>> tonight i want every american to know this we will rebuild and recover and the united states of america will emerge stronger than before. may god bless united states of america. >> they look so young, don't they. thank you for watching. i'll see you later tonight in prime time covering. tomorrow i'll have a big interview with vice president pence. 6:00 p.m. eastern. vice president of united states going to be here. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. opening bid. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews.

tonight press will deliver first speech to congress. the president will layout plans and priorities for his administration. both sides have been divided country. expectation are indicated immigration is on the table and the president expected to make announcement on that issue. the president told anchors at the white house the time is right for immigration bill as long as there's compromise on both sides. according to senior white house officials, the serious crimes. those individual would not leave to leave the country first. this could constitute major shift in policy. could this be overture of unity from donald trump. meanwhile it's a big night for

democrats as well. joining me is the new led leader, the first to hold that position. and former rival, minnesota u.s. congressman keith ellison. first of all, congressman ellison, was this election rigged. your thoughts? >> with a guy getting help were the russians for him to call anything rigged is ridiculous. i was proud to support tom. he won fair and square. we are asking all supportsers to come together. >> mr. perez this is something

out of west wing to give the guy a job. what role is the congressman going to play here? >> congressman ellison wrote the book on grass roots advocate. look at the turn out he was able to produce in his district. the reason one of the main reasons they are all democrats because keith ellison turns out voter. we lost the election in this past november no small measure because we did not turn out voters in michigan, wisconsin, or pennsylvania. frankly, over the last eight years, you look at what happened in state legislature, we have to turn out voters. between the two of us, it's definition of sinner gi. whenou bui strong party and

define your mission, not just the president, that's the definition of success. i'm confident we can move forward. >> i'm always amazed to see how close the election was close in minnesota. it was close. you won, but it was trick whiy there. what could democrats have said that would turn the trick for wisconsin, michigan, ohio, what would turn the tide for democrats what message on economics, let's start with that. >> the democratic party has to be about jobs kitchen table issues the putting people to work, retirement, education, everyone wants people to have a liveable rage. we have to pound on time and

time again. we have seen rages stagnate and we have to be repond that reality in minnesota and all over the country. >> chris, i agree with that. another issues is that we didn't have a presence in a lot of zip codes in those states. i remember meeting a guy, this was david's district, northwestern corner of the state, and he said, i feel politically hopeless because the national democratic party stopped showing up. the story of michigan, underperformance in big city, whether or not destroy or mill walkee and we got our but whip

because we didn't show up and we have to have 12-month organizing presence. we have had passionate agreement on everything. one of the things we have to get back to basic. the solutions are not rocket science. we have to execute everywhere. >> let's watch him and i want your reaction. >> do you think he has credibility on that issue considering what has been done? >> he has to lot to undue. the immigrant community is scared what president has done. it's an administration that they don't seem to know what they are doing. they simple come up with the proposals that sound good and he

cannot implement them. they don't make sense. they don't meet the law. it's amazing in a month how incompetent this administration has been. incompetent. >> let go to mr. perez, the first latino person in the democratic party. what the bargaining on immigration. it looks like everyone has come here without paper to stay, unless they committed a felony. it sounds like overwhelmingly surprising. >> two points, we should have passed 201 immigration bill different. >> they never brought it up for a vote. >> if they had a body would have pass it. >> number two, you heard what he

said, he has been in the last week deporting -- he deporting ki kids, he deporting someone who dropped off someone at school. i judge people which their action. at the same time he communicating his offer, there are folk who have not done anything that fits any remote category of danger and are getting deported. the undocumented mother of two children in phoenix, the dreamer in seattle. someone closer to home was dropping his kids off, this president demonstrated no creditability whatsoever with this community. if he wants to take that 2014 bill and brings it to up and down vote, i would say that would be real progress.

we need pathway to citizenship. >> that was a perfect bill. lindsey graham was for it. a dozen senators and that -- >> john mccain. >> boehner would not bring it to a vote because of the tea party. congratulations. thank you congressman, keith ellison. michael steel, former chair, you're smiling. by the team, what do you think of that d. team? >> that's a good team. everybody doing high-fives and dancing. then the running starts. >> i didn't know they were dancing. >> we danced when i was chair.

>> i think trump has one up his sleeve. if he comes if you're illegally, without papers if you cleaned p act the time you have been here, i never thought he was going to do ten or 11 million people out of the country, you think elian gonzales, you yank kids out of the house, you're finished. >> i think the wall is one-piece. it's a separate bone and folks will chew on that. meanwhile, the immigration reform, you saw a sa lad bowl. he laid out bombshell that i would be -- i would consider daca. that's what he talking about.

so i think the president recognizes that he's got wholes in the wall he is trying to bill. and he has to fill the hole the right way. it goes to the what the chairman was saying about the community as a whole. you have 30% of the hispanic vote. that's something to start with. if he comes to table with modification on 2014 or whatever the gang was proposing back in the day. that's great entree for him. the problem is -- >> do you think both parties want a deal. a lot of democrats like issue of republicans being sob, on immigrants. it seems to me the solution takes away from the firing power on both sides. if we solve the problem have

people get paper, hins forth, anybody who wants t work have to be paper, the only loser would be the felons. i don't know what the constituents is for the felons. if they want to make a deal. does both parties like the -- >> that's a good question. that's how long the deal has been there. i think at the end of the day is process. how do you get to the process. how do you deal with the immigrant who is here illegally. a lot of americans resent that. that's been political foil. i think that's donald trump -- donald trump wantings to cut the deal. i think donald trump would be

prepared -- president trump would be prepared to sit down with schumer and aothers to do that. >> one, felons who committed felons. number two, the guy hire people getting across the border, desperate willing to work for the least amount of money, deport them. lieutenan there's going to be losser and p winners. enforce the law. do the job, treatment people who are here who have become americans, they are not legal under the lu, they have not committed a crime, they have done their job. they have paid payroll taxes. >> thank you.

coming up president gets ready to address the country, he blaming president obama for protests around the country. he accused president having entered country illegally. you believe that you believe this. plus trump proposing increase military spending including state department. we're going to talk top democratic armed services community. how many warheads do we have and how many more do we need. the overall job approval is under water. finally finish with trump watch. this is "hardball" where the action is. my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count.

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tonight, following the speech, we're going to have an all-star cast. bill maher, kathy griffin, michael moore. you're going to hear a lot of noise. it's going to be wild, "hardball" late night tonight, eastern tonight. we'll be right back.

i'm ricardo, a sales and service consultant

here at the xfinity store in bellevue, washington. here at the store, we offer internet, tv, phone, customer service, home security. every situation is a little different. it could be about billing, simple questions like changing the phone number. sometimes, they want to upgrade, downgrade, but at the end of the day, you want to take care of the customer. one of the great things about comcast, there's always room to move up. of course, it depends on you, how hard you work. ♪ welcome back. president donald trump's much anticipated first address. behind his agenda which we have not seen yet. lawmakers believe he needs

to issue the lack of direction from the new president defining own brand is making it hard for them to -- those fault lines are become apparent. here is what the president said about discoverying health care is complicated. >> i have to tell you, it's unbelievably complex subject. health care is complex subject. in you do this it effects nine different things, if you do that if affects 15 different things. congress is taking a lot of blame. but it's not their fault. i have only been here four weeks. something says he hasn't done health care. >> the president is expected to

propose build up. here is trump how he will pay for all of this stuff. >> i think the money is going to come from a refed up economy. if you look at numbers, we are probably gdp of 1%. if i can get it up to 3 or maybe more. we can have a different ball game. >> who is right. >> i'll tell you who is right. if the economy fails, then i'm right. because i said i'm not touching social security. >> increase military spending effecting epa and state departments. senator lindsey graham said the budget is dead on arrival. >> it's dead on arrival, it's not going to happen it's going to be disaster.

>> speech important to put some me on the bone. let's not get into -- i want to get into the main strokes what the president has to do tonight. i said it before, i think lot of politics like the issue. we want to get them out of the count country, blah, blah, blah, who really wants to end this discussion by having a way to put paper in the hands of legal, and settle the system down like other countries. >> there's a pass it through the

senate, you would have halvpasst you through the house. >> they didn't do it. >> they didn't do it. i. >> what's changed? >> nothing's change except this. the fact they are floating this idea is a ploy. it seems to suggest they are cognizant of this fact that donald trump playing to the base if he going to get big things done, he has to add to the base. they suggest to one to add to his colation between play toing to the 64% that voted for him in november. >> if he puts in the form of a bill, if we talk about staying legal, that's ten million people, you don't count the felon, i don't think you don't

kau count the felons. this is wonrful thing, it's not symbolic, it's real. >> what if it was all along about packaging. because i went back and looked at donald trump's big immigration speech and he never vowed in that's speech, it wasn't until later that he said yes, they need to go home first. in his speech he talked about criminal alien ands talked about rolling back executive order what if it's about packaging and he wrapping this in big beautiful wall and emphasizing is in a way obama was able to do it was about messaging and donald trump is the messenger who can do this and he did s not calling to call it immigration,

if you allow people to say here, that door opens up, whether you call it legalation or path to -- it's same thing. >> if it becomes clear, this leak, this trial balloon, who would be against it. if you say everyone gets to stay here without worrying and live a life here, who would be against it. no wall because i want people to come illegally. no one says that, do they? you want more i don't think so. it seems toe the best deal. >> i think it would be hypothetical to what degree

republicans -- >> in exchange for stopping illegal immigration. i'm not sure a wall would do it. >> donald trump won by mobilizing the base of the party to force not bring a gang it a vote. the irony of trump being elected on that platform and -- >> the problem with that is, this hard line approach of the tea party people, has it worked? because nothing get done. they keep coming into country depending on how bad the economy is south of the border. nobody has fixed the problem.

>> there's no question about that being true. >> what does it solve? >> this opens up a opportunity for -- trump is one to get the deal done, if theory if he demand among -- i think democra democrats would. on the other side, this has been a litmus test. >> the real pressure is on the right. are you in favor to legal path or legal status, it's toxic to be in favor of that. can trump burst through that by adopting this position. >> the only way to trust a person who supports

legalization, work permits, is someone who looks like someone tough on enforcement, whether it's a wall, or hiring people. >> that's why we have him doing it with messaging. >> why would he tease if he is not go to do it? >> half the people he invited to be the chambers are families who are victims of illegal victims. he going to emphasize that with messaging. whatever he does, he call it path to citizenship, he' will never call it that, because as toksics as it was, there's a

small percentage who was for mass deportation. when they understand, it's a small percentage. >> you never know how the things work. if you have prestige with your people, they let you do a lot of things. in his interview with fox, he believed former president obama may be behind protesters. >> do you believe president owe hind it and if he is, is that violence of president's code. >> i think he is behind it and i think it's politics. i think president obama is behind it because his people are behind it and some of the leaks

possibly comes from group, some of the leaks which is bad in terms of national security. >> a good guy said in a meeting today, the president suggested to him, the recent des skrags of cemetery should be politically mo motivated. this could be reverse trying to make people look bad. i'm trying to figure out somebody who believes this. he is saying that people knowing that the right wing may have a rift anti-semitism. this would be people who went out there that make it look like the right wing committed this. he accusing his own people to be

anti-semitic and further incriminate it -- this takes a lot of thinking. >> it takes a lot of gall. it characteric blame shifting for donald trump. on this, he says its -- it may be democrat. whoever is carrying it out, it may be this other politically motivated thing. i think it is the whackious think i have ever heard. >> it raises the question, why doesn't donald trump say -- why can't he ever say anything bad or be tough with vladimir putin why can't a president condemn

anti-semitism. it's easiest thing to do. >> thank you. up next white house proposing including state department. there's a $54 billion to -- this is "hardball" where the action is. i thought i married an italian. my lineage was the vecchios and zuccolis. through ancestry, through dna i found out that i was only 16% italian. he was 34% eastern european. so i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors we thought was italian was eastern european. this is my ancestor who i didn't know about. he looks a little bit like me, yes. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story.

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welcome back to "hardball." the white house released blueprint for president's budget. here is the president previewing the budget yesterday. >> one of the most important responsibilities for the federal governnt is the budget of the united states. my first budget will be submitted to the congress next month. this budget will be national safety budget based on two but strong. and it will include historic increase defense spending rebuild the depleted military of the united states of america at

a time we most need it. this spending will be paid for by finding greater savings and efficiency across the government. we're going to do more with less. >> do the numbers add up. the committee told andrea mitchell she doesn't see how. watch this. >> if you're in a hole, stop digging. but the place he looking to pay for things are the smallest areas of the budget. so you cannot finance big increase in defense spending or what's on the books if you're going to look at tiny sli they are of the budget. >> do you think this senate

could approve a budget that slashing state department funding? >> probably not. >> senator jack reid released this statement on the president's proposed cuts. it's short sided to slash cuts in diplomacy. president's for site to costs americans dearly. why do we need more defense spending. do we need nuclear missiles. don't we have tens of thousands of nuclear warheads. we use missiles as deterrent. why are we building more? i don't get it. >> we have to make wise choices

what the president is proposing by gutting the state department you're taking away one of the effecti effective national security tool. mattis said if you cut state department i have to get more ammunition. he is not articulating a strategy. he picked a number out of the air. we have provide resources of improving quality of maintenance. we have throw a strategy at it and make wise choices. >> -- >> it shifting it out of state would be catastrophic and not help our national community but complicated it. for example, in afghanistan a lot of what we're doing is

assisting forces, trying to build ability of that country do function in term of education, et cetera, that's not the job of the military, if you take those resources away, the political tear will buy you time but get nothing done. >> president trump was reluctant to take responsibility for the yemen raid. >> this was a mission started before i got here. they wanted to do. they came to see me. they explain when they wanted to do, the generals and they lost ryan. >> i don't understand this. why is commander in chief blaming officer core for casualty. >> the commander in chief is it indeed the commander in chief. he is responsible for everything

that happens or fails to happen. decision was made in his administration it was carried out by brave soldiers, saleals d one of them was ryan owens. his job and the american people, he is commander in chief is responsible. >> after the bay of pigs, he says i'm the offer in charge and his numbers went through the roof. every mission can go wrong. that's why they're called mission. you have to accept when they go wrong, i think. >> that's the first rule of the command. in you're commander you're responsible. ask he is commander in chief and there's no way around it.

it was approved under him. the decision emanated while he was commander in chief. he has to stand up. as you recall, we have planned byize enhowever but it was my call. >> it was jack kennedy's call and he took the hit for it appropriately. >> thank you. up next, president trump's approval rating may not be huge. le you're watching "hardball" where the action is. [ sighs ]

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welcome back. the stock market closed slightly

low. here what president told fox news earlier today. >> trillions of dollars have been since i won the election. >> according to recent wall street journal poll, 40% think country heading in the right direction. 43% think it's doesn't. so it is better than its been in eight year. i'm joined by roundtable. what's state of the union like right now? >> economically things are getting better.

we have unemployment under 5%. people have jobs but they are not great paying jobs but they are paying. things are better than they were. >> is there a labor shortage? >> no. we had such excess after resection. there's a possibility you can get a job that's better than the one you have. >> it's hard it find a typical, you meet people, these people applaud anything he says. i don't know where we find this random voters. you have cocoon in washington -- >> not everybody. you get in taxy, you talk to cops, i talk to a lot of folks in new york who are trump fans.

they exists on east coast. >> do you think he underpoll. >> i do. there's a lot of people who did not want to admit they were for trump. a lot of folks wanted to see something change. they want a political system to she what shook out, what survived. the politician were out for themselves and their friends. to mean of the voters, they represented somebody who would do something differently. >> when the march went over after the protesters after he was sworn in, i was walking my dog and my kids from the

westside over to where i live, there was a group of people who had been to the march wearing anti-trump stuff, a fell yelled give him a chance. ty saiit better, people feel like they are looked down upon, they view him as someone -- even though would you -- he made himself into the champion for the middle class which he deserves a lot of credit for. >> the time for small thinking is over. the time for trifal fight is here. >> stephen miller did not write that. >> kellyanne, why did it come from? >> somebody who decided -- everybody talks about this pivot.

a lot don't believe it. he is going to talk to congress, he might say something interesting. there are enough people who will give him a chance. because they want prosperity. they want more jobs, higher wages, there are a lot of promises he cannot keep no matter how hard he tries. >> he going to stop -- i don't who is something go be to say he hasn't created more manufacturing jobs. what's the date on this? >> if we grow at 3% next year, every american is going to feel growth and upward mobility. >> what will make it happen? >> if he relieves burden on some big industry to be able to do some thing, i thing --

>> it is a heavy lift. if they don't find a way to fix obamacare, that's going to be a big close attention to west virginia and see if those jobs come back in coal mining country. >> you know wha this business means? time. round table is sticking with us, thee these three will tell me something i don't know. this is "hardball" where the action is. growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident

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president's address to congress we have a great midnight show. wait until you catch this lineup. i can't believe it's coming on my show. big names including the great bill maher, michael moore, kathy griffin, rob winer, all those faces you're looking at are coming on live at midnight. our special edition of "hardball" to talk about what trump had to say or didn't have to say tonight, whatever gets them. we'll be right back. osoft and ie using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. there are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. with the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. if we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin. [ rumbling ]

uh, yeah. what is?r, larry. the whole wheelie thing. what do you mean? i just got this baby to get around the plant floor. right, but now ge technology monitors every machine.

yeah, it brings massive amounts of information right to you. so you don't need that. well, it makes me look young and uh..."with it." time to move on. oh i'll move on... right into the future. ...backwards. you're going backwards. the future's all around us! not just on your little tablet, my friend. we're back with the "hardball" round table. somebody is going to tell me something i don't know. >> real fast, i went back 30 years to look at manufacturing in this country. since 1987, we have shed 5.2 million manufacturing jobs but here's the rub. since 1987 we're manufacturing 85.3% more stuff in this country. we don't have a manufacturing problem. you can't get -- it's going to be hard to get these jobs back. >> it was predicted automation was going to kill jobs. ali velshi.

katy tur, harold ford, jr. we'll be right back. just like the people

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trump watch, february 28, 2017. donald trump once said "i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose voters." you know, he has a point. with all the oddities of almost six weeks of his presidency, his numbers are holding firm. nine out of ten republicans approve of what he's being doing. nine out of ten. tonight i expect to see a couple things out there on the floor of the united states house of

representatives. one, i expect to see republicans standing and applauding like a roman phalanx, showing solid report for the president. there's nothing to resist him. two, i suspect democratic members, like those from solid democratic district, to be sitting there frowning, you heard it, frowning, there's nothing for them to be seen applauding donald trump, smiling at him, showing any sign of contentment in his presence. look, if the picture you're seeing or going to see tonight, the picture of a country down the middle, in this case down the aisle, strikes you as disturbing, don't avert your glance. think about what it means to the country. i could be wrong. trump could say something tonight that inspires even progressives but that would also cause conservatives and tea party folk to look at each other in terror and that's the country we're living in right now, divided, accusatory,'m bet b-- embittered. we have a special late night edition of "hardball" and with me will be an all-star cast including bill maher, michael

moore, kathy griffin, bratly whitford, a real all-star cast to react to a big trump night. this crowd will certainly speak their minds and that's why we'll be there eastern time to hear all of them. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. stay tuned for the complete coverage of president trump's address to a joint session of congress. good evening, president trump at the white house at this hour preparing for what is easily the most consequential speech since his inaugural address. tonight for the first time, donald trump will be introduced by the sergeant at arms as the president of the united states. not so much a state of the union as a road map for what he wants to accomplish in the remaining 47