Diplomacy were getting four back. Theyre getting seven. And British Parliament debates whether to keep donald trump out of the u. K. His policy to close borders is bonkers. Donald trump is free to be a fool but hes not free to be a dangerous fool in britain. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. With just two weeks to go until the iowa caucus, last night Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in the most anticipated and heated democratic debate of this election. With the racial politics of the Democratic Party serving as the backdrop. Cosponsored on the eve of Martin Luther king day by the Congressional Black Caucus institute in South Carolina, the first primary state with a sizable africanamerican population, and just one block away from the church where a white supremacist murdered nine black parishioners just months ago. In this context, with Hillary Clinton in a real race with sanders in the two early primary states, last nights fights were largely about how these candidates would protect and build on the legacy of the first black president. Both candidates shared the stage today. The ceremony in South Carolina marking the first Martin Luther king day without the Confederate Flag flying above that state house. But last night the interactions between the two were far more contentious, trading blows on everything from health care to wall street regulation. After a week of waging war with sanders on the details or, according to her, the lack thereof, around his Single Payer Health care plan, clinton sought to portray herself as the protector of the Historic Health care reform achieved under president obama. Heres what i believe. The Democratic Party in the United States worked since harry truman to get the Affordable Care act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. Weve accomplished so much already. I do not want to see the republicans repeal it. And i dont want to see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care act and improve it. Clinton spent much of the night trying to latch herself to the president s legacy and the coalition of voters that elected him twice. Arguing that she is running to consolidate his victories and will continue to incrementally improve upon them. Sanders, while having nothing but kind words for the president , is offering up a vision of more dramatic change. The vision from fdr and harry truman was health care for all people as a right and a costeffective way. Were not going to tear up the Affordable Care act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a medicare for all system. Andrea while sanders is calling for big changes, clinton appears to have recognized her path forward is to embrace the president and use him essentially as a kind of wedge between her and senator sanders. Last night she rather deftly turned the critique to her ties with the financial industry which are substantial into a defense of the president. Where we disagree is the comments that senator sanders has made that dont just affect me, i can take that, but hes criticized president obama for taking donations from wall street. And president obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against president obama. Now Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are polling within 20 points nationally among white voters. In the two predominantly white states early in the primaries, the senator from vermont where he is spending his time is neck and neck with clinton in a statistical tie with her in iowa and leading in new hampshire. Where the former secretary of state continues to hold a massive lead, as in over 40 points, over the senator from vermont, is with nonwhite voters. And you simply cannot lose nonwhite voters and win the democratic primary. Something both campaigns are clearly cognizant of. Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed secretary clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows shes beating you more than 21 among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you dont have that support . To answer your question, when the Africanamerican Community becomes familiar with my congressional record and with our agenda and with our views on the economy and criminal justice, just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the Africanamerican Community, so will the latino community. We have the momentum. Were on a path toward victory. Joining me now, perry bacon, nbc news senior political reporter, and ezra klein, msnbc policy analyst, editor in chief at vox. Ezra, let me start with you. I thought last night was fascinating because it ultimately was a kind of interleft debate about the legacy of the Obama Presidency. Ultimately what does the Obama Presidency amount to . Yeah. And its been fascinating to watch what i think a lot of people expected would happen here is Bernie Sanders would come into the race if he gained traction, which obviously he has. He would push clinton to the left. And he hasnt actually done that. Shes not swung very far left on any particular issues. What hes done is pushed her to be much more defensive of obama. Her approach to blunting sanders momentum is to run as a defender of obamas record. But one thing that i do think is worth saying is how this actually falls down on policy is a really different issue. Take obamacare, which was central to their argument last night. Hillary clinton does not in fact have a plan for going from obamacare to universal health care. Shes not put forward a path that would actually build in really serious ways on obamacare. So the argument she was making is not yet backed by her policy. And Bernie Sanders, by the way, does not actually have a single payer plan. He does not have a political way of getting there and nor does he have a policy that is anywhere near detailed enough to say in any respect what he would do with single payer. On the other hand, when you look at bank regulation, both of them are much more detailed. Hillary clinton has a very detailed plan to go significantly further than dodd frank currently does and sanders has a plan to break up the big banks. So i think the sort of lines theyre using where sanders is the more dramatic change candidate and clinton is running as the defender of obamas record, they actually obscure the policy differences, which in some cases go have both of them going much further than obama and in some cases have both of them making a much more explicit argument around obamas achievements. Perry, this sort of symbolic argument about obamas achievements to me ends up being youve got a situation thats never happened before in american politics, right . People running to succeed the first black president. In this case its the two people who are leading this pack are both white candidates. The Democratic Party, the Obama Coalition as a sort of demographic fact is this incredible sort of Multiracial Coalition this president was able to stitch together, and its fascinating to watch these two candidates figure out how to reconstitute that essentially and the big electoral question is can it be reconstituted in Barack Obamas absence . In this primary what youve seen is Bernie Sanders actually probably has three parts of that coalition. Hes doing better among young voters who obama did well with in 08. Hes doing better among independentminded democrats. And hes doing better among those who call themselves liberal. Those are three blocs obama won in 08 and hillary did not win in 08. Shes got the more conservative democrats. The key difference here is, black voters are really the swing voters in this primary because if clinton maintains that 70 , 80 you showed in that poll among black voters, shes going to win the primary. Its very hard for sanders to win states like South Carolina, states like mississippi, states like alabama if hes doing so poorly among africanamericans. So thats what she was doing last night, was if you assume the coalitions are going to stay the same, the one coalition she really needs that obama had is black voters, and thats why she was campaigning with eric holder over the weekend. Ezra, you wrote i thought a really perceptive piece about what kind of Hillary Clintons strengths are in terms of who she is when she has worked in government. You talked about people that worked with her. Ive heard the same people that worked with her, just this tremendous command and mastery, really like willing to get in the weeds, loving to get in the weeds, remarkably well prepared. And you talked about the challenge of presenting that side of herself in the confines of Something Like a debate. And i thought this bit from a focus group that Chris Kofinis ran last night was pretty interesting. Undecided voters leaning hillary who ended up meaning more affection for Bernie Sanders after the debate. Take a listen. Was there something in particular that kind of moved you, something that he said that or is it just he just seemed really educated on all the topics. He didnt seem like he was lacking at all. And he doesnt take digs at anybody. And that just really felt a little bit like hillary was trying to take digs. And she just seems to be, well, obama did all this great job and kind of riding on his coattail. Ezra, this struck me as part of the problem, that her high point in this campaign was an 11hour hearing in front of benghazi, right . Its hard to create those sorts of opportunities, right . To show that like i saying i have 11 hours worth of command of details is a tough thing to sell in any kind of format. I think, though, that and i appreciate the kind words. I think that there is something more to what Hillary Clinton is able to do behind closed doors and not in the publics view thats important here. Behind closed doors clinton is very good at working for the public and shes very good at working with folks she doesnt agree with, very good at building alliances that arent expected. And when you talk to people, theyre very honest. It isnt just that shes incredibly prepared. She is that. But its her ability to marry the tactical and the strategic, the ability to see the details of policy with what would be the way forward, with what is the opportunity for common ground. And that requires a sense of you know, for lack of a better term, real talk. An ability to kind of say look, heres where we really are, heres what i really think. And thats the thing you dont get the sense from her out in public. I think youre seeing it a little more actually in the debate than you were certainly the week before the debate. But clinton doesnt she is very afraid to tell voters things they dont want to hear. And something i think that sanders is able to do and that brings people over to him is he stakes out positions that because those positions actually have detractors, they also have people who really appreciate them. Right. Clinton seems so paralyzed by her knowledge of how many ways a straightforward position can get attacked that she seems very concerned when taking them. And then shell levy those same kinds of very small often technocratic and unfair attacks on sanders, which again, to that womans perspective you that just played, makes her look kind of tactical. They come off as digs. They dont come off as sort of an appealing way to campaign. Perry, youre nodding your head in agreement at that. I am. I think one of the strike things is sanders tends to campaign in terms of what i would call values versus hillarys often talking about policies. Like you know, single payer is not going to happen. And i think Bernie Sanders knows that. My guess is his supporters know it too. But hes talking in terms of these broad values, and i think thats appealing to people. Its a great move for him last night i think when Andrea Mitchell brought up the bill clinton sex scandals and sanders kind of dismissed the question, said the medias focused on this. I think the people do sort of resonate with certain things about the way sanders is a different kind of politician. You can imagine if hillary heard a vulnerability about somebody she would take it on. Sanders took this moment that could have helped him and said i dont want to run for president like that. Although to your point, hes quite a deft politician as the world is learning, he also got in there i think bill clintons behavior was deplorable, i dont want to talk about it, which is as political as anybody could do. Perry bacon, ezra klein, thank you for joining me. Thank you. Thank you. Still to come, donald trump focuses his attacks on ted cruz but will cruz fall as easily as trumps previous targets . Plus, four americans make their way home after their release from iranian prison. Ill talk with someone who knows firsthand how that feels. And later, as Bernie Sanders poll numbers continue to rise, do democrats actually believe hes electable . Those stories and more, ahead. Im here at my house, on thanksgiving day and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. The doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Go talk to your doctor. Youre not indestructible anymore. Beth, i hear you calling. S but i cant come home right now. Me and the boys are playing. All nig t text beth, what can i do. [siri ] message. Pick up milk. Oh, right. Milk. Introducing the newly redesigned passat. From volkswagen. You cant breathed. Through your nose. Suddenly, youre a mouthbreather. Well, just put on a breathe right strip which instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. Shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. Breathe right in iowa which holds its caucuses just two weeks from today, donald trump and ted cruz are separated by just a single point in the polls. With both men desperate to win the state, their once cordial relationship has gotten extraordinarily vicious. Hes a nasty guy. Nobody likes him. Nobody in congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. Hes a very hes got an edge thats not good. You cant make deals with people like that and its not a good thing. Its not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy. Trump has spent the past few days raising questions about whether the canadianborn cruz is eligible for the presidency, painting cruz as a hypocrite beholden to wealthy interests, and hammering cruz for questioning new york values. At one point on an Early Morning twitter jag tweeting out a picture of 9 11 First Responders and the wreckage of the World Trade Center asking, is this the new york that ted cruz is talking about and demeaning . Trumps attacks are generating some blowback from conservatives. At a Tea Party Convention saturday in South Carolina trump was booed for bringing up cruz undisclosed campaign loans from Goldman Sachs and citibank. Two prominent rightwing talk radio personalities, marc levin and rush limbaugh, are suggesting trump should change course. Levin telling trump, either cut the crap or you will lose lots and lots of conservatives. Cruz has long tried to play nice with trump in an apparent attempt to eventually win over trumps voters. But the dam is largely broken. After trump defended his political evolution by citing Ronald Reagan this morning on fox news, cruz suggested the comparison was laughable. Ronald reagan did not spend the first 60 years of his life supporting democratic politicians, advocating for Big Government politics, supporting things like the t. A. R. P. Big bank bailout, supporting things like expanding obamacare to turn it into socialized medicine. Thats not what Ronald Reagan did. Slight fact check. Reagan was actually a democrat until he was 51 years old. Anyway, later in the day cruz spent an entire radio interview attacking trump, prompting this conclusion from the host. Youve basically youve said it without saying it. Are you essentially saying trump is a fraud and a hypocrite . Well, those are your words, jeff. I like donald trump. I respect him. I will point out where we have policy differences. Oh, sure you do, ted. Of course. Of course. Coming up, trump went to Liberty University today to talk to evangelicals and accidentally revealed he is not exactly a biblical scholar. Thats next. Get in the way . Try nexium 24hr, now the 1 selling brand for frequent heartburn. Get complete protection with the new leader in frequent heartburn. Thats nexium level protection. cell phone rings where are you . Well the squirrels are back in the attic. Mom . Your dad wont call an exterminator. Can i call you back, mom . He says its personal this time. If youre a mom, you call at the worst time. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Where are you . Its very loud there. Are you taking a zumba class . For your heart health, you think youre doing all you can. But 9 out of 10 americans. Arent getting enough important omega3s. Bayer pro ultra omega3 can help, with two times the concentration of omega3s than the leading brand. Love your heart. With bayer pro ultra omega3. Thricemarried billionaire donald trump who is on record saying he doesnt recall ever once asking god for forgiveness spoke today at Liberty University, the evangelical college founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell. Were going to protect christianity. And i can say that. I dont have to be politically correct. If im president youre going to see Merry Christmas in Department Stores. Believe me. Trump was introduced by liberty president Jerry Falwell jr. , who had very nice things to say about the candidate. In my opinion, donald trump lives a life of loving and helping others, as jesus taught in the great commandment. He treats his friends, his employees, and those in need with the greatest respect, loyalty, and generosity. Trump often references the bible, the only book he says is better than his own book the art of the deal. But at liberty trump revealed he may not quite be ready to teach sunday school. Two corinthians, right . Two corinthians 3 17. Thats the whole ball game. Where the spirit of the lord. Right . Where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty. Is that the one is that the one you like . I think thats the one you like because i loved it. If you listen closely there, you can hear a little laugh in the audience. Thats because that quote from the second epistle to the corinthians from saint paul were the second corinthians as the liberty students know well. When he calls it two corinthians as trump did, as in two corinthians walk into a bar. National polls show he is leading or neck and neck with ted cruz among evangelicals despite cruz aggressive outreach to christian conservatives. Joining me Dartmouth University professor jeff sharlet. Hes written extensively on the intersection of faith and power and about evangelicals in political life. Jeff, you watch trump in front of an audience like liberty and the pandering is so obviously preposterous and so obviously a puton that the notion that it has any effect at all is hard for me to get my head around. You know, theres a long tradition in evangelicalism of looking for a good tool, someone whos going to do the job. And i think what trump was announcing was, im going to work for you. In the same way that remember Ronald Reagan was not a particularly devout man but he signaled to evangelicals that he wanted this alliance. And i think thats how some in the audience are going to read it even despite his sort of ridiculous misreadings of scripture. You also did have some sort of evangelical backlash today. Russell moore, a very prominent evangelical, went on a sort of twitter jag. This would be hilarious if it werent so counter to the mission of the gospel of jesus christ. And then on yikyak, the social media app thats used in a lot of colleges, there was a fair amount of ridicule coming from some of the folks that actually attended. Two corinthians walk into a bar. Sure. That was one of the comments that one of the liberty students made. You know, i think what was interesting to me was how much he stuck to his stump speech. And i think that was kind of smart in recognizing that theres no way hes going to convince them that hes one of them. But hes going to find these kind of common cause issues. Remember it was at Liberty University just last december that Jerry Falwell jr. Announced in that same hall to the same group of students that he was carrying a gun that moment and urged students to get concealed carry so they could defend themselves against terror. So when trump, probably the strongest part of the speech for him, was his sort of long his long rant on paris and fighting terrorism and so on and saying, look, im going to give lip service to the bible, thats enough, but im going to be very serious about guns and antiimmigration, these issues that a lot of people there care deeply about. I thought the applause line also about the line when im president theyre going to be saying Merry Christmas in the Department Stores, which is again on its face preposterous. Like the president cant issue an order telling Department Stores to say Merry Christmas. But you know, he successfully paints this vision which just in the moment at least its a little like the reason you buy a lottery ticket, right . In some rational way you know youre not going to win but in the moment you buy the ticket you think like oh, it would be nice. Like youre allowed to daydream for a moment about a world that looks more like the one you like. And thats another kind of sort of evangelical trope, whether deliberately or not, he was picking up on, sort of playing out a story, a story how this is going to work. He didnt just say youre going to hear Merry Christmas. He went on. Youre going to hear it a lot. He added a menacing tone. There was this element of revenge against all those who said happy holidays. And time and time again he plays out that story. He doesnt sound quite like a preacher but he sounds close enough i think for enough evangelicals, he is leading among evangelicals, enough evangelicals to say this is somebody we can work with. So you dont think obviously, ted cruzs father is a fairly prominent evangelical preacher. He has courted evangelicals quite assiduously. You think this supports going to stay, this is not, you know, rooted in sand. Well, i think theres two differences. One thing thats important to remember is that trump you compare trump to Jerry Falwell, as his son did, right . Jerry falwell was a devout man, a pious man, but he also liked having a kind of bad boy reputation. Jerry falwell was the larry flynt of fundamentalism compared to pat robertson. Pat robertson, a son of a senator, was sort of very pious. And trump is in that tradition. That tradition goes all the way back in america to billy sunday, and that tradition is about charisma, not just charismatic christianity but charisma. Trump has it. Cruz doesnt. And i think thats going to make a tough choice. Mike huckabee is the logical evangelical candidate but hes going nowhere, so we see some political calculation on the part of evangelicals, that at least is going to put trump right in there in competition with cruz. Yeah. Jeff sharlet, thank you very much. I really enjoyed that. Thanks a lot. Thanks, chris. Still ahead, the British Parliament has a debate about banning donald trump from their borders. The highlights, next. Ive heard of a number of cases where people have been excluded for incitement, for hatred. Ive never heard of one for stupidity. Im not sure that we should be starting now. Of sunrises, but with my back pain i couldnt sleep and get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. You both have a perfect driperfect. Ord. No tickets. No accidents. That is until one of you clips a food truck, ruining your perfect record. Yeah. Now you would think your Insurance Company would cut you some slack, right . No. Your insurance rates go through the roof. Your perfect record doesnt get you anything. Anything. Perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. See Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. My man, lemme guess who youre wearing. Everyones lookin red carpet ready. Toenail fungus . Whaaat . . Fight it with jublia. Jublia is a prescription medicine. Used to treat toenail fungus. Use jublia as instructed by your doctor. Jublia is workin it most common side effects include. Ingrown toenail, application site redness,. Itching, swelling, burning. Or stinging, blisters, and pain. Oh fight it with jublia now thats a red carpet moment ask your doctor if jublia is right for you. Visit our website for savings on larger size. Those who define sophistication stand out. Those who dare to redefine it stand apart. The allnew lexus rx and rx hybrid. Never has luxury been this expressive. This is the pursuit of perfection. Under starry skies above. Of miles, dont fence me in. Let me fly any time, any airline that i love, dont fence me in. Give me a mile and a half for every buck i spend. Double my miles when the first year ends. No annual fees, no blackouts, let the fun begin. Dont fence me in. Get the discover it miles card. [ sneezing ] a cold can make you miserable. Luckily, alka seltzer plus cold and cough liquid gels. Rush liquid fast relief to your tough cold symptoms. Fast, powerful liquid gels from alka seltzer plus britain is pretty good at roasting beef. Do you not think its better that we just roast trump . Im sorry. I dont think a debate like this calls for flippancy at a time like this. In the past the United Kingdom has banned conservative radio host Michael Savage and koranburning pastor terry jones. Remember that guy . And today members of the British Parliament mulled over a decision to prohibit another american from ever stepping foot in the u. K. Donald trump. The debate was brought on by an online petition that called the u. S. Republican president ial frontrunners comments about muslims hate speech. The threehour event concluded with no vote. Now the decision to ban trump is ultimately not made by parliament but by the home secretary. For the record, i agree with labor m. P. Jeremy corbin, who opposes banning trump. Nevertheless, an opportunity for members of British Parliament to share their thoughts on donald trump sure was a lot of fun to watch. Turning as i must to mr. Trump, his comments regarding muslims are wrong. His policy to close borders if he is elected as president is bonkers. And if he met one or two of my constituents in one of the many excellent pubs in my constituency, then they may well tell him that he is a wazook for dealing with this issue in this way. Donald trump is a fool. He is free to be a fool. He is not free to be a dangerous fool on our shores. Donald trump is no more than a demagogue. He panders to he panders to peoples fears as opposed to their strengths. This is not just any man that were talking about. This is a man who is extremely highprofile, involved in the american show business industry for years and years, a man who is interviewing for the most important job in the world. Now, i know weve had some examples of when people have been excluded from this country. Ive heard of a number of cases where people have been excluded for incitement or for hatred. Ive never heard of one for stupidity. And im not sure that we should be starting now. Can i not suggest that actually this is about buffoonery and ultimately buffoonery should not be met with the blunt instrument of a ban but with a classic british response of ridicule. Rate t o see Rheumatoid Arthritis like me, and youre talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. This is humira giving me new perspective. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works for many adults. It targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Talk to your doctor and visit humira. Com this is humira at work it takes a lot of work. But i really love it. S. Im on the move all day long. And sometimes, i just dont eat the way i should. So i drink boost® to get the nutrition that im missing. Boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. All with a great taste. I dont plan on slowing down any time soon. Stay strong. Stay active with boost®. No matter what nasty cold symptoms you get, alka seltzer plus liquid gels rush liquid fast relief to your tough cold symptoms. And they outsell mucinex liquid gels 2 to 1. Alka seltzer plus liquid gels. And feeling good, sort of. N and real, and 500 calories or less. The clean pairings menu. At panera. Food as it should be. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. Almost exactly seven years ago today at his first inauguration president obama outlined his vision for a Foreign Policy very different from that of his predecessor. This weekend president obama made good on that vision, announcing multiple diplomatic breakthroughs with the iranian regime, a regime once shunned as part of the axis of evil. Just days after the administration secured the release of ten american sailors detained after drifting into iranian waters, avoiding what could have been a major incident, the u. N. Declared iran had dismantled large parts of its Nuclear Program in full compliance with the International Agreement reached earlier this year or last year. Allowing the International Community to lift oil and financial sanctions on the regime and potentially begin to unravel irans pariah status. The next day the u. N. Also imposed new sanctions over irans Ballistic Missile program. Meanwhile, just before the nuclear deal was implemented iran freed four iranianamericans being held by the regime in a prisoner swap with the u. S. The result of 14 months of secret negotiations. Now, those four americans, Jason Rezaian, a journalist with the washington post, marine veteran amir hekmati, saeed abedini, a christian pastor, and Nosratollah Khosravi roodsari were released in exchange for seven individuals suspected or convicted by the u. S. Of violating sanctions against iran. The u. S. Also canceled International Arrest warrants for an additional 14 iranians suspected of sanctions violations. Another american being held in iran, a researcher named matthew trevithick, was allowed to leave the country independently of the prisoner swap. Saturday three of the american prisoners got the goahead to leave tehran on a plane bound for switzerland. But the whole thing almost fell apart, according to the New York Times citing u. S. Officials when at the last minute authorities detained Jason Rezaians wife and mother at the airport, insisting they remain behind. It was a phone call from secretary of state john kerry to his iranian counterpart that ultimately resolved the situation, according to those reports. Today the three americans were finally reunited with family and friends at a u. S. Military base in germany, where theyre recuperating till theyre ready to come home. Of course any good news in the obama administrations relations with iran was not greeted with enthusiasm by republican president ial candidates, including two sitting senators who signed onto tom cottons infamous letter to irans ayatollahs warning them not to trust the u. S. President. While the candidates welcomed news of the prisoner release, they found a lot more to criticize. Now we have a president that has traded hostages in exchange for prisoners who did commit a crime and were convicted after due process and a trial and everything of that sort. And what the president s now doing not just with this but what he did with the castro brothers and what he did with bergdahl is he put a price on the head of every american abroad. Ive been hitting them hard and i think that might have something to do with it. You know want to know the truth. Whoa is using it . Its part of my staple thing. I go crazy when i hear about this. Thats 21 terrorists helping iran develop Nuclear Weapons that they intend to use to try to murder us. That, by the way, is not true. Im joined now by iranianamerican journalist Roxanna Saberi who was imprisoned in iran for 100 days in 2009. Later wrote a book about the experience, between two worlds my life in captivity in iran. And shane bauer, also a prisoner in iran. Start with you. Certain news storyies surprisingly make you very upset personally, but i dont know what it was saturday morning that i just felt incredibly overjoyed by this news. Yeah, so did i. I must imagine you felt the same way. Yeah, i did because i was in touch with the families of the three prisoners, the former prisoners who are now in germany over the months, over the years with saeed with amir hekmatis family because he was in prison for 4 1 2 years. They wanted to know what is prison like. They wanted to know what can they do to help to get him out. I also knew Jason Rezaian from iran. We met way back in 2003. So i was ecstatic. Especially to see their smiles in the pictures today. Wow. And shane, it sort of came out of nowhere. Im curious what you think about this idea that weve seen. Theres been a critique that marco rubios words, this puts a price on americans heads, this creates some sort of negative incentive, this imperils americans in the future. What do you think of that . Right. Well, i think with iran its very different from situations like isis. Iran isnt imprisoning americans to extract a ransom or Something Like that. But it is imprisoning them for political reasons. I think this release really was kind of a marker showing how much things are changing. The fact that they released four americans at one time is a huge deal. I mean, these people have you know, irans constantly had american prisoners, you know, as soon as one gets out they have another one. For years now. And the fact that these sanctions were lifted and they were all let out at one time shows a huge improvement i think. Shane, youve written quite movingly about your own imprisonment in iran and the conditions, which were awful, particularly solitary and the kind of brutal mental torture that is solitary confinement. We know that some of these individuals were held in solitary. You would think someone who has experienced some of the moral monstrousness, frankly, of this regime would look askance at any kind of move toward better diplomatic relations or normalization. How do you feel about the broader political context . I mean, i dont have great feelings toward the iranian government for obvious reasons. But at the same time i think, you know, if our goal is to be, you know, moving toward improving relations, which would make, you know, americans safer and make people not end up in these situations in prison, it would, you know, lower the threat of irans, you know the Nuclear Threat from iran, we have to be engaging. We have to be talking to iran, which we are now. Weve been doing for a few years now. And we need to be just easing the tensions. The tl was new sanctions put on iran right after these americans released. These were compared to the old sanctions were pretty minor and very targeted. But i think following up the easing of sanctions by implementing new sanctions is not the direction we want to go in. We want to be following these Good Measures with more positive steps forward. Right now some of these folks are in germany. Theyre going to have to try to kind of transition back to normal life. What was that experience like . What do you think they will experience . Well, it can be overwhelming at first. And i heard that Jason Rezaian wanted to know what was going on in the outside world because imagine youre in this small cell surrounded by four walls, you dont know whats happening outside prison, you dont even know whats happening in the hallway. The news source that you get, like Jason Rezaians brother said, is staterun tv in iran and thats not the best source of information. So you just want to Read Everything you can. You want to be in touch with your loved ones. It can be difficult to transition back. Some people get posttraumatic stress disorder. Thats a very real thing. Took me a couple years to feel back to normal again. But i found when i returned to something i was passionate about, journalism, that it really helped and hopefully these prisoners can also find meaning in their experiences and something they can feel passionate about again. Shane, what was that experience like for you . It was similar. I always imagined when i was in prison that getting out would always be this just immediate elation. And it was for a moment. But it got difficult. Its hard to readjust to freedom. After youre in prison for a while, your mind changes. You become accustomed to a strict routine, and youre not used to normal, you know, social situations. And it takes time to kind of develop that ability again. Shane bauer, Roxanna Saberi, thank you both. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up, do democrats really want the Political Revolution that Bernie Sanders promises . Thats next. No one speed. No one way of driving on each and every road. But there is one car that can conquer them all. The mercedesbenz cclass. Five driving modes let you customize the steering, shift points, and suspension to fit the mood youre in. And the road youre on. The 2016 cclass. Lease the c300 for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. On top of your health . Ay ahh. Ahh. Cigna customers have plan choices and tools to take control. So theyre more engaged, with fewer high health risks and lower medical costs. Take control of your health at cigna dot com slash take control. Men,. To stay fit. Yet 68 dont know. Physical activity increases our need for antioxidants. Lets add one a day mens vitacraves. A complete gummy multivitamin with antioxidants. To help meet your increased needs. One a day. I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by whats happening in flint, michigan. And i think every single american should be outraged. Weve had a city in the United States of america where the population, which is poor in many ways and majority africanamerican, has been drinking and bathing in leadcontaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didnt really care. He had requests for help that he basically stonewalled. Ill tell you what. If the kids in a rich suburb of detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would have been action. Last night completely unprompted and with an opportunity to address any topic she wanted to Hillary Clinton criticized michigan Governor Rick Snyder for his slow response to Dangerous Levels of lead in the city of flints water supply. The crisis started in april 2014 when the city, under the control of a stateappointed emergency manager, began taking its tap water from the flint river as part of a costcutting measure. Soon after the switch was made, residents began complaining about the taste and smell of the water. Officials maintain the water was safe. Tests later showed the water had massively elevated lead levels. Some samples even met the epas definition of toxic waste. Scientists note there is no safe level for lead in water. And in flint, a city where 40 of its population lives in poverty, there are over 8,000 children under the age of 6 who may have suffered permanent brain damage because of the lead in the citys water. The story has now drawn National Attention thanks in no small part to the excellent, dogged, persistent reporting done by my colleague Rachel Maddow, a contribution acknowledged by flints mayor this past weekend. I have to give a huge shout out to Rachel Maddow. [ applause ] weve got to say thank you, Rachel Maddow. We here in flint will always, always be grateful to you and the role that youve played in helping us. Right now in flint a federal emergency has been declared. The National Guard has been called in to hand out bottled water, filters, and testing kits in the hardesthit neighborhoods and the Justice Department is investigating what went wrong. There are growing calls for governor snyders resignation, including from president ial candidate Bernie Sanders. But snyder pushed back on both sanders and Hillary Clintons criticisms tweeting political statements and finger pointing from political candidates only distract from solving the flint water crisis. Today in flint snyder defended his response to the situation. Obviously i care. Im here today. Weve done a number of actions. Were going to keep working at putting solutions in place. Tomorrow night following the Governors State of the state address in lansing michael moore, proud son of flint whos called for snyders arrest, will join me on this program live to discuss this growing crisis. You do not want to miss it. When heartburn hits fight back fast tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid at the source tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies only from tums why fit in when you were born to stand out. The 2016 Nissan Altima has arrived. For your heart health, you think youre doing all you can. But 9 out of 10 americans. Arent getting enough important omega3s. Bayer pro ultra omega3 can help, with two times the concentration of omega3s than the leading brand. Love your heart. With bayer pro ultra omega3. You call yourself a democratic socialist. I do. And throughout your career in politics youve been critical of the Democratic Party. Even saying in a book you wrote, there wasnt a hell of a big difference between the two major parties. How will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist . Because what i believe and what i was just saying, the Democratic Party needs major reform. Are democrats ready for a selfavowed socialist to lead their party and would america elect him . Electability is one of the questions sanders addressed head on last night. As secretary clinton well knows, when this Campaign Began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what . In iowa, new hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe were ahead in new hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what. We are running ahead of secretary clinton in terms of taking on my good friend donald taking on my good friend donald trump. Beating him by 19 points in new hampshire, 13 points in the last National Poll that i saw. Next ill speak with one analyst who asked if democrats can afford the risk of nominating Bernie Sanders. Be good. Text mom. Boys have been really good today. Send. Lets get mark his own cell phone. Nice. Send. Brad could use a new bike. Send. [siri ] message. You decide. Theyre your kids. Why are you guys texting grandma . It was him. It was him. Keep your family connected. Appconnect. On the newly redesigned passat. From volkswagen. Men,. To stay fit. Yet 68 dont know. Physical activity increases our need for antioxidants. Lets add one a day mens vitacraves. A complete gummy multivitamin with antioxidants. To help meet your increased needs. One a day. Bis committed to truth on the label. When we say real meat is the first ingredient, it is always number one. We leave out poultry byproduct meal, corn, wheat and soy. And, we own where our dry food is made 100 . Can other brands say all that . For grainfree nutrition you can trust, does your food go beyond . Learn more at beyondpetfood. Com this just got interesting. Why pause to take a pill . Or stop to find a bathroom . Cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas for pulmonary hypertension, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis and a 200 savings card stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive wheall i can think abouthit, is getting relief. Only nicorette mini has a patented fastdissolving formula. It starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. I never know when ill need relief. Thats why i only choose nicorette mini. Now, when i tell you all of this, im telling you because i think we can do it. I dont want to overpromise. I dont want to come out with theories and concepts that may or may not be possible. We dont need any more of that. What we need is a sensible, achievable agenda where we roll up our sleeves and we work together. Joining me now, Jonathan Chait, writer for new York Magazine whose latest piece is called the case against Bernie Sanders. And ruth conniff, editor for the progressive magazine. Jonathan, let me start with you. I guess the case against Bernie Sanders, keep it short, but the broad brush strokes here, particularly i think on this sort of electability. In fact, let me read this quote. Sanders offers a leftwing version of a hoary political fantasy that a more pure candidate can rally the people into a righteous uprising that would unsettle the conventional laws of politics. It seems bizarre for democrats to risk losing the presidency by embracing a politically radical doctrine that stands thats social in this case. That stands zero chance of enactment even if they win. Elaborate. Sure. Well, put aside the question of would you rather have Bernie Sanders as president if Bernie Sanders could do everything he wanted versus Hillary Clinton if Hillary Clinton could do everything they wanted because the fact is neither one of them is going to have that circumstance. Theyre both going to have to deal with a republican congress. And that congress is going to block nearly any Major Economic legislation because they want to go in the exact opposite direction. Where does the president still have any power . Its in the areas that sanders doesnt talk about. Its not in changing the shape of the economy. Its not in taxes. Its not in spending. Its not in creating jobs programs. And its certainly not in creating Single Payer Health care. Its in these regulatory measures. Its in using unilateral administrative power, criminal justice reform, and Foreign Policy. Its in these things that Bernie Sanders isnt really passionate about. So im arguing that taking a big risk on electing someone whos pretty far to the extreme compared to where the party has been before isnt really worth it given that hes not going to be able to do what he wants to do anyway. What do you think of that argument . I think i heard it before. I think i heard it in 2008 when obama was running against hillary and we had sort of a similar argument, this is pie in the sky, this is a fairy tale, and there was this tremendous grassroots support, particularly among young people for barack obama who seemed unlikely at the time and were sort of having the same discussion again. What i feel about it is its not just sand, its a whole progressive movement, its millennials, millennial women, almost by 21 prefer sanders to hillary. Its the dreamers. Its the fight for 15 movement. Its a lot of people who are the Grassroots Movement in this country. And this is not a year where incrementalism really sells to that group of people, after occupy, after the crash of the financial markets. What sanders is saying is resonating with people very deeply. And thats why you see the surge that you see. And i think to ignore that and to try to steer to the center is a risky course. You have to acknowledge that. Hillarys candidacy might be risky for democrats as well. First of all, i was a strong supporter of obama in 08. Secondly its not parallel at all because obama had a Democratic Congress and a chance tone act a lot of important reforms which he did. And third of all its ironic you mention it because part of what sanders is doing as clinton was pointing out effectively in the debate is to say that obama hasnt done much. Hes been a failure, hes an incrementalist. Hes done too little. And clinton is the one whos trying to build on his successes. I would say that clintons worst moment in the debate is when seize trying to pivot to wrapping herself in obama and saying when challenged on the 600,000 in speaking fees shes personally got from Goldman Sachs i can take that kind of criticism, never mind that. But to criticize obama, i thought it was a sleight of hand that didnt do her a lot of justice. It was phony. And you know, wrapping herself in obama and the obama legacy is one thing. But saying, you know, im just going to give you the same thing is to ignore what is going on in this country this year. Whats going on with this grassroots uprising. Why are people discontent . Why did we have the occupy movement . Why do we have the fight for 15 movement and all these young people who prefer sanders and you just cant pretend thats not going on and make a credible case that youre the winning candidate. Jonathan, let me ask you this, which is how about this version. When youre talking just about electability which ive heard this version now, which i think theres something to, right . If what you say is true, if this would be a huge risk and thats clear to you, right . And heres this person who frankly in terms of the spectrum of american politics would be something quite different, if Hillary Clinton cant beat that person in the primary, then shes not a very good political candidate anyway, right . I mean from a pure electability standpoint in some ways it sort of should cash out that way whether Jonathan Chait nudges it that way or not, right . Not necessarily because look, there are more conservatives in this country than there are liberals and the reason democrats are able to win National Elections often is that they put together a coalition of liberals and moderates and they dominate among moderates. If you start putting yourself in a position where you lose or even just tie among moderates, then youre going to lose National Elections. So even if liberals manage to get a majority of the primary electorate they need moderates to win National Elections against republicans. Ruth, bernie youve got to get people to vote, though. Youve got to get people to vote. The Democratic Leadership Council is dead. Taking a tinier and tinier slice of the swing voters is not a strategy thats going to get people out in numbers to vote. And i just think that that strategy is a very peculiar one to try to apply in this Election Year when you see the level of grassroots discontent. The big question is going to be the open question here, right . From the electoral standpoint is can anyone mobilize the Obama Coalition, which is a majority as shown twice, who is not named barack obama . And that is as open a question in all of politics that literally no one knows the answer to. Jonathan chait and ruth conniff, thank you both. Thank you. That is all in for this evening. The Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Good evening, rachel. Youre exactly right. The big question in the Republican Party is whos the Republican Party, especially on Foreign Policy and National Security after bush and cheney. And in the Democratic Party its who do democrats want to vote for . Right. In the Democratic Party after barack obama. Both totally open questions at this point. And we dont know anything. Thats what makes this interesting. Thats what makes it fun coming to work every day. Thanks, my friend. And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. Happy Martin Luther king day. And in addition, if you are a resident of mississippi, alabama, or arkansas, technically i should also wish you happy robert e. Lee day. Im not kidding. In those three states they have decided to celebrate their official state observance of Martin Luther kings birthday coincident with an additional state holiday celebrated on the same day to commemorate one of the confederate generals from the american civil war. People dont believe me i try to say this every year