bedminster, new jersey, where he'll spend 17 days in august on summer vacation. note to msnbc management, everyone is doing it. my thanks to robert train. that does it for this hour. nicole wallace, "mtp daily" starts right now. my, chuck. >> hi, but as you know as well as anybody when you're president, don't assume august will be nice to you. >> that's right. >> august can be very cruel to sitting presidents. thank you. happy friday. well, if it's friday, it's the best of times, it's the worst of times. and actually, just depends on who you ask. tonight, president trump throws out red meat in a red state. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. >> but while the base cheers, the president is facing push back from his own party's leading lawmakers. plus, the latest white house

staff, the trump base loves to hate. why the knives are out for the national security advisor. and august, it's the cruellest month. why the dog days of summer soften dog u.s. presidents. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. well, good evening. i'm chuck todd horror noo washington. happy friday or should i say sun happy friday. because right now everything is awesome and awful. it just depends on who you ask. politics is all about messaging, right. well, folks, you are witnessing an epic battle between two versions of reality for this president. wait a minute, everything is awesome r. jobs jobs jobs the economy is humming and stocks are booming. there's no upside on being anti-trump either just ask west virginia governor or ask republican senator jeff flake which direction his poll numbers are heading right now after

bashing the president. justice department finally cracking down on those leaks. awesome. but hold on a second you might also say everything is awful. those leaks might be trying to bring down a highly respected national security advisor because he won't back the president's they're are i see of unmasking. and forget jobs, jobs, jobs. what about russia, russia, russia. special counsel looks like he's hot on the president's trail. the white house's credibility is totally shot. so is there relationship with this republican congress. you've got a rotating casts of exasperated senate republicans like these ones who tore pea today the president's health care agenda or this one who says he's turning democracy upside down or this one who is writing legislation to prevent him from firing mueller or this one whoel called him a shar i ton. awful. so which do you believe? the president says the economy is awesome. but he just got through an entire campaign trying to

convince us that this very same fundamental economy was awful. . >> real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20%. don't believe the 5.6. don't believe it. i actually saw a number of 42% unemployment. 42%. and it could be. on the only thing that looks good is the stock market, but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down. we are in a big, fat ugly bubble. the terrible jobs report that just came out -- you see these phoney numbers about 5%. the unemployment number, as you know, is totally fiction. >> and according to the president all that smoke on russia which is awful is just proof of just how awesome his movement is. >> if the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. we didn't win because of russia.

we won because of you. that i can tell you. have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight, any russians? >> and the leaks, which the president thought were awesome when preceded by the word wick i are now totally, totally awful. >> we are taking a stand. this culture of leaking must stop. i have this warning for would-be leakers. don't do it. >> understand this. if you improperly disclose classified information, we will find you. >> let's dive in. i'm joined now by republican congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania. and i was thinking about how we were putting this together, the fact that there are two realities, and i knew i had you on. i thought, boy, your district truly is sort of two realities all in one district. so let me ask you this. which reality is it?

>> well, which reality? the reality is this. i think that my constituents are not obsessed with the russia issue. i would say they are concerned with it, very concerned with it and certainly they're paying attention to the investigation, but i think most people are still focused on other issues, jobs, the economy, health care is an issue i hear more about than anything else to be perfectly candid. >> and let me ask you this. what's working? do your constituents go to you and say, okay, boy, why aren't we getting a bunch more stuff done or do they say, hey, things are doing all right, he's doing all right. what kind of feedback are you getting right now? >> most of the feedback i'm getting from my constituents, chuck, has been pretty favorable. most of my constituents expect me to be a check, you know, against the president if he's moving in a bad direction, but they also expect me to work with him and support him if he's on the right track. i mean, that's always been my view on this thing. but they do want us to be honest about situations. i don't think they want us to try to defend the ip defensible

or explain the inexplicable. but at the same time they just want us to be honest and genuine as we deal with this administration. >> it's been interesting for me to watch this week as very senate republicans want to erect some roadblocks on the president and it feels like it really is about one single issue, russia. if the president's attitude on the russia investigation was i want to get to the bottom of this too, how would relations be between congressional republicans and this president right now? >> chuck, the relations would be much better, because most of us in congress in both parties believe that the reason why we had to impose these sanctions is because of very bad russia behavior, particularly putin's behavior and that american policy toward russia should not change until russian behavior changes. we know that russia is trying to break up nato, undermine the european union, you know, basically undermine our power and influence anywhere they can in the world, and that is the issue. and that's why i think many of us are a bit con founded by the

president's somewhat seemingly conciliatory and accommodating view towards putin. so i think that's really a big part of our challenge. we are just a bit mystified by this. we wish the president embraced a more conventional, traditional view of russia, which we believe his secretary of defense and certainly his national security advisor embrace. >> is it starting to bleed into other issues, meaning that there's some hez tans of maybe congressman x or senator y, while they may agree on this issue, that they don't feel as compelled to help this president because they're so upset about russia? has it bled into other issues that way? >> at this point i would have to say not too much, but there is a real concern about the lack of discipline, lack of focus and apparent dysfunction coming out of the white house. now with general kelly becoming chief of staff we hope those

issues will become much better. but i think the fact that there's so much distraction which leads to exhaustion not for not just for the american people but congress the issue of the mommy, the tweet of the day rather than focusing on real legislative issues, agenda items. so we're really not talking about those issues and it's making it harder for us to deal with those issues because of that. >> speaking of things that are harder now. i'm curious your take on jeff flake's boong. you've not been a republican that's been afraid to speak out. you're more from the center right wing of the party versus the more conservative wing, but then again, what is a conservative these days. i think the definition is changing. are you concerned that the base of the party is really of more of a consult of personality on trump and frankly the way at times the democratic party sometimes felt as if it's base was a consult of personality about obama administration? is that what's happening in the republican party is if you're against trump the base is going

to punish you no matter what the issue is. >> i would say prior to donald trump becoming the nominee the litmus test was the battle against the pureists verse the pragmatists and now that donald trump is the president the issue is different. it comes down to how loyal are you to the president and that's how you're being judged. the other side, i'll tell you if you agree with the president on an issue or two they'll say you've sold out. so that's the challenge a lot of us are facing. and by the way, jeff flake is i very good friend. he's my paddle ball partner. we used to talk quite a bit when he was in the house. >> can you say definitively now that the republican party is a big ten party? >> well, i want it to be a big tent party if it hopes to success long-term. clearly in my view we have to do a better job reaching out to asian voters, hispanic voters.

i think on social issues certainly to younger voters, lgbt issues especially. i think we have to cast a wider net than is the case at the moment. that said, i do think that people genuinely like the republican philosophy of more limited government, strong national defense, and i think that's something that has been -- i think well received, but at the same time i feel like we're experiencing a political realignment going on right under our feet. i usually say that republicans elm embrace open market and free trade but that's been tested under this administration to a certain extent. things are shifting and i don't know how this is going to sort itself out over the next couple of years. >> i'm with you. who knows maybe in ten years there's pay different label next to you and it's not d or r. congressman dent, thanks for joining me this morning -- i appreciate it or this evening. >> thanks, chuck. >> let me bring in tonight's

panel. welcome all. matthew, you had a column today that you gave conservative tichl an ep i taf, i think, 1945 to 2017. it was fascinating to hear charlie dent's last answer here where he admitted i don't know where this is headed. we're in a political realignment. on one hand i get it. have we really realigned or are they organized around a consult of personality. >> i think we're realigning. look at west virginia where president trump was yesterday. >> that was a culture ral shift more than it was a policy shift. >> well, it's a policy shift in terms of attitudes toward free trade and protection and the males of kind of working man and woman in the republican party. a country club party is changing into a sam's club coal miner party, and donald trump saw that

transition, and he exploited it. >> the two narratives, it is -- i mean, you look in trump world and they say, hey, look at all this. you guys are obsessed on russia. you go on the other side, ruth, and you're like wait a minute, nothing is working here in washington. it's on fire. and everybody is like, you know, we are living two realities. >> and both realities have some truth to them, right. the dow is where the dow is. bubble or not. unemployment is where unemployment is. fake numbers or not. >> i will tell you, it's the same economy we've had for the last two years. it is what it is. >> so one of the things that i think is amazing is that donald trump's poll numbers, fake poll news numbers are so low, given the good state of the -- the positive side of the ledger has a lot of positives in it. a president in an economy like this should be doing better than donald trump is. and i think all of that goes to the realities on the other side of the ledger.

>> go ahead. >> well, i was going to say not just russia but the dysfunction and the questions about whether or not he's trust worthy, whether or not he's honest. that's really going to hurt. that is partly why i think he is not doing as well in those poll numbers, because people give the president some leeway in terms of it's been six months. we'll give him some time, but it just looks chaotic. >> the core stays where the core is, though the numbers suggest that it is dwindling somewhat. >> but only somewhat. i would not sit here and -- >> a few points. >> it's not a lot yet. >> but the folks -- there's a lot of anxious folks in the middle who were trump cure yisz, right, trump sen trick and they're now trump anxious. >> i mean, the approval number is interesting because it's not really judging job performance. it's judging the man. >> it feels character, feels likes a character judgment. i agree. >> and what representative dent was saying i think is very real just in conservative rep circles.

>> you've been experiencing yourself sometimes. >> he is the most polarizing figure in american politics in decades, and so it's really measuring what do you approve of him as a person or not. >> right. >> and the second you begin to try to distinguish, as i think actually a lot of voters, especially in districts like representative dent's feel they try to distinguish between well, i don't like certain aspects of his permit or certain actions he takes when it seems off is the wall, on the other hand, i agree with him on his agendament then you start getting very mixed reactions. >> but, look, he's not the first dairk yes, he's the most polar azizing figure. whofrls the most polarizing president since president obama since bush since bill clinton. it's this consult cult personality mind-set because what are the are democrats other than anti-trump right now? >> that's a good question. and i think they are struggling to figure that out, and they are

struggling to come up with someone who can lead them out of the trump wilderness. but i think that two things can be happening simultaneously, right. we are polarized and polarizing and as we do that, we are going through this realignment that may have been happening with or without trump, and we are engaged in thisel cult of personal. so the two of those together are what has us so kind of perplexed and confused. i think that you were talking about a lot of this as trump's russia problem, and trump does have pay russia problem on many different levels, including with congress on his, you know, absolute refusal to acknowledge the reality that the intelligence community has said. but even if trump didn't have russia, congress would be having a trump problem with trump. >> i hear you a little bit. but it is interesting -- charles kraut haurm wrote today the trump presidency is a stress test.

but he says america is passing and he went through various but points and we shortened them here. number one military says no to trump on the transgender ban, senate saves sessions senate republicans reject the obamacare repeal. the bow skoits -- >> so it's on one hand to the folks that think everything is awful, carol, they're guard rails. it's a messy process, but there's a reason we had, frankly, so many guard rails and so many aspects of our government. >> right. and it's been fascinating to watch this president has not had that kind of honeymoon that even with his own party that you would expect. and it goes to what we were talking about earlier. it's this cult of personality and also the loyalty that the congressman was talking about. but it will be -- i think the key is going to be to see how this plays out in the fall. because what you've seen is you've had six months of the congress that really hasn't faced any must-do tough things, and they really couldn't get

their act together except this niece certain ways to oppose the president. and now they're heading into the fall where they all really need each other. >> you're absolutely right. there's legislation they have to pass just to keep the -- >> that's right. and it's in september. it's immediate. >> yeah. >> i think that the guard rails have been impressive and i would put into those the courts. the media, the reason why we're having all of these leaks, keep them coming, has to do with the concern that people inside the government have, but the real guardrail is congress. and while we've seen some sort of glimmerings of revolt, we haven't seen a willingness to really, other than threaten and cluk, to say this -- we will really not tolerate. and to follow through on it. >> it depends where you stand of the i am impressed with the number of people that are -- >> jeff flake, yes, but, you know, they can warn.

let's see what they do if a line is crossed. >> if they wanted to stand up to trump, they couldn't, because again, these trends that predated trump and are continuing through his presidency, the dysfunction of congress is one of them. >> right. >> is it a trump problem? yes, partly. but it's also a congressional problem. and the fact of the lack of the power of the committee system, lack of the power of the leadership, all of these predated trump. his unique political identity make them all worse. we have three parties, the democrats, the republicans and the party of trump. and figuring out how the republican party relates to the party of trump is kind of the defining issue of our time. >> we may get a stress test on that in the arizona republican senate primary that i think could be the single most important election of 2018, oddly enough. let's pause here. stay with us frm coming up, special counsel bob mueller may be accelerating his russia investigation. i'll going to ask had i see former chief of of sta about how running this investigation is going for him under this

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welcome back. it seemed today like attorney general jeff sessions service holding a press conference for an audience of one, president trump. >> this nation must end this culture of leaks. we will investigate and seek to bring criminals to justice. we will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country. these cases to investigate and prosecute are never easy, but cases will be made and leakers will be held accountable. >> attorney general sessions and director of national intelligence dan coates said they're taking new steps to plug leaks of classified information and they say the administration has tripled the nn of investigations involving illegal disclosure. the truth is the leaks that bother the president the most aren't the ones of the classified information. frankly, they're the water

cooler leaks, the staff infighting leaks. the whose at dinner with whom leaks. those leaks may be embarrassing with the white house. they have nothing to do with classified information. leaking classified information is a crime and it remains a crime. you know what's the best way to be a leader that inspires, cut -- that's the best way to stop leaks. the worst way to stop leaks, threaten to stop leaks. woel be right back. or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country,

we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you back. as we mentioned at the top of the show one of the things -- the on going and apparently expanding russia investigationment "the wall street journal" reported last night that special counsel bob mueller had impaneled his own grand jury to focus on the russia investigation. we here at mib nbc news has not confirmed that he has his own panel, but we do know he's been making use of active grand juries in multiple districts,

including here in the city of washington and in northern virginia. and those multiple districts are issuing subpoenas for records and documents that are tied to mueller's investigation. joining me now is john car lip. he's a former assistant attorney general and was special counsel bob mueller's chief of staff when mueller was the director of the fbi. thanks for coming in. >> thank you, chuck. >> let me first start with just some facts to help people understand what a grand jury is and what it isn't and why a prosecutor needs the tool of a grand jury to do an investigation. the. >> so a grand jury sevgs two primary functions. and one is really it is a tool that is used for the investigation. it is how. it is in the name of the grand jury that when subpoenas, documents and that is the life blood, documents, other records like that are the life blood of a complex white collar investigation. and secondly, you use it to lock in the testimony of potential witnesses and find out what happened or what didn't happen so people testify secretly,

under oath, before their peers in front of the grand jury and at the end of the day the second core function of the grand jury is to determine whether or not you've met your burden of probable cause. >> right. >> and whether indictment is returned. >> is it fair to say i feel like in this news, oh, my god, robert mueller -- it would be news if it wasn't using a grand jury, right. >> absolutely right. people should take a breath that someone who has been assigned expolice ill and openly one of the most complex type of investigation, is there any contact or collusion between russians and anyone involved in the trump campaign, as natural as breathing that a trained prosecutor would use a grand jury to aid them in that investigation. >> all right. i'm not -- well, we haven't confirmed the idea of impaneling your own. i was told there's sort rf two potential reasons why he might want his own. one is just simply volume of work that needs to be done, whether it's interviews, subpoenas, et cetera. the other is because of the

sensitive nature and perhaps you don't -- you kind of want to just protect one grand jury when it comes to deal with classified information and not have to worry about multiple locations. is there any other reason why you would want to have your own as opposed to using what's already this? >> no. those are the two main reasons. and it's often -- grand juries, if you've ever served on one or had a relative who served on one. >> i haven't been on one or been interviewed by one, but any way. >> these are every day citizens. you get a notice tomorrow in the mail. instead of serving on a petite or small jury which is the one everyone is used to on to have. you serve on a grand ir. it's usually for an 18-month prd. you don't meet every day. and for a busy district they're hearing a lot much different times of cases simultaneously and so in order to ensure that you have enough time to move quickly on a complex investigation, you might impanel your own. >> all right. let me ask you about bob mueller. he is coming under a lot of public scrutiny, a lot of attacks coming from just inside

the -- >> well, without talking about any -- i'll talk generally. >> fair enough. >> bob mueller, former marine, a lifelong prosecutor who after having one of the highest positions you can have in the democratic of justice went preefl to private practice. didn't like it. chose to return to the line to do local homicides here in d.c. >> i've heard that story. literally he said no, i'll go in the back of the line. i just want to be here. it was a remarkable part of his career. >> i served in that same office. we all heard about him when we were doing homicide prosecutors and almost every day when i was chief of staff at least once a day he said i wish i was back doing that where you're just going after the facts, figuring out who did it and trying to hold them accountable. this is not someone who cares a lot about what's going on with the whispers and rumors in washington. >> all right. but let me ask you this. can it take a toll? can it take a toll on your investigation with the grand

jury? you know what i mean? it's like you can't -- i get that it may not impact him, because you just outlined his nature, but you must be concerned as a former prosecutor how this stuff can impact just as a whole? >> well, look, i think there are career investigators and prosecutors that are working on this type of case. and the subject matter, the idea that russia tried to undermine our core democracy by interfering in this election is very serious. and something that has nothing to do with what party you're in, but everything to do with what it is to be american. and make no mistake, putin ultimately, he hates democracy. he views it as an exi sentence shall threat to the russia regime and that's consistent with what he's tried to do here in the united states, what he's been trying to do to our european allies. and so one thing i think you've seen more recently is it's nice to see in a bipartisan way for people to say we have our

debates over policy, et cetera. that ends when it comes to an adversary like this. >> we think, any way. mr. car lynn, i appreciate you coming in. >> thank you. >> coming up later this hour, we're going to look at whether h.r. mcmaster is getting the reince priebus treatment right now from the trump team. plus why august can be the coolest month for politicians. of course, it's sunday special edition of "meet the press." we're going to take a closer look at our american politics. more of the root causes of why every week seems insane right now in washington. we'll be right back. when this bell rings... ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected.

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tonight on m msnbc don't miss the latest installment of on assign. exclusive interview to former diplomat to beijing. you can check that out at 9:00 eastern right here at msnbc. still ahead, one senator on our health care fights on capitol hill and at home. but first, it's jobs friday. wow, i was told there was a surprise. contessa brewer. >> are you surprised? >> first of all, welcome back to the family. great to have you. >> you know, i wasn't really gone. i was just visiting elsewhere. >> i know you were. it means i get to run into you dpen, and that's good news for me. >> yes. nice to see you, chuck. i feel like i should take a

picture -- let me give you an update. finishing higher following today's strong job report. reaching an record high nor the eighth straight day. the s&p added 4. the nasdaq is up is 1. cannot keep it down. across the board a positive reaction to a better than expected jobs report. and the economy added 2089,000 jobs in july. the food service industry saw the biggest gains, adding 53,000 jobs. the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3%. that's the lowest since march 2001. the u.s. trade deficit dropped almost 6% in june bowl sterd by the highest levels of exports in two and a half years. and that's a wrap up for me at cnbc. first in business worldwide. this is a story about mail and packages.

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we're trying to convey to the north koreans we are not your enemy. we're not your threat, but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us. and we have to respond. >> welcome back.

amid north korea's growing nuclear ambition secretary of state rex tillerson this week made a bold offer suggesting the u.s. is ready for direct talks, but at the same time the u.s. military successfully test launched their own icbm from california. if things ever went very sour, one state that potentially could sit in the cross hairs first is hawaii. they're actually now the first state to publicly begin preparing for the possibility that a missile could hit the state. in fact, the state's emergency management agency recently released new guidance on what people should do in case this happens. and they're starting to test a new warning system that could alert people to an attack through sirens. now, officials there are clear, however, that right now there is of course no need to panic. joining me now is -- i know you are on your own health journey here. i want to talk about that in a little bit. i want to start with the threat from north korea. as a hi senator, do you feel as

if north korea is a direct threat to hawaii right now? >> believe me, i have had many conversation with admirable harris, pacific commander as to really, you know, what is the danger that hawaii faces. but the danger that hawaii faces is a danger that our conspire country would face, not to meng alaska. and so of course we have to make sure that we have a really good missile defense system in place. we're putting together a radar system for hawaii and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that we are protected. >> what do you want to see happen? it was unclear this week, what is the united states policy? regime change? rex tillerson said regime change, but not everybody believes that that should be the policy. where are you on this? >> i don't know how a regime change would be affect. as you can see, we don't have a very good track record doing that. i don't think that should be our policy. clearly north korea is very complicated, and i don't think we have a meeting of the minds because kim jong-un thinks that

we're going to attack north korea, whereas we haven't given any evidence of that. sure saying why don't we come together and have a meeting of the minds, that's good. at the same time diplomatic route, i think, is really the way to go. and we still have some sanctions that we can apply. >> well, i was just going to say, though, on the military front, yeah, there's a lot of some would call it saber-rattling. whether we have a military response or not, we need to prepare to have a military response. why are you on that when it comes to north korea? >> you can't say that any option is off the table, but i very much agree with secretary of defense mattis that clearly the military route is the last thing we ought to do. we should pursue all other routes including sanctions, including encouraging china to do more, including possibly even russia, although our relationship is not so good. but nonetheless, every other avenue because if we take

military action, i think that would result in the death of thousands and thousands and thousands of people. >> i've got to ask about hawaii state government has been on the front lines of challenging this president's authority and initiative when it comes to particularly when it it comes to some immigration policy. >> yes. >> explain why it has been -- why there's more unit in hi against some of these proposals than there are in some other states. >> hawaii is definitely a state that was made up of waves of immigrants that came to work on our plantation. and yes, we do have the native people there and that's the cultural underpinnings of the state of hawaii. so we understand the importance of immigration policies. that's why i'm really proud that hour attorney general went ahead and filed one of the first challenges to the president's executive order, which we call and characterize as a muslim ban. >> is there any part of what he's trying to do in restrictive

natures in vetting that you do support? >> i can't think of any really because i think most of his policies are ill thought out. the ramifications of it, and it shows a real bias against minorities, and that's not ever anything that i could support. >> when a lot was made when senator mccain came back with his health schal leng. at the same time you've been dealing with your own challenge and you had to make an extra effort and disrupt your own care in order to get back in time for this health care vote. you know, both -- give me an update here. i know it's kidney cancer. >> yes. >> how is it going and where are you headed next? >> well, i'm really glad that i was able to be diagnosed with it. it was totally certificate dip did you say because my diagnosis came out when i was preparing for a whole another surgery for which i have to get a full examine, physical exam.

>> it would have been too late. >> it could have been too late because my cancer is already stage 4, which meant that it went from a primary site, which was my kidney, to my rib. and i think if it had -- if i had left it longer, it could have gone to other parts of my body, and that would have been really bad. so i'm grateful that it was discovered, although i have to say that having a cancer diagnosis threw me for a loop because i thought major illnesses only happened to other people. i truly thought that because i had never been hospitalized in my life, exempt for age 17, and that was a false alarm. >> going through this, have you learned something about our healthcare system that says, okay, now i think we've got to go -- you know, when you go through it yourself. >> yes. >> does it give you a different agenda when you come back when it comes to health care? >> i've been a vocal support is health care is a right, not a privilege for years and years and years. and i mean, for my own life as an immigrant and growing up in this country with my mother who

didn't have health insurance. she had a low paying job so my greatest feel growing up was that she could get sick. so from a very early age i knew the importance of staying healthy and being able to have care when necessary. but, yes, my own diagnosis lent a tremendous immediacy to the debate. hearing from literally thousands of people from hawaii, 20,000 people or so contacted me to say don't take away my health care. it is important to everybody. but as i said, certain immediacy to what so many people in our country are going through. >> thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> be safe going 40e78. just ahead, tsel i don't tell said april is the cruelest month, but he wasn't a politician. try august, buddy. we'll be right back. im fit? im fit? that's cool. looking fabulous in my little black dress? that's cool.

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theso when i need to book tant to mea hotel room,tion. i want someone that makes it easy. booking.com gets it. and with their price match, i know i'm getting the best price every time. visit booking.com. booking.yeah! welcome back. tonight i'm obsessed with the idea that august is a slow news month. no, wrong. august is the month where presidents dreams go to die. the august 2011 debt ceiling fight leads to a downgrade in the u.s. credit rating. august 2009, tea party protests saab taujd support for obamacare. august 2005, president bush's sluggish response to hurricane katrina permanently damage his standing with the public. august 2001 receives a classified view bin laden determined to strike in u.s.

august 2008 -- august 1974, president nixon resigns. august 1968 police attack protestors outside the democratic convention in chicago. you can head to the beach, but don't be surprised if the political world gets turned on its head again. just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. we'll be right back. but when family members forget, trust angie's list to help.

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why wait? ask your doctor about prolia®. welcome back. time for "the lid." it seems that national security advisor hr mcmaster has become the administration official that the trump base and the far right media lust to hate right now. why? well, mcmaster has ousted three national security council staffers in three days and he's concluded that susan rice did nothing wrong in terms of unmask lg. well, that was enough to bring the noois out. the same forces who consistently we want after reince priebus seem to now see -- they would like to see mcmaster go. and we've even heard talk from

president trump is considering moving him to afghanistan to oversee the war there and get his fourth star is the way it's talked about. the panel is how precarious is mcmaster's position right now in the white house? >> it's very unclear. it's precarious in the sense it's not clear where this is headed. his status is -- he's opening by questioned. this leaks. there's when this rumor started to really heat up a few weeks ago that mcmaster may replace the commander in afghanistan. his folks knew and thought it was coming from steve bannon. they were really irritated. this goes back to mcmaster came in and made the early decision to revoke steve bannon's permanent seat on the national security council.

they have convinced here to recertify the iran nuclear deal. >> check out just in the last 24 hours what some conservative media that are very synthetic to bannon had done to mcmaster. multiple stories going after him. unloading on him. the leak of this letter that mcmaster wrote to susan rice that allowed her to keep her security clearance so he could refer to memos that she wrote. sort of standard book writing stuff. is this a trump base like mcmaster being seated by the personnel wor

bannon world. >> it's a personnel fight. president trump seems very concerned about the american position in afghanistan. upset about the status of our forces there. almost approaching the 17th year of war. what is the end state? >> perfectly reasonable. two presidents in a row have not liked that. >> he's hearing from foreign policy professionals the necessity to stay there. the friction is not only in the west wing but the president. >> i think that's exactly right. i think mcmaster's biggest problem isn't with bannon or outside forces gunning for him. it's that he and the president are not really working together well. there's a terrific piece by colleague about this that's online right now. he talked about, he quotes somebody talking about how the

president has a two-minute attention span and mcmaster providing the president with information someone told me in ways it's not comfortable for the president to gather it and take it in. the president is frustrated with the way mcmaster is delivering information to him. that's a problem. >> i don't think john kelly would like to see mcmaster go. i don't think anybody would advise the president that he want to be on his third national security advisor before the end of the year either. this is a tricky problem for them. >> it's very tricky. i think it's really significant is going to continue to be significant. if mcmaster can survive that then i think he'll be okay. yes, it could be unusual to have your third national security advisor but with this president,

i don't think that would be such a surprise. >> worse than unusual, really destabilizing and just about the last thing. what trump would like are all of us to do stories and columns that say it's a whole new happy world in trump land now and general kelly has come in and everything is stable. that would not go with that narrative. >> that said, if you're going to make change because you just brought in a chief of staff, you're still in the i'm assessing how things are working window. >> true. >> i would say even if the president was to get rid of mcmaster, there's a bunch of loyal people to mcmaster now in the national security council. you still have this divide. they are not only loyal to him but agree with the policies he's putting forward. you would still have the same problem. >> there's a divide. there's a policy divide. >> this is the president who rebels against structure. now he has general kelly trying

to impose some discipline in who has access to the oval. the structure may be too much for president trump. >> i'm going to leave it there. another crazy week. after the break, a total lly outrageous election result. wait till you see this one. ♪ ♪

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in case you missed it, maybe viewers of this show would never admit it, but a lot of people don't vote.

what if your town had an election and no one showed up. in case you missed it mcintyre, ohio had a zero percent turn out on their special election on tuesday. not a mistake. zero. it has a population of 110. there's 70 registered voters had two ballot issues to decide. county auditor had to issue a document with a blank tally. no one showed up to vote. yes, that means not even the current member or council members in question made their way to the polls. we know this for a fact because we called the county to check because we were worried this might be fake news. as for the poll workers who did man their post for nine hours, they were from the next town over and couldn't vote. what happens when no one shows up to vote? in this case of this special election, no one voted in favor of extending the terms of the

officials so they shall remain the same. this is in iowa of all places. you want to pick our president. come on, man. that's all for tonight. we'll be back monday with more mtp daily. the beat with ari melber starts now. >> quick question. if a politician won't vote for himself, does that mean he has low self-esteem? >> or they just want out of job sooner. i think they didn't want to extend their term. >> they didn't want the extra two years. have great weekend. >> thanks. we have a message. mr. president, there's a grand jury in washington and this is first day of the rest of your life. things are changing in the west wing today. this newly revealed grand jury means every trump