to discuss all of the recent news and more, veteran journalist from abc, cbs and here at cnn, jeff greenfieldjeff, if i had to sum up the first six months with an acronym, it would be o.m.g. as in oh, my god, because every day seems to bring a different banner head line. but my question for you is to step back for a moment. it the president actually more effective than he's given credit? >> the administration is. and i think that's an important distinction. i've had the sense, when i turn on the news, and i do that less and less, is ground hog day. every day there is an o.m.g. breaking news, martians have invades, my god, my god. but if you look at what the administration is doing, whether it's specifically directed by trump which given his policy jobs may not be the case. a lot is being done. the fact that he outsourced the picks to the federal society. and that dozens are now being cleared now with the health care bill. he will have what the federal government has reshaped the federal bench for years if not decades to come. as a lawyer, you know the courts of appeals decide the vast majorit

jeff greenfield is here to discuss. might protecting that probe be that which finally unites democrats and republicans? talking to senator chris coons. the president has been bragging about the record-breaking dow jones highs and latest job numbers, how much credit is rightfully his? we'll discuss. and meet the michigan man who was arrested for drunk driving in his own driveway. can that really be illegal? plus, with affirmative action under fire, harvard's new crop of students is predominantly non-white for the first time ever. are there limits on asian-americans? immediate the indian-american who got into medical school by pretending to be black. >>> the most jarring headline was the "wall street journal" article thursday that there was a grand jury impanelled due to the inquiry that's growing in intensity and entering a new phase. for those in the legal profession, what's more akin to the scene in "casablanca" bernard is shocked about the gambling in rick's cafe. the district of new york said it quell, quote, not sur

newshour weekend special correspondent jeff greenfield is here with me now. >> before we get started with some of these changes let's talk about this times article, kellyanne conway dismissed it this morning on abc. too soon for these folks to be doing this? >> reporter: well it just shows you the weak nature of the trump presidency, six months in his term, he may not be around. i think figuring out 2020 from six months is a fool's errand. maybe this is about 2024. you really want to say to the political press, get a grip. but do i think just think iforts one -- it's one small piece of evidence this is a presidency unlike any have seen, he won't be around. >> sreenivasan: even with that considered, there are the legislative defeats, the health care was the spectacular one but there are changes happening underneath that congress doesn't necessarily have to approve. >> reporter: i think daily ong stories, breaking news breaking news is kind of distracting us from the following. the federal bench is being totally remade. dozens of appointments with no traditional filibuster, they are go

ignorant, insulting and foolish things you've ever said. >> back with me now, political analyst jeff greenfieldmiller's use of cosmopolitan earlier this week. why is that disturbing to people who have the historical ramifications of it? >> its history goes back to stalin, hitler, moot lussolini it to suggest disloyalty. in the column that i wrote, one mistake that i made was i thought i had made it clear that steven miller's use of it is divorced from anti-semitism. i should have made that clear, particularly because jeef stiller is jewish. what is true even in modern day battles, particularly in europe, cosmopolitan is like elitist on steroids. you means you were loyal to something other than our national tradition, our church's tradition or religious tradition, our culture. it's the implication that putin has that you're not willing to love mother russia. the fact that i've never heard it used in american political debate, the gakt that miller along with steve bannon is part of the nationalist wing of the trump movement i think is worth examining. >> many conservative critics set acosta cross

joining me now to discuss the president's latest actions is newshour weekend special correspondent jeff greenfield, who's in santa barbara, california. jeff, is there something that binds all these different actions together? >> yes, it's all about the base. so you have the second level departing whitehouse aide charging that the whitehouse has been captured by the globalists, the knee oh conservatists, the enemies of the steve bannon nationalists. if you want to appeal the base, you please the social conservatives with the bannon trans genders of the military then you pardon sheriff art pie pie -- our pi arpaio. and you say obama's plan to protect the children of undocumented immigrants, that may be going by the wayside. that's all about shoring up the promises you made to be tough on immigration and to side with the social conservatives. >> sreenivasan: why do that on a friday night literally as a hurricane is coming to shore? >> for anybody else, you'd have the suspicions that he was trying to hide it. but remember trump all but announced he was going to issue that pardon at a very well covered

. >> back with me now, joann litman, lydia potry and jeffrey greenfield. jeffe a slow acting poison, gradually hurting the country by causing more distrust of the media. it has been very high for a long time. it's getting worse. do you agree it's a poison when the president talks this way? >> it is a quite deliberate tactic and one he has been using from the time he ran for president. that is to inoculate his supporters against believing whatever is said about donald trump in the mainstream press. the idea is -- he said it in so many words -- whatever you hear from those sources, whether it's cnn or "the new york times" or abc, don't believe it. i don't think it takes a conspiratorial mind to understand the strategy. the next time a news outlet comes out with a story that puts donald trump in a bad light, the idea is his supporters will have been taught to say, fake news, don't believe it. the idea that the press doesn't love our country, i mean, you know, i don't how many reporters have died covering wars, trying to bring stories to the attention of the people

jeff greenfield is here to discuss.ht protecting that probe be that which finally unites democrats and republicans?

. >> rose: someone on this program jeff greenfield said that hillary clinton, he worked with bobby kennedy and others, and a yale law graduate by the way i think. >> okay. >> rose: said that when hillary clinton should do now, she should go to these working class communities and perhaps she is, but go to them and say i may not get your vote. but i want you to know i'm listening. and i want you to know that if i win and even don't get your vote i'm coming back, to give them some sense, to be able to believe that somebody heading for washington, if she is indeed heading for washington, has taken enough time to try to hear what the problems are. >> sure. i think that would be an extraordinarily constructive addition to our politics because at the end of the day if people only focus on those who they think will vote for them we will have an increasingly polarized electorate, right. >> rose: yes. >> i think there could be a natural constituency in the white working class for hillary clinton, the white working class voted for bill clinton in overwhelming numbers. so it's not, to me, it's not so