thank you, stuart. >> thank you, lawrence. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. tonight, parts of the world on edge as a flurry of headlines reveal a chaotic u.s. foreign policy just how do world leaders deal with the president trump? power of the people, congressional offices flooded with phone calls as americans speak out against the president's cabinet picks, jamming the phone lines on capitol hill. and did the president really just talk about television ratings at the national prayer breakfast? the highly rated "11th hour" begins now. and good evening, once again, from our headquarters in new york. a lot of fast-moving story in the world of foreign policy, especially tonight on iran after the white house put the islamic nation on notice. nbc news confirmed they could hit iran with new sanctions within hours.

the sanctions are in response to what they call continuous terrorist activity in iran's ballistic missile test and on israel, a headline on the jerusalem post. the white house warned israel to seize settlement announce mentes that are unilateral to forge middle east peace which he announced he'll do and quote, administration confirmed trump is committed to a comprehensive two-state solution to the israeli palestinian conflict negotiated between the parties. following that something of a bombshell, sean spicer released a statement that reads in part quote, while we don't believe the existence of settlement is an impediment to piece, construction of new settlement or expansion beyond the quarter borders may not be helpful in achieving the goal. in the nation's current global standing, "the new york times" is going with a piece with the

headline for europe, there is a new threat in town, the u.s. quoting now from the article few foreign leaders anticipated that president trump would become an equal opportunity offender. he has insullated or humiliated, mexico, germany, britain and iraq and engaged in a war of words with china and iran and turned a routine phone call with the prime minister of australia into a minor diplomatic crisis. with the possible exception of nato where he softened his tone, mr. trump expressed destain for other multi lateral institutions like the european union. his praise has been reserved for populous and strong men like nigel. the call with the prime minister

today, the followingaustralian ambassador to the u.s. either in phone or person to smooth things over. it's quite a list. steve bannon, chief of staff reince priebus, three republican senators, one democratic senator jack reid in rhode island and house minority steny hoyer. the president himself said this about the phone call in question. >> the world is in trouble, but we're going to straighten it out. okay? that's what i do. i fix things. we're going to straighten it out. believe me. when you hear about the tough phone calls i'm having, don't worry about it.

just don't worry about it. they are tough. we have to be tough. it's time we're going to be a little tough, folks. we're taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. it's not going to happen anymore. >> let's talk about all this, shall we? on the panel tonight in washington nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt and in d.c. michael crowley and editor for bloomberg business week megan murphy and joining us, political analyst and host of hugh hewitt show, the appropriately named hugh hewitt and "the fourth way, the conservative playbook for a lasting gop majority." welcome to you-all. michael, because your piece had the headline today, trump picks up the phone and sets off diplomatic chaos. you get to go first. what's going on? >> brian, i think that's the question that world leaders are asking themselves right now and what is so interesting to me is that you have some key leaders planning their trips to washington to meet with donald trump. of course, these phone calls will continue and what i'm hearing is they are studying what's happening now very closely trying to adjust to it, trying to figure out how do you

deal with this guy. how do you avoid stumbling into a diplomatic incident? how do you prepare yourself for the unexpected with donald trump and to take one more example because there is so much to talk about. teresa may that had a high-profile visit and british prime minister had a chummy, cozy meeting and walked out of the office briefly holding hands going down a step or something. she came home to a real firestorm after trump signed the executive orders instituing severe travel restrictions and under a lot of fire back home for having been chumy with trump. you can get burned by being friendly with trump and taking a simple phone call that devalves into an argument or have a confrontation like pina neto in mexico. >> capitol hill, the beetles gave us that lyric i'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in. all they are doing up there is fixing holes. they got nothing but conknit --

constituent phone calls and some are calling the aussies after the president's phone call. >> i'm going to try to track with your analogy. like they are trying to patch holes and insist the ceiling is not caving in on them, and i think, you know, it's becoming -- it's not just more and more difficult every day but it's more and more chaotic that the number of places and issues and major, i mean, in this case a major relationship with a long-time ally, a couple days ago it feels like weeks ago, but it was just a hand full of days ago the executive order on immigration came down and scrambled everything and so you have on the one hand republicans who are starting to feel -- i

mean, today they were feeling pressure to essentially play diplomat. i mean, this is something they are usually very careful to largely stay out of if the president of the united states is, you know, taking action overseas there is a tradition of stopping it at the water's edge. that does not seem to be what happened today and on the flip side, you have democrats who as you note have been overwhelmed. there is question about whether these calls that are coming in are from real people or are they driven by, you know, programs, computer programs, robo calls, but the switchboards are being overwhelmed and driven in large part by democratic activists who are so in sense over what happened with this executive order. the temperature has just ratcheted up so much. we've gone from democrats who said hey, we're not going to just oppose everything because it has trump's name on it to them beincome a political position where they can hardly work with him at all and, you know, i almost -- i think i and

many members that i talked to on capitol hill every day wake up not knowing what on earth the next hole is going to be. >> megan murphy here in the studio, let's be honest, isn't it time australia got theirs? think about it. beautiful people. nice people. beautiful country. those huge cans of fosters logger that anger us so much. gorgeous, olivia newt ton john. wasn't this appropriate to go after australia. >> the greatest marsupials. >> we look at israel and iran and the u.k. and the rhetoric coming out and look particularly at australia. this is an ally that's one of the staunchest defenders when you look at world war i 1, world war ii and what they risked and invested and people feel so tied to the democratic cause and robust system that would count

us among their strongest alibis throughout the world and to have a conversation described that lasts 25 minutes and descends into an aggressive screaming match about this so-called issue of the obama deal with these not illegal immigrants, actually. actually refugees coming to this country. it sometimes staggers and as discussed, almost seems like he was talking to a different county or confused who he was talking to. >> hue huet, you often call out donald trump into whatever this new trump-ism is. that in mind, australia, really? >> if you read bill bricen's notes, there is a lot to worry about. many ways you can get killed unexpectedly. i'm looking for the signal among the noise here, brian, and today it was announced that president obama after definitely executing a side bar with king abdula couldn't happen because he

wanted to meet with benjamin netanyahu first after doing so issued standard american policy we would prefer no one whose settlements be issued and prefer that things calm down and we have a two-state solution. so he reiterated traditional american policy and no one is giving him a thumbs up or the abdula meeting thumbs up. i talked to republicans at the prayer breakfast and they love the idea of getting rid of the johnson amendment. it's a great sticking point and ecstatic. the doom and gloom over a tense phone call with australia is a little over play in a media not prone to find anything good to say about donald trump. >> i think megan may disagree with you. >> yeah, i think that's putting a sort of light gloss on what is happened. we're not talking about one tense call but looking at israel and you called it is a

bombshell. if that's going to be policy and again, that's not because that is or is not the policy just because they are coming so fast and furious and no one knows exactly what to gauge or where to stand. when you see him with mexico saying look, we're not going to talk about the wall and i'm going to put in a border text. world leaders are looking saying how do i deal with this kind of attitude, how do i deal with this policy making? teresa may is an excellent case in point. she came to the u.s. in a very high charge for her well visit. she came back just negative press throughout the board by her attitude of trying to strike torn to him. there are many people facing in their home countries of thinking look at the policies put in place, banning refugees, potentially a tone of putting in examples of llback rights across the broad swath of people. this is a angela merkel has spoken out in germany, french, donald tusk from the e.u. policies are unsettling and not

so much the policies but the process they are going through putting them in and the unpredictable nature about what they are saying on a foreign policy level trying to discover what america's place will be. >> not your headlines and publication but "the new york times" hours apart tonight. for europe, there is a new threat in town, the u.s. and trump embraces pillars of obama's foreign policy and this is because of the settlements in israel, kind of a boiler plate statement we're used to because they are new u.n. ambassador sounded normal on russia today, normal given normal u.s. policy. >> yeah, very interesting story, brian. i think that nikki haley's comments about russia at the u.n. were actually very interesting. a lot of people who closely follow russia were quite interested in the fact that trump had been remaining silent on a flairup in fighting in eastern ukraine in the last several days and what they call the don bass and sean spicer was asked about this at the briefing yesterday, didn't want to say anything.

this is the issue where the obama administration would put out a statement saying we have concerns about the escalation and violence and we ask all sides to deescalate. the white house wasn't doing that and this was shaping up to be a real test where people said boy, is trump going to let vladimir putin mount the defense people have been worried about? trump had still not come out and chastised russia himself, which is significant but i thought nikki haley using the forceful language just can't think she's completely freelancing. that was very interesting, i think very comforting to a lot overpeople that are part of the foreign policy establishment and want to see continuity i would add on a run, i don't know that's -- it's continuity in the sense that trump does not -- it seems to be backing away from the threats to pull out of

the iran nuclear deal and blow up the agreement and that is quite significant and obama administration officials are happy about that. he is rattling and brian, it's interesting to hear people say they heard in the comments by mike flynn, the national security advisor yesterday that iran is on notice about ballistic missile tests that that could be equivalent of a red line. what happens if iran fires off another missile? does trump do to backup the rhetoric? somewhat similar to the corner obama created. we'll see how that plays out that might have been an ill advised statement, definitely not obama administration policy. >> how much comes down to john mccain? is he truly the fire wall? >> i think mccain is somebody who carries a lot of stature and who has chosen his spots in opposing donald trump. i think that he will matter a lot going forward and just to pick up, to pull out the lens a little bit on this and to pick up on what you were talking

about just a second ago, i think that there is a difference between what we've seen and i don't know if the divide is domestic in foreign policy. it's somewhere along the lines. republicans, hue mentioned, are definitely happy with the supreme court picks and happy with the idea they are potentially going to write a tax reform law that the president will be willing to sign. that is sort of the deal they have cut, but what they are worried about are all of these issues on the foreign stage because to a certain extend, the republican party thought we can survive trump, it will be better than hillary clinton but this is an area where they think he could do so much damage that it could be irreversible and don't know what the consequences are. that's where a voice like mccain comes in. >> back up to the hill. i hear elements in congress will work on a friday, that should have be - >> at 6:30 in the morning. 6:30 a.m. >>nreasobl can you believe -- >> very rare, honestly. >> casey, michael crowley, thanks. the rest of the panel will stay with us as we come back from the first break here tonight.

when we continue, president trump's call for prayers this morning when "the 11th hour" continues. >> i went into television had "the apprentice". the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions can occur.

now's your chance at completely clear skin. just ask your doctor about taltz.

>> i went into television had "the apprentice". >> who would be better, arnorld or trump? arnold, trump? will he be as good as trump? >> no. >> no? he better be because i have a big chunk of that show. >> when i did "the apprentice" i was in love with ratings.

>> donald trump may have mentioned he has a television show a time or two during the campaign today however was different. in washington one day a year they have what's called the national prayer breakfast. the president chose that setting to talk about television ratings. >> we had tremendous success on "the apprentice" and when i ran for president, i had to leave the show. that's when i knew for sure i was doing it and they hired a big, big movie star, arnold schwarzenegger to take my place and we know how that turned out. [ laughter ] . the ratings went right down the tubes. it's been a total disaster and mark will never, ever bet against trump again. i want to pray for arnold for those ratings. >> that's why they call it the national prayer breakfast. it prompted a quick response from host of celebrity apprentice arnold schwarzenegger. >> donald, i have a great idea.

why don't we switch jobs, you take over tv because you're an expert in ratings and i take over your job and people can finally sleep comfortably again. >> back here with our panel megan murphy. to you first, any issues of taste or propriety here? >> no, actually, brian, i know this crowd very well. i'm part of this crowd. he was tweaking arnold and people of faith like to laugh. arnold had them in switches. it is a combination. good time was had and reflective moment but like normal life. the prir prek fast is not unusual. his promise to repeal the johnson ameament ex drives that c crazy. he hit a home run with them today. >> i promised megan murphy we would show her work. the cover of bloomberg where she's the editor drafted ill leg

i dubious destabilizing executive order here. megan, have you been surprised at the number of leaks deep internal damaging to the core of the administration leaks which i've heard people say if you're going to go after career civil servants, this is what is going to happen? >> this goes to the chaos within the white house and they are looking to staff up administration, the holes they have and the animosity they have towards the approach they are taking particularly on foreign policy. on this prayer practice, a good time may have been had for all but maybe not the same sount bites. talking about yemen and iran and security risks and people being destabilized by the approach and the media, though, as well does need to really look at itself.

this is dominating the 24 hours and arnold schwarzenegger. this is really serious stuff going on and really serious questions being raised about him and yet, we seem to constantly dial it down, dumb it down to ratings about the apprentice is really where we want to be as a country is what people are asking. >> megan murphy here in new york and hugh hewitt in california. thanks to you both for playing here on a thursday night. coming up on this thursday before the super bowl, the politics of a different contact sport as "the 11th hour" continues. there you see it on the

there you see it on the field. bigger than the previous half hour and make no mistake, about something very american, about football on the eve of a big football weekend and put it this way, if football changes drastically or fades from its current colossal popularity among televised sports, it will likely be traced back to a story that came out this week. usa football which governs, organized youth football in this country is announcing some sweeping new rules changes that

may change this game forever. the teams are to be smaller from 11 players to seven or so. the field is to be smaller. no punt or kick off returns. no three-point stance. all players will begin from a crouching stance and rebate at various positions. it's called modified tackle and a lot closer to flag football and all because fewer parents are letting their kids play full on tackle football. and that's because they have seen what can happen. most notably the brain injuries, the devastating degenerative condition known as cte that has left some of our beloved stars unable to care for themselves and worse. make no mistake, usa football is a league for the nfl. the question now becomes what happens when players who aren't used to full contact make it on up through pop one or high school or college football and how can the nfl continue to be all about full contact if in the years to come, generations of young players come up not having learned to play football as a

full contact sport? it's likely this will not be talked about during coverage of the super bowl this weekend. it's the league's biggest day of the year after all and when you strip away the commercials and confetti and corporate sponsorships, you're left with a violent sport millions of us love and that's the problem. part of the appeal of this game we love is the violence, hard hits, bigger, stronger, faster players t that's also the problem for the nfl, how to lesson the impact of a game without losing the appeal. that does it for this edition of "the 11th hour." up next, the power and presidency. a special broadcast tonight hosted by chris matthews.

american on notice. let's play hardball. good evening i'm chris matthews from american university in washington. power and the presidency, that's our top pick tonight. tonight we look at donald trump and how he sees the authority of his new office two weeks in the term he urged senate leaders to go nuclear if it's needed to get him confirmed and mocked the leader of the opposition and began meeting campaign promise to build a wall with mexico and spark protest from banning seven muslim countries and put iran notice and talked tough with leaders.

i'll be joined by chris murphy a critic of the ban we begin with kellyanne conway. >> thank you, kellyanne conway from joining us at the white house. you're sitting in front of many of hundreds of young students from the american university. >> that's terrific. >> the other day, michael flynn sent a word to iran. we're serving notice on you. you launched missile, and we want you to know that's not in the rule. what does that mean?

>> he said we are putting you on notice. many americans are concerned about our relationship with iran, particularly with this last administration, when you saw the ransom paid. even the chronic nay sayer voted against the nuclear deal. why? because they think threat to israel. you saw secretary of sate john kerry, in the waning week spend 72 meeting to deliver anti-israel speech. >> let's talk about the how president design power structure. the other day whether when he was talking torture. he said i believe it works.

but i'm going to leave it up to secretary of defense because it's his call. is it really his calling or does the buck stop with the president under this administration. if he decides in the 11th hour decision, will he intervene? >> the think to remember about president trump he ultimate maker. there's no accident that we have somebody in the evaloffice somebody accustom from receiving, weighing the consequences, considering the action and making a decision. it's important thing to know about president trump, he ultimate decision-maker. what president is saying on torture, there's a split of opinion. he heard from general, now

secretary defense, -- on that. what the president saying is that what leader do is they take into account different best opinions, projects and make decision accordingly. >> who job is to decide to torture or not? >> he was not -- >> what he saying he is defer. what that means he will take into account. people should feel rest assured they have someone in the white house who is not going to act on his own without confirming with the experts and the officials. if you seen what happened in the early day of his psidency, you have seen person after person, group after group, coming into the white house to offer their opinions, testimony, and best let's ju go back, george w. bush came into office 35 days after the election in 2000 through a supreme court decision. there was people that felt cheated and raw, hurt feelings

supreme court nominee approved by the senate in the last year or so of a presidency from what i understand. >> so is mr. president trump, is he now to say i can't pick

death of justice scalia. neil gorsuch. >> you don't get to pick a supreme court nominee. >> what do you mean no principle? >> last year they didn't get to pick one. >> sure, he did. he nominated one. he wasn't confirmed. >> ty didn't meewith him. >> so. >> why is that a principle, the eighth year doesn't count? >> it's not that. everybody really thought all those people thought hillary would win anyway so it doesn't matter to them. i guess they got assurances from their team -- >> you're laughing again. >> they were trying to turn georgia, arizona and texas blue.

they were getting assurances to continue the nomination. they believed she would be president and making this nomination but let's focus on the nomination to the united states supreme court. this man is beyond reproach. his judicial temperament and record. he's received praise from editorial pages. >> a lot of people said that about garland last year. >> not quite the same. >> let me ask you about authority. the acting attorney general yates refused to act the order. she's gone. the spokesman for the president the other day made it clear the state department officials, the career people over there 900 that signed that petition should get out of there if they are not happy. >> he gave me choice. he said you can step up or get out. >> if you don't agree with the president and work for the united states government, you shouldn't be there.

>> chris -- >> really, that's what he's say sglg believe what our press secretary meant by that. every president has a right, really has the right to surround himself with a team that's going to work with him and not against him and there has been a lot of grand standing this last week, as you know. >> civil service oath to the constitution take a job for life in the career position. >> sign a petition saying you're not going to discharge. the oath -- >> they didn't say they would discharge but disagree with -- >> they disagreed with him on a major issue and disagree with him on a major issue and what does that mean? are they effective on the post? step up or step aside. it's a choice some of them have to make. we appreciate the lack of leaking. our me secretary of state who is an amazing choice will go down as one of the best secretary of states i promise you. he just said today his first day on the job from state, he said brace for big changes and he means it. this is a new administration and everybody knew what they were getting with donald trump.

>> we had people, progressives, liberals, people that didn't like richard nixon served under him for six years or so the whole presidency. you had people serve under regan who didn't agree -- >> did they sign petitions? did they know what they were sign sng. >> back in the vietnam war. >> does the president have a right to insist people work for the federal government. >> does he have the right to insist? >> he has a right to form a team. >> no, talking about the public service. >> agree on what? it's not -- you make it sound like do they agree personally. he's a president and in this case, he is calling for extreme vetting from seven countries that president obama first identified. all he did was take his lead. heidn't add to the list. it's the switch countries previously identified by president obama as being high risk, as being states that harbor, train or export and/or port terrorism. these are nations narrowly prescribed --

>> i can never argue with your counter attacks. >> god bless you. >> i hope the kids keep an open mind and really think through civic participation and giving this president a chance. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> we heard what president trump's white house counselor has to say about the progressive use of power and we want to hear from the other side, loyal opposition and a rising star in the democratic party. senator chris murphy is going to join us next live from american university.

welcome back to the "hardball" college tour. we're live from american university in washington and we heard from president trump's counselor kellyanne conway. now we want to hear from the other side. a critic of president trump and his actions and policies. he represents the future generation of the democratic party, please welcome chris murphy. of connecticut. [ cheers and applause ] we're in washington. you're an elected official from connecticut so many people work in the government people we know are great americans they work for the government, they took an examine in 20s and have been serving overseas. speaking on behalf of the president kellyanne and sean

spicer made it clear they don't like people in the foreign services speaking their minds. what's you're view? >> -- it's been long-standing. lots of people use it to protesters. there is how you get on slippery slope to -- had you can work for on administration even if civil services position. how we got into the iraq war, how we got thousands killed because everybody was telling the president of the united states what he wanted to hear. if should have somebody who tells him he is wrong every now and again. if you don't agree with president trump, you have no place in his government, that's

dangerous. >> we have treaty with them or a period of time. in the persian gulf, they -- we put them on notice. is that tit for tat. to show they launched this missile. we come back say you're on notice from the president trump. what's going on is that world war i where you ultimate yums being throne here? >> -- the australian prime minister feels like he can yell at the guy or the course of a conversation -- >> don't we like australia. >> it's hard to screw up u.s./australia relation, but he has done it.

on the question of iran, this is reckless because there is a can't that could start world war iii. we're telegraphing if they continue to support rebels inside yemen -- nobody in the american public is ready for this. this has been a disasterous -- >> have you met him yet? >> i haven't. >> let's talk about the kind of president he is. telling the media, the guy steve bannon said shut up to the media.

do you think he does understand the checks and balances? >> you have to get the legislative branch to sign on. >> he has two and working on three. >> republicans right now are have been quiet. kellyanne conway said there's opposition -- that's not true. there are republicans that oppose it. -- mccain and lindsey graham. >> if he wants to move beyond, he has to work with congress in calling chuck schumer bo zoe and kellyanne calling us cry babies not the way to work together.

>> the young lady, let's go. >> my question for you is members of the opposition has accuse trump of being fashionous, how do you feel about that. >> can you think of words he used that have that ting to you? >> just. >> this is "hardball." >> nobody is going to ask a question now. >> he's wanting to divide the country blaming everyone from the lgbt community to islamic faith. he has tried to like divide us and i feel like that is something people --

>> listen. i don't know -- i don't know yet that i'm ready to go to that word but clearly when you are trying to consoidate power and create an argument in which somebody else is to blame whether it be immigrants or racial minorities, that's really troubling and i can pick out incidents in which this kind of conduct in an administration got you on a slippery slope to a bad place. i don't think you can take democracy. this is an experiment. part of the mission is to not just fight back against the individual racist and policies but to remind people why we actually believe in self-determination and not let him get away with this potential slide to a different way of government. >> that's good. sir, you're next. >> thank you both for being here. my name is brendon thompson. my question is donald trump has

said he wants to put america first. but what are the risks and consequences of diomacy by tweet? [ applause ] >> you know, we worked -- his administration worked long and hard to set up a meeting with the leader of mexico to try to repair relations and a couple hours ahead of time he sent out a tweet that pull that apart and now we are at odds with one of the most important allies and i think we just have to al knowledge we live in a world today that is inner connected. you cannot solve the great challenges like islamic extremism without working with other countries and so why this ban on muslims entering the country is so dangerous is it pushes away the countries and communities that should be standing with us to solve the problem. you can't erect a wall around the united states and think everything will be okay. these are problems only can

happen if we're inter connected. that phrase maybe worked arguably back then. it just doesn't work today. >> chris murphy, thank you, sir. this is "hardball" the college tour live from american university where the action is tonight. and low blood sugar. januvia (sitagliptin) is a once-daily pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar. januvia works when your blood sugar is high and works less when your blood sugar is low, because it works by enhancing your body's own ability to low bugar. plus januvia, by itself, is not likely to cause weight gain or low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). januvia should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history of pancreatitis. serious side effects can happen, including pancreatitis which may be severe and lead to death. stop taking januvia and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area which may be

pancreatitis. tell your doctor right away and stop taking januvia if you have an allergic reaction that causes swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, or affects your breathing or causes rash or hives. kidney problems sometimes requiring dialysis have been reported. some people may develop severe joint pain. call your doctor if this happens. using januvia with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. to reduce the risk, your doctor may prescribe a lower dose of the sulfonylurea or insulin. your doctor may do blood tests before and during treatment to check your kidneys. if you have kidney problems a lower dose may be prescribed. side effects may include upper respiratory tract infection, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, and headache. for help lowering your blood sugar talk to your doctor about januvia.

we're back at the american university and "hardball" tour continues. power and the presidency, especially this presidency. the strongest use of presidential power under the trump administration came under the stroke of a pen on friday when president trump signed an executive order from seven muslim countries in the mideast. welcome. [ applause ] >> the greatest evan thomas. i want to work it around so everyone gets a question and we'll keep getting questions here. mr. khan, you deserve for so many reasons the podium now and tell me when you heard that the president was going to ban travel to this country from seven obviously islamic countries, what did you think or feel? >> chris, i was disappointed. i was hoping that election rhetoric, divisive rhetoric will end after the elections, and the party, the republican party and

their candidate will move on to governing this country, bringing it together, but seeds of division were sewed. i am concerned about my nation. i am concerned inside the nation, the muslim community feels alienated. i am concerned about my sons and daughters serving overseas in the armed forces and in harms's way. are they properly protected? i am concerned for them. i am concerned for my nation because of this order, we feel alienated from the rest of the world. >> john, give me the other side. >> well, i think the way people are looking at this on the republican side is first of all, donald trump was elected. he said what he was gointo do, people said i like that and he won. so now he's doing exactly what he said. and they look at this as saying okay, first of the all, it doesn't affect 87% of the muslims that want to come into the country.

it's seven countries that the previous president, barack obama and what he is saying is time out, we're going to review the process in short order, three to four months and decide if there is a risk to change. >> is this usual to see resistance of a president elected this way? >> to a degree yes. protest is not new to america. we've been having protest for a long time and it's a noble tradition. also in our system the executive has a lot of power. we intentionally give the president a lot of power to do things including immigration. he's maybe doing bad policy but probably legal. >> let's get three or four more questions. >> i'm nicole and my question is will christian refugees from the banned countries be allowed to enter the united states as the president said and if so, isn't that a religious test? [ applause ] >> the whole premise is it's

not. the whole refugees where there is priorization to minority religions, which means christians, what do you think of the idea of priorization or discrimination? >> i think it's absolutely what it is on its face. we have to believe donald trump on what he says. he says he will allow minority religions to come into the united states and the majority of those countries which happen to be muslim is a ban on the muslim. so you can let in jews -- maybe not because they are muslim. yeah, obviously he is making a religious test for whoever and said himself christians are his preferred refugee group. >> the expert and kizer khan, for your honor and sacrifice. [ applause ] >> compliments. one of the greatest stories of our time. evan thomas. thank you. i you know how some politicians