and ben says we also provide scholarships for girls to go to high school in malawi where going to high school is not free. >> tonight, a damning story about conspiracy things, still questions president obama's birthplace. it comes after attacks between the democrats and president, including the old empty char stunt and a missile launch by north korea that has caused genuine worry and what donald trump told friends about the russia investigation. "the 11th hour" begins right now. >> on a tuesday night, good evening once again from our nbc

news headquarters here in new york. this was day 313 of the trump administration. it brings two new reports that offer a glimpse into the president's thinking as he tries to pass his tax bill pr, as he faces a growing russia investigation and a new look at several sexual harassment accusations that women have made against him. we'll get to all of it here. the first report of "the washington post" boils down to something near and dear to the president's heart and that's branding. it says this, quote, trump has sought to paint the rosiest picture of his presidency and character and has tried to will others to see it his way, like the big promises salesman he once was. the second piece from the the "new york times" just tonight paints a picture of a president peddling conspiracy theories and questioning the authenticity of

his own voice on the "access hollywood" tape saying he wanted to investigate it. the report goes on, quote, mr. trump's falsehoods about the "access hollywood" tape are part of his lifelong habit of attempting to create and sell his own version of reality. advisers say he continues to privately harbor a handful of conspiracy theories that have no grounding in fact. in recent months they say mr. trump has used closed door conversations to question the authenticity of president barack obama's birth certificate. he has also repeatedly claimed that he lost the popular vote last year because of widespread voter fraud according to advisers and lawmakers. mr. trump's journey into the realm of manufactured facts have been frequent enough that his own staff has sought to nudge friendly lawmakers to ask questions of mr. trump in meetings that will steer him towards safer terrain.

this look inside what trump says privately comes as he put on a public display today, ba'ath at the capitol and at the white house. first he visited republican senators right before the budget committee voted to pass the party's tax plan on a party-line basis. here's how he described the meeting to reporters. >> it's going to have lots of adjustments before it ends but the end result would be a very, very massive, the largest in the history of our country tax cut and lots of good things are going to happen. so we had a good day today. we had a phenomenal meeting with the republican senators. we had -- it was very special that meeting. in many respects i wish could you have been inside that room. it was very, very special, the camaraderie. it was somewhat of a love fest. they want to see it happen. >> earlier in the day, a few hours before he was set to meet with leaders for both parties at the white house, he wrote this on twitter and this is important.

"meeting with chuck and nancy today about keeping government open and working. problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our country unchecked, are weak on crime and want to substantially raise taxes. i don't see a deal." well, when they saw that, schumer and pelosi decided against attending the meeting with the president, which led to this appearance by the president, please note the chairs left empty for dramatic effect. >> chuck schumer and nancy pelosi did not show up for our meeting today. i'm not really that surprised. we have a lot of differences. they're weak on crime, they're weak on illegal immigration, they want the illegal folks to come pouring into our border and a lot of problems are being caused, although we've stopped it to a large extent, as much as you can without the wall, which we're going to get.

they want tax increases and we want tax decreases. they've been all talk and no action. now it's not even talk. >> nicole wallace later said it was staged like an eighth grade play. if the empty chairs were at all ambiguous as a visual, for those who missed the point, there were name placards for both schumer and pelosi both absent. our fanl, peter baker, correspondent for the "new york times," ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post," one of the authors of the piece we just quoted and sam styne, all three are msnbc political analysts. peter, i'd like to begin with you. can you shed some light on the thinking of this man who you so closely study, especially in recent months. we saw him on camera today, we heard his voice, we see the political skull duggery he's

about and then tonight we hear from aides, from elected representatives, this is a guy still pushing conspiracy theories. >> this is not new. this is who donald trump has been all along. he creates narratives in his own mind and then either convinces himself or tries to convince others that they're true. we've seen this time and time again, whether it's the obama birth certificate conspiracy theory, the obama supposedly wire tapping trump tower, whether it's the notion that he somehow won the popular vote but was cleated out it of by three million phantom voters out there who all voted against him. not only does he create narratives, he is immune to any facts presented to him that are con trir trairry to that, to th that lee listens to his own voice that acknowledges it's true, he's twisted himself around to expect this is fake in

some way. it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. this is something we knew before the election. >> sam, i am not a mental health professional, i may need one before this is over. i've heard them talk about that they have not treated the president but this is one of the markers of narcissism, needing your world to adhere to your story, all of it has to be together as a package going forward. the problem is on a tay like today with all of this happening, if the north koreans had figured out a way to straighten out the track of a missile like today's, we may be yanked into a very different story. >> yeah. i want to step back for a second and just tell the viewer how remarkable it is that we're even talking about this. this used to be a political train that people didn't touch, arm chair psychology, the goldwater rule, stuff like that where you are weren't supposed to diagnose or attempt to

diagnose or even talk about the psychology of a president. but we are at this point in large part because trump has brought us here, where he questions realities, where he creates his own realities and the real existential question is does he believe the universe he's creating or is this all perpetuated for a larger means? i don't think anybody does know. that's the critical question. then the other critical question you raise, how much is this distraction and is he distracting himself from a bigger picture and bigger problems? north korea is the most morning thing that happened today but we're also in the midst of a massive tax overall in this country. we're wondering is trump really fundamentally believing that obama's birth certificate is fake. it's a bit of mixed priorities here. >> you're absolutely right to call this uncomfortable territory. this is new ground.

we don't talk about the mental health of our president. seems to me the last time this rose to the public's fear was richard nixon during times of what's now written about heavy drinking, heavy delusion in the final days of his presidency. ashley, there's another thing and that is mar-a-lago. this president has a kind of terrarium atmosphere of friends and paying guests that become his world of contact for the days he is down there and it's very important because of what he takes away, the echo chamber effect that he takes away from these encounters. >> that's exactly right. it's sort of an atmosphere of cour courtisans coming to pay their respects to their king. during the holiday a lot of wealthy club members were going up to him and giving him

messages that fit into the reality he was trying to great, which is you're doing a great job, you do have all of these accomplishments and the media just simply isn't reflecting that. that was a message he internalized, he stewed over and he was happy to hear as it aligns with what he said. you'll notice his first tweet back on his first day back on monday was one attacking the media and that we will be vying for a fake news trophy. it's an environment where he's a little unfettered. a lot of aides didn't go down with him, he was talking to friends freely there and calling friends freely on the phone but he does come back with some of these ideas in his head that are often based in conspiracy theory. >> peter baker, you're a journalist but of course first and foremost a citizen and a patriot. i know you've reflected on the following -- for you to do your job, think about what has to happen. staff members around this

president have to either react with such humor or alarm as to share with people like you the stories, the behavior they are witnessing in the chief executive of our country. >> that's true and you hear from people who have spent a lot of time with president trump, even those who really admire him, concern about these kinds of episodes, concerns that lee undermines his own credibility by fighting fights that are unnecessary and seemingly at odds with reality around him. and it's, you know, in every white house of course every president engages in a certain amount of myth making and myth building about their own, you know, presidencies, how they got there, where they came from, but i can't remember one that seemed so intensely and persistently at odds with the facts as we seem to know them. now, as part and parcel of the

environment in which we're in as well, we live in an environment where if you want to find a different set of facts, alternative facts to coin a phrase, you can find them. on the internet, you can find them on television, you can find them in various places and it doesn't matter how far fetched they might seem, somebody somewhere is going to give it a veneer of respectability these days. so people latch on to these theories and latch on to these sort of separate realities and we now see somebody in the oval office doing that. >> sam stein, by our count 63 million americans give or take voted for this president. of that base of voters, how many do you think are excited by the prospect of relitigating whether an american-born former president was actually from kenya? >> i haven't taken a poll. i would actually gather that a fair amount will believe whatever trump tells them to believe and are firmly in belief

that the birth certificate is a forgery to this day. like peter said, you can find a set of data points -- they're not really data points, let's be honest. you can find a set of things that reflect your world view anywhere on the internet. that's what happens here. the thing that we should note, though, is this isn't trump just creating his own narrative as he sees fit, this is trump cherry picking things he wants to be factual. he come completely believes roy moore's accusers. but he also now doesn't believe that he himself was on tape on the "access hollywood" point. those things don't compute with each other. they are selectively cherry picking things to fit his own political ends. this is not him creating a narrative a ala j.f.k. and

camelot. he is going to be deliver as few speeches on the senate floor, the first of which will be about truth in the american political system but looks to be designed at going after president trump. >> ashley, how much of today seemed normal, the histrionics, what nicole wallace called the eighth grade play, the back and forth between schumer, pelosi and trump that happens in washington? >> i think it goes to peter's point of what are we measuring this against. is it normal compared to past presidencies? probably not. i think it stands in stark opposition. is it normal compared to the way president trump has comported himself thus far, having a sense of the dramatic and a flair for images and what two empty chairs might signal and a tweet that blows up the best laid plans in talking about things that have nothing to do with the legislate of agenda of the day? sure, at this point in trump's presidency, it is fairly normal.

>> peter, i ask this with a straight face. do you think the president is a wear on a tax bill it's the rules we've become accustomed to recently, 50 votes. then when you go to funding government continuity, it's 60. do you think he is aware he is going to need dems? >> well, you know, he seemed to be aware of this back in september when he first cut a deal to keep the government open until december. he seemed to understand that was a short-term, punt the ball down the road and ultimately he would have to work across party lines in order to make that happen. but today is a little bit of theater and stunt. it doesn't necessarily mean all that much. when the president said i don't see a deal here, that's his opening line and we presume the democrats make their opening line. fine, both sides are posturing, we have the empty chairs. none of them necessarily means all that much if they're serious about coming together and ultimately keeping the

government open. we don't know whether they are serious about that or whether they do see some advantage in a confrontation that leads to a government shutdown that one side will try to blame on the other. not so important if we get to the final outcome. we just doesn't knn't know what outcome will be. >> sam, do you think we see a government shutdown, a first ever when the white house, senate and house are controlled by the same party? >> i honestly wouldn't be surprised because i think trump has it within himself to do this. again, he controls all the powers. if he wants a deal, it's there. he had a deal with schumer and pelosi that he blew up over daca. but it is something i can see him do. you want to shut down the government? i'm blame you, you'll get the deal and people will reward me with a better deal. >> we are grateful to have guests of your caliber. thank you to the three of you. coming up, why the president

believes this russia investigation will be over by year's end and that he will no doubt be in the clear. and up next, what the launch of the latest missile by north korea means in terms of their reach in that region and beyond. that and much more as we continue on a busy tuesday night. (victoria vo) when i was twelve, i started volunteering for national parks. i go out and demonstrate to people what life was like in the eighteenth century. you can have almost a spiritual experience with the beauty of nature or with a connection with the past. there's no better place to find that than a national park, which preserves that beauty and the history. (vo) the subaru share the love event has donated over six-point-five million dollars to help the national parks. get a new subaru and we'll donate two hundred fifty dollars more. (victoria) ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪

a missile was launched a little while ago from north korea. i will only tell you that we will take care of it. it is a situation that we will handle. >> mr. president --

[ inaudible ]. >> does it change anything about your basic approach to dealing with them? >> nothing changed. nothing changed. we have a very serious approach and nothing changed. we take it very seriously. >> the threat from north korea has become a lot more serious. tonight the associated press is reporting that in a special state tv broadcast, of course there is no other kind, north korea announced it has successfully launched what it says is a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile. it's one some experts could put the east coast of the u.s. within kim jong un's reach. earlier today the pentagon also confirmed the launch of this icbm. north korea fired its last missile on september 15th. let's look at this latest launch. it followed a steep arc. it went up high, give or take 3,000 miles up into the sky. the international space station

only orbits around 200 miles up. this was at 3,000. it traveled out about 600 miles into the sea. it crashed harmlessly into the ocean off the japanese coast. it was in the air for a total of 54 minutes. and the significance of the route of flight today is this -- experts believe a lower arc would of course mean greater distance. that's what potentially put some big, important american population centers within reach. here was the defense secretary, james mattis, on this topic today. >> it went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they've taken. it's a research and development effort on their part to continue buildings ballistic missile that could threaten everywhere in the world basically. in response the south koreans have fired some pinpoint missiles into the water to make certain north korea understands they could be taken under fire by our ally.

but the bottom line is it's a continued effort to build -- a ballistic missile threat that endangers world peace, regional peace and certainly the united states. >> tonight we're told the president discussed the actions of the north with the leaders of both south korea and japan and secretary of state rex tillerson released a statement saying diplomatic options remain viable and open for now. but senator lindsey graham who sits on armed services was less optimistic tonight. >> reporter: senator, this north korean missile launch, are we out of options at this point? >> not yet but we're getting closer. >> with us tonight, bill richardson, former new mexico governor, he has successful negotiated for the release of americans held in north korea and remains an expert on that country and that part of the world.

ambassador, how serious was today's launch? >> well, it was very serious because this is a continuing situation that north korea is upgrading its technological capabilities with intercontinental ballistic missiles reaching close to,0 8,0 miles, which is basically washington d.c., capability of going up to 3,000 miles in the air, the biggest height it's ever had. i think it reached a point where north korea is saying they now have enough offensive and defensive capabilities in their nuclear program to hopefully be ready to negotiate. that's the hope. i mean, they've said that publicly. once they reach the stage, they're ready to negotiate. now, you know, i was hopeful because for over two months, 74 days, they hadn't shot a ballistic missile. the state department had said if it's 60 days without shooting a

ballistic missile, maybe we can negotiate. they've said that publicly. but now i think after the designation of north korea as a terrorist state, the president calling the north korean names, it's now back to a real escalation. and that worries me enormously. >> i kind of can't believe the loose talk of warfare with north korea. you hear it on occasion in washington. it's really bracing if people stop and think what they mean, but it's one of two off ramps as i see it, right, military action and diplomacy. >> that's right. what i heard tonight, i was relatively pleased with what secretary mattis said. you know, he outlined the threat. tillerson talking about diplomatic options. diplomacy on the table. and the president actually saying we'll handle it. i can't wait for the tweet tomorrow morning on a more

aggressive stance. i hope he doesn't do that. but i think what's important is to keep cool. let's continue this diplomatic option discussion. and that is one that has maybe been rejected before, a freeze for a freeze. freeze some of the testing that you're doing in exchange for talks. maybe a little reduction in u.s.-south korean military operations. but the military option, there's 150,000 americans in south korea. there's 50,000 troops, there's 25 million south koreans vulnerable to north korean artillery, in japan, 50,000 american troops. i think a war there would be unthinkable. yes, we would win it but such collateral damage. so diplomacy has to be continually explored and now more than ever. >> we should probably add as well because the graphics on the

screen can be scary and we don't want people hiding beneath their beds tonight that it's one thing to launch what they launched today, it's nanother to add a tn at the tip of a missile for a nuclear warhead and more than that add a structure around it that means the warhead would survive flaming reentry. and those have proven more difficult but when mattis uses the expression r & d, it's clearly what they're shooting for, no pun intended. >> that is right, brian. there is no definitive word or definitive situation where the nuclear warhead can be placed on that missile successfully. they can send that missile, but that technology is not there yet we don't think. but let's remember, you know, we've basically been wrong about their technological capability on missiles, nuclear weapons,

debt natio detonation, artillery. i think we have to be very sensitive. do we develop more anti-missile technology? yeah, we have to do that with south korea, with our mainland to protect hawaii, to protect guam. with this trajectory, the 8,100 miles a very respective scientist said that basically hits washington, d.c. but the answer is diplomacy. you're absolutely right. we can't be war-like and incendiary. this is a time for calmness. and i must say, you know, i'm confident in secretary mattis. i've met general kelly. i think he's reasonable. i also saw the president said that general kelly's working on this. general mcmaster. these are military guys that know the terrible effects of a military confrontation in the east asian peninsula. >> a man who knows this subject

well. we're always happy to have him on the broadcast, ambassador bill richardson. thank you so very much, sir, for joining us tonight. coming up for us here, why it might be that the president thinks the mueller investigation will soon be a thing of the past when "the 11th hour" continues. . while she was shopping for organic fruits and veggies, burglars broke into her shoe. they stole her kids' mountain bikes and tablets along with her new juice press. luckily the geico insurance agency had helped her with homeowners insurance. she got full replacement on the stolen goods and started a mountain bike juice delivery service. call geico and see how affordable homeowners insurance can be.

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we're back. we have more news from that "washington post" story by ashley parker and two of her colleagues that we mentioned earlier in the broadcast. it says president trump has expressed certainty that the

special counsel's investigation will be over by the end of the year. the president has reportedly been heard telling friends, quote, this investigation's going to be overwith pretty soon, adding that his lawyers, whom he praised as brilliant, had assured him of it. this comes amid more bad news for trump's circle tonight. in a separate post report that news of while he worked in the white house, michael flynn told his staff to turn his memo written by a former business associate into an official policy for president trump to approve. here to talk about all of it tonight, former u.s. attorney joyce vance, who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. counselor, how do you think it is the president's walking around tillielling people this all be over and done with by new year's eve? >> it seems to fit in well with your overall theme tonight, which is the president's insistence on making statements that simply don't pass anyone's

reality test. it's an aspirational statement at best but i think everyone knows this investigation won't wrap up by the end of the year. >> he seems to be quoting his own lawyers, whom he called brilliant. he does have good lawyers. is there any piece of advice or guidance that perhaps is getting misconstrued? >> it's hard to imagine what it could be. and it's important to remember that ty cobb originally said that this investigation was wrap up by thanksgiving. of course we're past that date and now they've slid into this convenient fiction that it will wrap up by the end of the year, but when you think about just the work that we're aware of that's left, that's improbable if not impossible. manafort doesn't go to trial until next spring, along with his co-defendant, gates. we don't know what will be general flynn's fate yet. will that be a trial, will it be the cooperation agreement that we've been looking at?

there are withnesses left to interview. even when you think about obstruction, perhaps the most discrete risk where the president could potentially be at risk, that's unlikely to be an indictment. we know that there is a longstanding d.o.j. practice against indicting a sitting president, so that would likely take the form of a recommendation that mueller might write to the congress regarding impeachment or saying he had not found facts supporting obstruction of justice if that were to be the case. in any event, it hard to imagine how mueller could write that report, let alone complete the process by the end of the year. >> well, as they say, when you put it that way, it does sound likely it will be wrapped up by new year's eve. on this other matter, joyce, michael flynn, what's the access of presenting something by a client and giving it the

imprimatur and giving it to the president and -- >> flynn would have been forced to recuse from this project. not only is there appearance of impropriety, there is actual impropriety. we're increasingly see indications that flynn is going to cooperate with bob mueller's team so he will be required to discuss fully with prosecutors everything he knows, everything he was involved in and they'll be very interested in the details surrounding this. why wasn't there recusal? who did he discuss that with? who all was involved? this could well lead to an entire new round of potential charges or problems for additional folks who were working in the white house. >> joyce vance, who on all matter feds knows from the feds as a former fed herself, counselor, always a pleasure having you on.

thank you very much. >> thanks. >> coming, at the start of the administration, jared kushner had a long, very ambitious to do list. what about these days? what about now? we'll talk about that when we continue. imbs 58,007 steps. that's the height of mount everest. because each day she chooses to take the stairs. at work, at home... even on the escalator. that can be hard on her lower body, so now she does it with dr. scholl's orthotics. clinically proven to relieve and prevent foot, knee or lower back pain, by reducing the shock and stress that travel up her body with every step she takes. so keep on climbing, sarah. you're killing it. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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their monthly bills. quick. beat the fed's next rate hike. do not miss this window. are you sure you have the best rate? it only takes 3 minutes to find out. go to lendingtree.com right now. jared is a very, very successful real estate entrepreneur in manhattan, but he likes this better than real estate i think. >> he is so great. if you can't produce peace in the middle east, nobody can. okay? i want to thank jared kushner, who has been so involved in this and all of my guests. we have a great team. we have a team of all-stars. >> i appreciate jared. jared's actually become much more famous than me. i'm a little bit upset about that. >> jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, came into the administration with big goals, big expectations, but as

the the "new york times" reports, quote, ten months after being given free rein to tackle everything from the federal government's outdated technology to peace in the middle east, the do whatever you want stage of mr. kushner's tenure is over. just a month ago kushner flew to saudi arabia with little fanfare and attention to meet with the crown prince to discuss peace in the middle east. days after kushner returned, however, the crown prince carried out that sweeping series of arrests of dozens of saudi officials. while kushner himself was reportedly in dark on the plans, "the washington post" described the journey revealed kushner as a figure both near the center of power and increasingly marginalized at the same time. we are jond once again by the writers of both of these pieces we mentioned, both warranted the sunday front page, peter baker of "the times," ashley baker of

"the post." pet ashley, what were you struck by talking to him? >> i've met with jared kushner a handful of times and one thing i was struck by is his natural calm and very soft, whispery voice. you know that, calm often belies sort of a very tush rent undercurrent of the challenges and pressures and stressors he's facing. and also he'll speak sort of sometimes in the parlance of the new york real estate world he comes from, the wall street world he comes from, but he does it in this very quiet, whispery voice that feels a little incongruent. but he's always very polite, very savvy and i think everyone is curious to know what he's thinking and what he sounds like

because as you point out, he's very rarely heard from in this administration. >> tell us how it's difference under kelly as it was with reince where he had walk-in p f privileges in the oval office. he comes up against this general who says one person has walk-in privileges here and you're looking at him. >> at one point jared kushner told people everything goes through me. that's no longer the case. he did tell ashley this is okay with him, it's actually an improvement. one reason he was involved in so many different things early on in this version of events is because the white house was so chaotic that it required him to spend a lot of time in the oval office every day simply playing defense to make sure the president wasn't being manipulated or fed information by rivals that the president wouldn't appreciate. john kelly has ended that and

his lanes now are shrunken. they are middle east peace, which is no small task but he doesn't seem to have the finger in the pie of everything going on anymore and there has been talk about whether john kelly would prefer that he and ivanka return to new york. several white house advisers said they have heard him talk about that. it's this uncertain time a little built fit for jared kush. he presents it as a better time where lee can focus on his projects more but clearly it's not what it was ten months ago when he arrived in washington. >> ashley, what does he say to you when you asked him about spending more time with his family or points north in new york? >> that's what i asked him. we all heard rumors about an exit plan. he said when they came to washington, they would assess after six months how it was for

ivanka and his three children and he said we're here to stay, we're here to say. he moussed off the top of his head that ivanka asked him should we think about buying another house, which points to being here for the near short term. >> we thank you peter baker and ashley parker. thank you. coming up, the growing fallout after the president used an event honoring nate of americans, military veterans, to launch a racially charged attack on one of his political rivals.

i'm pretty unflappable. there are very few things that i take personally there covering washington as a reporter, but today it really stung. i mean, as a person of color who has been on the receiving end of racial slurs to see the president go to that length and to not draw a line between using

that in a partisan attack really was bad not just optically, it was bad for america. it's a sad day today. >> that was our friend kimberly atkins of the "boston herald" on this broadcast last night sharing her very personal reaction after president trump used a racial slur at a white house event honoring native american veterans. the navajo nation also had a strong response telling "the washington post," quote, it's unfortunate that president trump would refer to senator elizabeth warren as pocahontas in a joking way. pocahont pocahontas, although she wasn't navajo definitely was an historical figure in the foundation of this nation who was misrepresented in history so we as the and a half hoff nation don't feel any member of any tribal nation should be used as a bunch line of a joke." gentlemen, welcome to you both.

eli, somebody close to the president keeps pointing out that he sees himself in this medium as a performer and entertainer and really has never met the vant thevent that isn't better by one of his ad libs or eye sides, yesterday perhaps made more obscene given the decorations on the chest of these incredible u.s. marines. >> i think that's fair and i think it's reasonable to conclude for that that in the president's view, that ceremony yesterday was as much or more about himself as it was about those navajo code takers that he was there ostensibly to honor. you saw that glibly in his tone. he creates these tropes, these nicknames for people. when he passes by and something

trigs that are itch, he instinctively scratches that itch and going to the pocahontas line, not understanding it's going to be construed as insensitive from a majority of people looking at that. he may step back and say if the media gets all riled up, his supporters will see it as something that flies in the face and they'll go for it. >> are they just scatter shot. >> i do think they're scatter shot. as often as they might distract from something like a controversial tax reform bill, oftentimes they also are a hindrance to this administration and they end up going down

controversial roads that they would rather avoid. this is just who donald trump is. he likes these personal insults, he likes using them, and he's happy to go after someone, even if the setting strikes most people as inappropriate, even if the comment strikes most people as offensive, we need to remember something a lot of supporters of his like about him is he offends people, they like he's not politically correct. he may know that this comment is offensive, he just doesn't really care. >> eli, our mutual friend chris matthews called birtherism donald trump's original sin. were you surprised to learn he apparently is still kicking that near theory around? >> no, not one bit. there a lot of through lines you can run through the president's behavior and birtherism was really the beginning of this political phenomenon that we're all living through now with the trump presidency. and a lot of, as matt said, the

things that tie him most closely to his base, they're not the big overarching legislative priorities, they these little culture war skirmishes that he incites and that he gives no inch on. they love him for that, as matt points out and it politically seems to be sustaining for him the 38% of americans that trump base, they don't really budge day in and day out despite all these controversies that are just very hard to keep track of after ten months. >> and matthew, on that very same point, what about people wangting ing wanting to run with this guy? is there a district red enough so someone is going to run for congress down ballot and be really psyched that the guy they're running with is now thinking, you know what, i don't really think that's my voice on that "access hollywood" tape. >> there are plenty of districts red enough for that and enough for dronald trump to be a boost

not a detriment. i just don't know if there are 218 of them. i'm pretty sure there are not. when you're a republican in a suburban district and you won by five points and you're hearing him relitigate the controversy and hear him support a man accused of pedophilia, for a party that's already becoming increasingly toxic, with suburban voters, especially suburban women, returning to the "access hollywood" controversy is the last things they want to do. >> eli stokels and eli nussbaum, thank you. we'll have you both back of course. coming up here, a story of genuine heroism and those who are alive and well tonight because of it when "the 11th hour" continues. ♪

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last thing before we go here tonight, paying tribute to a naval aviator whose last moments alive were spent heroically trying to save the lives of others. a week ago we told you about the tragic crash of a grumman greyhound aircraft in the philippine sea. before we tell you about the pilot, a word about the greyhound, the plane that shares its name with a bus line. compared with the various aircraft it shares the carrier deck with, the greyhound is old and big and slow and is about as

safe and dependable as they come. it's a twin prop that dates back to the 1960s but in all those decades, no one has built a better way to get mail on to the carrier. so when it suffered a total engine failure, it was a shock. that's when lieutenant stephen cox went to work, he brought the plane down and set down on the ocean surface, despite seas of about 10 to 12 feet. there were 11 souls on board and eight survived. combs, the pilot, was not one of them. stephen combs was 28, a native of pitsfield mass. he served on the aircraft "ronald reagan" and the co-pilot said stephen combs, quote, flu

the hell out of that plane. there are eight sailors alive today who are living proof of that. that is our broadcast on a tuesday night. thanks for being with us. good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. we've got the mayor of san juan puerto rico here tonight. she's going to be here with us live in studio tonight. as yet, another scandal broke today concerning the federal government's disastrous response to hurricane maria in puerto rico. again, i'm very excited to speak with her. we've also got our nuclear expert here tonight as north korea fires off a missile that appears to have been the longest range weapon that country has ever tested, a missile apparently capable of dropping a warh