And dreaming of challenging the president. I may very well do it, but im being as honest as i can. Where do you stand . Likely to run . This is not what im doing. How Many Democrats will jump in . And will any republican primary President Trump . And the ways the president has influenced culture from the words we use to race. Very fine people, on both sides. Welcome to new years eve sunday, its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning and a happy new years eve to everyone. Almost from the left hand on the bible, President Trump signalled to the country that his presidency would be different. Different in ways that would thrill millions, and different in ways that would appall millions more. It began with a jarring comment about the state of the country. This american carnage stops right here and stops right now. Within a day, press Secretary Sean Spicer lectured white house reporters arguing implausibly that more people witnessed Donald Trumps inauguration than president obamas and a day later here on meet the press, the president s counsellor, Kellyanne Conway offered this explanation. Sean spicer, our press secretary gave alternative facts. That inauguration weekend kicked off a year of friction between the white house and the press, between the president s supporters and detractors, liberals and conservatives which has helped feed a sense that we as a country are more divided than we have been for decades, if not longer. Over the next hour, were going to look back at the past year and ahead to the next. Our panel this new years eve morning, charlie cook, kristen welker, bbc anchor patty kay who showed beyond 100 days will begin appearing on pbs starting tuesday and rich lauer, editor of the National Review. Were going to look at the promises made by candidate trump and whether hes been able to make good on them or not. Lets watch. Donald j. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the United States. 1 trillion in infrastructure investment. Tax relief will be concentrated on the working and middle class. I will be the greatest jobs president that god has ever created. Repealing and replacing obamacare. Save medicare, medicaid, and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it. I pledge to every citizen of our land that i will be president for all americans. We will build a great, great wall, and mexico, mexico, mexico, mexico will pay for the wall. All right, guys. Whats been the single most important promise he made and the single most important promise hes kept . Rich lauer, im going to start with you, i think the wall is probably the single most important promise connected to him as candidate. Yeah, that was a signature promise and was probably the most flagrantly unrealizable promise in all of american president ial politics. The idea that mexico would pay for this wall. Let alone build the wall. Right but the other country pay for it. Immigration is a Success Story for him. He doesnt have a wall, but reestablishing a certain baseline of enforcement and set an Important Message and you have illegal border crossings down to the lowest level since 1971. Im kind of surprised he doesnt boast about that more. Whats been the most important one that hes kept . The most important one i think that hes kept is that he would be the president for the people that voted for him and carry on the culture wars in their favor. That he would carry on talking in ways that White Working Class voters who felt theyve been neglected before, they feel they have somebody who is their president that they dont have to be pc anymore. That they can say things that they might have wanted to say for years and President Trump has emboldened them to do that. Whats the biggest one hes missed . I think a couple, chuck, one, he said he was going to repeal and replace obamacare. That didnt happen. Hes tinkered around the edges, but wheres the replacement . He also said he was going to prevent north korea from advancing its nuclear program. That hasnt happened. And that has proven to be one of the biggest Foreign Policy crisis. And to pick up on what shes saying, i think he has been a president for his base, but hes failed to be a president for all people. I think in many ways the countrys more divided. You have the nfl, you have charlottesville, and i think thats been a problem. Charlie, i left you with the topic that is sort of interesting here, and thats the economy. In that its been a great year. And that has not translated or as john says, maybe it has and hed be at 25 if it wasnt for the economy. You know, its funny that so many people dislike him, disapprove of him, think hes a bull in a china closet on Foreign Policy, all of these things, and yet, the economys doing really well. And either, a, something hes done is right or hes just really, really lucky. And i just kind of wonder whether the fact that maybe its the absence of president obama or just sort of the idea of a president thats less adversarial towards business, whether its released animal spirits in the economy, or maybe hes just lucky. Lets debate this. Luck or has he done something . Lets go to 50,000 feet, you can see there is a disconnect between political dysfunction around the world, not just here in the United States, but certainly in europe too and there are National Security issues that are looming and crisis in ways we have not seen for a very long time, and yet every single investor will tell you this is a great time to economically. And at what point does that disconnect come back to haunt us or doesnt it . Can we carry on operating where stock markets keep rising, unemployment keeps falling, growth is ticking up, wages are ticking up, and still have this political insecurity, theres not just american political insecurity, but global insecurity. I remember youd hear the frustration in the last two years of the obama, like everythings there, its poised to take off, but it wouldnt, trumps election and then to quote charlie, whatever the animal spirit is, boom, it finally is here. So its luck in that he inherited an economy that was in pretty good shape. Its not like obama and hearing an economy thats cratering after a financial crisis, its more than luck and the policy matters. And the expectation of the market and the Business Community is that at least youd see no new regulations, no new taxes, not any additional burdens on the economy. And weve seen even better than that from the business perspective because weve seen a major deregulation rollback, and now a tax bill that is a generational change on the corporate side. And will, all things being equal be progrowth . I think the white house would argue, the fact that they have cut so many regulations is what has spurned this economy. Look at health care versus taxes. He got read in on all the of the details, he ran as the jobs president , and i think that you have investors who feel good about that, the market obviously reflecting it, and were starting to see that in his policies. All right. Lets pivot a little bit to Foreign Policy. Yearend, do we know what a trump doctrine is, patty . In some ways its a continuity of the past. It was a key campaign speculation, nafta is still in place for the moment. We still have american troops in afghanistan. We still have them in iraq, we still have them in syria. So in some ways things are the same. Whats different is that in the Foreign Policy, the big Security Strategy review that the president gave at the end of the year, no mention of Climate Change as a National Security threat and no mention of american human rights and values. The single biggest change with the president is that we are not seeing america leading the world through principle. America hasnt always got it right, but it has always relied on some sense of principle and higher moral standing. What we have is a transactional Foreign Policy. Youre nodding a lot. The basic structure, its a central right realism. You see the policy even on north korea where hes been aggressive, its a status quo of policy, very cautious in the middle east, who did a big surge in afghanistan early in his administration. But i agree there needs to be more of an emphasis on ideals. This is a reaction against the crusade that george w. Bush fought for our ideals, theyre an important deals. I dont sense coherence. He does seem, im going to get tough on china, and then say were pals. Then youre going, what . Youre seeing that disconnect around north korea as well. He talked about fire and fury, and that made a lot of people very nervous that he was on the brink of taking some type of action, and he didnt. I think we wont know what the trump doctrine is until we see how north korea plays out. Will he take a limited military action . I mean based on my conversations with senior officials, his military options are very few and very far between. So it doesnt look like thats likely. I do think though, chuck, retreat from multinationalism, he pulled out of paris and tpp, i think that is the beginning at least of a shift. Legacy there. The National Security policy report that katy referred to released just before christmas, when i read it, it actually did provide some coherence to what, through the past year, has looked like complete, random, ricochetting around and i couldnt tell whether is this thing actually more coherent than i thought or is there just a heck of a speech writer on board . I tend to think the latter. Let me does you this, i feel like the issue we dont cover enough in Foreign Policy is how close are we to war . A hot war. Whether were involved or not, a hot war that involves iran or saudi arabia . It feels like a tender box. We have in yemen iranian proxies fighting saudi regulars. We have in syria, saudi proxies fighting iranian regulars. We are one step away, and with the yemeni rebels firing missiles at riyadh in saudi arabia, thats a hot area of the world. There is one Foreign Policy issue that seems to congeal with our domestic politics, and its russia. Heres the best of russia from this year. I have nothing to do with russia, folks, okay. Why would there be any contacts between the campaign . I dont think of bigger lies. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with russia. There is no connection. Youve got russia. If the president puts russian salad dressing, somehow thats a russian connection. We had no dealings in russia. We have no projects into russia. We have nothing to do with russia. Those conversations never happened. There was no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. We think going on this russian, trump hoax for the better part of a year now with no evidence of anything. There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven. Rich lowrie, hes not getting the benefit of doubt on all of this is it seems for one big reason. He seems to want nothing more than to cozy up with vladimir putin. If he were willing to be tough on putin, he might get more benefit. Or say the meddling was an outrage and ill never stand for it and it wont happen again on my watch. He wont say that. My theory, which i cant prove is he considers the russian story a personal affront because he thinks it undermines his victory, its kind of a psychological reaction rather than speaking to a deeper conspiracy hes trying to hide. I think thats right. And one of the things that is so striking if you look at his tweets, hes lashed out about just about everyone, including the leader of china who he needs to work with on north korea. Hes never had sharp words like that for russia. Hes never convened a meeting of the National Security team to just address that issue. Thats what people are hungry for. He begrudgingly more sanctions that congress imposed. Not just that he wants to cozy up to putin, people around him, time and again, seem to forget meetings that they had with russians. Why the secrecy . Why have the meetings and reveal them later . And its happening too often it seems for this to look like just coincidence. Final word. Nobody wants to think that they won illegitimate matly. That you want to believe, i won on my merits. I think rich is right, why cant he just say, you know, they were meddling. I dont think it had an impact on the outcome of the election, but we need to make sure this never happens again. Thats pretty painless. Whats wrong with that . Youre doing something Donald Trumps never done before. Be humble. All right guys. When we come back, were going to look ahead to the year that starts tomorrow. Its an even numbered year. And you know what that means. Elections. Are we looking at a democratic wave or can republicans somehow maintain their hold on congress and of course that means on all of the power that comes with it . Their experience is coveted. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of researchers of technologies that one day, you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. We call them our team. Heare you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® its starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. Finding the best hotel price is whoooo. Now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches. Over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the. Hotelock it in. Tripadvisor. This holiday season. Give the gift of effortlessly smooth feet. From amope. Amope pedi perfect with diamond crystals. Removes rough, hard skin effortlessly. For touchably smooth feet. Salon quality results you can see. And feel immediately. New amope pedi perfect soft feet kit. Perfect for that special someone on your list. Exclusively at walmart. Amope. Love every step. Welcome back, if theres one thing you can count on in politics, its the party that loses the seat looks to be no exception. And the partys upset win in alabama this month means democrats would only need to net two seats to achieve their longer shot goal of taking back the senate. In 2005 you could smell a wave coming. The results last night smell exactly the same way our republican friends better look out. We think well produce results. Results that we will certainly be able to talk to the American People about in the fall of 2018 and in 2020 as well. Can you win back the house next year . Doothe door is certainly ope for pus. A wave selection coming your way, that your majority is at risk. What do you make of that . Blah, blah, blah is what i say about that stuff. I think were going to win the senate and the house. I feel optimistic. Were going to do the blah, blah, blah, the panel is back with us, lets talk about the blah, blah, blah in november of 2018, welcome. Got to love speaker ryan. This is my lifes work and hes making fun of it. He blah, blah, blahd over the best part. Lets do it by the numbers here, Senate Makeup after doug jones is essentially 5149. Blah, blah, blah. The house is 289193, charlie cook, this is what you do for a living, you saw the 11point advantage of the nbc wall street journal poll for democrats. It suggests that wave is building the question is just how big and will it crest at the right time and the right moment for the democrats . This is the this is what waves look like when youre standing on beach looking out and weve seen this before see it from afar, wow, look at that. You know, cant tell precisely how tall it is, but you can tell its a big one. Could things change . You know, if we had a couple more quarters of good growth, i dont think it will. Were looking at the senate. Its now plausible that democrats could take the senate back. I think its not likely, but its plausible in the house. If you had to bet today, i think youd bet the house would turn. One of the reason why is rich it doesnt look like this is going to shift. We look at the demographic breakdowns on jet network ballot. Among millennials, its nearly a 50point advantage. Among women, 20 points, independents, 12 points. Even seniors which has become a base vote. Its the democrats that are up four and among all white voters, only down two. Thats why it doesnt look like a couple of good economic quarters change things. Thats the best thing republicans could have going for them is robust growth to take the edge off of this, but my fear is that this isnt a conditions based reaction, its not an agendabased reaction so much. It is a profound personal reaction to trump himself. And there is no way to change that. The white house says the opposite. They say that candidates are knocking down their doors to get an endorsement from President Trump and hes eager to get out by the way, there probably are some candidates knocking on their doors for an endorsement. Their door is not being answered when they knock on Mitch Mcconnells. Thats right. They look at ed and say he tried to walk a fine line, and it backfi backfired. The white house saying you should embrace trump. We saw that that doesnt always work. Obviously roy moore deeply flawed candidate in his own right, but he did run base odd an trump playbook. I spoke with the democratic strategist who said were looking at a tidal wave. And i said, wait a minute, dont you run the risk of overplaying your hand . If you go into 2018 with that type of thinking. I think thats the real concern. The economy is a big unknown. That could i think shift the outlook. You know whats interesting is that you look historically and theres this very clear pattern. I mean, all but three midterm elections since the edge of the civil war, but were now seeing a more explosiveness. I mean, the last six midterm elections, either the house or the senate or both have flipped in four thats that hasnt happened in 100 years. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and so its people are voting, its not more parliamentary, but its more by party and were seeing big, big explosive results and thats got or it scary for republicans. Katy, the challenge for the democrats is on the senate side at least is the red state democrats. And you could argue, how they handle red state america in order to win the majority is going to say everything. Let me put up the senate map here. These are just democratic seats that are in states in 2018 up where President Trump carried that state and you can see, montana, theyre not surprised, but florida, ohio, wisconsin, and michigans in there, heres how a few of the red state democrats weve talked to the last year have been walking the line of trump. Take a listen. One thing that we dont have and you see that out in public polling and when im out and about is so what do you guys stand for . What are you about . Overarching discussion for the Democratic Party isnt there. My jobs to fight for missourians. So i get up every day, my feet hit the ground figuring out how to get stuff done for them and not how i criticize the president. Heres the thing that bothers me more than anything. Because i am up for reelection in 2018, i guess people think in washington im going to vote differently or ill be differently or ill have to cow tail if you will to what they think might be popular. I dont think impeachment is something we should be talking about. Katy, what was interesting this year, we all expected at least some of the red state democrats to somehow forge a partnership with trump, and none of them did. I think some of them wanted to, i dont know joe manchin blames Mitch Mcconnell and not donald trump. What say you . We came out of alabama with democrats say we can win in true red states. Weve done it in alabama. Exactly those people you chose, north dakota, missouri, west virginia, they took some heart from there that, but they have different populations. They do not have 30 African American makeup in those states. They know that. They have to be more careful about how they run. They cant expect to run up against a roy moore again, thats just not going to happen, and Claire Mccaskill said donald trump is above water in my state. He has Approval Ratings that are parallel to mine. I cannot totally isolate myself from him, but shes not going to sign up. Sherrod brown has, he is a democrat who decided that hes going to try and work with the president. I am curious, charlie some can. If impeachment is part of the conversation in the fall, i assume its Red State Senate Democrats that are the most nervous about that. I think youre right. And the thing is, this is so implausible. I mean and yet every single if democrats won every single senate race next year, every single one of them, they would still need republicans to vote for impeachment, and thats not going to happen. And so why just just shut up. Theyre not helping themselves. These democrats hate that conversation. They hate the ads up on tv. I want to pivot because i hinted at it before. I want to pivot to the republican side of things. The reason the democrats have a longer shot is look at the map. This is a rosy scenario. I throw in texas and nebraska on there. Texas for demographic reasons. I throw nebraska on there because of what steve bannon has promised, rich lowrie, which is to primary some Establishment Republicans like ed fisher in nebraska. Heres our little bannon versus the gop compilation, and well talk about it on the other side. And right now, its a season of war against a gop establishment. I think what steve bannon is trying to do is completely inappropriate. Because they think youre a pack of morons. I hope he pays attention. We need good candidates. Mitch mcconnell and this permanent Political Class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country. What hes a specialist in is nominating people who lose. I like mr. Bannon. Hes a friend of mine, but mr. Bannon came on very late, you know that. Look, steve bannon is the face of that sort of antiestablishment crowd. Before there was a steve bannon, there was still an antiestablishment crowd that cost them at least five senate seats. You can blame i guess bannon for the six. Colorado, delaware, nevada, two from 2012, indiana and missouri, and of course roy moore. Bannon, is he going to cost them another senate seat . Another is mississippi, for instance. Yeah, well, i would hope alabama was a blow to Steve Bannons theory that you can just run any loathsome couth for the senate and somehow win a general election, but youre right, this is not a new phenomen phenomenon, it began before steve bannon and its in part because republicans kind of against type, theyre not the blue blazers tie types anymore, they are the antiestablishment party, which involves very oftentimes not just rejecting the establishments judgment about candidates, but rejecting conventional norms around that. This is important. Mcconnell and ryan are no more in touch with the base of the party than trump is with the establishment. Who did President Trump speak to . He spoke to steve bannon that week. And so, he still sees him as a touchstone to his base. And to your point, does bannon take a look at that race and say hey, it was the candidate . No, he says we need to work harder. Were now emboldened, energized, we know what we need to do in the next race. I think the challenge is he obviously divides resources and messaging and continues to have this internal war. Go back to 2008 when barack obama won. This so radicalized, i mean, the conservatives, republicans despised him so much that it effectively radicalized a large element of the republican party, i think it led to the tea party movement. It ultimately led to the election of donald trump. But it led to the this nomination or this attraction of these exotic candidates that are just more exotic than can win general elections. And i think republicans are paying a price. And if i were democrats, i would worry about the loathing that they have for President Trump, whether it radicalizes an element of the Democratic Party and we start seeing that happening in coming years. Well, that is the nice segue because the next conversation has to do with the list of candidates running for president. Is it easier to make the list of candidates not running . Thats going to be the real debate. 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Complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99. 9 of germs. Listerine® bring out the bold™ welcome back. From the moment a candidate is declared the winner of a president ial election, people in my business begin to ask, who is going to run in four years . This year is no different and with President Trumps Approval Ratings stuck in the 30s and low 40s, Many Democrats and perhaps a handful of republicans are viewing a run as a real possibility. One sign that someone is considering a run at this stage, they write a book, its seen as a sign that the author is serious about becoming a candidate. So far books from senator Bernie Sanders of vermont, former Vice President joe biden, senator Elizabeth Warren of massachusetts, and senator cory booker of new jersey. Those are the democrats. Now, you have Governor John Kasich of ohio. Senator ben sass of nebraska, and senator jeff flake of arz, all of whom are republicans. The panel is back. Okay. Another way you get yourself on the list to run for president , say youre not going to run. Take a look. Wheres your mind about that right now . Are you 50 50, 80 20. Are you likely to run . No. This is not what im doing. Other people will make lists, im not running for president. Sure, i just might. That is not on my radar screen. Thats a long way off. I dont know what im going to do tomorrow. If in a year from now, if im ready and no one has moved in that i think can do it, then i may very well. Obviously the most significant person in that list who say yes im thinking about it is the former Vice President , i think he decided to say hey, im sending a message to national donors. I want in. Yeah, the most honest of all of those answers, was probably joe biden. The concern for democrats has to be that the two white guys most likely to run who youd have to give a reasonable shot at giving the nomination to, joe biden, Bernie Sanders, theyre going to be 78 and 79 on Inauguration Day of 2021. Thats a problem for the democrats. If and you could go through the list of them and problems with all of the candidates, but two, you know, old, white guys is that where the party needs to be positioning itself . Kristen, before you chime in, i want to show, we put this together. Heres all the traveling in the early states. Thats another way to let us know. You show up in iowa, sanders, mark zuckerberg, ben sass, tom cotton have all made iowa trips this year. Kasich, biden, sandsers, omalley. South carolina, biden, zuckerberg and omalley. Its book tourish. The the one person is kirsten gillibrand. Around the issue of Sexual Harassment. Its one she has obviously championed in the past, but shes really i think been out front on that, taking the lead in terms of calling for al franken to resign. Angering folks in her party about president clinton. Shes eyeing a run seriously. In that vein, is it gillibrand has she had the breakout 17 to carve out space . Who else has had breakout to start carving out doing more than just saying i want to be in. Im carving out space. Well gillibrand, people up for reelection in 2018 have to be a little bit more discreet, but id say harris in california, that shes poised to do that. The way i look at it, ive got a list of like 25 people here that and the thing is some of these i think are laughable, but you know what, three years ago today, donald trump was. And Bernie Sanders was too. So im being a lot more humbled than i used to be, but the way im looking at it is there will be at least one woman. There will be at least one African American and when you say one woman. One that is in the the final four. The final four. There will be a woman. There will be an African American. There will be one white guy, and then theres an atlarge. And some of these, like a harris could be two of those categories, but that look for categories. Because there are powerful constituencies within the party that i think will gravitate behind. I think just a bigger point, we can all do this on paper, but the lesson from the last two people elected president , donald trump and barack obama, is that personalities matter so much. Both in their own way, completely dominated the media, figures of fascination that the supporters couldnt get enough of, and another lesson that we should all remember, crowd size really does matter. Actually rich, great segue, my 13yearold literally the other said to me, hey dad, you know that Dwayne Johnsons thinking about running for president. And i said why do you say that . Well, he said so on ellen. I went, he did . Heres the evidence. Will you run . I mean would you seriously, would you run . Im seriously considering it, yes. Look, ive actually been following him for the last six months on instagram and social media, this guy is very good at his own public relations. Very good. Heres about a hears about a sick kid for a fan, flies in with a ticket. Somebody in this space is going to break out. Is it cuban, the rock zuckerberg somebodys messing around here. If we are now lifzing in an era where to run for president of the United States you need to be a celebrity and you need to have a television following and an instagram following and you need to be able to reach people through charisma and through your background for having been on their Television Screens for years and years and years, which was Donald Trumps way of doing it, then somebody like the rock has a chance. Donald trump may have been an exception, i dont know. Three years ago there are president s rolling in their graves. And as they should. Heres what i dont get though, kristen, is that actually i think when you try to do when the other party does something and you try to do what that party does light, it always fails. Backfires. When you do the exact opposite. Where is the boring, who is the least charismatic, most boring guy out there because i have a theory that thats the person well turn to next. I think whoever can give President Trump a real run for his money has to be his counterpoint, theres no doubt about that. What does that look like . Does it mean the person is unifying though . Is that the aspect people are looking for . One thing in addition to all of the charismatic, all of things you laided out, i think the person needs to be authentic, even if theyre a little boring. I would just say that ralph, doug jones, i can go down the list here. The good Democratic Candidates this year were boring guys. Yeah. Were not offensive. But to your point, our friend mark shields has a theory that lets say youre in a subway car, and it stops between stations, its, you know, the light goes out, panic, chaos, and then a reassuring voice, a firm reassuring voice comes on to make you feel calm. Things are under control. And will people be looking for someone that would be reassuring, calm, a good bedside manner, that sort of thing . The rock played tooth fairy. Boring, boring never works in president ial politics. You could be the opposite, like george w. Bush emphasis on toughness, barack obama emphasis on thoughtfulness, right, but a he was not boring. But we hadnt had a donald trump before either. Has highway changed the game . Let me close with this. I think trump will get a primary challenge just for the sport of it. The question is who is the most effective primary challenger to a trump . Rich, lets start with you. This is what National Review may be covering a lot of. Yeah, its really hard to see how this would work unless trump totally craters, otherwise, youll get some symbolic challenge from someone like john kasich who if youve got 25, 30 in places, but if you ran against him at this juncture, he wouldnt win ohio. You dont buy ben sass, mitt romney . Ben sass or mitt romney will be the two names that would come up. Mitt romney probably has a better chance because hes done it before, he knows the access to the money and he has more name recognition, but its a tough call. It is. Somebodys going to do it just for the coverage. I think jeff flake could be interesting. President trump runs, he will be the nominee. The only question if he doesnt, then its pence versus the field. Free for all. When we come back, oh how the political world has changed in just one year. David. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. 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Tylenol®. We35 mules,ur doors with 70 megawatts, and an ice plant. But we brought power to the people redefining what that meant from one era to the next. Over 90 years later, we continue to build as americas 3rd largest investor in infrastructure. We dont just help power the american dream. Were part of it. Nick is a logistical mastermind. When it comes to moving packages on a global scale, nobody does it better. Hes also an avid cookie connoisseur. Dig in, big guy. But when it comes to mortgages, hes. Less confident. Fortunately for nick, theres Rocket Mortgage by quicken loans. Its simple, so he can understand the details and get approved in as few as eight minutes. Apply simply. Understand fully. Mortgage confidently. Rocket mortgage by quicken loans. We are back. Data download time. What kind of year is 2017 been . Well if you look at our new nbc news wall street journal poll for the end of the year, the answers are mixed. Ahead of President Trumps inauguration in january, 37 of americans felt the country was going in the right direction. 52 felt it was on the wrong track. That was actually an improvement at that time from the months before the 2016 election. But, in our year end poll, 29 now say right direction. Thats an eight point drop from january. While 63 say wrong track. Thats up 11 points. And no surprise, how you view the year depends a lot on who you are. Republicans thought it was a pretty good year, for example, 79 say 2017 was either the best year for the United States above average or average. Only 20 thought it was the worst year or below average. Independents were pretty evenly split. While hardly any democrat thought it was a good year, the vast majority 81 say 2017 as either the worst year for the country or the below average. Men and women also viewed the year differently, a majority of men thought 2017 was good for the country, while a majority of women thought it was bad. And we saw similar breakdowns across racial demographics. Only a slim majority of white americans, 52 thought this year was either the best, above average, or average. While majorities of hispanics and African Americans thought it was the worst year or below average. Finally, what did americans view as the most significant events of 2017 . Events like the mass shooting in las vegas and natural disasters like hurricanes and wild fires, were on folks minds the most. Third on the list was President Trumps inauguration, followed by terrorist attacks, the attacks in congress, and Sexual Harassment revelations, and of course the me too movement. When we come back, words that came into being. And new words that gained new meaning in 2017. President trumps impact on American Culture is next. Hows your cafe au lait . Oh, its actually. Sfx short balloon squeal its ver. Sfx balloon squeals ok can we. Sfx balloon squeals goodbye oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasnt it . 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It turned out, a lot of people fell short, of even the average length of retirement. We have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. Lets plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Welcome back. Were going to look at the culture changes that took place in the country this year that i think for some people were inspired at least in part by Donald Trumps presidency. Guys, i think the biggest one in sports has to do with his involvement in the nfl which has been sort of with race. Lets take a look at what what sort of instigated this. Wouldnt you love to see one of these nfl owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. Hes fired. Hes fired and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. Now were going to take down his statue. So you know what, its fine, youre changing history, youre changing culture. Was sheriff joe convicted for doing his job . Ill make a prediction, i think hes going to be just fine. Okay. You know whats interesting, kristen, especially that first one, many times when he dabbles into sort of culture wars, its at a moment of political weakness for him. Where he did the nfl was when he was embarrassed to be endorsing Luther Strange when he was about to get thumped by roy moore that weekend before, and literally the story wasnt about him supporting Luther Strange, it was about him and the nfl. Its a great way to energize his base to rally supporters around him. It was very similar during charlottesville when he made those remarks, which by the way, engaged some people within his own administration, but i think youre starting to see a backlash at the polls. You sow that with how energized African American voters were in alabama. Thats concerning republicans when they look at 2018, look, i think the white house know they have a problem when it comes to diversity, they have to bring more gersty, particularly to their senior staff we just reported on omnirow is a leaving for example, she was the only African American senior staffer had he in the west wing, and so i think thats going to possibly be a focus in the new year. I would have guessed at the beginning of the year you would have an unorthodoxed president with an unorthodoxed agenda. Instead youve had an entirely orthodoxed republican agenda that doesnt necessarily have anything for the signature kind of trump voter, but you still have this unorthodoxed president , and hes stoking these controversies with, thats what the voters are getting. Theres been a weird backlash, not from voters per se, some with voters, charlie, but Corporate America has been the one, and nfl is part of this. They have struggled with how to handle this. They dont know how to handle it. Especially nfl has really struggled with it. I think they sort of dont approve of the behavior, but, i was meeting with the ceo recently, who said the tax bill probably saved about 350 million, so theyre torn. I mean, theres some good things, you know, less regulation, laxer enforcement, there are things they like, they dont like the tone and where this is going. Theyre really torn. And corporations have to watch out for customers, shareholders brand and all of that, and when the president says something, which is why weve had so many of these advisory counsels disbanded, those Corporate Leaders dont feel that they can be aligned with those positions. I think the other factor here, some of it is strategic as you suggest with the nfl controversy, but a lot of it, he just enjoys stirring the pot, he enjoys everyone freaking out. And the Remote Control goes and he watches it on his 90inch tv screen and enjoys every minute of it. Its the trump show, and its been sold out for years. I think thats the point. I think thats the part of the job he wanted. It was sort of head of state, and to be the pot stirrer and all of this other stuff, gosh, do i have to do this too . All right, i think 2017, the times person of the year, whistle blowers on women, you just told us, feminism is the word of the year. Its an understatement to say culturally and i think many people think that women are speaking out more because of the election of donald trump, but heres sort of a highlight of the year. Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein fired from his own company. Kevin spacey. Lewis ck. Matt lauer. Sexual harassment has no place in any workplace, let alone in the United States congress. We are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Was it one accusation, is it two . I think there has to be. John conyers is an icon, however, Congress Conyers should resign. He is not going to be pressured by nancy pelosi or anyone else to step down. In the coming weeks, i will be resigning as a remember of the United States senate. The president has firsthand knowledge on what he did and didnt do. He can speak directly to those and he has and hes addressed them, and i dont have anything further to add. I think everyone should be held accountable starting from the president of the United States. Quite the moment, katy, that this has been and politics is struggling with it more than every other sector. Its happened really, really fast, this has been the last two, three months of the year. Snowballing effect where Sexual Harassment doesnt seem to be tolerated. Theres concern that there will be a backlash against this movement because its happening so fast. Its a revolution thats going to eat its own. Everybody agrees, if we can make safer workplaces and bring men with us on board on that project, they dont feel victimized, they dont feel like theyre the object of revenge, then well be better off. Politically, youre seeing this reflected in the number of women running for office. Rich, the week before the franken allegations that led to resignation, you said hey, there is going to be some that wonder, ah, is that resignation worthy . Do you throw him out . Ultimately thats what happens in moments of revolution. There is some not sure moments, but theres a Larger Movement happening here. It was a bizarre resignation speech that al frank, gave, he professes innocence. If hes innocent, he owes it to himself to stay and fight. So, it doesnt surprise me that theres been some back and forth about this, but that New York Times story, initial New York Times story and Harvey Weinstein is the single most influential piece of journalism i can remember. It instantly changed this country. Bill oreilly didnt change it, it was Harvey Weinstein, i dont know why the fox firings were the canaries in the coal mine. What requires the Death Penalty . And the standard has gotten have been were have been were have been slim on what, what ends a career . But i think this is going to provide a lot of opportunities for women, for younger men to behave themselves. That is society changing event. Set of circumstances. November 2018, kristen, i think when we are looking at the new faces of the new congress, i have a feeling were going to see what the House Bank Scandal did in 1992, it wiped out people on both sides of the aisle. This moment on women and Sexual Assault may wipe out 50 members left and right. I think thats right. I think theyre bracing for that possibility. A lot of people on both sides of the aisle think this is going to be the year of the woman when it comes to 2018. But look, i think that democrats have tried to seize the moral high ground on this and i stress that word tried to because it is very complicated. And i think the white house knows theyve got some work to do. A lot of the president s accusers came forward, they said we didnt feel like our voices were heard during the campaign, we feel like theyre being heard now. The white house infuriated by this, the voters have had their say. Im going to close here with words. New words that miriam web ster. Troll. And they did it as a verb. Dog whistle. Which we were surprised hadnt been in there before. And altright. What does that say about america . Wow. You know, im 64 years old and im sitting here, the whole world is changing and im just sort of astonished by it all. Well, one thing im going to enjoy troll people, charlie. Its really a lot of fun. Thats not my style. When charlie starts trolling stew, we will know the world has changed. Anyway, you guys were great. Thats all we have for today. As always, thank you to our viewers for being such a big far of our broadcast each week. We take every critique seriously. Please, continue to send them in. On behalf of all of us here, wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy, and politically less stressful year. All next week, if its sunday, its meet the press. Fembarracuda networks,ss here is cloudconnected security and Storage Solutions that simplify it. Scott mcgrew good morning everyone, im scott mcgrew. A very happy new year to you. Weve given our crew the day off to celebrate the holidays with their families. So instead, we hope youll enjoy at least a few of our best of clips this sunday morning, interviews ive picked out as some of my favorites. Were going to start with a fellow whos in charge of a private company that helps social Media Companies keep offensive content off their sites. Its a job thats super boring until its not. Scott let me ask you, 3,000, just speaking generally about this, with facebook adding 3,000 people to watch these, is that enough . Henry chang absolutely not, i mean, just some figures out there, facebook has videos, photos, and just photos alone,