is robert traynham right? is his brain all he needs before a meeting with vladimir putin?well, unfortunately the answer is no. i think -- i say unfortunately because he represents us as americans. he went into the meeting obviously knowing he has to address hacking in some way, shape or form. he went after john podesta and the russians were the ones who stole his e-mail, hacked into his e-mail so how does he go after podesta and then meet with vladimir putin and go after him? he can't have it both ways. vladimir putin on the other hand does do his homework. did study donald trump very well. knew how to approach him. knew how to bend to his softer side. remember, he called him lightly -- and he praised him throughout the election. listen, this guy is smarter than most people would know and i'm looking forward to meeting with him. so i think going forward, this was an important step for the two to meet. to put this passed them and obviously next year vladimir putin has his own election to focus on in russia and in the meantime the two will probably meet within the next year

>> he said he brought it up and robert traynham, quickly, what about this idea that at least at the end presidency, president obama did seize the compound and enacted tough sanctions. he was persuaded by john mccain and lindsey graham to back the cia program that president trump killed in the last month. where are the republican voices other than our friend john mccain who is battling his own health week. but other than senator mccain and lindsey graham, where is the republican -- i know they voted for the sanctions bills, but why aren't they lobbying the white house, why aren't they saying this passed 98-2, sign this or else. >> that's a good question. the silence is deaf eng. quite frankly, i'm so ashamed of the party right now, particularly republican senators because the tables were turned, in this was barak obama or hillary clinton who bill clinton, impeachment calls would be singing from the roof tops. i mean, the hypocrisy here is, it's so sad. it's really sad. and put the party aside, i mean, the country is at risk here. we know that putin is a thug. we know that he's a highly m

former senior adviser to bush/cheney, robert traynham. john heilman and the rev, my friday date, host of politics nation here on msnbc and president of the national action network. john heilman, it's been a long time since -- well, i don't remember the last time any of us had to bleep out so many words in anything anyone said. >> well, it's "access hollywood" weekend. >> that's it. ding ding. you always get the right answer. >> the last time the new york times had the "f" word in its pages and something they have not done very much. as i think about what happened this week i never thought i'd be making a seinfeld analogy on this show. >> why not? >> it's the trump version of festiv festivus. trump on sessions and then scaramucci on bannon and priebus. the one alpha male in trump and now the ascendant alpha male in scaramucci they're venting their spleens against the perceived enemies within the walls. all of them at the human level they would be like i'm out of here. but you know reince priebus has been humiliated serially throughout his

your thoughts, robert traynham. >> very quickly.ook at the optic, sitting to the president's left. that chair is often reserved either for another head of state or for the vice president. i do believe that this president looks at general kelly and says finally i have a man in charge, finally this is a map what's risen from the top, finally this is a former general. you know, he respects that. the president really loves strong leaders. and i think he sees that in general kelly, hence the reason why he placed him in the oesm office to his left. that is, again, typically used or reserved for a head of state. i think it's very telling. >> colonel, i have no training in body language but he looks to me like somebody who says i just apsalm leave the chair and get to work. we have to go through these formalities but there is stuff that has to get done. what's your final thought as we close this out? >> well, yeah, john kelly is not all bad. he went to the u.s. army's advanced officer infantry school. just joking but of course he's ready to

mike peska, elise jordan, and robert traynham. ashley, at this point, how do they all wake up connected to the white house? scaramucci, steve bannon, reince priebus. they all can't exist. >> well, it's certainly an uneasy truce between them. i mean, i think still here scaramucci has the upper hand. to be clear, that sort of rant and that sort of behavior in any other white house that communications director would no longer be communicating and would have been fired and marched out the toor. he is still here and people in the white house are publicly defending him so proactively. the most interesting question is reince priebus, the chief of staff. he's been isolated for a while, hanging on very tenuously. in some ways it's an open question and some of it is up to reince. he's told friends and confidants he wants to stay for a full year and in theory that might still be able to happen. it depends on how much public humiliation the chief of staff is willing to take. i've been told the president is looking past hip, ignoring him, trea

i want to bring in robert traynham, he's currently an msnbc analyst, debbie hines is a trial attorney and former baltimore prosecutor, phil and with me howard dean, former dnc chairman and msnbc contributor. so whatever you want to call it, robert, speed bumps, he didn't seem to think that much was going on, what do you make of don junior's defense that, first of all, he was naive, he was new to politics, and anyway nothing came of it. >> that could be partially true. yes, they are new to politics and, yes, he's never done this before. what's more troubling is two things. one, is that on the second e-mail he cc'ed paul manafort and don junior had a meeting. paul has been around for many, many, many years. one would think he would not have taken that meeting and said what are you doing, we need to call the fbi immediately. this is not even illegal, this is highly unethical. this is the russians, dawnonald junior, we should not be doing that. so one could make the argument that the gray beard should have said something but didn't and that's very, very troubling. >> and the president say