Likely the influence of the new Chief Of Staff here, Retired General john kelly who has been clear, trying to send a signal there is a new sheriff in town. That hes not going to tolerate discord and some of these tweets that are off message. But will we see this over the course of time . That remains to be seen. Weve had sort of the pockets of the president being very restrained when it comes to his messaging. I think when it comes to the relationship on capitol hill and this next battle that you talk about, the challenges, not only do you have republicans, conservatives like jeff flake speaking out, obviously hes been critical of candidate trump all the way back to the campaign trail, but republicans just dont seem that afraid of him. Thats why you have Lisa Murkowski saying im going to vote against you in the health care fight. How does he get republicans on board to get tax reform done . The reality may be that theyre looking at tax cuts, because they dont have that big, broad
support and they didnt get Health Care Reform passed. Very quickly, im curious, was there any chatter, you know, off camera or any chatter that hey, this President Plans to make jeff flake pay a political price in 2018 . Any of that chatter today . I think theres not that chatter today. There was more of a dismissing jeff flake today say thing is someone who has always been critical of the president. Were not going to worry about him. But more broadly, thats the direction the president could go in as we get closer to 2018, not just against jeff flake but others who have been critical from him. The lack of response from him, that is very mature way to respond. So kasie, you talked to any member you could find today, none of them willing to back up jeff flake. Is he a man on an island, or a man on a public island, but if there were a private island, he
would have a lot of company . I think he has a lot of company on his private island, but nobody wants to be seen showing up by private plane on the island. I spoke to a number of republicans today. You saw there john cornyn responding hey, are you afraid of President Trump . They all insist that theyre not, but there is this pervasive fear of President Trump. I think thats driving a lot of these dynamics. Look at the actual on paper progress that this congress has made on behalf of President Trump. Theyre ignoring his plea to take up health care again. Mit and theyre ignoring his frustration with jeff flake. We have a new statement tonight that unequivocally says the nrsc
supporting senator flake, as we do all of our incumbent members. So theyre Still Standing by him. I know you just caught up with him. Tell me about the quick interview you just had with jeff flake. So i talked to him about this. One thing i will say, chuck, to what kristen was saying about the white house not responding, this has been a longtime critic, senator flake has been a little taken aback by the level of focus on what he had to say. I think hes been a little bit hes not said used the same strong words that he used in the oped in the book on camera necessarily. But he did have one noteworthy statement. Talking about populism and the president s impact on the country. Take a look. Populism is you can win elections with it. Its popular, its populism. But its not a governing philosophy. Its kind of a sugar high. And if you continue in that vein, well lose elections. Reporter i think its noteworthy that i didnt use the word populism in a question, he brought that up on his own by himself. Look, i think flake also is confident that mcconnell will stand by him. He said hey, look, i have one tough reelections in arizona before. Thank you both. And kristen, give a special shutout to dennis gaffney. I think this is his last live shot on our show today. It is indeed, chuck. We just had some cupcakes, toasting him for an incredible legacy. He did plenty of my live shots and made me look less ugly than normal. Makes us all look good, thats for sure. Hes smiling from ear to ear right now. Thank you both. Let me bring in my panel. Welcome all. This feels like we are the canary in the coal mine with jeff flake. We criticize politicians all the time for not taking a risk. Hes doing this, arizona. Hes putting his political career on the line with his criticism. No one can say hes not doing that. I believe that. I believe he saw something in the tea leaves three or four months ago when he started writing the book, which that trump has hated him since the fall of 2015. They had a confrontation in a meeting and flake told him his behavior was appalling, and trump said i really hope you lose. And flake said im not up next year. And there are noises about some of them primarying him in arizona, and whether flake would find himself in the race of his
life and trump would be winking and nodding for people to vote for his opponent. He may think he has nothing to lose. But having said this, this was an extraordinary thing he did, and he is reflecting opinion inside the Republican Party about opinions expressed freely during 2016. Trump has brought the same spirit from the campaign to the presidency, and as haste weeks hijinks with Anthony Scaramucci indicate, that is a terrifying thing for anybody who wants the country to be managed effectively. Not just scaramucci, but the failure to pass a health care bill, which is a sign of not only his weakness, the president s weakness. He cant scare murkowski, collins and mccain for voting
for the health care bill, hes not its not that hes a lame duck. Hes pretty lame for somebody only seven months into office. Thats a bunch of other quotes here and in some ways he blames the voice. Weve given into politics of anger. These are the spasms of a dying party. Anger and resentment and blaming groups of our people might work in the short term, but its a dangerous impulse in a pluralistic society. The state of arizona gave us joe arpaio. The Republican Party there has always been schizophrenic, its given us john mccain and jeff flake, and then back in the day evan meekum. He really is putting himself and this issue front and center. Were one of the last states to recognize the king holiday. The reality is, you have to ask
yourself what was Donald Trumps crime in the minds of republican elites. Jeff flake has voted 95. 5 with donald trump. The predictive score is he would have voted with trump about 61 of the time. So this is not a difference in content or what they want to do. It is really to me about the gap between the text and the s subtext. If donald trump committed a crime among republican elites, he made the longterm subtext if youve been listening to right wing talkradio, the same anger and rage and anger at the changes in the country, the same sort of, you know, sometime vulgarity existed. Its just that elites in the Republican Party didnt accept that as the way to market the party to the world. Donald trump recognized better
than they did that he could simply identify with the text of what people were saying on talkradio or listening to when they heard rush limbaugh, the anger and rage they felt all the time, the Political Correctness and the i cant say these things, trump said yes, you can, or i can say them for you. All trump did is take a lot of the anger already there. Trump is just making it open and obvious, and the republican elites cant stand it. They want to get rid of medicaid. Trumps instinct is to say thats mean. Trump knows more about the Republican Base than jeff flake does. She brought up an interesting point. How does Jeff Flake Square voting with him . What is that line its clear jeff flakes problem is more in character than anything else. Jeff flake is essentially
doing what donald trump is doing, except in reverse, which is making a statement about what he sees the values and the tone of the Republican Party should be. Donald trump has a tone that he thinks should be the tone of the Republican Party. Jeff flake, he reminded me of mitt romney. Ever use the phrase compassionate conservative . When Mitch Mcconnell brings forward a bill, of course jeff flake is going to vote for that. Donald trump has no policy ideology. He doesnt have any policies he wants to advance. He was brazen and bold saying i dont think people care about policy on the campaign trail. So yes, jeff flake is going to vote with the policies. Jeff flake is a conventional republican conservative. Donald trump is an unconventional, nonrepublican, nonconservative. And most of the base of theRepublican Party agreed with donald trump. And they also agree with jeff flake. They like trump, they have no trouble with flakes Voting Record or no problem with the way flake views things. How does this play out . Its about character and behavior. If that mattered, donald trump would not have been the nominee of the Republican Party. He ran against the tin dolls of the beltway media. He ran against marco rubio you said trump is nice on medicaid. No, no, i said he understands the base of your party better than the e heat lites do. Its not my party. The elites of the Republican Party thinks that the base agrees on eviscerating medicaid. Donald trump understands the base of the party is fine with big government, as long as theyre the beneficiaries. [ Overlapping Speakers ] donald trump gets them and the
elites of the Republican Party dont. This makes very clear that jeff flake does not agree with donald trump that donald trump is someone to be feared in 2018. All right. Well pause the conversation. Coming up, can john kelly bring some muchneeded direction to the white house . Ill talk to someone who has been in kellys shoes. Former clinton Chief Of StaffWilliam Panetta joins me just ahead. Only had me by one grade. We bought our first home together in 2010. His family had used another insurance product but i was like well ive had usaa for a while, why dont we call and check the rates . It was an instant savings and i shouldve changed a long time ago. Theres no point in looking elsewhere really. Were the tenneys and were usaa members for life. Usaa. Get your insurance quote today. Ykeep you sidelined. Ng thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. As the Acting Director in the interim. So now hell be sworn in, presumably in the next 24 hours. This is the first time any fbi director is getting more than one no vote, there is three of them. The entire State Of Oregon is a no on wray. Looking fabulous in my Little Black Dress . Thats cool. Getting the body you want without surgery, needles, or downtime . Thats coolsculpting. Coolsculpting is the only fdacleared noninvasive treatment that targets and freezes away stubborn fat cells. Visit coolsculpting. Com today and register for a chance to win a free treatment. This is a story about mail and packages. And its also a story about people. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail
theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you welcome back. The new white house Chief Of Staff did not waste any time yesterday asserting himself in his new role. Hes the latest in a long line in white house chiefs of staff, brought in by president s to right the ship in tumultuous times. Another president , bill clinton, made one of those moves bringing in leon panetta to serve as Chief Of Staff to calm a jittery capitol hill and white house staff. President s clinton and trump were in similar positions in the polls when they had to make
their Chief Of Staff. Im joined now by leon panetta. I dont know what to say. I need the chief title today, sir. Its which ever one you want to use, chuck. Normally its secretary panetta. You will love this lead. This was in the New York Times the day you started. The announcement came at a time which mr. Clinton is being strongly buffeted by Political Cross Currents Home and abroad. His stam his Health Reform effort is being picked apart in congress and hes increasingly being accused of indecisiveness in foreign affairs. So you do know what john kelly is going through. Oven
obviously, theres some differences between perhaps the public discipline of donald trump and bill clinton. But lets focus on the similarities. Explain what you think john kelly is going through right now that you remember. Well, i think the big challenge is to walk into the white house and really be able to get your arms around the operations within the white house. Its really critical that he establish relationships first and foremost, obviously with the president. There has to be a relationship of trust between the president and the Chief Of Staff. Now, in addition to that, hes got to be able to establish a relationship with the staff thats there, and make them understand that hes going to be Chief Of Staff, and that theyre going to have to go through him. So i think the real challenge for john right now is to be able to put in place elements of
discipline, a strong Chain Of Command, the ability to develop some kind of orderly process or policy. Those are the big challenges that he faces from the getgo. Now, you had to create a personal rapport with bill clinton that wasnt there in the beginning, because you were a washington and california guy, with an arkansas democrat. And youre brought in to fix things. On one hand, you have a Honeymoon Period. How much advice do you give to john kelly saying if you got tough decisions to make, make as many as you can in the first couple of weeks. How do you basically take advantage of your Honeymoon Period with your boss . Well, its very important that first and foremost that john kelly and the president understand each other in what needs to be done. And that the president is willing to delegate that
authority to his new Chief Of Staff. That has to take place. Bill clinton understood the problems that were in the white house. He was willing to delegate authority to me as Chief Of Staff, to be able to reorganize the white house and develop the kind of Chain Of Command. That was important there. So the most important ingredient is to have a president who is willing not only to give you the authority you need, but is willing to back you up and to trust you in that process. Thats going to be fundamental to john kellys ability to be able to get his job done. You dont have just a unique insight of the job. John kelly, i believe he was one of your chief Military Aides during part of your tenure at the pentagon. What is a skillset that he has that you wish you had going into being Chief Of Staff . Well, i do know john. He was my Military Aide when i was secretary of the department
of defense. Hes a tough marine. He understands what discipline is all about. He understands what a strong Chain Of Command is all about. He understands what an orderly process is all about. He understands that you have to stay focused on accomplishing the mission. Those are all important ingredients that go to his experience as a marine. Those are good qualities. I think the important thing hes going to have to pick up on is the politics of operating within the white house. The politics of understanding where the staff is, what the relationships are, and also the politics of dealing with capitol hill. Because in the end, if this president is going to survive, it isnt just have just to change your Chief Of Staff. You have to get some things done for the country and the Chief Of Staff is going to be very important to whether or not that happens. Before i let you go, there are two developments on the International Front that i want to get you take on. Secretary tillerson made sort of the most remarks hes made yet about north korea and he said the following in a briefing to reporters. He said he wants a dialogue with north korea, he doesnt want regime change. He said we are not the enemy, but they are threatening us. Were not asking for reunification of the peninsula. Hes trying to send a message they want to talk, negotiate. Does et seem to be a contradiction of where we were headed before . Frankly, i am confused to what is our policy when it comes to north korea and that leadership. Well, thats the first thing that i think the administration has to focus on is one of the things that john kelly and general mcmaster are going to have to focus on is what is the strategy here . Obviously, there has to be containment. Obviously, we have to be tough in terms of our military presence. Obviously, we have to be tough in terms of making clear that
the north koreans cannot develop an Intercontinental Ballistic M