Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20170823 20:00:0

MSNBCW Deadline White House August 23, 2017 20:00:00

I know you have other duties for the network so well let you go. But with eappreciate we appreciate you being with us. Jonathan swan, im sure you have more of the conversations than i do, but aides increasingly want you to one, give them credit for all the quote crazy stuff that doesnt happen. I think i have seen that in axios and other places, and two for the scripted moments which are sort of milestones that they are proud of getting him to hit. Whether its ultimately affirming the commitment to article 5, whether its delivering a decision on afghan policy. And they want to sort of separate out judgment or responsibility from these wild, unhinged performances like last night. Yes. Its doubly strange because you really have a white house at the senior level where if you take the family out of it, if you take jared and ivanka who obviously voted for their father in law and their father, if it was any other election they werent related to him they would have voted for hillary 2015. Theres no difference between the guy who walked out of trump tower in july 2015 or june, whenever it was, and the guy on stage now. The only difference is theyre in office so these people have become used to it. They have become almost immune to the scandal. Really what you hear is exhaustion often and, you know, they find a lot of them find it hard to muster fresh outrage. I find that they want they want to be singled out for praise. They really do, as Anthony Scaramucci said, feel like theyre saving america from donald trump. I want to you about something i think was tweeted in the last couple of hours that perhaps something that triggered donald trump. We talk about triggers. And gateways here for donald trump. But something that might have triggered him was the New York Times reporting about his cold war and the frosty relationship between donald trump and Senate Majority leader moitch mcconnel. Do you have any insight into the relationship and whether the reports fueled the rage we saw from the president last night . I dont think there was any causal relationship between anything that happened in the previous 24 hours and what he was like on stage. Again, like people try and link all sorts of things to the way that donald trump behaved on stage last night, but it was not of a different order than what hes done in every other scene where hes been before a crowd like that. If you compare it to the speech he did a year before in phoenix there are different things. Same outrage response. What i can confirm is that the relationship between donald trump and Mitch Mcconnell is truly appalling at this point. It really has reached a nadir. All right, let me bring you in on this and ask you about this i take jonathan swans reporting to the bank. But i saw him pull out a piece of paper out of his jacket. I thought he came loaded for bear for some Score Setting that Wasnt The Normal donald trump sort of in the round. And when he pulled that paper out, i thought, uhoh. I leaned back and i got ready for the tirade. But i want to play for you so i want your thoughts on what you think his State Of Mind was when he went into this rally first. But then i want to play for you some of the sound that i think really underscores what jonathan alluded to which is this cold war that may be spilling out into the public with republican senators. Just your thoughts about last night. Jonathans right that it was the same trump that we saw on the campaign trail, but there were certainly some moments that stood out from others, nicolle. To my mind, this was one of those moments when for example during the Campaign Trump felt that he was personally under siege or that he was struggling in the polls. You would see him ratchet up this language about there being a rigged election. About how, you know, he is under attack from his enemies. The media is out to get me. That directly correlated with how he was feeling personally at the time about his status in the election. So i think there is probably also an emotional aspect to this because who among us can come up with a good political calculus explanation for what he did last night . There is none. Rallying the base, hes not at the point in his presidency where he needs to rally the base. Hes got to be passing legislation. Right. And growing his base. The only conclusion that i can draw from that spectacle last night it fed some kind of inner need that he trump the man had to be surrounded with the adulation and support and cheers from his loving and adoring crowds. Lets look at this his comments about some republican senators. And think think we were just one vote away from victory after seven years of everybody proclaiming repeal and replace. One vote away. One one. One vote away. 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. And nobody wants me to talk about your other senator whos weak on borders, weak on crime. So i wont talk about him. Nobody wants me to talk about him. Nobody knows who the hell he is. Heidi, the two senators are senator mccain whos fighting a valiant fight against brain cancer and senator jeff flake. Thats the one i think he says nobody knows who he is. He has a book on the New York Times Best Seller List but never mind that. Did he make that job of getting something passed easier or harder with the comments . Im going to say, not strategic. We are going into the period here where all of the cards are stacked against him in terms of getting tax reform done. Anybody who knows all about how Congress Works and the special Interest Groups who are coming out with their knives on tax reform know its health care on steroids if they get to that point. But the most damning thing he did was throw in that bomb about a potential shutdown, threatening a shutdown. If you thought health care was Peak Dysfunction in congress, just wait. Hell be at odds with his party in a way we did not see with health care if he tries to force down a shut down over spending on the wall. Theres no one who will give him a red cent for that. Maybe a little bit if they want to try a compromise with democrats but hes not going to get his wall funding because if they want a clean bill, they have to work with democrats. Democrats like pelosi call the wall immoral. So he might have put us on a trajectory to another government shutdown. Eli, were talking about a shutdown with a congress in the same party. Were talking about a president who now i think has hurdled more insults at republican senators than democrats, at least in the last 14 days but you have told me time and time again as this white house functioning in parallel universes. Explain. The schizophrenia we feel is from the parallel track from president ial trump, giving a speech ear afghanistan. And then what we saw the following night which is off the rails political theater. So off the rails that James Clapper suggested he shouldnt have the nuclear codes. Hes talking about unifying the country and then seconds later Sowing Division and then the part that feels like its actually coming from trump. The people who have been around him, look, you have to release the pressure, open up that valve. Go to therapy, take a pill. Thats what were seeing. I think what concerns people who work in this administration, republicans on capitol hill, is that the pressure never seems to be fully released and you do see i mean, yes, jonathan is right. This president is doing the same shtick he has been doing over a year and you can tell hes backed into the corner. Hes on an island and isolated and thats coming through in a lot of these comments here. Hes had conversations with close friends, people inside the administration, his new chief of staff all urging him, look, we have to get beyond the base, we have to tone it down. The charlottesville thing was not good. He takes that advice in and then goes off script and does his own thing. I dont know what there is for a lot of the aides to do. And i dont know what the end of it is when he seems like he always sort of has to say what he needs to say to make himself feel better. Even though hes president of when you have an infant thats called selfsoothing. Joining by phone is former chief of staff for the cia and the department of defense, jeremy bash. Thank you for jumping on the phone for us, i know youre far away. I had to get you on the record from James Clappers comments that kept me awake last night. After watching the president S Performance last night he was concerned about this man having access to the nuclear codes. Your thoughts . Theater, nicolle. General clapper who served 3 2 years in the air force was a leader of a director of the Defense Intelligence agency and the National Geospatial agency. He knows more about National Security than almost walking the face of the earth and he said that he does not believe the president is fit for office. That he cannot be trusted with the National Command authority to launch Nuclear Weapons and we should just remind viewers, nicolle, in our system, only the president of the United States has the authority to launch Nuclear Weapons. And nobody not a Single Person can countermand that order. If the president gives the order around it can happen very rapidly, the president gives the order not the secretary of defense, not the Combatant Command of u. S. Strategic command, nobody can say no. Jeremy bash, this is not the first time we have heard someone publicly question Donald Trumps fitness to serve. It was less than a week ago that bob corker, republican senator and ally of this president , not an agitator, like the two senators he attacked last night. He questioned quote Donald Trumps competence and stability. Getting right at this core issue that were talking about. Fitness to command the nations military, fitness to possess those nuclear codes. I wonder if in your circles, in defense and intelligence circles if this is a tip of the iceberg, the words that the two men are saying, do they possibly represent the deepest fears of a larger group of people in those circles . Nicolle, i have heard these rumblings for months from Senior Intelligence officials both inside the agencies, as well as recently retired professionals. I have heard it from currently serving military officers. There is deep concern about the stability of the person who occupies the oval office. I should note on the nuclear issue, nicolle, in early august the president had a bizarre tweet in which he said ive ordered as my first order the upgrade and modernization of our nuclear forces. This is around the time of the locked and loaded tweet about north korea. And there is deep concern because what im told is that the president sort of directed in an off handed way the pentagon to massively increase the Nations Nuclear arsenal. And the pentagon has not done it because the pentagon does not understand what the rationale would be. Many more Nuclear Weapons than we have operational War Plans Requirements for and so the president is trying to characterize the Massive Nuclear upgrade and the pentagon is scratching its head and saying we dont understand what the commander in chief is telling us to do. Theres much more coming out about the nuclear piece about this and a big, Big Disconnect between the professional military and the president on the nuclear issue. Thank you, jeremy bash. My thanks to jonathan swan, heidi and eli are sticking around. When we come back well ask our panel about that president ial Temper Tantrum and the questions its raising about his fitness to serve from one of americas most respected National Security voices. And relitigating charlottesville. The president wasted no time reopening his worst case against himself. If that tied your brain in a knot, join the club. Well ask our panel why the president cant let anything go. M and where i came from. I did my ancestrydna and i couldnt wait to get my pie chart. The most shocking result was that im 26 Native American. I had no idea. Just to know this is what im made of, this is where my ancestors came from. And i absolutely want to know more about my Native American heritage. Its opened up a whole new world for me. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. Chances are, the last time yoyou got robbed. An, i know i got a loan 20 years ago, and i got robbed. Thats why i started lendingtree the only place you can compare up to 5 real offers side by side, for free. Its like shopping for hotels online, but our average customer can save Twenty Thousand dollars. At lendingtree, you know youre getting the best deal. So take the power back and come to lendingtree. Com, because at lendingtree when banks compete, you win. Comcast business. Built for business. The president has not yet has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. That was republican Senator Corker last week where do we go from here . Lets bring in the panel. Joining us is is it eli and me at the table. John heilemann. Our friend donny deutsch, Robert Traynham and heidi is still with us. All right, donnie, you did some homework. I didnt know where your show was going today, but i watched last night and i was you try to analyze. Trying to listen to heidi, listen to smart people like yourself, and i did some homework. Theres nothing political about this. I need 40 seconds. How to determine if someone is a sociopath. The person its a condition that prohibits people from adopting to the community. Theyre usually extremely charming and charismatic. They feel entitled to certain people, and things they believe their own beliefs are only it and they have Trouble Osuppressing anger and impatience or annoyance. They do bizarre and risky and outrageous things. Their professional liars. They make outlandish, untruthful statements and that i get comfort they get comfortable with their lying. They get bored easily and require constant stimulation. Sounds like me. Theyre capable of experiencing guilt or shame, theyre manipulative. When they try to dominate people to gain positions of leadership. They have a hard time dealing with criticism. Now we have to go to break. No, i mean, you start im not being glib here. I know youre not. Were trying to analyze this rationally or the left brain and there is none. Coming off of clapper and corker, i have to say what is wrong with this man . Its interesting so many of the traits of the sociopath, hes displaying. Not one of us is capable of diagnosing him, but i have heard from people close to him that he feels trapped that all of the releases as you have been talking about are not from private life are not available to him. He feels like a caged animal. And that there is something depressing to him about being scrutinized the way he is. That hes you know, again, these are friends. These are not people rooting against him, but they recognize i mean, they havent diagnosed him as a sociopath, but they say the behavior is anything outside of normal. If you look at the people in the common vernacular, if you have the recurring selfdestructive tendencies yeah, like your friends jerky boyfriend. The way he in his case, i mean, the obvious problem he has with the truth is kind of again small the things he did last night in reading the edited versions of the charlottesville responses. What he tells untruths, lying to people on the camera, either by omission or comission. The reverie of telling the stories of being on center stage of the debate stage, back when he was free, like a free range trump, roaming around the country having rally after rally. That was a mode he enjoyed being in. Back when he won, people speculated on on the notion when he won, he was not looking at the constriction they all go crazy in the maximum security prison that is the white house but hes lived a free range life and now the scrutiny is high. The responsibilities are extraordinary. The job is not a fun job. Its it brings out all of his i understand all of his worst character flaws. But do they add up to what James Clapper described last night which is fundamental lack of fitness to serve . Im not going to rule on that question, but serious people whether its bob corker or others in private, Many Democrats and certainly lots of people in the National Security and Intelligence Community are asking that question on an hourly basis. Is he just in some fundamental way emotionally, psychologically, emotionally, not up to this job . Robert traynham, hes a republican president. Probably a stain on the Republican Party till the end of time on questions of race for all of the divisions hes sown in the last 14 days. But let me ask you about this question that James Clapper posed last night saying that he doesnt trust this man with the nuclear codes. There is no example in history of a national and i worked for a president who carried out controversial policies when its came to Foreign Policy, but no one ever questioned they questioned the wisdom of his

© 2025 Vimarsana