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it is time now for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. my name sackur. for good or ill, donald trump dominates the american political landscape will stop he seems to relish conflict because it keeps him firmly and forever centrestage. —— name is. so with vital congressional mid—term elections looming this autumn, how should democrats respond? my guess is jaime harrison, associate chair of the democratic national committee. not so long ago, his party was predicting a mid—term wave that would sweep away republican control of congress. but are the democrats underestimating the power of trump's politics? jaime harrison in columbia south

carolina, welcome to hardtalk. thank you stephen, thank you for having me. just if you months back, one of the most senior democrats in the senate, charles chuck schumer, said this: i smell a wave coming. it seemed at that point that the democrats were absolutely convinced that they will go to sweep away the republicans in congress. are you just as confident of that today?” feel really good about our chances this fall. you know, we have done

extremely well in a lot of state legislative races. we have slipped 43 seats that were republican and are now democrat. and i think the momentum is on are now democrat. and i think the momentum is on oui’ are now democrat. and i think the momentum is on our side and we need to just continue to push, continue to just continue to push, continue to build our operations. and that people will be in good shape in november. if you look at the most recent polling evidence, donald trump's popularity, his approval rating, is slowly but surely on the rise through the early 40s to the low 40s midge point. he is now at the same point that 0bama was at his time in the presidency. —— percentage point. 0bama was when the democrats took power of the hasn't representatives. in history, industry is on the side of the

democrats. i feel really good and really bullish. in 2006, i was the executive director for the houston panic grabbers. that was when democrats to back the house in the senate when george w bush was in the second year of his second term. and so second year of his second term. and so many of the same things that i saw them are suddenly similar things, trends that i see now. i think again democrats are in a good position as we move into the fall elections. looking at the swing states, as we would call them, wet races states, as we would call them, wet ra ces a re states, as we would call them, wet races are tight, look at a high, for example. it is not shared them a clear what will happen there. —— where. —— look at ohio. democrats just a day or two ago seem convinced that they could take that particular congressional seat. it looks like republicans have stemmed that tide. again, complacency is going to be a

problem to you guys, isn't it? no, i do not be so. listen, i am pretty excited about the results in that race. look at this particular seat. the incumbent in 2016 won the seat by 30 points. donald trump won the seat by 11 points. right now it is razorthin and not sure of the end result. but in the end the republicans have spent $5 million to hold onto a seat in which the president won by 11 points. and it isa president won by 11 points. and it is a rage then might have. —— razorthin. there are 70 other seats that are part of the democrats and the seat. we want to see... we could go through area by area and discuss the specifics of the political balance in various political states,

but the nationwide picture is pretty simple: it is hard for you guys in the democratic party to overturn republican majorities in the house and senate when we see that the republican congress and republican president are supervising an economy thatis president are supervising an economy that is motoring are not motoring ahead, with growth rates now put at over 4%, with high employment levels. and where even and latina unemployment is at record lows. these other realities, the facts, that make it very attractive for americans to stick with what they know. there are also some realities in fact that he did not put in there. one, donald trump in this current tariff or that he is trying to engage in right now, you know, you have farmers in many of the states that he won, that are really concerned. just recently here in south carolina one of the plans in a

broad co, a county that donald trump wine in the presidential election, they just announced that they are closing because of his tariffs. we have factories like bmw and volvo with headquarters here in south carolina. south carolina is the time and ifa carolina. south carolina is the time and if a three headquarters of america, with michelin and continental and a lot of other folks. a lot of other companies. and they all concerned about the possible tariffs and the impact it could have on the economy. you may choose to look at the glass half empty, but many look at the glass half full. look at this: manufacturing jobs, high wage, half full. look at this: manufacturingjobs, high wage, up 37,000 injune manufacturingjobs, high wage, up 37,000 in june alone. manufacturingjobs, high wage, up 37,000 injune alone. 400,000 quality manufacturing jobs created under the donald trump administration. and worker pay rises 110w administration. and worker pay rises now run at the highest since 2008. listen, stephen, again, it is not about how i am looking at it, but

with so much fabulous numbers from donald trump, why is he not over 50%? if the economy and everything is working so well in this country, he is still dealing with the low 40s in terms of his percentage rates. and his popularity in a lot of the states that he won has declined over a period of time. republicans are starting to run away from him because of his rhetoric and some of the impact that he could have on the economy here. again, i am the impact that he could have on the economy here. again, iam much happier being where we are now going into the midterms than to be wed the republican party is. some of our people who are running for the first time are raising republican incumbents in his congressional districts. that is unheard of and it is part of the fact that make part of the fact is that people are concerned about the direction america is going to. so you keep telling me. i look at a survey that

said 70% of the businesses surveyed believed that china trade was unfair and supported donald trump's stand, imposing tariffs on china. and let us imposing tariffs on china. and let us be honest about this. the democratic party's position on trade and tariffs is pretty unclear, anyway, because we all remember in the last presidential election, bernie sanders and a whole bunch of very important democratic supporters of his, actually supported tearing up of his, actually supported tearing up the various trade deals, including the tra ns—pacific partnership, and nascar, so the democratic party's position on this is all over the place. —— nafta. democratic party's position on this is all over the place. -- nafta. did a great party position that make the democratic party position is to provide benefits for the workers. —— the democratic party's position. we

protect the rights of workers and believe in making sure there is opportunity for workers. we do not believe in starting tariff rise and trade wars and not having any strategy or direction for why we are doing it. donald trump wakes up one morning and says, you know what, i guess that will have a trade war with this company. and i will specifically target this industry. because, i just decided specifically target this industry. because, ijust decided i wanted to do it. that is not... let us lead pa rt do it. that is not... let us lead part in politics out of it. the europe, a guy who has worked in politics in various positions, not just in washington, but that in the country, as well, do you honestly feel that a steelworker sitting in michigan, when he is donald trump say, and this is a quote, we have achieved an economic turnaround of historic proportions. we are now the economic envy of the entire world. giving that steelworker is going to find it easy to vote against donald trump, given what has happened to the growth and success in the steel

industry in recent months in america? yes, but the steel industry is just america? yes, but the steel industry isjust one america? yes, but the steel industry is just one industry of many. i live in south carolina where agriculture is huge. and these possible tariffs on soy beans, i can leave is building right now and sea miles and miles of soya bean farms. and guess who are the big consumers? it is china. and now donald trump graded a problem and his solution is because he crated this terrible problem, is $12 billion to get to farmers. but i wa nt $12 billion to get to farmers. but i want that. they want want stability in terms of being able to figure out how much can i plant? how much will i get? so they can plant and plan accordingly. you are a political strategist, both in south carolina and nationwide, with your advisory role with the dnc. would you agree that what matters in politics as being on the front foot, making the political weather, being proactive's

and right now, surely, there is no debate. donald trump is making the political weather. he is on the front foot. and the anna crabb party is having to play defence and react. —— being proactive, and right now. donald trump in some ways has been good for the democratic party. he has been the best recruiter. we have not seen so much excitement in recruitment in terms of the democratic party in a generation until we had this president and the disaster that he calls upon every day here in the united states. he is an embarrassment both domestically and internationally. so there has to bea and internationally. so there has to be a change in this country. and people are calling for that... be a change in this country. and people are calling for that. .. an important point that you just made, embarrassment. why is it embarrassing to be a politician that keeps his promises, promises to be tough on immigration and follows through, it promises to be tough on

foreign trade, and follow—through, who promises to be tough on nato allies that don't meet their commitments on defence, and then follow—through. if you look at donald trump's policies of a whole raft of different issues, he has pretty much kept to his election pledges. why is that embarrassing? 0ne pledges. why is that embarrassing? one of his pledges, and they think the hallmark of these pledge, was that he will build a wall. —— of his pledge. the last i saw, mexico has not paid one peso to people the wall. but he has threatened to shut down the american government because co ng ress down the american government because congress has not appropriate money to build a wall. so if you want to ta ke to build a wall. so if you want to take a promise, one that was at the heart of donald trump's campaign, and again, he has no plan to keep it. hejust as and again, he has no plan to keep it. he just as the set has no plans to do it. there are fundamental things that make us american. there

are fundamental things: liberty, freedom, and openness. to see what donald trump has done on the border in terms of separating families, it is inhumane. absolutely inhumane, to see what he has done. and to see the problem is that he has created. and he has no solution for how to fix them. but the thing is, my point about proactive politics, is that donald trump is you on the back foot. you make the point is you have just made about his immigration policy. he then accuses you of running an open door policy that sees criminals coming, and to use his word, that i would not use, but he said to invest the united states of america — he makes those messages a call campaign issue and a lot of americans who are worried about immigration, though they might not like his language, but they see a democratic party that seems to be defending open borders, and donald trump who says he will be tough on immigration. you believe in political terms you are on the right side of that argument? 0h,

political terms you are on the right side of that argument? oh, i know we are on the right side of that argument. and we will see it in november. what donald trump is doing to the republican party is killing the party in the long—term. it is not going to be good. he is splintering the party like no other. again, almost a secret weapon for the democratic party, for what he is going to do in terms of breaking bad party. this is a man who attacked every bit about democracy, the fundamental anchor of our democracy from freedom of the press, he goes after the judiciary, from freedom of the press, he goes after thejudiciary, he from freedom of the press, he goes after the judiciary, he goes after congress and their role, and he is blistering in that. at the same time, you talked earlier about him keeping promises, he went over and had this huge summit with kim jong—un and said we are going to do all of this stuff, and what has happened is? nothing. he is put buddies with vladimir putin. and all

these great things. i have never seen these great things. i have never seen an these great things. i have never seen an american president who has kowtowed to russia as much as this president has. again, at the end of the day... interesting. sorry to interrupts. i am sorry to interrupt, but you got on to russia there and it does seem to me there is a very interesting proposition before the american people right now as they look at politics and the looming mid—term elections, they have to decide whether they want to vote for democratic control of the house and the senate, which could then lead to much, much ramped up investigation of donald trump, because we have seen of donald trump, because we have seen senior democrats, including leading politicians in the democratic caucus in the house of representatives, saying that they wa nt representatives, saying that they wantan representatives, saying that they want an impeachment resolution brought before the house. one congressman, james akenhead marilyn, said the other day that there is

ha rd to said the other day that there is hard to think of a more impeachable president in american history. do you agree that democrats, as part of their electoral strategy, should focus on the potential for in teaching the president?” focus on the potential for in teaching the president? i don't think we need to go down an impeachment read at this point. i think what needs to happen is that robert mueller needs to continue his investigation to see if there was any investigation, to see if there was any in —— obstruction of justice, and we will proceed from that point. we are just going to call donald trump what he is. i mean, this is a guy who has had bigoted, racist, intolerant language and he is president of the united states. he is not the model... i can't point to... and, listen, i have had disagreements with george w bushin have had disagreements with george w bush in the past, i grew up during the reagan era, and i may not have liked their policies, but they a lwa ys liked their policies, but they always had respect for the office and respect for the individuals that

sat in that chair. all right. donald trump is very different. i don't think we have ever seen anything like this in american politics. and he has diminished us. right. what do you think those millions particularly white working—class americans, who voted for donald trump, and according to every single opinion poll are still foursquare behind donald trump, what do you think they make people like you describing donald trump 0smo policies as racist and bigoted? it makes me mindful of hillary clinton during the campaign calling trump supporters the basket of deplorable is. it does not seem that you democrats have a way of connecting with the white working class in the way that donald trump does. well, see that is the difference. i don't think donald trump, yes, the core of the republican base is very solid and still behind donald trump, but

donald trump was also able to win some swing independent vote that i believe fundamentally won't be there for him this next time around. and you will see that in terms of the results of the november election. those are the individuals in the white suburbs in america who decided, well, you know what, let me ta ke decided, well, you know what, let me take a chance, let me see if there is something different here, and i don't think they like what they see. and so, at the end of the day, i think those folks are going to side with the democratic party, those folks might be fiscally conservative, but socially more moderate and they don't like the rhetoric, the divisiveness, the things and images they see coming out of this white house. but equally, they are not these voters we are talking about now. you called them swing voters or centrists, they're certainly not americans who, at the gazette is they, who would

ever identify themselves as a socialist. but what we see in your party, let us focus on your party, what we see is the most dynamic elements in the pata, including of course very well—known recent victors like the nomination race in new york, they are describing themselves as socialist and the party appears to be veering pretty rapidly to the left. is that going to win new national elections? what iam seeing to win new national elections? what i am seeing and i know there are a lot of folks the media is covering, of folks going into districts and winning districts based on, it is that old adage that all politics is local, based on understanding the people in their districts. hang on, hang on, you're slightly a body my question. do you think democrats going into elections describing themselves as proud socialist, is

that going to be winning strategy for the party? —— a body my question. how many democrats to you see going into the election is going in calling themselves proud socialist? perhaps a woman who is doing most right now to inject dynamism into your party is the young woman who won that extraordinary victory in new york in the primary race against one of your most established congressman and she did it by pushing a very aggressively all assertively left—wing socialist agenda. aggressively all assertively left-wing socialist agenda. she won ina very left-wing socialist agenda. she won in a very blue democratic district. but there have been other people who have won in other districts, connell and one in pennsylvania, in a district that is ruby red. doug jones, who i helped in alabama, in a state that is as conservative as south carolina. i don't think they label themselves as democratic

socialists, but what i said, which i am going back to, is people are running in states and in district and reflecting the values of the popes that they are claiming and wanting to represent. and that is what we will see in 435 districts and 50 states this november —— folks. people are going to reflect the people on a local level. so in new york, in the bronx, you could win asa new york, in the bronx, you could win as a democratic socialist, that is fine, but in south carolina that is fine, but in south carolina that is probably not going to work.” is fine, but in south carolina that is probably not going to work. i can guarantee you that. i hear what you are saying. ijust guarantee you that. i hear what you are saying. i just wonder guarantee you that. i hear what you are saying. ijust wonder if guarantee you that. i hear what you are saying. i just wonder if you have learned the lessons... have you learned the lessons of losing in 2016, let us not forget, your, jaime harrison, were a supporter of hillary clinton. you, jaime harrison, were part of that democratic establishment. you worked forjohn podesta, who was close to

hillary clinton... you are seen by people like bernie sanders, friendly, as part of the problem and not the solution for the democratic party. so who really is the democratic party today?” party. so who really is the democratic party today? i think i embody the democratic party. you know, my mum was 16 years old when she had me here in south carolina. i grew up in a very rural town, orange though, 15,000 people, iwas grew up in a very rural town, orange though, 15,000 people, i was the first person in my family to go to college, went to yale, worked —— went to george town. what myself from the bootstra ps. went to george town. what myself from the bootstraps. that is what the american dream is all about, being able to start from nothing and to actually rise up and do well in this country will stop and so i am proud of what i am and i am who i am because of the democratic party. the message of donald trump is that politics as usual isn't working in america any more. that is the message that the democrats had to ta ke message that the democrats had to take on board as well as the republicans. the message that the

democratic party has to, and i have been very, very honest, let me back up, you mentioned that i worked for john podesta, i never worked for him,i john podesta, i never worked for him, i worked for his brother, tony, just wanted to be clear on that. in terms of the message for the democratic party, yes, we are in this race and in this game against the republican party, but where the democratic party has to fundamentally change, and that is what i am working on, is the democratic party can no longerjust bea democratic party can no longerjust be a political organisation, it has to be more of a community organisation, where we are actually on the ground in these communities helping people address the issues they are dealing with on a day—to—day basis. that is the utility of the democratic party. that is where we have to go back to so we can that is where we have to go back to so we can become the party of the people once again. and so we are working on reforms and things that we can do that we become more grassroots —based, that we are

actually in communities addressing issues that are so, so important for people in order that they can live the american dream and that their kids still have the hope of living the american dream as well. jaime harrison, i wish we could go on, but we are out of time. thank you very much forjoining me from south carolina. thank you, stephen. hello there. things are looking cooler and fresher now for the rest of this week, particularly across northern and western areas, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. some of the showers will continue to be quite heavy as well, maybe with the risk of thunder. the reason for the cooler air, area of low pressure has driven out the heat into the near continent, introducing something cooler and fresher off the atlantic,

and we'll maintain a west or south—westerly airflow. early on thursday, we will see further showers returning to western scotland and northern ireland, some of them could be quite heavy, and across central and southern and eastern parts of england, thickening cloud from the south will bring a few showers or even some patchy rain. across scotland and northern ireland, it's going to be a chilly start to this morning, temperatures in low single figures in some areas. for thursday itself, it's looking bright with plenty of sunshine around. there'll continue to be some blustery showers across the north and west of scotland, into northern ireland. then across the south—east, an area of rain moving up across the near continent could just graze south—east england and also east anglia. now, the winds will generally be light, i think, across england and wales. blustery across scotland and northern ireland. there's a chance as this area of low pressure deepens here it could turn windier for a time across the very far south—east, so it could be quite a soggy end to the day here. pretty nasty evening commute i think for some.

bit of uncertainty into the west with the extent of the rain, looks like the heaviest of the stuff will be across into the near continent. that area of low pressure pushes on in towards the north sea as we head on in towards friday. a ridge of high pressure tries to build in, and an area of low pressure looms out into the atlantic and will arrive just in time for the weekend. for friday's picture then, we're in between the weather systems. it's going to be a day of sunshine and showers, and some could be the heavy side with a rumble of thunder. but hit and miss, some areas staying dry altogether, and in the sunshine, not too bad, temperatures from 17 to 22, cooler than what we've been used to, particularly in the south—east. this area of low pressure hurtles in from the atlantic, arrives across northern and western areas on saturday. meanwhile, area of high pressure establishes itself across the south—east. there's still some uncertainty to this weekend as to where the rain will be. we're thinking at the moment it will be wet in the north and west of the uk.

the further south and east you are, the better chance of staying dry. it could be much of scotland and northern ireland quite windy with outbreaks of rain, some of it could be quite heavy. for central, southern and eastern parts of england in particular, you could get away with seeing good spells on sunshine and feeling quite warm. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the us announces new sanctions on russia over the poisoning of former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter in the uk. will argentina vote to legalise abortion? the result of an historic vote in the senate is due within hours. a bbc investigation reveals new details about those behind the barcelona attacks last year, and what else they were planning.

evacuations are ordered in portugal as wildfires spread through one of the country's most popular tourist regions.