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wedeman in zaporizhzhia. so, ben, i can just imagine how this is all being greeted there in ukraine. what has been the reaction? >> reporter: well, the general feeling is that, kim, this is christmas in june for the ukrainians, keeping in mind that, of course, ukraine is in the very initial stages of its counteroffensive against russian forces. and this could not come at a better time for the ukrainians to have the russian armed forces writ large, its mercenary corps as well as its regular army, seeming to implode at the moment. in fact, what is circulating on the internet here, on social media in ukraine is a picture of president volodymyr zelenskyy, a video of him from when he was an actor popping a beer, sitting down in a comfortable armchair, picking up a bowl of popcorn and watching the tv. and that seems to be the
just going after ron desantis whether we hear about culture wars, also though dre, directly attacking the former president. take a listen. >> top priority is culture wars and not managing spending, creating more opportunities at a localized level, draining the swamp which i was told was going to happen. never happened a bit. you know, former donald trump blew that one. securing the border, former donald trump blew that one. fiscal discipline, former donald trump blew that too. i think there are a lot of things within the mantle of the republican party that we have kind of lost focus on. >> maybe lost focus. but what is fascinating is what we see. donald trump can sit back with the poll numbers that we just saw and let everybody else fight it out for second place. so many republicans are trying to be this more moderate nontrump lane. does anybody have a chance at this point? >> i think they're all just waiting for him, erica, to implode in a way. they're waiting for that moment. they look back at 2008 and they see what happened to hillary clinton, for example. and barack obama came out
and i think it makes me wonder how else is she going to create a lane for herself? because she will not be the only candidate arguing that there needs to be a new generation. take ron desantis, who is a little younger than her, as well. >> michael smerconish, she was not openly critical of trump today, but she did take only veiled swipes that weren't all that veiled. what did you make of that strategy? >> first of all, i thought the rollout went as well as it could have gone. she's obviously smart, she's very good on her feet, and she's got a uniquely american story to tell. but to their points, i don't know where the lane is. i think her fate is going to be determined by the fulton county d.a., the manhattan d.a., and probably jack smith and merrick garland. she needs donald trump and/or ron desantis to implode, because if trump's at 45% and desantis is at 25% to 30%, there's not
he's going to be a very weak speaker. he's going to be beholden to this far right group that is going to be able to yank the speakership from him, with just five votes if they don't get their way. so, you know, this is something that the moderates were worried about initially. and you saw mccarthy trying the hold the line on some of these. but at this point, it looks like he's going to have to give away several stores at this point to appease this group of folks. they are playing this, i think, very, very smartly. they know that this point they are driving the bus. they are the ones that hold the key to kevin mccarthy getting the speakership, and they will be the ones to hold the key to him maintaining the speakership. so, he's going to constantly have to play to this crowd of folks. >> maggie haberman, do you think the former president down in mar-a-lago continues to make calls? or does he wait to see which way the wind blows?
so far, he appeared like he has been loyal. he hasn't floated any trial balloons or anything like that that we can discern. his only way to the speakership is for kevin mccarthy's bid for the speakership to implode. if you are steve scalise, it's not looking bad for that plan. there's nothing wrong with that. right? they have apparently a testy but good relationship. he said, i'm going to support you until the end, until it's your call to bail out. if he bails out, then i think scalise has always been the obvious alternative. >> right. former congressman dent said -- i don't know if it was yesterday or a week ago. i don't remember when it was. let's assume it was yesterday. he thought theoretically it was going to end up with scalise. the republican party is rooted in the south now. they are not in california. beyond the mistrust of kevin mccarthy and all that. geographically, it makes more
>> i don't think voting tonight is productive. let people work more. >> reporter: in a positive sign from mccarthy, some of the opponents came out sounding positive, including scott perry of pennsylvania sounded that -- he said talks had been productive as well as congressman chip roy. they had been asking for more sway over the speakership. some of them had asking to encourage mccarthy's super pac to stay out of certain primaries. they did agree to do that. that may have won some. his path, very narrow. there are at least four republicans who are almost certainly going to vote against him. they absolutely will not vote for kevin mccarthy, including matt gaetz. he can only look forward to lose four republican votes. one more says they will not vote for him, mccarthy cannot get there, which is why these talks are so critical, expected to continue through tonight until
moment. that will be the time in which kevin mccarthy, if he loses more votes, if he does not make progress, will face more questions about his path to the speakership. they hope between now and then a deal can be iced. i asked mccarthy, can you get the deal tomorrow? he said i don't want to put any time frame on it. he said talks have been productive. he is confident they are moving in his direction. >> want to go to melanie who has new information. >> there are some glimmers of hope. we have evidence to back that up. chip roy, who has been in the negotiations with mccarthy allies and mccarthy holdouts, told gop leadership he believes he can bring along ten members as long as the negotiations pan out. he also said he believes there are additional holdouts who might be willing to vote present. of course, that is a big if. they would have to have these negotiations be successful. then all those ten members would have to vote yes. even if that were to happen, if we were to see movement, doing
party he has absolutely dominated, you would have assumed other candidates would have backed away by now. not one of them did. and they were all standing there saying, here i am as a possible alternative. that's what is most striking about it. i still think donald trump has to consider the odds on favorite but he's not the prohibited favorite. this was on display this weekend. >> here's what half post is saying. i wonder steve, charles -- will bide his time while he waits for trump to implode. that's ron desantis biding his time for the former president to implode. what do you make of that? >> if that's what the strategy is, it's a smart strategy. right now, donald trump is standing alone. he has the focus and the spotlight and the target on his back. given the bed reviews from his announcement on monday, donald trump's normal practice is to try to come up with something outrageous to keep the spotlight on him. and the more outrageous he is
beaten by liz truss just weeks ago, he could replace her as soon as tomorrow. declaring his candidacy today, he wrote: he also felt the need to say: the guaranteed support for him continues to up. what we can't do is have him in as prime minister to implode, taking down the whole government with him, and we just can't do that again. mr baker had backed the former home secretary suella braverman for the job in the summer. today, she backed rishi sunak too, saying: i have backed boris from the start, but we are in dire straits now, we need unity, stability and efficiency.
the democratic party would allow the hard infrastructure bill and the reconciliation to sink? >> that's an excellent question. it would be a bad time for the democrats to implode. look. the bottom line, this would be a disaster if the bills got nothing out of it because if democrats really believe that democracy faces a challenge and in the midst of this rolling assault on the democracy then the democrats need to act like it as opposed to playing a game of political chicken that could result in political catastrophe. democrats have a hard time with it because do the math. the democrats may control the three branches of government but not the progressives do not have a governing majority. they may want to have an lbj-like agenda. they may like to have a new new deal but thank you don't have the numbers and i think joe