thank you for watching. see you tomorrow night right here at 6:00 p.m. eastern. if you can't watch live, set your dvr and follow me on twitter @greta. go to my facebook page for behind the scenes videos and more. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. court fight. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in miami tonight where i'm giving the lecture on leadership at the university of miami. let me start this evening with a war dispatch on the supreme court fight. it's going to take 60 votes to confirm president trump's nominee to replace antonin scalia, 60 votes or trumpb gets straightarmed on his first pick for the high court and his nominee heads back to denver. after last year's decision to block a conversation with president obama's supreme court

pick, merrick garland, several democrats have already said they would vote to kill the nomination of neil gorsuch. the six democratic senators have already come out in opposition to mr. gorsuch, ed markey, elizabeth warren of massachusetts, rod wyden. and kirsten gillibrand of new york. he says the seat is stolen. >> this is not a normal consideration. this is a seat that was stolen from the former president, obama. that's never been done in u.s. history before. to let this become normal just invites a complete partisan polarization of the court from here to eternity. at what point does a majority say in the future, we will not let someone make a nomination two years into their four years, or three years into their four years, or their entire four years? so i made it clear that i was going to insist on a 60-vote standard and that i would vote against closing debates. so insisting on 60 votes is the

way you start what we refer to as a filibuster then the question is, is. >> there going to be enough votes to shut it down? my hope is in won't be. >> west virginia democrat joe ma ma manjchin says two wrongs don't make a right and wants a hearing and a vote on gorsuch. >> what the republicans did with merrick garland was absolutely unbelievable to me. it was a disaster. i was embarrassed by how mitch mcconnell led the republicans not to even be decent and nsiderate enough to alk to the gentleman, letlone vote for him. i think it should be 60otes for our supreme court. i think it's the highest court of the land, it should be where we're coming together as americans, not continue to divide us. with that being said, let's give the man a chance. talk to him. my goodness, don't shut it down before we even get started and two wrongs don't make a right. >> and this afternoon, president trump once again encouraged the

republican senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, to kill that historic 60-vote requirement if democrats filibustered. >> yes. if we end up with the same gridlock that they've had in washington for the last longer than eight years, in all fairness to president obama, a lot longer than eight years, but if we end up with that gridlock, i would say if you can, mitch, go nuclear because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web. so i would say it's up to mitch, but i would say go for it. >> well the final decision on this supreme court nomination, those to come, could end up in the hands of mitch mcconnell. watch this. >> i think we ought to think long and hard about whether we want to blow up the institution of the senate for some kind of short-term advantage. i think we can achieve the things that we want to achieve for the american people without doing that. >> well mcconnell's the one, of course, who shut the door last

year on merrick garland, and now can look forward to a nastier reckoning, wunl that could hurt him inni history. does he stand to his strong principled vo ed -- or does he sacrifice to get neil gorsuch on to the supreme court? kasie hunt covers capitol hill for nbc news. thank you for this reporting tonight. it does seem to me it's going to come down to will they require 60 votes, supermajority, to get this confirmation achieved, or will they lower it to 50 just to get it done quickie? a quickie style. >> reporter: well, chris, it seems like democrats are already saying that they're going to demand60 votes and they're portrayi it as something that happens all the time, thahe 60-vote threshold is really common. it has become very common for legislation or getting really anything done in the senate, but it is really not how supreme court nominations have been done historically. often, those that have passed have had more than 60 votes because tradition has usually dictated that these votes are

more overwhelming than that. there are, of course, controversial exceptions. clarence thomas. but the way that this is being done is really, in many ways, unprecedented. now, the question is going to be, are there eight democrats who are willing to look at this and say, hey, i'm going to vote to overcome this filibuster that people like jeff merkley have already said is going to be there, so i think we're going to get into intense vote counting. i think right now it's possible that those eight democrats are there, but the climate is so overheated right now, and if you are talking about all of these other issues up on the hill, that executive order just enflamed everything, so it's really hard for democrats because they feel caught between in some cases, hey, i got to win re-election in a red state, but on the other hand, the progre progressive base is so angry, they don't want to see them cooperating with donald trump on anything. >> so let's talk about the interesting personal fight here in the soul of mitch mcconnell who could be a real political

tough guy as we know. who can be partisan as heck. and here he is forced to choose between his loyalty, if he has any to trump, the republican president, it could get down to that. will he buckle to trump's demand that they do this by majority vote if necessary or does he stick to his love of the senate, which he believes is distinguished from the house of representatives, where you are right now, because there is deliberation, there's unlimited debate. each senator really matters. any senator can hold up debate, can hold up a vote. does he want to get rid of that privilege for senators to be having to debate as long as you want, like in "mr. smith goes to washington" with jimmy stewart, give that up so neil gorsuch can sit on the court? no, really, gorsuch can sit on the court and trump can have a big win? that's a hell of a questio for mitch mcconnell. >> reporter: it is, and look, i mean, mitch mcconnell is a guy -- i think there are competing impulses for mitch mcconnell, specifically, i mean, forget donald trump in this particular instance because

there is on the one hand somebody who has devoted his entire life, most of his adult life, to this senate. and he angry harry reid, then the democratic leader changed the rules on almost everything else except supreme court nominees. he's also incredibly -- he's an incredible hard-nosed strategic political tactician on the other hand. the reality is the politics have changed up here over the course of the last decades and pretty sharply just in the last ten years. and i think he's trying to take that into account as well and i have to say, from conversations i've had up here over the course of the last day, it sounds like he's leaning in that direction. when i talked to republicans, they say one way or the other, gorsuch is going to get confirmed and in that i hear, hey, we've been talking to leaders and, you know what, if we can convince democrats to go along with it, great, and if not, then we're actually going to go forward and change the rules. >> well, we're getting closer

and close mar in this country t one-man rule. thank you, kasie hunt, for the reporting. new york senator chuck schumer is facing pressure as ka circsi mentioned from inside his own party, the freshly motivated grassroots people who want to see democrats fight and bring down all of trump's nominees. thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the democratic leader's brooklyn apartment last night, last night, holding signs and calling on schumer to block trump's appointments, period. >> what do we want? >> and when do we want it? >> now! >> schumer made it known today on the senate floor. >> it seems that president trump who has said he would be for the working man and woman has not chosen someone who routily sides with the average american. instead, it seems he has selected a nominee to the supreme court who sides with ceos over citizens.

>> well, lan hi chin is a former adviser to mitt romney and marco rubio and stephanie shrlelock is president of emily's list. i want to start with stephanie because of emily's list. i think there are so many issues that are affected by the supreme court. of course, lgbt issues, women's issues, of course, generally. there's voting rights issues. there's citizens united about money going into government elections. it's every issue you could have for voting against somebody. it means you'd have to be almost for all those issues on that person's side to vote for them. it seems to me the o us nus is the person who wants to get confirmed. your thoughts? >> i think that's exactly right. what we're looking for even at emily's list, we're going to have a hearing, we got a lot of questions. the american people have a lot of questions. trump made it clear that he was going to appoint a judge for this position that was going to

dismantle roe v. wade. that, alone, is a huge question. that is the law of the land. it is settled law. we need to know as women and families in this country with he stands on that. also on voting rights, civil rights, workers rights, what he's going to do with corporate america. there's a lot of questions here and i have to say, his record isn't so good and there's great concern among democrats, among the grassroots, among my community, that we're very worried about someone like this getting on the united states supreme court. we need answers. >> well, stephanie, you and i know each other. you also know what trump said when i asked him about abortion rights and women. he said in his first impulsive answer to me, he later cleaned it up, women should be punished. yet everybody saw that. everybody in america probably saw that comment by him and he won. what do you say to voters out there that went out and supported a guy who said something like that? given the supreme court nomination coming up.

>> yeah, i mean, during the election -- >> his fight. >> -- he also talked about a muslim ban and people and people around the country who societied f voted for him didn't think it was real. look what we're looking at. >> they didn't think he'd do it when he said he'd do it? >> i think that's lot of voters. you can see already with his disapproval numbers over 50 that this is not where america is. and americans as we're traveling around the country, particularly on issues of women's reproductive rights, voting rights and economics, they want somebody who's going to stand by the rule of the law of this kuc country and need to hear from this judge if he becomes a justice that he's going to do just that. >> let me go to you on this. i guess it goes back to politics again because you got 52 republicans in the senate, you need 60 to get past a filibuster. how do you see this thing working its way out? >> well, i think judge gorsuch is going to see a lot of support even from democrats. look, i think thissest to make

him out into some kind of extreme isist is a little hys l hysterical. frankly the judge has a mainstream record. if you look at the thing he's done. he's been willing to buck conventional wisdom in his own party on issues like criminal justice in a case called am versus holmes this year. he decided in a way that people take a traditional hard line on criminal justice would not be pleased with so he is somebody who's been an independent thinker. i think it's going to be very difficult to paint him into a corner. i think he's a terrific nominee. on the nuclear option, let me just say this, chris, it wasn't the republicansint entertained using this. harry reid first used it on nominees for the cabinet -- >> he's gone. he's gone. >> he's there -- >> mitch mcconnell is there now and believes in fighting it. will he fight it this time? will he fight it this time? will he fight it? >> is going to be in senator mcconnell's court to decide. and he certainly is an institutionalist. i think he would love to see this be a process where we get 60 votes.

but if the democrats are going to be petulant about it and insist on fighting a good man -- >> petulant? that's the kind of word -- >> it's petulance. >> -- that starts fights. petulant. i want to say this to you. we had merrick garland nominated a year ago, more than a year -- a year ago. and he never got a conversation with a republican for a whole year. he was a center left, close to center, just like your guy people shay is a center right. why was one centrist not given a conversation and your version of a center right person demanding to be confirmed? what's the difference here? what is this deal you got here? no democratic president can pick a candidate bullet you guys can. >> it was highly unusual for the president to have made that selection in on election year. >> really? >> absolutely, it was unusual. >> i don't care, you can cite anybody you want, the bottom

line is we were supposed to have a supreme court, therefore ties couldn't be broken, therefore they couldn't take up the most controversial cases because they weren't going to be able to be decisive. you know the problem of mathematics. you need nine to decide something and they had eight. you're saying the court should be -- that's what you're arguing? a year off? >> no, the court will continue -- the court will continue making decisions and if they need to rehear them, they'll rehear them when they have nine. that was the whole point that joe biden made when he advocated for -- >> okay. >> -- when a president would nominate someone in an election year. >> so if ruth bader ginsburg leaves the court or steven bphe breyer leaves the court, anthony kennedy leaves the court in the last of this term, you'll come back on the program and say there should be no confirmation hearings? will you? promise to do that now. promise to do that now. be consistent, sir. >> democrats can do -- >> i'm asking, will you commit, sir, yooir u're an expert, will commit to consistency? >> what il say is democrats can do whatever they want at

that point. the ball will be -- >> this is wobbling here. you won't do it. you're smiling but you won't play the game. will you be consistent, last question, and say in the fourth year of any presidency, there should be no confirmation? >> what i'll say is that the democrats have the opportunity to do what they want, republicans will do what they will. let's not play politics with this good man now. >> let's -- i think you just did. thank you, laheen chen from -- we need to match that setting with yes or no answers. thank you, stephanie schriock as always. major pushback of president trump's travel ban. apple and google with forcing action, and four states have filed suits to challenge ban. it is a ban. even trump admitted that. we're going to talk to attorneys general, from two of those states, the state of washington and new york. the empire state. a revolt by people who don't usually rock the boat. government workers, civil servants up in arms about some of trump's early moves like the

threat to fire all the government's inspectors general, the watchdogs that guard against corruption in government agencies. national security adviser mike flynn today told iran they're on notice after firing a test missile. that's coming up with the "hardball" roundtable. little scary there. tomorrow is the "hardball" college tour. president trump's aggressive agenda and how it's already shaping american life and triggering grassroots protests, don't you notice, across the country. power and the presidency coming up tomorrow night at 7:00 eastern here on "hardball" and this is "hardball" where the action is.

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today twoepublicans came out against devos, susan collins and alaska's murkowski. devos has 50 republican votes with mike pence needed to break a tie, something the vice president has never done for a cabinet appointment. we'll be right back. he real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache.

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you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv w limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. welcome back to "hardball." four states this week have decided to sue the trump administration over the president's executive order banning travel from seven precopredo predominantly muslim countries. new york, massachusetts and virginia announced they're joining lawsuits filed by advocacy groups against the administration with eric schneiderman saying yesterday, "president trump's executive action is unconstitutional, unlaunch au unlawful and fundamentally un-american." in washington state where the attorney general was first to file legal challenge the suit says "key provisions of the executive order are "intended to disfavor islam and favor christianity." also among the 171 democratic state attorneys general mostly

in states of hillary clinton, "use all the tools of the office to fight the unconstitutional order." a wide r mobilization across the country with other states exp t expected to follow suit. meanwhile, tech giant, apple, is considering legal recourse as well and asking the trump administration to reverse the executive order. i'm joined right now by washington state attorney general bob ferguson as well as new york state attorney general eric schneiderman. gentlemen, first of all, explain why it's unconstitutional. you, sir, bob first. mr. attorney general. you first from washington state. why is it unconstitutional to do what trump just did? >> you bet. thanks for having us on, chris. appreciate it. we have a claim that has multiple aspects to it so it ranges from constitutional claims, the 1st amendment, the establishment clause, equal protection under our constitution, due process. we have a group of constitutional claims on one hand, we also have a number of claims, chris, based on statutes.

the administrative procedures act, for example. a combination of statutes and provisions that are core to who we are as a people. >> let me go, this question to you the i'll go over to mr. schneiderman. >> you bet. >> the executive order doesn't really mention islam, and one of its features regarding how they prioritize after this 120-day ban on refugees, they do reference minority religions in these muslim countries which would mean religions other than islam. christians, of course, jewish people, for example. is sthat whthat what makes it a religious test as far as you see it? >> you raise a really good point, chris. the order does not specify folks of muslim faith. muslims, folks of islamic faith. that doesn't matter. courts make it clear as long as it's a motivating factor on why you are doing something, favoring one religion over another, that's what the courts look for and you go back and look at when candidate trump was talking about wanting to have a muslim ban, he knows he can't draft an executive order that says that, right?

he knows that's blatantly unconstitutional. they're trying to write this in a way that passes some sort of test. that's not going to work in the courts. four courts already have made that clear around the country. >> mr. schneiderman, your view. do you conform to that view it is implicitly or even obviously, a better word for it, obviously anti-muslim? >> yeah, i think i would use the word transparently. it's very clear from the language of the order, itself, which has references to -- some language taken out of these statutes that were designed to make illegal sharia law, it refers to honor killings and refers to preferences for minorities in the countries affected which clearly are predominantly ristian. so it's transparently anti-muslim. this is made more clear by statements that mr. trump and other people associated with him have made outside of the executive order that make it very clear that this is an effort to favor christians over muslims. the constitution says you cannot discriminate based on religion, can't discriminate based on

national origin, can't take away people's procedural rights to due process of law and equal protection of the law. this offends a variety of provisions of the constitutions and as bob points out also rounds afoul a statutory schemes. we have statutory schemes in the immigration and nationality act, administrative procedure act. this order is offensive at every level. it's unconstitutional. it's illegal. it really is fundamentally un-american. discriminating against people based on religion or origin is about as un-american as you can get. i think the fact 17 attorneys general representing over 130 million people, every court that's looked at this have said this has some sort of constitutional violation or is likely to have a constitutional violation. the early stage. it's been a pretty -- sally yates is not alone. we all agree with sally yates. >> okay. white house press secretary sean spicer today repeated the administration's view that the order's intended to target countries, not muslims. here he goes. >> i think the president's been very clear that his number-one goal is not to target anyone's

religion but places and areas where we believe that there's an issue. that's what the executive order was all about the other day. there's a big difference between islam, the relion, and radical islamic terrorists that come here to do uharm. >> rudy giuliani said on saturday that the directive was written in a way he says p s pt on firm legal ground. here's giuliani, probably talking out of school here. go ahead. >> when he first announced it he said muslim ban. he called me up, said put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally. what we did was we focused on n instead of religion, danger. the areas of the world that create danger for us. which is a factual basis. not of religious basis. >> mr. schneiderman, would you take that snippet of tape into court with you, because there he is giving what we call on capitol hill legislative history. what do you make of it? >> yeah. it's important to recognize that courts will look to intent and will look to the real effect. there have been statutes that

have been struck down that don't specifically identify a religion but have the effect of discriminating against a particular religion. and it's absolutely transparent from what mr. giuliani said, what mr. trump said. i mean, rudy essentially gave up the game, said i want to ban muslims but i want to have some sort of legal hook. the other problem is they're saying that day want to do this based on danger. the seven countries that they just dropped the 90-day ban on which is causing real harm to real people, there are families who can't visit sick loved ones and get medical care and things like that. those countrieses are not countries that have sent one terrorist to the united states that has carried out a terrorist attack on u.s. soil. there are oather countries that have but they're not on the pli list. the argument this is about danger and location doesn't stand up. i'm milissa rehberger in new york. moments ago vice president mike pence swore in former exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson as the next secretary of state and president trump was on hand for the swearing in. take a look.

>> welcome to the white house. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> thank you very much, mike. just returned from an amazing visit with a great, great family at dover and it was something very sad, very beautiful. ryan, a great man. secretary tillerson, i first want to congratulate you, brenda, and your entire family on this incredible honor and it is that, an incredible honor. you bring the unique skills and deep, deep insights, and i've gotten to see it firsthand, into

foreign diplomacy our nation needs to foster stability and security in a world too often trapped, and right now it's trapped, in violence and in war. you understand that the job of our diplomats and the mission of the state department is to serve the interests of the united states of america to make our nation safer, our country more prosperous, and our people much more secure. in that mission, you also understand the importance of strengthening our alliances and forming new alliances to enhance our strategic interests and the safety of our people. your whole life has prepared you for this moment and you really have had a tremendous life heading up one of the great companies of the world and doing

it magnificently. absolutely magnificently. and i can say this is a man that's respected all over the world before he even begins, but as brenda said, now he's beginning his big, big and most important journey. this is where you were meant to be right here, day, at this crossroads in history. it's time to bring a clear-eyed focus to foreign affairs, to take a fresh look at the world around us and to seek new solutions grounded in very ancient truths. these truths include the fact that nations have the right to protect their interests, that all people have a right to freely pursue their own destiny and all of us are better off when we act in concert and not in conflict. and there's rarely been conflict

like we have in the world today. very sad. i'm excited for you. i'm excited for your family. and perhaps most importantly, i am excited for our great country. though you inherit enormous challenges in the middle east and around the world, i do believe we can achieve peace and stability in these very, very troubled times. may god bless you in this journey and may god bless our very, very special and great country. thank you very much. mike, you can do the honors. thank you. yes. >> on behalf of president trump, it is my great privilege to administer you the oath of office as the secretary of state of the united states of america. please place your left hand on

the bible. place your right hand and repeat after me. i rex tillerson do solemnly swear -- >> i rex william tillerson do solemnly swear. >> that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> that i will be bear truth true faith and allegiance. >> that i will bear true faith and allegiance. >> i take this -- >> without any mental reservation. >> without any mental reservation. >> or purpose of evasion. >> without purpose of evasion. >> i will well and faithfully. >> i will well and faithfully. >> discharge the duties. >> discharge the duties. >> of the office upon which i am about to enter. >> of the office upon which i'm about to enter.

>> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> would you like to say a few words? >> first i want to express my profound thanks to president trump for giving me this extraordinary opportunity to serve my country. also want to thank vice president pence for giving me the honor of swearing me into this office today. i have a few folks in the room that are with me that have helped me over the last minute to get to this point of confirmation. they represent a much larger cad

r cadre of people who have worked enormously long hours, helping me and guiding me through the confirmation process and to them i will always be eternally grateful for the sacrifice they made of their time and effort these past weeks. i've also received over the last month so many messages, letters, phone calls of best wishes, encouragement, prayers, from family, friends and colleagues who know me well, but i've also received an enormous outpouring of wonderful messages from people all over the country whom i do not know. words of encouragement and their prayers. and it's their messages that are going to really stand in steadfast reminder to me as i enter the responsibilities of secretary of state that as i serve this president, i serve their interests and will always represent the interests of all of the american people at all times. and, again, mr. president, thank you for this extraordinary opportunity.

>> thats president trump at the swearing in of rex tillerson as secretary of state. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us tonight. kristen? >> reporter: milissa, this is significant for a number of reasons, one, it comes at a time when this administration is locked in a bitter battle with democrats on capitol hill. they feel as though democrats are blocking a number of the president's cabinet picks. the hhs secretary, for example, as well as his pick for the treasury. so the fact that his secretary

of state has now been sworn in is something that will undoubtedly be cheered by this administration. it's also significant for another reason. rex tillerson is the former ceo of exxonmobil. he is someone who has done business deals worldwide including with russia. that's one of the reasons that he was a controversial pick. he was someone who his critics thought had a too close for comfort relationship with the likes of vladimir putin. that was one of the issues that he had to talk about, defend during his confirmation hearing and it comes at this moment of increased tensions, if you will, that developed today at the white house. the white house essentially issuing a stern warning to iran. just an hour before rex tillerson was confirmed as secretary of state. the reason for that stern warning, milissa, according to the national security adviser michael flynn who made a surprise appearance in the

briefing room today, iran has made a number of recent provocations including testing a missile launch and so the white house saying we're putting iran on notice. but what specifically does that mean? well, in a broader discussion with senior administration officials, they weren't specific, but those officials said that the white house isn't taking anything off the table. everything from economic sanctions, even the possibility of military actions. the fact that the white house would issue such a stern warnings headline news in and of itself because this is a real escalation. under the obama administration they had struck a deal with iran and a number of other nations, a nuclear deal to roll back sanctions on iran in exchange for iran scaling back its nuclear program. so the fact that you have this tough talk from iran coming just two weeks into this new administration underscores that we may see a very different tone when it comes to issues like iran and of course, a whole host

of other key relationships that the united states has. so this has been a day of diplomatic drama capped off by the swearing in of the new secretary of state who will play a pivotal role in all of these diplomatic issues we've been discussing, milissa. >> thank you, nbc's kristen welker for us. i'm milissa rehberger in new york. "hardball" returns after this. i tried hard to quit smoking. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day.

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welcome back to "hardball." the white house issued a strong statement today against iran saying it was putting the countr we ar we're putting that country on notice. national security adviser michael flynn saidt was in response to recent provocative actions including a ballistic missile test by iran and an attack against a saudi ship by a militant group supported by iran. according to flynn, iran's behavior is, "destabilizing the middle east." >> in these and other similar activities, iran continues to threaten u.s. friends and allies

in the region. the obama administration failed to respond adequately to tehran's malign actions including weapons transfers, support for terrorism and other violations of international norms. the trump administration condemns such actions by iran that undermine security, prosperity and stability throughout and beyond the middle east and place -- which places american lives at risk. president trump has severely criticized the various agreements reached between iran, the obama administration, as well as the united nations as being weak and ineffective. instead of being thankful to the united states in these agreements, iran is now feeling emboldened. as of today, we are officially putting iran on notice. >> here's how the deputy national security adviser to former prsh president obama responded, ben rhodes tweeted it was intended to peacefully roll back iran's nuclear program

which it did. late today reporters were told flynn's message was aimed at getting iran's attention. i'm sure it did. i'm joined by april ryan, washington bureau chief. jeremy, a reporter with "the new york times" and msnbc contributor. naera haaq. i don't like the word, ultimatum and i don't like the word, you know, whatever that phrase is. put on notice. what does put on notice mean? has that got a deathcom kind of aspect to it? >> that's precisely the problem, chris,n notice is not a policy. this administration has struggled to articulate what exactly its iran policy is other than as mike flynn seemed to suggest that it was going to take a more bellicose line in terms of its rhetoric than the obama administration did. so i think you have two things going on here. you have the trump administration responding practically to iran firing a missile, which it needs to respond to, but then politically they are saying, look, we're not

like those squishes in the obama administration, we're going to stand up to you guys. the problem is how are they going to follow through? no one now knows that yet. i don't think anyone inside the trump administration knows that either. >> do you know if this is within the bounds of our agreement with iran on nuclear weapons? i understood they're not supposed to be firing missiles capable of delivering a nuclear weapon. >> well, it doesn't seem that word on the street at the pentagon is that they were not concerned when this happened on sunday, beyond this being a normal saber rattling type of event. i mean, this is something that in response to the visa ban in which iran was directly targeted for not -- that you had iran feeling that they needed to flex their muscles a little bit because they received an insult on the world stage. the challenge now we have is that nobody really in the military or diplomatic complex seems to understand what this means so they're being put on notice which sounds like we're drawing a red line but there was

no war plan to back up a red line like that. and so you have politics driving -- and personality are now driving the foreign policy of our country and the people who actually have to execute it have no idea what they're supposed to be doing. >> april, you and i see eye to eye on a lot of this stuff. i'm thinking, you know, one of the attractive things about trump, i know you didn't like the whole picture obviously, he was not going to take us into stupid wars like iraq. >> right. >> the war in iraq which cost the lives of 100,000 people over there and here. ever since the inauguration, the election, the electoral college, he's been talking about moving the american embassy to jerusalem which is starting a fight over there. maybe anotherntifada or worse. he looks like -- they want to fight iran now? there's something bellicose. i think that's the right word about them right now. that's not how he got all those votes up in erie, pennsylvania, and scranton. those people hate these wars because their kids fight them. they have to fight them. >> right. chris, you're absolutely right.

we are a nation who's war wary. we're very concerned about how threats to our country and globally are taken. this is the first time that iran has challenged this country really. gave a challenge to donald trump. and donald trump is coming out with some strong words but at the same time, i've talked to some national security officials who said he should have backed down and waited for a minute, looked at the statements that he could have made because this could actually, again, as you said, kind of more of an inciteful kind of a tone, what do you say, and ultimate tum of sorts and on another hand, this really could be his chance to show his strength to show, look, we're going to push forward on sanctions. if that doesn't work, we may go further and hope that isn't what's going it happen. >> this is -- >> go ahead. >> this is part of the challenge that we're seeing is what everybody worried about in the election, trump and the people around him are very feisty and emotional and this is a very

emotional reaction to what could potentially be a nuclear situation when really you want to have somebody who is thinking in a calm, cool, collected way. and to see a former general, somebody who understands how the military works, to come out and take such strident position should be very concerning for the american public that certainly does not want to see u.s. ground troops embroiled in another war in the middle east. >> words matter, most definitely, words matter. >> yeah. jeremy, i want to ask you one thing. i know a lot of iranians, at least a number of them in this country who come here as emigrates in '79. very modern country, very educated country by european sense. just as -- newspaper reading and knowledgeable about science and the humanity as any country in europe. and yet by putting that ban on travel from that country rkth we' we're basically saying to american people, we're telling the people to go away. we're killing our chances with ever overthrowing that terrible government over there. not overthrowing but hoping it goes away. putting it that way.

>> this is not lost on president rouha rouhani, chris. he came out on sunday and said trump -- he basically challenged trump. he said trump is a president who's out of his depth, he's never been in politics or the world arena before and he's making these rash decisions and not really thinking through what the consequences are. so you have a real tension point there that i think nobody really knows how it will be resolved. >> okay. this is dummy stuff, anyway, the roundtable is sticking with us. up next, these people tell me something i don't know. be right back. my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line.

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trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief we're back with the "hardball" round table. april, tell me something i don't know. >> in keeping with blast history month and the issues of urban america, dr. ben carson says once he is confirmed as the next hud secretary he will conduct a listening tour and investing in people. he says what he's going to do, he's going target cities that are really hurting starting off with places like detroit and baltimore. >> good move. jeremy? >> so there's a divide right now in the democratic party, chris,

about exactly how to oppose neil gorsuch's nomination to the supreme court. some, like chuck schumer, are sympathetic to a more slow walked thoughtful opposition which would eventually lead in his confirmation without a filibuster. other others who are under tremendous pressure from the left to oppose at all costs want a harder line. you'll see that debate playing out over the next few weeks exactly whether or not the -- they would force republicans to go nuclear and eliminate the fill bust cher a lot of folks don't want to do. >> fake news has gone global. former secretary general of the united nations ban ki-moon has decided to step out of the running for prime minister of his country stating that his reputation had been irreparably tarnished by fake news media reports. >> that's giving the bad guys a win. bad move there.

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tomorrow we'll be hosting the "hardball" college tour at american university in washington, power and the presidency. we're back with the round table, april, jeremy inayyara. i want to know what everybody thinks of what jeremy said. april, who will win this fight? is gorsuch going to get on? >> he'll get on but democrats are going to fight hard. they want to basically keep the court where it is because they say if they get -- if donald trump -- president trump gets him on this court it will lean to the right. and they'll go as far as putting themselves on the street to block traffic to make sure that he is not confirmed but it looks like he will be confirmed. >> nayyara, your thinking ant the final outcome here? >> it's going to be very difficult for senators and

democrats to explain to their public and the base who really want to see strong action taken against trump of why they volted for a trump nominee, particularly on the heel of president obama not having the opportunity to have a discussion about merrick garland for a year. so that should be the top of their minds. >> i think if he gets in it's proof life is unfair because merrick garland should have been confirmed, spoken to, treated like a person. >> should have had a hearing. >> she was discarded. the second question, will the ban be modified or removed? jeremy, seven countries, nobody gets in for the 90-day period. is this going to hold? >> my sources inside the trump administration say that there is no plan to scale it back whatsoever. if anything, we haven't seen the end of it. there will be an expansion of it

i would bet and there's going to be further immigration action coming from this administration on the southern border. what trump hasn't done yet which everybody is overlooking right now as we talk about these muslim dominated countries is what he's going to do with mexico and to shore up the situation down there and try to restrict immigration further. so, no, there's no backing down. this is a campaign promise he made and he's intent on keeping it. people who are surprised this is happening, it's not like he didn't spell this out very clearly, chris. we knew he was going too this. >> and he said clearly what the intention was, too, so let's not fall into what's being said from a podium that this is not targeted for muslims. we could probably expect to see it expand to other muslim majority country and the challenges will be that we can expect it to be rolling out in the same crazy way with nobody on the ground knowing what they're supposed to do and execute this new policy. >> if it looks like a duck.

thank you april ryan, jeremy peterson and nayyera hack. join me tomorrow for our "hardball" college tour, power and the presidency live at american university. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> i would say if you can, mitch, go nuclear. >> as the president gives a nuclear directive to the senate on the supreme court, the fallout over president trump's executive order on refugees. >> i think the president's been very clear that his number one goal is not to target any one religion. >> tonight, new evidence that this was not just about stopping bad guys. >> 20% of the country is immigrants. is that not the beating heart of this problem? >> then the new white house explanation for the president's first military strike in which almost everything went wrong. and why the trump administration is suddenly threatening iran. >> as of today we are officially