this one's below market price and has bluetooth. same here, but this one has leather seats! use the cars.com app to compare price, features and value. we begin the hour with breaking news. john mccain preparing to fire another shot across the bow of the white house. the former republican presidential nominee and vietnam war p.o.w. is battling brain cancer. he didn't mince words. he launched what many are seeing a repuk to the president as well as the political party he leads. >> to fear the world we organized, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half baked nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. [ cheers and applause ]

this is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that americans consigned to the ash heap of history. >> jeff zeleny is joining us from greenville, south carolina. mccain's comments certainly a deliberate strike thought out, if not at the president himself at least many of the policies he and his advisors have been advocating for. >> reporter: anderson, i think it was certainly at the policies and people who have surrounded this president. of course, steve bannon who's no longer with the president, necessarily, but the president himself. we've seen senator mccain feel a new lease on life. he's unplugged, saying exactly

what he thinks, what he's long believed. but those words, anderson, the ash heap of history, certainly strong and striking from john mccain. it makes you wonder if he can support anything this president is doing going forward for as much time he has left in the senate. of course, tax reform and tax cuts, first and foremost here, but he's going after foreign policy in a way we've heard if you -- few republican senators do. >> it all happens in front of a backdrop of a larger conflict within the the republican party. part of which we saw play out in the rose garden today. >> reporter: anderson, it it was extraordinary. there has been the civil war unfolding inside the republican party. but today the president embracing senator mcconnell, who he blamed for not getting

obamacare repeal and replacement passed. but the president today embracing mitch mcconnell. he embraced him today in the rose garden, but it was something that was clear that was good for both men in the moment, but it makes you wonder how long this will last. i mean, they sort of -- they cleared the ice. i'm not sure they buried the hatchet, but the reality is passing tax cuts, tax reform, is key to republicans keeping their majorities in the house and senate. both the president and the majority leader know that. >> steve bannon said he's at war with senator mcconnell and the gop establishment. how might that play out in the coming elections? >> anderson, that's what made it so interesting. steve bannon has spent so much time since leaving the west wing several weeks ago going after senator mcconnell. again over the weekend, at a conservative forum, he went directly after mitch mcconnell. let's listen to what he said this weekend. and it really -- the president, of course, speaking today, let's listen to what he said about steve bannon. so striking how all this relationship will work. >> there's some republicans, frankly, that should be ashamed

of themselves, but most of them -- i tell you what, i know the republican senators. most of them are really, really great people that want to work hard and they want to do a great thing for the american public, but you had a few people that really disappointed us. they really, really disappointed us. so i can understand fully how steve bannon feels. >> but the reality here, anderson, if you look at the map who's up in 2018, which senators, the republican senators who voted against the president's health care bill, susan collins of maine, john mccain, of course, they are not up for re-election next year. so the president will have to make a choice whether he sides with steve bannon and primary in some of these republican senators, or if he sticks with mitch mcconnell and tries to keep the republican majority intact. today it looked like he was leaning towards senator mcconnell, but it is an open question here how this resolves itself. but, anderson, a very striking day today in the rose garden. seeing these two leaders who don't have an obvious respect

for each other embrace one another because it's in their best interest. anderson. >> jeff, thanks very much. whether it's what senator mccain said or everything else, there's plenty of talk about it. joining us is ryan lindsay, jason miller, paul begala, tara setmayer, matt louis and josh green. paul, just in terms of the remarks from senator mccain, is there any doubt he was aiming at, if not the president himself, some the people around him? or the trump itch trumpism? >> there's no doubt. this is clearly a scripted address at the national constitution center, a formal location. the word that jumped out at me, unpatriotic. john mccain is the son of another man named john mccain, who served in world war i and world war ii and was on the battleship missouri when the japanese surrendered. mccain himself -- senator mccain was tortured for our country. he's an american hero. and for him to call a policy unpatriotic -- he was running against barack obama and never used language like that. opposing him in the election. in fact, back then, there was a woman, remember famously at a town hall meeting for senator mccain who said, i don't trust this obama. i think he's an arab. and i looked it up,

and senator mccain said, no, ma'am, he's a decent family man. a citizen i just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. he didn't say that about president trump and his ideas today. he called him unpatriotric. it's remarkable. >> that's what a lot of republicans -- i like john mccain, but i can hear rush limbaugh saying exactly what you just said, which is that when john mccain ran for president, he didn't go nearly as hard after barack obama as he goes after his own team. >> because he thinks what the president's doing is unpatriotic. he thinks it's -- what did he call it, half-baked nationalism. >> i just think there's a sense -- there's a sense amongst some conservatives that people like mitt romney and john mccain, they're really good at beating up republicans, but when they get into a general election and they're going up against barack obama or hillary clinton, they don't take off the gloves. >> does john mccain give cover to anyone else in the republican party to speak out if they want? >> perhaps. maybe because corker has now done it. but john mccain has always been a maverick. and to your point, that has been

a criticism for a lot of conservatives about john mccain over the years. he was never hesitant to go after people in his own party. but with that aside, i think that john mccain has earned the right to have the opinion he has, to say whatever he wants to say because he is a hero, and he served this country honorably. i've had plenty of policy disagreements with mccain, but that doesn't take away from the validity of his criticism of the current president. everything he's saying about donald trump are things that a lot of folks do not have the courage to come out and say, and, unfortunately, not enough republicans who have to face re-election are willing to say those things. making the distinction about this nationalism populism that has infected the republican party, and that trump has been -- that trump has fueled, and steve bannon has really fueled, is dangerous. it's very dangerous. there's a difference. they're cloaking this as patriotism, and it's not. there's a very big difference between nationalism and patriotism.

and the tribalism that we see as a result of this nationalist populism is very dangerous to democracy in this country. >> jason, how do you see it? >> so i couldn't disagree with my good friend, tara, anymore here. >> of course. >> here's the fact of the matter is that senator mccain was much closer to secretary clinton when it came to foreign affairs issues in this last election. and that was a viewpoint that was soundly rejected by the voters. this global intervention ideology that the senators advocated for a number of decades in washington -- >> which is a traditionally republican perspective. >> but not as far as -- even if you look at other candidates that were in the republican primary -- >> this time around. >> -- this time around, they were all distancing themselves from where senator mccain was. but here's the thing. we've seen this, this is probably chapter 35 of this happening, but this is the swamp fighting back. we talked about senator mccain, the fighting against obamacare repeal and replace. senator mccain just fundamentally -- >> you're saying senator mccain is part of the swamp? >> absolutely. he just fundamentally just does

not want to go along with this reform agenda that we've seen. and it's clear, he's now at the point where he wants to be an obstructionist. at one point in his career he did want to be a reformer, but it's clearly not the case anymore. >> what would his motivation be? >> can i say one thing? >> yeah. >> i don't see how -- i understand what this idea of the swamp is, lobbying and that kind of thing. but what i took from mccain's speech tonight was about idealism in american foreign policy. not even so much about interventionism necessarily, but just the united states being a beacon and standing for certain things in the world. and that's the disagreement -- >> that's something president trump has sort of pushed again. >> he's pushed against. the leaders that he admires and publically has admired are erdogan in turkey, putin in russia, duterte -- >> authoritarians. >> these are strong men. the people he's fought have been the european allies. that's what i think the point -- >> and also when asked to say if putin was a killer, he said -- >> exactly. and i think that was more important. i don't see how that suggests that he's part of swamp or not part of the swamp.

i think he's talking about idealism. one more thing. he used the phrase ash heap of history. this is a phrase that the marxists used to use about capitalism. >> and reagan. >> and reagan went to the u.k., and he famously used it, turned it around and said that marxism would be on the ash heap of history. so the fact that she's calling -- he's conflating trump-style nationalism with communism is a real attack. >> not only that. he also used another resident phrase, blood and soil, which is very important to white supremacists, neo-nazis -- >> which is what they were chanting, by the way, in charlottesville. >> yes. >> exactly. it was no accident that trump -- that mccain used that phrase in the speech. and i think the reason that this is such a contentious issue, is there really isn't a disagreement about what's going on here. john mccain perceives donald trump and steve bannon's foreign policy to be a greater threat to the united states than barack obama's or hillary clinton, period, end of story. i don't think it has anything to do with the swamp. those are the basic facts. >> there's a big debate right now on the right taking place that was settled after world war ii and now we're having it again.

but the question is, what does it mean to be an american? it's a very fundamental question. if you believe that it's blood and soil, that's different than a credo philosophy where you believe that we believe in ideas. there's a question, which is, when you have a lot of diversity, when you have people who don't agree on anything -- we don't even agree whether or not we should stand up for the national anthem. that's when i think it opens the door for nationalism and xenophobia to creep in. and i think that trump and bannon have been very -- >> matt, respectfully, i think you're making it sound way to highbrow. senator mccain has, very much, a world cop attitude. he does not like the america first agenda that president trump supports. it's a difference in ideology. >> i do think there's a fundamental question about what is an american? is it about the blood and soil?

is america a place, basically, for people who are white people, who are european? this is the alt-right. i'm not saying that all trump people believe this. but this is a debate happening. or is it about an idea? is it people who embrace, you know, the declaration of independence that all men are created equal? there are people who think that believing in a creed is so esoteric, and like how could that -- >> we have to take a break. the idea, first of all, that -- blood and soil, that it's white people whose blood has been spilled in this country and is soaked into the soil of america seems -- >> i'm not saying it's right. >> i know. >> i'm saying it's what some people believe. >> i'm just saying it's just complete bull. >> it's evident. later, with new cnn polling on the president's handling of hurricane relief over -- a report from a town in puerto rico that the president tossed those beautiful, soft towels, in his words, and asked the people there how they think he's doing. crohn's disease.

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this afternoon in an impromptu rose garden news conference at which he embraced mitch mcconnell and a late morning cabinet meeting which he praised but also tried to gently dissuade his former strategist, steve bannon, from waging all-out war against mcconnell and the republican party. >> we have a very good relationship, as you know, with steve bannon. steve's been a friend of mine for a long time. i like steve a lot. steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. some of the people that he may be looking at, i'm going to see if we talk him out of that because, frankly, they're great people. >> a lot of great people. steve bannon, great guy. so is mitch mcconnell john mccain tonight, not so much in terms of how the president sees him. he threw the spotlight on the philosophical and operational divide in the gop, john mccain did. and in a gentler, less direct way so did the president. back now with the panel. jason, you were saying john mccain is part of the swamp. is anybody who has served their country for the length of time he has just part of the swamp? >> no. i think when i say that someone's part of the swamp, it means they're opposing a reform agenda. look at the images we saw today

with president trump and also with senator mcconnell up there doing the press conference. what this really was about was trying to push people to get on board with the president's agenda and try to get these senators moving. i mean, it's absolutely terrible that we, as republicans, have the house, we have the senate, we have a republican president who will sign anything put in front of him and these guys can't get their act together. now, i think there's one thing with today's press conference that everybody seems to be missing. for all this talk about an audience of one, this term that we hear in washington all the time. there was an audience of one for today's press conference, and it was senator mcconnell. i think what the president was doing today was keeping senator mcconnell up there for this stretch to go through all of the things he wants to accomplish in his agenda and to get senator mcconnell to nod his head and agree for all these things that they need to go through. but the fact of the matter is, too many of these senators who ran as conservatives, who say that they're republicans, who say that they are dedicated to reforming and changing washington aren't on board with the program, in stark contrast to what their voters want them to do.

>> hasn't john mccain actually done stuff while he's been in the senate, as opposed to this administration, which so far hasn't really gotten any legislative -- >> what? like the thumbs down? >> but he's been serving for decades. >> he used the word reform. >> but he was old mitch mcconnell in the process, when it was campaign finance reform 20 years ago. i mean, he's shown his independence as a legislator. also somebody who gets something done. even when mitch mcconnell stood in his way. >> and his commitment to reform. this is what i don't like when you see, oh swamp. everyone disagrees with the swamp. the swamp means something. it means the whorehouse lobbying that goes on in washington d.c., where special interests take command of our government. and, boy, if donald trump was serious about getting rid of that, he would have every democrat on board with him and most of the republicans. the last major piece of reform legislation we got was sponsored by john mccain. you can say you don't like -- look, i wrote a whole book opposing his election. i helped his opponent. but you can't say he's part of a swamp. it's just not true. he's a reformer and he's an american hero. he has different ideas from the president, but that's part of --

>> it's talking about the career politicians who refuse to get on board with the president's agenda, which is what -- >> he happens to know more about government than -- >> he's not a career politician. >> they don't want things to change. they want things to stay the exact same. they don't want to make the tough decisions. >> he spent a fair amount of his career locked up in a prison. so i'm not sure it's fair to say he's just been a politician his whole life. he flew fighter jets he -- >> his time as a -- and all the other career politicians. >> what's unseemly about the attacks against mccain is the fact that donald trump's own record of service in this country is one of being a draft dodger and bragging about his sexual exploits during vietnam and not serving while john mccain was being tortured in a vietnamese prison. and so i think it's a little incredulous to think that donald trump has some kind of moral authority pointing any fingers at someone like john mccain. even if we do agree that mccain is part of the establishment, we can agree on where he's been or disagree on his role in the establishment. but just because of the way that trump has been so disrespectful to john mccain, it's been personal.

when he made the comment about him not being a hero because he was captured. i mean, it's been -- there's some kind of personal animus there that i don't think is a fair attack on mccain. but here's the thing that was interesting about that press conference today. i think donald trump actually gave ground. he gave ground that acknowledged that he actually needs mitch mcconnell, he needs the senators in washington to actually get things done. we can criticize them for not moving things around and moving things along fast enough, but he -- by him not actually -- by him putting on the kabuki political theater today of being best buds with mcconnell, which we all know is not true at all, there is a lot of tension going on there, but they had to go out and put a good face on it. but that's donald trump giving ground because he needs senator mcconnell to move whatever his agenda is. >> that's the thing is -- >> which he can't seem to decide on. it changes. >> i don't know what the definition of reform agenda is, because mitch mcconnell was pushing donald trump's agenda. maybe not getting it accomplished, but he's voting for it. and, in fact -- >> and so is jeff sessions, who was also another target of the president's. >> right. >> and so are people -- you

know, jeff flay probably has voted with donald trump 95% of the time. >> that's right. >> and dean heller, who could go down if steve bannon helps support his primary opponent. orrin hatch has been a huge supporter of donald trump. and bannon is now apparently going to be supporting a challenge. so this isn't about supporting a reform agenda. orrin hatch is supporting donald trump's reform agenda. it's about ousting these establishment guys that have been around a long time. >> that's not what president trump was saying. >> different than today. >> mr. bannon seems to me, and perhaps president trump, to want a very different kind of politics in our country -- >> that's right. >> -- driven by racial division and animus. >> he's bragging about blowing up the party. >> he wants people to get on board with the president's agenda. cut taxes -- >> josh, is that -- >> -- repeal and replace obamacare. >> i heard there's someone here who wrote a book about -- >> i think that is what bannon wants, but i don't agree necessarily that trump moved toward mcconnell today. we saw two things.

at noon, trump came out and sounded as if he were saying the exact same things mitch mcconnell was saying. we have failed to legislate so far. but trump said, i don't blame myself. i blame the congress. that's exactly the argument steve bannon is making. then four hours later he comes out with mcconnell and says something different. so it's almost -- instead of having an angel and a devil on his shoulder, it's like sometimes he's got a steve bannon and sometimes he's got a little mitch mcconnell. and depending on the time of day and who happens to be standing next to him he'll say different things. let's take a quick break. when we come back, four american soldiers were killed in an ambush in africa, niger, 12 days ago, and the president did not speak about it until today. we'll tell you what he said, and what he said about former presidents whether it's true or not. we'll be right back.

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in the white house rose garden today president trump was asked why, after 12 days, he still hadn't made any public statement or comment about the four american soldiers killed during an ambush in niger.

it was the deadliest combat incident since he took office, and yet there was silence. not even a tweet. today the president said he wrote personal letters to their families and planned to call them later this week. then he claimed his predecessors, including president obama, didn't call the families of fallen soldiers, even though that is a well-established tradition that previous presidents did carry out. last hour i spoke to former clinton white house chief of staff leon panetta who said this. >> i think it would be well for president trump -- we're now ten months into his administration that rather than seeking some kind of scapegoats in the past with president obama or other presidents, that he now accept responsibility for what he does. he can figure out his own approach to how he deals with loved ones who've been lost in the field of battle. >> back now with the panel. jason, was this just a way of deflecting attention on the fact that he had not said anything public about this even though he had time to play golf and tweet out and watch television, to just kind of turn this into an

attack on the former president? >> well, i think the president could have probably could have chosen his words a little more carefully on this one and he walked it back a little bit when he said that president obama, i think, probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn't -- >> he walked them back -- because i've read the full quote. actually, he ended up basically saying, well, i'm not sure. somebody told me. >> people are saying -- >> could be they did, could be they didn't. >> the broader point being that i don't think that any president has had 100% record of calling the family of every single fallen soldier during the time that they're in office. >> why bring this up? why is the president of the united states -- >> because i think the question, the way it was being presented to him, i think was -- it was trying to draw division on the question and try to make it seem like the president wasn't doing his job. >> the question is really about why is he silent for 12 days when you have two green berets and two soldiers killed in an ambush in niger. >> i think that's an important point. i think there's something we're

kind of missing here that i saw today from the president. and that is some genuine emotion about how hard it is to be president. >> oh, give me a break. >> hold on. let me finish. >> but wait -- >> let me finish. >> this is the president who said he doesn't like the soldiers who've been captured. so if this was a successful operation, would he have said anything about it? >> anderson, i think this is an important point. i think we saw some genuine emotion from the president when he said it is hard to call these folks, to call these families, as you're writing these letters. and i think that is -- i think he kind of was realizing that as he was saying those words. and i think that was a very honest comment. >> i can't. jason, you know what? >> let me go ahead and finish here. because it is. you can go through and google and see not every president has called 100% of the families of fallen soldiers. but, again, as i said in the beginning, the president could have chosen his words a little bit differently. >> he made this -- this is why. because he's incapable of empathy. we have seen this over and over

and over again. what was supposed -- what jason interprets as genuine emotion is donald trump making it about himself again. this was not about him. in everything he does, it's about him. this should have been about him expressing condolences for those fallen heroes, period. he had no problem doing this a couple months months ago when we lost special ops guys in a raid in yemen that went bad, that he ordered. he was right there to, you know -- he was actually there for the arrival ceremony of one of the navy seals in dover. so this whole thing about it's just too hard, that's what being president of the united states is. and it's not about him and his emotion. that's what he always turns things into. president bush met with hundreds of gold star families. he wrote letters to every single one of them because that's something as commander in chief is one of the more sobering jobs you have to do. but donald trump finds time to do everything else. he can tweet about, you know, the nfl and tweet about all

kinds of other things, but the fact that he didn't make it a priority -- >> the former white house deputy chief of staff for operations on the obama administration, alyssa mastromonaco, tweeted that's an effing lie to say that president obama didn't call the family members of soldiers kia. he's a deranged animal. >> yeah. >> i think jason is right about the moment where trump was talking about the difficulty of the job and the difficulty of talking to the families of the fallen, but it was completely undercut by the fact he made up a lie about the former presidents and what they do. so that moment was just destroyed by what he said previous to that. another good example of why it's important to fact check him in real time. i think it was a reporter that sort of pointed it out, pushed back, and immediately trump sort of backed down and said, okay, i'm wrong. someone told me that. >> right. >> i think it's interesting, paul, because after charlottesville, of course, his reason for not condemning neo-nazis right away was that he doesn't like to speak without all the facts being in place. and then, you know, he says this thing just off the cuff and

tries to walk it back by saying, well, i don't know. somebody told me. i don't know if it's true or not. maybe, maybe not. >> it's where he reveals his character as lacking. it is hard. it's very hard. i accompanied, president clinton august 13, 1998, we welcomed back the bodies of diplomats who'd been killed in terrorist attacks in darsalam and in nairobi, and it was awful. it was hard. you know what's harder, burying your son. that's what those families have to do for those four men. and yeah, it's hard for the politician. it is. it's really hard. it broke bill clinton's heart. i'm sure it will break president trump's heart when he contacts these families. but he attacked the khan family last summer who laid their son on the altar of freedom. he was a captain in the united states army. he gave his life for our country, and he attacked that family who has known pain that he will never know, we hope. it shows just what a completely morally bankrupt man is our commander in chief. he's unworthy of those men who serve under him. >> we're going to take a quick break, but we'll continue this discussion when we come back. where are we?

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we're talking about the president's remarks about four fallen solders in niger and when he was fact checked, this is how he dealt with it. >> earlier you said that president obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. >> i don't know if he did. i was told that he didn't.

and a lot of presidents don't. they write letters excuse me, peter. i do a combination of both. sometimes it's a very difficult thing to do, but i do a combination of both. president obama, i think, probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn't, i don't know. that's what i was told. all i can do is ask my generals. other presidents did not call. they would write letters and some presidents didn't do anything, but i like the combination. i like -- when i can, the combination of a call and also a letter. >> i think, i don't know, that's what i was told. we should also point out, back in 2012, then citizen trump tweeted out, or retweeted an article from some blog that said president obama was using auto signature on letters to the family of the fallen and the

administration disputed that. >> it's not that he didn't call or send letters, this is the first time he's spoken about. >> it's the whole point, why 12 days go by without him even tweeting about it. >> we know trump by now. when embedded in the question is a perceived attack on him, and there was in this question, he responds by lashing out and criticizing people, and his first instinct was to do that and criticize obama for not having done x, y, or z. you can kind of see the the trump expository thinking in the moment. spent the rest of the day gradually walking it back as the facts were presented. and he tried to wriggle out of it. >> then he has the audacity to say fake news about things that are verifiable facts. but he's the first one to yell fake news about the things he doesn't like, and he's the biggest purvey or of fake news every single day. >> i think most adults would say i'm sensing in your question a criticism, let me tell you it's been an extraordinarily busy

week. or i've written to the families. you know, it's -- rather than lashing out. >> i thought he was going to say it was a secret mission, and he can't talk much about it. this is where i, as a form er government -- there's a lot of times i'm okay with my country keeping secrets about national security. there's a tension there. i thought that's why he hasn't talked about it. silly me, it's not that. it's because he's morally bankrupt. what the hell are these guys doing in niger? what is their mission? why are they there? why did they lose their lives for this country? and i thought the answer was we can't really tell you because it's a secret mission and it might jeopardize other troops in the field. but he didn't say any of that. apparently that's not the case. >> that doesn't mean that's not true. i have people that are involved in this area that i reached out to about that. the first question i had was what were we doing there. and the explanation i got was

there's a new sect of isis that's an outgrowth in this part of niger that's different from al-shabaab boko haram -- >> they've kidnapped other people. >> so there is some covert stuff going on there, and i think you're right, it is okay for us not to always jump out there. biden was criticized for outing sale team 6 after he took out osama bin laden. that could have been it. if president trump was actually a measured, thoughtful president, he would have been briefed on this and have prepared for it. >> has there been a president who's so focussed on his predecessors than this president? >> all presidents take issue with previous presidents.

i think the one thing also is, look, i think the political left here has to be careful they don't overreach. some of the headlines there a we've already started seeing popped up today the deranged animal, someone calling the president a sack of garbage. some of these -- you know -- someone called him a soulless cow. >> so many people watch presidents when these headlines are saying this. >> that's not a news item. that comes from the former obama official. >> people who have watched presidencies in the past and dealt with presidents who have said things that aren't always true, we have a way of processing that. but with this president on a daily basis he makes shit up. why is that? why is that different from previous presidents when he gets a question like that from a journalist, his immediate thing is to make something up. and then when he's presented with the facts, he says oh,

somebody told me that and backs down immediately. >> when the questions are coming in to the president, it's almost >> why doesn't he just not say -- >> the answer is basically given in the question. where they want to put it in such a negative context. >> why does he lie so much and make stuff up so much? >> look, here's the thing. >> i know you're not him and don't necessarily speak for him but that's what we're trying to wrap our head around. >> he's not answering it in the way you want him to answer it. >> i just want him to be truthful and factual and not make stuff up. >> you want him to go chasing down the rabbit hole and answer it the way you want him to answer it -- >> i don't want to write his answers. i just want him to tell the truth. the only standard you can hold a politician to, just tell the truth. >> if he answers it the exact way you want him -- >> no, absolutely not. it's not the exact way. >> jason, he didn't make up something he had no knowledge of. >> he went back and clarified

it. and i said at the very beginning -- >> but not really. >> if this were a runoff, we can move on to the next issue, but why does it happen on a daily basis? >> because he's done this his entire career and never been held accountable for it. now he's in front of the entire world where he has people that will actually hold him accountable for the things he says and he doesn't know how to process that because it's not in his character to do so. he's been a liar for his entire life. he's a b.s. artist. when he gets back into a corner then his default is to deflect, divert, lie, make something up, and when people call him on it, he calls it fake news. >> i agree with that. but i would also say donald trump talked for 45 minutes today, something like that, and he took i don't know how many questions he took from anybody. yes, he did revert to trump

behavior, but i at least applaud him for taking all these questions. he answered questions about, like, whether or not we should have senatorial red tags -- blue slips. it was unbelievable the number of questions he answered. >> we have to take a quick back. coming up, new cnn polling shows how people think the president is handling the hurricane response. the approval number took a big hit after hurricane maria had been up before the other two hurricanes. we'll get an update from the town where the president threw those gorgeous paper towels at people. when only the best will do... tempur-pedic delivers. only tempur material precisely conforms to your weight, shape and temperature. so you'll sleep deeply and wake up feeling like a champion. find an exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com

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threw some paper towels at people, where he said they were clam erg for those paper towels. we went to see how those people were holding up. >> aside from one cluster of power line contractors working in the rain, it's hard to see any signs of improvement in the highlands just outside san juan. the roads still littered with maria's debris all the more treacherous in the downpour as weeks worth of cleanup work can be undone in minutes. this literally just happened within the last hour. a wall of fallen trees and pipes and cars came rushing down the hillside, and that mudslide made life all the more difficult for the people here because it took out this bridge. this bridge had been certified as safe recently. they had cleared this road.

but now the families that live on that side are completely cut off. they either have to hike turnover mountain in this weather for food and supplies or forge this raging river. what was it like watching it happen? were you afraid? >> everything i've been struggling for all my life all of a sudden is gone, he tells me. he restores corvettes for a living, but now his parts trailer is tossed. a few of his cars totalled by the wall of muddy water. he and his wife luz have been surviving in a house without power, burning their savings on generator fuel to keep her insulin from spoiling. life was stressful enough, but then their trickle of a creek brought the highest water they had ever seen. my son was picking up the most important things as the water was coming up just in case we needed to leave, he says. >> really? that must have been terrifying. >> this is the blue collar section of upscale guanabo the

same municipality where president trump tossed the paper towels. as the mayor angel perez stood by. >> how would you describe the response of fema? >> it's been slowly, but it's there. they have given us water, food, tarps. so now they have changed a little. they're going to assign a couple persons directly to each municipality. i think that's the right direction. >> yeah. >> so the help is coming. >> reporter: with over a thousand homes in his hometown damaged, he says the biggest needs are tarps for shelter and drinking water. those plumes of fuel pouring into the creek are a reminder of the health hazards of drink ing off the land and he expresses hopes the army core of engineers can somehow replace his bridges. >> now, you are brand-new in this job. >> 40 days. >> reporter: 40 days.

what a baptism by fire. i know you were appointed by the governor after a scandal with the previous mayor. tell me about the politics. do you wish you could scream and beg for more help from the federal government, or do you have to be careful about how you ask? >> we want more help, and i know for my experience is fema has given us a lot of help. we want more, we need more help. as i have meetings with other mayors, i see the desperation. >> reporter: off camera, luz tells the mayor, i voted for your party, and you forgot about us. we need water. have you seen fema? have you seen any aid from the federal government? they haven't brought food or water here? >> no. >> bill weir joins us. do we know why the distribution

seems so spotty in places? >> reporter: well, you saw it right there. i mean, there are over 100 brich bridges out on this island, anderson, and most people are trying to keep their family alive. they don't have the luxury of the generosity from the mainland is amazing. the president is right, there are tons of supplying and fresh water. but the infrastructure is so broken, and when it's been raining for two days straight and there are flash floods, there are places you can't get this. this defies community organizations, even though many in san juan, they have cleaned the streets. they have done what they can can in many places. but the need is great. like that flash flood, it happened 45 minutes before we pulled up and we're a month after the storm. so the aftermath is the slow motion, deadly disaster that's just as bad as the initial

hurricane. >> bill, thank you very much. we'll bring the panel back in when we come back and talk about the president's approval rating for the response in puerto rico. dale. dale! oh, hey, rob. what's with the minivan? it's not mine. i don't -- dale, honey, is your tummy still hurting, or are you feeling better to ride in the front seat? oh! is this one of your motorcycling friends? hey, chin up there, dale. lots of bikers also drive cars. in fact, you can save big if you bundle them both with progressive. i'd like that. great. whoo. you've got soft hands. he uses my moisturizer. see you, dale. bye, rob. take 5, guys.

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or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion, and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. we're fed up with your unpredictability. remission can start with stelara®. talk to your doctor today. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®. we showed you this a moment ago, just a quick reminder now, polling on the president's approval on the storms. down 20 points. back now with the panel. i mean, obviously for a president who puts so much into his numbers, not good news. >> no. very bad news, although his overall approval rating has been astonishingly consistent since he fired comey he's had about a 36 to 38% approval rating overall. and that core group just does

not abandon him for anything. he can sort of do no wrong among that segment of the public. but overall i think his initial response to the hurricanes on the mainland got higher marks and then puerto rico has just erased any of that credit he got because as we just saw with that report, the island is just still devastated. >> that's because he didn't personally attack anyone in florida or texas during his hurricane response, and he didn't get into a twitter war with a mayor or governor who was waist deep in flood water trying to help save fellow citizens, which donald trump did. and he also didn't throw paper towels at people condescendingly. and talk about the beautiful paper towels. just the entire response to puerto rico was as if the people of puerto rico were second class citizens. and i think the american people recognize there was clearly a different tone in the way that donald trump handled puerto rico

versus texas or florida. so, i mean, that's obvious. >> we see pictures like the one we just saw that showed that leaving aside the name-calling, trump is impotent when it comes to responding to this crisis. bridges are out, you know, national guard isn't in there building things up. you don't have the kind of effort that we saw pretty consistently on tv in houston and elsewhere after those hurricanes. for whatever reason trump just doesn't feel obligated to produce that kind of support. >> it requires a bigger -- it requires a lot more resources. as he has pointed himself out, it's an island. >> in a big ocean. >> look, puerto rico has a long way to go. this is a terrible disaster. but puerto rico's infrastructure was absolutely terrible. i mean, the entire -- everything from the electrical grid to the distribution network, i mean, most of us here probably vacationed and visited puerto rico. for far too long the island has been ignored by the rest of the country and now we'll see what decades of neglect will do. i think the president has quite frankly been right when he's

pointed out some of the challenges that have gone into this. when we talk about the numbers, the dropping approval ratings on this, this is essentially an informed ballot. if you go and run front page news story after news story for week after week and tv story after tv story saying that the president is doing a terrible job, heck, look, we've made the mayor of san juan famous. i'm sure she's going to run for governor at this point. she shows up with a printed t-shirt somehow she finds that in the middle of a hurricane and starts attacking the president. i mean, injecting politics into that. >> he should never have attacked her. she was actually there hands on. i might -- >> where did she find that t-shirt? >> who cares? >> by the way, there was an online -- that i made her that t-shirt. i kid you not. people thought i made that t-shirt and brought it in. i knew her size and would want to waste -- >> the final comment i do have

to make on this, yes, you know, the president, i mean, obviously he's getting attacked on these numbers, but we do have to come together as a country and do something for puerto rico. we have a long ways to go here, and this isn't something that -- this is the time that we have to do it. and i don't think we can kick the can any further down the road. >> i was there a week ago -- it blends together. two weeks ago. they were talking about prepositioning supplies and they would be distributed. clearly it seems like from what bill weir is seeing it's just not enough. there's not enough infrastructure. >> we need to do more. you're right when you say the infrastructure before the storm is bad. it took decades for it to degrade. it's going to take decades for it to rebuild. our president doesn't have the commitment to the puerto rican people. he tweeted, we're not going to stay therefore. >> he and vice president said they're going to be there to see this through. >> after he got spanked for telling what he really thought.

>> he's committed to puerto rico and they're going to rebuild puerto rico. >> the president's disposition from puerto rico from his initial reaction is what sticks with people. after he gets criticized by the media saying mr. president, that probably wasn't the right way to do this, then we're supposed to give him credit for coming back and saying oh, we're going to help puerto rico? you can tell that he's not committed because puerto rico can't vote for him directly. you can tell that that's how he's approaching this. [ overlapping speakers ] >> i'm saying this was a textbook response on their part and then they finally sent a three star general down and one of the first things he says is there's not enough troops or helicopters and more are coming down. >> there's fair criticism to be made here about some of the response and things that are going on there logistically. there's a security crisis in puerto rico. there's a lot of things going on there. it's not the time to start blaming people in the middle of a humanitarian crisis. say that after people have food

and water. >> i want to thank everybody. time for don lemon. thank you so much for watching "ac 360." join us tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. i'll see you this. >> the president answering questions for 40 minutes in the rose garden today and everything he said was good news, if you're donald trump. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. the president thinks his administration has done a great job in response to hurricane response, even in puerto rico. >> i was very honored to see a man that i've had a lot of respect for, james lee witt of the clinton administration, the head of fema, he gave us an a plus. i just saw it just came out. and i've always had respect for him. he gave us -- he's the fema director of the clinton administration. gave us an a plus for how we