President trouble. We conclude with Pete Buttigieg. We want to restrict the government from encroaching on our freedom. The reason to have a government is to restrict anything else encroaching on or freedom. Theres a huge blind spot. I dont doubt conservatives are sincere when they care about free dumb but in my own experience freedom has been enhanced by being able to get access to medical care, being able to marry who you love. Figuring out the gobbly gook on your credit card means. Thats what they intended to enhance. Democrats have grown i think out of practice in talking about freedom. Jeff politics and Pete Buttigieg when we continue. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Jeff good evening, charlie is away, im jeff glor of cbs news. We begin tonight with politics. This weekend marks the six month anniversary of President Trumps inauguration. Those six months have been marked by what seems like an unprecedent and nonstop flow of news from the west wing. Today we are joined by Shannon Pettypiece. She works for bloomberg news. And from washington dan balz and hes the chief correspondents for the Washington Post. Im pleased to welcome both of them to this program. Shannon let me start with you hear in the studio with the resignation today of sean spicer as press secretary. Anthony scaramucci a hedge fund and long backer of trump is in as Communications Director. But theres not a sense that hes going to be doing much communication messaging strategy. The sense is that he will mostly be doing tv appearances, possibly the podium and be a public face for trump and the whitehouse. But not necessarily anyway who understands washington, understands congress, understands messaging. So the question still is, who is going to be dealing with those Bigger Picture issues if hes just going to be the public face. And sean spicer is saying all right im having none of this, im out. And anthony is the one left. Jeff dan its interesting there are similarities here between the president and Anthony Scaramucci. The native the fighter, the president and estate. There are similarities. There are similarities. Theyre both combative. Theyre both money people. Theyre both new york. They speak a similar language in that respect neither has washed experienced which the president believed was an asset and i suspect he sees in scaramucci that it would be a similar asset. That he will be a disrupter rather than somebody who will play by washington rules. Sean spire was a creature of washington and it made it very difficult for him to operate as the spokesperson for a president who has defied all the rules. So he will be more comfortable with Anthony Scaramucci in that position. And you know, the issues shannon raised which is the roll of the Communications Director is not necessarily to be the public face. Thats usually the press secretary. But its somebody who is planning communication strategy for a longer term. What we know about this whitehouse is that there is no long term planning or very little of it, particularly on the communication side. The president creates the communication strategy day by day, hour by hour. And so maybe scaramucci can roll with it more easily than sean spicer. Jeff the communication director is the president. Right. He is his own communication director, his own Foreign Policy advisor and domestic policy advisor. Thats frustration. The communications operation, they have a strategy there a message they go in one direction and the president does an interview and blows it all up. Obviously sean had been frustrated for a while in this position. Bringing in anthony, he was going to be doing the job of communication director and press secretary yet without the title. So people i talked to of course to him he just threw his hands up and said this isnt what i want, im leaving then. Jeff dan, its more shock for a white house where it doesnt seem to stop. Well, its a shock a day, jeff, really. I mean were, as you said, were at the six month mark. Week by week, month by month its become apparent that this is what life with President Trump is going to be like. That theres not going to be a pivot to or a more settled whitehouse or more sedate pace thats more predictablepresident ial. This is one more day in a six month rollercoaster weve been witnessing and experiencing as a country under President Trump. Jeff shannon, sean spicer and Reince Preibus were a bit of a package deal when they came on board the trump administration. I think a lot of people at this point are asking now if Sean Spicer Resigns what happens to Reince Preibus. Youre right, a bag deal. They were parts of the establishment. They were supposed to understand washington and how to get things done. So that void among trouble kushner and other outsiders come in. Heres how Washington Communications messaging gets done. So with sean gone, you would think there might mean something for reince. But weve been talking to people close to him who say no he is very supportive of this decision about anthony. Hes been told that his job is secure, hes not going anywhere. I mean famous last words for everyone in this whitehouse, im not going anywhere. But thats the story now is that he seems to be shifting and just getting on board with the strategy to bring on anthony and let sean leave if thats what he wants to do. Jeff as this drama plays out, dan, primarily the president here is now focused or is trying to still focus on getting something done on healthcare. Well, that is what he says hes focusing on. But his Attention Span is very short, and so from day to day to day its not clear that that is really where he is focusing his time or energy. I mean it seems to be more focused on frustrations with the probe on the Russian Investigation under species been counsel bob mueller. His frustrations he aired this week with Jeff Sessions, the attorney general. Differences in all kinds of ways. So yes he did have all the republican senators into the whitehouse after the bill and the senate collapse the earlier this week. And he indicated he wants something done. But getting to that goal line has proven so difficult. And the president has not necessarily played a constructive role in getting it to success. So he will say those kinds of things but there has been very little follow through and i think we have to be subsequent cull there is president ial follow through. The senate will try to do what they can do. Senator mcconnel the minority leader reached his limits and while there will be a vote next week or an effort to have a vote to put a bill on the floor and see what if anything can happen to it. Its not clear theyll be able to succeed with getting the bill on the floor. Jeff you noted there has been a change at least for the strategy by the president. He was very involved with the house and house members in cajoling them to get their version passed. It was a stand off with the senate for a while but now he made the sales pitch this week. It was interesting to see what happened in the house because he really did turn the temperature up on them in the end. But in the end it was the house members themselves who came up with a couple amendments they could tack on to feel comfortable enough about this with and be able to hold their nose and vote for this bill that they werent that crazy about. But it really wasnt any leverage from the president. He was calling them over and over again, inviting them to the whitehouse and bolding nights. It was the members themselves coming together. I think that will happen in the senate too because at 40 Approval Rating at best more in the 30s, he doesnt have leverage. By every day he becomes increasingly more toxic and for the members trying to decide in 2018, trumps most popular person in the Republican Party or the most dangerous person in the Republican Party, wire getting close to having to make that decision in 2018 as they start running for reelection and its increasingly looking like theyre going to shift away from him and run on their own. Jeff is there any sun tra republican argument over held care that they are agreeing with each other anymore at this point. Today and yesterday, i dont think theres any sign that anybodys moving closer into one column over another despite being called last night and sticking around. I mean my read on this and the people i talk to is this is not going to be something that gets decided in a couple days. Maybe a few months maybe the fall maybe the end of the year they can come up with something but were at right now the divide isnt going to be mended in a few days or late night on capitol hill. Jeff dan, does the president have any leverage. What does this threat to say skip your august break mean . Well i mean it puts some pressure on them but i think theyve put pressure on themselves. Its not as though they need external pressure. They recognize that they made a promise and have made a promise for seven years to repeal the Affordable Care act. And they have been trying to do that and theyve been trying to in a sense do a rubiks cube to try to get everybody on board and theyve not been able to. And the recent surgery and diagnosis for senator mccain leaves them with one less vote even though his vote was not certain. So theyre in a deeper hole than they were before the president said well stay for your august recess. Thats an easy thing to say if youre president of the United States but what is it that these got to contribute that will bring him both moderates and conservatives into a consensus that will get them to the 50 votes they need. Because its pretty clear that senator collins and senator rand paul are just hard nose against there was no margin of error. Theres less margin of error now because of senator mccain. And the president has yet to offer anything substantive to say heres a way out of this box. Heres a solution that i can see or that my people can see. They just havent been able to do it. Theyve made any number of, you know, of efforts. I was up in rhode island last weekend for the National Governors association and the Vice President was there and second price was there or they were trying to woo and win some governors. They werent able to do that. Similarly in the senate. I think its really tough so for him to say stay in until you get this done is talk but its not necessarily constructive action. Jeff also shannon not a popular bill right now. No. Donald trump, the real estate businessman would say you have to believe in what youre selling if you want to sell it. They dont have a good sales pitch. I heard the president trying to make a sales pitch in this lunch he had with senators saying look its entitlement reform with medicaid. Its rolling back taxes, mandates that hurt companies trying to have real republican conservative ideology selling points. As far as selling to the american people, theyre so far from having a good effective message and thats why i feel the mood and popularity isnt going to change over night. Maybe they could change it months from now with some good messaging really hammering away, engaging trump getting people on the same page. But its so unpopular right now that a vote next week is not going to be enough. Things arent going to change enough for a yes vote to happen next week. Jeff when the president and whitehouse talk about wins here they do talk about neal gorsuch. They also talk and the president talks a lot right now about the market. They are still riding high. Doing very well. Is that going to be a continuing focus . Not if they cant get tax reform done. Thats what wall street is looking for. They want tax reform. They want a lower Corporate Tax rate. They want this tax holiday so people can bring money back from overseas. Thats what the markets have been banking on. Each day this healthcare drama draws out, you get further away from being able to get tax reform done this year. Tax reform also really what the republican establishment wants. They are foaming at the mouth to get the tax reform. Theyve got this health bill blocking their way that they want to do first because they need the tax saving from that to pass tax reform. So i think theres going to be a day and a time where President Trump is going to regret tying his success to the markets for nothing else than the markets are just cyclical but also to the point that the markets are counting on tax reform. Jeff the markets right now just seem immune to drama. The markets love, they love to be doing, every investor loves to be doing well. Nobody on wall street wants the market to go down but its sort of how long can the party last. Everyones having a grand time right now but when does reality set in. When can they not, when does it have to face the music. Jeff dan, the whitehouse, its not just to focus on the markets but focuser other thing as well, made in america and there have been others. Have those in your susta estimation happen. There are a number of events designed to highlight made in america but every day or every other day theres been something far more dramatic that has happened generally caused by the president himself. And so this notion of stepping on the big message has been a constant theme in the administration. I do think that that made in america message has resonance. It certainly has resonance with the trump base but i think it has resonance broader than that but i think in general americans would like to see more manufacturing in this country. They would like to buy more goods that are made in this country and the extent to which the president has and uses the bully pulpit to deliver that message can be effective. Ive talked to some people in some of the states who said theyve seen evidence in their states that what the president has said just what he said on this has had an impact on the thinking of businesses about where they invest their money and how they invest their money. So there is some value to that. But with the constant disruption, it certainly dilutes the power of that message and in many ways smutters it committeely. Trump really lost that message. Remember back to december or november or january he was going after those companies. He was going after forward. He did that deal in indiana with carrier, you know. He was going after boeing, and hes lost that message. But that was an effective message for him but he gets distracted on talking about fake news and tweeting out a company like forward is now sending jobs to china, where is that. The fake news tweets also resonate with with the base. With a lot of folks. Right, with the base. But i think jobs and america and going after the big companies, those resonate with independents and democrats and the people who really swung him into the whitehouse. Jeff dan, how does the attorney general stay on a job when the president openly says he shouldnt be there . Its very difficult. If youre the attorney general, you have to swallow your pride. You have to say to yourself ive got important work that i am doing and im not going to let this be a distraction. I suppose you can say that you say to yourself the Justice Department actually is and should be independent from the president on a number of things. And so if the president is unhappy, well i can live with that. But i mean, this was a terrible thing that happened to him this week, to have the president so publicly rebuke him. We have known for some time how unhappy the president was about the decision by Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from all things relate to the russia investigation. Thats been out there for a while. But weve never heard it from the president s voice and weve never heard it in such a kind of a dismissive way and in an angry way about what sessions had done. Its as if that decision has led to this cascading of an investigation. Its obviously more complicated than that. Theres a different time line that the president is overlooking as to how we got to this point with the mueller investigation. But it has to be humiliating to the attorney general to be operating like this. And as i say, i think the only thing he can do is he seemed to do on thursday is swallow his pride and try to carry on as long as he can. Jeff the time line part of this is important from the president ial perspective and maybe hasnt been examined as much. But theres also the question shannon of finding someone if sessions did resign or was fired to find someone willing to take that job then. Yes, almost as hard as finding someone to take the Communications Director job at the whitehouse which was one of the most fraught, trying to find someone in washington. I know they talk the to so many people. No one want to take that job because they knew what they were stepping into. But unlike Communications Director this one actually has to get confirmed by congress. That would be one giant fight to go through. Jeff dan, if youre bob mueller right now and youve obviously hired a decent number of lawyers already, how are you paying attention to this and how are you reading this . I think youre trying not to Pay Attention to it. I mean bob mueller is an experienced lawyer prosecutor, former f. B. I. Director, grands Great Respect. I think hes knows who he is and the responsibilities that goes with this particular assignment hes taken o i would guess that he and those around him are just pushing forward. I mean theres no evidence that they are being cowed by any of the outside noise and outside pressure this thats being applied. If anything, theyre expanding this investigation into various other areas which may be one of dont know the specifics ofent that but he certainly is upset and seems more upset with the investigation today than he was a few months ago and he