that's "last night" for tonight. the preview of the confirmation hearings is this sunday. i hope you'll join us. stay tuned. "all in with chris hayes" is trumped up. let's play "hardball." >> good evening, i'm chris >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington on st. patrick's day. he told a big fib and two weeks he tried to cover its up. this is the sad embarrassing fact of the president. it started with an early morning tweet from mar-a-lago that his predecessor had wiretapped his home. the president and his interpreters doubled down defying all evidence to the contrary. they insisted donald trump was right. they cited blogs, overseas news accounts and conspiracy theories

and yesterday press secretary sean spicer quoted one of those nonsensical conspiracies. >> on fox news on march 14th judge napolitano made the following statement quote three intelligence sources have informed fox news the president obama went outside the chain of command and didn't use the nsa or the cia or the fbi and didn't use the department of justice. he used gchq. what is that? it's the initials for the british intelligence spying agency that simply by two people saying president needs transcripts of conversations involving president trump's conversations he needs to get it and there's no american fingerprints on this. >> well, not surprised our allies in britain didn't like being losed as alibis. the intelligence agency spicer cited the gchq put out a statement today debunking the whole story. it said recent allegations made by media commentator judge andrew napolitano about gchq being asked to conduct wiretapping against the then president-elect are nonsense.

they are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored. the prime minister's office went further, we've made clear to the administration that these claims and ridiculous and should be ignored. some british media reported that they apologize. spicer said not so and told reporters. i don't think we regret anything. we literally listed a litany of media reports that are in the public domain. well, today in a joint press conference with german chancellor angela merkel president trump was asked about his wiretapping claims twice by german reporters. the questions heading in were would he stick to his phony tweet that president obama wiretapped him which has since been rejected ben republican and democrat leaders in the senate and apologize for his spokesman's claim that british intelligence spied on trump tower. the answer was no to both questions. as far as wiretapping, i guess by, you know, this past administration, at least we have something in common perhaps. we said nothing, all we did was

quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. i didn't make an opinion on it. that was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on fox, and so you shouldn't be talking to me. you should be talking to fox. >> anyway, fox news wouldn't cover for him. shepard smith responded to president trump's attempt to pass blame. let's watch him. >> fox news cannot confirm judge napolitano's commentary. fox news knows of no evidence of any kind that the now president of the united states was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop. >> good for shepherd. ken is an nbc news investigative reporter, senator marks for feature story news and joy is my friend, the host of "a.m. joy on msnbc.

look at this incisisticly if you can. why would the president say something that wasn't true in a tweet two weeks ago and when he could have backed out of it and said, you know, i heard something i probably shouldn't have jumped on it. i did. instead double down, triple down and standing next to angela merkel, a serious government leader, a serious person, stood next to her and wouldn't answer the question the first time it came from a german reporter, the second time he blamed it all on some -- well, somebody we never heard of this guy named napolitano. this conspiracy guy. he just seems to be stuck in quicksand and he's -- the more he squirms, the more he sinks. >> the more he sinks, the more he decides to drag his own team down into the muck with him. he's forcing sean spicer to get up and shred his own credibility repeating what are essentially conspiracy theories and, by the way, blaming it on fox news is probably being too nice to the president and what he's doing. what he did is blamed a commentator on fox news, not even their reporters. he's essentially saying he was

watching television and he saw andrew napolitano a contributor over there who by the way is also an 9/11 truther and favorite of alex jones and essentially said when he hears a conspiracy theory out of a commentator on fox he believes it rather than picking up the phone and calling all of the agencies in intelligence who report to him. he could call the nsa director, the cia director, these people report to him. so, what he's say something that sight unseen without even doing any basic investigation by calling his subordinates who work for him in the intelligence community, he buys the conspiracy theory out of a commentator on fox but it's the commentator's fault that he repeated it in a series of tweets. this is -- this is insane. it really cannot be this is what the president of the united states does. >> we're on the same page. by the way green with envy for your sweater today. green. and by the way, love -- >> i am a reid so that's close enough to being irish. >> good name. i appreciate the good spirit and it is well received by all of us. anyway, thank you, ken. you're the expert on this.

let's go through it. the house intelligence republican leader, the senate intelligence republican leader, the democratic ranking memphiss on both. the speaker of the house. all kinds of information coming from the agencies tonight everywhere. there is no bugging. there was no wiretapping. it didn't happen. there was no british wiretapping on his behalf. there was no u.s. government wiretapping. it didn't happen. according to comey, as well. there is no source except trump. >> and there's one more bit of news tonight, chris. you know, the justice department presented some documents today to the intelligence committees pursuant to a request, hey, any evidence, give us all the documents reeled to surveillance at trump tower and congressional source tells me initial reading of that shows, again, no evidence to support -- sdmreks plain. jump out of your ken. your expertise and explain why he won't accept truth. why does he continue to sell something that i think joe biden was with him this morning for st. paddy's day would say is malarkey. >> he believes at the bottom of this there is some evidence of

some surveillance of trump associates in russia. >> by what? that's not what he's charging. he isn't saying my trump tower was picked up because they were surveilling the russians because of all the activity the russians are involved in. we all know that. but what we don't know and there's no evidence of president obama wiretapped him. is that true? why would he keep saying something that isn't true? will he broaden his claim that includes any intelligence gathered on behalf -- from the rugs that might have picked up something from me. by the way, that might even -- how do you know that's even true. >> that would be a felony just as president obama ordering a wiretap of or candidate trump for president obama to ask the british to surveil a u.s. person would be a crime. so, i guess they should order a justice department investigation. >> or order anybody -- but to go through fisa and the fbi would be a crime. >> absolutely. >> you can't have another, you know, group of plumbers like nixon had. >> this is a very close intelligence sharing relationship and this could do real damage. the british are not happy with

these allegations. >> let me get to diplomacy aspect. there was talk in britain today that there was an apology, but there's no confirmation from this crowd, trump won't say apology. spicer won't say apology so somebody heard something whispered over the phone and sounded like an apology. it didn't happen. >> we know there was a phone call between sean spicer and angry british ambassador at which the british government then intimated some kind of regret or -- >> they said they wouldn't do it again. >> they said they wouldn't repeat these allegations again. >> you don't have to repeat an allegation again. you do it. >> this has been deeply alarming to people in london because of what it says about what's actually happening in this city. donald trump is playing here from a classic author torian playblock and brooks no dissent. took slight issue with what joy said sean spicer being forced to go into the briefing room. sean spicer goes into that briefing room voluntarily every

day, allows hi own credibility to be shredded every single day. defiles the office of the white house press secretary because he won't go into the oval office, close the door quietly and say, mr. president, i just can't go out there and defend this anymore. >> and quit. >> if you're going to make me do it i have to hand you my resignation. the brits and angela merkel and the others look at this and say how can we build any kind of relationship of trust when this kind -- >> we're having a philosophical discussion, joy. i know exactly what you mean. in other words, the price of truth in this case is walking. >> that's right. >> that is what simon is saying and you as well. >> 100% -- i 100% agree with that. there is a baghdad bob quality to what sean spicer is doing every day because essentially he has two choices, he can repeat the insane conspiracy theories that donald trump is admitting that he gets from a 9/11 truther who sometimes appears as a commentator on fox and he can go out and put his own name and as simon just said the credibility

of the white house press office behind that idea, this crazy conspiracy theory from the comments section or leave because donald trump clearly in classic authoritarian style wants everyone associated with him, everyone who works for him to parrot and repeat the madness rather than disabuse him of it and there is no one in the government that we've been able to see so far who has the strength, who has the courage to either try to walk him back from these insane belief, these conspiracy theories or to quit and so we are stuck now in this feedback loop where the credible press has to sit in that room and listen to sean spicer essentially quote the comments section of blogs, of fever swamped blogs essentially because that's -- >> well said. not only that, joy, he added the fact that this guy is a brilliant attorney. oracle of delphi giving him all this information. >> he thinks 9/11 was an inside job. that is his -- he's on the record with alex jones on his

record show saying a previous president committed a massive war crime and did 9/11. >> w. was down in washington with the plunger. >> this is why it's so damaging. there may come a tie prosecutor president trump says he's launching -- >> when kennedy had to give evidence about the cubans, missiles in cuba and the whole world had to believe this. we only had just the pictures and calls up de gaulle who could be difficult, president of france, the war hero, of course, and de gaulle says, of course, i believe you. would that happen today? >> absolutely -- there's real doubts about whether it would happen. he's already a wartime president conducting raids in yemen and dropping bombs in iraq and syria. the world has to believe what the president of the united states -- >> even republicans are having shoulders. i think joy is right. not just the people working for him. the flack, republicans really have a problem with this guy. growing chorus of republicans and conservatives are calling on the president to simply back down. u.s. congressman tom cole told reporters frankly unless you can

produce some pretty compelling proof then i think president obama is owed an apology and the conservative "wall street journal," i couldn't believe the editorial right in the middle of the pain was this. as for mr. trump's accusation, white house spokesman sean spicer says, he stands by it, mr. trump would be wiser to say he fired the tweet in anger and walk it back. an apology can be good for the soul and a presidency. >> no, absolutely, look this, is a week in which his own ambassador to the united nations appearing on the "today" program yesterday. very outspoken in her new role nikki haley criticizing the russians relentlessly when pressed by matt lauer as to whether when she says those things she is reflecting the president's thinking says, oh, i don't know. i don't know about that. so, what's -- >> what does that mean? nikki haley did that. >> international government supposed to deduce from that. when the u.s. ambassador to the

united nations speaks she does not necessarily reflect the thinking of the man who sent her there. if you are -- >> who does she represent. >> if you're a foreign government then -- >> who does she represent. >> her own personal viewpoint. >> thank you. ken dilanian. joy, simon -- so far you made the show. rex tillerson says diplomacy with north korea has failed. well, what's that mean? the secretary of state's job is talking. the top diplomat is supposed to do that not supposed to give up. he's supposed to be doing the diplomacy and anyway for this country's that's ahead. plus, the health care fight, the president says he's 100% behind the republicans obamacare replacement plan, the one that will hurt many who voted for him and voted him into office but many in his party still say the plan doesn't go far enough. with german chancellor angela merkel meeting the president at the white house today and thought it was a good

time to play back some of the nastier things candidate trump said about merkel. you'll hear that here tonight. let me finish with trump watch. this is "hardball" where the action is.

today of course is st. patrick's day and at the white house yesterday i reached prime minister enda kenny used the celebration to lecture president trump about immigration. let's watch. >> fitting that we gather here each year to celebrate st. patrick and his legacy. he too, of course, was an immigrant. and though he is of course the patron saint of ireland for many around the globe he's also a symbol of indeed the patron of immigrants. and four decades before lady liberty lifted her lamp, we were the wretched refuse on the teeming shore. we believed the shelter of america and the compassion of

america and the opportunity of america, we came and we became americans. >> well, trump ally nigel farage, the british poppist behind brexit demanded that the prime minister apologize to trump for those remarks. we'll be right back.

the diplomatic and other efforts of the past 20 years to bring north korea to a point of denuclearization have failed. >> welcome back to "hardball." secretary of state rex tillerson in japan just yesterday saying diplomacy toward north korea had failed. you heard the word there. it comes as north korea continues to step up ballistic missile tests after detonating two nuclear warheads last year. the secretary's rhetoric signals a scary break from the policy advanced in the region for decades as "the washington post" reports today that is bringing the united states and its asian alies closer to a military response than at any point in

more than a decade and comes after japan's defense chief told parliament this month that he would not rule out first strike capability. now, that's scary. to address the threat north korea poses in the region the united states this month deployed a missile defense system to south korea and irritated china which sees any military buildup near its border as a threat to its security. amid tensions secretary tillerson says all options are on the table. here's tillerson in south korea today. >> all the options are on the table. certainly we do not want to for things to get to a military conflict. we're quite clear in that. if they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, that option is on the table. >> i'm joined by joey smith and senior fellow at the national -- for new national security and susan glasser, chief international affairs columnist of politico.

this is a deep question for all of us because i think when any of us read the paps no joy and susan, the guy running the country seems a child of limited emotional control. he has nuclear weapons. he has a fiery ability to kill people around him. he just knocked off his half brother. an assassination. it doesn't seem like it would take much to shake this guy into pushing the button. >> no, i think he could be provoked very easily and moving in that direction based on what he's testing in recent days we saw the tests of four ballistic missiles on monday and seen testing last year. i think it's very easy to provoke him and i think the danger here is we have an administration that doesn't have a foreign policy. we've had no major foreign policy address by this president outlining any sort of strategy on asia. similarly, the secretary of state also has failed to give any address on foreign policy since he assumed office so what are we supposed to assume the

strategy actually is for all of this instability across the region? >> susan, your thoughts. >> that's what makes it so amazing that secretary tillerson has gone to asia on the first trip rather than reassuring allies we've significantly ratcheted up the rhetoric and made the chances of a military confrontation more realistic at the same time we've declared the ole policy failed without saying what the new policy is. >> the scary thing is watching something on roosevelt on an old tape the other day and realizing that when the japanese came to us, right before pearl harbor, in fact, that same day they said our negotiations are broken down. that's all they said. now, if you're on the other side of this war and you put out this war situation and you're some sane person who works with kim jong-un if there is one, some sane old military type if there is such a person he sees the united states announcing that while negotiations have failed. they have failed after all these years and we have to go another route. you would think to tell the boss this is scary because there

could be a first strike and he gets jittery. that's what i get scared about when countries issue you will may it ups and put sanctions on like we did to the japanese in '41 and blow out. they just go crazy, you know, yamamoto has the fleet over here, planes attack us. you push a guy into the corner. this guy is a little nutty to begin with. i'm even afraid about calling him that because he might hear it. it's that tricky and this guy tillerson is over there with no staff, no reporters covering him really. and no mission apparently from the white house, right? >> yeah, i know. that's right but what -- if i were working in the white house i would suggest the president use the threat of unpredictability, right, so no one knows what trump's plan is and use that to get them to the negotiating table but in essence removed that as an option. there will be no negotiation. >> can we go to chinese -- look, when the dear leader two generations ago attacked south korea, the head of north korea, he did it after getting the nod

from soviet union their father then. >> that's right. >> who could give him the unnod and tell kim jong-un don't even think of blowing up a nuclear weapon. don't even think of it who would do that. >> the chinese are obviously the major players. >> would they threaten to kill him if he does? what would work with him. >> you know, i don't -- i think the problem is that it's not clear anything would work and, in fact, actually "the new york times" had an interesting thulth buried in its story today which pointed out that the intelligence assessment that the obama administration left behind for the new trump administration specifically said kim jong-un will not trade away his nuclear program for any concession. >> but what would stop him from using it? that's what i'm worried about. >> look, you have tillerson going to beijing tomorrow. his statement today seemed to be to the extent there was a strategy behind it it seemed aimed at the chinese as much as it was at the north koreans especially because by the way there was a rollout of sort, his speech followed by donald trump tweets so now we truly are in the age of almost the parody --

>> you know, you put these two guys together. well, let's do it. let's just game this war. if this guy drops a bomb in the middle of the pacific as a test to scare the world and would scare me and everybody else or actually uses it against an adversary like the south what's trump going to do? you know trump. it's cowboy time. >> trump campaigned on the whole idea of not having a weak united states engaged in the world so he wants to show that he's the strong man that he's going to have a more aggressive -- >> how do you do that before the other guy purposes the trigger. it doesn't do much good afterward. >> it doesn't help afterwards you. >> you do this. >> would deterrents work with kim jong-un? if you had a sane president. >> you can argue we've deterred them up until now. maybe it's successful, maybe it's not but so far has deterred them but he's continued to develop his missile program. and now his capacity is much greater. what i'm struck by is the fact that this was the crisis that

every major national security expert predicted could be the first crisis of the trump thing and we seem to be walking right into it. >> i think we all saw it. anybody that reads the paper on the front page you don't have to dig in the middle of the newspaper it's been front page and i get -- i know it's -- you can sort of see the clock ticking. any way. julie smith and susan, thank you. trump all in on the republican health care replacement plan even if his own supporters get hurt by it. wait till you hear him in the interview admit his people, those who voted for him are the ones that are going to get hit and just seems to move on to the next topic this. is "hardball" where the action is. these birds once affected by oil are heading back home. thanks to dawn, rescue workers only trust dawn, because it's tough on grease yet gentle. i am home, i am home, i am home

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welcome back to "hardball." nbc news learned the house of representatives expect to vote on the republican health care plan to repeal and replace 100% behind it. i want everybody to know that the press has not been speaking properly about how great this is going to be. they have not been giving it a fair press. i also want people to know that obamacare is dead. it's a dead health care plan. it's not even a health care plan frankly and i watch the architect of the plan yesterday, i watched the old clip where he said the american people are stupid to have voted for it. i watched bill clinton saying this is the craziest thing i've ever seen. and only because everyone knows it's on its last dying feet, the fake news is trying to say good things about it. okay.

fake media and there is no good news about obamacare. obamacare's dead. >> conservative columnist charlotte krauthammer says the plan had lead to a backlash from voters and says they can throw this back on the democrats by setting a new bill load up with conservative goodies to the senate where it would require 60 votes to pass and he wrotes let the democrats filibuster to death and take the plame when repeal and replace fails and obamacare carries on and then collapses under its own weight. joining me is terry mcauliffe. thanks for joining us. this issue looks to be like i think -- what do you think? do you think the republicans are really trying to pass a bill or trying to fail and blame it all on the democrats? can't tell. >> well, either way it's not a good choice. first of all i could tell you in virginia, chris, i just got a report back between 20 and 2026 it will cost our state $1.8 billion in additional costs. we don't have the money to do that so i have to make very tough choices.

the next governor will have to deal with the issue. do you knock these old folks off. get rid of pregnant women, children who are impoverished, throw them off the program so the cost is -- it just doesn't add up and this idea is, oh, just let it fail and the democrats can take the heat for it. are you kidding me? you're elected to government to help people. to help people's lives. when i ago as governor every day it's not as a democrat or republican but doing what's in the best interest of virginia. let it collapse and blame the democrats is sick. people need health care in this country and ought to be helping. i don't care if you're a democrat or republican. how about doing the right thing so this whole debate, listen the health care, this is going to collapse. don't have the votes in virginia. three of my seven republican members have already publicly come out for it. this thing cannot pass in its present form. it's an excellent program that needs reform. i leaned in. 400,000 people signed up through the exchange as governor i did

television ads and went out and campaigned and brought a lot into this program. that's what you need to do. we need to work with the system to make it better. but there are ten -- over -- almost 20 million people today who have health care because of what this bill did. >> i talked to a doctor the other day. won't give his name. he said two things, one is that trump made a point of killing a lot of the tv ads that usually air, the government usually pays for them to get people to sign up so discouraging people -- healthy young people from joining. he said one of the odd, you know, unexpected consequences of giving people coverage on their parents' plan if they're still in their 20s is it's preventing young people yoing and healthy and don't need a lot of benefits, they're young and healthy they're not signing up so the idea of this thing and trump put out words saying i'm not going to enforce the requirement individual mandate. so we're losing this sense of shared risk of shared health care because the healthier younger people are not participating because trump wants to kill the plan and

that's one way to do it. >> guess who gets hurt at the end of the day. all these people who voted for donald trump for president, you can go to parts of virginia and south side and southwest, our rural parts of virginia and jowls county, virginia, overwhelmingly voted for donald trump. guess what, under this plan, they're going to see the subsidies cut in that county by 46%. these folks can't afford that. so, he's hurting the exact people who came out and voted for him. >> down from 7,600 to down to 4,000. big cut. >> that's right. >> jouls county. i know my number. in an interview the president did not disagree that the republican lann would hurt the people that elected him. let's catch him here. >> a bloomberg analysis showed counties that voted for you, middle class and working class counties would do far less well under this bill than the counties that voted for hillary. >> i know. >> what do you make of that, i

know, i know. governor he's admitting the worst -- >> i am very impressed i named one of my small counties in virginia and you knew the vote. very impress the you were able to do that but the point is these people and let's move on from health care. look what he announced to his budget. this is helping pay -- heating costs for elderly individuals and talking about getting rid of funding for arc, the appalachian regional commission which funds these rural areas that have lost jobs due to coal and textile and furniture this, is how they create new jobs, taking that funding away from them. he announced he's taking the funding away from the chesapeake bay and serve as chairman of the executive council for the bay all the six governors and the district of columbia. that is $130 billion of economic activity when we get this thing all clean and healthy, the people who fish it, who live on it and who visit it, he is killing and hurting these people who voted for him. i think reality of governing has

hit the rhetoric of campaign and it's hard to govern and he is hurting those people. he has been a one man wrecking crew for the virginia economy from health care to the federal hiring freeze to all the issues that he has talked about, immigration, he is hurting the virginia economy. he ran on jobs and he's doing nothing but hurting my ability to create jobs as governor. i got unemployment down to 4%, 5.54 when i took over. this republican president is hurting my ability to grow the virginia economy and it's wrong. >> well, some smart people in politics think we need a governor to run for president against trump if he runs for re-election. someone who knows the rural areas, has a sense of what we're doing and has passion on the issues like somebody i know. thank you terry. i know you'll run so you don't have to tell me. thank you. up next the tension today between president trump and german chancellor angela merkel. there was no love there. maybe that's because of all the mean things trump has said about her in the past. we'll show you -- she's got them in her mind. she didn't like this guy today.

you're watching "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." sometimes it feels like it's trump's world and we're just living in tfrment today trump world collided with the real world as president trump hosted german chancellor angela merkel at the white house. the meeting which was at times awkward comes after candidate trump repeatedly criticized the cancer lohr during the campaign. let's watch. >> germany is a behemoth. it's being destroyed by what merkel has done there. what she has done to germany -- i have friends from germany. they're leaving germany. >> look at what's happening with germany. the crime wave over there. merkel is not going to be elected. >> the german people will rye quote and overthrow this woman. i don't know what the hell she's thinking. >> you okay at the election results from merkel. they were so bad. >> what she is doing is insane by the way. >> i think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that

was taking all of these illegals. >> well, the joint press conference between the two was a stark contrast in leadership and left you wondering who was the adult in the room. not wondering for long. joined by jason johnson, politics editor the root.com and carnie from politico and jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters. why does he hate merkel? what is this about? she's the best leader in the world right now? the public likes her and she is functional. >> i think there's a lot going on here. i think he sees her as a bit of a threat, first of all, steve bannon, his chief strategist hates the eu. see as it as a provement that is in opposition to what merkel stands for. i have a personal theory something about this powerful woman who is intimidating to people in the room with her might bring up memories of hillary clinton and the election. >> oh, my gosh. memories because he was doing thisll through the cpaig you know, so he may have been

doing it at the time he was trashing hillary trashing -- seemed like hillary. >> one thing also that struck me about the press conference today is i think it got overshadowed by him doubling down on this saying that obama tapped his phones, and she looked totally baffled when he said obama's done -- >> bewildered like i can't believe you just shade. >> he could get out of this thing. >> why did you bring me into that? she had a very good relationship with obama -- despite the tension that she had sometimes over that. >> which just to see how important it is to the world how we behave, both german reporters, very serious people, the man and woman brought this up. >> look, it's embarrassing. it's embarrassing and, you know, you basically have germany and england, two of our greatest allies in europe and it's like, look you've attacked me a year and a half. >> he attacked her and theresa may's group. >> and then saying oh, yeah, the british are the lapdogs of obama that were sent to wiretap my office. it's the whole thing -- >> you said lap dogs. pretty much.

>> i have -- i have a strange theory about it. >> explain. >> which i think it's a conspiracy terry. i think he may believe it but this is ground where he feels comfortable on because he's controlling the conversation. it's a total distraction from everything else his administration is trying to do. if he's not talking about that he might be into international issues that he doesn't feel as comfortable talking about. >> let's take a look at this awkward moment in the oval office when president trump ignores chancellor merkel's request for a handshake. >> thank you. thank you. thank you. >> do you want to have a handshake? >> thank you. >> thank you. >> they weren't asking him to kiss. the handshake. even to people like yasser arafat and yitzhak rabin would shake hands. >> even kids after a bad ncaa loss, you shake hands, adult thing to do and sends a sign to every other country on the face

of the planet this is probably not a guy you'll be able to work with. >> just be bleer they did shake hands when she first arrived and at the end of the press conference. >> two came from foreign media. one from the german reporter asking if he has any regrets about his tweeting. >> are there from time to time tweets that you regret -- >> very seldom. >> very seldom. so you never would have wished -- >> probably wouldn't be here right now but very seldom. we have a tremendous group of people that listen and i can get around the media when the media doesn't tell the truth so i like that. >> what do you think. >> i love that question because i love asking donald trump if he regrets anything because i think the answer is -- i don't think he knows how to answer it. but i think it also speaks to the -- how the outside world is viewing what's going on here. >> germany and countries all over the world are watching not only the tweeting -- >> the behavior today.

sits down in the cabinet room with angela merkel, probably the top leader in europe and sits next to his daughter, ivanka. just puts her next to her and puts jared across the table like it's the romanoffs all in there discussing the world situation like we've elected a monarchy. it is bizarre. she must go back home and say what kind of a government do they have over there? like the family and the in-laws and daughter all part of the government. >> it's a testament to what she thought it would be like to talk to him and brought the ceos from bmw and seemman's because they would have a better chance of communicating with him. >> they're successful too. roundtable is sticking with us and these three people will tell me something i don't know.

we're back with the "hardball" roundtable. jason, tell me something i don't though. >> call it the trump effect. the american association of college reg stars say there is a 40% decrease in foreign student applications to come get their education in the united states biggest drops coming out of india, china and middle east costing us money. >> they aren't on the list. >> they're getting ready for it and don't want to get caught mere. >> wednesday night's trump's rally in nashville the first time all three networks didn't carry the full thing live. cnn and msnbc only cut to it late in the game. might be the end of free trump television. >> progressives will be cheering what you just said. >> talking earlier about that meeting today in the cabinet room with the business leaders. i think the white house was not

prepared for chancellor merkel to use her mother tongue when she started speaking in german they had to quickly bring over a translator for president trump to listen in. >> i thought that's all weird. very awkward. jason johnson, annie karni and jeff mason, thanks for having you. >> we can't spend money on

>> we can't spend money on programs just because they sound good and, great, males on wheels sounds great. we're not going to spend it on programs that cannot show they actually deliver the promises. welcome back, that was omb director mick mulvaney defending the administration's drastic cuts in programs like meals on wheels. in charles peters' new book "we do our part, toward a fair and more equal america" the author argues it's time to stop being disillusioned with government and make government better. john me now is jon meacham who is out explaining the book to the public because charlie

peters can't make the trip. let's get to the thought behind this whole book, jon. the great society, before that the new deal, the belief that we could do things. but particularly i've always been told southerners, people who live in rural parts of the country who are culturally conservative like programs like social security, medicare and especially programs like meals on wheels. programs like that are not just for big-city liberals. >> not at all. the south, appalachia where charlie grew up in west virginia, i live in tennessee, we wouldn't be possible without the new deal, the tennessee valley authority, the ccc, the great programs that really lifted us out of the depression in if 30s, that helped franklin roosevelt save capitalism from the capitalists in many ways and led to a period of generosity that helped create a period of national greatness. think about it, the 1930s as government got bigger because it

had to take place of where the market was failing because markets fail in the same way government can fail, all institutions are fallible to reflexively say markets are always right the as crazy as saying government is always right but without the spirit of generosity in the '30s, you wouldn't have had the greatness of the '50s, the civil rights advances of the '60s. government has been a critical element of that, intelligence, careful public sector action is something charlie has long championed. not government for the sake of government but understanding that humans are always flawed, always open to getting better and we need to focus on making things better. >> you don't have to sell me because if it wasn't for the government i would haven't gone the college the way i did, certainly not to a great college like holy cross because student loans in the early '60s allowed a lot of us to go to good colleges.

what do you think is going to happen with trump? he's out there with his new budget, cutting across the board in so many areas, not just foreign aid which isn't that much but he's cutting -- what's going to cut politically? you know the politics. when are the trump people going to say that's not what we elected, what we fought for? >> well, people are always against government until it affects them so whether it's meals on wheels, the g.i. bill, making us the greatest power the world has ever known, government played a critical role in that. and i think once people feel in their personal lives a kind of meanness, a kind of coldness in terms of the communal reaction. because if government is one part of the broad symphony of

life it's an important part and what charlie is arguing in this book, the old motto from the new deal "we do our part" is we have to be generous spirited toward one another not just because it's the right thing to do but because it makes us stronger. charlie argues without that spirit the country will become ever more selfish and in the age of trump we've reached a kind of -- if you can use these two terms, we've reached a new lie in lows in terms of our generous spiritedness toward one zbloot i'm a big fan of charlie peters. jon meacham, thank you. the editor of the book, "we do our part" by charles peterson. when we return, let me finish tonight with trump watch, you're watching "hardball" where the action is.

trump watch, friday march 17, 2017. alec baldwin has a competitor. we saw him today in the white house east room. we saw donald trump doing a better job of playing trump at his most rick did louse than the actor himself can. anything "saturday night live" can do, trump proved this afternoon he can do worse. perhaps it's because trump trapped himself into a story so provably untrue that it was just a matter of time that he either apologized -- which he won't do

-- or let the world see him caught in an untruth even his clique of allies won't defend. i looked forward to today's press conference to see how he might escape the dishonesty of his own words. trump didn't disappoint. when a clear-spoken focused german reporter asked him evidence-to-defend about what he said obama tapping his phones at trump tower, trump made no sound whatever. he simply didn't answer her. when the second german reporter asked about his coverup, his claim that president obama had gotten british intelligence to plant that wiretap with him, trump said his white house was only quoting somebody he'd heard on fox. what we have here is not a failure to communicate, however, but the clearest possible communication by an american president that he's willing to make up a story about his predecessor, then make up a story about another country all for the purpose of getting himself out of a corner he didn't like being stuck in. why? why would the world in all its seriousness and complexity with north korea in the hands of a murderous child, with count these have come to count on us learning now they can't, does this president choose to live in a world of mar-a-lago tweets,

golf, and the company of a family he traipses around with him like the romanoffs. many trump, we need a president, that means you. quit the comedy, live in the white house and accept the duties, the focus and the seriousness your country needs. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. fall this with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in" -- >> i can get around the media when the media doesn't tell the truth. >> an international incident caused by an angry president's tweets. >> i don't think we regret anything. >> tonight, the president's refusal to accept reality as he'ss the german chancellor and picks a fight with an ally instead of backing off a baseless fox news claim. >> that was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on fox. then, who's buying the hard sale on trumpcare? >> those folks were no, mostly noes yesterday and every single one is a yes.