By the, i think, interest in president elect trumps wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces and i believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party, and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together, to deal with the many challenges that we face. Most of all, i want to emphasize to you, mr. President elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds. Interesting body language there. Donald trump reciprocated the president s goodwill and praised his accomplishments. He did that, saying he would continue to consult with the president. Lets watch. This was a meeting that was going to last for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and we were just going to get to know each other. We had never met each other. I have great respect. The meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half and it could have, as far as im concerned, it could have gone on for a lot longer. We really we discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel. He explained some of difficulties, some of the highflying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved. So, mr. President , it was a great honor being with you and i look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future. This comes as politico reports that the mood among the white house staff right now is grim, quote, but the freakout has been kept in check, in public at least. People arent feeling so good. People are scared, that includes a lot of people in big jobs. The president is also leading by example when it comes to the Incoming Trump administration, directing his staff, the president is doing that, to replicate the seamless transition that president bush put in place eight years ago. All of this is set against the backdrop of what were looking at right now, the reality in the streets, the protests that broke out in major cities of the country, including new york. Thousands of demonstrators out there who made it clear they reject donald trump as the next president. They took to the streets to vent their anger. Look at the crowds. Im joined by Chris Jansing from the white house. Its quite a contrast, chris, between the rousing crowd last night. Who owns the streets . We do. Who owns the streets . We do. This rejection out there, especially by millennials by what happened tuesday night. Reporter i dont know if you can hear, just outside the white house gates were hearing people yelling all day. There have been crowds out there saying, love trumps hate. These are the people that the president was aiming at with the i thought stunning image today, sending the message to the from the president of the United States that this is how democracy works this is what a peaceful transition looks like. A lot of those Staff Members have been in tears. Ive seen how upset they are. Hes called them in and talked to them and said this is what we have to do. So you have a meeting between these two men who are incredible political enemies. Donald trump, who repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of president obama to even be in office. They didnt talk about birtherism. It was described as less awkward than you might have expected. Donald trump thought this meeting would go for 10 or 15 minutes. It went for an hour and a half. The president was determined to absolutely answer any questions that he had, whether they were about foreign policy, domestic policy or just the transition itself. Look, one image is not going to change the minds of the people out here protesting. And senior staff have admitted to me that all the things the president said about donald trump on the campaign trail, that hes not fit for office, those thoughts have not changed but what has changed is they got a result in this election they did not expect. He is determined as a president of the United States to set an example for himself, for the country and for what this transition has been. Can i just say finally, chris, because youve been in there before, when i saw that picture in the oval office and its set up in a way with all the media around it and these two men in these chairs on either side of the fireplace, thats a scene thats reserved for foreign leaders. So this is the first image weve had of donald trump as leader of the free world. For a lot of people, what a stunning image, chris. Thanks so much, as always. At the conclusion of their 90minute meeting, president obama shared some advice with trump about the press, how do you deal with shouted questions from the press. Thank you, everybody. We are not going to be taking any questions, thank you, guys. A good rule, dont answer any questions when they start yelling them at you. Come on, guys, come on. Lets go. Very good man. Appreciate it. Its so old school, come on, guys. Im sure there are some women in that group. Joining me is chairman of the american conservative union. Also, my friend you are my friend, too. Republican strategist. I just want to start with something human. I may not be emotional like most people. Have i so many family members, not just women, emotional about this. Your side won i dont know if its your side or not. Your side won this one. Definitely my side. The fear about this, the freak out you hear a lot, the cosmos has shifted into this perhaps brave new world but it is scary because of the stuff trump said and i know him for longer. I have a little mixture of feelings. I interviewed him 20, 30 times overs years, i went to his wedding and know him a little bit, a little bit. I have a mixed view. If you just go by what he has said, its horrendous, horrific. So people are acting on the public trump. Im watching him there. I know president obama got a look at the real guy, the personal guy. Much different. Much different. Maybe theres hope there that he will be reasonable. Your thoughts . Reasonable meaning he has to govern the country. Its a job. I think he is a reasonable guy. I think the reason that meeting went longer than expected is because donald trump is inquisitive, hes charming. I think he was respectful for the president. I think donald trump feels like he deserves respect, too. A lot of what happens with his reactions to things is when he feels like people are dising him. He found his voice in the last month of the campaign and it worked. If he acts as president as he did in the last month of that campaign, then i think hes going to be successful. Youre on the republican side but you know governance. As church would say, keep calm and carry on. This is past politics right now. What did you think of the president today how he handled it . If this guy has inferiority complexes, the president addressed that concern. The best transition of all time was the bush transition to the obama administration. What was the worst transition . Hoover being replaced by fdr . This is just fact. I didnt have a w on my keyboard, the voice mail system you noticed that all the ws all the furniture had been broken. The voice mail system destroyed and the white house working guy with the name on his shirt, he said, ill never forget it, he was looking at the wires and he goes, they say theyre for the working man. Ive had to work 24 hours fixing all the things they broke. Thats why george w. Bush didnt want that. Andy carr spent a lot of time making sure it went well. Josh bolton. Josh bolton and the whole crowd. This is a very important image for the country, very important for the president to come in and say this is the guy thats going to replace me and im okay with that. By saying im okay with that, hopefully he can send a message to the young people who are devastated. Who voted for hillary clinton. That we have to move on. A lot of these young people have never really understood without barack obama as president. They were probably 12 when he got elected. So i think hes trying to teach them how this democracy works, because a lot of them dont understand how it works. A lot of people my age are worried theyll never have another shot for a woman president. A lot of heartbreak out there. Nbc news reports tonight that Donald TrumpsTransition Team has a working list of three to five names for each cabinet level position. I want to chair any skepticism about these names. Senior staff would review their option with the trumps family. Thats interesting. While they have not officially presented anything, several people are under consideration, including Rudy Giuliani for attorney general. Newt gingrich as secretary of state. General Michael Flynn for secretary of defense. Congressman Michael Mccaul for homeland security. The New York Times is reporting today that steve bannon is a contender to be the chief of staff. Bannon, who previously ran the website breitbart news, if you want to call it that, has been a nasty critic of paul ryan. Do you think this is real, this stuff . In these transitions who is floating this stuff . In these transitions, usually the names you see first that get printed are almost always from a faction of somebody who has an interest pushing one name over another but nothing what the candidate is considering. How would bannon help mr. Trump come into washington, having no government experience, and help him deal with the congress and everybody else . I think it would be difficult. Breitbart having been such a fierce critic, its difficult to sell, not only for the House Republicans but for anybody inside the beltway. But you know, its his decision. The better decision would be somebody like a reince priebus, who did a good job as rnc chair. Reagan picked the guy that ran against him twice. And put that guy because he knew he would be the best chief of staff. But reagan had i think you could see Something Like that. Those names that you mike flynn is going to have a big role in this administration, newt gingrich, Rudy Giuliani. You go in and shake hands with the president and talk nice for 90 minutes, then you bring in steve bannon . Donald trump has to expect anyone he puts forward is going to be criticized by somebody. I think bannon would be a bad step in the wrong direction. I dont agree. Coming up, both president obama and donald trump put aside their bitter History Today for the good of the country. But lets face it, these two men have had a history of contempt toward one another. This is hardball, the place for politics. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs for a 100 fresh mouth. Feeling 100 means you feel bold enough to. Assist a magician. Or dance. Listerine®. Bring out the bold™ president obama and donald trump smiled and shook hands, even joked about the press, as we said. It was an image of civility between two men who have been nasty critics of each other. Donald trumps path to power was greased by his birther nonsense. President obama mocked him in front of the world at that 2011 white house correspondents dinner, and they both accused each other of being unfit to lead. Lets watch some of that history now. Why doesnt he show his birth certificate . You know what . I wish he would, because i think its a terrible thing hanging over him. Hes not offering any policies or plans, just offering division and fear. And hes betting if he scares enough people, he could scare up enough votes to win this election. Hes probably the worst president in the history of our country. Donald trump is uniquely unqualified to be president. Im not joking. Hes temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief. Anybody who is upset about a saturday night live skit do you dont want in charge of nuclear weapons. Hes down here campaigning for crooked hillary. He ought to be back in the office working. Hes not going to be there very long, thank goodness. Now donald trump set to take office, promising to dismamtsle the legacy of president obama. How will their histories shape the political argument . Let me start with steve, just because i like trouble. Steve, what did you make of that makenice thing by both sides . You know, listen, heres what i made of this, i mean this as an american. We have bruising campaigns, this was maybe the most bruising of my lifetime. But when its over, ims time to come together because the office of the presidency and america itself is bigger than either of these individuals, even though theyre the president and the president elect, as important as they are, theyre not as important as the office or as important as america. I was really proud of both of them. They said incredibly disparaging things, as you played for us, over the years. And yet they put that aside. The election has been decided. We dont need to relitigate the election. But we need to succeed Going Forward can we just get rid of that word, relitigate . When you call a guy an illegal immigrant who is president of the United States, when you saw the person youre running against ought to be in jail, you cant just say that was Just Campaign b. S. And i told you before, i think the birther thing was b. S. , but thankfully he did put that issue to bed just a couple months ago. He let the issue stay up pretty late before he put it to bed. I dont think hshould have, but he came to the right spot. Lets talk about nice. The trouble with being nice today, and im all for it, but it begins to find a way of excusing anything that was said before. Look, im going to say this. I think personally, it had to be incredibly difficult for president obama to have to be in this position that he is today, having to, you know it was like rabin shaking hands with arafat. But i think what the president did is he stepped into his constitutional role. And that wasnt hard, right . He put the country before his personal feelings about donald trump, which i think needs should be applauded, which is not an easy thing to do. As we know, this country is incredibly divided. So i think the hope is that donald trump learned from what president obama did. Steven, this is a fascinating point here. A little bit of the point today is that these two gentlemen, one running for president , one who is president , one who has been elected again. They never met each other. To me thats a great example of this country. I mean, i think 99. 9 of the trump voters, theyve never really met they certainly havent hung out with the hillary people. And some of the hillary people say i dont know any trump people. Maybe thats why i can excuse the damn pollsters. How do you poll somebody when they dont know each other . You cant smell the country because its all so balkanized. Thats what we saw today, two worlds going into the same room. And then talking for 90 minutes. Thats what is weird. I think you are right that we are very balkanized, perhaps the most since the 60s. I think a big reason why, by the way, is slow growth. That creates all kinds of stress and anxiety and problems. One of the main reasons, if not the main reason that donald trump won this election is he properly diagnosed that problem, that slow growth. This economy is not working for the vast majority of americans. Its only working for the top tier, who have already made it. Thank you both. When we come back, let me finish with a proposal for the president elect. And this is hardball, the place for politics. Let me finish tonight with a to posal for the president elect. Lets get this country moving. One way is unite all the forces that elected you, mr. Trump, the reagan democrats, the people disgusted with the political elites. Jobs, rebuilding america, especially transportation. Its a practical way to reunite this country. Put together a coalition of republicans and democrats in congress behind a massive building effort, from penn station in manhattan to lax in california. Just do it. Interest rates are low. Sell Capital Construction bonds to get this country moving again. Go get the money lying out there. Dont wait for the establish politicians, just do it, you. And thats it. You know how to sell. You know how to cut deals, mr. Trump. The most important thing is to put the target on what unites us, especially for the working people that are looking for real jobs. Go do it. Replace the smell of decay with the smell of dirt being moved, engines that work, the freshly tarred highways, the sights and sounds of workers at work. Mr. Trump, youve been on jobsites. America itself is now your jobsite. Thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. Join me again tomorrow night at 7 00 eastern. See you then. All in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. After aresidential campaign during which he suggested he would question the peaceful