t's magic ♪ introducing the all new volkswagen tiguan. ♪ higher and higher, baby the new king of the concrete jungle. i could have talked to you guys all day long. please come back very, very, very soon. it's never august on msnbc. >> is the show over? >> it's over. that does it for my hour. thank you to robert, john, jen and the rev. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. >> did he say over? >> yeah. sorry. you can have your hour. >> it's never over. it wasn't over -- never mind. if it's friday, who do you trust? tonight, from fire and fury to denuking the world to locked and loaded. >> if he utters one threat, eltruly regret it, and elregret it fast. >> what message is the president really sending?

>> what i said is what i mean. those words have very, very easy to understand. >> plus, that rift between president trump and senator mcconnell. senators are taking only one side for now. and a crimson political tied. when republican will rise up in the race to replace jeff sessions in the u.s. senate. this is m"mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington and welcome to "mtp daily." right now the president is scheduled to meet with his secretary of state rex tillerson and his ambassador to the united nations neck although his club in bedminster to discuss the escalating threat in north korea. we might hear from the president at the conclusion of that meeting and if so we will bring that to you when it happens. we've been hearing a lot lately from mr. trump on north korea. less than 90 minutes ago he delivered another warning to the regime as it threatens military

action in and around guam. >> if he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat, which by the way he has been uttering for years and his family has been uttering for years, or if he does anything with respect to guam or any place else that's an american territory or an american ally, eltruly regret it. and elregret it fast. >> we have a president right now who is asking the public and the world to trust what he says. but frankly, he does keep keeping us plenty of reasons not to. you ask ten different people if they're seriously worried about what's happening and you'll get ten different answers. north korea says it's drawing up plans to do something in guam, either strike the territory or do a missile test that would land in waters within 25 miles of guam. in typical bluster, north korea boasted that they can, quote, beat us to a jelly at any time. and in typical bluster, the president is now saying that

military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should north korea act unwisely. by the way, those plans have likely been in place for a very long time. basically we're always locked and loaded in that region. now, it might help if the president would actually explain what his threats mean, but when asked, he doesn't. >> north korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. if anything, that statement may not be tough enough. >> what would be tougher than fire and fury? >> well, you'll see. you'll see. >> if he does something in guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before, what will happen in north korea. >> and when you say that, what do you mean? >> you'll see. you'll see. and he'll see. >> mr. president, what do you mean by military solutions are locked and loaded as it relates to north korea? >> well, i think it's pretty

obvious. those words are very, very easy to understand. >> so there you go. you'll see. might help if the administration could explain it for us, but their explanations vary wildly. the secretary of state says don't lose any sleep over it. he's just using language north korea understands. the president's advisor says don't listen to the secretary of state, because he's not a military expert. meanwhile, a military expert, the secretary of defense, says there's no need for war because diplomacy is working. and the white house says the president's actual words aren't being vetted by the national security team. so believe whatever you want. we've learned the hard way, though, not to believe it until we hear it from the president, but we've also learned the hard way that even if you do hear it from him, a lot of times you can't believe it n. in the midst of all this chaos, the president's message ultimately boils down to this. trust him. but programs we're seeing why just a third of the country says it does. this was always the concern leading up to what happens to this trust issue when all of a sudden we have a real crisis.

let's begin with nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely who is in seoul. bill. >> yes, hi, chuck. president trump's locked and loaded comment seems to have united the two koreas in condemnation. in the north, very open kems as ever, saying donald trump is driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war. but even here in seoul, quiet condemnation from the chairwoman of south korea as governing party. she didn't name president trump, but she talked about high level officials using excessive language, not carefully thought out messages that worsen the situation and play into north korea's hands. so they're not too keen on locked and loaded here, not too keen on rhetoric that is increasing the temperature, because people here would really suffer in any conflict. it is always preparing for the worst. chuck.

>> bill neely in seoul for us. thank you, bill. joined now by our senior national security analyst here at nbc use who of course was a deputy national security advisor to president george w. bush. juan, let me start with the comment from the south korean official there. not naming the president by name but clearly referencing him. that's got to be a concern to the entire american foreign policy community that south korea is lecturing america right now, not the north. >> well, absolutely. south korea is the most sensitive to the heightened tensions, no doubt. they're right in the cross hairs of the artillery of the north. they're going to be the ones to suffer in any military conflict. and keeping them on side with the united states, with japan is critical. and so they're going to be highly and acutely sensitive to anything the president says and anything that's going to be ratcheting up pressure. i think one of the interesting things here, chuck, and we've talked about this before is the president's message. the president's message is

certainly fiery language. he's trying to change the context of how the world views this issue. >> what do you mean by that? to me, i thought this was programs a clumsy attempt at regaining some leverage. >> i think it is an attempt to gain leverage. i think you can argue it's clumsy and perhaps not well vetted. but he's clearly trying to message to the chinese. keep in mind, all along that what this administration has tried to do is to change the level of urgency and priority in particular with china to say, look, our patients has run thin. this is now a more threat for us and you now have to use your leverage and pressure against pyongyang to see results, so stop this missile and nuclear program. so this language is not just aimed at north korea and certainly disconcerting to south korea, but it's intended to reshift the dynamics with china. >> is that working? >> i don't know yet. i think it's hard to tell. and i think everyone is nervous, because the problem here, as you've identified, chuck, is we're on a trip wire.

there could be miscalculation. one wrong move here in the wake of heightened tension and rhetoric can mean that we lead to greater conflict and war. >> let me ask the question this way, because i'm sure you're getting this question from friends and family that know you are in the midst of, they know you're knowledgeable, that maybe they live out somewhere else in america, because i've heard it from my family. how concerned should we be that we're about to -- are we about to be on the brink of something that should make us nervous? >> well, i don't think we need to be worried about today or tomorrow. i think the point here is i don't think we're marshalling our resources to go to war -- >> we don't look like a country preparing for war. >> we are not. >> we're not moving resources. that i get. but you talked the trip wire. how nervous are you? >> i'm nervous. this is a very real threat from north korea. they clearly want to create at a minimum a deterrent capability against the united states. that means the ability to put a nuclear warhead on an icbm that

can hit u.s. territory. that's very real. that's what they're intending to do. it's why kim jong-un has accelerated the missile tests. he's had three nuclear tests, the north koreans is had five since 2006. they're marching toward this capability. and the question is can we live approximate a nuclear armed north korea or are we going to take steps to stop it? there are no good option. this is the wicked problem. and i think the challenge is we are seeing an urgency to this based on north korea's progress and certainly the administration's willingness to be more confrontational, see the president's statements, that is increasing the tension and making this conflict more real. >> all right. let me ask a specific now on guam. because i think the -- what got me a little bit nervous is, you know, the president did the rhetoric and north korea's response wasn't well, i look forward to the ashes of the united states, some ridiculous high per bowl. it was very specific. we're going to do this and we're going to launch these missiles and do this missile test within

19 to 25 miles of guam. explain why that is -- why they chose that permit, number one. why is that significant? >> it's significant for a couple of reasons. one, that's international waters, so it becomes less legitimate to say we're going to preemptively take out those missiles. we're going to preemptively strike or do something -- >> it means it falls under the idea that it may be a test. >> it may be a test. it may not be provocative. it's subject to some interpretation as to whether or not -- >> i think in a court of law circumstantial evidence would say you said this, sounds provocative. obviously that doesn't apply here. >> exactly. they're trying to play with kind of the legal legitimacy questions. your other point is important, though. what they're trying to do is make very concrete in the minds of americans that they can actually strike u.s. territory, which as you've seen, has forced people on guam, the base, the sit sflens, to actually worry about this. what will are their contingency plans. in hawaii worrying about

emergency preparedness. the fact that they're talking in specific terms makes us worry in a more concrete way. >> all right. juan. >> ratty. thanks for making me sleep a little less well this weekend. >> hopefully we'll be more optimistic tomorrow. >> i'm joined now by gary lock who was the u.s. ambassador to china in the obama administration. and we could talk about whether there are nervousness there on our west coast. ambassador, governor, good to see you. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. let me start with the point that juan was making about perhaps the attempt that the president is doing here, which is his rhetoric is not meant for north korea. it is meant for china, and the question is will that work? i ask you, will that work? >> well, i think the chinese have long been concerned about the actions of north korea because they know how sensitive it is to the united states. that was true under the obama administration, under the bush administration and clearly under

the trump administration. and of course china has signed on along with russia to the latest sanctions imposed by the united nation. and so china has been also having a difficult time trying to corral and influence north korea. and i think that the latest moves by both north korea and the rhetoric by both sides has gotten the attention of china, and they clearly want to help out and try to de-escalate things. and they've made, actually, some suggestions. unfortunately, the united states has rejected some of those ideas on thousand to lower the temperature and try to solve this diplomatically. >> well, what were some of those suggestions and are they ones you would agree to? >> well, china has long called for the united states, north korea and all the other parties to sit down and talk about this. the united states, on the other hand, starting under the bush administration and through the obama administration said, no, we're not going to even sit down and talk with you unless you first completely disavow and stop the development of your nuclear arms program.

that's a nonstarter with the north koreans, and over the last, you know, 12 years or so look what has happened. the north koreans have continued to develop their military capability, and more recently with these tests. so we have not gotten anything. we haven't lost anything by not sitting down -- i mean, by refusing to sit down with them, because the north koreans have continued developing their nuclear weapons. what is the harm, quite frankly, in having these sit-down talks and hopefully perhaps they will slow down their development and their testing of the nuclear women's, and hopefully the diplomacy will lead to north korea at least stopping their intercontinental ballistic delivery program. >> so it sounds like, then, you support what rex tillerson said incompetent it was about ten days ago now when he -- he laid out some conditions that i have not heard a u.s. secretary of state lay out before, saying we're not looking for regime change. we just want to have direct

talks. that was -- i mean, that's new, is it not? and why do you think the north koreans haven't said yes? >> well, we have always been saying we'll sit down and talk with you, only if you first completely halt your nuclear development program. and that's been a nonstarter with them and look where it's gotten us. >> so you think there should be no conditions. >> i think we should sit down and talk because, look, the absence of talk has not gotten us anywhere. our insistence on saying first you stop your nuclear program, then we'll walk, that hasn't worked. let's talk about what the ultimate agreement might be to solve this issue, what will it take for them to stop their nuclear program, what type of military assurances do they need from china, from russia. what do they want to see in response by the united states, whether it's lowering the number of troops that we have, american troops on the korean peninsula. i mean, we have enough fire power in south korea that we

can, you know, launch a full-scale attack against north korea. and unfortunately, seoul is just a stone's throw away from the dmz, and they could obliterate seoul with its tens of millions of population in a blink of an eye. so we've got to try to de-escalate things. >> you said something earlier, that the chinese have less influence today in north korea than they used to. where have you -- what evidence -- where do you see where they're frustrated that they just don't have -- where is that -- give me a piece of evidence where they're trying to sort of get their influence back with them. >> well, they've been trying to meet with the north koreans and talking with them on a variety of different issues and have been resisted by the north koreans to the point where official visits have been canceled and the political diplomatic relationship between north korea and china is much cooler and not as close as it

has been many years in the past. they still have their channels with north korea. north korea still fends mightily on trade with china. china is basically their life vest, keeping the country going. china has never wanted a reunified peninsula, and i don't think the united states wants that either, because it would be very, very hard economically for north korea to basically come to the rescue and support all those millions of people in north korea who are in such dire economic straits and living in many indicates r cases in poverty. china does not want a democratic country on its borders with american troops. so there's much to be gained by just keeping the status quo, but making sure that north korea does not have a military to capability to be able to deliver nuclear women's to the main land united states. >> very quickly, there was an he had editorial in the state-run newspaper in china, the global

times, and in it the lead he had to recall, china should also make clear that if north korea launches missiles that threaten u.s. soil first and the u.s. retaliates, china will say stay neutral. is it fair to say this is the chinese government sending that message that you were just saying that they would like to send to the north koreans? >> well, obviously we don't want china to get involved in a war with south korea and the united states, and so for them to stay put, stand down is certainly, i think, good for us. but also it sends a message to north korea that they're going to get obliterated. they're going to get obliterated. what's more concerning and in the previous segment your guest alluded to it, what is mr. trump going to do? when he says in his statement that north korea cannot even utter a threat, verbal threats. >> does that sound like a red line to you. >> with hell and fury. that sounds like a huge red line and is the president really going to unleash american forces just because kim jong-un is

bombastic and making verbal statements? that's kind of unnerving and should be unnerving to people all around the region, because if he startsd unleashing these women's at north korea, north korea will still have enough time to unleash its weapons at south korea. and you're going to have tense of millions of casualties. >> former ambassador to china, former governor of washington state, gary lock. thanks for coming on this afternoon. appreciate it. >> thank you. this sunday on "meet the press," we're going to have more on the tensions between north korea and the united states. general h.r. mcmaster and the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. coming up, that feud between president trump and his man mitch, mitch mcconnell, why it could be a fight both sides lose. you don't let anything

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welcome back. president trump raised eyebrows yesterday with this comment. >> do you have any response to

the russian president expelling 755 workers from our embassy. >> no. i want to thank him because we're trying to cut down on payroll. and as far as i'm concerned i'm very thankful that he let go of a lanch number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. >> well, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders tells nbc news the president was being sarcastic. but this isn't the first or second or third time the white house has down played some of the president's controversial comments as jokes. >> was the president joking when he said this or did he check his remarks out with the international association of police chiefs or maybe the attorney general? >> i believe he was making a joke at the time. >> this was president trump on the campaign trail, russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. i think you will probably be rewarded -- >> how can you accuse president obama of obstructing when he was

egging russia on. >> he was joking at the time. >> was he joking when he said make a -- >> i think if you watch the tape it was a light hearted moment. he was poking fun and making a joke. >> can you say affirmatively that whenever the president says something, we can trust it to be real. >> if he's not joking, of course. >> the president's comments didn't have state department officials laughing. naive and shortsighted and a third described it as i don't have words that are printable to describe my reaction. i guess the president's sense of humor isn't going over very well with a lot of people. we'll be back with more "mtp daily" in 60 second. what's with him?

he's happy. your family's finally eating vegetables thanks to our birds eye voila skillet meals. and they only take 15 minutes to make. ahh! birds eye voila so veggie good welcome back. the president's public clash with his party's senate majority leader stretched into another day. yesterday, of course, president trump hit mitch mcconnell both times that he took questions from the press. in fact, he ended on this note. >> i'm very disappointed in mitch, but if he gets these bills passed, i'll be very happy with him and i'll be the first

to admit it. but honestly, repeal and replace of obamacare should have taken place and it should have been on my desk virtually the first week that i was there or the first day that i was there. i've been hearing about it for seven years. >> and then today the president decided to recirculate two telling articles on his twitter feed. first was this one, trump fires new warning shot at mcconnell, leaves door open on whether he should step down. then there was this one. senators learn the hard way about the fallout from turning on trump. well, what did that do? over a dozen republican senators tweeted their support for mitch mcconnell within the last 24 hours, including senator to do young of indiana who offered this perspective. without mcconnell's leadership republicans don't have neil gorsuch on the supreme court. and i can make an argument with without that decision, you don't have a president trump. let's bring in tonight's panel.

welcome to all of you. happy friday. all right. mr. balls, you wrote about this today. and what i found basically said this seemed to be a losing proposition on the president. even if he has a point about the health care issue, that going about it the way he's going about it is not exactly a way to get on -- get mcconnell to help you. >> it's interesting and so indicative of the way he does so many things. he does have a point. i mean, they talked about it for seven years and they didn't deliver on it. and as a result of them not dlig, he doesn't have a major legislative accomplishment for his first 200 days. so he's mifd. >> by the way, and he's reading all those articles this week and it's bothering him. >> and there's legitimacy to that. but to go to public war with the senate majority leader, who you are going to need in a lot of future fights, to turn the senate republicans against the president because they're now

coming to the defense of the majority leader is going to potentially cause you problems down the road and particularly if the russia investigation hits really close to home. >> this is typical trump, you know. health care clamsz, he needs to blame someone because it can't be his spoblt responsibility. look, i'm no fan of mitch mcconnell by any means. they have been for seven years saying they're going to repeal and replace obamacare. they didn't do it. but did the president help in what was his position on health care? he said i always from the very beginning, i wanted it to collapse. and then he's saying i want to repeal and replace. and then, you know, i want to clean repeal. i mean, that certainly didn't help in the negotiating process in the senate. so i think this is trump just blaming mcconnell, blaming somebody else. and i agree with dan. i don't know how this helps push his legislative agenda. >> you know, aknee at that, though, we were talking about this today.

all these republican senators are siding with mitch mcconnell. it seems like everybody is taking mitch mcconnell's side except the people. you know, it's good politics bashing mitch mcconnell if you're president trump. >> well, i mean, the reality is is every win here has agreed, for seven years the republicans in congress promised to repeal and replace obamacare and they never had any intention of coming up with their own program. i would point out the president as a candidate promised that he would cover everybody in the united states for less money. >> there were like three or four -- there were a lot of promises that were made about obamacare and health care by this president. and, you know, as he found out when he got into office, it's a little more complicated than signing a law that says premiums will now be lowered because i'm president. but the reality is that, you know, his base is an anti-establishment base and this plays very well. if you look at what's happening in alabama where all three candidates are siding against him against mitch mcconnell, including the candidate that mitch mcconnell is -- it's kind

of. >> it's a good point. >> but i mean, it's really very interesting. having said that, i'm with dan and alonzo. it doesn't pay to attack the senate majority leader when that person has to get your debt limit through, that person has to get your tax reform through, that person has to get your infrastructure through if you ever actually come up with a bill. and it's a very shortsighted strategy. >> i think there's another aspect to this. we talk a lot about that this is reinforcing his base, which it clearly is. but he didn't get elected just on his base. he got elected on his base and the republican establishment which decided they wanted him more than they wanted hillary clinton. if he drives a wedge through those two parts of the party, there are consequences for 2018 in terms of enthusiasm on the republican side. >> you just brought up the alabama race here and i'm going to dive more into it because what a crazy -- i love it. i want to spend the next four days just in alabama. i just want to go back to doing

senate races. but if mitch mcconnell's candidate, strange, doesn't make the run or loses, is that a problem for mitch mcconnell? like does that suddenly like -- i mean, does that bring this feud and suddenly the party feels as if, oh, my god, mcconnell is a liability? >> well, but he's also donald trump's candidate at this point -- >> i know. >> the lines are all crossed on that. >> they are. but if strange -- i mean, the entire month brooks campaign and dprangel roadway moor campaign is luther strange is mitch mcconnell's guy. so does this become this kind of referendum on mcconnell? >> definitely. the fact that trump has endorsed strange, you would think that would help him. but the fact that mcconnell and his pack are supporting his candidates, i think it's a kiss of death. >> and there are ads being run -- this is not just a washington salon issue. mcconnell is being invoked in

television ads. >> recent polling, moor is ahead. >> and i'll remind people, roadway moor, eyes, it's that roadway moore. >> and is that the first time thatible someone has called month brooks liberal. >> brooks couldn't be in a better position but as we know he didn't p endorse donald trump. he endorsed ted cruz. >> because is he picked a conservative on that one. all right, guys. we'll take a break. i am going to have -- in fact, we're going to talk about this crazy three-way race with somebody in the know down there in alabama in a few minutes. the trump mcconnell rift is making an impact on that race. roadway moor, that one, ten command mmts fame may be the actual fronted runner. we'll be back. even a swing set standoff.

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coming up ahead on "mtp daily," the national security council memo that's so conspiratorial it has some of us wondering how they forgot to mention the communist plot to floor date our water. but first hampton pearson. >> thanks, chuck. we had markets rebounding to snap a three-day losing streak. the dow rising by 14 points. the s&p up 3. the nasdaq gained 39 points. the consumer price index rows.1% in july, below economists expectations. the modest gain could put the breaks on another interest rate

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turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. welcome back. there is a nasty republican versus republican fight going on in alabama ahead of next week's senate special election primary. the republican race is essentially a three-way fight between the incumbent appointed senator luther strange, congressman from huntsville, alabama, mo brooks and the former chief justice of the alabama supreme court roy moore. no one gets 350% on tuesday the race heads to a two person run off. this primary has become who supports the president more. none of the candidates are defending the misdemeanor

against mitch mcconnell. who is he shallel being financially backed solely by mitch mcconnell's super pack. president trump endorsed strange via twitter on tuesday. meanwhile congressman mo brooks a member of the freedom caucus said he was baffled by the endorsement. >> it makes no sense to on the one hand credit eyes mitch mcconnell and the way the senate is operating and on the other hand to endorse mitch mcconnell's candidate that is supporting the very process that prevents us from being able to pass an obamacare repeal. >> got it. >> and then there's the third republican in the race that's on the ballot with strange and brooks. it's former alabama chief justice roy moore. he led the latest poll this week. he is known for being removed from the bench twice for taking some hard line positions that were found to be unconstitutional. first, for displaying the ten command wants in a judicial building and over a decade later when he instructed judges to deny same sex couples' marriage licenses. and by the way, this is a race

to essentially finish out the term of jeff sessions, the attorney general. joining me now via skype from montgomery alabama a reporter with the montgomery advertiser. so welcome to the show. as a political junky, congratulations this is hey great, great race to cover as a political reporter. >> yeah. alabama never disappoints. >> there you go. so let's start with this. i want to start with the trump endorsement. i know polling is all over the map, a little unreliable, not any great track records in alabama state polling. but roy moore has been leading of recent. it seems to me that is probably why mitch mcconnell is so desperate to get the president to get behind strange this configureel. has it had an impact on the ground in are you seeing strange benefiting now from the trump endorsement? >> the very early results of that poll that you're refrptsing, and keep in mind that poll was done before strange really went on the air, showed that the endorsement

actually hurt brooks' favorable is, knocked them down by about 4%. strange didn't seem to get any immediate benefit from the endorse am of the in fact, the poll actually showed that roy moore who polls a little bit better with strange with people who strongly support trump actually saw his numbers go up a little bit more. so at this point we really haven't seen the full impact of trump's endorsement yet. but give it a few days. give strange's ads time to germ nature and we'll probably know for sure highway big a deal that really was. >> let me talk about the mitch mcconnell factor p because i think sometimes we in washington can make a big deal out of a senate leader playing, you know, whether it's a nancy pelosi in a house razor a mitch mcconnell or back in the harry read days? does mitch mcconnell have a name id in alabama? is he the star with mo brooks?

>> they are hearing a lot of about mitch mcconnell and they're hearing a lot about him on conservative radio. he's basically saying the blame for the failure of the affordable care act repeal bill. and when you see attacks on mcconnell from roy moore, from mo brooks, it's all based on that failure, that goal for conservatives that went on for years and years and years. so they're knowing -- they're learning about mcconnell as the one who sg go to get the blame for the failure of that repeal, which moor and brooks are both counting on or hoping, i guess, would probably be the best way to say it. they're hoping that that's going to excite republican voters more than any endorsement from donald trump. >> now, we were talking to you before this interview, you said one of the surprising things is the lack of alabama issues, that this is totally been a national iced race. >> that's true. >> but there may be one state specific issue that might be having some impact, and i'm curious your take on this. you also just dealt with an

impeachment or ended up turning into the governor resigning over an affair where he used state funds, luther strange was the attorney general doing the investigation. there's been some thought that bentley appointed him to slow down the investigation. i guess my question is this, is the bentley drama hurting luther strange? >> yes. i think it is. it's not hurting him as badly as we thought it might back in the springtime, but it's still on voters' minds. you know, the "associated press" ran an article recently quoting a voter here saying that strange had bentley could the i didn't see, for example. that's still on voters' minds. strange has been able, though, because he's been so dominant in the money war and especially on the ad war, he's really been able to turn this a bit more into a referendum on who loves donald trump the most. that said, you know, everybody remembers the bentley stuff.

i mean, it only occurred four months ago. and strange really has not addressed -- has really not addressed it fully. he said that he took the appointment from bentley while his office was investigating bentley because he felt he could serve trump better. he's never really explained exactly the circumstances of what wanted there. >> and very quickly, is there any scenario where doug jones, the former u.s. attorney on the democratic side doesn't get this nomination, is this bobby kennedy jr. candidate, is that real or is doug jones going to be the nominee. >> the democratic polling is harder to tell than the republican turn out because the turn out is going to be a lot lower on the democratic side. he got a key endorsement from the alabama democratic conference so that should help him next week. and, you know, we'll just see what happens. >> well, brian, the good news for you is it isn't over after tuesday because there's going to be a run off.

thanks for coming on and we'll probably be checking in with you next week and beyond. appreciate it. >> thanks so much. take care. >> just ahead, what do marksists, malists, islamists, corporateists and all other manner ofists have in kmop? >> that's next. s, laughs ] you ever feel like... cliché foil characters scheming against a top insurer for no reason? nah. so, why don't we like flo? she has the name your price tool, and we want it. but why? why don't we actually do any work? why do you only own one suit? it's just the way it is, underdeveloped office character. you're right. thanks, bill. no, you're bill. i'm tom. you know what? no one cares.

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describes a rogue's gallery of conspirators in and out of government working in concert to subvert and destroy the trump presidency. the memo, alarmingel enough, was written by a member of the strategic planning office named rich hig begins. he was a hold over from the staff of national security advisor mike flynn. this memo calls to find the feertd rant lgz of the john buv society. the memo claims, for instance, that president trump represents a, quote, an exist ten shall threat to the cultural marksist means that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative. among these alleged conspirators are i needed a scroll to do it, marxists, mediaists, islamist, globalists, the media, akd eema, the deep state, the hard left, democrats and republicans. the only thing missing, floor i'd. in the end hig begins concludes that the defense of president trump is the defense of america.

the man who replaced mike flynn, h.r. mcmaster not unreasonably saw the memo as an alt right attack on had i am and ended up firing hig begins. but this memo is alarming. people should read it and see for yourself. our friends at foreign policy put the whole memo up. take a look. we'll be right back. about about these new social security alerts i keep hearing about? sure, just sign up online. then we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky websites. wow. that's cool. how much is it? oh, it's free if you have a discover card. i like free! yeah, we just want you to be in the know. ooh. hey! sushi. ugh. i smell it! you're making me... yeah, being in the know is a good thing. know if your social security number is found on risky sites. free from discover.

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time for the lid. let me bring back the panel. we do expect to hear from the president one more time either in this hour or the next. it could be on north korea. his heating with rex tillerson and nikki haley there evening. dan, this has been the unknown here. this national security team. how well is it working together. i went through it today, on one hand you have a secretary of state saying remain calm. all is well.

then you have somebody with a very important title in this dr. gorka guy who says don't listen to the secretary of state. i went through the memo. there does seem to be this divide in the national security team. what do you call it? >> cultural divide. you know, i think a number of these people, particularly military people, they don't have ideology that they put on the table. h.r. mcmaster, they are professionals with a foreign policy. >> they had it pounded don't be political for 40 years. >> yes, it's cultural.

he'll say things that are consistent with what the president says. if you look at the serious people, tillerson, mattis, i think they are thinking of a serious policy. the situation has changed in north korea. they have nuclear weapons and now they have a delivery mechanism. they are making threats. we have to be tougher in what we're saying publicly to north korea. the problem is the president. the president makes these statements that are so difficult to defend. again, we go back to trump with the use of twitter, reckless meants and people like gorka who don't help. it makes americans uneasy. >> this is when a lack of trust, credibility in this administration really comes home. the other things that are a problem is the total lack of interest in putting together the kind of team that you can govern

with. they have no ambassador to south korea. they have one for the bahamas but not for south korea. they have all those unfilled positions at state department. they don't have an internal process at the white house to make sure that what's coming out from the administration is consistent across the board. this kind of thing catches up with you at a time of crisis which is what we're now in. >> it does seem as if general kelly is trying. he's also being realistic. i think he's made a decision. i'm not going to try to edit the president but i am going to try to edit everything that gets to the president. >> i think what's very important at this point on something like this north korea issue is whether there is, in fact, a process in place to develop a real set of options that are thought through, argued through. if you look at what has been going on on afghanistan, it doesn't give you confidence

there's a process within this administration for resolve very difficult issues. north korea is a, more difficult and much, much more dangerous. if general kelly and h.r. mcmaster can assure us there's a process in place despite what the president may be saying with twitter and everything else that is going to lead us to the most sensible approach to try to resolve this issue. >> even if we have that president, the president's comments may undercut that process. you can impose an order with the people you supervise but the president has to buy into that order. >> going to make one more point. >> i want to make one more quick point. you've got to applaud general kelly for trying to put a process in place where everybody can't just walk into the oval office and hand him an article from god knows where and have him immediately do it. >> i didn't talk about this memo

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we are about to hear from the president. he just met with his secretary of state. there he is. i'll shut up. >> right from the beginning. this is something that has to stop. we all feel that very strongly.

i be speaking to president chi tonight from china. we've been working very closely with china and with other countries. that phone call will take place tonight. if you have any questions, go ahead. >> mr. president, what have you been able to reassure south korea given the recent tensions rising? >> i think as far as reassure answer, they probably feel as reassured they could. they feel more reassured with me than other presidents from the past because nobody has really done the job they're supposed to be doing. that's why we're at this horrible situation right now. it is a very bad situation. it's a very dangerous situation. it will not continue, that i can tell you. i think south korea is very happy and you don't mention japan but i think japan is happy with the job we're doing. i think they're impressed with the job we're doing. let's see how it turns out. >> were youing with sarcastic

when you thanked vladmir putin to expel from russia. >> absolutely. to reduce our payroll. i was speaking to the secretary and we're talking about coming up with an answer. wh when? >> by september 1st. >> by september 1st. we have reduced payroll. >> a lot of americans are on edge with this rhetoric going back and forth. what can you tell them? >> hopefully it will all work out. nobody loves a peaceful solution better than president trump. that i can tell you. hopefully it will all work out. this has been going on for many years. would have been a lot easier to solve this year ago before they were in the position they are in. we'll see what happens. we think that lots of good things can happen and we could have a bad solution. we think lots of goods