and we have a professor of studies with us as well. you have seen how kim jong-un has arrived. as we look at the information coming into us, this is a little bit new for us, actually, to put together the word leader of north korea doing x and doing y. and we have seen z. what is your reflection on what we have seen so far? >> it is unprecedented. and that is why this is captivating. north korea is very adapt at playing this game. they go on a period of relentless crazy-sounding provocations and dramatically train the tune to flashing supplies. and thereby they come across as a peace-seeking party and able to get the u.s. to give north korea a lot of aide, for what?

for denuclear daigs. it is provocation and post-provocation. and we are in the second phase. >> adam, the two-act approach is what he's saying here. how would you describe the two-act approach? >> well, there is certainly a cycle of provocation with north koreans where they dial up the tension and proceed to walk it back and rap -- improvise when he gets to singapore. that's not an attitude to serve him well. they have offered the concessions that they have wanted to offer, and they have not been forced to make the kinds of commitments and guarantees that donald trump was hoping for. so in some ways, they have

orchestrated a situation where donald trump will be coming in to singapore blind. >> coming in blind but used to moving quickly, right? based on the ambiguous situation, some might say, and what the president is claiming here. you heard what the president said on his way to the historic meeting with kim jong-un. he said, it will take me a minute or so to really get a sense of something can happen with this. and then there was the very backdrop of the g7 and the president also saying, we are no longer going to put the united states signature to the communique. putting these two together, how do you believe the kim jong-un camp is taking that into their strategy? how are they distilling the latest adjustments on the trump administration side?

go ahead. >> i hope president trump brings that resolve to the singapore meeting. president trump said he'll walk out if the talks don't agree to his liking. president trump has all of three hours. so this is posturing. but the point is that is concerning because north korea is good at playing this game, and he's been training and preparing all his life for this moment. president trump, not so much. >> as we look at this, adam, and because you brought this up, the very detail we are just lea

learning. hoesident trumted to justin trudeau in his statements, might we see realtime this could fritter away in front of us, this historic summit? >> well, that would be north korea's objective. they have an interest in holding a cosmetic summit, not being forced to make specific commitments, but to verify denuclearization. north korea will want to sort of pop in and out. so donald trump has played into this regard. he's made it very difficult on himself. there are reports he'll hold a one-on-one meeting with kim jong-un. the more expert staff that donald trump has in that room with him, the higher his leverage is. the greater his ability is to pin north korea down on specifics, to eliminate

ambiguity that north korea would exploit, and to ensure everything is coordinated with our allies. you know, if kim jong-un can truncate the timetable of this would serve his efforts greatly. >> this has, at least in recent times, since the early 1990s, been a multilateral effort. the so-called, so-famed six-party talks that really became, really resulted in very little progress here. but they are still watching. singapore being, as i mentioned, a very small -- the size of chicago sitting amongst very important allies to the united states. i'm sitting next to the largest country in indonesia. we have south korea, japan, taiwan, very important to the united states and kim jong-un.

and it is like they are in the grand afternoon hempitheater. and right there they will all be watching. what are they hoping for? >> well, they are quite well versed in putting on big shoes, i think the person to really watch out for is the department offa agitation, she's a new wean for the north korean regime. she flashes smiles and wears a softer, feminine image. on the image that the north

koreans will play, i think she plays an important role the next few days. >> now to you, adam, on this question, the reporting being out of north korea that kim jong-un's sister, younger sister, as head of propaganda that has shifted to be manageore aggressive and dubbish. people are indicating a shift that they are or she is now communicating to north koreans. what do you think that might mean? >> well, that's right. we have seen some shifts in the north korean regime over the last couple weeks and months. there was a shake up of the military leadership as well. it's important to recognize with so much focus on the pageant ry

of this. president trump remembers this is a brutal regime that exploits, imprisons and slaves t the. it is important he doesn't get taken in by the optics and pageantry of the situation. that he remembers he's dealing with a brutal country. and pushes them on human rights. one of the goals for this summit should be, one of the guiding rules should be, any agreement should be good enough for the north korean people. if we can see this put on a firmer footing rather than a one-off summit that can fall apart in a matter of minutes. >> the history of the war in

korea, it is long and well felt by americans and felt by korean americans. for those who remember the decades ago who served and now watching potentially the end to the war, the armistace we remember. i'm laying out all the layers here, because there was so much action for those people that just want to be families again. >> that's right. and the korean war ended 65 years ago. not with a formal peace treaty but a semp tear cease-fi-- sout has grown very rich. in the meantime, north korea has

taken a great leap backward. and this dynamic has implications. south korea and the united states simply have too much on the line. they don't want to escalate tit for tat with north korea. and north korea know that is very well. there's never been military response by north koreans and south koreans like this. peace treaty sounds nice, but it could be a roos to use against south korea someday. >> out of the g7, which country will fill in the gap as the united states starts to take a step back, if you will, in the global leadership? the often named country was chi in. that was certainly brought up in the aftermath of the g7 meeting and then the united states

through the tweet of president trump saying they will not be part of what is the traditional communique or message where they all say we agree on these one, two or three different things. so as the united states, it appears, to take a step back, adam, from the global leadership role and look at china stepping in with the silk robe, right? as well as with a regional trade pact, sans the united states, does china really win the most out of this particular meeting for various reasons that you might be able to tell us about? >> well, certainly donald trump has turned his sights on allies, but he has looked to add very airs -- adversaries as allies. american leadership is in

decline. russia and china have made very rapid advancements. in beijing, they are looking at the process as being greater than anything they could have imagined, anything they could have hoped for. so china is looking to the north korea summit as part of the whole process. they are looking for a way to safeguard interests in northeast asia. you know, as professor lee mentioned, north korea will be pushing the united states out of northeast asia and the u.s. south korean alliance. beijing has an interest in that as well. so the trump administration has left our south korea ally to some extent out of the loop. coordination is not as tight as it should have been. the process and the singapore process have been split apart that allow both north korea but also beijing addition nam

leverage to play the allies off each other. that's not in america's interest and is part of the broader process of american retrenchment perspective. >> and from the prospect that you so important ly said, the focus is on north korea and kim jong-un. president trump is about to arrive on the left-hand of your screen there at the singapore air force base in what we believe to be a handful of moments, as once said. we'll go to late evening here. trump said he'll know in the first minute if something good is going to happen. what to make of this strategy,

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breaking news here at msnbc. 7:46 eastern time in the morning, 7:46 p.m. sunday, 7:47, rather, local time on a sunday night in singapore. we expect air force one to be touching down there very, very soon. it's the scene here at singapore's air base where air force one will be landing. we'll be watching president trump coming there after leaving the g7 summit earlier than scheduled yesterday and then making two refueling stops along the way. he left around noon from canada. we'll keep your eyes certainly for the progress there. you can see other folks will be doing the very same. now to the dramatic

movements that happened at the g7 summit. julia manchester, reporting for the hill and sean sullivan, congressional reporter for "the washington post" are joining me. thank you for being with us here on this day. let me start with you, julia, first. i think the headline if you went to bed early yesterday and then woke up this morning was, we had some sort of piece of paper, a communique, traditionally coming in from the g7 meetings, right, where they all agree on one, two or three different things. we heard that the united states and the president was going to sign on that. then we woke up and found out something else. julia? >> it's been bizarre up to this point. the president was going to sign the communique with jus tun trudeau. but then the president tweeted accusing justin trudeau essentially lying to say he made false statements at the press conference and the canadian

prime minister's spokesesman said what he's been saying all along. so it's a very bizarre turn of events to see a sitting u.s. president to accuse the canadian prime minister, one of our closest friends and allies, of lying. so definitely an interesting turn of events. >> sean, i want to get your reaction to that very development. but first, i want to play this short bit of sound here of what was said about the meeting. take a listen. >> i will say it was not contentious. what was strong was the language that this cannot go on, but the relationships are very good, whether it be president macron or with justin, we had justin do a really good job. i think the relationships were outstanding. >> outstanding, we even heard the word that things were a ten. and then so quickly, as we know

here, sean, it evolved or devolved into a situation now where we have a rare situation where we don't have the united states signing on to its communique, this communique. >> yeah, in the bigger picture, there's relevance to the upcoming summit with the north korean leader. what we're seeing here is a very unpredictable president. someone who is willing to turn in a different direction unexpectedly, pull out of agreements. so, i think what this tells us, what we already know in the next couple of days it's almost impossible to anticipate what's going to happen at this meeting. but when we look at what happened at the g7, it's a reminder that at any moment this president can go in a different direction. he can surprise world leaders and sometimes even surprise members of his own staff back here in washington. so, it is a reminder of what be to come potentially in the next couple of days here. >> julia, was justin trudeau and

i know you're not our realtime fact-checker mere, but did jutten trudeau make false statements? he did say things that we're used to hearing him say. he was very emphatic in saying, canadians, we're not going to stand down on this, we're going to stand up for ourselves. >> right. and that rhetoric really hasn't changed for trudeau. we saw that when the president announced the sanctions a few weeks ago. the canadian prime minister, along with the european union, mexico really pushed back on this. so that wasn't really a surprise. and we heard reports that the meetings with trudeau and the other g7 members and trump, trudeau was rather direct. >> yeah. >> with the president. even though cordial. so, yeah, i would have -- from what i know, i wouldn't say these are false statements. it seems to lionel up with trudeau's rhetoric in the past. >> you know, i don't know if we have that picture, but it's not only the leader of canada. and, you know, when we first saw

this coming from at least the press office, from angela merkel's press office. >> right. >> specifically, the leader of germany. if we've got that picture, it would be great to put it up. because i think it echoes the very strength and very approach that you're talking about, julia. but coming in a picture from germany instead. yeah, that's it right there, sean. >> right. >> and when you saw that, sean, this does, doesn't it -- it's very similar, what germany and what canada is saying but in different ways. we're standing up to the united states. >> yeah. it really is a striking picture. and a fitting picture, really, when you look at the relationship between the united states and its traditional allies when it comes to the issue of trade. you know, in the past few months here, as the president has outlined his new policies, he's adopted a very protectionist platform. you've seen him become more and more alienated from countries that over the past few decades we've been traditional allies

with. yeah. when you look at the picture, the body language sort of says it all and sums it up and shows you how increasingly isolated this president is becoming from other world leaders who in the past have had pretty good relationships with the united states, with previous presidents, with previous diplomatic leaders. so, yeah, that's a very fitting photograph for what unfolded in this meeting and also in the relationship. >> then we have also senator mccain, john mccain, who is clearly not well at the moment. it appears that he is fighting cancer. but he does put out a tweet, a message to the g7, to the other members saying that americans do support free trade. that we are behind the idea of what the g7 has represented. and continues to represent. but also saying in that tweet, that it does -- it is not reflected by this president, julia. associati so, it's very interesting as we watch this idea of g7 minus 1 or

gchl g6 plus 1, are we there with this idea of g6 plus 1? >> yeah, clearly the other members the g7 on the same page as president trump. drawing back to mccain's tweet and how he's saying americans are pro-free trade. they stand with the other g7 allies, how he's kind of pulling away from the president's rhetoric in that regard, reminded by a comment by i believe it's canada's foreign minister, chrystia freeland from another network. to other other american friends, are you serious right now? with the president's rhetoric on trade. so, i think a lot of these leaders, a lot of these people in other countries are raising a ton of eyebrows at the friday's remarks. and i think the lawmakers and people in the administration are being forced to push back on the president's rhetoric at this point and what he's saying.

because it goes against traditional american stances on issues such as free trade and even russia. >> and, sean, because you're hearing from senator john mccain, that brings in the idea will congress, will establishment republicans, will they make a move? will they -- well, will they bring up a piece of legislation related to these various issues, or not? number one. and number two, they're the subnationals, states like california, massachusetts, other states moving on their own outside of the federal government. so, we may see the idea of what the "g" whatever is evolve over time. >> yeah, it's one thing for members of congress, for leaders here to rhetorically push back. against the president and spearhead a new bill on capitol hill to try to change policy. and that's a very difficult thing for a number of reasons.

for one thing, we're in the middle of an election year right now. republicans across the board have been pretty hesitant against pushing back against the president. they don't want to make it seem they're at odds with him. they want his support in races around the country. they know his supporters, his voters are very loyal to him and they don't want to risk alienating those voters. ultimately, if there were any legislation, unless you have a veto proof majority, the president would have to sign that legislation to turn it into law. so i think a lot of republican leaders on the hill even those who disagree with trade policies, even those who disagree with tariffs look at the situation and say there's nothing we can do. >> sean sullivan, julia manchester, thank you both. stand by, we're going to keep you around if you don't mind for another hour. at the top. hour, we're going there. a lot happening in singapore. stick around.

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a very good morning to you all of you i'm alex witt in new york at msnbc. >> i'm richard lui. it's 8:00 in the east, 5:00 out st. of course, breaking news this morning.president expected to land in singapore this hour where he will prepare for tuesday's historic summit with kim jong-un. >> a good question, how long will it take? i think within the first minute i'll know. >> how? >> just my touch, my feel. that's what i do. >> well, the north korean leader kim jong-un arrived just a few hours ago. and upon his arrival he was greeted by singapore's minister for foreign affairs before his motorcade departed for the hotel. >> we'll cover the historic news with hallie jackson at the singapore airport tracking president trump. and