here to talk about this is anthony scaramucci and joe lockhart. let's get this out of the way first. joe, are journalists the enemy of the american people? >> no. that shouldn't be hard to say from the podium. >> anthony? are journalists the enemy? >> i've said that consistently they are not the enemy. when you use the word enemy that means you're at war with people. i've asked the president and i've said to people in the administration to end the war declaration against the media. >> we might disagree on some other issues but i'm glad all three can agree about the rhetoric. why do you think the president is falling back to this enemy rhetoric and using it more often? do you see a strategy behind it? >> he's upset because if you look at the harvard study and other studies, the bias there is about 90% against the president. he's a counter puncher. i think it's the wrong strategy. what ends up happening is you're uniting people against you that you don't need to unite. if you really understand the first amendment and you understand the hits historica

i liked those calls. >> note the key element there, i always had my deputy joe lockhart who then went on to be press secretary himself, i always had him make the call so i could be, oh, susan, we will be friends forever. >> i've got a similar story. i've got a similar story. one day i get a phone call from scott mcclellan who was then the deputy press secretary at the white house and he says the president didn't like that story you wrote this morning. and i said, well, what didn't he like about it? he said, he just didn't like it. it was george w. bush. i thought back what was the story. the story was that president bush takes a big pride in the fact that he never changes his mind. well, here are three places where he changed his mind and it was on the front page of "usa today" that day. so i says, well, what's wrong with the story? anything inaccurate there? well, no. well, what does he want? he says, well, nothing, i guess -- he goes -- well, 3:00 in the afternoon comes, this was in the morning, 3:00 in the afternoon comes and he calls again and said the president is wrong about tha

let's bring back our guests and add joe lockhart. graham sure put a lump in your throat, you know the history, you know how close they were. i was on "straight talk express" in 2000, and they were together every day. >> the speech on the floor reminded me of a younger brother more than anything else. a younger senator that lost a guiding light, and they have that kind of relationship, it is particular in these times, it is still special when you see that relationship in politics. >> friendship is a beautiful thing, i'm not sure it has anything to do with politics, but lindsey graham lost a dear, dear friend and it was emotional and moving to see him talk about it. >> and they were so funny, both of them, they're so funny individually and so fun any together. and they could make fun of each other. john mccain told a few dumb jokes over and over, and we know he did, and he said the more he humiliated you the more he liked you. in that regard, i was well served, he is just capturing that friendship, and that response from senator graham

cnn political commentator, joe lockhart joining us. it has been 23 hours and i still think it is remarkable. it is remarkable, but i want to know this year, more americans than not, believe the president of the united states was a racist. >> and they have a reason to believe it, when we keep questioning it as if it is not born out by the facts, we undermine the facts. he has given decades of interviews, said all manner of things when he was not a politici politician, that is part of the record. we keep having a strange stra e standard. they want us to restart every week, month, and year. they want us to start over even though he has never apologized about anything. the only thing he apologized about was the "access hollywood tape." he says i should not have done that, maybe it is not even me on the tape. when you see a person that has done this is, never apologized, never walked away from it, how do you expect me or others not to take that into calculation about his behaviors and run everything he does through that filter. not doing th

i want to bring in joe lockhart and mark mckinnon, a former adviser to george w. bush and john mccain. gentlemen, welcome. trump was in for the florida governor. what does it mean for 2018 in the republicans emerging from primaries are coming in large part from the trump wing of the party? >> well, the acid test for any of the primary candidates is who can hug trump the closest. adam putnam, the agriculture commission in florida was the odds on favorite. and trump was defended by rod and he got his endorsement and now he's leading by double digits. the question is if these candidates win the primary by being the most loyal to trump, are they the best general election candidates? i don't think that's the case. so it may be good for the primary strategy for the candidates. the question is does it translate in november? >> interesting. >> for example, don, another thing i'd say about that is especially in governor's races. i think the voters want a degree of independence from the white house and president. when you hug that tightly, it's hard to get that separation.

i liked those calls. >> note the key element there, i always had my deputy joe lockhart who then went on to be press secretary himself, i always had him make the call so i could be, oh, susan, we will be friends forever. >> i've got a similar story. i've got a similar story. one day i get a phone call from scott mcclellan who was then the deputy press secretary at the white house and he says the president didn't like that story you wrote this morning. and i said, well, what didn't he like about it? he said, he just didn't like it. it was george w. bush. i thought back what was the story. the story was that president bush takes a big pride in the fact that he never changes his mind. well, here are three places where he changed his mind and it was on the front page of "usa today" that day. so i says, well, what's wrong with the story? anything inaccurate there? well, no. well, what does he want? he says, well, nothing, i guess -- he goes -- well, 3:00 in the afternoon comes, this was in the morning, 3:00 in the afternoon comes and he calls again and said the president is wrong about tha

in the morning my phone was ringing it would be joe lockheart who would be the -- lockhart. he would yell at me at stories that i had not done. stories i had not yet read on usa today. the first time i got this call i said mike, do you think there was something inaccurate, are you asking for a correction. no he was just yelling. the third time he did this. i said you talked to clinton in the morning. mike would then say to joe to call susan and joe would come back and say i gave her hell. then you would go to clinton and say, yeah we really told them off. was that correct. >> yeah. you got that 100% correct. >> i got a few of those calls at cnn. i looked those calls. >> i always had the press secretary to make the call. then we'll be friends forever. >> i have a similar story to add to that. one day i get a phone call from scott mcclellan who's the white house secretary at the white house, and he says the president didn't like that story you wrote this morning. and i said well what didn't he like about it. and he said he just didn't like it. it was george w. bush. i thought