minority students to black universities. >> very interesting. thank you to a great panel tonight. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. >> if it's monday, summer is winding down, but washington is heating up. welcome to "mtp daily" and a special labor day edition of it. kids are going back to school everywhere and congress is coming back to washington. and it also marks the end of what was a cruel, cruel summer politically for president trump. and one that could set him up for a pretty complicated fall. first and for most hurricane harvey. one of the worst natural disasters in history.

the most rain to fall in the konl united states causing strategic damage to one of the biggest cities in the country. the disaster is going to test this president, all of washington and it had cast a huge shadow over everything to come this fall. and that's not all this president had to weather this summer. remember when we told you this? >> tonight i'm obsessed with the idea that august is a slow news month. no, wrong. august is the month where presidents dreams go to die. >> well, we hate to say we told you so, but we told you so on this one. history has proven once again and again and again that august can be tough on a commander in chief. think tea party protests, katrina, there was nixon's resignation. august proved tore down right terrible for president trump, arguably one of the worst august for any president in a generation, even before harvey hit. this was a long, hot summer for this white house. in augusta loan the president faced increasingly aggressive north korea, infighting with his own party, and more staff shake

ups. but outside of that what this august will be remembered for is how this president handled charlottesville and the death of a counterprotester. it was a moment of reckoning for the country, for the white house, and if you believe all the polls it appears the country thinks the president could not have handled this worgs. he took days to call out white supremacists, the kkk andny nazis by name and then when he finally did, he said this a day later. >> what about the alt-left that cham changing at the alt-right? do they have any semblance of guilt? 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. >> folks, ask charlottesville was when bubbling tensions within the republican establishment came up to the surface. in the days after the president's both sides remarks, senate republicans spoke out against him in ways we hadn't seen since the "access

hollywood" tape. senator lindsey graham called out the racist elements of his support, senator marco rubio slam the president for siding with those racist elements, senator bob corker suggested he was incompetent and didn't understand the character of the nation. senator tim scott said hiss moral authority had been compromised and senator john cornyn said the president missed the moment to unite the country. plus every single republican president or nominee going back a generation rebukds the president. and now congress returns to washington with an ambitious agenda and a natural disaster to deal with. but they'll first have to overcome the divisions created during the heat of this summer. let me bring in my panel.

mark murray, this -- if this presidency never gets up off the mat, we will see it was charlottesville in august, won't we? >> well, this presidency has had so many type of self-inflicted wounds. and we saw from the get-go of this white house, including talking the inauguration crowd sizes. what was really striking about august was outside of charlottesville, so many of the situations he had to face were things outside of his control. talk about north korea, hurricane harvey. these were the things that presidents usually that trip them up on the unexpected. now, of course, charlottesville, why he ended up getting in so much trouble, he is not only end up talking to his base, but he's talking to a small segment of republicans and did not do the one thing that usually americans want, that during a time of adversity or trial, you unite the country, and he wasn't able to accomplish that. >> amy, is there any chance that harvey -- it seems that harvey

is an opportunity for him to at least put charlottesville a little bit behind him, but it doesn't seem like he's done that. >> well, i think what it gives the opportunity, actually, is for congress to kind of get itself back on track. you know, we were talking about coming back in the fall and the calendar looked really ominous for a republican party that was so divided on the debt ceiling, on the budgeted, talk about the shutdown, where were we going to be by the end of september. the fact that there is a uniting force that is harvey that makes the republicans at least able to coless around something which is actually giving money to folks, that the president agrees with, is a chance for the party to p kind of get re-established, look like they're meeting the moment instead of what charlottesville, which is actually not meeting a moment. >> is this the summer that the rest of the republican party, maybe they're not ready to divorce president trump, but they put him on notice that they would like a trial separation? >> i think that if they have the opportunity to get up off the

mat as a white house as a republican team, both congressional and white house republicans, the defining moment may be steve bannon's departure and general kelly coming in as chief of staff and the hope, if not the certainty, at least the hope that that will lead to a more productive working relationship and some actual accomplishments. >> we've been here before. >> yeah. >> there's a lot of hope. people have had hope. >> my god, i feel like i've been in this exact seat listening to a similar idea, i mean, look, he pardoned arpaio right after steve bannon's departure. it's not steve bannon. it's donald trump that is the issue of sewing dwoigs in the moment you need it. i think the issue is after charlottesville, it is really hard for you to have a bipartisan accomplishment that actually involves the white house, because that act was so egregious. it was such a red line for -- no president has ever basically said i agree with the domestic

terrorists in that situation. >> the focus group late last week that came out, mark, and we had quite a few reporters, it was striking how many trump voters went to another level. they're almost done. now, granted these were college educated trump voters and i think there was a socioeconomic divide among trump voters on that front, but that's the first group that's leaving or the next group that's leaving. >> and as peter heart told you, he's been doing so many of these focus groups over the last 44 years and people have always been disappointed in a president, presidents have had you have times, but he said what was striking even coming from trump voters is how embarrassed they are. and that really is kind of -- republicans still might have some wins when it comes to future legislative agenda, but the idea of the president representing something bigger than your party or your base, that is something that has been absent from this white house. >> he won't expand. he never -- right, michael? he never looks to expand his

support? >> he slips from being a disappointment to being a punch line. and that's when the last people got of let go of the last rung on the ladder. i don't know how you recover from that. >> look how many opportunities he's had in the last several months to reunite the country and each and everyone he -- it's always actually attack them. >> i've never seen a president do this. >> we've never had a president like this especially a president who lost the popular vote and his base isn't the base from election night. if you even said just keep 46%, great. but his base is now 36%, maybe 35%. >> yeah. >> and that is where there is this belief that because it came back, the base always came back in 2016, "access hollywood," john mccain, et cetera, et

cetera, fill in the blanks. they always came back, even those college educated voters came back. mostly, i think, because of hillary clinton. right. they didn't like the alternative. now there is no hillary clinton. >> although in two weeks there could be. i mean, i joke. >> not again. >> but it is interesting. he's tweeting about her. >> of course. >> right? they are desperate for their foil back. >> absolutely. >> and her book is going to bring her back out. so he's probably going to be firing up on that twitter machine about it. >> for every two steps back we do get one step forward. before the terrible rally in arizona you had a reasonably well received speech on national security. after that, after an okay response to harvey, you had a very effective speech on tax reform in missouri. there is always enough hope for progress and the fact that ultimately he's going to be president another three years. we have to govern the country for another three years.

>> i guess i would say there's always, i guess, some hope for progress, but i think you're really talking at this point to the anxious republicans, not the rest of the country. he was basically making a decision in real time that he is not presidential. and every issue it's now almost 5530 and it's basically gleaned from if trump is on one side, 55% are on the other side. it is cementing the opposition to him. >> and the bigger perspective is look at the unemployment rate. it's 4.4%. the economy is in a better shape than it's been in a very long time. >> where would his numbers be if the economy -- >> a generic president right now would have a 50% job approval rating. this isn't to say that president trump can't recover, that he can't win re-election, but he's at 35%. a generic person would be at 50%. incompetent that's all u to know about these first eight or nine months of his presidency. >> and it's not policy. that's the thing about -- >> it hasn't been about ideology. it's all character. >> it's all personality. >> it is all character.

>> that pew poll that came out this week when with you ask people who disapprove of the president, the number one issue they cite is tempment. 70% about his personal and only 20% is actual policy. this makes it complicated. this is what makes it complicated for 2018, because normally you go into a midterm year and it is about the policies that the white house put in place and it's a referendum on those policies. now we're talking about a referendum on a personality who is not on the ballot even though his -- >> i think that gets at it, but i think fundamentally the big question in 2018 is who is going to turn out. >> yeah. absolutely. >> and he said a really important part of august was him telling his base that this congress does not do anything. >> that's right. >> so if they care about him, why are they going to turn out? >> what is paul ryan and mitch mcconnell thinking because the president spent august

essentially putting out a call for primary challengers. >> and they're answering. >> every member of the house and many members of the senate are going to be up for re-election two years before the president is. they have to act now. this year maybe into early next year and if they can't work with the approximated, then they have to make progress despite him. >> that's the -- you're quoting john mccain in his op-ed from the weekend which basically said, look, he is who he is. we've got -- we're a separate branch of government. >> the pivot may or may not happen. i don't believe in the pivot any more than you do, but tax reform has got to tax. infrastructure has got to happen. there have to be actual achievements that you can go to voters with and make a case for continued governance. >> we shall see. and we're going to do a pause button here. coming after will september get any easier? i'll talk to someone who has made a career of celebrating blue collar workers.

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welcome back to "mtp daily." welcome to what's bound to be a fall to remember. congress is coming back to town with a long to-do list full of potential skirmishes, disagreements and gridlock and republicans are leaning in, making a lot of big promises. >> we're only six months into it. the last time i looked congress goes on for two years. we'll be moving on to

comprehensive tax reform and to infrastructure. there's much work left to be done for the american people and we're ready to tackle it. >> we're focused on tackling this tax coat before it tackles us. this is a big project we're focused on right now. >> i think we can get this done by the end of the year. i can assure you that the president's number one objective is now to get tax reform done. >> 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? >> there is zero chance, no chance we won't raise the debt ceiling. no chance. america is not going to default. >> we will pass legislation to make sure that we pay our debts and we will not hit the debt ceiling. >> how about let's play politics with the majority for a change. >> now, the obstructionist democrats would like us not to do it, but plooe me, we have to close down our government, we're

building that wall. >> now all that could be easier said than done. don't forget what we just said about president trump's grul summer. he threw some shade of his own attacking members of his own party from the leadership on down. >> so i say very simply, where is repeal and replace? now i want tax reform and tax cuts. and i want a very big infrastructure bill. i said, mitch, get to work and let's get it done. they should have had this last one done. they lost by one vote for a thing like that to happen is a disgrace and frankly it shouldn't have happened. that i can tell you. and for our friends in the senate, oh, boy, we have to get rid of the filibuster rule. right now we need 60 votes and we have 52 lps. that means that 8 democrats are controlling all of this

legislation. we have over 200 bills. and we have to speak to mitch, and we have to speak to everybody. we were just one vote away from victory after seven years of everybody proclaiming repeal and replace. one vote away. i will not mention any names. and nobody wants me to talk about your other senator, who is weak on borders, weak on crime. so i won't talk about him.

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what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ welcome back, folks. this was already going to be a jam-packed fall in congress with everything that was piling up on their plate, but hurricane harvey and the catastrophic flooding around texas have changed the contours, rebuilding america's fourth largest city and the areas around it will be a dominating issue lingering above the fall's agenda. remember, there's a lot of texas republicans who are in leadership, so they're not going to let it go.

it is going to require a gigantic undertaking by the government. congress also has to raise the debt ceiling by september 29th. they have to come up with a deal to fund the government by september 30th. there are a lot of critical programs set to expire that same day. they'll have to tackle military spending with the national wp defense authorization act. tax reform and the president still wants something passed on health care. a a month off congress comes back tomorrow. they have shown an inability to get any big legislation through. now the tremendous task of taking care of texas could bring them together like we haven't seen or they could further splinter the divisions that have plagued them. let's bring the panel back. michael, you have worked for a speaker of the house. you have worked for leadership. you know what congress can or can't do. what's realistic this september?

>> i think this is a very good chance that the gravity and seriousness of the situation in texas, the need to respond to the hurricane and help people is going to bring people together in a way that they can accomplish not all of these things necessarily, but they're going to be able to fund the government, avoid default, and get money to texas to help with the immediate needs for the hurricane. >> you really believe the freedom caucus, and i'll let amy jump in after this. we've already seen your fellow north korean mr. meadows said wait a minute, don't you put harvey and the debt ceiling together. >> i think this is a place where the president's close relationship with mr. meadows could be helpful. if the president and the administration understand that if they want to make progress on things like tax reform, if they want to get to infrastructure, we have to have a relatively calm september with people getting results and workman like fashion. ask so if mr. meadows wants to throw bombs, that's fantastic, but pits going to make the president look bad. >> amy, every time we think, oh, this is going to change it, it

usually works for about a week and then it never does. sometimes we don't know what it is or sometimes it really is just deep seeded believes on say the debt ceiling and things like that. >> that's right. in the old endays, i don't know how far back we have to go. >> the good old days when congress was simply dysfunctional. >> that's right. but there was an understanding that you wanted to keep your majority, you had to look out for the people whorm most vulnerable coming up in the election. people on the freedom caucus, they can do whatever they want. it doesn't matter. they're protected because of their districts. but this concept that the president is also sowing has this thing all turned upside down. the people most vulnerable are vulnerable to the idea that congress is dysfunctional, nothing is working.

the president continues to berate them. they're in the middle of the both. the base hates them and then independence who they need to vote for them in the election say, god, this congress is just as dysfunctional as the last one and they should have gotten more dead. >> what was interesting in the focus group is how much the trump voters were complaining they thought there would be some bipartisan in congress and they wanted more bipartisanship, which was always this opportunity that trump had. trump supporters were not i'd ideologues. it's not ideological and i don't want to tarnish conservatism that way, but it is -- certainly he treats it like it's an -- >> the fundamental mistake from the legislative standpoint that the republicans have had so far is they've really tried to walk this narrow pass on frying to pass all this stuff on just purely rep votes. you knew that was always going to have a bipartisan undertaking. why not start with something

like infrastructure first where expanding the pod and building the coalition. the thing is when you have that very narrow path then all of a sudden all it takes is one person or two people. that's what we saw on health care. >> i'm sorry. go ahead. >> i thought that's what was important about the president's speech in missouri last week. he finally went after a red state democrat up for re-election in a state that he won. and bipartisanship isn't a good in and of itself. bipartisanship is a means to get results. >> i've got to tell you -- >> therefore, the goal should be not to have to rely on rand paul or susan collins, just to get over the finish line. if claire mccaskill or john -- >> go after them. see if they want to support tax reform and they might. >> exactly. >> this is a new definition of bipartisanship. in order to get a democratic vote you go to their state and just kick the crap out of them which is what he did. that is not how i think he's going to get democrats. >> it was an interesting way he went after her, though. he said if she doesn't support this, it was, look, it is --

it's not a positive ka joel, i'll grant you that, but i actually thought it was restrained and he was basically saying, well, why doesn't she support it. >> i think it's restrained for trump, but i say most presidents actually try woo them with saying the arguments. i get his strategy is to attack republicans and democrats. i guess what i'm saying also is that you're absolutely right. you know, my greatest fear was that he would start with popular bills to bring those folks in that a lot of obama trump voters voted for him because -- >> elizabeth warren, bernie sanders and chuck schumer. three days after the election they said, you know, if the means it about a trade on infrastructure, he never called their bluff. >> but this is how he's been a victim to congress, and i don't generally think of him as a victim. but i think in this case he was told that this -- he basically took an agenda and moved it far right after the presidency. he developed a healthcare plan that went after his voters.

it had the hardest -- the biggest premium increases for white working class folks in rural communities. he's devised an agenda, tax cuts, they don't give big tax cuts for lower income people. they are massive tax cuts for the wealthy. that's what's odd about this. he had an opportunity to actually have policy where he could have met in the middle but he's actually had an agenda that's made it easier for democrats to unite against him. >> michael, would you concede, though, that paul ryan and mitch mcconnell and mike pence because they sort of agreed to this that this turns out they made an error how they sequenced health care -- >> i think the question is whether they could have done it any other day. sometimes you have to run full steam into a brick wall to find on the that you can't get through that brick wall. i don't know whether republican voters would have accepted just being told, obamacare, we'll get it at some point.

right now we've dpot to start with our democrat friends big new -- >> now that you've proven you can't get through the brick wall, what does that mean? >> you change up the playbook. that's why you're starting to see the administration look at -- >> claire mccaskill's response to that speech, by the way, was very encouraging. she spoke about pro jobs, pro growth tax reform for the middle class that the president is talking about. >> look at tim ryan by the way coming up with -- >> i think that was taken from -- maybe it was an interview that he had with you. >> a lot of people are for tax reform in some form or another and there's some democrats that if you promise some incentives for job creation in your corporate tax break, i think you can get a joe donnelly, you can get maybe even a sherrod brown, all of these guys that are up from the rest belt states. >> let's see what it looks like. that's really the question and

whether there is any incentive for democrats to give in. not doing the populist -- that message that came out at that missouri speech that he gave, it felt like a paul ryan powerpoint. it was not a -- >> an koulter said that could have been jeb bush's speech and she didn't mean it as a compliment. >> let's remember that lowering those rates gets passed along to workers. there are huge benefits for the middle class in doing this type of tax reform which is why you're seeing tim ryan r and other democrats at least indicating an openness to this approach. >> corporate profits are at their highest they've ever been. so lowering taxes will just dramaticly cles profits and that hasn't --. >> the shareholder issue, the

shareholders come before the worker. >> which is actually what he campaigned on. not putting the share holds ahead of the workers and he's behind a plan that does exactly that. >> let's just talk about the lack of trust after the month of august between capitol hill republicans and the white house and also if you do want to win over a claire mccaskill, there's probably some type of tweet that has offended her before or after. there's a lot of different ways that a president can persuade. but there's going to be a lot of trust that has to be restored, starting with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and president trump and how they mend that kind of stuff i think is going to be so important going forward. >> i would just say quickly after charlottesville, it is really hard for democrats to do a deal with the president who on really any issues. people feel so strongly about this. >> i want to get into this issue of what -- how the democrats do this later in this program. all right. stick around. up next, you probably know mike rowe from his hit show dirty

jobs. well, he's here to talk about his new show, president trump and the future of the american worker on this labor day. stay with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and. 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,

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that, well, could destroy mankind, you're probably not going to see many elections won or lost on that debate, at least not yet. but we are in the midst of a radical political realignment right now that is being fueled in part by advances in technology and automation that some experts worry could put tens of millions of jobs at risk. mike rowe of dirty jobs fame is a guy who seemed like he's held 10 million jobs himself. the actual number just in the hundreds. his foundation calls this country's dysfunctional relationship with work. we've got a lot to talk to him about because there is -- this is not a partisan phenomenon.

everybody is debating how to deal with voters' anxieties about what work is going to look like in the next ten years. so who better to talk about the future of labor on labor day, mike rowe. who is the ceo of the mike rowe works foundation. he's the host of a new show on facebook and of course the former host of dirty jobs. do i have it all in there? >> you missed my podcast, chuck, and it's hard breaking. >> no, no, no. that was on purpose. month, man. keep the podcast out of there. mike, here we are nine months in. you and i last talked in december. >> yep. >> and you had some optimism there. we were talking about how there was a forgotten worker a little bit, people are yearning to get back to work. and i think we thought, i tell you i thought, i thought we were going to have a big infrastructure bill already passed and we would see an attempt to put some folks back to work.

are you disappointed we're not there yet? >> yeah. i think i am a little bit, but i'm not shocked because the thing i noticed about the last administration that had actually does have something in common with this one is a kind of -- there's a tendency to talk about job creation as if there is a giant trained work force standing by, waiting to fill jobs that get created. i wrote to the last president modestly right after his inauguration right after my foundation started just to say, look, the idea that 3 million shovel ready jobs are going to be created sounds great, but from what i've seen our country does have a bit of a dysfunctional relationship with regard to the shovel. before we just say, poof, here are the jobs, we need to talk about the aspirational element and the practical reality of whether anybody is standing by to do the work.

today i'm still saying the same thing. you know, if you're going to throw a trillion dollars into infrastructure, it kind of presupposes the idea that you've got a trained work force standing by to do those jobs. we don't. and that to me is the most interesting disconnect in the whole dialogue. >> when you say a trained work force i think people hear different things, right. silicon valley ceos are thinking i need more engineers, i need more s.t.e.m. type education for these folks, science, technology, things like at that to hire. >> yep. >> others say, no, we need some stills training for physical work. is it all of that or what are you saying specifically that we have this skills gap in? >> well, it's a fascinating acronym, s.t.e.m. and if you just want to rif on that for a second, i've talked with people who are focused on turning s.t.e.m. into steam by putting the a back into it, right, the industrial arts used

to be the arts. you know, the way you get shop out of high school is to arbitrage the art out of it. so the industrial goes to vo-tech. vo-tech goes to shop. shop gets eliminated. next thing you know, we've got real deficits in those areas. other people, like me, were arguing for s.t.e.m.s. but the extra s on the end for skill. because for all the science, technology, engineering and math that you want to celebrate, if you don't have the practical skill to apply those things, it's just theory. so we can have fun with the language, but the bigger point is, yeah, that you have to have the art in s.t.e.m. you have to have the skill in s.t.e.m. and if you don't give them all equal weight, you're going to wind up on the other end creating a lopsided work force. that's what we have now. 6.2 million jobs are available as you and i speak. the vast majority of them don't require a four-year degree.

so with why are we still talking as if the best path for most people is the most expensive path. it just doesn't add up. >> why can't we connect -- there are about i think 7 million unemployed for the 6.2 million unfilled jobs. >> right. >> is this an issue -- i've had a theory that one of the problems we have over the last generation is we've lacked domestic migration. >> that's great. >> if there's no jobs, go. i've gt an uncle of mine in arkansas and he had a friend looking for work so he went up to north dakota and he found great work. many people didn't do that over the last ten years. >> we have become, curiously and distressingly sedentary. and you're absolutely right. when we talk about the numbers, the thing we always leave off is the geography, because, again, we kind of presuppose that people will to where the work is. i don't know when that became an

et ma, but it did. and so in terms of expectations that aren't realistic, now among them is not merely the availability of the job of my dreams, not merely the availability of a job that pays me what i believe is fair, but the existence of that job in my zip code. that's where things really and truly do fall apart. i can't imagine how this country was actually colon iced and settled but for an unapologetic love affair with mobility. >> right. >> where that went, i do not know. >> automation, it's something that i can tell you i talk to folks who are afraid of this, not for themselves, for their kids, because they just -- they are scared there aren't going to be good middle class jobs in the next 20 years between look at what's happening in the retail sector and if we really have

automated drivers and you get rid of driving as a job, what kind of crisis are we facing in the next generation, mike? >> well, if in fact that's how we set the table, i would say the crisis is real and large. but i don't think it's going to happen. and i'm not an expert, but i think you're talking about something an old professor of mine called the displacement theory. and in our industry it basically said that radio was going to displace newspapers and that sin ma was going to display radio and that tv was going to displace -- it doesn't. it changes it. so i do think there are going to be middle class jobs 20 years from now, i just don't know what they're going to be. i also don't think you and i are going to see the day where we glance up and see a driverless truck going down interstate 95. there might be a driver sitting behind the wheel who is not touching the wheel or controls, but there's going to be a driver

in that cab and there's going to be a pilot in that plane. so i think with regard to ai, which incidentally you and i know we're talking about artificial intelligence, but in the dirty jobs days when i pitched an ai story it came back for artificial ensemination. that's a story for another day. iowas have been rarnd for eye long time. and technology will absolutely inform and change everything we do, but i don't think we can look forward and conclude with certainty that the robots are going to take our jobs. i'm just -- i'm just skeptical of it. >> there you go. that makes me optimistic. final question. when you were here last time you said, you know, the country needs a good pr campaign on work. simply that there's a lack of appreciation of it perhaps, lack of particularly on physical labor. that's something your -- you've said you wanted to do with your

foundation. but is it something that this president should do? >> absolutely, positively, unreservedel, yeah. every president needs to do that. in your early yoer segments you were talking about leadership from the top and that's it. there was a great moment when the president was in the room with some heads of manufacturing a couple of months ago and he said that we're going to bring these jobs back, which always sounds great. nobody has got any truck with that. but a couple of the ceos were like, mr. president, we got the jobs. they're here. what we need are people who are enthused about learning the skills that are actually in demand. so, yeah, my foundation was formed labor day 2008. we're celebrating our ninth anniversary this year. and the message hasn't changed a bit. the skills gap has gotten wider. but you very kindly chpd me as a -- what i really am was appear addict. i'm dependent on it. i'm addicted to smooth roads and indoor plum and reliable heat gs

and air krng and 300 million people are too. >> buddy, it's time for you to get to houston. >> wait until you see what happens in the next year. the trades men don't exist down there right now. that's really where the short aiming is most keen. the only way that city is going to get built back is through a huge migration that you mentioned before of skilled labor. and what kind of problems and challenges that creates elsewhere, stay tuned. >> interesting. interesting to watch there. mike rowe, always a pleasure. great to check in with you. >> you too, chuck. >> appreciate it. >> don't forget my podcast next time. >> yes, sir. in fact, right here, the man who does many jobs has another one, including a podcast. you don't get to see the cool hat, though, when you're listening to podcast. >> no, but you know it's there. >> there you go. >> still ahead, i'm obsessed with why we do labor day very differently than the rest of the world.

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drizzled with sweet amber honey, and new grilled mediterranean shrimp finished with a savory blend of green onions, tomatoes, and herbs. feeling hungry yet? good, cuz there's plenty more where these came from. like garlic shrimp scampi, and other classics you love. as much as you want, however you want 'em. but hurry, endless shrimp won't be here long. welcome back. we're working on labor day, huh? if you're watching from the u.s. or canada, i'm talking about today. labor day anywhere else was four months ago. may day is the international labor day. it's typically commemorated by boisterous labor marches in contrast to america's barbecue and beach vacations. why the difference? we thought we would give you one to grow on here. you have to go back over 100

years, when workers in chicago went on strike on may 1. they wanted an eight-hour workday. police and demonstrators clashed, and that sent the u.s. and the world down two very different labor day paths. then president grover cleveland didn't want to encourage strikes, but he did need the support of labor unions in the elections. so he declared labor day a national holiday, but adopted a late summer celebration that was popular in new york city. many european labor leaders seized on the day. and just to make sure that lefty socialist commie stuff stays far away, congress passed loyalty day, a proclamation that presidents still make today on

may 1. as for that eight-hour workday that started this all, congress didn't pass that standard until 1940. we'll be right back with what democrats should be doing this fall. like he's a part of our team. with one phone call, he sets me up with tailored products and services. and when my advisor is focused on my tech, i can focus on my small business. ♪ a dell advisor can help you choose the right products with powerful intel® core™ processors. ♪ [car tires screech] [bell rings] 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...

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find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. our super panel is back. we've been talking about republican dysfunction and the relationship with president trump and congressional republicans. i'll let you take first dibs at this. the democrats feel like they're organized around being

anti-trump. >> democrats are running for governor, senate, congress, they have to have an agenda. senate and house democrats have put forward some ideas. i think the issue front and center with them is how they're going to handle tax reform. and i think the caucus is really around a message that the tax cuts should be around the middle class and not the super wealthy. if you went through the campaign, you would have thought that is what donald trump was for. >> i look at this another way, which it seems the democratic party doesn't know which direction to go idealogically. they're not even going to compete in the special election in alabama. scott borown trying to win a

senate seat in massachusetts seemed like a loser too, but it seems as if they don't -- they're not quite sure what to do. >> every political party that is out of the white house, out of congress is in the wilderness and in rough shape. that's what the democrats are right now. their first step in getting back to a healthy party is winning in 2018, wins the house of representatives, winning key gor governorships and key legislative races across the country. and then what they have to do, if they are able to accomplish some, if not all those goals, is find the standard bearer to unite the party. >> amy, how are they doing on candidate recruiting? in 2009, it seemed like republicans were flooding, wanting to run for office. >> that's what is happening on the house side, too. we are seeing districts that haven't had a competitive race in years, eight, nine, ten democrats in there.

the challenge for democrats is you have eight, nine, ten democrats, who comes out of the primary? is it the right candidate? or is it somebody who really has lots of problems, can't raise money. you know all of that. so the question is, are there not enough people running, but do they have the right people? >> i think the problem is the washington democrats don't have an affirmative agenda. you can't win as the party of no. if you look -- >> wait a minute -- >> if you look at the years of wilderness -- [ laughter ] house republicans had an alternative rooted in principles to every one of those -- >> what was the alternative? >> in your defense, i agree, but that isn't how they campaigned. i agree -- >> i have to have that positive agenda, whether it's for the democrats in 2006, or the pledge to america, the contract with america. you can't just run as the party

of no. that's not how we were successful. >> i agree. in 2018, democrats will have to have an agenda. we are in september of 2017. but they should have an agenda going forward and an alternative on taxes. >> is it not -- >> i will say the argument behind the better deal, which is that democrats essentially have to focus on the economy and jobs and issues related to this is the right idea. whether you can get everyone to say better deal, et cetera, is not the most important thing, it's whether the ideas matter. the reality is, on health care, democrats were in opposition. fighting for people's health care actually did give them an economic argument. >> who is the leader of the democratic party? who is the most influential democrat, sit bernie? >> he's the most popular in the polls. chuck schumer is leading their legislative agenda and trying

the opposition to president trump. >> all right, guys. happy labor day. let's go to work. thank you. that's all we have. back tomorrow. we'll have more on "mtp daily." it's like the first day of school tomorrow. have a good night. tonight, the most powerful man in washington potentially holds the fate of the presidency in his hands. no, we're not talking about president trump. we're talking about special counsel bob mueller. ♪ >> bob mueller has not spoken in public in the three months he's headed the russia probe. no speeches, no interviews, no written statements. we know his team is digging in, using a grand jury to gather evidence, documents, and planned grand jury enter views. but the big questions remain unanswered whochlt exactly is mueller targeting? what kind of evidence has he found? and is h