Nearby interest. I didnt expect it was going to be about the cast of characters that have led to the impeachment. People are hungry to learn something outside the regular news cycle. Congratulations. Thanks, katy. Enjoy your weekend. Im katy tur in for lawrence odonnell. Oscarwinning filmmaker Michael Moore, well talk about the path forward on impeachment and his big 2020 announcement. And any capacity trump had to think clearly ownership or calmly as evaporated. Those are the words of Tony Schwartz, trumps art of the deal coauthor who will join us with his view of what he calls the president s inability to change. At the end of the hour, Nicholas Christophe on the sharp criticism for the president s syria policies. Turkey gets everything it wants while the u. S. Gets what is exactly . Thats all ahead. But first tonight we begin with a possible crisis for trump and the gop. The growing divide between President Trump and republicans this week threatens their delicate alliance at a time when trump needs republican support more than ever. Support for impeachment continues to tick upward. 52 of americans now support removing trump from office through impeachment according to a new gallup poll. That is highest level of support yet since the ukraine scandal broke. In fact, backing for trumps impeachment has far surpassed the public support for the impeachment of president bill clinton. Now its edging into territory not seen since the 1970s when president Richard Nixon stepped down after support for his impeachment spiked at 58 . So you would think that the at it would do everything in his power to keep republicans, arguably his last line of defense, in check. But time and again this week the Trump Administration has pushed the gop to the brink, and its not clear how much more they can take. Mick mulvaney said trump chose his own florida golf resort to host next years g7 meeting. That decision is without precedent in modern American History. The president used his Public Office to direct a huge contract to himself, the Washington Post says. Mulvaney also admitted the Trump Administration withheld foreign aid to ukraine because, among other things, it wanted the country to investigate the Conspiracy Theory that somehow russia was not involved in the hacking of the dnc server in 2016. Then trump celebrated a ceasefire in Northern Syria between turkey and the kurds, which gave turkey everything it wanted. Nbc news political unit put the mess like this. Trump replaces America First with me first, writing, quote, ask yourself who gains from the g7 being held at trumps golf resort. Unless it agrees to an investigation into the 2016 election. Who gains from the military incursion into Northern Syria. Its not america. Seems some republicans are asking these same questions. You dont hold up foreign aid that we had previously appropriated for a political initiative. Period. Senator mccaskill admits it perfectly. Were not supposed to use government power and prestigious for political gain. Massive, you could call it taxpayerfunded contract that the president is awarding to his own property. Is that acceptable for a sitting president . Im not happy with it. I dont know if its a direct violation, but i dont understand why at this moment they had to do that. What we have done to the kurds will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of American History. When america leaves, we create a vacuum. When we create a vacuum, we create chaos. Thats what were seeing right now. Trump might have loyal republicans in congress, but every politician has a breaking point. This evening the Washington Post published a scathing oped from Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell where he slammed the decision to withdraw from syria, calling it a strategic nightma nightmare. If there are cracks forming, can we ask how much longer the until the entire dam breaks . Leading our discussion tonight are peter wenner, adviser to the past three republican president s, and ruth marcus, deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist at the Washington Post and also an msnbc contributor. Both of you, welcome. A little bit earlier, ruth, this week i asked if this was the perfect storm for donald trump, the syria debacle and whats happening on impeachment. That was before the g7 came into play. Do you see this confluence of controversies as something that might break the president s dam, his wall in congress . I want to say yes, but i think for right now the answer is no. Republican lawmakers are going to stick with trump. Your crew had the me first approach to trump that trump has. Republican senators and members of Congress Also have a mefirst approach, and they worry about breaking with trump and what that is going to do for them with their base in a primary. Until republican primary voters turn against trump, it is going to be very, very dangerous no matter what they privately think, no matter how much they might privately grouse about trump in syria or trump giving himself a big contract or trump in ukraine, no matter how much they complain about that in private, theyre not going to break with him in public until it becomes politically safe for them to do that. I wonder what sort of precedent theyre sending, peter, about what they will accept going forward. Mitch mcconnell in the Washington Post had a scathing oped against the president s decision to withdraw from syria. He called it a Grave Administration and will leave the people less safe, embolden our enemies and weaken important allies. I guess where do they go from here . Well, i think theyre going to stick with him on matters of impeachment. They have developed being willing to criticize trump on policies like in saefrmt there youve seen really republicans en masse criticizing him for the first time in his presidency. But thats still different than the issue of impeachment. What is the difference there between them being willing to criticize him on policy and unwilling to criticize him on asking a Foreign Government to interfere in our elections . Well, i think its a good question and i dont think they should make that distinction. But i think in their mind, the syria issue just does not fall into the tribalistic identity were in. So republicans like mcconnell and others feel like they have latitude to criticize trump now. Thats still very different than when the issue of impeachment comes in. Look, this is still Donald Trumps party. He has a remarkable hold on the base of the party. One of the truest things he said in the 2016 campaign is he could go down 5th avenue and shoot somebody and he wouldnt lose support. People thought that was high perbole at the time, but its closer to the truth of the hes pushing and pushing and pushing, but the republicans made this unholy alliance at the beginning, and they i think they just decided this was the horse they get to ride until the end. They will regret it. Seems like what theyre saying is a president can do anything he or she wants, no consequences, as long as you are in that party of the p. Heres john kasich on cnn, obviously not a fan of the president , ran against him in 2016, still chatter about him potentially running. He now supports impeachment. Lets listen. If youre asking me if i was sitting in the house of representatives today and you were to ask he how do i feel, do i think impeachment should move forward and should go for a full expectation and a trial in the United States senate, my vote would be yes. I dont see it lightly. This is extremely difficult for me, but its what i feel i have to do. 52 of the american public, what sort of number needs to be seen for republicans to have cover to break from the president . That number has to be much closer to that 52 among republican voters. He still has high support among republican voters. Iept saying these republican members are profiles in courage. Anything but, or their decision to stick with the president is right. But its significant that governor kasich, who was a member of the house, says he would support impeachment if he were still a member of the house. But none of his former colleagues in that body have come out and said the same thing, not a single one of them. Not a single one of them. But i guess i wonder if this goes to the public and theres this it is in the public. This steady drip of information, one by one Administration Officials defying administration orders and sitting in front of congress and telling congress what they know on the ukraine issue, its moving fast. Were on day 25 on the impeachment inquiry and these numbers are going up. Peter, i just wonder if we are underestimating the ability of this impeachment inquiry to expose real issues . Heres what i would say. The Current Situation youre not going to get twothirds in the senate to impeach him. But politics isnt static, and i will tell you republicans are more rattled now than they ever have been during the Trump Presidency. Its not simply what is unfolding, its not knowing what will unfold, which is going to be much worse. You have Rudy Giuliani basically giving free rein to do what he wanted to. We dont know how many hand grenades are yet to explode and that could change the dynamic. The other thing i would say, i like john kasich. I think the person to watch is mitt romney. Mitt romney is a lawmaker. Hes a senator, hes a former nominee in 2012. Hes really becoming the moral conscience of the republican party. Hes spoken out several times now on several issues. I think he is an important figure to watch. He may give cover to other republican senators. Last thing ill say is, none of this is new. If youve been talking to republicans as i have throughout the Trump Presidency, they have known really from the start, almost from the start i would say, that this is a person who is really problematic and psychologically unwell. I think at the beginning it was wishful thinking, we can contain and control him, maybe hell grow into office. Maybe mcconnell and ryan will be able to do the job. That was, i think, such an obviously flawed judgment to make. What happened now is that trumps pa tholgs are getting worse and the guardrails are disappearing. Were seeing the worst of trump but its going to get worse going forward. So this is an open question, what will happen. If you thought donald trump was going to pivot, you were not watching the 2016 election. Thats right. Peter wenner, thank you. Ruth marcus, thank you so much. Joining us is democratic senator gary peters of michigan. He is the Ranking Member on the Homeland Security committee and lead sponsor of the hotel act legislation which aims to prevent taxpayer money from going to Trump Properties. Mr. Peters, thank you very much for joining us. Great to be with you. Tell us a little bit about this legislation. It doesnt sound like it has any hope of passing in this current iteration. Its important for us to continue to push this forward. The conflict of interest you get when you have government money going to properties owned bay high Government Official are very clear. The legislation says that federal money cannot be spent at a property owned by high Government Official defined as president , Vice President , or cabinet official. We have seen numerous occasions were serious questions have been raised. As youre well aware, we have a situation still unfolding with the air force sending crews to Trump Properties in scotland. Now you have incredibly outrageous situation where the president himself now directs money not only federal taxpayer money and taxpayers dont want to see their money lining the pockets of the president of. Certainly folks in michigan dont want to see that happen. But also directing Foreign Governments to spend money on a property that ultimately mr. President trump will get the benefit of. Thats zblouroutrageous. It helped him win the presidency in 2016. He won by a narrow margin. Right. Are you seeing people that voted for him, are you speaking to the people who voted for him in 2016 who have watched his presidency unfold who say theres no way in heck im going to vote for him again in 2020 . Im seeing more of that, especially the last couple weeks. Youre definitely starting to see that change. Ill say the actions in Northern Syria were particularly profound with folks that i talked to. People said here we are, a friend of the United States, people who shed blood in fighting isis to keep us safe, and then for us to turn our backs on them, that just doesnt fit with their American Values that we are friends that you can trust. When they see the president act that way, people are having a harder time justifying that. What are they saying about this trump doral situation . The president lining his own pockets directly with foreign money that seems to be a violation of the emoluments clause. Whats more, the president promised in a press conference when he was elected in 2017, his tax attorney came up and said the president s not going to benefit at all from any of his properties. Theres going to be a wall between the two. As time has gone by, that wall has gotten smaller and smaller. Seems not to exist at all. No. There is no wall there. Its in a trust, but he can pull income out of that trust anytime he likes. Certainly the value of the property increases. He is someone who understand the Public Relations value. He can promote his brand through this. He will profit from this, so theres no question about that. He is the one. Thats why were asking more questions in my role as Ranking Member of hopeless and government affairs. Were the top oversight committee. We want to find out what process it went through. Sounds like the president just mentioned it to his staff and they ran with it. In order to spend taxpayer money, we want to make sure that theres a competitive process, that the property net security requirements necessary, that it truly was the best value for the taxpayers. None of that is apparent right now. It doesnt look as if that occurred at all. We need to get to the bottom of that as well. Senator gary peters, thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Thank you. Coming up, Tony Schwartz who got to observe donald trump up close when he cowrote the art of the deal has a new column out where he likens donald trump to a drowning man in what he sees in this wild once a week of the presidency. Also this photo, which remember, donald trump originally shared because he thought it made him look good. Tony schwartz joins us next. Nte. My doctor recommended eliquis. Eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. Almost 98 of patients on eliquis didnt experience another. And eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling numbness or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planed medical or dental procedures. Whats around the corner could be your moment. Ask your doctor about eliquis. At first slice pizza lovers everywhere meet o, thats good frozen pizza one third of our classic crust is made with cauliflower but thats not stopping anyone o, thats good at outback, steak oh no, its gone. Ck. Phew, its back with lobster mac cheese. Its gone again. Oh, its back with shrimp now steak lobster starting at only 15. 99. Hurry in before these three are gone again. Outback steakhouse. Ill be at some point im going to so president ial, that you people will be so board. And ill come back as a president ial person. Instead of 10,000 people, ill have about 150 people. And theyll say, but, boy, he looks president ial. That was donald trump three and a half years ago when he was elected. Its hard to make the case hes changed all that much. One of the men who knew him best, Tony Schwartz, has a new piece in the Washington Post arguing that trump cannot change no matter what the consequences are. Impeachment might have made him worse. Schwartz writes the negative qualities are often those we find most intolerable we see in ourselves. Throughout his adult life, he viewed the world as a dark, dangerous place, teeming with enemies out to get him. This escalated exponential. The threat he imagines is not just to his fragile sense of self but realistically to his future as president. Any capacity trump ever had to think clearly or calmly has evaporated. Now like a drowning man, all that matters to him is survival no matter how much Collateral Damage his behaviors caused. Joining us now here on set is Tony Schwartz. Tony, its really good to see. You likewise. So donald trump, 2018, is it the same man you