personas, three speeches, the same president. even the president admits he has something of a jekyll and hyde thing going. on twitter called his afghanistan speech somber, his phoenix rally enthusiastic, dynamic and fun, his speech to the american legion, respectful and strong. then he took a shot at democrats for not having anyone who can, quote, change tones like him. but it wasn t just his change in tone, it was a change in message from unity to division, from love to hate. a case of whiplash that s putting strain not only on our necks but arguably on our nation. joining me, amber phillips who writes for the washington post fix blog, and sam stein, politics editor for the daily beast and msnbc contributor. sam, so nice to see you. been awhile. great to see you too. i want to talk about the change in tone. the president said this is just him, fitting into essentially
investigations into any connections between the trump campaign and russia. after attorney general sessions recused himself last week. joining me now for our daily fix on this and other subjects chris cillizza, founder of the washington post fix blog and karen tumulty of the washington post. welcome both. chris, first to you. sessions of course has not satisfied the committee and you saw the dust-up between chairman grassley and al franken wanting him back. that s not going to happen. rosenstein said he s not read the report of the intelligence committee, community rather on the russia investigation, so he s coming to this cold. but he has a great reputation and it s unlikely he s going to be blocked. so it s all going to be on him. yes. i mean i think that s right. look, andrea, it s important to remember that for significant chunk of the morning, both networks were taking the deputy attorney general confirmation hearing live, which speaks to where we are in this process,
shortly after trump s election saying hail trump and other things. this is something that has been content of comenting back and forth between the conservatives in the establishment who are wrestling with how to deal with it. and of course that has come to the forefront a little bit here at cpac, peter. casey thank you for the report live at cpac. joining us again, chris is a list lizza, the founder of the washington post s fix blog. in effect this is the pregame show to reince priebus and steve bapon, two of the inner circle members the closest advisors to the president with competing perspectives in the conservative movement as it were, win republicanism more bradley. i want to get your sense as we anticipate hearing from steve bannon a person that a lot of people have opinions on but a very few have probably heard speak. you are right peter, this is the yin and yang of the trump
secretary of state nominee rex tillerson will meet with mitch mcconnell ahead of a bruising confirmation hearing next wednesday. that s the same day that donald trump was initially saying he would hold the big news conference that we ve been waiting for months to see. joining me now for our daily fix, chris lizza, founder the washington post s fix blog. chris, to you, first, sean spicer said today that the news conference may get bumped back to the 12th of january. that would be the same day as hearings begin for general mattis in this. is there something to the politics or opt particulars of holding a news conference overlapping with these hearings for rex tillerson or perhaps general mattis? yes. democrats have made no secret, peter, that they believe rex tillerson s financial interests, the extent to which they have been scrutinized, are
reports the two may have talked after the white house meeting aren t particularly surprising. i won t read or confirm every reported meeting, phone call or conversation. i can tell you the president had a conversation with the president-elect since the oval office meeting. confirming reports that the current and future commanders in chief have spoken since the post election meeting in the oval office. joining me now chris cillizza, msnbc contributor, founder of the washington post fix blog and deputy editorial page editor ruth marcus. ruth, the whole transition i was told by people knowledgeable about the meeting in the oval office that there was a huge learning curve. and that president obama was surprised by how little the president-elect knew about what