. he's taken more than 50 questions in four press events over the last 48 hours an the president is talking about north korea and possible military action against kim jong-un but perhaps military operations in venezuela which took the pentagon but surprise.

we begin this hour with north korea and starting the day with a treat that the military is locked and loaded. today he was asked to elaborate. >> mr. president, what do you mean by military solutions or locked and loaded when it relates to north korea. >> i think it is really onus. we are looking at that very carefully and i hope they are going to understand the gravity of what i said and what i said is what i mean. so hopefully they'll understand, peter, exactly what i said and the meaning of that those words. those words are very, very easy to understand. nobody loves a peacefully solution better than president trump, i could tell you. hopefully it will work out but this is going on for many years an it would have been easier to solve this years ago before they are in the position that they are in. but we will see what happens. we think that a lot of good things could happen and we could also have a bad solution but we think a lot of good things could happen. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i think you know the answer to that.

>> when you say bad solutions, are you talking about war? is the u.s. going to go to war. >> i think you know the answer to that. >> shim chuto joins us now with the latest. what more did he have to say about north korea. >> he did say that tonight he was speaking with the chinese president jinping scheduled to take place at 8:00 so a short time ago. we don't know the substance of the call. certainly a key conversation here because the u.s. needs china help. but the president that you saw in the answers, didn't give any clarity as to what u.s. military options are what the broader strategy is and we don't know what the president's bellicose tone, if that is part of an in tensional strategy and if the president is prelansing because at times his words have contradicted the diplomat tone coming from james mattis said

focused on a diplomat method, and they didn't respond. what is the reporting, are there back chams. >> cnn is reported there has been since february of this year, this is principally through the u.s. special representative for north korea affairs, joseph young, he traveled to north korea, you may remember when otto warm bier was brought back and his discussions with north korea that had taken place at the u.n. and the representative and also another overseas locals an during his trips to north korea they have been principally about americans detained there and there are still three others, but also about the broader relationship. as well as some lower level contacts. people not part of the u.s. government. but speaking to other north korea officials. to date that hasn't warmed the regularations but keeps a channel for discussions open.

with the efforts, for instance when you hear from mattis talking about diplomacy being at least the first choice for the trump administration. >> thank you very much. want to bring in the panel. paul, i wonder how much do you think the president's rhetoric compared to secretary of state and the secretary of defense, that it is part of an actual coherent strategy, that it is good cop and bad cop and there is a lot of different ways people had characterized it. >> i hope that is what it is. they are also not touting a terrific sung ses that donald trump and his administration had getting the united nations, including russia and china to pass tough sanctions against north korea. that is a big deal. even people like me will salute him for that and ambassador nikki haley at the u.n. and secretary tillerson. he had the community on his side

by pursuing very tough actions but without the bellicose and threatening war and i don't know why he's not touting those sanctions and i don't think he's winning any allies. >> and even if china was going to -- and they voted for the sanctions and whether they would carry out the sanctions. and this tough rhetoric will motivate the chinese to get more involved in north korea. >> i think his words are aimed at north korea and as many aimed at china to get them in the game. a i agree with paul, it was amazing to get them on board with the sanctions but that hasn't stopped the rhetoric and they may have miniaturized a nuclear weapon and i don't think his position is different from other presidents. barack obama, less than one year ago, said to be clear, the u.s. does not and will never accept north korea as a nuclear state. that is what donald trump is saying. we're not going to accept it. what do the words mean. if they have a nuclear weapon,

we're going to take actions to top them from having it. and so i think there is a lot of hand wringing going on about what he is doing but his position is the same as any other president that came before him. >> but he's saying that any threats coming from north korea and today he elaborated that he's talking about rhetorical threats. there was some question, did he mean actual threats against our allies and military maneuvers an talking about kim jong-un making threats. that is intolerable. >> and think this is also being -- so there is the message to north korea and also the message to the republican base. the republican base was out of their mind with how deliberative, and how friendly with ourenem -- our enemies and our foes president barack obama was. this is very well received by republicans.

they like the tough talk and i think he is getting the feedback so he will double down and triple down and he love playing the tough guy and the bluster and the thingser saying, fire and fury, locked and loaded they sound like new title for a vin diesel film but he is playing a game of chicken with an erratic man in north korea. >> and he also disdained and this is what they like about donald trump, the role of leader of the free world. so answer the question of why not continue to orchestrate all of these voices, having won this important vote in the united nation, why not orchestrate multiple voices around the world, all putting pressure from different directions on north korea. instead what we get is the bellicose and the threats and comic book talk, sounding like he wants to take on this person physically, personally one-on-one which lets an important opportunity just get passed. >> part of his appeal in the

campaign, was he was a radical break with the george w. bush and the neo conservative model a. this is what he said on december 6th when he introduced general matt is and he said this, we will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we nothing about and we shouldn't be involved with. we don't want to have a dep completed -- a depleted mimt because we are all over the area. and the republicans like the bellic osity and george w. bush and the people who give him this vict yoir in the rust belt were about come home america. >> and i think a couple of points are important here. the president, we have to make a distinction between calculated and raveling and uncalculatedin consistenty and what we've seen is today where the president has an opportunity to clarify his rhetoric, what he does is ramp

up the rhetoric. by suggesting that the north korean leader personalized, that he personally articulated the threat. in other words, that he owned what his generals had put forward. that does not in any way advance our interests. and the point being here is the president -- i should say leader of the free world and the commander-in-chief should not be speaking to the chinese as though he is speaking to his base. that is dangerous and that is what we've seen over and over again. undisciplined and unfocused communication that is not relative to the administration in terms of the secretary of state and secretary of defense and certainly not with respect to world leaders. >> and the other aspect of what is going on here, that he is a master of, he is the master of distraction. there is a lot of wag the dog going on here. you know what we're not talking about. we're not talking about paul

manafort's house getting raided in the early morning or the russia investigation which is something burrowed in donald trump head and he can't get ahead and he is distracting us with a very good tactic. >> i talked to william perry who served under president clinton and he told me what he thought what was the north korea end game. >> they are not suicidal, the leaders, kim jong-un, they are not seeking martyrdom, they are seeking to have the regime survive and keep the kim dynasty and we should understand that in dealing with them. they are ruthful, despotic regime and cruel to their own people. it is an abhorrent regime and perhaps they have a arsenal of 20 nuclear weapons and we have to take in account. >> he is saying they are a rational actor. and he said they are homicidal

not suicidal. >> i think it is an interesting political point about the way donald trump talked about foreign policy in the campaign. think i think is set him apart. but the policy of the trump administration is we're not seeking regime change in north korea and what secretary perry just said, they have nuclear weapons. they don't have to hit anything in the united states. if they detonate one of these things in the atmosphere, it is enough to mess up the electrical grid, airplanes and anything with a circuit board. they don't have to be accurate. so he is dealing with heightened circumstances beyond what presidents had to deal with. do i want war? no. do republicans want war? no. do we need to be prepared to bomb these people and missile silos back to the 15th century, damn right. >> we're going to take a break and we'll get the panel's take about venezuela and the white house said the president was being sarcastic when he said he would thank putin for expelling

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this when hugh hewitt asked him about venezuela. >> do you see a military intervention from any outside source. >> i don't think so. i think everyone is required to to have one voice about the need to protect the rights and the safety of the venezuelan people. >> and mosts ago the defense minister called the reparks in his words a crazy act. back now with the panel. and you were tweeting about this earlier. critics have said this plays in the hands of madurea in venezuela who has been talking about the u.s. trying to overthrow him. >> right. and venezuela is a different situation. they are not -- they are not aiming nuclear missiles at us. it is an internal problem. i'm glad that we're paying attention to what is going on in venezuela because it has been going on for months and months and hundreds have die and opposition leaders are jailed and they are suffering and people are practically starving in a very rich country and for

far too long, the international community, including the united states has sat by in silence watching this happen in our own hemisphere. that being said, what donald trump said, i don't know what that means. what are we doing? like in with manu eleanoel noriega in panama and we need for the night community to get activated and impose sanctions and support the opposition and we need to bring light to the situation. but military action from the united states, wag the dog. >> in fact, he got sanctions there. the united states sanctions for the top maduro thugs and i completely agree and they are appalling, terrible for the country and human rights and it is great the united states is standing up and we did in the

last couple of weeks. but the notion that we should have a military option there. the whole thing is a potential national security policy. and thank god we never do anything. we are not massing troops to go invade venezuela and steaming war ships toward venezuela and so this is what president trump says and it is i think scary and maybe even crazy. and it is what the united states of america is doing and so far what we are doing is all of the right things. both diplomatically and not yet doing military illy. >> and is there a schism between what the president said and the government is doing. >> don't mind what he said. he is only the president. >> which is very significant. because at what point does he become the boy who cried wolf. if there is no such thing as military action and no such thing as action against north korea, and i want to say that, a lot of the sanctions that we've

seen against venezuela have been led by congress. it has been people like certainly marco rubio and ileana rot lehtonen. >> and he is not the boy who cried wolf. a few weeks ago he fired 50 some cruise missile news syria. and he will take action when he feels like it is warranted. i don't think we'll have military action in venezuela but i'm not sure it is a idea for the commander and chief to table it off the table. i agree with what you said about venezuela but i don't think it is wrong to leave something on the table but not necessarily make it your first, second or thirst option. >> but to paul's.earl -- paul's point and saying we are not doing regime change, that is what he is proposing to do in venezuela. he said i want regime change in venezuela. there are so many thougsands an thousands in my home town in miami because what is going on in venezuela is horrible. but what donald trump is saying is irresponsible.

>> go ahead. >> it is one thing to take military options off the table and another thing to put them on the table. and to speak in ways that are inconsistent with respect to venezuela and north korea, undermines the president's credibility in the aggregate and that is a problem with this administration. that is the say to speak in the undisciplined and unfocused way and bringing it up by the day and by the tweet. this is not presidential behavior. >> he's gotten criticism for not holdi holding press conferences and taken 50 questions in the last few days and he clearly seems to like it. these are not forced briefings. >> people who have reported on trump have discovered and god bless the people stuck in a stake out at bedminster and had no real ability or hope of getting anything and they get

the longef press conference since february. he is impulsive and does things off the cuff. there was no directed message to take the questions. he likes to engage. it is one of the good things about being a journalist covering him. >> it is one of the things that during the campaign, i always -- i would publicly sort of spoke well of him for, being willing to sit down for a kind of a free ranging interview and he would answer questions where you could disagree or not with what he said but hes would answer questions. there was a time gorilla got loose and got shot and he said what should people do about that and he answered. >> har am be. >> and we'll expand the focus on the white house explanation that the president's remarks thanking vladimir putin for dispelling the diplomatic personnel was sarcasm. from maybelline new yor. beyond matching skin tone... fits skin's texture. blurs pores.

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one that keeps you connected to what matters most. in more than seven decades not a sing lal nuclear weapon has been used in the world and one rings true tonight as the u.s. and soviet union learned how to confront one another short of launching missiles with verbal engagement. anyone of a certain age remembers the language leaders used. it wasn't perfect but we're still around because it worked. today the current president became part of it with respect to north korea. >> i hope that they are going to fully understand the gravity of what i said and what i said is what i mean. so hopefully they'll understand,

peer peter, exactly what i said and the meaning of those words. they are very easy to understand. >> his message is clear, self-evident and needs no interpretation and on the same day that he and his advisers were telling kim jong-un to take the president's words literally and totally seriously, they were saying the opposite about this. >> i want to thank him, because we're trying to cut down on payroll. and as far as i'm concerned, i'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people. because now we have a smaller payroll. >> that was the president yesterday appearing to thank vladimir putin for cutting 755 u.s. employees from the american diplomat presence in russia and today sara huckabee sanders said he was being sarcastic and it is hardly the first time we've heard him to say somethingin se ---in sendy era and it has left his advisers scrambling. the president tweeted accusing president obama of wiretapping

of him but because he used quotation marks, he metropolitan broad surveillance and not necessarily wiretapping. that is one of four tweets. two using the quote marks an two not. maybe he only half meant this. and in front of police officers he made remarks on use of force that caused controversy. >> and when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, i said please don't be too nice. like when you guys put somebody in the car and you are protecting their head. you know. the way you put your hand -- like don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody. don't hit their head. i said you could take the hand away, okay. >> well they said he was only joking. and during the campaign and during the presidency, the message is the president does

not mean what the words coming out of his mouth may indicator as one surrogate put it. >> the media is taking trump literally and never taking him seriously but takes him literally. and i think a lot who voted for trump take him seriously but not literally. >> and it served candidate or president trump well but in a time when the lives of millions of people in south korea and north korea and japan, guam, american service members, and chinese depend on kim jong-un taking the president seriously is now the time for the president to be less than clear about everything he said. and to come full circle on the remarks about putin, the president weighed in on that this evening and reopened the door to maybe he wasn't kidding after all. >> were you being sarcastic. >> in order to reduce our payroll, absolutely.

i think you know. >> that we'll see. and in fact i was just speaking to the secretary and we're talking about coming up with an answer when [ inaudible ] nod. >> by september 1st we'll have a response but we have reduced payroll substantially, yes. >> and back now with the panel. and joining is trump biographer michael d'antonio. and is this something you heard a lot from the president. >> well humor, no. he is not the kind of person who tells a joke because you have to have empathy for the people listening and he doesn't have much empathy for people listening. but sarcasm is sort his forte. he's often very sarcastic. it is a way of cutting someone down and using a sort of bitter rhetoric to make a point. but it also allows him to declare what he really meant after the affordable care act.

so he can say something and see how it goes over, if it goes over well then it was serious and if it doesn't go over well, well i was only kidding. it was only sarcastic. it is like the guy who goes out with his wife and said a cutting remark about her dress and then on the way home, said well i was only kidding. i really love your dress. he can have it both ways and every which way by doing this. >> obviously when you are president, every word you say is parsed. it doesn't seem like he's adjusting at all to that. it is sort of the same way of communicating and talking which worked very well throughout his life and during the campaign. but in a situation like this, the stakes are high. >> that is right. selling timeshares in a condo is one thing. and even running for president is one thing. it is all about big promises and god knows every politicians puffs and inflates when they are campaigning. i get that. but when you are commander-in-chief of 1.4 million people under arms, when you have 4,000 nuclear weapons at your sole command,

you better be really careful about your words, especially about those forces. i think it should be about everything but can we at least get him on the forces he has around him some of the best generals, dunnford, chairman of the joint chiefs and general mattis and kelly as his chief of staff and mcmaster from the army and his national security adviser, surely those are telling him, sir, when you are talking about our world and putting our troops in danger, you be very, very careful with what you say. >> general mattis made remarks the other day and talking about war you don't need to use the words, everyone knows the rellity of it. >> listen, the problem with this administration is the example being set at the very top. the president has used irresponsible rhetoric with respect to the military. he tweets a transgender ban and

puts servicemen and women in fear of losing their careers and their ability to defend this country. he uses loose and irresponsible rhetoric with respect to the state department. the same week our state department, our ambassador staff in cuba is subject to attack, he is speaking irresponsibly with respect to those who are serving in russia. he speaks irresponsibly with respect to the north koreans in terms of tweeting and asserting threats that are not really threats and might be threats. he needs to clarify as to whether or not they are threats. fact of the matter is, he is no longer a reality tv star. he is our president. meaning he has a responsibility to those in uniform and his responsibility for those in the state department and most importantly he has responsibility to the citizens and the constitution. and that demands a certain level of seriousness and thoughtfulness. >> and also consistency and

there is going to be a natural disaster, a man made disaster where we need to hear from our president and we need to believe what he is saying. credibility man matters. if he wants to be funny, go to the white house correspondents lynn lynn -- dinner, go to late night but this does not pass the smell test and should not be justified and explained away at a lame attempt at humor by the united states. >> scott. >> this is probably a ron bu burgundy moment. milk was a bad choice. and not a great subject matter for a joke. i picked up on the sarcasm. and i think a lot of folks did. but it is not the right topic. i know some serving overseas and some are in the career foreign service and they love their jobs an put themselves in harm's way and they love their country. i take the white house at its

word andize take hit president at his word that this is sarcasm but this is not warranted and this is probably one of those cases. >> the problem with a lot of rhetoric is not just what is said, but what is not said. so unlike past presidents, we don't hear this president speaking the names of dissidents who are rotting away in prisons around the world. victims of russian regime, victims of the venezuela regime, victims of the north korea regime. when does he start to sort of say their names, speak out on behalf of human rights, on human dignity, things that -- that [ inaudible ] was good at whether you liked his politics or not. it has a huge impact for somebody who is in complete obscurity, hoping that the leader of the free world, hoping that somebody in it the outside world with a megaphone and with some power to do something will speak up for them. so while we're trying to sort of pars whether or not he means to start a war or not start a war, whether he means to sort of excuse an outrageous breach of

protocol by firing 755 diplomats, there is more that can be done but we can never get there as long as we create this special space for donald trump. >> but also -- >> but it is -- [ multiple speakers ] >> if it was sarcasm, today he had yet another opportunity to condemn the act. >> but it is the day after -- or he said that and then the white house described it as sarcasm. they do announce that they are going to come up with a policy on september 1st of how to respond to what vladimir putin did which is -- if this happened days ago, you would think they could have said something much earlier of we'll come up with a policy. >> and it would be nice for trump to condemn what vladimir putin is doing which he does against mcconnell or murkowski. >> and we have more and including break and a phone call between the president and the mayor of guam and is the

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we've just gotten in video of a phone call between the president and the governor of guam. it took place within the last hour. chief of staff kelly on the line as well. here is a portion of it. >> we are with you a thousand

percent. we are with you a thousand percent and i want to call you and say hello. how are you. >> mr. president, as the governor of guam, representing the people of guam, and as an american citizen, i have never felt more safe and so confidence with you at the helm. so with all of the criticism over there about w a guy being targeted, we need a president like so you i'm so thankful and i'm glad you are holding the helm, sir. >> well we're going to do a great job. you don't worry about a thing and make sure to have [ inaudible ] somebody with my thought process. that was denied and but frankly you could have said that for the last three presidents. but you're going to be taking care of it -- and i have to tell you, become extremely famous. all over the world they are talking about guam and i think tourism -- i could say this, your tourism is going to go up ten-fold so i congratulate you.

>> back now with the panel. so clearly, there is this red line about guam. really, i guess set for tuesday. when that is when north korea said that they were going to fire missile orz potentially fire missiles to guam. >> and toward. they didn't say they were going to incinerate. and for all of the talk, i don't know what our position is. what is the united states going to. the president said if they threaten and as you pointed out, he even means verbally threaten. we're going to rain fire and fury upon them. well they have threatened again and again. >> well now it is kim jong-un himself threatened. >> which i find interesting. over there he has his generals say the bellicose things and now he is holding back which is a a better communication strategy. >> and politically, doesn't that -- there is an argument that it helps the president look

strong and for the people -- the people rallying around the president. >> i have a different view of his base. they are isolationist types. a lot of people who put him over the top. they didn't want america to police the world and i saw donald trump go to south carolina primary and say to jeb bush's face, your brother did not keep us safe. >> please don't remind me about the primary. >> but that was harassy and he won south carolina and i think he got elected on isolationist type of message. >> and you could still believe that if you believe the united states is being threaten by intercontinental ballistic missiles. >> and don't forget the anti-obama, he did nothing and i'm going to do something different. >> and isolationism is about not policing the rest of the world. guam is us. we are guam. they are americans.

this is our people. we have military facilities there. we have thousands of soldiers there. they have a governor who is a proud american citizen. so i don't view ignoring guam as viable because any attack on guam is an attack on united states of america. >> of course it is. >> so i think his base would understand that and not default -- >> just for the record, guam was threatened after the president said if you make any more threats i'll incinerate your country. this didn't begin with guam. it began with north korea testing missiles and apparently having the capability of a war head. but our president then starting to say if you even threaten, i will incinerate you which is too bellicose for most americans. >> the president has drawn a red, purple, pink line relative to north korea. but he's also drawn a red line relative to his predecessors. so in other words, he said relative to president bush. and president obama, i'm not

going to do what they did. not defining what he will do. this is again dangerous, irresponsible, undisciplined rhetoric by our commander in chief. he has that -- that one message, it is focus and tight and consistence across the administration and we haven't seen that. >> and republican senators throwing support behind the majority leader and the president not backing down. taxes and fees included. more reasons why t-mobile is america's best unlimited network.

for the third day in a row the president went after the senator mitch mcconnell. take a look. >> people have been talking about repeal and replace. for seven years, long before i ever decided to be doing what i'm doing. seven years they've been talking repeal and replace and it didn't happen and not only didn't it happen that -- it was a surprise and a horrible surp and unfair to the republican party and the people of this country. so i was not -- i was not impressed. >> the strategy doesn't seem to be working so well for the president. already high ranking gop members are speaking out in support of mitch mcconnell while the senator is not taking the bait and sticking with no comment. earlier .i spoke with george

mitchell who is familiar with mitch mcconnell with his take on this. >> when you hear the president publicly attack mitch mcconnell for the third straight day. what goes through your mind? does it make sense? >> i think it is unfair and unwise. think more the moment about what senator mitch mcconnell did. he persuaded 96% of the republicans in the senate to vote for a bill that had the support of only 17% of the american people. a bill that was so bad that some of the republicans who voted for it denounced it in advance, and other republicans who voted for it insisted that they be assured in advance that it would not become law before they voted for it. and yet he got 49 out of 52 votes. i think that is rather extraordinary. i don't think it was the manager that was the problem, it was the

message, the substance of the bill advanced in the senate and in the house, it would just be disastrous for the american people if they were enacted in law. and so i think the president action first misplaced the blame and secondly makes it harder for the president in the future because that vote in the senate reflects, i think, in part, a support for senator mcconnell condition his caucus. >> is there a strategy in criticizing mitch mcconnell. does it help women had the peop -- help him with his base and to try to create distance between himself and his unpopular congress. >> well i'm unable to discern any strategy that would be helpful to the president in this regard except the one of avoiding responsibility for any failure and pinning it on someone else. but i think it is a real mistake

to antagonize the majority leader since i think senator mcconnell, through his tactics aand approach achieved a remarkable vote for one of the worst bills presented in congress in recent years. i don't agree with his politics but i think he himself representing the cause of the republican party and the administration has done a very good job tactically. >> what is the strategic danger for the president in doing this, and in speaking ill of the mcconnell and going him day after day. i'm sure in the past not all presidents and their imagine ort leaders have gotten along privately. >> this is, i think, unchartered territory, anderson. i'm not sure how it will turn out. senator mcconnell hasn't said much in recent days. but he's bound to be antagonized by this and it can't possibly

help him at home. i think it will anger some of his colleagues. many of whom have rushed out to support him and express their support for him. they'll make calculations on their own future but i can't see how this could possibly help the president in the difficult legislative struggles that are ahead. he still has got health care, he got infrastructure, he has tax reform, he's got a whole range of issues that confront him and i would think he would want to take steps now to modify his criticism because i don't think he will be able to replace him. >> senator mcconnell, i know he paid you a compliment, he wanted to run the senate like you did by treating everyone with respeck. do you think he will be able to move beyond the jabs that he is receiving? >> yes, i do. i think he has a responsibility, not just to the president, obviously he has to the members of his caucus, but everyone has a higher responsibility to the

country, to the constitution. and i know senator mcconnell very well, and i regard him as a friend but i don't agree with much of his politics but nor he with mine but i think he could rise above it with the legislation but it is bound to have an effect with him and his colleagues and it republican senators -- and it also poses a risk in the house. if anything goes wrong, they are getting the blame. >> thank you. i appreciate your time. >> we have more breaking news. in venezuela, in the wake of the president's marks saying the military action was possible. the white house saying that president maduro has requested a phone call from president trump and the white house has responded this way, quote, president trump will gladly speak with the leader of venezuela as soon as democracy is restored in that country. and back now with the panel. >> we just sat out here a few minutes ago and everybody be but

me sort of poo pooed the idea and look what happened. he leaves the military option on the table and the president of venezuela freaks out and called the white house. >> maturo was not freaking out. that was a perfect response from the white house. he was not freaking out and calling the white house to stage a publicity stunt and this helps him, if the imperialism pigs against us, that message, he was doing a publicity stunt. >> he got stiff armed from donald trump. he got a gift. he is a thug and auto crat and now he is a dictator and he needs the great american colonial power. their currency is called a bolivar. they are about standing up for imperialism and for the president who should be standing for democracy, he is probably n unintentionally giving him a threat to rally his country against. >> and the white house response

is -- we should not be talking to -- >> and theresy history of u.s. intervention which resonated with some people in venezuela. >> and we've seen in nicaragua and in panama and in grenada. >> in the republican -- >> right. >> do you think the president continues to talk about venezuela? is this a subject you expect to hear, because we haven't heard much from him on this. >> does he know where it is. he said it is very close to our neighbors. it is 2,000 miles -- i guess global sense, that is kind of in the neighborhood. but that is a big neighborhood. >> it is also -- one more opportunity to sort of remand everybody that we don't have a coherent policy. we didn't hear one for this hemisphere and didn't hear it during the campaign and not hearing it now. he talked about venezuela but clearly there is a need to rally the region to talk to our allies in the region and have a different kind of conversation. at this point, we're building a wall with mexico and we're

restricting travel that cuba and threatening military intervention in ven veb aezuela what ties it together other than a series of comments by the president. >> we have to take a break. we'll be right back.

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