tv MTP Daily MSNBC August 15, 2017 2:00pm-3:00pm PDT
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out and said -- >> okay, george w. bush -- >> i don't. >> tweeted this out and said, this is something that's going to make david duke feel comfortable. and we decided at msnbc to repeat that, the president would say, that's take news. david duke just did it. what do you call this, mr. president? he praised you and thanked you for what you just said. nothing fake about it. this is real. >> that's going to have to be the last word. my thanks to all. thank you so much. that does it for our hour. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. >> i would say shell-shocked an understatement. >> i think so. >> all right, thank you. if it's tuesday, president trump doubles down on many sides. tonight, control, alt-right, delete. >> define alt-right to me. you define it. what about the alt-left that came charging. >> president trump becoming increasingly isolated. >> i thought there's blame on both sides. i thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country.
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a horrible moment. but there are two sides. >> plus, the backlash against rallies on the far right. boston mayor marty walsh joins me on his city plans to handle a controversial gathering this coming weekend. and the alabama senate special. could roy moore win the primary without a runoff? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right annoy. >> good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." folks, what i just saw gave me the wrong kind of chills. obviously, i'm a bit shaken from what i just heard. and i suspect it's not just me. moments ago at trump tower, the president of the united states painted white nationalists and members of the alt-right as victims of what he described as club-wielding members of the alt-left. it was a chilling mix of what about-ism, false equivalence and a total muddying of the waters
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after one person was killed and at least 19 people were injured after members of the kkk, neo-nazis, and white supremacists protested the removal of a confederate statue in charlottesville. where to begin? you might as well start with the president painting these protesters as the real victims of a violent left-wing movement. >> want the alt-left that came charging at the -- as you say, the alt-right? do they have any semblance of guilt? >> mr. president -- >> let me ask you this, what about the fact they came charging -- that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs. do they have any problem? i think they do. i watched those very closely, much more closely than you people watched it. and you have -- you had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. and nobody wants to say that. but i'll say it right now. you had a group -- you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and it was very, very
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violent. >> sure, when violence breaks out like what we saw this weekend, there's usually more than enough blame to go around. but when was the last tile you saw a president of the united states defend the cause of white nationalists? here's the president talking about the removal of confederate monuments. >> is it george washington next week? and is it thomas jefferson the week after? you know, you all -- you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop? you're changing history, you're changing culture. and you have people -- and i'm not talking about the neo-nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. but you had many people in that group other than neo-nazis and white nationalists, okay? and the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. >> yes, the president just conflated the confederacy and the revolutionary war. anyway, he pleaded ignorance when he refused to admit that he waited too long to denounce the kkk and neo-nazis and white supremacists, who were at that rally. >> why did you wait so long
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to -- >> i didn't wait long. i didn't wait long. i didn't wait long. i wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what i said was correct. not make a quick statement. the statement i made on saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement. but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the fact. it takes a little while to get the facts. you still don't know the facts. and it's a very, very important process to me. everybody said, his statement was beautiful. if he would have made it sooner, that would have been good. i couldn't have made it sooner, because i didn't know all of the facts. frankly, people still don't know all of the facts. >> i'm sure you remember all the times that candidate trump waited to learn the facts about a situation before he tweeted. i remember that a lot during the campaign. and last, but certainly not least, he did not express total confidence in his chief political strategist, steve
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bannon, who is basically, some would argue, the chief emissary in that white house to the alt-right. >> do you still have confidence in steve? >> well, we'll see. look, look, i like mr. bannon, he's a friend of mine. but mr. bannon came on very late. you know that. i went through 17 senators, governors, and i won all the primaries. mr. bannon came on very much later than that. and i like him, he's a good man, he is not a racist. i can tell you that. he's a good person. he actually gets a very unfair press in that regard. but we'll see what happens with mr. bannon. but he's a good person and i think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly. >> that had to be the most uncomfortable defense that steve bannon's ever had somebody make for him, defending him and saying, but we don't know about his job. folks, buckle up. because the fallout from these remarks today are going to be truly massive. david duke, that former grand wizard of the kkk, just tweeted, "thank you, president trump, for your honesty and courage to tell
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the truth about charlottesville and condemn the leftist terrorists in black lives matter and the anti-fascists." joined by glenn thrush, white house correspondent for "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst. and glenn, you had the story this morning that it looks as if the -- that steve bannon's days were nurmd. it feels like the least amount of the story. so, what happened? so yesterday's statement, he had to give -- he was forced to give. is that what we are to learn from what happened? take us behind the scenes a little bit. he clearly sounded like a guy who was brow-beaten dinto delivering that statement yesterday, at least from the president we heard from today. >> yes, so he gives the statement on yesterday. by the way, not everyone thought it was beautiful. very few people thought it was beautiful. practically every single republican senator rebuked him for this. so he is not factual.
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apart from everything that he said in terms of his misinterpretation of history, chuck, and you're dead-on with his conflation of the confederate -- confederacy and the revolutionary war, which is astounding to hear a president talk about, his version of events in terms of his own response to this is entirely inaccurate. what i am told is that he was under pressure, partially from his chief of staff, chief of staff, john kelly, and others, in his midst, to put out a more fulsome statement. remember, on sunday, he had a junior staffer, essentially write a statement anonymously, put out to the press that was a little bit trorstronger. the backlash continued on to monday. and i am told the president was furious. and exactly what he told reporters today is what he was telling the press -- what he was telling his aides behind the scenes. when are they going to stop with
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pulling down the schtatues? this is just a bout of national political correctness. so i'm told that yesterday he huddled with some of his best advisers and best speechwriters, including his staff secretary rob porter, somebody with a lot of -- is held in quite a bit of esteem on kmcapitol hill and really one of the cooler heads with, and he presented a hybrid version of what was written for him and stuff that he added. and then right after that, as we know, chuck, he was steaming and steaming and steaming and then just started to go on the attack. including tweeting out this crazed cartoon of a train with the word "trump" on it, running over somebody with a cnn logo on his head. so, you know -- >> look, we know he both loves to berate "the new york times," and at the same time, you're the first place he runs to tell us what he really thinks. and it does seem to me as if the combination of today -- and you know this guy well, but the
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combination of the resignations from the manufacturing council and we know these are ceos, so these are peers. he takes the rejection probably even more personally than others would. -- >> chuck, let me just point -- >> that that probably -- that made his day today, it was inevitable he wanted to pop off on all of this. >> exactly, chuck. let me make a point about the ceo of walmart and frazier, the head of merck pharmaceuticals. as businesspeople, far more successful than donald trump. donald trump is a branding expert, but he has not led a large multi-national corporation. so trump is acutely conscious of the competition between himself, a television reality show billionaire, and those folks. but, you know, the point is, his emotion -- this is, i think, why reporters are so stunned -- and you've talked with your folks on the ground there. i've talked to mine. i've never experienced this, where reporters were just shell shocked. they really couldn't believe
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what they had just heard. and i think the overarching feeling that i've gotten, and i've talked to three or four people who were there, is that this is a man who is pursuing his own personal agenda, defending himself, his own personal views, at a time when national leadership is required. so that's what's going on this week. a collision between his extreme personalization of everything, and what we normally view as the role of a president. >> it's a great point to end on with you and to begin our discussion with my panel here. glenn thrush, i await your 8:30 phone call from the president tonight. don edwards is senior fellow at the brennan center for justice and a former democratic congressman from maryland. sarah facten is a cnbc contributor and mark murray is nbc news's senior political editor, i mamy partner in crime along with carrie dan, on all things first read. welcome all. sarah, you worked in the white house. i'll give you the first dibs on this. not to say there's any parallel in any universe about what just
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happened, but i guess, what was your reaction when you saw and heard this press conference an hour ago? >> it's dumbfounding. it's dumbfounding that he would have spent as long as he did to really get his statement right and then turn around and walk it back. i mean, these are just not things -- >> walk it back or did he beat it to a -- pulverized it, i mean, geez. >> he looked a little unhinged in that press conference. >> yeah? it's hard to describe it any other way. >> no president that, you know, certainly president bush, president obama, president clinton, it would never enter their mind, you know, to come out and say some of the things that he said today. you know, even if they were frustrated at a particular article or they thought somebody -- and you go back to his very first tweet, which he didn't denounce white supremacy, but he denounced hate. said there's no place for it in america. he started off before he started equating the two movements, later in the day, he started off
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on the right foot, but, you know, then anybody who criticizes him, he just takes it farther. he just isn't -- just doesn't behave like an adult. >> donna, what'd you hear? >> what i heard today was the president that i have come to know. it was ant surprise to me that he went off like that. frankly, when i listened to his statement yesterday, that he tried to, you know, walk in the right lane, i didn't believe it. it seemed like he was being held hostage and made to say those words. and, so it wasn't a real surprise, but the tone and the tenor defending standing on the side of the kkk and neo-nazis, people who bare the confederate flag and the nazi flag and salute white supremacy is shocking for a president of the united states. i don't see how any republican elected at any level can stand next to this president of the united states. >> before the press conference,
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mark murray, we were putting together, is donald trump being left on an island? you have ceos slowly -- you have no -- not a single major republican in the senate, in particular, many governors, were comfortable with how the president handled this. and they were -- and then he does this. like -- if he was on an island before, i don't even know what to describe this. >> chuck, my reaction is he failed on the two jobs he has as president. one is head of the republican party. the other is president of the united states. and as far as being the head of the republican party, there were so many republican politicians who breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, with yesterday's kind of do-over statement. they said, ahh, i can hold my hat on this. this is like -- you know win wish it was earlier, but at least he said this and let's all move on. but today, undercut that. and it puts republicans politicians in a really bad place. >> i think while many republicans have been slow to criticize him on some of his past statements, some of them policy tweets, what have you, i think the condemnation here is going to be fast and swift.
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>> okay, but -- >> i think this is a turning point. >> you know what he echoed yesterday? he just echoed talk radio. they mauved to the statue argument. the erasing history argument, and hey, they're just as violent on the left. is that what his base is hearing? is that what he's being -- >> first of all, i think one of the things -- >> i say his base. i don't want to call it a conservative base. that is a very, very stall small piece of the american social fabric and the electorate. and that is not actually his base. >> no, i think the conservative much movement is trying to figure out how to excise themselves. get these guys out of here. >> i think for senators in particular, but for congressional republicans, right now, they are beginning to worry about their agenda, because with this man in charge, there is no agenda. i don't even know -- >> by the way, remember what today was? this was an infrastructure
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event. >> right! he walked back from, you know, he threw north korea below the fold, because of this. i don't even know what the papers are going to laook like tomorrow. >> i guarantee the lead's not going to be about infrastructure. >> no, it's not. >> on this front. so let's -- what do you do if you're ed gillespie. what's your advice to ed gillespie. this to me -- this has got to be hard. >> strong, swift condemnation. there really is no way to handle this. you know, it would be one thing if he would have said, look, foul language is never appropriate from anyone, you know, we all need to behave like adults. but then condemn them swiftly. but he did really equate the movements. and they're not the same. and it's -- >> one movement wouldn't be there without the other. like, let's take that -- >> even setting that aside -- >> but there were pastors and people standing up against the kkk and white nationalists and
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neo-nazis. there wasn't another side. you're either on the side of justice and freedom or you're on the side of the kkk and the white nationalists. >> but they were there to incite the -- the white supremacists were there to incite. they want a fight. that's what the president may have done today inadvertently or maybe it was on purpose, is -- that's inciteful rhetoric. >> he may rationalize violence. >> and what were the other things we ended up seeing, the documentaries that were done on friday night. there were chants against jews. there were, this is our blood, our soil. and you have the president of the united states saying, yeah, actually, a lot of these people were pretty good people. he legitimatized what they were doing friday and we'll only see that play now in other cities across the country. >> he doesn't seem to understand this, which is the most stunning to me, because he denounces white supremacy. he said the very first thing out of his mouth is that there's no place for this hate. he says these things and then
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equates the movements and seems to be shocked that people don't give credit for denouncing the movement. >> i don't want to let him off the hook. i think he knows exactly what he's doing. i think he identifies with these people. i think he views them as a part of his base, that he doesn't want to let go of. and i think republicans across the board have to say, this is really not acceptable. >> it's true that he better get -- he needs some math lessons. >> many opponents have even said to me, hey, go back to his first innocent in business. the first time he goes against the government had to do with racial discrimination in his buildings. and you want to give people the benefit of the doubt that they grow, and i think a lot of people wanted to assume that that isn't who he is. but when he has moments like that, people then go back and say, see. see, there's been a consistency here, but in the long direction. >> and they look over the course of a campaign and see it over and over and over again. and each opportunity he has had to go in a different direction,
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he's chosen to double down. >> the irony is, we all know it's bad politics. he's choosing to be totally crass here, mark, he is choosing the bad political path. the unsuccessful -- >> but he's never paid a price for it. >> are we going to accept that this is who he is? >> as somebody tweeted today -- >> it's hard to imagine -- >> -- he is the most transparent politician, we always know what he's thinking. we do know what he's always thinking. you guys are sticking around. we've got some alabama senate to talk about at some point, if we get there in the aftermath of saturday's violence, what do local leaders do? where do they draw the line between free speech and hate speech? boston mayor marty walsh is going to have to tackle that question this weekend, with a march that's planned in his city and he joins me next. this is a story about mail and packages.
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in solidarity with charlottesville counter-protesters, yesterday a group in durham county, north carolina, lassoed a monument to confederate soldiers and pulled it down. this was outside the old durham county courthouse at the confederate soldier monumenmonu. the plaque reads, in memory of the boys who wore gray. police say demonstrators will face charges. we'll be right back. don't let dust and allergens get between you and life's beautiful moments. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. it helps block 6 key inflammatory substances
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that cause symptoms. pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. flonase changes everything. tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. welcome back. what we saw in charlottesville, virginia, this past weekend struck the entire country. and it also evaluated concerns that something similar could happen again in another american city. on sunday, a controversial far-right rally moved forward in seattle, attracting large groups of counter-protesters in clashes with police. thankfully, there were no serious injuries. meanwhile, similar rallies are being plann ened in a lot of bl cities, san francisco and berkeley, california, for this month. plans for opposing rallies there are already forming, as well.
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and this weekend, boston is bracing itself for what could be a confrontation between some of these controversial far-right groups that are organizing what they call a, quote, boston free speech rally and the counter-demonstrators that are expected to show up, as well. joining me now is the mayor of boston, marty walsh. mr. mayor, welcome to the show, sir. >> thank you for having me. thank you. >> all right. so let's talk about this rally, specifically. have you issued a permit for this group? do they legally have the right to go ahead? >> there's been no permit issued. today, this group or some group associated with them came in and pulled an application for a permit that we're going to go after it with our boston police department, our superintendent, and this group will have to live by the terms of the agreement we make and what they can do and they can't do, if they are to have this rally or whar they want to call it in boston. >> it sounds like you're going to grant them a permit, but it's going to come with some
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restrictions? >> some major restrictions. we certainly don't condone and our hearts go out to the folks of charlottesville. i spoke to the mayor the other day to let hill know we're standing in solidarity with them. we don't want these people in our city. we don't want to be spreading hate neo-naziism. we made it perfectly clear, asked people not to come into our city. it's unfortunate, but today a permit was -- an application was pulled for a permit, but nothing's been finalized, yet. >> what kind of restrictions are you contemplating? >> no sticks, no signs, and the police are going to look at some other areas, probably no amplification of sound and things like that can cause harm and spread hate. and something we're not going to do. we have the legal right to do that. we've watched what happened around the country, particularly last weekend in charlottesville. and people coming in with sticks and helmets and weapons. that will not be tolerated in the city of boston. >> what will that mean? that picture, people have seen
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it. it was some sort of militias or whatever you want to call it, but it was a group of really well-armed protesters. what would you -- what would you instruct the police to do with those folks? >> they wouldn't be able to do that in boston, massachusetts. our gun laws are different. we don't have an open carry law. but if we had militia come in here with weapons, we would be arresting people. and we're not going to have that happen in our city. i mean, thank god, when i looked at the images on tv over the last couple of nights, of seeing the armed militia down in virginia, it could have been a lot worse than it was. unfortunately, three people lost their lives that day. but it could get awful scary. and you know, i think that the concern i have is what the message is here. you know, we're in 2017. and we're talking about neo-nazi groups. you know, we're talking about why is supremacy and spreading hate. that's not who we are as americans. people need to step up. and i assume folks that showed up at that rally with american
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flags on their shoulders and on their sleeves. shame on them, because they've completely lost what that flag represents. that red on that flag represents blood. blood spilled from people who fought for freedoms of this country, not to tear this country down. and i hope some of the folks within those different organizations come to their senses, and i hope our leader in washington comes to his senses and doesn't do what he did today, but move forward. and this isn't about donald trump. let me bring it back to boston, massachusetts. in our city, we're about moving forward. 28% of the residents that live in our city were born in another country. 48% of the residents in our city our first generation. we're a city of moving forward. we don't need a group of people taking us back. >> obviously, you don't want this group here. if you thought you could legally prevent them from getting a permit, you would have done it. is that basically -- did you just decide constitutionally, you couldn't prevent it?
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>> well, they don't have the permit yet, so let's assume, all they've done so far is pull an application. they're going to be sitting down at any police department. maybe they're not going to like the rules and regulations we're going to put on them and we'll see what happens at that point. >> but you are definitely going to issue some permit with some form of restriction? >> well, with again, we're going to see if they agree to it. they might say, we don't agree though and they might decide to, i don't know, not move forward or maybe even take us to court. we'll see what happens and take it a step at a time. >> do you believe you're being targeted because boston is considered a liberal city, considered a city that they want the clash, they're looking for, you know, they're certainly not -- what are they looking for? why do you think they chose boston? >> i don't know if i would say that. this group, it's my understanding that this group that's coming here next week, and it's not the same group that was in charlottesville, this group that's coming here next week has already done a demonstration or some type of
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walkaround the public boston garden -- boston commons, excuse me, at one point, they've already been here. i think this is already pre-set before what happened in charlottesville, from what i understand. so this is in response to what's going on. but the peace rally that's being planned for saturday in boston, that's happened since charlottesville, standing in solidarity of the people of charlottesville and spreading the word of tolerance and love and peace. that's what we need to have more of here. and hopefully, on saturday, if we do have groups in here, we're going to do everything we can, certainly, to keep them apart, but also to have peaceful demonstrations in our city. >> mayor marty walsh, always a pleasure to talk with you, sir. thanks for coming on and giving us an update on what's going on. appreciate it. >> thanks. >> so we've got much more on president trump's remarkable impromptu news conference. plus, what he meant when he's
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channeling sean hannity with this alt-left business. >> there was a group on this side. you can call them the left. you've just called them the left. that came violently attacking the other group. you can say what you want. but that's the way it is. acht l, life, life ♪ ♪ top speed fifty knots life on the caribbean seas ♪ ♪ it's a champagne and models potpourri ♪ ♪ on my yacht made of cuban mahogany, ♪ ♪ gany, gany, gany, gany ♪ watch this don't get mad (bell mnemonic) get e*trade and get invested
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to the media, both real and fake media, by the way. >> honestly, if the press were not fake and if it was honest, the press would have said what i said was very nice. but unlike the media, before i make a statement, i like to know the facts. we'll see what happens with mr. bannon, but he's a good person and i think the press streets h him very unfairly. i'm not finished, fake news. you take a look at some of the groups, and you see, and you know if you were honest reporters, which in many cases you're not. if you look at both sides, i think there's blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it either. and, and, and if you reported it accurately, you would say. >> many people in that group other than neo-nazis and white nationalists, okay? and the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. >> the press has been unfair to the neo-nazis and the white supremacists. let's let that sink in. we'll have much more on the
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president's comments ahead. and if it's tuesday, we'll have more on the alabama senate primary vote. but first, hampton pearson with a cnbc market wrap. >> thanks, chuck. we had markets ending the day, little change. the dow rose by five points. the s&p lost a point. the nasdaq fell by seven. home builder sentiment rebounded this month, rising four points to its highest level since may. builders credit rising demand from buyers coupled with a shortage of existing homes for sale. and amazon wants to shorten delivery times even more, launching instant pick up. points near five college campuses, the service allows customers to enter select products from an app and pick up the items within minutes. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century.
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turnout is looking not just low, dismally low. alabama secretary of state tells nbc news he expects 10 to 15% turnout statewide. if that is true, boy, the results in the republican primary may be anything but strange. see where we're going there? let's turn to a couple of people who have been following this race closely. brian liman is a reporter with the montgomery advertiser and sun minh kim is the reporter for politico, she just got back from spending some time in alabama. let me starl me start in the state of alabama. we're hearing this turnout story already. we talked earlier, low turnout, that's the recipe for roy moore avoiding a runoff. where are we right now. how likely could this be that roy moore blows past 50% plus one? >> it's a question every single consultant in the state is asking themselves right now. it really depends on where this low turnout is distributed. if it's broad across the state, then that really helps moore. but if, in the first place, off
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high rural turnout, that will help moore. a low turnout like in jefferson and shelby county, that will really hurt strange. and also, vice versa helps strange. pretty much, you have a lot of folks here wondering not only how many people are showing up, but exit po but exactly where they're showing up. >> you were down there when this race sort of took -- the trump endorsement of strange struck me as a panic time. they were worried there was a chance he couldn't get in the runoff. that brooks strange finished third. this trump endorsement probably prevented that. was there any other dynamic in this race other than trump? >> there are several. trump was the final chapter in this crazy dynamic race. one is the heavy hand of senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. they always protect their incumbents, that's true. but how far they went in
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protecting senator strange, who was just appointed to the senate in february. >> in a controversial move by a governor that was going to be impeached if he didn't quit. >> so they're spending millions of dollars to protect him. and people down in -- people down in alabama. i talked to several voters who are really unhappy with the odds. mitch mcconnell may not be a factor in a normal senate race, but this is not your normal senate race. voters are saying, i don't like those ads for mcconnell. that's not the way we do things in alabama. even roy moore, when i was interviewing with him, said, people in alabama hate it when d.c. tells them what to do. that is exactly what is happening right now. >> even roy moore coming in close is going to make him the favorite in the runoff if it is strange or brooks. is the right analysis from the alabama perspective from you that this was a washington rejection?
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is that what the roy moore surge should be interpreted as, a rejection of washington's -- so yet a sitting congressman and a sitting senator losing to an ousted judge with ties to the christian conservative community? >> with roy moore -- one thing to understand about roy moore is that roy moore's voters always show up for roy moore, no matter what. this is an off-year election, a primary for an off-year election, an election that take place a few days after paem eopo to school. one of the things that roy moore's voters really -- when you talk to them, what they say they like about him is that he's honest. they like his espousal of christian virtues, but they think that the fact that he was removed from the bench twice, once for the ten commandments and again for defying the u.s. supreme court on same-sex marriage, they think that shows
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he's a man of principle and he's willing to take the blow for what he believes. and that's really the attraction of roy moore. and i'm not sure any ad could ever peel away voters from moore's base at this point. >> i guess the question is, could moore -- what's your sense of what's number one. what does brooks and what do brooks' supporters do. he's pretty angry at mcconnell. and i don't think he thinks much of strange. >> that's one of the questions i tried to answer. and the answer that i've been getting on where do brooks' supporters go, assuming that he does come in third, is that they will probably gravitate to moore. you can argue the huntsville area voters, who for brooks, that's their local congressman. huntsville being an area relying on the federal government working. but the rest of the state, i mean, if mitch mcconnell is pounding mo brooks on air and -- why would you go around and vote
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for mitch mcconnell's guy, luther strange? we'll see what happens, but it's hard to see a huge chunk of the brooks voters going to strange. >> i've got to ask, if roy moore is the nominee, and doug jones, the former u.s. attorney, who has his own professional, a decent resume and does get this nomination and overcomes the bobby kennedy jr. challenge, in his side, should we legitimately say, december would be a very competitive race between roy moore and a democrat like doug jones? >> maybe. the major thing to look at with moore is if he becomes the stand-in for donald trump in the minds of republican voters. if he does, then the republicans are probably in good shape. but physical trump's popularity continues to fall nationwide and maybe drags down in alabama, if moore struggles with fund-raising, continues into a general election, and if jones ends up mounting a decent campaign where he can attract
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the suburban women that generally don't vote for moore, this could be very interesting. >> all right. brian, seung min kim, good news for both of you, there's more alabama senate to cover that we know. we'll have much more on president trump's impromptu news conference, a news conference that may live in presidential infamy. we'll be right back. >> many of those people were there to protest that taking down of the statue of robert e. lee. so this week it's robert e. lee. i notice that stonewall jackson's coming down. i wonder, is it george washington next week and thomas jefferson the week after. you have to ask yourself, where does it stop. but they were there to protest -- excuse me -- you take a look at the night before, they were there to protest the talking down of the statue to have robert e. lee.
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i realize that ah, that $100k is notwell, a 103fortune. yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who think $100k is just pocket change. right now we're just talking to you. i told you we had a fortune. yes, you did. getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today. mr. mccain said that the alt-right is behind these
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attacks. and he linked that same group to those who perpetrated the attack in charlottesville. >> well, i don't know -- i can't tell you. i'm sure senator mccain must know what he's talking about, but when you say the alt-right, define alt-right to me. you define it. go ahead. no, define it for me. go ahead. let's go. >> senator mccain defined them as the same group -- >> what about the alt-left that came charging -- excuse me. what about the alt-left that came charging at the -- as you say, at the alt-right. do they have any semibalanblanc guilt? >> there it is. the both-cidesiderisms on that front. he is trying to create a rationa rational for why there was violence on the right. >> this is stuff you would see on the internet comments on a
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blog post and we have this from the president of the united states. and usually a president ends up taking what americans hold true in order to try to be a unifying voice or beacon. and having the president who basically seem like he's an internet commenter who is in your twitter mentions saying what about this or what about that. >> here he was trashing steve bannon on one hand but he was channelling that ideology. he wants to see the elites burn. he wants to see what we have now burn down. it's like burn it all down. that's ha it feels like he's endorsing. let's have this fight raw and out in the open. >> you wonder who he spoke to today that caused him to go out and say the things he said. he seemed unhinged to me. it was a really tough moment for
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steve bannon. we've had these stories about steve bannon's exit from the white house. today it felt like for the first time the president is really seriously thinking about it. >> there he is but at the same time bannon's influence never been greater. here is a bit more from the president. donna i'll get you in here. >> i think they've gotten better. they've been frayed for a long time. you can ask president obama about that. he makes speeches about it. i believe that the fact that i brought in, it will be soon, millions of jobs. i think that will have a tremendous positive impact on race relations. >> donna. >> it's just so hard to process. i can only concludes the president believes this. this isn't something he's
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channelling. it's not information he's akwariakwar i -- akwcquirining from someone . it's going to take the republican party down if they don't step away. this is a hole down which you can't go. to have the president of the united states sidie ining with and neo-nazis. to down play the death of a woman who was there in peace. i think it's not acceptable. i don't know where it goes from here unless the republican party decides that it wants to take its party back. >> the odd thing is he did condemn them. he said it multiple times. there's no place for them. >> that's the problem now.
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did he mean it? >> this was another missed opportunity by the president to unify the country. it's one thing to say -- >> do you think he wants to? >> well, it's an open question based on his behavior today and in other instances. wooe >> i hold out that hope every single time. >> i hope he does. certainly, this was not the way to do it. he is worse causing more division. you're going to see more of these rallies because some of these individuals are now embolden because what the leader of the free world said it's okay for them to stand at these statues and chant these hateful things. >> national review came out today. i remember rich on the show sunday said hinted this is where his head is at. if these confederate memorials
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will be magnets then maybe it's time for them to ship them to museums. they speak as one. ship them to museums and cemeteries, period. >> the statues point, you mentioned at the beginning, he was conflating confederate s statues with revolutionary war. they are two completely different things here. >> one is about a country that no longer exists, period. let that country doesn't exist. >> we're celebrating people who wanted to take down the united states of the america. >> it's been one of the odder juxtapositions. >> i looked at this and said what what is he celebrating. i drove through the south and i could see the statues all over the place and the confederate flags are all over the place. it's time for our leader to say
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that's not acceptable. he's unwilling to. >> what is nikki haley thinking now? she took a brave stand in south carolina and the following. this was not necessarily an easy call. political politically, if you're going to look at it at a pure political place. >> this isn't advice she's giving him. >> this is not who she is. do you think we start to see z rerez resignation ps? >> i don't know. i don't know if you'll see people resign over this. there's got to be people thinking about it. it's pretty uncomfortable. >> the first thing to go is these little councils. they are making, we're up to five ceos. they just got out. >> they are making a business decision. they cannot afford for their market to be jeopardized by this
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president who, as you said, is completely unhinged. >> shouldn't that be a message to him? >> this is why i find this dumbfoundsing because you think at some level even let's assume the worse. he has these thoughts. he should be smart enough to understand the reaction. >> there you go. i have to leave it there. thank you. we'll be right back. much more from this impromptu presidential news conference that will probably go down in history for all the wrong reasons. hey, i've got the trend analysis.
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hey. hi. hi. you guys going to the company picnic this weekend? picnics are delightful. oh, wish we could. but we're stuck here catching up on claims. but we just compared historical claims to coverages. but we have those new audits. my natural language api can help us score those by noon. great. see you guys there. we would not miss it. watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. i love to learn. watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. super cool notebooks... done. that's mom taking care of business, but who takes care of mom? office depot/office max. order online and pickup in store in just one hour. ♪ taking care of business and life's beautiful moments.ns get between you flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. it helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. flonase changes everything.
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in case you missed it, you can watch the entire president trump news conference unfold. that's just ahead on the beat with ari melber which starts right now. if you haven't seen it, you won't believe what you hear. >> that's a fair statement. it's a significant event we're going to show. president trump giving his new and detailed view. he defended some attendees of this rally. he blamed some liberals for the violence and contradicted his own justice department. there are people trying to divide america right now with violence. here is the president's answer. >> you had a group on one side and you had a group on the other and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and horrible. it was a horrible thing to watch. there is another side. there was a group on this side, you can callhe
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