hardball with chris matthews begins now. warning signs. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. what message is donald trump sending about the direction of his presidency? over the weekend he announced two key hires. priebus will serve as chief of staff. steve bannon is his chief strategist. bannon's appointment has rattled a number of civil rights groups.

he wrote breitbart served as a hub for pro-trump, anti-immigration and especially anti-muslim. gabby giffords, the gun involve human shield. planned parenthood's body count under richards is up to half a holocaust. and young muslims in the west are increasing with radicals, terror. the adviser to john kasich said the right has represented footsteps from the oval office. be very vigilant.

bill crystal wrote is there precedence before bannon? the naacp also criticized the movement hiring ban non. let's watch his response. >> it would not be appropriate for me to comment on every appointment that the president-elect starts making. the people have spoken. donald trump will be the next president, the 45th president of the united states. and it will be up to him to set up a team that he thinks will serve him well and reflect his policies. it takes a while for people to reconcile themselves with that new reality. hopefully it's a reminder that

elections matter. i think it's important for him to let us make his decisions and i think the american people will judge over the course of the next couple of years whether they like what they see. >> mean while today protests continued against donald trump's elections. students from maryland and los angeles walked out. i want to start with david. i have never really been a student of steve bannon. what do you think of -- give me the gravity of this decision. they put him right in the white house. >> i think it is a stunning historic decision in a bad way. steven bannon has said that he wanted breitbart to be a

platform for the alt-right. they ran against political correctors but what they want is a white america. they say this explicitly. they are white nationalist. steve bannon said he wanted to be a platform. >> how do you have an all white america when native americans were here first and starting in the 17th century, how do you create a white america? in north america where we are now? where do you build it? >> there is a guy named richard spencer who is the guru and he says basically -- this is the

benign version that he wants to convince nonwhites to leave america because the races can't get along and it's better that they are separate. >> and this is steve bannon? >> no. this is a guy in the alt-right movement that bannon admits to this at breitbart. if he is not a white nationalist himself played footsy while he was at breitbart. it is completely undeniable. i wrote this off -- >> yeah, we are learning about this guy. >> why would you put somebody with that kind of outlook on america inside the west wing of the white house? >> i think donald trump doesn't look at it through that lens. he doesn't see him as that way.

he sees him as someone that he has confidence in that helped him secure success at the ballot box last tuesday and will be a part of his administration. i took note of the fact that he referred to bannon and priebus as equals. there is no equal to the chief of staff in the west wing, but now there is. so that should be something that people also need to pay a lot of attention to. i know a lot of folks in the part aren't because they don't know what that means. as far as donald trump is concerned it is his muse, someone in his head that he listens to. unless there's something that gets more of this narrative is out there then we'll see how donald trump deals with it. >> let's get back to reality and how it works.

the president of the united states gets up in the morning. somebody decides what he wants to read, what he wants to watch. knowing him he'll fiddle around with fox and friends and he'll be deciding how he is doing that day. he may look at a newspaper. around 8:00 in the morning the president is giving his daily presidential briefing. he also meets with his chief of staff and so that's his day pretty much run. in addition to priebus this other soul will be there all of the time. why would trump want these views brought to him with the headlines giving him a guidance on how to be president? >> first of all, they won't be equal. if he is chief of staff he is the most important staffer that the president has. it is not unusual for a

president to set up competing power centers but there is nothing like being the chief of staff which has so much say over what the president reads, who he sees, who is last president is he talks to before he makes a decision. that's one reason a lot of establishment republicans in town that he was in this position. there is no confirmation process for the staffers. those are the people he chooses to have around him and listens to. >> you're a minority and i'm thinking i hear a lot of people are scared. is this going to make them less scared than steve is in the white house with the president having his ear? >> apparently not. i think that's what is driving the angst. they don't know. they take what they have learned

from the breitbart web site and things they may associate with steve bannon, and that sort of fuels this. i don't know if that scenario plays out exactly the way you said it. i'm not sure that he'll be the last -- or the first person to get in the president's ear with bannon here. bannon was someone that donald trump really looked to to help him navigate these heavier waters. it was the practical political stuff but in terms of what the message was and how donald trump was going to lay out his campaign every day, that was steve and the family and trump. >> okay. >> the wall street journal reported that the leading

candidates are rudy giuliani and john bolton. what would it look like under secretary of state bolton? he called for the united states to bomb iran. watch. >> just as israel twice before has struck nuclear weapons programs i am afraid given the circumstances that's the only real option open to us now. >> right now or leading into the future? >> i would have done this five or six years ago. the earlier you strike the more damage you can do. >> look -- >> this is what's bizarre, the one foreign policy issue that trump took a stand on was that he was against the iraq war. he kept saying again and again and again i was against the war before it started which is not the case. bolten was a hawk straight down the line. he wanted to bomb iran five or

six years ago. donald trump says we shouldn't be involved. let them find out themselves. maybe he is a -- but the most hawkish guy around. it makes you wonder what donald trump really believes in. >> that's a good question. >> i get the feeling every time trump wants to do something really frightening by saying i might go the other way too. but breitbart looks pretty big to be in that. this makes him look pretty good. do you want rudy or you want king kong? it is unbelievable these choices you are getting. rudy is one fire brand. >> so we would be reassured?

>> yeah. >> the washington establishment, i don't think that -- >> it's like where is steve? >> yeah. >> where are the republicans in all of this? >> he served in the white house and did not oppose trump. his name was not on that list at least at the moment. >> thank you. coming up next the first journalist to interview donald trump since the election. i will ask leslie what she saw when she sat down with the president-elect. does he understand the enormity ahead of him? this is "hardball," a place for politics. ok! impaciente! manolo! you're so cold, come in! what's wrong? take off your hat! no hey...it's, it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp 3 surface layers deep to help...

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in his family leslie stall asked trump who will be his country's 45th president of the united states about the gravity of the situation abdomen whether it has sunk in yet. >> on election night i heard you went completely silent. was it a sort of realization of the enormity of this? >> i think so. i have never done anything like this. >> it kind of took your breath away. >> a little bit. i think i realized that this is a whole different life for me now. >> just a few days later the new

york times reported that donald trump wanted to split his time. they are holding out he may spend more time in the white house as he grows more comfortable in the job. leslie, i have to ask you about my favorite question, what didn't you see on tv? he came in with the family and treated different members of the family, how he seemed to be. tell us anything you seemed to notice. >> not really. we put in almost every single thing that happened, really. we had almost two hours with him. the things we left out were just

repetitions. he came across both in the room and on television as someone who wanted to convey a sense of calmness, a sense that he gets the enormity. he blamed the press for everything that went wrong during the campaign saying he was portrayed as a wild man. maybe that is what came through. he wanted very much to say i'm a sober person and i can take this job with complete total seriousness. i think in many ways he may have accomplished what he set out to. i was swamped we mails from people saying i was reassured and then today he kind of steps ton message by naming bannon. it is kind of a -- he hurt himself -- first he helped himself and i don't know about today.

>> there are always two politicians, the one we meet backstage and one on television. trump, would you say there is no difference in the guy you see in a room with you and the guy on the tube? >> he is not going to be on a stage screaming. in what he said, not just how he presented himself, which was serious and somber almost. even his words, there was no hyperboli, there was very little combativeness, except through the press. >> what's the beef? the anything the people on the left criticized us. i have more free time than anybody ever got because he puts on a show. it is what he got in trouble

with. the wild attacks on everybody is what that audience loved and what made him a show business favorite. >> i think when the mainstream press started to call him out for his untruths and really started naming them he felt that it was unfair. he felt that the press was siding with hillary clinton and it's gnawing at him. you know, he says flat out, he has said if you're nice to me i'll be nice to you. if you attack me i'll come at you like a tiger. he comes down to the white house. he had been attacking president obama viciously for years. president obama greets him and he is gracious and generous with his time and now donald trump says the most kind things about

him and the same with hillary. hillary clinton made a phone call and praised him for the kind of campaign and boom, nice things about hillary. he feels the press came after him. he feels that in his heart, and he is still going to strike out. >> yeah. >> and he also said that the way to communicate is through social media and he believes that. he believes that's why he won. he said that, that's why i won. we'll see. you said a lot tonight already about how much he wants to appeal to the establishment. the press is part of the establishment. let's see what happens on that front. >> thank you. when we return let me finish with trump watch. this is "hardball," a place for politics.

let me finish tonight with this, trump watch. i can feel much of the country's mood right now on saturday night live kate sang "hallelujah" then

on sunday the choir sang it again. much of america is in a soulful mood and some are downright scared. through this, right through this i tried hard to do this job bringing the news to people, how i'm weighing it personally, how i'm using my knowledge of american history to put it into perspective and to try to keep the boat stable. that is what this country is making right now. believe it or not, like it or not, american history. his us going through this. some moments may be what the electoral vote. like when he talked about the -- he must listen and he must learn. tonight i worry about the talk that bolton might be his choice

for secretary of state. some people are downright scared, scared. that's "hardball." join me tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. see you then.

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tonight on "all in" -- >> do i have concerns? absolutely. of course i've got concerns. >> the president meets the press. plus, in an "all in" exclusive, keith ellison and his intention to run the dnc. then, former clinton campaign spokesperson jess mcintosh in her first interview since the election and bill moyers on what lies ahead in trump's america when "all in"