>> jon: "outnumbered" starts right now. >> sandra: fox news alert, a new strategy for afghanistan. president trump announcing his plan for america's longest war, vowing the u.s. will defeat the terrorists. the commander in chief insisting his approach is not nation-building and not "a blank check." this is "outnumbered," i'm sandra smith. here today, harris faulkner, anchor of the intelligence report on fox business, trish regan, democratic strategist and fox news contributor jessica tarlov is here and today's #oneluckyguy, former green beret and veteran of three tours of duty in afghanistan, ben collins. he is outnumbered and more than

qualified to speak on this matter today. >> ben: thank you. >> sandra: it's great to have you on the couch. >> harris: it's fantastic to get your experience and perspective. this will be great stuff. >> ben: it should be and i can say i'm glad we are finally talking about afghanistan again after 15 or 16 years. >> sandra: more of that in just a moment, let's get started. president trump laying out his plans were afghanistan and a primetime address to the nation after consulting with his generals, the president saying he will give troops the tools they need to win, but declining to disclose how many more troops will be dispatched nearing the 16 year mark and refusing to set timelines. calling it counterproductive. watch. >> conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timelines will guide our strategy from now on.

america's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. i will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will. >> sandra: the president's new afghan strategy winning praise from most quarters of his party including senator lindsey graha graham. >> i'm proud, i'm relieved. i'm proud president trump made a national decision, not a political decision. i'm proud that he shows the will to defend radical islam >> sandra: a lot of praise there from the senator, but democrats including house minority leader nancy pelosi saying this. "the president's announcement is low on details, but raises serious questions one president trump says there'll be no ceiling on the number of troops and no timeline for withdrawal, he is declaring an

open-ended commitment of american lives with no accountability to the macon people. jennifer griffin joins us live from the pentagon with more. jennifer? >> let's talk about with this strategy is not, it's not completely new. many elements of it have been tried before, but it is not a withdrawal and it is not a surge in u.s. troops. defense secretary jim mattis was in iraq today, but would not address numbers. >> i would prefer to not go into those numbers right now. we've obviously been discussing this option for some time. when he brings that to me, i'll determine how many more we need to send in. >> it's been widely reported the president has authorized up to 3,900 troops. >> we will not dictate to the afghan people how to live or how to govern their own complex societies.

we are not nation-building agai again. we are killing terrorists. >> nearly for 16 years, we have been at war in afghanistan and the strategy has changed. in many ways, we haven't had one strategy for many years, we've had 16 different years, 16 different strategies. >> military officials have long said there is no military solution to afghanistan and yet success lies on the military to fix afghanistan. this strategy will rely on diplomacy, but right now the state department is underfunded in many positions remain unfilled. secretary tillerson eliminated the offices of special interest which was established by hillary clinton when she was secretary of state and there is currently no u.s. ambassador and cabo. >> sandra: thank you, jennifer griffin. then, can you let us know what struck you last night as the president laid out his detailed plan?

>> the most important thing is the president, when i heard his words, i realized that not only did he listen to the generals, but he listened to the soldiers as well and he brought in a number of soldiers who served there over the years passed, like myself, i was walking up to have lunch with him a couple of weeks ago to discuss afghanistan specifically. he listened to what we said in terms of here are the reasons why we have not been successful. there is really no clear and concise understanding of what soldiers were trying to accomplish. the diplomatic and military weren't working hand-in-hand and as vice president pence just said, there are so many strategies over the years. he listen to the generals, but also to the guys who have fought that fight on the ground and that gives me a lot of hope because as everybody knows, this is a president who campaigned and said he didn't really want to be there in the first place, so he's taking in his mind, a

big chance by allowing us to continue the fight. >> sandra: i want to point out we're looking looking a live picture where the president's wheels up from the white house, going to be arriving there and just moments. all of this happening before that campaign style rally. to go back to your point about how he's listening to the general, he's listening to guys like you sitting down, having lunch, taking in your experience. here's what the president said on his original instinct when it came to afghanistan. >> my original instinct was to pull out and historically, i like following my instincts. all my life, i've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the oval office. i studied afghanistan and great detail and from every conceivable angle.

>> sandra: a very honest moment for the president. >> jessica: i thought it was one of the finest moments of the speech because of the honesty to it. i know we've all discussed how critical it is that we allow politicians to evolve on issues because attitudes do change. there's a time and place for certain perspective. i take your point and it's interesting to hear that he had that interaction with you. the magnitude of the moment of him looking out there at people in their uniforms really hits home. we talked about how the most important people to him are these generals. anyone who is in favor of barack obama's policies in afghanistan could it really felt the president for what came out of his mouth last night. in many ways, this is a continuation of what we've seen over the last 16 years. the question will be, what does winning actually look like? you said he was going to be clear, but he wasn't clear and specific on that. i know there's been 3,900 that

have been authorized since june, but there are many who are saying you need a lot more than that to win this war. i would have liked a more precise vision of what that looks like. >> harris: i want to step in with what i've heard the president say and what he told you also, ben. what he's saying is not when the war in the traditional sense that we think of one side winning on one side losing. the time for that has really passed. ed passed a decade ago. the point now is to stomp out the terrorists in the country. i have two questions for you. one, how much of a presence has isis been allowed to gain under the last president? there are a blip on the screen and afghanistan. they now have a third of their country back. >> ben: correct, my response to your questions, it's defining the win. what he said last night was we are not going to nation build, we are going to focus on

creating a stable environment, so what does that mean? the number of providence is such a localized environment. we don't need to hold that military and make everything safe. he said we are going to have taliban come to to the peace table. the numbers are a lot less applicable. it doesn't really matter except how they will be utilized. the strongest we were in afghanistan was right after 9/11 when special forces went in and we had medical evacuation. we put our hurt on the tally band so quickly that they were question to pakistan. he talked about india, he recognized it as a regional problem and is going to have a regional solution. the reality is if we can punch the taliban as hard as we possibly can for the next 6-8

months, they'll have to come to the negotiating table. >> jessica: you think that's the right approach to dealing with it now. >> sandra: i want to jump in and show marine one. you're looking at a live picture right now, the president just took off in the white house, he is expected to land and moments at joint base andrews. trish, i want to go to this sound because there is criticism and disagreement within the president's own party on this afghanistan plan. rand paul notably called it a terrible idea after the president ruled out his plan last night. here's a senator lindsey graham slamming rand paul for his criticism of the president, watch this. >> i trust general matters more than i trust general paul.

he's been wrong about everything in this war. is that kind of thinking that got us into 9/11. you may be tired of fighting the terrorists, they're not tired of fighting you. >> trish: general paul. rand paul has a very libertarian approach to this. this has been echoed through the conservative party and we've seen is as a populist movement. we shouldn't be over there fighting every single war. i'll tell you what, we got out of a rock to quickly and by getting out as quickly as we did, we left a breeding ground for terrorism and a breeding ground for isis. what you make a commitment to be somewhere, it's hard to say we're going to walk away an end this particular case, we are not prepared to walk away from afghanistan. if we were to do so, you run the risk of seeing some kind of 9/11 type event. do not forget why we went to afghanistan the first place.

i know people don't want to see this, and is incredibly challenging and hard when you're in his position because you don't want to lose one single american life over there in afghanistan, but you need to make sure you stop these bad guys. >> harris: i want to talk again about what trish has been talking about. it's important to talk about what's been able to fester, isis based on the former president's timeline, they were counting on us leaving. an even bigger numbers than we had. they are going to be sadly awakened by the fact that we are not just to stay stain, but we are for them. >> sandra: who we are expecting to see the president land, he will board air force one on his way to phoenix for that rally. he's excited to make one stop, his first stop is going to be the border city of yuma where he is scheduled to tour customs and

border patrol equipment and then he'll head to the phoenix convention center despite the mayor's request for him to delay that campaign style rally. watching for the president to walk-off of marine one. your thoughts, less than 24 hours after this strategy was laid out. >> ben: the image that a lot of advisors tried to give him was the reality is it right now, afghanistan's political situation is almost more dangerous than the taliban in terms of stability of this centralized government. it has started to look a lot like what brought the taliban to the floor which was civil war in the '80s. if we pulled out, like trisha said, it would look a lot like isis's takeover of iraq, it would be the taliban was taking over, i know it's in the weeds, but thank al qaeda. it will essentially be al qaeda and you're surrounded by countries with nuclear weapons and there's nothing good that

could come out of that. trust me, i don't want to see anymore american lives lost in afghanistan either, but it is within our national security, we have to get it right this time. >> harris: we're watching this picture right now. this day is going to begin differently than people across the country said they wanted it to. people don't want the president to go to arizona and have a campaign style rally. there was concern even within the republican party about whether or not this would be good since charlottesville. given the speech that happened last night, it's a much different tone than we soften the president. >> sandra: there is the president now. obviously, there's a lot of questions about what he will address in this speech tonight. how he will address that, what he will begin with and what will be the main focus going back to the point that the mayor said it was too soon to hold this type

of event. jessica? >> jessica: i thought that was interesting. the mayor of phoenix came out days ago to say -- he knew right away that campaign style rally looking back at how the rally have gone in the past would be wrong for the city right now. three publican governor is not going to attend, though he will meet the president on the tarmac. i want to piggyback a little bit and bring up the quandary that president is finding himself in now that he has betrayed his campaign promises are not being a globalist and interventionist and i wonder if if you will ads that tonight. >> harris: i want to watch the president waved before he steps onto air force one. sometimes this president has been known to say something. that was such a quick d board and reboard. >> jessica: i hope he will keep, obviously he won't be as subdued as he was last night at a rally.

i do think it's important he speaks thoroughly to his base about his change in attitude towards this war and explained to them how important it is. >> trish: the ball is in his court and the reason being that he has really shown a remarkable ability to bring his base along every step of the way and there's a chance that he can bring more republicans into the party, i.e. lindsey graham lindsey graham. >> sandra: the president has boarded air force one. he's on his way to the border first before making that speech in phoenix tonight. as we discussed, he plans to hold that campaign style rally in phoenix despite the cause for delay. what he needs to say and whether he can please both sides, his base and promote unity at that speech tonight. plus, liberals reportedly gearing up to take on any moderate democrats who strayed

from the parties doctrine on tax reform. what that could mean for some vulnerable incumbents and republican effort. i bet trish has something to say about that. after the show, he can watch our live chat by clicking the overtime tab on foxnews.com/outnumbered or go to facebook.com/outnumberedfnc. you can tweet us your thoughts on the show. we'll see you there. ♪ my day starts well before i'm even in the kitchen. i need my blood sugar to stay in control. so i asked about tresiba®.

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was >> harris: fox news alert. president trump is now on his way to president trump he is heading to yuma, arizona where he will tour border patrol and meet with marines there at the southern border between us and mexico. tonight, he's planning to hold a campaign style rally in phoenix despite the mayor's request that the president delay that. arizona's republican governor won't be at that rally, but he will brief the president on the tarmac. all of this has questions grow about what the president is expected to say and whether he'll use the rally as a chance to unify the nation much like he used his talk on afghanistan last night, a different tone. he touched on unity, watch this.

>> loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another. love for america requires love for all of its people. when we open our hearts to patients, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry and no tolerance for hate. >> harris: house speaker paul ryan praised the president's remarks. >> i think what he did two days ago and commending the peaceful protests against the hate is a good start. 25 minutes ago, i heard the president say exactly what we needed to hear. >> harris: the president's plane on the tarmac right now, getting ready to take off for arizona. some people are wondering how the president will handle the issue of illegal immigration when he speaks in phoenix later today or whether he will take on congressional republicans who have been critical of him. let's talk about this.

you can see it down through the screen, will keep that in view. it's interesting, trish. he's got a difficult line to walk. last night, from many quarters politically, he's giving a win-win on his tone, his message. he alluded to charlottesville, virginia, and then try to move forward with his messaging. >> trish: i can't even begin to tell you, we needed to hear that as a nation, his comments on unification and help patriotism, the one thing that bonds us all as americans, that was important for everyone to hear because i will tell you, things are getting very dangerous in terms of the roddick rhetoric. that is where we were heading. an entire group of people were being tainted as somehow racist because they believed in the principal. what the president said was very

good and i think tonight, there is an opportunity for him to expand on this. he doesn't have to deal with reporters. i was not thrilled how he dealt with them and i was very critical at the time because they were baiting him into this conversation and he effectively took that, but he doesn't have to do with them tonight, they will be asking the questions. he has to be authentic and he has to talk about the values that we stand for as a country which means we are unified in our patriotism and towards each other. >> harris: does he talk about the economy tonight? >> sandra: going back to -- we talked about this on the couch for a second yesterday, but remember in that second response to charlottesville, it was his best response, he cleared the air, he came out and spoke against these groups, but he led the economy. the media has done that to criticize, why did you leave out the economy? i don't know. the president is taking off

right now, i'm sure he knows, but not a bad strategy, you talk about where you are winning first. a lot of the critics on his own team have said start out with where you're doing well, talk about what you have done to date. let people know where the progress is before you move on to what you're going to do next. >> ben: i agree and i think he had a great moment last night and he can build upon the moment today. unfortunately, there are parts of the media and certainly parts of the left that are going to criticize him no matter what he says or how he says it. >> harris: there is an extensive list of criticism from bipartisan. >> ben: i start worrying about the security protocols for tonight, us there is going to be thousands of people at this thing and i fear that there are individuals who will come to cause trouble regardless of what the president is going to say or not say.

i certainly hope that they have that part figured out pretty well. >> sandra: the governor won't be attending the event, as you said, he is going to greet the president on the tarmac when he gets off air force one. you wonder what that conversation is like as well. >> harris: our own former president barack obama didn't go to the border. the president is going to the border again. he did as a candidate and he's going back. >> jessica: illegal border crossings are down like a 70%. i think that's the magic phrase to go with for him because he's facing an uphill battle and getting enough funding for the border wall, we don't really know if thing like that is going to happen. one thing i want to say and i'm sure that maybe not on this count, but twitter will tell me i'll never be satisfied. i saw yesterday, when he said we

value all lives, all american lives, it was a perfect opportunity because he was clearly talking about charlottesville to mention by name the woman and he could do that tonight and say -- is not just about servicemen and women, it's about those who passed away protecting our first amendment rights. that's all she was doing. >> ben: all of us watched that moment, whether you're on the left or right, i think the most sane people, that didn't feel right. i felt wrong. just watching the violence and watching the hate, it hurt. i think the president started some of that last night and i hope you can continue that because there's a huge chance for us to come together as americans. >> harris: safe travels and we will watch that rally when it happens tonight. when congress returns from their august break, we could see a

fight, but not just between republic and the democrats, liberal activists are gearing up to target any democrat who strays from the fold on taxes. jessica, are you shaking your head? >> jessica: yeah. >> harris: what that could mean for some democrats who are up for reelection in 2018. the jefferson memorial getting an update. whether it's a good compromise and keeping that up with the added information, given the current debate, we'll talk about it, stay close. ♪

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♪ >> sandra: when congress returns from its august break, tax reform expected to be at the top of the agenda, house speaker paul ryan sounding off when he was asked about it.

>> i believe it will be easier for us to do tax reform. tax reform is different. the entire bill can go into one bill through the house in the senate, so procedurally, and makes it much easier. we are committed to getting this done this year. >> sandra: democrats are not expected to make it easy. political reporting activists want them to stick with them. the article says "democrats were spared the sight of their progressive fate -- there is no guarantee taxes will be another kumbaya moment and liberals are prepared to lash their routes on any lawmaker who doesn't get on board." that unity could -- trish regan.

is it that simple? paul ryan didn't sound very optimistic. this is going to be easier. >> trish: it is easier than health care, certainly repeal and replace. replaces the problem with that one. i think this could be easy, but they will not make it easy. there are divisions along the republican party. they have a very conservative base that may not like this idea of tax cuts if they can pay for them immediately. i go back and i say this is econ 101. we need tax cuts right now because we need to be competitive. we need to make sure the people who are earning the money are keeping their money, we want to incentivize them and incentivize corporations. it's pretty easy and it will pay off in the long run.

>> sandra: is not a set up for disappointment? to have the speaker in the house say this is going to be far easier than health care. >> jessica: i'm surprised that they didn't learn from health care. democrats nearly uniformly saying they're going to reject the proposal. you're going to end up with a lot of people screaming. i think republicans should come to democrats with the corporate tax rate reform first and lay off the tax cuts for the rich and then eventually get to a more modernist tax cuts. >> trish: you know what elizabeth warren and bernie sanders will say about that. yes, you want to give them tax cuts, but that will not be something that we here at the end of the left. the extreme left will jump all over it. >> ben: to me, this isn't

about politics, this should be about people. donald trump campaigned on helping the lower and middle income families. i'm probably going to get yelled at by my own republican friends here, but the reality is -- corporations right now are already paying something like 17 and a half, 18%. when we talk about getting that capital to come back, if we lower it down to that tax bracket, what are corporations going to do? the way i see it, corporations are going to buy back more. >> trish: that's money that goes back into the economy. >> ben: right, but not for the low skilled worker. the guys were outside -- >> trish: that's an entirely different conversation. yes, we need to help low skilled workers, but don't you want to help them? >> ben: getting jobs is not the problem right now, we have over 6 million jobs right now

that need workers. unemployment is at 4.5%, it's at a 10-year low. the guys who haven't worked at a coal mine in 15 years, to me, corporations are going to do what they're supposed to do. >> sandra: she's saying this is a different conversation, lowering the corporate tax rate even if they invest that money back into their own business. rather than that money going to the government. >> ben: 1000%, yes. it is not going to have the effect in my opinion of trickling down and focusing on where those jobs are needed the most. >> trish: what you're talking about is important and we are going to the structural changes in the economy. i agree, but -- >> sandra: did i tell you trish had summing to say on that? some democrats pushing for former president obama to rescue

the party. summary his reemergence will cause big risks. we will debate. ♪

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the most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. stay ahead of ibs-d with viberzi. ♪ >> harris: let's talk about the democrats. did you know they think president obama is the party's best weapon at head of the 2018 midterm elections? some are pushing for him to take a higher profile on the campaign trail. others argue he should stay in the shadows and let potential 2020 candidates step up and lead instead. the rnc is slamming the dnc's weak fund-raising by sending to "the washington post" and calling the numbers abysmal. the dnc only brought in $3.8 million, their worst month since president obama was

inaugurated. they've got leadership on the hill and the white house. jessica, what's wrong with your party? >> jessica: there is like 18 minutes left in the show. i'm very proud to be a democrat. there are many ways people get into organizations, it's not just the dnc. they've had a lot of trouble since debbie watchmen scholz leadership. i do think it is disturbing that we are not capitalizing on a president with 31% approval rating in the wake of the charlottesville attack. there should be a lot more money flowing into all aspects. >> sandra: what does that say about nancy pelosi? >> jessica: it she's incredible a controversial now for the party. there is a something 30 new

candidates and a couple of them would say they backed her leadership position. tim ryan challenged her. we need new talent, young talent. i'm not going to be sitting here and saying she should step down, but the rnc's right to be gloating at this moment and you have to look at it where people are donating and it's concerning for us. >> harris: we were talking during the break that the problem right now, particularly for the democrats is when you court the fringe, what do you sell for debates? not everybody fits in that i want to go so far left. >> trish: i'm so far left, i'm a socialist, but now i hate republicans so much, they are such bad people, they must be racist or white supremacists. we saw this with nancy pelosi's statement when steve bannon resigned. we saw howard dean's comments,

they are irresponsible with their rhetoric. even members of their own party are saying wait a second, i know republicans are good people, so i don't think that identity politics play which they are trying to capitalize on is going to work. it's just appealing to a friend, same thing with socialism. bernie sanders was still the fringe. >> harris: donald trump proves you can't win with a billion dollars, but you need some mone money. temper is cussing at people, that didn't help either. >> jessica: and no, but i would rather have him in that role.

>> harris: cast erupting at a city council meeting in charlottesville as follow from the violence that broke out in that city two days ten days ago continues. what should be done to ease the tension?

>> harris: we are going to hit pause and hit play for "happening now." >> jon: in the next hour,

president trump heading for arizona right now. he will hold a reelection rally in phoenix, it's likely to attract protests. he's enjoying some coverage today for his primetime address on the future for his policy in afghanistan. more on that. plus what scientists are learning about our son courtesy of yesterday's eclipse. and a possible murder mystery involving a dead reporter and a submarine. that's all ahead, "happening now." >> harris: we'll see you then, thank you. >> i'm canceling this meeting. [boos] thursday night. >> trish: chaos erupting at a city council meeting and charlottesville just yesterday. it was the first one since deadly violence broke out in the city ten days ago.

angry residents and protesters shouted down the mayor and council members and criticize how authorities handle the incident. the council also voted unanimously to take the first step to remove the city's statue of the confederate general stonewall jackson. meanwhile the "washington examiner" reported the memorial exhibit will get an update. what i question and all of this, and i'm no fan of some of the confederate statues, full disclosure, but why are we suddenly talking about this now? why weren't we talking about this six years ago, eight years ago? is there anything suspicious in this and that the left is trying to present this president over and over again as some kind of -- there's pretty much nothing worse you can say about anybody, there a nazi, they're a

racist. they want to do whatever they can to try to stop his agenda. >> sandra: i've asked myself this question, will we be in this situation had somebody else but in the white house? would similar history be erased? ben, i'm dying to ask you, as of someone who has fought for this country, served multiple tours in afghanistan, when you see these monuments be removed, how it makes you feel? >> ben: i will say that this is something i've had to think about quite a bit because i realize that i have to step in somebody else's shoes and say -- look at it from a different perspective, because i saw it as a purely historical thing. this is part of our history, or a part of it, or not, that's an individual decision whether or not somebody is. >> trish: slavery, we are not

proud of. >> ben: it goes beyond slavery. here's what i fought for and what i believe, the decisions to keep or remove these statues should go down to the lowest level possible, so let people decide what kind of community -- the city council makes the decision to remove or not remove and if it's on public land, let people choose how they want to live. i'm a big fan of pushing decisions to the lowest level. to your point, of course, i think members of the left have taken this and they're trying to paint everybody in a broad stroke because they see 2018 midterms coming up in the more people they can shove into that basket of deplorable's, the better. >> trish: to look at it at the local level, i think about it and i question when these statues were erected, during the '60s, during the civil rights difficult times.

sometimes it was historical, maybe sometimes it was intimidation. i know if someone had enslaved all women, i wouldn't really enjoy walking by that statue of the person that fought for that. i'm sympathetic to it on all sides and i'm sure you have a lot of thoughts on this, harris, but i do hear you in that each local community deserves to make these decisions for themselves. >> harris: one thing i would say is there are black people in both political parties and have strong feelings about things like confederate statues and flags and so on and so forth, but i don't think i would put everybody in the same boxes of ruby on the left because i know that's not jessica, she's not in that box, so i would start by saying let's all be open about everything, let's be open about what the possibilities are. more information is always better, so for the jefferson memorial, for any others that we

decide as a nation or a community or estate or however breaks down to leave up, if you're going to put more information there to educate us, please do because that's wonderful. >> jessica: i think that's a very smart solution to add explainers. i would say to tricia's original point about the conversation six years ago during the term of the first american black president, there were conversations going on about removing woodrow wilson's name. georgetown has removed all of the names that were placeholders that the buildings were named after, those names have come down and that came from student voting. i think we should high that. we are a nation founded on states rights. i think that's appropriate, but this conversation is incredibly important and we know why it came up because the nazi members and kkk members who marched said

it was about robert e lee, so that name came up and people started reading into that. >> ben: my concern is 30 years from now, people will not remember, i want to make sure that they understand. >> harris: we are coming right back. ♪

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spirit. ben collins, thank you. and thank you for your service, afghanistan, three tours. we appreciate you being here. >> we hope you will come back. >> we will see you online, we are going to pop on foxnews.com/outnumbered. a "happening now" now. >> melissa: a fox news alert from fox news global headquarters in new york, president trump has departed our nation's capital for a campaign style rally in arizona, air force one lifting off last hour. >> jon: its next stop, phoenix, arizona. tonight's event at that cities event center comes as emotions are still raw in the wake of charlottesville. we are covering all the news, "happening now." >> i will not say when we are going to attack but attack we will. >> jon: >> jon: the commander-if makes a major decision on america's future involvement in