chiefs had told him he knew going in that that donald trump is who he is and donald trump would not tolerate a traditional white house chief of staff who is really empowered to execute his agenda. that's just not trump trump's model was the twenty sixth floor of trump tower which was people coming and going and nobody no chain of command well you can't run the country the way you run a manhattan real estate firm and priebus so priebus knew it was going to be tough but again i don't think he had any idea you know for every half baked ill conceived thing they tried like the executive order an immigration police claims he stopped and other things that were worse. earlier this week good strength they say. had a media meltdown firstly to defy a subpoena samoa then he seemed to indicate he might comply also is that he thought that something on top of what was your reaction to the nunberg affair or that

fair number it was it was kind of sad i mean i think i don't think this was the finest hour for the media frankly and i think this is someone who has he seems to be going through kind of a rough time there were some reports that the people were smelling alcohol in his breath yesterday and he wasn't the right mind he's not someone who has been in the loop from what i can tell in trump world for a long time so it's unclear to me how much he would have to offer whether to to robert muller or to even the viewers of the various shows he went on you know you think those shows should not have put them on i think after a while i mean i think maybe the first two interviews were worthwhile but but the fact is. you know he was pretty clear early on that he. again was not thought of right mind and might might have been a you know not a great thing to be putting before t.v. cameras logon chris stay right there more politicking right after the break.

well you go should we give you a month or do you know melissa i know but marianne one million people died and died . he killed people they beast even begun. to. lose. now no one stole from tulane everybody's random and mad and that's.

the. act of politicking we're talking with marvel even of its chief national correspondent for the new york times magazine and chris will fall author of the new york times bestseller the gate keeper how the white house chief of staff to find the person. out of the paperback with an updated version. is a chris is jared christian are in trouble what do you make of that situation. well you know it's always it's very dicey dealing with family in the white house. james

a baker the third who was ronald reagan's quintessential white house chief of staff perhaps the best of the modern era was a guy who knew he was so politically savvy he could navigate those treacherous shoals with nancy reagan who was the personnel director for for ronald reagan and mike deaver who was almost like a son to reagan and baker was smart enough to make them allies and so when the run hard right wing came after baker he he he was able to fend them off. kelly is just not nearly as politically savvy as james a baker the third and i would have thought that kelly would find a way to finesse this and and manage to have questioner continue to function and carry out whatever this portfolio portfolio is but it appears that it's coming

apart and so it's but it's not easy dealing with family in the white house what is question is qualifications marked in. the middest he married the president's daughter i mean that from what i can tell me he doesn't seem terribly qualified or steeped in you know any kind of deep mideast policy background at all so now look i mean it's all about family it's all about bloodlines and again this is one of the many norms that has been sort of blown up in this administration and typically he wouldn't be there if this didn't happen with robert kennedy and john kennedy that was a little slower and then robert kennedy turned out to be a pretty tough attorney general during the month yeah absolutely i mean he was i mean you could argue he was far more qualified for the job the attorney general was as dared question or as for whatever his portfolio was so yeah absolutely why is this administration so leaky is maybe the leak is denver chris. well it

has a lot to do with you know that the fish rots from the head that's that's the reality and i think when you have a president and you have an administration that just doesn't have any respect for the truth for openers that is a just look at cars constantly at war with itself you're going to have a lot of leaking you're going to have terrible discipline you never saw this with we certainly we saw a leaks but never to this extent with other administrations and i think it again it starts at the top where do you think they're rushing thing is going. i think it beats me i mean i think one thing that we have all found over and over again is any kind of effort to predict what robert mueller is doing or what he's about to do or who he's looking at who's going to indict is the fool's errand i mean he that is one entity in washington that has been extremely and quite impressively leak free

and i think it's to his great credit in the credit of his team that he's been able to surprise people over and over and over again so i guess that's sort of a fancy way of saying i have no idea mark chris thank you both the a time today was terrific back thanks for having us for seven years the syrian civil war has raged on many thousands of them killed millions of fled the war ravaged country resulting in political upheaval around the globe including in the united states the u.n. has attempted cease fire resolutions the u.s. bomb a syrian military installation last year after accusing the assad government of gassing rebel strongholds russia continues to be the greatest ally of the syrian government . this week so it's being called the deadliest day in the ongoing war have to rubles and civilians in the city of. were bombed so where is the united states fit into this long running war and has the trumpet ministrations shown any answers or

will to help bring an end to the carnage let's talk about that with a lone six our middle east expert co-author of a path to peace a brief history of israeli palestinian negotiations and a way forward in the middle east or thought it would george mitchell the former u.s. special envoy for middle east peace he is in san francisco and joel rubin who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the obama administration he's president of the washington strategy group joel joins us from washington who came alone will start with you we've seen the deadliest day who's in who's in violation of the cease fire well when they u.n. security council all declared a cease fire about ten days ago in the hope that that could lead to a period of calm for a little while and as it happened so many times in the path the assad regime

continues to bombard civilian positions throughout syria with the help of russia in particular and in its attempts to exert more control over the syrian territory. as it stands now president bashar al assad is in the strongest position he has been in really since the start of the civil war support from russia the help of the iranians. have really helped prop up the assad regime in a way that allows him to feel confident in his ability to remain in power in the future. will hold. what happens is that fuld's joe well larry if it falls certainly will be tragic and right now we're witnessing

a very defensive crouch on american policy in syria we essentially are supporting the syrian kurdish minority military apparatus to protect an enclave and protecting them from iranian intervention russian intervention and whatnot but there's really no policy here so as enclaves may fall it's not clear what the next way forward is and the failure of the administration to gather significant diplomatic leverage and pool of the warring parties together not includes engaging iran and russia the failure to do that is essentially leaving us in this continuous cycle of syrian government forces running over and plays sometimes successfully sometimes not but not really seeing an end to this tragic conflict and one is seen as a good great moral issue. is the united states what are we doing. absolutely is

a moral issue as you said in the opening there have been hundreds of thousands of syrian deaths throughout the civil war millions upon millions of displaced people it's really. as it's been described as hell on earth in syria right now the real question is what can the u.s. to do and that is something that the trumpet ministration obviously is struggling with but so did the obama administration it is just unclear what kind of policy we could put forward that will allow for there to be some peaceful resolution at this time as jol said what we could be doing is pushing more forcefully for a diplomatic resolution but also making it very clear to assad and to the russians that there are limits to trump as ministration has done this in the past it's bomb facilities most recently bombed a convoy that included russian contractors that really set

a different tone between the trumpet ministration and the obama administration but it's not clear whether they're willing to continue to follow through with these kinds of actions going forward there have been recent reports of new chemical attacks in syria chlorine attacks and so far the u.s. hasn't really done anything and so what we really need is a clear strategy and a way to push forward joe why is the sole support of what was so obvious. well this goes back really larry for decades russia earlier the soviet union was and is a patron of syria it has syria has always been a in a sense a beachhead for russia in the middle east the russians have a seaport there and russia is loath to give it up that's why putin came in very heavy a couple of years ago to militarily support assad when assad was in

a very weak position and essentially took control of the skies and it's unlikely that that's going to change and that really opens up a larger strategic question for the united states which is that now with russia essentially controlling the assad regime in partnership with iran there is going to be a what looks to be a permanent beach head in the heart of the middle east for russia and israel as we see is beginning to engage militarily in syria that won't lead to anywhere good we're going to have to recognize reality as it is and deal directly with russia first to cauterize in a sense this horrible tragic humanitarian catastrophe is as alone mentioned and really stop the killing and then move back into a different position but it does look like russia is there to stay when obama did nothing after you drew that line in the sand was that a big mistake along. i think it was

a mistake. you could argue whether it was the right thing to draw the red line or whether we should have acted after that red line was drawn but the reality is that president assad used chemical weapons after we had been very clear that there would be consequences and there were no consequences for that the problem is if you get involved in that kind of way how do we extract ourselves from that it could be an endless war in syria and it's something that the american people don't seem to have an appetite for right now so these are incredibly tough decisions and on top of that right now as joe was saying you have iranian and russian influence throughout syria and the potential for a u.s. conflict directly with those countries is increased exponentially so it's very very challenging. joel bloomberg editorial board recently said it's time for another

red line in syria one that the united states will not back away from is not a good idea how red lines tend to be trip wires for further conflict i think that it's crucial that we keep our military options close to the vest and as alone mentioned there was a recent kinetic activity in theater that was a tactical response by the u.s. military to an incursion a potential incursion into territory and that was an appropriate response and it pushed away the the the opponents but we have to be careful about not boxing ourselves in a once we draw bread lines were then committed and it may really not be the best policy they don't always work and clearly the red line and president obama there was a bit of hubris in the white house that by laying a red line somehow that would have prevented assad from using chemical weapons i don't think they calculated that he would cross that threshold so boldly but he did

and president obama blinked and the congress blinked as well and we are now in a harder position today so we need to be very careful but red lines but what we should be doing is making sure that our allies and the regional adversaries understand that we're committed to ending this conflict and really engaging with all of the key players alone thanks so much for joining us today will be calling on you again. thank you thank you and thanks to you our viewers for joining me on this edition of politicking remember you can join the conversation on my facebook page tweet me at kings things and don't forget use the politicking hash tag that's all for this edition of politicking.

the new global economic war is unfolding in the realm of education the right to education has been supplanted by the right to access educational loan it's high

education is becoming just another product that can be bold and sold but it's not just about education anymore it's also about running a business and what you're good models of the regime. and it's also the kind of fellow really couldn't. want is the place of students in this business model for college i was born now i'm running stream remorse. higher education the new global economic war. is a global trade war if donald trump follow through on increasing keris and ending existing trade deals it seems very likely after all this was at the very center of his campaign for the presidency it was a promise he made to his base will it make america great again. join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics. i'm show business i'll see you then.

the headlines on r.t. international president trump slaps tariffs on steel and. raising the specter of a global trade war with powers now. also months of trading insults the u.s. president agrees to hold face to face talks with kim jong un and what is said to be the first ever meeting between the leaders of the u.s. and north korea. and so cool. off a terrorist once again shelled civilians trying to escape the rebel held syrian enclave of eastern ghouta.

mid-morning on friday here in moscow you are joining us on r.t. international thanks for the. president has signed a controversial order imposing a hefty tariffs on steel imports to america and the moves faced fierce backlash both from abroad and within the u.s. but trump insists it's needed to protect the country's national security. today i'm defending america's national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum the american steel loman in the district has been ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices. it's really an assault on our country despite domestic and international backlash trump has signed a proclamation imposing twenty five percent tariffs on steel imports and ten percent tariffs on minium imports encouraging companies to buy american well the

president argues that protecting these industries will guarantee economic and national security however trump has offered to relieve to some u.s. allies of the tariffs will not apply to imports from canada and mexico at least temporarily until nafta is renegotiated even though trump has received some domestic applause from unions in particular that wasn't the case internationally when he first announced these new tariffs on twitter the world was furious. you should try it you want to change your choosing a trade war is surely the wrong prescription china will certainly make an appropriate and necessary response but we have to find our interests if we need to come. i'm convinced that increased terrorists will hurt us over the long run trade will stop

bad and easy to lose. well trump has stated in the past that he sees nothing wrong with trade wars and now other allies are threatening tariffs on u.s. imports of peanuts juice alcohol and cetera but trump's move has been met with domestic backlash as well from both democrats and republicans who believe that protectionism harms national security now more than one hundred house republican members signed a letter on wednesday expressing deep concern about the plan suggested to change the course of action to avoid untended negative consequences to the u.s. economy and its workers but considering that canada and mexico have. been exempt one can't help but wonder if these new tariffs are intended to hit china trump has listed china as a threat to national security and he's repeatedly expressed the need to counter china so we can't be too sure when unveiling the tire of the white house trump was

apparently so excited that he did forget one important detail. would you like to take a picture in the oval office i assume you've all been many times into the oval office come on let's go and do that let's go into the yes i'm going to do well go into the oval office we're going to sign this will go into the oval office we have a picture ok ok thank you treasury secretary. reminding the president that he actually needed to sign the order first before saying cheese and the plan has received broad support from steel and in the u.s. but economist jeffrey tucker says it could ultimately force key u.s. allies to export elsewhere. so it seems as if every european nation is is washing their hands of the u.s. we're no longer trustworthy trade partners in light of this and so europe is seeking other allies china get pandered to australia you know anywhere in the world the u.s.

and this is been growing for some months is that i see this is becoming isolated and in the global economy and let's not make any mistake about this in the twenty first century there's no such thing as as as nations when it comes to economic affairs anymore we all must cooperate together and the u.s. is excluding itself and giving up its credibility trumpet skewering here it is contrary to the national interest and contrary to the good of the global economy. donald trump has also of course many off guard by agreeing to meet face to face with the north korean leader kim jong un only recently the two were engaged in a twitter spat over who had the biggest nuclear button as our correspondent. you heard the announcement and now we have confirmation from the white house that yes a meeting will take place between kim jong un and us president donald trump now this would be the first meeting between the head of state of the united states and

the government of north korea their head of state this is quite a surprise to many people we've heard secretary of state rex tillerson who recently said that the usa was a long way away from any negotiations with north korea i don't know yet until we are able to be ourselves but as to face with. representatives of the world. whether the conditions are right you can begin thinking about negotiations your direct talks with the united states and u.s. negotiate sions and we're always from negotiations and furthermore we've seen that the united states recently impose new sanctions on the country now there's also been quite a heated exchange and war of words between the two leaders in recent months the. year of strategic patience. with the north korean regime has failed.

her. not make anyone ready to united states. they will be met with fire and fury. the u.s. neglects the international community's will to stop this peace on the korean peninsula. and we can have a madman out there shooting rockets all over the place have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. russia. is on a suicide mission for him so no one from the suicide note. thank you so sick puppy.

donald trump has said that the sanctions recently placed on north korea will remain in place until any agreement is reached and pointed out that in the lead up to the meeting north korea has agreed to freeze any ballistic missile testing any nuclear testing or proliferation so at this point out there seems to be a free is in north korea in anticipation of a meeting now we understood that this meeting will take place before may and the location and time are yet to be announced. or let's bring in asia specialist andrew looking to discuss this further here on the program good to see you today so are you surprised at the donald trump has agreed to meet his north korean counterpart. well you know way it is a surprise to many watchers of north korea but will be i mean i've said it a long long time ago tom going again on this program that that's the only way out because at the time for coercion is pause because the north koreans have developed

the nuclear deterrence capability and is now confident enough to put on a couple phase over the winter olympics as a pretty moot to this kind of meeting which i would suggest that this is the best solution so that the north koreans because they would on that tests and the and the world can help the north korean regime to stabilize its economy because that that's look we get what's changing and redeem is also much coercion we look at the example of the whole of that call and about now war and what lot lot lot what was happening in afghanistan the major change in economics. so by stabilizing the economy that could lead to a more peaceful. korean peninsula and some people describe both donald

trump and kim jong un as alpha males unwilling to budge unwilling to make concessions or do you think the two of them could really hold constructive dialogue . well i mean president. of course is a very astute businessman and he has won many deals and the prize themselves on the hill in the. north koreans is informed by. the kim family and seeing how did north koreans have to grapple with foreign aggression and they are basically learning from what happened in china during that time or you don't i don't think at the moment you don't have the time. for example with the former u.s.s.r. and then the china did not have a nuclear weapon and then the china would rather. giving up the chance to improve the economy by concentrating on. possessing this new create the terrorists.