that is our show. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. house on fire. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. president trump is flaupting his anger before the country and the world. fueled by rage over the special counsel's probe and taunting russia while on the precipice of a military strike against syria. amid all this came the announcement today that the republican speaker of the house is jumping ship. paul ryan said today he won't run for re-election in 2018, a move sure to deepen leadership

crisis facing the party under trump. it's trump's erratic response to multiple events that have.many people on edge tonight. after russia threatened to shoot downy u.s. missile launched against syria, trump responded get ready, russia, because they will be coming nice and new and smart. shouldn't be partner with a gas killing animal. even as he deals with the growing conflict in syria, he appears preoccupied with the mueller probe threatening the people who oversee the investigation. "much of the bad blood with russia is caused by the fake and corrupt russia investigation headed up by the loyalists or people that working for obama. rosenstein signed a fisa warrant and the comey letter." reports paint a disturbing portrait of his state of mind. according to "the new york times," the president is near

what two people close to the west wing described as a meltdown. a republican operative tells poe little cothe president is using his, you fill in the blank and saying we're at a different level now. people close to the president tell axios that mueller has passed a breaking point for trump. now a person with knowledge of the legal proceedings against cohen tells nbc news the search warrant was broader than first believed and fbi agent inside the raid were also seeking any communications between trump and cohen involving the "access hollywood" tape, an nbcuniversal program. joining me now is richard blumenthal of connecticut, peter baker from "the new york times" and ashley parker, a white house reporter with the "washington post." senator, i want to ask you about the president and your concerns about his state of mind. he has a lawyer's office now with -- who can imagine what's coming out of that gates of hell. everything involved, the women

have made complaints against him. he's had legal actioning with, everything to do with "access hollywood." apparently the connection cohen had with his russian dealings and paying back the russians it looks like cohen's getting squeezed and once again, trump is the target. >> let's understand first the magnitude of this in effect nuclear strike on michael cohen. it's the equivalent of a nuclear strike with multiple warheads against him. and now it the link possibly to the president in those conversations that may have occurred. there had to be evidence of a crime. and the danger of destruction of that evidence by michael cohen. in other words, obstruction of justice, what is robert mueller investigating with respect to donald trump? obstruction of justice as well as the russian collusion. and so the link between these two investigations is becoming more an apparent, leading to the

president's internal upheaval. clearly, he is in inner turmoil and these rants and die tribes denunciations of the department of justice and the special counsel and rod rosenstein indicate a growing they're the to the peschell counsel. >> do you believe the president will fire rosenstein and or mueller. >> there's a growing chance the president will again tragically for his presidency obstruct justice by firing rod rosen tine and clearly the firing of robert mueller would be obstruction of justice. i think that that growing threat is what's leading my republican colleagues now to support legislation that would protect the special counsel. >> it takes two-thirds of the senate to remove a president from office. if the president were to fire these individuals especially mueller works that jeopardize his situation remaining president? >> it would certainly put it in grave danger but more to the

immediate point, it would put our democracy in turmoil and potentially in danger it just as the saturday night massacre under nixon did so. that's the reason that we want to forestall that will threat which would be a constitutional conflagration and certainly damaging to our image abroad, as well. >> the situation is precarious for our country, as well because trump is priz of the united states and our commander in chief. peter baker, you've put the big picture together. what is the big picture togethering that xwinz trump's vulnerability, his possible explosion where he could erupt and say i'm going to fire all these people, constitutional or not at the same time he's facing a very tricky situation how to respond to the use of chemical weapons by syria and how to respond to the threat from russia's -- syria's partner that

they would take their side if we tallate. >> the bill clinton was under pressure from the independence counsel investigating whether he had lied under oathing about monica lewinsky at the same time he launched strikes against al qaeda nifd afghanistan and sudan. later in the year he launched strikes against iraq. presidents have to be able to still conduct foreign policy, sometimes even launch military operations at the same time they're under pressure at home. sometimes over scandals that have them upset. you see here a situation where a president is in fact you know, pretty volatile in his reactions. whether he's able to compartmentalize is, able to separate these events and treat them with a seriousness that they deserve, that's the open question. >> bill clinton, whatever people can think of him, he's like most political figures a mixed bag, he could give a speech on health care without the prompter containing the speech. in fact, he's able to do it with the wrong speech in the wrong teleprompter. that shows amount of amazing

state-of-the-art mental equipment. does this president have, shown evidence to you, peter, that he's capable of that kind of separation of his true duties as commander in chief from his political situation? >> well, he seems to marinate in his frustrations and his aggravation over this particular investigation and he lets it come out in a way that bill clinton tried not to and other presidents under pressure from investigations tried not to. of the president doesn't mind sharing his outrage over what he sees as a witch hunt with the word and he lashes out. he's flailing to some extent and he's thinking about taking action that previous presidents wouldn't have taken in this circumstance, since nixon anyway, most presidents woulds have thought it almost unthinkable to consider firing a deputy attorney general much less a special counsel because of the reasons the senator just outlined. it would be a political eruption in the hill and jeopardize his

presidency in a lot of the ways. we've seen over the last 15 months a president willing to do things that other presidents haven't done. and this is a real test. he's come up several times before and suggested to aides he was ready to dump robert mueller only to be talked out of it. the question is whether or not he goes forward at this point. >> ashley, your paper and you with a few other people have been amazing at getting close to the president. does he know that every move he makes right now especially with the use of military weaponry, those missiles he talks about being nice and smart and all that, if he uses them it will be suspect that he does. does he know he's under suspicion he might be wagging the dog? >> i will say that people in the white house sort of outright dismiss the wag the dog theory, and their argument is on something as serious as what to do with syria and launching possible air strikes, there has been a very deliberative process

in place from the national security consult principals meeting this week. my reporting shows that the white house has largely been focused on an orderly process at least and perhaps only when comes to syria. that said, the president tweeted this morning threatening russia and talking about the u.s. smart missiles that may rain down caught everyone, the pentagon, his own aides, his advisors by surprise and they had to scramble to figure out how to respond. even within something as serious as this and a process they are working to be disciplined on because they understand the stakes, especially those around the president. something like an impulsive early morning tweet will still occur and can sort of throw everything into chaos at least for several hours. >> this is a strange time. it you can't sat rise it. you're my age pretty much. a couple of things. you get the "access hollywood"

things which us included love to play it over and over again. there it is. where he's saying these horrible embarrassing things that cost billy bush his job but not him doing the whole thing here for the show. at the same time, you've got him had talking in caressing language about my nice smart missiles. it's strange. senator, to hear -- you see the whole thing. it's all on television except the words the president used. he's talking back to the russians who if nothing els are marshall. he's saying we've got nicer smarter missiles than you. >> and he is in effect sell graphing in a way that he said he never wof and criticized other presidents were doing what the military moves may be. he is sitting with his generals and using that time which should be devoted to talk about the syrian threat to denounce the

department of justice and call a raid in new york on his lawyer a disgrace to the nation. it is beyond strange and embarrassing. it actually undermines the credibility of the united states of america abroad and the office of presidency is so diminished as a result. >> peter baker, we all know from past times we thought a quick military strike would be our solution. the consequences within six hours. every european newspaper will have to the pictures of the hospital scenes. it's always there. the people being brought into the hospitals on gurneys, bloodied faces, missing whatever. that is the first reaction. imagine and then across the front page the top of the fold from the latest "access hollywood" still. it seems like this is going to be connected whatever good thinking people believe is the best for this president, everyone's going to be thinking wag the dog. >> well, it's unfortunate timing obviously. but i think the one thing that

the white house has going for it is because we have been in this scenario before and we have considered the united states has considered action like this before, there's less suspicion of it this time than in the past. a chemical attack last year, trump ordered a missile strike. the idea there's another chemical attack and he might consider it does not seem out of place given his own history, the history that president obama considered something like this in 2013. you've got theresa may in britain and macron in france both likely it seems like to participate in an operation so it would not be a unilateral move by president trump. but you're right. the timing is unfortunate and something that will be cited and used against president trump and against the united states. >> meanwhile, the "associated press" is reporting even before monday's raid on michael cohen's law offices, cohen and his

office were fearful of being a fall guy. ashley, if michael cohen is cognizant reality on this planet, he knows what happens to associates of donald trump who have stuff of interest to the special counsel. mr. mueller. and now his offices and all his materials, his phone with all it has in it, his computer with everything it has in it, his office, his hotel room and his apartment, all of that information is now in the hands of mueller. is he in the hands of mueller? >> he certainly feels in hands of mueller and he is definitely in the hands of the federal prosecutors and fbi who raided him. the thing that michael cohen prizes above all else is loyalty to the president and to the president's family. but in talking to people who have known him for a while, the question now is just how far does that loyalty go and just how much of a fall guy potentially is he willing to be. >> senator, the fall guy. these people are cooperating witnesses from the manafort to flynn. this is a trail of people who

have been turned by this special counsel. it seems like that -- you're a former prosecutor, attorney general of the state for many years. is this the end game here, turn all these people against the president based on their criminality? >> that is the classic tactic of the prosecutor to work up the chain of criminal culpability as robert mueller is doing in a methodical and careful and discreet way. remember now that this investigation, since it is rooted in new york and the u.s. attorney's office there and the fbi office and a warrant executed under court order may well result in a grand jury in new york giving it a life of its own there that cannot be so easily squelched by donald trump if he wants to stop that turning of witnesses. one more point on the wag the dog. an impulsive, rash strike by the president will appear so because it is not part of a larger

strategy. the president hasn't outlined a way to use diplomacy and our allies. it would probably be a strike done unilaterally by the united states and a one-day, one off kind of act that would give rise to that impression. >> that he's doing it for political covering his rear. i was wrong. actually, mr. manafort is still holding strong. he's under pressure to turn. but we're looking at a lot of the pressure on a lot of people around trump including those who turned to become witnesses for the prosecution. thank you very much, peter, ashley, and senator richard blumenthal. >> paul ryan announces he won't run again. he's leading the republican exodus out of congress. republicans haven't been a check on president trump. they're useless at the leadership level. maybe sick and tired of being his palace guard. >> plus, trump has turned an attack on syria with a bigger fight with russia.

he tells them get ready, the missiles are coming. anyway, trump's promise not to giveaway military plans is gone. he's talking about the type of missiles he's proud of he's going to drop. and a republican member of congress unloads on trump and says anonymous lis he bushes trump would just go away and says republicans may have to impeach him after the primaries are over. this is a republican talking in the congress, an elected official. more with the roundtable tonight. finally let me finish with trump watch. it's about what he's thinking about tonight and it's all mish i gas where the action is, that's us.

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there he is. while the filing does not say who mueller plans to investigate or subpoena, his team can call as many as 35 new witnesses to testify in the case. that trial is scheduled to start july 10th. we'll be right back. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad. is this a lug wrench? maybe? you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. new family connections, every day.llion that's more ways to discover new relatives. people who share your dna. and maybe a whole lot more. order your kit at ancestrydna.com

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sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. . >> you all know that i did not seek this job. i took it reluctantly. but i have given this job everything that i have. and i have no regrets whatsoever for having accepted this responsibility. what i realize is, if i'm here for one more term, my kids will only have ever known me as a weekend dad. i just can't let that happen. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was paul ryan today ending months of speculation announcing he won't run for re-election this november. ryan joins an exodus of 38 house republicans all leaving as the party stares down the prospect of a blue wave this fall.

one future star of the republican party ran for vp on the ticket with womanny in 2012, his departure delivered another blow to republican ahead of a bruising midterm election. had trump wrote ryan is a truly good man. he will leave a legacy of achievement that no one can question. we're with you, paul. ryan has spent much of the last year contending with trump's controversy. ron brownstein writes today, ryan chose to tolerate trump's personal excesses and his racially polarizing words and deeds as the price worth paying to advance ryan's own top priorities keding spending, and as a result taxes. ryan personified the devil's bargain did the gop signed with trump. ryan responded to that on cnn today. >> i don't see getting things done for the country keeping your promises, making a difference a devil's

bargain.look, we have a divided -- we have separation of powers. we have three separate coequal branches of government. we have many different kinds of republicans. i'm grateful for the president to win the election to give us this chance and opportunity to make a big difference in people's lives. >> just a short time ago, president trump tweet aid photo with roin and the rest of the republican congressional leadership giving a thumb's up in advance of a dinner at the white house tonight. i'm joining by ryan williams and donna ed yards senior fellow at the brendon center for justice. let me ask you, has the republican leadership in the senate and house and congress all together been any kind of check on trump? have they stopped him from doing anything he wanted to do? >> i think they've tried to work with the president. >> have they stop him? >> they've tried to get things done. i think criticizing the president would have endangered that. people decided it's best to work with the president if you want

anything passed. >> so the division of powers in this case was not relevant. >> i think members of the leadership have been driving the an train on many major policy initiatives. >> the republican party stood for free trade. and for decades been for reducing the federal deficit and not adding a trillion and a half dollars in tax giveways and given up the philosophy to the trump idea of warring with china. >> and speaker ryan voices opposition. >> to what effect? his opposition? he controls the house of representatives. >> he does. >> i think he's working with the president. >> how does he use that is power tore influence presidential policy. >> i think you've admitted, the president's been calling the shots. donna, the republican party of old is gone, the whig party of cutting deficits and free trade and whatever is gone.

>> it's been a progression. >> thanks to ryan. >> it has. it's been a progression over the last 20 years. what ryan has done, he said i want a couple of things done and i'm going to ignore the president's mental character. >> i never medicationed that. >> i'm saying it. i think that he did make a bargain with the devil and you know, i think paul ryan is hard. he actually believes in institutions. and i do believe that has become increasingly more difficult to defend the institution with donald trump as president. that said, i think that he's also been complicity because he wanted tax cuts and deregulation and you know, there's no -- there's no value in that. you know, for dras, look, we shouldn't be salivating. but the fact is, that it's the writing is on the wall. and he's reading the tea leave appearance saying i'd rather go out as speaker than go out as minority leader. >> today about to be former

speaker ryan insists he's not waving a white flag nor worried about his party's chances. an fred e new man. >> they're going to lose about 30 seats. here he is. >> i want to be clear, i'm not done yet. i intend to finish the year. i really do not believe whether i stay or go in 2019 is going to affect a person's individual race for congress. i really don't think a person's race for congress is going to hinge on whether paul ryan's speaker or not. >> but another retiring republican congressman pennsylvania's charlie department was on last night said president trump is the real source of the republican fatigue. >> i think there's a lot of weariness and exhaustion, frankly. this is going to be a challenging year. and i've said this many times that you know, litmus test for being a republican is not about any given set of dales or principles, it's about loyalty to the man. that's challenging. >> what do you make of the republican party right now?

is did going to be different when trump's gone? has he influenced the direction of your party? >> yes, he's the leader of the party right now. >> how will it be different once he's gone, will it be more of a party of big deficits and protectionism? >> he altered the party and taken it away from the party of george bush. >> how has he improved the republican party nrt policy making. > he got tax reform done. that's a significant accomplishment. the house and senate got that done with the president. tax reform doesn't happen often. >> you call it tax reform. >> how is it reform? big tax cut for people with money. thank you, ryan williams. it's a difficult day to defend. thank you, done nan edwards. former congressman running for county executive in prince gorges county, maryland. up next, trump has managed to make an already delicate situation in syria even scarier and now taunting russia telling

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welcome back to "hardball." the rhetoric over syria is escalating sharply between the united states and russia tonight. the russian ambassador to lebanon be threatening to shoot downy u.s. missiles fired in syria. president trump responded with

his own threat. "russia vows to shoot downy and all missiles fired at syria. get ready because they will be coming, nice and new and smart." sounds like a street argument. russia is a syrian ali and has a heavy military presence there. james mat disearlier today said the military was ready to act if ordered to do so. >> have you seen enough that -- >> we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies. we're still working on this. >> is the u.s. military ready right now to conduct a retaliatory strike if ordered? >> we stand ready to provide military options if they're appropriate as the president determined. >> well, secretary mattis was spotted at the white house earlier today. sarah sanders told reporters despite the initial tweet, the president is still weighing military options. >> we're maintaining we have a

number of options and all of those are still on the table. final decisions haven't been made yet on that front. the president has a number of options at his disposal and all of those remain on the table. >> ryan crocker, former u.s. ambassador to syria, warned that the tangle of aligns is reminiscent of the situation leading to world war i. lis. >> and so right now, the level of complexity is immense. iran is reisraeli, united state hezbollah, al qaeda, free syrian army, syrian democratic forces. it minds me uncomfortably of how the stage was set in august, 1914. >> oh, dear. >> nobody wanted a war then. >> that's about the gun dfz august. barbara tuckerman's how we got into a world without wanting to. >> kevin system founding editor of defense one and robin wright

at the woodrow wilson center. it looks like a lot like suez '56 where the stopping the iranian venture or. all kinds of stuff. iran's ambitions to be the dominant force in the middle east in the persian gulf and our situation which is we want to stop bashar assad his son from doing this use of chemical weapons, at the same time we don't want to go to war with russia, their ally who is there in syria with them. how do we do this. >> seven years after this war started we are now in a far more dplech situation that almost almost overnight escalated to something that's not just about chemical weapons but the relationship between washington and moscow. the attempt to try to halt iran iran'sing, growing influence in the middle east particularly in syria. it has to do with presidential

muscle and exerting his influence in the run-up to the summit with north korea showing that if diplomacy fails he is willing to exert u.s. military force. there is so much more at stake. yes, chemical weapons is the trigger. but this is likely to have an enormous effect in terms of our relations elsewhere even as it doesn't affect the outcome of the war in syria which is entering its end game now. >> i am worried about the present situation because of this. we studied the cuban missile crisis and the bay of pigs before that where the president said he wants to achieve an objective to overthrow the castro regime but with very little noise. now he wants to hurt assad's regime with very little noise. they want to do it in the middle of the night where there's nobody around. if you use military power, you use military power and decide whether or not or not to, not how you're going to finely tune it. there's going to be people in the hospital within hours in all the european newspapers the

front page. as i said a minute ago, juxtaposed with pictures of the latest stuff from "access hollywood" and stormy daniels and everybody in the world will say this is wag the dog. the president's doing this to distract why does he do this. >> you said earlier, what is the purpose? what's the objective? >> of military action which will kill people. >> this is a moment we knew was coming for seven years. we knew there are two wars in syria, the war on isis, the united states military is fighting with the colts and the syrian civilian war the u.s. has only been involved with. >> what side are we on? do we want to overthrow bashar. >> they want a unified syria with assad out of it and they want that to happen in the geneva. the u.s. general his mission is to stick with the syrians and stay in syria until geneva. nobody's talking about geneva. nobody's leading the way to

jaeb, especially not from the united states. that's the moment that trump is at. if he's going to get involved in the other side, the civil war side for what purpose and for, are, they going to own this. i think it's more about whether you strike something targeted or you get a larger involvement in the war, there's plenty of options that are available. the military could get going on this be right away. what we're seeing of the slow down, this pause that we're living in right now is because the military is advising the president of all these ramifications you're talking about. >> robin, the president gave a hard time to obama, his predecessor for not observing his own red line. remember? because he said they used chemical weapons, we'll attack them. obama didn't do it. is that one reason trump feels he has to do it because it was a red line that he endorsed? >> first of all, remember that president obama didn't act in part because he didn't authorization from congress from the very republicans now

supporting military action. so there's a cause and effect there. but this will in many ways bump up or is likely to bump up the president's popularity after the last strike a year ago, his popularity rose to 43% and 57% of. >> so wagging the dog works. >> whether it's wag the dog or not, it is going to divert attention and likely to be something that looks like american might is doing what is right internationally in countering the most evil use of chemical weapons. >> kevin, can you bomb a question without hurting anybody? that's what he's trying to do tonight, figure out a way to thread the need. >> remember last year the missile launch was specifically at a runway. >> tarmac. >> it was a tarmac. >> in hours they had that running again. >> the irony remember trump ripped obama for saying the american military was to go into mosul. they said the purpose was to give isis a chance. they were saying to them, you

can give up now or you're going to get killed. this is your choice. so but that's not what's happening now. the president's tweets are not a message. >> i think our president is suspect about his decision. >> i'm skeptical of the wag the dog theory. >> you don't think he would do something out of impull sibbing ander. >> i don't think the white house has shown the strategic communications to lay that out. >> he is a magician at shifting attention away from what he doesn't want us focusing on by creating another stir. >> this is a moment that is a response to something that somebody else has done and frankly it comes after three separate expressions of unity by the international community against russia on sanctions. >> sarah huckabee sanders job sell tomorrow after we act. we'll see. up next a republican congressman launches into a blistering tie too raid against president trump and says anonymously the president is like an evil stupid version of forest gump and that

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why don't i just fire mueller? well, i think it's a disgrace what's going on. we'll see what happens. but i think it's really a sad situation when you look at what happened. and many people have said, you should fire him. >> don't you love it the way he puts his -- should i fire? welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump early this week floating the possibility of firing mueller. a group of senators introduced a bill to protect mueller but many republicans are publicly saying they don't think the president will fire him, including lindsey graham who is responsiblering the bill. let's watch him. >> i'm confident that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency and he's not going to do that. >> i can tell you the president is not talking about firing mueller. i've had conversations with the president. he is not talking about. any suggestion otherwise is not

based on fact. i haven't seen clear indication yet that we needed to pass something to keep him from being removed because i don't think that's going to happen. >> even house speaker paul ryan who announced he's stepping down at the ed of the term said there's no reason to believe mueller is in danger. let's watch ryan. >> on the president, he has been openly talking about firing bob mueller, potentially firing deputy attorney general. what are your thoughts on that. >> my thoughts haven't changed. they should be allowed to do their jobs. we have a rule of law and that's a principle we uphold. i have no reason to believe that's going to happen. i have an assurances it's not. >> the many republicans seem unwilling to stand up to trump publicly. but a sbu interview with an unnamed congressman suggest it's a very different story once you get behind closed doors. that's next. ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ different story once you get

behind closed doors. that's next. unnamed congressmans a very different story once you get behind closed doors. that's next. s it's a very different story once you get behind closed doors. that's next. ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ a hilton getaway means you get more because you get a break on breakfast get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com

it's ok that everyone ignores it's fine. drive. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom? righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it. welcome back to "hardball." a blog post today this erick erickson described an anonymous interview he did with a current u.s. congressman who banned to vent about trump. he told erickson that the situation now is "like forest gump won the presidency but an evil really stupid gump." he said if we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach him. we're going to lose the house, the senate and a bunch of states

because of him. the congress han has been a regular supporter on fox news defending the president. on that note, clarence page, cat at this time kay is washington correspondent and ancore for "bbc world news america" and author of "the confidence code for girls," and kris wilson is a republican pollster. i don't know what to say. i think the republicans have been self-gagged for the last couple years. they've had their own gag rule. don't talk, don't say what you think about trump when you're talking to the president. >> very similar position to the evangelicals who supported trump about 80%. they don't like his behavior but they love what he has done for their agenda for his supreme court appointment and his other actions. the same thing with the republicans in congress. he keeps insulting their sensibilities but he gives them their jend. he doesn't give it to him, they

wish. he has worked on behalf of their agenda and still, they've got their own constituents to worry about. the trump base of course, is just as loyal as it ever was. you could say more about that as a pollster. >> katy, to compare the president of the united states with forest gump, they like him but don't want him to be president. this guy he says is an evil idiot. >> you chose some of the more savory bits of that interview, the two of them walking around safeway. we've heard ever since trump was elected there's been a difference between republicans will say in public and in private. the reason is they're worried about what their voters think about back home. every time trump's approval ratings rise amongst conservatives and republicans they have to weigh the wisdom of trashing the president publicly and their own voters' appeal back at home. that's what they're straddling. we know what they're thinking in private and heard it in this interview. >> this is the way it was with joe mccarthy.

people loved him. lots of them. especially from the northeast. you couldn't say a word against him publicly but behind the scenes they're all embarrassed. morally. >> jeff flake, bob corker, it doesn't work out well for your political career whenever you take the other side. >> why do they only talk on their way out of the door? >> there is not from the situation defasio criticized obama on israel or on trade. >> nobody called president obama forest gump. >> they did speak out against him. it took time for that to evolve. >> did he say he was stupid, evil? they never said that. they thought he was aloof. i'll give them that. >> some of th. >> they did take stands. they said he didn't work well with the house and cost them over a thousand seats in the elections. from that standpoint, after we come out of 2018, you may have a different attitude with the conference. for now, the situation is there

is support for the positions he's taken and states where trump is still very popular. >> and more popular than people running for election. >> katy, can you say next year if the democrats get the house, they do vote articles of impeachment them and at some point trump benefits by overkill? >> amongst democrats. >> among voters when it comes to 2020? you guys overused your authority. >> that's why republicans are starting to weigh the prospect of running ads against their democratic opponents saying if the democrats get in, we all get tie up in impeachment hearings and you guys. >> they put trump on the ballot. >> what was interesting in that interview, you had a republican congressman saying if he's going to take us down and take the party down in the midterm elections -- >> how do we know from erick erickson whether this has just kib by thing. >> around safe way. >> to say this conversation. >> that's not going to happen.

republicans are not going to turn against trump. it's the old story. democrats fall in love, republicans fall in line. that's what happened. they may privately criticize trump but publicly they show solidarity. >> eric is a person of integrity. it was said it was done in the record and done anonymously. a weird combination but having said that, i have full confidence. >> the guy who said he was forest gump. >> eric has been very clear he's not been a fan of donald trump since the day he announced for office. >> boring republican question. you first, chris, boring republican question. who is the next speaker? >> steve scalise. >> before the midterms or after? >> after the midterms. >> nancy pelosi. >> that's right. trick question. >> i'm sorry. thank you. >> that was so good. i love it. nancy pelosi is the next speaker. >> well -- >> in defeat. >> i would. >> i is scalise on the right or kevin mccarthy in the middle. >> i'm going to say kevin

mccarthy. i don't have faith he can go the distance. he came close once before. and i think he's still got the same problems. >> i think about -- think of the number of republican leaders under nancy's watch, just the numbers since she's been there, it's amazing. up next, these people tell me something i don't know. you're watching "hardball." shooting pain in my feet. i hear you, sam. cedric, i couldn't sleep at night because of my diabetic nerve pain. i hear you, claire, because my dad struggled with this pain. folks, don't wait. step on up and talk to your doctor. because the one thing i keep hearing is... i'm glad i stepped on up. me too, buddy. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, step on up and talk to your doctor today.

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you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. we're back with the "hardball" roundtable. clarence, tell me something i don't know. >> governor jerry brown ended suspense saying he will send troops to the border with a condition. they cannot engage in any immigration enforcement. only like drug interdiction and stuff like that. >> katty kay with your book. tell me about your book. >> lots of new reporting that women are running for political office. we need to close the confidence gap between girs and boys. we've written this book for 88 to 13-year-old girls. >> how do you stop the pattern? i just made your case. >> it's always the boys ha raise the question. they always have an opinion

before they have the facts. the young students how are girls, the females know the facts first before they have an opinion. the guys don't see. >> they still don't raise their hand. girs are doing super well in school but lack the confidence to do things that raise their hands. >> what started that. >> a mixture of being told you have to be a good girl, you can't rock the boat, you have to please people feeds into estrogen and how we want to be people pleasers. then we stop taking risks. we're not prepared to fail. we stop raising our hands. >> do you have to be a risk taker. >> you have to be a risk taker to be confident in our society. they want to be perfect perfection is. >> my daughter has two masters degrees in business and politics. >> the desire to be perfect is killing their confidence. >> the best schools in the country. >> chris? >> if you watch the facebook hearings in the senate side, you would believe that there is a group of people over the age of 70 who have never seen facebook. having said that, it is important to remember, 66% of

americans over the age of 70 are on the internet. >> really. >> and 62% of those use facebook. i don't know the questions were representative of their own demographic group. >> thank you, clarence, katty kay, and kris wilson. let me finish tonight with trump watch. you're watching "hardball." so we swapped your car out for the all-new chevy traverse. yes. do you think it's going to surprise your daughter? absolutely. wait, is mom here yet? where's mom? she's in this car. what the heck? whoa. yo, whose car is this? this is the all-new chevy traverse.

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trump watch wednesday, april 11th, 2018. i wonder what the president's thinking tonight. is he thinking about robert

mueller digging through the stuff from trump's lawyer michael cohen's office, the phone records, stuff on the computer, the stuff at his office, at his apartment, at the hotel where he stays? is he thinking about the matter of stormy daniels or karen olympic dougal or the access hollywood tape all of which were on the fbi's wish list. is he thinking about what robert mueller wants the stuff for, how he might use it to squeeze cohen into coming clean with everything he's done with regard to russia. what about the other stuff? any president of the united states would be worrying about right now, what can he do to punish syria without getting into bigger trouble with russia and avoid hitting russian troops are in syria? how does he keep the situation between israel and iran from getting out of hand? with all this jumping around in his mind, how does there president, donald trump keep his mind on meeting with kim jong-un to get the north koreans to remove their nuclear threat. so much to worry about, so much to do and with no reguidance in

the room. no one to say no to john bolton whether he goes into his dr. strange love mode. who tell trump to cool it when he has so many missiles to launch that are so nice, new and smart as he just put it. wow. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. welcome to a special edition of "all in," day 447 of the trump administration. years from now when the history books are written of this moment, we may look back on today as one of its most pivotal in a pivotal chap per it there is an amount of news producing seismic change across the world and the political party that is president has made his home and currently dominates most of the american federal