killed when a tree crashed into a bedroom she was sharing with her sister. the toddler was taken to the hospital. a 7-year-old boy was killed in a van on a highway in holly springs, mississippi. mark potter joins us from memphis, tennessee with the very latest on this stormy weather across the south. give us an update if you can about the disaster in terms of what the response has been in the places that have been hit the hardest. >> reporter: i have to rush through this because we are being told by people we need to move immediately because some power workers, if you look over here, are working on a line and they want us out because they need us to get out before they drop the line. so we are going to talk quickly here. they have been here since this morning trying to get power up and rolling for about 300 people in this area, 300 homes. they have been here since early this morning. and they are doing a very fast and thorough job. they have a small army of people out here right now.

a lot of assessments are under way, even repairs are under way here now with this tornado coming through here yesterday. now that the weather is good, we had an assessment team out here today looking at this house from the county. this house was badly damaged by the tornado. the roof fell down, the house knocked off its foundation, and so they are trying to determine how bad the damage is, to 20 to 25 homes here, some more homes in another area. they are doing that. in holly springs they are going door to door in that neighborhood to try to see if there are some missing people that can be accounted for now, or if there are more victims. they are just trying to determine that. and down the road, there's a house here where they are bringing in tarps and other things to try to get those houses at least protected from the weather. so people are not sitting around worrying about what happened yesterday. today, they are rebuilding, they are fixing things up and planning for the future. we just talked to the mayor who says that they will do everything they can for the people who lost their homes here, including putting them in

shelters overnight. it's not the best way to spend the holiday but at least it is some sort of protection. so we have got to leave. sorry about that. but back to you. >> absolutely. i understand. i can hear the crews there working around you. definitely get to safety and we will check in with you throughout the course of the day. our hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to those families as well that are affected during this holiday season. we are also tracking the latest forecast across the country, including some record-breaking warm temps. bonnie schneider has more on that weather pattern. >> i want to first get to where we are looking at severe weather happening right now. all the storms that rolled through mississippi, unfortunately that same line working its way through parts of georgia into south carolina and alabama. luckily, the tornado watch has expired but we are still seeing severe weather in terms of dangerous lightning and all this is impacting air travel. look at this. the delays have just skyrocketed for atlanta. 165 minutes, wow. we are seeing some lessening delays across the d.c. area. philadelphia holding steady at 30 minutes.

we still have delays a little over an hour for jfk airport. laguardia so far, so good. off to the west, we are also tracking a big storm that's ramping up today and is going to be a big weather maker for the weekend. this is already bringing wind and snow to the mountain west, we are seeing it into utah, certainly in the mountains there. if you are driving today, it's a busy christmas eve, many people will be, we will see some tough go of it really in the mountain passes. i think that's where you will see not only the snow but the fog as well. the fog has been a huge problem ago the gulf coast. we had dense fog advisories across louisiana this morning. we are still looking at that with that threat of heavy downpours into the southeast as i mentioned, but then if you are driving up i-95, perhaps towards d.c., philly or new york, you still have to contend with low clouds that's causing flight delays we are seeing right now, but also the low visibility on the roads. so keep that in mind. i mentioned the snow that's coming. this is what we are expecting in the next 48 hours. possibly blizzard conditions by the time we get to saturday night in parts of new mexico. then more snow developing into

minneapolis and sioux falls. by contrast, it's just the opposite on the east coast. we have already shattered so many record highs already today, christmas eve. what about christmas day? i know i was showing you earlier where you will get a white christmas. this is where you will see a warm christmas. record highs in the 60s and 70s and normally we would say that would never happen on christmas but this christmas, that's what we are expecting. look at this. we already shattered the record in central park early this morning. tomorrow, possibility of doing it again. not by as much of a margin, 65 possibly for tomorrow's high, but in ashville, north carolina, up to 71. that would shatter the record of 69 back in 1955. we are also looking at really warm conditions across alabama and even into florida. boston looking at temperatures in the 50s as well as northern new england. this is really unusual for christmas. i think it's one we will all remember. >> let's turn now to msnbc's sarah dallof in new york city's central park. normally this time of year that park would be chillier and it wouldn't be a surprise to see it covered in snow, though it looks

a little different from what we can see behind you. >> reporter: yeah. very different this year. in fact, the normal monthly average for december in new york, 37 1/2 degrees. today, believe it or not, we are looking at a high of 74 degrees. certainly does not feel like december in new york. we have already broken the record for warmest christmas eve on record. that was 63 degrees at midnight. we were already at 64 degrees. we had temperatures drop a little within the last hour. we are starting to feel some rain. a few people will be dealing with today the scattered showers as well as patchy fog. however, lot of people out enjoying the weather, taking advantage of these warmer temperatures. for some, being able to run outside in short sleeves and shorts is kind of a dream come true. for others, it just doesn't really feel like the holidays. we talked to people here in central park about what they think about this mild weather. >> it's always a difficult thing. i can't imagine what people do in florida with this kind of weather to get in the mood.

>> i love this weather. don't want snow. >> reporter: you like the warm temperatures? >> i like the warm temperature. don't know why i'm living in the northeast but i like the warm temperature. >> i think the weather is crazy today. i feel fatigued and it's really disgusting weather. >> reporter: so she's definitely not going to get her snowfall today. we are not just talking about warm weather here in new york, boston is going to be in the 60s today, philadelphia in the low 70s. we are also talking about worldwide. we are just seeing warmer temperatures across the map. according to the national oceanic atmospheric administration, november of 2015 was the warmest november on earth on record. in fact, about 1.9 degrees above average. so ayman, you certainly see the effects in central park today. back to you. >> sarah, appreciate that update.

let's turn to politics, where hillary clinton is responding to donald trump's use of a vulgar term to describe clinton's loss to barack obama back in 2008. now, this comes as trump takes a commanding lead among republicans in a new cnn poll. when it comes to a general election matchup with hillary clinton, trump is actually losing by two points. meanwhile, the same poll shows senators marco rubio and ted cruz beating hillary clinton in a general election matchup. let's turn to nbc's hallie jackson, who is following this for us with the latest. what do you make of all of these new polls that show the head-to-head competition between both trump and clinton and rubio, cruz and clinton? >> reporter: they are interesting. they are national polls and we are still pretty far out from some of the first nominating contests, more than a month away from iowa, a month and change from new hampshire, but it is a reflection of where this race has come so far. if you looked at these numbers six months ago they would have looked very different. donald trump, ted cruz, you look at the top two candidates, the people who are doing okay

against hillary clinton in that latest poll's head-to-head matchup, these are the outsider candidates in the year of the outsider when they are doing particularly well. interestingly, what we are seeing lately is this feud between the front runners, donald trump on one side, hillary clinton on the other and trump now has a new warning for clinton. this is just the beginning. with a warning shot, donald trump's now making clear this week's attacks on hillary clinton are just the beginning. >> i really haven't gone after hillary yet and there's a lot to go after. she is very susceptible i think to -- i mean, look, the job she's done is horrible. >> reporter: clinton, unfazed and unafraid to take on trump. >> his bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign. >> reporter: the front runners still feuding. >> the last person that she wants to be running against is me. >> reporter: as trump dominates a new national poll, with double digit leads on key issues like the economy, isis and illegal immigration, and more than twice as much support as the next closest candidate, ted cruz, who

is seizing on a controversy of his own. he's fund-raising off an editorial cartoon now retracted by the "washington post" showing his young daughters as dancing monkeys. fair game, argues the cartoonist, after cruz put his kids in a campaign ad. >> i will use my own server and no one will be the wiser. >> if the media wants to attack and ridicule every republican, that's what they're going to do but leave our kids alone. >> reporter: as cruz solidifies his second place status, ben carson's support is slipping and now new reports of a campaign shakeup, carson telling nbc news he's streamlining some staff assignments, but insisting his senior aides will stick around and so will he. >> i'm not a quitter by any stretch of the imagination. >> reporter: the next few days all quiet on the campaign trail as candidates take their own christmas breaks. jeb bush doing last minute shopping and considering what holiday cards he still might send. >> what did you send to donald trump a christmas card, what would it say? >> this time of year?

i hope he has a wonderful time off. >> reporter: governor bush in the holiday spirit. the candidates including governor bush down for the next couple days celebrating the holiday with their families. we have heard from a couple of them, for example, ted cruz, sending out his christmas message to supporters talking about the importance of charity. marco rubio putting out an op-ed talking about the persecution of christians in the middle east around this holiday time. they will be back on the trail next week, including donald trump, the front runner. he will be in the first three early states, new hampshire, iowa, south carolina. the first three days of next week. 2016 getting closer. >> nbc's hallie jackson, in washington, d.c. we want to bring you up to speed on breaking news and go back down to mississippi. we are hearing from the police chief right now who is talking. this is in holly springs, mississippi. let's take a listen to what officials down there are saying about the severe weather storm conditions. >> we have a lot of responders from neighboring communities here utilizing our law

enforcement, our ems people and our fire people. we were able to complete this third survey and during the survey we located any hazards we may have and to have all of those hazards contained, and noted all the utility access such as power lines being down and things, they're being handled at this time. i have approximately 5,000 plus persons without electricity and the utility company is working diligently on that. now that we have cleared all of the residents of any sort of hazards, we will be able to utilize a lot of the volunteers that have came in from different areas such as chainsaw crews and debris removal people. everything on our roadways has been removed where it's accessible. all damage now at this point is

on private property. that's where these other groups will come in and we can utilize them. they can go and work with the homeowners at that point and assist them. we got a shelter set up for anyone that doesn't have a place to stay that needs a place, the red cross is running a shelter in holly springs at the multi-purpose center and any donations that people would like to make, we are utilizing that same facility for the drop-off point. it will be on north memphis street here in holly springs, the multi-purpose center. >> reporter: chief, are you releasing the name of that little boy yet? >> no, ma'am, i am not. you have to get that from the coroner's office. i will withhold that. >> reporter: how many people are injured at this time? >> we don't have a total count at this point. i know that we were reported to us last night that 18 folks have been transported to the local

hospital in olive branch that had more severe injuries. i could not even begin to tell you how many walking wounded went to the doctor or hospitals on their own. that accounting will have to come later. >> reporter: chief, we have noticed a memorial has been set up along highway 7, what appears to be the location where the little boy died. that is an accurate spot? >> i can't respond to that question. i have been in command center all the time. i'm not familiar with where you're talking. >> reporter: what's one of the major problems [ inaudible ]? >> the biggest problem we had was spontaneous responders, if you can use that word, spontaneous responders. they just came and i understand that in an emergency situation like this, everyone wants to help.

but this morning, like i say, as of last night, people that were not a member of the law enforcement, ems or fire community, we withheld sending them out doing the emergency work. now that that is finished, we can utilize a lot of this help in the private sector. we can't assume the responsibility, we don't know what training people have, so that's been probably the hardest part of managing hundreds of people that you have never met until that moment. so i think we did a really good job at it, had a lot of good help. you see all these gentlemen standing behind me. that's the support team that got this accomplished. one person can't do it all. i want to applaud them for their job. >> all right. you were listening there to

holly springs police chief, kenny holbrook, who is giving an update of the situation there as a result of the severe weather. that is actually the fire chief, i should correct. you heard him say there are about 5,000 people without electricity. they set up a temporary shelter for folks who do not have shelter. lot of property damage and we have heard that at least ten people have now been killed as a result of those storms, including a 7-year-old boy. officials still going through the area trying to make sure the situation down there is safe for folks as they try to go back and assess some of the damage to their property. we will keep you updated on that developing story throughout the course of the day and go back down to mississippi in the coming hours. we want to move on now to other news that we are getting, including isis in retreat. u.s. air strikes help iraqi forces battle the militants in a key city. what does it mean in the larger fight against the islamic state? we will talk about that and a new warning of a terror threat

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guaranteed! ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ overseas now, where the iraqi government and its forces are advancing on the city of ramadi in a battle to oust isis militants from the city. ramadi fell on the militant group back in may. since then, iraqi troops have been fighting there. they are backed by the u.s. and coalition air strikes. iraqi officials tell nbc news that although progress has been slow, the government compound there could be liberated within the next 24 hours. nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon following all of this for us. jim, what have we learned about the iraqi advance army and the kind of support they are getting

from the united states? >> i think first of all, the iraqi forecast about taking it in 24 hours is probably very optimistic. in the past 24 hours, those iraqi forces, the most elite of iraqi counterterrorism forces, somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000, have run into what we are told is stiff resistance and fierce fighting. just to show you how tough a slog it is, in the past 24 hours, those forces, iraqi forces, have only progressed about 50 to 60 yards. overnight, b-1 bombers, u.s. b-1 bombers dropping precision guided 500 pound bombs managed to take out a number of fighting positions, some mortars, some rpgs and the like, but u.s. officials are saying the battle is pretty much ground to a standstill. there are only somewhere between 300, 350 of the isis fighters

inside of ramadi but they are well dug in. boobytraps everywhere and they are surrounded by civilians which makes it even more difficult not only for the iraqi fighters on the ground, but for those u.s. air strikes to move too aggressively. >> i want to talk to you about a more somber event that took place yesterday here in the united states, and that is the bodies of the six american troops who were killed in a suicide attack in afghanistan. i understand that they have now been returned home. what do we know about what happened? >> well, all we know for certain is that they were on some kind of mission, whether -- it appears that according to officials, that they were there because several of them were with the office of special investigators for the u.s. air force, that they were probably involved in a security operation involving meetings between some local afghan leaders and some

american or other afghan officials, government officials, when that suicide bomber drove a motorcycle in amongst them and blew himself up, killing those six and wounding three others. the entire mission is still under investigation but it appears that those six u.s. airmen were involved in some kind of operation involving a meeting between u.s. and afghan leaders just outside bagram air base there northeast of kabul. >> nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski, thank you. for more on the fight against isis let's bring in steve clemens, washington editor at large at the atlantic and msnbc contributor. steve, good to have you with us. as jim was just mentioning there, iraqi forces making a push to try to retake the capital of anbar province, ra

marri ramadi. how important is it to recapture the city when isis still controls important pieces of territory including mosul and other pieces of syria? >> i think it's a very important piece and another part of the equation. they need to demonstrate an ability to take back ramadi and to demonstrate a civility and way to deal with the population after the fact that is going to bring over sunni tribal leaders who continue in large part to remain on the sidelines of this. while the u.s. has been able to attract some sunni forces into this and train them, they still are very, very small in terms of the overall fighting force that's going back into ramadi. this is a trust building operation as much as it is a military operation in ramadi. but as you pointed out, there are a lot of other parts here including fallujah, between baghdad and ramadi, remains under isis control and of course, the northern iraq with mosul and others are also under isis control. it's important to demonstrate that the brigades that iraq is

putting together are not just going to collapse at the first collision with an isis fighting force. i think they are demonstrating that now. >> in addition to supporting iraqi forces in the drive to recapture ramadi, we know the united states is leading air strikes against isis targets both inside iraq and in syria. are these air attacks beginning to show results in softening isis defensive positions in those two countries? the air strikes have been going on for about a year. we certainly know that isis has some resilience on the ground. but is it going to make a difference this time around? >> they are killing people. it's not just u.s. air strikes which have been carrying much of the load but particularly in ramadi, british forces which have just entered this fight have been very key. there have been tornado fighter jets and british drones that have been key to the ramadi operation. again, with u.s. coordination and u.s. leading this. you have other parts of this that are certainly killing and knocking out with precision guided missiles some of those

fighters. but as jim miklaszewski just laid out, there are a great number of civilians within this city and you are fighting within an urban situation, particularly in the southern part of ramadi, you have got reports coming out that they are actually corraling civilians, up to 5,000 or 6,000 of them, whether it's a hostage situation or civilian shields, i don't know, but the problem is that kind of aerial bombing doesn't help you much in terms of trying to make those decisions between taking out the isis fighters and trying to protect civilian life inside ramadi. >> let me get your opinion on one more report that came out today. this one from the "wall street journal." it suggested that the u.s. has had contact with syria for years, in fact, that the obama administration was talking to syrian officials in an attempt to reduce the deadly violence resulting from the five-year-old civil war in that country. these talks obviously weren't fruitful given the fact they didn't stop the fighting but do they give you an insight into the obama administration's thinking and efforts in trying

to resolve this ongoing civil war? >> they don't surprise me at all. in fact, i would have expected them and i would have been very surprised had the administration not been trying to reach out to bashar al assad through various channels. you have to understand that when 9/11 took place right after that, syria actually cooperated with the united states on various terrorism related things, problem people inside the country. relations went sour but there was a period of time where we were talking together and beginning -- we restored an ambassador position there and were on a normalization track. when the revolution began in syria, president obama said that assad had to go but there wasn't a game plan to do that. when you then began to see civilians being killed, tortured, taken by all sides within what became a very clear civil war, it doesn't surprise me that obama tried to reach out to try to navigate this with the leadership inside syria and even to find potential regime change proponents inside syria who might instigate a coup because

that was something we looked at with regard to saddam hussein in iraq. very good reporting by the "wall street journal" but i also think it's not surprising the obama administration did this. it would have been normal part of the playbook. >> msnbc contributor steve clemens, thank you very much. ho happy holidays. a new development on the investigation into the paris terrorist attacks. we will tell you about that in a few minutes. stay with us. ideas are scary. they come into this world ugly and messy. ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are.

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as the first family enjoys christmas eve in hawaii today, the president is taking time to recognize christians a world away. his christmas statement highlighting persecuted christians in the middle east reads in part quote, in some areas of the middle east, where church bells have rung for centuries on christmas day, this year, they will be silent. this silence bears tragic witness to the brutal atrocities committed against these communities by isil. we join with people around the world in praying for god's protection for persecuted christians. for more we are joined by nbc's kelly o'donnell, who is traveling with the president in honolulu. good afternoon or good morning to you, rather.

we don't often hear this kind of message from the president besides obvious world events. what else pushed the president to issue this statement at this time? >> reporter: well, it's not entirely unusual for the president to offer a religious message on big world religion holidays and certainly christmas would come under that. but what is sort of unusual here is how the observance of christmas intersects with isil and there, really the atrocities that are keeping christians in the middle east from celebrating. earlier in the year we heard a lot about sinjar mountain and the yazidis who were a small religious group who were persecuted. we get that sense that isil is trying to silence any other voices that believe in different faiths and this is an opportunity for the president to give a broad christmas message and at the same time, make a very clear case about foreign policy and also a reminder, really, to american christians who are able to celebrate freely

how unique and special that right and obligation and opportunity is if you live in the united states. so not entirely unusual but what stands out is how a holiday message and a foreign policy message have intersected here. >> i know that the president left washington last week after a long string of national security related meetings. it always is on top of his agenda. but what else is the president keeping an eye on this week while on vacation? >> reporter: well, as we often say, the vacation is only part of the president's day. he still gets his presidential daily briefing, he's got a team with him here who provided him any instant analysis and connection back to washington. if there are world events that command his attention. so he is briefed on all the things that are going on. that's part of his regular team. he just is able to do it perhaps in shorts and his golf attire, but the duties of the presidency come with him. we know he's been golfing, he's been spending time with friends and family. of course, having grown up in

hawaii, he does have long-time friends who are also here. so certainly the president is keeping an eye on things that relate to the threat or potential threat of any small actors inspired by isis in the united states. that has been a concern. they have cautioned everyone to be vigilant, to pay attention, but no specific threats have been identified. but we know that at a time like this when people are enjoying the holidays, are gathering in big places, that those are times of added concern. so the president's been getting all the briefings that he needs on that. and we don't expect to hear anything publicly from him today. that statement thaw read about the holidays and the excerpt you shared with us is probably the only public event that we will have from the president but that will change tomorrow, when we know that by tradition, the president and first lady go to visit troops who are based here in hawaii, spending some time with them, meeting them more personally, sharing a meal with them and having some time to thank them for their service.

ayman? >> i know it's not all work. i have seen video of the president sinking a 40-foot putt on one of those greens. kelly o'donnell, we will check in throughout the course of the day. westerners in china are on alert today after the u.s. and british embassies there warned of a possible terror attack in a popular district in beijing known for its restaurants and retail stores. beijing police today also raised the city's security alert at shopping malls and supermarkets. that is expected to stay in effect through the christmas holiday. joining us now is retired executive assistant director of the fbi, sean henry. good to have you with us. happy holidays to you, sir. how should travelers in this region react to this warning today? it's not very common to hear a terror threat in china targeting westerners. >> yeah. actually, it's very uncommon. you often hear in europe and elsewhere these types of threats, the embassies putting out alerts and the like to travelers. we have not seen terrorism in

china targeting westerners but here, in this particular area of the city, where there are some foreign embassies, there are a lot of shopping venues, some upscale stores, et cetera, they put out a possible alert. it was not just the u.s. embassy who put this out, but the uk and australians, too. and the chinese have really increased their presence. they have a domestic terrorism problem in china. there's a uighur population, a minority muslim population and they have seen incidents in the past but never targeting westerners. so this is quite unusual. >> we focus so much of our attention recently on threats against western cities. obviously when we talk about terrorism threats, we think of european capitals, we think of here in the u.s. are u.s. intelligence agencies similarly concerned about places like beijing or is it a little bit less on their radar, so to speak? >> u.s. intelligence agencies are concerned about terrorism globally. certainly any time there's a threat to american citizens around the world. so while the domestic areas here

are a key function, they are looking globally and coordinating with foreign partners around the world. again, beijing, quite unusual, but the u.s. authorities in coordination with their beijing counterparts will be focused on this. >> let's switch gears and talk to -- about some of these domestic security procedures that we are seeing in effect, particularly to the tsa. it's obviously a very busy travel time of year. millions of people passing through the airports. the tsa can now mandate that a passenger go through a full body scan when going through airport security even if the passenger chooses a pat-down instead. give us the sense of how effective this security protocol is. >> i think it's very effective. going through that scanner is much more thorough. it's able to identify non-metallic objects, liquids, other types of devices, potential explosives that may be hidden somewhere on the body, even a pat-down might miss if it was sewn into clothing or something of that nature.

it's unclear if the intelligence authorities have picked up some new threat. when i was in the bureau, oftentimes there would be intelligence that would be picked up and there would be changes in procedures. that's not clear here. but this is certainly more thorough, it's faster, and in light of changing events around the world, tsa made the determination they will push forward on this. >> retired executive assistant director of the fbi, sean henry, thank you for joining us. happy holidays to you and your family. >> you, too. to politics now. donald trump ramping up attacks on hillary clinton. in an interview last night, trump said there's much more to come. >> and i really haven't gone after hillary yet and there's a lot to go after. she is very susceptible i think to -- i mean, look, the job she's done is horrible. you don't get worse. so i think that's going to be frankly easier in some cases than some of the people i'm currently running against. so i'm fine with hillary. i think that the last person, i know this for a kt fact, the la

person she wants to be running against is me. >> a new cnn poll shows trump dominating the republican field at 39%. that's more than twice the support for ted cruz, who is in second place. meanwhile, hillary clinton is responding to trump's use of a vulgar term to describe her loss to barack obama back in 2008. >> you know, i don't respond to him personally because he thrives on that kind of exchange. i think he has to answer for what he says and i assume that, you know, others will make the larger point about his language. it's not the first time he's demonstrated a penchant for sexism. >> let me bring in republican strategist joe watkins and jimmy williams, democratic strategist and executive editor at blue nation review.com. jimmy, i want to begin with you, if i can, and talk a little about hillary clinton.

is she playing her cards right by the way she is responding to donald trump in some of the latest comments he has made directed at her? >> yeah. i think that's probably right. the last thing she wants to do is attack him and stoop to his level, if you will. any time donald trump attacks hillary clinton, or you have -- take out their names. when you have a white man attacking a white woman both running for president, it's not good for the party. i think joe would probably agree with me on that. it just seems to me when you go after her in a sexist way, like this, if donald trump is saying there's more to come, what more could he possibly say that could be even more offensive? oh, wait, it's donald trump. i'm sure there's something. i think he has to be careful here because when you attack hillary you attack women in general from a political perspective. i just done think that's a winning strategy. >> is there any way where he can attack hillary and not be perceived as attacking women?

certainly he can have -- >> sure. yeah. he can attack her policies. he can say hillary, you just put out something on alzheimer's, it's terrible and this is why. or you put out something on long term care. it's terrible, this is why. but at no point has donald trump, i think again, joe would probably agree with me, has donald trump actually had a conversation about policy. he simply wants to talk about how he's going to make america great again and not pay for it. so that's his problem, not ours, frankly. >> joe, let me bring you into this discussion and talk about trump. he's obviously dominating the republican field right now. i'm going to throw up some numbers for you and take a look at these. 57% of republicans say trump can best handle the economy. 47% say he's most equipped to handle isis. 55% say he's the best republican candidate to handle illegal immigration. what do you make of these numbers? >> well, he is really riding high in the polls and it's really defied logic for some people. whenever you think that he's about to take a fall, he gets stronger. and i would normally agree with

my friend jimmy, because jimmy's as smart as they come when it comes to politics, but so far, whatever has normally held for most politicians hasn't necessarily held for donald trump. he hasn't had to play by the same rules. he hasn't had the same challenges. he doesn't get hurt. he doesn't see his poll numbers drop if he says something disparaging about another candidate. all he sees is his numbers go up. donald trump so far has been very very successful by staying donald trump, by remaining in character, by appealing to people who are angry, especially who don't like the establishment. this is a cycle where establishment candidates are having a much harder time. >> jimmy, when we look at the numbers in terms of the head-to-head matchup between clinton and trump, she's leading trump in a general election matchup by a few points, but some may be surprised to see she is actually losing to cruz and rubio. how does she turn this around and should she be concerned by these numbers that even though

they are not the front-runners of their party, they can still beat hillary clinton according to this poll? >> well, that's one poll. certainly there are other polls that show her leading all these candidates. i'm not so much concerned about national polls as i am about how is she doing in states that actually matter. for example, if anyone thinks that hillary clinton is not going to win california, they are crazy. hillary clinton's going to win california. what i would like to see is how is she going to do in swing states, virginia, florida, ohio. these kind of -- wisconsin. and that's what matters the most to me. so these hypothetical matchups, if you will, i like where the numbers are. i think they are perfectly fine. the country is evenly divided when it comes to their politics. the question is, joe said something very interesting just now. he talked about angry voters. if donald trump's key or m.o. to win the election, to become the president of the united states is to appeal to the angriest of americans, that's a rather pathetic way to become a president. you should appeal to a higher nature as opposed to just angry people.

he's got to do better than that. so the poll numbers, i don't -- by the way, we are year round guys. we have to put all this into perspective. so i'm perfectly fine with the poll numbers at this point in time. >> joe watkins and jimmy, we have to leave it at this for this hour. thank you very much. happy holidays to both of you as well. >> thank you. you as well. it's a last minute mad dash to the stores and malls across the country. most shoppers are finishing up their holiday spending spree. you won't believe the number of folks who are just starting. yes, you heard that correctly. just starting. more on that in just a moment.

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18% of americans would actually shop on christmas day if they could. msnbc business and technology correspondent olivia sterns is with me now. i guess the question is, how late is too late? >> there is still hope a lot of stores are still open. they are open late through this evening. many of the big box retailers have been open 24/7 in the runup to christmas eve here so best buy, macy's, kohl's will be open until 6:00 a.m. so you can start your christmas shopping. walmart, which has also been open 24/7 close at 8:00 p.m. toys "r" us at 9:00 p.m. a lot of hot toys are already gone. target going the extra mile. target locations across the country are closing at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. you can potentially put the kids to bed and sneak out to get a couple last minute gifts. >> i'm actually working until 11:00. i will not have the option of making it to a store but if i did want to do online shopping, is it too late for that? >> absolutely not. a lot of fantastic new same day delivery options, of course, better if you are in a big city

where the services are available. i have been trying out amazon prime now, one-hour delivery in new york city. it's $8. it's a great option. google express has special delivery elves they dedicated for certain stores. there is also etsy partnering up, etsy asap will get you an artisan gift made in your own state, also same day. those all come with a charge. if you live in a rural area, don't want to pay anything, try buying something online, then you go pick it up at the front of the store. you save all that time of wandering through the aisles of the super center and you can get it done real quick. >> is it common this time of year to see a lot of personal assistants popping up online? are there services where people can shop for other people? >> sure. you can outsource this. the point is -- >> there is still hope. >> there is almost always still hope. if you are really in a jam, if all the online options or excuse me, all the app options like uber rush have closed down, get

a gift card. gift cards are still the number one most popular option in the country. there are gift of the month clubs, bacon of the month, wine of the month, hot sauce of the month is popular. it's a great gift, a gift that keeps on giving. you can also consider giving a donation in someone's name to charity. you could go to unicefusa.org and donate a vaccine or perhaps education. >> probably one of the best ideas. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> i stole something from the newsroom for you. >> you are giving me something stolen for christmas? i don't know if that's acceptable. >> it's acceptable. >> what is it? >> merry christmas. >> all right. i appreciate that. will somebody come looking for this? >> i'm teasing the toy segment coming up in the next hour. all the hottest toys your kid wants for christmas. >> i can keep this? >> you can keep it. >> appreciate that. in spite of the increase in interest rates, mortgage rates have actually dropped.

we will bring you a broader look at the financial markets on this christmas eve in just a bit.

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that wraps up this hour of "msnbc live." i'm ayman mohyeldin and my friend dasher here. erica hill will take over in just a moment and tell us about a british family denied their dream vacation to disneyland. why did u.s. customs prevent them from coming to america? the latest on that investigation coming up. ♪

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just about anywhere you can use splenda®... ...no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience... ...the joy of sugar... ...without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda® welcome back. i'm erica hill. we are following a developing story out of the southeast today, where severe weather has left at least ten people dead. the storm system spun off more than a dozen tornadoes and claimed the lives of people in mississippi, tennessee and arkansas, including an 18-year-old, who was lying dead with her 18 month old sister when the storm caused a tree to fall into her bedroom in arkansas. the baby is expected to