And you have no idea what weve come up with. Youre going to be so happy. Youre going to be so happy. The white house was eager to push out pictures of trump getting love from the combat troops on their social media. Perhaps a welcome distraction from the story in the New York Times today, suggesting a doctor may have written up trumps bone spurs excuse for getting one of his five draft deferments during the vietnam war as a favor to trumps father, fred. The now deceased doctors daughter say they remember their father talking about it, although there is no written record. So for all the drama of President Trump this christmas week going after the Federal Reserve chair, then complaining about his treasury secretary as the dow plummeted and secretary mnuchin placed personal calls to the heads of major u. S. Banks from his vacation in a mexican resort and managed to freak out the markets even more by getting off those calls and reassuring everyone there is no liquidity crisis when no one had been thinking there was. To the dow roaring back today and trump turning up in iraq. For all of that drama, the thing about this president that remains the most jarring is his, lets shall we say, complicated relationship with the troops. This is a president for whom the Washington Post has a permanent fact check tally has that surpassed 7500 lies since he took office. Thats not even a definitive count. Different methodologies will get you different numbers. But this president consistently says things that are not true. On big things, like whether a wall is actually already being built along the 2,000 mile plus u. S. Southern border. Or even mundane things. Friday night, as we barreled toward the government shutdown, the president tweeted out this photo of himself, with caption, some of the many bills im signing in the oval office right now. Look at that stack of binders. Its taller than he is. So many bills to sign. Quickly, internet detectives zoomed in on the bill and came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, a blank sheet of paper. We cant confirm that it was blank. It could have been funky lighting, but here is one thing that is true, President Trump most definitely did not sign a giant stack of bills on friday. How do we know this . For the simple reason there were no bills for him to sign. Yes, he did sign two bills that day, including the criminal Justice Reform bill earlier that day, but congress didnt pass a whole lot of other bills on friday. Most of them had already gone home, which means President Trump had someone stack a bunch of empty folders on the desk and took a picture pretending they were bills to sign. Which is funny ha ha but funny weird. Why go through all that trouble to pretend youre working . Youre the president , youre supposed to be presumed to be working. And then he appeared to do it again. On monday, trump tweeted another oval office picture labeled Christmas Eve briefing with my team working on north korea. But msnbcs capitol hill correspondent noted he hadnt seen a marine in front of the west wing all day, the sign the president is in the building, which made him wonder if the photo was even from that day. And a photo editor for the New York Times determined that the newspaper on trumps desk was the sunday times, not monday. Which sometimes the sunday crossword hangs out on my desk for days and i dont finish it because i dont feel like it. Maybe the president just hadnt found time. But barely an hour later, he seems to have done it a third time. This time he tweeted that he was in the oval office and just gave out a 115mile long contract for another large section of his wall, which is just like not something a president does. Handing out building contracts in the oval office. And nobody seems to know where the 115mile number came from. And garrett is still there, saying nobody at the white house can give him any information about this, and again, it does not appear that the president was even in the oval office at that hour. Also, not for nothing, but its not clear what such a contract would be for, since on friday, trump tweeted out a drawing of a supposed border fence that no one has seen before. One of his republican allies told nbc news, the president put out a between of a picture with spikes on top offensing. Thats not even one of the designs the Border Patrol has proposed. But Mick Mulvaney went on tv this past weekend and insisted that the 30foot metal spikes plan was the plan and had been all along. Even though trump was talking about a concrete wall for literally years. And yes, the president says and tweets untrue things all the time. But the past few days have been a cornucopia of weird going out of his way lies about small, easily checkable things. Its disorienting when a president does that, especially after defense secretary james mattis has resigned in protest, and then it became clear that the president never read the defense secretarys resignation letter. Because when he saw on tv what the letter said about him, he pushed mattis out the door two months early. And installing as the acting pentagon chief a former boeing executive, who had no government or military experience until he was mattis deputy. Turkey, whose autocratic president convinced trump to withdraw from syria, announced that trump accepted to an invitation to the country next year. And his acting attorney general appears to have lied about his College Football career, which believe it or not, is not the most embarrassing scandal to hit Matt Whitaker in his few weeks in office. And trump went to iraq and told u. S. Troops they were no longer the suckers of the world and announced a super secret, great new plan to defeat isis, which he said was already defeated. And he told a 7yearold girl santa wasnt real on Christmas Eve. But whos counting . Oh, right, the Washington Post is counting. A poll out today, Donald TrumpsApproval Rating has hit its lowest number in the poll has matched that number after his response to the white supremacist violence in charlottesville, hes back under 40 . So are things more chaotic or has he redefined abnormal . Joining us now are my guests. Thats a lot to go through, so im going to let the two of you go at it. Theres so much weird going on in the Trump White House that the thing about him pretending that during the shutdown hes hard at work, something Ruth Bader Ginsburg is, what did you make of it . First of all, the thing that struck me is, there was one lie he might have told that would have been gracious, which is not insulting that little girl for believing in santa claus. And the only lie he cant bring himself to tell is about santa claus. He lies about absolutely everything else. And i think it was really striking. He can even go to iraq and lie to our troops about their pay. You know, he said you havent had a pay raise in years, i gave you one. None was true. They had gotten pay raises, and it wasnt as big as he told them. Theres something kind of really disconcerting about even our troops, theres something sacred about the obligation of a commander in chief to our troops, and he turned that into a political event. I think we are seeing a president who does feel the pressure of the investigation, and i think thats why were in this shutdown, because he is focused, i think, on keeping a third of the senate, you know, trying to stay in office, if that impeachment day comes. The people who are going to hold those guys in line are his base, and the talk show hosts. So hes going allout, and were having a shutdown over a minuscule part of the budget on a wall thats imposed by about 2 3 of the american people. And you know, it strikes me that the media is so polls towards normalcy and has this compulsion, that they want it so badly, that donald trump gets credit for visiting the troops. But when he gets there, and hes popular with a lot of military people despite the things hes done. There are people there in m. A. G. A. Hats, but he tells them the u. S. Is no longer the suckers of the world. The American Military is generally portrayed by president s as pretty grand. We saw the tendency to normally this president. It was a welcome thing that he visited the troops. But i think we have to remember, this is expected of the president. It is literally in his Job Description as commander in chief that he cares for the wellbeing, even the morale of our men and women deployed overseas in harms way. That were celebrating this, that were giving the president a pat on the back, something that should be perfunctory, says a lot about this administration and this president in particular. We cant lose sight of the fact that there has been a consistent pattern, today aside, of this president degrading, maligning, taking aim at, and leveraging the troops for his personal benefit. The gold star families that he went to war with, senator john mccain, i prefer war heroes who werent captured. He did so when he banned transgender troops on twitter and failed to provide condolences to those four Fallen Soldiers in niger. He did so when he authorized the deployment of thousands of troops to the u. S. Border to galvanize his political base, and he did so last week, when he essentially fired secretary mattis, the first enlisted marine to head the department of defense. He fired him two months early, essentially because mattis had the gall to outline a vision of for policy that president s for the last 70 years have adhered to. So President Trump should get credit for what he did today, but we cant lose sight of the broader pattern. Donald trump stacked his cabinet with generals. Michael flynn left disgraced. You had secretary mattis, who is now out. He had a secretary in the National Security adviser position. So he loves to have generals around, but he has a weird way of thinking about the military, almost as if they were part of a business transaction, where he said the u. S. Is no longer the suckers of the world and said america shouldnt be doing the fighting for every nation on earth. But then he says, not being reimbursed at all. If they want us to do the fighting, they have to pay a price. Sometimes thats also a monetary price, so were not the suckers of the world. Were no longer the suckers for folks and people arent looking at us to be suckers. The u. S. Military arent mercenaries that you pay to go fight around the world, but thats how he thinks about it. Hes turning us into heshens. It is true that george h. W. Bush, america did get reimbursed for a lot of our costs in the war in kuwait when we threw Saddam Hussein out of kuwait. But youre right, he turns everything into two things. One is a straightup business proposition, which governing is not. Government is not is like doing a business, and its not like doing business the way donald trump did business, a lot of Business People would be insulted by calling that a normal business. But the second thing is, he has an obsession with the words strong and weak. If you go through trump transcripts, he uses strong in the strangest ways, and he uses it often. And its erdogan said strongly or putin said strongly, and i think he surrounds himself with the military because he wants to convey that image of strength. When deep down inside you look at all of this erratic stuff hes doing, and i think strong is not the right word to be charitable to describe President Trump. His approval numbers are weak, right . And when it came to firing mattis, he didnt do it himself. If hes such a tough guy, why not do it himself . He had his secretary of state do it. But this is a pattern weve seen with this president. He wont do the dirty work. He takes the credit. Just as he took the credit for demolishing isil before he said turkey and others in the region would take care of the remaining pockets. Hes taken credit for the economy until the stock market turns south, now you dont hear him talking about it. He has a tendency to take credit and deflect. Thats what we saw with secretary mattis, someone who didnt deserve that. He was pushed out the door, not by donald trump but Donald Trumps secretary of state. Its about loyalty, that loyalty is a concept he only understands if its loyalty to him. Its not loyalty the other way. And i think the most disturbing thing about pulling those troops out, whether you were for or against their deployment in the first place, we are leaving the kurds defenseless. We have we are showing no loyalty to people who gave up a lot of lives, a lot of treasure. They fought that war against isis, and we are going to leave them to the mercies of the turks. This is not a good thing for the United States of america to do. He said he didnt even know the guy who was leading the fight against isis, who now also left in objection to his policies. Thank you both. Thank you. A quick update for you now. On Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was only last friday when Justice Ginsburg had a portion of her left lung removed to take out two kansas louse nodules. Doctors say theres no evidence of remaining disease. While the woman lovingly dubbed the notorious rbg, shes super tough. But you knew that by her workouts. On friday afternoon, Justice Ginsburg cast a decisive vote against the president S Immigration ban. By friday night, she was sitting up in a chair and calling friends who said she sounded strong and pretty chipper. By sunday, she was up and working from her hospital room. And on christmas day, she went home, where shell spend the rest of the holiday recuperating. As julie cohen who directed rbg she was taking a page out of sandra days playbook. Justice ginsburg has an unbroken track record to keep up. Shes never missed a single day of oral arguments in her 25 plus years on the bench. The next oral arguments are january 7th. We will leave the math to you. The smart way to go is always bet on rbg. Shell be back at that bench. Watch this space. Pace Wireless Charging 104 cubic feet of cargo room and seating for 8. Now thats a sleigh. Ford expedition. Built for the holidays. hurry its the final days to get zero percent financing plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars ford credit bonus cash on Ford Expedition plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars this is moving day with the best inhome wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. The first 200 or so people arrived without warning on sunday. Asylum seekers dropped off by immigrations and Customs Enforcement at the bus station in el paso, texas. A couple hundred more arrived at the bus station on Christmas Eve. And then more on christmas day. Left in a parking lot to fend for themselves. Over the holiday, a local shelter issued an emergency call for volunteers and Financial Assistance to meet the needs of the Asylum Seekers left on el pasos doorstep by the trump administration. The president s border policy has been marked by manufactured chaos, by a stunning lack of concern about the harm being done to migrant families, including some very young children. And by a breathtaking nonchalance of leaving hundreds of women and children to spend christmas in a local bus station. The trump administrations border policy has been marked by outright tragedy. On monday, Christmas Eve, the body of 7yearold jacqueline arrived in guatemala for burial. She died in december at a hospital in el paso. By late Christmas Eve, shortly before midnight, another young child, another from guatemala, died in the custody of u. S. Border protection. According to authorities in guatemala, he was 8 years old. He had been picked up with his father on december 18th, a few miles outside of el paso, and initially diagnosed with a cold. He was pronounced dead in a hospital in new mexico at 11 48 p. M. On Christmas Eve. Immigration officials have promised to investigate how it happened. How a second child, in less than a month, died in their custody. Parts of the official Statement Today sound a lot like the rhetoric coming from fox news personalities coming from south america in caravans, supposedly making america dirtier and bringing crime and particularly disease. Homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen issued a statement that read in part, our system has been pushed to the breaking point by those who seek open orders. This is exacerbated by the increase in persons who are entering our custody suffering from severe respiratory illnesses or exhibit some other illnesses upon apprehension. It is now clear that migrants, particularly children, are increasingly facing medical challenges and harboring illness caused by the long and dangerous journey. He adds, i have personally engaged with the centers for Disease Control to request their experts investigate the uptick of Sick Children crossing our boarders to prepare and to treat these children. Interesting talking point. Meanwhile, i. C. E. Released more than 500 Asylum Seekers today. In el paso, another 500 are expected tomorrow. Joining us now is our reporter. Julia. Am i wrong in thinking that the talking points coming out of secretary nielsen sound a lot like the accusations on a certain trump loving Cable Network that immigrants are bringing disease into the United States . Certainly talking points theyve heard from a while. The same talking points that reporters got today when we did a press call with officials that were seeing an uptick in immigrants but immigrants who are sick. But i think the point that gets left out of this is of course youre seeing more immigrants that are sick when more immigrants are waiting months to cross into the United States, those trying to cross illegally are being told to wait and those crossing illegally are going to remote locations where up until now they havent had access to health care. So thats another reason why this young boy had to go to four different processing facilities, he was moved from one to another. And then taken to a hospital, discharged for some reason, we dont understand. He still had a high fever. Theres a lot of things that get mixed up when you have this culture built around chaos and not the resources that are going into address that chaos. Built around chaos but a kind of cruelty. You know, theres a sense in which, you know, the cruelty kind of is the point, the more cruel the system is, the less people want to come, but people are still fleeing, but the cruelty meets them when they get here. When i talk to people that are not political appointees, that are on the ground, they had a deterrent after deterrent, new things theyve had to learn on the fly. Whether they are going to be separating children or allow only 40 in a day. It hasnt brought down the numbers but created more chaos and cruelty. And we talk about do they want the cruelty, how that plays, you have to start to get into some sick mindsets of people that want this cruelty. There is this very strange way that they talk about this. Our heartbreaks, but its because of that decision by congress and by court. Theyre definitely blaming the parents, but theres a talking point, i think a connection that they want to make that these the cruelty, any kind of empathy that we should have for these people, its because of congress, the laws that they have made that are attracting these people here. Theyre not talking about the desperation and economic drivers that would make them want to make that journey. Its obvious theyre still coming, even with all these practice measures. So the death sort of shocked a lot of people, and to have another child die, do we have a defintive cause of death . They have not given that. There will be an autopsy. We know that he initially was diagnosed with a common cold at the hospital, and then he had a 103 degree fever. Obviously it was more than that, but he was still discharged. I asked officials today, could they be looking at medical malpractice at the hospital. They said every medical decision made is at the heart of the investigation and hopefully well get more answers out of that. I think what were seeing here is not just these two cases in isolation. Were seeing the product of a system that is keeping children longer than any immigrant, no matter their age is supposed to stay in Border Protection processing facilities. Theyre supposed to go to i. C. E. Family detention, but this administration has not made the choice to free up bed space. To do that, they would have to take fewer families internally that they arrest in the United States and hold there before theyre deported. Thank you very much. We really appreciate your reporting. Excellent work. Okay. Much more to get to tonight, including an intriguing new development in a Mystery Court case linked to the Mueller Investigation. Thats next. Omar, look. [ thunder rumbles ] omar, check this out. Uh, yeah, i was calling to see if you do laser hair removal. For men. Notice that my hips are off the ground. [ engine revving ] and then, im gonna pike my hips back into downward dog. [ rhythmic tapping ] hey, the rain stopped. A bad day on the road still beats a good one off it. Tell me about that dental procedure again i can still taste it in my mouth progressive helps keep you out there. While many of you were unwrapping presents and refusing to change into daytime clothes, the Mueller Investigation took one giant step closer to having a date with the Supreme Court. If this happens, it will be the let equivalent of batman versus superman, or clash of the titans, or frodo and the fellowship of the ring versus the armies of mordor. And its happening at warp speed. It involves that case kicking around the lower courts since august. Its under seal, so its hard to know whats going on, but we do have reason to believe that its linked to special counsel Robert Mueller. In part, because the only judge to recuse himself was a donald trump appointee, who had been bound to recuse himself involve ing any case involving the russia probe. But they have gone to great links to keep this under wraps. Reporters did manage to spot two of muellers top prosecutors slipping into that clamped down courthouse, which gives us a good idea this has something to do with mueller. But what . Heres what we know for sure. It involves a Company Owned by a foreign country, a company that has been subpoenaed by a grand jury. A company that has told that grand jury, tough luck, were not going to hand over what you want from us, because we are owned by a foreign government, and that would violate that foreign countrys laws. Lower courts have ruled this corporation has to pay fines for every day that it doesnt comply. And last week, the d. C. Court of appeals sided with the lower courts and held the Mystery Company in contempt. That might have been the end of the story, game, set, mueller. But on saturday, as everybody was finishing their lastminute holiday shopping, that company, owned by a mystery foreign government, petitioned the Supreme Court to hear their case. They took it straight to chief justice john roberts, who, 24 hours later, pushed the pause button on the lower courts ruling, issuing a stay until the Supreme Court decides whether to take the case. Well find out on new years eve if the Supreme Court will step into the fray. Well, if the case does go to the Supreme Court, this will make history. It will be the first time the Supreme Court hears a case thats entirely under seal. We could be headed into completely unchartered territory, folks. Thank god rbg is on the mend. Thd thd the greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. The final days of wish list are here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. Discover card. I justis this for real . Match, yep. We match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. Whoo i got my money hard to contain yourself, isnt it . Uh huh let it go whoo get a dollarfordollar match at the end of your first year. Only from discover. Kayla our dad was in the hospital. Josh because of smoking. But we still had to have a cigarette. Had to. Kayla do you know how hard it is to smoke in a hospital . By the time we could, we were like. What are we doing . Kayla it was time for nicodermcq. The nicodermcq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. And doubles your chances of quitting. Nicodermcq. You know why, we know how. Theyve been busier than santas elves. Im talking about Robert Mueller and his s. W. A. T. Team of prosecutors. Just in the runup to christmas alone, they were at the center of the sentencing of the president s longtime personal lawyer, michael cohen. They also gave their two cents on the fate of Donald Trumps shortterm National Security adviser general Michael Flynn, and the judge said he couldnt hide his disgust for flynns crimes and agreed to push back sentencing to next year so maybe he could think about what more he could do to help out the government. So this has been anything but relaxing for mueller and his team. Despite the government shutdown, they are not slowing down at all. We learned that the special counsels team has been locked in even nor talks with Michael Flynn. Part of the deal judge Emmett Sullivan gave flynn was that flynn would have to stay within 50 miles of d. C. But now flynn wants to travel to his home in rhode island, too. And hes lobbying the court to give him more leeway. Name checking Robert Mueller, saying the special counsels office is okay with it. Not confident this particular judge is going to be enthusiastic, but watch the space. And suffice it to say, mueller has been burning the midnight oil this Holiday Season. Joining us now is paul butler, former prosecutor and professor at georgetown law. Michael flynn is pretty bold. Pushing back when you get no jailtime, and writing a memo saying i was entrapped, taking it back in court, now saying i would like to go home to rhode island. Is that normal behavior for somebody like in this . Its not, but its not normal to made guilty and then have your lawyer say the fbi made me do it, which is why the judge went off on him last week. So the lesson was, dude, chill. You know, you have a very good position now, you were the National Security adviser. You lied to the Vice President and to the congress, and now youre being prosecuted and the prosecutor isnt even asking for jail time . This is the deal of the century and dude is trying to mess it up. It is extraordinary to ask for anything. He should just say thank you. What could he possibly be offering that mueller could be so lenient, that he could get away with what looked like some shenanigans here . One of the things we know is that Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner were running buddies, especially involving international escapades. We know now that mueller has given flynn all this credit, again, as judge sullivan made clear last week, what michael flip did was really, really bad. And so for him to get credit now from mueller, he must have come up with something really good, with something with someone even higher up in the food chain than the National Security adviser. That means the president , don, junior or Jared Kushner. Again, i think Jared Kushner is a likely subject now of the Mueller Investigation. So we have these two things going on at the same time, the sentencing of flynn is out there. We have all that we have seen from manafort and cohen, all the people that have given up the ghost willingly or unwillingly that had to turn on donald trump. But it looks like the judge wants flynn to go back and give more, that maybe he doesnt think hes given enough to earn no jail time more. So you wonder what the more is. One is that judge saw more evidence from mueller than we did about what flynn had done that cooperated, that provide substantial assistance. So maybe the judge knows something we dont know or thinks theres more that could be done. Flynn is in a difficult position, in that typically you want to stay out of prison, so you give up all your information right at the beginning. You can, rule 35, which means after you go to jail, you can get your sentence reduced. So the question is, does flynn have something else, and the judge is saying you better come up with something or youre going to jail. Typically thats a little bit of a concern, because flynn is a snitch now, and one of the concerns is its in their selfinterest to help prosecutors. And sometimes they do that in ways that are unethical. Just in the way youve seen this judge act towards flynn, would you be surprised if he ignored the mueller recommendation and still gave him jail time . Not at all. The judge made clear there was this agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant, Michael Flynn. But when you plead guilty, you have to plead guilty because you are, and not because someone promised you something. The judge is saying, im a coequal branch of government. So Robert Mueller represents the executive, but in this case, the judge has the last say. So the judge can totally ignore the agreement that flynn made with the prosecutor and do what he thinks is in the best interest of justice. We know that he thinks that Michael Flynn betrayed his country, because he was the National Security adviser. He was in cahoots with the russians, or at least lying to the highest level about what they did. Thats a big deal. Thats amazing. Im surprised he isnt like, thank you, sir, ill do whatever you want. Paul butler, former federal prosecutor, thank you very much. Always a pleasure. Happy kwanzaa. First day of kwanzaa today. Up next, did the democrats learn anything from the 2018 election to help win back the presidency in 2020 . And dont they kind of have to end the 2016 primary fight first . Thats next. The Holiday Season and in your garage, a brand new john deere. Thats not a mirage. With 60 months financing at 0 , say happy holidays to money well spent. If additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. Now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. New john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. See your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. New year, new deere. Lets continue to show up here, lets continue to get behind josh and others who have been here every single day so we can witness with our own eyes, testify in our own words back to our fellow americans what can happening here. But the fact that you are here is producing the change that these kids so desperately need. Well be back here again and again until it closes down. Congressman beto orourke spent part of his holiday week at the tent city where 2,500 children are being held by the u. S. Government. Hes only a congressman for a few more days. He gave up his congressional seat to run for the u. S. Senate against ted cruz. Since then, beto, i think the part of the country that pays attention to politics, has barely budged from the national spotlight. Not only has he spent the past week there monitoring the governments handling of migrants at the border, but published an essay criticizing the president over the government shutdown. Ted cruzs Campaign Manager responded to that piece by issuing this warning. Ive read every single word that orourke has uttered in public life. Hes never, and i mean, never talked like this, pointing to other potential candidates such as Bernie Sanders, joe biden and corey bookier, he continued, you better pull your britches uptight and buckle your shoes because beto orourke is running for president. Ted cruzs Campaign Manager responded to that piece by issuing this warning, quote, i have read every single word that orourke has uttered in public life. He has never and i mean never talked like this, pointing to other potential president ial candidates, he continued you better pull your breeches up tight and buckle your shoes because beto orourke is running for president. Beto orourke has not confirmed whether or not he is actually going to run for president. There are clues pointing in that direction. The New York Times he is among other democrats making repeated overtures to activists, a Group Democrats had difficulty getting obama level turnout from in 2016. There is another clue that orourke may not just run but is feeling like stiff competition. He has been feeling pushback from those who say he is too centrist to be the democratic nominee. It was asked which potential candidate would excite them the most if they decided to run. Beto orourke placed fourth behind Bernie Sanders and former Vice President joe biden. Who is at the top of the list . The potential candidate democrats and independents say would feel most excited to see run. Someone entirely new. What does it mean for beto orourke and any other democrat who may consider running for the top job . What does it mean that as of now democrats and independents are hankering for someone they havent heard of yet . That was so well done. I loved that. The thing about it is democrats are always searching for the new thing. Republicans fall in love and democrats need to fall in love. Right now someone they dont know is who most people want. Is that a function of not having some of the other exciting candidates like stacy abrams and Andrew Gillam in the conversation . Or are people more like lets wipe the slate clean and get some diversity . I think when i look at the polls its not so much of who you think could win or who they are going to vote for. It really is about who they would like to see. And i think people are in a place of im open. Its a wide open game field. I think folks are really trying to figure out our members did a poll. It was very similar as to the unknown. Who is the unknown . Who do we want . In that poll beto orourke was number one but nobody broke 16 . So i just think that weve seen an energy from the democratic space since 2016 that has not died down that has shown up in special elections and off year elections. It continues. I think folks are waiting to be inspired. They are waiting to see what is out there. And so i think whoever the folks who jump in, they have a lot of work to do. And a lot of work to do with africanamerican voters. Africanamerican voters are loyal to the democratic party. This year, lets put up this poll here. Africanamericans didnt turn out in really strong numbers for hillary clinton. She got 88 of the vote. She got lower than typical. A lot of people stayed home. When asked who theyre excited about, who people would be most excited about . Black and white voters dont really agree. You look at joe biden at the top. 66 of africanamericans say they are excited about joe biden. Only 49 of white voters. Beto has less name i. D. White voters are more excited than black voters. Bernie sanders is the other way around. You go down the list, some of the people dont have a lot of name i. D. It does seem like there is just a lot of kind of openness as you say but also a difference in opinion between black and white voters. There are. And i think we have to be really real here. In the last two years the people who have been under attack by this president that 1600 pennsylvania constantly attacking vulnerable communities have been black people, women, immigrants, people of color over and over. And so of course that community, our community is much more energized and much more aware because they are living this horrific presidency day after day after day. Not just the rule of law and institutions, but voter suppression. People cant vote. The cornerstone of our democracy free and Fair Election is under attack in the past two years. For several years but certainly in the past two years. I think that is why people are very aware of what is happening because they are under attack. It doesnt surprise me that there is such a big kind of cutting difference between white and black voters. It doesnt surprise me that biden does so well with black voters. He was the Vice President of the first africanamerican president and incredibly successful. He has name i. D. And the black candidates are going to do better. I think that is what im seeing there. The interesting thing is he beat someone new. Africanamerican voters are very pragmatic. You didnt see a switch even to barack obama until he proved he could win in iowa. So the africanamerican vote will follow that streak. It strikes me that progressives going after beto orourke and saying that hes less progressive or more im not sure that that works with africanamerican voters just like the attacks on harris. I dont know that that moves black people. It is counterproductive. Its demonizing the character or the candidate. It makes no sense at all. Its not going to effect black voters because they are going to want to hear from you. They are going to want to are you talking about the issues that matter to us . Its not social justice issues they want to champion in on that as well. Economy, education. Just getting food on your table. Those are the things they want to hear. Thats the beauty of having this contested primary because people are going to have to articulate that. They are going to be challenged. Its going to be interesting to see. There is a great piece out for those who have not checked it out where he is talking about candidates going to the black community. Elizabeth warren has been doing it a lot. Sanders is trying to sure up his support. Beto orourke has been doing it. Is that going to be what this is about . Especially when you talk about South Carolina being so important and you have potentially two candidates. Kudos to the candidates because they have been paying attention to what is happening. You have to energize the base. Who is the base . Yes young people and women but also people of color, women of color, black women who came out in alabama, new jersey on november 6 this year. Thats where the game is. And also clearly they got to get new voters and they have to get independents, as well. You must be that person if you causing all this conversation. They are causing a lot of conversation. He sure is causing a lot of conversation. People might be worried about him. Always great to see you. Happy boxing day. Merry christmas. Well be right back. 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So heres a dramatic shot of their tagline so youll remember it. When insurance is simple, its surprisingly painless. Tomorrow at 4 00 p. M. On the sixth day of the government shutdown, the esteemed United States senate will convene. The senate will open a session. Officially they will be there to consider the shortterm spending bill passed by the house back before christmas. Unofficially we can tell you that almost nothing will happen. Senators have been told they will get 24 hours notice of any actual vote. The senate will be open, waiting, considering officially. Well see you again tomorrow. Now, its time for the last word. Good evening, joy. What was the best Christmas Gift you got . Sleep. Sleep. Sleep is a Timeless Gift we give ourselves. Sleep. I know you so i know you deserve that gift. I need it desperately. Nice to see you. I will see you around. Thank you. I am ari melber today in the face of bipartisan criticism following the resignation of this defense secretary, President Trump did something that many people have been waiting for, something you probably heard lawrence talk about previously. He made his first ever visit as a u. S. President to american troops in a war zone. The president and first lady making a surprise appearance to visit u. S. Soldiers in iraq. The president visited american troops in germany during a stop on the way home. In iraq, trump talked Foreign Policy to the soldiers on the ground. He took the chance to make a public pitch for the very controversial way that he hastily announced the withdrawal from sear, a move widely seen as benefitting russia and sparking the departure of his defense secretary