has ate everyone here least a quick elevator talk you can make about james buchanan. it did not work as he planned. when we talk about the presidential stock exchange, is always in the basement. one of the revered speakers at this conclave, james macpherson, a fewoted in usa today years ago as saying that james buchanan was indubitably the worst present we ever had. a debatable proposition, but not one that most people disagree with. certainly he was not the first person to suggest that. others have said it in rather firm tones. what we know about james buchanan tends to be an elevator talk rather than a complicated rendering of a formidable individual in a time of great troubles. he was not, fundamentally, up to meeting the challenge that he faced. what we think we know is that he need in the time of greatest stress and prices. historians love to talk about how the only did two things in the secession crisis, he prayed and cried. to add to that, he would say, please let this challenge pass from me. that doesn't give you a sense of formidable leadership. that is what j

buchanan served as james k. polk's secretary of state. during buchanan's presidency and also during the pierce administration, buchanan had become clearly identified with the interests of expansionists. during the polk administration, buchanan was often the person who was arguing against expansionism, arguing within the polk administration against expansionism. in the end, polk came to be quite irritated by buchanan and one way of getting rid of him was to kick him upstairs and have him take a seat on the u.s. supreme court, which buchanan ultimately declined. buchanan himself is a fascinating person as we look over the course of his career and also as we look at the decisions that he made as president. as michael said, if there is a theme that comes out during buchanan's presidency, it is his errant decisiveness. and that he is a bit of a gambler as well. trying to get the lecompton constitution through the house was a bit of a gamble on his part. he figured if he could get the issue of slavery out of the way, the issue itself would go aw

nermeen: that was james buchanan in the bbc tv series directed by adam curtis.ell us, firstu of all, respond to what he says about the public interest and also you say that trump is almost the logical conclusion of some of buchanan's ideas. so could you explain what you mean by that and what ideas specifically? >> i actually have never seen the clip you just pulled, so i just want to underscore for listeners those words. that is what i wanted to tear down, the idea of a public interest. when we try to understand the mayhem that is unfolding all around us, the ugliness that is out there, the gross aspersions on people's character who are help peopleou know, in our society, write? and make a better country, this is where that comes from. that was buchanan's ideas, that we're all just self-interested actors and nobody is telling the truth. and second i forgot the follow-up. nermeen: about what the connection is -- >> with trump, of course. if you listen to his rhetoric on the campaign trail, he is speaking that when which of tearing down the notion of the public in

is -- we all know that james buchanan is often overlooked. we are going to remedy that in a moment. i want to quickly introduce our speakers. first is john quist, the tall one standing behind michael birkner. history.rofessor of he teaches classes in 19 century u.s. history and 20th century as well. he studied at the university of michigan. a student of james mills important -- portend. john has published a very important book entitled the social roots of antebellum reform in alabama and michigan. and his co-speaker today is michael birkner. michael is the benjamin franklin professor of liberal arts and professor of history at gettysburg college. many of you might remember that michael was the interim director of the civil war institute. he played a pivotal role in the transition. let me just say

all the other presidents, even james buchanan and philmore would turn over in their graves. ulysses grant would. it's awful. >> the type of ak sags that you're making, what are you doing? you have joined nearly 200 democratic members of congress who joined a lawsuit saying he is violating the emoluments clause. why not go through congress? why not go through judiciary and the commit, where i'm a ranking member on the constitution to have hearings on the emolment clause. instead we had a hearing on lawyer advertising on drug cases. the previous, if and the many people who are harmed by defective merchandise, defective drugs and robo calls that inconvenience you. we took the emoluments clause that says the president is supposed to seek the approval of congress before he takes any money of foreign gets we have standing in the district to have the court and ask congress for con isn't to continue to take -- >> how do you think this is going to work its way into robert mueller and the special investigation? >> for one thing, it's a protection -- it's a constitutional violation by

when james buchanan was sworn in at the ripe old age of 65. why do i care about this? by the time he was worn in if he won the white house in 2020. need i mention hillary clinton? elizabeth warren? bernie sanders? you get my point. after the break we'll talk about biden. there's a jacket that's reflective for visibility... ...a sleeping bag jacket, jackets that turn into tents. i usually do my fashion sketches on the computer. i love drawing on the screen. there's no lag time at all. it feels just like my markers. with fashion, you can dress people and help people. it's really cool to see your work come to life. and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you bp engineered a fleet of 32 brand new ships with advanced technology, so we can make sure oil and gas get where they need to go safely. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. >>> welcome back. fire up

buchanan, bbc news, edinburgh. the time is nearly 6:15pm. the top story this evening. the former fbi director accuses donald trump's white house of lying about him. jamesnt. and still to come, we've just fired by the president. and still to come, we'vejust got fired by the president. and still to come, we've just got to put our own package together. cutting dialogue — how the national theatre's latest play is hoping to attract new audiences. coming up in sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news: a very happy birthday forjelena 0stapenko — the first unseeded player to reach the french open final in over 30 years. it's almost three years since british combat troops withdrew from afghanistan after more than a decade fighting the taliban. some of the heaviest fighting took place in helmand province where over 100 british soldiers died. since the withdrawal, helmand and many other parts of the country have fallen back into the hands of the taliban. auliya atrafi from the bbc‘s afghan service has been given rare access to the taliban's effective capital, musa qala. we just entered taliban territory. we didn't have to travel far. all we had to do was get