michael steel, jonathan swan for taking the time to be here with us today. that does it for this hour. "meet the press" daily starts now. hi, chuck. >> hey, casey. nice work, hon. good stuff. >> appreciate it. >> all right. good. well, anyway, if it's wednesday, the president tries to split screen the news. tonight, the president in focus. >> if we care for and support each other and love each other, then we will truly make america great again. >> how do trump voters judge the president after all the item ultimate of this half year. >> he is exactly what this specific time in history in this country you would expect from a president. >> he's not even professional let alone presidential. >> plus, tracking harvey. more cities and towns get

slammed with rainfall of biblical proportions. as the rescues continue. >> we're receiving over a thousand calls per hour. so we are not out of this by any long stretch yet. >> now up to our highest level of the number of texas national guard mebds. >> and finally, some relief for the flood zone. >> and i'm hoping that people at the federal level, at the very top will understand that this was catastrophic. >> will the storm survivors fall victim to dysfunction in washington as congress makes its return? this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. welcome to "mtp daily." i'm chuck todd here in washington. we have a lot of politics to get to tonight, including the president pitching tax reform in the midst of a natural disaster. we want to start with the traj itself, continuing to unfold on

the gulf coast where as the governor of texas said today, the world is not over yet. all eyes are on places like beaumont, texas and port arthur texas right now, where there are fears the flooding could be even more catastrophic than it is in houston. you can see some of the remarkable flood waters in beaumont in these photos. beaumont has been directly in the storm's cross hairs, in the last few hours dumping an historic amount of rain. 26 inches of rainfall in 24 hours, which was double their previous record. all told beaumont has received 50 inches of rain that houston had received. president trump mentioned the people of texas at a speech today in missouri. >> i was on the ground in texas yesterday to meet with governor abbott, who is doing, by the way, an incredible job, and local officials so that we could coordinate the very big and

unprecedented federal response. to the people of houston and across texas and louisiana, we are here with you today. we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you every single day after. >> most roads into beaumont are impassable, folks. first responders are having to use helicopters in order to get into the city. joining me now on the phone is the mayor of beaumont, texas, becky aims. and becky, we've had a hard time all day just getting reporters into the city to try to tell some of this story and so people know, madam mayor, just it looks from what we've seen just horrendous. tell us what's going on. >> well, it is. however, our first responders and all of our support resources v done a tremendous job. we are right now in the process of continuing to rescue

nonemergent citizens. we started that at daybreak. we had stopped it at night fall last night due to the darkness, because it's so dangerous to do that. we've continued to rescue emergency victims, and they're just doing a great job. it's in the hundreds for sure. and a lot of this was done in the last few days without any assistance. so i have to take my hat off to our emergency operations team, who was the team -- i'm sorry. >> no, no. go ahead, please finish. >> i was just going to say it's the same team that was with me in 2008 when hurricane ike hit. i was the mayor then also. but this has been quite different. >> yeah. explain how it's been different. obviously, look, you didn't get hit by the type of wind that you dealt with last time, but this water, walk us through the difference. >> yeah. well, ike was a lot of water. it was rita that was a lot of wind.

that was before that in 2005. but the difference is the duration. we opened up our emergency operation center last wednesday and actually started actively working it on friday and rescuing people on sunday. and here we are still today. and so that's been the biggest difference. also different is with ike it came in and it left. and like i said, this one has stayed. but the bands of rain, you know, both hurricanes, which we did not get get hit by a hurricane. this was more of a rain event from the hurricane. but the real difference is, i think is the bands of rain. like we would see one street totally unwater and then two hours later it would be clear and then across town it was another one the same. so it has been -- in fact, people that i know that have done this for years and years have said they've never seen anything like this before.

and it's every part of the city. it's not north southeast or west. it is r single part of our city. >> right. we began this by talking about how roads in and out of the city are impassable. tell me about the city inside the city. are you seeing some relief where you can see some movement? >> oh, yes. and it's not that all of them are impassable. some of them are barricaded for reasons of people not coming in to drive through the waters just to look. and some are impassable too. but we have -- i mean, i've been in high-water vehicles for the last three, four days, and a lot of texans have their big pickup trucks which in a way we wish they didn't have because they're pushing water into homes. but, you know, a lot of people are riding around and looking around and seeing if they can do

the help, some are just look i lose as we call them. but the majority now are in major rescue mode. last night and yesterday were the worst. as you mentioned, the 26 inches. but the other days were pretty horrendous all on their own. it's still raining here now. >> you're getting am fibous vehicles from the marines. what more do you need from the federal government right now or any of the goth entities that are helping? >> i think the biggest thing that we've had is the coordination, just to make sure that in our emergency operations center we know what they're sending. some things have arrived and we're like kind of surprised. and i recognize how that could happen. i'm not being critical at all because it's been excellent. but it's just very hard to coordinate when you have that much going on around the city. and as you mentioned before too, the other issue is that we have not dealt with before is beaumont is the county seat of

jefferson county, and we serve several surrounding cities, very, very small and medium size cities that have also been devastated. so it's not just our city. and you see people going through -- really and 2r50u8y, there's nowhere to go. as you know, this hurricane hit near corpus. it's mean derd on down and it's come back to us and now louisiana. so it's going all the way down the coast. if someone wants to go somewhere, there's no place to go. so our shelters are extremely important right now. >> i bet. all right. well, you've got a big job on your hands. we're all pulling for you and i'm sure hopefully people hearing this only want to help even more. so thanks very much. thanks for coming on. >> that is so nice. thank you for your support. bye-bye. >> you've got it. let me turn now to politics and

what is an exceedingly complicated time for the president. their overwhelming feeling, disappointment. they say mr. trump's presidency has been too focused on himself and not on the concerns of the voters that were -- he was elected to represent. >> a word or a feeling about donald trump, a word or a phrase. everybody ready? go. >> outrageous. >> dishonest. >> disappointed. >> nars cyst iic. >> an jekt disappointment. >> unique. >> not ready to be president. >> off the scale. >> crazy. >> completely unfit to be president. >> unbelievable. >> contemptible. >> folks, some of those people voted for president trump. they used words like outrageous, disappointment and crazy. those were trump voters that used those words. and remember, a crisis like what's happening in texas is going to test this president in a number of ways including his

ability to empathize, to be the consoler in chief. >> he is almost totally lacking in empathy. he cannot put himself in the other person's mock asince, whether it be racial or international or socioeconomic. he's incredibly obtuse. >> that's a great word. >> and i voted for him. >> trump voter. it can also be a test of the president's tempment, something the trump voters in this focus group say they've questioned since inauguration day. >> the thing that drives me crazy is all the tweeting he does. it drives me crazy because the television is on all the time, and it's why doesn't he just quit that tweeting. >> crazy. >> why? >> well, that was a lot of it, the tweeting. it has to stop. >> did you vote for him? >> unfortunately, yes. >> an jekt disappointment. extremely disappointed. >> you voted for him? >> yes, sir. >> okay. and why an jekt disappointment? >> because regardless of what he

truly wants to get done, whatever that may be, he has got to be his own worst enemy. he -- he couldn't be any worse at achieving goals in politics. >> let me reiterate. those are people who voted for president trump who are using those words. but it's not all bad news for the president. hiss supporters tell us it's still time for him to turn things around. >> this isn't the seventh inning stretch. but he really needs to get educated and go to town and start rolling in the direction that i voted for him for. >> i hope and i pray that he will make a paradigm shift. it's not likely, but it's like hoping the pilot of your plane has a heart attack because you don't like him. he is our president until and if he gets impeached. >> he hasn't lost my vote. i wouldn't change my vote, but i hope he makes changes in himself

to right the ship. >> to that end the president today traveled to springfield, missouri to give a speech about tax reform, which the white house is calling his biggest priority of the fall. big priority, he's pinning on congress. >> i am fully committed to working with congress to get this job done. and i don't want to be disappointed by congress. do you understand me? i think congress is going to make a come back. i hope so. tell you what, the why is is counting on it. >> folks, this trip to missouri and the speech on tax reform was scheduled before hurricane harvey hit the gulf and the white house chose not to change the schedule. but today's trip is likely to be seen in one of two ways. either it is completely over shadowed by the news out of texas and is therefore a waist of time and it didn't serve the purpose that it was meant to or it ends up getting attention for all the wrong reasons. and that we know from the focus group that some voters are

disappointed in all the talk. you've got a question whether keeping the speech on the schedule today was the right use of the president's time. with me now peter harp who has conducted that focus group. you saw him there. on behalf of emory university. and nbc news political carry dan was in pittsburg. watched it all. welcome to both of you. so peter, i think it's not the first time i've heard trump voters express well, i wish he would do this, do that. this was a level of disappointment that, and kerry and i discussed this. she said she discussed this with you, more than i expected. >> well, it's more than disappointment and it's want on specific things. it is about his behavior, his habits, the way in which he's running the office, how he sbe grates into the american public. he's just not there. and the public -- i mean, i've been doing this, as you know, 44 years of focus groups.

nine different presidents. i've never seen anything like last night. not in terms of people being unhappy with a chief executive, but in terms of being so disappointed with the way in which he approaches the office. and it is just an jekt horror as they looked at him. >> this is not about issues. >> exactly. >> this is not about some sort of ideological divide. >> uh-huh. and a few of these voters brought up sort of tangentially failure on health care. none of them brought up russia. all of them were talking about tone. they were talking about the way that trump addresses his voters, the people that selected him. you know, trump famously said i am going to represent the people of pittsburg, not paris. but these were folks in pittsburg saying this president doesn't speak for me. the issue of empathy that you talked about, that was not something that we heard -- peter did so many of these focus groups in 2000 16r. they were making some excuses for him. you know, with some issues about

his behavior. they didn't talk about this issue of empathy. now that he's in the office, i think these folks expected him to step up to embrace the job, to be a president of all people, and there's just so much disappointment from these particular voters that he's not doing that. >> now, look, i want to play another clip here. what do you give trump credit for was your question. here was one answer from one trump voter. >> programs he's salvageable because there is a germ of decency in him in regards to being america centric. >> he is exactly what this specific time in history in this country you would expect for a president to be. >> i think deep down inside he's trying. i don't always agree with the way he goes about it, but i think he does want this country to be great. maybe there's personal moeflks

for his businesses involved, but i truly think he wants this country to be the best it can be. >> all right. two things jumped out at me from two of those trump voters, peter. you had one there,ible the first one is tony. >> right. >> he introduced the idea, well, i don't know how long he's going to be president, whether he's impeached or not. that was a trump voter that said that. maybe there's personal motives for his businesses, but still this america first thing, maybe we can benefit too. to just speak that out. >> yep. it just tells you so much. first of all, he's embarrassed them as a president. this is not what they want and this is not what they expect. the second thing is they can't see him getting past sort of personally looking at everything through his own lens and what it means to me, and that's what these voters seem to be saying. and so they're suspect. they worry about him. and, yeah, on the other hand,

they hope that he can make the economy go. so he has something that is hidden in the tank for him. >> he's got one other thing, the president has and he discussed it in his speech. congress. i want to play the biggest complaints about congress from this focus group, and this is another thing that maybe president trump can grab on to. here is that. >> biggest complaint about congress is? >> being unable to cross across, you know party lines. >> biggest complaint, joyce. >> same thing. it's all bipartisan politics. >> biggest complaint, brian. >> they want to get re-elected and that's it. >> russell, biggest complaint. >> bipartisan politics. >> david, biggest kplapt. >> they're not getting anything done. >> that also united that group, democrats, liberals and conservatives. >> right. and well he certainly has a foil there and trump has effectively been able to point the finger in some respects. i mean, when peter asked about paul ryan, they said he's an tuneist. you haired about mitch mcconnell. you heard some of these voters speaking out about him being in

opposition to trump. so clearly there was an issue there. there was also a frustration that donald trump should be able to fix these things. they seem so obvious to us. address tone, listen to other people. surround yourself with people who know what they're talking about. these seemed like obvious solutions and they were frustrated that trump had not embraced them to date. >> if the ptd called you up would you say watch this focus group and let's have a conversation. >> obviously they have good people who are getting him information, but he just is tone testimony and that's what the voters see. they see america one place and him someplace else. he may be in trouble on certain issues, but what he's really in trouble on is his own personal demeanor and his may have. >> we didn't bring up the word charlottesville. i'm sure it came up a little bit in the focus groups and we didn't have it on the clip. how much did that feel like the

tipping point for some of those trump voters. >> i think that's one element. >> but it was a straw. >> yes, but it started the beginning of january and it's continued. and so million issues weren't brought for one reason. they've been overwhelmed and it's all his personality, and there's no single message and that's what happens to them. >> peter heart, always amazing to watch focus groups that you do. that's why we're glad that you're with us. carr why dan, you're having fun. you're going to be conducting with them soon. coming up, is it president trump's team versus trump. one of the couple of his cabinet officials seem to be going their own way these days? rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief uses unique mistpro technology and helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. most allergy pills

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who were killed when their van was swept away by harvey's flood waters in houston sunday. 14,000 members of the texas national guard have been activated. that's the highest number ever brought up by the state. and they have performed more than 8,500 rescues in the houston area. there are 32,000 people currently in shelters with about another 30,000 more beds available if necessary. and you heard in beaumont there, they're overflowing this their shelters. here is a bit of what we saw today on the gulf. >> it was real bad. we had to get out of there. because it was -- it wasn't right. and plus i have a two-year-old with me. >> what was it like to get in that helicopter and to see safety? >> it was good. it was a good feeling because it was horrible. >> it was kind of sad because, i mean, i lost everything that i have. >> it came up so fast. we didn't know until we got up in the middle of the night at 3 the night before and we stepped into water. we've never had flooding in 20 years here.

>> it's not anything you could ever have manld. it was just something that you see happens other places, and it's just never happened here. >> we're receiving over a thousand calls per hour. so we are not out of this by any long stretch yet. >> this is still the time to be cautious. you know, your life and your stuff, you know, your life is far more precious than any of the stuff that you might have here. or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember.

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 welcome back. our friends at axios this morning pointed out something instead of being the most powerful man in the world the president's self-inflicted wounds are adding up to make him look powerless. they called him the incredible shrinking president. despite what the president said being on the road today to promote tax reform, republican leaders on the hill are going their own way on tax reform. then there's the border wall.

congress doesn't seem ready to pay for it, neither does mexico. can't pass the healthcare bill. the courts, holding up his muslim ban. the doj isn't letting up on the russia investigation. and the president is at odds with defense jekt mattis and rex tillerson and gary cohn, all of whom are bucking the president on a variety of issues. let's bring in tonight's panel. michael, let me start with you. it was a brutal lead i thought axios had, but it was sort of like you felt that they thought, geez, the mattis decision on transgender was sort of yet the latest on top of the day before the secretary of state saying the president speaks for himself, not for everybody else. >> yeah. >> this president usually doesn't like that. >> no, he doesn't. no. the mattis slap was just that. it was basically saying we'll get to that later. and there's a lot more of that to come. i think when we get into the

fall you're going to see certainly on the hill a lot more purn back on a lot of what the president wants to do. that's why the president has taken sort of refuge if you will on the road right now. he's getting those juices fired up. ice saying to hills, okay, i'm going to have something for you when you guys are ready to play. i'm going to have all these folks back here screaming and hollering make america great again standing on the front lines for me to put pressure on you to do what i need you to do. that's the thinking, but the reality is going to be very different from that because a lot of those folks on the hill are also talking to those trump supporters and other voters out there, and as you lsh accurately pointed out in the piece you did, those voters are diminishing in their support for the president. they're becoming more and more disappointed in the leadership. >> so, shane, is this the president who is just too much bravado so he throws out there and he's like wild-eyed expectations, border wall, you know what, mexico is going to

pay for it, which was a ridiculous notion at the time, most people thought it is. and all of a sudden -- and that's part of it. and this is just folks standing up or is there more to this? >> i think you see what also happens when you don't study for the presidency and you've got somebody who oupz the office who doesn't have a fundamental grasp or obvious appreciation of what all that offers entails. he seems to sort of like to gravitate towards the brute force elements, although autos not terribly skillful at using those lately either. he hasn't steeped himself in what the duties of the office are and how this town actually works. that was parted of his appeal to come in and say i'm going to up end the system, but he didn't really learn how how the system works. >> i would say, jennifer, the biggest knock among some on obama that first year, couple of years was that he went too washington. he got to know washington too well. he went along. he didn't bully congress. he let -- >> yeah. right. >> that was like among the knocks.

and i say this -- >> but he never talked to the republicans enough either. >> i know. and i'm happy to relitigate that stuff for you later. that was that knock. this one in the same way, he doesn't really know how congress works and to shane's point and i guess he's learning now that he's not -- i guess he thought the presidency had more power than it did. >> yes. the presidency has -- the president is the most powerful person on the planet, but that doesn't mean you have a lot of control. >> that's great. you are powerful without control. >> and i think you can easily con nature the true. it's very hard for the president of the united states. it's a lot of con joelg and leading and it takes a lot of patience. and i think he doesn't have a lot of those qualities. i think that litany that michael lesson had is alarming to your point, mr. steele, that trump seize a headline like that and it makes him uncomfortable that he's not in control.

and that usually prompts bad behavior. there's a couple other warning sieps. you saw with those trump voters, people started to get more weary of him and what will that mean for republicans in congress. and one thing that wasn't noted in that story that i think is going to be another fight with republicans in congress is daca and whether or not he resends daca. we thought that was going to happen this week and now it seems that the white house might be easing off of that because you don't want to be rescinding protection for dreamers who are in it k and flooded out. and a lot of republicans in the house are starting to get nervous about this too. i think he's got a really tough fall ahead. >> how do you -- michael, i guess the question is how much do you work now in trying to repair this with him and how much are republicans in congress and frankly if you look at a mattis or tillerson is it now everybody is worried about their own reputations first? >> i think the latter is the case. i think you see with the various cabinet secretaries sort of carving out their space, whether it's, you know, saying that my

values are not the same as the president's values or if it's pushing back as we've seen others do. they have to, because this president, to your point, is really creating his own space and it's only limited to one person, and that's him. and so i think that you're going to find a lot of folks on the hill, you're going to certainly see it in the various agencies having to carve that space out to get some things done and hopefully bring the president into that conversation in a way that he can sign off on it ultimately. and that's going to be a real challenge. >> by the way, and i'm going not going to play another chip because we're running low on time. peter heart asked that same focus group on a number of different officials, mike pence, paul ryan. i'm just going to single out the tough on squlon kelly because the group in general, strong strong, reliable, baby-sitter, finger in a dike. but that's all a bunch of people feeling good about it, though

feeling as if there's someone there. the guard rails are up. >> right. and people are invested in kelly this sense that he was going to come in and right the ship and he come ports himself in a way that we expect someone in the white house at that level to behave. but there's also this rlsization, there was sort of temp erg the expectations that there's only so much he can do. there was that famous quote you can go in and be focused on the chief part or the staff part when you go into that position and most successful people focus on the staff part. and this realization that john kelly is not going to manage donald trump. >> you get the sense john kelly went in there to say it's my job to help run the government. >> right. >> and i'm not going to try to manage him anymore. there's no win on that. >> and kelly, tillerson and mattis are all trying to manage the government and not him. it is stunning that the secretary of defense said i'm not going to do that. it's stunning that the secretary of state says i don't speak for him and that the chief of staff sh standing there shaking his head. >> what's more stunning is how

conditioned we are now to no longer be stunned by things. >> i feel a reckoning coming. things are different. you have trump supporters saying i like his policies, but i don't like him. like this is -- there's erosion. and i saw those focus group voters. they were asking for president pence. >> it was different. i agree. something was different. >> and they have to be wearry of that too. >> four out of five trump voters in that trump group, college educate. just keep that in mind. because the divide on that as we've seen the first cracks in the trump coalition i think are on education lines on that front. you guys are going to stick around. still ahead, congress is set to return to washington. how will the aftermath of harvey impact their fall agenda? you owned your car for four years. you named it brad. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad.

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welcome back. folks, the devastation we've seen created by hurricane harvey has already changed so much. the city of houston, the state of texas and countless peoples' lives who have been displaced and it's sure to change the debate in congress as well. after a month long break and how the federal government respond to this disaster is going to

reshape what was already going to be a contentious fall. they'll all go to the white house to meet with president trump on the battles ahead on top of spending aid to harvey victims, they also have to figure out how to fund the government, raise the debt limit, all of that by the end of september, which actually even though it has 30 days, with congress there is a lot of those days set aside for holidays and other things. and that doesn't even include a host of other issues that have been building up like tax reform which the president spoke about today. >> so this is our once in a generation opportunity to deliver real tax reform for everyday hardworking americans. and i am fully committed to working with congress to get this job done. and i don't want to be disappointed by congress. do you understand me? >> well, let's talk to a member of congress. how much can they stomach all at once? joining me now is republican congressman mike kaufman of

colorado. happy near end of the break to you, sir. >> thanks. good to be with you, chuck. >> that's okay. it happens to me a lot. when you have two first names, you're used to it, kaufman. let's start with the speculation of what the harvey aid issue does to congress. >> sure. >> i think there was reports today, a lot of chattier, between aid that's necessary to texas, that that is used as the ability to keep the lights on temporarily in the government, that a deal is struck quickly, debt ceiling is raised, and it's all done in one great package, bow tied on it. everybody lives happy every after. what's the likelihood of that something like in september. >> both things have to get done. my heart is out to the people of texas and i think the response has been great so far from the federal government. but certainly emergency funding for them. but a debt limit by any means has to be passed, whether it's a

clean debt limit or it's combined with something else, i just want it to pass. i worry about its effect on the economy by rolling financial capital marktsd if in fact it does not pass. >> you'd be in favor of lump it all together in some must pass legislation like harvey aid. politically it's must pass legislation, that's for sure. >> absolutely. >> all right. let's move on because it is -- one of the reasons you wanted to come on is you wanted to talk about a bill you plan on introducing that actually has a concludes to the gulf coast. and it's this idea of increasing the sanctions on venezuela to include essentially an oil kbarg oh. and it is the gulf coast states, representatives, texas, louisiana, among them, that have been pushing back against this idea. and pleaded with the white house not to include oil in the sanctions of venezuela, so they didn't. the respond to that argument from the gulf coast, your gulf coast colleagues who are saying don't do this.

bad for the american economy? >> well, first of all, the venezuelaen government, the country of venezuela is rapidly descending into a cuban style dictatorship, an author terryian government with no respect for human rights. and i think we have an opportunity before this window completely closes to through a ban on the sale of venezuelaen oil and venezuelaen refined products to the united states to be able to at least give venezuela to recognize its democratic elected officials and restore the assembly, the national assembly. and so where the president and the vice president have both mentioned a military intervention as an option and have left that on the table, as a marine corps combat veteran, let me tell you, i think paying a higher price for gasoline at

the pump is a lot less costly than shedding the blood of our young men and women who serve this country in uniform. >> do you acknowledge that given the impact that harvey may have on our oil markets, considering how many refineries are in the gulf coast. >> sure. >> that this makes your efforts that much harder to find a majority to support you on this decision? >> well, there's about 4% of u.s. consumption is based on venezuelaen oil. and it is a heavier crude that's important for certain refined products that we don't produce -- that we produce an intermediate or a lighter crude in the united states. but canada produces a heavier crude. so i just don't think the disruption would be all that great. but again, i think this is a country that's a three-hour flight from the shores of the united states that, again, is descending into a cuban style dictatorship, and it's important

as well to the countries in the region who also don't want this country to descend into a dictatorship. and want the institutions of democracy that this country has restored. >> question on the border wall. i'm curious where you are on it, whether you support it or not. but is it something that if you don't support it, you're fine if it's included in a funding bill that races the debt limit and does some -- is this something you're willing to be persuaded on by the president when it comes to the border wall? how necessary do you think it is and how much of it should be sort of a hot point of debate when we're debating the government, keeping the lights on, debt limit, et cetera? >> well, i mean, i think it's important simply because i want to get to immigration reform and i realize that we have to make -- secure our borders before, in

fact, we move to that next step about immigration reform. so i think it's important probably from a different perspective. i think our borders are relatively secure now. they could be more secure. i see it more as a barrier in critical areas than a wall. >> so you support the idea of maybe starting the funding for the wall if you think it sparks the conversation on immigration. let me ask you this: would you trade funding the border wall for keeping daca in place. >> well, i think daca needs to be had in place. first of all, i support the president's proposal in terms of funding for the start of a border wall. i think probably it's not going to be a continuous wall. but i do think, separate from that, i think that preserving and protecting daca is very important. and i think daca is under a serious threat right now. these areel young people that

were brought to the united states as children, they didn't make the decision to come here. their parents and their relatives made the decision to come here. they didn't knowingly violate the law. the adults who took them here violated the law. so i think we should certainly look at them differently. i think daca is a great program. and i think it ought to be protected. >> all right. congressman mike kaufman. i'm going to leave it there. it's going to be a busy september and you're trying to mike it more busy. thanks forth coming on and sharing your views. i appreciate it. >> thank you, chuck. >> up ahead, why i'm obsessed with names tonight.

welcome back. tonight, i'm going to be obsessed with what's in a name. specifically a hurricane's name. here is the president yesterday. >> snars never been anything so historic in terms of damage and in terms of fer os it as what we've witnessed with harvey. it sounds like such an innocent name, ben, but it's not innocent. >> well, meteorologists give hurricanes names for a simple reason. to easily identify them which helps people be prepared, helps them stay safe. so who names these things? the united nations. okay. sort much. it's an international committee of the united nations world meteorological organization for

the atlantic hurricane, six lists of 21 games each, there are no xqyo zblr names. we'll see this year's names come back around in 2023 f. but we can be pretty will be the last time ever that any storm will be named harvey because storms that are deadly or destructive get retired. it happens at the annual meeting of the u.n. folks. when they mipick a new name to replace the retired ones they pick a short name that aren't offensive to other countries. we'll be right back. the lincoln summer invitation is on. now get our best offers of the season. on the agile mkc. and the versatile midsize lincoln mkx. or go where summer takes you in the exhilarating mkz. hurry in it's the final days of the lincoln summer invitation sales event. ending september 5th. right now, get zero percent apr plus 1,000 dollars

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hillary clinton won. the same time i think it's fair to call him your -- i call him a conventional conservative republican. it's not the new. just more traditional michael steele republican. now we call them moderates. it's no longer about ideology but it was interesting what he was okay with and what he wasn't. it does sound like he's one of those fast track all this crud out of congress. how likely is that? >> to fast track the crud out of congress. >> the dead ceiling, no government shutdown. you have how many calendar days left. there's the debt ceiling. we saw the debacle with health care. call me skeptical, but i don't see how you could get these things through. >> you brought up the president. i know things were pre-scheduled. why did they go through with the tax reform speech?

it's pre-scheduled. you have like you have to do it. you've lined up these interest groups. it's probably something the communications department has been working on a couple of weeks. you're like, to me it just seemed like who's -- if it gets attention it's going to be for the wrong reason. i think it's from the president's perspective he's talking about something else. despite everything else going on in the world you still have bubbling up stories about russia and new developments that are coming out through e-mails and other things. there is this effort to create a consistent story line. we're going to start, we're going to roll out infrastructure this week. we're going to talk about infrastructure this week. that way the president feels that he can escape a bit. >> you want to create your own weather. you're like this is what we're going to do and we're going to do it.

it would be one thing if president obama was there, probably wouldn't have been done it. we would have been concerned that you want to make sure everybody understands. it's him himself. he's not focused on harvey. he's already made that clear. for them to move onto tax reform when republicans in congress are kind of getting ahead of them before republicans in congress come back. i understand why they did it. >> it's the business mind set. only in washington can you only do one thing at a time. if something happens, you have to stop that to focus on the new thing that just happens. he doesn't come from that world. you mean there's a problem with the skyscraper. he can go back and forth. that's the world he's used to.

>> congress can't do more than one thing at a time. >> for him, this is like season two. season two is tax reform. >> all right. i will leave it there. people don't know this, but you learn this on social media. we have spawned a pesto contest between harrison. i'm not kidding. >> it was good. it's time to rethink what's possible. rethink the experience. rethink your allergy pills.

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it's all we have for tonight. i'm doing my pesto taste test in a minute. b wins the aroma test. the beat with ari starts now. >> it's made out of basil, right? >> that's what i hear. >> thank you as always. now we begin with developing news on the russia probe. this is coming from the kremlin itself. it's not every day that a break in a u.s. criminal inquiry is met with a public response from an adversarial country. that makes this bad news for donald trump and could be bad news for u.s. national security. here is what we know. vladmir putin's right hand man announcing he did receive an e-mail from a trump aide asking for help making money in russia. let's stop right there and take that in. donald trump ran for p