doug brinkley here for the next 15 minutes, until 9:00. we are discussing the first eight months of the trump presidency. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. at that appearance at the u.n., president trump discussed is vision, here's what he had to say. [video clip] as president of the united states, i will always put america first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always, and should always, put your country's first. [applause] we are all responsible -- all responsible leaders have a service to serve their own citizens and the nationstate remains the best vehicle for elevating the human condition, but making a better life for our people also requires us to work together in close harmony and unity to create a more safe and peaceful future for all people. the united states will forever be a great friend to the world, and especially to its allies. but we can no longer be taking advantage of or enter into a one-sided deal, with united states gets nothing in return. host: do

until then, we have doug brinkley with us. brady is waiting on the line for republicans. >> i bet those students on the magic bus treasure their journals. i agree with you. that should be done. you made the comment that the magic bus ran on natural gas. i come from an oil and gas background. we need to think horizontal drilling for the abundance and affordability of natural gas on the market. i agree that more vehicles should be running on natural gas. we need to make that conversion. the thing that i like about natural gas as a fossil is, take cities like new orleans with the french quarter or chicago. everything should be on natural gas because they are easy to read fuel. refuel. wouldn't it be great if we could get trucks in the united states to run on natural gas? if you can get trucks stops carrying natural gas, it is as easy as getting diesel. you start making a real difference. i think we're headed in that direction. bigral gas will be the next step forward. we will also have to see how tesla continues to do with this i

out front doug brinkley, author of "the reagan diaries" and anne compton.let's start with the subject of nuclear weapons because we have been talking so much about north korea. president reagan dealt with the soviet union and nuclear disarmament. president trump dealing with north korea and its nuclear weapons now. what are the similarities and differences? >> the differences are so striking. ronald reagan came to power during the cold war at a time when the soviet union was huge and had a mighty, mighty nuclear force, as did the united states. but it was a government where relations weren't great, but at least you could talk to them. president trump, who has had far less government experience than president reagan did, is now dealing with a leader in north korea who is so unpredictable and hasn't responded to any of the sanctions and the other diplomatic things. so it is a different time and they're two very different presidents. >> and doug brinkley, you know, president reagan, though he had been an actor a long time before, came into office with very set

in my panelist, we have doug g. brinkley a professor at right, the presidential historian and the author of several books about the presidency. most rightly rightful heritage, franklin d roosevelt and the land of america. next to him we have mara liasson political correspondent for npr. she has covered every election since 1992. >> 1776! >> you can see her on shows like all things considered and she is also a contributor to fox news. to her left, bill w. brands and historian and writer that is senior chair here and also the author of several books about the presidency. most recently, the general versus the president macarthur and truman at the brink of nuclear war. some of you have seen this written materials that we were -- we were supposed to be joined by dan rather today but he was unable to come.the four of us will carry on in his absence today. okay, let's start with an innocent time in history. doug, december. [laughter] >> president-elect trump, heidi was one of his guests for a lunch at mar-a-lago. when he talked abo

doug brinkley, great to see you always as well. thank you both for joining us. thank you all for joining us on this special labor day edition of aaron burnett "out front." "the reagan show" is next. >> cnn films presented by volkswagen. ♪ >> there's a colonade here. it sleeds leads to a sort of si to the president's office where he invited us in on a winter washington day. mr. president, thank you very much for letting us come in today. >> pleased to dot, dave. >> let me know when you have speed. >> speed. >> speed and shoot. >> out of the way. >> you're the only movie actor i know of that ever got elected to a high office. do you learn anything as an actor that has been useful to you as president? >> well, i'm tempted to say something here -- i'm going to say it. >> go ahead. >> there have been times in this office when i've wondered how you could do the job if you hadn't been an actor. ♪ >> we haven't had a better all-around president who had more vision, more courage, more character and has done more for humanity of this country than ronald reagan. [ applause

c-span: those watching herald the magic bus, that's doug brinkley's bus? he's been a guest. >> guest: great. that's a bunch of kids who travel around the country and study by actually doing. it's an action class x. one of the things that astounded these children was that the school is so big. and so one of the physicalities, one of the physical problems of attending central high school was not only that we were 9 among 2500, it's that the school was all these seven stories high and two blocks long whereas little black kids, they are lost in the caverns of this massive school. so you had to keep yourself together. and so one day, i think it was in march, i went out the wrong door. i was supposed to meet the folks at the other end. i went out the wrong door -- c-span: march of '58? >> guest: '58. i was standing out there, and it was snowing, it had been snowing. it was cold, very cold friday. and i was just tired, just numb, just absolutely jaded with this whole experience and living in a deal world, keeping any arms closed trying to find some semblance of -

i want to bring in cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. doughave been an easy letter for president obama to write. what was your impression? >> no. it couldn't have been easy at all. after all, donald trump's the original god father of the birther movement. saying that obama wasn't born in the united states, and then barack obama had to watch the most brutal political cam camp in recent memory and hillary clinton getting pillared and defamed by donald trump, but he wanted here to show that there has to be a sense of continuity from administration to administration. this tradition of hitting a letter, and i think it is a tradition now that really was implemented by george herbert walker bush after he lost to bill clinton back in 1992, and you see president obama trying to say open handedly saying i am here to help you and i'll do anything possible to make you a success. >> in another party of the letter he goes on to say we are temporary occupants of this office and that makes us guardians of those democratic institutions like rule of law, separ