may have had their info stolen by hackers from russia. this afternoon, one warning from security experts. change your passwords, but don't change the channel. because you're in "the cycle." good afternoon to you. as we come on the air, the details are still pouring in about the death of the highest ranking u.s. army member since the vietnam war. two-star general harold green was killed in a green-on-blue attack at the hands of an afghan soldier we helped train there. training was the reason major green was in the reason. those closest to him are expressing their grief and their admiration. >> he's always willing to help soldiers. that's what i always liked about harry. some of us ultimately have to give the ultimate sacrifice.

i'm just really sorry -- i'm sorry for it to be anyone, but i'm really sorry, again, my condolences to his family. >> major general gene had his masters in national security policy, also a ph.d. in the engineering field. he was one of more than a dozen people struck, the only one to die, in an attack for which we still have very few answers at this point. lieutenant tony schafer has experience dating back more than a decade about these so-called insider attacks. what happened here? >> simply put, i think you had an infill traitor who was either recruited or became subjected to the taliban's influence while he was in the army. he took it upon himself. at this point, there's no direct evidence he was directed. but he took it upon himself to essentially kill the invader, which is the perception that the taliban has put forth about our efforts there in afghanistan. first off, condolences to general green's family.

this was truly an outstanding general. you all know i don't pull any punches here regarding generals i like and don't like. this general is a true loss to our effort. he was a good man. he was doing the best he could to make sure the afghan security forces were going to sustain. that's what the taliban wants to prevent, therefore this was unfortunately an effect i have attack on our effort there. >> and major green was the highest ranking general to die since 9/11. as you said, he's well respected and admired and looked up to, especially by the thousands of men and women who are still over in afghanistan and have to finish this mission. tony, how does this affect their morale as this we have to stay there with the concern that this same thing could happen again? >> that's what the taliban want. they want to instill this fear that something like this will happen. well, i have to say this is one of or the beginning of what was going on in 2012. i predicted in 2012 this would continue to expand if we didn't take certain actions. general joe dunford has taken

those actions a commander who got there in 2013. he's done everything he can to secure the training efforts so there's less of a chance of this. he's done things in a classified level we can't get into here. he's taken the cadre of the afghans who we're trying to train, sending them to a third country, training them, sending them back in. that lowers the risk on both sides of something going wrong. frankly, we have to do everything we can now. if a mission is to help the central government become effective to sustain itself past december of this year, we have to actually throw in and try to make sure that this effort works. joe dunford is doing that. i know that this did hurt the morale, but i know joe and everybody there is trying to do everything they can to keep the mission on track right now as we plan to leave. >> lieutenant colonel, of course everybody in america is concerned about the security of our folks over there. we were before we heard about what happened to major general green. when that sort of thing happens, it has us even more concerned about our men and women overseas. you say perhaps we should not be too concerned because

green-on-blue attacks are actually decreasing. >> yeah, i heard another general on your network earlier today talk about how he thought that our lowering our footprint to 10,000 troops, which is the goal in 2015, would be a bad thing by the fact it would create more circumstance. i disagree. the numbers show as we've lowered our footprint from 100,000 to 32,000, that's helped lower the number of green-on-blue attacks. when we go to 10,000 troops, i believe the mission there will be pushing an offensive mission which will allow for intelligence and special operations folks to do their job. and i would argue that while we've talked about this both on and off air, we need to be out of there as much as we can. we need to get conventional forces out of there. we should have never gone in there in force. the intelligence operations mission should be about right to go after the al qaeda elements, which are now moving back in with the taliban as we start our departure. >> tony, are we, in fact, on track right now to leave afghanistan in a relatively stable state? >> well, good question.

i don't know. so much will depend on who becomes the next president. we're talking about abdullah abdullah, doing a recount. either candidate has said they're going to sign up to the security agreement, which karzai has refused to sign. if that agreement sticks, if it becomes effective, i think we have a chance of continuing the training of the afghan security forces to sustain past our departure. if not, it's going to be chaos. again, let me be very clear on this. my senior sources tell me that as we move out and the taliban moves in, al qaeda is moving in as well. again, i'm not saying we should be there in force. i'm saying that we should be there to make sure that they cannot establish safe havens and training areas like they did before 9/11. otherwise, why have we spent the past 12 years there? >> right. and the pentagon has made it clear after this incident, they're not changing their strategy moving forward. but tony, as you know, there are a lot of folks out there who are saying we've got to pull out today. let's just get everybody out of there. what are the implications of that? let's say that is what we did and tomorrow all men and women were to come home from

afghanistan. what would that mean? >> well, it would mean essentially abandoning everything we have done. again, i'm one of those who i would actually say get all conventional forces out of there now. they're not doing any good. they're essentially targeting for the purposes of green-on-blue or outside attacks. we need to focus the mission. being allowed to do your mission is far more important than the number of troops. unfortunately, we play this never game over the past 12 years and allowed our commanders to refight the war one year at a time. we've never had a clear strategy. our strategy should be anti-terrorism, to go after the bad guys and help secure the government. the afghan people have to figure out their own future. we can give them some push to do that. with that said, we need to get out of there. i would support that if we could do that. >> you spoke about major general green earlier in this interview. i wonder what more color you could give to help folks understand who this man was as a soldier, as a leader, as a person. >> one of my close friends was a close friend of his. according to my friend ken, this

guy was an extraordinary leader. he was down to earth. he understood what was necessary to lead, which is a rare quality. more important, he was also technically proficient. that is to say this general was an engineer. he knew his stuff. so often in today's military, people become so focused on just not making mistakes. that wasn't the case in this general. this general wanted to do the right thing constantly. and he put himself out there. i was told he wanted to get even further out there than what he was in afghanistan. unfortunately, this is a tragic loss that will be felt badly. this guy was needed in our military. >> you know, tony, we always get to ask you questions. tonight the president's taking a lot of questions. we're going to be talking that. given your military background and interest in afghanistan here over the long haul, what kind of question would you pose to the president or like to hear answered tonight? >> well, look, i got to be honest with you. i'm still questioning why we returned the five taliban commanders. that's something that's showed grave concern to my associates. i think it's put the wind back in the sail of the taliban.

even if this guy wasn't controlled by the taliban, the chances are pretty good he was influenced by the fact we released these guys. i'm not saying we shouldn't release him. i'm saying we should have gotten more for the release, a cease-fire at least. right now my concern is what's going to happen over the next six months and year when we're still in contact with the taliban. we have to release prisoners. i get that. we had to get our guy back. there were better ways to do it. i'm curious why the president took the deal he did. >> good questions, tough questions. lieutenant colonel, thank you for your time today. >> thank you for having me. up next a man who's been reporting from inside the immigration debate, msnbc's newest host, jose diaz ballart. he's taking his first spin with us in the spin cycle. later a look inside one of washington's most important security operations, the secret service, as "the cycle" rolls on this wednesday, august 6th.

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if it seems like the media has overused the time crisis lately, it's because we're juggling a number of crises inside our borders, outside our borders, and directly on top of our borders. tens of thousands of kids escaping from gangs and rapists in central america who now find themselves in a new hell, living in overcrowded detention centers here in the u.s., places that were never intended for long-term care, where refugees survive on two sandwiches a day and sleep in rooms alongside hundreds of others under thin blankets and quarters that many have described as freezing cold, even though we're in the dead of summer. many of our people in the front lines like border agents and the national guard are doing their best to make the process humane for these kids, but that's a tough task when the system is so strained.

and with congress out of town for the month, president obama faces a huge decision. should he act on his own? one of the most informed minds on this issue is msnbc's newest member jose diaz ballart. first, i got to say, the new show is awesome. you've been doing a fantastic job. thank you for what you're bringing to msnbc. >> thank you. >> but to the issue here, i think the heart of this issue and the heart of the problem within america is that we have a lot of fear that is wrapping this issue up and making it very paralyzed. people who are afraid of the browning of america and the loss of a dominance that has become second nature. do you think that's a critical part of this issue? >> i think it's part of the. i also think the fact is when you have 56,000 kids crossing the border since the last month of october and no end in sight to some resolution to this

crisis, when you have entire communities that really don't know what the policy of this country is regarding people that are crossing over the border, and then there are all the other aspects you bring up. then i think people really fear -- when they fear there is no control and there is no apparent solution. that's why it's so odd that you have both the senate and the house recess for five weeks. they each come up with these position papers, these bullet points, these talking points, but nothing is really done and nothing is even accomplished. and both sides know that nothing is really being accomplished. they go home. no problem. well, it is a problem. and it's a problem that's not going to go away even if you wish it to go away. >> you're exactly right, jose. abby huntsman here. welcome to the msnbc family. i've loved your show as well. >> hi, abby. thank you. >> as a republican at this table, i have to have say what you have today are a few voices that speak for the entire group of the republican party.

there's a sense out there that if you meet a republican, well, you're just againstment grags reform, which as you know is actually far from the reality. if you look at recent polls, this one was in politico, showing 64% of the gop support k comprehensive immigration reform. we know the support comes from religious groups, business groups. what can they be doing better to take control of this their tina and help these lawmakers dot right thing here? >> there's an old expression, abby, in spanish. [ speaking foreign language ] if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a bicycle. but you know what? she doesn't have wheels and she's not a bicycle. >> jose, we say that in hebrew a lot too. >> there you go. >> universal. >> so you can say there are a lot of people that are for it, but where's the facts? the facts are that in the house, there was a handful of republicans working with

democrats for years to try to get to some immigration reform proposal. not the one that the senate passed over a year ago, because that was seen as too crazy lefty. but even they couldn't agree on anything that could be put to a vote. so you can say that there's a lot of people for immigration reform, and i'm sure there are a lot of goodwill people for immigration reform, but that doesn't do squat for the reality, which is that you have 11 million people living in this country without documents, many with children, even with grandchildren, and they're living under the shadow of the fear of deportation. on the other hand, you have a porous border where 56,000-plus kids are crossing by themselves after crossing through mexico, which is a living hell. and no one seems to really care other than they say, yeah, we're for it or we're against it. >> well, and to that point of how the nation is feeling and who is caring about these children, we're going to have more later on the new nbc "wall street journal" poll. but there were numbers in there specifically about the crisis of

children crossing the border. they asked people whether they felt that we have a responsibility for these undocumented children or whether we felt that we don't have the resources to care for them. i found it very disheartening that 43% say we have a responsibility for the children, but the majority think that we don't have the resources to be able to help them. i find that very troubling in a nation that prides itself as being caring and looking after our neighbors and also as a beacon of freedom and human rights in the world. >> i think, krystal, that it would probably be different if the people that were answering those questions thought that this country had a very specific way of dealing with these kinds of issues. i think, you know, both sides think that immigration is broken and it's time to fix it. well, if both sides can agree that something is broken and no one is willing to fix it, you

know, they can say they are, but no one is really doing anything to fix it, i think you're going to get people around the country that fear this is not a problem that i can handle in addition to the other problems i see in this country because there's no one that's really doing anything about it. i think that most people have a heart, and when you see a child crossing the border -- i've got to tell you, 1500 miles through mexico when there are gangs, cartels, drug dealers, rapists, thieves, and even government officials who along the way take money off these kids and these people, your heart has to go out for these children that finally make it. these are the heartiest of the heartiest. but when you're confronted by a crisis of this nature and you see that no one really is doing anything about it, a lot of people are talking about but no one is doing anything about it, then i think that it's natural for you to say, i don't know if we can handle this because we can't even handle the

immigration problem, which both sides say is broken. >> yeah, and why do you think there's been such a breakdown in the understanding of the traditional distinction between immigration policy and asylum? >> you know, i don't know what has happened. i really don't know. and abby, i want to bring back just to talk about legislative issues. let's remember that the house before they went on their five-week break, they passed two bills. one on a budget to deal with the border crisis, much less than the almost $4 billion the president asked for. but then the second thing is, to prohibit the president from expanding daca, which is deferred action for about 550,000 kids that were brought here through no fault of their own. and so what message -- again, you can say you're for immigration reform, but when the only thing that you leave with as a message, no true actual stuff, but as a message that you want to destroy deferred action and there's just a handful of

people that voted in the republican party against this deferred action freeze, then it brings me back to people just see legislators and people in d.c. talking and no one cares to do anything about it. why should it billion upon the american people to deal with something when we have elected officials that should be dealing with the crises that we confront in this country? >> right. >> jose, one of the two dreamers who spoke with and interjected with steve king jyesterday, was erica. she had some interesting things to say on your show. let's play a bit of that. >> the democratic party has a lot of talking points, you know, saying they support immigration reform, that they support immigrants. at the end of the day, you know, it's also another -- it's sort of like the political football that they like to play with the republican party where it's easier for them to say they support us and try to get the latino vote for their candidates instead of really trying to pass immigration reform. >> so some people say the democrats are not perfect on

this issue. we have obama who has signed daca, yet he, of course s the deporter in chief. a title he hates. he could do something about it, hasn't yet. what do you think about obama's legacy on this issue at this moment? >> well, clearly the president wanted as a legacy issue immigration reform. he really gave the house time to deal with this issue. remember, speaker boehner was saying some moments he said there was no more important issue than immigration reform. then he said, it was tough but let's stop being weasels about it. then we have ted cruz in the senate having pizza and essentially giving his two cents worth on immigration reform in the house. so while that has been going on, the president has really given these folks a lot of time. the question is what can he and

should he do, and what's he waiting for if he's going to do something? i have at least -- i've interviewed him, i think, nine times, president obama. and at least five or six of those times i've specifically asked him about executive orders. in the past, 2012, 2013, he has said, listen, i'm doing what i can, and there are some things that the president cannot do as far as, for example, expanding the amount of people that could be given work permits or temporary deferred action. so let's see what he is dealing with and balancing. jay johnson is going to give him recommendations, as well as other folks in his administration. what is it he can do? the only political question would be, well f you know that you're going to do something, do it. you know, i've been telling house members on our show, why do you wait until, you know, the 31st of july to deal with this issue when kids have been crossing since october? so why wait? well, i think it may have some

political scheduling issues to do with november. >> but why only nine times with the president? >> jose, you are fantastic. >> that's my second question. >> thank you so much for this. up next, we're going to preview the president's news conference at 5:00 p.m. and dig into more of the, well, depressing nbc news poll that krystal mention the earlier. a bit later, a solid theory on why american families are feeling so depressed about the economy. let's just say it hits close to home. there's much more "cycle" ahead. (birds chirping softly in background.) (loud engine sounds!) what! how's it going? heard you need a ride to school. i know just the thing to help you get going. power up with new cheerios protein. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing.

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leading the news at this hour, negotiators in cairo are hoping day two of a three-day cease-fire between israel and hamas will last a lot longer. both sides refuse to meet face to face, so it's egyptian mediators trying to broker this truce. israel is demanding hamas disarm. palestinians are saying no deal until israel ends the blockade

it imposed after israel took over gaza in 2007. the drivers of that tour bus that crashed into another double decker in new york's times square has charge the with driving under the influence. more than a dozen people including pedestrians were hurt. a light pole came crashing down on to the street. police say it's a miracle the number of injured was not even higher. and caught on camera, commuters spring into action to rescue a trapped train rider. this happened in australia when the man's leg got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform. you can see dozens of people push the train out of the way so that the guy could free his leg. amazingly, he escaped without getting hurt. pretty cool. >> wow. what a video. well, live television is often an adventure. at a stage fair in pennsylvania, an adorable little boy stole the show during a local news interview. and it's not difficult to guess the newest word that he's learned.

>> sometimes i don't watch the news because i'm a kid. and apparently every time -- apparently grandpa just gives me the remote after we watch the powerball. >> tell me about the ride. >> well, it was great. >> why? >> because apparently you're spinning around and apparently every time you get dizzy. >> yeah? >> all you do is get dizzy. >> is it fun? >> yeah. and i've never, ever been on live television. i never, ever will be on live television. >> guys, we need to hire him. >> so cute. i love him. >> you got any space? >> apparently we might. >> cute kid. thanks for that report, abby. we've got some developing political news now. president obama will answer reporters' questions this evening at the end of the first ever u.s.-africa summit in washington. it's been overshadowed a little by the e earthquake mamerging e.

the two american missionaries are back in atlanta and showing signs of improvements. still, the death toll has hit a staggering 932 total. tonight the white house press corps may ask everything. chris jansing is over at the state department where the president will speak. chris, we know with congress out of town, the president has been seizing a little more of the spotlight. the questions last week and again tonight. what do you expect? >> well, i think you mentioned it. there's a lot going on in the news from russia to ebola to the midterms. of course, we had the primaries last night. the president clearly has been increasingly willing to answer questions, not just as you mentioned today and last week, but i think he's averaged about once every week for the last couple of months. and of course, it comes against the backdrop of congress leaving town. he's been increasingly frustrated and has expressed this about what he sees as a do-nothing congress. they're on track to become potentially the least effective congress. so one of the things he might get asked about is what he is

willing to do. we know members of the administration and staff have been reviewing possibilities for executive orders. certainly that's one thing. we know that russian troops have been amassing on the border. vladimir putin has talked about counterproposals to go against the sanctions that the u.s. put in place. we've not yet heard him comment on the death of general green in afghanistan. so that is also a possibility. but of course, because this is the final event of this of course summit, he's going to want to, i'm guessing at the top, tout a little bit about the investments that have been promised here. it started at $14 billion. now the administration says $26 billion. in spite of the ebola scare and the headlines and as one department official told me today, investment follows stability. so there had been some concern about those headlines. they feel good about the way this summit is wrapping up. ari? >> all right. thank you, chris. tonight the president may also knock congress a bit. we have that new poll. that's one area where the public

agrees. only 14% of american approve of congress in general. it's been stuck in the teens since 2011. but people are less negative when asked to rate by party. 31% view congressional democrats faif bli compared to just 19% happy with the gop. as for the midterms, the largest share of americans just want incumbents out, period. the president's approval rating is stuck at 40%. he's been in the low 40s since last fall. and in a period of all these intense foreign policy problems we've been talking about on the show, ukraine, gaza, afghanistan, just more than a third of americans approve of the president's foreign policy performance. mark murray is here to tell us mur about the poll. and we have bloomberg washington bureau chief jonathan allen. good day. ma mark, what's the biggest headline? >> it's just how cranky the american public is. fed up, demosralized it. we called it fed up nation. it's an angry public. they're picking so many

different reasons why they're angry. other thing to take away, just americans are still digging out of the great recession. we've seen all these numbers where it shows that the country is doing better. 200,000-plus jobs created over the last six months. the unemployment rate at 6.2%. but there are so many americans that are still feeling the aftereffects of the great recession. that's contributing to crankiness. >> jonathan, speak to that. you have an increasing number of americans who are saying that we are coming out of the recession. yet, seven out of ten say we're on the wrong track. only 27% say that the economy is improving for all. so to me, there seems to be an increasing sense that, yeah, we're coming out of this recession, but we're settling into a new economy that's leaving a lot of folks behind. >> sure. and we have data that show growth. the second quarter growth was 4%. we're not technically in recession. certainly there was a lot of growth going into the first quarter. what you see is americans very

fed up. the statistic you put up on the screen a minute ago, 79% dissatisfied with the political system. i want to know who the 21% are who are satisfied. they must be the people who are optimistic about the economic future because they've been doing pretty well in the most recent quarters. look, the recovery wasn't as robust or as quick as i think the folks in politics would like. certainly not as quick or robust as the american public would like. we have a system in washington that just doesn't work. until that changes, those numbers aren't going to change. >> let me follow up with you on that. you say it doesn't work, and house republicans in particular. we've covered it on this show, have take an strategy of making it not work. john boehner saying openly, i don't want any agenda to get through, i don't even want to pass bills. yet, when you look inside these numbers, one interesting thing is, yeah, 14% down on congress. i'm sorry, only 14% approving congress. on the parties, you have a lot more folks, 31%, saying they view the democrats in congress more positively compared to only

19% of republicans. does that mean that some of that reflects a distinction about who exactly is responsible for the obstruction. >> sure. i think the american public looks to be more upset with the republicans than the democrats in congress. but of course, president obama's ratings are so low it may be a drag on democrats in senate races this year and some of the house races. so i'm not sure what it's going to say for november. what it does say, and as i think you were getting at, the republican strategy has been to block president obama at every turn. i think it's popular with the base. we see in midterm elections who you get out from your base from your own partisan set is a lot of times more important than trying to win the middle. so it may be a good electoral strategy for 2014. it's going to be hurtful to the 2016 candidate if republicans can't figure out how to transition. >> mark, that 79% who are dissatisfied with the political

system, ari's talking about, a lot of that has to do with obstruction. republicans wanted to make people dislike the whole system. you say there's a lot of reasons why people are dissatisfied with the system, and they're equally dissatisfied republican and democrat, but for varied reasons. >> here's one thing that's interesting. everyone, democrats, republicans, independents, agree that the american political system isn't working for them. they all have different reasons. our poll had this fascinating thing. would you carry a protest sign? 57% of the american public said, yes, carry that protest sign. i would do something. but they all gave different reasons for it. some republicans would say, i would want to impeach president obama. democrats said, congress, do your job. independents say, just have the system work. given all those multitude of different voices, it's going to be hard to see the november elections unifying on one thing other than america's so fed up. >> reminds me of that old sign, what do we want? time travel. what do we want? it doesn't matter.

mark murray and jonathan allen, thank you for joining us. coming up, what if the root of all this dysfunction isn't actually washington but something closer to home? we're going to explore that possibility with an interesting thinker. and up next, a look inside the white house from some of the people who risk their lives to defend the president and his family. there's a gap out there. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe the gap will close when healthcare gets simpler. when frustration and paperwork decrease. when grandparents get to live at home

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welcome back. as our new nbc news poll indicates, americans think washington is a mess. and americans are completely fed up. institutions no longer command our trust. even the u.s. secret service, a group that was once nearly universally admired, is under the microscope for, let's say, extracurricular activities in the field. there's a new book out about the people who protect our leaders. it reveals the hidden lives of the presidents. while there are many titillating excerpts, we're going to

concentrate here on specifically the secret service in washington and the kind of reporting about both. ronald kessler wrote the book and is with us now. thank you so much for being here. you've been covering washington for a very long time and are in a unique position. you'll write something, let's say, about president bush, and the left goes wild. or you'll write something about president bill clinton and the right goes wild. is that just a perfect example of how messed up washington is? and you could write anything. it doesn't even have to be true. >> i really am more interested in just telling the truth. that's what i do in this book. so it impugns democrats. it impugns republicans. it has flattering stuff about both sides. that's just the truth. i think it's important for people to know about the character of the people who represent us and who are our leaders. they parade on tv, they smile, they project an image such as hillary does of being compassionate and being a champion of the little people. yet, mibehind the scenes, she'so

nasty to her own secret service agents, who are there to protect her and even lay down their lives for her. being assigned to her is considered the worst assignment detail in the secret service. that's something people should consider as well as track record when they elect a president. on the other hand, barack obama treats his agents very well, with respect. so there's stuff on both sides in this book. >> now, ronald, how are you confident when you make an allegation like that about hillary? how are you confident in that sourcing? >> well, first of all, i broke the fact that the secret service agents were hiring prostitutes in colombia and were being sent back. so sing that tells you what kind of sources i have. but also, a lot of the material is on the record. about two-thirds of the book is on the record. there are a number of on-the-record quotes from agents on hillary's detail about how nasty she is. >> okay. how do you respond to "the

washington post," for example, who says that you milk the agents for the juiciest gossip and get it mixed with a rambling list of their complaints and that this is national enquirer style gossip? >> it's just the opposite. it's, as i said, on the record, truthful reporting. it's not gossip to report when people like joe biden, for example, don't -- will not have the nuclear football in the mornings in wilmington, which is scandalous. that's not gossip. that's a serious expose. >> there have been questions about the sourcing, but i want to focus on others a pecks of your book here. have you ever found an instance where the secret service won't do something that the president requests? are presidents basically able to request the sort of coverage they want, or do they have more flexibility? >> the president does, in the end, have the final authority. unfortunately, the secret

service does bow to white house staff, for example. when white house staff or campaign staffs pressure them to let people into events without screening, they'll just let them in. it's unbelievable. you could have five terrorists come in with grenades. another example is the reason that president reagan was shot is his own white house staff overruled the secret service to allow spectators within 15 feet of the president when he came out of the washington hilton unscreened. that is why he was shot, and it was all covered up by the secret service until now. >> let's talk about some of the changes the secret service made in the wake of that attack on reagan. note jim brady, who was injured in that attack, tragically died this week. but what did the secret service decide to do differently after that attack? >> after that attack, they did tighten up and started excludeing people, not letting them in. but then again, it started to erode after the department of

homeland security took over the secret service in 2003. and now the corners are cut worse than before. when bradley cooper went to the white house correspondents' dinner two years ago, the high-ranking secret service agent in new york ordered agents at the washington hilton to let bradley cooper in. even they have been to be screen for explosives. anybody could have introduced explosives into his suv, taken out the president. you can imagine what kind of message that sent to the agents who are there to protect the president. they're being told just to ignore the security rules. same thing with -- why dwere th salahis allowed into the state dinner? i think the uniformed officers thought, you know, management is

cutting corners. they won't support us if it turns out they should have been allowed in. one reason is that when mary cheney, dick cheney's daughter, was under protection, she would try to get her agents to take her friends to restaurants as if they were taxi drivers. they refused, as they should have, and she later got their detail removed. it says, hey, our own management will not support us when we follow the rules and will not allow people in who are not on guest list. >> well, having grown up as a politician's daughter, i have to say anonymous sources can mean a number of things. interesting stuff though, nonetheless. >> but two-thirds is on the record. remember, watergate was all done with anonymous sources. >> thank you so much for being here. up next, something happening on your block that might have a big impact on washington. later, the fight for the soul of the gop is like hip-hop's east-coast, west-coast war.

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what if the root of all the political dysfunction that we've been discussing all hour today is actually the changing nature of our relationships with each other rather than the do-nothings in d.c.? a new book called "vanishing neighbor" argues that our every expanding technological networks are actually disengaging us from the community ties that have made our political system work in the past. joining us now on the set is the book's author.

welcome. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> so robert putnam argued in "bowling alone" that we were losing community. what you argue is a little bit different. you say we're not losing but we this focus from traditional community ties to the facebook tie where you have a single interest in common and to our more intimate relationships. >> right, over the course of last 50 years, i think we've fundamentally changed the culture of the american community. on the first level, we've become much more tied to the people we're closest to. our closest family, our best friends. on the other hand, we've -- we're spending much more time and attention on people we know really only across the bridge of one common interest. we both root for the same football team or we have the same political affinity, whatever it is. what's missing is those middle rings. the middle ties of people that

are familiar but not intimate. and those -- the neighbor, the person you bowl with in a league, the person you know from the rotary club or the pta. it's those relationships where we learn to bridge across ideologies. >> you have folks that choose to only watch the right side of the news or choose to only watch the left side of the news. as you say, they can demand ideological purity. whether you agree, let's say that's the reality. how do they interact with each other? how do you bridge that gap? >> well, that's exactly the issue. time and time again in american life, we're not bridging that gap. the issue is when you talk to somebody who has a different point of view who you know because you borrowed a cup of sugar or you bowl in the same league, whatever the issue is is you learn maybe you don't agree on everything. maybe you have different opinions about immigration reform or what should happen in washington. but the other side isn't crazy.

they've got a point of view. >> can't demonize them in the same way. >> you begin to learn to interact in a way that you can imagine your own member of the congress, your own state representative, whoever it is, making a deal with the other side. >> yet at the same time, how do you recognize that with other encouraging dynamics? we are a less racist, less sexist country than we've ever been, we're evolving. >> we're much more tolerant. the irony is in many cases tolerance is driving us into wedges that don't talk to one another. if you have a certain view of gay marriage, you have a certain view of religion, you end up spending more and more time talking only to those people and don't have conversations with folks who have opposing views. >> it's a fascinating book. marc duncelman, thank you for your time.

we'll dig into this topic a lot more after the show for another episode of krystal continued. up next, biggie, puffy and steve king. t turray's going to make that connection. eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief.

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congressman james king is at the heart of the gop civil war which somehow remain mess of hip-hop civil war of the mid-90s, the so-called east coast, led by biggie and puffy, squared off against the west coast led by shug night. we're all too happy to escalate and escalate. all hip-hop would have been better being on one team, but they were at war and there were no winners. in the gop civil war, the tea party is like the west coast itching for a fight and itching to show their strength. the establishment is like hip-hop's east coast wanting what's best for the party and wanting to end the whole thing. last week, the establishment suffered an embarrassing defeat and had to give in to the flame throwers to save face and pass a border bill that would send the kids back fast and further militarize the border. they came, quote, as close to

congress gets to one of those fist fights in the taiwan parliament. the man fueling the hip-hop civil war was the svengaliish shug knight. cruz gathered congressmen and women in his office and helped them find their fighting voice. cruz's control over the caucus makes it impossible for boehner to lead. the tupac in all this, making himself the center of attention, that's steve king. his position on immigration now is identical to the official republican position, which is that the only answer is maximum deportations, due process be damned. and maximum border militarization. king said of the bill they passed, it's like i ordered it off the menu. he also cites the bible to why he fights to protect them. when you see tens of thousands of children fleeing death, you might think compassion would

follow, but republicans had spent decades preaching no an ne amnesty that the party can no longer be reasonable partners if finding a solution. surely the hackneyed meme that congress could be led by the president if only he were more of a leader or more whatever is dead, after once again we see that the house is a caucus that struggled to be led by anyone in its own party. a little more charm or force or golf with obama would make no difference. he's the enemy the the two gop factions can agree on even as they're at war with each other. the real problem is war itself. political scientist says polarization is far less of an issue than political warfare is. beyond defeating your opponents to humiliating them. to questioning their motives. casting the other party as a threat to the nation may scare up votes but it's corrosive to

the country. extended warfare with your own side is madness in politics and in hip-hop. civil wars, perhaps the cruelest of all war, because it's impossible to win without destroying a part of yourself. that does it for "the cycle." "now" with alex wagner starts right now. >> it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. it was republican primary season. it's wednesday, august 6th, and this is "now." >> republicans cannot afford interparty fraticide. >> the national tea party groups may have lost their last chance this year to unseat a republican senator. >> we cannot afford a fractured party. >> senator pat roberts beat out tea party challenger milton wolf. >> unity must