york in for chris matthews. in the 1980s, it was getting his name in the paper and reality tv. these days donald trump's go to medium and his communication tool of choice is twitter. he on used it to announce appointments and policy and late night comedy shows, beauty show winners and the cast of brought way shows. twitter has given us a window into the thought process. for example, this morning within the span of ten minutes, trump tweeted a rebuke of a staunch supporter to expand the nuclear arsenal. at 11:41 a.m., in an apparent

response to newt gingrich, someone stated that the phrase drain the swamp was no longer being used by me. we will always try to drain the swamp. trump said the united states must greatly strengthen and expand capability until such time that the world comes to its senses with nukes. something no president suggested in decades, in fact quite the opposite. presidents from eisenhower and reagan and obama call for reducing the threat. there was news about the coming trump administration. campaign manager kellyanne conway will take on the role of counsellor and sean spicer named press secretary. one person not named is ambassador to the un, john bolton. his absence is not due to controversial views. donald trump believes those who is a speier to be in the most

visible spots should not just be able to do the job, but look the part. for the most part, he did not look the part. they thought john bolton's brush-like mustache was one of the factors that got him in the sweepstakes for the secretary of state. donald would not like that mustache who spoke on anonymity. i can't think of anyone that has a beard that he likes. i am joined by "the washington post" who cowrote that article and chairman of the committee, michael steel. this is remarkable and we heard lots of reasons for them choosing members of their team. looks has not been hmong them. >> i am so happy you balanced it as a man with a mustache. >> this is what we have here. >> we knew how important

appearance was to donald trump. don't forget near the end he said people wouldn't vote for hillary clinton because she didn't have a presidential look. he talked in introducing his running mate, he said mike pence's record was the reason he picked him on top of the fact that he looked good and had a good family. certainly this focus on looks, his own team acknowledges is a factor in who he picks and why he picks them. he does believe that the way a person presents themselves publicly is sort of part of the message that he is trying to send as he builds this team. >> john bolton had a response to this and i appreciate the grooming advice from the mainstream media.

michael steel. >> we quoting people near trump. i think his. >> i don't know if they have that yet. >> i am doing this right now. >> go to the mustache panelist. it was not the media suggesting th, but more donald trump. what do you make of this? you as chairman of the rnc, one of the great things about what you were able to accomplish, you are good on tv. it's not irrelevant to doing a person's job in this modern and visual era, but does it mean donald trump cast aside and we can draw the conclusion that or newt gingrich, maybe the reason they didn't make it to the final dance after being staunch supporters is that donald trump despite their loyalty may have

looked at you and said wrong visual image. >> that's a valid part of the packaging he is looking to present as he rolls out his administration. it matters as much how you look as well as how you sound and what you say. that's consistent with what we see donald trump do. in the 1980s, he was about one thing, getting his brand up and running. and when you were on the hot seat, it mattered how you look as much as and this plays into the job hunting process that he is unfolding. >> does that mean that qualifications for the position are taking a back seat to esthetics?

>> yes. >> i'm happy that a mustache saved america from john bolton. that's good even though it comes up for the wrong reasons. i think it shows that he is a superficial guy. he rates women on numbers and not on ideas, but of looks. he is sexist and misogynist and whatever you want to call it. rick perry looks like he should be in government because he comes from central casting and the last two secretaries of energy have been nuclear scientists. they understand the hard issues that brings us back to the other tweet in which donald trump shows he knows nothing about bipartisan policy on nuclear arms control. everything is superficial and it's about impressions,

impressions, impressions. good for politics, but bad for nuclear war. >> it casts new light for them. the stereotype may be driving that and i hope that's not the case. he has been quoting a woman or some other role because he thinks it would attract viewers and help innoculate him and names under consideration at the time. they are all conservative pundits. we know that shawn spicer is going to be the press secretary and he didn't go for a pretty blond woman. what did you make of the idea that he is trying to cast and it really is casting. cast the administration with attractive women. >> what we were told is central caving is a phrase he uses quite

a bit behind the scenes. and the first preference for the job was kellyanne conway. she was not interested in doing the job. she wanted another post which she got. it is a way of sort of in donald trump's mind, putting yourself forward. when it comes to the credentials of people, he is putting a lot of non-traditional choices? jobs. nikki haley is not somebody you would normally have thought of. the governor of south carolina for un representative. rex tillerson is the first secretary of state in history to come with no government experience as does the president-elect. this is a strategy and people who if he is determined to shake things up.

he thinks going by the old standards of what constitutes a resume and qualifications is not the way to do that. >> absolutely. one of the people got into it with donald trump this morning via twitter. donald trump promised to drain the swamp in washington, but a couple of supporters downplayed that language. here's the former campaign manager. >> where does drain the swamp stack up in the trump camp? >> if huh to put them in a chronological order, they are somewhere down at the bottom as opposed to getting tax reform done. people have more jobs and draining the swamp is a larger narratives, but it is about putting people back to work. >> newt gingrich had a similar message to npr. >> you say you have been working on the issues and others would say you have been working in the swamp. >> i am told he disclaims that and he said it is cute, but he

doesn't want to use it anymore. i thought it was a cute tweet about the alligators are explaining and someone said they were tires of hearing this stuff. >> that are message got a rebuke saying drain the camp is here to stay and newt gingrich walked it back. let's take a look. >> i want to report i made a big boo-boo. i talked this morning with president-elect donald trump and he reminded me he likes drain the swamp. he intends to drain the swamp. i want you to know that i goofed. draining the swamp is in. the alligators should be worried. >> what does it say that newt gingrich had to walk that back? >> like a hostage tape. let's go back to what he was saying. yesterday he announced he is becoming an alligator. one block away from the white

house. when he was running the trump campaign and he was going on and on about draining the swamp of consultants and peddlers and lobbyists. i'm waiting to see them rebuking cory. i don't expect fox news to do it and others might. people from goldman sachs and all the other people who are part of the swamp before the election getting high powered jobs. i think trump's hotel is in the middle of the swamp and makes money off the swamp and doesn't care much about this. >> we needed more time to continue talking about mustaches and swamps. michael steel, keep that stash forever. up next, a look back at 2016, a year of political highs and a lot of lows. which were the best moments and the worst?

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they are bringing drugs. they are bringing crime. they are rapists. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me too. me too. >> such a nasty woman. >> and to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was a highlight real, if you will, of the more memorable moments of 2016 in the presidential campaign. this past year in politics was filled with memorable highs and lows. which were the most notable? let's bridge in the round table with the political analyst and national affairs correspondent and expectative director of "time" magazine harold ford jooun.

you get up super early and thank you for hanging around. >> it's easy to say yes. >> that's very kind. i will go to matt first. that's okay. top stories of the year. what did time determine to be the top story of the year, the high and the low. >> we had a presidential election, you may have heard. in general the rise of populism in the united states and all over the world really sort of shook a lot of people up and will be a story that will continue into 2017. >> that is something that i think americans are com apartmentalized in our country. there is a broader trend taking place of the nationalist movements that are anti-immigrant and they are all triggered by the flood. the exodus of migrants and refugees out of syria and that part of the world and muslim immigrants. what do we make of that? we are a part of that wave.

>> we have to be clear that we are part of it. what we saw happen in the election for the first time outside of the south ithat you had a cohort of white people who did vote as white people. they self consciously chose donald trump because he promised to make things great again or white again. however you want to phrase it. it's important to put it in a global white nationalist movement that is beinged aed and a bedded by vladimir putin. he has links to the far right characters and sponsored meetings in st. petersburg for the same folks. it's something that in terms of looking backwards and forwards, we have to be watching it and thinking about what to call it. >> the rise of russia out of nowhere, russia is roaring back to the front row of world leadership. it has to be considered a big story for 2016. >> so much of this began with the vote and great britain and

we now have a few other votes that take place in nations that can help determine the stability and the policy we will have. ials think in addition to the election and the rise of populism and a tribal approach, politics in the republican party changed dramatically and it causes the thinking and a reimagination and reinvention for democrats. if we were sitting here, republicans think long and hard about what it looks like. >> it's my party having to do that. there are a lot of interesting stories and they pivot off the point of politics. >> absolutely. speaking of donald trump, back in july. >> i have joined the political a rene on so the powerful can no

longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves. nobody knows the system better than me. which is why i alone can fix it. >> the american strong man form of politics. it's all about i alone can fix it. which is a bigger story. that rise of the strong man or the sort of flipping of that on its head now that donald trump is putting together an administration that is mostly the .1%. >> the conventions are an

interesting thing to look back at. that point specifically that line, i alone can fix it, was misread by so many people. so many people said it looks like the performance of power and the performance of competence. it's not the same thing, but that message cut through as we saw in the election and both conventions if you look back at the coverage, there was a lot of negative coverage for being haphazard compared to the democrats. if 25 years of reality television has taught us anything, it's that the hot mess is always way more interesting to watch than the pageantry. we have seen that in the roll out of his cabinet and seen that in the twitter statements about the nuclear arsenal. this chaotic and unconventional approach to messaging captivated people in a way that the traditional. >> and the rules. >> the round table is staying with us. they will tell me something i don't know. you are watching "hardball," the place for politics.

and we are back. me something i don't know. >> the dnc chair race is shaping up. unfortunately it really is being set up as a proxy battle between labor secretary tom perez and keith ellison. there are other great people. >> for clinton or president obama versus sanders. keith ellison tried to take himself out of that box. i believe it was this morning. tweeting a story about how people have to stop passing on right wing memes about hillary clinton being corrupt or losing the election because she was corrupt. he was completely attacked by a lot of former supporters on twitter. a lot of support, but he got a lot of negativity. >> he existed before bernie sanders. hello. >> there are four or five great people in the race.

>> should be interesting. >> over 1,000 babies were born this year in refugee camps in greece of syrians who fled the conflict there. the refugee crisis is an easy story to forget when there is nothing something like the fall of aleppo happening. i certainly think it's going to be important next year and that's why time is falling for families of four children throughout the year. we will see what happens. >> it's an important story and the thing that is feeting the right wing nationals. >> one of the things that strengthen the party over the next year, picking the right chairman that will work itself out. the reemergence of something in the party that speaks to the middle of the country and middle class voters and not in antagonistic ways, but that speaks to voters. it might have run against nancy pelosi who tries to give voice to how he expands his party. >> african-americans and people

of color, any message that spurns black and brown people. >> that message is one of those people too. no doubt about it. >> thank you very much, joan, matt and harold. we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. see you then.

tonight on "all in" -- >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the

united states. >> the extraordinary measures president obama is taking to prevent any kind of muslim registry and to trump-proof the country. then the debacle in north carolina that left democrats in the dust. plus trump's pick for press secretary. >> twilight sparkle from my little pony said this is your dream. >> and a rare retraction from newt. >> i goofed. draining the swamp is in. the alligators should be worried. >> when "all in" starts right now. >> i made a big boo-boo. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. in 29 days donald trump will become the president of the united states, but until then barack obama still holds the job. in the waning days of his term, he's making what appear to be several different efforts to trump-proof the white house. today moving to block one of trump's biggest priorities dating back to the early days of his campaign, the creation of some kind of monitoring system for muslims in the u.s. yesterday we played you trump's response to attacks this week in germany and in turkey given