Office. What we learned from trumps doctor. We did do a cognitive assessment. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. It is very good to be back. Today, after spending the past few days offering pro prosperous semi denials the white house cape close to conceding what is almost certainly the truth, that the president of the United States used racist language in the oval office where he killed the bipartisan daca deal. Look, i wasnt in the room. I can go only off of what the individuals who were. They said that term wasnt used but that tough language was. Look, no one here is going to pretend like the president is always politically correct. He isnt. I think thats one of the reasons the American People love him. One of the reasons that he won and is sitting in the oval office today because he isnt a scripted robot. He tells things like they are sometimes. And sometimes he does use tough language. Republican senator Lindsey Graham who has effectively confirmed the president uses the racist language today placed blame on trumps aides for killing the daca deal. I think the president we sauteuce is that that donald trump exists. And somehow by 12 00 on thursday, something happened and i dont think he was well served by his staff but hes responsible for the way he conducts himself and so am i. Cant blame that on the staff. But i do believe his staff was. Would that be general kelly. Pretty much misses the mark here. I think general kellys a fine man but also part of the staff. The president we saw on tuesday in the words of graham is the one who promised to sign nel daca deal, any daca deal brought to him before he was reportedly pressed not to do so by advisers including john kelly and Steven Miller who feared that graham and dick durbin would try to tricking into signing a bill that would hurt him with his political base. Before the Senate Judiciary committee today, kellys former deputy Homeland Security sect Kirsten Nielsen in that meeting with trump claimed not to recall exactly what the president said. Madam secretary, you were in the room. Youre under oath. Did President Trump use this word or a substantially similar word to describe certain countries . I did not hear that word used, no, sir. Thats not the question. Did he use anything similar to that describing certain countries . The conversation was very impassioned. I dont dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language. Strong language, there was apologies. I dont remember specific word. What i was struck with as im sure you were, as well was just the general profanity used in the room by almost everyone. Nielsen tried to explain the president s comments that he wanted more immigrants from norway. What did the president say about immigrants from norway . I heard him repeating what he had learned in a meeting before that they are industrious, a hard working country. They dont have much crime there. They dont have much debt. In general, i heard him giving compliments to norway. Norway is a predominantly white country, isnt it. I actually do not know that, sir. But i imagine that is the case. It is the case as you would expect. The acting head of the dhs to know. Norway is very white. It is also the case norway has one of the worlds shortest work weeks. Theres ha in terms of hard working. Democrats on the committee including my next guest were not impressed by her performance. When oval Office Rhetoric sounds like social engineering, we know from a Human History the dangers of that. Our greatest, our greatest heroes in this country spoke out about people who have convenient amnesia or who are bystanders. You could even say in your testimony that norwegians were presenced by him because theyre so hard working. Excuse me, let me finish. Happy to. When bigotry is alive with power, it is a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity. Joining me now is senator cory booker of new jersey. Senator, you were there in that room today with the secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Do you believe she was truthful with you . I do not. I think that her artful dodges, her hedging was insulting. And not just insulting because she wasnt being truthful in a Senate Hearing but because she was trying to cover up for the vial and bigoted words of the president of the United States which is not just words that go away or that disappear. We have our history replete with people just bystanders when folks were doing dangerous things. When the president of the United States has ignorance allied with power, those words fester. They give people permission to do things that are despicable. For her to be silent, its unacceptable. Is there a connection to your mind, between the policies pursued by dhs and the administration at large and the sentiment expressed in that infamous comment in that meeting . Thats really my worry is we are actively shaping immigration policy, taking a second look and theyre demanding the end to many different programs. I know theres lots of people that want to do things that are akin to trying to genetically engineer the population of our state, of our nation. We are a nation that believes everyone, that god created everyone equal. And we need to respect the undering that this is a nation that wasnt founded because we all look alike, pray alike, speak the same language. We share a set of ideal. Attempts in white house are contrary to what distinguishes a person which is the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I want to be specific here. Is it your belief that the white houses agenda, people like Steven Miller who advises the president on this, chief of staff kelly, the president himself, have a vision for immigration that would attempt intentionally to reduce the number of brown and black people of color that come into this country because of their views of the inferiority of those people . Again, i dont have any factual evidence thats what theyre attempting to do. When you see them saying things like the lottery system which the intention of it, we dont disagree with the policy but what the intention was to make sure were not having bias toward certain groups reflecting days of old where we did have quotas from certain countries. It seems like the policies theyre doing could have a discripper to impact and the language coming out of the lips of the president himself are definitely bigoted, definitely showing an ignorance and definitely i think hurtful and harmful to the security and the strength of this country and its moral fiver. The president said he would sign any deal that came to him in that televised meeting. A deal came to him. He blew up about it. They say no deal on that right now. The democrats in the senate have the ability to filibuster this resolution. Will the democrats stick up for the 800,000 Daca Recipients whose lives are in limbo right now . I will. Im not going to vote or support anything they try to do that leaves these folks out. These arent just you know, these arent just statistics or numbers. These are not pawns in a larger political game. These are americans in every way but the piece of paper. These are military folks. Theres 20, 30, 40, about 80,000 of them have served in the United States 800 of them have served in the United States military. These are people first responders, people that are teachers. This is a group of people who are showing every single day their commitment to their country, their service to the country and willingness to sacrifice. I cant leave those folks behind. I cant leave them behind. The president is tweeting about a doj report, and this is a tweet they had this morning. Three out of four individuals convicted of International Terrorism and terrorism related offenses were foreign born. What do you make of that . What do you make of the President Trumpeting it at this hour . Ive seen him pull out a lot of the statistics that do not give a full picture, do not give context. As i got very upset with the secretary of Homeland Security for not even talking about since 9 11 theres been 85 terrorist attacks, over 70 of them have been right wing White Nationalist groups attacking americans, africanamericans, muslim americans. So theres no context to the president s words. To me, again, they reflect bias, ignorance. And they reflect dangerous rhetoric. Theyre trying to create a picture that does not give the fullness and the truth of the challenges we do have with security and safety in this country. But also the importance to the success of our nation from having immigrants in our country. Were a nation built on immigrants. Innovators, business folks, teachers, first responders, we are a nation that is profoundly enriched because of immigration. And to change those positions right now risk what made us great over the last generations. Senator cory booker, thank you. Thank you very much. Im joined now by republican congressman matt gates of florida. Sarah Huckabee Sanders today not denying the president said what he apparently said by all indications we have. Do you understand why the statement he said in that oval office is viewed as so offensive and hurtful by so many . I do. I also understand that the president believed that it was a meeting he was having behind closed doors. It wasnt something he was doing in front of cameras. The conditions in some countries really are bad. It is a consequence of the not of the people there but a systemic failure. But if i called and youll forgive me for using the language of the president , if i called Okaloosa County a shithole, you would be upset with that, right . I could problem you wrong and i could bring you here and show you its the home of the most beautiful beaches in america. I dont know if in haiti they can make the same claim. So you agree with the president s characterization . I agree haiti is a place where the people have been very disadvantaged as a consequence of longterm corrupt governments. You said i probably. You said okaloosa, you could refute that. If you brought me to haiti, you cant refute it is. If thats your understanding of the condition haiti is in which is the reason for tps, what relationship does that have to merit . Because it seems to me theres a real fish sewer here. If the idea is the merit of the person independent of the place theyre coming from, but if the president objected based on the condition of the countries, that is not merit, is it . The president is objecting to those countries not contributing to the immigration process in a way that benefits our country. The president indicated well have an america first. Not that looks at the needs of other people rather than the needs of americans. You dont think the haitians are contributing . I think there are many instances haitians do contribute and they are a vital part of our state. There are a number of instances where they dont. Its very dangerous to overgeneralize the broader contributions of people solely based on national origin. Right or to generalize by referring to a country or an entire continent in the terms of the president did, which is also an overgeneralization. I would not pick those terms. I would say the conditions in haiti are disgusting. Everywhere you look income haiti, its sheet metal and garbage when i was there. I think you should think maybe, i would suggest why people would find that kind of characterization of the place where people live and have pride and love of the place theyre from as derogatory. Look wasnt that true of ireland . Wasnt that true of ireland in the 1830s . I wasnt there, chris. But i mean. Youve read history books, congressman. Sure. There are a number of circumstances where people have come from disadvantaged places and made a contribution to the United States. That will continue to happen. But i dont think that one off the cuff comment by the president should derail the work of the congress in finding a broader immigration solution. Democrats have used this as an example to distract from the important policy work. Ive heard this before. I get real confused on this. It was a democratic president that implemented daca, correct . Correct. Republicans voted en masse for steve kings amendment to get rid of daca. The republican president rescinded daca, correct. Correct. The Republican Party stands against the policy. I imagine you do, as well. Yeah, yog support the policy. We need a Border Security agenda that is the centerpiece of immigration policy. Thats what most republicans an most americans would agree with. This last election was about daca, Hillary Clinton would have won it. This was about Border Security and thats why donald trump won. Thats why we should do Border Security before daca. You think we should stick to the president s promises. Of course. I think we all campaign in poetry and govern in propose, not any politician achieves every objective they have. From the president s standpoint, we ought to have the Border Security first. You would be surprised how many republicans would be willing to work with democrats on solutions for people who already are here in the country if we secure the boarder. If thats true and if this is a referendum issue for electorate as you contend it is, shouldnt democrats insys the president makes mexico pay for the wall that he said they would . Hey, were all for finding solutions to have mexico contribute to the wall funding. He didnt say contribute. Okay. Pay for it. There are proposals in the congress that would do that. Im sponsoring one with mike rogers that would tax the remittances people send back to mexico and use that money to bid the wall. There are a number of good ideas where mexico ends up paying for the wall as a consequence of enhanced Border Security. If theyre going to pay for the wall, theres no reason to appropriate it from american taxpayer dollars if the reason the president won was because of his signature idea and promise which is that he would build a wall and mexico would pay for it. We may have to front the money. The economic benefit that comes to the United States would be mexico paying for the wall. That doesnt mean they have to write the first check. It means the economic consequence of the wall doesnt. I watched a lot of Donald Trump Campaign speeches as i imagine you did. I never heard well front them the money in the campaign rhetoric. Thanks for joining me. Here with me is Washington Post columnist jennifer ruben. First of all, it seemed what happened today is a classic sort of white house move in which people go out on a limb like tom cotton and senator perdue to say the president didnt say these words and sarah Huckabee Sanders says effective lili, yes, he does. The dhs secretary goes under oath and says i dont remember. Welcome back and congratulations, chris. Thank you. Yes, when you say you dont remember something and do you remember something and youre under oath, have you perjured yourself or at the least committed a crime under federal law by lying to congress. I cannot believe that the president used that language and she couldnt remember what it was. She just knows it was tough. Come on. She also remembers apparently Lindsey Graham using tough language because he repeated the president s phrase and says i came from an shole country, as well. I think shes being completely disingenuous. She should go back to her office, think long and hard whether she wants her career to be characterized by perjury and whats she doing in an administration anyway where one of her duties is to lie about the president s expresses racism. That was a train wreck for her today. I think as far as senators perdue and cotton go, theyve disrequested themselves for any confirmable office. Their colleagues should disbelieve about everything they have to say at this point. I thought the congressmans interview was fascinating because that is the fundamental premise of these people. That you have to be a european white already wealthy person to contribute to the United States. Thats wrong. Thats wrong morally. Thats wrong factually, wrong historically. Yet, that is the view they hold forth. They do want to make this country more white. Unfortunately, the ideal they talk about this country is not all men were created equal but some mythical White Christian america. Thats the america they want to see. They see every Single Person who doesnt meet that characteristic, that description as shouse diluting and worsening this country. It is the most heinous, the most offensive ploef i have heard in my lifetime coming from the oval office. Whatever criticisms i have of whatever president s pale in comparison to the racism and the bigotry we have heard and the ignorance we are have heard from these people. They also assume if you come from africa youre less educated than if you come from norway. Wrong, turns out west africans in particular are some of the most highly educated immigrants. Why would they think that africans were not educated . Could it be because theyre dark skinned. As someone noted norway is not a skill that a person can bring to the United States of america. Jennifer rubin, thank you. Youre welcome. How bad does Steve Bannons testimony on capitol hill go today . It started as voluntary. Then he was served a subpoena as he sat there. Congressman adam schiff is just out of the hearing a few moments ago. He says the white house is trying to gag witnesses. He will be with me here in two minutes. Do not go anywhere. Because each day she chooses to take the stairs. At work, at home. Even on the escalator. That can be hard on her lower body, so now she does it with dr. Scholls orthotics. Clinically proven to relieve and prevent foot, knee or lower back pain, by reducing the shock and stress that travel up her body with every step she takes. So keep on climbing, sarah. Youre killing it. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Purchase bannon, who from the white house asked you to invoke executive privilege . How did the meeting go, mr. Bannon. Great. What did they ask you . What did they ask you in the meeting, mr. Bannon. Great day. Thanks, guys. Steve bannon woke up this morning facing one subpoena. Hes going to bed tonight facing a second. Today we learned he is the first person in President Trumps inner circle to receive a grand jury subpoena from special counsel robert muler in the russia investigation. Muellers team has interviewed about a dozen Administration Officials without use ive grand jury subpoena. The news broke while bannon happened to be on capitol hill today appearing before the House Intel Committee and there got another subpoena. The white house directed bannon not to answer questions about his type in the white house or the transition period prompting republican chairman of the committee to issue a subpoena on the spot. Bannon was then requested for 9 1 2 hours and the hearing just ended. Thats him leaving. Congresswoman adam schiff is the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence. And let me begin with this. I do not really understand what happened today. So if you could explain. Bannon was called before committee and what happened when he got there in the beginning . Yes, he was brought before the committee on a voluntary basis. But he quickly informed through his council the committee he was not going to answer questions that pertained to meetings, conversations, events, et cetera, that took place either during the transition or while he was part of the administration. And whats more, we would later learn that would be extended to even after he left the white house concerning conversations that he may have had with the president. This was characterized as a result of his being there voluntary. Hes there of his own volition and could refuse to answer questions based on what the white house instructed him to do. We then were able to be promptly provide him with a subpoena and they went back to the white house and got the same instruction back again basically. We dont care whether its under compulsory process or voluntary basis, were instructing you effectively putting in place a gag rule saying you cant talk about what happened while you were in. The Transition Team or part of the transition or in the white house. Now, there is no privilege that broad, obviously. And the way they were instructed not to answer questions included not only questions among people within the administration or among people within the transition, but even when he talked to people outside of the administration. So apparently, he was able to talk to people outside the administration and not be gagged but when it comes to at thing congress about those conversations the white house wanted him to refuse. And he did. But im confused because is this a formal invocation of executive privilege by the white house . No, i mean, this is the broadest effort to effectively gag a witness we have seen in the past, we have had a witness that might refuse to answer a question about a specific conversation with the president. And claim well, we want to preserve the white houses ability to invoke a privilege down the road. Now, we dont recognize that either. But we have not been able to prevail upon the majority to followup by subpoenaing these people. When they were subpoenaed, insisting on an answer. Here was a very different answer. It wasnt merely a conversation with the president they sought to preserve some later claim of privilege. But rather any conversation that took place during the time on the transition and any conversation meeting, whatever, we capitol even ask were you present at this meeting without getting on the advice of the white house, im not going to answer. So it was as broad a claim as you could make. Not founded on a particular privilege. But founded on the, we would rather you dont answer those questions because maybe later, we would want to exert some privilege over something. Make sure im tracking this. He comes in, he says under the advice of the direction of the white house, hes not going to answer questions in this huge portfolio of issues. The majority, the chairman issues a subpoena. He goes back to the white house. They say were still directing you the same way. Hes there 9 1 2 hours. Was it just the Committee Asking him questions and him not answering based on that invocation of this incredibly broad sense of privilege . Well, actually, we asked him whatever series of questions we had that predated his time on the Transition Team and in the administration. So we were able to ask him about things that happened during the campaign. A lot of this was taken up as we would recess so that they could seek further advice of the white house. But also was establishing the record we neededed to ask him specific questions, have him decline to answer them on the record since he was now under compulsory process because the way we can compel that now is having a record if necessary we can take to court. Do you think, did you know already about the grand jury subpoena of mr. Bannon prior to the news breaking today . The first we learned of a potential subpoena before the special council or the grand jury was when a news clipping was brought into the committee room. So no, if those reports are accurate, thats something i learned about in the press report. And whatever refusals he gave to you presumably would not extend to the special counsel, right . Can he just do the same thing in front of muellers investigators . My view is no, that this is this is an essential glowing gag rule when it comes to anything during the transition, anything during the white house and a lot that happened after the white house. Thats never going to fly with the special counsel. It shouldnt fly with us. I dont think its going to fly with us. We have asked him to return to the committee in short order. But no, i dont think thats going to work with special counsel. I dont think the privilege is that broad or anything like it. I dont think that he can the white house can use that to shield him from our questions either. I just want to be clear here. Your committee has talked to a lot of the witnesses. Youve been slogging through a lot of intention tension back and forth. What happened today has never happened before. Am i correct . Thats absolutely true. I dont know that i can account for the reason why the majority is handling this situation as so much differently than in the past. Because we have had other witnesses refuse to answer a much narrower category of questions but still, we have saw the subpoenas from the majority and theyve been unwilling. When the witnesses were subpoenaed and refused to answer questions, weve sought to use compulsory process. Theyve been unwilling. This was very different in kind. Im not sure i can explain why, but i do applaud it. This is the way our committee ought to undertake to get answers from reluctant witnesses or reluctant white house. Final question. Youre going to have him come back, right . Yes. And i mean, then what . Well, i imagine this is the way its going to go. Theyre going to go back to the white house. Theyre going to now say look, we were subpoenaed to come in on your advice. We declined to answer all these questions. Now im going to speculate here about what mr. Bannons attorney is going to say, but i think counsel is going to understand thats not sustainable. I think the white house is going to understand that. So my guess is that theyre going to try to come back and narrow their refusal to cooperate to a more lipped set of questions. But frankly, unless they invoke privilege, which they have not done, there is no basis for this witness or any other to refuse to answer our questions. So the next step after that is if the white house takes the unreasonable position or the witness refuses to answer, we would have to go to court to compel him. Thank you for making time tonight. Thank you. Natasha bertrand from Business Insider has been covering the story quite carefully. What do you make of that . Thats remarkable. Just the fact that the republicans on the committee have never before felt compelled to issue a subpoena to a witness who has invoked executive privilege in this way or refused to answer questions, but for bannon they felt the need to. Apparently mike con know way and trey gowdy were frustrated with steve bannon, the fact he kept saying over and over again i cant answer these questions. Its telling steve bannon actually told congress i would like to answer these but the white house put a gag order on me. That seems to undermine the white house argument that steve bannon was a marginal player here. He didnt know anything about the going on of the white house. Why is the white house so earned can what he could tell them . My big take away from what i just heard of, this is all breaking in the last amount of time. We saw him moments ago walking to his car. Adam schiff comes out. Once again, it seems they have drawn a huge red arrow pointing to the importance of the thing theyre keeping inside the black box they wont let anyone see. Thats exactly what the white house did with the fire and fury book. They said dont look at this. Everyone had to look. What is the white house so concerned about bannon telling lawmakers. Were also seeing why mueller felt compelled to issue a subpoena to steve bannon. Thats the other question i want to ask you. What do you take is the significance of that news which is interesting insofar as we dont think hes used ha particular tool in his tool kit with someone that close to the president as of yet. Different theories according to legal experts ive spoken to. The first is basically mueller wants to catch him without his council present. Its a more intense environment, more nerve rack. Its much easier to catch him in a lie. The second theory and this is shared widely among people i spoke to is they want steve bannon essentially to be able to testify freely. They want him to essentially be divorced from the criticism that could come from the white house by saying you agreed to voluntarily be interviewed by mueller, you agreed to a sitdown interview. Now he can say i was forced to testify. Like giving him cover. Its giving him cover. That is also maybe what congress wanted to do today by issuing a subpoena. They wanted him to have cover in order to testify freely. One of the things we havent seen yet and its a big difference between watergate where democrats obviously were the majority, we havent seen the congressional committees go to war with the white house about this stuff. Theres been fights. Theres been negotiations, some criticism particularly on the senate side from richard burr. We havent seen real escalation. Today seems like the first time weve seen Something Like that. I wonder if it would constitute witness tampering or anything like that. We have to see how it plays out in terms of whether Congress Says you have to narrow the scope of what you say is covered by executive privilege and bannon, of course, seems like hes very willing to testify and seems like he has a story to tell. Hes been very critical of the trump meeting with the russians and the fact that can kushner met with russian officials during the transition period. Theres a reason the white house doesnt want him to talk about anything that happened during the transition. That is when a lot of the shady russian contacts happened. Thank you. Still to come, after mounting questions about the president s physical and Mental Health today, we finally got some answers. The results after this quick break. That youll ever need staying ahead isnt about waiting for a chance. Its about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. the one and only Cadillac Escalade. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the Cadillac Escalade. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 Cadillac Escalade from around 879 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. Cleaning floors with a mop and bucket is a hassle, from around 879 per month. Meaning you probably dont clean as often as youd like. For a quick and convenient clean, try Swiffer Wetjet. Theres no heavy bucket, or mop to wring out, because the absorb and Lock Technology traps dirt and liquid inside the pad. Its safe to use on all finished surfaces tile, laminate and hardwood. And it prevents streaks and hazing better than a micro fiber strip mop, giving you a thorough clean the first time. For a convenient clean, try Swiffer Wetjet with a money back guarantee. Brand power. Helping you buy better. Today for the first time ever, we got an official look at the state of President Trumps health. Despite his junk food diet and lack of exercise, the white house physician says he is in great physical shape. Snif summary, the president s Overall Health is excellent. His cardiac performance during his physical exam was very good. He continues to enjoy the significant longterm cardiac and Overall Health benefits that come from a lifetime of abstinence from tobacco and alcohol. He has incredibly good genes. White house physician Ronny Jackson there during the obama administration, as well also released details about the president s mental acute. An issue of political importance since the book fire and fury raised new questions about his mental state. I was not going to do a cognitive exam. The reason we did the cognitive assessment is because the president asked me to do it. We picked one of the ones more involved. It was longer, more difficult one of all of them. It took significantly longer to complete. But the president did exceedingly well on it. That was not driven at all by clinical concerns i have. It was driven by the president s wishes. According to the official white house doctor the president is in excellent physical health for a 71yearold with no impairment. David k. Johnson has a new book out today called its even worse than you had there, what the Trump Administration is doing to america. I wanted to talk to you because as i was on paternity leave, i was watching the fire and fury news cycle. There was talk about cognitive decline and early dementia. The doctor was quite unambiguous today in saying he ran there test on him as the president asked and saw no evidence. What did you make that have. Im somewhat surprised 37 having known donald for years, he used to talk in coherent sentences. Now its all adjectives. Its great, its beautiful. He sometimes cant piece together a logical sentence. Hes had episodes of not recognizing Rudy Guiliani although we all have things like that happen to us from time to time. This is interesting to me. You covered the man for decades. Yeah. You feel like youve seen changes in him. Im almost donalds age. I cant do things i could do when i was young. I used to multiply four digits by four digits as a parlor game. I cant anymore. What youre saying changes over time that are in the normal parameters as opposed to something that is you know, that he is mentally unfit, 25th amendment and things like that. Understand that donald is to use the ver flack cue lar, a jerk. Hes always been a jerk. I spoke to a kid who donald used to throw rocks at his play pen in queens when donald was a boy. The kinds of incidents that led his father to ship him off to a military academy. He was always getting into trouble and being a troublemaker. Donald by his own account gets pleasure from making other people miserable. And. He said this. Hes written this and said it. He said it repeated. There are videotapes. Its in one of his books. Thats just not normal human behavior. In addition, donald doesnt know things. Hes unbelievably appallingly ignorant. Theres lots of incidents my book out today has a number of examples of this. And michael wolff, bless his soul confirmed a lot of what was in my previous book about donald. When he doesnt know something, he just makes it up. He just makes it up. It gets to the sort of profound question because theres this way in which people watched the president s behavior, theyve watched the tweeting and what seems to be compulsive behavior and this urge to medicalize, urge to die nog knows to say theres got to be something wrong with him as opposed to this is the person he is. These are the character traits he possesses. Ive said that im not a doctor, but i can see he is not the sharp mind that he was when i first met him. But on the other hand, his power as president has brought out all of his bullying instincts. He has no regard for other people. Thats the most important 0 thing to understand about him. As i write in the book, weve had 44 president s, some of them corrupt, some great. Some of them awful. There have been a whole mix. But all of them did things they thought would make america better. Donald trumps presidency is about one thing. It is about the glorification of donald trump, period, full stop. Thats all its about. And we need to recognize everything he does has to do not with policy, to put donald trump and policy in the same sentence you know, is ridiculous. Do you think one thing that has struck me is that it is very hard to figure out what the animating goal and purpose of this administration at this moment is they had the repeal which failed, the tax bill which passed. What are they trying to do . I dont think overall theyre trying to do anything. Thats part of the problem is that other than what steve bannon brought people in and got trump to appoint along with others and that is to destroy the government. In the book i refer to what i call political termites. Theyre eating away at the structure of your lous. You may not know it till serious damage is done. They are doing damage to our government, massive investments to people in diplomacy, public health, a whole variety of other fields that isnt being noticed because its going on out of sight. The book is called its worse than you think. David c. Johnson is the author. Thank you for your time. Coming up, will republicans force a Government Shutdown despite being in control of the white house and both houses of congress . Next, what the defense of donald trump looks like when you try it out on actual voters. Tonights thing one, thing two is next. With adt, you can feel safe for only 49. 00. That includes security panel, keypad, key fob, entry and motion sensors and for a limited time, get a camera included and installed at no additional cost. If yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. 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Whoo thing 1 tonight earlier we played for you the Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defending trumps comments on immigration which led toe secretary nielsen claiming under oath she did not know norways population is mainly white. What does he mean when he says he wans more immigrants from norway . I dont believe he said that specifically. What he was saying was evers using norway as example of a country that is what he was specifically referring to is the Prime Minister telling him that people of norway work very hard. Norway is a predominantly white country. Isnt it . I i actually do not know that, sir, but i imagine that is the case. Heres the thing. Trumps racist comments arent only putting cabinet members in uncomfortable spots. On sunday, a roomful of red state iowa voters laughed in the face of republican senator trying to defend the president. That video is thing 2 in 60 seconds. Rk to run this business. But i really love it. Im on the move all day long. And sometimes, i dont eat the way i should. So, i drink boost to get the nutrition im missing. Boost high protein nutritional drink has 15 grams of protein to help maintain muscle and 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. All with a great taste. Boost gives me everything i need. To be up for doing what i love. Boost high protein be up for it need a change of scenery . Kayak searches hundreds of travel and hotel sites so you can be confident youre getting the Perfect Hotel at the best price. Soak it in. Kayak. Search one and done. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Days after President Trump reportedly called african nations sholes and suggested america should bring more people from places like norway, joni ernst is defending him at town halls. Taking a stand or doing something about the damage that trump is doing to our neighbors around the world with his White Supremacy talk. He is standing up for a lot of the countries where we have seen. Name a few. Could you name a few. You bet. Norway. Norway. Is one of them. No, well, okay. How many of you think joni ernst arguing norway can see russia from their window. He is standing up for a lot of the countries that where we have seen. Name a few. Could you name a few. You bet. Norway is one of them. No, well, okay how many of you think you laugh but folks, who borders norway . Russia. Tech . Every minute counts. And you dont have time for a cracked windshield. Thats why at safelite, well show you exactly when well be there. With a replacement you can trust. All done sir. Grandpa looks great tech thanks for choosing safelite. Grandpa thank you child bye tech bye saving you time. So you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace were pretty sure no ones everg asked howsaid microwaved. Eggs, you deserve a breakfast made with respect. Try the new bacon, egg, and cheese on brioche. Panera. Food as it should be. There are 7 continents. 7 seas. But at Celebrity Cruises wed argue, more than 7 wonders. For a limited time, enjoy two free perks like complimentary wifi and drinks, plus savings for everyone in your stateroom, when you book now. During the Celebrity Cruises sail beyond event. In the trump era, two weeks can feel like a year. Just take all the news that happened in the two weeks i was gone on paternity leave. Michael wolff dropped a tell all. Steve bannon called don juniors meeting treason news. Or for bannon losing his job at Breitbart News along with his radio show and the backing of the mercer family. I also missed the president declaring himself a very stable genius, amid questions about mental fitness. That was the first week. In the second week i missed the news about the president s oval office slurs and how the president s lawyer arranged 130,000 in hush money to keep former adult film star Stormy Daniels from talking about an affair she had with the president in 2006. But because theres always a ceaseless flow of news stories in the trump era, i returned just in time for congress to shut down the government. Well talk about that next. We took legendary and made it liberating. We took safe and made it daring. We took intelligent, and made it utterly irresistible. We took the most advanced eclass ever and made the most exciting eclass ever. The 2018 eclass coupe and sedan. Lease the e300 sedan for 569 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Unless Congress Gets it together, the senate will shut down on friday by passing yet another shortterm continuing resolution. Joining me michelle goldberg, columnist for the new york times. Since you served in that body. You heard cory booker for a long time, 24 years, yeah. For 24 years, you heard cory booker say there is no vote for me without a daca deal. I see pressure from folks not to bail republicans out without a continuing resolution. Such a simple straightforward way for Mitch Mcconnell to take this bipartisan solution dick duri durban and the rest have been working on and get the bill on the floor and take care of the kids. Here is the situation, its not only the moral thing to do, thats for sure. Kids brought here through no fault of their own. They are terrific adding to the economy all over this country. So to take up a budget bill that doesnt deal with the d. R. E. A. M. E. R. S. Makes no sense. The senate and house should be the congress. They should take up bills. Forget what trump says. One day hes with ya and got your back, i want to build that love and the next day hes using curse words to describe immigrants, which is the biggest insult and frankly, i think a sin against god, whatever your religion is. You cant trust him so go to the people who have the solutions. Thats a good point that like, i mean, its a great point. Mitch mcconnell could put it up to a vote, see if it passes. Supposed to do that. Yeah, and get the ball rolling. There is this weird kind of lame bad Jedi Mind Trick the white house is playing to sew the seeds. They want to shut down the government for Border Security and daca is probably dead because democrats doesnt want it. They are probably hoping it will play the same way ted cruz government shut down over obamacare played even though there are significant differences, one of which is that republicans control the entire government. I mean, granted they need democratic votes to pass something in the senate but not clear they can pass something with their own votes in the house where they need a simple majority so its i hope that democrats dont let themselves get siked out which is their tendency to think what if sen try they do blame us for shutting down on the government. Nobody knows how this will play out so do the right thing. Senator, i guess thats my question to you, if mcconnell doesnt bring it up and republicans hatch this plan to kick the can down the road. Funded after c. R. , after c. R. , what should democrats do . Filibuster it . I think democrats should use their power even though this say onehalf party rule, we control nothing. They can try to blame everything on us, but they control everything. They need to be swept out but thats another story. While they control everything, whatever happens is their fault. So democrats should ask unanimous consent to bring up that compromise, that i think it is a terrific compromise on daca that my former colleagues have come up and just force that vote, force it. Go through the night. Right. And while they are at it, they ought to look at the c. H. I. P. Program. We have millions of children, babies waiting to get their insurance. Weve got business to do. Forget working with trump. You dont know which man youre going to meet which day or which hour. Will it be the one that curses at you or the one that talks about love . You just dont know. One of the things i just mentioned in what i missed, which is a story that wasnt the top ten i missed, that the president s lawyer paid off an adult film star, 130,000 on the eve of the election to keep her quiet about an affair that she had a year after he married the first lady of the United States, which people admit at this point, not my point, almost any other administration in any other time in the last 40 years would be an earthshattering revelation. Right. I wrote a column how this marks the right wing on that part of the culture wars they fought during bill clinton in which they say yes, any behavior of any level is totally fine with us as long as it didnt break the law. But i also think as an official position. Right. But i think to bring it back to an activist mentioned this to me today and its interesting that this extreme lly it wasnt explosive in the way, i dont know what were calling it, the shole comments were. That outraged people and really shocked people and sort of clarified the fact that this administration wants to undermine what we thought were some of the fundamental principles of this country in a way that this other story, it didnt shock people in the same way. Its pretty much what we expect from this administration. There is a degree to which senator, the expectations of the office are and the behavior are pretty low at this point. We knew this. We knew what he said on the access hollywood tape, how he views women. Ill tell you what deserves a lot more attention than that, i find it shocking, story of this porn star. Put that aside. The 19 women or the 20 women, i dont know how many, that said that he actually harassed them and worse. Yeah. This cannot go without an investigation. We know what happened with bill clinton. He got im peempeached and this has 19 or 20 women that say he attacked them. Well see if there is a nexus between them and nondisclosure agreements signed for things that were not consensual. Thank you both for joining us. Before we go, a few other people, the few people i need to thank to joy reid not only for taking such great care of this show in my absence but for giving me the time to spend with my new daughter onya. Thats her. The last two weeks have been total bliss from helping ryan with her homework and watching star wars with david who insists i only speak in darth vader voice to see them embrace their new sister. The time has been invaluable to them and kate who is the most valuable and amazing spouse i could ever know. Thank you. Tthe Rachel Maddow show start now. Good evening. Chris, we missed you terribly. Seeing those pic