middle as many conservatives perhaps feared or liberals hope. for national security advisor general mike flynn who says militant islam poses an existential threat to the united states. attorney general jeff sessions of alabama, tireless opponent of illegal immigration and someone accused of making racially incensensitive remarks that derailed a previous hearing for a federal judgeship in the '80s and for cia chief, representative mike pompeo of kansas, tough critic on hillary clinton for benghazi. he's gotten praise from both. the team represents security over civil liberties, loyalists over moderates. republican senators were largely supportive of the choices and democrats for the most part, particularly for jeff sessions, sharply opposed. joining me from donald trump's club in bedminster, president-elect trump's incoming white house chief of staff reince priebus. mr. priebus, congratulations on the new job. >> well, good morning, chuck.

appreciate you having me on. >> let me start with the meeting with mitt romney. is it fair to conclude -- i've talked to a few people close to your campaign but we're talking to you and that is simply it's rudy giuliani or mitt romney for secretary of state. is that fair to conclude? >> look, i think if you see the entire picture here what americans should take from this is the fact that we have a president-elect trump that wants to bring all americans together. he started with that speech he gave on wednesday morning very graciously say nothing matter who you are, no matter what your background, i'll be here for you, make you proud of our country and what you saw with mitt romney people like ted cruz coming in is a continuation of this bridge building in this scene that all americans should take in that he wants to bring us all together. the meeting with mitt romney itself, though, i will tell you was a very good meeting. it was gracious and personable and it was very sincere and it was productive. so we don't know where it will

lead right now, but i can tell you that it was a great first step and people should be proud of the way things are going here in president-elect trump's operation. >> would it surprise you if president-elect trump selected mitt romney for secretary of state? >> you know, look, i'm not sure who he's going to select but i do know -- >> but would that surprise you. >> rudy giuliani, general keene, general kelly, he's talked to mitt romney, obviously, and we'll see, chuck, where it goes but it's a good sign for all americans. >> i want to talk about, obviously, donald trump ran especially at the end on the phrase, he used it a lot, "drain the swamp." but there's a number of moves that have happened that call that into question, perhaps conflicts of interest, his daughter ivanka trump was seen pictured at the meeting with the japanese prime minister there are some businessmen from india who have deals with the president-elect's organization, trump organization, they had a

meeting with the president-elect, took pictures of it, creating this idea that maybe they'll end up profiting off of the trump name now that he's president in india. how are you organizing a divestment or a blind trust right now of donald trump and his businesses? >> we're not going to get into the details of that but that is being handled and there is nothing beingy ng was y.t bring the press in. and, look, all of these things -- all these rules are going to be followed, chuck. there is going to be no violation of any of these rules, i can assure you of that and as we move forward those matters will be more clearly spelled out and you'll be aware of it but the one person i can tell you that makes these decisions is donald trump. families historically have been involved with their fathers in administrations. and i can assure you what you're seeing donald trump do right now is bring the best and brightest together to make the best decisions for america, for all americans no matter who you are.

>> at the end of the day, how does he prove he's not used the presidency to profit. there have been reports that the trump hotel in washington, d.c., that ambassadors were encouraged to bring their visiting delegates and have them stay at the trump hotel in washington, d.c. is that true? >> no, it's not true at all, chuck, and i think what we have here is it's truly a unique situation where you have an international business person that has done incredibly well in life that is now going to work toward focusing 24/7 on being president of the united states and setting up a system, a legal system to shield himself from any and all conflict. that's what we're doing. that's what people are going to see and in the coming days and weeks the american people will see that. >> the "wall street journal" is recommending if following, "wall street journal," no member of the liberal media, at least their editorial page. the political damage to a new

administration could be extensive, they write, "if mr. trump doesn't liquidate he will be accused of a pecuniary motive any time he takes a policy position." they essentially believe it's untenable for trump or his kids to have any control over the trump organization while he's president. does the president-elect share that view? >> look, we're looking at this right now, chuck, as well, and like i said before, we're going to make sure no matter what decisions are made that they'll be run through counsel and there's a white house counsel's office that will be there, that will be issuing opinions and these matters will be dealt with accordingly and donald trump, our new president, is going to spend every hour, every minute of the day making america proud of where we're going and making america great again but also making the decisions that benefit everyone the most in this country so we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit but i can assure you the work will continue and the best and brightest will be brought

together no matter their background, their political affiliation and all the rest. >> let me ask you about the appointment of general mike flynn to national security advisor, essentially there are two corner offices in the white house, you'll be in one, he's going to be in the other. in february, flynn posted a video listing bombings perpetrated by muslims with the comment "fear of muslims is rational." can you equivocally rule out a registry for muslims? >> um, look, i'm not going to rule out anything. but i wouldn't -- we're not going to have a registry based on a religion. but what i think what we're trying to do is say that there are some people, certainly not all people, chuck, there are some people that are radicalized and there are some people that have to be prevented from coming into this country and donald trump's position, president trump's position is consistent with bills in the house and senate that say the following. if you want to come from a place or an area around the world that

harbors and trains terrorists we have to temporarily suspend that operation until a better vetting system is put in place. and when that happens, when a better vetting system is put in place, then those radical folks -- excuse me, they'll not be allowed in but then others will be allowed in but only until that is done. that's what general michael flynn believes and that's what president trump believes. >> does president-elect trump agree with general flynn that fear of muslims is rational? >> he believes that no faith in and of itself should be judged as a whole but there are some people in countries abroad that need to be prevented from -- there are some people that need to be prevented from coming into this country so i think that's where 99% of americans are at. >> reince priebus, the next white house chief of staff, appreciate the time and thanks for sharing your views. >> thank you, chuck. >> you got it.

on friday i traveled to michigan for a story on middle-class voters who picked donald trump over hillary clinton, we'll have that story for you later in the hour. but while i was there i took a break to interview the new senate democratic leader chuck schumer. he began by telling me that senate democrats would give a very thorough vetting to president-elect trump's choice for attorney general, senator jeff sessions. and that he had tough questions for mike flynn, though he doesn't need senate confirmation who, of course, is mr. trump's voice for national security advisor. but then here we're going to begin with a question i asked of whether he thinks senate democrats should oppose president trump because it's good for the party or work with him when they can. >> well, my test is the specifics. we're not going to work with him for the sake of working with him. we're not going to oppose him just because he said something that trump sponsors but let me give you an example on both sides. surprisingly on certain issues candidate trump voiced very progressive and populist opinions.

for instance, getting rid of the carried interest loophole. changing our trade laws dramatically. a large infrastructure bill. cleaning up the swamp in washington. these are things that democrats have always stood for and, frankly, republicans have always been against. so we're going to challenge president trump to work with us on those issues where we can. if he doesn't, he'll be breaking his promise to particularly the blue-collar workers, many of whom voted for him on those particular issues. but on issues where our values are at stake, where the president goes in a divisive direction, where his campaign did before, we'll go against him with everything we've got. we're not going to repeal or help him repeal obamacare. we are not going to roll back dodd/fra dodd/frank, i think they should forget about that, we have 60 votes to block them. we're not going to help him build his wall. we have a comprehensive immigration reform bill that builds a much tougher border security and had bipartisan

support than he's ever called for. so we're not going to oppose him just because it's trump, but we're certainly going to stick to our values and oppose him wherever he opposes those. but i hope, chuck -- one final thing, i hope on the promises he's made to blue-collar america on trade, on carried interest, on infrastructure that he'll stick with them and work with us even if it means breaking with the republicans who opposed those things. >> you may have the longest relationship of any u.s. senator with donald trump. i know you frequently speak with him. i'm curious, how frequently have you spoken with him post-election? >> well, look, number one i didn't know that well. we'd see each other occasionally at events in new york but i didn't know him very well. >> you did a walk on on "the apprentice" so you must have been somewhat palish. >> well, they asked me to do it and i was surprised but i don't know him that well, i learned for more about him in the

campaign. i was troubled by a whole lot of things in the campaign. the only thing i can say to my colleagues is president obama met with him and said the presidency is a sobering experience so i hope that president trump will rise to the occasion and when he does we'll try to be supportive but when he doesn't we'll use everything we've got to oppose him. >> i'm interviewing you right now from the suburbs of detroit. we're doing a bring focus on what happened in macomb county, a place where there were obama/trump voters. why do you believe you lost -- the democratic party and hillary clinton lost these voters that voted obama in '08 and '12 and voted trump in '16, particularly in a place like michigan. >> when you lose an election like we did you can't flinch or look away from it. you have to look it directly in the eye and analyze what you did wrong. and the analysis will continue but my preliminary reading is very simple -- we did not have the kind of strong, bold, and

pointed economic message that appeal to these people and a message that talked about how rigged the system was in washington. what i hope to do as our democratic leader is craft policies and platform and message that are bold on economic issues, that are strong on economic issues, that don't just i believe in around the edges. and what that will do, i believe, is unite not only democrats in the senate, you've seen in our leadership this team this kind of message has gotten. bernie sanders and elizabeth warren on our team as well as joe manchin and mark warner but much more importantly, unite america. i don't think there should be a choice. you know, people say well, should we go after the obama coalition or the blue-collar workers? a bold, strong strong economic message will unite both of them, both groups. it will appear to the worker in oakland county, the factory

worker, the college student in los angeles, the single mom trying to get above minimum wage in harlem. >> let me finally ask you about the supreme court obviously you were not pleased with how senate republicans handled the merrick garland nomination. i assumed barring some miracle for your side it is not going to be brought up during the lame duck. >> pray for that miracle. >> how -- are you comfortable filibustering any pick that a president trump makes and if that happened, do you fear the nuclear response by the republicans? >> well, first i hope that president trump picks a mainstream candidate. a mainstream candidate is somebody you may not agree with on every issue but basically believes in precedent and basically believes in following the law. >> what does that mean? can he nominate somebody, in your mind, that is, say, ted cruz? is he too conservative for you. >> i'm not going to get into

specific candidates but we'd hope it would be mainstream. if it is mainstream, you have to remember the last four nominees -- two from president bush, two from president obama, got bipartisan support on the bench. if he doesn't nominate a mainstream candidate, we're going to go at him with everything we have, or her. go at the candidate with everything we've got because this is so, so important. now, you know, senator mcconnell has said let's not use the filibuster. but they don't come with clean hands having delayed merrick garland for a whole year and further more i was the person when the rules were changed back a few years ago when leader reid changed the rules i said let's not do the supreme court, we should have 60 vote, which we still do, because we should get

bipartisan support so i hope both president trump and leader mcconnell will recognize those facts. >> senator chuck schumer, i have to leave it there. >> thank you. >> democrat from new york, new senate democratic leader, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. >> i did that interview on friday. as the interview was airing donald trump tweeted the following about chuck schumer this morning. "i have always had a good relationship with chuck schumer, he's far smarter than harry r. and has the ability to get things done. good news." so there you go, a trump/schumer relationship begins anew. when he come back, my trip to macomb county, michigan, home of the reagan democrats who voted first for president obama voted first for president obama and then for d you can fly across welcome town in minutes16, or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond.

and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. ♪ hey there, hi. why do people have eyebrows? why do people put milk on cereal? oh, are you reading why people put milk on cereal? why does your tummy go "grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"? why is it all (mimics a stomach grumble) no more questions for you! ooph, that milk in your cereal was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah, happens to more people than you think... try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. good, right? mmm, yeah. i got your back. lactaid. it's the milk that doesn't mess with you. safety doesn't come in a box. it's not a banner that goes on a wall. it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it's giving offshore teams onshore support. and it's empowering anyone to stop a job

if something doesn't seem right. at bp, safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. let's dig in with the panel. kathleen parker and tom friedman. welcome to you all. robert, i want to start with you. romney, giuliani, how real is romney's secretary of state? you are quick with the trump scoops. what you got? >> my trump sources tell me romney is very much in the running for secretary of state. trump likes his look, he likes his background. he wants to make an overture to the republican establishment. for trump, he knows his reputation not only at home but

around the world. he wants to maybe have a different kind of face. >> there's no question that romney brings a different face because he is the epitome of goodness and would be, i think, a very smart move for trump to put him up front as the face to the rest of the world. as somebody joked, if you took an american flag and turned it into a human being, it would look like mitt romney. >> you have to have a good relationship though with the national security advisor. i bring this up, thomas, as somebody who covered plenty of white house and international affairs. mike flynn has been described -- this is by former colleagues, people that worked with him, they did it anonymously. you have covered general flynn back in the days of the first afghanistan surge. what do you know of him? >> i have seen general flynn in iraq, afghanistan, washington at the dia. i don't know the general flynn

who has been tweeting. i had many encounters with him or several in his job as one of the most intelligent intelligent officers we have had. he and stan mccrystal together created the killing machine that took down al qaeda in iraq. they did it in an amazing way, leveraging big data. they would take down a terrorist leader, take his computer and cell phone and pour it into a computer, find links and do one raid and another and another. i don't know mike flynn but that mike flynn is a serious, intelligent guy. >> qualified? >> the old mike flynn, definitely. i don't know the new mike flynn. >> yeah. i would say the new mike flynn is deeply worrying. that's who we have seen for the last year. someone who has attacked muslims as awe group, someone who has tweeted also from the alt right, basically things that seem racist on their face. and also, in a more disturbing level, we found out that he is actually as a lobbyist been

getting security briefings. he is a lobbyist for foreign entities, foreign companies that are linked to foreign governments and has been receiving briefings while he is doing that. i think in it the drain the swamp concern, there's something still there. >> one thing on flynn, we're talking about list world view and combative personality. but his association with trump, how close he is, it's revealing about this whole transition. he is there because he is loyal. he was one of the early people who would go up to the top of trump tower, brief trump on foreign aaffairs. flynn was in the running for vp because he was there early. >> what we should learn here? i'm talking about, a team of rivals or is is it going to be loyalists? >> national security, you have to have a secretary of state, a secretary of defense that are able to work together and are basically aligned on their priorities. >> they need to be aligned. >> they have to be basically aligned. >> romney and flynn doesn't feel like an a -- that feels -- it

doesn't work. giuliani and flynn to me is more an alignment. kathleen? >> gosh, well if you want -- if you want to present a fierce presence to the rest of the world, those two combined would certainly put fear in the hearts of our allies and enemies as well. the other thing about mitt romney -- i think really today we should change his name to mike romney, since that seems -- >> if you are a mike you have a better chance. >> remember in the second debate with obama, romney was the person who said in our greatest geopolitical foe is russia. he practically got laughed off the stage. this man is not -- he is no novice when it comes to foreign affairs. many of the other things he setd ha said have come to be true. >> i want to go back to the ethics thing. are the trump folks aware that this is something that could blow up?

i thought it was interesting that reince priebus didn't dismiss. >> the question is, who is having this conversation with the president-elect in a confrontational way about his family, about his business? a lot of people around donald trump don't want to engage with him on that level on that topic. >> that's deeply concerning. the idea that a president would profit from the presidency is -- he said he would work for the people, not himself. when you look at the information we're getting about meetings with indian businessmen who want to do more business, the idea that the hotel he has is basically pushing foreign dignitaries to stay at his hotel, give the hotel money in order to curry favor with him. that is -- >> listen -- >> he does not seem to want to divest. >> i think he has to realize he has been benefitted from the

cell pho cell phone revolution. >> he responded. >> a friend of mine says, the cell phones, five years ago they were a portable x-ray machine. now they're a portable mri machine. they can see everywhere. they can tell the world what they see without an editor, a lawyer or filter. that can work for you and it can really work against you. >> i'm going to end this. this is why everybody will buy his book. >> note to public officials, don't tweet. >> i don't know. i think it's good. we're learning about who people are. let's pause the conversation here. when we come back, we will hear from some of those white blue collar voters who abandoned hillary clinton for donald trump. what do they expect from their new president? plus, quite a few of them were bernie sanders voters. i will talk to senator sanders i will talk to senator sanders about ho ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

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even technology to make engines more efficient. what company does all this? exxonmobil, that's who. we're working on all these things to make cars better and use less fuel. helping you save money and reduce emissions. and you thought we just made the gas. energy lives here. . welcome back. one of the big surprises of the election was the emergence of the obama trump voter. people who voted for barack obama in 2012, but abandoned the democrats this year and voted for trump. they were concentrated in middle

class suburbs and in rural areas and helped trump win six states, and gave him a decisive victory in the electoral college. i travelled to the epicenter, macomb county, michigan. it's made famous by reagan democrats in the '80s. it is one of 225 obama to trump counties nationwide. a small amount of counties but many stretch across the upper midwest. 12 in michigan. 22 in wisconsin and 22 in iowa. >> obama didn't necessarily disappoint me. i guess. he didn't fulfill everything i wanted. >> a group of voters i sat down with in warren, voted obama in 2000 -- 2008 and 2012. >> we wanted to get out of the bush administration and we were told lies. >> reporter: but this time, he picked trump. what made you vote for him? >> well, what made me vote for

him, i believed that hillary clinton was a criminal. >> this man is the owner of little joe's coney island, a diner. >> i hear people say he's a billionaire. he can't be bought. that's what people are saying. they can't control him. >> he came, right? >> 30 miles north of here. i think a lot of people feel like she took it for granted, like it was always been a blue can state and she had it in the back pocket. >> macomb county is car country, ford is next door in sterling heights. half of the manufacturing jobs in macomb vanished. some have come back, but median household income is down 25%. pensions are gone or disappearing. the cost of health care is up. >> if i'm elected, you won't lose one plant. >> voters expect trump to keep the promises. >> put us all to work. give us the opportunity to earn a living and take care of our families.

that's it. it's that simple. >> job creation. not doing all of our jobs off shore. >> macomb still whiter than the rest of the country, is diversifying quickly. >> the young people are talking about how proud they are to be diverse. >> i see my children with a school with 30 different languages spoken. >> with it, come some cultural changes. >> i don't like that you can have a transgendered person going into the bathroom. >> voters aren't sure that trump can unite the country. >> how he's talked about me, my daughters and women, who he's appointing all these all white men, to me reaching out is having women and women's issues in the forefront. >> my father is an albanian muslim from kosovo. stop the rhetoric that's out there where people are being offended, attacked or whatever

the case may be because they're minorities. they have a different look to them, a different name to them. they practice a different religion. he has the chance to unite us all. >> by the way remember those 12 obama to trump counties in michigan that i mentioned? bernie sanders beat hillary clinton in nine of them in the michigan primary. by the way, bernie sanders also beat her in all 22 of the counties in wisconsin that went from obama to trump in the wisconsin democratic primary. joining me now is bernie sanders who is out a new book called "our revolution." >> good to be with you, chuck. >> just those county stats alone in wisconsin and michigan, the fact of the matter is they're clearly and i ran into them, there were clearly people supporters of you. you were for some supporters second choice and clinton was not the second choice and they chose to stay home. do you think you would have had a better chance at carrying michigan and wisconsin if you had been the democratic nominee?

>> chuck, i don't know that does a whole lot of good to look backwards but we have to look forward. and we have to hear what the workers are saying a few moments ago and they're sick and tired of seeing their standard of living go down. they're sick and tired of seeing their jobs go to china and other low wage countries. which means that we have to transform our trade policies and tell corporate america to tart investing in this country and not countries all over the world. that means we have to raise the minimum wage. we need pay equity for the women workers and we need to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure and make public colleges and universities tuition free. in other words. what all of that is about is the worker class of the country has been decimated and the rich are getting richer. people are tired of it and they want real change and i'll do as part of the new leadership of the democratic par tri to bring about the change.

>> one of the things you hear about is job retraining for folks who are displaced but i want to play a quote from the coo of the auto parts manufacturer and he was talking about the problems with some of these retraining programs. take a listen. >> you have been out on this floor doing skilled or semi-skilled work and you're 40 years old, you don't want to go do a computer based job. you want to make things. >> essentially the job retraining programs and some of these younger vo-tech programs almost too computer based. he was complaining of lack of skilled labor, but physical skilled labor. >> well, i think we have to move forward on all fronts. i think we have -- not everybody wants to go to college. that's fine. god knows there are enormous amounts of work out there that don't require a college degree. we have to get people the training to do that which is why we have to rebuild our inner cities. we have to rebuild our infrastructure. there's a desperate need for affordable housing in this

country. we can put millions of people to work rebuilding this country and so many other parts of america and that is what we have to do. on the other hand, in a highly competitive global economy we do need the best educated workforce in the world. we have to make public colleges and universities tuition free and mr. trump by the way and his billionaire friends are going to have to start paying their fair share of taxes. >> the progressive movement, the democratic party is having a debate about whether to work with donald trump when there is agreement. i want to read for you something that eric sassen of the new republican had to say about this debate. to so many democrats any mention of finding common ground with trump is a step towards accomplishing the exact thing we fear most normalization. by prematurely offering to work with trump before he's shown the slightest bit of contrition, congressional democrats are hollowing out the argument he's unfit for office and that needs to be made more than ever. it's up to trump to prove to us

he's able to lead. we shouldn't make it easy for him. bottom line is this, essentially, do you not work with him until he shows some contrition on some of the social issues? >> well, look, let us be clear, chuck. when donald trump helped lead the birther movement that was nothing less than a racist effort to undermine the legitimacy of the first african-american president we have ever had. that was racist and disgraceful. the african-american community and all of us deserve an apology. when he talks about latinos and mexican as criminals and rapist that's outrageous. when he says that people who are muslims cannot enter the united states, that's an outrage. on those issues, let me be very clear. speaking for only myself. there is no compromise. we have come too far as a country to try to move forward in a nondiscriminatory way. to go backwards and see us

divided up by racism and xenophobia. on the other hand, issues like raising the minimum wage -- you know trump has talked about he's not going to cut social security or med care and medicaid. he's going to re-establish the glass/steagall kind of legislation, we have been working on those for years. if he wants to work on those, i accept that. >> you don't accept the premise you shouldn't work with him under any premise? >> right. but he's said outrageous thing and he needs to apologize to the american people. there are people all over this country who are really frightened. but the other thing, the other thing, chuck, is climate change. it is beyond comprehension that we have a president-elect who thinks it's a hoax when the whole scientific community is telling us -- >> senator, right. i want to go back to the other point. what do you say to the progressives that say, hey the republicans essentially united

against president obama and guess what? it was good politically for the republican party. what you're describing is going to be perhaps good for the workers you're talking about, but may be bad for the democratic party. what do you say to if progressives? >> i think we need a good strategy to make sure that in fact we push our agenda. look, on the issues, chuck, that i'm talking about, these are the things that i have been fighting for years. but there's no compromise, none whatsoever on bigotry. there's no compromise on climate change because the future of the planet is at stake. we need a strategy and i'm going to work on the strategy. to go to michigan, to go to wisconsin, to stand with working people, to demand that we reverse the decline of the american middle class. >> senator sanders, that's all the time i have for today. thank you for sharing your views. congrats on the new book "our revolution." before we go to break, we said good-bye to our dear friend

and colleague, gwen ifill. she was the host of "washington week" and she broke a barrier everywhere she went. she was tough and fair yet at the same time brought so much joy to her work. not to mention she had a great bs detector. something plenty of politicians learn the hard way. i was honored to have gwen as a panelist on this show many times. she made everyone including myself a lot smarter. she made over 70 appearances and many times we were on the show together we both called a mentor, tim russert. on the recent appearance on "meet the press," just eight weeks ago. she reflected on the opening of the new national museum of african-american history and culture. >> the emotion of the people in that audience, mostly blacks singing full throatedly reminded me of what -- one of the things that are true in this country. which is that we want to, aspire to make it a better union and we

see the clash and the hopefulness of that beautiful museum put up against what we see happening in the streets. changes to make things right. first, all customers who have been impacted will be fully refunded. second, a confirmation will be sent when new personal or small business checking, savings or credit card accounts are opened. third, we've eliminated product sales goals for our retail bankers to ensure your interests are put first. we're taking action. we're renewing our commitment to you. safety doesn't come in a box. it's not a banner that goes on a wall. it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it's giving offshore teams onshore support. and it's empowering anyone to stop a job if something doesn't seem right.

at bp, safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

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we are back. it's data download time. it's a rule of thumb, the winner of a popular vote also wins the popular vote in the swing states. but this year, that's not the case. we have been keeping track of it as it continues to be counted, particularly out west. hillary clinton leads by more than 1 pnlt 6 million votes nationally. that's triple of what al gore led george w. bush by in 2000. among the 13 swing states, these are defined as states that flipped from 2012 or decided by five points or less, it's reversed. trump leads clinton by 863,000 votes. of course, the states are all called battleground states for a reason. they are competitive. in fact, we looked at the vote in some key battleground states going back to the '92 presidential election. get this. in virginia, out of more than 20 million votes cast in the last seven elections combined, only

72,000 votes separate the republicans and the democrats. in ohio, 34 million presidential votes cast, only 68,000 separate the two major parties. but take a look at florida. out of nearly 50 million votes cast in a presidential race since '92, only 11,296 votes separate the democrats and republicans. that's .02%. if that was the margin in a single florida election, we would see a recount, probably a lot of hand kauntcounts. florida, florida, florida. it's for good reason. it's the microcosm of america. you have the old republican coalition and the new democratic coalition. florida is the ultimate bad battleground state. when we come back, guess who thinks he should be the de facto leader of the democratic party going forward. it's barack obama.

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back now with the panel. what do democrats do?

i want to -- the question that i addressed to senator sanders and senator schumer and they both essentially had the same position, they will work with him where they agree. there are democrats that think that's a mistake. where do you come down on this? >> look, i think people were willing to give the benefit of the doubt. but i think the reality is just this week when you see jeff sessions, mike flynn and steve bannon, you know, there's a view that the president has to reach out after a divisive race. we haven't seen much of that. i think democrats are actually -- many democrats, many progressives are deeply worried that we're going to see a divisive presidency -- >> do you count the tweet about shum they a schumer this morning? >> i would love a tweet that said that people should stop hate crimes and people should stopwastikas. but there are people who are

worried because they feel bullied. the president of the united states has yet to really use his twitter account to address that. >> i couldn't agree with that more. i've been advocating that donald trump needs to give a speech. he needs to address the nation and talk about, look, i'm a loose cannon, i say things that i don't mean, i don't feel. make it a serious and sincere -- it doesn't have to be an apology necessarily. look, this is not who i am. this is what i intend to do. he has to address it face on. it would change things. >> you know him well. how likely is he to do something like that? >> most important relationship in washington is between schumer and trump. you didn't schumer drawing a big line in the sand. what you have to watch is how does ryan handle it if trump starts working with democrats. most important interview was bannon to the hollywood reporter. he dangled out there a million dollars in infrastructure. you will see trump -- he is not driven by an ideological co

compass. >> i want to talk about who will run the party. i found this fascinating. president obama did an interview through the final days of the campaign and then after. tom, the president said this. in other words, he is saying, i will lead the party. when is the last time we had an ex-president do that? >> democrats could do a lot worse. but i think it's not just who leads, it's what they lead on. i think it's very important that democrats not just be about redistribution. they have to be about growing. they have to be about entrepreneurship. i watched the democratic convention. they had women, black, gay, transgender. they had a dwarf who was

charming. they didn't have a entrepreneur. somebody who was a risk taker. i'm here to grow the pie, not just to redistribute. >> what about ryan in the house? >> i find it fascinating. he is challenging -- let me describe him and finish your point. >> democratic congressman from young youngstown, ohio. he wants to challenge nancy pelosi. he probably will lose. but he will probably make himself a very competent candidate for governor of ohio in 2018. this is a fight in the party what have to be. >> we're asking why is president obama prepared to be a leader? democratic leadership doesn't have the political capital because they haven't had opportunities to become leaders. this is a microcosm. can a person like ryan get a shot? >> look, i think -- i think that the party needs all voices. i think it's -- >> >> it need fresher voices than schumer and pelosi? >> look at the reality. senator sanders, he has been

there a long time. he is giving an important voice in the leadership as well as an array of diverse voices. this is the time to have a debate about the future of the democratic party. nancy pelosi has been a person who has been able to hold democrats together. but it's an important debate for us to have. >> this race could end up being decided on what you just mentioned, identity politics in the house. if the democrats become too associated with identity politics. >> i think everybody recognizes that we need a stronger reform message. both about our politics and about our economy. i think the message of the election is that people are angry. they feel left out of the process. and democrats have to give a voice to that. >> technology and globalization are upsetting the two things that anchor people in the world. community and their workplace. it's happening at the same time. >> diversification. >> people go to the grocery store. they are being spoken to in a different language, dressed quickly. they go into the bathroom and there's a person of another

gender. they go to work and there's a robot next to them. all those things, fast and at once, have destabilized people. >> tim ryan, his gifts would be better used if he could teach us to meditate. but on the issue that tom was addressing. one of the big elements here in this sort of sense of disenfranchisement is loss of identity. this is what's driving the movements in europe as well as here. no one is actually really spoken to that. yes, we acknowledge there are languages, which i sort of love. >> i love it, too. >> the diversity of our population i find appealing. we enjoy that here in washington. the sense of loss of who we are, our national identity is what's not being discussed in terms that people can relate to. you have to identify it. you have to say it and democrats just don't do that. they just collect all the

various identities that they can rather than talk about the one that unites us all. >> i will pause here. homeless in their own country. we will be back in end game. why did donald trump give in and decide to settle that trump university lawsuit for $25 million? >> coming up, "meet the press" end game and post game brought end game and post game brought to you by boeing - listening to music in the shower can help you conserve water, so start your favorite song when you get in, and when it's done, time's up. you've probably conserved at least ten gallons of water. saving the environment never sounded so great.

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>> back now with end game. trump university lawsuit on this show, robert costa, he told me he would never settle because he said if you settle, it means you will get more lawsuits. well, he settled. he tweeted that it is not an admission of guilt, which it technically isn't. $25 million not chump change. >> it's an example of how trump is trying to navigate becoming president of the united states. he has to get these things off his table. >> he would have to testify the monday after thanksgiving. >> he may not want to deal with the family issue and entanglements in business. when it comes to the legal entanglements, he is cutting some of them. >> i think we're losing sight of the fact that he said he was innocent and nothing wrong. it was a great university. he settled after he said he would never settle. multiple times saying when you settle it's an admission of guilt. he knows that he was basically accused of defrauding students. he is giving them money for his defrauding them. it's the reality.

>> we can't forget he ran a campaign that debased our culture, that hurt a lot of people and erased red lines we have never seen erased before. somehow if we forget that, if we think it was about the campaign and it's not going to happen again and we don't set up new red lines in a clear way, we are really going to regret this. >> who is listening? i mean, i have to say, who is listening? >> i don't know about the rest of you, any time i say anything that's slightly at least open minded towards trump, it's saying -- people are responding, you are normalizing him. there they go, they will start -- >> it's apocalyptic. the responses you get on social media. >> exactly. >> no matter what. >> this is a problem for a lot of progressives, which is he said terrible things about a lot of people. he succeeded. people are wondering -- he has erased the red lines. who will uphold the red lines, basic standards of what it is to be an american when we had such a divisive race?

we used to believe you couldn't pit people against each other and win. the lesson we have gotten is that you can. it can succeed. >> we have do it. but republicans have to do it, too. if they all just fold -- >> they need to set the example. >> conservative and republicans don't play the role that you are -- >> the fact is the voters were willing to forgive that. >> yes. absolutely. >> because of their feelings towards clinton. >> talk to these voters. at the same time, investigate and report the administration. but understand what the voters are talking about. >> that was the goal of this show. you were great. thank you very much. that's all we have for today. we wish you a happy thanksgiving. i think it's the best holiday we have. i look forward to hearing the conversations between all the crazy uncles debating each other. we will be back next week because even on think thanksgiv sunday, even if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

breaking overnight, two ambush style attacks on police officers in two separate states. one is dead and the other critical. a manhunt is under way. >> president-elect donald trump had a busy weekend interviews potential cabinet members and slamming saturday night live. >> president obama returned to the white house with advice for the donald and fellow democrats. >> and snow storms all over the country having an impact on pre-thanksgiving travel. "early today" starts right now. >> good monday morning. i'm ayman mohyeldin. >> i'm francis rivera. we begin with breaking news. police are on the hunt for a suspect in the murder of a san antonio police officer. detective benjamin