look, it's not a nice business we're in. we'll choose to end it there. that is our broadcast for tonight and for this week. thank you for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. locked and loaded. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm katy tur in for chris matthews. president trump raised his rhetoric towards north korea yet again today. he was an hour ago in new jersey saying he hopes for a peaceful solution but a bad solution was possible, too. >> nobody loves a peaceful solution better than president trump. we will see what happens. we think that lots of good

things could happen. and we also could have a bad solution. but we think lots of good things can happen. >> what do you think that would be, sir? >> i think you know the answer to that. >> when you talk about bad solutions, is the u.s. going to war? >> i think you know the answer to that. >> the question wouldn't answer questions about a possible regime change in pyongyang. he is considering strong nick i economic sanctions and kim jong-un hasn't been saying much for the past three days and issue idea this warning on guam. >> if anything happens to guam, it will be, big, big trouble in north korea. >> he tweeted military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should north korea act unwisely t. president was asked to explain that threat later in the day.

>> mr. president, what do you mean military solutions are locked and loaded with respect to north korea? >> i think it's very obvious. we are looking at that very carefully. i hope they will fully tons gravity of what i said and what i sed said is what i mean. hopefully, they'll understand, peter, what i said and the meaning of those words, those words are very, very easy to understand. this man will not get away with what he's doing, believe me. and 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 allie, he will truly regret it and he will redpret it fast. >> president trump has been ratcheting up the warnings against kim jong-un all week. on tuesday, he said any more threats from north korea would

be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. he followed up yesterday with what series of vague threats. today he was asked to respond to critics who say his rhetoric is only making things worse. >> my critics are only saying that because it's me. if somebody else uttered the exact same word they uttered, they'd say what a great statement, a wonderful statement. they're only doing it -- but i will tell you, we have tens of millions of people in this country that are so happy with what i'm saying. because they're saying finally you have a president sticking up for our nation and frankly sticking up for our friends and our allies. >> i am joined by ns nbc kelly o'donnell and republican strategist steve schmidt. >> kelly, a moment ago, the president was asked is the going to war with north korea? his response was, you know the answer to that, kelly, i don't know the answer to that what was

he say something does anybody in his staff know the answer to that? does north korea know the answer to that? >> reporter: katie, i felt the frustration, reporters have put question like that to the president he has given back that response in some form where he believes it's obviously or he doesn't want to verbalize it more specifically, but clearly as journalists and representing the public, there are questions, it is unclear and we have asked. if he has also made any attempt to adjust readiness for the military. he declined to talk about that as commander-in-chief. he has long said he doesn't want to preview or forecast his moves. >> that is understandable. we don't know if he would put for atmosphere rationale to the american people about where things stand in terms of military and/or diplomatic response for north korea at this point beyond these suddenly frequent opportunities for the president to engage with a small number of reporters. this is just a small group of

members of the white house press pool, one television. one radio, wires and one newspaper. so it's a very small group who have been with the president over the last couple of days. it's a rotating group. they have been ready with lots of questions so we have been able to draw the president out on a lot of topics. he has been willing to engage. yet, there are some unsatisfying aspects to this, because he seems to be floating this strong tough guy image that the president likes to project on behalf of the country. at the same time, a bit of mystery if what does the mean towards north korea and then being, he certainly within his purview to be very limited in what he wants to say about specific military things. but it does leave people with questions. and he did say he wanted to reassure south korea, and they would be protected in the people of guam. but there is an uneasiness. >> he's talking. it's continually unclear what exactly he is trying to say.

i want to replay a piece of sound we aired a moment ago. let's take listen. >> 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 allie, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast. >> steve, he's talking about overt threats, i don't know what he means by overt threats. he's talking about locked and loaded. he's saying it's obvious what he means, i don't think it's obvious what he means by. that he's asked again, is the u.s. going to war, he says you all know the answer to that steve, can you clarify any of that for me? >> i can't, katie. it certainly is a departure from the teddy roosevelt tradition of walk softly and carry a big

stick. look, here's what the threat is. the last three administration versus pursued almost every conceivable diplomatic option to avoid the hour we have arrived at, which is the north korea's ballistic missile and target the united states. it is a real existential threat to the country. i'm not sure the president is making things better in what history teaches us, is that every leader believes that they can control events, but most leaders are controlled by events. and when leaders are controlled by events and they go into lose contr begin to lose control, they misjudge the intention of adversaries and right at this mo emt in history where the last of the survivors of the death camps and the last of the men that landed on the normandy beaches are coming to the end of their

very long lives, it seems to me we are losing that human memory, that capacity to imagine what a tragedy at a global scale could look like. >> how bad it could be. >> i think we have a lack of imagination in this country. we have been at war 17 years. more americans would be killed in the first five minutes of the second korean war than have lost their lives in the totality of these wars in afghanistan. the last korean war, a million-and-a-half koreans died. korea is one of the poorest countries in the world then. today south 83 is the sixth largest economy and this would be the first war fought by a major power in the inner connected global economy in the internet age will global markets move in unison and tandem and what could happen here? the danger oafter miscalculation caused be i this bluster in his serial unpreparedness for these

issues and previous loose talk about nuclear weapons very, very disconcerting. i think you see that playing out with the statements made by any one of a different number of leaders who didn't name the president but were risk him to the german chancellor as well. >> those who don't learn from a doomed to repeat it. eugene, he is saying things like they will be met with fire and fury. my question to was, is that kind of language vetted? today we saw him standing alongside his secretary of state. he also was alongside nikki haley and mcmaster, his nsa. are they vetting this language? are they approving this sort of rhetoric? >> i can't imagine that they are. i can't imagine that they think it is wise to hear a u.s. president speaking like this i guess president trump probably thinks it's clever to speak to kim jong-un in the kind of language that he uses, but it is

not clever. it runs the risk as steve schmidt says of a misstep, of a miscalculation. blunders sometimes pile on top of blunders and lead to conflict and conflict between two states with nuclear weapons, which is what the united states and north 83 are, is really unthinkable. it cannot happen and i think rex tillerson understands that. i think nikki halle understands that. i'm pretty sure the generals understand what the implications of such a conflict would be and so given the loose cannon president who keeps mouthing off in this way, we have to hope that the generals and the diplomats are communicating in more measured tones. >> the president also brought up the possibility of a military option in venezuela venezuela. let's take a listen to that.

>> we have many options for venezuela and, by the way, i'm not going to rule out a military option. we have many options for venezuela. this is our neighbor. this is, you know, we're all over the world and we have troops all over the world in places that are very, very far away. venezuela not very far away and the people are suffering and they're dying. we have many options for venezuela, clawing possible military option, if necessary. >> kelly opioid connell, where did this come from? this was a man that campaigned on america first, saying america will not be the world's policeman, now he says he is will not rule out a military option in venezuela. >> reporter: i think in a broader context, i was struck by the notion of the president being taken literally or seriously. we had talked about that during the campaign season. now it's in a much more serious

context. there seems to be with the acknowledgement of aide the president is projecting a unique power after a time when he has been frustrated by the inability to exert power of congress. as the commander-in-chief and the leader of a powerful united states and a world frought with trouble spots, he seems most comfortable trying to project his strength. he will do it if ways that are colorful sometimes to the extreme, that suggest a notion more than speaking in the casual language of diplomacy. it seems even with this, introducing the notion of venezuela, he also spoke about being concerned iran was not living up to the spirit of a nuclear deem. he touched on a lot of topic areas when prompted by questions. but he seems to be finding this comfort zone, where the unique office that he holds and even with the argument about how much power should be concentrated without consulting congress, i

think president feels like he has to exert this image and he has dominated the headlines over recent day, he has controlled the headlines in a way highway has not been able to do in broader political terms for weeks. not to suggest there is a political motive alone, because he bears a responsibility as commander-in-chief. but in terms of getting his own traction for how he projects himself, it seems at the moment using the strong language, the strong man language, a threatening tone with a bit of reassurance occasionally seems to be a place where he is comfortable. >> let's continue with that. is this a psychological pick that he has, steve? is this the president needing to appear as the strongest person in the room, needing to appear as the person who would hit back the hardest, somebody who wants to envision himself that way and so he is acting that way in order to convince everybody around him. >> we've all we heard donald

trump talk about his love of being a counter puncher. and i think it is true that humiliation as a political tactic has worked for him. againsted a ver sears, business adversaries, but he seems fully unaware of the asian conception of space. so his bluster could be interpreted as humiliating towards kim jong-un and it could corner him. and we know less about north korea than nearly every country on ovearth. we don't know for sure when kim jong-un was born. we know very little about the command and control of this closed society. so everybody is focused on what fire means in english or what locked and loaded means. i'm much more interested in what the interpretation of locked and loaded is in korean and how is that received in the ears of a 32-year-old tyrant that we know very little about.

>> yeah. >> who runs a country with an iron hand and absolute control and that's how misjudgments and miscalculations happen. >> there is a man, okay, go ahead, eugene. >> that's why have you diplomats. that's why you have intelligence agencies, which donald trump doesn't trust and thinks they're all a part of the deep state and out to get him. you know, venezuela, military options in venezuela to do what? it's just an absurd sort of out of the blue idea that can't possibly have any substance, when you hear things that cannot possibly have substance coming out of the mouth of the president about military action and there is no substance there. how is the world to take that? how is the who recalled to re t react? this sort of vacuum of american credibility will have serious serious consequence i think. >> he is his own adviser, which

is what he said often. guys, if you haven't already, take a look at the "new york times" article profileing kim jong-un describing his rise to power and what he has done, his goals, his aims, this is a man who murdered his uncle. helped him regain power, keep power. this is what they say, because he wasn't clapping enthusiastically enough for him when he took the stage. thank you, kelly opioid connell, you jean robin-on-and steve schmidt. >> coming up, when the president says things like locked and loaded what does north korea hear? and what about chosen and russia? we will hear what trump's rhetoric is playing and the options beyond the tough talks we really have. plus the russian investigation, they are zeroing in on trump's former campaign manager. they may be rattling the white house. what is behind trump's bizarre fight with senator mitch mcconnell, someone he needs on

his side if he hopes to get anything dompblts finally the security councilmember that argued the so-called deep state is working to subvert the president because he represents an existential threat to cultural marxist means globalists and bankers. >> that memo is at the heart of the anc. it made it to the president's desk. this is "hardball," where the action is.

dozens of congressional democrats are urging secretary of state rex tillerson to reign in president trump's rhetoric on north korea. more than 60 house democrats have written tillerson a letter expressing profound concern over the recent statements made by trump, saying they may have quote raised the spectre of nuclear war. it goes on to say we firmly urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that president

trump and other administration officials understand the importance of speaking and acting with the utmost caution and restraint on this delicate issue. we'll be right back. ♪

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change the way you wifi. xfinity. the future of awesome. i support peace. i support safety. and i support having to get very tough, if we have to, to protect the american people and also to protect our allies. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump earlier tonight. it's been decades since americans ran duck and cover drills. but the spectre of nuclear conflict has returned with president trump's latest warning that the united states military is quote locked and loaded. with many administration officials, pushing a diplomatic solution, president trump has a number of military options at the ready, something he hinted at yesterday. let's watch. >> we are going to look at

what's happening in asia. we are looking at it right now. we are constantly looking at it. i don't like to signal what i'm going to be doing, but we are certainly looking at it. obviously, we are spending a lot of time looking at, in particular, north korea. we are preparing for many different alternative events at north korea. one official warned the "new york times" military options wouldn't be apeeling because it wouldn't ends well t. u.s. would win, but it would be ugly. for more, i am joined by senator bill nelson, a drt from florida and janine davidson, former under secretary of the navy and the president of the metropolitan state university of denver. janine, first to you, how disastrous would a military option be? >> well, it depends on the scenario, let's just say the united states military and south korean military have ro bust military war plans, they

constantly update them. and in just about every scenario is incredibly bloody and tev stating. in every scenario, the north loses dramatic amy, but in every scenario that does not come without a cost, especially for the people of seoul. remember, there are some 25 million people living in the greater seoul metropolitan area. we have 20,000 troops, another 40,000 in japan. in a robust military scenario, there would be a lot of blood shed. >> senator, the pentagon has told us they haven't changed anything at this moment. they are as ready as they have ever been. the president is saying locked and loaded. do you have any idea what exactly he means? >> well, it's the job of the defense department to be ready. so admiral harris, who is his

specific commander and in this case the combatantj commander. also general raymond, the head of special forces, that i have plans on the shelf, i am sure they are dusting those off, but they have been ever since we've had this young, unpredictable dictator over in north korea. so, yes, they are ready. i just wish the rhetoric were a little less excessive. >> heated. >> do you think that the north koreans know what locked and loaded means, senator? >> well, i have no idea, but i suppose that they can infer from his tone of voice that it's menacing, but the young dictator doesn't have any accountability to anybody else. he doesn't have a chain of command. he can pretty well order what he

wants. >> that is trouble. >> was he unpredictable than past dictators that we've seen in the past based off against even in nuclear times? >> i think the rhetoric, kim jong-un's rhetoric is alarming. but let me just say that until we had a president that had similar rhetoric, a lot of people western paying attention to it. believe me in the pentagon people have been paying attention for a long time. in some case, we're sort off innered to it. this is huh he speaks. what is different, however, we have been watching him test these rockets for years every time he does it, these missiles, they get a little bit better. we have been watching it. when we say we are locked and loaded, the senator is absolutely right t. united states military is always locked and loaded, in fact in the pacific, it would have been

rebounding there for eight years. >> they have been lock and loaded for some time now? is this just bluster on the president's part? >> i think it's bluster on both sides. it's nothing new coming from the mouths of the north korean dictator. what's different here is the way president trump speaks a little bit hand fisted. he said today, my same words coming out of somebody else a mouth would be considered smart. actually there is a nuance here, he is saying to kim jong-un, stop saying these things or we'll come after you. that's fundamentally different than saying, don't act. don't attack us. it's north korea attacks us, everybody knows that the retaliation would be robust and brutal. kim jong-un knows that as well. the reason people are geting so upset is the way president trump is messaging. and i think, i hope it's a little sloppy on his part. if he actually means what he is

saying, he is talking about a first strike. that's not a situation you want to get into. >> katy. >> go ahead, senator. >> what sells is different is the young dictator now has developing into what appears to be a successful icbm and, of course you read the newspaper reports that he has been able to miniaturize his nuclear weapons, whether or not to integrate it on a missile. >> yeah. >> so that is a new and very significant factor. >> and senator, we have spoken to a number of intelligence officials, we learned the intelligence community is unanimous in their assessment is they have the capabilities of a miniaturized missile. will they be successful with that attached? senator bill nelson, thank you very much. up next, reporting that federal investigators are trying to get into paul manafort's head. have they also rattled president

trump? this is "hardball," where the action is.

have you spoken to the fbi director about it? >> no, i have not. i have not. but to do that early in the morning, whether or not it was appropriate, you'd have to ask them. i us as found paul manafort to be a very decent man. i thought this was a very, this is pretty tough stuff to wake him up. perhaps his family was there. i think that's pretty tough stuff. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump reacting on an fbi raid on his campaign chairman paul manafort.

his lawyer calls it a gross abuse of the judicial process, telling the "wall street journal" that these methods are normally found and employed in russia, not america. additionally the daily beast is reporting behind the scenes, trump aide's fume the former campaign chairman is at least partially responsible for the president's deepening legal woes. it comes as bloomberg says manafort divulged the infamous june 9th meeting between the campaign and russians close to the kremlin. a meeting manafort attended. hes can closed it to lawmakers three months ago, that's roughly two months before it was publicly revealed in july. members tell abc news they want to question trump's personal secretary because her name

appeared in the e-mails setting up that meeting. i am joined by a former federal prosecutor and ken delaney, a national security reporter for nbc news. ken, i'm struck by the way the president was speaking about paul manafort. he was treading delicately. kind of in the way we seen him speak about his former nsa michael flynn, being pretty nice to those two former aides? >> reporter: he was, katie. i agree with you. he seems to be walking a fine line between not wanting to criticize the fbi. he's the head of the executive branch. at the same time seeming to defend and speak kindly of paul manafort, whereas his lawyer john dowd was savageing the fbi talking about tactics, with russia. he knows full well, this kind of search is very common in federal investigations and, in fact, we can look past no further than

david general petraeus, whose home was searched in the investigation whether he revealed information. it shows that robert mueller is not showing special deference just because this is an investigation involving associates of the president of the united states. >> it's an early morning railed they did on paul manafort home in virginia. what kind of message were they sending or get out of it? >> well, i don't know that there is an intent to send a message, but we need to see the warrant, itself. any execution of a search warrant prior to 6:00 a.m. would require a showing of probable cause by the agents in a sworn affidavit that there was a need to do it then. >> that is to go in a hurry, because there may be danger of destruction of documents or something look that, if, in fact, this was served prior to 6:00 a.m.. i would like to see a warrant i

don't think that mr. manafort's lawyers have released it. the message that would be conveyed, yoerng that is the intent t. miami that is conveyed is, yes, this is a serious matter, moreover, the investigators no longer trust the willingness of the targets or the subjects to produce zoumt documents in compliance with the subpoena. if you want to get documents from somebody, one easy way to do that is to simply send a subpoena. to do a search warrant to go to the house and get documents means you don't believe that person is going to comply if you serve the subpoena. it means that the investigators believed and persuaded a judge that mr. manafort's house likely contained evidence of civil wrong doing, that is a sophisticate message for anybody else involved in this. >> this happened the day after he was on capitol hill answering questions from lawmakers behind closed doors, so, ken, what did

lawmakers learn or not learn in those meetings that would mean that fbi agents would need to raid his home, any idea at this moment? >> actually, i have been guided not to read anything into that. after all, something like this a raid of this magnitude would have been planned well before this hearing. they had to go to a judge and show probable cause. but what it does show is that he appeared voluntarily before the senate intelligence committee as a way of showing the public and investigators he is cooperating. clearly, the fbi does not agree. that's why they went to the judge to get this search warrant. nbc news reporting is one of the things they were interested in, banking and tax records relating to his work in cypress and you

tra y ukraine. >> i'm curious, caleb, what would it take for paul manafort to flip? >> paul manafort has a number of incentives to be cooperative. people flip in order to mitigate their own potential criminal penalty and also the criminal exposure of their friends and social family members. in this case, according to reports we have read, he seems to have implicated his son-in-law and possibly his son-in-law's wife, his daughter, in some of them. those people may have been questioned. it appears that manafort's son-in-law was questioned by the fbi, according to some reports i have seen. mr. manafort might want to shield his family members from potential criminal exposure and in his case, as with any target, you cooperate upwards, within

are you in his position, you do have the ability to give investigators what they are looking for, possibly, regarding the involvement of people in your level or higher up in it. so if we analeyes him to somebody who would say the operations manager of a drug cartel or an organized crime outfit, their incentive is, i can mitigate my own exposure. i have to cooperate upwards. i have point the finger up. >> why run to the personal secretary and what can investigators glean from her? >> they have confirmed interest on the part of house investigators in talking to rho rhonagraff. she knows who he has met with. they would want to know, give us the name of every russian trump has met with for the last decade for starters, specifically, she was referenced in that e-mail chain around this trump tower

meeting between the russian lawyer, lobbyist, don jr. manafor the and jared kushner, rob goldstone said i can get this to your father through rhona graff making it clear, which we knew, she is a conduit for donald trump. >> thank you all very much. up next, a behind the scenes look at the feud between president trump and senator mitch mcconnell. it started, as you might expect, with somebody the president saw on tv. you are watching "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." we're learning more about what triggered that bizarre civil war between president trump and republican senate leader mitch mcconnell. today politico says trump watched clips of mcconnell criticizing him on the news and wasn't happy. in aters but loud conversation wednesday, the president made clear he wasn't to blame for the obamacare failure and was displeased with the criticism he has gotten for i. mcconnell says people briefed on the phone call and there are no immediate plans to speak again, meanwhile, republican senators are starting to take sides, orrin hatch, the longest serving senate wrote the

senate majority leader has been the best. i fully support him. president trump was asked what he makes of mcconnell's defenders today. >> i don't make anything of it. we should have had health care approved. he should have known that he had a couple of votes that turned on him and that should have been very easy to hand him. what happened in my opinion last week is unacceptable. >> let's bring in the hardball roundtable, a columnist for the washington post, mark thompson is host of make it plain with mark thompson on sirius xm and a very reporter for business insider. all right. so the president is going after mitch mcconnell. this is a man he needs to help him get things done. they haven't gotten much done so far in congress. katherine, is there a strategy here? >> no is that a joke? no, there is no strategy. there is never a strategy with trump. right? he sees something is that makes him mad. he lashes out. he doesn't think in advance.

he doesn't think about the long-term consequences that he needs republican allies on the hill, but maybe we should be celebrating, you know, to the extend he is creating more of a divide between himself and republican leadership, maybe they will get less done. >> i think there is a tragedy, mark. i think the strategy is, things aren't working, i don't want to get blamed for it. so i will go after congress, after all, that's what i campaigned on, being the outsider, congress can't get anything done, their approval ratings are lower than mine. >> that's a reasonable hypothesis. i would add another window, he is acting like his counterpart, kim jong-un the teenager, he sees mitch mcconnell on tv and loses his mind. i think he is making a big mistake, he will need mitch mcconnell not just to get things done. but i think a signal was given by the senate majority leader

and the senate. they didn't go into full recess, they went into a pro forma recess to prevent him from making a recess appointment so their allie, jeff sessions, could come back to the senate. that's pretty serious. >> that means they will be taking very considerably, whatever mueller brings them and you don't want to tick off the united states senate within they may have to look at some criminal charges on impeachment. >> basically, if he were to fire jeff session, he couldn't replace somebody while the senate was out on recess, without having to go through a confirmation. is the senate trying to handicap the president? >> well, i was going to say, i think it's pretty significant that he would choose to pick a fight with mitch mcconnell now. he needs republicans to practices the legislative goal and in case the mueller investigation finds evidence that warrants an impeachment.

he needs these allies and 15 republicans, maybe 16 have come out and said they support mitch mcconnell. they have stopped short of criticizing trump directly. but we're starting to see tear republicans in the senate stand up to him more, which could be a signal if his poll numbers continue to plummet, they would be prepared to turn on him. >> is anybody here, is john kelly going to get the president's ear, quit it with mitch mcconnell, he's somebody you don't want to fight with, maybe, yes? >> it seems unlikely to me, maybe he will hear that had vice, whether he is going to have the self discipline to take it i think is very much in doubt. >> the roundtable is staying with us, still ahead, a wild conspiracy theory making the rounds in the trump administration. you will want to watch this. this is "hardball" where the action is..

earlier this evening, president trump was also asked whether or not he expects vice president pens to appear on the ballot in 2020. let's watch. >> do you think your vice president will be a candidate for president in 2020? >> i don't think so. no, i don't think so at all. he's a good guy. he's just as you know left for colombia and various other places, he has been terrific, a great allie of mine and a great friends of mine. >> we'll see, and we'll be right back.

i'm back with a hardball roundtable. catherine, mark, and natasha. ford policy magazine has published an extraordinary memo written by former president trump's national security council. in a report titled "here's the memo that blew up the nsc" the outlet describes the document entitled potus and political warfare. it calls it a sweeping and at times conspiratorial view. trump is being attacked, the memo says, because he represents a threat to cultural marksist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative. those threatened about i trump include deep state actors, globalists, bankers, islamists, and establishment republicans. the memo made its way to the president's son, don jr., who then passed it on to president trump. its author was later forced out

by national security advisor h.r. mcmaster, who was characterized in the memo as working against trump. natasha, there's a lot to break down here. how does a memorandum yes that talks about cultural marxist means, globalists, islamists, bankers, et cetera, make its way -- this conspirit oral make its way to the president's desk. >> that's the big question. that's part of the job that john kelly is going to have now is controlling the flow of information into the oval office. >> how do you control it when don jr. passes it on? >> no one knows how don jr. even got access to this memo. this was written at rich hagens -- it was on his personal time. >> it was a staffer on the nsc. >> it wasn't signed off by anyone at the nsc, and somehow it made its way to the president, and this is someone who had connections to the transition. he was appointed by michael flynn. steshlly h.r. mcmaster's decision to fire rich haagens was his attempt to reassert more control over the national discounts after mike flynn was

forced out in february. >> last time i checked -- correct me if i'm wrong, but last time i checked the president's sons were not a part of the white house. they were very clearly just going to be a part of the trump organization. why does don jr. have a memo like this, and how does he passion it on to the president? >> i want to know who is running the trump organization. it seems like there are other things occupying his time. i will say that it does seem like the central message of this administration is that the world would be a better place if the country were run by -- >> the trump family? >> i was going to say -- if you read this crazy, crazy memo, it just looks like it has been crowd-sourced by, like, anonymous commenters, right? with these insane nut job conspiracy theories about how everyone is a cultural marxist member of the muslim brotherhood. you know, maybe it's not so out of left field given that we have a birtherist president or a former birtherist president, but

it's just so nutty. >> mark, shut we be surprised? it does sound like what donald trump was saying at the end of the campaign when he was trying to make the case for why he might lose. >> with all the speculation about the turmoil in the white house, the one person who has kept his job has been steve bannon. the deep state is part of the administrative state, and that's what he said he is there to undermine. it is this memo that's enabling trump's clinical narcissism, the whole world is against him, the bankers, meaning jews, the islamists, the deep state, meaning the cia, and everybody is in the marxist. nobody has ever accused any of these groups of people of working together before, but only in the administration of donald trump has this happened. last thimg i'll say, if you have that kind of turmoil at the national security agency, then how on earth is our national security in good shape when we're on the enl of a conflict with north korea? >> the national security council. really good point given what's going on in the world.

the roundtable is staying with us. we'll be right back. these days families want to be connected 24/7.

that's why at comcast, we're always working to make our services more reliable. with technology that can update itself. and advanced fiber network infrastructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. we're back with the hardball roundtable. catherine, tell me something i don't know. in fact, tell me a headline i don't know because we have no time. >> a u-gov poll showed that 61% of americans think that the president is a cyber bully. >> mark. >> nfl to stand with colin kaepernick august 23rd at 5:00 p.m. >> mark your calendars. >> current and former u.s. state department and diplomatic officials are completely dumbfounded and insulted over

trump's position to thank putin for expelling diplomatic staff. >> which he did again today. >> he doubled down on. >> thank you very much. thank you for keeping it short. that is "hardball." thanks for being with us. the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> cornelius vanderbilt was one of the richest americans ever. so much so that his name is kind of sin anonymous with what it means to be a rich person now, right? vanderbilt. cornelius vabder built was a self-made man. he was a new yorker. he started off as a kid running ferry services. he ran and owned multiple ferry services, and then steamboat lines.