victims when they, in fact, are being aggress i. They see conspiracy theories everywhere. They really have no conscience. So they are dangerous. And right now i think we are facing the greatest psychiatric emergency in the history of america. Theres a report as you speak coming out on politico tosnight just coming out in the last few minutes saying, the lead of it says friends say President Donald Trump<\/a> has grown frustrated that his greatness is not widely understood. What does that tell you . Well, this is someone who really has grandiose delusions and persecutory delusions so thinking that he knows more about everything than everyone. That he doesnt have to listen to anyone. And as a result, hes really dangerous because this idea that, you know, mattis, tillerson are somehow going to restrain him is completely a fantasy. He will not be constrained by anyone. And in fact, in the reason the paper, hes an adult daycare se center, im going to show you, why his attitude is the only one that matters when it comes to Nuclear Weapons<\/a> and why its so important we pass a bill that says Congress Must<\/a> approve the use of Nuclear Weapons<\/a>, because frankly, i think the odds of his not push bing the button are extremely low. The 25th amendment requires that a majority of the cabinet find that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office and they the amendment sets absolutely no standards for what that is. So it could be Mental Health<\/a>, it could be anything else. Well, this is why, actually, we are supporting Jamie Raskins<\/a> House Resolution<\/a> 1957 which would establish a nonpartisan commission of doctors and psychiatrists who could objectively evaluate the president in the case of an emergency. Psychologist john gartner, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Tonights last word is next. Hey grandpa. Hey, kid. Really good to see you. You too. You tell grandma you were going fishing again . Maybe. vo the best things in life keep going. Thats why i got a subaru, too. Introducing the allnew crosstrek. Love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. My bladder leakage was making me feel like i couldnt spend time with my grandson. Now depend fitflex has their fastest absorbing material inside, so it keeps me dry and protected. Go to depend. Com get a coupon and try them for yourself. The uncertainties of hep c. Go to depend. Com wondering, what if . I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. Harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. Its been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. And is proven to cure up to 99 of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. Certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. Before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if youve ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. Tell your doctor if youve ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. Taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. Ready to let go of hep c . Ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. Joe biden presented the Liberty Medal<\/a> to john mccain tonight in philadelphia and john mccain said this about joe biden. We served in the senate together for over 20 years. During some eventful times. As we passed from young men to the fossils who appear before you this evening. We didnt always agree on the issues. We often argued. Sometimes passionately. But we believed in each others patriotism and the sincerity of each others convictions. We believed in the institution we were privileged to serve . We believed in our mutual responsibility to help make the place work. And to cooperate in finding solutions to our countrys problems. John mccain gets tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams<\/a> starts now. Tonight, the president goes there on just about every topic imaginable during a freewheeling impromptu 40minute rose garden news conference. And that man at his side, Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. The man steve bannon is trying to run out of office. And perhaps most troubling, trump falsely asserts that he does what other president s failed to do when it comes to americas goldstar families. 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