we are happy to report miles is cancer free. wonderful ending to that story. >> that is a great way to end the story. go, miles. >> that is neat. >> he's doing well. thank you for joining us. "outnumbered" starts right now. >> fox news alert, just hours from the deadline for counties in florida to complete the machine recount of votes. the u.s. senate and gubernatorial races. one county saying they will not finish in time and half a dozen lawsuits still pending. this is "outnumbered," i'm melissa francis, here today is fox news contributor lisa boothe, national security analyst morgan ortagus, host of the fantastic evening edit on fox business network, liz macdonald and joining us on the couched it is jon summers for one-time senate majority leader harry reid. wearing fantastic socks. a birthday present, you said

earlier. >> you might recall from the last time, i used to work with whales and dolphins, it just makes sense. >> awesome. all eyes are on broward county and palm beach county. election officials are working to finish machine recount before the 3 p.m. eastern deadline. this morning a federal judge resolving at least one lawsuit, the judge granting a limited extension to count the ballots of voters whose mail-in or provisional ballots were initially rejected. earlier in broward county, officials using gloves to inspect hundreds of ballots, ballots must be duplicated before a manual recount begins tomorrow. some democrats are ramping up the rhetoric as the deadline looms. yesterday brown casting doubt on legitimacy of the florida election and others going on around the country. the >> if stacey abrams doesn't win in georgia, they stall it, it's clear, it's clear.

i say that publicly, it's clear. what they are trying to do in florida to the gubernatorial candidate and can't candidate running for re-election and we must make sure every vote is counted. >> live at the broward county board of elections with more. >> hey, melissa, they just took the gloves off, they are inspecting final 384 diagonaled ballots, they had to be duplicated and they will be done. everyone thinks they will make the recount deadline less nan three hours from now. in palm beach, not looking good, having trouble meeting the deadline. they had faulty machines out there. suzanne booker not only dealing with deadline, but questions over missing ballots, missing because they have yet to be counted. here is mrs. booker. >> i need my expert team and these are all my employees, not the county. what they are trying to do, go

back and look at counts of each box and depending how many were missing, we can identify which box didn't read. then we can read those ballots and add it to the tally. but the likelihood is pretty slim. >> oh. >> tough situation up in palm beach and also a lot of lawsuits, a flurry of them flying all over south florida, one in particular, governor scott attorneys aggressively appealing a judge's ruling favoring nelson efforts to allow voters who had bye-bye legally notified their ballots were rejected because of mismatch signatures, they have been told they will have until 5 p.m. to fix them, ballots going to count if the judge doesn't reverse that opinion. it would apply to 3000 estimated votes. back to you. >> melissa: thank you for that. jon, i'll start with you, this is one area americans do not want to see how the sausage is made. i mean, to hear they have gone

through in palm beach county and the count is light, it just does not inspire confidence, what do we do? >> jon: it doesn't. why it is always florida bothers a lot of people around the country. you hear people talking all the time, it is always florida, florida, florida. in this case, that is not necessarily a good thing. hopefully will get this resolved. it is important to make sure every single vote is counted and that the process is done the right way. and then of course, we learned this morning they'll have until what, 5:00 saturday afternoon to then go through the signature verification process in florida. so this is going to continue, it seems, for a while. >> melissa: is thatre is frustration for floridians and americans in general, we are a week past election day and people want to get to the bottom of this. what is frustrating if you look at place like georgia, kemp up by 55,000 votes.

for stacey abrams to get to a runoff, she would need to 18,000, to get to recount, 16,000 votes. only one county left. she will not get to the numbers, yet she will not concede in the race. you have democrats speaking out of both sides of their mouth on the issue. one size, criticizing president trump and rick scott saying concerns over counties like broward and brenda snipes, that is undermining the elections and undermining the face of elections while simultaneously, people like sherrod brown saying the race is stolen if somehow stacey abrams doesn't come up with 18,000 or 16,000 votes, there is hypocrisy going on. >> jon: there is difference in incomtense and a broken system and people trying to prevent people from voting, there is a big difference. >> no one is doing that. >> melissa: we want to show

people quickly, we have the president right now at the marine barracks in washington, d.c. he is walking through with the first lady, we're told that he might talk to the media before he leaves. we just want to show you what is going on there as he makes his way through. he is greeting folks on the ground there, and the first lady, too. we will show that on the screen as we continue. >> it is hard when have, e-mac, have sherrod brown saying if stacey abrams doesn't win, they stole it, it is clear, it is clear, i say that publicly. that will continue on both sides tis a shame. >> elizabeth: it is probably bad. it already feels politicized, that is accelerant to the negative mood in florida. it doesn't help for any politician to sort it out. it feels like election day is turning into election week or

election month and if you have palm beach county getting a delay in the deadline, why can't other counties get delayed, too. then senator chuck schumer saying they should be given all the time they need. broward county has been broken since the al gore-bush recount. we need solid people in there to fix it. >> melissa: morgan, when i hear about these things and the last picture griff was highlighting, they said ballots went through and got damaged. you look at them and transfer what the votes had been to another one. obviously that makes a lot of people really nervous. they are looking at it and deciphering what they think was intended there. you say you want everybody's vote to count, but why is this not going on at this time in other counties? why were they able to get their ballots through and deal with the ones that got crunched or did they not count the ones that got crunched in other county? broward they are getting counted and everywhere else, they are

not. >> morgan: the problem discussing this, we feel hopeless, right? true. this is in the hand of judges, lawyers and people that are partisan on both sides. we had on the palm beach county supervisor, she said something that made me chuckle. they had machines overheat, recount 170,000 ballots, she said they are in prayer mode to finish on time. she and her staff left on time or maybe potentially early last night, so no working into the hours, so hopefully the prayer works. i think that is what is frustrating about covering this subject. this is a legal battle. this is judges, lawyers, lawsuits. i think this is unacceptable in the modern day democracy. i think before we get to 2020, what would be great, to have a bipartisan panel in congress look at election integrity. get together a commission of trusted republicans and democrats, on both sides, to look in general. it will not suffice for every

time republicans win an election for democrats to claim it was stolen, rigged, the russians did it. enough already, have a bipartisan commission look at it. at this point, we don't even worry about foreign interference, we're doing a good enough job ourselves. >> why not fire the incompetent peep snel >> why didn't that happen in the situation in florida? you have a county with problem after problem after problem, the buck stops with someone. you can say that there's huge turnout, you can say it is always close, all these things, but why is a few counties again and again? jon, what would you say should happen as soon as this settled what is the first thing that should happen so florida can get back together? >> jon: definition of insanity, keep making same mistakes over and over again. morgan's idea is right, get bipartisan commission. >> melissa: on federal level, on the federal level? i don't know, is that kind of -- >> jon: you actually raised what i thought was a very good question.

is this a situation where it is just florida having problems or is this one of those things where the votes in other places may not be counted the way they ought to be? i don't think that is the case, but i don't know. i assume the best. why not have that panel come in and take a look at it? i think that is a good idea. >> melissa: bipartisan commission or a company or something? somebody like, you know, we don't want folks that do the academy awards and got the wrong couple years ago, remember that fun scandal? taken out of hands of government and you have technology company or survey and figure it out and come up with a better solution. >> that is probably a good idea. mentioned earlier, accountability, as well, fire the people who are incompetent and shouldn't be in the position. brenda snipes, 15-year history of getting things wrong, of breaking both state and federal law in terms of illegally destroying ballots while facing a lawsuit about the very ballots. someone like that should not be

in a position. i wonder at this point, too, is this a waste of taxpayer dollars? mark elliot, bill nelson's attorney, said for one client that a 10,000 vote lead is insurmountable and called on the opponent to stop down and not waste taxpayer dollars. 12,000 plus vote be rick scott be insurmountable? >> jon: i have a lot of respect for mark eels elias. going back to georgia, 16,000 vet difference, why doesn't she concede -- >> 55,000 vote difference. >> jon: 55,000. it goes back to the point of making sure every vote is counted. >> melissa: there is one county -- martha mcsally with 170,000 votes still to count and steps up aacey abrams is not go get there, it is mathematically impossible. she will not be the governor. >> jon: this is not about her, this is about making sure every

person who voted in georgia has their vote counted. that is important. fundamental of democracy. >> being faxed in, earlier question about politicians weighing in, i don't think democrats should weigh in when people in their party say get rid of the electoral college at a time when we have problems continuing. >> melissa: we were worried about the russians hacking, here we are with paper and can't get it done. are we better off with technology or old-fashioned? we have huge problems either way. >> reassuring. >> melissa: former top aide to hillary clinton may challenge president trump in 2020, why he says it won't be easy. plus, the showdown over safeguarding the mueller probe. one republican threatening to block judicial appointment. where this goes from here and whether such protection for the special counsel are necessary. >> there has been no indication, as you can imagine, i've talked

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>> melissa: welcome back. there is a showdown over the

mueller probe. republican senator jeff flake is threatening retaliation after the senate majority leader blocked a bill flake co-sponsored to protect the special counsel. listen. >> i have informed the majority leader that i will not vote to advance any of the 21 judicial nominees pending in the judiciary committee or vote to confirm the 32 judges awaiting confirmation on the senate floor, until s-2644 is brought to the full senate for a vote. >> majority leader explaining why he won't bring the bill to the floor. >> we know how the president feels about the mueller investigation, he never said he wants to shut it down. i never heard anybody say they want to shut it down. i don't think it is in danger and no bill necessary. >> mueller protection bill, democrat suhn thinks mcconnell is covering for the president. >> jon: it is ready for action,

been ready for action for months. it will protect robert mueller from unwarranted firing by the president or now acting attorney general, why not take this simple step, the argument it is not needed flies in the face of the obvious reality of a president who takes unprecedented action >> melissa: jon, before we get to flake, senator chuck schumer said they may tie a mueller protection bill to a spending bill. according to polling, democrats lost the last government shutdown showdown, would that be prudent for democrats to do? >> jon: i disagree with that. i don't think democrats did lose. >> melissa: would it be prudent is the question? >> jon: generally the party in power loses when there is a government shutdown. we know who runs washington right now. with flake's position, he's in an interesting place, right? we joke that ted cruz, no one in the senate likes ted cruz. i think ted cruz has a good company with jeff flake.

republicans see him as a thorn in their side and a show boat. democrats see him kind of the same way, a show boat who will go back and do what he should have done according to his party. i think he's in an unwinnable situation, i think he's put himself there. but on the bill itself, i think that is something they should consider. their point about this being, not being necessary right now, but i think the president has given signals there might be reason necessary now. one thing that tillis, from north carolina said, this is not about now, this is about protecting special prosecutors under presidents in the future, as well. good in the long-term, not just in this moment. >> melissa, is this bill necessary? >> melissa: i think like most things done by congress, it would achieve absolutely nothing, so no harm in it. it would be interesting to see flake bring to the floor and not get the vote n. my mind, that would be classic flake.

i could see that happening. >> e-mac is this about jeff flake and future ambitions or do you think that this is something that he believes in and thinks needs to happen? >> elizabeth: i think it is both. can i answer that way? >> melissa: answer however you want. >> elizabeth: there is a problem with the bill, it would basically allow for, i think, judges to review the president's hiring and firing and that is unconstitutional, under article two, part of the bill. i don't think it will go anywhere, paul ryan saying it will not go anywhere. grandstanding to feel that way. >> absolutely. >> elizabeth: i don't think it is necessary actually. >> melissa: morgan, what are implications of senator flake holding out on supporting judicial nominee? look at republicans have 11-10 majority on senate judiciary committee, only 51 majority in senate. what are implications of him holding out? >> morgan: great question, lisa. >> lisa: thank you.

>> morgan: this is not the first time thune and flake partnered up. there was drama about jeff flake going into the caucus room and kuhn was working on him. the two have been working closely together. on kavanaugh, yes, for kavanaugh. relates to judicial nominees, listen, flake's main argument, i'm a true conservative and president trump is not. that is why he's probably going to run against him in the primary in 2020. good luck with that f. that is your argument, you are the true conservative, for me, it defys logic you would holdup the justices, that is a tactic i would see someone from the far left, who doesn't want the justices confirmed. less than two months before the end of the year, we have a new congress, this is his last stand. this is not something it is easy, i think at times to roll our eyes at flake. he made a big deal of being the moral compass of the party, yet wasn't able to man up and run for office, he just quit. it is easy on one hand to roll

your eyes at him. i have a big problem with this because from the perspective of holding up judicial nominees, even if you disagree with president trump, this is one place where you're with him. >> that is a great point. >> morgan: this is not something that is going to go away or we roll our eyes at. there is 11-10 split on this committee. so flake's vote does count a lot. this is not something we can ignore lightly, his threat is real. >> the vice president would have to step in possibly. >> not on the committee, though. >> good point. >> it is a sanctimonuous move. it it is credible and true in the sense this is the one thing for sure that the president has done again and again that has satisfied the group, the party that flake claims he's a part of. >> jon, you spent time on capitol hill, where is this going over the next few weeks before we get to the next congress? >> jon: i think it will get ugly. it will not get as ugly as i had

expected it to be, particularly with democrats taking the house. i think we'll see more bipartisanship. this is a good example of that, right? it is not just flake. it is thune. you have grassley, the chair of the committee. we are seeing a rare moment of bipartisanship in the senate, hopefully we can ride that train for the next few weeks. and get some stuff done, particularly without closing the federal government, which we're coming up on the deadline there, too. >> melissa: we shall see if the prediction comes true, see what happens. michael avenatti arrested after an accusation of domestic violence, he strongly denies the accusation and says he will be exonerated. we'll have a live update on that. it doesn't look like things are getting easier for nancy pelosi, she tries to win over democrats in the bid for the speaker's gavel. democrats may have enough no votes to beat her. can a different democrat win? we'll discuss all of that soon. excuse me a minute...

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>> avocaid >> michael avenatti arrestod felony charge of domestic violence. the outspoken attorney posting bail in los angeles last night and strongly denying the allegations. jonathan hunt is live with the latest. jonathan. >> jonathan: melissa, michael avenatti released last night on $50,000 bail and headed straight to the waiting t.v. cameras to dismiss the allegations against him as untrue and an attempt to besmerj his reputation. >> i have never struck a woman. i never will strike a woman. i have been an advocate for women's rights my entire career and i'll continue to be an advocate. i am not going to be intimidated from stopping what i am doing.

the >> jonathan: the incident allegedly happened at avenatti's marment in l.a. there were visible injuries to that person, who has not been publicly identified. avenatti's estranged wife said she was not involved and his first wife said he has never been abusive and "is a good man," and avenatti of course became famous representing stormy daniels, the porn actress who alleges she had an affair with donald trump in 2006 and sued to invalidate the confidentiality agreement she signed just before the 2016 presidential election, that prevents her discussing the alleged affair. daniels issued a statement today saying she will reserve judgment regarding what she termed serious and troubling allegations against avenatti, adding "i do not condone violence against women and if these allegations prove true, i will be seeking new

representation." now just 15 minutes ago, avenatti himself tweeted the following. "there is a lot of ip accurate reporting out there, for example, one, i have not been charged with anything, let alone a felony. two, lisa, who is one of the ex-wives wasn't with me tuesday, numerous other facts being reported are completely bogus. why is tmz's news standard the new standard," tmz the news website. avenatti, by the way, melissa, is due back in court december 5. >> melissa: jonathan hunt, thank you. >> i have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the house and certainly we have many, many people in our caucus who could serve in this capacity. >> i happen to think at this point, i'm the best person for

that. >> melissa: you heard it, nancy pelosi says she has overwhelming support to be house speaker. opposition is growing among her party's rank and file. fox news confirmed 17 democrats signed a letter saying they won't support nancy pelosi for speaker. that number is critical, it could keep her from reaching the magic number she needs of 218 votes. all this as growing number of democrats reportedly seeking a female member to take on the california democrats. anti-pelosi democrat cathline rice says those who say this is issue of gender, that is not true. i'm a woman and a lot of new members are women, they should not be made to feel they are anti-woman if they don't want to vote for nancy pelosi. one veteran lawmaker, marsha budge says her colleagues urged her to run for speaker and she appears receptive to thinking about it.

eric followwell says now is not the time to take her out of the game. >> in the late innings of the trump first term, she is the most skillful leader we have, the candidates ran on healthcare, she was the architect of the affordable care act. if we want to protect what has been lost, we need her on the mound >> melissa: jon, what do you think? could another person get enough vote? >> jon: that is the thing. i'm receptive to think about it. what does that mean? i'm not thinking about it, let me think about whether i will think about it. it makes no sense. the challenge you can't beat somebody with nobody. the 17 who have come out and said they would not vote for nancy pelosi as speaker, none of them are actually coming out and saying one of us will run. right now, nancy pelosi is the only person who is in the game. we also should remember and progressives within the party should remember everything that nancy pelosi has done for the

party. you know, the affordable care act. not everyone here is in agreement with that, it is certainly something popular and healthcare was the top issue in this election. you know, she's the one who put democrats in the position to win back the house in 2018. some of that also comes with fundraising. she got tremendous fundraising prowess and all of that matters. >> can i get your thoughts, i have a theory, democrats now have a big problem with progressives on their hands. democrats, the establishment, did a great job of clearing primary fields, not having insurgency on the left. this cycle, we saw messy primaries, something democrats had not seen before. that is in large part, one, hillary clinton losing an establishment candidate. also, the appearance the d.n.c. swayed things for hillary clinton. it looks like there will be 90 progressive caucus members this incoming congress. how big, one, do you agree with my theory? two, how big of a challenge will that be for nancy pelosi or

whoever is speaker of the house? >> jon: i think it will be a challenge, i also think it is tremendous opportunity, right? we have broader set of ideas we can debate with bigger group of people. i think that is good for democracy, good to have discussions for people who, no one will get everything they want all the time, right? that includes even speaker of the house. by coming in and laying a stake in the ground, we want someone who is further to the left than nancy pelosi, maybe someone who is younger, they are able to already set the stage for some negotiating that will move potentially policies more toward the progressive side. >> will it make it tough for her to hold the line to keep the caucus together in the house? >> jon: yeah, but it is always like herding cats. >> and you would know. you were with harry reid. we love to lean on you during it is discussions, we are thinking about what is logical. we don't know what is said behind closed doors and you do. morgan, what troubles me, you hear about having two groups

within there and they can exchange ideas, bringing more to the table. we've seen that on the right, as well, when the tea party movement tried to do that. the problem is, modern politics, you don't get credit for compromising. in business, they expect you to come together and work out a solution, everybody gives and everybody gets. you win some. you lose some. what is important is the out dollar the -- outcome. the art of the deal. i'm afraid in this political system now, that is something that will be held against you later, that you gave in on something in order to get something done and that is horrible for american people. >> so let's look at the case of yesterday afternoon, there is an example of what you are talking about that happened. president trump and va nn jones came together, i never thought i would see that happen as relates to prison reform. this is something i saw mike lee this morning on fox and on twitter praising. so i think yes, it seems dire

many times, but never in a million years did i think i would see the two coming together, especially when you have president trump running as law and order candidate. when people want to come together, this legislation hasn't been passed yet, the announcement yesterday. one thing important in the piece you read at the beginning, a democrat congresswoman going back to pelosi, she said we shouldn't be made to feel, paraphrasing, that if we don't vote for pelosi that we are anti-woman. i would like to thank democrat women for making our argument for not voting for hillary in 2016. that is what we've heard, support the person based on their gender and now democrat women have this argument coming back to them, it is not so nice to receive it when you want to vote on someone based on qualifications. >> we say let the market decide and tell people how to do things. i wonder if so much of this is voter's fault. voters don't reward politicians that go out or if we did make a

decision to reward politicians who brought both sides together, who found a compromise and got things done, you know, then there would be more of them. but, they are saying to themselves, we don't get re-elect federal we don't take a hard, mean stand. >> i hear what you are saying, great point. i think the democratic voter doesn't understand how scler on theic the situation has become. no term limits for democrats to run committees. there is a lock on power. the republicans have term limits. nancy pelosi has been around since the reagan administration, so has chuck schumer. "washington post" did an amazing study of congress, less meetings. the junior congressmen are locked out of meetings about legislation, so, you know, you wonder if democratic party is truly split right now because they have a really raucus loud, she is getting unions behind

her, she seems to be able to gavel in. >> interesting. >> she could possibly be house speaker. >> interesting stuff. president trump slamming the mueller probe again today. this as his legal team nears its decision, we're told, on submitting written answers from the special counsel question. how many questions they should answer and what the president is saying. are you a veteran, own a home, and need money for your family? newday usa can help. we earned a lot of va benefits with our service. but the va home loan benefit is a big one. if you want to use it to get cash, call newday usa. va loans are all they do. and don't let less than perfect credit hold you back. even if you've been turned down for a va loan by your bank, call newday usa. they've been given automatic authority by the va...

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>> melissa: president trump's legal team nearing a decision on submitting written answers to special counsel robert mueller's questions. source says the president and his legal team are getting ready to make a go now go decision on which questions to answer and

whether to submit in writing. quis are said to be limited solely to russian collusion and deals with time period before mr. trump's election. president trump is slamming the mueller probe yet again, tweeting this morning, universities will some day study what a highly conflicted and not senate-approved bob mueller and his thugs have done to protect people, why is he protecting hillary, james comey, mccabe, lisa page and her lover, peter s, and all of his friends on the other side? >> lanny davis poured cold water on the dossier in relation to michael cohen, you have christopher steel, the author of the dossier not being able to verify the veracity of the statements made in it. at this point, what evidence of collusion do we have? >> jon: great question. that is all in robert mueller and his team's hands.

we don't have the answer. sure, maybe the committee didn't see evidence of collusion. i sure hope there is no collusion, i think we all do. no one knows what information mueller has. hard to talk about. it is interesting. he was spicy this morning on twitter and -- >> fair. >> very spicy this morning. two things, one, is he afraid something bad is about to come out? was he thrown by the questions headed his way and how difficult it might be to answer those? i don't know. or is he trying to deflect to something else? he's not had a particularly good news week, i don't think today will be another great day for him with cnn hearing and fox, as well. i think this also has equal chance of being a distraction. he's certainly good at protection. it was fascinating to see at time when everyone was talking about how he's angry and there's, you know, all this

unsettlement in the white house, that is exactly what he's accusing the mueller team of having right now. it is interesting to see that level of projection, as well. >> melissa: e-mac, how should president trump and his team proceed here? >> elizabeth: go ahead with written answers, because what you say verbally to an interrogator, especially in the f.b.i., can be twisted and distorted and used against you. comes back to bite you. i think it is an interesting choice to do written. i think mueller is up against a wall. i think he faces a lengthy court fight, under pressure to wrap it up. what is happening now, if it is only before the election it knocks out obstruction allegations about firing james comey. >> do written questions protect the president more? investigators were concerned that f.b.i. agents didn't think michael flynn was lieing and

when when mueller took over, he pleaded perjury. >> i will be careful how i answer this. i think what mueller is trying to avoid is a subpoena, right? he would prefer getting written questions from the president, you know, i'm sure he would want him to answer orally, but in the absence of that, i am sure he would like written questions. i don't have any suspicion here that mueller wants some sort of long, drawn-out battle. i think he's been cognizant about passing parts of the investigation over, for example, in new york to the new york prosecutors, he's been farming it out. i think we are still in very much hurry up and wait mode to see what is in the investigation. part of me wondering, clearly something irritated the president this morning. part of me wonders if he does this when the probe comes out, there is not much to it. after a year and a half of all this, unless mueller is the best person on the planet at keeping secrets, we still don't have -- >> yeah, i want to give jon one

more option, constant marketing campaign he knows works. the swamp is after me, the swamp is trying to get me, the witch hunt, keep the drum beat on that. the twitter machine is half marketing tool and half impulse control situation and this is one of the marketing tweets that we'll see today. >> good conversation. all right. president trump likely to have something to say on the mueller probe this week. stay tuned for that, i'm sure. he sits down with chris wallace, check local listings for airings or tune in on fox news channel 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. eastern. also, democrats may have a new spring in their step after taking house majority, but key member of hillary clinton's 2016 campaign team is warning that democrats face a bigger challenge than they may think in taking on president trump in 2020. do they need a new play book? we'll discuss that, so stay

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warning despite gains in the midterm, won't be easy to defeat president trump in 2020. the bully pulpit allow him to dominate media coverage. fall iin tweeting, nominee is o who commands apart from trump, whose life story is inherently fascinating enough to draw endless human interest stories, carving flank steak are deemed interesting." >> i don't know about that. >> way to go. >> i'm starving. >> that sounds delicious. >> that is actually good right now. >> i tend to agree with some points brian said, the flaw in the argument, thinking someone else can control a media universe away from donald trump. we had an executive from a rival network just this week that admitted when they don't cover president trump, the ratings go down. i don't know how whenever all of the networks are addicted to

covering the president and americans are addicted to reading and listening and reading his tweets and hearing about him, even when they hate him. love him or hate him, it is addicting. how do you get media attention facing the president 101, given his outside advantage of being able to play the game. >> jon: right; right. he is good at playing the game. we will never forget the number of times the cable network would have camera on empty podium and just waiting for trump to speak. it would be an hour before he would come out and speak. he knows how to control the media. now the bully pulpit of the presidency to help achieve that. brian is right, we do need someone who is better able to connect with people, who can talk about the importance of policy and how it impacts people's lives, as opposed to details of the policy, which is where democrats tend to go.

>> wait a minute. you talk about the democrat play book. they don't have a play book. i was talking to dan henniger, the "wall street journal," he says president trump blocks the sun. the democrats can't get in. that is true. you think about it, democrats don't have a play book, job growth play book. they are scratching their head how to get their message out. how about come up with policies that appeal to the american people. they used to be the old-time democrats that did that. >> one thing brian said, interesting point, reaching out to independents. when you look at close house races that flipd and talk about suburban women and that sort of thing, i think he has a point, you could find someone that could appeal to the center, but doesn't look like the energy of the democrat party is behind sensible sally. >> i think president trump understood we had seen social media influence and helped barack obama and he came in and it really changed the entire way that we digest political news.

unfortunately, i don't think anyone's ideas are ever going to be the thing that makes the critical difference in the future. like you have to have them, you can't live without them, they will not get you there. you need that person who can block out the sun. >> or democrats come home for themselves. i mean, teddy kennedy voted for 1980 tax cuts. for the '87 tax cuts and so did chuck schumer, a lot of democrats. >> they are looking for cult of personality, only somebody like oprah could come along. a lot is negative on him. he claims it is a good idea. i don't know that it always is that positive. >> jon: that is true, it is interesting to hear democrats have a sensible sally. i don't think donald trump is someone that a lot of people consider sensible, even with this morning's twitter rant as a perfect example. we have potentially good candidates who will be able to run and people like democratic policies, they like as we're

seeing with healthcare, they like the affordable care act, they don't want it to go away. they are for middle-class tax cuts. >> hillary clinton caught us on gut level and hillary clinton's problems are her, she can't be fixed. >> more in just a moment. nice job.

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where was your job? >> jon: i taught education programs at seaworld for a long time. >> melissa: seaworld and politics, all kinds of them. we are back here at noon eastern tomorrow. now, here's harris. >> harris: deadline day in the closely watched florida recount. i'm harris faulkner, this is "outnumbered overtime." election officials in florida must report their recount findings in the senate and gubernatorial races. palm beach county says it's unlikely, highly unlikely, they will meet that deadline. but a federal judge could approve an extension there. and at the broward county elections board, led by the controversial supervisor brenda snipes, they are saying they will finish in time despite some earlier glitches and delays. this as president trump is calling on broward's election chief to be