Sources: Trump Has Been Questioning Aides Why He Must Attend G7; Doesn't View Summit As A Productive Use Of Time
BOLDUAN: New tonight, President Trump complaining to aides about why he has to attend the G7. He's just hours away from departing, by the way. Sources telling CNN that Trump doesn't view the gathering of world leaders as a productive use of his time. Out front now CNN's David Gergen who is Presidential Adviser to Four Presidents, Sam Vinograd, former Senior Adviser to the National Security Adviser under President Obama and Presidential Historian Tim Naftali, former Director of the Nixon Presidential Library. Guys, thank you for being here. David, the fact that this news is coming out just hours before he is set to leave, I just wonder what does that say?</s>DAVID GERGEN, FORMER ADVISER TO FOUR PRESIDENTS: Nothing good. Nothing good, Kate. I first went to G7 meeting some 40 years ago with President Reagan. They started under President Ford back in the mid '70s. Every president I know has had a really top person within the administration serve as a Sherpa writing up communication in advance trying to get agreements in advance. Every president has taken these meetings very, very seriously. And today as President Trump gets ready to leave, I must tell you I cannot remember a G7 meeting when so much was needed from more leaders and so little is expected.</s>BOLDUAN: That is a great way of putting it, David. That's a great way of putting it, so much is on the line and there are so low expectations, Sam, of what is actually going to come out of it. Obviously, world leaders are now aware of the President's feelings towards the summit and attending, does it impact the summit overall? I mean, you've been there.</s>SAM VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I have and Trump is a creature of habit. His disdain for coordination whether it'd be multilaterally with other countries or even internally has been very clear since he came into office. He went to the NATO Summit, he was insulting. He went the past G7 summit, he didn't sign a communique. So other leaders are likely not surprised that he has to be bribed into going to this meeting. But Kate, it's pretty notable that he's questioned the value of going to the G7 summit, which I've been. It's one stop shopping for every issue or most issues that are affecting Americans today. He has to be bribed ...</s>BOLDUAN: And again like the world is on fire figuratively and literally.</s>VINOGRAD: Literally, yes. Missiles are flying figuratively and literally too.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes. Yes.</s>VINOGRAD: But he has to be bribed into going to this summit whereas he gleefully meets with despots. It's like despots got a discount on his time because they say nice things about him. And at this point the bar is already set very low per David's point. Macron has already announced there isn't going to be a communique. The other leaders are likely trying to do damage control in advance and one of the key priorities now is going to be babysitting President Trump rather than focusing on things like environmental sustainability and gender equality, which are key issues on the G7 agenda.</s>BOLDUAN: It's interesting you put it as babysitting or dealing with kid gloves or however, but there's also these awkward moments, Tim, that seem to happen when the President gets around other world leaders. Let me just play some of the things that seem to happen when he gets together with them. And when he famously pushed the Prime Minister of Montenegro out of the way. I mean that video has been played a million and a half times on his way, because he said he needed to get into his position for a photo op in 2017. And, of course, there are then was what happened at the UN last year.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. America's - so true. I didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK.</s>BOLDUAN: I mean points for handling the moment, but still awkward moments for President Trump often happen when he's with other world leaders. Why does he struggle with this?</s>TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I mean it was so interesting to listen to David recount his recollections of - and Sam too, recollections of previous G7s and G8s. One of the ways that these meetings were useful to the United States was that it was an opportunity not just for one stop shopping, which is a great way of describing it, it was also a chance for the United States to exercise leadership. Leadership over the West. At some point, this group was called the steering committee for the west. President Trump shows no interest in exercising leadership over the west or really over any group. He is constantly viewing the rest of the world as rivals, all of the time. And in fact, if he's close to any countries, it would be Russia and Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. So these meetings which are supposed to bring about consensus and a joint approach to a problem are anathema to Trump because he doesn't see the world that way. I think the key problem here is that Donald Trump has never accepted the proposition that the American president should be a diplomat in addition to being the most respected, most powerful person in the world. I don't think he's ever gotten that and he's the first president not to get it.</s>BOLDUAN: And Sam, then add into this mix, the erratic behavior of the last week all over the map on issues not having a position that gaggle with reporters that just went off the rails. And then, I don't know, trying to maybe be ironic with a tweet attacking a man who, yes, running for president against him, a Democratic candidate, but also served four tours of duty in Iraq and joking about the tank of the stock market. I mean when I look at it, when you look at it just as a whole, then he's heading into this high pressure summit that he doesn't want to be at. What is happening? Is it anger? Is it anxiety? Is it fear? A lot of folks talk about his narcissism, but is it something else?</s>VINOGRAD: It may be all of the above, but at this point it doesn't really matter, because it's been happening for so long. And as the rest of the world looks at his Twitter tirades, his flip flops on issues, him comparing Chairman Xi Jinping to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, it's pretty indicative of how much prep he's doing going into this meeting. I mean he is tweeting erratic things, ridiculous things, dangerous things, rather than doing what the two presidents I served under did, which was spend time with their teams, coordinating on the issues that were going to be on the G7 agenda, and coming up with an analytic way to move forward and to reach policy objectives. You look at something like China, he's tweeting about tariffs. His team is putting out a statement, it just came out quoting his tweets rather than everyone taking a step back and saying, "XI Jinping is going to be at the g7, how should we respond?" We have North Korean missiles flying and President Trump tweets about those rather than taking a step back talking to his intelligence community and figuring how to respond. This is par for the course at this point and the rest of the world knows that this is his version of prepping for just about everything.</s>BOLDUAN: I mean, David, from your perspective, is this something that world leaders need to shrug off what they see? I mean he doesn't even want to - aides had to convince him to go to the G7 summit by basically treating it like giving a kid candy to go to the dentist by adding an economic gathering on the last day so he could brag about something. I mean, what is so wrong here right now with him?</s>GERGEN: Well, I think we all have our own interpretations. Mine is that he's an alpha male who has gone totally out of control here in recent weeks. It's all about power. He does not want to share power with others. He does not want to be seen as an equal to others. Ordering American companies to do this or that, which is totally outside the realm of the Constitution and our normal order of things. He treats one organization or one group of people after another as beneath him. And now that he's so frustrated because the economy is deteriorating in other countries and there are signs of deterioration in the U.S., I think he's going nuts of about having to deal with people at the same level of perceived power as he does. He believes he is the chosen one as he - I think there was something that was not ingest, that phrase, when he use it and to describe himself that way. That was something I think comes deep from within who he is and he's been exposed now to all of the world and I think if you're another G7 member, going to go to a G7 meeting with him, it must be like going to the dentist. Can you imagine how little they look forward to it? I mean the French and the Germans, he's trying to drive wedges between them. He's trying to drive Macron against Merkel. And the Europeans know that once he's dealt with China, however he deals with it, he's coming after them. He's coming up to them on the same tariff wars and it's going to be a mess and they realize he could wreck their economies and their countries.</s>BOLDUAN: Tim, last word to you.</s>NAFTALI: Well, I'm going to be looking to see the relationship between Boris Johnson and President Trump. Boris Johnson is probably the only person who will be in Biarritz that Trump will enjoy being around. And I wonder whether President Trump will use this as an opportunity to drive a wedge not just between Germany and France but to push the Brexit issue and to help Boris Johnson and hurt the European Union.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes. Just thinking about all of the issues, crises, tensions, problems, challenges to be solved that could happen at a gathering like this and how low the expectation is going in. That's a statement in and of itself at this moment. Thank you guys very much. OUTFRONT next, the shrinking field of Democratic presidential candidates. Another one bites the dust and declares only three candidates are really actually in the running. And as a billionaire trying to buy his way onto the Democratic debate stage. I'll ask Tom Steyer. He's my guest.