. this sunday the battle over healthcare, can the gop plan pass? some republicans say their bill is too harsh. >> i could not support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of americans. >> others say it may not go far enough. >> it's going to fix the whole problem. >> while democrats and the left are unanm sly opposed. >> thousands of people will die. >> i'll talk to independent bernie sanders of vermont. plus the democrat's loss in georgia leesds for calls for nancy pelosi to step down. >> you've got to beat the republicans and carry this toxic brandon your back.

>> but nancy pelosi says she's not going anywhere. >> i think i'm worth the trouble frankly. >> democrats on both sides of the issue join me this morning. also russian election meddling and this stunning statement from an obama administration official. i feel like we sort of choked. what we now know about what the obama white house knew. joining me are sinidated call n columnist. welcome to sunday. it's meet the press 3467. >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, celebrating its 70in'th year, this is meet the press. this was a week that brought into more focus the hardening of our political cultures. one left, one blue, one right, one red.

to the russia investigation and even to the shooting at that republican baseball practice, americans watched their favorite cable channels, and spoke and listened primarily to those that agreed with them. polls 38% gave president trump a positive rating. 38% believe the economy has approved. 38% believe obalm care is a bad idea. do you know notice a partner? that 38% largely packed. it's just another data point that illustrates these days to many voters it may be less satisfying to win than to see other the side lose. >> i'll tell you about the democrats. i am making it hard to get the support but who cares? >> now the most basic institution is crumbling the

trust americans have in each other. >> the democrats are making the divide. instead of working together, they're fighting. >> republicans, honestly, they're looking out for their interests. >> the democrats are so nasty. >> it bothers me that we're so separated as a nation. >> the right and the left don't just disagree on solutions. they can't agree on fundamental facts. >> we elected trump. we have to take what he says and believe what he says. >> just 26% of republicans say they believe russia interfered in the presidential election compared to # 78% of democrats and 53% of independents. >> they have phony witch hunts going against me. they have everything going. and you know what, all we do is win, win, win. >> washington, producing a healthcare debate which is less debate and more all out rhetorical brawl. >> these cuts are blood money.

people will die. >> you know what blood money is? blood money is the money democrats are raising since the recent attempted massacre of those republicans at the baseball practice. >> on friday hillary clinton tweeted forget death panels. if republicans pass this bill, they're the death party. the hardening polarization of congress has led to a process where healthcare legislation has been crafted by one party in secret over just 52 days. even some senate republicans acknowledge this is no way to govern. >> i think it's being written by someone, somewhere but i'm not aware of who or where. >> we used to comcomplain like hell when the democrats ran the affordable care act, and now they're doing the same thing. >> it would slash medicaid spending in part by putting a cap on how much federal money states would receive. >> i'm not going to cut medicare

or medicaid. every other republican is going to cut. >> the senate bill would also deliver roughly a trillion dollars in tax cuts. and the it would allow many states to drop many of the benefits required by obamacare like maternity care and mental health treatment. in the end republicans are speaking to a single audience, the 38% of voters that make up the president's base. >> i think they should vote for the healthcare bill and make changes to it as they can because obama's bill is dead. >> we've identified eight republican centers whose vote is currently in question as the healthcare vote draws near. and for conservatives, rand paul, mike lee, ron johnson and ted cruise. and senator johnson joins me right now. senator johnson, welcome back to "meet the press," sir.

let me start with process before we get back to this. earlier this week you said you're lumenting the partisan aspect of this process. you said maybe this is what has to happen. democrats have the partisan bill, republicans are doing ours and then we'll sit down in a bipartisan fashion and fix our healthcare bill. it seems to me you're admitting even if you guys pass this bill, it's going to be done on a partisan basis and as soon as the democrats get power, they'll do another bill and we have more uncertainty in the healthcare market. aren't be just banging our head against the wall here? >> i understand without a good process, you're not going to end up with a good product. and a process in terms of problem solving starts with information. i mean that's kind of foreign to washington, d.c. i'm not of that world.

washington, d.c. is an alturnt universe where people talk about policies void of facts, void of the information you need to solve a problem. so my first point right now is we don't have enough information, i don't have the feedback from constituencies who have not had time to review the senate bill. we should have started the process reaching out to the democrats, pointing out the fact that obamacare didn't work. it did drive premiums up nationally. in some places three times has been the increase in premiums. let's repair that and transition something that works. >> look, you just described why this process hasn't worked. >> right. >> for instance, we have this debate about these insurance companies. why are they leaving the market? here's something congress doesn't know. they don't know the answer to this question because you didn't hold a single hearing of a single head over the last couple

of months. so how do we know why? >> we do but nobody wants to talk about it. you remember bill clinton talking about obamacare as a crazy system. he's talking about people are busting it and then they're left with premiums that have doubled and their coverage cut in half. those are those forgotten men and women. but we know why those premiums have doubled. we've done something with our healthcare system like you would do with auto insurance. states that have innakt acted guarantee issue, which is the guarantee for pre-existing conditions, it crashes their marks. it causes their marks to collapse and causes the market to skyrocket. it's by properliy designing high risk pools. but we don't have the courage in

washington, we don't have the honestly to talk about these things with real information, real facts, go through that problem solving process, information agree on achievable goals, and then set the strategies and then pass the legislation. >> look, isn't some of the problem here the rhetoric that gets used? >> absolutely. >> i'm going to use you as an example here. i'm going to play the rhetoric you used during election campaign. here it is. >> this is our shot. we're not going to be able to repeal obamacare the next time. this is our shot. and yes, you'll bet i'll repeal it in a heartbeat. and this is what you said in january about that rhetoric. >> it's way more complex than simply repeal and replace. it's a fun little buzzword, but it's not just accurate. >> during the campaign you used that buzzword and your constituents look at buzzword and say you've been using repeal

and replace for seven years in your party and then january january statement -- isn't it a problem you use one set of rhetoric in an election year and then when you need a pragmatic process, the constituents don't buy it? >> the problem, chuck, is on shows like this you get a couple of minutes and you she what you got to do. you said it yourself, slashing medicaid, now that's washington's speak. my definition of a cut is spending being reduced year over year. we don't have the final figures. but any projections that i've been working with regardless of the bill, i don't see anything other than reduction in the growth of spending. so let's be honest about what we're talking about here. we are $20 trillion in debt,

over the next few years according to the cbo, another $20 trillion in deficit. we are mortgaging our children's future. >> all right, let's be realistic here. i think your concerns probably are never going to be fully addressed in this bill. what does it take for you at some point you got to decide whether to do this or not. is the political pressure of saying, boy, if you don't do this is you're one of the republicans and you've heard from president trump, good friends, don't tank this bill, how much does this mittical pressure weigh on you even though you look at this bill and see a lot of flaws? >> sure, the reason i left wisconsin here is to fix this problem. and what i find disappointing is these bills aren't going to fix the problems. they're doing the washington thing, throwing more munally at the problem. and of course we have more

inflamed rhetoric. so what i'd like to do is slow the process down, get the information, actually reduce these premiums that have been artificially driven up by obamacare mandates. so let's actually fix the problem. but in the end, i come from a manufacturing base. i'll look at whatever i'm forced to vote on, and say is this better than where we are today? >> so you don't like this prusz, but you're not willing to be the vote to delay things to make the process better? >> there's no way we should be voting on next week -- >> are you going to work to stop it next week? >> i have a hard time believing wisconsin constituents or even myself will have enough time to evaluate this for me to proceed. let's not rush this process. lets have the integrity to show the american people what it is -- show them the truth --

>> why haven't they listened to you? >> well, maybe they will. >> okay, well, we're going to find out this week. senator johnson, as you lumented, i wish we had more time. >> have a good day. he is holding rallies in pennsylvania, west virginia, and ohio and plainly says if it passes, many will days. senator, welcome back, sir. good to be with you, chuck. >> i want to first address that rhetoric. you tweeted that issue of saying yes, you thought people would die. and then senator orrin hatch retweeted. he said let us be clear this is not trying to be overly dramatic. thousands of people will die if the republican healthcare bill becomes law. and tweeted you and said the brief time we were not recusing

those, we disagreed with the murder. any regrets at using the rhetoric you used considering what senator hatch said? >> chuck, what the republican proposal does is throw 23 million americans off of health insurance. what part of harvard university and the scientists determined when you throw 23 million people off of health insurance, people with cancer, people with diabetes, thousands of people will die. i wish i didn't have to say it. this is not me. this is study after study making this point. it is common sense. if you have cancer and your insurance is taken away from you, there is a likelihood you will die. and certainly a likelihood you will become much sicker than you are today. that's the facts. unpleasant, but it's true. second of all, while they throw 23 million people off of health insurance, while they defund

planned parenthood, they see premiums that will be 50, 75% higher, they are going to provide some $500 billion in tax breaks to the top 2%, to the insurance companies and to the drug companies. is what america supposed to be about, taking away health insurance from kids with disabilities, from people with cancer in order to give tax breaks to billionaires. that is what this entire debate is about. and one of the things that bothers me very much, 60% of the american people, according to a recent poll don't even know what's in this healthcare. >> senator johnson brought up a good point earlier this week, which you may have heard is this idea obamacare passed with the partisan, just with the democrats. this if it passes, is only going to pass with the republicans. and we know no law is sustainable in this town when

only one party has a piece of it, when only one party is invested in its success. so i guess my question is this process has been a mess. is there any way of fixing this process next week? stopping it, starting from scratch. if the republicans say we'll get reconciliation if the democrats come to the table, would you come to the table? >> wait a minute, please don't say come to the table. what the republicans have done and that's what senator johnson just said, and he's right. we are talking about 1/6th of the economy. there has not been one public hearing. the insurance company has not come forward. the american medical association has not come forward. there has been zero debate. all of this has been done behind closed doors, so please don't say -- >> i understand that. i hear you on that. i'm saying if there is -- if

senator johnson gets his way, which he wants to delay this process, delay the vote and actually have a process, have some hearings, sounds like he wants that. if mitch mcconnell says you know what, i'm getting reconciliation because doing this is damaging overall, at that point are you open? >> of course. let's have the discussion. that's what should happen. senator johnson is right. there's no way on god's earth this bill should be passed this week. we need a serious discussion. and i'm quite confident that every member of the democratic caucus would want to hold that discussion. but let me say something else when we talk about where we are with healthcare. please do not forget that the united states of america today remains the only country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a right. and my view is that the

affordable care act has problems. deductibles are too high, copayments are too high. we have to address that. but i also want to say there's something wrong when we remain the only country not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a right. i am going to go forward with a medicare with a single payer program, and i think that's the direction we should be going long-term. >> let me ask crow about where the democratic party is overall. you said you want to go there, and that's not necessarily a unified position inside the left umbrella in this country. i say left because you're not technically a member of the democratic party. but why do you think democrats lost that special election in georgia last week? >> it's more than the special election. for the last nine years democrats have lost, white house has lost. we've lost now the senate, two thirds are controlled by

republicanheads. 1,000 seats have been lost to republicans. i think there's a massive loss with the american people. i think the american people in many cases are seeing themselves working longer hours for lower wages. they're worried about their kids not being able to go to college. they're were aid about what's going to happen to them when they are retiring. they're single all this income and welt going to the top 10%. there's enormous amount of pain in this country, chuck. and people are saying are there people who see what's going on in my life? does anybody know that? republicans know it, do the democrats know it? and i think what the democrats have got to say is that we will be on the side of the working class of this country. we are prepared to stand up to wall street and the drug companies that rip us off every day and the insurance companies

and we're going to fight for an agenda that makes sense to working families. >> i'm going to leave it there because we're going to continue the debate after the break. when we come back, the brewing civil war inside the democratic party, how that loss in tuesday's special ele she's nationally recognized for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. but to help others, they first had to protect themselves. i have afib. even for a nurse, it's complicated... and it puts me at higher risk of stroke. that would be devastating. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®... to help keep me protected. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner... ...significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. it has similar effectiveness to warfarin. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least 6 blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor interacting with less of your body's natural blood-clotting function.

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remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. welcome all. george let me start with you. i want to get to the process part of this. ron johnson i think correctly stated democrats did their partisan bill and republicans did their partisan bill maybe this is what it takes before they come to something together. it's whatever gets passed is temporary. >> the process argument, i don't think the problem is this

violates it, you can argue as senator johnson did but the problem isn't that this violates the rule no one seems to remember. the treasury secretary said no large tax cuts for the wealthy. this is a large tax cut for the wealthy. the problem isn't whether you scale back medicare expansion for 7 years or 3 years. there's two problems here. one is that we don't take things back to people once we have given them. aid families with dependent children and repealed 1935 civil rights act but that took something away from poor people. this takes something away from people that got it and they value it because they've got it now. 2nd after 8 years of debating this, up against the fact that

expansion of medicaid is exactly what this is about. 55 million people are on medicare and 68 million are on medicaid and we're still arguing about whether or not we should have government control of health care. it's there. >> now it's about reforming it. >> no, the irony here is there is like rhetoric that indicates we have to get back into the private market. >> no, it hasn't been for awhile. i was very, it was really funny because this morning i snapped awake at 2:45 in the morning and looked at facebook because i was worried about my alarm not going off at 6:30 to wake me up to get here and the first thing was an ad for senator dean heller on facebook to tell people to make sure that he votes for the republican plan. this is senator dean heller of nevada that looked like he was in a hostage video earlier on friday when he said he wasn't

going to support the bill as it stands right now and i'm just so fascinated by just how these lines are being drawn right now and it's not over. it doesn't seem at this point to be, a lot of this is about process. >> when you look at who is on which side of the line. you showed the graphic of which senators. >> put it back up. it's heller, it's collins, it's gardener interesting enough. >> they say gardener is somebody to watch. health care is not just something that becomes an issue in the next election but one that could become an issue down the road, maybe in 2020. he was running the campaign here in 2018 so he is someone to watch. the president is reaching out a little bit. he had phone calls friday with at least one of the folks on the list trying to get people on board but the white house feels like they had some time now. i had them say the vote is not going to happen until thursday.

fewer people need to do the outreach too but at the same time this is going to go back. >> it's interesting. i think if mcconnell makes it, he made the argument the base will reject you, i think they're right, they can bluff their way through 2018 on this. i don't know if they can bluff their way to 2020 on this. >> possibly. the more that potentially cuts into the trump base. you can look at video all day of trump saying over and over again. sean spicer as recently as a few days ago said this bill doesn't really have any effect. >> but the republicans won control of congress on accusing them of cutting medicare. both parties now how to exploit that issue. >> correct. absolutely. but it's the law of the land but

also if they repeal this bill it's going to effect a lot of people. >> that's the thing. it feels like they're picking between their base and their constituents. it's like medicaid expansion on one hand george and on the other hand, lose the republican primary. >> repeal and replace obamacare is extremely popular. 80 to 15. >> a lot of people don't understand what that means. >> of course. and it's a wash in the rest of the country which means i think at the end of the day people are going to wake up and say no matter what we pass it's not repeal and replace it's tweak and move on. >> president going to get this? >> he seems optimistic. he did an interview that's new out today talking about wanting to have everybody come together. he doesn't understand why the democrats and republicans can't hug and make up on this one.

he wants it but at the same time he's more hands off than what we saw in the house portion. he was having a ton of congress members to his house. we're not seeing it this time around. >> but that didn't come right away. that came after. >> for democrats to win the house do they need a new candidate for speaker of the house? house? talk to two when this bell rings... ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures.

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groups aligned with president trump, speaker paul ryan and former speaker newt gingrich spent a combined $4.5 million in that race simply to tie him to house democratic leader nancy pelosi.

>> let me be blunt. if nancy pelosi wasn't leader. if you were leader do you think john osop would be a member of congress today. >> i don't want to be leader. this is not about me. i don't want to run against nancy pelosi. i did that in november. i spoke my piece. i got everything out i needed to say but it would be hard for us to say that after $5 million being spent tying that candidate to her that it didn't have some effect and republicans wouldn't still be using this if it didn't have some effect and so it's still being used for a reason and i think that's a discussion that we need to have.

now with the health care coming down the pike now and everything that's going on we need to stay united as democrats especially this week because of the travesty that would happen to a lot of our constituents but we need to have a family discussion. i don't need to lead it because have been clear but if others want to have that discussion i have to have it. >> you have seen a lot of this over here. you've seen from the outside frrks the inside, i'm curious of your reaction to what your colleague kathleen rice said earlier this week. >> nancy pelosi was a great speaker. she was a great leader but her time has come and gone. she is a great fund-raiser but if the money we're raising through her leadership is not helping us win elections then we have to have this difficult conversation now. >> is she right? >> no, i'm going to tell you point blank i respectfully disagree with her. i never thought we were going

to. i have been around. i am seasoned. these people were selected to go in the cabinet because they were in safe republican seats. two or three months ago i would never have bet we came as close as we did. they've done a very independent analysis of this and out performed all four of these seats by 8% and if we were to continue in those numbers the republicans should be worried we could win 80 seats next november. that's not going to happen but if you get pragmatic we always tack the leader. i don't care who it is. i remember when we were attacking kip o'neal. i was young but i remember it. we love to attack our leaders. either party. >> let me ask you this, i want to start with you because i think i know what tim ryan's answer is going to be. how do you make the case in 2018 to be the changed party and create a changed election atmosphere if whenever democrat running for a house seat gets asked who are you going to

support for speaker, are you going to support nancy pelosi and if she is speaker in 2019 are you sending a message of change to the vote their says i thought we voted that out? >> so i have a lot of things to say about it. first of all i think if each of us doesn't start taking responsibility for the leadership we have and start acting like a we we're not going to win. that's one of the biggest problems. i care deeply about the issues for the coast. i care deeply about urban issues but also issues in the midwest and tim and i really share that passion of fighting for the workmen and women. we have to stop this finger pointing and each of us has to learn how we're going to become part of the we in the community that's going to win and when people start talk about age, let's talk about that. we elected a 70-year-old as president. bernie sanders is 75, joe biden is 74. the representative government is people of all generations, all ages, we have to come together and each of us has to take

responsibility for what we are as part of this we. >> has some of the criticism been too harsh and too unfair? >> what's been unfair is that it's not necessarily her fault. they have spent, i would say, hundreds of millions of dollars against her and as i said during the campaign i got enormous respect for nancy pelosi. she helped me throughout my career and she was a tremendous speaker. we're talking about health care for everybody today because of the work she has done so this is completely unfair but the reality is, the reality is the fact that we have to go into 2018 with a leader who has been damaged and at the end of the day has to make this decision but let's make no mistake about it. this is not about us having a family fight publicly. we'll have this discussion but the reality is if we're not in power we can't help anybody. this isn't just a fight to have a fight, if democrats aren't in,

we talk about the republicans taking 25 million people's health care away from them but if the democrats are in we can talk about how we're going to help them with their wages, their jobs, their economic security, their pensions, reducing their health care bill and energy bills and putting money in their pocket. this is not a fight we just want to have. we have to have these discussions because we owe it to the american people to put us in a position to be able to fight for them. right now we don't control any of the levers of government as senator sanders said earlier so we have to win these elections and put ourselves in a good position to do it. >> i'm going to give you a shot at answering here. it stumped me. do a facebook q and a every friday afternoon and a man by the name of chuck asked the following question what is the democratic parties constituent sy at this time? what is their mission statement? will they be able to parlay a

multitude of causes into a winning graphic for the midterms? have to say, i'll start with you, the democratic party does feel as if it's a coalition of various special interest groups. not sort of one voice s. that a fair decree teak. >> i'm working for the workmen and women of my district and that's what we all have to remember. we're elected to represent the districts that we come from and that's why coming together as the we matters. i don't like this word special interest. since when are working men and women special interests. we need to make sure that every american has all the issues that tim just cared about. everyone has the right to live in a safe neighborhood to make sure that they're going to have a safe retirement. bernie sanders did a very good job of articulating that earlier. we have to come together as we. it's not one person's responsibility. it's all of our responsibilities.

>> i think you believe identity politics has been a detriment to the democratic party. >> if you're a marginalized citizen in anyway, shape or form the democratic party is the party for you and that means economically marginalized as well and i don't care about color, man, woman, black, white, brown, gay, straight, we should be working for all of those groups and their economic interests. the one thing the democrats have is that economic message and senator sanders was very articulate and clear about what we all need to stand for. yes we have to go on these issue of equality and tolerance and fight for people that are marginalized in that regard but what unites all of those groups is an economic message. every one of those people in those groups want to make more in the paycheck they get every two week. they want to pay less for energy bill and less for health care and still have couverage.

those issues unite everybody but when we get off on just the social issues. those are important but if we zwrus talk about those and we don't talk about the economic issues, the republicans come in and divide us and then we get what we got in the last presidential election. lower african american turn out in some communities. white voters go and vote for trump. so if he cuss on exhibition. put money back in the pocket of people. grow this new economy and democrats good l get back into the ma joir tinchts thank you for coming on and sharing your views. >> great to be with you. >> why amazon's growing influence may consist millions of americans their jobs and why it also may lead to the next

>> early warning this is not just an economic issue, it's the next big political problem, the canary at the cash register, if you will, that could change the way we eventually vote. the number of people working in retail has dropped even as the economy has been recovering.

between 2014 and 2016 the unemployment rate fell from 6.2 to 4.9%. despite this the number of people working in retail sales declined during the same period of time. more people employed overall, fewer people working in retail jobs. politicians spent a lot of time talking about disappearing manufacturing and coal jobs but the great retail displacement has been ignored and retail employees millions more than the coal industry. anybody see a press conference about the loss of retail jobs recently? plus people from all races and backgrounds work retail. they look like the country as a whole and come from all over the country. manufacturing's rust belt. all of this suggests the loss rf retail jobs is on the verge of hitting a crisis point which will make it a hot button issue in our politics. the top ten states for retail

are the biggest states in the country. 2.4 million retail jobs. enough of those jobs disappear expect a great retail displacement becoming a growing major issue in 2018 and 2020. another massive economic transformation we're about to see. the biggest issue will be the future of it. the population is growing and the jobs are disappearing. when we come back why did a former she's nationally recognized for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. but to help others, they first had to protect themselves. i have afib. even for a nurse, it's complicated... and it puts me at higher risk of stroke. that would be devastating. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®... to help keep me protected. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner... ...significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. it has similar effectiveness to warfarin. xarelto® works differently.

warfarin interferes with at least 6 blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor interacting with less of your body's natural blood-clotting function. for afib patients well-managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. if you've had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or muscle-related signs or symptoms. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures... ...and before starting xarelto®-about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. it's important to learn all you can... ...to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. there's more to know™.

welcome back. you look at our generic ballot from our nbc wall street journal poll democrats have an 8 point lead. who do you want to have control? so you think that's good for the democrats. but let me show you the 2016 popular vote house race total and how it translated into house seats and as you can see republicans won the popular vote by a point but that allows them, that one point allowed them a ten point spread among house seats. the point is that you do your math and i know math isn't your favorite subject but if you do your math there it means an 8 point democratic lead still wouldn't be enough to win control of the house as a democrat. they have work to do. >> correct. it doesn't work in equations either. they do. and i think it might be a little bit misguided to talk about the

message. these are very specific and pointed and every congressional district has to do. i do think that one perhaps benefit of health care if republicans pass it is it would give democrats a message. it would give democrats something to run on in addition to trump and the economic populism is as close to that. >> and i think that one of the most important words is we don't want a leadership fight now and when you talk to people that's what you hear. one ohio democrat said this is not the time to get into nancy pelosi's leadership. we have a fight for health care and what happens after that, there is an acknowledgment that this is something that needs to be discussed. look at who will replace nancy pelosi. it's an airing of the grievances. there's no succession plan. this is getting out and venting

and blowing off steam. she is a great fund-raiser. she has good money for the party but they love having her in place and that's what democrats have to figure out how over the next year and six months. >> can i just interject here because it feels as if the commentary after this georgia election acted as if this was a blue district that flipped to red, it's not. this was a red district that the democrats came very close to winning and so i do think that there's a little bit of hysteria when we start thinking about another loss on the democratic side. i love that line. >> worth the trouble. >> oh yeah. it's even better. >> this ethical election to pick 1-half of one of our three branches of government.

progressives are saying she ran in the primary by saying vote for me. and then won and now what campaigning against government waste and then all of that. if they say that we only go hard left we will bring people out. if they say we're really more interested in realigning the party for the long-term than winning elections in the short-term then what happens will really matter. >> i think if there's one sure thing it's people go over. >> it's true. if you look at it though, who has more? the republicans, he they are not going to get $30 million. >> these are all seats in the special election. democrats point out we did overperform the numbers.

the expectation and these are seats that republicans chose to vacate. they pulled people out of opening up those seats so that was over the line here for democrats and for republicans neither side is going to raise that kind of money and if i have to tell you how many times i heard the phrase special election this week. >> we're back in 45 seconds with end game and the face that booked himself in iowa this week that has the social media world buzzing. >> coming up meet the press end ga you know how your hair tangles the minute you wash it? new pantene. the first shampoo with active pro-v nutrient blends fueling hair 100% stronger that's instantly smoother and tangle free. because strong is beautiful. whuuuuuat?rtgage offer from the bank today. you never just get one offer. go to lendingtree.com and shop multiple loan offers for free! free? yeah. could save thousands.

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back now with end game tweeted this yesterday since the obama administration was told way before the 2016 election that the russians were meddling why no action. focus on them and not t. setting that aside, that expose in the washington post and that quote. >> that's huge. that's huge. but i think you look at it, on one hand you can sort of understand the position that the obama administration, president obama was in and it would have been so political if he had come out at that point and said it looks as if the russians are

interfering to help then republican candidate trump. but at the same time that's why we have leaders, you know? at some point the american people deserve to have somebody in office, he was only in office for three more months, come out and say without political consideration. the fact that they're saying now that they choked is kind of sad. >> that august 6th briefing before 9/11 was always known as the red flag that was missed. are we going to look back and that quote of choked is is this a version of that with president obama. >> it's unfair. obama faced an agonizing choice. a democratic president coming out on the eve of at the election and said a foreign power is trying to elect a republican. where was the action. if the action had been taken he wouldn't be president. >> that is true. it's the ultimate situation again. the political environment as charged as it is right now, the

other thing a lot expected the president to be hillary clinton and he figured that if they let this pass it will come out afterward. >> this gives president trump a branch or something solid to hold on to and you have seen that over the last 42 or 78 hours. why no action is happening now to to stop it from happening again. we just haven't heard enough from the trump administration. the white house says we have an election fraud commission which was started because of the president's unfolded claim that millions of people voted ill lee fwally. the alarm bell is ringing. >> we had somebody show up in iowa this week. hey, when somebody shows up in iowa you think maybe they're running for president. mark zuckerberg showed up in iowa and posts this. i stop by one of the major truck stops truckers can get a hair cut dorks laundry, get their truck washed or their dog washed and go to the dentist.

i asked a number of trucker what is they think about self-driving cars and trucks. everyone was sceptical. some driving cars will replace jobs for different reasons. you enjoy your share, how >> how does he run for president? look at this, a truck stop. >> that was kind of like a parody of how a bubble person writes at truck stops when he ventures off from the west coast or east coast and discovers truck stops. i think the messaging might need a little work if he is running for president, but it's certainly interesting. i do think that trump has created a generation of i would say maybe imitators that think they have name recognition and a lot of money, they'll run. >> david plouff is working for the zuckerburg foundation. >> thank you for watching. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

it's a major test for republicans this week. gop leaders are pushing for a vote on health care, but some senators within their own ranks are reluctant to rush ahead. plus, president trump appears to acknowledge russia meddling in the 2016 election, but cast the blame for doing nothing on president barack obama. and at least six people are dead after a tourist boat capsizes in columbia. this morning the search continues for dozens of passengers considered missing. good morning. it's monday, june 26. well, the future