go! oh, yeah. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we're gonna hit our launch date! (scream) thank you! goodbye! let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. morning glory, america. great panel coming up over advance of a breaking news heavy week from fires in california to the aftermath in the las vegas massacre, president trump's many executive orders. but first a quick word on the constitution. i have been teaching law for 21 years. i served as general counsel of assistant council in the white house and to two attorneys general. i clicked on the d.c. circuit. some things about the first amendment are pretty simple.

united states constitution an mores prior constraints and the constitution will not permit the government to license broadcast outlets based on the views of their content period. president trump is upset with media coverage. that's no surprise. some of that is completely justified. all presidents and more or less degrees about the media and president trump is just the most transparent. when it comes to that criticism, though, president trump must realize, as have all before him, while you vent you cannot vanquish or exile. you have to put with it. no matter how righter wrong the speech is, it is absolutely protect said under the first amendment. we wouldn't have it any other way. joining me to discuss the big stories past and future, tim alberta fran chess what chambers

of the daily mail. courtney, since you were part of the biggest story of the week, the president's grasp or nongrasp of the nuclear arsenal. >> i would have is to say our story was the biggest of the week. it monopolize my week. what i found interesting is the response to it but the president, by the administration. >> what's the bottom line for the story? explain for someone who has been in a cave for a week. >> a tank meeting, joint chiefs khaur man conference room back in july. it was a look at the whole world. one of the slides, the briefing slides the president was shown was the u.s. nuclear arsenal. it was a historical look at it. when he was looking at it, he said more. defense officials explained why there are budgetary constraints. there's treaties the u.s. is party to.

and nuclear nonproliferation, a decades old on policy of the united states. so we did our story. i worked with several of our colleagues, kristen welker, hallie jackson, va vanna guthrie. we questioned this in a provacative way. people say that is his manner m mannerism. he asks these probing and provocative questions to get his leaders, cab netted members to think outside the box. >> i spent the most time talking about this. tim alberta, what do you think this is the most important story of the week? >> i would probably say what we are seeing with the dismantling of the affordable care act will ultimately, hugh, force both parties to come to the table and look at this in a more comprehensive way. what we have seen resulting coming from the failure of on

the affordable care act, the president is taking matters into his own hands. it will have implications both in the short, medium and long term if chuck schumer and nancy pelosi realize with the proverbial gun to their hand, they have to do something. >> fran chess what chambers, what do you think was the most important? >> i'm going with iran. i hope we get to come back to health care. i have strong thoughts on that. i'm going with iran being the biggest news story. the president saying he was going to decertify not because they are noncompliant but because he doesn't like it, it's not strong enough, and he is going to kick it to congress. their strategy is a little interesting. they don't want congress to put more sanctions on on iran. that's not what they want. they want congress to amend this oversight legislation that gives congress the authority to put

more sanctions on iran. they are saying you guys only did that because of barack obama. so to take that away and we want you to put these trigger points in where if iran crosses any of these lines, then sanctions will automatically be put on them. so there was a briefing at the white house with rex tillerson. >> thursday night. no one knew about it. >> rex tillerson was repeatedly asked what were the trigger points. what would they have to do for sanctions to automatically snap back in? he mentioned ballistic missiles and the automatic sunsets such as when we get to those points, if there was no new deal, that the sanctions would snap in. he wouldn't detail any of the other ones even after he was asked. so that's something i'm going to be looking at as we move

forward. >> i'm going to turn to campaign politics. civil war in the republican party. steve bannon declaring he will try to find a primary challenger to almost every republican save ted cruz. he's focused on tennessee with bob corker retired as a result on of pressure from the right. you have the alabama race. very conservative republican senators really running scared that a pro trump or just pro bannon, hard right primary challenger will force them to divert their attention to the general election and make the republican party into more of a bannon-like vehicle than we have seen in quite some time. republicans, because of a map, so favorable to them, it is unlikely they will lose the senate. but if you have to spend money

defending some of the most conservatives with these nuisance challenges and not defending flake and heller, it is going to be a nightmare. >> second is round of questions, under reported story.

>> i would say, rg the president's comments on puerto rico for me. it is significant if you think about it juxta posed against the rhetoric we heard from the president which is to say he talked a lot how america has been overextended overseas and we need to come back home and take care of our citizens. you have a lot of american citizens in puerto rico under dire straits. more than half the island without access to electricity, telephone line. they couldn't even contact law

enforcement or a hospitality of people are hurting in a bad way. to put this in perspective, this is three weeks after the hurricane hit. we have been in afghanistan for 16 years. juxta posing this from what we heard from the president, not only is it consistent but it is jarring. >> underreported story? >> i'm in a totally different world. myanmar. more than half a million refugees have fled myanmar to bangladesh. the u.n. called it ethnic cleansing. >> this is undering. >> no one knows about it. you talk to our friends, people who are well educated people who read the news don't know what's going on there. meanwhile, more than half of the population of row hinga, they

are living under terrible conditions, starving. the ones still back in myanmar, half a million of them, cut off. they have no food, no basic supplies. the world doesn't know about it. >> josh, a minute to you. underreported? >> there was a study by pew research center talking about how it has moved to the left on the culture war issues. the nfl kul can cher war, they moved to support the colin kaepernick way of the party or the way of the nfl more recently. one of the numbers that was really glaring in 2009, right after president obama, the number is now 64%, more than double as it was just 10 years

ago. the middle is the vacuum up the middle. but this is where -- if trump is able to succeed, it is baiting the democrats to move further to the left on the culture war issues. he does it continuously on twitter. it is not going to end any time soon. >> we will be back with this panel. my under reported story is new home state. the worst number of fatalities in the california fire. right back. found out what they are working on for next week when we come back. ♪

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welcome back. i'm hugh hewitt. you can hear me during the week. on saturdays i'm on msnbc joined

by a newsmaker or a panel. tim albert, courtney, they are all here now. who is the most important this week not named trump? >> i would say nikki haley, u.n. ambassador, for two reasons. we begin with north korea and iran. two hot spots where diplomacy will be really important and outspoken articulate vote in favor of u.s. national interests will be crucial. she's going to, if we decide to push the envelope with iran, she will be a leading spokesperson. her political ambitions are clear. >> does tillerson like her? >> no. tillerson can't stand her. it is a well publicized rivalry. she may be the next secretary of state. >> courtney, who is the most

important person not named trump? >> kim jong-un, not because he did anything this week but because he didn't. october 10th was a big anniversary in north korea. there was a lot of speculation. we heard publicly from the deputy director at the cia to expect them to do something, to test potentially another icbm and they did nothing. and i think we underestimate how he is able to drive the u.s. reaction by things he does and does not do. >> the dog that did not bark. >> following two gee wrote political answers, if this president hopes to achieve anything of significance legislatively speak in the first year of his administration it will be on mitch mcconnell. the house was able to pass a bill. paul ryan can lose 23 votes. mitch mcconnell can lose three. he will have heck of a time

passing fax reform. if they don't, you have to wonder how the republican party turns over the calendar in 2018 looking at a difficult midterm election. you have to wonder how long he can remain senate majority leader. >> fran? >> going back to health care, despite the problems with this executive i will say rand paul. a big win this week that the president signed that executive order on health care. he has been pushing for ah long time. a big reason why he didn't want to vote for the legislation that had been in front of the senate. big week for rand paul. the president had described some of the people who were holdouts at grandstanders. but it turns out it may have helped him. >> my person who is not named trump is john kelly, not because of his press conference but he is the epitome of public service. i cannot tell you how much i admire him.

tim, you had a huge story that's coming. i'll be watching politico magazine this week. what are you working on? >> i'm almost sworn to sue lens. it will relate to john boehner and his 25 years in washington. >> a great tease. fran, what are you working on? >> i am heading very soon to asia with the president. so speaking of kim jong-un, i'll be heading to tokyo, china, and the philippines. looking ahead to that, what does that mean for this president, what does it mean for the united states and what posture does president trump take after that trip on north korea? >> i have been talking to a lot of democratic strategists conducting polls in the battleground races. donald trump is more popular than they thought. paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, less popular than they thought. they would do an advertising blitz. >> house is in play? >> house is in play.

very much in danger. >> you believe the house is in play? >> i do. there are enough sets, enough incumbents getting dragged down. not because of trump but because the republican party is split. a lot of republican voters won't show up. >> to al better tax yes or no? >> i actually think that the senate might be more in play than the house, believe it or not, as friendly as the map is. it is is a lack of results. >> courtney, what are you working on? >> nukes, spooks, and war. >> it's a book. >> i'm watching closely the situation in northern iraq where it looks like there is a possibility for a clash between the central government and the kurds as they move toward kirkuk. the turks are moving more and more troops to syria. and diplomatic relations between the -- >> would you explain how frayed that has become. >> it's remarkable.

it all really started last summer with the failed coup in turkey. erdogan really felt -- >> the president of turkey. >> he felt they didn't respond with enough support for him and his government. he felt burned by that. his reaction has spanned a year. there have been a series of diplomatic back and forths this week with now both sides saying they're not going to issue visas. >> we have a minute, courtney. will the united states ever extradite gu hand to turkey? >> right or wrong, we have no evidence that he is has been conspireing. >> exactly. two of the buggest things i'm watching, there is an enormous u.s. military presence. it is a key military hub and

turkish base. if conditions fray, what does that mean for that military base? turkey is a nato member. as turkey continues to move more and more into syria, at what point is it that the u.s. has to back them? >> it is a remarkable complex story. i wouldn't want to report it because there is so much you have to put in front of every explanation. we'll be right back. stay right there.

what's critical thinking like? a basketball costs $14. what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley ♪ ♪

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welcome back. reporters are or at least should be readers. so what are my panelists reading? >> hugh, i'm going through a dwight eisenhower phase. he's from kansas. i'm reading" days of shame" is right now, not specifically about him. it is about the mccarthy hearings. we know about the rise of mccarthy. this is about the downfall of mccarthy. tons of cohn in this book.

he goes on to represent president trump. the start of the relationship you can hear a little bit about here. >> excellent choice. tim alberta? >> i just got done reading "when breath becomes air." it is is a memoir. he was one of america's most promising young neuroscientists/neurosurgeons at stanford university, rising star in that field. he found out he had terminal stage 4 cancer, so he decided to spend the rest of his time continuing his work as a neurosurgeon, had a little girl, and wrote a book about his life experiences and really examining the meaning of life. absolutely heartbreaking but inspiring book everyone should read. >> courtney. >> "the first and last thanksgiving." it is a quick read. i read it on the train yesterday. a thanksgiving that was meant to be just a quiet casual day and a bunch of elderly relatives.

>> and it's by? >> my mother, dianne kube. it is a really sentimental undertone about alzheimer's and people in the twilight of their lives who led these fascinating lives and sort of coping with that. >> thirty seconds, josh. >> "the world without mind." the existential threat of big tech. given all the news of this week, the threat, he makes a strong argument that silicon valley is posing a long-term threat to american society. a lot of these silicone companies don't think of themselves as american companies. it is globalist. >> everyone, thank you. i will be back next week. keep the conversation going on m

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good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york at the half hour. here's what we're watching for you. the fight against the deadly flames in california's wine country. gusty winds will tear through the region today making it even more dangerous for 9,000 firefighters working to contain tho blazes. the latest on the russian investigation. former white house chief of staff reince priebus was questioned yesterday. he said he was happy to answer all their questions. the downfall of move where mogul harvey