our relationship has never been worse than it is now. however, that changed as of about four hours ago. i really believe that. the question now is who s really benefitting from that change? joining me now from helsinki is michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia and now an nbc news international affairs annual list. also joining me is phil bump, national correspondent for the washington post, zerlina maxwell and noah rothman, associate editor at comment dairy magazine. michael, let s start with you. foreign minister lavrov today said it was a fabulous the talks were fabulous and better than super. is that an understatement for vladimir putin? well, better than super, there s a phrase in russian that mr. lavrov used and he s not
there. the idea that he flicked maybe if i had a time machine. look, you don t second guess yourself unless you think maybe you have to second guess yourself. i thought that was significant. all right. my thanks to matt abuse owe, phil bump. barbara bush, someone whose heart is heavy as mine today, someone she knew and loved. that s next. this is the ocean.
reporting in a second. let me start with you. phil bump, just about the body of evidence that renders stupid any debate about whether or not the president is a racist. i mean, i think people forget from the first three minutes of his campaign he started off by saying we ve got immigrants coming over the mexican border and they re criminal. some of them, i assume, are good people. and that, quite frankly, is the statement and argument, the fight that built a core base of support to carry him through the primaries. you played, again, that was, what, 30 seconds worth of what could probably be a two-hour documentary. that was the trailer. the movie version would have made me slit my wrists. it s important to know the ways in which donald trump has expressed racist thoughts are very diverse. sort of ironically. he s gone after hispanics. he s gone after african-americans. he has gone after muslims, as you saw in the clip there. he s gone after essentially every population that s not
he s put us in that we have to and that you have to so that people that americans aren t hiding from it and that we re calling out what our president is saying. so it s important for standing in the world. and i think we can t sugarcoat or try to clean up for him and make it more comfortable to people what the president of the united states says. and i think you have to use the actual words, even though like it brings you makes you nauseous. phil? it s so exceptional, it s worth the exception. i do understand. one of the interesting bits of blowback is defenders of donald trump have said you re so upset about the vulgarity. no one is upset about the vulgarity. it s astonishing the president would use it and in the context he used it. talking about immigrants in particular places and particularly in contrast to how people from norway are great.
lady isn t negotiate with north korea on his administration s behalf. vivian salama joins us now and evan mcmullin, former cia operative and one-time independent candidate for president. we ll get to your incredible reporting in a second. let me start with you. phil bump, just about the body of evidence that renders stupid any debate about whether or not the president is a racist. i mean, i think people forget from the first three minutes of his campaign he started off by saying we ve got immigrants coming over the mexican border and they re criminal. some of them, i assume, are good people. and that, quite frankly, is the statement and argument, the fight that built a core base of support to carry him through the primaries. you played, again, that was, what, 30 seconds worth of what could probably be a two-hour documentary. that was the trailer. the movie version would have