they're still going strong here. our time is up. but i will be back later tonight reporting live from this very spot with chris hayes, and later with lawrence o'donnell. the counting continues. our reporting continues. but that does do it for the beat and i want to tell you "hardball" with chris mathews is up next. /s >> the fog clears. the democrats won. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ good evening. i'm chris mathews in washington. the first full week after the election, the fog is starting to clear over the democratic victory in the midterms. nationally, the democrats beat the republicans 52 to 45% in the popular vote nationally. the democrats could pick up up to 40 seats now in the house of representatives, something i've been predicting since last april. they had two big other victories worth talking about on tuesday.

one was in the suburbs where women repudiated trump's that access hollywood tape.area and the other victory very important, democrats won big in pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan. midwestern states trump won in 2016, and would need to win in 2020 if he runs again. no wonder president trump continues to stew with loose and wild talk of rigged elections and corruption in those races yet to be called. before i say anything about florida, the main focus of trump's hostility, let me say this. there are two simple understandable reasons why the vote count wasn't complete on election night. one, very understandable, absentee ballots needed to be counted. two, provisional ballots needed to be counted. those were held to be counted if they proved decisive, which they are now decisive. it's one thing to be frustrated about a count taking time these

days. it's another thing to charge vote rigging. that's demagoguery. that's what trump fired in 2016 when he expected to lose in 2016. i don't know why rick scott down in florida is going down the same trump path now. 57 counties began a machine recount of all the votes in that state on saturday. those counties have until this thursday, three days from now, at 3:00 p.m., to finish the job. but irresponsibly, trump called for an end to a process that is legally required for an election this close. he tweeted, the florida election should be called in favor of rick scott and ron desantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. an honest vote count is no longer possible. this is the president of the united states talking. ballots massively infected. must go with election night. well, trump and his allies in florida have presented zero

evidence to back up their claims of fraud. and now florida judge overseeing a request by scott's team admonished everyone to tone down the rhetoric, saying, if anyone has evidence of fraud, report it. everything the lawyers are saying out there at the elections office is being beamed out across the country. we should be careful what we say. scott's campaign told nbc news he will travel to washington to participate in new member orientation as if he's won already. news analyst and elise jordan in words matter podcast and msnbc political analyst. howard, i want to talk to you. you know, it is frustrating in florida, i agree on part of it. i want election night that night. i want it over. i don't want to hear about absentee ballots and provisional ballots. when you have a close election you have to count every ballot. >> you have to count every ballot and let the process work as imperfect as it can sometimes

be. as you pointed out, florida legal officials who have looked into it have not found any -- they have not heard any evidence of fraud, reported to them, let alone found any upon investigation. there is none. the system is working. >> the pile of information as the president had his notion, where is he getting this stuff from? >> he gets it from pure -- with the president, an accusation by a friend of his or an ally of his is as good as fact. and that is a very dangerous situation to be in. time and time again he's gone after every institution of american society, to go after an election where the counting hasn't finished and call it infected with fraud when there is no evidence, i keep saying it's the height of irresponsibility by the of the of the united states. one of whose jobs is to be the symbol of everybody, take it easy and listen to the law. that's what he should be saying. >> fake news, fake elections. elise, he goes all across the board. nobody is to be trusted by him.

he does act like a tin pot dictator. only trust me. you know the third world countries, arab countries where the picture of the president or king, if they call them kings, all over the country. that's the only person you're supposed to listen to. that's trump now. don't trust the press, don't trustee alexis results. >> well, chris, the favorite country that donald trump went to, his first foreign visit, he loved that the saudis put his picture all over their own buildings and gave him that kind of welcome, because he, as we've seen in his consistent behavior, he admires auto kratz. he does not criticize them. he has -- finds more of an affinity with vladimir putin or mohammed bin salman than he does a leader of nato or anyone in eastern europe. this is par for the course that donald trump wants everyone to discredit and distrust the election results. he wants everyone to believe only his absolute truth, which is not truth and it's not

factual. and we can't trust anything that comes out of his mouth quite frankly. >> well, he didn't get the sally field treatment on last tuesday, so i think that explains why he's so unhappy. the country doesn't love him. if you compare tuesday's election to similar wavy alexiss in recent history, the democrat national house election was on par if not better than republicans did in 1994. the democrats did in 2006, and republicans did in 2010. howard, i get the feeling that no matter what an act trump puts on -- he is a good actor sometimes -- he's hurt. he launched in one part of the country, he absolutely positively knows he needs to win next time and he lost it all. he lost michigan, wisconsin, you're in my state, pennsylvania. rather soundly. soundly. >> yeah, i think that's right. and i think -- i think what he doesn't understand is that this kind of reaction, strong as it was from the democrats and

strong as it was from suburban women voters and midwest and so forth, it's part of the ball game. don't forget barack obama in 2010 lost 63 seats, and he said, it was a shellacking. >> what did this guy say? i hate you. >> this guy said, that election's a fraud. don't listen to the election results. and i've got to say, chris, this was a concern in 2016 and it's going to be a concern heading into 2020. if donald trump doesn't like the way things are going, he's going to try to discredit the entire electoral system, and then we're in for something that we haven't seen here ever. >> let's go to possible replay, elise. let's talk about florida. this thursday they have one of these deadlines. they also have a requirement to recount the vote electronically and then if it's within half a point, within a hand, at the same time they have these requirements to recount and get it straight, they had these deadlines. i don't know who cooked up this system. we went through the same thing 18 years ago with the florida

recount. so, what happens if come thursday, which is not a millennium from now, it's three days from now, what happens when they're still counting in broward county, a democratic strong hold, and trump says it's over, are we going to have judge kavanaugh come in and decide this thing like they did last time, the supreme court? who is going to rule on this thing? >> it just sounds like high drama. i am baffled that 18 years later, nothing has been done to make this system more transparent, and just more productive in terms of the time line that's followed in the aftermath of a voluminous recount. it really is shocking that we are still literally basically in the same position we were in 2000. >> you know, howard knows this and you know this. it's not just that our systems aren't that great in counting close elections, but we're having really, really close elections now. and it seems like purple state -- is there a more purple state than florida?

>> no. >> it's almost down to 50/50 for the senate, for the governorship. it's chillingly close because we are a divided country. in that state where there are southern accents, new york accents, people from all over the world, it is a real collection of humanity down there. >> well, that's one thing to point out as elise was just doing, that there's incompetence, lack of funding, lack of modern equipment and so on. all of that's a serious concern. it's fine if the president wants to say that. but for him to say, you know what? they should just go with what the count was on tuesday night, forget everything else -- it's ridiculous. it would be comical if it weren't so dangerous. >> elise, i want you to respond to this given your republican background. republicans always say leave it up to local jurisdictions. they're much more reliable than washington. let the local -- then you got these ballots, the butterfly ballot that all the jewish people voted for pat buchanan which was a joke. he even said it was a joke. this time around when you had to look way down in the corner for

this secret thing called the united states senate election on the ballot, and everybody says oh, leave it up to local jurisdictions, they're more reliable. i don't think so. >> it's insanity to claim that these elections have been well administered. you look back at -- well, who are the officials who are actually overseeing these procedures? well, governor rick scott, while not directly involved, but he is the leader of the state. and then you look in georgia, republican secretary of state brian kemp, and you can't say that the elections, the images we saw of super long lines, hours long waits of machines that weren't working, power cords not brought for these machines, you can't say that that is basic competence that you want to see on the behalf of your administrator. >> elise, thank you. howard, it's so interesting because it's like baseball where the batter says, that was a ball. that was another ball. >> i'm taking first base. >> i'm taking first shot at

this. thank you both. you're great. let's turn now to the mississippi runoff race where republican senator cindy hyde-smith, double brow name, is facing criticism for joking about attending a public hanging. well, hyde-smith faces mike espy who is african-american in a run up to determine who will serve the remaining two years of tad cochran's term. november 2nd, hyde-smith cannot heard praising a local rancher standing beside her. let's listen to what she said. >> well, that was a hoot. after the video was posted, senator hyde-smith issued the following statement. quote, i used an exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is i ridiculous. according to the naacp in mississippi alone, more than 500 blacks were lynched from the 1800s to 1955.

for more, mike espy, the former secretary of agriculture in the clinton administration. mr. secretary, thank you for joining us. >> hi. hi, chris. >> don't monkey up this race. and people come up with -- i know now there are talkers like me and there are listeners, and a sensitive talker knows that there are listeners. but your thoughts historically? >> well, first, chris, happy veteran's day. and thank you so much for having me on. >> thank you. >> i heard what she said. i have to confess to you i've never heard that time of colloquialism, you know? that comment that she made was very disappointing and harmful. disappointing to millions of mississippians of good will, but very harmful because it again reinforces stereo types that we've been trying to get away from for decades. stereotypes that just continue to harm our economy and costs us jobs. i don't know, i can't reach into her heart and determine why that came out of her mouth. but it was wrong.

>> we've got that whole history in our country of lynchings and, you know, billy holiday, strange fruit, right? >> yes. >> you know that history. you're not as old as i am, but i've heard about it. there is even a popular song about the horror of lynching called strange fruit, something like that. >> yes, strange fruit. you know, i know that history very well because i'm on the board of directors of the mississippi civil rights museum. it's one of the best museums in the united states. it's brand-new. and it's got, it's got a lynching or public hanging exhibit, and it's visceral and it's sobering. you just -- when you go through that, it's got a list of every mississippian from reconstruction through the mid '60s that were lynched and it's got their name and the allegations, you know, for that punishment, if you will. and you just have to come through there.

when you get through there, you have to take a deep breath, chris. so, this is -- these comments from a sitting u.s. senator have harmed our state and it's just -- you know, we have to get beyond this now. it's 2018. we're now going into the third decade of our 21st century. it's time-out for these type of comments, throw back comments, chris. >> what do you make of trump, president of the united states, single out african-american journalists, some of the top ones, april ryan whom i've known forever, fabulous journalist, maxine waters out in california who has been a veteran u.s. congress person. and always going to the stupid thing. always low i.q. this or you're stupid. he does seem to -- i don't know what his soul is all about, but he does seem to have this instinct for what he thinks is the jugular which is i.q., that's what he does, and that's the president. >> well, i've heard those comments as well, but i really have to tell you, we're just keeping our head down, running

for 27th of november, going out to all around mississippi, talking about health care and making sure that these rural hospitals stay open, just try to make sure that we can protect, you know, citizens who may be under the threat of uncompensated care. and expanding our public schools and making sure our students can graduate. so we've got our head down, not worrying so much about trump, but just, just looking at a victory on november 27th, chris. >> well, sir, i've always thought of you as a good public servant, a very good public servant. and i appreciate your running. it takes guts to run for office after all the good thing you've done as a servant of the public, public servant and as agriculture secretary and everything else. i wishl you well down there. mike espy, it's great to have you on tonight. >> thank you, chris. thank you so much. >> coming up, can president trump get away with appointing a loyalist as justice? they're raising concerns about this unpress denlted move.

plus what are thousands of u.s. troops doing at the southern border? what are they doing down will? pentagon officials are calling it a massive waste of time and money not to mention the morale of the troops sitting down there missing the holidays. and a cold, wet welcome for president trump in far-off france, rebuked by voters here at home last tuesday, and international leaders this weekend in france. finally i'm going to close tonight with a story about gulliver's travels. a satire of a political party dominated by its elite. this is "hardball" where the action is. l" where the action is. with my hepatitis c, i felt i couldn't be at my 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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i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. i just, i think the premise as to why he was appointed in the first place was wrong, and i don't think it was necessary, but here we are today and i think it's going to be very hard to undo, you know, his investigation. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was trump's attack -- there

was a freudian slip. acting attorney general matt whitaker calling the appointment of special counsel robert mueller wrong, when it was done in 2017. the president's decision to promote an unabashed loyalist like whitaker to effectively high jack the russia probe has a growing fuel of backlash. will the president get away with it? using whitaker to stifle the whole mueller probe altogether? not only did whitaker's he will vision to the job circumvent the justice line of success, but because he was not confirmed by the senate, he was never properly vetted. that makes his appointment virtually unprecedented in modern american history. as nbc news reports, whitaker appears to be the first person named acting attorney general who was not already serving in a senate-confirmed position. hasn't been approved by the senate. now with a majority in the house, the democrats got one, the democrats are grappling with a question of how they can protect the mueller investigation from whitaker, from trump himself. so far they have demanded that whitaker recuse himself from

overseeing the probe and promise to subpoena him if necessary. >> do you think under whitaker that the integrity of this investigation is in peril? >> yes, i do. first of all, i think that he should recuse himself. >> we will make sure that matt whitaker immediately, one of the first orders of business will be to invite him, and if necessary to subpoena him, to appear before the committee. >> if he has any involvement whatsoever in this russia probe, we are going to find out whether he made commitments to the president about the probe, whether he has serving as a back channel to the president or his lawyers about the probe, whether he's doing anything to interfere with the probe. mr. whitaker needs to understand that he will be called to answer in any role that he plays will be exposed to the public. >> i wonder, they are also threatening to add protections for mueller to an upcoming spending bill. a move that could prompt a government shutdown if no compromise is reached. well, tonight, the department justice spokesperson announced matt whitaker is fully committed to following all appropriate

processes and procedures at the department of justice, including consulting with senior ethics officials on his oversight responsibilities and matters that may warrant recusal. joining me right now is paul butler, former federal prosecutor. phil rucker, bureau chief at the washington post. i am skeptical. i've watched them before. i don't think the democrats have the stuff to stop this appointment. i don't know how they yank him out of there. i think it's a fait accompli. what do you think? he's there. he's attorney general. he's awash the fbi, the probe, everything. >> even the department of justice statement says he will consult with the ethics experts who will definitely tell him he's compromised the government ethics act directs the department of justice to come up with rules for recusal. those rules say if you have a political or personal interest in a matter, you must recuse yourself. the problem, chris, is that matt whitaker is the head of the federal legal system. he's the nation's chief law enforcement officer, so he gets to decide whether that rule

applies to him. so, even if they tell him, you need to recuse yourself, you are hopelessly conflicted, you said it's a witch-hunt, you said it should be starved to death, he gets to decide. >> while you're on this question of power, because i am a student of politics interested in power, not always what's right or wrong because you can't make that. but you can decide on power. suppose someone like adam schiff or jerry nadler subpoenas the attorney general to come to the hill and answer conversation about his personal conversations with trump before he was named. does he have to respond? if he doesn't want to respond how does the house of representatives make him show up? send a sergeant of arms down to the department of justice? how do they physically bring him up there if he doesn't want to do it? he's attorney general. >> yes, he does have to respond. we saw this with the republican congress in eric holder. so he would have to come. he would have to testify. he could claim privilege about certain conversations and documents, but at the end of the day, if the democrats aren't happy with his responses, they

can hold him in contempt. they can even move to impeach him. an acting attorney general can be impeached just like a president or supreme court justice. >> and they can do this to an acting person. >> absolutely. >> what would stop trump from nanling somebody else? >> there is a whole parade of horribles that would apply the same way matt whitaker would apply, expressing their views on the russia investigation. they take the loyalty pledge. again, that's trump's number one criteria for who should be -- >> i know. i'm waiting for chris christie to come along and get confirmed. they have 54 senate seats. >> chris christie is a legitimate candidate for attorney general. i was talking to some white house sources today who said he's very much in the mix. the president is thinking about appointing him, nominating him, rather, for senate confirmation and there is a feeling that he would probably do well before the senate because he would be seen as neutral enough to -- >> and a former u.s. prosecutor. here's how white house advisor good old kellyanne conway responded when she was pressed about trump's knowledge of

whitaker's past statements. this is actually almost sickly comical. watch this. >> did he know that he was such a sharp critic of the mueller investigation? >> i'm not aware of that because not even clear to me that mr. whitaker has been briefed on the mueller investigation. we are so far past the period in which those comments were made by matt whitaker as a private citizen. >> given his predisposition against it, can he fairly oversee it? and if he decides to limit or block the mueller investigation now, because he can as the acting attorney general, will the president back him? >> the president is not -- the president said he has not discussed the mueller investigation with whitaker. he's made that very clear. >> okay, phil. this is a president of the united states who says, i don't know the guy, don't know the guy, don't know the guy five times, and yet before saying, i know the guy well, i know him well. >> he knows him. he was actually briefed by matt whitaker in the oval office several times because the

president didn't want to be briefed on department of justice business by the attorney general jeff sessions because he hated sessions so much so he would have whitaker do the briefings instead. but whether they actually discussed the contours of the mueller investigation before this appointment to acting attorney general, we're not sure. the president says they haven't, but it doesn't matter because the president knows his views on the mueller probe given everything that whitaker said on tv. >> who wired this thing for trump? who figured out he could ignore the succession, the institutional integrity of the justice department, just jamb in this guy -- firstful all, as chief of staff to sessions who seemed to be unknowing of what was going on, that he's picking his successor, have him in there for awhile to justify him, and then spring him as the new a.g. who wired this whole -- is it giuliani? who is teaching trump all these tricks? >> trump did not want to fire rosenstein as well as sessions. he's become a little more comfortable with rosenstein but

he doesn't trust him enough -- >> that's the diabolical beauty of this move. now he does not have to -- >> who figured it out? >> he doesn't have to fire rosenstein, he doesn't have to fire mueller -- >> he has somebody like you around. who is telling him? >> everybody knew sessions was going to be removed from office. i think there was some vetting, but again, the main criteria was the ploil at this pledge in the russia audition. >> he went point by point, hit all the erognous zones. >> this is scraping the bottom of the barely. this is a man who has a walking conflict of interest, not only the statements about his ignorant uninformed statements about the russia investigation, but his own exposure, this company that he was in the board of that the fbi -- the ftc called a scam company, fined him $25 million, so the miami fbi is investigating that. he's the subject of that investigation. a walking conflict of interest. >> i'm older than you guys.

i'd say something. there is a difference between richard nixon and donald trump. richard nixon had some shame. this guy has none. thank you, paul butler and phil rucker. the midterms are over but thousands of troops are deployed on the south border and they're still there. look at them. they're still there. those soldiers trapped in a mission many are calling -- these are soldiers talking -- a political stunt. this is "hardball" where the action is. for investors. introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. we have fidelity mutual funds with zero minimum investment. and now only fidelity offers four zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. because when you invest with fidelity, all those zeros really add up. ♪ so maybe i'll win ♪ saved by zero

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we look at those soldiers and you saw that barbed wire going up, that barbed wire. yes, sir, we have barbed wire going up because, you know what? we're not letting these people invade our country. so, if you want more caravans and you want more crime, vote democrat. it's very simple. if you want strong borders and safe communities, vote republican. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was, of course, president trump appealing to his base shortly before the midterm election by amping up the threat of a migrant caravan, his favorite word, and championing the troops he sent to protect the border from that caravan. well, the election is over. the caravan isn't even close tote border. but as "the new york times" reports, the 5600 american troops who rushed to the brown dry scrub along the southwest border are still going through the motions of an elaborate

mission that appeared to be set into action by the commander in chief determined to get his supporters to the polls. and a pentagon leadership unable to convince him of its perils. according to "the new york times" again, pentagon officials privately derided the deployment as an expensive waste of time and resources and a morale killer to boot. "the new york times" pentagon correspondent helene cooper, one of the articles of the article, joins us now. thank you very much. your article was very graphic. tell us for those who didn't read it this sunday about the situation about average g.i., if you will, sitting down there in the dust of the border, probably going to miss thanksgiving at home, probably, whatever. what is their mission to them? what do they think they're doing? >> right now they're going through the motions of setting up for war, but it's a very weird sort of dance that you see. it's very similar to -- i've been on deployments in iraq and

afghanistan. and when american troops first arrive, the first thing they do is they set up base, and they set up their tents and they, you know, they're just like in iraq and afghanistan at the beginning of the wars, there is very little electricity, it's hard to charge their cell phone. but the only difference is they all know there is nothing really coming at the end because at the end of the day, you know, we don't even know the migrant caravan is going to be getting to the border. so you have soldiers mres putting up the tent and doing all that sort of thing, but it's very much sort of almost a charade, and they all seem to be aware of that. >> could you tell -- your reporting down there give you any indication how many of them think this was just p.r.? >> a lot -- >> do they know? >> yes, they do know that. troops -- american troops are very careful when they're talking to reporters, but there are many, many of them who will talk to us, you know, privately as well about whether or not this is p.r. so we do have people who have told us that they think this is

just -- roll their eyes, people in the pentagon in particular, privately say that this is sort of -- the military was opposed to this to begin with, the defense department didn't want to do it, but you have -- we're in a very weird situation right now between mattis and defense secretary mattis and president trump. >> we talk about this at home, my wife and i, a lot about the military because these top people like the president can make all kinds of decisions and these soldiers will do almost anything, they'll risk their lives, they'll live in horrible plac places out in the mountains of afghanistan, do anything under orders. you have to be so careful morally what you tell them to do. and to put them on a mission that's full of b.s., it's like the parade they were going to have on constitution avenue. remember that, with the tanks up and down? they said it would do too much damage to the street. and now they have this thing which looks like a real caravan. look at this. ahead of the election president trump said he'd have a wall of people lined up at the border and that he'd consider

rock-throwing by immigrants to be tantamount to a firearm -- in other words, gun play. let's watch. >> it's very important. we have to have a wall of people, very highly trained people, terrific dedicated patriots. that's what they are. anybody throwing stones, rocks like they did to mexico in the mexican military mexican police where they badly hurt police and soldiers of mexico, we will consider that a firearm, because there is not much difference. this is totally legal. this is legal. we're stopping people at the border. this is an invasion and nobody is even questioning that. >> according to "the new york times," the white house and the defense department have clashed over what exactly the troops should do at the border. they write that the defense department rejected the white house's request. the troops deployed to the border be armed and prepare for direct contact with the migrants. they viewed the request as inappropriate and legally treacherous. apparently they didn't even like the title of the mission down there, the soldiers. >> no. defense secretary mattis changed

the name of the mission on operation faithful patriot. he changed the name on election day and now the pentagon put out a note the day after the election we're going to call it border support. the whole firing on the migrant caravan issue is a very important one. there is something legally the american troops can't do that. there is a law called the posse comatatis act, that was pass ed in 1878 when president hayes became president and this was all about pulling the troops, the union troops out of the southern states. and the whole point behind this law is to prevent the american military from being used for domestic political purposes. so american troops cannot get involved, active duty troops cannot get involved in any kind of law enforcement -- >> this is part of the reconstruction, was at any time? >> yes. >> a big sell off by the republicans to get the presidency in 1876 when tilghman should have won. in order for hayes to win -- the

one great thing they were doing was reconstruction of the south and they gave it away. >> yes. but this is all -- so now we've got this law that says american troops cannot get involved in any kind of law enforcement capability. >> incredible reporting by you. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> huge fan of you, helene. up next, trump's wild weekend in france rebuked for his nationalistic, well, rhetoric. criticized for skipping a visit because it was raining. what, are you sugar plums? you wouldn't go out in the rain? what's going on? by the way, was he better off staying home and not even bothering? you're watching "hardball." expect from shark, and our newest robot vacuum is no exception. from floors to carpets, it tackles all kinds of debris, even pet hair, with ease. but what about cleaning above the floor? that's why we created the shark ion robot cleaning system, our innovative robot vacuum paired with a built-in powerful shark handheld. the shark ion robot cleaning system.

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welcome back to "hardball." president trump spent the weekend in france. did you notice? for events marking the 100th anniversary of the end of world war i, and remembering those lost in war, of course. ask and yet the president drew criticism for several instances of bad, let's call them optics. on saturday trump canceled a planned visit to an american cemetery due to rain. on sunday trump was conspicuously absent as his fellow world leaders marched in solidarity down the champs-elysees. there they are for an armistice day ceremony. very impressive. before showing up separately at the conclusion of the march at the ark de triumph. that's at the end of the street. in his own remarks french president emmanuel macron issued a warning about the dangers of

nationalism, president trump embraced with open arms. >> translator: patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism, by saying ours first, who cares about the others. we hold dear what gives it life and what is essential. it's moral values. >> beautiful country. i'm joined by the "hardball" round table, omarosa manigault newman. eli stokols reporter for the los angeles times, and kimberly atkins, washington bureau chief for the boston herald. what a weekend. it's all about optics and it didn't look good. is this just a bad streak of luck that started last tuesday for this guy? >> i just came back from europe. i was in london, and he truly just embarrassed our nation on the world stage. he had an opportunity to really bring the allies together. and in the true trump fashion,

he just squandered it. >> you know, eli, this wasn't as bad as vit berg, but it was like it. why blow what is basically a visual? >> this is not a really high degree of difficulty for a presidential foreign trip. this summer at a nato meeting theresa may. this is photo ops. we saw the president, we saw him giving the thumbs up to vladimir putin when he showed up. you're seeing it when the president actually showed up to that on the. you didn't see him walking with all the other leaders as you showed down the champs-elysees. the message that was sent by not finding a way -- yes, the marine one couldn't fly in the weather. the weather was the reason, but they didn't have a back up plan and there was certainly not a president who said to his staff, you find me a way to get to this cemetery because that's an important statement for a u.s. president to make. >> i think reagan would have made it. i think obama would have made it. what do you think? >> it is a continuation of what we've seen president trump do on every one of these trips abroad. he goes, he picks fights with u.s. allies.

the only time he seemed happy at all was when he got that glimpse of vladimir putin. this is the same -- >> what is that? what is the tail wagging for? >> it's consistent from what he's done since the beginning of the campaign. and that's why we increasingly see our allies, whether it's macron or theresa may or angela merkel saying, united states is not -- we can't rely on them any more. >> look at that picture. that's what most presidents, tall or short, whatever they are, republican, democrat, have admitted we're part of the world. they may think we're an essentialal count exceptional countries in many ways. he doesn't want to be seen in a group. >> the last group shot when he showed up and pushed another leader out of the way so he could get to the front of the line. >> the president of -- >> he likes being on the stage. >> poor montenegro got shoveled out of the way.

we came up with this fight. here we are. former first lady, of course michelle obama's new memoir, becoming, hits book stores tomorrow. kik kicks off with a sold off moderation with oprah winfrey. that's where the convention was held. it is used for sporting events and democratic conventions. the rock star roll out for mrs. obama is reminiscent of another first lady. jacqueline kennedy. in abc news 2020, mrs. obama said she was excited and nervous about what lies ahead. >> i'm excited and anxious to, you know, see what people get from it. i'm hoping that it generates a conversation. >> what do you want your legacy to be? >> young people are the future. and if my story, my journey somehow gives them hope, if i played a role in that for some young people coming down the line, then i'll feel good about

it. >> i get the feeling she's going to be a world figure. >> absolutely. >> i think she's going to blossom like from the caterpillar, she's very careful in the white house as we know, to being the butterfly. bigger, more global, bigger. not as fashion plate like jackie o, though she dresses beautifully. but i think she's going to be a figure. mandela is gone. bill clinton sort of faded a bit. i'll hear about that later. he's faded a bit. we need a world presence. her husband will give her space the next couple months to show her stuff. >> she has the goods. she has a platform. she is very connected to women's issues around the globe. and people like her. her approval ratings have always been so much higher than others, but particularly higher than the current president. >> yeah, i think she's been a butterfly for awhile. one of the most electrifying moments at the dnc was when she gave her speech. that was the moment she upstaged hillary clinton a little bit. she is somebody who has -- she's different from jackie kennedy in that she is free to say things

about president trump. she is free talking about her family. she has her own goods, you know, like omarosa said. she's harvard and princeton educated, but she's also beloved by particularly in the black community, but she was also derided. she's had horrible things said about her as well. she has her own story, i think does connect with a lot of people. a lot of people still don't like her, but a lot of people love her. >> timing is everything. she's coming out of eight years as first lady. the people that feared her maybe aren't afraid of her as much, but because of her for mid ability. >> i think back to the obama administration, the second term when the president lost popularity, he was out there in 2014 less, she was the draw on the campaign trail. she never lost popularity. she was someone who was widely popular across the country. and now, you know, as you do when you leave office, you step back a little bit. it's been almost two years and so i think the public is probably ready to hear from michelle obama again. >> well, she's a strong person. anyway, the round table is

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we're back with the round table. omarosa, tell me something i don't know. because i always want to hear from you. >> you may not know that i was a military chaplain. i got to serve with the california state millery reserve, and currently in this country we have a shortage of military chaplains. particularly catholic priests. in fact, the pentagon is putting out incentives, paying for education and bonuses to recruit more military chaplains. >> so, what was your affiliation? >> i was with the california state military reserve. >> what was your religion? >> oh, i'm baptist. >> i just want to know. >> missionary baptist. >> eli? >> we know there was a large turnout on tuesday, but 115 million cast ballots. what is amazing, the number that really jumped out at me. it's 49% of all eligible voters for the entire country who

voted -- >> everybody over 18? >> eligible voters, people registered eligible to vote. that is the largest percentage we've seen since 1914, before this country even allowed women the right to vote. >> that is so great. we always say percentage of registered voters instead of people that could vote if they wanted to. >> that's right. it's a larger part of the population that's been galvanized that is participating in politics. >> what do you think did it? >> i think the trump administration, this presidency. this has been popularized in a way where poll extinction is now sort of -- politics is now -- it bleeds into every aspect of our lives. people are getting off the sidelines and being more intentional about their participation. >> kimberly? >> midterms are over. an effort to season some of that energy. are you ready for 2020 ads? they're going up. democratic pacs are already launching television ads, a messaging ahead of the -- >> who is out first? >> we have -- you're getting me on the spot. >> i'm sorry.

>> priorities usa is getting their messaging out. we have ads up by patriot majority. we are well into 2020. >> real-time news announcement. excuse me, real-time news announcement. mcsally has conceded in the senate race out in arizona, and so sinema has won. we have another democratic seat for those watching the count. big pickup in arizona. thank you omarosa manigault newman, eli stokols and kimberly atkins. when we return, "gulliver's travels," run by the academic elite. you're watching "hardball." dbal.

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remember "gulliver's travels"? remember the land that gulliver discovered where the people were ruled by a group of well educated elite who lived on this flying island? the rest of the people looked up to and saw hovering up in the sky above them looking down on them. well, jonathan swift called that flying island of intellectuals laputa. its population consisted mainly of the sophisticated, the finally academic sort who were fond of mathematics, astronomy, music and technology. but absolutely useless at putting their knowledge to any practical use. they were so lost in thought they couldn't actually function in the everyday world. yet the people on this flying island of intellectuals were able to dominate the people down on the land below them which, of course, caused enormous resentment by the people down on

the land below them. i read today the democratic party from which a majority of college grads now vote now controls almost all the country's most highly educated congressional districts. the party that once represented the working people of this country, the skilled workers, the electricians, plumbers, masons and carpenters, now it's the home room of the college crowd. the party of the town is now the party of the gown. in other words, it's beginning to resemble jonathan swift's flying you'll of laputa populated with the educated elite looking down literally on those below them. i hear people, i agree with politically, blaming the democratic's loss of the working party on race. they are angry at the progress of minorities and the arrival of darker-skinned immigrants into the country. i think that's way too convenient and far, in way, from a complete explanation. one at least the democratic leadership off the hook. two t as of saying the majority of americans working class are hopeless bigots. let me offer a more measured

explanation for the democrats' loss of support among working people. it's that the democratic party is focused in recent years on addressing the topics and concerns of members of the party who are its better educated and also its better off. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. >> tonight on "all in." >> rick scott isn't interested in making sure every lawful vote is counted. >> the recount is on. >> i demand that every vote be counted in this process. >> as democrats keep gaining power. >> i didn't know what happened. >> tonight, the latest on the recount in florida, the latest big loss from republicans. >> i know they didn't have the dnc. >> then, as michael cohen visits d.c., why another trump world figure is saying that robert mueller will indict him. then trump takes another rain check instead of honoring american veter