Campaign. All as part of an effort to undermine that investigation. Hes pardononing people, perhaps sending a message to witnesses who might testify against him that they, too, could be pardoned. So stay strong. If an effort to prop up the dying Coal Industry his administration is reportedly weighing an unprecedented intervention in the u. S. Energy grid which would basically order some folks to get their lick trits from coal plants. He tipped off wall street this morning about confidential employment numbers more than an hour before they were officially released. Possibly to give himself some cover from last nights decision to slap steep tariffs on our closest allies in europe, canada, and mexico, renewing fears that he is leading us into a trade war. When given a chance to denounce a racist comment he instead attacks the press. He suggested one of his criminalityics should be fired for using offensive language
rod will not go any further and something is going to happen. I dont know who gets fired or what happens, but we are going to be buckle up your seat belt. David . You know, thats all certainly possible. But we cant forget that the United States has seen worse than what we are experiencing right now, by several orders of magnitude during the nixon administration. And the system held. Thist system worked. I want to be really, really careful about using words like constitutional crisis. I do think that the president could act impulsively and create a political crisis. But a constitutional crisis is an order of magnitude greater than that. We need to be careful about our rhetoric. As you have seen time and again when you cry wolf and cry wolf and cry wolf when the wolf is actually at the doorknob believes you anymore. I understand that. Listen to what john brennan said in an op ed in the Washington Post. For more than three decades i observed and amized the traits
and tactics of incompetent and narcissistic foreign officials who did everything they could to exploit power. These demagogues routinely relied on lies, deceit and suppression of political opposition to cast themselves as popular heros and to mask self serving priorities. It never downawned on me we cou face such a development in the United States. Heres the thing, i think if we had a different type of president in office, one of the things that he may have done over the past year and a half would set off real alarm bells of but he is doing these things, pushing these boundaries every day, sometimes multiple times a day. When you consider that, do you think that, i dont know, john, maybe eric holder is not sounding the alarm enough, maybe he is down laying it while john brennan is the one who is maybe looking at it more clearly . I think brennan has the right analysis here. Politically. He hasnt suffered political consequences from this. During the election, he did all this and was elected. Republicans in congress are in primary season right now. You have candidates running for office on the republican ticket who Dont Want To Cross Trump because thats just the reality of the Republican Base right now. That may change later on. Well see. But at this point i dont see the incentive for them just from an analytical perspective to stop the president from saying these things. No incentive for them. But the Republican Party has always been a party thats been very serious about their principles, very serious about what they believe in and what they do not believe in. Morals were certainly a big part of it. But also the rule of law was a big part of republican orthodoxy. They would tout it a lot. What did they go on this . I think to speaker boehners point its not in a the Republican Party is taking a. I
a. It is in a deep high better nation. Ticking their head in the stand and saying we just need to survive. They dont care how far it goes. Frankly they are taking a page out of Donald Trumps playbook as long as they are not suffering major consequences its okay to continue. Is it right. Do you hear people like myself and david and others screaming as loud as we can . It doesnt seem to matter because thats the way things are going. To the earlier pony about when is there a constitutional crisis, how do you ganl it . I dont think we are anywhere near there. I think we are at a different crisis, and that is a conscientious crisis. What our leaders are allowing to be deemed as normal is a disgrace. David, what do you think about that. What if the republicans are napping what is going to be the thing that shakes hem awake . I like that phrase
conscientious crisis or crisis of conscience. I think there is a of the how of people who are setting aside a lot of values they advanced for the sake of attaching then selvesity at least for now to the Trump Administration. The question is, what does it take to sort of change the dynamic. Really and truly, it takes election results. One of the things that really caused a lot of people who sort of held their nose and voted for trump to now be enthusiastically behind him, they never expected he would win. When he won they loved it and it shook up their expectations. These things happen in cycles. Will the Republican Party love trump as much if there is midterm disaster . I doubt it. If there is midterm success this is going to be more of a trump party. There is a lot of people in washington, people i talked to who are hanging back. They dont love trump, they dont know What The Future Holtz holds. They dont know what to think. Thats not a profile in courage. But its not wrapping their armed around trump. They are up in the air. He ran on politicians not being truthful. Not being who they are. Doesnt all of the things he has done in this white house, lied repeatedly, broken norms, doesnt that really pull off the mask for republican politicians more than anyone else to say that they really only care about getting reelected and keeping their seats as onned to what they actually signed as opposed to what they signed on for, which was protecting the constitution and doing what is right, being putting their country over politics . You only know you have values when holding those values has a cost. For a long time it was easy to say that you believed in those things and get elected as a republican. And to say that you believed them. Then when donald trump comes along and you say Character Matters in a politician, lying matters even if the economy is good. And then that has a cost, and people go silent, then i doubt
they ever truly had that value in the first place. Right now the values are being tested. Heres where the republicans havent gone silent. Suddenly a lot of them woke up from boehners word their nap when it comes the tariffs and trade. Kevin brady, these tariffs are hitting the wrong target. Sass, this is dumb. Alexander, tennessee senator, these tariff will raise prices and destroy manufacturing jobs. Paul ryan, i disagree with this decision. Senator mike lee im sorry, this is pat toomey, he issing go to be cosponsoring mike lees bill to reign in the executive brachls power to impose unilateral tariffs like these. Why is this what woke them up . It is the traditional disagreement the president and the republicans have had dating back to the campaign. This is the agreement . It is simpler. Look at the people making those statements. Its about their jobs. This is where they get to say im going to stand up because my constituents will vote for me later down the road. Its still it is not out of principle. What kind of impact is that actually going off . Not any. My point is they have voice these concerns and the president goes ahead with it anyway. Again, what is the political consequence. Their vote. Their vote. If they hold it against the president when he is trying to get something passed, thats their only chip. They are trying to protect the economy. They believe that protectionism hurts the economy. I think they are right about that, by the way. But that is an indirect way of saying i want to get reelected. Because if the economy goes south over the summer their constituents are not going to be happy and it will be worse for the Republican Party. What is interesting is that they chose to take an issue like trade, which is really not a
matter of deep constitutional consequence, and speak out on that rather than on these assaults on our system, assaults on integrity, assaults on the truth. Thats why they are deserving to be called banana republicans. They are lookeding like they are living in a banana republic. Lets put a pin in it there. David french, caitlyn, jonathan, sus susan, stay with us. Ahead, a meet the press exclusive. You wondering why im here today . Chuck is in canada, he just finished interviewing president trudeau. He has tough words for President Trump about those new tariffs. E. For leisure. So i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle without starting any conversations or paying any upcharges. What can i say . Control suits me. Go national. Go like a pro. To give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you dont. Ill take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. New ensure max protein. In two great flavors. Welcome back. President trump is rolling the dice with a trade war that is infuriating some of americas closest allies. Administrations new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from canada, mexico, and the European Union are provoking swift backlash. All three are planning countertariffs on their own of their own, including other American Goods like pork, apples, grapes, and certain kinds of cheese. President trumps response bring it on. Along with morning tweets about the russia probe, jobs numbers, and samantha bee, which we will get to later, President Trump wrote that canada has treated our agricultural business and farmers very poorly for a very long time. Highly restrictive on trade, they most open their markets and take down their trade barriers. The reason, again, im hosting
this show today instead of chuck is because he went to ottawa to interview the canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau for sundays meet the press. Trudeau had some choice words about President Trumps decision to move forward with tariffs. The idea that, you know, our soldiers, who have fought and died together on the beaches of world war ii, and in the mountains of afghanistan, and have stood shoulder to shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world that are always there for each other somehow, this is insulting to the idea that the canadian steel thats in military vehicles in the United States, the canadian aluminum that makes your fighter jets is somehow now a threat the fact that i mean, next week we are hosting the g7 summit of world leaders. And the air field, the Military Base that Air Force One is going to land on was put there in
world war ii to protect an Aluminum Smelter that was providing to the military effort. The idea that we are somehow a National Security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable. What do you feel as if the president wants from you in putting these tariffs out there . I dont know. You dont know what he wants here . You dont know is this about a nafta decision . You dont have an idea what he wants. The reason i dont know is because he has talked about the fact this he is worried about trade surpluses and Trade Deficits around the world. Well they have a 2 billion surplus on steel with us. So its not like trade is imbalanced against the u. S. Favor on this one. Our panel is back. Caitlyn huey burns. Susan del percio. Is trudeau laying it on thick there . Yes, he should be. Thats what his people want to do is stand up to donald trump. Donald trump said we dont need friends this the world. I think its great that leaders are standing up now i dont know at what point of what mass it takes to shake donald trump a little bit to get him to start recognizing we have to have our allies in place. But does he just think that the allies are going to be there no matter what if we really need then . This sort of thing is not really going to move them because they need us ultimately more than we need them. I think thats the case. Listen to what he said talking about north korea. Everybody wants a solution here so everybody is going to be there for us. I think thats certainly a part of the mindset. Which is not an accurate one. Im not saying that. Im saying thats how he has been explaining it. The other thing about trade and tariffs specifically, is that he talks about it as something he campaigned on. Certainly, he did. But a lot of these target the very voters who helped propel him to office. Harley davidson, thats in
wisconsin. Are going to be affected by this. Right in and so this is this is where it can go wrong for high pressure. The canadians are actually targeting trump areas with a number of these retaliatory measures. Look, sometimes history is about what didnt happen. And that has huge historical consequences. For 200 years, we have had a relationship with canada like this. We have never had any border disputes. We have been together in wars, as Prime Minister trudeau said. And we have been together very much in peace and building between our two nations the strongest continental economy the world has ever seen. By orders of magnitude. And to jeopardize this, even in a small way, to have even a lovers quarrel in a basically stable marriage is pointless. Its harmful to people on both side of the border, and its reflective of the idea that this
president dup have a clue as to what he is actually doing. Trudeau is still calling that meeting of nations, the g7. The French Foreign minister isnt calling it the g7 mim. He is calling it the g 6 plus one. Unfortunate we are going to have a g 6 plus one with the made to alone against everyone and running the risk of economic destagization. He is saying we are going to be i dont know the Red Headed Stepchild of the meeting of nations. What is crazy is that normally, famously, canada is a boring story, the famous headline, Worthwhile Canadian Initiative is supposedly the most boring headline ever written. Boring is good when you are talking about global relations, g7 to turn the g7 and our bilateral relations with canada into a reality show is really dumb. Unless your only point is to create reality shows. What happens next . I gave up guessing with
donald trump. Does he pull back . Today when he was talking about north korea and the summit and he said something really interesting, and it goes to this point. He said, you for example its much better for japan and south korea because they are so far away. They you know, that place over there is so far away from the United States. No matter what happens we are okay, because we are us. I think thats the way donald trump likes to use it, as a way to reach out to his voters, who believe america first, america alone will be fine. Is this all about perception for him . He wants one on one trade deals because he says they are going to be better and he wants to say he is the big negotiator. I dont think its a lot about facts because what he does is he says something thats not true and then he continues to say it even when you say, that is not true. He bragged about it in march, Washington Post had a story about him telling his donors that he didnt even know what he was talking with, but he told
canada he had a trade deficit. Heres the thing. In the discussion of pardons, these are things he can do alone. He doesnt need anybody else to make these things happen. Thats why he likes it. He has given up on the fact that he is going to get anything done working domestically. And he is finally saying oh, wow, this is what i thought i could do as president. I can do anything by myself. It is a ego centric way of doing business. He is like acting out like a child by saying i can with a pen do this or pardon that. Or maybe like a senile Senior Citizen when he says today i got a very entering letter from mr. Kim and he hasnt even opened the letter yet . Somebody tweeted if there was your grandmother you would say grandma, you have to open the letter first. He likes to tease. He says one thing and contradicts it for the
contradicts it. For the record, i have a Red Headed Stepchild who i love very much. Ahead, two comedians plow head first into controversy. Thing have suddenly gotten very serious for rows ann bar and samantha bee. The clash between comedy and politics next. Danced in a germe group. I wore lederhosen. When i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasnt finding all of these germans in my tree. I decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. The big surprise was were not german at all. 52 of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. Hey, im curious about your Social Security alerts. Oh well alert you if we find your Social Security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so youll be in the know. Ewww being in the know is very good. Dont shake ahhh sign up online for free. Discover Social Security alerts. Im alex trebek, here to tell you about the Colonial Penn program. If youre age 50 to 85, and looking to buy Life Insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. What are the three ps . The three ps of Life Insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. A price you can afford, a price that ca