despite those controversial remarks. except for the one who said he might vote democrat. thanks for your great coverage on this. let s bring in steve kornacki. put this in perspective for us. what there s the alabama side of this and the roy moore being an unusual character for alabama. but we ve seen unusual characters catch the public imagination. what does this mean for the situation for republicans in washington right now? this means a story that goes back a number of years now. it is still a big story. maybe bigger than it s been. that is that the republican base is furious with the republican establishment. the name mitch mcconnell. the idea of washington, d.c., of capitol hill. one of the things roy moore ran against was the idea of mitch mcconnell holding sway in the republican party. then indulge me. allow me to be a twisted sister here. could a true conspiracy theorist not make the argument this is all the grand plan. president trump has been kicking
time in a long way. you served in the obama administration and there s a justifiable president obama ran against. i mean he talked about how corrupt and rigged the system was what do you say to people who read this article or look at the trump administration and say, ever was it thus. like this is just the way washington works, it is sort of corrupt, people trade favors for influence? look, chris, lobbying has been around as long as we ve had a government. but what i m struck about in this piece is how brazen the selling of access is. say whatever you want about obama s commitment to ethics, but this is really pay-to-play. this is not about hiring people who have policy expertise or understand arcane set of policy. it is selling access to the president, and now more than ever there are more ways to do that. you can sit in the lobby of the trump hotel. you can book an event at mar-a-lago. you can even tweet a photo of yourself with a silly baseball hat and the president might retw
even something like the the you know, the new zealand ambassador or, you know, the government wants to get in touch with the president-elect, they don t have a number. they don t have a number, so in pops a guy who knows trump and i can make the connection for you. that s right. so it started that way. and then it became clear that there was so much chaos in the west wing, that there was then a heightened market for anybody who could guide you through what was really happening, who is up, who is down, and, of course, how do i talk to the president. right. how do i deal with this guy who seems so mercurial and changes his mind, bashes companies on twitter and costs them million also of dollars in market cap. companies wanted to know, what do i do? they felt powerless for first time in a long way. you served in the obama administration and there s a justifiable president obama ran against. i mean he talked about how
the president has to totally condemn this. this is not about winning an argument. now the folks are apparently going to go other places and think they had some sort of a victory. there is no moral equivalency between the kkk, the neo-nazis and anybody else. these folks went there to disrupt. amazing that has to be said out loud but there it is from governor john kasich of ohio, the man who ran against president trump in the primary. joining us steve kornacki, the host of a.m. joy joy reed and msnbc political analyst bob costa, moderator of washington week on pbs. welcome to you all.
which brings me to charlottesville, virginia. the latest moment of national despair leaving the country in need of a consoler in chief. six candidates who ran against president trump for the republican nomination immediately called out white supremacy in the wake of the terror in charlottesville. it took three days and three tries for president trump who said this just a few hours ago. racism is evil. and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs. including the kkk, neo-nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as americans. we are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. the question now has president trump consoled the country or did a clear condemnation come too late? thank you for watching. deadline: white house with nicolle wallace starts right now.