my thanks to jason, jen, the rev and ron klain and to all of you for watching. i'm nicolle wallace. see you monday for deadly white house at 4:00 p.m. trouble in the playpen. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight we have a friday full of crazy for you. with the trump crowd calling speaker pelosi from nuts to tipsy. donald trump crowning himself an extremely stable genius. once again throwing out the charge of treason against his enemies, a crime that is historically punishable by death. in trump's mind, however, treason is when people are disloyal to him. his incredible lack of understanding about one of the serious charges in the criminal code is coming up later in the

show tonight. and the civil rights hero, congressman john lewis who spoke alongside dr. martin luther king at the march on washington. it was beaten during a civil rights march in alabama. he is coming here tonight and recently wujd welcomed me into his capitol hill office to discuss the violence. >> i don't know what happened to america. it makes me sad. it makes me sometimes cry. i can never forget what happened in charlottesville and what happened at the church in charleston. it's spreading like wildfire. >> what a soulful man. a lot more from my interview with congress lewis later in this hour, but we begin with the incredible back and forth between the president and the speaker of the house. the dispute reached a new low last night with a volley of insults that included attacks on each other's emotional stability and fitness for offices. last night just hours after president trump defended himself saying he is an extremely stable

genius, he retweeted a video of fox business of speaker pelosi at a news conference that was heavily edited. listen closely. heavily edited to give the impression she was stumbling over her words. meanwhile other videos of speaker pelosi distorted and and altered to make it look like she was drunk and slurring her words. including this beauty. >> we want to give this president the opportunity to do something historic for our country. we want to give this president the opportunity to do something historic for our country. >> that altered video has been shared nearly 50,000 times on facebook and the president's own attorney, rudy giuliani retweet and later deleted it. he said he's pushing this. giuliani was defiant writing nancy pelosi wants an apology

for a caricature, first she would withdraw her charge that hurts our nation when she said the president need an intervention. president trump said he didn't know about the videos and defended his attacks saying she started it. i told you it was a playpen. >> did you hear what she said about me long before i went after her? did you hear? she made horrible statements and knows they are not true. she said terrible things and so i just responded in kind. look, you think nancy is the same as she was? she's not. maybe we can all say that. >> i'm joined by white house reporter for the associated press and the center for suzanne del percio, republican strategist, and david k. johnston, author of "the making of donald trump." let me start with jonathan. i was thinking what lincoln or fdr would think.

about this embarrassing playpen-style behavior by our president. your thoughts? why is he this way? >> he has always been this way. he cannot take a slight and let will not let any insult go unpunished. that's what accounts for his rise in the republican primaries and what he has since taking office. he's a counterpuncher. his instinct is to fight and we see this in terms of campaigns and the day to day with the petty insults he hurls either on ontwitter or in news conferences or as you are seeing there outside the white house before leaving for japan earlier today. speaker pelosi, it's hard to believe there are democrats who weren't sure that she was up to the task to go toe to toe with president trump. she has done more than that. she still she bested him most days and most encounters. she knows his soft spot and invoked other presidents who were able to govern while being

under investigation. she invoked other presidents who were able to work on big deals and big infrastructure and she said she would pray for him, which is very much sort of a bless your heart kind of sarcastic moment the president can't take it. >> do you think he knew about the dirt being thrown at her saying she was either incapable of putting a sentence together or saying she was tipsy? he says he didn't know about this stuff. do you believe him? >> it defies belief. we have seen him use video before, unverified video in terms of attacks. today going after her mental ability felt like an exact counterpunch because she seemed to hint about his. this is what he does. he will fight on any level in order to score points and tries to win that moment. there's no grand plan here or attempt to be a statesman. it's just about the political fight. >> there is an expression that says don't get into a peeing

match with a skunk. it's gross, but it does talk about the problem. everybody tried it against him. everyone tried. pelosi went out and said like the grandmother thinking one of her nephews is having problems so i pray for him. like one of the bad apples in the family. or he needs intervention. that bit of condescension, with trump he went wild. he is wild. >> i actually think what happened this week is he made a series of strategic blunders and she took advantage of it and he can't handle anyone besting him so he just melted down more and more. >> it was the two court decisions leading the way. for his papers to get out? >> it was the two court decisions and him saying to the american people i'm not going to pass any legislation until they stop oversight. i think that was a big error on

his part because it says to people he is in the way of doing anything to solve my problems. and something so fundamental like infrastructure and people identify that as a jobs package. no president under investigation has ever made this mistake. they know that people -- the only way for people to stick with you is for them to believe you are still focussed on them despite all of this. i think this week is a full demonstration of how she has been able to make him make mistakes. and he can't handle it. >> she has been here before. you studied this a couple of months ago. they got him in a position to say i don't care if i shut down the government. >> exactly. >> every time you drive over a pothole at night and the bridge you are over feels creeky or the subway is late, blame trump. >> or you have someone who's experiencing tariffs and can have a job from an infrastructure package. blame trump for it not happening. >> i have to go back to you. he has his henchmen. one is rudy giuliani. he admits and defends if you

will the use of this corrupted tape to make her look like she can't put a sentence together. >> it was unfortunate, chris, because it's the same thing he did with hillary clinton during the 2016 campaign. he need out there and suggested there were issues with mrs. clinton and said go look up videos. we know what happens with videos. we see it here. he was forced to delete it, but he did. this is the m.o. now of this administration. they're going to throw as much dirt out there as possible and hope it blinds people. i think there was also another point that nancy pelosi made earlier today. or this week, rather. she said i think i have more respect for the presidency than the president does. that's for sure. this president has been a disgrace to the oval office. the way he acts out and his tantrums and everything else, it's not funny. we like to call it childish, but it scares me this man is going overseas to represent our

country. this is not the person we need. he is starting to learn about the powers he has when you think about what he gave to barr as far as declassifying information and going on a search where he already declared -- been the judge and jury. a little information for donald trump is looking like a dangerous thing. >> i want you to think about the gender aspect. it's been said today here in my office with my producers, i had my instinct. he gets as much giggle and nastiness of heart against male opponents? you jump on this 50. he seems to get the giggle going like this stuff about pocahontas. he always seems to come up with something especially awful. >> i think he has. we know over the last couple of years he has a strong problem with strong women. >> he brings out the knife. >> he brings out the life, he's particularly nasty, he tries to

bring them as much as he can into the mud with him. one of the things he has to recognize is he has a historic gender gap. there is a push back and a backlash. >> i think the they are going to be more against him. what do you think about the nastiness that comes boiling to the surface when he still a challenge from a woman leader? >> he obviously can't handle it. he's always had a problem with relationships. i hate to bring this up, but this is a man married three times who has affairs with porn stars and playboy bunnies. >> no doubt about that. go ahead. >> this is who he is. this is what he thinks of women. and i think with nancy pelosi he tried so hard. he tried as long as he could and he just couldn't help but come up with a nickname and he's

going to regret it. >> david, what do you make of this latest bottom-feeding by the president? >> donald is a man of raging insecurities. here he is in the most powerful office in the world and wants to portray himself as the poor victim and how he is being mistreated. by the way, that job he took an oath of office to fulfill, apparently that's a privilege. he'll do it as long as the democrats are nice to him, otherwise he won't do it at all. >> wow, what a suspect. >> he has a complete inability to laugh about himself. one of the signs of being a mature person is you can laugh about yourself. donald is trapped in the year he turned 13. all of us will recall, whether it was 12, 13, or 1990 we went through a horrible year, and donald has been trapped in that year forever. it explains why he is a

horrible misogynist and the way he treats women. the school yard analogy is spot on. that's exactly what's going on here. we have a child in the oval office. on the other hand, millions of americans are not going to recognize that's a doctored video. james o'keefe infected our system in a way that's not going away. i get contacted every day by e-mail or twitter direct message bring people about he's the greatest president ever. we are having the greatest economic boom ever. and those people, for them, this is exactly right. nancy pelosi must be a drunk and addle minded, and donald is a genius. there is no indication they are sloughing away. >> his crowd are saying she drank, and that's why she talks with the slur. that's that didn't happen. you hear nancy pelosi all the time sharp as a tack. this attack on pelosi's mental

exce competency bears a striking similarity to a conspiracy theory spread in 2016 about hillary clinton's health. let's watch that. >> the number one. when you cannot produce a coherent thought, maybe it's time to hang it up. pelosi seemed to struggle with the subject-verb-direct object thing. >> speculation swirls around hillary clinton's health. she's falling, you have this twitching thing that she does in front of reporters that was really bad. she keeps doing it. what is that? >> she could not put a subject with a predicate in the same sentence. what's going on? >> go online and put down hillry clinton illness and look at the videos. >> you think nancy pelosi is the same? >> here's a woman supposed to fight all of these different things. and she can't make it 15 feet to her car. give me a break. give me a break. >> today chelsea clinton said please don't fall for edited, doctored, fake videos, particularly if they're made or

amplified by the same people in the outlets who claimed my mother, hillary clinton has been dying for years. you were discussing the world with the speaker of the house this week. i didn't notice anything. did you? >> i was the one interviewing her for this actual video. not the doctored video. i think it was amazing that this experience is projection. if somebody slurs speech and seems like he is not really in charge anymore, it's donald trump. what he does every time is project his weakness and insecurity on to other people. i have seen speaker pelosi and there is no one more in command of what's happening in washington. in fact, as i said, she is able to best him and it drives him crazy. so he must mock her and make people think she is weak and he can only do it with a doctored video. when people see the video of the two of them, one looks a lot more presidential than the other. >> jonathan, i worked for a speaker for a half dozen years

and she's better at keeping the caucus together, better than sam rayburn and i have never seen a more effective leader of the house. than nancy pelosi. i've said it before. it's very hard to herd kittens or cats. it's very hard to herd them and they're all independently elected, they don't need you, yet she makes them do what she wants them to do without them hating her. that's machiavellian genius to be feared, but not hated. she can do it. the idea she is not competent is an absurdity. your thoughts about the world we live in, not the one trump's creating. >> you are right about speaker pelosi. this is a person to anyone in her position to herd cats, but particularly now with forces in the democratic party. some really want impeachment and others do not. she is to this point bent the caucus to her will. they're proceeding without impeachment now and going investigation by investigation and doing methodical and being strategic and want a couple legal battles and have a long way to go in this game. but so far looks like her

approach is effective and as far as the president goes, there is no bottom in terms of what he and his allies and conservative media outlets. that video is from fox business that was regurgitated on the internet. we saw like hillary clinton and again now, forces on the right acting in concert to try to sully the reputation of a public servant on the other party. >> it's the end of the week. we are going into a wonderful weekend and love memorial day weekend. it begins the summer. will trump reboot or continue spiraling downward? >> donald who has no fundamental philosophy and no moral core is going continue to behave in more and more erratic ways overtime. and he's going to do dangerous things. he's just handed bill barr the authority to out american intelligence sources. if it's in donald's interest to

do so, i'm very worried that may happen. >> that's why he has given a super power of all intelligence including the cia. all intelligence agencies, i guess defense intelligence, everything, and he's able to just decide everything like he's some sort of viceroy. >> trump has revealed sources and methods to the russians early in his administration in the oval office. so no, he's not going to change. he doesn't -- he's 72 years old. his personality was fixed a long time ago and as rex tillerson pointed out, he doesn't prepare. he just operates by the seat of his pants and there is no spine to hold up the rest of him. >> never seen any paperwork in a playpen. thank you so much. jonathan lemire, susan del percio, david cay johnston. coming up, president trump unleashes his attorney general as you heard from david giving william barr giving broad powers unlimited, really, to investigate what trump calls an attempted coup and treason, he's

calling it, by the fbi because they investigated. it's not about pay back, but it sure looks like it. doesn't it? later more of my interview with civil rights hero, congressman john lewis. you have to stick around for that. this guy, as i said, he is soulful and history in your face. he's real and he's alive. it's great. he suffered the wounds of hate himself during the civil rights movement. he was beaten up a couple of times. his thoughts on the rise of hate in today's america. much more ahead. stick with us. is that net carbs or total?...

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you know reliable support when you have it, and that dependability is what we want to give our customers. at comcast, it's my job to constantly monitor our network. prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work in the network operations center for comcast. we are working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back to "hardball." president trump is unleashing his attorney general. the president is granting william barr unilateral authority to declassify any intelligence related to the origins of the mueller probe.

it's to help ensure that all americans learn about the events that occurred and the actions that took place during the last presidential election, but the president already decided what that truth is. >> everything that they need is declassified and they'll be able to see how this hoax, how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started. it was an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the president of the united states. it's the greatest hoax probably in the history of our country, and somebody has to get to the bottom of it. >> the director of national intelligence dan coats released this statement. trying to calm fears that this new director would turn the intelligence community. i'm confident that the attorney general worked with the intelligence community in accordance with the along-established standards to protect highly-sensitive classified information that, if publicly released, would put our national security at risk. the director from this president

came only hours after he declared that those who led the investigation of him, the president, committed treason. >> sir, the constitution says treason is punishable by death. you accused your adversaries. >> if you look at people hiner that, if you lock at strzok, his lover, lisa page. >> they want an insurance policy so that if she loses, 100 million to one, maybe he said 100 million to nothing. but should she lose, we'll have an insurance policies and we'll get this guy out of office. that's what they said and that's what they meant. that's treason. that's treason.

>>. >> nbc justice correspondent pete williams says treason doesn't mean being disloyal against a president. i'm joined by ben rhodes, former adviser to president obama. first of all, there is a law you cannot commit treason against the united states it's the most frightening charge you can make, and here we go. >> article 3, section 3 of the united states constitution, treason is adhering to the enemy, providing the enemy aid and comfort. what the president calls treason is what the fbi did when it noticed all these weird contacts between people in the trump campaign and russian operatives. from the mueller report we know there were 251 such contacts.

is investigating a really bizarre relationships between american campaigns and enemy of the united states, the russians? is that treasonous? or is it, in fact -- >> i thought treason meant in war. >> what the constitution says is treason is going to war against the united states or providing aid and comfort to the enemy. we can look at things like jared kushner seeking a back channel so that he could have private conversations with the russian that the obama administration didn't know about. >> you don't want him executed, do you? >> that's for more treason than our fbi and intelligence agencies opening something. >> >> let's go back to what he said today.

you work for national security. what do you just of him saying to his political butler, william barr, the attorney general who seems to serve him in every way. every agency in the united states, all the intelligence agency and release any information you want in the purpose of destroying the reputation of the mueller probe. because that's your goal, destroy the mueller probe and its reputation. >> chris, it's totally extraordinary. once again, it's him putting his own conspiracy theory-based politics over our national security. the reality is the declassification authority rests with the intelligence agencies because they are the ones who know the sensitivity behind the information. the cia knows their sources. the nsa knows the vulnerabilities. bill barr has not worked at the -- those agencies. for him it's basically been the political errand boy for donald trump to suddenly have authority to cherry pick whatever

intelligence he wants that's out there in the intelligence community. there are billions of pieces of information. for him to cherry pick that for the political purpose of perpetuating the conspiracy theory that donald trump has shows how much they don't care about national security at all. they want to advance their own political agenda. they are blowing through any norms of how the judiciary should be independent. >> president trump raised his attorney general, mr. barr who at times has echoed the president's comments. appearing before the senate committee in april, barr appeared to endorse the widespread republican allegations the trump campaign was improperly surveilled or to use the trumpian term, spied upon. >> we want to make sure that -- during -- i think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. i'm not suggesting those rules were violated, but it's

important to look at that. i'm not talking about the fbi necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly. >> you are not suggesting that spying occurred? >> i don't -- well -- i guess you could -- i think spying did occur. yes, i think spying did occur. >> seems to me he is putting robert mueller on trial, the fbi on trial and comey and the works. he keeps saying there's higher authority behind all this and he's probably putting president obama on trial and loretta lynch. >> he said obama spied on my campaign. we know there's no basis in truth for that. so this attorney general is once again taking the loyalty pledge, acting much more like a defense attorney for the president and who badly needs one, but the united states needs someone to represent its interest and values and the present attorney general does not do that.

>> the president's surrogates have taken to the air waves right now to make bold predictions of barr's investigation. here's the president's former campaign manager cory lewandowski last night. >> we have to see additional criminal referrals with mccain getting another referral, comey a referral, strzok and page, james baker, possibly bruce or. in march or april of next year, james comey and strzok and page will be on trial for the crimes they committed dependence the fourth amendment and we can't wait. >> he has his band of henchmen available to jump on fox especially, and rudy, of course,. to say anything. to say anything is not just -- it's not just kellyanne or sarah people from the white house. he has this band of people that will say -- what happens in the little of the night.

can you get lewandowski to say it? he will say it. will rudy say it? he will say get him to say it. have a couple of drinks. get him after dinner. he will say anything. it's incredible what they say. for president trump's benefit. >> chris, this is important. let's establish facts very quickly here. one, completely bogus that this was some conspiracy out of the white house. i was in the white house. i was getting the presidential daily briefing with president obama and i learned about a investigation in the press after i left office. we didn't interfere. russia did intervene in our election. jim comey and the fbi were doing their job to figure out what russia was doing. in assaulting our democracy. the last thing i would say to your point, he has the surrogates, looks like a political show back and forth. but this language they're using, coup, treason, jim comey should be on trial, this is the kind of stuff, chris, that we hear in

dictatorships. this is not normal stuff. we know there's an audience out there, 40% of the country that will believe anything they say. they are whipping them into a frenzy. it's more dangerous than many people think. you have an attorney general and will do anything who will cover up for the president to help him obstruct justice. now the other side is we have seen the attorney general who will use the powers of his office to go after the president's political opponents. this isn't nothing back and forth political stuff. >> you agree. >> you have been covering the trenches for decades. this is different and it should be scary to people. >> >> never have seen anything like this. nobody can be a veteran of this crap. there is no such veteranship. let me ask you about the sad news that robert mueller doesn't want to testify in public. >> the president trump people starred this new trend where people seem to think when they're subpoenaed to talk to congress, they can dictate the terms. that's not how it's supposed to work.

>> what about mueller? >> if mueller is subpoenaed to congress, he doesn't get to say how he wants to talk to them. it's congress who says whether it should be public or private. if it's private, the american public will only get to see the transcript. that's going to be just ike another version of the mueller report. what congress wants is for people to see this very patrician and credible person telling the stories about those ten acts of obstruction by the president. it's something that has to be seen, not just read. >> i agree so much. we all remember, a lot of us remember watergate hearings because they were so powerful. >> that's right. >> everything. you heard it on television. you saw the faces. ben rhodes, thank you, paul butler, what a team you are. up next, we are more than 500 days from the in the presidential elections. this week especially with the candidate you think is best

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we got some fresh polling that came in yesterday from the monmouth university poll showing former vice president joe biden holding a wide lead for the democratic presidential nomination. he has more than double of his nearest rival, bernie sanders. senators warren and kamala harris show themselves to be the strongest challengers to sanders on the left. you see them coming up. with roughly nine months before the first votes are cast, the candidates are still trying to define themselves, this time voters will have to decide if they want a fighter or a uniter. >> it's early and i'm running the campaign they want to run. i love this. i'm somebody who knows how to fight and knows how to win. that's what i'm going to do. >> this is a moment in time that we must fight for the best of who we are. >> it's not just a four-year presidential term, but the beginning of a new era. and can't and that era can bring beautiful things or really dark things. >> i don't come from money, but

i have grit. i have the grit to represent the people of this nation and to have their backs. and that comes from my roots, it comes from my story. >> it's time for us. it's time for us to remember who we are. we are the united states of america. and there's nothing beyond our capacity. >> the democratic nominee will have to have the right stuff to take on trump. because the president and his campaign are gearing up for a bloody battle that got below the belt. after the break, stay tuned to see what they are planning to do on both sides. at least what trump's clearly up to. you're watching "hardball." ardb. summer wheat, and grains of paradise, for a new lighter and brighter summer ale. sorry, lime wedge. we've got this. sam adams summer ale.

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>> welcome back to "hardball." the doctored video of nancy pelosi brought back troubling reminders of the 2016 election. then gird yourself because it looks like president trump is primed to launch an all out assault of whoever standing before him in 2020. he's already taking shots at

the man he reportedly fears the most, former veep, joe biden. he is generally concerned about biden's potential to actually win. a recent internal campaign poll by the republicans concluded the president is trailing. in order to stave off that possibility, "the washington post" is reporting he plans to turning considerable talent for political destruction on both biden and his family. did you get that last part? and his family. to do that, the campaign is getting help from the republican national committee who launched an extensive opposition campaign. we are joined by the former senior adviser of hillary clinton's campaign. and shermichael singleton, a republican. trump is showing his hand. >> he is, but the reality is trump doesn't play by the typical rules. as it relates to joe biden. he not only has the capacity and ability to turn out in urban

areas in places like pennsylvania and wisconsin and michigan, but he can turn on the rural areas where president trump did fairly well that allowed him to surpass -- i think the biden appeal is that he's a regular guy that i can relate to more so than trump. he speaks their language and people like that reality of being able to say yeah, this guy talks the language that i want to hear, that i'm used to. he's familiar with my background. joe biden talked a lot about his dad growing up in pennsylvania. that's something that donald trump cannot necessarily do. he can talk about groups, but there's a personal, relatable factor that trump is missing that biden has. >> let's talk about the democrats taking shots at trump. biden tied him in with charlottesville. his character is wrong.

>> naturally. >> buttigieg the other day, you were there with "the washington post." referring right at him at his character for having dodged the draft. some other kid would have to go to fight. that's pretty personal. >> it is personal and the way democrats have to win against trump. we are not going to sink to the low-level tactics. it's also opposition research that happens to be true. we are not going to sink to the level of doctoring videos and tweeting videos of leader pelosi. that's not the way we run and win campaigns of, so we have to focus on the issues and the research. in 2016, yes, trump was the general election nominee, but it look a long time for the media to take him seriously during the primary. there is a lot of information out there besides the obvious stuff. i.e., his draft dodging the american people don't know about. those are the issues that cut to his base of support. >> i think really quickly as it relates to bernie and biden, the two top front-runners i would say. trump would say about biden, he

will bring us back to obama era. for a lot of republicans and gop leaning independent voters, they don't necessarily want that. for bernie sanders, trump will say do you want this cookie guy who says everything is free and not explain how we're going to pay for it, meaning he's going to jack up everybody's taxes. the average person would say absolutely not and i'm sticking with trump. >> when he says the billionaires and the millionaires, the guy in the suburbs says, no, he's going after mement let's take a look at mayor pete buttigieg going after trump's draft deferment. here we go. >> i have a pretty dim view of him using a privileged status to fake a disability to avoid serving in vietnam. >> i don't mean to trivialize disability, but that's what he did. manipulating the ability to get a diagnosis? if you are a conscientious objector, i would admire that.

but this is somebody who, i think, it's fairly obvious to most of us, took advantage of the fact that he was the child of a multimillionaire in order to pretend to be disabled so that somebody could go to war in his place. >> shermichael, this is a nonpolitical assessment, but it's everything about politics. if that guy there, pete, at a late night radio talk show in the middle of the night, he would be a superstar. he has the voice and the brain to develop a narrative at the right pace and put the knife directly into the president's heart. so well. >> maybe, but -- >> he said he had a doctor that cooked up the bone spurs. >> i'm not disagreeing with the facts, but my thing with pete buttigieg, and i know a lot of people are big fans of his. i'm not. the road to the democratic nomination cannot occur without african-american support. i have seen no evidence that

leads me to believe he is even capable of getting close to that. because i believe he's only registering 1% or 2% with african-americans. >> what about in? >> once people start to learn about the police chief, for example, that's going to be a big issue for him. this guy has not released policy issues or initiatives that speak directly to what african-americans are experiencing in this country. elizabeth warren has gone to great lengths to do that. kamala harris has gone to great length. >> it's may of 2019. there is plenty of time to get to this. absolutely. i agree he has work to do in this community, but we have to give him a little bit of credit for the fact that he had this surge and it's early and he made it clear that he is building out a team in south carolina and focusing on policies that he'll been unveiling in the coming weeks that directly -- >> he talks about privilege, but he's not the only one suffering from privilege. i think pete buttigeig is also.

reality is we're giving so much attention to this guy. elizabeth warren is not getting this much attention. kamala harris isn't getting this much attention, and they're releasing substantive policy issues. >> fair enough. he has the buzz and the media is focusing on him. and we're going to focus on him beginning next week. shermichael, a lot of sharp points tonight. i like it. that's "hardball." up next, a special sneak preview of our special event examining the country's uptick in racial violence of late. civil rights hero congressman john lewis, what a so you feelful man, joins us. and we want to hear what he has to say about all this and what's going on. don't go anywhere.

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-you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron. welcome back to "hardball." earlier this week i sat down with civil rights hero and georgia congressman john louewi to talk about the recent up tick of hate crimes in this country. >> chris, you have to be strong. too much violence, too much hate. you know, dr. king said on one occasion hate is too heavy a burden to bear.

somehow and some way you got to lay down this burden. i don't know what has happened to america. it makes me sad. it makes me sometimes cry. i can never forget what happened in charlottesville, what happened at the church in charleston, and its spread like wildfire. >> do you think it's something new or just old hate, people worried about change, ethnic change, immigration? what do you think stirred it up just now? >> i think it's a combination of several things. those of us in the political arena na arena need to speak up and need to speak out and say this is not the america that we want. we want a better america. we want to bring people together because we're one people, we're one family. we all live in the same house,

the american house. we're brothers and sisters. and we can do better, much better than the height of the civil rights movement. we were taught the way of peace, the way of love. i was beaten, left bloody, left unconscious, but i never hated everyone and never will hate anyone. those of us in the political arena need to preach the way of love. preach the way of peace. help create the beloved community, help bring people together as one people as one family. >> and talk about a man who walked the walk, you can catch my full interview with congressman john lewis on this monday. >> up next, the two races going on right now within the democratic presidential field. two races. you're watching "hardball." side. two races. you're watching "hardball. i can't tell you who i am or what i witnessed,

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i'd like to share with you now my look at the democratic race for 2020. there are two races actually going on at this point. one if the center left, the other for the hard left. former vice president joe biden is leading the center left race. bernie sanders and elizabeth warren are competing for the hard left rail.

there's the sconceitant factor, most democrats feel good about his service with president obama, his knowledge of foreign policy and his good spirits. biden has also benefitted from the absence of candidates competing in his lane. had michael bloomberg entered the democratic race -- if any of them had raced biden's towering lead would be substantially lower right now. his great advantage is he hasn't had to share the vote for his kind of candidate. elizabeth warren has been campaigning hard and at bernie's expense. this means the voters on the hard left have two front runners of which to choose. looking ahead at the debates i see the three front runners, biden, one bernie and warren fa serious challenges. i expect pete buttigieg would make a good run-down the center left putting a challenge to biden. akened dt first test now is to outrun the candidate who offer

much the same as they do. and before they can gain the majority of the democratic party they need to clear their own lane of challengers. that's why joe biden is way ahead because he owns his lane. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us and stay with us right here on msnbc. good evening. i'm donny deutsch, and there are 528 days until the 2020 presidential election, and tonight we'll break down the week's top stories and see how they're strategically shaping the panel for the white house in 2020. first up, infrastructure melt down. the president throws a tantrum in the rose garden and less is more. joe biden is enjoying his lead in polls. is one of his strategies staying out of sight? and presidential candidate steve bullock has turned the red