and here to discuss is doug brinkley and retired general waxman and also our special correspondent. and so, i want to start with you, doug brinkley, a president in a war and no american forces on the ground, and how significant? >> it is extremely significant. i go back in history to roosevelt and churchill when they had to sneak off in the dead of night when they had a body double to go meet churchill off of the coast of newfoundland and then of course all of the meetings in world war ii. and then, zelenskyy has been called churchill of our generation, and biden going there today, it is going to be a moment for the history books. it is like when john f. kennedy went to berlin and gave a speech at the height of the war, and this is the height of the western allies and biden did something really heroic. >> yeah, a new frontier of the east and the west. jonathan wakro, and tell me, because i would not want to be in charge of the president's security here, and tell us what would have gone through keeping him safe in a war zone? >> well, jim, this trip is unprecedent because the preside

if doug brinkley can say something like that, which is so obviously untrue on every level, where does>> i think the key is to actually acknowledge how potent war propaganda is. if you look at the opinion of the american people, which nobody cares about, and he asked them if the united states should be the world's points men, they will say no. if you asked them if the united states is involving themselves in too many wars come overwhelmingly americans will say yes. yet every time we are presented with a new war, they are able to rally the public to support it, including a country that most americans have never given any thought to come for good reason, which is ukraine, and now we are therefore a year pouring more and more money and more and more weaponry into it. even though it has nothing to do with the lives of the american people except a tiny sliver of elite who work for raytheon and the cia. and the reason is, they depict something as banal and theatrical and contrived as biden's trip to kyiv for five hours as some sort of world historic event that everyone in reality will be for

if doug brinkley can say something like that, it's justg like tso obviously untrue on evy level. like where does that leave us ? i think it's the key is to actually acknowledge how potent our propaganda is . if you look at the opinion ofe r the american people, which i know nobod y cares about,ld and you ask them, should the united states be the world's policeman? beoverwhelmingly percent they will still say no. unitouay n ask him, do you think the united states is involving itself in too many wars, overwhelmingly , americans sa will say yes. we'ree presy time presented with a new war, ppor they're able to rally the public to support it, t itincluding a country that mot americans have never given any thought to , for good reason. thfor, which is ukraine that has no vital interest to theor united states. and now we're a pe there for ar pouring more and more money and more and more weaponry into it. even though it has nothinge amer to do with the lives of the american people except a tiny sliver of elite who work for raytheon in the cia. and the reason is because they depict someth

also with us, professor of history at rice university and presidential historian doug brinkley.re just saying we picked a perfect day to have you on. it is presidents' day. of course, our thoughts are with president carter. we'll talk about him a little later. let's start with the news of this moment. this president, president biden, making this trip to kyiv. what does it say to you about where this war stands and the message this president is trying to send? >> well, any time a president goes abroad to visit troops or world leaders, it's always a big deal. but when you have to do it in the dark of night, in secret, taking a train in from poland, being in kyiv with ir sirens go on, it rings the churchill-roosevelt bell. 1997, reminds me of when clinton went to bosnia. it is showing the biden administration is doubling and tripling down on u.s. commitment, not just to ukraine but to democracy. once again, nato and the atlantic alliance is the centerpiece for foreign policy. incredible visuals going on with biden over there. imagine you're in the ukraine and you have zelenskyy wit