welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your day with us. a busy hour ahead including this stern white house warning to the syrian regime -- if you use chemical weapons again, prepare to pay a heavy price. up first, though a critical meeting at this hour. replacing obamacare, on the brink of collapse. a gop plan was to pass the bill this week. they're short stroets pavotes t they head into a lunch short to even debate. absent changes, defight leadership and vote no on a proposal motion necessary to start the debate. before and ideological mix funder scoring a big debate.

susan collins of maine and dean heller of nevada say it noknock too many our medicare and others say the bill has too many federal mandates. johnson is among republicans asking leadership for more time. >> i told them, don't jam this. we need better information at the start of the process. if you have that information, you define the problem, set goals, then devise legislation. we're doing it completely backwards and end up with this result. >> straight to m.j. lee on capitol hill. m.j., senators saying what could be a critical hour ahead? >> reporter: a very critical hour in a week filled with bad news for mitch mcconnell and it's only tuesday. first we have the cbo report that came out yesterday that showed 22 million fewer people would be covered under the senate republican bill and since that point we have seen a number of senate republicans come out saying they would vote against motion to proceed on the bill.

you mentioned some earlier, ron johnson, susan collins, dean heller and rand paul. i want to stress a second how significant this is. they are not only saying they are opposed to the bill, they are saying they don't even want to move forward to begin debate on this bill. having said all that, senate republican leadership still saying that they want to move full-steam ahead with a vote this week. my colleague manu raju caught up early with john cornyn. listen to what he said. >> i think we should vote this week. we've didn't debating this issue for seven years and assuming we'll be successful. to me the alternative is simply -- it's unthinkable. >> reporter: how much harder if it hangs out easterner rece eov? >> a mistake. we have the basic information we need now. >> reporter: as you said, john, the senate lunch is going to be critically important. as senate republicans come out of this meeting we'll get a better sense what kind of concessions, if any, mitch

mckponl is willing to make and will those concessions go out mostly to moderates or conservatives? and also a better sense whether some senate republicans who have been critical of this bill have some wiggle room. if they are willing to give a little bit. for the time being, though, john, this is a numbers game and mitch mcconnell simply does not have the math working out for him right now. >> m.j. the math was bad yesterday for mitch mcconnell. how much more complicated now that the cbo core is out there. 22 million people estimated would lose health insures, the big headline. has that made this worse? >> reporter: we were wandering the halls after it came out not a single republican could give a good answer how to defend the cbo score. i think the 22 million number was worse than a lot of senate republicans expected and are looking back how house republicans handle this. remember, the number there was

23 million. really, 22 million, 23 million, not so different in terms how bad this is for coverage numbers. for a lot of senate republicans you can imagine, already on the fence, sitting on the fence, undecided, that cbo score simply did not help their decisions. >> and m.j. lee live on capitol hill. grab anyone after the lunch, we'll gemt you t you back on. shelby holiday of the "wall street journal" and betsy woodruff of the daily beast. senators going into what is normally their friendly tuesday lunch but van internal revolt in the republican ranks. this is not only a test for mitch mcconnell for a best for the entire republican party which said we will repeal and replace obamacare. i'm struck by the fact even on the procedural vote, defining leadership is a big deal. widgets and gadgets, like repealing obamacare, a growing list of senators saying, sorry,

mr. mcconnell, we won't even take it to the shore. what does that tell you? >> it's not an easy thing. three cycles it is not that easy. some voters, we saw during the 2016 cycle, who really don't like obamacare. i spoke to a lot of voters, trump supporters. the reason i like him, i'm opposed to obamacare. other voters, in arkansas, say i like obamacare. good for me and help me get insurance. make no mistake about this, when you change an entitlement program it is incredibly hard because you are taking something away from people. that's what year seeing. this is not proposal. it involve as human toll. >> there are more of the republican party. but when there are month, from different parts of the country. people from the rural states dealing with medicaid and the issue. susan collins from maine, moderate but from a rural state tweeting after the cbo report

came out, i want to work with democrats and the gop to fix the problems. the senate bill won't do. it i will vote know on a procedural motion. medicaid hurts most vulnerable americans. senate doesn't fix the problems for rural maine. our hospitals are struggling. a republican who says she's on the fence but helping, helping opponents make the public case that this bill is not worth it. >> exactly. the fact that the cbo director was so critical of this legislation cuts really close to republicans. many republican health care wants pushed hardened of 20715, beginning of 2015 to get rid of the obama cbo director and bring in someone conservative. someone helpful if they ever found themselves in the situation they're in, a chance to repeal. now the cbo is basically knifing them over it making it more awkward to call the cbo fake news. >> striking that the narrative is all about the top numbers at

the cbo report. the number who will lose, 22 million who lose on insurance or be left with no insurance, and the deficit number. people aren't so focused on that. you read into the cbo report, premiums expected to rise the next two years and expected to fall. republicans totally lost control of the narrative. all they hear, democrats attacking them for this bill, killing people, and looking at the number of people who would not have medicaid. regardless of the phaseout and number of years people have to figure it out. republicans aren't making the case for why they want to overall health care in the first place. >> losing the narrative part is important. you do have speaker paul ryan, philosophical conservatives say, of course, fewer people have health insurance because we're dropping mandates. leave it up to people. exercise the choice, more won't have health care. many republicans don't want to make that argument. bring into this debate rand paul. a big story a few years ago, rand paul, tea party guy, knocked off mitchell's candidate

in the primary. and not with the majority leader from kentucky. rand paul is mad at leadership. if they want to cut a deal, they need to negotiate and why aren't they calling me? >> so far the senate leadership is not negotiating with our office. i'm trying to negotiate with the president, but really the president is going to have to tell leadership they have to negotiate with some of us who don't see this bill as being good for the country. >> he says leadership. doesn't name his home state senator by name, but guess what? senator mcconnell wanted the president to stay out of this. let him do it as an internal senate deal and maybe help at the last minute. rand paul is on the way to the white house to meet with the president. another poke at mitch mcconnell. elevating the president when many don't trust the president because of what he did on the house side. celebrate the bill and call it mean. >> we have seen rand paul over many years do what is politically crafty in terms of his constituency. it's not a surprise you see any

politician act in his own interest. he decided that the interest of the senate majority leader is not necessarily his. rand paul is actually very good historically at seeing where something is about to head and i think that this is part of why he is such a significant indicator. a meeting with the president i'm told by a senate aide was requested by the president. also interesting. the president has been comparatively pretty hands off. think about the first go-round on the ahca, the one that didn't get voted on. the president did not -- excuse me, he was very involved. did a lot of arm-twisting. they found that was not necessarily the best approach to have him so publicly expend so much capital. been a little more behind the scenes. you are right. year seeing a schism between not just rand paul and mitch mcconnell but the president and mitch mcconnell. >> in the leadup to the bill, started with the assumption only 51 votes in the senate because

rand paul would never get onboard. the fact he's belly aching about this is actually a little surprising. it wasn't expected. >> maybe disingenuous, surprising, but to the kel cl e calculated part, others think if the president is involved, mitch mcconnell offered a deal, but if the president's open for business, it went off the rails, because everybody thought negotiating season is open. get to the substance. the cbo report and the white house and some republicans on capitol hill say the cbo never gets it exactly right. however, it is the official score. if you have to explain it to people it's hard to explain, especially older voters, key part of the republican constituency. cbo, 55-year-old average plan annual income $56,000 a year range. net premium under the senate republican bill, $20,500. net under existing obamacare, $6,800. a tough sell.

>> it's bad. i think what else is important here is that for a lot of conservatives who are critical or skeptical about the senate bill, preem kwmiums are number thing. caucus, ted cruz, not talking about health care freedom. a bad messaging point. how the number one thing they want is lower premiums. numbers like that, incredibly different self. even if premiuming go down in 2020 a lot of these guys, realize in 2018, don't have the luxury saying, well, your premiums doubled this year. in two years things will be better. doesn't necessarily work. >> and tricky, too, older voters have more sway than younger voters. saw it with the affordable care act passing. no lobbying group for younger people and they're much better off under this health care bill and also insurance companies look to young people to stabilize their marketplace. we haven't heard anything from sort of a younger perspective here. but if younger people buy insurance if it is more affordable, can get skinny plans, maybe the markets are more stabilized and premiums

better off overall. it's somebody we don't focus on because older americans are the ones who get hit. >> true and to the point who actually gets hit i keep coming back to what we deemed from the president in the last week on this plan, on the senate version, which is that it's, he not only confirmed that he had said the word "mean" about this plan. he said that president obama had stolen that term from him. it was a strange moment of trying to seize ownership of something that is going to be really, really complicated for members of his own party, up for re-elects next year both in the house and senate. now you have video of the president calling this bill mean. if you are a moderate, put aside the conservative members, because we know what their concerns are. if you're a moderate and in one of these districts in the house or in a purple state, has a vote next year for their own seat, do you want to be explaining why you walked the plank for something that the president himself has calmed mean? i think that is complicated. >> right. >> makes it tricky also because

it calmed it mean yet wants to say the cbo report isn't true. you call a bill mean based on a cbo report, you get yourself in trouble. >> stunned the president said both things about one thing. never happened before. >> true. progress. >> and interested when look at numbers -- his core decision, older americans. rightfully so looked at the map how he won pennsylvania, wisconsin, polled ohio, michigan. older republican voters. a tough sell for him. we'll see. come back to health care in a few minutes. next, a white house warning to syria. the white house says it's been watching, thinks the regime is prepared to use chemical weapons and if it does it will pay a heavy price. (baby crying) ♪ fly

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welcome back. russia and iran pushing back after a stern trump white house warning to the regime. a statement last night, the white house said the united states sees evidence the assad government may be planning another chemical weapons attack on its own people. the u.s. said the military operations inside syria are directed at the asam site. using chemical weapons, another attack, he and his military will pay a heavy price. barbara starr is live at the pentagon on what prompted this unusual white house warning. barbara, who saw what is the big question? >> reporter: it is indeed, john. start with last night. it was late last night when the white house issued this very unexpected statement that you just referred to causing a lot of questions about what was going on. and what we know now this morning is that the u.s. has

been watching intelligence at a syrian air base, and for the last several days have seen activity there that suggests another chemical weapons attack was being planned over the last 24 hours leading us to the statement last night. growing urgent concern. there was a syrian aircraft there, the possibility of chemical weapons being loaded on to that aircraft. a possibility. and that is what led the white house to put this statement out taking a much different tact than we'd seen perhaps in the past. trying to say bluntly to the syrian regime to bashar al assad we see you, know what you're doing. don't do it. there will be a price to pay. but also sending a message to moscow saying, use your influence with assad and get him to pull back. so where we are now is the u.s. military watching this base very, very closely to see what next steps assad may take, and

if he were to take additional steps if it looks like there's some tact really in the works, that's going to lead to a lot of questions. what does the president do, because now he's put the world on notice that they see the possibility of an attack, and what would a trump white house do to stop a chemical weapons attack? sounds an awful lot like the old obama red line. >> certainly does. barbara, keep in touch as we learn more fop barbara's point, president obama drew a red line and didn't enforce it and undermined himself with not just this country but around the world. and in places like syria, obviously did respond after the last chemical strike, president trump did. what struck me last night, the white house issues an unusual statement. we've watched his foreign policy team and how it plays out. nikki haley taking it a step further. directed at assad and the regime. nikki haley says, after any

further attacks done to the people of syria will be blamed on assad but also on russia and iran, who support him killing his own people nap is tough rhetoric from a white house that, i guess, is diverted here more muscular than anticipated? >> nikki haley when it comes to the statements she'd made particularly on iran. her statement last night was also important because she's laying down her own red line analogous to what obama did during the assad regime. her credibility is really on the line here in terms of what the united states does, if assad uses chemical weapons again. that was really consequential. speaking more broadly, an essential question what is our syrian policy? obama had trouble with this because his administration never laid out a syrian policy in a clear way and the trump administration has yet to do that causing pushback from congress. >> you saw after the cruise missile strike which gained

bipartisan support. people in congress, a lot, said, great. we need to talk about this, need a plan if you want to move forward. it's important to note russia's and iran's response to this last night. russia says we know of no intelligence and iran came out with provocative tweets saying this is a dangerous escalation by the u.s., and we all talk about the russia stuff, the investigation and comey and the ongoing mueller probe, but this is actually a huge, physical, tangible source of tension between the u.s. and russia and how it plays out. >> and trump and putin are a week away from their meeting. a lot of tension about a deal to make. russians want a full picture. stature on the world stage. the inclination, the president favors that as well but some argue, those in america, diplomatic speak, fewer cameras, shorter meeting, not big

fanfare, but to your point, questions about the investigation and everything, but this is a huge substance to question about can the united states and russia at least do business -- don't have to love each other, but do business on important stuff? >> the problem here, and a really important point as syria and russia, is that, and the investigations, is, we have seen this president very reluctant to consistently say, yes, russia, tried to meddle in the 2016 election. only said it and repeatedly in the context of blaming the obama administration. there is plenty to hold the obama administration for in terms of syria and how they responded to russian aggression. getting factors, no great answer. but it is now on president trump to decide what to do, and his decision to stay away from definitively saying, this is what happened in our past. has really delayed and deferred a lot of decisions on everything relating to russia geopolitically, among them a coherent syrian policy. that is really where you see

this going ahead. one of the many questions about this potential meeting and what it might look like with vladimir putin is, not just who's there, which cameras attend, exactly what it faums under but what exactly do they discuss and how aggressively will the united states president speak against russian aggression in that meeting, and there are so many other things to be answered before you can even get to syria policy i think that's the problem. >> and when the president did launch the cruise missile strikes against this air base, again a new president. a little more than five months in. it's crises, tests like this we learn from and did see there, still don't have a coherent syrian strategy but saw a personal president in the rose garden talking how washington, images of the killed and maimed children affected him. >> when you kill innocent children, innocent babies -- babies, little babies -- with a chemical gas that is so lethal

people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line. many, many lines. that's a butcher. so i felt we had to do something about it. i have absolutely no doubt we did the right thing. and it was very, very successfully done, as you well know. >> we oversay this, but the job changes people. es spoes -- especially those not involved. no doubt in my mind that they mean this. >> it's a little too say the job changed him. you can look at circumstances in front of him and i think when you had the tomahawk missile strikes in syria, a significant moment and what he thought the presidency would be. take actions and then people respond to them. i'm not sure what that means on a grander scale. >> didn't get the response? right. >> correct. >> and can i say, too, i'm not sure the job changed him but

interesting to watch how he emotionally reacts to the situations and in turn shapes policy. talked about the dreamers. doesn't want to tear people away from their families. talks about people losing health care. doesn't want to leave people dead on the streets. he has an emotional connection to certain policies and as a result says things to his benefit or not such as the health care bill is mean. it pups on him. >> more reaction than a printed playbook. >> a reaction people in new york city would think of as a big government type of mayoral reaction over many years i think he learned watching mayors in new york. >> a great observation. up next, speaker paul ryan calls repealing obamacare a signature republican issue. what price, then, if the party can't deliver? ges. and it's also a story about people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you lwho's the lucky lady? i'm going to the bank, to discuss a mortgage.

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welcome back. if you're been paying close attention you know the health care policy divide among republicans are beyond complicated. the imperative, though, rather simple. >> the biggest signature issue we have and biggest promise we'vin made in the modern era. we said if we get elected we

would repeal and replace obamacare. i think they're going to do it. i agree with newt. we were elected to solve people's problems, improve people's lives. fixes health care is a big part of that. >> heard it from the speaker. biggest promise they've ever made. the speaker does not want to go into the 2018 midterns with a disappointed republican base. an nbc/"wall street journal" poll. 8 76% say absolute priority this year only getting tough with isis and adding conservatives to the supreme court mean more to gop voter, but while republican voters urgently want repeal, even gop voters souring on what they see from the congress. a month ago more than half of republicans thought the house republican plan was a good idea. now, just one-third of republicans. like their own party's health care plan. that's the house plan, but the senate plan isn't that much different. i mean, the policy choices are

complicated. you mentioned earlier in the program losing control of the messaging there. how is it, if you know, if you're a republican, as speaker ryan so well put, this is our signature issue, the promise we made well before donald trump came on the scene, but now you control the presidency, control both chambers of congress. how did they mess this up so much, in both, the policy part is complicated. i don't mean to laugh about that, because these are legitimate philosophical, ideological funding role of government differences, but they promised this to voters? >> promised this to voters and as it happens sometimes in campaigns people promise things that are not so easy. talked about this earlier in the hour, but you're talking about taking away health care from people. you can't pretend that is something other than what it is. you can argue that's a good thing in temples terms of gues of -- getting rid of mandate and changing the way medicaid is supposed to work but in the shorter term it means fewer people with health care nap is just the reality, and just not a

good thing to campaign on. what works for republicans favor i say, not in the short term in terms whether this passes but next year in terms whether this has gone through or not, democrats, their messaging is not great. you're on this. seeing a lot of outside groups very affected. the aarp. a couple typically, you know, against this form of government groups. but democrats have not really done a great job according to a lot of democratic strategists i'm speaking with, walking through exactly what this is going to mean. who this hurts. precisely how this hurts. it's getting more sort of swept up in the anti-trump messagery in general. that's a problem. >> i would say combined with the president's messaging that obamacare is a dead carcass, maybe just let it fail, the democratic messaging is also not helping in terms of the electorate. there's so much fear out there. you go to town halls you hear, a deeply personal issue. worried they'll lose doctors, health care, won't be able to pay for prescription drugs.

so much fear and not hearing from their representatives how it would impact them. and add to the "wall street journal" poll that found just 9% of obamacare think it should continue the way it is. that urges for change. something has to be done, but the longer it takes for republicans to address it, the more people get nervous, and the more people start to say, maybe obamacare is not so bad. >> lost faith in republicans to change it. i don't think it's -- in washington, period, not just republicans, but the republicans happen to be in charge. >> why republicans are in a hurry to get it through the senate. the longer think way the more likely pushback from constituents. that said, it's important not to count out mitch mcconnell yet. if there's one person who can get 51 senators to vote for a bill that could be political suicide it's mitch mccongress. even democrats who despise him the most respect his legislative prowess, you knows the senate inside and out, almost a

reincarnation of lsh j. >> lbj. >> masterful in denying when republicans in the minority, harry reid, keeping republicans disciplined to block things. >> right. >> to keep obama for his agenda. we haven't seen the republicans able to pass a big signature republican initiative that's controversial. a different challenge. >> and timing is an issue. politically you want it done quickly. deliver something to the american people and prove it works. not something before the midterm that's a huge question mark, voters are unsure about and economic reasons to get it done. insurers have until december to decide whether or not they're participate in exchanges. that's a huge problem. the insurance market instabilities could really impact americans. a question mark the rest of the year, a huge problem and on republicans. >> would have may have been a democratic problem in the past, it's at least everybody's problem, maybe more so republicans because they're in charge. stand tight.

breaking news to get to. the u.s. army redstone arsenal near huntsville, hall al, on lockdown. more from the pentagon. >> reporter: hi, john. we're monitoring this situation and not a lot of information yet. redstone arsenal in north alabama. reports of a possible active shooter on base, and now we're seeing the typicip iic protocol base is on lockdown. federal law enforcement responding. conflicting reports whether it is a possible active shooter or an actual active shooter. we know in many of these situations, it takes time for it all to sort out. redstone arsenal is a huge facility. thousands of defense workers there. largely civilians. they do a lot of missile and space work there. the base is telling us that -- the fbi and tobac alcohol tb t,d

firearm s are responding. showing emergency vehicles responding, but at this point it is not clear what exactly is happening on the redstone facility. and it's worth remembering in so many cases, thankfully, these prove to be situations sometimes where they prove to be reports where it doesn't pan out thankfully and think is no active shooter but we've also seen tragedies strike in many places. at fort hood, texas, the washington navy yard. so like civilian society, anytime there's report of an active shooter they take it seriously, lock down, sweep through the areas. law enforcement on all sides respond. governor ivy a short time ago, governor of alabama, issuing a statement that he is monitoring the situation and praying for the safety of the people at redstone. john? >> we'll keep an eye on it. barbara, busy day at the pentagon. appreciate it being on top of

this as well. thank you. next, a new poll showing president obama on shaky ground. not only at home but across the globe. there's nothing more than my vacation.me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. and with their price match, i know i'm getting the best price every time. now i can start relaxing even before the vacation begins. your vacation is very important. that's why booking.com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. visit booking.com now to find out why we're booking.yeah!

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the president's poll numbers at home are pretty miserable. around the world, even worse. a new pew research global center var say sharp decline since president trump took office and personal views of the american president are largely negative. only in israel and russia did trump compare for favorably to his predecessor, president obama. asked who they trust more to do the trite thing, fewer than 30% responded in germany, canada, the united kingdom and gentleja said they trust president trump. just 5% in mexico. obviously changed, the presidency in washington, causing change in per senceptio around the world. this is a president who likes to be liked. will he care about this? he follows polls here at home.

will he read this and get mad? >> he'll get mad. a difference between wants to be liked and get mad. sometimes they're a flow chart. look, he began his campaign, very first speech, talking about rapists and drug dealers coming in from mexico and asterisked some are decent people. it's jarring. those positive and trust in him is 42% where it was before. the israel number, not surprising given president obama relationship with benjamin netanyahu. the rest of it, look, this president's mantra has been america first. a theme he seemed to seize on when it came up in an interview my colleague david sanger did with him in 2016 and he's said it ever since. that has implications and repercussions and he's continued to pick a series of fights that seemed curious at best, such as with london over tear original. you know, the arguments about nafta.

well, real and substantive and critical to the base of voters that elected him are offensive to people in places like canada, because of the tone of this. a lot of this is not so much the policy. a lot of the policy decisions that the president is making with the exception of the travel ban, which was just reinstated, they're not that hugely different than his predecessor or several predecessors but the tone with which he's delivering them. >> a key point. the lumber and dairy issues with canada go back severalen presidencies, but did he call for allies to pay more, put up more defense spending, pay more of their fair shea goes back previous presidents but none lectured nato. >> don't mean to -- not just the public lecture. it was not accompanied by and we are recommitting to article 5. just the way it was done. >> and important substantive policy. globally, much greater support

than the paris deal and most countries pulled except i believe jordan and israel. the fact trump has been so bearish about our relationship with iran is something that's generated some disappointments with him. >> i think maggie brings up a good point to nafta. you can't help but look at those countries and see those are the countries trump criticized in terms of trade and shaken a lot of people around the world because he's saying that our trade deals don't work and america's not getting what we want out of it. it's not just what he said or threats he's made to foreign leaders. it's, he wants to reshape the whole economic relationship with germany, with japan, with the uk. that has a lot of people nervous beyond just the political rhetoric. >> on trade, by the way, we heard the president. we talked about and putting on the show how he's changed conditions or sometimes decides both sides of the issue in the same sentence. look at ads from 1987 promoting the art of the deal, he talked about countries going, "ripping us off." this is not new for him. >> and look what we're

expecting, action from the commerce department as early as this week on the steel question. dead right. number one, consistent. kpr critics call him protectionist, but he's been consistent and believes in the blue states turned red. >> absolutely. >> on the campaign trail everything he said about foreign leaders, are not things you would expect. >> and to a, to a trump voter that the world is mad at their disruptive president, that tells, that's fine. back to the numbers at home. some of the numbers in the new nbc/"wall street journal" poll didn't get much attention yet are stunning. part because we have come to accept them as the new normal. the president of the united states. changing business at usual in washington, d.c.? big campaign pick. 47% good. 39% mixed. a split, is the president changing business as usual in washington, d.c. look at these numbers. hon effort and trustworthy? 55% say for. only 31% say good. knowledgeable and experienced enough to handle the presidency?

28% say good. 55% say poor. had the right temperament to be president of the united states? 22%, good. 62%, poor. these are stunning numbers and the president lost the popular vote. demming polarized against him. rankings among democrats go back 50 years in history and way below. starts with a wall. can't get democratic support. five months into a presidency, to see where you would think -- think a slice of people who didn't vote for trump would say, give him a chance. be open minded. impressed, whether stance on trade, what he did in syria. those numbers are stuck. how does he change them? >> make nos in make, they're aren't good numbers but he's never had high numbers on personality traits. not on the campaign trail, not now. could be a silver lining for the president, his basic support is not dropping, no the through the comey testimonies or the trouble he's had with health care. still has the base of support not moving down. not high, but not losing his

core voters. interesting, because he's been through a lot, made a lot of mistakes and is learning how to govern as his white house says and that base isn't falling. >> what we have at the five-month mark what we're going to have for four year. >> likely. what he does to appeal to his base is likely turning off moderate and left democrats. the more trump reaches out to poor voters that love him so much he goes full trump. isolate folks more moderate and the less likely -- >> a special election, still winning the special elections. hard to say. >> a., i don't think i take issue with the special election. issue there. i think every special election gets involved with enormous national significance and often complicated. i agree this is what we'll see. it is not just that the more he is reaching out to his own voters, while it's certainly true, it was a savage 2016 election campaign. we've seen, to be fair to him,

since 2014, you started seeing that every candidate in every race on either side, either democrat or republican, their negatives were high. just living in an incredible toxic political climate. the difference with this president is he's the first president to do extremely little to reach out to the people who vote for him. he can still reach out to his own core of support, including not traveling west of the mississippi until just last weekend. even that was a, a prototypical trump campaign rally. right? in iowa. we have not seen him do what we saw george w. bush do or his father before him or bill clinton or president obama, reach out to other people. obama you know, critics argued did a lot less athan he gets credit for. a good point. trump decides no reason to and not getting anywhere if i do. >> it it what it is. keep what he's got. >> right. >> sit tight. next, you won't want to miss this. request from an outgoing

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welcome back. affordable housing is a problem across the country including washington, d.c., of course. one congressman says lawmakers are falling victim to the national capital's out of control prices. congressional salary, not exactly a pittance says it doesn't stretch far enough. chaffetz in an exit interview with the hill of sorts set this, washington, d.c. is one of the most expensive places in the world and i flat out cannot afford a home in utah and kids in college and a home here in d.c. a housing allowance appropriate and a real help to have a decent quality of life in washington if you're going to expect people to spend hundreds of nights a year here. he's got a point. as once said in this city,

rent's too high. we had a candidate -- >> another word in there you're missing. >> missing that word. it's lunch hour and family-friendly here. got a point about the cost, but i suspect out there in upstate new york or in dubuque or iowa or home state in utah telling people, let's give congressmen more money at this moment in time is a tough sell. >> timing is everything in life. he does have a point, though. i don't want to make light of this. they haven't had a raise in over a decade i believe. there is is a reason the members of congress and senators who bunk up in these common houses. some of them sleep in their offices. there are many reasons why they do it. some of it is money and that's a legitimate point. asking people to basically give up any other form of income for public service, especially people don't come into this wealthy, a legitimate point. >> absolutely right. i live in d.c. it's very expensive. that said, i wish he'd brought

of the fact not just members of congress also the staff that work in the capitol building are not paid generously at all. those folks work crazy hours dealing with difficult people, and the kind of salaries aren't great. >> difficult people. >> and at a time public service is getting a bad name. hard to make that case. if they perform -- i don't know the answer. leave it there for now. thanks for joining us. see you back here this time tomorrow. wolf blitzer is up after a quick break.

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00. here in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. right now, keeping a close eye on the white house. around an hour or so from now the white house press secretary sean spicer scheduled to brief the news media. live and on camera for the first time in a week. expect plenty of health care-related questions that mitch mcconnell wants a vote on the republican senate plan this week, but these four republican senators say they won't even support the