reauthorization of the voting rights act. but murkowski was the only republican to actually vote for the bill. short of the number needed to break a gop filibuster. so maybe, hopefully, this time will be different on guns. we need it to be. but we also need to stay engaged. to stay motivated. even if this framework passes, there would be more we could do to keep our kids and family safe. as the president said, keep marching. take your anger to the polls this november. let your representatives know this is a tough issue for you. joining me now, an msnbc political analyst, former member of the biden transition team and former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the obama administration. also with us, mariana, congressional reporter for the washington post. thank you all for joining us. mariana, i want to start with
the president of the united states remains unequivocal tonight, standing firm behind his decision to put an end to u.s. involvement in afghanistan. back with us tonight, former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the obama administration. former managing editor of time magazine. rick, what went wrong and which do you think will be remembered, the ending of 20 years of conflict or the way it ended? well, it s a little too soon to tell. brian, i mean, you know, i think of what my mother used to tell me when she said there s never the wrong time to do the right thing. and that s essentially what president biden said today. he said, if this had been easy, it would have been done before this. and he did do the right thing.
also insisting the u.s. has leverage over china when it comes to a trade deal. i get along with him very well, president xi. and i said i would be willing to bet if he sat down with the protesters, a group of representative protesters, i bet he d work it out in 15 minutes. i think we re having very good discussions with china, we ll see what happens. we had a deal and they decided not to make it. now i think they would have liked to have had that opportunity again. for more we are joined tonight by rick stengel, former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, happens to be a former managing editor of time magazine, and jonathan allen, a veteran political reporter who happens to be our nbc news national political reporter. gentlemen, welcome to you both. rick stengel, remember a time when people thought tony blaire was a supplicant? to the president of the united states? you know, president trump is
democratic principles, is new territory even for him. trump has also up ended foreign policy norms when dealing with china, the other subject we ve been talking about this week. today he renewed talks while also insisting the u.s. has leverage over china when it comes to a trade deal. i get along with him very well, president xi. and i said i would be willing to bet if he sat down with the protesters, a group of representative protesters, i bet he d work it out in 15 minutes. i think we re having very good discussions with china, we ll see what happens. we had a deal and they decided not to make it. now i think they would have liked to have had that opportunity again. for more we are joined tonight by rick stengel, former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, happens to be a former managing editor of time magazine, and jonathan allen, a veteran political reporter who
rick stengel. and the rev al sharpton. host of politics nation here. go. i think we re being a little unfair. she holds the job that i she s the acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. she did a credible job as a spokesperson. the state department briefs every day. and we don t hear about it. she s doing a pretty good job. the other thing is, let her be ambassador to the u.n. what trump should do is he should no longer have the ambassador to the u.n. be a cabinet it s not. he downgraded it. and it but, no, she is still nikki haley was a member of the cabinet. he s downgraded the job. that s fine. the ambassador to the u.n. but i think it s listen. i was there through bush s various appointments. some better received than others to the u.n. the appointment of john bolton,