Transcripts For WRC Meet The Press 20171217

And republicans get the votes to pass their tax bill. This is going to be one of the great gifts to the middleincome people of this country. But can they keep their promise that the tax cuts may for themselves . And who gets hurt if they dont . Ill ask the white house director of legislative affairs, mark short. Joining me for insight and analysis are syndicated columnist george will, Helene Cooper of the the new york times, al cardenas, former head of the american conservative union, and former Obama Deputy Campaign manager Stephanie Cutter. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. If you have the sense that history may be repeating itself, youre not alone. Back in 2010, there was a president with sinking Approval Ratings, an unpopular piece of legislation, obamaca a republican, scott brown, won a senate race in cobalt blue massachusetts, suggesting a huge republican wave was coming. Well, it was. Republicans won 63 house seats in 2010 and 6 senate seats. Today we have a president with sinking Approval Ratings, an unpopular piece of legislation, the tax bill, supported by just one party, and a democrat, doug jones, won a senate race in ruby red alabama. Democrats are hoping to catch a wave and sit on top of the political world. In our brandnew nbc news wall street journal poll, it suggests that the surfs up. When asked who they would prefer to control congress, 50 said democrats, just 39 said republicans. You have to understand, our poll doesnt show this very often, this kind of spread. It was the first time the democrats have been at 50 in our poll with a doubledigit lead since september 2008, before the obamaled democratic wave of that year. The enthusiasm is all with the democrats as well. 59 of democrats tell interest in next years elections compared to just 49 for republicans. As for President Trump, his Approval Rating stands at 41 in our poll, versus 56 who say they disapprove of his performance. Thats slightly better for him than two months ago, when the results were 38 58 . Still that 41 is lower than any other president has scored in our poll at this stage of the presidency. And a year out from the 2018 midterms, the democrats do have reason to be optimistic. The people of alabama have spoken. They have said we [ cheers and applause ] a stunning Democratic Victory in a deep red state is the latest evidence that it may be time for republicans to panic. Challenged by the president to vote for roy moore get out and vote for roy moore. Many republicans stayed home. And in a state which elected mr. Trump last year with 62 of the vote, just 48 of voters the president. They run, you know, as a party of trump and moore, thats, like i said, thats not a winning combination in 2018. Democrats see a wave of enthusiasm heading into 2018. I think that the energy going into 2018 has already begun. Reporter africanAmerican Voters were highly motivated on tuesday, making up a higher share of the electorate than in 2012. The last time president obama was on the ballot. Plus, the cultural revolution on the issue of Sexual Harassment and assault did not skip over alabama, contributing to a 16point advantage for doug jones with women, powered by 98 support among africanamerican women. And alabama once again exposed the deep divisions between the Republican Partys establishment and populist wings. I know were supposed to cheer for our side of the aisle, if you will, but im really, really happy with what happened. Republicans blame roy moore. This is a rebuke of candidate. We had a blemished candidate. We had a flawed candidate. Alabamans didnt want somebody who dated 14yearold girls. But despite moores obvious flaws, democrats are sounding confident. The republican brand, even in deep red alabama, is positively toxic. One challenge for the party, within base voters are enthusiastic about impeachment, and democrats risk overplaying their hand. You dont think impeachment should be the primary message of the Democratic Party in 2018 . No, i do not. Democrats are defending 26 senate seats next year compared with just 8 for republicans. Ten of those democratic seats are in states mr. Trump won, including five where he won by at least 18 points, but democrats just won a senate seat in a state he carried by 28 points, and the party is becoming extraordinarily confident about its chances in the house. I think were going to win the senate and the house. Joining me now is one of those red is on the ballot in 2018, senator joe manchin of West Virginia. Senator manchin, welcome back to the show, sir. Thanks for having me, chuck. Let me start with this. You are representing a state that President Trump won by 40 points. Youre up for reelection in 2018. Does doug jones 43 points, to be exact. There you go. Does doug jones victory in alabama, does that give you more confidence, or does that tell you, well, if i get to run against roy moore, i can win . Well, i feel good in my state. Ive been in my state all my life, born and raised here, and ive been in Public Office for quite some time in different capacities, most recently as governor before u. S. Senator. So, i think the people know me. My brand is very independent, and my brand is all about West Virginia. And you have to be, whether youre a democrat or republican, you have to be who you are for the state you represent, and i think people know that im going to put West Virginia and my country ahead of my party. What should chuck s this . Theyre the titular heads of your party right now on both the house and the senate. What lesson do you want them to take away from doug jones in alabama . Well, let me just talk about washington democrats, which im not one i am not a washington democrat. I am a West Virginia democrat. And i believe that doug jones is an alabamian democrat. Washington democrats have to understand, were a little bit different. We do, and we are very much concerned about the social issues that have divided, and it seems like the democrats have abandoned, but were going to stay true to our roots and who we are. And as long as they understand that and leave us alone, let us do our job here, were going to be just fine. When we go to washington, its not whether Chuck Schumer, who i am the world of, a good guy and a nice person and a good friend of mine, but still, yet, chuck knows im going to be voting for West Virginia. He understands that. And he knows exactly who i am. And the people in West Virginia know who i am, so thats really what its about, and thats what doug jones needs to do. Look, youre not the only politician ive run into who says whoa, whoa, whoa, im not going to be sign of the national party. People know in my state and will judge me in my state, but you know politics are national these days, more than this the used to be. Let me ask you this about the national message. Theres a lot of base democrats that are fired up about the idea of impeaching President Trump. You have 58 House Democrats vote for that idea. You have a billionaire donor to the party who may want to run for the u. S. Senate talking about the idea. Do you think that that is good or bad for your chances at reelection in 2018, if impeachment is one of the National Messages of the Democratic Party . Heres the thing, chuck, that really bothers me more than anything. Because i am up for reelection washington that im going to vote differently or ill be differently or ill have to cowtail, if you will, to what they think might be popular. I dont think impeachment is something we should be talking about. If facts come out, if these investigations go down that line, and if the rule of law is exercised and we see that there is reason to go in that direction, the house will make that decision first before its given to the senate, so im not going to waste my time or energy on that. I think its futile at this point in time. Theres so much that needs to be done for this country, for our military to be strong and defend us and for a tax reform, not just a tax cut, that works for all americans. Let me pick up on two points you just brought up. One, quickly, is the investigation. Youre on the senate intel committee. I know youre part of that investigation. Right. One of your colleagues, senator roy blunt, he said the following about the bob mueller issues right now. I am dhaernd he couldnt put a Team Together that wasnt so the ideological spectrum. But maybe even somebody as capable and experienced as mueller can learn a lesson from this. Do you believe muellers investigation has been compromised, pure and simple . Not i do not at all believe that mr. Muellers has been compromised, or his investigation. I think hes beyond reproach. I think anybody whos ever worked with him, who have watched him operate for the last how many years, under democrats and republicans, they even asked him to stay on after the bush administration. I think that he is the person, the right person, that when he finishes his investigation, that were going to have confidence it was done in a fair and balanced way. I truly believe that, and im not led to believe that anybody on the Intelligence Committee thinks that he would not be the right person, theres anybody better than him. Have you been troubled at all of what youve seen come out of the selective leaking of these texts that have come out of the Justice Department regarding yeah, that bothers you, but these are human beings, too, i understand on both sides, but the bottom line is that mr. Mueller got rid of the people immediately as soon as he was made aware of them, and thats not going to impede his investigation, and i think in a fair and unbiased way. Let me pick up on taxes. It was interesting to me that you said you wanted to work on tax reform instead of just tax cuts. I take it thats a little subtle jab at this tax bill. You didnt vote for it, but you also claimed this is not the bill President Trump wanted. Thats not what hes saying. He seems to be really excited about this bill. How did you get cut out of this . I think a lot of us expected you to be more involved in this process. I wanted to be more involved. First of all, i thanked the president for inviting me to the white house. I was there for lunch. I was there for a dinner. We spoke about really reform, such as what Ronald Reagan did in the 1986. It was total reform. Orat simpson recommended in bowles simpson. That was reform. And the president told me, joe, this will not be a tax cut for the rich like me. And i said, mr. President , thats good. He said its going to be for the average working person whos got left behind. I said, thats great well, i really believed that the president wanted to work in a bibipartisan way. Mark short and i have been talking. We exchanged ideas back and forth. I gave them a whole litany of things that i thought ten or more democrats would vote for, to have it 60 or 65 votes. I really believe is possible if you had regular order. Once Mitch Mcconnell has decided that 51 votes was all that was needed and theyre all going to be republicans and make it political, thats exactly what happened. All right, so let me clarify this this is not a reform. This is a tax cut. Let me clarify, you dont hold the president responsible for this, you hold Mitch Mcconnell responsible for this tax bill . I think Mitch Mcconnell basically told the president , we can do this un reconciliation, which is a budget gimmick. He passed a budget with 500 billion of deficit going in. So, he had 1. 5 trillion of deficit to work with and giveaways tax cuts and everything else, rather than revenueneutral, which is what Ronald Reagan did, which is what bowles and simpson did, which is what i wanted to do and many republicans kind of wanted to do, i thought, but thats not what we ended up with. And chuck, the only thing about it, when you look in 86, Ronald Reagan did it and did it in a way that everyone was involved and got bipartisan support. Right. George bush number one had to pay the price for that, because he saw that we had an exploding debt that wasnt supposed to have happened, but it did, and he had to make adjustments for our country, which he did and sacrificed his own political career and reelection as president. This is what were dealing with. And im saying, anybody that would have gone, chuck, to the allmember hearing that we had last thursday, the thursday before, and heard the readiness of our military, the need that th clear conscience this is the right thing for america, our children and our country all right. They were at a different meeting than i was at. Senator manchin, unfortunately, ive got leave it there, democrat from West Virginia. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate you sharing your views. Well, thank you. Appreciate it. You got it. Joining me now is republican Governor John Kasich of ohio. Governor kasich, welcome back to meet the press. Thanks, chuck. All right, i will start where i ended there with senator manch manchin, which is on the tax bill. Right. But id like you to answer the question from the point of view of a governor whos got your own fiscal issues to deal with. Is this tax bill good for the state of ohio . Yeah, i think chuck, heres whats in that bill. And i know this has been characterized in many different ways that i dont happen to agree with. Look, the Corporate Tax rate in our country was way too high, one of the highest in the world. We needed to bring that down so that companies are going to invest in america and not invest overseas. In there i dont know all the details of it that if you made money overseas, you can bring your money back here. Youre going to be able to repatriate that money, which means thats more money, hopefully, for investment. Small businesses are given a break, something i did in ohio, which is why were up about 500,000 jobs here in the state since ive been governor. Look, do i think they could have done better for the middle class . I do. Do i think they could have done better for the working poor . I mean, rubio tried to get something. He made some progress. But they could have, you know, increased the rates a little bit for big business. It wouldnt have mattered a little bit, and given more relief out, so why do you think they didnt . Why do you think they didnt . Is it the lack of inclusion of democrats in there and a lack of need for compromise . Well, yeah, let me say what manchin said is true, because i was there in 1986. It wasnt just Ronald Reagan, it was senator bradley, it was senat senator because Ronald Reagan was special, too. And it was tough. In the end, because they made drastic changes in the code, and i remember the Real Estate Industry went crazy, the democrat and republican senators stood on the edge of the cliff and just like Butch Cassidy and the sundance kid, they held hands and they jumped. And you know what, we got great progress. We got a cleanedup code and lower rates. But remember, at that point in time, the top rate was 70 . Its not that today. But look, i do believe that cutting taxes makes sense. My concern about this bill is the debt. Yep. And they did not do enough to be able to cover this bills not going to pay for itself. Everybody knows that. So, at the end, chuck, heres the problem, is debt gets higher and higher and higher, it slows the economy down. So when you cut taxes to provide more Economic Growth and at the same time, you drive up the debt, they kind of work in opposite of one another and you dont get the and thats why they have to look at the savings. You dont wind up getting the i want to talk about the state of the Republican Party, but also the state of your relationship with the Republican Party. Heres montage of various things youve said this year about your relationship with this version of the Republican Party Merry Christmas exactly. Can you offer yourself as an alternative as a thirdparty candidate . Very chris, im not doing anything now to plan, other than to have an organization at what point do you think you wont be able to change your party . I never give up, chuck. If the party cant be fixed, jake, then im not going to be able to support the party, period. Well, here we are in december. Yeah. Is the party in a better place than it was at the start of this year or in a worse place, and where are you . Are you prouder to be a republican today than you were at the start of this year . Well, im always proud to be a republican, but the party is my vehicle, never been my master. Chuck, when you look at alabama, theres some very interesting things. 20,000 they think 20,000 republicans voted for somebody that wasnt i would also say senator shelby, he spoke out and said he was not for the candidate down there. In other words, were beginning to see more of a tugofwar pulling people towards a better position on the party. Thats my sense. And in terms of so, im kind of optimistic with some of the things, but heres the thing, two paths. There are some in the party that look at problems, and theyre negative and theyre angry and theyre small, and theres other people that look at the problems and say we can fix them. So, instead of losing the future, which is what were doing today, turning off millennials. Let me just give you an example. Can you explain to me why the Republican Party thats a majority in the house and the senate with a republican president dont tell the d. R. E. A. M. Ers, the daca kids that theyre going to be able to stay in the United States . That makes no sense. And the idea that they were just going to get rid of obamacare, which needs to be reformed, and then people were going to lose their health insurance, what are they thinking . And they need to do something to make sure that program doesnt go away. Up. Immigration. What are you, kidding . I mean, immigrants have helped our country. Trade. Were not antitrade. And the millennials believe we have a global place in the world and were losing them, chuck. But look, i keep thinking, i look at alabama, and i say people are not happy with us being small, angry, and narrow. Theyre starting to say no. That means that those of us who believe in a positive party are beginning to win, but we have a long way to go. Let me ask you this, you had some optimism about the president when you met with him in february this year. You said you were optimistic that he listened to you, listened to your concerns at the time, at the time in particular focused on health care and the concerns you had about it. Ive got to ask you, what is your relationship today . Whens the last time you and the president have spoken . And are you optimistic about his presidency still . Well, first of all, i havent spoken to him for a very long time. I think he called me during the Health Care Debate in the house, and i told him at the time i couldnt support the bill, and that is the last timeve spoken to him. But see, chuck, what im trying to do is lead by whats happening in my state, which is, you know, were up jobs, weve got money in the bank, were taking were making sure people at the bottom get help and theyre not ignored. So, we have a policy here, weve got a problem, were going to go and fix it. We dealt with race. Were now beginning to deal with the problem of gun violence. We dont turn we dont put our heads in the sand. We look at problems and we look for positive solutions. And thats my message to the national party. Thats my message to anybody at the white house that wants to listen. And look, chuck, i think being open, being positive, being pro growth and solving problems for the future and stop thinking of what the hecks happened in the past. Move on, because if they dont do it, were going to lose a lot of elections. Very quickly, i have a quick Foreign Policy question for you. Senator Lindsey Graham said this about the chances of the u. S. Resorting to a military response against north korea. He said, and he appeared to be sort of channeling the president here i would say theres a three in ten chance we use the military option. If the noror bomb, their seventh, i would say 70 . Country ready for the idea no, no. That we may be headed for a military confrontation . In the beginning, i think the president by putting pressure on north korea was doing the right thing, but this is its getting carried away in bluster and threats and throwing around the fact that were going to be engaged in some kind of a war that could involve Nuclear Weapons or result in the death of millions of people, i just, i think is just not right and i dont think its correct Foreign Policy. Heres what i do believe. I dont believe we have put the sanctions on across the board, including those things that would affect chinese banks, those things that would require that you cannot have a global transformation of dollars called the Swift Program or the ability to insure ships that travel. The fact is, the United States needs to put together, chuck, a coalition, the same way we did with iran, to put the kind of pressure on both the chinese and th we have not done that, regardless of what they say, we havent done it. You need to squeeze them. Im going to leave it there, but as you know, i dont think this president is very into the iran example either, governor. Well, thats what brought them to the table, chuck. Maybe the deal was flawed, okay, but it got them to the table, because the pressure that was put on them economically severe. Its the same kind of pressure across the board that youd put on north korea that will affect chinese banks. Now chuck, ive got to tell you, i had a Christmas Party last night and somebody said what are you doing tomorrow . I said what am i doing tomorrow . Well, tomorrows sunday, isnt it . And therefore, its meet the press. There it is. How better way to end it right there . Governor kasich, Merry Christmas. Happy holidays god bless. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. When we come back, much more on the changing Political Landscape and why democrats now think they do have a real chance of capturing the house, and now, thanks to doug jones, the senate as well. music plays throughout [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. This is a power plant. This is tim barckholtz. Thats me this is something he is researching at exxonmobil using fuel cells to capture Carbon Emissions at power plants. This is the potential. Reducing co2 emissions by up to 90 . While also producing more power. This could be big. Energy lives here. Welcome back. Panel is with us, syndicated columnist george will, Helene Cooper of the new york times, former obama Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter and head of the american conservative union, al cardenas. Welcome, all. The Republican Party. I want to read you something, george, and give you the first start here. This is what Michael Gerson wrote, this is the sad logic of republican Politics Today the only way that elected republicans will abandon trump is if they see it in their selfinterest, and the only way they will believe it is in their selfinteresting is to watch a considerable amount of their fellow republicans lose, thats the summary of the post analysis alabama. What say you . Selfinterest is broken out in american politics. Are you shocked . Who knew . Yes. I think thats right. I think these people are having trouble trying to find out how to balance the fact that he does, in fact, set the tone of the party and portion of the base is still furiously enthusiastic about him, and therefore, they have to navigate this. It does help that he and his echo, mr. Bannon, failed in alabama, but with an extraordinarily flawed candidate. They came very close. Let me look, im going to put up here, al, the various missed opportunities, thanks to essentially flawed candidates for the Republican Party. You have the infamous 2010 trio of angle, buck, and odonnell. Nevada, colorado, im not a witch. And the 2012 duo on their weird beliefs about the issue of race, Richard Mourdock in indiana, akin of missouri, and now roy moore. Thats six successes theyve handed the democrats. No doubt. Flawed candidates have been too much a part of our history in the primary and thats why im for open primaries. I think when you narrow the field to dont come up with a best possible candidate, but thats for another day. Look, im a lot more worried about the Election Results in virginia than i am in alabama. Alabama, the candidate was an anomaly, just like the ones you cited. In virginia, we had a great candidate, i thought, and Ed Gillespies a superb candidate, and we lost there, but we lost down field. And those state, senate and house losses of good people worry me a lot. Alabama. How much do you take away from it for the democrats . Well, i think if alabama were in isolation, then you would have to look at it based on the flawed candidacy, but its not an isolation. It is the latest in the trend that weve been seeing all year. Special elections, even in very deep red states, democrats might not be taking all of them, but the margins that they are making up in very deep red districts are significant. Add that to virginia, alabama, whats happening all over the country. Republicans are having a hard time recruiting people to run. These are all signs that something is happening, so alabama is not an isolated incident. There are very deep, troubling signs for the Republican Party coming up. I want to show more from that generic ballot we just released, 11point lead for the democrats. Let me take you inside the numbers on who should control congress. Those ages 18 to 34 prefer democrats by 48 points, 69 21 , thats not a misprint. Women favor democrats to control congress by 20, independents by 12. These are landslide numbers among those demographics. They really are, but at the same time, i think its important for us to remember, particularly when you look at the alabama election, that close to 600,000 people still voted for an incredibly flawed candidate, which says that at one level, the republicans have a deep base thats not going to go anywhere. So theyre starting from this certain percentage, and they have nowhere, you know, that puts them in a better position out of the starting gate. That said, you know, youre right, i thie looking at another case of, you know, what happened in 2010 with, where sort of in 2009 you saw the scott brown and Martha Coakley massachusetts special election give way to the wave and the blowback against president obama, and you are starting to see something that looks like that now. Democrats are well positioned to pick up seats in nevada and arizona. They in the last week or so got a very strong candidate whos run statewide in tennessee twice, a popular exgovernor. And the democrats who should be in trouble in red states carried by enormous margins by trump in north dakota and montana, for example, are not in trouble. Ever since eisenhower, the party in the white house has lost seats in congress and state legislatures, with the exception of Ronald Reagan during his first term. All the conditions that we see now indicate that. And so, the question really is are we going to lose majorities or t, losing some seats. Theres a second question, also, and that is, is the country better off, do we have better government, if congress is divided . And i think it is. Yes. Stephanie, i noticed a little pattern here of these candidates that democrats have had some success with, ralph northam, doug jones, phil murphy, even jon ossoff. I guess charitably ill call them bland, meaning, you know, theyre not firebreathers on the left. Is that something democrats ought to very quietly be looking for, is very sort of just nonthreateningtype, moderatestyle candidates, even if theyre not moderate in their ideolo ideology . I actually think what senator manchin said was what democrats need to do, and i think Chuck Schumer keeps this front of mind all the time, that the candidates need to fit the state or fit the district, and thats what you saw with northam, thats what you saw with jones, thats what you saw with ossoff, except for the fact he didnt live there. That was a problem. That was a problem. And these guys fit the states, and they run you know, jones ran as an alabamian. But dont forget, its the Democratic Base that is getting them over the line. Right. Its the hard, true blue democrats, its the black voters. These are the people that are getting these suddenly come turning out at the polls, and theyre the ones who are drawing the most fascinating thing is the theme. What are we going to run on, the personalities or getting things done, problemsolving . I think theres a growing caucus in the house and in the senate, the senate led by joe manchin and susan collins, of problemsolvers, people getting sick and tired of gridlock, and well see what that brings. And not ideological, which is what people are looking sgrorks but she brings up the basis, do want that anyway, thats tension. Well discuss that later in the show. When we come back, if the new tax bill is so good for the middle class, as so many republicans ronoh really . Gs going on at schwab. Thank you clients . Well jd power did just rank them with full Service Brokerage firms. Again. And online equity trades are only 4. 95. I mean you cant have low cost and be full service. Its impossible. Its like having your cake and eating it too. Ask your broker if they offer awardwinning full service and low costs. How am i going to explain this . If you dont like their answer, ask again at schwab. Schwab, a modern approach to wealth management. Ive always been a morning person. 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Traders theyre always looking for advantages. The smart ones look to fidelity to find them. We give you research and datavisualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. So, you can do it this way. Or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just 4. 95 per online u. S. Equity trade. Fidelity. Open an account today. Welcome back. Republicans are hoping to pass their tax cut bill this week and give President Trump a chance to sign the bill into law before christmas. The bill does this it lowers the Corporate Tax rate from 35 to 21 . It lowers the top individual rate from 39. 6 an added bonus to those at the top, it raises the income level where that rate kicks in. But the bill also nearly doubles the standard deductions for taxpayers who do not itemize, potentially a big help for lower and moderateincome households, and it doubles the Child Tax Credit. Also, there were a number of changes in the final days that restored or expanded popular deductions, like those for Student Loans and for medical expenses. Still, some economists say this bill is heavily tilted in favor of the wealthy, and most americans seem to agree with that assessment. 65 said that, according to a quinnipiac poll out this week, and that perception could become a big challenge for the republicans in 2018. Joining me now is the white house director of legislative affairs, mark short. Mr. Short, welcome back to the show, sir. Chuck, thank for having me back. Im going to play for you a list of promises the president made when it came to taxes and discuss them with you after you hear it. Here it is. At the center of our plan is massive tax relief for the american middle c instead of seven. Were doing a major, major, major simplification. And were going to make it nice and simple, and were getting rid of carried interest. All of this does not add to our debt or our deficit. In other words, its going to cost me a fortune. All right, none of those things are true right now. We can debate the middle class aspect in a minute. I know that is that i can see. But were still at seven brackets, no more tax simplification. We still have the carried interest issue, which is something he vowed to get rid of multiple times as a candidate. And by the way, he does personally benefit from every analysis on this, and there is a hit on the debt. What do you say to those broken promises that candidate donald trump made on taxes . Chuck, there are many deliveries here in the bill that the president made promises on. One, it does simplify the tax code. Some of the things youre not talk being is it eliminates oil and Gas Production credits. It also eliminates many deductions that families and businesses were taking, specifically lobbying expenses. Its helping drain the swamp. There are promises he made that hes delivering on. There are certain things here that made it impossible to work around every single one of those. But whats most important is weve lowered the corporate rate from 35 to 21 to bring jocbs back to our country, a signature accomplishment in the bill. He is delivering tax relief for families across the country. For a single mom exg 40,000 a year with two children, she gets a 1,400 tax benefit. For the family of four earning 70,000, a get a 2,000 tax benefit. He delivered on his promise to take care of middleincome families as well as tax relief. There are several elements we simplified. We didnt get everything we wanted. Its part of the compromise here you have to work it. Its interesting that you led with the single accomplishment here you think is on the corporate side of things. You made that permanent. The middle class relief that you described is not permanent. And in fact, in order to stay within the creeping up when they expire. And i know you believe that a future Congress Wont have the guts to let it expire, but thats why subject individual americans to that cliff and not corporate snerk. Its a fair question, chuck, but heres the reality, is that we would love to have the individual side permanent, too. The reality is that corporations need to make investments years in advance to know whats going to happen, as opposed to numbers continuing to gyrate. So youre giving them assurances as to where were going to be ten years out so they can make longterm investments in our country. The budget reconciliation rules in the senate are somewhat arcane and make it difficult to do both. If we could get the individual side permanent, we would love to do that and we will continue to work to do so. If right what joe manchin said, if you opened up a bipartisan door, you could have done real reform, instead of just a tax cut . It is real reform, the most significant since 1986. I sat in joe manchins office many evenings trying to find a bipartisan. Im sorry he continues to torture himself by staying in the party of Chuck Schumer and elizabeth warren. We think there were ways he could have helped us out, but we couldnt find enough Democratic Senators to get us above the threshold, therefore we go the budget reconciliation route because this is important to the economy and the American People. Talk being 2018, speaker ryan said he wants entitlement reform to be a focus of 2018. Heres what the president promised on the campaign trail about entitlements. Save medicare, medicaid, and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it. Get rid of the fraud. Get rid of the waste and abuse, but save it. Will that Campaign Promise be held by the president , no matter what speaker ryan proposes . Yes, that Campaign Promise will be held. No cuts. No way anybody will interpret any reform of medicare as a cut, hell veto it . Keep in mind, what we tried to do when we tried to repeal obamacare would have had the reform in medicaid to make sure the program was preserved. Its an unsustainable path, so the president does not want the president didnt want to do any cuts there, but you did do cuts in medicaid. Because he was trying to protect the program. Right now its on an unsustainable path that will not last. Without cuts. So that is a pledge he cant keep. On medicaid, hes looked to make sure the program was preserved for future generations. All right, ive got to ask you about the alabama special election, what you said to me a month ago about this race. There is nothing more important than the notion of child pedophilia, chuck. Thats the reality. Alabamans agreed with you, but the president didnt. Why . Well, the president felt as his responsibility to the party, he is the standard bearer of the party, hes who the party chose, but he recognized that roy moore was a deeply flawed candidate and the day after, the president called doug jones and congratulated him on a wellrun campaign and said i look forward to working with you when you get here. We frankly hope doug jones will help us change the climate in washington where we can actually begin to work i manner. The question is will doug jones work to represent the people of alabama or side with Chuck Schumer and lelizabeth warren o their agenda. If you knew the president was going to support roy moore, would you have voted for him . Those sendments were heartfelt. Let me ask you about the news overnight. I know there is a lawyer for the trump transition, trump for america, that says that bob muellers investigation got the transition emails, ptt. Gov is how all those email addresses end, and got those governmentissued, or governmentused emails unlawfully. Muellers office says thats not true. A statement this morning we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process, implying, perhaps, that there was a subpoena to gsa. Do you believe these were unlawfully gotten . Chuck, thankfully, im not in communication with the transition lawyer for the trump team. The reality is that this administration has complied in every single possible way with the special counsel and millions of dollars on this investigation that has not yet proven any sense of collusion with the russians. I think the American People are ready to turn the page. Okay, but is the president going to continue to cooperate or is he he is continuing to cooperate. Is he setting the stage for firing bob mueller . No no, theres no theres no way hes going to fire him . Is. There is no conversation about that whatsoever in the white house, chuck. None whatsoever. You guys keep bringing that up. We have continued to cooperate in every possible way with that investigation. All right. Marc short, well leave it there. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming on, sharing your views. Chuck, thanks for having me. When we come back, the republican defeat in alabama on tuesday was a lot more about roy moore, and why that s when sundown pales the sky i want to hide a while behind your smile ah, but i may as well try and catch the wind our mission is to make offshore wind involved in a first of its kind project. Citi saw the promise of clean energy. Were polluting the air less. Businesses and homes can rely on a steady source of power. This will be the first of many offshore wind farms in the u. S. For standing in your heart is where i want to be and long to be ah, but i may as well try and catch the wind Money Managers are pretty much the same. All but while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other Money Managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Welcome back. Data download time. Republicans are very quick to point out roy moores many flaws as a candidate and want to call his loss in alabama simply an outlier. But alabama is another example of a bigger issue for the gop a retreat from the suburbs. Let me explain. In the five counties where the most votes were cast, places with the big suburban populations, republican roy he lost these counties in total by 24 percentage points. Compare that to how republican senator Richard Shelby did in his race a year earlier. He won those same counties by 9 percentage points. Of course, he had the advantage of incumbency and it was a president ial turnout. Still a striking swing. In 2017, you could see the beginnings of this suburban tide rolling in offyear races across the country. This was apparent in the governors races last month in new jersey and virginia. In new jersey, the top five counties gave democrat phil murphy an 11point edge. The same counties went republican for Chris Christie by 23 points four years earlier. In virginia, the advantage was 23 points for the democrat, ralph northam. In 2013, those same counties gave the democrat only a 10point edge. Even in places where republicans won special elections in 2017, there were signs of suburban erosion, and that infamous georgia six special, suburban handel eked out a fourpoint win, but in november 2016, the margin for that suburban house seat was 23 points. Similar story in the kansas fourth district, which includes the suburbs around wichita. Republican ron estes won his special election by six points. The year before, the seat went republican by a whopping 31 points. But what else do these places have in common . The data showed nearly all of these suburban communities also had trouble supporting President Trump in 2016. He did far worse than average, republicans, in most of these same counties. If this problem in the suburbs persists for the gop, its going to be difficult for the party to hang on to seats all across levels of government, whether were talking in places around phoenix, nashville, dallas, you name the urban community. When we come back, the latest on the russia investigation and republican efforts to delegitimize Robert Mueller. Announcer coming up, end game and postgame, brought to you by mission to connect, protect, xlorks and inspire. [ mouse clicks, keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicks, keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. At bp, everyone on an offshore rig depends on one another. Thats why entire teams train together in simulators, to know exactly what to do before they have to do it. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. Another day at the office. Why do you put up with it . Believe it or not you actually like what you do. Even love it. And today, you can do things you never could before. Analyzing social data on the cloud to create new designs. And using blockchain to help prevent fraud. So get back to it and do the best work of your life. So we know how to cover almost almoanything. Hingfraud. Even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum but Mitch Mcconnell is trying to overrule the voters by jamming through the republican tax plan before alabamas new senator can vote. Its not right, and mitch knows it. Last time this happened, when a republican won a special election, mcconnell stopped all votes until that senator was seated. Mitch mcconnell the winner, whoever it is, should be sworn in promptly. Lets honor the wishes of the people. Narrator call senator mcconnell. Tell him he should honor the wishes of the people now, too. Announcer end game, brought to you by boeing. Continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. Back now with end game. All right, this tax bill, it going to be all that what ails the gop for 2018 . You know what, i dont know how we take a lot of mileage out of it. As a big believer in the Corporate Tax reduction, weve got to be competitive globally, weve got to bring back taxes from abroad. Those are not sexy political issues. When it comes to weve got a long ways to go to convince the American Voters that this was good for them. It doesnt seem like the polling numbers are headed in that direction, but were betting the farm for 2018 on that, so weve got a long ways to go. George, i know you want to respond to something marc short said. He said first of all its the best simplification since 1986, which is like saying its the tallest building in topeka. They took the tax code and made it more complicated. Now the question is will republicans reform entitlements . The tax code enriches the entitlement menu by doubling the Child Tax Credit and making means a check goes out to people who dont pay taxes. Lowering the Corporate Tax rate. The proper rate for Corporate Taxation is zero, because we dont know who pays them. Economists argue about whether it comes out of employees wages, shareholders, passed on to customers. If you dont know whos paying a tax, dont have that tax. Reduce it to 21 . Its a great thing to do, but any company that was paying 35 needed to fire its lawyers and accountan accountants. The fact is, most companies are paying on average about 28 anyway. So, the whole thing here is, they said pass this thing, we will get 3 annual growth. They get that, everyone will forget their complaints about the tax code. Stephanie, can you run against this tax bill sure. As effectively as you claim now, when people, at least temporarily, feel like theyre getting a couple bucks back . A couple of bucks, compared to what the people at the top 1 of the income chain are getting or corporations. Lo corporations dont need a tax cut, but theres a way to do it and pay for it. And theres a way to reform the tax code and make it a little bit more fair. That is not what theyve done here. Throwing some money for the child you know, a couple of dollars for the child care tax credit, people absolutely need that, and thats how you get money in the economy, but 60 of the benefits of this bill go to the top 1 , and theyre asking the people at the bottom of the chain to pay for it. That is weve seen this movie before. This is nothing new. This will be [ inaudible ] well, youre not paying for it. No, its going to there are people, right, which means our kids are going to be paying for it. Exactly. And we all are going to be paying for it in some way because to pay for this debt, we have to cut somewhere. All right, quickly, i want to pivot to the mueller investigation. It seems as if again this week more House Republicans making the case that the process they believe is rigged, that the process is rigged. And even this morning the lawyer, everything is questioning the process that here, though, as far as the president s concerned is they dont have any exculpatory facts. One thing you didnt add is also President Trump saying hes not ready to talk about pardoning Michael Flynn yet, which is another thing in adds to sort of the layers of the attacks on this mueller investigation. It feels a lot like gaslighting right now, and i dont know that this is actually going to help. I dont think it helps. It seems very it seems enormously transparent whats been happening, and Robert Mueller just comes to the table with so much innate credibility because him that i dont see how this can fly. I dont know, this ground work looks like its softened up on the right here a little bit, george. It is astonishing ma that a man of muellers experience and intelligence would not be more careful than he was in that were vulnerable to this. Those of us who have argued for decades that independent counsels are a bad idea because it represents a failure of confidence in existing institutions and because a lawyer with one case tends to become ahab looking for his white whale are rather enjoying this. Well, heres the thing, all of that is true. What isnt escapable is the fact that theres been there have been charges against paul manafort. No one argues that they seem right. Theres been two members of the administration who have pled guilty already with competent counsel. And so, when they say, well, this things taking too long, well, what are you talk being . The last person who pled guilty pled guilty a month ago. And so, in spite of what one might say, it seems like their product, meaning the indictments or pleading guilty, have been on point, and nobodys argued those. So, the arguing about closing this up while t taking place to me is reckless. And the last part is, boy, were undermining the basic institutions of our country. Unfortunately, i have to end that conversation here. But finally, we were reminded this week of George Carlins famous routine, seven words you cant say on tv, when we learned that the Trump Administration has come up with its own list of seven words you cant say at the cdc. Thats right, there are seven words or phrases that the centers for Disease Control is being told it should not use when it asks for its budget approval from congress. Now, were not going to put up a graphic with all the words, but clearly, this is not sciencebased. To be fair, the cdc has no entitlement to use any particular words, and we assume theres a diversity of opinion on this ruling. After all, there is evidencebased disagreement over the viability of a fetus, and were all aware of the emotional debate over Transgender Americans that has played out in recent years. But totalitarian regimes knows how vulnerable we can be to government overreach. Thats all for today. Thanks for watching. Well be back next week, because if its sunday, its meet the press. Announcer you can see more end game in post game sponsored by boeing on the meet the press facebook page. At college inn we craft a because every detail matters. We select allnatural chicken and flavorful herbs and spices. College inn broth helps you make every meal delicious