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See ya This Sunday confronting Putin and it was stronger or energizing. Yes more you nine of them ever in its history President Biden rallies nail allies and warns Russia about trying to outlast Ukraine on the battlefield Who's already lost the war but Ukraine's hopes of natal membership continue to go unfulfilled as they run low on ammunition as the West Done enough to help Ukraine win the war. I'll talk to national security advisor Jake Sullivan Plus military readiness Pentagon officials warn that a single Republican senators block on top military promotions is now impacting national secure This is a national security issue. It's a readiness issue as the Republican led house adds more restrictions on the Pentagon's abortion and transgender policies The polarizing culture war issues now added to a new defense spending bill The Democrats think we should spend taxpayer money to pay for abortion or to pay for woken some in our military Do they want Disneyland to train our military how will the Senate respond?
I'll talk to Republican Senator Dan Sullivan Alaska and Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois Endowing to Santa's or evidence Florida gonna run to Santa's campaign is struggling laying off staff and burning through campaign cash too quickly And it's only Jelah I'm worried about anything, but we got we got a plan then it's campaign bounce back plus director Christopher Nolan talks with me about his new film Telling the story of the scientist J Robert Oppenheimer and his creation of the atomic bomb the leading researchers of your family right now for example They let you refer to this right now as their upper final vote joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News Washington managing editor Carol Lee Democratic bolster Cornell Belcher and Republican strategist Sara Feig welcome to Sunday It's meet the press NBC News Washington the longest-running show in television history. This is meet the press with Chuck Carter Good Sunday morning this week We saw some good news in the economy inflation cooling and more science 2024 campaign is heating up which we're gonna get to but the biggest Story of the week was in Lithuania where members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meant to expand the coalition and discuss their alliance And even expand the scope of NATO's focus perhaps to Asia President Biden's work with NATO Maybe judged by history as some of the most consequential decisions of his presidency 16 months into the war in Ukraine Russia is actually much weaker And the NATO Alliance president Putin hope would crumble now borders almost the entire Baltic Sea even as Ukraine runs low on ammunition And awaits NATO admission for itself president Biden predicted the Alliance would help the invaded nation outlast Putin on the battlefield Putin's already lost the war Putin has a real problem. How does he move from here? What does he do?
So perhaps the most remarkable part of all this is how Biden has succeeded in rallying NATO nations to help fight a proxy war between Ukraine and Russia Without putting any American boots on the ground or any NATO boots on the ground instead adding to the Ukrainian arsenal just this week The US made cluster munitions in many countries and even some US lawmakers opposed five years after president Donald Trump stood next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Finland and came to his defense on 2016 election interference president Biden went to that same world capital Which is now a NATO ally and promise unity against the Russian president and try to reassure the world the US commitment was the last thing I absolutely guarantee it. There's no question. There's overwhelming support from the American people There's overwhelming support from the members of the Congress both House and Senate in both parties not withstanding the fact There's some extreme elements of one party. We will stand together And joining me now to discuss all of this is the national security advisor to the president Jake Sullivan Jake welcome back to me The press Thanks for having me check.
Let me start with the Assurances or lack of assurances that Ukraine is publicly asking for when it comes to NATO membership Let me ask it this way their concern is this by not having some sort of concrete commitment that It means that the idea of NATO's membership to NATO is still going to be there for negotiating and end of this war with Russia How do you how do you draw that line in the sand that says you know? Are you willing to say NATO's future membership in Ukraine's future membership in NATO will never be a part of negotiating the end of this war? Well, I'm not sure we could have said it more clearly than the 31 allies said in the NATO communique check Which was Ukraine's future will be in NATO period full stop. That was a single clear sentence It's not subject to negotiation with any country including Russia It is a subject only for the allies and for Ukraine and what the rest of the document that was released at the NATO summit said Was that we will work on a pathway between here and when Ukraine actually joins to ensure that Ukraine gets an invitation to join NATO When all allies agree in the necessary conditions are met but that is not going to be subject to negotiation with Russia It's those it's that phrase necessary conditions, right that he and I know you you've already scrapped the ones They're going to get the fast track that they're both Finland and Sweden got but it's even that phrase seems to irritate Ukraine any reason to keep that in there Well, what NATO allies have said is that every member of the Alliance every country that seeks to come in to NATO has to meet certain democratic reform standards And Ukraine's own annual national program Which it agreed with NATO some years ago indicates that there are further steps It needs needs to take along the democratic reform path And if you talk to Ukrainian civil society activists even members of the Ukrainian government They would say they want to continue down that reform path NATO will work with Ukraine to ensure those reforms are completed and when they are complete Ukraine will be very much in a position To step forward and meet all of the requirements for coming in to NATO Hey, by the way, do you think NATO can you think Ukraine can hold parliamentary elections this fall?
Well first ultimately the decision about how to play out parliamentary elections is up to Ukraine itself It's not up to the United States So I'm not gonna opine on the steps they need to take to ensure they're staying consistent with their constitution only that we want to see That rule of law democracy and fidelity to the Constitution are respected and the Ukrainians will work out for themselves how that plays out with Respect to elections this fall. Would it be a problem for the United States though if they postpone those elections? I'm not gonna get into hypotheticals We're in regular contact with Ukrainians about making sure as I said before that they're following the law that they are remaining true to their democratic ideals We'll continue to do that in the months ahead. I want to talk about what's going on with Vladimir Putin We have crossed a number of his so-called red lines when this war started Finland and Sweden have joined NATO that was a red line increasing NATO troops in Europe was a red line at one point for him Supplying fighter jets and tanks to Ukraine was one time considered a red line providing long-range missile systems.
We've done all of those things Why do you think there that number one? Why do you think there hasn't been a response by him number one and why do we? Why do we take it any other red line seriously with him? Well at the beginning of this war president Biden laid out the American position Which was we were going to take dramatic bold steps to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity We were going to ensure and sustain the unity of the West and we were going to make sure that we did not end up in World War 3 with Russia Meaning US troops fighting Russian troops in Ukraine or anywhere else We have stood by those three basic precepts throughout this conflict and as the conflict has evolved the nature of our assistance to Ukraine has Evolved with it and we of course have learned along the way about what is possible and what is not possible I can't speak to what's in the mind of president Putin.
All I can say is that the basic US position in this comes down to a single clear Point which is we are going to support Ukraine without having us boots on the ground and American soldiers fighting Russian soldiers And that will remain consistent throughout the course of this conflict Are you concerned that Vladimir Putin is going to use the American political calendar that he wants to buy time and see what happens in the November 2024 elections Well, it's fair to say that Vladimir Putin from before this conflict began had certain misconceptions about the United States in the West He thought the United States would not step up and support Ukraine He thought that the US and our European allies NATO would not be able to sustain unity He thought the Ukrainians themselves would wither and collapse in the face of the Russian attack He's been proven wrong time and time again And he was proven wrong again in Vilnius this past week when the NATO alliance came out stronger Larger and more unified than at any point in history So if in fact he is betting on American resolve to falter or fail, he is going to continue losing that bet That's all I can say really you don't think betting on a different party becoming controlling the White House To that that isn't a bet he should make well What I'm saying is that the United States are NATO allies and a larger coalition of nations around the world that have stepped up to provide unprecedented levels of support to Ukraine all of that has flown in the face of Vladimir Putin's expectations And I think he will continue to have his expectations dashed that the West is going to falter or crack in this And all we can do in the Biden administration is get up every single day and work as hard as we possibly can alongside our allies and partners To get Ukraine what it needs as fast as it needs it to be able to succeed in this effort Two things on the decision on cluster munitions number one look I understand I understand the rationale it's been explained you've painstakingly explained and I know this is not a unanimous decision in NATO But have we not lost our moral authority on something like this as a leader on this stuff when it comes to look We just got rid of our chemical weapons and we've been trying to lead the world and getting rid of that We try to rhetorically lead the world and trying to to get rid of these barbaric Weapons and then here we are now still going into our stockpile and giving them to an ally Does that not harm our moral authority? Well Chuck our moral authority has not derived from being a signatory to the convention against cluster munitions We are not we have not been at any point since that convention came into effect neither has Ukraine our moral authority and Ukraine's moral authority In this conflict comes from the fact that we are supporting a country under a brutal vicious attack by its neighbor with missiles And bombs raining down in its cities killing its civilians destroying its schools its churches its hospitals And the idea that providing Ukraine with a weapon in order for them to be able to defend their homeland protect their civilians Is somehow a challenge to our moral authority? I find questionable I would say that we are stepping up to give Ukraine what it needs in order to not be defenseless in the face of a Russian On slide we are simply not going to leave Ukraine defenseless The president was determined on that point and we've remained committed to that is the United States out of the manufacturing of new cluster munitions? Are we we're not gonna we'll we replenish this stockpile or not?
We our current plan is not to replenish the that stockpile It is rather to build up the capacity to produce the unitary round the of the 155 the non-cluster munition round of ammunition We began that process months ago as we anticipated the need for continuing supply to Ukraine But it takes time and that is why we need a bridge from today when we need to ensure the Ukraine has the necessary supply of ammunition To a few months down the road when we believe we can supply enough of the unitary round to meet Ukraine's defense needs Jakes I believe it there. I know you're have a busy morning ahead of you. Appreciate you coming on and sharing the administration's perspective. Thank you, sir Thanks for having me.
This week Alabama Senator Tommy topper though was featured on the international stage Probably not the way he wanted to be when the president chastised him from Helsinki for his hold on hundreds of military promotions He jeopardized in US security I expect the Republican party to stand up stand up and do something about it and joining me now as a member of the senator I'm services Kevin of military veteran itself and he also attended the NATO summit It's Republican senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska and senator first of all. Thank you for giving up extraordinary early this morning Although I don't think the Sun sets right now where you are so good morning Good morning Chuck. It's gonna be back on the show from Alaska Let me start with that question right there respond to the president there that he that he's hoping the rest of this Republican party The Senate Republicans is basically what he's saying Well be able to talk senator topperville out of what he's doing considering that the house is sent over a bill with a men And on it isn't it fair to say this is in the legislative process and what senator topper bill is doing is is now Unnecessary and harmful. Well, I hope we get a chance to talk about the NATO summit But let me address that for the president a lot of my democratic colleagues Are talking about this as a big national security issue I think I think we should be clear the biggest national security issue from my perspective Chuck is the Biden administration is continuing to put forward defense Budget cuts during what everybody in the president agrees with this.
So does the secretary of defense thinks it's the most dangerous time since world war Two, right the budget for next year is gonna take us below three percent of GDP spending That's the lowest level in almost 70 years. So to me, that's the biggest national security threat and readiness threat We have facing us and that's the some the president needs to address directly now to senator topperville You know as you know every senator has the right to place holds on nominees on an issue of policy importance I certainly have done this myself. I'm here in Alaska right now I had a hold a couple years ago on the secretary of the army the chief of staff of the army to get them to change the Position when they're gonna remove a brigade combat team everyone brigade combat team from Alaska I know my friend Tammy Duckworth is gonna be on your show next and look She's a war hero very few Americans have sacrificed for their country like she has but senator Duckworth has had the exact same Hold the Tommy Tupperville does a couple years ago on Generals to be promoted here's the bottom line and I think you're getting at it And I think I think we're getting closer here every single one of these kind of holds 99% of them get resolved through compromise And what needs to happen secretary of defense secretary to senator Tupperville Chuck Schumer need to sit down and have that path The good news is and I've encouraged this you may have seen secretary Austin reached out to senator Tupperville a couple days ago I appreciate secretary Austin doing that But I think we're gonna be debating the NDAA in the Senate the next two weeks to your point I think there's gonna be opportunities to get to that compromise like we have on all these kind of holds that happen regularly in the Senate I do want to get back to the NATO meeting you were there I want to talk about the the number of mentions of China in the communique you know went from one last year in Madrid I think over a dozen mentions here. Look is is NATO expansion into the Asia arena inevitable over the next two decades?
Oh, I think it is and I think it was a positive summit I think there was a lot of progress. It wasn't just a mention of China several times almost 20 times in my count But Chuck you probably saw the leaders who were there was the prime minister of Japan Prime Minister of Australia the president of Korea Our Senate delegation had the opportunity to meet with those leaders And I think that was a really strong signal with regard to NATO my big message to all the leaders in NATO during the summit And it's something we talked about with the president Jake Sullivan when we were over there one of the critical issues We have to keep pushing with regard to NATO is to get the rest of our allies to step up and do their part You know we want this alliance Which is one of the most successful military alliances in history to be strong to be sustainable but it's undermined the sustainability of NATO When only seven of 31 members of NATO currently meet their 2% of GDP Obligation for defense spending and look that in my view has the potential to undermine even support for Ukraine in the near term and longer term The sport for NATO so we need our other NATO allies to step up some are doing it sweet and joining as you know They're gonna hit 2% right off the bat summer laggards Canada is barely above 1% is unacceptable and we drove that Message home by the way in a bipartisan way in every meeting we have I want to stick with the NATO here very quickly Do you get President Biden credit for NATO expansion? I mean Sweden and Finland nobody saw that comment four years ago Yes, I do and look I give President Biden credit for keeping the unity of NATO a revitalizing NATO as your opening piece did as setting out the Framework for this war of aggression, which was we're gonna provide significant military assets and intelligence, but we're not gonna commit US troops So I give him credit for that where I don't give him credit And you and I've talked about this is in two areas one the slow rolling and self-deterrence that we've had this administration's had with getting the Ukrainians the weapon systems that they need you know The list is very long last time I was on the show by the way with you and Jake Sullivan We talked about the F-16s I predicted they're eventually gonna do it but it's taken two darn long That's exactly what happened and then the other issue I already mentioned it depends on work You know we're cutting defense spending and when it's a very dangerous world everybody agrees We should not be going below two three percent of defense spending You know the current budget shrinks the army shrinks the Navy shrinks the ring work That is the wrong signal to send it up and it is up in raw dollars It would be but I don't want to get into that we can debate what cuts are like in Washington people have a different view I'm gonna ask you something George will wrote very quickly here He wrote this Vladimir Putin's fifth column is not in key But in the Trump to Santa's faction of the Republican Party Putin has two hopes for a less than completely mortifying Rescue from his Ukraine blunder one is the election of Trump Whose frivolous about national security compliments his weaklings admiration for a bully whose other hope is the election of DeSantis Are you concerned and should you crank be concerned that the election of Donald Trump could harm our support? Well look in terms of the Republican Party, I think there's some for elected officials right now I think there's been some very positive news hasn't been talked about You know there was this debate in the Republican Conference in the Senate about cutting off aid to Ukraine a couple members wanted to send a letter to the president We debated it.
I strongly was opposed that three Republican senators signed this letter And that's not very strong You could just saw the NDAA that was marked up in the house all the amendments that were calling on cutting off Ukraine aid Went down strongly in a bipartisan way So I think elected Republican officials right now in the Senate in the house are still strongly supportive of Ukraine We need to make sure other allies as well right two percent. We need to make sure I tell Ukrainians this all the time Well, I think there's my point I think that current elected officials can have a strong impact on whoever the next president is when president Trump was president I pressed him on the issue of NATO Quite a lot and so did many other members I'll tell you one thing president Trump did quite well was press this two percent of GDP issue Mm-hmm by the way president Biden has been doing that president Obama did it as well So I think the current elected Republican leadership in the House and Senate strongly supports NATO And I think that's the most important thing to look at right now in terms of that issue Well, as I said, I really appreciate you getting up very early for us in Anchorage senator Dan Sullivan Republic for my last year Or who knows maybe you stayed up really late. Good to be in the show. Thanks very much When we come back more on the politics of military readiness with record better than Senate arms or committee member Democrat Tammy Duckworth of the Illinois Hey guys, Willie Geistier reminding you to check out the Sunday sit-down podcast on this week's episode I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world Mumford and Sons as we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album prize fighter And the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound you can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the guard today at workouts meal plans It's your fast track to a healthier you and now during the XFINITY member celebration numbers We get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription head to XFINITY.COM slash membership to learn more XFINITY Imagine that subscription automatically reduce each year at $65.99 plus taxes and fees until cancel all the rans May 20th 20 26 prices subject to change visit today.com slash XFINITY for full on returns and details Welcome back to me the press this week the Republican Len House narrowly passed the Defense Authorization Act But it weighed it down with a lot of culture war restrictions and Pentagon's abortion and transgender policies military funding now rests with finding a compromise between the House and Senate bills because the House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate The military promotions continue to be held up as we were discussing with senator Sullivan by Republican senator from Alabama Tommy Tupperville.
So join me now is army veteran and Democratic senator from Illinois Tammy Duckworth senator Duckworth welcome back to me the press It's good to be on. Thanks for having me. Uh, let me start with this issue of the millet of these uh military promotions and what Tupperville's been doing You heard your colleagues senator Sullivan say hey look it's a senator's prerogative You've done a lot of people have done it One could argue doing it having to do with if it's about pentagon policy versus when it's not Uh, I think it's a certainly fair game there. So let me ask this Um, what are you willing to have a vote?
Tupperville wants to vote or you want to put a vote on this on the floor is this the best way out of this We've given him many options for a vote and he's turned them all down. Uh, johnnie irons has a bill that is uh Goes even further than where uh senator tupperville is and he declined that vote And republican leadership have offered him multiple off ramps to this and he's backed himself into a corner I mean, you know what he's saying is what democrats need to pass a national Uh, clarification of rov wait, we would love to do that. Obviously that's not gonna happen anytime soon with the senate is closely split as it is Um, and so, uh, you know, I'm gonna just say what president biden has said it is bizarre But senator tupperville to say that he's not jeopardizing national security when he injects politics into the defense process And frankly, this is not the time to do it Not when there is a war going on in europe not when american leadership is vital to the international global order For him to really jeopardize our national security by jacking politics and preventing our military leaders We aim to take their positions and do their jobs. Um, it's really, you know, it's beyond distressing It is just that it is uh, jeopardization to our national security Is there any other way around this or is this power of one center hold something that it's one center and there's just this is way The senate works Well, in part, I mean one of the ways we can do is we can vote on each individual uh nominee But that would take well into next year and the process is very slow Uh, upsetting how we normally um, uh, confirm candidates We would take you know all 250 officers and say okay without you know, we didn't have this consent Let's uh, go ahead and promote all of these officers and generally there's unanimous consent and senator tupperville is the one who's saying Nope, I want this done one by one Well, there's so many promotions that we're going to fall further and further behind and we could never get any other business done Uh, you know, as senator Sullivan is a good friend of mine.
We've traveled together We have shared many of the same concerns. Um, and then he's right This is something that is done often in the senate but not to the extent that senator tupperville's regent I only held for 14 days and that was over alexander vin being retaliated against by the trump white house Um, and right now senator tupperville is, uh, jeopardizing our nation's ability to lead the free world at a time when there's a war in europe Uh, because he wants to inject politics into this what I asked you the same question about nato expansion I asked senator selvin do you think nato expansion to asia is inevitable over the next decade or so? I think it is. I agree with my friend.
Um, and and frankly, uh, you know You know, it already has started to do that with our successful august agreement between the uk s really in the united states Um, our asian allies i went to a travel extensively throughout uh, the Indo-pacific and our asian allies are looking very closely to What has happened with ukraine and realized that there is a greater need to participate Themselves in nato as well as nato allies coming back into the Indo-pacific region I think what felman poutin has done is normally has he expanded nato He's actually strengthened the resolve of countries like japan and korea and taiwan and other nations I mean even the asian nations put out a statement of condemning russia's actions in ukraine So he's in fact united the world in a way against what he's doing there Let me ask you I know your chair of the environmental justice caucus We just we're when i'm gonna do later in the show Hot obviously we've had the hottest temperatures on earth in the month of july so far Um among the proposals to do with extreme heat is some i was talking with the chief heat advisor of phoenix and he wants Hot extremely hot days to be considered natural disasters and national emergencies and have fema funding kick in on that Um, it would mean a lot more money for fema if if we could fund fema that way you think that's something that's coming and that should Be a role for fema You know, I don't think so um, but I will tell you one of the things that we can do to uh cool the earth back down is to transition into greener Energy alternative my home state of illinois is a big energy state. We have more nuclear reactors than anyone else We grew a hundred thousand new jobs in ten years and underwent and of course biofuels And this is where uh, we really need to turn and look at companies like uh united airlines That is looking to go to be a leader in when it comes to sustainable aviation feel There's nothing better than good old american grown corn and soybean to produce the biofuels that will lead us into a greener future And i want to ask about the supreme court. I know there's a lot of progressive democrats that would like to see the president and other democrats speak out about Court expansion rather than maybe trying to work within the rules that exist where are you on this? You know, I I think uh, i'm not opposed to court expansion, but i'm not certainly there where i would support it at this point in time I think what we need to do is what we're continuing to do and my senior senator from illinois senator durbin is doing a great job of confirming Justices to all of the various uh levels of federal benches so that we have Folks in place who can be elevated to the supreme court who are not going to be the activist judges like you know borsett who by the way did not tell the truth when he came up for his confirmation hearing in fact he told Senator collins that he would not uh oppose a work to overturn rove weight and that's exactly what he did uh similarly justice is like um And so we need to take a look at uh where we're going in terms of confirming judiciary appointments all across the country Senator tami doc with democrat from illinois appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us.
Thank you Thanks. Well before we go to break fbi director christopher ray had a fenned off house republican attacks this week in a congressional hearing ray a trump Abointing and registered republican took particular offense from the assertion from some members that somehow he was helping law enforcement webinize the fbi in favor of democrats in the executive branch because what these fears about the fbi is nothing new back in 1976 then presidential candidate jimmy carter detailed his fears of how politics could corrupt the fbi and justice department In the post-water gate era tickless The first thing we need to do is to make sure that the fbi is completely professionalized once again and is removed from politics So i would like to remove the attorney general from the cabinet have the attorney general appointed for a certain period of time Maybe five to seven years having reported on the basis of merit of her have they sent it up confirmed that a foreman But not remove that person from office unless the president and the leaders of congress designated with a special prosecutor Determined that the attorney general was not adequate to perform in the duties of that office I think this removal of attorney general who's a boss of the fbi and from politics would let the fbi seek its natural role as a non political Reserve hmm interesting when we come back republican presidential candidates gather an eye on minus the front run former president Donald Trump can anyone take down a runaway favor in the first contest of the primary season panelist Welcome back panelists here carolie being the seniors watching a managing editor democratic pollster corona belcher republican strategist sir fagan Little more intimate here. Let's start with ronda santhes news, you know Um every month since february there has been a story about ronda santhes has problems within february in patience because he hadn't gotten in in march donors were starting to look at other challenges in april it was oh There already needs to be a shake up and he hadn't formally announced in may more donors writing in june The campaign launched itself isle and now once again here We are and this FEC report was the picture of a bloated campaign that we've seen before and scott walker parallows from 2015 or suddenly here Um, is this a time to panic and to sand this world? Well, you can see it in the sense that there already had this shake up There's expected to be more to come in that space and the FEC report What it did was really underscore and confirm a lot of the concerns that donors had that people who wanted to sand us to be the Trump alternative had When you talk to allies of the governor they will say that his strategy is when iowa play a long game put in the work grind it out The question is do they have the resources to go the distance like that and right now what you're seeing is he had some big donor support The grassroots is not there.
It's with former president trump and so how he executes this strategy is really big question. I was just gonna say So we did some analysis here. He's got a lot too many maxed out donors already He only got 14% of us all from small donors. There was a story about oh, yeah They're they're trying to be more honest about their small donor fundraising I think that's what you say when you want to explain away while you're not doing this We you've seen we were just talking before there there always is this one campaign that sort of their eyes got bigger than their stomach Yeah, I mean they were running the campaign of inevitability and it was them and trump and that's not what's happening You see chris christie on the rise in new hansher You see tim scott becoming the darling of donors They have to fundamentally adjust their mindset Which is that they're gonna have to knock off everyone else and then be the person who takes on trump and there's still plenty of time to do that And he has plenty of resources to do that But he's going to have to fundamentally kind of adjust his strategy corona a lot of dissent supporters are gonna point to something that you were a part of Which was 2007 Barack Obama, you know donors were fretting how come he hasn't caught caught Hillary yet Is is that fair or is that missing something?
Well the dynamics are very different here One of the things that I would argue that that it's really early and that this I don't argue that but that's okay I don't think it's early anymore. I don't think it's a point And but but you but you also see one of the things that's most disturbing about the sense is that he's losing support And all the polls that we're seeing now He's not he had he's weaker now than he was a month ago and two months ago We never had we never saw that with Barack Obama Barack Obama started out 20 points behind Hillary everywhere That again, this is not a national election. We will take the state by state The state by state but Barack Obama wasn't losing support The dentist has shown up and voters have taken a look and they pulled back from him I do think when I make some point that is then I mean you just see it It is a good point of which is what I sort of stand by my statement Which is you kind of got to fundamentally shift your mindset here Which is now you're in the game of inches and you have to survive on the debate stage acknowledge today You're probably not going to be the winner of the debate and start to downplay expectations And then inch by inch go win Iowa Which is what the campaign is saying is a big part of their strategy They're gonna have to win Iowa and if that were to happen, then certainly we'd be having a very different conversation Part of the issue with the dentist trying to downplay expectations and kind of run as if he's the underdog now Is that is not part of his brand? His brand is I'm a winner.
I'm strong. I'm going to beat Trump I'm the alternative It's me and so that's gonna be it'll be interesting to watch how he tries to navigate that because it's so counterintuitive to what he's Point the problem is that you've got to make it up in the end of the debates I think the base now become more important because look you're not I'm in the debate if you're a scientist. He needs I totally disagree. This is kind of my point which is this is no longer a election between Trump and DeSantis It's an election between Trump and everybody else and so who is going to be the Would you actually not want Trump in the first day actually contrast yourself with Tim Scott potentially potentially?
I mean This is they have to have a fundamental mind shift because they are not going to clear the field They haven't heard they have a shot and it's over and now the field is on the ascent Yeah, and he's gonna have to figure out how to beat down the field and if I'm Trump I don't get in the bait I would tell Trump if I were Trump I wouldn't do debate because you're 30 points ahead Only thing you can do is take punches on that debate stage take care before we go You have some reporting on the White House say we talked a little bit about the whole what's going on with the fenceville and military promotions And that the White House wants to try to make this more public Yeah, they've already dialed up you heard the president weigh in on this But what I'm told by administration officials is that this week starting this week They're going to really point to very specific examples of how this hole is affecting You know everything from the chain of command to military facilities in different states to military families including in Alabama Huntsville has a large military population there and so they're going to lean in in that sense and the blue line that they're going to draw to the Presidential race or that's inherent in this is that what Tuberville is doing what was passed in the National Defense Authorization Act by the House Which focused on abortion transgender care equity University programs that that is a direct correlation to the Republican Party as a whole under the Trump Sir, how would you advise Tommy Tuberville to it seems like he is looking for an experiment that doesn't know how to find it? Well, I think part of it is Senator Sullivan said there's gonna be a chance during this debate in the Senate to horse trade Some of these various amendments and to figure out what is the path forward and that's he's probably gonna need his colleagues at this point to give That all for him. All right. Thank you guys when we come back the country was hit with a destructive heat wave this week This temperatures reach their highest recorded levels on earth.
We're gonna take a look at climate change by the number of things Welcome back to download time as reports of record heat waves and wildfires and floods come in the potential impacts of climate change have begun to feel Very real and becoming an everyday part of our lives and if there's one lesson from the summer's extreme weather Maybe that no place is truly safe no matter where you live in America or frankly around the globe look This is the average global temperature and in the month of July we have hit look at this week this first week of July We have broken the record. This is the hottest temperature average temperature that we've ever recorded on earth It's about two degrees higher than what is normal two degrees are huge and it makes a huge difference you have all that kind of heat You know you end up having high water temperatures 92.7 degrees on Wednesday in Florida. This is not the air temperature in Florida Hey, that's just normal summer This was the temperature of the water around Key West when you have the temperature that high it puts coral reefs at risk You have coral reef side you get rid of natural flood protections you get rid of fish you've heard industry It has a huge economic impact and a huge obviously environmental impact and this heat wave is not just in the water In the Atlantic Ocean, it's in the air in Phoenix look at these recorded temperatures this week three straight days on hundred and fifteen degrees We're born again. This is not the feels like temperature that you hear about from your local weather person This is the actual air temperature in Phoenix So that's heat how about water that two day rain event in Vermont caused all sorts of problems this extreme weather They couldn't handle it and overall in New England We had nearly two million people under flood alerts because of all the rain that came down and just and started overflowing these rivers in Vermont And of course if you lived on the east coast you knew about the wildfire smoke 120 million people have been impacted by that So water smoke heated oceans heated air guess what this month the whole world and the whole nation is experiencing what extreme weather is like When we come back my conversation with director Christopher Nolan on his newfound Oppenheimer We didn't even atomic device.
We might start a chain reaction that destroys the world Welcome back It was 78 years ago today that a group of scientists led by Jay Robert Oppenheimer gathered at the Trinity site near Los Alamos, New Mexico To test the very first atomic bomb course some few weeks later and a bomb would be dropped on Hiroshima the successful test shook Not only northern, New Mexico, but the entire world the creation and fallout from the nuclear arms races featured on the big screen in Universal's new movie Oppenheimer Are we saying there's a chance that when we push that button we destroy the world? Near zero. What do you want from theory alone zero would be nice on Saturday? I sat down with the writer director of the film Christopher Nolan along with a panel of physicists to discuss why telling Oppenheimer's story is so important Why did you feel this movie needed to be made there was a great story you talked about your own kids and they were they were going We had the word on nuclear weapons anymore.
This was before the for Russian day to Ukraine and then your response was well This is why I have to make the movie Yeah, and sadly with everything that's happening. Well, right? I know no one's asking that question anymore But to me, you know, there were two answers to that. You know one is maybe that's a reason to make the film But the other is that the story itself Particularly as found in in American Prometheus the story of Robert Oppenheimer's life and obviously in particular his relationship with Manhattan Project Was it highlight involves some of the most dramatic elements?
I've ever encountered in any body story fictional or real and so for me everything really was about wanting to dive into his head, you know Really try and live his experience with him and in that way, you know I talk to everybody Kelly and everybody involved with the film is you know We're trying to keep people in his point of view and in that way achieve understanding rather than judgment Mm-hmm and the hope is that by achieving that and going through the story that way You sort of leave the film with some unsettling questions and some some troubling issues Do you think we'll keep re-examining Oppenheimer as our as our understanding of quantum physics continues as our taming of the atom continues as our Ability if we ever get to throw its way 30 years away from being 30 years away with cold fusion, right? All those things will continue to relitigate his legacy. I hope so I mean when I talk to the leading researchers at the field of AI right now, for example They literally refer to this right now as their Oppenheimer mode They're looking to his story to say okay. What are the responsibilities for scientists developing new technologies that may have unintended consequence Do you think Silicon Valley's thinking that right now?
Do you think they understand this is an Oppenheimer moment? They I mean they say that they do and that's That's helpful that at least it's in the conversation You know and I hope that that thought process will continue I mean I think I'm not saying it off and I'm a story off as any easy answers to those questions But at least can serve as a caution and tale it at least could show you know where some of those responsibilities lie Christopher I get you to do two screenings, right? I'd have you do one screening to the US Congress What would you hope they would take away from this? I think more than anything coming out of making the film and as it starts to come out to the world I Realize that we talked about this earlier our relationship with the fear of nuclear weapons ebbs and flows with geopolitical situation And it shouldn't because the threat is constant and very often when you look back at history some of the closest moments And if you didn't have actually been in times where else it calmed you politically So even though situation Ukraine kind of puts it more in people's minds the truth is Nuclear weapons are extraordinarily dangerous thing to have lying around the house And it is not something we should ever forget about and it's not something we should take lightly and one of the things that frightens me The most about you know you talk about coming over work anxiety But when I hear in the media people reasonable people talking about tactical nuclear weapons As if this distinction can be made it could be made via first politics politicians and media sort of warming us up to the idea Perhaps there's a certain size of nuclear weapon that would be acceptable as opposed to large ones Let me one more screening I want you to have which is in Silicon Valley and what do you want those guys to take away from this?
I think what I would want them to take away is the concept of accountability Not to sideline the conversation to the labor disputes going on in Hollywood right now But a lot of it when they're talking about things like AI when we talk about these issues They're all ultimately born on the same thing which is when you innovate with technology You have to maintain accountability and the rise of companies over the last 15 years bandy about the word like algorithm Not knowing what they mean in any kind of meaningful mathematical sense people in my business talking about it They just don't want to take responsibility for whatever that algorithm does and apply to AI That's terrifying possibility terrifying not least because as AI systems go into the defense infrastructure ultimately They'll be charged with nuclear weapons and if we allow people to say that that's a separate entity from the person who's Wielding programming putting that AI to use then we're doing it has to be about accountability We have to hold people accountable for what they do with the tools that they have As you can see there AI and nukes ouch Oh Oppenheimer can be seen in theaters and I'm acts nationwide this week on Friday July 21st another quick programming note This week's episode meet the press reports is on the living wage talk with former presidential candidate Andrew Yang who advocated a universal minimum income Of $1,000 a month on the fight many Americans have to make ends meet that episode in all of season six is available right now Take off in YouTube. It's all we have for today. Thanks for watching. It's a good Sunday.
It's me the press He was a young Marine she didn't care about convention They made a life together then one night the Marine died and then the death investigation took a wild unexpected and utterly bizarre turn I'm Josh Makele what's and this is trace of suspicion and all new podcasts from they want to listen to all episodes of trace of suspicion now Wherever you get your podcasts