Theyve already helped him make this pick and go through this process, but they are now going to get out there and work the roots for the votes, especially for the democratic votes he needs and the more conservative states out there. This is how you do a rollout. Whether you agree or disagree with something, and after the last few days, how can Something Like the travel ban be so rocky and so confusing where Government Agencies are not talking to each other, and they do this again. Whether you like the judge or not or a president from a marketing and branding standpoint. Thats perfect. This is the Dividing Line in the white house. The travel ban was ushered into being by Steven Miller and steve bannon who are disrupters by nature. They create this sort of environment of chaos as part of their governing philosophy, but the Supreme Court pick is a very conventional washington thing. This is a Reince Priebus operation. It was done by the book. It was contrary to what everybody thought it was a very conventional rollout. Just a Standard Press conference
standing there with his wife. They brought in antonin scalias widowed wife and his children. This is the white house. Its two camps. At this level two camps. The priebus camp, the bannon camp, and theyre functioning on parallel plains, but you see a bipolar white house emerging out of all of this. The president scoring it day by day. I think the establishment camp or the traditional camp wins the last 48 hours. No, no, and this process for the Supreme Court nominee is kind of rinse and repeat. I mean, it is different players when its a democratic president , but its the same process. You have the sherpa, which now we know and weve seen today, is the former senator from new hampshire, kelly ayotte, which she was brought in because she was obviously defeated, which is why shes not a current senator, but she does have good relationships across the aisle. Okay. So you do that. You have the Communications Person in charge. Ron. You have somebody who is the aide who is going to make sure that the nominee gets ready for
the hearings. We know who that person is. And you bring in the groups. President obama had the same kind of thing, the same players when he had his nominees. This is something that is not hard to figure out. When you are doing something that has not been done before, at least in modern times, like a partial travel ban, travel restrictions, whatever you call it, and you want to do it fast, and you want to do it by Executive Order and you want to disrupt, as you say, thats a completely different thing, and we saw that there were big problems with that. I think what was most noticeable last night was how normal the rollout was. The president introduced mr mr. Gorsuch. Didnt talk about himself at all. He just mentioned that the voters had a choice in november and they chose to go this route, but he didnt talk about his victory. He didnt talk about himself. He talked all about the nominee. That to me was fascinating. He also even though democrats didnt attend, he invited democratic leadership down to
the white house for the rollout. They chose not to attend. The one thing i thought, though, was interesting and why this worked well is that the white house didnt have to work with anybody really to do this. One of the things that we saw over the past week as they rolled out Executive Orders to do it right, it requires a lot more coordination with congress, especially because you need their help in selling this and a lot of coordination with the executive agencies that are charged with carrying out various Executive Orders. Thats really where the Trump Administration tripped up. With this rollout, it was strictly the president s decision. They were completely in charge of the rollout, and i think thats one of the reasons this worked so much better. Im going to say thats a really good point. This doesnt prove that any of those problems have been solved, right . Because this was a solo decision, all of those problems still exist. All of the worldwide problems and the problems with conservatives over the ban still exist. That hasnt gone away. That hasnt gotten any better, but what was most remarkable to me about the announcement last night was how relieved republicans were. They were still on tender hooks up to the last second. They thought maybe he is going to surprise us or disappoint us, even though we knew who the finalists were, even though in the end they ended up being extremely pleased and republicans and especially conservatives are ecstatic about this pick. They couldnt be sure that he was going to follow through on it until he actually did. And a republican rallying moment after days of even republicans mostly being polite in public, but some of them not only disagreeing with the travel ban, but how it happened. The heavy use of executive actions in the early days also alienating the congress. A Rallying Point there. If you missed it, lets go back into the east room. The president of the United States and his new choice to fill a seat on the Supreme Court. The qualifications of judge gorsuch are beyond dispute. He is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to insure the rule of law and the rule of justice. It is the role of judges to apply, not alter the work of the peoples representatives. A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge. Stretching for results he prefers rather than those the law demands. Thats the judge last night and the president in the rollout. Everyone has mentioned how happy conservatives are. They view this as a younger, kinder, gentler in some ways, and thats not to criticize antonin scalia. He was more of a brazen, outgoing personality. This is a judge gorsuch in a case about federal power, executive power, was wrote the decision with other judges, but then he wrote his own consent to his own decision because he wanted to get more of his personal views. He had to have consensus in the opinion. Republican administration. He might serve as a check on, you know, a strong executive power, which could be very important for democrats. And conservatives are hoping. Its the opposite that he is a former clerk to anthony kennedy, who is the swing vote on the court, and you have the more conservative guy, who is very close to Justice Kennedy. Maybe he pulls him the other way in the decisions. Lets unpack what we heard from the president at the top of the show. He talked about he wanted a dignified process. Again, the senate will decide whether judge gorsuch gets confirmed. I want to give him some props here. For ten months judge Merrick Garland was waiting for a Confirmation Hearing. The republicans refused to get him. The first call judge gorsuch made was to call judge garland. Clearly trying to say, look, im sorry. That not my doing. Its a club. The judges are a club just like the congress and the senate. The last part, Let Mitch Go Nuclear if he wants. Thats the president doesnt speak washington, which is probably one of the reasons he is president and got elected. The idea right now senate rules say you have to have 60 votes to break a filibuster. Mitch mcconnell says thats his preference. He is an institutionalist. He has made clear and weve seen other developments were going to talk about in a minute where the republicans are getting a little frustrated, but he is willing to go that way if he has to. It is that where were going to end up . Probably not onlile only in that the 60 vote threshold is to for at least at the beginning is to allow a vote for the nominee, and we have seen little by little democrats come out, particularly those from red states, and even a democrat like dick durbin, who is not from a red state, and he is actually the leadership, but he says that it is his preference at least in the shortterm, to vote to allow a vote. I know it sounds like, really, a vote to allow a vote . Thats what you have to do in the United States senate. You do. If the democrats had enough that
they could actually block the vote from even coming up. I think that that is the first. The answer is were going to have to see what happens in his hearings. If he charms everybody, if he reassures people that he is not a big bad wolf and he is not going to, you know, blow the Supreme Court apart, then its going to be hard really for democrats to filibuster him, and also, this is not something that Mitch Mcconnell wants to do. Its not just because he is a traditionalist. Its because they know from recent history the shoe is very quickly on the other foot, and theres a democrat in the white house and democrats in control of Everybody Hold that thought for a sec. The democratic strategy, more on the Supreme Court pick judge gorsuch making the rounds already. Up next, though, democrats trying to stage a boycott today. Republicans threw out the rules. A power play to confirm some of the president s Cabinet Picks. Well be back in just a second. , with the help of the lowest taxes in decades,
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and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. Women who are pregnant must not take entresto. It can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. If youve had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, dont take entresto. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. Tomorrow, im gonna step out with my favorite girl. Ask your doctor about entresto. And help make the gift of tomorrow possible. People confuse but theyre different. Nice tells you what you want to hear. But kind is honest. This bar is made with cranberries and almonds. So, guess what . We call it cranberry almond. Give kind a try. Think they can i dont think they can complain. My gosh, weve used the rules. We have the rules to use, and they used the rules the way they thought they could use them, which are theres no excuse for what they did yesterday, and theres no excuse for them not coming today. We notified them, and they just plain they used a cheap political ploy. They should be ashamed. They should be ashamed. Hatch also using the term idiots to describe the the power by republicans allows the president s nominees for to move to the full senate for a confirmation vote. Now democrats say they have questions. They dont want to have that vote just yet. Our senior Congressional Correspondent manu sfs raju, you are up there in a calm sea, manu. How are the ripples . Well, its pretty choppy right now, john. You know, the republicans indeed taking this pretty dramatic move, an unprecedented move. They said it was unprecedented
for them to boycott that finance Committee Hearing this morning and yesterday to try to deny a quorum and deny a vote in that committee, taking matters in their own hands to try to push this through, change the rules to get tom price confirmed to hhs, and also to get Steven Manuchin confirmed to the treasury department. Scott pruitt to head epa, they boycotted those proceedings this morning, but the chairman of that committee saying theyre planning to take matters into their own hands and probably emulate what senator hatch just did and push their pruitts nomination through to the floor of the senate. Similarly, Nick Mulvaney to be the budget director, that vote was postponed this morning when the democrats wanted more time to review his fbi report, and there are questions about whether or not he would get support to pass that committee because of john mccains concerns about Nick Mulvaneys views about the defense can i. Ron johnson said no matter what
happens in that committee, theyre still going to try to push and jam the nomination through, take it directly to the floor of the senate. What you are seeing here, john, is a really concerted, aggressive effort by the republicans to do use the power of the majority to get their nominees for Donald Trumps cabinet confirmed. While its taking a little longer than donald trump would like, he probably will get all of these nominees confirmed. No matter how much how many obstacles democrats put in their way, john. Manu raju on capitol hill. President angle into the wake. Angle into the wake in those rough waters. Lets come back into the room. This is extraordinary. The town has been polarized a long time. We knew the democrats dont like this president. Werent going to like most of his picks. They say they have lenl i want questions about some of the financial dealings otherwise here. We are seeing this again. Senator hatch schangz the rules. You move those two forward. Out of the judiciary Senator Sessions comes out on a party line vote. Every democrat voting no. Every republican voting yes. What does it mean anything . Is it just the partisan split that is washington . Is this a new level of toxicity in the environment . I think this reflects where each partys base is. Neither has any use or any desire to stick with senatorial courtesy or senate rules. What they want to see are results. For democrats theyre kind of in a pinch because theres not really much they can do, and their base wants them to fight everything, and i think strategically that hurts them because they might do a better job and get more results if they focused in on a couple of trumps Cabinet Picks and put all the attention there. For republicans and understanding the democrats and republicans play this game and both feel like theyve been slighted unfairly, republicans are still smarting from senator reeds use of the Nuclear Option a couple of years ago when he changed the broke the rules to change the rules as weve been discussing, and so they just dont care as much about following rules as they might have had that never happened. And i would even go further than you on the question of the Democratic Base. Its not just that they want
results. Sure, they would love results. They want to fight. They want their members to stand up and fight. I agree with you that it might not be in the long run the greatest strategy because there are some things that democrats can get done, and at what point does the cycle stop . We thought perhaps at the beginning that there was going to be a little bit of a give and take. Stand up to the republican president and the Republican Leaders in congress when it mattered, and otherwise, dont. For the nominees, you know, which is traditionally unless theres a huge problem, something that you give to a president , the fact that theyre standing up on this issue tells you a lot about the fact that the base is so rested and theyre dying for their members. Chuck schumer is a new leader. He is a known figure here in washingt washington, but as a democratic figure, he is a new leader. He voted against mitch
mcconnells wife. Elaine chow was confirmed. She got 94 votes. 90 something votes. He voted against the other leaders wife. That is unheard of in the United States senate. Whats funny about that is there were some democrats who worried that Chuck Schumer wouldnt be willing to fight enough. But, i mean, you know, given what dana and david are saying, we also have to remember that the precedent for this was set by republicans over the last eight years. Democrats are just adapting a sort of Tea Party Strategy in washington to deal with this new administration. It would be unprecedented if the last eight years hadnt happened, but because it did, i think the Democratic Base is saying republicans did this, and they were rewarded with the white house, the house, and the senate. Its hard to the sort of tradeoff here is a little bit the calculus is different, and i think some democrats, you know they are looking at 2013 when republicans failed to show up at an e. P. A. Confirmation hearing meeting for one of president obamas nominees. They refused or they delayed votes on the labor secretary nominees. These are all tactics that have been used before. So for somebody for somebody watching out there who is like, i got to get the kids to school or run a business or pay their bills, this sounds kind of fifth grade, though. It sounds like a bunch of pelty grievanc grievances. Im going to do this in this congress. Is that right . This is payback, and then we escalate . You did that pretty well in the last congress . Im going to take you what you and do it even better. Listen to this exchange here in the Judiciary Committee vote. Al franken, democrat of minnesota, ted cruz of texas was not in the room. What al franken was saying is that ted cruz at the Jeff SessionsConfirmation Hearing where there were questions, he says he misrepresented his fact. Ted cruzs Senate Colleagues not only his best friend, but his Senate Colleague jumps in to defend him. Senator cruise did the very thing that senator cornyn is
accusing me of doing. In my absence he misrepresented me, he misrepresented mr mrmr. Mr. Hebert. He