join me now, cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. douglas, good evening to you.since the 9/11 attacks, and for some of us who lived through it, it's years ago but also, just yesterday, all at the same time. um, where are we historically with that day? >> well, one reason we relive it is the film footage is indelibly seared in our imaginations. it's the same as the kennedy assassination in that way. we watched the world trade center collapse over and over, again, in our minds. you know, 20 years ago, our -- our country pulled together. that was the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. we lost nearly 3,000 americans. we've had 25,000 injured. many people were later sick from environmental problems developed from the attack. in the immediate wake at the time when george w. bush spoke from the oval office to the country, and then days later came to new york with the bullhorn. american flags went all up over the country. as you remember, don, we were like united. we were living the united states of america and we were going to stand together. and that, quickly

c-span, bless their hearts. 150 prominent historians, douglas brinkley is among them and they asked them to rank the presidents in order and then you have to ask yourself where would you put obama among those and i know this is the first year by the way in which both trump and obama. thank god for james pierce and buchanan and chester arthur. barack obama, top ten. number ten. to put that in perspective, ronald reagan got number nine. and this is the way historians think. i the scandal is only a scandal if it is onon the front page from that perspective there were no scandals in the barack obama presidency. by the way, the difference between "the new york times" the readers of the process. part of the reason for my book and presentation is to intervene in this process. no one else is doing it. the truth is there. it's not that hard to find. the stock for obama will drop as it is dropping for several presidents most notably, woodrow wilson. he was six in the polls about 12 years ago and now he's 13 and that will continue to drop. and i will tell you why it will drop out. just to summarize

joining me now, cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. good evening.at lived through it, it's years ago but also just yesterday all at the same time. where are we historically with that day? >> well, one reason we relive it is the film footage is sered in our imaginations. it's the same as the kennedy assassination and that way we watched the world trade center collapse over and over again in our minds. you know, 20 years ago, our country pulled together. that was the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. we lost nearly 3,000 americans. we had 25,000 injured. many people were later sick from environmental problems developed from the attack. the immediate wake at the time when george w. bush spoke to the country ask days later came to new york with the bull horn, american flags went up over the country as you remember, don, we were united living the united states of america and we'll stand together and that quickly dissipated probably by mission over reach in the united states. we went into afghanistan to fair out al qaeda and the taliban but 20

and just to give you a case in point is douglas brinkley, you may have seen this guy on tv, prominent historian, written at least-- books about at least six different presidents, many of them current or recent i should say. on the eve of donald trump's inauguration he was asked to sum up the obama presidency, and i'm paraphrasing here, but i'm close. first of all, he said, his presidency was almost unimpeachable, that's a quote. he governed with honesty and integrity, quote. and then he said this, he leaves us a lasting legacy of eight scandal-free years. now, those in the audience to studied obama or paid any attention to the news, the real news, know that that is a blow me over kind of comments. eight scandal-free years, what doesn't count? i guess benghazi doesn't count. i guess the suppression of the irs suppression of tea party doesn't count. i guess fast and furious didn't count. pickford doesn't count. the whole libya intervention doesn't count. what counts, the 34 lies told publicly to support obamacare that got obama named the lie of the year, if you want your doctor, keep yo

douglas brinkley is among them and ask them to rank the president's in order and then you have to ask yourself what would you put obama among that list? this was the first year the most recent one in which both trump and obama were listed. so where do they go? trump gets 41st place out of 44. that doesn't surprise you. whatat surprise you is he didn't get 44th out of 44th. thank n god for pierce and buchanan and i think chester arthur. barack obama, top ten, number ten. just put that in perspective, ronald reagan got number nine. this is theum way historians think. i scandal is a only a scandal if it's on the front page of "new york times." from that perspective there were no scandals and a barack obama presidency. the difference between the "new york times" and the old soviet pravda is the readers of the pravda knew they were being lied to. the readers of "new york times" still haven't figured that out. this is tragic. part of the reason for the book and my presentation is to intervene in this process. no one else is doing it. i sort of sort of my obligation, citizen of the united st

bless their hearts did a survey, they do this every four years 100 to 150 prominent historians, douglas brinkley is among them and they ask him to rank the presidents in order and then you have to ask yourself where would you put obama. this is the first year by the way the most recent one in which both trump and obama were listed so where did they go? trump gets 41st place out of 44. that doesn't surprise you. thank s god for pierce and buchanan. barack obama, number ten. to put that in perspective, ronald reagan got number nine and this is the way they think. from that perspective and the presidency the differencee between "the new york times" and the old soviet is the readers who knew they were being lied to but they still hadn't figured it out. part of the reason for my book and the presentation is to intervene in this process. no one else is doing this. most notably, woodrow wilson was sixth in the polls about 12 years ago and now he's 13 and that will continue to drop. so i will tell you why this would drop, in an anecdote and i double checked this this morning because i wanted to make sur

joining me, presidential historian douglas brinkley and mr.on, his show "the circus" will be back this weekend, hope you have some good material for it. >> never a lack of material, ever. >> good to see you. mark, former president bush drawing a line, comparing domestic terrorism to international terrorism, saying they're similar. he's made a point of staying out of politics since leaving office. what did you think? >> it was really important, coming out now, as you said, he's been staying pretty much off the radar. he picked his timing at a really important time in our history. and in our current era of incivility and insurrection, right? i mean, the fact is that we can debate the last 20 years and the loss of lives and money but the fact is we haven't had a foreign domestic attack since 9/11 in 20 years but we have had a domestic terror attack and we need to call it what it is. the problem is that donald trump and his supporters have made martyrs out of these people. they're calling the people who are being prosecuted political prisoners and

earlier don lemon spoke with douglas brinkley to get his take.ere it is. >> indeliblely seared in our imaginations like the kennedy assassination we watched the world trade center collapse over and over again in our minds. you know 20 years ago our country pulled together. that was the deadlyiest terrorist attack in world history. we lost nearly 3,000 americans. we had 25,000 injured. many people were later sick from environmental problems developed from the attack. but the immediate wake at the time when george w. bush spoke from the oval office to the country and then days later came to new york with the bull horn, american flags went all up all over the country. we were like united airlines. we were living with the united states of america and stood together. that dissipated by mission overreach. we went into afghanistan to ferret out al qaeda and taliban. here we are 20 years later taliban is in afghanistan. we had our longest war in average without a clear victory. so we're having to scratch our heads tomorrow, somberly prayerfully rememberi

joining me now, cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley and former adviser to george w.ush, mark mckinnon. his show the circus will be back this sunday. back and better than ever, baby. hope you have some material for it. i'm kidding. >> never any lack of material, don. >> good evening. mark, the former president bush drawing a line between the terrorism of 9/11 and the threat of domestic extremist, saying that they're similar. president bush has made a point to stay out of politics since he left office. what did you think when you heard his speech? >> well, i was really proud of him, and i thought it was a really important not only what he said but when he said it. coming out now, as you said, he's been staying pretty much off the radar. so he picked his timing at a really important time in our history and in our current era of incivility and insurrection, right? i mean the fact is that, you know, we can debate the last 20 years and the loss of lives and money. but the fact is we haven't had a foreign domestic attack since 9/11 in 20 years. but we have had a domestic te

the introduction was by a historian named douglas brinkley and johnny depp. i think they are trying to sell copies by having a superstar on the cover. i divided the discussion today into four sort of major themes. we can't cover all of the books. i thought the most interesting were looking at philanthropy, medical research, scientists and the various personalities, which are interesting, and also the ethical issues. with that, let's start the way we always do when looking at anything we have to read. first of all, who is the author? >> a professor at the university of texas at austin and a distinguished scholar in residence at nyu. >> fairly reputable. probably knows what he is talking about. >> i saw that he won the cartwright prize from columbia university medical center in 2010 for his research into the history of polio. it adds credit before reading. >> adds credibility. >> he won the pulitzer prize award in 2006 for this book. >> winning a pulitzer prize is substantial. what did you think of his writing, his research? were you impressed? >> i was impress

get a good review but he gets some attention, the introduction was by historian named david douglas brinkley and johnny depp so i think they're trying to sell copies by having a superstar on the cover. i divided the discussion into four themes. philanthropy, medical research. scientists, and ethical issues. let's start the way we always do in looking at anything we have to read and that is, first of all who is david o. >> a professor of the university of texas at austin. and a distinguished scholar and residents at nyu. >> fairly reputable. >> we'd say. >> yeah, probably knows what he's talking about. yeah, david. >> i saw he won the cartwright award from columbia university medical center in 2010 for his research into the history so he had some cred inter. >> definitely. >> also won the pulitzer prize in 2006. >> yeah, winning a pulitzer prize is substantial for sure. what did you think of his writing and research, elizabeth. >> i was impressed by the thoroughness of his research i think he went above and beyond researching the relationships between the scientists and between the politician