David Gergen

I think the president declaring a national emergency gives him an out with his base.

I think he's playing a losing hand, John. It all started back with that meeting with Nancy Pelosi. My interpretation... was that Nancy Pelosi outmaneuvered him.

Leadership of the world is in the hands of an egomaniac who doesn't want wise counselors around him, just underlings. Buckle up. These two years could be more turbulent than the last two.

Only 33 percent of the polls say it's worth shutting down the government to get the wall. I think he's ultimately going to have to surrender.

Yes, he has every reason to do this, because his major accomplishment has been the quality of the economy.

The obvious play for Nancy Pelosi is to pass a bill in the Democratic House, calling for a continuing resolution that goes up to February 8th, which is what the Republicans in the Senate accepted earlier.

What happens? We leave those Kurds to be slaughtered. We destroy our reliability in the Middle East.

This is a victory for the other side.

I think there's a lot of truth to it. As that graphic showed, it's not just six different organizations, but they are now according to wired, 17 different criminal investigations underway.

It has enormous political ramifications. And fighting back against all of these investigations, Trump continually lashes out at the FBI.

It's massive. And I think it's more than we've seen in Watergate.

the public has also seen at the same time yet a new merry-go-round going on with the White House, with people coming and going.

Well, she looks like she has a fine resume as a journalist. She distinguished herself at ABC and Fox News, and then she was a co-anchor for 'Fox and Friends,' so she has big credentials at Fox.

Absolutely. And I do think going back to any comparison you want to make that Nikki Haley was, you know, she didn't have a lot of experience in diplomacy, but what she brought to that job, which is very important, was she had a very close…

I think he'll be remembered chiefly for two things, Anderson. One is the personal side. He was a man, a president of enormous character.

I might say just one footnote, Anderson. I do think that President Trump deserves some credit for how he's been handling this over the last few days. He's been very positive. He hasn't been snarky.

The other thing is he did end the Cold War very peacefully and very, very importantly.

No. The Ukrainian sailor has already been out there for a few days when he decided he was going to go, it's clearly, you know, what happened on the plane after he heard about his lawyer, Cohen.

I just think it cast a huge shadow over the kind of foreign policy. And other nations notice this and they will take advantage of us.

I would argue there's perhaps a different way to look at this. And that is Paul Manafort is not stupid. He may be reckless, but he's not stupid.

Loyalty does not run both wisely to this president, nor the rules of the game or views on decorum.

I think the Republicans are now starting to distance themselves and increasing -- with increasing frequency from the President.

When we get the President in the middle of this, the question of people having suspicions about how it's being tipped one way the other.

I think it's terribly damaging. It's certainly damaged the reputation of Florida.

You're absolutely right, Anderson, and also sending in 500 troops on the weekend before the elections long before the marchers and the caravan ever reached the border. They don't need to be there this weekend. That's a ploy.