joining me now is msnbc contributor carol leonning. the co-author of the best seller "a very stable genius". he's working on a new book on the president's final year in office. thank you for being with us. >> it's nice to be with you. >> we hear less from the president because he doesn't have twitter. he's been sitting down for interviews with reporters, including you to sort of get his message out there, a message that's been tarnished by january 6th. what are you hearing that the president's got on his mind these days, the former president. >> the former president is pretty frustrated about not being on twitter. you've got that exactly right, ali, and one of the things that he really wants to make clear is, he's still a force to be reckoned with and he's going to plan, at least, we'll see what happens, he's going to plan to be a centerpiece of the republican party going forward. of course, there are a lot of critics who say that he's essentially redefined the republican party as the party of trump. and we'll see about his success in