tonight, let's listen to trump in his own words. let's play "hardball." ♪ >> good evening, i'm chris matthews and washington, a year after donald trump's election, shocked the world, he remains unpredictable. tonight, we look at president trump in his own words. we'll examine the way he's conducted himself in the goldfish bowl of the oval office where he's delivered on the promises he made and how he's handled his many setbacks. the trump presidency has had, to put it charitably, mixed results, but it has never ceased to keep our attention.

let's take a look back at some key moments of the last year. >> i pledge to every citizen of our land that i will be president for all americans. we're in the process of putting together one of the great cabinets that has ever been assembled in the history of our nation. do you like it so far, everybody? this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. frederick douglass is an example of somebody who has done an amazing job and is being recognized. i want to pray for arnold if we can, for those writings. we had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban, but we had a bad court. i have nothing to do with russia. i have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject. nobody knew that health care could be so complicated. i never said repeal and replace obamacare. you've all heard my speeches.

i never said repeal it and replace it within 64 days. the world is a mess. i inherited a mess. whether it's the middle east, whether it's north korea, whether it's so many other things. if you don't catch a hacker, okay, it's very hard to say who did the hacking. with that being said, i'll go along with russia. could have been china. could have been a lot of different groups. i mean, had andrew jackson been a little bit later, you wouldn't have had the civil war. coming from a different world and only being a politician for a short period of time -- how am i doing? i'm doing okay. i'm president. hey, i'm president. can you believe it? right. regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. my son is a wonderful young man. he took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, but a russian lawyer. it was a short meeting.

i think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. it's called opposition research or even research into your opponent. when we finally get a chance to repeal and replace, they don't take advantage of it, so that's disappointing. i am disappointed in the attorney general. he should not have recused himself. almost immediately after he took office. and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me prior to taking office. and i would have quite simply picked somebody else. they should have approved health care last night, but you can't have everything. boy, oh boy. north korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. i think there's blame on both sides. and i have no doubt about it. and you don't have any doubt about it either. we have to close down our government, we're building that wall.

wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now. out. he's fired. he's fired! you know, the saddest thing is that because i'm the president of the united states, i am not supposed to be involved with the justice department. i'm not supposed to be involved with the fbi. i'm not supposed to be doing the kind of things that i would love to be doing. but let me tell you, the one that matters is me. i'm the only one that matters, because when it comes to it, that's what the policy is going to be. you've seen that. you've seen it strongly. >> joining me now after all that is shannon, a white house correspondent for bloomberg news, dana, a columnist for the "washington post" and jason is a policy editor at the root. i don't know where we go on that menu. i want to start with it, but what do you think, how's history going to encapsulize all that when they try to put together the first year of the donald trump american presidency? >> well, when you look at what he said in his statements, you

look at that as unprecedented. no president has ever spoken like this. made these sort of bold proclamations and statement bs, but when you look at his actions, it's pretty modest. >> good modest or bad modest. >> he hasn't accomplished that much. >> he's kept our attention, dana. i am stunned. i want to start with his historical knowledge, and jason's shaking his head. i remember don quayle used to make these comments, like the holocaust was the worst thing happened in our country's history. what about frederick douglass being just around the corner. way back in the 18th century or early 19th and this guy is talking about as one of his neighbors. what do you mean about that guy? >> and he's been recognized more and more, day by day. >> right. >> fred rerick douglass. i agree with trump, at the very

end, when he said, i'm the only one that matters. and that's the thread that's running through all of this. it's not so much that he's president of the united states, but it's about donald trump and whether he's unhappy with this country or happy with this country, how he is being perceived, how he's being believed, his attorney general has been, how the nfl owners are being, all about him in each case and it has, in a sense, been a magical voyage of discovery. >> does he believe the world exists or is just part of his experience and fan tacphantasms. it doesn't seem to matter that there's nuclear weapons in north korea. it matters how does he size up against the leader of north korea as a macho thing. >> and has that short fat guy insulted me. >> like it's a high school thing. >> look, i mean, we can't put him on the couch. we don't know and i'm certainly no expert in the subject, but he's commonly described as a narcissist who can only see things from his perspective.

but it is, at the very least, as we were saying, entertaining because the rest of us are watching him learn about frederick douglass or learning that the president's not supposed to get involved in the justice department or learning that health care reform is so hard. >> you know, he does have schtick too, jason. like he does know that he does certain techniques, like, you're fired. he knows that's a funny line because of all those years on television, firing people. he understands there's schtick to this act. >> he's a carnival barker and he's a performer and honestly, chris, if we just had different music over the background, it reminded me of that old '80s video, land of confusion by phil collins, like that strange video with puppets screaming and yelling, every other time you see him, he seems to be ranting about something and he's never pleased and it's so interesting. when you looked at george bush or obama, you look at clinton, it seemed like these guys were like, every once in a while, they would wake up and say, i'm the president. they're smiling. he doesn't seem to like the job and he's in a constant state of rage, and doesn't seem to

accomplish much. it's bizarre to see for only eight months in office. >> shannon. >> i think to both of your points, very correct, and even people who like him, his friends, people who think he's doing a great job, would agree with your point that he is a narcissist, at the end of the day. he views the world about himself and to your point also that he is constantly in a state of combat. that is where he is best is as fighting and that's something that his friends and enemies will tell you at the same time. >> he wants to hold on to his 38% or whatever it is. anyway, president trump made many promises to voters in the campaign trail and he kept some of them. some of them. such as ending the paris climate deal. let's watch. >> we're going to cancel the paris climate agreement. for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated. regulations are killing our country and our jobs. we will also immediately stop the job-killing trans-pacific partnership. >> well, some of his promises

were a lot harder to keep than he realized like prepealing president obama's health care. let's watch. >> real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing obamacare. we will also have an efficient and responsible federal budget. no more waste. no more throwing away taxpayer dollars. donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> well, in some issues, he did an about-face like labeling china a currency manipulator during the campaign but not now. let's watch. >> we will build a great wall and mexico will pay for the wall. i will direct my secretary of the treasury to labor china a currency manipulator.

i promise you, i will not be taking very long vacations if i take them at all. there's no time for vacations. we're not going to be big -- we're not going to be big on vacations. >> did you see chris christie shaking his head, like, this is very important. well, i see a lot there. the wall. there ain't no wall. there's not going to be a wall. but it was a good demagoguery thing. health care. he can't seem to do it although he might try to do it this fall, this december. he is killing regulations. business loves this stuff. he's killing all the environmental regulations, and of course china, the climate thing, he just killed it. he's trying to kill it. so some things he did that he succeeded at that nobody likes but he's done it anyway and some things he's never going to get done. >> at this point, what he's been most successful at accomplishing is undoing obama's legacy, sort of systematically going through one by one and undoing the last eight years of obama and on the health care front, doing as much as he possibly can to undo

obamacare, you know, just from the executive office. so he has been very successful at undoing those eight years of obama and the deregulation front. >> and daca too. >> yes. >> so why is he doing this? why is he spending so much effort to get rid of things just because he wants to get even with obama? >> it's partially that but it's also, that's what he can do. if you're looking at the categories of things heyer do's and things he hasn't done, he's been able to do the destructive things, undo things, he hasn't been able to do the constructive things like build a new policy. that's not unique to donald trump. nobody seems to be able to do that. >> it's easy to get rid of the individual mandate for obamacare than it is to create anything. >> or at least to defund the insurers which essentially kills obamacare but you mentioned daca, the iran deal, you know, the paris, trans-pacific, go down the line, it's quite easy to take things apart and let them fall apart. it's another thing to build it. >> jason, two things he wanted to do that i wanted him to do.

no more stupid wars and build up the country with infrastructure. i don't see a lot of infrastructure and i do worry about why he seems to want to rip the scab off the iranian deal, keep that thing hot and get that thing hopped up again, keeping the iraq war going. he doesn't -- or afghanistan, i should say. he doesn't seem to be that particularly anti-war as president. >> no, no. in fact, he's letting everything continue that obama was doing, everything continue that bush was doing and chris, i agree with you. the one thing that i thought that a president trump, who puts his name on everything, would do is i thought we'd be building. i thought he would be building. >> why not? wouldn't the unions love it. >> you would think that would be the most reasonable thing in the world. the fact that he hasn't been able to get that through, his own congress has been probably the greatest failure of this presidency from a policy standpoint. >> anyway, president trump argued that he would be a great president because he knows how to make deals. let's watch him at that. >> i will bring america to a new level. i will negotiate deals that nobody can negotiate like i do. nobody -- i know everybody that

i'm running against. don't forget, i've been in business. i've made a lot of money, which i'm going to do for the country now. i've been focused on jobs and money and deals, and that's what i do and that's what the country needs. it's supposed to be, you get along with congress and you cajole and you go back and forth and we end up with deals. if i get elected president, i'm going to be in the white house a lot. i'm not leaving. we have deals to make. who the hell wants to leave? >> well, the question is, sharon -- shannon, when's he going to cut a deal? because he doesn't seem to have a better deal with the iranians or with anybody in the world. we have no deals coming out of his asia trip, no deals, no trade pacts, nothing. and there's nothing going on with his republican congress, which he's about to lose next year probably. so if he's ever going to cut a deal, he better do it pretty soon. >> and some of these deals like trade deals faketake a long tim do. he does these incremental deals

like he'll get a country to buy some military equipment in exchange for something but those are very marginal deals. the biggest thing i'm surprised about is congress and you would have thought that possibly with all the -- he would have been able to work out some better deals and negotiations with congress, but obviously, unlike in past deals where you are negotiating one-on-one with someone, congress, you're negotiating with dozens if not hundreds of people at a time and that really caught him off guard and now it's almost like he's given up his hands and said, i just can't do a deal with these people. >> the potential that he had and still theoretically has is he's not traditionally a republican or a democrat. he's there for himself. so he could reach across the aisle in a way that others haven't but by my count, he's made exactly one deal across with the democrats and that was just this temporary three-month extension of the spending deal. >> not on the tax deal. >> he really hasn't in any big way and i think he just got caught up in the traditional washington zero-sum politics and that his team is the republican. democrats certainly aren't going

to reach out and try to help him. and it's been politics as usual albeit with a more flamboyant guy. >> why doesn't he cut deals with chuck schumer? why is it always stuck to that need to get 50 out of 52 republicans in the senate, the same old, same old every time and all it takes is three republicans to say no and it all crashes and burns. why doesn't he try to reach over and grab five or ten from the other side or write a tax bill the democrats are willing to go along with. >> i don't think donald trump understands how to make a deal when he's on equal footing. most of his deal making has been, i've got money, you need me. he's talking to people who say, i don't need you to get reelected. i don't need your assistance. everyone around him is cutting deals. jared kushner, papadopoulos. >> deals about not going to prison for a long time. anyway, coming up, trump's trouble with the truth. "the washington post" happen counting up trump's falsehoods.

it's an average of more than five a day. five and a half a day. we've got some of the biggest whoppers, his all-time favorites or our all-time favorites of his. plus all the people, places, or things trump has gone on twitter to insult. this is "hardball." but the real gift isn't what's inside the box. it's what's inside the person who opens it. ♪ give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions- and open up a world of possibilities. save 40% at ancestrydna.com. the lowest price of the year! ends monday. when i met my team at ctca, they put together a comprehensive plan, that gave me an opportunity to accomplish my goals, and my dreams. learn more at cancercenter.com

welcome back to "hardball." "the washington post" has been tracking off the president's falsehoods since taking office in january, and last week, it reported that trump makes an average of five and a half false or misleading claims a day. and is on track to reach 1,999 claims by the end of his first year in office. here are a few of his favorite most-repeated claims. let's watch. >> i have to say, the whole russian thing is what it's turned out to be. this was the democrats coming up with an excuse for losing an election. the whole russian thing was an

excuse for the democrats losing the election and it turns out to be just one excuse. obamacare is a disaster. it's virtually dead as far as i'm concerned, it really is dead. and i predicted that a long time ago. president obama, after a long period of time, was able to finally push it through, but pushed through something that's now failed, really failing badly. so, the insurance companies have made a fortune with obamacare, an absolute fortune. obamacare is a wreck. it's a mess. it's destroying lives. obamacare is finished. it's dead. it's gone. it's no longer -- you shouldn't even mention -- it's gone. there is no such thing as obamacare anymore. we're the highest tacked country in the world. we are having not only reform. we're having the largest tax cuts in the history of our country. we're working to give the american people a giant tax cut for christmas. we are giving them a big, beautiful christmas present in the form of a tremendous tax cut. it will be the biggest cut in the history of our country. >> we're back with our panel.

shannon, dana, and jason. jason, from your end, why does he do? ? does it matter? does truth matter? you're entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts, but he has his own facts. >> but also, we're in a unique place as far as his support base. he has a support base that is absolutely convinced that no matter what trump says, that his intentions to do it are more important than if i accomplishes it. almost no politician has ever had that much elasticity. he can say, i want to do this, and medical repono matter what accomplish, his supporters say, hey, he tried. >> he's got "fox & friends." he's got hannity at night. laura ingram. they tend to say, yeah. >> he's operating within that echo chamber and i also think it's truth and it's not clear to me that he knows that the things he's saying are not true. like he seems to believe that whatever the last thing -- >> did he believe obama was an illegal immigrant? >> who knows -- >> you said you think he might

it. did he believe that? >> his -- the guy who wrote his autobiography with him says he's a guy who seems to believe that whatever he says is true or at least ought to be true and i think that's why in our "washington post" count, you see there were 50 different lies or falsehoods that he said more than 30 times apiece. so, it's -- it's just part of the program. it's what he does. >> you know, down south, they say, it like to rain. he's like it to be the truth. how do you know what he'd like to believe? i think he says things in his own interest. he could sell a car that was a junker, a lemon, and tell you this is the best car that was ever on wheels. >> it's a salesman pitch. >> but i think it's the salesman. it's the overstatement, the claim that is only in his interest to make and has nothing to do with the truth. >> and one that stuck with me is he used to say he was the biggest real estate developer in new york when he knew he wasn't the case. one of his closest friends was a

much bigger real estate developer in new york. >> mort zuckerman. they laugh at him. >> so i think some of it's marketing but to dana's point too, i think sometimes his staff has spin it and twisted it in a way that it was the biggest inauguration crowd. >> liberace was the world's greatest pianist, anyway. the president has exaggerated how great his presidency has been. no surprise there. let's watch. >> there has never been a presidency that's done so much in such a short period of time. we're unleashing a new era of american prosperity, perhaps like we've never seen before. we have the biggest audience in the history of inaugural speeches. in the last ten months, we have followed through on one promise after another. i didn't have a schedule, but if i did have a schedule, i would say we are substantially ahead of schedule.

>> i don't have a schedule -- but if i did have a schedule, that would be also better than anybody else. do you wonder what this guy's golf cart looks like. let's see how i did here. three, two, one. >> well, he grades himself along the way too. and he gets an a-plus for everything, including the response to the hurricane. >> is he a part of our new culture, everybody gets a trophy? starting with me for being me. >> someone gave me the advice once on your annual performance review, you know, don't ever be objective about, well, you know, i really could have done better. i did great. i was the best. i'm a number 10. i'm outperforming all my expectations. just why not? why not say you're doing it. why not? >> i don't get it but i think this bombastic p.t. barnum part of his personality, he's his own advance man, his own up-up man we used to say in massachusetts. the guy who says the governor's here. he says, donald trump is here. >> he's pretended to be his own pr guy. remember the john or whatever?

he does this. but also what he has perfected and again, you know, his supporters bhooef it a supporters believe it and republicans go along with it, whenever something doesn't turn out to be what he wants, it's not his fault. i did this. congress stood in my way. >> i bet there are people watching right now saying, why are you laughing about this guy? there is a part of it that is comic as well as tragic. it is ludicrous, his behavior, and the only way you can react to it is to tighten your -- and go, i'm so mad. you can't be constantly mad about a clownish act. anyway, "the new york times" has meticulously examined president trump's twitter account to make a list of all the people, places and things trump has insulted on twitter. he's on track to reach 650 by the end of his first term. first? please. term. he hit nearly all his favorite targets in one tweet. does the fake news media remember when hillary clinton as secretary of state was begging russia to be our friend with the misspelled reset button?

obama tried also but he had zero chemistry with putin. >> why aren't the nfl players, #stand for our anthem. how'd you miss the nfl players in that too? >> i think the greatest tragedy of twitter going to 280 characters is it's doubled our chances of going to war. >> 6:30, he starts. >> you know when he gets the washingt"washington post"? 6:30 in the morning and that's when he begins. >> you can tell when he's watching tv and reading the newspaper because that's when he starts the twitter. >> but he doesn't watch much television, he says. >> and like everything he has said, that's a hundred percent true. >> up next, trump's single-minded dismantling of all things obama. he's got some sort of, don't you think, obsession with his predecessor. this is "hardball." they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police.

usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt. i feel like we're being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. we're the webber family and we are usaa members for life. usaa, get your insurance quote today. if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent

infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. grandma's. aunt stacy's. what are the reasons you care for your heart? qunol coq10 with 3x better absorption has the #1 cardiologist recommended form of coq10 to support heart health. qunol, the better coq10. they appear out of nowhere. my secret visitors. appearing next to me in plain sight. hallucinations and delusions. these are the unknown parts

of living with parkinson's disease. what stories they tell. but for my ears only. what plots they unfold. but only in my mind. over 50% of people with parkinson's will experience hallucinations or delusions during the course of their disease. and these can worsen over time, making things even more challenging. but there are advances that have led to treatment options that can help. if someone you love has parkinson's and is experiencing hallucinations or delusions, talk to your parkinson's specialist. because there's more to parkinson's. my visitors should be the ones i want to see. learn more at moretoparkinsons.com

welcome back to "hardball." it's been evident ever since he pushed that bogus claim that his predecess predecessor was born in kenya that donald trump holds a deep personal grudge against former president obama. even after winning the white house, trump seems intent on upstaging his perredecessor. let's take a look back at some of the things he said about obama and the obama administration over his last ten months in office. >> to be honest, i inherited a mess. it's a mess. at home and abroad.

a mess. in the last eight years, the past administration has put on more new debt than nearly all of the other presidents combined. the iran deal made by the previous administration is one of the worst deals i have ever witnessed. i've ended the obama administration's war on coal. and we've gotten rid of a lot of really bad pieces that were signed by president obama, believe me. obamacare is collapsing. it's dead. it's gone. they voted because they believe the lies of president obama. i don't draw red lines. president obama drew a red line and i was the one that made it look a little bit better than it was, but that could have been done a lot sooner. they asked me, what about race relations in the united states? now, i have to say, they were pretty bad under barack obama. that i can tell you. you look what happened with bush, you look what happened

with obama -- obama, he didn't even want to talk about it. i talk. it's about time somebody has to do it. i would like to denuke the world. i know that president obama said global warming is the biggest threat. i totally disagree. barack obama never said it took place because of radical islamic terrorists. he never said that. he doesn't have to say. if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. a lot of them didn't make calls. i like to call when it's appropriate. there is another absolutely terrible deal from the previous administration. see how nice i am. i say, the previous administration as opposed to the obama administration. >> anyway, we're back with our guests, shannon, dana, and jason. this revenge talk against obama, did it start with that humiliating rift that the former president did on him at the press dinner a couple years ago

when he made fun of him for being the moderator of that television show, "apprentice." >> as i recall, trump was sitting with the "washington post" at the time and that was one of his lowest moments. i think it may have something to do with that. and in fairness to trump, previous presidents have always bashed their predecessor. that part's not new. the obsession really is. but i think that's something in the trump psyche. he needs to have an opponent to go against. you could play a similar reel about hillary clinton. you certainly could during the campaign with little macrco and lying ted and low energy jeb. >> it's interesting that you slowed down when you said, low energy. >> low energy. but there's something extra about obama, and he benefits -- the reason he's president is because of a backlash to obama and unfortunately, there is, i believe, a racial component in that that drives everything from the -- >> well, the base of his base, yeah. you know, shannon, it seems to

me that he keeps obama in the news. the former president is sort of retired until very recently. he hasn't been out there beating the drum for the democratic party or raising a whole lot of money. he sort of stepped back, which is the dignified way to go. but this guy keeps bringing him back. >> yeah. and for those who like obama, it, i think, even elevates obama and the importance of his eight years and how much they like him. i think it makes him rally around obama more. but for those who dislike obama, which there is a large, you know, personcentage of this couy that comprised trump's base, i think he knew there was a lot of dissatisfaction among people with obama, and i think that's what he has tried to tap into. they really like his attacks on obama. >> you know, jason, i hate to throw this at you, but i will. it just seems like he only plays to the whites. >> yeah. >> i mean it. whether it's immigrant people generally or it's from below the border or latinos or it's muslims, generally. in fact, when you sahe says mus

that audience applauds because of how much they don't like muslims. and african-americans with that. i thought the birtherism thing was the build the first 20% of his coalition athen build on th hating of mexicans and muslims. it was like a big cake. right? >> yeah. i mean, his loathing -- it's a multilayered cake with lots of white slices and maybe some brown ones at the top. but here's the thing. his antipathy toward obama -- >> angel food. >> exactly. he's angry another obat obama ft being successful but for being a successful black guy and part of this is an anathema to how trump sees himself. and this is really key. the more he goes after obama, just last week, "snl" does a sketch, barack, we want you back. if you strike me down, i'll come back more powerful. the fact that he keeps talking about obama just aggrandizes what obama did and he makes the

president more powerful -- former president more powerful every time he talks about them. >> i do agree that there are racial tensions underneath all this obama attacking and maybe he doesn't even intend it to be that. but it is perceived that way and certainly by the alt-right and racist elements in the country. they perceive it to be about race. same thing with the persistent attacks on black athletes. >> i forgot. the take the knee guys. making it into s.o.b.s. they called them -- you can say i disagree with them. it's a good argument on both sides. maybe it's not the proper way to show your anger but to call them s.o.b.s. >> or with the ucla players, sort of talking down. >> yeah, i know. we're going to have some fun now. if those people are deadly serious, you may want to watch something else for the next few minutes. i'm sorry, this is what he is. just like fredo in "the god father", trump wants us to know he's smart.

i'm a smart one. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball." what did you say? the phone line can be a lifeline to the outside world. i'm sorry i just can't understand you. but for those with hearing loss... i'm gonna hang up now. ...it can be challenging to use.

making it difficult to understand important information or emergency situations. the captioncall phone has a large, easy-to-read screen that quickly displays written captions of what your callers are saying... learn how to get a captioncall phone at no-cost, plus free captioning service and free installation. go to captioncall.com and enter the code below. why is there no charge? because it's a government administered service, funded by everyone who pays a phone bill including you! audiologist recommended, captioncall turns your caller's voice into written captions. hello, mrs. johnson? yes. this is joyce at dr. william's office. we have an update on your prescription. make sure your phone is your lifeline with captioncall. learn how you can get a captioncall phone at no-cost plus free captioning service and free installation. go to captioncall.com and enter the code below.

i'm milissa. the white house is condemning an attack at a mosque popular with sufi muslims in egypt's sinai peninsula. people were killed when militants attacked with explosives and gunfire. lawyers for former trump aide have cut ties with lawyers for the president and his family. it could signal flynn is cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. and cnbc says a record number of shoppers stayed home this year, finding deals on their smartphones instead. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." another thing that separates president trump from his predecessors is the way he talks about his own intellect. throughout his campaign and his first year in office, president trump has made it a point to

boast about his intelligence. let's watch a few examples. >> so here i am, great schools, great brain, great success. i went to an ivy league school. i'm very highly educated. i know words -- i have the best words. look, i went to the great what are the -- wharton school of finance. i was a good student. i always hear about the elite. the elite? i went to better schools than they did. i was a better student than they were. if putin likes me and if he thinks i'm a good, smart person, which, you know, i hope he believes it. i hope i am -- actually, he's right. i am brilliant, you know that. and then they say, is donald trump an intellectual? trust me, i'm like a smart person. >> well, as i mentioned before, trump's apparent need to prove his intelligence is reminiscent of fredo who famously insisted that he was smart.

here he goes. >> i can handle things. i'm smart! not like everybody says! like dumb. i'm smart and i want respect! >> we're back with our guests, shannon, jason. it would be ludicrous to compare that to anybody but donald trump. i know words. i have great words. what does that mean? i have great words. >> i was out doing the departure when he walks to get on marine one and he did this little press conference with the reporters and that was one of those moments where he looked at the gaggle of reporters and said, i'm smart. i went to good schools. he was still trying to convince us, like, why don't you like me? and still trying to seek our approval and still that guy from queens who wants everyone to like him and wants everyone to think he's smart and he's a big deal. >> even fredo never challenged his brother to an iq test, as this president did with his own secretary of state. can you imagine? >> fredo unfortunately is not

where you want to end up in the canoe with the guy behind you as you were saying the hail mary and all an assassination plot. it was terrible. >> you don't want to wind up that way. >> sad. anyway, i think to have to claim you're smart is probably the first example of your not being smart. >> when the emperor says, i'm the emperor, you know the empire is done. michael jordan never has to say he's the best. when you know what you are, you don't have to say it and the fact that he's constantly talking about what he is and -- >> i'll give you two examples of bragging at work. babe ruth. he pointed to center field and hit the ball over the center field wall. 350 feet. that's one. ready? muhammad ali, six rounds. i'm sorry, he would do it. he delivered. this guy doesn't deliver. it's all right to brag if you're actually going to do it. >> it's not bragging if you've really done it. >> who said that? muhammad ali. >> it was fredo. >> anyway, though, trump says he's smart. it seems like health care may have outsmarted him. let's watch.

>> i have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject. nobody knew that health care could be so complicated. >> hillary clinton taught us that in the '90s. hillary waded into that pool first and saw how deeply confrontational it is, the doctors, the insurance companies, the pharmaceuticals, everybody's got their hand in this thing and everybody wants a bigger piece. >> and he's done a -- there's been a few moments like that where he says, listen, this is tough stuff. this is harder than anyone would have thought. and yes, it is. >> except american history should have taught him all of that. >> and you had no previous political experience, you never held a political office. you only knew people in washington from fundraisers, yes, it is difficult, and if you acknowledge that, people might give you an easier time. >> dana? >> you know, the truth is, for somebody who criticizes trump for all kinds of things, i don't think the guy is dumb by any stretch. you don't get to this place by being dumb. he's not aware of a lot of the things that he needs to do. he's not versed in the business

of governing. >> for example, name the -- name the areas, dana, you know nothing about. come clean. >> we could talk movies and sports, i might come up missing. manhattan real estate. >> i'll give you hockey. i never grew up. the flyers came to filphilly af i left. i'm sorry. when versace was killed, i said, who is he? i had no idea who he was. i know nothing about fashion or design but i'm allowed to. anyway, i'm not a designer. secretary of state rex tillerson expressed a different view of president trump's intellect. he called president trump a moron after a july 20th meeting at the pentagon with members of trump's national security team and cabinet officials. that's according to nbc news. a pretty good source. what do you think, jason? moron. overheard the word? i'm going to speak more on that issue, remember "saturday night live"? >> i want to talk more on that. >> i don't think there was any confusion there. and part of it -- that's why he's constantly saying, oh, i feel so smart and intelligent. but i'll tell you this. especially when it comes to health care. the problem -- trump has done

some terrible things on race and national security but health care is the single greatest thing that i don't just blame him. i blame the whole republican party. you had eight years to have a plan. you had one job. and the fact that they couldn't come up with a plan -- >> but the thing, jason, the great irony is, obama did their plan. >> exactly. >> it was from heritage foundation. it was a conservative approach. it wasn't single pair or medicare for all. it was basically a corporate business solution. >> exactly. >> relying on lots of profits for the insurance world. lots of -- and pharmaceutical business loved this thing. >> yes. >> right. >> and to go back to an earlier point, if he didn't despise everything obama did so much, he could have fixed it. >> why doesn't he do what we all recognize is right to do and he doesn't do it? why doesn't he do what we tell him to do. >> the best part of that tillerson thing is he went on and on about how nbc was reporting on this nonsense but he did not actually deny that he called the president of the united states a moron. >> he couldn't admit it either. there's another character from the movies that trump sometimes takes after.

jimmy two-times of the film, "goodfellas." that's ahead. this is "hardball" where the action is. a trip back to the dthe doctor's office, mean just for a shot. but why go back there, when you can stay home... ...with neulasta onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. neulasta helps reduce infection risk by boosting your white blood cell count, which strengthens your immune system. in a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%... ...a 94% decrease.

applied the day of chemo, neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to neulasta or neupogen (filgrastim). ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. so why go back there? if you'd rather be home, ask your doctor about neulasta onpro.

aand it's now just $59! of the season. but the real gift isn't what's inside the box. it's what's inside the person who opens it. ♪ give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions- and open up a world of possibilities. save 40% at ancestrydna.com. the lowest price of the year! ends monday. welcome back to "hardball." i mentioned before that president trump reminds me of a character from the "goodfellas" movie, jimmy two times. let's watch. >> jimmy two times. who got that nickname because he said everything twice like. >> i'm going to go get the

papers. get the papers. >> here is our own president two times. >> chicago is a disaster. it's a total disaster. >> he doesn't stop. he doesn't stop. >> our warmest admiration for this ancient culture. it's an ancient culture and its customs are ancient. >> jason, this is a hot potato. i think it's street corner english in all ethnic groups. i've heard it before growing up in philly and guys -- you know, it's time to get out of here. it's time to get out of here. i think it is a -- what is it -- i don't know what you would call it, but it is funny to hear it from a well-educated president. >> right. a very smart president. he has the best words. so much so he has to use them twice or people won't understand him. i think it's a matter -- i think it's a mixture of two things, won, he may wonder if people are really listening to him, and, two, i don't know if he knows

what to say. as good as he is at being spontaneous, in these formal settings he's anxious and repeats himself because he doesn't know the next thing to st say if he's just riffing. >> he's reading words that somebody else wrote for him. probably reading it for the first time. so he goes blah-blah-blah ancient culture. oh, yeah, ancient culture, really important. he's agreeing with the guy who wrote the speech, but, really, he's just agreeing with himself. >> apparently. >> if on the -- >> he's the president of the united states. we've got to keep reminding ourselves. >> it might also be a bit of branding, though, on some of these things. points he wants to emphasize. repeat it. sometimes you've got to over and over and over repeat it and bang people over the heads. i would agree, sometimes on the formal remarks. he also does something where he'll be reading from the teleprompter it sounds scripted and awkward and he'll throw in a trumpian phrase, and i tell you, it is going to be like we have

never seen before. >> believe me. >> you believe me. and then get back into the, you know, kind -- he has to inject a little bit of him into this. >> the bigger question i raised at the beginning of this hour, which is this black friday, if you will. is the question of how he's managed to keep our attention. i mean every morning he gets up and he tweets. that's his teak. h by 6:30 into the morning. i listen to sirius xm he has already made news by 6:30 in the morning. what do we make of this guy's ability to command our attention? you can't go to an evening in washington, i'm on one side, on the other side is probably the same. it's all about trump. we're saying he only talks about himself. he's the person that everybody talks about, dana. you're the expert. you're the satirist. your column is fabulous because you've got great material. >> i said the at the beginning of this show. this is a great show, chris. >> we picked that up. >> at the very beginning, we

said the one true thing is it all about -- >> how does he get us in on the story? >> he has succeeded in gaining attention, but the whole idea of the bully pulpit is you use it to advance your agenda. he's got all of your attention. >> jimmy carter, who i liked -- i pay tribute to, could have kept our attention to 24/7. he's constantly putting on a reality show that's never stopping. when he got elected president in the electoral college he began a four-year reality show 24/7. >> a four to eight-year reality show. i'm old enough to remember when people complained that obama gave too many speeches. remember that? >> overexposure. >> he's overexposed. there is no overexposure. >> for trump? >> he doesn't have a policy agenda, he has a trump agenda and the trump agenda is to make sure it's constantly focused on him between twitter. >> how does he do it? >> because he taps into the inexhaustible fuel of american politics, which is rage. >> rage?

>> he brings people out that don't like him. >> my dad when i was growing up said i could have a 24-hour radio show. i could have one. i'm trying to be novel and interesting and have a point, but it's something -- it's closer to his in talking, this thing inside him that has to constantly be enraged, constantly passionate about being him. >> exactly. >> i don't think most of us could make this up, you know. who would have instinctively thought to go after nfl players, ucla basketball players and say you should thank the president of china. to go after this gold-star woman. >> i should have left them in jail. >> to go after gold-star families on twitter. most people, it would have never crossed their mind to go after some of these things. so, yeah, they are so outside of the realm of anyone's idea of possible that we can't stop. >> that's a hell of a list. i don't care if african-americans don't like me. i don't care if -- >> gold-star families.

>> hispanics don't like me. i don't care if muslims don't like me. i don't care because i've got scranton, i've got eerie. what's he talking about. >> there you go. i've got central iowa. >> this is why they haven't replaced obamacare. why we still don't have a tax bill or immigration legislation or infrastructure or anything else, it's because we keep getting distracted. we're very willing, particularly those of us in the media to follow the distractions and make it all about donald trump. nothing's happened. >> if hillary were president we'd be talking about full funding for title 28 programs. anyway, we'll be right back after this. when you've got...

...nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea! nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea! here's pepto bismol! ah. nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. discover card. i justis this for real?match, yep. we match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo!

get a dollar-for-dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover.

i want to thank shannon pettypiece and dana milbank and jason johnson. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts tonight. tonight on "all in." >> there's been no collusion, no obstruction and virtually everyone agrees to that. >> what we know about the investigation into president trump. >> there was no collusion between us and russia. >> the case for collusion. >> the issue of collusion is still open. >> the case for obstruction. >> i take the president at his word that i was fired because of the russia investigation. >> and what following the money could reveal. >> we all know why donald trump isn't releasing his taxes, he's hiding something. >> when "all in" starts right now. good evening fro