What i said is what i mean. Those words have very, very easy to understand. Plus, that rift between President Trump and senator mcconnell. Senators are taking only one side for now. And a crimson political tied. When republican will rise up in the race to replace Jeff Sessions in the u. S. Senate. This is mmtp daily and it starts right now. Good evening. Im chuck todd here in washington and welcome to mtp daily. Right now the president is scheduled to meet with his secretary of state Rex Tillerson and his ambassador to the United Nations neck although his club in bedminster to discuss the escalating threat in north korea. We might hear from the president at the conclusion of that meeting and if so we will bring that to you when it happens. Weve been hearing a lot lately from mr. Trump on north korea. Less than 90 minutes ago he delivered another warning to the regime as it threatens military action in and around guam. If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat, which by the way he has been uttering for years and his family has been uttering for years, or if he does anything with respect to guam or any place else thats an american territory or an american ally, eltruly regret it. And elregret it fast. We have a president right now who is asking the public and the world to trust what he says. But frankly, he does keep keeping us plenty of reasons not to. You ask ten different people if theyre seriously worried about whats happening and youll get ten different answers. North korea says its drawing up plans to do something in guam, either strike the territory or do a missile test that would land in waters within 25 miles of guam. In typical bluster, north korea boasted that they can, quote, beat us to a jelly at any time. And in typical bluster, the president is now saying that military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should north korea act unwisely. By the way, those plans have likely been in place for a very long time. Basically were always locked and loaded in that region. Now, it might help if the president would actually explain what his threats mean, but when asked, he doesnt. North korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. If anything, that statement may not be tough enough. What would be tougher than fire and fury . Well, youll see. Youll see. If he does something in guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before, what will happen in north korea. And when you say that, what do you mean . Youll see. Youll see. And hell see. Mr. President , what do you mean by military solutions are locked and loaded as it relates to north korea . Well, i think its pretty obvious. Those words are very, very easy to understand. So there you go. Youll see. Might help if the administration could explain it for us, but their explanations vary wildly. The secretary of state says dont lose any sleep over it. Hes just using language north korea understands. The president s advisor says dont listen to the secretary of state, because hes not a military expert. Meanwhile, a military expert, the secretary of defense, says theres no need for war because diplomacy is working. And the white house says the president s actual words arent being vetted by the National Security team. So believe whatever you want. Weve learned the hard way, though, not to believe it until we hear it from the president , but weve also learned the hard way that even if you do hear it from him, a lot of times you cant believe it n. In the midst of all this chaos, the president s message ultimately boils down to this. Trust him. But programs were seeing why just a third of the country says it does. This was always the concern leading up to what happens to this trust issue when all of a sudden we have a real crisis. Lets begin with nbcs chief global correspondent bill neely who is in seoul. Bill. Yes, hi, chuck. President trumps locked and loaded comment seems to have united the two koreas in condemnation. In the north, very open kems as ever, saying donald trump is driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war. But even here in seoul, quiet condemnation from the chairwoman of south korea as governing party. She didnt name President Trump, but she talked about high level officials using excessive language, not carefully thought out messages that worsen the situation and play into north koreas hands. So theyre not too keen on locked and loaded here, not too keen on rhetoric that is increasing the temperature, because people here would really suffer in any conflict. It is always preparing for the worst. Chuck. Bill neely in seoul for us. Thank you, bill. Joined now by our senior National Security analyst here at nbc use who of course was a deputy National Security advisor to president george w. Bush. Juan, let me start with the comment from the south korean official there. Not naming the president by name but clearly referencing him. Thats got to be a concern to the entire American Foreign policy community that south korea is lecturing america right now, not the north. Well, absolutely. South korea is the most sensitive to the heightened tensions, no doubt. Theyre right in the cross hairs of the artillery of the north. Theyre going to be the ones to suffer in any military conflict. And keeping them on side with the United States, with japan is critical. And so theyre going to be highly and acutely sensitive to anything the president says and anything thats going to be ratcheting up pressure. I think one of the interesting things here, chuck, and weve talked about this before is the president s message. The president s message is certainly fiery language. Hes trying to change the context of how the world views this issue. What do you mean by that . To me, i thought this was programs a clumsy attempt at regaining some leverage. I think it is an attempt to gain leverage. I think you can argue its clumsy and perhaps not well vetted. But hes clearly trying to message to the chinese. Keep in mind, all along that what this administration has tried to do is to change the level of urgency and priority in particular with china to say, look, our patients has run thin. This is now a more threat for us and you now have to use your leverage and pressure against pyongyang to see results, so stop this missile and nuclear program. So this language is not just aimed at north korea and certainly disconcerting to south korea, but its intended to reshift the dynamics with china. Is that working . I dont know yet. I think its hard to tell. And i think everyone is nervous, because the problem here, as youve identified, chuck, is were on a trip wire. There could be miscalculation. One wrong move here in the wake of heightened tension and rhetoric can mean that we lead to greater conflict and war. Let me ask the question this way, because im sure youre getting this question from friends and family that know you are in the midst of, they know youre knowledgeable, that maybe they live out somewhere else in america, because ive heard it from my family. How concerned should we be that were about to are we about to be on the brink of something that should make us nervous . Well, i dont think we need to be worried about today or tomorrow. I think the point here is i dont think were marshalling our resources to go to war we dont look like a country preparing for war. We are not. Were not moving resources. That i get. But you talked the trip wire. How nervous are you . Im nervous. This is a very real threat from north korea. They clearly want to create at a minimum a deterrent capability against the United States. That means the ability to put a Nuclear Warhead on an icbm that can hit u. S. Territory. Thats very real. Thats what theyre intending to do. Its why kim jongun has accelerated the missile tests. Hes had three nuclear tests, the North Koreans is had five since 2006. Theyre marching toward this capability. And the question is can we live approximate a Nuclear Armed north korea or are we going to take steps to stop it . There are no good option. This is the wicked problem. And i think the challenge is we are seeing an urgency to this based on north koreas progress and certainly the administrations willingness to be more confrontational, see the president s statements, that is increasing the tension and making this conflict more real. All right. Let me ask a specific now on guam. Because i think the what got me a little bit nervous is, you know, the president did the rhetoric and north koreas response wasnt well, i look forward to the ashes of the United States, some ridiculous high per bowl. It was very specific. Were going to do this and were going to launch these missiles and do this missile test within 19 to 25 miles of guam. Explain why that is why they chose that permit, number one. Why is that significant . Its significant for a couple of reasons. One, thats international waters, so it becomes less legitimate to say were going to preemptively take out those missiles. Were going to preemptively strike or do something it means it falls under the idea that it may be a test. It may be a test. It may not be provocative. Its subject to some interpretation as to whether or not i think in a court of law circumstantial evidence would say you said this, sounds provocative. Obviously that doesnt apply here. Exactly. Theyre trying to play with kind of the legal legitimacy questions. Your other point is important, though. What theyre trying to do is make very concrete in the minds of americans that they can actually strike u. S. Territory, which as youve seen, has forced people on guam, the base, the sit sflens, to actually worry about this. What will are their contingency plans. In hawaii worrying about emergency preparedness. The fact that theyre talking in specific terms makes us worry in a more concrete way. All right. Juan. Ratty. Thanks for making me sleep a little less well this weekend. Hopefully well be more optimistic tomorrow. Im joined now by gary lock who was the u. S. Ambassador to china in the Obama Administration. And we could talk about whether there are nervousness there on our west coast. Ambassador, governor, good to see you. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Let me start with the point that juan was making about perhaps the attempt that the president is doing here, which is his rhetoric is not meant for north korea. It is meant for china, and the question is will that work . I ask you, will that work . Well, i think the chinese have long been concerned about the actions of north korea because they know how sensitive it is to the United States. That was true under the Obama Administration, under the Bush Administration and clearly under the trump administration. And of course china has signed on along with russia to the latest sanctions imposed by the united nation. And so china has been also having a difficult time trying to corral and influence north korea. And i think that the latest moves by both north korea and the rhetoric by both sides has gotten the attention of china, and they clearly want to help out and try to deescalate things. And theyve made, actually, some suggestions. Unfortunately, the United States has rejected some of those ideas on thousand to lower the temperature and try to solve this diplomatically. Well, what were some of those suggestions and are they ones you would agree to . Well, china has long called for the United States, north korea and all the other parties to sit down and talk about this. The United States, on the other hand, starting under the Bush Administration and through the Obama Administration said, no, were not going to even sit down and talk with you unless you first completely disavow and stop the development of your nuclear arms program. Thats a nonstarter with the North Koreans, and over the last, you know, 12 years or so look what has happened. The North Koreans have continued to develop their military capability, and more recently with these tests. So we have not gotten anything. We havent lost anything by not sitting down i mean, by refusing to sit down with them, because the North Koreans have continued developing their Nuclear Weapons. What is the harm, quite frankly, in having these sitdown talks and hopefully perhaps they will slow down their development and their testing of the nuclear womens, and hopefully the diplomacy will lead to north korea at least stopping their intercontinental ballistic delivery program. So it sounds like, then, you support what Rex Tillerson said incompetent it was about ten days ago now when he he laid out some conditions that i have not heard a u. S. Secretary of state lay out before, saying were not looking for regime change. We just want to have direct talks. That was i mean, thats new, is it not . And why do you think the North Koreans havent said yes . Well, we have always been saying well sit down and talk with you, only if you first completely halt your Nuclear Development program. And thats been a nonstarter with them and look where its gotten us. So you think there should be no conditions. I think we should sit down and talk because, look, the absence of talk has not gotten us anywhere. Our insistence on saying first you stop your nuclear program, then well walk, that hasnt worked. Lets talk about what the ultimate agreement might be to solve this issue, what will it take for them to stop their nuclear program, what type of military assurances do they need from china, from russia. What do they want to see in response by the United States, whether its lowering the number of troops that we have, american troops on the korean peninsula. I mean, we have enough fire power in south korea that we can, you know, launch a fullscale attack against north korea. And unfortunately, seoul is just a stones throw away from the dmz, and they could obliterate seoul with its tens of millions of population in a blink of an eye. So weve got to try to deescalate things. You said something earlier, that the chinese have less influence today in north korea than they used to. Where have you what evidence where do you see where theyre frustrated that they just dont have where is that give me a piece of evidence where theyre trying to sort of get their influence back with them. Well, theyve been trying to meet with the North Koreans and talking with them on a variety of different issues and have been resisted by the North Koreans to the point where official visits have been canceled and the political diplomatic relationship between north korea and china is much cooler and not as close as it has been many years in the past. They still have their channels with north korea. North korea still fends mightily on trade with china. China is basically their life vest, keeping the country going. China has never wanted a reunified peninsula, and i dont think the United States wants that either, because it would be very, very hard economically for north korea to basically come to the rescue and support all those millions of people in north korea who are in such dire economic straits and living in many indicates r cases in poverty. China does not want a democratic country on its borders with american troops. So theres much to be gained by just keeping the status quo, but making sure that north korea does not have a military to capability to be able to deliver nuclear womens to the main land United States. Very quickly, there was an he had editorial in the staterun newspaper in china, the global times, and in it the lead he had to recall, china should also make clear that if north korea launches missiles that threaten u. S. Soil first and the u. S. Retaliates, china will say stay neutral. Is it fair to say this is the Chinese Government sending that message that you were just saying that they would like to send to the North Koreans . Well, obviously we dont want china to get involved in a war with south korea and the United States, and so for them to stay put, stand down is certainly, i think, good for us. But also it sends a message to north korea that theyre going to get obliterated. Theyre going to get obliterated. Whats more concerning and in the previous segment your guest alluded to it, what is mr. Trump going to do . When he says in his statement that north korea cannot even utter a threat, verbal threats. Does that sound like a red line to you. With hell and fury. That sounds like a huge red line and is the president really going to unleash American Forces just because kim jongun is bombastic and making verbal statements . Thats kind of unnerving and should be unnerving to people all around the region, because if he startsd unleashing these womens at north korea, north korea will still have enough time to unleash its weapons at south korea. And youre going to have tense of millions of casualties. Former ambassador to china, former governor of washington state, gary lock. Thanks for coming on this afternoon. Appreciate it. Thank you. This sunday on meet the press, were going to have more on the tensions between north korea and the United States. General h. R. Mcmaster and the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Coming up, that feud between President Trump and his man mitch, Mitch Mcconnell, why it could be a fight both sides lose. You dont let anything keep you sidelined. Thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vit