this sunday, a presidency in crisis. the shutdown. much of the government closes its doors as president trump insists on a border wall. >> now it's up to the senate and it's really up to the democrats because we need their votes. >> after getting pressured from his right wing. >> the wall, the wall, the wall has to bebuilt. >> democrats say, no way. >> president trump, you will not get your wall. >> the resignation. president trump announces a withdrawal from syria denounced by fellow republicans. >> this is akin to surrendering. >> and praised by vladimir putin. james mattis resigns in protest. >> if i can do anything to help

him reconsider, i would do it. >> the stock market. >> the stocks continue their slide today. >> the worst year for stocks so far since the great recession. the worst december since the great depression. with all this happening have we hit a turning point in the trump presidency? my guests this morning, republican senator pat toomey of pennsylvania and dick durbin of illinois, the democratic whip. and off and running -- >> i'm exploring a candidacy for president of the united states. >> my interview with former san antonio mayor, housing secretary and now presidential hopeful julian castro. joining me are amy walter of the cook political report, joshua johnson from npr, hugh hewitt from the salem radio network and yamiche alcindor, white house coronado for t

correspondent for the pbs news hour. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning. in a week when much of washington talked about a shutdown which came at midnight on friday, the word many mentioned around this city was actually meltdown. there were a lot of other words and phrases that emerged as the week ended among questions if the trump presidency has so lost its footing it may not recover. mr. trump likes to project an image of independence and strength. the president's growing dependency on the base for political survival was exposed when he appeared ready to give up funding for the border wall temporarily in order to keep the government running. mr. trump's base revolted with right wing provocateur ann coulter writing gutless president in a wall-less country. on the basis of his self-interest alone he must know if he doesn't build the wall he has zero chance of being

re-elected and a 100% chance of being humiliated. president trump unfollowed coulter on twitter but followed her advice saying no wall, no deal. at the same time his defense secretary and point man on isis quit over the president's abrupt decision to with draw from syria based on a phone call with the turkish president. this happened as stocks suffered their worst december since 1931. many noted despite mr. trump's self-inflicted wounds his presidency benefitted from not having to face a financial or international crisis. perhaps now we need to face this uncomfortable question -- what if the president is the crisis? >> the shutdown hopefully will not last long. >> reporter: president trump ended a week of chaos as cracks emerged in his fragile republican coalition. >> it's really the democrats' shutdown. >> reporter: days ago, the president claimed credit. >> i will take the mantle. i will be the one to shut it down. >> reporter: some republicans are making it clear they hold him responsible for the third

government shutdown this year after he rejected a deal negotiated earlier this week. >> i'll just remind the president the republicans are in charge. so the shutdown is on us if we can't figure this out. >> reporter: on friday, the president yielded to pressure from conservative supporters. >> the wall, the wall has to be built. >> i agree. >> it is a scandal that it hasn't been built. >> the president has gotten word to me he's either getting funding for the border or shutting the whole thing down. >> reporter: bob corker responded, do we succumb to talk radio show hosts? we have a couple of hosts that get the president spun up. reliable republican allies were shaken by the resignation of jim mattis who broke with the president on his decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria writing pointedly, you have the right to have a secretary of

defense whose views are better aligned with yours. >> i think he's sort of a democrat, if you want to know the truth. >> reporter: senate republicans responded uneasily. mitch mcconnell who rarely breaks with the president publicly called himself particularly distressed that he's resigning due to sharp differences with the president. >> i'm very concerned about secretary mattis' decision to leave. >> ambassadors of our allies have been reaching out to senators to say what the hell is going on. >> reporter: the president also alienated republican hawks on the syria decision which he abruptly announced on twitter on wednesday. >> we won. that's the way we want it. that's the way they want it. >> this is akin to surrendering. >> syria is a total quagmire. it's possible to make it worse. >> reporter: russian president putin hailed the move. reliable trump ally fox news denounced it. >> he's giving russia a big win. vladimir putin praised him.

he also is doing exactly what he criticized proesident obama for doing. he said president obama is the founder of isis. he just refounded isis. >> joining me now, pat toomey of pennsylvania, a member of the budget & finance committee. welcome back to "meet the press," sir. >> good morning, chuck. thank you for having me. >> let me start with the shutdown. the fact that you guys aren't even in town. you adjourned and senator mcconnell said, we'll see you in five days. that tells me you guys don't have urgency on this. is this a message saying the president is the only one here in town. that means the shutdown is on him to figure it out? >> no. chuck, really this ends up getting resolved in a negotiation between chuck schumer who apparently is giving a great deal of weight to nancy pelosi's preferences, and the president. between that group they are going to decide how to go forward. i have to say this is much ado about very little. unfortunately it's a big

distraction from the resumption that occurred this year of a pretty much ordinary funding exercise. as you know, chuck, we resumed the ordinary appropriations process and as a result we have a very small sliver of the government that's unresolved and is in this shutdown mode. it's a very, very small amount. everyone is going to get paid. i think it probably gets resolved quickly and it is completely taking away focus from where it should be on a very strong economy and really good economic news generally. >> well, but i've got to ask you -- i would tend to agree with what you said except the president decided not to go down this path. the president decided to upend things. you have had three shutdowns this year. it's full republican control of government. >> well, yeah. >> there's part of me that hears what you say and you see what the president is doing and it's different realities. >> we have an impulsive

president. we know that. you know we can't pass any spending bill in the senate without democrat support. it takes 60 votes to get a spending bill across in the senate. >> does the president know? >> he knows it very well, yeah. >> where are you on lifting the filibuster? would you move it down to 50 votes or would that be a mistake? >> i'm not there as an across the board matter. there are procedural votes that shouldn't be at 60. it's ridiculous that a minority of 41 senators can prevent us from even beginning the process of considering appropriation bills. but i'm not in favor of a universal move on the legislative filibuster. we don't have the votes to do it. >> let me move on to the resignation of secretary mattis. >> right. >> i want to pull up one part of it to get your reaction. he writes this, one core belief i have always held is our strength as a nation is linked to the strength of the unique and comprehensive system of

alliances and partnerships. because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are aligned with yours on this and other subjects i believe it is right to step down from my position. what's alarming about what secretary mattis outlined there is that's an across the board american foreign policy sort of tenet that democratic and republican presidents have lived by since harry truman. he's basically saying this president doesn't share the same world view as every single american president going back to world war ii. does that disturb you? >> yes, it does. i think you're right. i think general mattis has put his finger on where the president has views that are very, very distinct from the vast majority of republicans and probably democrats elected and unelected. i think the president does not share -- i would say my view -- that the pax americana of the post war america has been good for the people i represent,

great for all of us. it's taken a commitment of leadership, the ability and willingness to project force at times. but mostly, as general mattis points out, it is cultivating an alliance. america is rich in many ways. financially, militarily. we have the luxury of two oceans. but the greatest asset we have is that most people around the world want to be allied with us. that gives us enormous ability -- it's a force multiplier. it is a great ability to achieve our goals. i don't think the president shares the view nearly to the extent the rest of us do. i think senators need to reassert a bigger role for defining our foreign policy. >> does this extend bigger than that? you know, dan balls wrote this week that many republicans -- he said the question now more urgent as a result of what mattis said is whether republicans in positions of responsibility try to continue as if these are normal times or

whether they step forward, assess things smartly and exert the kind of leadership they feel is in the best interests of the country. the question is this, senator. do you get more comfortable criticizing the president knowing he may unleash a twitter attack on you or others that express disagreement with him on this. you end up not doing it because you fear his base. >> that's not my practice, chuck. i work with this president. when i think he's right and i think we have done terrific things in domestic policy on taxes, regulation, judicial nominees, criminal justice reform just last week. i have also criticized the president when i disagree. i have disagreed with much of his trade policy. i strongly disagree with the position to with draw prematurely, in my view, from syria. i think senators should speak out. look, we were elected separately from the president. we don't report to the president. we should cooperate where we can

and where we need to disagree we should be willing to do that. >> yesterday, the treasury secretary felt the need to put out a statement from the president saying that while he disagreed with the federal reserve policies and the federal reserve chairman that he's aware that he does not have the power to fire the federal reserve chair. first of all, does it bother you that the president himself couldn't tweet out that statement that for some reason the secretary/treasurer had to do it almost like they feared he wouldn't say it? >> look, i don't spend a lot of time focusing on the president's tweets and things that the president says. what i focus more on is what is he going to do. i don't think chairman powell is in any danger of being fired by the president. i think some of the president's comments have been unfortunate. chairman powell is not going to let politics interfere with his decision-making process.

i think we owe him a debt of gratitude after a lengthy period of very dangerous experimentation with unconventional monetary policy from predecessors. he put us on a path to normalcy. we can quibble about where we should be at the moment. >> would you have this much patience for president trump if you didn't share the same party label? >> if we didn't share the same party label we wouldn't have done tax reform. we wouldn't have been able to roll back regulations like we have. we wouldn't have the record low unemployment rate we have. upward pressure on wages. we have a good story in part because this president was willing to work with this congress and accomplish these things. so, you know, there are things i disagree with the president on. i'm going to work with him where i can also. >> i guess the question is -- you haven't run out of patience yet. is that a fair way of putting it? >> i'm still in the mode of working with the president where i can and trying to persuade him

and move in a different direction where we have to. i think with respect to foreign policy in general and syria in particular, we really have to step up. >> if the president nominates somebody for secretary of defense that shares his world view that's very different from secretary mattis, could you confirm somebody that you didn't share a world view with as secretary of defense? >> let me say historically i have been very willing to defer to presidential nominees. i think i supported three-quarters of all of president obama's nominees. certainly the big majority of president trump's. on this, this is so important and the president's views are so divergent certainly from mine that i think i will be much -- this one's going to be tough. i'm going to be looking for a defense secretary that shares a more traditional view about america's role in the world. >> all right. secretary -- excuse me. senator toomey -- unless you would like to apply to be secretary with the president. >> no, no. happy where i am. >> i figured you might be.

senator toomey, republican of pennsylvania, i hope you and your family have a merry christmas. >> thank you. you, too. joining me now, the number two democrat in the senate. minority whip dick durbin of illinois. welcome back to "meet the press." >> good to be with you. >> let me start with the shutdown at this point. is there any scenario you think on december 27 that re-opens the government before january 3? >> we have offered the president some very specific opportunities. in fact, we just voted on one several days ago, a unanimous voice vote to move the government forward to the first or second week of february which the president rejected after he heard the right wing criticism. >> so what did you make of senator mcconnell recessing? i'm trying to figure out why you guys decided to leave. everybody decided to leave and basically left the president here. is everybody trying to send a message that, hey, this is his?

or is this mcconnell saying, i'm out of this. these negotiations are between schumer and the president which is what senator toomey said. >> i can tell you the president just a few days ago said he was proud to author a shutdown of his own government that he was elected to be the commander in chief and chief executive. it really is in the president's hands to decide. he says it's an issue of border security. i think we know better. it is an issue of his own political insecurity. when the right wingers start screaming at him, he backs off in front of us. we have reached a depth of dysfunction i have never seen in washington. >> are you open to anything in between $1.6 billion and $5 billion? >> what chuck schumer and nancy pelosi told the president is we are not going to build a wall, period. secondly, if you want to talk about border security there are many things we can do. understand we are in the depths of a drug epidemic. we see fentanyl coming across the border from mexico into the united states and killing

thousands of people. we currently are only screening one out of five cars and trucks coming across our border. let us dramatically increase the technology there in something called a z-portal. that's the investment democrats want to see for real border security, not a medieval wall. >> sounds like you're saying you will go up in the price tag. you are open to the price tag as long as it's not for the wall. >> absolutely. >> okay. >> if you ask the experts, even in the administration, they'll tell you technology and personnel, those are the things that are desperately needed and quickly. the president ought to be sitting down with us and making the border more secure by making investments. he'll have democrats on board. >> you would give him twice the money, if the money goes to what you described and not the wall, you would double it and we'd get out of this tomorrow? >> there is an appetite among democrats to do something sensible at the wall. for example, to stop the flow of drugs into this country and to stop the flow of weapons and

laundered drug money out of this country that build the cartels in mexico and central america. >> is daca for the wall the compromise that was alive for a few days back in the day, is that still -- if the president said i'll take that deal now, would you have the support in your party to accept it? >> well, i touched that hot stove in february. i can tell you this president's word when it comes to these young people who are in desperate situations because he eliminated daca. the president's word didn't stand up when we got down to real bargaining. the day will come, and soon, when the court protection of these young people and their families is going to end. we will have to face the reality of either abandoning them or working together to find a solution. >> let me turn to secretary mattis. you sent a series of tweets after the news of his resignation broke. you called him the last adult in the room, i believe at one

point. do you think secretary mattis should have stayed regardless of his views because he was supposedly the last guardrail or one of the few guardrails that some thought were in the administration? >> chuck, there was something very interesting about this. i was one of many senators who privately sat down with general mattis and said, please stay, stay as long as you can. we desperately need your mature voice, your patriotism in the room when this president is making life or death decisions about national security. it obviously reached a breaking point. i thank him for his years of service in the marines and at the department of defense. it breaks my heart that he's going to step aside. we counted on him to be there and to stop this president from his worst impulse. >> i'm curious. you are somebody who on policy, i'm guessing you are pleased that we are going to start seeing troops come home from afghanistan and syria. how do you square the

president's announcements about those things? you have called for both in one way or the other. >> well, i can tell you it was 17 years ago when 23 of us -- 22 democrats, one republican -- voted against the invasion of iraq for so-called weapons of mass destruction which never existed. i voted with virtually every other senator to invade afghanistan at the time and go after the sources of the attack on 9/11. little did i know i was voting for the longest war in the history of the united states and that vote would be used as a rationalzation for us to move to syria, africa and places i never could have envisioned. i think the constitution makes it clear the american people should have been making these decisions along the way. we do this by congress and its declaration of war. we need to reassert our authority and responsibility when it comes to that in syria, in afghanistan, in iraq and other places that have been rationalized by the vote 17 years ago. >> i want to go back to the

decision itself. it looks like the president is getting -- he's said it himself. his national security adviser wants to stay longer than even his defense secretary did. but it was the turkish president who talked him into doing this withdrawal. how does the senate even hold the president to account over how this decision-making went down? >> well, ultimately, we have learned through history that it takes the power of the purse strings. congress has the authority when it comes to appropriations to assert itself on foreign policy. we learned the hard way after decades of debate over the war in vietnam. but first and foremost, this congress -- house and senate -- have to reach the point where we understand our constitutional authority and responsibility. i haven't seen that in a long time. and with this president, we need to do it more than ever. >> does the turkish phone call make you think the president is

compromisable? >> i do. whether he's talking to vladimir putin or erdogan, these autocrats have him enthralled. after a conversation he'll make snap judgments and avoid the best advice he could from people like general mattis. to me that's the height of irresponsibility. there are thousands of kurds risking their lives to help us defeat isis now in jeopardy because of this impulsive decision by donald trump. >> do you question his fitness for office? >> i can tell you every day i question whether or not we can endure another two years. i think we can. i think this constitution is strong. the american people are strong. i'm hoping my republican colleagues will step up and join us in a bipartisan effort to put this government back on track. >> all right. you have brought up two years. two years from now, are you going to be on a ballot in illinois in november of 2020? have you made a decision? >> tell people i'm raising money and trying to lose some weight. that's the first indication that you're up for re-election. >> all right. senator durbin, democrat from

illinois. i hope you enjoy the holidays and you and your family have a merry christmas. >> looking forward to seeing a lot of grandkids. >> thank you very much. when we return, a look back at what may have been the most perilous week of the trump presidthe trump pres ♪ ignition sequence starts. 10... 9... guidance is internal. 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ♪ ♪ when i first came to ocean bay, what i saw was despair.

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we shortened the headline. monday we learned from the senate russians target ld muelle tuesda a judge rejects the michael flynn plea wednes the president on twitte announces syria withdr thursd defense secretary resign saturd we officially have a govern shutdown. oh, the week that was, amy

walter >> and just a normal week here . >> i felt like i honest dw this is the week of the peak trump era. >> and to senator toomey's point is this the week when the senate finall says, okay. we've put up with a lot of things that we don't really like. but on foreign policy, this is where really going to push back. we're going to push back on whoeve the secretary of defense nomine is. we're going to push back on syria. have the purse strings. we have power. we don't have to be held hostage to wha impulsivity of the president is. and it's our opportunity to show that. and,yet, i don't know. that will be to me that will be the turning point, chuck. that's where we'll have hit a differ phase in this relati between the presid and his party. >> there was a great blind quote from a trump supporting republ senator that talked about it sort of beach erosion. and all of the mattis

resign and all of this stuff and erodes beach and erodes more beach and this is before the mueller tidal wave hits. and when mueller hits, how much beach is left? >> that is a very apt metaphor. the last few issues we've been discus kind of hit what are -- and the president said this. his kind of core respon you know, mattis, syria and the border wall are all matters of nation security. you deal with what is happening with the stock market, that is person prosperity. those are two big issues that presid came into office saying he was going to be very strongon. i feel like as we have gotten throug this week, the president is getting closer to the edges of his presidentia authority where you reach th you were rig the get done because you want them to get done and you've got people moving in the admini out. admini feel like the president finall getting to the point where is saying, okay, i want all the people around me to get me what i want when i want it. there are certain things he's

not going to be able to get the way he wants them. and at a certain point, the struct on just being presid is going to butt up agains reality. now that it reached matters of snags nation and personal prospe is where i wonder president's core base is thinking. >> you said we're soared inform this. hugh hewitt, ther is a great scam n bob woodward's book the works as defense secretary. donald of emotion, phoned secretary of defense james mattis on the morning of tuesda april 4th, let's kill them the president said. legali go in and let's kill them! a lot of them. yes, mattis said. he wou right on it. he hung up the phone. we're not going to do any of that he told a senior aide. we're going to be much more measur this is in response to the first chemic attack by assad. he gone now. >> secretary mattis disagreed with t president a lot.

he wanted to stay in iran deal. he disagreed on the paris accord he wanted to stay in. the pr took us out. he disagreed on a number of differ things including the syria are some senators who ar not unhappy to see general mattis go provided that the execut branch action acts like the nfl, nest man if carson went goes down, you better have a nick foles. i heard the same thing that amy heard. not send us an outlier. send u someone in the mainst of national security. this had is for president trump what the red line controversy was for president obama. except when president obama erased the red line, there wasn't crisis. here there is a crisis because somebo resigned over the policy >> red line or ten times bigger than that? >> the thing that really struck me is when senator toomey said we don't report to him. if you start hearing more senato say that and start acting like they're not report to president trump but really to his base and to his voters who they share, i think

that's when we start seeing presid trump saying, wait a minute these people who are anothe part of body of elected offici going to push back on me. i think the worst thing for the presid is that he is sitting in washington by minimuself. that his wife and his child had to be flown back from florida, turned around to be told you have to come here to be with him. it's this idea that it's because he's sitting in washington as everyo else is going home understanding that does own this shutdown. and he said he was going to be proud to shut down the govern and then he wasn't going to blame democrats. you ca go back and forth on whethe what he shut down the government for was what he said. is this idea that messag the thing that the presid really loves to do, he is losing on and the conser media is reminding him of that. >> cave now or later. >> right. this was -- the 2018n was a referendum exactly on this. do you want to fight or do you want to fix stuff? democr on we're going to come and try to fix stuff. this impulsiveness, this way of govern is not working.

and democrats ended up winning the popular vote by almost nine points picking up 40 seats. if this is the continued strate that the white house wants to take into 2020, their only hope is that democrats in 2019 overreach and do a lot of in fighting. and that's what he wants. he wan fichlt >> they to me, joshua, decide whethe the president finishes his term or doesn't. pure and simple. for sure. well, if we -- >> and that's why this jim mattis resignation is so harmfu >> it a big deal. the syria pullout is a big deal. if the democrats decide sto go for impeachment, that makes a big difference. had it not been for jim mattis and syria, this would be a differ conversation partic the shutdown. i don' think a lot of americans will will feel except for maybe this week because you have tsa agents and air traffic

contro furloughed. be nice to the people in line today. they'r not get paid today or until we pass another, you know, bill t them paid a lot of the listeners are like yeah it's a shutdo this is like d.c. today. >> we're going to pause on that. built that's t that's the probl. made the shutdown tooeasy. is n it anymore. until there is, they may act more responsibly one of the very first democr to file for 2020. likely presidentia candidate julian me next. but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management.

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one person who has made his intent clear is julian castro he is a three term mayor of san antoni hud secretary under presid and possible runnin for hillary clinton in 2016. this y looking to be at top of . he joi me now from san antoni welcom the press." welcom back.

>> gre chuck. >> let me start with something that senator durbin said at the end of our interview today. i asked him if he thought the presid was fit for office and he said he thought that the countr could make it through anothe two years. what is your view on that? >> well, i can tell you one thing. he's not behaving like he's fit for office. he's behaving extremely errati he's not giving the american people our allies around the world any sense that there's a ration for the decisions that he's making. and the events of this last week were just another example of that, whether it's sudden announ of withdrawal in syria turmoil with his staff. he's just so erratic. so what i think yo around the country for him have reasse him. and folks understand that we need different leadership and

the sooner we get that the better >> i'm just curious. on policy, would you have troops in syria right now if you were presid >> i think that many folks recogn that it was time for us pull out of syria. howeve here's the thing. once you're there, you have to for your operations there and also for your withdrawal. so i'm not a big fan of the commit has made over t whether it was the iraq war or this commit howeve i do believe and i agree with folks that say that for our own sake and sake of our troops and for the sake of our allies you're there, you to ac plan for how you're going to withdr and what we saw this week is no by a president. you know, somebo run fo president, its no the just about whether you're -- you think you're ready to be presid but you have to make a case of why you and not them? this year there is a lot of

thems that you have to get to before you have an opportunity to face president trump. why you and not the other 30-odd people running for president? what makes you the answer for the democrats in 2020? >> welall, i have an announ january 12th. so if i decide to run, chuck, the reason i'm going decide to run are three things. numberone, i have a strong vision our country's future. second that i've shown both the local level and the national level an ability t done especially to create opport for people. and third, i've lived a life experi of coming from a neighb a family where we wer struggling and i can identi with those folks that are struggling to reach their dreams and i've actually reached my dreams. i can identify with all of those folks out there who feel like they'v had success and they've reache their american dream. and i when you're

presid you have to work with congre and you have to work with folks and states and local govern and the private sector as well to make sure that everyb can prosper in this countr >> you know, in an era before donaldtrump, your resume would have been seen as not long enough yet to run for president. maybe not enough foreign policy experi that might have been something. obviou you already have more i think political experience than president trump. but answer that. you're going to be running agains a lot of people with a lot more experience and some voters ma i say, you % voterssay, you know what, went inexperienced with i want somebody with a longer resume >> i think you have to start earlie than that, right? we need somebody right now that is president that has common sense and has some impulse contro it's a plot mo more basic with presid than that. i'd say that i've had the opport during the last few

years to travel to nearly every state in the country. in my visited different foreig countries. i've taken the job of whether it was hud sector mayor of san antoni seriously. i tried to make sure that i could work with folks that have differ views from me. and what the american people want right now, i think, they want somebody who, number one, they believe that they can trust, that has integrity. second is trying to unite americ and not to divide them. and then somebody that they think is going to actually take this office seriously and try and work with folks to make sure that everybody can prosper in the unstates. and th thing is, right now each of those things is missing in this president. >> you know, there is some -- a bunch of texas democrats that wish you and your fellow texan that is thinking about running for prbeto o'rourke wouldn run for president. dear beto and julian, one thing

the 2018 election results made clear is that texans have a real chance make this a purple state. good democratic candidates can win. there is work to be done here. and it's important work. run for president and the messag that you're not especi interested in that work. and just maybe texans shouldn't be that interested in in you." why not run statewide in texas? john cornian's senate seat. can yo run for governor. what do you make of that wish by some texas democrats that yourse and beto would stay in state? >> well, i'm sure there are going to be great candidates that will run not only against john cornian but in 2022 for govern and other statewide office and so, you know, that's not what i'm focused on. what i'm focused on is that i have a strong vision for our countr future and on january 12 i'm going to make an announ my plans. >> is there room for both you and bet oechl o'rourke in this ? >> i have no doubt that there are going to be a bunch of folks runnin time.

he's a very talented, very impres guy. my brother and i were proud to suppor him when he ran against ted cruz. and i there are going to be 20 people up on that first debate stage. fair enough. secret julian castro, former mayor of san antonio and on januar 12th we'll find out for sure if you're an active cann candid for president. i hope you and your family have a merry christmas. >> merry christmas. when we return, a look back at some of the people we l 2018. >> i want somebody else to define the legacy. i think history will get right maria ramirez? hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars

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as a nuisance, and carless objects, and start looking out for each other again. it's a busy world out there. we're all in it together. go safely, california. >> i'll tell what you it's going to be made of. it's going to be made of harden concrete. >> a big fat beautiful door. >> it's going to b rebar. >> a solar wall. >> you have to have see through. you ha to know what is on the other sif the wall. and steel. steel slats. >> steel slats, whatever want t all >> maybe it's a steel barrier or a wall as president trump tweete yesterday. hugh hewitt, what is your level of patience on this stuff? you were a national security

conser i know you're not happy about this. this sort of, the upheavel. i asked pat toomey at what point, if this were a democratic presid all over it. right? you'd krcriticizi the behavi >> i'm frustrated because so g. two supreme court appeal court justices, massive tax cut, massive tax reform and we hav talked about the prison reform, farm bill on tuesda embassy. he has a long list of accomp built he does always seem to step on his story. and in foreign policy, the massivrebuild is good if you keep secretary pompeo and ambass john bold innocent room and listen to them. he has a great national security team. team. he'll gept a n he can't be donald trump. i'll take any bet anybody wants to make, he could not beat donaldtrump. they'r not big enough. they have to go after a long list of achievements and a huge person >> but i go back to can the

presid keep -- you know, how m sort of mainstream conservatives have? >> i think mainstream conser and far right conser you can see patien waning thin this week. you ha rush limbaugh saying the presid caving. you had laura ingr saying bring on the shutdown. you ha republicans who usually sing donald trump's praises basica telling him, look, you need to be a little stronger on this and figure out your messag i think the thing that is really import here is that president trump said he wanted a wall and pra promis that to people. a lot of republicans we can get border security money out of chuck schumer if you give up this idea of a wall. he promised this so so many people a simple thing he used as a messag rhetoric he can't let go. amy, he can't seem to -- th reason he doesn't have his wall is because republicans won't give i that's has denied him for two years and now we're at the . >> right. and there is this inability to get a win. right? if you're the great negotiator who is going to get the deal or to at least make what is not a

great deal look better in a pr way, he's had plenty of opport do that. and on the question of mainst republicans left him, they did. in 2018. he lost every suburban county, orange county. that used to be the most conser of conservative now it's mainstrea ser conser the path to 2020 now goes throug the small town rural americ vote which he believes that the wall is a thing to get them motivated on this. but if there's no wall at the end of the day and nothing -- and he's not selling the other parts of his message because he's so focused on i got to get this done, then what does he t voters that want to keep voting for him? >> there is a big picture remind this the end of the republ house. >> yea >> the in with a near budget shutdown in the first 100 days, joshua. they leave after three shutdown

this i year. they ousted a speaker in the middle in many ways, donald trum is - freedo caucus president. in a way. and this is what it's gotten us. >> failed to repeal and replace the affordable care act on day one. that changed a little bit. it's still in place. i am beginning to -- and i think the wall is a serious thing. one of the key rules in televi show, don't tell. right? it's nice that you got all the things done on paper nice you can have all the things that yo. but wall is a visual reminder. things will look at this big thing he did. it's a testament in the person i believ and voted for and going to shake up washington. i do not see how donald trum will let this go. becaus it is a signature achiev he can point to and say, what i did? i think for a president who we know was kind of raised on broadc that's how he made it to this point, i don't see a, how he lets the wall go.

or b, how a democrat who can challe him can challenge him withou saying vote for me becaus i can beat the snot out of donald trum and we're going to march him down pennsylvania avenue i feel like the next two years, regard who have runs the house and senate is going to be very m about the optics of 2020. what are you going to see teat e end of 2020 that made you feel like you spent you or wasted your time? >> the number one promise that donald made was to deliver this wall. that's why we're not giving it up. joshua talking about is they'r literally saying out loud, and i think democrats have to find somebody, maybe who julian castro if he's going to . i think what democratic base is lookin for is someone that is going to be in your face kind of candid someon who is not going to be the aall ni all passive and i'm beat h >> you said something during t kavanau kavana they back

off on him, it will be a disast republican party. if he backs off this wall, is ? >> no, this is where people misread the republ it isoverstated, overvalued, overhe shutdown if, he def it, chuck schumer is keepin the government shut over four t of outlays. he wins. whatev he gets in the end, and what dick durbin told you, the news out of the show is the democr will raise the money if they change the wording. presid trump should take that and get the drugs stopped. and get the drugs stopped. go poi ott that new poi entry. >> he afraid of making it look like a cave because it' not about the wall. merry christmas to around table. happy and merry much that's all we have. merry christmas to all of you that celebrate it. we you have a safe and restfu holiday break. as for us, we'll be back next week because we're not shutting down. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press.

week taking you inside the cashierless stores that are popping up in san francisco. we talk to an award-winning physicist about quantum computing and try to get into the brain of self-driving cars. our reporters from m.i.t. technology review martin giles and marybell lopez this week on "frontier." ♪ ♪ good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. in the history of my life this is going to be an artifact. it is a