At the scab of ethnic anger. President trump stirred it up all last friday criticizing nfl players who kneeled during the National Anthem. Hes double down again and again since then. Nbc news reports he told dinner guests at the white house just last night he wont back down and is confident hes on the winning side of this issue. Well, today the president was asked whether he was preoccupied by this story at the expense of other important issues. Lets watch him. I wasnt preoccupied with the nfl, i was ashamed of what was taking place because to me that was a very important moment. I dont think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our National Anthem. To me the nfl situation is a very important situation. Ive heard that before about was i preoccupied. Not at all. Not at all. I have plenty of time on my hands. All i do is work. And to be honest with you, thats an important function of working. Its called respect for our country. Last night the Dallas Cowboys and the teams owner, jerry jones, took a knee in unison before the National Anthem. Before the National Anthem. President trump responded this morning on twitter noting the booing at the nfl Football Game last night when the entire dallas team dropped to its knees was loudest i ever heard. Great anger. Thats trumps tweet this morning. He later praised the team for standing up for the National Anthem itself after their protest. Why doesnt the president want to put this issue to rest . Bret stephens is a columnist for sniemz, Sally Jenkins and Michael Steele join me. I love the speech you gave over in australia recently about the right of people to disagree. In fact the need in a Civil Society to live with disagreement because thats the very heart of what democracy is, to have different opinions, different views, impulses that you want to speak and to demonstrate for, if you will. And here we have this side of the argument showing up. Tell me how you put it altogether. Look, its amusing to hear conservatives i think rightfully complain about excessive campus orthodoxies and then go berserk over Colin Kaepernick and other nfl players trying to break this other taboo and be iconiclass and champions of freedom in their own right. We dont worship the flag like its the obalis that defends on the earth in 2001 space odyssey. We admire the flag because of what it represents and the chief thing it represents is freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to think unpopular thoughts, despite the booing of crowds or the views of a president intent on rabble rousing. Do you think people on the right or the left, do you think they see each other in the same way when they see somebody thats an altrightist come to berkeley to stir up trouble, but thats part of free speech too to stir up trouble, and somebody in a football stadium taking a knee because they dont like the way police have been handling africanamericans over the years, in fact too long. Do they see the reality of what the situation theyre confronting, which is the need to allow public expression of even unpopular views . You know, conservatives should see it most of all. This is a point that ive been trying to make to some of my fellow conservatives. Texas v. Johnson, 1989 Supreme Court decision on flag burning. Who is the justice who makes the case that a fundamental right is also the right to burn the flag . Its that wellknown, leftwing progressive crazy Antonin Scalia voting with the majority in that case. So republicans or conservatives who think of themselves as constitutionalists who think they have a grip of what this country is about ought to be the first to oppose the president instead of going along with his whole line about anger is something out of a playbook from the 1930s of populism and a kind of a quasifascism. Its unbelievable to hear the president like this. By the way, the language he used about Colin Kaepernick and i guess by extension his mother was stunning. It would behoove conservatives to wash his mouth with soap. Yeah, son of a bitch is a great phrase coming out of the mouth of our president. I hate flag burning. I dont know you well and i guess thats why it works because so many of us do hate it. Thats why people burn the flag, because they know we hate it. The president tied the protest to wounded and killed soldiers. He did . He did. Lets watch. Many people have died, many, many people. Many people are so horribly injured. I was at Walter Reed Hospital recently, and i saw so many great young people and theyre missing legs and theyre missing arms and they have been so badly injured. And they were fighting for our country. They were fighting for our flag. They were fighting for our National Anthem. And for people to disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of our National Anthem i think is disgraceful. Sally jenkins, i know youre not a political type, but i will ask you to talk about the feelings among the people who have been taking a knee, kaepernick and the others. I dont know how you connect somebodys knee to somebody elses lost limb but trump just did it and its pretty grotesque. I dont think thats at all in the minds of the people who have thoughts regarding the police and africanamericans and the whole situation were all aware of. We know its divisive and people have different perspectives, but its got nothing to do with fighting for the country. It has nothing to do with the Service People give to the country and the sacrifice they make for the country. To tie it together i think is grotesque. Your thoughts. So the players would tell you that they dont intend disrespect to the flag. Now, you know, whether its being interpreted that way by others obviously is a separate question, but the players keep trying to stress we dont disrespect the military. We have deep respect for the military. The nfl actually has very, very deep ties. In 2011 a survey showed that over 100 nfl players had relatives serving. Kenny britt, one of the guys whos taken a knee, his sister serves in iraq. You know, we have half a dozen coaches in the nfl whose parents served in the military. John fox, the Chicago Bears coach. Rod marinelli, defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, fought in vietnam. So i think theres two groups of people talking past each other instead of to each other. Both sides are offended. Both sides keep saying but thats not what i meant. So people who defend standing for the anthem say im not a racist, were not racists to demand you stand for this flag. And then the kneelers in the nfl are saying we are not disrespecting the flag, we are simply asking for this country to be better. And so it seems like both sides could do a little more talking to each other instead of around or about each other. And the president didnt help that happen. My friend, michael here, it seems to me if you look at the history of this country, poor people go in the military. They dont have many other options. They get killed more commonly than other people do. They fought in vietnam more than anybody else. Theres 40,000 native americans that fought in vietnam. I heard that the other night on the pbs series. And also its one of the few, and this has a little irony, ironic, its more of an equal Opportunity Employer in the military. One place people have made progress in terms of equal respect. I want to pick up on that last point about what this is and what it isnt. This is not a protest about the flag and never has been. Colin kaepernick when he first raised the subject raised it around a particular issue. Colin kaepernick never said, oh, i dont like the flag. What he said was im concerned about the violence thats occurring in the black community, the tension between police and the black community, and his only way to really bring that to the nations attention was to do something symbolic. It was not antiflag, it was about the symbol that he could create around this issue. And that symbol was one of a prayerful symbol. I mean of all things. If you want to be disrespectful to the flag, the last thing you do is take a knee, to take a genuflection an rev rent posture. Weve seen militantcy toward the flag in the past. How do you defend your Republican Party i dont. The president whos had such a difficult time with the race issue over the years, and then to dive back he seems to be wall owing in this fight. He likes this. He wallows in this fight because this focuses on things other than he wants the distraction. It is ultimately a distraction. Where was this i think it revs up the base. Where was this a year ago . Lets go to bret on that. Why do you think hes doing that . I dont buy this theory hes crazy. Maybe some people think he does, fair enough. I think hes figured this stirs peoples blood, this baby. Yeah, but, you know, the famous line from the French Foreign minister, its worse than a crime, its a mistake. I think his calculation is that this is a winning political issue because who likes someone like Colin Kaepernick who supposedly is disrespecting the flag, although of course he isnt. But when you stir up this kind of hornets nest, when you ruin football for the entire country, when you have lebron james and even tom brady against you, not to mention robert kraft, the team owners, im not sure youre coming out on the winning side of this. And so for those of us who oppose the president , have been opposed to the demagogue re, maybe theres a blessing in disguise here. At last he has a losing issue. Sally, this is hard for you but im going to throw it at you because i always throw it at the trump voter one of those guys at a game, hes freezing, his face is red, hes rooting for his home team. Eagles fans is a classic. These guys are tough, working class guys. They may spend the little money they have to get to a game. If theres a championship, theyll take out a loan a housing loan, house repair loan to get down to jacksonville or somewhere to watch the game. My question to you, trump, i think, believes those are his people and those are the people that voted for him and he thinks they dont like what happens with taking a knee. Thats what i think. And thats what i think he thinks is logical. I dont like it but i think he knows what hes doing. I agree. You can feel it. You can see that villanuevas jersey overnight became the bestselling jersey in the nfl. The one guy for the Pittsburgh Steelers who stands for the anthem. You know, hes definitely tapping into something. This bothers fans, theres no question. You can have a perfectly legitimate argument about whether Colin Kaepernick and kenny britt and those other guys have closed more ears than they have opened by choosing to do this during the anthem. Thats a very interesting debate that we could have. But having that debate is more difficult when you have the president basically telling a bunch of young black men shut up and sing. You know, 53 of the American People dont like what you just said. That hes telling people to shut up and sing. 53 of adults think its inappropriate for trump to comment, even comment on how nfl players observe National Anthem. Even comment on it. Unfortunately we know trump doesnt go gunning for 53 , he likes that smaller percent, in the 30s thats loyal to him and theyre probably on the opposite side of this particular poll. Its great having this Diverse Group on. Bret stephens, thank you. Sally jenkins, i read you all the time. Michael steele, youre my brother here, although youre sometimes way too reasonable. Coming up, we learn more about how the russians used facebook to sow division in the 2016 election. By the way, who did they get get help from . Who was helping the russians direct their fire, find the voters they were looking for. This as longtime republican trickster and trump pal, roger stone, testified today on capitol hill. Thats ahead. Plus as President Trump attacks everyone from the nfl to john mccain, are republicans nearing the breaking point . Will they ever stand up to the man at the top of their party or on top of their party . And as alabama republicans head to the polls tonight, trump is taking a big political risk, as his candidate looks to be heading for defeat in that Senate Runoff down there. Were going to go look at the high stakes for the president with the hardball roundtable tonight prior to the closing of the polls. Finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. Its going to be interesting for him. His ears will sear. This is hardball, where the action is. Like paperless, multicar, and safe driver, that help them save on their car insurance. Any questions . Yeah. How do you go to the bathroom . Great. Any insurancerelated questions . Mmhmm. Do you have a girlfriend . Uh, im actually focusing on my career right now, saving people nearly 600 when they switch, so. Wheres your belly button . [ sighs ] ive got to start booking better gigs. Whentrust the brand doctors trust for themselves. Nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. And all day all night protection. When it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. The administration has been helpful up until now, but we need more help. Welcome back to hardball. That was the puerto rican governor this morning asking the Trump Administration for help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. Well, today President Trump emphasized the good job hes doing in puerto rico. Lets watch. We have been really treated very, very nicely by the governor and by everybody else. They know how hard were working and what a good job were doing. As governor rocello just told me this morning, the entire federal workforce is doing great work in puerto rico, and i appreciated his saying it. Hes saying it to anybody that will listen. And the governor said we are doing a great job. In fact he thanked me specifically for fema and all of the First Responders in puerto rico. We have had tremendous reviews from government officials. Wow, hes bragging about himself. Anyway, the situation in puerto rico is dire due to the hurricane wiping out all communication and shutting off power to almost the entire island. Families on the mainland have been unable to even reach their loved ones because phone and power lines are down and conditions in many areas outside the city are still unknown or theyre without food, Potable Water or even electricity. Im joined by nbc news correspondent Gadi Schwartz whos in san juan. Gadi, give us a sense of what its like where you are. Reporter that message that you heard from President Trump, those words from President Trump are something that Puerto Ricans here did not hear. There are more than 3 Million People that live on this island. As you mentioned, all of them are without power, without access to a solid working electrical grid and they dont have basic necessities in many cases, they are cut off from power, from electricity, from water, from gas. In fact if you live here in puerto rico, chances are if you need gas or you need cash, youre going to stand in line for as long as four, six, even eight hours. Earlier today we were out in some of those lines talking to people about what they thought, asking them if they had heard about the talk in the United States when it comes to getting aid in puerto rico and what President Trump has been saying about puerto ricos debt. One of the things that a woman said was we dont care about any of that because were trying to get our own money out of atms. Some of those atms are running out of cash. This has become basically a cashonly society now that all credit card readers are down. And thats here in san juan. Thats where a lot of people consider themselves lucky. If you go to some of the isolated areas, its a whole different story. Those people do not have access to gas. In fact some of them are walking for hours to get to other towns. Yesterday we were with a blackhawk crew, we went to this small place where they have not been able to get the message out that theyre okay. Its one of those regions where people are asking where is the aid . Where is fema . Yesterday we were able to deliver a little bit of aid to that town with that blackhawk crew, but they are asking why isnt the United States doing more . We pay our taxes, we are part of the United States and were hoping for aid. One good news one good piece of news out of here, we were with that black hawk crew that i was just talking about and i dont know if we have some video, but i want to show you some specific video. This is an Oil Drilling Rig that was off the coast of puerto rico. It was headed for a crash course into puerto rico, and the black hawk crew was able to land on top of that, get some mooring rigs out so that the rig that was carrying over 100,000 barrels of oil did not crash into puerto rico. If you can imagine what kind of an environmental catastrophe that would have brought after such a devastating hurricane. Chris, back to you. Thank you so much. Nbcs Gadi Schwartz in san juan. Up next, new reporting that those russian facebook ads were very sophisticated and showed a deep understanding of the racial and social divides in this country. The question is, who gave them marching orders for these ads . Who was the home the state side spotter . Well be right back. Morning on the beach was so peaceful. Until. It. Wasnt. Dont let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. Because your risk of heart attack or stroke is up to four times greater. But there are steps you can take to lower your cardiovascular risk. Talk to your Health Care Provider today about diabetic heart disease. And find out more at heartoftype2. Com. Your heart and type 2 diabetes. Make the connection. Whoamike and jen doyle . Than i thought. Yeah. Time for medicare, huh. I have no idea how were going to get through this. Follow me. Choosing a plan can be supercomplicated. But it doesnt have to be. Unitedhealthcare can guide you through the confusion, with helpful people, tools and plans. Including the only plans with the aarp name. Well that wasnt so bad at all. Thats how we like it. Aarp medicare plans, from unitedhealthcare. Welcome back to hardball. New reporting today Sheds Additional Light on how russianfunded political ads on facebook were designed to inflame racial tensions during the 2016 election here. According to the Washington Post the batch of more than 3,000 russianbought ads shows a deep understanding of social divides in american society, with some ads promoting africanamerican rights groups, including black lives matter, and others suggested these same groups pose a rising political threat. Other ads highlighted support for Democrat Hillary Clinton among muslim women. Well, those ads bought by fake kremlinlinked accounts are now being turned over to members of the house and Senate Intelligence committees who are investigating whether members of Trumps Campaign coordinated with the russian operatives. The post also notes that the divisive themes seized on by russian operatives were similar to those that trump and his supporters pushed on social media and on rightwing websites during the campaign. Also tonight nbc news reports the special counsel, Robert Muellers team, could begin interviews with current and former trump aides as early as this week. Im joined by democratic congressman denny heck who sits on the Intelligence Committee and harold fine, an msnbc political analyst. Congressman heck, give us a sense of what you think is the connection between the russian payment into facebook and those ads and any american help given them on how to target those ads. Well, tbd, chris. First of all, the idea of being able to identify the issues which maximized sowing discord and disunity, which after all was their objective, i would imagine that that would be something that the Russian Intelligence Community could do on their own, but the second part of this is the actual purchase of those ads, the microtargeting associated with that, it begs the question as to whether or not that did require someone who was on the ground and had a better sense of where it is that they should purchase and direct those ads to have the maximum effect. Well, howard, you jump in here because it seems to me one thing we noticed about the Trump Campaign last year, it seems like a million years ago, was the incredibly smart way they went into places like wisconsin. They targeted certain communities in southeastern wisconsin. They did the same in pennsylvania and michigan. All the states they grabbed and needed to grab. They knew where they were going. Unlike hillary, they went just where they needed to go and got what they needed and came back with it. Yes. And thats a combination of the big data approach that they took. Dont forget Jared Kushner and various other people bought a lot of Big Data Services in order to target. But in addition did they share . In addition to on the ground, you also need a surer sense than i think the russians could get of how to divide the Democratic Party with issues. This goes back to the nixon years. This goes back to thats what a wedge issue is. Its not between you and the other party, its in the other party, how to get democrats fighting with each other. That was what was brilliant about what they were doing and that has a long history in republican circles. Lets take a look at this. Former trump advisor and longtime republican henchman, i think thats a nice word for him, roger stone, spoke behind closed doors to staffers of the House Intel Committee today. There he is. He looks like hes proud to be about. Stone, who got his start in the Nixon Campaign back in 68 partnered with Paul Manafort in the 80s and 90s and also worked as a top advisor to trump during trumps multiple flirtations with a president ial bid. For example, he joined trumps then girlfriend, the current first lady. In a 1999 College Hardball Tour when trump was talking of a run back then in 2000. There he is sitting next to melania. Earlier this year stone claimed to have a back channel with Julian Assange of wikileaks who released the emails hacked by russia during the election. He said they communicated through an intermediary. Thats stone talking. Stone said he told the committee he wouldnt reveal the name because hes a journalist. Lets hear his defense here. The reason i am not submitting that name is because the intermediary is a journalist, and our conversation was off the record. Im an opinion journalist, hes a journalist. Im not going to burn somebody who i spoke to off the record. If he releases me, if he allows me to release it, i would be happy to give it to the committee. Im actually going to try to do that. Noting that stone did not respond to all questions, ranking tdemocrat adam schiff told reuters hopefully he will cooperate in the future. If not, it will be necessary to subpoena him to bring him back to answer those important questions. Congressman heck, why did this guy get by with call himself a journalist. Roger stone is a political henchman, an operative, whatever, a dirty trickster. Hes never written for a newspaper or any Media Organization ive ever heard of. So, chris, you what does he mean by hes an opinion journalist . Chris, you assert that he got by with selfdescribing himself that way as though you know what went on in that room. By the way, those questions and answers werent with staffers, they were with members of congress. He got by with that in front of a group of journalists, your peers. I dont know how he got by with it. Good point, touche, sir. Lets agree he should not have gotten by with it in front of any group, alive or dead in fact. Howard, he just caught me there. Why did the journalists let minimum get away with call himself one of them. Hes never even pretended to be a journalist. I talked with roger stone after his appearance. Did you challenge him on his identity . He didnt attempt to assert to me that he was a journalist. What do you think hes up to here . What is this thing about claiming that hes protecting his sources because his source has assange as his source or her source. I think its possible, but i think were going to find out who it is for sure one way or the other. Hes either going to be subpoenaed or if hes telling the truth, that person will come forth. But to me the news out of there from what happened inside the room is that they probed stone on the question of the facebook ads. Yeah. And to me that was the headline. Thats what i wrote for the Huffington Post because thats clearly on their mind. The Washington Post story from today and the whole question of whether those ads are a thread that they can pull to find any evidence of collusion. They were clearly on that case with stone, at least thats what stone told me. Congressman, last thought, how close are we to finding collusion . Chris, as i told you before on this program, this is a long and pain staking process. President trump seems to be a bit enamored with the nfl of late so by analogy i would suggest to you were in the second quarter, maybe midway through the second quarter. Weve got a long way to go. I want to make another point, chris. Much has been made about this facebook issue and it should be. But theres a bigger issue here as well at work. Mr. Stone in public and in writing other places has indicated that he just doesnt simply believe or accept that the russians necessarily hacked our election in 2016. All of this in spite of the fact that just in the last ten days, the secretaries of state in 21 states were told that the russians hacked their Voter Registration rolls and facebook admitted that a considerable amount of ads were purchased by russians in order to sow discord. We have to get beyond that point with those who are running around with tin hat or tin foil hat type theories about what did or did not happen. The russians hacked our system. Its our job to find out how and to arm ourselves going into the future, period. Thank you so much. U. S. Congressman denny heck. I accept your challenge to me as well. Thank you, howard fineman. Up next, President Trump has spent the last few days doing battle with the nfl, blasting senator john mccain, taunting north koreas little rocket man. Is his party about tired of all this bluster . Will his party ever have enough of it . Were going to ask a republican congressman coming up next. This is hardball, where the action is. This is me when i feel controlled by frequent, unpredictable abdominal pain or discomfort and diarrhea. I tried Lifestyle Changes and overthecounter treatments, but my symptoms keep coming back. It turns out i have Irritable Bowel Syndrome with diarrhea, or ibsd. A condition thats really frustrating. Thats why i talked to my doctor about viberzi. A different way to treat ibsd. Viberzi is a Prescription Medication you take every day that helps proactively manage both abdominal pain and diarrhea at the same time. So i can stay ahead of my symptoms. Viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. Do not take viberzi if you have no gallbladder, have pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, longlasting or severe constipation, or a bowel or gallbladder blockage. Pancreatitis may occur and can lead to hospitalization and death. If you are taking viberzi, you should not take medicines that cause constipation. The most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. Stay ahead of ibsd with viberzi. Heres whats happening. Firefighters are battling a 2,000acre brush fire in corona, california, near los angeles. About 5 of it is contained according to local officials. The canyon fire started yesterday, prompting mandatory evacuations that are still in effect. A local high school is serving as a shelter. The outer banks are under a Tropical Storm warning tonight as Hurricane Maria creeps up to north carolina. Heavy rain and some coastal flooding is expected through tomorrow. Hurricane maria will then head into the open atlantic for good. Equifax ceo Richard Smith has abruptly retired after a massive data breach at the credit reporting agency. Smith will not get a bonus this year but is walking away with an 18 million pension. Back to hardball. We were very disappointed by a couple of senators, republican senators, i must say. We were very disappointed. That they would take the attitude that they did. At some point it will be repealed and replaced, but well see whether or not that point is now or will it be shortly thereafter. But we are disappointed in certain socalled republicans. Welcome back to hardball. That was President Trump once again taking on members of his own party, going after republican senators who opposed the latest Obamacare Repeal effort, the Graham Cassidy bill. Senator Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell abandoned a planned vote on that bill because it lacked enough republican support. It comes a day after the president repeatedly attacked senator john mccain, blaming him for previous failures to Pass Health Care and calling that opposition a slap in the face to the Republican Party itself. Trump also tweeted a video of the arizona senator talking about repeal and replace saying, quote, a few of the many clips of john mccain talking about repealing and replacing obamacare. Oh, my my, has he changed. Complete turn from years of talk. Lindsey graham defended mccain last night. So to any american whos got a problem with john mccains vote, all i can tell you is that john mccain was willing to die for this country and he can vote any way he wants to and it doesnt matter to me. Late today another republican target of the president s criticism, tennessee senator bob corker of tennessee, announced he would not seek reelection next year. On the president s other political storm, his recent stance on nfl protests, some republicans seem to be in line with the president. Lets listen. Anything that shows disrespect for the flag im very troubled by. I think theres better ways to express your objections to concerns you have in america than disrespecting the flag. I think im probably with the majority of most americans. I certainly dont approve of people taking a knee during a National Anthem. Whether its ours or anybody elses. I mean i would stand up for the National Anthems of countries weve fought against, for the National Anthems of people we have difficulties with, russia and north korea. Its just a sign of respect. So when will republicans reach their breaking point with this particular president . Joining me is republican congressman Leonard Lance. Congressman, whats it like . I mean when you get up in the morning and realize this guy has tweeted something, that hes going to war with the nfl, a lot of their players, the owners and everyone else and you are on the sidelines, but youre identified with him. I think he has had his best weeks when hes been concentrating on policy. For example, on the hurricane matter and on funding the government, where he made the agreement with Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi and republicans voted for that. I voted for that. And i hope when he visits puerto rico on tuesday, he can indicate his position that hes trying to help the people in puerto rico. Thats where hes at his best, chris. What do you make of his going after people like mccain . Its a thin majority the republicans have in the senate, only two votes extra, two votes to spare. Theres going to always almost be two i dont know any party thats that united. Theres only two or three people off, you cant count on passing something with 52 votes. Isnt that his biggest mistake, thinking 52 votes means i run this place. I dont think we should pass major legislation based on reconciliation. 50 votes, with the vice president. You should have to go for 60. Yes. I dont really like the filibuster, but i do believe in bipartisan cooperation, moving from the center out. Im a member of whats known as the problem solvers caucus, half republicans, half democrats, and we have a proposal on Health Care Reform and i hope that the white house might look at it. Is your group out to fix obamacare or get rid of it . Its to make sure that we can move forward in a bipartisan capacity and repeal and replace can be considered reform. What about the cultural thing. The Republican Party has had its problems on the racial front with the southern strategy, nixon played that card. Other president s have played it, ive noticed. Trump seems to be delighting in it. It doesnt seem to bother him at all that the racial divide is hes on one side and a lot of the africanAmerican People in this country see him as the enemy because of it. And liberals do too. The first republican president was abraham lincoln. I identify myself as an eisenhower republican. I think that we have to try to make sure that everybody is included in our society. I might not agree with some on particular issues, but i do think that its the responsibility what happened to that . Trump is out there calling mexicans rapists, calling the last president an illegal immigrant. Hes not exactly showing a lot of racial harmony, this guy. On the recent racial issues, perhaps he ought to have a beer summit, the way president obama had a beer summit. I thought that was a good idea. With who . Perhaps with some of the football players. Yeah, that might be interesting. Youve made a proposal. Lets see what happens. U. S. Congressman Leonard Lance of new jersey. Up next, alabama republicans are voting in a bitter runoff tonight and theyre voting today. The results will be coming in tonight. That has the party very divided. Even President Trump and steve bannon are taking different sides on this baby. Polls will be closed at the top of this hour. Well take a look at whats at stake in alabama with the hardball roundtable. Youre watching hardball. dad molly trash whoo mom hey, molly . Its time to go bell ringing class, lets turn to page 136, recessive traits skip generations. Who would like to read . molly i reprogrammed the robots to do the inspection. Its running much faster now. See . Its amazing, molly. Thank you. . Has grown into an enterprise. Thats why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. Now, im earning unlimited 2 cash back on every purchase i make. Everything. Whats in your wallet . Love golf. I used to love golf. Wait, what, what happened . I was having a good round, and then my friend, sheila, right as i was stepping into the tee box mentioned a tip a pro gave her. No. Yep. Did it help . It completely ruined my game. Well, the truth is, that advice was never meant for you. I like you. You want to show me your swing . Its too soon. Get advice thats right for you. Investment Management Services from td ameritrade. Welcome back to hardball. Republicans in alabama headed to the polls today to vote in a Runoff Election for the senate seat once held by the great jeff sessions. The race pits the president s pick, luther strange, against the candidate preferred by many in trumps own base, roy moore. Thats the guy with the hat well, the guy with the cowboy hat. Polls in alabama will be closed at this top of this hour. Yesterday steve bannon rallied supporters on behalf of moore. Here he is. They think youre a pack of morons. These are the same people that have tried to destroy donald j. Trump from the first day he announced for office. All the instruments to try to destroy judge moore and his family, your day of reckoning is coming. Well, judge moore is a controversial figure, best known for installing a monument of the Ten Commandments at the alabama Supreme Court during his time as chief justice. He has a history of making inflammatory comments on a range of topics. Here he goes. Do you think that homosexual homosexuality or homosexual conduct should be illegal today . Thats a yes or no question. Homosexual conduct should be illegal, yes. We were torn apart in the civil war. Brother against brother, north against south, party against party. Whats changed . Now we got blacks and whites fighting, rich and littles fighting, democrats and republicans fighting, men and women fighting. I think they can holler political question all they wish, but its a simple fact that if hes not a naturalborn citizen, hes not qualified to be president , and i dont care who he is. Theres a birther at large. Anyway this morning president urged his supporters to back strange, tweeting alabama, get out and vote for luther strange. He has proven to me that he will never let you down. Make America Great again. Thats trump. Current polling shows roy moore ahead. What does a moore victory mean for the president and the Republican Party . Im joined by our panel, iyamice al cinder, david cagney and sharon pettypiece. Yamiche, i guess the president will wake up tomorrow morning with a new bedfellow, someone to his right. This is essentially a proxy war for what Donald Trumps base is really going to be about. So theres this idea that President Trump kind of awakened the Sleeping Giant and he has this new brand, but in this regard it could be that hes losing control of that brand and the very people who backed him are wanting someone even more extreme. So if roy moore comes to congress, he could be challenging the president. The democrats are going to run against moore. As goes alabama, not goes the nation. This is going to be what the democrats are dying for, a real bad guy they can run against. Theyre going to put his statements up there and put them to every senate candidate, do you agree with roy moore. I think the margin is going to matter tonight as well. Im hearing it could be double digits. If its a blowout, thats a big rebuke for the president and a big black eye for him considering he went down there and campaigned. He said i closed it for luther, luther wouldnt even be in the game without me. Not if he loses by ten points. Will this warn off trump knowing that he cant go around culling the republican caucus, going out to get jeff flake or anybody else . Will this teach him a lesson . I think it means that you just cant put the name trump on top of something and its automatically golden. You cant put the face on your mailer and guarantee youre going to get elected. But i would caution people reading too much into this about 2018. A republican primary in alabama is a very specific niche group of americans to some extent. Is it the most conservative state . Most right wing . I guess it depends on how you measure that but it is a very deep red state. Were not talking about a primary in the philly suburbs. Were talking about a republican primary in alabama so this is deep, deep red country. I dont think that says anything about whats going to happen in arizona or pennsylvania, but i do think it will continue raising the question about whether trump has the tiger by the tail. Is he the leader of this movement or is this movement leading him . Some people like him, who he is as a messenger, but there are definitely some people who would prefer the message instead and will go with those ideologies regardless of who the messenger is. Yamiche, ive been watching politics since goldwater ran and he voted against the civil rights bill. He became the hero down there among white right wingers. If you think about what hes saying, hes really speaking to a particular base, the idea that in 2017 youre okay with saying some of the things that hes saying about homosexuals, saying the birther anything about the birther movement. If youre okay with saying those things and still be elected, that says something about whether or not this movement is going. I think this says a lot about steve bannon. When he left the white house, people were wondering is he really going to have the amount of influence that he could have had inside the white house. If hes able to go out there and have the gall to campaign against the president and can almost create this character that isnt what donald trump is actually saying but is convincing people that this is the best interests of donald trump, hes essentially capitalizing on the trump name without trump having his back. That to me is remarkable. David, they got 52 votes in the senate. After this is over theyll have 52 votes, just a different 52. My question is can they govern with 52 . I brought this up with the congressman from new jersey. How do you govern with 52 because theres always a falloff of two or three votes every fight. This noisnt north korea, we mah around and smile at the same time. You can actually have a different opinion in the majority. Its always going to be two or three, isnt it . They havent been able to govern with 52. But is it the magic majority they thought they had . That will be part of the 2018 campaign for republicans. Saying this isnt a good enough majority. We need to elect more senators in these states and preserve the states we have. That will be the message. David, well see how that sells. The roundtable is sticking with us. Up next theyll tell me something i dont know. Well be right back. D apple pros in the eastern United States. Supported by innovative packaging that extends the shelf life of foods. And infrastructure upgrades that help us share our produce with the world. Here and all across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in the finger lakes, visit esd. Ny. Gov. To grow your business with us in the finger lakes, can we at least analyze can we push the offer online . Legacy technology can handcuff any company. But yes is here. The new app will go live monday . Yeah. With hewlettpackard enterprise, were transforming the way we work. With the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. North korean officials are trying to figure out what to make of President Trumps rhetoric toward kim jongun and theyre reaching out to republicanlinked Foreign Policy analysts here in washington for help. According to the Washington Post, the outreach began before the current eruption of threats between the two leaders but will probably become only more urgent as trump and kim have descended into namecalling that many analysts worry sharply increases catastrophic misunderstandings. Their number one concern is trump. They cant figure him out. Well be right back. Than our name suggests. Were an organic tea company. A premium juice company. A Coconut Water company. Weve got drinks for long days. For birthdays. For turning over new leaves. And we make them for every moment in every corner of the country. We are the cocacola company, and were proud to offer so much more. Going somewhere . Whoooo. Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more. Than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. You need parts ive nevert sleep, yoeven heard of. Ss and its going to cost you a fortune. When life keeps you up. Zzzquil helps you fall asleep in less than 20 minutes. Because sleep is a beautiful thing. Hey. What can you tell me about your new Social Security alerts . Oh well alert you if we find your Social Security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so youll be in the know. Ooh. Sushi. Ugh. Being in the know is a good thing. Sign up online for free. Discover Social Security alerts. We are back with the hardball round table. Tell me something i dont know. President trumps Domestic Policy Council is out with talking points for a bill that would replace daca and the dream act. The white house is set to ask for a reduction in Legal Immigration and democratic aides im talking to say they are nonstarters. Were not that close to an agreement even after the president sat down with chuck and nancy. Why not just have a clean bill . Thats not going to happen. Tonight were talking about alabama, tomorrow it will be tennessee, bob corkers retirement and mississippi. Steve bannon is talking to candidates there. Mark green in tennessee and Chris Mcdaniel came really close in 2014. They are trying to recruit him to run against bob wicker next year. Shannon . Tomorrow the president is going town veil a big tax plan. Theres one reason you should care. The economy, the stock market, all being propped up by companies who hope they get a big Corporate Tax rate. If they dont get that, if it looks like theres going to be opposition which is mounting from republicans in some of these high tax states, its going to be a battle bigger than health care and a lot of companies retrench in their hiring. Well see how stupid those people are right now. If they go after new york taxes, the home mortgages or charitable giving, forget about it. Anyway, thank you. When we return, let me finish tonight with trump watch. Youre watching hardball. You know who likes to be in control . This guy. Check it out selfappendectomy oh, thats really attached. Thats why i rent from national. Where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. Which makes me one smooth operator. Ah still a little tender. vo go national. Go like a pro. Even if youre trying your best. Be a daily struggle, along with diet and exercise, oncedaily toujeo® may help you control your blood sugar. Get into a daily groove. Lets groove tonight. Share the spice of life. Baby, slice it right. From the makers of lantus®, were gonna groove tonight. Toujeo® provides blood sugarlowering activity for 24 hours and beyond, proven blood sugar control all day and all night, and significant a1c reduction. Toujeo® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. It contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. Dont use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar or if youre allergic to insulin. Get medical help right away if you have a serious allergic reaction such as body rash or trouble breathing. Dont reuse needles or share insulin pens. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be life threatening. It may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. Check your blood sugar levels daily. Injection site reactions may occur. Dont change your dose of insulin without talking to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all your medicines and medical conditions. Check insulin label each time you inject. Taking tzds with insulins, like toujeo®, may cause Heart Failure that can lead to death. Find your rhythm and keep on grooving. Lets groove tonight. Ask your doctor about toujeo®. Share the spice of life. Trump watch tuesday, september 26th, 2017. Its strange to be in a country where the leader is out there urging others to fight with each other. You might expect this to be happening in a poor, developing country but not here in this veteran democracy. President trump had a chance to tamp this fire down. He could have said that athletes are entitled to express their views and its not only permissible in a democracy but comes with the territory. Why didnt he . I dont know about you, but every time i see a picture of north korea, im reminded of how great we are here. Not just better off but better. People not only march in unison but adjust their faces in unison who smile when everyone else does, shows interesting when everyone else does, all for fear that someone will notice them in the game pictures and well see who was politically correct to a fault who dare shared a hint of individual attitude, individual thinking, individual impulse. Well, showing our individual impulses, our individual thinking, our individual attitudes about all sorts of things is what makes this country great. We love being ourself ves. I love the way that adalay stevenson put this. When an american says that he loves his country means that he loves an inner light in which freedom lives and a man can draw the breath of selfrespect. We respect ourselves because we live in a country and were free to be ourselves, think for ourselves, speak for ourselves and let anyone who wants to know what we can. This fight over the knee is really about the heart. Weve got no right as americans to stop silence what is in another mans heart. Do we . Thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Tonight on all in i wasnt preoccupied with the nfl. I was ashamed of what was taking place. As the president congr congratulates himself on puerto rico. Weve had tremendous reviews. The governor says were doing a great job. Tonight, Donald Trumps division and distraction as the republican push for a repeal goes down again. And a humanitarian crisis deepens in puerto rico. This is think atlantic ocean, this is tough stuff. Do you think the president should fire bob mueller . Yes. The one question roger stone refused to answer before congress today. And is a man waving a gun