Monday night. Day 641 of the Trump Administration and the president just wrapped up a rally in houston, texas. Stumping for, of all people, senator ted cruz. Ill tell you what, nobody has helped me more with your tax cuts, your regulation, with all of the things that were doing, including military and our vets than senator ted cruz. Nobody. Teds opponent in this race is a stonecold phoney named Robert Francis orourke. Sometimes referred to as beto. And he pretends to be a moderate but hes actually a radical, open border, left winger. Earlier tonight President Trump actually called senator cruz, quote beautiful ted before departing for texas. Lets take a quick moment to review just how crazy that is. Matter of principle and ill tell you youre probably worse than jeb bush. I dont get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, thatll do it every time. Donald, youre a sniveling coward. Leave heidi the hell alone. Donald is a bully. The man is utterly i think hes crazy. I honestly think hes crazy. This man is a pathological liar. He doesnt know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that come outs of his mouth. His harvey is Lee Harvey Oswald prior to oswald being shot. The whole thing is ridiculous. Nobody even brings it up. They dont even talk about that. Donald trump and the man he calls beautiful ted. Tonight the president once again spoke about this caravan of migrants moving north from hhon. Its become a favorite topic for donald. Thats an assault on our country. Thats an assault. And in that caravan, you have some very bad people. You have some very bad people. We cant let that happen to our country. And i resist talking to your great governor and senator and said you were talking about your attorney general who ill be introducing in a second. Im talking to a lot of your people and theyre going to form a wall. A different kind of a wall until we get the other one built. We need a wall built fast. Earlier today the president made the claim without any evidence about the caravan and we quote, criminals and unknown middle easterners are mixed in. I alerted Border Patrol and military that this is a National Must change laws. Tonight ashley parker, philip ruck rucker reported that President Trump settled on a strategy of fear. The president has been focussed in recent days on a caravan of about 5,000 migrants traveling north across the u. S. Border, a group he has darkly characterized as gang members, violent criminals, an unknown milli middle easterners. The approach, in many ways, seeks to recreate the 2016 playbook that lifted trump to the presidency in which cultural flash points and controversies like the specter of mass illegalillega illegal migrations. As we speak, the Democrat Party is openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break our vour laws, violate ou borders, and overwhelm our nation. The democrats have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country, the security of our nation, and the safety of every single american. Meanwhile some high profile democrats were out on the campaign trail urging people to get out and vote. Vice President Joe Biden in florida supporti florida. President obama was in nevada supporting Democratic Candidates urging people to head to the polls. This kind of politics, its not actually conservative. Its radical. Its a vision that says were going to protect our power no matter what. Even if it hurts the country. Its about time we begin to tell the american story. Its about time we lift our heads up. Get the hell up and take back the country. Its about who we are its about dreaming again. Dreaming again. Its about possibilities remember, this is the United States of america unlike any country in the world. Thats not hyperbole. Lets take it back. Yesterday Carl Burnstein had this warning. What could happen if democrats win. I talk to people in the white house or in touch with the white house on friday who believed if the congressional midterms are very close and the democrats were to win by five or seven seats, that trump is already talking about how to throw legal challenges into the courts, sow confusion. Carl from this weekend and our guests are standing by to join us. Well begin a little differently tonight. We have new numbers on the coming midterms that means our National Political prospective must be at the big board to be the to join us. Yeah. And the idea it could be very close in terms of the battle for the house. Our new nbc news wall street journal poll suggesting there may be something to that. The headline number here, this one good news for democrats. No question the generic ballot. Which candidate do you plan to vote for . The democrat or republican . Ninepoint edge for democrats. Thats totally in line with what democrats are hoping to see in terms of taking back the house. Here is where it gets more complicated. The president s job approval rating. Our poll also showing that reaching to 47 . That is the High Water Mark in our poll for donald trump as president. And republicans have been saying if they can get trump to that 45, 46, 47 margin in his approval rating, that might give them a fighting chance at keeping the house. This is where i think it gets particularly tricky and key. The question of enthusiasm. Which side is more enthusiastic . The story for so much of 2018 and 2017 was in inbalance. We saw it in the polls in august. Democrats an 11point enthusiasm edge. People saying they were interested in voting this november. Now in our new poll, that 11 point edge see what happened. Democrat the their enthusiasm has gone up but republicans its going up by a larger share there. Now democrats with only a 4 point edge. Down from 11 when it comes to enthusiasm. This is interesting. Take a look at the last three midterm elections that produced wave results. 2014 for the republicans. 2010 for the republicans. Twix for the democrats. What do they have in common . At this point, in our poll, on the enthusiasm question there was a double digit advantage in all three of those races for the party that ended up having the wave election. What were seeing now a four point advantage for democrats and just extremely high motivation on both sides. So what that is pointing to, brian, probably, when you add in the generic ballot, democratic gains, they need a net gain of seats. They seem to be in line for gains here. Is the margin close enough for republicans to keep the gains somewhere right around that 23 seat number . Maybe ideally in the republican world just below it. Just saving the house or is that enthusiasm so high the democratic side can get over it . But it looks a little more complicated. Especially when you take a look at enthusiasm. Weve seen in the past three midterm waves. Well, you got the attention of a lot of people. Steve, stay on those numbers. Well stay on you and thank you for starting us off tonight. Now to the leadoff panel. Sam sign politics editor for the daily beast and carolyn ryan with us. Assistant managing editor for the new york times. What does it say about these midterms that these two guys, lets speak english, who hate each other, were side by side and lovie dovy tonight. What does it say about this . Well, in a midterm when you have incumbent senators running for reelection, theres a little bit of a dance with the president on some issues. Do i depart with the president . This is nothing like this. This is acrobatics like weve never seen. This somebody suggested the candidates father had something to do with asass nalting one of the most popular president s in american history. What youre seeing is how important texas is to the republicans but also how important momentum is overall in securing the red states. Youre seeing donald trump out. Youre seeing donald trump assume the stage, dominate the news, as you pointed out, in the intro, really point to issues that helped him two years ago. Immigration, which, you know, you have the aided by the visual of a caravan and throwing a lot of falsehoods out there about what is happening. But democrats, as you know, when youre talking immigration are usually on the defensive. Republicans like that issue. They like it for their base. And they want to get the certain blue collar trump voters out. The problem in a midterm is not that your voters might go for the other guy. Its indifference. You have a to scamobilize, ener and scare people. The president is out there indicating the democrats are funding the caravan. Others are straight up saying its george sorrows. No evidence of either one being true. These bad people will come for your homes and families. Theres embedded gangsters, embedded vaguely middle eastern people. Is that a strategy . Yeah, i mean, its a strategy. Its based in, you know, abject falsehoods. Our serious lack of understanding of what is happening. First of all, the caravan is somewhere between 2500 and 3,000 miles from the border. Its not descending upon the United States. We should be clear about that. And secondarily, theres no evidence even provided bit Trump Administration itself to support the president s assertion that there are, quote, unquote, middle easterners within the caravan. As if being from the middle east is inherently bad thing. Its not. So this is, of course, strategy that trump uses. Its a strategy based on fear. Its a strategy based on fear, particularly, brownskinned people from the southern border coming across and taking over american society, sobery economically. And it has worked for him in the past, obviously, it worked in 2016. Clearly the white house feels like from a political standpoint this is the type of issue that can be beneficial in the midterm elections and i will say just a quick, you know, observation in the Media Coverage today, they have been savvy at it. Theyve injected a topic that hasnt been or hasnt been a to call point of the conversation. Isnt that pressing of an issue. They made it into National News throughout the course of the day. Can they sustain that . I dont know. Its not a pressing issue but theyve been savvy at getting this discussed in a way that it probably doesnt deserve to be discussed. And you mentioned socioeconomics. Thats the raw material of demographers. Youve been able to distill this midterm into two distinct demographic groups. Youre looking at on the democratic side at women. Collegeeducated women who, as you know, fed up, upset about kwhapd in the kavanaugh nomination, and really determined to go out and vote. So they are sort of the leading edge of the democratic mobilization. And then on the republican side, you have blue collar men, essentially men without a college degree, who are loyal to trump in a lot of cases. Are they going to vote . It does seem like the immigration issue appeals to them for a range of reasons. And those are sort of the grouches so you to watch when youre looking at who is going to be the most enthusiastic. Who will turn out. Another bit of news the president broke today. Well play this and talk about it on the other side. This apparent outbreak of rioting in california. Here it is. The californians are rioting. Take a look. Many places in california want to get out. [ inaudible ] so, sam, i didnt call a friend of mine in santa monica this afternoon. I assumed he couldnt hear me over the rioting. Is this another false lead . Is there not rioting throughout california . No. No. Theres not. I mean, this is, you know, to step back at some point and recognize how crazy this is. The president of the United States is throwing around baseless stories, accusations, riots, concocting riots. Today he made up the possibility of passing tax reform before the election. Even though congress isnt in session. All of this is happening in front of us and we sort of take it in stride because its so regular. But its bizarre to con contact these things and act as if theyre realities. Theres instances of overzealous protesters disrupting, in some cases meals of republican lawmakers. They stormed the Supreme Court during the kavanaugh protests but the truth of the matter is, its been happening on both sides. There isnt both sides. Its just reality. Weve seen democrats be protested in similar ways. Nancy pelosi down in florida over the weekend, for instance. This is what is happening. Theres no one party who is to blame for it. And certainly the way nothing is happening on the scale of what the president is describing. If i can jump in. I dont think we can under estimate the power of what trump is doing. Look at the poll. 22 said theyre going to vote on immigration. Theres very little border crossing. Its sort of a net zero. Right. But when the president of the United States is talking and it seems almost fixated on immigration, it gets it in the national conversation. It became an issue almost out of nowhere in the post kavanaugh period of time. Our thanks to sam and caroline for starting off our broadcast tonight. Coming up, President Trump sends cia director to turkey as part of the governments investigation into khashoggi. Jared kushner said theyre in a factfinding phase. Robert stone has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. More on that as we continue as the 11th hour is just Getting Started on a monday night. When i was shopping fothe choice was easy. I switched to geico and saved hundreds. Excuse me. Winner thats a win. But its not the only reason i switched. Hi geico has licensed agents who i can reach 24 7. Great savings and round the Clock Service . Now thats a winwin. Winner. Winner. Yay me oh, hi good luck. Switch to geico®. Its a winwin. Wednesdays. At outback, theyre for steak and beer. Walkabout wednesdays are back get a sirloin or chicken on the barbie, fries, and a draft beer or cocacola all for just 9. 99. Hurry in wednesdays are for outback. Outback steakhouse. Aussie rules. You might or joints. Hing. For your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Weve hadfor a long time. Is in San Francisco and halfmeasures havent fixed it. Homelessness doesnt just hurt homeless people. It hurts all of us. Thats why were all voting yes on c. The plan is paid for by corporations that just got a massive tax break. Its time for them to give back by helping all of us to fix our homeless crisis. With more affordable housing. Expanded mentalhealth services. Clean restrooms and safe shelters. Vote yes on c. It helps all of us. Im ready to crush ap english. Im ready to do what no one on my block has done before. Forget that. What no one in the world has done before. All i need access, tools, connections. Highspeed connections. Is the world ready for me . Through internet essentials, comcast has connected more than sixmillion lowincome people to lowcost, highspeed internet at home. Im trying to do some homework here. So theyre ready for anything. You know i have a great group of people in turkey now and a great group of people in saudi arabia. I am not satisfied with what ive heard. President trump earlier this afternoon before leaving for texas and that rally tonight. During an interview trump told usa today he suspects the killing of jamaal cash sho jama a plot gone awry. Gina h gina haspel is traveling to turkey. Theres a new development in this case that raises questions that saudi arabia that the killing was not premeditated. Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel has compiled the details for us. Reporter saudi arabia denies it ordered the journalist to be killed. Officials say a fight broke out and he ended up dead. But tonight reports and advisor to the Saudi Crown Prince was on skype with the killers giving orders. The advisor was fired last week. Turkish officials leaked a cnn security footage of this man Walking Around instan bu dresd in khashoggis clothing. Theres saudi officials burning documents after khashoggis murder. The amateurish killers left a trail of evidence. Police have found an abandoned vehicle with saudi diplomatic plates. Turkey has been revealing damning information about its old regional rival saudi arabia day by day. But the white house says it still needs more time to examine the facts. And today treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin met with the man now the focus of global scrutiny. Saudi arabias crown prince. Richard engel, nbc news, istanbul. There are the facts. Here to talk about it greg miller and jerry bash. Jeremy, its those two posts that explain starting with you tonight. Kra director has been sent over to turkey. How conventional a move is that . What does it say to you about this case . Well, its pretty typical to send a cia director overseas. Its pretty atypically to do so in a public fashion in the middle of a malmstrom. Its clear that the Trump Administration has not been able to keep up with the pace the torrent of leaks about the facts of the matter that the turkish intelligence are putting out through the media. I think what happened is washington has become flat flooded. Were not understanding the actual facts of the matter and then we get caught by these revelations in the press and the president is scrambling to keep up. Theyre looking to cover up and its not going over well with each passing day the story gets worse and worse. Gina has gone to sit with the turks to try to understand what they know and what they intend to reveal tomorrow. Greg, weve watched and listened to this president kind of mimic the official line each day as weve gone on. Its been the craziest and yet also the saddest trauma to watch unfold. Will this further deepen the gap, lengthen the gap between this president and his Intelligence Community who cant have been briefing him this whole time the wrong story. No, i think youre right on that, brian. I was thinking the sa