♪ >> welcome to the latest and greatest edition of "best of with all due respect." this week, america elected the 45th president of the united states. we begin with an analysis of the presidential race, and the result that shocked much of the nation. after more than a year of plot twists, the 2016 presidential race ended last night with one final, plate shifting earthquake. hillary clinton woke up

yesterday virtually certain that she would be the 45th president of the united states. so did basically the rest of the political world. instead, this morning, the democratic nominee thanked a room of grief stricken friends and campaign members with tim kaine at her side. as she publicly conceded the race to donald j. trump and wished him well as the soon-to-be leader of the free world. [applause] ms. clinton: donald trump going to be our president. we owe him an open mind and a chance to lead. our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. and we do not just respect that, we cherish it. many of you are at the beginning of your professional, public, and political careers. you will have successes and setbacks, too. this loss hurts. but please, never stop believing that fighting for what is right is worth it.

and to all of the women, and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, i want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. [applause] ms. clinton: to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams. >> according to the ap, michigan, new hampshire, and arizona are too close to call. based on the results from other states, it does look like hillary clinton won the nationwide popular vote. while donald trump's unexpected surge in florida and the rust belt was enough to solidify the electoral vote. there was an extra cherry to the night for republicans, as they

achieved a majority in both the house of representatives and the senate. today at the white house, president obama called for the country tonight around the new leader. president obama: now, everybody is said when their side loses an election, but the day after we have to remember that we are all on one team. we are not democrats first or republicans first. we are americans first. we are patriots first. we all want what is best for this country. that is what i heard in mr. trump's remarks last night. that is what i heard when i spoke to him. directly.

and i was heartened by that. that is what the country needs. john: mark, you and i were at hillary clinton's punitive victory party, and we saw the mood shift from apprehensive to shellshocked. so my question for you, one is what the heck happened yesterday? and the second is, how is it so many people missed it so totally? mark: i think people in elite circles did not understand that donald trump had a chance to win. second is, when the incumbent is below 50%, you would assume in a normal race that the challenger will get a lot of the undecided vote. i think a lot of people just do not read the polls that way. kellyanne conway kept saying, she is well below 50. the last thing is that there is a human element to politics. these websites that aggregate

goals and say donald trump's chances are at 13%. all they are doing is looking at polls. they are not watching the candidate and talking with voters. if you did that, you saw it was a changed election. you saw a candidate that was calling for change, and another that was a creature of the washington establishment. mark: i will push back on that last point a little bit. donald trump got fewer votes in this election than mitt romney got four years ago. i want to focus on some numbers. we talk a lot about her numbers. she underperformed barack obama significantly with hispanic voters. and predictably with african-american voters. she underperformed with millennials by a lot. most importantly, to my mind, the big bulwark against donald trump's massive coalition was that she was going to be the first democrat in history to win

white, college educated voters overall. she failed at that. she was supposed to win by a dozen, 20 points. including every poll that we did. however, she ended up winning college educated women and losing college educated men. she only improved on obama with white college educated whites by three points. mark: i think the lack of is as him for her is part of it. part of it is that people did not see her as anything more than the same old establishment figure. i cannot prove this yet, and i'm not sure if i ever will be, but i think having a lot the conversation at the end being comey, on-again, off-again, just reinforced people's view that this would be another same old same old. someone they do not want to be in the white house.

♪ >> stay tuned as two of bloomberg's best political reporters join the show. they are up next. ♪

♪ mark: welcome back. joining us now are two women and superstars. our colleagues that have gone through the entire presidential race covering american presidential politics. margaret, who has covered the clinton campaign in new york, and jennifer jacobs, a senior political reporter who has covered donald trump. an incredibly emotional event today in new york. i was at the event for hillary

clinton, and a lot of her supporters were in tears over what happened. do you have any sense of why hillary clinton or robby mook or anyone else thinks she lost? >> i think it is a combination of factors, but i think part of the reason why they believed she lost is that it is a change year. she would have been a third term of obama. they also realized she could never get past the likability and trust issue that has followed her since the beginning. one candidate represents change, and the other one does not, it is every hard to win. it is also hard to enthuse black voters if you are not black. it is also hard to compare yourself to barack obama if you are not as charismatic as barack obama. and very hard to get past an e-mail scandal before you even get out of the gate. >> tell me about what your experience was of being at the trump event last night. >> it was a long time coming. all of these fans were waiting around, and they thought it was

going to be a goodbye or farewell event. they waited,ited, and they waited. there was an open bar, so some had a good time with the drinks. there was a cake in the shape of donald trump. people waiting around talking. when pennsylvania was called, one outlet had called wisconsin and another had called pennsylvania. the crowd knew that donald trump had won, but no one had called it yet. people were just buzzing with excitement. when it was finally declared, there was a lot of emotion. people were just crazy pumped up and high-fiving. it was very emotional. many were stunned. they said there were not expecting this. they blamed us, the dishonest media. me in particular, told them that he could not win. the were so many that were not expecting it. >> you could have seen a much

more confrontational and defiant speech. i'm not criticizing it, but why not take his big victory and talk about the wall or the immigration ban? why did he go so soft? >> he has talked about unity on the campaign trail for quite a while. he has wanted to be seen as a republican who can bring everyone together. that is one thing he chose to use. it really is no different from what he has been saying all along. it is just who he is. >> one of the things we noted at the hillary clinton event was the sheer grief of a lot of folks that were there. particularly among female supporters that felt crushed. talk about what you sensed among those supporters? >> last night, at the clinton

event, it was almost the inverse of what you describe. i would say there were a couple of different groups in the audience. there was a group that were diehard hillary clinton supporters, and there were others that were not diehard. they may have begun as bernie sanders supporters, elizabeth warren supporters, but were so angry with donald trump in the groups that he had called out and disenfranchised, muslims, gay americans, and they thought a clinton win would be a repudiation, a snuffing out of his tactics. when they lost, and they did not see it coming, all of it was turned upside down. there was a fear, and inability to come to terms with what was happening. >> we have interviewed her team all along the way. talking about the pressure of losing to donald trump, a person that they felt they could not lose too. you get the sense that those people will stay involved in

politics, or will this be a scarring experience for them? >> i think they will stay in politics. i think it will double or triple their resolve. it is a devastating loss, and not just for hillary clinton. i think a third time would be too much. not just for the clinton legacy, but also because this is a barack obama's legacy that is now in jeopardy. not only because she was supposed to inherit it, but he also double down. he put all of his chips in her basket. she was supposed to be the heir to all of that. >> that looms large now. >> and in the biden household. we spoke earlier about what a donald trump administration look like. give us a couple of little nuggets of what you might be hearing of who will do what. >> they are talking about what

next steps to take. they had not really planned on who will do what. as i understand, there have no major names that have been announced until next week. donald trump do not want to waste the money on a transition. they have shelved this. and so there transition for the next few weeks are a little half-baked. today is just about regrouping. >> we have heard that reince priebus might come up as chief of staff. that popped up this afternoon. >> there are a couple of other names, as well. >> i will say one name, the name chris christie was being thrown around for weeks, and i made contact with him last night, and he was the happiest guy in the room except for trump. >> newt gingrich was not on stage. i do not know why. >> rudy giuliani came up later, so i do not think it was the most strict of choreography. i will say again, with all seriousness, i just want to thank you both. it is glad to have you both here, and to work side-by-side

throughout the cycle. >> jennifer jacobs, margaret, thank you both so much. when we come back, we will talk about what lies ahead for both parties after this. ♪

♪ >> joining us now is bill burton, democratic strategist, in a fetching pair of new glasses. and an old hat. here in the studio is a man with a great smile and twinkling blue eyes, political media strategist and coexecutive producer of the circus, mark mckinnon. bill, i will start with you. the question i was going to ask margaret. you know president obama pretty well. he devoted a lot of time, effort, and energy to try and pick up hillary clinton on his

big, broad shoulders politically and drank her across the finish line. so now that everything he has accomplished the last eight years is in jeopardy, how do you think he is feeling about that? >> he felt that hillary clinton would be a great president who would carry on some the things he has been working on. but look, one thing we all know is that the electorate is a much different thing than we thought it was when we woke up. and there's so much anger out there. and there is such a feeling of inattentiveness to what is causing that anger that democrats will have to do some soul searching to find a way forward here. >> specifically, bill, here is president obama, mitch mcconnell and donald trump are already talking about the first thing

out of the gate in january is to repeal obama care. that must be a chilling thing for barack obama to hear that. >> yeah, look, nobody wants that. for the americans that could lose health care because of that or the access to health care at all because of pre-existing conditions, i think people are very concerned. i think president obama is very concerned about it. that is why he signed it into law. you know, it is true that it did have some problems, but the problems can be fixed and people do not have to lose their health care. but i think that mitch mcconnell and donald trump will throw the baby out with the bathwater, and that will leave many americans out in the cold. >> if you think part of what is going on is populist anger at elite behavior, you have the bushes, who do not support donald trump. so, they are angry about that. now, donald trump is elected, and they are supporting him. doesn't that make people cynical about elites? >> short, it makes them cynical about elites, but what i am really struck by is the shock in

the surprise of the election itself, one thing that everyone talked about was that donald trump was going to lose. the disarray of the republican party. 24 hours later, the republican party is in better shape than it has been since 1928. we have all three branches of government for the first time in almost 120 years. but it is interesting to think about what kind of republican party it will be. it is anti-trade, pro entitlements, there is going to be a big infrastructure bill. i remember how that went south on bush. >> if you were to call together three or four or five big democratic thinkers or strategists, and they need to create a new democratic strategy and direction.

who would you bring in the room besides yourself? >> i would start with don and hillary rosen. i would add in van jones. >> any elected officials? >> any red state democrats. >> there are not very many of them. >> well, the new governor of north carolina. we need to be attentive to the fact that we have a big problem with middle-class, white voters that we have not paid attention to. and the obama coalition is never going to be the obama coalition again. we have to grow our share of electorate, and that has to include more middle-class white voters. we have to be focused on that. >> i felt like i was hearing that 24 hours ago from the republican party. >> we mentioned before, there's a bit of an irony to run as a populist, and then you move to the white house and you have to be president. from the federal government. how does that play out with donald trump riding in on that rhetorical horse? arriving there, trying to keep the faith with the people that voted him in after saying he

would shake up the establishment, but now has to run the place. with some real establishmentarians like paul ryan. >> that is what will make or break the first 100 days is the relationship between donald trump and paul ryan. >> i mentioned before, the idea of normalizing donald trump. how a lot of your colleagues and maybe you, criticizing people in the press -- you say that you cannot treat him like a normal president. he is being greeted tomorrow at the white house by president obama. do they need to treat him like a normal person for the foreseeable future? >> i would hope any republican president-elect would be treated with some level of scrutiny by democrats. i think that is true of donald trump. i was in college when jesse ventura was elected governor.

i think he did a good job of trying to take the job seriously for a while before he spectacularly failed. i think donald trump will do the best you can to do the normal things that a president elect would do. >> let me give you an example. there's the ongoing legal suit with trump university. should democratic interest groups and operatives be jumping all over that? saying donald trump is corrupt? he treats little guy and little gal bad? or should they give him a honeymoon? >> i do not think anyone deserves a honeymoon necessarily. i think if you broke the law, you should be accountable. that includes trump university, the fbi is looking into his ties with russia. there is the irs and his foundation.

>> do think the democrats should be doing research on that, pushing it out there, and trying to hurt him politically? i not arguing one way or the other. i am just curious about your posture. >> i am not saying to hurt him politically. i think if you broke the law, then he should be held accountable for it. in the real world, most americans -- or they can say, it will take care of itself. >> you say in the real world, but you are talking about washington dc. politics happen in d.c. every single day. if laws are broken, i think people should be held accountable.

i think that will be the case for president elect donald trump when the chips fall with these investigations that are happening behind the scenes that we have not heard about. that did not interfere with the election. >> you think he gets a honeymoon just as a matter of fact? the customary, the short variety that most presidents get? >> not necessarily. there is that infrastructure bill, a big opportunity. a significant one. so, absolutely, i know this from working with the nonprofit sector, at this point in the country, they have said they do not care if it is a democrat or a republican. they just want to get some problems solved. i think a lot of people are getting that message. i give it until christmas. >> can i just add on to what mark was saying? >> before the election, we said that democrats have problems with certain segments of voters. i think there are legitimate questions to be asked, and they should be asking them. but if there is progress to be made, then democrats need to find a way to get aid out to those people that do not like

they are getting attention from the people in washington. >> starting in january, you will not have the white house, the majority. we do not know who the chair of the dnc is going to be. who is going to be the leading spokesperson for the democratic party come january? if you can designate somebody? >> i think nancy pelosi has a strong voice. she will be out there. there will be a whole coterie of democrats speaking for the party. i think will be a variety of spokespeople. everyone from kamala harris to kirsten gillibrand in new york. i think we are going to be auditioning a lot of different people to be the spokesperson for the party. that will go on for a good four years. >> i will not tell chuck schumer that you failed to mention him on that list. >> i totally meant to say chuck schumer first. it was a mistake. he is welcome to come to santa barbara.

>> coming up, white house secretary josh earnest talks about the transition of power after these words from our sponsors. ♪

♪ >> welcome back. all eyes are on washington, d.c. today as donald trump continues his transition into moving into 1600 pennsylvania avenue. we have josh earnest with us. josh, it is great to see you. sorry we cannot stop by to say hi when we were down there later today. you are the closest thing to a fly on the wall. give us your readout of the meeting. >> the president described it as a positive, productive meeting. the reason he heard from the president-elect in private was because you had all heard from him in public.

they've been preparing for months for this transition of power. president obama is trying to make sure that the next president can hit the ground running. i do not think he was expecting to work with the president elect donald trump team, but that is who he is working with major sure that the transition is effective in spite of their differences. >> you said something today that surprised me about the president's comments that donald trump is unqualified. you said that he still thinks that. >> i do not want people to be left with the impression that was just empty rhetoric. the president was making of you based on his favoring of hillary clinton.

it has consequences. early after he take office, president obama was quoted rather derisively as saying that they felt he was arrogant for saying that elections have consequences. elections do have consequences even if they do not turn out the way we hoped they would. the president is dedicated to ensuring a peaceful transition. that does not mean that the concerns he raised do not apply anymore. of course they do. the time for argument has passed. the american people have decided, and elections have consequences. >> josh, answer this as best as you can in a human way. you see a lot of criticism on the presidential campaigns. however, what president obama has said repeatedly about donald trump is that he is unsuited and unfit for the office of the president.

i know he is committed to the peaceful transition of power. but what is he thinking in that moment? >> he is thinking that he has the responsibility to put aside his own, personal, deeply held political views and put the interests of our country and our democracy. he is not the first president to be put in a situation who was had to do this. president clinton had to hand the keys of the oval office over to president george w. bush. yet, president clinton tried to fulfill his presidential responsibilities. president bush did the same thing for president-elect obama. they had been each critical of the previous administration.

however, they did not let their personal disagreements with the new president elect to affect a peaceful transition. president obama is committed to doing the same thing. that requires them to put aside his own personal views. when it comes to the functioning of our democracy, even the president of the united states has to set aside his own opinions for the good of the country. >> let's audition right now. why did hillary clinton lose? >> i think it will take a while to figure that out precisely. >> take your first stab at it. if you are a political analyst for the cable network, you do not have time to punt. >> this is a very effective

training, so thank you. there are several things worth considering. first, secretary clinton won the popular vote, and it is important not to overlook that view. she lost the electoral vote, but we would be remiss to not mention that she won more popular votes than the other guy. one job at a time though. the second thing is that there are millions of people that voted for barack obama in 2008 and 2012 that voted for donald trump. when you consider how popular president obama is across the country with longtime supporters and with republicans and independents as well, there are just a lot of questions to answer. there clearly are people across

the country that are fed up with dysfunction in washington, d.c. as much as i believe that should be laid at the feet of some people, there are clearly a lot of people across the country that laid the dysfunction at the feet of the democrats. i think that is part of the answer, too. what do we do to more effectively communicate with voters that unfairly held democrats in washington for some dysfunction. it raises questions about what democrats are doing to make a persuasive argument to the people that voted for barack obama twice and then voted for donald trump.

>> josh, that was pretty good way comes to cable analysis. you will need to be a little pithier, if you want to make it on some of these networks. josh earnest, it is a pleasure to see you. >> joining us now to talk about trump and the hill is kelly o'donnell. kelly, tells about the sights and sounds of what was happening. kelly: i think it was very striking, because donald trump does not have a lot of experience of dealing with the inner offices on capitol hill. i was here when he was a part of a big anti-iran deal protest. he seemed a bit more restrained and more of a lower volume donald trump. he met off-campus, near the capital, in a place where house republicans tended to get together. he met with speaker ryan to have lunch and continue a conversation that was started over the phone. paul ryan invited donald trump and melania trump to get a preview of the view they will get on induction day.

he also had a meeting with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. as he was walking out of that, i asked him if he was ready to be president. he said, "we were ready." he gave the double thumbs up that is famous on his campaign trail. it was sort of a cacophony of a media day. it was hard to hear. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell escorted him out and then came back to speak with us.

he said it was a first-class eating and they are eager to get going on the transition on areas where they agree. so, for paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, it is about trying to plant with a new republican partner. they have a lot more experience than he does. >> did anything happen that made you take the might be some trouble here? >> not today. i think today was about trying to project confidence. it was about trying to be gracious. in washington, it will not take long for the problems got to filter out. today seemed more of a grand tour. >> stay tuned as andrea mitchell joins our conversation. we will be right back. ♪

♪ >> we are joined now by two greats. chief correspondent for the washington post, our friend dan. also, nbc correspondent and msnbc anchor, andrea mitchell. >> that is hyped. >> we are very hyped. you both are in matching outfits today. a rhapsody in blue. andrea, you have covered a lot of transitions in washington. what did you see today with donald trump's first day in washington, d.c.? >> i saw something that encouraged the markets and me as

a citizen. the fact that president obama was as gracious and forthcoming as he was about wanting a longer meeting, and donald trump responded in kind. i was anchoring live when the tape was played back on the oval office. it was extraordinary. was a lesson in democracy. donald trump said he would of liked the meeting to go longer, and that he was honored to be with president obama, and that he appreciated his counsel. president obama, i do not doubt that he took the opportunity to give president-elect donald trump a daily briefing to the likes of which he is not ever had before. it is what he will now get as the president elect. i was just thinking earlier, harry truman did not know until he was president that there was an atomic bomb. there's a lot that donald trump

is likely learning about covert operations that we can only imagine. they are burdens that any president of the united states has every day when he receives that briefing from the intelligence community. >> there are a million stories now that they are trying to figure out -- what are you wondering about now for the next couple of weeks up to january 20? >> i am wondering the same thing all of you are wondering which is, who will surround donald trump when he enters the white house? what kind of a mix is it? is it republican insiders? other some outsiders? what kind of flavor does that give to the donald trump presidency? i'm interested in the relationships he develops on capitol hill. but we are seeing in the days immediately after the election are some predictable but

encouraging displays of pleasantries and commitments to try and make the transition as smooth as possible. we still know it is a deeply divided country with protests in the streets and during the campaign. or is a lot bubbling beneath the surface that these first few meetings not really even begin to get at. that is what i am most curious about in the next few weeks -- how it begins to sort itself out. >> andrea, you have covered the clinton campaign very closely. hillary clinton gave her speech yesterday, but there has been a lot of silence from her, her people, and her friends. what is going on in that world right now he beyond grief? >> a lot of grief, and a lot of fear. at the concession speech, there

was a lot of people with red eyes because they had been weeping all night. they were absolutely sure they were going to win. everyone got it wrong. everyone saying, except for you guys, that he did not have a path. you laid it out in a way that no one else really did. kudos to you. the headline writers, we saw how newspapers made their headlines of madam secretary, and they had not even figured out the alternative headline they would post. i think right now they are trying to figure out the rest of their lives. for these people, it is personal. many of these people have been with hillary clinton for 30 years. huma abedin had been an intern when she first got her job with hillary clinton.

i feel bad for the kids who had such stars in their eyes and such aspirations. they were in it for a hope for change. i really feel for them. one woman posted in extorting her a picture on facebook of walking in the woods in chappaqua, and running into hillary clinton and bill clinton walking their dogs. there they were out and about. hillary clinton is just extraordinarily strong. i thought her concession speech was profoundly moving. >> we wish we had more time to talk with both of you.

thank you both. ♪ >> coming up, we will discuss donald trump's victory. stay tuned. ♪

♪ >> updating from earlier, we told you about a scoop by our colleague read john about howard dean. dean just tweeted on the topic. joining us now from los angeles to talk more about the aftermath of tuesday's stunning election, we are joined by tavis smiley. tavis, what you think of his tweet? >> would think i've said about howard dean that i find that's one thing about howard dean that i respect is that he says that democrats really need one, defining strategy. he really advances and engages this notion of a 50 straight strategy. again, i think that democrats could do much worse. >> tavis, you are a democrat, aren't you? >> i've never said it publicly. however, i will say that i did not vote for donald trump. >> with the senate and house of republican majority, a full washington of republicans right now, what do you think?

>> them aggressively to accept that donald trump is our next president. i am heartened by the protests in the street for that narrative for what we want our country to become. democrats have to accept the facts that if they could just move a little bit to the left, they can pick up the kind of energy and enthusiasm that might have made the difference this time around. for my white liberal friends. let me just say this -- i had a waitress, up to me at lunchtime, and she was just in tears. i cannot begin to tell you the

number of phone calls i received over the last 48 hours from my white, liberal friends who fear this is a catastrophe. let me just say respectfully that black folk do with catastrophes every day. some might white liberal elite friends are so used to winning that if you lose on election, you feel like the road is closing in on you. i am upset, too. let me be clear, but misery must not have the last word number one. to explain -- for the white liberal elites that are asking how they will explain this to a kid, a real problem is how do you explain to kids why there is no food in the fridge, why you are being convicted. we have to contextualize this in the right way.

>> why did hillary clinton lose? >> i believe that the democrats ran an elitist candidate in a populist election. number two, you cannot take voters for granted. number three, they relied on this hail mary by barack obama saying he would take it as a personal insult if black people did not vote for hillary clinton. i took that as an insult that black americans cannot have their own agency when it comes to their vote. never mind donald trump's misogyny, could you imagine that white women at that level would ever even consider voting for a black man who had talked about grabbing them down there?

there is no way that 50% of white women would ever consider voting for a black man. it is racism, sexism, and elitism on display once again. >> in terms of trying to contain what democrats see as potential damage from a donald trump presidency. what is the strategy there? how you go about dealing with donald trump in the oval office? >> democrats have to get back to representing their base. the democratic party in many ways has abandoned their base of working-class, everyday people. if you take care of those people, they will take care of you.

the bottom line was clear that hillary clinton's taste did not show up in the way they thought it would in certain places. if you take care of people, they will take care of you. the politics will take care of themselves. i'm not in a position to offer democrats in congress and way to deal with this, but will say that there are some fights not worth fighting even if you win. however, there are fights that you have to fight even if you lose. democrats will have to stand on their principles. i heard this from friedman, "you can dance in a hurricane if you stand in the eye." you have to stand in your truth. even with a hurricane swirling around you, if you stand in your truth and you can make some progress. >> would you like to see the protests continuing through the donald trump administration? >> i think he has to to be held accountable. you cannot run a campaign with the kind of racist, sexist, classist language that he used and then say overnight that we have to come together.

we are just supposed to sing kumbaya and hold hands. i hope he will be a better president than i thought he might be, but he has to be held accountable. >> tavis, thank you. >> think you are watching this edition of "best of with all due respect." thank you for watching this edition of "best of with all due respect." you can find us on bloomberg radio. until monday, sayonara. ♪ >> this issue has --

♪ oliver: we have a major focus on donald trump's historic victory. carol: we will also talk about policy. oliver: and also who he will bring to the white house. carol: a huge portion of bloomberg businessweek is dedicated to the election. ellen: we wanted to tell the story of the election in a variety of ways through print