we'll see you back here at 10:00 eastern for an hour of "newsroom." >> don't go anywhere, though, smerconish is with you in just a couple of seconds. stay close. i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. locked and loaded, fire and fury. that's where we find ourselves this week. president trump amping up the rhetoric about north korea's nuclear capability. is he in danger of detonating a volatile situation or reaching a rival by playing at his level? >> i'm very disappointed in mitch. >> trump also took aim at his own senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, after

criticizing other gop leaders. is this politically savvy or political suicide? plus, he's been mostly m.i.a. since the election, but president barack obama said to be returning to public life this fall. does this help or hurt the democrats? dnc chair tom perez is here. and, more americans identify as independent than either republican or democrat, so why are we so underrepresented? and might that change after a retreat taking place this weekend in my hometown? but first, much of the debate this week has concerned the president's rising rhetoric regarding north korea. on tuesday speaking from his country club in bedminster, new jersey, the president escalated tensions when he threatened that north korea would be met with fire and fury like the world had never seen. when critics were quick to criticize the president for sounding much like his rival, kim jong-un, i defended the president, or at least gave him

the benefit of the doubt. i said on my sirius xm radio program that where no amount of negotiation was successful in the past with north korea and sanctions seemed to have reached their limit, this was probably a calculated strategy meant to reach the north korean dictator on his own level by speaking to him in a language he would understand. i noted that the president has surrounded himself with generals, jim mattis at defense, h.r. mcmaster as national security advisor, joseph dunford and most recently former general john kelly as the president's chief of staff. surely, i surmised, he consulted their advice. finally i focused attention on the fact that as the president sat arms folded, he referred to a note placed in front of him and repeated himself, seemingly for emphasis and to get the message just right. >> north korea best not make any more threats to the united

states. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. he has been very threatening beyond a normal statement. as i said, they will be met with fire, fury and, frankly, power the likes of which this world has never seen before. >> all of this i concluded was part of a reasoned strategy, probably one crafted with the aid of a psychological profile of kim. but i was wrong. glenn thrush and peter bake at "the new york times" soon revealed that the president's words caught his own aides off guard. he was speaking extemporaneously and that note in front of him dealt not with north korea but with the opioid crisis. he apparently awakened to news in "the washington post" that pyongyang had made advances with the development of nuclear

weapons that could be deployed in ballistic missiles. and this was his improvised response. and this exhibition of intemperance wasn't a one-off. on thursday he said he might not have gone far enough on tuesday. by friday, he was quadrupling down when he tweeted military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should north korea act unwisely. hopefully kim jong-un will find another path. provocation, never letting an opponent have the final word, it served the president well when vanquishing political opponents, but this is not the running of an election. the outcome could be measured in bodies, not electoral votes. it's easy to slide into war, mr. president. peace is much more difficult. so now that we are locked and loaded, what's the best strategy? joining me now, former commander of the uss cole, kirk lepold. he was in command in october of 2000 when the cole was bombed while being refuelled in yemen's

harbor and killing tragically 17 american sailors. commander, respond to what i've just had to say, because i think we have a disagreement in this regard. you don't find the rhetoric to have been reckless, do you? >> i do not. the president has inherited 30 years of failed policies and actions by multiple administrations on both sides of the aisle. at this point in time, we're in the untenable position once again where for the first time in our nation's history, we are having a nation threaten the united states with the offensive use of nuclear weapons. that has never happened before. while this language may seem or you see to think it may be intemperate or aggressive or leading us down a path to are wa, it's forcing the region out there to come to grips with the fact that this threat can't be tolerated. first and foremost it's aimed at not north korea but in fact china. >> what makes me unsteady about this is what i said, the fact that this was apparently the

president by the seat of his pants and not in consultation with the intelligencia, the generals around him, who were apparently caught off guard. as someone with your credentials, surely you must find that unsettling. >> well, i think the president did take their thoughts into account. it's not like he doesn't get briefings, doesn't understand what's going on. occasionally when he makes these remarks, he makes them in a very lean forward fashion. while those generals probably wanted him to make more temp rat remarks, at this point in time the signal has been sent. we need to make sure that china comes to the table, both in articles that have been written recently both in "the atlantic" and now this morning with henry kissinger in "the wall street journal." the bottom line is we must denuclearize north korea. we still have a number of diplomatic options available to us before we ever even get to the point where military options

need to be truly laid out on the table. the military will always be ready, but now it's time for the hard work, the diplomacy needs to start. and that's going to start with getting china involved, not allowing them to push this away and think that they can just have a buffer state that's going to be nuclear armed and threaten us and engage in a meaningful manner that will stabilize the region and the world. if china doesn't want to do that, they will live with the consequences of that problem. >> commander, the atlantic piece to which you refer was written by mark bowden of blackhawk down fame. he said there are four outcomes. a crushing military strike, a limited conventional strike, decapitation or assassination of kim jong-un or, get ready for it, acceptance of the fact that north korea will have a nuclear capability. and he concludes, that's probably the most acceptable of these bad outcomes and the one that we're headed toward. >> absolutely disagree with him.

the first thing is when he laid out those options, the number one thing he did was say here are three military options or capitulation. the fact that he didn't even consider the diplomatic pressure that can be applied on china so that we can develop a comprehensive and in-depth set of sanctions that can be applied against that country who has aided and abetted the north korea nuclear program for years if not decades, providing economic, financial, technical and military support to allow them to do that, unless that pressure gets brought to bear, we're not going to be at the point of capitulation. if we do that, then all bets are off worldwide and you'll see north korea, pakistan and iran become the largest proliferators of nuclear technology the world has ever seen and that will destabilize the globe, much less the united states and the asian region. >> look, i think we all hope that sanctions, a negotiated resolution is the way this should turn out, but thus far leaning on the chinese is not

bearing fruit where kim jong-un is saying that he's going to fire test missiles in close proximity to guam. so i'm sure what bowden -- let me just finish this thought. i'm sure bowden meant if we can't resolve it peacefully, then we've got those four solutions. which is the most likely? >> i think the most likely is going to end up being a large scale military force moving into the region, which will bring china to the table. i don't think a shot will need to be fired in order to do this. the reality, michael, is also there has been no pressure applied on china. there has been talk. talk is cheap. it's gotten us nowhere for 30 years. it is now time for concrete actions focused on the problem. solve the problem, not the symptom. the symptom is north korea and nuclear weapons. the problem is china. we need to begin addressing it with china and making sure that they understand that this is a noncompromise issue, that we

will nautica pit laot capitulat nuclear weapons to threaten the united states, our territories or our allies. >> commander, thanks for your service. i once had the privilege of boarding the uss cole and it was a great honor. thank you. >> thank you, michael. now, worries about the north korean missile threat mostly focused on the proximity of guam, the island that is a u.s. territory just 2100 miles from north korea. as the front page of guam's newspaper warns, it would only take 14 minutes for a nuclear warhead to reach there from the rogue nation. what about alaska, it's only 3500 miles away from north korea, so how is alaska preparing for a potential nuclear attack? joining me now, the governor of the great state of alaska, bill walker. by the way, an independent. governor walker, you have said that the trajectory of north korea includes alaska. so how are you responding? >> well, we take it very seriously, obviously.

what many don't realize is in world war ii in addition to the bombing of pearl harbor, alaska was also bombed because of our location, so our location is very strategic and we take it very seriously. i rely on briefings that i receive from our military advisers in alaska and their counterparts in washington. we watch it very closely and we're very concerned about the escalation of this. >> would the activating of a naval base in alaska, i've read some of your comments in this regard, make you more or less safe, do you think? >> well, no question it would make us safer to have -- to reactivate a naval base in alaska. our coastline exceeds all coastline in the continental u.s. and, again, our location is very strategic. so, yes, i have been talking a lot about reactivating a naval base in alaska. >> i guess the reason i ask, governor, is i wonder if it then increases the likelihood that you become a target of sorts for kim jong-un?

>> i don't believe it increases at all. i think it helps us in our preparedness. we have a very -- a very strong presence in alaska in the air force as well as the army and the national guard, so the naval and the coast guard is very active in alaska, but really the missing piece to me is the naval presence in alaska. >> you use the word "preparedness." are we at a point in this crisis where you think there need to be public activities of preparedness, drills, maybe akin to what went on in the cold war with kids under their desks? >> well, what we do is make sure the alaskans are prepared for any disaster. we've had earthquakes, fires, floods, et cetera. so our message on preparedness is a general message of we need to be prepared for whatever comes our way. >> but not -- not a siren call where at a particular time you would want the populous to be responding in a particular way? >> no, we have not. we have not gone to that level at this point.

i spoke with the governor in hawaii a few days ago and talked about what they're doing in hawaii and what we're doing in alaska. we monitor what other similarly situated states are doing. we obviously take it seriously but have not gone to that level at this point. >> do you feel comfortable in terms of the level of information you're being provided by the federal government? is the white house in touch with you? have you spoken to the president on this issue? >> you know, we do that through our military advisers that are in alaska. and so i'm very comfortable with the level of information that we've been receiving. >> governor, you are the only -- correct me if i'm wrong. you're the only independent governor of all 50 states. >> that's correct. >> we need more independents. i guess that's my plug, so i really appreciate your being here. >> well, thank you. it's an honor to be the governor of alaska and it's an honor to be able to serve as representation for the entire

state. we have -- we have a cabinet that's made up of -- i don't know what the makeup of the cabinet is quite honestly politically. it's a bipartisan administration and the lieutenant governor and i enjoy daily our work in doing this together. >> governor bill walker, thanks so much for being here. >> thank you. >> what are your thoughts? tweet me @smerconish or go to my facebook page and i'll read some responses throughout the course of the program. what do we have? anyone who wants to go to war has to have a child or grandchild on the front lines. this is what happens when we elect a draft dodger as potus. hey, john m., it's charlie rangel who time and again introduced legislation that would bring back mandatory conscription and he's a korean war veteran. the man defended his country. the idea that those who are about to put individuals in harm's way should have skin in the game has always made some sense to me.

one more if we have time for it. i'm concerned if trump feels more heat from the russian probe he'll act irrationally and dangerously toward north korea. jim hilt, i heard that from radio callers this week who wonder and worry that this is a response to what's taking place domestically. i would hate to think, and i don't believe that the president would gin up the korean situation so as to divert attention from russia, but i know that that's a concern on many people's minds. up ahead, since leaving office, barack obama has mostly been quiet, and now that's about to change. but will this help the democrats or just hand president trump his favorite target? i'll ask dnc chair tom perez. plus, i'm not alone in my declaration of independence on my voter registration form, but i wish there were more independent candidates to vote for. well, there's a move afoot that's trying to make that a reality.

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can barack obama save the democrats again? given the current chaos an infighting in the white house and gop, the democrats should be thriving, but they seem in disarray. that could change this fall with obama's rumored return to the national stage, but it's a

delicate dance both because the party needs a new look and leader to move forward and because there's a risk that bringing back trump's favorite target would reignite the gop. i spoke with the chairman of the democratic party, tom perez. mr. chairman, welcome back to the program. nice to have you. >> great to be with you, michael. >> so the hill on friday reported that president obama will re-emerge in the fall, and i'm thinking i know somebody elated by that news, president donald trump. go ahead and react. >> well, you know what, i know someone elated by that news and his name is tom perez, because barack obama did so much to expand opportunity for so many people. whether it was the passage of the affordable care act, whether it was getting us out of the worst recession of our lifetime, helping workers in the auto industry through the courageous bailout that he did which helped save over a million jobs, that's

what he did. >> truth be told, you need him for fund raising support, right? i've read an analysis that says in the first six months of the trump administration, the rnc has doubled that which the dnc has raised and that they're beating you among small donors. >> well, i don't know what the rnc has raised. here's what i can tell you, though. we had our best small donor quarter ever the first quarter of this year. we raised over $5 million, average increment $22. when democrats took over the house in 2006, michael, the rnc outspent the dnc by over two to one. so the reality is they have a lot of well heeled donors because their primary funding base is folks who want to repeal the affordable care act so they can get a big tax cut. our donor base is different. they're people across the economic spectrum. i'm very confident that we are going to be able to compete

everywhere. we've seen already progress in special elections that we're investing in at a state level, whether it was iowa earlier last week, whether it was new hampshire a couple of weeks ago. state races where donald trump did really well in these districts and democrats won. oklahoma, five, six weeks ago, two special elections in trump country, democrats won. virginia and new jersey this year. we are working hard there. the dnc is all in. and those are two races where i think democratic governors have a real shot. this is what it's all about. winning elections, leading with our values and continuing the momentum. >> you referenced the affordable care act. you know the tradition among ex-presidents. it's not to be critical of their successor. we live in interesting times. do you think that president obama should be speaking out in opposition to president trump on things like trump's attempt at repeal and replacement of the

affordable care act? maybe the issue of the day, north korea? do you think that now he should be more vocal in defending his own record? >> well, i think the president has been pretty clear on things like the affordable care act and his long-standing support for it. frankly the american people just as importantly have been very clear that they understand that the affordable care act was a life saver. what we should be doing is building on that progress and mending it, not ending it. we should be making it better. we should be addressing the issue of affordable prescription drug prices. we can take on the pharmaceutical industry and lower the costs of prescription drugs for folks if they'll simply move forward on the republican side and be willing to take on that powerful lobby. we're willing to take on that lobby on the democratic side. >> but mr. chairman, to my point in wondering what will the re-emergence of president obama look like, he was not a player.

as the senate voted, as john mccain walked out and gave the thumbs down, president obama's voice was nowhere to be heard. do you think he should be more of an activist in speaking out on his agenda as we move toward fall? >> i think president obama's voice and his message have been very clear, which is that health care is a right for all and not a privilege for a few. that's why he took the courageous step. it was politically unpopular at the time but it was the right thing to do and he never wavered in that commitment to ensuring access to health care for all. we've gotten so much closer to universal health coverage. we're 90% now. we made dramatic progress. we've got 10% to go. we know how we can get there as democrats. there's a lot of things that we can do to stabilize the markets, to lower the cost of prescription drugs, to stabilize risk pools through reinsurance programs. and these are the things that the president has talked about, president obama that is, for some time. and what we need from this

administration, the trump administration that is, is leadership. stop sabotaging the markets. you talk to ceos, as i do, and uncertainty is not good for them. they either have to raise the cost of their premiums or get out of the market altogether. and this administration is deliberately fomenting uncertainty in order to try to make it harder for people to get access to health care. shame on them. and the american people want us to improve access. >> i hear all the arguments. i'm just wondering if we're going to hear them articulated by the former president of the united states? i appreciate your being here. please refrain from plugging your buffalo bills and come back. >> i will always come back and on behalf of wolf blitzer and i, go bills. >> so let's see what you're thinking. here's a facebook comment that just came in on this subject. there's no stand-out no democrat obama type. what's going on with them?

we need to lose the two-party system permanently. hey, j.w., i agree with you. the bench is not strong. when you evaluate it based on occupants of office at the state legislative level, the gubernatorial level, houses of congress, the democrats are in the worst shape that they have been since reconstruction. so despite the chaos perceived by some critics taking place in the white house, they do not have their act together, there's no doubt about that. and i love your plea for third party movements, and we're going to go there next. up next, a new poll reveals more americans are calling themselves independent than they do either democrat or republican. so why aren't there more independent candidates? i'm going to talk to somebody trying to change that, next. ♪ we're drowning in information. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high,

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the centrists are coming, the centrists are coming. that's the rallying cry at a retreat in my hometown of philadelphia this weekend. what's call the centrist project seeks to build independent representation at all levels of government. the independent movement would seem to be a cause in search of some leadership. according to a gall up survey in july, 45% of americans regard themselves as independents compared with 28% who say they identify as a member of the democratic party or 25% who say i'm a republican. and yet there are only two independents in the u.s. senate and none in the u.s. house of representatives. greg orrman is participating this weekend. he's also the author of the book "the declaration of independent, how to break the two-party stranglehold and restore the

american dream." he obtained 40% of the vote in kansas in 2014 running as an independent against republican incoumbent senator pat roberts. greg, why if 45% of the country say i'm an "i" is there a 0.0 in the house of representatives? >> well, that's a great question. you know, if you look at the re-election rates for members of congress, they run in the high 90s, and yet congress routinely has a 15% approval rating so you have to ask yourself the question. and the answer is multiple. but number one is obviously they rig the rules to make sure no one can compete with them. we've been working with organizations to try to change those things. but maybe more importantly is there are just institutional and structural barriers to independents succeeding. the whole political economy has been built around serving democrats and republicans and that's really what the centrist project is trying to change.

we're trying to put together the infrastructure both in terms of data and electronic infrastructure, but also in terms of campaign staff to be able to allow centrist independent candidates to run and win. >> you ran so strong a campaign and ultimately garnered 43% of the vote that the "d" dropped out because they knew they had no shot and they thought maybe greg orman is the best chance in that election. what was the largest impediment, the largest institutional barrier that you faced in that race? >> again, i'm not sure what the decision-making process was among the democrats in that race. what i can tell you is we worked very hard in the state of kansas to make sure people understood that we were truly different. you know, when i went out and campaigned and told people i was an independent, if you were a democrat, you heard republican. if you were a republican, you heard democrat. so while 45% of americans are

politically independent, and i even think greater numbers are dissatisfied with the system, it's sometimes difficult to comprehend anyone other than democrats or republicans running our government so i sort of refer to that as the stockholm syndrome. we have a tendency to relate to our captors. >> you know, another answer might be that people lie. people like the cache of saying, oh, i'm independent. i'm not an "r" and i'm not a "d" when in fact they are hard leaning one way or the other. look at that screen. 45% say i'm an "i," 28% say i'm a "d." the number of independents has been in the 42, 43, 45% range in the past. >> charlie wheland who founded the centrist project said most americans say they love lobster. yet when they go to the buffet line at the wedding they pick

only the chicken or the beef so that must mean they don't like lobster. the fact is we don't have enough independent candidates running, and that's really what the centrist project is trying to do. we're here in philadelphia today where it all began, where our republic was formed, and we have brought together a dozen potential independent candidates for the united states senate and governors races across the country. we're working to change that. we're working to provide the leadership that you mentioned. and if your viewers are interested, they can go to centristproject.org and see more of what we're about. >> one last thing i want to discuss. the passion index. see, i do believe, i do believe that 45% of the country are independents. when i am leading my life pumping gas, grocery store, back-to-school night, people approach me and engage in a conversation about politics, they're a mixed bag. i find many who are fiscally conservative and more socially

liberal that could be a reflection of where i live. but the fact is they're not represented but they're not as passionate as the folks on the fringes. and somehow people need to be more passionate as centrists and as independents and take this debate back from the loudest voices in the room. that's what we need to do. >> well, and it's a chicken and egg argument. if we were going to get those people passionate, we need to give them candidates. we need to give them something and people to be passionate about who they know can lead and put our country ahead of political parties, use facts and common sense to solve problems, and ultimately not be influenced by the special interests who control both parties. when i talk to voters in the state of kansas, when i talk to my fellow citizens there, it's clear to me they want something different. they demonstrated that in 2014 when 43% of them decided to vote for an independent who hadn't run for political office before.

we saw it in the 2016 election when voters gravitated even in both parties to unconventional choices. the fact of the matter is the american people are frustrated with the system that isn't serving them. they're looking for leaders, they're looking for a new path and the centrist project is looking to give that to them. >> greg orman, thanks for being here. good luck in philly, and welcome to town. >> thanks, michael. my pleasure. >> let's check in on your tweets and facebook comments. what do we have? i's are wishy-washy. what do they stand for? system won't allow for it. you know sha, that's the commen get most angry about. i'm not wishy wash o ee wasy-wa. i have viewpoints that don't line up in the ideological boxes. but it doesn't mean that people who are independent thinking are weak in their thinking. do you watch me on a week in and

week out basis? am i lacking in solid opinions? i might be wrong in them, but i hold them. and i just don't like the comment that says i's don't stand for much. i's stand for independent thinking and not adhering to talking points. one more quickly if i can. smerconish, the two-party system is the worst idea in human civilization history. it's no different than any dictatorial system. yeah, well, we need more choice. that's the bottom line. choice is good for all of us. still to come, president trump was on the war path this week with his own senate majority leader. does that make political sense? ♪ ♪

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to accomplish his agenda. asked repeatedly about it this week, he would not back down. >> i'm very disappointed in mitch. >> should he consider stepping down? >> well, i tell you what, if he doesn't get repeal and replace done, and if he doesn't get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn't get an easy one done, infrastructure, then you should ask me that question. he should have known he had a couple of votes that turned on him and that should have been easy to handle. what happened in my opinion last week is unacceptable. >> it's part of a larger pattern of the leader of the republican party attacking his own, as he did with those who defied him on repealing obamacare. so what's the end game? joining me now to discuss, cnn contributor and washington examiner reporter selena zito and michael warren from "the weekly standard" who wrote this article, "is trump preparing to

leave the republican party?" what's the answer to that question. >> i think he's laying the groundwork to do that, if you look at his actions and his rhetoric over the last several months. what has it been about? it's been about how republicans are impotent, they're weak. republicans in congress, that is. and i think it's very obvious he's at least inching, moving in that direction. whether he's going to actually formally leave the party or essentially abandon them as allies for his agenda i think is up in the air. but i don't know how -- if that's going to help him achieve his agenda. it seems to be the direction he's going in, but i don't know if it's necessarily the politically smart thing for him to do. >> selena, he or she who should occupy the white house is the titular head of their party but he shows no desire to play that role. why not? >> because he's never really had a political ideology. he's been a democrat, he's been an independent, he's been a republican. and that is part of the appeal

that he had with voters, voters that turned out in a larger number that typically don't, because he wasn't part of the establishment, because he wasn't part of the swamp. i mean that was part of the populist appeal. that's why you saw crossover voters that liked sanders in the democratic primary but voted for trump in the general election. he had an appeal that is not tied to the swamp, if you will. and so for a lot of his base, not all of his base, but for a lot of his base, they don't have a problem with this, you know. and we have to think of sort of the larger picture, right? does this really hurt mitch mcconnell politically? probably not. nobody wants his job. nobody wants to be the majority leader of the senate. he's very good at his job. yes, repeal and replace failed, but it doesn't mean he's not brilliant at what he does. he's not going to have any sort

of ramifications in his home state. while everyone always predicts that he's not going to win every six years, he always finds a way to come back and win and typically in double digits. you know, the senate majority leader is not a nationally voted position. so, you know, this might just be -- this is a good way for trump to shore up his base. it is actually a way for mcconnell to unite his conference. i think by next week that trump will probably move on to something else. >> michael, there was a fox & friends tweet that went out on a story that talked about perhaps the replacing mitch mcconnell, and i noted and we're putting it up on the screen, the story. trump fires new warning shot at mcconnell, leaves door open on whether he should step down. president trump retweeted. he wants people to know about this prospect.

does he need mitch mcconnell or do you agree with what salena just said about how president trump sort of transcends all of party and the apparatus? >> well, i agree with salena that that is what trump does, i just don't think that there is a path forward going down that direction toward getting anything done in congress. look, it does help to run against washington, to run against the swamp, to run against the establishment when you're running for president. but when you get here to washington, unfortunately, you often have to deal with people that you may disagree with. and, you know, i was struck by something the president said this week. the video that you played. all of the blame for the president on health care's failure goes to mitch mcconnell and congress. i think there's a lot of blame that belongs in congress, particularly mitch mcconnell. but a lot of it goes to the president as well. the president has not made a public case at all for why this particular health care bill or any particular replacement for obamacare should be made.

that's actually the role the president plays. so if you look at what predicated trump's comments this week, it was mitch mcconnell saying essentially we're going to do it our way on tax reform. i think that's sort of a realistic response to the disaster that was health care, the health care bill, which was, look, the president didn't pull his weight on this. the vice president, mike pence, can only do so much in sort of negotiating on capitol hill. the president has a lot to do. the president is not going to do it, then congress is going to have to go their own way. i think that's something the president doesn't quite appreciate, which is he has a lot of power here that he's for whatever reason, he doesn't care about that particular issue, he doesn't know enough about the issue, he doesn't seem to want to exercise. >> salena, final comment from you on something michael said. what's the prospect of tax reform getting done if the president and the senate majority leader are now at odds? >> well, i think maybe they're publicly at odds, but i don't

think that maybe personally they're at odds. the last time i interviewed both men, which was a couple months ago separately, they both talked about their relationship. yeah, they go back and forth on things, but they have a lot of the same goals. look, mike is absolutely right, trump did not take ownership of repeal and replace. it was never his thing. it was mcconnell's thing, it was the republicans' thing. and he just didn't jump in it the way he needed to. i think you'll see him do that with tax reform and infrastructure, those are things that he cares about. but as far as repeal and replace, trump never bought into it and i think that's why he never tried to sell it. >> salena, michael, thanks so much for being here, we appreciate it. >> thanks. >> thank you. still to come, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments. here's another. smerconish, i don't believe trump will leave the republican party, but as we've already seen, the republican party will

leave trump. greg, i don't know, because i think something that's taking place here is that president trump's loyalists are and have seized control of the party some of the leaders. but i think that in the end, the party is going to be there for him. at least the machinery, what exists of it for donald trump. we're back in a moment more social media. when you're clocking out. sensing your every move and automatically adjusting to help you stay effortlessly comfortable. there. i can even warm these to help you fall asleep faster. does your bed do that? oh. i don't actually talk. though i'm smart enough to. i'm the new sleep number 360 smart bed. let's meet at a sleep number store. copdso to breathe better,athe. i go with anoro. ♪go your own way

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is. if you miss the program, catch us any time on cnn go, online and connected devices and apps. here's some of what you thought

this week. smerkonish, i didn't vote for potus, but i support his tough talk and consideration of military action against any enemy, potential or real. i didn't either and i support our commander-in-chief in a fen wous time like this but i'm not surrendering my right to question the way in which he's going about it. as i said in my opening, initially i was giving him the benefit of the doubt and i was troubled to find that he was speaking extemporaneously when issuing some of those rhetorical challenges to kim jong-un. that was really unsettling to me and it got progressively worse. what else? is it independent really code for democrat? no. it's absolutely not code for democrat. it's -- what it is, is, it's independent of being a republican orr democrat. ask the 45% of us who are in neither of those categories. hey, gang, we're off for next

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good morning to you. cnn newsroom begins now. we want to take you to charlottesville, virginia, this morning. take a look, a white nationalist rally is expected to start in a couple of hours in protest of the removal of a confederate statue. ♪ i'm gonna let it shine