over two dozen states where the governors are republicans, the state senate controlled by the republican party. legislation passing in those estates, achieving a lot of what the republican party has cherished and wanted to do for years, if they had the reins of power at the state level. one, the reppo can party is struggling in a lot of areas, right? but it is probably struggling less than the democratic party, so you could say it is the party that is in the least trouble, except for the other one. [laughter] christina: fair enough. mike? can -- ihink i remember on november 5 or 6, i had probably a dozen panels unlike this one with the exact title. how could the party come back from the debacle of the november elections. then we woke up and things changed and it are not to be dramatically different than i think most of us anticipated. myself certainly, it was a surprise. and i think the point in that year that was brought up is an accurate one. we are at a time where both parties are dealing with very serious cleavages in their base. they do not tend to be necessarily just linear, with m

the republican vote will be republican vote is. it's outside our control. >> there's a question here from online. the question is, what are your models telling you about 2018 for the house and senate? last year and also in 2014, we ran polling based models to try to forecast the outcome of the elections on the presidential side, we along with everyone else were incorrect in our predictions. but on the senate side, the polls turned out to be quite accurate. there weren't really upsets in the senate races. there's not enough data on the house side for us -- not enough polling data to monitor house races. it's also too early in the cycle. we haven't had all the retirements we'll have. i do think that we can sort of answer more broadly what we see happening in 2018. >> one thing you can do is look at the generic house ballot , which by itself is vague. it just asks people who do you want to see in charge of the house. we don't have our own model through daily kos yet, but a poly site professor has one to use this direct data. if you pl

it won't until some republicans get on it and i don't think republicans will get on until they see the possibility of causing them to lose the majority they may see that before twenty eighteen it may take the twenty eighteen election and thus either gaining the majority are getting close to a jordi for them to realize that they are in jeopardy and they could move in twenty nineteen but you know larry if i can't condemn the republicans who have a different more difficult time coming out against trump and being from peach mint because their base still supports trop and most republican house members districts are pretty much decided in the in the primary of the republican party unless i get out there and i feel i felt like i've got a good safe district but if i don't get out there on it how can they get out there so it's taken a step to hopefully move things along every every great long march start the first few steps or they journalling you all still you know in intimate circles when they're not on the house floor. republicans many of them know that this band is not capable of representi

i'm a proud republican, life-long republican. and from arizona. arizona tends to elect independent-minded people and people who stand on principle. so i'm doing what i think my voters expect of me. but, i think, for example, in 2006 when the party in particular had given way to inappropriate spending, earmark spending, couple of our colleagues ended up in jail. if you remember the man for drain the swamp was employed effectively by the democrats and describing the republican party at that time. and i think had we stood up at that time, then we wouldn't have lost those majorities in the house and the senate, and i fear that we might do the same again. >> you had strong words in that book, and yet, we looked at your voting record, and at this point, you vote more with the president than even some others in the senate who've taken the president on. according to our count here, 93.5% of the time you have voited with the president. is there a point wrp you will vote potentially against your own id logical interests in order to send a message to republi

the republicans have gone the partisan route in trying to use fast tracking to put together a republican bill that imploded and they did not pass it. some are suggesting maybe tax reform could be done on a bipartisan basis how confident are you that they can work together on tax reform? rep. neal: there is a distinction that us of the drawn between the president and senate republicans. senate republicans have collapsed the effort to repeal the fourth care act but the president used talking about repealing the aca. i hope as we proceed to tax reform there could be room for bipartisan cooperation. it strikes me to is wrought agreement about what is wrong with the current tax code. 31 years is a long time to wait before we try another attempt to bring the tax code in conformity with a new globalized economic situation across the globe. so i think there is plenty going -- plenty of room here. the ways and means committee, we have had a good relationship. and i hope that if they decide to do this on a one-party basis that we don't wind up with tax cuts as opposed to tax reform. rachael: can y

you look at polling of republicans that no of the conventional republicans can beat him in a republican primary. and the core, the base of the republican party right now they are a lot more in line in rallying around trump than they are with mitch mcconnell or speaker ryan right now. and that is really the problem for the republican party but also the problem for our nation right now. because you know republicans do control both the house and the senate. and in sort of dysfunction alts that you see happening within the republican party, this civil war of of the hearts and minds of the republican party is the republican party donald trump? or is the republican party speaker ryan? right? and right now it's -- when you look at the core base of the republican party it's kind of hard to argue that speaker ryan and mitch mcconnell are winning. >> so congressman, if you were still of an incumbent at the tail end of the summer recess preparing to go back to washington and i told you you can't run on gorsuch and you certainly can't go home and brag to the folks that you led to at least a governm

the republican vote will be republican vote is. our control. >> there's a question here from online. is, what are your models telling you about 2018 and senate?e last year, in 2014, we ran models to try to forecast the outcome of the presidentialthe side, we along with everyone else were incorrect in our predictions. but on the senate side, the be quitened out to accurate. there weren't really upsets in the senate races. on the not enough data house side for us -- not enough to monitor house races. we haven't had all the retirements we'll have. can sort ofhat we answer more broadly what we see in 2018. >> one thing you can do is look ballotgeneric house which by itself is vague. toask people who do you want see who's in charge. you can plug that into -- we model through own elections. you plug ten point generic seeing, at least 30 point gain in the house, which probably know is enough to flip it. gain right. >> yes, 30 seat gain. is, are historic applicablereally here. this is the most gerrymandering map we've seen with the democra

are you a republican? host: we are trying to get a view from republicans about your view of the presidency so far. do. you recommend he caller: my point is you are the one whose unmasking the stuff you're putting in here, besides the interview you do with me. i'm asking you come are you a republican or democrat? host: let's head to south carolina. we have jeffrey on the line. good morning. caller: my advice for president trump is stick to his guns. he came into office on a particular platform, drain the swamp. he needs to stick with that. regarding the charlottesville groups,, both of those the kkk white supremacists and the progressives, they are both two prongs of the democratic party. back withr history having more ins common than they are different. host: we have don on the line from virginia. are you there? you?r: hi. how are host: i'm all right, thanks. caller: here's a major problem in our government. they seem to not be able to put two and two together. i'm saying released the crack in the -- the k

when you hear republican senators, republican senators, the republican senate leader and his closest allies in that "new york times" piece, in the "politico" piece, basically saying donald trump is obsessed with the russia investigation, not really working on health care, not really working on infrastructure, not really working on taxes, just trying to shut down the russia investigation. that tells you how much it bothers trump and how much republican senators are not going to be partners in his effort to obstruct justice. >> and adam, it also tells republican senators how to play donald trump. we have this republican aide telling politico it seems he is just always focused on russia. and so i have noticed certain senators at certain times, rand paul among them, in effect kind of poo-pooing the russia investigation, indicating that it's not something that they're terribly concerned about. that buys them enormous credits with president trump. you could vote against any bill he's pushing as long as you said you weren't terribly concerned about the russia investigation. >> yeah. that's

the republican party is. people largely see a separation, accurately, between donald trump and the republican party. just because voters disapproving of the president doesn't necessarily mean they're going to vote against their local republican senator or member of congress. and so you have the democrats repeatedly, and they faulted hillary for not doing enough of this during the campaign, repeatedly trying to tie the republican party to what they see as the sins of trump. repeat lid trying to implicate the republican party -- repeatedly trying toism kate the republican party. they realize the not going to be enough for them to just put the congressman neck to trump in an ad or to decry him, not denouncing. you've got to have more than that. robert: unfortunately we have to leave you at home and thanks, everybody, tonight for watching. our conversation will continue online on the washington week extra. where we'll talk about a senate race that's testing red state republican loyalties in the age of president t

but the state has a republican governor and two republican senators. it is not an accident tonight neither the republican governor of arizona nor the two republican senators from arizona are going to be attending this event with the president. that is because those two republican senators from arizona at least, they appear to drive this president crazy. even before arizona senator john mccain blocked the last republican effort to repeal obamacare many the senate, the president's hatred and disdain for senator john mccain had brought trump close to political disaster with his attacks against mccain, even targeting. mccain's heroic war record. that's mccain. the senior senator from arizona. the junior senate is jeff flick who has been more confrontational with president trump, including in a book that he's highly critical of president trump and himself and the republican party for allowing tallow ing trump to become their nominee. since then he's gone after senator flake, giving him the school nickname of jeff flake. more substantively, he has been hypin

republican line. >> good morning matt and c-span. morning. >> matt? this is kind of hard for me in a way. stuff that happened at harlottesville with president trump. trump saying bigotry on one side other side of the hate, you seeing the people for has ast two years that showed up at everyone of his allies that they sent, the democrat party sent in to threaten people inside. i had a friend of mine tell me he went to the ones here in watch and man e walk up to another man with his his ter there and called dou daughter a worthless whore and spit in her face and when donald said he would like to punch that guy in the face that's the kind of people we punch in the face. teve said earlier with the colin kaepernick thing, a protest with a sign there about from theing but it was world's working party. organization. if they really want to see some leftist protests and put some of their signs on of it you can't read because it's so vulgar. >> thank you. we'll get a response. look, i appreciate your comments very much. i think questions around race us to d for

republican, republican. >> this is truly a wildly historic night. >> the republican victory in '94 had a shocking effect on bill clinton. because president of the united states was suddenly marginalized and newt gingrich, the speaker of the house, was the big man in town. ♪ >> last september the house republicans signed a contract with america. we signed this contract and made some promises. you elected us. and for the last 93 days we have been keeping our word. >> president clinton, republicans have dominated political debate in this country since they took over congress in january. do you worry about making sure that your voice is heard in the coming months? >> no. the constitution gives me relevance. the power of our ideas gives me relevance. the record we have built up over the last two years and the things we're trying to do to implement it give it relevance. the president is relevant. >> the press assumed and i assumed that clinton was toast. that he was never going to be able to come back. >> watch the electricity lines! >> we had an explosion downtown. >> we have had some kin

when you hear republican senators, republican senators, the republican senate leader and his closest allies in that "new york times" piece, in the "politico" piece, basically saying donald trump is obsessed with the russia investigation, not really working on health care, not really working on infrastructure, not really working on taxes, just trying to shut down the russia investigation. that tells you how much it bothers trump and how much republican senators are not going to be partners in his effort to obstruct justice. >> and adam, it also tells republican senators how to play donald trump. we have this republican aide telling politico it seems he is just always focused on russia. and so i have noticed certain senators at certain times, rand paul among them, in effect kind of poopooing the russia investigation, indicating that it's not something that they're terribly concerned about. that buys them enormous credits with president trump. you could vote against any bill he's pushing as long as you said you weren't terribly concerned about the russia investigation. >> yeah. that's a

i'm a proud republican, lifelong republican. and i'm from arizona. arizona tends to elect independent-minded people and people who stand on principle. so i'm doing what i think my voters expect of me. but i think, for example, in 2006 when the party in particular had given way to inappropriate spending, earmark spending, couple of our colleagues ended up in jail, if you remember, the mantra "drain the swamp" was employed very effectively by the democrats in tribing the republican party at that time. i think had we stood up at that time when he wouldn't have lost those majorities in the house and the senate and i fear that we might do the same again. >> you had strong words in this book, and yet we looked at your voting record an at this point you vote more with the president than even some others in the senate who have taken the president on. according to our account, here 93.5% of the time you have voted with the president. is there a point where you're now -- you will vote potentially against your own ideological interests in order to send a messag

and republican party that gets back to that is a republican party that can talk to reagan democrats. after ronald reagan, successors whether it's a george herbert walker bush or the people who were nominated for office after that failed to attract the support of these people, particularly the nonevangelical christian should, at the midwestern states. they just didn't see anything that they found interesting. they didn't see somebody who had the balance between individual opportunity and individual security that they ascribed to the new deal and that they wanted to see america. they want an america that gives them a hand up, not an america that treats them with hands-off or an america that lays its hands too heavily on in the form of government direction. donald trump is many things and not all of them good. but one thing he did do from the moment he entered into political life as a serious politician in 2015 was operate as a laserbeam focus on needs and wants of these people. he told him that he understood their pain, that they been abandoned by a government that no longer have their

and these senators, he sees them as his republican allies. and he often expresses displeasure, as we and others have reported. >> and the displeasure does seem to focus time and time again, as you report, on russia. i thought the fact that came up that it seemed to be the central issue with mcconnell, this is after the health care bill fa fails, according to the times reporting, that's what he's focused on as well. >> the president is very frustrated by these probes. we see in the early morning tweets, he see him calling it a witch hunt, we see the rallies, what he says in private conversations. he thinks this is an unfair attack against his presidency. but that these probes have expanded, mushroomed to different veins, different associates of him. there hasn't been any wrongdoing proven, of course, so far, but it's kind of gotten hotter and hotter over the past few months and that frustrated the president. he also gets frustrated when these senators are trying to take some of his autonomy away. he wanted to determine the bill on russian sanc

the republicans are in charge. these are scandals that, of course, the destroyed trumpet establishment media, they were to routinely ignore despite massive amounts of evidence. hillary clinton, the private email server, we also know that clinton deleted 33,000 emails and acid washed her computers with bleach. and then she smashed mobile devices. of course, the lawyers did turn over blackberries to the fbi, but they didn't have some cards. the real russia collusion story, the uranium one deal, which i predict will be the biggest news to come out in the next year or two. secretary of state, she approved handing over up to 20% of americas uranium, the foundational material of nuclear weapons, to vladimir putin and the russians. all while people involved in the deal kicked back over $145 million to the clinton foundation. bill clinton doubled his speaking fees in moscow. then, james comey, testifying under oath that he had a friend leaking comments to "the new york times," some of which were classified as we are told.

with the ee, disagree statements he's made about some republicans in congress running republicans ion, like jeff flake. numbers, eastern and central, a -748-8000, if you are republican in those time zones. a republican in mountain or zone, 202-748-8001. we'll start with matt this morning. river, new jersey, go ahead. to er: yes, i just wanted talk about the influence apap on the republicans in congress. nobody really talk presidency it, everyone talks about, you know, russians hacking the is a on and yet there foreign entity, ap ac, i have a with republicans for not raising this issue. host: what do you think about president and this question, what his role should be in republican primary? caller: well, listen, the president, he doesn't have much f a say on foreign entities influencing the election because he has some of the same people in his own cabinet. a huge problem with that. a very big -- north kor -- a host: republican in eastern or and l time zone, mountain and n pacific time zone. at his rally in phoenix, president e indirectly talked about republican members of the senate,

why does charlie cook have races breaking the republicans' way when republicans have just failed by just about every measure over the past seven months? >> first on the fund-raising you're looking at the dnc and rnc numbers. the dcc skrshgs outrising our republican counterparts and there are outside superpacs as well. so i feel like that part of the story has been a bit exaggerated. i feel good about the polling from yesterday from my home state of pennsylvania, which i think is the single bellwether in the country, the fact that trump is now over 20 points under water and only at 35% approval in pennsylvania where we will have four, at least four competitive congressional races, all in the suburbs and outer suburbs of philadelphia. i feel good about where we are now, especially because, look, going into a midterm election, we structurally have the advantage. >> yeah. you certainly should. bret. >> look, the problem is, i don't know what the democratic party stands for other than hating trump. and, you know, you saw it in that special election in georgia where you had all the enthusiasm,

that said, we have two republican incumbents of our own to defend. we need to make sure they come home if we have the opportunity to increase our majority. then you have a number of democrat incumbents running that are smart politicians. they are playing the game well and it will not be easy to dislodge them. we'll have to run first-rate candidates and campaigns to win those races. erica: do you have a reason to believe the president shares senator mcconnell's goals as far as protecting and growing the senate majority because he sent mixed signals on that? for example, appointing montana congressman ryan zinke to head the interior department, thereby taking him out of contention as a senate candidate. on the other hand, earlier this week, he did endorse luther strange in the upcoming alabama special election, who is mcconnell's preferred candidate. what are your thoughts on that? steven: i would think if anything, the vote that we had on obamacare where we really came up essentially one vote short would convince anybody that we need to grow the major

i'm a proud republican, lifelong republican. and i'm from arizona. arizona tends to elect independent-mi p so i'm doing what i think my voters expect of me. but i think, for example, in 2006 when the party in particular had given way to inappropriate spending, earmark spending, couple of our colleagues ended up in jail, if you remember, the mantra "drain the swamp" was employed very effectively by the democrats in tribing the republican party at that time. i think had we stood up at that time when he wouldn't have lost those majorities in the house and the senate and i fear that we might do the same again. >> you had strong words in this book, and yet we looked at your voting record an at this point you vote more with the president than even some others in the senate who have taken the president on. according to our account, here 93.5% of the time you have voted with the president. is there a point where you're now -- you will vote potentially against your own ideological interests in order to send a message to republican message to president trump?

it is interesting if you had republicans fighting republicans. it is sort of three parts here. i'll be interested in what happens and with particular votes or amendments or other parts that the republicans were unwilling to cooperate. so it has a goal that gingrich was successful. of course the goal and earning majority was successful. we earned the majority on the '94 election. we think about some of the legislative things and you think about he is keeping his majority together and voting against this before. you look at what the presentation is yesterday with francis and james, what percent of minority are voting. it's fairly high until you get to this 103rd congress. i don't know how that story works out. we know the republican is getting more seats, but in these other congresss can you point out gingrich is worth it there. so i thought it might be worth looking at data. again, that's where you research doesn't do that. i think we learn a lot through that. in a way i'm sort of answering my own questions here instead of asking you to do it. so this figure here follows suit wi

among republicans approved 17%. disapprove, 74%. among republicans. of a republican congress. >> yes. that second number is a lot more important. what we're all watching. 2018, turning out votes. that's really important. something laura said, struck important with me. which is democrats in january weren't sure which of the two opposition political strategies they would run. basically, doing too much or unable to do anything. right? i talked to a democratic strategist a couple days ago, turns out we don't have to choose. go with they can't gomp or look doing the muslim ban, transgender -- a menu of options. i don't know whether trump backs down. predicting what he does is a fool's error. right now, he's still breaking with the leadership. doing something popular with his base. i don't think we'll shut down in september. later on -- >> quickly. what are the odds of a shutdown? >> oh, geez louise. >> come on. >> i'm still saying that the odds are low, because i think if he's that committed to wall funding, leadership will go to him ideally with another o

to the climate deniers in the republican party, the republican congress, which refuses to , won'tze climate change pressure the president to sign accordshe paris which admit there's climate change. host: kentucky. line for republicans. caller: i would like to talk about infrastructure. toot of what's wrong is many of us live near coastal regions and we are getting flooded. here's what was published in today's paper here in ashland, kentucky. we've been having trouble with water main breaks. i'm disabled and not able to carry water. we all need to call our congressman and push for infrastructure. i feel like i'm living in a third world country. i have to catch water off my house. call your congressman because the congressmen do listen. i called mitch mcconnell and rand paul all the time. get your family members and other states -- in other states to call their congressmen, too. democrat or republican, it doesn't matter when your house is being flooded and property damaged by flooding because of an efficient block printed systems. -- inefficient, blocked drainage systems. host: you say you ar

many republicans said. i said it. i was chief of staff rns when we took the growth of opportunity report and hired staff to go in the neighborhoods to make them carry the republican message into communities that for far too long we've not campaigned to. i think we have a lot of work, we are making tremendous proc s progress. i think the president has a lot of work, he wants to do the right thing but damaged himself with his words and is trying, he mentioned it in the speak last night on afghanistan and again tonight. >> what should he do? >> he should keep talking about it. he should never say i moved past this, i shouldn't talk about it any more. in fact would do a huge favor if charlesvilotettesville if he ke talking about. >> he didn't do that tonight when will he start. >> look he re if he wants to come on at 5:00 in the morning he can do that but he has not done. >> he reread it. if i was writing the speech for the president it wouldn't have come across the way it did. i'm not saying it was perfect communication

republican, republican. >> this is truly a wildly historic night. >> the republican victory in '94 had a shocking effect on bill clinton. because president of the united states was suddenly marginalized and newt gingrich, the speaker of the house, was the big man in town. ♪ >> last september the house republicans signed a contract with america. we signed this contract and made some promises. you elected us. and for the last 93 days we have been keeping our word. >> president clinton, republicans have dominated political debate in this country since they took over congress in january. do you worry about making sure that your voice is heard in the coming months? >> no. the constitution gives me relevance. the power of our ideas gives me relevance. the record we have built up over the last two years and the things we're trying to do to implement it give it relevance. the president is relevant. >> the press assumed and i assumed that clinton was toast. that he was never going to be able to come back. >> watch the electricity lines! >> we had an explosion downtown. >> we have had some kin

answers republican voters. republican voters know this is what they were getting when they voted for him. >> trump's base isn't going anywhere. i know people are reporting the numbers are slip aeng this is happening, trump's base is with trump. if trump runs for reelection, barring any kind of really, really super extreme thing from happening, because already big extreme things already happened, barring anything completely out of orbit, donald trump, if he runs for reelection, his base will be with him. they will be mad if someone primaries him. while i do think mike pence is run shagd w running a shadow campaign. the house is on fire. i don't think that is all on pence. i don't see him primarying donald trump. i see him biding his time, waiting in the wings, eye long with a bunch of other republicans too, i might add, in case something happens, impeachment or something like that. >> open question to the panel here. can anybody think of any republican out there who is likely or just plauzabsibly goi to challeng

were republicans. but i don't think i was really interested in any serious way, , and i did not identify seriously with any party. so, how many of you identified with the party during the last election? so, is that a lot or a few do you think? dave: more than expected. vicki: more than you would expect. so, you know what -- yes, definitely a minority. thank you. that is worrisome. we just listened to what joe had to say which is if you don't participate, it could have a huge impact. which political party in power now determines, you know, everything from the contents of your school lunch to whether your parks are well preserved in colorado? or whether there is a peace corps if you're interested in joining it? everything in your life, even now when you are still in high school, your health care, the quality of your education, is to some degree, how many taxes your parents pay, is going to be determined by the party in power. so, it is really hugely important. second question -- how many of candidates?e

the house, the republicans are in charge. where are the house republicans and were speaker ryan? before we address the debt limit we have to know where they are at. [inaudible] >> first of all on cabinet secretaries and even someone like wray the head of the fbi just rushing in through doesn't make sense. wray got overwhelming support in the committee and the judiciary he had a unanimous vote. that's a committee of a lot of strong democrats and they all voted for him and now that health care is over i have told leader mcconnell we will agree on a robust package of nominees. when they do regular order in health care, we are not going to do regular order on the things that they want and they say no regular order a memoir stood portending we are facing could i we said after health care was over we try to get together and get package that we are making good progress in that regard. >> the press secretary just said she things will turn the legislative agenda trump's legislative agenda as congress's inability to get things done. you are you a that? >> as long as both donald trump and a

most republicans don't admit it. and because republicans control the house and the senate, we all know that only republicans have the power to take the steps necessary to limit and control this president and, if necessary, remove him. and they have already done some of that limiting and controlling. mitch mcconnell made sure that this president would not be allowed to do any recess appointments during the senate's august recess. the house and senate have passed a sanctions bill that they forced the president to sign that limits the president's ability to remove sanctions on russia. the republican senate refused to pass the health care bill that donald trump supported no matter what donald trump said about it. and no matter what he said about the republican senators who opposed that bill. republican senator jeff flake has not just said that his party's embrace of trumpism was a mistake, he has written a book about it. and today the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee said this. >> the preside

you look at polling of republicans that no of the conventional republicans can beat him in a republican primary. and the core, the base of the republican party right now they are -- ner a lot more in line in rally around trump than they are with mitch mcconnell or speaker ryan right now. and that is really the problem for the republican party but also the problem for our nation right now. because you know republicans do control both the house and the senate. and in sort of dysfunction alts that you see happening within the republican party, this civil war of of the hearts and minds of the republican party is the republican party donald trump? or is the republican party speaker ryan? right? and right now it's -- when you look at the core base of the republican party it's kind of hard to argue that speaker ryan and mitch mcconnell are winning. >> so congressman, if you were still of an incumbent at the tail end of the summer recess preparing to go back to washington and i told you you can't run on gorsuch and you certainly can't go home and brag to the folks that you led to at least a gov

look at what republicans did to barack obama. not passing judgment about the wisdom of what they did but they stood firm against his agenda and in a way forced him into signing a bunch of executive orders and using the executive power more than the legislative power. this president might have to do the same because he is angering and agitating against key members of his governing coalition in a way that he is treating his electoral base so well but his washington base he is just forgetting about. robert: why does gary cohn stay? if the president continues to play to the base and make these controversial comments? dan: it is emblematic of so much of what we're seeing within the republican party today which is great dissatisfaction with the president, disgust with some of the things he's done. a desire to see him change. and now a kind of increasing recognition that is not going to happen yet they're not prepared to walk away. for whatever reason they see self-interest in staying where you are whether on the hill working with him o

, leader of the republican party add odds with the follow republican. that is where this day begins as he nears the end of the working vacation. the white house is trying to get back on track. it's why they have added a meeting tomorrow in camp david, the president going to fly to camp david for the day to talk about his afghanistan strategy, i'm told. he's also scheduling a campaign rally next week in phoenix. of course phoenix, arizona also have interesting because in one of those tweets as you mentioned, he endorsed essentially the republican primary opponent of senator jeff flake. one of those moderate arizona republicans who did vote for the health care bill. but when you take stock of everything that has happened in the month of august, there's one place that his advisors worry that it hurts his agenda. the agenda for tax reform, agenda for what he hopes to do in spept here. that has been eroded and weakened in fact by this. the white house today trying to turn the page. we'll see if that happens in the hours to come as we keep an eye on those twe

estate of the republican party between the president and republicans is -- guest: uncharted. we have never been here before. we have never elected a president with such shallow roots. maybe jimmy carter was similar, but he had been elected governor of georgia. an interesting relationship when congress and the president do not see eye to eye. host: why is he going against the very people he needs the most? or does he need them? guest: he needs them, but they also need the president. if you look at every one of these senators who have had a skirmish with the president, the president is responding to something they have said. senators are not used to that, steve. they are used to playing at -- , and thisous role president does not play the game that way. host: let me share with you some news this morning from "the washington post." president trump distancing himself from the gop. they write that he is strategically separating himself from republicans in congress, an extraordinary move to deflect if the gop agenda continues to flounder. president trump d -- deepened after accusin

priebus, republican gone. spicer, republican gone. bannon, republican, who knows, gone. who's left? gary cohn, democrat. general kelly, democrat. h.r. mcmaster, democrat. ivanka and jared, they're democrats. so was trump at one time. >> jonathan, does he have a point? >> i guess so. but, look, when you get to the presidency, once you're there, yeah, you have your r or your d next to your name. but the way rush limbaugh is talking, as he always talks, and the way we've been talking about this administration, it's as if he has no obligation to try to lead the entire country, that he's under no obligation to try to reach out to democrats to come up with solutions to solve problems that a lot of angry people sent him to washington to solve. and so if rush limbaugh is going to slander the trump administration as being now run by democrats, and you've got steve bannon already back at breitbart gearing up with -- what did he say? his hand on the gun. >> hand on his weapons. >> hand on his weapon, already trying to do battle with the so-called globalists within the administration, i mean i

republicans are not. part of what he writes is the fundamental reason trump isn't a republican is far bigger than words or policies. he stands in opposition to the founding principle of our party. that of a united country. joining me now, former senator john danforth, bill crystal, charl charlie sykes. senator, it's good tuesday yo s. was there something that sparked this article, has it been building for you? >> it's been building, it just popped out. >> why now? >> well, i mean, it could have been yesterday or last week, maybe it should have been. but it's, to me, is a very, very important thing to say. you know, i am a republican. i've always been a republican. i'm loyal to my party. but donald trump is not. he is not just different on a few issues, he's fundamentally opposite of what the republican party is, the way it was founded. it's the party of abe raham lincoln. he's a divider and uses every opportunity he gets to set one group against the rest of the country. to say to people they don't really

these are republicans. come back to this later. >>> first, a million new jobs during the first six months of the presidency. so why is his approval rating under water?he i can get it. i need my blood sugar to stay in control. i need to cut my a1c. weekends are my time. i need an insulin that fits my schedule. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ (announcer) tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. you

republicans. >> bill: the people in your home state you wonder how could john mccain cast the vote he did knowing the facts you're laying out. >> john mccain has preached from day one we need to have regular order and do it in the right way through committee. his vote was consistent with his approach and i respect that. >> bill: ted cruz says republicans will get an earful and he would argue deserve addly so. >> we've been saying forever we need to fix this and we weren't able to do so. so i think we ought to stick with it certainly. but i think we ought to do it in a way we can actually see the end. and the end is going to be sitting down with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle and getting something passed. >> bill: we'll figure out what democrats are willing to give on that and we'll discuss that. a great debate today. does an effective tax strategy make it better or easier for republicans? >> easier. what the president put out with the policy particulars, it's republican orthodoxy,

i suspect they will see it first in republican primaries. that there are clear divisions that will be brought out in several primaries that exist all over the country. we will probably shortly talk about as many as six to eight republican primaries. i think that is the likely first place where you will hear and see some of these divisions. alex: j.b., is there any hesitation about using trump's words in ads? i know it is early in the election cycle, but in the last election cycle there were such a heavy focus on donald trump and then candidate trump. obviously, the democratic party did not have the elections they had hoped last year. there was some talk afterward there was too much of a focus on trump and not enough on the congressional republicans. j.b.: that happened more at the presidential level. i think it senate races we recognized early on the president was defined for many voters as a change element. in fact, did not weigh in on racism in the same way. that said, there was no escaping the presidential race. i think it is early to tel

among republicans strong approval dropped. republicans, you need to get out in the midterms from 73 to 59% now. so this is a big issue for these members, particularly all house members on the ballot and senators -- >> and in public, figuring out how he reacts to them in public after having negotiations. i'm in favor of all lawmakers doing a bunch of town halls, and chances of having that one video moment go down by having a lot, a lot, a lot of moments. but i sympathize with the idea, sometimes feel they're not just shouted at but shouted down. when your constituents are saying, "we hope you die in pain" hoping that solidifying the base of the republican congressman as opposed to convincing people to side with you. that's something they face out there. i think the bottom line becomes -- does any of it actually matter? because in the actual congressional elections, democrats as of yet, have not figured out how to turn that tide. >> that's true. >> and the are these districts mismatched to their leadership in the end? it's uncle

and even some members of his own republican party. our national correspondent miguel marques following the demonstrations for us. miguel, what's the situation where you are right now? >> reporter: well, it's getting a bit fraught at this point. we have about 10 or 12 different protesters who have come down here to basically be present as the trump people start to go into the convention center here. i want to show you a little bit of how these things are happening. if you go up high, these are two people having a heated argument. you have police in there in plain clothes who are trying to do two things. let them have their first amendment rights and yell and scream as much as they like, and keep them from getting to anything more in terms of physical violence. it is a very difficult thing for them to do clearly. there are several groups, anti-trump groups certainly, but jewish groups, pro-immigration groups that are gathering at different points in the city. it is likely in the next several hours they will start to come here. let me sh

republican vote will be with the republican vote is. it is outside of our control. >> there is a question from online. the question is, what are your models telling you about 2018 for the house and senate? 2014, we rand in polling-based models to try to forecast the outcome of the elections. on the presidential side we, along with everyone else were incorrect in our predictions. on the senate side the polls were quite accurate. there were not really any upsets in the senate races. there is not enough data on the house side for us to do -- not enough polling data to model house races and it's too early in the cycle. we don't know who the candidates are. i think we can sort of answer more broadly what we see happening in 2018. >> one thing you can do is look at the generic house ballot, which by itself is kind of vague. and asks who you wants to see in charge of the house next year. you can plug it -- we don't have her on model. polly tsai professor alan poli-sciz has -- professor alan abramowitz has a model. at least a 30 point gain in t

is it the fault of the republicans? they could not come up with a candidate who really was competent? is it the fault of the democrats that they should have known better and come up with a candidate -- i saw that. that would be more representative, and obviously, it is the fault of both parties. both parties are absolutely responsible for the mess we are in. but guess what? in four years, most of you will be out of high school. some of you will be at work, some of you will be in college. not long from there, you will be voting, you will have jobs, you will be onto your careers, and it will be you who will be deciding. but you will have to clean up a pretty big mess. and i am sorry that we have given you a pretty big mess. but i hope you do a lot better than we have done. thank you. [applause] >> so i get the cleanup spot and this is ironic and highly amusing to me. i was certain starting out that i would be picking fights with vicki and joe. but instead, i'm going to pick a fight with guy. ranked voting, dude? seriously

primary no one no one took him seriously he took out michael how many twelve significant republican candidates including jeb bush then then then defeated hillary clinton this was a giant reaction against the establishment against establishment democratic politics and against establishment republican politics people in the united states are not happy big campaign contributions big companies big interests are controlling our government and they sent donald trump to drain the swamp i can't speak for the republican lessons to be learned that's something they need to figure out but for the democrats the democrats need to figure out how they lost touch with the working class person that didn't see the democratic party as the solution to their problems in the modern economy democrats need to look inside themselves i think our values are very much in the right place get back to a focus on jobs education health care and come out with some real proposals you need to resist you need to resist president trump where you think its policies are wrong but you also need to provide an alternative ok