welcome to all of you from around the world. today on the show, trump and putin. as they prepare to meet in helsinki, trump throws cold water on concerns that putin meddled in elections. nato and eu continue to be targets of his criticism. what is going on and how does it look from this side of the atlantic? all that and more with a power house panel. the ed tor of the economist,

britain's former finance minister. president trump is set to arrive here in london in less than two weeks. the mayor of the city said it's known that trump is not welcome. what do the protests hope to accomplish? i'll ask one of the organizers. what is 7500 oil barrels doing in the middle of a park in a london? i'll tell you. first here's my take. in recent weeks you will have heard or read about two seemgly unrelated issues. in new york, mayor bill de blasio hassignalled his desire to scrap exams from schools.

these come from very different directions. they represent an assault on one of the foundations of modern society. the meritocrisy. it's an idea under siege. on the right many donald trump supporters see it as a code word for an out of touch establishment that looks down on ordinary, hard working americans. here in britain te resa may's call was a concept that blereed elitis elitism. that was slowly d lly but surel dislodged through systems that opened up elite institutions to people of talent no matter their background. let's first talk about the new york challenge to meritocracy.

it schools are a wonder of the public education system. admission is based on a single test. having connections will not get you in. they have a track record of movi moving smart kids out of poverty and into the mid class. blacks and hispanics comprise 6% of the schools. the test said to favor one group who make up more than 60% of the students. to come complain the schools have a diversity problem as the mayor does is wrong and wrong headed. the schools are incredibly diverse. the category encompasses people who trace an sentry to china, india, philippines among others. widely different countries and culturals. perhaps more important the test is designed to find talented students. not to race up specific

minorities which the rest of the vast new york school system works hard to do. the challenge from boston is different. arguing that elite institutions pretend to be meritocratic but don't practice what they preach. many highly selective institutions are biassed against asian yamericans. this harkens back to methods that was used in the 1920s to then qualify jewish applicants. harvard denies the allegations. we should all be wary of a system that returns to selection process to one in which people

make highly subjective judgments. that becomes a process that smuggl smuggles prejudices based on class and money. it did not find or promote genuine talent nor create much social ability. those who attack it should ask themselves what would you replace it with? as churchill said a meritocracy is the worst to elites except all the others. for more go to my washington post column and let's get started. in just over two weeks time president trump and president putin are said to meet in

helsinki, finland. in 1975 the helsinki accords were signed there. this was signed by the united states, canada and almost every european country. it solidified the post world war ii order in europe. the west had the rest. now the post world war ii order has crumbled. russia's reach is extending even into the united states where it meddled in the 2016 election. with a tweet on thursday, donald trump signalled he believes russia's denials despite the findings of his own intelligence community. the administration no longer seems to want to uphold the post-war order at all. trump told the g7 that nato is as bad as nafta. this as the two powerful men prepare to have a summit. joining me is the editor in chief of the economist.

george osbeen o-- osborne and alastair campbell. the prime minister of canada was a deceiving guy who one of hid aides said there's a special place in hell for. he can't seem to get -- he's so excited to meet putin just as he was to meet kim jong-un. does all this matter? it does feel like he really doesn't particularly care for the western alliance. >> it does matter. it makes the u.s. less reliable partner for western countries like my own. of course, the atmosphere drives the media agenda. all of us which points to western unity. there's some bigger trends happening behind that.

there are new rising powers like china and more resurgent russia. the one thing i'd say is trump not doing anything to counter those thoughts is he is accelerating. >> alstair, you look at this. this is the kind of thing that you worry a lot about. he really wants these meetings. he likes -- it's almost like he wants to create his own alternative to the g7. >> i think he's jealous of putin because i think he does believe in the strong man view of leadership. i don't think he does like institutions. it's about him. he's a narcissist. i think he looks at putin and

thinks there's a guy who controls his own parliament. doesn't have dissent. controls his media. basically has far more power than the size of his country and economy might indicate. he wants to be like that. added to it i think putin gets away with a lot more and i think trump would tliek glike to get with a lot more. i think he says they're a check on me. i don't want any check s on me. how you go from saying i got on with kim jong-un. he's a strong leader. >> he said i think his people love him. about literally the world's most repressive dictator. that says somebody who really doesn't care that much. it is important to us and he knows it's more important than maybe to him. i think it's also important to

america. that's why i think americans will be worried about his relationship as well as people like us. >> what about the substance. behind all this there's the reality that he is talking about and doing tariffs against europeans. talking about he said the g-7 meeting said i would withdraw from the wto. that's pretty serious substance. >> it's pretty substance. i think the way to think about it, i completely agree with george and alastair. he loves autocrats. they appeal to his narcissism. they don't have to deal with boring things like democracies and checks and balances. he is driven by what the stock market does and the u.s. economy. the big question is is what he's doing essentially going to push for the right kind of change in an institutional structure, in a global world order, that does need some changes. whether it's in trade, dealing

with china in a different way, that they t in nato. you can imagine a sort of crazy guy from the outside pushing the sort of institution into doing something better or and this is the really negative one. is he a wrecker who because the president had such power in foreign policy is going to be able to completely wreck institutions whether it's with withdrawing from the wto or turning up at the nato summit and saying we don't believe in article five. i'm going to go see putin which would be catastrophic. i think you start seeing stock markets plunge and that's the thing that will change the president's mind. >> george, you had to deal with these kinds of issues at the highest level. what's your sense of whether trump is willing to have a trade war because there's a side to him that says it's going to be

rough. i know the markets aren't going to like it but i intend to do this. these are his original positions. they used to come back how we had to fight back against japan and now it's china. how worried are you there will be a trade war in. >> at the moment i would say his bark is worst than his bite. he talked about pulling apart nafta. nafta is still in tact. he talk eed about universal imports. it's the kind of thing some previous u.s. presidents have done. when it comes to nato many u.s. soldiers have broaden when he came to office. he's done these things that haven't yet pulled apart nafta, pulled apart nato. i think the question is, is he prepared to do those things.

that's what would really react to. is that a self-regulating mechanism. you get the impression this is a president that checks that dow several times a day and judges his success against that. what we moe is if you're the british prime minister or the french president or the japanese prime minister, you cannot rely on this guy. you don't know how he will react to these things. you don't have the answer to these things. >> that's a big question. >> that creates a lot of uncertainty and decision making. alastair and i both worked in downing street. you had a pretty good idea that the united states president had your back. he wasn't always going to agree with britain or france but you knew you were close allies and friends. the problem for any european leader is do you don't know what the response will be when you need america's help. that creates the uncertainty

before the institutions dissent grate. >> we have to take a break. next, my panel will stay with me. i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

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a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! we're back with zanny minton beddoes, george osborne and alastair campbell. he decided to national ieize th midterm election around immigration. i'm thinking he thinks this is the motional core of the base. the democrats were leading by 14 point s now down to 7 points.

do you think that immigration because it seems similar in britain, does it have enough rez innocence to g-- resonance. >> he surprises us day by day and his behavior is normalizing as well. i saw a poll, 92% approval rating. >> among republicans. >> that's consolidation among the base. i wonder the extent to how despised he is by a lot of other people in his own country and around the world. immigration as we have seen in brexit and italian elections and some of the european elections in the past few years, on the back of crisis, immigration is a very, very powerful political

weapon. what he does is takes a real issue and he exaggerates and makes it worse than it is and make people feel it's real threat to them. politically that's very powerful. i think the leader of western world is grossly responsible. >> democrats say what do we do? he says the democrats want open borders. that he want -- he describes these, none of which are true but in a very simple way. it puts the democrats on the defensive. you're on the other side on this issue because you've been in favor of immigration. how would you fight this ? >> people in office did not do enough to talk about the benefits of immigration and we went along with public concerns. second, i think you have to have

elements of border security. when people see on their television screens just unpoliced order whether it's the mexican border or the mediterranean here in europe and it looks chaotic. >> how do you convey moderate position? >> i think you have to reassure people that you know who is coming into your area. for example, in the last couple of days european union has committeds to further measures to police its border to deal with processing economic migrants. people who want to make the case for integration and diversity in their own community do have to reassure public concerns about who is coming in. >> alastair's point, he misrepresents that position. >> trump does that on everything. i think in the long run the only way to counter that is with a

pos itive vision of your own. liberals have focused insufficiently on border security. there's been a sense they have allowed narrative to develop that liberals don't care about border security. i think countering that is important. more important is coming up with a positive position of what immigrants do in the country. you had a big increase in immigration. that was a large part of why people were fed up with the large numbers of people coming in. we don't need to re-litigate that now. >> in the country, areas with large numbers of immigrants are the areas that are most confidentabkvrtabl comfortable with immigration. >> what matters is the change. what matters is not the absolute number of immigrants. the rate of change and the change in the ratio of people

born there. if you look at hungary and poland, it's hardly any but they are obsessed with immigration. if you're cutting public services at the same time as you're seeing on your television screen and seeing there's increased immigration. >> i think we are wrong to go along these arguments. it's not true. thi they were facing huge pressure from immigrants. >> i think it's cultural. it's the fear of being diluted. >> the question you ask is how do you deal with this. i think trump have thrown a really difficult question out for politics and political campaigners. george and i fought on different sides of campaigns and you've, i think we both say we're pretty tough at putting over case. with trump you're dealing with

somebody who just straight out lies about his own position and about your position and that gets his poents on the defensive pretty much all the time. >> i want to close where we started. how worried should we be? a lot of people worried we're witnessing the end of the american led post world war ii order. >> i think we should be worried. when people like donald trump say to the population, what the hell have you got to lose. peace, prosperity and security is a hell of a lot. i think the main challenge is, u.s. leadership but binding the new powers in the world, particularly china, into that global order. >> hard to do if you don't believe in it yourself. >> make president xi and the chinese government feel it has stake in the united nations and the world trading organization.

there are multiple actors and not just relying on the occupants of the white house. >> we in britain have always focussed very close to america and i'm halfway through book on fas fascism. i think it's far too many parallels to not be worried about this order being undermined by the people whose sporn responsibility they are. >> fascinating discussion. next on gps, when we think of the 1%, we tend to think of the united states, uk, maybe russia, the gulf states. don't forget china. the wealthy are growing wealthier at an astounding rate. it's caused real problem. i will explain when we get back. the digital divide is splitting this country. we have parents who are trying to get their kids off of too much social media and computers,

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i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. now for our what in the world segment. it's not news the rich is getter richer. it's where they are getting richer and how fast. it's fascinating. china has entered into it own guilded age. the pool of assets belonging to

the very richest in china is $3.7 trillion. that amount of wealth for that segment is second in size only to the united states. for perspective, 3.7 trillion is more than the entire gdp of germany. that chinese wealth, just like the number of billionaires in the country, is growing fast. the reasons are clear. clie china's committeconomy is second larnlest in the world. flexing market power and consolidating wealth says an economist with the peters institute. where does that leave the rest of china? the poor. not as well off. they are getting richer but not nearly as fast. sin since 1978, their incomes have grown by 40%. that's pretty good particularly when you look at the poorest

half of americans during that period for whom incomes declined by 1%. now look at china's richest 10%. their income grew by 1,289% in that same time period. in the u.s. that group was 115% higher. the top 1% in china they're incomes rose by nearly 1,900% since 1978 and 2015. these numbers do more than just boggle the mind. they represent a problem for china which still bears in its dna the imprint of a far more equitable system. that's why even as wealth and incomes are rising now welfare programs are scaling up at an astonishing rate. take for example, china's minimum income guarantee which has been called the largest social assistance program by

population coverage in the world. it provides cash traens fers to people living below the poverty line which is about $350 a year. they comprise just 3% of the population. it grew from fewer than 1% in 1997 to more than 75 million at its height in 2011. the chinese are not where they should be on welfare spending but ramping up the reach of programs across the board. what i've described china's wealth soaring as it dra mat i believe -- dramatically expands welfare. whatever china does, it does on a massive scale. regulations that threaten to choke wealth can fall away with ease. that's because of china's mix of economic systems. this kind of boundless growth, a nation undergoing a consumer

transformation all recall another country at a similar point in its trajectory. the rising united states, of course. next on gps, after cancelling an earlier visit, trump will arrive here in london in less than two weeks and the city is gearing up for ma jor protests. just what do they hope to accomplish? i'll ask one of the organizers when we come back. you turned a family recipe into a brewing empire before prohibition took it all away. i promised our family i'd find your lost recipe. by tracing our history on ancestry, i found the one person who still had it. now, i'm brewing our legacy back to life. i'm david thieme, and this is my ancestry story. now with 100 million family trees, find your story. get started for free at ancestry.com. if you have moderate to severe or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream.

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hello. let's go for a ride on a peloton. let's go grab a couple thousand friends and chase each other up a hill. let's go make a personal best, then beat it with your personal better than best. let's go bring the world's best instructors right to you. better yet, let's go bring the entire new york studio - live. let's go anytime, anywhere, with anyone who's willing. and let's go do it all right here. ready to go? peloton. it's a fantastic thing to come to a country where people are able to express their views. >> that was president george

bush in london 15 years ago in the early months of the iraq war. he had come to the capital for a state visit. it was marched by mass protests. 100,000 protesters shouted angry slogans and toppled a statue of bush. the question is, will president trump be as gracious about his protesters? he is scheduled to arrive july 13 to meet with prime minister may and the queen. according to the u.s. ambassador. he, like bush, will be met with large protests. the anti-bush protests didn't end the iraq war. what will the anti-trump protests do? joining me now is shola mos- shogbabimu, the co-organizer of london's women's march. she's leading an anti-trump

protest that will greet the president. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> why did you get involved in this? you are a distinguished lawyer. you have other things going on. what made you decide you wanted to lead this protest? >> women like myself understand that it's time to make our voice count. our vote and our voice count. we can't sit in silence or on the fence while we see intolerance, while we see acts and policies that seem to not -- not just seem but actually allow for inequality, intolerance in all the shades that affect people's lives. we have to do something about it. that's why we are here. >> there a lot of people in the united states and around the world who will say, trump was elected president of the united states. he has to do business with the rest of the world. he is coming to britain.

it's more of a working visit. what's wrong with him meeting the prime minister? >> the point is not about his visit. the point is the demonstration being put together is a celebration of who we are, the values that trump administration clearly does not appreciate and the values that the policies of his administration are stamping down on. the protest, the demonstration is also to bring about a call for action. we expect our elected government officials to take notes that we are watching. we expect them to represent us properly when meeting with president donald trump. >> what is the protest going to look like as far as you can tell? >> the protest is going to be a huge celebration of british values. it's going to be -- definitely, it's being led by women. but also being led by coalition of very high profile charitable organizations and grass-roots activists who are supporting us in this. there will be people in london with their pots and pans to bring about the kind of celebration, the noise that will drown out a lot of the divisive language that will drown out a lot of the intolerance that are coming out of the trump

administration. >> a lot of people watch these protests and say, this is all great, and it happens more on the left. it ends up with everyone feeling good and everyone pressing like on their facebook or whatever it is or hearts on twitter. it doesn't cause change. what causes change is you have to have specific programs and policy agendas. you have to show up and vote. a lot of people come for the celebration and then stay home for the vote. >> to be perfectly honest with you, this is different. not just this mass demonstration, which we call bring the noise, but i think you will see from last year, here in the united kingdom and other countries, more and more people are actually taking that action to vote. more and more people are

recognizing that their voice counts. i disagree that protests or people gathering together collectively or acting individually makes no change. because of the backlash on cajun children, what did trump do? that didn't just come from the united states. it came internationally. we keep doing what we have to do until we see the change that we want. >> pleasure to have you on. >> thank you. up next, i will introduce you to one of britain's most celebrated journalists. for 31 years, lucie helped her readers understand business and corporate culture. now she's quit all that for a second act that she calls brutal. what is it and why did she give it all up? find out when we come back. -and we welcome back gary, who's already won three cars, two motorcycles, a boat, and an r.v. i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive, so i just bundled everything with my home insurance. saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied."

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lucy kellaway was one of britain's best known journalists. she spent 31 years in the world. she said farewell to the pen and pad of journalism and said hello to teaching.

she's a teacher instructing england's next generation of youngsters in math. she joins me now. i read you for years. you had this column which was on business culture. it was a column that every executive read, ceos must have talked to you about it. you were in this giddy world where you were a horse whisperer to ceos and writing for the financial times. you quit it all at the point where your column was at its most influential. why? why to go become a trainee? >> i just had done it for too long. you are right, i had this amazing platform. i found a job i could do, something i was good at. but it was just too long. i had been at the ft for 31 years. writing that column for well over 20. i just wanted to do something new. i was sort of tired of the curby lifestyle or i thought i was

back then. i wanted to do something more useful. i come from a family of teachers. i had always rather fancied it. i thought, i'm going to do this. i'm not too old. i set up the thing to encourage other people to do it with me. that was last september. i'm now not a journalist anymore, i'm a teacher. >> what's the biggest revelation, difference? what's the lead in the story if you were to write one? >> the lead is that teaching is really hard. i had -- i thought i was going to be brilliant at this. i love talking. i really love teenagers. i mind about social mobility. i like math. i'm a math teacher. i like explaining what could go wrong. so i thought. actually, teaching is very, very difficult. i've completed my training year

or nearly completed it. i'm still nowhere near there. i -- the arrogance of me. i expected that within a few weeks i would be great. >> what's hard about it? >> mainly, it's about multitasks. you have to do so many things at once. there are 32 children. you must be aware of all of them. be aware who understands it, who doesn't. you must be aware who is talking in the back row and who needs controlling. you me be aware who needs pulling on. there's other stuff. i need to be mastering my slides, which i'm very bad at. i need to know which is my interactive pen and my board marker. i keep getting them confused. you need to come with a supply of new exercise books, set the homework. there are hundreds of things every lesson. >> you are doing the substantive part of the math which you have to get write. >> quite often is i find myself making mistakes on the board. the kids are like, she's not good at math. it's the hardest thing i have done by a million miles.

>> when you hear of people say, why do schools not run like businesses, you have all this experience as a business columnist. do you think there's a problem in terms of how schools are run? if only you could bring the private sector to schools? >> in most big companies, hierarchies have been swept away more or less. we're just told that, you know, this is the drill for this and this is the drill for that. it makes the school efficient. but there's no soft cuddly feely time. no time to pat us on the head or ask us what we think about anything. >> and they should probably.

>> i think so but if it means we never have to go to meetings, then that's a fantastic advantage. and if the end we know what we're trying to do which is educate the kids. we don't need meetings for that. >> you wrote fundamentally journalism was about me and education is about the kids. and i want to know, you know, just watching what you've done and this embracing of humility and taking on this hard work, there seems to be a calvinist part here where you're doing something here that's hard and painful because that vein is good. suffering is rebutting. >> i think my friends and family would say i was just as tiresome as i was. i don't think it's had that big -- but you're right about redemption in a way. there's probably some part of me

that feels vaguely guilty about having lived such a charmed existence. i was going on beautiful holidays that were paid for in order to write about them. you don't get cushier than that. and i'm paying for it now. except the rewards, you're absolutely right, it's not about making my ego feel better. it's about trying to teach the kids some math. >> it's one of the most fascinating ways of giving back i've seen. pleasure to have you on. >> it's been a great pleasure for me too. to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,

including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. well, esurance makes it simple and affordable. in fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of $412. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance. an allstate company. click or call. paying too much for insurance that isn't the right fit? well, esurance makes finding the right coverage easy. in fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of $412. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance. an allstate company. click or call.

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using smart sensors on their network that lets us collect near real time data on our power grid. (colton) this technology is helping us integrate rooftop solar, which is a very important element of getting us to our renewable energy goals. ♪ (shelee) if we can create our own energy, we can take care of this beautiful place that i grew up in. ♪

i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. u.s. tensions with china have been increasing over trade tariffs in recent weeks, but there's something that is not

increasing. the amount of plastic waste the united states ships to china. last year china announced it was banning the import of all non-industrial plastic waste like water bottles and plastic bags. and it brings me to my question. roughly how much of the world's plastic waste has ended up in china since 1992? a fifth? one-third? a half? or two-thirds? stay tuned and we'll tell you the correct answer. my book of the week is a classic. john steinbeck's "east of eden." if you're looking for a big fat book of fiction for the summer as i was, try this one. it is to my mind the book that best illustrates the idea of the great american novel. a rich saga of families moving westward on a vast, unformed continent making a new life and a new nation. and now for the last look. i'm in the heart of london not too far from hyde park. a 350-acre area known for its lush green space and pleasant

water features. but this week the park's serpentine lake has a stunning addition. a massive stack of painted floating oil barrels. this is an art exhibit by the bulgarian born artist christo. he and his late wife are known for building large scale artworks that involve complex engineering. the artists have wrapped buildings and landmarks in fabric. they have set up thousands of colorful gates in central park and have constructing floating piers that allow people to walk on water. this work is called the london masteban. >> 7,506 barrels stacked horizontally floating in the water. not supporting anything. >> that's 7,506 oil barrels

floating in the shape of a mastaba, which is a trapezoid-shape egyptian tomb of sorts. its stark presence juxtaposed with the colors on the water creating an abstract painting on the lake. if you think it looks massive, think of this. opec just raised its target gaily output of oil by 1 million barrels a day. it would take more than 133 copies of the sculpture to contain all of those barrels. but christo wants to come close. he's doing a stack for abu dhabi. he says it would be bigger than the great pyramid of giza. that will be something to behold. the answer to my challenge question is "c." roughly half of the world's plastic waste has ended up in china since 1992. and according to a new paper, china's ban of non-industrial plastic waste will leave the world with an additional 100

million metric tons of plastic to deal with by 2030. the impact will certainly be felt around the world. the study found that in 2016, more than half of america's plastic waste exports went to china. germany sent more than two-thirds to the middle kingdom. while efforts to eliminate plastic straws and bags are noteworthy, in order to counter the millions of tons of waste piling up around the world, more initiatives to drastically reduce and manage waste will surely be needed. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. hello, everyone. thank you so much for joining me. i'm fredricka whitfield in washington, d.c. up first, the u.s. supreme court showdown. president trump is about to head back to the white house from his golf club in new jersey, where he spent part of the weekend interviewing possible u.s. supreme court candidates. justice anthony kennedy announced his retirement just a few days ago, but president