i saw the bushes in houston in february, bush 41 and barbara bush. they were very gracious.irbara bush, at one point -- don't think this is violating any confidences -- she said, we like bill clinton. he is a likable guy. but that does not mean we support his politics. the bushes are gracious people. so, the notion that they are giving the clintons a pass, i would respectfully disagree with that. host: in d.c., a democrat. your question or comment? caller: i would like to start off by saying the bushes have no credibility. gop -- theyr, the deserve him, they got him. george bush, the kid, was the worst president we've had in the history of the country. the only one that would be worse was donald trump. host: we would hear from a democrat in maryland. good morning to you. caller: good morning. how you doing? thank you for c-span. i believe that the republicans -- they deserve exactly what they are getting, simply because they should have -- they should have stood up. even though their politics are different than obama, they should not have cheapened the office. they allowed t

he hammered jeb bush. and then when it comes to paul ryan, he mentions him, but it's very different. normally when donald trump is up against an obstacle, we have seen it time and again, he unleashes. not against paul ryan. what is different with him? >>el with, i think because he mentioned earlier that they had spoken. and they were going to meet. so he was a little taken back by the opposition that came out against his candidacy at this point. they hadn't met yet. so he wasn't quite sure where that was coming from. and they do have a meeting so i think he wants to wait and find out what's going on. >> wait and find out, though. waiting is not something we have seen with donald trump. is something different now? >> i don't think anything is different right now. i mean, look, we are in a situation where -- and i just want to remind everybody that the republican party did not fracture as of june 2015. this party has been fractured since the first bush. going into -- even the obama administration, the party

bush. we're very happy to have you here, and i also want to welcome ambassador steve -- from the islamic republic of afghanistan, and your wife, and delighted have you here with us. many other gets in the room. thank you for joining us and thank you for coming this afternoon. and for those who are knew to usip we are an independent national institute founded by congress 30 years ago, and dedicated to the proposition that peace is possible, peace is practical, and peace is essential for u.s. and international security, and we pursue a vision of a world without violent conflict, by working in conflict zones, with partners, equipping them with dollars, with knowledge, and with training. there's probably no place where usip teams have spent more time than in afghanistan. working with civil society and government partners to help make peace possible. so, we're delighted to have today a panel discussion to discuss exactly who are some of the powerful women helping to make peace possible in afghan

. >> jeb bush just said he's not going to vote for you. >> i understand jeb bush. i was rough with jeb bush. if i was jeb bush, i wouldn't vote for me either. >> trump is on the campaign trail at a rally in omaha. trump also had this to say about paul ryan. >> paul ryan, i don't know what happened. i don't know. he call me two, three weeks ago. a very nice conversation. he was congratulating me. this is before we had the ultimate victory. i figured routinely he'd be behind it. and he the other day just -- >> those comments come as the rift gets deeper as more prominent republicans say they'll not vote for the presumptive nominee, much less endorse him or campaign for him. senator lindsey graham is the latest voice to join the heck no chorus saying he thinks the republican party has been in his word conned. jeff zeleny joins us now from omaha. what did trump have to say about lindsey graham's comments today? he really spared few words. >> he did, john. took him about 12 minutes to go after lindsey graham which is probably showing restraint for donald trump's usual s

from jeb bush. >> trevor: that is remarkable from jeb bush. standing up to donald trump, although i don't love that he made it on facebook though. you know, it's been months, jeb. go outside. a man can only live on spaghetti-o and netflix for so long, my friend. go out. and trump, obviously responded to jeb bush because he would like rose from titanic. he will never let go. >> obviously bush can't be there, the campaign was too tough. and he couldn't take it. >> trevor: trump, trump can't help taking a swipe at jeb bush. even though like jeb bush dropped out of the race in february and still trump is getting-- you know when trump son his death bed, he is still going to be like, i'm dying and i [bleep] the bet, just like-- i the bed, just like jeb bush did in 2016. boo. oh, oh. doctor will be like oh my god, he's flat lining. >> just like jeb's campaign in 2016. boom! (applause). >> trevor: but there really is only one republican who says that trump has not yet proved his bonaified as a true conservative that the party needs. and that man is pa

>> yes jeb bush, bush 41, president bush 43, outstanding presidents.e for president this year. there's a real -- it is a crisis we're going through. on the other hand, you have dick cheney and rudy giuliani, governor perry who are supporting donald trump at this stage, and i think we have to decide as a party. that's why i want to play a role as we go forward. i don't want to take myself out of the game, if you will, as we go forward, as we define our party, because what donald trump has done has really reversed republican policies on trade, on foreign policy, on domestic policy, and these are really key significant changes, changing really the structure of the party for the first time in 50 or 60 years. so whether or not this is a one-off, whether or not this is going to involve the future of the party going forward, i want to have a role to play in that. i can't emphasize how much i respect president bush 41 or president bush 43, and how jeb bush was my first choice this year and then i went to marco rubio. >> congressman peter king thanks very much.

bush and george w. bush were three presidents i worked for.d it is to be president of the united states and the tough decisions that have to be made. i want him to demonstrate some sympathy, find some empathy and have the courage to be a leader that requires you to be the leader of all the people all the time without trying to be the most popular leader all the time. you have to make tough decisions. i witnessed presidents do that effectively and not only lead the country but the world. >> obviously all the stuff he said about jeb bush. he's called the iraq war the greatest mistake in history. george w. bush had lied the country into iraq. after putting all that on the record what could he say to demonstrate the respect you're talking about? >> i don't know, but he better find the words. i hope he'll recognize the confidence that comes from people who have been in the job or leaders in the job, members of the cab net that served reagan and president bush and president bush. he should seek their wisdom from people who had to do tough jobs and m

the bushs disappoint most of all.most of his policies, but out of animus can't bring themselves to support donald trump? can't respect the republican voters who have chosen him? and in their petty spite will, in effect, support the candidate i of hillary clinton who they know -- of hillary clinton who they know would be utterly disastrous for this country that they have served. george w. bush, who served the nation in a hotly-contested and disputed election should of all people in this great country understand his duty right now to trump, to the gop and to the nation he served. the disloyalty of the elites to the republican party, their egoistic elitism, is precisely why in this election millions of voters are rejecting career politicians and our failed class of political elites. it is why, in my opinion, donald trump will not only win the election in november, he will usher in a new era in american history and restore principle and integrity to government. restore prosperity to all americans and restore pride and con

i worked for bush when the bush and pelosi relationship was forged. almost like two important leaders of two different movements getting together and finding a way to collaborate. >> also, willie, you look at their background, willie, it's also two leaders from two completely different historical views. paul ryan, like myself, we've seen the republican party lose the white house five out of the last six times in the popular vote. donald trump, well, you know, in 2008 was giving money and supporting hillary clinton in the democratic party. so for paul ryan, he's been fighting this his whole life. he's been fighting the conservative cause his whole life. donald trump has been fighting it since somewhere around 2011. so i don't think paul ryan is going to get swayed by threats. certainly is not going to jump on donald trump's bandwagon simply because donald trump says it's time. >> the day does not end with paul ryan for donald trump. a play by play, he'll meet with mitch mcconnell, his team offices, majority whit john cornyn will also be there. >> look

. >> i won't talk about jeb bush. i will not say -- i will not say he's low energy. i will not say it. i will not say it. and i won't talk about lindsey graham, who had like one point. he gets outdealt at all levels of the campaign. he leaves a disgrace. he can't represent the people of south carolina well. >> most recent republican presidential nominee mitt romney, who tore into trump in a speech in march, said he doesn't intend to support either of the major party's candidates. bush, graham and romney joined the last two presidents, also named bush, at least one sitting governor, one sitting senator, and most significantly the highest-ranking republican office holder in the country, house speaker paul ryan, who have all declined to jump on the trump train. today less than 24 hours after ryan said he wasn't ready to endorse his own party's presumptive nominee his office announced trump will meet with the speaker and house gop leadership next thursday along with rnc chair reince priebus "to begin a discussion about th

george bush 41, george bush 43 said they wouldn't.ee blue state governors in maryland, illinois and massachusetts says they wouldn't endorse. it is an extraordinary rupture in the party but continues what we have seen throughout. donald trump's was a revolution from within. he mobilized particularly among the blue collar side of the party that did not pick the nominee. . one telling example. only two states where majority of republican voters the idea and all 12 million immigrants. and until the very end, they provided a majority of the votes in many every state and that is basically a passional plurality and you are seeing how much of the rest of the party is the hesitant of the course he would steer the party on. >> speaker of the house paul ryan said he isn't ready to endorse donald trump. many past leaders are planning on skipping the republican convention in cleveland in july. should the gop be worried? >> i think that speaker ryan has given donald trump an opportunity. jeb bush said i'm not voting for donald trump. lindsey graha

bush was the speaker. he was scheduled to stay only a few minutes afterwards at the e reception but stayed over an hour. and then many other blacks were there, all democrats, getting their picture taken with this republican vice president then. he left and two weeks later he called and asked if i would go with him on a trip he was planning to sub-saharan, africa in november of '82. i said this is great but since i am not a governor what would my role be and he said to be honest with you, we don't have an andy young in our administration and i don't feel like i can go to sub-saharan, africa without prominent african-americans in my delegation. you would do me a favor but the country a service if you were willing to do it. i appreciated his honesty and i went. on the trip was barbara bush who was speaking to literacy groups and on the way back, after two weeks and visiting eight countries in sub-saharan africa i spoke to barbara on the plane and said you and are in the same business different branches. we ar

bush and george w. bush were three presidents i worked for. i was a witness to how hard it is to be president of the united states and the tough decisions that have to be made. i want him to demonstrate a little sympathy, find some empathy and have the courage to be a leader that requires you to be the leader of all the people all the time without trying to be the most popular leader all the time. >> you are very familiar with george w. bush. does donald trump need to do that? could he do that? would it make a difference if he did that? >> there is room to run away from george w. bush because george w. bush still remains -- republicans are very divided about his candidacy. and -- his presidency. and one thing that made trump strong was the ambivalence that a lot of republicans feel about the bush presidency. a lot of unresolved issues. and there was -- another thing that made trump strong was the bush policy formula didn't work the way republicans wanted it to. lots of spending. big tax cuts. lots of migration. republicans are rejecting many o

bush. chris christie had been a george w. bush bundler. and that is the entire reason why he got that u.s. attorney job which ended up launching his political career. and all presidents in the modern era, maybe all presidents of all-time, they've doled out what you might think are pretty high-level jobs, particularly at the start of their administration, to people who aren't necessarily qualified for those jobs, but who did raise a lot of money for the guy who just got elected president. all presidents do it. george w. bush though took it to a new level. he did it with federal prosecutor jobs like with chris christie, even though those particular jobs had not always been previously seen as political party favors. a more typical party favor job was being ambassador somewhere. under president george w. bush, even ambassador jobs got way more embarrassing than they usually are. >> to the 16 ambassadors bush has named so far, none is a career diplomat. ten are big contributors. donating more than $2 million total to the bush campaign. the inau

bush on behalf of guantanamo prisoners. six years later, he won a landmark case at the supreme court against the bush administration. today we speak with his family and friends and hear michael in his own words. >> this is no time for compromise, no time for political calculations. us,oward zinn admonishes the job of thinking people not to be an aside of the executioners. remindsin nation prize us all that the job for each of us is not to be an aside of the executioners. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. brazil's senate has voted to suspend president dilma rousseff immediately and begin impeachment proceedings against her on accusations of tampering with accounts to hide a budget shortfall. the 55 to 22 senate vote followed more than 20 hours of debate. one politician described it as the "saddest day for brazil's young democracy." vice president michel temer will assume the presidency during rousseff's suspension. temer himself has been

bush adding he cannot support trump's candidacy. the comments less than 24 hours after speaker paul ryan said he's not ready to back trump yet. >> paul ryan? i don't know what happened. >> reporter: in omaha, unloading on his former rivals. >> but i don't talk about jeb bush. i will not say -- i will not say he's low energy. and i won't talk about lindsay graham, who had like one point -- did you ever see this guy on television? he is nasty. >> reporter: trump an and trump together as the presumptive nominee n >> we will never come out on top if we accept advice from sound byte salesmen and carnival barkers. >> reporter: sources tell nbc news president obama will begin campaigning in earnest against trump once the democratic race is officially wrapped up, as trump attacks clinton over her family's charitable foundation and her husband's infidelity. tonight the contentious contender facing more protests before he even arrived at his rally. it's almost stop trump what do you make about this and what it says about where we are in this

you beat the bushes. you beat governors, you beat senators and you wound up with new votes and new people who have not been part of the party. >> well, i think you might be right. i'd rather see unity. i mean, i'm a republican, i'm conservative. and the republican party. i'm conservative. some people say i'm not conservative on trade. i said really, tell me about it. i'm more conservative than anybody on trade. i am an actually free trader. but we make all bad deals. our country is losing money, we're losing with everything. i mean, look at china. they'll have a $500 billion this year trade deficit with us. i mean, we've rebuilt china back because of stupid -- stupid negotiations. look, that's true with every country. we don't make it with anybody virtually. when it comes to trade, you know what my trade is, very simple, make good deals for the united states. make good deals. >> let's move on and talk about something we talked about in the radio that's going to get a lot of news and this is your muslim ba

bush wrote about the necessity of closing guantanamo. there were a host of other high-ranking officials that agreed with the necessity of closing it. colon powell reiterated this year just how necessary it was. i want to go and express my sincere disappointment that you would so casually impugned the integrity of our military officers and men and women serving in the pentagon that they would be presenting what there is not their full judgment to this at the restoration. it is in the national security interest of the united states in closing guantanamo. i think you all an apology and i think when you were serving, you would not let that cloud your judgment and i feel like that kind of comment is indicative of why it is so difficult to have a reasoned debate and a reasoned analysis of this issue. it is a critical national security issue. they'll looking and assessing and whether or not guantanamo the cheney's and international terrorists would be inside u.s. prisons or secured military prisons, we don't have to speculate. we have the wisdo

bush.heney suggests he will support donald trump for president, but bush's brother and trum of rival jeb bush is not on board the

bush not going to the campaign, jeb bush, won't even go there who you spent a lot of time talking to.ayle would do this given that the bush family is not on board with trump. >> i think heads are exploding in the bush family. they can't be happy about this. some of their problem with donald trump has to do with jeb bush. this campaign got very personal but i really think that the bushes do not think donald trump has the character or temperament to be president so for dan quayle to come out for trump, they can't be happy with. a little footnote, in 1988, donald trump raised his hand and lobbied to be george hw bush's vice president. quayle says he is glad he picked me instead of him. he says trump has wanted this a long time. interesting. >> it is interesting, and that he would come out, be so definitive, out of nowhere, making this statement. thank you very much. >>> outfront next. money, greed, and the president. allergies. and i'm doing just fine. claritin provides 24-hour relief of symptoms that can be triggered by over 200 allergens. yeah, over 200 allergens! with claritin my alle

moments ago, another bush, jeb, said this, he will not vote for trump.e put out a statement, attacking trump as unfit for high office. quote, donald trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. he's not displayed a respect for the constitution and he's not a consistent conservative. he's are all reasons why i cannot support his candidacy. bob dole, the party's standard bearer in 1996, said he's waiting to see how things play out at the convention, but at least he's agreeing to show up to the convention. right now the only living republican nominee that has agreed to do that. john mccain, while publicly saying he will support trump because he's the nom nee, is telling folks behind closed doors, he's facing a tougher re-election fight because trump is atop the ticket. and lindsey graham came out firing against trump, calling him a con-man. quote, i cannot in good conscience support donald trump because i do not believe he's a reliable republican conservative, nor has he displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as commander i

laura bush and jenna bush hager.usical guest tegan and sara. and featuring the legendary roots cr. >> questlove: 468. >> steve: and now, here he is, jimmy fallon! ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: hey, everybody. hello. thank you very much. thank you very much! [ cheers and applause ] that's what i'm talking about. >> steve: that's a crowd. >> jimmy: that's what i'm talking about right there. hot crowd. hot crowd. [ cheers and applause ] welcome to "the tonight show." oh, it's going to be fun. here's what people are talking about, everybody. i saw that donald trump supporters are upset with the show "family guy" after it recently made fun of trump. [ light laughter ] i see both sides of the issue. on one hand, it's just a a cartoon. but that cartoon could be president of the united states. so, i mean, they should be -- [ applause ] but now that trump is the only one left on the republican side, he's starting to set his sights on hillary clinton. but hillary dismissed trump's attacks, especially on her personal li

bush -- george bush. knowng ahead, we cannot how many future occupants of the oval office will find their priorities held hostage to terrorists who confuse murder with martyrdom. but as andrew jackson's fate makes clear, it is the history yet to be written that may cause seemingly fixed presidential reputations to bounce around like corn in a popper. the older i get, the more suspicious i become of that academic game called ranking the presidents, if only because it presumes in the word of one scholar, "to measure the immeasurable." as the presidency involves, so do our measurements of successes and failures. talk about apples and oranges, the 19th century presidency is a totally different office than the 20th century, entirely different, much closer, it could be argued, to what the founders intended. have their chief function carrying out the legislature's wishes, someone who at the same time it have a predominant role in determining american foreign-policy, but certainly not someone who, for example, wo

bush administration were persuaded by both of these claims. the claim of liberal democratic capitalism being destined to proliferate around the world and the claimant american military supremacy had endowed the united states with a capacity now to bring about that ideological change. so, those were the over arching reasons that led the george w. bush administration after 911 to say, yes, we need to invade iraq, not because they pose a danger. it didn't pose a danger, but because a rock appeared to be a source of enormous opportunity to bring history to its intended destination. >> one of the things that continues to surprise me and concern me is how the american public really seems to be asleep , the fact that we are making such a major investment and escalation now in iraq as well afghanistan, syria and the only thing we seem to be really paying attention to is isis. are we putting too much emphasis on that and it does isis in your estimation represent a real extensional threat to the united states? >> no, it does not. i mean, what is isis? i

the bushes got run over. they lost their home state, rubio and bush, he beat these people and their response is to say well you've got to unify the party now. >> i have to go on to another topic, although this i could talk about all night. there's something really creepy that happened. chris matthews so he doesn't know he has a hot mike and he's on the set with brian williams on whatever station they're on and you got to listen to what he says about melania trump. listen to this. >> and the party will trust trump to make that decision. >> i think the party will have a role in it. >> we heard from the likely nominee. we will go to a break here. the discussion continues right after this. >> see that walk. that runway walk. >> the hot mike has been a problem sometimes for yours truly so i'm not going to pile on that. it's a beautiful woman. >> that's creepy though. >> i guess. look, if i'm melania and someone's saying that's a runway walk, i'm happy about that. i think there's no problem with that whatsoever. ma

bush and by the tea party movement. trump is saying the republican party is more than a conservative movement. we're watching a crisis unfold on the right. is the conservative movement going to be part of the gop in the future, intertwined with that party. >> also we played the clips there. donald trump over the weekend really going hard about hillary clinton, bill clinton, his affairs, about the monica lewinsky thing in the 1990s. i'm wondering what the calculation is there. when you're done with the primary. 20 years ago the republicans couldn't beat the clintons with this stuff. why would donald trump be talking about that now? >> trump surrounds himself with people who have long been anti-clinton warriors. roger stone. he's written numerous books about the clintons alleging conspiracy and misdoings. and then you have different people like bob tero from the american spectator. he went after the clintons in the '90s. trump comes out of a world, a bent against the clinton family politically. >> back on this topic of pa

the question of the bushes.his question of the bushes, the two presidents bush not saying they are going to stay out of it. that seems to me like an extra ordinarily big deal. dan: it's a huge deal. here's the point. to be clear. george herbert walker bush has been involved in every presidential election since he was elected president. and this is donald trump's problem. he has fractured the party and he has to figure out how he will win over these people. it is his job to figure it out. 's have you asked for anyone advice? have they asked you for your advice? mary: i'm not going to comment that. some things in life trump gets , what he wants and if he puts together a good ground game i'm confident that trump will run. -- trump will win. can i say something in this ? trump's milieu politics, when it comes to the bushes, they are famous for their affections for each other. if someone said, if your son or what donald said about jeb bush, you would have the same reaction. it has less to do with politics and more to

both bushing es is sitting this. >> yes, 41 and 43.hey'll not be campaigning or endorsing donald trump and not going to be doing anything for hillary clinton either. it is striking for a lot of reasons for the first time in 36 years. no bush who's apart of the convention that takes place in the summer. it is not that surprising given obviously donald trump said about jeb bush during the course of this campaign. you do if you are trying to unit a republican field, it is not going to be that shot of mit romney up there holding hands with donald trump. there will be bush up there standing side by side with donald trump as well. the divisions as many republican conservatives trying to determine what they do next. >> donald trump today naming the financial chairman, talking about the money he's going to raise for the campaign republican party and talking about financial and telling cnbc that he will name a rival. >> yes, that's exactly right. nine of them are currently governors and five of them are senators. the insults are like a bulling

bush into the presidency. kind of a move there on the part of somebody like baker moving towards trump's direction at all, that's noteworthy just given his ties to the family that trump has savaged in this campaign. >> bush said again, i'm not going anywhere near donald trump, not even a paper endorsement from jeb bush. >> you have the realists, the realist camp in the republican party of foreign policy. a lot of people thought maybe there was distance created between jim baker and the bush family because of the foreign policy that george w. bush pursued. james baker wasn't as eager for affirmation after the 9/11 attacks. baker was on capitol hill today and it came up marco rubio actually asked a question at this hearing, james baker was testifying on foreign policy. rubio asked about one of trump's proposals, which is basically, do we really need nato anymore. that's something trump has been introducing into this campaign. baker at this hearing said that would be a disaster. in terms of that one policy item,

we got this ryan news, but before that you had bush 4'1 and bush '43 having no part in this election.itt romney announced he would be skipping the election this summer. he said on this program earlier that he would never vote for trump. the republican senator from nebraska wrote a 5000 word piece of post -- facebook post that he could not about four trump or hillary clinton. meanwhile, there are some republicans like mitch mcconnell, and governor brian sandoval and former minnesota governor tim plenty that have fallen in line. question, taking the uniter-divider elements on both sides, what do we know about how things stand in trump's challenge of bringing the party together? mark: before ryan, i thought he was having a better day than worse day. the ryan thing tilts the thing. the two president bushs, it shows how much trump has changed our perception to have two former presidents. one that was a german of the rnc -- a chairman of the rnc. they are acting like, oh, we are not waiting in, we are staying home today. john: they are waiting in. they for them to not say are voting for the

bush and jenna bush hager.ated -- the inflated of the laura bush during the reading of the book. it was just tremendous. >> when you say we, you mean ainsley. >> right. >> i say me. we're all on the same team. >> anyway, a great team behind the scenes bringing a great -- we have another hour right now. >> all right, steve, way to kiss up. >>> donald trump may be running unopposed but he had two huge victories. >> huge. >> racking up delegates in west virginia and nebraska. >> and meanwhile hillary clinton got berned by bernie sanders. >> coal people not too happy with her. rich edson has the latest from there. >> reporter: hey, good morning, ainsley, steve and brian, and donald trump continues amassing delegates. he wins here in west virginia. and also in nebraska. that's somewhat unsurprising considering he has no national gop active opponents running against him. that includes senator ted cruz. he returned to washington, d.c., and the u.s. senate yesterday. he said he could re-enter the race if a path to the

mit romney is not coming to the convention and john mccain and bush 43 and bush 41 is not going for the convention. >> bob doyle is going to be there in cleveland. it shows you what folks here on capitol hill here i cover day-to-day they have to deal with. they're walking on a fine line. next week, there is discussions going on right now about donald trump coming to capitol hill and having a meeting with leader mechan mcconnell and other members and some sort of delegation of republican members here that would be willing to hear about the weight forward. they're still figuring out if that'll come together. it is a possibility to keep an eye on. the other thing though if you are starting to see vulnerable members, i am talking about senators who are now representing blue or purple states. whether you endorse trump or not? and she has answers well, i support him but i don't support him which is a difficult thing for a lot of these members to do. i can tell you just from the informal poll, half the members i spoke to you know what? i am going to get in line and the other half go, i just ca

bush.ints out the very real legal concerns that, when you set a press den you can sue saudi arabia, saudi arabia citizens can then sue the united states on several matters legality set on a collision course with morality. hard to look at victims ins a unanimous vote and say you cannot get remedies when you deserve. morality tends to win the day. >> isn't the object discovery, find out what happened in 9/11 and see what the role of some of the saudis were? and as a reporter i would say this might be a good piece of legislation, because we really need -- >> transparency. >> we need to know what the hell happened in the area. >> we want everything opened up. maggie, i want to talk about -- we were talking about bernie sanders versus hillary clinton and that really ugly convention in nevada and ana navarro said bernie sanders has the high ground here, needs to continue to have the high ground and condemn this violence. you and nia-malika said, not so fast, why? >> there's no question that sande

bush and george h.w. bush. with that said i want to bring in cnn's special correspondent. we just saw the list of key republicans for and against donald trump. you were the first to confirm that vice president dick cheney is going to back donald trump. a lot of people were surprised to hear that. >> i was surprised, too, because it came out of the blue today. no question i don't think the timing was an accident today. we may have all been surprised because up to now dick cheney really has not commented on the race. he never endorsed any of the candidates. so he knew when he came out the way he did today that it was going to make big news especially in the middle of this week when so many others were saying they would not or were not ready to support trump. that said, don, let's be clear, cheney has criticized trump in the past when he called for ban on muslims coming into the country. cheney said the ban goes against everything we stand for and believe in. so this support from cheney giving trump his blessing in this way is a big deal and no doubt a surprise to some of his

he later, even though he stayed close to bush, he later described the bush administration as mayberry machiavellis, which is an interesting formulation. [laughter] he didn't want to be quoted on that, but somebody did anyway. [laughter] because he's not, he doesn't like to attack like that. you know, and, but those folks were serious. but there were a lot of other people who simply wanted to reduce the size of government and figure, well, just like the churches take care of it, it became an excuse for dismantling government. so in the end, you know, a couple of things happened. one, 9/11 happened so that whole emphasis became secondary or tertiary to bush. and a lot of republicans in congress never liked the compassion interview. i had a great interview where it was said they just didn't want to play ball on this at all. so i thought that was the first opportunity he lost to create a new republican party. the second was after 9/11 where i argue that he could have created a kind of eisenhower republican party again at that moment of genuine national unity, and he went in a different di

. >> we hear so much of the term american exceptionalism president bush said american is a nation with the mission that comes from our most basic belief this great republic is the cause of freedom and a few years later obama said i believe american exceptionalism just as the british believe in british exceptionalism in greeks believed in greek exceptionalism. [laughter] isn't that one of the issues in the middle east? >> absolutely if you recall when president obama said i believe in american exceptionalism you also recall he got beat up by his critics for that the reason was his critics argued that there is nothing comparable to american exceptionalism that our exceptionalism is exceptional. [laughter] to the point of the question that yes emphatically one of the ames is to affirm american exceptionalism to push back against any impression that the american century was a fluke or fiction and i have to say not to be partisan but in particular with george w. bush administration response to 9/11 was very much to exemplify the emphasis. >> but not in the beginning? >> this book describes