my thanks to our guests who moderate and navigate through these wild times with us day after day. we're nothing without them. that does it for our hour. i'm nicole wallace. up next, mtp daily with chuck todd. >> if it's the holidays, it's a special year-end edition of "mtp daily". good evening. i'm chuck todd. as we close the book on 2018 or at least try to we're gearing up for a spectacle unlike any other in modern history. it's the trump reelection fight. as the end of the year mess in congress has shown us, 2019 is going to be wild. why? because it's also going to be a whole lot about 2020, especially for this president.

who filed his reelection paperwork the day he took office. think about that. nobody has ever done that before. no sitting president had ever launched their reelection campaign that early. everything in the political universe. every legislative decision. every white house decision. every major news story in 2019 is going to be viewed through the prizm of 2020. so all this hour we're going to dive into the big questions that will be answered in 2019 like who is going to actually get in and when? how nasty is it going to get between house democrats and the president? and if things go south in the white house, how are they going to react? which is where we begin tonight's show with the president trump presidency that is vulnerable to a reelection disaster. let us count the ways. in a clear rebuke of the president, democrats won 40 house seats. their best midterm election showing since water gate. the president's legal woes are unprecedented in size and scope.

and like sharks drawn to blood in the water we could see 30 plus legitimate democratic candidates vying to take trump on. we could see something like we hadn't seen in a generation, a serious primary challenge from within the president's own party. this is a president who relishes a fight and is willing to play dirty. on the eve of a mere midterm election he falsely claimed this country was being invaded. he mobilized and politicized the military and painted democrats as the literal angry mob, and he warned donors of violence if his side lost. now, just imagine what he might do leading up to a contest where his name is on the ballot. like i said, get ready for an unpredictable spectacle unlike any other in mod earn history. it's right around the corner. let's bring in tonight's panel. capitol hill reporter lee ann caldwell.

michael steele. carrie dan, and cornell belcher. welcome. it seems like for us to say boy, 2019 is going to be wild. 2020, and we're still recovering from the mess that is the post election massacre. what have we learned from that that tells us how crazy 2019 is going to be? >> i think first, 20181 going to continue into 2019. now -- >> there's no stopping? . >> no. now that democrats control the house of representatives, these investigations are only going to expand into the president and so that is also going to be caught up in the presidential election, and the primary. and so i don't think we're going to see a clear division. i think we're going to see more of the same of what we've already seen only it's going to escalate. >> michael steele, previous presidents when they've had a

midterm setback acknowledged it. this one did not. how much harder does that make it for congressional republicans to recalibrate? >> i think every previous president has said some humility in accepting a midterm loss. this president knows one mode, forward, attack, offense. as he feels more threatened and closed in, he's oscillating and swinging more wildly and fighting like a corners badger. it's only going to get worse when he faces democrats in charge of house committees in the next year. >> cornell, he seems to be oblivious to what happened in november. >> i think it's almost 10 million more votes in the popular vote. >> nearly a nine point advantage, i believe, the raw vote. right? >> right. sort of 10 million more votes, that's a large margin. right. and you go into it looking at republicans losing suburbs in the way they haven't lost before, and democrats winning college educated white women in

a way they hadn't before. and look at the battle ground states. that blue wall that we talked about crumbling, i think that blue wall is being rebuilt because of the shenanigans of this president. >> and t not just the president saying it. it's also republican voters did not see about half of republican voters said this message wasn't the result of the midterms were not a referendum on the president, and the majority of them said they're haeppy with te results of the election. what they've heard from the president is we won the senate. they didn't hear shellacked which is what barack obama said or a tluhumping. >> it's not that i loss the house, it's i held the senate, and the house guys that lost, those were the wimps. those were the weaklings who wouldn't stand with me and my

agenda. and that's why they lost because the american people are with me. >> if you're a republican senator sitting in a blue state like colorado, for example, you have to be terrified by that. because your fortune is unfortunately tied to donald trump, and it's hard to win some of these battle ground states this way. >> lee ann, the divide between center right independent and the base of the republican party -- how does -- i mean, donald trump has a problem. he caters to this base, and they reinforce each other as they get smaller. he's a long way away from the center independent. >> in 2020 we'll have two issues. we'll have the house and senate races and the presidential race which is a different but same electorate. right? as far as the base is concerned, the president keeps governing for the base and do the center right independents vote independent? that's where it becomes a binary choice. it matters who the -- a lot of

people will still say that trump won because it was a choice between hillary clinton and donald trump and too many people couldn't vote for hillary clinton. the problem is that democrats have also not figured out how to run against trump. i think it's going to be very difficult for them because he is a master attacker, and it sticks what he says sticks. >> i hear that and i respect that. but here's my fundamental problem with that. i think it's a fluke we have a president that lost the popular vote by such a stretch. i think it's a fluke that we -- >> it's weird -- that margin, i don't think it can be duplicated. it does not -- >> right. that's my point. i think it's an outlier. when you look at wisconsin and pennsylvania, when you look at michigan, you look at the margin there, i just don't think that he's going to be able to win those states with the same 46 %

he was able to win them in the last election. i might be wrong, but i don't think he's going to be able to do that. >> the slim possibility that pelosi is the democratic nominee in 2020, there's not going to be a uniquely polarizing well known as hillary clinton. >> there's also a huge wild card here which is if the economy is not in as strong of a place as it is now, i mean, we saw in our latest wall street journal poll, a little bit of concern from voters about the economy. people saying yeah, this past year was really good for me, but i'm worried about what's going to happen the next year or two if the economy is starting a downturn heading into this election, donald trump's resilience with even the sort of center right republicans who are kind enough to give him ground -- >> tariffs. >> it's going to evaporate. >> i feel like you guys are team congress for me. who are the -- you know, there was -- there's members of congress, think of oren hatch,

but there's the but the economy republicans. but the economy. who do the but the economy republicans, what happens to them if the economy starts tanking? who are the ones to watch to see if they walk fully away from them? >> you go. >> i think i would add but the economy and but gorsuch and kavanaugh. it's people skeptical of the president. >> are you speaking hewitt's middle name? >> exactly. the first two i look at are cory gardener and thom tillis. running for reelection in states trending not blue -- >> i think colorado is blue. >> north carolina, pure swing state. >> those are folks who both on certain issues have been willing to demonstrate independence from the president. i assume it will increase with the economy goes south. >> i am hearing there are members who say -- people say they expect their members to be

more vocal, be more critical in the next years. people have told me this. members aren't necessarily up in 2020, but i think there is a frustration there. the russia probe is getting closer and closer. these investigations as we already talked about are going to expand. if the president -- and the president hasn't been able to prove that he's able to govern without anything being chaotic. and so if the -- if his base continues -- if his bay continues to support him but that base is tightening and tightening and then getting back to these center right republicans, i mean, they're going to be critical on how these members respond. >> all right. i think our last poll showed the base may be down to 34%. big enough to cause problems, not big enough to win elections. up ahead with the presidential election on the horizon, when are democratic hopefuls going to jump into the race? a few of them have.

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welcome back. 2019 isn't just going to be about who is running for president but also when they announce potential democratic candidates are already gauging their best moment to officially make the big leap. kamala harris said earlier this month that she will make her presidential decision over the holidays. okay. harris needs to make a name for herself to stand out from the pack of senators that will all be going around iowa. sooner may be better for someone like her. on the other hand you have joe biden saying january would be way too early to publicly announce his campaign. biden is near the top of the few polls out right now, and the thinking may be the longer he stays off the trail, the longer he can avoid the fray. let's bring back our political experts. lee ann, michael, carrie and

cornell. it's interesting here. i want to put up when candidates get in on the 2016 race. it was cruz first. the sitting is that rights got in first. cruz, paul, rubio. then jeb bush and donald trump got in in june. hillary clinton announced in april. i think bernie sanders right around the same time. we're in announcement season now, aren't we? >> of course. and people are already making trips. people are already working on putting their staffs together. making those kind of early telephone calls to activists in early primary states. and we know we're going to have debates starting in june. we are not very far out from those debates starting. i think there is an imperative for some of the candidates who don't necessarily know what their fund raising ability is going to be like to get in earlier. one of the big demands is they want somebody who can solicit a lot of small dollar do nations. the later people get in, the harder it is to do. i think that's part of the push to get in early is i want to

make sure that i can prove to people that i can raise money from regular people and not from super pacs early on in the campaign. >> there's only two candidates that seem they shouldn't think about getting in early. biden and sanders. >> if you're people sitting at the top, you want a shorter campaign. if you're one of the people who are less known, you need a longer campaign. you need to raise your name identification and go through the rigors of it. you know what? from the beginning of that campaign in 2008 to the end of that campaign, barack obama was so much better. and the rigors of it helped him be a better candidate in the end. a lot of those names are not well-tested. they need to get in early. try to make a name for themselves. try to get tested. take a punch and see if you can throw a punch in the primaries. >> elizabeth warren is getting the first vetting, i would argue. a lot of people want to say

well, she's showing a glass thumb. i'm thinking no, this is your first hit. >> she stepped on the bear trap first. >> it's coming. what we're going to find, it's not going to be about who avoids hits, it's two survives them. >> who can take a punch and get back in there and counterpunch. a lot of these guys could have glass jaws. a lot of guys haven't had a real contest like this. it's going to be an interesting process up to the end>> the capitol hill candidates, there are a dozen of them. whether it's -- what is it claire mccaskill joked the other day, she goes half these people are running. i don't think she was joking. you have all these house democrats. how does that impact the leadership? i think pelosi and especially shum ver a real challenge. >> this challenge started for schumer two years ago. he tried to keep the party

together as much as possible. he did a pretty decent job. there were some issues like immigration and some prescription drug things that caused him some headaches. that's only going to escalate. and it's not a good sign for any sort of legislating, let's just say. >> let's put up the des moines register poll. what i thought was great about the poll that came out is it showed us the tiers. tier one was top four candidates of biden, sanders, o'roarke and warren. they were 32, 19, and 8 respectively. then a second tier of the sort of mid level single digit harris, booker, klobuchar. then the other dozen. the big shock was a roark. >> i think that was the most informative of that poll. biden and sanders at the top is not that interesting at this stage. they're going to be at the top of all national polls. it's interesting to look at

their favorable within the party specifically. the democrats still have the warm fuzzies for joe biden. and maybe to slightly lesser degree to bernie sanders. they're still likable. the same poll showed hillary clinton did not have any kind of bounceback. the democratic party is still angry and upset with her. iowa democrats not into michael bloomberg as well. you can look at the favorable ratings and those things. but i think o'roarke jumping into that first tier right away did show how much momentum he has early. the trouble is he has to translate it into the doing the work in iowa. >> cornell, obviously november, 2006, the buzz name was obama. >> yep. well. >> november of '0 6, it was like will he do it, but he was clearly the new guy. beto is now in that position? >> yes. but remember that barack obama when he jumped in he was also running behind hillary 20 points

everywhere. >> okay. o'roarke is 20 points behind biden. >> i'm a pollster. i love polls. right now they're meaningless. >> o'roarke jumping to double digits in an iowa poll? that's meaningless? >> that's kind of a big deal. >> thank you. i wanted to dismiss polling early, but i always say it's not for the leader. i'm curious who is popping in the middle. >> he energizes something in an obama way that's outsider and right. you have a lot of insiders running for president. i like the chances of the outside candidate. >> if you look at this -- j you saw this? >> yes. if you look at this top tier and it's three long-time washington senators and i realize o'roarke is a congressman, but he's not thought of as a washington insider and he's a generation younger than the rest of the top tier, that's a nice place to be for him if he can translate it into the votes and do the work. >> pbeto is young.

let's go to bernie sanders. i've been trying to figure out can bernie replicate what he did in 2016? >> i've been trying to figure that out. he never really stopped running, and so he has a lot more competition. he was the new thing four years ago. i don't have an answer for that. it's going to be hard. it's going to be a challenge for bernie sanders. >> listen, i have a great deal of respect for senator sanders, but the truth of the matter is if he couldn't find a way to get -- to beat hillary clinton the last time around, i don't see how he cobbles it together and beats this field. i would argue that -- >> you don't think he -- he can't make the case the nomination should have been his, she basically jerry rigged it? >> that's b.s. the same process, barack obama came out and beat her in that process. right? so there's a -- you know, how does bernie sanders do better in

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tonight over the holidays i'm obsessed with president trump's report card. he's a model student. just ask him. >> what grade do you give yourself so far? >> so, i give myself an a plus. i would say i would honestly give myself an a plus, and so would many other people. >> seriously. you should see his transcript. >> i think it's now acknowledged what a great job we've done. we get an a plus. >> i've done a great job. >> i would give myself an a plus. >> i'm going a good job. i give myself an aplus on effort. they don't give me credit. i do a good job. i would say it's a ten. i'm the best. i'm good. trump doesn't get any credit. and i love to get credit. i love it. >> that was a true statement. and honestly, it's clear he does his homework. >> if you go back to the civil war, it was the republicans who really did the thing. this is an island sitting in the

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welcome back. divided government. it isn't going to be the only thing coming up the works in capitol hill in 2018. getting things done is also going to get difficult very fast. a lot of members of congress are going to be angling for a promotion to the presidency. there will be at least 14 members of the house and senate as we talked about earlier who are thinking of running for 2020. 14 of them. and get ready for each of the democrats to try to stand out from the pack with bill sponsorships and grand standing of all kinds. remember what ted cruz was doing for the republican side? you get my point. as i mentioned earlier, outgoing senator mcmccaskill tweeted in the democratic cloak room as we vote tonight, just realized i was surrounded by no less than 5 presidential candidates and there were only 10 of us in there. this is going to get interesting.

we are back with our panel. michael steele, you had the most recent experience of both working in congress when you had members of congress. how bad is it with leadership in. >> it's awful. you are lucky if it stays to i am start pus and speeches and grand standing. the first act of ted cruz's 2016 presidential campaign was shutting down the government in 2013 and because he lacked the power to do that in the united states senate, he forced the u.s. house of representatives to do it which was not fun for those of us who were working with the speaker and the house republican leadership. >> senator schumer's job. let's just look at the senate, how to keep it -- he has already, you have some activists saying he needs to have manchin become the ranking member. >> they are going to have to talk about it a lot. especially in the era of trump where they're going to be forced to react to whatever trump is

doing on a daily basis from reporters. the presidential campaign is going to seep into everything. not just the daily machinations of government, but what they say and what they have to respond to on a daily basis. one thing i am going to watch out for in the coming year is immigration. this is what trump ran on. this is going to be a campaign issue in 2020. and these progressive democrats, it's -- they are going to give the president nothing when it comes to this. >> let me put a video buffet of the congressional democrats, a montage of them talking about 2020. take a listen. >> that is a very important moral question that i've been thinking about. >> we're seriously thinking about it. we're seriously talking about it with family and friends. >> i do think it's important that there are people running from the midwest. i'm considering it. >> i'm up for reelection as a united states senator in 2020, so i will be running in 2020. >> i mean, you know, i don't know. i don't know.

>> after november 6th, i will take a hard look at running for president. >> so it's not an easy decision. we got to determine what kind of grass roots support exists and that's what we're looking at right now. >> i actually do see a path. i am considering it. >> i guess the question, and cornell you hinted at it earlier, do they all have a first name that's unelectable, senator or congressman? >> we're in a weird time. once upon a time i thought a member of congress, no way. now i think a member of -- from the house. it may be because if you're an outsider, i still am interested about if there's a candidate who can be anti-establishment outside of washington, i think it benefits them. who are the governors or who are even the mayors who are thinking about running? once upon a time, the idea of mitch landry running for president was crazy. it's not now. he has an outsider -- i think

the primary electorate is going to be for someone who can galvanize their energy and anger and anti-establishment. >> and the fact that all those people that you mentioned have voting records that are going to be fodder for op-o. any democratic fan not a fan of o'roarke will put fword thorwar the president 30% of the time. it's a way of trying to take down another opponent and differentiate yourself if your number is 27 % and your opponent's number is 32%. this is a larger question. you look at the candidates and a lot of them are good on a lot of issues but they're not great on any of them as far as the progressive left is concerned. so what is the mood of the democratic primary electorate in that do they want to fall in love or do they want competency? obviously they want both, but if you can't get both.

>> here's the contradiction i love. polling after polling is always no, we want the candidate best positioned to beat the republican right. and the truth of the matter is always the candidate they fall in love with. it doesn't -- >> not necessarily the best. >> right. in 2008, hillary clinton was the best candidate to win in all the polls but they fell in love with barack obama. i give a nod to whatever candidate who can win the hearts, the hearts of these primary voters, not necessarily the minds. >> they have to go -- they can't do this logically. >> no, and a record is a political record. it's a hardship at this point in our policies. this is the reason when they were looking for recruits, they went with veterans, small business people, people with no record in elected office. nothing you could point to as well, that's 7/8 out of what i want, but that's not what i wanted. they need to be perfect. >> i understand why so many

donors, that's what's happening. the race is frozen. it's frozen until bay deto annos what he's going to do. donors are in love with him because it's a blank slate. >> he's proven to raise a lot of money and democrats can fall in love. he has this -- there's an energy about him. there's a coolness about him. you know, and that is what appealed to so many people across the country when he was running in texas. and i think that i honestly believe him that when he said during his texas campaign that he was not going to run for president, but since then he's walked back dramatically. i think that's because he's realized what he has -- >> when was the last time democrats fell if line and actually won the presidency? when they fall in line, hillary clinton or when they fall in love, barack obama, jimmy carter and bill clinton. >> beto, the same argument about

stacey abrams. these were not the candidates that conventional wisdom wanted or conventional washington whisperers wanted to be out there, because they thought we would stand no chance with beto and stacey abrams. stacey abrams and beto, they transformed the -- their states. they brought in new people to the process. that's what we need. we need people who bring more people into the process and excite the voters and not just sort of worry about how we win over republicans and moderates and conservative voters. >> and both abrams and o'roarke had this quality where voters maybe thought they agreed with them on 100% of the issues even if they didn't. it is obama-like. >> they see what they want. >> yeah. >> panel, stick with us. it might not be only democrats president trump has to worry about in 2020. he's going to get a primary challenger. which republican might take him on? an might take him on o tell you

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welcome back. 2019 will be all about the vast field of democrats looking to defeat president trump in 2020. it could also be a hand full of republicans who are thinking about at least challenging the sitting president. john kasich and jeff flake are among the republicans who have already visited early primary states. and they've hinted at a potential run in 2020.

while ted cruz and lindsey graham to lost in the 2016 primaries say they'll endorse his reelection efforts, others are saying, you know. like ben sass. susan collins says he's open to seeing a challenge to the president in her own party. >> it's not my choice. it's the choice of those individuals, but i see nothing wrong with challengers. that is part of our democratic system. >> the panel is back. lee ann, michael, carrie, cornell, let me play another clip. here's bob corker when asked about whether the president, he's retiring. he's what he said about a primary to trump. >> do you think president trump should be primaried? >> i do think that we've got to remember what the republican party is. >> that's not a yes or no answer. >> oh, i don't know that -- i

want to get away from hearing and thinking about it. this is an every day in the hallway question. what is happening right now is not the standard republicanism that we've had in our country for many, many years. and it's very different. >> you know, michael steele, this is the argument i hear from some republicans that says look, we know it's impossible to defeat him, but somebody has to plant the flag. and what the republican party should be post trump. >> i think about this two ways. primaries are a way of keeping a president more true to the values of the party, and this president in a lot of ways has not been true to the values of the republican party. the second way is the chances of a republican primary candidate running strongly against trump, whether or not they defeat him depends on 2019. they depend on the economy, the results of the investigations. if we're looking at a situation where close family members and

associates of the president are indicted, we're continuing to lose special elections, the economy is not doing well, it becomes difficult to make a case for the president's reelection, and the case you might do better with a different republican at the top of the ticket might be more and more appealing. >> you must made me think well, okay. >> i don't know. tom cot season deaf -- well, i -- >> i'm not saying -- he wants to inherit the base. >> and he wants to run for president. does that happen? does he challenge the president? i don't know. that gets to your point. if trump is so weak, then maybe a trump-like figure comes in. >> can i jump in on this conversation? >> yeah. >> when you -- >> arguing it's for your own favor, i'm sure. >> when you look at some of the post election stuff and you look at republican voters who cast a vote this time around, they are

much more pro trump than pro republican party. i think in a lot of ways this is a party of trump in a way i did not see before bush. >> we've been studying this. we ask this question a lot to try to figure out. you are right the trump wing of the party is growing. here's what it was the last time we did it. do they support the president? 57%. are they more of a trump supporter than republican? 57% of republicans call themselves that. but that's 40 % of the party call themselves a republican before. >> here's my final point to that. then you take him on the same way that barack obama took on hillary, by expanding the electorate. the conventional democratic electorate, we lost to hillary clinton. we expand the electorate. what's a republican who can expand the republican elector e electorate. >> if you're looking at a conservative idealism, jeff flake or ben sass or a john kasich independent kind of protest candidate, that's one thing. if 2019 goes badly is where you

start seeing tom cottons or other republicans who think they may have a future in the party taking this on. >> and institutions are increasingly not as important in american politics. like the rnc and the dnc. but state parties matter. and if state parties are not allowing primary challenges to go forward, we're seeing that already -- seeds of that in south carolina and other places. the state party could have some power in keeping one of those people off the ballot entirely. >> that's the point. he's not going to lose the nomination barring something we don't know. the question is does ben sass want to make a point? right? >> or the first step in ronald reagan winning the 1980 presidential nomination was losing the 1976 presidential nomination to gerald ford. >> here's the bizarre part. most sitting presidents, the last thing they want is a primary challenge. this president would probably say let's debate, john kasich. >> because trump is at his best

when he's attacking. >> when he has a foil. >> a one on one, i think -- you can correct me if i'm wrong. i think early on he did well because of the crowded field of republicans. i think one of one with kasich is tougher than you might think. >> he does extremely well at creating a hand full of moments in a debate that get replayed over and over again. he never wins the debate. he wins the coverage of the debate. and i think he actually is pretty good about that even when it's a one on one like with secretary clinton. . >> if you watch the transscripts, i take your point. he's better about finding a moment. >> i think it's tough tore de -- tough tore define the moment with a guy like kasich. >> the other part is democrats, i had a presidential candidate, someone who wants to run for president say to me okay, how do i both go after trump and avoid getting sucked into trump? i said that's a great question. i'm thinking you need to answer that question, don't you?

and this person says, yes. >> and a republican primary pundit would have that problem times 100. >> this to me, the democrats, how do they avoid trump and run against trump? >> i think we had a moment three or four months ago where the narrative was that democrats want somebody who is going to fight. donald trump get down in the mud. it was a michael avenatti, it went where it went, but the narrative -- >> who? >> right, but the narrative has shifted dramatically the other way. people are saying what if somebody is like a beto o'roarke or klobuchar, they will rise above and reach out to the civility in all of us. we're going to change that cycle probably six times next year. >> that's a great general election strategy, but a primary, you have to throw the primary voters red meat. you do. >> trump is going to throw pumpl pump punches all the time. he'll want to be an unofficial

referee of the democratic primary. >> for the next year it's going to be nancy pelosi with chuck on the side. mostly pelosi. >> he didn't have a good first matchup. >> he didn't. it's going to make the nexther. >> which will make the next one easier. >> there's a -- we can have a debate about pelosi's long-term effectiveness. she might be uniquely qualified to -- think about her generation, and trump is from her generation. she's dealt with men like him her whole life. >> and a woman who grew up in baltimore machine politics. he's tough in a way he hasn't dealt with. >> i understood against a conventional president, she might not be so good, but she might be a foil he regrets. >> and trump going against a powerful woman is not trump's best matchup. >> it never is. even though he defeated hillary clinton.

but he defeated the clinton part of hillary clinton, not necessarily the hillary part. we're going to take a pause here. stick around, because then we get to have a little bit of fun. it's a new year. you have to make some predictions. we'll share ours in 2019 and get abused on social media for all the predictions, next. on social the predictions, next. from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. so even when she grows up, she'll never outgrow the memory of our adventure. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only with expedia. select hotels to your existing trip. if your moderate to severeor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough it may be time for a change.

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time now for "the lid."

the panel is back. we're at the end of the year, end of the year show, and i grew up watching end of the year shows. i love the prediction portion, even though i know they're meaningless. first up, we asked all of you here, who is the one person that's on everybody's 20/20 candidate list who will not run? three of you said, which is the obvious choice, joe biden. and one wouldn't answer, cornell. i understand why everybody picked biden. how does biden survive a long primary? can he jump in, in november? there's all sorts of ways. why are you not convinced that he's not going to -- >> because we have 30 people running. and so it's -- who knows who is going to jump in? i think it's too easy to say biden. i think -- you know, if you ask a lot of people, they think cory booker is going to run. i don't think that's certain. is kamala is going to run?

>> you think harris is let certain than people think? >> i think it's less certain than people think. it's hard to run for president, and she just came into the senate. >> i'm going to reverse the question and let you each have something else. three tickets, because i was asked and i won't answer one person, but if you could have three tickets and say one of these three will be the nominee, if you could give you three candidates to pick, who would it be? i'll give you three. who can go first, quickly. i'm trying to wrap up a show here. pick a trio. >> beto, kamala and shared brown. >> ryan, kamala and brown. >> tim ryan? >> yes. >> i think beto o'rourke, harris, and klobuchar. >> where are you? >> beto, i'll say, brown, and i would love there to be a woman in there, but i'm skeptical. i'll say harris. >> i'll admit, my three tickets,

i said this on another show, beto, warren, and harris would be the three. let me go to the other predictions here. i ask of these three candidates, biden, sanders, and warren, who will still be an active candidate on december 31st, 2019 when we go this show again? >> i said elizabeth warren. i think there's a lot of skepticism about biden running and the way biden has talked about his run has focused on his family and that will be a big consideration for him. elizabeth warren has the money, i'm not sure she's going to be the nominee. >> you guys all said none. >> i can be quick here. i think the front r-runner stat is the kiss of death. >> they need the next generation. >> you thought sanders and warren would be in by the 31st? >> yeah. i think that they've done the work. i think that they might not be front-runners, but they'll still be in. >> sanders runs, he ain't

getting out until the convention. >> they're going to make it through iowa. >> the other thing that will happen in 2019 is the surprise senate retirement. it always happens. probably more than one. so leeann give me your one. >> i wanted to say mcconnell, but i went with ben sass. >> some democrat is going to raise a ton of money raising against him. >> susan collins. she just does not seem to enjoy this end of the year chaos, and the whole year basically. >> i think susan collins also, but i can see the republican from colorado, who -- corey gardner. >> i said sass. there's a little frustration from tom tillis, i could see him saying i don't want any of this anymore. >> sass, i definitely agree. that was a lot of fun. thank you for having fun with me. that's all we have. we would like you to rewatch it

over and over. we wish you a very happy holiday season. hope your bowl teams are winning. bewant to share with you all the team, all of them, who make "mtp daily" happen. an actual credit roll. go. ♪ ♪ ♪

welcome to a very special holiday edition of "the beat." tonight, we're going to look at a lot of different things, what lies ahead in the russia probe. we're going to break down how democrats are going to fight trump in court with special reporting. and we're going to have some fun with a special year-end fallback. we begin with robert mueller's probe, closing in on someone you may have heard about, individual one, donald trump. more trump associates have been caught up in this investigation as we head into the new year. michael cohen, the man who said he would take a bullet for trump, is cooperating with mueller and is also headed to jail. donald trump's campaign