on this president at the deepest level is the intensifying investigation into his campaign and possible collusion in russia. extraordinary stuff. we start with the president's declaration of war against athletes, expressing their first amendment right to protest by kneeling during the national anthem. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. he's fired. he's fired! >> we start here because donald trump by weaponizing patriotism managed to transform what was a divisive issue for the nfl into one that resulted in a widespread display of support for the player's first amendment right to express themselves. players standing arm in arm with owners offered sharp rebuke of his latest attempt at division. but the president is doubling down, tweeting this morning, quote, many people booed the

players which kneeled yesterday, which is a small percentage of total. these are fans that demand respect for our flag. the issue of kneeling has 234 nothing to do with race. nfl must respect this. #stand for our anthem. many are not buying the it's not about race line. >> an african-american, someone in the nfl, one of those son of pitches, at the same time i said it is bigger than me. >> as with many of the president's manufactured crises, the impetus for at least some of it may have been come from a slight for this man. >> i think beneath leader of our country to go that route. that's not what leaders do. >> let's get to all of this with kevin blackstone and robert costa, reporter with "the washington post." i saw the two of you talk about this on npr, it was riveting.

grateful to you both for joining me. kevin, speak to this cushion, and we sort of asserted it, this was a divisive question for the nfl, one they grappled with with mixed reviews, the president weighing in, maybe throwing red meat to his base, he managed to unite many owners, some of them trump supporters and their players around the first amendment and players' first amendment rights. >> he certainly did. for the players, it was assault on their man hood, for the owners, assault on their pocketbook because although these owners have given this president millions of dollars in terms of campaign contributions, he turned his back on their enterprise by calling on fans to tune out the nfl simply because some of the employees had a difference of opinion about things in this country and were using the national anthem as a platform to protest. so we certainly understand that.

and the thing that's galling to me and in particular players, you didn't hear this same verbal assault on the nazis and white supremacists who protested violently with a death in charlottesville, but you heard that against primarily black players who protested peacefully for something they believe in in this country. that is really galling. >> robert costa, i take kevin's point and i want to know what you're hearing from white house sources because i think even the president lives in denial of his own sort of attraction to dog whistles. >> the president when he was a candidate, now as president, he has always waded into the

culture wars of the republican party, really of the country. this is an area he's comfortable in. an area where his party is not comfortable with him constantly using incendiary language and statements to make the debate about his position rather than the policies pushed on capitol hill. in spite of all that, he continues to move forward. his advisers aren't urging him to do this, it is him. >> kevin, do you ever worry we have important conversations about race because the president is wagging the dog, trying to distract from issues like the russia investigation which seems to be closing in on his inner circle, like his failing legislative agenda, like this conflict with north korea that he seems to be making at least rhetorically worse with his language or do you sort of take that we'll have the conversation under any circumstances we can have them because they're important conversations?

>> we will, but i buy that line of reason and that's what the sin i can in me says, that this is somehow diversion from critical issues on a global scale with climate change, with north korea, and domestically in terms of the health care bill, but also changing the conversation that colin kaepernick attempted to have over a year ago about the extrajudicial killing of black men in this country that seems to be unchecked. now that morphed into a conversation about first amendment and freedom of speech rights, and not about that issue, which by the way "the washington post" if you look at the data they keep on police killings in this country shows that as of today there are more police killings in this country than there were a year ago at the same time, so the problem that colin kaepernick originally dropped to a knee about is not being discussed. and now we moved onto another

issue which is important in its own right, but is not the target of what colin kaepernick was all about. >> robert costa, i'm guessing though that the president would be more than happy, i think the president probably feels like he whipped his base into a frenzy having the kind of debate kevin just described. i wonder what you're hearing from white house sources about how much the president -- the president is clearly enjoying this debate, thinks it is good for him. i think he sent out a half dozen tweets. he tweeted about nascar being an example of not tolerating protests from drivers, i heemea the president seems to relish a culture war like this. >> and you can't isolate what's happening with the nfl and sports in general with president trump. it comes as he's moving forward with a revision to his travel ban, it comes days before tuesday's alabama primary runoff where the candidate he backed, senator strange, is slated to lose if the polls are right, and

facing pressure from the base on the stalled agenda from capitol hill as health care continues to have trouble in the senate, tax reform is moving but slowly. all these forces are pushing the president i am told by his confidants to react this way. it is not the only answer but part of the explanation. >> both of you, stay with us. willie cologne, retired lineman for the steelers, including one of their super bowl winning seasons is an analyst with sportsnet new york. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> honored by your presence and your participation in this conversation. we were talking before we came on the air about the question i started with, did donald trump help the nfl out, did he make it easier for owners to stand behind their players who are maybe as kevin described dealing with their man hood while owners deal with their bottom line. >> i think you talk about knee jerk reaction the nfl has had, the nfl has shown me that they

continue to be reactive instead of proactive. >> why do you think that is? >> i think because it is an uncomfortable situation for them. >> race? >> race, you talk about colin kaepernick. i am from south bronx new york. things he is protesting and trying to bring awareness to have continued. it is uncomfortable to talk about what the bare bones of the protest is. it is easier to talk about the flack. that goes around and around. >> someone said yesterday for every athlete that puts all their career, all their sort of treasure and ability to support their family, they put it on the line. but they do it because for every one of them that makes it, there are hundreds, maybe thousands -- >> there's nothing more disrespectful. i follow twitter and social media that people say hey, what are millionaire cry babies crying about. the nfl game means nothing. i earned every day, every penny

of my worth. i work my tail off to be part of the nfl and make a living for my family. i sacrifice my body, continued to sacrifice everything, my image to be part of the nfl. nfl didn't give me anything, i earned my right to play in the league and i was paid for it. that's the division right now you see in players. do i risk my livelihood for a cause i'm 50/50 on or do i put myself out there and suffer the consequences for something that they should stand up for, you know, so it's troubling in itself and i don't know if this is ever going to go away. i don't know if the nfl can handle it. only way they can handle it is by mass kiking it with the flag >> two questions. one, are you happy what you saw on fields all over the country yesterday. >> i felt it was hypocrite move on the nfl's part. i felt like this should have been addressed a lot earlier. i thought colin kaepernick was extremely brave, put his career

on the line, asked nothing from anybody. he stepped off the field, gave his own money to contribution of bringing awareness, i am discouraged at the fact that this stance didn't happen earlier. all it took was for donald trump to threaten their pockets. >> threaten boycott. >> threaten boycott to get out of their seats and say hey, this is wrong. i don't know where to go as far as former player. all i can do is continue to stand up for the truth and what's right and hopefully something comes of it. i think the nfl has to wake up and really stand where the nba stands as far as letting players have an honest platform to talk about social injustice and have a commissioner stand behind them. >> the sports fans in my life say the bigger news from donald trump is that he had the audacity to say the game was better when the hits were harder. >> i mean, i'm not surprised by the rhetoric this man says.

i'm not expecting him to be sensitive. from day one he has been dismissive, disrespectful, downright flagrant. anything comes out of his mouth, i'm not going to sit here and be shocked by it. it is us that know better do better. >> you should be a political analyst. >> it is us that do know better. i have conversations with people who do suffer from cte, whose wives and families are effected by it. this is real, this isn't going away. this is in light of aaron hernandez, found with stage three ct who had a little daughter. i am not trying to make him to be a saint, but cte is serious. to make light or be passive about it, you know, i'm not surprised it came out that horse's mouth. >> listen to it come out of the horse's mouth. i want to talk to kevin on the other side. >> today if you hit too hard, right, 15 yards, throw him out of the game. they had that last week.

i watched for a couple of minutes. two guys just really beautiful tackle. boom. 15 yards, the referee gets on television, his wife is sitting at home, she's so proud of him, they're ruining the game, right? >> kevin, are they ruining the game? >> of course not, they're not ruining the game. this is how donald trump has just racialized this entire weekend, listening to willie talk about this, the majority of this league as we know, the nfl, are black males. the majority of the injuries, the concussions are black males. you look at stacking by position and those positions that suffer the greatest from cte, they're the positions that black males are more often likely to play. and so for him to dismiss that and to dismiss cte as something that does not exit shows a

callousness toward the athletes and particularly the black athletes that play this game. he did not have to say explicitly anything about black players, but it came across loud and clear. when you put that with his background, as robert alluded to, it paints a really ugly picture in terms of the way this president happens to see black america and the black males that play these sports in particular. >> robert costas, white men that donald trump likes to talk about a whole lot, couple of his besties, tom brady and bob kraft. i wonder howl take critiques from his famous friends. >> we saw when tom brady didn't choose to attend the white house for the super bowl ceremony, the president at least publicly was not infuriated by that. he has seen his close friend, one of his friends, bob kraft

express displeasure with the president's handling of the situation. it will be telling to see how he handles the different criticism from different sides. >> let me get your advice for teams. steph curry spoke for the warriors, coach kerr had his back, that was sort of asked and answered on the twitter verse. how should teams deal with this. they win a championship but are so opposed to this president for all the reasons we talked about, for making comments about black athletes, as we started and didn't pay enough attention to this, there's a distinct, glaring difference in the right of protesters, he defended the kkk protesters, and black athletes taking a knee in the national anthem should be fired, get the sons of bitches out of here. >> to be honest, that rhetoric, i expect that. >> what should teams do? >> how pittsburgh steelers

handle it and seattle. one goes, we all go. one doesn't go, we don't go. the foundation of this team is we, not me. not one individual wins a championship, not one loses it. has to be from a standpoint, i appreciate steve kerr and what steph said if he is not going, we're not going. you have to take a stand, has to be a family. i support what the steelers did, how seattle went about it. end of the day, it is a we game, not me. >> kristin welker, it is a me game the white house plays, the me is the president, taking on the nfl, nba, and now perhaps baseball. how is the white house adjusting to the new reality? >> reporter: they're responding in the way you would expect them to respond, nicole, digging in. sarah huckabee sanders was pressed, is the president not contributing to divisiveness, is

he essentially saying he doesn't believe in the first amendment. she disputed all that. listen to one of her talking points. >> this isn't about the president being against anyone but this is about the president and millions of americans being for something, being for honoring our flag, honoring our national anthem, honoring the men and women that fought to defend it. >> i think it is always appropriate for the president of the united states to defend our flag, to defend the national anthem, and defend men and women that fought and died to defend it. >> i'm guessing you love the flag and you also love your fellow players who take advantage of their first amendment rights. it is possible to do both, right? >> this country was founded on protests, black and brown built this country for us, to sit here and isolate like we don't care about the people that served our country is ridiculous. has nothing to do with them. we're talking issues internal in

the country, lack of accountability plaguing black america. that's the focus of the debate. for us to mask, you don't stand for the people that served is ridiculous. i have family in the military, i honor them, love what they've done, totally appreciate how they fight for our freedom and liberties. until we talk about the issues that plague social injustice and inequality that plague the country, for me that's a distraction to avoid what the real meat and potatoes of the subject is. >> kristin, last word. >> reporter: one point in addition to the defense by sarah huckabee sanders, she made the argument that colin kaepernick starred th-- started this again police brutality, she's saying the protests changed in shape. politically speaking, nicole, may be smart from the perspective of the administration, takes focus from

the health care bill which is struggling as you know, from this escalation with north korea and a host of other issues and it rallies the president's base, nicole. >> it is straight out of a play book, tell people what to be afraid of, who is to blame. thank you all so much for spending time with us, getting us started. when we come back. first amendment hypocrisy. when the first amendment is invoked to protect a black athlete's right to kneel, they wrap themselves in the flag and say this is different. the panel weighs in. overheated rhetoric between the u.s. and north korea. how will we know when the war of words turns to a real showdown. i told you so. one of leading republican critics of the latest gop health care effort is here. we ask if republicans are finally ready to get bipartisan.

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wouldn't you love to see one of the nfl owners when someone disrespects the flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field now, out, he's fired. he's fired. >> you had some very bad people in that group. you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. that's a total disrespect of our heritage. that's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for,

okay? you're changing history, you're changing culture. this has nothing to do with race. i never said anything about race. this has nothing to do with race or anything else. this has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag. >> to many, donald trump's attacks on athletes that protest the national anthem echo the tone and tenor of his message on charlottesville. the outcry on the latest round of divisive comments is boiling over from football to baseball and basketball, to cultural icons like stevie wonder who took a knee in saturday's global citizens festival. everywhere you look the show of solidarity against the president's polarizing message. joining me, bret stevens, former republican congressman of florida, david jolly, stephanie collie for obama 2012, and with us from washington, jason johnson, politics editor for the root and msnbc contributor. bret, let me start with you.

your piece is the text of a speech you gave about the dying art of disagreeing. i read it after taking in this whole weekend of news. i wonder what you make. my sense is that you can love the national anthem and stand up for it, stand up so the person next to you can kneel in protest if they want to. why does he create these by narrow choices where they don't exist. >> the real question is whether this is a political calculation with marlice aforethought. >> what do you think? >> in his case i suspect it is. but with trump, the line between malice and i did -- idiocy is a blurred one. we're going to make a banner. might be my favorite thing anyone said. >> there's a cunning at work,

that colin kaepernick is an unsympathetic character, especially to trump voters and going after him in the midst of his own political difficulties is sure to be a winner, not least because in doing so he is trolling the left. that's on the one hand. but the real issue here is the principle at stake which you are raising. you don't love the flag, you don't love the anthem because they're totems, we're not in some prehistoric culture you worship at a stone. you love them because they represent a series of constitutional liberties, protections, a system of republican and small liberal government, which is what makes america special. that you can engage in political protests and public events like this. this is not deviation from what it means to be what is american, it is the essence of what it is

to be american. colin kaepernick can disagree. disagreeing we spend much too much time to suppress, campus activists on the left or trumpian characters on the right, saying any kind of leftist dissent is unpatriotic. >> let me ask you another thing. i talked to someone over the weekend that said you don't lurch toward authoritarianism, you slide there one theory at a time. do you think he is trying to shame people, trying to turn those freedoms into anti-american gestures? >> whoever said that should also be quoted. there's essentially -- >> a secret source. >> we don't notice how the temperature is rising or maybe we're defining things down in a way that goes unmentioned. let's not forget in the flag burning case that came before the supreme court, i think texas

v johnson, it was scalia, well known leftwing activist jurist said you have a right to burn the flag. it is a fundamental liberty. if you have a right to burn the flag, you certainly have the right to take a knee at nfl game, irrespective how i may feel about the appropriateness of that gesture at that point in time. >> what do you make of the fact that donald trump successfully main lines division to his ba n base in a way proven to hold that 38% base with these seemingly career ending disasters. >> we don't know if they're career ending. want to say well said. >> thank you. >> look, he knows exactly what he's doing. he has -- >> you go with cunning, not

idiocy. >> i think he knew he was going to say that friday night and i think he knew the debate he was about to have, but he's made a political career out of driving a wedge through white grievances. and that's exactly what he did. there's a whole group of people in this country who are shaking their heads in agreement, they might not agree with his tactics or the fact that he calls them sons of bitches, but they're in agreement you shouldn't kneel during the national anthem, it is disrespectful to the flag. i disagree. i think the whole reason the flag exists is because we can share our opinion and disagree, we have the right to freedom of expression, but not everybody sees it that way. look, he was just starting to tick up in the polls because of the way he handled the hurricanes, put aside puerto rico for a second, and because he had struck some deals with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer.

it will be interesting to see whether that 2 to 3% he gained sticks with him after this. >> jason, let me ask you your thoughts about not just the base and firing up his base, doesn't seem like that's his political need at the moment as stephanie was just saying, he finally had started to regain some of the ground but the original group of people that voted for him by deals with the democrats, this seems like the kienlnd of thing that will repel them. >> here's the thing, this isn't cunning or brilliant, this is it, it is just who the president is. he is a bigot, he is hostile, he is arrogant, likes telling people what he thinks. what happened, which often occurs, since he has become president, he is not just tabloid fodder, he forgets people don't have to agree with you any more, don't have to kiss your butt when they want to get on your tv show. he angered a bunch of other rich

guys by attacking the career or hobby that they have by owning nfl teams. and i think at the end of the day in another week when the news cycle changes again, he is going to lose that extra two or three%. you know what he did, for whatever complaints people have about protests and police brutality which is missed sometimes in this discussion, he missed football. that's the kind of thing makes him less popular as president. >> my parents, david, some of the more famous trump supporters, called and said they didn't watch. i said i bought an nfl pass. ben sasse said you have the right to protest trump, aren't there better ways than kneeling before the flag soldiers died to defend. can you offer words of wisdom to republicans largely struggling to find their voice. i come down on the side of i think loving the flag means loving your friend or neighbor or your kids, right to kneel

before it. but for republicans struggling with the overlap at the trump base, what should they do? >> my wife and i enjoyed game day at miller's house in seminole in a special way, but there's two lanes. kaepernick first amendment issue and the race issue. as you and i engaged in twitter conversation yesterday, a lot of conservatives come down on the side of law enforcement in some of these hard conversations, not that it is a binary choice, but a lot of them listen to law enforcement position as much as black lives matter, social justice, kaepernick platform. what trump did, he turned it into first amendment issue. now conservatives say kaepernick has a right to take a knee, professional athletes have a right to express freedom of political speech. but we can't overlook the racial overtones of this. we simply can't. i am the child of a white southern baptist preacher from the south and i grew up in the

south. i'm also the son of a pastor who was criticized for baptizing a black female teenager in the '60s. and there's no question what the president has done. it may not be a racial issue to the president as he said on twitter today. >> is that a lie or ignorance? >> it is a lie. >> i don't know, it may be a lie. here's the important thing, it is an issue of race to millions of americans, including the athletes we saw take a knee, and you're president of the entire united states, not just the republican party, and if it is an issue of race to some, it is an issue of race to all, and the president has ignored that and failed on that test. >> we have to hit pause. we have much more to come. no one is going anywhere. what does it feel like to jump up and down and scream at the top of your lungs, don't drive over the cliff, watch your political party floor it and go over the cliff over and over again. that's what our next guest must feel like when he watches the republican party bumble so many

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it has been described to me in the last few days as the new conscience of the republican party, joins me now, ohio governor john kasich, former presidential candidate. >> nicole, the conscience of the republican party is john mccain. you know, i called john on friday after he made his decision and i said i'm so glad you did what you did, john, because you're somebody we can believe in. i mean, he's been consistent and i'm a huge fan of john's. i mean, nobody is perfect, but i think he's great. >> i'm devastated by his diagnosis. what do you think the republican party is as we see him sort of -- i hope he is with us another decade or two, he is obviously leaving everything on the field. >> listen, you can't count

mccain out. i saw the interview, the 60 minutes interview, you can't count him out. there's a survival rate, if anybody can survive -- >> 3 to 12%, which made me gasp in that interview last night. >> i think it is a very serious illness, i don't know much about it. one of my dearest friend's sister has it, they've given her bad news about this, i don't think we ever know. >> we never know the impact and human spirit is a big variable in these fights. we need him. talk about this fight, you're on the same side in health care. i wonder if you can sort of explain why republicans -- i set this up by saying you must feel like someone who screams at the top of your lungs, don't drive over the cliff, and watch your party -- >> look, i don't care about my country, what i really worry about, one of the things i told john, nicole, look, i have health insurance, you have health insurance. think of the people who don't have it, who teeter on the edge,

whose kids may have a pre-existing condition, if you're drug addicted and your mom, dad, brothers and sisters want you to get clean, there may not be enough money to get you treatment. if you have mental illness, just mental illness, you can't see anybody. you used to show up to a place and go in and have a meeting. now there's a sign on the door says we're closed because of lack of money. i'm the balanced budget guy. i spent a lifetime fighting to balance the budget and got it done. there are ways to save money, reform these programs. what we're seeing in washington with this program, this is a hail mary. you know what that is? >> thank you. i am a sports fan. >> this is a hail mary pass on health care. the other thing i've said, it is like a ping pong match. democrats shut the republicans out, they passed this bill that they all now say is flawed. republicans knocked the ball back, it is ping pong. the loser will be the people who are vulnerable. so look, john hickenlooper and i

along with other republican, and democratic governors, we put together a program that gives the states great flexibility. you can keep obamacare if you want it, if you don't have to agree with that direction, but we have guardrails. there have to be guardrails. you can't hand somebody a blank check, particularly when it is not as much as the current program. we can fix programs, one last thing. when i became governor, we had a 9% increase in medicaid rates. now that rate is growing by 1.7 we have more people that are healthy. we have low uninsured rate. we can do these things if we use our brains and forget the silly politics. >> so you're with john mccain in wanting to see a better bill on the substance and better process and want it to be bipartisan? >> that's what hickenlooper and i resubmitted a plan. >> what do you want to see. >> i want to start with insurance. i want to stabilize the insurance market. give states the flexibility

within certain parameters to design their own program, and if you want to stay with your program, you can do it. then i want to turn the medicaid, medicare, social security and figure out a better way. on medicaid, for example, and even on medicare, right now the way the system works is you get paid for quantity. we need to pay for quality. we need to pay for good stuff, not for how much you give me. that's a fundamental change. >> you're describing something that could only pass with bipartisan support. >> nicole, nothing big can pass without bipartisan support. they're talking about tax reform. >> no one is trying anything bipartisan. >> yeah, they are. patty murray put out a statement saying we should do it. we should do bipartisan. tom carper and i talk. hickenlooper is a democrat. these are people that want to be constructive. the ones that are extreme, bernie and single payer, that's

out there. >> what about graham cassidy. >> i had a meeting with senator graham. i said lindsey, i hope you lose, then i'll help you with medicaid later. i don't know what's going to happen there. i hope it doesn't pass. >> you mention sports. are you a lebron fan? >> i'm aware what he has been doing. sure, cleveland cavalier. of course i am. >> he tweeted this, you bum. steph curry already said he ain't going, so therefore ain't no invite. going to the white house. >> what do you think of this war of words over kneeling during the national anthem. >> i don't like a war of words or divisions, but nicole, i've kind of moved on, you know. i'm to the point now where i'm trying to figure out the impact -- >> do you follow trump on twitter? >> i hadn't followed him, not following any of that stuff. i don't wake up and read that. i want to know what i can do as

a person to connect with the people that i'm around. why do i have to be waiting for what some athlete is saying or some political leader. it's about me. when i hear that they're in the stands in a football game and booing one another because of political positions, i'm like we shouldn't be doing that. it's okay if you're at ohio state and michigan and booing the other team, but that's sports. what i'm trying to say is our country is at its strength when we go from the bottom up, not the top down. when we take our queues from families, our religious leaders, the people we love. that's how you build the country. so all of this arguing and fighting. i wish these things hadn't been said. >> by the president? >> of course. i saw lebron getting it. he said something else today. now we're figuring out, quoting lebron now, good for him. lebron said i'm not going to let

anybody divide us, no matter who they're, what their position is. i happen to agree with that. i wish we could all. two grade commandments, love god, love your neighbor as yourself. if we get back to that, we get better and solve more problems. >> you going to run for president again, try to make that a reality? >> unlikely. who knows what i'm going to do. could i co-host with you? you're doing great. >> you're hired. you hear so much you're fired. you're hired! start tomorrow. >> thank you. all right. we'll see you. >> thank you for spending time. come back any time. start whenever you're ready. send us a start date. we love having you. thank you so much. a quick break. we'll be right back.

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how'd that go? he kept spelling my name with an 'i' but it's bryan with a 'y.' yeah, since birth. that drives me crazy. yes. it's on all your email. yes. they should know this? yeah. the guy was my brother-in-law. that's ridiculous. well, i happen to know some people. do they listen? what? they're amazing listeners. nice. guidance from professionals who take their time to get to know you. for tech advice. dell small business advisor with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. ♪ this weekend before he decided to fan the flames of a race war in america, before he decided to fire out more than 20 tweets about the nfl and nba,

president trump tweeted just heard foreign minister of north korea speak at u.n. if he echoes thoughts of little rocket man, they won't be around much longer. today north korea foreign minister held a press conference and responded. [ speaking foreign language ] >> that was north korea's foreign minister announcing in response to president trump's tweets, their country is now prepared to shoot down u.s. planes, even if they're not in north korean air space. we're back with the panel. i read a little alarm over the weekend secretary mattis has to get on the phone with his counter parts after all these presidential outburst and calm the waters, differentiate

between what's a rhetorical flashpoint and what's real. how are we to know when this gets real? >> 110 years ago, had a republican president roosevelt that said speak softly and carry a big stick. we have exactly the opposite of that kind of policy. it is particularly worry some, to a great extent, kim jong-un is unknown to us. he is unknown to himself. he is a 32-year-old leader engaged in brinkmanship with an american president. you think of handling of the cuban missile crisis, other moments in the cold war, they were carried out with extraordinary delicacy and sensitivity to the nuance of words. and it is terrifying to think we have a president, even if i actually agree with the tough line on north korea, terrifying to think we might bumble into a disaster on the korean peninsula

because he sends an ill advised tweet at 6:30 in the morning which the young prince of north korea misinterprets. >> it is described that in the white house some of what they view as improvement from the reince priebus era is that kelly has the staff much more organized. they're working, i don't know if collaboratively is too strong, folks that should be in the situation room, dealing with the grave threat that north korea represents are down there. the piece of it that's still sort of this plate spinning on its own is the president's twitter account. i wonder if it is possible for anyone to reconcile a team that may finally be firing on all cylinders with a president that's off tweeting crazy things. >> nicole, i wouldn't necessarily say the team is firing on cylinders. think about it. they have a failed health care plan, still don't know what they're doing about tax reform, still an absolute grienld, slog in congress. >> stop. all right.

i guess it is relative. the point is they're not at war against each other. i take your point and concede it. white flag. during the ten days they were at war with each other, i mean, the team that has to sit in in the sit room and is able to do so without worrying about steve bannon blasting them on breitbart, at least. >> right. i'd say the greatest concern and we've said this jokingly, glibly over the last seven, eight months. it's true. the president of the united states has a staff surrounding him with information. someone needs to take his phone. i'm not being funny. at some point he will say something that will frighten kim jong-un to the extent they feel obligated for their own nation's safety to do something pro act i ive. we don't know how dangerous north korea can be. our intelligence on that isn't really good. 30 years from now digging

through apocalyptic rubble say world war iv was started because the president couldn't express himself properly in 140 character. >> david? >> one of those dangerous areas what the president normalized and his base accepted put our nation at risk. >> how? >> we can't overlook the fact that a nation state said today, we believe the united states of america has declared war on us, and that means we will take actions including shooting down aircraft, and what was very disconcerting and shoulding to every american was to see sarah huckabee sanders today say, no, we haven't declared war, and it's wrong to shoot down aircraft. that is the normalization of a donald trump america that should instill fear in every america. >> what do we do? steph? >> nicolle, we've both worked for sitting presidents. the thought that a president could put out a statement like that is -- is just -- you

know -- less than a year ago it was unthinkable and now this is the norm. and i think that, you know, white house -- the national security team, you sit in the situation room. you hear the intelligence on these foreign leaders. you understand what makes them tick what incites them to do these things and we know enough about north korea to know that poking them, insulting them, is only going to make it worse and it's proven true by north korea's actions over the last several months. so you know, to the comments everything has made on this panel before me, i hope it doesn't become the case, but the president is not handling this responsibly. >> i would also put -- you spoke so well. there are going to be republicans and conservatives who are going to say, no, this is exactly what we need. this is the madman theory of international relations. trump is actually playing this four dimensional chess while we are all sort of going back to the obama pattern that we must

be conservative, and i would say to them, if a democratic president, if donald trump had been elected on a democratic ticket, let's pretend for a moment. what would these same republicans be saying about -- i suspect they wouldn't be calling it four dimensional, but led by a crazy person leading us into a northeast asian apocalypse. >> just as we're starting to make progress at the u.n. and bringing china to the table, actions like this make it more difficult. >> someone said to me the best thing about the foreign policy, said it on the show friday, the people at vising his foreign policy. the worst thing, the way he executes it. do you "glagree? >> yes. a matter of peace and war. the president needs to be quiet. don't do anything ob twitter. letnikki haley and a coalition decide what to do about north korea. the moment the president

responds, incite and it will be disastrous. >> will anyone take his phone? prediction? >> i don't think it's going to happen. that could endawninger us all. we take phones away from 7-year-olds because we don't want them ordering a pizza. why can't we take the phone away from a president who may get us into a war. >> sorry i'm laughing. it's jason's fault. and puerto rico, millions of americans face a serious humanitarian crisis. it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, when it comes to strong bones, are you on the right path?

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the federal response has been anything but slow. in fact, an unprecedented push did you through of billions of dollars in fral assistance the administration has fought for, i mentioned earlier, tom bossert and brock long are on the ground today to do a mow thorough and deeper assessment of what needs there are. our focus is continuing to be on the life-saving efforts in the immediate disaster response efforts, currently still underway. >> and tell that to the more than 3 million american citizens still living in the dark without resources. telling nbc news, they don't expect the white house to request more disaster relief until the first or second week of october. nbc's tammy leutner is live in san juan. tammy, can the people of puerto rico wait that long for more aid to come through? >> reporter: nicolle, absolutely not. you ask anybody here on the ground they'll tell you, no.

we are seeing cleanup under way in portions. this is downtown san juan, but there are many communities where there are still rescues being made. communities still cut off. people don't know if people survived the hurricane or not. we've traveled all around the island in the last week, and we are hearing that water is the big thing. people are still desperate for water. we went to one town about 90 minutes outside of san juan and they jerry rigged a pvc pipe to collect water from a mountain stream and were filling up buckets and water bottles telling us they are just doing what they have to do, because there is such a short supply of water on the island. gas is another thing. the lines for gas during the day run a mile. people are waiting three hours, four hours, five hours for gas, and this is gas for their cars but also gas for generators, keep in mind, nicolle, there's still no power on the island. >> tammy leutner, thank you so much for bringing that story us.

we'll stay on it. my thanks to everyone who joined us. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace, "mtp daily" starts right now with steve kornacki in for chuck. >> if it's monday, clashes re-ignite. tonight the intersection of sports and politics. the white house defends the president's stance on sideline protests. >> it's always appropriate for the president to defend our flag. plus, the clock ticks on senate republicans to pass a new health care bill. >> no! no cuts to medicaid! and the crisis in puerto rico. why days after the storm the situation on the ground only seems to be getting worse. this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. and good evening.