i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. despite republican efforts to repeal and replace obamacare, what happens should be intriguing. "new day" starts right now. >> the president is ready with his pen. >> we had two republicans that went against us. it's very, very sad for them. >> i can say there's nobody in the united states senator wise who has a dclue what's going on. >> we're getting nothing done. >> i'm very disappointed with the attorney general, but we will see what happens. time will tell. time will tell. >> you get the loyalty you give in life. >> loyalty is a one way street with donald trump. >> they need to work this thing out. >> this is about rule of law, not the rule of trump. >> this is "new day" with chris

cuomo. >> all right. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." it's wednesday, july 26th. 6:00 here in new york and here's our starting line. the senate failing to pass the plan to partially repeal and replace obamacare. nine republicans voting against the first major proposal put up for a vote. remember the big win yesterday was just a vote to start debate. there is still stiff resistance to just repealing the aca without a reasonable replacement. the senate continues debate today and there's a new measure to repeal and delay replacement. we'll see how that goes. the president is also intensifying his very public rebuke of attorney general jeff sessions. >> the president refuses to say whether he will fire sessions calling sessions' recusal on the russia investigation unfair to the presidency. meantime, president trump telling supporters in ohio that

he can quote, be more presidential than any other u.s. president except abraham lincoln. and an open microphone captures two senators ridiculing a fellow lawmaker. we have that audio for you. let's begin on capitol hill. another busy day. >> reporter: >> reporter: senate republicans won an important legislative victory but it underskoend the painful process of trying to unite the gop around one particular plan, a comprehensive plan to repeal and replace obamacare. it was one in a series of amendments and proposals and that fell short. >> suffering its first setback, the senate decisively rejecting the gop's most comprehensive

replacement plan, nine republicans voting against the measure. the senate expected to take up today senator rand paul's proposal to repeal obamacare with the delay on the replacement plan for two years, a measure the cbo estimates will leave 32 million more americans uninsured and is also expected to fail. >> this is just the beginning. we're not out here to spike the football. this is just a long way, we'll finish at the end of the week hopefully. >> the senate with a tie-breaking vote with vice president mike pens. >> the vice president votes in the affirmative. >> reporter: pence casting the deciding vote. senator john mccain returning to a hero's welcome after his brain cancer diagnosis, chastising republicans for the way they have gone about health care reform, but voting in favor of beginning debate and the first

repeal and replace measure, the senate veteran delivering a scathing indictment of partisan politics paralyzing their chamber. >> stop listening to the bombastic voices on the radio, television and internet. let's trust each other and return to regular order. we've been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because yes keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. >> president trump taking a different tone at a rally in ohio tuesday night. >> any senator who votes against repeal and replace is telling america that they are fine with the obamacare nightmare, and i predict they'll have a lot of problem. >> reporter: at a rose garden news conference, the president slammed the two republican senators. >> we have two republicans that went against us. very, very sad for them.

>> reporter: democrats promising to keep pressure on republican colleagues as they fight to preserve president obama's signature health care law. >> we have lost an important battle today but we have not yet lost this war. >> we are going to fight and fight and fight until this bill is dead! >> reporter: so what is next here? possibly up to 20 hours of deb baept as they look at various republican proposals in the days ahead. then the senate goes into what's called a vote rama where any republican senator can put forward an amendment, as many as they like. that process goes on as long as they can take it. alisyn, chris. >> appreciate it. we've got cnn political analyst john avlon, cnn politics reporter chris cillizza and congressional reporter for "the washington post," karoun

demirji demirjian. it seems as though the stiff resistance isn't going to go anywhere as long as what's on the table is let's take away what's there and -- >> mystery meat is not a plan and that's basically where we are. a lot of plans, there's a so-called skinny repeal, repeal-like. >> i think the visual will help people. repeal and replace -- walk it through. something like 9:30 that failed. now repeal and delay they'll vote on today. so for two years, a delay of repeal. then the skinny repeal which you can expound on for us. and then the graham-cassidy amendment he outlined to us on friday evening that has the votes. that gives governors and states more autonomy and control. >> giving more power to the states is standard issue republican fare that's hard to

oppose. skinny repeal, they'll remove the individual mandate. the problem with removing the individual mandate, it's a game agenda with the health care system. it will allegedly increase freedom but also take away a couple medical device taxes and things that are longstanding bugaboos for conservatives with this bill. a long way from resembling consensus. mike pence can be superman with the tie breaking vote every time. this is a legacy problem republicans have. toeptal focus seven years on repeal, not sufficient focus on replace. the next day or two is going to be key for this country's health care system. >> karoun, one of the things that is missing is clear direction from the president about what he would want. that's the price of his having separated himself from the policy process. inaction is not an option, get after it. i'll come after you in your primary if you don't vote the

right way. beyond that, he has president provided any direction. so there is no real way of knowing which way this will go. >> no. the most specific he's gotten is to say repeal and replace. what does that mean when you have four different proposals out there. >> at least. >> that's just the ones from the graphic. there could be far many more. this is such a blind process we're going into at this point. the president can't explain exactly what it is that he wants. the senate majority leader hasn't explained exactly what he wants. members are confused. that's why you're seeing this real split even in hours yesterday where you have people voting for the motion to proceed, but then against other things coming up. this is a division normal to happen in the brains of members of congress where it's a procedural motion versus the actual thing. it looks like chaos when you're looking at it from the public because what is it they actually want? it's hard to digest that in

realtime when you have so many votes flying back and forth and nobody specifying what each one signifies. >> chris cillizza, one of the headlines yesterday was john mccain made a return and did so with the scars of brain surgery still fresh. >> warrior, ambling in there, marshaling his strength. >> absolutely. it was poignant and powerful, what he called for. listen to this. >> we've been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we can't trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. that's been an approach employed by both sides, mandating legislation from the top down without any support from the other side with all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires. we're getting nothing done, my friends. we're getting nothing done! all we've really done this year is confirm neil gorsuch to the

supreme court. >> chris, just felt like john mccain feels like now is the time to speak his peace. >> i think that's right. i would say prior to the john mccain surprise decision to return to washington, i'm not sure mitch mcconnell had the votes. i think probably brings portman from ohio on board, probably shelly capito on board just to get this open to debate. i think it is a worthy sentiment expressed by senator mccain. i think those words, however, are not reflective currently of the way in which the public is sort of rewarding those who move to the extremes. this is much more about who we choose to elect than it is about what they do when they get there. the truth of the matter is most of these folks ran on exactly what they were doing. if you were voting for ted cruz

you did not think you were getting a moderate who was committed to working with the other side of the aisle. that is not how he ran. >> chris, this is not about the american people rewarding extremism. it's about a political system that's been rigged to reward people who can win closed partisan primaries in too often one-party states where that's the deciding election. where john mccain was speaking from, the best traditions in american politics are when there are bipartisan coalitions. his moral eighauthority is so ae opposite end of the american experience from donald trump, that's the tradition we need to repair to and i hope all members of the senate really listen to him. >> one thing you have to point out in there, as much as john mccain was saying things everybody needed to hear, especially at this time, he did still vote with his party.

it's even a dilemma for the person delivering the measure to live it out. >> chris, just to be clear about what mccain did, he voted on the procedural vote, voted for the brca, the first amendment that came up. that tells you that the idea of what they want to do on the republican side -- we have mod rates and outliers -- but it's still tied to the idea of taking away obamacare. >> because that's what they promised. >> that's the motivation. here is the problem with that, is that it is only as strong a move as what it leaves people with in the end. when they go to cover their kids and themselves or their young families or just their individual self, and that's where john mccain's wish is going to fall on deaf ears. the democrats know, and it is a reasonable proposition, this process is rigged. you can have your debate, but this is not your typical

promulgation process. the amendment structure here is largely controlled by the republican majority. so the idea that the democrats can come in with amendments and we'll all have equal ideas, that's a false premise, is it not? >> fundamentally. we're so far away from anything resembling that pollyannish image of the past. that would be lovely if true. >> why is it not true? >> that's not the process in place right now. the ruling party will put forward with amendments. that's the problem, also. there's a resistance even to the bunting of bipartisan reform, let alone regular order as john mccain said. >> panel, stick around. we have many more questions for you. there are other top stories we need to get to including president trump intensifying public attacks of his own attorney general jeff sessions. the president will not say if he plans to fire sessions. sources do tell cnn that top

white house aides are urging the president to stop criticizing his ag so openly. cnn's joe johns is live at the white house with more. what have you learned? >> reporter: this is almost unprecedented criticism by a president of a member of his cabinet, and among other things, the fact of the matter is the chief of staff for the attorney general jeff sessions has the message that he's not going anywhere. the strong base of support sessions built during his years in the senate started showing signs of standing up for him. >> i am disappointed in not have recused himself. >> reporter: president trump intensifying his public attacks on embattled attorney general jeff sessions. >> i want the attorney general to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies. >> reporter: accusing him of not cracking down hard enough of

leakers, disparaging sessions as weak. the president refusing to say if he'll fire his earliest and most loyal supporter, despite senior white house officials urging him to stand down. >> we will see what happens. time will tell, time will tell. >> make america great again. >> reporter: the president now questioning the reasons sessions backed limb citing his campaign crowds in a new "wall street journal" interview. he was a senator from alabama, looks at 40,000 people and probably says what do i have to lose and he endorsed me. so it's not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement. as uncertainty consumes washington, some republicans are leaping to his defense. >> i think the attorney general is doing a fine job and made the right decision to recuse himself. >> he made the right decision to recuse himself. >> if there's any person on capitol hill that has been loyal to the president of the united

states, it's jeff sessions. >> while others are saying it's up to the president. >> the president gets to decide what his personnel is. he determines who is hired and fired in the executive branch. that's his prerogative. >> reporter: even conservative media out lights breitbart and fox newscasting doubt on the president's strategy. >> publicly attacking jeff sessions for all of that? that is nuts. >> reporter: the president striking back at critics who have challenged his leadership style. >> with the exception of the late, great abraham lincoln i could be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office. that i can tell you. >> reporter: the recusal that opened the door to the appointment of special counsel robert mueller is really at the root of the tension between the president and the attorney general. the president in an interview with the "wall street journal" just yesterday was asked whether he would rule out firing the attorney general, the president said too early to say.

we'll see. >> joe, appreciate it. there is a lot in the air right now, this fight with sessions. you call it whatever you want. that's what it is. what's going on with health care and it's all circulating around this supposed new strategy in the form of a new white house communications director named anthony scaramucci. he's going to come on in our 8:00 hour. he is not supposed to be the press secretary, not supposed to be the constant face. early on they want to set a new tone. so scaramucci will be here to answer all the big questions. >> meanmeanwhile, it's been fou months since sessions recused himself from the russia investigation. so why is president trump now turning on him? we'll discuss that and more next.

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counterterrorism analyst phil mudd. sources say in the white house top high level aides have begun trying to talk up jeff sessions, tried to impress upon the president how valuable jeff sessions is and has been. there is an effort under way to keep jeff sessions, but president trump at the moment seemed unswayed by that. >> there's the trumpian psychology, if you tell him to do something, he'll apparently resist it or reject it out of hand. what his aides are trying to tell him is picking on jeff sessions is a bad idea politically, a bad idea personally because it sends a message for your earliest most loyal supporter, gets nothing in return. instead this ritualistic humiliati humiliation. when the president is asked directly and he says time will tell, he's saying let's wait until the august recess. >> he could make a recess appointment and it could slide

through easily. >> that is a possibility. there's a lot of options he's going to have. he's trying to humiliate him out of office. that's one. there are a lot of problems going after jeff sessions, one is that rod rosenstein would become acting attorney general. look, what the president is doing is unprecedented and people in his inner circle are trying to dial it back. he didn't pull back in the press conference. >> you have a stylistic problem here, chris cillizza, which is how the president is doing this. it's 'embarrassing the attorney general, the president is posturing as this being unknown, but generating all this negative energy. you the substantive issue, that we saw the health care debate get almost destabilized yesterday by revulsion, by people in his own party and some democrats at the treatment of jeff sessions because of the support for sessions. so what do you make of that

dynamic in terms of what the president has to be careful about? >> the same thing we've been saying for two years which is donald trump's words do have impact, right? this is not -- i think the idea has been successfully killed that you don't pay attention to his tweets, you pay attention to what he does. what he says doesn't matter. that's simply not true, not true in anyone's life, but certainly not the president's life. yes, john makes a good point here, you can't separate donald trump bullying jeff sessions from donald trump going in the sense saying, hey, i need you on this one. they understand. they see what he's doing, to a guy who has been with him, the first senator to endorse him, a guy who has been with him since the beginning. so if you were a senator, republican senator on the fence, you should have no idea that or

issue or belief that donald trump is going to have your back if you had voted for this. he won't. let me just -- one quick reminder. remember the rose garden ceremony after they passed the house health care bill, two weeks later he's quoted publicly saying that bill is mean and he wants the senate bill to do better. if you're an on-the-fence swing republican senator, and the president saying you are mean, this is who he is. loyalty is very much given. he expects it. he doesn't give it. and that's very difficult in politics to make work. >> phil, your bailiwick, of course, is intel agencies. let me play for you what president trump said yesterday about what he wants from sessions in terms of the intel agencies. listen to that. >> i want the attorney general to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies which

are leaking like rarely have they ever leaked before at a very important level. these are intelligence agencies, we cannot have that happen. you know many of my views in addition to that. i think that's one of the very important things they have to get on with. >> your thoughts, phil. >> first of all, this is a diversion. the investigation that the president is trying to undermine at the department of justice will go on. he keeps talking about people. this investigation predates robert mueller. there's a pile of documents, 302, interviews, financial don'ts, phone records that are now in fbi computers, he can try to slowly worm his way into getting bob mueller removed, i don't think that will happen. regardless of what he says about leaks, those documents will be there and i think the investigation will go on. on the investigation of leaks, there's a great irony, this is a president of the united states who talked about israeli

intelligence to the russians and confirmed that intelligence when he went to israel. a president who tweeted earlier this week about a secret cia program. if you're doing late night tv, you can say i guess we can start prosecuting the president because he's turned out to be the leaker-in-chief. >> what's the other main aspect of what's going on here? it's what it is saying about what matters to the president. there's something else in the "wall street journal" where he talked about sessions. the big political rub on how can you go after jeff sessions. people are focusing on his decision to recuse. most lawmakers will tell you he had no choice and the president had every reason to see this coming because sessions was part of the campaign. how can he investigate the same thing? the loyalty play is big in politics. it is. i know a lot of like to charge politicians with not being loyal, but it's not true. it's not how the business works. so sessions came out so early

for donald trump that it was shocking to people in his own party. they didn't understand it. look at what the president said about his reckoning of sessions' loyalty play. when they say he endorsed me, i went to alabama. i had 40,000 people. he was a senator from alabama. he looks at 40,000 people and he probably say, what do i have to lose and he endorsed me. so it's not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement, but i'm very disappointed in jeff sessions. john avlon. >> i mean, that is brutal. look, we all know donald trump lives in a trump centric universe. he's basically saying the senator from alabama, i'm so popular in alabama, he threw his hat in with me. there's no loyalty here. by the way, i'm disappointed to him and he's weak and beleaguered. that is so disloyal to say.

it rips the guts out of a senator who did take a stand against popular opinion and those colleagues in the senate to support him. >> jeff sessions has a lot of intestinal fortitude -- >> is that what we call it? >> what else do we call it? >> i'll talk about it on break. >> i think it's the author in camero camerota. you say ripping the guts out, you say intestinal fortitude. >> thank you all very much. great to get your perspective. >> up next, something that is way more than a headline. the standoff at sea. those two ships are about 150 yards apart. that is nothing at sea. a u.s. navy ship firing warning shots at an iranian patrol boat in the persian gulf. clearly this was a bad situation. what does it indicate about the relationship between the two countries, next. you don't let anything

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russian officials are slamming a u.s. house vote to slap new sanctions on the kremlin, one calling for, quote, painful retaliation against americans. it's seen as a direct challenge to president trump's authority. why? it gives congress the power to block efforts to weaken the sanctions. the vote was huge in favor of doing so. republicans and democrats joining in checking the president's power in this regard. the measure also includes new sanctions on iran and north korea. it is unclear when the senate will vote on it. there was this close and dangerous encounter between a u.s. navy ship and an armed iranian patrol boat in the northern persian gulf. >> 177!

[ gunshots ]. >> the iranian vessel failed to respond to radio calls, then those flares. it came within 150 yards before the u.s. thunder bolt fired those five warning shots off you heard to head off a possible collision. the iranian ship stopped his provocative action but it did linger in the area for hours. >> something to keep in mind here, also. people will hear 150 yards. that's not that close, right? it is nothing when you're on the water. even guys like me with little rinky-dink fishing boats, it's so short that it tells you it was completely intentional. it was easily avoidable. so this was a desired confrontation. >> troubling. >> so being presidential, it's easy says donald trump. in fact, he says he's more presidential than any president in history with the exception of abraham lincoln.

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president trump last night was bragging he could be more presidential than any of his predecessors except for abraham lincoln. what does he meenls by that? joining us cnn political commentator jack kingston, and former florida congressman david jolly. i want to play for you what

president trump said. it wasn't just brag dough shows, it was revealing. let me get your take on what he was trying to tell us. >> it's so easy to act presidential, but that's not going to get it done. in fact, i said, it's much easier, by the way, to act presidential than what we're doing here tonight. believe me. and i said, with the exception of the late, great abraham lincoln, i can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office. that i can tell you. >> okay. david, when he says acting presidential is not going to get it done, what does he mean? >> well, he's missing the lessons of history, and i

suppose it was kind of him to exempt abraham lincoln from his declaration. but alisyn, those we consider presidential have earned it, not declared it, fdr, reagan in berlin. president trump continues to engage in self-promotion, suggesting he is above accountability and obviously the division through insults and in his twitter feet. why we should be concerned is in moments of national crisis, in moments of national decision, i don't believe this po of president has positioned himself to be one that can unite the country. we have grave concerns about this president's leadership, many of us in the country, and there will come a time when that matters when we do need to unite under his leadership, and i don't know that we're there yet. >> jack, how do you view it? >> i think presidential in the sense that david is referring to, he has done that. he's done that with assembling i

think one of the best cabinets in the history of the country. his "state of the union" address or address to congress was magnificent, his speech to poland, outlining the west versus the terrorism. >> jack, you just fastened on the two things, the two moments where he was scripted for being disciplined and staying on a great message. but the rest of the time, the other six months, what he's saying is that he knows how to do that, those two things you cited, he can do that, but it's not going to get it done. in other words, let me just ask you, do you think he's saying that flame throwing is more effective? >> actually i think what he was saying is presidential in the kind of status quo, business-as-usual sense, he doesn't want to do. he does want to disrupt washington, break maybe the elite monopoly that runs this city and i think that's what

he's referring to, is i came to washington to absolutely take the place -- not turn it apart, but turn it on its head in many respects and shake it up. david and i served in congress. we know whether the democrats or republicans are in charge, status quo always seems to win. >> david, very quickly, do you want to respond to that shaking up idea? >> i love jack and we do need to shake things up, but i do disagree. i don't see this president as presidential at all. this is a president who fell asleep on twitter and introduced us to con fifi. >> guys, i have to play for you this conversation that was caught on a hot microphone between senator susan collins and jack reed. they're talking about the president, and their candor with each other is striking, and what their real feelings are

noteworthy. let's just listen to what they were caught saying yesterday. >> i think he's crazy. >> i'm worried. >> i mean, i don't say that lightly and as a kind of goofy guy. and you know, this thing, if we don't get a budget deal, we're going to be paralyzed. the dod is going to be paralyzed. >> i know. i don't even think he knows that there is a boc or anything -- >> that audio was worse than i thought. we had the transcript up but i don't know if you could see it. what they're saying is they don't think the president knows what the budget control act is. they don't think he knows what dire straits the federal government is in in terms of the budget and what the consequences are. jack, what is it like to hear

two lawmakers tasked with doing this think that their president doesn't understand what's going on? >> well, first of all, they violated the rule that every mike should be considered live and they should know better. i think what you have is two friends saying a lot of snarky comments and kind of stroking each other, if you will. the truth is, here is what you need to know about the budget, we spend too much, we waste too much, we tax too much. the government is too big and i think the president not only knows that, but he appointed one of the best budget directors in history in nick mulvaney who could be able to debate both of those senators and come out quite well. he knows the budget thoroughly, and that's his job. but the president does know what the balanced budget agreement was. we knows the agreement that we did in -- i think it was august 3rd, 2011, and that's been the budget of the land ever since

then. they're working to get a new budget done now. i think you have two people talking a little smack. i thought what they said about blake farenthold was atrocious. what they would say about a house member in a seven-year old photo, making fun of him. >> we haven't played that part. he's in pajamas with a playboy bunny. it's because he said he would challenge susan collins with a duel. david, what do you hear in their exchange? >> look, different presidents have different leadership styles. this president does not lead by understanding policy details, that's clear. i don't think he could hold a town hall and be able to defend it. i don't think he does understand the budget. this is an opportunity for congress to step up and actually lead. i made the case, congress didn't run on trump's platform. they ran on their own. they frankly distanced themselves, many members, from the president during the election. why fall in line behind this

policy leadership now? congress members like senator reed and senator collins, frankly paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, should step up and own their article one agenda and authority to lead with policies they've worked on for years. when they complete it, drop it on the president's desk and say, mr. president, sign here. >> congressman jolly, congressman kingston, thank you for joining us today. >> thanks. good to be with you. >> chris? big story this morning. research on traumatic brain injuries in football players. it is new and we have the details in the blee"the bleache" ahead. for my castle. we got it. and a slide, and a drawbridge. take on summer right with ford, america's best-selling brand. now with summer's hottest offer on ford f150. get zero percent for sixty months plus an additional thousand on top of your trade in. that's the built ford tough f150 with zero percent for sixty months plus an additional thousand on top of your trade in. offer ends soon during the ford summer sales event.

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we got results from the largest study ever about tbi, traumatic brain injury and football, and the link is stronger than ever to this degenerative disease called cte. andy scholes has more in "the bleacher report." we know sanjay gupta looked at this, but this research from boston university, this is more than guys like us expected to learn. >> that's right. it's definitely concerning for the game of football. researchers at boston university studied the donated brains of 111 deceased former nfl players. they found 110 of them were found to have a degenerative brain disease cte, more than 99%. cte was diagnosed in 87% of 2002 former football players studied, including high school and college players. cte is believed to be caused by repeated trauma to the head. it can only be diagnosed in someone after death. it's important to note that in

this study many of the donated brains came from former players and their families who were worried about cte while the player was still alive. lead author of the study said there are many questions that remain unanswered like how common is this and how many years of football are too many. the nfl issued a statement saying these studies are important for advancing science related to head trauma and the league will continue to work with a wide range of experts to improve health of current and former nfl athletes. alisyn? >> that is really valuable that they're beginning to look at all this and try to get answers. thank you very much. so what drives president trump's tweets? we'll look at his social media habit and the patterns it reveals and what all that tells us next.

ray's always been different. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water. so that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. china. oh ... he got there. that's the power of and. president trump and twitter. he loves it. the public and fellow politicians often do not. the president calls his tweeting

modern day presidential, an effective way to reach his supporters directly. let's be honest, the way to go around those who check him like us. more than 34 million followers. since taking office, he's tweeted nearly a thousand times. what do we see in this? most of them, the timing is relevant, come in the morning. why? because he's often watching us. in fact, he could tweet any moment. he watches us and other morning cable fair and looking to attack whatever he does not agree with. is it effective? it depends on how you measure it. the country at large according to a large abc news "washington post" poll, a full 57% of you disapprove of his twitter use, the words used to describe it most often are insulting, inappropriate. it's clear his tweets are to fire up his base, and it works. but it is that effectiveness that raises concerns. most tweets pander to cynicism and rejection of institutions.

they do frankly what the president does most, attack whoever opposes him, judges, lawmakers, of course the media, anyone who seeks to check power or speak truth to it. any suggestion of his legitimacy. he has slipped hillary clinton a full 32 times over twitter since his inauguration bringing back the old familiar theme of trying to prosecute her just days ago. remember, the president often says the media keeps bringing up his election, but the numbers tell the story. it is, in fact, the president who brings it up. his clobbering on clinton is nothing compared to his comments about the free press. the last question about his tweeting is probably the most important. what is the effect of all this negativity generated by the president? does it heal the divide? does it help secure his signature promise of making america great again? we know for sure there is one

thing it does, it drives coverage. why? the tone and substance of his tweets matter. the tone comes from the top, so do our headlines. so if consensus, unity and a positive message to move the country forward is not the goal of this tweeting, what is? that's what we know about the tweeting and some of the questions that's raised. in fact, as suggested, the president did just tweet about his crowd size last night in ohio. you know what? this is a step in the right direction for the president. the crowd in ohio was amazing last night, broke all records. we don't know if that's true, but what's the point of this tweet? it's positive. he had a great time in a great state and he'll be back soon. obviously bonding with his base, getting out there in the country is something the president enjoys and officer fs as a beneficial distraction from what's going on in washington. let's discuss this with jeremy diamond, cnn white house reporter and michael smerconish, cnn political contributor and

host of his show on cnn. what do you make of his tweets? >> i thought it was excellent. i particularly like the point about timing. i look at the president on twitter before i go in the radio. yesterday's 6:00 a.m. hour, seven different tweets. my list may not even be complete. what he does is set the stage for programs like yours and alisyn's on television, mine on radio and the entire news cycle of the day. it's almost as if we're playing catchup from the get-go and he's set the tone. one other observation i would make, his base is comprised of people who like him and people who despise his opponents. so that's why it's constantly bashing hillary, constantly bashing obama, and he's playing very effectively to that core. so even though overall americans say they don't like the tone, that's okay. he's not playing to the country

at large. he's playing to a small sliver that he needs to stay in his camp. >> a tactic that will be measured in his ultimate performance. will he expand his base and get elected again, what will it mean to his own party in the midterms? we'll see. jeremy, how do you think the tweeting shapes coverage? is it true that what he says will dictate what winds up being reported? >> absolutely. we know these tweets are presidential statements. it's just the same he could tweet something just as much as he could say something from the rose garden of the white house as he did yesterday. i can barely count the number of times when the news cycle or my day in particular has been torpedoed by one or a series of tweets. i think it's important to look at whether or not there is a grand strategy behind these tweets. i think we often try to find some deeper meaning in what the president does or how he approaches media coverage, but a

lot of times -- sometimes there is a strategy behind these tweets, to drive coverage and use the bully pulpit of the presidency, but other times it's not so much that. sometimes he's simply venting. he's found twitter as an outlet for his frustrations. that's the way in which he used this platform since before he ran for the presidency, he was an avid twitter user as well. i think we see that consistently even today, venting frustrations and getting it out before the day starts. >> well articulated but also brings up a frustration. often it seems that the president gets a defense by his own randomness. lawmakers will say, look, i don't pay attention to the tweets. neither should you. john mccain said, i pay more attention to his actions. to me that always feels like a very hollow excuse for something. how can you ignore anything that comes out of the president of the united states? is it different that he tweets it than if he were to whisper it

to someone in the hallway or say it at a meeting in the white house? >> that suggests there's an inconsistency between the twitter feed and the way he comports himself. i don't see any inconsistency. i think what you see in the tweets is a good measure of the man. he has a good ear to put chum in the water for the sharks. he knows what ignites that base. look at the speech he delivered in west virginia to the boy scout jamboree which many of us felt was inappropriate for that audience. i think he was feeding on the response he was seeing. i would love to see a side by side of what the intended remarks were and what he actually said. i think what you would probably find is as he heard the ovation and the response, he took more and more deviations. these tweets, they reflect that same thinking on his part. >> jeremy, what's your take on anthony scaramucci coming in and the shakeup that is anticipated and whether or not this is going to really change anything? because the president has been

tweeting in full effect since anthony scaramucci got in there. we haven't seen a change on that level. what's your guess? >> yeah, we certainly haven't. i think we've even seen a series of pretty significant tweet storms even by trump standards in the last couple days since anthony scaramucci has been appointed. i think we'll see a little bit of a different style in terms of how scaramucci approaches these versus how sean spicer approached them. we saw spicer waiver between, i fully back what the president says here or i'll let the tweets speak for themselves. scaramucci feels comfortable in that medium, mostly because he has a better relationship with the president. he understands how he thinks and works a lot better. i think we've already seen anthony scaramucci come out and say, listen, this is what the president is tweeting and amplifying that message rather than trying to moderate it in some way or simply let it stand and let reporters' questions continue to fuel themselves. >> strong