for gold star families. >> we're all in in together. thanks everybody. >> the organization, there is t.a.p.s. to help t.a.p.s. go to taps.org or their social pages. mrs. murphy responded to a lot of the people reaching out right on our facebook page, quote, thank you. it was very hard to do but i felt our story needed to be heard. i'm truly humbled by all of the kind and understanding comments. we of course are humbled by her courage and her family's service. we're happy in one small way to share her message to so many of you because we've heard from a lot of you about that interview. thank you. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. a soldier speaks. this is "hardball." ♪ good evening, i'm chris

matthews in washington. this afternoon in the white house pressroom general john kelly spoke to the country about how this country shows its respect for those who give their life for this country. kelly told the steps the military take to preserve the body of those fallen, how it honors and respects the beloved ones who feel the loss most greatly. >> most americans don't know wh what happens when we learn our soldiers, sailors, marines and cost guardsmen in combat. let me tell you what happens. their buddies wraps them up in whatever passes a shroud, puts them on a helicopter as routine and sends them home. their first stop along the way is when they're packed in ice, typically at the air head and then they're flown to usually europe. >> general kelly spoke in some detail, including the account of the words his fellow officers spoke in consoling him, john kelly, on the loss of his son in

combat. and those he said today were the words he advised trump to use in consoling the loved ones of the four soldiers who were loss in niger. the president's chief of staff took this duty upon himself to take personal responsibility for the president's words to the widow of david johnson and the politics it exposed. the general said nothing today is sacred, not even the private words of consolation by the president to a gold star spouse. let's listen. >> let me tell you what i tell them. let me tell you what my best friend, joe dunford told me, he was my casualty officer. he said, kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. he knew what he was getting into

by joining that 1%. he knew what the possibilities were because we're at war. that's what the president tried to say to four families the other day. i was stunned when i came to work yesterday morning, and broken hearted, at what i saw a member of congress doing. it stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. absolutely stuns me. >> well the congresswoman he mentioned, free rica wilson said she listened in to that phone call between the president and the families of the fallen soldier and described what she heard. it was backed up by the relatives of the soldier. let's watch the congresswoman. >> he was almost like joking. he said, well, i guess you knew something to the fact that he knew what he was getting into when he signed up. but i guess it hurts anyway. you know, just matter of

factually that this is what happens. she was in tears. she was in tears. >> well i'm joined right now by susan page, jason johnson, politics editor at the root and glen thrush, white house correspondent for "the new york times." susan, you're first. and to me i was overwhelmed by the general today. i think he looked like a president, talked like a president. talked like a guy who had lost a son in combat and knew what that meant and tried to best way he could do as chief of staff to this president who is unfamiliar with this whole world of combat and loss and maybe human existence sometimes, i wonder about trump. but he did his best on what words to use. he used those words and he was crushed politically for doing so. your thoughts ma. >> no one has defended him more effectively than general kelly has today. he was the personal standing by virtue of his service and service of my family and also his manner.

his manner was matter of fact and compelling. >> authentic. >> he did a lot for president trump today in trying to explain what happened. >> jason, i like the man's style because i was never in the military but i will say this. he doesn't flap his arms about. he doesn't use the jest tiguess vegass like trump does. he's very calm. and i thought what he said was authentic. he said these are the words i recommended the president use. he used them. now when he goes on to characterize the behavior of the congresswoman, that's politics. i accept that. but up until that point i said, god, he was true to form. >> he's a good soldier. it's his boss to protect his boss like a good soldier does. the problem is he should have stopped there. i do think it's a problem that he attacked a member of congress. he knew david. she mentored this guy since he was a kid. she had a right to be there.

that weakened his statement. >> let's get to the news aspect of this. the fact that it took us until this afternoon, a story that i think the press was running pretty far ahead. around here i think we were restrained but people were raising pretty far ahead, one of the papers was jumps ons this as if one side is right the other is wrong and this is a murky case of tremendous emotions. the loss of a husband in this case. the loss of a son, is so horrible, especially in murky circumstances in a war we didn't know we were in. what are we doing in niger. who was looking out for him? lots of reasons for anger, not just grief. and then the president walked into it, of course he had to. this is an area that's so fraught with trouble, especially in an environment we're in right now where everybody is on one side of the other. four against this president. >> there's so much to unpack in this. first off, let's get it out there.

the main function of him coming out there was to say that the president essentially misspoke or articulated himself in a way that could be misunderstood. he gave the predicate by talking about dunford in that incredibly moving passage of what the president intended to say. >> how did the president misstate what he was advised to say by the general? >> first of all, we have to say, kelly completely contradicted what sara sanders said the day before and what trump had said, there was nothing to what had been said. kelly gave you the pretranslated version of what trump had been expected to say. >> what was the differential? you got to help me here. what does trump change from what he was advised to say by the general. >> we don't know. but what kelly said talking to trump, putting dunford's words into his own mouth, essentially what he's saying is you signed up to do this at a time when many in the country aren't, this is your job, you're surrounded by the greatest people on earth

and this is the potential price when you put yourself in that position. trump, it appears, if we're going by what the family said and what the congresswoman said, did a shorthand version of that that fell flat. that is not -- that is not, by the way, an outlie. we've seen that a ton of times before. >> how about giving the edge to the president. how about it fell on ears that weren't receptive to the mouth of trump. >> i think there's been a tremendous rush to judgment on this. >> thank. >> trump didn't help himself saying he had proof in terms of the tape of the call. >> you know, i think i remember -- i immediately thought when i heard this -- i'm church hill buff. when church hill talked to harry hopkinss, he had lost a son in combat so church hill quoted shakes peer about your son has

paid a soldier's debt. sounds rough but it is what it is. the young man or woman walks into harm's way knowing that could happen. and for whatever good great reason they had to go there, they did. it isn't like they stumbled into something. it is rough. the whole situation is rough and i don't know if there's a nice way to say it, especially to your political enemy. the congresswoman accused him of being mentally unstable. said he should be impeached. he's clearly at the other end of the spectrum. that wasn't going to be a great conversation. >> i thought this myself. if you separate the actual words from the president, if george bush or barack obama had said this, we wouldn't think it was strange. but remember this is a president known for his tone, known for occasionally shooting off the hip. so it's highly possible that he came off with a lack of empathy on a regular basis. it's perfectly reasonable for people to see it that way. >> this is the political part.

we're going to say that. would listen to the president's conversation with a grieving military family, saying it with us sacred . but she was in the car. let's watch. >> and i thought at least that was sacred. you know, when i was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. women were sacred. looked upon with great honor. that's obviously not the case anymore as we see from recent cases. life was sacred. that's gone. religion, that seems to be gone as well. gold star families, i think that left in the convention over the summer. but i just thought the selfless devotion that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, i just thought that might be sacred. >> critics say it was the president, president trump who first politicized the issue of fallen soldiers by invoking president obama. let's watch what the president

said just last week. >> the traditional way, if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. a lot of them didn't make calls. as far as other representatives, i don't know. i mean you could ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama. you could ask other people. i don't know what obama's policy was. >> look, guys, i thought the general, when he stayed in his position, in his lane he was fantastic, talking about what it's like to lose a son, the protocol, went through the icing of the bodies. how can you beat that. but this thing of the sacredness of women, i think of trump and har vie weinstein. i thought that was a culture war shot that he didn't have to take. the sacredness of a woman sounds like fragile little deers, the better half and all of that old nonsense. it's harmless unless you're

fighting for equality and also about choice and life. the old shot in there. i thought it was a general cultural attack line against all of the enemies of trump. >> i'm not sure women were treated so fantastically well in some previous golden era. we'll leave that. here's what we can probably agree on. >> don't put me in this box. this fragile deer thing isn't what people want to hear today. >> that's exactly right. maybe we can agree that the issue of gold star families, can't we get it out of a political debate? we have a partisan debate about every single thing in this world and maybe this is an area where both sides, the congresswoman and the president could take a step back. >> pull back. thank you. well said. i'm glad you said that. you always say the right thing. or almost always. thank you susan page, jason johnson and glen thrush. coming up, the real fake news. senior members of the trump

team, donald trump jr. trafficked russian propaganda during last year's election by tweeting messages that came from russia, a troll farm. yes, they were, i think colluding. what were the four green berets doing in niger. what was the mission. lawmaker want answers. have they ever put any limits on where a president can send our troops? i never hear of them drawing the lin lines. obama is back. he hit the campaign trail early in new jersey and set is stump for the governor in virginia. he's back. our boyfriend is back. does obama still have the political weight to tilt it his way. the director of the new movie lbj, woody marldson and rob reiner here tonight.

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former president george w. bush seemed to take a shot at president trump earlier today speaking at a forum in no, sir, condemning the current state of politics in this country and warned about the threats to our democracy. let's listen. >> in recent decades public confidence in our institutions has declined. our governing class has often been paralyzed. politics seem for vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. we've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. at times it can seem that the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. argument turns too easily into animosity. disagreement escalates into dehumanization. we've seen nationalism

distorted. we've forgotten the die nammism that immigration brought to america. >> you took us to war that had something to do with this country's division. a spokesman said the president is not criticizing trump. these are the same things the president has spoken on for the past two decades. we'll be right back. on every purchase i make. everything. what's in your wallet? i enjoy the fresher things in life.o. fresh towels. fresh soaps. and of course, tripadvisor's freshest, lowest... ...prices. so if you're anything like me... ...you'll want to check tripadvisor. we now instantly compare prices... ...from over 200 booking sites... ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. go on, try something fresh. tripadvisor. the latest reviews.

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welcome back to hardball. here's a truly disturbing statistic. nearly half of all americans, 46% believe news organizations like this fabricate stories about donald trump and his administration. that's according to a new politico morning consult poll this week. the number is higher among republicans. three-quarter, 76% of republicans believe that what's said about trump isn't true. real fake news is pervasive now and has real consequences real fake news. today the daily beast reports that some of president trump's

family and closest aides promoted tweets from professional trolls paid by the russian government. a twitter account using the handle at 10 gop called itself the unofficial twitter account of tennessee republicans but was actually operated by the kremlin troll form. kellyanne conway, michael flynn and roger stone all promoted the tweets. the washington post reported the same theng and yesterday the attorney general was asked about russian election interference. here he is. >> do you think we're doing enough to prepare for future interference by russia and other foreign adversaries in the information space? >> probably not. we're not. and the matter is so complex that for most of us, we're not able to fully grasp the

technical dangers that are out there. >> well today president trump refused to acknowledge russia's influence in our election. here's what he said instead. >> uranium is a big subject. if the mainstream media would cover the uranium scandal and that russia has 20% of our uranium for whatever reason and a lot of people understand what those reasons may be, i think that's your russia story. that's your real russia story, not a story where they talk about collusion and there was none. it was a hoax. >> he doesn't put them into action but he begrudgingly signed in august but won't do anything with it. senators john mccain introduced a bipartisan bill today. for more i'm joined by betsy woodruff who wrote the piece. give me the reality here.

how did this stuff get from moscow through this tennessee group thing online into the words and messages put out by the trump people? >> essentially kremlin operatives massacre raqueraded group. they were pretending to be grass roots conservative activists. and in some ways this sounded like typical tea party talking points. there were a lot of signs that it was fishy. in one piece of this that's important to understand is that 10 gop was operating long after election day and that points to something quite sobering about russian influence operations, which is it's not just about elections. 10 gop tweeted that they thought michael flynn should have been reinstated as national security adviser after he was fired, which is exactly the kind of thing you expect to hear from the kremlin, not necessarily from tennessee republican. >> rt was using some of this

stuff. >> they frequently cited 10 gop. >> it's here. we have it. somebody is the puppet master that says put this out online on this phony group, this russian operation online. they pick it up on rt, give it a reverberation and something with puppet strings is saying let's get this out into the mainstream media. >> right. i can't point to the specific individuals in russia who are the puppet masters. but many high level folks in the trump campaign amplified the message at 10 gop. we've seen evidence that those trump campaign people knew that 10 gop was affiliated with the kremlin but they helped it push its message. >> what led them to it? why would they just happen to pick up the crap? >> it's a good question. >> it's just asht language and interpretation. how good is their english that they're able to fake us with what sounds like american

english? >> some of the english is not great. if you look at the russia propaganda efforts -- >> why wouldn't they say this is bogus. >> one republican data and cyst said he followed 10 gop for a long time and noticed it didn't seem quite right, it seemed fishy. and an important thing about this account that people have to understand is one of the tweets that it tweeted that donald trump jr. retweeted accused broward county, florida of voter fraud. >> i'm sorry. if you want to call it collusion, fine. but looks to me like hand in glove. the trump people knew where to go, they got it, it suited their purposes, the russia purposes. thaf were on the same team. thank you. up next, president trump is facing criticism over the deaths of four u.s. soldiers. what do we know about that ambush over there and what about those operations and who put it

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here's what's happening. the wildfires that killed 42 people in california cause the at least a billion dollars in damage and destroyed nearly 7,000 buildings. the state insurance commissioner says he expect those number to rise. apple stock fell 2.5% amid speck lakes of a poor demand and

production cuts of the iphone 8 ahead of the november launch. former president george w. bush received an award from the west point graduates today. it is presented each year to one who embodies the west point motto. his father received the award in 1994 making them the first father/son pair to be honored. back to "hardball." welcome back top hardball. the deaths of four soldiers in niger africa two weeks ago has prompted questions over president trump's response to the loss of american life but questions over what happened in the first place. nbc news reports that the pentagon has sent a team there to answer questions. where were the u.s. forces when the attack occurred? were they prepared for the atta attack? was there adequate intelligence in advance of the mission and adequate response to the attack

when it occurred. let's watch. >> it's evident to me that they're not fully certain what has happened there or we wouldn't be having this quote inquiry, not investigation, inquiry into what's happening. >> we want to learn about what happened in this particular event but more importantly about the broader mission. >> do you feel the administration has been forthcoming up to this point about what happened there? >> of course not. >> will you wait for the department of defense their own investigation to carry out -- >> that's not how the system works. we're coequal branches of government. >> senator john mccain chairman of the arm services committee talked to mcmaster about setting up a briefing for the congress and said he wouldn't rule out subpoenaing the administration on this matter if nes. james mattis said that this is under investigation. let's watch him. >> and the loss of our troops is

under investigation. we in the department of defense like to know what we're talking about before we talk. and so we do not have all of the accurate information yet. we will release it as rapidly as we get it. >> i'm joined right now been senator ed marky. senator, when we lost those people, including chris stephens, our ambassador in benghazi, the republicans spent years enjoying it politically, 'em boiling it with every conspiracy theory. what do we know about the four soldiers who were killed in niger, africa two weeks ago. >> we don't know enough. we don't know the mission. we don't know the intelligence was that they were acting on. that's the reason that senator mccain and general mattis is saying they're conducting investigations because the american people and the families of the fallen soldiers deserve to know the answers.

>> can this president or any president send soldiers to tim bum tu? africa without authorization of congress 37 is there anything that authorizes, let alone mandates sending troops into a country like niger where we've had no history? >> you're right. we wer invited there in 2013 by the niger government to provide support to help their government to thwart isis or any other group. but the authorization for use of military source that was the justification of going into afghanistan has now been used very loosely to move us into country after country. it was not the basis for nigher. but we need public hearings. we need an explanation from the president, the white house on why we are in each one of these countries. what our mission is. what the exposure of our troops

are. in each and every one of these instances we're long past the point where we need a national debate on a new authorization for the use of military force so the american people can understand our mission overseas. >> give me a sense of how you grasp this new president's position on foreign policy. he ran as a dove saying we're involved in too many stupid wars as he put it and thought we shouldn't be getting involved in libya, trying to go after the assad government in syria. he said basically don't be a neocon. i'm not going to be one of those people. and yet he's out there trying to break apart the iranian deal. and he doesn't seem like he's a dove anymore. how do you need him? he seemts more like a neocon with the people around him. what do you make of him? >> ultimately what he's doing is he's reflecting upon what president obama did in raqqah, in mosul, in niger, in other countries and he's come to a deeper understanding of what

those decisions were and he is not fundamentally reversing those decisions. it's probably a reelection of hiring -- a general mattis hiring a general kelly to be his adviser. but nonetheless, that still duds not in any way mean that it's not time, and it is, to have a full-blown debate in our country on a new authorization for the use of military force. this is something that is hamg and in many ways on an ad hoc basis with each president almost ignoring the congress, ignoring the american people and it's time for it to come to an end. it eeast time to give the american people the answers to the questions they're asking. >> i think we got tom resolutions out there. thank you senator ed marky of massachusetts. up next, president obama returns to the campaign trail. he's back tonight to stump for candidates in new jersey today, virginia tonight. will it be enough to driver voters to the polls? you're watching "hardball."

i was a good soldier. i had purpose and i loved it. you never told me you were a hero. you are my hammer out there. don't let these young guys see you fold. ♪ i'm only human ♪ i make mistakes get down! ♪ i'm only human ♪ it's all it takes ♪ don't put the blame on me thank you for looking after my son. we're brothers. we look after each other. thank you for your service. rated r. ♪ don't put the blame on me

welcome back to hardball. former president barack obama is back on the campaign trail today for the first time since leaving the white house. this afternoon he stump for the democratic candidate in new jersey, phil murphy. >> you can't take this election or any election for granted. i don't know if y'all noticed that. but you can't take any election for granted. >> he's going to make a virginia for the democrat running for governor against ed gillespie, clearly the most closely watched race in the country. voters are mixed in virginia. the latest fox news poll shows northam with the 7% advantage. but a university poll shows

gillespie on top by 1. northam is helping that the former president can help lock up the race in his favor. here it goes. >> we've got les than 20 days before the election and our job is to energize the voters, to make sure they're getting to the polts on november 2nd. and barack obama coming into virginia tonight is very exciting and he's going to energize the voters and close that loop for us. >> let's bring in the round table, gingerer gibson, sam stein and eugene. is this going to be a close race? >> virginia is going to be very tight but i think we're going to see a test of how angry democrats in the northern part of the state are about donald trump. >> this is a negative vote? >> i think it's an enthusiasm question. >> you're saying they're coming in to vote against trump. >> i think that's a motivation and they're engaged in the process because they're unhappy with trump.

>> factors, sam. >> trump is the main factor. you have a history of these elections going against the person sitting in the white house. >> comes the year after every election. >> correct. >> inspiesres remorse. >> top of the list is immigration for gillespie. >> negative on immigration. >> you see all of these ms 13 ads being run in virginia and northam is running a lot of abortion themed ads. >> northern virginia is a lot of single women who come to washington to work, commute every day, u they're pro-choice, they're pro-social issues, they tend to be liberals. south of virginia it's like we grew up with virginia. it's rural, conservative. >> coal country. >> a bit old time religion in a way, right? >> gillespie is resting without a response of this right? he supposedly made some promise to some of those suburban moms in northern virginia that he'd be a little more progressive in

the areas that they would like but he's made it clear to some of the more traditional voters that he's a little closer to trump than he's let on in some other spaces. >> is he with trump or trump has not been invited him. i hear he's with him on issues like immigration but not with him personally. >> on twitter. >> he knew to bring in mike pence but everyone knows that mike pence isn't donald trump and doesn't get the same reaction. >> and more religious. let's face it. >> sure. >> we've seen a difficult balance gillespie is trying to strike, trump talking about gillespie on twitter but not showing up with him to campaign. >> he wants what trump has to give. >> he does. >> this is why i think gillespie might win. he ran for the senate three years ago. in the month leading up to the election incumbent mark warner

held a 10 point advantage. look at it. but the final result was warner defeated gillespie by less than a point. whatever he does, he underpolls, sam. >> yes. the caveat being that 2014 was a terrible year for democrats and obama was the anchor on the party. >> why do the pollsters get positive results for senator warner. >> the thing is i wouldn't trust any of the polls. what we've reported is that the campaign internals which are a better reflection of where things stand have northam at an in the margin of eaierror lead, mostly a two to three point lead. i trust those more than the public polls because that's what thement call pain is operating off of. >> i expect a lot of negative stuff the last two weeks. >> what? you cynic. >> women are going to lose the right to abortion. it's going to be a lot of scare tactics on the left. and on the right some ethnic stuff. it's going to be immigration, criminals who are here, illegal

immigrants who are criminals and saying it's all the fault of north for voting against this ban on sanctuary cities. >> i certainly think so. those are definitely the issues that many of the trump supporters in the areas that you spoke about earlier got on the trump train in the south western part of the state. i think they're going to try to pick up what was effective, seeing if they can bring some of the votes on, especially if it's really tight. >> just to bounce this back to your direction, virginia has not lately gone crazy right wing. they didn't put ollie north into the senate thank god. they voted for hillary by five points, basically the way the polls said they would. it's not a crazy right wing. it's somewhere near the my middle. >> it's very much a swing state and we've seen that since obama won it for two terms. what we're going to see is a lot of aggressive push on the

northern -- >> will he get out the african-american vote? >> he is. >> that's why they're bringing him. >> african-american? >> black lawmakers in virginia, bobby scott who are definitely hoping to get people on board who quite frankly did not get involved in the 2016 election to a degree to the numbers that barack obama was hoping they would. >> anyway, the round table is sticking with us, up next these three will give me some scoops we'll be talk about tomorrow. this is "hardball" where the action is. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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we're back with the hardball round table. ginger tell me something i don't know. >> nafta has made a lot of business community very nervous. we're going to see them pump the gas on trying to push back on this trump administration which so far they've had a good relationship with but we're going to hear a criticism in the next week. >> are we going to keep nafta or lose it? >> that's yet to be seen. there's a question of whether or not he'll pull out of nafta. >> the canadians going to keep us? >> the canadians are going to try. >> sam. >> you might not know this but you probably suspect it. i called a bunch of small dollar donor to the trump campaign to ask if they're comfortable paying a billionaire's legal fees and they are. they thought it was stupid for

asking. they will not bend. >> eugene. >> texas congresswoman eddy bernice johnson is getting pushback today for saying that women hold some responsibility in preventing sexual harassment involved in the harvey weinstein conversation. but she did say -- >> what did she say women did? >> they should be aware of how they dress and their behavior. >> that will no go over well. thank you. up next, actor woody harrelson and director rob reiner are going to join me on the set to talk about presidential politics and their new movie "lbj." it's great. you're watching "hardball."

welcome back to hardball. there's a new film coming out set to release next month about the value of perseverance and leadership in american politics. it stars woody harrelson.

"lbj." the personal and political story of lyndon johnson who has a southern democrat became an unlikely champion of civil rights. it portrays a man who felt overshadows by the glamour of the kennedy family. he often butted heads with budsdy kennedy. yet after tragedy struck? dallas, it was by advancing kennedy's agenda that he finally emerged from his predecessor. here's an exert from the trailer. >> in a surprising upset senator john kennedy has won the west -- >> what? hi, jack. >> you mind if i ask you a question, lyndon? >> you're out of your damn mind, jack. all of the liberals hate it. >> we need southerners. >> no power in the vice presidency. >> power is where power goes. >> i'm guessing you don't do a lot of deer hunting. >> it's an embarrassment around the world.

>> you submit this bill now it will never become law. >> what are we waiting for? [ gunfire ] >> go, go, go. >> you don't waste any time, you, lindon? >> excuse me? i'd rather not have it this way. >> now the country needs a man who can deliver. >> there will be no compromise. this is about making president kennedy's vision a reality. >> this will define your presidency. >> i can only hope. >> "lbj" hits theaters nationwide on november 3rd. that's coming up. actor woody harrelson plays johnson in the film, and rob reiner, the critically acclaimed director who brought to story. first of all, congratulations. i am a political nut since i was 2.

same way this guy is. we read the papers. you are unbelievable in this movie. the first second i go, oh, i know woody harrelson, he's played steve schmidt. you were lbj. you caught the insecurity of the guy. the worry about will they love me? like an 8-year-old. he's not this big troll, he's this boy. boy-man. and you got him. >> thank you so much. >> when you did it, the nervousness. jennifer jason leigh. >> she's incredible. >> absolutely incredible. >> ladybird. >> you're in a lot of bedroom scenes, not sex scenes -- there's pretty gross scenes in this movie. there's scenes like men do, in bed at night asking their wife, what do you think, how am i doing? you think i'm all right? that's the same thing, lbj. >> that insecurity, that desire to be loved, feeling inloved at times, that came out. i read carrow books but

doris goodman's book, that's where i got it. she was close to him, she worked for him, she wrote the biography. she talked about two things i picked out. one was he had this recurring nightmare of being paralyzed. he also had this fear that his mother didn't love him, because she would withhold her love at times. it was conditional. when he wasn't doing the things that she wanted him to do. and that's what we wanted to get. because everybody knows lbj, the arm-twisting bull in the china shop. bus they don't know this other side to him. that's what we tried to do. that's what this guy was able to pull off. >> i like the line where you're watching bobby and jack run the country, the glamor guys, and you're in the back room, you're sitting over in the executive office looking across the avenue at the guys running the country, you're nobody. in one split second in dallas, you become the leader of the western world. you emerge, you stand up, you start giving orders lickety-split. how do you do that? that was a real switch-on.

>> well, i think that is kind of the way it happened. obviously there was the shock of it. but then he just -- he had these leadership qualities that were from all those years in congress and the senate and everything. and so he just kind of stepped up. and you know, i just -- i listened to what this guy told me to do. >> you had the accent, the texas accent, which is not exactly a southern exactly. >> you want to hear the crazy part? he's from texas. >> really? >> he agonized over the fact that his accent was from outside of houston, and lbj was from the west texas country. >> there are distinctive accents so it really plagued me. >> you're talking to richard russell, a real segregationist, he's revered, the senate building's named after him. some of these statues we argue about today, the name of the building. >> which i always questioned. >> take a look at this. he's the guy who didn't like what you did. johnson had to confront members

of his own party. it was the southern democrats, not the republicans, who opposed civil rights. here's the scene between johnson and of course the leader of the senate southern bloc, richard russell. >> the best leaders of the time, from both our states, voted for secession. and they were great men who nearly destroyed america. i don't ever want a history book to say that about me. >> hm. let me ask you something. when was the last time you had a meal with a [ muted ]? >> she's an employee, but if you think i'd have any objection to breaking bread with her, you're a fool. >> you're telling me she's your equal? >> that woman spent more time in this house except anyone except lady bird, she is family. >> i don't know how i missed the resemblance. look, what i'm talking about here is freedom.

i'm talking about the preservation of a certain way of life. a way of life that you and i both grew up with. there's nothing wrong with that. >> then why are we whispering? >> great script. i thought the fact that johnson ends up calling him a racist, to husband buddy that made him, richard russell was his godfather. >> his mentor. >> now he comes out and this southern guy, i think it's an amazing story. how johnson -- i don't think kennedy could have gotten the civil rights -- 71 votes they had to get to beat the filibuster. they had all these southern democrats. when i first came to washington, the southern democrats still ran this city. you could smell the grit in the kitchen. they ran every committee. they were segregationists. they were. now they're all republicans, of course. >> what johnson says there, he knew it, if he's going to pass this he's going to lose the south for generations. turns out it was many more than one generation. >> they kept texas.

i like the fact that texas stayed democrat and voted for humphrey and voted for carter. >> for a while. >> it did for a while. that's why i don't think it was stolen, i don't buy all those theories. congratulations. >> thank you. >> i thought you were steve schmidt in that movie. name change. it was unbelievable. but you are johnson. you got it. not just the makeup, i think you inhabited the guy. woody harrelson, rob reiner, "lbj" hits theaters nationwide november 3rd. we'll be right back. another day of work. why do you do it?

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let's see how the general's words go over overnight as everybody absorbs them. certainly he sounded better today than the president has at any time. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls -- >> the president hands off his political firestorm to the generals. >> my generals are going to keep us so safe. >> tonight, how the white house chief of staff tried to contain the president's controversy. and what we're learning about what happened in niger. >> do you think that you know enough about the deaths of the four soldiers in nigeria are ninlger? >> of course not. >> then -- a then like that should have never been written. >> why the president is blaming the finn for the steel dossier.