working people. he talks about kids getting to go to college without a trillion dollars in debt. bernie's down for working class issues across the board. >> larry cohen, thank you for spending some time with us on this tonight. as i mentioned, ed will be covering this more in the coming days. that is "the ed show." "politics nation" starts now. tonight on "politics nation," the gop pushed to dump trump. party elites are running scared and trying to keep the donald out of debates. also the bernie effect. hillary clinton speaks out about her primary fight with senator sanders. and breaking news on a gop attempt to delay or even derail a vote on the confederate flag. we'll go live to south carolina. welcome to "politics nation." we begin tonight with a scramble

inside the republican party to knock out donald trump as the firestorm over his mexican immigrants comment rages. and threatens the entire republican brand. it comes as another organization cut ties with trump. the pga saying today it will not hold this year's grand slam of golf tournament on a trump course. at least nine companies have now backed away from trump. today we're learning just how worried party leaders and big donors are. conservative newspapers saying republicans are trying to disarm suicide bomber trump. a republican operative saying trump was acting like a, quote, suicide bomber. a gop donor telling the associated press someone in the party ought to start some sort of petition saying if trump's

going to be on the debate stage, i'm not going to be on there with him. another donor sent a letter to 16 white house prospects and their rnc and they sent it last week calling on candidates to say on the, quote, civility reservation stay there. all of this as more republican candidates are speaking out against trump and it's getting louder. >> are you embarrassed by having trump as a republican? >> no i'm not embarrassed. i just think everybody's got to speak up. you have people in the party that say things sometimes that are against what i think the party stands for. so it's incumbent upon the rest of us to say, hey, no that's not the republican party that i want. >> but despite all of this he's

sticking by everything he said. >> do you have any regrets at all over the comments you made at all with the fallout? >> no i just issued a statement today which i imagine you saw and no not at all. we have to stop illegal immigration into this country. it's killing our country. >> the first republican debate is 30 days away. something tells me a lot will happen in those 30 days. let's bring in clarence page and dana milbank. thank you both for being here. >> thank you reverend. >> thank you reverend. >> clarence donors want trump out. where do you see this going? i mean could you see a boycott? >> well i don't think it's going to get very far, frankly. they're kind of in a big dilemma right now. on the one hand they don't like the embarrassment that trump is bringing and he is offending minorities at a time when the party's trying to reach out to moderates and to nonwhites, but

at the same time he is drawing attention to the debates. he's drawing attention to the race. and as one of the republican consultants said -- i thought that was very wise -- it's not wise to tangle with trump. it's like wrestling with a pig. you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it. >> well isn't part of the fear that he may say something explosive or say something directly offensive or insulting to people up there? not only the comments he's made but to call him a suicide bomber dana is like he may get on the stage and say or do anything and no one can predict it. >> well reverend it's a virtual certainty that he will. it's not just a possibility. that's his whole m.o. that's what he is about. i mean i don't think suicide bomber is quite right because this is working quite well for donald trump. in fact, he was all about getting president obama's birth

certificate. i think we should see donald trump's long form voter registration card. because the way he's acting you would think that he's a secret agent of the hillary clinton campaign to make the republican party look ridiculous. and he's doing an admirably good job at that. they have no way really to get him off the stage except going back on the rules that they created. he is brilliantly playing the system that the republicans created, not to the advantage of the republican party to the advantage of donald trump and his ego. >> let me ask you this. you're there in washington and you have a lot of contacts. all of the companies that are dropping almost one a day. today i talked about the pga dropping. what are you hearing from the rnc? how are they dealing with this? what's the word in d.c. dana? >> well look there's nothing that the rnc can do about it. you know think about all these donors who are very angry at this and asking the other

candidates to mount a boycott. first of all, donald trump doesn't care what the republican donors are doing or saying. he's got all the money he needs to run his campaign. the problem is when you have 15 or whatever candidates in the field, you can't create some sort of joint action there. so already you have ted cruz saying, look i'm not going to get in the way of what donald trump's doing. so if chris christie's going to get off the stage or jeb bush that's just going to give more air time to donald trump and to ted cruz. so you know yes, the party donors are, you know pulling their hair out here but what can they do? this is sort of a monster they created by creating the system. >> now clarence one republican who hasn't said a lot about trump so far is marco rubio. he was asked about him today. now, watch this. >> here's the problem. the problem is border security is a very legitimate issue. illegal immigration is a very

serious issue. what's happened now is he's made some other comments that are less responsible, and those comments are now what everyone's focused on. i think the bottom line is the issue of -- and so we're let off the hook all of these people that don't want to have a debate about illegal immigration. they want to focus on trump's comments about you know mexicans. >> he seems a little uncomfortable, doesn't he, clarence? >> well he's been wrestling with this issue since he got into the senate and i feel sorry for marco rubio. i mean he tried to come up with a comprehensive immigration reform package that would please everybody and failed. now he's trying to run for president and try to persuade the republican base that he's a true conservative a true republican blah blah blah and he now has to try to bridge this gap between trump and sensible people. not easy to do but you know i think he ought to just hang in

there. frankly, everybody knows that trump -- he got 11% in the latest poll i saw. that's among republicans. he got more than twice that among republicans who disapprove of him. so i don't think trump's got any traction. >> now, dana let's go to the other side. hillary clinton. she was asked about trump today. let me play that to you. >> i'm very disappointed in those comments and i feel very bad and very disappointed with him and with the republican party for not responding immediately and saying enough stop it. >> your reaction to ms. clinton, dana? >> well, very disappointed with him and the republican party. so she's not concealing at all what she's doing there which is tying him to the party, which is quite easy to do because when you think about it what has he done here? the reason he's catching fire --

and of course, clarence is right, he doesn't have a whole lot of traction. but in this field even 11% is something. but he's looked at the polls. he knows where the republican primary voters are. and he knows that if you just hit that button really hard on illegal immigrants even if you sound really ugly about it doing it you're going to generate some reaction. and you're going to generate some publicity. and that's going to get you on the debate stage. and that's clearly what he's going for. >> now, going back to the polls you mentioned, clarence, and going on the debate stage the rules are you have to be above 10% to be in the debate. one reason that that's a problem for some is some high profile people will then not qualify to be on that stage. one of them lindsey graham had this to say. >> if the goal to get in the debate is to have a national polling number number one, brad

pitt would be in the debate because it's just a name we know. >> clarence? >> name recognition counts. that's why i've been predicting since 2012 that the general election ballot is going to be bush versus clinton because that's just what name recognition gets you these days. and i think this is something that fox news and other any broadcasters who want to carry the debates have to wrestle with having ten people on the stage, which is like what is going to happen for this first debate. it's still a lot of people. and the party is still trying to reduce that circus image that they had from four years ago. it's going to be a challenge. >> dana bottom line. will trump be on that stage for the first debate? >> god, i sure hope so reverend. i don't see how they keep him off. part of that is because fox news' interest is in having a big show and a big blowout fight

and not necessarily the same interests that the republican party has. they have no interest in making the republican party look good. so i see that he probably does get there unless something further untoward happens before then. >> you say you hope so. so do most of the leadership of the democratic party. clarence page and dana milbank, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks reverend. >> thank you, reverend. breaking news in south carolina. just out of south carolina a new republican plan to derail a vote to take down the confederate flag. we're live in south carolina. also new tonight, hillary clinton just addressed the so-called bernie sanders surge. her response to his growing momentum. plus new jersey lawmakers are pushing governor christie to resign. we'll tell you why it's in tonight's gotcha. and also what did the first

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breaking news in the confederate flag debate in south carolina. after the bill to move the flag into a museum sailed through the state senate today, msnbc just discovered a new plan to delay or even derail the vote in the house tomorrow. msnbc national correspondent joy reid is live outside the statehouse. joy, what are you hearing? >> well rev, we're hearing that tomorrow state representative michael a. pitts who represents a conservative district here in south carolina plans to introduce this stack of amendments, 25 amendments 5 of

which have co-sponsors. everything from removing all the monuments in the state capitol to removing the african-american monument to even one amendment that would call for the american flag on top of the capitol dome to be flown upside down. so some of the amendments seemingly clearly frivolous but all aimed at slowing down the process. each of these amendments would require 20 minutes of debate. as you can do the math that can make this a very long and arduous process in the house tomorrow. rev? >> now, is there anything else the rest of the house can do to stop this delay? >> indeed. we spoke with the senate minority leader who explained that cloture can be invoked by the house. there is no filibuster rule. which is why he's calling this filibuster by amendment. two-thirds of the members of the house do have the ability to invoke a cloture motion which would stop any additional motions from being introduced and would reduce the amount of talk time to three minutes apiece. that could actually stop this

tomorrow. the democratic caucus has decided how they're going to handle this or what their tactic will be. i will note the senate has passed a rule saying they will not consider an amended bill. they want a clean bill to come out of the house. if that has amendments on it we're going back to a conference motion that could push this entire process into next week. >> joy reid thank you for your reporting tonight. >> thanks rev. ahead, the debate over the bush era no child left behind law. tonight, a shocking new report on our education system and how unfair it is. education secretary arne duncan is here. plus senator bernie sanders told us last night the clinton camp should be quote, wary of him. tonight hillary clinton is responding to his momentum. (glasses clinking) ♪ (ground shaking)

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the idea that a child may never be able to escape that poverty because she lacks a decent education or health care or a community that views her future as their own, that should offend all of us. and it should compel us to action. we are a better country than this. >> the president speaking about one of the biggest civil rights issue of our time -- education. today the senate began debate on an education bill that would overhaul the controversial no child left behind law from the bush era. both democrats and republicans say the law should be fixed, but the difference is in how.

>> fix no child left behind were standardized tests. congress would award a failing grade for each of the last seven years. >> everyone agrees that no child left behind is badly broken. >> the status quo is unacceptable. too many of our children are still stuck in failing schools. >> the obama administration wants to make sure that any new law addresses inequalities in schools across the country. the white house just issued a new report showing that only 4 out of 10 students graduate on time when they attend the lowest performing and underresourced high schools. and just look at the racial disparities. black and hispanic fourth graders are half as likely to be on grade level in math as white students. a good education is a ticket out

of a difficult and impoverished life. and congress should pass a law that helps provide that to all of our nation's children. joining me now is education secretary arne duncan. thank you for being here. >> good evening, reverend. thanks so much for having me. >> secretary duncan how can congress address the inequalities you are worried about in our schools? >> well first of all, as you mentioned earlier, this law's been broken for a long time. unfortunately, congress has also been broken pretty dysfunctional. but they're starting to try to work together, much more so in the senate than in the house. but there are a number of thins that a new law should have in it. first, it has to focus on early childhood education. that's the best investment we can make. secondly, where we have massive achievement gaps schools that are dropout factories, we don't

just note the problem, we fix it. high school graduate rates are at all time highs, dropout rates are down. but we have a long way to go and we have to build upon that momentum. right now our nation is struggling with really tough issue, confederate flag in south carolina and other places but the next hard question we have to ask ourselves are children in places like south carolina in mississippi and in new york your home chicago my home are they receiving the quality education they need and deserve. and the honest answer for far too many children is not even close. we have to work together to give every child a real chance in life. >> you mention early childhood education. a key part of this debate is universal pre-k. senator bob casey's introducing a bill that would help fund pre-k programs across the country saying quote, if we're going to talk about jobs and wages, it starts with early learning. studies show a link between learning and earning. if kids learn more now, they'll earn more later.

end of quote. how would universal pre-k help kids and their parents in working class families secretary duncan? >> well first of all, the law has been called the elementary and secondary education act. we just fundamentally think that's too late. learning doesn't start at 5 years old or 6 years old when a child entered kindergarten. as every parent knows and all research demonstrates learning starts at birth. we want to make sure more children around the nation have access to great learning opportunities from birth through age 5 so they enter kindergarten ready to be successful. this idea has become bipartisan in the real world. we have democratic and republican governors investing more in early childhood education. we think that's fantastic. our administration has put more than a million additional dollars behind it to increase opportunity and access to high quality programs. we need more of our republican friends to step up and say this is the right investment to make in children in families and

ultimately in our nation. senator patty murray from washington, she worked in the early childhood space years ago before she entered politics. so this is something that's very, very personal very real to her. and she's been a passioned advocate and helping to move this in the right direction, but this should have nothing to do with politics or ideology or republican or democrats. we should have more children entering kindergarten ready to learn and be successful. >> you know president obama has spoken about how a good education is really setting a child on the right path. watch this. >> it turns out that when they're succeeding at school and have resources they're less likely to get pregnant as teens as less likely to engage in drugs and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. >> every dollar spent on early life on education is really something that you save money on later, isn't that right? >> that's exactly right. and again, this law is fundamentally -- it's a civil

rights law, reverend. we have to make sure our latino children african-american children children that live below the poverty line children with special needs, they have tremendous talents and creativity. we have to give them a chance in life. quality education is the only way to do that. again, we're fighting for our kids civil rights and foreign nation. we can remove a confederate flag but if young children can't read they're dropping out of high school they're still going to be on the margins of society. we simply can't afford that and we have to make sure that our babies get off to a good start, that every child has access to great schools and great teachers. we have to make sure we're closing those insidious gaps. dropout rates have to go down. and we have to hold all of us as educators accountable to make sure we're making real progress. we can't just admire a problem when students aren't learning those bottom 5% of schools when simply not working, we can't just label them or describe the problem. we have to fix it.

go in there and concretely do something now to give those children a better chance. our children have one chance to get a real education, so we have to work with a tremendous sense of urgency every single day. >> and it is a major civil rights issue of our time. i know you and the president have been passionate about it since the beginning of this administration. i've been privileged to work and toil with you on it. we must nail this problem as best we can. education secretary arne duncan thank you tonight. >> thank you for all your work on this issue. really, really appreciate it. hillary clinton speaks out on the big surge from bernie sanders. is she worried? and the secrets of amazing grace. what the first lady said when the president told her he was going to sing. but first, is chris christie an absentee governor? that's in tonight's gotcha.

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governor chris christie was born to run the state of new jersey or at least that's probably how he feels. just listen to him talk about it. >> you know you know new jersey, new jersey is an extraordinary place. the future of the state we love the great state of new jersey. i love this place. thank you, new jersey. thank you. >> but two democratic state lawmakers don't think christie's up for the job. now that he's running for president. they're co-sponsoring a bill that would require christie and future governors to resign if they want to run for president. now, let's be honest christie has a better chance of getting endorsed by bruce springsteen

than this bill does of becoming law, but he has been racking up the miles lately. after his next trip he will have spent 100 of the last 192 days outside of new jersey. he's spending more time running for president than he is running the state. but based on his sinking approval ratings back home maybe voters don't actually mind all that much. nice try, governor. but we got you. it's so shiny. i know, mommy, but it's time to let the new kitchen get some sleep. if you want beautiful results, you know where to go - angie's list. now everyone can get highly rated service even without a membership. you can shop special offers or just tell us what you need and we'll help you find a local company to take care of it. angie's list is there for all your projects, big and small. pretty. come see what the new angie's list can do for you. ♪ introducing teavana® mango black

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debunking donald trump. it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it. tonight we decided to do a fact check about his claims about immigrants starting with what he said about crime. >> you have people coming in. i'm not just saying mexicans. i'm talking about people from all over that are killers and rapists. i mean they're coming into this

country. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. you have illegal immigrants pouring through the country. they're incarcerated. many of them are in jails. you have hundreds of thousands of people going to state and federal penitentiaries. [ buzzer ] >> not true mr. trump. a recent study by the police foundation found incarceration rates among young men are lowest for immigrants especially those who are the least educated. this holds true especially for the mexicans. so his accusations about crime are totally baseless. but what about this claim? >> when mexico sends its people they're not sending their best. they're not sending you. they're not sending you. they're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. they're bringing drugs. [ buzzer ] >> not so fast donald.

drug trafficking from mexico is certainly a big issue, but it's not why most immigrants get detained. most undocumented immigrants 89%, are caught on immigration charges. only 5% of border arrests are for drug trafficking charges. so he's 0 for 2. and his latest claim is a real doozy. in a statement yesterday trump wrote, quote, tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border. [ buzzer ] really? the facts don't agree. the vaccination rate for some of the most infectious diseases is higher in mexico than it is in the united states. so what do you have to say, donald? >> i can never apologize for the truth. i don't mind apologizing for things but i can't apologize for the truth.

>> the donald doesn't apologize for the truth. but he doesn't really tell the truth that much either does he? joining me now is president and ceo of the national council of la raza. thanks for being here tonight, janet. >> thank you, reverend sharp opinion tpsharpton. it's a pleasure to be with you today. >> when trump says things that aren't true how does that affect the millions of people families that he's talking about? >> well it's very harmful. and his remarks, which are false, inflammatory and offensive, attempt to stereotype and criminalize an entire community. we're highly offended by that. it's repulsive for us to hear this. as not only individuals and community that's contributing in positive ways every day to this country, but who have sacrificed

for this country. we have many in our community who have shed blood defending this country within our military, and we find it highly offensive as well as false when he makes comments like that. >> you know it's ironic. "the washington post" today reports that trump's company might be employing undocumented workers at a hotel he's building in washington. it says -- and i'm reading the quote -- interviews with about 15 laborers revealed that many of them have crossed the u.s./mexico border illegally before they eventually settled in the washington region to build new lives. aren't immigrants much more fully integrated into the labor force than many conservatives want to admit, ms. murguia? >> no question reverend. we've seen full integration by immigrants who have achieved the

skills and the training to provide positive contributions in many different ways. and the workforce now is reflective of that. and we've seen that in the construction industry. but in almost everywhere in the economy that you look in every sector immigrants are making positive contributions and rebuilding this economy and building this country. and going through a lot of sacrifice as they do it. so it is again, very offensive not just to latinos and to voters and to immigrants but to all americans of good conscience to hear what donald trump is saying. and i think the bigger question looms large for many in the republican party and in their leadership. is donald trump speaking the truth as he claims he is? he keeps saying that he's speaking for those who are

thinking this but not saying it. we want to see the republican party and those candidates full throatedly deny and denounce what donald trump is saying. >> you know it's interesting you say that because hillary clinton talked about the rest of the gop presidential field, and she says it isn't much better than trump on immigration. listen to this. >> they are all in the, you know in the same general area on immigration, you know. they don't want to provide a path to citizenship. they range across the spectrum of being either grudgingly welcome or hostile toward immigrants. >> trump has gotten all the attention, but immigration's going to be a really big issue in the 2016 race and the positions of other republicans are not much different than what we're hearing in terms of a lot of the anti-immigration rhetoric that many feel is anti-immigration rhetoric coming

from trump. >> well there's no question that latino voters and, frankly, all voters who will be participating in this next presidential election are looking for leadership on this issue and for solutions, and we want to hear that very clearly. in the meantime, when folks are using false, inflammatory and offensive rhetoric we want to see those individuals like trump called out by others. standing on the sidelines during this kind of a debate is not something that latino voters will welcome. we will remember who stood up with us and who stood against donald trump, and we'll be looking for those types of individuals to step up those candidates to step up in this election cycle. >> janet murguia, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you reverend sharpton. >> still ahead, hillary clinton just spoke out on the bernie sanders momentum. we'll have live reaction.

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legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. it's the so-called bernie effect. massive crowds responding to his progressive message of fairness and leveling the playing field. late today hillary clinton

addressed the surge in sanders campaign in iowa. >> bernie sanders events here in iowa rising in the polls people wondering how you're feeling about the growing momentum he's seeing here and what you'll be doing in iowa about that? >> i'm doing exactly what i want to do in iowa. we've been in the campaign a little less than three months. it will be three months on sunday. and i am having the opportunity to meet with and listen to iowans across the state. i also thingk, look this is going to be competitive. it should be competitive. it's only the presidency of the united states. you know, the more the better. let's get everybody out there and leave it up to iowa to decide what happens in february. >> clinton's comments comes after "the new york times" reported the clinton camp is wary of sanders' strength in iowa. i asked senator sanders about it last night. >> well they should be wary of

it. we are doing very very well. we have had meetings all over the state of iowa. the turnout has been great. we're now focusing on how you win the rather complicated caucus process in iowa. >> it's early, but the polls are tightening. in may clinton led saunders in iowa 60 to 15%. now her lead is 52 to 33%. still a wide gap, but getting smaller. so how will this race play out? will progressive leaders like elizabeth warren and bill de blasio support sanders? and where will progressive voters turn out? as clinton said tonight, it appears this is going to be competitive. let's bring in "boston globe" sia center and tara goodell.

thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> how do you feel this is shaping up now? clearly bernie sanders is pulling record crowds. not in one place, all over the country, from wisconsin to iowa to maine. it seems that he's breaking all of the records in terms of attendance in this cycle so far including in iowa. how does this play out? are these going to translate into votes? can he upset ms. clinton. how do you read this? >> obviously he's gained momentum. we see that. people underestimated him gaining this much momentum. so that's another issue. this remains hillary clinton's race to lose at this point barring something really crazy happening. if you look at iowa iowa is a caucus state. i've run field operations in many states across this country. what i can tell you is it's all about organization and enthusiasm. people shouldn't discount bernie

sanders in caucus states in particular because enthusiasm and organization trump all else. >> and that's iowa. how do you feel about mrs. clinton's response today? how did her response strike you? >> well i think she was being honest in a politically strategic way, as she often is. this is going to be more competitive than maybe some of her advisers thought six months ago ago, but this is an act of hillary clinton and her team setting expectations for her. she didn't want to go into caucus night or new hampshire primary night or south carolina primary night with these speck speck speck tagss that she would win in these contests by a 50-point margep. that's historically not very likely and probably wouldn't happen. i think what they're doing in part here is using what's become a semi sort of competitive primary to their advantage by lowering expectations in the long run. and that's probably going to be good for her. >> tara let me go back to your

strategist expertise. you know elizabeth warren she was asked whether she campaigned for bernie sanders. she said quote, too early to say, but also added, i love what bernie is talking about. now, what would the impact be if sanders does get endorsements from nationally known progressives like elizabeth warren or bill de blasio? >> well from a purely strategy standpoint, you want earned media. what earned media means is that you're getting pr that you're not paying for. clearly that alone will be very helpful to bernie sanders. also elizabeth warren raises money. people don't talk about this a lot, but she headlines fund-raisers and she raises money. her support would bring more money to the table, too. it would be definitely an additional shot in the arm for bernie sanders if he got someone like elizabeth warren's support. but bernie sanders has a cross-section issue. his defenders get offended when you say it. when you look at his crowds

they're not very diverse. and the democratic party is a very heterogenius party. the winning coalition for obama was three out of every four asians, three out of every four hispanics. record number of african african-american african-americans. jews. we're not seeing that cross-section with him. and they get offended, the supporters, don't get offended. fix it. >> he addressed that last night. >> right. >> and he supposedly is dealing with that. let me ask you this. when you look at a poll that says in iowa 91% of iowa democrats think the federal government should try to reduce income inequality. >> yeah. >> is that what this race is all about? >> frankly, until i saw that i didn't know 91% of the democratic party agreed on any one thing. that was a huge number. >> huge. >> it's crazy, right? so yeah i do think that means economic inequality is going to

be a major issue in the democratic primary and likely the general election. and that plays well to bernie sanders. number one because he's already been talking about it for many months, many years even. and number two, he's authentic about it. when he talks about it people feel it really resonates with him. you talk to hillary clinton's critics and they say they feel she can't relate to them for many of the reasons that people had critiques of mitt romney. she has charged huge numbers for speeches. she no longer can relate to the middle class. that's what this critique is. they can't say the same thing about bernie sanders. >> shira center and tara dowdell, thank you for your time tonight. still ahead, details of why president obama decided to sing "amazing grace" and what the first lady said about it. s are you still getting heartburn flare-ups? time for a new routine.

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♪ amazing grace ♪ how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me ♪ >> president obama singing "amazing grace" as he gave the eulogy for reverend clementa

pinckney. a defining moment in his presidency. it wasn't in the script. we're learning more about how that moment came about. >> as we were on our way in the helicopter to andrews the morning of the service, we were talking about the speech. and the first lady hadn't read the speech yet. so he said when i get to the second part of referring to "amazing grace," i think i might sing. the first lady said why on earth would that fit in? so he started to explain. he said i don't know whether i'm going to do it but i just wanted to warn you two that i might sing. and he said we'll see how it feels at the time. >> this is how it felt at the time. >> "amazing grace." ♪ amazing grace

♪ >> clergy members and people all over the arena stood and joined in, but in the end, did the president have second thoughts? >> both of you watched it, you probably saw that he paused for a minute right before he sang. so later i said to him, were you thinking about whether or not to sing. he said, oh, no i knew i was going to sing. i was just trying to figure out which key to sing in. >> what a moment. sung in all the right keys. a love affair. a quest. the next horizon. everyone loves the chase.

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♪ ♪ ♪ it took tim morehouse years to master the perfect lunge. but only one attempt to master depositing checks at chase atms. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank. we close tonight by going back to south carolina where today the widow of the senator clementa pinckney made her first public appearance since the charleston massacre. >> reporter: one by one his former colleagues lined up to hug her.

>> this state loved senator pinckney. and this state loves you and your girls. and they love the entire pinkney family. and we'll keep our arms wrapped around you and this family forever. >> this debate about the confederate flag is bringing our history back to the forefront. we need to be honest about that history. in south carolina and elsewhere. a "washington post" editorial highlights new school books in texas that are white washing civil war history. the "post" says quote, it is alarming that 150 years after the civil war's end children are learning that slavery was, as one texas board of education member put it in 2010, a side issue. the book also ignored the kkk

and jim crow. we can never overcome and never neverprogress past our history unless we're honest about what that history is. you can't heal wounds by covering them up. you must expose them go into them dig out the infection or the poison or whatever causes the wound and then get it out and healing can start. the truth is not to be hidden. the truth is to be told so we can turn ugliness into beauty. it will not in any way harm our children. it will strengthen them to know how far we've come and, therefore, how far we still need to go. it's time we tell the truth and then we can correct the reality of today by changing that ugliness into a truthful newness of one nation that we claim we

seek. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. fast times at republican high. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with where things stand in the republican contest for president and the man sucking up most of the oxygen in the room donald trump. rudy giuliani is the former mayor of new york and knows trump well. thanks for coming on. hillary clinton was asked about donald trump's comments on immigration. here's what she said. >> i'm very disappointed in those comments. and i feel very bad and very disappoi