sea bass and a pumpkin tart this afternoon, no word on the soup. the economy and immigration were also on the agenda. >> the one thing i committed to both speaker boehner and leader mcconnell is that i am not going to judge ideas based on whether they're democratic or republican. i'm going to be judging them on whether or not they work. and i'm confident that they want to produce results as well on behalf of the american people. >> earlier this morning, president obama gathered his cabinet together. >> obviously, we've had a significant midterm election. as i said at the press conference, my attitude has been and will continue to be that good ideas don't necessarily come from just one party. i'm looking forward to seeing the leaders of both democratic and republican caucuses this afternoon, to have a chance to share with them both what i think we need to be doing to build on the economic momentum

we already have and make it even stronger, but i'm also going to be interested in listening to them in terms of areas where we think it's possible to work together. >> that cabinet meeting did not include outgoing attorney general eric holder, who has been attending meetings with our allies in paris. nbc news has learned the current u.s. attorney from new york's eastern district, loretta lynch, is the leading candidate to replace eric holder. that announcement expected soon. but not until the president returns from his trip to ash smap asia. >> we typically don't make comments on personnel in the absence of the president making a decision. >> this afternoon ronan farrow spoke one-on-one with white house communication director about the president overcoming that six-year itch. >> we're hopeful there are some areas of interest that both sides agree on, that we could cooperate on and hopefully get enacted. >> kristin welker is on a crowded north lawn today. what do you know?

>> reporter: toure, that lunch has ended. lawmakers left without talking to the press. not aa surprise. not necessarily a sign that things didn't go well, by the way, toure. sometimes they don't come out and talk to us because things went well and they want to leave room for further progress. so, you pointed out at the top, on the menu today, the economy, immigration. we know that president obama and also republicans say they think they can find some common ground on things like corporate tax reform, trade, infrastructure projects. but, of course, then there are those more difficult issues, like immigration reform. president obama saying that he is still moving forward with his executive action on immigration reform before the end of the year. of course, republicans have said that if he does that, that could basically make it difficult to get any movement on some of those smaller issues. for their part, they're digging in on battle lines as well, vowing to bring up bills that would call for the repeal of the president's signature piece of legislation, his health care law. so, it's unclear what impact

that will have. but certainly we know that there is a lot of pressure on both sides to get something done. president obama only has two years in office. i've been talking to white house officials here who say he really wants to be able to not only announce something on immigration reform, but some of these other topics we've been talking about and maybe even possibly minimum wage. also, there's a lot of pressure on republicans, toure. they now own the congress. of course, 2016 is approaching. so, if they don't get something done, that could have a lot of negative impact on whoever decides to run in the republican camp. both sides know there is a willingness to do something. the question s how do they actually get it done? the window is very small because of 2016. i'll also point out, toure, president obama leaves on sunday for a trip to asia. it's a nine-day trip. i will be on it with him. i'll be reporting from there. but he leaves just as congress is coming back into session. of course, they've been on a long recess. >> kristin welker reporting at the white house. there's lots of pressure on

republicans, like abby. let's turn to a man who knows something about white house messaging, former white house press secretary bill burton. nice to have you on the show. lawrence o'donnell told me the a-r a real politician is found that necessity do in the back room, not when all the cameras on them. who we saw at the white house was not a back room but no press there for a large part of it. how important are these meetings for getting actual real progress done? >> they're important, actually. you know. so things that happen when the photo sprays aren't happening when and when you don't have reporters come into the room are really important. you can really set the tone for the conversation in rooms like that. i was still working for the president early on in the administration when the president said to eric cantor, elections have consequences. and i suspect that that helped to set the tone for the relationship then and today i'm sure something happened to set the tone for the relationship

going forward. >> you know, bill, i think the president said what he needed to say a few hours ago, saying we've got to start working together. and a lot of that responsibility falls on me as president of the united states. i love hearing that. i got to say, though, i'm still a bit skeptical, as kristin welker was saying, there's a small window of time in which to get anything done. as we've seen in the past few years, the president has not cultivated the relationship with republican leadership. so what makes this time any different from the past? >> well, for starters, i know that people look at this -- the last two years of the presidency as this lame duck period where not a lot can happen or get done. but for starters, he still has over 25% of his presidency left, which is a long time. if you look at some previous presidents, a lot has happened in those last couple of years. for president clinton and not all but good. president clinton, he was going through impeachment. for president george w. bush, the financial collapse happened, the surge happened in iraq. president reagan there was iran contra and thins sprang up

around there. not -- >> we still have room for improvement. good to know. >> we could be so lucky. so there's significant things can still happen. and i think that if you listen to what mcconnell said, you listen to what the president said, you listen to what boehner's saying, there is a lot of room to make significant, tangible progress on things like tax reform, which could lead to infrastructure investments and trade, which could lead to, you know, an even stronger, more growing economy. >> bill bur to ton, fellow buff bills fan here, luke russert. >> oh man. >> a buffalo, new york, graduate. god love him. >> oh, boy. i don't know what's happening right now. >> all these possibilities for president obama to engage republicans and possibly get some bipartisan work done. but they have all said to a person, if the president moves forward on executive action regarding immigration reform, it poisons the well. members will not work with the white house. they were able to play out that

distrust of the administration all throughout the last two years, i heard that on capitol hill. why would the president move forward on this when, in herery, it could benefit democrats from letting republicans try their own hand at immigration because that will inevitably fail because a percentage of them do not want to see it go forward. why be so active on the immigration front if it poisons the well? >> believe it or not, i actually think that both the president's posture and senator mcconnell's posture creates a pathway to actually getting something done on immigration. because if the president holds firm and says, no i am really going to do something if you don't take immigration up, and the republican leader still says, yeah but if you do something we're going to -- everything that happens going forward when it doesn't work out, we're going to point to this moment. it means that there is some tension that could help produce some kind of outcome, because now if the -- if they do enter into real negotiations for comprehensive immigration reform, republicans can get something because they will have stopped the president from doing an executive action. and the president can get

something because they will have moved to real reform -- the possibility of real reform. and then you can actually get down the path of doing something. what they've done is created the greatest amount of leverage possible from there -- from each side, which i think could actually lead to something positive. but i'm an optimist, so, we'll see. >> you are definitely an optimist. >> goods man, buffalo guy. >> your optimism is impressive, in fact, after having spent so much time in d.c. i was living -- >> buffalonians are optimistic by nature. >> i have found that about luke russert. boehner and mcconnell have been touting these 46 house bills and they passed and then went nowhere in the democratic senate. they're saying that's the place we should start in terms of economic policy. well, i went and looked at these bills to see if there was anything worth working with there. and you don't have to agree with this characterization, but most of what was there was either sort of irrelevant or nakedly

ideological or downright counterproducti counterproductive. to give a couple of examples in the ideological cat gore, there was a bill called the preserving work for welfare requirements act. which actually solves a problem that they imagine exists, which is that states are opting out of welfare work requirements, which isn't a thing. there's the stop government abuse act, which seeks to limit bonuses to federal employees, which i don't really know what that has to do with jobs. and there's multiple provisions repealing health care or changing health care or undermining health care, telling the irs to do things with health care, which not only is ideological but also would actually decrease the number of jobs that are created. so, my question is, how is it that the president continues to have such faith when you're working with such a nonserious set of issues? how is it that as a man the president continues to have such faith that he's going to be able this time it will be different and he'll be able to find common ground with the republicans? >> well, a couple of things.

for starters, i think that given the fact the republicans have majorities in house and senate now, there's a certain amount of theater they'll have to engage in in order to keep their supporters happy. that means passing full repeal of obamacare, passing some of these ludicrous jobs bills thaw just talked about. they're all going to get vetoed by the president. but the reality is, when mitch mcconnell and john boehner and president obama are all working together to actually make some progress, there is going to be pressure to actually do some things so that the middle class feels some of the advances in the economy that we've seen from a macro scale. the fact that today you see that we're in the 56th month, consecutive month of job growth is extraordinary. >> but, bill, why do they feel that pressure now when they've never felt that pressure in the past? they just won a big election. aren't they going to be emboldened to push through their right-wing agenda? >> when you look at mitch mcconnell, he's looking at 2016 but in a different way than some other folks are. >> that's true. >> if he wants to hold onto his

majority, he needs to listen to the likes of mark kirk more than ted cruz and get some accomplishmen accomplishments, especially on the economy, so mark kirk can go home and say, we have a divided government and it's working for the people of illinois. >> prudent stuff. i want to get you to weigh in on the bills/chiefs game. i know where you'll weigh in on that. up next, political imly reply indicati -- implications of today's big meeting. abby says what matters most, the economy. stocks react to new jobs numbers and so we will because "the cycle" will roll on, friday, november 7th.

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even as we enter into a new congress, the previous congress has the opportunity still to make progress ro a whole bunch of fronts and i'm confident. >> back now analyzing a big day at the white house with one of the biggest names in d.c. analysis. "time's" political reporter, zeke miller. last time i saw you was in new hampshire at the gop primaries. good times. good times. >> those were so much fun. >> let's go back. >> there are a lot of fun memories. some i don't want to remember. >> are you going to go back? >> i don't know. >> only 600 some days from the next one. >> 731. i have a countdown on my computer. >> here to talk to you, not me. it's great to have you here in person. thanks for being here. i want to start with what we heard yesterday from mitch

mcconnell and john boehner because it seemed like they had different messages and different approaches about how they to want move forward. mitch mcconnell saying we're not going to default on our debt, not have another government shutdown, which i thought was a signal to the far right. john boehner saying, if you go forward with immigration, president obama, you're going to catch fire. it seems to me alarming when this is a time where they now have two-thirds of the power in d.c. this is the time they should be united around a message of what they want to tell the american people, what they want to tell president obama and didn't sound at all that way yesterday. >> to be fair, leader mcconnell had that this line about immigration, it would poison the well, some phrasing like that. on that issue particularly they're united. it's important to remember these are leaders who represent vastly different conferences. yes, they do span the ideological spectrum. in the senate you go from collins and cruz and gradations in between. have you that in the house, too, but the house is certainly far more, you know, ideologically

homogenous now. mitch mcconnell with these new suits coming up in 2016 -- >> he's in a new role. >> he's not used to it. >> is he going to fall into the governing trap now? >> he's been dreaming of this moment for most of his life, so shim sure he has a plan. let's take a listen from mitch mcconnell from his press conference wednesday. >> reporter: debt ceiling coming up. are we going to have another brinkmanship moment there or are those crises going to end. >> let me make it clear, there will be no government shutdown, no default on the national debt. >> first of all, that guy is so happy. >> he smiled more in that press conference than he has smiled in a decade. >> in his whole life, yeah. there he says very clearly, no more crises, no more shutdowns. but he had a little bit of a different tune to donors back on the trail in june. he said, so in the house and senate, we own the budget. he's talking about how he's going to put pressure on the president. so, what does that mean? that means we can pass the

spending bill, and i assure you in the spending bill we will be pushing back against this bureaucracy by doing what's called placing riders in the bill. that's very technical language but as you well know, what he's meaning is forcing the president's hand. what you are threatening when you're forcing the president's hand in this way, it's the same way the house republicans did. you were forcing a shutdown confrontation. as i was thinking this through, without forcing a shutdown, what leverage does mitch mcconnell, will be majority leader of the senate, without threatening shutdown what leverage does he actually have? >> it's not so much for him a threat as it is, you know, this is someplace where he and speaker boehner can get some sort of unanimity, pass something through and the president veto it. it's putting pressure on the president and the white house has a bigger mega phone. the cr coming up --

>> that's another form of brinksmanship, very much like we've seen in the past. >> he didn't promise no brink manship. he promised no shutdown. he's hoping the president would blink. i wouldn't take that bet but he feels confident telling the press that. >> whenever president obama negotiates with congressional republicans, more often than not they end up getting a better deal, if you talk to the congressional democrats. so, my question to you is, how much do you think obama will negotiate in spite of congressional democrats essentially telling them, look, i want to try to secure my legacy on doing a few things here later in my term. or do you think he'll be receptive to their needs? he clearly wasn't that receptive to their needs ahead of the 2014 midterms. how much do you think they'll play a role in his negotiations with congressional republicans? >> well, i think, you know, a lot of this is going to come down to just like all the previous crises to joe biden to mitch mcconnell in a room together. they seem to really like each other. they have a long relationship.

so, that's -- that's, i think, is where -- you know, is what sources on both sides are saying. look, they're first n terms of the president's own party, they've had a tumultuous relationship over the past few months. the president held off on things like the immigration executive action for a few months, sort of angering the base and potentially contributing to some of the decline in base turnout on tuesday. in order to help vulnerable democrats. but they didn't want him around. the dsc pulled out of louisiana yesterday which is a sign, maybe we don't need this anymore. the question is the white house's involvement in that decision is something we should find out more about soon. >> krystal asked you about basically the future of brinksmanship and you said, well, maybe we'll have it in this way but not in that way. when i look back in the last six years, obama has obviously made mistakes, many mistakes, right? but if people think the government is ineffectual, then

you think of obstruction. why not continue that for the foreseeable future? >> that's a point more conservative members of the republican party in congress are making day in and day out with their leaders. a press conference in washington on wednesday where that argument was made. let's keep doing what we're doing. it obviously worked. at the same time you have the establishment republicans, you know, mitch mcconnell, john boehner know if they want to win in 2016, they have to pass something. they promised their donors. >> ted cruz was the lookdown guy, right? mcconnell was the leader. will is a way to play it. >> there's a way to obstruct. now they have to get something through. they promised their donors they raised $1.5 billion on their side, $1 billion and change on the other side as well. they have to do something. you know, whether it be trade, whether it be something on the periphery of immigration. whether it be the medical device tax. they need something within the first, you know, six, eight months -- within the next six or

eight months they can show to their donors, to the voters, this is what you got in november. >> they've got to do something on immigration. if the republicans want to wib in 2016, they've got to make moves on that. thank you for being with us. will you come back? >> yes. >> thank you for being here. up next, chilly weather to go with frosty relations in washington. we have your forecast, which calls for a seasonal arrival on the plaza.

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ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14. no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. back now on the storm cycle, raffi is here to show us some of the coldest days of the season. >> yes, right now it's chilly outside in the northeast as trees arriving in the plaza. we have breezy conditions and temperatures are in the 40s throughout much of the day here in the northeast. a chilly change. this weekend is a preview of what's to come. it's going to be quiet and dry,

but colder. 48 degrees for your high. this is your saturday forecast now. jacket weather from boston down towards d.c. 38 in minneapolis. that's chilly for this time of year. raining in places like miami and orlando and still hot in the southwest. if you need the heat, go to l.a. 90 degrees. well above average there. sunday we start to see the beginning of the cold snap that's moving in, into the border states of portions of minneapolis -- minnesota, rather. in the low 30s. northeast back to the 50s. relatively mild but we have a big storm, a massive storm that could be historic. this is across the bechlt ring sea. the way we measure the strength of these storms -- excuse me, ba ba barometric pressure. it could be one of the strongest storms that's not tropical we've ever seen on record. it's going to camp out here in the bering sea into monday. it will push the jet stream north and then buckles back

south. this is over the next six days. what comes up, must come down. this buckle will allow the arctic air to spill down over the northern states and eventually work its way into places like texas, north florida and here in the northeast. getting ready for abnormally cold weather next week. we'll take a look at one example. minneapolis, minnesota, around 50 today. 30s throughout the weekend. look what happens monday and tuesday as the core of that cold air works in. we're talking about temperatures that are going to be below freezing during the day. this is about 15 to 20 degrees below average. it will take a little longer to get down to dallas. look at the change coming your way. 70s on sunday. 80 on monday. down to the 50s on tuesday. here in the north east, the coldest air will arrive by next thursday and friday. there may even be some snow in and around new york city. we'll keep an eye on that forecast for you. i know it's not what we want to hear. back to luke in washington. >> yeah, if you need the heat, get to l.a., literally and figuratively. thank you so much, my friend. now for all the regular "the

cycle" viewers, you know what job it is. jobs report day. gave the president one thing to gloat about at his lunch meeting today. >> business is out there, investing, hiring, the economic indicators are going in the right direction. as i traveled to asia for the g-20 summit, i'll be able to say we created more jobs here in the united states than every other advance country combined. and they notice that we're doing something right here. but what we also know is the american people are still anxious. >> wow, those people look happy at that lunch. the jobs number continues on the upside in november. the government created 214,000 jobs. the unemployment rate went down a tenth, now 5.8%. that's the lowest in more than six years, since july of 2008 numbers. one big concern, though, is the stubborn labor force participation rate. i saw this myself in georgia the

last few days which is stuck in the mud. it's at 62.8%, which means many americans have given up looking for work. to analyze the jobs report we bring in our gurus. thanks for being on the show. >> nice to be with you. >> jared, i want to ask you one question pertaining to tax reform, because this is the -- this is the thing that the president hopes to be able to work on with the republicans in congress. dave camp, who you know very well, chairman of the house ways and means committee, put together a pretty substantive tax reform proposal that the gop house conference said, no thank you, no how, no way. tax reform is quite complicated. how foreseeable do you see it in this two-year framework in which we have? >> well, you're right about the dave camp plan. i actually thought it had a lot to recommend it, but it was dead about a half an hour after he landed it and not from the democratic side but from his republican colleagues.

i don't think the chances for tax reform are very high at all. if anything, you could see corporate tax reform because both sides want to bring down the corporate rate and broaden the base so it's revenue neutral. broadening the base is another way of saying closing loopholes. by the way, that's where the problems start. i don't think this is as well understood as it ought to be. it's less a democrat/republican problem when it comes to this. they actually all agree. lower the base. it's the industries that get dinged when you close their loopholes. they're the ones who oppose it. >> peter, what are your thoughts on that? >> well, i think there's a big opportunity here for republicans to propose to democrats, let's see how many loopholes and exclusions and exceptions we can get rid of. both parties have favored industries who tend to contribute to them. you know, the president likes to lambaste the oil industry but he got a new deal with the telecom industry.

let's see what we can get on the table, and drive down this rate for american business, do it in a revenue-neutral way and try to raise more money or lower taxes, but nobody's going to be happy with that, but that's the way to go. and that would show that they really could get something done. >> let me say something else about that. i actually don't think corporate tax reform -- i agree, our corporate tax code is a mess. that's not a good thing. however, if you think about what a lot of american people are dealing with in the economy, stagnant earnings, median earnings that haven't budged for the middle class. i think the last thing they want to hear is, americans, a corporate tax cut. >> i know that. i want to create some jobs. the way to do that is get the -- >> i'm just saying politically speaking. >> on that note, though, luke mentioned the participation rate, which is quite alarming for me as well sitting at just 62.8%. long-term unemployment remains stagnant. it's not like next month all of

a sudden those numbers are going to skyrocket. this seems to be the way this recovery is going. it's very slow and steady. should we just accept this as the normal, as this is what the next few months are going to look like? >> i think they are going to look like this. they are going to continue. one out of every six adult males between 25 and 54, too old for college and too young to retire. they're just sitting on the coach for espn. they're not even watching this good broadcast. we're not going to make real progress there until we do two things. one is fix the trade deficit so that we create some more jobs in manufacturing and developing, the u.s. energy, of all kinds. not just u.s. oil, all kinds perform make a national investment in vocational education so we start getting people into the skills they need to grow industries that would make sense in america. >> i like that idea somewhat but, jared, let me ask you about some real solutions. we have corporate profits at

record highs. how do we get corporations with this republican majority, how do we get corporations to invest more in its workers, in wage increases and hiring americans and that old henry ford philosophy that when you pay your workers a lot, then that's going to increase your income. >> more than half of that corporate profitability is coming from abroad right now. some of the profits are not going into investments. they're going into share buybacks to further boost the stock price. so you're asking a really important question. i happen to think the answer is demand. i think it comes really on the side of boosting the buying power of the broad american workforce. we still have a 70% consumption economy. i believe investment follows that kind of consumption. so at the heart of the problem, which you haven't talked about much today, even in what i consider quite a good jobs report, wages are just stuck at 2% nominal.

meaning year over year they're growing at 2%. that's about the rate of inflation. we need stronger jobs growth, stronger wage growth and that takes you right to the federal reserve. they have to be patient. i think monetary policy needs to continue on the track it's on until we see some real wage growth start to develop. >> thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. shameless plug to myself, i have a story about all of this airing on "meet the press" this sunday. check that out. up next -- hey, i was in georgia, i saw that stagnant participation rate. up next, which political donors got the most bang for their buck this election. you may be surprised. "the cycle" rurnz. ♪ ♪

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see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. into one you'll never forget. earn points for every flight and every hotel. expedia plus rewards. break news right now in "the cycle." the pentagon this afternoon is set to announce additional u.s. ground troops in iraq. it is expected that that number could double to as many as 3,000 to help train iraqi forces. there is a news conference scheduled for 4:30 eastern at the pentagon.

we'll, of course, be monitoring that for you right here on msnbc. we've been talking a lot this hour about the white house meeting with new congressional leadership. democrats still coming to grips with the new big gop majority. a new tech political website called crowd pak went and crunched the numbers for the most effective and least effective donors and getting their candidates elected. most effective were business executives. that's not a real shocker. perhaps more surprisingly it was centrist donors who carried the day. conservative donors were less affected at picking winners than liberal. oddly, retirees were basically wasting their money. to break this in, crowdpac ceo craig hilton. thanks for being here. explain this data. >> we have a database of all political donors since 1980.

what we do is help people find candidates that match their priorities and help boost the number of small donors so we deal with this problem of money in politics. along the way we have this interesting data about who gives to which candidates. when we looked at the donors this cycle, it turned out that if you look at those donors who gave a reasonable amount of money, over $10,000, who gave to at least ten candidates, it's the republicans who actually did worse in terms of picking the winners. they gave more money to candidates that actually lost. >> interesting. >> when you look at different professions, as you said, it was the executives that did best, but people who were retired did the worst at picking winners. when we looked at the names on the list, the top 100 who did the best and the 100 who did the worse, most of the people are not household names, not people you're familiar with, but a couple -- >> jerry springer was on the worst list. >> there are a couple. i don't consider giving $10,000 to ten different people reasonable, that's an extraordinary amount of money.

two famous names on the list, for most effective, steve ballmer and microsoft, and paul allen, another microsoft. why were they so effective? >> because the proportion of money they gave to candidates who won was higher than anybody else. >> did they fall in that centrist bucket or where were they? >> yeah, because they -- they're pretty much -- we haven't looked at the exact candidates they gave to -- >> but you're saying they were effective because they won. but why did they win? why were they so effective in picking the right candidates? >> i guess they may have people that help them figure out the races they can put their money into that might lead to a good result for them. we don't really know without talking to them and fixing out how they do it. but it seems they spent their money more effectively than nearly every other donor in america. >> they know how to pick a winner. >> steve, i was a little bit surprised that retirees did so poorly here in your study. i figured that retirees, with

the amount of time they have to scrub the candidates and figure out which ones they best tailor to their interests would have done better here. >> me too, exactly, they have more time to research, you would think there would be a better result. it could be, perhaps, we don't know without talking to people but maybe they're more ideological in their donations patterns and, therefore, they're motivated whether the candidate as gree regardless -- >> or set in their ways. that would make sense. talk to us about how the timing feeds into this. you have, for example, the koch brothers that would give money early on to candidates they don't know will do that well but they take the risk and then karl rove who gets in when it's much more saturated. how does that play into this. >> i think it shows you can have a lot of impact, if you get in there. one thing we're trying to do is encourage everyone to do that, not just the koch brothers or those who know how to use the system, get in and influence

races. this data that not only tells us donors and candidates will help everyone for the next cycle, we hope, get in there and get involved in these races so it's not just big donors with -- >> i think it's a super cool idea because, you know, as things stand we would have to have a constitutional amendment to change really the landscape of money in politics. this way you're putting powerful tools in the hands of ordinary citizens, which is a great thing. you also have something really fun on your website, which is you can put in your name and see how liberal or conservative it is on the spectrum. i tried this. we tried it with toure. there is literally no name more liberal. >> yeah! all right! i like that. >> how does this work? >> so, there what we've done is look at the average of -- i need to explain our scoring system. based on patterns of who gives to which candidates we have a

data model that gives a score to every candidate and every donor on the liberal to conservative scale. where zero is the middle -- sorry, 10-c is the most conservative. everyone with a particular name we can look at the average of which candidates they gave to on that scale. then we take that average and that is typically what that name represents. now, there's a cutoff we put in to exclude people where there's so few donations from people with that name, that it -- >> i don't know another toure. >> there are others who may not have made that many donations but who are -- >> who are equally liberal. steve hilton, thank you so much. appreciate it. up next, ready or not, the holiday season is upon us. and with it some pretty great movies. a sneak peek at coming attractions. that is next. let me get this straight...

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♪ ♪ ♪ i'd just gotten married. i was right out of school. my family's all military. you don't know what to expect. then suddenly you're there... in another world. i did my job. you do your best. i remember the faces... how everything mattered... so much more. my buddies... my country... everything... and everyone i loved... back home. ♪ [ male announcer ] for all who've served and all who serve, we can never thank them enough. ♪ america, this morning the gigantic rockefeller center christmas tree arrived on the plaza, in warmth to abby's sweetheart. >> i love it. >> when i see that tree i get a

little grimplgy. it means the holiday season is upon us, cold snow crowding into stores to buy presents and more family time. and thankfully, hollywood's best foot forward. this includes "sniper" and an "ann any "annie" reboot and "hunger games" and. >> our mission does not work if the people are dead by the time we pull it off. >> we've got this rather than any human in the history. >> not far enough. >> looks amazing to discuss all that and more. friend of the show, matt singer, editor of screen crush. matt, i want to argue with you something later. >> later. >> not right now -- >> what an introduction. >> get yourself prepared. >> what do you think about "incenter stellar". >> i don't think it's a masterpiece but an experience worth having in the theater.

i mean, on the big screen, those visuals are absolutely spectacular. it's funny because it's a movie about astronauts trying to save the world from extinction and it's kind of the sort of movie that's a little going extinct in hollywood. it's not based on a toy or a video game or a comic book. it's not supposed to be a franchise. >> not a sequel. >> it's not a sequel. it's not going to make sequels. it's a movie. a long movie. >> epic. >> it's epic. has some ideas to it. even if i didn't love it, i think that makes it worth while. >> luke will not see that because he doesn't go to movie theaters. >> i wait until they come out on my comcast dvr, which i greatly enjoy. i prefer the movies in the privacy of my own home unless it's a rachel or a clint eastwood military movie, of which we have one coming up. >> nice. >> yeah, that's right. coming up over the christmas season "american sniper," also "unbroken," i don't care about "unbroken."

"american sniper," clint eastwood, give it tomy. >> you hit the nail on the head it's a war movie and clint eastwood, recently, that's where he's done his most interesting films, films about the sort of moral and has done his most interesting film, the moral and emotional implications of violence and war. i'm look forward to that one. that is bradley cooper plays the most lethal style. >> bradley cooper as an action hero. >> and we haven't mentioned "dumb and dumber to." i will be there the day it comes out. but let's -- >> the best picture nominee, i'm guessing. >> obviously. >> you had me there for a second. >> we can cross our fingers, though. >> let's talk about "into the woods" it's the movie that everyone is talk about. incredible cast starring merryl streep. >> ♪ don't you know what's out there in the wood ♪

♪ someone has to shield you from the wood ♪ >> also starring chris pine, johnny depp, the list goes on and on. this will be a film that is great or with a cast that incredible it could be a bomb. >> it looks awful. >> looks frightening to me. >> johnny depp in this movie, he looks weird. >> doesn't he always look weird? >> but even by johnny depp's standards. he looks like al capone and wylie coyote had a love -- >> that movie will do better in legalized states. >> but it could be fantastic or it could be iffy. >> let's talk about bad movies in the theaters right now. "whiplash" one dimensional for laic. it was historical. i hated it and somehow you liked

it? >> technically i loved it. but i -- >> just like 95% of people on rotten tomatoes. >> i went because it was 95%. >> did you like the performances? >> no, it was one-dimensional characters. i didn't know who i was supposed to care about. >> what i liked about it is i thought it was so fascinating about art but what it had to say about the sacrifices we make to be the greatest drummer or the greatest television host. >> to be beat up by a mean coach. >> you never had a tough coach? >> i have a tough coach on this show but he also has humanity. a loving side as well. >> it hit too close to home, perhaps. and you didn't love "birdman" you're out, sir. >> disagree with toure all you want. >> he will be back.

>> we wrap up this big week in politics with my thoughts on what is the most important issue and what cowl separate me from the president. well, did you know genies can be really literal? no. what is your wish? no...ok...a million bucks! oh no... geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

the final stage of obama's presidency begins with a republican dominated congress forcing him to decide whether he finishes his presidency on offense or defense? given the lack of cooperation, expecting different now is like charlie brown thinking this time lucy won't pull the ball away. does obama accept his lame duckness or do what he thinks is right and what will bolster his legacy and act with the freedom

of someone liberated from the weight of eelectoral politics. they will call him imperial but if his promises and principles and legacy still matters if progressives matter at all he is going to have to grab a pen and do executive action on immigration reform. the president sounded resolute and defiant and certain if the republicans don't do something, he will. >> if they want to get a bill done whether it's during the lame duck or next year i'm eager to see what they have to offer but it's what i'm not going to do is just wait. >> republicans are not thinking that i'm right. >> it's like waving a red flag in front of a bull to say if you guys don't do what i want i'm going to do it on my own. >> but, listen, folks, there are so many reasons for the president to on this. a strong number of americans think that undocumented americans should be eligible for

citizenship and they strengthen rather than burden the country. it is counterproductive to law enforcement spending resources chasing working people who have put roots down in this country and pose no threat rather than focusing on violent criminals and terrorists. the economic argument remains strong as the 11 million who currently live in the shadows would pay more taxes and be paid more money thus turning them into better consumers and stimulating the economy. there are arguments for democrats to maintain their strong relationship with the fastest growing demographic, they must act. the party will stand up for them and the federal government can solve big problems lane that has made black people a core part of the democratic stent. the federal government can attack big problems and deliver for press groups that's at

stake. rich and poor nations around the globe recognize their moral responsibility to help when the poorest most beleaguered nations of nearby nations come over the border. as one of the world's richest nations we can embrace these millions and would benefit from it. there are at least 11 million people living in america who need movement on immigration. and there is a president who seems to be above politics. there is no time to be above politics and do something big to help millions. mr. president, this is my red line, if you can't do something to protect these millions and be the deporter in chief, you have lost even me. that does it for "the cycle." "now" with alex wagner starts right now. the president and congressional leaders break bread but can they break gridlock?

it is friday november 7th and this is "now." president obama just met with congressional leaders of the two major parties. >> it's his first meeting with leading lawmakers. >> i'm not going to judge ideas on whether they are democrat or republican but on whether or not they work. >> doesn't mean there will be daily renditions of "kumbaya." but we can be realistic. >> immigration continues to go down these dual tracks. >> i don't think the republicans are going to the anything about immigration. i don't think they want to. >> you want a legacy, fight. >> the president has his own nuclear weapon. >> is there a way the president can do things with executive action? >> the big issues are as divided now maybe more so