thank you. wait to see, right. thank you to my panel. that does it for this hour. i'm nicole wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. >> watch the forecast, nicole. that's going to be really telling, right? >> if it is monday, surrender to the flow. tonight, divided sky, the wind blows high in gop country. how can the party in power get back to track after its 200-day agenda goes down? plus, kim jong-un's end game as pyongyang promises retaliation for u.s. sanctions. what further action is the u.s. ready to take? >> stop these missile launches. >> and seeking sanctions waer. will california take the feds to court over immigration enforcement. >> resolve in in a judicial forum rather than the rhetoric of politicians talking past one

another. >> this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. good evening and welcome to "mtp daily." i'm katy terr. welcome to day 200 of the trump presidency. that's right. 200, not two,000. day 200. president trump is at his summer home in bedminster, new jersey. congress is on recess, and despite the dog days of summer, the same problems persist for this white house and its party. after 200 days, president trump still hasn't been able to unite republicans. here is what arizona republican senator jeff flake told chuck yesterday on "meet the press." >> referring to our colleagues across the aisle as losers or clouns is just not the direction to go if we are going to solve the problems in a conservative way that we need to.

populism is a sugar high and once you come off it it's particularly troublesome for the matter. >> to make matters nor awkward, "the new york times" is reporting that a number of republicans, including vice president mike pence, may be running shadow campaigns for 2020. mr. pence outside pack has actually raised more in donations than the president's pack has, but the white house is pushing back forcefully against that article, denying that the vp is running in 2020. and the president himself went off on twitter, posting nine times this morning, blaming the media and again attacking the democratic senator risch ard blumenthal. and here is vice president's pence's spokesperson with my colleague this morning. >> there are some who might see that and say, had you, we thinks the vp zot protest too much. >> he does find it very offensive. the vice president is entirely focused on advancing the president's agenda and doing everything possible to make sure that in 2020 the vice president

is re-elected as vice president alongside president donald trump. >> what is so offensive about is it. >> any suggestion that he might be planning a run in twebt 20. his entire focus is on advancing the president's agenda and taking the steps that are necessary to make sure that we're delivering on the promises to the american people. >> guys, a lot of attention gets paid to the 100-day mark. it's all a honeymoon until then, even if that wasn't necessarily the case for this administration. but in the days since april 29th when president trump marked that milestone, the issues that lingered under the surface in the first 100 days have some screaming to top in the second 100. his party celebrated when health care passed the house. just to fail in the senate. thanks to three republican senators. chaos and infighting continue in the west wing, leading to high-profile hires and even more high-profile firings just in the last weeks. then there's russia. in the last 100 days comey is

out, mueller is in, and it's getting harder to see how this white house will ever get out of this maze. so what does all of that mean for the next 1262 days of his presidency? >> let's bring in two reporters from "the new york times" who have been reporting on these stories over the weekend. peter baker is the chief white house correspondent for the times, and nbc news political analyst. he joins us from new jersey near the president's home. and michael submit is a washington correspondent for "the new york times" and an m msnbc national security contributor. so peter, you were writing up the vice president's response to this story over the weekend. the times reporting that he's positioning himself for 2020. they're vehemently pushing back on this. >> well, they are. look, the vice president isn't doing anything that doesn't make sense politically. he's not going to run against president trump. that's not what he's talking about. he's talking about what if the president doesn't run for re-election, i would like to be that person. that's in effect the message

they're sending. is it looks bad to an audience of one. that would be the guy at the top who thinks he is going to run again in 2020. and any sign anybody else is seen as something else of a betrail. not because he cares too much about what "the new york times" thinks or any of the res of us to think but because he wants the president to think he's on board. >> he was tweeting this morning. his advisers want him to be silent in the morning and he's not doing that. he's still tweeting this arch and he's going after the new york time. what's going on over there? >> it's range. there's no golf, you know, he's obviously been pretty active today on twitter twchlt two favorite target "the new york times" and senator richard blum that will. he went after him again this arch saying he should go on a long vacation to vietnam so at least he can say he was actually there. chieding him for his misleading statements he's made in the past about his service during vietnam. so, you know, he's doing the same thing he does on vacation that he does in work, which is to watch television, to get mad

about something and to express it in a very visceral way. >> so he's mad and he's tweeting, but the reality is this mueller investigation, the stories surrounding this white house are just not going away. and mikeel a, you had a story over the weekend about how bob mueller is asking the white house for documenting pertaining to michael flynn. so how far out are we from formal subpoenas? >> well, this is sort of the first stage of the mueller investigations interactions with the white house. this is sort of saying, look, i'd be interested in these documents, you know, let's talk about howic get them. both sides would probably want to avoid a subpoena, especially the white house. the white house wouldn't like the idea of being subpoenaed by mueller. my guess at some point they probably will have to be. but it's something that lawyers on both sides try and work out. mueller says, look, i'm interested in this thing and the white house says, oh, we can accommodate that or we can't accommodate that. and it's the beginning process here. you know, we're in like the second inning of mueller's investigation, so this is a

thing. the next phase would be interviews and stuff like that where they really start to talk to people and gather as many facts as they can about these different avenues that they are looking at. >> are people in the white house getting nervous? just maybe the rank and file, not necessarily any of those at the top? >> you know, i'm not sure. my guess is that they are pretty used to -- i sense from talking to them is that they're pretty used to this. this is the drum beat of russia has basically started before they even came to the white house, so this is not new to them. obviously mueller is more serious than not having mueller before comey was fired, but this is something they've been looking at for a long time and i guess that's what makes some of it interesting is they haven't been able to figure out a way to deal with it because it's been going on now for 200 days while they've been there and they can't seem to put the issue to rest. >> and has mueller asked for documents relating no anybody else in the white house that you know of so far, michael? anything maybe further on jared

kushner? >> no. all we know is stuff focused on flynn. and, you know, remember, flynn is not just flynn's interactions with the russia ambassador and what that meant to his time as national security advisor and whether he lied to the fbi. those are all one issue. but the other issue is whether flynn was working for the turkish government illegally and whether he had registered properly to do work for them and was doing that work during the campaign and when he was national security advisor. so as mueller sort of moves forward here we start to realize how complex and how many different things he is looking at and sufficient that includes financial stuff, stuff that includes obstruction of justice and, you know, sthuf that includes the russia meddling. so there's a lot on his plate. >> there's this, there's also staff positions in the white house that haven't been filled. there's no communications director. after scaramucci was ousted. there's a lot of talk, peter, about steven miller potentially filling that role. he was the president's speech

writer during the capable. we saw him take the podium in the briefing the other day to talk about immigration and this new proposal that the white house is backing in congress. is he somebody who is actually in the running or is this just a name that's getting floated out there, peter? >> well, it does seem to be a real possibility, but there is a part of me that wonders whether it's just not a way of punking the media, given the sort of very vigorous way he defended the immigration proposal the other day in a very heated exchange with reporters. the idea the very next day or two that he would be floated as a communications director sort of seems like a-ha, jabby the president at some point. no question he would like to have somebody out there who is a robust and aggressive proponent of his policies, who is willing to give the media what he believes they serve. that's how you get on president trump's good side is a communicate or. and this is, you know, steven miller's background on the hill was a a communications advisor. so it wouldn't be entirely

surprising, but he would be a very big contrast to, say, anthony scaramucci's briefing when he dpot up there very smooth saying i want a reset before his interview with the new yorker. i think steve miller would not be a reset if he were to be briefing very often because he would be taking a more pug nashs point of view that the president likes. >> steven miller would certainly be a reversal back to the anti-press times in the white house and during the campaign. peter baker and michael submit, guys, thank you very much. and let's go to tonight's panel. all of us ladies, susan dell%o, beth few wee is the senator plit iks editor and zbler leana maxwell is the director of progressive programming. she was the director for progressive media for the clinton campaign. beth, i want to start with you. >> okay. >> first 100 days, not so great. second 100 days seemed to be a

lot worse than the first 100 days. how is that possible? >> wow, what a question. well, i mean, the russia investigation is looming over everything and that's coloring everything. even the things that he's managed to do and accomplish, we had the vote on the u.s. security council about north korea the other day, 15-0 in favor of imposing greater sanctions. you could give him that. you can give him neal gorsuch. you can give him strichg down some regulations. you can give him exciting portion of this country around his policies. but that russia investigation is looming over everything and you can tell. you can tell from his tweets. you can tell by his tangents when he goes off on talking about russia and collusion and phoney news and fake news -- >> so he's obsessed with it it. >> and he's not selling his agenda because he gets distracted by this. that's the thing that has messed up for his second hundred days. >> and it's also what's not gotten done in this 200 days. health care did not get done. i mean, we can point to some of

the things -- >> republicans come out and they will say on the air that they're so happy with what donald trump has been able to accomplish and they're so happy with the status of things in this country and the status of this presidency and they think he's doing a wonderful job. why won't they come on tv and say that when the reality is they haven't gotten anything done or mostly. >> mostly what's concerning for elected officials, especially house republicans, is that they can't go back to their constituents in about 18 months and say this is what i have achieved for you. more importantly, those same republicans are looking at the first round of polling since president trump was gnawing rated, and they are trying to figure out their plan of how to get re-elected because this is going to be a very difficult time. and if they don't get the accomplishments done, especially by the end of this year, it's going to be very hard for them to make their argument for re-election. in certain swing states. let's put it this way there's certain seats that republicans are going to come on this air

and say how great everything is and they can get away with it. >> why is the president going after richard blum that will again? >> i mean, i think it's an easy target. he likes to go back to punching bags that he's used in the past effectively. because richard blumenthal is on television talking about the russia investigation. every time it's on tv, he gets very upset. but img the bottom line that one of the things that president trump has not done since he's been in office is actually read up on any policies, and that's part of the reason why he hasn't been able to get anything threw congress is because he hasn't been on the stomach, going out into the states and selling policy. essentially goes out to these rallies and sells himself and says look how great i'm doing, i won the election and goes back to the campaign instead of talking about policy. if he went to west virginia and talked about the specifics of why people in congress should support tax reform or specific piece of legislation, i think he would be more effect ti. but he doesn't know about

policy, so he can't do that. >> west virginia rallies around him. they're big supporters of donald trump. does he -- >> he won by 40 votes. >> does he need to go to a state that's not necessarily so pro trump. >> and announced two days before and he could have had all those people rallying around him. >> i really want to talk about mike pence and these 2020 rumors. and, you know, mike pence, he looks into his finance box and he checks the status and lo and behold, his pack has raised more money than donald trump's pack. >> well, i mean, it stand to reason that he would like to succeed donald trump, either in four years or in eight years. so he can start building aup a political organization. what's different here is he's doing it much earlier, much more aggressive than other vpds have in this similar situation. it's not just pens who is moving around trying to make some moves pl politically. you've seen john kasich, ben sasse, they are going to iowa and checking out the weeds

there. maybe they're talking about 2024 -- >> do you think that the president is somebody who is just going to be so weighted down by this russia investigation that he's not going to be able to run or do they think that potentially he's going to decide, hey, i want to go back to my old life? >> i think it's because they don't know. up don't know what the president potentially could be hiding in this investigation. it could be something really serious and you don't want to wait until 2019 to start fund-raising and organizing in these early on republican primary states. but the other piece of it is is that mike pence is planning to run, i think, in 2020 because there's no reason why you're going to essentially turn the naval object serve to her spew a meeting place for high level donors in the republican party unless you are making plans for 2020. i think he's trying to lay the infrastructure -- >> what does that look like the vice president potentially running against the president? >> it's like house of cards. >> it's going to run against

president trump. he will be on the ballot as vice president or as a presidential candidate. there's very little doubt about that. what he's doing is two-fold. yes, he's raising his visible, but this also allows him to serve as a very good surrogate and conduit for donald trump to traditional establishment republicans. this gives him a vehicle to go out there, to be with joni ernst, to be with other high-profile republicans and raise money and say, like it was quoted in the article, look, if you knew the donald trump i know, you'd be okay with him. the other thing is as far as mentioning the other people out there, let's not forget in 1978 jimmy carter was at 28 in the gallup poll and it was just two years -- and granted this is 200 days and not 200 years, but that's when ted kennedy jumped in for a primary race against an incumbent in his own party? why wouldn't you at least prepare given everything at least start on your branding. it's an aggressive move, but at the same time donald trump is so aggressive against sh else, why

not. >> how does that work in the republican party, though? the republican party is fractured. donald trump's base probably isn't going anywhere. they might. i mean, who knows, but they are so completely on his side. how do you go against that? how do you rally -- >> they're preparing -- and you are entirely right. the polling shows repeatedly, 80%, something like 85% of republicans still with trump. but if the mueller investigation finally comes clear what he's looking for, what he's looking into, if that gets as bad as people are surmising that it could it makes sense that republicans to step through the breach. it looks like they're saving the party because the party is in crisis. >> maybe so, maybe not. ladies, we're going to talk about democrats coming up soic is it with us. coming up, new threats from north korea as the u.s. backs new sanctions against the rogue nation. but are there opportunities for the u.s. to pursue talks with the kim jong-un regime. details ahead.

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welcome back. another battle for the soul of the conservative movement in the age of trump on the horizon. this time in oout. last week a federal judge ordered jim bennett to be added to the ballot as an independent in the special election. bennett is the son of late oout republican senator bob bennett who died last may. you remember that shortly before his passing, while in the hospital, the elder bennett apologized to muslim individuals on maf of the republican party for the rhetoric of then candidate donald trump. independent house candidate jim bennett was on with andrea mitchell this afternoon and didn't pull punches in his dissatisfaction with president trump and the republican party at large. >> the entire party has failed me, i think, by unitying behind a president who is unfit to hold the office. you look at the fact that you have both houses of congress

untd with one party and yet they're on track to be the most unproductive congress in 164 years. so the republican party has demonstrated that it's incapable of overcoming the divisions within its own party. >> republicans will pick their candidate in a primary next week. democrats chose position kathy alan at a convention. a third party always makes things more interesting. more "mtp daily" in just 60 seconds.

there's nothing more important to me than my vacation. so when i need to book a hotel room, 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. north korea's saber rattle is got even louder today. the country is ratcheting up their threats even as secretary of state rex tillerson was laying out terms for what mes happen for the u.s. to open up talks with the country. >> the best signal that north korea could give us that they're prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches. obviously we have other means of communication open to them top

certainly hear from them if they have a desire to want to talk. >> the isolated nation vowed to continue building up its nuclear program and warned america could face, quote, harsh retaliation for new sanctions pad by the united nations. this weekend the u.s. security council unanimously approved new sanctions on north korea as punishment for escalating its nuclear weapons and missile programs and notably that vote did include china and russia. last night president trump spoke by phone with the president of south korea, and this morning the president had an hour-long conversation with secretary tillerson and white house chief of staff john kelly about north korea and tillerson's trip. for more on the rising tensions with north korea, nbc's chief global correspondent bill kneely reports from the philippines. >> reporter: yes. hi, katy, good evening. for anyone interested in international politics and diplomacy, this has been a

pretty extraordinary three days. the international summit here is not over. it was dominated by the north korean issue. but that issue, nuclear weapons, long-range missiles certainly has not gone away. the three days started really with that pretty extraordinary vote at the u.s. security council, unanimous, to impose tough new sanctions on north korea. and today north korea's foreign minister had an international stage to condemn those sanctions. and condemn them he did. he said that north korea would retaliate against them. and of course, he blamed the united states. most of his rhetoric was against washington. he said north korea was ready to give the u.s. a severe lesson with its nuclear capability if the united states took military action. of course, there's always that if in that saber-rattling. he also said, though, that the north koreans would never put their nuclear weapons or their long-range weapons on the

negotiating table. and directly to america he said there's no bigger mistake than the u.s. believing its land is safe across the ocean. a lot of that was restating old threats, but of course, as this crisis grows and the north's capability grows, those threats become ever more menacing. rex tillerson has been working in by laterals very hard to pile the pressure on north korea, to get all these countries, and they are pretty much united, 26 against one, to pile the pressure and to try to stop north korea doing these what everyone calls are provocative tests. even china gave north korea a very public dressing down by saying stop the tests. they are provocative. the north korean issue, katy is far from finished. it's just growing in intensity. back to you. >> bill kneely from the philippines. bill, thank you very much. and joining me now is gordon chang, the author of nuclear show down, north korea takes on the world. he's also a columnist for the

daily beast. gordon, it's great to have you here. lifting off where bill just ended, they're getting threatened. the chinese are saying stop what you're doing, the u.s. is saying stop what you've doing. they've imposed sanctions. how do sanctions work in this scenario and can they stop north korea from expanding its nuclear arsenal? >> well, i think sanctions can stop the north koreans, but not these sanction. i mean, these sanctions, for instance, lopped a third off of north korea's export being in, and that's good, but as nikki haley has said the north koreans use their income their weapons programs, not for their people. so the question is why don't they also lop off the other two-thirds. >> so why don't they? >> i think it's because china is not willing to do anything that can did he stabilize the north korean regime. and we've got to remember that when foreign minister said stp these provocative actions, the chinese military is supplying the north koreans with the means

to actually become a real threat. so those launchers that north korea used on july 24 and july 28 for their bichl intercontinental ballistic missile, those are china zblees what's in it for the chinese? >> in the short term they get a lot every time they do. >> provocative we run to bay syringe. >> so they're using it as a point of manipulation for the u.s. >> absolutely. and you've got to remember, we gave up a lot for those sanctions because president trump did not announce the section 301 trade investigation on friday against their intellectual property. so, you know, this is very good for china because now, you know, this whole trade issue has been sloughed off to the side for perhaps a very long time. >> so china and russia signed on to these. what is the expectation for how long they even abide by these sanctions? >> a couple months. and this is what beijing always does. when we're looking, paying attention, the chinese will

enforce -- >> so what does the u.s. do. >> according to the past crypt, three or four months from now we'll start with a new sanctions resolution. it will take three or four months to get passed. you know, the one that was passed on saturday was the seventh sanction. these are incremental. and the north koreans have learned to adjust, because every time that we increase the pressure a little bit with these sanctions, the north korea ngs find a way around them. then the china's don't enforce them. and so then we go back and get more sanctions. so we don't have enough time to do this. >> so we're all bark, no bite? >> up to now. president trump at the end of june signalled some cost that elwilling to impose on china, including going off the chinese banks for money laundering. i think what happened at the g 20 in hamburg when trump met chicago jinping, i think he said to him, look, if you don't really come to the party, we're going to amp up the pressure by going after bigger chinese banks and doing a lot of horror things that would hurt beijing. >> so if we start a trade war in china, that in effect could help

the chinese get in line when it comes to north korea. >> we're already in a trade war, it's only they're fighting it. we're not. amp ug up the pressure on trade is something that i think the trump administration used to get those sanctions on saturday. >> so how long before north korea has the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile? >> to reach the united states? >> yeah. >> defense intelligence agency said about a year. you know, give or take several months. the question is how much help the chinese give them, because the chinese can accelerates that time frame if they want to. or they can slow the north koreans down if that's what they want to do. >> is kim jong-un unable enough to fire one of those weapons if he feels like he's being choked off by sanctions? >> that's possible, but, you know, with sanctions what the united states should be doing is maximum pressure, maximum engagement, which is the phrase. so what you do is you show kim jong-un a way out, but only when he realizes he's got to deal with the international community in good faith. the thing that kim jong-un i'm really worried about, a year from now when he's confident in his arsenal, he's going to use it to blackmail the united

states to break the military alliance with south korea, get our troops off the peninsula and then try to destroy the south korea state. >> it sounds like there's no good outcomes here. >> through decades of misguided policy we have put ourselves in peril. weaver got to do something because inaction really is not going to do it for us. >> i love having you on, but you scare me every single time. >> sorry, katy. >> we do appreciate it, though. it's always better to be informed than not informed. still ahead, as attorney general jeff sessions tries to crack down on sanctuary cities, local and state officials are fighting back. california governor jerry brown talks about the steps his state may have to take to challenge the trump administration. stay tuned. your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory.

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next on "mtp daily," california governor jerry brown talks about taking on the trump administration. but first, dedra boss sa has the cnbc market wrap. hi there. >> hey, thanks, katy. stocks fbing slightly higher on wall street today. the dow adding 25 points. the s&p gaining 4 and the nasdaq finishing up 32 points. tyson foods reporting stronger than expected results. apple rows 1.4% following a report that claims the tech giant plan to release a watch that can makes calls directly

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chicago will not let our police officers become political pauns in a debate. chicago will not let our residents have their fundamental rights isolated and violated. and chicago will never relinquish our status as a welcoming city. >> welcome back. that was chicago mayor rahm emanuel holding firm that his city will remain a sanctuary city. today he announced chicago is suing the justice department in response to recent moves by attorney general jeff sessions. the justice department sent letters last week to baltimore, albeker can i, stock tan and san bern dino warning they would lose some anti-crime funding if they did not allow fefrl authorities to have access to jails. this is, of course, a big issue

in california where two of those cities are located and where san francisco is also challenging the justice department in court. chuck todd recently sat down with california governor jerry brown on how the state is reacting to the shift in federal policy. >> there is a bill that's moving through the state legislature that would declare california a sanctuary state. you've not -- you've not indicated whether you're going to be fully supportive of this just yet. are you? could you be? and where are you on this idea of suing the federal government over funds that they may withhold if they declare a city a sanctuary city? >> yeah. first of all, that bill does not declare california a sanctuary state, number one. number two, it's still going through the process. we're looking at very carefully, we're having discussions with the author. there are some changes that i think would be very important -- >> why do you believe it isn't fair to call that -- that it did

he chairs california -- explain why that you don't like that -- >> because -- well, as a former seminary and i have a very clear image of the sanctuary. it's in the church. it con juris up mid evil sanctuary places. and it says more than a specific set of legislative requirements. which the goal here is to block -- not to collaborate with abuse of federal power. that's the goal. and we want to be very understanding of people who have come to our state, have worked in our economy, often for decades, serving the needs, picking our food, working in our restaurants, working in high tech industries. the whole range of what constitutes the life of california, has been contributed to by many of these immigrants that are not documented. and we want to make sure we help them to the extent that the law of california can coexist with the law of the united states.

so it is a balancing act. the it does require some sensitivity. and that's why i take a more nuanced and careful approach to dealing with what is a difficult problem, because you do have people who are not here legally. they've committed crimes. they have no business in the united states in the manner which they have come and conducted themselves subsequently. secondly, as far as the lawsuit, that's something that our independent attorney general can decide, but it might just be very helpful to get it into court and resolve this in a judicial forum rather than in the rhetoric of politicians talking past one another. >> i guess, you know, some would respond and just say, look, if you don't like the way the law is, why don't we change the law rather than have a debate about how to enforce the law if there's ambiguity in there? >> well, wait a minute. if the law is ambiguous, we can often clarify it by litigation. this is perhaps a rather small

test, because the money at stake is very -- is not very much. and if there is this different view, and there's plenty of different views, by the way, on the environment, not just immigration, on health care, on a whole variety of topics. the current administration under mr. trump is going way, way over the deep end. so i think appropriate court challenges -- by the way, the residence were bringing court challenges by the carload against obama on the environment, on health care and all the rest. so i think a few judicious forums to resolve the dispute between the federal government and california i think can be very helpful for the country and in a dispassionate way because this back and forth by politicians, it doesn't really clarify some of the difficulties of the par amount law, the

federal government colliding with the sovereign law of the 50 states. >> and finally, i know you were just recently in china in june meeting with president xi there talking about -- you and michael bloomberg were putting together a state city climate come packet. can you make this kpakt big enough that it makes it -- it almost null -- it doesn't matter whether or not the president goes back into the paris agreement or not? can you do enough in the state and local level that it would be the equivalent as if the united states had stayed in the paris climate accord? >> i don't believe so. we need the president. we need the federal government. we can do a lot, and many, many states are joining together and our climate alliance i think will have a powerful impact. i would like to say something about this china business. i met with president xi for almost an hour. this is a very determined man. he's building roads and

high-speed rail and not just in china, but all over the world. and we look at washington. washington can't even build roads and bridges in our own country, muchless spreading the american dream all around the worl. if we're going to be the great power we all want to be, we're going to have to start rolling up our sleeves, raising some revenue and getting the job done. in terms of climate change, it is an exist i ten shall. it is not a hockey. it was not kraeltd in china. it is something that the majority, 95% of scientists believe in the science of climate change. we've got to do something. it is life-threatening over a relatively foreseeable amount of time. and secondly, you didn't ask, but i've got to inject it. >> yes, sir. >> the congress right now is going tore a military authorization bill that purports to tear up treat i didn't see that are the basis of arms control. if we go down that route and we

retreat on climate change and we exacerbate the nuclear arms race by tearing up our only basic arms treat i didn't see, america and the world will be in deep, deep trouble. >> still ahead, the story of the ghosts of 2016 who are still haunting the democrats. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. most allergy pills only block one. and 6 is greater than one. flonase sensimist. ♪

ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. welcome back. as we said earlier, president trump hasn't been able to unify the republican party in a meaningful way during his first six months in the white house.

but are the democrats in any better shape? the latch is left unhooked for left-leaning voters and the i hadological battle between the sanders and clinton factions that defined is the 2016 race is being renewed. but with kamala harris as the clinton proxy. as the support builds for the california senator, her members are -- or excuse me, members of the sanders faction of the party are already trying to trash her progressive bone fieds and smear her long before candidates start addressing crowds in iowa or new hampshire. harris is being slammed by some in bernie land for ties to wault. specifically, how as california attorney general she handled a lawsuit dealing with treasury secretary steve mnuchin. harris was the only democratic candidate to receive donations from mnuchin, but she ended up voting against his nomination. the bernie base attacking a candidate for ties to big

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who is the leader of the democratic party? >> who is the leader? i think probably there are many leaders. >> who should be the leader right now? >> whoever's the leader who concedes the ring of leadership. >> there's no one person leading the democratic party right now. >> there are many leaders of the democratic party. >> not a single person can give me a name. can you give me a name today? >> look, i think what's important right now is that as democrats we work together to show the american people we're on their side. >> it is time for the lid. ladies, thank you. who is the leader of the democratic party? i've asked democrats over and over again, and nobody can give me a name. >> right now, there isn't one person who has emerged to be

that person that everybody's looking to run in 2020. there are just a handful of folks who have different factions of democrats. >> cam elahar ris is rising. she's starting to face a lot of friendly fire i guess you could say from the democratic party. especially the bernie sanders supporters. >> which is fascinating, because most voters have absolutely no idea she is. for her to attract that at this stage is strange. it does portend a rapid rise. if she decides to go that route. as somebody who's followed california politics for a long time she's actually considered a cautious politician. she doesn't stick her neck out much. she follows the rules. the idea that she's going to parachute in and make a big splash i think is premature right now. if i had to make a guess, bernie sanders is the leader of the democratic party. he's the leader of the progressive movement. whether you like him or hate him. >> the democratic party, in the same way that trumpism is the

republican party? >> well, that's exactly the right question is when we start saying who's the leader, what is the message that the democratic party's behind? well, there isn't just one. >> are we losing our party system? are we starting to morph? are we seeing a sea change? >> i don't think it's so much that we're seeing a sea change as much as we see different sects coming out and being able to really vie for a very loud population of support. >> right. the democrats, we talk about the republicans all the time and how there are these competing factions. i asked if the republicans are going to split open and meld, and i wonder if the democrats are going to split open and meld, and what's going on with i guess you could call it the clinton wing of the party. is there any room for compromise? >> if you look at the numbers in 2016, 90% of people who supported bernie sanders in the primary ended up voting for hillary clinton. there's not such a big divide in that we can't come to, i think,

meet in common ground. the democratic party is changing. the demographics that make up the democratic party are changing. it's black, brown, women, millennials. i think that the older generation, the more progressive wing of the party and some of the millennials that supported bernie sanders, many millennials not of color who supported bernie sanders, i think they're also going to have to recognize that the party is more diverse, and is moving into a more inclusive area. >> with the party being more -- the democratic party being more urban and coastal, and more educated, the problem is that the democrats lost this time in middle america. >> are we looking at a situation where we could actually have a viable independent or third party candidate? somewhere soon down the line? >> for someone who has a lot of money. >> the one who hijacks the party. that's what you saw donald trump do with the republican party and what you almost saw bernie sanders do with the democratic

party. they were not the chosen candidate of their parties but yet they made the big splash. the establishment of the big parties are not where the voters of. the voters finally stood up and said this is not our issue agenda in washington. >> so you have somebody with a lot of money, say a michael bloomberg, or a cuban, can they find the moderate middle ground, identify with a working class voter in the same way donald trump was able to do? >> you just mentioned, they're both billionaires, coming in after a billionaire candidate donald trump which to date hasn't been able to show he knows how to run the government, it may be hard for that celebrity billionaire to come in following donald trump. it doesn't mean it won't happen, but it will be very hard because they'll have a trump label put around them. >> it feels like this moment no one's yet decided, and no one can figure out what the heck is

going to happen. >> who knows what's going to happen next, because who predicted trump. >> the only safe prediction is no prediction at all. guys, thank you very much. after the break, nbc washington cracks a mystery that just took another turn. listen up, heart disease.) you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights.

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in case you missed it, set the gear shift for the high gear of your soul. our affiliate in washington, d.c., has cracked a mystery.

this unmarked van has been seen driving around town, apparently without a driver. the front seat looks empty, and it's been freaking some people out. one reporter spotted the van today. he followed it. and then this happened. >> oh! there is somebody in the vehicle. there is somebody behind the seat. >> it turns out this car isn't so driverless, there is a person, you can see them right there, inside the bottom half, dressed like a car seat. it's a person in a car seat costume. you could say when he makes decisions, the car doesn't have to wait. but our reporter tried to find out what in the world was going on. >> brother, who are you? what are you doing? i'm with the news, dude. dude? can you pull over and we can talk for a second? >> i'm with the news, dude.

but wait, there's more. reporter adam just found out this driver is part of a study being done by the virginia tech transportation institute. it's one of their research vehicles. they say they cover the driver so that the real world reactions can be recorded. well, mission accomplished. but as fish would say, this isn't who it would be, this isn't who it is. thank you for indulging me, everybody. we'll be back tomorrow with more mpt daily. hi, ari. >> i think i know what my halloween costume will be next year. >> i cannot wait, my friend. >> driverless car seat dressed up as a researcher. >> and just a pair of shorts, i guess, on the woman? >> i don't know, tbd. nice to see you. >> thanks, ari. president trump on vacation. but at least one man is still hard at work in washington.