legacy of a first year that's been subject of a lot of criticism by both republicans and democrats. >> secretary of state rex tillerson is out with a new op-ed defending his year at the state department, president trump once again appears to undercut tillerson's message on twitter. we'll bring you his latest tweet. plus -- >> this community still has no power and no running water. they haven't seen anybody from fema, and they don't know if and when help will ever come. meaning this is their new normal. >> as we hit the 100-day mark since hurricane maria devastated puerto rico, grim new details are emerging about the slow recovery, including the steadily rising death toll in areas that may remain in the dark until the next hurricane season. coming up, i'll speak with someone who has been an outspoken critic of the administration's response. and -- >> you know it's going to be cold but you step outside and the wind starts blowing and it's worse than you thought it was

going to be. >> the bitter chill is being felt across the country as winter settles in with no sign of letting up any time soon. on top of freezing temperatures, some areas remain buried under snow. we'll get a check of the chilly conditions ahead in the hour. we'll start this hour with new pushback from president trump's legal team after a report from "the washington post" that the white house is planning to run a smear campaign against former national security adviser michael flynn. in an attempt to discredit any potent yelly damning testimony he may provide robber mueller. garrett haake is in west palm beach with the president. "new york times" washington investigators editor mark muzeti and a pair of white house reporters. zeke miller in d.c. and jonathan lemire is here on set. garrett, i want to start with you. first a basic question. we know why the white house legal team might want to discredit michael flynn, but what does that decision tell

you? they're desperate or is this a savvy move? >> well, look, it's defense attorney 101 to say that if your opponent here, which michael flynn could be as a cooperating witness, if he's admitted to being a liar and saying he lied to the fbi, that's what he's plead to, it's probably worth pointing out he's admitted to being a liar. the white house has pushed back about as aggressively as they can. they put attorney john dowd on the record saying it was nonsense and fake news. if at some point we have michael flynn accusing the president or members of his family of some kind of illegal act or impropriety in coordination with his deal with the special counsel, it's not unreasonable to think that they would do -- the white house would do what they feel is necessary to make him feel like a less credible figure. they certainly can't do with him like they tried to do with paul manafort and marginalize his role in the campaign, the transition or the white house.

he was a major player in all of those things. >> so let me go to you, mark. where are we in this investigation? flynn's indictment was a big domino to fall. but what's next? you estimate we'll see a real push from the white house -- >> sorry, if you're talking to me -- >> are we having some trouble? >> we are waiting to see what's next, obviously. we've seen the manafort news, the flynn news and the question is what -- what is the next shoe, if there is another next shoe. one question is, obviously, what, if anything, flynn is telling mueller's team. how he -- whether he might point the accusatory finger higher. and that would be a classic move by a prosecutor. also that the playbook of trying to discredit potentially trying to discredit flynn has already been used once when george papadopoulos and other campaign adviser pled guilty to lying to the fbi. this is someone who has admitted

to being a liar. why should we listen to anything he said. it's certainly not out of the question they might use that defense, even if they're saying they won't. >> zeke, let me bring you in here. he's not the only one in danger here. yahoo! is reporting in the last few weeks robert mueller, prosecutors have begun questioning republican national committee staffers about the party's digital operation that worked with the trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. what trouble could this mean for jared kushner in charge of the campaign's digital operation? >> obviously, that, you know, it depends what robert mueller do uncover, if anything at all? we know jared kushner has been at the center of so many things, whether it be the campaign, running the digital operation, overseeing that along with others in conjunction with the rnc and inside the white house, he was in the room during the campaign meet wiing with the russian attorney.

there for the flynn conversation and the comey conversation. he's at the intersection of a lot of these different storylines. these could be the latest bit of exposure for him. he's been at the center of this investigation in so many different ways that this is just -- it's just -- this isn't new exposure for him. he wasn't -- there's nothing change changed the map for him. he's been under the gun for some time. >> you and zeke wrote a great piece about the 13 days in july that ended up being so impactful for the presidency. look at this screen here. it's starting on july 19th. he regretted hiring jeff sessions as attorney general because he recruise ecused hims the russia investigation. that heated meet with mattis and tillerson. scaramucci hired. spice spicer quits and then scaramucci fired. >> my handsome colleague and i

examine the year that was in trump, these two weeks acted as a microcosm of his first year in office in that it's an administration that's had no shortage of headlines but this was a frenzied pace and many of them are still reverberating today. scaramucci came in and out. we all remember his error rather fondly, at leefast in this business. the manafort raid shows sort of previews what we're seeing with flynn. the investigation comes into the very upper realms of the trump world. we are seeing that he -- the exposure of perhaps, you know, irreparable rifts with two key members of his cabinet. secretary of state tillerson, who had a meet with the prlt duri president during this time in july. and illustrated why it mattered, including how they'd safeguard american businesses overseas,

including in particular the trump organization. it was after that meeting the secretary of state reportedly said that he called the president a moron. and we are seeing this -- that during that stretch the president's frustration with jeff sessions, you know, come to light. that he has expressed real anger in private and later in public on twitter that sessions recused himself from the russia probe and that is still a grunge today. even in recent weeks he has told people that as he comes to grips with the roy moore defeat in alabama, he in part blames sessions because if he knew, he says, if sessions was going to recuse himself, he never would have appointed him attorney general and had he never appointed him attorney general, that seat never would have been opened in the first place. >> zeke, let me bring you in. this conversation about people potentially leaving the white house, combined with all the people who have. it makes it seem like there's this revolving door situation. "the wall street journal" cited a scholar who tracked this stuff who says the trump administration's 34% turnover rate, 21 of the 61 senior

officials she has tracked have resigned, been fired or reassigned. it's much high thaeer than that any other administration in 40 years. the next highest was reagan and he had half as much turnover. so i'll start here. why is that the case? >> well, certainly somebody like michael flynn was out after just a few weeks because of his other issues. but it became the case of this white house, the challenges of, a lot of it stems -- traces itself back to the way the white house was set up. no clear structure with the chief of staff. this triumvirate of power. it created this factionalized white house. once one faction left, a few people tend to leave with them napt w. that was the case with bannon and priebus as well. this is still in the first year coming january 20th, after the one-year mark, we're hearing from people we talk to all the time saying, you know, yeah, i'm starting to look. i'm hearing from people outside in washington that they are seeing resumes from people starting to look to leave on

january 20th. trying to clock one year in office and looking to make some moves. so it is emblematic of the early dysfunction in this white house and the struggles professionalizing and formulating a single team mind-set in that building that they haven't been able to get people to stay. they got rid of some people they needed to get rid of but haven't been able to attract new talent. >> do you think the president is aware of the perception surrounding all this turnover? he's a businessman. is this just a reflection of how he runs a business when he comes in, or is this just chaos? critics say essentially he just doesn't know what he's doing. >> i mean, there's no real evidence that it affects him or impacts him. to some degree if you look to his campaign, to a certain degree he seems to want to thrive on the chaos. he doesn't mind it appearing chaotic. when i heard 34% turnover, i was surprised it wasn't higher.

it's something that we've actually come to, i guess, get used to accept and with this president. we came to accept it with this candidate. that style got him elected. and so, you know, maybe it will change to some degree but this is, obviously, a very unorthodox president and you wouldn't expect his personality to change. secretary of state rex tillerson published an oped in "the new york times" this morning highlighting the achievements of his department and defending his legacy. here's what he wrote about deal with one of our biggest threats. he says a central compoents of our north korea strategy is persuading china to exert its power. it should and could do more. but hours later, president trump tweeted this. caught red handed. very disappointed that china is allowing oil to go into north korea.

there will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen. i want to bring in hans nichols who knows this better than anyone. hans, explain this situation to us. what's going on, and what is the president saying here? one could argue it doesn't seem like the president and secretary of state are on the same page. >> well, it looks like the president wants to put a little more pressure on north korea and china than the secretary of state tillerson is willing to in his op-ed. we've seen the president zig and zag with his tweets on china. sometimes very praiseworthy of president xi, other times harshly critical. today, although he didn't mention xi by name, he seemed to indicate he wanted to see more and was in the camp that china isn't doing enough. he's vacillated on this. the specific charge today has to do with oil transfers from chinese vessel ships, chinese flagged ships to north korea. it was back in november the treasury department released satellite imagery that showed what they claim chinese and north korean ships doing oil transfers at sea. what the president really wants

to do is highlight the fact that sometimes these sanctions can be porous. he also wants to increase pressure on the petroleum side of things. when you look at where the u.s. thinks the pressure points are on north korea, it is clearly on their energy sector. you saw those september u.n. sanctions. they basically says north korea could have about 2 million barrels of oil a year. the most recent sanctions just passed, they brought that down to 500,000 barrels of oil per year so that's a huge decrease. that was a big win for the u.s. now they just have to figure out how to enforce it. >> garrett, let me bring you in here. get us up to date on the trump/tillerson relationship. is there an expectation that tillerson will stay on as secretary of state in the long term? >> well, it's clearly fraught. the two men on paper looked like they were going to get along much better than has seemed to have happened. the former exxonmobil ceo, sort of a peer to this president. but from the moment reince

priebus left this white house, there's been no other official that's been the target of so many rumors and stories and innuendo. i can think of two different entire sets of stories that his replacement was imminent. first that nikki haley might replace him, then mike pompeo, the cia director would replace him as secretary of state. and the president has not only undercut him specifically on issues like north korea, but also missed opportunities to back him up. thinking about a few weeks ago, questions about tillerson's job security in the oval office or at the white house. the president told reporters, rex is here, meaning he was physically present. did not go further into defending his secretary of state and propping up the man who is the face of american diplomacy all around the world. so the rumors continue that tillerson's departure could be one of those that happens early in the year. but again, the rumors have been

going on for so many months now. it's hard to decide what is -- what is the accurate plan for tillerson and what is evidence of this continued less than harmonious relationship between the two men. >> that's a good point. speaking of rumors. before we go, we hear the president is going to have a physical. those rumors after he had the slurred speech there for a moment. what should we make of that in that physical? >> his personal position dr. harold bornstein, has declared he was the most healthy president that's ever served. this is a traditional moment for a president to have a physical and update the american people. president obama did it all eight years and president george bush before that. the slurred speech moment caught some people's attention. the white house said it was the case of the president having a dried mouth. the president himself speaks all the time about his energy, endearance and stamina. he also talks about how he doesn't exercise.

and we know his diet leaves something to be desired. so, yes, it's a rite of passage and a presidential norm that some thought this president who is keen to cast away traditions of the office might not follow through on, but, according to the white house today, he will some time next couple of weeks. >> looking forward to 2018? >> always. >> garrett haake, mark, zeke and jonathan and hans nichols. great conversation this afternoon. thank you for joining me. 100 days in the dark as the island of puerto rico reaches a benchmark since the devastating hurricane. many are heading into the new year still living in dire conditions. a look at where things stand now coming up. plus -- roy moore's last stand. weeks after his stunning loss in the alabama senate race, the state officially certifies doug jones as the winner. but moore still will not concede. the latest on his legal fight ahead. and charlottesville, the health care fight and james comey's firing. just some of the stories that rocked our political landscape this year. can you guess which story was

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heading into year two of the trump presidency, there's really only one prediction we can make about 2018. if this past year is any indication, it may be another 12 months of infighting, intrigue and real-life policy decisions jam packed with so much news you may not be able to remember it all. to refresh your memory of 2017, peter alexander takes us through the top ten political moments of the year. >> reporter: kicking off our list, the feud over facts. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration,

period. >> sean spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts. >> reporter: a presidential pattern of misrepresenting the facts from unfounded accusations of wiretapping against president obama to revisionist history on electoral college claims. >> i was given that claim. >> reporter: at nine, the travel ban. >> we'll have a very, very strict ban, and we're going to have extreme vetting. >> reporter: trump's executive order sparking nationwide protests. >> immigrants are welcome here. no hate! >> reporter: later scaled back in the courts but then allowed to partially go in effect. at eight, the republican civil war. >> i'm very disappointed in mitch. >> reporter: the president on the attack with republicans fighting back. >> i don't know what else there is to say today. >> mr. president, i rise today to say enough. >> reporter: and fighting each other. >> there's a special place in hell for republicans who should know better. >> looked like some disheveled drunk that wandered in off the street. >> reporter: at seven, racial

tensions boiling over. >> this car plowed into a crowd of people killing at least one person. >> you will not replace us. >> reporter: president trump taking heat for not taking sides. >> i think there's blame on both sides of it. >> reporter: number six, west wing exits. >> michael flynn has resigned. >> priebus becomes the shortest serving white house chief of staff ever. >> reporter: a cascade of high-profile white house departures. >> i'm grateful for sean's work on behalf of my administration and the american people. >> i'm a business person. i'm used to dealing with friction. >> reporter: anthony scaramucci kissing his communications job good-bye after just ten days. >> reporter: erasing the obama legacy at number five. >> i have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor. >> reporter: from the trans-pacific trade deal to the paris climate accord and, of course, to obama's signature law. >> we're now one step closer to liberating our citizens from

this obamacare nightmare. >> reporter: although republicans failed to get that done, they did repeal the individual mandate. >> this is shameful. >> reporter: at number four, trump reshapes the courts. >> i, neil m. gorsuch -- >> reporter: conservative neil gorsuch sworn in as a supreme cort justice. but it's the lower courts where the president's rapidly reshaping the judiciary. >> the senate confirmed 12 trump nominees to the federal appeals court. a record for a president's first year in office. >> that has consequences 40 years out. >> reporter: at number three, massive tax cuts. >> we want to give you, the american people, a giant tax cut for christmas. >> reporter: president trump finally delivered his first major legislative win. >> this is nothing short of extraordinary. >> this is a great day for the country. >> is the worst bill in the history of the united states congress. >> merry christmas, america. >> reporter: number two, allegations of sexual misconduct rocking the political world. >> at 14, i was not dating.

he removed my clothing. he touched me over my clothing. >> i have emphatically denied time and time again. >> reporter: alabama voters delivering a stinging rebuke to roy moore as the me, too, movement takes its toll on washington. >> his lips were really wet. and it was slimy. >> i remember very differently. i apologized to her, and i meant it. >> reporter: republicans and democrats accused, part of a national reckoning. >> i will be resigning as a member of the united states senate. >> reporter: and the number one political story of 2017, the russia investigation. >> no collusion. no collusion. >> i take the president at his word that i was fired because of the russia investigation. >> director mueller is appropriately remaining within his scope. >> i did not collude with russia, nor do i know of anyone nels the campaign who did so. >> michael flynn has just pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the fbi. >> reporter: the president fuming as the special counsel

zeros in on his west wing. >> no, russia did not help me, okay? russia. i call it the russian hoax. >> nbc's peter alexander with that look back. up next -- officials just certified the results of the alabama senate race. despite his loss, roy moore is refusing to ride off into the sunset. the latest on his showdown in alabama, next. no matter how the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident

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welcome back. doug jones has been certified as the winner of alabama's special election. the first democratic senator elected from the state in a quarter century. a lawsuit claiming voter fraud by roy moore. he still has not conceded the race. there was a deadly blast in afghanistan's capital today killing 41 people and wounding many more. it's part of a rising wave of

violence across the country where there are still 15,000 u.s. servicemen and women serving there. to those homeowners rushing to pay their property taxes before the limit on state and local deductions goes into effect, the irs says slow down. the agency said the taxes need to be paid this year and assessed this year in order for homeowners to use 2017 rules. crime in the country's 30 largest cities is down 2.7% so far this year according to the brennan center for justice. new york city hasn't seen a crime rate this low since the 1950s. and chicago which saw murder rates soar over the past two years. killings there are expected to drop by double digits. according to bloomberg's billionaires index, the world's 500 richest people gained $1 trillion in 2017, which is four times as much as they gained last year. new year's eve is three days away. new york city is readying itself

for the expected 2 million spectators in and around times square for the ball drop celebration. in light of the two recent terror attacks, security is tight, tight, tight. let's get to nbc's tom winter for more. new york is prepping, i know, for sure. any differently this year? >> sure. so police just wrapped up a briefing in the last hour or so talking about security preparations for this year's new year's eve. they start that preparation the day after new year's or actually it's january 1st of this year. so they've been working on it for about a year. and they are responding as they do every year to the attacks that have occurred in the last several months and to the trends they're seeing in terrorism. they're also responding to what they saw. they'll have uniform detectives at each hotel to look at people and make inquiries of people staying at the hotels in the times square area and more countersniper teams up on the roofs. there was, obviously, a very deadly attack, the worst mass shooting in modern american

history out in las vegas earlier this year. so police have learned from that. one of the other things they're taking into account was a recent terrorist attack attempt in new york city involving a suicide bomber. and james waters talked about that and what his officers are preparing for earlier today. >> as a result of the events of december 11th, we have prepared a tactical bulletin, a response to suicide bombers that will be disseminated to the police offices. you'll see an increase in heavy weapons, bomb squad personnel, radiological detection teams and our technology to include over 1,000 cameras in and around the area of times square for the event. >> the nypd has the ability using their department cell phones to push out bulletins, as well as videos for officers to watch leading up to this event. for the officers that are going to be working it, they'll be able to read what to look for with respect to suicide bomber. if you see a potential suicide

bomber, how they need to react. how they need to clear out people, approach that person, to use deadly force, if necessary, and they are also going to talk to them about what would happen if a suicide bomber was able to get off that device. actually be able to set it off. how they would be able to treat the wounded and respond in those critical first seconds and minutes after a suicide bomber detonated their device. that's a response to a recent incident we saw this month in new york city and the nypd wanting to cover all their bases both from what they've seen outside of the city and what they've seen in the city recently and adding those anti-sniper teams from the roof and also talking to their officers about how to deal with potential suicide bombers, all of this on top of the normal presence we see in times square. heavy weapons teams. they'll have trucks filled with sand to prevent cars from being able to drive in and ram people in times square. all part of a comprehensive

plan, an event that will be safe this year. >> we should make it clear, as of now, there are no direct or credible threats to new york city or new year's steve specifically? >> that's correct. they have no specific or credible threats to the new year's event in times square and new york city on that night as well. turning to puerto rico. tomorrow marks 100 days since hurricane maria battered down on the island. and yet more than 30% of the people there still remain in the dark. u.s. officials recently briefing reporters said that it likely won't be until may that all of puerto rico gets power restored. new york city council speaker joins me now. melissa has visited the island three times since the hurricane hit. thank you for joining me this afternoon. when were you there last? >> about a month ago. my mother lives on the island. he just got electricity two days ago. and, obviously, the areas that are more remote are the ones of serious concern in the mountainous areas where you'll

not see electricity until middle of next year. this is again just an unacceptable situation where, if this was happening in any state here on the mainland, we would be completely outraged. but this administration and this republican congress seems to really be turning a blind eye to the responsibility it has to really invest money and resources and to this humanitarian issue and challenge we have on the issue of puerto rico. >> you and i were just talking off camera. the governor said in mid-october that 95% of electricity delivery would be restored by december 15th. what are the reasons they're giving? this was chicago or new york city, frankly, would they have power restored already. that's what people are saying. >> there's a challenge here. one is, obviously, the immediate need to provide electricity. but also how do we rebuild a system so that we're not so reliant on this old electrical grid. >> is that the basis of all of this? >> it's an obsolete, outdated

electrical grid which fema and the money being put into puerto rico to restore it is to rebuild what was there and putting us in a situation where we could be a similar situation with another catastrophic situation. we have to look at a parallel system of how do we become less reliant on fossil fuels. and that's the issue with this electrical grid as well. it's an obsolete system. not enough attention or sense of emergency from this federal administration. i think there's also been a lack of transparency and accountability with regards to the government on the island as well, which has lost a lot of credibility. there's a lot of challenges we have right now. but this continues to be an emergency. continues to be people who have almost 300,000 puerto ricans that have left puerto rico and are now in florida. we have those that have come here to new york and other states. that is not the way to resolve this issue is to bleed the island out of the population. we need to figure out a way. trump and the administration and congress do not seem to care about what is happening on the

island of puerto rico right now. and we need out of sight, out of mind, we're not seeing the news stories. i want to thank you for the attention you're bringing to it. but people seem to think things are getting better and they are not. they are getting slowly better but not the sense of urgency that is needed to bring the island back on its feet. >> the president, trump said hurricane maria was not a real catastrophe like katrina but we're seeing reporting that says the death toll may be quite higher than the official count of 64. including this piece by "the new york times" which said deaths in just the first 42 days after the storm hit could have already surpassed the 1,000 mark. so from what you have seen, do you think the death toll could be higher and, if so, why has it been so difficult to confirm? >> this is the issue about accountability and transparency. the center for transparent journalism broke this story, and others have now followed suit. yes, we've been saying for a long time the figures that the

government of puerto rico was putting out, the governor, were in error, obviously. were just seemed to have been hiding information or not wanting to really put out true information. now suddenly he's been put up against the wall, the governor has, and acknowledged these numbers may be wrong. the sense of credibility, accountability, transparency seems to be missing and it makes the work of the recovery and rebuilding harder if there is no sense of faith and trust that the information and the accountability being provided is actually there. so these are issues of concern. but 1,000 deaths, unfortunately, as a result of the catastrophe of the hurricane, seems to be where we're heading. and we're hoping that some sense of an audit or some realistic way of getting at the numbers is important. we need the information to go out to get a true sense of the magnitude of this problem and hopefully, unfortunately, as a result of these deaths but get some sense of urgency. we need money invested. this tax bill that now passed the congress is going to be even more of a problem for puerto

rico where we may see loss of 200,000 jobs because of some provisions in the tax bill that was passed which are going to be very hurtful to puerto rico. treating it has a foreign territory and any products produced on the island and brought to the united states mainland will get taxed in a way it has not been taxed to this point. >> i can feel your passion and a lot of people here who are just as upset. the island's governor said mobilizing latina voters is a top priority for him. can you talk about what puerto ricans living here on the mainland plan to do, especially with the midterm elections coming. >> we all have to come together and work on behalf of puerto rico. so many puerto ricans moving to florida and other areas. there's going to be an influence that population is going to have in terms of the vote. we're talking about important midyear elections, senate elections. so the role of the puerto rican community is going to be very important swing states and particularly florida. so there is a need to mobilize and engage and definitely i'm committed to doing that as well as others. that sense of voter

registration, mobilization, engagement is critically important. and it can be very influential and will be influential in these upcoming elections. >> let's keep the conversation going. a good conversation. new york city council speaker favorito. thanks for coming in. democrats are optimistic going into 2018 but are there some warning signs ahead? steve kornacki joins me next. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion...

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we know historically the party that holds the white house loses seats in the midterms. that's why the rnc has been on the ground from the beginning of this year. we're already in 21 states working our field program. we've raised unprecedented amounts of money that we're putting into these states early. building out our field program so that we can win in these midterms. >> the chairwoman of the rnc optimistic about her party's chances going into the midterm elections next year. with the president's approval rating at historic lows, does she have a reason to be?

steve kornacki is here with us from the big board. i feel like you take us to school every time i see this board. d plus 13. let's do it. >> let's go through what we can expect, maybe, in 2018. you hear the rnc chair there saying, hey, look, the way midterms work, the party that controls the white house usually loses. the question is just how bad is it? that's historically how it's been. there are some other signs that ought to be worrying republicans, though. one is this. they call it the generic ballot. they ask folks which party would you vote for to control congress? right now the average here at the end of 2017, a 13-point advantage for democrats. that's a massive advantage at any time to be in this position, a year out. this is something democrats like to see. it's something that worries republicans. it could change but this is quite a gap between them. historically that's been significant. that's another thing that's emerged. the approval rating. a pretty strong relationship in history between a president's

approval rating and how that president's party does in these midterms. how bad does it get? it gets really bad when the president's approval rating is low. obama in 2010 at 40%. bush in 2006, that was iraq, post katrina. 38%. democrats won back the house. so you can see trump right now clocking in at 38%. that's right in that range that is historically meant trouble for presidents and their parties in midterms. the other thing with trump is that 38%. it's a hard 38%. the highest he's been as president is 46%. he's really been in that danger zone the entire time. could change it next year but so far hasn't. that's another warning sign. of course, a special election result that we've seen this year. republicans won a lot of these house races earlier in the year. they lost the alabama senate race, but look, in most of these races, you go from a 27-point trump win in this kansas congressional district.

a 20-point jump for democrats. 15 in montana. 15 in south carolina. obviously the big jump in alabama. georgia, 6. suburbs of atlanta the one exception. but overall, again, that's a trend that worries republicans. that's a trend that favors democrats. obviously, plenty of time between now and next november. one thing to keep an eye on that could make democrats nervous, 63% of people say the economy is doing good right now. this is the oddity of the trump presidency so far. the public seems to be happy with where things are going economically so far. that's not benefited trump and the republicans. the question, though is will that change in the next few months if the public begins to say, hey, the economy is doing all right. whatever trump is doing, whatever the republicans are doing is good. maybe that could end up helping them. >> all of those numbers sink in. let's talk about this more. kareem jean pierre. caton dawson, former chairman of the south carolina republican party and steve kornacki made his way over. good afternoon to both of you.

steve, already said hi to you. i read this headline in "the wall street journal" journal. democrats are struggling to fund-raise going into 2018. what's your read on your party in 2018? >> so, yeah, i want to push back on that story just a little bit because, look, the dccc has had an historic fund-raising year, which is really important because they are the ones who are going to be working with those house congressional seats that we need to flip. those 24, 25 seats we need to flip in order to take back the house. and also those individual candidates, like doug jones, like ossoff, raidss raised millions of dollars. that's important to note as well and not to forget. for me, the number one thing that i learned from 2017 that i think our party learned from 2017 is the resistance was electoralized. we've figured out it wasn't just about protesting and stopping

the repeal of health care and rejecting donald trump's divisive agenda. it was also people came out. and they won elections in virginia, in new jersey, and in alabama. when we started off this election -- this -- 2017, there was never any talk about the senate seat. you know, the map for democrats have always been difficult and it's still difficult but we were just looking at the house and talking about the house. now because of alabama, now we're talking about the senate. so i think that 2018 looks very good for democrats. we have still a lot to work to do. we can't stitt on our laurels but 2018 is certainly a light at the end of the tunnel. >> caton is going like this. he wants to get in. do you look at the map your party faces next year and get heart palpitations or -- >> certainly there's a lot of concern there. one of the big problems the republicans have right now is the democrats have fielded a candidate in every race except

for 20. the republicans have left 80 democrats unchallenged right now. so it all comes down to money. having run a political party, it's about money. and the pots of money where this comes from is a lot the same. the democrats challenge is they have 25 senate incumbents up. they have to fund them and keep them there. that's money we don't have to spend. the republican national committee's money, the dnc's money sometimes washes itself out. george w. bush was financially better prepared than barack obama had the democratic party prepared financially. the money will be an advantage to us because we don't have to spend the amount of senate money the democrats have to spend. history is there. look at steve's numbers and see that our president is unpopular. you can see that it's very hard to raise that number now. it's a hard number. but the tax package is something that will help. there's some things that can be advantageous for us. if you are a political

historian, the republican party is going to get wiped out. >> you talk about the money. what about the trump factor, steve? i was thinking, how many factors that you mention pertain only to him and are the factors that got trump elected going to apply down ballot? >> i go through all those numbers and, as you saw there, can paint a rosy picture for democrats. think back to 2016 and all the numbers were painting a rosy picture for democrats and donald trump got elected. he got elect eed even though in one statistical category after another he had the lowest and worst numbers for a candidate. is there something about trump-era politics, something about donald trump's presence in our politics that gives new meaning to these numbers that makes them mean something other than they've meant before? some other type of polarization here that's playing out? it's sort of a theoretical thing. you don't have enough evidence right now to suggest it. it's not much, i don't think, for republicans to hang their hats on. but we can't say. we have to go through the election.

what if we go through an election where all the signs point to democrats having a banner year and republicans end up only losing five seats. you have to keep that possibility in mind at some level. >> careen, you read a lot of articles about democrats challenging in districts they wouldn't normally challenge in. is there concern the party may be stretching itself too thin, if the money isn't there? >> no, i don't think so at all. i think alabama is a perfect example. we had no business competing in alabama. we had -- there hadn't been a democratic senator in alabama for 25 years and look what happened? just wanted to push back on my friend dawson here. the rnc had to spend money in alabama. a ruby red state. something they should not have had to do, but because of their extreme anti-establishment candidates, which they're going to have across the board, it's going to be incredibly problematic for republicans. tennessee. now they'll have to play in tennessee because they'll have an extreme kind of candidate in that race. and tennessee is not as red as

alabama. so you'll have certain situations like that. arizona, another place. republicans are going to have to play in seats they didn't have to before. n let's not forget those forget that trump won where democrats or senators are now, those seats seem to be a little safer for democrats. i think there is a, a lot there to look at that seems like, problematic for republicans heading into 2018. >> a lot of play. that big board will stay busy. isn't it? thank you all. >> thanks, sheinelle. still ahead, the deep freeze affecting most of country isn't letting up. we head live to one of the areas feeling the worst of it, next. what's the secret to turning a no into a yes? do you know how to network like a champ? and when is a good time to have some fun in the office.

i'm j.j. ramberg and i have grace answers to these questions helping you run a better business. check out the my business page on msnbc.com for an exclusive series to help you work smart, grow fast. like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! "we got a yes!" start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open.

new year's eve in new york. you have to -- wouldn't matter how cold it was. >> on my bucket list many, many years and the experience of a lifetime. >> the cold wouldn't stop me. >> it is going to be so cold just three days until thousands descend on new york's times square to ring in the new year and stand in the bitter, bitter cold. it's not just here in new york. for millions of americans, wherever you are toasting 2018, it will be cold. nbc's ron mott is in chicago. should i say outside in chicago. ron, we know it's cold. how are people handling it there? >> reporter: it is very cold here, sheinelle. the folks who go to times square to bring in the new year, they

sit out there many, many hours. i don't know how they do it. we just got out about 15 minutes ago. it is cold in chicago. i believe you can see snowflakes falling. not expecting accumulations tonight. maybe a half inch. a little more to the border of illinois and wisconsin and over in minnesota a mess. these are people used to bad weather and cold temperatures. by mid-afternoon, some 500 car accidents. fortunately, no severe injuries connected with the car accidents but very slick and dangerous in many parts of the country. the upper third of the country and this bitterly cold air unfortunately will stick around another four, five days. we're on michigan avenue. normally, the end of december, people are flooding into the retail outlets looking for bargain. it's few and far between because of all of this cold temperature. we are expecting a little warm-up by sunday-monday. dipping back down by tuesday and middle part of next week towards the end of next week, we should

see temperatures getting back up there closer to freezing, which we would all love and welcome in this part of the country right now. tell you about the travel. the most part remarkably, the cold air hasn't affected travel that much. slade at midway, folks stranded. they canceled almost 90 flights today. backed up trying to de-ice all the airplanes and canceled flights altogether. folks in and out of midway, problems and have to come back tomorrow to get out of there. >> you know it's cold if it's keeping them inside. i used to live in chicago. finally i was able to give away my face mask. we all had face masks. i don't miss it at all. ron mott, thank you for your time. stay warm, my friend. >> reporter: i could use one right about now. >> i know. we'll be right back. ...my 3-month old business... plus...what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i made a point to talk to my doctor.

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that does it for this hour. i'm sheinelle jones, and katy tur is in for chuck today. >> hi, sheinelle. if it's thursday, who gets caught red handed in 2018? and who gets caught "rushin'" to judgment? good evening, i'm katy tur in new york if for chuck todd. welcome to "mtp daily." heading into next year, can you think of two bigger political questions than these -- whash what will the russia probe find in 2018 and how much will voters care? one way to begin answering the questions