colin powell, who would go over again during heavy american combat in the later 1960s, said he wasn't sure he ever heard a better explanation as circular as it was for what we were doing some of these places where they were posted. in working on this book, in addition to my research and reading in interviews and intellectual framing of the story, i certainly knew i needed to visit vietnam, not just the current rest spas and thriving cities but i wanted to get out to the delta, to the high country, the central highlands and i wanted to get out to the jungles, the far reaches of those places where the baby boomer generation fought. and for the stories of some of the men i was describing had died. i visited the delta and visiting there even today you can understand what the young kids patrolled along the waterways and canals found them hostile and scary places. traveling up to, i went to the pilings of the only remains of liberty bridge with so many americans who serve their new. i visited the old area that the marines called god city, north of liberty bridge. i left behind some mementos

i got a lesson, colin powell being a great example of someone. i asked him to read from the constitution and he gave me a lecture. we could teach a master class on one line from the constitution. i feel i have a phd in american politics now having gone to meet all of the leaders in american politics and having them share their opinions about the constitution. i will tell you this. all the vice presidents complained about how the constitution does not give them enough power. it was sort of the running joke that all the vice president's read this, everybody gets something, but the vice presidents did not get enough. it is not about power. it is about clearly setting out what their role is. when the constitution was written, but one group i feel got shortchanged was the vice presidents. that is what they told me. host: who do you think is the unsung hero of our founders? guest: you are going to make me name names? i cannot name names. project,s doing this the constitution, we gave credit to everybody who signed it. everybody who signed it gets their

colin powell was sent up to the asha valley to distill a desolate place in the northwestern part of theold south vietnam just a few miles from laos. he was with an outpost out there and after his orientation he asked the south vietnamese commander of the unit, he said tell me, why are we here? why is this out those in this place? the south vietnamese commander said well, this outpost is here to provide protection to guard this airstrip down below us. and there is a small grass airfield down there and powell said well, i guess that makes sense. but tell me why is the airstrip there and the south vietnamese officer said to him the airstrip is there to provide the south post. colin powell who would be over again during heavy american combat and later in the 1960s said he wasn't sure he ever heard a better explanation as circular as it was for what we are doing in some of these places. working on this book in addition to my research and reading in interviews and intellectual framing of the story, they certainly knew i needed to visit vietnam. not just the current tourist spot and thriving c

colin powell who would go over again and heavy american combat in the late 1960s said he wasn't sure he ever heard a better explanation as circular as it was for what we were doing at some of these places. working in this book in addition to my research and reading and interviews and intellectual framing of the story i certainly knew i needed to visit vietnam not just the tourist spas and starting cities i wanted to get to the delta and the high country and i wanted to get to the jungles and far reaches where the baby boomer generation fought and where the stories of some of the men i was describing had died. i visited the delta but visiting even today you can understand where the young kids controlled along the waterways and canals from the hostile and scary places. traveling up to this cities i saw the remains of liberty bridge that so many americans to serve their new. i visited the old area that the marines called god city, north of lodi bridge. i left behind some momentum is there for dartmouth marines were killed in two different images with a third battalion of seven marines o

colin powell can't win.ronze in female gymnastics. >> chris rock, to me, is an intellectual power and he's an amazing satirist. but his talent and gift lies in how he makes observations. >> the white man thinks he's losing the country. you watch the news, we're losing everything. we're [ bleep ] losing. affirmative action. illegal aliens. we're [ bleep ] losing the country. losing? shut the [ bleep ]. white people ain't losing [ bleep ]. if you're all losing, who's winning? it ain't us. >> chris was able to connect with black audiences and white audiences with the same words. >> [ bleep ] there ain't a white man in this room that would change places with me. none of you. none of you would change places with me. and i'm rich. >> chris is not differential to white or black people. the more powerful they are. >> i'm not talking about rich. i'm talking about wealth. a white man gets wealthy, he builds walmarts and makes other white people have some [ bleep ] money. a brother gets rich, he buys some [ bleep ] jew

senators, colin powell and all those kind of big names in the reppo -- in the republican party, not the type of people you would expect to see in a documentary on hbo. is to get theis annding fathers and emmy, -- emmy. i am hoping when emmy season comes around, that the academy will have the wisdom to nominate the founding fathers posthumously, for the best writing of a document. , "we holdrds like these truths to be self-evident" and the majesty of the words and the brilliance behind the words, not only of james madison, but james munro, george mason, and monroe,- but james george mason and others. >> everybody wants to look at america as the model of a working democracy. many of us don't agree that it is actually working right now. but that is a whole other subject. i'm trying to stay positive today. let's just channel our angels and say this democracy is a model. . it is a reminder of everything good about this country, that we all love and celebrate on the fourth of july, instead of going into the divisions, at least for i amurs, i'm holding -- hoping that everyone can hold celebrat

that is something that is very consistent with our bipartisan approach.licy condoleezza rice and colin powello took the same approach there, so that is why i is asthe state department engaged if not more so in the g-20 than the treasury department and the commerce department czar. >> looking at the situation with north korea, you mentioned china could have a strong role to play. what does a strong role look like and where do anticipate they will do? >> here is the challenge. on one hand, 85% of north korea's trade is with china. they depend on china for many of the goods and services that allow the country to keep running, so obviously if china clamps down on that, that could have a huge impact. on the other hand, they do not a massive rush of refugees from north korea into they don'tsecondly, want to see reunification of the korean peninsula, which would put the united states right on china's border, and that is something that makes them uncomfortable to say the least, conflicting some challenges here as well, but goodsou have 85% of your that you used to run your society come from one place

never an discussion within the bush administration on whether we should go to war with iraq. , colin powell, george tenet all say there was no point at which the president asked them directly, should we do this? there was clearly a march toward an objective never formally debated in a concerted, structured way. in the obama administration, you had the opposite. and lessn list -- policiesd debates over enacted on slowly, deliberately, or not at all. i think there was a real contrast. i would say bush changed in his second term. surge look at the decision in iraq which occurred in bush's second term, he went through a structured process on whether to add forces in iraq. he consulted with his principal advisors. overrule aecision to number of his subordinates, that he had listened to them first. i was really characterizing the first time bush and decisions to go into a rock when i made that statement. the wrote --e -- you wrote president nixon gave his secretary of state more scope that obama. guest: i think that is true. obama participated in national security meetings. he sat around the tabl

i take exception to you and others like colin powell who say we live in a democracy, the greatest ever and we do not. we live in a republic. it is more of the industry who is driven a lot of this country. -- who has driven a lot of this country. host: thank you. guest: how do i respond to that? do i have to? i appreciate your call. you're totally on something. i feel like i should visit you and we should make a movie. isolate all of these calls are the foundation for what would be an interesting documentary, paying to people or are attention and have really deep thoughts about america. i am inspired being here and by your criticism. protest is very patriotic. i hear you. i don't know if you could tell -grin, i amperma trying to be positive because it is sunday morning and fourth of july. , but ia lot of critiques am holding them in. i am trying to start somewhere. i feel like a country is so broken, politically. i am trying with every ounce of channeling my inner laura bush and try to be as positive as i can be. that is the best i could do for you. host: i have to you about this pictur

colin powell notwithstanding every time colin powell walked out to try to do something about it, dicky would cut the branch off or the president would cut the branch off and powell would be stymied. i don't think president obama did all that much in the eight years he was in office, either, and now we've got a president who clearly, as you just intimated, wants to let bibi netanyahu do whatever he wants to do and what netanyahu wants to do is have the golan, have the west bank, have anything else he can get his hands on permanently. >> and there doesn't seem to be anyone in the trump government pushing back on that. i want to put a map up. this entire region is rethreatening to go up in flames. iran, which is, of course, the neighbor to iraq, the country we attacked during the george w. bush era. the obama administration was able to create an accord with the goal of reducing iran's drive towards nuclear weapons. foreign policy magazine now reports donald trump has assigned a white house team to target that deal, that i recertified that iran is in compliance but now several nsc staffer

they would have best i get to dance with colin powell oh my god. what would you addition for steven i did that yes i went in for an amazing casting director ellen lewis in new york well so i did not directly for steven i auditioned for ellen lewis on tape and she couldn't have been lovelier i read for two different roles in the film and a week later i got a call that i had a meeting set with steven spielberg which was a very unreal call sort of a dream experience and then i went in and met with steven and he couldn't have been lovelier i was very nervous did lawley would both play a significant part in the pentagon papers we know of a you know i think she was a source of support and encouragement for her mother at the time and that is what's reflected in the film who plays catherine groom no no streep yeah. well and who does tom hanks play he plays ben bradley the editor and my closest friends wow wow with a shooting we're shooting in new york not in washington no because it's a lot of interiors i'm sure they'll shoot some exteriors in washington i

i mean, that came up i think-- it is sometimes said when you had dick cheney around and colin powelld, who prevailed meeive who-- >> first of all, the chief of staff has to have peripheral vision and know where all the people with great tunnel vision are. ( laughter ) and that helps to make sure that any word to the president is not out of context. because you want the words to be within context. and strong personalities in the white house, it's a team, and it's a team of rivals in every white house because they're very competent staffers who are legitimately hired because they have great expertise. many of them have type "a" personality, and they think they're the only person with great expertise, and you have to manage that process and make sure that the playing field is in fact level and not skewed one way because a dominant staffer is bullying the process. but the last word i found the president would frequently seek me out as the last word but it wasn't so much about the decision. it was the process by way the decision was being made by the president. and i would be able to say,

invoking colin powell d disok doctrine, president saying it is not on him, it is not on the republicans, it is on the democrats it is on charles schumer and nancy pelosi. >> it is pretty clear, that there are not 50 republicans at the moment to vote for a replacement for obamacare. sometimes in the near future we'll have a vote on repealing obamacare. in that proposal, there is a two year delay. which would give us an opportunity to work out a complete replacement. >> after 7 years, we can conclude that structure of obamacare is a failed experiment. after 7 years of obamacare, american public knows what they have, they have fewer choices, higher premiums and less control over their own health care. >> there are a lot of people out there today who are spiking the football. trying to celebrate a moment that for now seems to leaved affordable care act in place for today. let me tell you what happens if you continue to spike the football. in colorado last week, average premium rate increase for next year will be 27%, that if you are lucky enough to live in front range of colorado. if you pa

do you remember the colin powell's pottery barn rule?mother and her son were born into a country that had been destabilized and as an american, i feel like i'm partially responsible for that. to give her sanctuary. >> tucker: guatemala had a crew backed by the united state united states, probably what you are referring to. germany and japan, in effect, we orchestrated crew is in those country. they don't have sky hybrid rates. i don't understand -- u.s. was much more involved in germany and japan. those are not a mess. how do you prove guatemala's foreign policies are a result of u.s. foreign policy? >> i'm just a presbyterian minister. in austin, texas. i had a family come and ask her sanctuary. our church is a democracy. we all voted on that. because i knew the story down there, i didn't feel her story started when she got to our boundary. i'm not a political scientist. i did not feel like, as a christian, that i could close the door under those terms. >> tucker: i respect that in some ways. you sound like a passionate person. i admire

. >> colin powell, then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, believed in exerting maximum power ond so you wouldn't be fighting a prolonged war. this would be quick and decisive. it became known as the powell doctrine. >> the ground war started this morning as the americans and their allies attack with massive fire power that shook the earth. >> we're 15 1/2 hours into a ground war that from all the sketchy reports we're receiving is going well. so far the offensive is progressing with dramatic success. the troops are doing a great job, but the war is not over yet. >> what are your impressions of saddam hussein as a military >> storminin norman was out of central casting. >> he's neither a strategist nor schooled in the operational art nor is he a tactician nor is he a general nor is he as a soldier. other than that, he's a great military man. >> big and burly and confident. when he came in the briefing room, your chest swelled. it was american military might on parade. >> his presence was important. it was a huge actor on american support for the war. >> the war in the gulf is vir

. >> colin powell tell this is great story when he was national security advisor for ronald reagan, ofking at goat -- take us inside some bilateral surprises. >> the object is ideally not to have a surprise. so if you go back to some of the most important bilateral meetings, for example in the obama administration, the leadup to the paris climate agreement, the key thing was trying to get the chinese on board. this culminated in a meeting between president obama and president xi jinping at the white house. but before that there were four months of incredibly close negotiations between the united states and china. and that led to bringing china on board for paris and the climate agreement. but it took a good four months before the presidents could look in a deal. similarly, the presidents brought a deal together on how china was handling it's own cyber intelligence. they were trying to steal trade secrets and get a commercial advantage. we made it very clear that we were intending to sanction them. finally the presidents met and we got a very significant agreement with china on sort of

and i mean, that came up, i think, it is sometimes said when you had dick cheney around and colin powellwho prevailed might have been who -- >> first of all, the chief of staff has to have prifrl vision and know where all the people -- peripheral vision and know where all the people with great tunnel vision are. that helps to make sure that any word to the president is not out of context. you want the words to be within context. and strong personalities in the white house, it's a team, it's a team of rivals in every white house. because there are very confident staffers who are legitimately hired because they have great expertise. many of them have type a personalities and they think they're the only person with great expertise and you have to manage that process and make sure the playing field is in fact level and not skewed one way because a dominant staffer is bullying the process. so -- but the last word i found the president would frequently seek me out as the last word but it wasn't so much about the decision, it was the process by the way the decision was being made by the preside

let's not forget old colin powell rule, pottery barn rule, if you break it, you buy it. so if something happens to the health care system, it's his job. that's what we sent him into office for to fix it. so the idea that he can just kind of step back and walk away, i don't think that passes smell test for a horne pomodern polit this kind of economy. so he's going to have to figure that one out. >> so what happens next? because there was this brief moment where there was going to be repeal and then eventually replace, we'd have two years where we keep obamacare but mitch mcconnell says we can't get 50 people to agree. so what happens next here? >> i don't think neb realraskan really knows. we have this interaction between government and the economy that is our health care system right pl now particularly for people on individual markets and whether or not that continues to breathe and live is i think an open question in a lot of parts of the country, particularly rural parts where a lot of people voted for the president. >> if mitch mcconnell allows this vote, knowing tha

condoleezza rice, colin powell. all know d.c. rex tillerson, not a day in government, alex. he has one appointment. john jay sullivan. respected brian hook is the director of policy and planning or sp they call it over there among the state department. where are all of the appointments? you cannot run a state department that way. >> that's a good question. we are six months into the situation almost. yet you have all of these gaps in the hiring and it really paints a picture of chaos that's enveloped this agency. look, it clearly is not what rex tillerson is used to being part of. he is used to be part of more well run big businesses. this is sort of turning out to be the chaotic mess. you sort of wonder what does this mean for him and his future? how long does he want to do this and it raises some questions about tillerson's future. >> i talked with chuck todd about this on "meet the press" daily on friday. is there a rexit coming? some agencies have trouble staffing up. this is uniquely dysfunctional. apparently tillerson is going to appoint the ambassadors and the secreta

invoking colin powell d disok doctrine, president saying it is not on him, it is not on the republicans charles schumer and nancy pelosi. >> it is pretty clear, that there are not 50 republicans at the moment to vote for a

and colin powell told his counterpart if it ever explodes into the territories within the same hour and can we do that? you bet that they are not part of the story so to destroy that many targets? will the chinese a bite? because at the end of the story you have a unified korea under the of military alliance of the united states. and then they say that is unacceptable. we already fought a war with you over this the last time. go back and read about world war i. and in 1915 they came to the rescue at the very last minute. approaching the border with china. and macarthur was stunned we ask the chinese said they entered the war at the 38th parallel. so china has demonstrated said to have a government would they do that again? maybe with these new conditions but then they would ask us because then we both go to hell together. >> so to create a distinctive silence in their room i just want to add a little vignette of a commencement at harvard dean acheson does the address and with the course of the foreign policy remarks to say that it is not about to break out of bed three days later it beg

there was colin powell in that role. but the fact that it's kind of the american public life turning to generals, even some democrats and liberals expressing relief that the generals are somehow maybe in charge, i think is a sad commentary on where we are as a government. and as a democracy. we should be careful before we glorify generals too much, because i'm afraid that's where we're heading right now. >> you raise an intriguing point, which is, that the complete total loss of faith in many other institutions, how does the congress work, how do these other officials represent, and that's clearly bipartisan. people looking for the few heroes left. they may be heroes in what they do, but whether they should have total civilian control of everything is not how we've traditionally done it. thank you. i know you'll join us later in the hour. big policy news. president trump versus president putin today, sanctions now from moscow, the defiant leader vowing to punish the u.s. later in the show, legendary comedian richard lewi

colin powell told his count counterpart if a nuclear weapon explodes in an ally of ours we will turn them into an entire hole. but that is like 25 million people who live there. most poor slavs in a madhouse. they are not part of this story so you going to destroy that many targets and people in what way? and then are the chinese going to sit by and watch the game? at the end of the story you have the a unified career ad a government that is a military ally of the u.s. and as we heard, they said, wait a minute, that is unacceptable from our perspective. we already fought a war with you over this the last time. anybody that can't believe the americans and chinese can kill each other go back and read about world war 1 or the korean war. in 1950, north korea attacked south korea. the u.s. came to the rescue last minute and pushed the north koreans up approaching the border with china. out of nowhere, mccarthy was stunned, 300,000 chinese and entered the war and bet us down the peninsula to where the war began. china demonstrated it is prepared to go to war and fight to prevent having a

tommy called me to his office and colin powell was there waiting for me. decorated general. number two man on the security council. used to talking to his troops in a certain way. 30 years old, i got right back in his face. this went on and on. duberstein told me that he had to take it to the president. the last thing you want to do is your president revisit a decision. the fighting wouldn't stop. in a garden and they talked about it. the state department didn't stop. a couple of days later when they went to berlin they tried to get another alternative. this was a fundamental decision. back,ld me when he came they talked about it and the it, thet, read president had decided. the twinkle came into his eye. he said, i'm the president, aren't i? [laughter] >> well yes. decide that that line stays in. yes sir, it's your decision. well then it stays in. also knowing, having gone through many presidential speeches of reagan, when i was if you gotecretary, something out of the speech but you knew -- you learned quickly that if ronald reagan liked it, it got back in. he spent an eno

colin powell served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, under president george h.w. bush and secretary of state under president george w. bush. he wrote, and i quote. at our best, being a great nation has always been a commitment to building a better, safer world, not just for ourselves, but our children and grandchildren. this is meaning, responding when disease and disaster strikes. lifting millions out of poverty, inspiring those yearning for freedom. this calling is under threat. administration's proposal to slash approximately 30% from the state department and foreign assistance budget signals that american retreat leaving a vacuum making us far less safe. proposal to bring resources, for our civilian resources to a third of what we spent at the height of ronald reagan's peace years. it will be internationally irresponse. distressing our friends, encouraging our enemies undermining our own economic and national security interests. the idea of putting america first requires withdrawal from the world is simply wrong headed. then he goes on to speak of his own expe

let me just read a few pass aejes from a may 25th column in "the new york times" by colin powell, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under president george h.w. bush and president clinton and the secretary of state under president george w. bush. he wrote and i quote, at best the nation has always been a commitment to building a better, safer world not just for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren. this has meant leading the world in a cause of peace. responding when disease and disaster strike. lifting millions out of poverty and inspiring those yearning for freedom. this calling is under threat. the administration's proposal to slash approximately 30% from the state department and foreign assistance budget signals an american retreat, leaving a vacuum to make us far less safe. the proposal to bring resources for our civilian forces to a third of what we spent at the height of ronald reagan's peace through strength years. it would be internationally irresponsible. distressing our friends and encouraging our enemies and undermining our own economic security interest. the id

today there's a long history of service and heroism by african-americans, including generals colin powell and vincent brooks. prior to 2010, the not a social experiment argument was used to keep gays and lesbians from full participation in our military. today there is a long line of distinguished service by gay and lesbian service generals. including general tammy smifment today there is a long line of transgerned service members ready to distinguished themselves. i welcome their service and appreciate their willingness to sacrifice for our nation. as a member of congress will i never deny that privilege and responsibility to those who want to serve. i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise in support of the fiscal year 2018 national defense authorization act. with the hard work of th

condoleezza rice, when she was secretary of state, and colin powell to the same approach.e so in the g-20 than the treasury department and the commerce department. jonathan: looking at the situation with north korea, he mentioned china could have a strong role to play. what does a strong role look like? what can actually do and what you anticipate they will do? john: here is the challenge that china has. 85% of north korea's trade is with china. they depend upon china for many of the goods and services that allow the country to keep running. obviously of china -- if china tamps down on that, that could have a huge impact. there are two things that china does not want. they do not want a mass of refugees into china. they certainly do not want to see a reunification of the cree employment to -- korean peninsula, which would put the united states right on china's border. that is something that makes them uncomfortable to say the least. they have some conflicting challenges here as well. when you have got 85% of your goods that you used to run your society coming from one plac

and in effect it's the colin powell position — don't exclude war, but don't do it yet, it's not necessary i still stand by, was that a prime minister at the head of a government of a large country can't be expected to run a war on his/her own. what we say he could and should have done was appoint a very senior non—departmental minister to run the show and coordinate otherwise very senior ministers — defence, foreign office — and pull it together. and the fact is there was no, i think we used the rather idiomatic term, there was no buy—in by all the different departments and arms of government. does that mean, then, the british government put british servicemen and women and iraqi civilians in harm's way unnecessarily? in harm's way, certainly. having studied it in such detail, seeing for the first time before any of us those notes, those intimate notes between tony blair and george w bush, do you think the relationship between the us and uk at that stage was appropriate? was the relationship between the prime minister and the president appropriate? i think that the fundamental british str

secretaries of state from republican administrations including henry kissinger, james baker and colin powell have said closing guantanamo would improve america's image around the world. martin dempsey and mike mullin said it needs to be closed. president bush said it has become a propaganda tool and distraction for allies. senator mccain has repeatedly said that he favors closing the detention facility because of the image of the united states that it projects to the rest of the world. closing the guantanamo bay detention facility will strengthen our national security and show the rest of the world the principle of equal justice under law isn't violated. i urge my colleagues to send an important message and support the nadler amendment. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? mr. visclosky: i rise as the designee of the ranking member to strike the last word. i appreciate the recognition and feel compel to rise in support of the gentleman's amendment as it relates to the detention facility at guantanamo a bay and would m