headquarters. here is what's happening right now. more twitter attacks. fallout after the president goes after one of the most senior african-american lawmakers in congress. pushing back, former president obama endorsing an op-ed critical of the current president. should obama be speaking out more? and budget deal. questions about the real cost of that deal averted -- that averted a fiscal crisis. and who does the gop fear most? new incite ahead of the second democratic presidential debate. ♪ we have new reaction and outrage this morning as president trump doubles down on his twitter attack on house oversight chair elijah cummings, calling it a rat and rodent infested mess. the president taking rebeated jabs and retweeting videos allegedly showing trash in cummings district, also suggesting the congressman should focus on his district rather than the congressional oversight committee.

the #wearebaltimore began trending on twitter yesterday and house speaker and other democrats were quick to support their democratic colleague. >> my mother used to say it's a shame when a person is ignorant and they don't recognize that they are ignorant. he has done nothing but proven that he is exactly a racist. >> i know that elijah cummings understands that, you know, his grace, his dignity, his ability to be an effective oversight chairman is exactly why trump is attacking him, because he's too effective and trump is just so ineffective. >> the mayor of baltimore also stepping forward to defend his city. >> you provide through the seventh congressal district, see all the developments we had done and we're still working to rebuild some of the areas that need to help the most. we're not going to ignore

anyone -- no one. [ inallable question ] >> i don't consider it fueling the fire. i look at it as defending baltimore city, the city where i live. >> congressman cummings responding, saying he has a moral duty to fight for his constituents. here are some of them. >> the president then is really not being the man that he's supposed to be. the things he said about baltimore, about the rats and everything, if he feel that concerned about it, why don't he do anything about it? >> definitely not no bad community. it ain't no support. the president probably never been to maryland. he probably never seen it. he probably don't know for himself. so he only speaking on knowledge from what he getting from everybody else. got to come here and see it. come through and get the people, get the community together. that's not being done. >> former first lady michelle obama tweeting yesterday as well, showing a video with a

baltimore step team she saw perform back in 2017. >> michelle obama, someone is cruel, acts like a bully, you don't stoop to that level. our motto is. >> when they go low, we go high. raise our standards to the sky. >> let's head to the white house now and nbc's mike va kara. the president not backing down this morning despite the backlash. >> not at all, he's tripping down and up early tweeting today. but into the night last night, carrying on this theme despite the criticism from many quarters that he is, in fact, a racist and using racial divisions within this country for political gain heading into 2020. let's start you off with a taste of something he tweeted last night after this controversy had already been ignited. elijah cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through, quote unquote, oversight. he does nothing for his very poor, very dangerous, and very

badly run district. take a look, #blacksfortrump 2020. then the president linking to that video. now here is the back story here. elijah cummings, as the president eluded to, runs the house oversight committee. and he had a hearing with a dhs acting secretary kevin mccleanen back on july 18th about 10 days ago where he really got into it. mccleanen -- got into it with mccleanen about conditions on the border where immigrant, migrant children are being held in what's largely described as dirty and filthy conditions. well, the president took issue with that, one of his supporters in baltimore went into cummings' district and took some video of selected properties that were very badly dishevelled, trash strewn some residents getting water from a fire hydrant that aired yesterday morning very early on fox news. the president saw it evidently. started tweeting and that ignited this controversy and the president kicking it off now despite criticism from nancy pelosi. as we saw, every single

democratic presidential contender, as well as many people on the republican side of the aisle, at least on twitter, criticizing the president. the president yesterday only taking a break as he often does on the weekend going to his golf course in northern virginia. we don't know what he's doing today, but he's already up and tweeting. jo? >> mike, staying on top of everything at the white house and all those tweets. joining me now is julian and daniel. good morning, guys. >> good morning. >> daniel, the president's tweets comes days after the house oversight committee subpoena the top white house aides including trump's daughter ivanka and jared kushner, her husband. what is the corallation here, is there any? >> well, i think if you look at what trump tweets, he often uses fox as kind of his guide to what he should put on his twitter account. but he's clearly concerned that

cummings is going after his family and so he wants to protect his family. but look at his attacks on the squad where he says, these people are criticizing america, yet he repeatedly criticizes the own congressional districts that jared kushner has 15 apartment complexes that are -- that have been slammed by their residents as not having proper conditions. >> so does he gain anything by going after cummings in this way, daniel? >> i think the only thing that he gains is that it fuels his supporters. they have presented polling to trump from the campaign that says the more he attacks these congressmen and shows that he is not letting down, that it will rally his base. so this is clearly a base strategy, but for moderate voters and independents, suburban women, i don't think

that this is what they want for a second term. they might have hated hillary, but they don't want to exactly showed, you know sh they don't have to have a president who is widely seen as a racist. >>julia, on that point, david axelrod has been tweeting about this, in real donald trump loses in 2020, this will be why. every single day he subjects the country he was elected to lead to a stream of ugly, divisive bombasts. do yaw agree with that assessment? are people keeping up with all of this and will it affect the way they vote in a year and change? >> well, it's really too early to tell right now because we are over a year out from the election, but i think to daniel's point, a lot of independents and moderates are getting frustrated with the president and this rhetoric. i think a lot of republicans are as well because the president has a growing economy under his administration. i think any other president, any other republican president, would be repeatedly touting that

and really underlining that going into a presidential election. but clearly in at least trump's mind he's trying to keep his base in mind instead of getting the moderate swing voters that he really needs to win in 2020. it's clear he's feeding off of the energy he's getting from his base and going after elijah cummings' district or the four progressive women of color congress led by cortez last week. there really does seem to be a pattern here. he's going after democrats, people of color. it's not a good look for him going into 2020 and democrats will definitely hone in on that. but i think you're seeing a lot of the president's advisers going into the campaign saying this could play well for the president's base. you know, if they keep on hearing this message of if you support the president, then you're a racist, that's only going to fire them up, but i don't know if that's exactly the

right calculus when going after swing, moderates and independents. >> i want to go back to economic argument. i think about this a lot covering the economy, and i wonder is there a possibility that the president is holding on to that economic card, the strong economy, the booming economy, and is he going to use it later after all of this other stuff that he's focussing on, julia? >> you know, it's hard to tell. i think president trump whatever is being aired on fox news, for example, really does dictate what he's tweeting about during the day or what's his most -- what's the topic he's interested in for that day. but you know, he could be and he does still out the the economy from time to time. but he goes -- he out thes it in addition to going after, you know, congresswomen of color, his political components and what people would see as nasty, divisive way. he's still going to continue to out the the economy, but i think a lot of republicans look at this and say he's not focussing

enough on this, but i think his calculus going after people like a.o.c. or elijah cummings is in a way an economic argument. the republican strategy across the board right now whether it's house republicans, senate republicans or president trump is, you know, painting democrats as radical socialists, if you will. and that, itself, is an economic argument. >> but baltimore is very much part of america and the baltimore sun reacting to this with a very strongly-written editorial. the headline is better to have a few rats than to be one. daniel, when people are reading this and then have this in context with what the president has tweeted what are they to think here? >> yeah. if you look at the demographics of elijah cummings' district, you have average income of 60,000 people -- people of $6,000. you have people who have a higher rate of college degrees

and so this is not this rat-infested district that trump describes. he probably hasn't even been to the district. he wouldn't know. and so, i think the reality of what cummings represents clashes with what trump describes. and i think there is going to be a long-term effect to trump's tweets where, you know, he's setting the tone early and he's going against these congress people. while they're the target now, whoever his opponent will be in the general election, that might be harder to make that argument if they are a more moderate person like kamala harris and it's harder to attack her on some of these soishls scores. >> julia, what do you think quickly? i'll give you the last word here. >> yeah. the terms of going after those more so moderate voters, this definitely doesn't help the president. and i think this probably i

would say plays more into the hands of democrats at this point. i think someone like kamala harris, to daniel's point, will take this and run with it and say, see, this is what he's doing. this is the rhetoric he's putting forth in the country. >> we'll be watching as they all take the debate stage in just a few days. thanks, guys. >> thanks, jo. how the so-called trump economy could wind up helping democrats in 2020. that's coming up. making it easy for youelven to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. and this is me now!

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you're looking at live pictures of hong kong where protesters have been taking to the streets for eight weekends in a row now. they originally were out there protesting an extradition bill in its relationship with mainland china. now that has gone on to evolve to be pro-democracy, pro-reform movement. and we're watching, as you see umbrellas, take to the streets there in hong kong. umbrellas are actually a popular way of protesting in mainland china. it's something we saw around the anniversary of tiananmen square and you can see it's happening there also in hong kong. you can also see folks wearing helmets and vests. that's the police. there has been a back and forth between mostly peaceful protesters and the police. and that is part of the protests right now in hong kong. and it's continuing to spread throughout the city. but you got thousands of people there protesting, calling for

reform, calling for a different relationship with the police. this was all rooted originally in an extradition bill that was proposed to extradite suspects to mainland china. so we're going to continue monitoring that. we're also going to take a look at politics and president trump just as recently as april he claimed that mexico would be paying for his proposed border wall. but in a new filing on friday the supreme court lifting a lower court order by a 5-4 vote. the decision allows the administration to redirect $2.5 billion in pentagon funds to construct part of a wall along the southern border. well, u.s. funds are being used, the president now says the expense will, quote, be fully reimbursed over time by other countries. joining me now to discuss this is msnbc legal contributor katie sang. good morning again. >> good morning. >> how do you interpret this 5-4

decision? >> i was laughing frankly, jo. who is reimbursing us? i haven't seen mexico pay the tab for this. i'm not sure who is going to reimburse the united states. the 5-4 decision is very, very interesting because it was a clear split down what we call conservative justices versus liberal justices. what's amazing is it was a one paragraph ruling from the supreme court of the united states. it was unsigned. what does that mean? normally we see voluminous pages of decisions and usually there's an author. we know exactly who penned the opinion. but in this case it was a one paragraph unsigned opinion and it was limited to a technical procedural issue whether or not the funding could move forward to be able to build the border wall versus what a federal judge decided which was, no, no you cannot move forward with it. so, remember, trump wanted $5.7 billion, jo, congress gave them 1.4. now he's basically

misappropriating according to the lawsuit billions of dollars to the tune of 2.5 to be able to fund a border wall and is taken the money from department of defense funds that are been earmarked. the constitutional question that should end up later on is the following, whether donald trump is now basically abusing executive powers because congress has the power of the purse. congress gets to basically decide where funds go and trump has said, no, i declare a national emergency so i'm going to tell you where you get to spend your money? >> katie, what happens next here? are we going to see some building, i know that you're able to -- now the contracts and negotiations can move forward, but what happens next in terms of the land and the wall physically? >> so that's a great question, jo. so you're right. contracts and negotiations must conclude by the end of september to be able to move forward with vendors to build this border wall, but that does not mean that the litigation fight stops with exactly this case and other cases because, jo, in order to

be able to build this border wall, you have to do it on what is also held as private property. you cannot just come in and just start building it if you're the federal government. there is a long litigation that does become associated with that. you can assert your private property rights if you're a private property owner. then there's this whole concept of eminent domain which is this legal idea if you're going to take something from me that belongs to me then you have to fairly compensate me for it. we're talking a lot of land on the southern border of the united states. so this challenge will continue in the judicial system. this is not the only battle that determines whether donald trump can build his border wall. >> just to sum this up here as we watch the campaign trail and candidates respond to this decision, where do you think the president will be come next summer ahead of 2020 and the general election on the border wall given that we know there are still some legal obstacles to be overcome here? >> well, we know that he actually hasn't commenced really building this border wall. seeing how there's still all

this reoccurring litigation that comes up and tells him that he can't be doing it. i think he will have made some progress but certainly not having fully constructed it, but the legal process, wheels of justice, they move very slowly and painfully sometimes. that could be good for people who are opponents of the border wall, but it also does show that the supreme court said that he could go ahead with the funding. that might be a sign to the trump administration that ultimately the supreme court with its five, quote, conservative justices will support the building of this border wall in the end. >> all right, katie phang, thanks so much. appreciate it. >> have a great day. sin city under attack. the story behind the pictures coming up. this summer at panera, we're going all in on strawberries.

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♪ you are watching some new video from just moments ago breaking news out of hong kong. police using tear gas on crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators on the streets. tens of thousands of people are taking part in yet another demonstration, a day after riot police charged into seemingly peaceful crowds firing tear gas and rubber bullets and wielding batons. nbc's matt bradley is on the ground for us.

we know that that extradition bill that started all of this has been suspended, but matt, are these protests taking yet another turn? >> reporter: yeah, joling, that's exactly what i was telling you just a few hours ago. you know, these protests have taken on a life of their own. and the object of the anger is no longer really that extradition bill, which has been all but entirely shelved. now the protest rs here want that extradition bill to be completely withdrawn because they believe the language that's been used by hong kong authorities so far still leaves a little bit of a gap that could allow them to reintroduce the bill and possibly shove it through which is why so many of these young people are so determined to stay on the streets no matter what. but you're right, jo, these have taken in the past several weeks a really negative, dark and violent turn. as you mentioned, there has been some tear gas. that's a couple miles behind me. as you can see, they're building these ramparts here. this is what i was explaining to you before.

these are actually bits from their kind of like protective rails that go between the roadway and the sidewalks. you can see down here these young people they're using plastic cords to tie them together and they're creating this huge barrier here. this is going to prevent any police from trying to break up the protests. and as they're doing it, and it's quite clever, they're covering it with umbrellas to prevent anybody from seeing what they're doing and catching their faces. jo lirks ng? >> matt bradley, thank you so much. stay safe. from the first poll after the testimony of former special counsel robert mueller. politico and the morning council finding that 37% of registered voters favor impeachment and 46% do not. i want to break this down with one of the earliest members democratic members of congress to support impeachment, joining us now is the chair of the budget committee john yarmouth from kentucky.

congressman, good morning. >> good morning. >> thanks for joining us. some democratic voices suggesting that mueller's testimony was going to move public opinion in favor of impeachment. that poll is saying something else. what's happening here? >> well, i think there are -- the narrative following the mueller hearing was that he hadn't come up with any more new information, so i think a lot of people's opinions stayed the same. in fact, what that hearing did was to underscore the fact that the mueller report first of all did not exonerate the president, in fact, it documents ten separate cases where all the elements necessary for an obstruction of justice charge were present and then it also underscored the fact that there was coordination, there was a lot of contact between russia and the trump campaign. they just couldn't come up with enough evidence to charge the president. so, i think what you've seen over the last few days i think

ten other democrats have now announced for impeachment. i think that they are convinced now that there's enough evidence to proceed with impeachment charges. that gave them the license to change their -- to push them over the edge, i guess. so, i'm not that worried about it. i think a lot of those -- that 40 something percent opposed to impeachment are worried about possibly affecting the 2020 campaign and hurting democrats chances. that's why they don't want it. i have a totally different view. i don't think the impeachment proceeding would hurt our democratic candidate at all. >> you have your august recess around the corner. are you planning to talk to constituents about this, take their temperature? and if you do get that pushback on impeachment, is that going to change your tune here? >> no. actually i've been talking to my constituents for more than two years now about donald trump. and to a certain extent, we all live in a bubble. but all my constituents ask me

about is how do we get rid of donald trump? they don't talk about issues these day. i'm very confident that the position i took, which was based on nothing in the mueller report, it was based on the constant abuse of power that this president exercises. so i think i'm fully in accord with my constituents. and of course i was re-elected very comfortably after all talking about impeachment. i'm not worried about that at all. >> well, i also want to talk to you about being the chair of the house budget committee and the passing of the budget deal to raise spending and suspend the debt limit. so, the government can borrow for two more years. the committee for responsible federal budget estimates the new deal will add 1.7 trillion dollars to the national debt over the coming decade. so, my question is always, can any of this be reigned in ever? do you worry about the long-term impact on the national debt? >> well, we all are concerned

about that, but let me clarify something, the numbers that you're hearing about raising spending and so forth really aren't accurate. ten years ago on what we call discretionary part of the budget, which is the part of the budget that congress actually controls on annual basis we spent $1.3 trillion. this year we're going to spend $1.37 trillion. so, that portion of the budget has gone up less than 10% in ten years. so, this wasn't a massive increase in spending. and what we -- what we're comparing it to -- and this gets in the weeds -- >> that's okay. >> there was an artificial number set in part of the budget control act in 2011 that said if we don't lower -- if we can't come to a deal to lower the deficit, then we have automatic spending cuts that will take spending to 1.0 something trillion. so, all of these comparisons are

based on that -- compared to that number which never existed outside of an arbitrary -- artificial setting. so, again, we're at the same level of spending essentially that we were ten years ago. meanwhile, inflation and other things means that the government hasn't been doing nearly enough to keep up with the demand for government services and, by the way, this includes defense spending which is more than half of that number. >> this budget deal is also hammered out by the house speaker nancy pelosi and treasure secretary steven mnuchin done just in time for the august recess. how did the democrats work to get this deal done? give us a little bit of insight and what happened on the inside? >> well, i think a couple things happened. one is you had a very convenient con influence of motivation. you had on house democrats who really wanted to avoid what's called sequestration which would

have cut defense spending by 11% and non-defense spending by 9%. so we wanted to avoid that. then the senate also wanted to get any possibility of shutdown or default past the next election. then secretary of the treasury mnuchin desperately wanted to do away with this debt ceiling problem because he saw that we were going to run out of the ability to borrow in early september and wanted to get it done before that eventuality occurred. >> uh-huh. >> again, it was just a very lucky confluence of desires and motivations there. >> certainly not the common standard these days given how toxic the relationship has been. >> right. >> i also want to talk about the presidential candidates running for the democratic nomination. they have been -- with@ -- they're basically highlighting the lingering economic

inequalities. and i cover the economy. we also see the economy as booming overall, but a researcher is writing that this strong economy may actually help democrats in 2020 because, quote there is growing evidence in michigan and throughout the rust belt that metro areas that are bouncing back are turning blue again. they're moving away from the president. so, given that info, what do you think should be the economic message from the democrats? what are you going to tell them to hit on the campaign trail? >> i still think we have to talk about the inequality in the budget, the unfairness of the 2017 republican tax cut, which 83% of the benefits which went to the top 1% in corporations, none of the positive economic benefits that the republicans promised reinvestment by companies, huge wage increases, none of that transpired. so, i think we need to talk about that. and we also need to talk about things like prescription drug

prices, things like repairing our infrastructure both because we have absolutely have to do it to provide secure future but also because it's a great job creator. so i think there are plenty of economic messages that we began talking about during the midterms last year and we will continue to. >> very quick question for you to wrap this up. >> yeah. >> who are you behind? >> oh, gosh, i have so many friends running i can't afford to make -- >> you're not saying just yet. fair enough. congressman john yarmuth, thank you so much. >> thank you, jo. now to a problem in las vegas that is a little bit disturbing. it's a threat to -- it's not a threat to anyone's well being, our livelihood, but it seems rather annoying to say the least. check it out. it's an invasion of grasshoppers of biblical proportions. sin city is undersiege by these pesky pets. nbc's morgan chesky is taking a brave, closer look at what's

happening. >> reporter: on the las vegas strip right across from the mirage is this. in sin city it's the insect invasion putting on a show no one can escape. >> they popped up out of nowhere. >> a 24/7 onslaught of grasshoppers that really sticks with you. >> what the heck, you're all covered in locusts. >> i know. >> you're covered in them, dude. >> reporter: for many, the first impression felt down like biblical, a migrating horde of bugs so big you could see them from space. experts say a soggy winter plus a mild spring made conditions perfect for the winged grasshopper a migratory species that could be gone in a few weeks but until then. >> one thing they're known to do is mate. >> reporter: to make matters worse, they're attracted to bright, specially white lights. finding their match made in heaven on the las vegas strip. >> i have seen people running around away from the grasshoppers. >> reporter: scientists say the invasions only happened a few times over the past 30 years and the grasshoppers pose more of a

nuisance than a threat. either way the critter takeover has those in sin city hoping for once -- >> this is kind of weird. >> reporter: what happens in vegas. >> that's gross. >> reporter: doesn't stay here. >> morgan chesky, thank you so much. i'm running in the other direction. we're also going to take a look at a call to action. why almost 150 former obama officials are calling out president trump and the rare comments from former president obama. obama. (flight attendants) ♪ when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ (vo) try new pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultra-coating. (flight attendants) ♪ nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ (vo) get powerful relief with new pepto bismol liquicaps.

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♪ we are covering every angle of 2020. we have a programming note for you here inviting you to watch alex witt interview marianne williamson ahead of the second debate coming up today right here on msnbc at 1:00 p.m. eastern. you won't want to miss that. also developing this morning, nearly 150 african-americans who served in former president barack obama's administration are now calling out president trump for his recent attacks on four congresswomen of color. and in a new op-ed they say we are african-americans. we are patriots and we refuse to sit idly by. jessie moore is one of the co-authors the former white house speech writer and associate director for public engagement. so, what compelled you to write this op-ed? >> well, it was a team effort. it was actually more than 150 people who started a conversation in an email right after the president attacked

those four congress women, i think it was a little bit of a breaking point for several of white house are just tired of feeling attacked. we feel kind of allegiance with everyone in the country who feels attacked. >> uh-huh. >> it was a moment where we said, this isn't a moment to hit back on donald trump or the president of the united states. it felt more like a moment where we needed to remind ourselves who we are, who we really are. and to remind the country that there are more voices no matter who has the biggest platform or who has the microphone at the in a moment, that there are more people out here and that we see the country in a very different light. >> well, it got a lot of pickup, in part because president obama retweeted it. >> yeah. >> was that a surprise? was that planned? how did that happen because we know that this former president does not like to engage in the day to day, does not like to engage in these partisan fights. >> yeah, it was a big surprise. >> when did you find out? how did you find out? >> i was actually landing back in the states. i was working in nairobi this week, landing back in the states

and saw that there was a tweet from the president, from president obama. and that -- i can't tell you how special that feels because, you know, he does have a tough line to walk. he respects the presidency more than anyone that we know. and that means a lot of times staying back and staying out of the fray, but this felt less like an attack on president trump and more like support for us. that's how we took it. we took it as him backing us up in our leadership and our voices, which means a lot. but i will say this, there are two main jobs for president of the united states. one is obviously to move policy forward, which is an easier thing for a former president to stay quiet about. it's a little bit tougher when they fail at the unwritten responsibility to not just keep us safe or keep us prosperous but to keep us together. and when he's failing at that, it's got to be really, really hard to stay quiet. >> tell me a little bit about this line in the op-ed.

it says, quote, expect to hear more from us. we plan to leave this country better than we found it. this is our home. so basically how are you trying to fight and counter what you're saying is a poisoning of our democracy? >> well, there's a couple levels to that. one being 2020 is obviously dominating the news cycle, but we all have jobs. it's 150 people. there's hundreds of people who are behind us on this. we're all working very hard. we're all trying to work together and support each other. >> uh-huh. >> but watching this group come together so quickly and so well in this moment, in this big spot, it was -- it reminded me of the good ole days. it reminded me of some good times but also gave me some real hope for what's to come in the years to come, 2020 and beyond. >> do you wish that president obama engaged more given his platform? >> you know, honestly, i trust his judgment to a large degree

it makes me respect his respect for the office because he's a very opinionated person. he's a born leader and obviously a lot of people are looking to him for guidance in these moments. his restraint is an inspiration to me. i'm not a partisan. i'm -- i respect his pragmatism and get that the office is bigger than the person who currently occupies it and bigger than president obama and i believe he believes that. >> i would like to get your reaction to the current president's tweets about elijah cummings because this op-ed was written before that, it was about the four congresswomen of color who were attacked. what's your response to what president trump is saying about baltimore and elijah cummings? >> i'm working very hard to not be surprised anymore by anything. that's just my own personal therapy that i'm going through. >> does it bother you that he is attacking an american city? how do you process this? >> well, i see it as -- he has

kal clas in his mind. this is a formaw la where he's able to denigrate and downgrade somebody's whose job it is to conduct oversight over him and his administration. that's one. you can kill that bird. at the same time you can stoke animus and anger and racial fear he sees as a winning strategy. which he sees as a path that will get him to another victory and that he will win with the numbers in the end. i don't think that's right. >> does that make him racist? >> that's a straight -- >> it's a pretty simple question. >> it is. i think the answer to that is yes. and i think he can't help -- he can't help himself but stoke racial anxiety and anger. i really try not to be the person to decide who is racist and who is not, but i can be the person to decide who is harming us and who is dividing us. if you have to wound us and wound our democracy to win, i'm

our opponent. i don't need to tall you a racist to be able to say i will work with every ounce of blood in my body to beat you. >> one last thing i want to talk to you about is patriotism. this is something that the president is calling into question with the four congresswomen of color, elijah cummings and many people who do not agree with him and who do not look like him. >> yeah. >> is this a question of p patriotism or is he using this as a vehicle? >> if you can't recognize that the job of any patriot in a democracy is to speak up, to -- when you disagree to stand up and to fight for your rights, if you don't recognize that as part of our democracy, then i do question your patriotism. part of being a member -- >> you're questioning the president's patriotism? >> i question anyone's patriotism who doesn't recognize the healthy role that dissent plays in a democracy.

you have to step back and zoom out and stop trying to win and recognize that we're playing a bigger game here. democracy is bigger than that. and also, you know, we can be the ones to let this democracy take steps back. if we do, that's the saddest thing we can possibly do with our time in office. and it's really sad to see him prioritize winning over the health of our democracy. >> jessie moore, we appreciate you coming in so early this morning and your perspective on this issue. thanks for coming. >> of course. >> appreciate it. the positive motive, the possible motives behind the tweets how the president's latest messaging is playing to his base and getting democrats to play into his hand. ur car in, so you only pay for what you need. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ and i don't add trup the years.s. but what i do count on... is boost®

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"the washington post" says the trump campaign is trying to capitalize on the controversy and turn it into an appeal for working class voters. it says trump, who turned the deplorable rally is looking to do the same in 2020. guys, brian, we'll start with you. doesn't the trump campaign risk alienating moderates with this strategy? >> it's possible. it's likely that many on the left are going to go over the top. we saw elizabeth warren, she was saying racist, racist, racist, over and over again. when democrats fall in the trap of defending the socialist squad, as i call them, the representatives causing so much trouble and attacking the leadership at times, they're

making a big mistake. i think democrats have to worry about becoming too extreme and going too far to the left. and i think trump is a part of a strategy is to box them in and get them to tact to the left. >> how difficult is it for democrats to acknowledge it, respond to it and validate the whole conversation in. >> i think it is. i think elizabeth warren is doing what she should be doing. that's calling racism racism and calling a racist a racist. we're talking about the president using racism as a political strategy. that's appalling. that's something that should not be happening in the 21st century in american politics. at the end of the day, you're talking about insulting the middle class, working class, in the middle of the country. we believe that they're going to fall into this trap of listening to a president, who is continuously used racist

language and been racist, in order to win their votes. i believe they are better than that. they are going to do what we, as patriotic americans know we need to do, to come together and push the president out of the office. >> brian, i want to talk about the second democratic debate coming up. it's a few days away. a new poll by fox news, joe biden is leading the pack nationally. and the match-ups against president trump, biden and bernie sanders. do you take this to be evidence that biden is still the lead of the pack here? and what is trump thinking about the new numbers? >> president trump is not happy about the numbers. in one sense, he krilt sicritic fact that if you look back to the last election, the polls were wrong. and it's hard to poll trump

supporters. there may be problems with that. is biden as the front-runner, able to sustain that? >> what's your response? you have ten seconds. sorry. >> in ten seconds? i think the president doesn't care about polls at all. i don't think he cares about anything other than going to bring out the worse in his base. he's going to fail. >> okay. >> it's a political strategy that won't whin. >> thank you for the speed round. ahead on "up," new regrets in the case of al franken. also coming up, former senior adviser to the president, president obama, valerie jarrett. can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes? try dawn ultra. dawn is for more than just dishes. with 3x more grease cleaning power per drop, it tackles tough grease on a variety of surfaces.

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okay. that will do it for me this hour. i'm jo ling kent. thank you so much for watching. i'll see you next weekend. "up" with david gura, starts right now. >> this is "up." i'm david gura. and president trump has spent a significant part of this weekend, attacking elijah cummings, the chairman of the oversight committee. he called his district a rat and