Its 1 00 in the east, 10 00 a. M. Out west. Heres whats happening right now. Did he or didnt he . Rex tillerson again today facing the mword question. You still havent denied that you called him a moron, and you know, a lot of people are going to watch this and think, he probably said it. Does america deserve an answer . What does it really matter in these troubling times . And social media backfire. How russia attacks the u. S. Election with the angry arsenal of americans online. First, we go to ambassador to the United Nations nikki haley who this morning is saying america is in on the Iran Nuclear Deal, at least for now. Right now, youre going to see us stay in the deal because what we hope is we can improve the situation. Thats the goal, so i think right now, were in the deal to see how we can make it better. Thats the goal. Its not that were getting out of the deal. Were just trying to make the situation better so that the American People feel safer. And secretary of state Rex Tillerson addressing another pressing Foreign Policy issue, north korea. He says the president wants diplomacy over war. The president has also made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically. Hes not seeking to go to war. He doesnt think its a waste of time . No, sir. He has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts, which we are. And as i have told others, those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is at the white house for us with more on this. A little more clarity now from haley and tillerson on two very important issues. What else are we learning . On these important issues with iran, there is a pumping of brakes. If people thought decertifying meant pulling out of the deal, its only about what congress would do. On the big substant issue, they added clarity for people wondering what the next steps are for iran. Secretary tillerson was asked about the issue that goes behind had scenes in the room and the relationship with the president after there was reporting from sources in the room said who said that tillerson referred to the president as a moron. Apparently in frustration. Apparently dealing with an issue that was a hot button issue. And he has not engaged in responding to that. He had after that story first broke, he came out, had his own sort of News Conference where he made a statement, took a few questions, but did not speak to the issue directly. Again, today, being on television, he was pressed with that by jake tapper of cnn. Heres the exchange they had. As i indicated earlier, i was asked about that, im not going to deal with that kind of petty stuff. When you dont answer the question, it makes people think that you probably did say it. But either way, whatever happened, it is serious. So can you please clear it up . As i said, jake, im not playing. These are the games of washington. These are the destructive games of this town. Theyre not helpful to anyone. And so my position on it is, im not playing. Im not dignifying the question with an answer, jake. So there, the secretary is making clear hes not going to give more on that. One of the traps for him would be if he said, well, yes, i said it. Then the question is why . Or if he said no, i didnt say it, then its a question of credibility among those who might have been in the room and heard what he said or did not say. It is a muddy mess for the secretary. The reason it matters beyond the fact that this was a news story hes responding to is the relationship between the secretary of state and the president. He spoke about the relationship today. Said theyre good partners. They can disagree on issues but theyre working together and have the same agenda items, and hes executing the president s vision on these issues. So tillerson trying to calm the waters on some of the behind the scenes palace intrigue that always goes along with the white house and he acknowledged today its an unconventional President Trump in some of the ways that he responds with tweeting and so forth, and forcing actions based on some of the choices the president makes. And tillerson just trying to close the door on what was for him a difficult few days when that story first broke. Alex. Sure was. Okay, thank you so much from the white house. Joining me now, josh dawsey, White House Reporter for politico, and erin mcpike. Big welcome to you both. Josh, before we talk policy, i want to get your reaction to tillersons response to the moron comment. Hes not denying it. Why does this matter, or does it . It matters because the world needs to know the dynamics between the secretary of state and the president. Does he actually think the president is not making strategic and smart decisions . Or does he not . The secretary of state is out talking to china, south korea, other allies of ours. Is he in line with the president . Are they on the same page . A lot of questions there on that. I think you saw today the secretary of state is not denying it. He doesnt have an answer. I think as kelly said, its a very difficult position for him. If you dont deny it, everyone thinks you said it. If you do, you have to get even farther down a rabbit hole he doesnt want to go on. Its a tough spot for him, and that relationship is pretty tough right now. Its ruptured and everyone is curious, can they bring it back together or not. Erin, i want you to go back to the trip when you were the only journalist traveling with the secretary of state over to asia. The demeanor, the way he speaks, any time that you spent with him, take a look at this whole moron incident and give me your interpretation. Well, first of all, let me just say that i think that josh is not quite right. I dont think that the whole world needs to know about internal dynamics necessarily, as long as they get to some end. I think thats the important thing. Nobody needs to know always everything that goes on behind closed doors. Its certainly an interesting story. What i would say about tillerson is that he thinks very carefully before he speaks and chooses his words quite carefully, at least in public. At least in front of reporters. As far as the moron comment, i think its pretty clear to everyone that of course he said it. And the reason hes deflecting the way he is is because the thing that i did hear from a number of people around tillerson when i was traveling on that trip is that he is an eagle scout. They really wanted me to write about the fact that he is an eagle scout, which means of course, that he doesnt want to lie. Thats why hes deflecting. Its clear that he said it. Okay. What about tillerson, erin, also responding to an accusation made by senator corker, lets listen to what he said there. You dont want to say anything about the senator calling suggesting you have been gelded before the world . I checked. Im fully intact. This is a big texas guy. So whats your reaction . Well, the other thing that i was told before i talked to him is that he was a really funny guy, and i did not see that at all. He has been trying to get his sea legs in washington, obviously, so hes just beginning to show his humor, i guess. Hes now comfortable enough to do that. And thats what i would make of that. Okay. Josh, i want to talk policy on iran here. You heard nikki haley saying that were in the Iran Nuclear Deal right now. Interpret that. Whats your takeaway from that statement . The president has repeatedly said he doesnt want to continue certifying the deal. He has done it twice and said he wasnt going to do it again so theyre kicking it back to congress to figure it out. He made it clear he was threatening to pull out of the deal, he may pull out of the deal later, that he wants different terms, but he still is in it now. The president has talked in very strong terms on this, but at the end of the day, the deal is not torn up or shredded as some people might think. And erin, you have key u. S. Allies this morning, theyre reaffirming their commitment to the Iran Nuclear Deal. Does that put the u. S. In a tight spot . Oh, it absolutely does. I think that is putting pressure on congress. Congress, of course, is going to have 60 days to act. It may be very unlikely that they do, in part for that reason. Trump has been bullying congress, saying if they dont do anything different, then maybe then he will actually rip up the deal, which he of course has not done yet. What he is doing is trying to at least maintain the appearance that he is keeping a campaign promise, even if he doesnt ultimately keep it and even if the deal stays totally intact, which it may very well. Josh, what about north korea . You have tillerson saying the president wants diplomacy, not war. Does that give you any reassurance . Well, its been a muddled message out of the white house. We have seen tillerson repeatedly saying were having discussions. You see the president who has been bellicose on twitter saying only one thing can be done, promising the calm before the storm, undercutting the secretary of state, saying save your energy, rex. So theyre on different paths there. Its hard to imagine that Rex Tillerson will be chatting privately with officials without some, you know, assurances from the white house that its okay to do that. So i think that is a promising sign. That said, we have seen lots of different messaging out of the north korea situation, and its really hard to know what the white house is doing on any given day. Erin, what do you think is happening with all this golf going on . You had senator rand paul arriving at the golf course. He was also playing golf twice this week with Lindsey Graham. What is he trying to accomplish . Hes obviously trying to have a better relationship with congress and some of the republicans hes sparred with over time. I think thats all that it is, trying to make nice. I want to say one more thing about north korea, though, and that is i think the reason that was so frustrating to secretary tillerson is because the state department, at least his team there, believes if theres one big thing that secretary tillerson can achieve in his time at the state department, they think they can solve something with north korea. That is their number one goal, to get something done there. So being undercut by the president certainly was frustrating to him. Josh, i want to get to the president s rolling back of the obamacare subsidies, the new a. P. Analysis that says nearly 70 of those benefitting from the socalled cost sharing subsidies, they live in states that trump won last november. Is that reality going to sink in for Trump Supporters . If it does, when will that happen . Its a good question. I dont think we knew the end or his decision on that is permanent. My sense from talking to people in the white house is hes working on this as a negotiating tactic. As the subsidies go away and the Health Care Markets continue to deteriorate like they have this year, youre going to see more frustration among his supporters. That said, i dont think were near the end of the story yet, and i think youll see some fervent conversations over upcoming weeks. Okay, erin and josh, good to see you both. Appreciate it. Follow the money. Nbc news finds a more lucrative tie between Paul Manafort and a russian billionaire. Why this could really be a big deal in Robert Muellers investigation. You nervous . People are fighting type 2 diabetes. With fitness. Food. And the pill that starts with f. Farxiga, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. Lowering a1c by up to 1. 2 points. Do not take if allergic to farxiga. If you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking and seek medical help right away. Do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. Tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. Farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and kidney problems. 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Is Vice President pence and joe biden look ahead to november. Were learning more about what happened in the runup to the 2016 election. Joining me now, nicholas confessore, political reporter for the New York Times. With a big welcome to you. As you know, this exclusive report following the money essentially here, it uncovered a now 60 million relationship between Paul Manafort and this russian oligarch. It is likely of interest, certainly, to special counsel bob mueller, one would think, but how could the russians use money to wield a relationship and further their interests . Well, look. A lot of the money we know about with dare aposcaw and Paul Manafort had to deal with business deals they were doing, some of them private equity deals. Not necessarily influence peddling, but it does show, and the nbc report has shown that it appears that there was money he still owed to this money. He had denied that in the past. As we saw the first version of the statement from Paul Manaforts spokesman said no, no, no, i dont owe anybody any money. The second version of the statement took that out. It raises the question, did Paul Manafort, as he was the chairman of trumps campaign, have some obligation to a Prominent Russian with ties to the kremlin . Thats the offering of private meetings. Exactly. To get in good graces to someone he potentially owed a lot of money. We have learned that reince priebus, he has been interviewed by the special counsel. Does that mean that bob mueller thinks that he knows something or is this going to be just par for the course . When you try to interview everybody who might know anything. Were seeing a classic prosecutorial practice here, outside in. Start with people who might know something and move closer to the middle of the power structure. Priebus is close to the middle. He was certainly kind of badly treated by the president on the way out. He may have reason to talk. I was going to say, do you think that makes the Trump Administration or the president himself nervous, because lets face it, they were at war a lot of the time . I think the way the president has handled his senior staff adds to the level of risk he has. Every other presidency, you have a tight coterie of people who are close to the president who are personally loyal. It doesnt always inflect what theyre going to do in an investigation, but man, if the president has really sat on his senior staff, pushed a bunch of them out in humiliating ways, its not going to help them be more loyal to them in a case like this. Okay. You wrote a very interesting article. I want to get to it right now. Its about how russia harvested American Rage to reshape u. S. Politics. Its a departure from what were used to hearing, in fact, because in this case, the russians didnt really need to create fake news as much as just kind of stir up some trouble. How did this influence operation work . It was amazing. I went back and reviewed hundreds of ads with the content, the text content that is Still Available of hundreds of the posts from the facebook ads controlled by russian intermediaries. What i found in many cases is they were cut and pasting or lightly editing content they found on american sites. Videos on youtube of police beatings. Hoaxes published by conservative websites. So they went and found stuff in america and packaged it and pushed it back at us. So they basically used american culture, americas r y reliance on social media, on the internet. They didnt have to make anything up. In some cases, they were making things up. In some cases theyre fab rktding their own ideas. In a lot of them, youre right. What theyre doing is taking the most angry elements and despondent elements and ragefilled elements of american politics and culture and cultivating it and building content from that and pushing it back out to us. It was more like focusing our own rage and pushing it back in our direction to make us more angry and divided. There was an earlier report from your paper which i found incredibly interesting because it talks about how russia cultivated a following of dog lovers on facebook. Look, dog lovers. I mean, you would think that would be completely bipartisan, nothing to do with politics. How did they use that as an influence . There the way social media works is you try to build an audience with content that people will trust, and if youre trying to spread a message, if you have that trust, you can get them to watch other things. If you look at russia today, for example, on youtube, a huge amount of their traffic on youtube is videos of tsunamis or meteors hitting the earth, right . Its viral videos. And once you can get people accustomed to following your page, you can then slip in the kind of politics content and theyll take it more seriously. Its also what other players in politics do. But the russians have used these platforms exactly as they were intended to be used, which is whats most kind of ironic about it. They created shareable content that people would engage with. That is what youtube and facebook and twitter all want people to do. It is remarkable. Your story is remarkable talking about all this. Just fascinating. Nickla nicklaus kaholas confessore, th so much. Heres new reporting on the fallout from allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Dominic patten will be joining us with the new details in just a few minutes. Stay with us. honking beeping were on to you, diabetes. Times up, insufficient prenatal care. And administrative paperwork, your days of drowning people are numbered. Same goes for you, budget overruns. And rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. Were coming for you too. At optum, were partnering across the Health System to tackle its biggest challenges. Atbecause shes listeningg acrthis to audible. 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Kasie hunt premieres her new show on msnbc tonight at 7 00 eastern with a sitdown interview with paul ryan. Case see will join us in a moment with the preview. Then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go . Expedia gives you the world in your hand, so you can see more of it. Expedia im ginnwith chantix. Smoking it takes a lot of planning to be a smoker. Its like when am i gonna be able to sneak out of here and go have a cigarette . I just knew i had to quit, and chantix was the method that actually worked for me. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. 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What kind of legal fights loom . Well, i think theres a couple of Different Things here, alex, youre looking at. One, were already seeing the uk police have said now theyre looking into three incidents. One in 2010, one in 2011, one in 2015 of alleged assaults that happened in london. We know the new york police are looking into it. We have reported that the lapd are thinking very, very serious about looking into things. These could lead to criminal charges against weinstein personally. Theres also accusations that could lead against the company, the Weinstein Company, if it can be found that they had knowledge of these alleged assaults and at least three alleged rapes that have occurred. So what were seeing here is a very, very definite legal picture being drawn. This is all going to start painting itself more clearly i would say later this week when theres a meeting scheduled to be had between weinstein lawyers and the board to look at how he was terminated on october 8th. Of course, Harvey Weinstein still owns 23 of the company. And its turned out that in his contract, the last one which was signed in 2015, there was a clause for such matters of inappropriate behavior that basically, as long as he paid off settlements and paid a small fee to the company, he was clear. So this is going to get murkier, harder, and deeper. Where is there more emphasis Going Forward . On criminal pursuit or civil pursuit . Or is it just everything . Right now, its everything. Obviously, yesterday, we saw that the Motion Picture academy, the people behind the oscars, tossed harvey out. More than two thirds of them voted for it. The tv academy, harvey has a number of emmys here, are looking at it this week. The Producers Guild are looking at it. We just reported today that in fact the threatened lawsuit that harveys lawsuit or exlife threatened against the New York Times when they first broke the story on october 5th is now over, and harder was terminated from working for weinstein. Weinstein has pretty heavy hitters on his side, including criminal lawyer blair burke, you might remember, she was the one who basically saved mel gibsons bacon, which is the reason why mel gibson is still a member of the Motion Picture academy and was nominated for an oscar last year. Yeah, very interesting, though. Harvey weinsteins brother bob, who owns i believe an equal share of the Weinstein Company, he has said bring it. I mean, there seems to be no love lost between these two. And hes trying to distance himself from any of his brothers behavior, but hes said regardless of what harvey tries to bring to try to reinstate himself into the company or not be fired or be able to extract money from the company, it is not going to happen. Is he right . It depends. Obviously, i will say Bob Weinstein probably knows more about the contracts and internal workings of the Weinstein Company than you or i do, but deadlines mike fleming had an exclusive interview with mike glasser who has been the top man in many ways for a number of years. He basically has said its over. Theyre trying to find a way to exit things quietly and gently and find a way for the company, at least its employees, they can find a way out with some degree of grace. But honestly, even though Bob Weinstein is saying bankers are still backing them, theyre dropping projects left, right, and center. Amazon recently dropped one of their projects with david russell. Another with matt winer is now amazon has taken it over completely because they say we dont want anything to do with the weinsteins. Major talent agencies want nothing to do with them. How do you run a company in such an environment . How do you run a company under such allegations and clouds . Harvey weinstein. Wherever he is right now, hes not causing much good in hollywood. We should say you mention amazon. Thats a result of a Sexual Harassment allegations against roy price who i just read today was scheduled to be marries on november 12th here in new york city, and his fiancee is saying were not having that wedding taking place on november 12th. Im curious, though, you look at the precipitous fall of Harvey Weinstein from ten days ago. How did all of this happen at once . Were talking 30 years of allegations here. I mean, explain that ideology to me, one person comes out and then it is a mushroom extraordinaire. I wouldnt say its one person. Lets call out two people, ashley judd and rose mcgowan. They both went on the record with the New York Times essentially saying this is what happened to me, heres when it happened how it happened and the person who did it. Once you had the New York Times with that story and allegations of many other incidents, you then followed just a few days later with the new yorker story which had moraleigations including three potentially of rape, and then more and more people coming out publicly. Once people felt they could talk about this publicly, probably up to threedecadelong reign of terror, i think its fair to say, has now become something that was discussed. Were there a lot of people who knew about this . Maybe. Were there a lot of people who didnt do anything about it . Possibly, but whats happening, as the Motion Picture academy have said, the age of complus aenls, to paraphrase them, is over. People are now talking about this. You mentioned what happened to roy price at amazon who made remarks to a highlevel producer that was investigated and more information about that came out. He is now suspended, as we first reported. And was confirmed by amazon later. I really doubt that hes coming back. This is a new litmus test. I dont care if people like woody allen or others worry about things like a salem witch hunt which is misogyny onto itself, the fact of the matter is women and everyone in hollywood need to be respected. No means no. I think Harvey Weinstein is seeing exactly what the results of not respecting that is. Last question, dominic. The way the Weinstein Company is structured and Bob Weinstein having tried to separate himself from his brother some time back, and basically run his own entity of the company, is that possible . Is it plausible he was completely separate from the work that harvey, his brother, was doing, and that he wasnt around him enough to have any idea what was going on . What Bob Weinstein has said basically he and harvey divorced so to speak about five years ago. Bob weinstein has been running Dimension Films which has been very profitable, in fact, probably the most profitable entity they had. Im not going to venture into whether bob knew what harvey was doing, but i distinctly said what happened has tainted the company to a point where it looks almost inconceivable how they can go forward unless they can pull some incredible miracle out of the banker bad. Dominic patten, good to see you. Thank you so much. Kasie hunt premieres her new show tonight at 7 00 eastern with an exclusive sitdown interview with paul ryan. Kasie is going to join me in a moment with highlights, but this week, the theme is footwork. One adviser said aides were relieved when trump declined to appear on 60 minutes last month because hes lost a step. Hes lost a step inhe didnt have that many steps to begin with. Several aides to President Trump are reportedly saying hes unraveling and losing a step. Okay, but what point exactly was he ever in step . According to reports, white house aide Steven Miller tried to run in a girls track event while he was in high school in order to prove men are better athletes than women. Totally forgetting that seeing Steven Miller just makes women run faster. Shawn evans its 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Now that we have your attention. Capri sun has four updated drinks. Now with only the good stuff. Do you know how to use those . Nope. Get those kids some new capri sun lets go to politics and inpresident s main public activity this weekend. Golf outings with two of his at times severest critics. Senators Lindsey Graham and rand paul. Joining me now is msnbcs kasie hunt to discuss that and her new 7 00 p. M. Show, drum roll please, that will include interviews with senator Susan Collins, majority leader paul ryan, al franken. Thats kind of a packed show. Congratulations, kasie. So excited to welcome you to the weekends. What is the dynamic at work here as you see it . Trump suddenly palling around on the golf course with two critical senators. What is the angle for each of them . Well, alex, we have seen a couple of senators succeed at building a relationship with President Trump in a variety of different ways. Rand paul is somebody that has been somewhat of an antagonist, obviously, he threatened to vote against the renewed push to repeal obamacare, for example. He urged the president to sign that executive order allowing the sale of insurance plans across state lines and what critics would say undermined the Affordable Care act further. But he is a potential no vote on the big budget fiscal spending deal coming up at the end of the year. And so there is kind of a divide between the white house and republicans in congress as far as the thinking about how rand paul might come down on that. The president seems to think he can potentially win him over. That may be what this is about. Lindsey graham is somebody, you know, one of the best ways to talk to this president if youre a member of congress is to go on tv. And Say Something that he notices. And Lindsey Graham is somebody who has been very effective at that for a long time. This is a little bit of an evolution of their relationship. Theyre playing golf together regularly, but i think its another example where the president is clearly found somebody who he wants to be a sounding board and graham has been careful or at least adjusted his strategy a bit in how he talks about the president in public. Hes willing to be critical, which is one of the elements the president does respond to. At the same time, hes not necessarily undermining him in the same ways as he was. Hes praising the president s skill on the golf course. Doing that again today on face the nation. He said that President Trump beat him like a drum. I think bob corker, i might add him as well to this list because hes somebody, while he had a very public spat with the president , hes rejected the president. We have talked so much about him the last week or so because of those comments, he is somebody that the president has noticed and has had over to the white house to meet with. And obviously, he quite some time ago was on the consideration list for Vice President. So this is a president with very unorthodox relationships and working with him i think requires that from members of congress. For sure. I know you spoke with paul ryan for your first show here. Heres a little bit of what he said about the president. Lets play a piece of it. The president has regularly engaged in disputes with various members. Bob corker, the most recent. Ben sasse, over the first amendment. Is that helpful to your agenda . Its what he does. We have kind of learned to live with it. He and i have not on this particular issue but we had our engagements in the past two. What im trying to get our members to do is focus on doing our jobs. Were here elected to represent our constituents, to advance our principles, pass solutions. Thats what were focused on. I try to get members just not to get distracted by these things. Kasie, there you see the public paul ryan who always appears cordial towards the president , but behind the scenes, is he frustrated that theres been zero legislation and does he blame the president at all for that . Well, i think it was telling he said we have learned to live with it. I think that implies that its not something that they should have to live with or want to live with but rather something that theyre forced to do under duress and theyre trying to figure out how to manage it. My sense from covering paul ryan every day and from talking to him in the course of doing that interview is that to a certain extent, hes just as taken aback as the rest of washington by the pace of events, by the kind of events that have gone on in the Trump Administration. Like many republicans in washington, he didnt expect President Trump to win. And you saw that in the comments he made during the election. He was very forceful in denouncing the president after the access hollywood tape. The audio actually leaked later after the president was elected, but at the time, he told republicans, look, im not going to defend donald trump now. Im not going to defend him in the future. Im going to focus on whats good for our majority, thats moving away from him. Obviously, that came back to bietd him. It has been something hes been negotiating ever since. Hes somebody as you rightly point out, has been much more reluctant to kind of get down in the mud and scrap with the president on a daytoday basis. The assessment is thats not helpful, thats not productive. Theres no reason to do it. But i think at the end of the day its going to put him in a tough political position. The electoral right now is, and i think this is reflected in a variety of actions that Congressional Republicans are taking right now. The electoral is angry at the establishment in washington. And essentially, they lost in 2016. Theyre potentially on track to lose in 2018, and paul ryan is trying to walk a very narrow line. Withdraw. Im curious, when you look at all the moves by the president this weekend and throughout his entire presidency, it appears his goal is to overturn all obama initiatives. Is conventional wisdom in d. C. Generally from the people you talk to, that it is personal with this president or that is that an oversimplification . I think its just politics, alex. Look, the way that the election unfolded was very much a reaction to president obama. He was somebody, obviously for a long time, that very much animated the base of the republican party. That helps to explain a lot of the anger and frustration. And that is, of course, the instincts that President Trump learned on the campaign trail. And it is something he can still point to with his base of supporters. The challenge is going to be that the longer the president is in office and theres some recent new polling out from cbs that kind of shows this, a lot of these policies are going to start to fuel like President Trump is responsible for them. Thats kind of the deal when you walk in the door, you get a little bit of leeway while you try to figure it out, but eventually, voters hold you responsible for the state of their lives. And it happened to barack obama, president obama with the economy. And it looks as though if that new polling is any indication that for example on health care, President Trump may be headed down that same road in that voters are going to start to say, hey, if my health care is no good, President Trump, its your fault, as opposed to feeling like i have obamacare and im really angry at president obama. Do you get a sense paul ryan worries that ideology will trickle down to the midterms and that republicans could lose the house or the senate . I think that theres a lot of concern about the midterms. I think that has more to do with the fact that democrats are extremely animated right now. And on the right, you have steve bannon and a cadre of others who are working to try to primary a lot of republicans. So if you have a party thats not united, thats in disarray, not running together, plus you have an opposition that is extraordinarily excited and animated, thats a recipe for potential disaster, especially when you combine it with the fact that right now, republicans dont have any major legislative accomplishments to run on. If they fail on tax reform as well, theyre set up for fall. I think the president knows that. I think the speaker of the house and the majority leader know that, too. We have to talk about your show. Its going to air on msnbc every sunday night, 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Eastern. It premieres tonight. We talked about paul ryan. You also have senator Susan Collins and al franken. Pretty interesting pair there, by the way. What are some of the key things you hope to learn from them and what can we expect . We have a great show tonight. Im very excited about the premiere, and we did, we spoke to paul ryan. You played a little bit of that. We talked to him a little bit more about tax reform. I also asked him about Harvey Weinstein because i think thats something at the forefront of a lot of peoples minds. That should be interesting. From senator franken, one key question i think as well Going Forward is what does the future for democrats look like . You have to remember that even though we talk a lot about republicans struggling to govern, at the end of the day, if democrats want the job back, they have to put somebody forward to do it and decide how aggressively they want to run against this president. There are some on the left calling for people to say that the president should be impeached, for example. That may turn into a litmus test. So well talk to him about that. And Susan Collins, i think she made a decision, she was thinking about running for governor of maine. She said on friday shes going to stay in the senate. I think theres a lot there about why she decided she was going to be able to play an important role. I think in the health care debate. Democrats felt like she was a firewall. She did anger some republicans, but on the other hand, some people privately feel like she saved them by standing as that bulwark and insisting she wasnt going to vote for that legislation. So shes also one of just a few republican women senators in washington. I think that thats something that also i would like to explore a little bit with her tonight. So hopefully well get to some of those question and well also talk a lot about what happened this morning on the sunday shows and what you can expect next week. A little cheat sheet if you didnt tune in this morning or youre not tuned in now to get a look at whats on the agenda. Im going to have to pull up a chair, maybe with a glass of wine. Wine sounds great. You cant have it, but ill have a glass while youre talking. We may have some in the green room. You never know. Thanks so much. And for all of you, kasie hunts new show premieres tonight at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Get in on the ground floor, be there for the opening act and every act thereafter, every sunday, 7 00 p. M. Eastern. The question secretary of state Rex Tillerson keeps refusing to answer. What he didnt say on the talk shows this morning. Looking for balance in your digestive system . Try align probiotic. For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Get 24 7 digestive support, with align. The 1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. Also in kids chewables. Hungry eyes one look at you and i cant disguise ive got hungry eyes applebees 2 for 20. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Applebees 2 for 20. I had purpose and i loved it. You never told me you were a hero. You are my hammer out there. Dont let these young guys see you fold. Im only human i make mistakes get down im only human its all it takes dont put the blame on me thank you for looking after my son. Were brothers. We look after each other. Thank you for your service. Rated r. Dont put the blame on me my problem is that we promised to repeal and replace obamacare and we failed. We promised to cut tax appearance have yet to do it. If were successful, mitch mccobble is fine, if were not, were all in trouble. We loss our majority and President Trump will not get reelected. Lindsey graham raising concerns about the gops prospects heading into 2018. Basel smikle, new York State Democratic Party and carrie sheffield, the founder of bold with a welcome to you both. Carrie, do you agree that will lack of progress on health care and tax reform would mean President Trump could not be reelected . Well, alex, hello. I think three years is a political lifetime. So if 2016 taught us anything it is that its very hard to make predictions. Three years out, im reluctant to say anything. I know a lot of gop donors feel like theyve been loyal to the gop, loyal to the idea of a conservative agenda and when we see whats happened with the failure to pass a comprehensive replacement for the Affordable Care act, a lot are upset and excited. I work with a lot of grassroots organizations pushing for tax reform. Were optimistic. It the president has shown tremendous leadership on this. The ali on capitol hill with americans for prosperity, people are unified and well see a rallying cry behind tax reform. That he could carry us forward into more comprehensive health care reform. I asked you about 2020. Look at 2018 with you is, basil. Doll democrats see a political opportunity here . Stall progress in congress and win the majority back in 2018 . Theyre is an opportunity because in many respects, the polls are saying that voters want the president to actually work with democrats. Probably because we are presenting as a very united front and thanks to our leaders in pelosi and schumer. But i think theres another thing we should be looking at here which is a bigger problem or issue that needs tackled nationally. The president and his campaign and certainly bannon with the way hes been campaigning out here sort of as a lone wolf is that theyve taken away the middle. So its pushed everyone to the extremes. I think the concern from republicans is do we govern from the extreme and it looks like just based on the last less than a year, ten months, thats not going very well for them. They cant get anything done. So the challenge for the republicans is to try to moderate enough to get something done, something passed so that they actually have a strategy going into the midterm elections. Democrat, i dont want to be saying that and giving them talking points. The truth is, thats the place they find themselves in. Carrie, in an interview today Rex Tillerson refused to deny he call the president a moron. Heres what he did say about the president. He is very unique. I dont think theres any doubt that anyone sees him as anything other than the most unique president weve certainly ever seen in modern history. How he wants to use his own skills tactically to push things toward change, im there to help him achieve those. How do you interpret what he was saying there . Does that help in his standing in the white house . Sure, what i heard there is this is a diplomat. Thats what we want. Hes also a boy scout, a boy scout is the courteous. I think hes an eagle scout. Give credit where its due. Thats right. I stand corrected. Fake news, thanks, alex. You know, his comments i dont think anyone could disagree that this is the most unique president that weve seen. His communication style, yes, there are things he says that i think are too inflammatory but at the same time, he is pushing back against decades did of biased and academia being so leftward and hollywood being so heft ward. Its unprecedented. Can i ask you, basil, the president dedicating time this weekend to address the issue of the nfl players kneeling during the anthem. What is this buying him . Actually what i was saying earlier, it buys him some credibility and some red meat for a substantial portion of his base. Want to tie this into another story. Think what was revealed in terms of the russians involvement in their placing facebook ads to essentially rewrite the narrative about organizations like black lives matter to try to make them into sort of an extremist group. If there were people looking at that and reading an that, some of what donald trump is saying is speaking to the people most receptive to that kind of negative information, that kind of fake news about organizations like black lives matter. Thats the challenge here because hes just constantly needing it and provoking it. All right. Basil smikle and carrie shelf field, thats going to be a wrap for me because still ahead in our next hour, new i think of the devastating impact of californias deadliest wildfires ever. Patients that i see that complain about dry mouth they feel that they have to drink a lot of water medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. I like to recommend biotene. It replenishes the moisture in your mouth. Biotene definitely works that is going to do it for me this hour. Im alex witt. Thomas roberts, i have my phone, my pens, im out of here down to my office so i can watch. You anything you have left behind, ill bring to you later and make sure it returns to you. Great to see you. Im Thomas Roberts at msnbc headquarters in new york. Fighting words, Rex Tillerson refusing to deny name calling when it cops to the commander in chief. Will the latest interview be the final straw of a looming rexit . Less than 24 hours after the academy expelled Harvey Weinstein, more accns