them into an ambulance, and every time we do that we get a little frail and of course we get a little afraid but we also get a lot more results to push on and move on and to do whatever. our bodies are so tired, but our souls are so full of strength that we will get to everyone we can get to. the situation in the hospitals is something that has to be completely with sustained spaces. yesterday we took power to two elderly homes, to two elderly homes late at night. late at night. the nuns that were there that take care of the elderly were really, really frantic. have no doubt, first of all, we appreciate all the help. we appreciate all the fema

workers here. we are doing such a great job. >> i want to ask you about that, because i want to ask you if you are getting enough federal help and ask you about trump's tweets, when he talks about the crumbling infrastructure that is in part to blame, what is your response to that? >> first of all, we are getting a lot of jlogistics help, and this is a massive undertaking and it's difficult because we're an island and everything has to be shipped or flown in. number one. number, two regarding trump, these are two different topics. one topic is the massive debt, which we know we have and it's been dealt with. but you don't put debt above people, you put people above debt. so what we are asking for and

what -- what i'm asking for, and this is my comment, nobody else's comment, is let's deal with the two issues in a separate way. people have financial problems of their own because of all the expenses they have had to incur. you know, the 60% of the people in puerto rico are under -- below the poverty line. so this is a population that does not have a lot of spending money, and they are doing their best. i think the two issues have no -- we are thankful for any help that comes our way. frankly, there's a moral saying, when somebody is in need, when somebody is in dire need, when somebody is in a life or death situation there's a human moral

imperative to deal with that situation first and then deal with any other situations coming your way. >> mayor, what are you asking trump for today? >> well, number one, we need any help we can get. not only the boots on the ground, but there's going to be massive reconstruction funds that are going to be needed for infrastructure. but there's something that can be done quickly. which was already done for irma. the jones act, which makes everything that comes into puerto rico that makes it more expensive, and it can be repealed. this is the time to make a permanent transition, or even a temporary transition for the

next six months to allow not only for the goods and services coming into puerto rico to be a lot more affordable but to allow people in puerto rico to have their cost of living be a lot more affordable. that's one thing. >> one question. would it help for president trump to go to puerto rico to see this for himself? >> honest to god we live in a world where you can see any part of the world, any part of the world through your phone or any kind of electronic method. if you see the people and touch the people and come really to touch them and feel the horror and the pain and the devastation, that is one type of visit. if one comes and stays for a couple of hours and leaves, that's a different type of visit. i am sure that as the united

states president, you know, he can come to puerto rico if he wants to. he has been not only tweeting, but i know he has been in contact with the governor, and we appreciate that. let's make sure that this is not a handout, this is a moral imperative, and it a plea for help and it a plea for us to be done right. >> understood. mayor, thank you very much for your time. we will check back with you all week. thanks for being with us. it's just after 8:00 in the morning, so if you are just joining us, good morning and welcome to your "new day." president trump did not say anything about the destruction of puerto rico for nearly a week. since hurricane maria made landfall, remember, as you just heard, over 3 million americans are crushed by the worse storm

impact we've seen this season. when president trump did finally address the situation he tweeted and wrote the island is in, quote, deep trouble, and then suggested it was their fault because of financial trouble and infrastructure. and president trump continues to slam the nfl players who are kneeling, and focussing on the dallas cowboys. so let's talk about all of this. let's bring in our political panel. cnn political director, david chalian, and cnn political analyst, david gregory, and wesley lowry. wesley, you were just listening to the mayor of san juan, and she sees the devastation and touches it with her hands and her biggest fear was she would not be able to get to people on

time and it sounds like that fear has been realized. >> yeah, it's haeartbreaking to listen to the mayor of san juan, and it's hard and we have thus far have been able to get them the resources we need. and we have been parsing some of the politics, should the president be talking about this more often and then beyond that there's this desire sometimes in the question of how can we begin to assess the response of fema and other organizations. when i listen to the mayor pleading on national television now a week after a hurricane to me suggests that perhaps we have not gotten them all the aid and resources they need. in the context of how our political leaders are discussing this, i think that further raises this question of whether or not tweets calling for the firing of nfl players perhaps

would be better spent with links to where we could all donate resources to puerto rico. >> that takes us to leadership, and fema is working 24 hours a day and had people if position and they have had a plan and the need is great. whatever is going to be done is going to take a long time. but what did we see in irma and harvey that we are not seeing here? the president telling lawmakers, you better get your butts back to washington, and we need it and get it to my desk. we are not seeing it here and it could make a difference. >> i think there's no question about it. look, there may be reasons why the president can't go to puerto rico at the moment because of the level of devastation. his homeland security adviser is there, and may create problems with the president going to houston.

your point about setting a tone and raising the consciousness for americans who have been paying such close attention to the storms and horrible impact, and puerto rico is an island, and it makes it so much more difficult to get resources there, and you have desperate situations. i think this is a time for the president to use his bully pulpit to be as focal as he can in support of puerto rico in terms of the federal government and also getting the private sector involved in any constructive way to get help there. americans have huge hearts and are willing and ready to be i'm immobilized. >> and the president spoke out about the devastation that happened almost a week ago. why? >> well, the president a little

late to this, but let's hope that they are gearing this up now because obviously just listening to the mayor talk to you, these are americans. there's no reason that this should not garner the same level of attention that did that the hurricanes that hit texas and florida. i will make a crass political analysis for a moment if you will allow me n. our most recent poll president donald trump got the highest marks of his presidency on any issue of how he responded to harvey and irma, and they were the highest grades the american people have given this president for the entire course of his administration. >> wes, there's no question that there's a legitimate conversation that we sometimes have and it's usually inflamed by emotion around policing and a lot of issues driving players to

the knees during the anthem, and imagine how different donald trump's week would be if he had done what the two davids are suggesting, and say forget about e-mailing and everything else, and how can you talk about that when you see with a is happening in puerto rico. imagine if he made that choice, but he didn't. >> with this president it's hard to imagine him making that choice. but in a world in which he did do that, perhaps different presidents, i think each of the last two presidents, it's easy to imagine them making that choice, and in that world we would change the conversation quickly. we have a feel-goodism, and we like the ideas of unity and coming together and this is an instance in which we have fellow citizens who are suffering, many who will likely lose their lives in this, and if not their lives

their entire livelihoods and a nation is looking for somebody to be a unifying force, and looking for somebody to tell them where to send money and supplies, and to use the pull p -- pulpit. it's telling and revealing when somebody holding the spotlight what they shine it on is revealing about who they are and what their motivations are. >> this is important. we have a president who is a cultural warrior as a politician and president of the united states, and that's where he likes to live, which is not to tap down controversy, it's to stoke it and create it. he's a bystander in other ways. what he doesn't realize is that the president can be a driver and be a driver in multiple directions at what time. look at the vastness of media in the united states.

so many outlets. so much time. you have an ability to drive several things at once. and even on the issue of policing, on the issue of the anthem, a major pop culture question coursing through sports, and if he wants to get in the middle of this the way he did it was to call them sob's and say they don't love america because they are disrespecting the anthem. that is not how you start a conversation. i have talked to people over the past few days who don't agree with the president, but they wish that the protests could go on in a different way. imagine if you started your conversation there as opposed to a bunch of rich, spoiled, sobs. >> but david, it doesn't seem to me that he was actually looking to start a national conversation about this. i don't think that was the president's goal at all in the way he launched this. >> you are right.

but that's my point, what a president should be doing and what a president can uniquely do, and doesn't mean you are always successful but you can get into the middle of a fraught conversation and try to elevate it to a different level. he's putting these things on the agenda in a way to really create cultural backlash, because he thinks it's good for him, and that's what he sees as success. creating the great anger in the country he tweeted about, and creating an issue he can control. doesn't matter how much blowback he gets. if he can create it, he thinks that's his contribution to the future. >> wesley, the last word? >> he's mobilizing our demons, and this is the president that was elected by stirring this type of discord. whether you agree with him or not, this is a president that was elected by driving division, and this is surprising this is what is still going on as we have fellow citizens fighting to

their their lives. >> he just saw our interview with san juan. he just tweeted, thank you to carmen kwrufp carmen yulin cruz. we hope this is true. >> david, to the best of our understanding, fema had a plan and they have thousands of people there, and the ports in the airport are wrecked. the infrastructure of the country is wrecked. they have the red cross, the port is not ready to unload those things. this is little tweet, it took him 18 seconds to write it, and it shows recognition of need and

it shows people able to hear anything that the leader of the free world cares. this is more than just a tweet to them. >> one of the things that happened after katrina is that the federal government really stepped up its game in the way that homeland security, and fema within homeland security coordinated with the white house and with state and local officials. this is in many ways the bureaucracy of local and fed and state government but it's important how they communicate and how they position resources and how they get resources thereafter the fact. this president is a beneficiary of mistakes made in the past, and he has a good homeland security director and advicer on the ground, but it's the power to galvanize. that's what a president can uniquely do. with that tweet he's done a lot more to get peoples' minds focused on it, and to get the

resources to follow. if we have enough attention and intention around it, we will have a tough environment to help. >> part of the frustration, he's right about twitter. he has tremendous reach. it's just not hard for him to do the right thing. >> thank you very much. what is the feud between the president and the nfl really about, respect for the flag or something else, like race? two former nfl players respond to the controversy next.

president trump intensifying his feud with the nfl this morning, this as pittsburgh steelers tackle sets the record straight about why he stood alone on sunday for the national anthem. he said it had nothing to do with him being more patriotic. >> every time i see that picture of me standing standing by myself, i feel embarrassed. i never planned to boycott, and i thought nobody would see me and afterwards i just wouldn't talk to the media like i do all the time. >> let's bring in two former nfl players to talk about all of this. we have a 13-season veteran of

the nfl, and a retired green beret that played for the seattle seahawks. good to have you here. what do you think when you hear -- well, let's just start with villanueva there where he says he's embarrassed for his stand. >> the one thing you have topbg about nfl locker rooms, it's a brotherhood. doesn't matter what religion or ethnicity, you are there together, and so nobody wants to be separated from their teammate. if they came to a team-wide understanding and a vote that they would all stay in the tunnel or in the locker room during the national anthem, and all over the country, all over the world, you see a picture of one player saluting the flag and nobody else up there, it's something that can cause

division within the locker room, so for him he wanted to come out publicly and set the record straight about he was not trying to take a stand without his teammates because we all know if you start fracturing that locker room some people agree and some people didn't agree with what he did, and he wants to set the record straight, hey, look, i was not intentionally coming out there against what we decided the night before, i am with my teammates. it just worked out to where i was front and center and everybody else was forced to stay in the tunnel. >> because we felt strongly about it in standing for the national anthem. politics is dividing the country and the locker room, and these players. nate, what do you think about this whole battle royale that started between the nfl and players? >> first of all, he has nothing to be embarrassed about. he was in a tough spot. the brotherhood that he has to

represent from his before his time on the football field in pittsburgh is stronger than any locker room. grant it, that's a brotherhood and it's a bond and it's something when you come to a place of agreement together, it's a difficult situation. it's a difficult situation. he had a guarantee that so many of his brothers in arms were happy to see him, and standing for the anthem felt like a protest in a lot of ways. the division right now in our country, yeah, it's frustrating and everything going on right now, you know, with the league and with the president's remarks and all that. i was just happy over the weekend, proud to see -- even though there was a lot of different demonstrations, the league felt united.

roger goodell and the nfl pa being on the same page for a while, that's a good feeling. it's something our country can take a look at and learn from it a little. >> if this is what it takes. what do you think about one man's protest, colin kaepernick, and it has sprouted and taken root. how do you explain that? >> i believe that was colin's intentions 15 months ago to taking a knee, he wanted to bring awareness to a situation that had not readily been talked about in this country and that's the mistreatment of the minorities by the hands of the authorities, and the fact that we are still having this conversation, the protests hasn't gone on deaf ears, i think that's before because i don't want it to get side tracked and i don't want people to be distracted about the notion that these players are

unpatriotic and i don't believe that's the case whatsoever. as far as i am concerned, this is a platform, this is one of the biggest platforms the players are having in my life, and they are choosing to make a statement. now, it has morphed into something greater because donald trump has come out and really spoke negatively about these young men who do outstanding work in their communities. they spend countless hours trying to uplift people, and he came out and said dispairaging words and it's very divisive. as you know, that being on a team the last thing you want is division on any level, so when he came out and attacked those players who were protesting, it galvanized the rest of the league in terms of the players and had them come together. >> nate, i mean, what he is eluding to, the sobs, the

president called the players that decided to kneel sobs. how do you think we got to this point and what did you think about the president saying that? >> you know, i met with colin over a year ago, and through our conversation is where that knee -- taking a knee started versus sitting on the bench, so i thought at least in that moment and time, you know, colin was willing to listen and willing to sort of give a little ground to pay respect to people that see that anthem and that flag in a different way and have a different emotional response to it. i think the message is getting a little lost here. i fell there was so much of this weekend that was protesting the president's remarks instead of the original message which it needs to get back on track and people need to focus on that, and that's the most important thing. i don't know what it's like to be an african-american, i

obviously have never been that, but i do know what it's like to be generalized in different ways, and the veteran community gets generalized and people assume things about you, and i hope the message can get back on track and more of what the players are doing off the field gets highlighted because that's what is important. i would love to see some of the players in the league find a way to sit down with president trump or his people and for both parties to have a conversation, an adult conversation, and for us to kind of move forward in that way. i would love that more than anything. >> maybe that's what will come out of this. thank you both for your perspective and continuing this conversation with us. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. on a health care front, republicans are vowing to press on even if they don't have the votes for this latest bill. why don't they have the votes with graham/cassidy? is there a lesson in that?

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if you look at health care from a purely objective, mitch mcconnell is in a tough spot. if he doesn't have the vote he's admitting to defeat, and that creates a problem for how does he move forward. the bigger problem is he doesn't have enough republicans here. let's talk about that. let's talk about where this goes from here. we have cnn political communicator and former senator, rick santorum, and he's one of the architects of the gop bill, and kathleen sebelius who played a key role in obamacare. rick, start us off. how do you see the state of play? do you think graham/cassidy is dead? >> i think graham/cassidy will replace obamacare and it's just a matter of when that will happen. there's challenges because of the timeframe and changes made

to the bill over the weekend that haven't really gotten out there to folks. i think one of the most disappointing things is the congress did not stay in session through august and continue to work on it, and had they we would be in a lot better situation right now. i'm not 100% confident, but i am very confident that it could be in the next reconciliation project, or in 2019, which would be february of next year, we will have another opportunity to do the same thing. this is the approach that it makes the most sense. it's a centrist approach. it doesn't completely, you know, upend the apple cart. what it says for those states that want to keep obamacare you can, and if you want to try something different you can and here are the resources, and it's

a practical common sense approach to solving the problem. >> kathleen, how do you see it and its reality going forward? >> i think, chris, at the end of the day we have to start with people. this is about people. it's not about senate process or campaign promises. it's about millions and millions of americans who now can rely on health care that they didn't have before, who are parents and pregnant moms and workers. the focus has to stay on the people. this bill, i think, is a very dangerous approach because it really allows states to kind of make up their own rule book and figure out what it is that they think should be a package that would be available to people, and allow insurance companies to medically under write, to charge things based on your health condition and make it

unaffordable for a lot of people with serious conditions to get health insurance and the focus has to stay on the people. >> a testing point for each of you. first for you, kathleen sebelius. the most common criticism will be not only did you do me wrong on the keep your doctor keep your plan under the aca, but my premiums have gone up. i know that's not people overall, but there's 7% to 10% in the individual market that say i have skyrocket because you attached me to everybody, and my deductibles pops and premiums pops and i worry about my family. what do you say to those people? >> i think they are right. premiums continue to rise, and we can address that. i think the best way -- i am actually an open market person. the best way to address it is competition and this administration has enormous

bully pulpit to get insurances to play in the markets. they have done just the opposite. they actively worked to drive companies away. refused to tell companies if they are going to follow the rules and pay the ongoing subsidies for lower income americans. the competition is the best way to keep prices low. you see that in states across the country where there's active participation, heavy enrollment and active governor and legislative involvement. there are many companies participating and rates have stayed relatively modest throughout the country. in states that has not happened, driven a lot by the politics of the state, you see just the opposite, a monopoly marketplace and rates continue to rise. >> rick, respond and then i have a question to you. >> the fact of the matter is you talk about the individual market

and how the prices spiked. obamacare was about the individual market it didn't reform medicare or immediate ca medicaid, and that's the part of the health care market emploweding. to say it's just this little piece, but that's what obamacare was designed to correct. the secretary talks about competition. obamacare is completely anti-competitive. it says you have to do all of these things. it doesn't provide flexibility for insurance companies to design programs and products that can be competitive. that's what we are trying to address here. look, health insurance is not a nationally delivered project. you have regional health insurers, and statewide health insurers. what you have is every state has historically -- even today, designs their own insurance market. we are saying let's get back to

that. >> we left it for a reason. the reason we left it was your standards were all over the place. people were getting closed out, especially -- >> that's why the beautiful thing about -- >> the aca was about insuring outcomes, and not just pricing. >> the first time they were forcing companies to compete with service and price, not about who they could cherry-pick the market, who can drive out the sickest people and make money. >> i wrote the bill and i know what is in the bill -- >> congratulations. it allows the insurance companies to go back to medical under writing. >> it says every insurance company under graham/cassidy has to cover people with pre-existing condition -- >> can they charge them a lot more and price them out of the market? >> you know what? the reality is that the state

can get a waiver just like, by the way, they can under obamacare -- >> it's a different risk pool. >> allow me to finish. under obamacare there's a waiver process in obamacare that allows people to get waivers. no state has done it. you can get waivers under obamacare. we provide -- >> rick, just to be clear, is your answer yes to that question, yes they can under write it the way they want and charge people with pre-existing conditions what they want, is the answer yes? >> the state has to get a waiver just like they do under obamacare, but they have to get a waiver from the secretary -- >> you can't price it the way you want? you have to answer the question, bud. >> i am answering -- >> it's a yes or no answer. >> it's not a yes or no answer. under both laws the states can get a waiver on the issue of pre-existing conditions, and under ours you have to show the secretary you are providing

affordable and accessible insurance. >> kathleen, how is it different than now? >> the senator is just wrong. the waiver that is in the current affordable care act says if a state can figure out a way to insure as many people and keep prices adequate can they use the federal money in ways -- >> that's exactly what -- >> senator, you said they could waive pre-existing conditions, and that's absolutely fault. >> they are guaranteeing people with pre-existing conditions affordable -- >> they have to offer packages that guarantees people if they are sick, you have to give them the care they need, and the graham/cassidy allows them to waive -- >> as you know, madam secretary -- >> that totally undermines the

pre-existing condition. i was an insurance commissioner -- >> this runs the program through the chip program and it -- >> it's not accurate. >> you can't write, quote, cheap insurance. >> if you say chip is cheap insurance -- most people like the chip program. >> but saying it goes through the chip program is a little deceptive, right? while the mechanism is basically the same the requirements aren't. i don't understand why you don't own the reality of what the bill is. we are going to take money out -- >> it's not cheap insurance. >> we are going to take lots and lots of money out of the bill that we will use for something else. less people will get covered, but we are okay with that in the interests of some people getting cheaper insurance. >> one of the criticisms we are getting from the right, in fact, heavy criticism, is we spend too much money. if you look at what money is taken out of the system, we take

out the individual mandate. the individual employer mandate. by the way -- >> the cbo says it will be savings of well over $200 billion over the initial course of the legislation. >> let me explain. $250 billion in tax reductions. all we are doing is removing the employer and employee mandate. that results in $250 billion and less revenue coming in. >> yeah, money that is needed to fund the states' medicaid. >> wreck it says obamacare is working. the obamacare mandate of the employers goes into effect next month, and 90 thousands businesses are going to get tax bills totaling over $5 billion. we have not even seen the effect of obamacare and its effect on the economy. if the states want to reinstate the mandate, they can and collect the money. >> but it won't be enough. >> the rest of the money will be spent. >> that is absolutely not

accurate. the huge cut in the bill is to medicaid and the underlying medicaid program, not just the expansion, chris. not just the working adults who now states have had an opportunity and 31 states did exspapd their medicaid program, and so two-thirds of the states expanded that, and the bill also caps the traditional medicaid program in a way that i can guarantee you every state budget in the country would see a hit -- >> chris, i have to address that. >> quick, and then we will leave it there. it's a bigger discussion than one segment, but we will do it again. >> she talks about a cap on medicaid. the cap putting put forth in this bill is more generous than president clinton proposed the same cap that was tougher. >> that was long time ago.

>> it isn't in place now. it never has been in place. >> they proposed it. democrats proposed it. >> it was a different time. >> there was a cap that does not exist now and it would hurt every state -- >> yeah, there's a reason it doesn't exist right now. >> and they were cruel and horrible when they put a cap on medicaid -- >> it's -- just own the reality you will take money out and that's your political priority. >> seniors and nursing homes and disabled and adults, pregnant moms and kids, and that's in the medicaid program. >> listen, i hear you both. i hear you both. there's no question that there's a legitimate debate about how much money gets put into health care. no question. >> and there's no cap. >> that is going to be the argument you need to have. >> at some point we have to put

some controls in the system. we thought we would take a democratic idea and make it nicer, because democrats froze -- >> it's not apples to apples. >> all of a sudden we're cruel. >> it's not apples to apples. >> it didn't pass for a reason. >> the health care costs are -- >> the costs are too high, and they have to come down. >> you don't want to -- >> it's not about what i want. don't say what i want or don't want. you have to have a kefrization wi conversation with other lawmakers. >> a lot of conversation there about apples. making me hungry. president trump thank the mayor of san juan moments ago after describing the humanitarian crisis unfolding

this morning on the island. >> every time we find a person that is gasping for air -- and i am not pointing a poetic picture. i am telling you, i have seen them and i have held them in my arms and helped them into an ambulance. every time we run into that we get frail and afraid, and we get -- our bodies are so tired, but our souls are so full of strength. >> so hour bill weir is in puerto rico this morning to show us exactly what it looks like on the ground. watch this. >> reporter: it is so hard to move around this island because puerto rico is a tangled mess of shattered trees and downed power lines and endless gas lines where they could wait half a day

under the sun for a precious few gallons. and then south of the capital it looks like a bomb went off. once lush green hillsides are brown and broken by maria's wind. and it was here where they had no choice but to shelter in place and pray as this camper was tossed like a toy. the family here was huddled in their home across the street. how are you in how is life? how are you surviving? i thank god i am still alive, she tells me. it's hard to tell from the road but the back of the house is built on stilts. imagine the anxiety picked up in strength. she was worried the bedroom was

going to slide in the ravine. they hear the crash of the power tower go down on the neighbor's roof. at one point she tells me they prepared to die together. >> which is scarier, combat in vietnam or hurricane maria? the hurricane is worse. miguel survived a combat tour in cambodia, and now they worry about the last file of his insulin spoiling in a broken refrigerator, yet she takes the time to make us coffee. a few miles up the road, more kindness and much more misery. here's a drone shot of this area before maria and here it is today. here's what a category 4 hurricane will do to wood construction. the roof, who knows what happened to the roof.

it's amazing the walls held the way they did. trophies earned by his grandkids still stand in a room with no roof. he was released from prostate surgery the day the hurricane hit, and holed up in a church, and all survived. how would you describe peoples' desperation? are you seeing looting. >> there have been looting, and there have been robberies. we are still looking for people. >> as an american i wonder how do puerto ricons feel. do you hope america will come and save you? yes, he tells me. we will move forward with the help of the united states. >> what they can give us, we will receive with a lot of love. thank you. >> you are welcome. you are welcome.

>> very much. >> bill weir, cnn, puerto rico. >> it's so helpful to have bill weir there and our producer there translating, and she's puerto rican, and bill, he's giving us a glimpse into a desperate situation. that's one small sample of people about to run out of medication. >> the reason we will keep telling you the stories, and i know there could be a sameness to it, and you are, like, we get it, we get it. you don't get it. you couldn't be in that situation for a week. they will be living like that for months and months. it's going to move your pocket book because we have to have the federal government get involved there. they do have infrastructure problems and debt problems. that's only going to increase the need for help. this is going to be a real situation that all of america is going to live with, so we need to keep it in our sights. >> it's moving all of your

spirits as well. donald trump, though, is not backing down against the nfl players taking a knee. is he winning this culture war? what does his base think about it? we have the bottom line. and helping. >> referee: y . these women share a common experience of being displaced from their home countries with young children. refugee family literacy program is a two-generation program providing education for refugee mothers and their young children. >> could you get hurt surprising somebody like that. >> children come to our school and participate in an early childhood development program, so when they start school on sunday they will hit the ground running. >> mothers are upstairs learning

english. our students are from about 20 different countries. >> burma is the government, it's not good. it's not safe. >> they didn't want to leave their home country. they left because they did not have any choice. that common experience transcends language. these women are able to support each other. >> i think a misconception is that most refugees were uneducated and impoverishes. many have strong skill sets and so much to offer us. if we think of them as uneducated because they don't know english, really it's our loss.

there's little doubt that president trump is fanning the flames of culture war with what he's doing with the nfl players in a series of new tweets this morning he's still ripping the nfl ratings, the cowboys show of unity, and then saying progress isn't being made judging by his tweets because of the great anger that he has helped to stoke. the controversial is actually working in the president's favor with his base. that's the proposition. is that true? let's get the bottom line from

cnn contributor, j.d. advance, the author of "hillbilly elegy." >> i am reminded on something steve bannon said, he said if the battle is over identity politics at a fundamental level the president wins. as a political matter i think it's working in president trump's favor. you have the really hard core resistance folks on one side and the trump base on the other side. maybe the folks who feel cultural affinity for the president or his voters but are on the fence for the president even if they voted for him, and to a person, everybody i spoke to supports the president, and i think it's a big political win for him. >> i don't know if you just saw one of our voter panels, and it's an ongoing feature we do

where we talk to often people that voted for president donald trump, and some of them diehards. and they are from all over the country, most of the east coast, and three of them are regretting their vote for the president, and all of them, even the ones that still strongly support him wish he was not talking about this and think it's a distraction, and don't agree with the players, but support their right to do it and wish the president would say that. >> well, i think that's where this conflict, the battle lines are drawn. many disagree with the meaning of the protest. i do think that at the end of the day, you know, obviously the -- it sounds like the panel disagrees with some of the folks that i spoke to. but the sense i am getting is this is ultimately good for the president because it becomes --

the perception becomes that this is patriots versus nonpatriots. i know that's not fair. i know a lot of folks taking a knee mean to encourage the nation to live up to its highest ideals, but i think the pe perception on the ground is they are taking an anti-american stand and if that's the perception, the person on the other side, meaning the president, will come out ahead. >> the president did the same thing on the underlying issue, and trump jumped on the side of the cops and that's where he was on the posture. that's about the policy. what would you ask the president about his motivations and means when it comes to the current controversy? >> i would ask the president, and frankly i would ask a lot of other leaders to think about what are we trying to accomplish with this particular culture war? i think about the conversation we have been having in the last three or four days and what is

miss something the conversation about the substance, and we are not talking about policing reform or criminal justice reform and we are talking about the president of the united states against the national football league. i was talking to somebody about this, and there are legitimate concerns that a lot of black americans have they are not treated fairly by some of the police, and not all of the police, and the criminal justice system needs reform, and it worries me that we are having a massive culture war and not dealing with the issues that we should be dealing with. >> it sounds like what you are saying from the folks you spoke to is the president has successfully pivoted the conversation about to be about patriotism, and about our soldiers, and that's what he's trying to make it about, and many are saying it's about freedom of speech and we do support that? >> i think that's ultimately long term, whether there is

going to be good for president and it's going to be turning on whether it's a question of patriotism and the method of protests, and i think the president wins that. my sense here is that while a lot of folks often say they wish they would have the conversations and wish he would not go after people on twitter, and at the end of the day they ultimately come down on his side for one reason or another and in this case that reason is that a lot of people see this taking a knee during the national anthem not about the president, not about the nfl, but as about whether you respect the country and whether you respect what it represents, and i think, again, on those grounds, if that's the grounds we fight this culture war then the president will win it. >> win is a defined term. he lost the popular vote in the election and has become less popular, so what does winning mean? certainly the country doesn't win with the current state of

controversy. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. now for "newsroom" with john berman. >> i am flattered you had to look at the screen that it was, in fact, me. >> you are just so has n handso. fetching. blinding. >> let's get to the news, folks. john berman here. the president of the united states woke up this morning with 3.5 million americans suffering a humanitarian catastrophe in puerto rico. what was the subject? television ratings. ratings for nfl football are way down except before a game starts when people tune in to see whether or not our country will be disrespected. that's what