WOODRUFF: Now to the ripple
effects inside the White House,
after President Trumpús reaction

to Charlottesville and the
departure of White House
chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Here to break it all down, our
politics Monday regulars, Amy
Walter of the "Cook Political

Report" and Tamara Keith of NPR.

And welcome to both of
you, politics Monday.

The country got through last
week, Amy, but I think itús
fair to ask the question how

many damage was done
to the president.

AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR,
COOK POLITICAL REPORTER: Right.

WOODRUFF: I was away last week
enjoying some family vacation
time, but there was no avoiding

what was going on.

WALTER: Thatús right. Itús never
a good time, Judy, when youúre
the president of the United

States and your own party is
finding lots of different ways
to distance themselves from

you. Report after report was
that elected leaders werenút
even going to go on television

to defend because they were
worried they would have
to defend the president.

The short answer, though, is
we donút really know what total
effect that the results of

Charlottesville and the
presidentús reaction
have had. Weúre starting
to get some polling

data, but itús really not
definitive yet. The only thing
we have is history to guide

us.

And weúve sat at this
table plenty of times
during 2016, Judy, where
we watched the "Access

Hollywood" tape, the attack
on John McCain not being a war
hero, the president attacking

a gold-star family who
was Muslim, where we
said, well, maybe this is
it, maybe the Republican

base will now divide over
this candidate, this nominee.
Obviously, they never did.

So, itús a little bit soon to
tell, but itús pretty clear
even in talking to the voters,

listening to the voices of
voters and a lot of the reports
over the weekend, theyúre not

abandoning this president. The
question, of course, is what
happens when a president is

constantly being -- his own
party in Congress has constantly
distanced themselves and watched

out for themselves. How much
effect can you have as president
when youúre only talking

to a narrow slice of the
electorate over and over again?

WOODRUFF: Is that
whatús happening, Tam?

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE
CORRESPONDENT, NPR: Yes. Now, an
interesting thing is there are

some rank and file Republicans
like Bob Corker from Tennessee
or Susan Collins from Maine,

who are saying things that are
clearly distancing themselves
from the president and saying it

in a way that says the
presidentús name. But
when you get someone like
Paul Ryan, the speaker

of the house, or Mitch
McConnell, the majority
leader in the Senate. And
Ryan put out a statement,

you know, arguably, a
very strong statement
condemning neo-Nazis,
saying there are -- there

are no sides when it comes to
racism and neo-Nazis and white
supremacists, never mentions the

presidentús name.

But there certainly is a sense
there are many Republicans in
Congress, obviously, you have

these business leaders who
jumped ship from the advisory
council to the president and

all this indicates that there
are a lot of people who arenút
as afraid of this president

as they were earlier
in his presidency.

WOODRUFF: So, would do it --
Amy, what does that mean? I
know weúre all, you know, sort

of groping

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: -- trying to
understand what has changed. Has
anything changed? Are we just

right back where we
were eight, 10 days ago?

WALTER: It feels like every day
is about like a dog year. Itús
like every day, seven years.

So, you have to sort of live
within that, knowing that by
tomorrow, we could be talking

about something else, and
so, itús unclear if there
is real systemic damage.

But the president has a pretty
important task ahead of him
as we come back into the fall

and thatús will he be able to
get his legislative agenda back
on track, and thatús where we

can have an answer to this
question about how much damage
did this really do. As I said,

if youúre a president
whoús sitting at anywhere
between 35 and 40 percent
approval, itús hard

to get a whole lot done.

Itús hard to first of all
pressure members of Congress
with an approval rating that low

and for members who
are Republicans, the
base may still be with
Trump, but they know that

independents and other swing
voters in their districts may
not be. They canút guarantee

that he can come and help them
in the fall of an election
year with approval ratings

this slow. So, it really does
limit his ability to be a strong
legislator and chief as well

as an executive.

WOODRUFF: And when it
comes to appealing to
the base, the person who
I think most represented

the base in the White House,
Steve Bannon, is now out as
of three days ago, Tam. How

much difference is that
going to make do we
think in whatús going on?

KEITH: I think we just donút
know. You know, how many times
have we said on this very set,

how much difference
is this going to make?

WOODRUFF: Right.

KEITH: This person leaving,
this person coming in, this new
chief of staff? And I think the

answer is we donút know.

What we can say is that Steve
Bannon is still going to have
a voice in this country and

on the right, and he also is
still going to have a telephone.
And President Trump may

be unhappy with him now but
as we have seen, people who
have been fired from the Trump

orbit, they come back like
celestial beings, they come back
around and come back in. Like

a Corey Lewandowski who was
fired as campaign manager, who
then I saw walking out of the

White House the other day.

So, people go way. They come
back. And Steve Bannon is going
to continue to have an influence

in this White House and with
this president, simply, if only
because President Trump reads

"Breitbart News".

WALTER: Yes. And the shakeup in
the White House is reflective
of the broader debate

within the party right now,
between these two different
wings of the party, the more

establishment versus
the anti-establishment,
the Tea Party versus
the original. That is

a debate thatús ranging within
the Republican Party. It makes
sense that itús also happening

within the White House
and that debate isnút
going away at anytime.

WOODRUFF: So, because as
you look at Steve Bannon who
represented all the nationalist

instincts and populist
instincts, the fact thatús not
going to be in the presidentús

ear, itús not that heús not
going to hear it. But itús
not going to be as regular.

KEITH: Itús also still going
to be in the presidentús
head. President Trump believes

- - President Trump
has those nationalist
instincts. I mean, he has
been talking about some of

these nationalist ideas for
years and years and years, well
before Steve Bannon entered

his orbit.

WOODRUFF: So, thatús --
and thatús still going to
be there. So, as we look
to see, OK, different

chiefs, chief of staff, the
chief strategist has gone, the
communications shop has changed,

but the president is
still the president.

WALTER: The president is still
the president. And as I said,
you know, the people who have

left the White House,
you had one establishment
wing with Reince Priebus,
the former RNC chairman,

Sean Spicer came from the RNC,
and one from the outside. And
thatús what his policy portfolio

looks like so far thus
far. You had some wins
from the nationalist
side, the Steve Bannon

side, the travel ban, pulling
out of Paris. But also, the
more traditionalists have gotten

their way as well.

So, it has been this balancing
act within the White House
and, of course, within the

party. But both those issues
are tearing -- the difference
on those issues are tearing the

party apart and the presidentús
temperament as well.

WOODRUFF: More to come.

Amy Walter, Tamara
Keith, politics Monday
- - thank you both.

KEITH: Youúre welcome.

WALTER: Youúre welcome.