kwen consequential hearings of the trump presidency. what can they do to fight the supreme court nomination of brett kavanaugh. trade war politics. the president gearing up to rework one of our biggest trade deals, nafta. so far, not off to a great start. how it will affect people in key states like wisconsin to vote come november. and biden is back. what he said in a pittsburgh parade about his own political future and his message for the democrats ahead of the midterms. >> we're in a fight for the soul of america here. it's about time we restored dignity into work and start talking to each other like we're civilized and deal with one another with respect. >> we start with the politics guiding this week's supreme court nomination hearings. brett kavanaugh's missing paperwork as well as his opinions on abortion and

presidential power will dominate day one of the questions and answers. so, too, the posturing for the midterms and beyond. at least three democrats on the judiciary committee are prospective candidates for the party's presidential nomination. cory booker, camilla harris and amy klobuchar of minnesota. and then there's president trump who could use a win as he barnstorms battleground states ahead of november's elections. we start with our nbc team of reporters. white house correspondent kristen welker and justice correspondent pete williams. great to see both of you. pete, walk us through what you're expecting for the first day of hearings tomorrow. >> it will test brett kavanaugh's ability to stlit for hours without saying anything because that's how the first day goes in recent years in these confirmation hearings. the question of him won't start until wednesday. so tomorrow, opening statements from all the members of the senate judiciary committee. at the very end of the day, the nominee makes a brief statement saying he's humbled and proud

and then he introduces his family. so all the questions that you talk about won't actually start until wednesday. and i think you're exactly right. certainly roe v. wade will be an important question. it usually is, but especially so because of the fact that brett kavanaugh is the nominee to replace anthony kennedy who was willing to join with some of the liberals in striking down the latest efforts by states not to overturn roe but to limit access to abortion. so that's going to be a potentially big change but the other thing that will be very unusual about this hearing is questions about presidential immunity. can a president be indicted? can a president be subpoenaed? brett kavanaugh had very strong views about that when he worked for ken starr during the monica lewinsky investigation, but he's changed his mind recently saying that was a searing experience that persuaded him that presidents should be immune even from subpoenas having to testify before grand juries or even civilly sued until they're out of office.

although he has said that it would take an act of congress to give the president that kind of immunity. >> pete, what do you make of the fact that democrats are involving john dean in some of this of watergate fame? >> i think it's precisely to look at this question of presidential immunity. it's not merely an academic one because if we get to the point that robert mueller, that they can't work out an agreement and he has to question the president and subpoenas him for testimony, that will be an historic fight that could go all the way to the supreme court. what brett kavanaugh's views on that won't be merely academic. he could vote on that assuming he doesn't recuse himself which is to say take himself out of the action if it does get to the supreme court. and john dean's role there is instructive because of his role in the nixon white house. and the question of presidential immunity and whether presidents can be subpoenaed. president nixon was subpoenaed for the white house tapes during the watergate crisis, and the

supreme court upheld that subpoena. four documents or tapes. we've never had a case about subpoenaing a president for testimony. >> okay. kristen, to you. this comes, obviously, right as we're heading into the thick of midterm season. and it has quite a bit of impact for a lot of red state democrats but also potent yeially for the president. >> it does. he's going to be active on the campaign trail according to the president himself, according to this white house. this allows him to make the case this is a promise made and a promise kept. he campaigned on a vow to instill conservative justices on the supreme court should he get the chance. of course, neil gorsuch, his first nominee, was confirmed. and now justice kavanaugh who was on that original list, by the way, that he put out during the campaign. that conservative-backed list of judges who he would pick to become the next supreme court justice. so that gives the president a very strong talking point. and if you look at the exit

polls, even some of those voters who had misgivings about president trump said they were voting for him for that very reason. because they wanted to see a more conservative supreme court. on the other hand, what will it do for democrats? it gives them a number of talking points in terms of ab t abortion rights, voting rights. very little they can do to block him from getting confirmed, kasie. but joe biden, the former vice president, was asked about all of this from our own mike memeli at a parade in pittsburgh. listen to what he had to say. >> vice president, tomorrow is the day of the supreme court confirmation process. you're the former chairman of the judiciary committee. what's your advice to democrats about how to handle this going forward? >> stay in the room. demand answers. and keep pointing out that you have -- they have not given the material that was expected of the committee. >> worth noting, biden and former president obama expected to have a big presence on the campaign trail in 2018 as well. will he be in 2020? we'll have to wait and see about that.

>> great work by our colleague there. kristen welker, pete williams, thank you both. a short time ago, another potential 2020 democratic candidate was asked whether kavanaugh's confirmation is, indeed, a done deal. here's massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. >> senator, the democrats don't seem to have a real option or way to deal with the nomination. it almost seems like a fait accompli. >> that's what people said a little over a year ago about hi health care. so the big question is whether or not there will be just one or two republicans who will be willing to cross over. and to vote against a candidate who has been prescreened by two right wing extremist groups. >> let's go to our panel. elliott williams is a former deputy assistant attorney general in the obama administration. and jeffrey jakobovich represents three employees of the clinton white house during

the ken starr years. and so, jeffrey, i'd like to start with you and pick up on what pete williams was saying at the top of the show about this question of presidential immunity. john dean and how democrats are going to try to draw that in to the conversation. given your experience, what's your sense of the most effective way for democrats to attack this argument? >> well, the nixon decision was a unanimous decision. and it's clear from that precedent that mueller should be able to serve a subpoena on trump and give testimony. and when i say clear, i would say it's 99% clear. nothing is ever 100%. however, the issue would be the statements by kavanaugh seem to indicate that he would be against it. and he's changed. but i represented people during the starr investigation, and i know how aggressive starr and kavanaugh were in terms of pursuing the president and other white house officials.

so there has to be an inconsistency there. if his opinion has evolved, has it evolved because of political feasibility? and is that the reason that trump has proposed him? so these are issues that will have to be aired this week. >> when you say kavanaugh was really aggressive with your clients, can you give us some examples? what would it feel like to be in your shoes if you were facing him at that point? >> sure. well, i never dealt personally with kavanaugh but dealt with the starr independent counsel's office and kavanaugh was part of the leadership there. and they were very aggressive in terms of trying to pursue white house officials, in trying to push them into cooperating. in terms of threatening them. the investigation evolved from whitewater to travel office to monica lewinsky to gifts. and then you saw what the final report looked like and kavanaugh played a role in that because his memo was released. >> of course. elliott, let's turn now to some

of the substantive questions that kavanaugh is going to face as far as issues that will come before the court should he serve on it. top among them being abortion and this question about settled law. >> look, he's going to repeat over the course of several days sitled law, settled law, settled law precedent. in truth, it means nothing. we have gotten used to in this country to supreme court nominees not answering questions about their backgrounds. for instance, justice gorsuch wrote a book on precedent, right? and had no problem joining an opinion to gut 41 years of law pertaining to public sector labor unions. and all of them have done it. justice kagan was in a "new york times" piece around the time of her confirmation for not really answering questions. we have to get past that. and the senate judiciary committee has to demand answers because it's no other place in american life or in american government or american politics do we allow people who are taking some of the highest positions that -- in the land to just skate through without

really answering questions about their background. and every time we hear the words i will follow settled law or i believe in precedent we have to push and push and push and demand a stronger answer. it's just not appropriate anymore for a position like that. >> we have a sense of what kavanaugh might say because in 2006, he was confirmed to his current position. let's take a look at that and chat about it. >> senator, on the question of roe v. wade, if confirmed to the d.c. circuit, i would follow roe v. wade faithfully and fully. that would be binding precedent of the court. it's been -- >> i asked you your own opinion. >> i'm saying if i were confirmed to the d.c. circuit, i would follow it. >> so elliott, that's not quite exactly -- he was stronger than saying just settled law. he called it a precedent he'd follow. >> he said the supreme court has decided that roe v. wade is settled law. once he's on the supreme court, he actually can decide what is settled law once he has majority of justices. the other thing is if you notice

he also gave a speech criticizing -- or championing justice rehnquist's dissent in roe v. wade. justice rehnquist was in a very small minority. a 7-2 decision. if he's out there complimenting the -- a dissent to that decision, there's no doubt that he would either vote to overturn it or at least vote to restrict the right as he and so many other conservative judges have done. so let's be careful once again about this settled law mantra because it's just not -- we can't accept it anymore. >> all right. of course, susan collins has been the main question. the person in question on roe vs. wade. there have been other democrats, of course, that are going to have a more difficult decision. some red state democrats. one of them on the committee, senator amy klobuchar, although she's not necessarily in a red state but certainly very close race there. she talked a little bit about on "meet the press" about whether or not there should be 60 votes for a supreme court nominee. take a look.

>> so i would have liked to see 60 votes no matter what the judge is. i don't think we should have made that change when we look back at it. but it happened because we were so frustrated because president obama wasn't able to get his nominees. but we would have been in a better place now. >> jeffrey, this has been democrats at the end of the day don't have the votes to stop this and part of it is because of a change that they had initiated on circuit court judges. >> right. but here's the issue also. and it's a legal issue that has political ramifications. michael cohen just pled guilty. in his plea, he indicated that donald trump ordered him to do something that was illegal. so democrats have to keep bringing up the issue of the fact that whether kavanaugh is fruit of the poisonous tree, can somebody who was the subject of a criminal investigation nominate a supreme court justice and have that justice affirmed? and if -- confirmed, excuse me.

and all they need are one or two republican votes like what happened on obamacare, assuming the democrats stick together. so there are legal issues related to the mueller investigation that impact on the kavanaugh confirmation hearings. >> fair enough, although i will say i have my doubts. elliott williams and jeffrey jacobovits. coming up, loyalty test. the president's goal, a new trade deal with mexico and canada. we'll look at how it's already affecting industries like harley-davidson and some of his biggest supporters. we'll also go live to milwaukee to talk to the democrat running to take speaker paul ryan's seat in the house. joe biden back in the public eye. is it a glimpse of what's to come for the democratic party? ♪ i've got hungry eyes ♪ i feel the magic between you and i ♪ ♪ i've got hungry eyes

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welcome back. the american worker is doing better than ever, according to president trump's tweets this labor day. but the head of the aflc-cio disagrees. >> unfortunate low, to date, the things he's done to hurt workers outpace what he's done to help workers. wages have been down since the first of the year. gas prices have been up since the first of the year. so overall, workers aren't doing as well. he passed the tax bill that encourages companies to outsource. we can't agree to support something like that. >> cue the president punching back at the man who quit his business council. the head of the afl-cio

represented his union poorly on television this weekend. some of the things he said were so against the working men and women of our country. the president's trade war is having a real-life impact on american companies like harley-davidson. the motorcyclemaker is moving some of its manufacturing abroad to deal with blowback from europe to the president's tariffs. nbc's vaughn hilliard is in milwaukee, wisconsin, where harleys are made. you're at labor fest. of course, marking this labor day. what are you hearing from voters there? >> reporter: good morning. this is labor fest in milwaukee. we're in the labor parade where they have the electricians, plumbers, boilermakers, the letter carriers. you've also got a lot of steel workers, iron workers. it's a very tense situation because, well, the president is opening up those negotiations with canada here this week. on the potential renegotiated nafta deal.

also engaged in conversations with the eu. there are still no actual deals put into place that the president promised during the campaign trail and so far the first year and a half to his administration. that's left a lot of individuals, especially here in wisconsin, where cranberries are being tariffed, cheese and dairy. but also there's a large steel manufacturing epicenter here. i want to bring in randy bryce. he's a congressional candidate looking to replace paul ryan. he's a democrat. we wanted to talk to randy because he's part of the iron workers local eight behind us. when we talk to a lot of people that have been hit by this trade war they have confidence in this president that ultimately that a better deal will come to fruition. what's your message? you're trying to pull off in a potential upset in the congressional sdringt aal destr. what's your message to those voters? >> it's not the tariffs themselves that's a problem. it's leadership that's trying to use them. donald trump has all the tools at his disposal and he'sution

th -- using this as a form of political gamesmanship. he doesn't have a plan to actually help people here. we need to talk to the industries being affected by these things. talk to the cranberry farmers, talk to those makining smelting aluminum and using the steel. if we can solve the problem which is china dumping tons upon tons of steel on us, i'll call that a win. all we're doing is alienating allies. >> what the democratic alternative? >> talking with those whose industry is being faerkaffected these things. how can we help you out and your workers out. not those profiting, the beneficiaries of these $1.5 trillion tax cuts. >> richard trumka -- thank you. richard trumka said the tax bill would give incentive for people to move their jobs overseas. it was part of his criticism. a lot of the people we talked to, including iron workers say they have that hope the

president's deals will come to fruition and create short-term consequences, but will ultimately be able to create something in the long run for them. but that's something we'll be paying attention to because the midterms are here in play in wisconsin. the likes of michigan. the likes of these midwest states where union labor was a big part of the reason why you could create credit to president trump pulling off his victory in november of 2016, kasie. >> vaughn, i know that mr. bryce can't hear me, but if you wouldn't mind asking him one question on my behalf. paul ryan has been very outspoken against the president's tariffs. it's one place he has broken very strongly with the president. and, frankly, traditionally democrats have been more in favor of tariffs. i would just like to know directly where mr. bryce thinks he differs from paul ryan's view on these tariffs. >> sure. kasie hunt has a question for you. paul ryan has been critical of the tariffs and the way the president has gone about this approach. where do you differ from speaker

ryan? >> well, speaker ryan, the only time you hear something from him is when his donors are affected. that's why you're hearing something about this now. i'm for keeping jobs here. that's what we need to do. what donald trump is doing is misusing these tariffs and alienating people that have traditionally been our allies. they're turning their backs on us. when you are looking at trying to renegotiate nafta-type deal without canada, that's absolutely ridiculous. and it makes no sense. we need input from people that are going to be affected, not ignore the people. >> kasie? >> vaughn hillyard, thank you so much. really appreciate it. stay dry. i want to bring in kevin, chief washington correspondent for bloomberg television. kevin, let's just pick up where that conversation left off because, really, the politics of tariffs have just become so scrambled here in washington. >> it was interesting because you heard directly from bryce when he said he actually likes the tariffs. it's the politics of how the

president is negotiating these trade deals, whether it's with china, whether it's with europe, canada and mexico that has really tripped up how the democrats are arguing this. so on the policy, they agree. on the politics, on the style, they totally disagree. >> all right. mike caught up with joe biden and talked about this. let's look at this and talk about it. >> about time we restored dignity to work. it's about time we start talking to each other like we're civilized. and deal with one another with respect. that's what this is about. that's what labor is about. and they gave -- my dad used to have an expression. he'd say, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. it's about your dignity. it's about your respect. it's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, it's going to be okay. >> who hasn't missed having joe biden on the campaign trail. >> the aviators are back. >> that message there from biden really, i think, the central question of how our economy has kind of developed toward a gig

economy. a job is not necessarily a place you can go anymore to be taken care of. >> no one knows where their next gig is. that's what's really interesting in terms of where there's been bipartisanship on capitol hill with the issue of china. with regards to intellectual property because you're not hearing democrats criticize the white house on issue of intellectual property. you're hearing it from the agricultural sector, from farmers, trade union workers and in particular on a week we could have $200 billion -- $200 billion worth of more tariffs slapped on against the chinese. the president says he has them ready to go. then you look at europe where the president has said essentially no deal with regards to auto tariffs that he's not going to accept what the eu is doing. in the same breath in the bloomberg interview, criticizing the world trade organization. you bring it back home to nafta and that's where this really has been an absolute trade war on all fronts. >> let's talk about nafta because the president tweeted over the weekend, quote, there's no political necessity to keep

canada in the new nafta deal if we don't make a fair deal for the u.s. after decades of abuse, canada will be out. or i'll terminate nafta entirely. so first of all, the consequences of quote/unquote terminating nafta. and congress does have a role here. >> they do. there's been, as you know. legislation that has attempted to walk back some of the president's power with terms to negotiating deals. look no further than senator bob corker from tennessee. not running for re-election. he's been critical of how the president has been negotiating these trade deals. with regards to nafta, this is again where i think the politics are really interesting because if you go to ohio where someone like senator brown, a progressive democrat, he is very much critical of nafta. people like senator elizabeth warren. they're critical of nafta. so these are the type of independent, progressive voters that are -- have been critical of nafta dating back to the clinton administration. so that tension we're going to

watch unfold within the midterm election for the fight of control of the democratic party, as well as into the next. and very quickly, i would just note from a political optics standpoint, this is a president who on the campaign trail repeatedly said he can't say he wants to tear up nafta, he wants to rip it out and states like michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, where we grew up, that hits close to home. >> it plays well. kevin, thanks for your time today. coming up -- biden's back, as you saw. and he's not the only democrat fueling speculation about a possible 2020 run. the new display of transparency from elizabeth bauwarren about heritage and whether it affected her hiring. george woke up in pain. but he has plans today. hey dad.

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labor day, the unofficial end of summer, sad face, and the unofficial start of midterm campaigning. in pittsburgh this morning, former vice president joe biden went to church along with bob casey before marching in the labor day parade. a must-attend event for democratic candidates. mike memeli is in pittsburgh this afternoon. this has nothing to do with the memo. i apologize for dropping my favorite introduction. but i loved your interview with

the vice president. how -- just read us in on your day. >> well, kasie, i should point out behind us the labor day parade here has just ended. right outside the steel workers building where it wrapped up. this is where joe biden wanted to be. this is -- there's no place joe biden would rather be on labor day than here. this is the kickoff of his campaigning for the midterm election. he's going to be one of the most active surrogates in terms of heading out there supporting congressional candidates and senate candidates but hanging over all of this is 2020. what is he going to be doing after the midterm elections heading into the next presidential campaign? i had a chance to ask him that earlier. let's listen to what he said. what's at stake here in the midterm, sir? >> everything. it's simple. everything. we're in a fight for the soul of america here. it's about time we restored dignity to work. it's about time we start talking to each other like we're

civilized. >> reporter: civilized is a really interesting choice of words there at the end. when asked about 2020, he said this is nothing about 2020. but when you hear him talk about that, you hear what would be maybe one of the themes of a biden 2020 campaign. think about what we saw in the past week with all the services, with john mccain. obviously, family is a very important factor. joe biden as he thinks about the future. this sense the country is bitterly divided and he might be one of the people who can bring it together, work along bipartisan lines, it's a very powerful tug for joe biden as he does think about 2020. we expect a decision to be made some time in the months after the midterms here, kasie. >> what's your sense of the thinking in the president -- former vice president's inner circle about whether he could win if he were to, in fact, run for the nomination if perhaps the party is searching for new faces. i feel like i hear people talk about new faces. also authentisity.

biden has that in spades. but what do they think? >> i think back to what they were telling me in 2015 when he was thinking of running in 2016. they talk about this mood for an authentic candidate and someone that can speak to the hopes and aspirations of the middle class. they think the democratic party has lost sight of it here. this choice is intentional. pittsburgh, pennsylvania, western pennsylvania. the home of these working class blue collar democrats that the vice president's team think he can appeal to better than anyone else. when you look at the electoral map, 2020, the states donald trump flipped from blue to red, the vice president's team thinks he can flip them right back because of his connections with these kinds of voters. >> mike memoli, thanks. let's bring in republican strategist rick tyler and doug thornlel, senior adviser during the 2016 campaign. so thanks for being here. let's pick up in pennsylvania and talk a little bit about both

midterms, but also 2020 joe biden. doug, what's your view of the biden team's take on his 2020 aspirations? >> look, i think they're going to see how the midterms shape out, right? and i think he's going to be one of the most sought after democratic surrogates on the trail. he can go to the suburban districts and rural districts that are going to be in play that democrats need to win to win back the house. he can also go to campaign for joe manchin and campaign for claire mccaskill in missouri. campaign in florida for -- >> top-notch pronunciation on missouri. >> he can campaign for bill nelson. he can go to so many different types of places and be effective. afterwards they'll take a look at how he felt and my guess is that they are going to -- i think if you are joe biden, you have as good a shot to win the nomination as anyone else right now. >> rick tyler, from a midterm perspective, one of the trends

we've been seeing at these special elections is republicans are not necessarily fighting on the positives. they are in an attempt to gin up their base turnout. they are running ads about immigration primarily. is that going to have to be the strategy if they have any hope of maintaining control of the house? >> i'm not sure it's going to work. also they're running this idea which seems to be a bannon idea that we're running against impeachment, right? that the democrats get in charge, there will be impeachment. i'm not sure the country wants impeachment but i'm not sure that's going to be compelling enough. >> doug, do you think the democrats have this in the bag? >> absolutely not. i think we're the underdogs, the challengers. we have to flip. we have to win 24 seats. the senate is even harder. the good thing is in 66 of the lean toss-up districts that cook report follows, 62 of them are republican. so they are really -- they are in a total defensive posture but

democrats have to -- they have to run the campaign. and they've got to run through the tape. and if we sit here and just say, you know, it's a fore gone conclusion we're going to win back the house we may be surprised like in 2016. i really like where we are. we're doing really well from a money standpoint and organization standpoint. from a message standpoint. the republican message is basically trying to scare people to death. >> you raised the senate which is clearly a very different map. but i want to talk about one potential bright spot for democrats, and that's texas where the president tweeted on friday that he'll be doing a major rally for senator ted cruz in october. he says he's picking the biggest stadium in texas that we can find which is going to be a big stadium to go down there and campaign. but his opponent who has been drawing crowds of thousands. is this the time texas turns blue and then, rick, weigh in because you know this so well. >> beto is running an amazing

campaign. a strong grassroads campaign. he's got a great message. he's authentic, young, going all over the state. it's a tough state for democrats to still win. some infrastructure issues the party needs to -- the party was working on before he got in. i think it's a toss-up right now. but, look, it's still a republican state but he is doing the best you can possibly do right now in a state like texas. and i wouldn't be surprised if he won on election day. it's still going to be a very -- and he's raising a ton of money. he's outraised ted cruz. that's impressive. >> rick, how on the defensive is the cruz campaign? >> they should be. they outraised them 2 to 1 and beto is not taking any independent dollars. beto reminds me of when ted cruz ran for his original campaign. he worked the grassroots and built it up from there. jason johnson who runs ted cruz's pro-cruz superpac got the headline in the "dallas morning news" yesterday saying this is a

real race. no question it's a real race. and beto has two things going for him. the voters hate for trump and the voters love for beto. so that's going to be a tough combination. and cruz is going to have to work really hard to beat that. >> the beto for president chatter has already begun. >> let's win that senate seat first and then talk about it. but, look, it's also a headache for national republicans. they never thought they'd have to worry about texas. it's a state with a ton of media markets, very expensive and the nrsc never anticipated having to spend money there. >> when joe biden ran his first campaign, he was a second term senator and not ready to be president. he is now but he wasn't then. >> a message for beto. doug thornell, rick tyler, really preerkappreciate it. republicans preparing for a possible blue wave. the alarm bells being sounded across the party and what could

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back in 2010, democrats sustained a midterm loss so devastating that then-president barack obama conceded the party had been shellacked. but a former lawyer for house republicans is predicting this november's midterm election

could be much worse for his party. according to his calculations, republicans are in a more perilous position than democrats in 2010 or 2006 when the white house flipped. he's not the only republican sounding the alarm about a possible blue wave. >> fortunately our party is shrinking. we nour doare now down to about. it's becoming a remnant. but are the party has shrunk. in my state and in my community, and in my district, we had a congressional race that the republican who took my place was able to win by 17 points. just a couple weeks ago, he won by the skin of his teeth. >> joining me is republican congressman ryan costello who represents pennsylvania's 6th district. but, of course, is retiring. congressman, great to see you. thanks for coming in on this labor day. how bad is it going to be? >> well, the republicans can still hold the house. i think if we do, it will be

because a lot of republican incumbent members have won by a point or two rather than winning by eight or ten or 12 points. i do believe the governor is correct, though. we are experiencing -- i probably shouldn't use the word shrinkage, but we are. in terms of suburban voters. feeling that the party is not speaking to some of the suburban issues, quality of life issues and that trump has very much created a more costic political environment whether it's solely attributable to him or not doesn't matter because in the minds of many voters, that's what they feel. and so there are some challenges for republicans going into the midterms. but we can hold on. obviously, one of your previous guests did say it. we're in a defensive posture to be sure. >> yeah, and, in fact, politico reports that behind the scenes some of your senior party strategists have started to poll to see if there are any

incumbents that essentially need to be cut off. have you caught wind of that, and is that a smart move for the nrcc? >> well, as you well know, both political parties are going to continue to poll through the last week of the election to determine where to spend their ie dollars. i think those incumbents that remain competitive will certainly have all the resources that they need and that that article was probably written well before it was published because that's a story that always gets written depending upon which party is in power and those are the kind of decisions that do have to get made. frankly, there will be a couple democratic seats that will happen. republicans are on the offense in minnesota. so some of those midwestern open seats, republicans are well positioned to pick up. but on the flip side in many suburban areas across the country, democrats due to trump's unpopularity are on the offensive. >> one thing congressman that has sort of struck me as an

undercovered aspect of this midterm season is the fact that many of the republicans who are willing to criticize the president or who consider themselves to be more moderate or opponents of the president aren't going to be in washington come january, either because they're swept out of office in this wave or because they, like you, like charlie dent, your colleague, choose not to stick around either because you thought you couldn't win or because the environment is so tox toxic. what is the republican party going to look like regardless of whether the majority is there. it's going to hand more power to the right wing in the house conference. >> well, my feeling kasie is that as a party, we are going to have to be much more forceful in what our policy prerogatives are because as the party continues to be more and more defined by trump, especially when he wades into primaries and the trump-backed candidate wins, that is not a recipe for

long-term success as a political party. it's just simply not. and in the suburbs you are seeing the real acceleration of independents move to democrats. either voting or in party registration. that's happened in southeastern pennsylvania. it continues to spread westward. and beyond that, i think that as a party, if we lose our identity, free market, limited government, that is not a good -- we're not going to grow the party. so governor kasich's points yesterday, i fully subscribe to, and i think for a lot of members, after november, if there is -- if we are not successful in november, the ways we've enjoyed in the past several cycles. if this is anything remotely like 2010, i think you'll see a lot more members realize that just standing in line behind trump or not speaking out is probably the better way to put it is not going to be sustainable for our party. >> republican congressman ryan

costello with a warning. thank you so much forri your ti today. really appreciate it. coming up, a huge day on the hill tomorrow as hearings on whether to confirm brett kavanaugh to the supreme court g gett get started. what can we learn from the past? ? yes. it intensely moisturizes your hair and scalp and keeps you flake free. manolo? look at my soft hair. i should be in the shot now too. try head and shoulders two in one.

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. judge kavanaugh's senate hearing are to be con ttentious. joining me now is david van taylor, sir, good to see you. thanks for being here on this labor day. i want to ask you, the one major difference that seems to me here in these fights now that the fact that 60-vote threshold is gone. you st ill haill have that in pr these nominees and there were some bipartisan report. >> we are living in an era of

bipartisanship in general is at its lowest point and certainly i can remember. that does not mean this is a for gone conclusion. you know there have been unexpected things that happens in supreme court throughout history and still the most famous was robert bord who was undoubtedly unfit and who lost. harriet myers who was nominated by george w. bush was withdrawn because of right wing opposition to her, she was not guilty tthe candidate that they wanted and they did not have the votes and it happens just moments before

the votes were taken. it happens because of information that came out during the course of his confirmation process. anything is possible. >> heading into this week for sure, a good reminder. we have a couple of clips, one is related to the documents of kavanaugh. patrick lahey replacing missing files of justice roberts. >> when they reconstructed, they said the white house knows. >> oh, that's great. so the white house will tell us what they think his writings were but sorry we can't see it but take the words for it. that's so like weapons of mass

destruction, just take their words for it. it is there. we can see it but it is there. >> some great behind the scenes stuff. this is something that comes up again and again and how much will the senators get to see documents of writing past. >> i spoke to one of the activists on the left who is featured in the film as to the fights back in 2010. and, unfortunately, he told me those were the good old days. it seems right now what we have is a theft and burial of documents, basically in plain site. not only is the republican chairman, chuck grassley, made a request that omitted important parts of brett kavanaugh time of the white house in the document request, he did that without cooperation with the democratic

colleagues but even beyond that the documents they did ask for being vetted by republican lawyer and the current sitting white house's president said no, there is about hundreds of thousands of pages of this that we think should not be released at all. it is a low point. >> not a lot that democrats can do about it. david van taylor, thank you for your time today. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. to stay successful in business, you got to navigate a lot of moving parts. "on your business," we got your back with expert advise of eye catching marketing. each week we'll focus on ideas for growing your business bringing all the moving parts together. join me at 7:30 on msnbc or connect with us any time on all your devices. >> sponsored by the powerful

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that wraps up this hour of msnbc live, ali velshi, is joining us now. i will see you back here. >> kasie, you are not really off because you have to prepare for the next hour. >> thank you. >> i am ali velshi, we began this labor day less than 24 hours for the confirmation hearing for brett kavanaugh. democrats are takiing issues of the entire process. the white house's decision to block the release of more than 100,000 pages of records. the records to date to kavanaugh's time and the administration time of george w. bush. chuck schumer called the decision a friday night document massacre and take a look at what amy klobochar told my colleague, chuck todd on