Leading politics about the races to watch in the 2020 elections. But first, what a long, strange trip 2019 has been. This summer the president spoke on the phone with the leader of ukraine and asked him for a small favor. And just under five months later, he became the third president in the history of this country to be impeached by the house of representatives. Believe it or not, this year we also saw the release of the mueller report, remember that . A document once seen as the greatest threat to the trump presidency. And while the president battled those investigations, both of which he dismissed as hoaxes and witch hunts, Democratic White House hopefuls battled it out on the campaign trail for the right to take him on this fall. Candidates came and candidates went as the mood of the electorate came into a clear view. What came of it all . A nation starkly divided, the most consequential in decades. Senior White House Reporter for nbc news digital, shannon pettypiece. For Hillary Clintons campaign, elrod and rick tyler. Let me begin with you, if i can, shannon. When you look back at the year that was for President Trump, what stands out the most for you in 2019 . Hes pretty much been able to dodge all of the charges that have come his way politically speaking except for now he has become the third president in this country to be impeached. Well, you know, and the year pretty much where we started it as far as his support and approval ratings. When you go through the tweets, you mentioned the mueller report, the indictments of trumps close associates, and obviously something as huge as impeachment, an impeachment inquiry and all the things surrounding the ukraine call. Weve seen his approval go up and down but within the margins, within a percentage or so. And its one of the higher points of his administration. We continue to see this pattern of his base sticking by him, him having a floor of around 38 or so of support out there regardless of what he does so far, and, of course, on the other side, the opposition to him remains just as equally strong. The divided country that we had this time three years ago in 2016 still appears to be there, and its hard to see much shift in that other than maybe around the margins highere and there. Given what she just said, what is the big picture youre taking away from this year . Well, you would have to say that the impeachment is historic. Its only happened twice before in American History. Well see what happens in the senate trial. But its just Donald Trumps continued ability to sort of get away with everything he has. By the way, the people surrounding him dont. We have many people who have been indicted, many people who have served time and are serving time. Weve seen a lot of Administration Officials come and go, we have a lot of acting officials, cabinet members. So this white house is not running on all cylinders, as ty say, and i think donald trump became more and more emboldened, and thats what got him in trouble. I think the president could have avoided an impeachment if he had said, the call wasnt perfect and i wouldnt have done it that way again. I think it was impeachable, dont misunderstand, but i think it would have been a harder case to make if he had just admitted that he did some wrong, but he seems congenitally programmed to not ever be able to admit a mistake. Yeah, youre asking a lot fort president to admit any kind of mistake. Adrian, let me read you this excerpt from Jonathan Lemire who wroits for the associated press. The first line of president Donald Trumps obituary has been written. While trump is all but certain to avoid removal from office, a portion of his legacy took shape. With he became just the third president in American History to be impeached by the u. S. House. The two karlz of impeachment approved along largely partisan lines stand as a constitutional rebuke that will stay with trump even as he tries to trivialize their meaning and use them to power his reelection bid. Hes likely to be acquitted in the senate . I dont know if it certainly undermines the moment, but it certainly disappoints a lot of people, and it disappoints a lot of independent voters, many of whom support impeaching and removing him from office. We have to remember just a month ago, a fox news poll came out saying that over half the American People support impeaching and remoovving the president from office. That certainly includes republicans, that certainly includes independents. People definitely agree that these jurors like Lindsey Graham and some of these far right republicans who have already made up their minds. Tha theyre supposed to be independent but theyve already determined what theyll do about impeachment. I think when you get to the minds of voters and ask them, why are you supporting a democrat, or why are you supporting a republican, or why is your mind made up . You will find that a lot of people are turned off by electorate representatives that have already determined what they believe will be the outcome of donald trump, and theyre very disappointed by that. Obviously the president has taken on a lot of political rivals, including Hillary Clinton. Hes beaten her, hes taken on the mueller report, hes dismissed that. Washington was really embodied by both parties, and that was by House Speaker nancy pelosi. There was this iconic image from a white house meeting in october that became an iconic image of sorts. Pelosi using it as an example of her willingness to stand up to him literally and figuratively. Fastforward a few months and pelosis handling of the impeachment battle has led democrats singing herdetractors. Tim ryan, who challenged pelosi back in 2016, told politico that she is the best democratic leader he has ever seen. If asked if he would do what she did if he were the democratic leader, he said, probably not. Shes literally in a class by herself. Give me your take, adrienne, on nancy pelosi and how shes done this year. You couldnt ask for a better speaker of the house, and its like everything shes done in her career led up to this moment. She has such a strong grip on the caucus. Even though they may slam the press every day, deep down they highly respect her. There is no one who could best lead the country, best lead her caucus, best lead congress in this pivotal moment. And i certainly remember just a couple years ago when people like tim ryan thought about challenging her, some members. Heath sschiller, i think it was back in 2007 when she ran for speaker, challenged her for speakership. These guys go into this with maybe 15 to 20 votes. Not a well oiled machine. If youre going to take on the queen, you need a real apparatus to do it. Shes proven time and time again shes the best leader for this moment. He she outmaneuvered donald trump. She also may be outmaneuvering Mitch Mcconnell as this impeachment trial unfolds. Why are they struggling to deal with her, so to speak, shannon . Well, well have to see how everything unfolds as impeachment progresses. But i think it is interesting to see how having a strong a adversary has made her even better and stronger herself. Its a characteristic you see in donald trump, where a lot of his supporters and allies will say the stronger the adversary, the better he is. Youve almost seen the flip reverse h reverse happen on that. Ive been told President Trump still has enormous respect for her, and the issue over sending the articles of impeachment to the senate and holding them up created an enormous amount of chaos and anger and frustration in the white house and sent people scrambling trying to figure out what to do and sent trump off on a twitter storm against her. One person i talked to said he was already at about an 11 on the furious scale with impeachment, and that just sent it up a notch. So if her goal was to get under his skin and cause a little bit of chaos in the white house and upset the president even more, she was successful at that. I dont know if thats the goal. I dont know thats whats behind that, but i can certainly tell you from where im sitting, thats one of the byproducts of all this. We have seen that a number of times where shes able to get under the president s skin and she was able to if not get an upper hand, throw a counterpunch where you dont have very many people in the party, including those running for president , who are able to do that as effectively. Guys, we have a lot more to get to tonight. When we return, democrats and republicans argue about the pace of the impeachment process in the senate. Part of a much larger argument about fairness. Beyond the beltway. How impeachment will affect races in wisconsin. We are back after this. Wisconsn we are back after this cut. Liberty mu. Line . Cut. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Cut. Liberty m. Am i allowed to riff . What if i come out of the water . Liberty biberty. Cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 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Eliquis, the number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor if eliquis is whats next for you. What are you doing back there, junior . Since were obviously lost, im rescheduling my Xfinity Customer Service appointment. Ah, relax. I got this. Which gps are you using anyway . A Little Something called instinct. Been using it for years. Yeah, thats what im afraid of. He knows exactly where were going. My whole body is a compass. Oh boy. The my account app makes todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Not my thing. House republicans blasted their democratic counterparts for what they dismissed as a has hasty sham impeachment and now they may speed up a trial without gifving it a fair hearing. Politico writes that nancy pelosi and Mitch Mcconnell are working to exploit this unmapped wilderness to their advantage. 20 fewer democrats believe it will be fair. Shannon, let me get your opinion about the senate. Does, in fact, nancy pelosi have a role to play in this . The longer she drags this out, are she herself and her party at risk that the Public Opinion may sway against the process . Well, it is a very fine line that democrats have had to walk through this whole process. And timing has been crucial. There was a perception that the mueller investigation, the russia investigation dragged on too long. Voters got fatigued with it. There was time for the president and his allies to sort of muddy the water around it. So the belief has been for democrats that speed has been on their side. But no action was going to be taken in the senate before i believe its early january when the senate reconvenes. So now there is this twoweek window or so, or even longer than that, where i think a lot can happen in early january. Members are going to be back in their districts. They are going to be hearing and getting feedback from their constituents, so that could influence things a bit. But ultimately, it will get to the senate. There is every indication that mcconnell wants to see this as a speedy and not drawn out process, which i think will benefit democrats as well. Then youll have the president having his real moment to respond to this on the senate floor when he will have his lawyers there, at least we believe the white House CounselPat Cipollone will be one of those making publicly on the senate floor the president s case. Thats not really something we saw at all in the house trial, though you did have republican members who advocated for him. So i think for republicans and i think for the president , it will be their key opportunity to try and adjust Public Opinion on this one way or another to whatever extent folks can be swayed at this point. Hey, rick, let me get your thoughts on the Republican Party on this. You have former senator jeff flake writing this. My colleagues, the danger of an untruthful president is compounded when an equal branch follows that president off the cliff, into the abyss of unreality and untruth. Call it the founders blind spot they simply could not have envisioned the article brarchl a betting and enable such dangerous behavior in the article ii branch. Should they come out for the president and say they want a fair process, they want to see witnesses, they want to see something that Mitch Mcconnell, Lindsey Graham and senator blunt are all pretty much saying is not going to happen . What i see among the republicans are polltested courage, that is, if their states are telling them that they need to have a drawnout trial, then theyll get on board. I dont know who is going to have that position. But remember, damon, before christmas the original argument against the democrats were process arguments, and one of them was that they rushed this and the president had no witnesses when the fact is virtually every witness they had in the impeachment inquiry were all trump appointees, employees of trump appointees or government officials, people who work in the administration. In fact, they were all trump witnesses and trump didnt like what they said. So whats the answer now . The answer then was lets have a speedy trial with no witnesses, and that should tell every american, which is why they want to hear from witnesses, if, in fact, trump did nothing wrong, then lets hear from the people who can exonerate him. One would have to only conclude that trump doesnt have anybody who would actually exonerate him and which is why were not hearing from them. Meanwhile President Trump obviously now has more than one reason not to be focused on the supreme court. You got the justices agreeing to hear the president s appeal of lower court orders that require his banks and accountants to turn over financial records to congress and prosecutors in new york, and, of course, there is now increased focus on chief Justice John Roberts who would, by any measure, oversee his impeachment trial in the senate. And, of course, you may recall that the president and the chief justice have not always seen eye to eye. In fact, after the president criticized someone he called an obama judge last year, roberts wrote a response. We do not have obama judges or trump judges bush judges or clinton judges. What we have is an Extraordinary Group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. Adrienne, the politics of this is obviously not lost on anyone. What could it possibly mean if you have chief Justice John Roberts overseeing the senate trial in the impeachment of President Donald Trump . Well, a couple things. First of all, chief roberts has been someone that frankly Many Democrats have been surprised by over the years who was a bush appointee who has been pretty fair and impartial on major decisions that come before the supreme court. Hes made it very clear where he stands on this. Hes not going to look at partisanship, hes going to look at the facts. Hes going to preside more cont impeachments that has taken over this country. So theres that. Ultimately, i look at the big picture. How does this affect politics . How does this affect 2020 . Im not sure the details of Justice Roberts overseeing at trial, the witnesses coming to testify or not coming to testify. There are factors in play, but how does that actually ultimately affect the outcome of how many senators, how many republicans vote to impeach trump in the senate, and then how does that actually come into play in 2020 . Im not sure all these various machinations affect donald trump, but i do think trump will become more and more unhinged if he sees somebody in such a powerful position that he cant touch, like Justice Roberts coming forward and overseeing this. I think thats where you start to see, how does trump handle this . What kind of how unleashed and unhinged does he become on twitter and with reporters . I think that could have more of an impact on the ultimate outcome of 2020 as opposed to all these factors that come into play of the process. You can almost see the faces of his senior advisers if he has to go to twitter to go against chief Justice John Roberts. When we return, the impact of impeachment is being felt far and wide. After the break, Dave Wasserman in a politico report joins me on how the proceedings are affecting house races across the country. We are back after this. Country. We are back after this i am all about living joyfully. Hello. The united explorer card hooks me up. 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