♪ we have got to get out and vote. remember that, folks. no matter what's going on in your life, if you're feeling miserable, if you're depressed, if you're down, whatever the hell, you lost your job like everybody else is losing their job, you have to get out and you have to vote. we have these massive rallies and it's incredible. they say if they vote trump wins. they actually said that. probably. >> it's not every day on the campaign trail when you get a candidate agree with a howard stern reference. good morning it's tuesday, december 29. mika, joe and willie have the day off. i'm nicole alongsi.

nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing. >> i'm not depressed. >> don't tell him that or he'll try to depress you. and associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst gene robinson and former governor of vermont and former chairman of the democratic national committee, howard dean. weather continues to be a big story. residents of the dallas area are still recovering from nine tornadoes that. touched down over the weekend. historic flooding hit several other states. rescue crews still out looking for people who are trapped. now the northeast is bracing for its own winter storm. we'll have the very latest just ahead. but we want to start with politics and another donald trump rally. >> it was the holidays, it was going to be nice and quiet. you forgot donald trump is in this race. the editorial board of new

hampshire's top newspaper left little to the imagination about how they feel about trump. trump blasted right back at a rally last night. the "union-leader" said trump insults voters' intelligence. it compared trump to biff from back to the future. quote, trump has shown himself tube crude blowhard with no clear political philosophy and no deeper understanding of the important and serious role of president of the united states than one of the goons he let's rough up protesters in his crowds. trump compared that. er to the iowa register. >> between that and the "union-leader," what a pile of garbage. so we had an interesting thing. because you have a very dishonest newspaper up here. also failing. it's going down the tubers. i remember when this was a big

paper. look at the size of this thing. they cut it down any more you won't able to find it. it looks like the things you know when you go to the grocery store they give you a handout. they call that coupons. think of this. in 36 years since 1980, okay, think of that. since 1980 they picked one president, it was ronald reagan. they endorsed one guy who ran and won for president. they won out of a 36 period. they won win this time i can tell you that. >> so then trump took aim at the "union-leader" new jersey pick, chris christie. saying the newspaper is his lapping to. the publisher said they asked him, meaning donald to tweet support to chris christie.

>> to see if i can get chris christie on the main stage. i think he'll endorse chris christie. the first time i met with him he said i'll never endorse chris christie. he hated chris christie embraced obama so strongly before the election, right before the election. when i saw it, i said i think he's going to vote for obama. i don't call it a hug. i call it a hug mentally. it was unbelievable. he was like a little boy oh, i'm with the president. remember he flew in the helicopter and was excited to be in the helicopter. i would have put you want in my helicopter it's much nicer. you've had tremendous downgrades either nine or 11 downgrades. it's number 50 out of 50 in terms of economic development and in terms of the economy. it's like one of the worst in the country for jobs. it's a disaster. i have property in new jersey, the taxes are through the roof. you know, i've been friends with

chris christie but when mcquaid who is chris christie's lap dog, i'll tell you -- first of all, i know you're happy he's up here because he's up here. the people in new jersey want to throw him out of office. why isn't he running new jersey? we're a disaster state. we're going to hell. our governor is up in new hampshire every single day having town hall meetings. he ought to be doing it in new jersey in all fairness. >> one more thing, he's making moves towards a more traditional campaign after doubts that his rallies will translate to election day victory. politico reporting this morning that his campaign quietly signed an agreement to access the republican national committee voter file. other campaigns use that database for their get out the vote effort and information trump collect from supporters. will head back to the database for future use. fox news is reporting that trump is preparing to spend $2 million a week an television ads

starting next month. trump hinted at that last night. >> starting around january 4th we're spending a lot of money. i love the concept of saying i spent the least and i'm the best result because that's what it's all about. >> where to begin after all that, nicole wallace. his communication skills, this is a guy who can take anything that happens to him and turn it to his advantage. >> i think it is to be expected that the establishment newspapers in the early primary states are a target and you predicted this yesterday. >> it's not a fair fight. like here's this paper which was once a big player in new hampshire and obviously has lost a lot of influence in addition to subscribers. he has this megaphone they can't match. i have a question for howard, you and i have run for president

before. i think the biggest things that happened was the agreement with the rnc for its voter file. we have the subtext of the donald trump candidacy he's doing this and getting a lot of press. will he turn the enthusiasm into hard votes. this suggests to me that he's making a play to do just that. >> he has to do that every where. but it's essential in yoiowa. i think cruz wins iowa. he's up by ten points. he has the religious right. but it's also -- it's not as essential in new hampshire in a primary state but important. you got to have voter contact. >> from a presidential campaign perspective -- >> what it gets you depend >> explain what you get. >> when you sign on the voter file and these are far more advanced than when we put them together, you basically get every name of anybody who has ever voted in a republican primary and still registered in the last 25 years, their phone

numbers, their emails, whatever. you can get all kind of stuff, magazines they read. >> targeted information. >> part of trump's theory of the election if it can be said he has a theory of the election. >> he's got one. >> part of his theory is he'll bring new people into the process. >> that's the whole basis in virginia he's having a big fight. >> exactly. they have an open primary and asking for a loyalty pledge from voters that they will be loyal republicans. he's fighting that. >> isn't he right, gene? isn't he right to expand -- isn't that the root of my party's problems. >> he's right on that. >> say it again. i don't know how many times we'll hear that. >> donald trump is right on that question. >> there we go. >> that's one of the weird things about donald trump he's so wrong on so many thing. but on some things he's absolutely right. >> being right on that question

and i don't know if you want to go back to the last election and see what the rnc wrote and called to action this is what we have to do, we have to expand the party or never win the presidency is he doing what needs to be done to accomplish that. >> this voter file emerged we finally have the candidate and party coming together in an institutionalized way. the reason why rnc jumps in this agreement the more people he brings into the process the more data they get themselves. there's a mutual beneficial -- >> usually the rule is when you get the list you have to give it back with the addendums. >> that may be trump's greatest contribution. >> bring in people who hate the republican establishment. >> we'll take them. >> does anybody think he'll spend $2 million of his own money. no way. >> a two minute paid ad in iowa teaching people how to caucus.

>> if donald trump runs ads what do they look like. >> so unconventional you can't predict them on this show. >> of the 30 seconds, 28 will be donald trump's face. >> seriously, his challenge is viewed as whether he can convert new supporters, participants at his rallies into caucus goers and i think it would be smart putting up money a one or two minute tutorial. >> it's almost too late. hat obama did was start eight months before. obama basically developed the model that both parties are now using. >> which was an innovation from bush of 2000. >> it was the segmentation of the electorate and what obama did was i've each one of those. you need an enormous amount of people on the ground. hillary has something -- i don't know the exact number. >> you had an incredible iowa

operation. >> we did. the discipline was the difference. obama was so discipline. hillary has thousands of people on the ground. that's what you have to have. i think it's too late for trump in iowa. he needs to do well. he needs to come in first. his primary, his vote at the primary, that you can do. here's how you do it. only one day. caucuses are really complicated. >> former president bill clinton will be on the campaign trail new york. two stops in new hampshire this coming monday he'll headline rallies. donald trump campaigns in lowell, massachusetts on that same day. trump recently declared clinton scandals fair game after hillary clinton accused him of sexism. last night trump said he failed badly. this is how other republicans

weighed in on whether clinton is a liability. >> of course bill clinton is fair game. he's a former president. you're not going to beat hillary clinton by attacking bill clinton. you're going to beat hillary clinton, i'm going to beat hillary clinton by attacking her track record and lack of trustfulness. of course she will play the women's card. that's what she does. >> frankly after seven years of obama a lot of republicans would take bill clinton back warts and all just because at least he understood how to govern. >> rick marcus writes in the "the washington post," trump is write. bill clinton's sordid sexual history is fair game. what's the relevance of bill clinton's conduct? orderly i would argue the sins of the husband should not be visited on the wife. what bill clinton did counts against him and not her. what happens inside a marriage is the couple's business and no one else's even when both halves crave the presidency.

hillary clinton made two moves to lead me to agree with donald trump. she's smartly using her husband as a campaign surrogate and simultaneously correctly calling trump sexist. these moves open a dangerous door and it should surprise no one that trump has barged right through it. is he right? loo >> look, i'm not sure any door was opened here that wasn't already open. the fact is hillary clinton has baggage, right. i think she probably will be our next president. but she -- >> right every president carries -- >> part of her baggage is a former president named bill clinton. >> it's also baggage that people remember. not like you're reminding them.

>> i completely understand that there's clinton baggage but she didn't have an affair with monica lewinsky. i feel there's a line here you have to be careful crossing. putting aside sort of the moral elements of whether this is a fair attack or not and i think it's fine to attack her. i don't think it's fair. it doesn't work. i talked to mitt romney's deputy campaign manager who did the research on this. she says yes the republican primary voters will get riled up on this, thinking bill clinton has gotten away for the monica stuff. but in a general election it moves women into hillary clinton's camp. >> this is so fantastic. >> do you think there's not a single universe of women out there or men who are simply reluctant to relive the clinton era years. >> here's the problem for trump.

we all know he's the master of this kind of stuff. there's one person in america who is clearly better than trump and his name is bill clinton. >> he's not running for president. listen -- >> trump goes after bill clinton, bill clinton won't take him on directly. he'll do what he did to newt gingrich in congress when they impeached him. he'll flip i want around. whoever takes on bill clinton will look like an imbecile. >> you don't think there's any possibility in this country there's some voters who are reluctant to relive the horrors of the sordid nature of the clinton years. >> there's all kind of women who will vote in republican voters. you look at bill clinton's numbers my guess is they are higher than anybody on both side of the aisle. >> you really don't think that any of their past is a liability for hillary clinton as she

courts independent voters. >> it's not about that. it's about stuff like nafta and deregulation, things that a tangible economic impact on people's lives not about the sordid scandals. >> there are some people out there for whom that is a liability. i just think the market discounted that. those people are not supporting hillary clinton and we're seeing their numbers in the polls already. >> they haven't forgotten about what happened with bill clinton. that's been factored in. >> there's a 25-year-old who has not heard about travel gate and won't go to the polls because of this, obviously. >> we had to cancel some rallies because of the weather, severe weather continues to plague a lot of the country this morning. in texas residents in the dallas area are in recovery mode after nine tornadoes touched down on saturday. 11 people died at least according to the nbc affiliate in dallas, 18 people are still missing or unaccounted for in

garland, texas where an ef-4 hit. president obama called the governor of texas to offer his support for recovery efforts. several states are being hit for historic flooding. in missouri there's ten flooding related deaths. rescue crews had their hand full pulling people to safety. >> we were rescued by a boat with the fire department. but we were rescued at 9:00 this morning and stood in that water for about three hours waiting for them to get here. >> meanwhile several states including new york and massachusetts are getting ready yes for snow. more on the severe weather hitting the country. let's turn to meteorologist bonnie snyder. >> we're looking at winter weather working its way through new england. you can see that snow pushing through new hampshire, vermont and maine. notice off to the west into

chicago just a little bit of light freezing rain to the north and to wisconsin where we're getting more substantial snow. but it's important to note we have a lot of flight cancellations. 500 as of 5:00 this morning and many in chicago. also very windy there so that's something we're monitoring. as you can see we're looking at quite a bit of snowfall accumulations in the new england area. heavy amounts of snow. watch out for ice what's going to happen the cold air will filter in behind this system and ice can accumulate in pockets up to half an inch. we could see power outages. we still have the ground completely saturated across missouri and that's why we're monitoring very, very carefully the threat for flooding along the mississippi river. >> thank you so much. still ahead on "morning joe" he earned the nicknameeconomic ar-

affluenza team. >> we'll explain why classiness is next to godleyness. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you both have a perfect driving record. perfect. no tickets. no accidents. that is until one of you clips a food truck, ruining your perfect record. yeah. now you would think your insurance company would cut you some slack, right? no. your insurance rates go through the roof... your perfect record doesn't get you anything. anything. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

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the mayor of cleveland says the city will launch an administrative review after a grand jury declined to indict the officers involved in the deadly shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice. the boy was shot last year after handling a pellet gun. prosecutor said it was reasonable that the officers believed they were in danger, unable to tell whether the gun was an air soft. investigators believe the action was his effort to hand it over or show that it was a fake. >> given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes in miscommunications by all involved that day the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police. through this process we too want

justice for tamir. justice will not be achieved by bringing charges by violating the ethical canons of our profession. >> the prosecutor is calling on the state legislator and gun manufacturers to stop making fake weapons that look like the real thing. the family of tamir rice say they are saddant but not surprised by the grand jury decision. however the city's forthcoming mr. stimulative review could result in discipline against two officers. there's so many things about this, i mean -- >> where to begin. >> howard, you were saying. >> this is why the attorney general of new york is right, you should not have local d.a.s presenting this kind of stuff involving cop killings. >> why is that? >> they have a close working relationship. they have to do it. this is not -- there may or may not be aspersions on this particular district attorney. we have the same thing here in new york. you can't do it. you have a close working relationship. any decent prosecutor can get an

indictment out of a grand jury. the defense doesn't present anything and can't. so this is an example of conflict of interest and should be changed. you should not allow prosecutors to be the ones -- it should be the attorney general. >> it seems the prosecutor is actually act being like the defense attorney. >> exactly. >> as howard said that's almost always is going to be the case. because the prosecutors and cops work together. they know each other. it doesn't belong in the hands of the local d.a. there are a million questions about this case. number one, you know, what law was tamir rice supposedly violating. the police officers apparently thought he was an adult and had a gun in an open carry state, right? in a state where it's not illegal to be walking around with a gun, actually. so, again -- >> there's the whole stuff of subconscious or conscious racism

where you perceive young african-american kids to be taller, older than -- >> 11. >> black teens are 21 times more likely than white kids to be shot and killed by police. and the legal standard is what is incredible here is you have to have a perceived threat and that's all you need to have justifiable shootings. when these cops can prove they perceived a threat from a 12-year-old teen with a toy gun that's the game. >> what we've heard too many times, they are saddened but not surprised. when we were talking about rahm emanuel, the embattled mayor of chicago is to return today. he was vacationing in cuba after police shot two people. kevin tibbles has more. >> reporter: according to the family bettie jones was asked by

the man upstairs to answer the door when police got here. she came out of her apartment, did just that and seconds later she was shot. today the family of bettie jones gathered in her apartment without her. >> i feel like i want to wake up and have my mom say it was a dream. i can't. she's gone. she was murdered. that's all that is. >> reporter: 19-year-old quintonio legreer was also killed. his family says he had developed a mental illness. >> now police say that bettie jones who was the mother of five was struck by accident. we've also learned that father of the 19-year-old who originally called police on his son is now suing the city and that lawsuit contradicts the police department's story that quintonio legreer was combative before he was shot. it also accuses the police officer of failing to provide the college student with medical help after the shooting. city's independent police review board is investigating. yesterday there was a call

for, by the reverend al sharpton that he thinks at this point that rahm emanuel needs to resign. he wasn't going to come back. there was this outcry, you need to get back to your city, and they issued a statement saying he was going to come back. >> what does this community do? this family called the cops for help for a mentally disturbed person. there's no proof they were threatened. they needed help with him. he in crisis. what does the community do the next time somebody needs help. >> who do you call? you call the police. >> it's the broken piece. forget about the fact they don't feel protected. what do they do in a crisis? >> i mean -- >> that's what a family member said. the family member said he had a baseball bat and we called because we wanted help. we needed help. >> to de-escalate. >> you have to sit back and say there were multiple incidents where cops said we felt they were threatened, we were under

siege and videotape shows it wasn't the case. >> no way bettie jones threatened him. >> at this juncture you have to cynical or skeptical about the story police are saying. >> we sat on a story that's demonstrably -- >> what does rahm emanuel do now? you come home. >> he's in deep trouble. this has been going on for a long time. suppression of the film for 450 days because he was running for r re-election of -- the chicago police department is in a lot of trouble. they were running essentially off the record jails. incarcerating chicagoans and nobody knew where they were. they wouldn't tell their lawyers. this is completely out of

control. completely out of control. the city is out of control. >> this is a test of rahm emanuel's ability as an administrator, as a mayor to get control of this police department. >> the test is already done. >> i was going to say. he's not passing the test. >> the test -- you think there are people still judging and weighing. >> i agree with howard he's in deep political trouble. >> there's no debate about it. unfortunately a vacation he is coming back which he has to do. >> why didn't he come back saturday night. >> is this end not the beginning. it got to a point on substantive levels where police were running their own fiefdom. >> now we got this manhunt finally coming to an end. ethan couch the wealthy texas teenager who was known for his so-called affluenza defense.

he and his missing mother were taken into custody by mexican authorities earl this morning. he was sentenced to drug and alcohol free probation after killing four people in drunk driving. they believe ethan couch was seen playing beer pong in this video in violation of his probation. what would you call it, sam? >> i don't know what is that. you usually don't jump on the table when you play beer pong. >> we don't know if he was actually drinking. >> we don't know. we do know after that video surfaced -- >> that wasn't him jumping on the table. >> nice. >> the person that gets the kudos is the defense attorney who invented the defense of affluenza and getting this guy off the hook. >> the video comes out.

he disappears. mom disappears. so his mother had also been listed, again, as missing. he's expected to be turned over to the u.s. martial service. still ahead the ultimate terrorist factory how the seeds of extremism are planted far from the battlefield of syria. this is a new cover story in harper magazine. it explores why the prison system in france is a fertile ground for radicalization. next the must read opinion pages. >> important message for women and men ages 50 to 85. please write down this toll-free number now. right now, in areas like yours, people are receiving this free information kit for guaranteed acceptance life insurance with a rate lock

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. the selfie is now the 11th amendment of the bill of rights. it's inspired by framers and founders, apparently. it is a requirement you take one and i do it with great joy in my heart. it wasn't that long ago people wanted signatures on things now forget that. i want my damn selfie and i'm not leaving until i get it. so we spend a lot of quality time doing that and hoping the person has a long enough arm or i will take over. just for the record young people do it better than older people. we go through a little training class here. it's cooler to do it diagonally rather than straight up and better to do it higher than lower because you look skinnier. [ laughter ] am i right? >> foot loose and fancy free.

jeb bush there offering his case to taking the perfect selfie. just as at that framers of the constitution indicated. >> a little painful. >> come on. hitting his stride there. let's bring in steve kornacki and hallie jackson. you were at that trump rally where he took the editorial page director to task along with many others, chris christie and others. what was the energy like in that room? i'm guessing they applauded loudly. >> lots of applause. excellent guess. no on stage selfies for donald trump. a couple of things stood out. who he hit, who he didn't hit and his discussion about how much money he's going to spend. you talk about him slamming the union-leader, slammi inchris christie, slamming the publisher of that paper. it was substantial. he kept going after it. the crowd was quite into it.

they were cheering and clapping. remember this is their new hampshire paper, this is their local newspaper they are talking about that was hitting trump in that editorial. interestingly he didn't hit at least last night bill clinton who has bean target of his online for days now ever since the christmas break and that's something that trump noted right off the top of his rally. he came out on stage. great to see you guys. i've only been able to tweet. he didn't hit bill clinton. he did, however, get online and slam clinton for campaigning for hillary back in 2008 saying he failed on the campaign trail back then. interestingly after the event he went into the overflow room to say hi to folks in the room there. he said he would spend money unleashing some of his fortune on january 4th he wants to take no chances between now and the iowa caucus and that's really interesting because so far donald trump has spent the least amount of money of any candidate about $217,000 which is a pittance.

at this point he's been relying on earned media. his ad buy could change the dynamic. i had a chance to speak with some folks in the crowd to get a sense of why they came out listening to mr. trump and i want to you listen to one conversation i had from one couple. why did you come out and spend a night with mr. trump? >> he's the man. we want to see him. >> he's exciting. >> yeah exciting. >> he's saying a lot of things that no one else wants to say out loud which is important and be heard. >> people are fed up. same old, same old. and this man is bringing something refreshing. >> how far decided? is trump your guy? >> we still have a couple months to go. we're certainly leaning heavily otherwise we wouldn't be out here freezing tonight. >> that was interesting. he said we're still looking who to decide. we're leaning towards trump. it's that attitude that chris christie is counting on. there's still five and a half

weeks to go. even though people are turning out to trump rallies and telling pollsters maybe when push comes to shove they will change their mind. >> leaning heavily. definitely making clear the support of it. very interesting. thank you very much. steve kornacki, do you think that applies to a lot of folks at trump rallies. >> i think it aflies a lot of people at new hampshire events. that's the new hampshire way. it's a trumpy thing. they have leverage because these candidates are there begging for their votes. >> they like it. they like being courted. >> yeah. the bigger problem i think is that union leader editorial, the problem for union leader for republicans that think like that don't want trump as their nominee they have to stop him in new hampshire. the problem in new hampshire is you have this logjam. you have bush. kasich. rubio. christie with the union leaders

endorsement. you add those four numbers together that's enough to beat donald trump in new hampshire. you divide them among four trump is crushing them. >> you were cringing about jeb bush. you don't think jeb bush will rise. >> i'm not saying that. i think his speech on selfie was ridiculous. >> he's standing there at the bridge between his generation and future generations. he's right about shooting from above. >> he's totally right. >> you always shoot up. >> i did not know that. >> very creative pose. >> question for you, do you think that jeb for all his flaws and the selfie habits, does he have any legs in new hampshire which seems to be remarkably after $115 million raised is a state. >> i like jeb bush but i don't think he has legs. >> you say you like jeb bush. >> i know him a little bit. he's an easy guy to be with and

funny. he's sarcastic. he's got this other side that you like. i just don't see his campaign going anywhere because his voters are all the other voters. kasich and christie and that's who he is competing with. maybe he'll come in third. >> is part of the issue with new hampshire that because cruz is likely to win in iowa, he's not that moderate break out candidate that could -- >> can you hold your answer because i want to get you on that question exactly and i also want to bring in this piece in politico. donald trump isn't the biggest ne narcisst in the field, cruz is. the speaker over sells everything, he calls everything

he says into question. it begs the question of authenticity and genuineness. cruz does not stand by all that he defends. cruz will never tell you he made a mistake or changed his mind. we never see an authentic cruz because we don't see a vulnerable cruz. he's perfect. just ask him. >> that could be describing a lot of politicians, i think. >> really? >> present company excluded. >> many. certainly not all. >> in this gop field cruz sane category of his own with this particular critique. >> arrogance could apply to trump as well maybe a few others. >> not authenticity. trump is not being inauthentic. >> inauthentic you could apply to other candidates and that's probably a common one. i don't know. maybe i'm sticking up too much for cruz here. in new hampshire the interesting thing, if cruz is well positioned in iowa, the iowa winner bombs in new hampshire.

huckabee went nowhere. pat robertson didn't win iowa but the break out guy in '88. did nothing in new hampshire. call it the establishment lane. secular lane. new hampshire is maybe the most secular state in the country. >> i was thinking about kerry in 2004 as you're aware was able to parlay his iowa win to new hampshire. you don't see that happening with ted cruz. >> iowa and new hampshire in a way they aren't on the democratic side are separated. we come to a point where you get one person out of each state. this is why i think the establishment has to stop trump in new hampshire. they won put a win on the board. if they don't stop trump in new hampshire i don't know how you jump start your campaign if you're rubio or bush. so don't go anywhere. stay with us. still ahead by one estimate it can cost $500,000 to destroy an isis pickup truck and it adds

up. the u.s. is spending $11 every day. senator chris coons says it's a blank check for wars. he joins us next and explains it to us. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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joining us from wilmington, delaware, member of the foreign relations committee, democratic senator chris coons. he has new op-ed calling america to pay up in the fight against isis. he writes in sunday's philadelphian inquirer if we fight we must pay. talk to us about the piece. senator writes, sorry little precedence in pre-nin history in charging into war without finding a way to pay for it. from the war of 1812 to the gulf war congress took steps to pay for every major conflict. yet congress has failed to offset the cost of the post-9/11 wars in iraq and afghanistan. as of november 30 th united states spent nearly $5.4 billion

in u.s. air strikes against isis. that's $11 every day. when we pay for a war with a credit card and when the pain of war is felt by our troops and their families it's far too easy for leaders to send our troops in harm's way without a national conversation about the merits of our involvement and far too easy for those conflicts to drag on. you write about how the burden is unfairly shouldered by the military and their families. tell us about the piece. >> that's right. as we look back at the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan, the united states charged into war in afghanistan against the taliban and al qaeda that had attacked its state in 2001 and iraq against saddam hussein with no conversation, no serious thought given to how we would pay for those wars. both very long term human costs of caring for and supporting our

veterans who bear the scars and sacrifices of battle and with no thought of putting the cost of those two wars on american credit card and burdening children and grandchildren of the cost. as a member of the foreign relations committee and appropriations committee i'm trying to raise my hand and saying we're not doing our job in congress. president obama sent us an aumf, washington speak for a request for a declaration of war against isis all the way back in february. and we have not taken it up, debated it and passed it. we owe that to our veterans and to those serving in the conflict against isis but we also need to stand up and say how are we going to pay for it. all the previous wars as you referenced before iraq and afghanistan had a dedicated war surtax. that's one way we could fairly pay for it with a small surtax that exempted active duty military families and veterans. but there's other ways we could pay for it. we just can't keep going without even discussing it.

>> senator, the surtax idea makes sense logically. but then you run into a small problem it's really, really difficult to actually budget for wars. for instance the initial projections for the cost of the iraq war i believe were 50 to 60 billion dollars and it was well over a trillion dollars. what happens when that surtax isn't enough. what happens when you have to go back to the well. >> you literally can adjust the amount of the surtax annually in order to meet the needs of that specific conflict. frankly it will make members of congress hesitate. there's a whole lot of outrageous statements being made, very aggressive statements being made by republican presidential candidates and by others by my colleagues in the senate about how much they would do, how aggressive they would be. if they had to vote to fund the cost of the wars they are threatening to expand, it would create somewhat of a speed bump. it would force us to debate not just the strategy of the war

against isis which we need to more seriously contemplate, it would also force us to look at the cost, short term and long term of the conflict that we are already well into against isis. >> senator, a question from gene robinson. >> senator, why isn't congress taking a vote? why isn't congress voting to support, to fund the war? is it pure politics? is it disagreement with the policy? why? >> well, we did take up and pass an aumf, declaration of war through the foreign relations committee late in the last congress. it didn't make to it the floor. under this current republican controlled congress we have not taken it up and debated it. gene, centrally there's a disagreement. a group of us, republicans and democrats on the foreign relations committee have tried to coble together a bipartisan coalition. there's legitimate concern by our chairman and ranking member we wouldn't be able to get a

strong bipartisan vote and they worry that would undermine the war effort. i respect that concern, but several members of the committee remember senator kain of virginia and other think we owe it to the people to take up this issue and vote on it. if we'll have critics of president obama's strategy in syria and iraq then we ought to do our job and debate strategy and debate authorization and do the role that the founders imagined for congress. >> realistically, senator, what do you see the chances of that happening especially as we go into this election year and everything becomes more politically froth than it is and if the aumf can't come up where do you go legislatively with this with your arguments? >> i understand that with the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary just a month or six weeks away, that the argument oh, we can't do anything serious because we're in the middle of a

presidential election does begin to hold some sway. but we can't have a country where congress fails to do its constitutional duty simply because we have an election. that runs against the founders vision that we could both legislate and have campaigns at the same time in a vibrant democracy. i think if we bring this up in committee, enough responsible senators will step up and make kms that we'll end up with a meaningful authorization. at the very least i think we owe to it those who we have sent into harm's way, who are currently serving in iraq and syria to know that we got their back and that we authorize the actions that they are taking. i am concerned given the trajectory of the presidential examine that we got some candidates, donald trump in particular, but others, who are making statements that are just outrageous and that, frankly, are playing right into frame that isis wants us to be saying about our conflict with terrorism in the middle east. >> it's an important piece.

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americans once again named hillary clinton and president obama as their most admired woman and man in the world this year according to a gallup poll, but the co-runners up in the most admired man category slightly more surprising that honor goes to yes pope francis and donald trump, each earned 5% fold by bernie sanders with 3,

bill gates 2. go down the list a tie for seventh place between dalai lama and george w. bush. on the woman's side, malala yousafzai and oprah winfrey. none came close to president obama. and we're giving the award to pontiff and -- >> me and the pope. >> new ad buy. >> that's after he criticizes them giving the most to the president. >> all right. coming up a quarter million dollar salary doesn't sound like middle class to a lot of working voters but hillary clinton making that number a financial benchmark for a lot of her economic policy. we'll dig into why ahead. plus three very big cover stories on new stands they cover everything from blair de blasio to isis recruitment to some of the lives we lost in 2015. we'll bring in the writers of

some of those pieces. that's ahead on "morning joe."

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so i might just ask somebody, why do you want to do this? in a suppose they would give a cliche answer because that's what candidates do. but i will tell you as presid t president, if you're interested just because you like the title or you like the trappings or you like the power or the fame or the celebrity, that side of it wears off pretty quick. at least it has for me. if you're aspiring to this job then you need to ask yourself some very serious questions

about why you're doing it. because that's what's going to keep you going on those days that things aren't going so well. >> that was an amazing interview. the last portion of a year end interview with npr the president warning those who are running for president for the wrong reasons. imagine that. welcome back to "morning joe." it's tuesday, december 29th. joe, mika and willie have the morning off. i'm nicole wallace alongside with reinforcements. sam stein getting me in trouble and getting me fired. chris jansing, saving us all. pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of "the washington post" bringing us class and style eugene robinson. wasn't style of her own, kasie hunt, steve kornacki is still with us as well.

>> the editorial board of new hampshire's top newspaper left very little to the imagination with regard to how they feel about donald trump. and trump shock blasted right back at a rally last night. it began with the union-leader publishing this front page editorial saying trump insults voters intelligence. the publisher compared trump to bif from back to the future. trump has shown himself to be a crude blowhard with no clear political philosophy and no deeper understanding of the important and serious role of president of the united states than one of the goons he let's rough up protester in his crowds. trump compared to it the iowa register. >> between that and the union-leader which i think might be worse, okay, what a pile of garbage. we had an interesting thing. because you have a very dishonest newspaper up here. also failing newspaper. it's going down the tubers.

[ laughter ] i remember when this was a big paper. look at the size of this thing. if they cut it down any more you won't able to find it. it looks like the things, you know, when you go to the grocery store where they give you a little handout. what do they call that? coupons. this was a big powerhouse years ago. in 36 years since 1980, okay, think of that, since 1980, they picked one president, it was ronald reagan. they endorsed one guy who ran and run for president. so they are one out of 36 year period. they got one and they are not going to win this time that i can tell you, okay. >> donald trump with both a penny saver reference and gardening reference i don't think he knew tubers was a gardening reference. >> thanks for pointing that out. >> tubes, tubers. you and the liberal media you're always distorting. >> you say potato, i say potato.

trump took aim at the union leaders 2016 pick new jersey governor chris christie saying the newspaper was christie's lap dog. >> when he called me up a couple of months ago to get christie on the main stage. i think he would endorse christie. why would he do that. the first time i met with him he said i'll never endorse christie. the reason he said that. he hated that christie embraced obama so strongly before the election. right before the election. when i saw it, i said i think he's going to vote for obama. i don't call it a hug. i call it a hug mentally. it was like -- it was unbelievable. he was like a little boy oh, i'm with the president. remember he flew in the helicopter and he was all excited to be in the helicopter. i said i would have put you in my helicopter it's much nicer. you've had tremendous downgrades, even nine or 11 downgrades of the bonds. it's number 50 out 50 in terms of economic development and in

terms of the economy. it's like one of the worst in the country for jobs. it's a disaster. i have property in new jersey. the taxes are through the roof. you know, i've been friends with christie but when mcquaid who is christie's lap dog, i'll tell you. first of all, i know you're happy he's up here because he's up here. you know the people in new jersey want to throw him out of office. why isn't he running new jersey? we're a disaster state. we're going hell and our goff is up in new hampshire every single day having town hall meetings. he taught be doing it in new jersey in all fairness. >> trump is making moves towards more traditional campaigns. politico reports trump's campaign quietly signed an agreement to access the republican national committee's voter file. other campaigns use the database for their get out the vote efforts and information trump collects from supporters will then be fed back to the database for future use by the party. meanwhile fox news is reporting

that trump is preparing to spend $2 million a week on television starting next month. he hinted at that last night. >> starting around january 4th we're spending a lot of money. we're going out and spending a lot. i love the concept of saying i spent the least and i'm the best result. because that's what it's all about. >> one rally, 400 points of interest but let's start with him going after chris christie, because he's practically living in new hampshire now and, obviously, as he's gaining some traction in new hampshire, trump is feeling the heat and he's taking the hits now. >> trump is feeling the heat. so is everyone else. i think over the course of the past week or so we've seen an uptick in the traffic, if you will, surrounding christie from these other campaigns. if you take a look at the list of what's been out in the papers lately, people have been raising questions about christie's story about abortion, about whether he was actually arguing before the

fisa court talking about his national security record. even one "philadelphia inquirer" story how he busted new jersey y jerseyi jerseyians up to a rally in new hampshire. if true it's a big no-nine the granite state. taken together this all shows you there's suddenly a lot of focus on christie that says other republicans are seeing his numbers come up and their internal polling possibly ahead of where the public polling is. his favorability number in new hampshire one to watch, he's basically turned it upside down from where it was which as you know is not an easy feat. the question going forward whether this bubble christie is experiencing is something that carries him all the way through these five and a half weeks we have to frierm or whether this fire direct at him will push him down. >> steve kornacki, you want to weigh in on that? >> it's interesting. you talk about the christie-trump dynamic, watching trump go after him last night. cystive is unique among some of

these candidates. he wants a fight with donald trump. he recognizes he needs attention. he needs the media spotlight and i think he feels more confident than most of these other guys that he can go toe to toe with donald trump. you've seen ran paul, you've seen jeb bush try to stand up to trump in the debates. didn't necessarily go too well. ted cruz is not going after donald trump. chris christie, before donald trump became a serious presidential candidate chris christie was supposed to be the guy with the big personality, the outspoken blunt guy who had these viral moments. he feels if he can get the spotlight with trump, get in a public spat with trump he might come out looking better at least have a chance than some of these other guys. >> you write in the "the washington post" how donald trump destroyed the republican party in 2015. what trump has done is call out the establishment on years of dishonest rhetoric. progressives often asked why so many working class whites went

against their own economic interest by supporting the gop. the answer is that republicans appealed to these voters on cultural ground, subtly exploiting their resentments and fears. enter trump who has the temerity to point out the party says one thing and does something else. he let the cat out of the bag it's hungry. the party might nominate trump in which case the establishment will have lost all control. or party leaders might somehow find a way to defeat him in which case they will have lost the allegiance of much of the base. >> i think the republican party we new five, ten years ago is not the republican party that's going to come out of this. and it's basically because of donald trump. he brought new people into the party. he has revealed the schism between the very angry, very ticked off base that, that

rejects the establishment. consistently in the poll more than half the party saying they want somebody to run for president who has never run for office, who has nothing to do with the establishment, who is attacking the establishment, essentially. so where does that leave the republican establishment? where does it leave the party? it used to be democrats fell in love and republican fall in line. can you imagine republicans of this party falling in line behind a jeb bush or a marco rubio. >> democrats have hillary clinton. >> you know, in the end sometimes these processes work themselves out and you end up with the establishment flavor. you had somewhat of the same conversation in 2012 but not to this extent with donald trump. i do agree. our frame has basically tilted completely right ward where we think the reasonable moderate candidates were ten, 15 years ago true conservatives if you put them in that context.

the thing with christie he could square all this. he did expand medicaid in new jersey which is something deeply unpopular with republicans but if he were to come in to new hampshire it's not a killer. he has a moderate past but run away from it. one thing i would say and maybe you can talk about this, his big moment, the thing that sort of catapulted him back into the conversation was a moment of empathy. when he was talk become addiction and relating to these people in a way that no presidential candidate had done. >> in either party. >> i wonder maybe if, you know, this whole bully persona he himself had prior to trump whether that makes sense for him at this point. whether he has a better hand to play when it comes to saying i understand real life. you laugh. >> even though chris christie -- >> i will say -- the speech about addict shopping was a moving speech. maybe that's crazy. >> it's not crazy. frankly i saw it on rachel

maddox show. it got the attention. >> very authentic. we talked about chris christie having these natural political skills. but, look, that issue in particular as well. christie is authentic. and that's something he brings to the table that a lot of these other candidates struggle with and that drug addiction story. there's many reasons why that story take to the forefront partially the way the video was shot and very dramatic and distributed by your news organization that allowed millions of people to see it. still ate story he tells over and over and over again. i ash year ago going a drug treatment center with christie in london and this is not something he came up with by himself but it does show he has had, in that being the case, he's had his finger on the pulse of an issue that a lot of americans as it turns out cares about. it underscores his overall skill

and what he could -- >> if you have ever been in a room with him and see the effect that this authenticity has, you realize going around the way he has in new hampshire can have a tremendous effect. i tell people you should go online, there's a scene of chris christie where he talks about rock climbing walls in colleges. and it is better than any snl skit you've ever seen except i don't know one or two. it's unbelievable where he really goes after the idea of spending money that should be going for education. there's a pile of rocks outside. go outside and climb the pile of rocks. obviously i didn't deliver it as well as he did. it's very funny when he does it. >> the other thing about donald trump being in this race in some ways it's neutralized what was one of christie's potential weakness which was the perception and he was bully. while chris christie has a personality that can stand up to

donald trump, suddenly he's not per steefd be the b perceived to be the biggest bully in the room. >> bernie sanders continues his push in nevada in front of a crowd of 3,000. he took on donald trump who earlier in the day called the senator from vermont a whacko via twitter. >> there are people out there, donald trump and others who are attempting to do what demagogues have always done and that is instead of bringing people together to address and solve the real problems that we face, what they try to do is cap the anger and frustration that people are feeling and then divide us up.

no, we're not going hate latinos, we're not going to hate muslims, we're going to stand together. >> well that's the other thing, steve kornacki you have to say about donald trump he's giving everybody material and if you know how to use to it work your crowd kit be to your advantage. >> bernie sanders has been so resistant to the more gamesmanship aspects of politics, learning a lesson. if you want to get some attention you want to get the media spotlight get in a fight with donald trump. look at hillary clinton the last couple of weeks, remember this latest dust you she's had with donald trump started with attacks she made against him in that democratic debate. one of the things that had the effect of doing besides riling up trump it caused democrats to rally around hillary clinton. she's being attacked aggressively by donald trump. so democrats wanted to rally around her and it had the effect of making some democrats maybe forget for a minute that there's still a primary here.

bernie sanders is still in this race. bernie sanders may be getting a piece of that spotlight. with bernie sanders, the long term problem for him that i haven't seen him address, i don't know that he can address if you get beyond iowa and new hampshire where he's competitive right now and look at south carolina, look at states where the electorate, democratic electorate is much more diverse he has failed all year, all of 2015 to make inroads especially with black voters. you go from places in iowa and new hampshire where he's competitive to south carolina where he's losing by 50 points. i think the basic problem with sanders exist once you get outside of iowa and new hampshire i don't see it. >> stale head neither rain or notice could keep martin o'malley from campaigning in iowa. he joins us live as we get closer and closer to the caucuses. al jazeera stands by its peyton manning doping allegations even though the person caught on camera make being the claims has recanted. you're watching "morning joe" and we'll be right back.

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with time running out for president obama to make good on his 2009 vow to close guantanamo bay before he leaves office thing pentagon is stepping up

its efforts to transfer detainees. a senior u.s. official says the first of 17 detainees scheduled to be released jayne will be transferred next week. a move that will cut the prison population to 90 by late january, 31 would still be eligible for transfer. though the white house and pentagon also insaft number of the detainees are too dangerous to be released. now president obama's trip to hawaii has been relatively quiet so far built this moment of pause yesterday. the motorcade was briefly stopped while the secret service checked out a drone flying in the area. according to an official the person operating the drone was completely unaware the presidential motorcade would be driving in the area and complied immediately when asked to cease and desist. no charges are going to be filed. the motorcade continued on. and 2015 could be the year remembered for an explosion of polling in this presidential

race. the "boston globe" looked at the number of polls of the republican race in the early contest states. they are up by nearly 90%. this is a pollster app. already this year there have been 236 polls up from 2011 while the number of national polls remained steady at 100. the number in new hampshire has more than doubled from 29 to 60. iowa is up from 29 in 2011 to 56 in 2015. even the third contest, south carolina has seen an increase in polls. 14 to 20. what we learned is another question for another day. >> let's bring in martin o'malley former governor from maryland. i believe town lie candidate in either party to have made to it all of your scheduled campaign events yesterday. is that true? and how is it doing for you >> we decided to plow through,

quite literally sometimes. very last event of the night, we actually had a whopping total of one person show up but by god he was glad to see me. so we spent the time with him. >> they care about that. >> i hope so. i'm working on him. >> can i ask you -- go ahead. i'm sorry to interrupt. >> it's iowa. people wait here until the last couple of weeks. they want to see the whole campaign play out. so i wasn't surprised that he was uncommitted. i'm glad he took the time to come out in the snow to see me. we almost cancelled that last event. >> a good sign for you that he came out. i want to ask you about something because i agree with your assessment about the strategy of the democratic debates. i was flipping around channels the saturday before christmas, had no idea there was a democratic debate on. i happened into it about 20 minutes in. you say that the strategy for the democratic debates is designed to limit viewers.

why? >> because they are trying to circle the wagons around this year's inevitable front-runner, hillary clinton. the party leader, wasserman-schultz is doing a terrible disservice to the public. look how many debates the republicans have had. they scheduled them on week nights. we should be having at least as many debates they had. in the debates we've been allowed to have, although they are hidden on saturday, nonetheless people here in iowa and people in new hampshire have been going out of their way to do their due diligence and we have one more debate coming up in south carolina. so i continue to put forward our message that what our country needs right now to move us forward and these self-defeegt and divided times is new leadership. not more years of divide and polarized governance but new leadership that can pull us together. as a former governor, as a mayor i've done that. >> fortunately we have an ex-dnc

leader here. what do you make of that. >> i would like to comment on this. every candidate says that the dnc is against them. i had a referee between president obama and hillary clinton and they both thought i was in the tank for the other one. i disagree with martin. i don't think the books were cooked and if they were they were cooked badly because shack a good debater. after each debate she gets a bump. if this was a strategy to help hillary clinton i don't think it has. but, you know, it is true, you have to admit martin every candidate complains about the dnc favoring the other candidate, right? >> but it's also true we've never had so few debates. can you are ever remember a time when the people of iowa and new hampshire each told they only get one debate. >> that's a question i have for you. i was actually the architect of the six debates. it was actually to protect our

candidates from all the organizations that demanded it. my prediction was there were going lot of debates. if i were you, i would get 0 together with bernie and say we're going to have a debate. hillary you're invited, if the dnc doesn't like that too bad. bernie sanders doesn't want to do more debates. he likes where it is. all of that is what is it. the concentration of power and wealth in our economy, that same concentration of power and wealth is happening in the democratic party and you know what? i don't care. the people are going to decide. and i'm going to go out and campaign in iowa. i'm going to make my case for the people of south carolina, iowa and nevada and people understand as their economy vigd so too sometimes can their politics and i'm going to continue to call forward the goodness in the hearts of americans. i'm going to advocate for 100% clean electorate grid and put out the better path for our party and i believe people will surprise the pundits and bigwigs

in washington who thought they were cute by limiting these debates, hide them behind football games and frosty the snowman. we'll let people decide. i'm excited about the next 35 days. >> governor o'malley, nice to see you again. away from presidential politics for a second, chicago mayor rahm emanuel has come under increasing scrutiny for the way the police are conducting themselves. i know you were obviously a former big city mayor and i'm wondering as you watch events unfold in chicago do you think that mayor rahm emanuel should step down? >> this is what i believe. i believe that our country is in need of a new agenda for criminal justice reform. whether it was the investigation in chicago, or the one, the grand jury decision in cleveland, we need to develop mechanisms that as a routine matter, not in extraordinary cases but as a routine matter,

we have states attorneys that are at least one county removed from the jurisdiction where police involved shooting happens that they actually step in and handle this case. i think that it would give a lot more confidence to the public. >> governor you're not ready to call on mayor rahm emanuel to step down from this. >> no, that's not my place. mayor rahm emanuel, the people of chicago, they will -- they have -- it's their decision to make with regard to their city. >> do you think he's handled it well. >> every city -- i believe that every city would be well served if they were to bring in as a routine matter neighboring jurisdictions to review these police involved shooting cases. i was mayor of baltimore. we trove our fatal police shootings down to the lowest in years in history. we can do better. every city should develop mechanisms throughout the country where you bring in an outside prosecutor so the result is not, you know, so that the

result is beyond reproach. those are tough jobs that we can police officers to do and in these cases we need to bring in independent prosecutors from outside the jurisdiction so that the public has confidence that it's being properly handled. >> governor, martin o'malley, thank you for being with us. good luck in des moines, in iowa today. new york city mayor de blasio learns the cruel reality in governing in poetry and delivering in prose. what's the new normal for the middle class? the controversy over defining middle america next. i asked my dentist if an electric toothbrush was going to clean better than a manual? he said sure. but don't get just any one. get one inspired by dentists. with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. and oral-b delivers a clinically proven superior clean

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don't settle for u-verse. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. you have said it's your goal not raise taxes on families making under $250,000 a goal. can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight >> that is a pledge i'm making. in made it when i ran in 2008. yes. >> when secretary clinton says i'm not going raise classes on the middle class. let me tell you what she's saying. she's disagreeing with fdr and social security, lbj on medicare and with the vast majority of progressive democrats in the house and the senate. >> so there you are seeing a little piece of a simmering fight between democrats when it comes to raising taxes on the middle class. here's another question at play here.

is $250,000 a year really middle class? an economic policy editor doesn't think so. she joins us now to explain. you did this piece in the "new york times." i'm not surprised you told us in the break you're being inundated with emails. to be fair, hillary clinton is not the only one who has define middle class this way. >> this goes back to her husband, bill clinton. he made the top tax breaks start at 250,000 that basically set this arbitrary limit and obama made the same pledge, hillary is making this pledge this time. what's different is this sparring going on between clinton and sanders about whether or not you raise taxes on the middle class, but, of course, first you have to talk about who is the middle class. this arbitrary limit of $250,000 or more is just out of touch with reality. >> we're showing this now. when the median income is just $53,657.

>> right. so those are the people in the exact middle making the exact middle income in this country. it's far, far lower. on top of that, if you make this limit, you make $250,000, you're actually in the top 5% of americans. in a time of growing income inequality that group at the top is pulling further and further away from those people who are actually in the middle. it doesn't make a lot of sense on the numbers and then as policy it really boxes you in. >> just to defend bill and hillary clinton on this, this is about tax policy. this isn't about an arbitrary definition of middle class. i think they were both talking about tax cuts and tax relief should be targeted to stimulate growth. isn't that a bit of a misrepresentation to suggest hillary clinton is somehow defining the middle class. >> what she keeps saying over and over i won't raise taxes on the middle class. i would argue those making $250,000 and under -- >> the bracket is designed to

craft tax policy. >> the middle class will be a swath of people. if we're talking about median income around $50,000 that swath can't be that wide. you're grabbing so many people into that group that it doesn't have any meaning any more. >> let me ask steve this who is here as well. let's be blunt about what the real issue here is which is influence pedlers in media and politicians live in areas where the income is far higher so to them $250,000 does seem more like the middle class than i want does to average americans. my question to you steve does that influence the debate we're having here and if so, why? >> there might be something to be said for that. at the same time what she is are saying, think back to the 1990s and bill clinton and where the origin of that's $250,000 figure. that came from bill clinton in the 1992 campaign. he waged at the time what was a fairly populace campaign on taxes and on economic policy. he was talking about asking the

wealthiest who got richer under reagan and bush in the boom years of 1980s asking them to pay for their fair share. at the time it represented the top 2% or so of income to go $250,000 plus. that was seen as a radical idea in 1992 when bill clinton campaigned on that. now here we are a generation later bar has moved and the discussion has changed. >> it is an interesting question you asked. yesterday or the day before it came out in new york the average price of an apartment is now over a million dollars. >> i think that's important. but what nicole was driving at is, you know, we've seen more income concentrated in the hands of those at the very top. so when you craft tax policy you go where the money is, essentially. and you can capture if you raise taxes on those above $250,000, you can capture a lot of money. >> let me ask you this question. what kind of policy limitations

the clinton putting on herself by saying i will not raise taxes on anyone one $250,000. >> we know for sure that one thing they are fighting over is paid family leave. the democrats all agree we want paid family leave but the question is how you do it. sanders and o'malley have backed the idea that congressional democrats have backed which is you design it like social security. everybody pays in. it pays out torch. but that means a payroll tax that hits the middle class as well as the lower class. if hillary is saying i'm not going raise tax tons middle class and people will hold her to that then she can't do it that way. the question is how do you do it? the rest of the options aren't terribly viable. >> this is in the opinion pages in the "new york times." thank you so much. great piece. >> thank you. still to come, peyton manning hires a major political player to help handle his unfolding human growth hormone scandal but first the incredible shrinking mayor with low poll

numbers and growing frustration, what's the path forward for new york city mayor bill de blasio. the author of the cover story joins the conversation.

your approval rating is 42, 43%. it's dipped down low. what do you do to turn that around and what do you think now is causing that drag. >> i think people have gone through a tough time economically in city. 46% of the city is at or near the poverty line. that's what i inherited. >> i saw 42% but the q poll has it at 45, 46. >> things are going up during this show. >> you just picked up. the numbers are going up. >> it's the "morning joe" bump. >> that was new york city mayor bill de blasio here on "morning joe" defending his low proeappr.

teen "morning joe" bump was short-lived. a month later his rating stoonk a new low 38%. the poll also found that 55% of new yorkers thought the city was moving in the wrong direction. joining us now contributing editor for "new york" magazine andrew rice. he has a new cover story who shrunk the mayor. you've got a lot of aggravate stuff in here. i'll tell you one quickly. i was at the white house and mike bloomberg was talking to the president about guns. i mentioned to it a couple of new yorkers. before i even got my sentence occupant these new yorkers, i don't live here any more, they said to me tell him to come back. you call it the atmospheric problem that he has. what is going on with bill de blasio. >> there's a sort of paradox which i explore in the piece which is that any of the -- by the evidentiary measures the

city is doing pretty well -- >> economy is doing well. crime down. >> crime is down. the "new york times" had a pretty exhaustive story over the weekend detailing exactly how low it is. if you sthet -- if you gave a set of circumstances to mayor dinkens in iand 91, '92 he would say that's pretty good. dinkens was the last mayor to be defeated for re-election. so really de blasio's problems don't have so much to do with actual real measurable problems with the city. they are more about a generalized kind of sense that he's not really managing the city correctly. >> you write specifically new yorkers in polls don't think the city is functioning well. the delivery truck blocking the box. the delayed subway.

none of these are new or in the mayor's control. it's this perception and it starts with fact that for a long time he was late to everything. there was a lot of tension around his handling of the police department here and they are obviously very vocal and forceful. and like you said there's a sense things aren't going well. what's his plan for ending stronger than he started in perception? >> i think that he -- if he were sitting here, he would dispute to some degree that idea he needs to do anything differently. >> let me say only because it's been reported that he's frustrated by this perception. so is that something he's happy not to do anything about. >> he's trying to do some things differently. for instance he's trying appear on shows like this, for instance not deal so much with the city hall press corps which i think

he thinks is decisively against him which is not entirely correct and trying to speak to voters in a more direct way. but i think he really thinks that there's like this elite level discourse that doesn't -- that isn't reflective of what new yorkers think. now maybe he's dealluded and maybe he's right. he was right when he was at, you know, 5% or whatever in the polls in 2013. he stuck to his message and was proven right. >> gene robinson has a question for you. >> a lot of mayors who make their mark on a city do it physically do, it with big projects and big ideas, and big stuff. does de blasio have big plans for the city, big new development or a new bridge or something that would leave a mark on new york city? >> well, i think if there's one thing that bill de blasio is not

lacking is big plans and big ideas. probably the biggest one is, has to do with universal pre-k which he delivered. actually delivered quite successfully. i'm a proud parent of a 4-year-old and many of my son's classmates went to free pre-school this year. >> they recruit you in. >> also affordable housing, 200,000 units of affordable housing. they are making good progress towards that. so it's really, again, he's doing well. he's putting points on the board policy wise. >> this is the maddening thing for de blasio fans. we delivered pre-k to 60,000 of kids and you care about squeegymen. how do you balance these two things. if you're the mayor it's a question of theat rirch cs versus policy. >> that's the 2013 campaign. he got 75% of the vote in the

general election, won the democratic primary in a romp and now here he is with these pretty low poll numbers. next year, 2017, you mentioned david dinkens the last mayor that made it only one term. what's next? >> if you talk to de blasio's advisers they are rather no pun intended blase about being defeated in a democratic primary. they think they still have a pretty reliable base of support. and they really have no challenger who has yet emerged in any kind of convincing way to take them on. that said 55% number saying that city is moving in the wrong zraeks pretty troublesome for any politician. >> this is an exhaustive and frankly if you care about politics at all, you don't have to live in new york, it's fascinating to look at as you call at any time disconnect

between policy and perception. andrew rice thank you for coming in. the latest edition of new york magnificent on you for coming in. still to come, the luminaries we lost in 2015. we'll have more on "morning joe" in just a moment. tucson. blew an amp.but good nights. sure,music's why we do this,but it's still our business. we spend days booking gigs, then we've gotta put in the miles to get there. but it's not without its perks. like seeing our album sales go through the roof enough to finally start paying meg's little brother- i mean,our new tour manager-with real,actual money. we run on quickbooks.that's how we own it.

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now to the latest on those doping allegations on peyton

manning. al jazeera is standing behind what they've said, even though one of those reporting it has recanted. >> this morning peyton manning finding support from an unlikely ally, tom brady. >> he's been one of the best players to ever play the game. nobody has more respect for peyton than i do. >> al jazeera te >> peyton manning saying he will likely sue. >> it's completely fabricated, complete garbage. >> ary fleischer says reviewing al jazeera's reporting, weighing a decision after a network aired a documentary alleging the quarterback received sipments of hgh from the guyer institutions. >> nothing has ever been sent to my wife that i have ever taken.

i have my tlamreatments that i . she may have hers and that's her business. >> and the institute's founder has said charlie sly began working at the clinic in 2013, two years after manning sought treatment for neck injury. but overnight al jazeera released a tape confirming that sly started as an intern in 2011. for years peyton manning has been an icon, hosting "saturday night live" and appearing in commercials for directv, gatorade and papa john's pizza. according to forbes, manning earned $27 million last year. now one of the game's greatest quarterbacks finds himself playing defense, trying to protect his name and legacy.

>> according to one report, charlie sly sent a letter to al jazeera saying his original statements were made while he was mourning the death of fiancee. sly claims he was badgered into talking and was, quote, in no state of mind to be making any coherent statements. the nfl says it is reviewing the matter. innocent until proven guilty. that's where you stand. >> ari fleischer has a lot of experience with professional athletes. i think there a lot of questions about al jazeera's reporting, namely that one of their witnesses has recounted his statement. >> which statement do we want to rely on, the hidden camera one or the recanting? i have to say i go back and forth on this. i have no insight into this whatsoever. but you can trust one set of statement, can you trust another. there's really not much else to go on. depends on your intuition. >> i want to be -- peyton

manning did not go to bat for tom brady like tom brady just went to bat for peyton manning. he was railroaded last year and now this year maybe it's happening to peyton manning. >> let's go to commercial. >> up next, donald trump turns up the heat on hillary clinton. will it earn him new supporters? >> now there are questions about the process that resulted in no indictment in the death of 12-year-old tamir rice. "morning joe" back in a moment.

we have got to get out and

vote, remember that, folks. no matter what's going on in the election, if you're miserable, if you're depressed and you lost your job like everybody else is losing their job, you have to get out and we have to vote. we have these massive rallies, it's incredible. they said, well, if they win, trump wins. probably. >> it's not every day on a campaign when you get a candidate agreeing with the howard stearn reference. good morning, it's tuesday, december 29th. welcome to "morning joe." joe, mika, and willie have the morning off. don't worry, i'm nicole wallace. we're alongside the editor for the huffington post, sam stein, senior white house correspondent chris jansing, pulitzer prize columnist and associate editor

of "the washington post" and n msnbc gene robinson and former chairman of the national democratic committee, howard dean. weather continues to be a big story for much of the country. residents from the dallas area are still recovering from nine tornadoes over the weekend. historic flooding continues and now the northeast is bracing for its own winter storm. we want to start with donald trump. >> you thought it was the holidays, it was going to be quiet -- >> tr"the union leader" accomplished a front page editorial saying trump insults people's intelligence.

"trump has shown himself to be a crude blow hard with no clear political philosophy and no deeper understanding of the important and serious role of president of the united states than one of the goons he lets rough up protesters in his crow crowds." and trump compared that paper to the des moines register. >> between that and "the union leader," which i think might be worse, what a pile of garbage that newspaper is. we have an interesting thing because you have a very dishonest newspaper and it's also a failing newspaper. i remember when this was a big paper. look at the size of this thing. if they cut it down anymore, you won't be able to find it. it looks like the things when you go to the grocery store, what do they call that, coupons? this was a big power paper years ago. in 36 years since 1980, think of

that, since 1980, they've picked one president. it was ronald reagan. they endorsed one guy who ran and won for president. so they're 1 out of a 36-year period, right? they've got one and they're not going to win this time, that i can tell you, okay? >> so trump took aim at the their 2016 pim, chris christie saying that the newspaper is his lap dog. >> when he called me up a couple of months ago to see if i can get christie on to the main stage, i said i think he's going to endorse christie, right? the first time i met with him, he said i'll never endorz christie. he hated that christie embraced obama so strongly before the election, right before the election. when i saw it, i said i think he's going to vote for obama. i don't call it a hug. i call it a hug mentally. it was unbelievable. he was like a little boy, oh,

i'm with the president, remember he flew in the helicopter? i said i would have put you in my helicopter, it's much nicer. you've had tremendous downgrades. it's number 50 out of 50 in terms of economic development and in terms of the economy. it's like one of the worst in the country for jobs. it's a disaster. i have property in new jersey. the taxes are through the roof. you know, i've been friends with christie but when mcquaid, who is really christie's lap dog, i will tell you, first of all, i know you're happy he's up here because he's up here but you know the people in new jersey want to throw him out of office. they say why doesn't he run in new jersey where a disaster state, we're going to hell and our governor's um in new hampshire every single day having town hall meetings. he ought to be doing it in new jersey in all fairness, okay? >> i know you're jumping out of your seats to get in. one more thing.

donald is making moves towards a more traditional campaign. politico saying his campaign quietly signed an agreement to access the republican national committee's voter file. other campaigns use that database for their get out of vote efforts and information trump collects for supporters will be fed back for future use by the party. meanwhile fox news is reporting trump is prepared to spend $2 million a week for television ads starting next month. >> i'll believe that when i see it. >> starting around january 4th, we're spending a lot of money. i love the concept of saying i spent the least and i'm the best result because that's what it's all about. >> where to begin after all of that, nicole wallace? his communication skills, we've talked about it on this set before, this is a guy who can take anything that happens to him and turn it to his advantage. >> i think it is to be expected that the establishment

newspapers in the early primary statements are a target. and you predicted this at noon yesterday. >> it's not a fair fight. like here is this paper which, you know, was once a big player in new hampshire and obviously has influence inaddition to its subscribers. he has this mega phone they can't match. howard, you and i are the only two that have run for president before. i think the biggest thing that happened yesterday was the agreement with the rnc. we have all this subtext was he's doing this, he's getting a lot of press but is he hully going to turn the enthusiasm into hard votes. this suggests to me he's making a play to do just that. >> he has to do that everywhere. it's essential in iowa and i think it's too late for him in iowa. the religious right, they have a great machine in iowa.

but it's not as essential in new hampshire, a primary state but it's essential, you have to have one-on-one -- >> what does this i'll get you basically? >> for a presidential campaign if gets you a lot. >> explain what you get. zuch basically get every name of anybody who has ever voted in the republican primary and still registered in the last 25 years, their phone numbers, their e-mails, whatever -- you can actually even get all kind of stuff, what magazines they read and -- >> part of trump's theory of the election, if he can be said to have a theory of the election, part of his theory is that he can bring new people into the process. that's the whole basis why people -- >> the state of virginia is having a big fight.

>> they have an open election and they're asking for a loyalty pledge -- >> isn't he right to want to expand part of one of my party's problems? >> you're absolutely right on that. >> say it again, say it again. >> donald trump is absolutely right about that question. he is so wrong on so many things we couldn't list them but on some things he's absolutely right. >> well, being right on that question and if you want to go back to the last election and see what the rnc quote in their sort of call to action that this is what we have to do, we have to expand the party or we're never going to win the presidency, is he doing what needs to be done to accomplish that? >> and this suggests we finally have the candidate and the party coming together in an institutionalized way. the reason the rnc jumps into that agreement, the more new people he brings into the process, the more data they get themselves.

>> usually the rule is when you use the list, you have to give it back with all the addendums. >> that may be trump's great contribution to the republican party, all the massive rallies. >> to bring in a lot of people who hate the republican establishment. >> we'll take 'em, we'll take 'em. >> do you actually think he's going to spend $2 million -- >> he spend it on a two-minute ad telling people how to caucus. >> if he does run ads, what will they look like? >> so unpredictable, you can't possibly predict them. >> of the 30 seconds, 28 will be -- >> off of his face? >> his challenge is viewed whether he can support new supporters. and i think it would be smart to spend money putting up one or

two in iowa -- >> it was the segmentation of the electorate and obama -- what obama did was identify each one of those people but you have to have an enormous number of people on the ground. i think hillary has something -- i don't know the exact number. >> you had an incredible iowa operation. >> we did but discipline was the difference and obama was so disciplined. hillary's got, i don't know, thousands of people on the ground. that's what you have to have. i think it's too late for trump in iowa. he needs to do well. his vote is the primary stuff. that can you do and here's how you do it, it's only one day. primaries are really complicated. >> you mentioned hillary. former president bill clinton is going to be back on the campaign trail for hillary clinton.

two stops in new hampshire this coming monday. he's going to headline rallies in nashua and exeter. donald trump campaigns in lawrence, massachusetts. late last night trump tweeted that the former president, quote, failed badly when he campaigned for clinton in 2008 against then senator obama and he was called a racist. and others weighed in on which clinton is a liability. >> of course bill clinton's fair game. but you not going to beat hillary clinton by attacking bill clinton. i'm going to beat hillary clinton by attacking her track record and her lack of trustworthiness. of course she's going to play the woman card. that's what she does. >> frankly, after seven years of obama, a lot of republicans would take bill clinton back, warts and all, bass at least he understood how to govern.

>> in "the washington post" today it says "trump is right, bill clinton's sword it -- sordid -- what is the relevance of bill clinton's -- she is smartly using her husband as a campaign surrogate and simultaneous live correctly calling trump sexist. these moves open a dangerous door and it is surprise no one that trump has barged right through it. is ruth marcus right?

>> i'm not sure any door was opened here that wasn't already opened. the fact is that hillary clinton has baggage. i think she'll probably be our next president. >> every president carries some baggage. >> and it's baggage that people remember. it's not like you're reminding them. >> i completely understand that there's baggage but she didn't have an affair with monica lewinsky. she wasn't the one that hold him to do that. i feel like there's a line here. putting aside -- i think it's fine to attacker and i don't think it particularly fair. it doesn't work. mitt romney's deputy campaign manager who did the research on this. she says, yes, the republican voters will get riled up who

think bill clinton has gotten away scott free for the monica stuff but in the general election, it moves people into clinton's camp who feel sorry for her. >> do you think there is a single universal women out there or men who are simply reluctant to relive the clinton era? >>'s one person who is clearly better there and trump and his name is bill clinton. >> he's not running for president. >> i know. bill clinton is not going to take him on directly. he'll do what he did to the congress when he impeached him. he'll flip it around and do jujitsu. >> you don't think there are

some voters who are reluctant to live the horrors -- >> i think there are tons of them -- >> there are no people how the there who hated having to explain what the president did? >> if you look at bill clinton's numbers, my guess is they're higher than anybody on both side of the aisle. >> you really don't think that bill clinton -- >> things that actually have a tangible economic impact on people's lives, not about this sordid scandal. >> there are some people out there for whom that is a liability. i think the market has discounted that. i think the people are not supporting hillary clinton and we're seeing their numbers in the polls already. >> nobody's surprised. they haven't forgotten about what happened with bill clinton.

>> there isn't a 25-year-old out there who has not heard of travelgate who will not go to the polls and vote. >> coming up, we'll talk to a journalist who corresponded with the man involved. >> we are definitely looking at the storm ramping up across new england with heavy snow accumulating and freezing rain and ice. many people will be impacted, 37 million. be very careful, some people are traveling or anticipating ice into pal banny, hartford and possibly western massachusetts

as well. another thing we're keeping a close watch on is the mississippi river. flooding is in the forecast as we get to the middle and end of the week. this is something to monitor throughout much of the week. temperatures are much colder across minneapolis and the northern tier of the country. still hanging on to the heat in the southeast. that is going to change. we are going to see colder air working its way to the east. temperatures will be changing, getting colder across much of the country. we'll be back to "morning joe" right after this. ♪ all right, it all right, it all right, yeah ♪ see cable wires and boxes in every room. why can't we get people to just say cables, schmables? hold on, hold on, i really like what you're doing there because if we just add "schma" in front of something, it just doesn't seem like a big deal. boxes, schmoxes. there you go. cold sore, cold schmore. yes! scotch, schmotch! what? i'll take some of that schmotch! alright. schmank you!

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the mayor of cleveland says the city will launch an straightive review after a grand jury declined to invite the officers involved in the deadly shooting of 12-year-old tamir

rice. the boy was shot and killed after handling a pellet gun last november. investigators now believe the action was his effort to hand it over or show that it was a fake. >> given this perfect storm, the mistakes and miscommunication by all involved that day, the evidence does not indicate criminal conduct by police. we, too, want justice for tamir but why is would not be achieved by bringing charges that would violate the ethical cannons of our profession. >> the legislature is now calling on the gun companies to stop making fake weapons that

look like real ones. there are so many things about this. >> where to begin? >> howard, you were saying -- >> this is why the attorney general of new york is right. you should not have local d.a.s presenting this stuff involving cop killings -- >> why is that? >> because they have a close working relationship. there may or may not be aspersions on this particular district attorney. we saw the same thing here in new york. we can't do it. any decent prosecutor can get an indictment out of a grand jury. the defense doesn't present anything. it can't. you should not allow prosecutors to be the -- it should be the attorney general that does this. >> in this case it seems like the prosecutor is acting like the defense attorney for the two policemen. >> that's almost always going to be the case.

it just doesn't belong in the hand of a local dncht ancht. that shouldn't happen. there are a million questions about this case. number one, what law was tamir rice supposedly violating number one. the police officers apparently thought he was an adult and he had a gun in an open carry state, in a state where it's not illegal to be walking around with a gun actually. so, again -- >> there's a whole step of conscious or subconscious racism. black kids are 20 times more likely to be shot by police. u need a perceived threat, that's all you need to have a justified shooting.

>> and we've heard too many times that they're saddened and not surprised. when we talk about rahm emanuel, the embattled mayor of chicago is to return today. he was vacationing in cuba over the weekend with his family when police shot and killed two unarmed people after a man called police on his son. >> kevin tibbles has more. >> according to the family, betty jones was asked by the man upstairs to answer the door when police got here. she came out of her apartment, did just that and seconds later she was shot. >> shot fired, shots fired! >> today the family of betty jones gathered in her apartment without her. >> i feel like i just want to wake up and have my mom say, girl, that is a dream. but i can't. she's gone. she was murdered.

>> and 19-year-old quintonio was also killed. they say his son had developed a mental illness. the city's independent police review board is investigating. yesterday there was a call for -- by the reverend al sharpton that who thinks at this point rahm emanuel needs to resign. he wasn't going to come back. there was this outcry, you need to get back to your city and they issued a statement saying he wasn't going to come back. >> what does this community do? this family called the cops for help. there's no proof that they were threatened by him. they needed help with him.

he was in crisis. what does the community do the next time somebody needs help? >> exactly. who do you call? you call the police, right? >> that seems like the most broken piece. what do they do in a crisis? >> well, i mean -- >> and that's what a family member said. the family member said he had a baseball bat and we called because we wanted help, we needed help. >> to de-escalate. >> you have to sit back and sap there's been multiple instances where cops have said we felt threatened and felt like we were under siege but there's no way -- at this juncture you have to be cynical or skeptical about the story the police are telling. >> he was -- it's a story that

is demonstrably false. >>. >> the suppression of the film for 450 days because he was running for reelection of the murder of -- i mean, the chicago police department is in a lot of trouble. they are running essentially off-the-record jails, incarcerating chicagoans and nobody would know where they were. they wouldn't tell their lawyers. this is completely out of control, completely out of control. the city is out of control. >> this is a test of rahm emanuel's ability as an administrator, as a mayor to get control over this police department. >> is the test still going? >> the test is already done. >> i was just going to sark he's not passing the test. >> do you think there are people still judging or weighing or -- >> fewer and fewer. i agree with howard, he's in

deep political trouble. this is sort of the dk it got to a point on substantive levels where -- i'm reporting news i heard about ten minutes ago, that stewart scott has died. i love this man. i still love this man. the fact that he has passed away is mind boggling and a travesty. and as you go to bed tonight, flip your pillow offer to the cool side and before you go to sleep, as stewart would say, you hit your knees tonight and pray to the big man for his beautiful daughters who he loved, taylor

and sidney. >> wow, rich eisen with one of the most powerful moments on tv this year, marking the lost of sports broadcaster stewart scott. we'll talk about his legacy and other luminaries we lost this year when we come back. ♪ (cell phone rings) where are you? well the squirrels are back in the attic. mom? your dad won't call an exterminator... can i call you back, mom? he says it's personal this time... if you're a mom, you call at the worst time. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. where are you? it's very loud there. are you taking a zumba class?

and i'm jerry bell the third. i'm like a big bear and he's my little cub. this little guy is non-stop. he's always hanging out with his friends. you've got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. there's no "deep couch sitting." it's definitely not good for my back. this is the part i really don't like right here. (doorbell) what's that? a package! it's a swiffer wetjet.

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weep are back in this this day of terrorism and talking

about whether radicalization is taking place in prisons. i also should say, scott, i think it's beautifully written. you look at people who have been in the prison system, the french prison system. i just want to read a little bit about what you say about him. he's a charismatic man whose worldly curiosity was compared to the stark aesthetic with uncompromising devotion. he was handsome, the heavy jaw that lent him the imposing air of an athlete. he exerted oo pleasant force of attraction of almost everyone he

encountered. why him and tell us about him. >> so jam -- djamel begal had been in contact both in prison and subsequently with two of the three men who were responsible for those killings. he was presented as the presumed mentor for these guys. i discovered his story was significantly more complicated and morally complex than the basic narrative of the sort of

jihadist genius. it seems like the crux of it is this guy is in and out of the prison system in france, having having radicalization and your piece leads to this nugget i was fixated on "where the american government has been circumstance and by choice handled the islam ek terrorists to be kidnapped or killed, france has generally treated them as enemies to be tried. which one is better? which one works? >> you're right to bring up that passage. is t is somewhat the crux of the article. i think from an an american standpoint, here's an example of a country that has treated terror through the court system. it's not a system of exception,

it not extra judicial, there is no french guantanamo so by all rights we should be applauding and saying this is really the way to go about it, from a human rights standpoint. >> here's mohamed fami on "morning joe" last month, his thoughts on radicalization. >> when you see 19-year-olds caught in protests are living with extremists in the prison. there's a lot of schooling and by the end of my imprisonment, they've grown their beards and thought are mch more violent and they were pretty much radicalized. >> he spent more than 400 days locked up in the terror wing of the scorpion prison in egypt.

i think "the ultimate terrorist factory," scott's article really looks at what we know. >> scott's piece is extreme lip fascinating and it highlights something that is very important, something that is very common in the middle east. you look at a very lethal cocktail of a lot of societal problems that get these people on the track and an introduction to radicalization happens. one of the key points i thought that stuck out at me in scott as point is the sense that many of these individuals lack or feel they lack social justice in the societies they live in. we know that's the case in many of the middle eastern countries. you have a lot of them who get

caught up, looking for a purpose, look for an identity and ultimately find a way to get radicalized. scott, you talk about this point in the piece in the french prison system particularly under this very loosely defined association of terrorism where a wide net is cast to bring in a lot of people. how much of a problem is that that you're casting such a wide net, bringing in thousands of people into the prison system and many now whom are expected to come out soon? >> i think it's a tremendous problem and a problem the french are beginning to recognize, about 20 years after the introduction of this law. essentially the law in france, it's a preventive law so they cast a very wide net and bring lots of people in together, some of whom are more guilty than others. the problem is that you put a lot of people who aren't necessarily jihadists in contact

with people who are and as a result there are thousands in french prizons right now who are either considered islamist radicals or potential radicals. >> so eventually they have to be let back out. >> and part of the guy who is the focus of the pos is that held for almost tn years once, was held under house arrest under shaky legal circumstances pause he hadn't completed his sentence and he's going to go back given and get out given. >> is the french authority considering that they're essentially providing a petri dish for radicalization?

>> to an extent, yes. the problem is events on the the ground have gotten out ahead of this much deeper problem. this is a problem that will take years to resolve. so now they're rethinking about putting them all together. >> at the moment there's this sort of test phase sore some different programs going on. frankly ayman, neng you for coming in sba swal swas well. and next on morning joe, new comments from the republican front-runner. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel...

...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today. ideas exxonmobil scientists are working on to make energy go further... ...no matter how many tries it takes. energy lives here. >> i'm alex trebek. if you're age 50 to 85, i have an important message about security. write down the number on your screen, so you can call when i finish. the lock i want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. this is a lock for your life insurance, a rate lock, that guarantees your rate can never go up at any time, for any reason. but be careful. many policies you see do not have one, but you can get a lifetime rate lock through the colonial penn program. call this number to learn more. this plan was designed with a rate lock for people on a fixed income

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show to questions about a recent tweet in which he suggested bill clinton to be a drag on his wife's campaign because of the racial firestorm he kicked up during the 2008 contest. >> are you yourself calling him a racist? >> no, he was called that by the obama campaign. he was called it loud and clear. he was extremely insulted. >> why did you put it in your tweet new don't believe it? >> they said it, i didn't say it. >> but you circulated it to 5.4 million followers. that would suggest you approve of it. >> all i said is what they said. i don't believe he is a racist if you want to know the truth. they called him a racist. he did very poorly. they're bringing him out again, he's being wild out and we'll see what happens. >> you're saying an extra mayor at that time affair by bill clinton is fair game, it's something you think should be in the campaign? >> what i'm saying is very

simple, because if she's going to play which she played up the women's card very, very strongly and if she's going to play that game and he's going to be out there campaigning, then he's certainly fair game. i think just about everybody agrees with me on that. >> kasie hunt, does just about everyone agree with trumin on that? >> no but look, i think here we have trump back in the news again, suddenly dominating all of the free media, despite not spending anything on the airwaves. he has a way of of pushing these buttons that others are wary of. >> gene, why would he advertise? >> what happened with race in

and he said it was just a big fairy tale. this was a deal at the time. trump is not entirely wrong. i think he's within his rights to wring bring it up. >> you have defended donald trump today. >> i'm not feeling well today. >> in memberium, the "new york times" highlights some of the artists, motivators and thinkers. we'll be back.

unfortunately what so many of us woke up to, i always get alerts from the "washington post" and "new york times" but, god, god what a week for the media world. david carr passing. he said i now have a life i don't deserve but we all walk this earth feeling like we are frauds. the trick is being grateful and hope that it doesn't end soon. >> that was "morning joe" reacting to the death of david carr, who passed away in federal budget. bob i'm on.

>> every year the media does this lives they lived issue. you might be discovering people they've never heard about. we get this list that has some people you have heard about and some people you haven't. >> an example of that, bobbi kristina brown, even if they didn't know or follow her, the hea heartbreak, the parallels to her mother, the great whitney houston. and glen ford was a man convicted of murdering a jeweler. four days after he was released,

he found out he had terminal lung cancer. he was solitary confinement for most of those 30 years. >> stefor me, bebe king. i know this is not just famous people but bebe king. >> how do you end up och the list? >> what did bebe king do to you? good lord? >> stewart scott is one who you guys teased earlier. just a remarkable guy. changed a lot of the way we talk about sports in this country and just a remarkable prn, fought cancer three times, was an in,

think in january, was a rool she is a civil rights leader a lot of people hadn't heard of. she was one of the people who brought martin luther king to selma, she organized the first march who montgomery. there was a photo of her beaten to the ground and left for dead on brej -- did is there fascination in reading about it? >> what we're reading about here is life. >> exactly. mo most. >> i have to admit, i knew david

carr. so that affect affected me personally. i think that's true about a lot of people. i'm wondering with reader reaction. you can imagine, it's a reader favorite. number one, people love obituaries and people like a moment to celebrate a life, to look back. ilt the end of the year, it the time when people like to look back in general. i just want to mention david carr, since you brought him up, gene. he obviously wrote at the "new york times" so his death and people got up and talked about what an inspiration he was to them journalistically and then people got up and said how he helped them get over drug

addiction or alcohol addiction. . >> "the amazing live." up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? system for these terms. see your lexus dealer. >> i'm alex trebek. if you're age 50 to 85, i have an important message about security. write down the number on your screen, so you can call when i finish. the lock i want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. this is a lock for your life insurance, a rate lock, that guarantees your rate can never go up at any time, for any reason. but be careful. many policies you see do not have one, but you can get a lifetime rate lock through the colonial penn program. call this number to learn more. this plan was designed with a rate lock

for people on a fixed income who want affordable life insurance that's simple to get. coverage options for just $9.95 a month, less than 35 cents a day. act now and your re will be locked in for life. it will never increase, guaranteed. this is lifelong coverage that can never be cancelled as long as you pay your premiums, guaranteed. and your acceptance is guaranteed, with no health questions. you cannot be turned down because of your health. call for your information kit and read about this rate lock for yourself. you'll also get a free gift with great information both are free, with no obligation, so don miss out. call for information, then decide. read about the 30 day, 100 percent money back guarantee. call this number now. ♪

thanks for watching. "msnbc live is up next. >> first up for you, the dead lynn winter storm is now taking direct aim at the east coast, threatening to release a dangerous mix of snow and flooding. this is the same system that spawned tornadoes, blizzards, ice and rain killing at least 43 over the past week. right now more than 50 flood warnings and 30 flash flood watches on the plains to illinois. >> and in illinois, emergency workers rescue those inside.