what's the latest, jessica? >> very cold, you got it, alisyn. michigan's 16 electors will be casting their votes at 2:00 today. electors will be in state capitols all over the country casting their votes as well starting at 10:00 this morning in indiana. now of course, december 19th is something that comes and goes every four years. it's largely ceremonial. but this year we're expecting protests across the country, and already there have been thousands of calls for electors to quote, vote their conscience, something that is highly unlikely given the fact that the majority of electors are party loyalists. donald trump getting one step closer to officially becoming the next president of the united states today. all 538 members of the electoral college casting their ballots across the country. the typically ceremonial process in the spotlight since some are urging electors to go rogue and block trump from the office. for that to happen, though, 37 republican electors must switch their votes.

a scenario seen as highly unlikely. >> the question is whether there are 37 republican electors who think that either they're open questions or that donald trump, based on everything we know about him, is really unfit to be president of the united states. >> reporter: so far, only one elector, a republican from texas, said he will not cast his vote for trump. >> it is time to pull the brake. >> reporter: some electors say they've gotten thousands of letters, even death threats, after pledging to vote for trump, regardless of outside pressure. >> it's utter hypocrisy because i don't think that if the roles were reversed most of these people would be okay with electors being faithless. >> reporter: trump fighting back tweeting, if my many supporters acted and threatened people like those who lost the election are doing, they would be scorned and called terrible names. after praising the electoral college over the weekend. >> the electoral vote. i never appreciated it until now. how genius it was. >> reporter: meanwhile, the

president-elect's top aides continue to question russia's interference in the u.s. election now asking for a unified presentation from u.s. intelligence agencies. >> if there is this conclusive opinion among all of these intelligence agencies, then they should issue a report or stand in front of a camera and make the case. >> reporter: president obama speaking out about the hack operation in a new interview. >> the issue now is not relitigating the election, the issue now is for us to learn lessons so that we don't have an ongoing situation in every election cycle where you have substantial foreign influence in our campaigns. >> reporter: team trump questioning the president's motivation. >> it seems like the president is under pressure from team hillary, who can't accept the election results. >> reporter: four bipartisan senators continue to press for a select committee to investigate russian interference in the election. >> this is serious business.

if they're able to harm the electoral process, then they destroy democracy. which is based on free and fair elections. >> reporter: and many democrats are pointing to the details of those russian hacks in hopes that it could sway electors. even the documentary maker activist michael moore is pledging to pay the fines of any electors who go rogue. but, of course, 28 states do have faithless elector laws that bind the electors to vote as their state has pledged. and republican officials right here in michigan tell me that even if any of their electors go rogue, which they do not expect, they would simply replace the elector with one who would actually vote for donald trump. alisyn? >> jessica, thanks so much for explaining all of that to us. joining us now is a former senior spokesperson and adviser for the hillary clinton campaign. good morning, karen. >> good morning. >> so, karen, what is this day like for you? and in the past few weeks, in your private moments, have you been holding out some sliver of hope that the electors would

turn this around? >> you know, i'll be honest with you, alisyn, i took the view more to where i think, you know, john and podesta was in the clip that you showed, which is, and i think where the president is, which you know, there are very serious questions about the role that russian government, russian state actors, including vladimir putin himself, may have played, and so regardless of changing the outcome of the election, which i don't think that -- to my mind that's not what this is about. this is about making sure that we know what happened so that we can make sure it does not happen again. i think that's what's more important here. and to this point about some of the electors, i know some of them are suggesting that really the thing to do is to send it to congress, because, you know, republicans -- they're a republican-led congress. members of congress could actually have access to some of that confidential material, and then would they, too, would have information that i think the electors feel, at least

certainly the ones who've asked for a briefing on what may have happened here to really understand what actually happened, and, you know, what do we need to do to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> you know, look, you've heard the trump team, they say that you guys are just grasping at straws, this is all a distraction, a red herring, pardon the pun, to say that russia in any way played a role in the outcome. basically kellyanne conway is saying that you, your team, is just politicizing this. let me play for you what she said about you guys. >> it does seem to be a political response at this point. because it seems like the president is under pressure from team hillary, who can't accept the election results. it's very clear that president obama could have, quote, retaliated months ago if they were actually concerned about this and concerned about this, quote, affecting the election. whatever his motives are, whatever his action is, we'll

respect it as americans. >> what your response, karen? >> well, my response is that kellyanne conway is a very talented political operative. and i understand why she and the other members of the trump team are trying to make this about, you know, a sour grapes, and not wanting to accept the election results. and again, that's not what we're saying here. and you know, i find it frustrating, kellyanne conway also admitted she herself is not privy to any of the information, the classified information, the intelligence, that, you know, when other members of congress have seen it it has been very convincing to them. and, in fact, donald trump, if he would decide to show up once in awhile for those briefings, those national security briefings, he, too, might be more convinced that there's something really with gshs there's some there there that is worthy of investigating. so i understand why they want to cast it that way. and particularly it doesn't look good for them all of these various interconnections, potential business connections with the russians, with -- in

russia with the trump company. so i understand why they want to deflect from that. but i think there's a point at which we can all as americans say, if the russians are trying to, you know, in any way, shape or form impact our elections. >> yes. >> we got to stop it. >> but beyond that, karen, do you think, as you sit there today, that russian hacking cost hillary clinton the election? >> you know, i don't know the answer to that. and i don't think we will ever know the answer to that. i think the more important question is, did russia -- did we -- this is not a question that is, you know, our friend. at this point. did they try to -- did they hack and did they -- and use information in a way to, you know, put the thumb on the scale of the election, to do something nefarious with regard to the outcome of the election. i just think as an american, i just want to know the answer to that question, because i think it's so important. >> yeah. >> and now that the smoke has cleared somewhat and it's been

several weeks since the election, actually longer, what do you think went wrong with your campaign? >> you know, i think if there are any number of things you can point to, to be perfectly frank with you. everybody peace got a theory about we should have gone to this state or that state or we could have spent more money here or there. as mandy grunwald made a great point a few weeks ago, you know what, you're right. any of those points i think you could say have merit to them. i think what's important now, to be honest with you, and this was, you know, part of the conversation i think that is so important going forward is let's understand what happened with regard to, you know, the russians hacking, because it has real significant consequences going forward. we're not trying to readjudicate, you know, what happened in the election. but when we talk about things like fake news that got so bad to the point that a gunman went into a family friendly pizza place -- >> yeah. >> right, i mean we know there were certain things and certain characteristics of the nature of

this election, that have real implications going forward. that i want to -- personally i'd like to make sure that we do the things we need to do to rein those things in. >> right. >> and make sure that we understand what some of those currents were. particularly for example alisyn, some of the currents in terms when it comes to race and gender and you know, some of the -- >> yeah. >> what we consider some of the race baiting frankly that i think we saw from the trump campaign. >> hum. >> i think that still has real implications for our country. >> karen you know look the trump team says that every time you do that and you look outward to was there possible russia hacking, was there some level of racism, that it's not the soul searching, that is required for how democrats are going to move forward. >> but you know what? i think there's two pieces to that alisyn. because number one is there's the soul searching and there's the what do we need to do as a party moving forward? but i personally am more

interested in what do we need to do as a country moving forward? i think that one of the big things that are so important, i mean think about where we were eight years ago when we elected barack obama where we were as a country. how we felt about that accomplishment. and so my point is, that was a huge moment in the history of our country. so elections also are big moments for us to take a look at ourselves, and look at our country and say, who are we? is this a direction that we want to be going in? yes, we can do all of the, you know, punditry and looking at the various things that we could or could not have done differently. >> yeah. >> in the election. i think that's a slightly different conversation. >> karen finney, thanks so much for your perspective. nice to have you on "new day." >> you bet. you bet. >> chris? >> all right, big and bad situation in jordan. four gunmen who killed ten people and wounded 34 others, the gunmen are now dead. following a standoff with police. jordanian officials calling it a cowardly terrorist attack. the attackers fired at a police officers at two different locations, then moved to an

ancient castle popular with tourists, police finding automatic weapons there. they also discovered explosives, including suicide belts in a house that they raided. >> the u.s. security council expected to vote this morning to allow u.n. monitoring of evacuations in eastern aleppo. turkey's foreign minister tweeting that 12,000 civilians have been evacuated. 4500 since midnight. buses meant to carry evacuees had been coming under attack earlier. 7-year-old bana whose tweets have shown the despair is among those who did leave safely we're told. relief coordinators confirming that she and her family evacuated aleppo early this morning. >> remember a lot of kids in the same situation. so hollywood remembers the unforgettable zsa zsa gabor. a spokesperson confirms to cnn she passed of heart failure at her bel air home. zsa zsa emigrated to the u.s. from hungary in the 1940s.

she was in 50 films. zsa zsa also made tv. her life sitting on so many couches for so many different guests. many have been most -- you know her famous line was about her nine marriages, we've been joking about it this morning. she said she was a great housekeeper because every time she gets divorced she keeps the house. zsa zsa gabor was 99 years old. she was an original. she'llen missed. le. >> absolutely. we loved watching her. she just was the personification i think of like the '70s, and that sort of mike douglas, merv griffin, you know, whole -- >> and part of it -- the way she came on with her mix of camp and her glamour as you say her ava gabor the other sister really captivated the american audience. >> 99 years old. >> beautiful. all right. michelle obama, offering advice to melania trump. what is that advice? next. who says i shouldn't have a soda every day?

my doctor. my dentist. definitely my wife. hey wait. we have better bubbles. make sparkling water at home and drink 43% more water every day. sodastream. love your water.

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

>> >> all right. you're getting your 538 electors today meeting in their own respective states to directly elect the next president of the united states. that should be donald trump based on what we know about the state voting. you just heard from a former senior adviser to hillary clinton about whether there was interference, and what that will mean today and going forward. let's discuss all of the political machinations going on right now with david drugger, senior congressional correspondent for the washington examiner and host of the

examining politics podcast. we also have cnn political analyst and author of how's your faith brother david gregory. good to have you both. >> good morning. >> today should be a nonevent. they should go out, do what they always do, maybe a couple little bits of dramatic action. but it happens. but you have the question of why did it happen and how do you see the issue of russia hacking and the implications of that hacking? >> so i don't know why we can't both say that these things are events that we should pay attention to. russia, as one of our biggest geopolitical adversaries is always trying to sow problems in the u.s. system. because they want advantage over us around the world, and putin doesn't look at democracy and government the way we look at it. we look at elections as states that can be free and fair. he thinks everything is cooked. he's still mad at hillary clinton for supposedly fomenting democratic unrest in russia years ago because she said a couple of things critical because it doesn't occur to him that people actually get upset

at him and might want to go protest. at the same time, hillary clinton lost the election because she made a lot of mistakes. all right. she was supposed to go to wisconsin as her first rally with president obama. she was going to go to green bay. the terrorist attacks in orlando happened, they had to cancel it. they ended up never going to wisconsin with the candidate. that first rally was held in north carolina instead. they made a lot of key mistakes. the russians were also involved in trying to do a lot of bad things here. and both things can be true. and so i think that from the national security perspective it's soon going to be donald trump's job to take care of that. because these are big, big problems that we have where russia can intrude into our systems, where china can intrude into our systems. at the same time i think the democratic party needs to take a look at why the voters that they thought they had in the bank in the rust belt, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin and minnesota was very close and nobody thought it would be, why did that happen? and how do they get those voters back so that four years from now they can have a different outcome. >> david gregory, you know, president obama has said that he did try to address this with

vladimir putin and he addressed him directly. he told vladimir putin months ago to, quote, cut it out. um, how effective do we think that was? and what else can and should president obama be doing? >> i think what's really important now is that this gets taken out of the political context. because this is not going to do the country any good if this becomes something of a partisan fight. i think it is, chris just noted, the electoral college wraps up its business, formally elects donald trump to be the 45th president of the united states. that's done. now there needs to be an examination of an act of war against the united states by a foreign power trying to influence u.s. elections for which there is apparently a lot of evidence to back it up. i think that evidence should be declassified in a way that is responsible. so that the new administration can get a look at it, as well as the current administration. the general public can have some level of satisfaction that this is not a partisan exercise. this should not be used to suggest that hillary clinton would have won the election if

not for vladimir putin. but there's no question that russia wanted to make her look bad, wanted to delegitimize her and wanted to interfere in the election one way or the other to make america look bad. that's what has to be dealt with. and i think part of what we're seeing out of the new administration and the president-elect is i think a rather hasty reaction to all of this. assigning political blame rather than really trying to dig in and figure out what was at work here, how you respond to it, because this can't happen again. and that's the responsibility of the administration to understand it's not about him. and it's not about this election. for kellyanne conway, who should -- is in her lane of politics, has to i think be very careful about what she may not know about what the evidence here is in just describing this in a political context instead of understanding what now does the united states do against a foreign power. much bigger than the sour grapes here. >> david makes the right point. it's way too much about trump himself right now. that's why you get a reince priebus saying something that's just you know flagrantly untrue

that hey you know the -- the intel people should come out and tell us then. clapper did it on october 7th. kellyanne conway saying that obama is doing what the clinton team is trying -- she doesn't know what that's about. she's just trying to distract. when he gets into office he'll have to own it. part of the perspective on this. he is very gentle on putin. won't attack him. won't say anything about ukraine. won't say anything about the hacking. but with china, put up his tweets. very aggressive. about the drone. he ignored that nuclear capable bomber that flew over the south china sea but with the drone he goes after them. says very bad thing to do. then the next one he says something odd about let them keep it. why so aggressive on china but so light on russia? >> right, that's the big question, right? i mean i think throughout the campaign one of the things that republicans and i think a lot of people had trouble figuring out is why donald trump was so friendly towards vladimir putin and dismissed everything negative about putin with no political cost to him if he had criticized him -- >> because everything he says about his rationale to be nice

to russia is doubly true about being nice to china. >> exactly. what's wrong with -- why can't we get along with china? i mean what's so wrong with that? we could make the same argument. look i think that there's a key figure to watch in the trump administration after he takes office and that's mike pompeo. the republican -- >> cia. >> going to be the cia director. he is a hawk. he gets intel issues. and if he knows that there is a problem and bad activity going on from moscow trying to mess with us, he's going to want to tell the administration. he's going to want to tell his boss. he's going to want to put that front and center. and if the administration squashes that, that's going to be on them, and that, and there's -- and that is going to tell us a lot about whether this thing with trump is the latest iteration of republican -- of u.s. presidents trying to make nice with vladimir putin. it didn't work for bush. didn't work for obama. and i don't know why trump this it would work for him. >> could i just add i mean think about the difficulty that trump is now setting up for his national security team. an incoming cia director who has

to try to win the support of his rank and file. >> hmm. >> within the cia knowing that his boss is just trashed the intelligence community. very, very difficult. you also have a general mattis who is incoming defense secretary providing he gets the waiver, and is approved, is, you know, voted on in the senate that you know, he's someone who is more hawkish on russia. i mean there has to be a real meeting of the minds here to make sure that there's a coherent foreign policy. and then contrast that with what he's doing on china. there's every reason to say, we'd like a more positive relationship with russia. but there are boundaries, there are things that we are not going to allow russia to do and we're going to stand firm in that regard. that would be consistent, and at least be mindful of the fact that as david says two successive administrations have tried with russia and been confounded and manipulated by vladimir putin. the question is george w. bush said he looked into vladimir putin's eyes and he saw someone he could trust. i'm curious to know what the president-elect sees when he

looks at vladimir putin. >> this does -- >> i would like an answer to that question. >> this does give donald trump an opportunity to say, i tried to make nice, it didn't work, and now we're going to play hardball. if he uses it. it's just there's been no indication that he's been willing to use it. there was a point at which during the campaign somebody said but vladimir putin -- journalists. look we're not so nice either. the question about russia and hacking is all really about donald trump and not so much that whether or not it's happened. we know that it's happened. we know that they want it to happen. we know that this is how vladimir putin tries to make up for the fact that he can't compete with us militarily. and this goes back years ago the u.s. would always use the kgb and intelligence services to make up for the fact that financially and military hardware they couldn't keep up. it's the same old story. we have a republican president it's very strange that doesn't want to call russia out. >> let's end on the first ladies. the the current first lady and the future first lady. we now know a little bit more about the conversation that they

had when they met at the twhous. listen to this. >> you have any advice for mrs. trump? >> you know i didn't -- we didn't -- we talked about the kids. but, you know, my offer to melania was, you know, you really don't know what you don't know until you're here. >> mm-hmm. >> so the door is open, as i've told her. and as laura bush told me, you know, and other first ladies told me, so i'm -- i'm not new in this going high thing. i mean, i'm modeling what was done for me. >> yeah. >> by -- by the bushes. >> right. >> and laura bush was nothing but gracious and helpful, and her team was right there for my team. all throughout this entire eight-year process. >> david, gregory, it's nice to hear that the first ladies have this bond and you know these communication that will continue. >> -- how difficult it is to be in the public lair, which is

what they both have experienced, and melania trump will now experience in a new way. >> david, thank you. for the bottom line. >> thank you very much. >> the electoral college will ratify the election of donald trump later today. so what have hillary clinton supporters soul searching taught them? what would they do differently? those answers next.

why are you checking your credit score? you don't want to ride the 13l forever, do you? [woman laughing] credit karma, huh? yeah, it's free. credit karma. give yourself some credit.

hillary clinton supporters are trying to figure out what went wrong during the election. i sat down with a group of those die-hard supporters to talk about how they got it so wrong, and what they're doing to fix it. >> i think the biggest challenge is getting out of our bubbles. i mean i think we talked to people who supported hillary clinton. my facebook feed is probably 97% hillary clinton people. >> how are you going to get out of that bubble? >> well, i'm actually reading a book right now called hillbilly -- >> oh, that's my book club -- >> but it's actually interesting. so i come from delaware county. and my dad was a high school dropout who got a union job, right, and had three kids by the time he was 23 years old.

right? put his kid through college. those jobs don't exist anymore. so i understand the anxiety. i don't know what the solutions are. but i think you know, we would -- philadelphia is doing pretty good. we're in the middle of a renaissance. right? we didn't feel the anxiety that other people are feeling. we've got to be a little more open about what's going on outside our bubble. and listening and hearing is step one. >> and reading hillbilly elegy. so you think that reading and talking to people and listening and traveling? >> yeah, i think -- it's what i'm going to do seriously i think i have three republican friends in my facebook feed that were, you know, and only one of them was pro-trump. you know. so my world, you know, and i'm a very political person. my world is surrounded bring people that agree with me. >> but you're going to expand your world? >> we have to do that. we have to find a way to talk to the people that are outside of the city. we have to. it's the only way -- >> sometimes you don't value something until you lose it. you know. i mean, like a piece of jewelry, it's like oh, i can't find that. where is it? i love that. and you haven't worn it in years. you know.

and so now that we have is the american people, we've lost the obama legacy. we've lost the hillary hope. we've lost the image of a woman leading this country for little girls, little boys, everybody to look up to and say, yes, we're making progress on the gender gap. we've lost that. and so now the value of that seems so precious and so desirable and so that's one of the things that's going to drive people to really put their energies against defeating trump in 2020. >> all right. so let's bring in the author of that book that those clinton supporters were just discussing and reading hillbilly elegy, a memoir of a family and culture in crisis. the author j.d. vance joins us now. good morning, j.d. >> good morning. thank you. >> so what is it like for you to hear that your little family memoir is now required reading for democrats to figure out where they went wrong?

>> well, i was definitely surprised to hear that in my earpiece. and it's good for book sales. but i guess it's good that people are starting to think outside the box a little bit and asking questions about this community of people. that's why i wrote the book. so pretty happy about it. >> give us the cliff notes for those people out there who haven't yet read it, what did you understand, and did you know that democrats on the coasts didn't get? >> well, it's really two parts. so the first part is that the economy in these regions has really been hit hard, so the decline of coal. the decline of manufacturing and so forth. and in the wake of the decline of the old-line manufacturing jobs there has really been the significant social crisis that's moved in. and what i mean is that the opioid epidemic has really gotten out of control. families are breaking down. incarceration rates are rising. so folks are simultaneously worried about their economic prospects, but they're also seeing that a lot of the things they really care about in their communities are starting to fall apart, too. >> one of the panelists that i

spoke to last week, these die-hard clinton supporters, her name is carol, she -- they're all trying to pull themselves up now and figure out how they're going to mobilize and what they're going to do next. carol had an idea that she did want to go to places in the middle of the country, but it wasn't -- some of them said that they were going to listen to the folks there, as you have. but carol had a different take and i want to play that for you and you can tell us if it's effective. >> i want to talk a lot more to trump voters. and to, you know, really understand and persuade them and talk to them. i think persuasion is where we really need to focus. we need to persuade the people who are going to be remarkably disappointed in the trump administration to come back and come over to the democratic side. >> i'm interested to hear her talk about persuasion. i mean, what could have persuaded your relatives, who have been having this social, cultural, economic crisis, what could have persuaded them to

hillary clinton's side? anything? >> well that persuasion point, first of all, is so interesting balls it struck me when i was watching the 2016 election unfold that we had sort of abandoned even the pretense of persuasion. we were just sort of talking into our republican tribes and democratic tribes so i think that's a really smart comment. and frankly, even the act of trying to persuade someone necessarily acknowledges that they have something that's meaningful to contribute to public life. and i think that recognition, that sense that look, i see you as a fellow citizen, and i want to try to convince you that i'm right, that by itself is, i think, very powerful. and when you talk to a lot of folks who voted for trump, people who very often didn't like trump's rhetoric, for example, but still voted for him anyways, a lot of times what you heard is people saying, well, i don't like this or that but at least he sees me. and it strikes me that if we're trying to persuade people we're fundamentally seeing them so that's a good step. >> that's such a good point. by the very act of engaging in

debate you must hear someone, and hear the other side. but beyond i see you, i hear you, what would they have been persuaded by? >> well, i think a recognition that this opioid crisis is a really significant national problem, that's something that trump talked a lot about on the campaign trail, and i think whether he's able to address it will ultimately influence how a lot of his voters think. the most important part is obviously the jobs and the wage crisis that exists in these communities. the fact that you either don't have good jobs, or even if you do have good jobs, the wages are sort of stagnating. i think that's what is ultimately that trump is ultimately going to be judged on. and i think that if you want to really go after these voters, you have to have a message that says, we're going to solve that very fundamental problem in your life. >> first lady michelle obama sat down with oprah and it was released in the past couple of days and she talked about how the democrats, and her side, are feeling today let me play you a little portion of that. >> now, we're feeling are what

not having hope feels like. you know. >> michelle obama said yesterday that there's no hope. but i assume she was talking about the past, not the future. >> so you heard the first lady there say that now we know what it feels like to feel no hope. about your relatives there in kentucky and ohio, are they feeling hopeful today? >> yeah, they're definitely feeling hopeful. and they're also feeling a little vindicated. right? so they believed in their man. they believed that trump had a chance when no one else did. and because of that, they're feeling like, you know, we were right. and because they're somewhat hopeful that trump may make things better i think that they are a little hopeful about the future. but it is important, of course, to recognize that i think in a lot of ways the shoe is now on the other foot. a lot of us, a lot of the people that i wrote about in my book

felt ignored in 2015 and 2016 and even earlier and now that their candidate is in charge, i think it's important for all of us to remember what it's like when your guy is not in power. >> absolutely. j.d. vance, always great to talk to you. thanks so much. >> nice talking to you. >> chris? >> all right. another "snl" worthy of discussion. aek baldwin bringing his donald trump impersonation back. and it did not disappointment. >> you set up -- >> for years. speaking of black and crude, i know kanye. >> all right. did debate get taken by the president-elect once again or did he show he can be bigger than parody? next.

time now for the five things to know for your "new day." number one, the electoral college votes today to confirm the election results. 538 electors are going to be there. 37 republicans would have to do the flip to the unthinkable to put us into the house of representatives. this is not expected to happen.

a bipartisan letter renewing the call to investigate russia's interference in the u.s. election, senators once again calling on majority leader mitch mcconnell to create a new select committee on cyber attacks. >> china saying it will return an underwater u.s. vehicle it captured in the south china see but so far the pentagon is still waiting, the u.s. officials describing it as an unclassified piece of equipment. much of the eastern half of the u.s. is in the grip of bone-chilling cold. once again, raising the risk of freezing rain, and some deadly car crashes. a warm-up is expected for many areas but not until later this week. the miriam webster dictionary says its word for 2016 is -- surreal. >> hmm. >> from the brussels terror attack, prince's death, brexit, victory of donald trump. people sought clarification on the definition of surreal. >> interesting. >> that's the -- i guess that was the word that people were looking for most. for more on the five things to

know, go to new da poday.cnn.co the latest. >> well the election is over but "saturday night live" is still getting lots of laughs off of it. watch this. >> our media experts break down the show's portrayal of politics and of course donald trump next.

why are you checking your credit score? you don't want to drive old blue forever, do you? [brakes squeak] credit karma, huh? yep, it's free. credit karma. give yourself some credit.

"saturday night live" continues to deliver laughs at the expense of the president-elect. in the show's open the show's version of the future president meeting with russia president vladimir putin was funny. here it is. >> mr. trump, i'm here because your cia is saying that we russians tried to make you win election. >> i know. all lies made up by some very bitter people who need to move on. >> so you trust me more than american cia? >> all i know is i won. >> well -- well this guy is blowing my mind. hmm. donald, i want to state officially that we in russia are so happy that you are u.s. president. >> oh, thank you. >> we think you're the best candidate. >> sure. >> the smartest candidate. >> no doubt. >> the manchurian candidate. >> i don't know what that means, but sounds tremendous. >> the ratings, very high. however, they did not get the back from probably their most important watcher, the president-elect did not take to

twitter after alec baldwin's impression. let's discuss. brian stelter, cnn senior media correspondent and host of reliable sources and bill carter cnn media analyst. you just told me the numbers were the highest they've had since the election took place. >> yeah. >> why do we think that is? and what does it mean that the president-elect didn't say anything. >> i think it's the christmas show that might add a little bit. but i think people heard that alec was coming back to do it again. and that drives the numbers up. and they kind of expected maybe he'd react. i think he did react because probably somebody said, you know what? it's only feeding the ratings if you do it. people then watch the sketch online afterwards and probably someone said maybe wait until after the electoral college. >> is that how you -- was there a power outage or something? why, why, why -- >> maybe he's listening to his advisers. or maybe it just goes to show he's impulsive about this stuff. i am struck by the idea that it's now normal for -- now we're surprised when he doesn't tweet about "snl." how quickly things change. now that's the surprise.

>> bill, i was interested to read in your notes that richard nixon did not like -- >> yes. >> -- the smothers brothers program. >> that's right. >> which was also political satire. remember watching it at my father's knee and did he really get that killed? can presidents get a tv show killed? >> -- it was very highly rated at the time. and it was the "saturday night live" of its day. very counterculture. had all these hot new comedians on. very against the war. so it -- they did -- but that was not "saturday night live." it was not an institution. >> but he really did get it killed because he didn't like it? >> well he put pressure on cbs for sure. and certainly the smothest brothers believe that's why they were forced off the air. certainly wasn't the ratings. the ratings were very good. >> another skit that they did was a play on the movie "love,actually." this time you had hillary clinton going door-to-door talking to electors. here it is. ♪

♪ ♪ christ the savior is born the christ the savior is born ♪ >> it was -- >> satire because it played off a very familiar scene. people know that scene. and the idea of them sort of using hillary again is very popular. >> trying to find ways to bring the character back onto the show. >> yes. right. clearly. >> she was so accessible. but they made fun of her, too. >> one of the clever parts of the criticism from trump and his friends around them is to say, they have a duty to respect the president. they have a duty to help the country unify, not to enhance -- >> "saturday night live" has a duty?

they've never done it. they've made fun of every president. they don't care who it is. you don't think they skewered bill clinton? my gosh. that was like pretty constant. this, though, i do agree is sort of a very high level of satire. because you look at the weekend update it was like 99% really rough jokes about him. and rex tillerson gets the highest award from putin, except the presidency. >> like a monkey with a machine gun. we hear a lot about resistance to trump in the past month, liberals saying there needs to be a resist movement. well where is it? we don't really see it. it's actually shows like "snl" that are the closest thing to this sort of opposition to donald trump. >> a lot of other late night shows, too. >> we have the weekend update. let's take a little look at it. >> well, donald trump is about a month away from his inauguration. and people are starting to notice some red flags. the electoral college is voting on monday. and it would take 37 members to change their vote to cost donald trump the election. that's right. only 37 people stand in the way

of civil war, episode two. the only thing scarier to me than donald trump becoming president is donald trump not being allowed to become president. taking the presidency away from donald trump now is like giving a monkey a machine gun and then trying to wrestle it back from him. in 2013 putin awarded tillerson the order of friendship which is one of the highest honors russia gives to foreigners. the only higher honor russia can give you is president of the united states. >> good for him for saying the only thing that bothers him more is if the electors took it from him now. >> exactly. because that would be chaos. and i think no one really wants that really. >> donald trump has finally figured out the effect, which is if you talk about something, if you condemn it, if you complain about it, it gets more attention. and that's the case for "snl." >> no question. >> let's talk about just something that mr. trump said this weekend which is that he's going to continue to hold

rallies. >> right. >> against possibly some of the judgment of those advisers around him and he basically said because i can't trust those people out there, meaning the media, to do it. so he's going to take the the conduit. he's going to take out the middle man is what he's suggesting in his presidency. >> watching the entire saturday night rally it sounded like i was back in october. you know, you listen to what he's saying now, he's still talking about the campaign, he's still using his famous one-liner from the campaign, some of the falsehoods from the campaign, and he called the press, at least dishonest more than seven times. he's saying all the things that he did during the campaign. it shows how comfortable he is in that environment. with his fans. in those arenas. makes a lot of sensize going to continue to embrace that and of course cut out the press. >> the problem is if what he wants most, bill, is high approval ratings, right, for him to want to talk about polls now, say he's got a bump, he knows that the facts right now hurt that his numbers are not higher. he can't keep going to rallies and preaching to the converted if he wants to grow his base.

>> no, it will just stay where it is if he does that. it's interesting at the same time he's called the press dishonest and again said they're scum, et cetera, he then had them over in for drinks. >> his traveling press. >> yes. and the press corps went along with it. being off the record and sort of had this social thing which is sort of an interesting idea -- >> but shouldn't they? >> well, they should -- no i don't see a problem with it. it's just an unusual situation because i don't remember a president being this -- if you're -- >> if they called you scum would you go to the cocktail party? >> right. >> well if he was the president you probably would. >> there's value. you get insight -- >> some commentators are criticizing him for doing that. no, no, no. that's a mistake. if you want that rapport you'll learn more that way. >> bill, brian, thank you. >> thank you. >> how about some good stuff on a monday? >> how about it. >> next.

time for the good stuff. she does not make a lot of cash. but that doesn't matter to jessie. she wants to make christmas special for a bunch of sick kids in illinois. >> hi, sweetie. this is for you! >> oh, what a sweetheart. jessie works in the cafeteria at a children's hospital. she wanted to make the kids happy so she spent $5,000 of her own money. think about that. to buy all these toys. >> i don't make that much, but to me, it's not about the paycheck. to me it's about -- about

compassion you have, towards other people. >> oh, my gosh that's beautiful. what child doesn't like a new toy? that is such a great gesture on her part. >> and again, regular person, not independently wealthy. didn't win the lottery. but, this matters more to her than the money. >> it's good stuff. time for "newsroom" with carol costello. good morning, carol. >> good morning. that is a good, good stuff. you guys have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. and good morning carol costello, thank you so much for joining me. the electoral college on track to seal the deal for president-elect trump today 538 members will cast ballots across the country. the process largely seen as a ceremonial one now taking an unusual step into the spotlight. next hour, electors in indiana, new hampshire, tennessee and west virginia all expected to begin voting. and the pressure is on. some electors are now being urged to break their party's pledge and vote their conscience.