Watergate reporter warns we are becoming different people because of Trump and it will change the American story

During a discussion about President Donald Trump's NATO meetings this week, veteran newsman Carl Bernstein spoke eloquently about the American story and the impending "cold civil war" that the country faces.

"Donald Trump is sucking is oxygen out of the American story," Bernstein told CNN's Don Lemon. "He is taking the American story and saying, 'We are going to turn our backs not just on the last 75 years at home and abroad, really on the last 250 years. We are becoming a different kind of person because of his conduct of the presidency."

He explained that it clearly is about changing the narrative about what the U.S. stands for on civil rights and civil liberties, but also on immigration and not celebrating our president as a king.

"The idea in the democratic process, in which no one is above the law, the rule of law, he is sucking the oxygen out of our very history," he continued. "It might well be what 40, 50 percent of the people in this country want, and we'll find out in the midterms. But the Democrats have to fight back if they want to succeed and say, 'This is not the American story Mr. President. The last 250 years in particular, the last 75 years, America leading the world and Democracy, that's the story.'"

Watch his full take below: