michael crowley is here. i start with you.r thoughts, wherever they are today, admiral, as we get ready for this historic speech from president biden. >> point one would be the value of nato. we really ought to continue to celebrate it and, yes, there are some storm clouds in the potential next president that decries the alliance. can we do the numbers for a minute? these are 32 nations, as you correctly point out, with two superb militaries in sweden and finland. 32 nations. well over 50% of the gross domestic product. second largest collective defense budget in the world is the rest of nato, about $400 billion, and above all, nicole, these are the allies with whom we share our most cherished values. and so as i look at the nato alliance i was privileged to command for four years, and i think about the fact that nato -- the rest of nato came with us to afghanistan after we were attacked, i wrote hundreds of condolence notes to the families of young europeans who died under my command in afghanistan, hundreds of them. so this

let me bring in mike and michael crowley.hael crowley, your thoughts. >> well, you know, i thought it was a strong and smooth performance by president biden. on substance, he articulated why nato is riding high right now. why the alliance is feeling strength and confidence on its 75th anniversary. and kind of a nice little piece of stage craft there, i think that people are very grateful for the work that the outgoing secretary general has done so i think that was a nice touch. it probably resonated well in the room and i'll leave it to your political analysts to talk about how biden looked and sounded but my guess would be that the white house was pretty happy with the way he came across. he spoke pretty smoothly and the little exchange at the end showed him in motion i thought was pretty effective. >> yeah, mike memoli, this is, do you want to string together 119 days just like today. >> that's right. president biden cares so much, not just about what he says, but about how he says it. i've talked over the years to a number

joining me now, "new york times" diplomatic correspondent michael crowley and "washington post" whiteth. you both focused in your reporting on how kamala harris, if she were elected, might approach the middle east differently than joe biden given his decades of experience with israel and also his full embrace of netanyahu, far longer than many democrats, elected democrats and protesters thought was appropriate given the way the war has been progressing. michael. >> yeah, andrea. president biden does have that bond, and you know, i think at least until recently, he considered netanyahu something of a friend, albeit one with whom he disagreed a lot. and kamala harris just doesn't have that bond. she's younger so she comes maybe not entirely from a different generation, but attitudes towards israel have changed, and as one jewish american conservative put it to me, she just doesn't feel the connection the way biden does in her kishkas, which is a word for guts, your stomach, your belly. and so i think -- and then on top of that, andrea, harris came out and said some very sharply critical

joining us now, "new york times" diplomatic correspondent michael crowley.his international alliance. but president biden is now coming off one of the most shaky periods of his re-election campaign. what is the mood or your sense of the mood of -- among foreign leaders who are visiting? >> thanks. i think much like political professionals and millions of americans, these foreign leaders came to washington ready for a very substantive conversation which they will have, but they're going to be watching president biden himself personally very closely, had he's physical condition, his mental acuity. i think they, like so many americans, are also wondering, you know, what happened in that debate and is it a sign of a bigger problem or not? and they are going to be sizing him up just as everyone else will be? >> one point president biden made to underscore how effective he's been as president was his work with nato. here's what he told abc's george stephanopoulos. >> the question on so many people's minds right now is can you serve effectively for the next four ye

. >> michael crowley, always great to have you on the program.to summit and the man who has upset so many member of the alliance will head south to mar-a-lago. former president trump is ready to welcome hungarian prime minister viktor orban who recently visited vladimir putin and recently said that a biden to trump presidency would be good for the world. nbc's vaughn hilliard reports on this. a source says there's no chance of secret dealings. >> let's be very clear, viktor orban, this is his second visit to mar-a-lago. viktor orban is someone who has promoted the idea of a liberal democracy and cutting off the expansion of nato and cutting off additional funding to ukraine. that is who donald trump is meeting with here today. viktor orban after his meeting with donald trump back in march said about their private conversations this quote, he said that donald trump said that he will not give a penny in the ukraine-russian war and that is why the war will end because it is obvious that ukraine cannot stand on its own feet. if the americans don't gi

joining us now, retired admiral and michael crowley. admiral, first to you.see the video coming out of kyiv. it is heartbreaking. it's a war crime. i mean, it's horrendous. the latest russian missile strike hitting a children's hospital. not just a civilian area, but a children's hospital. so this is going to be part of the discussion. nato has stepped up. europe has stepped up. now the u.s. has stepped up. but they want to look forward. they want to look towards, you know, getting the weapons online, training long range issues as well as reconstruction and post war. >> you're right to draw a line under the video we just saw. they ought to be running that on loop for all those heads of state and government. there will be 40 different leaders. they ought to be running that on loop because that's what we are standing against. that is a war crime of a vicious and obvious nature. so job one, you're right. will continue to be how the alliance can stand strongly behind ukraine and one thing i think you'll see a practical thing, the alliance will send a permanent re