At the scab of ethnic anger. President trump stirred it up all last friday criticizing nfl players who kneeled during the National Anthem. Hes double down again and again since then. Nbc news reports he told dinner guests at the white house just last night he wont back down and is confident hes on the winning side of this issue. Well, today the president was asked whether he was preoccupied by this story at the expense of other important issues. Lets watch him. I wasnt preoccupied with the nfl, i was ashamed of what was taking place because to me that was a very important moment. I dont think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our National Anthem. To me the nfl situation is a very important situation. Ive heard that before about was i preoccupied. Not at all. Not at all. I have plenty of time on my hands. All i do is work. And to be honest with you, thats an important function of working. Its called respect for our country. Last night the Dallas Cowboys and the teams owner, jerry jones, took a knee in unison before the National Anthem. Before the National Anthem. President trump responded this morning on twitter noting the booing at the nfl Football Game last night when the entire dallas team dropped to its knees was loudest i ever heard. Great anger. Thats trumps tweet this morning. He later praised the team for standing up for the National Anthem itself after their protest. Why doesnt the president want to put this issue to rest . Bret stephens is a columnist for sniemz, Sally Jenkins and Michael Steele join me. I love the speech you gave over in australia recently about the right of people to disagree. In fact the need in a Civil Society to live with disagreement because thats the very heart of what democracy is, to have different opinions, different views, impulses that you want to speak and to demonstrate for, if you will. And here we have this side of the argument showing up. Tell me how you put it altogether. Look, its amusing to hear conservatives i think rightfully complain about excessive campus orthodoxies and then go berserk over Colin Kaepernick and other nfl players trying to break this other taboo and be iconiclass and champions of freedom in their own right. We dont worship the flag like its the obalis that defends on the earth in 2001 space odyssey. We admire the flag because of what it represents and the chief thing it represents is freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to think unpopular thoughts, despite the booing of crowds or the views of a president intent on rabble rousing. Do you think people on the right or the left, do you think they see each other in the same way when they see somebody thats an altrightist come to berkeley to stir up trouble, but thats part of free speech too to stir up trouble, and somebody in a football stadium taking a knee because they dont like the way police have been handling africanamericans over the years, in fact too long. Do they see the reality of what the situation theyre confronting, which is the need to allow public expression of even unpopular views . You know, conservatives should see it most of all. This is a point that ive been trying to make to some of my fellow conservatives. Texas v. Johnson, 1989 Supreme Court decision on flag burning. Who is the justice who makes the case that a fundamental right is also the right to burn the flag . Its that wellknown, leftwing progressive crazy Antonin Scalia voting with the majority in that case. So republicans or conservatives who think of themselves as constitutionalists who think they have a grip of what this country is about ought to be the first to oppose the president instead of going along with his whole line about anger is something out of a playbook from the 1930s of populism and a kind of a quasifascism. Its unbelievable to hear the president like this. By the way, the language he used about Colin Kaepernick and i guess by extension his mother was stunning. It would behoove conservatives to wash his mouth with soap. Yeah, son of a bitch is a great phrase coming out of the mouth of our president. I hate flag burning. I dont know you well and i guess thats why it works because so many of us do hate it. Thats why people burn the flag, because they know we hate it. The president tied the protest to wounded and killed soldiers. He did . He did. Lets watch. Many people have died, many, many people. Many people are so horribly injured. I was at Walter Reed Hospital recently, and i saw so many great young people and theyre missing legs and theyre missing arms and they have been so badly injured. And they were fighting for our country. They were fighting for our flag. They were fighting for our National Anthem. And for people to disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of our National Anthem i think is disgraceful. Sally jenkins, i know youre not a political type, but i will ask you to talk about the feelings among the people who have been taking a knee, kaepernick and the others. I dont know how you connect somebodys knee to somebody elses lost limb but trump just did it and its pretty grotesque. I dont think thats at all in the minds of the people who have thoughts regarding the police and africanamericans and the whole situation were all aware of. We know its divisive and people have different perspectives, but its got nothing to do with fighting for the country. It has nothing to do with the Service People give to the country and the sacrifice they make for the country. To tie it together i think is grotesque. Your thoughts. So the players would tell you that they dont intend disrespect to the flag. Now, you know, whether its being interpreted that way by others obviously is a separate question, but the players keep trying to stress we dont disrespect the military. We have deep respect for the military. The nfl actually has very, very deep ties. In 2011 a survey showed that over 100 nfl players had relatives serving. Kenny britt, one of the guys whos taken a knee, his sister serves in iraq. You know, we have half a dozen coaches in the nfl whose parents served in the military. John fox, the Chicago Bears coach. Rod marinelli, defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, fought in vietnam. So i think theres two groups of people talking past each other instead of to each other. Both sides are offended. Both sides keep saying but thats not what i meant. So people who defend standing for the anthem say im not a racist, were not racists to demand you stand for this flag. And then the kneelers in the nfl are saying we are not disrespecting the flag, we are simply asking for this country to be better. And so it seems like both sides could do a little more talking to each other instead of around or about each other. And the president didnt help that happen. My friend, michael here, it seems to me if you look at the history of this country, poor people go in the military. They dont have many other options. They get killed more commonly than other people do. They fought in vietnam more than anybody else. Theres 40,000 native americans that fought in vietnam. I heard that the other night on the pbs series. And also its one of the few, and this has a little irony, ironic, its more of an equal Opportunity Employer in the military. One place people have made progress in terms of equal respect. I want to pick up on that last point about what this is and what it isnt. This is not a protest about the flag and never has been. Colin kaepernick when he first raised the subject raised it around a particular issue. Colin kaepernick never said, oh, i dont like the flag. What he said was im concerned about the violence thats occurring in the black community, the tension between police and the black community, and his only way to really bring that to the nations attention was to do something symbolic. It was not antiflag, it was about the symbol that he could create around this issue. And that symbol was one of a prayerful symbol. I mean of all things. If you want to be disrespectful to the flag, the last thing you do is take a knee, to take a genuflection an rev rent posture. Weve seen militantcy toward the flag in the past. How do you defend your Republican Party i dont. The president whos had such a difficult time with the race issue over the years, and then to dive back he seems to be wall owing in this fight. He likes this. He wallows in this fight because this focuses on things other than he wants the distraction. It is ultimately a distraction. Where was this i think it revs up the base. Where was this a year ago . Lets go to bret on that. Why do you think hes doing that . I dont buy this theory hes crazy. Maybe some people think he does, fair enough. I think hes figured this stirs peoples blood, this baby. Yeah, but, you know, the famous line from the French Foreign minister, its worse than a crime, its a mistake. I think his calculation is that this is a winning political issue because who likes someone like Colin Kaepernick who supposedly is disrespecting the flag, although of course he isnt. But when you stir up this kind of hornets nest, when you ruin football for the entire country, when you have lebron james and even tom brady against you, not to mention robert kraft, the team owners, im not sure youre coming out on the winning side of this. And so for those of us who oppose the president , have been opposed to the demagogue re, maybe theres a blessing in disguise here. At last he has a losing issue. Sally, this is hard for you but im going to throw it at you because i always throw it at the trump voter one of those guys at a game, hes freezing, his face is red, hes rooting for his home team. Eagles fans is a classic. These guys are tough, working class guys. They may spend the little money they have to get to a game. If theres a championship, theyll take out a loan a housing loan, house repair loan to get down to jacksonville or somewhere to watch the game. My question to you, trump, i think, believes those are his people and those are the people that voted for him and he thinks they dont like what happens with taking a knee. Thats what i think. And thats what i think he thinks is logical. I dont like it but i think he knows what hes doing. I agree. You can feel it. You can see that villanuevas jersey overnight became the bestselling jersey in the nfl. The one guy for the Pittsburgh Steelers who stands for the anthem. You know, hes definitely tapping into something. This bothers fans, theres no question. You can have a perfectly legitimate argument about whether Colin Kaepernick and kenny britt and those other guys have closed more ears than they have opened by choosing to do this during the anthem. Thats a very interesting debate that we could have. But having that debate is more difficult when you have the president basically telling a bunch of young black men shut up and sing. You know, 53 of the American People dont like what you just said. That hes telling people to shut up and sing. 53 of adults think its inappropriate for trump to comment, even comment on how nfl players observe National Anthem. Even comment on it. Unfortunately we know trump doesnt go gunning for 53 , he likes that smaller percent, in the 30s thats loyal to him and theyre probably on the opposite side of this particular poll. Its great having this Diverse Group on. Bret stephens, thank you. Sally jenkins, i read you all the time. Michael steele, youre my brother here, although youre sometimes way too reasonable. Coming up, we learn more about how the russians used facebook to sow division in the 2016 election. By the way, who did they get get help from . Who was helping the russians direct their fire, find the voters they were looking for. This as longtime republican trickster and trump pal, roger stone, testified today on capitol hill. Thats ahead. Plus as President Trump attacks everyone from the nfl to john mccain, are republicans nearing the breaking point . Will they ever stand up to the man at the top of their party or on top of their party . And as alabama republicans head to the polls tonight, trump is taking a big political risk, as his candidate looks to be heading for defeat in that Senate Runoff down there. Were going to go look at the high stakes for the president with the hardball roundtable tonight prior to the closing of the polls. Finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. Its going to be interesting for him. His ears will sear. This is hardball, where the action is. Like paperless, multicar, and safe driver, that help them save on their car insurance. Any questions . Yeah. How do you go to the bathroom . Great. Any insurancerelated questions . Mmhmm. Do you have a girlfriend . Uh, im actually focusing on my career right now, saving people nearly 600 when they switch, so. Wheres your belly button . [ sighs ] ive got to start booking better gigs. Whentrust the brand doctors trust for themselves. Nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. And all day all night protection. When it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. The administration has been helpful up until now, but we need more help. Welcome back to hardball. That was the puerto rican governor this morning asking the Trump Administration for help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. Well, today President Trump emphasized the good job hes doing in puerto rico. Lets watch. We have been really treated very, very nicely by the governor and by everybody else. They know how hard were working and what a good job were doing. As governor rocello just told me this morning, the entire federal workforce is doing great work in puerto rico, and i appreciated his saying it. Hes saying it to anybody that will listen. And the governor said we are doing a great job. In fact he thanked me specifically for fema and all of the First Responders in puerto rico. We have had tremendous reviews from government officials. Wow, hes bragging about himself. Anyway, the situation in puerto rico is dire due to the hurricane wiping out all communication and shutting off power to almost the entire island. Families on the mainland have been unable to even reach their loved ones because phone and power lines are down and conditions in many areas outside the city are still unknown or theyre without food, Potable Water or even electricity. Im joined by nbc news correspondent Gadi Schwartz whos in san juan. Gadi, give us a sense of what its like where you are. Reporter that message that you heard from President Trump, those words from President Trump are something that Puerto Ricans here did not hear. There are more than 3 Million People that live on this island. As you mentioned, all of them are without power, without access to a solid working electrical grid and they dont have basic necessities in many cases, they are cut off from power, from electricity, from water, from gas. In fact if you live here in puerto rico, chances are if you need gas or you need cash, youre going to stand in line for as long as four, six, even eight hours. Earlier today we were out in some of those lines talking to people about what they thought, asking them if they had heard about the talk in the United States when it comes to getting aid in puerto rico and what President Trump has been saying about puerto ricos debt. One of the things that a woman said was we dont care about any of that because were trying to get our own money out of atms. Some of those atms are running out of cash. This has become basically a cashonly society now that all credit card readers are down. And thats here in san juan. Thats where a lot of people consider themselves lucky. If you go to some of the isolated areas, its a whole different story. Those people do not have access to gas. In fact some of them are walking for hours to get to other towns. Yesterday we were with a blackhawk crew, we went to this small place where they have not been able to get the message out that theyre okay. Its one of those regions where people are asking where is the aid . Where is fema . Yesterday we were able to deliver a little bit of aid to that town with that blackhawk crew, but they are asking why isnt the United States doing more . We pay our taxes, we are part of the United States and were hoping for aid. One good news one good piece of news out of here, we were with that black hawk crew that i was just talking about and i dont know if we have some video, but i want to show you some specific video. This is an Oil Drilling Rig that was off the coast of puerto rico. It was headed for a crash course into puerto rico, and the black hawk crew was able to land on top of that, get some mooring rigs out so that the rig that was carrying over 100,000 barrels of oil did not crash into puerto rico. If you can imagine what kind of an environmental catastrophe that would have brought after such a devastating hurricane. Chris, back to you. Thank you so much. Nbcs Gadi Schwartz in san juan. Up next, new reporting that those russian facebook ads were very sophisticated and showed a deep understanding of the racial and social divides in this country. The question is, who gave them marching orders for these ads . Who was the home the stat