movement summit. democrats are furious, calling it spiteful. and an act of sabotage. and moderate republicans aren't happy either. and then the president trump will deliver a speech from the white house kicking it to congress to add teeth to the u.s. strategy toward the country. the theme here, the president as he promised to do, dismantling obama-eri obama-eri obama-era deals. we'll start at the white house with kelly o'donnell is joining us from the north lawn. the president couldn't get congress to repeal and replace. now he's talking about dismantling the law piece by piece when it comes to health care, right? >> reporter: a sledgehammer taking a whack at different pieces and putting a couple other things in place like we saw with crossing state lines, opportunity in the shorter term, but the csr payments, which the

trump administration has authorized up until this point, part of the necessary financial balance to keep the obamacare system working. something the democrats had been urging the administration to do. so this is a real sea change, with a much more aggressive approach from the white house to actively unwind, undo and some would say intentionally torpedo the ability of the americans insurance program, the aca, the affordable care act, for it to be sustained. so the president also talking about this. in many ways, it's not a surprise, hallie, because he talked about the need for this to fall under its own weight. so he tweeted today, of course, the democrats obamacare is imploding. massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. democrat, should call me to fix. obamacare is a broken mess. piece by piece, we will now give

america the great mchealth caret deserves. the president is antagonizing the democrats saying, you know my number. and antagonizing the democrats he's reaching out to by dismantling the structure to keep the aca going. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. the president is not at the white house but over to a hotel just a couple miles from the white house set to speak at the values voter summit. we'll bring you remarks live. and we have garrett haake here. this speech is focusing on faith and family. that's what the president has spoken for when he appear in front of the audience before being elected. he may talk about health care. and that is getting real blow-back from democrats and republicans. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, hallie. this crowd is proud to hear him talk about how obamacare is falling apart. how the republicans in congress need to do more to continue repealing it.

that particularly a lot of house members speaking here today say the senate needs to do the job, finish the job and finish off obamacare. so they are primed and ready to hear the president talk about this. but democrats last night, when the news came out, were furious about this. and one of the first statements to hit my inbox was a joint statement from the democratic leaders who called it a spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of america. they said, president trump has apparently decided to punish the american people for his inability to improve our health care system. now that, of course, coming from democrats. but on the republican side, there are moderate members who also pushed back on this, including ileana ros-lehtinen. she is retiring at the end of the year rather than run for re-election, so she feels free to be more honest. cutting health care subsidies will mean more uninsured in my district. potus promised more access,

affordable coverage. this does the opposite. and hallie, the sort of strange debt fellows category of all of this, one of those outspoken by the executive actions taken by the president recently was rand paul, one of the no votes on so many of the different almoeleme of obamacare repeal. and he defended the president's executive actions. take a listen. >> i talked to democrats and tell them, look, this is collective bargaining for the consumer. how could anybody be opposed to it? some people are caught up on, well, maybe it will evade the obamacare regulations? half of the big companies in our country already have this. why would we deny the individuals that we let big corporate america have in providing insurance for their employees? >> reporter: and hallie to my congress brain, this all goes to me towards another thing on the plate that these guys are going to have to work through in the 30-some odd legislative days

they have this year. it puts another big thing on congress's plate. that makes december all the more interesting, all the more likely to have a big messy showdown over all these issues. >> can we talk more about your congress brain, garrett? i don't know what you mean by that. garrett haake at the values voter summit. congressman mark meadows just behind him. we expect the president any minute, in five to ten minutes, he's set to get up there and speak after congressman med dose. in the meantime, this is my panel for the next 60 minutes. nbc political analyst and former chairman michael steele, "the washington post" reporter ashley parker, and new york times politics reporter and msnbc contributor, jeremy peters. guys, thank you for being here. i want to talk about the iran deal at some point because that's the other big speech the president is giving today. seriously significant when it comes to our position in the world stage, but let's pick up where garrett leftoff about health care. michael, ending these payments, is that sabotage? >> yeah, effectively. it's like saying we want something to sort of die on its

own and then putting poison in its food, as you give it to it. that's what this is effectively doing. the administration is frustrated with congress. and the president has decided not only just to team up with rand paul on the specific issues they were talking about, associations and the ability to get insurance across state lines, but also down to basically begin to unwind obamacare thread by thread. this is a big one. this is about $7 billion worth of subsidies that will go to poor families around the country. the question becomes next week, what do they do? >> well, what does congress do? >> what does congress do. >> this is something else on congress' plate, a theme of the day and headlines this month. jeremy, you were nodding vigorously here because this is something that could take legislative action, but will there be enough momentum toward it? >> they have to do a budget, tax

cuts, they have to deal possibly with this iran problem. >> daca, iran, right. >> there's daca. and we may go to war with north korea in the middle of all this. so yeah, congress is going to be pretty busy. but, you know, this is the problem, though, trump has kicked this to congress, but he hasn't really kicked the responsibility to them. trump now -- >> so you think he owns it? >> he -- absolutely. congress didn't act, they didn't repeal and replace, this is on them. by taking action that weakens the affordable care act, that's on him. he can't blame that on congress anymore. and i think that we are going to start hearing the trump care, trump care, trump care siren from democrats a lot more. and it may be more effective this time. >> for human beings, people in this country, when you look at the impact of cutting off the subsidies, which by the way is something for the last nine, ten months of the administration you hear rumblings about all the time.

then you call people in the west wing and say, what is he going to do? here's estimates from the state. double-digit jumps in proceed yums without the subsidy. you'll see a couple battlegrounds on here. with the subsidy for pennsylvania, 8.8. 20.3% without subsidies. you can see what this does to your premiums as far as hikes. that's actually money in people's pocketbooks. >> yeah, i guess it depends philosophically on what you want out of health care. for the people who want to be able to pay sort of lower costs for very bare bone plans, this is a step in that direction. but for the people who want robust coverage for the people who want pre-existing conditions covered, it doesn't do that. and that is just a philosophical disagreement within the parties. but there are people who think there's a lot to like about this. >> well, it's the pre-existing condition issue that i think is going to be the nail that puts

the hole in the tire of this effort. because this doesn't address that as you said. and the fact of the matter is, the other side of the question i asked, you know, what will -- what do they expect next week with congress and all that? and it is also what should customers and consumers out there expect when they're getting their health care coverage? i mean, i just got my bill for next year and it's not pretty. so for those folks who are in a different situation, what do they do? and there's really still no effective answer from republicans on this. >> and the senate republicans are talking about this this morning. you heard what rand paul had to say on "morning joe" earlier. susan collins up in maine making her own news says she won't run for governor, she'll stay in the senate. >> good news. >> here's what she said about the subsidy payments. listen. >> i'm very concerned about the president's executive order that was issued yesterday. and his decision to do away with

the important subsidy that helps very low income people. >> so susan collins is staying in the senate and will continue to buck the president, it seem, when it comes to health care. so status quo for a little while? >> well, i think one thing that is important to point out here is that, no matter what the executive action is, given what trump has just done and how republicans like rand paul reacted with glee to it, the offensiveness of the action lies in the pen of the person signing it. republicans were all up in arms every time obama tried to cir m circumvent congress with his pen and his phone, as he said, back when hefsz deali was dealing wi immigration. trump has effectively done the same thing, only on health care, and republicans for the most part, susan collins is the exception, there are some republicans who are against this, but republicans, for the most part, are just beside

themselves with glee over this. >> this is an area where the president is setting up a war between himself and members of his own party. because they are going to, jeremy is exactly right, they are going to own it, but the president has no problem saying, you ran on repealing and fixing obamacare. you didn't do it. i'm doing this. and it's your job to paush the black onto members of your own party. >> and i was early to file for the "today" show and wake up to another series of presidential tweets about this topic that happened overnight, where the president said massive subsidy payments to democrats, pet insurance companies has stopped. dems should call me to fix, he tweeted. should he be expecting a range from chuck and nancy here? >> i don't think so. he won't get a phone call from chuck and nancy on this one, not the way he wants. i think the president will try to cut some kind of deal because, to your point, he knows now that the y will be stuck in

a corner. he can go to chuck and nancy and say, let's do this little piece and move this. but they will put the subsidies back on the tachbble. they will try to avoid it all together. that's the tension between nancy, chuck and trump. >> and the irony here is that democrats have actually said obamacare is not perfect. it needs fixes. the president and dems have been flirting at various deals, but the one thing nancy and chuck made clear is we are not going to deal when you are basically decimating to bill. there was a world in which he could have got an deal. what he did yesterday is not that world. >> go ahead, jeremy. >> what happens if democrats make this part of the budget fight at tend of the year? >> there you go, right? >> so then the government could be on the cusp of another messy shut down because democrats say, no, we're withholding our votes unless you approve the csr payments and there will probably be some republicans sympathetic to that. >> the deadline is december 8th. i hope you don't have vacation

plans for that week. we want to point out mark meadows is still speaking at the values voter summit. he seems to be getting ready to wrap up, which means we should speak donald trump speak to the audience. it is interesting how the speakers so far have talked about obamacare and the health care law. what it means and to tear it down essentially, but it is not just health care. there is obviously the iranian nuclear deal decision coming in two-and-a-half hours from now. and we have all been reporting out what is going to be in this deal. the president is expected to decertify it, to open the 60-day window for congress yet again. the president taking inaction to undercut the obama-era legacy and puts it on congressional republican to do something about it. >> well, the problem is his own senior officials.

the technical compliance. now everyone is backtracking to where the president is on this. but when it is all said and done, from what i understand he's going to be saying, is substantively irrelevanirreleva. it doesn't change anything except for the hyperbole. the status quo will still be in place after this speech, i this i. i think that the internal pressures, certainly by kelly and others, to kind of move this thing very carefully from this speech forward is going to be important. and we'll ultimately see that iran is going to continue under this agreement. our allies have been declared, they are not renegotiating this. >> as soon as he does the speech, we'll hear from theresa may and people in europe about what this means for the interrogational community. >> this is a too cute by half fix by his advisers because the iran deal is something every 90

days had to be recertified and something that drove the president crazy. he sort of campaigned on ripping apart the deal. and every three months his advisers have to fight with him, torch his relationship with him to get them to do the responsible thing. so this was their option to say, we are not totally going to rip it up. but instead of us dealing with the president, which is a nightmare scenario for us, we'll kick it to congress. >> you know what the deal is, dismann dismantling things after eight years, the differences in parties, how they view the role of government in people's lives, how they view the right of the united states and the international community, this was a big piece of it. the iran deal, you were on the campaign trail.

i'm going to rip this up. >> that was one of the better lines. it's not a surprise. >> here's a question that comes out, lester holt who anchors "nbc nightly news," that i hope you're watching every night, was interviewing with president wrote what harohani. and he came back to say, no one will trust america again if you do that. so the reaction from tehran is, we think we know what the reaction will be. ali arouzi is there to talk a little bit about this. ali, we seem to know what the president will do in a couple hours from now. can you give me a sense of the retax or the news on the ground as we wait for this? >> reporter: well, there's an enormous amount of anticipation here. the iranians invested a lot in this deal. rouhani risked his political future in doing a deal with

america, so they are nervous the deal will fall apart. and it is not just the regime nervous. ordinary iranians were nervous expecting to see the fruits of the nuclear deal. and now everything is up in the air. and now we're seeing a lot of reaction from the revolutionary guard, from the administration here, who had relatively kept quiet until now. they warped the u.s. to move the bases out of the range of the iran missiles. if they were designate d sanctions that were raised upon th them. if america pulls out of the deal, he says the deal is essentially over. there's no deal with america. and even though other countries have indicated that they would like to keep the deal going, it's going to be very difficult to keep it going if america is not on board with it.

nobody is going to miss falling sanctions. and that is a reality is that how he is going to deal with the revolutionary guard. they are involved in every business here. and if they're labeled a terrorist organization, all bets are off. i can tell you that. and that would be an indirect way of ruining the deal, because they wouldn't let a deal with america carry on the they have been labeled a terrorist organization. and that means that any entity or any person doing business with the revolutionary guard if they are titled the terror organization will not be able to do business in the united states. that will shut iran out of every market possible. it is something the u.s. always wanted to do in past administrations, but the weight of putting them under a terrorist banner has major implications. and everybody has avoided doing that so far. so it would be a huge step into

the unknown and the hostility between america and iran would be very difficult to put the lid back on. because they would see america -- the fact that the revolutionary guard when they got wind of this said if we are labeled a terrorist organization, we are going to consider the united states a terrorist organization, especially in this region. so i think this is setting the stage for possible confrontation, which is not in any one's interest. >> ali brings up a good point about the revolutionary guard and the irgc as we keep an eye on the first of a couple speeches president trump makes today. one set to happen any moment over at the value voters summit. getting introduced right now, mark meadows has been speaking. the president getting teed up here. michael, as we wait for the speech, he probably won't talk about iran here but will talk about health care. when you look at the iranian nuclear deal, this administration has not had a lot of luck getting congress to do what it wants. >> they have not. and look, i had my concerns about the iran deal at the time

the obama administration put it forward. and, okay, it is what it is. but what concerns me now is how the politics drives the policy. and i think that is something that, you know, a lot of folks in this town need to be concerned about. i thought ali put it very well when he talked about the revolutionary guard. that's an aspect you don't hear anybody talking about what that impact is, what that means. these things don't happen in a vacuum. they are a lot of explosive parts to them. and so when you pull this string and you think, okay, we're just going to take this out and it's all good, other pieces start to fall in place that you didn't anticipate that could be prob m problemat problematic. and so the tensions in the region will grow. our allies will be a little bit more nervous. and i think the fact that a lot of them, particularly those we negotiate with, go we are not worried. it is not a bond anymore. >> we have to take a quick break before president trump gets up to speak at the value voter

summit. we'll cut in the second we hear from president trump. stick around. had. the classes, the friends, the independence. and since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, i'm glad she'll miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise

and we are back now, president trump speaking in washington at the family research council's annual summit. we're going to listen in with the audience on its feet. let's listen. >> thank you. thank you very much. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you very much. you know, i have been here before. you do know that. before the big day on november 8th i was here. i want to thank mark meadows and

all of the folks that have really made this possible. and tony, tremendous guy. we have some incredible people that we love and that were involved with, so i'm being followed by mr. bennett, you know that, right? i have been watching him say nice things about me before i knew him, those are the ones i like, where they speak well of you before you know them, right? but i really want to thank everybody and tony for your you could terror in their leadership of this -- for your extraordinary leadership. thank you for working so hard. it's great to be back here with so many friends at the 2017 values voter summit. and we know what that means. we know what that means. america's a nation of believers. and together, we are

strengthened and sustained by the power of prayer. as we gather for this tremendous event, our hearts remain sad and heavy for the victims of the horrific mass murder last week in las vegas. it was an act of pure evil. but in the wake of such horror, we also witnessed the true character of our nation. a mother laid on top of her daughter to shield her from gunfire. a husband died to protect his beloved wife. strangers rescued strangers, police officers, you saw that, all of the incredible police officers, how brave they were, how great they were running into fire. and first responders, they rushed right into danger. americans defied evil and hatred

with counselor arage and love. the men and women risked their lives to save their fellow citizens gave proof to this skr scripture, the light shines in the dark rness and the darkness has not overcome it. all of america is praying for the wounded and the grieving. and we will be with them today. and we will be with them forever. [ applause ] i just want to finish by saying, we understand it was so horrific to watch and so terrible, but to those who lost the ones they love, we know we cannot erase your pain, but we promise to never, ever, leave your side.

we are one nation. and we all hurt together. we hope together. and we heal together. [ applause ] we also stand with the millions of people who have suffered from the massive fires, which are right now raging in california. and the catastrophic hurricanes along the gulf coast in puerto rico, the virgin islands, and i will tell you, i left texas and i left florida, and i left louisiana, and i went to puerto rico, and i met with the president of the virgin islands. these are people that are incredible people. they are suffering gravely. and we'll be there. we're going to be there. we have really, it's not even a question of a choice. weapon don't even want a choice. we love those people and what they have gone through. and they are all healing. and their states and territories

are healing and healing rapidly. in the wake of the terrible tragedies of the past several weeks, the american people have responded with goodness and generosity and bravery. the heroism of every day citizens reminds us that the true strength of the nation is found in the hearts and souls of our people. when america is unified, no force on earth can break us apart. [ applause ] we love our families. we love our neighbors. we love our country. everyone here today is brought together by the same shared and timeless values. we cherish the sacred dignity of every human life.

we believe in strong families and safe communities. we honor the dignity of work. [ applause ] we defend our constitution. we protect religious liberty. we treasure our freedom. we are proud of our history. we support the rule of law and the incredible men and women of law enforcement. we celebrate our heroes and we salute every american who wears the uniform. we respect our great american flag. [ cheers and applause ]

thank you. thank you. thank you. and we stand united behind the customs, beliefs and traditions that define who we are as a nation and as a people. george washington said that religion and morality are indepenceable. to americans, prosperity and happiness are to its success. we have to act with courage and to sacrifice for what we know is

right. the american founders invoked our creator four times in the declaration of independence. four times. how times have changed, but you know what? now they're changing back again. just remember that. [ cheers and applause ] benjamin franklin reminded his colleagues at the constitutional convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer. religious liberty is enshrined in the very first amendment of the bill of rights. and we all pledge allegiance to

very, very beautifully one nation under god. this is america's heritage. a country that never forgets that we are all, every one of us, made by the same god in heaven. when i came to speak with you last year, i made you a promise. well, one of the promises i made you was that i would come back. see? [ cheers and applause ] and i don't even need your vote this year. that's even nicer. but i pledge that in a trump administration, our nation's

religious heritage would be cherished, protected and defended like you have never seen before. that's what is happening. that's what's happening. you see it every day, you are reading it. so this morning, i am honored and thrilled to return as the first sitting president to address this incredible gathering of friends. so many friends. [ cheers and applause ] so many friends. and i will ask tony and all of our people that do such a great job in putting this event together, can i take next year off or not? or do i have to be back? i don't know. huh? they are saying no. that means no.

so i'm here to thank you for your support and to share with you how we are delivering on that promise, depending our shared values and in so doing, how we are renewing the america we love. in the last ten months, we have followed through on one promise after another. i didn't have a schedule, but if i did have a schedule, i would say, we are substantially ahead of schedule. some of those promises are to support and defend the constitution. i appointed and confirmed a supreme court justice in the mold of the late great justice antonin scalia, the newest member of the supreme court, justice neil gorsuch. [ cheers and applause ]

to protect the unborn, i have reinstated a policy first put in place by president ronald reagan. the mexico city policy. to protect religious liberty, including protecting groups like this one, i signed a new executive action in a beautiful ceremony at the white house on our national day of prayer.

each day we made official. among many historic steps, the executive order followed through on one of my most important campaign promises to so many of you. toprevent the horrendous johnson amendment from interfering with your first amendment rights. [ cheers and applause ] we will not allow government workers to sensor sermons or target our pastors or our ministers, our rabbis. these are the people we want to hear from. and they're not going to be silenced any longer. [ applause ]

based on the executive action, the department of justice issued a new guidance to all federal agencies to ensure that no religious group is ever targeted under my administration. won't happen. we have also taken action to protect the conscious rights of groups like the little sisters of the poor. you know what they went through. what they went through -- they were going through hell. and then all of a sudden they won and said, how did that happen? we want to really point out that the little sisters of the poor, another people of faith, they live by a beautiful calling. and we will not let bureaucrats take away that calling or take away their rights. [ applause ]

we are stop iping cold the attas on judeo christian values. [ applause ] thank you. thank you very much. and something i said so much during the last two years, but i'll say it again as we approach the end of the year, we are getting near the beautiful christmas season that people don't talk about anymore. they don't use the word christmas because it is not politically correct. you go to department stores and they'll say, happy new year. or they say other things. and it will be red, they will have it painted but don't say, well, guess what? we're saying merry christmas

again. [ cheers and applause ] and as a christmas gift to all of our hard-working families, we hope congress will pass massive tax cuts for the american people. [ applause ] that includes increasing the child tax credit and expanding it to eliminate the marriage penalty. because we know that the american family is the true bedrock of american life. so true.

this is such an exciting event, because we are really working very hard and hopefully congress will come through. you saw what we did yesterday with respect to health care. it's step by step by step. and that was a very big step yesterday. another big step was taken the day before yesterday. and one by one, it's going to come down and we're going to have great health care in our country. we are going to have great health care in our country. we're taking a little different route than we had hoped because getting congress, they forgot what their pledges were. so we're going a little different route, but you know what? in the end, it's going to be just as effective and maybe it will even be better. for too long, politicians have tried to centralize the authority among the hands of a

small few in our nation's capital. bureaucrats think they can run your lives, overrule your values, meddle in your faith and tell you how to live, what to say and how to pray. but we know that parents, not bureaucrats, know best how to raise their children and create a thriving society. [ applause ] we know that faith and prayer, not federal regulation, and by the way, we are cutting regulations at a clip that nobody has ever seen before. nobody. in nine months, we have cut more regulation than any president has cut during their term in

office. so we are doing our job. and that is one of the major reasons, in addition to the enthusiasm for manufacturing and business and jobs and the jobs are coming back, it's one of the major reasons regulation, what we have done, that the stock market has just hit, an all-time historic high. that just on the public markets, we have made since election day, $5.2 trillion in value. think of that, $5.2 trillion. as you see the level of enthusiasms, the highest it has been, and we have a 17-year low in unemployment. so we're doing really some work. we know that it's the family and

the church, not government officials that know best how to create strong and loving communities. and above all else, we know this, in america, we don't worship government, we worship god. [ cheers and applause ] inspired by that conviction, we are returning moral clarity to our view of the world and the many grave challenges we face. this afternoon, in a little while, i'll be giving a speech

on iran. a terrorist nation, like a few others, and i think you will find it very interesting. yesterday things happened with pakistan. and i have openly said, pakistan took tremendous advantage of our country for many years, but we're starting to have a real relationship with pakistan. and they're starting to respect us as a nation again. and so are other nations. they're starting to respect the united states of america again. and i appreciate that. and i want to thank the leaders of pakistan for what they have been doing. in this administration, we will call evil by its name. we stand with our friends and allies, we forge new

partnerships in pursuit of peace, and we take decisive action against those who would threaten our people with harm. and we will be decisive. because we know that the first duty of government is to serve its set ze citizens. we are defending our borders and enforcing our laws. you see it every single day like you have not seen it in many, many years, if you have seen it at all. in protecting america's interest abroad, we will always support our cherished friend and partner, the state of israel. [ cheers and applause ]

we will confront the dangers of our nation, the allies in the world, including the threat of radical islamic terror im. terrorism. we have made great strides against isis, tremendous strides. i don't know if you have seen what is going on, but tremendous strides against isis. they never got hit like this before. stand up. stand up. let me see -- he's a rough guy, i can see. but they have been just ruthless. and they have ruthlessly slaughtered innocent christians along with the vicious killing of innocent muslims and other religious minorities. and we have made their lives very, very difficult. believe me.

we have done more against isis in nine months than the previous administration has done during its whole administration, by far, by far. and isis is now being dealt one defeat after another. we're confronting rogue regimes from iran to north korea, and we are challenging the communist dictatorship of cuba and the socialist depression of venezuela, and we will not lift the sanctions on these repressive regimes until they restore political and religious freedoms for their people. all of these bad actors share a common enemy, the one force they cannot stop, the force deep within our souls, and that is

the power of hope. that is why, in addition to our great military might, our enemies truly fear the united states. because our people never lose faith, never give in and always hope for a better tomorrow. last week melania and i were reminded of this in a powerful way when we traveled to las vegas. we visited a hospital where some of the survivors were recovering from absolutely horrific wounds. we met a young man named brady cook. he's 22. and a brand new police officer. that night was brady's second day in field training. his second day as a policeman, can you believe that? but when the shooting began, he did not hesitate. he acted with incredible courage, rushing into the hail of bullets, and he was badly

shot in his shoulder. this is what brady said. i didn't expect it, but it's what i signed up for. when stuff goes down, i want to be there to face evil and to protect the good, innocent people that need it. and here's a young guy, great guy, and the second day, i said, brady, don't worry about it, it's going to be easier from here. brady's a hero. and he can't wait to get back on the job. several weeks before when hurricane harvey hit houston, a local furniture store owner who's known in texas as mattress mack decided to help. he sent out his furniture trucks

to rescue the stranded. he brought them back to his stores and gave them food and clean, dry places to stay, even if it meant ruining countless dollars worth of furniture. as mattress mack put it, my faith defines me, it's who i am, we can afford the cost, and he said this very strongly, but we can't afford to cause people to lose hope. in brady and mack, we see the strength of the american spirit. this spirit of courage and compassion is all around us every day. it is the heartbeat of our great nation. and, despite certain coverage, that beat is stronger than it's ever been before. you see right through it. that beat is stronger than it's ever been.

we see this spirit in the men and women who selflessly enlist in our armed forces and really who go out and risk their lives for guard and for see it in thed the fathers who get up at the crack of dawn. they work two jobs and sometimes three jobs. they sacrifice every day for the furniture and future of their children. they have to go out. they go out, they work. the future of their children is everything to them. they put it before everything. and they make sure that the future of their children has god involved in it. so important to them. [ applause ] we see it in the church communities that come together to care for one another, to pray

for each other, and to stand strong with each other in times of need. the people who grace our lives and fill our homes and build our communities are the true strength of our nation. and the greatest hope for a better tomorrow. as long as we have pride in our country, confidence in our future, and faith in our god, then america will prevail. we will defeat every evil, overcome every threat, and meet every single challenge. we will defend our faith and protect our traditions. we will find the best in each other and in ourselves. we will pass on the blessings of liberty and the glories of god to our children. our values will endure.

our nation will thrive. our citizens will flourish. and our freedom will triumph. thank you to the value voter summit. such an incredible group of people you are. thank you to all of the faithful here today. and thank you to the people of faith all across our nation and all over the world. may god bless you. may god bless the united states of america. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> you have been watching president trump speaking here in washington to the valued voter summit. the fourth time he has spoken at this family research council event. but the first time as a sitting president. in fact, the first sitting president to talk to them summit at all. he said times have changed but they're changing back again. encapsulating much of what he

ran on in the 2016 race. apparently well received by the crowd in that room. several standing ovations. the first among them coming when the president said we needed to respect our flag. you heard him talk about health care going a different route given congress has been unable to repeal and replace as republicans vowed to do. and promising a very interesting speech, he said, on the iranian nuclear deal. that is coming up within the next couple of hours of president trump heading back to the white house. he also talked how this administration is going to be there for storm victims including in puerto rico after hurricane maria. the president of course has come under fire for his tweets seeming to threaten he will pull federal responders out. he said he spoke to the president of the virgin islands. that would be him. he would presumably be referring to the governor instead. crowd loved it. crowd heard everything they wanted to hear from merry christmas to family values are critical. >> yeah, that's right, hallie.

reminded me of a campaign speech, too, in the sense there was something for everybody in here. he ran the gamut of sort of touting the things the administration has been able to accomplish. it definitely had a christian tinge feel to it given the crowd in the room here. he touched on a number of social issues. he said we're going to be saying merry christmas again. probably the loudest standing ovation was talking about respecting the flag. he also talked about some of these issues that came up more often on the campaign but haven't been as prominent recently. things like the johnson amendment and some of these issues which are real touch stones to the movement of christian conservatives. bringing that back up. but he did also make news on obamacare, teasing his iran deal. on the comments on obamacare, the thing that struck me was the sort of admission this is an effort to take this apart, this law sort of one piece at a time in lieu of congress doing

anything about it. he said this is not the way he intended to do it, but this is the way it's going because congress hasn't enacted. lots and lots of members of congress running against congress today and talking about how particularly the united states senate needs to change its rules and needs to get something done. and the president played exactly into that today by saying we're going to get this done whatever the rules may be. >> garrett haake there inside the room there at a hotel in washington just a few miles from where we are. joining me back ashley park, michael steele as well. kelly o'donnell is also standing by over on the white house north lawn. kelly, quickly, what was your takeaway from what you heard from the president there? >> i think what the president gets out of this is a shot in the arm. having a crowd that he knows reliably votes and is supportive of a lot of his ideas. this is like an oxygen tank treatment for the president at a

time when he's been under fire. so that's my biggest takeaway. these are voters who reliably and dependably cast their ballots. this is the sort of thing that can reshape the president's demeanor and outlook at a time he's got very big issues on tap. and when he gets re-enforcement from things like supporting the flag, that just further, i think, convinces him that some of these issues and the way he's leading, that he's on track. again, with this particular type of voter. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. kelly is hit ogen the nail on the head of what the four of us were talking about as we listened to that speech. what he doesn't get from one of husband favorite enemies, the media, democrats, even some republicans now. >> riveting. i was riveted by the whole thing. and just moved. it is -- >> you're ridiculous sometimes, you know that? your sarcasm is certainly coming through. you were not riveted.

let's be clear. >> what are we buying here? he's going before a crowd who otherwise up until this man showed up on the stage was -- his life, background, history. all that. to me it says a lot about the politics drives the values right now. and that to me is disturbing for the republican party. >> this is a president who craves adulation. this is sort of him going into a warm bath of a ballroom and cycling through some of his best applause lines. some of his biggest accomplishments. not many legislative ones but he was able to announce things he did get signed. it was applause line after applause line after applause line which is what the president feels he needs right now. >> this is a security blanket move for president trump. it still amazes me after almost two years since we've been covering him that social conservatives warm to him as

much as they did. a guy who's been married three times. who met his second wife while they were still married. they love it. you know why? for what you hit on earlier. which is they see him as bringing the country back to a time where they felt like their values were more in the majority. >> he said that. >> yes. >> he's verbalizing it. >> turning back the clock. he actually said that. one thing i will point out -- part of the reason why trump does -- is so focused on this now, he got nervous after alabama. when judge roy moore won, he didn't back him. >> and he backed luther strange instead. quick last word? >> it gives a new meaning to communion. meeting in church. >> you may have not been riveted by that speech, michael steele, but we were riveted by you. so thank you for joining us. ashley parker, jeremy peters, it's a pleasure to have you on set. appreciate it, you hanging out

for the hour. we'll see you back here very soon. meantime, we want to end with our big picture. we've shown you a lot of pictures from california. for today's big picture, shoutout to the folks running to the danger. people working around the clock. you're looking at firefighters in napa county trying to protect a house from flames. more than 8,000 firefighters are on the job right now. no sleep. very little food. struggling through these conditions. but no rest for the weary as these fires continue to burn through the region. a huge thank you to them for all they're doing to people in northern california. thoughts and prayers certainly with them. photographer here from the press democrat via the ap. would love to hear your thoughts on facebook, twitter, snapchat, and instagram. i'm headed to the white house where you can catch me. in the meantime, ali velshi is picking up our coverage live from new york. >> i was going to wonder if i'd see you later today. i look forward to that. have a great rest of your

morning, hallie. good morning, everyone. stephanie rhule is off today. it's friday the 13th of october. let's get started. >> the day to dismantle obama's signature moves. >> trying to reverse former president obama's policies piece by piece. >> announcing he will scrap critical subsidies to insurance companies. helped to pay out of pocket costs for low income people. >> a move that could unravel the markets. >> clearly the president has -- he's deep in thought to say the least, about way ahead in iran. >> today president trump is expected to announce he'll decertify the iran nuclear deal. >> the next steps to congress while not necessarily pulling out entirely. this is a like a theme for him. >> i'll be giving a speech on iran. a terrorist nation like few others and i think you're going to find it very interesting. media is bad. they're really dishonest people. these are very,er