time. my thanks to the reverend al, to jeffrey pollack, everyone that joined us during our hour. that does it for us. i'm nicolle wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. >> well, if it's friday, president trump is facing two storms. tonight irreconcilable differences. who wince in the president's parent divorce from his party and whose party is it any way? plus, tracking hurricane harvey. >> texas is about to have a very significant disaster. >> we'll have the latest forecast as the biggest storm to hit the u.s. in more than a decade barrels towards the texas coast. and lessons from katrina. we'll talk to former fema director michael brown about the potential pitfalls of disaster response. >> what everyone is focused on right now is ensuring that we do all we can to protect life. >> this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now.

good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington and welcome to "mtp daily." as the president is battles a political storm in his own party he's also facing a literal storm off the coast of texas. we're going to get into all the big political developments today in just a minute. but first let's get the latest on this dangerous storm harvey. it is on the verge of reaching the texas coastline. harvey is almost guaranteed to be the first major hurricane to hit the united states in over a decade. it is expected to bring major winds and storm surge with historic rainfall over the next few days. in fact, harvey is predicted to make landfall tonight as a category 3 storms with winds over 111 nirp. and it should reach just east of corpus christi around 1:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning. obviously where it hits matters a lot on the potential damage there. more than 700,000 people are under a hurricane warning and

almost under 8 million are under a tropical warning. people in the storm zone are not going to be out of the woods after the hurricane makes landfall. current models expect it to linger over the texas coast and continue up the shoreline toward houston in the coming days. that are no evacuation orders for the city of houston. but think about this, cleanup is going to be much harder if it continues to rain for days. so flooding and rainfall may be what makes harvey an historic storm. some areas could see up to three feet of rain by the time the storm is done. texas governor greg abbott says the flooding will make harvey extremely dangerous across his state. >> it's a hurricane that's going to prove more dangerous than many hurricanes. not only are we going to be dealing with the high winds that typically come with what should be a category 3 hurricane, but we are going to be dealing with immense really record-setting flooding and multiple regions

across the state of texas. >> we've got this storm covered and a number of angles. let's check in with catie beck. and then nbc news meteorologist shannon mendiola. let me start down in copperous. on obviously, cratey, the concern is where exactly did this show comma shore, a few ticks east or west it's a type of damage. is everybody ready? >> i think at this point everybody is ready, chuck, as you know there wasn't mandatory evacuation orders here in corpus christi but take a look at these streets. it is an absolute ghost town here. this is downtown corpus christi where you can see the wind gusts already pushing that rain down this empty street. we can see some debris already gathering on the side of the roads, some tree bark and boxes, litter. this is going to bring damage one way or the other.

wind gusts are supposed to be up to 120 miles an hour when harvey makes landfall here around 1:00 a.m. but as you can see, people really did heed this warning. they did take it seriously and they got out of town. there really isn't a single car on the road. every business is closed. many of them boarded up. but as we said, this is going to make landfall at 1:00 a.m., and then, unfortunately, for these folks, it's not the worst over. this is going to hang out for a couple of days, stall over texas and dump rain, up to three feet of rain on this area, and that's going to be significant and catastrophic damage for the folks here. >> cratey, iment to just check in with you. did you say there was not a mandatory evacuation order issued for corpus christi and if so why not? >> there was not. there was not. and the mayor said basically when you do something like that, you've got to evacuate every single hospital. you've got to take into consideration the business community. there are some folks that are

questioning that decision tonight, whether or not that was the right call. the mayor spoke earlier and said he firmly believed that it was. well, we'll see how that pans out when the storm makes landfall hopefully, you know, the results will be what he suspects and people, you know, will have left town that needed to. but certainly an interesting decision given the fact that this storm has continued to intensify over the last couple of hours and it's been somewhat unpredictable. >> that's for sure. i mean, this thing in some way came out of nowhere to some folks. thanks very much. >> let me go to our nbc headquarters there. shanna mendiola, our meteorologist. two questions i have for you, number one is obviously the bigger issue with this storm is the fact that it's just going to linger and drop all sorts of rain. how bad is this? we see the words catastrophic get thrown around. how often does that word get thrown around by meteorologists? >> well, you know, we don't like to emphasize things that are

over hyped. we like to just tell people what we know. and the last time we heard wording like that from the national weather service was when we had katrina. things have strength end. category 3 storm now right off the coast and as it does make landfall we'll continue to see that. now it's 70 miles off the coastline of corpus christi so getting closer and closer as we head into the evening hours here. we're on east coast time and we do expect it to make landfall in texas around 1. again, flooding is possible. that high surge could be devastating. again, it's a category 3 storm. we'll take you closer to the track. a lot of rain embedded within this storm. and as we had mentioned, it is a continuance storm for several days. it's not something that's going to move on being drawn by a steering mechanism like a high or a low that we usually get. right now there's a locking high in place on the west coast that's keeping it in place there and a high on the east.

so it's just mee an derg and little going to bring a lot of rain, that wipd, that storm surge, all throughout texas. houston even, a lot of problems there with infrastructure and draining. so they get a lot of flooding when there's a rain, but going to be a lot of rain for several days, maybe up until wednesday now. that's what we're looking at. and as we talk about the current look of the severe storm we've got tornado warnings right now through galveston and the coast of texas. this will last through 2:00 a.m. right when that storm is making landfall. so we're watching this very, very closely. >> i've got to ask you one other question here, shanna. i grew up in florida. all floridians think they're amateur meet olgsz. this storm came fast, developed so quickly it looked like it was never going to develop. it was sort of lingering off the mexico coast. what made it form so quickly and powerfulel. >> we have ate lot of warm water off the coast. we didn't expect it to be this way. we had the models going all over the place. thought it might have just

stayed as a category one storm of the but in the span of hours we got word that it was going to strengthen and become a category 3 storm and that's when we really got alerted and the fact that there was no steering mechanism within the storm allowed it to really gain strength and pull that warm water into the system, getting stronger and stronger. and it's a slow moving storm as well, so that's what we're talking about. a slow moving storm that's producing pay lot of rain over a widespread area causing flooding. storm surge off the coast, pushing more water inland. so we're talking water water water, wind as well. lots of issues here. and i'm glad to hear that a lot of people have been evacuating because that's what we're trying to get people to know to prepare for this. it is going to be possibly life-threatening. >> all right. shanna at nbc headquarters. thanks very much. as we mentioned earlier, harvey will be the first major national zas irunder president trump's tenure here. moments like this can make or break a president. chuck grassley tweeted this morning. keep on top of hurricane harvey

don't make the same mistake president bush made. the white house said the president expects to visit texas next week after the storm dissipates. >> his entire focus has been on making american great again. he is focused on the americans that voted him into office. he's focused on the americans that didn't vote him spew officials. he's focused on effecting positive change this this country and when we go in and brief him on the preparations for this hurricane, he is acutely focused -- which is the right thing, by the way, the americans in the path have what they need. >> the president tweeted a photo on the briefing this morning. >> have you heard from the white house? >> yes. just spoke with the president not even an hour ago. we have been fully engaged with the white house on multiple occasions. >> and when you spoke to the president, what did he say? >> he's given me full authority in conjunction with the department of homeland security

to coordinate the federal assets down to the state and local level as soon as we are called upon. >> the department of homeland security is without a secretary after john kelly took over as white house chief of staff. there is a fema administer but the president hasn't appointed anyone to the key position of deputy administer and preparedness. there are acting deputies filling both of those roles. joining me now is michael brown. he's a former fema administer during hurricane katrina. thanks for coming on. >> my pleasure, chuck. good to see you. >> nice to see you. look, for better or worse you became a phrase i guess lives in infamily with you with president bush. you wrote an op-ed today that a lot of people should read urging president trump, i guess you're trying to have him not make the

same mistakes president bush did but you don't quite put it in that way. use your bully pulpit. it's very powerful. explain. >> who is a great guy, eye good guy. he used to work at the national hurricane center for me when i was the under secretary. you heard tom boss saturday who used to work for many when i was the fema director. they've told the president what they're doing. the president has asked questions. hooer is what i've not heard that kind of fits in what senator grassley said. has the president said to the cabinet, has he said to them, look, we have potentially and when i hear the national hurricane center use the word catastrophic my ears perk up and i pay attention. has the president of the united states said to his cabinet when brock long says i need x, whatever x might be, let's just

use for the sake of argument five black hawk helicopters, when he asks for those, you give them five black hawk helicopters. you don't ask questions. you don't debate it back at d.c. you don't argue about who is going to pay for what. you just do it. and so my op-ed -- because this was pay problem i had in katrina. you would ask for something. that would go up the chain back to d.c. and then a bunch of cabinet secretaries or deputy secretaries would argue about, well, does he really need it? well, let me tell you, brock long is the guy that knows what he needs. so the president needs to make certain that he uses that bully pulpit to tell the cabinet when fema asks for something, give it to them. >> you know, look, it sounds like you're having flashbacks of some sort both because of the way this storm is being described. and i think. >> yes. >> it seems to me what really hampered the response or the perception of your response in katrina was not the first 48

hours. it was the next 72 or the next 96. >> yes. >> and this seems like a storm where it's the next 96 that's going to make or break this administration. >> well, let me give you an example that nobody else is talking about. and houston knows this, so i think houston is paying attention to it. one of the most expensive disasters in american history was a hurricane that we were going to call allison and then when allison made landfall it turned into a tropical storm, but it caused more, truly catastrophic flooding damage in harris county in the city of houston than almost any other storm, maybe with the exception of the hurricane that destroyed galveston. so this storm, if it does what the national hurricane center and other people are saying, it moves inland, it slows down, it maybe, you know, kind of kbloeds to a tropical to remember, it's going to sit there. and you and i have both heard forecasts of 35, 40 inches of

rain. that's catastrophic. you're absolutely right. i agree, people should be going to dallas, austin, san san tone. get out of dodge. i agree with that. but they should also be focusing that the real danger of this storm is the flooding and the storm surge. we won't see that until maybe sunday or monday. so focus on that too. >> all right. you're writing in this op-ed, i feel like you're almost trying to warn the president, this is going to be a problem for you. what is has he not done right now? is there an executive order he needs to sign right now that basically says, hey, look, fema gets what it wants from these cabinet secretaries or creates an immediate working group that allows this stuff to move faster? is this something he can do now before the storm hits or do you still have to burkly wait until after. >> no. it's something sec do now. he doesn't need an executive

order. he doesn't need anything. what i would encourage the president to do. i think he's at camp david right now is he should call every cabinet security and get them on a secure conference call and he should read them the rye on the act and it should basically be brock long is my personal representative in this disaster. whatever he asks for, you give it to him. and if i hear any of you bickering about, well, is he really need this or that, no. he's the guy in charge. give him what he needs. that's what the president should do. it doesn't have to be public -- >> so is it fair to say the biggest lesson you take away from katrina is that president bush had been nor emphatic that with a with his cabinet, that would have saved lives? >> yes. well, yes, because i will tell you historically overtime what we see from intrepid reporters actually doing reporting on katrina, they find that things that i asked for, things that i actually signed we call them mission assignments, and i would sign these mission assignments and hand them off to my federal coordinating officer that would

requisition certain assets, those things got lost in a bureaucratic mooir that so this day 12 years later we don't know what the hell happened to them. all i'm saying is use that bully pulpit. you and i both know president trump loves a bully pulpit. you don't have to do it publicly, but get the cabinet together on a conference call and tell them, look, we've seen what hurricane andrew did to president bush 4 is. we saw what katrina did to bush 43. we see the criticisms of obama in super storm sandy. these kinds of disasters can make or break a presidency. they can establish the narrative. so get ahead of it now and, frankly, getting ahead of it is not just good politics. it's actually saving looifrsz and doing what you're supposed to do. >> interesting note to had end on there. michael brown, former fema director joining us this afternoon. i appreciate it. >> stay with misnin and nbc news.com into the night as

hurricane harvey approaches landfall. we've got folks all over the region there doing firsthand reporting and everything. up next is president trump filing for divorce from the republican party? and if so, who gets custody of the party? we'll be right back. you don't let anything lkeep you sidelined. come on! that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals... for the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you.

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welcome back. some potentially blockbuster news out of the white house this afternoon. nbc news is reporting according to several government officials that president trump appears likely to pull the plug on what's known as dak a. that is the obama era program that allows young people who were brought to the united states illegally as children to remain in the united states. as many as 1 million of these immigrants could be impacted by this decision. administration officials say the department of homeland security sent a recommendation to the white house earlier this week on what to do and how to implement it. and attorney general jeff sessions discussed the program with senior officials thursday at the white house. sessions has been a consistent opponent of the program.

president trump is said to be weighing whether to let it gradually expire or end the program immediately. but the official said it is not yet clear which option trump may choose. but we do know this. he's leaning toward ending the program either quickly or gradual. with we'll have more "mtp daily" in 60 seconds. precisely conforms to your body. you get up to twice as much pressure relieving power, so you won't toss and turn. and tempur-pedic is the best at minimizing motion transfer from your partner. you'll sleep deeply... and wake up, feeling powerful. now through september 17th, save up to $500 on select adjustable sets. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com and when youod sugar is a replace one meal... choices. ...or snack a day with glucerna... ...made with carbsteady... ...to help minimize blood sugar spikes... ...you can really feel it. now with 30% less carbs and sugars. glucerna.

welcome back, folks. last week after charlottesville some were wondering if the president had any interest in repairing the frayed relationship with his own party. and this being week he answered that question, no. instead he and some in the white house seemed to pour gas on the fire, kind of like this. >> believe me, we have to close down our government, we're building that wall. >> i don't think a government shutdown is necessary and i don't think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included. >> or like this. >> nobody wants me to talk about your other senator, who is weak on borders, weak on crime. so i won't talk about him. >> why why are you guys having so many problems?

>> i don't know. you know, i will vote and wo, with the president when i believe that he's right, and i'll challenge him when i believe that he's wrong. >> or like this. >> the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. >> i think that's a ridiculous and outrageous claim and doesn't dignify a response from this podium. >> and that's just the tip of the iceberg. just this week today the white house slammed the gop controlled congress as all talk and no action. over the past few days the president has blasted mcconnell for failing to pass religious lags to repeal obamacare. more than a week after senator corker said what he did, the president today claimed corker's home state of tennessee isn't happy with him.

mr. trump also suggested that corker may not run for re-election in 2018. senator corker has not responded, but we're seeing plenty of other republican senators peak sg out. on monday senator susan collins said it's too difficult to say whether the president would be the nominee. mcconnell is reportedly doubting whether or not trump can salvage the lee marnd of his presidency. can it work for president trump? let's bring in tonight's panel. all right. ramesh, donald trump and the republican congressional republican leadership are headed to divorce court, but i think the question is who gets the party? >> i think it's always been a troubled relationship, chuck. look, i think the frustration here with the senate republicans is i think they understand that trump is the person who has more support in the grassroots of the

party. if there is a serious fight between the two of them, more republican voters are going to side with trump than are going to side with mitch mcconnell and paul ryan. but trump can't get anything done in congress without the congressional republicans. so the question is at what point has trump just -- does trump just give up on getting anything done in congress and just decide he, a, enjoys and b, can have some political profit from having a constant fight with these guys. he's not even talking the democrats any more, which is really interesting. >> has he decided to run for re-election. >> i don't think he's decided that yet. he's an impulsive president, but if you look at -- picking this fight right now before he's headed into a fall where he has to do -- maybe he doesn't want to govern any more and do the big ticket items that he said he wanted to do. there are things they actually have to do and that fund the government and raise the debt limit and those sorts of things. and picking this fight now just makes all of that so much more

complicated. >> could you, if you could ask the president to attack republican senators this much, would you be asking him to do that? eye look at here and i'm sitting here going could the left have come up with a better scenario than the leader of the republican party attacking everybody who is on the ballot in the midterms. >> i mean, he is right. he's more popular than those folks. the big question in 2018 is who turns out. he's telling the base republicans there is no reason for you to turn out in 2018 because these people don't do anything. so, i mean, to pass any major legislation, you need a president to be engaged, let alone attacking you. so i mean, it's hard to imagine how after this he can actually get a tax plan through, even though that's usually what they agree on. but all of them -- all of these things take hard decisions by someone to make. and he refuses to make them, and they have no air cover from him. i mean, he's obviously -- it's not air cover. he's bombing his own troops. >> look, i take your point,

ramesh, which is i think these lawmakers aren't stupid. they take their own polls and they realize they're less popular than the ptd. and yet they're fearful of the direction of the party that he's taking them. taimt, he's got a mob that's walking with him. what do you do? >> well, and another complicating factor as they make these decisions is they don't trust that he will be there for him if they do back him up. there's a new report that trump will back away from -- >> somehow i have a feel he'll blame mitch mcconnell for that. >> they will be foils if something happens to them and he won't necessarily lift a finger from anything happening to them. >> that's the thing. trump has been about the brand, his own brand. he's not about the republican party. it's true if they do everything that he wants them to do he's shown in the past that he won't necessarily stick with them. >> one of the reasons why he won

is because he said he could change washington. if he comes through and has two years, four years that he hasn't accomplished anything he already can't pass healthcare reform, if he can't handle the government well, can't accomplish these things he promised, he will look like a typical politician to those same voters. maybe not now, but in months to come that he will be susceptible. he didn't do anything for you. i promised you all these things and he didn't deliver. >> haflkt he already set up his excuse in bill clinton ran against congress, it is weirder. this president may run against his own party against the congressional obstructionists. there is -- >> it is an election between now and the neck presidential one. it's 2018. it's 34 governor races, a huge number. he is telling people stay home. he's telling republicans take home. >> that's the thing that i've been wondering. if you look at what trump is doing he's doing what barak

obama did after 2011. he's already thinking about pivoting away from engaging washington. and, you know, president obama made that decision far later. and so it's -- we just haven't seen this sort of early -- >> that's the part of this that seems to disconcerting. it does seem awfully early to just say it's over. >> right. you know, we often talk about trump voters as though there's nothing trump can do to alienate them. they're with him through thick and thin. that's not true of all trump voters. it does appear that some strong supporters have become weak and some of have floated away from him over the last few months. there is a potential problem for him here. his own pollster this week was touting a poll that had him way ahead of other people in the republican presidential parties but ont at 50% which is actually a path etic number tore a republican at this stage. >> this to me goes back to the border wall. and he's not wrong about this.

i think the president views the border is symbolic of whether he can keep a promise. he can break every other promise he made on the campaign trail, but if he breaks that unwith, it's the most synonymous. it seems like he instinctively thinks that. >> it was his one big thing and it cut across not just republican, core republican voters but it was part of what brought in some of those mid western voters that put him over the top. but he's running -- and it's also -- you know, i think he thought he would have pay better shot pat this because it's border security and the republicans are all about -- but you can see republicans say saying, you know, not necessarily. but it is the one -- it is the one thing that he's really -- he said health care, you know, whatever. >> it's symbolic. >> it's part of his brand. >> it's his brand. health care belongs to the republican party and congressional republicans. he owns the wall and he knows it. >> i guess. i know this is like really complicated, but, you know, if you're trying to pass a bill and

democrats have leverage in the appropriations process, the thing to do is strengthen the leverage of republicans, not viciously attack them. and, i mean, he's weakening the hand of republicans day by day in the negotiationsment he's strength he can the hand of democrats. i mean, generally that's not how you accomplish your goals, but -- >> you are speaking almost verbatim what i think the chiefs of staff of both mitch mcconnell and paul ryan are saying too mark short over at the white house. stop strengthening nancy pelosi i's hand. president trump is no republican so says a former republican senator. i'm going to talk to him next. and if it's sunday, i'm going to have much more on president trump fighting with his own party and whether the democrats stand for anything beyond not being trump. we'll be right back. ♪

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gather has not held back how he feels about the situation. he's been very open and honest and so i don't think that anyone was surprised by the comments. >> welcome back to "mtp daily." that was white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders today responding to an interview that the president's chief economic adviser, gary cohn, gave to the financial times. in an extensive q and a, cone tells the financial times the following, quote, i have come under enormous pressure both to resign ask to remain in my current position. as a patriotic american i am reluck at any time to leave my post. as a jewish american to cause

this jew to leave his job. kohn said the administration can and must do better in consistently and uneclifically condemning white supreme kisz and the kkk. had he did draflt a resignation letter last week because he was so upset by the president's response to charlottesville, but he did not submit the letter. the letter, bay the way, was first reported by "the new york times." we'll be right back. switch to flonase allergy relief. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. when we breathe in allergens, our bodies react by overproducing 6 key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. flonase helps block 6. most allergy pills only block one and 6 is greater than 1. with more complete relief you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6 is greater than 1 changes everything. i was playing golf a couple days ago... love golf. and my friend mentioned a tip a pro gave her. did it help? it completely ruined my game. that advice was never meant for you.

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welcome back. as we mentioned earlier, we are seeing an unprecedent i guess you can call it a war being waged between the president and members of his own party. today one of the republican party's elder statesman john dan forth joined the fight with some blistering remarks on the president. in an op-ed published in today's washington post, dan forth oorg uz that our party has been corrupted by this hateful man and it is now imperiled.

dan forth goes on to say that the president has no interest in uniting the country. he describes mr. trump as the most divisive president ever, since george wallace. it's an blooebl op-ed. and mr. dan forth joins me now. he served in the senate for nearly two decades. he was ambassador in the united nations among other things. he's been an envoy for multiple administrations. welcome to the show, sir. >> thank you very much. >> you're not somebody that uses hyperbole very often, so, you know, most politicians are good at that. you don't. i have to say i was just floored to hear you say he's the most divisive person in american politics since george wallace. i imagine that wasn't a tough thing to say about a fellow republican. >> no. i think it's obvious. i mean, if you have a contest, name the most divisive president in history, who else would be competing with this guy? so, no, i think it's absolutely clear. and i think that's the issue. i mean, a lot of people when

they talk about trump say, well, we're for this particular policy or we're against this particular policy. it's beyond that. it's about the basic function of government. the basic function of government is keep this large, complex country together as one nation. and trump is the opposite. he's dividing us up, and it's the options of what the republican party has been historically. it's an attempted redefinition of the republican party, and we republicans cannot let that happen. >> so what do you do? you said we republicans have to dissociate themselves from donald trump. you've seen the polls. we've gone through this. there are more people who identify as a republican who are essentially taking trump's side over the establishment wing of the party on these issues. >> well, maybe so, but i think that if you were to ask a lot of

republicans, what do you think of donald trump, what do you think of this divisiveness? what do you think of a president who day after day sets one group against everybody else and the country against one group? i think most people would say, no, that is not right. it's not what america is all about. we are supposed to be, you know, one nation under guard indivisible, not a fractured country. and we are fractured in many ways. but we have a president who is building on that and making it worse. and the point that i tried to make in this opinion piece is that for the future of the country and for the future of the republican party, we cannot let our party be identified with donald trump. >> so, okay. practically you served in the senate. what would you urge your now former republican colleagues to do? those that agree with you, and you know there's a big chunk of

senate republicans in particular who are now speaking out, are very concerned. what would you have them do besides speak out? >> no. i think speaking out is the essence of it. i don't think it's, you know, one vote or another or trying to punish the president legislatively or, you know, make his existence as president a living hell. i'm not for doing that. i think that's the problem with the democrats right now. you've got in the senate 48 votes that are against everything. so, no, i'm not for that at all. but i really think the audience is the american people, and what's important for republicans to do is to say very clearly and repeatedly that we are not donald trump. >> that does end up dividing the party and you do know how he reacts. and he responds. it becomes very personal. he goes after anybody that has spoken out against him. see jeff flake. as you know, politicians

sometimes when they see the power of a negative hit, they cower. >> yeah. i think -- you know, i mean, really i think practically this is harder for people who are now in elect active politics than it is for somebody like me. i'm out of it, have been for a considerable period of time. but for somebody running for office and they think this is part of my base, i think that is harder for them. so maybe as a practical matter the clearest voice is going to be from people who are active republicans, but who are not running for office. harder for them maybe to get the attention than somebody in elect active office, but i do think that one way or another the message has to be clear, because if the american people do identify the republican party for donald trump with donald trump, our goose is cooked. i mean, people are going to say well, 35% are rock solid behind

trump. a party that has 35% of the vote is not going to get very far. so i think it's just a matter of electoral politics. we're not going to do very well if we identify with trump. but it's more important than the results of a particular election. this has to do with what government is for, the basic purpose of government, the basic history of the republican party. >> i guess i go back to what now? i mean, i feel like we're stuck. what you've described, i think you're not alone in that description. you've got -- it does seem as if we're, i guess, paralyzed as a country because we're not -- that the president isn't speaking in those unified tones. so if not him, can a group of you make up for it? >> yeah. i mean, i think we've got to. it's the best we can do. i also want to say that this is not just trump. i mean, trump is the divider in chief in our country. there's no doubt about that.

but divisive politics, the fracturing of the country, polarization, that extends far beyond donald trump. so i think if the american people took it upon themselves to say, you know, we have to be one nation, we have to be a country that holds ourselves together. we have to have a politics designed to hold this together, not one that just plays to our resentments and makes us hate one another. i think that that's the key message. and politicians do listen. i mean, if that's the message they're going to get from the american people, they will hear that message. >> all right. senator john dan forth, legendary senator. always seen by many as one of the conscious of the senate back in the day. sir, thanks for coming on and sharing your views and writing your op-ed. >> thank you. >> coming up, my cherry picked obsession of the day. we'll have it right here.

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and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you time for the lid. john kasich could team up on a 2020 presidential bid. the pair have been making sop joint appearances.

the governor tweeted not a unity ticket, just working with a friend on hard compromises. okay. paj is back. it's interesting you have don saying the republican party has to repudiate donald trump. you have john kasich letting it out there that he might think about running as a third party. are we coming close to where, i know we think this stuff is never viable, never viable, is there actually a constituency for some sort of independent now because of where the parties are headed. >> it's far likely you'll have a challenger or a series than a successful inspedependent run. trump has up ended politics. who know what is will happen. i do think there are ripples that we are continuing to feel from what happened last week because we have a president of

the united states who has did something no president has done which was take the side of what was considered the holy grail of politics which was to repudiate white supremacists. i wait for the moment where republicans who are in office actually say, this is the lieng in the sand. we will oppose. >> help our audience understand the significance of john d danforth doing what he did. >> he's a very respected republican figure. he still has a lot of sway in missouri politics. he was a moderate. i think he's voicing a sentiment that a lot of other republicans also feel. the problem is this idea that you're going to distance the republican party from its own sitting president is almost a contradiction in terms.

just doesn't have to do it. if you look at what the president is doing in terms of distancings himself from the establishment and sitting senators. what happens to that establishment. does it then move over to whatever is trying to break away from the trump branding of the republican party and that's much trickier. >> i feel like we're at a european moment. i think our country's politics wants to be multiparty but our system won't allow it. >> it's within the real m of possibility. sg

>> you have this debate every day when are republicans going to speak out. after last week it's really hard for republicans to actually make the argument that they are the ones. this last week is going to be thrown at paul ryan in the future when he makes those kinds of plans. not just now but where they are going to be two years, four years, six years from now. >> what is the end state of donald trump's politics and the republican party. >> let me go back to john kasich. it feels early to be running against him but he seems comfortable being in that role right now but i think it's smart for them to run the indy idea. >> i think it's going to be hard. i think the problem you have in that case as with the republicans who are reluctant to criticize trump is negative partisanship. even republicans who think there's something wrong with trump, they don't want to do

anything that's giving aid and comfort to the democrats. if you run against in the primary, that's the problem you'll run up against and that may lead some people to try to make an independent run. >> we're seven months in and this is where things are. what happens in four months. who knows what the president will say or do. >> president obama's pollster was not putting out numbers showing that 50% was like a great mark in august of 2009. it does tell you that things are not looking so great for him even within the party. >> i will just say that. everybody who thinks the third party idea is crazy, everybody thought donald trump getting elected was crazy. >> fair. >> we'll have a lot more. this sunday on meet the press. ohio governor john kasich will be among my guests. we'll be right back with a story that's so out of the this world it would eclipse the eclipse. discover card.

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we have some fake news for you. not the russian kind or the kind president trump complains out. in 1835, word came of discovery of life on the moon. that came to us from the new york sun newspaper which reported of evidence, among other things, the presence of unicor unicorns, two legged beavers and furry winged humanoids.

what became known as the great moon hoax was to poke fun at speculation of life on the moon. there you have it. a story about the sun, the moon and the world all in one place. that way if you missed it, try to find that on another cable network. that's all for tonight. i'm mangle more next week. tune in this sunday for meet the press on your local nbc station. we'll be back monday. the beat with ari melber starts now. good evening. >> good evening. we'll be watching meet the press this sunday. thank you very much. it's another friday night and again we're reporting on breaking friday night news on the trump russia inquiry. new reports breaking from nbc and a separate story in the wall street journal. we're monitoring this hurricane heading towards texas. officials at this hour advising evacuation. we have a report from the ground on the beat tonight. that is later. our top story is these two breaking reports tonight on