American voters said that the president s tweets were distracting. Only 22 said theyre informative. Any time that the president can speak directly to the American People its a good thing. Look, Everyone Wants to make this an attack on a woman. What about the constant attacks that he receives or the rest of us . Im a woman and i have been attacked by the show multiple times but i dont cry foul because of it. I think that, you know, you want to create this false narrative and on one hand its like lets treat everybody equally and on the other hand they attack attack attack and he responds and apparently thats wrong. First Lady Melania Trump who also defended her husbands punch launched her own campaign, combating Cyber Bullying less than eight months ago and the president s daughter weighed in on the Political Climate on an interview on fox friends earlier this month. It is hard and theres a level of viciousness that i was not expecting. I was not expecting the intensity of this experience. Well, well get into this. But a quick look back at just how we got here. You have called women you dont like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Your twitter account only rosie odonnell. She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions and there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. Donald trump said the following about you, quote, look at that face, would anyone vote for that, can you imagine that the face of our next president . I think women all over the country heard clearly what mr. Trump said. One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty con tests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called this woman miss piggy. Then he called her miss housekeeping because she was latino. That person was a Miss Universe person and she was the worst we ever had. She was the winner and, you know, she gained a massive amount of weight. And it was a real problem. Im automatically attracted its like a magnet. And when youre a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. Before i open this up to my table a couple thoughts. One as a former Communications Director theres a single press strategy for this white house. Its called an apology. Two, as a woman who was for nat enough to work in the white house as a Public Servant all the women collecting paychecks from the u. S. Taxpayers, dina powell, kellyanne conway, elaine chao, betsy devos you should work behind the scenes to educate him about how offensive they are. Three, as someone who once proudly called myself a republican the party will be permanently associated with misogyny if leaders dont demand a retraction. As a woman of a son, how do you let a man get away with them can Kristen Welker was asking all the right questions. Tell us what went down today. Well, it was striking, nicolle, because this was one of those briefings that became dominated almost completely by a single topic by the series of tweets. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, not apologizing at all which is striking because you go back to that access Hollywood Tape and the president did apologize. Thats not the strategy today. Sanders saying that the president is a fighter and this is an example of him punching back. But she did have to face a range of tough questions in addition to all of those which you played, i pressed her on the fact that the president has not been immune to engaging in this type of criticism himself. Remember when president obama was in the office and he was the start of the birther movement, he didnt think that former president obama was born here and then he conceded that he was of course. That was one of the key criticisms of the former president. And he was asked by hallie jackson, my colleague, about whether Sarah Huckabee sanders, a mom of three would effectively condone this type of behavior to her kids. Strikingly, she said, look, the only person who is perfect, the only being that is perfect effectively is god. Which we thought was very notable. She didnt revert back to this talking point, defending the president. But she answered a range of these questions and then sort of lashed out at us for not focusing on policy and i think thats where the problem becomes, sarah not sarah, nicolle. This is the problem, because this is the president stepping on effectively his own message. This was the day that started were talking about the travel ban, we were talking about the president s meeting with the south korean leader. Those were the stories that we were tracking when this day began and this is another example of the president stepping on his own message and his own agenda right at a critical moment when hes trying to get health care passed. It becomes a lot tougher for him to get some republicans on board with the Health Care Plans when they say these comments are beneath the office of the presidency. I was struck by Huckabee Sanders by saying we get attacked day in and day out. We get attacked by russia day in and day out. And they want to hack into the public and the private sector and they do nothing, so why cant why this white house have the same degree of ire on russia, a known american adversary . And nicolle, i think that is the key question. That is one of the first questions that were going to ask the president when we get to ask him questions again. Why is it hes lashing out at a cable news host that hes lashing out at former president obama still, that hes lashing out at a whole range of people, but not lashing out at russia. How angry is he about the fact that russia tried to meddle in the 2016 race, what is he going to do about it . We learned that hes going to meet with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the g20 summit next week. So well be tracking that very closely. It is notable though that the president s going to hold a joint statement with the leader of south korea tomorrow. Hes not going to answer any questions. Thank you, Kristen Welker. Thank you for carving out some time for us. We appreciate it. Joining the table today, former rnc political director and former adviser to Chris Christie, mike due hail. Michael steele, now an msnbc analyst along with National Affairs analyst john howman and anita dunn. Let me start with you, anita. As a message what struck me was that her defense of the tweets this morning was that donald trump is a fighter but when it comes to putin hes a lover. Hes a lover and he and he rolls over and plays dead while the russians effectively continue to launch Cyber Attacks against this country. Its really striking. As a former white house Communications Director this was energy week. Thats right. And it was almost as good as infrastructure week. You dont think energy you dont think this fits with let me just read these again to see if you think this works for energy week. I heard poorly rated morning joe speaks badly of me. Then how come low iq crazy mika along with psycho joe came to maralago . You dont think this happens with energy week . He called somebody low energy. And jeb bush was not out there this morning. It is really striking. You know, theres no surprise that they cant fill those jobs. Cant fill the white house Communications Director job, cant fill the press secretary job because who wants that job of trying to get a coherent message out supporting a president s policies when youre undercut every day by someone who by the way who obviously doesnt watch morning joe according to his tweets. Youre often on morning joe. Your take . Well, you know, mika is a friend of mine so im going to try to depersonalize this. Its kind of offensive on every possible level. But thats an important point. She wants us to cover this as a news story. Shes my friend too. So i think that this is a news story because donald trump is the leader of the free world and spent his morning attacking a news anchor instead of promoting energy week or trying to get his caucus let me stipulate one thing which is for the record. We should all stipulate, not only offensive, but disgusting. Yeah. So theres a human thing. Theres a political thing. Right, the human thing is just hearing anybody not just the president of the United States, that somehow your the way you live your life is if i get hit im going to hit back ten times harder. Thats somehow the way we want to live as people in the world, thats ridiculous, right . But then theres the political thing which is not something that people pointed out today, he could have been doing other things, this hasnt advanced his agenda. If you think back to the first president ial debate when Donald Trumps the president ial campaign was in the balance, Alicia Machado came up on the debate and he spent four days like trying to push himself into the buzz saw. Fat shaming her, slut shaming her, trying to criticize her sexual mores. He did that for four days at a time of political peril, he acted in ways that were totally political suicidal and reckless. Now we are here and the Health Care Bill and the whole first term agenda is hanging in the balance. Not only is this a distraction, but theres a weird impulse he has to go to both misogyny, a grotesque form of it and a suicidal thing to do. There are women whose votes matter in the senate to getting this Health Care Bill through. What is Susan Collins thinking when she hears this . What is Lisa Murkowski thinking when she hears this . Its not a distraction he could have spent his day doing something more useful. This looks like i want to strap a suicide vest on and do it in a way that will offend any thinking woman in america. And man. Right . Yeah, i think so. Theyre indefensible. I think from a personal nature as well, not because i know mika, but because i have a mom, a wife, and i have Three Sisters and a wife and a daughter. You cant be partisan in a this is where republicans have to stand up. How would you even be partisan . Who would defend this . I think the issue i think part of the issue with this, you have some people on the left who criticize everything he does no matter what it is. So when you criticize this we criticize everything that your old boss Chris Christie does. Thats the point. To be credible we have to criticize where criticism is warranted and right now its obviously warranted in this place. I agree with john. Its derailed where the party can get together. Health care is hard to get together on and energy, a lot of that pieces of that speech that republicans could galvanize around, but nobody is talking about. Thats a huge distraction and it will keep his agenda from going forward. Where is the red line . I thought the access Hollywood Tape would be one. People unendorsed him and then they reendorsed him. Have republicans lost all of their sort of moral bearings . No, i dont think so. I think it was very clear when the evangelical wing of the party decided that getting a Supreme Court nominee via donald trump was more important than Everything Else that had gone before. I think the line was drawn when he made the statements on race that he did. That the leadership of the party said, yeah, thats racist, but i still endorse him. So there are no red lines here. So lets stop pretending that republicans are going to be suddenly outraged because they have decided for political expediency and the purposes of holding the house and the senate and maybe holding the winning races around the country that the value of being a republican or being conservative matters less, matters less than the man who is sitting in the white house. Means nothing. If that is your value construct, then you get what you get, baby. Because its coming full throated. Hes not stopping. Thats no indication hes going to change. You can say put your big boy pants on and grow up all you want, it aint happening. So lets stop this pretense as republicans this is going to be a better space for us with donald trump as president. All right. Well going to hit pause. When we come back the outcry from republicans has been swift and biting. Jeb bush calling trumps tweet inappropriate, undignified and unpresident ial. Will anything change . Also today the white house confirms that President Trump will meet oneonone with Vladimir Putin. Will they confront him over russian attacking . And coming up a president who bullies you from bully pulpit. We talk to one woman whos been there. Their experience is coveted. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of. Researchers of technologies that one day you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. We call them our team. For over 100 yearsaking like kraft has,al cheese you learn a lot about peoples tastes. Honey, what do you want for dinner tonight . Oh whatever youre making. Triple cheddar stuffed sliders. Sold were not going to get along, but we have to treat each other with respect and civility. And the president s tweet was completely inappropriate. I think its inappropriate. I think it was wrong. And my tweet speaks for itself. Should the president apologize . If it were me, one, i wouldnt have done it if were me. Thats up to him. But if its were up to me i would. Were trying to improve the tone and civility of the debate and that doesnt help to do that. To say the least. The last time that many republicans condemned donald trump was on the they that access hollywood came out. Philip, i feel like we have some of the same conversations but i dont think feel like we have had this conversation since that day that the tape came out. Where as john heilman described his misogynist impulses are revealed and disseminated through his favorite form of media, twitter. Can you put his history of lurking around backstage at beauty pageants, of calling women pigs, of being obsessed with where they bleed and tweeting about it. Can you put this in a context about what this white house has been trying or at least telling us theyre trying to do . Yeah, well, youre right. Theres a long and well documented history of donald trump making the sort of comments and accusations dating back decades including on his appearances in talk radio, way back when. This is the first time we have seen it though in this form while hes president of the United States. And thats different. Its different to have him tweet this as president ahead of all of the things hes doing today as president than it was for example when he was with billy bush on the bus with access hollywood. So thats a problem. Its something that the white house staff had been trying to wean him off of. They have tried to instill discipline. They like this fight hes having with the media. They think its great for him to feud with the socalled fake news, it galvanizes and energizes his base. He was a big Republican Party fundraiser last night talking about cnn and attacking cnn and for the white house thats sort of a win. But this is a whole other level and a whole other thing here what hes doing with mika and i dont think his advisers are too happy to see it happening. But again, i know i is you this all the time. Can anyone change him . Im told by a friend of his who didnt defend the move, but understand it. This is sort of the street brawler in him. Yeah. The more low rent side of donald trump who thinks when you punch, punch back. Who brings a gun to a knife fight. This is his character. This is exactly right. The people i was been close to talking to him say he loves these fights, he likes to get in the middle of it. He likes to fight back with News Organizations when he doesnt like their coverage. He likes to attack cnn. He likes to go after morning joe. I think its bothered him all of the commentary that hes heard on the program across all of cable news, but especially morning joe which has a much more chatty sort of atmosphere in the mornings that he doesnt feel like he gets the respect that he wants and thinks he deserves as president of the United States. And its been gnawing at him and stews inside of him. It all sort of exploded in a really ugly way. My friend and colleague, katy tur, has joined our conversation. Philip, stay with us as well. I want to ask you what youre hearing about how the people around the president dealt with the fallout this morning, which was immediate. Well, phil was right. They are cheering on this fight that hes having with the media. The white house fundamentally believes that they are being treated unfairly. They feel like this president is getting criticized in a way that no other president has. My god, did they watch this network during the bush years . Can i say something, i asked that very question because we had an anchor who asked him to resign every single night. And i asked this question to somebody who was close to donald trump. So somebody called and said, does bush know that hes i hate that he calls him the worst person in the world. I said please dont tell him hes only at espn. I worked for a president who didnt watch. So the person i was talking to just a moment ago admitted, yeah youre right, bush did that. But they feel like obama got a pass from the press. And now they feel like they need to punch back even harder. Im not saying its correct, but this is what theyre doing. So when they see a tweet like this nobody likes the idea of donald trump the president of the United States going after a colleague of ours in such a personal way. But they also fundamentally feel that he needs to fight back. So while this may seem like a storm of Epic Proportions outside of the white house, withi