Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20180121

News wall street journal poll. Where does President Trump stand one year into his presidency, and the words supporters and opponents use to describe him. Also hundreds of thousands of women march across the country protesting the president , many with an eye towards more Women Winning Office this november. Joining me for insight and analysis are wall street journal columnist peggy noonan, is Nbc News National Correspondent peter alexander, former Obama Deputy Campaign manager Stephanie Cutter and republican strategist al cardenas. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning and welcome to the oneyear anniversary of the trump presidency. Actually its day two of year two. Democrats are calling it the trump shutdown. Republicans are calling it the schumer shutdown. Whatever you want to call it this is what happens when both sides think they are on the winning side of a political argument. Or as the Washington Post dan balz put it this morning, we are here because we have a dealmaking chief executive who cant make a deal, a divided Republican Party struggling to govern and a Democratic Party tethered to its antitrump progressive base. Democrats want a deal now to protect immigrants who were brought here illegally as children, the socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers, Republican Leaders are opposed to put a d. R. E. A. M. Er deal in a short term spending deal which could keep the government open. All of this comes as the president hits his oneyear anniversary mark and our nbc wall street journal poll shows the president s Approval Rating is at 39 , the lowest after a year, 57 disapproving. Compared to where he was last february at the start of the administration, a little bit better, 44 approving and 48 disapproving. Because this president inspires such passion we asked supporters an opponents to describe them in their own words. Here are the words supporters were most likely to use, positive, good, excellent, doing what he said he would do. Its very different from the words used by opponents of this president , embarrassing, disaster, chaotic, disappointing and hasnt delivered. Changing the way washington works was one of candidate trumps Signature Campaign themes, but this weekends shutdown shows that washington is working or not working just as it always has. Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with jello. One year to the day after President Trump took office the federal government should down and the fingerpointing started. Good morning, and welcome to the trump shutdown. This will be called the trump shutdown. The trump shutdown is all yours. Day one of the Senate Democrats Government Shutdown. What were calling the schumer shutdown. Schumer shutdown. Both parties face political risks. Ten Senate Democrats are on the ballot in states mr. Trump won, and they depend on proving they can make government work. Four of those democrats and new alabama senator doug jones voted to keep the government open, but for the first time in nearly 40 years the government is shut down while one Party Controls both houses of congress and the white house, and opponents are quoting citizen trump back to President Trump. I actually think the president would be blamed. If there is a shutdown, i think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. The problems start from the top, and they have to get solved from the top, and the president s the leader. A year after mr. Trump took the oath of office promising to be a disrupter and change agent the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. The president finds himself in a deep hole. 57 of americans disapprove of the job hes doing, but its the intensity of the disapproval thats so dramatic. With a majority of americans strongly disapproving, including every age group except americans 50 to 64. Mr. Trump promised to be the art of the deal president. Im a dealmaker. I believe that i can put both sides together. I will negotiate deals that nobody can negotiate like i do. But ratings of the president s ability to change washington are down a net 18 points from a year ago. His capacity to get things done down 24 points, and just 19 give mr. Trump high ratings for having the right temperament for the job. Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. Hes fired. Hes fired a majority of americans also feel negatively about the president as a leader, as commander in chief and as a representative of america abroad. One potential bright spot for republicans, americans are the most satisfied with the economy that they have been in nearly two decades. The president is not getting the credit though, but republican incumbents hope that optimism will protect them in november. Its the economy, stupid. Did you ever hear that one . Its the economy. Joining me now is the president s chief congressional negotiator these days marc short. Marc, welcome back to meet the press. Youre becoming a very familiar face i think to folks this weekend. Thanks for having me back, chuck. Wheres the president . I say this because we didnt see him yesterday. Didnt make a single public appearance. One thing about candidate trump, as we pointed out there a lot, he seemed to be the guy who says he was going to make washington work differently. Washington looks exactly the way it did before he got into yesterday. Why was he yesterday and why wasnt he involved in this . The president was involved, he was speaking to leader mcconnell and ryan and leader mccarthy. Republican, republican, republican, no schumer, no pelosi. He met with schumer on friday and that was well publicized and he spoke with secretary nielsen and met with secretary mattis to learn over 100,000 National Guardsmen and reservists whose training was cancelled this weekend, who have to get here and pay their travel costs back home so the president is engaged in finding out what are the impacts of this. Hes on the find trying to find a resolution to it and he had members over to the white house a week ago in a bipartisan bicameral fashion to get past this impasse. Part of the issue seems to be that people come away from these meetings not sure what President Trump stands for. Let me heres Mitch Mcconnell just i think three days ago on the issue of daca and immigration. Looking for something that President Trump supports, and hes not yet indicated what measure hes willing to sign. As soon as we figure out what he is for, then i would be convinced they would were not just spinning our wheels. Chuck schumer used jello. Thats another way of saying jello, is it not . As one of my colleagues said it seems a lot of senators know a lot about jello but the reality is where weve been in this process is the president put forward his proposal over about 11 months ago, sending it to congress. General kelly went to congress to say heres how we need to solve daca. The daca situation has been unresolved for deng aid and obama took actions into his own hands with an unconstitutional solution to the problem. We asked congress to fix it and send a long list and sent a refined list. Weve been absolutely consistent in what it is were asking for. Four criteria, one the d. C. Race, population, Border Security and ending chain migration and the visa lottery program. I might be a naive optimism and were making significant progress and well get a deal and there are champions like senator durbin who will be hailed as a hero helping for making this happen. Heres where we are, democrat are moving Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and saying, yes, we recognize they are giving you the wall. Right. Full funding, 18 billion is what chuck agreed no. Sometimes what democrats have done they will authorize it without appropriating it. Democrats have voted to authorize lotsed of money it a never happens so we need to clarify that but we see progress. On our side they said they want the 670,000 daca population expanded. Senator durbin made the case saying many people did not register and they should not be held harmful. Weve been willing to expand that population and theres progress which leads us to, chuck, why are we shutting down the government . I guess then the Graham Durbin say they put this offer out here hand Chuck Schumer saying, why not say, okay, seems like we have the parameters for a deal. Democrats are willing. You guys are arguing over whether youll appropriate it or not but seems as if Chuck Schumer what he thought he had an agreement of that the president changed his mind a few hours later. I guess the question i have for you is who is in charge of the president s position on immigration because what look at Lindsey Graham. He calls them tuesday trump versus thursday trump. Whats the difference here . President trump has been Crystal Clear on that and hes to the wavered. What lindy graham and senator durbin offered to the president was to say, here, weve narrowed it down to the four areas, when they came over to the white house and presented them they were woefully insufficient inside the four arrows. We narrowed down the broader debate no a smaller one. Well feel like were making progress on the overall discussion and we think well get to a solution. What befuddles us is were not going to pay millions. Youre troops or the Border Agents until what, we dont know what it is were asking for. They said give us a shorter cr. Tonight Senate Republicans are going to vote for a threeweek cr and democrats are unwilling to give up the vote to keep the government open. One of the issues that the democrats have they just dont believe that the oral promise they get from the president will be fulfilled because every time they think they have one, somebody with a stiffer spine on the immigration issue gets to the president. What do you say to that criticism . I dont think theres anybody with a stiffer spine than a p. Ill give you a different theory. When you look back over the last year and you see record tax relief, you see Supreme Court justice confirmed and more justices confirmed at the Circuit Court level than any year in the american history, repeal of the individual mandate and all the things the administration has done and they are being held captive by a base in their party thats angry and they are responding to that base. This is not about policy, chuck. Its purely about politics. Do you know the same argument could be said then on the issue of daca which is an 85 , you know, depending on the poll you want to lock at, anywhere from 65 to 80 overall approval including among trump voters that the president s position on this is being held hostage by a small conservative base. We want to solve daca. We recognize these are people aged between 16 and 36 who have work permits. They wouldnt get the work permits unless they had a clean work record and they are product i have to society. We want to solve that and not on a different page of that. Youre taking a very conciliatory tone this morning. Want to play an ad that you guys unveiled last night. I wish i could have called more [ bleep ] of those mother [ bleep ]. Build a wall, stop ill legal imgranges. Democrats who stand in our way will will be complicit in every murder completed by Illegal Immigrants. Tell me how that happens negotiations today. Youre calling democrats accomplices to potential murderers. You know that ad is pronounced by an outside grouped. Donald j. Trump for president is an outside group. Its not done done from a political organization, not people working inside the white house, but let me talk about the basis of that ad. Today what we have is over 2,500 people on a terror watch list trying to get into our country each and every day. Each and each year. Thats about seven per day, chuck, being apprehended or turned away. We want to solve the problem of immigration coming in, and the threat that it potions to our country. I think thats a natural debate we should be happening. We shouldnt just say lets do this at some other point in time. If you want to solve this problem, is that the way to treat political opponents here . Let me ask you this. Is that ad helpful to you today . I think its hadful to continue to raise awareness the tone of that ad you find the tone of that ad hopeful. It continues to remind people data, not tone. Is the tone wrong . The data of the ad shows there are people coming across our border that pose threats to our country, yes. All right. Marc short, i have to leave it there, and weve got you. Weve got dick durbin and tom cotton. After the show is over will you solve this. I hope so. As many people have pointed out republicans who were all for a shutdown when president obama was in office are opposed to one now, but democrats, too, have had a change of heart. Heres what three prominent democrats sounded like in 2013 when republicans were threatening to shut down the government over healthcare. You do not use the threat of shutting down government to try to advance your policy agenda. Thats just not the way it works. You can say were shutting down the government. Were not going to raise the debt ceiling until you pass Immigration Reform. It would be governmental chaos. But if were talking about competency and accountability and i have a question for the republicans. We just went through a Government Shutdown of your creation. Who is going to be held accountable for that . Well, joining me now is one of those democrats you just heard, from the number two democrat in the United States senate. Its dick durbin of illinois. Senator durbin, welcome back to meet the press. Its good to be here. I know you guys are hopefully going to go solve this problem after the show is over, but let me ask you this. Why why draw the line in the sand now . It seems like to the average american you guys are fighting over how long the window of negotiation on immigration should be. One month or five days. The two weeks or three weeks. Do you see how to the average american they are not quite sure why this is the line in the sand versus say a month from now . Let me tell you the average american feels frustration that we havent solved the problem and many problems that we face here in washington, but lets put it in context, chuck. You understand the republicans control the white house. The republicans control the senate. The house of representatives and through their nominees even the u. S. Supreme court. What were trying to do is find a solution to a shutdown which we believe is a trump shutdown. Youve heard it over and over. You played it early in your broadcast here, but the reason is pretty clear. When the president said on january 9th, and i was sitting right next to leer you send me a bill to solve the problem that he created on daca, ill sign it. Ill take the political heat. Within 48 hours lindy graham, republican of South Carolina and i presented that bill to him, he rejected it out of hand. This last friday when Chuck Schumer was invited to the white house, he sat down with the president over lunch. There were two other people in the room. They hammered out an agreement where Chuck Schumer made major concessions on one of the major issues, the president s wall. Within two hours the white house called and said that deal is off. So if you wonder what kind of shutdown it is and who is to blame the president in both instances could have stepped forward to show leadership. Why the sense of urgency now versus three weeks . Nobody likes the situation were in, but explain to me why you frankly why not draw this line in the sand in three weeks . This is the fourth cr this fiscal year. For those who are not following the insides of washington politics, it means a failure to pass a budget for the United States of america. This has to come to an end as well. There are people, even five republicans works voted against the the cloture on the continuing resolution because they are sick of the continuing resolutions. You say why dont we wait another three weeks, four weeks, it has to come to an end, and it will if and when the president shows the leadership that we expect of him as president. I want to get some clarity on Durbin Graham, Graham Durbin. Well call it Durbin Graham because youre here. You say you handled all of this, all of the assets the president has but i want to get to chain migration and family myration. The real dispute does it apply just to the daca population or does it apply to all immigration overall . Are you at all open to having larger changes to theism gracious law in the daca negotiations . The president made it clear on the january 9th meeting, he agreed with us there should be two fadeses. Lets deal with the problem which he created on september 5th by eliminating daca, deadline march 5th. Just a few weeks ago. Lets sol that have problem now and not all the problems of immigration, and, yes, we did include a provision related to family reunification which breaks my heart. Only applying to this population. Thats right. They say it should apply entire immigration system. And senator cotton wants to reduce Legal Immigration into the United States. Im not one of those people. My mother was an immigrant to this country and im very proud to be serving in the senate under those circumstances, but what it comes down to this is this. Lindy graham and i accepted the president s challenge, produced the bill he asked for. Gave it to him 48 hours later, and the infamous white house meeting took place. Let me ask you about that white house meeting. Youve said youve not leaked the contents of that meeting. Thats true. You amplified it though. Why did you do that . Because the president denied it happened. I was in chicago. I woke up the next morning. The story was in the Washington Post the night before and the president tweet it had didnt happen, and it did happen, chuck. I i i ask this because i played that ad that the Trump Campaign is playing. Its accusing democrats of being accomplices to crimes, to murders for some reason. Not helpful to a negotiation obviously to do namecalling. This became personal for many of you, not helpful to this. Do you regret that that became public . Im sorry that it was said. Im sorry that the president denied it, but for the longest time weve heard that the driving force of the president s position on immigration is safety and terrorism. Marc short said the same thing earlier. What we heard in the thursday meeting was much different. It really reflected something that i hope well not continue to subscribe to in this country. Were a nation of immigrants. Thats part of our values. We want to keep america safe. Thats our first priority, but let us not turn immigrants into criminals. Let us not deport the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. All right. What deal will you take to reopen the government . You accept the idea that you cant actually vote on the daca bill as part of reopening the government. Obviously its my understanding youll accept reopening the government as long as theres a separate commitment to vote on daca but give me what youll accept. Theres two possibilities, up is that the president steps up as he said in the january 1th meeting and says i embrace the following approach to dealing with daca and the d. R. E. A. M. Yergsorers. Congress has met the challenge and heres what ill stand by and we can include it and pass it quickly. The alternative is to have competing ideas. Senator cotton and i have dramatically different ideas, competing ideas on the floor of the senate and then, this is critical, and then are brought up in the house. Remember when we passed comprehensive Immigration Reform in the senate with an overwhelming bipartisan roll call and Speaker Boehner and the republicans refused to even consider it. You want standalone bills voted on in the senate, but its my understanding that you dont want the house to vote on a standalone. No. The point were getting to is we need clear assurance if we can pass a comprehensive or a bill in the senate that it will be taken up in the house and wont be ignored. The march 5th trump deadline on daca is looming, and we want to solve this problem long before. All right. I want to end with where we started. Why was february 16th a nonstarter for this but january 321st was okay . I dont understand the difference. Whats the difference between 14 days here. The dynamic here, we called for a oneday extension, a threeday extension to put a looming deadline on this negotiation and bring this shutdown, this trump shutdown to an end as quickly as possible. Now the republicans have come in instead of four weeks well take three weeks. Whats what we need to have is a basic agreement on what well do in those three weeks, not just a calendar date. All right. Senator dick durbin, i have to leave it there. Honest life doesnt sound like were very close, are we . Im more positive. I really think theres conversations at every level, democrats and republicans. You think the government reopens before the end of business on monday . I wont make that prediction. Im confident let me ask you this. If it doesnt open by the end of business monday do you think well be here for the long haul . Well talk every minute of every day and i wish the president would help us. At some point his leadership would make the difference. Senator dick turn, ill leave it there. Thank you, sir. When we come back, well hear from a republican in the senate who seems more indiana tent to keep the president S Immigration promises more than music plays throughout at bp, everyone on an offshore rig depends on one another. Thats why entire teams train together in simulators, to know exactly what to do before they have to do it. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. When a achoo alls. Answer it. With zicam cold remedy. It shortens colds, so you get better, faster. Colds are gonna call. Answer them with zicam zicam. Get your better back. Now in delicious fruit drops. [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. A heart transplant. Thats a whole different ballgame. I was in shock. I am very proud of the development of drugs that can prevent the rejection and prevent the recurrence of the original disease. I never felt i was going to die. We know so much about transplantation. And were living longer. You cannot help but be inspired by the opportunities that a transplant would offer. My donors mom says a transplant would offer. Welcome back. One of the Senate Republicans who has taken a particularly tough stance on ilLegal Immigration has been tom cotton of arkansas, and senator cotton joins me now. Welcome back to meet the press. Good morning, chuck. Good to be with you. What would you say of what kind of deal the president will accept because there does seem to be the president tuesday trump i guess as Lindsey Graham likes to call him. You were in the larger meeting. He looked like he was willing to essentially accept Graham Durbin and then a lot of people say you got to him and you stiffened his spine, so can you explain the president s position because it doesnt seem to be clear, as Mitch Mcconnell has said. Chuck, i dont think anyone got to donald trump. Donald trump studied the proposal that dick durbin and Lindsey Graham put before him and realized it didnt address any of the key priorities. It gave Legal Protections to the people in the becomea program and gave mass amnesty to the parents as well, the people who created the problem to begin with. Didnt give no citizenship. They werent going to get citizenship. But its an amnesty no matter what you call. It didnt give money to build any new border barriers, only to repair past border barriers or do anything to stop chain mig raise. Heres what the president and i and Senate Republicans have been clear on. Were willing to protect the children in the daca program and if we do that it will have negative consequences. It will lead to more ilLegal Immigration with children and thats why the security enforcement measures are so important and it will increase chain migration bringing more people into this country not based on their skills and so forth and thats why we have to address chain migration, a narrow, and focused package that should have the support of both parties. But your as you was saying to senator durbin it sounds like democrats are willing to accept everything youre talking about on on a smaller population, like lets deal with the daca and dacarelated population on all of those issues, thats part one, and then theres a part two that you deal with the larger Immigration Law changes. That seems very reasonable. Why do you find that unreasonable . First, let me just say that congress hasnt gotten part one right for decades so its important that we focus on part one, but, second, the proposal that senator durbin and senator graham put forward doesnt do any of those said. It doesnt just give Legal Protections for the 100,000 americans in the daca program and to millions of other people and include the parents who brought the kids here on the first place. On security, nono border construction, only repair of existing construction. Thats already changed. Thats already changed. Chuck schumer on friday gave him full funding for the wall, 18 billion on the table. Were you in that meeting had . Is i wasnt in the meeting either. Okay. Its hard for the president to negotiate its hard for the president or for Senate Republicans to negotiate when the democrats sitting across the table dont get what they want. They run out and they misrepresent what was a good faith effort to listen and to build trust, claim that some ridiculous deal was made and then claim that the president walked away from that deal and the media pies it hook, line and sinker. The president and the Senate Republicans engaged on this issue have been consistent since september when the president ended president obamas unlawful program. The problem we have is for four and a half months the democrats have not been negotiating over these very real and very honest concerns what i dont understand is how do you not see it as progress that Chuck Schumer is even publicly saying you get full funding for the wall. Louis gutierrez publicly saying you get funding for the wall. How is that not done . Why is that not a done deal . The democrats say weve moved much parter. Chuck, thats a good first step but devil is always in the details on immigration. Its a very complicated area of law. Last week senator durbin and graham were saying you get funding for the wall. You dont get new funding, funding to repair existing and its one year. Okay. Thats an old offer. Weve seen this time and time again in the immigration space, promises are made and not kept because we spend money on a yeartoyear basis. Second, you still have the problem of chain migration and creating an entire new group of immigrants that will be able to bring millions of new immigrants to the country without regard to their skills or education level or ability to get a job and stand on their own two feet. We have to solve those two negative side effects of giving Legal Protections to the daca population. Thats the parameters of the deal we all agreed to a couple of tuesdays ago at the white house. Do you think its a fair stance that if you cant vote for a bill, the president shouldnt agree to it . Look, we all serve in coequal branches, the house, the senate and president and all make our independent decisions. I work with the president on this issue and work with senate and house republicans, im more than happy to sit down with any democrat as well. Whatever the president eventually agrees to, will you support that bill hook, line and sinker . I cant make that commitment. Ill evaluate any deal on the basis of merit and whats best for the people of arkansas. Ive got to ask you about the infamous meeting ten days ago. Did the president use a vulgarity . Chuck, im not going to get into every word that was or was not said. I will say, as many people have said, Kirstejen Nielsen under oath, a lot of Strong Language was used, fair to say there was cursing behind closed doors. What i dont understand is in the first 48 hours if there was a controversy about whether it was said, you implied it wasnt said at all. You didnt and it made it seem as if you were accusing dick durbin of being a liar and Lindsey Graham of being a liar. As far as i know Lindsey Graham hasnt spoken on the record about this, chuck. Heres the point that senator durbin represented that President Trump used repeatedly, repeatedly used vile, racist, lays if the language. Thats not the case. If he was, why didnt he slam anything and slam his paper up and get up and walk out. What trump and others in that meeting expressed was astonishment that senator bushp and senator graham would bring a proposal that wont move us towards a skillbased system but towards a system where were rewith regarding people based on where they come from, not who they are. The point of Immigration Reform is to judge people as individuals based on who they are and what they can contribute to society, not who they are and who they are related to. But to go back to the issue of trust on both sides, you i prime you let it sort of hang out there that dick durbin and Lindsey Graham were misleading the public completely and only now are you admitting, well, yeah, there was vulgarity used. That isnt what you said a week ago or ten days ago at the time. Why . Chuck, ive never denied that there wasnt Strong Language used in the meeting by lots of people. You know, im not a shrinking violet about these things. Ive been in a command post overseas and ive heard salty language before. What im saying its a gross mess representation. Were you offended . Lindy graham appears to be offended. Said he said his piece. Were you offended by what the president said. I was not offended and nobody in the meeting expressed their offense. Lindsey graham didnt make his peace . Lindsey graham made a case about immigration policies, not about what the president was saying. He said he said his peace about what american ideals are about. Yes, he did and thats part of immigration policy because immigration policy is a part of who we are, who were going to bring to the country to become new american citizens. Senator tom cotton, im going to leave it there. Im going to leave it is there. When we come back, are there any winners in the shutdown battle, and well look at the tough new poll numbers for the president and what they may mean for the president s party in for the president s party in november we have a question about your brokerage fees. Fees . What did you have in mind . I dont know. 4. 95 per trade . Uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee . Guarantee . Where we can get our fees and commissions back if were not happy. So can you offer me what schwab is offering . Whats with all the questions . Ask your broker if theyre offering 4. 95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. If you dont like their answer, ask again at schwab. 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Peter, i want to start with you a little bit. Yeah. Tell me how the white house is reacting to this criticism. Heres the president bragging about his negotiation skills. We need a leader that wrote the art of the deal. I will negotiate deals that noboko fujimura can negotiate that i can do. Nobody can negotiate the things that i can do. The im a dealmaker. I believe i can put both sides together. I actually believed that candidate trump would bring people in the room. Where was he yesterday . Hes been m. I. A. You heard marc short say hes been heavily involved. Not engaged. Made calls mostly to republicans. The meeting with Chuck Schumer backfired and republican operatives said to me they think this president is erratic and undisciplined and inconsistent which makes it tough for him to get engaged in a deal like this. Yes. I think i would add, you know, looking at the history here of mr. Trump meeting first in the public deal last week when he talked to everybody and he said make a deal. I can take the heat and then in the conversation with schumer, what i think we see is hes actually not good at making a deal. What he does is pull new York Real Estate moves on the american political scene. Hes saying you know what, weve got a deal, its so great, come back tomorrow, well going have champagne and sign it and they come back and its sort of i was thinking overnight, i got three or four more things, they are not that big and everybody goes youre jerking me around. Right. So thats the part that i think that is not working and maybe hes not so deeply involved at the moment because his particular talents dont apply here. You know, al, i was talking to some republicans on the hill, and they do believe that if that were the straightup merits of this, that they have got the winning hand here. Democrats, they are negotiating over the window of negotiating daca, but they are they know the wild card here is the president , that he could blink. Well, listen. I think this is such an easy putt im just perplexed by why it doesnt happen. Its a ining with hand for the president. Allow him to continue the momentum he built after the passage of tax reform so a winning hand for the democrats because they showed that they got the republicans for the first time to agree on Immigration Reform that helped innocent people, a Million People so why didnt they make this deal and why didnt they agree to the president that president schumer spoke about is beyond me politically. For those who spoke upon principle on my side in, 2006 republicans did not want to vote on what the president proposed because they thought amnesty was a word hat that time that was poisonous and, number two, too many people would be coming to america when they thought we were soft. Whats happened is theres 5 million illegal people here in america in 2006. Now its 12 million to 14 million. We failed to act and as a result of failure to act, failure to act was worse than passing a law, and so we havent learned our lesson in 2018. Stephanie, and im not asking you personally to defend this, but the democrats feel like its hard publicly, how do you defend you saw the question i had to dick durbin. It looks to it the average american watching that you shut down the government because you couldnt agree on a window to negotiate. I think let me say a couple of things, and i will defend it. I think what senator durbin said is what the American People believe, that you cannot negotiate with this president because its like jello. He keeps moving the goal posts. He makes a deal one day and reneges on it the next and what democrats are saying well agree to an extension and agree to some date certain in the future to figure this out but we want tom assurances that we ear going to figure it out. Whats going to happen between now and then . Were not just going to keep kicking it down the road, and when comes to the d. R. E. A. M. Er population, you know, chuck, you had mentioned when you came over here you felt like you were banging your head against a wall. What was startling to me is you have the white house representative marc short who is very good in doing these shows acting very conciliatory and wanting to make a deal and then defends an ad thats basically calling democrats murderers and likening the draermer population. The president promised a bill of love. They are merging the two issues. I understand why they are getting it. Ive been in politics for years. I dont understand it. Its pete wilson 1994 california. You see the longterm damage. There is longterm damage. Were not learning our lessons. We didnt learn them in 2006 on Immigration Reform, and we ear killing my party now in this shortterm deal because its going to happen the same thing. Weve got 50 million hispanics here now. Well have 100 million in 20 years. What makes people think that this is good longterm policy for my party . Bottom line is if if marc short was as conciliatory as he sound and that there really is a deal to be made here, why did the president waste an entire day yesterday . Ive served in the white house and ive been through shutdowns. Both democrats and republicans should have been sitting in a room yesterday trying to hash this out. If they really cared about the harm to the American People of shutting down the government, they should have made yesterday work. But its my impress, i must tell you, it looks to me like to some degree the democrats are overplaying their hand, and, unfortunately, obscuring something historic. Whats historic . Democrats and republicans and capitol hill and the white house right now are willing to trade changes in policy on daca for changes in policy on immigration on the wall. Daca security which is kind of perfect and kind of where america is. You look at any of the polls. It seemed the obvious deal. You know, americans they dont like ilLegal Immigration. They want it shut down. They dont real care how its done. A wall, a droerngs june, just s down. At the same time we have Illegal Immigrants here. We marry them. Were at school with them. We know them. Nobody is going to throw them out. Regularize it as best you can. Thats kind of where the American People are. Its fabulous that republicans and democrats have almost this mind meld and in the last minute its getting screwed up by nonsense. The most important sound bite you played from Mitch Mcconnell in the last several days saying we dont really know where the president stand on this. The president hasnt given Republican Leadership a sense of where they are on this. Stephanie, i thought the democrats had the moral high ground until they failed to agree to extend this process for a short period of time. At that point, i said, you know, this shutdown is political. Its not on merit. It is. Let me remind you schumer went to the white house and offered a shortterm extension and basically gave the president everything he wanted. The president agreed to it. Schumer leaves the white house. By the time he gets back to the hill the president has changed his mind. I think its pretty clear to me democrats are from mars and republicans are from venus right here and they need a relationship book real, really badly here. Lets pause in a moment. Democrats believe taking a strong stance in defense of d. R. E. A. M. 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Because safety is never being satisfied and always working to be better. Jen, ive got questions. Boots or flipflops . Boot great. Smokey or natural eye . Ugh, natural. Good choice. How about calling or texting . Definitely calling. Puppies or kitties . Sorry, cats. Dry eyes or artificial tears . Wait, thats a trick question. Because they can both get in your way. Thats why it is superimportant to chat with your eye doctor if youre using artificial tears a lot and your eyes still feel dry. Next question. Guys, its time for some eyelove welcome back. Data download time. The shutdown struggle is over ark. Thats the program that protects children who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents and have essentially known no other country. So why are democrats willing to essentially shut down the government over this issue . Well, last months nbc news wall street journal poll showed that 62 of the country believed congress should continue to protect those who receive daca status, the socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers. And our latest polling on this issue also shows that hispanics favor democrats to control Congress Next year by a whopping 64 to 19 , and its not just the polling. The 2018 midterm map shows how much daca could put the gop majority at risk. Right now there are 52 republicancontrolled districts where the hispanic population is higher than the national average, 17. 8, and in 21 of those districts, more than 30 of the population is hispanic. These are voters who take the daca issue to heart. They take it personally and may be motivated to get out to the polls in typically whats a lower midterm turnout year and ten of the 52 representatives in those districts are already bolting for the exits, either retiring completely or running for Higher Office off. The 42 remaining incumbents do have a lot at stake in this current debate so where are the places were talking about . 44 of these 52 districts are in border states, 12 in california and four in arizona and one in new mexico and 22 in texas and 5 in florida, and, yes, even as a floridian i do consider florida essentially a border state. But some of these districts are in places you may not expect, washington state, nevada, three in colorado, georgia, pennsylvania and new york. So the democrats do indeed take back the house this november, it could be because they fought for daca issue and they won districts like this, republicanheld districts with larger than average minority populations, and they are not just along the border. They are now more scattered around the country. When we come back, end game and a report from nbc nightly news anchor lester holt who is in north korea. 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And if we can precisely treat eye cancer with minimal damage to the rest of the eye, imagine what we can do for glaucoma, even cataracts. If we can use dna to diagnose the rarest of diseases, imagine what we can do for the conditions that affect us all. Imagine what we can do for you. Announcer end game brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. Back now with end game. Arent you going to stick to the politics of this, and, stephanie, i want to hit you here with the Democratic Base that in some ways, its 2020 politics that is drawing the line in the sand here about on daca. Some of your former colleagues have a very popular podcast called save America Tommy pfeiffer, johnny vidor, jon favreau, doing a whip count of democrats on the cr and the whip count was between those and fight club and those in the waffle house, and they put donnelly, heitkamp and jones in the waffle house. How much is the base driving this outside . Do you think democrats in the senate would have a spine, would draw this line in the sand without this kind of activity . Lets remember what this is about. This is about the d. R. E. A. M. Er population, more than 700,000 kids who came here through no fault of their own and have grown up as americans and are contributing to our country. Democrats have been for that in fixing that problem for a very long time, for decade and most republicans have been, too. Thats why its an 80 plus supported issue, and i think everybody understands and i dont think anybody around this table would disagree that if the compromise were put on the floor of the house hand the senate, they would both pass that bill. Drawing a line in the sand to get that done is not just a base exercise, its the right thing to do. But what does it is do to the red state democrats . They vote the the way they wanted to. Is that helpful to be voted at wafflers by fellow democrats in. In some of those states maybe it would be. The same base issue for the republicans. It does seem as if the president is more worried about that base than thinking about the middle. Well, all i know is that we did a reprogram after the 14 election and we have doubled down on the mistakes we agreed 12 to 13. Yeah. Look, for the Republican Party, the president had already tested daca, the base seemed to be okay with it. Now that things have changed to the point where this bill passes, and it should, democrat are going to take all the credit for daca and were taking none. Stupid politics. Number two, the second part that makes this stupid is the fact that no one in our party is saying, lock, im not for this bill, but ive got a lot of empathy for these million family. Look, i can see why somebody would not have would not be for this policywise. I dont understand it, but i can respect it, but theres no empathy. I saw the secretary of Homeland Security in front of the senate saying she had never met d. R. E. A. M. Er and yet shes going to deport a Million People and break up all these families. Where is the empathy in my party. People, you know, the number one important thing in america when somebody is asking for president ial candidate support is, do you care does he care about me . How do we tell 50 Million People that we care about them when theres not a single word of empathy about the fate of these Million People. Can i say that trump base in my view would be very happy with a daca deal and an immigration wall enforcement thing, they would be happy, but its more than they would be happy. The middle would be happy. Centrists would be impressed. Thats the way to play politics. Its odd sometimes i thk doe understand why it will like and what it will accept. May i say also i do not think, stephanie, that this shutdown would be happening if democrats in the u. S. Senate did not feel that their own base was angry, restive, holding their feet to the fire and if they didnt think they can benefit because trump is so unpopular. Look at all the people on the mall yesterday. Hes high 30s. Well, theres that. Yesterday was not about the shutdown. Yesterday was about a year or more than a year, a whole president s election. Imagine if Chuck Schumer hadnt held his ground with all those people marching across the country. Sometimes you hold your ground for a political reason, its also the right thing to do, and thats where i think democrats are coming down here. Theres another issue that i think, and it may be part of trumps first year and the way hes changed washington. I would say the shutdown rhetoric has been defining deviancy down as our friend mr. Moynihan would say. Lindsey graham name calling tom could the tomorrow and tom cotton shooting back oh, yeah, you werent at the kiddie table in the debate and a white house official called Democratic Senators losers instead of legislators and nancy pelosi with the bowl of doingy doo. Oh, gosh, that was awful. Its all awful and its the new normal. It is. As for the presidency, we just passed the oneyear anniversary, two days into the second year. I think what we are seeing up close every day relentlessly is a postheroic presidency, a presidency for a postheroic era. People dont have illusions about how high and upstanding and rigorously upholding of values that the president is and at the same time everybody in Politics Around him sees it, sees that it plays fairly well for him, that he is sometimes gross or abrupt or rude in his terminology so they do it, too. It does lower everything. We are living through a cultural lowering. But you know, the lowering of expectations here, leadership is talking to an echo chamber while more and more americans are informed about politics. Its a dichotomy. And its all sort of twitter snark all the time public. It is, it is. Before we go, my colleague nbc nightly news anchor lester holt is inside north korea, a rare look at kim jonguns regime and comes less than three weeks before the olympics begin a few miles away in south korea which is why north korea may be opening its doors to the west. Earlier leverett filed this report exclusively for us. Take a listen. Reporter well, good morning, chuck. Probably not the image you were expecting to see of north korea, and thats probably one of the reasons we were invited to come here, because it is not what you would expect, a modern ski resort here about four hours outside the capital. We have come here to talk about the olympics which, of course, will be held in south korea, but weve learned that here they will be training both athletes from the north and south, a product obviously of the recent talks, facetoface talks between the countries. None of it masking, of course, the issues that remain over the Nuclear Program and no signs that north korea is willing to dial that back and also, of course, the crippling sanctions which have created such hardship. Again, you see no signs of hardship here, but it has taken a toll in this country. Well have reporting this week on nbc nightly news, but well send it back to you right now in washington. And thats what we all look forward to, much more of lesters reporting throughout the day, and be sure to watch lester live from the region after he has been around north korea tuesday on nbc nightly news. Thats all we have for today. Were open every sunday. No shutdowns here because if its sunday, its meet the press. Press here is sponsored by this week she calls herself the queen of goodbye. Pat mccormack hired and fired hundreds of people at netflix. Hackers get into a Company Network using the breakroom refrigerator and people are making money slurping soup. Our reporter laura from usa today and mark from bloomberg this week on press here. Good morni