Watched the show and privately lashed out against the adult film star telling aides the allegations are a hoax and complaining to people that daniels is not the type of woman he finds attractive. The paper reports according to a republican in touch with the white house, the president convinced himself the scandal will blow over in part because for decades trump presented himself as a manhattan millionaire playboy. Nbc news reported that several aides urged the president who remain quiet because the story doesnt seem doesnt rise to the level of warranting a president ial response. In the past, however, President Trump relished the idea of punching back against any perceived sleight. Take a look at this. I noticed that Chuck Schumer yesterday with fake tears, im going to ask him who was his acting coach. The reason why democrats only talk about the totally made up russia story is because they have no message. They cant beat us at the voting booths. So theyre trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. Theyre trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us. You heard what he said yesterday, senator mccain. I hear it and people have to be careful because at some point, i fight back. You know, im being very, very nice. But at some point, i fight back. It wont be pretty. Trump has used twitter to attack everyone from the north Korean Leader kim jongun to republican senators jeff flake and bob corker to former Vice President joe biden and many others in between. White House Press SecretarySarah Sanders was asked today why the selfdescribed counter puncher has gone unkirktly silent. You called him a counter puncher many times. Why has he not punched back on this one . I didnt say he punches back on every single topic. If he did, he would probably be addressing a lot of stories most of it you write every single minute of r of every day. He has a country to run and doing a great job with that. The president so far has shown restraint in public. According to west officials believe daniels account to be largely credible and could be real and lasting damage to the president. Im joined by phil rucker, bureau chief for the washington post. He wrote that west story we have been quoting from. Michael steele form ter chairman for the rnc and mid win charles, contributor for essence magazine. Thanks to you for joining us. Phil, ill start with you. The key right now is when it comes to trumps reaction, all we have to go on are your descriptions from your sources what is playing out behind the scenes at the white house. Let me ask you a basic question. Is your sense its likely to remain that way that this will continue to be a drama playing out behind the scenes or is it more likely we wake up tomorrow morning and heres eight tweets from trump all about this . Im about 99 certain the drama will continue behind the scenes. The question is whether it becomes public at some point. Theres no predicting that. Certainly President Trump is paying close attention to whats happening with the Stormy Daniels saga. He saw that 60 minutes clip and watching coverage of it on cable news and the newspapers and other places in the media in the days since. Hes been talking to friends and aides and confidantes will the situation. The question is when he decides to kind of go public and make his first comments. He has not addressed questions regarding this and we havent seen him in public for a few days now. Whats your sense from talking to folks . Clearly in your story, youve got him saying things privately. Are aides or people around him fighting to restrain him or is he giving indications this is a fight he doesnt want either . Hes fairly comfortable being retrained at this point. Hes been convinced in his conversations with advisers that theres not going to be a real political price yet that his poll numbers are not dropping because of this, that his base remains loyal to him especially evangelical christians. That the president believes pep doesnt feel like he needs to talk about it right now. He would like for other people to be attacking Stormy Daniels. He likes that his press secretary today and yesterday the Deputy Press Secretary raw shah called the allegations untrue and took a few shots from the podium at the white house at Stormy Daniels. I think he would like to see surrogates do more of that. Michael steele, phil mentions evangelicals one of the largest staunchest voting blocs behind trump going back to the days of the republican primary. Youve got a president who tens of millions of people watched on National Television as a porn actress said she had an extramarital tryst with him. Does this potentially change anything . I dont think it does. Those folks have sort of not just drunk the koolaid but put the iv into the vein on trump and have been consistent on that. That gives trump the space he needs to feel the way he feels. Heres the other side of that feeling. The fact is, in my view, he has not gone after Stormy Daniels because a, he doesnt know what shes got. If he opens up that door where he comes after her, her attitude and her lawyers attitude clearly is really . How about this. So this pushback from other people, the press secretaries, assistant press secretaries and everyone else saying this didnt happen is not the same as trump saying it didnt happen. If trump comes out the moment he does, that changes his whole thing in relation to how Michael Avenatti and stormy come at the president. So far they pushed him back on his heels a little bit here which is why he hasnt responded the way he typically does because the question of what them have, what other shoe they could drop on him still out there. Let me get to the that the with mid win charles, our legal expert. Look, i will admit no offense to the legal profession. When you get a lawyer like Stormy Danielss out there, i have to wonder how much is there substance here. Its the way lawyers talk in very public cases like this. What should the trump people think about . One of the things weve seen with Michael Avenatti is someone playing trumps game. My mom used to tell me be careful of the games you play because other people can play it, too. Sometimes they can beat you. What weve seen with michael is a good strategy. When an attorney can play defense and offense, you never know what youre going to get. I think thats one of the reasons trump hasnt done anything. Ive read the complaint. I have it right here. Its very clear the two of them agreed theres property that exists whether its paragraphs or communications or text messages. I believe the reason why trump is being quiet, theres a real concern that this information may get out, if he starts talking. The range of possibilities, its all speculation here. The potential stuff youre talking about could be embarrassing is stuff, titillating stuff here. Of course. Or from a legal standpoint, are there things you see that are involved . Into it could be all kinds i have information. It could be photographs, communications, all kinds of things that would, believe it or not, further embarrass the president of the United States. Weve all we can all agree that many things have already occurred that have embarrassed him. These are things that potentially could do damage to him i think. The tedorial board of the wall street journal warn that President Trump mistakes of character tend to catch up with everyone, adding the Stormy Daniels case is typical of mr. Trumps prepresident ial behavior inning he came with enough threats can get away with anything. This may be the cause of his down fall. Meanwhile a new poll finds a majority of americans believe the women alleging affairs and believe them over the president , 63 believe the women, just 21 believe President Trump. That cnn poll also shows this may or may not be related to all this also 0 shows trumps approvaling rating are still in the low 40 range, nothing to write home about but not exactly crashing here. Thats the kind of thing ive been wondering about. Bill clinton in the 1990s, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke it, didnt come out of nowhere for the campaign. We had heard these names, these suggestions. So it was shocking in some ways and other ways not so much. Maybe theres a strain of that here with trump, too. I think thats very true. In fact, i think thats one of the ports that the president rests his boatright now. We dont need to leave this particular dock because it is hipping him. The people out there are thinking about this president , so one more reason for him to be quiet. Lets not disabuse them of the notion that there is that i can somehow get past this or that im a good boy or whatever. He just wants to keep quiet and do what he needs to do. And focus on other things. You know, the whole entree to the north korea issue, the of economy, all those other things are stronger points for him to help take away from the Stormy Daniels story line because a lot of people, as the poll says we believe the women but baked there into who trump is and hes not going to pay a penalty point at this point. The thats an interesting question for phil. You have some of his advisers fearing there could be serious damage, some longterm damage from this. Are there more specifics in terms of what theyre saying and what they think that damage would look like . Publicly, the white house said that these accusations are not true, that the president denies them. But privately, senior officials in the white house tell me and colleagues that they believe Stormy Daniels is credible, that her story is real. That this relationship did happen. And that there could 30e potentially be a political problem for the president down the road based on the hush money as it were of 130,000. Theres also a danger and this is according to some political experts we talked to yesterday, if the president were to come out and dress this and lie to the person people, he could lose more credibility in that scenario. For him to stay quiet and let his spokespeople do the talking is protecting him from that danger. So, so far, we havent had that scene we had with bill clinton in january 199 where he said i did not have sexual relations with that woman. The lawyer for Stormy Daniels had this to say about the president believes the daniels controversy is a political hoax. Watch. Why doesnt he just tweet if in fact he claims this to be true, why doesnt he tweet she was never in his hotel room, he never had sex with her, he never knew anything about the agreement, the 130,000. He sends out the surrogate on Network Television to call this a hoax. Its a hoax like 9 11 and the moon landing. Thats the kind of hoax it is. Widwin charles, if you are Stormy Daniels lawyer, what is the next move . Wait for something from trump . Whats the next move . Wait for something trump. When i talked about offense and defense, one of the things michael did just yesterday is to sue Michael Cohen for definition for saying that what Stormy Daniels said was a lie. Hes just waiting. What he just did in that clip was essentially bait donald trump to say this isnt true because guess what, defamation lawsuit and the thing with the defamation lawsuit is the truth is a defense. We cant wait for discovery. Were talking depositions, documents, pictures. All kinds of stuff to prove what she is saying is credible. I just dont know anyone who would cut a check for 130,000 for absolutely no reason. If nothing happened, why write the check . We will see if this is something were still talking about in a few weeks, if that sort of Legal Process ends up kicking in and gets dragged out. With bill clinton, he had the independent counsel that kept the story alive even when the polls showed the public was done with that. Michael steele, phil rucker, thanks to all of you for joining us. Coming up, the Trump Administration is adding a citizen senship question to the next census. The state of california already suing. They say it is unconstitutional. Either way, the stakes are big here. Were going to debate the move. That is next. Plus, as we look ahead to the Midterm Elections, the Republican Party getting worried about keeping control of the house. They may have good reason to. A backlash may be brewing against the Republican Party in americas suburbs. Traditionally republican territory. Im going to break that down at the big board with my one good hand. Later, a former u. S. President weighs in on what he thinks is President Trumps biggest mistake yet. The hardball roundtable will be here with three things you might not know. This is hardball, where the action is. [cars honking] [car accelerating] you can switch and save worry. You can switch and save hassle. [vacuuming sound] and when you switch to esurance, you can save time, worry, hassle and yup, money. In fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved hundreds. So you might want to think about pulling the ol switcheroo. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. Vo they want more out of life in every way. So theyre starting this years garden with miraclegro potting mix and plant food. Together, they produce three times the harvest to enjoy. And of course, to share. This soil is fresh from the forest and patiently aged to guarantee more of what matters. Every time. Three times the harvest. One powerful guarantee. Miraclegro. I will build a wall. Dont worry. We will build. I promise. And mexico will pay for the wall. I promise. Well, that was President Trump on election eve 2016 saying that mexico would pay for the wall. These days, though it, looks like the military may have to foot the bill according to west trump is privately pushing the u. S. Military to Fund Construction of his signature project, suggesting the pentagon cog fund the construction citing a National Security risk. Sarah sanders dodged questions about that topic earlier today. Does he mean he wants the military to pay for the border wall. Im not going to get into the specifics of that. I can tell you that the wall is continuing to be built currently and were going to keep pushing forward until its fully completed in the way that the president feels is necessary to defend the country. Isnt it true that mexico is not going to pay for that wall . Im not going to go beyond what the president has already said. He still has plans to look at potential ways for that to happen. And well be right back. But mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. Help take control by asking about your treatment options. Vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in adults. Clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. Vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. High cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. Youre more than just your bipolar i. Ask your doctor about vraylar. Welcome back to hardball. The latest battle between democrats and the Trump Administration is over a question, are you a United States citizen. Commerce department on monday announced the upcoming 2020 census will include that question for the First Time Since 1950. Wilbur ross said the move was in response to a Justice Department request the and will permit more effective enforcement of the Voting Rights act which protects minority groups from discrimination at the polls. Critics charge the decision is a political move designed to discourage immigrant communities from participating in the census. They argue that could lead to an undercount of the population which would have a Significant Impact on federal funding as well as the distribution of congressional seats. State attorneys general in new york and california have already filed lawsuits to block the move and former u. S. Attorney general eric holder threatened to sue. California attorney general Xavier Becerra addressed his states lawsuit this afternoon. Given the way this administration has attacked immigrants, you can understand why immigrant families would be afraid to fill out the census questionnaire. An undercut resulting from this decision would jeopardize Vital Services for all californians. It would also jeopardize our representation in government. Adding a question on citizenship threatens to derail the integrity of the entire process. This latest move by the Trump Administration to threaten california is not just a bad idea. Its against the law. And for more now, im joined by kris wilson, republican pollster and raul reyes, an msnbc contributor. I know you see this very differently. Chris, im going to start with you. You just heard the attorney general there in california making his case against this. Make the case for it. It has been 70 years since this question was asked on a census. Why do it now . Why is it so important to do it now . What would be achieved . Theres lots of Research Driven by it would be important to, sociology. Its strange the party of science as they like to brand themselves is all of a sudden against account collection of data when the data doesnt support the narrative theyre trying to push. This is important for the purpose of civil rights, one man, one vote. Economic and sociological services. It is important to count citizens of a voting age population. The key word is citizens. If we pare that back and say lets count everybody, Illegal Immigrants and citizens all the same it, harms civil rights, it harms the ability to the count votes. I think from an overall standpoint, its a silly argument. Raul, thats the case chris is making for it. What do you say . Hes saying look, its common sense. The United States of america were counting our citizens every ten years. Lets make sure were counting citizens. We are counting citizens every year in the American Community survey. The census is every ten years. It comes to the constitution. Article one, section 2 and the 14th amendment enim rate there is a mandate to count all people. Our founding father coz have said all persons, all eligible voters. They did not. That principle was upheld by the Supreme Court as recently as 2016 in the everwell versus abbott case. That same principle is codified into law in the apa which says you cannot rush through these types of changes to law without public fie Public Comment and field testing. California and new york will ultimately prevail in these cases adding this question. The bad news, as the legal wrangling goes on, it sews confusion, depresses turnout. We will see lower numbers of responses among latinos, immigrants and all communities of color. What i heard chris saying and i want your response to is the idea youre saying weve got count everybody. Im not saying it. The constitution says count all people. When you count everybody, should you make a decision wlgs somebodys a citizen or not a citizen from the standpoint of we do these congressional districts 600,000, 700,000 people or so. Should you make sure each district is 700,000 citizens as opposed to 500,000 folks, 100,000 folks who are undocumented . Is it important to make that distinction . I understand that he seems to think its an important distinction. I go back to the constitution. They chose not to make that distinction. Our government, congress did make the distinction because they wanted to know how many citizens are in all of our districts and they created the annual American Community surveys. When were talking about the u. S. Census bureau, the last time we had the census, this is internal census documents now public, they undercounted latinos by 1. 5 is, africanamericans by 2 , undercounted africanamericans by 4 . That was 2010. This time we have such a politicized environment where people are afraid of Donald TrumpsDeportation Force and feel betrayed by daca. Theres so much mistrust with the government. As the going to depress turnout among many latin knows. In this country we have stipulated say between 9 and 16 million mixed status family. That will be a family where maybe the children are citizens but the parents are undocumented. In many of those families theyll throw it away theres such fear and anxiety about the government. Chris, address that then. He said in the age of trump, were going to reintroduce this is 70 years after it was last on there. It happens to be a president who talks about walls and deportation. What raul is saying, mixed status family, wouldnt that discourage participation. Its at worst laughable. Donald trump becomes a convenient foil in these kind of situations. If youre implying because theres a question that asks citizenship that people will be more likely to fill out a form than if it didnt ask that, its a joke. Theres no way. The fact is people will fill it out or not. Let chris finish. That represents one member of congress. If half of those are Illegal Immigrants, then youre undercounting and underrepresenting real citizens in the United States. Thats a real problem when it gets down to the fact we have a Representative Democracy and people are supposed to get one vote for one citizen. Hes saying that no longer is the case. Count everybody legally. Whether theyre an immigrant, illegal. Thats not what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote the constitution. Our Founding Fathers going back to the language of the 14th amendment, count all people. Thats the constitution mandate they cannot overcome. Its also a mistake to look at this in the political sense. To me it speaks volumes that the six former directors of the Census Bureau going back to the nixon administration, republicans and democrats have all come forward and said this is a bad idea. Number one, because they disagree with it but two, because they have rushed this process. Traditionally when questions are added to the census, they are field tested and the way they formulate questions can have an impact on the outcome this question was made in december. The fact theyre rushing through this process, these former Census Bureau directors say this is problematic. Given our political climate, it will further depress the turnout among latino communities. Chris, ill give you the last word. Whats interesting, this would undercount account africanamerican vote. This is not a benefit for republicans. This would increase the number of africanamerican democratic districts. It downgrades that and undercounts those. From a civil rights standpoint, this is not this is a negative for votes of all rays. I think thats the real problem here. This should be counted equally. Chris, raul, thank you both for sharing your perspectives. Up next, republicans are increasingly nervous. They may lose the house this november. One particular group of votes are could spell big trouble for the gop. Ill breaking that down at the board next. This is hardball where the action is. Just say the words and well beat the birds down to acapulco bay its perfect for a flying honeymoon they say come fly with me lets fly, lets fly away come fly with me lets fly, lets fly away you or joints. Something for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. If you have moderate to severe or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. 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Are you going to be seeking reelection in pennsylvanias sixth district . Yeah, its the most difficult decision i can recall having to make, but the answer is i will not be. Well, that was the news that broke two nights ago right here on msnbc on kasie hunts show. Ryan costello, a republican congressman from the philadelphia area not running for reelection in 2018. Boy, if that isnt a blow to republicans in their effort to hang on to the house. Its not just the story of costello. He embodies a much bigger story when we talk about battle for control of the house. Let me take you through what im talking about. This is costello, this is his district in the philadelphia area. Here is the key in pennsylvania. Already coming into this year, we knew he was going to be in danger. We knew this would be a competitive district. Were talking about the suburbs here. We always say the College Educated higher income upscale voters traditionally republican in the age of trump though, maybe not so sure on the Republican Party. This is a district Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Coming into this year, costello was vulnerable. In pennsylvania, remember, they had that court fight. They changed the district lines a couple weeks ago in that state. Suddenly, what was already a very Difficult Campaign for costello, this is what happened to it. His district changed and look at that. Even more suburban. Even more proHillary Clinton in 2016. A tenpoint Hillary Clinton district. Ryan costello looked up and said you know what, given the climate and how midterms go, given what this district looks like, maybe not worth it to run. Costello is out. Republicans are not going to be stuck with a candidate theyre excited about in a district thats a big climb. Suddenly democrats with a prime opportunity for a pickup. We said this is not just a Ryan Costello story but a national story. Suburban districts traditionally republican that swung Hillary Clinton in 2016, check this out. You got 25 of them, not all of these are suburban. A lot of these are but all have one thing in common. Republican districts now but Hillary Clinton won these districts in 2016. Remember for democrats, magic number here is 24. Youll see 23 some places because of the special election. 24 is what it really is for technical reasons. They need 24. You got 25 republicans sitting there in clinton districts. In pennsylvania you got this new map in play right now. You got four right there. Costellos district is one of them. You go to the west coast, look at this, in california, you got seven, seven republicans is sitting out there in districts Hillary Clinton won. A bunch in between. Some of these republicans like roslehtinen in florida have already said theyre not going to run. This is ground zero. Democrats are hoping 2018 is a blue wave. This would be ground zero, the first tier to look at Election Night in november. How many of these are districts that are flipping. Are districts that traditionally vote republican. In the age of trump, in the Midterm Election especially say you know what, were going to go to a check on trump. So that is for democrats when this he look at costello, they look at the decision and say how many other districts is Something Like that playing out in. The one cautionary note you got to give to democrats though, we talk about it from this angle. There is another side the democrats have to keep in mind. There are districts out there where democrats represent them right now but donald trump carried them in 2016. There are democratic trump districts. Theres a dozen of them across the country. Look in, a Midterm Election, the democrats playing offense this year. There could be a few of these by election day democrats have to worry about. Were talking about sort of upcale College Educated white suburbanites in the clinton districts. More blue collar and rural in some cases like the iron range in minnesota. Can democrats defend all of these and then how many of these 25 can they get . Look, could get them close to the 24 they need. Thats what they want. The more theyre doing here, the closer theyll be to flipping the house. Thats one story line well talk about a lot. Believe me, between now and november. Up next here, republicans face a catch 22 this november. It centers around the man leading their party. President trump. That is next with the hardball roundtable. Youre watching hardball. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye we help all types of businesses with money, tools and knowhow to get business done. American express open. Oone part ribs. To get business done. Two parts incredible. New steak ribs at outback. 15. 99 for a limited time. Get a 6oz sirloin and make it your own with a choice of honey sriracha, barbecue, or dry rub ribs. So hurry in to outback now. Welcome back to hardball. Republican congressman Ryan Costellos decision to end his bid for reelection in pennsylvania is another signal the 2018 Midterm Elections may prove to be a referendum on the president. As he tells the New York Times his decision to pull the plug was in part because President Trumps conduct made it impossible to talk about anything else. The issue he says is one of character, not policy. Here he is today. I have little kids. I dont want them to ask me what does Stormy Daniels do for a living. A lot of voters support a lot of policies. We cant discount the fact that a lot of americans legitimately look at the president of the United States, any president of the United States and say, he or she should be a rowe model. Costello is the 23rd republican member of congress to retire in advance of the 201 midterms. Thats now a record for the most retirements of any cycle dating back to 1974. That was the watergate year. He joins others republican lawmakers like charlie dent and senator jeff flake who have publicly blamed the political environment under President Trump. Were talking about porn stars and the president rather than tax policy or what we need to get done by the end of the year or what should have been in the omnibus. The path to victory in the republican primary is to agree with the president these days, not just his policies but the behavior, as well. Not to speak out. This administration at himes has taken the fun out of dysfunction. Its about loyalty at this time to the president. According to times, republicans are increasingly alarmed their losses may be worse than feared because the mid maryland Term Campaign appears to turn more on the behavior of the man in the white house than any other in decades. Sell by holiday with the wall street judge, noah rothman and ki wright with wnyc and a columnist at the nation. Knowia, ill start with you. You were saying during the break that a politician who decides to retire, they suddenly start answering the strategy questions very honestly. What youre hearing from costello is what every republican member is thinking. They play pundit, which is usually a problem till you dont have to worry about reelection. Its interesting. Hes talked about yeah its hard to get trump voters to stay with you while also trying to play nice with the base of educated white suburban women, for example, hoks have turned on donald trump. What i found fascinating was something he told slate recently saying that we dont have an agenda. Theres nothing to run on. In a substituting an agenda is donald trump the man his personality, whether youre for him or against him. There is no policy there. Hes buffeted by the news psych. What is like if youre a republican member of congress in a suburban district, the message could be the tax cuts, could be the economy. They want it to be the tax cuts. There is an agenda iffed you have time and just a breath to even talk about it. That is not the circumstances with the president donald trump. The news changes hour by hour. A lot of times any sort of news about a porn star or a tweet overshadowed tax cuts. Who wants to talk about tax cuts when you can talk about a porn star. The republicans are frustrated theyre trying to focus on therein message. And usually a booming economy is great for the party thats ruling. In this case, it doesnt even matter so much. Were seeing it in the polls. But as everyones been pointing out, thats not what people are talking about. That wont be the focus of the midterms. Kai, we go through cycles where at the ends of last year, we were seeing democrats were up 15 points and trumps approval down to 34. One fredsed from cnn, ticked up to 42 . Its not a great number. When you talk to republicans trying to keep the house, they say not much more than 42 they think they can keep the losses in check. Its a bad number, not a great number. The more important number is the strongly approved and strongly disapprove numbers. And were in the 20s for strongly approve for the president. Its been difficult to get much above that. When we talk about the message, the message has traditionally been nancy pelosi and i think thats the message youll hear a lot of. We saw how that worked with conor lamb in pennsylvania. It doesnt resonate her as an evil scary thing doesnt resonate. It resonated in georgia six. Thats a referendum on nancy pelosi and it worked. We talk about the suburban districts. Georgia six is basically that profile. Onepoint race in 2016 and the republicans were able to hold on to it. You think it was pelosi. The attacks didnt help jon ossoff. I do think theres a message in that race in that if republicans are running against moderate democrats, i could see a lot of republicans voting democrat because they were able to swallow sort of this economic moderate and in some cases conservative message with a person who is opposing Donald Trumps personal life. The candidate matters. When we get back to costello, its the worst Case Scenario for republicans in a whole lot of ways. Also the democratic candidate in Krissy Houlihan is a good candidate. A veteran, a woman and a great fundraiser. Thats going to be something that democrats need to think about as we go through the summer and look at districts. The map you laid out. How much the interesting thing i see and i try to figure out how much this trickles down and spreads out across the country. I see a lot of anger i think or frustration on the left that this idea of reaching out to trump voters and meeting them in the middle. I wonder what you think about this, the idea that the Democratic Base in response to trump in response to these last two years is to go further to the left and say we dont want to be compromised. The actual story of the Democratic Base is about new engagement. One of the things were seeing my colleague at the nation joan walsh writes about we think about the top of the ticket driving the bottom of the ticket. Virginia is a place to think about the midterms where all of these new engagement in the state legislative level, the pink wave we saw in texas will drive a whole new set of people into the congressional election. That will be the story that were going to start to see in these districts is the way in which new candidates and new voters particularly women and women of color in these districts are entering the conversation because of the state level. This is the philosophy of the governing wing of the democratic party. There is a prerogative wing, the Tea Party Wing thinks this is their moment. They dont need to compromise. They can go for broke and dont need to invite the Trump Coalition into their coalition which is going to ascendent. I sympathize with this point of view. As a more establishment friendly republican, it strikes me as the way to get elected. Democrats point to the successes that republicans had in 2010 and 2014 where all they saw was no compromise, no reaching out to the other side. Pushing ahead with an agenda that was essentially obstruction till they got power and they want to replicate that. Squeeze in a quick break here. One former president weighs in on what he says is the worst mistake of the trump presidency. Youre watching hardball. Was able to take care of my family while i was overseas serving. It was my very first car accident. We were hit from behind. I called usaa and the first thing they asked was are you ok . they always thank you for your service, which is nice because as a spouse you serve too. Were the hayles and were usaa members for life. See how much you could save with usaa by bundling your auto and Home Insurance. Get a quote today. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. During the 2016 campaign, donald trump and mitt romney went to war with each other. Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed horribly. That was a race that absolutely should have been won. And i dont know what happened to him. He creates scapegoats in muslims and mexican immigrants. He calls for the use of torture. This is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss. Poor mitt romney. Poor mitt. I have a saw thats worth more money than he is. Donald trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. And he walks like a penguin onto the stage. Do you ever see like a penguin. Well, they seem to be on better footing now that romney is running for the senate in utah. During a question and answer session yesterday, romney played up his relationship with trump saying the president has endorsed me in this race. He respects people who speak their mind because now and then as you know, if he says something i think is wrong ill point it out and an romney added i wont be afraid to stand up to trump should the president Say Something divisive in the future. Be right back. I was really surprised that i wasnt finding all of these germans in my tree. I decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. The big surprise was were not german at all. 52 of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. I think his last choice for National Security adviser was very ill advised. I think john bolton has been the worst mistake hes made. Hes advocated going to war preemptively against north korea, against iraq, against iran even. And so i think that that is particularly ill advised because the National Security adviser i know from experience is the most listened to advice that a president gets. Welcome back to hardball. That was former president jimmy carter calling Donald Trumps choice of john bolton for his next National Security adviser the worst mistake of his presidency thus far. Were back with our roundtable, shelby, noah and kai. Jimmy carter, former president making a Statement Like that, is that surprising . Does this move the needle in any way . I dont think it moves the needle. I was reading more what he was say. He doesnt agree with the fact you should surround yourself with yes men. He said you want diversity of thought, people who stand up to you. He sees this move as hiring someone who agrees with you and who might be more volatile and maybe create more uncertainty in terms of world peace. Thats an interesting question. The fact he said the worst mistake of his presidency, thats a very bold way of saying it, of all the things President Trump has done in the last year, the fact he said that was the worst means a lot. Is it surrounding yourself with yes men . Im trying to get a read what this means. Donald trump saying the iraq war is the biggest mistake ever and john bolton was one of the champions of the iraq war. No, it doesnt make any sense from that perspective. John bolton was a veteran of 41 and 43, a competitive tent steward of National Security affairs. People who painted him as a horrible bad guy ignored the fact he is a realist and a realist views hard power as the single most important instrument in Foreign Affairs if youre an institutionalist like carter, thats threatening. It is not out of the bounds of American Foreign policy. Its within it. While having come after kissinger in that role, i can messenger he would see him very threatening. It is a check on Donald Trumps instincts which are to withdraw. I think this is a check on his impulses. Weve got a wide range here, kai. Weve got jimmy carter saying worst mistake. Noah saying firmly within the bounds. Where do you hand on this . Bolton is a hawk among hawks. We can spin that however we want. This is a man who believes in military action and has said so in every form he can think of across the board. And we live in very dangerous and volatile times with a president that has very little experience on these issues. We have this north korea conversation coming up. I think the point that jimmy carter is making which hes not the only one making it. There are republicans and democrats alike, people in the Foreign Policy establishment saying whoa, im a little concerned this is the guy advising this president and this president of all sorts. When he says the worst, he may mean the most grave mistake. Theres also the question of does it matter . Does President Trump listen to anybody . Jimmy carter says hes hiring a yes man. Does donald trump ever listen to any of his aides . Thats a fair question. Its a frightening question. It is a fact that americas policy towards dprk is a preventive strike is an option. Our policy towards the Islamic Republic of iran a strike is an option. To say that out loud is not an offense to god and nature. Its a fact. Its frightening. I like what shelby is saying. When you look at the history of trump as a candidate and president , you see folks around him and tempted to discern ideology. Three weeks later, a completely different set of people are around him. Up next, these three will tell me something i dont know. Youre watching hardball. Hey dad, come meet the new guy. The new guy . What new guy . I hired some help. He really knows his wine. This is the new guy . dog growling hello, my name is watson. You know wine, huh . I know that you should check vineyard block 12. Block 12 . bark my analysis of satellite imagery shows it would benefit from decreased irrigation. I was wondering about that. barking easy boy. Nice doggy. What do you think . Not bad. dog growling you wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. This ones below market price and has bluetooth. Same here, but this one has Leather Seats use the cars. Com app to compare price, features and value. I accept i dont i even accept i i used thave a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. But no matter where i ride, i go for my best. So if theres Something Better than warfarin, ill go for that too. Eliquis. Eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis had both. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Im still going for my best. And for eliquis. Ask your doctor about eliquis. All right. Were back with the hardball roundtable. Shelby, tell me something i dont know. I asked you had quit facebook. Its been two years since i used it. They lost 80 billion since it suspended cambridge analytica. Mark zuckerberg we expect will be answering very tough questions in two weeks. Noah. Buzzfeed published a report information leaked from the fbi, apparently they have a report detailing a former rt chief, an putin ali didnt beat himself to death over the course of several days in washington. It was a hit. We could have a Sergei Skripal situation if washington. Kai. Im watching kids we are excited about changing the world. In the middle of it was making a podcast about juvenile justice. I was shock to the learn that theres another group of kids handcuffs put on them at age 10 and 12 years old. I did not know that at all. Thats the contrast between that and what we saw over the weekend. That is something. Shelby holliday, kai write, thank you for being with us and all in with chris hayes starts right now. Tonight on all in. To be clear, he continues to deny the fundamental charge that she has which is that she had this sexual encounter with him in 2006. The white house gets explicit on stormy. Yes, the president denied those allegations. Tonight as the president stays quiet. I didnt say he punches back on every single topic. The lawyer for Stormy Daniels on the white house denials and Donald Trumps continued silence. Plus, just where is the line for white evangelicals supporting donald trump. Nothing beats the bible. Why the Trump Administrations proposed census question on