>> and that's why he knew, his administration knows, his handlers knew that he needed those pictures today down in pittsburgh, because otherwise he'd have to miss a campaign rally or attend both of them on the same day, which was not good optics. but today was a photo opp. not to say the president shouldn't go, shouldn't show up. he's supposed to be the consoler in chief. >> mm-hmm. >> but many people there said, hey, not right now. and if i lost someone, if i'm in grief and you called me, chris, and you say, hey, don, you're my boy. i love you. can i come see you? and i say, hey, chris, not right now. the family is dealing with some issues. give us a minute here, and i'll let you know when you come over. what would you say? >> i would be kind of hurt that you saw me as something that would be a force for negativity in a time of loss. >> you know what i'm saying. >> i'm slow to blame a president or any elected leader for doing the right thing. those people deserve the respect of the president of the united states. >> no, no, no. the right thing is to go.

i'm talking about now. and if you want to go and you want to be respectful of the folks, then in due time when they are ready for you to come, you can say, i'm not going to go to western pennsylvania on whatever. i'm going to -- or eastern or wherever. i'm not going to go down to georgia or alabama, or i'll cut it short because i'll come whenever you want me to come, not that i need to come because it needs to fit into my schedule, because i need these photographs, this image of me going because it helps me with my approval rating, and it also helps me with the midterms. if you really are -- if you really are with people and you really respect them, then you do things in their own time and on their watch and not on yours. >> understood. and i don't know who was telling him not to come and to come. i know the rabbi from the synagogue now said that he was welcome. >> he didn't say come. he said he's welcome. he didn't say hey, mr. president. that's the difference between an

invitation and saying surely, yes, you can come. that's not an invitation. >> be that as it may, he was going to have the same problem no matter when he went, which is the way he talks and the phrases he used -- i mean, look, especially to jewish-americans, okay? bringing back stalinesque, or certainly was was used by germany during world war ii as propaganda is really disgusting and startling to them, and i don't know who told the president it was a good idea to bring those phrases back. i can't tell you how often in politics a phrase is used that you think is co-loek wee ally one way but then you get told it's something else and you're like oh, i'll never use that gren. he says nationalist. they had to tell him, no, new york not nationalist. don't say that. and he does it anyway, and he doubles up on it. enemy of the people. that's not even code. it's not a dog whistle.

it's what they said. why would you ever bring something back like that if you don't want to own its history? >> well, i feel like you're making my point. >> better, right? >> i feel like you're making my point. not that he shouldn't go, but in time. and every situation is not the same thing. you can't say, well, you know, this president went to that tragedy in this amount of time. you have to weigh things. you have to weigh -- >> yes. >> and you have to read the room. >> yes. >> you have to allow people their time because they're the ones grieving. you're not the one grieving. you can't tell me in my grief what i need to do and how i need to handle it. that's all i'm saying. >> i'm 100% on that. you make the perfect point. >> yeah. >> something that obviously played out both ways today. >> yeah. >> there were people who were angry about it, and they did it even in a moment where everybody needed to be on the same page. >> there's much more to talk about with this, and we're going to do it in this hour. thank you, chris. >> i will be watching.

>> see you tomorrow. thank you, sir. this is "cnn tonight." i am don lemon, and take a look at these pictures. they tell quite a story. the president of the united states visiting the pittsburgh synagogue where 11 congregants were massacred in the worst anti-semitic attack in this nation's history while at the same time, just a block away, protesters filled the streets. ♪ this land is your land, this land is my land ♪ ♪ from california, to the new york islands ♪ ♪ from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters ♪ ♪ this land was made for you and me ♪ >> people in the crowd holding banners reading "build bridges, not walls". pittsburgh, proud home of refugees and migrants. and words matter. that comes after congressional leaders, the governor of the pennsylvania and the mayor of pittsburgh and the county executive all refused to meet

with the president today. so when air force one landed, the president was not greeted by local officials. instead -- and it was stark. instead, he was met by colonel mark goodwill of the pennsylvania air national guard and his wife, michelle. the message was pretty clear, and that was don't come to pittsburgh, not today. not as a grieving community is just beginning to bury the dead. yet president trump insisted on visiting the city today. and a white house official tells cnn there was a discussion about pushing back the visit by a day or two, but the optics of going to pittsburgh on the same day as a campaign rally weren't good. so let's be clear. in other circumstances, the president of the united states would be welcome. we want our counselor in chief to bring -- consoler in chief to bring us a message of hope, to

stand up for our values in the face of track. and to be fair, president trump tried to do that today, meeting with some of those wounded in the synagogue attack, and a family member of one of the victims and expressing his sorrow, which was exactly the right thing to do, okay? but as that protest sign said, words matter. this president's own words, his message of hate and fear, are what made him unwelcome by some, many in pittsburgh today. the progressive jewish group, bend the arc, in an open letter signed by more than 35,000 people, told this president he is not welcome until he denounces white nationalism and stops his assaults on immigrants and refugees. yes, words matter. like falsely claiming, falsely claiming a caravan of imgrants a thousand miles away from our southern border constitutes an invasion. and the president doubled down

just last night. >> when you look at that thousands of people, somebody said, you know, in that one, they built it down. i'm pretty good at figuring out how many people. thousands and thousands of people. when you looked at that bridge loaded up with people, that's called an invasion of our country. this has nothing to do with elections, and i've been saying this long before election. i've been saying this before i ever thought of running for office. we have to have strong borders. if we don't have strong borders, we don't have a country. >> this has everything to do with elections, with the midterms just one week away, this president is desperate to change the conversation, changing it to the campaign message that worked so well for him two years ago -- fear. fear of some shadowy other. so now the president is floating the idea that he could end birthright citizenship by executive order.

>> it was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. >> 14th amendment. >> now they're saying i can do it just with an executive order. >> that is nonsense. surely he knows it. i hope he knows it. he might like to, but the president cannot do an end run around the 14th amendment to the constitution with just the stroke of a pen. the language is very clear. here it is. all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. the amendment ratified after the civil war in 1868, expanding citizenship and equal protection of the laws to everybody born or naturalized here, including former slaves. remember that. so the president suggesting that he might end birthright

citizenship goes against everything this country stands for. but this is nothing but a con, a stunt, a big plate of red meat for his base. that red meat with a side of attacks on the press. remember this old favorite of the president's? >> when i say and come out with very, very strong statements about media, i'm talking about the fake news media. they are truly an enemy of the people. the fake news, enemy of the people. they really are. they are so bad. >> a source close to the white house tells cnn president trump's top advisers are pushing him to play to the base. sound familiar? and keep sticking to the media, even in the wake of 15 pipe bombs targeting cnn and top democrats. and so the president falsely tweets about the so-called fake news media being the enemy of the people, not to mention what

may be his favorite new talking point. the false slur that democrats are an angry mob. >> these are bad people. we can't let this happen to our country. republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob. that's what it is. it's a mob. >> angry mob. enemy of the people. immigrant invasion. are there any positive messages in there? anything positive in "angry mob," enemy of the people, immigrant invasion? it's all very negative words, and they're the president's own words. and words matter. so listen to these words, will

you, today from rabbi jeffrey myers. who is mourning 11 worshippers killed in their synagogue on saturday. >> i said to our elected leaders that you're our leaders. we turn to you. you're the models for our country. when you speak words of hate, when you speak ill of the other candidate, any words of hate, americans listen to you. they get their instructions from you. when you speak words of hate, you say to them, this is okay. you can do it as well. so i turn to all of our elected leaders because hate doesn't know a political party. hate is not blue. hate is not red. hate is not purple. hate is in all. i turn to them to say, tone don't the hate. speak words of love. speak words of decency and of respect. when that message comes loud and clear, americans will hear that, and we can begin to change the tenor of our country.

>> we've got much more to come on the president's visit to pittsburgh, a city of mourning and protests. ♪

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president trump visiting pittsburgh just three days after the worst anti-semitic attack in american history despite being asked by the city's mayor not to come. the reason the first burials were scheduled for today. protesters gathered in the streets, some saying that the president would not be welcome until he fully denounces white nationalism. i want to bring in now frank bruni, peter beinart, and stephen moore. good evening. good to see all of you. peter, as i said in the introduction and early in the show, no public officials greeted this president at the airport and did not want to come to meet him. why is that? >> i think it's partly because -- and this is something i'm very proud of as an american jew. american jews voted

overwhelmingly against donald trump. american jews vote the against donald trump at twice the rate of white people, and i think the reason is that most american jews in their guts know that when someone breeds hate against vulnerable groups, against mexicans, against muslims, they always come for us. it always comes around to us, and they knew that for jews, treating a stranger with decency is also self-defense. >> so why did he go? >> i think he went because, you know, it's a photo opp. maybe he actually genuinely feels upset about what happened in pittsburgh. but what he hasn't reckoned with is the way his hateful rhetoric about mexicans, about that caravan, that caravan of strangers, turned around and turned into anti-semitism. and that is not surprising. people who know history could have predicted that. >> frank, a doctor at the university of pittsburgh medical center said the victims did appreciate the president's

visit, that he did console them. some of the people who were there. but given how he was met with protests, do you think that his visit helped heal this community? >> i don't think it helped heal the community, but i have to say i do think it was the right thing. and we wouldn't be asking ourselves if it was the right thing if he wasn't the wrong man. and he's the wrong man for all the reasons peter just talked about. >> the right thing -- the same thing i had with chris. not saying it was not the right thing, but was it the right time? >> i'm not sure what the right time is. i honestly feel like we're getting into the weeds with that. i think with any other president, we would have said this is a gesture of respect. this is the right thing to do. this is what you do at a moment of great national grief. this is what do you in the direction of healing. the problem, again, is that he's the wrong man. he doesn't have, at this point in his presidency, given everything that has preceded this moment, he doesn't have the moral authority to go into a community that's hurting like this and to be a healer. so that's the problem. >> even with people saying that the mayor and saying, not right now. we want you to come, but not

right now. so you don't think the timing has anything -- if you -- >> there might have been a better timing, don, but i honestly don't think we'd be talking about this if he wasn't the wrong man. here's the other thing i think is even more significant than the fact that local politicians didn't greet him. if i'm reading the report correctly, congressional leaders, democratic and republican who were invited, said, we don't want to go with you. and, again, that's about the fact donald trump used that rebuke. he has earned that rebuke every day of his presidency up until this point. >> stephen, a progressive jewish group at the protest said that they would welcome the president if he denounced white nationalism once and for all. why not just give a full-throated speech doing it and then denouncing white nationalism, that it's evil? >> well, i don't know that he's ever actually used the term white nationalism. he talks about nationalism, and i think nationalism is -- i'm a nationalist. i'm for america first. i wrote a book about america first. >> you know that's not what i'm talking about. i'm talking about white nationali nationalists. >> show me when he's ever used the term --

>> i'm not talking about him using the term. i'm saying him denouncing white nationalism instead of saying there are very fine people on both sides. >> i don't want to go back to this. but i do want to make this point. you made the point earlier on this show that it was ir inappropriate for trump to politicize this caravan that's coming, right, this caravan of immigrants. i don't think in my lifetime i've seen a more politicized event, tragedy like this one. i mean from the moment this tragic, horrendous act happened, everyone started blaming the president for it, which is i think for most americans a little bit over the top. >> who started blaming the president for it? be specific. >> you've done it. not you personally, but cnn does. >> cnn did not do that. the question that has been asked and what people have said on this network is that they think the president contributes to a climate where this can flourish, not that the president is directly responsible to that. that is two different things and

don't pretend you don't know the difference. >> i'm not so sure about that. i don't see the distinction here. let me just make one quick point. on sunday morning, a guy who writes for your paper, tom freedman, was asked how do you -- how do we stop these kinds of acts of -- these horrendous acts. you know what he said? vote democratic. >> and he -- >> what a think to say about a tragedy. talk about capitalizing on a tragedy. >> i'll let you finish, but i don't want to get too far afiled. >> he's talking about a reality larger than the tragedy. he's saying what don was saying earlier. it's fair to ask the question about the extent to which this president has sown hate with his rhetoric. if you want an end to rhetoric and if you don't want to ask that question any longer, vote democratic. >> i don't think it's so out of -- i don't think it's so terrible to ask if the president has contributed when the person who sent pipe bombs to people used the president's own rhetoric, has photos of him on the side of his van.

i don't think that it's untoward to ask if he contributed when the person who went into the synagogue and killed these people said, i did it because of the people -- the caravan that's coming to the country. all rhetoric that this president has used in speeches and continues to use. why is it so odd to ask that question? >> no, in fact it's important to ask these questions to make sure these things don't happen again. we know that this man was provoked by the torrent of racist hysteria that has been produced by donald trump and other networks about this caravan and what he did. and, again, people who understand history would not -- will not see this as surprising. he saw jews as the hidden hand behind this nefarious threat to the nation, which is what anti-semites have done historically. donald trump may be too ignorant of history to understand that. then smart people around him need to tell him that.

>> go ahead. >> i know donald trump. i've spent a lot of time with him. he's not anti-semitic. my goodness, his son-in-law and daughter are jewish. his grandkids are jewish. i mean, look -- >> that doesn't mean anything. >> that does matter. that's like saying -- your argument is like saying, oh, well hillary clinton is responsible for the shooting of steve scalise because this guy had, you know, pictures of hillary clinton on -- >> it's very different. if you can show hateful rhetoric that hillary clinton was responsible for that would potentially dehumanize people to the extent that someone might think it was worth killing someone, then we can have a conversation about that. hillary clinton has not done that. donald trump specializes in dehumanization. >> you don't think it's hateful to say the president is a racist, that he's a xenophobe, that he's -- >> not if the evidence shows it. what's wrong with -- i don't understand this. >> i don't think donald trump -- >> that's fine. that's your opinion. that is an opinion. >> but you keep calling him

that. >> because every time i call him that, i show the facts, what he said about -- >> let me just give you an example. nationalism is not a racist term. >> but people know when you say nationalism, they know -- >> no, they don't. >> smart people know what that is a dog whistle for, and it's a wink and a nod to white nationalism. >> you said something that i think is flatly irrelevant. you said the president is not an anti-semite. that might be true, but we're talking about the fact that he is happy to indulge and to foment hatred of all kinds if it works to his political advantage. and in that context, it doesn't matter if he's an anti-semite or if he's a racist. he's willing to score anti-semitic and racist points when it benefits him. if you're honest, you have to admit that. nationalism at the very least is a political and independent send yarry and toxic work. >> i think you have made it -- by the way -- >> the president himself said i know i shouldn't say it, and then he said it. >> well, because it's become a politically incorrect term to

say nationalism. >> you just proved my point. you're saying what i'm saying. >> just something that the left has made politically incorrect. [ overlapping voices ] >> in 2013 -- >> hold on. political correctness, being politically incorrect, is not carte blanche to say things that are racist and stupid or homophobic or misogynistic, and that's what people -- or i'm not politically correct. >> what do you do, find all these obscure words -- >> going back to 2013, he said a stream of tweets based to jon stewart saying, why don't you tell us your real name, john leibovitz. what's that about? which other major politicians ever speak that way? what could that possibly be interpreted as if not an anti-semitic comment? >> you made this claim that he's somehow anti-semitic. how about the fact that -- >> i said he traffics in

anti-semitism. what's in his heart, i don't know. >> why do you think he wanted to move the capital to jerusalem? >> because i think he thinks it's good politics. there's a long history of people who are pro israel and anti-semitic. >> i've got to go. i don't see where statements of fact are wrong. if you have the evidence of someone points to being a racist, everything they say and things that they do points to them being a rift -- >> except his actions aren't racist. he's given us the lowest black unemployment rate. >> what does that have to do with anything? thank you, president obama. that low black unemployment rate started with probe. >> it's the lowest it's been in 50 years. >> thank you, president obama. we're supposed to thank him and give him credit for not screwing up the economy? >> it was growing at 1% under president obama and now -- >> i'm just saying don't -- oh, it's an opinion. all you have to do is look back. look back to him being sued for housing discrimination. look back at what he did with the central park five. look back what he called countries that are for people of color. look back at the muslim ban.

look back at the birther movement. if the evidence is there, what do you want me to do, lie about it? i'm a journalist. i have to give the facts and the truth. the truth and the evidence points to him being a racist. he's a racist. his policy and his words are racist, end of story. >> i don't believe that, and i -- >> we'll be right back. hundred roads named "park" in the u.s. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding. and that's very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. but no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands?

the president taking his hard line immigration rhetoric a step further in an interview with axios, falsely claiming that he can use an executive order to put an end to the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born in this country. this is known as birthright

citizenship and is guaranteed by the 14th amendment, meaning it can't be swept away by the stroke of a president's pen. so what's really driving this president to make this claim? back with me now, frank bruni, peter beinart, and stephen moore. okay. so, frank, timing is everything. one week to election. what is driving this? why? speaking of the last conversation we were having, birthright citizenship. >> there's a nice segue here. what's driving it is he thinks this is something that's going to stir up and appeal to his base. i don't think the president believes with a stroke of a pen he can end birthright citizenship. i don't believe anybody in his orbit said he can do this. he's saying something that he knows will appeal to his base, and it's interesting because a week before the midterms, he seems to have abandoned any hope or much hope of moving people in the middle. and his entire strategy seems to be to whip up the base and increase turnout with things like this and with saying that he's going to send, what is it,

5,200 troops to the border to meet fewer migrants than those number of troops. so that's what this is about. >> steve, paul ryan responded to the president's executive order talk about the 14th amendment. here's what he said. >> well, you obviously cannot do that. you cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. we didn't like it when obama tried changing immigration laws via exclusive action and obviously as -- you know, we believe in following the plain text of the constitution. i think in this case, the 14th amendment is pretty clear. and that would involve a very, very lengthy constitutional process. but where we obviously totally agree with the president is getting at the root issue here, which is unchecked illegal immigration. >> where is the fall 2018 paul ryan? but i mean he says it is unconstitutional and it's not conservative. so what's the president's point? >> so, look, i agree with paul

ryan that president trump cannot do this through an executive order. but this has also been an issue -- i've covered the immigration issue for a long time. i'm very pro-immigrant by the way. this is a very legitimate issue for public debate, about whether illegal immigrants can come to the united states, have a child here, and then that child become a citizen. now, the constitution may be clear about this, but that may mean that we need to amend the constitution to change it. you know, we're one of only two countries in the world that have birthright citizenship. why is it important? because the american people are sick and tired of illegal immigration, and i think all of you would admit -- i think -- i hope you all would that there are hundreds of thousands of mothers who come into the united states from foreign countries, have their baby here so that that baby can be an american citizen. >> you said there are only two other countries. there are 30 countries that have some form of birthright citizenship. >> only canada and the united states have constitutional requirements of this kind. look, it's a legitimate debate. i don't even know where i fall on this. i kind of think i'd fall with

paul ryan. but why not debate this issue? and i wonder what you all think about this. don't you believe that this encourages illegal immigration when you can bring in a child as an illegal immigrant? by the way, if i were mexican, i would do that. the greatest asset in the world is a u.s. citizenship. >> there's so much to talk about. there's so much to unpack here because the biggest immigration problem is not people coming across the border or people coming over to claim asylum. it's people overstaying their visas and they're from countries like europe. but no one says anything about that. why? because they're not black or brown people. let's just be honest about that. >> i don't agree with that. look, it is true about half the illegal immigrants come in overstay their visas and about half of them come over the border illegally. >> is someone yelling about the caravan of people flying in on united or american or qantas or whatever? >> they're concerned about people overstaying their visas. absolutely they are. >> okay. >> to me, the question is do we

really want, with donald trump as our president, to be rewriting the 14th amendment? i mean honestly -- [ overlapping voices ] >> you don't trust him to -- >> -- to basically make sure -- >> conservatives say the second amendment is sacrosanct. these amendments should not be touched or challenged. but all of a sudden, the 14th amendment is -- we can -- >> they're selective, yeah. but you're making my point, though. the purpose of the 14th amendment was to give citizenship to the former slaves. it had nothing to do with an illegal imgrant coming into the country and having -- >> thank you for making my racist thing. >> the point was that we would have one class of american citizens. everyone born here no matter what the status of their parents would be considered equal. i don't buy the idea that people come here to get citizenship. i think they come here because they can live a better life period. >> absolutely they do. >> but the truth is if we start opening up the question of who born in the united states does not deserve to be a citizen

based on having been born here, in this political climate with this -- a agree with don -- racist american president, i have no idea where that goes, but it's not a good place. >> this has been a highly debated issue for many -- >> it was meant for slavery, and it's time to relook at it because we don't have slavery anymore. well, there weren't ar-15s when the second amendment was written. >> look, there are many legal scholars who believe that the 14th amendment does not apply to an illegal immigrant who comes over the border and has a baby here. >> not antonin scalia. >> you are correct that the president sometimes brings up questions regarding immigration and other things that are legitimate points of debate. this is a phony way to bring it up a week before the election, and it's phony to suggest to american people that he can with an executive order -- [ overlapping voices ] >> we just had a discussion about how you all are politicizing this mass murder

that happened a week ago. which is worse? >> when did we have that conversation? >> i brought it up. i think most people watching the show would agree -- >> how is that politicizing it? are we out on a campaign trail -- [ overlapping voices ] >> we're back to tom friedman's column. >> oh, my gosh. you're comparing a column in "the new york times" to the president of the united states. >> let's go back and read that because i'm sure he doesn't say people were shot and killed. vote democratic. he was talking about a climate of hatred that donald trump has se sown. >> "the washington post" published an op-ed by george conway. he is a conservative attorney who is also kellyanne conway's husband, and neal katyal who was a former acting solicitor general under president obama. in it, they lay out how birthright citizenship is a constitutional right, and they say -- here's the quote -- the fact that the two of us, one a conservative, the other a liberal, agree on much despite

our sharp policy differences underscores something it is critically important to remember during a time marked by so much rancor and uncivil discourse. our constitution is a bipartisan document designed to endure for ages. its words have meaning that cannot be wished away. this is a reminder to the president that he can't trample on the constitution to score political points. >> i wish democrats -- >> that is by the kellyanne conway, senior adviser to the president. >> fascinating marriage. >> we have a president who hasn't shown in a lot of cases that he really understands the way the american governmental system is supposed to work at all. basic things like separation of powers and these kind of things. so either it's just a cheep political stunt or in some ways more frietdeningly, he really does think he has that power, which i think is a sign of his own autocratic -- >> cheap political stunt. >> i feel like liberals don't have a lot of respect for -- >> george conway is a conservative. >> freedom of speech is pretty

clear, isn't it? >> george conway is a conservative. >> pardon? >> george conway is a conservative. >> so what's your point. >> you said liberals don't believe in the constitution. we were talking -- >> i'm saying what they were saying is the exact words of the constitution matter. i believe in that. i believe in the freedom of speech and the right to bear arms and that all rights are reserved for the states and those have [ overlapping voices ] >> the president's attack on the press suggest to me that freedom of speech is not high on his list. >> i go to college campuses, and i can guarantee you, they don't believe in free speech there. >> next time we need drinks with that conversation. thank you all. we'll be right back.

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today president trump claims he can end birthright citizenship guaranteed in the 14th amendment with an executive order, he says. he cannot.

he also claims that the u.s. is the only country that has birthright citizenship. it is not. so what does all of this say about the president's closing argument heading into the midterms just one week from today? joining me now is congressman hakeem jeffries of new york. thank you, sir, for joining us. >> thank you, don. >> what does this say about the closing arguments to the president? >> well, i think these are desperate acts from a desperate man who's part of a desperate political party that understands they're on the verge of being rebuked by the american people, will likely lose the house of representatives, will lose several governorships across the country, and have failed to persuade the american people that total control of government by the republican party over the last two years with the presidency, the house, or the senate has made their life better. in fact, there are many americans, particularly throughout suburban communities in the battleground districts that are playing themselves out and the race for control of the house who have concluded our

future is uncertain because all of chaos, crisis and confusion that the trump administration and their wholly owned subsidiaries in the house and the senate on the republican side of the aisle have visited on the american people. >> you sound extremely confident, but the polls are not necessarily as confident if you understand what i mean, as you are because they're closing. the blue wave that everyone said now may be a trickle or a -- >> well, we'll see. it will be up to the american people. but i'm confident that the american people have concluded that divided government in this context is a better option because house democrats will be able to be a check and balance on an out of control executive. >> what do you think of speaker ryan shutting down the whole birthright citizenship today, saying that the president cannot defy the constitution, especially with the stroke of a pen? >> well, he's correct. i mean the notion that donald trump would throw this out there, it's unclear whether he actually believes it or whether this is part of a concerted strategy to distract the american people from the issues that we as democrats have been talking about. we've made clear we're going to

fight for the people. we're going to lower health care costs. we're going to increase pay of everyday americans. we want to clean up corruption. he clearly wants to talk about kavanaugh, caravans, birthright citizenship, who knows, in a day or two he'll be back attacking nfl players again because he's desperate to try to change the topic. we're not going to let that happen. >> you know what i find interesting when i go to different cities around the country. i'll see these ads for republicans saying that they want to protect pre-existing conditions, and the first thing that comes to my mind, isn't that the affordable care act? isn't that obamacare? what do you think of that because it's a complete 180? do you think they really want to do it or they realize that that was -- that's a bad move to not protect that pre-existing condition. >> it's unclear whether they really want to do it. but the fact that they are airing millions of dollars of ads all across the country i think suggests to me that they should be held accountable for their public statements and representations to the american people. now, i think that the american

people largely are not buying this. this is the republican party that has taken something like 60-plus votes to repeal the affordable care act, including protections for those with pre-existing conditions. that's something that we're committed to fight for, and i think the american people understand that we are the party of affordable and accessible health care for the american people. >> so when i see these ads and i hear that, i think about the people who were questioned by reporters, and they would say, do you like obamacare? and they'd say, no. they said, do you like the affordable care act? and they said, yes, absolutely. they're the same thing. do you think people are savvy enough or up enough on the issues to realize what republicans have done when it comes to the affordable care act, or do you think they'll just fall for political ads? >> well, i think in this case, after about two years of active debate and discussion about it,

the american people have a much clearer perspective on what the stakes are as it relates to democratic control of the house of representatives versus republican control. now, understand the other side of the aisle are masters of misdirection, manipulation, and misappropriation of actual facts because for them, facts don't matter. hypocrisy is not a constraint to behavior. that's why we're seeing them now have the nerve to run as if they are the guardians of pre-existing conditions. nothing can be further from the truth. because we've had such an active debate, because the american people have seen them attempt to take away health care from tens of millions of americans and impose an age tax, i don't think that their trickery is going to work in the closing days of the election. >> congressman, thank you for your time. >> thank you, don. remember kanye west's oval office meeting with the president earlier this month? well, tonight kanye says he's done with politics. wait until you hear why.

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so just weeks after visiting the white house, kanye west now says he is done with politics. he tweeted today, "my eyes are now wide open and now realize i've been used to spread messages i don't believe in. i'm distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative." that's a big change from what we heard in the oval office. here david swid lock and symone. >> greetings, don. >> go on, what did you want to say to this. >> so one, i think one, i really believe that kanye's easyies that came out two days ago at this point still haven't sold out.

he realized that there are economic implications for the political positions that he has taken. but i also believe this is a bigger thing. this is about the fact that kanye, let's just set aside kanye himself for a second. this movement that he said he was espousing and leading and being part of. i think he took -- i think there are many people that will look at kanye west and look at the back and forth on this, look at the way the trump administration in my opinion kind of capitalized on -- capitalized on him and trotted him out there a couple weeks ago to be a distractions and see that, and think, is this really the free thinking kanye was preaching about? is this really the future? and i would venture to say no. >> but david, you know, i want to know how you feel about this. recently kanye has been associated with a campaign led by a right wing activist of candace owens that encourages

black voters to leave the democratic party. what did you say, symone? >> i just said who. >> right. but tonight kanye said had he nothing to do with it, right? he said after everything kanye has done and said politically, i'm wondering if that's a bridge too far. he said i had nothing to do with it. somebody else wanted to use the name so she used it. what does all this mean? he didn't directly denounce trump. he just said he's done with politics. >> i'm not sure city denounced candace owens. it's a brushback or stiff arm to her trying to hug tight to him and sort of piggy back her movement, this blexity movement off of kanye west's clear celebrity, which is the same thing that president trump has done. that's that second down for your viewers in his timeline right now. the tragedy of kanye, there's more than one tragedy, but in this case, is that he's a

musical genius. flashing lights, jesus walks, stronger, diamonds from sierra leone. we all know these songs. he put it all out there. over the last couple of years in the trump era, he has waded out into this political arena in a way that was uninformed, half baked and made people suspect leading to what symone was saying a moment ago that some of this was about just raising his own profile. there is a discussion to be hading about the relationship between black people and both major political parties but the discussion that he was having that candace owens is having is not a serious discussion. >> perhaps we should be doing something on who is candace owens because i think. >> who? >> thank you both. >> thanks, don. >> local officials asked the president not to go to pittsburgh today but he went anyway and was met with streets swarming with peaceful protesters. was his visit the right thing to

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this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. the president and first lady travelled to pittsburgh today along with ivanka trump and jared kushner to pay respects to the victims of saturday's mass shooting at tree of life synagogue, laying stones and white roses upon of 11 stars