friday morning, merry christmas. morning joe starts right now. >> christmas is only two days away, which means it's time to watch the classic holiday movies. can you tell trump likes theming he has been practicing lines from his favorite holiday movie. >> can you iton the down a bit in. >> can you doan tone it down a little bit? >> we're all if this towing. >> we're all in this towing. >> as dead had a door fail. >> it's dead as a door fail. >> they mate me with a passion from cry, baby, cry. >> let the baby cry. >> get him out of here. >> get him out of here. >> oh my god! >> oh my god. >> kevin! >> kevin:. >> arrr. >> arrr. >> amazing him amazing. >> and good morning. it is friday, december 22nd. we're counting down, we're almost there. right? joe, we're almost there. along with joe, willie and me, i know, i can't believe it, i'm kind of excited. i have to say. >> i am, too.

>> i mean, you look at that tree, i mean, willie, what does that comcast commerce tree do to you? >> untold millions for our shareholders, and people from around the world, spending money at the nbc experience store, buying "morning joe" mugs and tee shirts is what it says to me. >> i think, i'm not sure, mika, i could be mistaken. i hope i'm not misstating this i think comcast is giving money away to people who work with it. not to us, of course. but i mean. >> comcast and many other companies. >> that's a lot of money. >> especially companies that want to get deals done with the federal government. >> oh. don't be so cynical. >> okay. >> hey, alex, ki talk to alex for a second. >> alex. >> so alex, have you been voifd

at all, are you guys going to get some smack-a-roos from comcast because of the tax cut? >> that's what i read in the paper and in the -- i haven't heard anything specifically yet. we're all looking at our bank accounts very closely. >> so, can we zoom out to everybody in the control room? i'm just curious. >> what are you talking about? >> everybody doesn't have cam to zoom him so. >> if that's the case. i think it's like $thousand dollars or something for a thousand dollars. so let me cc, how many people, if that's the case, now support donald trump's tax cut plan? >> oh, c'mon. they all do. they're very professional. oh. >> we're generalists. we don't have opinions. >> okay.

no opinions. if general. that's pretty credible, though, that's like a lot of companies are giving a thousand dollars to a lot of their employees. i think it comes in january. that's a lot of money. >> but, joe, not to be cynical. >> ratter? here. >> at&t started this with a thousand dollars. at&t is trying to buy time warner. i think boeing jumped if. they are trying to get export financing from the federal government. i don't want to sound cynical. >> you think they're all that way? wells fargo $15 an hour. >> wells fargo has massive regulatory problems. >> it is a pr move. even if are you fought currying favor with the government. it's basically, how many tens of millions of dollars, it looks like it will go back to people. everybody will get nice crisp $20 bills. >> at&t's ref now is a $100

million. this amounts to $42 million. >> yes, it's a pr move. it may be cynical. but at the same time, let's go back to the discussion i was having yesterday, where we can sit and say, hey, this mainly helped gazillion airs, the rich of the rich. somebody in indiana is getting $600 more a year and they're on a fixed income or let's say they make $35,000 a year toeshlgs they don't care if you and i are getting a lot more than that. they care about the $600 and that's what this may be a cynical move by companies, maybe it's fought. i mean, they're going to make a

ton of money off this. think of employees getting a thousand dollars next month. we request sit around the table and say how cynical it is, some of these companies want regulatory. i'm say it doesn't matter to voters. if you use that old ross perot, people judge, am i better off? we can go, it's only $600 or $800 a year, that's a lot of money for people struggling to put food on their table and to pay bills. >> unforeign -- unless you were the 13 million that might lose some health care. if we go back to what history has shown us, particularly with the reagan tax cuts if it's a small move, $600, in the scheme of things, it does not have a factor. they got wiped out in the mid-terms. to me the biggest issue is the biggest problem at the end of the day was wealth distribution

or inequity, if you will. basically, a million fair is getting $70 million and a middle income guy getting $700. at the end of the day, it is a zero sum.. they don't fair, if this continues to grow, the fame is less. >> short-term pain here. >> yoipt to miss my point. i'm not talking about the macro of the tax policy. pacific, i had read something in the washington post. my column. >> i did, too. mine had like cartoons, though, i draw picture. >> i think yours is actually in the penthouse forum. that's okay him we'll talk about that later. >> there is no doubt. this is a tax bill that comes at the wrong time. it's focused on the wrong areas. we don't feed it right now. ill steals $1.5 million from

younger mill len yams on the globe. i said it. you talk about the art of the self deal, mika, this is something donald trump with all the corruption and self healing swirling around donald trump. this tax plan proves it like auto kratz across the world. donald trump has perfected the art of the self deal. now, all that said, i love when elites say it's only $600 or a thousand dollars for so-and-so. >> that means a lot to a lot of people. as far as that having an impact on, do i leak this tax plan or not? well, yeah, i guess i do. i think you will see the numbers going up over the next couple months. it's like obamacare. remember when that passed, i was against it. i fought it every step of the way. but i said the proof will come in whether it makes people budge better or budge worse.

you know what, it made people's lives better. it made a lot of people's lives better. that's why getting rid of obamacare has been so difficult. we'll see what happens. >> the president sort of thinks he's gotten rid of it, because they got rid of the individual mandate, which is funny, that itself the most unpopular part of it. it's the one thing that conservatives actually came up with as a concept. but more people are signing up than ever before. we have a pom that will show that. what a joke. everything is upsidedown. >> one other thing we ought to point out we haven't pointed out enough on this show over the past couple weeks. even though the enrollment period has been cut in half. even though the white house and the federal government run by donald trump and the republicans in congress have done everything. >> everything. >> to stop obamacare. >> everything possible to destroy obamacare, enrollment is

almost as high as i believe last year. it's been extraordinarily popular, despite the fact that the next, donald trump, republicans in the house, republicans in the senate are doing everything in their power to stop people from enrolling. well, they're doing it. they're dock it in pretty dam high numbers. >> also with us this morning, we have fork times reporter as well. good to have you on board, great set. let's get to the latest in the russia probe. we have really interesting new information on. that deputy fbi director andrew mccabe conclude a combined 16 hours of closed door testimony before house committees this week in which he reportedly confirmed, he is a witness in the investigation of action by president trump to halt the russia investigation. three unnamed sources tell cnn mccabe told the house intelligence committee fired fbi

director james comey informed him of conversations with president trump soon after they happened. last june, comey testified about trump's request for loyalty and what he perceived to be the president asking for an end to the russia investigation. >> i discussed the lifting the cloud in the request with the senior leadership team, who is typically, i think in all these circumstances was the deputy director, my chief of staff, the general count sell, the deputy director's chief count sell and i think in a number of circumstances the number 3 in the fbi and a few of conversations, included the head of the national security branch. >> you have the president of the united states asking you to stop an investigation that's an important investigation. what was the response of your colleagues? >> i think they were as shocked and troubled by it as i was.

>> there is also the report in foreign policy magazine we mentioned briefly yesterday, unconfirmed the foreign policy claims they show white house counsel was aware that then national security adviser michael flynn had possibly lied about laws to investigators and unauthorized commune kapgs. flynn remained in his job until mid-february. 18 days after then acting attorney general sally yates inform mcgan about her concerns, mcgahn believed it would be a potential violation of the loganing a, according to two anonymous source was worked in the administration. let's start with that second story in foreign policy magazine to boil it down really. this has been quite a week. there has been so much focus on the tax passage we haven't talked a lot about it. what have you in the second

story is don mcgahn, white house counsel saying he learned in january michael flynn likely had broken the law and he told president trump that michael flynn had broken the law. after that, president trump fired james comey and asked to him go easy, talked to him to go easy on michael flynn. few put those pieces towing, if the report turns out to be true, there will be a case somewhere inside there president trump could have been obstructing justice by asking comey to go easy on someone he knew had broken the law. >> if the reporting turns out to be true and there is a time line that shows that president trump was potentially trying to shield michael flynn, yes, that's problematic for his case. i think it's been problematic for a long time t. testimony of comey has been clear about president trump essentially trying to influence the investigation. he said het the he was fired, because the president wanted to change the direction of the investigation. so i think there is a real issue here on michael flynn and

michael flynn having now pled guilty to at least one cardinal that shows that michael flynn could potentially be a problem for this president. >> joe, if you go to the previous story of mccabe, what you have effectively there is him corroborating the stories that james comey told in his testimony. >> right, corroborating the possibility of obstruction of justice. it seems to me, i don't know exactly how they worked this from the fbi, but obviously, there are bill-in conflicts there, they've got to be very careful, because now you not only have a guy that is in a supervisorsry role. she a party to the case. it's a lot like when the fbi was interviewing hillary clinton, they allowed cheryl mills, hillary clinton's lawyer, also a party to the case to stay in during interview. they shouldn't have done that, because she was also a party to the case. so the fbi obviously, i'm sure they are doing it, have to make sure these chinese walls are

placed between mccabe and the certain obstruction of justice case. let me ask you, steve ratner, how do you think that would work? it is interesting, it puts pittsburgh kab in a difficult position if he is a party to the case and i would suspect that the obstruction case against the president and the people around the president certainly is far stronger than even the collusion case, because, well, they've admitted obstruction in tweets and in tv interviews and from the white house podium. how exactly do you think mccabe and the football fib sorts through this? >> i think are you right, joe. i think the obstruction access is pretty clear, whether it rises to a legal jeopardy, we'll see. certainly the president and his actions with asking comey to go easy on flynn and asking him to fire comey, it was aware he was looking at flynn and others.

i think the way that mccabe will probably as a sound public service will say the truth. he will testify to the best of his ability and the fbi will do the same thing t. kips will fall where they will and there are certainly enough chips that look like they could fall on the wrong side of the table for a number of people in the trump administration. >> now this the united nations overwhelmingly voted in favor of a non-binding resolution condemning the united states' decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of is ram, declaring it nul and void. 128 member states voted in favor, including several of america's closest allies, such as france, britain, germany and japan. 21 nations were absent and 35 abstained, including australia, canada, mexico, and poland. nine nations voted ago ens the

resolution, many of which are tiny island nations in the pacific, heavily dependent on american i had. before the vote, several nations delivered speeches blasting threats made this week by both u.n. ambassador nikki haley and president trump, which some saw as a form of blackmail. this is america. the administration threatened the u.s. would cut foreign and humanitarian aid to any country that voted against the u.s. here is what ambassador haley said if a speech prior to the vote. >> the united states is by far the single largest contributor to the united nations and its agencies him when we make generous contributions to the u.n., we also have a legitimate expectation that our good will is recognized and respected. when a nation is singled out for attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected.

once more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected. in the case of the united states, we are asked to pay more than anyone else for thatprivil. we have an obligation to demands more for our investment. the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. we will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world largest contribution to the united nations and we will remember it when so 'countries come calling on us as they so often do to pay even more and to use our influence for tear benefit. but this vote will make difference on how americans look at the u.n. and on how we look at a country who disrespects us in the u.n.. and this vote will be

remembered. >> the president of the council on foreign relations richard haase tweeted, quote -- brennan posted, quote, this --

. >> joe, when did we become the bad guys? out i'm listening, say, what? that's the bad guys talking. we're not going to give you aid few don't blindly agree with us. we'll cut you off? when did this happen? >> you know, you sit and listen to nikki haley and as a representative of the united states of america, and it's breath taking that she would actually threaten to cut off aid and support humanitarian aid, by the way, all those things, you talk about pr, all of those things in the end help us. this is what people that donald

trump and i guess nikki haley and others do not understand, we don't give foreign aid and humanitarian aid just to make ourselves feel good. those dollars are strategic to allow the united states to continue to have soft power across the globe and you just aren't smart if you believe that threatening that, over, let me, let's, remember what this was. this was a non-binding resolution, this sort of a sense of the united nations, it doesn't matter, at the end of the day, great. they did it yesterday. the sun has no impact. they engaged in something between school yard taunt and a mob boss' threat and they did it

as our representatives for a resolution that is non-binding over something that is obviously one of the most controversial foreign policy moves that anybody can make. support that move or oppose that move. if are you an american, you just don't want your representatives up there threatening the rest of the world gas what, we will need them on iran, on north korea, we may feed their help again in r syria we are going to need tear help in a thousand places, guess what, we will not work towing if nikki haley is going up there humiliating the united states of america by threatening our allies over a fawn binding resolution. it's just like donald trump's tweets. every response has to be a nuclear response. there is no subtly of thought.

there is no light. >> no subtlety of to the. one way of putting it. >> will is no diplomat in nikki haley. what she did yesterday is an embarrassment to the united states. >> as i listen to this, i was completely consistent with donald trump's view of the world, which is being a part of the u.n. is a transactional business proposition, fought a diplomatic one, which is to say, we're spending all the money, you better be loyal, we're funing this, we're backing this, the way he runs business the way he's done everything in his life. >> first of all, we know, excuse me, donald trump does not mike like multilateral organizations, he didn't like nato. he pulled out of the tpp. he doesn't like doing things in groups. the u.n. is something he wouldn't like in general. the other thing is this was totally predictable. once he gave the speech recognizing jerusalem what did he think was going to happen?

obviously, this is what's going to happen him this is a case where they don't think two steps ahead, presumably, they should have known this was coming and prepared for it or done something about it. it was inevitable once he gave that speech about jerusalem. >> i bring it back to paul ryan, as much as i am disgusted by trump the people blindly following, you know, inherently are decent people have kind of left their moral compass at the door as the puppeteer moves them. i think back to paul ryan's smug victory lap on something that is a fiscal conservative, a guy years ago, you would say, this is not in his core. nikki haley, that's not in her core. >> what's interesting, she has spoken out. she's talked about roy moore. she's gone out and not towed the party line always in this case, obviously donald trump -- >> said a part of foreign policy, that i have made it an ugly, dirty nasty transaction

that is short lived now and has no impact. joe. >> right by the way, again the united nations is transactional in the sense that we work with other countries, other countries work with us. and it's just like any relationship. sometimes you agree with the other person or the other company. sometimes you don't. this would be like ibp and bank of america negotiating a deal this week. and the deal doesn't work out. >> right. >> so the head of bank of perk, brian goes out and he condemns ibm and tells everybody else, we will remember this. we will never have another deal with ibm. no, that itself not how business works. that's not how diplomacy works. that's not how the united nations works. as bill clinton says, there's always tomorrow. there's always a vote you will need tomorrow f. they voted

against you yesterday, have a short memory, because they can help you out next week. that sort of subtlety of thought is nowhere to be seen in day trader donald trump or day trader nikki haley. that's one thing when they're tweeting things out. it's quite another on the world stage under mining american interests. that's exactly what happened. >> still ahead, morpg obamacare is essentially repealed. don't tell the 8.8 million people who signed up for it. they got rid of the part very unpopular, that conservatives came up with. so good on you, mr. president. plus, ratner has his charge, fact checking the president's biggest economic claims. we can calm them claims. but first, here's bill kierans with a check on the forecast. bill. >> good morning to you, mika and joe, travel weather today, not ideal. very difficult conditions already this morning, across upstate new york into new england.

the snowstorm is beginning now, six-to-nine inches in the higher elevations of northern new england. it's going to go from snow over to freezing rain later today him i'm sure a lot of schools will be cancelled, giving you an early start and plain go from snow over to freezing rain. into the south, we have a flood threat. we will get three-to-four inches of rain from little rock to memphis, to nashville, this will be into tomorrow's morning, saturday, waking up to icy conditions in central new england. this is raffe rain, memphis, headed to the appalachians, a little snow out of colorado and wyoming into nebraska, by the time we get to christmas eve, we get a pretty quiet map. we get a storm coming into the northwest. maybe a little coating of snow for you here into the ohio valley. by the time we get to christmas morning. that snow that was in the ohio valley, we will wake up to snow in northern new england and central new england. during the day, this could turn into a snowstorm, keep that in mind for your travel plans on

christmas day and areas of the northeast. today, the worst of the weather, i-90 northward, from new york state, snow this morning, freezing rain this afternoon. new york city nothing as far as wintry weatheriest. christmas morning, i pay have a little treat for you. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. zplmpblths

as i leave the senate, i feel -- i have to admit it feels we are losing the war for truth. maybe it's already lost. and if that's the case, if that's what happens, then we have lost the ability to have the kind of argument that help build consensus, politics is about the improvement of people's lives. the person people know that to be true. and they fill me with hope for

our future. >> senator al franken in his farewell address yesterday on the senate floor. i thought that was a little chilling to hear him talk about the war on truth vrmt it feels we are on an all out war on truth on every level. >> a lot of it was killing. do you know who the first person announced al franken was about to get attacked. >> roger stone. >> nobody talks about this, because. >> why haven't. >> you rick so many things. >> i'm not even talking about this accuser. i'm just saying where, all of these newspapers and all of these online websites are going, are throwing all of tear resources, why hasn't anybody checked up an seen how roger stone knew about this from a conservative talk radio host

nine hours before it happened? i'm just curious, is no one curious out there? >> i'm curious. i'm so curious. >> you can't be, will you get killed for saying it doesn't feel right in this case. i'm wondering to the democrats that leaned up and ran him out and hugged him afterwards, because they didn't believe in due process want. they believe in due process, suddenly they didn't believe. we had james lankford in yesterday, he believes in due process the republicans believe in due process, why is it they believe in it one second for al franken, a guy they've served with and went up and hugged after telling him to get the hell out of the senate because of something roger stone announced to the world. >> is that is yesterday's democrat navigating the fact that they were, i'm sorry to use the term, if bed with the clintons. and so the utter, the

unspeakable hypocrisy that they carry on their shoulders every day, that's yesterday's democrat. today's democrat has to understand that we live in a new, honest, very complicated world and that everybody involved with these situation versus to call it as they see it. not call it as they think the way the wind is blowing and they went to way the wind was blowing with al franken. you can say that i was victim shaming or whatever these words are no, i'm looking at all these cases of sexual harassment, accusers, i'm looking at the perpetrators. i'm talking to some of them on both sides and this one is political as well as problematic. it can be multifaceted unless you are yesterday's democrat and you just go one way or the other with complete hypocrisy. >> or if you are a kerry nation,

let's see if anybody gets that historic reference. if are you a kerry nation on twitter. you just want to be judgmental. you want to throw the scarlet letter on everybody. you want to shoot first. i love the line that barry weiss said, as for me i'm a feminist. you know what, i still prefer due process over mob rule. in the case of al franken. why is no democrats asked? exactly how roger stone. >> he shouldn't resign. >> a lot of people said he shouldn't resign. what about -- and also the media. it's very interesting the media, i wonder if the media is not over compensating also for what they did during the clinton era when kathleen, willie, there was one story after another. >> why didn't we believe the women? >> well, just bashing her. there were people actually

saying that, juanita broad rick. they would do articles attacking juanita broad rick, or suggesting her story didn't hold up. they went after, are they over compensating or using al franken as a human sazachary fees, not asking the basic question, how are you letting a political organization apparently run by roger stone, why aren't you asking bake questions about this? it seems again, excuse pe, it seems like due process is not a bad thingp. i will say what you said, if your movement brushes due process to the side and says what we are doing is more important than due process, that's just, that can be a warning sign for you. because i promise you that never

ever ends well. >> i think in this case, we will never know. anything is possible. you be i think due process for the democrats. they repleased it with being duped. >> do you subscribe, we can't go over a pedophile like roy moore, donald trump, 16 women says that he sexually assaulted him, if we go through the process and chop off al franken's head, i never got that chain of think something. >> if you are kiersten jill brand and you say there should be no differentiation between rape and grabbing somebody on the side of the waist. >> ped fellia. >> or pedophilia, or another discussion, other people have gone after matt damon saying there is no shading. it's just a flat line and rape is the same thing as grabbing

somebody on the side too tight during a picture, then wraps but i think 99% of americans and most marnl people think, yes there is a difference between what harvey weinstein did and glen thrush and what al franken was alleged to have done and, of course, i don't need, mika for anybody to tell me or tell you that all behavior is abhorrent. all of it must be called out. all of it must be punished. but we have a criminal law system that difference shats between murder and jaywalking. >> we also have -- >> we need to do that here, too. >> -- some men who are willing to face the music. who are willing to face the fact, who are willing to admit to their actions ten, 20 years ago, even five years ago, mark halperin is more than willing to

meet with his accusers and apologize with them face-to-face. i've actually tried to offer him to them. they don't want to talk to him him they don't want to talk to him. there are some -- there are some pip pock chrissys here. when things happen and men want to validate that truth, that's important that we actually allow that, if we want to grow as a society and learn from each other. if we just want to strike people down for political motivation or for anger, we're not going to get anywhere. i know i said something incredibly, what itself the word, explosive. >> truthful. >> but i have been pouring through these case, they're all different. they all involve people who have had terrible experiences in some cases some involve men who have sought courage and who want to apology eyes who may not ever come back to tear careers in full form. the question is, should they be

allowed to apologize? should they show that they know that things have changed, that perhaps they want to come forward and tack about this? i'm not sure what we are doing here, i really don't know. what happened with al franken doesn't feel right. it feels political. >> i think there will be a reckoning, i think people will realize at some point we will have to physical out as a society, who, what's the worst kind of behavior that merits some other kind of looking at but i think it's really hard because every woman's experience will be different, what one person thinks, oh, that was just groping. should someone keep their job if they feel they've groped dozens of women? yes, there are obviously political things at stake.

there are people thinking about what happened with john conyers the idea that he was pushing this and there are political orientives out there definitely digging for cases that they want to take down democrats or republicans, behind this, there are still women willing to come forward. in john conyer's case, this woman worked with him for more than a decade who said, yes, he did act inappropriately with pe. so whether or not a republican found that woman, john conyers felt the need to resign. >> there was a lot of theater on the part of the democratic as far as in al franken case, they were lined up, they were appalled, he gave his speech. they hugged him on the floor of the senate. when roy moore lost, he was pushed off the stage a. group came out and said you know what, al franken shouldn't resign, we've asked them to show. >> too late. >> the last couple of weeks, time and again of elected officials in the democratic party on tv why not let al

franken go through the ethics process, it's not a defense of his actions, it would allow him due process, isn't it a dangerous precedence not to have their hearing. why wasn't he given the ethics process he volunteered for? >> women in the senate, democratic women decided they didn't want to serve alongside him. remember when the slew of statements came out. they started with kristen jill brand, kamala harris an these women said we don't want to deal with the guy. i think it was because there were stories continuing to power up. >> i'm confused. these are the same people that support bill clinton and hillary clinton and benefitted from them. i'm confused. what do you mean? >> the women, what i can say is that democratic senators in essentially jumped in ahead of their leadership, in front of chuck schumer and said, no al

franken, the political offices say they want to make al franken an opportunity to show they were is zero tolerance democratic party him maybe in the next year, there might be a reckoning there. >> yeah, speaking of the war on truth, ratner fact-checks the president next.

president trump has made a number of claims about the past tax bill and the xi as a whole. steve ratner is here with a fact check on it all. steve. >> before we go to steve. we will go to donny. i think everybody has a visceral reaction when steve takes it out. everybody will be okay. there is an order to things. i know i, my entire being relaxes. >> i feel it's like when you put the baby in the crib and the baby music on. >> yes. >> a soothing effect. >> all right. i'm not going to -- >> no, it's interesting, whenever these charts come out somebody has thrown a mora

porcupine in my bed. >> i will bring you three of donald trump's greatest hits when it comes to taking liberty sham we say with the truth on jobs and the xi. let's start with the tax bill, which donald trump said, quote, it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country. he said that many times, except, of course, that it isn't. this is donald trump's tax cut down here sorry. 1.1% gdpa. measure against gdp is the honest way, he's measuring inflated dollars. if you look at the other tax cuts before it larger going back to reagan's that pus '81 tax cut, truman's two post-war tax cuts, obama actually had two larger tax cuts, partly because of the stimulus, partly because he was extending bush tax cuts and the johnson tax cut of '64, which is a tax cut that kennedy

proposed in his 1963 state of the union. at best, it's lower than that. >> it's not the biggest in the last five years. >> exactly. getting being to where we started the show. joe may want to push back on this, trump said this is a tax cut, except it isn't really, if you look at 2019, 54% of this tax cut is going to go to people making more than $75,000 a year and 16% is going to go to people in, who are mack less than $75,000 a year -- making less than $75,000 a year. so to say the middle class is going to benefit, yes, can you say that. tail get their $100 or $600, but they're getting 16% of this

total tax cut of $280 billion in that year. if you turn to -- from so, steve, far from pushing back, i just happened to have my op ed from washington post this morning. let me read you a helpful paragraph. what fools donald trump made of those midwestern voters who wanted the reality star to go after washington and new york elites. the fail twod big author report third down week, if you're a billionaire with your own company and are happy to use your private jet so you can commute from a low tax state, this is a god send. private firms and real estate executives will make out like bandits. you don't even use the numbers of where this end up. at the end of a decade, 83% of these tax cuts will go to the richest 1%, and here's the kicker for middle class and

working class americans. at the end of ten years, 53% of americans will be paying actually more taxes to the federal government. >> so much for the middle class tax cut. so let's look at jobs for a second. donald trump said many times but he said in september that we're having job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time. that's a quote, except, of course, we're not. if you look at job growth under donald trump, you can see he is average, about 170,000 a jobs a month since he took office. if you look at barack obama last year, he averaged -- during his term, he averaged 200,000 jobs a month. in fact, we're not having the greatest job growth ever. and in addition, one thing that has not got an lot of attention is that the unemployment rate is actually starting to rise in some of the states that donald trump used to propel hymn to victory. in michigan it's risen from 3.7%

to 4 .5% at the end of october. the same thing is happening in indiana and wisconsin. in ohio the unemployment rate flat lined even though it's going down nationally. >> what is it in wisconsin right now? before and after for wisconsin? >> i'm sorry. the unemployment rate? >> yeah. >> the unemployment rate in wisconsin right now is 3.4%, but it's up from 3% earlier in the year, but if you look at michigan, for example, the unemployment rate is up to 4.5% above the national average, and above a low level that hit a 3.7% a few months ago. >> right. okay. >> all right. coming up, what to expect with the russia investigation in the coming year. jared kushner and don junior could be headed back to the hill. and the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee who once saw smoke now sees

fire. mike allen of axios joins us ahead.

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all right. joe? the analytics on my facebook live with the big announcement about baby bamba are off the hook. >> i love how you say analytics when mika will shout in the office, hey, can someone check mine? it's just the number of people who viewed it. >> it was a big announcement. >> tell us how many people have viewed it? >> like, 50,000. >> okay. and let donny know. tell him the news. >> he's going to watch it right now. you have to watch it to know the announcement. it's a big one. we'll be right back with bob costa. ♪ one is the only number ♪ that you'll ever need ♪

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that's huge. >> i know. >> i did it two days ago. it was quite an announcement. welcome back to "morning joe." top of the hour. listen to that amazing christmas music. turn it up. ♪ >> i feel much better now. >> it's friday, december 22nd. welcome back to "morning joe." it's ban lousy year. >> don't you like those -- i

figured if you're going to write a christmas carol in 2017, you might as well throw it out on the table. >> that would be keeping it real. >> it's been a lousy year. time to wipe away those tears. >> it's very good. the whole ep is great. donny deutsche is still with us. you're okay? >> i'm okay. i don't want to be bah humbug. we look at that christmas. it's beautiful. why is there not a big manora there? i don't want to add to the tension. >> what are you doing, donny? >> i believe there's one in the lobby. >> a tiny one this big. >> a beautiful one. >> by the way, i'm not making any aspersions. he who doesn't love christmas, but it wasn't hurt to have half the size of a minora out there. >> let's put the in the idea box

along with steve rattner, yamiche alcindor, and robert costa. also with us historian, john meacham. >> mika, i want you to know it was john meacham who told me the song you heard, christmas time is now on filtered's spotify play list for christmas music and also "the new york times" put it on their play list. >> it's amazing. john meacham, thank you for bringing that up. >> yeah, and tweeting it to all your followers. >> very big in nursing homes. it's good to get to that base. they have to turn up the volume really loudly, but we like it.

>> john, i want to -- before we start with this -- i thought yesterday was remarkable in, well, not a positive sort of way, but i see how the united states has had one able diplomat after another either at the united nations or the state department or national security advisers. whether it's doctor brzezinski or the men and women he worked with through the years, and i saw nikki haley yesterday actually threatening like a mob boss, threatening member states of the united nations. you either be with us on this nonbinding resolution, or else we will always remember, and we may yank humanitarian aid out of the mouths of the most truly disadvantaged on the planet. we're going to listen to it in a second, but first, john, can you think of any parallels of such a

petulant address to the united nations? >> not by an american. >> yes. that was a good one. >> one said we'll bury you. the nonbinding part is essential. it's within bounds, and in fact, the duty of american diplomats and officials to try to advance our national interests within bounds and to fight that way, but you keep the stick for when you need the stick. right? and this felt particularly trumpian in that it was for a kind of reality tv show audience. it seemed to be for performance as opposed to for substance.

>> all right. you want to hear nikki haley speaking yesterday? here she is. >> the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. we will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the united nations. and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us as they so often do to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit, but this vote will make a difference on how americans look at the u.n. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the u.n. and this vote will be remembered. >> this vote will be remembered. this non-binding vote that means absolutely nothing will be remembered, and we may take food out of the mouths of starving

babes across the planet and not provide humanitarian aid because of this nonbinding resolution. bob costa, there are some members of the cabinet who are fairly effective in a donald trump mind meld, the trumpian mind meld. it looked like that's what was going on yesterday with nikki haley. >> the question remains will the food not go to the people who need it? will the united states and the trump administration follow through with this threat? and there are many nations within the u.n. over 120 of them, voted against the united states in this situation, and it shows they see the threat as what empty. a lot of foreign policy experts and diplomats wonder if the united states is having tough took and ambassador haley is trying to appeal to president trump. when at the end of the day, but not really going to make this move on aid.

>> bob, that's what's so fascinate ing about it. that they would, again, they're day traders. in this case, nikki haley wasn't eve even a day trader. she was trading by the minute. later in the afternoon the white house privately admitted they weren't going to yank aid and they weren't going to punish people, and so there was a softening of it which, of course, you know what that does. that just makes us look even weaker by night fall. >> a lot of the moral studies the united states and the tremp trump era. they look at many national agreements and institutions and see the president taking a hard line position but then members of his administration in the coming weeks and months at times seem to walk the hard line positions back, and they see this u.n. standoff in the same way. there's always at first the flash of tough talk, and then there's negotiation in the coming weeks. >> but we have to remember there

were seven countries that voted with the u.s. gaud maul la honduras, micronesia, pau, and togo. >> we got that going for us. >> we got that going for us. we also, though, mika, i thought it was interesting that actually england, france, some of our other most loyal allies who we have special relationships with voted for the resolution, and on the other side of the united states, obviously, understanding that this was an extraordinarily controversial destabilizing proposal by donald trump. and, again, this, by the way, is a non-binding resolution over a non-binding statement that donald trump made in a speech a couple of weeks back. i'm not so sure that we ever

will move the embassy to jerusalem. it's just something that donald trump said. like when he made his statement the morning after the fbi kicked in the front door of his campaign manager's home to begin a surge that would lead to his arrest. >> there's so many scenarios that really sort of character rise all of this. this is the same president that hired omarosa and she was dragged out the other day. it's from big to small. it's the biggest cluster i've ever seen in my lifetime. >> let us not also forget this is the same guy who what did he call himself? john miller? and he would call the tabloids talking about what a great lady's man. let's go to the john miller desk right now. and willie geist in hong kong. give us the details, and did he call himself john miller? did he call tabloids talking

about his love life? >> he was alleged to have called new york newspapers and tabloids, identifying himself as john miller. he had a strikingly familiar voice when he spoke to the newspapers. talking act his personal life and conquests. >> i think we have recordings of those sthch those. >> it's easy to forget the thousands of things. if we just replay that, if we find the true insanity. >> john miller? >> let's find the john miller tape. >> oh, let's pull the tape. >> yes. it's amazing. >> that would be fun. it's christmas time. >> is there anything more trump-like than saying we gave you a bunch of money and now you have to do what we said. >> foreign policy trump style. >> it's all a deal. >> it's a low-level deal. congress was again on the brink of a shutdown but yesterday

voted to fund the federal government for another four weeks. the new deal lasts until january 19th with long-term solutions elusive on capitol hill. congressional democrats were unable to leverage divisions to win a compromise on daca dragging the battle over undocumented immigrants and other spending priorities into the new year. john cornyn, the second ranking republican said, quote, i guess we'd better recharge our batteries. it seems like ground hog day. we get up and do the same thing over and over again. it's maddening. really. >> joining us now, republican congressman scott perry of pennsylvania. congressman, thank you for being with us. you voted against the cr to fund the government for four weeks. what did you object to in the bill? >> well, a couple of things. i'm not a fan of continuing resolutions the house as you know for all the troubled past,

all 12 appropriations bills. we would like the senate to do the same thing. these cliffs or artificial cliffs make it difficult for the military and citizens to figure out where the government is going, and in particular, they put this fiza reauthorization. i object to the spying of americans on any form and kind of abridging their fourth amendment rights. that should have been a stand alone bill. i'd have been happy to deal with that as a stand alone bill. as you know, they oftentimes put these things together. i think that's an issue that deserves its own scrutiny. >> congressman, joe here. what is the possibility of the republicans in the house passing a clean debt limit rise? would that happen if just to raise the debt limit or not? >> i think it could happen.

it depends on all the factors. as you know, oftentimes they try to couple these things with other scenarios like another shutdown so they can parlay votes from one thing to get something on another. and that's -- people get really frustrated. i think citizens get frustrated. they want to see us deal with an issue on its face, and come to whatever conclusion we come to so they can decide where their representative stands on things. when you print everything together, it's hard to tell, and honestly, i think it gives members a way out to say, well, i voted for this, but i don't want that, or that kind of thing. people get frustrated with that. from my standpoint, it can happen. but as you know, oftentimes it is ground hog day around here, and we literally set things up for those conditions. and that's what we're trying to break. we'd like to break that scenario so we're not in that situation. >> so congressman, let me ask you what i always ask mark

meadows when he comes on. we have a $20 trillion debt that's going to a $30 trillion debt. it was $11 trillion when obama became president. every president seems to double the national debt. cutting discretionary spending is not going to get us there. are you and the freedom caucus willing to look at defense spending and look at entitlements and the reform of entiemg entie entitlements to slow down the rise of america's national debt? >> i think the guys in the freedom caucus and many members on both sides of the aisles are willing to look at these things. you're not supposed to touch that rail, but our debt is spiraling out of control, and those are the biggest drivers of our debt. sooner or later, look, my mother's on social security and medicare, and there's not going to be anything left.

people talk about their children or their grandchildren. it's more urgent than that. you're talk act your own parents right now, or people you know right now, and you don't have to take my word for it. talk to the trustees at the social security administration. they'll tell you when the insolvency data. we have to do something and be people of courage willing to at least talk about these and offer solutions that kind of cut across the grain there on both sides. like i said, be courageous about that. >> exactly. thank you. you're right. it's interesting when i was in congress, 200 years ago, we would talk about the danger to future generations. now the danger is actually to our children right now to millennials, the debt is growing at such a fast rate that it's something we have to take care of now. congressman, thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. mika, back to you.

>> don't tell president trump, but obamacare is not dead. he says it is. trump said the repeal of the individual mandate in the tax bill means obamacare is essentially repealed. it doesn't. but new figures reveal that enrollment in obamacare remain strong despite numerous hurdles. despite them trying to kill it, the head of the centers for medicare and medicaid services revealed yesterday that 8.8 million people signed up for insurance on the federal health care exchange during the latest open enrollment period. that figure topped some expectations and was down only slightly from last year's 9.2 million signups. meanwhile senate majority leader mitch mcconnell appears ready to move on from trying to dismantle the affordable care act. he said he's hoping to spend much of 2018 focusing on issues his party can work on with some democrats in the senate.

mcconnell said in part, quote, we obvious were unable to completely repeal and replace with a 52-48 senate. athding we'll have to take a look at what that looks like with a 51-49 senate, but i think we'll have to move onto other issues. what issues could that be and it sounds like they're giving up on trying to repeal obamacare, and yamiche, it seems like the president wants to put the veil of repealing obamacare out there, but the truth is he didn't. >> the truth is obamacare has become part of the culture of america. people expect they will not the denied coverage because of preexisting conditions. people expect there will be a bottom line. things like maternity care is covered by your health insurance no matter what you have, and gone are the days where people

thought if i can't afford health care, i can only go to the er. a lot of people out in the country, this is what democrats wanted. a lot of people in the country really like this bill, and repealing the individual mandate will, of course, strike some sort of a blow to it. as you saw, the members of people signing up for the health care law are increasing by the day. that's without president trump doing anything to help it. i think mitch mcconnell is making the argument they want to get to something less complex which is kind of hard to do, because the president has, of course, said he wants to know tackle infrastructure. he wants to try to deal with the opioid crisis. essential mitch mcconnell found out repealing obamacare the way they promised is too hard to do. >> bob, you had the president two days ago at the white house saying essentially that obamacare had been repealed. that was his quote, essentially repealed because they got the individual mandate into the tax

bill. is that good enough, then, for the republicans not just for the president but for mitch mcconnell, and congressional republicans for them to say we went after it. we weren't able to fully repeal and replace, but we're ready to turn the corner or is there some appetite still to pick apart this now popular obamacare for which almost 9 million people signed up in this latest enrollment period? >> willie, there is an appetite in the republican base, and the president says that sort of thing to appeal to that republican base. at the same time the future of obamacare is more complicated. part of the reason republicans were able to pass this tax bill and get senator susan collins of maine and others to come along is congressional leaders promised her and other moderates they would do more in coming months to try to shore up the insurance markets and stabilized aspects of the affordable care act. you see an acknowledgment in many republican circles that the

affordable care act is here to stay as part of the culture. they know they can't ever really acknowledge that politically because the fight never ends politically in the gop when it comes to obamacare, but legislatively, they're not trying to take it up by its roots and discard it. >> john, it's donny. coming off obama, the repeal of obamacare, and the tax plan. i think we've witnessed in 2017 trump's version of trump university. come follow me. come follow me, fellows. follow the rich guy. i'm going to get you richer. at the end of the day, he's picking people's pockets. is there any kind of historical reference back to a president that kind of sold a bill of goods, if you will, the individual mandate repeal is going to cause people's premiums to go up. joe talked earlier about the end of this, that the middle class's taxes are going to be going up. any historical reference to a president that kind of pulled one over, if you will, and when the roosters came home had to

pay for it? >> well, i mean, pulling one over consciously is rare. but the backlash that happens to almost every controversial incumbent two years in is pretty formidable, whether it's president obama in 2010, the exception was president bush in 2002 in part because of the attacks. the election that sent joe to washington in 1994 in which the republicans carried the house for the first time in 40 years. it's sort of hard to believe. from 1954 to 1994 the democrats controlled the house. there was a huge backlash against president clinton's seemingly too far left first two years forced him back to the center. it goes all the way back, deep, deep, but in modern history, to

1966 when a huge republican wave came in after the big 1964 win for linden johnson, two things happened. 1,000 days after johnson defeated gold water, the republicans had a huge midterm and ronald reagan became governor of california. if you look at that particular moment to this one, it is possible that what you're going to see next year is a democratic revival. we've seen it in alabama. two of the great mysteries of 2017. donald trump is president of the united states and there's a democratic senator from alabama. ufos are next. and so yeah, there is a backlash. i think there's a big wave in terms of the polling coming and a lot of states that did not seem to be in play for the congressional elections will be. >> joe? >> we have the ufos too. we've had all three of these in

2017. >> that's true. >> yawjohn, this is one of the t times we'll be talking to you at the end of 2017. i'm sure you've thought about it as a presidential historian, as a historian generally. i'm sure you've thought about it. a good bit especially as we move toward the end of 2017 and move into 2018. i've had some people tell me they believe 2018 is going to be perhaps the most tumultuous year of our lifetime. how do you summarize the things that have taken place in 2017 and where we find ourselves with a little perspective and context 12 months in? >> well, this is going to be a consequential president. the difference is our great

presidents are the ones who whether it's franklin roosevelt or ronald reagan, they're the ones who reached out beyond their tribal base and appealed to people's hopes rather than their fears. what we saw yesterday at the united nations, what we see constantly is a president who -- it's a bad joke, but it's we used to have a bully pulpit. now we have a bully in the pulpit. that's the historical reality. this will be a period that will be studied far long, long time to come for -- to assess to what extent does an unconventional, raw no holds barred way of being affect the presidency? we know that the presidency has not changed donald trump. what we don't know yet is whether donald trump has

permanently changed the presidency. >> that's a big question mark for the next year. john meacham, thank you. bob costa, to your reporting in the washington post that hours after celebrating his largest legislative achievement to date, president trump's allies had a spirited discussion about the political landscape for the 2018 midterm elections with a group that included trump's excampaign manager, corey lewandowski. the post also reports president trump had a lunch on tuesday with former chief of staff reince priebus in order to strategize about 2018. what are the former aids telling him? what does that conversation look like? >> it was a classic scene for president trump, having advisers arguing and debating political strategy, their own roles in his orbit, right in front of him. steps in front of him in the oval office as john kelly looks on and the president looks on. and lewandowski is an outside adviser. and in some respects he tears

apart the white house political operation in front of the president of the united states, and this rattles some of the people in the room. some people wonder why is he having so much say in the future of the trump political operation, but it's this whole episode on wednesday is reflective of what was happening, what's happening in the trump white house. they're trying to figure out a wave could be coming in 2018. what is the party doing to prepare? is the president prepared to do what he needs to do to hold onto power? >> all right. bob costa, thank you very much. yamic yamiche, thank you as well. and still ahead, we have the latest on the russia probe. she's been donald trump's assistant for more than 30 years, but what will she tell members of the house intelligence committee when she answers their questions today? we'll talk to a former cia official, jeremy bash, and mike allen and what to expect from the russia investigation in the new year. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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committee will question a lock time donald trump associate later today. rhona graff who for more than 20 years was a senior vice president at the trump organization will meet with the committee at an undisclosed new york location. only a hand full of lawmakers are expected to travel to new york for the closed door meeting. the plan for staff interviews such as this one has drawn protests from the top democrat on the intel panel who accused his republican colleagues on the committee of trying to protect trump by rushing through the investigation in order to bring it to a premature conclusion. congressman adam schiff questioned the timing of the interviews during a busy week in washington. democrats left washington yesterday for the holiday

recess. with us now, an nbc national security analyst, jeremy bash. and the executive editor of axios, mike allen with new reporting on the russia probe. jeremy, rhona graff testifying today. also we were talking about mccabe corroborating the loyalty pledge among pieces of system. and also don mcgahn reportedly having told the president of the united states early on weeks after the inauguration that he knew that general michael flirn, the national security adviser broke the law. put some of the pieces together for us. what have you seen this week in the russia investigation? >> i think the big picture is that the last three weeks have been weeks of planic for the trump team. mike flynn said i'm going to cooperate with bob mueller, and

you've seen the trump team kick into a different gear. they've tried to attack the investigation, attack bob mueller and try to really obstruct the investigation itself in a whole new way. and i think what's going on, willie, is that the president and his team have realized that mike flynn has a critical piece of information he's going tomue. when sally yates said the russians could be bribing mike flynn. he said i talked to the russians as you told me, and here's what i told the fbi and trump was fine with it. i think it's important to remember that the explanation as to why flynn was fired was because he lied to the vice president. they never said he lied to the president. investigate, i think we can assume he told the president the truth. that goes to the question of whether or not the president knew a felony was committed when

he fired comey. >> and perhaps the intel committee recalling donald trump junior and jared kushner to testify? >> i had a conversation with mike warner yesterday, and he made it clear that the big fights of 2017, taking on tech and probing russia, are going to reignite in 2018. so you're right. when some of the inner circle trump witnesses including jared kushner, including trump junior, came up to the senate intelligence committee the first time, they were just questioned by staff members. this time mark warner tells me they're going to be recalled to be questioned by the senators themselves. now, there will be a fight about whether that's public or not, but these inner circle witnesses are going to be back in the hot seat. >> interesting. >> steve? >> there's been a sense, i think, at least for the last few

months that as hard as the senate and house committees are working, the real action is going to be with the special counsel. he has the subpoena power. do you have a view or a sense that these committees are now somehow reenergized and they'll play a bigger role or do you think they're more in the backseat of this operation? >> steve, there's been a real change there. reenergized is the perfect word. i've covered senator warner for 20 years going back to the virginia days. and over the last year on television including here on "morning joe," he's been pretty candid about his sort of waxing and waning of thinking that there's more fire or smoke, and he's been pretty candid in some of his interviews that they may not have a lot of there, there, and it will be up to mueller. that has changed. yesterday at an axios news shapers event, senator warner told me twice, this is the

most -- this look into the russiaen fluns in the elections, he says this is the most important work i will ever do. so he said based on witness testimony, he's seen that's not public, based on documents he's seen that's not public, he clearly thinks there's fire, and he is now in a very pronounced wax phase of thinking that this is going to come to something. >> we bring you on for many reasons. first, you're a good friend of ours and have been for a very long time. second, axios is just, you guys are doing an incredible job. i'm so proud of what you're doing there. but third and most importantly, we brought you on today to say two words. we want to hear them, man. >> for the last time of an epic 2017, happy friday and merry christmas. >> happy friday. thank you so much, mike allen. >> thank you for a great year. >> love having you on.

love you, and appreciate you. appreciate you. and jeremy bash, stay with us. and mika, rhona, what will they be asking her about? >> i'm trying to imagine what that even looks like. >> we like rhona. >> all of us who have known trump for years, rhona is his go-to. she knows all. but rhona is great. she is just great. i just want to swing it back to jeremy. question, i believe that the heat as it continues to turn up on the mueller investigation, i do believe at some point, although people say it can't happen. he will fire mueller. that's who he is. give me a run down. >> i don't think he'll fire mueller. >> he'll initiate it. >> i think what we'll do is give license to his republican allies to undermine mueller, and they will wait and see. but they are poised to basically the republicans on the hill are

poised to do trump's bidding. back on the rhona issue for a moment. i think there's two issues. it's substance and process. on the substance, i think it's important for them to talk to her because she will testify and she will be able to explain on june 9th, 2016, after the big meeting with the russian delegation, the they said we're here to support the campaign and here's how. we can give dirt on your opponent. she needs to explain to investigators did don junior and paul manafort walk in to the office and give him a download? probably yes, but i think we need to hear it from her. on the process, i think it's important to say it is an investigation technique to shield a witness if you do it on their home turf. this is the republicans not wanting to offend trump. i think it's a huge red flag the investigators aren't doing their job if they're willing to

investigate witnesses outside of washington if there's no reason they can't travel to washington and be interviewed. >> jeremy bash, thank you. still ahead, a senior administration official tells nbc news that the president is likely to sign the tax bill into law today. jeffrey sacks calls the bill a stunning monument to brainlessness. he joins the table ahead. ♪ dad promised he would teach me how to surf on our trip. ♪ when you book a flight then add a hotel you can save. ♪ three waves later, i think it was the other way around...

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thank you for seeing through the course of this year an agenda that the truly is restoring this country. you've restored american credibility on the world stage. you've unleashed american energy. you've spurred an optimism in this country that's setting records. i'm deeply humbled as your vice president to be able to be here. >> even he's like, dude, i'm married. after that cabinet meeting pence showed up at trump's door holding cue cards. >> you had me at hello. >> love, actually. >> joe, just as a guy, as a guy

who grew up in pensacola and was a quarterback and got into a couple street fights, what was your visceral reaction as you watched those groveling -- >> sniveling -- >> whining little. you know the word i want to use. >> i know the word. i'll tell you that first, if i am ever in a position where people are praising me like that, i think most of us say hey, shut up, and try to cut it off, and crack a joke. you know? and -- because it's embarrassing to have somebody who obviously is doing what mike pence was doi doing. i would be horrified to think -- i don't let people sit around and compliment me, because it's

embarrassing, especially when it's so obvious that it's being done to assuage one's ego. secondly for mike pence, how do you go home to your family after doing that? it's not about donald trump. it's just -- >> i think he actually really believes it. >> i think it's about being that craven to anybody. and i'm just talking on a human level. maybe mike pence is thinking you know what? he's erratic, he's unstable, and this is the only way i can keep him focussed during the day. maybe mike pence will write it in a book five years from now and will explain to us all that donald trump was being irrational about north korea or that maybe he really was losing some of his abilities and that was the only way to keep him focussed. maybe he'll make that argument. i look forward to reading all those books. short of that, i don't know how he could have done it and more importantly, i don't know the

weakness. i don't know the insecurities that lurk inside any man's brains that would sit there, arms crossed, and allow people to suck up to him in that way. >> it begs the question about why people inside the white house aren't acting, but we'll leave that for them. still ahead, after a rocky year with the president, mitch mcconnell says donald trump is, quote, doing a good job. but has he come around on the tweets? "morning joe" is coming right back. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95.

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and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like pre-shaken sodas. having their seat kicked on an airplane. being rammed by a shopping cart. sitting in gum. and walking into a glass door. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv and for a limited time get a $100 reward card. call 1-800-directv. swho live within five miles of custyour business?-54, like these two... and that guy. or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness... namaste. whichever audience you're looking for, we'll find them we're the finders. we work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. anywhere, any way your audience watches. consider them found.

wifiso if you can't live without it...t it. why aren't you using this guy? it makes your wifi awesomely fast. no... still nope. now we're talking! it gets you wifi here, here, and here. it even lets you take a time out. no! no! yes! yes, indeed. amazing speed, coverage and control. all with an xfi gateway. find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. i think he's doing a good job. he knows i'm not a huge fan of tweets, although i like the tweet he sent out about me yesterday. so there are some exceptions. >> some of the tweets about you must have been hard to overlook. >> well, they weren't my favorite, no. he's gotten better.

>> in what sense? >> we're doing just fine. >> they're doing good fine. he couldn't give an honest answer on the tweets. he tweeted about kirsten gillibrand last week in a disgusting sexist way. so it would be great if mitch mcconnell would just say the tweets are no good, we don't agree with them, they're inappropriate and they're bullying and we don't stand by that. anyhow, joining us now is the professor and director for the center for sustainable development at columbia university, economist dr. jeffrey sachs. joe, the president just tweeted -- he tweeted about the tax bill so we're okay here, writing this, our big and very popular tax cut and reform bills that taken on an unexpected new source of love, ha is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. this is a phenomenon that nobody

even thought of and now it's the rage. merry christmas. let's play some of joe's christmas music. >> showering their workers. thank you, chairman mao. let's go to jeffrey sachs. we disagree on some things, but we certainly agree on the danger of the national debt. we do whether republicans or drks are in the white house and also we agree on income disparity, the grave danger it causes american capitalism. we usually diverge on tax cuts. i'm always looking for an excuse to support a tax cut. you are not. but in this case, i think we're probably together on the fact that these tax cuts are bad because they increase income disparity a great deal over the next decade and also what it does for the debt. for you, what concerns you most

about this new tax -- the tax law? >> well, i actually kind of hope the president has his one day of celebration because all the rest of the news forward is going to be bad. this is giving away $1.5 to $2 trillion for no reason at a time we absolutely can't afford. the next moment we're going to look around, and then we're going to talk about infrastructure, where amtrak is literally going off the rails all the time now, and there will be no money. then they'll say, well, state and local government should do it. then they'll look at what they just put into the tax law which is absolutely the opposite of what's needed for state and local governments to be able to provide infrastructure and then we'll look at the news yesterday and think about that, that our life expectancy in this country alone, of all the high income world is going down because we have epidemics of opioid

addiction, epidemics of obesity, because we have a disaster of public health and there will be no money for that. today he should celebrate in his fantasy world because reality is going to hit tomorrow, and already you see in congress they're shugging because they have no idea what to do next. there is nothing to do after you've given away all this money. >> what do we do about the national debt? it's a problem before this tax bill was passed, a $1.5 trillion bigger problem. demographics, we have a ticking time bomb in our entitlement systems. what do we do to save this country from an economic meltdown due to massive debt? >> you and i have been talking about this for a decade and i be moaned the obama stim laos bill in 2009. >> yes, you did.

>> i said why are you giving away a trillion dollars on a party line vote? only bad can come out of it. politically motivated spending that is going to raise the debt. and now, you know, we're doing the same thing on the other side. washington is completely irresponsible. the companies, as the president rightly tweeted, couldn't be more thrilled. this is a gift to the largest corporations in the world, not only american, but a gift to international companies as well. and all the rest of us just have to look on completely stunned. i think the political system has failed. i think both parties have failed. really we've been on a tax cut juggernaut for decades and we can't after ford this. our infrastructure is breaking down, our public health is breaking down, our education system is breaking down, and it's really sad. i see a lot of countries in the

world that are rising, investing, doing a lot of good things because i'm traveling abroad a lot and come home to see everything broken. >> speaking of broken. jeffrey, if you took over this country a year ago and said what is going right and hat is the problem, actually the thing that was going right is the economy. the one problem we have is class warfare, going in opposite directions. what did we do? we went after something that was not a problem and exacerbated the core problem underlying our country. >> the one thing that was going well was the business psych lcy. the things that weren't going well is for a lot of people there was a lot of suffering, a lot of public health deterioration, education system awful for children all over this country. infrastructure is breaking down. we've got to invest in the future, and we weren't doing that a year ago, and now we have given away the money that we will need to do it.

so we haven't been looking to the future for a long, long time. this has been both parties actually. and this is christmas season, i hate even to talk like. it's really the truth. >> we're all getting by. joe? >> mika, the thing that jeffrey talked about that we really all have to focus on at a time that republicans are talking about cutting the affordable care act, cutting access to health care, they can't even pass a program that's intended to help young children t c.h.i.p.s. program, despite what orrin hatch said on the floor. life expectancy in the united states of america has gone down again. this is staggering. the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. the middle class are getting crushed, and u.s. life expectancy has now declined for

the straight year. >> the only rich country where this is happening, joe. >> and kids aren't doing better than their parents. dr. jeffrey sachs, thank you very much. coming up, u.n. ambassador nikki haley is throwing a party, but only countries that sided with the u.s. on jerusalem are invited. what about the countries that didn't? "morning joe" is coming right back. give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions... ♪ ...and open up a world of possibilities. ♪ save 20% for the holidays at ancestrydna.com. the market.redict but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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good morning. it is friday, december 22nd. we're counting down. we're almost there, right? >> yep. >> joe, we're almost there. >> i can't believe it. i'm kind of excited i have to say. >> i am, too. you look at that tree. willie, what does that comcast commerce tree do to you? >> untold millions for our shareholders, draws in people, spending money at the nbc experience store, buying "morning joe" mugs and t-shirts. a beautiful thing.

>> i'm not sure, but mika, i could be mistaken. i hope i'm not misstating this, but i think comcast is giving money away to people that work with us. not to us, of course. >> comcast and many other companies. >> many other companies. >> uh-huh. >> that's a lot of money -- >> especially if you want to get deals done with the federal government. >> don't be so cynical. hey, alex -- give me alex for a second. alex, have you been notified at all, are you guys going to get smack radios from comcast because of the tax cuts? >> that's what i read. i haven't heard anything specifically yet. we're all looking at our bank accounts very closely. >> can we zoom out to everybody

in the control room? i'm curious. >> i'm not sure which camera to zoom here. >> if that's the case, alex, i think it's like a thousand dollars or something. that let me ask, how many people, if that's the case, now support donald trump's tax cut plan? oh, come on. they all do. they're very professional. >> we're journalists, we don't have an opinion. >> yeah, journalists, no opinion. that's incredible. a lot of companies are giving a thousand dollars to a lot of their employees, and that is -- i think it comes in january. that's a lot of money. >> it is. >> but joe, not to be cynical, at&t started this with a

thousand dollars. at&t is trying to buy time warner. i think boeing jumped in. boeing is trying to sell planes and get export financing from the federal government. i don't want to sound cynical a couple days before christmas. >> wells fargo, $15 an hour. >> wells fargo has massive regulatory problems. >> it's a pr move. by the way, even if you're not trying to curry favor with the government, it's basically how many tens and tens of hundreds of billions are we going to save as a company. it looks like it's going back to the people. >> at&t's revenues are $45 billion a year and this amounts to $200 million. >> donny, you're exactly right, yes, it's a pr move. it may be cynical, but at the same time this goes back to the discussion i was having yesterday where we can sit and say, hey, this mainly helps gazillionaires, the richest of

the rich. but if somebody in alabama is getting $600 more a year and they're on a fixed income, or let's say they make $35,000 a year total, they don't care if you and i are getting a lot more than that. they care about the $600. and this may be a cynical move by companies. maybe it's not. they're going to make a ton of money off of this. but think what that means to employees that are getting $1,000 next month. we can sit around our table and talk about how cynical it is, and yes it's cynical because some of these companies want regulatory favor. that doesn't matter the voters. what i'm saying, if you use the old ross perot term, where the rubber hits the road, people

judge, am i better off or not better off? we can sit around and say it's only $800. that's a lot of money for people struggling to put food on their table and pay bills. >> unless you're one of the 13 million that might lose health care. if we go back to what history has shown us, particularly the reagan tax cuts, if it's a very small move for somebody, $600, in the skem of things, that's not a big move. two years into the reagan administration they got wiped out in the midterms. but to me the bigger issue is that basically the biggest problem at the end of the day is wealth distribution or inequity. if a millionaire is getting $70,000 and a middle income guy is getting $700, that exacerbates the problem. at the end of the day it is a zero sum game. if this schism continues to grow, the natives get very

restless. >> a short-term thing here. >> i don't want you to miss my point. i have something in "the washington post" this morning -- >> i do, too. mine has cartoons. i draw pictures. >> i think yours is in the penthouse forum. >> there is no doubt this is a tax bill that comes at the wrong time. it's focused on the wrong areas. we don't need it right now. it steals $1.5 trillion from millennials and younger americans for the benefit of the richest multinational corporations on the globe. i've said it. it makes donald trump -- you talk about the art of the self-deal, mika, this is something donald trump with all the corruption and the self-dealing swirling around donald trump, this tax plan proves that like autocrats

across the world, donald trump has perfected the art of the self-deal. all that said, i love when elites say it's only $600 for so and so, only $1,000 for so and so. that means a lot to a lot of people. and as far as that having an impact on, do i like this tax plan or not, well, yeah, i guess i do. i think you'll see the numbers going up over the next couple months. it's just like obamacare passed? i said the proof will come in whether it makes people's lives better or worse? you know what? it made people's lives better. it made a lot of people's lives better. that's why getting rid of obamacare has gotten -- >> they got rid of the individual mandate because

that's the most unpopular part of it. it's the one thing that conservatives actually came up with as a concept. but more people are signing up than ever before. >> one other thing we ought to point out that we haven't pointed out enough on this show over the past couple weeks, even though the enrollment period has been cut in half, and even though the white house and the federal government run by donald trump and the republicans in congress have done everything -- >> everything. >> -- to stop baobamacare, enrollment is high, it's been extraordinary popular despite the fact that federal government, donald trump, republicans in the house, republicans in the senate are doing everything in their power to stop people from enrolling. they're doing it and doing it in pretty damn high numbers. >> also with us, we have "new york times" reporter yamiche

alcindor with us. let's get to the russia probe. deputy fbi director andrew mccabe concluded a combined 16 hours of closed door testimony before house committees this week in which he reportedly confirmed he is a witness in the investigations of actions by president trump to halt the russia investigation. three unnamed sources tell cnn mccabe told the house intelligence committee that fired fbi director james comey informed him of conversations he had with president trump soon after they happened. last june comey testified that he told mccabe and other members about trump's request for loyalty and what he perceived to be the president asking for an end to the russia investigation. >> i discussed lifting the cloud and the request with the senior leadership team who typically,

and i think in all these circumstances, was the deputy director, my chief of staff, the general counsel, the deputy director's chief counsel. and i think in a number of circumstances, the number three in the fbi and a few of the conversations included the head of the national security branch. >> you have the president of the united states asking you to stop an investigation that's an important investigation. what was the response of your colleagues? >> i think they were as shocked and troubled by it as i was. >> there is the report in foreign policy magazine, unconfirmed by nbc news, but foreign policy claims the trump administration records show white house council don mcgahn was aware in january just after the inauguration that then national security adviser michael flynn had possibly violated laws about lying to federal investigators and unauthorized communication with russia's ambassador. flynn remained in his job until

mid february, 18 days after then acting attorney general sally yates informed mcgahn about her concerns. the records allege flynn and possibly anyone who authorized or approved of such contacts would be in potential violation of the logan act. according to two anonymous sources that work in the administration. yamiche, let's start with the second part of that story. this has been quite a week in the russia investigation. there's been so much focus on the tax passage we haven't talked about it. what you have in "foreign policy" magazine, dan mcgahn saying he learned in january that michael flynn likely had broken the law and that he told president trump that michael flynn had broken the law. after that, president trump fired james comey -- talked to james comey and asked him to go easy on michael flynn. if you put those pieces together, if this report turns out to be true, there would be a

case in there that president trump could have been obstructed justice by asking him to go easy on someone who had broken the law. >> if the reporting turns out to be true and there's a timeline that shows president trump was trying to shield michael flynn, that's problematic for his case. i think it's been problematic for a long time. the testimony about james comey was pretty clear about president trump trying to influence the investigation. he said he was fired because the president wanted to change the direction of the investigation. so i think there's a real issue here with michael flynn, and michael flynn having now pled guilty to at least one charge. that shows that michael flynn could potentially be a problem for this president. >> still ahead on "morning joe," u.n. ambassador nikki haley threatens the countries that rebuke the u.s. over jerusalem including our allies saying we're, quote, taking names. we'll talk about the implications for u.s. foreign policy, if that's what you call it.

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the united nations overwhelmingly voted of a non-binding resignation, declaring it null and void. 128 member states voted in favor including several of america's closest allies such as france, britain, germany and japan. 21 nations were absent and 35 ab stained including australia, canada, mexico and poland. nine nations voted against the resolution, many of which are tiny island nations in the pacific heavily dependent on american aid. before the vote, several nations delivered speeches blasting threats made this week by both u.n. ambassador nikki haley and

president trump which some saw as a form of blackmail. this is america. the administration thenned that the u.s. would cut foreign and humanitarian aid to any country that voted against the u.s. here is what ambassador haley said in a speech prior to the vote. >> the united states is by far the single largest contributor to the united nations and its agencies. when we make generous contributions to the u.n., we also have a legitimate expectation that our good will is recognized and respected. when a nation is singled out for attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. what's more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected. in the case of the united states, we are asked to pay more than anyone else for that dubious privilege. we have an obligation to demand

more for our investment. >> the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. we will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the united nations, and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us as they so often do to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. but this vote will make a difference on how americans look at the u.n. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the u.n. and this vote will be remembered. >> the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass tweeted, quote, what makes trump administration think it can act june lattery on jerusalem and threaten other governments and u.n. when u.s. criticized for it and then expect others to work with the

u.s. at the u.n. to pressure north korea or iran? is nobody thinking stra teamitey about relationships or priorities. and then former cia director john brennan took his first stab at twitter tweeting in remembrance of the lockerbie bombing 29 years ago yesterday, brennan posted, quote, trump administration threat to retail eight against nations that exercise sovereign right in u.s. to oppose u.s. position on jerusalem is beyond outrageous. shows donald trump expects blind loyalty and sub serveians from everyone, qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats. >> joe, when did we become the bad guys? i'm listening to that speech yesterday, and obviously brennan's tweet.

that's the bad guys talking. we're not going to give you aid if you don't blindly agree with us and we'll cut you off. when did this happen? i know it happened last november 8th. >> you know, you sit and listen to nikki haley, and as a representative of the united states of america, and it's breathtaking that she would actually threaten to cut off aid and support -- and humanitarian aid. by the way, all those things that, in the day when you talk about pr, all those things in the end help us. this is what people that -- donald trump -- and i guess nikki haley and others do not understand, we don't give foreign aid and humanitarian aid just to make ourselves feel good. those dollars are strategic.

to allow the united states to continue to have soft power across the globe, and you just aren't smart if you believe that threatening that -- let's -- remember what this was. this is a non-binding resolution. this is sort of a sense of the united nations. it doesn't matter. at the end of the day, great. they did it yet. guess what? the sunrises today and has no practical impact and yet nikki haley and donald trump engaged yesterday in something in between a school yard taunt and a mob boss's threat, and they did it as our representatives for a resolution that is non-binding over something that is obviously one of the most controversial foreign policy moves that anybody can make. support that move or oppose that move. if you're an american, you just

don't want your representatives up there threatening the rest of the world. guess what, mika? we're going to need them on iran. we're going to need their held on north korea. we may need their help again in syria. we're going to need their help in a thousand places. yes, they're going to need our help, too. guess what? we're not going to work together if nikki haley is going up there humiliating the united states of america by threatening our allies over a non-binding resolution. it's just like donald trump's tweets. every response has to be a nuclear response. there is no subtlety of thought. >> no subtlety of thought. that's one way of putting it. >> by the way, there is no diplomat in nikki haley. what she did yesterday is an embarrassment in the united states. we'll have more on this

story with former state department official rick stengel. stay with us.

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fumble the ball and denver has recovered. oh, my.

oh, my! touchdown! >> when i can't think of anything else to say "oh, many" works. >> sad news to report. that was the voigs of legendary sportscaster dick enberg. he was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his home in la jolla, california. he got his broadcasting debut accidentally starting out as a custodian at a radio station before getting the weekend sports and disk jockey gigs. got his big break with ucla basketball calling the bruins games over a nine-year span, during which the team won eight ncaa titles. he called super bowls, let me picks and angels and padres games. enberg won 13 sports emmy awards and a lifetime achievement emmy, even receiving a star on the hollywood walk of fame over the course of his 60-year career. joining us, author and columnist for the "new york daily news"

and msnbc contributor mike lupica. as a kid in the '80s i used to listen to him do baseball on nbc. in the '90s, the nba on nbc. then you grew up and he did the nfl, wimbledon. he could do everything and did it with such great and such class. that voice immediately triggers great memories in me. >> i talk about this with bob costas all the time. this is one of the great careers in the history of broadcasting because of all the different things he did. i knew dick enberg for most of my adult life. my introduction was by my dear friend bud collins on breakfast at wimbledon. donny and i were talking on the break, if we had only done college basketball with alma geier and billy packer, one of the great three-men crews of all time, that would have been much to have a hall of fame career. in addition to everything else, he was a gent, and a great writer, a great writer, too.

>> also with us, author and nbc news contributor annan gear dhar disand senior writer for the weekly standard michael warren. annan is going to think outside the box this morning. you're looking at positive ways to look ahead to the next year. are there any? >> i had to dig very deep. >> that's the advice i give to women, dig deep, man. >> exactly. i remember sitting at this table with you a year ago -- >> it was tough. >> -- talking about what this year was going to be like and talking about fear and the fact that, what our institutions protect us or not. this has been a very tough year. the thug-in-chief -- >> a lot of your worst fears turned out to be absolutely true. >> thank you for saying that. and i think our institutions are very robust in some ways but weren't robust to a man as degraded as donald trump. here's the hope.

i have a child on the way, coming in a few weeks. >> congratulations. >> that makes you think about -- >> just wait until you see her. >> what kind of country -- she's going to come out with a lot of hair. you think about what kind of country are you giving her. the thing that makes me hopeful, i think this year a lot of americans found citizenship again, that this man, this vulgar man made people realize that you only get the country you fight for, and we saw it with the women's march the day after he was sworn in. that set the tone for the year. but citizenship is jeff flake giving a courageous speech. citizenship is richard shelby being patriotic in his own way. citizenship is all the people running to are office including an extraordinary number of women running for office this year and next year. citizenship is people knocking on doors. there's an extraordinary waive

of people realizing you've got to fight for an america that is better than this. >> absolutely, 100%. joe. >> anand, so good to have you here. i think, also, one of the things i'm thankful for, you've learned to pronounce your name. last year you were having trouble with it. >> am i -- >> getting it right this year. this is about the time that we had a discussion last year, and we had this debate about institutions. i said the center would hold. you were very concerned about it, and in the spirit of what you just said, let's say a year later, i think we were both right. i was right in the respect that the institutions have held better than some believed, but i

think i was wrong in thinking that they wouldn't face the onslaught that they have faced. i never imagined it would be as bad as it is. yet here we are a year later. you're right. there's much to be concerned about, calling the press enemies of the people, him questioning judges, his staff people going on sunday morning shows saying the authority of the president is not to be questioned. he's an autocrat in waiting. we worships autocrats, look up to autocrats in turkey, russia and across the globe. yet, you're right. my 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son are going to grow up in a country -- and we can all be so grateful for this -- where their vote will never be taken for granted again, and the constitutional norms that i took for granted last year and that i assumed would be with us forever, i'll never take it --

vigilance every day, vigilance in the morning, vigilance throughout the day, vigilance at all times. isn't that what we've learned this year? >> i think so. i think to your point. neither you or i knew when we had that debate, a very meaningful debate a year ago, we didn't know how much our liberties were protected by those institutions and how much by culture and decency. we have had a lot of both i think what we learned this year that was disheartening was we have been protected in the past by the fact that we're a decent country and we have had decent leaders who could call people, the press enemies of the people but don't, who could degrade everyone who disagrees with them, but managed to not do that. and so i think what we're left with is, as you say, a certain

backstop of our courts really do work and people really do listen to them. there are some courageous people in congress that do stand up. our agencies do have courageous people who refuse to do illegal things. but the part of our institution that maybe don't work as well as the soft past, the part where we just relied on the fact that we're a decent krunt in which a thug can't run around like a bull in a constitutional china shop. >> willie, again, a lot of reasons to be disappointed this year. i love the list that anand started, the honor roll this year, whether you agree with everything they do or not. jeff flake writing a book, giving tough speeches. john mccain. god bless john mccain. yeah, he didn't vote the way a lot of us wanted him to vote on tax cuts, but he held the line for constitutional norms. you can talk about journalists,

"new york times," "the washington post," richard shelby, women in northern virginia that stood in the rain to have their voices heard, black voters in alabama that came out in almost record numbers, tieing the 2008 turnout. jeff sessions, i disagree with him on so many things, but recusing himself at the critical time. rod rosenstein recusing himself at the critical time. bob mueller keeping his head down and just doing his job. there are people who have stood in the gap this year for us all. >> yeah. there are people like ben sasse, another republican senator you can put out there who feels like probably sometimes he's on an island when he criticizes president trump. bob corker, he voted for the tax bill. we talked to him about that yesterday. he has stepped up at times in matters of foreign policy and said this is not right. on the other side of that, there are a lot of people in congress and we saw a shining example of it just a couple days ago, not

only vice president pence in that cabinet meeting, but the republicans at the ceremony at the white house to celebrate the passage of the tax bill who will not cross donald trump. paul ryan, mitch mcconnell has at times. when push comes to shove, they're on board with trump's program. what has this presidency, michael, been like compared to what your expectation might be like a year ago? >> i've been covering this presidency as a reporter since day one. so i sort of take a prosaic view. what do the people who fear the trump presidency the most, their fears, it's not as worse as they feared. people who invested everything in the trump presidency, i don't think they got much or a lot of what they wanted to see. so what we've i think ended up with was kind of a muddied first year where you've got some successes, a lot of failures, a lot of things unresolved in thinking about the mueller

investigation, the north korea situation. the president has not been tested on that. i think tax reform is an agenda item that was a part of the republican agenda item a long time before donald trump came on board. i think what you've seen, we criticize a lot of republicans on capitol hill for adopting the trump agenda. in many ways trump has adopted the more traditional republican agenda, at least more so than certainly we thought at the weekly standard he would. how does that shake out politically? i think the midterm elections, if the trends continue to go this way, democrats could be looking at a wave election. a lot of concerns that people had going into the presidency, as everyone has been talking about here, have been curbed in a lot of ways by institutions, whether it's the courts, whether

it's the press, whether it's people in the white house, in the government. so i would sort of take it down a notch a little bit and say it wasn't as bad as people thought. it wasn't as good as a lot of trump voters had hoped it would be. >> i listened to the show earlier today, and the me-too movement is a shining example of the country we want to be, with flaws, okay. i don't want to throw cold water on this morning in america theme here, but the attack on the truth that goes on -- we're big boys and girls in the media. we can handle -- >> using al franken's words? >> that's what i'm going to talk about. to me what happened to him is extremely troubling, and people ought to go back and look, and take a look at the speech he gave about the truth. because i can remember last year there was a film crew going around, you had to say three words for your hope for the

coming year. mine was "tell the truth." the truth to me is under attack in a way i have never experienced it in my life. mika, you were talking yesterday about the ben bradley documentary. i wrote about this today, what would it have been like for ben and woodward and bernstein if they existed in a world where it wasn't just the white house banging away at them, but breitbart.com and fox news and the bull horn media, would they have been able to stand in the way they did? >> i don't know. >> anand, that's what ougautocr do. it's the big lie, the constant lie. it's the numbing of the people. you keep telling lies long enough, pretty soon they can't discern between truths and lies. i don't think bob mueller is being attacked now to be fired. i think they are throwing so many lies at mueller and so much

against the wall, they just want to bring his support down so when the indictments continue, then he'll be discredited. >> i want to leave you two important words, to what you're describing, i think one of the most important words to describe what we have lived through this year is this idea of gaslighting, which is a form of psychological abuse in which someone makes you not trust your own grasp on reality in small ways so when they want to come for the big lie, you don't really understand what's going on anymore. going back to hope, the word i would hope for all of us in 2018 is commitment. independent of this president and this administration, as citizens, we need to recommit to each other across all of these divides in 2018. i am haunted by the thought that a russian colonel somewhere made the correct assessment, that we hated each other so much that a simple twitter and facebook

jamming operation could tear this country apart. we need to make ourselves, in spite of all of this, one people again who disagree, who argue, but are not so easily ripped apart. >> to that point, a fascinating twilight zone that sets up a town that the people from the other planet land, all they have to do is screw with the electricity and the lights in the neighborhood and all the people will turn on each other. >> america, don't let yourself become the twilight zone. >> everyone stay put. we want to give the last word as we go to break to senator al franken. >> as i leave the senate, i feel -- i have to admit it feels like we're losing the war for truth, and maybe it's already lost. if that's the case, if that's what happens, then we have lost the ability to have the kinds of argument that help build

consensus. politics is about the improvement of people's lives. the american people know that to be true, and they fill me with hope for our future.

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[ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. president trump leaves for mar-a-lago later this morning for the christmas holiday, likely to sign the tax bill into law today. he's expected to return to the white house on new year's day. meanwhile, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is set to hold his end of the year news conference today. we'll be looking forward to that. i can't wait actually. up next, former state -- >> what's the laughing about? >> i just felt there was a sense of irony in mika talking about

how much she's looking forward to senator mcconnell's -- >> i'm thinking he's finally going to come clean about how he feels about the president's tweets. >> let me tell you that donny deutsche and i look forward to two things every holiday season, other than the usual. we look forward to the queen's address on christmas day it's very moving. and we look forward, of course, to the majority leader's final press conference of the year, mitch mcconnell. check, check. you get those two things out of the way and open the presents. >> and the yule log, also. we look forward to rick stengel who is joining the table next if we'd all be quiet. we'll be right back.

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before this meeting, our u.n. member state threatened all the other u.n. members. we were all asked or face the consequences. this is bullying. this chamber won't to do that. it is unethical to think the votes of member states are for sale. let me put it in this way. we will not be intimidated. you can be strong, but this doesn't make you right! >> it feels like this isn't going well. turkey's foreign minister speaking before the u.n. yesterday. joining us now, former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, rick stengel.

rick, thank you for being here. >> good to be here. >> what do you make of what went down at the u.n. yesterday? it took foreign policy to a new place. >> tony soprano theory of foreign policy, that you extort your allies. the problem, you guys have been so eloquent this morning, is a complete misunderstanding of the post-cold war order that we basically set up. we don't support the u.n. to have people agree with our point of view. we support the u.n. because it will help keep peace. this is the structure we created that has kept the peace for 50 or 60 years. and they're looking at it as a way of getting their point of view. the thing that saddens me and hearing, you know, the foreign policy for an auto accurakrauto erdogan who puts trump to shame, is the idea that somehow what made america special no longer does and everybody points at us and goes, you guys are just as awful and just as vulgar as we are.

one of the things that made me so proud when i worked at the state department is when we went around and talked to world leaders in those private meetings with president obama and john kerry, they really said, you need to do more on freedom of speech. you need to do more on freedom of press. and they hated that. but we always did that. and people in the end wanted us to do it. and what they're looking at with what trump's doing is like, whoa, man, all the standards are gone now. >> i can see where this would be gut-wrenching for you to watch, honesty. >> it's sad because it's just this unraveling of something that did make us special. we make plenty of mistakes. but people around the world didn't go to sleep at night thinking, you know, great, let's have the u.s. withdraw. they wanted the u.s. to be there. we are never replaced by a better actor when we leave. >> joe. >> yes, michael, you can believe that the embassy should be in

jerusalem. i supported that, 1995. i did it to give israel leverage. i consistently been i think both on tv and also in congress one of israel's biggest supporters. you can ask the u.s. ambassador to america from israel that question. at the same time, i don't think it serves us well to go out there and threaten the world simply because we want their support and nonbinding resolution. it seems like day trading of the first order and at the end of the day it's not good for the united states and certainly not good for our a buibility to bri peace to the middle east or have people by our side in north korea. >> i don't know about that. look, i think we have to remember what is this all about? what is the context here?

this is the u.n. general assembly. it is basically the most anti-israel body group of people, group of countries, all coming together. they do this pretty much every time they get together. they have to do something that condemns the state of israel or the united states for what we've done. look, i think maybe her rhetoric was a little too trumpian for the united nations. but to see allies of ours not stand up for us, for doing something that seems wholly reasonable and also moral in the face of i think terrorism and threats of terrorism from palestine groups because of a simple move of the embassy. i think that's deplorable. so i dissent from the panel on this. >> yes, but it's not simple. it's not simple for our allies. it's not simple for our closest allies in europe. it's not simple for our sunni arab allies in the middle east. it's not simple for anybody across the globe.

i agree with michael. the united nations has been a hotbed of either anti-israel sentiment or, i would go a step further, anti-semitism. time and time again, they have attacked our ally israel. but, again, do you threaten everybody to blow everything up over a nonbinding resolution? or do you try to figure out how do we work with our sunni arab allies? now that there's more of a chance that we can bring peace to the middle east than ever before? instead of, again, making this announcement, which is inflammatory, and then going to the united nations and threatening the world. >> no, i have to agree with you, joe. and the other point is there's nothing new about this. the u.n. has been anti-israel for 40 years. what shows that these guys are playing checkers and not chess is that two weeks from now they have to go back to the u.n. and

ask for help on north korea and they want to change the iran deal. they want to get help from the u.n. for that. if they really want to try to make peace in the middle east, what was going on was the sunni countries, our gulf allies were beginning to side with israel and now trump unilaterally says we're moving the embassy to jerusalem and now saudi arabia, everybody, they can't be seen to be supporting this. so it just goes against our own interest. it's playing chess in a bad -- i mean checkers in a bad way. >> i want to say, as somebody who has had the extraordinary privilege of living in other country, i don't think america understands the united states has helped to build the cathedral, that we don't even know of. a thousand little things. and these people are going to the u.n. saying nice world order you got here, be a shame if anything happened to it. >> nikki haley sounded like she came out of the polly walnuts school of government yesterday. she in that moment, she was our

face to the world. >> geez. >> trump has this transactional -- >> i agree. >> give money, therefore automatically agree with us. because that's what happens in real estate. >> i hope the world knows they don't represent all of us. >> joe. >> mika, i believe in american exceptionalism. i always have and i always will. i also agree, what the united states of america has done in the postwar era. we fed more people and we freed more people than any country in the history of the world and these institutions across the world have been used to forward our interests and they have. so i just hope that some people understand you can't day trade with american exceptionalism. you can't day trade with our standing in the world. because of a nonbinding resolution. >> i think in the months and

year to come, it's going to be up to us as american people to hold strong. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage in one minute. a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

hi there, i'm stephanie ruhle. this morning, leaving on a high note. president trump wraps up his first year in washington with his first major legislative victory, tax reform. legislation he could sign this morning. >> i'm really looking forward to doing a lot of traveling in april when people realize the effect that this has. >> but will republicans big win really be, as the president promised, a christmas gift for the american people? plus, i have power. steve bannon, the man who helped donald trump get elected, featured in an explosive profile in "vanity fair" in which he seems to hint at bigger things for himself.