it's the subject on this edition of politic. politicking on larry king on wednesday in a lengthy question and answer session with reporters following a meeting with his cabinet don't talk declare that syria was lost long ago and went on to give his assessment of the country and the ongoing civil war there as death and sand. this against the backdrop of a growing war with american military generals what's going on and what's the potential fallout of this war of words with military experts for us and gays moments overseas let's talk with someone who knows a lot about u.s. foreign policy in the west battle against islamic extremists former u.s. representative chris shays from connecticut served to senior member of the finance and homeland security committees was chairman of the government oversights national

security committee with jurisdiction over both the defense department and the state department he's a good friend he joins us from washington all right what's your reaction to the commander in chief's description of syria as sand and death well it is said in death that part of the problem is though and he said i'm taking the troops out he said we've already won so it's just hard to know you know what he says and when he says it and what it means but the bottom line is we can go back a long ways and we can go back to even my vote going into iraq and we opened the door to iran and we didn't find weapons of mass destruction so there's a lot of history here but the thing i would like for my president is i would like my president to teach listen learn help and teach and explain and they. create

a good dialogue about you know really where are we in syria bashir is there russia is there they weren't before i says potentially could be reborn. and so the bottom line for me is the president said what he said but taking our troops out of syria in the ways doing it i think is misguided but if you lost a family member in syria and someone described it as sand the best. what we're fighting for well you know it's a good question. as to what we are fighting for i think what we were fighting for was to try to bring some stability to that region i think we were trying to push iran back. and there was purpose to it we didn't want isis to grow and have a base. and so. you know it takes your breath away to think that we've had soldiers who've lost their lives men and women in afghanistan

iraq and syria and there has to be purpose to it and if there isn't we should leave the president said we do see tonight is isis and he says we almost eradicated isis what's your take on isis well i says this in syria isis and part of iraq still isis is an idea ideology that will grow they continue to recruit but we contain them the the horrible thing is that when we let them get into mosul and other areas they captured a great deal of currency and dollars and they had a land mass which they could then attract people to we don't want to give them a land that is. now the president said that he fired defense secretary jim maddest what was that all of a. whip. well it's amazing that madison quit

a long time ago i mean think of all the things that the president said about him and so you know so madison that it's leaves he he leaves knowing that eventually he would be fired if he didn't wasn't if he hadn't been fired so it's almost an irrelevant kind of concept to argue about we knew his days were numbered and i was just surprised he stayed in as long as he did now part of the argument of why i stayed was to kind of modify and contain trumps while a standish ns but then when you leave and you say well that's why i was there it raises questions about really is that a good enough reason in other words i buy the argument that some say about the people who've said i didn't want to do this i didn't want to do that don't blame me for this don't blame me for that i was trying to contain him i think if you can agree with what your leaders doing and you work for him you need to leave which i

have four star army general stanley mcchrystal criticize the president for his approach to the oval office label trump dishonest moral. you chris rick or any time in modern history when respected military leaders of issues so many warnings against them for as you know i can't but i mean i can't think of a time when a president reportedly tells this truce about fifteen times daily i mean you can't compare dollar trump to anyone you know when we talk about leadership it matters what you do but it also matters how you do it and if you don't get those two connected well then you are a failed leader and he is truly a failed leader because sometimes he does the right thing but he does it in the wrong way and the way he speaks about people is so personal and some cases disgusting as you make a mitt romney's up it. first i agree with it one hundred percent

then now having said that i wondered why he did it when he did it and he didn't do it during the campaign and that's the quandary that republicans have they they they don't want to offend their base they want to get elected and if they don't think they can get elected they don't run like you know senator flake who spoke out knowing he had a campaign knowing that then he would disqualify choir disqualify himself so you know the only thing i wonder about is. run he says now excuse me governor romney says it now but he didn't say it when he was running. hard first thing trump said on wednesday that he got a letter from north korean leader kim jong il is going to meet with him again soon kim jong il says you won't reduce his nuclear weaponry until sanctions are where you stand with north korea. well i want dialogue but i want to be very

aware of who we're dealing with this is a man who's killed his uncle he's killed the family members he is brutal he's a brutal leader so that's who we're dealing with but it would be nice if we could and important not just nice but important if we can get him moving in a different direction even if he continues to be somewhat brutal. so you know for the world at large we owe it to to the people around the world to try to find ways to modify what the leader in north korea is doing as opposed to shares thank you so much and i have a new year my friend happy new year to you my friend bill versus the for aggressive commentator and author host of the bill press show on the young turks network his latest book is trump must go the top one hundred reasons to dump trump and one to

keep him he is in the nation's capital we will turn to him now as we continue the conversation what do you make of donald trump suggestion that syria was lost long ago. i think he may be right larry look i consider i don't think this is a partisan issue really i think syria i consider it the one big mistake of the obama administration going in there in the first place with the goal of replacing us sarla side which is a lot of coal but we didn't put the resources in there willing to do so we didn't support the opposition and ended up being a bloody mess with donald trump inherited i think all of us would like to get out of syria the question is how do you do it and i think the problem with what donald trump is this precipitous withdrawal saying is going to get out in thirty days without even consulting the secretary of defense without even consulting our allies

is what the problem is because that leaves bashar al assad in power it leaves vladimir putin in power and it leaves they're going to fill so i think it was. a very hasty and ill considered move on the part of donald trump if he had if he had said we want to get out now let's figure the best way to get out i think it would have gotten a lot more support for president seven words day that he essentially fired secretary of defense jim mattis he said what's he done for me how is how's he done as ghana's in not too good trump said according to bloomberg news as you know trump said president obama fired them essentially so did i did he fire my mattress roulette or resignation i was just going to say i think if you read james madison's letter of resignation that's what it was it was pretty strong he laid out he

spelled out the reasons why for two years he had tried. give the best approach for our military and he found that he just had so many differences with donald trump's style donald trump's refusal to listen to the generals on the ground that he couldn't take it any longer donald trump did not fire james madison james madison quit but here's the only thing that matter said he was going to stay until the end of february to provide a transition that's where donald trump said no you're not you're going to leave january one and i'm going to put mr mcdonald i believe this in charge and so maybe he fired him for two months but he didn't fire the whole deal bill in the last segment i asked former congressman chris shays this question can you recall another time in modern history when respected military leaders the leaders of issues so many warnings about a president he said he could not could you know not at all not at all

you know you may go back to douglas macarthur and harry truman for open fights between not that you or i were alive then but open fights with tuner president and the general but not in modern times and you know you add to that. what former general four star general stanley mcchrystal said about president trump just last sunday on a.b.c. where he said the man is immoral and does not tell the truth and there's no way he would go to work for him i mean we saw larry remember in the beginning. trump surrounded himself with generals or was general mcmaster and general kelly it's you know staff general mattis all the generals are gone i think the only thing left is general chaos in the white house but those people that we thought were going to be

. if you will the adults in the room. bringing some control to donald trump they're gone by the way i was a late teenager when truman fired what cloth don't say i wasn't going to run for. it stay right then we'll take a quick break and come right back with more politicking. there of rush and like this. you know world of big partisan. and conspiracies it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to

stop slamming the door on the shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. teraflops russian airlines.

join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics school business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. welcome back to paul and said you know i'm talking with bill press for aggressive commentator and author host of the build for a show on the young turks network what do you make of the mitt romney op ed. mitt romney will first of all we remember that's beach that mitt romney gave in the twenty sixteen during the primary that was the most blistering speech about donald trump that anybody gave right where he said trump's word was not worth a. diploma from trump university. so i think mitt is establishing himself as a. voice of

a critical voice in the united states senate but you know i don't expect too much of mitt romney i mean i think he'll be the kind of like jeff flake was or like bob corker was willing to criticize a president now and then but still vote for everything that he wants i haven't seen yet anybody among republicans in the senate with enough backbone to stand up to donald trump certainly not mitch mcconnell not any of the others why do you think you know i think they're making a mistake first of all there are fraid of the republican the trump base and they're afraid that if they take him on they know he'll fight back he'll to criticize them on twitter and he'll support somebody in a primary to run against him and he's done that already look what he did in florida . supporting. the republican candidate there pretty new

republican governor at the santas down there rather than so i think they're afraid and i guess i think they're making a mistake i think the republican party needs somebody is going to challenge donald trump in the primary in two thousand and twenty and we haven't seen him so far. government troops home of new york recently said that joe biden over is the best case for democrats to be trumped and he also said he will not run what do you make of that and do you agree. well i say what i agree that joe biden is the best qualified person to be president of the united states right now. i've got to tell you as a democrat i'm not ready to ride any to pick any horse to ride in two thousand and twenty joe biden's got a good as chance as any i wish he had run in two thousand and sixteen i have vised him to run in two thousand and sixteen he chose not to i think if he had run he would have been the nominee i think he'd be the president of the united states right now but i i think the democratic party really needs somebody younger

fresher progressive to challenge donald trump i'm not saying no and joe biden but i'm just saying i think people are going to be looking for other alternatives and god knows larry there are plenty of other choices better o'rorke sherrod brown camelot harris go down the list there were only twenty five or thirty i would guess that bill press who would be very encouraged by elizabeth warren's candidacy. i like elizabeth warren a lot i think she's got the right message when she talks about. middle class values and working class values but again larry i think elizabeth warren's best shot was twenty sixteen she chose not to run and you know. that train doesn't always come back in style but your station as we know donald trump tweeted his brand of it trio for his former generals of course for mitt romney and so many others footing is not

been too rough on nancy pelosi. is he looking to deal. i find that you're absolutely right and i find that. rather bizarre because he hasn't spared anybody as you pointed out i think he thinks first i think he generally likes nancy pelosi yeah i think. i think he had miers her spunk and her spine and her backbone and i do think that he feels if he treats her with a certain amount of respect that he'll be able to do business with her you know larry these you and i have talked about this before these next two years are either going to be i think open warfare or getting something done because both republicans and democrats will want to get some accomplishments before two thousand and twenty so i think maybe i'm just the eternal optimist i think there's

a possibility that nancy pelosi speaker and donald trump can actually get some things done on things like prescription drugs and infrastructure and minimum wage and some other issues maybe again. being pollyannish but i think that's possible i think donald trump sees that possibility and coulter for have some most vocal term supporter pushing for a border wall said in the interview wednesday that trump will cave on his demand for a wall said if he doesn't do all the next person will be a democrat was to reaction. well first of all i think. i don't think there should be a wall i don't think there will be a wall and i think everybody knows that and you know. i don't think and i think trump could get reelected if he doesn't build the wall depends on who the democrats

run look his base larry his base is not going to blame donald trump if he doesn't get the wall built you know what they'll blame the democrats they'll blame nancy pelosi they'll blame mitch mcconnell they'll never turn on donald trump the truest thing donald trump ever said is that he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue his base would never go away so yeah but here's here's to me this whole debate about the wall to me is a nonstarter because donald trump promise from the beginning he was going to build the wall and mexico was going to pay for it so why are we debating right now how much money from taxpayers he gets for the wall his promise was he didn't want to dime from taxpayers right so i think on this like a lot of other stuff and coulter is all wet bill is those things he had time today and have a happy new year larry and hope to talk to a lot off a very often and twenty nine thousand dollars home said he's ready for another meeting with his country is willing to take

a new path if the united states continues sanctions what might that have the sort of man that would join reuben he served as deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the obama administration and he's president of the washington strategy group will spend a couple of minutes with him what do you make of that chances of a second meeting with the conjunction and trump. so larry it's quite an ominous message underneath the optimism from kim where he essentially is threatening to walk or to not have a productive process going forward with the president and i think it's something that we need to keep our eye on president trump after the summit last year was very optimistic but there are real concerns that north korea has not moved forward on denuclearizing in a manner that they committed to so president trumps in a very difficult position if he goes to another summit with kim doesn't have

anything to show for it again it's going to really put him in an awkward position in the explaining how he plans to get north korea to denuclearize. really and the and the next steps so what do you want to guess that new path might be i think the president does need to lean on his team more and this is where my pump aoe can play a significant role and he needs to get a clear program involved and engaged with the north koreans where it lays out a path in clear terms on paper as to what it is we're both trying to achieve but he also has some internal housekeeping to take care of as well john bolton has taken a harder line the national security adviser to president trump seems to have wanted to go for now with turmoil with the new pentagon chief the current acting chief with no diplomatic experience and we don't know who the next one will be there's a lot of uncertainty so president trump needs to get his house in order but he also

does need to ensure that my pump aoe does lay out a clear path for how negotiations should proceed without that meetings are just meetings that are not really productive in getting us to an end goal that we all want china playing a role in the u.s. korean relations it's a central player it always has been and its strength in these negotiations has only increased because now south korea is engaging the north more. aggressively in terms of ending the state of war. opening up dialogue and channels in a bilateral basis that they have not had before so where the leverage points well china is one that does control much of the north korean economy our relationship with china now with the tariffs is under stress that is something that one doesn't want to see integrated into this diplomacy but all issues with countries come up when they negotiate so one can see some bartering potentially related to terrorists

if north korea's nuclear program does continue to to be the leading issue for our security in east asia so how do you assess thomas hamill you know this in a situation. the syria problem is not a simple one there's no magic bullet oftentimes in washington people like to throw darts at the president be it obama or trump and say that if they'd only done this one thing like bond in two thousand and thirteen everything would have been fixed that's not the case and i think that president trump he's his instincts and getting out are the right instincts what he hasn't been able to do is demonstrate a clear plan for doing so that integrates with a strategy for dealing with russia with the ron with the refugees with israel and all the security issues and explain it to the american people and to congress so the result is that his team is not necessarily sure about what it is the president

wants or how he's going to do it and that's the problem there is no congressional authorization i think is very much worth repeating no congressional authorization for troops on the ground in syria and congress probably wouldn't authorize it so he has space there to explain a new syria policy but that's what he needs to do he can't just do it in dependent statements he really needs to explain it and i think he'll find there are a lot of progressive democrats as well as republicans who would support that policy . twenty nine. put your predictions have on what's going to be the main focus globally. this year nuclear insecurity is going to dominate and it's been something that's been growing but it's starting to take on a life of its own and there are minutes signs the end of the intermediate nuclear forces treaty between the u.s. and russia the new start treaty which should be recommitted to may not be

recommitted to again north korea no nuclear deal with iran for the u.s. and the uncertainties there saudi arabia what is it going to do as a result with the nuclear agreement our nuclear deal potentially with the united states for commercial power and research technology spending tens of billions of dollars estimates of a trillion dollars over the next several decades on our nuclear infrastructure and that's of a time of fiscal pain and also a defense industry that is looking at fighting terrorists rather than nuclear war so we're spending in the opposite direction from where the conflicts are i think that's going to be the biggest issue and one that we always have to be mindful of because of the the potential the house side risk of a nuclear war which could impact the entire planet. joel i always love your insights thank you so much and have a numeric my pleasure happy new year and thank you audience for joining me on this

edition of politicking remember you can join the conversation on my facebook page or tweet me at kings things don't forget use the politicking hash tag and that's all for this edition of politicking and at the new year. there are three russian headlines. you know world big partisan and there's a lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories

that made stream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart or we need to stop slamming the door on the bath shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. of russian airlines.

span different fantastic all the episodes drill down into twenty nineteen predictions also will be celebrating ten years of the kaiser report. their brains for a single purpose. they have a super. star training very young. the months of intensive school. wraps. and they save lives. the headlines on our take germany has divided his ministers to months deportation

and tough asylum laws after a shocking attack by migrants. should be honored to be able to be here and to commit a crime and if they do so they have to go back they deserve a second chance we have our laws we don't have to change the laws the search and rescue operation comes to an end following the tower block collapse in the russian city of my. tough to the body of the final victim was recovered in a tragedy which killed thirty nine. and two u.s. stock markets are three of reds off the appalachian is a profit warning for the first time in sixteen years naming donald trump's trade with china.