scott jennings, the wall street journal, which has a lovely profile of you in it this morning. they called this the dumbest trade war in history. so what's your reaction to all this? >> well, first of all. >> i agree. >> the profile was amazing. >> number two. >> this is not without risks. i mean, look, there are risks in engaging in this kind of massive policy upheaval. and and, you know, change in our, you know, economic flow with canada and mexico. however, let me try to offer some explanations for why trump might be on to something. again, not without risk, but he might be on to something. number one, the name of the game here is behavior modification. he wants canada and mexico to help stem the flow of drugs and people across the border. that's number one. he doesn't think they're doing enough. he's using these tariffs as a tool to say, look, i'm not fooling around. we mean business. until you help me, i'm going to inflict some pain upon you. the american economy is bigger than yours. you depend on us more than we depend on you. therefore, please modify your behavior. numb

. >> i want to bring in cnn's senior political commentator scott jennings, and former obama white houserector nayyera haq. glad to have both of you. but what tragedy has occurred since the last time any of us spoke to one another? i mean, i'll begin with you, scott. president trump's initial response to both of these tragedies is sympathetic. but within 24 hours of the d.c. tragedy, he turned to culture wars, to political attacks. why do that? at a time when people want answers and and really, the compassion for what has happened? >> yeah. i mean. >> he thought he had a point to make. i think, you know, ultimately he may have a point to make. i don't personally think it was the right time to make it, because it was in the immediate aftermath, and there's always time for finger pointing and policy debates after something bad happens. i think it might have been too soon. truthfully, i think his tweet tonight on the, um, philadelphia situation, which is terrible and tragic, these people were on a mercy mission, obviously. is the correct tone. and ultimately at this point, with two major cr