that shaped a nation" and one of the smartest guys i know. that wraps thing up for me. i will be back here at 1:00 p.m. eastern and 3:00 p.m. eastern. you can tune in on msnbc.com/now and apple tv app and all over social media. thank you for watching. "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. hi, eaveryone, it's 4:00 in the new york. it turns out there is something worse for donald trump's political brand than the mueller probe, which he described as a cloud hanging over his presidency. it turns out being under investigation for including with russia is more popular than wittingly or unwittingly tanking the economy with loose and erratic tweets about a trade war with china and public displays of behavior ranging from weird to brutish in what "the washington post" aaron blake described as donald trump's worst poll, the brand-new

quinnipiac poll shows donald trump getting wiped out in a head-to-head race against joe biden. if the election were held today, joe biden would get 54% of the vote to donald trump's 38%. the news goes from bad to worse for the president. bernie sanders beats donald trump 353% to 39%, elizabeth warren 52% to 40%, kamala harris, 51% to 40%, and mayor pete buttigieg beats him too, 49% to 40%. president trump reacted to the polls with a day-long tirade to everything from fox news to the island of puerto rico. nothing could distract from the glaring, flashing yellow lights that those numbers represent to donald trump's re-election process. the poll also shows donald trump's approval on the economy is plunging. quote, for the first time since president trump was elected more voters say the national economy

is getting worse than getting better. 37% saying it is getting worse. 31% saying it's getting better and 30% say it's staying the same. the poll also shows joe biden comfortably ahead of the rest of the democratic candidates. here are those numbers, joe biden 32%, elizabeth warren at 19%, bernie sanders at 15, kamala harris at 7%, pete buttigieg at 5% and andrew yang at 3%. a "usa today"/suffolk university poll largely corroborates those numbers. they have biden 32%, warren 14%, sanders at 12%, buttigieg and harris at 6%, followed by yang at 3%. today's polls is where we start with some of our favorite reporters and friends. with us at the table "the washington post" -- this is what happens when you rush through gene's introduction. "the washington post's," my dear friend, once called my tv husband, eugene robinson. karine ji pierre is back, chief

public affairs officer at moveon.org and chair of african-american studies at princeton universities, the poet eddie glaude and joining us in south carolina where biden is campaigning, msnbc correspondent garrett haake. garrett, let me hit you with the poll numbers first. we were here yesterday talking about ads and talking about it's being described by another pollster as an outlier that showed a much tighter race. those numbers have to be heartening, frankly, to every democrat running against donald trump but certainly a huge martin between joe biden and donald trump today. >> yeah, look, for joe biden's campaign, those numbers well outside the margin of error for donald trump. it underscores his central argument the idea he's the strongest and best-suited candidate to take on donald trump. but every democrat included in that survey can take some heart in the idea they all match up well against donald trump. the huge caveat is we're in

august of the odd here. we can be talking about entirely different set of issues come november 2020. but one thing that won't change is we still will be talking about donald trump. all of the candidates are making an issue, this raises something of a referendum on trump for different degrees and this is a bad sign for him. i think we're headed for an election the white house knows trump cannot raise his numbers substantially so we will see a massive effort to tear the numbers down and try to lower the democrats back down to his level but if you're any of those democrats, you like where you start today, in august. >> karine, i agree with garrett's analysis. root political junky's read on this is donald trump has a hard failing at 40. what's amazing to me is these numbers are lower than some of the most crisis moments of the mueller probe. this is really sort of a new floor for him but it also, it would appear to be a new

ceiling. >> it is bizarre because it plays into what we've seen the last couple of weeks. we've seen the economy, the trade war, we've seen his doubling down on racism, it's all coming to fruition in these polls and we're seeing it go down. the thing about it he's an historically weak president, and as the economy gets worse, his numbers will keep going down. but we have to be very, very careful, democrats have to be careful, because we can't get complacent here. one thing we learned in 2016 -- >> like a political operative. >> one thing we learned in 2016 is you can win the popular vote and still lose the presidency. garrett is absolutely right. what donald trump is going to do, whoever the nominee is, because he did it before, as you said, he's going to take that person down, the negatives will go so far up and it's going to be really a base election and it's going to be incredibly ugly. >> i've wanted to talk to you about this poll all day.

ip woder i wonder if baked in these numbers are some of the rejections of some of the electorate from el paso to yesterday. is baked in this number real trepidation about the president sort of juggling burning knives when it comes to the trade war and fragile economy and disgust for all of the racist -- >> yes, 62% of the poll believe president trump is dividing the country more than uniting the country. >> who were the 38? >> right! >> true, yes. >> it's interesting when you drill down to the swimming pool, it's about 1,014 people, 1,422 and then it breaks down in interesting sort of ways. 39% republican, 40% democrat will do what they do. but what's interesting driving the number is that 28% of the

sample is independents. so in order for this poll to look like what it's looking like, independents are breaking away from trump in large numbers. >> look, there's muscle memory for them. and i know donald trump has had conversations with his political allies. he knows his state rests on the health. economy. this is the very first poll that shows a plurality of americans think the economy is getting worse. >> the economy and uncertainty of economy which is largely caused by donald trump and it is a huge deal and i think it's helping drive his numbers down. you know that ceiling of 40% is down i think from where it was a few months ago. >> 42%. >> so i realize today to that i look back and the last three columns i have written have all been variations on -- it's getting worse. it's getting worse.

it's getting crazier. it's getting worse. and i think i'm not the only person who feels that way. >> i think that's right. it is getting worse. >> that's right. i think people say and i police it strictly here, voters are not numb. they are busy but they are not numb. i think if you made this sort of deal and we might feel it's a deal with the devil but if you made this deal if the economy stays strong, that's not a deal that will be on the table anymore. it seems like he is doing it to himself. he's almost self-imploding on the economy. >> so you look at all of the things that he brags about with the economy and you see the farmers are hurting and this is a crucial time of the year. it's always a crucial time of the year for farmers. but it's a crucial time of the year for them. you see factory jobs, manufacturing jobs not just coming or leaving, points of shutting down.

>> if you're republican, you see the deficit exploding. >> exactly. >> you see tariffs and nice economic isolationism, all of the things you spent a life rejecting. >> and the bad signs for the economy are happening in states, including -- that include the surprise states that he won in 2016. >> that's exactly it, michigan, wisconsin. >> wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania. and it's -- there's nothing good in this poll and nothing good about what's going on now. >> real quick -- >> i was going to say, voters are paying attention because what's the number one issue for voters in the democratic base. they want to beat donald trump. so they are paying attention. >> i think even republicans pay attention to the economy and health care. i think this is one where his weakness is screaming out across the ideological spectrum. the other big headline though, garrett, is joe biden standing atop the democratic field. he's at 32% in the two new polls out today, "usa today" poll and

quinnipiac poll. you were here yesterday. we focused on the ad, very deeply personal telling of his personal tragedy, which also brought him deep into the american health care system. i know you did some digging around. tell us what you learned. >> i always try to follow up on the homework assignments you give me, nicolle. >> if anyone can find out, garrett can. >> i'm told by sources in the biden campaign that this ad was produced in-house. like any modern campaign, there's two parts to this, the emotional ad that they put on television airing in iowa that we talked about and digital followup. the television ad is the bait and television ad the hook. the television ad tells us why this matters to joe biden and the digital ad will it tell folks who do a little research what he claims to do. i asked joe biden about this at his press gaggle after the first

event today, the decision to talk about something that is so deeply personal with him, that he normally talks about one on one with voters on television, this is what he told me. take a listen. >> when you've been a recipient of people's empathy, you know how important it is to indicate that. the people who have gone through what i have gone through didn't have any of the kind of help i had and been through worse than i have. there are a normous number -- this is not hyperbole, enormous number who put one foot in front of the other and deal with such hard things without any of the kind of help i had, and i can't imagine doing it without insurance. >> so, nicolle, there's emotional resonance to this which biden does pretty well on the stump and tactical soundness here. the debate over building on obamacare is the central policy

debate in the democratic party. here you see is joe biden making the argument for why this matters to him and centralizing the campaign, doing the followup here, it's one of those rare things everyone wants this fight. bernie sanders wants to argue about medicare for all, joe biden wants to argue about medicare for all, kamala harris wants to argue about medicare for all. i think we will see a lot of talk about this on the debate stage too. >> let's see if we can mix it up. during our conversation, joe biden's deputy campaign manager. kate, thank you for being with us. i said yesterday, and i will say it again, i think that ad is one of the best political ads i have seen in my career because -- because he marries deeply personal story of tragedy with the single most important and current policy debate going on, not just in the democratic primary but a whole lot of republicans care about it too. we already gave you credit for that so i want to put you on the spot. these poll numbers do not mesh

with the kind of coverage your campaign and candidate get for gaffs. i will hang a lantern around my neck and say i worked for george w. bush so i know there's a part that voters focus on. what are you doing to smooth out the open question that you hear everybody ask joe biden on the stump? >> i think the biggest mistake we could make is not let joe biden be joe biden. you just talked about at the top of the show the latest polling out that shows right now he's far and away the first choice of democratic voters. i think people know that about him, they know he speaks from the heart. they like t they know they're getting it straight from him when they hear from him. i don't think you will find anybody on the biden campaign from suggesting joe biden shouldn't just be joe biden. i think at a time when we have a president in the white house who knowingly and willfully lies to the american public every day is i think having somebody who americans can trust is speaking

from their heart and from their gut is exactly what people are looking for. i think you talk about the health care and you heard, as usual, joe biden said it best himself. he has lived through the experience that so many americans have lived through, the fear and uncertainty of a health crisis. he know what's that feels like and he's able to talk to people directly about it. and when you're out on a trail with him you see garrett alluded to this, you see them having interactions with people and come up with him and tell them the story and want him to know how important the affordable care act has been in their lives or just want him to know what they're going through. i think at a time when we have a president who is completely devoid of empathy, i think it's incredibly striking to see how people react to joe biden on the campaign trail and we're never going to change that. that's his best asset. >> i will give you empathy but let me raise you the question of crowd size. i worked on the palin campaign and when we turned on cable news

and saw the throng of people waiting to see president obama, we knew we were bleeped. what do you think when you turn on the tv and see elizabeth warren's crowd? >> i think joe biden is traveling to early states and getting incredible reaction. >> so is elizabeth warren. >> we had events in new hampshire this weekend with overflow crowds. i think if you're looking at crowd size as a metric, and i'm not so sure it's the be all and end all, but if you are you're looking at it as the be all and end all, joe biden's is significant. most importantly people are connecting with him. i think that's something joe biden brings to this race nobody else does, is an ability to connect with voters to let them know he understands what they're going through. he knows their lives because he's lived it and they believed that about him and they have a fundamental connection with him. when he's out talking about stroering the soul of t restoring the soul of the nation and treating people with dignity, people know he means continue that's not something

you can fake. that's authenticity. pell react to that. we are encouraged by the way people are reacting to him on the campaign trail. >> are you also impressed the way people are reacting to warren and sanders? their people are some of the largest in the democratic field. >> we're focused on what we're doing. at the end of the day we have a lot of great candidates running for president. at the end of the day democrats are focused getting donald trump out of the office. they consistently say they believe joe biden is the person who can do that so we're focus on running our race. we twhihink we're getting tremendous response out on the road. his ability to connect is something unparalleled in this field and it's something people react to and desperately want at a time when we're sorely lacking to say the least. we're sorely lacking that from donald trump and this white house. so when people are looking for the kind of leadership that frankly is the polar opposite of what donald trump is offering us, joe biden is that person and we are seeing that reaction when

we're out on the campaign trail. >> kate, i have spent more time on campaigns than in chairs like this, walk into the camera, jump into our conversations, send us a text, i mhe offer to everyone in your role in the democratic campaign on any news cycle, please come back as often as you want. >> i would love to. thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> i am with her on empathy. i do not buy there isn't a smith of angst about the grass-roots enthusiasm for elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. their crowds are undeniably the biggest on the democratic side. >> let's look at it, obviously the human touch is important but let's be careful how we're describing the poll data. in another conversation if we were were having a conversation about bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, we would say those numbers are similar. >> but they're not. >> they're not similar, no.

>> but we tend to read them as part of the progressive wing of the party. when you combine their numbers, sanders and lauren, they're running neck in neck with biden and those aren't the kind of voters we think will just break divide, although they might. part of what we're seeing in the poll data for me is not just simply biden running away with the election, we're actually seeing the divide very clearly and actually evidence itself in the enthusiasm we see on the ground. >> your point is right. it's not actually as personal as it was in the republican primary. it's around big policy questions. it's around very big positions on health care, pretty different positions on imgragmigration po. it's around big stuff. >> we have to be really real here. it's not surprising joe biden is leading as the front-runner. as we've said multiple times -- >> i think if you only read the newspapers, it might be. the coverage is really how uneasy it is and voters are

saying i don't care. >> just looking at the polling, to your point the voters, look, it really isn't surprising. the thing about that ad to your point is that it is empathetic and emotional is that it is joe biden in his authentic self. i think that's why it's resonating and that's what people know of joe biden, being comforted. the thing that i would, just a red flag phon their campaifor tu throw electability out the window here, you throw that out. you look at the polls and multiple polls show about five of the other contenders beating donald trump. here's the thing, we're looking at national polls. national polls, this is not a national primary. this is a state-by-state primary. iowa, if we're making that electability argument, iowa will be very difficult for joe biden, especially with elizabeth warren and a bernie sanders. i think that's the point that i think you're trying to make. that's a real contest. you can't have the electability

argument and lose iowa. you really can't. >> well, you know, i think democrats are going to be freaked out about electability until november 2, 2020. the entire campaign. >> can i be honest, i think if democrats win they will be freaked out until donald trump packs up and leaves. >> 2020 or you're correct. so that issue will never be off the table. it's always going to be there. pepper looking at joe biden in that light and other candidates in that light and also looking at the issues. if i were in the biden campaign, i would be very happy with the numbers. his lead as held up. he's still a front-runner but he's not an overwhelming front-runner. >> poll wise, i guess what you're saying, structurally and what you're saying about how big the others are. just a poll is a poll. na good

skblxt yes, it's a good lead in a poll but it's not over 50%. thowing. so i would be very happy, i would be pleased, i would be -- >> you would go back to work. >> the monmouth poll is an outlier. but i would look at the elizabeth warren crowds, i would worry about it. >> garrett, let me give you the last word. >> i think a couple of things can be true simultaneous liar. joe biden is despite the polling the single most popular politician out in the party today and the party is elsewhere in the progressive ring and both have to be squared away. the polling, national polling versus state-by-state polling, all of the polling rhymes with national polling. it's almost in lockstep in different degrees. but i agree, joe biden needs to win iowa. if you're the big, strong guy to

take on donald trump, you have to show that and at every opportunity, a lot of that goes away. >> to your point, gary, the want to run as the guy who brought together the coalition, it starts in iowa. >> that's true. >> garrett haake, thank you for joining us. you come back when we ask you to. thank you for letting me put you on the spot. thank you, my friend. after the break, don't worry about the law, seize the land. build a wall and paint it black. if you get busted, donald trump will pardon you. that extraordinary story is true. it's in today's "the washington post" and it's next. also ahead, all of you "sex in the city" fans, remember when berger broke up with carrie on a post-it note? today donald trump tried to break up with fox news on twitter and fox news fought back. and a serious and sober man completely out of place in the snake pit that is the trump white house. former secretary jim mattis speaks out for the first time.

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for all of the lies the trump base tolerates or ignores, there are two promises he must keep in their eyes, his pledge to build a wall and promise to deliver on a strong economy. brand-new blockbuster "the washington post" reports on the stunning and perhaps illegal lengths trump is willing to go to get his wall. he's directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars of construction contract, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules, that's according to current and former officials

involved with the project. he also told worried subordinates he will pardon them of any potential wrongdoing should they have to break laws to get the barriers built quickly those officials said. the president told senior aides a failure to deliver on this signature promise of the 2016 campaign would be a letdown to his supporters and embarrassing defeat. joining the table former chief spokesman for the department of justice, matt miller. i read the story three times. i was going to make up a story about how whack ado i think it is behind the scenes. i would write this. including the stuff we want something black and spiky. >> i think the number of ethical transgressions were in this story are staggering, even for this president and administration. start with the money he's using wasn't appropriated for that, it was for the defense department, and he's taken it, probably illegally but the courts will decide, to build a wall. he's intervened in the contracting process to direct

the contracts to politically connected donors who book themselves on fox news and are close to republican senators. >> that alone would get a president impeached. >> absolutely. and he's trying to seize land without going through the legal process and tell his aides he will pardon them if they break the law. the thing that worries me the most and animates me most, he thinks he has to build this wall to reassure his re-election. there's a little over 14 months to go between now and the general election next year. it's hard to imagine something donald trump wouldn't do to try to win re-election. >> i don't want to rush through any of this. this is the second news organization to report about a pardon around immigration policies. it would appear to me he would like to turn to krillality, criminal conduct, to enforce his immigration policies to win

re-election. that would seem to me to render the entire debate that's taken place in the democratic party around whether or not to condense -- >> you don't need it, itself. just an impeachable defense. >> and i saw annie karni report in "the new york times," he offered pardons to those involved in building the wall. >> that's absolutely true. this is clearly on its face to me impeachable. i am no lawyer but it seems like it is. i guess i would point out to any employees willing to take this advice, correct me if i'm wrong, but when you break a federal law, you're also breaking a state law. a lot of state laws and he has no pardon power offer that. >> the thing that worries me about this story is trump does seem to be winning in the bureaucracy in the way he couldn't before. john kelly for all of his faults if he was there would counterman

trump's orders and say you can't do, that it's illegal. >> don mcgahn would write emails saying you can't prosecute hillary clinton. those people are gone. >> you see in this story people at custom and border protection agency, most of them are civil service acceding to his wishes and outand outright telling the score of engineers you have to get this done before the election. that isn't something they should be taking into consideration. >> "the washington post" story and reading it three times like i did, also reveal the high and lows in trump's mind, he gage in criminal conduct, seize land -- must farmers around the border, seize land from farmers illegally and i will pardon you from the federal crimes involved. there may be texas lawmakers involved in that too or other border states. but there's also below trump brow, make it black and shiny

and spiky and pretty. >> so he's corrupt and stupid. to be honest with you. there's a level of shallowness here that is evidenced. we know he has no curiosity whatsoever. he rebels in his innocence and that why he thinks he can rely on his gut. he's out of his depth in every room, every crowd, every space he happens to step into and he's willing to break any law to pursue his own agenda. so the combination of ignorance, corruption, and sheer he selfishness and greed is a deadly combination for our democracy. so what's so -- i said this on the show before, what's so unsettling about it, nicolle, is it goes to the heart -- it goes to the heart of undermining our democracy. and the question for us is what are we going to do? what are the civil servants doing?

they're afraid to get fired? are they just going to execute stephen millers and president trump's orders? what are we doing to stop it because we do know it's corrupt, it's in some instances criminal, and in other instances it's ignorant. we can go down the line. when i read it, i actually shuttered. >> i guess i don't want to be too in the weeds but our viewers are way down in the weeds with us at this point. for it to get out means someone was disturbed. i mean, having worked in the bush years, controversial war on terror policies, whenever people in the cia or other government agencies were uncomfortable, it would show up in "the new york times" or "the washington post." the fact we're reading about it means somebody else shuttered. but i guess the question, karine, is -- you know, this sort of calling donald trump lawless i think is something donald trump and his allies successfully suggested was sort of the hysteria of the left. this is in donald trump's own words. this is donald trump promising a

pardon. he, too, knows he's now lawless. >> i will add one more thing. it's criminality, it's stupidity, advertise ignorance. he also desperate. he's incredibly desperate. he's doing all of this to make sure -- all for himself, it's all personal, make sure he gets reflected. i think matt can talk to that a lot better than i can but i guess that's what we are seeing, we're seeing an incredibly desperate man. that's why we are seeing highs and lows and bizarreness and really coming off the crazy bus. >> but if the wheels come off now, there are 14 months left. getting back to the election, we will just drag the bus along the road. >> i will take a leap and say we all don't monitor the kinds of folks trump monitors and feels that he answers to. but here's rush limbaugh and ann coulter on importance of the wall. >> this is an invasion, the very existence and definition of american culture, american

society, the rule of law. why does nobody talk about the fact millions and millions of people are breaking the law coming here illegally? >> now more than ever we need a massive wall. it's a common sense strategy that actually works. the president long promised to build that wall and now he's fighting to do just that. he's fighting for what's right. >> he's dead in the water if he doesn't build that wall. dead, dead, dead. >> that's who he's answering to. i think sometimes some people look around and they say, why? he shut down the government over a wall and didn't get a dime. that's why. >> and he clearly believes that. it's clear. you don't take these kind of steps telling people just break the law and i will pardon you unless you really believe you have to get this done. i think that goes to the point gene was just making that i started out with, 14 months to go, feels like he has to get the wall to win re-election. if he feels he has to turn the economy around, go down a list of things he thinks he might need to win re-election, if he's

unconstrained from you law and he obviously is of ethics, is there anything he wouldn't do, any abuse of power that would be too far of an overreach for him to take? i can't think of anybody. >> what does that make you think about the debate, about impeachment? >> it makes me think -- it's not necessarily about impeachment. i don't think you're going to constrain him in the next 14 months. you're not going to do anything to keep him from happening the way he acts, what congress has to do is have such great oversight, not just the president's inner circles but up and down agencies and through the civil service, if he goes up and down and promises you even a pardon. >> they're stonewalling the aggressive oversight. >> they are but the people in the agencies who will be there after the election know that donald trump can stonewall but if he les, they're still there and congress may come after them. >> let's not lose sight of another aspect of this.

the campaign sent out a mailer to supporters declaring this is our country, not theirs. so the idea of the wall reflects desperation. those people that he's speaking to, when he sends out an email saying this is our country, not theirs, that's a sign we're 14 months out.dy. it's going to get dark. it's going to get nasty. after the break, donald trump's twitter feed is a window into his soul that has his friends and family very concerned today. that story next.

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it's been said donald trump eliminated the need for key spokes people in his white house and opted instead to live tweet his very own presidency, but based on his twitter feed today, he may want to rethink that strategy. in the last 24 hours donald trump tweeted about the large crowds elizabeth warren is

getting and complain his crowds didn't get enough media attention. he tweeted for a third time about a news story over the weekend that said he suggested using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the u.s. he mocked the then primary republican nomination, called out conservative columnist bret stephens, who's been critical of him, he threatened the governor of puerto rico for a hurricane. and he tried to break up with fox news for no longer getting the job done for him. yep, that's all real. all happened today. >> today, yeah. >> if anyone loved him -- if anyone cares, they do this. you offload twitter, save all of the data, i do it about once a week myself. you put it in a lockbox, and you take it for a walk. nobody loves him if that doesn't

happen today. >> no, he will be back on twitter. we're used to this sort of insanity. the fox news stuff is interesting because this is the latest in a series of angry tweeted directed at his very favorite news outlet. >> it's actually a serious story. we asked a question around this table, all four of us asked, media-run state or state-run media? and it was not hyperbole to suggest a very unseemly association. trump thought fox was state-runned media. >> i don't like to do media criticism because there are so many people doing it. >> right. and trump clapped back today. >> right. but we underestimate the impact fox news has on our political system these days. it defines and sort of

ex-flori extricates the world's view for a lot of americans. >> let's leave the criticism of donald trump, but in donald trump's mind they're failing because they're covering the news. >> exactly, they're covering the news and doing professional polling that shows actual numbers versus made-up numbers. and he takes great umbrage at this, great defense they would do such a thing. they're on his team. being disloyal. >> and saying they're not getting the job done for us is also back to your original team, another point of the political desperation. he's trying to peel his viewers away from fox news and they really have become one in the same. he's trying to peel them off and say come on, come on maga hat wearing folks, let's go somewhere else. where is he going to go? >> look, i don't think trump and fox will break up for a lot of reasons people in unhappy relationships break up because neither can find anyone better.

donald trump needs fox news to get re-elected and fox news can't afford to have donald trump out attacking their viewers like did he in the primary when he had that fight with megyn kelly and driving viewers away from him. i think what he's doing is trying to pressure them to be more favorable to him, which is hard to imagine if they don't ever book a democrat on the network at all. i think that's what it is than any possible chance there will be a break in his relationship. >> i think the other thing that sort of came through in the tweet, we've been talking about sort of his political panic but it's not just that there are no guardrails. i quibble with the idea there were any at all. i think there's no people. i worked in a white house full of people. depictions of this white house, any white house, clinton white house, any white house, other than jared and ivanka, mcmulvaney, who has 11 titles, there are not many people around there. what does he do all day?

>> and others seemed to have checked out. they don't put statements out on anything anymore. they just kind of checked out. i don't know what to say, nicolle, it's like what the heck? he's not even pretending to do the job anymore. he's not even trying. the world is burning. the amazon is burning. we have -- literally burning, we have the hurricane that's coming, right? there's potential economic downturn and he's watching cable news and hate tweeting. he's anger tweeting. i don't really know what to say about that except like you said, there's no adults in the room anymore. people are leaving the administration. they have been. the middle level people have left. these are upper level people who left. and he's there in kind of his private part of the -- private residence of the white house sitting there and dvr'ing and watching twitter and that's all he does. i bet you he probably even go intot oval office anymore. >> it's a good point.

i tried to run this down from our white house, what time does he take off the jammies, spruce himself up and head into the office? and he's president so it's not all on him but i want to tie a few things together and let you have at them. we had an unprecedented number of news reports in "the washington post," "the new york times," about the impulsivity, the erratic nature about denying things that he double downed on a day earlier. not just denying press accounts that turned out to be true but denying his past statements. we have the market in spasm last week from his tweets. we have a clearly unsuccessful trade war with china contributing to global economic terror. i mean, i think there's real fear about a global economic

slowdown and also questions about whether trump is to blame for that. then we have the polls. we talk about how dark things are. i think before they get completely -- and don king used to say it's always darkest before it's black, what happens tomorrow? >> i have no idea because we haven't mentioned north korea. we didn't talk about what's going on with yand aindia and pn over kashmir or range of things happening in the world. it's a myth the roman emperor was playing the violin whil things were on fire but we understand the point of the myth, no one was at home tending to the decline of the empire at that point. but it seems to me a certain logic of small government has played itself out. a certain logic of big federal government isn't worth anything, that it doesn't play a central role outside of the defense,

it's played itself out. these folks think deconstructing the administrative state means something significant. so what they've done is they have just left it, right? no one is at home. so the state department has been gutted. so who's at state now? what's happening with doj when the attorney general is going to throw a party for 30 grand at the trump hotel? i mean, i don't know what's going to happen next. but all i do know is what has happened up to this point and it seems government is broken. after the break, the departure of jim mattis was viewed by many as the fatal blow of the trump administration's credibility around the world. the serious and respected man who left quietly without rancor is now speaking out. we will bring you that story next. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need.

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we've got some problems. you know it and i know it. we've got problems that we don't have in the military. you just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it and being friendly to one another. we are so doggone lucky to be americans. >> that video never doesn't make me cry. hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other was the message delivered by then-defense secretary jim mattis during his tenure as donald trump's secretary of defense. here we are two years later, now former secretary of defense is echoing that same spirit, an excerpt from his upcoming book published as an essay in the "wall street journal." you don't need to be an expert in reading between the lines to pick up exactly what he's saying. for instance in talking about

leadership and a need for allies he writes this, quote, a wise leader must deal with reality and state what he intends and what level of commitment he's willing to invest in achieving that end. he then has to trust that his subordinates know how to carry that out. wise leadership requires collaboration, otherwise it will lead to failure. nations with allies thrive. those without them wither. alone, america cannot protect our people and our economy. at this time we can see storm clouds gathering. i think mattis -- was that if you use a word that has to be googled. but if we take that statement along with his resignation

letter. i am told that he believed many american soldiers would've died if that withdrawal had gone down the way trump wanted to. you have to me perhaps the most subtle but the most stinging rebuke of donald trump. >> absolutely from a man who is probably the most respected military man in the country right now and has been for a while. general mattis was a very serious man. and he did stay as long as he could. you know, when he was defense secretary, he and rex tollison was secretary of state, they would sort of meet and talk every morning to sort of concoct a strategy for dealing with whatever insanity they were going to encounter when they got to the white house. and so let's have a joint front, see if we can keep the train on

the rails, and of course, they're both gone and anybody who has that capacity is gone now. and the result is what we saw. we saw it at the g7, which was really the g6 plus donald trump. and that's what the organization will be until we get another president. >> i hate to be a contrarian. i have a great deal of respect for general mattis. he is a great patriot. that essay left me thoroughly unimpressed probably for the word you used. it was too subtle. there are a lot of reasons why donald trump is president today. but there are too many people who decided it's not my fight to take him on. and i think jim mattis has decided it's not his fight to take him on. i think everyone in this country who knows how unfit donald trump is for office has the responsibility to say something about it and do something about it. but that responsibility is higher for people who have served in this administration

and really know, really saw first hand just how infit he is for office. i don't think this is a time for jim mattis fob subtle. i think this is a time for him to tell the american public that this man is not fit to be president. and i know he probably thinks that's inappropriate for him as a former military leader. and i know he's been marshalling his credibility for his entire life. but this is the time to use it. >> just say that someone asked me once a week why -- same question about george w. bush. where is george w. bush? and i take your point that people who have seen him up close, but you could say the same thing about h.r. mcmaster, rex tillerson has sort of told his story. but why do so many of them stay silent at this point? >> i have no idea. i think a lot of them who think

this isn't my fight. or it would be disloyal for me, but your loyalty is not supposed to be the president. it's supposed to be the country. that's who you take the oath to. >> just listening to mattis just there and reading his essay, it reminded me of what republicans used to tell me very early on in this administration, which was don't worry about it, we're going to have -- he's going to have some generals. there are going to be some adults in the room and it's not going to bad. they are going to stop him. and what ended up happening is donald trump fired all of the adults in the room, and this goes into our last conversation. i think where we are today is that donald trump has a bunch of yes men, yes women around him, and they play into they let him play into his we're -- worst instincts.

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silence is complicity. our problem isn't just trump. but then for the leaders, for those who are about to step into the breach, there's a wonderful line by the late tony morrison. as we are about to assume the role of trust and power, dream a little bit before you think. >> oh, god. that's too good. my thanks. most of all to you for watching. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts now. ♪ ♪ if it's wednesday, it could be a big game changer. we are going to tell you what happened today that could give the democrats a chance to run the table next november. that's right, you heard that right. democratic control, the house, the senate and the white house is now actually possible.

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