show less text 00:06:39 matt schlapp matt schlapp guest: i don't lay this at mitch mcconnell's feet did he did one of the greatest thing i have ever seen in politics by keeping that supreme court seat. host: what is your take of the foreign relations committee? guest: we think the iran deal was not appropriately handled. for senator corker who has sometimes question the president's rental facilities, at the same time what i question, is the mental facilities of allowing iran to have a nuclear weapon. i think it is one of the most tragic decisions the senate has made to not treat that as a treaty which would have taken the super majority vote and never have passed. the president now has the obligation to unwind it which is difficult. host: which explains this tweet an hour ago from the president. "strange statement from bob corker." i think one of the most tragic decisions senate has made to not treat this -- increasingly majority vote. there's an obligation to try and unwind this -- it's very difficult. >> when you play this tweet this morning -- and ago from the president. strange stat

i have to go to matt schlapp. uld the party be better without the rhino hype senators -- >> matt: you are saying the senators that failed to get behind the conservative platform trump is putting out there is undeniably a conservative platform even if you have disagreements. it's undeniable that if hillary clinton had won, she would've picked the supreme court opening. that alone can change your generation. i would say, jeff flake started out with a strong american conservative union congressional -- the house, the senates. he is in the 70s rating. it's inappropriate to say he speaks for conservatives with this new book. the son of the person who helped write the first "conscience of a conservative" for barry goldwater stepped in. >> eric: what do your listeners think about senator jeff flake? >> dom: they think he bills himself with the conservative, there might be fraud with this book. they know of him. the second thing they think is here's another one of these guys who went the wrong way on health care, attacking

host: we want to welcome back matt schlapp. good friday morning. guest: good to be with you but it is not good friday. host: let me begin with the sentence and finish it if you would. guest: unchartered. we have never been here before. we have never elected a president who had such shallow roots with a party. maybe jimmy carter was similar but he is been elected governor of georgia. congress and the president don't see eye to eye. host: why's he going after the people he needs the most. or does he need them? guest: he does need them but they also need the president. if you look at everyone of the senators who have had a skirmish with the president, the president is responding to something they have said. senators are not used to that. there used to playing an autonomous role to people being very deferential to them. this president doesn't play the game that way. host: let me share some news on this friday morning from the washington post. this headline, president trump distancing himself from the gop. writing that he is strategically separating him

we have ana navarro and matt schlapp, chairman of the american conservative union. what do you do about this? >> nobody likes to see these types of numbers chris but i think it's important we're at a point in politics where i didn't get a copy of this poll so i haven't read it thoroughly but if you look at the numbers of congress they're abysmal, the fact we had six republican senators switch their vote on obamacare approval, there's great concern out there amongst democrats and republicans. you have a lot of democrats who are looking at the this strategy of hashtag resistance and they know that's not a good strategy but if you're the president and looking at these numbers, you know that you've got to steady the ship on these messages that come out of the white house and you have to make sure that you're pushing back on false stories about what their agenda is, and number one, you've got to get accomplishments through congress. you have to repeal obamacare and get a big tax package down. >> how does the president lift his own credibility by attacking the others, the

one theory that we heard from matt schlapp is because of us, because the coverage is so negative, it's like oozed over the president and colored perceptions, and the other is no, it's because of what he did. he's driving the negativity by creating narratives that are often false or worse, and engendering negativity. the poll reflects the latter, his tweets, 70%, they don't think they're good for him. >> i love matt, but if we were that influential, then a lot of things in politics would look different. when i talk to republican voters, and i've spent a lot of time asking republicans how do they feel about the president's tweets and behavior versus agenda, what they have told med and what they have told a lot of us is they like the president's agenda, they don't regret their vote, because the alternative was hillary clinton, but they don't like the tweets. they don't like the weird antics, behavior, and they would like the president to do what he promised and be a leader. >> kellyanne said the same thing, by the way. >> that's key, when she says something like that acknowledging it is l

fox news white house correspondent and matt schlapp the contributor with "the hill." >> that's as good as anything i've heard on the campaign trail and he is relitigating charlottesville. clearly he had something he wanted to get off his chest and we were discussing this. the president had i think a clear win last fight with his speech with the new policy in afghanistan. some people complaineded about lack of detail but that was deliberate on the part of the president and now he's changed the subject again and what you'll see is when he was recounting what he said about charlottesville he left out the part that was the most controversial that got him in so much trouble even with members of his own party saying there's blame to go around on both sides and there's fine people on both sides of that argument as well. i thought it was interesting a couple things. he made policy tonight saying he'll shut down government if need be in order to get the wall built. i think we also saw a nod towards the midterm elections where he said if the democrats don't give you tax reform they have stood in

matt schlapp, contributor with "the hill."dent largely getting praise within the republican party and assets of another campaign style rally the people are going to be paying attention to. >> absolutely. people from both sides of the aisle, you are saying protesters are showing up, supporters want to come. i think the big question going into tonight is what we are going to see from the president and what style. last night we saw a very straight performance. he was very focused, very calm, focusing on the teleprompter. a campaign rally can be a very different thing. we know that sheriff question seems to be settled for today, but does he take shots at republican lawmakers? john mccain? does he reignite some of the rhetoric that's gotten them into trouble? i think those are the questions we are thinking about. >> bret: >> bret: former house r newt gingrich had similar thoughts about tonight. >> it will be fascinating to watch because he's clearly in transition. he has a very presidential speech to a veterans organization tomorro

matt schlapp, what is wrong with affirmative action? >> nothing is wrong with it.t was well intended. when you have populations that faced serious discrimination, the government steps in to make sure people are not doing things that break the law and discriminate against people. >> so why now try to change it? >> the whole concept is eventually you want these programs to go away, eventually you want to realize dr. king's dream of a color blind society. >> have we gotten here? do you think it's outlived its usefulness? >> at the american conservative union we have the family prosperity index. what you're seeing in politics and in culture, there's tremendous hardship that is wreaking havoc on rural white america, opioid addiction, duh sides going through the roof. at some point in these programs, especially in college admissions, you're saying we'll give you the leg up, give you the slot. inevitably you're actually taking slots away as well. as a country we have to ask ourselves at what point do we have the right standards in these programs. >> van, your response? >>

matt schlapp. all right, you hear the speech as a lot. >> that was as good as anything i'd heard on the campaign trail. here we are. eight months into his presidency. clearly had something he wanted to get off of his chest. he had a clear win last night with his speech about the new policy in afghanistan. some people complained about a lack of detail but i think that was deliberate for the president. now he has completely changed the subject and a lot of what you will see tomorrow is the fact that when he was counting what he said about charlottesville, he left out the part that that was the most controversial. there is going to go around on both sides. find people on both sides of that argument as well. i thought it was interesting, a couple of things. he made policy tonight. saying shut down government. in order to get the wall built. and we also saw a nod towards the midterm elections next year. the president said if democrats don't give you tax reform, they have stood in the way of you getting

matt schlapp. all right, you hear the speech as a lot. >> that was as good as anything i'd heard on the campaign trail. here we are. eight months into his presidency. clearly had something he wanted to get off of his chest. he had a clear win last night with his speech about the new policy in afghanistan. some people complained about a lack of detail but i think that was deliberate for the president. now he has completely changed the subject and a lot of what you will see tomorrow is the fact that when he was counting what he said about charlottesville, he left out the part that that was the most controversial. there is going to go around on both sides. find people on both sides of that argument as well. i thought it was interesting, a couple of things. he made policy tonight. saying shut down government. in order to get the wall built. and we also saw a nod towards the midterm elections next year. the president said if democrats don't give you tax reform, they have stood in the way of you getting

and matt schlapp, he's the chairman of the american conservative union and the former white house politicalector under president george w. bush. and it's great to see you both with us again. thank you very much. matt, i want to come to you first. the president is talking unity today in that speech that he gave in nevada. but last night-- >> yeah. >> woodruff: it was a raucous call. he was defending the way he handled charlottesville. i was just talking to congressman hurd about it. his supporters in the audience loved it, but a lot of people who were listening say they were concerned about what they heard. how did you hear it? >> yeah, i think that's what's going on in our politics and it's been going on for, i think, for too long. but we're in our corners. the nation is are very divided plecht has never been more left, and the right has never been more right. and this president was elected-- at least his core supporters didn't elect him because they wanted to bring peace and unity to the country. they were spoiling for a fight because of after eight years of obama and what they felt being

doug schoen a former advisor to president clinton and fox news contributor and matt schlapp.ee you both, gentlemen. >> good to see you. >> harris: doug, i will start with you. you were in the white house with the former president at the time of the iran hostage-taking and there have been a lot of things that you have have seen that look like we are on the brink. have you heard congressman issa and the way he put it your thoughts? >> well, we are on the brink, harris. the question is what are we going to do beyond what we have done? because for 20 years, we have rattled the saber and north korea keeps testing and now we're on the brink of the potential of an existential moment for our country. i think we have to put more pressure on the chinese. i think we need to put more pressure at the u.n. but we have to actively consider the use of europe lateral force. something nobody wants if, in fact, those steps do not get them, the north koreans to stand down. and we also have to consider regime change on a proactive basis. >> harris: wow. >> those are unpalatable thoughts, i know.

matt schlapp is here.ist stephanie cutter, communications director for president obama. megan murphy and senior editor at national review. let me begin with you. as you look at the program today you see a bit of this divorce between the president and the republican establishment. kellyanne conway being quite tough on the republicans of thinking of runs in 2020 and senator thom tillis about supporting this legislation, protecting the special counsel. what are we seeing? >> you're seeing a lot of division amongst republican that is started in the primary season going forward. so much political change. definitely i can tell you on the republican side i see a lot of change going on on the democratic side as well. constitutional disagreement between the legislative branch and the executive branch. that's baked into the cake they're supposed to have disagreements. but reason publicans run the wh show. donald trump is kind of testing things that we haven't seen before. >> and going straight to the base in west vi

and also, matt schlapp, chairman of the american conservative union and the former white house politicalector for president george w. bush. let's begin with you, your old boss learned the pitfalls of dealing with natural disaster. >> he didn't like being called old. >> reporter: after you left the white house i should add. how is president trump handling his first major challenge dealing with the natural disaster. >> it's tough for the president. they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. they're criticized for going down and getting the attention off those whose lives are in danger. but then when they stay back and try to monitor thing from the situation room people say you're not showing compassion and should you be out there talking to folks. so, i think donald trump understood that there were going to be credit can no matter what he did. he demonstrated to the community that he has compassion for those whose lives have forever been affected. he's bringing the power of the federal government to everything that can be -- done possibly to help these folks. and this is going to be

to talk about it matt schlapp.arlov and senior director of research and co-author of a new book, you're both very busy. >> i'm exhausted hearing it. >> shannon: thank you for taking time today. let's talk about this. the article came out yesterday citing a leaked document that didn't have any information about who would be the subject of these investigation. here is what it said. the document, calling for people to join the investigation doesn't identify who the justice department considers at risk because of add min policies. the phrasing it uses cuts to the heart of programs designed to bring more minority students to university campuses. it turned out this was about defending asian american students. >> right. this is so typical. this is the swamp. these are the leaks that we're used to trying to explain in republican administrations. most of the bureaucracies in washington, d.c. are dominated by career employees favoring the democrats. when they see a republican president coming in with an agenda and part of it

matt schlapp, democratic strategist and "after the bell" co-host david asman.en, they need a win. >> they need a win but i'm optimistic about taxes. i know you think it may be put off until next year. neil: if that. >> the democrats signed a manifesto about taxes. it says more of the same that the government's the best entity to spend money in the economy, better than the private sector that's now taxes. they want to continue to spend as much government money. neil: that manifesto signed by 45 of 48 democrats don't consider cutting taxes on the top 1%. >> it leaves a huge vacuum for donald trump to step in tonight, he's speaking out. i hope he hits on taxes, and yesterday, you had a lot of people on, bill mcgern and others, needs to hit them on the base. neil: right, i need to know where he stands. >> we know that he believes that the government does a worse job. neil: i know, i don't know how far he wants to go with this. >> he better, this is an opportunity. >> you are right about that, but michael, i don't know whether democrats demanding that, you know, con