this sunday, a funeral and a rebuke. the country says good-bye to an american hero, john mccain. >> he made us a better presence,

he made the senate better. as he made this country better. >> with the senator's daughter among others, taking aim at president trump. >> the america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. >> president trump responds later, by tweeting, make america great again. plus, pressure points. president trump claims if democrats win back congress, they will overturn everything we have done and do it quickly and violently. >> i just hope there won't be violence. >> and warns he can step in against the mueller russia investigation. >> i will get involved and in there, if i have to. >> this amid signs that the white house is not prepared for what may be coming. my guests this morning is republican dan solver of alaska and democratic senator amy klobuchar. >> plus, all about that base. florida republicans pick a die hard trump supporter. >> i was able to talk to the president and thank him for his support.

>> and the democrats elect an unapologetic progressive. is this showdown for governor where the country is headed? this morning, i talk to democratic nominee andrew gillum. joining me are amy walter, national editor for the cook political report. mark leeb avich. kimberly atkins. and matthew continetti from the washington free beacon. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning and happy labor day weekend to everyone. what we saw yesterday at the national cathedral was more than a funeral for john mccain. it was a longing for what many fear is a lost era of american politics. an era when we could agree there's more that unites us than divides us. it was a rebuke of donald trump's presidency and style of politics he's brought to washington.

president trump's name was not mentioned, john mccain reminded us of what he thought by whom he asked to attend and asked to speak. and by what they said. there was the man he fought bitterly for the republican nomination in 2000. >> for every attempt to forget who we are and grow weary of our cause, john's voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder. we are better than this. america is better than this. >> then there was the man who defeated mccain for the presidency in 2008. >> he did understand that some principles transcend politics. some values transcend party. he considered it part of his duty to uphold those principles and uphold those values. >> more than anything or anyone else, there was mccain's daughter, meghan. fighting through tears, she delivered a one-two punch of the

current occupant of the white house. here was number one. >> we gather to mourn the passing of american greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly nor the appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served. >> then, number two. >> america does not boast because she has no need to. the america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. [ applause ] >> president trump was not invited. he spent part of the funeral tweeting and left the white house during the funeral by motorcade enroute to his virginia club to play gulf. when he turned in, henry kissinger was speaking. as cable replayed meghan

mccain's mark over and over again, the president tweeted and retweeted simply make america great again in caps. we have a lot to get to. joining me is dan sullivan. welcome. >> good to be on the show. thanks for having me. >> you said he was your mentor, senator mccain, became a friend, put his arm around you when you were elected. >> early on. >> he nominated you to replace him as head of the international republican institute that goes out there and promotes democracy. the vision that john mccain was trying to lay out for people yesterday. what did you take away from the service? >> first of all, that was a beautiful service and first more than that, my condolences to the mccain family. cindy mccain and the children. i think they showed great grace, strength, dignity. i think the service, really the whole week, has been about unity. there's been as you mentioned at the outset some discussion about

the tension between president trump and john mccain, but this notion of unity is what i'm seeing. it's unity behind the values of a great american. that's john mccain, courage. someone who loved freedom. he loved freedom more than anybody because he had it taken away. service to our nation. and mentorship as you mentioned at the outset with me. it's not just me, but democratic and republican senators so i thought it's been a very, very important week to look at the values that he represented. he wasn't a perfect man. he's the first one to admit that and celebrate those. but the notion of unity i think was actually much stronger than is only of this tension that you -- >> let me ask you this though. how do you make sure that yesterday wasn't a funeral for another era of politics? that this idea that you know what, this is -- that donald trump style of politics is now how you win and john mccain was trying to send the message, no no no no. don't go down that road. how do you prevent yesterday from being essentially a

memorial service for that? >> well, look, john mccain was a fighter. there's no doubt about that. right? and he also was somebody who famously said that honesty, integrity is the core value of keeping your word in the senate. i believe on a lot of issues there is bipartisanship and the way that senator mccain has folks -- >> i think there is too. >> but it doesn't get reported on all the time. you'll have amy klobuchar on after me. >> the president won't embrace it though. so the president won't embrace it. >> let me give me a couple of examples. we passed the national defense authorization act. all 85 senators voted for that. that was a mccain led bill on the armed services committee. it was all about rebuilding the military. all about implementing a new strategy that the president has put out. that was very bipartisan. we have -- right now and you follow this, chuck, we're

working on appropriations bills, first time since 1979 that we're getting appropriation bills, all of them done. certainly john mccain was somebody who believed on that part of the regular order. my point is you're right. the message of working together, particularly in the memory of john mccain is important. but i do think that a lot of that is happening. and do we have principled differences on some issues, absolutely we do. but a lot of them have been with us for a while. >> how do you explain the president's behavior and how he comported himself this week in regards to john mccain? >> look, we know there's tension between them. i would say that the trump administration overall was very engaged. you had an important speech that the vice president gave at the ceremony of laying in state in the dome. yesterday, there was a number of folks from the administration. >> trying to gloss over it, why? this is the president of the united states. it -- >> what i'm trying -- chuck, i'm

not trying to gloss over it. but here's what i think is more important. yes, there was tensions between the president and john mccain. this week though has been all about john mccain and the unity of his vision, of courage, of patriotism, of freedom of service before self. i think that's the lesson that we should take away from the week. that's what i want -- i think that's what -- >> do you want -- how about what president trump, what should he take away from yesterday's service? >> i think that's a lot of -- there's a lot of things that the president can learn about. look, the book on john mccain, his great life, it's been written. all right? it's been written. but for all of us, you know, whether you, me or the president or other americans who are watching that, you know, we're still an open book. i think there's a lot of things all of us can do, the president and myself. one of the things that john mccain was all about, he knew that he was not a perfect man. he knew he made mistakes but as

president obama and president bush emphasized yesterday he was looking for improvement in himself and his country and i think that's something we can all take away whether it's the president or anyone else watching these important, beautiful services. >> something else that the president said this week about the november elections. he said and it was in a meeting with evangelicals. he said if the gop loses in november, quote, they will overturn everything, quickly and violently. and then he added these are violent people, referring to democrats. is that -- is there any basis here? do you understand what he's referring to? >> i don't know. >> why is he speaking to evangelicals this way? >> i have not seen that quote. i don't think -- you know, democrats are violent people. what i do -- i mean, i haven't seen that quote. what i actually do think it's important for the president, others to talk about, i know you'll talk about it in the panel. one thing that's important for the american people, in addition to rebuilding our military is growing the economy. i mean, we are -- we are hitting an economy that is the strongest

we have seen in decades. consumer optimism up. very high. 4.2% gdp growth. and these are because of policies. policies of less government, more freedom, tax reform, regulatory reform. here's an important point. you know on the democratic side we're starting to see leaders being elected in primaries who have a different view of the economy. more focused on even the idea of socialism. let's have that debate in the fall. that's an important debate to have on the vision of growing the economy. i think the vision is working and it's strong. >> let me ask you a few questions that may come up. jeff sessions, the current attorney general, do you believe he's committed any fireable offenses? >> i supported jeff sessions when he was nominated. i certainly voted for him. and i think he's doing a good job. >> do you think there's any reason for the president to remove him? >> the president has the constitutional authority -- >> i understand that.

is there a fireable offense? >> i know he can do that but it wouldn't be wise. >> you have been helping brett kavanaugh prepare for the confirmation hearing and you also on the judicial committee. >> i'm not on the committee. >> i'm sorry. you're preparing him for that. i conflated the two things. when he said he believes in precedent that's suppose to be code for he's not in favor of overturning roe v. wade. that's what every american should take away, that brett kavanaugh does not want to overturn roe v. wade? >> look, i have known brett kavanaugh for a long time. i think he was an inspired choice, i think he'd make a great justice on the supreme court. he has been an outstanding judge. he's a man who's got a lot of humility which is kind a rare quality in this town. i did talk to him about precedent. like judge gorsuch, now justice or go is up.

he wrote a book on it. he's very focused on it. with regard to roe v. wade, i didn't get into the details when i met with him of asking about that. >> okay. see how silly this to the average americans? they don't understand why we can't get a simple answer to this question from the supreme court nominees. i know this is a thing on both sides of the aisle. why can't we get them answered on roe v. wade? >> which simple question -- >> does precedent meaning he doesn't want to overturn roe v. wade? >> i think he's going to be asked about this a lot during the whole week so we'll watch on that. but i think that, you know, he's focused. this isn't just judge kavanaugh. justice ginsburg when she went through the confirmation she famously said i'm not going to predict what may or may not come before the court because that's prejudging it and that's not the role of the judge. i do think on some key issues judge kavanaugh, for example, his skepticism on the power and authority of federal agencies.

it's something that we need on the court. something that is consistent with the constitution. and these are questions that he's going to be asked about. but i think he'll make an outstanding justice. >> will he recuse administration on the subpoenas involving the mueller investigation? >> i think he's look at the ethics with regard to the supreme court justice. there's been previous questions, justice kagan had a question on the obamacare related situation. he'll do the code and ethics of what the supreme court requires. >> we'll see what he does there. leave it there. thanks for come on the sgloe. great to be on the show. as we suggested earlier, there was a sense at the national cathedral yesterday that with the loss of john mccain came the loss of a certain civility in the politics. president obama among others made that point. >> so much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small. and mean.

and petty. trafficking in bombast and insult. phony controversies. and manufactured outrage. it's a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. >> joining me now, democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. >> thanks, chuck. >> what did you take away from yesterday and did you see it as a rebuke of president trump? >> i saw it as a story of john mccain, his grieving family. a grieving nation. people who he had run against, people who had defeated him. he invited them in. and i think it is no surprise that the subject of the administration came up obliquely from time to time. but i think that george bush actually said it best to explain it. he said that john mccain's life

was defined in part by the fact that he detested the abuse of power. whether that was people who poisoned political opponents or put reporters in jail. or yes, people who had taken -- who would take on immigrants in a way that he thought was imappropriate like the -- inappropriate like the president has done or going after fbi agents or p.o.w.s like himself. so yes, that was part of john mccain's strength and character. that he was willing to stand up and take on bullies and so i think that is how you saw it come up, but it was really a part of the arc of his life and fighting for those that needed someone to fight for them. >> some of us viewed this week as almost a memorial service for another era of politics. i talked to other senators, jeff flake in particular, he said no no, it should be a call to arms to sort of bring this center of american politics back or bring the idea of compromise back. let's be realistic. both parties right now punish you if you either side works too

closely with the other. how do you get that back? >> i think you get it back by listening to john mccain's words that you have to be fighting for a cause greater than yourselves. you see that in the senate, especially when big things happen. we have to do it again. >> do you really see it though? >> i do. >> go ahead. >> i worked with john mccain on bringing down the cost of pharma prices, by bringing in drugs from other countries. there are other republicans on the bill. i hope that someone else will take the lead. we was the only republican on the honest ads act. i'm asking another republican to get on that bill. so you have a number of cases and senator sullivan went through some of them where we work across the aisle all the time, but we have to see more of it. when people are afraid of pissing off president trump so they continue over and work with us, that's a problem. so people have to rise to the occasion. >> let me move -- you are on the

judiciary i do. i conflated both of your committees. my apologies this sunday morning. the democratic base is pretty upset at democratic leadership. they didn't like the deal th that -- they didn't like the deal that schumer cut with mitch mcconnell that fast tracked the judicial nominees. why shouldn't the base be upset with that? >> what matters is what happens in the next week at this hearing. and i think you're going to see some really strong sets of questions from a number of us that are on the judiciary committee. the point i'm going to make is that this is not normal. you have a nominee with excellent credentials with his family behind him. you have the cameras there. you have the senators questioning. but this isn't normal. it's not normal because we are not able to see 100,000 documents that the archivists has just -- because the administration has said we can't see them? they excerpted their executive power. 148,000 documents i have seen

that you can't see because they won't allow us to make them public. so i can't tell you about on the show. >> do you think they'd make him unqualified? >> i think there are some things that i can't ask him, because i can't ask him. >> so it raises questions to you -- what you have seen in these papers that we have not seen, it actually raises doubts in your mind about kavanaugh's ability to be a -- >> it would certainly bolster the arguments that i could make. then you have the president's campaign chair having been just convicted. you have got his lawyer pleading guilty. you have a nominee who has had one of the most expansive views of presidential power that we have seen in history. this is a guy that says one, a president should be able to declare a statue constitutional all by himself. in writing he has said you should throw out the special counsel statue. this is relevant, no, it's not

normal. >> let's look at the reality though. the democrats do not have control of the u.s. senate. there is no filibuster and we know why we don't have a filibuster. this has been a game of chicken that both parties have played. there's nothing you can do. unless you do something out of the ordinary. kevin de leon who is running against dianne feinstein for the u.s. senate seat in california, he's arguing this. stop playing polite country club politics with the supreme court nominee who represents one of the greatest threats to a woman's right to choose in our lifetime. i guess the basic question is, if in a similar situation what would mitch mcconnell do? >> well, we snow what mitch mcconnell did, but that was because he had the power. so to me, the first answer is that we need a check and balance on this white house. >> some folks are suggesting that you guys should walk out of the hearing. >> okay. >> you have heard that. >> that's interesting. you have cory booker and kamala harris and dick blumenthal, and

diane, you name it, chris countries. we need the opportunity to ask the questions. if we walk out it's one side asking the questions. that's not the way you examine the nominee and gets the facts out. >> you'd have the ability to get all of the papers public if there was a threat they needed 60 votes. if democrats get control of the senate back, should the principle be that the filibuster should come back for supreme court nominees? >> well, first of all, we would have not supported changing that. >> i understand that. but if you get the power, would you support bringing -- would you support bringing the filibuster back if you get power in november? >> i think we should have had the filibuster in place and by the way that sounds like a scary word to normal people out there. but it's the idea that you have to have consensus. so i would have liked to have seen 60 votes no matter what the judge is. i don't think we should have made that change when we looked back there.

but it happened because we were so frustrated because president obama wasn't able to get his nominees. but i think we would have been in a better place now. the point is we still left the 60 votes in place for the supreme court. >> right. would you bring it back? >> and mitch mcconnell changed that. i would prefer to bring it back. we are where we are and now i don't think anyone wants to hamstring themselves. >> you're on the ballot in november. has keith ellison there's some allegations against him, having to do with potential spousal abuse, has he explained himself to you enough as a voter to feel comfortable voting for him? >> he has -- i think there's a good article in "the new york times" who went through all of this recently. he is still addressing this to the people of minnesota. and i think it's being reviewed. and i know that he is moving forward. >> are you comfortable campaigning with him? would you campaign -- >> right now, i'm focused on judge kavanaugh. he hasn't asked me to campaign with him. we have an incredibly strong ticket in minnesota.

we have a governor's race and we're focused on that. >> so if he asked would you campaign for him? >> i will campaign with our ticket when the time comes. >> senator amy klobuchar, democrat from minnesota. thank you very much. when we come back, mueller, the midterms and john mccain. the panel is next. this wi-fi is fast.

i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week.

like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. welcome back. the panel is welcome back. matthew continetti, kimberly atkins and amy walter, and mark leibovich, national correspondent for "the new york times" magazine and author of "big game, the nfl in dangerous times." welcome all. let me just get right to it. i think susan glasser in the new yorker put it in an interesting way about the john mccain memorial service. it was the biggest resistance meeting yet. she writes mccain's grand funeral, the obama adviser david axle rod called it an exercise in civic communion. a fact that's often lost about washington, d.c.

it's much more bipartisan, more united than it may currently seen in the hatred of donald trump. amy walter? >> i thought it was interesting you asked the question about the -- this was sort of a memorial service for an era of politics. that is no longer with us. but i'd also argue that that era left us a long time ago and that this world that we're in, the tribalization, the polarization, the incentive structure has pulled us to the place before donald trump ever came. and that he is exasperating it, there's no doubt. but the service itself i think the call to our better angels, our better selves stands out because of the contrast with the president. but i just think that whoever was president right now these issues would still be the driving force and we're not going to get past it because of the fact that there is no incentive for folks to try to bridge this. >> amy klobuchar admitted that in the question.

you know, mark leibovich, i'm old enough to remember when george bush was the most divisive president and barack obama was the most divisive president of our times. >> and ted kennedy at his funeral, what eight years ago, there was a same sort of call to unity. he worked across the aisle. not cliche there, but it's real. this was deeply personal. no question it was deeply personal. there was no president who was like not invited. pointedly not invited to an event like this. and yes, this environment was created and donald trump might be perpetuating it in some ways but i think this is very trump specific. this is -- i mean, i think larger words and concepts like unity are important. but this was very trump specific. >> let's -- it was trump, the president's comportment that has bothered so many people, matthew. like really, you can't -- i guess we should be glad he didn't tweet a negative.

>> right. >> but that's a low ball. >> certainly the mccain/trump feud began with the trump comments. there's an ideological component, talking about john mccain's ideas. when i looked at that ceremony, i saw john mccain designing the rebuttal to president trump's inaugural address from a year and a half ago. we went from american carnage to promise and from a negative speech to a positive speech. america is fine, america doesn't need to be made great again. the john mccain's america, the america that was represented at the national cathedral yesterday doesn't need to be made great again because it's doing fine. the contrast is with who trump represents. >> kimberly, a part of me was this scene in the national cathedral going to be seen as the last gathering of the

bourgeois as the revolutionaries come with their pitchforks or a call to arms, we'll stabilize america? >> i think it depends on who you ask. for some people it will be both. but i think it's important to remember as much as we're talking about bipartisanism, a bygone era, remember that the fight is between john mccain and barack obama, they were tough ones. they were strong, they were on opposite sides of -- >> on issues. >> on issues. and, you know, as soon as any policy came out of the white house, if republicans remember our in boxes were filled with john mccain's office really excoruating everything that barack obama did. when he stood there up to speak he was listed this the program as friend. friend first. president of the united states later. they had respect for one another. there was not -- there was partisanism, bitter and tough battles but not the pettiness that we see today. that's what the people were responding to. >> barack obama talked about

yesterday -- we talked privately in the white house from time to time. no one advertised that. i didn't know that. >> that was the first i heard that. >> that was the first i heard that. >> but he ended that anecdote with a refrain, we never doubted we were on the same team. he said it twice. when i hear team -- i think that actually gets to loyalty to america. if you ask me. when i hear team i think patriotism. i think we're both -- we both never doubted that we're trying to move this country forward. to me that was a very, very poignant -- >> now we have a country that we don't believe we or on the same team. there are two americans that don't believe that we are on the same team and you have to choose a side. you're on this team or on that team. >> if you're not on the right side of the team you're unpatriotic, you're unamerican. >> we're fighting over who gets to define patriotism and that gets to your book later on. we're having a massive fight over patriotism. >> what struck me was kissinger. mccain brought in ideas that aren't part of the discussion in

washington thinks like courage, nobility, honor and character. these are all values that were very important to john mccain's approach to politics and one reason why he was able to create relationships across the aisle. these are values that i think are -- they have been diminished. i think they come from john mccain's experience in the u.s. military. >> this week besides being about john mccain there were days i want to put up the president's thursday tweet storm because that was the one where you were like is this just more of the same from him or is there something big? it was a rat-a-tat tat. lester holt got caught fudging my tape on russia, fake books, collusion and people said is he acting rattled? >> or it just -- >> the walls are always closing in or it's trump. what is it? >> it's about keeping that energy up. all the time of people who are on his team to say never ever take your eye off the ball

because the second that you do, they're going to come and get us. you have to keep this energy as part of it. but i do think that this is what the remarkable piece of this entire campaign is. you had senator sullivan there saying -- but remember the economy is doing great. everybody is happy. we should be doing really well this election season. there's not one tweet in there about how great the economy was doing. or about -- >> he doesn't know how to campaign on the economy and that's a big frustration with a lot of republicans. i'm going to pause here this conversation here. when we come back the man who won the democratic nomination to be the florida governor, andrew gillum. it sets up the battle between the unapologetic progressive and a trump supporter. stay with us. ogetic progressived a trump supporter. stay with us

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welcome back. we saw another huge welcome back. we saw another huge upset on tuesday night. this time in the state of florida. gillum won his party's nomination. he's a progressive and he's up against a trump supporter. ron desantis. it's base against base. the race has national implications. it will help determine whether it's safe for the two parties to so call abandon the middle and appeal to firing up their bases.

on day one of campaign, desantis said this. >> he's an articulate spokesman for the far left view as up he's charismatic candidate. the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. >> desantis and the campaign insist that the words articulate and monkey this up has no racial implications. gillum said they no longer do whistle calls they do full bullhorns. joining me is andrew gill him. by the way, we offered an invite to desantis but he declined. >> thank you so much for having me. i wanted to say quickly that the true patriotism is something to behold in today's america. it was inspiring and all of the speeches really moved me

personally. >> thank you for sharing that. let me start with the start of this campaign. you had that back and forth with your opponent. a neo-nazi group launched some really ugly robocalls. i don't want to give the name of the group or anything. because i think just trying to get free publicity here. are you satisfied with how yikly republicans shot down that neo-nazi call? does that reassure you that they don't want to make race an issue in this campaign? >> well, i mean, i think what's important is that mr. desantis and obviously the president really try to go high on this thing. we cannot afford to weaponize race and to go to the bottom of the barrel here. honestly people are going to take their cues from what the leadership says and ron desantis is a leader. therefore he has to be very, very careful about how he addresses these kinds of issues. i'm pleased to see them decry

those robocalls but it's important that desantis take control of his own rhetoric and words because we know given the highly sensitized nation we find ourselves that people take their cues and sometimes out and in ways that go far beyond what is appropriate in today's environment. >> you do not think congressman desantis is a racist, do you? >> i have not called him a racist. >> i know you haven't. >> what i said is his rhetoric in my opinion has to be toned down. that -- what i will call him is someone who has worked to undermine the health care system. someone who has decided to join with donald trump and give more and more money away to the largest and wealthiest corporations and less to regular everyday working people. i'm happy to debate him on the merits of public policy. i am not going to get into the gutter and name call. that's not what florida voters are interested in and certainly not why i ran for governor. i'm here to talk about the issues that confront the people

of our great state. >> you run as an unabashed progressive democrat. you're for medicare for all. you talk about getting rid of i.c.e. and some things there. but i'm curious one of the things -- you were supported by two billionaires who came in and helped your campaign and largely your campaign early on was funded by them. george soros and tom steyer. how do you square a populist progressive campaign that wants to get big money out of politics, get dark money out of politics and yet it's billionaires that have to prop up your campaign? >> well, i'll tell you, i'm deeply appreciative of mr. soros as well as mr. steyer. i have known them for some time. but our campaign was propped up by a lot of small contributions including my mother who was on auto deduct of $20 a month into our campaign. in the first two days of this general election, our campaign has been buoyed this first week raising over $2 million by everyday folks.

not big contributions but everyday folks sowing a seed into our race. i think that's going to help us win on november 6th. these everyday folks deciding to sew a seed into this race. >> do you think the democratic party is giving you enough support? i saw the association made a $1 million investment. it can sound like a lot of money. but this the state of florida. i think 70,000 media markets in florida, by last count. i'm exaggerating slightly. some democrats said there was a zero missing there. do you think they're showing you enough support? >> well, i will tell you, chuck, i have every anticipation and expectation that the dja will come into the race strong. one, you know this being a home boy yourself that the implications here in florida are so great. not just in this race for governor and the cabinet but also the united states senate. i really do think the pairing of bill nelson and myself and the other members of the cabinet not to mention the legislative races are very, very critical for 2020

implications. so i fully expect that they're going to come in and have our back. but the truth is that we're not going to wait or rely on that. we need everyday people to sow a seed into this race. we're trying to run a campaign very similar to what we run the primary through the strength and support of everyday folks willing to sow a seed into this campaign. >> "the new york times" this morning dives a little deeper into the fbi investigation that's been taking place into the city of tallahassee. i have read the story completely. you have said that the fbi's told you you're not a focus of the investigation. but i have a few questions. so first is when did you find out this was a sting operation? >> well, this came to light for me i assumed some time last year when i was first contacted by two agents that wanted to talk to me. i spoke to them for 20 minutes. in that meeting they told me obviously i was not a target of their investigation.

and they asked me questions specifically about one of my -- about someone else. but what we have tried -- i think it's important to point this out, that i know the city of tallahassee is under investigation and we have worked to be as cooperative as we can. anyone who has done anything wrong ought to be held fully accountable. i contrast to desantis and trump, they have worked at every step to undermine the work of this important agency. the president going so far as to suggest a deep state. what we have said is we want this thing resolved and anyone who's doing anything wrong should be held fully accountable that's how you deal with these kind of things not by standing in their way and obstructing any form of justice. >> let me ask you this. have you changed your behavior as a public official given this experience you have gone through? >> well, i will tell you, i'm obviously a lot more circumspect about everything. i think part of being elected at the age of 23 and not really having to be, you know, overly cautious or distrustful at the

local level as i think i was a bit naive that everybody who comes into my space has good intentions. and i honestly -- i don't know that i would have changed any of my interactions but it's certainly made me a lot more scrutinizing by allowing people in my orbit who only have good intentions for me my family and my community. >> in "new york times" they said they'd provide receipting having to do with a couple of trips that you did with a lobbyists. the receipts haven't been provided. should we expect that soon? >> you absolutely should. i'll tell you my commitment is to make every receipt available because i have nothing to hide. unfortunately, chuck, i have one interview left with the ethics board this week and following that we'll make those fully available. i wanted to make sure that the process worked the way it was intended to. >> andrew gillum, the new democratic nominee for governor

in florida, thanks for coming on and sharing your views, sir. stay safe on the trail. >> thanks for having me. when we come back, what did we learn and all of those primaries this year and what might they tell us what could happen in november? might they tell us what could happen in november has the perfect conditioners for everyone. from air-light foam, to nourishing 3 minute miracle, to the moisture-infusing gold series. we give more women great hair days - every day. pantene. (door bell rings) it's ohey. this is amazing. with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts. so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.

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...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. welcome welcome back. data download time. labor day kicks off the election season and we ask what have we learned? for one people are interested. take for instance overall turnout this pass week for the big primaries in arizona and florida. turnout was up 146,000 in arizona and over 1 million additional voters showed up in florida. as part of a larger trend of increased turnout in the primaries on both sides, but especially mock the democrats. the primary season thus far has also given us some other

indications of where enthusiasm lies, for instance, in fund-raisi fund-raising. the democrats have outfund raised the republicans and they have more candidates for the house right now. only four house districts in the country where there's no democratic candidate running. there are nearly 40 districts where there's no republican candidate running either. we have noted how diverse this year's pool of candidates has been. 2018 has become the year of the woman. the number of women nominees set new records this year. 14 nominees for governor. 21 nominees for senate, 226 for the house. by the way our friend david wasserman over at the cook political report notes in house districts that don't have any incumbents in them, democrats have nominated women in 50% of those raises. republicans have nominated women in just 18% of those races. so what does all of this mean for november? well, obviously there's been a lot of talk about a blue wave and it's still too early to make that prediction but the numbers do show from cook that the

battle field is tilted towards the democrats, particularly in the house. only five democratic held seats are rated competitive. 65 republican held districts are rated the same. these are the places that the incumbent party is in jeopardy of losing in november. obviously, two months, a lifetime in washington in most years and several lifetimes in our political environment. but we can say this for certain about 2018. voters are engaged, the candidate pool is diverse and democrats hold the edge. we don't know how big that edge is. when we come back a great american institution in dangerous times. institution in dangerous times.

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back now with "end game," or should we say big game. the nfl regular season begins later this week and of course nothing, not even the nfl avoids politics these days. latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll we found 43% of voters believe kneeling during the national anthem is an appropriate way to protest racial inequality. while a majority, 54% say it is not appropriate. but look at how these numbers break down. 72% of democrats say kneeling is appropriate versus 23% who say it isn't, republicans the numbers are basically reversed and then some. 10% appropriate, 88% not, of course there is a racial divide by a margin of 70 to 28 african americans kneeling is appropriate, whites say no by a 20 point margin. 58, 38. president must have sports on his mind this morning or be

watching. he tweeted tiger woods showed great class in the way he offered the answer of the presidency. the left is angry at him. so sad, but the senator loves tiger, george foreman, greats and even more. obviously you've got the book big game mark leib ovechkvits. it's exploding the nfl. >> they should have given him the buffalo bills in 2014 when he wanted it. he wanted to get in the club, he captain get in there. he's a real knack for discovering culture war. the nfl even before kohl enkaepernick was something he thought was a metaphor for just the softness of america. he thought there were too many rules, it was too much political correctness. he in a way saw the heart land of football in pennsylvania and alabama, in ohio, very much mimicked his own, his own heart land, his own base of support. and in some ways football and donald trump became the two big spectacles of american life.

it was sort of inevitable they would merge. >> this culture, it's interesting here with football, too. it's almost as if the president has sided with college football fans over nfl fans by his attack on the nfl. it is part of his base. if you look at his base of voters, they are the -- sort of the base, the heart and soul of, if you went to any college football game in america, you'd have seen a lot of maga hats yesterday. >> a lot of people are losing interest in the nfl as the protests over the flag and anthem are taking place. a few things struck me on the poll. trump continues to be on the majority size. with all our discussions of populism, democrats tend to view populism through an economic lens. they have to understand there is a cultural lens that has to do with symbols of american patriotism, the american story. trump is effective of seizing on those and rallying his base and some independents to his side.

>> it's easy when the cultural issue equals what white america is comfortable with. as lodge as white america is comfortable with it you're always going to be on the majority side of this. that's where i think he's been able to be successful. what hasn't gotten discussed as much, and i think this is where the discussion really needs to go, it starts -- it's always about trump and kneeling and what it all means. the fundamental core issue is no matter how much wealth or prestige or influence you have, if you're black in america, the racism and race is always going to be the most important factor in your life. >> i agree. economic anxiety is a euphemism for nationalism, nationalism has very strong racial and cultural under tones. if you don't acknowledge that you're missing the entire picture. >> kim, i want to go to the other aspect of this, sort of what the president was getting at with tiger woods. there is now, you know, i think nfl players, especially african-american players, on one hand the community expects them, hey, don't back down.

at the same time, they're getting pressure the other way. more and more african-american athletes are being encouraged to speak up and yet the president likes that. he thinks that will be good for him, too. >> he thinks the stronger this war is, the harder that he sees himself as battling this cultural and racial divisiveness war, the better it is for him politically. this isn't just about the idea of the flag. that's another euphemism for trying to take sides on an issue he thinks is purely a political calculation. i take what mark said about not being able to be a member of the club. i think this is a purely political calculation he thinks is going to benefit him at the end. and this is nothing new. i don't think you're going to see these players backing down. this is nothing new. remembered muhammad ali. black athletes are been taking strong political stances and putting themselves at the forefront of this issue for decades. >> i'll have to make that the last word. thank you all. thanks for watching. of course we will be back next week because if it's sunday it's

meet the press. we're going to leave you with the final moments of john mccain's memorial service yesterday, the singing of "danny boy." ♪ and white with snow ♪ i'll be here in sunshine or in shadow ♪ ♪ oh, danny boy oh, danny boy, i love you so ♪ ♪

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...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. i'll take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. new ensure max protein. in two great flavors. ♪ ♪ welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. tonight we're going to go deep on what's driving the november elections as democrats look hungrily to putting a halt to the president's agenda. in some cases look ahead to impeachment. the impending departure of white house counsel don mcgahn means for president trump, along with reporting about just how ill prepared the white house is for looming legal battles if the house flips. want to welcome my panel for tonight. "the new york times" political reporter ken vogel. msnbc political analyst and

white house bureau