>> chris: i'm chris wallace. president trump faces a growing backlash over the response to the desert base station, devastation in puerto rico >> i'm done being polite, i'm done being politically correct, i am mad as hell. >> the governor of puerto rico is so thankful that the job we are doing. >> chris: we will discuss the humanitarian crisis, recovery efforts and allegations the administration moved too slowly with fema director brock long. then, president trump pushes his tax plan promising a certain economic growth. >> this could be remembered as the moment we took control of our destiny and chose a future of

prosperity and pride. >> we are reaching across the aisle to see folks that are reasonable. what is good for the american economy and families. >> chris: we will ask mick mulvaney whether getting tax reform passed will be any easier than repeal and replace. plus... >> i've never prayed to win this campaign, i've only prayed justice will be done. >> chris: roy moore with victory in the alabama southern primary. if we will ask the panel whether the g.o.p. is headed for a civil war in 2018. all right now on "fox news sunday." and hello again from fox news in washington. president trump travels to puerto rico tuesday to see the devastation from hurricane maria first hand. and it could get awkward. this weekend the president picked fights with officials there over recovery efforts. since the storm hit 11 days ago much of the island has been

without power or communications and critical infrastructure. sam once mayor says people are dying because of the slow federal response. but the president accused the mayor and other local officials of poor leadership. in a moment we will discuss relief efforts with fema administrator brock long. but first let's bring in mike tobin with the situation on the ground in puerto rico. >> wheels down, san juan, this d.c. eight just navigated the traffic. >> very, very busy, a lot of relief flights coming in. >> it carries a 36 tons of aid, water filtration kits, and hygiene kits. america's purse is small, they can use their own transportation and work around the bottleneck stranded at the seaport, unable to reach the people who need it. >> we aren't able to cover the whole island so we work to serve those who might have

through the cracks that fema can't cover. >> 86-year-old gladys is one of those people. it soaked insulation on the floor, she has no ability to even start cleaning up. she says everything is destroyed and i don't have a house. going to wait and see if someone will help me. the metal roofing here is pretty similar to the construction of a mobile home and it just didn't stand a chance when that hurricane moved so slowly and so powerfully over puerto rico. the sad thing is that this is not unique, this theme is repeated over and over again through the neighborhoods here in puerto rico creating tremendous need. only 5% of power has been restored. if the army corps of engineers is trying to lower expectations that the lights will come back on soon. two hours outside of san juan we can buy the hurricane. last night the governor gave in order to evacuate communities below that dam

fail. >> chris: mike tobin reporting from san juan, thanks for that. joining us now live from fema headquarters here in washington is the head of that agency, brock long. i want to start with the disconnect between what the trump administration is saying and what the situation on the ground in puerto rico seems to be. here is the acting head of the department of homeland security on thursday and the mayor of san juan on friday. >> it is really a good new story in terms of our ability to reach people in the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane. >> this is not a good news story. this is a people are dying story. this is a life or death story. >> chris: millions of people clearly still struggling as we just saw in mike tobin's report. is it a mistake for folks in washington to say this is a good news story? >> brock: i'm just going to say that i think the secretary's words are being taken out

context. we are not going to be satisfied until the situation is stabilized. in the bottom line is this is the most logistically challenging event the united states has ever seen and we have been moving and pushing as fast as the situation allows. every day we make progress, every day you have some setbacks. for example, you don't just bring the commodities income you have to be able to put them down the railway systems that we have been working our best to get them open. we've opened up 11 major highways but this morning there are over 3200 different problems reported with the systems from bridges missing to roads being blocked by floodwaters, to roads just disappearing because of landslides. we are having to work for all that. not only do we have enough commodities, a massive amount coming every day, with also established 11 regional distribution hubs to where we have great communication with 77 mayors within puerto rico where we are operating with the governor

unified command to be able to coordinate the dissemination of these commodities. it's not only the commodities that we are having to push forward. if we are also having to work with the private sector to get them back up to speed because this response extends far more than what fema can do. if the bottom line is we are trying to get the private sector in an up and running. over half the ghost dome grocery stores operating at a baseline level. over 300 pharmacies are beginning to operate. these are signs that routine is going back and that progress is being made. do we have a long way to go? absolutely we have a long way to go. >> chris: i want to pick up on something you just said because i have not heard this, you say this is the most logistically challenging relief effort ever in the history of this country? >> absolutely. i think people have to take a step back and understand what's happened over the course of basically the last 40 days. fema has

federal government on behalf of governors from texas to florida to north carolina to south carolina to georgia to the virgin islands and the bottom line is that we registered almost 3 million people for disaster assistance and most likely many of those were uninsured and we've been able to get well over a billion dollars in their hands to support. if not only a logistically complex event just getting to the islands and being able to support an island that was hit not just by one major hurricane but two within basically a ten day period. the bottom line is you can only shove so much into an island prestorm because if you pushing too much stuff the storm may damage it. we had to pull back, not only equipment and staff because we don't want to suck up vital shelter space, we want to continue to push forward after the fact and move more equipment in. the ports were damaged, the airports were damaged. this morning, someone was saying we are

san juan. we are not using san juan near to the degree we were. our goal was to open up incident support bases and other airports so we have three of those operating so that commercial flights can come back up in san juan. the problem and the frustration is the way information is being misrepresented across the board. i don't have time for that. but we have time for his being a laser focus help puerto ricans. >> chris: i do want to pick up a little bit on the question of misinformation because some people would say it's not surprising that you are having trouble but that isn't being reflected here in washington so you have this disconnect between statements, claims of great news in washington, and as you say, and understandable, but nevertheless a really tough situation continuing 11 days after -- if i may, i just want to pick up on this and the president in particular. between september 19th, the day before hurricane maria hit,

on puerto rico and 12 on sports in the controversy over the national anthem. yesterday after mayor cruz complained about the response, president with this. "the mayor of san juan, who was very comfy mentor only a few days ago, has now been told by democrats that you must be nast. such poor leadership ability by the mayor of san juan and others in puerto rico who are not able to get their workers to help." i know you don't have much raisins for this politics, but frankly it was the president who started talking politics. >> brock: what i don't have patients or is the fact that what we are trying to do and what we have successfully done is we have established a joint field office within san juan and you should go there. you should go see that operation where we are having conversations with all the mayors, we are working with the governor, his leadership to be able to create unified objectives. if mayors decide not to be a part of that than the response is

the bottom line is that -- >> chris: let me ask you directly -- i was going to say, is mayor cruz not participating in the fema effort? >> brock: there was a good article in the "washington examiner" and mayor otero is basically saying look there has been excellent communication with not only the governor but also fema and the way that we are trying to tackle this. we can choose to look at what the mayor spouts off or what other people spout off but we can also choose to see what's actually being done. that's what i would ask. >> chris: fema got high marks for how you responded to the hurricanes in texas and in florida. as part of the reason that you had -- i understand the logistics, , and island is different than just shipping stuff across a state, but as part of the reason that you've had more problems and more pushback in terms of lower marks, in terms

because the first responders, and we all learn things, the first responders are not fema, it is state, in this case commonwealth and local officials, that they weren't as prepared as they were in texas and florida? >> >> brock: puerto rico and te virgin islands, is different than what goes on in the continental united states. in some cases the infrastructure was incredibly fragile. that's not an excuse but the reality is that the infrastructural was incredibly fragile. you have to understand that both of these territories were hit by two major hurricanes. a lot of the infrastructure was damaged by irma and then maria comes in and finishes it off. by the time you go back in after maria a lot of the local responders, a lot of the citizens have disaster fatigue. the capacity is diminished. not from a disrespecting standpoint of local leadership but from

a big hit and the bottom line is that a majority of the response, an overwhelming majority of the responses on the federal shoulders. we are trying to push in and push forward. we have nearly 13,000 people working in both islands, both island territories right now trying to do everything they can to push forward. in that capacity grows every day, but there are more and more success stories coming out where we provide a few the other day to over 700 district s stations. we've gotten 700 of them back up and running. if you notice, there are cars driving around in some cases. there were 16 deaths. 16 deaths confirmed right now. my teams have been all over puerto rico, even into some of the roughest areas. that's not to say that number won't climb but in katrina there were over 1800 deaths. i think we have to put a lot of the stuff --

out the noise and continue to push forward. my guys back here have been busting their rear ends day in and day out for almost 40 days now to help americans. it has been incredibly complex. there's not a person in this country that would change jobs with me right now. >> chris: about 30 seconds left, can you give us a projection to the folks that are down there in puerto rico, a week from now, two weeks from now, how much improved will things be? >> brock: weeks from now. the key is it's a couple factors. right now many days ago we assigned the army corps of engineers to do one very important job, emergency power but also rebuilding the grid. getting power back is obviously the most important thing. in conjunction with that we are trying to work with the private sector to get telecommunications backup. the governor's reporting this morning that about a third of the telecommunications has been put back up after two major hurricanes and all the equipment that was dam

telecommunications is about a third back up and running. we have to get the power up, we have to get communications backup and the bottom line is that takes a long time because it was almost a total loss when it comes to the power grid. it will be multiple months before power is restored to many of these areas and that's just a reality. that's what we were saying before the storm hit and i think people have to remember that. going into the storm we were setting expectations by saying this is going to be a nightmare for puerto rico. >> chris: mr. long, thank you, thanks for your time. in addition to relief efforts you also have to deal with the politics here in washington, thank you very much. >> brock: thank you. >> chris: up next we will bring in our sunday group to discuss the situation in puerto rico, also the resignation of hhs secretary tom price over his use of charter flights on the taxpayers dime. ♪ ♪

brian, i just need to know if the customer app will be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. you're saying the new app will go live monday?! yeah.

way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes.

>> with saved a lot of lives, we've done a really good job and that would bring in the people for distribution. >> we are dying and you are killing us with the inefficienc inefficiency. in the bureaucracy. >> chris: president trump and the ma

drastically different pictures of the situation in puerto rico. time now for our sunday group, josh holmes, mitch mcconnell's former chief of staff and the g.o.p. strategist. charles lane of "the washington post." former democratic congresswoman donna edwards and the head of heritage action for america, michael needham. congresswoman edwards, you could hear the frustration and exhaustion in brock long's voice. he makes some good points, it's obviously a lot tougher providing all these resources, to an island, and also an island where a lot of the roads on the island have been wiped out. how fair do you think that the criticism of the administration's response is and what do you make of president trump's tweets over the weekend? >> i think you have to realize that puerto rico was already in a very fragile economic state. i think that combined, i understand brock long's point but i also understand the mayor of san juan and i think anytime you have a crisis like this, a real

infrastructure crisis, you would expect that there would be different vantage points through which people would see that and unfortunately i think for the president he continues to punch down. you understand the mayor's frustration. there's no reason for him to have tweeted like that and also implying that the people of puerto rico are lazy and not paying attention to their own needs. i don't understand the president punching down. i think that he should seek higher ground and he could do that by continuing to just lend their support and get the job done on the ground. >> chris: mike? >> we know this is a president that when he gets punched he's going to punch back and whether he should have or not is a completely separate subject from the response to the hurricane. the reality is as the congressman said it's a small island, hit by by a hurricant directly by a major hurricane, communications were put down, even knowing what needs to

i think they did a fantastic job, they are doing a fantastic job and in the light of a tragedy, one that will need to come together and see how to deliver both compression and food to the people of puerto rico, that's what the focus should be on. there have been a lot of opportunistic attacks on what has been an incredibly difficult and tragic situation. i think you saw from the fema administrator somebody who is doing the absolute best taken. >> chris: i certainly agree with that, you haven't heard this from the fema administrator, but from the president and from the acting head of dhs, for them to say things are great, we are doing well and obviously it isn't, is that just a mistake and obviously adding to a frustration and puerto rico? >> sure. it's obviously adding to frustration. i think similarly, the president and the head of dhs, you saw the fema administrator, frustrated, they are doing absolutely everything they can. one person said recently why didn't they preposition

and relief efforts in puerto rico? where you reposition things in an island that is about to get hit by a major hurricane? i think there is a frustration from people who are making attacks on them that aren't grounded in the reality of an incredibly logistical situation. that's causing all sorts of people to say things they probably shouldn't say. >> chris: i want to return to another story, the resignation late on friday of hhs secretary tom price after revelations that he spent close to $1 million on either private planes or government chartered planes and dozens of flights in just a few months. if he's been hhs secretary. president trump was not happy, curious. >> i felt very bad night because price is a good man but we are looking into it and we are looking into it very strongly. >> chris: price is not alone. epa administrator scott pruitt, steven mnuchin, ryan zinke and secretary david sheln

plans at taxpayer expense. chuck, how big a deal is this and how about the fact as republicans point out that various democrats when they were in positions of power to the same thing? >> how big a deal as it? i think if we didn't have this big story about puerto rico and the nfl and all the other things that this would have been an even bigger story because it does go right to that perception of the trump administration, to some extent created by the president himself and his heavy expenditures on secret service protection and travel back and forth to new jersey, they are a little loose with the taxpayers dime when it comes to their own personal comfort. i think it's very significant that the president asked m price with such speed. there was some price, pardon the pun, to be paid for health care. secretary price had really performed a

and done a more impressive job in trying to get through that health care bill he might have had more of a purchase on the president's loyalty, which we know is a fleeting thing to begin with. inspiring is also about the fact that the president was upset about what happened on health care. that's also part of the story and part of the reason it went down so quickly. >> chris: josh, isn't this part of what voters hate about d.c., the idea that public officials are living large on the taxpayers dime, and i want you to pick up on -- or say whether or not this wasn't just about the price, but also the fact that he failed, or at least wasn't seen as being a big player in trying to push obamacare repeal and replace across the finish line? >> i think there's a good role in government these days, if it feels good, don't do it. in this case flying across the country and gulfstream's and ev

and it certainly qualifies as something you don't do. a very populous time. i think the american people when you think about traveling of government officials, what they think of is i'm not going to be happy until they are sitting middle seat next to the bathroom. the reality is that secretary perez took this way too far, $1 million in private flights, none of which seem to justify that kind of expense from my perspective but i think charles is right. it this has a lot more to do wh his overall standing within the administration and how they felt like the repeal and replace effort was managed from a department point of view. >> chris: michael in the little bit of time we have left, with the failure of repeal and replace, one of the things that the administration hopes to do is either through regulations or executive orders, undo some of obamacare, say what you will about tom price, he knew the system pretty well. is it going to be harder with price out and how hard is it

secretary with the battle lines already formed on health care? >> tom price obviously needed a health care system, as many people who know the health care system. i don't think you will have trouble getting so many through. problem is that most of obamacare is statutory, regulatory given to the dash given to washington. the republican party spent eight years saying it wants to repeal that authority. what was learned the last nine months is that it's not true. there's probably -- the challenge president trump is going to have is finding a way it once we move past tax reform to get the republican party to congeal around a plan that follows through on promises that they would make to repeal obamacare, which frankly the vast majority of electoral republicans don't actually believe in. >> chris: really quickly, one quick answer. if a candidate for hhs secretary? >> i don't. i think you could look like psalmody like ron johnson in the senate who obvious

people on the outside but i don't have just one name. >> chris: as early, thanks, panel, we will see you later. when we come back, seeking a win after the failure to repeal obamacare, president trump rolls off the republican plan to cut taxes. we will discuss it with white house budget director mick mulvaney. that's next.

>> chris: coming up, president trump's hhs secretary tom price resigns under fire for taking costly taxpayer-funded private flights. >> i was disappointed because i didn't like it. >> chris: we will ask the white house budget director about new guidelines for government

♪ ♪ >> chris: president trump unveiled the

overhauling the tax code this week calling it a once in a generation opportunity. but there are already serious questions about who benefits from the plan and how much it will add to the deficit. we want to discuss that now with the director of the office of management and budget, nick mick mulvaney. before we get to tax reform, i want to ask you about the tom price travel controversy because you sent out this memo on friday to all executive agency heads saying that they now need prior approval from the white house chief of staff to flight on the government or private plane and you added this. every penny we spend comes from the taxpayer. just because something is legal doesn't make it right. question, why did you feel the need to write that? >> director mulvaney: my thought it was the clearest way to articulate that the president believes in one of the reasons -- at least the reason behind why the president was so upset about what happened mr. price. by t

the lawyers and it was fairly sanitary, those were the two sentences that i added just to make it explicitly clear that this is the policy, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. my guess is, the ongoing investigations and a couple different agencies were and i will find out that all this travel was entirely legal. the question is whether or not it's right and i think that's the lens the president wants to look at this travel through, not just whether or not it follows the law. >> chris: as i discussed with the panel, tom price isn't alone. i want to put these pictures up on the screen, at least three other members of the cabinet as well as the head of the epa have all taken it a private and/or government flights. they said they needed to get where they were going in a hurry and they got approval from their agencies. are they in trouble? >> director mulvaney: let's be clear, there are absolutely times where this type of travel is appropriate. you look at some of the places particularly that they won,

anywhere near where ryan zinke was going. i think that the instance in many occasions. the question is are we doing the best that we can to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars? are these particular choices, the private charters, the military flights, are these the absolute last options that we go through or get to it and think that's what you will see. it was unfortunate what happened with dr. price. if the president is telling everybody is not going to happen again. >> chris: let me ask you a direct question because you are now at a conference in canada where we are talking to your firm, please tell me that you flew commercial. >> director mulvaney: not only did i fly commercial, i paid for it myself. i'm up here visiting a college with my son. >> chris: so i have that wrong, it's all self-funded? >> director mulvaney: yes, sir. >> chris: good. let's turn to the tax reform plan that republicans rolled out this week. the republicans told americans who benefits. >>

breaks and loopholes that primarily benefit the wealthy, our framework ensures that the benefits of tax reform go to the middle class, not the highest burners. >> chris: director mulvaney, independent experts say what the president just said there isn't true. i want to put up this chart. the nonpartisan tax policy center did this analysis. it shows the middle fifth of households in america, those earning between $48,086,000 a year, they will get an average tax cut of $660 next year. meanwhile, the top 1%, people making more than $730,000 a year will get an average tax cut of almost $130,000 next year. i understand that this isn't done yet, that there are only basing it on the plan as it exists at this point but according to their analysis, that middle fifth gets 1.5% of the total benefit of the tax cut while th

the benefit. that doesn't seem fair. >> director mulvaney: a couple different things, obviously i can't see the graph that you just put up but i think that i have seen in previous to this and what i think that particular organization did was, they didn't do any dynamic scoring. you look at the details of what they put out, they assumed no benefit to the overall economy, which is just absurd to think that there won't be -- >> chris: i'm not talking about the economy, i'm talking about the benefit -- the tax cut they get. >> director mulvaney: i got it, you can't look at the docks but on the family until he realized how much better off there will be in a growing economy. they had to make assumptions because we didn't put any of the framework yet about where those particular tax rates kick in. there's nothing in the document yet about that. not because we are hiding it, but because working with congress to try and establish where the different rates kick in. there's 0% rate, we know that will go up

after that it's 12, 25 and 35. if absolutely no decisions have been made about where those percentages kick in and in terms tax bracket. it's impossible to do what the national tech center just did. my guess is, i think that's the one -- it's not surprising that former chief for a democratic vice president doesn't a republican tax plan. i don't put very much weight. >> chris: it's a nonpartisan group, first of all, and secondly, you can talk about it's going to kick in at this level are that level, but if the middle income person is getting a $600 tax cut and the top 1% is getting $130,000 tax cut, i thought the whole point was that the wealthy weren't going to get a tax cut at all. >> director mulvaney: it was, i'm laughing because i've been up -- i've done a couple of these interviews and i was on one of your sister networks and they were accusing the tax plan of not getting any tax cuts to the wealthy. they were accusing it of raising th

accusing it to give all the benefit to the wealthy. the beauty as any i eye of the beholder at this point. the real details of this, we are looking at the middle class in terms of making sure they can pay less and, this doesn't get nearly enough attention, it's easier for them to pay. almost 90% of american families, not businesses but families, actually pay someone else to do their taxes. there's another benefit we are trying to get to them. the second thing we are trying to add is that lower corporate tax rates as we try to spur the economy. the president's attention is on the middle class making sure it simple, fair and better. on the corporate tax rate to try and get folks to invest in america again. his focus has not been on the impact of the top 1%. >> chris: let's get to the other issue you were discussing and i interrupted you and forgive me for that. the issue of cost. the senate republican budget plan calls for a tax cut that is going to cost

$1.5 trillion over the next ten years and some outside experts say that the plan that was unveiled this week actually will add to trillion dollars to the debt over the next ten years. back when you were in congress you were a deficit hawk. what happened? >> director mulvaney: i think that 2 trillion number is coming from the same organization that did not score this dynamically. >> chris: that's coming from a few different groups. >> director mulvaney: let's talk about this, i've been very candid about this. we need to have new deficits because of that. we need to have the growth. if we simply look at this as being deficit-neutral, you will never get the type of tax reform and tax reductions that you need to get to sustain 3% economic growth. we really do believe that the tax code is what's holding back the american economy. the reason we've been growing at 1.8% for the last 8-10 years, way below the historical average, in large part because of our tax code. it's important to us

biggest, broadest tax reduction, tax cuts, tax reform that we can possibly get because it's the only way we get back to 3% growth, that's what's driving all of this. how do you get the american economy back on the historical growth rate of 3% and out of the doldrums of 1.8, 1.9 that we had of the previous administration. >> chris: i want to pick up on this. if some of your fellow colleagues in the trump administration are not just saying that it's going to unleash massive growth, they are saying more than that. here is treasury secretary steven mnuchin this week. >> that's $2 trillion in additional revenues, $10 trillion of economic activity and not only will this tax plan pay for itself, but it will pay down debt. >> chris: but the fact is, there is no evidence the tax cuts pay for themselves. the reagan tax cut back in 1981 added, added, $208 billion to the opposite over four y

the bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 added $1.5 trillion to the debt over ten years. you can argue whether or not tax cuts spur economic growth, i think that's a perfectly legitimate argument. there is no evidence that they pay for themselves. >> director mulvaney: is look at the facts. you can go back and make an assumption and you can run some numbers. you have to make a couple of assumptions about growth rates and so forth but if we had 3% growth, which is what we are trying to get to, what we are at right now. trying to maintain that 3% growth. if we had been at that over the last ten years the budget very nearly would be balanced this year. that's a big a difference it makes when you grow the american economy that additional 1% over ten years. over the next ten years if we can grow at 3% instead of the 1.8% of the nonpartisan congressional budget office says, that has been the average under the previous demonstration, if we can get to that 3% it is 2-$2.5 trillion

more. 12 million additional jobs and those are 12 million jobs paying into medicare, paying into social security. growth really is what's driving all of this and growth is what our focus is, which is why we are willing to accept increased short-term deficits in exchange for that long-term payoff. >> chris: that's the point i want to make and you seem to be agreeing with me, growth is a great thing and there's no question tax cuts can produce growth, although it isn't just tax cuts. in fact in the '90s, bill clinton had a tax increase and we have the biggest growth without in any decade in recent history. if a lot of other factors i think you would agree other than government fiscal policy. the chairman of the council of economic advisors for ronald reagan said the benefit, the payback from a tax cut is $0.35 on the dollar. in other words, he is saying if you cut taxes a dollar you add $0.65 to the debt. >> director mulvaney: i'

familiar with that math. i'm sitting here trying to think of how to respond to it. there are a lot of other fiscal policies that we have put in place already, chris. i don't want to draw attention away from the reformer done. we are at 3% already. i think i was on her show a couple months ago and you had stuff from a couple groups that said there was no what we would get a three person ever and here we are already in the first eight months. growth works. what we are doing in the administration to spur growth in terms of regulatory form works and we are working right now to make sure the tax cuts add to that. we do believe that sustain 3% economic growth is possible and that's the way you can balance the budget long-term. you will never balance the budget again without it. why am i now interested in deficits? the only way you balance the budget in this country long-term is through sustained economic growth and that's what everything we're doing in this administration is aimed at that

>> chris: director mulvaney, thank you, thanks for sharing part of your weekend with us, especially on a college trip with her son. we'll track the progress of the tax reform. up next, roy moore's victory over a candidate backed by president trump and alabama senate primary. it sets off talk about a republican civil war. ♪ ♪

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going to give their patients the protection that they need and the whiter teeth that they want. ♪ >> i think the people of alabama know me and they understand what i stand for. i certainly support president trump's agenda and yes i'm an outsider, not part of the establishment. >> chris: judge were more saying he supports the president but not republican congressional leaders after beating their candidate, luther strange in this week's closely watched alabama senate primary. back now with the panel. josh, you mentioned earlier that you used to be the chief of staff to mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader and

victory as a slap at mcconnell and their establishment, the party leaders in congress. a sign that the populist movement that propelled donald trump to victory isn't done. are they right? >> i think it's a lot more complicated than that. this whole effort is being led by mr. bannon, who of course was at the right hand of the president for the better part of the last eight months and didn't accomplish a whole lot. eight months later after he's fired it's got to be somebody else was called. what done is his first target, go down to alabama and target somebody who has 100% voting record with president trump's agenda. luther strange. it replaced him with somebody, quite frankly, was artie said he wouldn't report rand, cassidy, the repeal and replace measure. some trouble voting for a budget that you ultimately need to vote for the tax of our package. it's unclear what they're trying to accomplish here. it certainly isn't in support of making america great again.

>> chris: mitch mcconnell was one of the targets of the moore campaign and the whole idea of the senate leadership. mitch mcconnell was seen as a detriment to the party and an advantage to roy moore. >> it came as a surprise that the one person working as hard as he possibly can as mitch mcconnell. there is no separation between the president and him on that. if they are going to focus on something, honestly, on a legislative site, this number from caucus of legislators, for a five of them. each and every time we are talking about repeal, they are frankly not quite on board yet. we're talking about somebody to target, i think that's the right spot. >> chris: michael, i think you are from the more insurgent wing of the party. at moore's victory party on tuesday night, the aforementioned steve bannon said they are not done yet. here he is. >> the question was cald

who is sovereign? the people are the money and alabama answer today, the people. >> chris: how much trouble are mitch mcconnell and his colleagues in? >> i think josh's answer right there shows you everything what's wrong with the republican party right now. always from the republican establishment's alleles who was to blame for the problems that this party has right now. steve bannon four years ago, briefly it was me. at the core of the problem right here is that the republican party is premier li speaking for its donor class. if donor class think that economic opportunity is going great in america, the donor class think that social issues d issues of american identity aren't a problem. the donor class is very good at navigating washington, d.c. that's not republican voters are feeling right now. if they are economically anxious in a world of globalization, donors think that washington, d.c., is a deeply. if republicans think that most of the elites think of themselves citizens of the world than citizens of this great country.

a party until the republican establishment, the leadership of the republican party, starts to understand that there are real and legitimate concerns which keep popping up and causing -- make donald trump the president of the united states, get roy moore elected and alabama. similarly, we have to understand institutions matter. we do have a functioning republican party, we need to have that senatorial committees and campaign committees within a party. until the republican establishment says that the voters of this party have the right to be told the truth and have a seat at the table and we come together and work together we will keep having this. josh seems to fundamentally misunderstand that. >> you're talking with a truther, who was talking about the truth? visit mitch mcconnell, who is preventing repeal and replace? >> do you think that there's 52 republican senators who want to open repeal obamacare? >> i don't, i think with demonstrated that. >> people ran and said they wanted to repeal obamacare, where they line? >> you could do a whole show about what we thi

point is what roy moore was talking about, the reality simply doesn't exist. that reality is that somehow mitch mcconnell is the one shortcoming the trump agenda and the overall agenda of the republican party. >> chris: let me ask you, isn't he part of the solution of the problem? >> i think he's done a very good job on judges. this year on obamacare mitch mcconnell does deserve credit. i don't think he's 100% responsible for everything. he's the leader of the the party and the buck stops with leadership. when you look at the party it is a party that does not understand that the economic opportunities that their donors feel is not shared by americans across the country have anxiety on their wages and see all their prices going up. mitch mcconnell does not understand that just because you know how to navigate washington, d.c., doesn't mean that the american people feel that they have access to the halls of power. he's part of a leadership for this party that is grotesquely out of touch with its base. if you don't believe that look at the 2012 republica

which was heroically wrong on everything. tell mike about what the party needs to get right. look at the fact that 16 out of 16 out of 17 people that were going to be serious candidates and donald trump won because he's in touch with what voters in the party believe. >> chris: congressman edwards how much are you enjoying this fight inside the republic and party? >> it's like the dismembering of the republican party. >> chris: yes, you are enjoying. be honest. >> i tell you something, looking at down ballot races and a handful of states where democrats won by overwhelming margins. this does not bode well and this writer does not bode well at all for the republican party. >> chris: let me bring in chuck because bannon is basically saying we are going to go into some of these other states and we are going to impose the incumbent with somebody more of a conservative hard-liner. we saw that play out in 2010

sometimes races that seemed winnable or republicans ended up being unwinnable when they got someone who was too far to the right. >> steve bannon loves to stage dramas and put himself in the center of it. the current one i guess is this civil war in the republican party drama. let me just throw a little cold water on it in the following sense. this race and alabama had a lot of very powerful local factors having to do with luther strange and his, what was perceived to be his corrupt -- his ties to governor bentley, who played a huge role in that race. really tied him down with a republican electorate in alabama. i'm not sure that the roy moore formula necessarily translates in every other state. i will say that it is absolutely the case that there are a lot of republican voters, this has been true for many years, whose goal in the ballot box seemed to be send a message to my

they are going to keep on doing that and there will be some surprises along the way. what it means for actual results in washington of course is very unclear. >> chris: we have to take a quick break here but when we come back, as we get ready for some football, the nation is still divided over nfl protests during the national anthem. we will get our sunday groups take, that's next. ♪ ♪

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>> you cannot have people disrespecting our national anthem, our flight, our country, and that's what they are doing. in my opinion the nfl has to change part or you know it's going to happen, their business is going to go to hell. >> chris: as we get ready for another week of football president trump continuing to criticize the nfl saying owners should fire players who kneel in protest during the national anthem. we are back now for some overtime with the panel. congresswoman edwards, where is this controversy headed and as all the back-and-forth this week among the president, the players, the league, the owners, has it accomplished anything? >> i want to get back -- when colin kaepernick took the need it was drawing attention to racial injustice to police brutality to what was happening to black people around the country and it didn't have to do with dishonoring the flag, disrespecting the country and i think there has to be room at the table for people

their feelings about the country and express themselves in whatever way they choose. it may not be the way that i choose, but it's the way that some do. if the president actually should recognize that that is kind of fundamental to our country and free expression. i want to bring us back home to where it started when kaepernick first took his knee. >> chris: let me pick up on that, michael, because the president says that this whole controversy, at least his involvement is not about race, it's about respect for the country, respect for the flag and the national anthem. the protest, as congresswoman edwards pointed out, started out about racial injustice and police brutality and here was the comment this week from one leading athlete. >> the people run this country, not one individual and for sure not him. >> chris: can you really separate this from race? >> i think it's very tragic that our nation is coming apart on these types of civic issues.

president trump has encased this issue has not helped, extorting the part. let's not pretend that barack obama did not help tara nation apart, nothing unifying about making catholic nuns by birth control. there's nothing unifying about when parents of goodwill or trying to have a conversation about following the rights of transgendered students versus legitimate fields of privacy and security and barack obama goes to the department of education and opposes the view of how this question should be answered. it is deeply concerning the way our nation is coming apart, we need need to come together on all of these issues. it's probably not going to start with politics, it will start with teeth each of us. both parties and both of the past presidents have taken actions that have brought us further apart. >> chris: we got about a minute left and i want to go to josh first. you've got 30 seconds. people keep saying to me, to the president just dropped off on this or was this a poli

how do you answer? >> i don't know if it's a strategy but he certainly highlighted something of great concern to a lot of americans and a lot of football fans, frankly. i think it simultaneously extremely useful to be concerned about civic injustice, racial inequalities but also respect the american flag and respect what it says to service members when they are kneeling during the national anthem. i think that he was highlightin highlighting, frankly it like he is winning billing chart, 20 seconds. >> i don't think dominic want to say it's making the flag a political football, but it is. that only happened in my memory in the 1988 campaign, and even that wasn't as anguishing as this one. >> chris: thank you panel for putting in some extra work. we will see how the players on the crowds respond during the playing of the national anthem. that's it for today, have a great week and we will see you next "fox news sunday." as a co ♪ ♪

hello. i'm here because for the second time the nfl is making its home in the old smoke. should be quite the curfufal today. drew brees is a straight -- jay cutler is no and just as they go head to head. week four is no time for either to wag on. you can bet they will be -- my