It was classic trump airing of the grievances. And hes up tweeting an hour ago. Welcome to early start. It is 3 00 a. M. In the east and mid night in phoenix. Trump does a 180 in his speech defending his response to the violence in charlottesville. He spent 15 minutes recounting his words with a glaring omission. He initially blamed the clashes on many sides and no mention of the fine people who marched with torches on friday night in charlottesville. Heres what i said on saturday. Were closely following the terrible events unfolding in charlottesville, virginia. This is me speaking. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred bigotry and violence. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides. Its been going on for a long time in our country. That is just one moment in a speech that has some including the former director of national intelligence, a man who spent his entire career in military, James Clapper questioning his fitness to hold the office. The protest turning ugly after President Trumps speech. Three people were arrested. Police using tear gas and pepper spray to break up the crowd of protesters. People through rocks and bottles at Police Officers and disbursed gas in the area. They kept Trump Supporters and protesters behind barricades and on separate sides of the street. A Job Well Done by the phoenix police. Lets bring in ron brownstein, 12 00 pacific time. Good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Good morning, good evening, something. Whatever it is. It is an extraordinary day in our nations politics once again, ron. Whats your reaction to classic teleprompter trump is gone, airing of the grievances is back. Whats your headline . Where to start . I agree with you. I think this is a speech unlike we have heard from any other american president in office. But it was quite like what we heard on the campaign trail from President Trump. It was this unique combination of a bottomless well of grievance. Unending grievance at anyone he believes has crossed him or wronged him combined with half truths and misleading statements but also tied in with a very targeted set of populous us against them messages aimed entirely at his base. One thing that is above all about this president is he is somehowing a lack of interest in speaking or acting in any way that reaches out beyond those who have supported him to begin with and shrinking in polls. And one last thing lost in our reviews of how this was. He made a lot of news tonight. He said he would withdraw from nafta and shut down the government if they dont fund the border wall and pardon sheriff arpaio. It was an extraordinary experience. And he spent half of the time, i would say. 30plus media. Bashing the media. Not saying the media are unfair to him but they are just bad people. Unamerican. And theres one sound bite i want to play where he then goes so far to say it is the media taking away americas culture. Listen to this. Its time to expose the Crooked Media deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions and, yes, by the way and yes, by the way they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that. That is red meat for his base. I think he meant fomenting division. But correcting trumps grammar does not make the media any more popular. An exercise in futility. What do you make of the attack on the media . That broader point from before which is, you know, he is very determined and has been effectively from the beginning to identify the media as part of a series of forces that he says are holding down his voters and denying them the prosperity and security that they deserve. And i thought tonight, one thing that was really striking again was how he conflated attacks on him or criticism of him with attacks on his supporters. He said anybody who is raising questions about me are really trying to suppress you and you have stood up and taken power back from the elites and he said i went to the best schools and all that. And now they are trying to put me back in your place but going after me. And that is effective to a point. But you know, i just go back to this, you go back to election day, 20 to 25 of the people who voted for President Trump in various ways did it with reservations. They sid said aid they were unf about him personally. There was nothing again tonight that would reassure the conflicted voters. Everything you saw would deepen the unease of people who are conflicted about him and that is why he is in the mid30s in the polling after winning 46 of the vote. The idea his base has not eroded is not true. The polling that came out in michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania, the three states that decided this election, 20 , 20 of the people who voted for him said they are embarrassed by his conduct in office. I dont think he assuaged anybody in that camp tonight. Make no mistake. His supporters loved this speech. Those who showed up for a wwe match got exactly what they showed up to you see. They got the applause lines. But they also dont believe the polls. You talk about the people the voters who need convincing. What about the republican senators . What about the bob corkers of the world . The measured, sensible republican senators who questioned his stability . And then there is jeff flake and john mccain who everyone expected the president to attack by name. He didnt name them but he went out of his way to mention them. We were just one vote away from victory after seven years of everybody proclaiming repeal and replace. One vote away. But you know, they all said, mr. President , your speech was so good last night, please, please, mr. President , dont mention any names. So i wont. I wont. No. One vote i waaway, i wont ment any names. Very president ial. And nobody wants me to talk about your other senator who is weak on borders and weak on crime. So i wont talk about him. He also suggested mitch, his buddy mitch who is the Senate Majority leader he throw away the filibuster. 60 votes doesnt matter. How does the president legislate moving forward with these type of verbal attacks . I think for republicans in congress i couldnt keep them straight in my head. There were four lines of concern in what he said tonight. The first is the one you eluded to which is the overall stability, careening around this dwelling on grievance and just seeming very angry and volatile. Second, attacking individual members, you know, not by name but in all but name and particularly jeff flake who he has suggested already should be removed in the republican primary. As Lindsey Graham said there is an article five of nato in the senate. You attack one and you attack all. Third, he continued to set unrealistic legislative goals not only ending the filibuster but they would shut down the government if he doesnt get his wall funded. And fourth he once again demonstrated he is not capable of driving a message on anything beyond his own personal attacks back and forth. Was there an effective message for tax reform in that speech or an effective message on his proposes on reducing illegal immigration tonight . One of the things in the Health Care Battle is that the president could not provide any air coverage to republicans in congress. It had 26 support by the time it came to the senate floor. They are a reason to worry whether he will be an asset in moving their agenda forward and looks like he is more of a head wind and i think it also reinforced their conclusion which is spreading in the Republican Caucus that he will try triangulate and turn on them. Was there an advancement of the legislative agenda . It might be the opposite. Ron brownstein, thank you. The president not optimistic about renegotiating nafta with canada and next co. Because we have been so badly taken advantage of. They have made such great deals, both of the countries but in particular mexico. I dont think we can make a deal. I think we will end up terminating nafta at some point. The first round just wrapped up. Negotiations got off to a tense start with the u. S. Blasting nafta as a job killing, factory closing deal that benefits our neighbors and not us. Requiring a substantial portion of auto parts be made in the u. S. Millions of jobs and thousands of company rely on nafta but renegotiating was a Core Campaign promise for the president. As talks resume next week, negotiators expect a great deal of effort will be required since they will attempt to rewrite nafta by the end of the year. One thing this president believes. He looks at the trade deficit with mexico and sees winners and losers. He sees it only that america is losing. What trade economists say is that deficit is so big because you have such big exports and imports it shows the dynamism of the relationship and the way the president thinks about it just too cut and dried, black and white. And those people that voted for him. This is the message they want to hear. Thats right. Now to the former director of national intelligence. Says he is concerned about the president having access to our nuclear codes. I really question his ability to his fitness to be in this office. More of what James Clapper told cnn next on a special early start. 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Kennedy through president obama and i dont when i listened and watched Something Like this from a president that i found more disturbing. Having some understanding of the levers of power that are available to a president , if he chooses to exercise them, i found this downright scary and disturbing. I think bakari is right on the money, though, that this is not a surprise. Interesting to contrast last nights teleprompter trump performance versus tonight, which is of course the real trump. Just as it was in the unglued impromptu press conference from trump tower. Are you questioning his fitness . Yes, i do. I really question his ability to his fitness to be in this office and i also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for maybe maybe he is looking for a way out. I do wonder as well about the people that attracted to this rally as others. You know, what are they thinking or why am i so far out off base . Because i dont understand the adulation and of course thats why i think he aggressive stagr having this rally as ill timed it is, he should have quit while he was ahead last night. But again, i think the real trump came through and as bakari said shouldnt be a surprise to anyone. What should we do . What should washington do at this point. You said you are questioning his fitness. There are many people who wont say it publicly. Maybe after this speech they will now. It will become painfully obvious as it is to most americans, what should we do . Well, i think you know, the key thing here is where is he with republicans . And i was quite struck by senator corkers remarks, very thoughtful and very, very measured. And ive i know senator corker. Ive dealt with him. And he is very thoughtful senator. And he wouldnt say that lightly. And without forethought. And im hopeful that other similarly thoughtful republicans will reach the point where enough is enough. Enough is enough. What do you mean . Be plain for us. Well that this behavior and this divisiveness and the complete intellectual, moral, and ethical void that the president of the United States exhibits. And how much longer does the country have to borrow a phrase endure this nightmare . The New York Times is reporting tonight about the falling out between the president and Mitch Mcconnell over the investigations of russias interference with the 2016 election. The president was furious that mcconnell failed to protect him. You called the accusations of collusion between the trump c e campaign and russia worse than watergate. Why is this such a hot button for him . First, to be clear, don, when i left on the 20th of january, i had not seen any evidence of direct collusion between the trump campaign, the trump camp, and the russians. There may have been collusion, but i didnt have any evidence of it. So i dont understand, frankly, the president s fascination and solicitation of solicitousness of putin and russia unless he is a kindred soul, perhaps. It is very strange to me. I dont have an explanation for it, if its collusion or something else. You said you questioned his fitness is he a threat to national security, the president . He certainly could be. Again, having some understanding of the levers that a president can exercise, i worry about, frankly, you know, the access to the nuclear codes. In a fit of peek he decides to do something about kim jongun there is actually very little to stop him. The whole systems built to ensure a Rapid Response if necessary. So theres very little in the way of controls over, you know, exercising a Nuclear Option which is pretty damned scary. Do you see this as a crisis, mr. Clapper . I im not sure what the definition of a crisis is, if it is, weve been in it quite a while, since the election. I couldnt help but think in the course of the charlottesville his statements about charlottesville when he was so quick to characterize the Intelligence Community as nazis, liken us to nazis on the 10th of january but seemed reluctant to call out the wannabe nazis in this case. Maybe i am being broparochial a defensive but thats how i see it. What are the conversations they are having tonight and what will they be having tomorrow, do you think, after this speech . I think many people in the Intelligence Community certainly rank and file are worried, are concerned about this. They, in their and its the tradition in the Intelligence Community to carry on with the mission and provide the intelligence that our decisionmakers so desperately need and they will continue to do that. But i think in moments of personal reflection, i suspect they are greatly concerned about the divisiveness that is taking hold of this country. James clapper there. A military man who spent a very long time a career servant to the government. Not a career politician, someone who spent his life committed to the government intelligence and the military. The navy set to make change after an incident in asian waters. Its cost a Top Commander his job. Were live in singapore. They have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters ship packages all the services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com try and never go to the post office again did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back . Say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. Comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet thats up to 16 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. Say hello to faster downloads with internet speeds up to 250 megabits per second. Get fast internet and add phone and tv now for only 34. 90 more per month. Call today. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back. The Navy Planning to remove the commander of the u. S. Seventh fleet. This is the fourth accident involving a u. S. Warship in asian waters this year. Some remains of the ten missing sailors from the mccain have be been recovered. We are live in singapore with the latest. Reporter well, this is really quite interesting that we have seen now the removal of joe aucoin. He is a highly decorated naval officer but it illustrates a disturbing point, three of the incidents you have described have been in the pacific seventh fleet and many questions are being asked about training in relation to the uss fitzgerald if which it was clear that poor seamanship was blamed. Now we have ten sailors missing. And we have remains being found. Admiral scott swift is meeting families and also meeting the commanders of the seventh fleet and having difficult and testing discussions. What went wrong here . We dont know at this stage and the investigation is going on. But we do know there was a steering malfunction happening around the time of the collision and people are asking why didnt the backup systems kick in . So many questions. With that in mind there needs to be a reset of systems for the investigation to continue. There will be a rolling operational blackout happening that will cease in the coming week. B