good evening we're continuing to get late information tonight about the
terror attack today in Barcelona Spain as well as some kind of police operation
that's going on according to Spanish media right now with four fatalities
about 75 miles south of Barcelona this is different than what happened earlier
today we'll bring you all of that throughout the next two hours as we
learn new information but we want to begin tonight with President Trump who
tonight has members of his own party questioning his moral authority his
competence even his stability and those are not our words as you'll see they are
the words of GOP lawmakers just last night on the program CNN political
analyst Carl Bernstein said something pretty shocking about what his sources
were telling him I think there's considerable evidence that there is a
consensus developing in the military at the highest levels in the intelligence
community among Republicans in Congress including the leaders in the business
community that the president of the United States Donald Trump is unfit to
be the president of the United States and that's the undercurrent I've talked
to you about it for weeks that I've been hearing in Washington there is
increasing talk about his emotional and mental stability as David Gergen
referred to earlier this is extraordinary
it's a dangerous moment in our history extraordinary and dangerous he said well
this afternoon senator bob Corker republican from Tennessee who at one
point was said to be under consideration be President Trump Secretary of State
said this about the president's fitness for office the president has not yet
has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the confidence
that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful and we need for him to be
successful our nation needs for him to be successful it doesn't matter whether
you're Republican or Democrat Senator corkers remarks came just hours after
the president raged tweeted about South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey
Graham quote quote he said publicly seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated a
publicity-seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said that I said there was
moral equivalency between the KKK neo-nazis and white supremacist and
people like ms higher meaning Heather higher who was murdered in
Charlottesville such a disgusting lie the president tweets he just can't
forget his election trouncing the people of South Carolina will remember now it's
true the president didn't specifically say that Heather hire was on the same
moral level as the KKK or neo-nazis whom he did speak against on Monday but keep
it modest the very next day Tuesday the president revealed clearly his true
feelings about the demonstrations in Charlotte Ville saying very clearly that
there were many similarities between Nazis racist protesters and those
protesting against us there was a group on this side you can
call him the lefty you've just called him the left that came violently
attacking the other group so you can say what you want but that's the way it is I
think this blame on both sides you look at you look at both sides
I think there's blame on both sides and I have no doubt about it and you don't
have any doubt about it either and if you reported it accurately you would say
but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides find people on
both sides blame on both sides violence on both sides if only we could talk to
someone who was actually there and it's a shame we never talked to a reporter
who was on the scene Oh actually wait we did and when the president says that
there were good people at this March they were quietly there to protest a
removal of the robert e lee's statue that not all of them were neo-nazis or
white supremacists what did you that true no everyone who
is there knew what they were doing they were shouting Jews will not replace us
it's very well-coordinated they had an order to the chants like there was no
mistaking there was no innocent person wandering up and accidentally getting
involved in this so there's that still the president today said he wasn't
establishing a moral equivalency between the neo-nazis and Heather hire but he
sure does seem to be pointing the finger at a lot of other counter protesters who
the president keeps incorrectly saying didn't have a permit to protest unlike
the Nazis who the president likes to point out did have a permit for some
reason the president always ignores the fact that the Nazis violated the terms
of their permit another Republican senator Tim Scott of South Carolina also
weighed in today with this criticism of the president what we want to see from
our president is clarity and moral authority and that moral authorities
compromise when Tuesday happens there's no question about that
senator Scott and corker were not alone today Senator Richard burr of North
Carolina said the president is misguided in his remarks about Charlottesville the
president pushed it further today clearly seeing an advantage and trying
to refocus his attention on Confederate monuments saying quote sad to see the
history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of
our beautiful statues and monuments he tweeted you can't change history but you
can learn from it robert e lee Stonewall Jackson who's next Washington Jefferson
so foolish also he goes on the beauty that is being
taken out of our cities towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to
become bleep replaced so that was this morning
the president clearly seems to be trying to change the subject from his
inaccurate portrayals of the Charlottesville tragedy on to some sort
of culture war between those who support Confederate monuments and those who want
to see them removed of course the Nazis and white
supremacist marching this past weekend we're never really marching about a
robert e lee's statue but the president has seized on the monuments issue for
what are clearly political reasons by this afternoon in the wake of barcelona
he was back on the electric Twitter machine advocating what to any modern
observer would be a war crime quote study what General Pershing in the
United States did to terrorists when caught there was no more radical Islamic
terror for thirty five years now this is not the first time the president has
talked about this alleged moment in history the president spoke about it
fondly several times during the campaign listen they were having terrors of rooms
just like we do and he caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage and
killed many people and he took the 50 terrorists and he took 50 men and he
dipped 50 bullets in pig's blood you heard that right
he fit he took 50 bullets and he dipped them in pig's blood and he had his men
load his rifles and he lined up the 50 people and they shot 49 of those people
and the 50th person he said you go back to you people and you tell them what
happened and for 25 years there wasn't a problem okay 25 years there wasn't a
problem so back then he was saying it was a 25 year solution now he's saying
it's a 35 year solution anyway keeping him honest historians say what the
president is actually referring to general john pershing is handling of a
moment in the morrow rebellion and the philippines in the early 1900's did not
happen did not happen so that's one thing for another if the president
somehow offering this made-up story as an example of what he would like to do
today today that would be called a war crime so where does all this growing
criticism from Republican lawmakers leave the president and his agenda new
polling from CBS News shows that even though 55 percent of Americans
disapprove of how he handled the tragedy he still enjoys strong support
7% among Republicans joining us is David Gergen nia-malika Henderson and David
Chalian David Chalian I mean those words from Senator corker questioning the
president's stability his competence how significant is that coming from someone
who's not only Republican but it's someone who's you know been a White
House ally and avoided criticizing the president it is significant and yet I
think we are going to have to separate out the kind of significance because you
just showed those poll numbers Republicans overall are still with this
president out in the country that doesn't make corkers break with the many
less significant it is incredibly significant this is a man who doesn't
really delve into the daily political to-and-fro he's very much a workhorse in
the Senate and he is using language that we have not heard never mind from the
Democrats at any party and we just haven't heard somebody in government use
this before the key thing that I think is so significant here is that we are
two days after Anderson that press conference and it's two days later that
Senator corker and Senator Scott are making these comments to me if I'm
president Trump I look at that and say I still have a problem to fix here
although David Gergen you know a lot of folks on Capitol Hill who tweeted you
know about the about how bad Nazis are or racism is never mention the
president's name so I mean you have these two questioning the president's
fitness to serve by members of his own party but there's a lot of other folks
on Capitol Hill who though distanced themselves from other president said
didn't make it an attack on the president that's absolutely true
Anderson and many many many Republicans have not spoken up against the president
but they've also dodged speaking up on his behalf I I do think that especially
senator corker his statements today represent one of the most significant
breaks from allegiance to the president that we have seen in this entire saga
bob Corker is a the only chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee but
he's one of the most respected senators in the country and he cares enormous
wait he was being considered at one point for vice-president yeah I said was
conversation about him a coming Secretary of State I think that you know
Carl Bernstein and I had been trying to argue here and kind Carlton's very
forceful on this that the issue of stability the president's emotional and
mental health is going to become increasingly important focus of this
story and should be because there is something about the president the way he
responds if you look across the board it was so much anger and impulsivity and
distrust and narcissism that those are questions ultimately about the the
stability of a general that's Senator corkers now put forcefully into play and
I think that's really important along with the confidence question yeah I mean
you hear the senator talk about I mean used that word stability you don't hear
people questioning the stability of the president United States every day right
certainly not publicly certainly not from a Republican and remember corker is
up for re-election in 2018 and we just heard the president essentially
encourage a primary challenge offering Jeff Flake out in Arizona so I do think
this is a significant and notable break you know maybe it says something about
the way that some Republicans are gonna try to run in 2018 sort of as mavericks
and it certainly but i don't think we know yet what this actually means for
legislation and how they'll actually vote corker for instance i had been in
some ways critical of health care reform and repeal and replace efforts but went
along with what the president wanted to see and what mitch mcconnell wanted to
see you know when they get back from this recess you're gonna have debt
ceiling you're gonna budgeting matters at some point you're gonna have tax
reform as well does what corker said and what some of these other senators have
said like tim scott mean anything for how they're actually behave in terms of
backing Trump's agenda in the way that mitch mcconnell lays it out come the
fall you know didn't you also had the president which we talked about tweeting
out today you know study what General Pershing the United States did to
terrorists when caught there was no more radical Islamic terror for 35 years
president referring to his widely debunked story of General Pershing
dipping bullets and pig's blood to shoot Muslim rebels he referenced the story as
a candidate beside the fact that it's false I'm not
clear what exactly he's advocating here I mean he's the president United States
obviously in this day and age what the allegation is would be considered a war
crime I I'm not quite sure what point he was making either Anderson other than
you you have to be he believes that one ought to be brutal that it meant done
makes no difference whether they're war crimes
frankly what's really important is you put them down his point was if you that
Pershing did this horrific thing and from a Muslim point of view they put
bullets in the blood which of the Muslims the state believe that if you've
got your infested with blood it's it would pig's blood that that's you know
sort of fatal for you you're gonna go to hell not heaven and I think what he was
endorsing was a very strong handed response to terrorism is the only way
we're going to put this down and by extension by extension some of the
people who were dindin and in Charlottesville on the right you know
they had to you but his argument would be they were facing
you know thugs and they had to respond in a thuggish way and we all know that's
not true but I think that I think he's Johnny
Cash his worldview David do you agree with that that is sort of there is a
linkage there I don't I think this tweet was really about terrorism and it was
after Barcelona it was in the news i I do think David is right though I
think what Donald Trump is doing here is less take his words literally and more
just be brutal and tough at all costs and damn be political correctness that
that is the place that he's in right now and that's the argument he went to go
make in the Trump Tower Lobby on Tuesday in his mind it was just enough with this
PC nonsense this is a this is a way for him to go and try to fortify his base
his most core base of support go ahead go ahead
he's always lionizing the past right sort of lionizing a general in this case
and this sort of brute masculinity in force and he does this a lot I think
particularly on matter of terrorism right he's talked
for instance about taking families out of terrorists he suggested that he's
talked about torture and saying that actually worked even though people don't
believe that worked in terms of a foreseen confession so I think this is
classic Trump I mean there he was in front of that audience and they were
cheering on with this very kind of visual you know notion about pig's blood
and these generals I think that's what he's up to he always has this sort of
nostalgia for the way things used to be in this idea that in some ways generals
in in people and Americans have gotten weaker and part of that weakness as
David said I think has to do with sort of political correctness and liberals
and the alt left I mean he is the one who's gonna sort of restore the old
order I think that's what he's getting at in many ways with his fable
yeah nia-malika Henderson David Gurdev John thank you Jeff
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