have a lengthy trial, because he wants the facts out there. he has never to this moment been able to present his side of the story. on the other hand, i have heard mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham and other say it shorter trial would serve the interests of the country better. maybe they are right. this is a very divisive process. spilling can i ask you one last question before chuck schumer gets underway? if van drew, the democratic congressman from new jersey does switch parties, will the republican party and the house majority, the nrcc, will they rally behind him and back him in the election? it will be interesting to see. i know kevin mccarthy welcomed him to the party. we believe that those that are moderates and on the fence, that they probably should be in the republican party, because on this question, they push them to the limit. the democratic party is so far left that is leaving reasonable people behind. he is a good example of that. dana: mike johnson, thank you. let
decisions to leave the party? well, i suppose it s possible, but seeing the backlash that jeff van drew has gotten is pretty harsh. as you mentioned earlier, five of his staff members resigned. he s going to be left with a bare bones staff after his party switch and the news of this breaking, and also, even if he does switch parties, for a lot of these members, there s some key issues that divide indicades and republicans that will be hard for them to overcome if they do decide to switch parties. switching parties is pretty incredibly rare. the last person we ve seen is justin amash switching parties from republican to independent, and he did that out of principle. jeff van drew also might face some backlash if this is seen as him switching parties purely for political gain. as you mentioned, there was some internal polling that showed he was losing badly among
for the democrats, would you respect them? yes. why? of course i would. i ve seen that happen from time to time. jim jeffreys of vermont switch parties it s a tough question. it takes a few words. get out of my face. if you re going to ask me a question, sit back and let me ask it. you know i wish i wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a dual. now that would be pretty good. i ll tell you all these years later i still don t know what the hell that was about. welcome back to hardball. that was the first and only time an msnbc host was challenged to a dual by a politician. that s never happened to you, right? not yet. let s head over to steve kornacki at the big board to break down the numbers on 20 years of hardball. yes, 20 years of hardball on msnbc. of course the true die hard fans remember the chris matthews
call this number now. the last thing before we go, georgia republican senator johnny isaacson announced he ll resign due to health concerns. he ll appoint his successor and you remember the last time this happened was back in 2000 when democrat roy barns appointed former governor miller who then famously broke with his party in 2004 and endorsed george w bush delivering a stem liner against john kerry at the republican national convention and challenging chris matthews to a dual. this is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of the u.s. armed forces? u.s. forces armed with what? spitballs? which state say to you switch parties if you re getting legislated
he ll appoint his successor and you remember the last time this happened was back in 2000 when roy barns appointed former governor miller who then famously broke with his party in 2004 and endorsed george w bush delivering a stem liner against john kerry at the republican national convention and challenging chris matthews to a dual. this is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of the u.s. armed forces? u.s. forces armed with what? spitballs? which state say to you switch parties if you re getting legislated if you ask a question. it s a tough question. it takes a few words. get out of my face. if you re going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer it. season tore, please. i wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a