thanks for spending some time with us here on "the beat" on your july 4th holiday weekend. wishing you and your family the best. well will be back live here 6:00 p.m. eastern on monday for "the beat with ari melber." off and running. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. last week's democratic presidential debate in miami marked the first milestone in the long road toward the 2020 presidential election. the debate was packed with standup moments and offered voters a glimpse of who could one day face donald trump. take a look. >> vice president biden, it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two united states senators who built their reputations and career on the

segregation of race in this country. and it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose bussing. >> the reason that they're separating these little children from their families is that they're using section 1325 of that act which criminalizes omming across the border to incarcerate the parents and then separate them. some of us on this stage have called to end that section, to terminate it. some, like congressman o'rourke, have not. and i want to challenge all of the candidates to do that. >> i am in this fight because i believe that we can make our government. we can make our economy, we can make our country work not just for those at the top, we can make it work for everyone. and i promise you this. i will fight for you as hard as i fight for my own family. >> whoever comes out on top will have to contend, of course, trump, who tweeted reactions to the debate. i'm joined right now by jason johnson politics editor at

theroot.com. jonathan hour, digital national political reporter and heidi przybyla. hidely, let's talk a week ago about what happened. i guess my question at the top was that a one-off bad night for biden and a one-off great night for kamala harris, or are we looking at a big trend here? >> i think we're seeing the top tier be completely reorganized. predebate we were talking about bernie and biden and biden being the establishment figure. and now we're talking about really a three-person top tier race with warren, kamala harris, biden, and bernie sanders being somewhat pushed aside. he is being couopted. the women were the breakout stars here. i don't think there were many americans predebate saw harris as a person who could stand up on a stage with trump and disassemble him. but you take out trump and insert biden, i think many more people were able to envision that and see what she did inside congress with disassembling

attorney general barr, with some of the other trump cabinet officials is something that she can also do in a campaign context. >> you know, back in '88, i remember george sr., the first george bush taking apart dan rather. that was the sparring partner. that was setting him up for take down mike dukakis in the fall, and it worked. >> i think what we're seeing here is laziness on the part of the biden campaign. there is guilty no reason he should have been -- kamala harris was shooting jab, left, right. he should have expected that. he should have known that in the first debate. thing are a lot of people in biden world that are under the arrogant presumption that she is running for vice president. >> not anymore. she is not running for vice president. i think he got it in the chin. and by the way, i just thought that's so true. i completely like that. i can't think of a better thought that that. she ain't running for vp anymore now. she took apart, again, in the preliminary rounds, she took apart brett kavanaugh piece by piece. >> yeah. >> she took apart bill barr, a

tough customer. what did biden think was coming, john? this is what she does. she takes apart the defendant. >> yeah, she takes people apart. biden had to know this was coming. everybody was talking about bussing in the '70s for weeks. i think the people on his campaign tried to get to him, tried to tell him he needed a better answer for this, and he didn't listen. i think this is a huge problem for him, that he thinks he is in a good place and he's not. the thing joe biden has going for him is not that democrats agree with him, it's that democrats think he is the most electable. and one more debate performance like that and there is going to be almost no one in the democratic party that thinks he is electable. he was talking about 1973 and failing to explain himself. he needs to be talking about what he is going to be doing in 2023 and explaining himself. that was one of the worst debate performances i've ever seen. >> we've watched this guy for a long time, long before the vp which he got his big break. he wasn't pulled out telephone ditch like barack obama says, but he was brought to back to

life. he was fast-moving, fast punching, and sometimes a light heavyweight. but he went into this like he was the heavyweight champion, and he wasn't. >> he did. and he had been warned about that. that just like it wasn't a coronation for hillary clinton, and bernie sanders, her campaign was so caught off guard by bernie sanders, for example, winning in states like michigan, it's the same thing for joe biden. and yet surprisingly, they seem to be running the same playbook in so many regards. and i'm saying this as somebody who covered the hillary clinton campaign, down to, and we discussed this before, just the lack of interaction with the media as well that he doesn't have to take answers. he doesn't have to mix it up with the media the same way that the other candidates did. but i think we're going to watch now these next few weeks to see what kind of a course correction he is going to do, because like jonathan says, one more performance like that, people are starting to view that electability label as belonging to someone else. >> you make a great point, heidi, as often you do, but i mean it.

de blasio did a better job than biden, because de blasio is in new york. you have to put up with that hellacious media coverage every couple of minutes. he knows how to fight. >> he knows how to fight. >> it wasn't a strange place for him to be on that platform. it with australia strange place for joe biden to be. >> you think he would know better. if you look at it objectively, he debated senator palin, which was actually more difficult. palin, he was going to be debating a woman. he managed that well. he managed paul ryan. it the clearest indicate they're biden knows he wasn't doing well, he is not going the press gaggle afterwards. he's got better things to do. he was at the press gaggle afterwards. >> who was? >> joe biden. >> no he wasn't. >> he was not at the gaggle afterwards? >> he never came to the spin room. you're talking to the guy who was begging. >> wow. >> grabbed him on stage, but very much against his will because he had a body mankind of body block him not to get to biden.

but i'm telling you, he did not come in the spin room, which i thought was a huge mistake. >> exactly, because you've got get in there and wrestle with people. >> we haven't seen joe biden on a stage like that in a long time, and it looks like he had lost a lot of heat off his fast bawl, and that was the question coming in. >> 75 miles an hour, what do you think it was? >> it looked like a big fat pitch for kamala harris to hit out of the park. and it wasn't just her, eric swalwell took shots at him and landed. this was not good for him. and one other last thing, there was one really terrible optic there too which was kamala harris is taking him apart, and he doesn't do her the courtesy of looking at her. >> looked down. >> it looked terrible. >> like this. >> but he is not looking at her. i can't believe -- >> she was looking at him. >> she was looking at him, and he's not looking at her. i thought that was a terrible optic. >> one thing in defense of joe biden in terms of explaining what might be in his head in terms of strategy, he's got 30, 40 years of votes worth to

explain. and from his perspective, he is probably thinking if i start apologizing now, this is going to turn into a bloodbath. that is the wrong calculation, because you can do -- you can explain, and you can have a conversation with the american people and talk about your evolution without becoming a doormat. >> there was a way joe biden could have easily flipped this. he could have turned to senator harris and said look, when you've been in this game as long as i have, you have to make tough decision. you tell me you never made a decision as state prosecutor that you made a decision you felt bad of later, that would have been his answer. >> put that guy in the corner. put a tower over his shoulder and have him stand next to you when you need some thoughts. anyway, who is the guy in rocky? mickey. thank you, jason johnson, thank you, jonathan allen and heidi przybyla. coming up, my conversations with the presidential contenders. >> he is flouting the law. he is basically now saying more like an authoritarian leader, i am subject to no oversight.

>> then this administration comes in, wants to take away the funding for planned parenthood, thus take away women's access to contraception, and at the same time in a number of states across the country, republicans are trying to get rid of their right to choose. >> be thank you is our moment, our chance to be bold. >> warren, booker, buttigieg, and many of the other 20-plus candidates weigh in on impeachment, immigration, climate change, abortion, and what each of the candidates say this election is truly about. is it just about beating trump or it is something more? much more coming ahead. stick with us. n scan? with the freestyle libre 14 day system just scan the sensor with your reader, iphone or android and manage your diabetes. with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose levels any time, without fingersticks. ask your doctor to write a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks.

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democrats. dozens of them have called for an impeachment inquiry, but nowhere near enough, and speaker nancy pelosi remains opposed. i spoke to several of the democratic presidential candidate about the mueller report and impeachment. let's watch. >> would you have a president that is not even allowing congressional investigations to happen, i mean, he is flouting the law. he is basically now saying more like an authoritarian leader. i am suggest to no oversight, not the checks and balances of the constitution. so i literally had a heart to heart with my own team in the senate office where we said how is history going to look back on this when a president was willing to mandate the constitution, he has basically shut that down, not allowing subpoenas, not allowing interviews. i'm sorry. i forget the politics of the situation. what will history say when we had a president who acted in such an authoritarian fashion. so we should begin impeachment proceedings to have even more legal leverage to actually provide the oversight of

congress' job, and we'll see what that leads to. >> i'll tell you one thing committee we can't wait on, and that is protecting our election some 500 days from now from foreign powers or others who might try to hack in. we know now that they're investigating two counties in florida, north carolina, and yet the republicans are stonewalling the secure election act which simply would require backup paper ballots in the 14 states that either don't have them or have partial. and there is just no stews for this if you believe in democracy, whether you're a democrat or a republican. >> is it too rough a question? but i'll put to it you anyway, senator. do you think the president abused his office, the powers of the presidency? has he abused them? >> i think he has, yes. >> do you think he has committed impeachable crimes? >> have i made this very clear that i believe they should start impeachment proceedings. >> first of all, i believe that the president deserves to be impeached.

i would also say even though i have revealed myself to be ambitious in that i am a young man running for president, that i also would think twice before offering strategic advice to nancy pelosi. because i think part of what's happening here to a lot of people, impeachment means removal from office, but it's really a process, and it's the only process we've got left because the doj has said you can't charge a sitting president. and i don't think it makes a lot of sense to suggest that the president is above the law. but basically, it means the only place we can have a procedure, the only place we can have due process, the only way we can go through the steps of evidence and so forth as long as he is in the oval office is in congress in the form of an impeachment proceeding, which i think is what we're going to have to do. but in order to do that, it better be an airtight process. i do recognize that while we're still trying to get information,

the investigations are ongoing. there are witnesses yet to come before congress, that there may be some strategic wisdom in following that sequence. i'll leave that to congress. i will say no one ought to be above the law, that it meters that there is an authority. [ applause ] >> mayor, i've got a follow-up, and it's to sort of nail you down. if you were voting in congress right now on impeachment, would you vote to impeach? >> yeah, i would. >> see how fast he answers? thank you. >> and i'm going to tell you something, chris, as a former prosecutor, when you were talking about the attorney general of the united states who is presented with the responsibility and the duty to represent the people of the united states in a system of justice on a question of whether the president of the united states obstructed justice, i think it is reasonable that the american public should expect

that before that attorney general speaks, he would have firsthand knowledge of the evidence before he speaks and utters a word about whether or not he is going to charge a crime. but this attorney general failed to do it. and clearly, it is because he thinks of himself as the attorney of the president instead of the people's attorney. and i think that's disqualifying. >> just to put a sharp point on it, it seems to me that he overruled, he overruled mueller. he said basically he can't exonerate the president on obstruction. i'll do it. and it seems to me that he did that as you pointed out without going into the evidence. he simply arbitrarily made the judgment i'm going to exonerate him, even if mueller won't do it. >> i agree with you. and, look, listen, the report is a report if you have it in front of you, you will see the cover page of that 400-plus page document. it calls itself because it is a report.

it is not a file of evidence. it is a report. on an investigation. and the findings of that investigation. he says it himself. after the report was filed with him, it was his, quote, baby, this is what he said today. well, when he's got his baby, then you know you got to really figure out what exactly it is before you start representing what it is to the american public. and he failed to do that, chris. and listen, there is that piece of it. there is the piece of it about his testimony where he could not clearly answer it. and i believe he can, but did not clearly answer whether he had been asked by the president or any member of the white house. to investigate someone or anyone. >> your view about pelosi and her -- let's say this, obstruction to impeachment. >> well, i disagree with her. i think she has done a fantastic job of standing up to trump in the meetings she's had at the

white house, and she deserves a lot of credit for that. but she has made a political case for why it's not the right time or whatever to do impeachment. how about just doing the right thing by the constitution? i think the constitution is very clear here, and all you need to do is read just the executive summary of the mueller report to understand that the ball is in our court, and we have to do our job. mueller has made it very clear that we should be having a debate in congress about whether the president obstructed justice. >> you know that he fired his fbi director for not playing ball with him on this issue of russian involvement. we know he told mcgahn, his white house lawyer, to fire the special counsel. that's obstruction based on the nixon principle, definitely, that precedent. what more would you like to know about this president that he tried to completely remove the prosecution against him? >> we have a lot that we've got to figure out. the most important conclusion of the mueller report is the fact that russia interfered with our

election to try to get trump elected. i don't care whether you're the biggest trump fan or the biggest trump hater. every american should want to know why the greatest enemy for the last 75 years wants this guy elected president. mueller made that very clear that's even a more tan conclusion than obstruction of justice. we're not going to find out these answers, chris, if we don't have this debate in congress. >> yes or no, do you think the house will impeach trump? >> i think eventually we'll get there. >> what year? >> speaker pelosi is in a tough position right now, she is trying to speak to different parts of the caucus. sorry, what's that chris? >> what year will they impeach? it's 2019. when will they do it? >> look, we're not taking bets a at bar here, chris, i don't know exactly. but i can tell you that a lot of colleagues are changing their opinions. >> well, i believe having read the mueller report that he has committed impeachable offenses. i believe he obstructed justice, and i believe we should have

hearings in the house. i think that mueller should testify and others should testify. and then we have to make a judgment about what to do. i think everybody needs to understand that if the house impeached tomorrow, mcconnell would acquit donald trump next week. >> that's true in two years from now. that's true five years from now. that will never be different. >> i don't know. probably not. with mcconnell, you're probably right. but i think it would be useful for the american people to see what this record really is. the other night, chris, i watched 20 minutes of youtube clips of the watergate hearings. by the way, that will bring a tear to your eye if you ever watch them because it reminds you of what a government that actually functions looks like. >> tell me. give that to the younger viewers right now, senator. give us a translation to the 2019 of what it felt like to watch in 1974 that house judiciary committee. >> yeah. so to see republicans and democrats exercising their

constitutional responsibility to search out the truth, not show up with partisan talking points. as you'll remember, chris, the watergate committee actually discovered the tapes. >> right. >> no prosecutor found the tapes. congress was doing its job, methodically, day after day, night after night with their shirt-sleeves rolled up in washington, making sure the american people understood what was at stake when a president violated the rule of law. i think we would benefit from that again now. but what i don't want to do, i don't want us to do it in way that gives donald trump a better chance of getting reelected because we also have to make sure that he's only a one-term president. so it's too bad, but we do have to walk and chew gum at the same time. >> well, back then, the question from howard baker, the republican leader on the committee that you mentioned and applauded was what did the president know and when did he know it. we already had those answers. he tried to fire the fbi director who wouldn't protect

him. he tried to fire the special counsel who was prosecuting him. we know all this. we know the cardinal sins of this president already. we don't need to get tapes from the june 23rd tape between him and haldeman. we don't need that stuff. it's not an investigative effort anymore, is it? you sound like you already know enough to impeach him. >> but i've read the mueller report. most people in america have no idea what's in the mueller report. and if you proceed without the american people actually knowing what's in there, i think that's going to create a huge problem for everybody. and that was true of watergate too. remember, it took a year before republicans came around on that because they finally saw what the facts were. and i'll grant you that we know some facts or that are some legal conclusions too, but there may be other stuff as well. and i do think that when you're talking about something like impeachment, even if it is this president we're talking about, you got to -- you got to take the time to put the facts out in front of the american people.

and congress can do that. >> up next, the democratic candidates didn't have anything good to say about the president's immigration policies, but what plan do the democrats have? i asked them. their answers are coming up next. you're watching "hardball." about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. fasenra is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra is proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, improve breathing, and can lower oral steroid use. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection

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welcome back to "hardball." in recent weeks, we've heard stories of horror about migrant detention facilities, which have spurred calls for action. numerous reports have exposed

the squalid conditions for hundreds of migrant children held at a border patrol station in texas. president trump is making border security and immigration one of the focuses of his reelection campaign, of course. i spoke to several of the democratic presidential candidates about what they would do about migrants crossing into the u.s. illegally. let's watch. >> but traditionally, we are a country that has benefitted from immigration. we are stronger because of our immigrant roots. we are stronger because immigrants have come to this country and helped build this country. it's the entrepreneurialism. it's the innovation. so for the 12 million people that are here, we need comprehensive immigration reform. >> should the democrats be proud of the fact they helped enforce the border or happy that they like immigrants, even if they're illegally here? >> what president trump has done is confuse the issue. there are two parts of immigration. there is the border security part which is to fight against cross-border terrorism, human trafficking, gun trafficking and drug trafficking. that's the part we will all fund.

that is the part that we have to continue to make sure to actually get the resources. >> what about poor mexicans that want to move to the united states? isn't that the biggest chunk of people? >> i will address that. but the second half is people who want to come here because they're seeking asylum. that's where president trump has gone off the rails. that is where he has been inhumane and frankly frightened. he has been a coward. >> here's how we meet that challenge. you go to the places where people are leaving right now, the deadliest places on the planet. and instead of cutting off all funding for the northern triangle countries, you invest in violence reduction so no parent has to send their 3-year-old child on a 2,000 mile journey to be here. no wall, no $30 billion that trump wants to spend, no cages for kids, no militarization of the birthdayer is going to stop that issue. investing where the problem is and working with the partner companies in the region. and then if you're really serious about this, you rewrite our immigration laws so people can lawfully come here to work

jobs no one is filling. folks can join their families. they can get in a line that doesn't stretch 20 or 25 years to come here. that's the way that we bring people out of the shadows, that we get in line with the realities that we see on the ground. it will not happen through walls. it will not happen with any of donald trump's scare tactics and racism and his paranoia about people who come from other places. it's got to be a realistic program. and i'll tell you, living in el paso, one-half of the largest binational community, ciudad juarez, this is one of the largest communities in the united states of america and it has been 20 years rung. there are solutions here we can bring to the table to ensure that we address those very legitimate concerns that people have, but it's not going to be through walls. >> what would the democrats do if they have power to stop illegal immigration? or slow it down? what would they do? >> right.

the best indication of that is to see what the senate did right before i got there. this incredible group of people, gang of eight on both sides of the aisle who understood we were hurting ourselves as a nation of immigrants by not keeping that truth real, and that we had to do things to protect our borders. we actually had to put forth a piece of legislation to pass through our senate that would have not only put more protection on the border, but would have given people pathways to citizenship. >> there was an agreement made in congress, hard fought agreement on how much money should go toward border security, not paying for this wall that he has been talking about for years and chanting about at rallies, but just smart security measures. instead, he goes forward with something that is unconstitutional, is going the create all kind of eminent domain issues, takes money away from our military housing and puts it into something to meet a campaign promise. so the fact that you have republicans that are saying the same thing that we are saying is significant for our democracy.

>> look, you need a new president who is willing to seek solution. >> what are the solutions? i don't hear democrats -- if you do think -- a big if here. if you think it's a problem, i think a lot of liberal democrats don't think it's much of a problem. fine, there are people coming in. it's migrants. basically open borders. where are you? are you an open borders guy? >> no. i think having some borders makes sense. we need to increase our openness to refugees. it's pathetic that trump has been so humane to refugees some who are climate refugees. >> i agree with that. >> it has been so inhumane to separate parents from their children. it has been nuts to want to waste billions of dollars on a wall that even the republicans don't want to do. but i think you need to separate that. >> do you think the democrats would work to reduce illegal immigration? >> sure. the democrats have put in appropriate appropriations. >> do they believe in it? >> for things to have some meaningful border. it's not just the border. we have 11 million people that

are our neighbors. they're working, they're going to school and are dreamer. >> i'm from pennsylvania. a lot of people voted for trump because they don't like illegal immigration. they don't like it. >> they like the dreamers. everybody loves the dreamers in my state. these are kids going to school. they want to be doctors, engine nice, they didn't make a decision to break the law. >> they just came here. trump has been so inhumane to them. up next, president trump has called climate change a hoax. the field of democratic candidates disagrees unanimously. you'll hear what they propose to do about it. plus, where they stand on the issue of abortion. you're watching "hardball." l.s . if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections including tuberculosis, and cancers,

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welcome back to "hardball." the first presidential debate was held in miami where rising sea levels caused by climate change and warming oceans is not an issue for future generations, it's a concern in realtime. i talked to several of the candidates about climate change. i also spoke to them about republican efforts to roll back and in some cases completely

eliminate access to abortions. but first, mayor pete buttigieg on climate change. let's watch. >> look, this an existential issue, and i think we have to treat it like a security issue. it's also a moral issue, and it's an issue of intergenerational justice, because each generation in the future is being made worse off if we don't deal with it. so what can we do? we definitely have to have a carbon price and dividend, carbon tax and dividend, call it what you want. we need to do it in order to get our economy closer to carbon neutral. we have to at least quadruple federal r&d. we have to undertake building retrofits, which will create a lot of jobs in addition to make us more energy efficient. and we need to put climate at the center of our diplomacy so that other countries are being held to account for how much they're part of the solution. but there is one other thing that's not being talked about so much which is how rural america, places like the central valley could be a huge part of the solution. you know there are some estimates that through better soil management, soil could

capture a level of carbon equivalent to the entire global transportation industry. and if we let rural america know that they could be one of the most important parts of the solution, instead of just being -- feeling like they're being told that they're part of the problem, we might be able to break down some to feel resistance, especially at a moment when rural america is beginning to realize because of this extreme weather that where i live is making it hard to see whether it's even worth planting soy this year, for example, because some of the fields are so waterlogged after a lot of extreme weather. they have the most to lose. but the point is all of us need to be part of a national project to deal with climate through good policy, yes. but through everything that the private, public, academic and social sector can bring to bear on the issue. >> i think you to address global climate change because it is the greatest threat to humanity that exists. i think democrats who are afraid to dream big don't understand what leadership is. you have to be brave enough to say you have to do this now, not

because it's easy, but but because it's hard. just like john f. kennedy. when he said he want put a machine on the moon, he didn't know he could do it in ten years. how great we are as a nation, how innovative, how strong. >> and he beat the spread. >> and he did it. we need a president who is going to say we must address global climate change and regain our leadership on the world stage and lead other countries to do the right thing. why not a space race with china over green energy? why not actually say who can address global climate change with clean energy and renewable fuels faster and see who scientists and entrepreneurs are the best. >> most people watching right now and listening say okay, ocasio-cortez has the green new deal. you're talking about the green part. what about the rest of it, the ideological part of it, the left part of it. are you happy with that? because that's what trump will run against. >> it's a lot more simple than most people think. the green new deal is just a platform of ideas. ideas in fact that i've been working on for ten years. it's clean air, clean water. i've been serving on the

environment public works committee, making sure we can clean up poisoned water with pfoa for ten years, with lead from pcbs. the second piece is infrastructure. there is no more bipartisan idea than rebuilding america's infrastructure. high-speed rail, rural broad band, new electric grid, more mass transit. and last is green jobs. and we know that if you train young kids in s.t.e.m. and give them the opportunity to be able to be the next workers in wind, solar, geothermal, biopower it's going to be the trends of the future and create economic growth. >> when i went to paradise, california, this is a town of 25 that just burned right to the ground, it looked like a hollywood apocalypse movie. this is a magic moment for our nation because the public is now understanding. this used to be a graph on a chart, an abstraction. now as people see real neighbors being burned out of their homes. >> what is the one thing you woo do on climate if you got in if

there? >> we would have a whole suite of policies. >> name one. >> 100% clean fuel, clean grid, big investment in energy efficiency, requirements for better building codes, and large research and development. we spent more money developing one kind of jeep years ago than our entire clean energy investment strategy. now below that, there is 24 different strategy, and we're doing them in our state as we speak. >> do you accept roe v. wade as settled law? that's it. leave it the way it is? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> okay. >> as president, i would make sure that our department of justice always sided with women when there is ever a question about this. i would make sure that my nominees to all the courts, including the highest in the land understand that this is settled law. and then i'd work with colleagues in congress to make sure that we pass a law that prevents any future supreme court from overturning roe v. wade by enshrining that in

settled law from congress signed by our administration. i think if you do that and then compliment that by getting rid of the hyde amendment, getting rid of the gag rule, making sure that women can access health care in this country, not only will we ensure access to a safe, legal abortion, we'll also make sure that the wider issues, these attacks on women are stopped and that we improve health care outcomes, especially in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis that is three times as deadly for women of color in this country. this is literally a life or death issue in the united states of america right now. >> what they have done in georgia and in alabama is dangerous. it is wrong, and it is unconstitutional. and 73% of americans do not want to overturn roe v. wade. think about that. so why are they doing it? one, they want to put politics with women's health to impress their base. but two, they want to set up case to go to the supreme court.

and when you think about the facts here, abortions actually were at an all-time low during the obama administration. that's the last study i could find that the cdc had done. >> why is it low? >> because contraception was made available, because we reduced the number of abortions because of the fact that we funded planned parenthood where in their lifetime one out of five women will visit at some point for cancer screenings, for birth control. think about that. so we have literally reduced the number of abortions during the span of the obama administration. then this administration comes in, wants to take away the funding for planned parenthood, thus take away women's access to contraception, and at the same time in a number of states across the country, republicans are trying to get rid of their right to choose. it's an outrage and the women of america and the men of america, the majority of them do not agree. >> let me ask you about the politics of this.

i know you're running for president. maybe this isn't the most politic thing to say, but it seems stupid on their part, not just wrong. if you have prohibition, if you actually had a regime in this country of a woman could not get a safe legal abortion, had to go overseas or whatever to get one, what -- wouldn't that just destroy the republican party politically based upon your numbers? >> i believe that this is against their best interests politically, but they don't care about that. what they care about it appears is not women's health or they wouldn't be trying to overturn the affordable care act in getting rid of the ban on kicking people off their insurance for preexisting conditions, or getting rid of this idea that we used to have that being a victim of dmiblg abuse was preexisting condition. all of these things make no sense for the people of america. but when you are trying to attract a certain base in their own party, you don't seem to care about that. >> so i think that every candidate for the democratic nomination ought to be able to demonstrate our commitment to

women's reproductive freedom, especially the candidates who are not themselves women. that's why i thought it was important for me to be on the steps of the supreme court with planned parenthood. it's why if you visit our website, you'll see our commitment to repealing the height amendment, making sure judicial appointments share my view that the idea of freedom includes freedom to make decisions about your own body and the whole spectrum of reproductive services which of course includes abortion care but is not limited to that. up next, what is the 2020 election really about for democrats? is it about beating trump or climate change or health care? their answers next. you're watching "hardball." dbal. and it really shows. with all that usaa offers why go with anybody else? we know their rates are good, we know that they're always going to take care of us. it was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. it was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say "oh we can't beat usaa"

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here... or, here. kick your antacid habit with prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. welcome back to "hardball." in several polls, democratic voters have listed defeating trump as one of their top concerns heading into 2020. more important the specific issues like taxes or national security. i asked several of the democratic candidates how they see this election. is it about finding the man or woman best able to beat trump, or is it about something else? let's watch. >> this election, that's what i tell democrats. you can't make this election just about one office and one person about what we're against. we need to talk about what we're for. and if we reduce this effort to just being against -- we're going to beat republicans, no, this election has to be about reuniting americans again in common cause and purpose.

when i talk to folks in iowa, they're right to be angry. attacks on public education, attacks on labor. here in this state, the loopholes to get around davis bacon, a tax on farmers. farmer suicide rates are as high as they have been since the great depression. i'm here just down the street here, you see the rivers rising. historic floods happening year after year after year. all of this stuff is happening because we are not seeing with a more courageous empathy the suffering of our neighbors. so we need to have a politics where we say hey, we've got common cause. we definitely have common pain, but this campaign, this time in american history more than ever, we need to reunite a common purpose and put more indivisible back into one nation under god. >> so many challenges we face are stripping the dignity away from work, attacks on women. this is going on before donald trump was elected. with eneed to get rid of him. but as i said in my speech, this gets him out of the valley. it doesn't get us to the

mountaintop. >> who would beat him? who would that candidate be? you're centering in on someone who would -- you're a rhodes scholar. a mathematical question. is it the necessary condition? the necessary condition is beating trump. and then you like to do something better. don't you have to first beat him? beat trump and then do something good afterwards. >> you and i are pretty much saying the same thing. the way you beat him is not just tactically focusing in on him. we cannot run this race about what we're against. we have to run this race by what we're for, because that's going to inspire people. that's going to energize folks. the tactics of just beating him, i'm sorry. he wants to make this all about himself. he wants to suck all the oxygen, again, out of an election, and he wants us to fight him on his turfs and his terms. i know this from going up against tough candidates before. i had to beat a machine to become the mayor of the city of newark. the way you beat someone who is using tactic likes that is to

inspire people about what politics should be about, the best of who we are. >> well, you're good at that. >> here is the thing. people have seen democratic and republican administrations letting them down for basically as long as i've been alive. and there is a sense that our economy and our government are twisted, are tilted, are not working for us. and it was incredibly upsetting at a time when most americans, by the way, agree with democrats on most issues, to see us basically cast out as though we represented the system. if we don't demonstrate that we understand the need to transform the systems that we're living in, not just tinker around the edges, not replicate what we're used to, i guess the point is if we have a campaign where the theme is let's go back to normal -- >> that's what biden wants. you're suggesting biden would do that. >> i'm not going to talk to anybody else's campaign. >> yes, you are. this is an indirect shot at biden. does anybody else think he is talking about biden? thank you. there is 24 of us.

i don't know which ones are pursuing. >> all right. >> so you think you can get an unanswered shot from biden when you say some people want to go back to obama/biden, but i'm not going to name them. come on. this is honesty here. >> this is a lot bigger than one candidate or even one cycle. i believe we're at a moment between periods in american history. every 30, 40, 50 years, you come to one of these hinge points, the beginning of the reagan era was one. and the reagan era has basically lasted all the way until now. >> yeah. >> it is constrained how democrats and republicans behaved once they got into office. the problem is it didn't work. the whole idea, and democrats bought into this too, was the rising tide lifts all boats. as long as we make sure there is growth, everything else will take care of itself. the problem is you start the clock right around the time i was born. and what you find is the rising tide rose, but most of the boats didn't budge. most people's median income didn't move. and i think that sense that the

system overall has failed us helps to explain why, you know, around here in this part of california, certainly around where i live in the industrial midwest, a lot of people who are under no illusions about the president being a good guy, okay, they're under no illusions about his character, but they decided to vote effectively to burn the house down, to send a message. and that's exactly what we got. >> why is a moderate like biden leading and not a progressive like you? >> i think the ball game has just begun. i think a progressive is going to be nominated. i tell you something. when i talk to iowans or people all over the country that. >> want us to discuss very bluntly, and this is an issue i think joe biden's not well-positioned on, very bluntly what's happening to our economy. a progressive, clear, blunt economic message. i say there is plenty of money in this world. there is plenty of money in this country. it's just in the wrong hands. i say it bluntly. >> but the other side are also blunt and they say they're not affordab

affordable. the taxpayer won't back them. >> i believe moderates may think that. but i'll tell you what, woulding people think. when i talked to audience, every demographic, all four early states, i say the people with money is in the wrong hands. this country is not fair right now. it's not fair the working people. it's not working for working people. they want something different. >> would you back biden with enthusiasm if he was the nominee? if he were the nominee. >> if joe biden were the nominee, i would definitely work hard for him like i think he would hard for me. i think democrats will be unified. donald trump can win if we repeat the 2016 mistake, which is to not have a clear, progressive economic message. >> this is our moment, our chance to be bold, our chance the say that we can really say from the grassroots up build a movement that makes markets, makes this country work better for everyone. it's not that hard. we pass a wealth tax just to

pick that one, 2% on the biggest fortunes in this country. and you know what we can do? we can do universal child care, universal pre-k, zero to five all our kids and still have $2 trillion left over. money to reduce the student loan debt burden. money to put into housing. money that we can use as a down payment on a green deal. that's how we build a future, not just for those at the top, but build a future for everyone. >> we'll be right back. you're watching "hardball." dbal.

that's "hardball" for now. enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. we'll see you back here monday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. thanks for being with us. tonight on "all in" -- >> i want to return government to the people. >> i think it's important we restore the soul of this nation. >> we've got to fix our democracy before it's too late. >> we'll say saad adios to donald trump. >> americans do not want to witness a food fight. they want to know how we're going to put food on the table there. >> are three women up here who have fought pretty hard for a woman's right to true. >> that's how we beat trump. we expose him for the fraud that he is. >> tonight chairman of the dnc on the race to replace trump. >> voters want to know whose got their back on the issues that matter most, and that's the democratic party. then -- >> the matter