U.S. to Deploy Additional 1500 Troops to Saudi Arabia; CNN Crew Gets Access to American Base in Northern Syria; Turkish Artillery Fire Comes Close to U.S. Forces In Syria; What Trump's Cussing and Cutdowns Mean for The Country; House Democrats Say State Department Tried to Block Ex- Ukraine Ambassador from Appearing Before Congress.
BALDWIN: More breaking news. We have just learned that Turkish artillery fire has landed dangerously close to U.S. forces in Syria. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Barbara, what do you know?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well. The first reports are just coming in. But we've talked to an official, Brooke, who has seen the initial information. It does appear that Turkish artillery rounds have landed near a SOF, a U.S. Special Operations Forces base in northern Syria. U.S. special operations forces have been based there. This is near the town of Kobane in northern Syria that has come under Turkish shelling since all this activity began. Nobody else firing artillery in that region so widely believed to be Turkish artillery. It is exactly what the Pentagon did not want to see. They have been very concerned about the security of U.S. forces in addition to the Kurds. But the security of U.S. troops in this region. They do not believe at this point that the Turks deliberately targeted the U.S., and the rounds did land several hundred meters away from the U.S. position. But even if it's inadvertent, even if the Turks are not capable of precision fires, the concern for the Pentagon now we know will be the safety of U.S. troops. Because just a short time ago we had a press briefing here where they updated us on security of U.S. troops in northern Syria. They told us -- the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs told us that the Turks know down to the satellite point on the ground where U.S. forces are located. They know to stay away from U.S. forces, and if U.S. forces come under attack, the U.S. does have standby plans to evacuate U.S. troops out of Syria, if they simply are unable to be safe to stay there. So now for the first time U.S. Special Operations Forces having Turkish artillery land dangerously close to them in northern Syria -- Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: Barbara Starr, thank you very much.</s>STARR: Sure.</s>BALDWIN: Keep us posted on everything happening in northern Syria. Meantime, words matter. The words I use. The words you use, and certainly the words uttered by the President of the United States. Words can unite and inspire and also intimidate and divide. And I just wanted to take a moment today to call your attention to some of the language President Trump has been using as of late. And just before I do, keep in mind, this is the man who holds the most sacred office in our country. Whose revered position is one our children should look up to. Here is President Trump speaking at a rally last night in Minneapolis hurling insult after insult starting with the city's mayor who had warned Trump to pay his bill in full for holding this event in his city.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Minneapolis. Minneapolis, you got a rotten mayor, you got to change your mayor. A got a bad mayor. She's either really stupid, OK? Or she's really lost it, or maybe there's a certain dishonesty there in there somewhere. Hunter, you know nothing about energy. You know nothing about China. You nothing about anything, frankly. Hunter, you're a loser, and your father was never considered smart. He was never considered a good Senator. He was only a good Vice President, because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama's ass.</s>BALDWIN: Just adding to that, just in the last week we have also seen the President call a sitting U.S. Senator Mitt Romney a pompous ass on Twitter. He called the investigation into his Ukraine phone call, and pardon my language, but I'm just directly quoting the President, "bullshit". And when he saw a Fox News poll yesterday that he didn't like, he singled out the pollsters in a tweet with two words, "they suck." Again, this is the President of the United States. And again, I come back to our nation's children, because they are plugged in. They are watching. They are listening to the President and to their parents. And so I want to leave you with this image of a little boy presumably being held by his dad at President Trump's rally last night. And do you know what his dad was teaching him, according to the Yahoo White House correspondent who was there and snapped these photos? He was teaching him how to boo the media. And that little boy can't be older than -- 6? And if you look really closely on his t-shirt. It reads, oh, the places you'll go. The name of a popular book by Dr. Seuss, a book with a message of hope and inspiration. And just left me wondering, whose words will be more enduring? Joining me now former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod, host of " THE AXE FILES" right here on CNN. David, what do you think?</s>DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I'm thinking, way to warm it up for me, Brooke. Listen, everything you say is obviously true. You know, the profanity, the sort of -- the, you know, the gruffness with people. The mischaracterizations of people and the nasty characterizations of people. But this is all, has been from the beginning, fundamentally endemic to the Trump political project. In certain ways his willingness to flout these norms are like his willingness to flout all the other norms. It is to his supporters at least a signification of his authenticity that he's not politically correct, that he'll say the things that nobody else will say, and he gets quite a reaction for it.</s>BALDWIN: But don't you think his language has gotten worse? Just in the last -few weeks.</s>AXELROD: It has gotten worse. But I mean I think that he is, he is generally moving in a bad direction, because he's under tremendous pressure, and now I think he feels pressure to try and torque up his base. I think as bad as all of the language is, is the -- what is worse is the inclination to, to try to make the case that he and his supporters and his supporters in particular, he as their emblem are under siege. It's almost a war-like rhetoric. You know, he's talked about the civil war, if he's removed from office and so on. It's all really disturbing but it's coming from a President who flagrantly violates rules, norms, laws, and institutions and believes that anybody who observes them is a sucker. So it's all part and parcel of the same thing.</s>BALDWIN: And part of this whole conversation you know also filed this under what's been disturbing, is just watching Republicans say nothing. Right? I mean, you talked to Harry Reid about this for your show. What did he say?</s>AXELROD: I mean, Harry is an institutionalist and he had relationships with Republicans. Even as he was seen as a very partisan figure, he had relationships with Republican Senators and high regard for them. And so he expressed some real disappointment with the unwillingness to speak up about things that are, you know, that are so fundamentally wrong, and I mean it was really interesting. He was almost lamenting the loss of what once was.</s>BALDWIN: We'll watch for your full interview with the former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on "THE AXE FILES." That is coming up of course this weekend. David Axelrod, thank you very much, tomorrow 7:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. Any moment now, we are expecting to hear from President Trump as we've just learned he's reached a quote, substantial initial trade deal with China. We'll bring you his comments, live from the White House.