that is our broadcast for tonight. thank you for being here with us. as always, "hardball with chris matthews" begins right now. face to face, this is "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews. back in washington, over the last 36 hours president president obama has displayed his ability to put aside his animosity toward president-elect donald trump, showcasing to the country and the world a core democracy is the peaceful transfer of power. president obama joined with his successor for a photo-op in the oval office. the president say no jand and was focused solely on answering any questions trump had on the responsibilities of the office.

here's the president. >> i had been very encouraged by the i think interest in president-elect trump's wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces and i believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party, and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together, to deal with the many challenges that we face. most of all, i want to emphasize to you, mr. president-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds. >> interesting body language there.

donald trump resciprocated the president's goodwill and praised his accomplishments. let's watch. >> this was a meeting that was going to last for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and we were just going to get to know each other. we had never met each other. i have great respect. the meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half and it could have, as far as i'm concerned, it could have gone on for a lot longer. we really -- we discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. i very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel. he explained some of difficulties, some of the high-flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved. so, mr. president, it was a great honor being with you and i look forward to being with you many, many more times in the

future. >> this comes as politico reports that the mood among the white house staff right now is grim, quote, but the freakout has been kept in check, in public at least. people are scared, that includes a lot of people in big jobs. the president is also leading by example when it comes to the incoming trump administration, directing his staff, the president is doing that, to replicate the seamless transition that president bush put in place eight years ago. all of this is set against the backdrop of what we're looking at right now, the reality in the streets, the protests that broke out in major cities of the country, including new york. thousands of demonstrators out there who made it clear they reject donald trump as the next president. look at the crowds. i'm joined by chris jansing from the white house. it's quite a contrast, chris, between the rousing crowd last night. who owns the streets? we do. who owns the streets?

we do. this rejection out there, especially by millennials by what happened tuesday night. >> reporter: i don't know if you can hear, just outside the white house gates we're hearing people yelling all day. these are the people that the president was aiming at with the i thought stunning image today, sending the message to the united states this is how democracy works this is what a peaceful transition looks like. a lot of those staff members have been in tears. i've seen how upset they are. he's called them in and talked to them and said this what we have to do. so you have a meeting between these two men who are incredible political enemies. they didn't talk about birtherism. it was squied described as "les

awkward than you might have expected." look, one image is not going to change the minds of the people out here protesting. and senior staff have admitted to me that all the things the president said about donald trump on the campaign trail, those thoughts have not changed but he is determined as a president of the united states to set an example for himself, for the country and for what this transition has been. can i just say finally, chris, because you've been in there before, when i saw that picture in the oval office and it's set up in a way with all the media around it and these two men in these chairs on either side of the fireplace, that's a scene that's reserved for foreign leaders. so this is the first image we've

had of donald trump as leader of the free world. for a lot of people, what a stunning image, chris. >> at the conclusion of their 90-minute meeting, president obama shared a little information, how to deal with shouted questions from the press. >> thank you, everybody. we are not going to be taking any fre kquestions, thank you, . >> a good rule, don't answer any questions when they start yelling them at you. >> all right, guys, come on guys. >> it's so old school, come on, guys. i'm sure there are some women in there, too. >> you're my friend, too. i just want to start with something human. i may not be emotional like most

people. have i so many family members, not just women, emotional about this. your side won -- i don't know fits your side or not. your side won this one. >> definitely my side. >> the fear about this, the freak out you hear a lot, the cosmos has shifted into this perhaps brave new world but it is scary because of the stuff trump said and i know him for longer. i interviewed him 20, 30 times overs years, i went to his wedding and know him a little bit, a little bit. if you just go by what he has said, it's horrendous, horrific. so people are acting on the public trump. i know president obama got a look at the real guy, the personal guy. much different. >> much different. >> maybe there's hope there that he will be reasonable. reasonable meaning he has to govern the country. it's a job. >> i think he is a reasonable guy. i think the reason that meeting went longer than expected is

donald trump was inquestions tif inquisitive, charming. i think the last month of the campaign, he found his voice. if he acts as president as he did in the last month of that campaign, then i think he's going to be successful. >> you're on the republican side but you know kof earn arns. as church would say, keep calm and carry on. what did you think of the president today how he handled it? if this guy has intear kwo keerity of all time of the bush transition to the obama administration which was very difficult for both gl.

>> this is just fact. i didn't have a "w" on my keyboard, the voice mail system had been destroyed and the white house had a name on his shirt. they said in the last 24 hours, i've had to work to fix all of those. >> and you saw all of those people -- >> andy carr spent a lot of time making sure it went well. >> josh bolton. >> josh bolton and the whole crowd. this is a very important image for the country, very important for the president to come in and say this is the guy that's going

to replace me and i'm okay with that. and hopefully he can send a message to the young people who are devastated. a lot of these young people have never really understood without barack obama as president. they were 12 when he got elected. >> a lot of people my age are worried they'll never have another shot for a woman president. donald trump has a working list of three to five people for each candidate position. the senior staff would review their options with the trump's family. that's interesting. he wants his family to approve this. while they have not officially presented anything for the president-elect, including rudy giuliani -- i think the names were put up as scare crows but now they're real, i guess.

>> newt gingrich as secretary of state, and steve bannon is a contender to become trump's chief of staff, bannon as former director of breitbart news, who is a stark enemy of speaker of the house paul ryan. do you think these are real? >> it usually has nothing to do with the candidate seriously considers. >> how would the breitbart guy come in and help him deal with the united states and congress and how would he help him do that? >> and breitbart such a fierce

critic. it's his decision. i think the better decision would be someone like a reince priebus who did a really good job as rnc chair and -- >> reagan picked the guy that ran against him twice with jerry ford and ran against him with george bush because he knew he'd would be the best chief of staff. >> but he also had the troika. those names that you -- mike flynn's going to have a big role in this administration. newt gingrich, rudy giuliani, i just don't know if it going to -- >> did that clash with the nice mood today? >> both president obama and donald trump put aside their history for the good of the

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. at the white house today president obama and donald trump smiled, shook and, did all the right stuff and even joked about the press. it was an image of civility on the high level between two men who have been nasty critics of each other. donald trump's path to power was greased by his birther nonsense. president obama mocked him at the white house correspondent dinner and the two spent the last months accusing each other of being too fit to lead. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? i wish he would. >> he's not offering any real policies or plans, just offering

division and offering fear. he's betting if he scares enough people, he might just scare up enough votes to win this election. >> he's probably the worst president in the history of our country. he's a very divisive person. he has just been a disaster for our country. >> donald trump is uniquely unqualified to be president. i'm not joking. he is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief. anybody who is upset about a "saturday night live" skit you don't want in charge of nuclear weapons. >> he's down here campaigning for crooked hillary. this guy ought to be back in the office working. he's not going to be there very long, thank goodness, but he ought to be back in the office working. >> well, now donald trump is set to take office, promising to dismantle the legacy of president obama. how will their history shape the political argument going forward? i'm talking to steve cortez and christine jean-pierre, form aer

adviser of president obama. let me start with steve because i like trouble. what did you like of that make-nice meeting today? >> we have bruising campaigns and this was maybe the most bruising of my life time but when the campaign is over, it time to come together because the presidency is bigger than either of them. as important they are, they're not as important of the office or not as important of america. i was proud of both of them. they said ince bled disparaging things. we don't need to relitigate the election is make -- >> can we just get rid of that word relitigate. when you call a guy an illegal immigrant when you're president of the united states, you say the person you're running against ought to be in jail, you

can't just say that was campaign b.s. >> i told you before i this i the brute so -- >> and he let the issue stay up pretty late before he put it to bed, didn't he? >> longer than i think he should have but he came to the right spot. >> the trouble with being nice today and i'm all for it, i believe in government and how it works, it begins to find a way of excusing all before it because you can say anything you want as long as you prepare to drop it the day of the transition. >> i think personally had to be incredibly difficult for president obama to be in in position that he is today, having to -- >> it was like i've been shaking hands withias heir.

>> but i think what the president did is he stepped into his constitutional role. that wasn't hard. he put the country before his personal needs about drpt, which should be applauded. as we know, the this credit is extensively a little bit of the point today was that these two gentlemens, one elected, with a zil air for they never met each other. tos me that's a great story of this country. 99% of the trump voters have never even met obama -- they isn't haven't gob out with the hillary people and some say i don't know any trump people. maybe that's why i can poll

saddam pollster. you can't. >> smells like huey carey is going to win the governorship. you can't smell the country because it's so so balkanized. that's the weird thing we saw today, two worlds about to me and talking tore 90 minutes. that's what's weird. >> i think you are right, saladly, perhaps since the most since maybe 1960s. i think a lot of the reason why is throw growths this is he properly diagnosed that problem, this slow growth, this is it almost working for the top tier. >> when we come back let me finish with a proposal for the

president-elect. this is "hard ball," the place for politics. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ imy moderate to severeng crohn's disease. i didn't think there was anything else to talk about. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened;

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let's me finish tonight with a proposal for the president-elect. let's get the country moving again. that's one way to ignite all the forces that elected you, mr. trump, the whole basket of trump voters. jobs, rebuilding america, especially when it comes to transportation. it's a practical way to reunite people. put together a lit of democrats and republicans in congress behind a massive building effort from penn state in manhattan to l.a.x. in california. use your shalalesmanship to gete country moving again. add to that the trillions that is tucked away overseas. doesn't wait for established

republicans or democrats, it's you, just do it. the most important thing is to put the target where it belongs, especially for the working people who are looking for real jobs and the real pride that comes with building up this country again. go do it. replace the smell of decay with the smell of construction, of dirt being moved, the engines that mr. trump, you've been on job sites. america itself is now your job site. that's "hardball." we'll see you tomorrow at 7:00.

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thins look a little different in my immediately ambient presce. tonight. the reason i'm in boston tonight is because massachusetts senator elizabeth warren is going be joingg me live right h here shortly for her first tv interview since donald trump was elected to be the n next preside of the united states. elizabeth warren is here for her first tv interview since the election. that's coming up momentito. but first, storytime. and like lots of good fictional stories, this one starts with a song. >> that old beach boys song, bobomb iran. bomb bomb bomb anyway. >> when arizona