Trump Receives Briefing; Trump Blasts McConnell.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back. In less than an hour so from now President Trump scheduled to have a high-level national security briefing as North Korea threatens a strike on the U.S. territory of Guam. We're standing by for any presidential remarks. Stand by with us for that. But first, there's a brand new CNN polling just released in the last hour that shows republican lawmakers are taking a solid hit after failing to repeal Obamacare. Take a look at this. 7 in 10 Americans now say they disapprove of the job republican leaders in congress are doing. That's a 15-point drop since January when President Trump first took office. And this comes as the president is escalating a feud with someone who supposed to be one of his key allies in congress, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. For a second day in a row the president is attacking McConnell, tweeting from his golf resort this only minutes ago, Mitch, get back to work and put repeal and replace, tax reform and cuts and a great infrastructure bill on my desk for signing. You can do it. Earlier today the president tweeted another tweet. Listen to this , can you believe that Mitch McConnell who has screamed repeal and replace for seven years couldn't get it done? Must repeal and replace Obamacare. The president's attacks come after McConnell said this in his home State of Kentucky earlier in the week.</s>SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: Our new president has of course not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.</s>BLITZER: All right. right. Let's discuss with our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, the senior White House correspondent for Bloomberg, Margaret Talev and CNN political director, David Chalian. Gloria, this battle is going that the president is having with Mitch McConnell. What's up with that?</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Maybe Jeff Sessions feels a little good about that because he's off the griddle this time. Look, I think the president feels that he -- there's no hell to pay for him for attacking Mitch McConnell. In our poll that you were just talking about, we asked republicans who they -- their approval ratings of both Trump and the republican leadership and the approval rating for Donald Trump is about double. What it is for the republican leadership. And republicans overwhelmingly do not blame -- they do not blame the president for all the problems that have occurred legislatively and so -- this president believes he can attack republicans. He's attacked more than half a dozen of them, calling them quitters because it works with this base. Now, in the long term I would argue it might not work so well for him if he's trying to rally his troops because they want to know that they can trust him and that he will have their back and it's very clear from what he's done to members of the senate that in fact, he won't. But for the larger picture, his base thinks it's fine to go after them --</s>BLITZER: But so awkward though for other republicans, David, in the senate to see the president of the United States going after the republican majority leader.</s>DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Right. Although they've observed Donald Trump's behavior for two years throughout the republican nomination race and this is not unfamiliar territory that Donald Trump --</s>BLITZER: But he's the president. He's got to deal with the republican leadership.</s>CHALIAN: There's no doubt. And he doesn't do the job of president like other presidents have. And I think that they've observed that for the last six months. I -- everything Gloria is saying is true about our polls. It is very easy to see that the politics of the blame game, Donald Trump versus republicans in congress, Donald Trump wins that. What is not clear at all to me is how this actually makes it easier for him to get a legislative victory because that's actually what Donald Trump needs. So does Mitch McConnell, so do the republican senators, but Donald Trump who's sitting at 38 percent approval rating just having a strategy that excites your base because you're taking on the republican establishment doesn't actually get to where Donald Trump needs to go which is he need to rack up some W's because his own numbers need a victory and a success to tell --</s>BLITZER: He makes a good point, David -Margaret because in our poll among republicans who were asked who's most responsible for the lack of bills passed so far? Look at this. Opposition from democrats, 51 percent, disagreement among republicans, 32 percent. Only eight percent of these republicans say a lack of leadership from Trump is responsible.</s>MARGARET TALEV, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: Well, there -- one thing that stuck out to me in the poll also was the desire, at least the - her reported desire for more bipartisan collaboration. So I'll say this about the president's public fight with Mitch McConnell. The Twitter stuff is for mainstream, mass, public consumption. But look at the same time what he's doing. Supporting McConnell's choice to replace Jeff Sessions in the senate and just as we right -- just before we came here on this panel naming as the new chairman of the federal regulatory committee, Mitch McConnell's former energy policy advisor, a Kentucky native. So I think it's kind of that classic Trump play, right?</s>TALEV: Where it's like, you know, the carrot and the stick at the same time and they're trying to figure out like, what's the strategy? It's kind of everything.</s>BLITZER: You know, I reads - I read earlier, Gloria, two of the tweets that Donald Trump used going after Mitch McConnell, the original one, Senator Mitch McConnell said, I had excessive expectations but I don't think so after seven years of hearing repeal and replace. Why not done? So three tweets he's devoted to going after Mitch McConnell.</s>BORGER: When something is on Donald Trump's mind, let's say we all find out about it and we find out about it pretty quickly. He goes at it over and over again. I mean, look at -- look at what he did to Jeff Sessions for days - for days in a row. Mitch McConnell, luckily for him has established a policy and I think it goes back to during the campaign where he used to say, I'm not commenting on the president's tweets. I don't - I don't comment on Twitter, well I think he and his staff were continuing that policy and that's probably the right thing to do particularly since -- by the way, his wife is also in the president's cabinet.</s>BORGER: And that could be - that could be a little tricky.</s>BLITZER: It's a little awkward as well.</s>BORGER: Yes.</s>BLITZER: You cover the White House, there's a new White House chief of staff, I thought things were supposed to be coming down a bit. on the president's tweets. I don't comment on twitter. I think he and his staff are continuing that policy and that's probably the right thing to do. Particularly since, by the way, his wife is also in the president's cabinet. You have that and that can be a little tricky. A little awkward. Covering the white house a new white house chief of staff. I thought things would calm down a bit. What happened to that?</s>TALEV: All right. Well, maybe the president read all the coverage about how things were supposed to come down and decided he wanted to remind everybody who is actually in charge. But it is a really interesting dynamic. I think with General Kelly though, you know, you see this dynamic where there's what we can see. The tweets continuing or resumption of those tweets. The president having a little bit more public meetings at Bedminster and then there's what can't see which are the conversations that are happening among the generals as President Trump likes to call them. So sort of from the national security advisors, the defense secretary, to the chief of staff, and to some degree of the inclusion of the secretary of state, there are a lot of those conversations going on right now in an effort to try to guide this back, you know, towards diplomacy. I still - I still think General Kelly inside the White House has a lot of goodwill and good faith from people but in terms of publicly, this sort of idea that nothing to see here is, well --</s>BLITZER: David, speaking of General Kelly, the retired Marine Corps, four star general who's the new White House chief of staff, was the secretary of Homeland Security. Look at the new cover of Time Magazine and we know the president likes -</s>CHALIAN: Watch out, General Kelly.</s>BLITZER: He likes to look at the covers of Time Magazine. There you could see the cover. General John Kelly. Trump's last best hope. Now, this is a sensitive issue when it comes to the president of the United States.</s>CHALIAN: Yes. You may recall, he's known for hanging false Time Magazine covers in his clubs or what have you. He's pretty obsessed with Time Magazine covers, he likes to have his own that were legit up in his office. I don't know that it bodes well for when a staff member ends up as the cover of Time Magazine. I would be a little careful of that. Donald Trump likes to be the one out in front.</s>BORGER: Yes. No star is brighter in the constellation than Donald Trump. Remember when Bannon - Steve Bannon was on the cover that he was in the doghouse for a while. This is a little early for General Kelly to be in the doghouse, so we'll have to see if he sat down for an interview or posed.</s>BLITZER: But what do you think about the point of the article that General Kelly, Margaret is Donald Trump's last best hope?</s>TALEV: There's been a lot of -- this is the most important test and this is the last time but I do think there's -- General Kelly himself said no to this job several times before taking it. There is a recognition among everyone inside that White House including the general himself that this is absolutely a critical and pivotal time for the White House to turn around the narrative that's been dogging them the first six months of office.</s>BLITZER: Forget the country's in the midst of a crisis with North Korea.</s>BORGER: Now in actual crisis. Yes.</s>BLITZER: As all of this politics is unfolding as well. Guys, thanks very much, Gloria, David, and Margaret. Good conversation. Coming up. My next guest has a message for the president of the United States when it comes to North Korea. "This is not a playground." Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro taxes. There you see him live. He's standing by to join us. We'll talk about the growing nuclear threat right after this.