this is a much more serious problem. >> van jones david axelrod. thank you so much. hope you have a great weekend. we'll be right back. >> thanks, pam. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn. >> maya knows. >> how. >> quality care can bring out a. >> smile. >> but it's been a few. >> dog years. >> since she was able to enjoy a smile of her own. good thing aspen dental offers affordable, complete care all in one place, and new patients without insurance get $29 exams and x rays, plus 20% off treatment plans for everyone. loving our patients unconditionally. it's one more way. aspen dental is in your corner. >> come and get your. >> love. >> touches of black. they say a lot without having to say much. they stand for elegance, refinement and prestige. even a little can go a long way. and though they're darker than the darkest night. they make you see everything in a new light. the kia x-line nightfall collection kia movement that inspires. >> your life is pretty smart. but when it's time to eat, suddenly you feel out of sync. >> refresh

david axelrod, when you hear the president of the united states say that he wants a long term ownership position for the u.s. and gaza, what do you hear and what do you think the world hears? >> i mean. >> it's really hard to know where to start. >> with that. >> the idea that you're. >> basically you're. >> saying we. >> are going to expel 1.8 million. people from their homeland. we are going to. compel the egyptians and the jordanians to. take them. both countries have strongly rejected that. it's kind of an existential position for, uh, certainly for jordan. and probably the egyptians feel the same way. they don't want, uh, palestinians living. on in their countries. they think that destabilizes their countries. the idea that the u.s. would just seize the land and redevelop it as a real estate project, with the help of the u.s. military, uh, i mean, all of it is kind of mind boggling. but, john, i think there's a bigger thing, given everything that's going on in washington in these first two weeks. i've said for eight years, the thing that concerns me is beyond policy. donald trump d

and i want to go now to david axelrod, former senior adviser to president obama. david, i just want to start with the fact that the premier of ontario is sitting in front of a screen that says canada is not for sale, and this is actually really happening. it's really happening. this is a real thing. this is this is cnn. this is actually occurring right now. and i'm sort of stunned by it. >> yeah, it's a little bizarre. this whole. episode is a little bit bizarre. i think i told you the last time we spoke about this, when the when then president-elect trump raised it was i'm sure there are a lot of republican politicians trying to calculate what how many electoral votes and congressional seats canada would receive if they became part of the u.s. i think if they did the math, they'd be even more appalled by the idea. but look, i can't explain. here's what i think. we have to back up and and think about what is the strategy of the president with all of this. and i think when you think about his message, right when he ran for president, his message was biden is weak, t

i mean, even rahm emanuel, david axelrod, who folks don't often disagree with. i agree with our party. so these are savvy moves. these are politically palatable moves. and again, you start getting domestic spending. that's a different equation. and i think that's also i think meghan and steven's point previously why you can do some of these things and wait for the courts to sort it out and get maybe, you know, 50, 60% of what you want instead of the whole thing. >> yeah. rahm emanuel, david axelrod, as i said, in effect, not the hill i'm going to die on at this point, talking, talking about foreign aid. so so, megan, what is the hill to die on at this point for for democrats? what is what is the message issue that they should be focusing on? >> i think that the democrats should be focused on what message they are going to get out to the voters for the midtermsbecause if they do not get control back of the house, then that's one less. that's one less opportunity. they have to stop some of these things that donald trump's administration wants to do. so if i were d

liz: news coming in and top democrats david axelrod and rom emmanuel saying that democrats should standes, cut waste. and we found nearly a trillion dollars went out the door under biden for wrong payments and trump, musk and doge should cut waste. what do you make of this that basically the doge team will look at faa to try and stop near misses with 300 of them over the last several years and including that fatal dc crash over the potomac river. what do you make of doge looking at the faa? >> hard type the faa was looked at and amazingly, liz, united states has grossly outdated system and worst among developed countries in the world and uses pieces of paper in the control tower that countries like canada got rid of with soup computers years ago and not getting rid of the paper system till the 2030s and there's gross inefficiencies and elon musk is going to conclusion we should do what other country haves done is take air traffic control system out of politics within the faa and separate corporation devoted to making this system better. 60 countries are with new zealand with tragedies a

david axelrod came out and said you might think this is bad, but the american people don't die on thismerican people are not against ridiculous foreign aid spending. and what about domestic spending? we have no idea why these programs cost so much. so if you can get them more efficient, that should be fine. but, instead, they don't like that his guys and his women are working human resources when the federal government we got 2.3 million federal workers. they don't like the offers to quit that they got. and they don't like the fact that they are able to look at the books. especially u.s. aid. why is u.s. aid protesting so much. why do they give joni ernst and threaten her when she asks for receipts on what they are spending. >> ainsley: she has been working on this a very long time for years and years and josh hawley about u.s. aid says their power base is being threatened now. they have used that as personal play thing it. includes billions and billions of your money, the taxpayer dollars' money. trump is exposing, this cutting off the liberal supply chains and the question is for us

democrats need to have, and it is not a hill they need to die on peered i am with rahm emanuel and david axelrodhis. the last thing we want to be doing, you listed the democratic priorities, how you perceive the democratic priorities right now. imagine those with millions of dollars of 30-second ads, the ads are being written right now for all of these vulnerable democrats in really marginal district, and they are going to have to defend spending taxpayer money on some of those things that you listed off. >> will: but you know, michael, it seems like you sort of made this bed and you have to lie in it. i don't begrudge you for the desire for your party to change but when i say you made this bed, the democratic party has done this verbal tic that goes viral, pandemic of vaccinated, threat to democracy, on and on, nazis, whatever is the current sort of slur du jour, target du jour, and now the target du jour is elon musk. it will be gone in a couple of weeks but this is your flavor of the day, you want to yell -- not you personally, the democratic party wants to yell about elon musk. >> two weeks

james carville, david axelrod.l resonate with voters. cutting benefits, not slashing foreign aid. what about that assessment of some of those democrats and the pushback on the elon musk stuff? >> yeah. so, i think the democratic message has been pretty weak. i think yesterday when they were yelling "we will win" i'm not even sure we think that's inspirational of what they are trying to win. in my opinion they should work with the rest of congress and make sure that the legislative branch is a co-equal and has the power of the purse. i actually think the idea of doge made a lot of sense but i think it's just running, in my opinion, way too ad hoc, seems to be just, you know, throwing darts and see what sticks. i think it should be more prescriptive. i don't have an issue that they are challenging budget line items programs like usaid. some things make sense and some things don't. i'm surprised that all of congress both the g.o.p. and democrats are rolling over when this is really the most power they is the power of

. >> bill: when you is a i the right call david axelrod put this on x last night. year ago biden refused the super bowl interview. that decision was a major sign of trouble. trump is all over it today. so that is in hindsight. clay, nice to get your reflections today. thank you for coming on. appreciate it. >> condolences to you and your family. love you and you guys keep up the good work. >> bill: i appreciate that. very much. more on bret's exclusive interview tonight ott bret's show. more news to be made. >> dana: by the time we get there. president trump signing a proclamation declaring february 9th gulf of america order. it was formerly named the gulf of mexico. not long before burgum put on a photo showing the name change. just like that. we now have a view of the gulf of america. >> the pilot made a big announcement on air force one. a cool moment. that from yesterday. now we want to go to the middle east with weather the hostage matter there is a big and serious matter. watch here. >> turning directly to president trump and to mr. witkoff. get the hostages

i see some people like tim ryan and david axelrod saying why are you doing this?like what happened that's got normally moderate democrats screaming into a megaphone? >> jacqui: well, i think what you are watching is the party does not have really a leader right now and doesn't have a unified message. so it's responding to pressure from the, you know, far left of its base that just wants to protest everything that trump is doing. you do have some, you know, other minds. i mean i think it was just yesterday jill biden's former press secretary was on our air telling his colleagues hey, you don't want to die on this hill. this is indefensible spending and other things you want to save your fire for. at the same time you have all this, you know, crying out about unelected bureaucrats running the white house. and we did just finish four years of biden where it was in many ways a coalition presidency. there were so many people. >> brian: generous word. >> jacqui: involved in policy making who were not elected. a little bit of, you know, little hypot hypocritical theres w

also with us tonight, david axelrod, erin perrine and ryan goodman. david, when we look at this here, what is your initial reaction? yes, there's a for tat. but as jeff laid out, there is also, i mean, security clearance, daily briefings. it sort of depends where you're at. post-presidency. >> yeah. >> well, like this is another. >> norm that's just. >> going by the wayside in the era of of trump. but, um, i don't think it has particular meaning. and i think that it, it. is completely predictable because the president's been on a vengeance tour since he, he took office. the thing that worries me and the thing i think is more relevant is not. the people he's taking security clearances away from, it's the people he's giving. security clearances to. he signed an executive order on his first day, essentially giving him the ability to give top secret security clearances to anybody he wants as they went through the security review process. so you could get it without filling, you know, fulfilling that process. so we don't really know who all has that, uh, yo

david axelrod said when you talk about because the first thing people say is cut for an aide -- cut foreignon is, are democrats taking the bait from trump on this? >> i think it's important that we pushed back across the board. when it comes to usaid, we set the record straight. 0.5% of our government budget. there's a reason why usaid is in the reagan bill. . he was a strong supporter of development and humanitarian assistance being part of our tools alongside diplomacy and military. marco rubio when he was a senator was a strong supporter and said usaid is not charity, that this is a part of our national interests and national security. that is the kind of information the american people need to hear about this. i am pushing forward on that because i used to work there. other democratic leaders will lean in on fema and the department of education and other aspects. each of us can engage until the story to the american people. amna: are you confident the american people are aware of this issue, we did not see a lot of protests to usaid is actually being shut down, we have seen ramping up o

david axelrod said, when you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is, cut foreign aid.uel said: "while i do care about usaid as a former ambassador, that's not the hill that i'm going to die on.” i guess the question is, are democrats taking the bait from trump on this? sen. kim: no, look, i mean, i think it's important that we push back across the board. first of all, when it comes to usaid, we set the record straight. we say it's 0.5 percent of our government budget. but there's a reason why usaid is in the reagan building, because president reagan was a strong supporter of development and humanitarian assistance being part of our tools alongside diplomacy and the military. in fact, marco rubio, when he was a senator, was a strong supporter, said that usaid is not charity, that this is a part of our national interest and our national security. so that's the kind of information the american people need to hear about this. i am pushing forward on that because i used to work there. other democratic leaders will lean in on whether it's cfpb, fema, department of education,

david axelrod said this week, my heart is with the people out on the street outside usaid, but my heade man, trump will be well satisfied to have this fight. is he right, senator? >> no. no, he's not right because what we know is this is just the beginning. this is the playbook that they're going to run and the trump administration get away with this with usaid they'll move it on to the department of education, they'll move it on to fema and other aspects of this, and we have to show that this is illegal, this is not an action that the executives can do on their own, and that this is something that the american people deserve greater clarity. i just had a one-on-one meeting with the department of education, linda mcmahon, and she told me that there would be significant cuts of staff to the department of education and transfer staff to other departments and this is the plan. >> i know battles are playing out in the court and they're playing out in protests and rallies. senator chuck schumer, the minority leader in the senate held a news conference that was a lot like a rally outside of

david axelrod, rahm emanuel, james carville saying all these battles you're fighting, choose carefully this is on politico -- seeing democratic lawmakers line up on a downtown washington sidewalk, in their view wasting political capital defending an agency that they believe the public doesn't give a rip about. they are so on their heels, i think, with the flood of what's coming at them. how did they pick and choose these fights? >> i don't think anyone has the answer, and i guess in that way i can actually sympathize with them. which site you choose to fight? which one is actually a potential victory, and who is going to be, to clay's point, the person he successfully argues that fight? right now, to be honest, you know them rising star is? jasmine crockett. she seems to be the voice. she gets more time and gives more arguments that anyone in the party. my suspicion is that most republicans couldn't be happier if the voice is jasmine crockett. >> clay: i think it is the speed, they're caught flat-footed. we are here at the super bowl, i can't wait for kick off. they've trotted out chuc

. >> well, and to that point, megan, politico rachel bade talked to david axelrod and to rahm emanuel, both of whom, of course, have, you know, their own long histories and kind of ways of looking at the world. but axelrod told them this, quote, my heart is with the people out on the street outside usaid. but my head tells me, man, trump will be well satisfied to have this fight. when you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is cut foreign aid. rahm emanuel said, quote, you don't fight every fight. you don't swing at every pitch. and my view is, while i care about the usaid, as a former ambassador, that is not a hill i am going to die on. so should this be a hill that i mean, what hill should democrats die on and which ones should they not? >> well, it's interesting because they don't seem to be dying on any hill because they don't seem to be doing much. so they are leaving this up to people on the outside to file lawsuits. i mean, do you see democrats out there? you saw chuck schumer out. >> there chanting, chanting, and it's like, what are you doing? >> there are things you c

but but we were surprised to see that some democrats saying that this is not the hill to die on david axelrodelling politico, quote, my heart is with the people out on the street outside usaid, but my head still tells me, man, trump will be well satisfied to have this fight. rahm emanuel says, quote, while i care about usaid as a former ambassador, that's not the hill i'm going to die on. do you think that would be a mistake to to cede this ground, in effect, as democrats and say, listen, we really just can't sell it at this point. so, so better to move on. i mean, listen, i just think authenticity is the coin of the realm. you should talk about what you care about. and the fact of the matter is, if usaid disappears, america is at risk. we are going to go back to war in a country far overseas. and so it matters. and we should talk about it. but it does also fit into the broader messaging about the corruption of our foreign and domestic policy. by trump's decision to hand over policy to the billionaires. what i'm telling you, i think, may be true, elon musk is running our foreign policy today.