we will speak with robert kuttner. bannon spoke to him last week and remarkable interview days before his ouster. then we look at billionaire carl icahn, who resigned last week as a realtor adviser to president trump just before "the new yorker" published headline "carl icahn's failed raid on washington." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump has announced plans to escalate the u.s. war in afghanistan, already the longest war in u.s. history. while trump offered few specifics during his prime time address monday night, he has reportedly already signed off on a plan to send about 4000 more troops to afghanistan. the u.s. is already intensifying its air war. during the month of june, the u.s. carried out 389 airstrikes in afghanistan - the highest monthly total in five years. trump's speech follows an intense debate within the white house. trump's top generals had been pressing trump to deploy thousands more u.s. troops, while

robert kuttner. that's for joining us. i appreciate it. robert kuttner with the american prospect.shley parker is a white house reporter for the "washington post" and an msnbc political analyst. thank you to both of you. the state of alabama sues the city of birmingham for covering up a confederate monument. two states away from alabama, lexington kentucky takes a stand. the city council there voted unanimously to move two confederate statute use from the city center after an emotional public meeting at city hall last night. >> i can't he is escape the color i am, nor can i escape my present, but i can damn do something about the present and hopefully the future. >> take down those confederate statues and show the worlds that americans really fight for freedom. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. woman: for some, lyrica can signifi

the white house, if they don't agree with what donald trump is saying. >> yang: joshua green, robert kuttner, you both have fascinating insights into this guy steve bannon. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: why the u.s. has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world. a brief but spectacular take on writing compelling stories. and a world war ii veteran returns a japanese soldier's flag 73 years later. but first, as more and more shopping is done online, what will become of the 16 million americans who work in the retail industry? our economics correspondent, paul solman, takes a look. it's part of our series, "making sense" which airs thursdays on the newshour. >> this is a great, great, great basic black top. >> reporter: this summer jennifer richter opened her own clothing boutique, online. >> this is just the future of retail. the brick and mortar stores, they're just going to keep trimming the fat and keep eliminating positions. >> reporter: richter speaks from experience. in january she was one of over

. >> we'll continue this conversation with eugene scott and journalist robert kuttner. , i do want to start with you. you had the possibly last interview with steve bannon as he was chief strategist on tuesday and i understand you had some questions about whether you believe he was actually fired on august 7th. what is your trepidation in believing that? >> well, i trust the new york times reporting on this. megan is a traffic reporter as you know and if she says he submitted a letter of resignation on august 7 i'm sure that's true and then you wonder whether he's delusional because he telephones me two weeks later and invites me to come to the white house, first he wanted me to come to the white house immediately. then he wanted me to come to the white house after labor day and we had a whole conversation whose premise was that bannon is increasingly in charge, that he's trying to get control of trade policy wants my advice, treating me like i'm an old soul mate because i have also criticized trade policy even though i agree with steve bannon on virtually nothing else.

more confusing this interview is all based off a phone conversation bannon had with the author robert kuttner and it's unclear whether or not it was supposed to be on the record or off the record i think vanna did intend for this interview to be on the record because one kelley is limited bands access to trump and so now he's trying to go through him using the media around kelly using the media and number two he sees that he steve bennett is going down in flames and wants to be a player we just have a minute left your thoughts. josh green the badger i mean the devil's bargain i mean he he talks about steve banned in telling donald trump don't be afraid to insult people go right after them and this reminds me of that that steve bannon is looking forward to seeing a part in that regard the president's statements on north korea don't necessarily contradict what we heard from steve gannett i mean steve benen you don't i mean the president is what's he been on that we're going to a lot of. fire and yet you're in and granderson through no military i guess what donald trump got the north koreans to

that is according to steve bannon and a freewheeling phonecall to robert kuttner at the american prospectwith china. it's another literature. they're not shy about saying what they are doing. one of us is going to be a hegemon and 25 or 30 years but it's going to be them if we go down this path. the chinese responded by saying quote there is no winner in a trade war so should be really be looking at this as an economic battle to the death or perhaps free trade? joining me now back in business brian brenberg an associate professor of economics at the king's college in new york city. welcome back. >> good to be here. kennedy: great to have you. let's discuss because we all know that free trade is great that you think bannon has it right when it comes to intellectual property? >> the problem with china is it's not totally free trade. china is one of the biggest ip abusers in the world and they've been at it for a long time. that's an attack on property rights. free trade is great but if property rights aren't defended free trade doesn't work and it can exist. kennedy: copyrights are a natura

as steve ba, president t trump's chief strategist, grgranted an extraordinary interview with robert kuttner of the liberal magazine "the american prospect." in an article titled, "steve bannon, unrepentant," the former breitbart news editor dececlared there is no military solution to the north korean nuclear crisis. and bannon said the u.s. should engage in an e economic war w wt chinina. bannon said he is looking to neutralize rivals in the departments of defense, state, and treasury, and criticized the white supremacists behind last week and violence in charlottesville, calling them at no nationalists and a collection of clowns. bannon is the former head of breitbart news, the site that is been described as an online haven for white nationalists. it is not their weathervane a new his comments were on the record. the new site reported one unnamed white house staffer said payments, collection infuriated him m as saying "i will put thts in terms he will understand. this is deaf gone one level bad." the city of greensboro, north carolina, has apologized for its role in a 1979 incident that sa

said this morning that steve bannon was disturbed, didn't think he was giving an interview to robert kuttnerand that he told his colleagues he can't believe what they're reading tonight, or as you said, steve bannon's white house colleagues can't believe what they're reading tonight, and here's the twist, neither can bannon. the white house chief strategist has told associates he never intended to do an interview with an editor of the american prospect, a left-wing publication so. that's all on the website there on prospect's website. you can read it there. want to show you another moment from yesterday. we at c-span covered the memorial service for heather hire, who was killed when that white nationalist intentionally drove his vehicle into the crowd. "usa today," a mother's tribute is their headline about susan and the eulogy that she gave yesterday at the memorial. here's a little bit from what she had to say. >> here's the message. although heather was a caring and compassionate person, so are a lot of you. a lot of you go that extra mile. and i think the reason that what happened to hea

joining us is robert kuttner who interviewed bannon on that article.hank you very much for coming in >> thank you for having me >> he reached out to you, right? >> yeah, i got an e-mail from one of his assistants saying mr. bannon would like you to come to the white house and talk to you. i want to make sure it is legit and i called the guy on the phone, i am on vacation but this stuff that we are talking about is moving rapidly, why don't we do it by phone bannon agreed and about an hour later, he called me. he did not take the trouble to say whether it was on the record or off the record. when a high government official calls you does not say you are on the record if you are on the record >> he did not know he was on the record do you believe that? i don't. >> what totally is bizarre is a day later he did not know he was on the record, he calls the daily mail which is a british publication, he did it deliberately to distract media attention. so this is a guy, who you know changes his story from day-to-day and the other thing that i want to emphasize