and matt schlapp, he's the chairman of the american conservative union and the former white house politicalector under president george w. bush. and for the record, we note that matt's wife, mercedes schlapp, is a senior communications adviser to president trump. we welcome both of you back to the "newshour". tom davis, i'm going to start with you. what happened in alabama? the candidate, the president, the republican establishment was backing loss to roy moore who may be the most conservative candidate to run for a senate seat in this modern era. >> he's certainly an exotic candidate, but there were some alabama characteristics to this race i think that were peculiar to alabama. the way senator strange was appointed by a governor who they felt he'd underinvestigated, i think that blew up on him. i think luther strange run not as an opponent you would have had a different result, i think. i wouldn't read too much into this election. >> woodruff: what do you mean. this was a very alabama dynamic. >> woodruff: matt schlapp, do you agree, that it may not have a wider meaning and what do you th

also with us, matt schlapp. matt, i want to start with you.t seems like a hardcore sell, hard pressed sell. is that what we're watching or is this how it gets done? >> yeah. two or three days ago my thought was they just didn't think this was the vehicle they were going to push. as you saw from that news conference, republicans are convinced that they are right there on the number of votes they need pass this. that it will come down to the same senators probably all over again. murkowsky, john mccain, susan collins, rand paul. so they are right there. they don't believe this is perfect. they don't believe this does everything they want it to do, but they believe this demonstrates this year that they defang the central part of obamacare which are the mandates, send the money with a hair cut back to the governors and they'll be back with more reforms including with tom price as this moves forward. >> harris: simon, i'm confused. i thought chuck shumer and nancy pelosi when they did their victory dance on the dems getting a deal with the presiden

and, matt schlapp. the chairman of the american conservative union and the former white house political director under president george w. bush. we should note for the record that matt's wife, mercedes schlapp, is now a senior communications advisor to president trump. this is something the white house announced today and we want too put it out on the table. >> and i have to get home and make dinner so i have to get dinner here. >> woodruff: one of you is gainfully employed. i was talking to yamiche alcindor about daca, but i want to turn to you now, karine, and ask you about health care. senator bernie sanders has been talking for some months about this. today he formally reeled out his proposal to-- for medicare for all. he has what, 16 or so democratic cosponsors. what does this look like? how do you read this move by these democrats? >> i think it's a great way forward. we have a third of the democratic caucus essentially in the senate who have signed on. a lot of them are rumored to be running for

chairman of the american conservative union matt schlapp.e response of thisdm aistration to two massive storms. never before has any president in american history had to deal with two storm of this dimension in this short a time span. >> the federal government can't do everything. i know that disappoints some people. but one thing a president can do is show leadership and compassion. and may i also add, the rest his administration and his life is showing on the international scene why the american people like her so much. lou: this president dealing with the threats from iran and more energetically the nonsense that's emanating from china and north korea as it threatens more with its nuclear weaponry and its ballistic missiles. matt: i think what steve bannon said chain florida has been in open economic -- said china has been in open economic warfare with the u.s. can't we find a way to work together? it's our national security at stake. lou: and this president is dealing with two lap dogs in mitch mcconnell and paul ryan. he needs to get th

matt schlapp, the former white house political director, now chairman of the american conservative unionh the manafort wiretapping. the president has been vinds kateed on every -- vindicated on his level and his charge they were wiretapping him. you have james clapper lying by the. the fbi lying about it. the top officials of the fbi and the department of justice in filings. this is outrageous the conduct of the fbi. there needs to be a third council to investigate entire hierarchy of the fbi. matt: sometimes you wonder why the republican party doesn't have the guts to go after the democrats. lou: because they are bought and paid for by the chair chamber of commerce rounds table. matt: i fear the damage that gets done in the meantime. you have a guy like clapper who went on national tv and said not only was the president not in any way surveilled, he said specifically there were no fisa * approved wiretaps of team trump. he said that very clearly. he said he would know if there were. lou: we have sounds bite of james -- do we have a sound bite of james clapper saying that? i'm asking the

america first action spokesman, former walkie county sheriff and american conservative union matt schlappgood evening, gentlemen. matt, i will go to you first. why get involved in a primary election? >> judge, i was the political director for president bush and you should be very careful about going into the primaries. what's interesting in alabama is most of the people you would considered the trump voters are aligned with judge moore but you have donald trump coming in endorsing luther strange who has been a very reliable vote for the the trump agenda. i tell you, tuesday, i cannot predict with is going to happen. >> jeanine: david clark, to the president make a good argument for voting for luther over at judge roy moore? >> i think he will win either way. >> jeanine: wait a minute, you think luther strange is going to win? he's the underdog right now. >> no, i'm not calling -- i'm not calling out who's going to win, the president will win either way. whoever wins on tuesday. i think there will be a reliable trump agenda supporter. the politics of the primaries can get a little sticky a

jonah goldberg, susan page, matt schlapp, contributor with "the hill was quick. >> i think one of thethat's a good sign is he's not just dissing the u.n. he is engaging the u.n. on how it can reform itself. the u.n. has many programs that have been managed well but they have some disastrous scandals as well. i think he's trying to be candid with them about, if each nation pursues what's in that nation's own interests so they can find common interests around the globe, the u.n. can play a vital role. but it has to stop rewarding the rogue actors and bad actors. big problems with china. the north korea problem has been kicked down the road, as h.r. mcmaster says, so long there is no road left. the nation faces this horrible prospect of iran having a nuclear weapon. >> bret: north korea and iran will take center stage but it's interesting to look at the stats. top ten nations funding the u.n. in 2017. the u.s., $610 million. 22%. japan is closest at 9.68%. >> the complaints by president trump that the u.s. is caring too much of the load, too much bureaucracy, corruption. this is a messag

joining us with now with reaction is fox news contributor tammy bruce and matt schlapp.uys, i'm furious. the idea of an fbi director making a conclusion before 17 witnesses, including the target herself, are spoken to, is the height of corruption, hypocrisy, and the unequal justice in america. tammy, am i wrong? >> i think you've seen it perfectly there. what this says -- there's a lot of layers in this when it comes to the nature of the law, and the trouble comey could be in, but the biggest issue is what it says to the american people, that the underlying theme of the trump campaign, that system is rigged, that things are not fair, that a certain political class and media class have a different set of rules for them than they have for you. of course, in the campaign this is highlighted by hillary clinton, benghazi, the server, but now it appears, it's alleged, that the fbi director was not only perhaps protecting hillary, but it gives more of an impact to president trump's allegations that in fact comey was even operating against him, not saying publicly that he was in

come on in, matt schlapp, chair of the american conservative union. ublicans in house that come from high-taxed states. if you get rid of deductions for high state taxes, rich people, they put 33 republicans in the house, they lose a lot of money. this could unravel the whole deal. >> house majority, house republican majority, goes through california, new york, illinois, some of these high income taxed states. it is precarious move for the members. when you cut taxes, in the process of cutting taxes if you feel you have to pay for it by raising other types of taxes, comes out a kiss your sister moment, it will not have stimulative effect you're trying to get. stuart: i think it is dead. if you lose 33 votes of republicans in the house, you don't have a tax deal. i would suspect this is bargaining chip, it will be taken off the table. >> you might be right. let me give you conservative point of view on this question, generally, california has run amok. texas, new york is a high taxed state. illinois is a high-taxed state. all run by left-wing government

bush, matt schlapp, good morning to both of you. at this is really coming into focus in this past week it, jeff sessions of speech the other day. we'll get to that in a moment. first, he is making the case that if the if a liberal activist wanted to speak there, they would make it happen, they write about that? >> this is a really interesting element to watch alan dershowit dershowitz, who may be my second favorite liberal behind a juan williams, he voted for hillary clinton, by the way. he is literally being chilled it with his first amendment rights because he is a strong liberal voice for the state of israel. and as we all know, on college campuses and a lot of elite institutions, the state of israel is something that they are trying to what cost, not allowing them to invest in israeli companies because they believe that they are an oppressor nation. by the way, israel is a strong democracy, and so i think the idea that you could see you on the fact that your point of view, and in this case, a conservative point of view, is not b

matt schlapp on earlier today or may have been last night saying the g.o.p.s essentially trying to weasel out of repeal and replace, saying it's pitchfork time. is there talk up on the hill, if we can't do that, voters are going to hold us responsible? >> i think republicans are in a really tough place. the problem is that this bill, we repeals obamacare which they've been promising to do for seven years, is not very popular. so, they've got this very unpopular bill up against this promise that they, you know, they really feel like they need to make an attempt. leland: there was the president's victory with the house when they passed some version of repeal and replacement a while ago back in may. it does bring to memory president reagan who says the closest thing to eternal life is a government program. and something else that president reagan pushed for and got and is quoted a lot is tax reform. take a listen to the president last night about that. >> we're moving quickly to pass a massive tax cut and simplification for the middle class. we want new tax retu

. >> shannon: joining me now, juan williams and matt schlapp. good to see both, gentlemen.n, a lot of conservatives out there very angry, people who very vocally supported the president said every rally was build the wall, that was the chant. now it seemed like they are parsing words in washington. everybody is saying border security and the dems say that will not include the wall. here's what rand paul said about this and about the president working across the aisle. i don't think there's anything wrong necessarily with talking of with the other side, but they are bad -- better roxy don't give up. juan, what is he doing? >> i think the anise he comes down to the bed rock. when you come the criticism from the right from the ann coulter's of the world, from the bannon and the bright parts of the world, then it's about amnesty. the promise of a wall, the president said the wall will happen. it just won't happen right now and he emphasizes the notion that democrats will get him on something on border security and added surveillance, electronics, maybe staffing on the border in

talk all about it wall street journal jon hilsenrath, chairman of the american conservative union matt schlappn mcdowell. jon: i can't wait to see the red wagon story. >> might be in alaska trying to go along the lines. maria: yeah, those lines. dagen, what's your main focus this morning? i think i know. dagen: yes, looks like the republican in terms of putting together a tax reform plan or going to give in to the argument by democrats that the rich need to pay more, that we need to redistribute even more wealth in this country because it looks like the top tax rate could now based on your reporting could be anywhere between 37 and 39%. we don't know what the income break would be. probably north of the say $418,000 it is now for the very top earners but nevertheless this as potentially republicans giving in to democratic demands and give get away something for nothing because you know one democrat, not one is going to vote for this tax reform plan. maria: yeah. i've been saying it. they got bullied, they got bullied again and yesterday when we were giving specific details about the plan, i sa