we celebrate the best and the worst in 2018. give awards to those who deserve it. meanwhile, keep the conversation going. like us on facebook.com/politicsnation. i'll see you back here next saturday. this sunday, a presidency in crisis. the shutdown, much of the government closes its doors as president trump insists on a border wall. >> now it's up to the senate and up to the democrats because we need their votes. >> after getting pressured from his right-wing. >> the wall, the wall, the wall has to be built. >> democrats say no way. >> president trump, you will not get your wall. >> the resignation. president trump announces a withdrawal from syria denounced by fellow republicans. >> this is an akin to surrendering. >> and praise by vladimir putin. defense secretary james mattis resigns in protest. >> if i can do anything to help him reconsider, i would do it.

>> the stock market. >> stocks continuing their slide today. >> the worst year for stocks so far since the great recession. the worst december since the great depression. with all this happening, have we hit a turning point in the trump presidency? any guest this is morning, pat toomey of pennsylvania and senator dick durbin of illinois, the democratic whip. plus off and running. >> that's why i'm exploring a candidacy for president of the united states. >> my interview with former san antonio mayor, housing secretary and now presidential hopeful, julian castro. joining me for analysis are amy walter, national editor of the cook political report, joshua johnson, host of 1 a on npr. hugh hewitt, host on the salem radio network and yamish, white house correspondent for the pbs news hour h welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press.

>> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. in a week when much of washington talked about a shutdown, which came at midnight on friday, the word many mentioned around this city was actually meltdown. there were a lot of other words and phrases that he mernl as the week came to an end amid serious questions whether the trump presidency lost its footing that it may not be able to fully recover. mr. trump likes to project an image of independence and strength. polital survival was cy on the exposed when he appeared ready to give up funding for his border wall temporarily, at least in order to keep the government running plchlt trump's base revolted with white ring ann coulter writing gutless president and a wallless country. he must know that if he doesn't build the wall he has zero chance of being re-elected and a

100% chance of being utterly humiliated. president trump unfollowed coulter on twitter but he followed her advice saying in effect, no wall, no deal. the same time his defense secretary and his point man on isis quit over the president's abrupt decision to withdrawal from syria based on a phone call can the turkish president. and stocks suffered the worst december since 1931. many have noted that despite mr. trump's self inflicted wounds, the presidency survived. perhaps now we need to face this uncomfortable question, what if the president is the crisis? >> the shutdown hopefully will not last long. >> president trump ended a week of chaos as cracks emerged in his fragile republican coalition. >> it's really the democrats shutdown. >> but just days ago, the president claimed credit. >> i will take the mantle. i will be the one to shut it down. >> and some republicans are making it clear they hold him responsible for the third government shutdown this year after he rejected a deal negotiated earlier this week.

>> i'll just reminded president, the republicans are in charge. and so the shutdown is on us if we can't figure this out. >> on friday, the president yielded to pressure from conservative supporters. >> the wall, the wall, the wall has to be built. this was a scandal that hasn't been built. >> the president got word to me that he is either getting funding for the border or he is shutting the whole thing down. >> retired republican senator bob corker responded, do we succumb to tyranny of talk-radio show hosts? the reason we're here, we have a couple of talk-radio host that's get the president spun up. and on capitol hill, reliable republican allies were shaken by the abrupt resignation of defense secretary jim mattis who broke with the president on his decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria writing, "you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours." >> i think he is sort of a democrat if you want to know the truth.

>> senate republicans responded uneasily. leader mitch mcconnell who rarely breaks with the president publicly called himself "particularly distressed that he's resigning due to sharp differences with the president." >> i'm very concerned about secretary mattis' decision to leave. >> ambassadors of our allies have been reaching out to senator to say what the hhell is going on. >> and he alienated decisions on the decision on syria which he announced on twitter on wednesday. >> we won. and that's the way we want it. and that's the way they want it. >> this is an akin to surrendering. >> syria is a total good wag mire. it's possible to make it worse. >> russian president putin hailed the move, reliable trump ally fox news denounced it. >> he's giving russia a big win. vladimir putin praised him. he is also is doing what he criticize president obama of doing. he refounded isis. >> and joining me now is republican senator pat toomey of

pennsylvania. senator toomey, welcome back to "meet the press," sir. >> good morning, chuck. thanks for having me. >> let me start first with the shutdown. the fact you're not even in town, right, adjourned and just said -- and senator mcconnell said we'll see new five days. that tells me you guys don't have a lot of urgency on this s this a message basically saying the president's the only one near town so that means the shutdown is on him to figure it out? >> no. chuck, really this ends up getting resolved in a negotiation between chuck schumer who apparently is giving a great deal of weight to nancy pelosi's preferences and the president. and between that group, they'll decide how to go forward. this is really much to do about very little. unfortunately, it's a big distraction from the resumption that occurred this year of a

pretty much ordinary funding exercise, as you know, chuck, we resumed the ordinary appropriation process and as a result we have a very small sliver of the government that's unresolved in the shutdown mode. everybody gets paid. i think it gets resolved quickly and completely taking away focus from where it should be on a very, very strong economy and some really good economic news generally. >> well, but i got to ask you. i would tend to agree with what you said except the president decided no to the go down this path. the president decided to up end things. you had three shutdowns this year. it's full republican control of government. so there's part of me that sits here and hears what you say and then you see what the president is doing and it's two different realities. >> we have an impulsive president. we know that.

but we can't spend any spending bill in the senate without democrat support. it takes 60 votes. >> does the president know this? >> he knows that very well, yeah. >> okay. where are you on lifting the filibuster? you would move it to 50 votes or would that be a mistake? >> you know, i'm not -- i'm not there as a cross the board matter. i think there are procedural votes that i don't think should be at 60. i think it's ridiculous that minority of 41 senators can prevent us from even beginning the process of considering appropriation bills. but i'm not in favor of a universal move on the legislative filibuster. and we don't have the votes to do it. >> let me move on to the resignation of secretary mattis. i want to pull up one part of it and get your reaction to it. he writes this, "one core belief i have always held sl that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours and other subjects i believe it is right for me to step down from my position."

what's alarming about what secretary mattis outlined there is that is a across the board american foreign policy sort of tenant that democratic and republican presidents have lived by since harry truman. he's basically saying this president doesn't share the same world view as every single american president going back to world war ii. does that disturb you? >> yes, it does. and i think you're right. i think general mattis put his finger on where the president has views that are very, very different from the vast majority of republicans and probably democrats elected and unelected. i think the president does not share, i would say, my view that the post war era has been enormously good for america. it's been good for the people that i represent. and it has taken a commitment of leadership. it's taken the ability and willingness to project force at times. but mostly as general mattis

points out, it's cultivating an alliance. you know, america's rich in many, many ways. financially, militarily, we've got the luxury of two oceans. but the greatest asset we have is that most people around the world want to be aligned with us. and so that gives us enormous ability to force multiplier. it's a great ability to achieve our goals. i don't think the president shares that view nearly to the extent that the rest of us do. and i think senators need to step up and reassert a bigger role for the senate in defining our foreign policy. >> does this extend bigger than that? dan balls wrote this week that many republicans, he said this, he said the question now more urgent as a result of what mattis said is whether republicans in positions of responsibility try to continue as if these are normal times. or whether they step forward assessing smartly and exert the kind of leadership they feel is in the best interest of the country. i guess the question is this, senator. do you -- do you get more

comfortable criticizing the president knowing though that he may unleash a twitter attack on you or others that express disagreement with him on this and you end up not doing it because you fear his base? >> that's not my practice, chuck. i work with this president when i think he's right. and i think we've done some terrific things in domestic policy on taxes, regulation, judicial nominees, criminal justice reform just last week. i criticize the president when i disagree. i disagree with much of his trade policy. and i strongly disagree with this decision to withdrawal prematurely from syria. i think senators should speak out. look, we were elected separately for the president. we don't report to the president. we should cooperate where we can and where we need to disagree we should be willing to do that. >> yesterday the treasury secretary felt the need to put out a statement from the president saying that while he

disagreed with the federal reserve policies and the federal reserve chairman, that he is aware that he does not have the power to fire the federal reserve chair. first of all, does it at all bother thought president himself couldn't tweet out that statement, that for some reason the secretary treasurer had to do it? it's almost like they feared he wouldn't say it? >> look, i don't spend a lot of time focusing on the president's tweets and things that the president says. what i focus more on is what is he going to actually do? i don't think that chairman powell is in any danger of being fired by the president. i think some of the president's comments are unfortunate. but chairman powell is not going to let politics interfere with his decision making process. i happen to think that we owe him a debt of gratitude after a very lengthy period of very dangerous experimentation with unconventional monetary policy from his predecessors. he put us on a path to normalcy. we can quibble about exactly where we should be at the moment. but i'm grateful that he put us on that path. >> you would have this much

patience for president trump if you didn't share the same party label? >> well, if we didn't share the same party label, we wouldn't have accomplished so many -- we couldn't have done reform. we wouldn't have rolled back regulations, we wouldn't have the record low unemployment rate that we have, upward pressures of wages. we have a good story in part because this president was willing to work with this congress and accomplish these things. so, you know, there's -- there are things i disagree with the president on but i'm going to work with him where i can also. >> the question, is you still have -- you haven't run out of patience yet. is that a fairway of putting it? >> i'm still in the mode of working with the president where i can. and trying to persuade and move in a different direction where we have to. with respect to foreign policy in general in syria in particular, we really have to step up. >> if the president nominates somebody for secretary of defense that shares his world view, that's very different from secretary mattis, could you

confirm somebody that you didn't share a world view with as secretary of defense? >> so let me just say, historically i have been very willing to defer to presidential nominees. i think i supported three quarters of all of president obama's nominees. and certainly the big majority of president trump's. but on this, this is so important. and the president's views are so divergent certainly from mine that i think i'll be much -- this one is going to be tough. i'm going to be looking for defense secretary that shares a more traditional view about america's role in the world. >> all right. secretary -- excuse me. senator toomey, unless you would like to apply to be secretary with the president. >> no. no. >> i will leave you there. >> happy where i am. >> i figured you might be. >> senator toomey, republican of pennsylvania, hope you and your family have a merry christmas. >> thank you. you too. >> and joining me now is the number two democrat in the senate, minority whip dick durbin of illinois. welcome back to "meet the press." >> good to be with you. >> let me start with the

shutdown at this point. is there any scenario you think on december 27th that reopens the government before january 3rd? >> well, we offered the president some very specific opportunities. in fact, we just voted on one several days ago. voice vote. unanimous voice vote to move this government forward to the first or second week of february which the president rejected after he heard the right-wing criticism. >> so what did you make of senator mcconnell though recessing? i'm trying to figure out why you guys decided to leave. everybody decided to leave and basically left the president here. is everybody trying to send a message, hey, this is his? or is this mcconnell saying i'm out of this? these negotiations are between schumer and the president which is what senator toomey just said. >> well, i can tell you that president just a few days ago said he was proud to author a shutdown of his own government. he was elected to be the commander in chief and chief executive. it really is in the president's hands to decide.

he says it's an issue of border security. i think we know better. it's an issue of his own political insecurity. when the right-wingers start screaming at him, he just backs off and disassembles in front of us. we reached a depth of dysfunction that i've never seen in washington. >> are you open into between anything $1.6 billion and $5 billion? >> what chuck schumer and nancy pelosi said is we're not going to build a wall, period f you want to talk about border security, there are many thing we can do. we're are in the midst of a drug epidemic. drugs are killing thousands of people. we currently are only screening one out of five cars and trucks coming across our border. let us dramatically increase the technology there in something called a z portal. that is the kind of investment that democrats want to see for real border security. not some medieval wall. >> so it sounds like what you're saying is you'll go up in the pricetag.

you're open to the pricetag as long as it's not for the wall. >> absolutely. and if you ask the experts, even in the administration, they will tell you that the technology and personnel, those are the things that are needed desperately and quickly. the president ought to be sitting down with us and making this border more secure by making investments. he'll have democrats onboard. >> you'd give him twice the money, if none of the money goes to the wall and all goes to what you described, you would double it and we get out of this tomorrow? >> i can tell you that i think there is an appetite among democrats to do something sensible at the wall. for example, to stop the flow of drugs into the country and to stop the flow of weapons and laundered drug money out of this country that build these cartels in mexico and central america. >> is daca for the wall, the compromise alive for a few days back in the day. if the president said i'll take that deal now, would you have the support in your party to accept it? >> well, i touched that hot

stove back in february. i can tell you that this president's word when it comes to these young people who are in desperate situations because he eliminated daca, the president's word didn't stand up. when we basically got down to real bargaining. the day will come soon when the court protection of the young people and their families is going to end. we'll have to face the reality of either abandoning them or working together to find a solution. >> let me turn to secretary mattis. you sent a series of tweets after the news of his resignation broke. and you called him the last adult in the room, i believe at one point. do you think secretary mattis should have stayed regardless of his views? because he was supposedly the last guardrail or one of the few guardrails that some thought were in the administration? >> chuck, there was something very interesting about this. i was one of many senators who privately sat down with general mattis and said, please stay. stay as long as you possibly can.

we desperately need your mature voice, your patriotism in the room when this president is making life or death decisions about national security. but it obviously reached a breaking point. i thank him for his years of service in the marines and certainly at the department of defense. it breaks my heart that he's going to step aside. we counted on him to be there and to stop this president from his worst impulse. >> i'm curious. you're somebody who on policy i'm guessing you're pleased that we're going to start seeing troops come home from afghanistan and start seeing troops come home from syria. how do you square the president's announcements about those two things? you called -- you've called for both in one way or the other? >> well, i can tell you that it was 17 years ago when 23 of us, 22 democrats and one republican voted against the invasion of iraq for so-called weapons of mass destruction which never existed. i voted in the same period of time with virtually every other senator to invade afghanistan and go after the sources of the attack on 9/11.

little did i know that i was voting for the longest war in the history of the united states and that that vote would be used as a rationalization for us to move into syria, africa and places i never could have envisioned. i think the constitution makes it clear the american people should have been making these decisions along the way. we do this by congress and it's declaration of war. we need to reassert our authority and responsibility when it comes to that in syria, in afghanistan, in iraq, and anyplace that has been rationalized by that vote 17 years ago. >> i guess i want to go back to the decision itself. it looks like the president is getting -- he is setting himself -- his national security adviser who wants to stay longer than even his defense secretary did. but it was the turkish president who talked him into doing this withdrawal. how does the senate even hold the president to account over how this decision making went down?

>> well, ultimately we learned through history that it takes the power of the purse strings that congress has the authority when it comes to appropriations to assert itself from foreign policy. we learned the hard way after decades of debate over the war in vietnam. but first and foremost, this congress, house and senate, have to reach the point where we understand our constitutional authority and responsibility. i haven't seen that in a long time. and with this president, we need to do it more than ever. >> does the turkish phone call make you think the president is compromisable? >> yes, i do. i have to tell you that whether he is talking to putin or the turkish president, the autocrats have him enthrawled. after a conversation he'll make snap judgements and avoid the best advice he could from people like general mattis. that is the height of irresponsibility. there are thousands of kurds risking their lives to help us defeat isis who are now in jeopardy because of this impulsive decision by donald trump. >> do you question his fitness for office?

>> every day i question whether or not we can endure another two years. i think we can. i think this constitution is strong. the american people are strong. but i'm hoping that my republican colleagues will step up and join us in a bipartisan effort to put this government back on track. >> all right. you brought up two years, two years from now. you going to be on a ballot in illinois in november of 2020? you made a final decision? >> listen, i can tell people that i'm raising money and trying to lose weight. that's usually the first indication that you're up for re-election. >> all right. senator dick durbin, democrat from illinois, i hope you enjoy the holidays. you and your family have a merry christmas. >> looking forward to seeing a lot of grandkids. thanks. >> you got it. >> when we return, a look back at what may have been the most perilous week of the trump presidency and a look ahead what it could mean for 2019. the panel is next. l is next.

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welcome back. panelist is here. hugh hewitt, amy walter, national editor for the cook political report and joshua johnson, host of 1-a on npr. well, let's give you the week in trump. by day of the week and headline

here. we shortened the headline. monday, we learned from the senate, russians target ld mueller. tuesday, a judge rejects the michael flynn plea deal. wednesday, the president on twitter announces syria withdrawal. thursday, defense secretary resigns. saturday, we officially have a government shutdown. oh, the week that was, amy walter. >> and just a normal week here in washington. >> i felt like in honesty this is the week of the peak trump era. >> and to senator toomey's point is this the week when the senate finally says, okay. we've put up with a lot of things that we don't really like. but on foreign policy, this is where we're really going to push back. we're going to push back on whoever the secretary of defense nominee is.

we're going to push back on syria. we're have the purse strings. we have power. we don't have to be held hostage to whatever the impulsivity of the president is. and it's our opportunity to show that. and, yet, i don't know. that will be to me that will be the turning point, chuck. that's where we'll have hit a different phase in this relationship between the president and his party. >> there was a great blind quote from a trump supporting republican senator that talked about it sort of beach erosion. and all of the mattis resignation and all of this stuff and erodes more beach and erodes more beach and this is before the mueller tidal wave hits. and when mueller hits, how much beach is left? >> that is a very apt metaphor. the last few issues we've been discussing kind of hit what are -- and the president said this. his kind of core responsibilities. you know, mattis, syria and the border wall are all matters of national security. you deal with what is happening with the stock market, that is personal prosperity. those are two big issues that president came into office saying he was going to be very

strong on. i feel like as we have gotten through this week, the president is getting closer to the edges of his presidential authority where you reach the point that, and you were right to say, where the republican house and white house certain things condition the get done because you want them to get done and you've got people moving in the administration, out. administration. i feel like the president is finally getting to the point where he is saying, okay, i want all the people around me to get me what i want when i want it. there are certain things he's not going to be able to get the way he wants them. and at a certain point, the structure on just being president is going to butt up against reality. now that it reached matters of national security and personal prosperity, this is where i wonder what the president's core base is thinking. >> you said we're in this. hugh hewitt, there is a great example we found in bob woodward's book about the way that jim mattis works as defense secretary. donald trump full of emotion, phoned secretary of defense james mattis on the morning of

tuesday, april 4th, let's kill them the president said. let's go in and let's kill them. a lot of them. yes, mattis said. he would get right on it. he hung up the phone. we're not going to do any of that he told a senior aide. we're going to be much more measured. this is in response to the first chemical weapons attack by assad. he is gone now. >> secretary mattis disagreed with the president on a lot. he wanted to stay in iran deal. he disagreed on the paris accord. he wanted to stay in. the president took us out. he disagreed on a number of different things including the syria options. there are some senators who are not unhappy to see general mattis go provided that the executive branch action acts like the nfl, nest man up. if carson wentz goes down, you better have a nick foles. i heard the same thing that amy heard. do not send us an outlier. send us someone in the mainstream of national security. this had is for president trump what the red line controversy was for president obama. except when president obama erased the red line, there wasn't a crisis. here there is a crisis because

somebody resigned over the policy. >> red line or ten times bigger than that? >> the thing that really struck me is when senator toomey said we don't report to him. if you start hearing more senators say that and start acting like they're not reporting to president trump but really to his base and to his voters who they share, i think that's when we start seeing president trump saying, wait a minute, these people who are another part of body of elected officials, they're going to push back on me. i think the worst thing for the president right now is that he is sitting in washington by minimum self. that his wife and his child had to be flown back from florida, turned around to be told you have to come here to be with him. it's this idea that it's because he's sitting in washington as everyone else is going home understanding that he does own this shutdown. and he said he was going to be proud to shut down the government and then he wasn't going to blame democrats. you can go back and forth on whether or not what he shut down the government for was what he said. there is this idea that messaging, the thing that the president really loves to do, he

is losing on and the conservative media is reminding him of that. >> cave now or later. >> right. >> this was -- the 2018 election was a referendum exactly on this. do you want to fight or do you want to fix stuff? democrats ran on we're going to come and try to fix stuff. this impulsiveness, this way of governing is not working. and democrats ended up winning the popular vote by almost nine points picking up 40 seats. if this is the continued strategy that the white house wants to take into 2020, their only hope is that democrats in 2019 overreach and do a lot of in fighting. and that's what he wants. he wants a fight. >> they to me, joshua, decide whether the president finishes his term or doesn't. pure and simple. >> for sure. well, if we -- >> and that's why this jim mattis resignation is so harmful. >> it is a big deal. the syria pullout is a big deal. if the democrats decide to go for impeachment, that makes a big difference. had it not been for jim mattis and syria, this would be a different conversation. particularly the shutdown. i don't think a lot of americans will will feel except for maybe

this week because you have tsa agents and air traffic controllers furloughed. be nice to the people in line today. they're not get paid today or until we pass another, you know, bill to get them paid. a lot of the listeners are like yeah it's a shutdown but this is like d.c. today. >> we're going to pause on that. but that's the problem. made the shutdown too easy. there is no political pain with it anymore. until there is, they may act more responsibly. one of the very first democrats to file for 2020. likely presidential candidate julian castro joins me next. hey. i heard you're moving into a new apartment. yeah, it's pretty stressful. this music is supposed to relax me, though.

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welcome back. with he could see perhaps 30 people seeking the democratic presidential nomination in what is likely to be a very crowded democratic field. so crowded that the baskin robins 31 flavors joke is already getting old pretty quickly. one person who has made his intentions clear is julian castro.

he is a three term mayor of san antonio, hud secretary under president obama and possible running mate for hillary clinton in 2016. this year he is looking to be at the top of the ticket. he joins me now from san antonio. welcome to "meet the press." welcome back. >> great to be with you, chuck. >> let me start with something that senator durbin said at the end of our interview today. i asked him if he thought the president was fit for office and he said he thought that the country could make it through another two years. what is your view on that? >> well, i can tell you one thing. he's not behaving like he's fit for office. he's behaving extremely erratically. he's not giving the american people or our allies around the world any sense that there's a rationality for the decisions that he's making. and the events of this last week were just another example of that, whether it's sudden announcement of withdrawal in syria or the turmoil with his staff. he's just so erratic. so what i think you're seeing around the country is people who

voted for him have begun to reassess him. and folks understand that we need different leadership and the sooner we get that the better. >> i'm just curious. on policy, would you have troops in syria right now if you were president? >> i think that many folks recognize that it was time for us to pull out of syria. however, here's the thing. once you're there, you have to make sure that you have a plan for your operations there and also for your withdrawal. so i'm not a big fan of the commitments america has made over these last 15 years whether it was the iraq war or this commitment. however, i do believe and i agree with folks that say that for our own sake and sake of our troops and for the sake of our allies, once you're there, you

have to actually have a solid plan for how you're going to withdrawal. and what we saw this week is not the way that it should be done by a president. >> you know, somebody decides to run for president, its no the just about whether you're -- you think you're ready to be president. but you have to make a case of why you and not them? this year there is a lot of thems that you have to get to before you have an opportunity to face president trump. why you and not the other 30-odd people running for president? what makes you the answer for the democrats in 2020? >> well, first of all, i have an announcement on january 12th. so if i decide to run, chuck, the reason i'm going decide to run are three things. number one, i have a strong vision for our country's future. secondly, that i've shown both the local level and the national level an ability to get things done especially to create opportunity for people.

and third, i've lived a life experience of coming from a neighborhood and a family where we were struggling and i can identify with those folks that are struggling to reach their dreams and i've actually reached my dreams. i can identify with all of those folks out there who feel like they've had success and they've reached their american dream. and i know that when you're president, you have to work with congress and you have to work with folks and states and local governments and the private sector as well to make sure that everybody can prosper in this country. >> you know, in an era before donald trump, your resume would have been seen as not long enough yet to run for president. maybe not enough foreign policy experience. that might have been something. obviously, you already have more i think political experience than president trump. but answer that. you're going to be running against a lot of people with a lot more experience and some voters may say, you know what, we went with somebody really inexperienced with donald trump. i want somebody with a longer resume. >> i think you have to start earlier than that, right? we need somebody right now that is president that has common sense and has some impulse control, right?

it's a lot more basic with this president than that. i'd say that i've had the opportunity during the last few years to travel to nearly every state in the country. in my life, i visited different foreign countries. i've taken the job of whether it was hud sector mayor of san antonio seriously. i tried to make sure that i could work with folks that have different views from me. and what the american people want right now, i think, they want somebody who, number one, they believe that they can trust, that has integrity. secondly, is trying to unite americans and not to divide them. and then somebody that they think is going to actually take this office seriously and try and work with folks to make sure that everybody can prosper in the united states. and the thing is, right now each of those things is missing in this president. >> you know, there is some -- a bunch of texas democrats that

wish you and your fellow texan that is thinking about running for president beto o'rourke wouldn't run for president. dear beto and julian, one thing the 2018 election results made clear is that texans have a real chance to make this a purple state. good democratic candidates can win. there is work to be done here. and it's important work. run for president and the message is that you're not especially interested in that work. and just maybe texans shouldn't be that interested in in you." why not run statewide in texas? john cornian's senate seat. can you run for governor. what do you make of that wish by some texas democrats that yourself and beto would stay in state? >> well, i'm sure there are going to be great candidates that will run not only against john cornyn but in 2022 for governor and other statewide offices and so, you know, that's not what i'm focused on. what i'm focused on is that i have a strong vision for our country's future and on january 12th i'm going to make an announcement about my plans. >> is there room for both you

and beto o'rourke in this state? >> i have no doubt that there are going to be a bunch of folks running this time. he's a very talented, very impressive guy. my brother and i were proud to support him when he ran against ted cruz. and i think that there are going to be 20 people up on that first debate stage. >> fair enough. secretary julian castro, former mayor of san antonio and on january 12th we'll find out for sure if you're an active candidate for president. i hope you and your family have a merry christmas. >> merry christmas. when we return, a look back at some of the people we lost in 2018. >> what do you want your legacy to be? >> i want somebody else to define the legacy. i think history will get right and point out the things i did wrong and perhaps some of the things we did right. things we d.

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>> how did 5 1/2 years in a prison cell in north vietnam as for th presidency? >> i think it helped me define the principles that i already held. i think it gave me a better unders of the value of commit to a cause. amazing amazin grace ♪

♪ >> i have never considered the united nations irrelevant. i think it's a unique organi an organizatio that can bring t togeth >> opening statement that those who as much as given and those that is required a lot have been required of the ke the wa ♪ >> at 12:52 p.m., the announ came. the court's decision on ending segreg was unanimo ♪

and i have had the privilege of meetin the press in many countr and i must say that i make it as much a matter of prayer as i do any sermon that i ever p >> you know, when we part we don't say good-bye. instead, we say un again. >> somewhere out in this audien may even be someone who will one day follow in my footst and over the white house as thepresident's spouse. and i >> i will keep america moving forwar a better americ for an endless and enduri dream and 1 of lig ♪

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♪ back now with "end game" and the shutdown over the concrete wall, or is it a fence with slats or all of the above? listen. >> i'll tell what you it's going to be made of. it's going to be made of hardened concrete. >> a big fat beautiful door. right in the middle of the wall. >> it's going to be made out of rebar. >> a solar wall. >> you have to have see-through. you have to know what is on the

other side of the wall. >> and steel. steel slats. >> steel slats, whatever you want to call it. all the same. >> maybe it's a steel barrier or a wall as president trump tweeted yesterday. hugh hewitt, what is your level of patience on this stuff? you were a national security conservative. i know you're not happy about this. this sort of, the upheaval. i asked pat toomey, at what point, if this were a democratic president, you'd be all over it. right? you'd be criticizing the behavior. >> i'm frustrated because so much got done. two supreme court justices, 30 appeals court justices, massive tax cut, massive tax reform and we haven't talked about the bipartisan prison reform, farm bill on tuesday, jerusalem embassy. he has a long list of accomplishments but he does always seem to step on his story. and in foreign policy, the massive rebuild is good if you keep secretary pompeo and ambassador john bolton in the room and listen to them. he has a great national security team.

gina haspel. he'll get a new good secretary of defense. i was just listening to julian castro. he can't beat donald trump. i'll take any bet anybody wants to make, he could not beat donald trump. they're not big enough. they have to go after a long list of achievements and a huge personality. >> but i go back to can the president keep -- you know, how much more patience does -- do sort of mainstream conservatives have? >> i think mainstream conservatives and far right conservatives, you can see patience waning thin this week. you had rush limbaugh saying the president's caving. you had laura ingraham saying bring on the shutdown. you had republicans who usually sing donald trump's praises basically telling him, look, you need to be a little stronger on this and figure out your message. i think the thing that is really important here is that president trump said he wanted a wall and promised that to people. even though there are all these republicans who are saying we can get a lot of border security money out of chuck schumer if you'd give up this idea of a wall. he promised this so so many people. a simple thing he used as a messaging rhetoric he can't let go. >> amy, he can't seem to -- the reason he doesn't have his wall is because republicans won't

give it to him. that's who has denied him for two years and now we're at the tail end of this thing. >> right. and there is this inability to get a win. right? if you're the great negotiator who is going to get the deal or to at least make what is not a great deal look better in a pr way, he's had plenty of opportunities to do that. and on the question of, have mainstream republicans left him, they did. in 2018, he lost every suburban county, orange county. that used to be the most conservative of conservative. now it's main stream conservatives. the path to 2020 now goes through the small town rural america vote which he believes that the wall is a thing to get them motivated on this. but if there's no wall at the end of the day and nothing -- and he's not selling the other parts of his message because he's so focused on, i got to get this done, then what does he have to sell in 2020 to those voters who want to keep voting

for him? >> there is a big picture reminder. this is the end of the republican house. >> yeah. >> they came in with a near budget shutdown in the first 100 days, joshua. they leave after three shutdowns this year. they ousted a speaker in the middle. in many ways, donald trump is the -- you could argue, the freedom caucus president. in a way. in a way. and this is what it's gotten us. >> failed to repeal and replace the affordable care act which they said they would do on day one. it's changed a little bit, but it's still in place. i am beginning to -- and i think the wall is a serious thing. one of the key rules in television, show, don't tell. right? it's nice that you got all the things done on paper, nice you can have all the things that you can talk about. but a wall is a visual reminder. we put him in office to do big things. look at that big thing he did. it's a testament to the person i believed in and voted for that was going to shake up washington. i do not see how donald trump will let this go. because it is a signature achievement he can point to and say, see what i did? i think for a president who we

know was kind of raised on broadcasting, that's how he made it to this point, i don't see a, how he lets the wall go. or b, how a democrat who can challenge him can challenge him without saying vote for me because i can beat the snot out of donald trump and we're going to march him down pennsylvania avenue. i feel like the next two years, regardless who have runs the house and senate is going to be very much about the optics of 2020. what are you going to see at the end of 2020 that will make you feel like you spent your time well or wasted your time? >> the number one promise that donald trump made was to deliver this wall. that's why we're not giving it up. what joshua is talking about is they're literally saying out loud, and i think democrats have to find somebody, maybe who julian castro if he's going to be a little bit more biting. i think what the democratic base is looking for is someone that is going to be in your face kind of candidate. someone who is not going to be

at all passive and going to say look at this guy and i'm going to beat the not out of this guy. >> you said something during the kavanaugh hearings, if they back off on him, it will be a disaster for the republican party. if he backs off this wall, is the base gone? >> no, this is where people misread the republican party. 5% of the base is gone. it is overstated, overvalued, overheard but this shutdown, if he defines it, chuck schumer is keeping the government shut over four trillion of outlays. he wins. whatever he gets in the end, and what dick durbin told you, the news out of the show is the democrats will raise the money if they change the wording. president trump should take that and get the fentanyl stopped. >> he's afraid of making it look like a cave because it's not about the wall. merry christmas to everybody around this table. happy and merry. that's all we have. merry christmas to all of you that celebrate it. we hope you have a safe and restful holiday break. as for us, we'll be back next week because we're not shutting down. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

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