senseless border policies. just think about laken riley. in my neighboring state of georgia, this beautiful 22-year-old nursing student went out on a jog one morning. she never got the opportunity to return home. she was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers. president biden chose to release into our homeland. as a mom, i can't quit thinking about this. i mean this could have been my daughter. this could have been yours. and tonight president biden finally said her name. but he refused to take responsibility for his own

actions. mr. president, enough is enough. innocent americans are dying and you only have yourself to blame. fulfill your oath of office. reverse your policies, end this crisis, and stop the suffering. sadly we know that president biden's failures don't stop there. his reckless spending dug our economy into a hole and sent those through the living through the roof. we have the worst inflation in 40 years, and the highest credit card debt in our nation's history. let that sink in. hard working families are struggling to make ends meet today. and with soaring mortgage rates and sky high childcare costs, they're also struggling on how

to plan for tomorrow. the american people are scraping by while president biden proudly proclaims that bidenomics is working. goodness, bless his heart. we know better. i'll never forget stopping at a gas station in shulton county one evening. the gentleman working behind the counter told me after retiring he had to pick up a job in his 70s, so he didn't have to choose between going hungry or going without his medication. he said i did everything right. i did everything i was told to do. i worked hard, i saved, i was responsible. he's not alone. i hear similar concerns from fellow parents whether i'm walking with my friends or whether i'm at my kid's games.

but let's be honest. it's been a minute since joe biden pumped gas, ran a car pool, or even pushed a grocery cart. meanwhile the rest of us see our dollar, and we know it doesn't go as far. we see it every day. and despite what he tells you our communities are not safer. for years, the left has coddled criminals and defunded the police. all while letting repeat offenders walk free. the result is tragic, but foreseeable. from our small towns to america's most iconic city streets, life is getting more and more dangerous. and unfortunately president biden's weakness isn't just hurting families here at home. he is making us a

punchline on the world stage. look, where i'm from, your word is your bond. but for three years, the president has demonstrated that america's word doesn't mean what it used to. from abandoning our allies in his disastrous withdraw from afghanistan. to desperately push another dangerous deal with iran. president biden has failed. we have become a nation in retreat. and the enemies of freedom, they see an opportunity. putin's brutal aggression in europe has put our allies on the brink. iran's terrorist proxies have

slaughtered israeli jews and american citizens. they've targeted commercial shipping, and they've attacked our troops nearly 200 times since october. killing three u.s. soldiers and two navy seals. meanwhile the chinese communist party is undercutting america's workers. china is buying up our farmland, spying on our military installations, and spreading propaganda through the likes of tiktok. you see the ccp knows that if it conquers the minds of our next generation, it conquers america. and what does president biden do? well, he bans tiktok for government employees, but creates an account for his

own campaign. you can't make this stuff up. look, we all recall when presidents faced national security threats with strength and resolve. that seems like ancient history. right now our commander in chief is not in command. the free world deserves better than a diminished leader. america deserves leaders who recognize that secure border, stable prices, safe streets, and the strong defense are actually the cornerstones of a great nation. just ask yourself, are you better off now than you were three years ago? there's no doubt we're at a

crossroads, and it doesn't have to be this way. we all feel it. but here's the good news, we, the people, are still in the driver seat. we get to decide whether our future will grow brighter or whether we will settle for an america in decline. well, i know which choice our children deserve, and i know the choice the republican party is fighting for. we are the party of hard working parents and families. and we want to give you and your children the opportunities to thrive. and we want families to grow. it is why we strongly support continued nationwide access to

in vitro fertilization. we want to help bring precious life into this world. wesley and i believe there is no greater blessing in life than our children. and that's why tonight i want to make a direct appeal to the parents out there, and in particular to my fellow moms. many of whom i know will be up tossing and turning at 2:00 a.m., wondering how you're going to be in three places at once, and then somehow still get dinner on the table. first of all, we see you, we hear you, and we stand with you. i know you're frustrated. i know you're probably disgusted by most of what you see going on in washington, and i'll be really honest with you, you're not wrong for feeling that way. look, i get it.

the task in front of us isn't an easy one, but i can promise you one thing. it is worth it. so i am asking you for the sake of your kids and your grandkids, get into the arena. every generation has been called to do hard things. american greatness rests in the fact that we always answer that call. it's who we are. never forget, we are steeped in the blood of patriots who overthrew the most powerful empire in the world. we walk in the footsteps of pioneers who tamed the wild. we now carry forward the same flame of freedom as the liberators of an oppressed europe.

we continue to draw courage from those who bent the moral arc of the universe. and when we gaze upon the heavens, never forget that our dna contains the same ingenuity that put man on the moon. america has been tested before, and every single time we've emerged unbowed and unbroken. our history has been written with the grit of men and women who got knocked down. but we know their stories because they did not stay down. we are here because they stood back up. so now it's our turn, our moment to stand up and prove ourselves worthy of protecting the

american dream. together we can reawaken the heroic spirit of a great nation. because america, we don't just have a rendezvous with destiny. we take destiny's hand and we lead it. our future starts around kitchen tables just like this. with moms and dads just like you. and you are why i believe with every fiber of my being, that despite the current state of our union, our best days are still ahead. may god bless you and may god continue to bless these united states of america.

>> alabama republican u.s. senator katie britt speaking from montgomery. a very long response in terms of the republican response this evening. i should say just as a matter of context here, i think alabama has been on everybody's mind in terms of the debate around reproductive rights in particular because of the alabama supreme court and their recent ruling on ivf. senator britt ran as a strongly antiabortion rights candidate. and that does spotlight that issue. obviously the most, i would say, the portion of her response that had took up the most word count at least was her talk on the border. she was one of the u.s. senators who was involved in the bipartisan negotiations to create a border bill, and she helped create the bill, and then voted against it when donald trump called on republicans to pull the plug on the bill that

they, themselves, had negotiated. we have a little piece of sound from president biden's remarks tonight that got a very interesting response in the room from the lead republican senator with whom katie britt worked to write the border bill. go ahead. >> in november my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators. the result was a bipartisan bill with a tougher set of border security forms we've ever seen. [ booing ] you don't think so? you don't like that bill? that conservatives got together and said it was a good bill? i'll be darn. that's amazing. that bipartisan bill would hire 1,500 more security agents and officers. 100 more immigration judges to help tackle the back load of too many cases, and new policies to resolve cases in six months

instead of six years now. [ applause ] wouldn't have guessed. >> he says what are you against? and you say just before that, senator langford from oklahoma, he was the lead republican negotiator along with senators like katie britt who just gave that long lured speech for the most part about the border. and you saw senator langford there saying that's true after president biden described what was in that bill. again that bill negotiated by republicans, by conservative republicans. they got everything they wanted, and it was donald trump who then called on republicans to pull the plug on it because as president biden made the point in his speech tonight, he thought it would be better politics to not fix the border and instead to just secure it up. >> and senator langford went on the floor and said he was

threatened with being destroyed by an unnamed media person. he didn't say what it was. but he received threats for daring to negotiate a bill that conservatives asked for. >> and one of the democrats a prime negotiator is a member of the foreign relations committee, joining us now. senator murphy, we know you were there and we see you responding to biden's speech tonight. what's your reaction on how things went? >> reporter: the president laid it out there on the question of the border. the fact of the matter is we did come to a bipartisan agreement. negotiated by a conservative senator, james langford, that would have been the toughest law. and donald trump told them to, why? donald trump wants chaos at the border. i like katie britt a lot, but you didn't hear her say in her speech one thing what republicans are for because many of the ideas that republicans

actually think would work like putting more border patrol officers on the border, like giving the president the power to shut down the border when crossings get too high, were in that bill and they all voted against it because they don't want to fix the problem. they are addicted to talking about the problem, but they don't want to do anything to fix it. i thought the president did a great job of calling out the emperor as having no clues tonight. on that issue he hit it square in the head. >> and it was one of his biggest applause of the night. we have a simple choice, we can fight about fixing the border or fix it. i'm ready to fix it, send me the border bill now. senator, there was one other moment when the president was talking about this issue, and this bill that you worked on where he was addressing republican criticism not just around this issue, but republicans criticizing yelling out, sort of heckling, in the room. i want to get your response to this moment. >> the border patrol union

endorsed this bill. the federal chambers of commerce -- yeah, yeah, you're saying look at the facts. [ applause ] i know you know how to read. >> there is both style and substance there in terms to comment and seems to be enjoying some of the criticism and the cat calling from republicans in the room. at least that is how it appeared. what was it like in the room? >> well, it was actually pretty amazing in the room because the president comes out and just knocks everybody over with the first ten minutes of that speech, right? normally the beginning of the state of the union has a little bit of rhetoric, a little flourish, but the president comes right out saying we're not bowing down to putin, we're not banning abortion. we are not giving up on democracy. and republicans in the chamber who were ready to battle with them were on their back foot

from the beginning. and that exchange also shows you that the president was ready. he knew they were going to come after them. he knew there were going to be cat calls, but he's right. did they read the bill? they didn't. because they all opposed the border bill within hours of its release simply because donald trump gave them political instructions to keep the border a mess. so i thought from the very beginning when the president just kept on punching him in the mouth to the middle where he dealt with them trying to rattle him to the end where he said listen, you know, this is a choice between civility and unity or division. i just thought it was the best speech that i've seen him give in person. >> in terms of that punching in the mouth and the idea and the aggression many which they came out. there is one other little piece of sound from the president's speech that i would like to play it for you again to get your response to. the president made a number of remarks right off the bat,

talking about 1941 and addressing that chamber, talking about abraham lincoln in the civil war. talking about ronald reagan, telling them to tear down this wall. he then talked about the fact that the swedish prime minister was in attendance and that sweden, as of today, will become the newest member of nato. something that would not have to happen had they not started the largest land war in europe since world war ii. on that point, he said this. i would like to get your response to this on the other side. >> my message to putin who i have known for a long time is simple. we will not walk away. we will not bow down. i will not bow down.

in a literal sense, history is watching. history is watching. >> senator murphy in that moment he's talking about not bowing down to putin, but by substantively what he means there is we're not going to abandon our ally that's in a war with putin right now. is he -- can he say that with mike johnson sitting over his shoulder? >> well listen, that's just a really muscular part of the speech, right? i mean this country still believes in the might of american leadership. the middle of this country does not want putin to roll over one of our allies. they certainly don't want americans to then be at war directly with russia and nato. and so i just thought that part of the speech hit. but yes, he's talking to mike johnson in that part of his speech. he's looking out at that chamber and he knows there are votes in the house of representatives right now for the senate bill to

fund ukraine, and all he needs to do is convince mike johnson to stand up to donald trump and call that bill far vote. the only thing right now, standing in the way of our protection of nato and ukraine is speaker mike johnson. the minute he calls that vote is the minute that we have funds delivered to ukraine and putin is pushed back. i thought it was an incredibly powerful moment over the speech. he's speaking to the nation, but clearly speaking to the speaker of the house. >> senator chris murphy, democrat of connecticut. sir, it's fortuitous to us that you were able to be here with us tonight on such a big evening. thank you so much. >> thanks. all right, we have -- everybody is bursting at the seams, i know. we need to take one quick break, but when we come back, everybody can say what they want to say. i have a lot to say. we are going to take a quick break. i do want to tell you one announcement. this saturday, our beloved colleague, jonathan capehart, is going to sit down with president biden for his first interview after the state of the union. that interview is going to air

this saturday here on msnbc at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. you will not want to miss that. the state of the union tonight, remarkable in many ways. we have a lot more to talk about. stay with us. my scooter broke down. i went into a depression. how do you feel about that? pretty sad. and i posted it to show that kenny's not always happy. within 24 hours people had donated over $5,000. no, you're kidding. we set up the patriotic kenny foundation to give mobility scooters to veterans. it has changed my life tremendously. none of this would've happened without tiktok.

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it. look at the chaos. those bragging about our attorney roe v. wade has no clue about the power of women, but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and we won in 2022, and we will win again in 2024. [ cheers and applause ] it's you, the american people, who send me to congress to support the right to choose, i promise you i will restore roe v. wade as the law of the land again. [ cheers and applause ] >> all those remarks from president biden tonight very early on in his state of the union. pugnacious on that point, repeating it, speaking directly to the supreme court justices when he was on that topic. i thought it was an interesting

choice, politically a strong choice, but also meant that the top of the speech really had a lot of hard punches right in the very beginning? >> it sure did, but it also goes directly to mike johnson who is representing family values voters. when the president goes on to say i like to see teachers get raises. we would like every child to be able to read when they're in the third grade, and we should expand tutoring. mike johnson's response, he sat on his hands. to think about pro life and what it means when the president goes on to talk about family life in america and things that are important to families. those republicans are saying nothing. >> lawrence, what did you make of it? >> on mike johnson, there is a camera they have up in the corner of the chambers that shoot down from the side. it is really important tonight because there was one shot when they got to it, what you saw was he was doing a sitting ovation and the hands were clapping under the desk. >> really? >> yeah. >> yeah, the hands were clapping

under the desk. to get the official count of how many times he clapped, you could only use that camera. but there was a fair amount of times when his hands were closing, including when joe biden said political violence has no place in america. that got one of these from him. and there was this tortured condition he was in that you could tell, okay, rationally people would applaud for that. what am i suppose to do? i'm not, i never sat here before? what exactly am i suppose to do here? but another hugely important point here. this state of the union address had more than any state of the union address in history, by far. the normal count is zero. a high count is two. this was constant. he was constantly departing from it. and i can't believe that they walked into the same trap again when he mentioned social security. i just can't believe that they screamed their way into the same

thing where joe biden, you know, once again made fun of him and engaged in him. he turned the state of the union into an interactive speech, he really has. he went out there ready to do it. i think determined to do it, and literally looking for the spot. oh, did they just say something? okay, here. the infrastructure thing, he ad libbed this thing if you don't want the money. i was constantly checking the content. and this is a guy who is suppose to be able to do this. the oldest person who has ever done this. he is not suppose to according to a dominant theme. and it turns out he's the quickest you've ever had at that microphone. >> it's an interesting thing because i think people forget how long joe biden has been a

politician. i mean this guy comes in at 29? he said i've been too young and too old. he's not lost a lot of races. he did run for president a couple of times and didn't get all the way there, but there is a reason why he made it all the way to the top. he's actually a good politician. he knows how to get elected and re-elected. by default, he knows how to do this and that's his home. so now he's actually speaking from his home court, right? he's actually playing, he's the home team because he is a lifelong senator. when katie britt called him a lifelong politician, yes, he is. it's why he's good at the governing piece, and he knows those people. and i think that's an important piece too. he could say lindsey, he could say hey, nancy. he actually knows them and he has known these people in some cases for decades. even the ones who are on paper against him, and he's fighting with, wrestling with, tussling with to get legislation through, he knows them enough to give them the business by name. and it is actually effective. the last thing i'll say if you

have only heard about joe biden, and this is something you said earlier, chris. if you only knew about joe biden what fox says about him and what news max says about him, and you think he's practically dead, he's so old and dotterring. this is the first time you've ever seen him. you would have no idea how they could possibly think that about joe biden. and the only other person i could say that about politically is barack obama, who they represented as this madman, you know, who hates white people and they tried to make him sound like this insane person. then when he would do his state of the union and do his thing and talk like this, and normal, they were like oh, that's barack obama? okay. >> joe biden is a radical progressive who in the first two minutes referenced ronald reagan. he was speaking to nikki haley's voters. >> i'm a capitalist. >> exactly. alex -- >> and he is not talking to nikki haley's voters. >> you have a guest to bring in? >> we sure do. the president and ceo of

reproductive freedom for all was there at the room in the state of the union as the president gave his address. he was a guest of house majority leader, hakeem jeffries. we have been talking about the fact that president biden just came out of the gates swinging and in particular focused on the justices of the supreme court at one point when he was really sharply criticizing the decision in dobbs overturning roe v. wade. what was that like as that was happening? >> you know, this is my first time being in the state of the union live. it was pretty electric. you know, i have to say i was sitting with amanda zurowski. when the president looked at the supreme court and delivered those lines, it was exactly what we needed to hear, what women in america needed to hear. that is the fighting joe biden we need back in this race, and it felt powerful, it felt

empowering. it is exactly the right tone to start swinging out the gate for our fundamental freedoms. i think that's the big, big win tonight for us was joe biden. when he is empathetic and he is passionate about an issue like he was tonight about kate cox, it really shines through. this was the state of the union that had a record number of abortion advocates, story tellers, patients, providers, 30 plus from the pro-choice caucus were in that room. they met beforehand. we were there in the audience. and it was a really powerful night. >> yeah, if you look at the president's guests or the first lady's guests as a signal of campaign priority. it seems clear reproductive priorities are at the top of the list. what do you think of the choice of the junior senator from alabama, katie britt, to give the republican response? she did not mention ivf or roe v. wade maybe unsurprisingly,

but just by choosing the junior senator from the state who has been at the center of this very, very controversial decision by the state supreme court, it is a statement i guess of, i don't know, priorities from the gop? what did you think of the choice and how political perilous is this for the republican party? >> i mean i think they are just scrambling. they have no idea how to respond to this moment. look, katie britt is a perfectly lovely person, i'm sure, but she was utterly unequipped to respond. they are clearly trying to put a feminine face on the gop, but again they are not willing to address the underlying deeply problematic extremist policies that led to the disaster in alabama with ivf. so you know, look, she did her best. i mean she said bless his heart, well bless her heart. it was pretty awful. and it didn't speak to any of the core issues that american women and men care about. she didn't address any of the

fundamental issues. she didn't talk about jobs, she didn't talk about equal pay, she didn't talk about the economy or education. a total missed opportunity. no matter, you know, how much they want to try to appeal nikki haley voters, the only person who actually did that tonight was joe biden. >> last question for you just in terms of mike johnson, our colleague jen psaki was reminding us that ivf is new technology and that the republicans sort of, the get out of jail card they're playing is to just avoid the conversation entirely. they don't have a report. how do you think they grapple with this issue?

>> they fundamentally can. the majority of mike johnson's party signed on to the legislation. as long as they truly believe it that life begins at conception, they are on the road to banning birth control. not just ivf. this is the point democrats have to hammer home. it is not just, although it's plenty, that donald trump bragged about overturning roe. it's that this congress wants to pass a national abortion ban, and their fundamental belief system means they will not stop with abortion. they logically have to go to evf. their consequences have to go to birth control. that's the case that has to be made very clearly. they do not have a response not only because they believe it, but they are beholden to the extremist in their party. >> next stop, contraception. thank you so much for your time and thoughts. it's great to see you. rachel? it is one other piece from president biden's speech that we haven't -- we referenced, but we

haven't replayed that clip. i would love to hear what you guys have to think about it. do we have number five ready to go? play this. i would love to hear what you guys have to think about this moment. >> i must be honest, the threat to democracy must be defended. my predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about january 6. i will not do that. this is a moment to speak the truth and the very lies. here is a simple truth. you can't love your country only when you win. [ applause ] >> very early on. my predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about january 6, where mike johnson turns to stone. >> i thought it was one of those claps, if you go back to that, you will see his hands doing this at the very end where he said, you know, you can't love your country only when you win and that got this. and i'm not sure he knew he was doing it. and that is what i would really

like to know. >> he was one of the architects of trying to overturn the election. i guess it is the principle architect on the floor. but i thought it was one of biden's strongest moments because again, this was his willingness to take it to the people in the audience. he's hitting the audience and saying some of you, some of you were not willing to make the truth. >> it was one of the earlier signs like i'm here to bother you about some of the things you need to be bothered about. i'm not going to pretend i'm talking to a television camera. i'm here to talk to you about some of your problems. it was amazing. >> and it also enunciates something profound and important about what we're doing here as a democracy is, right? i mean that actually is the point. it's that you respect the will of the voters that you share a power, that power moves between different parties and different people over periods of time, that you peacefully transition pow or. like that's kind of the whole ball game. like we love the country, the country is not in any given moment one particular party or one particular set of leaders. it endorses past that and it is

us collectively choosing who governs us. and you can't just love it when you win. like that's the donald trump motto. and like i love it, i love america when donald trump is running america and kind of hated otherwise. that's sort of the deal. >> the problem is donald trump always wants to play grievance media and play to emotion. katie britt is also trying to play to emotions, but the facts aren't on their side. are you better off than they were three years ago, four years ago, across the board, the answer is no. four years ago, thousands of people were dying off of covid, right? we're now at a 50-year low in terms of it all. and this failed experiment of are you better off? the answer is yes, katie britt, americans are. >> president biden came in to this speech tonight needing to make a case for defending american democracy. he did that with an exclamation point on it. we'll talk more about that part of the state of the union and much more to get to still

ahead. stay with us.

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we're the only nation in the world with the heart and soul that draws from old and new. home to native americans who have been here for thousands of years. home to people of every place on earth that came freely. some came in chains, some came from ireland, some to flea persecution. that's america, and we all come from somewhere, but we are all american. my fellow americans, the issue facing our nation. how old we are and how old our

ideas. hate, anger, revenge are the oldest ideas, but you can't lead america with ancient ideas that will take us back. you need america, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future and what can and should be done. >> the oldest of ideas that will take us back. president biden speaking tonight at the state of the union. with a guest standing by. >> joining us now, the religious studies professor and graduate chair at the university of pennsylvania. she is also an msnbc columnist. thanks for being with us. the president tonight forced lawmakers to remember what happened to them three years ago when violent insurrectionists tried to block the peaceful transfer of power. his goal seemed to drive home the idea that our democracy is in danger. was he successful in doing so? >> yes, i really do think so, stephanie. he really pushed that point home. it was very smart of him to start off with 1941 because he

linked this to hitler. i thought it was very interesting how he made historical arc about what happened if you were listening very carefully about this is a crucial time he wanted to put out that we too are facing something in this nation about losing democracy, and that it is very important for people to pay attention because there were people in that room who don't want democracy even though they are elected officials. i think that was really a strong point that he made tonight. >> he also declared there was no place for political violence in this country. yet it kind of got a tepid response. shouldn't that be the easiest line that the whole room should be standing up for? >> well, it should be, but when you have people in the room who have been advocating violence, then i think it's a problem. obviously we have some people on the republican side who, you know, don't mind violence, who were there, who were supportive of people. when he said these people were not patriots, i think that was very important about january 6. when you have, you know, a

presidential candidate who has a january 6 choir singing, you know, the star-spangled banner. i'm just thinking what are they thinking about? how can they continue to support this when this is going to take away the very democracy that they claim to want to run and do a good job at. but they really aren't. >> we played the sound bite just a moment ago where the president said hate, anger, revenge, and retribution were among the oldest of ideas. how is it that while the country is doing as well as it is, especially when you think about where we have come from covid, how has anger become such a powerful motivator for so many voters? >> i think it has because it's displaced first of all. they may be angry about personal things. but anger has been up. the politics of grievance has gone on for a long time. we've seen it back in the obama campaign and mccain in 2008. sarah palin was great at airing

grievances. it's been a grievance factory since then about how people think that the anger is going to solve anything. when you have people angry, coupled with guns, coupled with saying vindictive things like we hope these people are wiped off the face of the earth or we're going to go down and march to the border with our guns and defend the border. then you need to start thinking about anger has taken a very big place in terms of the talking point for some of our politicians and some of the people who follow them. >> anthea, thank you so much for being here tonight. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. that point on anger, it's interesting because i feel like, i mean i think professor butler is wise on these matters. but i think that issue of anger, the president was playing with that a little bit tonight, right? let me play one of the little clips, number 18, we got this ready, where the president is using emotion in a way he's trying to say is a constructive thing, not a destructive thing.

he's working the room as if he's working a rally, which is sort of an amazing thing to do with members of congress. he's trying to address that emotion issue in an important way. let's watch. >> folks at home, does anybody think the tax code is fair? >> no. >> do you think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion tax break? >> no. >> i sure don't. i'm going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair. >> the folks at home, maybe people were yelling through their tv sets or whatever, but he's doing that to the assembled members of congress in the room, and then swearing when he is talking about how he's going to fight for it. he's trying to show there is a way to use emotion even anger to be fired up in a way that is constructive and not destructive. and that is his effort to kind of read the room in terms of how much so many other people in politics are playing with anger. >> to read america, there are people who are frustrated and angry. you heard it from people right

there from anthea. he's not coming from an elite place in washington state. you don't really have problems. look at the data. he is saying it's okay, you don't feel great. there's lots of things not to feel great about. >> he spent so many months or years of his presidency including when i was there being constrained, right? you know, he went from running against trump to really trying to be a uniter that is still a part of who he is. remember there was a story a couple weeks or months ago about how he privately talked about trump using curse words. you sort of saw a hint of that tonight, which is really what he thinks of trump and the threat, and in a very aggressive way. i thought -- when i left, i went on twitter a little, which is a cesspool. their whole thing now is he's angry and speaking too fast. [ laughter ] which you know if you're sitting there -- >> wait a second. i thought he was asleep. >> i thought he was sleepy and tired. so if you're sitting in the

white house, it's kind of a win. i mean that they had to kind of overcome this hurdle of this perception that has been a huge problem. but i think what people saw in that playing back and forth that rachel mentioned, that's kind of who he is. he has this funny sense of humor that people don't always get to see, and he does like to kind of play especially if it is a new member of the staff in a meeting. so i think you kind of saw that a little bit. >> it was simply the best tax speech ever given by a democrat. it's as simple as that. there is very little competition because democrats hate to talk about taxes. because they always find themselves on the raising taxes side of the argument especially after republican administrations that have, you know, bankrupted the treasury by cutting taxes at absurd levels. but they filed the language, and turning it into that interactive thing, does anyone think it's fair, the tax code is fair? >> no. >> it's just perfect.

that's every republican who says it is not fair, right? and now democrats, they are taking it all the way. and there is just never been a more solid better delivered tax speech by a democrat. >> there is one other interactive moment on the tax thing that i thought was great and they got that here. >> there's 1,000 billionaires in america. do you know what the average taxes for those billionaires? no. 8.2%. that's far less than the vast majority of americans pay. no billionaire should pay a lower federal tax rate than a teacher, sanitation worker, or a nurse. [ cheering ] >> yeah, that's like scranton joe, but also i hate to say, the wise old man saying you guys, it's crazy what's happening here, you know. and i also saw flashes of

that when he was really ribbing republicans on their resistance from the infrastructure bill to any number of, you know, policies, legislation that have passed, that they are going back to their districts. >> if you don't want the money for your district, let me know. it's a testament to his faith in the system and the fact that i think he enjoys the politicking of it that there is not more rage in that. for a lot of other presidents, the behavior, the treatment of this president by the republican majority in congress has been off hauling and a lot of other folks will be mad about it and he teases them. and it is a way of in some ways keeping the door open to doing something down the road. >> and he could do it from a place of victory because he has gotten a ton done even as they have narrowed. the president has gotten a ton done as kevin mccarthy has lost his position and it took four

times for them to get that position. the president has gotten stuff done. >> he is actually having fun, which is the key to winning an election. >> and you can't fake it. much more to come tonight in the state of the union address. stay with us. another core value of america. our diversity across american life. banning books is wrong. instead of erasing history, let's make history. without over or under investing. so you can feel confident in your financial choices. voya, well planned, well invested, well protected. did you ever worry we wouldn't get to enjoy this? [jeff laughs maniacally] (inner monologue) seriously, i'm on the green and all i can think about is all the green i'm spending on 3 kids in college. with empower, i get all of my financial questions answered. so i don't have to worry. empower. what's next. smile! you found it.

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look, the decision to overturn roe v. wade, the supreme court majority wrote the following with all due respect, justices. women are not without electoral power. excuse me, electoral or political power. you're about to realize just how much. >> the justices of the united states supreme court as pillars of salt in an important moment from tonight's state of the union. that was a moment. >> in my mind, i felt the supreme justices were thinking hell yeah, but trying to keep their face. that was the only thing missing. i thought it was important because it's the most important message, i think, the president has to convey to voters is if you're terrified about roe v.

wade, it is you who can change it. you can simply give him a second term and make sure there is a united states senate that can change the composition. >> and i think that is actually very unusual language. you highlighted this earlier, joy, when he said if you, the american people send me a congress, i will restore roe v. wade. that's not unheard of in the state of the union construct, but it is rare. and to put it in that context, send me a pro-choice congress. >> it's a civic reminder this is the way that works. you have to send me a congress that can affirm the decision to replace roe. >> with this congress and mike johnson here, can't happen. >> and i also thought this week we've gotten two big data points about just how little or just how dismayed this president is with this court, right? that moment, but then also he gave an interview to the new yorker where he openly suggested that some of these justices, sam alito, clarence thomas, were waiting for retirement and referenced the guy who likes to

vacation on yachts. that's clarence thomas from all we know in terms of his, well, his interest in vacationing with very wealthy people who pay for his vacations. but for him to come out and directly address this court gives you insight into how. >> and a huge evolution for him. which is important to remember. and he is quite a traditionalist when it comes to the supreme court. he is very careful to the frustration of many in the democratic base and how he has talked about the court. the blue ribbon commission, which means i'm going to commission a report that will go on a shelf? >> and to echo what you said, he was kind of sick of it and that is significant on the court. >> and at any old time wn