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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  October 23, 2018 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT

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preview, donny deutsch style tease if you will. thank you, as always, watching the beat. don't go anywhere. "hardball" with chris matthews is up next. >> trump renames the republicans. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. there are just two weeks now until the midterm elections and president trump's pitch to voters now includes a full-throated embrace of a loaded phrase increasingly associated with the alt right. the president rolled out his new self characterization at last night's rally in houston. >> a globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much. and, you know what? we can't have that. they have a word. it sort of became old fashioned.
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it's called a nationalist. and i say, really, we're not supposed to use that word. do you know what i am? i'm a nationalist. okay? i'm a nationalist. >> new name for the republican party at the white house today. trump defended his use of that term and rejected the notion it was code for white nationalist. >> i'm somebody that loves our country when i say nationalist. i'm proud of our country. i am a nationalist. it's a word that hasn't been used too much. i'm very proud. i think it should be brought back. >> defined by dubi oous -- caran of central american migrants traveling through mexico, accompanied by middle east terrorists. the overall strategy, trump advisers and political operatives said is to paint a portrait of chaotic, dangerous
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world. once again he blamed democrats, without evidence, for that caravan. >> i think the democrats had something to do with it. and now they're saying i think we made a big mistake, because people are seeing how bad it is, how pathetic it is. look, that is an assault on our country. that's an assault. and we can't let that happen to our country. and it's not. >> tonight, the white house and trump doubled down that middle easterners and terrorists were among the caravan and he had spoken to the border patrol. >> over the course of the year and a number of years, they've intercepted many people from the middle east. they've intercepted isis. they've intercepted all sorts of people. they've intercepted a lot of different people. but among the people they've intercepted, very recently are people from the middle east.
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>> you think they're in the caravan? >> they could very well be. >> but there's no proof? >> there's no proof of anything, but they very well could be. >> no proof of everything. everything. president trump said he would consider sending troops to the border. it could be a blessing in disguise because it shows how bad our laws are. the democrats are responsible for that. washington bureau chief of usa today who did that interview with the president, and michael steele, former chair of the republican party now known as the nationalist party. i'll get to you in a minute. trump has renamed you guys. let me go to phil. you sized this whole thing up. trump plays this game. couple of games he plays with people. and i think david brooks said today culture is more important than economicsi right now. there is a fear about cultural change. we're either generous or we're
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not, we're scared or whatever our reaction. but that doesn't work because i don't think people feel good about saying they're anti-hispanic. he spices it up saying they've got middle eastern terrorists in their group. it's not that you're prejudice but rightfully concerned about terrorism. then he says blessing in disguise. no one thinks this is going to help the democrats. nobody thinks -- clearly this helps trump and people who like him think it's a surprise. they love this baby. >> this is a base election. >> yeah, it is. >> and white house officials tell us that they don't think it's enough for the president to time-out his accomplishment tout his accomplishments, that he has to do more, fear, anxiety and grievances that people had to turn them out and get every last voter who voted for him in 2016, to come out in two weeks to vote for republicans and keep their house and senate majority. >> is there any way? you serve in the world occasionally. is there any way to tell what is more of a prod or poke to get
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somebody out to vote, fear or ang anger? people coming from the south in large numbers across the border or worries about health care and social security and medicare? they both grab people in different ways, culturally and economically. >> they go to different parties and agendas, right? they're talking overwhelmingly about health care. a majority of the democratic ads in competitive house races are talking about health care, but the big issue for republican voters is immigration. it's like two americas motivated by two different things. if you look at the people in the middle, swing voters, health care is a bigger issue for them than immigration. this election may be a test to that. >> during the 19 or 2016 campaign, i asked then candidate donald trump if he considered himself a nationalist. let's listen to his response then. >> let's talk about the race. you're a nationalist. when you say things like we have a country or we don't, best jobs
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to china, worst jobs to illegal immigrants, i get it all. trade wars you don't like. you don't like stupid war. >> trump defended using -- coining himself a nationalist, saying that we needed to put our country first. but trump once again expressed reluctance to alienate saudi interests. >> look, saudi arabia has been a great ally. they've been one of the biggest investors -- maybe the biggest investor in our country. they are doing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investments and, you know, so many jobs. if what happened happened and if the facts check out, then it's something that's very bad. at the same time, they have been a very good ally of ours. >> you know, michael, i don't know if you agree with me on this. i thought the appeal -- two
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thi things trump say that i like is infrastructure, and secondly stupid wars. there he is over there in bed with the saudis, with this deal that jared has cooked up under the so-called middle east plan with the iranians, very thing he said he was going to get us out of and there he is in bed with these guys. your thoughts? >> that plays more toward his interest with the saudis, not his interest -- >> personal interest? >> yes. that tweet, to me, still sticks in my head because the difference of a word changes the meaning of his level of engagementme engagementment. their interests are touched and that's clearly the case with jared and the dealings there. they can't get their monies from the russians anymore, because the russians have been exposed in terms of what they do with the trumps. they now have a new line, new relationship, which has developed with the saudis.
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and that's what this is all about. >> that's why the saudis always stay at the trump hotel? >> always spend their time there. >> this idea of nationalism that the president touches on, i'm curious as to where did he find this new nationalist? his historic connotation is not a good one. it's not oh, i care so much about my country. it has connotations that go far beyond that. >> nationalist socialist. >> he knows that, maybe. the fact of the matter is that republicans are sitting idly by. they know that they're in a bubble right now. and the only thing that can keep that bubble from completely popping, both house and senate, is the man sitting there, calling their party a nationalist party. >> let me ask you about his lies. some things you can argue about numbers and crowd size. i don't care. when he says i want to cut your taxes by election day and there's no congress to do it, and his people don't seem to
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mind. you ask him, how come your lying doesn't seem to hurt you at all? >> when he misrepresents things, i think there's two thing reasons why that doesn't hurt him. they excuse it. >> like bill clinton, cheeseburgers? oh, he likes cheeseburgers. he likes to lie. it's okay. >> another group that believes what he says. i think when he says things like -- taxes, maybe not, because you can tell that you're not going to get 10% tax cut. when he says there's middle eastern people in the caravan, there are many supporters at the rally in houston who believe that. >> this is like birtherism. a white woman marries someone in kenya, fakes the marriage license so that 35 years later a kid that she christens barack husein obama will be president of the united states.
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and somebody over in the middle east, terrorist, gets on the plane, coach, and flies somewhere in honduras, nicara a nicaragua, and joins this caravan of hispanics on a 2,000 or 3,000 mile walk. nobody believes that really, do they? >> chris, there's simply no evidence of this. president trump introduced this idea of middle easterners in the caravan and all day yesterday his white house and federal government agencies could not come up with -- >> bill, here he is himself. he conceded that there is no proof of this caravan infest ed with middle easterners, vice president pence and others have embraced his charge. >> it's inconceivable that there are not people of middle eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border. >> all of these people trying to force their way in, it's called
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an invasion. thank god we have a president that will stand up to an invasion like this. >> that's more of the gomer pyle idea. louie gohmert. what a character he is. >> i think about everything, including the military, not just the national guard, the military is what i'm thinking about. we can't have people coming into our country illegally. it's not fair for a lot of reasons. it's not fair to the people who are here, it's not fair to the people who want to come here. >> what's it look like already, the not conservative newspaper, "new york times" runs the pictures of the people coming up here every day now on the top of the fold, grabbing attention of everybody. what happens if the 82nd airborne or some infantry unit is sent to the border and stops people at the border.
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who wins? >> i don't think that's legal. >> trump can do it. >> maybe you could use the national guard. >> this court is going to stop him? i'm sorry. >> i think there would be two reactions. republicans would look at that national guard right there and say yes, that's exactly what we want the president to do and there are suburban women who are already in flames about this president and politics on immigration and would be horrified. >> people in the caravan are hundreds of miles away from the border. they're not banging down the border. >> two weeks to go. two weeks to election day. the timing of this is situational. >> the fact is that this is not the first time this has happened. this has been something that goes on. >> look at these pictures. >> and the reality is that the president's rhetoric about using the military speaks volumes about his lack of understanding about what the limitations are on his authority, that he can't do that, number one.
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number two, he will have issues with the governors on those border states, bringing the military in, regardless of whether they're republican or democrat. so this again, to phil's first point, is to inflame the passions of a base that they want to drive to the polls because they're losing the grip politically on the house of representatives and elected offices around the country. >> hydroplaning over this, in delight, newt gingrich, worst of them all. a chance to get within striking distance. i think the right of the republican party loves that. great reporting. michael steele, as always, common sense. give me the rich and take from the poor. that's robin hood in reverse, huge tax cut to the rich and will pay for it by cutting your social security and medicare. $2 trillion given to the fat cats paid for -- that bill will
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be paid for out of your social security and medicare. that's the open above-board in broad daylight republican plan. ask mitch mcconnell. we'll talk to anthony scaramucci, the mooch, about that. and why trump can't quit the saudi prince. why he's ready to quit, however, nuclear treaty with the russians. hardball round table takes on fighting john kelly. and after this, by the way -- after this commercial, hang in here for a minute and the rest of this show. big announcement for "hardball" coming up in about a minute. this is "hardball," the actionist. best for my family. in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured and left those doubts behind. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret,
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tour travels to the university of houston. our special guest for the whole ho hour, united states congressman beto o'rourke, candidate for the u.s. senate. hardball college tour has a rich, exciting history, having hosted president barack obama at westchester university in pennsylvania, senator john mccain in clemson and villanova, the national champs. beto o'rourke and college of houston will join that history.
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welcome back to "hardball." while they talk about hoards and grievances over kavanaugh, they're hardly talking about their accomplishments or lack thereof. there's not much talk about the december 2017 tax bill that overwhelmingly benefited korpgs and the very wealthy. shortly after it passed, by the way, president trump even told his pals at mar-a-lago he just
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made them all, quote, a lot richer. he was open about it. the bill that the majority of americans does not support costs $1.5 trillion. according to a new study by democrats, an estimated $2 trillion cost of republicans overall tax cuts and nearly dollar for dollar. the same that they'll cut from medicare, medicaid and social security. mitch mcconnell blamed safety nets with exploding the deficit, that they're responsible. >> it's very disturbing and it's driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular, medicare, social security and medicaid. >> while campaigning for bill nelson, joe biden seized on the news to motivate voters. let's watch joe biden. >> now mcconnell, senator from kentucky turns around and says,
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straightforward, we've got this gigantic debt now. we have to cut social security, medicare and medicaid. folks, folks, they're being straight up about it. they're coming at it. this is what people desperately need and they've never been able to take away from us before. and i'm going to tell you something. if bill does not win and we don't take back the house and senate, they will take it away. >> that guy knows how to talk like a regular guy in the corner. he turns around and does this. thank you so much, state representative from montgomery county, pennsylvania, fourth congressional district. you're running there. let me talk about this amazing move. they cut taxes for the very wealthy and say we've got this big deficit problem we didn't notice before. we have to feks this deficit problem which was caused by the tax cuts by cutting social security and medicare. >> this is not my grandfather's republican party, i'll tell you
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that. it is a pretty despicable playbook. give away more than $1 trillion. explode the deficit, then pretend they didn't do that and say oh, my goodness, the only thing we can do then is to cut medica medicare, medicaid, social security. your health care under the affordable care act. it's a very despicable play. it's transparent ly wrong tore america and that's one of the reasons i'm running for congress. >> the latest numbers, you know them, representative, what happened in 2016, people who went to college were against trump, those who didn't go to college are for him. why would a regular person who didn't get a college break in their life, why would they be for trump? what's the break they get out of it? tell me how they explain it to you, if they do. >> what i can tell you is what i see at the doors. with middle class working people, they're caring about their families, worried about health care. number one bread and butter issue as i knock on doors, they're worried about health
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care. don't tear down the affordable care act. don't repeal it. make sure you protect pre-existing conditions. can my kids stay on my policy until they're 26? can you do something to reduce the price of prescription drugs and make health care affordable to all. working families, that's what they care about. >> your reporting is very important to me. you're really reporting this to me. when you knock on doors -- i love the fact that you're doing th that. listen, madeline, this is what i care about. that's what they say? >> that's what they say. they're worried about their kids, their parents, worried about affordability and access to excellent health care. they know how well they're able to keep their family healthy will determine their future, their economic status the second issue at the door, i was knocking on doors and got caught
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in the rain and i said to a gentleman, here is why i'm running and what do you care about? the man said to me a single word, decency. bring back decency to public service. >> i went to high school in your district. la salle high school is right in your district. >> two of my kids went there. >> high school teachers i spoke with on saturday. they said they can't get their kids to behave because the kids say the president does it. he makes fun of people, their looks. he calls people names. it's horrible. it's permeating right down to the reality that our kids we're raising. he is a bad example. thank you for saying that. for more right now, i'm going to bring in -- >> thank you. >> i have to say the great anthony scaramucci, "trump: the blue collar president." david brooks in his column say that culture is more important than economics.
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is that why this nationalism of trump's, the concern about the caravan, all that stuff, is that outselling people's basic concerns about their social security when they retire, their medicare, obamacare every day of their lives? >> yeah, that's a good part of it. i also think there's an economic discussion. "the wall street journal" two saturdays ago, chris, reported that the lower 10% of the country is experiencing some wage growth, something that is also happening is by cutting the illegal immigration at the border, he's taking the slack out of the african-american and hispanic-american labor markets and those markets have tightened and also allowed for increase in wages. >> why not trickle down? you're arguing basically scaramucci, you're selling trickle down. that means if he gives huge tax cuts to the mar-a-lago crowd, it
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will trickle down to the american people. >> my peace on the increase of wages is from the immigration. i'm not selling trickle down. i'm not one of those trickle down sort of people, frankly. i was more in the camp of pay as you go. you're old enough to remember the pay as you go legislation that dick durbin put in place for george herbert walker bush. >> i'm old enough to remember 1990. it's not like 100 years ago. i think you're old enough to remember, too. >> i am old enough to remember. >> go ahead. >> you talk about -- late dick dorman, great person. you're putting guardrails on the congress so we didn't have this excessive deficit spending. i don't like the spending at all. republicans have consistent ly said they want to tighten up on the budget and then they spend like drunken sailors. i'm not a big fan of that.
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i don't like it. >> mitch mcconnell, who i think is a smart politician when it comes to saving his own rear end, he's good at survival. he's coming out two weeks before the election and saying we've got to cut social security, medica medicare, medicaid. they just want what they have. social security, medicare, medicaid. if they get alzheimer's, some job somewhere nearby their kids can get. that's all they want. why would mitch mcconnell be so stupid, even have a license to say about social security and medicare? >> if you ask the president directly he's probably not for t he always talks about trying to take care of everybody. i think mitch is trying to galvanize his base. i think the nonsense with the caravan is base galvannizing. i don't like the transgender thing. they float the transgender thing to galvanize the base. those things i'm not in love
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with. what i try to describe in the book -- you grew up in a middle class family, i grew up in a middle class family. my dad, for the good part of his life was an hourly worker. i talk about how we grew up and how my cousins, one is a clamor, one is in auto glass installation. they love the president. >> trump, who grew up with millions of dollars -- >> golden toilet seat. >> a sinatra figure. why do people look at him like the old days of sinatra? why is trump one of them? >> sinatra grew up in hoboken. he still talked like them. it's different with the president. for whatever reason in his early life, working with his dad, he developed a knack for these people. i tell a great story in the book where they forgave some rental situations on people that were laid off, shows a lot of compassion. again, you don't have to like the president and you can
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dispute the president's facts and we can see 5,000 different facts, inconsistencies, but his base doesn't care, chris. my message to people that don't like the president is his base likes him. read my book. at least you'll understand from my book. >> why didn't gu to the president when kelly sacked you? why didn't you go over his head and say my loyalties are to the president, not to you, kelly? why did you do that? >> not the right thing to do in that situation. he was the white house chief of staff. the president empowered him as the chief of staff. let's say i did that and i've got a long-term relationship with the president and he kept me on the job. then john kelly and i would have been warring. there would have been all that nonsensical leaking that goes on that i can't stand. i didn't want to create more dissengs for the president. he made the decision to go with john kelly. that was his starting pitcher. it was time for me to go on waivers as a result of that. i don't like the way kelly fired me, by the way. i think that was very -- >> i agree with you.
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by the way, who is going to win the series? you're a smart guy. >> red sox in five. boy, i tell you, republicans are close on the midterms. it's a lot closer than people think. just ask bernie sanders. he was commenting on it. >> i disagree. i think the democrats will hand the house handily. >> who is going to win the series, though? let's talk sport. >> i'm going to watch all seven game. >> red sox in five. i'll put money on it. world according to trump. from backing saudi's claims about the death of a respected journalist to pull iing out of decades-old arms treat which russia, how trump is reshaping america's place. we are the nationalists? is that the new name of the republican party? maybe. she was pregnant, in-laws were coming, a little bit of water, it really- it rocked our world. i had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. we called usaa. and they greeted me as they always do. sergeant baker, how are you? they were on it. it was unbelievable.
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president putin said and i said, in fact, president trump would look forward to meeting with him in paris. we will make the precise arrangements on that, but it will happen in connection with the 100th anniversary and celebration of the armistice that the french are hosting on the 11th. >> national security adviser john bolton in moscow, announcing four months after the president's disastrous in helsinki.
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national charged last friday with waging information warfare against america to influence the 2018 elections coming up next month. in addressing russia's past interference yesterday, bolton ruled out the possibility that the influence campaign changed outcome of the presidential election. here he goes. >> look, it's the effort alone to interfere in our objection -- in our elections that are objectionable. the fact was that the outcome would be exactly the same. if there were evidence to the contrary, we would have heard it by now. >> i'm joined by leon panetta, secretary of defense under president obama. president trump calls himself a nationalist. in the same breath, his person out there, national security director is saying no harm, no foul about the 2016 interference in our elections. why isn't a nationalist acting like a nationalist?
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>> well, it's pretty clear that the russians did interfere in our election process. from my point of view the fact that they under mine an important institution in this country indicates they were pretty successful al what they were trying to do. i don't think it makes any points by somehow pretending whether it was determine active of the election itself. that's not the issue. the issue is whether russia deliberately tried to undermine our election process and that they did. >> this is even scarier, mr. secretary. while in moscow, john bolton, the national security adviser, told kremlin officials that the united states is effectively reigniting the arms race. that's bauts the president, our preside president, has decided to pull out of a nuclear arms pact signed by president reagan which bans short and medium-range land-based missiles. they've long been suspected of violating the treaty. the united states will terminate
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the agreement and start developing new weapons. >> russia has not adhered to the agreement so we are going to terminate the agreement and we are going to develop the weapons. as long as somebody is violating that agreement, then we're not going to be the only one to adhere to it. i think you understand that. >> trump also said yesterday the united states would outspend russia on new nuclear weapons until they come to their senses. here he is. >> we have more money than anybody else by far. we'll build it up. until they come to their senses. when they do, then we'll all be smart and we'll all stop. >> mr. secretary, this is october, a month we all remember from 1962, the cuban missile crisis. this president doesn't seem to have common sense about nuclear arms races and where they can end. your thoughts? >> i think he takes a very dangerous approach to dealing with this whole nuclear issue. the fact that he's willing to start a nuclear arms race and
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somehow is assuming that by doing that, that it will ultimately produce some kind of agreement is nuts. i mean, he -- his approach to dealing with problems is to tear up agreements. he tore up the climate agreement. he has tore up tpp. he tore up the iran agreement. but he has no strategy as to how to ultimately deal with that. now he's going to get rid of the nuclear agreement that was worked out by ronald reagan. but i don't see a diplomatic strategy for what he wants to achieve. what makes better sense is to, obviously, use the treaty. there are provisions in the treaty that allow you to try to negotiate differences and problems within the treaty. at least make the effort on a diplomatic front to try to resolve these issues before you pull the plug and start a nuclear arms race.
quote
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>> well, late today, mr. secretary, president trump criticized those response for jamal khashoggi's murder but wouldn't blame the crown prince of saudi arabia. >> they did the wrong thing in even thinking about the idea. they certainly did a job of both execution and they did a bad job of talking about it or covering it up, if you would like to say that. i would say it was a total fiasco. >> how do you plan -- how do you think he should -- >> we'll have to do something. i will say this i spoke with the ki king. i spoke with the crown prince yesterday, and he has strongly said that he had nothing to do with this. this was at a lower level. >> meanwhile amid the ongoing investigation of khashoggi's murder, gina haspel has been sent to assess the situation. it's like a criminal mind critiquing a crime.
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this wasn't done well. this was messed up. this wasn't executed right. you're talking about a murder and dismemberment of somebody because they didn't like his writings in the washington post and he treats it like, you know, like he's a bull fighting aff i afficionado. this wasn't the right way to do this. what do you make of this? he's our president. >> fundamental issue here is that a renowned journalist was murdered in the saudi consulate. that seems pretty clear. and it isn't the cover-up, as badly as that was handled by the saudis. the murder is the principle issue here. and the president needs to take steps to make very clear to the saudis and to the world that there is a price to be paid for that kind of behavior. >> mr. secretary, you make a great president, no doubt about it. i agree with everything. you've got common sense and wisdom and experience and all
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the things that matter. thank you so much, former secretary of defense, former cia director leon panetta. up next, trump's affinity for falsehoods and lying is ramping up. it used to mean something to accuse the president of the united states of lying in public. why doesn't that bother his support crowd? why doesn't it bother him when he says these crazy things like i'm going to cut your taxes by election day even though there's no congress in session to do it? of good start packaging. we distribute environmentally-friendly packaging for restaurants. and we've grown substantially. so i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. that's right, $36,000. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. my unlimited 2% cash back is more than just a perk, it's our healthcare. can i say it? what's in your wallet?
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with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california.
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pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. president trump seems willing to discard the facts as he pitches his message of fear to voters. for example, he made this claim just this weekend. >> i don't think we like sanctuary cities up here. by the way, a lot of people in california don't want them either. they're rioting now. >> rioting. there are no riots in california. the white house has still not
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been able to provide any evidence of such. he also claimed middle easterners are mixed in with central american people in that caravan. >> go into the middle of the caravan. take your accuracameras and sea. no, no. take your -- john. take your camera, go into the middle and search. you're going to find ms13, middle eastern. you're going to find everything. and guess what? we're not allowing them in our country. we want safety. >> well, there's no evidence, of course, any middle eastern terrorists are hiding among that group of migrants. i asked him about flying from the middle east to honduras to get into a line of people. i don't think people do that. then there's this whopper. >> democrats want to give illegal aliens free welfare, free health care and free education, give them a driver's license. give them a driver's license. next thing you know, they'll want to buy them a car.
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then they'll say the car's not good enough. we want -- how about a rolls royce? >> there you go, the whole schtick, a rolls royce for anybody who gets into the country illegally. he pushes conspiracy theories on us, he's cheered on. they love this schtick. what can democrats do to counter this, if they have to? commentator and nbc "think" contributor jose ramuno, and jonathan swan, of course, national political reporter from axios. all three of you from different professions. tell us what you think of this. why does he get away from these full mooner claims? nobody believes. democrats in certain areas want people to have driver's license because they say it's safer for them to drive, having passed a driver's test rather than just driving around illegally. there's no middle easterners in that caravan of poor people coming up from central america. why does he get away with it? >> has anyone been able to
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successfully combat his falsehoods yet? no. they'll get attacked on twitter. no one wants to try t he has so many followers. this is a real problem. >> why do they accept what is clearly not true? >> because they know they can't compete with it. >> no. why does do his supporters? >> it's easy for them. they see it as all talk but want action and he's doing things that they feel are keeping his promises which is scary to me in a lot of ways. we look at these rallies, everyone is still chanting "lock her up." >> i'm afraid you're right. the people who like bill clinton, no matter what, cheeseburgers or any other stuff. that's just him. we like him because we like his politics. is that what it is, jose? we like the guy's politics, we don't care about the rest of it? >> part of that is totally true. the president lies on a daily basis. with less than 14 days before the midterms candidates ought ta not pay attention to the president's national conversation, focus on the issues back home, number one. number two, ask people back
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home, do you want a congress like mitch mcconnell wants, we cut entitlement programs? >> how do you get them to not look at the front page of the newspaper that has a caravan on it every day now? "new york times" is not a right wing newspaper and they do it every day now. it's a hard one. >> two things. one, the question of his -- >> i was going to call you jose. >> you can call me jose, chris. you can call me whatever you want. >> jonathan. >> one is the larger question. at some point in trump's presidency, hopefully it doesn't happen. there could be a crisis. there could be a war. there could be a recession. those moments, the nation looks to the president. >> then what will happen? >> he can't just talk to his own people. he needs to talk to the whole country and they'll need to believe what he says is literally true. he's only talking to his people and, honestly they don't care. a big part of it, chris, they're not watching msnbc. they're not logging on to politifact in the morning. >> i would say that's true.
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the cuban missile crisis, kennedy was a moderate democrat but everybody believed him during the cuban missile crisis. we did believe him. on another incident involving white house chief of staff john kelly's temper. february 21st altercation took place outside the oval office between kelly and former campaign manager corey lewandowski, required the cia service to jump in and break it up. kelly grabbed le wachlt. in. dowski by his collar and threw him against the wall, for criticizing kelly on television for his handling of security clearances for former white house aide rob porter, after reports that kelly stormed out during a shouting match with now national security adviser john bolton. >> isn't it part of the course for people in trump's inner circle to act like this? we act like we're shocked but
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then again kelly was brought in to bring some sort of order to a chaotic administration. instead he's part of this chaos and the storm inside this white house. >> do you think he likes to see the physical fighting in his circle? >> trump? i think he loves it. everything to him is a reality show. his presidency has been one saga after another. >> do you think during a crisis, jose, we like to know that the white house staff is wrestling on the floor? >> we shouldn't like that. the president sets the tone, chris. they say the fish swims from the head. and it's true. >> is that a greek saying? i think so. >> the president makes it okay. bullying is okay. violence is okay. and it shouldn't be okay, but the president makes it. >> john, it starts at the top. blame him for the brawls. >> i reported a story in january that people didn't believe at the time and since has been very well validated. on the beijing trip last year,
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john kelly got into a scuffle over the nuclear football. >> they were going to grab the football from him? that's the codes. >> apparently it looked like th were heading towards him, but kelly got into a full-on physical scuffle. >> i like that. thank you so much, ashley pratt. thank you, jose. and jonathan swan. a new position here at the end of the table. you're watching hardball. we'll be right back. from the bom and floss to set a good example. you fine tune the proposal, change the water jug so no one else has to, get home for dinner and feed the cat. you did a million things for your family today but speaking to pnc to help handle all your investments was a very important million and one. pnc. make today the day.
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another programming note tonight, tune in for a special edition of "hardball" this friday night at 7:00 eastern, broadcasting live from beer park at las vegas. our special guest will be democratic senate candidate congresswoman jackie rosen. it's going to be a fantastic show this friday night in vegas. we'll be right back. of three kids... ...raised a good sport... ...and became a second-generation firefighter. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor, and he prescribed lyrica. nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain, from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling,
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trump watch, tuesday, october 23rd, 2018. on this date in 1962 the world was cutting up in the most frightening moment of the cold war, using high altitude aerial photography the united states discovered the presence of nuclear missiles on cuba. within days we learned the missiles were capable of striking every major city in the united states except seattle. were we to strike those bases as moat of our government recommended the soviet union could have reacted by overrunning u.s. control in berlin where american and allied fround forces were overmatched by the armies of the soviet union and its european satellites.
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the americans would have been forced to give up berlin or give up tactical weapons in its defense. we had leaders at the time, president kennedy and his brother chief adviser robert ken kennedy who could see the chain reaction if they struck. today we have a president who remains untested in such a crisis. worse yet, donald trump has shown a failure to understand the dangerous reality of nuclear weapons. here he is yesterday fielding reporters' questions on the south lawn on why he wants to use -- well he wants the united states to kill a nuclear arms treaty with russia. >> we have more money than anybody else by far, we'll build it up. until they come to their senses. when they do, we'll all be smart and we'll all stop. it's a threat to whoever you want. it includes china and russia and anybody else who wants to play that game. you can't do that. you can't play that game on me. until they get smart, there will
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be nobody that's going to be even close to us. >> can't play that game on me. 36 years after the cuban missile crisis we have a commander in chief who speaks as if it never happened, to whom a nuclear arms race is a test of his macho and how many money he has to put on the table. what will a man with that kind of attitude do in a nuclear crisis? that's hardball for now. all in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in". >> they have a word. it sort of became old fashioned. it's called a nationalist. >> the president outs himself. >> we're not supposed to use that word. you know what i am? i'm a nationalist. >> as the campaign of fear continues. >> undefended open border. >> tonight, beyond the scare tactics with what's working on the ground. >> we're going to show them on november 6th that they have played their hand the wrong way. plus, debate night in georgia, and the republican