Transcripts For MSNBCW With All Due Respect 20161122

Onagain sitdown with the variable New York Times was in doubt this morning after he fired off a series of tweets, canceling the interview and calling the newspaper failing, nasty, and not nice. In the end, the incoming the president agreed to sit down with about two dozen times journalists as well as the papers publishing for an hour and 15minute wideranging discussion. This is as close to a press conference that weve gotten out of donald trump since july 27th. And it did not disappoint. Among the topics that were addressed, trump seemed to change course on Climate Change, saying he would, quote, keep an open mind about the paris climate accord, which he had previously vowed to withdraw from. He also said there is, quote, some connectivity between humans and Climate Change. Trump was also lukewarm, at best, on the idea of prosecuting Hillary Clinton for her sins regarding email, whatever those may be. Another Campaign Pledge of trumps saying it would be divisive for the country. The incoming president also disavowed groups of white supremacists, who have been celebrating his election victory. And he defended his appointment of altright figure, steve bannon, as his white house chief strategist, insisting that if he thought bannon was racist, he, quote, wouldnt even think of hiring him. The topic of trumps businesses came up, amid drns about conflicts of interest, potential and actual, which the president elect also dismissed. Trump said hes following law and that as president , he has more important things to worry about than boosting his bottom line. Trump also fielded questions on several other subjects related to foreign policy, president obama, republican leadership, and the media, especially the New York Times, and his cabinet deliberations. So, nicole, there is a lot to talk about here. And were going to spend a fair amount of time talking about it. So what stands out to you from his first semipress conference. Other than when you say old gray lady, i thought you were talking about me. We were not. So, first. I watched this, i experienced this by following Maggie Habermans tweets. And this is in and of itself a remarkable new sort of development that trump is ushering in. This sort of i think hes the first posttwitterverse tweeter to be elected president. And to sort of read it as it was going on, there was an interesting, i mean, as a journali journalist, what did you think of watching it unfold in realtime . In the old day, with when george bush would would have reporters in, they would come in, do their interview, they would have to go write a story, file it and then you would consume it. This was different for me as a Communications Professional that we got to experience it in realtime, without any prioritizing no one picked a lead. We got to read it as it was happening. That in and of itself was remarkable. In some weird way, obviously president elect trump has put twitter in the center of his communications strategy. And in doing it this way, in arranging this meeting with the times editors and having a private, behindcloseddoors press conference, he sort of forced them to use his medium of choice, twitter, to report on what he was saying rather than using the normal modes of the Television Camera and broadcast or the website. So thats interesting. You know, it seems to me win mean, all of these i would love to see the transcript of the whole thing. Obviously, we really only now have snippets. Now there are stories being written off of the snippets. But it seems to me in almost every away, apart from trashing the times and saying starting in the way he started yesterday with network anchors, criticizing them for the way he had treated him unfairly, in every other way, he seemed to be trying to reassure people and turn down the temperature on his rhetoric and trying the best he can, and hes kind of clumsy about this, but trying to assuage peoples worst fears about what to come. I saw it the other way. I thought he was turning down the rhetoric to perhaps a university of voters who didnt support him, because of the most extreme parts of his campaign message. But i feel like what hes done in the last two days with the media was to declare a hot war on his detractors in the media, and i was more interested in that, having sort of stood at the intersection of a president and his relationship with the press. It was it is, to me, very interesting that the meeting yesterday, which seemed to have more sort of the bombastic donald trump than what we know so far from the New York Times meeting, that seemed to be an escalation. And thats going to cheer a lot of trump backers, and that might even bring into his fold some republicans, who have harbored a lot of distrust of the Mainstream Media for a long time. However, i thought that what i read out of the meeting yesterday was almost a chilling warning, really, a sort of a shot at his detractors in the media. Back to sort of the bullying of the reporters who were on the trail covering him. I thought it stood in very stark contrast to what he did today with the times. Yeah, especially if you believe what happened yesterday was the meeting was held, a tantrum was staged, and an offtherecord meeting, and the trump people leaked it to the new york post. We had Kellyanne Conway on the show yesterday, saying, i dont know who would have possibly leaked that story. It was off the record, they should think thrice about it and it turns out a lot of people think its the trump transition that leaked it to their favorite newspaper, the new york post. I agree with you, and well talk a lot about some policy matters, but to stay on the poison you were just talking about, every administration i have covered comes into power. And believes that it has mastered a new technological tool, whether it was bill clinton with Satellite Television and others with cable and others with facebook and obama and facebook. They all think we found a way around the gatekeepers. We have now found a way to communicate directly to the American People. We will go over their heads, around the side door, underground, whatever. And they all have found out, in my experience, no, you know, you can do that a little bit, but in the end, you still need the Mainstream Media. Do you think trump is new in the sense that he will be more successful than his predecessors at browbeating the Mainstream Media and finding alternative ways to get his message out . I think hes different, because i dont think hes going to arrive to the conclusion that he needs the Mainstream Media, i think its so apparent that he wants them. It is almost like a lovers quarrel, these fights that he has with the Mainstream Media. And not just the Mainstream Media, fox, he wants the legacy outlets to love him. And this is dangerous. And this is the kind of stuff that if a president gets too consumed by his own press, it is very perilous. He won because the voters felt they were hearing directly from him. And if he spends too much time consumed with his image in the media, its not a good sign. So, trump we talked about things that he covered in this pseudo press conference. The one thats getting the most attention right now is about the clinton, not going to investigate her, not going to prosecute her or whatever. Thats like the lead in almost every newspaper in the country. The Climate Change stuff is also at the top of the lead for a lot of newspapers. Do either one of those things strike you as meaningful or surprising . Everythings meaningful at the beginng. This idea that hes going to decide that he will not prosecute Hillary Clinton, suggests to me that he thinks that he could have or would have. A president doesnt decide who his Justice Department prosecutes. This is a riddle to me at this moment. I want to know more. Climate change is interesting to me, because i cant imagine that was a top three issue for the kinds of voters that he won over in the final days of the election. I also think there are areas that you think that trump has some really dangerous instincts and some worrying instincts. I cant believe that in his heart of hearts, donald trump, manhattanite, sophisticated, actually an intelligent person, doesnt believe that, in fact, Climate Change is man made and its a real problem you have to deal with in some way. He might be worried about the effects on jobs, he might want to renegotiate some treaties, but hes not someone whos a climate denier in his heart of hearts. I hope not. Im not sure where he was for sandy. Even from the top of trump tower, the winds blew. I think the place that is now the obvious place, the way he answered questions on it today suggests its going to be a huge problem. He is not taking seriously enough these questions about his business, his the conflicts of interest inherent there, the potential unconstitutionality of things that he might want to do, the role of his kids in the business, all of it. He brushed them away, at least on my reading of how he answered the questions by times reporters, just brushed them away, just adds he brushed away, you know, he denounced the altright, but he brushed it away very cavalierly. I think both of those areas will continue to be problems for him until he articulates much more clearly what he thinks about the altright and what hes going to do about these massive conflicts of interest that face him. I agree with you, and i think those are two issues and two areas that threaten to undermine him with his own base, whos looking for a major shake up of the way that politics is normally done. 100 correct. We are going to talk about some more stuff thats sort of related to this when we come back from commercial. Up next, well talk about the trump video that came out last night about his policy priorities. Well talk about that, as i said, in detail, not just the things he said, but the things he left unsaid right after this. O mess with that. But when my back pain got bad, i couldnt sleep. I had trouble getting there on time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last into the morning. Look up at a new day. Hey guys now im back. Aleve pm for a better am. See ya next year. This season, start a new tradition. Experience the power of infiniti now, with leases starting at 319 a month. Infiniti. Empower the drive. Donald trumps sweeping interview with the New York Times comes a day after his Transition Team put out a web video to promote his Campaign Pledges and the policy agenda that trump has planned for his first days in the oval office. My agenda will be based on a simple core principle, putting america first. Whether its producing steel, building cars, or curing disease, i want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here on our great homeland. I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the transpacific partnership. I will cancel jobkilling restrictions on the production of american energy. For every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. Protect americas vital infrastructure from cyberattacks. Investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the american worker. Impose a fiveyear ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists. A lifetime ban on executive officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. These are just a few of the steps we will take to reform washington and rebuild our middle class. I heard nothing after he said curing disease, but also not mentioned in that list of priorities, building a wall, repealing obamacare, his socalled extreme vetting of refugees, or any other of the more controversial things that donald trump campaigned on. Including all that business about locking up Hillary Clinton. John, two things seem to be happening here. Either, trump was never planning on doing all the things he talked about on the campaign trail, or hes keeping quiet about them now, to ease fears about his presidency from his detractors. First of all, hes going for lowhanging fruit. These . Somehings that are totally everybody wants to cure disease. Yeah, maybe apple pie, ill choose that instead. The main thing i took away from here. Yes, first, definitely trying to calm people down and not try to lean into the most extreme of his proposals. He may still come back to those extreme proposals later on. And all i meant is those are the extreme things are going to be hard to get down. Maybe he wants to do things again apart from curing disease that are hard to do. But the main thing i took away from that was he just sounded like just another politician in that video, which i think goes to your thing about, the point you made earlier about, is he going to just disappoint his fervent supporters right out of the gate by starting to seem very quickly like just another washington politician . You know who i thought of when i listened to that tape, and ive now watched it three times, i thought of ann coulter who sat right here and had just written a book about his immigration policies, and i thought, oh, my god, not that i care that ann coulters happy, actually, the more unhappy ann coulter gets, the more happy i will be with the person we just elected. But i thought of Rush Limbaugh, Rush Limbaugh sort of had his back for many, many months now. And i dont think he was necessarily Rush Limbaughs guy in the primary, but Rush Limbaugh has certainly had his back. If he reverse himself on the hardest line things that he campaigned on, and thats inconsistent with his appointment so far, but it really would sort of scramble the circuits of the people who were his defenders as a candidate. How do you do a policy video where when you said two things, two core things, one, i will repeal obamacare on day one. Well, that was always impossible. But i will do that on day one. Highest priority, not on the video. Number one. Number two, build that wall right. Right. Build that wall its a fence now. He talked about immigration in the video. He said, were going to tighten up the visa systems and look for anomalies. Like, what are you talking about . Again, im against building a wall. Listen, i im against repealing obamacare, so happy to hear it if those arent on your agenda anymore. But how do you campaign the way he campaigned for 16 months and not mention either of those two things in this video. And these things may be more popular, but it reminds me of something jeb bush said over the summer. I said, did he scam the Republican Party. And he acknowledged that perhaps much of this overheated the rhetoric was a bit of a scam. Well see. Well see. Maybe were being too hopeful that its a scam. Hoping for a scam. A position to be in american life. One thing that we are thankful for this holiday season, that would be david fahrenthold, Washington Post gum shshoe, ha new report out that donald trump reported to the Internal Revenue service that they violated a law for selfdealing, which laws charitable organizations to enrich themselves. These new tax reforms did not provide many details. And an investigation by the new York Attorney general is still ongoing, but fahrenthold has previously reported on instances in which the foundation helped trump settle busy lawsuits or purchase charity at auction items that the billionaire aledly kept or displayed at his properties. Nicole, this is well, how big a deal do you think this is . You know, i looked at the tax form myself, its not completely clear what the reporting is based on, and i couldnt fill out a tax form when i made 12,000 a year as a local reporter in chico. I bet you didnt have the shoes that nice these are stolen, though. These are not my shoes. You did not wear those in chico. These are not my shoes. See, now im all lost youre totally distracted, arent you . But this sorry is going to be another one of those thorns in his side. And i think that the voters made clear that this was not top of mind. They want to change so badly, they were willing to tolerate all of these sort of lapses in judgment, which is where i think these stories end up. But i think that if a narrative can be stitched together that hes got business conflicts, which we talked about before, that hes reversing himself on his pledges with, and that now that the charity wasnt so benevolent after all, it was shady after his really aggressive tone with the clinton foundation, it could start to paint him as a typical politician. Thats the vulnerability. I think we have we must say, for those of us, including me, and i will proudly proceed for the rest of my career, saying that i thought there were a lot of things that were problematic about the clinton foundation, there were a lot of things that deserve scrutiny, deserve criticism. That it was a political problem and a substantiative problem for Hillary Clinton. I still believe that 100 . But i also said at the time, this foundation is as corrupt or more corrupt than the clinton foundation. And now we have them coming out and acknowledging, oh, yes, were tax cheats. We just cheated the federal tax system. I think its just incumbent upon us to point it out and remind people that when it came to charitable foundations, there were sins on both sides of this aisle, and mr. Trump is now president elect. And so weve got to focus on this and its important. I know the bell dinged, but i would go further than that and say, Hillary Clinton is out of the picture. She lost. I think focusing on this and not losing it because we feel like voters dont care is urgently important. And it does tie into these questions about Donald Trumps businesses and conflicts of interest which are really problematic. Up next, the guy who wants Nancy Pelosis job as House Republican leader. Well be back with democrat tim ryan right after this. I want a hippopotamus for christmas only a hippopotamus will do no crocodiles no rhinoceroses i only like hippopotamuses and hippopotamuses like me too at the United States postal service, we deliver more Online Purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. And more hippopotamuses, too. I only like hippopotamuses so whatever your holiday priority, our priority is you. Welcome back. The race for the presidency may be over, but the race for House Minority leader has just begun. Joining us now from his hometown of youngstown, ohio, is congressman tim ryan, whos challenging nancy pelosi for her house leadership position. Congressman, what is wrong with nancy pelosi . As leader, that is. Well, whats wrong is well, whats wrong is, we keep losing. I love nancy pelosi. She was a mentor of mine. Ive got a lot of respect for her. Shes an historic figure. But we keep losing, john. Were down 68 seats since 2010. Smallest Democratic Caucus weve had since 1929. And weve got to keep score here and if a coach keeps having losing seasons, even though its tough, weve got to get a new coach. Do you think the minority leadership job, the leadership job in congress is both a legislative job and also has political implications. Youre pointing to a political problem. What is it that you think makes you qualified, having never held a leadership position in the house before, to lead the democratics on a legislative level, in terms of trying to stop Donald Trumps agenda, get things done, from the Democratic Party . Well, youve got to be ready to fight. And i come out of youngstown, ohio, politics, so i know how to fight. And i think thats going to be important in the next two years. And you have to work your way back into the majority. We could talk, as democrats, all we want about infrastructure or, you know, the future of work or, you know, technology and all of that stuff. It doesnt mean a hill of beans if youre not in the majority. So this stuff is very integrated. And i just believe that under the current leadership, we cannot get the 40 or so seats were going to need to get back that arent on the coast. Were not a National Party right now, were a coastal party. And if were going to get back in the majority, weve got to build that blue wall that collapsed the other day. Weve got to build it back up. And weve got to go in the Southern States and win congressional seats. Theres going to be an opportunity to do that, because of the cycle and the complete republican control, not just in the national at the national level, but also in states. So were going to have a hell of an opportunity, but we better position ourselves properly with the right message and the right messengers to go out and scoop those trump voters and bring them back into the democratic fold. Do you see any obviously, donald trump won your state. I think he won your district. Do you see any parallels, or are there examples that you will follow from his political arc this year . I mean, do you see yourself and your political efforts as having any parallels to his in the way youre trying to topple, really, an establishment figure . He toppled 16 in my party. Do you see yourself as the donald trump in this race . Well, ive been talking about issues that donald trump was talking about economic issues, anyway, for a long time, and there have been a lot of other democrats that were doing that. And i think if were going to get back in the game as democrats, its about having a robust economic message. We can be progressive, we can stand up for all of those very important issues that we all believe in, equality for all and all the rest, and those are important, but the lead issues got to be economics, nicole. Its got to be robust, its got to be every single day. Look at trump, he had people disagreeing with so many Different Things that he did and said, but the fact of the matter is his economic message pushed out and drowned out Everything Else he was talking about or that other people were talking about. And we need to do that as democrats, because at the end of the day, i feel like were better on those issues than he will be. But, it sounds like youre angry that Hillary Clinton ran a campaign that focused on other issues, on equality, i think you mentioned. Are you angry at the campaign she ran . Im turning the page. Im heartbroken about tuesday night, you know . I mean, it was an earthquake that came through the industrial midwest and the great lakes states. So im heartbroken, but look, i come out of sports. You get knocked down, you get back up. You watch the game, you study, figure out who the opponents are and put a new game plan together. Weve got to turn the page. And to my fellow democrats, especially those that i serve, weve got to ask the question. How many seats are we willing to lose before we make a change . 70 seats, 80 seats, 90 seats . Whats the number before the lightbulb goes off and say, look, we have a responsibility for our kids and grandkids and our party to rebuild and make a change. Congressman, youre from youngstown. You understand the rust belt. Youre a champion of lunch pail economics. Richard trumpka, a guy who shares a lot of your views about a lot of things tweeted out today that nancy pelosi was with us before and after the election. Our agenda is her agenda, and thats why were with her to be a democratic leader. What do you say to rich trumpka . I love rich trumpka, but i think we saw what happened on tuesday. And its time for a change. Look, im running against nancy pelosi, john. Im having a lot of disagreements with some people in my party right now. Im pulling the fire alarm because the house the burning down. And we can sit here and we can play the normal traditional game and were going to get where we got. And where we are right now is not where i want to be. Weve got a lot of young people in this party that want to move up. Weve got a dynamic party. Weve got a good agenda. I think we understand a lot of whats going on in the party and how to rebuild it. That message is not getting out. Weve got to change the quarterback. And its time to do that. I love rich, but i think weve got to go in a different direction. Congressman, great to have you on. Well be back in just a couple moments. Dont let the food you eat during the day haunt you at night. Nexium 24hr. Shuts down your stomachs active acid pumps. To stop the burn of frequent heartburn. All day and night. Have we seen them before . Banish the burn with nexium 24hr. sfx park rides, music andoooh d sounds when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. sighs sadly try this. Only aleve can stop pain for 12 hours. Plus, aleve is recommended by more doctors than any other brand for minor arthritis pain. Aleve. Live whole. Not part. On a day when donald trump held a press conference with the New York Times, weve called in some members of the press for a conference of our own. On set with us here is contributing editor of the weekly standard, john pedoris, and my former white house colleague, david frum. Hi, guys, so i asked you before, so how we doing . Well, were watching the completely unprecedented events unfold in unprecedented ways, minute by minute, granularly. And he does not seem to disappoint on the unprecedented front. Are there any rays of hope in the way hes handled his interactions with the press the past few days . Yesterdays meeting with broadcast journalists and today with the New York Times . Not especially, no. Depends what you mean by hope. I mean for you, do you have hope . Not much. I dont have a lot of hope. I wish i could offer you some hope. I dont have a lot of hope. Youre a very honest man. David frum, i want to ask you he has less hope. I want to ask him a question, theyre related questions. Youre postal focused on corruption, right . David, your attitude is, this is going to be a totally corrupt administration, follow the money. So explain why you basically say, nothing else matters. Just focus on this. Tell us why. I think that why is donald trump president . What is he trying to do . He obviously has no ideas. He obviously doesnt have a lot of regard for the job or even much of an agenda, which switches from minute to minute. What he has made clear is that hes going to get rid of all previous restraints, restrictions on president ial wealthseeking. You know, no one has ever really tried to see, how much money can you make out of the presidency of the United States. But around the world, we have seen authoritarian leaders, sometimes in fairly modern countries, like in hungary, say, i am going to use the lack of transparency in the office to make myself seriously wealthy. And that can succeed. It succeeded in hungary, obviously succeeded in many places in the former soviet union. It succeeded in other semidemocracies. And donald trump is bringing that project right to these shores. Do you have this concern . I asked Kellyanne Conway about this yesterday on the show. Her attitude is basically, hes already seriously wealthy, what are you talking about . Hes a rich, rich guy. If he was in this for the money, he would havent run for president in the first place. He spent a bunch of money and now hes going to try to make America Great again. This is all ridiculous, what frum and others are saying. What do you see the problem with this . That would be the hope and the expectation. But the problem is, we already know, he told the New York Times today, he used the nixon standard, the sort of post1865 reconstruction standard to say that a president cannot exactly be held legally accountable. The only real way to hold a president legally accountable for misbehavior is the Nuclear Option of impeachment. Otherwise, much of the way the constitution is structured, he is not exactly punishable by the court system or the system that we have. So we are in unchartered waters, in the sense that if hes going to say that he can run his business and run the presidency at the same time, if he chooses to, not only is that a conflict of interest, it represents an entirely new idea of moonlighting at the highest level that weve ever possibly seen it. And i would just ask you one question, which is, his behavior is insane in this one sense. He got himself to the presidency, one of the greatest feats in political history on this planet. What does he need this, you know, a golf course, you know, in florida for . What does he need to talk about wind farms on a golf course on scotland for . Thats pipsqueak stuff. Hes the president of the United States. This should all be like, you know, like toy trains to him now. That he has the executive branch of the United States to play with. Since now have hope, can i ask you about another thats just im sorry, go ahead, david. Thats just the appetizer portion. Look, the working motto of this administration, to update dr. Evil in the austin powers series, why make billions when you can make trillions. Donald trump is rich, but not as rich as silvio berlusconi, hes certainly not as rich as Vladimir Putin. Hes not comparing himself to you and me, hes comparing himself to Vladimir Putin and saying, what does he got that ive got . And the scale of wrongdoing that has already begun is unprecedented. As to Kellyanne Conways point about, well, hes already rich, hes too rich to need to steal. Look, one of the things, as we break away from all of the precedents of the history of the american republic, certainly the modern republic, we also as members of the media have to be able to break away from some of our inhibitions and restricti restrictions. Its hard for us to have a guest on our set, look him in the face and say, your just a liar. But the problem is, donald trump lies all the time, every day, hundreds of times a day. And the people around him are supposed to do the same thing. They lie to us all the time. And not just like Hillary Clinton, you know, i dont remember lies. I mean, what dead body . Kind of lies. I dont see a dead body on the carpet in front me, theres no dead body there, and theres a dead body there. Can i ask you something about david mentioned . This authoritarian streak. You obviously arent sleeping well these days. Is this sort of parallel between putins rein, whats happening in t in the philippines. I know davids obsession is the money. Ive read a lot about in your publications about the authoritarian i mean, i think that something very improvisatory is going on. I think he didnt think he was going to win, so the idea was to go back to his business, now hes president and hes like, well, ive got the business and the presidency. As long as im on the phone with a nigel farage, maybe i could tell him to kill the wind farms in scotland. And if im on the phone with the president of argentina, i could put ivanka on and they could talk business. And it hasnt sunk in yet. David thinks it has and this is the purpose, i think it hasnt sunk in yet. He didnt say to the New York Times, i dont even care about my businesses anymore, its not important to me now. If thats true, he can divest himself of the businesses, which is what he should do. Because he is walking into a buzz saw. And i dont care whether he has a Republican Congress or not. You know, if it happens that the president of the United States is enriching himself personally using his office, he will be impeached and earemoved from office, even by a Republican Congress. That is so egregious, it cannot be missed. This is my question, one of the things he asserted that as president of the United States, you cannot have a conflict of interest. You guys are both republicans, okay . Thats a proven fact. So, this is kind of on you here, in the sense that at least on your party whereby what happens now if youre right, david frum, that this is going to be basically a semicriminal enterprise Going Forward, in violation of the constitution, trying to enrich himself in a putin, berlusconi, carlos slim level Going Forward, what will it take at this moment . Trump points out over and over again, everyone in the Republican Party now loves me. Paul ryan loves me, Mitch Mcconnell loves me. Everyone loves me. What would it take for your party to say, hold on, and prosecute him and try to impeach him, is what youre saying, is the only way to stop him. Well, there are ways to stop him short of impeachment, or at least to hinder him. And the very first thing to do is to pass senator wydens bill to require the president to publish tax returns. Thats Something Congress does have the power to do, its hesitated to do it, do it now. That is a powerful prophylactic. Congress should convene a standing Investigative Committee to make sure that there is, that there is no wrongdoing. And that should be set up as a permanent committee, with equal numbers of republicans and democrats in my opinion, just to check whats going on. They should issue subpoenas, freely. Let david finish. Dave, go ahead and finish. So, you dont have to get there to impeachment, to the darkest possibilities. But one more thing, we have to bust out of some frames and we have to bust out of the idea of politics as a game. The institutions of the country are in danger. I actually probably agree, speaking of republicans, quite a lot with donald trump like if he were a different human being, what he would want to do. More than john, i think. I generally agree with his immigration policies, i appreciate his attempt to make the Republican Party more secular and more focused on middle class economics, at least rhetorically. Its not about agendas anymore. Its about protecting the constitutions of the country, at a time when Democratic Institutions across the country are under great pressure. I will say this. We have seen we saw a gigantic victory in 2008, by barack obama, that was presaged by a huge victory in 2006 by the republicans in congress. And the idea that this cant turn on a dime, that if trump looks like a crook, that you couldnt have a reverse Tea Party Rise in the Democratic Party, that would throw the republicans out and block him and investigate him and kill him, you know, beginning in 2018, despite the fact that senate, structurally, is supposed to go the republican way. Weve seen it happen, weve seen it happen in this presidency, we saw it happen to george w. Bush after a big victory in 2004. So we should not be he should not be secure and his people should not be secure in the idea that the love of the Republican Party is going to allow him to do whatever he wants for four years. Let me ask you let me move topics just quickly, because in addition to being a republican, youre also a famed desi ed zio a jew. There are a lot of things coming out of this administration that have a lot of jews worried. People celebrating with heil hitler this weekend ini washington, d. C. Do you feel comforted by that reassurance, both on the specific point of steve bannon and on the broad question of, the emboldened altright . Well, i dont think those are those can be divorced. Im perfectly willing to believe, people tell me that steve bannon is not personally an antisemite, and that hes a supporter of israel. That doesnt mean hes attempting to create a revolution in the Republican Party that he did not consciously harness forces that are, you know, not only aligned, but actively promoting antisemitic tropes, antisemitic ideas, and a kind of general world view that is hostile to jews. So, in that sense, trump can be right and wrong at the same time. And the fact that his soninlaw is an orthodox use doesnt inoculate him, but this is one of those things where well have to see what he does. You know, were still talking about him talking and talking and talking wiand at some point he will act. And when he acts, well have a basis to judge his behavior, not just his words. John podhoerts talking about how were all talking too much. Careful what you wish for. David frum, john poedhaerts, thank you both very much. Well talk to a pair of political strategists in just a moment. If youre watching us down there in washington, d. C. , you can listen to us on the radio at bloomberg 99. 1 f. M. We will be right back. Afoot and lighthearted i take to the open road. Healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. The east and the west are mine. The north and the south are mine. All seems beautiful to me. Whenand now with victoza®etes, theres a moment of truth. A better moment of proof. 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So, stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. The most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Nows the time for a better moment of proof. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Welcome back. Were bringing in two friends of the show. And they also happen to be brilliant political operatives. Steve mcmahon, a democratic strategist and cofounder of Purple Strategies in washington, d. C. , and kim al nonno, a republican strategist, shes also in d. C. Thats fantastic, both in the nations capital. Good to see you both. Kim, you have have had varying views about donald trump over the course of the campaign. At this moment, your view of president elect trump at this moment, your view of president elect trump is fill in the blank. Its a waitandsee approach, i guess, still. I apologize. I think hes doing fine. I think everybody has got their hair on fire. Everybody needs to chill out. Hell be fine. All right, steve, i have a feeling your view might be slightly darker. A little darker, and thats probably not surprising. I think the interesting question in washington is the extent to which the republicans in the senate, in particular follow him or fight him. Theres already some evidence tonight that some of the maverick senators like senator rand paul and ted cruz are going to fight him a little bit. Lindsey graham, john mccain, jeff flake, ben sasse. Hes got some people that hes got to try to keep in line in his own party. And i think thats going to be at least as much of a challenge for him as trying to get democrats in line. Kim, do you think he will relish fighting with the republican establishment more or the do you think he will relish fighting with the democrats more . I think hes going to relish just being trump, which is fighting with everybody. You know, he could care less whether the republicans or the democrats who are elected officials and have been there forever like him or not. And hes proved it. Hes picked some initial picks that dont go with along with what some people want. And then he has others that irk the other side of the fence. So, i think youre going to see trump be trump from here on out, which is, ill do what i want, thank you very much. Can i follow up with you, steve. Do you think that his first accomplishment might be something that he gets done with senator schumer instead of a republican . I think it could be. I mean, you know, if you look at what hes doing right now in appointments, you would have to wonder what his agenda is. He seems to be rewarding the sycophants and the followers rather than the republican establishment choices like mitt romney and some of the others that hes paraded through there. And so, i think hes a dealmaker, though. And hes going to ultimately do whatevers best for donald trump and Donald Trumps brand. If thats to cut a deal with chuck schumer, then im sure hell do it. I dont know how happy that will make his supporters and i dont know how easy it will make his reelection if he plans to run for reelection, but i do think thats kind of the nature of donald trump, to do whats in his interests and only in his interests. Ill ask you a question which we debated earlier on the show, we looked at that trump video from last night, that was his message to the American People on his policy priorities. And ill start with you, steve. Notably missing, repealing the Affordable Care act, building the wall, the muslim ban, you know, locking up Hillary Clinton. All of the most incendiary proposals, that were his signature proposals, not mentioned in the video whatsoever. How do you read that, the absence of those Campaign Promises from his, ostensibly, his first governing document . He seems to be taking the attitude that that was then and that was the campaign. I had whatever i had to say to close the deal, to get the deal done, and now im going to govern in a way that is uniquely and distinctly donald trump. I think in some respects, thats a good thing. In other respects, its a very dangerous thing. Because there are some voters that put him into office that expect him to keep the promises that he made. I think the decision he made about secretary clinton is a smart and wise one. I think the Affordable Care act is going to be a lot more difficult to unwind than he thought. And i think that building the wall is ridiculous and always has been, but he seems to have stuck with it, through the campaign. I think hes abandoning it right now. Kim, what do you think about that video . I said earlier that it made minimum look a little bit like a conventional politician for maybe the First Time Ever in his life. What was your take on that video . I would say two things. One, its what he can the in the first hundred days, all by himself. So some of those Campaign Promises that he talked about require, you know, action from the congress. And i think what hes trying to say is,time going to pick off the stuff i can do all by myself, by issuing, you know, executive orders, et cetera, and get it done, and then i think hell tackle the next issues. I think Donald Trumps supporters want more than anything, actual action, something to happen, something to be significantly accomplished, quickly, and he gets that. You know, youre assuming on the same, that donald trump is should be judged on the same plain as past president ial winners, and i think that weve got to stop doing that. We did that in an entire campaign and he proved us wrong the whole way. I think hes going to do it the way he wants to do it. And i give him credit for understanding his voters, and knowing that theyre hungry for something tangible to get done. Can i ask you if you think there are any limits to that hunger . I guess to both of you. Are there limits to that hunger, when might that limit stop short of, well, im not going to deport anybody, because these are families im actually going to keep in tact. Where is the limit, do you think, that his supporters will tolerate, in terms of reversing we talked about ann coulter, how upset shes going to be. She might actually cry in public if he doesnt follow through on any of his immigration policies. I agree with you, i think they have a lot of tolerance to adjust now that hes in the office. But where do you think that line is . Take immigration, first. Well, you know, people said something very smart, i wish i had thought it up. But his voters took him seriously, not literally. So i think that if he adheres to the spirit of what he said, which i think spoke to the peoples fears of, you know, immigrants coming in or refugees coming in that would put america in danger, undocumented immigrants taking jobs. I think if he adheres to the spirit by, say, Going Forward with deporting Illegal Immigrants who have committed crimes, i think thats a headnodder across the spectrum. So two million instead of 11 million. You think he could get away with that . Absolutely. I think he could. I think if he gets to the beginning of some change that has so more broad brush appeal just to his hardcore supporters, i think theyll be okay with that. At least hes doing something. I think thats the line youll hear a lot, well, at least hes doing something. My own view is not surprisingly a little bit different. I think donald trump made a series of very specific promises that his supporters expect him to keep. And i think he doubled down on those promises again and again and again. And his supporters stood and cheered when he did that. You know, theres a rule in this town that you can get almost anything done if youre president and your Approval Rating is high enough. But if he starts adding his supporters to the list of people who dont like and dont approve of the job hes doing, hes going to have a very difficult time Getting Congress to do anything. The voters who put him in office first and foremost want something to happen, as kim pointed out. They want very specific things that he promised to happen. He doesnt seem willing or able to do any of those things, or at least many of those things were missing in his pronouncements so far. And i dont think youre going to see any of them in the next hundred days or the next six months or the next four years. All right, steve and kim, i would loved to have time to speak to you both about the state of the Democratic Party, but unfortunately, that is a very long conversation and it would have made steve weep openly, like nicole wants to see ann coulter weep no, i just Steve Mcmahon she wants to see it. Steve mcmahon and kim alfano, great to see you. Well be right back. At outback, steak and unlimited shrimp is back for just 15. 99 for a limited time. Try unlimited garlic herb butter, or crispy shrimp for just 15. 99. And let the bold flavors speak for themselves. With unlimited shrimp at outback. See me. See me. Dont stare at me. See me. See me. See me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. Im not contagious. See me to know that. I wont stop until i find what works. Discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75 skin clearance at 3 months. While the majority saw 90 clearance. Do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. See me. See me. See me. On my way. Find clear skin. And a clearer path forward. For a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. President obama had a ceremonial starstudded day at the ye old white house today. Well talk about that and more ton with all due respect right after this. Picking up for kyle. Here you go. You wouldnt put up with part of a pizza. Um. Something wrong . So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . You want the whole thing . Yes, yes live whole. Not part. Aleve. Im not a customer, but im calling about that credit scorecard. Give it. Sure its free for everyone. Oh well thats nice and checking your score wont hurt your credit. Oh im so proud of you. Well thank you. Free at at discover. Com creditscorecard, even if youre not a customer. Today at the white house, president obama awarded his last batch of president ial medals of freedom to an allstar list of 20 armed recipients. Our thanks to ellen degeneres, tom hanks, and all the others. Our script writers decided to the no include lauren michaelses of saturday night live fame, come on, and vince gulley. And Bruce Springsteen holy mowly. Until tomorrow, from nicole and me, still baffled by the absence of vince scully in the script, we say to you, sayonara. Coming up, hardball with Chris Matthews. Hillary walks. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. Donald trump once called Hillary Clintons email scandal bigger than watergate. His supporters chanted lock her up. Well, today the president elect said he wasnt interested in pursuing a criminal case against clinton, as he promised to do. He told the New York Times, its just not something i feel very strongly about. Well, earlier today, an adviser to trump, Kellyanne Conway, was asked about republicans in washington who still want