over 2,600 crystal triangles. it's beautiful. when you live in new york city, it's one of those things where you wonder why people would actually come to and stand arou and hours and hours, just to watch a ball drop. it's a happening. that's going to do it for us on this tuesday. i'm chris jansing. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ tuesday, december the 27th. that's a live look at times square where chris jansing will not be on december the 31st >> impressively not be. >> i'm willie geist, joe and mika earning some well-earned time off with their family.

joining us now is eugene robinson, chris jansing, and msnbc political correspondent and former communications director of ted cruz's presidential campaign, rick tyler. msnbc political correspondent, kasie hunt, and msnbc foreign correspondent, ayman mohyeldin. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> what a closing commentary from you. >> i'm just saying. >> some real holiday spirit. >> i -- you know. >> just pouring cold water on the new year's eve celebration. >> i don't think it's going to keep anybody from coming down to times square. >> actually, they're already there. >> it's crazy, right? >> in midtown manhattan, it's impossible -- >> they're camped out already. >> on boxing day, they're returning all their clothes. >> just friday. getting to work in the morning with everybody watching to see the christmas tree. >> it's a mob scene and we're happy to have them, aren't we, chris jansing. >> i'm so -- >> so gene robinson wanted to

start talking about the campaign independence bowl. but we're not going to talk about that. let's talk instead about the president of the united states. the constitution prevented president obama from running in a third term, but president obama said he is confident he could have won if he would have run again. he said, congressional republicans set out to make his vision for america seem like a fantasy. but that their political success was not a rejection of his vision for the country. >> mitch mcconnell's insight, which i've said, just from a pure tactical perspective, was pretty smart and well executed. that if we just say no, then that will puncture the balloon. that all of this talk about hope and change and no red state and blue state is proven to be a

mirage, a fantasy. obviously, in the wake of the election and trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow it really was a fantasy. what i would argue is is that the culture actually did shift. that the majority does buy into the notion of a one america that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism a and, and the problem is, it doesn't always manifest itself in politics, right? i am confident in this vision, because i'm confident that if i -- if i had run again and articulated it, i think i could have mobilized a majority of the

american people to rally behind it. in conversations that i've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one. >> so gene robinson, let's start with you. it's a fun parlor game. the 22nd amendment prevents it from happening, obviously. but president obama basically saying if it were he and not hillary clinton running against donald trump, he would have won a third term. is he right? >> all right, 22nd amendment aside, i think, probably, yeah. he would have gotten marginally enough extra votes out of philadelphia, milwaukee, and detroit to win. you know, it's easy. it's just, you know, a relatively modest increase in the turnout in those three cities and the democrat would have beaten donald trump. now, that's a simplistic answer, but i think it's a probably

right one. >> it's a difficult set of comments for hillary clinton. essentially saying, hey, if i had been in her shoes. the message she ran on was essentially modified obama. stronger together. they did a lot of poll testing to figure out that's what they were going to run on. and there's a lot of conversation throughout the campaign about her struggles to be authentic and to a certain extent, s couldn't take what obama had and then win withit. he seems to be saying, hey, actually, if i had done it again -- >> she also had the approval rating which president obama did, which is now 56%, and neither did donald trump. and even though i agree with you, gene, there's a little nagging thing in the back of my head that says, this was a change election. >> yeah, it was a change election- >> yeah, sit absolutely was a change election, but i think kasie's right. if clinton rs as obama, she loses, but if obama ran as obama, he would have won. but it was a heck of an indictment on clinton.

but donald trump tweeted, of course, saying, president obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. he should say that, by i say, no way. jobs leaving, isis, et cetera. the things that would have been out of it was the e-mails and comey and all of that and the cloud around hillary clinton. but then there is a true referendum on president obama's legacy if president obama is the candidate. >> and that's why these are from the play, because there's no responsibility. and when you're a candidate -- when you're not a candidate, everybody loves you, it's wonderful. everyone loved hillary when she was secretary of state. everybody thought she was terrific. then she runs and nobody likes her. it's possible that same thing could have happened to obama, although i think not as severely. >> one point, though. donald trump, whatever you think of him, is, as a politician, a unique, once in a -- i hope once in a lifetime phenomenon, you know?

but, so is president obama in his way. i've always said, he's like, you know, first bell at hall of fame of all time politicians. a black guy with the middle name "hussein" that gets elect eed president of the united states, twice. that's an amazing feat. bill clinton's an amazing politic. not that many of them come around who have that sort of connection with people. >> and i went to a lot of his events for hillary clinton. the way, when he is on, the way he can hold a crowd in the palm of his hand, it's something to see. >> you're like slack jawed. as a practitioner, you're like, how can he do this. he can quiet the audience down, get them back up, quiet them back down. >> and a really distinct difference for hillary cnton. i covered a lot of hillary clinton events and a handful for the president. i remember walking into those rallies and having the same reaction. this is what happens when you have somebody that is just so good at this. can we talk about mitch mcconnell, though? this is a question, i think -- i was covering congress, when the president took office and they

were trying to push the health care law through. they did it with no republican support. they'll try to argue they had one member of the house. no republican support. and mitch mcconnell did do exactly what president obama just outlined in that interview. he drew a line in the sand and said, no way, we're not doing anything. and democrat are facing a similar choice with trump. from what i can tell, they seem to be going in the opposite direction. chuck schumer seems to be saying, no, actually, we want to figure out if we can work with this guy. i think it's interesting that the president essentially tipped his hat to mcconnell for how he decided to handle that. >> he tipped his hat, but he didn't say, almost absolving himself of any responsibility. saying, this guy was a genius for making me look bad. it wasn't actually what i did or my possibles. but let's give mitch mcconnell for making me look like i was doing something when actually i wasn't. >> i think the republicans are going to throw everything at them, all at once, because they feel like they're disorganized. they have the mandate now. they have the majorities, so,

you're talking about a hundred judge vacancies to be filled, the supreme court nominee coming up, the repeal of obamacare probably through reconciliation, and tax reform and other economic measures they're going to fire at them all at once and see if they can get an organized response. >> one other interesting thing the president said, that the president should not expect to hear from him for a while after january the 20th. >> i have to be quiet for a while. and i don't mean politically, i mean, internally. i have to still myself. you have to get back in tune with your center. and process what's happened. before you make a bunch of good decisions. now, that doesn't mean that if a year from now or a year and a half from now or two years from now, there is an issue of such moment, such import, that isn't

just a debate about a particular tax bill or a particular policy, but goes to some foundational issues about our democracy, that i might not weigh in. you know, i'm still a citizen. and that carries with it duties and obligations. >> crushris, obviously, as you know, the president has been grateful to george w. bush for not weighing in. but he did say, if i'm quiet for a while, but as i see things come up, i'll have to take more of an activist role. >> he is not going to go quietly. he's going to give a little bit of space to donald trump. and donald trump is probably breathing if he's got any consciousness about the power of barack obama, he's probably breathing a sigh of relief. but maybe, as you point out, hillary clinton is, as well. because that wasn't the first time he kind of took a little bit of a shot at her. i was thinking back to the white house, after the election, i think it was just a week after

the election. i think our crack team at "morning joe" has that audio or the video from barack obama back on, i think, november 14th. let's take a look. >> i believe that we have better ideas. but i also believe that good ideas don't matter if people don't hearthem. and one of the issues that democrats have to be clear on is that given population distribution across the country, we have to comte everywhere. we have to show up everywhere. we have to work at a graroots level. something that's been a running thread in my career. you know, i won iowa not because the demographics dictating that i would win iowa. it was because i spent 87 days going to every small town and fair and fish fry and vfw hall

and there were some counties where i might have lost, b maybe i lost by 20 points instead of 50 points. >> and that was a message, gene, that he repeated in that interview that came out yesterday with david axelrod, which is a pretty clear broadside against hillary clinton. which is that he said yesterday in this interview with axelrod, that you can't hold the ball and think you're winning the game and run out the clock. you've got to go out there and continue to fight him, implying that hillary clinton didn't do that. >> you know, i also heard criticism of the party and the way the party -- because that's not all on hillary clinton, that's on the party as well. you know, i remember 8 1/2 years ago when he was in iowa and he did go to those small towns and he did reach those audiences in that unique way of his. it was incredible.

so maybe that's a lesson. i would be surprised if he did not get a phone call from george w. bush, however, about those comments, about how he might intervene. because president bush has very strong feelings on that. he's passionate on the subject of former presides and how they should go, they should shut up and go away. go clear brush on their rant or something like that. but stay out. he thinks it's destabilizing. >> and bill clinton stayed out of it -- >> his father was treated that way in his tenure, and he didn't like it. >> but, gene, if the party itself screwed up in its approach to hillary clinton, doesn't the president bear a little bit of responsibility for that, too? he put his finger on the scale for hillary clinton. >> yes. and look, there was a dnc director, but in fact, a president, you're the head of your party if you're president. and another criticism of president obama is, where's the farm team. where are the up and comers that

you brought along, who were ready to step up, if not for the white house this time, then for those senate seats, those governorships. >> and rick, it's a statement of fact that the democratic party is naturally worse off than when president obama took office. if you look at state legislatures and governor's mansions, it's worse off than when president obama came in. >> it's far worse off. nearly a hundred state legislatures, many governors lost the senate, lost the house. and it's not good -- it's not been good for the democratic party. you know, he's right, you do have to win on the grassroots. and i know it irritates some of your viewers when i say this, but the democratic party right now is not a national party. it's a very regional party, and it's really centered in the cities, on the california coast, in new york, was principally in urban areas. and they've got to figure out how to get their message to connect with americans in between. >> one more tweet to fit in from donald trump here. he wrote, last night, quote, the world was gloomy before i won.

there was no home. shall i go on, gene? >> i'm sorry, willie. >> now the market is up nearly 10% and christmas spending is over $1 trillion. >> neither of those facts are really actually true. it's, i think they're maybe pushing 9%. that's the dow, not the s&p. >> it has reached new high. >> and the $1 trillion was a projection from september that may not turn out. >> may not actually turn out. >> i heard the number was $650 million. which is not small potatoes, but it's not $1 trillion. >> that is certifiably correct, yes. >> again, ending on the holiday parade again. >> no ball, times square, no christmas shopping. >> and my browns won, so you would think i would be in a better mood. >> they did win. >> they won a game! >> "a game"! no, it's not. >> they won a game this year. >> a game. a game. more serious matters here, the political turmoil between the united states and one of its

closest allies, israel. a vote at the united nations to condemn israeli settlements has brought accusations and heightened acrimony between president obama and israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. while president-elect trump is sending clear signals he would have handled the situation differently, now israel is insisting it will go forward with the construction of thousands of new homes for settlers in a predominantly palestinian section of jerusalem. and prime minister netanyahu says he is optimistic about a new era between the united states and his country. nbc's hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: new fallout after a flashpoint the u.s./israeli relations. a united nations security resolution, reprimanding israel for west bank settlements, seen as a slap to israel. one the u.s. chose not to block with its veto. israel furious. now accusing the u.s. of orchestrating the resolution itself. >> we have proof. i don't believe it, we know it. and we'll share it with the

incoming administration through the appropriate channels. >> reporter: the israeli ambassador echoing the allegations of prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> as i told john kerry on thursday, friends don't take friends to the security council. >> but it's egypt who pushed the resolution. senior white house aide ben rhodes insisting friday, we did not draft or introduce this resolution. >> reporter: do you not believe, do not trust the u.s. government when they deny having anything to do with this? >> ben rhodes is an expert at fiction. >> reporter: donald trump far from stating out of the fight, tweeting this weekend, "the big loss for israel and the united nations will make it much harder to negotiate peace" and slamming the u.n. as "just a club for people to get together, talk, and a good time. so sad." the escalating tension underscoring netanyahu's chilly relationship with president obama and his warm one with president-elect trump. previewing potential changes in this diplomatic alliance, and a break, in some ways, with

decades of u.s. policy. >> we will move the american embassy to the eternal capital of the jewish people, jerusalem. >> mr. trump seems to be a different kind of a president. will he want to really be -- play the role of a responsible president once he's in office or does he want to keep shaking things up? >> reporter: as for israel's claim of evidence that the u.s. was behind friday's resolution, if the trump administration wants to share it with the american public, quote, they're welcome to do it. by the way, in our 8:00 hour, we'll speak to the spokesman for benjamin netanyahu, david keyes. ayman, let me go to you on this. obviously, there's a lot of backdrop here on the relationship between president obama and president netanyahu, the iran deal at the center of it. this is just the latest and perhaps final in their strained relationship as president obama leaves office in a month. where does this leave the relationship between israel and the united states? >> well, there's two ways to look at it. one is the kind of diplomatic

relationship that is very deeply engrained, very institutionalized. you can make the argument that intelligence sharing between the united states and israel is at an all-time high. you can make the argument that the united states has sold israel one of the largest military deals, about $38 billion worth, under the terms of president obama or when he was in office. you can make the argument that people-to-people relationship and all the cultural exchange has been as strained as it's ever been between the two countries. but you're no doubt you're absolutely right that there's a personal animus between these two world leaders, given the fact that the united states wanted to break a long-standing tradition with the iran nuclear deal. that is something that has angered the israeli prime minister and the israeli leadership. interestingly enough, the issue of settlements has been one to have the biggest points that the obama administration has been tackling from day one. if you recall, there was that visit from vice president joe i bid biden, when israel announced they were expanding settlements. there's been a settlement freeze by israel to try to jump-start some of these negotiations, which the obama administration

wanted to prolong. the issue of settlements itself has been one of the biggest sticking point. that's why the argument that israel is making, that this is a departure from the past seems, by some analysis, not to be accurate. because it's been a long-standing position of american administrations, both republicans and democrats that they have encouraged israel to stop building settlements in the occupied territories. it's obviously a violation of international law. so this is not a departure from previous american administtions. and at's what makes this particular position that israel is taking somewhat unique. that they are personalizing it with president obama, who, you know, funny enough, for the eight years he has been in office, has vetoed every u.n. security council resolution that has come his way. that would have made him the only u.s. president within 50 years to not allow a single u.n. security council resolution to be critical of israel to pass it. that obviously now has changed in allowing one to pass. >> an important point there, that george w. bush and all previous united states

presidents have been against settlements. it's just this act that the u.n. of not vetoing this resolution that has so infuriating netanyahu. >> right. but as ayman pointed out, previous presidents have done the same thing. so in the cosmic scheme of things, it's not a huge change in u.s. policy. what's fascinating to me is the question of whether -- you know, everyone agrees that, you know, a two-state solution is the solution. you know, one wonder ifs that two-state solution is actually possible now. if that has been ruled out, because the palestinian state that would be left is essentially a piece of swiss cheese. and the settlements are there. i'm under no illusion that they're all going to be taken away. so you wonder if, you know, there's actually a one-state solution that is the de facto solution and it's going to have to be worked out as to what kind of human and political rights the palestinians get. but i think that's where we're

headed. >> so ayman what does a new solution look like if there is one, if netanyahu is counting of on donald trump to be different than all those previous presidents we've talked about in terms of moving the settlements to jerusalem, all the things that trump has said he'll attempt to do when he's sworn in in about a month, what is israel counting on in donald trump? >> you know within i think we have a very good idea of what the relationship between israel and the united states will look like, given the fact that donald trump has been very explicit on some key issues, including the u.s. embassy to jerusalem and the appointment of ambassador friedman as the nominee to potentially be the ambassador, who is obviously a big supporter of the israeli settlement movement in general. so we know that it's going in the direction of a very pro-israel relationship, one that would favor the government of netanyahu. what we don't know is, what will trump do with the palestinians? that's going to be a very decidi factor. if donald trump alienates and isolates and worsens the relationship with the palestinian leadership, there is a serious consideration among

the palestinian leadership to internationalize the efforts to establish a palestinian state. and that's why this resolution takes on that much more importance. because the palestinian leadership says now with this resolution reaffirming that settlements are illegal, they can take their arguments more to international bodies and try to pressure israel by doing things like banning products that come out of the settlements, prohibiting companies from working with settlements, to try and penalize or punish israel for the confiscation of palestinian lands. because the issue of settlements, while it is for israelis, the building of jewish communities, for palestinians, it is about dispossession, and they are using now the international legal argument that they can claim those rights. so what we don't know about trump is what that relationship will look like with the palestinians. we have a better sense of what it will look like with the israelis. >> ayman, thank you very much. we'll be talking to a representative for prime minister netanyahu's office in our 8:00 hour. and still ahead on "morning joe," donald trump defends his charitable foundation while trying to shut its doors. still, new york's attorney

general says he is not done with this case. plus, politico says, donald trump is considering, quote, wading into the crowd during his inauguration next month. new reporting, straight ahead. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. i didn't think there was anything else to talk about. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b,

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with 24 days until inauguration, donald trump has selected steven miller, his incoming senior white house policy adviser, to write the inaugural address. miller, who worked for attorney general designate, jeff sessions, in the senate, frequently spoke at trump's rallies and wrote trump's acceptance speech at the republican national convention. politico says it's still under discussion whether trump will use a teleprompter for his inaugural address. and politico also reports the transition is considering having trump bypass the transitional congressional luncheon, following the swearing in. instead, have the president wade into the crowd or join the parade. so, rick, i think trump just signaled again, it will be

unconventional, it will be unpredictable. everything i do is unlike anything i've ever done before. it does make you wonder why you're going to announce where you're going to go and -- >> it's a huge security concern. >> the secret service is not happy with this. >> you go to the capitol at the inauguration and if you've been inside, it's a fortress. there's bulletproof glass in front of where you would stand. and the idea that you would sort of -- >> it's why the locals don't go -- >> that's when we stay home. not new year's eve. >> you literally can't -- you can't -- it's like a river. you can't get from one side of the town to other. it's a logistical nightmare. so, you know, there'll be a lot of people who are there. but that's a security nightmare. he can skip the congressional luncheon. so what? he will use a teleprompter. i think that's just more,, you know -- >> that would be or first inaugural address, just a straight trump riff. >> ad lib.. >> a lot about poll numbers, you

know, maybe something about kanye west. maybe,, you know -- lincoln didn't use a teleprompter. >> remember house dark his rnc speech was? he has the same guy writing it, but now he's president, so i think it's going to be very positive and light and the future looked fantastic. >> yeah, other presidents have walked in the crowd on the trip down pennsylvania avenue, so maybe that's what he'll be doing. a few days ago, trump said he instructed his attorney to begin the process of closing the trump foundation, quote, to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as president. but they cannot shut down until the ag's probe into improper donations is finished. last night trump tweeted, i gave millions of dollars to the donald j. trump foundation, raised or received millions more, all of which is given to charity, and media won't report.

continuing, the trump foundation like, unlike many foundations, never paid fees, rent, salaries, or any expenses. 100% of the money goes to wonderful charities. but "the washington post's" david fahrenthold has been following all of this now for a year or more and reported that the trump foundation's largest-ever gift, about $265,000, was used to renovate a fountain outside the windows of trump's plaza hotel. fahrenthold also reported that according to tax records, the last time trump wrote a check to his own foundation was in 2008. since then, all of the donation have said other people's money. and in 2007, trump famously spent $20,000, 20 grand, to buy a six-foot-tall painting of himself, using money that was earmarked for charitable purposes. kasie? the foundation -- it's hard to know what to say about that. everything he tweeted last night is so easily refutable, i guess, is the first thing to say. >> well, there is that. and look, this is something that

he took hillary clinton to task for throughout the campaign, is the conflict of interests and her charitable foundation. it was a favorite subject. and obviously something that she had to grapple with all the time. and he, of course, is now, in many ways, going back and doing a lot of the things that he had criticized her for. the associated press has quite a nice summary breakdown, and i would encourage you to take a look at it, kind of talking about exactly this point. that he went after her on points a, b, and c and has now turned around and doing those exact same things. >> and shockingly, the dnc has sent out a detailed list in the ways in which he has criticized hillary clinton and is doing the same -- >> what i won't understand is, why won't you report the things you just reported, including the part where you don't report what's not being reported. >> sorry, let me follow your flow chart there. i'm not sure -- this does get to, with gene, it's not just the foundation, the conflicts of interest are not going to go away. not to the satisfaction of us or to anywhere else unless he totally separates himself. he says he's going to close down the foundation. that's all well and good.

schneiderman says he can't do that yet until the ag's investigation is complete. but on the business side, handing it over to his kids will never satisfy. there will always be conflicts of interest. the whole trump organization. number one, it's pretty clear now the trump organization is basically a giant mom and pop store, right? it's kind of run -- it's a family business, that's how it's run. and it's got these hundreds of subsidiaries and llcs and interlocking corporate entities that are trying to do business all around the world. and so those are built-in nflict, whenever he talks to xi jinping of china where he wants to do business and he's trying to get into russia all the time. it's just going to be, every week, there's going to be a conflict. >> will his supporters care about any of it? >> no. no. >> but we do and the country should.

there's a piece on the front page of "the washington post,po right to your point. for trump, a clash of deals and policy in china, which gets to the point that while he's attacking china, he's trying to be doing business with them desperately to get his deals in the country. this will not go away. at the head of our next hour, we'll bring in pulitzer prize award winning publisher for "the washington post," bob woodward. "morning joe" is copping right back. so, mr. harris, we have your fingerprints on the safe. a photo of you opening the safe. a post using the hashtag "#justrobbedthesafe" so, what are we supposed to think? switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance. excellent point.

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japan's prime minister is set to visit pearl harbor with president obama today, marking the first time in decades one of the country's prime ministers had visited the historic site. shinzo abe arrived in the state yesterday, for a trip intended to show a strong alliance between his country and the united states. following his arrivarrival, mr. visited the national memorial of the pacific which honors those who died while serving in the u.s. armed forces. while the prime minister's visit will be the fourth prime minister to make such a visit. that includes one by his grandfather who also served as prooils. japanese officials are characterizing mr. abe's visit to the site as the first by a

sitting prime minister with a u.s. president, visiting together. this trip comes seven months after president obama became the first sitting u.s. president to visit a park dedicated to the 140,000 people killed by the atomic bomb in hiroshima. in our next hour, we'll have a life report from honolulu. now, let's turn to the must-read op-eds. richard cohen writing in "the washington post," thanks to no-drama obama, american leadership is gone. richard writes, the russians managed to do what they wanted to do in syria. why not the united states? the answer has always been clear to me. obama did not care enough. not from him ever came a thundering demand that russia and iran get out and stay out. behind the arguably persuasive reasons to do a little in syria was an emotional coldness. this was not obama's fight. kellyanne conway keeps pointing out that hillary clinton had no message. true. neither more that matter did obama. he waved a droopy flag. he did not want to make america great again. it was great enough for him already. the banner he flew was one of

american diminishment. one could agree, one could not be proud, since the end of world war ii, american leadership has been essential to maintain world peace. there was no other cop on the beat. now that leadership is gone. so, increasingly, will be peace. tough piece there from your colleague, richard cohen, gene. >> yeah, i mean, i would, i would take a slightly different view. the world has changed substantially from, you know, the sort of post-war security architecture, which was clearly led by the united states, in the cold war, against the soviet block. that was simple and that was easy and that was a defined and necessary role for the united states to play. after the collapse of the soviet union and the soviet block and the emergence of a multi-polar world, it became not so simple,

in the age of terrorism, of islamic fundamentalism, and, you know, a complicated multi-layered situation like syria, it is not entirely clear that that old style of american leadership, where we just kind of, you know, come in and say, everybody out of the way and you do this and you do that, you know, be nice to try that, but, in fact, it wouldn't work. there's no -- this is not the world that we lived in in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s. it's just not. >> except, chris, that he did try with rhetoric some of that swagger. he said, assad must go. we're going to draw a line in the sand if you cross it. x will happen. well, they crossed the line and it didn't happen. the argue was there was no follow-up on the rhetoric. >> well, that is exactly the complaint that the republicans have had. and it's, i think, for me, one of the most fascinating moments of his press conference, before he left for hawaii, was this

sort of introspection he seems to be going through about syria. he admitted, i mean, hard to argue with it, that the policy has not been a success. he was asked very directly about the children over there. i've heard him mention on a number of occasions the boy in the ambulance covered in dirt and covered in blood. that very day that he gave that press conference, the young girl, bana, still had not been gotten out of aleppo, and she had made a direct appeal to his wife for help. and she talked about every single night how he takes -- you know, he feels responsible for that. i think that syria is going to be a lasting part of his not-so-great legacy. but also, i think it's a real lesson for the incoming president about the reality of the situation, when you go in, you have an idea, you draw a line, and then, as he pointed out in that press conference and has many times since, you know, is there the appetite for it? would congress have the appetite

for it? would the american people have the appetite for it? >> and critics would say that he overlearned the lessons of iraq, right? to the extent that he was swept into office on this kind of pushback against what george w. bush had done at the world's policeman. but you were talking about the collapse of the soviet union. and between that and what trump told mika the other day, as you watch the interaction between vladimir putin and president-elect trump, and i want to ask ayman about this, it seems to me that putin is pushing increasingly for a return to that, if anything, a bipolar world, a vision that looks a little bit more like what we felt, not a return to the cold war, but a return to a world in which the united states and russia play on equal footing when they haven't in recent decades. >> well, i think vladimir putin has been very clear about russia's ambition. not necessarily the world balance between two superpowers, but he wants russia respected on

the international stablge. he wants russia to have the military might to enforce its will on its satellite countries, if you will. that may be a throwback to the cold war. he wants to see the expansion of nato stopped and rolled back in some parts of eastern europe and southeastern europe. there are parts of what russia wants to say its dominance in the world stage. but i'm not sure he necessarily wants to make america the primary focus or the primary enemy of russia. he uses it, obviously, for domestic political gains, to say that the united states is exp d expanding nato and is trying to weaken us. so because of that, he's able to build up some domestic political support. but i think as eugene rightfully said, i think the world is changing. there are two quick points to keep in mind. one is, president obama is the first u.s. president to have served eight years in office with the country at a state of war. that is a remarkable, i think, heavy weight that remains on the shoulder of the president and the american people.

we're still traumatized by the iraq experience and i'm not sure the american public is ready to see another war in the middle east. compared to the fact that president obama has also expanded america's counterterrorism operations with drone strikes being more than any other u.s. president previously. so i think the are two things to keep in mind, while we're still trying to recalibrate the middle east. you mentioned those red lines in syria and the assad regime has to go, but i do not think that the united states was willing and capable of going for another full-on invasion of a muddle eastern country, given how disastrous iraq turned out. >> donald trump inheriting a very complicated men unify foreign policy challenges ahead of him. according to gallup, the approval rating for congress averaged just 17% in 2016. that's actually up, though. >> that's pretty good. >> yeah, that's up. >> congratulations, guy. >> but congressman tom cole says washington actually got a lot done this year, and he's got bigger plans for 2017.

the oklahoma republican joins us in our next hour. we'll be right back. your insurance company won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation.