hit yet another record high today, breaking 23,000 for the first time ever. take a look at the big board, this comes just six weeks after the index broke 22,000 back in august. here's the closing bell, closing above 23,000, it will be the fourth fastest 1,000-point increase in the index' 134-year history. that does it for me this hour, be sure to check out sundays at 7:00 eastern for k.c.d.c. right here on msnbc. thanks for watching. deadline white house with nicole wallace starts right now. hi, everyone, it's 4:00 in more new york, i started this show one day by saying the bottom was calling, it wanted to know if we were there yet, on day two on how his spread -- the call to families of the men and women who give their lives to protect america, it feels like

the right time to reup the question, is anything sacred. when scandals and mistruths are served up in gargantuan proportions. >> he's not a war hero. >> he's a war hero. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. i don't know what i said, i don't remember. >> if you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say, probably she wasn't allowed to have anything to say, you tell me. i just start kissing them, it's like a magnet. and when you're a star, they let you do it. you can do anything. >> you do whatever you want? >> you grab them by the [ bleep ]. they went out and bought a big yacht, and they had a very interesting life. i'm not going to tell you what he did because you're boy

scouts. should i tell you? you had some very bad people in that group. but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. 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. >> so it turns out, with this president, there's always a lower rung from which to swing. the president said again defending his claim that past presidents hadn't called families who lost loved ones, this time invoking the death of his chief of staff general kelly's son. >> this is the fake news cnn, they're just a bunch of fakers, and they asked me that question, and i think i have called every family of somebody that's died and it's the hardest call to make and i said it very loud and clear yesterday, the hardest thing for me to do is do that.

as far as other representatives, i mean you could ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama? >> the white house releasing a carefully worded statement to nbc news saying that president obama never called general kelly, spokesmen for kelly, obama and bush revoked claims that they hadn't called families. we'll get to those latest surreal developments, joining me white house reporter jonathan a lamere and nbc's peter alexander. peter let me start with you again today, because i know you have been reporting out this story. what's the latest word from the white house? >> reporter: well, the bottom line as i think you laid out well there, nicole is that the president again today is casting doubt on whether his predecessor, president obama appropriately consoled the families of fallen american service members, specifically, referring to the experience of

general john kelly, whose son robert kelly died in afghanistan in 2010, one of 500 american soldiers killed that year. the white house basically insists that this is just being focused on by the media right now, that they're politicizing this issue, but be clear, it was the president who first invoked president obama's name during that question in the rose garden yesterday, the white house as you have talked about here, a spokesperson, effectively saying, white house official i should say, saying that president obama never reached out to general john kelly, i returned a call to the white house and basically said, well, did the president speak to the kelly family in some other form? did he speak with them privately, did he send them a letter? i never got a response to that question. but white house visitor log saysa about six months after general kelly's son was killed hosted a white house breakfast where the kellys were among

those invited and according to a source familiar with that breakfast, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the a private breakfast, tells me that the kelly parents, john kelly and his wife were seated at the table with the first lady, michelle obama at the time. the bottom line, it would have been easy for president trump on this day when asked during a round robin of radio interviews about the topic to say nobody wants to be fighting over this, it's the gravest of obligations for any president. >> why would they say that? this is a man who relished in a fight with -- that would be the thing to say -- why would anyone think that donald trump who relished with a two-week fight with the kahn family. this to me seems more like a pattern of his to disparage. i mean we aired those clips, not because anyone needs to see them again, but to be reminded that nothing is sacred and this isn't about reaching the bottom, we

will fall forever, but why does anyone doubt -- i have come to the conclusion that this is a white house strategy. >> this is a president, we have witnessed it, all those examples were places that the president never backed down, even when a simple apology might have been a simple way out of it. it's just not the way he works, he will fight to the end, as one white house official privately told me a matter of months ago, they said this guy loves the fight, he loves the smell of blood. this is not in the context of what we're talking about now, but that is the way the president views things, it's him against everybody else and even in this circumstance, about the responsibility of presidents to comfort the families of the fallen, it's a place where the president feels when his back is against the wall, he simply needs to fight. >> eli, do you get a sense in talking to your sources that this is a strategy that's been green lit on the staff side as well, they're nodding their

heads and agree to having donald trump to question what his predecessor s did about the fallen is a good strategy? >> john kelly wasn't in the rose garden for that press conference this afternoon. make about that what you will. this was a statement, a confirmation that came from the white house press shop when they started to get the questions that basically the president had planted with the media, ask john kelly if president obama called him, when the white house was asked about that they willingly put out on background that president obama didn't call mr. kelly when his son was killed. >> did president obama call mrs. kelly? >> we know that there was that gold star breakfast at the white house. i have talked to officials who know general kelly very well. they have a hard time imagining that he's okay with the politicalization of this at this point.

it's easy to go back and imagine him relaying or telling the president some story about this, and the question can barely be asked. but john kelly's not answering at this point how he feels, we just know he's the chief of staff of the white house that seems to be pushing this out as a strategy. and the president, as you pointed out, nicole, always makes it about himself, even when he ee's trying to talk abo how to honor gold star families, he ee's comparing and contrasti himself to mr. obama. and mr. kelly spoke very movingly about the pleuralism of our farmed for armed forces, th mention of his own individual grief, this is a guy talking about what unitess us as a country and not about his own personal feelings and now he's in service of a president who we're seeing tends to do the 07 sit. >> as eli was saying, it was

just days after general kelly's own son died that was first reported by "the washington post." general kelly told the marine that would be introducing him, please don't bring up my son's death here. it's clear what john kelly feels about a terrible moment, he and their whole family's life, and it's not a topic he wants to revisit. we requested an interview to see how he feels about his son's name being invoked in a political contest like it was today, we're not sure whether he'll be available to speak to us today. i'm also being told -- this all started when the president was asked why he hadn't spoken more publicly about the death of four american soldiers including green berets who died in najir.

i'm told by white house officials, those calls to the four families are on his schedule for today and the letters i was told were to have been sent out earlier this month. >> jonathan lamere let me ask you, i was told by two people inside the white house staff, that the strategy that tom barrett did with "the washington post" last week, and others, is to scream at the top of their lungs about the president, is the media, that they can't get through to him. that what they feel like has been lost is any attempt to govern beyond the 32%. do you have any reporting that suggests that the president is now all in? i mean the leader of the 32%? >> i think he's very concerned about the base. we have reporting that suggests that he has told people around him that he feels like he's worried a bit about the

ramifications of the chuck and nancy deal, of backing the wrong candidate in the alabama senate race, about using steve bannon to attack some of the insurgency to replace some of the republican incumbents and i might be on the wrong side of that. we also know that in this case, dating back from the campaign, advisors have tried to reach them through the media, they have thought that the best way to get him is to place an interview with fox and friends, to give an interview with a publication he reads and that that's a way to break through and he will respond better to that than in a meeting where his attention span is known to be short. and also this is a president that no matter how inaccurate a statement might be, he will not apologize, that is one of his cardinal rileules do not apolog.

he felt that these questions why haven't you called these families, this is a criticism. he was golfing all weekend. he golfed both days and he did not call those soldiers. we know those calls are being made, we know those letters are being made today. but in that moment, when he fakes that kind of questioning, he does what he so often does and he deflects it. >> would he be making those calls today if peter alexander hadn't asked him that yesterday? >> reporter: just for a little clarity, the way i understand this with the conversations i have had with pars and present white house officials, there is a protocol with the way these phone calls take place, it's like a package to the white house that communicates them the names of the fallen then the white house staff goes through those details so that the president isn't put in a position when he reaches out to the family that they're not estranged or something. but the bottom line is we have

gotten to a very ugly place where you have former obama's then deputy chief of staff referring to this president as a deranged animal. you have the president obviously invoking the name of the past president and of his chief of staff whose own son has died. and at this point it's unclear if there is ever any point where all sides can come together for any "kumbaya" moment of any kind, because at this point everyone's just dug into their corners so deeply. >> peter alexander, thank you for all of your sad reporting on this subject. let's bring in the rest of our panel, republican strategist and msnbc contributor, selena maxwell and former clinton campaign progressive media director, eric swallow. let me ask you, how do you handle this issue if someone in your district loses a loved one?

>> it's awful. you don't want to politicize it. these families are going through enough, and you don't want to pat yourself on the back for doing your job and i don't know why you would want to kick your predecessor for how you think they should have done theirs. but when you hear the story, take a step back, john kelly lost his son, and now this is front and center again for john kelly? it's so unnecessary, this president is bringing out the worst in everyone. you're seeing martin dempsey tweeting how horrified he is. this is a general using words that he probably would not use publicly, but he's so offended by what he's seen. >> general dempsey, we have just seen, potus 43 and 44 and a the first ladies cared deeply for tirelessly for the serving. let me just press you on this

point, because we are not raising general kelly's son's death, donald trump raised it in an interview, he did an interview this morning and he said this. you could ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama? that is how general kelly's son's death ended up part of the conversation. >> it's horrifying to me, i can't believe we're back here again talking about something that's so sensitive. but again, if he attacked a gold star family previously, i guess this is just old hat for him to punch down in a moment -- >> punch down? i think if you lose your child, you're broken. >> it's not even punching down, steve. >> the only thing that goes through my head is a quote by joseph welch who was the chief counsel of the united states army approaching general mccarthy, and he said at long last, sir, have you no sense of

decency? and we're long past someone in this country of stature and somebody from the president's political party, at long last, sir, have you no sense of decency? and it is extraordinary, to see the lack of rectitude, of dignity, on an issue, and a trust so sacred as this, that the president is talking about how hard these calls are for him. with regard to puerto rico, when you listen to his comments, it's the hurricane's greatest victim is donald trump. his constant cries of victimization, and the projection of that weakness to the world is beyond bad. beyond bad. >> i don't have time for the whole thing, but let me read a little bit. we don't have a general but we have greg popovich. he wrote about donald trump yesterday, about those who have lost loves ones in times of war and his lies that previous

presidents obama and bush never contacted their families is beyond the pale. this man in the oval office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. this is as low as it gets. do you think he'll go after greg popovich next? >> certainly greg popovich has become an opposer of the president. no matter what side of the aisle you're on, this is a good fight for america, this is a good conversation for this country, there's nothing more sacred of a president's duty than this, than to call the families who lost a loved one overseas, serving their country, who died in uniform. the president extended this story today, he chose to bring up general kelly's son, he chose, instead of saying, let's say move on for the country, he

chose to make this an issue that we're going to be dealing with in the days ahead. >> when we come back, an american hero issues a dire warning and issues -- and on queue, donald trump questions him today. and we'll continue on the investigation of donald trump's ties to russia. and the new subpoena's uncooperative witnesses and what robert mueller would want to chat with reince priebus about. ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ ♪ because one is the only number ♪ staying ahead isn't about waiting for a chance. it's about the one bold choice you make that moves you forward. the one and only cadillac escalade. ( ♪ )

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my mom had an expression, from the time i was a kid. she said joey, look at me. look in my eyes. and i'm not exaggerating, my word as a biden. she said look at me, she said, remember, you are defined by your courage and you're redeemed by your loyalty. that was her code. you are defined by your courage, and you're redeemed by your loyalty. courage and loyalty. i can think of no better description of the man we're honoring tonight, my friend john mccain. >> that was former vice president joe biden introducing the one person who ran for president under a slogan that doubled as his life's mission statement. country first. here's john mccain last night in

philadelphia honored by democrats and republicans for a lifetime of standing up for liberty. >> to fear the world that have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, and abandon the ideals we have spread around the goal, to fulfill the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth, for the sake of some half baked spurious nationalism, cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is an unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired doigma of the past that americans can assign to the ash happy of history. >> today donald trump when asked about those comments vowed to fight back. >> you heard what he said yesterday, senator mccain. >> yeah, i hear it because people have to be careful because at some point i fight back. i'm being very, very nice but at some point i fight back and it

won't be pretty. >> nothing you do is pretty. congressman, weigh in. >> half of me thinks, like, weren't those the days when we had leaders like john mccain and biden. and the other half thinks th s the republicans can work in a bipartisan way. >> is the bar so low? i know that's a breaking headline this afternoon that two senators agree on health care. like break through, don't you have to get it through both houses now? >> it's so low in 2017, but it's an encouraging first step that we can start working together. that's a good step on health care, they don't want to repeal and replace but they are ready to acknowledge that there are problems with obamacare and we should work together to fix them. >> i learned a lot from people in the house, by people like anna eshu. she's taught me how to build

friendships behind the scenes and strike and work on those. i think there's a lot in the house, in the senate, i'm also, you know, encouraged by cory booker and the work he does on criminal justice reform. but it's out there, it's drowned out by this president. again, he just brings out the worst. >> and it's poisoned by the president. i mean there was a path to do health care reform with members from both parties, as the congressman just said, if republicans had given up repeal and democrats had come to the table ready to fix, there could have been something. this is also about missed opportunity, right? >> he doesn't understand if they can repeal off the table, then of course democrats will come together to fix obamacare, because we know there are issues that need to be fixed. and president trump's misunderstanding and lack of understanding of the details of policy has a tangible impact on

the ability of this administration to actually pass legislation, i think he is the reason why congress is unable to do anything because he's hampering their efforts. and when he says it's not my fault, don't blame me, it is his fault. it's his fault. >> let's go back to that speech last night, you watched the whole thing, every tribute, every address. it's an interesting moment for john mccain, because it turns out that lindsay graham is no john mccain. there are no more john mccains, so i hope he's around for another couple decades. but what at this moment is the importance of john mccain's voice, not just on policy, but in the body in which he serves? >> first of all, since he took the oath at annapolis, in the brief time between leaving naval service and being elected to congress, he's spent every hour of his adult life in service to his nation, at cost and sacrifice that begs the imagination. i think what john mccain did last night is he lit a torch.

he lit a torch for the generations of political leaders that will come behind like eric, to focus on the reality that we are one people. we are a people bound by ideals, american ideals. that are the most exceptional ideals ever put to paper by the mind of man, we're an imperfect nation, because we journey towards the fulfillment of those ideals. and what john mccain talked about last night is our best selves. and the duty, the aspiration to achieve the greatness of the founders' vision of justice and liberty for all. >> but talk about how short we're falling. i think that john mccain -- i saw so much fight in him last night, because he is -- and he has pretty raunchy stories that he takes around the world. how he and the three aamigos.

but they took his these trips and i think dana bash reported on cnn last night. that john mccain has logged tens of thousands of mile this is year. his urgent mission seems to be carry that message to as many foreign capitals to say that america is still america. is that because it is or he fears it might not stay that way? >> i think his speech last night was a warning in the spirit of george washington's farewell address. the warnings contained when dwight eisenhower left office. the liberals led global order, that came in the after math of a global war that killed 80 million people. that no country has benefitted more from that rules based system than the united states. it's made us the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world and at the exact hour, we're the last of the generation, that stormed the beaches in normandy, the last

generation that, the generation that survived the death camps, as they moved to the end of long hi human life stpans that these wil become memories, not experiential memories but historical memories, these will become the annals of history because if question don't remember them, the world can have a tragedy the likes wi s w in the middle of the last century. >> it's a factual statement that this president does not spend much time on the lofty ideals of america. that's not how he works. he's not calling on our better angels. that's not part of his appeals. >> do you think he knows what that reference is? >> it's not part of his approach to his supporters. but one thing he does do, and we saw a little bit of this yesterday, when he suggested that a failure would not be his fault. he understands drama and he

likes to have a villain. he likes to have an opponent, he likes to have an adversary. and he's made it clear that he's comfortable with senator mccain being that adversary and he doesn't seem to mind that the senator is battling a very grave illness. >> the idea that nothing is sacred, he issued a threat that he's been very, very nice, but not for long. does he have any idea how idiotic he sounds? >> probably not. but you know, i don't know that he actually conveyed that he had heard what mccain said. he was asked the question, and he brushed it after and said i hear things. you never actually know if he's responding to what you think he's responding to. he said mccain gave a speech and it wasn't great. and he makes this broad brush threat in return. and he will react because nobody or nothing is sacrosanct to this

president. and also the isolation or donald trump's prospect of nationalism. but the part that is threatening the bonds of this nation of one people, the way that this president and his authoritarian impulses threaten the very system of our democracy, the checks and balance on the executive, the courts, the legislative branch, the media, his work to undermine the media and the very notion of objective truths being something we can actually pursue and find and agree to as a country. those are the things that this president does that are destructive beyond just the isolationist foreign policy and i know that that is something that lost weighs heavily on senator john mccain. >> and as john mccain blazes a legacy, there are real people who need his leadership style. yesterday i met with dreamers, joe kennedy and stephanie murphy and i, and he said we don't need politics right now, we need leadership. it. >> really quick, what's he going to do to john mccain?

is this going to send a mean tweet to john mccain? does he have any idea who john mccain is? this is the toughest living human being that you can find. but i do think if he picks john mccain as an adversary and he has, i can't think of another example where a man so unworthy has chosen as his adversary a man so deeply worthy as john mccain. >> when we come back, we'll turn to the man at the table investigating donald trump's potential ties to russia and find out where the inquiry stands, stay with us. sarah: every year we take a girl's trip. remember nashville? both: kimchi bbq! amazing honky-tonk! i can't believe you got us tickets! i did. i didn't pay for anything. (sigh) you never do. send me what i owe. i've got it. i mean, you did find money to buy those boots. (alert beep) are you serious? is that why you don't like them? those boots could make a unicorn cry. yeah! tears of joy.

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two developments out today, in a congressional investigation into possible collusion between russia and the trump campaign. the senate intel committee subpoenaed carl page, a former policy advisor to the campaign

who met with russian ambassador sure sergey kislayak during the campaign. the last time you were on, we talked about really some mischief that congressman nunes was making. i wonder if the house investigation is on track or if there's still side shows. >> we're on track despite the mischief that the chairman continued to try and make, most recently sent a subpoena to the group that produced the dossier, and he's more interested in the process behind the dossier being put together than what's alleged in the dossier, but he is recused. >> no one has disproved any single piece of reporting in the unsubstantiated document. >> it's in the bucket. we now know he was trying to do a trump tower deal in moscow

during the election, some of it still is uncorroborated. but we should at least be dogged in trying to find out if it's true or not. >> why wouldn't he want to? >> it looks like he has not left the white house transition team. he was doing a great job as chairman. we worked well for the past two years, once he joined the transition team, it seemed like his loyalty stayed there. adam schiff is doing a great job with what he has to work with but he's still signing the subpoenas. >> is there a sense that nunes wants to shut down the allegations in the dossier? >> i don't know the motive. >> woulda be the result if he's successful in shutting down the subpoenas. >> it would prevent us from knowing more, deterring them from wanting to come in or deterring christopher steele from wanting to cooperation. >> it seems to me, let me just read it. you said, you know, we know that the russians were in the oval

office. the russian ambassador and foreign minister and the president was kind of showing off about how he just fired james comey and he wouldn't have that problem when dealing with the russians anymore. it relieved a lot of pressure and reince priebus was chief of staff when he said that. if that occurred reince would be a witness. he was also white house staff when they were aboard air force one crafting this phony cover story for donald trump jr. he also was part of crafting the cover story about why james comey had been fired. i remember him flipping the pages dramatically, when donald trump did an interview a day later and said that i was going to fire priebus the whole time. >> he's an important witness, was there a quid pro quo, what has the white house given to russia for their help to donald

trump. he would have seen the firing of comey, the pressure that donald trump put on comey to, you know, not prostitute or go after michael flynn. he would have also been around when the russians were in the oval office and it's alleged that the president was leaking national security a secrets and also talking about the great relief that he has. he has seen a lot. hopefully he's just truthful. that's all. >> it if he's not, isn't he under danger of a perjury trial? if you perjure yourself to protect a president, you can't get a pardon, can you? >> reince has been around a lot. i don't have any reason to question why he wouldn't be truthful. i think people in the family who have been around a lot, that's where the loyalty is going to be the strongest and the hardest to piece. hopefully if thishe saw somethi he'll say something.

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we're back. the congressman is still here. what you laid out before the break, was the question, i guess, behind whether or not obstruction of justice might have taken place, with the firing of comey and all the actions around that. we spend so much more time talking about the question of collusion with russia. but obstruction of justice is the thing that could get a whole bunch of people indicted, right? >> also when you look at who is being interviewed bri eed by ths that are coming out, that is also a track that is being pursued. and you also can't imagine that the president would not be interviewed, his presence around the don jr. -- >> he dictated it. and won't all of those aides that are to be named to be on lists to testify for mueller, have to tell the truth to avoid

perjury themselves? so they will be able to detail the involvement and changing the statement to something that more closely resembles the truth. >> and also documents are being produced about correspondence with those aides and anything that the president dictated and is being passed around. >> i want to talk about the level of cooperation you're seeing from the white house and campaign officials. cnn is reporting that his tactic should be to fight, he should be going after bob mueller, he should be going after the house and senate. while his legal team has said, no, no, we believe you're innocent, and we believe the best thing to do is cooperate and get this over quickly. >> remember, it's the president who said only the mob takes the fifth. if he didn't do anything wrong, he's not acting like somebody who has nothing to worry about. the way that they're obstructing and throwing off at least the

house investigation, does not seem like somebody who wants to be cooperative. it does appear that we're at a place on the mueller said side that we're interviews witnesses and allowing people to participate. but that's what innocent people do. >> at the end of the day, we're going to find out what happened, by the time these investigations conclude. the house investigation and the congressional investigations. the one thing i know for sure, is that 100% of the-time, and i mean 100% of the time, 100% of people who have been around this campaign, in this administration, asked a question about russia, they lie about it. every single time. >> we have got sessions, he lied. we have got cush her. -- kushner. i'm sure your committee has a fancy version. kushner, whoel else lied by russia? don jr., i mean it's endless. >> flynn, the president. >> are you trying to speak to all these people and is it a central question how did so many people forget so many meetings with foreign officials?

>> and the number of times people are traveling over there or meeting with russians over adoption when you're trying to get people in the united states to get behind your presidential campaign, it doesn't make sense. it could be the greatest coincidence in the world that all these contacts existed or a convergen convergence. >> you and i have been at the highest level of two presidential campaigns and there are no russians. >> i never saw any russians. >> lots of people from battleground states be no russians. you were on the clinton campaign, did you understand at the time that you were up against not just an asymmetrical opponent, someone who lied with reckless abandon, someone who for whom there was no bottom, nothing was sacred, someone who trotted in your candidates, husbands, former liaisons. >> right. >> that created an asymmetrical dynamic, but are you also considering the possibility that there was a larger role played

by russia that was in play at the time and still does? >> i think about it all the time. during the excampaign, until th hack, we didn't understand the extent to which the russians were interferes, but we learned how they operated their fake news operation on social media. i was sort of in the hybrid middle of the communications department. so twitter was my world, so i saw a lot of these bots, i saw a lot of these tweets from people who pretended to be bernie supporters or black lives matter activists who seemed a little bit fishy, but it's only now that we're fully understanding it. and i wanted to ask the congressman, i heard you talk previously about an independent commission, because in that way in a bipartisan fashion is the only way we'll be able to keep russia from interfering in our elections again. is there anyone on capitol hill that can make sure that it isn't

affected by politics? >> they got into pokemon go. >> john mccain and back to him, he came and spoke to my college back in 2001 right after 9/11, and he led the effort for an independent commission, we have two republicans, every democrat on board to do that right now. we need more courage to put country over party, because we can't do this in the capital, it's see politicized. when we come back, a new major military victory that president trump actually can claim, so why don't we hear anything about it during all those interviews today? we'll put it to our panel.

so that's the idea. what do you think? hate to play devil's advocate but... i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! "we got a yes!" start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open.

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it took months of battle, but today u.s. backed fighters have retaken control of raqqah, the city isis used as a capital in syria. this is where the islamic state oversaw operations of control over large parts of syria. the panel is still here. eli stokels, why didn't the president, who spent so much time talking about how he was going to crush isis on a day when he met with the secretary of defense -- and we know how much he loves his generals -- make more of this? >> that's a good question. i think part of it may be because this is very complicated and the politics of this region bring in a lot of complicated

things when it comes to iran, russia is involved. it is a little not quite so civil as the u.s. just crushing isis in this area. but also, you would think that there is a good positive story for this administration to tell. and once again, we just see a president sort of consumed with talking about his own supremacy as it relates to his predecessor, obama. talking about the controversy with the nfl players kneeling, which he brought up again and really went hard at in his press conference yesterday with senator mitch mcconnell in the roads garden. there are other thing that this president is more comfortable talk being and we have all seen and come to understand his ability to drive a nice news cycle. >> eli, to be fair, one of the interviews he did this morning they actually brought it to him to give him an opportunity to take some credit. they said why didn't 24 happen before? he said, well, trump wasn't president. with your knowledge of how this

white house functions do you think anybody will look back at the ends of today's news cycle and say maybe we shouldn't have doubled down on the attacks of former president for the way and whether or not they called families of the fallen, maybe we should have made more of one of the promises during our campaign, something that can unite everyone, the defeat of isis. do does john kelly run a process at the ends of every cycle or is that beyond his control. >> i think it's more what's next, the next day, and what's coming forward. there were people venting that this may not have been the best day for the white house and media. the president himself doesn't look like. he doesn't apologize and doesn't question his own behavior. john kelly has been clear publically and privately about the way he views this job. it's not to change this

president, stop him from tweeting or contain those impulses althoughs that part of his strategy, he talks sometimes about you should see the tweets he didn't send. >> the bad stuff i have been stopping. >> they don't spend a lot of time chastising or chiding the president for his behavior. they are trying to move forward as best they can with the framework that the president sets. >> can you give us context of this military accomplishment? >> i think the pace of operations quickened, the rules of engagement were loosened when donald trump took office. and the physical area where isis was controlling territory, it's been eliminated. and so -- but although they don't have territory increasingly, it doesn't solve for the problem of extremism in the region. >> right. >> of course, we always see the

metastasis. would you we have iraqi military fighting with the kurds, which may open the next chapter of chaos in this region. and before we come to our next presidential election, it's almost certain that we will have the first american soldier killed in action who was born after the attacks on 9/11. so as this war will move into its 20th and 21st year with no end sight for america's involvement militarily in this region, that's the big discussion we should be having in this country. >> all right. we have to sneak in one more break. we'll be right back. she's nationally recognized

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congressman howe, can you make a prediction? we like to enwith a prediction. do you think this debate the white house is stoking about what his predecessors did with the families of the fallen, do you think there will be something new. >> there will be something new and we will keep falling down as you said. but i believe that our better angels like john mccain will bring us to unity. that's all we have, hope. >> my thanks to our guests. that does it for our hour. i'm micolle wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. >> nicole -- >> yes? >> i have to say, very, very impressed with how you have been handling this. it's a rough story. >> thank you. thank you my friend. >> i know it ain't easy. if it's tuesday, is the president propping up obamacare? tonight the diagnosis on health care. >> obamacare is a disaster.