Your other senator, who is weak on borders, weak on crime. Goes after Mitch Mcconnell, paul ryan and bob corker. Why does President Trump think attacking his own party is a Winning Strategy . Ill ask another republican, Governor John Kasich of high, who has not ruled out taking on President Trump in 2020. Plus, the democrats, do they have a strategy beyond being against all things trump . Can they avoid a culture war track . My guest, democratic senator Sherrod Brown of ohio. Joining me for analysis are katy terr of nbc mousse. Washington post columnist, New York Times and daniel met ka of the American Enterprise institute. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Good sunday morning. We are covering three storms today t. One of them is President Trumps pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and what we now know about what he wanted to do. The second is the president s fight with his own party. And were going to get to both of those stories in a few minutes. But we do begin with Hurricane Harvey. Once a category 4 Hurricane Harvey has noun been downgraded to a tropical storm. But sadly the worst is surely yet to come. Devastating record flooding is feared as the storm is expected to linger over Southeast Texas for days. Already a flash flood emergency has been issued for the city of houston. Americas fourth largest city. And residents in the area are being urged to stay indoors. Harvey is now essentially a rain event with amounts to be measured in feet, not inches. And our meteorologist is calling it one of the worst flood disasters we have ever seen in the houston area. The worst damage so far is in rockport, texas, which took a direct hit when harvey came ashore with winds of 125mileperhour. Nbc nightly news lester holt is standing by for us in Corpus Christi, texas. So, lester, look, were i know its hard for people to believe. Were in the middle of this even though youre not in winds and rains. How bad is it now and how much worse do they think its going to get . Reporter well, Corpus Christi was pretty quiet night and they are beginning to get power on. And you can see its rather calm. There are still rainbands coming through and they expect a lot of rain here over the next several days. But about a halfhour, 40 minutes in that direction was rockport. Thats where we spent much of our day yesterday. It 150e6d serious damage. Power lines down. There were some builds that this collapsed. And there was flooding. We drove our way in there with little effort. Coming out was a different story, though. There were flooded passages there where you begin to move the vehicle and theres no stopping now. Youre not sure whether you will get through. Flooding is amazingly deceptive. There were huge rainbands that would come through and suedel the street before you would be flooded. I think thats what folks in houston are dealing with is how much more will there be. Can i drive through it and thats why theyre telling people to shelter into place there. Hurricane is one thing. You can feel the wind, seize the trees, see things flying at you. You recognize the danger. But flooding is amazing. The rain will come and suddenly the street that was uncovered a moment ago is now covered, and your options forgetting out may have narrowed. Thats what folks around here are going to be facing as this system, you showed, is essentially just lingering over southern texas. And it is producing a lot of rain. And as the sprinkles begin here again in Corpus Christi. Are you seeing cleanup efforts stalling a bit because of this both flash flood fear and because of actual flooding . I saw very little, frankly, in the way of cleanup right now. I think yesterday we saw a lot of coast guard and National Guard helicopters doing search and rescues i think in areas that were cut off toward the islands 6789 ive seen very little in terms of recovery. We saw a few power trucks being staged, but, yeah, the issue is, you know, is it over. And it really isnt. The high winds part of the hurricane part is over, but the flooding is going to make it extraordinarily difficult for them to get their vehicles in and begin stringing lines and all the things you typically see after a hurricane passes. All right. Lester, appreciate it. Thank you. I know youre going to do more reporting. Well see you tonight on nightly news. All right. Joining me now is the director of fee ma, mr. Brock long. Welcome to meet the press. Good morning. How are you, sir . Im pretty good. Let me start with this cleanup effort and what lester was just saying. And understandably that some of it is delayed or stalled because more is to come. What kind of extra efforts are you having to resources are you having to marshall to deal with issues of flooding . Are you having more air support, coast guard coming in . What are the resources youre having to start now . So, first of all, id like to say that President Trump is extremely concerned about this. Hes given me all the authorities to amass the resources from the federal government down through our state and local partners. And right now we have nearly 5,000 staff that we have coordinated across the federal government within the states of texas and louisiana helping Governor Abbott as well as the locals respond. Right now were not doing recovery. Theres no such thing as recovery right now. Right now we are deep into the life Safety Mission of helping people be rescued through swift water rescues, search and rescue. And its my job to coordinate that. So specifically what i mean is is that under the National Response framework we mission assign the coast guard. We mission assign dod assets in support of our state and local efforts. And youre seeing that take place right now. Lets talk about look, you have to implement the National FloodInsurance Program. This has been controversial at times, even when there isnt a major storm and major recovery effort here. This Insurance Program is in debt. Are you going to have the money to dole out . Are you concerned that congress may have its own fiscal problems and it hurts your hampers your efforts to dole out the money you need to deal with this right this instant . Yeah. Were ready to process all claims with the nfip. And we have well over a thousand people in the field ready to administer that program. Thats part of the work force lay down that we have in texas right now. Were already mobilizing. Were encouraging people to reach out to their local insurance policy holders and begin, you know, starting the process as soon as they start to experience flood damage. Regarding the nfip program, yes, congress has a lot it of work to fix that program. We need to fix the business framework and the way it looks going forward, but right now i cant worry about that. Ive got to worry about the policies in nors and were ready to go. So you have the money, the authority to pay out all of this regardless of whats happening in congress right now . I mean, thats sort of the question. I get that there is a larger, longer term issue here. Yes. Of policy, anybody that files a claim, theres not going to be a delay in you sending them their money . No. We have the reserves and the funding to be able to support the policies. Now, these things take time to put into effort. Theres obviously an inspection process this that goes along with it. So its built just an immediate pay out. But the bottom line is we will follow the process as designed and were ready to go. And let me close with this and let you talk to people who may be looking for help. Maybe wondering in the storm area what should they do. I know the authorities have said stay in place. Explain why you want people not venturing out right now in that area. So first of all, citizens should listen to their local officials. Fee ma does not issue warning orlando communication directly down to the citizens. That would be stepping on our state and local partners. So its very important that, you know, citizens listen to their local officials. Only call 911 if you are in an emergency and in a dire situation. Do not call 911 if you are seeking information. Thats very important. Only shelter in place if its a safe place to be. If not, you need to be contacting your local officials on what steps they want you to take. Now, one thing that is important is that the president s major disaster declaration is constantly expanding. Its dynamic. We are turning on assistance to all counties that are being impacted in conjunction with our governor the governor in texas. But i want to be sure that were not letting paperwork get in the way of pushing down federal resources to support the best way that we can. So we are moving forward, leaning forward. All right. Brock long, the fema director. This is going to be weeks and months of recovery effort, not just days. Chuck, its going to be years, sir. Yep. Its going to be years. Fair enough. All right, i. Thanks very much. Appreciate you coming on for a few minutes here. Thank you. Let me turn now to politics. President trump versus his party. Seeing a president run against congress is not new. Hear truman famously ran against the sauld do Nothing Congress in 1948. But truman was a democrat and both houses were controlled by republicans that year. This week President Trump went to war with his own party, calling out either by name or implication senators john mccain, jeff flake, Mitch Mcconnell, bob corker, and speak of the house paul ryan. So whats President Trump up to . Does he want to take down the Republican Party and remake it in its own image or simply blow up everything and govern by moefb ating his passionate base . Either way hes going to need those republicans hes mocking right now if hes going to get any of his agenda passed in the fall. Our friends in the senate, oh, boy. Faced with declining poll numbers and few accomplishments, President Trump is intensifying his attack, but on fellow republicans. And starting at the top. We have to speak to mitch. Im very disappointed in mitch. Even suggesting that Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell could lose his job. If he doesnt get repeal and replace done and if he doesnt get taxes done, then you can ask me that question. The New York Times reported on tuesday that mcconnell is privately expressed uncertainty that mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration. Mcconnell released a statement, not disputing the report, but saying we are committed to advancing our shared agenda together. And anyone who suggests otherwise is clearly not part of the conversation. Mcconnell is hardly alone. Just since he was inaugurated mr. Trump has attacked seven Senate Republicans by name, calling members of his own party weak, publicity seeking and toxic. Much harsher rhetoric than hes used on senate democrats. And trump is making personal loyalty his litmus test for 2018 support, suggesting at a rally in arizona on tuesday that he will support a primary challenging to jeff flake, who has criticized him. Weak on borders, weak on crime. Nobody wants me to talk about him. Nobody who the hell he is. Mr. Trump also attacked home state senator john mccain at the arizona rally. The president made no mention of mccains battle with cancer. On friday he added tennessees bob corker to the list who questioned trumps stability and competence in the wake of charlottesville. Strange statement by bob corker considering he is constantly asking me whether he should run or not in 2018. Tennessean not happy. Running against congress is nothing new. If you want to break the gid lock in congress, youll vote. But it is unusual for a president to run against members of his party and for the divorce to happen so early in an administration. And more Senate Republicans are becoming more comfortable breaking with the president. The fake news and the crooked media. I dont believe that theres such a thing as fake news. We have to close down our government, were believe that wall. This notion of a 2,000 mile wall has always been just for anybody who spends time on the border just, you know, out there. Still, many elected republicans are nervous about their own voters, and they remain hez at that particular time to buck a president who four out of five republicans still support. Hes a street fighter. I think most people who voted for him voted for a street fighter. And joining me now is the republican governor of ohio, john kasich. Welcome back to meet the press. Hey, chuck, before we get into this. We need to send a contribution either to the Salvation Army or the red cross. My mother used to say if everybody does a little bit, its amazing how much will build in the jar. Once that flooding comes in your house is never the same. If rch across the country just does a little bit it will be appreciated down in texas. And thats what weve got to do. Sadly, some of them will end up having to be condemned. Absolutely correct. All right. Let me jump in to what happened on friday that didnt involve a hurricane. The Vice President former Vice President joe buy den wrote this today in the atlantic reacting both to arpaio and charlottesville and im curious of your reaction, governor. We have an american president who is elm bolded White Supremacists with comfort and support. A week after charlottesville and boston we saw the truth of america, those with the courage to pose hate far out number those who promote it. He wont stop. His contempt for the u. S. Constitution and willingness to divide this nation knows no bounds. Now hes pardoned a Law Enforcement official who terrorized the la tee no community. Do you see charlottesville and arpaio linked the way the former Vice President does . Well, first of all, chuck, i severely condemned what the president had to say about charlottesville because there is no similarity between hate groups and everybody else. Thats number one. And i did it actually at your network and people across the country applauded it. Number two, i actually have the power of pardoning in my state. We do clems siz overtime, but we make sure that people did proper restitution. I wouldnt have done it this way. And its not it is absolutely should be out of bounds for somebody to use that as some sort of a political wedge. It appears as though thats what it was. Its not the way i operate here with the power to be able to give people a second channels. The president has that power. I dont agree with what he did. Its not the way i operate. My actions renext the way i feel. What the former Vice President , though, was saying is that this is sending first it sent a chilling message to African Americans and jewish folks on his message to charlottesville. Pardoning arpaio looks like it is a thumb in the eye to hispanic americans. Well, i tell you, i am worried and concerned about these i. C. E. Folks that go into peoples homes and they grab mom and dad and try to ship them out of the country and they leave the kids on the front porch of the we talked about this in the campaign. I was one of the few voices, i said a lot of things that didnt happen, tear up the iran deal. You know, were going to throw everybody out of the country. Were going to ban all the muslims. Sort of funny because i was on the stage and i was saying no, i dont think thats the way you do Public Policy and what you find is most of the things that are being done, a lot of them are being reversed or they havent happened. In terms of the targeting of people that are in this country . Look, we dont when people illegally got in here, we dont condone that, but if theyve been in this country and they have not been committing crimes and theyve been actually building businesses and being part of their community, going and dprabing them and shipping them out, that doesnt bring our country together. Look, i think at the end, chuck, we keep talking about the president. Yep. Maybe starting with the flood business, it is time for us to figure out what institutions were a part of from the bottom up that can bring some unity in this country. We dont have to keep looking to washington. Everybody focuses on washington. What about Everything Else happening in this country, whether its gouging profits by businesses or whether its putting sports figures on the field who did improper things or whether its the clergy that does things that are out of bounds. I mean, nobody is looking for saint hood, but the whole country needs to come together and stop looking at washington. Figure out what you can do as part of your entity to race the country and bring some unity. Look, i get the sentiment and i think plenty of people on both sides of the aisle are going to applaud that, but the reality were in is the relate were in. Congress should assert itself, chuck. And i was just going to ask you. Congress should assert himself. Let them get their act together and pass the agenda they want. Their problem is theyre fighting not only are we fighting across the aisle, but theyre fighting internally. And these leaders, just they cant just go and force somebody to cast a vote a certain way. Look, i do believe there is a path towards stabilizing the health the excan changes on health care and working with John Hickenlooper who is a terrific guy. There is a way to deal with our financial problems. Weve got to get our ac