hour" on a thursday night, "hardball" begins right now. in bed with trump. lets play hardball. good evening, i am chris mathis, the conference kicked off last year, there was a debate of donald trump in search of the conservative candidate. now, with president trump addressing the annual gathering tomorrow, a conservative has prevailed. today, bannon told the audience cpac that the president will stop at nothing to deliver his

campaign of his agenda. >> everyday is a fight. that's why i am proud of donald trump. all the people have come to him, oh, you got to moderate. everyday in the oval office, he tells practically breince and i going to deliver this. >> we saw how french elements from the far right have come close to infiltrating of the conservative movement of the wake of trump's victory. >> today, he was escorted from cpac after he held an impromptu meeting. here is how spencer explained to nbc's kasie hunt. >> what happens here? >> yes, they do, that's their rights to do that. >> reporter: they issued it to

you in the first place. >> they discovered who was and the fact is people want to talk to me, they don't want to talk to these boring conservatives. erc everyone recognizes that there has to be identity politics in the world. white people define the united states, we are now experiencing an increasing minority status. >> that'll test your first amendment belief. spencer was unwelcomed and deformed. >> as conservatives holding their new agenda in washington, a different seeds playing at the republican town hall across the country >> districts continue to take their fights to lawmakers. yesterday, angerly shouting their elected representatives to voice their concerns. >> what would you do to help to bring that about and show this man's tax return. we need to know.

>> he's the commeander of our chief and it is still the election and we decided the election. >> the former president showed his birth certificate, my god. [ cheers ] >> my daughter has cancer, she's 23-year-old. she believe that is no one cares especially senator cassidy. >> i am very sorry from fayetteville and i am not a paid protester. before we kept anything in this country, we need to make sure that our president is no at puppet of vladimir putin. >> picture of the deepening divide. lets go to cpac and kasie hunt is standing by. >> thank you with that interview

of spencer, it was kind of a creepy comedy, he's not hiding from it. >> reporter: he clearly is not hiding from his views. it is a little difficult to ask those kinds of questions and to be honest with you, chris, it is clear that organizers wanted him out. they wanted to make sure of the headlines about this of him being thrown out and he showed up and stood in the hallway and held an impromptu conference and of the comments he made, he was not an invited speaker until he made those comments about under age sex that prompted the organizers to say it is not acceptable. >> and i think really under scores the divide that was going on here at this conference between establishment conservatives and how uncomfortable they are with some

of the elements that some of the people around donald trump and critics would say they are encouraging them and there are people who are praising donald trump and held conferences, richard spencer -- hail trump in washington after trump was elected. he was famously punched in the face twice at the inauguration. i think you saw on stage between reince priebus and steve bannon. >> he did not want to have a town meeting now, february 2017 because of what happened a while back and he says that's the reason. there are groups that afrom the

viole violent strains of the leftist ideology, some even being paid, who are preying on public town halls to wreck halve vok and threaten public safety. >> gabby responded herself with this statement. >> to the politicians who abandoned their civic obligation, i say this: have some courage and hold town halls. >> marco rubio was also confronted today who asked why he has not held any town halls this week? >> are you going to hold a town hall? we need to hear from you >> robert costa for the washington post and our john roth. first, i want to follow up of what kasie hunt just said. there is a real disconnect of what trump is selling and what's

called conservatives for years now. >> conservative supports free trade and they have been some what hawkish. they went the other direction and now they're also getting in line behind it. i can understand what casey said and they don't feel comfortable calling trump conservative. i want to get through this before we get to the town hall. robert. >> bannon is mysterious inside the white house. today he laid out the entire agenda in plain site. he wants deconstruction and now he's leaving cpac to come to the meeting tonight. bannon wants to up political order and articulated that. >> to what effect, right or left, what's his goal, bannon? >> it is destroying in his mind of the right/left of america's

politics to make an establishment and nationals verses globalists. it is a different kind of project for the conservative right and not a traditional republican agenda in any way >> john ross, this raises a question, if you get power and you quickly become the establishment. you saw the senate from arkansas talked about, well, talk to my staff later, i will schedule you for a meeting. how quickly their renegade becoming an establishment and thousand they are facing these people at town halls. >> that's right, it gets into what robert was talking about of this deconstruction of political norms where labels becoming meani meaningle meaningless. a lot of us missed trump's appeals whether he was

conservative s or liberals. he spoke like a lot of normal people speak. the adjectives that he used and the way he seems to be a real person. that's what people were reakictg to during the campaign. now he's the president of the united states, people want him to deliver and people are not patience of campaign promises. they're not willing to wait. they want their lives to be better and want to make sure they don't lose their healthcare. that's the key to the whole thing despite whatever bannon's world view is and how he can impose from the president. >> thank you. the trump administration reverses the protection of transgender restroom in public places. this is a huge defeat for the lbgt community. >> lavern cox.

>> this is "hardball" with chris matthews.

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♪ lets us reflect on the lesson of sanctions and discrimination never looks good or works in hindsight. no matter how isolated or afraid or alone you feel today, know this that the department of justice and the entire obama administration want you to know that we see you and we'll stand with you and we'll do everything we can to protect you going forward. please know that history is on your side. >> that was loretta lynch just last spring speaking to the transgender community ensuring they would be protected. yesterday, the trump administration stripping federal guidelines issued by the obama

administration protected transgender students. those guidelines allowed students to use public school bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity as opposed to the gender of their birth certificatement. >> the new york times report sessions faced resistance from betsy devos writing "sessions, who has opposed expanding gay, lesbian and transgender rights, pushed ms. devoes in a meeting in the oval office on tuesday, he wanted her to drop her opposition. a protest is under way at the iconic stonewall in new york where demonstrators are vowing to keep protections for transgender students. tonight, trump appears to be sympathetic of the 2016

campaign. here is what he said on the "today" show just last april. >> one of the best answers i heard was from a commentator said yesterday. lever it the way it is. people go and use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. there is been little trouble. >> so why the decision now and just the other day to reignite this cultural. lavern cox, she's best known of the series of "orange is the knew blacknew black." what this would mean to real people? >> first of all, thank you very much for having me here today. when loretta lynch made that incredible statement last year, i was so moved and i felt for

the first time that our federal government is acknowledging the dignity of transgender people and it felt like we were turning corners. these -- yesterday of provokini this guideline it feels like we are moving backward and forces us to sort of not be who we are. that's a really horrible place to be in. >> why is trump doing this? he's a big city guy and he grew up of an environment of all kinds of orientations, he does not strike me of some yahoo. he knows a lot of people of different backgrounds and orientations and identities. why would he do something like this that's against of what he said before he was in office? >> well, i think everyone in the lgbt community understood that the vice president that the current attorney general are

people who have been anti-lgbt, this is not surprising considering the administration, of the people he's hired. >> you are calling the shots. >> i would imagine that. >> i think at the end of the day, we have to highlight the humanity of trans people and lift up trans people's stories. it is frustrating for me to watch commentary about this without trans people being transparent that's why i want to be here today. >> lets talk about reality. i hope i am not embarrassed anybody. i want to understand the public's policy and the right issues here. >> you go to the men or the women's room, what does this have to do with any decision of this back and forth of obama to trump. which room are you supposed to come into? >> these anti-trans bathroom bills are not about bathrooms,

they're about whether or not we want and believe that transgenders people exist in the states. >> it is about us existing in public space and folks who opposed us having access to facilities know that all the things they claim don't actually happen. it is really about us existing and erasing trans people. if we look at states like california and the bill that was signed into law by jerry brown in 2013 and implementing three years ago january 1st, it basically allowed trans students in the state of california that's consistent to how we identify and nothing horrible has happened. what has indeed happened is that trans students feel supported by their schools and administration and gives them space to thrive. that's what we should want for all of our youths spaces to

thrive. >> you are a great representative to have on the show. i am glad, laverne cox, that you came on our show. >> there are sensitive issues but they are the ones that we have to get to. thank you very much for being a great american and making your case so well. >> of course. well, i don't know how to deal with this but except commence. i wa common sense. >> i want to start with travis, what bathroom she's supposed to use at the airport? >> we want to make sure that localities the school districts have the ability to decide this question for what's best for them. >> so we got to be clear of what's actually -- do you want to hear my answer on this? >> why don't you answer my question? >> i am going to try to answer your question here. we have a question that the

federal government taking power away from localities. the federal government should not mandate that. >> it depends -- >> you care about this issue -- >> depends on where i am at >> if i am in the localities in a school district that's no issues. >> you are here and i appreciate your guts oncoming here. tell me what the right answer and stop arguing about it. >> i want to have a conversation on this. are you afraid to hear my explanation. >> hardly. >> okay. you have to let me have my answer. >> when you come on the show, you answer the question. >> it is important to have an answer to the question if one is presented. the combination is not satisfactory. >> you had students who are afraid of their privacies. >> it depends. >> the president of the united states is getting involved for

something like this. >> the press is saying he's got to rescind the guideline issues by the previous president and his predecessor. you go to the bathroom of where you are most comfortable. >> it is real life. >> most people are not transgender. they want to know the situation and what it is like. >> well, these guidelines, we are not about bathrooms. bathrooms are included in but they were a small part. they're about allowing children to go to school and allowing them to have dignity and allowing them to fit in like all other kids. travis is just wrong. the reason we have federal civil right laws because your rights as a minority person of whatever kind of minorities it is, should not be based on what the individual zip code wants and travis knows that. he's an attorney. the whole states -- one of the most scary things about this is jeff sessions after being an attorney general for less than two weeks is taking away

people's civil rights, saying he won't enforce people's rights. >> thank you, laverne cox. and everyone. >> when we return, lets finish trump's watch. you are watching "hardball." i got it. hashtag "mouthbreather." yep. we've got a mouthbreather. well, just put on a breathe right strip and ... pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. so you can breathe ... and sleep. shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right.

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trump watch, thursday, february 23rd, 2017. republicans are learning of a high price of having donald trump as their leader. >> you can catch the town meetings of gathering of contempt of all things trump. >> what we are hearing at these

meetings is the country starts to divide. >> war off the wild far event like this cpac convention here in washington. >> faced down of critics of donald trump coming to you from the left, protect your reputation one front and position on the other. this means that republicans need to look beoth ways before crossing the street. voting too much would mean hurting people. tricky business being a republican these days and it should be. >> that's "hardball" for now, join me again tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. see you then.

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...or breathtaking style... ...there's a c-class just for you. decisions, decisions, decisions. lease the c300 sedan for $389 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris, thank you my friend. >> you bet. thanks to you for joining us this hour. when they brought articles of impeachment against richard nixon in 1974, there were three filed against him, one was famously for abuse of power, one was for contempt of congress, but the first one, the first one they filed, the first one they voted on was for obstruction of justice. one of the things that went haywire in watergate was that after, you know, the initial break in, after that little tip of the iceberg was exposed, that something weird and potentially criminal was going on in washington politics, one of the things that went haywire after that initial petty crime is that the president and his accomplices ended up trying to stop the investigation.