pope mentioned the maliciousness sprouting from a distorted mind. the pope went on to list 15 specific improvements he expects the cardinals to make, calling them, quote, spiritual ailments that must be addressed. all of this, by the way, in his christmas address. that's all for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily." good evening. i'm ari melber and we have a big show today. president obama taking concrete action today to block president-elect trump from creating a muslim registry. later, more conflicts of interest facing donald trump. and an update on the story we brought you last night, the evidence trickling out about russia hacking the dnc and then something different for the holidays tonight. comedian chuck nice and an

all-star panel reflecting on 2016, our stories and politics and culture and reasons to be hopeful for the holidays. we begin with a major development, though. president obama taking decisive action today to block donald trump from creating a muslim registry. while obama has mostly focused on paving a smooth transition, today's move reflects the first use of his powers as president to thwart trump. the message from obama today is clear. he is still president and if donald trump's even thinking about religious profiling, president obama is going to make that not a smooth transition at all. obama is basically blocking potential religious profiling by ending an obscured government registration system. we'll explain it to you. basically, the obama administration issued an official notice today and it states this registration system ends now, with an immediate effective date. that means the program is dead. but the notice also says the system had proven to be quote,

redundant and ineffectively and provided no increase in security. this is a direct response, a prebuttal, if you will, to donald trump's repeated discussion of banning muslim immigrants or tracking muslims in the u.s. and i want to be clear. i say discussion, because trump has pretty much held more than one position, as you may recall. he campaigned on banning all muslims from entering the country, which would be illegal, experts say. and he and his aides have also suggested that trump would kush immigration in some other way, maybe vetting. no one knows what trump will do, including donald trump, but we do know that obama's move today is to block trump from any muslim registry. after donald trump was elected, he was still meeting with conservatives about these kinds of proposals. one hard liner you may have heard of, kris kobach, brought specific recommendations to trump. take a look, when you zoom in on those recommendations, you can see a proposal to bring back this very registration system to, quote, update and

reintroduce the screening and tracking system. that, folks, that is the system that obama ended today. it's a tracking tool that he wants to take off the table. and let's be clear, while trump aides do try to say and argue that he wants to focus more now on o'ways to vet, instead of religious profiling, note that donald trump himself still won't step up and give a straight answer. there's a lot of overreaction these days to donald trump's tweets or his posturing. don't be distracted by that. he picks the topics of the tweets, obvious, and he can hide from any scrutiny or fact checking when he's hiding behind twitter. instead, watch what he said when he's confronted by his own words, here he is right now, you're going to see this, ducking this very same question when he was approached by reporters yesterday. >> what's going is terrible, in fact. we have intelligence here right now. >> has it caused you to rethink or re-evaluate your plans to

create a muslim registry? >> hey, you know my plans all along and it's -- they've been proven to be right 100% correct. what's happening is disgraceful. >> trump says we've known his plans all along. he ran on the muslim ban. he's not retracting it. and while many in washington don't want to face that simple fact, it is clear today the current president is taking donald trump at his words. quote, we've known his plans all along. joining me now for a lot more context on this news story, david leopold, a former president of the american immigration lawyers association, democratic strategist, peter emerson, who's advised two presidential transition teams and michael skolnick, the former editor in chief of global grind. david, what does this all mean? >> well, i think the president made the right move. look, this program was outdated, it was inefficient. but more importantly, it was a vestige of post-9/11 america, it

racially profiled, and importantly, it didn't lead to the conviction of anybody who was connected to terrorism. what it did do was racially profile. it threw a lot of good people into deportation proceedings, resulting in losses of scientists, businessmen, and women. obama did the right thing today. this program had to be nixed. >> peter, does this strike you as a direct rebuttal or prebuttal to what donald trump might have done with this program? >> to some degree. i want to make perfect know about attorney general schneiderman of new york, who sent the letter yesterday. he should deserve great credit for prodding the president to do this. i agree that this should have been taken away a long time ago. there's no evidence that it had any effect, other than harming people. so at the end of the day, i think obama did the right thing, but i think he also did it for his own legacy and he also did it to distance himself from

trump. >> and david, take a little bit more of a listen to donald trump, who comes off as either brief or evasive, whatever you want to call it, when he has had these interactions with reporters. he hasn't done a full press conference, which most president-elects do. take a listen. >> your comments about the truck attack in berlin being against christians, do you think that this might -- >> say it again. what? >> the attack in berlin being against, was an attack against christians. >> well, who said that? when did -- when was that said? >> i think -- i believe you said it in a press release. >> so go ahead. >> so, i'm wondering how this might affect relations -- >> that's an attack on humanity. that's what it is. it's an attack on humanity. and it's got to be stopped. >> david, do you get a sense there that these are the kind of comments that may have affected president obama's thinking about how he wants to curtail some of the immigration options? >> well, of course.

i think it affected not only the president's thinking, but the hundreds of activists that contacted the president, the 350,000 americans that signed a petition, asking the president to revoke this outdated racial profiling program. look, you know, there's an important article, i think, for everybody to read in light of trump's election. it was written by masha guessen and published in the new york review. it's call eed rules for surviva. and the point there is you've got to take donald trump at his word. i know that he goes back and forth, i know that he's evasive. he doesn't take responsibility for anything he says. but, let's face it, he's called for a total ban on muslims. he's called for a registry. he broad brushes horrific attacks. he takes credit for being smart. he sees it only in terms of hills, when you watch a horrible terrorist attack. his only reaction is, yeah, well, i told you so, i'm so spatter.

this is a man who has said, he ran on a platform of bigotry, of racism, and xenophobia, and nativism, and he wants to -- he wants to end immigration. he also talks about banning muslims. he talks about banning people based on their religion. it's absolutely inconceivable. and i think president obama -- >> ari, if i can -- >> i think president obama did the right thing by making this much more difficult for donald trump, if he chooses to try to register people. >> peter, go ahead. >> i don't think there's any difficulty for donald trump to do whatever he wants, although this program is curtailed. there are other ways to accomplish what trump may or may not want to. i don't take him at his word. i take him at his action. i want to wait and see exactly what he does. as you pointed out, parry, if we take him at his word, we're going to all become schizophrenic, if we haven't already. >> i've got to push back against that a little bit. he is the president-elect of the

united states. and his word is all we have. the things that he said during that campaign, the racism, the calling for total ban on muslims, he hasn't backed off. >> well, let me bring in michael sko skolnick, who's also with us here. the headline we have on the screen, michael, is obama blocks potential muslim registry. this program, this registry hadn't been actively used in several years, okay? for folks who look at that and for folks who are involved in national security know that, the president knows that, because he's in the daily briefings, he oversees this. you know who's taking donald trump at his word right now, appears to be today, in the news tonight, president obama. he didn't want to leave this on the table. that means he sees some probability, may not be 90%, but it's not zero, i think in the president's mind that this is an issue. >> and i think the president should take him at his word. i think this country's history, you know, japanese internment camps, we have a history of rounding people up. and muslims across this country

who are desperately afraid of this president-elect, and what he's going to do to them. and president obama did the right thing to protect those americans who are living in this country, who practice religion of islam. at the same time, you watch that video. there's a man lurking over president-elect trump's shoulder, and it's general michael flynn as his nsa adviser. and general michael flynn has made tremendous inflammatory remarks against muslims. that's the person who's advising him. it's not just president-elect trump who we're afraid of when it comes to muslims. it's steve bannon and michael flynn. >> what we're see right there. >> you can see michael flynn lurking over his shoulder. this man has made some really horrible statements against muslims and he's the one who's advising the president on national security issues. also to note, ari, ensears has not led to one terrorist conviction since its inception. >> right. >> not one. so it does not work, it has not worked, and president obama did the right thing today. >> peter, go ahead, you wanted to respond?

>> i don't want any viewers to think for a moment that the issue is dead. it's not. obama did the right thing. this program has been curtailed. but as, it's been pointed out, with trump himself and his advisers, this could be revisited and no doubt will be. so we have to be very vigilant. >> i would agree with peter. and i also think one thing we should remember, in these days and times, there's more way to get information except through the government. we are inputting so much information into private companies. i think it's important the private companies do not cooperate with this president-elect. if he goes to them and asks them to deliver information on what religion a person might be. >> and so, david, when you -- go ahead, david. >> i was going to make the point, any discernible reason to have kept ensears in place would be racial profiling. because it was just pointed out, the technology has changed so much since this registry program was put into effect just post-9/11, that we, it's

obsolete. in other words, there are other ways that customs and border protection can protect the country, whether it's through flight manifests, through travel patterns, things like that. this program is useless. and the only reason why people like kris kobach, the nativist lawyer from kansas, the only reason people like that want a program like this in place is so that they can easily go and register people based on their religion. and i agree that this is not over. but i think that taking this off the regulatory books does two things. it's a statement that the american people do not have to put up with racial profiling by a president, number one. and number two, that it's going to make it much harder for kris kobach or president-elect trump to put a new registration program in place, because they're going to have to go through the regulatory procedures. >> the final point is important. it seems obscure, but under

administrative agency law now, if they want to revive anything like this, there are actual federal rules, there will be a paper trail, we will as a public know about it before it was even implemented. that's one of the changes that is required now from what president obama did today. as i say, we're out of time on this topic. david leopold and peter emerson, thank you. michael, i'll see you later in the show. we've got a lot of other news, though. much more including the new evidence trickling out that the russian military was behind the dnc e-mail hack. and it's been a minute since newt gingrich traveled donald trump and it took him only a few minutes for him to walk it back today. >> i want to report that i made a big boo-boo. i goofed. draining the swamp is in. the alligators should be worried. [ sneezes ]

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computers and it was used against russian enemies in ukraine and allegedly the dnc. that link is crucial. cybersecurity firm crowd source saying today the use of that similar malware shows russia behind both attacks. in the ukraine, those tools hacked an app to thwart the russian opposition. crowd source says that the russian hacking helped putin target opposition fighters. then, thousands of miles away in washington, apparently, the same tools were used to target the dnc, showing a russian hand in both plots, that's according to a new crowd strike report. another piece of evidence in the long-running controversy over russia's hacking. now, crowd strike, people say, is more credible, because, a, they work directly on the dnc investigation, and b, they employ former u.s. officials. but still, the u.s. government itself has yet to release this kind of detailed evidence. nbc news national security reporter ken delaney working this story broke the story. ken, what links these two

separate hacks to the russian government? >> great to be with you, ari. as you just said, what links them is a piece of malware, which crowd strike calls x agent. and crowd strike says this was developed by a group they call fancy bear. the source code of this is not public, so only fancy bear uses this. crowd source believes that fancy bear is the russian intelligence agency, the gru. and back when they announced that the dnc had been hacked and fancy bear was one of the groups that hacked it, crowd source only had a medium level of confidence that fancy bear was the russian military agency. today's research shows crowd source's research that fancy bear used this particular malware to target ukrainian soldiers, who were fighting russian-backed spra russian-backed separatesrists

backs in 2004 -- >> this is getting a little confusing. so you're saying the same revolver is being used in two separate crimes, more or less? >> that's a great way to put it. and specifically, these ukrainian guys were downloading an app on to their phones to allow them to better target our artillery. the russian spies co-opted these app, so every time they downloaded on their phone, the russians knew their location and they started raining very precise artillery strikes down on their heads. so crowd strike is saying, look, we have the same group that used this malware to hack the dnc and they used it to essentially kill ukrainian soldiers. we assess now with high confidence that this was the russian military intelligence agency. >> so it's a trail of evidence based on the way the hacks work, which seems potentially more useful or probative than just the anonymous leaks that we've seen so much in the past month. take a listen to glenn greenwald, who was on the show last night, and was challengini

basically the intelligence agencies and our reporting, including effectively reporters like you for relying on those sources. take a listen. >> you need to actually see evidence for it, so that you can review that evidence and assess whether or not it's persuasive. what evidence is there, definitive, circumstantial, or otherwise, that they have presented that suggest that the russian government is behind these leaks? there is none. >> he's saying there has to be evidence more than just a government official whispering that they reached a conclusion. would you put today's material that you've been reporting on in that pile of more useful evidence? >> i absolutely would. but i think he's got a great point. i do think the u.s. government has an obligation, at some point, to release some evidence on this. they just can't say, take our word for it. they didn't do that during the cold war. they went to the united nations in certain cases and presented evidence. and the obama administration has said they'll do athat and we're waiting for that.

>> very interesting. a lot of folks online were asking us to get some of those responses. ken dlanian, thank you very much. >> great to be with you, thanks. coming up, it's that oops moment. newt gingrich admitting that he was wrong about donald trump. we'll tell you what the big boo-boo exactly was, but also why it matters. and eric trump saying he's done. he's no longer going to take donations for his own charity, what he called a quagmire of conflicts. we've got the story, next. drastically. ♪ i tried hard to quit smoking. ♪ but when we brought our daughter home that was it. ♪ now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. can you say thanks nicoderm cq? every great why needs a great how. i thodid the ancestrydna toian. find out i'm only 16% italian.

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when we win on november 8th, we are going to washington, d.c. and were going to drain the swam swamp. >> everybody, now. drain the swamp. but after tapping goldman sachs, exxon, and a bunch of lobbyists for his new administration,

donald trump's promises to drain the swamp, even his first campaign manager, corey lewandowski, says it's not a priority. >> where does drain the swamp stack up on things to adhere to on the trump camp? >> look, i think if you had to put them in a chronological order, drain the swamp is somewhere down on the bottom. >> down at the bottom of the list! or the bottom of that swamp that won't be drained, if you will. and it's not just staff, either. one of trump's most prominent defenders from during the campaign, newt gingrich, likened the entire populist effort of wresting washington back from elites as a cute slogans th tha no longer useful. >> i'm told he now disclaims that. that it's cute, but he doesn't want to use it anymore. >> as a theory, that seems plausible. trump has told supporters that other big claims during the campaign, like locking up hillary clinton, were just for show. he told supporters earlier, just this month, quote, we don't ware about that memory. very candid. but apparently, trump does still care about swamp drainage,

saying today, he is still down to drain and adding an acronym for good measure adding, quote, we'll always be trying to dts. okay, donald trump says it's dts and don't forget it. and gingrich didn't, apparently, because right afterward, basically within the hour, he recorded a special video on facebook saying he made a boo-boo. >> i want to report that i made a big boo-boo. i talked this morning with president-elect donald trump and he reminded me, he likes draining the swamp. i mischaracterized it the other day. he intends to drain the swamp. so i want all of you to know, i goofed. draining the swamp is in. the alligators should be worried. and you'll hear me write more about alligators and the swamp, but i wanted -- i thought i owed it to all of the folks that follow me that when i make a mistake, i'm going to be straightforward and tell you. i blew that one. deranging the swamp is in, president-elect trump wants to do it, and you're going to be part of it.

>> now, it's telling this entire miniature controversy, we could even call it a nontroversy, fixated on slogans, not trump's actual governance. the thing that impacts people's lives isn't whether it's cute to say swamp or whether it's best expressed as dts. it's whether the people who made this swamp still get to run it. and trump actually did have a point when he campaigned on the idea that bankers run washington. people from top banks held big jobs in the bush administration and the obama administration. trump ran on changing that and so far, the only way he's changing it is by super sizing it. trump has put, this is a fact, more goldman executives and billionaires in his administration already than were in the last ones. now, whether you think that's good or bad, it's literally the opposite of what he ran on. now, up next, new fallout over the inaugural festivities and trump's conflicts of interest.

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♪ music playing coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the only brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. donald trump's conflicts of interest are back in the news, because there's more of them. politico reporting his former campaign manager, who we were just talking about, corey lewandowski, brokered a meeting between the president-elect and a mexican billionaire, carlos slim, trump tweeted, yes, it's true, carlos slim, the great businessman from mexico called me about getting together for a meeting.

we met, he's a great guy. revelations coming hours after the announcement that bayer barry bennett are launching a new lobbying firm. but lewandowski said he wasn't operating as a lobbyist. >> if i can be a resource to corporations that are trying to get a fast answer from the government and not a long maybe, i think that's a value ad i can potentially provide. that's the goal. the goal isn't to go and become a swamp creature or a lobbyist. i'm not going to be a lobbyist, it's not going to happen. >> all right. that comes as trump's children continue to face pay-for-play accusations. two other attempts to raise money in exchange for gaining access to either the president or the people around him are now being walked back. trump's son, eric, has said that he will stop actively fund-raising for charities, saying, quote, as unfortunate as it is, i understand the quagmire. you do a good thing that backfires. of course, the whole fight was other whether it's a good thing. now the official presidential inaugural committee also catching heat for some of the

perks they are reportedly offering donors. $1 million can get you access to an exclusive event with cabinet appointees and a, quote, intimate dinner with mike pence. for half a million, candlelight dinner with a special appearance by donald trump. now, down to a quarter million, they are offering elegant dinners. these are their words with a cabinet appointee, undeclared which one. swamp, quagmire, whatever you call it, it does not look like the draining has begun. joining me now for many is ohio state senator, nina turner, and ira stoal, editor of "the future of capitalism.com" and a conservative commentator. ira, what is going on? >> well, it turns out it's not so easy the to drain the swamp. i mean, these guys aren't yet even in office and they can't figure out whether they want to drain it or spray ddt on it or participate in it. you know, the quickest way end to corruption in washington would be to give washington less power. then it becomes less important

to suck up to all of these politicians. if federal governments spent less money, there would be less people trying to buy congressmen and get influence with these cabinet departments. so we'll see if trump is able to succeed in that. and if not, there's going to be a whole bunch of people in michigan and wisconsin who voted for him who are going to be quite disappointed. >> nina, what do you think of ira's point there, that you have to change the policies that would give washington power to reduce some of the money flowing in. >> well, let me add ohio to his list. this really comes down to political will. now, president-elect trump ran on the whole notion of draining the swamp. yet, as you highlighted in an earlier segment, his cabinet is worth about $4.5 billion, with a "b," the fact that they are selling off and i put that in air quotes, opportunities to either talk about to the

president-elect or people in his cabinet just reinforces more of the same. and that's what the american people are -- they're tire of that. politicians run saying one thing, of which president-elect said that he wasn't your ordinary politician, and then when it comes down to it, they do something entirely different. and there is going to be hell to pay, i believe, if president-elect trump does not follow through on his promises to the working poor and middle class in this country. and it should. people are sick of it. they're over it. >> ira, take a listen to kellyanne conway on some of this. >> there's a difference in hillary clinton's relationship with wall street, where she's getting tens of millions of dollars in speeches, tens of millions of dollars in contributions for her foundation, even while she's sitting at the state department. and donald trump tapping some of the greatest talents that we've seen on wall street to go and serve in his cabinet. >> ira, you write about capitalism. what she's saying there isn't exactly right. he explicitly ran, saying that the bankers and the lobbyists and the donors have too much power. he said, goldman sachs

controlled ted cruz, and there are more goldman appointments than any administration in the last 30 years. >> i think you're right. i think he probably pressed that a little too hard during the campaign. i mean, hillary clinton was doing the same thing, she was writing op-eds, promising to rein in wall street years after taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees. but hypocrisy -- trump is not the first politician to be hypocritical and he won't be the last. >> is that the best defense -- ira, is that the best defense conservatives have for a man who hasn't even taken office yet? >> look, i'm not here to defend donald trump. i will say the fact that somebody worked at goldman sachs is not naeecessarily a bad thin. bill clinton, treasury secretary. jon corzine, who was senator from new jersey, you know, as you pointed out earlier,

people -- hank paulson, who was george w. bush's treasury secretary. you know, the fact that someone used to be a banker might mean they know something about economics. >> no, you make -- ira, you make a fair -- you certainly make a fair point. professional diversity and an expertise in the field will not automatical lall lally be held someone. now he's being held to what you might call the donald trump standard. and it is wider than just goldman, of course, nina. you've got rex tillerson, who spent his adult life and career at exxon, the senate wants to vet him and look at who he is and who he owes. makes sense. i want to read to you and get your response what a senate democratic aide is saying about this. quote, mr. tillerson is asking the senate to put him in the driver's seat on u.s. foreign policy. we need to see documents that will ensure he's working on behalf of the country and as not

his bottom line. >> there it is. accountability and transparency and that's what president-elect trump ran on and what the american people deserve. when it comes down to morality and profit, morality rarely wins. profit usually wins. and that is what is happening. that is the picture that is being painted. and it is patently unfair to run as this trail blazer, as somebody that's going to shake it up, drain the swamp. meanwhile it, seems like the president-elect is add together swamp right now. and people must hold him and every other politician, because ira is right p. i mean, politicians say this stuff. it is not an excuse, it should not be an excuse and the only one who can hold all politicians for what they say compared to what they do, it is the american voter. and we need to start strongly holding people accountable on both sides of the aisle. >> ira, what is the most important economic policy you want to see out of this new

administration. and second, if you have time, what do you think of the acronym, dts, will it catch on the way "drain the swamp" has? >> i would like to see a corporate tax cut. right now these high corporate taxes are keeping money outside of america. if we cut the rate, we'll bring it back, the companies will spend the money. i would not like to see this 5% tariff that's being leaked about. that would really harm american exporters and american consumers. and dts, drain the swamp, i think the last thing we need in washington is more acronyms. i think we -- what we need is smaller government. and that's the best way to the end corruption. >> i totally hear you. i mean, you have so many acron m acronyms, they call it alphabet soup in washington. it's overboard. but nina, i want to wish you and m.c. a merry christmas and a happy hanukkah to you, ira. i want to give everyone a

quick programming note. rachel maddow sitting down with kellyanne conway to announce the trump transition and her newly announced role today in the trump white house. that's 9:00 eastern on msnbc tonight. also, we'll look back at the lessons learned for many what has been a long year. we'll give you a rundown of our most memorable moments in politics, culture, and reasons for hope as you get ready for the holidays. ♪ you got it! what do you think? if you're going to wish, wish big at the lexus december to remember sales event get up to $2500 customer cash on select 2016 and 2017 models for these terms. see your lexus dealer.

all right. this is our last show before christmas, so we have a special look at the year in politics and culture, i think you'll agree, a very special panel. comedian chuck nice -- >> hey, ari, how are you?

>> michael skolnick back with us at the table. he's a former political director for hip hop michael simmons. and the ceo of the sose agency, as well as lauren suzka who works for "the new yorker". >> thanks for having me. >> what i wanted to do, because i'm not actually pretend interested in what you have to say, i'm really interested in some of your thoughts on the year. we want to go around and say, biggest stories in politics and culture. it is msnbc, so, let's start in politics. biggest story this year? >> sure, well, i thought that when you asked that question, you were just sort of trolli ii us into all be like, trump is the president and we would all sit here and talk about that. so i, aside from that, was thinking about the way social media has impacted political discourse, which is maybe not a discreet story, but in terms of peop memes being part of our political conversation and the way we talk past each other online, but also the way twitter can be an informant and filling

in the gaps that mainstream media sometimes misses. >> you wrote a little satire piece for the new yorker and wrote this in january, a year ago, before donald trump won the nomination. but you were spoofing the way it works with click bait and the things you see online. this is fake headlines you wrote in january. >> it's fake news. this gaffe just cost trump nothing, because we are all subjects of a dictatorship now. it's time to take donald trump's world domination plans seriously. and this one may or may not become relevant. this is again, your joke headlines from a year ago, deportgate might cost trump a second term. >> wait a minute, those are fake headlines? >> yeah. >> she sees the future. >> there's like a bad goose bumps book where each of these is coming true and i did this to us. making my little joke. >> of course, everybody, of course, gravitates towards trump. but i actually thought that a very interesting story that hasn't really been talked about,

is the effect of immigration globally and the backlash, political backlash that we have experienced globally because of immigration. so think about it, immigration and decrying immigration brought us brexit. it has reignited the far-right nationalist party in germany. and now angela merkel is actually looking over her shoulder, because, you know, people are saying, well, we're in this situation, because she allowed this refugee situation to unfold the way it has. >> and merkel's considered more left of center than germany. now she's coming out with an anti-muslim proposal saying they can't wear the veil. >> exactly. she's responding to this anti-immigration kind of, you know, outrage that's happening. and you know, you have the freedom party or the party of freedom in the netherlands. it's really, it's really amazing the way people have responded to immigration and right here in america, of course, donald trump. >> michael?

>> well, speaking of trump, i have a 3-year-old son. this is the first election that i have actually watched, my son was alive, to live through. and watching television and campaigning with hillary, with my son. i think that moment of the "access hollywood" tape to me, you know, to tell my son that we as men, we don't talk like this. we don't treat women like this. >> i think we have that. let's look at -- there it is. and this is where he said the most infamous words of this year. here it is. >> i did try to [ bleep ] her. she was married. i moved on her like a [ bleep ]. i couldn't get there. and she was married. i have to use some tic tacs in case i stop kissing her. i'm automatically attracted to beautiful women. i just start kissing them. and when you're a star, they let you do it. grab 'em by the [ bleep ]. you can do anything. >> to hear that again is as bad

when you heard it the first time. and during this election, the normalization of violence against women happened. they dismissed it, it's locker room talk. and people believed that nonsense, it's locker room talk. and as a father, watching my son, i had to pull my son away from the television to be afraid of what this man was going to say than have a really negative effect on my child. >> you need to hang in more billionaire locker rooms. >> i was going to say, it's funny that you picked that as the biggest story of the year, because i think it should have been, but it wasn't, and it's incredible to think how this should have affected him. >> we also asked you guys, we want to do positives. because both of you are starting to bump me out. but -- >> don't worry. >> what about an unsung hero, lauren? >> yeah, well, mine is an earnest answer, though. but i thought the water protectors, the victory of having the dakota access pipeline be halted, i mean, i don't think that fight is over, but it just really shows is us

that protesting and persistence, that it works. and i think that's my biggest, most hopeful story. >> michael? >> i was in the hallway during the convention when mr. and mrs. khan spoke. and i don't think we knew at that moment -- we were all like, who are these people, what's happening, this speech is incredible. holy cow, this is powerful. when he pulled the constitution out of the pocket, the whole place was just with them. and to see them stand up for their child and all fallen soldiers and fall families who have lost their loved ones in war was really, really powerful and they should be part of the american conversation. >> you say that, and you know when you go to these conventions, i was there on the floor, too, as thousands of people were. i was there with brad gold, a producer here at msnbc, and people talk through a lot of the speeches, and people were talking and it got a little quieter, and it was one of those things, not because everyone was told to be quiet, all of a sudden it got like a pindrop quiet in the room because of just the moment. someone that literally no one in

that room until that night had heard of. do we have that? let's play that. >> donald trump consistently smears the character of muslims. he vows to build walls and ban us from this country. let me ask you, have you even read the united states constitution? i will gladly lend you my copy. >> wow. yeah. i got a chance to meet them last weekend at the white house holiday party. i just wanted to shake his hand and her hand and thank them to their service for their contribution to this country. remarkable human beings. >> your contribution, chuck? >> i think i'm going to go with engaged youth. >> -- plan to get married? >> 16-year-olds. >> it's in vogue. >> yeah. >> yeah, i just think that, you know, we have a tendency to look

at young people as silly, if you look at them through the eyes of the internet, they're a bunch of idiots who get naked and jump into a cactus and things like that. but this was a year where i saw so many young people like, i have a 16-year-old daughter and all of her friends, they're all politically active. they were protesting, they're very much involved. >> yes. >> and they know what's going on. and as much as people say, we are doomed, and by the way, we are -- just figure ed i'd throw that in. but as much as that may be a fact, we have reason to be hopeful. and when we look at the young people -- >> all right, lightning round, your own new year's resolution? >> my own new year's resolution is to use my angry energy for good and not just sit around and making jokes about wanting to die. >> i'm going to tweet donald trump until he stops tweeting about nonsense and goes to his intelligence briefings.

>> mine is not to care. no, i'm joking. no, mine is -- mine is, not to be shocked at anything this incoming administration does, because i believe that they use outrage fatigue as a tactic and a tool. i believe, honestly, and earnestly, that they do this on purpose so that you can be like, what, what, what?! and by the time you get down to the 15th or 20th "what," you're just like, whatever. >> the drain is clogged. >> i have two. one of my resolutions is to just be mindful, we can't do everything, but everyone in their own life can do something. and the second is to look at how chuck nice picks sweaters and help that guy. something went wrong and went right. and sometimes you have to see it. i want to ask you guys. i want to also know your new year's resolution for washington, what they want to do. but let's squeeze in a break and we'll get that on the flip side. we'll be right back. (war drums beating)

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it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. hi, there, and welcome back. we have our special holiday panel here. we've been talking about stories of the year. lauren, michael, and chuck. your biggest pop culture story of the year? >> mine was a dark one, but i thought that kim kardashian's robbery was a huge story in terms of the way it was covered and reacted to.

there was a story in the "new york daily news" that the title was actually, kim kardashian's robbery is too good to be true. >> i'm sorry. i just laughed. >> which is a terrible thing to say about anyone in a violent crime that could have gone much worse. >> it's a normalization of such a toxic mess of things, of gun violence, of hatred of women and -- >> do you think the kardashians have a little bit to do with that, though. if this would have happened to oprah, that headline wouldn't be there. a lot of people thought it was a publicity stunt that they put on. >> but isn't that the problem? if your values and your reaction to something vary based on who you think the person is, instead of saying, well, this is the wrong thing to do. i think of an armed robbery just wrong. unless you want to take the other position. >> believe it or not, i could. >> oh, my goodness. >> i'm joking. >> chuck, what's yours? >> pop culture, the fact that it's -- and i'm looking at it

maybe darkly, too, but it's not that brad and angelina broke up, it's the fact that we got through that. the fact that people -- >> so important. >> the fact that people are still able to get up in the morning and face their lives. and the fact that people are still getting married anyway says that there is a light in the human spirit that will not be died out. >> michael? >> i'm going with "hamilton." i thought "hamilton" was, linwell miranda, a genius. and that time mike pence came to the show and they wouldn't let him leave before they had a word with him was incredible. >> my culture story of the year is the weekend. i think he has brought it and has changed r&b, and is soft and cuddly and smooth when you listen, but when you really hear, there's something raw and rough in there. michael reque michael? >> beautiful. >> and lightning round -- it's

lightning round -- if only we had more time. lightning round, your resolution for washington. >> accountability and transparency. and just, you know, owning up to providing people with accurate information. is that too much to ask? >> no, it's not. >> michael? >> i'm hoping for democrats to really have an opposition. i'm looking at cory booker. i think he can take on, the republicans can take on the president-elect. and i think the democrats can show the opposition. >> like all resolutions made all over the globe, it does not make a difference, because they're not going to do it anyway. so i don't care. >> well, your resolution is you hope they change and you don't think they will? >> they will not. >> chuck nice, michael, lauren, thank you. i'll be guest hosting for rachel maddow next week at 9:00 p.m. as uls, you can e-mail me at

ari@msnbc.com and a shout-out to all of our msnbc folks in the control room who put on all of our show. hey, everybody! merry christmas and happy new year to them. maybe taking some long-deserved rest and a merry christmas and a happy new year to everybody at home watching. "hardball" starts right now. >> the reality tv white house. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm joy reid in new york, in tonight for chris matthews. in the 1980s, it was getting his name in the paper any way he could. then it was reality tv. these days, donald trump's go-to medium and his communication tool of choice is twitter. he used it to announce appointments, suggest policy, and mainly, to start beef with politicians, late-night comedy shows, former beauty pageant winners, and the casts