Transcripts For MSNBCW All In With Chris Hayes 20170209

The president s broadside against the Judicial Branch demoralizing and disheartening on the heels of yet another attack from the President Trump on the judges weighing his signature travel ban Laurence Tribe is here to discuss the presence of assault on the Judicial Branch and ill speak with the Washington State attorney general who challenged the ban. We begin with the senates vote to confirm senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general of the United States. A razor thin 5247. Joe manchin the only senator to cross party lines. Jeff sessions has been the most controversial of Donald Trumps nominees, his confirmation coming almost 24 hours after the showdown on the senate floor between Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mitch Mcconnell, the Republican Senate majority leader. Elizabeth warren was in the midst of reading 1986 written testimony by Coretta Scott king opposing sessions nomination at the time to be a federal judge. King the widow of Martin Luther king jr. Specifically objected to sessions conduct as u. S. Attorney . Whats known as the marion three case in which three black civil rights activists in alabama, including a former aide to Martin Luther king jr. , were tried for allegedly tampering with absentee ballots. All three were acquitted. Heres senator warren reading from corps rhett 125 ta scott kings letter. If confirmed he will be given life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local there haves accomplished 20 years ago with clubs and cattle prods. In the midst of her remarks, Elizabeth Warren was interrupted. Mr. President the majority leader. The senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from alabama. I call her to order under the provisions of rule 19. Mr. President i am surprised the words of Coretta Scott king are not suitable for debate in the United States senate i add ask leave of the senate to continue my remarks. Under senate rule 19 which bars senators from assigning bad conduct or motives, republican senators voted not only to relieve warren of her speaking role but to boot her from the chamber for the remainder of the debate on sessions nomination. Mcconnell summed it up on words that have become a rallying cry for words. She was warned, she was given an explanation, nevertheless she persisted. Since then, a number of male colleagues have taken up the charge reading kings words on the senate floor noticeably without interruption. I do not believe Jefferson Sessions possessions the requisite judgment, competence and sensitivity to the rights guaranteed by the federal civil rights laws to qualify for appointment. Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. Its my strongly held view the appointment of Jefferson Sessions to the federal bench would irreparably damage the work of my husband, al turner, and countless others who risked their lives and freedom. I do sincerely urge you to oppose the confirmation of mr. Sessions. Signed sincerely Coretta Scott king. One of those democrats, senator Sherrod Brown of ohio joins me right now. Senator, id like your reaction to the fact that after this apok apock lip apocalyptic fight, he will be sworn in as the next attorney general. Tragic. I noticed watching the vote on unfortunately secretary devos and watching this vote, republicans are scared of donald trump and i know they grumble about this. I know a number of them would have liked to have voted against devos. Some were embarrassed about voting for sessions knowing his background on civil rights and Justice Reform and independence of the attorney general and i know theyre afraid donald trump comes after that. You have three senators in the republican conference rubio and graham and cruz who ran against trump, they were three of the 16. Trump went after them, humiliated them they say to their colleagues the same thing will happen to you if you break with him so theres not a lot of spine right now in the republican conference thats one big story. What they did to our friend elizabeth is one part of the story. The other part is they arent standing up to this president whom they know is wrong in many of these cases because theyre afraid of him. You cant govern from that fear. Eventually that catches up to them and the president but thats the story today. Its interesting you say that, you mentioned what happened with Elizabeth Warren and part of what makes this dynamic strange rule 19 is in effect to preserve some kind of collegiality in the chamber and the background of that is interesting having to do with lynching and lynching laws but in this case the subject at issue just happens to be a fellow senator but hes a nominee. Do you think its appropriate info separation of that rule to essentially rule out of bounds a statement of Coretta Scott king in that situation . Of course not, to me you know, i was the first senator as you know, chris, we talked about it the same day on this show, to come out against senator sessions as attorney general. I talked at senatorial courtesy. And senatorial courtesy doesnt mean you dont ask tough questions. What it means is what i did after i decided i was voting against him. I told him face to face on the senate flo then announced it. Thats what courtesy is to me. I know him personally, i wanted to tell him that before it was public but i still think we build the opposition just like we continue Holding Accountable the secretary of education, devos. We hold sessions accountable. I asked people to come to sherrodbrown. Com, sign up, help us now that hes attorney general, hold sessions accountable for what he does, that he be an independent attorney general, that he does, in fact, enforce Voting Rights, that he doesnt backtrack and ignore things that donald trump does that are inappropriate. Thats what you need in an attorney general. Thats why i asked people to stay engaged even though were going to lose nomination fights because republicans dont have the guts to stand up to President Trump, we still stay engaged and hold feet to the fire on these nominees that are confirmed. One of the things weve seen happen is as these nominees have been confirmed the number of democratic votes has been shrinking. Theres two explanations. The least controversial nominees went first, the more controversial nominees go last so thats the natural ebb. Also another factor pressure being brought to bear, tremendous amounts of it, on democratic members of the senate to not give votes to nominees for President Trump. Which of those two describe this is vanishing margin of democratic votes . I think its more the really bad nominees. Were in, for want of a better term, the sweet spot of bad nominees, mnuchin and price and sessions and betsy devos. Its mostly that. But the activism has played a role and the place activists have played the most constructive role is the whole issue of the Affordable Care act. The bravado you hear from senator after senator that wants to repeal the Affordable Care act, repeal and replace, that bravado masks the nervousness these senators feel now because they know theyre wrong and theyll play a political price. Hundreds of thousands of people are writing, tens of thousand are telling their stories about the damage the Affordable Care act repeal will do to their family. Its that kind of activism and engagement thats changing the country. Well win on the Affordable Care act now. A month ago when i was on this show i was pessimistic. Thats interesting. Its changed because weve stood up, we as activists around the country. Senator Sherrod Brown, appreciate your time tonight, thank you. Chris, thank you. Im joined by congressman Cedric Richmond, democrat from louisiana, chair of the congressional black caucus. He testified against Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing. The question now congressman is for folks like yourself who are opposed to the nomination, what now . Well, were a little disappointed but its not the first setback that we have incurred over our 40 something years. We will continue to fight and stand up for the things we believe in and we believe in justice for all. We believe in the right to vote it should be free to everyone and accessible so we will continue to fight for those things. Well also fight for the continuation of criminal Justice Reform, all of those things we worry about Jeff Sessions as attorney general and we just left our issues conference. Were also concerned about high crimes and misdemeanors coming from 1600 pennsylvania and we dont know whether Jeff Sessions would be an attorney general that would hold the white house accountable for those high crimes or misdemeanors. Are you suggesting that you believe Impeachable Offenses have been committed or do you think the president is in danger of committing them in the future . Well, were engaged in doing the research, were looking at the emoluments clause as well as other things but we think this president has not taken the Due Diligence to look at ethics, to separate himself from his businesses and we are very concerned about how he is governing and when you have a president that is as reckless or not serious about the office of president as this president you need an an attorney general who will hold him accountable and give him honest counsel consistent with the constitution d notell him what he wants to hear. Im afraid Jeff Sessions is going to be one of those attorneys general to tell the president what he wants to hear. Key point here, as i was looking back through the record of sessions and sort of reading ari bermans book about the history of the Voting Rights act, off situation now in which the department of justice is essentially the last institution standing to protect the Voting Rights act. Are you worried that this will mean essentially a kind of lawless free reign in certain parts of the country to mess with voting laws in ways we saw 50 years ago . 150 years ago. Well, thats exactly our concern. If you go back to the shelby decision in alabama where the Court Essentially struck down section 4 which enforces section five of the Voting Rights act, senator sessions said this is a good day for the south. And its immediately when that decision came down states raced to the legislature to enact discriminatory voter laws, whether its voter i. D. Or changing polling places or doing other things but you can look at North Carolina and texas in which the court held that their voter i. D. Law was, in fact, discriminatory but states in the south rushed to the legislature to, in fact enact discriminatory voter i. D. Laws and without preclearance, without the Justice Department enforcing Voting Rights on a fair and equal basis then were going go back 50 years. Thats the concern, and if you look at senator sessions past, its an indicator of what hes going to do in the future and this is not enforce Voting Rights laws and pick on those civil rights leaders and people out actively trying to register people to vote which is the bedrock principle of a true democracy. Congressman Cedric Richmond, thank you for your time tonight, appreciate it. Thank you. Joining me now, the associate professor of Political Science at Fordham University and tim carney from the washington examiner. Tim, let me start with you. You are ideological but not partisan or you have a world view but youre not a hack so im genuinely curious. Thank you, thank you. I mean that. Before we get to sessions, im curious about what you thought as rule 19 which struck me as preposterous. How did it strike you . I think rule 19 is preposterous. I think impugning senators is something we need more of in this country on the senate floor, on msnbc and fox and its another case of overregulation we have in this country. Well, thats very well said and like i said you lived up to your billing. Christina, i wonder, again, before getting to sessions himself who has been confirmed by this historically rather slim margin, the moment that has resonated out of that Elizabeth Warren moment, i wonder where you think it is in the context of what you and i have been discussing and others about the dawning Awareness Among democratic members of congress, particularly where the political gravity is pulling them at the moment . I think a lot of democrats are very clear that their constituents are watching and looking at their votes for all of these particular cabinet members but i said this to you last week, chris, if i were a republican i might also think about what my constituents are viewing. Not every republican is happy with these choices either. Jeff sessions is an oldfashioned good old boy and he in this particular administration and particular president are making it their mission to roll back the civil rights act, Voting Rights act and immigration act. We know thats what Jeff Sessions has done in illinois and will do as attorney general thats highly problematic. But as a republican senator i would think not everyone . Their particular state is probably pleased with this, either. So its not just about the democrats circling rank and voting as big d democrats as they should against someone who is highly egregious and the worst person for this important job, especially on the heels of someone like Loretta Lynch and eric holder but republicans need to think about their futures as well and hopefully this particular vote will come back to haunt them if it doesnt haunt the rest of the nation first. Do you think thats true, him . Do you think theres a price to pay for my republican who voted yes on this . I dont think there is. I think weve got on the the point of Party Polarization where this is whats to be expected. I personally would i think the most important thing for an attorney general is to as Cedric Richmond was saying, stop the president when hes going to do something illegal but i think eric holder gave up on that. That was evident. We had a dozen times the u. S. Supreme Court Unanimously said the Obama Administration acted illegally. The doj was putting gps tracking devices on peoples cars without a warrant and the doj was saying that was perfectly fine. The idea of an attorney general being independent is something i think has been scrapped and that the previous doj showed that. I want to make an important distinction here because you used the word illegally. So illegally in our general slang refers to high crimes and misdemeanor. You can pass a law thats struck down by the courts, thats not illegal. I would not call for instance the executive order, i would not call it an illegal order. You can get things wrong about the law or come to a different constitutional interpretation and the courts strike it down. Thats one thing. Illegal which is like well, im going to funnethis treasury money into trump org, those are Different Things, right . I agree theyre Different Things but when you put a tracking device, as the Obama Administration did, on a car, this was u. S. V. Jones on a car without a warrant that is a place yes, that was bad, i agree. But i agree that its a higher level an Impeachable Offense i agree thats a more important higher zblefl if fundamental difference is president obama understood the constitution and represented the constitution. Was he perfect . Absolutely not. What were dealing with with donald trump is someone who doesnt understand the constitution, doesnt respect it, doesnt understand the separation of powers and checks and balances and if we dont have an attorney general who can stand up to someone who has been proud to call himself a bully not just against women but people in general this is the role of the attorney general and weve seen the republicans have zero spine when it comes to standing up to this president and we cannot have an attorney general and a congress that refuses to tell this man that hes wrong when he is absolutely no idea what hes doing, he is a lost ball in high weeds and we are susceptible to his whims, to his tweets, to his wholly ineptness and its quite frightening that so many republicans senators would put the lives of americans and their own families and children in the hands of gnat just donald trump but someone like Jeff Sessions. This is we are no longer dealing with past rules so i dont think that we can go forward in the ways we have in the past. We have to change up our strategies. And that goes with republicans as well. Let me ask you this, tim. The filibuster debate is one that tends to be everyone switches sides every time Senate Control this probably wouldnt have happened, right . Harry reid got rid of the filibuster for nominees. I thought it was a good idea, i continue to think its a governor idea. I think governability via majority is an important principle. Whats your feeling about getting rid of the filibuster now . Well, theres some sense to the idea that a president should be allowed an up or down vote on his nominees, that is his cabinet agencies and that sort of thing but i also agree as a liberal you want to get rid of the filibuster entirely. I agree that thats the case. I think the senate being a body to slow things down is a good thing for conservatives because it stops congress from running ahead and doing idiotic things. This is an interesting thing. That will be tested increasingly because i think Mitch Mcconnell has that feeling in the long run but it will be tested in the short run coming very soon. Christina greer, tim carney, thank you both. Still to come, President Trump continues his tirade of personal attacks on the judiciary as his signature immigration ban hangs in the balance now, his Supreme Court pick weighs in sort of on the fight. Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe joins me after this twominute break. Tonight President Trumps pick for the Supreme Court neil gorsuch is bemoaning the president s attacks on a federal judge ruled against the trump temporary travel ban calling the president s comments about the quote judges quote demoralizing and disheartening. More on that an the context of it. Now the ninth Circuit Court of appeals is considering whether to allow that ban which a judge in Washington State put on hold on friday to go back into effect. If the ninth circuit rules in the Trump Administrations favor, all refugees as well as residents of seven muslim majority nations will once again be barred from entering the United States. In a little while, ill talk to the attorney general behind the lawsuit that prompted a judge to at least temporarily invalidate or stay the ban. President trump has lambasted that quote socalled judge for his ruling suggesting the judge in the entire judicial system should be blamed if theres a terror attack. During a speech to the major cities chiefs of police association, the president again lashed out at the judiciary deeming comments made during oral arguments disgraceful. I dont ever want to call a court biased so i wont call it biased. We havent had a decision yet. But courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our Justice System if they would be able to read a statement and do whats right and this has to do with the security of our country which is so important. Joining me now, Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at harvard law school. Professor, let me start first with neil gorsuch, also an appellate judge on a different circuit. Richard blumenthal of connecticut discussed these attacks on the judiciary with him and i want to play you what blumenthal relayed as the comments gorsuch made to him. Take a listen. My strong hope is that he will be more vehement publicly. He expressed to me that he is disheartened by the demoralizing and abhorrent comments made by trump about the judiciary. I should note a spokesperson for gorsuch confirmed disheartened and demoralizing. What do you make of that . I think he ought to be disheartened and demoralized but i hope he makes clear those are his views. Anybody who has a view about the constitution and the importance of the independent judiciary would be disheartened by the ludicrous and outrageous comments made by donald trump. When he says he wants the courts to do the right thing, its clear what he means is the right thing is to t him do whatever he wants. Thats not our constitutional system. Someone said this to me today on twitter and proposed the devils advocate argument that president obama had at a strewn i dont know famously blasted the Citizens United decision. He said he thought it was wrongly decided. That it was wrong. How is what donald trump has been doing and the way hes been talking about the judiciary different than the standard way a president might criticize a Supreme Court decision or a federal Court Decision . Its completely different. I didnt think it was a great idea for president obama to stare down the court at the state of the union and say what he did but he at least didnt say the socalled Supreme Court has rendered a ludicrous decision and i wish theyd do the right thing. Thats one difference. He was talking about an issue apart from his own powers. He was talking about the importance of getting money out of politics and you can have different views about the Citizens United case donald trump is talking about the role of the courts in setting limits on the executive branch and when the lawyer representing the Trump Administration appeared in Court Last Night and was asked are there any limits, are you saying the president can do whatever he wants as long as he uses the magic words National Security the guy hemmed and hawed but then he said yes, thats our position. Thats not the law of this country. Harry truman tried to seize the steel mills, he invoked National Security. He was slapped down. Richard nixon invoked National Security and he was slapped down in the pentagon papers case. Its not the case that the president gets his way just because he thinks that his views of the constitution are the only ones that count. Have you ever seen a president in the time youve been studying the law, teaching the law, thinking about the sort of constitutional role that different branches play, have you ever seen a president essentially try to hang the blood of innocent victims on an individual judge predictively in a kind of ma cob sense in the way this president has . Not really, he basically was not only scapegoating the judiciary but saying if you dare to keep this stay in place very long and if something happens ill blame you. The blood will be on your hands. It is true that Court Justices in an excess of rhetoric in some of their dissents, scalia in one dissent involving habeas corpus in guantanamo said that todays decision will result in the loss of innocent lives. I think that was pretty bad. But its one thing for the court internally and in its opinions to say i think the majority is not putting enough of a weight on the side of innocent human life, its another for the president to say that when the law is applied the way decent lawyers are trying to apply it, if something goes wrong it will be their fault and it was an Amazing National experience to watch these lawyers one appointed by george w. Bush, one appointed by carter, one appointed by obama struggle over the law. It was an experience in Public Engagement and education and for the president to say thats disgusting, theyre just politicians and a High School Student would know better suggests he doesnt know as much as the average High School Student about american physics and thats not just disheartening, its deadly dangerous. Laurence tribe, thank you for your time tonight, really appreciate it. Thanks, chris. Still to come, ill speak with the Washington State attorney general bob ferguson who filed the challenge to the president s travel ban that led to the temporary restraining order just ahead. S. Try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin®. Because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. Try zyrtec®. Muddle no more®. In the aftermath of the january 28 u. S. Raid in yemen which killed a navy seal, eighyearold American Girl and an unknown number of civilians, children among them, along with al qaeda fighters, according to the u. S. Government, yemen has now asked for a reassessment of the u. S. Operation, according to its foreign minister. Yemens foreign minister denied reports that the Yemeni Government requested a suspension of american ground operations however the New York Times is standing by their report that yemen has, indeed, withdrawn permission for further u. S. Ground missions while not withdrawing permission from u. S. Drone attacks. Today White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the two countries continue to Work Together and idea not in a position to go any further at this time. He also continued to insist the raid was a success. Its absolutely a success and anyone who would suggest its not a success does disservice to the life of chief ryan owens. He fought knowing what was at stake in that mission and anybody who would suggest otherwise doesnt fully appreciate how successful that mission was. That was largely in response to a question about senator john mccain, chairman of the Arms Services committee saying this. When you lose a 75 million airplane and more importantly American Life is lost and wounded i dont believe you can call it a success. Up next, the fate of the president s travel ban. Ill talk with Washington State attorney general bob ferguson who filed the challenge to the president s executive order after this break. Threejudge panel the ninth Circuit Court of appeals says it will not be issuing a decision on President Trumps travel ban tonight and in the emergency hearing held last night the judges sharply questioned both sides. It was hard not to come away with the impression, however, the judges were far more skeptical of the governments position, in particular, the government never presented evidence that travelers from the seven affected countries posed a threat to the United States. The District Court asks the representative of the department of justice how many federal offenses have we had being committed by people who came in with visas from these countries. The answer was there havent been any. Yes, your honor, these proceedings have been moving fast and were doing the best we can. The state of washington won the temporary restraining order. Joining me, Washington Attorney general bob ferguson. Mr. Attorney general, lets go little through what happens here. This hearing is on the temporary restraining order, if these three judges uphold the restraining order that allows people to come in from those seven countries, what happens next . That will be up to the federal government. I wont be surprised if they try to seek review from the United States Supreme Court at that point but we are confident the ninth Circuit Court of appeals will see it our way and uphold the stay on the ban. If they uphold the stay on the ban and the federal government does seek review which seems almost guaranteed, i cant imagine them walking away at this point. I agree. Were coming out of the ninth circuit where if you have a favorable finding in your favor on the arguments and were going into a divided court that doesnt have a majority 44, were it to be 44 the Lower Court Opinion of the ninth circuit would hold . Thats exactly right. In fact we saw that same circumstance chris when president obama issued an executive order around immigration that the then Texas Attorney general filed an action in the District Court, federal court in texas that put a stop to the order. The court of appeals upheld that and the Supreme Court divided 44 thereby allowing the federal court of appeals decision to stand so thats possible in this situation as well. Im going to admit to something i never understand about how temporary restraining orders work in regards to the merits of an actual case. Which is to say would the court just be reviewing the ban itself or would they just ultimately have to just expedite a decision on the merits given the stakes of this enormous thing . It seems crazy that they would say yes were going to keep the tro and let the merits of the case work their way up through the system. Or am i wrong . What will happen ultimately we believe is when the ninth circuit upholds the federal Trial Court Judge here the Supreme Court will kick it back to judge roe brart this started so at that point what needs to happen is an analysis and decision on the merits, the underlying claims we have based on constitutional violations and statutory violations. The key difference is while all that is going on, all that discovery, depositions, all going on the stay is in place, the injunction is in place so the ban cant occur. Thats the key relief that we sought and achieved at the Trial Court Level that was critical to our climb. I see, so the basic argument is the basic hope is that you win, it gets kicked back down to the same Federal District judge and the ban is stayed so we can keep continuing having this free flow of people while the merits of the constitutionality, frankly, of this, i guess also some statutory claims, are argued . Thats right. One thing that is important for our viewers to know, getting a temporary restraining order is not easy, especially the case of this magnitude. So in order to achieve that one thing we had to show to the court was that we, the state of washington were likely to win on the merits when the judge get there is. That was one of the hurdles we had to achieve and we met that. What is your reaction to the president saying that a High School Student would know the right answer. That the arguments being made he might have used the word disgusting, that its all politics. Whats your response to that . Chris, you know, i think your previous guest Laurence Tribe summed it up pretty well. What i would say is we are my legal team and i where working extraordinarily long hours, we are intensely focused on the legal issues and thats my focus right now. I just dont have frankly that much time to Pay Attention to what the president is saying although i find his comments obviously deeply disappointing. Bob ferguson, thank you for your time tonight, appreciate it, sir. Thank you, chris. Still to come, democrats in congress under pressure to fight President Trump at every turn. What that looks like ahead. Plus, tonights thing 1 thing 2 starts right after this break. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® thing 1 tonight. A group of republican elder statesmen went to the white house today with an unlikely proposal for the new administration a plan of action on Climate Change. The group, led by former secretary of state under president george h. W. Bush james baker met with senior Trump Administration officials, including Vice President mike pence, Senior Adviser Jared Kushner and first daughter ivanka trump. Theyre proposing replacing the Obama Administrations Clean Power Plan with a carbon tax which would then be returned to consumers. An estimated 2,000 a year for a family of four. Many democrats and Major Oil Companies support the idea of a carbon tax, at least in theory, but it is a new position for the gop establishment. In fact, its new for them to favor taking any action on Climate Change as secretary baker explained in an interview yesterday. Republicans have not been able at the table because weve been basically skeptics or deniers and when you see whats happening to the environment, even though it may be consistent with whats happened 10,000 years ago or 1,000 years ago, its a risk we should havent to take. If group says they have no idea how President Trump will react to their plan which theyre calling a conservative climate solution. Trump has repeatedly called Climate Change a hoax, recently claimed that nobody really knows whether Climate Change is real. But if he opened the window in his hometown of new york today he might find convincing anecdotal evidence. Thats thing 2 in 60 seconds. As an Influential Group of Establishment Republicans pressed the white house to take action on Climate Change today, the skeptical president s home city experienced some seriously abnormal weather. At 1 00 p. M. Eastern time, the National Weather service announced a record High Temperature set in central park, 62 degrees, breaking the old record set over half a century ago. Tonight theres going to be a massive shift, a 30degree temperature drop and major winter storm with eight to 12 inches of snow expected. Public schools will be closed in both new york and boston and more than 3,000 flights nationwide probably might as well have already been canceled through friday. New york is essentially experiencing two seasons in two days. The signs of Climate Change are all around, maybe the president will join some elder statesmen from his own party and take notice. What is going on in chicago . What is going on in chicago . We cannot allow this to continue. Weve allowed too many young lives to be claimed and you see that, you see that all over, claimed by gangs. You look at chicago and you look at other places, so many of the problems are caused by gang members, is many of whom are not even legally in our country. Speaking at a Law Enforcement conference in washington today, the president mentioned something he seems to love to talk about incorrectly violence in this city of chicago where hes threatened to send in the feds even though an atf agent told the Washington Post we always have been here, we work very closely with the Chicago Police department. Today he said many of chicagos problems are caused by gang members here illegally. Theres no evidence to black this up. The New York Times pointout contrary to trums aims immigrants are less likely to commit crimes. Trumps characterization of chicago as this short hand talking point for violence is one of the reasons that we came here to chicago where ill be hosting a town hall tomorrow night to hear directly from the people who live here, from residents and Community Leaders and elected officials and examine what is happening in this Great American city. The majority of democratic voters say that democrats in congress should tick to their principles when it comes to working with the president even if that means blocking all legislation or nominees for government posts. A new political Morning Consult poll out today shows 56 of democrats feel this way while only 34 who say their elected officials should find Common Ground to work with the president. After some democrats voted in favor of the president s initial nominees Democratic Senators seem to be giving their base what they want. Joining me now, robert reich, former secretary of labor under bill clinton, professor of university of california berkeley. Michelle goldberg, columnist at slate. Michelle, you covered the tea party back in 2009 and 2010 and ive seen people tweeting about similarities and heres one question have as you watch Republican Democratic elected officials behavior and the activism of the base, is is the Democratic Party behind or ahead of the curve of what you saw happening with republicans in opposition in 2009 . I think the whole thing is moving much more quickly. Were 19 days into this nightmare and not even three weeks. Youve already seen a sea change in the approach. Particularly of Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer who has been a target of these protests and now you have seen in the last couple of these confirmation fights except for joe manchin youve seen the Democratic Caucus hold together and vote as a block so its kind of this like rapid fire tea party 2. 0. This kind of everything that happened then has just just this kind of all of politics has sped up to an insane degree, the sort of hardening of resolve and strengthening of backbone among democrats has happened quickly. Its funny because i agree with that, too, as someone who covered the tea party in 2009 as well and its like fruit fly evolution. Its happening much faster. Robert, do you think the same thing . Yes and i you know, democrats, like any office holders, chris, what they want to do, they obviously want to be reelected. They obviously also have some principles but they are going to be most influenced by the people who elected them and the loudest people among the Democratic Party and electorate right now are furious. Donald trump is something that has generated more activism in the Democratic Base and not just democrats, there are a lot of inspects, a lot of people who havent even been politically active before who are now ing active and the switch boards are almost inpenetrable because people are calling their Democratic Senators. I was even interested yesterday that Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins two republican senators said they had so many people telling them not to vote for betsy devos that they broke ranks. Its not just democrats. You have a groundswell in the United States right now against trump and the authoritarian republicans who are enabling trump. You talked about the sword of groundswell and the activism and i think its been changing political calculations. Michelle, you mentioned joe manchin. Joe manchin is the only democrat to vote for Jeff Sessions today, thats in a state, west virginia, that trump won by 30 plus points and manchin, i believe, is up in 2018 but theres a bunch of other senators in similar situations, which is to say senators up in 2018 in deeply red states or states that trump won by a considerable margin, Heidi Heitkamp is one who comes to mind, who voted against sessions. They have made 2 calculation that fundamentally theres no down side or at least its more important to be with the party and your principles, i would imagine, than to sort of be seen with trump. The other thing is that i think that the only way these tempts survive in 2018 is if trump is extremely unpopular. Exactly. If trump is doing well in 2018 their vote . Youre toast either way. For or against sessions doesnt matter. So just as Mitch Mcconnell had no incentive and i hate to compare these two morally very dierent situations but just as Mitch Mcconnell had no incentive to help barack obama succeed, no democrat, even democrats in perilous seats in red states have anything to gain from making donald trump look good. The interesting question is whats the likelihood donald trump is going to be very popular by the time midterm Elections Come around . We have not seen, a president this unpopular in his first 10, 15 days of his presidency, he keeps on going down the tubes in the sense that every time he oversteps what we expect a president to do in terms of going after the independence of the judiciary as he did again today, give after the press and individuals and nordstrom doing things that are outrageous n a way that seem to trample on the constitution and individual liberties, people mean are just horrified and i want to stress this, its not just democrats versus republicans. I keep hearing from a lot of republicans who say you know i dont particularly disagree with the direction that donald trump wants to take in terms of small government but he is taking too much power, if republicans stand for anything, its a fear of centralized power and we want to guarantee individual libber tie and hes trampling on the constitution and im getting scared, say many republicans who are contacting me. This is something very new. Its funny you say that because im reminded of liberals telling themselves a lot of the stories liberals told themselves in 2009 about the tea party, this is astroturf, the tea party is not popular, this is a small group of people already engaged. Those proved not to be true. It genuinely was grass roots mobilization. Im watching Conservatives Team themselves the same myth. Robert reich and michelle goldberg, thanks for your time, appreciate it. Thanks, chris. Thats all in for this evening. Dont forget to tune in tomorrow night for the reason i am here in this wonderful fantastic complicated difficult amazing city of chicago that i lived in and love deeply. Well have a town hall here at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, dont miss it. The Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Good evening, rachel. So looking forward to that tomorrow, chris. Really, really, really, really wish you good luck, its going to be awesome. Thank you. And thanks to you at home for joining us. In the year 2000, orge w. Bush was the prohibitive favorite to win the republican nomination for president. In the very early day he is basically cleared the field of almost all the other major candidates who might have been considering ru