and almost getting a reward for conduct once deemed shameful and of almost getting away with it. we simplify that truth at our own peril. that is our show. "hardball with chris matthews" starts now. ♪ the stars fell in alabama. let's play hardball. ♪ ♪ love that sign. good evening, i'm chris matthews in new york. democrats are celebrating after the stunning results in alabama last night. in a rebuke of president trump and his ally steve bannon, voters in that deeply red state chose a democrat for the first time in a quarter century to send to washington. well, today trump said he endorsed roy moore because he wanted to hold on to the republican senate seat. let's watch.

>> a lot of republicans feel differently, they're very happy with the way it turned out, but i would have -- as the leader of the party, i would like to have had the seat. i want to endorse the people that are unaring. >> well, richard shelby, the senior senator from alabama, pointedly refused to endorse moore, saying alabama deserved better. here is senator shell by today. >> people that i spoke, talked to doug jones, oh, 30 or 40 minutes ago. congratulated him. i have known him a long time, and i told him that i look forward to working with him up here for the great interests of the nation and the people of alabama. i think basically the voters, the majority of the voters in my state chose principle over politics. >> principle over politics. well, doug jones rode to victory thanks to a coalition of support from young people, women and african-americans mostly who voted in record numbers. 96% of black voters said they backed jones and they turned out in big numbers.

senator booker of new jersey was a big winner yesterday. he campaigned for doug jones. he said it felt like a movement down in alabama, but he also credited moderate republicans. let's watch. >> this was an extraordinary grassroots effort by a lot of folks that were working on the field, not just for weeks but for months, even before these allegations came out. when i was down there i was calling back to people here in the senate and telling them, this is not a campaign, this has a movement feel to it. this was a choice between someone who is about bigotry, about hate, about misogyny, that was violating the rule of law. i mean his career is a stain on the ideals we hold precious, and so many republicans rejected that including my colleague richard shelby who has a profile of courage, for him to come out days before the election as strongly as he did. >> well, in my book for what it is worth, that senator's stock is rising very high after his performance down in alabama. cory booker looks like a big winner coming out of that

because he looked good there. he was right about the whole thing. it wasn't just the african-american vote, it was moderate republicans turning away from a bad candidate. there are huge questions now, none good for republicans. what does the jones' victory mean for the trump agenda in the congress? well, the blame gaming in the republican party itself make the gop even more unruly, but most important was yesterday. the start of a democratic wave that will crest next year, will it be that? do the democrats have a good shot of taking back not just the house next year, which they had a good shot at, but the u.s. senate right now. joining me is u.s. congresswoman sheila jack can son lee of the state of texas and jennifer ruben, opinion writer for "the washington post." let me go to congress woman jackson lee. what do you think is the trajectory coming out of yesterday's vote in alabama? >> that we haven't won the final race but we're on a very good target and we are working and running at a pace for victory.

i think democrats recognize that yesterday was stupendous and all of the democratic help from congress persons like congresswoman sewell made a difference. 98% of that vote was african-american women. they obviously said to america that we're going to be your rescuers. but what it does say is that there will be coalitions with moderate republicans maybe in some part to win states, blue color workers, along with our wonderful base of young people, hispanics, working americans. so alabamans put the big tent together that represents the democratic party. that should be a big threat for republicans because republicans have tried to go it alone on a single race community, single issues that divides americans, and here we had whites and blacks and hispanics, lgbt, religious community, and certainly a large number of african-american women combined with white women that made a

difference in alabama. i think that's a winning combination, and what the republicans have is nothing but toxic, and it is not going to sell in 2018. >> yeah, i'm going to say a big loud amen to what you said at the end of the show. thank you, congresswoman for starting the show this way. donald trump was only one of the national republicans to endorse roy moore and record a robo call for him. he down played that role today. he tweeted, the reason i originally endorsed luther strange and his numbers went up mightily, is that i said roy moore will not be able to win the general election. i was right. roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him. let me go to john hammentree. these elections are decided by two or three points. this went the way of the democratic candidate. it was an upset. what was it that did it? >> it is hard to say that the deck was stacked against roy moore when democrats typically lose by 20 to 30 points in the state of alabama.

it was every single thing matters. you know, congress -- excuse me. senator booker coming to town and former president obama recording a robo call, those certainly helped drive out african-american vote. even charles barkley may have helped drive out african-american vote. but the courage of senator shelby to come out and speak against his own party's nominee certainly helped lead to either the overwhelming and record number of crossover voters we have seen as well as the record number of write-in votes that we've seen. every single thing added up to a very, very narrow margin of victory, but the democrats pulled it out. >> you know, there's been a lot of conversation -- i'll get back to the congress woman. i will get back to you on this question because i think it is right in your wheelhouse here. people thought that only obama, the president could bring out the african-american vote. it had to be a positive reason to go vote. here is a chance to keep the first black president. that's a great call. but now it seems there was nothing really positive to get excited about down there but

something negative to get excited, making sure this guy, trump's guy, didn't win. how did it energize the community do you think? >> thank you. let me first say, i am excited, chris, that we elected a southern democrat. i want there to be a big, across-the-nation announcement in "the new york times" and "washington post" and every media source. we now have a full-fledged southern democrat united states senator. how did that come about? because we have thinking voters. african-americans are thinking voters. what they did was they voted their issues. they voted their dignity. they didn't want someone who said we were happy during slavery. they didn't want someone who preyed upon young girls because we as african-american women know what that has been throughout history. they wanted someone who would respect them. let me just say this. senator shelby as was said earlier was a profile in courage, and he put a sharp contrast between president trump, who frankly i believe is becoming a non- entity.

president trump did a robo call. president trump endorsed mr. moore, and as well caused the republican national committee to do so. in doing that, he showed that he was completely irrelevant in this process. it was close, but we did something that no one expected us to do, was to pull out a southern democrat to now represent united states senate -- to represent alabama in the united states senate. so i think the story is we are back to our big tent democratic party with southern democrats, people from diverse background, who can sit in the same tent together from east coast to west coast, to north, to south, and the president has been marginalized by his own party. republicans mcconnell and others who stepped aside from this man, mr. moore, who had had this long history of being a child predator. i will just say this, as you well know in the judiciary committee i question about the women who made charges against mr. trump, and i want them to have a place to have their

complaints heard. i asked the deputy attorney general can these women who have never been heard from a president who said he would sue them and he has never done so and he is a chief law enforcement officer, i think the department of justice should open an investigation on the complaints of these women if they make that complaint to the doj. i have indicated in my public statement as a deputy attorney general said that they can do that. >> well, another big loser is donald trump ally steve bannon who campaigned repeatedly for moore, for roy moore. josh holmes, a former top aide to mitch mcconnell, said the results yesterday should be a wake-up call for the republicans. he told "the washington post," it should be a hurricane siren for every republican. this is what the death of a party looks like, and without an immediate course correction and rejection of the steve bannon view of the world, you can lose races in states like alabama. well, several republicans on capitol hill today took shots at bannon. let's listen. >> what about steve bannon? was there a message to steve bannon? >> i'll leave it up to y'all. he surely didn't win.

>> i don't really have a it lot to say about that particular individual. i sometimes feel like that there are people in our country who see a train moving in a direction and -- or a parade and jump in front of it and think they're leading it. >> reporter: i mean it is a loss for steve bannon do you think? >> i hope he pays attention. >> i don't think steve bannon has anything positive at all to the dialogue in the country. i don't know who would identify with him. to see him on the stage this week with the big american flag behind him, he looked like a dishevelled drunk that wandered in off the street. to have him become the face of major politics and have a voice in politics is wrong. we should shun him and cut him off. >> a dishevelled drunk that wandered in off the street from peter king. jennifer, your thoughts about the gop and its construction now because it clearly can't be a big enough tent for this guy, roy moore to be in the tent. nobody wants him in the elephant tent. >> right.

i think two things happened. one, as the congresswoman said, democrats were able to both energize their base and get some disaffected republicans. there are a lot of disaffected republicans. it was the same thing they successfully did in virginia. if they can do that, i think the republican party is going to get a shlacking in 2018. next thing, at this point the democrats have the issues. what the republicans are pursuing if they want to get back to their economic message, their economic message stinks right now. the tax bill is very unpopular. they tried to take away obamacare, that's not popular. the president's rating is down to low 30s. so i think democrats kind of have a field day here. they have to run i think in some sense a negative campaign running as a check, as a counterbalance against trump, but also to put forth i think a traditional bread-and-butter democratic message which is this guy is not for populous, not for the working man and woman. that's who we are. >> let me ask john hammontree on

the ground. i have a dog in this fight, because i want the democratic party to be bread and butter, about jobs and economic growth. i don't think it should be pushing these social issues to the wall like abortion to the last minute and all of that stuff, i think it is a losing direction politically as well as for me morally. john, what was the issue that helped doug jones? was it that he is a bread-and-butter democrat and he didn't furb the far-out social issues although at one point he did on the abortion rights, he went all the way to late term, what do you think got him acceptable to moderate republicans, let's put it that way? >> i think he was running on an agenda that was palatable to a lot of alabamans. he talked about the children's health program and needing to secure funding for it. he talked about making sure we keep hospitals open in rural alabama and expand medicaid. alabama hasn't done that yet and it spoke to working class voters around the state, and he talked about the needed to recruit job. he did draw a sharp contrast

between himself and roy moore, but he did so in a way where he said, do you think roy moore will be able to help recruit jobs and industry to the state of alabama. alabamans are not that different from the rest of the country. they care about the same type of issues and i think that job development really helped flip people in the birmingham suburbs and in huntsville suburbs especially. >> yes or no, can he get re-elected in 2020 if he runs for a full term? >> it is going to be really tough. 700,000 trump voters stayed home yesterday. you would have to assume unless trump continues to crater they're going to show up again in 2020. but the power of incumbency is strong, and if he and senator shelby can work together to do things like deepen the port of mobile or bring industry to the state, i think people like doug jones, he has pledged to speak to voters all around the state in town halls and to keep his doors open, and he's been calling for unity and reaching out to both sides of the aisle.

i think today he had a phone call with senator shelby and outgoing senator luther strange as well as president trump. i think he is a true southern democrat who will reach across the aisle. >> i think dredging is a great issue for infrastructure. create those jobs by bringing in the big ships. thank you. u.s. congresswoman sheila jackson lee, as always thank you for coming on "hardball" tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> a great look at the situation economically. and jennifer rubin, who knows all things we need to know here. thank you very much. that's why you're writing on the editorial page. coming up after last night's stinging defeat, donald trump is jumping through hoops to say he was right all along in alabama. despite endorsing and embracing roy moore, the white house has to be worried. there's a reckoning heading their way. a scathing editorial in usa today is calling trump unfit as a person to be president. that's ahead. plus the russian investigation. rosenstein tells congress there's no reason for trump to

fire special counsel robert mueller. as mueller closes in on the white house will trump listen or be scared and fire him. one day after the republicans train wreck in alabama, they're plowing ahead with the unpopular tax plan. we will get to it with the "hardball" round table. let me finish with a picture of unity we saw last night in ballistic missile bc alabama. i don't know about you, i liked what i saw. this is "hardball" where the action is. ou put up with it? believe it or not you actually like what you do. even love it. and today, you can do things you never could before. you're working in millions of places at once with iot sensors. analyzing social data on the cloud to create new designs. and using blockchain to help prevent fraud. so get back to it and do the best work of your life. the ford year-end sales event is in full swing. ( ♪ )

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lot and said she helped elect president trump. the word is general kelly had it and got rid of her." new york times reporter added that according to sources she was escorted off of the white house grounds by security. meanwhile, a white house official tells nbc news that the timing of her departure was unexpected. we will be right back. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ ronoh really?g's going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms... again. and online equity trades are only $4.95...

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♪ it's time to get our priorities straight. so get out and vote for roy moore. welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump stumping for roy moore on friday. the president it is facing a reckoning on two fronts. republicans in alabama offered a sharp rebuke in the polls. meanwhile he is facing scrutiny for his own toxic brand. he was handed a big black eye in a state he won by 28 points in

2016, in part by creating a self-inflicted wound when he ignored the advice of senate majority leader mcconnell and his own political team to stay out of the race. nbc news reports a white house official acknowledged the obvious lesson of alabama. candidates matter. republicans can't just ride the anti-establishment sentiment to victory no matter what. the alabama race was only one condemnation of the president today as he faces more fallout over his sexually suggestive tweet. on wednesday said the senator went to his office, begged for campaign money and said she would do anything. in a scathing editorial, the usa today editorial board took trump to task righting, a president who would all but call senator kirsten gillibrand a who is not fit to clean the toilets in the barack obama presidential library or to shine the shoes of george w. bush. senator gillibrand struck back

at the president on "the today show" let's listen. >> it was certainly just a sexist smear, intended to silence me. and i'm not going to be silenced on this issue. i have heard the testimony of many women, numerous accusers, i believe them, and he should resign for that. i think congress should do an investigation. i can just tell you, the president's trying to certainly silence my voice on this issue of these allegations against him, and he's often berated women and made them feel that they cannot be heard as well. >> i'm joined by michelle goldberg, a columnist for new york times. john furk, republican strategist and david masteo, usa today's director. i have to go to you, david. that is about the strongest, toughest news editorial, unsigned editorial, speaking for your newspaper i have seen you guys run. >> i think it is the.

sur certainly we often do not speak with such fire. "usa today" tries to be a practical centrist newspaper, and we try to keep our fire reasoned and -- and focused on the issues. but with donald trump there has become such a glaring and growing character issue that we felt it was time to speak with a little bit of a louder voice. >> what do you make of trump's sinatra-esque, i remember when a columnist went after him, max ien cheshire i think it was, he called her a $2 hooker, that kind of language when you disagree with them politically or editorially, he seems to have that quirk, his mind thinks like that. how would you describe your critique of him in that manner? >> sometimes it is hard to see whether his mind thinks at all. he just -- he just reacts from

the heart, from some kind of a dark place. >> what's it say about his view of women as a gender? >> you know, i -- i don't know, but i'm awfully glad that i've never been a woman and in his -- in his presence. i think, you know, the record speaks very loudly about what a dangerous place to be that is. >> i'm only thinking of a little bit empathetically to the guy or woman who gets to clean the toilets at the obama library some day and thinking they're being compared to donald trump. jesus. anyway, let me -- just kidding. go ahead, david. >> we were saying that that person is a lot better than donald trump. >> i hope you're saying so. thank you so much. i like to be democratic here, and i am. anyway, michelle, you're the woman on the panel and i want you to speak loud on this because i don't think there was any ambiguity. sometimes there is ambiguity in every line, sometimes speak in metaphor and people take it literally. it wasn't speaking in a complicated way.

he was accusing her of coming to offer herself to him for money, it was pretty clear. >> right. i mean what was so fascinating was that his response to being accused of sexual harassment was to sexually harass a female senator in front of the world. i think part of what he gets off on is the impunity, is the fact all of these other men are being punished, are being held to account, in a lot of ways due to a kind of sublimated rage about his own election redirected towards these other figures because he is untouchable. so the question now is how untouchable really is he, right? if we're going to have a new -- if we're going to finally say that people who sexually harass women do not belong in public life, how can we say that when the president of the united states by his own account sexually assaults women? >> michelle, you're the one i heard say that. i'm going to ask you to clarify that, what you just said. i'm thinking about the reaction people have to what trump has

been accused of and what he bragged about on that tape at "access hollywood." he bragged about experience, not what he would like to do but what he has done, grabbed people, using people physically he doesn't even know, and then i see what happened to al franken and others and al franken specially. i think there's a tendency when you have had a tough time at the office you go home and yell at the kids because you can't yell at the boss. is that what you mean has happened with the other perpetrators of bad behavior toward women? >> i think it is hard to overstate how degrading, how traumatic trump's election has been for a lot of women. one result of that was that women all over the country poured into local politics because they wanted to exercise power in -- they wanted to find places where they could still exercise power because they were so disempowered nationally. i think you see something similarly with women kind of cleaning house in their own industries, right? so we can't do anything about the sexual assault in the oval

office, but you can finally tell your story about your boss. >> i see. >> or -- >> that's a positive way of explaining what you're saying. let me go to john about this. john, the democrats seem to feel a need, a moral need i might say moral when it seems an amoral political atmosphere, dealing with their own situation, even knocking off one of their best senators, al franken, but saying he must pay or we can't be honourable. i understand that. but what do you think about what michelle was saying about the anger, the an ttypathy of what trump is saying. he keeps it up yesterday to basically taking a shot at a top senator because he doesn't like her politics? >> well, from a political perspective i can tell you it is not working that well for republicans. you saw what happened in virginia. you saw what happened in alabama. i mean the huge influx of

conservative women who voted against the republican candidates in both states should be troubling for republicans, and we need to figure out a way to handle this because if we don't we're going to get killed in the next election. this is problematic for the republican party. you saw what michelle was saying, the anger felt toward the president was manifested right after the president was elected with the women's march on washington. this is a real thing and republicans have the deal with it because they don't -- they've got to come up with a strategy. if they don't, they will be in big trouble in the 2018 election. >> you are a republican tonight. i mean it positively for you. look, there's five or six tough senate races coming up next year. they will start soon. pennsylvania, ohio, arizona, certainly nevada. those races could go either way, we don't know, but they're highly contested. would you as the republican candidate want trump with you, in the room with you, on the stage in those states? >> i would want him with me on things that would help my campaign. for example, i would have thought it would make sense for

him to campaign with ed gillespie in fixing transportation problems in northern virginia. that might have gotten votes for him. you know, focusing on confederate monuments and, you know, insulting women, that's no way to win the election. i think there are ways trump could be helpful, and he's got to get on an economic agenda. he's not on the economic agenda. his tweeting has been a real distraction and hurt the real kind of -- if the republicans are going to win they have to be about the economy. >> would you bring in trump on the anti-immigration issue? >> well, i think that, barletta has made his case on that. you know, i think that that has other ramifications though on other issues. i think the best thing the republicans can do is have some effective immigration enforcement and then also fix the daca problem because it is something that needs to be fixed. >> michelle goldberg, great having you on. john furry and david mastia with

that tough editorial from "usa today." up next, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein testifies before the congress and pushes back against the right wing effort to undermine mueller investigation. he says there's no good cause to fire the special counsel. this is "hardball."

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missed a number of vote this week. his office says he is undergoing treatment at walter reid medical center for normal side effects fof hisson greater milwaukee open cancer therapy. governor of minnesota tapped tina smith to take over al franken's seat. he is resigning in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. the federal reserve is hiking interest rates, signaling confidence in a thriving u.s. economy. back to "hardball." ♪ welcome back to "hardball." we have seen in recent weeks that the president's allies have been making a case that the special counsel's probe into russia is tainted bipartisan politics. today the man overseeing the special council's probe into possible collusion and obstruction of justice was on capitol hill to testify before the house judiciary committee and it was not a friendly reception up there. in the hearing deputy attorney general rod rosenstein drew

sharp fire from conservative republicans seeking to discredit mueller's probe as a hit job on the president. said it reports that the wife of a justice official worked for the research firm that produced the dossier on trump. seized upon the news that a person was removed from the team in july for exchanging text messages with a colleague in 2016 that disparaged trump. those messages which were made public last night said among other things that, quote, hillary clinton just has to win and described the potential trump victory as terrifying. the release gave republican lawmakers even more resolve today to accuse the justice department of buy as against ia president. let's watch. >> we're beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on mr. mueller's team. >> these text are also evidence. they're not evidence of an appearance of impropriety. they're evidence of an evidence of an actual i have vitriolic a

hatred of the subject of the special counsel's investigation. >> you're the guy in charge. you could disband the mueller special prosecutor and do what we have called for, to appoint a second special counsel to look into this. >> at the same time he took heat from democrats wanting to be sure the department is not politicized by president trump or his allies. here is congressman hakeem jeffreys. >> is ever is it probably for any president of the united states to encourage the department of justice to launch criminal investigations against his or her perceived political enemies? >> i'm not going to comment on that, congressman. as i have explained previously, the president has put a team of experienced folks in charge of the department of justice and we're not going to be influenced by anything other than the facts of law. >> i'm joined by democratic congressman rakeem jeffries of new york. thank you. give us a sense of what it

smells like to you. are they trying to distract, discredit? what are they up to, the republicans around the president? >> well, chris, you're absolutely correct. they feign anger and outrage at the alleged politicization of the investigation by this one fbi agent that has no basis in reality, there's no department of justice regulation they can point to that was violated. fbi agents are allowed to have political opinions and to express those opinions in a private setting. we know that bob mueller, who is leading this investigation, for decades has been widely respected by both democrats and republicans, progressives and conservatives. he's a talented law enforcement professional. he's not going to allow politics to influence this investigation. he will follow the facts, interpret the law, and that will result in whatever conch

collusi -- conclusion he ultimately reaches. >> it seems to me that the people loyal to him will worry that mueller is good, that he's smart, that he's going to catch the bad stuff? >> well, he is absolutely proceeded in surgical fashion in terms of conducting this investigation that has already ensnared the campaign chairman, of course, who has been charged with crimes that include conspiracy against the united states of america as well as michael flynn, his former national security adviser who has pled guilty. papadopolous who was a foreign policy adviser. he is approaching with a degree of surgical precision that i think has donald trump clearly rattled. that's why he directed his allies on capitol hill to suggest that this is all a witch-hunt or a hoax or a fraud when that has no basis in reality. >> well, throughout the hearing, congressman, rosenstein, the depp situate, has said there's no good cause to fire the special counsel mueller. he defended mueller's conduct in carrying out the investigation. here he goes.

>> why after you have heard all of the concerns expressed here today, why are you satisfied with the course of the investigation so far? >> i'm satisfied, congressman, because based upon what i know, which is different from what the accounts may appear in the media, based upon what i know i believe director mueller is appropriately remaining within his scope and conducting himself appropriately. >> let me ask you a tough end game question here, congressman. if the special counsel comes in with what is basically an indictment of the president for obstruction of justice, do you believe the house judiciary committee will act on that and begin an impeachment proceeding? will they do what they're supposed to do? >> i don't think that the house judiciary committee under republican leadership will proceed in that action. as you know, chris, we are a constitutionally separate and coequal branch of the government. we don't work for the president of the united states, donald trump, we work for the american people. but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't see to have gotten that memo even though it was written by james madison and the founders of the

constitution. the only way this president will be held accountable is if the gavel is in the hands of the democratic party. >> well, that may well be in 2019, sir, based upon what happened in alabama yesterday. thank you, u.s. congressman hakeem jeffries of new york state. >> up next, democrats pull up a win in the reddest of states, but they're not letting the message get in the way of the deeply unpopular tax bill. you're watching "hardball." every tv doctor knows scrubbing is serious business. they also know you need to get your annual check-up.

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during storm season we want our customers to be ready and stay safe. learn how you can be prepared at pge.com/beprepared. together, we're building a better california. ♪ welcome back to "hardball." the election of democrat doug jones in the alabama senate race is a stinging defeat not just for senate republicans but also for president trump and his agenda. it was the third consecutive loss for the president and the blame game has just begun. despite the defeat senate and house republicans are plowing ahead with their deeply unpopular tax plan. more than half, in fact almost

two-thirds, 65% of americans believe that the bill benefits the wealthy with only 21%, about one in five, thinking it benefits the middle class. senate minority leader chuck schumer is asking to wait until doug jones is seated before voting on the plan, but majority leader mcconnell said now. i'm joined by kimberly atkins, chief washington reporting for the boston herald. opinion writer with "the washington post." and rosie gray, white house correspondent for "the atlantic." let me go with kimberly. seems to me if moore was elected to the senate democrats would have two issues to run against republicans next november, one would be moore who is stinking up the place with his baggage, and the tax bill. now all they have is the tax bills. seems all of the guns will be pointed at the tax bill and the unfairness of it for the democrats. >> yeah, and i think it is a smart move. i think it is odd for the republicans to really insist on pushing what is, as you said, a

very unpopular tax bill. every poll shows that americans not only don't think it is going to benefit them, but that it will probably hurt them, that they might be paying more. so the fact that other republicans are rushing this through in order to get some sort of victory is really -- is really odd. what do they consider victory in the eyes of the american people? it seems more of an effort to please the president, who is still looking after yet another electoral sting of looking for some sort of legislative victory. >> john, there's so many goodies at the top under the christmas tree for rich republicans. i mean the goodies are, you know, the lower corporate tax rate, the estate tax exclusion is doubled to 22 million people that they can give their kids. that's a lot of money. then you get the minimum tax is gotten rid of, all kinds of things. carried interest is continued. the one that jumps out at me is the top rate now. it will go down from 40% down to 37%. it is almost 3%. if you are making millions of

dollars, 3% is a huge amount of money. i mean cash in the pockets of the richest people, and everybody's going to know about this. why would they do it? >> again, it goes back to what kimberly was just saying. the president is looking for a win. republicans are looking for something they can take home and say, look, we promised we were going to do this and we've done it. but, i mean, as we all know, in washington the devil is in the details. they still announced the framework, and you mentioned some of the provisions, but when you start down the road of actually trying to secure the votes in both the house and the senate to get this done, a lot of these things could change. these folks are so desperate for something, anything that they can pass both chambers and get to the president's desk and signed before the new year that we won't know probably until the middle of the night what is actually in the final bill. >> let's go to rosie on this. rosie gray, what do you think? why are they go into the valley

of death politically? i don't know how many votes -- they already have the votes of the very rich. why are they going to make it so clear they're going for the top 1% of the top 1% in the face of everybody else watching? >> well, look, the republicans have had very few legislative accomplishments this year. the white house is desperate, like jonathan was saying, for a win. the fact of the matter is they just lost a senate seat, making their majority even slimmer. next year it will be harder for them to get stuff done, so i think they're feeling a time crunch to get this tax bill through. >> well, a day after losing in alabama, the republicans in the u.s. senate were forced the reflect on their loss. here is what they said. >> this isn't a rebuke of conservative values or agendas. this is a rebuke of a candidate can. >> i think president trump is right. >> i mean this is not a new phenomenon. both political parties have divisions within the party, and it is important for -- in our case for us to nominate people who can win a general election, because that's what it is all

about. >> the people of alabama, they had a difficult election choice before them. >> well, we -- we had a blemished candidate, everybody knows that. >> kimberly, what do you make of the republicans? there's two kinds of republicans, those who walk fast when they say they're for the tax bill and ones who standstill when they're for it, but they seem to be university nan mustily for the bill from what i can tell except for corker who is going home. he doesn't count. >> right. i mean their reaction to the election is interesting. they're all blaming roy moore on this squarely, but, remember, this is not the first election where the republican was dealt a defeat. we have the youtugubernatorial in virginia and others that is starting to spell out that the new approach to elections, sort of appealing to white working class, you know, agrieved people is not enough to win elections. it helped win the election for the president in 2016, but they're going to have to bring more to the table to convince

voters moving forward. i still think it is a lesson to democrats. i don't think democrats expected, for example, the black vote to turn out the way that it did last night in alabama. remember, even a year after 2016 democrats don't have a cohesive message. they better put one together quickly that not only reechls out to white middle class or working class folks but also doesn't forget other core members of their base. i think both parties have a lot of work to do. >> let's talk about that for a second. jonathan, jump in here, your turn. the idea that you need a positive african-american candidate like barack obama for president is probably going to be elusive in many cycles, who really will be the nominee although it could happen again with cory booker. he looks very good coming out of this race yesterday. it seems to me there's an incentive just to let people get a chance to vote against trump. i get the feeling it is a powerful incentive to vote, just a totally negative voting opportunity, say no. >> right, say no. i think the president makes it easy for democrats to set up a

stark contrast. it is not just being against president trump, but you're against president trump as the person and who he is as he fills the office, the oval office. but it is against president trump and what he's proposing, and there are so many ways that democrats can run against the president and what he's proposing, what his agenda is, that allows people to see what the democrats have to offer. so i will differ with kimberly in that i don't think that the democrats don't have a message. i think that the democrats do have a message. they have to figure out a much more effective way of getting it out there. i think we've seen in the gubernatorial races in virginia in particular and the senate race in alabama that the message is getting through. >> i'm with kimberly, john. anyway, the round table is sticking with us. three scoops you will be talking about tomorrow. you're watching "hardball." this is tim barckholtz. that's me!

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>> he defended robert mueller in front of some tough questions in front of republicans. but i'm hearing there are lawmakers on it both sides of the aisle that are concerned that president trump might try to fire robert mueller. republicans are trying to remind him not to reminding him of the calamity that ensued after comey. >> congresswoman frederica wilson from florida tells me the remains of the sergeant la david johnson killed in niger, those remains at the pentagon found were his teeth. >> what's that tell you? rosy? >> well, you might know this but i think a key that's been overlooked a little bit is the democrats did not run a candidate for the seat that's been won by doug jones. i think that shows you if you don't compete, you can't win. >> kimberley atkins, rosy gray.

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"all i let me finish tonight with that wonderful picture we saw last night from alabama. there up on that platform was the happy team celebrating doug jones p's viktdry in the race for u.s. senate. you saw jones and congress woman terry sule. it showed the democratic coalition of white and black who has won elections in the past and could reel do it again in 2018 and in 2020. the fact is doug jones owes his

victory to a balance of african-american and white votes. he couldn't have won without both, couldn't have beat the all white republican party that's been dominating politics down there for decades. this means donald trump politics is beatable. it means we can find decent candidates to defeat indecent ones. as thomas freeman wrote today, in the cultural divisions, our system has always been able to summon our better angels and pull us together to rise to the challenges of the day. well, this is what robert kennedy hoped to do before he was killed in '68. he spoke of all of us working together. what made him so unique then and now is he felt the same empathy for working men and women that he felt for blacks and latinos. it's the spirit of bobby kennedy, a raging spirit which i am urging you to get for this

christmas, this holiday season. the perfect gift, i believe the best tonic for a challenging time politically. one that's started to look a little bit better in the last 24 hours. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on all in. >> tonight get out and vote for roy moore. >> upset in alabama. >> as leader of the party, i would have liked to have the seat. >> the anger at steve bannon. >> he looked like some disheveled drunk that wandered off the street. >> a how the democrats pulled off an absolute stunner in a deep red state. >> and tonight, ladies and gentlemen, you took the right road. >> then as alabama slipped away. >> i did not molest anyone. >> new repor