this sunday the democrats' new reality as the field of candidates grows. look who's sitting at the top of the polls. >> the single most important thing we have to accomplish is the most important thing we need to accomplish is defeat donald trump. >> joe biden surged pasthe democratic hopefuls. >> with your help, we will win the democratic primary. >> we need big, structural change in 2020. >> buoyed by the perception he is best positioned to defeat donald trump. this morning, i'll talk to the candidates whose prospects have been hurt so far by the former vice president's entry, senator bernie sander's of vermont. plus, abortion battle.

a number of states challenge abortion and vo v. wade. >> all human life is precious. >> democrats condemn them. >> women's healthcare is under attack and we will not stand for it. >> reporter: all setting up a 2020 culture fight and a possible supreme court battle over abortion rights. also, rising tensions with iran. >> are you going to war with iran? >> i hope not. >> why some say iran is a growing threat to the united states. they take the first military strike. we will take the last military strike. while others fear repeating the mistake of iraq. my guest, republican senator tom cotton of arkansas. joining me for insight and analysis are washington post columnist eugene robbson, nbc news correspondent heidi przybyl li la. and former homeland secretary janet napolitano.

welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest-running show in television history. there is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning, once again, conventional wisdom has proved to be more conventional than lies, not long ago, the crowd proclaimed the party moved sharply to the left, bernie sanders was positioned to be the front runner and 20th century joe biden should seriously consider fought running for the nomination of the 21st century version of the democratic party. well, what a difference reality might make. since he entered the race four weeks ago, joe biden has been slapping sanders and crushing the rest of the field. look no further than the white house for allegedation, president trump's obsession with biden is more likely a sign of fear than of confidence, all of which is to say the democratic party has not moved to the left.

he has. let's also acknowledge we may experience biden whiplash yet again, we haven't seen a debate, an attack ad or watch biden experience the gauntlet of a campaign trail on a daily basis. what we are learning is the progressive active twitter verse doesn't necessarily respect the twitter verse, for now, at least, biden is having his moment. >> if you want to know what the first and most important plant in my climate proposal is, beat trump. >> reporter: at a kick ja off from fort lauderdale yesterday, joe biden leaned into the idea that the le is the best democrat to beat president trump. >> if you want a president to add to our division, lead with a clenched fist, a closed hand, a hard heart, to demonize your opponent to spew hatred, they don't need me, they've got president donald trump. >> reporter: with a much ruling field of 24 candidates and

counting, 2020 democrats are jockeying is-to-sell the election of electability. >> we're not waiting for ideas, what's missing is courage. >> i want to beat donald trump. i beat him 21 times in a row in court. >> i know how to challenge this guy. i have been watching him his whole life. >> reporter: 73% of democrats call it extremely important that the democratic candidate for president can beat president trump. just 51% say it's extremely important, the nominee shares their views on major issues. >> the trump is re-elected, it will be a nightmare for many generations to come. >> that angst and biden's askrengs from early polling is driving a number of 2020 contenders to distance themselves from some of the more progressive ideas circulating. like ending private insurance. >> that's not what i meant. i know it was interpreted that way. >> but it gets rid of insurance. >> no, no, no, it does not get

rid of insurance. >> breaking up big tech company interest it sounds like a donald trump thing, we will break you guys up, no, we need to create consistencies. >> attempting to remind voters he is a candidate of the past. >> vice president biden is a good person and was a great vice president. i believe that i'm a candidate for our time. >> it's time for the generation that fought in iraq and afghanistan to step in for the generation that sent us there. >> reporter: it is not the role world to think that mitch mcconnell will embrace a major effort to mobilize against the climate vices. >> that crime bill did contribute to the party. >> the progressive side sharpened their attack. >> i will be damned if the same politicians who refused to act then are going to try to come back today and say we need a

middle of the road approach to save our lives. >> among them, bernie sanders, who was the front runner in early polling before biden entered the race. >> i disagree with many of the votes that he cast. >> i led the effort against those trade agreements. joe voted for them. the war in iraq. i voted against it. joe voted for it. >> and joining me now for the first time in a year on "meet the press" is senator bernie sanders of vermont. it's good to have you back, sir. >> good to be with you, chuck. >> well, let me start with something the vice president, former vice president said yesterday, it was a pass the nail nateing way. he was talking about his climate change proposal. he said if you want to know what the most important plank in my climate proposal is, it was quote beat trump. have you said if all the democrats do is focus on trump, you lose. essentially biden is say, no, no, no, no, no, it is all about trump. your reaction. >> well, i think democrats have got to do a couple of things. number one, it goes without saying that we have got to beat,

defeat donald trump, who in my view is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. he's a path logical liar. he's a sexist and a racist, et cetera, et cetera. that is not enough. if we are talking for example about climate change, what the scientists tell us is is that we have 12 years before irreparable damage is done to this planet. beating trump is not good enough. you have to beat the foxhole fuel industry. you have to take on all of those forces of the status quo who do not want to move this country to sustainable energy. the scientists tell us the future of the splaent at stake. and we have a moral responsibility to make sure our kids live and our grandchildren live in a healthy and habitable planet. >> that means massive investments in wind, solar, so for the. so taking on trump, of course, you got to do that. you need real plan to transform

our energy system. >> i think another way of looking at it, is you have to win. one of the cases have you as to make the democrats win. the former head of the democratic party in pennsylvania. i gather joe biden has a lot of support in pennsylvania. here's what he said about you. he said this, i'm supremely confident bernie sanders could not win pennsylvania. when bernie sanders and elizabeth warren open their mouths, many, many democrats in pennsylvania stick their fingers in their ears. tell us how you win pennsylvania. >> look, let me say this, i've known him for many years to be a tired democratic establishment. let me tell this to ed. >> that there are millions of people who are sick and tired of that democratic establishment. what ed should know is that a recent poll that came out had me if i'm not mistaken, 8 points ahead of trump in par. we have polls way ahead of him in michigan and wisconsin and in fact all over the country. now the reason that we can be, that my campaign can beat donald trump is we're going to create

the kind of excitement that we need to bring out the large voter turnout. we will bring out young people who not only are interested, how they have to fight for real climate change. they want to raise that minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. a fight they want to lead. they want healthcare for all, medicare for all, single payup program. they understand it's absurd young people should be leaving college, 50, 60, hundreds of thousands, they want immigration reform and the truth is that our campaign i think can generate that excitement. our generation can talk to some. some of the trump supporters who know they were lied to when trump said he was going to provide healthcare to everybody and tried to throw 32 million off healthcare. i think we are the campaign that can beat donald trump. >> senator, i would argue you made similar claims against hillary clinton four years ago, why do you think this time --

>> cluck, cluck. >> i'm just saying, part of the party that seems to be gravitateing towards biden. go ahead. >> chuck. you know, we came up short. yeah, we took on the entire democratic establishment. we took on the democratic national committee. we took on every democratic governor, took on every democratic mayor and we ended up winning 22 states and 13 million votes and in fact an agenda that transformed the democratic party. four years ago people were not talking about the issues they're talking about now. so i understand that our campaign is unique in the sense that we are going to try to win the democratic primary. we're going to try to beat trump. you know what else we are going to try to do, transform the united states of america and deal with this massive income and equality and deem with the greed of the insurance companies and the fossil fuel industry. our campaign has a different goal.

it's to transform this country. we're talking on the entire establishment including ed rendell. >> i want to focus a second on medicare for all, michal kempny benefit net another candidate for president i believe the lesson of 2018 was not medicare for all but fix obamacare. i want you to take a listen to what he said to me earlier this year about that. >> now what democrats are saying is if you like your insurance, we're going to take it away from you, from 180 million people that get their insurance from their employer and like it. or 20 million american was are on medicare advantage and love it. >> that seems like a bad opening offer for me. >> senator, i'm well aware you believe, look, you were in fair of obabamacare. it was not your first choice, i know that as you know there was a lot of voters who voted to fix obamacare first and look and see okay should it be something different. are you obligated to fix

obamacare first? >> well, we're obligated to make sure trump and the republicans do not though tens of millions of people off healthcare they currently are enjoying. here's the point, the current healthcare system is absolutely dysfunction. a you got 34 million without insurance, even more under insured, oldlederly people can't afford hearing aids, eye care. we manage to pay the highest prices of the world for prescription drugs. now i know that the healthcare industry, the drug companies, the insurance companies will spend hundreds of millions of dollars, including ads on nbc, attacking bernie sanders, attacking medicare for all. you look at the polling, the people support ped care very, very strongly. all we are saying you got a good program in medicare, expand it to everybody else, improve medicare for senior citizens. when we do that, we will provide comprehensive care to all people and do it by saving substantial

sums of money. >> under your plan, we're eliminating private insurance, correct? >> for, we are going to provide comprehensive healthcare to all people and what you are going to have is private insurance, the people want it for supplementary type of benefits, cosmetics and so forth. >> but everybody has the same baseline government health insurance under your plan? >> well, the government healthcare is what medicare is right now. if you look at the polling, medicare is far more popular than private health insurance. people like medicare, we have to expand it to cover every man, woman and child over a four-year period. >> what do you say about disruption? as you know everybody hates their healthcare until you disrupt them of their current system. >> i'm not so sure about that. what i do know is that there is massive disruption. one of the problems with the healthcare system right now is if your employer, chuck, decides to get another insurance company, you may be able -- you

will be losing the doctor you currently go to. every time somebody loses their job. every time some employer changes its health insurance policy, there is disruption. >> that impacts tense of millions of people. when you have medicare for all, you will finally have stability. everybody in the country will have comprehensive healthcare covering all basic healthcare needs, we will save the citizens of this country on healthcare substantial sums of money. >> all right. i want to ask you about the big news in the state legislatures this week and this year on the issue of abortion. simply this. when you have a litmus test for judges on roe? it's pretty clear in 20s 20s no matter which side of the abortion we are on, it will be on the ballot. do you believe in that roe litmus test? >> look, i believe what they did in alabama is unbelievable. other states are doing it. the idea that women in this country should not be able to

control their own bodies is beyond belief. they have that constitutional right. so if you are asking me, would i ever appoint a supreme court justice who does not believe in defending roe versus waifd, who does not believe woman has a right to control his or her own body i would never do that. >> do you believe there should be any restrictions on abortion in law? >> i think that that is a decision that is being -- that should be made by the woman and her physician and i think many of you know what people are doing is sadly creating political issue out of a medical issue. so the decision about women should be able to control their own body and those decisions are made by a doctor and a woman. >> are you at all concerned about this idea people may try to worry about the sex of a child or essentially look at that -- are those type of restrictions on abortion something you are opened to?

>> i wouldn't use a restriction on, that's an issue that society has to deal with, it is of concern. >> how would you deal with that in the law? >> i don't know how this particular point i would deal with it. but that is an issue we have got to deal with. >> i want to move to foreign policy, the "new york times" spent a lot of time talking about your trips to central america. i know you got pretty worked up about those things. >> well. >> i think the larger question. let me frame the question this way. the larger question will be if are you the nominee, whether you like it or not, the rights going to basically going to hammer and sick him you to death. how do you prevent it? >> well, i don't want the right wing doing it. but i understand they will do it. i don't want the media to do et. look, when i was a young man, i plead guilty. i voted -- i worked hard as a yearning man against the war in vietnam. i don't apologize for that as a member of the united states house, i helped lead the effort

against the war in iraq, which turns out to have been the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of the united states. as the united states senator, i led the effort to pass a bipartisan resolution to get america out of the war in yemen led by saudi arabia. which and i got to tell you something, chuck. i hope you guys pay attention to yemen. what's going on in yemen now is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. we're talking hundreds of thousands of people, children, dying and i'm dock my best to get the u.s. out of that war and if trump wants to go to war in iran, that will make the war in iraq look like a cake walk. it will make it so we've got to do everything we can to stop that. if people want to attack me, because i think war should be the last resort, you can attack me. but i've seen too much horror. i was the chairman on veterans affairs. i talked to too many veterans whose lives were destroyed in

iraq. i will see problems solve diplomatically rather than through war. >> i'm curious. on the issue of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem, would you move it back out of jerusalem if you thought it was a way to get a peace deal? >> yeah. i think it's something we should i think the definitive answer, yeah, the answer is, look, whether it is iran and saudi arabia, whether it is israel and the palestinians, the united states needs to bring people together. needs an even-handed policy and saudi arabia, for example, for decades, we have supported a murderous regime, which fights democracy every single day. so i want and even handed policy which brings people together. >> would you move the embassy now out of jerusalem or would you keep it there? >> chuck, that is well, we'll take that one step at a time. it's something you know, bottom line is, we need to be a -- we have the most powerful country on earth.

let's bring people together and try to bring peace. >> the final question on the humanitarian front, how would you deal with china and the leaguers, the muslims i guess they call reeducating. how do you hold china accountable for that without wrecking the economy? >> well, i don't think you have to wreck the economy to tell china you cannot have i go es the equivalent of almost concentration camps. look, the united states, very sadly under donald trump, we have moved in exactly the wrong way. he supports authoritarian governments all over the world. i think we have to support democracy and human rights. i think china is an important part. i think we have to deal with trade issues. it should be known, stwre to stand up and oppose governments that are doing terrible things to minorities interest. >> is humanitarian reasons a reason to use military force? that's what we did if bosnia.

>> well, it depends, obviously, you have to look at case by case. if you are talking a tbout the need to prevent genocide, i guess so obviously, every situation is different. >> senator bernie sanders, we got to a lot. i always wish we could get to more. thanks, for being on and sharing your views and stay safe on the trails. when we come back. the democratic race and the numbers that should have president trump concerned. the panel is next. the pa the pa the ai i need? it's gotta scale across my business. is

welcome back. the panel is here. welcome back, panel is here, walk columnist eugene robinson, janet napolitano, author of the new book "how safe are we? homeland security since 9/11" heidi pryzbilla, national correspondent and rush lowrie national review.

welcome to see you on the coast. >> i guess it's good to be back. >> let me start with a couple of pieces of conventional wisdom that might be exploding before our eyes. first i want to put up the fox news poll, because there is an interesting number here. first of all it shows biden with a double digit lead. look at all the other matchups. look at the trump number. do you see a pattern there? then. do you see a pattern there? sanders, 46-41. harris, 41-41. buttigieg lucky for trump lucky for trump buttigieg doesn't get to 41 so he can lead someone. i'm trying to think which conventional wisdom is more accurate that joe biden can't get the nomination or president trump is under rated as a candidate? sometimes i think, rich, we overrate the president's stance because of '16. >> yeah. but how can you not factor that in? i would expect him, unless the democrats take a perrouilous candidate, biden i totally

underestimated his strength. i over estimated the power of the left. maybe not surprising, i'm a conservative pundit i would expect to get it wrong. a lot of them, the democratic field may have gotten it wrong and may have not figured him for a large center of the party. >> it seems a lot of democrats spent too much time on twitter. >> some do. because twitter is the twitter verse is not the universe and it's more to the left. i mean, the conventional wisdom on twitter and in sort of a haute political circles was that biden was too conservative. he would have a hard time. i got to say, i never quite bought that because there is a larger democratic party for one thing, you have to get support from african-americans, you have to get support from latinos. you have to get a lot of voters who are not -- some of whom were fairly socially conservative and

who were, you know, the salt of the earth types that you don't associate with you know the most left progressive policies necessarily. so, my answer was, let's see what happens when biden came in. now i have been surprised at the size of his early lead. it is impressive. >> janet napolitano, you live and breathe the california world and sometimes people think uc berkley or oakland in the bay area, you guys live in your own bubble. i'm curious, this is joe biden's message to all democrats yesterday. i want to play a piece of it and see how it plays in oakland. >> our president is the divider in chief. he inherited an economy from an obama-biden administration that was given to him, just like he inherited everything else in his life. you august to know what the first and most important plant in my proposal is, beat trump. >> is that going to carry?

look, i think of the bay area, people you interact with. are they pragmatic right now about biden or are they like, no, no, no, we like our kamela harris or we want to see a more diverse deba it? >> obviously, senator horizon is very popular in california, but i think vice president biden will make a serious play there and before it was in california and d.c., it was the governor of arizona and democratic politics play a bit differently there than on the coast and so i'm not surprised that vice president biden has come out the gate so strongly, because i do believe that within the democratic party, there is a core, a core of what i think of pragmatic progressives who want the country to be working in a more united fashion in a very conscious and supportive of civil rights, human rights, women's rights, but are also kind of skeptical of some of the ideas coming from the far left.

>> so heidi, now we are sitting here, if you are a candidate frankly not biden or bernie, what do you do? >> i think the conventional wisdom is you attack biden but that doesn't seem to be working. wab that that needs to happen is that second field needs to winnow a bit. >> that is why you are possibly seeing other candidates, pete buttigieg, elizabeth warren peel off support from bernie, because what's happening to bernie is that his base of support from 2016, which by the way was never really as massive as people thought it was because we were talking about caucus states here. we weren't talking about the democratic primary vote. but that is now spread out. and that is why it's hard for any single one of these candidates to emerge as a viable threat to joe biden. if you watched his campaign speech launch, he's running a general elect strategy here. he was only focused on trump. he made a specific pledge i am

not going to go after any of these democrats. he was trying to balance that by saying, look, ike i'm not going to allow anyone to walk all over me. i think people are tired of the name calling. they are tired of the divisiveness, i'm ready for a bare nothing him fight. i'm not going to stoop to that level. and i'm not going to alienate these pragmatic moderates as well. i want a government that works again. i think that was a general ewill ex. >> i think it's interesting, biden's announcement video in there speech. you 'ut the lowest common denominator in a blender. this is what's comes out. it's not new, it's cliche. we need unity. it has a new salience, one because trump rarely talks in those terms. two a lot of the other democratic candidates were consumed with making a critique of america. this is a caveat whenever have we elected the elder statesman promising a restoration? maybe things are new.

fresh and new is the worry to him. >> we are always trapped in the past. we know how things work before. we never had donald trump as president. we have no weigh of how this impacts. >> like the last election, right, not the one that's coming up, so, no, we have no idea. right, how, you know, how, really, to run against donald trump. how, you know, what's going to work or not work against donald -- we don't know. we have some idea of how the president will campaign. but we, it's just we're were in -- >> janet napolitano, would you matter? should democratic primary voters be thinking about that as much as they think about medicare for all? >> absolutely. i think the democratic party should think of the whole country. but there are states in the rocky mountain west, arizona, new mexico. i think colorado is turning safely blue. but, even in nevada, you know, there are a lot of electoral

college votes from those states and trump won arizona by 3, 3.5 points. that's a very doable contest. >> can bernie sanders carry it? >> that's a more difficult question. i think arizona democrats tend to the more conservative side if we are using that spectrum. >> we will pause it here, when we come back, iran, the abortion debate and a republican saying the president is in impeachable conduct. i will talk to a brub senat-- republican senator from arkansas next. had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. carbon capture is important technology - and experts agree. that's why we're working on ways to improve it. so plants... can be a little more... like plants.

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are you in good hands? welcome back. republicans this week found themselves divided on a couple of important issues. first, there was a clear division in the administration over how aggressively to respond to intelligence showing a military aggressiveness by iran and second republicans from washington seem to be deeply reluck can't to embrace the restrictive abortion efforts passed in a number of states, republican senator tom cotton is with me. by the way, these author of a new book about my favorite place to go to washington. a "sacred dutiy" about arlingto

memorial. >> thank you for your interest in arlington memorial. >> you went to harvard law, the question really is when do you believe a fetus has constitutional rights? >> chuck, like a lot of folks here in arkansas, i'm pro-life. and i think a bake responsibility of government in a civilized society is to protect innocent life. i know that's a passionate question on both sides, one of the problems of having elected judges make the decision for us as a nation is that you can't have space for democratic debate. where you can reach consensus and have some common ground. i think that's unfortunate. i think what i'm most proud of here in arkansas, we have recognized frontiers of medical science are being pushed back.

doctors are preventing the lives of babies in nicus, that's a common ground right now when unelected judges are still setting the basic rules on this very passionate issue. >> you, yourself, must have an opinion on this, when does a fetus have constitutional rights in your mind? >> chuck, what i want to try to find in this debate is area where we can agree on what we should do in a civilized society. if a baby can survive outside of its mother's womb in the nicu as the amazing doctors in this country are able to do with 22, 20 weeks, then we should protect that life. i know there is a lot of divisive issues and debates. look at earlier this year, we proposed legislation that merely would have said if a baby is born during an attempted abortion, that baby las the right to live and the right to medical care just like any other person does, every democrat rung for senate voted against that

law, one of the most extreme laws passed in my four years at senate flu is at one time sponsored a bill that wanted to declare life began to at conception. you did that in the house. do you not support a similar bill that senator rand paul introduced. why the change? >> chuck, i haven't reviewed senator paul's bill. i personally believe that life does begin at conception. that's the standard that most republicans who have held the presidency in modern times have held as well. they understand there are certain cases like rape or incest or when a mother's life is in danger that we august to make an account for. that was the position ronald reagan has as well. i personally believe it happens at conception, as long as we have judges making the basic rules for abortion, though, we should try to find ways to protect the most incident lives that can survive. >> is it hard to make it if you believe life begins at conception, then how do you justify an exception for rape and incest?

>> reporter: chuck, because we live in a democratic society, i recognize not everyone shares my views or the views of the sast savt vast majority is we don't have the ability to have democratic debates, have an open and frank conversation without playing within the guardrails that unelected judge versus put fwlup this country. look, states are going to make different decisions, fork state earlier this year adopted a very extreme abortion law, it would allow it almost up to the point of delivery, some politician like the disgraced governor proposed even youth fiezing children that are born during an attempted abortion. i think those are extreme positions, but what we ought to have in this country is an ability to debate these in a forthright democratic way and reach some kind of consensus on them. >> should this be a decision? you brought up the science and talked the arkansas bill was

trying to match this science. should this be a -- should you guys be getting a panel of medical doctors to decide, okay, this is when a fetus is viable. should this be decided by medical professionals and not by frankly i don't think you or i went to medical school? >> chuck, medical science, of course, informs these decision, ultimately these are moral questions. but medical science is advancing. ten or 15 years ago, a child born at 22 or 20 weeks might not have been able to survive. as medical advances, it informs our debate. it's true from other perspectives as well. we have some practices now possible by medical science, such as screening for abortion, people who may want to select for a male child instead of a female child or look for various kind of genetic defects or indicators. they want to abort a child that may not even have those

illnesses or those disease when they're born. i think those are barbaric practices anybody should admit. >> do you want roe completely overturned or done in such a way where there is a basic protection? i mean you talked about a democratic process. it is nearly 2-1 in the exit poll in 2018 of folks favoring keeping roe as is? >> well, chuck, technically it's planned parenthood v. casey of the 1990s that currently govern abortion laws in this country. i think they were wrongly decide as a constitutional matter. i think these are decisions that american people ought to make through their elected representatives. again, people will make different decisions. they will have more democratic legitimacy as some of the centers like scalia said if they're available for democratic debate. if people have differing viewpoints through their elected representatives can make these decisions informed by all the relevant facts. >> let me move to iran. i want to play something that

for angus king said about the intelligence that he has seen regarding iran. he said this earlier this week. i want to get you to respond to it. >> i don't think there is faulty intel here necessarily. i think it may be inaccurate. the unanswered question is are they reacting to our assertions of action in the middle east or are we reacting to them? that's an unanswered question for me. >> do you concede the intelligence maybe folks are interpreting it maybe the way they want to interpret it? >> so, chuck, i've read the intelligence, not only over the last two weeks but the last four.5 years. the intensity and frequency of the intelligence reporting is significantly heightened over the last two-to-three weeks. i don't have any doubts that iran started taking provocative action two-to-three weeks ago. the united states on a recommendation of our military made prudent decision like deploying a new aircraft carrier and b-52 bombers through the region.

we didn't do those to prepare against iran. we did those to deter military action by iran. >> do you think the president should, he wants to sit down with either the ayatollah or rouhani and negotiate this. what do you think? >> reporter: well, at this point, chuck, we're focused on trying to deter military action against the united states personnel and our allies in the region. that's fought fruitful conditions for sitting down with any order. iran has been waging war against the united states. in the 1980s, they attacked american flag vessels in the persian gulf. in the iraq wars, they have the blood of over 500 dead americans on their hands. some of those americans as i write about in "sacred duty" would be buried in arlington mil memorial. we are now at a heightened aggression. >> why do you think an iran war would be as easy as you seem to describe? you have one strike, last

strike. there was a lot of that talk about iraq and obviously that turned out to be not so easy. >> well, chuck, there is a whole range of military options that the department of defense provides to the president. those range from the military strikes we took from president trump to what you saw in iraq. no one to my knowledge is proposing what you saw if iraq with 150,000 troops mass to invade a country, overthrow its government and try to govern 80 million iranians. we'd like 80 million iranians live in a normal country. >> you are not abdicating regime change? you are not abdicating regime clang? >> we would like to see the regime change behavior. the united states is not going to take the first strike hammer. but if iran attacks the united states or your allies in the first strike, then it will be up to america in a time and manner of our choosing to take the last strike, because our military will devastate theirs.

>> before i let you go, "a "sacred duty." tell me one place you should tell washingtonians one part of arlington cemetery they should see? >> chuck, every headstone tells a story. it provides the honors to our fallen heroes. it was an honor for me to serve there. this book is their story, not my story. if you really want to see a living testament to the heroism of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marine and coast guardsmen. go to section 60. it's where the young men and women are buried. it's unusual that it's got so many visitors, so many family members. so many friends, so many mementos. it can be sad. especially as we approach memorial day. even though i know it's called the saddest acre in america. i prefer to think of it as the noblest acre and what they were

able do for our freedom and safety especially find walking out arlington cemetery inspirational. much appreciated. >> thanks, conduct. thanks for the interest in "sacred duty". when we come back, why some voters hurt by the trade war, there is a reason president trump is backing off other tariffs. that's next. a reason why the president is backing off some other tariffs. that's next. this is decision tech. it's screening technology that helps you find a stock based on what's trending

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the war escalated this week whe when he increased goods and tariffs imported from china. he responded with tariffs of his own. and those chinese tariffs hit states politically that could be impacted in 2020. 2020. on the top ten states that will agricu tariffs, eight of them voted for president trump . which on the surface would be bad news for the president in 2020. and while he could lose support in places like indiana or kansas these states are not likely to switch from red to blue. in fact, because these voters

suppor the president, they may be more willing to take pain if it means pushing back against china. keep eye on the senate races, especi in places like iowa and texas which could also take a hit from these tariffs. now not all red states are created equal whic differ story when it comes to auto tariffs. this week the pres delayed hikes on auto tariffs by six months why? well, just look at where many of these autoworkers live. it's states like wisconsin, michig and pennsylvania presid trump won each of these formerly democratic states by tiny margins. very little room for error. lose a few voters who don't like the president's trade policy and presid trump will likely lose those states and the election overal look, president trump seems genuin do believe that trade wars a winnable and that tariff are a weapon and an answer but so far he's been careful to make sure those tariffs don't fall where they could hurt him the most in the electoral

colleg and as we go to break, we want to announce our th annual "meet press" film festival in collaboration with afi. here's what we're looking for. the best short form docume there are which will b showcased in october right here in washington. you can find out more inform at afi.org or at meetth especially if you're a filmmaker ready to submit when we come back, end game. the new restrictive abortion laws and the role they could play i campaign. mornings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest. as we democrats don't like when the debate is about late term abortions and republ don't like when it and debate here is republican reaction to . take listen. >> it goes further than i believ yes. >> there is no exception for rape or incest. it's an extreme law. it will b. you know? and so forth. >> yes. senato richard shelby there from alabama. when h was a democrat, he actual supported and enacted

the se abortion. now he is pro-life as a republ in alabama. where is this headed? >> i think that you see so many republ responding this way. it was not just shelby. it was mccarthy and mcdonald and the president. they understand this could fundam change the balance of passions in the culture wars in this country. chuck, i covered the women's marchnpr i also covered moderate republ women who believed that trump would never be a threat to abortion rights. while these laws that are passin are not just passing in one state, they're passing in multip states with no except for rape and incest. it is not just alabama. i think this is a potential for democr to reach out to these modera who by the way, a number of them actually did vote for democrats in the 2018 midter elections. but for moderate women, this is going be an issue for sure especi if the laws keep pushin the envelope even if they d make it to the

supremcourt. so man of them are so similar. >> rich, democrats are going to in the tv ads. >> i think any lon moveme for social and moral reform has to strike a balance betwee purity and prague m i think the heartbeat laws perfor educative function and just driving home how early a fetal heartbeat is detectible. so the pro-life movement since the supreme court has basically shut down democratic delibe on this issue for time being has to be about public persuasion. i thin help. alabam doesn't. >> where are you on this? >> you know, i think, rich, i agree with you. i think the alabama bill is obviou extreme. it was designed to get to the suprem and get there rapidl so if it ultimately gets to that court the interaction

betwee the court's calendar and electi calendar is going to be very interesting. and i also agree with you. i think this is an issue that for the pro-choice side has never had the kind of urgency as it has passion as it has on the anti-cside. but this could flip that. and for the life of me, i do not unders why you wouldn't even have a xrepexc for rape or incest >> they didn't fire up the left. it is one of these things that the right is so laser focus on in the grassroots in particular that it hasn't -- is the idea of roe on the ballot, does it -- >> i think the alabama law now is such a political misfire

becaus number one, i'm not at all convinced the supreme court could even take up this case. i think it's going to be struck down in the district court level that the same result at the appeal court level. not sure th would even grant cert on this extrem and this gives something, a focal point for abortion right suppor to vote on. it's a iconic sort of thing. no exceptions, no nothing. it was interesting hearing senato cotton say unelected judges shouldn't be making these decisi infact, what is the altern there is no consensus on aborti in this country. i don't think there is going to be. there' no morally consistent comproposition zbhch. >> i get the sense that democr candidates don't want aborti to be front and center but it's going to be. i don't it or plan for it to be, watch

what happened within the past 48 hours. they'r denouncing this, especi for the women candid that haven't had as strong a spotlight on them in this cycle. i think this is an opportunity for them to distinguish themse a little bit and, chuck, i think there is a broade framing here opportunity for democrats about what is pro-li what is pro momma? what is pro baby? the same states passing the strict abortion laws also have some of the country's highest infant and maternal mortality rates. >> all right. i have to leave it there. before go, i want to take note of our friends at date line are launching 13 alibis, a series about producer dan's two year investigation convic murderer serving 20 years in a prison for a crime he said he didn't commit. you can get it where you get your podcast. that's all we have for today. thank for watching. we'll be back next week. becaus if it's sunday, it' "meet alright boys, time for bed.

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