Winning control of the senate. And later in the show, nancy pelosi versus donald trump. The year is ending as it began with another faceoff between the two. This time over impeachment, and today in an interview the speaker of the house said she is never afraid, and she is rarely surprised. Well discuss her impeachment strategy and look at the biggest moments from the speaker this year. At the end of the show there will be a surprise appearance by rachel. Thats all im going to tell you right now. But we begin tonight with some blistering words that have clearly gotten under trumps skin. He should be removed. Thats how the evangelical magazine christianity today described Donald Trumps behavior in a rare and scathing editorial calling for his removal from office just one day after he became the third president in history to be impeached. Quote, that he should be removed we believe is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the creator of the ten commandments. Those were the words donald trump read from a publication that represents a core part of his base. 80 of white evangelicals voted for donald trump in 2016. To this day a similar percentage support him. So of course today donald trump attacked the magazine that was founded by the late reverend billy graham in a series of tweets falsely claiming, quote, a far left magazine or very progressive as some would call it which has been doing poorly christianity today knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather have a radical left nonbeliever who wants to take your religion and your guns than donald trump as your president. No president has done more for the evangelical community, and its not even close. Later the Trump Reelection Campaign announced in an email to supporters that donald trump will launch the evangelicals for Trump Coalition at an event in january. But what donald trump doesnt know is that he just gave a group that has stuck by him reason to think twice about his behavior. Donald trumps tweeting has amplified the words of a small publication that argued that his actions in coercing ukraines president to smear his political rival are, quote, profoundly immoral. More from the article. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear in a way the Mueller Investigation did not that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president s moral deficiencies for all to see. None of the president s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character, end quote. The editorial concludes by posing an important question to evangelicals who have dismissed trumps behavior in exchange for policy wins like getting conservative judges. I continue. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off mr. Trumps words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we dont reverse course now will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come . Earlier today i spoke with mark galley, the editorinchief of christianity today who wrote the editorial. Here were going to go out in the world and tell people they should support the prolife cause because its the righteous and moral and good thing to do and at the same time its like were blinking or winking or looking the other way when our president is doing things that are not merely unconstitutional but blatantly immoral. How can we have any credibility on the issues we find so important . As the New York Times noted today, quote, the president s reaction was a sign of how critically important the white evangelical voting bloc is to his reelection. Reflected how he has reshaped the evangelical Political Movement in his own mold much as he has done with the Republican Party. Leading off our discussion tonight Michael Gerson and is syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. He was raised as an evangelical christian. Ben rhodes, he is an msnbc political analyst. And Zerlina Maxwell, also an msnbc political analyst. And zerlina, i did not know this about you but you grew up in a home in which your parents were pastors. Yes. Your reaction to this . Well, the entire presidency and really political phenomenon of donald trump has put christians to a test. Are they going to abide by whats actually in their bible and the things that donald trump reflects are not in their bible. Lying is immoral, cheating is immoral. And donald trump doesnt just lie and cheat. He cheats at all things. He cheats on his wife, cheats at golf, he cheats in elections. And i think it goes to the basic foundation of who he is as a person and what that represents. And its a moment in which christians have to say am i going to actually abide by the teachings of the jesus christ and, you know, be opposed to caging children, for example . One of the main teachings of the bible is to protect the children. And so for christians to standby and not be the ones camped out protesting the child separation policy, it really is an indictment on really what i think is hypocrisy. They just want the judges. They want to limit womens reproductive freedom, and thats all that matters, and thats a problem. Michael, talk to me about this this editorial. It was well written. It was wellconsidered. Donald trump calls it a left leaning progressive publication. Thats not entirely true, but mark galli was telling me they dont typically get accused of being lefties. But its not the most conservative of evangelical publications. Yeah, its not representative of a lot of evangelicalism in america. I think thats fair to say. It would be associated with what have been called cosmopolitan evangelicals. People in Christian College universities and ngos and other things like that. I think that most evangelicals are not reading christianity today or listening to this. They are getting their information about the world from fox news and from talk radio rather than from christian sources. So its not a surprise to some extent theyre not having christian views. This is the main source of moral formation of a lot of evangelicals in america, and thats a real serious problem. I want to read, ben, an excerpt from this. Its the last paragraph in the editorial in which it says its time to call a spade a spade. No matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, were playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think its time to push all our chip tuesday the center of the table, thats when the whole game will come crashing down. Itll crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the worlds understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern. Ben, the difference between todays polling on what evangelical christians, the support they have for donald trump and the exit polling that was shown on election day barely moved. Its a little bit less than it was on election day in 2016. But as of today according to npr, pbs, 75 of christians approve of donald trump, 22 disapprove. Yeah, clearly that support has been constant, ali. And look, this is why its important even if this is not a particularly conservative publication. Theres always a chance that a message from a part of your coalition is more likely to resonate with the rest of your coalition than a message from the opposition. I think whats important here, though, ali, is that trumps strategy is to obscure issues, to attack democrats, make process arguments, throw up so much sand that everybody is distracted from the core and moral issues as the editorial reminds us. And frankly the fact that what he did was wrong, it was immoral to try to pressure a country to investigate his opponents just as so much of his behavior every day is wrong. And i think americans, even trumps supporters intuitively understands that he lies, intuitively understands he engages in behavior that is immoral. And what trump depends upon is distracting from that reality by attacking democrats and by creating all these controversies. The more you get to the kind of core issues that are in that editorial, i think that is politically very important as an argument to make against trump that this is not about all the heat and noise but the fact we have a fundamentally unethical and immoral person in the office that is the most Important Office in the country. In fairness to christianity today there was a Washington Post article that mentions other times that christianity today has called out silence among christians in relation to donald trump and racism. But what do you think is it that made this the time to do that . Because to your point if there are going to be things there may be things nothing offends you about donald trump. But if you were to be offended by him, this month wouldnt be your first month. Right. I look back to charlottesville as a moment at least for me, i worked in the campaign in 2016 so i was opposed to donald trump going back to birtherism but in charlottesville that was a moment for the country to say wait, he just said the people that stood alongside the klan and nazis were very fine people. And we have a moral obligation as citizens to say whether or not were okay with a president who believes that those people are fine people or not. Because White Nationalism and the embrace of White Nationalism by this president is an existential threat to our national security. So its a moral issue, but its also a security issue. So i dont know if perhaps they see his abuse of power in this instance as more serious because it actually goes to the fundamental security of the country. But its it reeks of hypocrisy and its a little bit linked. Theres an interesting point and that is there may not be most of americas evangelicals or the ones not watching this show or reading christianity today, but there are some who are looking for a directional change than what they are getting from other leaders in and the evangelical community. Well, i see that around the country. I go to churches very conservative trump oriented churches, but there are always people often women who are skeptical of the president. I think this helps them feel less isolated, i think it can be very isolating your opposition to trump in these communities. It could appeal to some minds as well this is the case where this is the base of the president s base. And even small movements, small erosion in that base i think the president is deeply concerned about and should be because it would have large consequences in our politics. Ben rhodes, another oped tonight published by senator jeff flake not on this particular topic but speaking to other republicans and asking them why theyre doing what theyre doing particularly as it relates to the Upcoming Senate trial if there is one and the rules that democrats are asking republicans to engage in. Jeff flake writes my simple test for all of us, what if president barack obama had engaged in precisely the same behavior . I know the answer to that question with certainty and so do you. Whats he talking about . And so do i. Look, they were looking for something to go after obama to try to impeach obama the entire time they had a majority, republicans in the house, and they didnt find it. Look, michael was a speechwriter in the white house and so was i. If youre involved in political communication, what you know is the most pofwerful thing you can say is something that can cut through the noise that Everybody Knows to be true. So what jeff flake everybody know tuesday be true, this is hypocrisy, the republican would be ripping out the gates at the white house to get barack obama if he did anything like donald trump did. Just like that article cuts through the noise and says something Everybody Knows to be true, that trump lies, he looks out for his personal interests, hes mistreated women. I think this kind publication that doesnt get into the back and forth or distractions or whatever his House Republican defenders are throwing at people but just states plainly things that people intuitively know to be true, that voters know to be true, thats the kind of case i think that people not just the democratic candidate but americans concerned about the direction of this country under trump, thats the kind of case people are going to have to make not just in written pieces but around kitchen tables in this country and in congregations over this next year if we want to see a change. In this week we have seen some republicans who are antitrump starting to form a super pac working toward this is more than saying we dont like donald trump, actually supporting efforts to not have him reelected. Ive spoken to some of them, and they say that may mean supporting democrats in the upcoming reelection. Yeah, i think thats where a lot of republicans who dont like trump may be led. Theres not been a viable alternative to the president within his own party. I think thats a terrible shame. And so i think people may have to look outside of their party in order to find the kind of change thats necessary to get the president out of office. When you say in that party the complaint that i heard from so many of these people who are joining this effort is that theres no Party Outside of trump anymore. Hes been remarkably successful considering he had no part in the Republican Party before this, overtaking the apparatus of the party. Yeah, it goes back to the earlier issue. I think that these Coalition Partners within the Republican Party have been willing to make a compromise with an ethno nationalism that, you know, has left very few people disagreeing, and that that is going to be a source of shame for a long time. I think its going to hurt the party for generations in the view particularly of the young who look at the moral center and moral focus of the party and how thats been lost. I think youre going to have a huge generational problem here that republicans are going to have to address and appeal to. Michael gerson, ben rhodes, zerlina, thank you. Coming up next, Michael Moore on the impeachment of donald trump. What this weeks historic vote means for trumpism. And what it could all mean for Mitch Mcconnell. Could 2020 mean the end of his majority leader title . A new report out today shows better stakes for democrats taking back the senate. Stay with us. S taking back the senate stay with us meg there you are. Did you take a picture of the cake to put on our website . I mean i would have but im a commercial vehicle so i dont have hands. Or a camera. Or a website. Should we franchise . Is the market ready for that . Can we franchise . How do you do that . Meg oh meg we should do that thing where you put the business cards in the fishbowl and somebody wins something. Meg hi. Im here for. Im here for the evans wedding. Weve got the cake in the back, so, yeah. Meg thank you. Progressive knows Small Business makes big demands. Youre not gonna make it, youre not gonna make it ask her if we can do her next wedding too so well design the insurance solution that fits your business. On second thought, dont. Ask that. That fits your business. At chevy, were all about bringing families together. This time of year, thats really important. So were making it easier than ever to become part of our family. Man thats why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. The chevy price you pay is what we pay. Not a cent more. Family is important to us. And wed like you to be part of ours. So happy holidays. And welcome to the family. The chevy family get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. It doesnt really feel like were being impeached. I dont feel like im being impeached. It doesnt feel like impeachment. I just left President Trump. Hes mad as hell that they would do this to him. All right, no matter what donald trump says or does, no matter how the white house and his republican allies spin it, his presidency is now forever stained with the Scarlett Letter of impeachment. Now, donald trump knows that as is evident in his twitter outburst over impeachment. And now he wants to add a crucial defense line. A senate trial that will acquit him. But House Speaker nancy pelosi is holding the cards here. Shes getting under his skin by not immediately sending the impeachment articles over to the senate until Senate Democrats agree to the rules for the impeachment trial. And reaching that acquittal will hangover the president during the next two weeks as he consults with friends and supporters at his florida resort. And thats how our nation wraps up this massively consequential week. A historic moment that Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore didnt want to miss. Earlier on wednesday he wrote, quote, so i woke up this morning in new york city and i thought dang theyre impeaching trump today. So i dropped what i was doing, headed to amtric, hopped onboard pulling into d. C. Shortly. Dont know if ill get in, but heres for hoping. He made it on time. He witnessed the Impeachment Vote of President Trump. There he is, bottom left of your screen right in the front row of the house gallery. Joining me now Michael Moore. He has a new podcast called rumble with Michael Moore. You got there, had no ticket, didnt tell anybody you were coming. You get to congress, what happens . Like i said i woke up and were on the east coast and we have trains here. Im from motor city. Its really easy to get from here to d. C. Lets just go. So my sister and my producer and friend, we all got on the amtrak. We were there i dont know 2 1 2 hours and we walked over to capitol hill and started looking around seeing how we could get in. Ive made these movies for many years youre standing around looking how to get in actually it was 30 years ago tonight that roger and the theaters a long time ago you setout the idea when you go somewhere youre going to get in. Yes, and that is generally the case. But then i thought its really cold. So i dont want to wait around a lot figuring out which door to go through. It was brutally cold in d. C. On that day im telling you. It was like, you know, so i said where is the one office on capitol hill where i will be treated with the respect i deserve, and of course we go to the office of the member of congress from flint, michigan. And so we walked in and said can we get in. And he said, yeah, im going over there now ill walk you in. So we walked in and we sat in the part of the balcony, the gallery thats for friends or family or members of congress. So we got a really great seat. And and, you know, obviously all the cliches, a historic day, witnessing history. My sister said, god, this is kind of a flashback for us. In 1965 our mom took us to washington, d. C. , she wanted to show us how government worked. And we looked right over in the same balcony in this gallery where we sat in 1965 as little tikes with my mom watching them pass the Voting Rights act of 1965. Wow. So to have two events in history that are that consequential. Did you sense it when you were sitting there, plot just a sense of personal history but of the moment . What does it mean for america . Because these days these things come and go and donald trump himself wasnt paying attention. He was out giving a speech. Oh, dont worry. He was paying attention. This has wrecked his last couple of days if you follow him on twitter. Its quite a storm of insanity. It being there this is, i think, when you watch it on tv it is a completely different experience. To be there in person and to really see the republicans, i focus on them most of the time and i was like, wow, now were watching them in threedimensional in the flesh and it was as you looked at them first of all you wondered what time tunnel did they go in to find this group of people . Like this is not america anymore. Whatever they think thats america, a bunch of old white guys, you know, all angry, all bent out of shape, all wrong i just want to tell you when i was growing up you may not have agreed with republicans, you would never think that they would stand and endorse the behavior of someone like donald trump and what he did and the laws that he broke. And how he was willing to corrupt this election again was just it was just but theyre whole m. O. As they went up to the podium, as they shouted and and then they would leave and they would mock the democrats, and they were cynical about it. And they were, you know, laughing and they were it was just so weird. And then at the end when the vote happened the howl that came from the republican side, it was really this kind of very other worldly sound. You can kind of play it back on tv. Youd have to turn up the volume a little bit because theyre not all miked in their chairs. But being thereafter she declared the president was impeached just like wow. I said to my sister, i said that is the sound of the dying dinosaur. I can imagine when the dinosaurs knew that it was over, that their time was up they probably were letting out a hell a lot of howls of pain. And those guys knew it was over. Let me tell you what i didnt see watching it on tv. I didnt see an argument that said you know what the guy was on the wrong side of history, did the wrong thing, he shouldnt have done what he did, theres probably a few things wrong. We dont really think this is an impeachable offense, but heres another option, heres another road to go down. There wasnt any of that. There wasnt any maybe you should impeach him but donald trump has done something wrong. Theres been nothing. It has been a consistent defense of Donald Trumps behavior. My question to you is why do you think that is because either it means that they cant make a defense because they know theyre wrong, obviously. Its whats the old Richard Pryor line, who are you going to believe, me or your own lying eyes . Everybody saw trump admit that he tried to bribe the president of ukraine in order to get dirt on joe biden. Thats it. Thats the end of the story right there. So the fact that they either obviously cannot defend that or they actually dont believe its wrong. And if thats the case its a whole different problem. A problem, no. Were in deep, deep trouble. And thats why i saw a sign there protesters outside that said impeach them all. And its like this is really bigger than trump now because i expect that behavior from trump what he did. And let me tell you on that secret server in the white house where they were hiding that ukraine call, there are a dozen other things that his lawyer staffers have placed there in these last three years, and god i wish we had a subpoena to see what else is on that server than just the ukraine call. But im telling you that the fact they enabled this and they that the they supported it they didnt stand up for this country, they all have to go now. They all have to go. I never would have said that before. Hold that thought. Ive got to squeeze in a break. But when i come back i want to talk about the democratic prospects of taking back control of the senate. And later i told you weve got a surprise appearance from rachel and in fact lawrence on tonights last word. As a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Steven could only imaginem 24hr to trenjoying a spicy taco. Burn, now, his world explodes with flavor. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday allnight protection. Can you imagine 24hours without heartburn . That will makeout washington insiders very uncomfortable term limits. You and i both know we need term limits, that congress shouldnt be a lifetime appointment. But members of congress, and the corporations whove bought our democracy hate term limits. Too bad. Im tom steyer and i approve this message because the only way we get universal healthcare, address Climate Change and make our economy more fair is to change business as usual in washington. Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Con Liberty Mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. Only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. The republicans have controlled the United States senate since 2014, but all of that could change in 2020. According to the Cook Political Report it appears there will be at least five gop held seats in play with a chance that democrats could add one or two more. Now, that puts democrats in a position to win the majority even if they lose alabama and or michigan. Im going to ask michael about michigan in a second. States with republican held senate seats potentially in play include arizona, colorado, iowa, georgia, kansas, maine, and north carolina. Back with me Michael Moore. So, michael, thats interesting the point you were making earlier, republicans were not prepared to stand up and some republicans were saying this is enough, whether its christianity today or jeff flake writing his editorial or these republicans forming a super pac to see that donald trump is not elected. There are some republicans somewhere who are saying this is not who we are and this is not what the future of the Republican Party needs to look like. Well, they know they better do that or theyll be the new wigs. You know, parties have dissolved and disintegrated not a lot but in our history theres a couple of them that have come and gone. And the Republican Party is really at a point now of imploding, and it could go. The election and im not making any predictions, but the election less than a year from now could be so overwhelmingly overwhelmingly the American People coming to the poll and saying enough is enough and throwing so many republicans out in a way that you would only see, say, a country has a parliamentary system. Like there was a time in canada a number of years ago like a whole part of the country whether it was the torries or liberals or conservatives or whatever, but same thing happened during the tony blaire days where there was one election where scotland and whales threw all the torries out. So this could happen. I think smart republicans know this, that they may have crossed the line too far at this point. I think they have. I dont think they get another chance. I think we have to remove as many of them as we can. And i think the seats they think are safe are not as safe as they think. People who are part of the Largest Party in america, the nonvoters party, theyve been watching this whole thing. And i think just enough of them if just 2 or 3 of them came out, thats over a 100 Million People who are innonvoters, if they just came out they would put the wood to these guys like that. Like they cant even imagine right now this would be over for them. And the map you just showed of the senate, all of that is possible. Youve got the senator weve got markety mcsally of arizona. Stop right there. She lost last november. Arizona has already voted on her. They dont want her. And whos she running against . The hero astronaut, mark kelly. So theres no reason we should lose that. Cory gardener of colorado, Susan Collins of maine is actually running again. Well, sorry. Nobody will forget what you did regarding kavanaugh, justice kavanaugh. So youre out. Youre out. Weve got two seats open in georgia. Right. Lets just win one of them. You know, north carolina. As you said colorado should already be they know this math. They dont need to listen to me to tell them that their goose is probably cooked. And remember when the democrat is elected next november, we only need three of those seats to flip. Youve got a podcast. And tonight youve got Robert De Niro. No, its about the donald and murdock. And he lets loose in a way thats so refreshing as you can only imagine. Theres 68 minutes of Robert De Niro and me in conversation. I can only imagine. Its the first week of my podcast. Its the first time ive done this. Its just the beginning right now. And youve got to come on. I absolutely will. Youve got to come onto this podcast. Thank you, my friend. Talk economics with me. We would love that. Michael moore, i appreciate it. Good luck on the podcast. Coming up, Speaker Pelosi conducting a master class in political strategy as the year draws to a close. Well discuss that when we come back. Come back im your 70lb st. Bernard puppy, and my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. Ahh no, come on. I saw you eating poop earlier. Hey my focus is on the road, and thats saving me cash with drivewise. Whos the dummy now . Whoof whoof so get allstate where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. Sorry hes a baby it looks like this. For Heart Failure look like . The beat goes on entresto is a Heart Failure pill that helps improve your hearts ability to pump blood to the body. Dont take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Ladiladidah dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if youve had angioedema with an ace or arb. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. Ask your doctor about entresto. The beat goes on yeah mornings were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis or Psoriatic Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis or active Psoriatic Arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. It can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; dont start xeljanz if you have an infection. Taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. As have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. Tell your doctor if youve been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if youve had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. I am never afraid and i am rarely surprised, thats not my words. Thats what Speaker Nancy Pelosi told politico today when asked whether she was afraid to send Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell the articles of impeachment against President Trump. Republicans are desperate to portray pelosi as afraid or erratic or in over her head because they are afraid of her after one stinging defeat after another in 2019. Remember the year started with pelosi taking the speakers gavel in the middle of a government shutdown. Its a senseless shutdown inflicting great pain in every part of our country. This is directly related to our security. The trump shutdown is undermining that. Were not paying people to keep us safe. Lets pay the employees. Maybe he thinks its okay not to pay people who do work. I dont. And my caucus doesnt either. Speaker pelosi used her power to take away the president s media attention. She refused him an invitation to congress to deliver the state of the union. He can make it from the oval office. After 35 days President Trump surrendered to pelosi and reopened the government without winning any of his Central Campaign promises. Trump ultimately got his state of the union invitation. In case that seems like so many moons ago and you dont remember it, you will remember this. At that speech pelosi delivered the clap that was seen around the world. We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good. Trump didnt fare much better during closed door meetings with pelosi. Sometimes when were talking to him he agrees. And i said one time whos in charge here because you agree and then all of a sudden something changes. What goes on there . Whos in charge . One of the most incredible standoffs between nancy pelosi and donald trump happened in a meeting when Speaker Pelosi literally stood up to the president after his decision to pull out of northern syria. The moment was captured by a white house photographer. Heres how lawrence described this iconic photo on the day donald trump tweeted it to the world. It tells the story of the Trump Presidency better than any other photograph. Nancy pelosi immediately placed that photograph on her twitter page and she will never replace it with a better photograph. It is the perfect portrait of the child president. The trump face is full of the confusion and fear of a 4yearold boy being rebuked by an adult in the room full of adults who know he shouldnt be there. 50 years from now School Children studying American History will come upon this photograph, and they will instantly know who was in charge in that room. The adult standing and pointing at the pained face across the table. And then there is Speaker Pelosi as the expert complainer of Donald Trumps actions. Just this week heres how nancy pelosi responded to trumps attacks on the late democratic congressman john dingell. What the president misunderstands is that cruelty is not whit. Just because he gets a laugh for saying the cruel things that he says doesnt mean hes funny. Its not funny at all. Its very sad. When we come back ill be rejoined by neera tanden and Zerlina Maxwell to discuss Nancy Pelosis impeachment strategy and how she stood up to President Trump this year. Thats next. Ou need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You may have gingivitis. When you brush, and the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums, and possibly. Tooth loss. Help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. Leave bleeding gums behind. Parodontax. Ive always loved and im still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin, ill go for that. Eliquis. Eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. Plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Whats next . Sharing my roots. 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. 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Woohoo yeah the russians were the beneficiaries of any withholding of assistance or encouragement to the ukraine. Again, putin benefits. The russians benefitted, putin did when the president placed some doubt about our commitment to nato right from the start of his administration. All roads lead to putin. Joining us now neera tanden, former advisor to president obama and hillary clinton. And is now the ceo at the center for american progress. Zerlina maxwell is back with us. Thank you both for being with us. We are it was a year ago, it was january of 2019 where we discussed the fact that nancy pelosi is going to be a big thorn in Donald Trumps side. And she has proved to be that the whole time. Now as donald trump is waiting to be exonerated or found not guilty by the senate she is not offering him that option. Yeah, i think throughout this year Speaker Pelosi has demonstrated that she basically has trumps number. Hes a she has said a weak and insecure man who is surrounded by a Republican Party that is essentially toting to him, and she is is his equal if not better. And so i think shes holding her cards very well. She held her caucus together incredibly well, very few defections on the Impeachment Vote. An important, important vote that will tarnish donald trump for the rest of his days. Zerlina, the other day that letter that donald trump sent to nancy pelosi, so much of it told you so much about donald trump, but so much of it spoke to his relationship with nancy pelosi it was clear that the white House Counsel was not involved in the drafting of that letter. There was an anger and a resentment and a weirdness. What impact is nancy pelosi having on donald trump . I think she triggers him a little bit. She triggers some of that insecurity he feels, which is why he performs his masculinity in such a specific way, tries to be the tough man, the bully. She reveals that to all be a con. I think that really gets under his skin. I also think that women in this particular moment, since the womens march, have essentially stood up and said, this particular man said you can grab a woman by the you no you know what, you can do anything you want to a woman. Ive channeled a certain amount of rage since then. Im not the only one. What Nancy Pelosis strength represents is a moment where women are standing up to the male bullies, whether they be on the street catcalling you, in your workplace, or in the white house. And i think that nancy pelosi is a good example to women of how to stand up for yourself and for your country. Neera, what happens now . Nancy pelosi doesnt take chances. She knew she would have the votes for the drafting of the articles of impeachment or the impeachment investigation, and then the Impeachment Vote. Glou she is in an interesting place, because Mitch Mcconnell is going on tv and telling anyone who will listen that im going to do what i did with judges, with obama not getting his appointments through, im going to hold through, were not going to hold a testimony, im not interested in witnesses, im not interested in testimony, donald trump is going to be exonerated by the senate. This is the issue, which is Mitch Mcconnell does this with every fight, just to be clear, he did this on the aca, he did this on taxes, he does it on judges. He declares finality. And i think the importance of what Speaker Pelosi is doing is, through this next few weeks, the number one concern the American People have is a fair trial. And she is putting pressure and she is making clear to the country that Mitch Mcconnell, who is, let me remind, much less popular than leader pelosi, in fact essentially the least popular politician in america, he is declaring an unfair trial. And i think through her withholding the articles of impeachment, shes basically made clear that shes not accepting the finality of Mitch Mcconnells tactics. Shes giving more room to negotiate to Senate Democrats. I think its really up to americans to say that its vital that we have that fair process. But she has given people who want a fair process more room to maneuver. Zerlina, representative tim ryan who is running for president , he wanted the speakership at one point, challenged nancy pelosi, led a revolt against her. He was on with ari melber yesterday. Lets listen to what he had to say. She has been so skillful over the last few weeks and months. She is at the absolute top of her game. I think her skillfulness level is, quite frankly, that of Lyndon Johnson or Franklin Roosevelt at their prime. To watch this impeachment happen and her completely take away the idea that we were obsessed with impeachment, because we packs a trade deal, we passed an appropriations bill, both were bipartisan. Kudos to her because shes done a phenomenal job. Thats meaningful because tim ryan is past a group of people who think nancy pelosi has been around too long and needs to move on. That was a challenge she faced as soon as she took her speakership. At the time, you had tim ryan and seth moulton saying were going to challenge nancy pelosi and have a new era of leadership. In this case you needed someone who was a tactician, who knew about strategy, who could whip those votes, and who was strategic in the long term. If you look back, she looked like she did not want to impeach this president , like she was the last person in america who wanted to impeach him. She waited until she had 218 votes in her caucus and then pulled the trigger. In hindsight it was a perfectly smooth strategy but at the time she got so much criticism. Im glad tim ryan is able to admit that. Tonights last word is from rachel and lawrence. Its finally time for. Geico sequels classic geico heroes, starring in six new commercials, with jawdropping savings. Vote for your favorites at geico. Com sequels ahhh, which way do i go . i dont know, im voting for our sequels. With geico, the savings keep on going to a screen near you. Not the leg you dang woodchucks geico sequels. Vote and enter to win today when you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24 7. So, where you go, the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. Needs somebody Everybody Needs somebody to love someone to love someone to love i got a little message for you. When you have that somebody, hold on to them, give them all your love. 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If youre gathered with the family on Christmas Eve and youre a couple of spiked eggnogs into the night, we encourage you to keep the tv tuned to msnbc. Well have brandnew shows for you all night long. During the last word holiday special youll learn about lawrences favorite two minutes of every workday, the handoff from rachel. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, rachel. Good evening, rachel. Good evening, rachel. Its been a frenzy in the day of news. Weve never seen anything like it. Im already riveted. Youll have half a morning to yourself tomorrow. Am i dead . Are the angels singing . Theres new show called that woman. What is your characters name . Vesper fairchild. Thats my new starbucks name. He is old, he has gout, hes been in jail and lonely. His lawyers have cited his health, his age, his confinement. I thought i was being introduced. Once you said hes in jail, i said, okay, its someone else. I dont know anything about your gout status and i dont think youre old. You have to watch tuesday to see the rest, the last word holiday special. That will do it for tonights show. Thank you for watching. The 11th hour with Brian Williams begins right now. Tonight, the president railing against impeachment in private and public, harnesses the power and image making of his office for a military photo op moments for his takeoff for christmas break. He leaves behind a capitol hopelessly split, where the president has been impeached but not tried, and where that second step may be in limbo as pelosi and mcconnell engage in their fight. And more on a report from a Trump White House source that says the president believed that Conspiracy Theory about ukraine somehow meddling in our election because thats what putin told him. Plus why igor of lev and igor fame has a special agreement with rudy. And why ivanka trump in advertently pulls a de niro