we'll stay on it. my thanks to everyone who joined us. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace, "mtp daily" starts right now with steve kornacki in for chuck. >> if it's monday, clashes re-ignite. tonight the intersection of sports and politics. the white house defends the president's stance on sideline protests. >> it's always appropriate for the president to defend our flag. plus, the clock ticks on senate republicans to pass a new health care bill. >> no! no cuts to medicaid! and the crisis in puerto rico. why days after the storm the situation on the ground only seems to be getting worse. this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. and good evening. i'm steve kornacki in new york,

in for chuck todd. welcome to "mtp daily." the president seems to be reveling in a divisive culture war of his own making turning the nfl into a literal political football. this at a moment where you might normally expect a president to be more focused on, say, getting his health care agenda through congress or figuring how to get more aid to puerto rico, officials warn of a humanitarian crisis and plead for additional federal resources. we will get to those major issues in a moment. there's no escaping the fact that this country elected a pop culture president who rode a wave of cultural backlash to the white house. they didn't elect somebody with policy chops on health care or somebody with government experience handling disaster relief. they elected a president who seems to have a zest for the kind of culture war that's ignited when he calls for a boycott of the nfl, unless it fires the s.o.b.s, as he calls

them, who kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality against african-americans. as you might expect, the president's comments and tweets led to rebukes from all corners of the game and beyond. >> no, i don't agree with the president. that's ridiculous. and -- check the constitution. >> he should apologize. they're not s.o.b.s. they're smart, thoughtful guys. they really are. they've seen things that are unimaginable. >> i'm not going to -- while i have this platform to let no individual, no matter the power, no matter the -- the impact that he should have or she should have ever use sport as a platform to divide us. >> also, as you might expect, the president and his team are fervently denying his comments have anything to do with race. >> i think that the president is not looking at this to the

racial ends. >> it's not about race. >> this has nothing to do with race. i've never said anything about race. this has nothing to do with race or anything else. this has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag. >> this isn't about the president being against anyone, but this is about the president and millions of americans being for something. being for honoring our flag, honoring our national anthem, and honoring the men and women who fought to defend it. >> but there's also no denying this. that this is an issue that divides heavily along racial, and that means, cultural lines, according to a quinnipiac poll from last year. the most recent on this subject. when this poll was taken a majority of americans said they disapprove of athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence against the black community. the numbers are fueled by the nearly two-thirds of white respondents who disapprove. by contrast, though, nearly three quarters of black respondents approve. that is a disarmingly loud

reminder why trump is president, because his base is energized by the culture backlash that this issue symbolizes, and in this case, an issue the white house thinks it can quite literally drape themselves in the flag over. >> what message does it send for the president to stand behind the presidential seal and a rally in alabama and call an american citizen expressing his first american rights a son of a bitch? >> it's always appropriate for the president of this country to promote our flag, to promote our national anthem and ask people to respect it. >> and i'm joined by former nfl running back brian hmitchell, fr nbc sportsnet and nbc sports and nbc political analyst hugh it, host of "hugh hhewitt" right hee on msnbc. we have seen a lull at the start of the season in terms of nfl players on the sidelines during the anthem participating in a

form of protest. on sunday obviously everything changed. i'd never seen that many players participating in it. what was the message? what was the message you'd say they were delivering with so many nfl players doing that? was this about the original issue of police brutality, are policing? was this about the president? what was the message that came out of that? >> i think it's a combination of things. i think when you look at the fact -- some guys stood up last year. some guys kneeled down. some guys sat down. a lot of guys were on that fence and not understanding whether or not they wanted to put themselves out there. they watch what happened to colin kaepernick, and how he was ostracized things like that and some backed off of it. once the president came out and began to challenge guys and attack them in that manner, you're talking about a bunch of competitors out there who are going to galvanize and come together and support guys doing things. most of these guys do great things in the community. most of these guys try to go out, combat different things

that a lot of guys aren't willing to talk about. you get someone calling them sons of bitches, that type of thing. what do you expect them to do? they're going to support each other. i said earlier on the show, i believe that the owners got involved, because when you start telling people to leave the stadium, that's impacting their pocket. they got involved because of that than any reason that a guy was kneeling or not standing for the national anthem. >> hugh, raising an interesting point. the idea trump with what he said on friday introduced sort of a new ethic into this. the ethic of standing for your teammate. standing by your teammate, where before i think there had been a lot of objections on the idea of, is the anthem the right time to be making a protest about policing. did trump, with hi comments, make this about somebody bigger about loyalty to teammates? >> he did. i think it's very unfortunate that the president used the s.o.b. term. i don't think that ought to be used about anyone. deshone kizer, new rookie

quarterback, i'm not an s.o.b. going to be a great quarterback for the browns whom i love dearly and watching since before brian was born. i saw bill nelson heading off to la'roi kelly before brian was even born. that manhattan media is focused on the president, but the president connects with bud wise werer america the nfl has to be aware of. i don't like this language, deplore it, in fact. the reaction on the morning radio show today was so diverse. there were 330 million different reactions to yesterday, and there were hundreds of different messages sent including by pittsburgh steeler tackle and army ranger villanueva. so complicated, steve, but a humpty dumpy moment. the nfl is putting at risk the marginal fan and even some long-standing fans who may not have held season tickets with the browns since '99 like i have but who are very much concerned that the game is becoming

polarized and politicized when it used to be something about which people came together. >> brian, let me ask you about that. we showed a poll, but it's from a year ago. i bet a bunch of polls in the next week and see if numbers changed. a year ago when colin kaepernick was sorting starting the protest, 54% of americans said, as a form of protest, they didn't approve of the idea of kneeling during the national anthem. not standing during the national anthem. at that time president obama was asked about it and wants mr. kaepernick on a knee listen to the pain they may cause someone with a spouse or child who died in combat and why that might hurt them to see someone not standing. that was, at least, originally, one of the major issues at place here. is there still room in this debate for the case to be made that there are legitimate political issues throughout to be raised involving policing but the anthem is not the right way to do that. just given how much the flag and

anthem mean to so many people. >> you can put it that way, if you want to just ignore the fact why they're doing it. i think the whole thing about the situation is, it's not anyone's right to tell another person when is their time to go out and stand for something. we don't see anywhere written in the constitution or anywhere else you have to stand. i always ask the question and went to a bar right after colin kaepernick started doing this last year and i stood there. when they started playing the national anthem on tv i looked around to see who was going to stand up. nobody got off of their butts. everybody sat down. so i stood up and said, y'all not going to stand up? this is the whole thing about it. we sit up here and telling athletes, when the department of defense started paying the nfl and all of this stuff and why guys stand up for the national anthem and play it prior to the football game. this is not nothing about being written in history. okay? now you see the nfl giving money back, playing them to flyover and these types things. this was thrown on to the

players. okay? now when the players want sto say, everybody wants to watch it, i'll make my statement. everybody around the country in all facets uses athletes to promote whatever their agenda is. but when an athlete wants to simply stand up for something, and when you stand up for inequalities of people dying, nobody haves consequences for it, i think that's just as important as anything else. we can sit here and try to make it seem not at the national anthem. but when? you're not going to hear about writing a congressman. we're talking about this over a year later. why? because somebody did at a time when it was uncomfortable. protest is not comfortable to people. that's the whole thing about it. we sit here, act like anytime someone does something against what we think, then we got to push them away all of a sudden. it's the right time, because there are people that also fought. neem go to war all the time. it's their right. no problem buy that. nobody jumps on that side. it's always against what the guys are doing for the people

that don't like the fact they chose this moment. >> this issue of race is unavoidable in this was a black nfl player who wanted to make a statement originally about policing. you had, you saw the scenes yesterday. you can see on your screen now. lots of black players yesterday making this statement during the game. before the game, i should say. the white house was asked, sarah huckabee sanders, white house spokesperson asked today if this san issue of race. i'll play her response. >> the president said that kneeling has nothing to do with race. colin kaepernick took a kneel, took to his knees in these games. many of these games, specifically because he said black people in this country were not being treated fairly by police. how is that not an issue of race? >> i think that the focus has long since changed and srcertaiy the message and what's communicated over the weeks through this process, through this protest by these players.

>> is that a tenable position for the white house to say race has nothing to do with this? >> no. no. it would be much better if the white house would have said, used to be color in the nfl meant that when tom darden went to scarlet in ohio he became a brown and orange brown. that it was a color-blind league and that john wooten to play next to dick and people wouldn't notice it. jim brown had problems with race. always a problem in professional sports. colin kaepernick took the knee and his socks had policemen dressed as pigs or pig dressed as policemen. it was incendiary. everyone, step back, sit down a while, calmly talk like lebron james did today. i read every word of it. steph curry. outside of the context of the national anthem. that's a uniquely important moment that misunderstood intentions become very divisive,

and i think the nfl is really at a moment where they could use some leadership. i would guess, steve, if you went around the room for all the crisis communicators surrounding the commissioner, not one voted for donald trump. i think they are missing the peril that the nfl is in on top of their brain issues that are coming up that i disagree with the president about as well. but everyone should just step back here and try and make sunday the day that people and -- monday night and thursday night, the day that people em joy professionals like brian, doing what they do best, which is playing a game americans love. >> all right. hugh hewitt and brian mitchell. thank you both for your time. appreciate it. >> thanks. >> thanks. and turning to the other major political story, the latest effort to end obamacare once and for all. republicans are trying to rush the bill known at gram cassadhay by september 30th. a deadline to get the bill passed with just 50 votes.

as we speak the senate finance committee is holding their first and only hearing on this plan. all day it's been a spectacle there with mass protests going on for hours in the hallways before the hearing even began, and also inside the hearing room, delaying the start today. as the hearing finally got going, it highlighted what a partisan matter this debate has become. >> colleagues, nobody has got to buy a lemon just because it's the last car on the lot. this trumpcare bill is a health care lemon. this proposal is about as popular as prolonged root canal work. >> if i was a major insurance company i'd hate my bill taking money and pow are "way from you and give it to the states. this is not the last chance. this is the best chance into my friends to the left, i will do everything i can to stop and put a stake in the heart of single payer health care. >> just last night, senators released a new version of the bill aimed at appeasing the republicans who are not onboard.

they added in extra money for states like alaska, an attempt to win over lease kaw murkowski and loosens insurance and changes language on pre-existing conditions. joining me now, mazy arhonea of hawaii who testified today. health care battles of harry own since diagnosed with kidney cancer. senator thank you for joining us. we mentioned your own personal held story. you talked about it today in your testimony. people are wondering how are you doing right now? >> feeling fine. not out of the woods, but, you know, it very much is an issue that affects all of us. when they say we are one diagnosis away from a serious illness, i certainly learned that, in my own experience, but the point here is that yet again the republicans are trying to ram through a bill that impacts 1/6 of our economy, millions of people in our country with one

hearing, i think it's just such a huge disservice i can't begin to tell you all the damage this bill will do to the people of our country. >> let me ask you as a political matter, democrats last week started sounding the alarm saying republicans are taking another pass at it. when john mccain said he was a no end of last week, looked like that might be it. now provisions in place. as a political matter, watching, trying to see if they can get enough republicans onboard to pass this. these changes they've made, has that brought them closer, do you think, to getting the republicans they need to pass this? >> well, they apparently think they are, but i hope not. i hope susan collins and lisa murkowski will stand firm. what this bill will do, change medicaid as we know it into bloc grants and that's going to hurt people in alaska and maine. no question. the last time i talked about this, as i said, the issue for the republican party, twist arms all they can, but just buying

off, if i can use that term, alaska, doesn't mean that the rest of the country isn't going to be shoved under the bus and i am not going to stand still to that happening in millions in our country. >> we were one of 17 democrats, two weeks ago, who signed on to that bernie sanders plan for single payer health care. you heard the comment of lindsey graham today basically saying, hey, we have to do this, because the democrats want's single payer. saying, hey, this last pass at repeal and replace of obamacare by republicans is a response to that move you and your colleagues made two weeks ago lining up behind single payer. do you look at that and say maybe we should have waited until this passed? >> not at all. i don't think this is response to the fact some of us signed ton to a single payer bill because republicans in both the house and senate have been dying to literally pass repealing of obamacare, long before the single payer bill got through,

and there are a lot of us who believe health care is a right not a privilege reserved only for those who can afford it. health care is a right and the richest country in the world, people should be able to in a time of need, health care prices, should be able to rely on health insurance being there for them, and this bill would take that away. it's unconscionable and lacks passion. what i came to's in my testimony today. all people showed me compassion when i told them i had kidney cancer and many members at the hearing today, a show of compassion to the rest of the people in our country. that's what we should -- we should show as leaders. that we'll be making decisions that impacts every single person in our country. >> let me ask you about this. the longer term goal of single payer, again, signing on with that plan. 17 democrats onboard with bernie sanders on single payer. in his president's campaign last

year in the democratic primaries when sanders talked about single payer health care, hillary clinton's criticism, i don't want to talk about single payer. it means we get rid of obamacare. we should focus on trying to make obamacare work not ripping it up and going with something new. curious now in this current fight, on the one hand arguing single payer other hand arguing against republican repeal and replace on the aca. is there a challenge when saying you want single payer long term? is that an implicit criticism of obamacare? a statement obamacare is not sustainable in the long term? >> no. what i'm fighting for, standing firm on is that health care is a right not a privilege and that the single payer approach is one strong articulation of moving us towards health care that is affordable and accessible and quality for everybody. that is what i'm standing for. and at the same time, the fact of the affordable care act

resulted in millions more people having health insurance in our country, i'm all for that. i'm all for everybody in our country having health insurance. so, yes. i stand for that proposition. health care is a right. not a privilege. >> all right. senator mazey has rhonea of hawaii. thank you for the time. and coming up, dallas mavericks mark cuban on race, free speech and president trump. plus politics in the trump era. have two things merged into one? we'll be right back. will determ. will determ. in its economy, in medicine, in science and in national security. one company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. an american company. hewlett packard enterprise. leading the way to discover... to innovate... and to protect. hewlett packard enterprise. a national asset in supercomputing.

welcome back. with teams and honor across the nfl speaking out against the president's criticism of players who kneel during the national anthem, we caught up with one particularly outspoken nba team owner. at the global citizens festival, mark cuban did not shy away on speaking his mind on colin kaepernick and on president

trump. >> that's why i supported colin. he didn't draw attention to himself when he first took a knee. he -- he did what he felt was right. he didn't throw a bomb. he didn't -- you know, throw a malt tov molotov cocktail, didn't shoot anybody, just took a knee. that's what this country is all about. lebron, steph, any athlete or owner, any sportsman, woman, they have the right to say what they want to say. but when you speak out, you open the door for people to respond. so the real truth -- and we'll see whether he has any courage is how he responds. that applies not just to president trump but to all of us. we can respond and have an open discourse peacefully it would be great if he said, you know what? i'm going to sit down with a bunch of nfl players. you know what, great if he'd go sit down with a bunch of nba players and talk and get to know

each other a little better. that's what a leader would do.

welcome back. bring in our panel tonight. msnbc contributor and princeton professor eddie glout. politic eder suen and susan del percio. one of the thoughts watching this play out this weekend is, this is a presidency fundamentally and probably a presidential campaign on trump's part that really is more about culture than policy. >> totally. when you think about the fact this all came out at a kpcampai event in alabama campaigning for luther strange. this appointed republican senator in alabama ostensively wants to be elected in his own right, pulled it out of thin air. not a topic discussed in alabama then. he pulled it out of thin air. had nothing to do with anything. knew it would be good for an applies line and it was and set in motion an incredible weekend. suddenly under the trump presidency our country is trying to decide what it wants to be.

that seems to be how trump functions best. as much as it makes democrats and progressives very upset and perhaps others too, it forces the country. what kind of country do we want to live in? a place immigrants can come in or out, black athletes can express themselves? healthy conversations to have but come from a place of division. >> it is -- striking to the other element of that, eddie, i think, just an expansion of the definition of politics. even just a few years ago used to be interested in politics watch a show like this. watch one of the sunday shows, get up early. a real junkie, watch c-span. now politics and culture merged in a way where even after the election, whatever you turn on, whether late-night comedy show, emmys, nfl now, politics is there. choices are there to be made by the voter about what side i'm on. there's been a merger that i'm not sure we've seen before of politics and culture? >> we might need an adjective. passionate politics.

right? seems like an iteration of the culture wars 5.0 and taken on a certain kind of intensity. that trump exploited. because of deep sunshine seeded anxieties rooted in demographic shifts, rooted in the fact obama was elected in 2008 without the majority of white people voting for him. rooted in the fact for the first time in our country's history of collecting data, more black and brown babies born in the united states than white babies. it's about the anxiety around a place like houston. right? 40% hispanic. 30% african-american. 20% white. 7% other. the browning of america is making itself known. and remember that hole done by atlantic and p.r.i.? wasn't necessarily economic insecurity but cultural anxiety. we see trump exploiting it over and over, the question of culture, susan, in terms of the republican base. somebody made the point today, seems we've reached a stalemate in the country between the two

sides, red and blue side. the standpoint of blue america, liberal america, a republican in the white house. republican senate, republican house. republican governor, state legislatures, local offices, government across the country is a wash in republicanism and so that's where this resistant mind-set comes from on the left, but on the right, what they see is a culture that they feel, a popular culture they feel is dominated by liberalism and feel in a way weaponized by liberalism and trump connects with that. a figure of popular culture to go to war with popular culture. is that what the base wants today? >> no. not responsible republicans. that's a way of engaging the public to go to the cultural side whether we see it most, on twitter and social media we know people operate in silos, the most dangerous thing since we know more than half of americans get their news from facebook. meaning they are picking and choosing what news they want to hear. that just -- going back to your

original question. do republicans want to have that culture divide? no. it's the worst thing we can have, similar to what the democrats had, a problem, 20, 30 years ago they came out of. republicans now are finding themselves on some kind of question of, am i going to be with the moral right, if you will? correctness. and that's a big challenge. when you see things like donald trump go on, on friday night and call people names? i mean a president of the united states calling people s.o.b.s? never mind what they say about the mothers of these football players. put that in a separate place. that's how the president is acting and a very hard thing to wrap yourself around as a democrat or republican, just as a bystander and force es republicans like myself to say that's wrong and we can't be a party of those things. >> one thing i thought about over the weekend as it played out. the question how the culture is changing not just in terms of the composition but how things are processed through the media.

thinking 20 years ago, 21 years ago, an nba player, mahmoud abdul from the denver nuggets wouldn't stand for the anthem. looked at coverage how that filtered through the media at the time. universal condemnation. no politicians saying, no right 0 to free speech. bob dole said he should sit down. the media landscape then. not long ago in the grand schemes of things. 20 years ago, sports fans probably remember that thing. and media coverage now is different. how does that affect both sides, really? republicans, do they feel it's changed too much? democrats feel, this is good, we're winning? >> think how different the country is in 20 years. isn't all that much, you say. seen the rise of gay rights movement. the rise of black lives matter and awareness of police brutality against black people. aware of cultural moments and cultural issues that are very resonant to a lot of people standing up and speaking out in a way they didn't back then.

if you disagreed, you just didn't talk about it. >> didn't have the venue to do it. didn't have facebook, twitter. >> even if the players 20 years ago, one guy did it. now they're all doing it. there's strength in numbers. comfort in the fact people are starting to express themselves in a way unheard of even probably ten years ago. >> eddie, you're on the left, a democrat. a liberal. i wonder -- do you feel that there's been, maybe even a positive things if you do, liberalization of culture in the last 20 years? >> i would have to figure out what we mean by that in a certain way. the political spectrum narrowed, i think. so much so, walter mondale would be considered a radical today. that's a sign of the kind of political culture narrowed in a way -- >> do you think it's -- a different subject but just talked to a democratic senator for single payer health care. 17 democrats for that. that would have been unthinkable. >> that has to do with occupy,

feeding it to bernie. something to do with the fact there's a general kind of dissatisfaction and disaffection with politics as usual. politics is not -- disaffection not only directed towards the republican party and produced trump it's directed at the democratic party as well. i want to be very clear here. i think the back -- what's happening in the backdrop of this debate? there are protests happening in st. louis right now over officer stockily not being convicted of killing someone. and people are in the streets and they're confronting police right now. we think this is about the flag, when, in fact, it's about unequal treatment under the law. it's about police brutality. a community that feels under siege. it's also about a kind of history, steve, that every time it seems african-americans call into question the ways in which we are treated, there's -- immediately it calls forth a question whether or not we're loyal. back to this 1774.

the petition in massachusetts to the massachusetts assembly. goes to reverend doctor king who we laud as a hero. they thought he was, law and order is not nixon. invoked about king, around king. right? every time we try to call the country to its highest ideals, there's a question about whether we're loyal or not. trying to dictate the form and content of our protest. seems to me we have to answer the question. what kind of nation will we be? >> okay. a pointed question to end the segment. more with the panel a little later in the show. eddie and susan stay with us. coming up, five days after hurricane maria swept across puerto rico the island home to more than 3 million americans, it is struggling more than ever. we'll have the latest on the ground there. that's just ahead. stay with us. i got in with the pole, and i had to make a claim and all that? is that whole thing still dragging on? no, i took some pics with the app and... filed a claim, but... you know how they send you money to cover repairs and... they took forever to pay you, right? no, i got paid right away, but... at the very end of it all, my agent... wouldn't even call you back, right? no, she called to see if i was happy.

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tonight on "all in with chris hayes" hillary clinton joins chris in-studio. that is tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern. right here on msnbc. there is much more ahead right here on "mtp daily." first, though, hampton pearson with toes's cnbc market wrap. >> thanks, steve. stocks closing lower on the threats from north korea. the dow falling 53.5 points. s&p down 5.5. both facebook and netflix among losers. nasdaq down by 56 points. target will raise its minimum

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administrator long and senior adviser to the department of homeland security tom bossert to puerto rico today, on the ground to assess the damage. welcome back. you heard there, two top trump administration officials are in puerto rico today assessing the devastation hurricane maria left behind. puerto rico's governor is pleading for more help in the wake of the middle eapowerful s hit the territory in 80 years. death toll, risen to 16 people. power outages continue,

flooding, looting and water shortages endanger the lives of those left vulnerable. look at these before and after satellite images of puerto rico's power grid. crews working around the clock to get people out of the dock. officials say it could take months. officials are working with the governor on the plan for long-term aid and critics say more robust funding is needed for the island of nearly 3.5 million u.s. citizens. house speaker paul ryan says lawmakers are working with the white house to get the island help. tens of thousands are still in grave danger as officials warn that a major dam could soon fail. nbc's tammy leutner is following the aftermath on the ground in san juan and joins us now. tammy, i have been hearing this is worse than the worst-case scenario. take us through what you're seeing there. >> reporter: absolutely, steve. you're hearing correctly. everywhere we go, every town we go to, people are waiting for help. they're waiting for aid. you see cleanup going on down

here in san juan, but in other towns, rescue workers have not even been able to reach certain communities. they don't know if people are trapped. if they need medical attention. that's one of the biggest problems. part of it is because of the roads. the other part is because of the lack of communication. there's only cell phone service spotty a across the island. we see people pulled over on the highway trying to get a cell bar, call out and get some type of help. another big problem, the bake necessities here. talking about gas, food and, of course, the big one, water. there's no water on about 60% of the island. no drinking water. now, imagine that. people are going to great lengths to get water wherever and however they can. we traveled to a community that was about 90 minutes outside of san juan where the community members were jerry rigged a pvc pipe to collect water from a runoff river. filling up bottles, buckets. at this point, steve, people are

doing whatever they can to survive. back to you. >> all right. tammy leutner down there in san juan, puerto rico. thank you for that. just ahead, the candidates in the alabama senate race are looking for a last-minute boost from big-named supporters. the vote is tomorrow. we'll look at that, next. ulture, but it gets pretty intense. -ahh. -the new guy. -whoa, he looks -- -he looks exactly like me. -no. -separated at birth much? we should switch name tags, and no one would know who was who. jamie, you seriously think you look like him? uh, i'm pretty good with comparisons. like how progressive helps people save money by comparing rates, even if we're not the lowest. even if we're not the lowest. whoa! wow. i mean, the outfit helps, but pretty great. look at us. it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three.

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push to get them over the goal line in that runoff for the republican nomination for the united states senate. the appointed incumbent, luther strange, at a rally with vice president mike pence keeping up his campaign steam of trumpeting white house support after a rally friday night when president trump expressed doubt strange might win the runoff, the president spoke in support of strange in a popular alabama radio show this morning saying strange had a better shot at winning the seat than his challenger roy moore. >> we hope we can keep him in the senate. he loves alabama. tell you what. he loves the state and loves the country. he will absolutely win against the democrat. whereas, you know, it's going to be a hard race. you've seen those races go very bad over the years. >> roy moore is hosting a rally of his own tonight with former white house adviser steve bannon, and "duck dynasty" star,

and nimpal farratch. using the president's words against strange. >> i might have made a mistake and i'll be honest. i might have made a mistake. i don't know him. i don't know him. i don't know him. >> the president supports me i. could be sitting at home right now. >> if his opponent wins i'm going to are here campaigning like hell for him. >> we are going to talk. alabama senate with the panel right after this break.

all right. welcome back. time for "the lid." bringing back our panel talking about this bill agriculture runoff tomorrow. susan, the president went in full force friday night. talking about the nfl comments made, but there trying to get luther strange, the appointed incumbent, across the finish line. just played him on that alabama radio show this morning. so striking to me. his closing pitch to try to get the establishment candidate, to defeat roy moore, is the same pitch used against donald trump

by the republican establishment last year saying, hey, your heart may be with this guy, but we got an election to win in december. that's the special election against the democrat. he's going to put that at risk. don't put a risky general election candidate up. that was the message candidate . that was used against trump. >> and different than the message that trump put out friday saying well, maybe i made a mistake endorsing strange, maybe should have gone with more but either way it's okay, get one over the finish line. that in itself is odd endorsement of strange. this is a conflict for donald trump. i actually believe he's doubling down on this mostly because his ego is at stake. i think he just doesn't want to have a loss and what that will say and stories afterwards. he lost because he went against steve bannon, or is donald trump still in charge of the party.

i think it's a big concern. see going forward, one thing we know, donald trump will turn on a dime and come out with a new position. >> he's already said if strange loses, i'll be there for moore. this poll came out from emerson, they found something interesting looking ahead to general election. moore leads the democrats in their poll by nine points more than strange does. what i think that might be getting at, talk nationally about roy moore as lightning rod figure, strange as establishment choice but not how strange got the seat first place. appointment from a governor no longer in office. >> and fact he's closely identified with mitch mcconnell, most unpopular national republican found by basically every national poll. but remind our viewers who roy moore is. judge known for the ten

commandments and refusing to abide by order to remove putting them up. also called homosexuality akin to beastiality, called president obama not a citizen. promulgated birther myth for some time. a wild man who could be going into the united states senate. very good chance. >> and also really bad for republicans going forward. this is exactly who you don't want as republican. we don't want him. >> but there are shades of trump in the primary last year, culture war politician, things that beth has talked about, riled up national liberal groups, appalled by idea of roy moore but the noise, objections of national liberals could be energy with republican voters in alabama. >> when speaks volumes about those voters, we have to figure out what it is and what it reveals. >> what does it reveal?

>> you called him lightning rod figure. that's generous. he's a bigot in so many different ways. what does it mean for republicans in alabama to support a bigot of that sort? in the name of rejecting liberals. it just shows at heart of this cultural war is residual trafs something profoundly ugly in the country we've never gotten over and now it's in full view. i'm interested in this, bannon and trump. >> i'm careful -- i agree with you. i think this is the worst kind of person -- >> this is your political party and you agree that candidate who may win the runoff is a bigot. what does that say about the republican party? >> what i was going to say, we have to be careful -- or democrats have to be careful. saying that all along about trump and going after the trump

voter as those guys and trump ended up winning. we have to be careful. there is underlying thing, democratic party doesn't have all the answers. people ask all the time, you're republican, don't agree with president most of the times. if he was republican nominee here, i would call him a bigot, yes. but what do the democrats have to offer? that's a big problem and that's why there's still issues and we're having this conversation. >> several weeks before december 12th and actual vote and if roy moore is the candidate, republican lawmakers will have to support and endorse and answer questions about everything he's ever said. yes the democrats in terrible position across the board. but in this particular race, republicans will be forced to defend -- be on record defending things once considered indefensible. >> maybe they shouldn't be serving. it's gotten to that point, look

who we're putting into service, democrat and republican side by the way. if you can't stand up for believes, go out and do right thing, we have to question what we're doing as country. everyone getting angry and doing nothing, that's what you get. >> remind everybody, donald trump, one of his first major speeches, mobile, alabama, 20,000 people there. one of the first endorsements, jeff sessions, one of the best states in the republican primaries was alabama. that's the turf. after the break, joe biden's new job. you know who likes to be

in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender.

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and in case you missed it, there are lots of ways to get your news in this day and age, twitter, podcasts, snapchat. this show right now. but in case you did miss it, a new way to get news direct from joe biden. billed as what joe wants you to know. biden's briefing. podcast with news stories curated by former vice president. including some from nsnbc, a part of the project. here's why he says he's doing it. >> world is changing quickly. now more than ever need to broaden perspective. to be better flfed.

better informed, better decisions we make, by listening to one another. >> you can make your own decision about how broad the perspective of biden would be. that's it. "the beat with ari melber" starts right now. >> thank you steve. three top stories. trump's attacks on the nfl as white house doubles down on trump's impulsive campaign. also the new travel ban, longer broader plan to restrict travel indefinitely. also trump care. protests breaking out with deadline looming, republicans' campaign promise not this president's