is headed home tonight. but will he get a hero's welcome? 3:00 p.m. in new york, 12:00 p.m. in l.a. across america, it's time for "the cycle." iraq's going to need more help. it's going to need more help from us and from the international community. i don't rule out anything, because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent f d foothold in iraq or syria, for that matter. we're not going to be able to be everywhere all the time. >> no one has the appetite for it. but is another iraq war on the horizon? the situation there is being described as the gravest threat to our national security since the end of the cold war.

the terrorists breeding ground in iraq is bigger now than the one in afghanistan before 9/11. >> many experts i've been speaking to believe this region now, the open battlefront between iraq and syria is the new breeding ground, where the new bin ladens are being born. and there are about 10,000 foreign fighters, including 3,000 with european passports, who could easily come into europe and then perhaps make their way into the united states. >> i think the u.s. should be involved in air strikes, targeting these camps. that's maybe a mistake we made. let's not mistake what the cause is here. the cause is what's going on in syria. >> successes like this breed more recruits, and more people. and they have more arms and more money. >> one of the biggest mistakes president bush made is not understanding what would happen after the fall of saddam. the biggest mistake president obama is making was to leave iraq without any forces behind. >> this national security team is a total failure.

this is one of the gravest threats to our nation's national security since the end of the cold war. >> this is a very dangerous situation. this is not the time for a blame game. this is the time for both sides to come together. >> the militants everyone is now talking about are the islamic state of iraq and al sham isis. you'll hear more about them in the coming weeks. they used to be called al qaeda in iraq, but even al qaeda shunned them. many are the same radicals u.s. forces went to war with. they now control areas on both sides of the iraq border with syria. and that's why those conflicts are now feeding each other. but our friends at stratford said their operations are actually unsurprising. what is surprising is the degree of success that isis has managed to achieve in the region. these militants have taken over several cities in iraq.

mosul, iraq's second largest city, and tikrit, saddam hussein's former hometown. they're picking up defectors from iraqi security forces along the way as well as weapons and military vehicles. they freed several thousands prisoners now fighting for their cause. the entire contents of mosul's central bank estimated at $425 million, making them the world's richest terrorist group. that is a pretty scary thought. the iraqi military is focused on holding baghdad and cities key to their oil infrastructure. baghdad wants the u.s. to launch air strikes against these militants. but the white house is hesitant. this is opening a fresh foreign policy crisis for president obama. and for now, the pentagon says it's the job of iraqi security forces to hold their own. but that could all change if baghdad falls. half a million iraqis are already displaced. and remember, the u.s. lost 4,500 troops during operation iraqi freedom. 32,000 others came home wounded. we begin with jim at dod

headquarters. we know iraq wants u.s. air strikes. but it is not that simple, is it? >> no, not at all. i can tell you that despite the president's statement today that we have many military options on the table, that's true. but many of those options are not very good options. and right now, according to senior dod and military officials, there is no active planning for any of these kinds of air strikes that the iraqis are asking for. and in fact, some say it's not likely that there will be military air strikes for a whole host of regions, not the least of which is that the u.s. has very little intel on the ground. i mean, if you remember back to the beginning of the war in afghanistan, there were u.s. special operations forces on horseback with laptops. do you remember that? >> wow. >> they were providing the kind of target information that our aircraft and our ships that have

tomahawk guided missiles, they were providing them the kind of information they need to zero in on the targets that need to be hit. right now, the u.s. has zero of that. they fly maybe one or two intelligence sortis over iraq a month. and so they're way behind in that. you were talking about, oh, you may not know who isis is, but i can tell you those in the intelligence community have been beating that drum for the last year, year and a half. warping the pentagon, the administration, that isis presented probably the most serious threat to stability in that part of the world for some time. and apparently, it appears anyway, that either it wasn't taken seriously, or it was decided at higher levels that nothing could be done about it. well, now something has been done. but here at the pentagon, they're saying, again, that there's no active planning for any kind of military air strikes. at least for the time being. >> mik, the united states spent trillions of dollars in iraq, a

lot of that money went to bolster up the iraqi army. from what you hear at the pentagon, what is the status of the iraqi army right now? it seems to be overrun by these militants. >> you can train individuals, the grunts, the ground pounders, how to shoot a gun, how to take directions, how to figure out where you are on a map. but you cannot teach them leadership. and that's been what's lacking here. the fact of the matter is, you have all these low-level soldiers out in the open battlefield, and they don't have the kind of leadership that is necessary. and in fact, we have seen many of them shed their uniforms, shed their weapons, some out of fear probably, but here in the building, some analysts believe that it's because they in fact have sympathy for the sunnis, those militants, isis, that are carrying out these assaults. >> jim, thank you, as always.

let's turn to the global analysis at stratfor. and managing editor of news at foreign policy magazine. thank you both for being with us. one of the biggest problems i see is that the culture in iraq has yet to change. a big portion of the forces that need help to train have now fled, abandoning their uniforms and gear to join the militants. there's no amount of training that can break this cultural pulse. >> well, remember, it's completely polarized along sectarian lines as well. although there were promises made, and certainly the u.s. tried to get a more integrated iraqi army, we didn't see that very critical level of sunni integration that was needed to really build up the institution, hold it together. many of those you see defecting now are the sunnis who really don't see the need to fight. that doesn't mean, though, that the iraqi army has collapsed completely. there is nuance here. we're talking about 30,000 or so troops that need to be replaced

in some way or fashion, but you still have units that are fighting. and you still have units that are going to be redeployed from areas such as anbar province, with help from the north and iranian assistance. >> john mccain is critical of the fact that the president pulled out troops too quickly. that had to do with the fact that he was unable to secure a status of forces agreement to allow troops to stay for a longer period of time. would that have made a big difference here, or ultimately are the sectarian divisions so strong in iraq, that it doesn't matter when we leave, the chaos is inevitable? >> the u.s. has -- >> let me hear from yoki on this. >> that's a great question. probably one that we'll be debating for some time to come. if the u.s. had been there, the one thing it might have been able to do, and that's basically be a curb on maliki's feelings.

he's a shiite who lived under saddam. his general belief is, crack down on the sunnis as hard as he can, as often as he can. the feeling is potentially if we'd had u.s. troops there, we might have been able to slow it. the notion of sunnis in anbar province, because they feel as sunnis, they've been discriminated against, that dynamic might not have been there, at least not as strong as we're seeing it now. >> this is a multi-country problem. we talk about the middle east, it's almost always a multi-country issue. part of the problem here is the spillover from the syrian civil war. now a new problem might be arising in the iranian president rouhani, promising to get involved to help quell the terrorism. we've got to look at this as a multi-country situation. >> certainly. there are threats and opportunities here. so iran, as you said, they already have troops on the

ground, irgc forces enforcing the iraqi army units to basically check the advance of isis toward baghdad. that comes at the expense of reinforcement for assad. at the same time you have turkey watching the situation very closely. they have a very, very quiet and small presence up in northern iraq already. an entrenched presence there that will deepen. that's the battle ground for the iranian/turkish competition. the saudis stepping back, this is not that bad of a situation for them. they want to con contain the jihadist prepares. the strong central authority in baghdad, this is a nice distraction for a saudi to have while the u.s. and iran are negotiating. >> one thing that i find so fas fating about this region is that it's so tribal. and one thing that has happened

in syria, is that you have all these militant factions fighting each other. it's very unclear as to where the real loyalties lie, new militia seems to come up every single night. without u.s. involvement, and without global involvement, what would be the time frame for this sort of to burn itself out, where someone could claim some sort of victory in this region, or is that impossible? >> i'm not sure it's impossible, but the scary thing is, it could take a long time. if you think back to lebanon, that civil war raged for more than a decade. so think about the syrian civil war. we're heading into year four. it's possible that this might go for years to come. the previous point was made, it could pull in saudi arabia, jordan, potentially israel. we had a story yesterday that israel is now treating syrian rebels to help fight. you have these dynamics that you've never seen before. saddam hussein's hometown was

tikrit. flash forward, iranian troops indecide iraqi territory fighting with the iraqi army to reclaim saddam hussein's hometown. the historical irony of this is really just profound and extraordinary. >> really frightening stuff. thank you so much for breaking this down. up next, a summer shakeup. cantor is out and a fight is on for who will replace him, and for the future of the gop. live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪

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show new leadership following eric captor's stunning primary loss tuesday night. increasingly it appears it will be less about his actual replacement about what figurehead represents. michael, a friend of the show, and a big wig over at "times." he likes to tell everyone he needs a "times" subscription. welcome to the show, my friend. thank you so much for being on. >> before i start, everybody should subscribe right now, absolutely. go online right now, subscribe, 30 bucks. >> eric cantor i believe lost because he lost touch with the district. but people are putting a lot of reasons into exactly why that happened. nevertheless, when you go back a little bit and look at this in a broad manner, i think this is forth of the ft. sumter of the civil war as it plays out through 2016. are they sort of in a perpetual state of interparty conflict until they decide on a nominee?

>> probably even after that. the interesting thing about the role cantor played here, he was sort of a cork in the bottle, right? he was a guy who could talk to the tea party sometimes, talk to the establishment sometimes, and was constantly switching sides depending on what issue was happening, when. but he was able because of that to maintain the status quo. once you remove him from that place, and we don't know yet who will replace him and what that will mean for leadership, but once you remove him from the equation here, not only do you have a lot of lobbyists on k street that had connections with him, nervous about what happens next, you also have the establishment, and the tea party trying to figure out how far they can push this, to remake whatever the new status quo is after he leaves. he was not very well liked, but it was also a crucial piece holding this whole coalition together. >> there's all this talk that this needs to be a wakeup call for the republicans, and the democrats are celebrating away.

i'm sitting here saying, democrats should be looking at this as much of a wakeup call as republicans. what this says to me at least is midterms are all about turnout. it's all about working for that vote. what we've seen in that district, and many others, is that the tea party is angry. and they are motivated to vote. if there's someone they want to vote for, someone they want to vote against, they'll go out and do it. this gives democrats every reason to be concerned, i think. >> yeah. democrats don't have the same insurrection happening right now. you have a couple of contested democratic seats out in california, where you have real interparty fights, new generation tryinging to take out the old generation. >> top two primary system there for a lot of reasons. >> right. but you don't have in the democratic party this rebellion that republicans have been dealing with for a number of years. i kind of agree with what luke was saying at the top here, that the reasons for cantor's loss are very particular to cantor, and his lack much attention to his own district. you can't say like you did a few

years ago, when christine o'donnell was able to win the senate primary in delaware, that we were at the beginning of the tea party wave. the tea party wave has crested at the moment. there's a lot of members in the house. you may have a few more members. but it's not like there's a transformation going on, and a lot of momentum here. lindsay graham did pretty well tuesday night. >> he also worked for it, though. >> yeah, that's right, he worked for it, right. mitch mcconnell did pretty well. you can go down the pecking order here. the tea party has not had a great year overall. but i think within the house caucus, you could see, you know, depending on how this plays out over the next week, into next year, the tea party could actually take a far more prominent role in leadership. depending on how these votes go. that could have a huge impact on at least for the next two years what the republican agenda in the house is. >> michael, you mentioned there are a lot of k street lobbyists who are friendly with cantor who

are getting pretty nervous right now. cantor was a key ally of business, of wall street, which is something that david brat really picked up on and used in his campaign. he said, among other things, that cantor is following the agenda of the business roundtable and chamber of commerce, pursuing policies that are good for big business, but come at the exclusion of the american people. i thought it remarkable that he went specifically after the chamber of commerce. but business and wall street do have to be a little bit nervous here in losing cantor as an ally. >> you know, one of the interesting dynamics tuesday night is the degree to which the chamber wednesday morning was doing damage control, convincing their own members not to panic. they were leaking the fact that they offered cantor help, and cantor hadn't asked for help. cantor's role here within the caucus was, he positioned himself as the point person for the business lobby, and more specifically with the financial service industry, his wife works for the banking industry. he's always been close with

them. and i think especially on issues like banking reform, and, you know, the export/import bank, there have been tensions with the tea party. and you hear cries of corporate welfare. you hear cries of special favors. the tea party obviously was against the bank bailouts. eric cantor occupied this very specific position within his caucus where he could modulate through himself and keep the peace and keep the balance. now that he's gone, it's not exactly where it will shake out. >> let's go back to the idea you were talking about, tea party leadership in the house. it becomes closer and closer to imaginable to see perhaps a tea party speaker. what do you think the house -- how do you think the house would be different if we had a tea party speaker? >> well, you would see a return probably to the shutdowns, and the debt ceiling fight that

boehner's tried to get away from, you'd see an end to talks even in the next congress about things like immigration reform. you know, boehner's not actually in a weak position right now, but it's also true that boehner's power comes from the tea party being divided. or the sort of the hard right of his party being divided. they haven't historically united around one person. and that has allowed the members that john boehner controls in votes, to keep his position. if that group unites around one person over the coming week, and even next year, when the new congress is sworn in, you could see a pretty transformed congress. >> yeah, but i think boehner will try and hold his position now for two years. some thought he might leave but now he has to do it for the good of the party. michael, thank you so much for joining us. up next, the crime that captivated the nation and triggered two decades of cultural debate. o.j. simpson, the trial of the

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comcast business built for business. the only american p.o.w. from the war in afghanistan is headed home tonight. bowe bergdahl will arrive in san antonio at an army medical center where he will continue to receive treatment. bergdahl was held for nearly five years by the taliban. he was captured after his fellow soldiers say he simply walked off base unarmed. the obama administration has been hammered by both republicans and democrats over the manner in which they got him back. in exchange for five gitmo detainees. ready or not, the world cup got under way today in brazil. organizers have been rushing in recent days to finish building all the venues. airport workers striked ahead of the start. while a potential subway strike also threatened to unleash chaos. the world's largest sporting

event. protesters are upset about the $11 billion the country has spent to host this event. the first match is just about to start between brazil and croatia. the u.s. plays its first match on monday. watch "the cycle" hot right now on "the cycle," bush 41 turns 90 in style, up on the coast of maine. check this out. he celebrated his milestone birthday the only way he knows how, pi skydiving. >> that's cool. >> the same way he marked 80 and 85. complete with the first lady and other family members there to greet him. good to see him doing well at 90. >> changing gears. 20 years ago tonight, nicole brown simpson and ronald goldman were murdered, stabbed to death in los angeles. >> mr. simpson, in agreement with his attorney, was scheduled

to surrender this morning to the los angeles police department. initially, that was 11:00. it then became 11:45. mr. simpson has not appeared. >> mr. simpson is a fugitive of justice right now. >> a year and a half later, 150 million people watched as a jury announced the acquittal of o.j. simpson, a shocking and a captivating real-life soap opera. glued to the television, and after the verdict was announced, i heard someone in a nearby building yell out in celebration. but there wasn't anything to celebrate. lives had been lost. tonight a comprehensive account of the entire story airs at 9:00 p.m. eastern on discovery i.d. >> in america, we have the

presumption of innocence, not the assumption of guilt. >> we should not forget the fact that we have two victims who were brutally slain, two young people whose lives stretched out before them, with all the possibilities that that entailed. and these two young victims have been murdered. >> that's from o.j. trial of the century, which was executive produced by nicole ritenmeyer. nicole, talk about why this story remains so captivating after two decades. >> because you couldn't write this story. it has all the elements of a great piece of fiction. you have this football hero, top of the game, who is a hero to millions. they're both beautiful people. they're celebrities. there's wealth, violence, sex. and then it all comes together in this insane sort of media

pit. and the outcome ends up being this sort of racial touch stone. >> we've heard a lot, nicole, this was essentially the big reality show that spawned reality tv. what i want you to talk about is, i feel this sparked a consideration about race in a national way. i remember going to school, i was 10 years old, and black kids were saying, o.j. simpson is innocent, and white kids were saying o.j. simpson is guilty. talk about how that played into the trial and race. >> sure. you see it in the footage, when the verdict is read. literally, a black person, a white person, standing next to each other, there's jubilation from the one, and just utter dismay from the other. and i mean, this outcome, this verdict broke so heavily along racial lines. and what's interesting is, that it did become a massive part of the national dialogue, and then, you know, having created this

wacky celebrity driven media cycle, it kind of got shuffled off in favor of other things, and other things, and other things. and we revisit this kind of thing every time there's a trayvon. same kind of outcome, and everyone's like, wait, how did this happen? >> yeah. nicole, talk to us about this documentary. it's straight footage. it really takes you back to how it all played out in chronological order. we remember exact lip where we were at that moment. many of us were much younger. but you have no voiceovers. there are a number of folks that i know would have liked to be a part of this. but this is the way you decided to do it. why did you do it that way? >> because experiencing it as it happens, you know, is such a totally different -- there's so much more value in that than have people process for you, filter for you, give you the benefit of hindsight 20 years later. i think there's value in that. but what i really wanted to do,

and what we as a team wanted to do was really put together this moment. it unfolds, as you said, you can't write it. it unfolds like a true crime drama. and let people draw their own conclusions how that outcome was reached. >> nicole, i feel like i remember very strongly the events of the trial and the chase and the whole bit. as you were going back and putting this footage together, were there things about it that differed from your memory that surprised you? >> you know, we dig deep for the footage. i don't think there's any value in just replaying the same clips everyone saw. we focused on pulling together bits and moments that nobody saw that ended up on the cutting room floor. you see johnny cochran in church. he goes to this african-american church in l.a. he is blessed by the congregation. at that point you realize how -- you know, how seriously that community took this. how justice here, we learned this from the outcome of the

trial, there's black justice, there's white justice and there's celebrity justice, and they all kind of came together. >> how did the trial change the media landscape? >> oh, this was the mother of them all, right? we talk about where we all were when the verdict was read. everybody remembers that. but think about as americans, what else do we remember? we remember if we're old enough the jfk assassination, 9/11 certainly, "challenger" if you're old enough, and the o.j. verdict. and what does that say about how we value our entertainment. this is the thing that established for the media that people will tune into this, they will consume it voraciously. now these celebrity trials and stories like this, i hate to say it, kind of like a dime a dozen. it's constant fodder for a public that keeps demanding more. >> there's still nothing like the o.j. story. nicole ritenmeyer, thank you very much. what your friends, your

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the best treats come from the kitchen. we all know politics is local. you may ask one mr. eric cantor about that. but a new poll released today reveals the ugly truth about political polarization in america. it is everywhere, it is deep and it is intense. a number of americans who express consistently liberal or conservative opinions have doubled over the past two decades. we're seeing the other side's ideas as dangerous. 36% of republicans think democratic policies threaten the nation. while 27% of democrats say the same thing about the gop. instead of coming together to bridge that gap, we are moving away from each other. literally moving away from each other. pew found an increasing percentage of liberals and

conservatives find it important to live where people share their politics. conservatives tend to cluster in rural areas where there are big houses and more space. liberals seek metro areas where everything is within walking distance. the local extremes are moving apart on all levels. how do we get the majority in the middle to speak up? we welcome back friend of the show, igor, managing editor at progress.org. thank you for joining us. and i think this piece about self-segregating into neighborhoods is so interesting. i mean, it's literally like we're living in two different worlds, both ideologically and physically. >> absolutely. it's true for me. i'm a progressive, i live here in d.c., a fairly democratic city. but i think in some ways we tend to overstate the divide here. there are all these differences. we're growing more polarized. but i think we all share the broad american values, we may disagree theoretically what it means to be a democrat or

republican, but look at the poll numbers. we support immigration reform, we all support making sure people have the right to marry, we all support some access to health care. i mean, there are standard things that i think everyone agrees on. it's the broad questions that people kind of fight on. when you get to some level of specifics, i think you can actually get agreement. >> igor, krystal referenced why the rhetoric has become so apocalyptic, is because the edges see the other side's policies as dangerous for the country, as the potential ruination for the country. and that drives us apart even more. >> you see the rhetoric in the political leaders. obamacare, you have to shut down the government, on the other hand, paul ryan is pushing seniors off a cliff. that kind of rhetoric clearly is reflected in society. i think people who don't spend a lot of time watching cable news,

reading political news stories, take their cues from political leaders. the more divided they are, the more we will be as well. >> going through this article, i found it fascinating that you see, although extreme partisan expressing hostility toward the opposite party, it doesn't really affect how people see political opposites personally. they can marry a foreigner, families are okay with that, they're okay marrying someone of a different race, but they're not okay if you're marrying a republican if you're a democrat. >> what does it say for tolerance, right? grow tolerant within our family if we're surrounded by democrats or republicans. it pushes us further apart. >> i don't even know what to do, i'm a moderate. >> i live in the suburbs. is that where the moderates live? >> i don't know. i'll be the first to say, though, that partisan cable television is a big part of this conversation. there are many folks who say cable news is to blame for how divided this country is.

curious as to what you think the role of tv is in this poll, and in this conversation. do you think it is a symbol of where the country is at, or is cable tv just adding more fuel to the fire? >> well, i think it plays certainly some kind of role in people watching the channel that they -- that kind of lifts up their political view. so progressives, democrats may watch msnbc, conservative republicans may watch fox news. and the problem is, they don't often cross channels, at least not as often as they should. >> or watching cnn. >> ouch! >> abby! >> i wasn't going to go there. >> on that note, igor, thank you very much. our next guest will inspire you to get us off that couch and go play in some mud. just not yet. keep watching the show. there's more cycle ahead. seven n transactions flowing.

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during the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar. at night and when it's cloudy, we use more natural gas. this ensures we can produce clean electricity whenever our customers need it. ♪ whether it's in work, love or out for a run, we've all hit that point in our lives we feel like we just cast go any farther. well, our next guest has one response to that. spartan up. joe is the co-founder and ceo of the wildly popular spartan race obstacle course challenges. three grueling levels of running mud, fire and climbing, that tests you both physically and mentally. since 2006, more than 1 million people have participated in one of these races, and this year

alone, there will be one run every other day in 15 countries around the globe. the phenomena's become more than a race, it's a lifestyle which he sums up in his new book in overcoming obstacles and achieving peak performance in life. it's number two on "the new york times" best seller list. great to have you here. your whole thing is, just get your butt off the couch. is that the spartan the way of life? >> just take the first step. even if you can only walk around the house, walk a mile. it doesn't require much. if you're not moving, doing something, you're not going to go anywhere. >> joe, the first paragraph of your book has a disclaimer saying the risk of injury or death from activity involved in the spartan race and event is significant, including but not limited to drowning, near drowning, sprains, strains, fractures, heat, cold, injuries, animal bites, stings, poisonous

plants, accidents, paddling, climbing, travel by boat, truck, car. a lot of paralysis or death. who the heck in their right mind wants to sign up for something like this? and are you teaching america, something i think is very important, the idea of playing through pain? which so many people do not follow through on their workouts, because they don't know how to play through pain. >> that's exactly what the problem is. people live bubble wrapped lives. and if you're too comfortable, it stunts your growth. we want people to get out of their comfort zone and do stuff like this, even with the risks you just described, which, you know, it's a very litigious country, the u.s. you have to protect yourself. and knock on wood, if there was wood around here, we haven't had too many major injuries. but when you're dealing with 1 million people getting out of their comfort zone and crawling under barbed wire and climbing over walls, and dealing with animals, and snakes and so forth, things will happen.

but i argue, we argue that sitting on the couch is much worse. >> yeah. so, joe, i ran for congress in 2010, and after i lost, i knew myself, i knew i needed to dive into something big right away. the thing that i chose to do, having not been a runner, i'd been an athlete previously but never really a runner, i decided to sign up for a 50-mile ultra marathon and started training for it. the things i was amazed by is how much i got out of the training, not just physically, but really way more mentally, in terms of clarity, of thinking, spiritual connection, that toughness and grit that you're talking about. that's what this is really all about. it's not just about race day, but the process of getting yourself to that point. >> they used to say about the spartans, when they went to battle, that was their easy day. it was all the training leading up that were the tough days. spartan race is really designed to get people to start training, to give up that cookie, to not

hit the snooze button in the morning. >> i'm trying to eat the cookie. >> okay. you can have a few cookies if you run. >> i find that you eat better when you're working out. it's like, why waste all of that time spent running. >> but these races have become so popular. spartan is just one of them. to your point, it's physical, emotional, all these things. but it's also connecting with people. you can bring friends, you can bring kids, you can bring your family. >> i met my wife at a race. there's so many people who meet their spouses at races. because they're like-minded people, they're getting out and doing something with their lives. those are the people you want to connect with. >> you picked up on your wife at the race? >> i attacked her. >> luke asked this question earlier. you didn't totally answer it. but who are the types of people that are like putting themselves in the mud and under the barbed wire and fire and the ants and snakes and all that is this. >> you would be surprised. we are surprised.

4-year-olds to 80-year-olds come out to compete. the 4-year-olds won't do the full course. >> is there a kids course? >> there is a kids course. fire barbed wire section and blasting people, to make it tougher, and i saw a woman that looked like flo from the brady bunch and i thought, it has to be a costume. she was 75 years old under the barbed wire and passing young people. >> incredible. >> it's a state of mind, right. >> if you're aggressive and want to get out and active, come out. >> age is a number. what you tell yourself. >> joe, i want to go back to the point i was talking about earlier, the idea of playing through pain. elaborate on what you said, though, in terms it's a frame of mind that people these days, i feel, because they live in these electronic worlds, with their smartphones and their tablets and computers, they never really push themselves physically. talk about how important that is, not only for the soul, but for the mind and the body.

>> frame of reference is key to everything. if you think of people that live in bosnia that burn their roof the only wood to find to complete their house. remember cinderella man with russell crow, he had no business fight, 40, a broken hand and reporters said, why are you fighting? his answer, i'm fighting for milk. if you get into that frame of mind fighting for milk every day, it changes everything. you don't get upset over kids screaming or the car not starting and you become successful in life in whatever you're chasing. >> if you're watching this and not ready for the full race, what -- how do you get started? what do you do getting off the couch? a good way to get going? >> the first step, walk a mile a day, get that done. you don't have to run, walk one mile a day. >> no reason why you can't walk a mile. >> anybody can walk a mile. have your husband or wife drop

you off a mile from the house, you have no money, walk home. do 30 burpies a day. >> what's a burpy. >> painful exercise, jumping up, go down, do the push-up, and back up in the air, do 30 a day. slow or fast as you can. do 30 pull-ups. most people can't do pull-ups but do what you can. if you did a mile, 30 burpies and pull-ups, you'd be ready for a race. >> it's all about the pain, right? >> right. pain to play, baby. >> that's what luke russert says every day. >> his motto in life. >> thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> congratulations on the book. >> thank you so much. >> next, you know who hit a wall? eric cantor. might take on what it means for other elected running this year. >> time for the "your business"

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we hear in politics dollars don't veeote, people do. victory does follow the dollars. which is why none of us thought much of if when professor david brat used that same argument before his election on tuesday night. little did we know, he would defeat the second most powerful republican in congress. if you're anything like me, you're stunned by what happened to eric cantor. yes, cantor sitting on low approval rating, 63% disapproved of the job he was doing. but he had name recognition, he was up in internal polling by 34 points. and he certainly spent more than enough.

>> outspent his opponent 40-1 and lost by an astounding 11 points. >> cantor's campaign spent more at steakhouses than brat spent on his entire campaign. >> okay. that makes sense. hard to conduct your campaign when you got the meat sweats. my budget -- >> yes, embarrassing on so many levels. but you know what? it's one of healthiest political wake-up calls we've had in a very long time. look, i don't agree with everything david brat stands for but he's the perfect example of what this country's all about. a washington outsider, economics professor who not only had courage to run against the seven-term congressman but worked his tail off to victory. what should surprise all of us is the level of arrogance on eric cantor's part, this one his race to lose and he was the one who blew it.

there's a reason lindsey graham avoided a run-off again his extreme conservative opponents in south carolina. he did work his butt off, taking nothing for granted "the washington post" describes it best, the prospect of a loss seemed to have gone uncontemplated in the cantor camp. he spent tuesday at a monthly meeting with donors and lobbiesist at a capitol hill starbucks. if hanging out at a local d.c. star bucks on the morning of the elections a winning strategy, all of us should be embarrassed by the political system. what happened tuesday should be a reminder, what matters to the people, what matters to voters showing you're connected you care and you stand for things that will make their lives better. cantor lost sight of what being an elected officials all been he took it for granted. let's be clear, it wasn't just about his stance on immigration. actually, majority of his district supports immigration reform. he lost the most important thing in politics, connection to the

folks back home. cantor's less about the strength and resurgence of the tea party and more what voters expect out of their politicians, voters are sick of people who they perceive to be d.c. insiders, elected officials more concerned about their standing in the party than they are the issues of the people they represent. republicans and democrats alike should use this as a wake-up call that despite the disgusting amounts of money in politics today, despite the strength and power of incumbency, we live in a democracy where you have to work for votes, i, for one, am grateful for than money can't buy happiness. thank you, david brat, reminding that is money cannot buy success at the ballot box. that does it for "the cycle." "now" with alex wagner starts now. >> today's drink, tea, heavily caffeinated. thursday, june 12, this is "now." >> who's up and down in the game of thrones.

>> power vacuum, top member of leadership, dethroned. >> any man who must say i am the king is no true king. >> top house republicans are scrambling to fill the leadership void. >> hard to overstate the intense political maneuving the conservative tea party wing. >> red state conservatives wanting one of their own. >> the tail is wagging the dog. >> a time for unity. >> why do we pretend kings hold all of the power? >> there's a danger, moving the party to the right. >> for conservatives they've been frustrated a long time. >> the tea party argument going back to 2009. >> this, i think, should go to the top. ching out the whole team. >> eric cantor was the best for them. >> nancy pelosi reportedly viewing cantor's fall with almost glee. >> a time for unity. >> republicans being eaten alive by their own caucus. >> dems' new