welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us and a remarkably busy news day it is. president trump described as fuming at his attorney general, this after jeff sessions sent a message in words and actions

back at the boss who routinely belittles him. plus hope hicks is leaving her white house job. she is routinely briefing the president which means she knows everything that passes his desk. what should be the age to purchase a firearm? >> the discussion yesterday demonstrated there is a lot of different moving parts we can work with and come up with a package that can pass the house and senate. >> are you clear about where the president stands? >> this is what i call a brainstorming session, so we got a lot of different ideas, but as i said yesterday, it's going to have to get 60 votes to pass in the senate and that's really the acid test. >> back to that in a moment, but we begin the hour with the escalation of a personal feud

that some worry coould evolve into a constitutional crisis. the president is feuding with attorney general jeff sessions. or if you drop the cartoon vocabulary, he is even madder at mr. magoo. why? because the attorney general stood up for himself, vowing to do something to provide integrity. going to dinner in public with his deputy rod rosenstein, who oversees the work of the special counsel. or oversees the witch hunt, as the president would put it. the "washington post" reporting that bob mueller's special counsel is asking witnesses at the president's previous runs at firing sessions. we have phil mattingly and jackie cosenich with "the daily beast." there is a lot going on at the white house. hope hicks is leaving.

let's start here with how important this is. not the first time the president has gone after his attorney general. but when you connect the dots and you see jeff sessions publicly asserting his independence, asserting his integrity and then going to dinner with rod rosenstein? that's sending a message back to the boss. >> it may be actually the right message to send to the boss. the president tends to like to go on the attack, and then when you push back, maybe he might be angry but he might view that as strength. jeff sessions, the mr. magoo cartoon character, is sort of a weak figure. jeff sessions is viewed by the president as someone who is weak, as someone who is maybe frail, out of his element. sessions pushing back is a different kind of response to what the president is doing. it will be interesting to see what happens with that. i think a lot of people around the president recognize this as the kind of bullying he typically does with people who work for him, but when push comes to shove, he has not actually fired sessions yet, and

a lot of people don't actually expect that he will. >> if you would have gone back to the beginning and said that jeff sessions was going to be the man standing up to the president and standing between -- >> or the man attacked by the president. >> -- it just would have been inconceivable. i think you have to remember jeff sessions' arc here. he was the u.s. attorney, then couldn't get seated for a federal judgeship. the senate rejected him. he won a senate seat. now he's attorney general. to him this has all been a triumph, a personal triumph. he's in the job that he's always wanted and he is not going to go away quietly. you know, he already sees that the president has -- he's kind of taken some of his best shots. why would he -- >> if you're jeff sessions, you think you're actually doing what the president wants, right? you're tough on immigration, you're cracking down on gangs, you're trying to preserve some judicial reforms, you're working with others on t.

he said as long as i am attorney general, i will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor. and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and constitution. given the timing of that statement yesterday, phil, that is a, mr. president, sit down. >> sit down and back off. >> one of those interesting elements is battle which is now long-running but kind of does feel like it's reaching a tipping point. i had one senator aide say to me, it will take a lot to make jeff sessions a public figure in this town. not to attack jeff sessions, but he was a loner in the senate. most did not like where jeff sessions stood on a lot of issues. what jeff sessions is doing and implementing at the justice department has been from an america first policy perspective as much as the president has been able to lay that out, has

been the most effective, i think, of any agency across the board. also to carl's point, why jeff sessions would not looeeave theb of attorney general, he is in the position to do the things he railed about on the senate floor but could only get 10 or 15 votes for. and why, if you're jeff sessions, would you leave that job even with the twitter attacks? >> but in a way, despite everything you just described, one thing he did not do was protect the president on russia. that's all that matters. you can't say i'm sorry for that. there's nothing he can do. all these conservative agenda items for the president, he can't undo what he did. now, when you talk to the conservative base, when you talk to people who are talking to the base, they're elated about what he's done with judges and some of the agenda items he's implemented. but again, he's back to square one with the president because of what he did on russia.

>> he recused himself, which lawyers said he couldn't help himself. how could be in charge of the russia investigation which is the campaign? he went to dinner with rod rosenstein in public. rod rosenstein oversees the special counsel. bob mueller can't do anything without the blessing of rod rosenstein, and rod rosenstein is doing things the president doesn't like. there was a cartoon back in the day called mr. magoo. you can find it on the internet if you want. behind the scenes, the president referred to the attorney general as mr. magoo. he has hired the best his entire life but is stuck with sessions, who is not defending him and is not sufficiently loyal. the attorney general is supposed to be loyal to the president, not the facts or constitution. >> and there's a reason why all the president's aides have tried

to keep jeff sessions from quitting. reince priebus, former chief of staff, on the order said, i practically pulled jeff sessions back into the white house to prevent him from resigning, because everybody knows if he fired sessions, it would cause a catastrophic effect on his presidency. the hill has made it very clear they do not want to confirm anybody else for that position. it would be probably, i think in jeff sessions' view, it is more loyal to him to stay and be bludgeoned every single dale as it is to throw in the towel at this age. >> remember, the president and his lawyers know a lot more about bob mueller than we do. they know what documents are being asked for. the pre-2016 campaign, dealings with the trump administration in russia.

did the trump campaign know before clinton released the dnc e-mails? did they know it was coming? were they given a heads up? trump know s a lot more than we do which i want to go back to jeff sessions' statement. this department will continue to do things according to the law and constitution. jeff sessions issued that statement yesterday. with everything going on speaks volumes to me of the level of pushback, to use your words. >> everything with trump is about russia. everything happening around him is related to this russia investigation, and he just thinks, that jeff sessions, if he would have stood up at that time and stopped this. so he sees sessions as the root cause of all of his problems, so he's lashing out at him. but sessions is down there in main justice.

i think he's feeling pretty comfortable, because as you said, they know they can't confirm someone very easily surrounded by supporters. he's got some backing on the hill that he didn't really have, and i think he feels okay. >> and just quickly, trump's base loves jeff sessions. they have rallied around him, the tea party base. every time he's under fire, they come to his rescue because they want him in that particular job to implement the trump agenda. >> and you mentioned he was more outside on capitol hill, more of a loner on capitol hill. lindsey graham has said to back off. this is a trusted colleague in alabama. interesting language defending his friend and former colleague in serving the president. >> i wouldn't be anybody's whipping boy because the president is saying you don't have any confidence in me. >> well put. and a signal, i think, to the point you both make about his relative isolation in the past. that this would be a red line,

right? every couple days, if not every couple weeks, the president about to make another run at the attorney general. the attorney general's statement yesterday, the strongest he's ever issued, is almost a dare to the president. go for it. go for it. that would provoke a crisis. >> but this president, the way he talks about jeff sessions is like he can't fire him. he puts these missives out on twitter saying, ag sessions should do x, y and z. get rid of him if he isn't. well, he can't. >> he's saying follow up the facts. >> right. >> i think it kind of underscores the sessions statement beyond the personal implications of it, beyond the fight between the president and the attorney general. the justice department is made up of thousands of career officials. it is full of components whether it's the fbi or atf. they all work under jeff sessions, technically, and i think certainly adam perez all

reporting on issues. this is the attorney general standing up for himself, speaking up for the appointees and maybe is concerned about the way things are going. so maybe that statement had a dual purpose, but that is the strongest we've seen in a day f. >> continuing dramas in trumpland. now that she's finally on her way out, how will the president replace hope hicks? so in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com". who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. nobody glows.

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oh! there's one.a "the sea cow"" manatees in novelty ts? surprising. what's "come at me bro?" it's something you say to a friend. what's not surprising? how much money matt saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. welcome back. the woman who insiders say knows everything, or at least more than most, is leaving the white house. hope hicks, the president's confidante, is leaving the white house. even as friends describe hope

hicks as innermost. >> we've been here for 13 months, but hope is one of those unbroken threads between the early days of the primary campaign all through the campaign, on the plane practically every day, including on weekends, with candidate trump, during transition with him and with us and certainly here since day one in the administration. >> all that means she'll be hard to replace. and it means more west wing turmoil and turnover. friends say hicks has talked for months of finding the exit, but the timing here is what it is. she told the president she was leaving the day after spending nine hours taking questions from the house intelligence committee. you hear all this talk today, it's like losing a limb, he trusts nobody more, she's his sounding board. is that puffery exaggerated or is that fact? >> that's fact. it's hard to understand how the white house will move forward without hope, in part because of how she is such a constant for the president. and he has so few of those left

now. beyond just being close to the president, she's close to his family. she is practically like his family. she's an aware person in a dual role who is like a daughter but also works for him, really works for him. when he needs something done, he goes to hope. there are a lot of questions about what happens with president trump, how does he manage his day-to-day without someone there who can execute for him the way he wants to and who he trusts. but there's also this question of what does it mean for the rest of them? if hope can't take anymore and decided to call it quits, what does it mean for the rest of the folks who have an even more tenuous relationship with the president. >> that's the president's own zeitgeist, if you will. they think she's in considerable jeopardy or at least of considerable interest. because of that unique role,

this is just a partial list of the things hope hicks is central to as bob mueller tries to answer questions. what does she know about the trump campaign? what did she know about hacked e-mails leaked to the public? did the campaign mislead about russian contacts? special counsel, jeff sessions. she's in the room when the president does his fuming. she's a consistent bridge between trump and his sons and the trump organization, including being part of that air force i meeting to craft donald trump's statement about the june meeting with russians. you're going to miss her advice and counsel, but are you going to be nervous that the one you trusted in this investigation is not across the hall? >> i think it's only natural. there's never been a sense that there's any break between the two of them, there has never been a sense she would go astray

of what the president's wishes are. i think the natural inclination would be you would want someone in your office, whether as the security blanket she's always been for him, the sounding board she's always been for him and presumably she knows what he talks about. if anything comes from that, and i haven't heard that it would and i can't believe it would given her relationship with the p president and his family, that there would be any split there. there just might be reason for the team to be a little insecure. >> if there is something in the truth that is trouble, then she's a witness. >> i think we saw a little bit of that after her testimony where she said she told little white lies for the president and the president reportedly wasn't happy about that. there is some dispute whether she was yelled at or not or if he was just unhappy. i think that's a crack. he sees that as a crack in the

loyalty. for this president, given how much she's seen, given how much she's been a part of, that's problematic and that has to be scary. >> he issued a statement yesterday saying how awesome she was and how much she meant to him. >> that's probably true. >> another part of this is she is unique, innermost, as i said, but it's also a part of this continuing turning of the white house. just last year, the highest first year staff turnover of all the presidents. now already this year, not included in those numbers, hope hicks, rob porter, dina powell, and some of you at home don't know these names, but these are names that put trust in the president, trust in ivanka. >> in terms of legal jeopardy is one thing with hope hicks, but it just contributes to the isolation of the president. i think this is also part of what you're seeing with the

upheaval over there right now. this is someone he had full flus and then trusted her to carry out his orders even if she had to commit some white lies. and i think right now ivanka is the person who is closest to him there, so who can he go to on the staff and say, you know, his innermost thoughts and that they'll help him out there? >> listen, again, consider the source. the person who had the communications director job 10 or 12 minutes before hope hicks got the job, anthony scaramucci. he's still in the white house and he says hope hicks is leaving at an incredibly bad time of morale, and he blames the chief of staff. >> i think it's the chief of staff. there is a culture of fear in the white house. people are afraid to talk to each other. >> the morale is terrible. >> the morale is terrible.

it's up to the president whether he wants to fix it or not. >> i predict more departures. >> here we are. it's messed up, and as mr. scaramucci said, up to the president to fix it. this is like watching a soap opera. this is like, forgive me for my child. this is like luke and laura. you can tune in every day to check in on the relationship, and if you watch it a year later, you didn't miss anything. every day the place is messed up, the president should fix it, but this day there is fear. >> he has become the center of that and that's because everything in this white house is about factions. everything is about whose side are you on? john kelly, we know as a fact, is no exception to that. and maybe that doesn't say as much about john kelly as it says

about president trump who is the one constant in this whole thing. but it's problematic. anthony scaramucci was fired by kelly. he has allies still in the building who maybe are still concerned about their fate under kelly. and that's what he's voicing. >> hope hicks and sarah sanders among them. one of the questions in town is now, will hope hicks leaving, for whatever reason, bring a more traditional white house? will the president go to a more traditional white house where it's not all family and friends? >> they don't run a traditional communications setting like the traditional white house? they set up communications and they don't have that. they don't have hope who has a ton of things she's doing. when you talk to capitol hill,

they're never totally sure what's happening. going into a midterm election, they would like to get that information. perhaps the new communications director could do that. the caveat to that is the president doesn't necessarily operate like that on a daily basis. >> all the good communications people have been taken up by the campaigns and they have reluctance to go into this white house because of constant tables that are churned. >> people aren't wanting to go in. what would normally be in washington a really high desirable job. next, lawmakers from both side of the aisle.

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welcome back. is this just political theater or is the president laying down some serious markers on policy? the democrats in the room were smiling, even winking. the democrats were just playing to the cameras and really didn't mean something like this. >> it doesn't make sense i can wait till 21 to get a handgun but at 18 i can get this weapon. some of you are petrified of the nra. take the firearms first and then go to court. take the guns early, like in this crazy man's case that just took place in florida. he had a lot of firearms. they saw everything. to go to court could take a long time. you could do everything you're saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.

>> take the guns first, go through due process second. raise the age. two things the nra doesn't want. most republicans in congress vote for it until they're forced to by their president. does he mean that? or is it i'm saying this for the cameras today and it doesn't matter what i mean tomorrow. >> when you talk about gun control on the right when they talk about con physician indication -- confiscation of guns, it doesn't apply to the president. i think they're looking to him what to do. he's put himself in the center of this and they don't know how to act. he told steve scalise he's not going to get his closed carry reciprocity bill. they're looking to him to see exactly what he means, because i don't think they thought he meant everything he said in that meeting. >> you make a good point, because some guns rights groups would say, next knock on the

door, it could be hillary clinton taking your guns. there is a president now saying seize the guns first, then worry about due process. >> vice president mike pence is explaining to him a gun violence restraining order. he interrupts his vice president, who has a very strong second amendment record, and talks about taking the guns first. it's one of those things where you don't feel like you have the capacity to be surprised very much, particularly if you covered his campaign and you've been in washington the last 14 months. that was kind of an oh, boy kind of moment. to your question. what does this mean to republicans on capitol hill? not much at all. where they stand on this issue is not up for much variation. carl made some good points about where democrats are. speaker of the house made very clear gun control, gun legislation is not going to be on the floor. senator mitch mcconnell, the

first time he's spoken publicly since this meeting, he said absolutely nothing about the meeting or guns or school violence. he doesn't say things or not say things loosely. >> usually mcconnell's silence is more -- what he doesn't talk about is more interesting than what he does talk about. >> democrats have been told that the senate next week is going to the dodd-frank rollback, not guns. when we talk about the compensation of the gun, who was always going to be hillary clinton or obama, democrats wouldn't vote for what he wanted. here's what i think the effect of this was, though, that the republicans john cornyn -- and they were hoping for a quick exit on this. they have this limited background check bill with chris murphy. they would have liked to get that on the floor, maybe pass that, knock away a few amendments and say they did something. now they can't because the president told them we have to have this big comprehensive

thing. they wanted to do something before they left town, and now they'll have a hard time doing it. >> we laugh about these things, but it's not laughable when you see republican senators saying things that are so damning. if you're a trump supporter, you can roll your eyes, but he said, we're not ditching any constitutional protection simply because the last person the president talked to today doesn't like them. essentially saying, it's not just based on principle, it's based on the last person who talked to him. marco rubio, senator from florida, his state is where parkland was. it was part of the cnn town hall where he laid out some new views. sfwlz there are some additional we forms, the possibility of looking at age limits on automatic rifles, the notion.

we'll continue to explore and look at those. these ideas do not tend to pass the senate and the house like the other ones do. they also do not unfairly infringe on the second amendment right of all law-abiding adults. >> number one, he's making the point that cornyn made. we have bump stocks and automatic rifles here. let's go to that and then we can keep talking. he said he's open to possibly looking into the age limit for purchasing semiautomatic rifles. he said this. i firmly believe if you're 18 years of age, you should not be able to buy a rifle. is he backtracking?

>> we've seen this before with immigrati immigration. this isn't uncommon for senator rubio to get ahead of his skis, see some polling -- because i believe in florida republicans weren't exactly happy. i know the gun community wasn't happy with what he said, particularly the nra and those to the right of the nra. it does feel like ease backtracking, maybe not realizing how much pushback there would be to this. >> the key thing here, though, going back to president trump, people on the hill know this. often in the context of these meetings, he might say all kinds of things. but the question is, what does he direct his staff to implement, to push forward? what does he put his shoulder into? i think there's no evidence yet that he's putting his shoulder into any of this, really. frankly, this morning, he tweeted and kind of backtracked a little bit. it raises real questions about

whether he's willing to follow through, i'm just not sure we've seen any evidence about that yet. >> i think. >> physical changes at schools to make them safer. they're going to talk about the fbi. senator grassley. they want to stay away from the gun elements just because you know -- i saw a report. overwhelming support on a weapons ban now. we have a big march coming up, i think, at the end of this month. >> but just like the dhaka dreamer r. i want to hold this conversation just for a second.

we thought there might be a big announcement today. leithen. a couple steel companies in the united states. they used to be a lot bigger, but they're going to be a lot bigger again. we have the immigrants in the deal. they have been treated terribly in other countries and have not been treated fairly. because of that, workers in our country have not been properly represented. we're going to build our steel industry back, we're going to build our aluminum industry back, and i just want you to hear from a couple of the folks in the room. we'll have a few speak, but i might want to start with dave barrett from u.s. steel was a massive company years ago and got smaller and smaller and

smaller, and dave was with caterpillar for 30-odd years. 33 years. and did a great job. they brought him in. he's been there for a short while and he wants to build it back up. dave, maybe you could say a little bit to the room and to the press about u.s. steel and where they were, where they're going and what you think of what we're going to do. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you very much for your leadership on this issue and also commerce secretary, thank you, sir, very much. this is vital to the interests of the united states. this is our mommy. and it's really important that we get this right. the alternatives that commerce secretary wants. we believe the leadership has shown outstanding judgment on tax reform.

we trust your issue on this issue, and someone who has global views on free trade, we know what's unfair. we're not protectionists. we want a level playing field. it's for our employees to support our customers. when we get this right, it will be great for the united states of america. we have to get this done. >> and for your company and for your workers and for so much else, even the security of our own nation, you like the tariffs that we're talking about, you like the tariffs where they won't be dumping on our country. what they do is they dump massive amounts of product in our country, and it just kills, it destroys our companies and our jobs, and it's been happening for so many years. we are not the beneficiary. you feel tariffs are the answer? >> yes, sir. the trans shipments that go on, which you're well aware of. we call it the whack a mole game. it's time for whack-a-mole to go

away. >> people have no idea how our country has been mistreated by other countries, by people who represented us that didn't have a clue. or if they did, they should be ashamed of themselves, because they've destroyed the steel industry, thai destroyed the aluminum sbi. they moved down to mexico. dan, do you want to say a few words? >> thank you for all your work on this issue. we believe strongly that it's time with decisive and immediate action to stop the flood of imports into this country.

we appreciate being given the chance to compete. given a level playing field, we are confident they will outsell any company in the world. today we're not getting that. the cheating is phenomenal. the amount of circumstance um ven -- circumventing is incredible. once we initiated the beginning of the 232, other countries saw this as a need to get in before it went into effect. so what we're asking for today is fast action and action that will last. >> you know, i tell the story that a couple months ago we put tariffs on washing machines coming into the country because they would dump the machines all over the place, and we had lost our manufacturing abilities for washing machines. now we have plants being built. we put a 30% tariff on.

we have plants being built and nobody has seen that for years. we have 32 companies of which 30 were out of business. they were closed. two of them were on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. they would close pretty quickly. now the two are doing much better and they're talking about opening seven or eight of the old plants that were closed, and they weren't even so old solar panels. the fact is we wernen't selling. president xi said, i don't blame you. if you can get away with making $5 billion from our country, how can i blame you? those people should be ashamed of themselves, what they've let happen. so we're bringing it back and

we're bringing it back relatively rapidly, and we're going to be instituting tariffs. next week we'll be signing. perhaps some of you folks will be here when you have nucorp, the great aluminum steel. aluminum has been decimated in this country. perhaps you would say something like a great aluminum company that's been in business a long time. how about a few words? >> thank you, mr. president. thank you, secretary ross. and other members here. we're in a situation where competing unfairly has meant that there has been capital depletion in our business, a lack of investment. that lack of investment is reflected in a loss of jobs in america, and it's all been a matter of unfair competition. we need a level playing field or we're going to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and

the national security issues that surround having a vibrant, capable manufacturing sector. >> we'll take care of the situation. okay? so steel and aluminum will see a lot of good things happen. we're going to have new jobs popping up, we'll have much more vibrant companies and then the rest will be up to management to make them truly great. if you could ever make u.s. steel like it used to be, we would be very happy. i actually think it's possible. but we have a long way to go. i remember when i was growing up, u.s. steel was the ultimate company, and they have so many closed plants. the nafta deal was a disaster for our country. the wto has been a disaster for this country, for our country. in fact, the rise of china economically, if you look at it, was directly equal to the date of the opening of the world trade organization.

it has been great for china but terrible for other countries. we're talking about it. two of the groups i want to do some very fast action will probably have everything completed by next week. we'll be imposing tariffs on steel imports and tariffs on aluminum imports, and you'll see a lot of good things happen. you'll see expansion of the companies. tim, i know you said you were expanding. a lot of you will be expanding if we give you that la. a lot of workers will be very unhappy. what's been allowed to go on for decades is disgraceful. it's disgraceful. when there comes a time that our

company can't make aluminum and without steel and aluminum, your country isn't safe. we need it for defense. we need great steel makers, great aluminum makers for defense. we'll probably see you sometime next week. we'll be signing yit in and you'll have protection for the first time in a long while, and you'll have to regrow your industries. mr. secretary, thank you very much for being here. we appreciate it. mr. secretary, thank you very much. and we'll see you next week. thank you, everybody. thank you very much. [ inaudible question ] >> 25, period. it will be 25% for steel, 10% for aluminum.

it will be for a long period of time. [ inaudible question ] >> thank you very much. thank you very much. >> you see president trump there at the white house meeting with leaders of the steel and aluminum industry in the united states. a hastily arranged meeting, a very important announcement for the president. the president said he's going to impose a 25% tariff on kborimpo steel and a 10% tariff on imported aluminum. the president used the word protection. he said the american companies need protection. if we go around the table, two big questions. number one, the substantive policy impact. the president is provoking a trade deal here, and that could be a big deal. the process, this came about in a rush. the president said it won't be ready until next, partly we're doing it now even if you might

not be ready for it to happen now. >> republicans are nervous and trade wars are unpredictable. these countries will fight back and it could cost us economically. >> we talk about fighting back. we're talking about our neighbors, we're talking about china, big players in the world economy. it's taken a while for some of these things to get to the finish line. 20% te 25% tariff on steel, 10% on a m alum -- aluminum. >> people on the hill will not be pleased. >> i heard people throughout the morning who were incensed on this idea and how it came to be. our jeremy diamond has done some great reporting, i've gotten some of it from the hillside.

this was essentially the president basically involving the nac direct to recall. >> and doing this all on their oernl. the announcement is not actually coming, this hastily arranged meeting. no big thewes will happen, i'm just getting this. they have been concerned about this for months. frankly, were concerned before the election. they're very, very unhappy. they don't have the power for this or for guns or anything else. they are very, very unhappy. >> the president is essentially siding with bernie sanders, isn't he? >> yes, but he also made this promise to his base and that's the way he sees it. he is coming out and doing this

now. >> he has not been able to do this without lots of lobbying inside and outside the white house. it was only a matter of time. i think people realize it's only a matter of time before trump gets what he wants on this one. >> political ramifications? watch the follow-up. a cnn poll asked americans this question: do you think your president is a racist?

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wrote the constitution here in philadelphia, they created the commander in chief to protect us from enemy attack the justice department just indicted 13 russians for an electronic attack on america. so what did this president do? nothing. he's failed his most important responsibility - to protect our country. the question is: why is he still president? welcome back. here's a question asked in a poll, and i guess for good reason. do americans think president trump is a racist? the associated press and the university of chicago took the poll and asked that question. 57% of all americans said yes. that's all americans. nearly 6 in 10 americans think the president is a racist. look what happens when you break that down by race. 47% of whites, nearly half of

whites, think the president is a racist. 84% of african-americans think the president is a racist. 75% of hispanics believe the president is a rapist. every day we talk about things we never thought we would talk about. i would hope if you're the president of the united states and you see those numbers, you would spend a little quiet time, put the phone down and not tweet, and think about why is it that nearly 6 in 10 citizens of my country think i'm a racist? >> you know, i see two things happening in the electoral climate. gender gap, and democrats are also heartened by this idea that in their polling, one of the main problems that people are raising about president trump and the republican party is intolerance. there is a sense in the country of the party and the president being intolerant. it's been clearly reflekd cted the polls and it's going to have a big impact on the next election. >> think about that.

african-americans, latino americans don't like this president. then look at the poll we released earlier this week, president's approval rating among women. only all women 39% approve, 56% disapprove. men, 46% approve, 50% disapprove. >> i'm sure men are sweating the midterm elections right now. right now the democrats are really energized, they want to vote, and you'll see how much the president is on the campaign trail. that will also be a reflection going into august. who wants to stand next to this person that the majority of the country doesn't agree with. >> this country was fought on this battleground. it was fought on temperament and challenge. it didn't quite get them there. so the question is, is this

enough for r people positive take some quiet time and think about this. you're right, this question normally would come back saying, no, i'm not. wolf will be here after the break. thank you for joining us. f adve. i set off on a new life, a million miles away. i'm heidi choiniere, and this is my ancestry story. now with over 10 billion historical records, discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com ♪ vibranium secured. well done my king. is my ride ready? of course, big brother. but you have to hurry. ♪

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hello, i'm wolf blitzer. thank you for watching around the world. we begin with this. >> the wild, wild west wing. >> another day, yoanother scand, another resignation. >> hope hicks abruptly announcing she is resigning him. >> the president berated her for being honest. >> you're seeing jared kushner meeting with executives in the white house and then the companies are giving very sizeable mortgages to his company. >> the existing battle lines have been entrenched by this decision by the chief