you know, breaking a federal law would be okay if i still had my daughter. so, we choose for life. that's all for this edition of "dateline." thanks for joining us. welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. we are live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, executive disorder. the president puts his pen to paper, but this nation's immigration policy mess isn't going to be fixed overnight. plus, i traveled to the border to talk exclusively with senator kamala harris. i asked her whether it's time to abolish i.c.e. and she said, we might need to start from scratch. and just in tonight, the washington post reports stormy daniels will meet with federal prosecutors tomorrow.

but first, when we came on the air last week, the country was at an impasse. the president calling on congress to act on sweeping immigration legislation to end the separation of immigrant families at the border with mexico. the president insisting he couldn't fix it alone. republicans in congress were by and large horrified and for the first time since the president's election, they said president trump, you've gone too far. and with every senate democrat also taking a stand against the policy, the president signed an executive order ending the policy he started the week saying he was helpless to stop. and now we are back at the start of the cruel circle. families are still in flux. federal officials are struggling to keep up to reunite those families and congress has no clear plan to reform an immigration system that has needed repair for decades. with all this, i'd like to

welcome in my panelment here with me on set, politics reporter for the daily beast and msnbc contributor betsy woodruff. washington bureau chief for vice news, shawna thomas and principal at koej entitle strategies kevin mclaughlin. president historian msnbc contributor and author of the soul of america, the battle for our better angels, john meacham. john, i want to come to you in a second to -- for a little bit of conversation about exactly which angels are in charge right at the moment. i want to start with you, shawna thomas, because this week i remember sitting here a week ago sunday and wondering if this was going to be the kind of story that was actually going to breakthrough, that wasn't just going to be another handful of minutes of news cycle and those pictures galvanized the country. they galvanized both parties. and the president was forced to back down. >> yeah, and i think some of that is you still have people going down to the sites outside of el paso and down in mcallen. you had members of congress there yesterday. you were there apparently. >> briefly. >> briefly. >> yes. >> and also there was another

event today that had basically activists, lawyers, immigration lawyers, that kind of thing. there are still people going down there. we had a correspondent there, santoro, one of the people there with someone running for congress in that district. as long as people keep drawing attention to this, i think it is going to last for a while as an issue. the thing is we're about to be on the 4th of july. we are going to be in the middle of summer, people are going to be taking vacations with their family, people are not going to be paying as much attention. i don't know if this issue goes all the way to the election and that's some of why it's still bubbling up because both democrats and republicans think this is an issue that either needs to be taken care of so it doesn't affect the election or democrats think they can possibly use it, which sounds callous and i understand that. but it is kind of the situation we're in in 2018. >> of course, we want to be sensitive and the reality, though, is that there still are thousands of kids who are, we

think hundreds, at least 1800 plus kids who are still separated from their families at this point. john meacham, can you kind of put the week that was in perspective here for us? i mean, this has been an issue that we as a nation is have grappled with time and time again and we've had, you know, episodes where, you know, america has shown as the shining city on the hill and times when we have not quite frankly lived up to what the statue of liberty promises. >> absolutely. one of the first debates we had in the country in the 1790s, and you know it's a good sunday when you start with the 1790s. was a battle over the alien sedition acts, where we were an infant nation, and yet we gave the president of the united states the power to deport immigrants by fiat. illegal aliens, aliens he believed to be dangerous. into the 19th century where you had the chinese exclusion act, we had viciously racist rhetoric from mainstream political figures in the 19th century who worried that, to quote a senator from maine i think it was,

worried there was going to be a yellow empire from california to the rockies if we didn't limit immigration from asia. there was the fears of the white working class that led to the rise of the second ku klux klan from 1915 to about 1927 that was explicit anxiety that immigrants were going to work harder and possibly for less money. now, conservatives who believe in a free market had some problems with intellectual consistency. that's never stopped them. into where we are now. and i think what's -- to me what's really interesting about the last 12 or 13 days or so is i believe it's the first time in the trump administration where the president has explicitly reversed course or at least begun to reverse course. i understand before people start tweeting, i understand that this is like an arsonist, you were congratulating an arsonist for

putting out a fire. at least the fire was put out to some extent. and i think that the lesson for all of us and the country is that sustained public pressure, sustained resistance is absolutely essential at any moment in the life of the republic, but particularly one when we have a president who seems so determined to knock down the ordinary guardrails and the ordinary conventions of generosity that have marked our best eras. >> kevin mclaughlin, can you weigh in on what john meacham is putting out there? you are -- i don't know if you are a never trumper. i don't know if i want to label you that in public. >> i'm not. >> you are somebody who has been a member of the republican party sometime and seen it change under president trump. and quite frankly, this seems --

it felt to me like the first time that republicans said no way, we're not doing this. >> let me go back to 1790 polling data and i'll take you back like john did. i think there was a visceral reaction. republicans have worked hard to get themselves in a good place in the midterm election a first time in a long time. they all see it going up in smoke right now. you know, midterms are base elections so i think in the senate actually, i don't think this is having a huge impact. i think it might kind of sort of help, if you will, on the republican side, as long as it gets solved immediately. but on the house side with so many swing districts and so many retirements in those districts, it's a real problem on the house side. >> for sure. so, speaking of polling, the reports over the last week said that president trump wanted the showdown over immigration. my people love it, he said, according to "the new york times." we now have new polling from cbs news and it shows the vast divide in how americans are reacting and perceiving this

issue. while 53% of americans strongly oppose separating children from their parents who enter the country illegally, americans are divided over whether reuniting them is a high priority. and the difference, surprise, surprise, is political party. 75% of democrats said reunification should be a top priority, while just a quarter of republicans said the same thing. and nearly 75% of republicans said those who entered the u.s. illegally should be punished as an example of toughness while 80% of democrats said they should be treated well as an example of kindness. here is the president this weekend in las vegas. >> and the president tweeting today in part, quote, we cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. when somebody comes in, we must immediately with no judges or court cases bring them back from where they came. kevin, i want go back to you on this, and betsy, i'd like you to weigh in as well. but clearly the president views this as a base issue,

immigration. and the polling to a certain extent bears that out. i think my question is, is the number of those republicans shrinking as this presidency wears on? >> that may be true. i don't know. the problem i have with it is i think the base is pretty well locked down at this point. to be honest with you, the stuff the republicans would want to run on, economy, ending regulation, judges, that's really good for the base as it is on the republican side. and you don't have to lose people, per se, in droves when you do the hot button issue like immigration. i think that's the big reason that republicans just want to -- and congress want to move on and get on to the next thing. >> speaking of political -- the base of a party, this is the other side. this week i traveled to the otai mesa detention center in san diego to talk with senator kamala harris. during our conversation i asked her about the growing calls from progressive activists to abolish i.c.e. take a look. >> a lot of the signs that the

rally you just held were people standing there saying abolish i.c.e. is that a position you agree with? >> listen, i think there is no question we have to critically reexamine i.c.e. and its role and the way it is being administered and the work it is doing and we need to probably think about starting from scratch because there's a lot that is wrong with the way that it's conducting itself. and we need to deal with that. >> what do you think should be the alternative to i.c.e.? >> well, first of all, i don't think that the government should be in the position of separating families and that is clearly what is part of what's happening at i.c.e. and dhs. you look at what's happening, again, in terms of how they're conducting their perspective on asylum seekers, that is a real problem and is contrary to all of the spirit and the reason that we even have the asylum rules and laws in the first place. so, their mission, i think, is very much in question and has to be reexamined.

>> what do you make of that? is i.c.e. the bigger problem here? >> well, i don't know how you abolish an agency without abolishing the function. and i think the function is necessary. as far as what senator harris said about examining what they're doing, how they're doing it, i think that's absolutely something we should do. that's our responsibility to provide oversight. but ultimately there is going to have to be an agency before i.c.e. it was ins. there has to be some agency to administer the immigration laws in the country. there are a lot of questions to be answered. i don't know if i say abolish. i don't think that makes a lot of sense, but i do think looking at it makes a hell of a lot of sense. >> betsy woodruff, abolish i.c.e. is becoming a litmus test for democrats. >> that's right. i think particularly progressive

activists are trying to make this a central -- trying to expand the overton window, if you will. in terms of the conversation that can be had about policy. that said, of course, these calls make people's heads blow up at dhs. and what you'll hear from dhs officials, rank and file, it's their job to enforce the law. they are a law enforcement agency and what they will say, pushing back against kamala harris, the senator from california, and senator king, is very much that the problem is the laws themselves. not the law enforcement agency. that's the argument you're going to hear back. that's something you'll hear from republicans as well. the challenge for progressives is to differentiate the way laws are enforced and the laws themselves. the one thing we know is congress is really bad at changing immigration laws. it's been a nonstarter for literally almost decades now, i think. and that's part of the reason there is such a push back against the agency enforcing the laws. >> i also think that how the

agency does their job is also governed by who is at the top. so, the difference between the obama administration and the trump administration in the case of how i.c.e. performs their function, whether it be within the country or on the border is that this zero tolerance policy on the border was something that was from on high, right? so i.c.e. has to send their -- send the people that they catch on the other side of the border into the judicial system. that's not -- that's not the i.c.e. agent's fault. that is a higher -- that is a higher calling. >> absolutely. >> as well as like the raid everyone wants to point to, this is if you can have a sign that says abolish i.c.e. you can point towards those raids that are also doing things to families. but they are carrying out the

policy of a president that has been hard on immigration since he ran for office. >> and let's remember how much of this comes back to doj rather than immigration enforcement. the zero-tolerance policy was a decision of the attorney general, jeff sessions, it was his idea. >> it's at the end of the day about the people who are in charge. let's refocus a second i do want to make sure we keep the focus where it needs to be, which is on these people who are still separated from their families. these mothers, fathers and of course the children. i was down on the border because senator harris went to visit that detention center to meet with mothers who had been separated from their children. here's a little bit more of our conversation. >> senator, you've had a long career in law enforcement i mean, can you compare what you saw in this facility to some of the other things you've seen? >> i mean, it's a prison, kasie, it's a prison. i visited some of the worst prisons in the united states and it is a prison. you walk in. there are two layers of barbed wire and fence. there are people in pods and there's kind of a more maximum security area and then the lower security area. the time i'm spending is to talk with mothers who have been ripped from their children and just -- and the pain, right? i mean, you know, they're sitting with the united states senators so they kind of hold it together and then we start to talk about it and the tears just

start flowing. it's awful. it's the pain of having to leave the only country they've known, because it was so dangerous. it's the pain of traveling through an unknown land, right, through the country of mexico, relying on strangers in these caravans. the pain of all that they will be exposed to during that trek, right, not being in control of much. and the abuse they may endure. and then they arrive. and without even having the ability to yet give their story about the circumstances of their arrival, their children are taken from them and taken to unknown places. it's outrageous and it's inhumane. and it's unnecessary. and i think, kasie, that's one of the most important aspects of this whole issue. it's not necessary. it's actually not necessary. but you know why they did it? and this can't be lost in this conversation. they told us why they did it. the administration told us why they did it. they did this to deter others from coming to the country. so you have decided to exact what could be a lifetime of trauma over 2000 children for deterrence of other people? it's unconscionable. >> we're going to have my complete interview with senator harris up in the next hour.

john meacham, with some of those descriptions, vivid descriptions -- i sat -- i rode with senator harris to the detention sen consider. there's rolls and rolls of barbed wire, double prison doors. it feels like -- it really feels like a prison. i'm curious, i mean, we have a couple dark moments in our nation's history that we all kind of remember. is this one that you think is going to get added to that list? >> it's certainly the most vivid manifestation of what so many people have feared about the trump administration. and i think you go from the travel ban early on to this separation policy and i do think also there is a difference between -- it gets kind of fuzzed up in the conversation. there is a difference between zero-tolerance illegal border policy and a separate children from parents. and i think that one can be for a strong border and find what's happening with these children to be abhorrent. i think that's an important distinction. and one that i believe, frankly a more morally sound and a more intellectually consistent

administration might actually make. why wouldn't zero tolerance by itself be sufficient deterrent? that's a conversation that can be had. the trump administration isn't interested in having a conversation. they are reaping what they've sown. everything is a zero-sum game. everything is the war of all against all. and so i do think this moment partly because of visual imagery, partly because the president was forced to at least partially reverse himself. i think this will be something that at least extinction in the mind longer than most of the trump era, which is unfortunately there is so much of it, it's almost impossible psychologically to hold onto it. but we are called upon to hold onto it and hold fast to it

because we don't want to be the era that intern the japanese. you want to be on the right side of history, and history is forever. these news cycles and breitbart and fox moments, even midterm elections, they come and go. but history is going to judge all of us as lincoln once said, down to the last generation, for where we stood in this era where we had a president who really turned an us versus them rhetoric into reality. >> and i think that notion of history finally got to at least some of the people at least that i talk to every day on capitol hill. we are just getting started here on "kasie d.c." when we continue, we'll get into the culture war, breaking out from a fashion statement that the first lady made to the press secretary being denied service at a restaurant. and in our next hour we'll dig into the book "born trump."

author emily jane sfoks stops by. plus ken vogel has his offering on the white house featuring mar-a-lago. we're back after this.

when i received the diagnosis, i knew at that exact moment, whatever it takes, wherever i have to go...i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors that work together. when a patient comes to ctca, they're meeting a team of physicians that specialize in the management of cancer. breast cancer treatment is continuing to evolve. and i would say that ctca is definitely on the cusp of those changes. patients can be overwhelmed ... we really focus on taking the time with each individual patient so they can choose the treatment appropriate for them. the care that ctca brings is the kind of care i've wanted for my patients. being able to spend time with them, have a whole team to look after them is fantastic. i empower women with choices.

it's not just picking a surgeon. it's picking the care team, and feeling secure where you are. surround yourself with the team of breast cancer experts at cancer treatment centers of america. visit cancercenter.com/breast well, it's a whole day's worth of love songs. 300 minutes of baby videos. or, it's a million chat messages.

a gig goes a long way. that's why xfinity mobile lets you pay for data one gig at a time. and with millions of wifi hotspots included, you'll pay less for data. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money. click, call or visit a store today.

since more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents. and temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps. >> look, i read today about a 10-year-old girl with down syndrome who was taken from her mother and put in a cage. i >> womp-womp. >> did you say womp-womp to a 10-year-old? how dare you, sir. >> these are not like it or not, these aren't our kids. show them compassion, but it's not like he's doing this to the people of idaho or, or, or texas. these are people from another country and now people are saying that they're more important than people in our country who are paying taxes who have needs as well. >> michael hayden posted a picture of auschwitz. >> that liberal michael hayden, that screaming liberal michael hayden. >> you're out of your cotton picking mind. >> cotton picking mind? let me tell you something. let me tell you something. i've got some, i've got some, i've got some relatives who picked cotton. >> welcome back. the debate over immigration policy has gone far past policy

and left the basic decency behind on its way. mike huckabee is facing backlash after tweeting out this picture with the caption, nancy pelosi introduces her campaign committee for the take-back of the house. sarah huckabee sanders, the white house press secretary and mike huckabee's daughter was asked to leave a restaurant friday night in virginia because of where she works. sanders tweeted, quote, last night i was told by the owner of red hen in lexington, have, to leave because i work for the president and i politely left. that restaurant has since been inundated with positive and negative yelp reviews. meanwhile white house policy advisor stephen miller was reportedly called a fascist earlier this week while dining at a mexican restaurant here in washington. also, homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen also jeered while she ate out at a mexican restaurant. who wants to take this to start?

shawna thomas, how about we start with you. >> there is a real conversation here about civility, right, and our ability to be in the same spaces at the same time with people who we do not agree with. and the sarah sanders example is one of those where was that the right way for the owner of that restaurant to handle the situation of sarah sanders eating in that restaurant? well, it's definitely not going to further the conversation between republicans and democrats for her to do that. however, the counter is was sarah sanders using her white house account, her at press secretary twitter account to basically rally the anger against this restaurant in virginia? was that a proper use of her function and her title and her job as well? neither of those things gets us any closer to being people who can actually talk about issues in the same room together, but it does really point to kind of where we are, which is it's an example of how divided we actually are. and it's scary that we're that divided. >> kevin? >> i do think that one of the things that's frustrating is, you know, if we want to stop and we want to raise the civility is

people need to stop celebrating like on the left, they need to stop celebrating people like robert deniro what he said at the tonys. stop cheering what people are doing in restaurants. it's outrageous. it needs to be treated the same way people treat what president trump says people see as inciteful. we need to have a balance. we need to find it, i don't know how. somebody has to put a pin in the balloon. the balloon is about to burst. it's terrifying. feels like a powder keg. >> if we're going to demand do unto others what you have done unto you, we disagree we could at the very least in our personal treatment of each other axe that out. john meacham, is this situation, are we destined to keep going farther and farther down the sewer as this goes on? or is it recoverable? is civility gone forever? >> no, nothing is ever gone forever. it's redeemable. the founders wanted us to seek a more perfect union, not a perfect one.

i agree that it's hard to see exactly how this rights itself, but it can, it should, and i think it will. you know, everybody is in this hobbsian moment. everything is weaponized. the little red hen, whatever it is, is weaponized, the mexican restaurants are. if you're on the left, you're thinking why isn't this appropriate? if i really believe that these people are -- that these people within the administration are ruining america, why can't i take a stand in the best way i know how? so i understand the reaction to it. and i think, you know, the trump people, there is a reason they are where they are. they are very good at playing suddenly, why can't we all get along, after they have relentlessly and really created a culture of bullying at the very highest levels. if anything, this is a reminder that the president, the presidency, has an out size effect on our manners and

morals. some say we are too sentimental on the presidency. even before when he was attacking obama and his birth which is not an issue, if trump had not helped exacerbate the tribal tendencies, he wouldn't be -- his staff wouldn't be facing this kind of backlash. so you reap what you sow. >> far be it from me to disagree with john meacham, i don't think they're saying let's get along. i think they're using this to drive the wedge further and further. it's all tongue in cheek. i don't think there is anything about this that they're saying, oh, my gosh, can't we all be nice to each other in restaurants? >> the other piece of this is that it doesn't frighten the white house or republicans to have these protesters show up. in fact, there is some evidence that part of the reason donald trump was able to turn the primary significantly against ted cruz when he was was because some of these protests against trump happened and republican

voters said, we want to support whoever is getting protested. so, especially on the right, especially among the president's base, these kind of protests result in sort of a conservative backlash that the white house likely believes can be politically useful to them. >> when we return, republicans in congress are split over how to fix immigration policy. i'll speak to congressman rodney davis who has been critical of the white house's approach. and as we go to break, a study from fox reveals male political reporters retweet their male colleagues three times as much as their female colleagues. according to that study, out of the top 25 political reporters who those men retweet the most, just three are women. the washington post sun min kim, great reporter is at number 11. politico's number 20, sneaking in at 21 yours truly.

here is an opportunity to retweet women more. follow us on twitter and instagram "kasie d.c." you'll find wonderful women journalists on our show. you should follow them also. also tweet us pictures of your pets using the #dogs watching "kasie d.c." "kasie d.c." is back after this. welcome back to "kasie d.c." i want to give you all a quick

overwhelming air fresheners can send you running... so try febreze one. with no aerosols and no heavy perfumes. so you can spray and stay.

febreze one. i'm 85 years old in a job where. i have to wear a giant hot dog suit. what? where's that coming from? i don't know. i started my 401k early, i diversified... i'm not a big spender. sounds like you're doing a lot. but i still feel like i'm not gonna have enough for retirement. like there's something else i should be doing. with the right conversation, you might find you're doing okay. so, no hot dog suit? not unless you want to. no. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade®.

welcome back to "kasie d.c." i want to give you all a quick note on what might have been a life-saving moment. spokesman for senator joe manchin told me that manchin aided his colleague care mccaskill thursday at the democratic policy lunch when she began choking on a piece of food. mccaskill started waiving her hand signaling she needed help. another senator nearby attempted to help her before manchin stepped in, lifted mccaskill out of her seat and performed the heim lick maneuver. a local journalist said she suffered cracked ribs. we have reached out to her office. haven't heard back yet. and no word on exactly what they were having for lunch, but we are glad senator mccaskill is okay. now, though, something completely different. joining me on set is you believe are cann congressman rodney

davis. appreciate you being here. i think you share our gratitude senator mccaskill is okay. >> absolutely i do. claire, i'm glad you're okay and senator manchin, great job. >> i want to talk about immigration and what exactly the house is going to do. it seems as though and i want to know what your assessment is of where things stand. but the compromised negotiations seem to have fallen apart late last week. now, there does seem to be some discussion of doing a separate stand alone bill to address family separation. is that the case and would you support that? >> absolutely. i hope to co-sponsor it. but i hope we can actually get some movement on immigration reform. we've had a lot of people -- our leadership team has sat down with all facets of our republican conference because we're not getting assistance from the democratic side to address the issues all of us have said are bipartisan issue. let's secure our border. there are areas of our border

that has to have a physical structure. not just with illegal immigration, but drugs that are coming in the country and ravaging the midwest and areas that i serve. we also need to address separation of families and we have to address how we deal with our immigration system at hand right now. eight what do you think is the likelyest outcome? do you think the house will vote on a separate stand alone to end family separation? >> i'm optimistic, kasie. you know me. i'm always the eternal optimist. i certainly hope so. i know those individuals, leadership and folks have been talking about a good compromise are sitting down again this weekend. and they're working hard to try and come up with that solution. the president, when he came in

to see us last week and talk to our conference, he was clear that he supported both of the bills that we were supposed to put on the floor. >> sure, but then he tweeted, though, why bother, don't bother doing any of this because we have to win more seats to actually get something done. did that effectively kill any chance for that compromise legislation that was supposed tonight on the floor last week? >> if it killed think chance or compromise, nobody would have been talking this weekend to try and find that compromise. that's why you've got folks like jeff denim. david, carlos, mario. these are republicans that represent districts where immigration reform is much higher on the priority list for their constituents than many other districts that republicans serve in our conference. >> sure. >> these are the ones that are sitting down with leadership. i have to give our team a lot of credit for being able to sit down without any democrat

assistance and try and put together a good compromise. and i'm hopeful that we can see that this week. >> do you think the freedom caucus, mark meadows, jim jordan, other conservatives, are they negotiating in good faith? i've talked to a number of your colleagues who feel like they keep moving the goal post, say one thing and change their minds again and again. >> it's certainly frustrating we couldn't come up with a plan that really was the president's four pillars, border security that actually funded a physical structure. it wasn't just authorization like most bills that we pass in congress. then we have to go back and vote again on the approps. we loved it all together. we addressed the daca population. 1.8 million daca and dreamer kids would have been taken care of and been granted legal status. >> in exchange for the wall. >> in exchange for the wall, exactly what many of my democratic colleagues who have been working with republicans on immigration reform have asked for. but it's getting too close to the election.

the democrats aren't going to come together and help us govern on this issue because they know this issue divides republicans. so, i'm hopeful that our leadership team who has done a great job in making this happen -- and frankly i think there are some that are negotiating this that are a little more worried about where they may fall in the next leadership election rather than work and making our current leadership team look bad rather than actually coming up with -- >> you're talking about steve scalise and kevin mccarthy? >> no, i'm talking about people who don't want anyone in the current leadership team to remain in leadership after this election. >> i see. >> i think there is a lot of ambition when it comes to negotiating legislation right now. >> very interesting undercurrent. okay. i want to also ask you, as you know, utah's primary alexis is set for tuesday. mitt romney has an op-ed in the salt lake tribune. i appreciate the argument made by those who believe we should stay silent, but i cannot subscribe to it. i know that any criticism may lessen the president's flexibility to enact policy with which i agree, but that end does not justify my silence in the face of things that matter. do you think that republicans need to show more courage in standing up to this president? >> well, there is the far-right and the far left, no matter what we do, i'm never going to stand up enough for the president for the far-right. and immediately when i agree to work with the president on issues like tax reform, immigration reform, the far left is going to say, why don't you just impeach him? we have to get to the common sense voters that are independents and those that really makeup middle america. we've got to stop this politicizing everything like dinner.

the fact that sarah sanders couldn't go to a restaurant because of who she works for and her political beliefs, that's not the majority of voters in this country. donald trump was elected, in my opinion, because of this move toward making everything politically correct in this country. and frankly, his campaign was the antithesis of political correctness and he won. there are a lot of people that i serve in my district that voted because of what they see happening on the far-right and the far left. >> do you think -- i mean, this issue that we saw play out over the course of the last week, do you think it's a place where republicans who couldn't stomach it actually stood up to the president? and do you think the president is right that his people love what they saw this week? >> well, i'm not going to be

able to answer the second part. i didn't hear or read what he said on that issue. but i can tell you there are a lot of people in our republican conference that have varying views on immigration reform. >> but on the family separation. >> family separation, that is a policy that is not unique just to this administration as we saw today with jeh johnson's comments. but this is an issue where democrats and republicans should come together and i would hope that we can to pass a bill to ensure that we fix policies so that the flores decision isn't going to be a permanent precedence. >> congressman davis, stay put. we're going to have you join our panel when we come back and we're going to talk about your party's evolving relationship with the president and his relationship with your party.

long-time conservative columnist for the washington post george will surprised everyone this week with this headline. vote against the gop this november. in it he calls for republican caucuses to be, quote, substantially reduced. says speaker ryan traded his soul for a tax cut. calls congressional republicans, quote, the president's poodles and criticizes republican lawmakers for, quote, having no higher ambition than to placate the president. this after a long-time republican strategist steve schmidt tweeted this on wednesday. quote, 29 years and nine months ago i registered to vote and became a member of the republican party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life. today i renounce my membership in the republican party. it is fully the party of trump. in another tweet he called the gop a, quote, danger to our democracy and our values. john meacham, put this in perspective for us. i mean, i have been reading george will for, you know, my entire working life and he has always been kind of viewed as a

conservative touch stone, intellectual, a place where you could go to hear kind of the arguments that under pinned everything that then was played out across our governing system. he is now not simply saying i'm leaving the gop, he is saying vote for democrats. always been kind of viewed as a conservative touch stone, intellectual, a place where you could go to hear kind of the arguments that under pinned everything that then was played out across our governing system. he is now not simply saying i'm leaving the gop, he is saying vote for democrats. >> yeah. george is essentially a torrey. he's a birkyian conservative. >> i love it that way. on point. >> one of his best books was a book -- besides his baseball book which is one of the great booked ever, state craft, soul craft. he believes government is not always the right answer, that in fact there are organic reasons to have checks and balances on the state. i haven't talked to him about this, but i think basically he would have the view -- i don't want to pull him into this. my view is that the trump take over of the republican party is the first recorded case of a high jacker boarding a plane and the passengers sided with the high jacker.

the question he is, has the republican party of eisenhower, reagan, both bushes, mccain, romney, is that a recoverable entity? and i think that's a very live question. not sure what the answer is. we have a fascinating senate race down here in tennessee that's going to test this to some extent. and whether a deep red state will go with a republican no matter what, when there is a conservative democrat on the ballot. but i think what george is saying is that the republican party that he knew as a young man at the "wall street journal" and becoming a syndicated columnist is no more. >> congressman davis, can you get you to weigh in on that? is this republican party the party of trump? do you recognize that as the same party you started out in? >> absolutely it's the same party. george will, i like his baseball book, too. i would hope he would go to middle america and talk to some of the trump voters. talk to the former democrat blue collar voters who gave him the victories in wisconsin, iowa, michigan, pennsylvania, ohio and other states.

but george -- and mr. schmidt, too. remember, they live out here in the d.c. bubble. go talk to those voters who put president trump in place. and his goal to make a republican party and a republican house more of a governing house would actually be the antithesis of what he's asking for if he says, go vote against republicans, because most republicans who could lose are the ones who want to govern. >> if anything, it could make it -- i do take your point on that. kevin mclaughlin, final words. >> i'm with the congressman. between washington, d.c., new york conservatives and everyone else out there, fly over country. it's a huge disconnect, problem for folks in d.c. >> congressman rodney davis, thank you so much for your time. john meacham, thanks so you as well. let you get back to your cigar. coming up, a look at president trump's habit of praising strong men around the world, including one who is claiming victory in an election today. "kasie d.c." back after this. it was fantastic. i took control of egypt. >> it's great to be with the president of egypt. we are very much behind the president. >> we've had a great relationship. else out there, fly over country.

it's a huge disconnect, problem for folks in d.c. >> congressman rodney davis, thank you so much for your time. john meacham, thanks so you as well. let you get back to your cigar. coming up, a look at president trump's habit of praising strong men around the world, including one who is claiming victory in an election today. "kasie d.c." back after this. ♪ racing isn't the only thing on my mind. and with godaddy, i'm making my ideas real. when i created my businesses, i needed a way to showcase it. ♪ with godaddy you can get a website to sell online. and it will look good. i made my own way. now it's time to make yours. get started at godaddy.com ♪ everything is working, working just like it should ♪

[ roatoday... see it as big and loud as you can. we're not on an island anymore.

run! rated pg-13. it was fantastic. i took control of egypt.

>> we have a good chemistry together, kim jong-un. we have a great chemistry. >> it's a great honor and privilege because he's become a friend of mine to introduce the president of turkey. he's getting very high marks. >> those were just some of president trump's more overt displays of affection for strong men. among the leaders you heard him praise, the president of turkey, who claimed victory today in a vote. he called for an election in april at a time when his public support was more favorable than it is now, but it appears the gamble paid off. according to state run media, he claimed 53% of the vote putting him on track to claim a narrow victory and avoid a second round

of voting. betsy, that was kind of a remarkable display. this is not how the president talks, of course, about his allies, america's traditional allies. he was throwing barbs. it really makes me think that's the kind of job he wants. >> it suggests that. one thing we can say about president trump is that there's no evidence he cares about human rights. it's not something he's worried about. it's not on his priority list. he's yet to go after any of these leaders. turkey is an oppressive country. the president isn't interested in human rights questions. perhaps what's more significant is in some ways he seems to take leads from these leaders. he thinks the united states' drug enforcement needs to look more to the way the drug enforcement works in the philippines where they kill people for using drugs. trump sees some of these leaders as people to model after and that's unprecedented for an american president. >> the president did act in

syria when he saw evidence of human rights abuses. thank you for being on tonight. in our next hour, we have a show and tell presentation about the latest coins from the white house, but first our staff of producers has been watching the world cup all day, but managed to find time to watch the sunday shows so you don't have to. don't go anywhere. olay ultra moisture body wash gives skin the moisture it needs and keeps it there longer with lock-in moisture technology skin is petal smooth after all, a cleanser's just a cleanser unless it's olay.

booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight

a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline.

is wrapping up his immigration rhetoric as desperate parents try to reunite with their children after being separated at the border. >> and mixed signals of meddling. a bipartisan group of lawmakers are voicing concern about the administration's silence about what moscow may already be up to. >> and president trump's son-in-law and seen year advisor jared kushner says the administration will soon unveil its middle east peace plan with or without input from the palestinians.