reported find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing i like it start your used car search at carfax.com what do we know about what kind of president donald trump will be? >> i will build a great, great wall on our southern border and have mexico pay for that wall. >> what we learned about trump, the man, the politician and the future president. will hear from mr. trump on domestic politics. >> everybody's taxes are going down. >> on foreign policy. >> i like that putin is bombing the hell out of isis. >> and on presidential leadership. >> we have to be a cheerleader for our country. >> this morning, the donald trump we saw and got to know right here on "meet the press" throughout this campaign. plus, christmas messages from presidents throughout the years. >> this is the time of year when

most of us try to be better than our every day selves. >> let us rededicate ourselves to the principles of peace and goodwill toward men. >> welcome to christmas sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. merry christmas. happy first day of hanukkah as well. happy holidays to everyone. when donald trump rode down that escalator in trump tower on june 15th, 2016, few people predicted a year and a half later we would sit here looking ahead to the trump presidency. for people who felt overlooked by democrats, and for folks who felt dismissed abo by the so-ca elites. many were disgusted by his campaign and uncomfortable with

his coziness with others. we look at the 18 times that donald trump appeared on "meet the press" in this campaign and discuss the man with those who have covered him so closely. welcome to all of you. welcome to all of you. happy holidays. we're going to show these "meet the press" with donald trump in three chunks and then one by one discuss each area so i want to begin with domestic policy covering areas from immigration to health care to companies that lead the united states. and we'll begin with the issue that has divided this country for decades. abortion. should some form of abortion always be legal? >> to me i have exceptions. rape, insist. if the mother is going to die.

and ronald reagan had those same exceptions and many republicans have those same exceptions. i say rape, insist -- >> you said life of the mother. what about health of the mother? >> i said if the mother is close to death. i'm talking about death. because then you sort of say, like, well maybe she's not feeling so well. >> what's the constitutional right between the mother and the unborn child? whose constitutional rights matter more? >> my statement on that is if the mother will die and you're going to know that. the problem with the life if you say life, what does life mean? you have a cold and you're going to end up having an abortion. >> one big thing is going to jump out hispanics will be upset about. you want to get rid of birth right citizenship. >> they're having baby and nobody knows. the baby is here. you have no choice. you have no choice. when we have some good people, we have some very good people here. we have some really good people. they're illegal. you either have a country or not. we go out and we're going to try to bring them back rapidly.

the good ones. you know the word expedited? >> i do. what about the order where you had this dream act or however you want to refer to it, the executive order -- >> the executive order gets rescinded. >> you'll rescind that one too? >> you're going to have to. we have to make a whole new set of standards. when peoe come in, they have to come -- >> you're going to split up families? >> we have to keep the families together but they have to go. >> what if they have no place to go? >> we'll work with them. they have to go. we either have a country or we don't have a country. >> let's move to your tax plan. you said it would be revenue neutral and raise taxes on the wealthy. a lot of people have done the numbers. it cuts taxes on the wealthy dramatically. and it's a big hole in the deficit until we find out what you're cutting.

>> we're cutting a lot. we're cutting taxes for the middle income more than anybody else. everybody's taxes are going down. some people won't pay tax and the reason they're not going to pay -- i love the idea of having a fat in the game if we can. the fact is these are people that are doing very poorly. they make not a lot of money. and we're saving a tremendous amount of administrative course by not making them pay. it's a dynamic plan. we'll grow the economy. we can do that. we also start cutting. the waste in this country is unbelievable. when you look at all of the -- >> you're going to get rid of entire departments? >> i would get rid of some. as an example, department of education. i would certainly get rid of a lot of it. jeb bush is a big common core person. i'm not. i want local education. we could save a fortune with environmental protection.

>> not a big department though. you won't get rid of a lot. >> it's a lot of money. >> what is another agency? >> even in the military, i'll build a military much stronger than it is now. nobody will mess with us. we can do it for a lot less. >> coming back to the math here. you have said you're taking social security and medicare off the table. no cuts there at all. if you take that off the table -- >> unfair to put it on the table. people have been paying for years. >> you wouldn't raise the age of retirement? >> i'm not going to do that at all. i'm going to take in so much money from china and other places -- look, we have a trade deficit with china of 400 billion a year. i can't believe it. >> in that first speech to congress you'll lay out your first 100-day agenda. >> i want to take care of our veterans. i want to fix our health care

system. i want to create borders so we have a country because right now we don't have a country. we have borders where people walk across and do whatever they want to do and they have babies and babies become citizens and we have to take care of them. >> you want some sort of government system on health care. you don't like the system in there now. that i understand. >> not single payer. first of all, i have a massive company. thousands of employees in many different states. you have artificial lines around each state. the insurance company take care of the politicians so they don't want to get rid of those lines. if you got rid of those lines would you have great private insurance and it would take care of most people. unbelievable thing. in addition to that, you can do the savings situation where would you have health care savings accounts. it would be fantastic. so many things you can do. the problem is insurance companies don't want to do these things and specifically get rid

of the lines because they rather have a monopoly in new york as an example then let 50 companies come in and bid. companies from iowa and new hampshire. >> you have to structure a government program to deal with this. >> no. here's what do you. you have a great system. there will be people left that don't have any money and what i said last night is i don't want people dying in the middle of a street. it won't happen if i'm president, okay. this isn't single payer. it's using hospitals to take care of people. you reimburse the hospital. >> expand medicaid? >> you can do it through medicaid. you can do it through some other way. i'm just saying very simply -- this has to do with humanity. this has to do with having a heart. >> you defended the other work planned parenthood does. the government will say -- democrats say money they give to planned parenthood doesn't go to abortions but only to other women's health issues including mammograms and things like that.

if you knew the government money were only going to that, would you support funding plaed parenthood? >> if it didn't have to do with abortions. i understand it. women who understand planned parenthood better than we would understand it. they do lots of good work. one of the candidates, i won't mention a name, said we won't spend that kind of money on women's health issues. i am. planned parenthood does a lot of good jobs in different areas but not on abortion. i'm not going to fund it if it's doing the abortion. >> you said there would be consequences for any company that tried to move a factory. what's the consequences? you bring up carrier. if you were president, what would -- explain the consequence. >> here's the consequence. carrier comes in. they announce they're moving to mexico and fire all their people in indiana and they say, hi, here we are in mexico. enjoy your plant and rest of

your life and you hire people from mexico. now they make their product. they put it into the united states where we will have a very strong border but they put it into the united states and we don't charge them tax. if they're going to fire their people, move their plant to mexico, build air conditioners and think they'll sell those air conditioners to the united states, there's going to be a tax. could be 25%. could be 35%. could be 15%. i haven't determined. >> some of these things won't get through the world trade organization. >> we'll renegotiate or pull out. these trade deals are a disaster, chuck. >> there it is part one donald trump domestic issues. donald trump at home. let's dive right in. there was plenty of -- we like to highlight the inconsistencies sometimes. plenty of consistencies in different ways he talked about issues. first 100 days, the first three items he brought up were expanding military, dealing with immigration and dealing with obamacare. he talked about that throughout the campaign. >> he did have consistency in

idealistic ways but not a lot of policy depth in what he was saying. while he would talk about medicare or health care reform, we won't realize what he was actually describing. that's what got him into trouble especially with the republicans. he was often going against the long established republican talking points and platforms and that's where inconsistencies rose and when he would try to work around it and say that's not what i believe, it's what he said in the aftermath of some of these comments that made it murkier than it may have seen originally. >> trump priorities versus public priorities. it's funny trump hurt himself with republicans. not voters. republican leaders. that's going to happen in the first hundred days. i think health care and medicare is where we may see it the most. >> 2016 was the year of donald trump's victory and shattering the ideological consensus in the

republican party. we watch donald trump go against the mainstream of his party. conservative orthodoxy. i remember being on the plane with him in august of 2015. i said are you a populist? how do you define yourself ideologically? he said costa, i'm common sense. he made news because he was breaking away from the gop. that's why a lot of people in the party say he's the first independent president of the united states because he's not really a republican at his core. >> hugh, is he? >> i think he is. i think he will become one. i can binge watch those clips forever. i love watching donald trump say if it funds abortion. the nuclear. i was sitting next to katy on the floor of cleveland and he brought up the supreme court. biggest christmas present that will unify republicans and democrats will be his supreme court appointment. i think he's going to deliver. he's becoming a conservative. he is becoming one.

>> conservative of convenience? i think the scalia pick is an easy one for him. conservative for conservative. >> something he can give the party. bringing on mike pence was part of that. >> if there is a second opening that might change it, he may not be where everybody thinks he is. >> i'm not sure that donald trump is that doctrine on any conservative orthodox. this was the year that the republican party found out that all of these sort of ideological parts of the party existed with elites and at the base of the party is he talks the way they talk around their dinner party. probably to include the articles you're throwing in talking about abortion. he talks about it free of any deep thought or any ideological background. he does at the time what sounds logical for him. republican elites thought that the base of the party wanted tax cuts for the very rich and corporate tax rate at 15% and that isn't what they want. they want the end of trade

agreements. >> let's see how much donald trump cares about these issues when he is in office and how much he delegates to the people who are under him who are showing themselves to be conservative members of the republican party. how much is it donald trump leading policy and how much is it going to be his cabinet officials i was at dinner last night. we have two wall street bankers sitting next to me. they were thrilled at donald trump's presidency not knowing how he would do but thrilled because they didn't believe he would have his hands in anything. they believed that commerce would take over and tillerson would make oil futures rise and they were going to make a ton of money off this. >> the mistake though people make is assuming some stereotypes of trump. if trump doesn't care about an issue, they may be right. when he cares about an issue, robert, he cares about an issue.

>> trump won the election. when i'm at the capitol these past fuse days, a lot of congressional republicans members of house and senate feel like they won the election too. trump didn't run on trimming medicare spending or social security or run as a deficit hawk. he ran as a populist. if you look at history, look at bill clinton's first term, even president obama's first term, when you have these majorities in your first term, you think you can roll through policy after poli. trump didn't have the mandate in his campaign for the kind of policies that are being advocated by the leadership. >>hat's the irony is that donald trump runs this campaign that's aimed right at the heart of blue collar white america but now as he's putting his cabinet together, it's essentially a feast, a moveable feast for wall street. it is a series of executives. he's stacking his administration with the ultraelite, the very people the base of the party despise. >> let me close with this question.

what's a one issue promise he made that if he doesn't keep it, he has to worry about his own political standing with his base. >> he has to build a wall. >> an actual wall or the virtual -- >> an actual 700 miles. i really believe that. if there's not advi-- >> i don't believe that. i talked to people on the campaign trail. they didn't care. it's jobs. >> infrastructure. he's a builder. if highways don't start getting built in rust belt again and factories don't come back, if there's not the infrastructure there. >> when we were in ohio talking to steel workers who voted for obama twice and seemed to be really interested in donald trump, they cared about two things. ending trade deals because they think it will create jobs and immigration. if he doesn't do substantive reductions in immigration and i mean people want him to pull out of nafta. that isn't going to happen. that's what they think will happen. >> year two when he has to deal with trade deals. i don't think he touches them in year one. great conversation. when we come back, we'll hear

from candidate donald trump on all things national security. >> i like that putin is bombing the hell out of isis. ♪ and if you want to be free, be free ♪ ♪ 'cause there's a million things to be ♪ ♪ you know that there are ♪ and if you want to be me, be me ♪ ♪ and if you want to be you, be you ♪ ♪ 'cause there's a million things to do ♪ ♪ you know that there are ♪ for patients like lynn, advanced genomic testing may lead to other treatment options that can work.

learn how genomic testing is changing the way we fight cancer at cancercenter.com/genomics choose. choose. choose. but at bedtime... ...why settle for this? enter sleep number and the lowest prices of the season. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store, right now, save $600 on our best selling i8 mattress, plus 24 month special financing. learn more at sleepnumber.com know better sleep with sleep number.

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knew more about isis than the generals. that's where we start part two of our broadcast w donald trump on isis. >> you want to knock the hell out of isis, how. >> i want to take away their wealth. they went into iraq, destabilized the middle east. it was a big mistake. isis is taking over a lot of the oil in certain areas of iraq. i say you take away their wealth. knock the hell out of the oil. take back the oil. we take over the oil, which we should have done in the first place. >> that's going to take ground troops. >> that's okay. >> what you are talking about is ground troops. 25,000. >> we are going to circle it. we would have so much money. and what i would do with the money that we make, which would

be tremendous, i would take care of the soldiers that were killed, the families of the soldiers that were killed. >> who do you talk to for military advice right now? >> well, i watch the shows. you see a lot of great -- when you watch your show and a lot of the other shows and you have the generals and you have somebody that you like. >> is there a somebody, a go-to for you? every presidential candidate has a go-to. >> two or three. boulton is a tough cookie, knows what he is doing a good job. jacobs. >> ambassador boulton. colonel jacobs. >> yes. this deal with iran, you would have the prisoners back years ago. >> iran would still get money. >> do you believe that? >> no, why is iran getting the money. >> i understand people are critical of the deal. what deal could you come up with that wouldn't give iran money. >> i would have told them up front by the i with a we will never give you back your $150 billion. you are never getting that money back. number two, in order to start negotiations you have to give us back the three prisoners. now it's four.

when it started it was three. you don't want them, it will do us psychologically good. but we will make a better deal that's good for you. but i would have told them they are never going to get their money back. they are going to be so powerful. they are going to have nuclear weapons, they are going to take over parts of the world you won't believe. and i think it's going to lead to nuclear holocaust. i would say this, the people that negotiated that deal, kerry and his friends, are incompetent >> what do you do on day one, though. this is a deal secretary gates didn't like the deal, thought the u.s. wanted the deal too much. >> they begged for it. they should have doubled up the sanctions. >> then he said can't pull out of the deal because of the international ramifications. what do you say to that? pretty wise guy. >> i have heard people say, i'm going to rip up the deal. but that's tough to do. i've taken over bad contracts. i buy contracts where people screwed up and they have bad contracts. >> but you have to abide by it. >> i'm good at looking at

contracts even if they are bad. i would police that contract so tough that they don't have a chance, as bad as the contract is, i would be so tough on that contract. >> so the deal lives in a trump administration, you are just going to be -- >> the deal -- it's hard to say we're ripping u. the problem is by the time i've got in there, they will have already received the $150 billion. do you know if the deal gets rejected they still get the money. >> do you think the middle east would be better today if saddam and gadhafi and assad -- if saddam and gadhafi were there and assad were stronger, do you think it would be safer. >> it's not even a contest. iraq is stronger. don't forget, isis came out of iraq. >> do you like putin's involvement? >> i like that putin is bombing the hell out of isis. putin has to get rid of isis. doesn't want isis to come into russia. >> why do you trust him and nobody else does? >> i don't trust him. at all.

we got highest ratings on "60 minutes." me and putin. did i get the ratings or did he? it's not a matter of trust. the united states, we've spent $2 trillion in iraq, probably $1 trillion in afghanistan. we are destroying our country. here's the problem to what you are saying in syria. we are fighting assad, and we are fighting for people, and helping people that we don't even know who they are. and they may be worse than assad. they may be worse. okay? they may be worse. and if assad -- if assad never happened, if you didn't have a problem in syria, you wouldn't have the migration, you wouldn't be talking about all of these countries with what's going on in europe. and now they are talking about taking 200,000 people that we don't each know who they are and bringing them to the united states? the whole thing is ridiculous. so i'm not justifying putin. but you watch, he will get bogged down there. he will be there.

he will spend a fortune. he will be begging to get out. everybody that's gone to the middle east has had nothing but problems. >> let me give you one more issue where you sort of went counter to what is perceived as republican orthodoxy. >> okay, fine. >> on the issue of israel and the palestinians. you said wednesday you wanted to be neutral in that dispute. explain what neutral means, some heard that in the pro-israeli community and thinks oh, he is going to be anti-israel. explain what you mean by neutral? >> they want me. i'm pro israel. i was head of the israeli day parade a number of years ago. i did a commercial for netanyahu when he was being elected. he asked me to do a commercial for him. i am. i don't want to be -- the hardest thing to do is that in terms of deals, if you are a deal person the ultimate deal is that deal. israel, palestine, are you going to make sit in that probably is the hardest deal to make. people are born with hatred, they are taught hatred. i have to say it's mostly on the one side, not on the other side.

i say this. if i'm going to be president, i would rather be in a bogs -- i will try the best i can. i am a very good deal maker to try and solve that puzzle. you are not going to solve it if you are going to be on one side or another. everyone understands them. if i'm going to solve the problem i want to go in with a clean slate. otherwise you are never going to get the cooperation of the other side. >> there you go. donald trump on the various hot spots around the world. hugh hewitt, national security its probably the issue you care the most about as a conservative. do you think you know donald trump's foreign policy doctrine at this point? >> i know he is the most unpredictable and interesting interview in the world. if you just watch his interviews you can't piece together a

foreign policy. but we were talking in the green room, and i believe it to be true. there is a nixonian element, the good nixon, the deal maker, the unpredictable, the willing to go to china when he had spent his entire life campaigning against mao. i think there is a way to understand the russia play as being a repurposing of the least strong among the russian/china adversaries as nixon went at that time to china. i think he is going to avail himself of dr. kissinger as he has. a friend of mine says tillerson is wonderful. i think general mattis is the great geostrategic thinker. i think he has a great team and i think he is going to work with him. i'm an optimist. >> it's interesting that you bring up nixon. i think nixon is a fascinating parallel to trump because of what he said, eye delogically neutral. nixon would get talked into conservative causes but could easily veer off into a populous realm just like trump. >> because trump is sort of an empty vessel, the dangerous part is the strong camps in the world are all troubling. you have putinnism, which trump feels in his gut, very pro-putin. turning over global leadership to russia is worrying.

donald trump is echoing the his language is not specific countries that are our allies, it's about christians versus islam. this eliminationist language that says we are in a war of civilizations and embracing that. something george w. bush never did. even with the mistakes george w. bush made in policy, he did not do that. trump is echoing that christian nationalist line which puts us in a dangerous line when you have this potential israeli ambassador wanting to move the embassy to jerusalem, which could touch off a conflagration in the muslim world. i am not sure donald trump knows his own mind enough to have a strategy to deal with an absolute crisis which he himself could provoke very soon. >> joy makes a really good point. i think if you take a look at the tape, if you see donald trump's first reaction to things, his gut reaction to topics, whether it be planned parenthood or the iran deal it is a much more moderate position. it's only after he has taken that moderate position and

somebody gets into his ear behind the scenes, who knows which adviser it is on any given topic does he change and did he go to the more conservative end of the spectrum. early in the campaign one of the earliest rallies i went to was july in phoenix. it was huge. he got up on stage and he said this is not a popular position, but i think we need to have universal health care because we need to take care of everybody. later on, it became a rallying cry, repeal and replace obama care. he starts out in a moderate position and moves to the right when people get inside of his ear. the question is -- and this is what people have been debating, did donald trump see an opening within the republican party to manipulate them in a way he didn't see with the democratic party and is that why now he is so conservative? >> robin, i want to bring up a point that everybody realizes when it comes to presidents and foreign policy is that don't pay attention to how they campaign on it because whatever the foreign policy issue is during a

campaign it usually is the last debate that we're having on foreign policy. we actually don't know what the major foreign policy challenge -- we probably don't know what the challenge is going to be for trump coming forward. >> the president-elect is going to face a challenge once he is in office. >> we don't know what. >> one them would be the islamic state. he ran as you said distancing himself from the george w. bush world view. he ran in part with militaristic language but with a non-interventionist approach. he is going to be tested from day one, does he work with vladimir putin. how does he interact with assad? how does he confront the crisis in syria and isis even though he had so much support from working class americans disgruntled by the wars, wearied by them. to be this noninterventionist candidate. >> i think we cannot discount how his personal conflicts of interest wipe up influencing his

foreign policy. we don't know which banks he is in debt, if his children are still running his company and there is a hotel to be built in dubai does that influence his reaction if their government acts in a way we don't know or turkey or other countries. these entanglements become really important. this is a republican strategist to said to me repeatedly, you start to have anything with the trump name on it around the world becoming an instant terrorist target. how do we react to a world in which the name of the president of the united states is plastered all over hot spots around the world. >> of all the people you interviewed over the years, chuck, no one is less predictable, i would guess, than donald trump. i ask you this question. so i think the sunday shows when he starts to do them. every foreign leader, whether it is put spin, australia, indonesia, they will tune in to find out what he thinks. president obama was hard to find on the air. i think, president trump is going object on the air and

people are going to watch because he is so unpredictable. >> he is. i'm going to be curious to see at the end of four years do we have a bigger rivalry with china or russia? anyway -- when we come back, we'll look at president-elect trump's leadership style. right after the break a look at some presidential christmas messages over the decades. here's a taste. >> for over two millennia, christmas has carried the message that god is with us. >> it is indeed a holy season in which to work for good will among men. so i made a decision to talk to my dermatologist about humira. humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear, and many saw 75% and even 90% clearance in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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welcome back. we're going to take a brief holiday break this christmas day to look at an american tradition. the christmas season messages from presidents throughout the years. thankfully this is one tradition

that has been immune from partisan politics. and as you will see, it goes back a long way. >> we are joined by simple and universal convictions. >> treating one another with love, and compassion. caring for those on society's margins. >> never too late to touch a life and maybe change the world forever for someone. >> our nation is not one of solemn faces and sad demeanors. >> let us just remember we do have some problems which we will overcome. >> the holidays are, as we've seen here tonight, a time of laughter and children and counting our blessings. >> we americans have always tried to follow a higher light a star, if you will. >> for over two millennia, christmas has carried the message that god is with us. >> it is indeed a holy season in which to work for good will among men. >> for this is the time of year when most of us try to be better than our everyday selves.

>> let us rededicate ourselves to the principles of peace and good will towards men. >> during christmas we celebrate the blessings of the season, and the blessings that surround us every day. >> let's reach out to those who can use a hand. let's summon the spirit togetherness that's always helped to kindle america's shining example to the world. >> good advice for any time of year, but especially during the holiday season. and speaking of, we also want to wish many of our viewers and many members of my own family a happy hanukkah as well. we'll be right back. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine.

all seems beautiful to me. announcer: they'll test you. try to break your will. but however loud the loudness gets. however many cheese puffs may fly. you're the driver. the one in control. stand firm. just wait. [click] and move only when you hear the click that says they're buckled in for the drive. never give up till they buckle up. choose. choose. choose. but at bedtime... ...why settle for this? enter sleep number and the lowest prices of the season. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store, right now, the best buy rated c2

mattress is only $699.99 learn more at sleepnumber.com know better sleep with sleep number. welcome back. one thing we can all agree on donald trump was nothing if not a different kind of candidate. brash, unfiltered, willing to insult half the country in order to win over the other half. some saw him as a con man,

is otherwise as a man not afraid to tell it like it is. but never in doubt was that donald was always, always the showman. >> sort of was amused about this excerpt from your playboy interview in 1990. the questioner asked, what does all of this, meaning the yacht, the bronze tower, the casino, what does it really mean to you? and you replied, props for the show. and they said what show is that? and you replied, the show is trump with sold out performances everywhere. >> it has been for a long time. >> are we all part of a show. you know some of the criticisms, are we in a reality show. >> no, this is not a reality, this is the real deal. >> you did smile when i read the show -- because it resonated. >> my life has been an interesting life. i have had a lot of fun. >> people call you a lot of names. some positive, some negative. i want to throw you some. music man this race, kim kardashian. biff from back to the future.

george costanza. p.t. barnum. do you consider any of those a compliment? >> p. development barnum. >> you will take that. >> p. development -- look, people call you names. we need p.d. barnum a little bit bus we have to build up the image of our country, we have to be a cheerleader for our country. we don't have a cheerleader. >> transparency in the white house. will you commit to releasing the names of everybody you meet with as president to the public. >> i would have no problem with it. transparency is a great thing. if merkel wants to come over from germany i'm not looking to embarrass her. if she wants to have a quiet meeting i'm not looking to go wild. i want people to like trump and like this country:r i think having to do with campaign financing everything should be released, should be open. but having to did with that, i want to make a country coming to the white house feel comfortable. people coming in to our country, business people, 100%. these guy he is get out and almost immediately go to work for a company and have power that they shouldn't have. the lobbyists and the special interests and the donors -- >> no lobbyists will work in the

trump administration. you will have a ban? >> i would certainly have a ban, yeah. you can't put a lifetime ban, you you can certainly make it three, four years. >> right now on twitter there is a trending retweet of yours. you retweeted someone from e, whether dulce 216. it says it is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep. that's a famous mussolini quote, you retweeted it. did you know it was mussolini. >>. it's okay to know mussolini. he was who he was. it is a very good quote, i saw it. i know who said it. what difference does it make whether it's mussolini or somebody else? it's certainly an interesting quote. >> fascist. >> i twitter 14 million people. it is a very interesting quote, and people can talk about it. >> do you want to be associated

with a fascist? >> no, i want to be associated with interesting quotes. >> this violence on the campaign trail, it's got a lot of people concerned. i guess why won't you go up on stage and ratchet it back? you have used rhetoric about islam hates us, surveillance of certain mosques calling mexican immigrants rapists. what did you expect? a lot of people say you are reaping what you sew here, that there is so much tension at your rallies is you have used such divisive rhetoric. do you have any regrets? >> the reason there is tension at my rallies is these people are sick and tired of this country being run by incompetent people that don't know what they are doing on trade deals where our jobs are being ripped out of our country, chuck, being ripped out. on isis where we can't even beat isis with our military. our military is not being taken care of. we can't even take care of isis,

our verts who are being treated horribly. the people are angry. i'm not saying anything i'm just a messenger. the people are anger that over 12 years the workers in this country haven't had a pay increase. 12 years they haven't had an effective pay increase. >> you will not call for ratcheting back the rhetoric? you will not call for it? >> i haven't said anything. i am just expressing my opinion. what have i said that's wrong. >> why not released the tax returns that are not involved in audit? >> it is a link. i have large tax returns. literally from the floor up to here. >> will you do it before the election? >> i hope so. >> do you pledge to do it? >> sure. when the auditors finish. i've already given my financials. they show i'm worth more than $10 billion by any stretch of the imagination. has tremendous cash, tremendous cash flow. you don't learn much from tax returns. i would love to give my tax returns when i can't until i'm finished with the audit. >> back with the panel, two

words, bully pulpit. there is no doubt donald trump is going to redefine this? >> i think he's still going to do rallies. when he wants to push an issue he is going to go and have a rally in mobile, alabama, get 10, 20,000 people come and see him and say look you have got to pass it, congress. look at all the support. >> heavy on the bully. what donald is all about, whether it's the profiles in "vanity fair" or the books written about him it is the politics of resentment. it's the queen's rich guy that wants the manhattan elite to respect him. he loves the aduelation of the crowds. that's the feel of respect he has been missing in his life. yeah, i think he is going out on the road as was pitched to john kasich. mike pence is going to be running the government and he is going to be out making america great again. whatever gets the applause is what he is going to do. that's the only way to predict an unpredictable president. >> i am a proud owner of trump the musical.com, i did that in

2015 after my first interview with him because i thought the show man is going to be around for a long time. he said in that first interview. i haven't interviewed him as much as you have, chuck. but he used to go to hear norman vincent peel at marble collegiate. that's where he grew up on sundays. a showman ex-troord nar. i don't think it has politics attached to it but it's going to be interesting. >> every day he wakes up very early. he is consuming television. he has a pile of printouts. doesn't use e-mail. reading stories in the news, foreign policy, domestic policy, also about himself as a marker. he is going through it, then he is on his cell phone looking through twitter. this is someone who is constantly engaged. some would say for better, otherwise for worse. >> one of the things i think we have to guard against as you just discussed, hue, this sort of entertainment factor there are some elements of authoritarianism in his approach for government. his admiration for putin.

these are troubling. we live in a democratic system, small d where america is supposed to be immune from authoritarianism, i think we have to be on guard from allowing ourselves to slip casually into it. >> i'm wondering what kind of west wing he is going to run. it feels -- look, he went through three campaign managers. i wouldn't want to be reince priebus. >> i think so if it's not going well there will be black sheep, who can i blame for whatever discontent that might be breeding throughout the country. reince priebus might be in an uncomfortable position. i would look to others as well. michael flynn and wonder if he is going to be able to maintain the nsa position because there has been so much discontent about him. i think nobody is safe in a trump white house or trump administration -- >> except the kids. >> maybe the kids. >> and jared, right. >> i don't know. >> wow.

>> i think when donald tmp needs your loyalty he could covets your loyalty, he cultivates it, touts your loyalty, promises it. but when he doesn't need it anymore he casts you aside. i think we saw that with chris christie who went out on a ledge, rudy giuliani, and they went out and defended him when nobody else would. and they are not players at all. >> that's spot on. about the fleeting loyalty in trump's inner circle. i see that in multiple spheres around the president-elect. you have the family, steve bannon, the populist. mike flynn is in the group. you have reince priebus, the incoming chief of staff. there is always a direct line to trump, instead of having an isolated presidency i would expect to see a president who is taking advice and counsel from people outside of his administration. >> that's what's going to be fascinating because you can have a relationship with trump outside of his staff.

>> get to him directly on twitter, which is d for a president. i can tell you the most divisive person in that list with the conspiracy theories is bannon. as long as donald trump maintains someone like steve bannon who ran a website that touts itself as home of the alt-right. their window, doorway into the administration, as long as that person is in the administration he will never get away from the divisiveness. >> one thing bannon will keep him away from is goating caught in traps like cutting medicare. >> will he? >> i think that's where bannon's head is at. >> bob gates of our day. invites him to trump tower. i don't know who to make secretary of state. bob gates says try tillerson. that tells me, a tremendous openness to an argument. maybe it's the last person in the room. i understand your authentic concern, and i think the press

needs to be vigilant but i am so much more optimistic than most people are because i believe that tillerson's selection shows us he is tremendously open to argument. developers do this. i talked to bob corker about this. developers are focus and execute people. >> all right. we will pause there. when we come back, some of the shining figures and ground breakers in politics and culture that we lost this year. >> my intention is to box to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. be free, be free ♪ ♪ 'cause there's a million things to be ♪ ♪ you know that there are ♪ and if you want to be me, be me ♪ ♪ and if you want to be you, be you ♪ ♪ 'cause there's a million things to do ♪ ♪ you know that there are

♪

as we celebrate this holiday season with friends and families we want to take a moment to remember those in the world of politics media and culture who we lost this year and who meant a lot to us and to you, our "meet the press" viewers. >> you love to argue the law, don't you? >> i just love the law. i love to think about the law. i love to argue the law.

>> tonight on washington week in review. >> we must take sides for neutrality helps the oppressor. never the victim. ♪ >> this is what the war in vietnam is all about. ♪ >> issue one. ♪ >> it's just so beautiful up there, you can't help but look out and you get teary-eyed almost. ♪

>> when am i going to hate for the people of the state. i don't hate anybody, including my enemies. ♪ >> my intention is to box, to win a clean fight. but in war the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill and continue killing innocent people. ♪ >> there's a big, wonderful world out there for you. >> thank you for all you do. thank you for your love. and thank you for just being you. and checking your score won't hurt your credit.

oh! i'm so proud of you. well thank you. free at at discover.com/creditscorecard, even if you're not a customer. that i would never le become a superhero. [singing indistinctly] but i learned how to fly. just to come back in a new disguise, and be the hero i've always wanted to be.

back now with the panel for the last end game segment of the year. okay. obviously predictions is not the greatest idea for 2016, but let's see if 2017 is any better. first 100 days headline, joy? >> conflicts of interest royal trump administration. i think it's still going to be the big headline is going to be donald trump and his children's business conflicts around the world and how that impacts his policies. hugh hewitt. >> huge bipartisan support, trump triumphant. >> mr. acosta. >> trump ten thuss -- enthuss right with his supreme court pick. >> trump provokes iran. >> provokes iran. >> security experts. >> it's going to be a very busy first 100 days, perhaps a very busy four years. i'd like to thank our panelists for this year in review on trump. for us, it's been quite a year

on that front. but what about what is happening in the democratic party? where do they go? >> i think they are going to go with a mainstream pick for party chairman. maybe labor secretary tom perez. and i think we are going to see an ongoing civil war. is this going to be the party of bernie sanders and elizabeth warren and progressives or tim ryan and focus on rust belt issues? >> who is the democratic party? they have to find an identity and somebody to rally behind. is it bernie sanders or a new face that we haven't yet seen. >> i don't think it can be bernie sanders because as we all know, he is not a democrat. >> donald trump is not really a republican. >> good point but because i think because he didn't actually join the party it's going hard for him to exert leadership. i think the democrats are scrambling for a message, for a leads leader and for an

identity. >> mr. hewitt. >> joe biden hits the gym and the road on behalf democrats everywhere, staying in shape for 2020. >> watching president obama, does he be part of these discussions in a vital way or does he go off and paint george w. bush style? >> what we are hearing is president obama is not going to be able to ride off into the sunset. he wants to coach young leaders in the party and develop a bench of new democratic leaders. >> they have to stick to the party of president obama until they find a heir apparent. thank you, guys. we had a little bit of democratic talk right there at the end. i would like to wish everyone a merry christmas, a happy hanukkah, happy holidays to all. as we leave you, we do so with some moments with first ladies and the way that many of them celebrated christmas at the white house. we hope you enjoy it. remember, next sunday, even on new year's day, no matter what

day it is, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press". ♪ ♪ ♪

>> wow. what a christmas. you have to be exhausted. can i ask you a question? >> yes. >> seriously, i'm looking at your instagram and you're in nice on the 24th and with royalty on christmas morning. >> stop with the south of france stuff. >> you went to paris. had bags all over the place. how did you get back? didn't they get rid of the concord? >> you know they give you roses