that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next saturday at 5:00 p.m. eastern for a new live edition of "politics nation." up next, "meet the press" with chuck todd. this sunday, the impeachment inquiry. >> on this vote, the yeas are 232. the nays are 196. >> house democrats vote to take the next step on impeachment. >> this is a solemn moment. it's a sober moment. >> we are here because the facts compel us to be here. >> but republicans unanimously oppose it, denouncing it as a partisan exercise. >> this impeachment is not only an attempt to undo the last election. it's an attempt to influence the next one as well. >> and they predict president trump will survive a senate trial. >> while we're doing this, i really don't know because it's

going nowhere in the senate. >> my guest this morning, democratic congresswoman terri sewell of alabama, who sits on the house intelligence committee, and republican congressman and deputy whip tom cole of oklahoma. >> plus, with exactly one year to go before the 2020 election, we have a brand-new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll on impeachment, general election matchups and a country now more divided than it has been in generations. also, how is andrew yang outlasted so many better known contenders. >> it stands for make america think harder. >> my interview this morning with presidential candidate andrew yang. >> joining me for insight and analysis are helene cooper, pentagon correspondent for "the new york times." rich lowry, editor of national review. anna palmer, co-author of playbook, politico's daily newsletter, and john harwood of cnbc. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington,

the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. believe it or not, it is exactly one year until election day. that happened fast, didn't it. on a week when house democrats voted nearly unanimously to endorse a impeachment inquiry, we have new evidence that the country is just as divided outside of the beltway as it is inside. in our brand-new poll, 49% of adults surveyed would like to see president trump impeached and removed from office. while 46% oppose. 49% plurality is a significant change from a few weeks ago. a nine-point net swing in favor of impeachment. the increase comes from independents and especially from democrats, while republican support for impeachment has dropped into the single digits. now, a lot hasn't changed, though. in head-to-head matchups, joe biden leads president trump 50 to 41.

while elizabeth warren leads 50 to 42. and president trump's approval rating remains where it has been for 18 months, somewhere between 43 and 46 with this poll having it at 45% approving of his job, 53% disapproving. but then there's this. 34% of registered voters tell us they're certain to vote for mr. trump, while a whopping 46% say they're already certain to oppose him. with just 17% saying it depends on the democratic nominee. those are some very tough numbers for a sitting president. and interest, by the way, in next year's election right now is at a week before election day levels and we're a year out. that's another rough sign for any incumbent, especially this one. the adds up to this, a president who may will survive impeachment, but may not survive the election. >> there is an assault on our democracy coming right out of the white house. >> the word impeachment to me, it's a dirty word. >> after a starkly partisan vote to begin an impeachment inquiry.

>> those in favor, please say aye. >> we will go on record and say that the president did nothing inappropriate? >> very clear yes. >> democrats are grappling with how to make a compelling public case on impeachment to a divided country. >> frankly, impeachment is drowning out everything else. and i'm concerned at how dividing it is. >> while 89% of democrats approve of the impeachment inquiry, just 9% of republicans do. and while 58% of independents do support the inquiry, only 43% of independents believe the president should be removed from office. also, the calendar presents an additional messaging challenge, with just three months before primary voting begins. >> the impeachment process is based on a constitutional standard and needs to run its course accordingly. i will say that there would be a lot of benefit to trump and trumpism getting a resounding thumping defeat at the ballot

box because that will be what is required for congressional republicans to be reacquainted with their consciences. >> a consistent set of facts has emerged, of a president who withheld military aid to ukraine until its president agreed publicly to investigate 2020 political opponent joe biden. lieutenant colonel alex vindman on the national security council, testified this week he was told by john eisenberg not to discuss his grave concerns about the president's phone call with anyone outside the white house. and he said eisenberg ordered the transcript of the call placed in a highly classified server. the president argues the phone call with zelensky was perfect, even joking about it at a rally on friday. >> gee. i guess there's only one way. let's call up ukraine for help. >> but with mounting evidence, republicans are struggling to defend the president. and some senate republicans are

arguing for a shift in strategy. acknowledging the quid pro quo but insisting it is not an impeachable offense. >> i don't care if you have a million people listening on the phone call, i'll make my own mind up. the president did nothing wrong. >> and joining me now is democrat terri sewell of alabama. a member of the house intelligence committee, been in there for most of these depositi depositions. welcome to "meet the press." >> thanks. >> we start with, we know you passed the sort of next steps for the impeachment inquiry. speaker pelosi said she expects public hearings to start this month. what are we going to see at the public hearings and how much of it is essentially going to be the best of what you have been seeing behind the scenes? >> chuck, this is a sobering moment in america's history, and those of us who have been reluctant participants, i represent a blred state, and frankly, i think what really got me on the side of going to this

inquiry was the fact that this president is interfering in our elections. he withheld important military assistance. he did so openly, in his own admission. and i think that the american people deserve to hear the facts. and we need to follow the facts where they lead us. we need to be able to apply the law, and more importantly, we need transparency. and that's exactly what the vote was this past week, for transparency. >> have you heard enough in your mind that the president essentially should be indicted for this? i mean, that's what an article of impeachment is, an indictment? >> it is, but i can tell you the evidence is mounting. i think that -- i think that the american people should hear the testimony of ambassador taylor. we just heard from a war hero, mr. vinnerman, recently, and i think it's important we get to the bottom of this. to me, i have seen my republican colleagues twist themselves into a pretzel in order to defend the

indefensible. i think this is about right and wrong. and i think the american people understand right and wrong. i think it's important that we give to them, let them hear for themselves the testimony, and i think that we have already been presented with a lot of testimony that has been leaked or the opening statements have been presented, that it has a very damning case against the president. >> what role should public opinion play here? >> public opinion is everything. speaker pelosi often quotes thomas jefferson, all about public sentiment. having said that, i think it's really important that we present in a deliberate fashion, which is what we're doing. when you think about it, we have only been doing this for, what, two weeks and we have already done 13 -- we already had 13 witnesses come before us. we're working all throughout the district work period, which is why i'm here in washington. i think it's really important that we do so in a deliberative fashion, but we do so expediently because i think the american people need to know we're still working on their behalf when it comes to legislating. >> it's interesting you say

public opinion is everything here. do you feel as if you have two challenges? you can lay out the case in perhaps a court of law with 12 jurors. you can win your case. but there is, to me, a second bar you have to meet, which is is what he did egregious enough that he shouldn't be allowed to be on the ballot in 2020? is that a separate bar? >> well, i think that it's all connected, is what i think. its i think it's important that the american people get to choose for themselves but i also think it's important that we do so, we present the evidence to them in a way that they can understand it and hear it. you know -- >> does that mean the senate trial is irrelevant to you. your job is to present the evidence and the public is going to react. if they react harshly enough, the senate may react or maybe it's november. is that sort of where you are? >> where i am is i think it's important that we make sure this is not just about process. the republicans have been able to focus on process. that's because they can't really defend the truth of the evidence that's being presented in these

investigations. and what's really, to me, damning is the fact that over 40 republicans get to participate in the scif, like i do. over 40 of them get to participate in this. so i think that the vote last week was to remove the process argument. and really focus on the truth. we should be able to present the truth in a way that the american people can understand it, and i think that i hope that the american people will understand that this is about abuse of power. you know, my district, the alabama seventh congressional districts, people fought and died for the right to vote. to me, this is really about the soul of our democracy. it's about whether or not our president can ask a foreign power to actually investigate his political rivals. and to withhold assistance. it's about national security. i think this is really an important moment in american history. it's a somber moment, and we want to make sure the american people understand the gravity and they get to choose for themselves, but it's important that we present it in a way they can understand it. >> i want to play for you something speaker pelosi said on

friday about additional charges that could get filed. take a listen. >> there were 11 obstruction of justice provisions in the mueller report. perhaps some of them will be part of this, but again, that will be part of the inquiry. >> so would you prefer this to be focused solely on ukraine, or do you think broadening it out to include some of the obstruction charges that were in the mueller report is something that is worthy? >> well, i think that the most egregious charge to me is the national security. and that's what i think we should focus on. that's how the intelligence committee got involved in this. i would narrow it. having said that, i think that the fact that the mueller report did outline obstruction of just sxs we see in plain view this administration is doing everything to make sure that witnesses don't get a chance to come and be heard, and why are they hiding it? if they really have firm grund to stand on, why are they so afraid to let witnesses come before us and tell their side? >> speaking of witnesses, john

eisenberg, do you expect him to actually testify monday or will that get blocked? >> i don't know. i hope he will testify. we're all here ready for his testimony to be presented tomorrow. this administration has done everything it can to hide the ball. and it begs the question, what are they trying to hide? i think its prornt that we stay focused on presenting the facts and applying the law, and realizing this is about our constitution. this is about our constitutional responsibility. >> depositions, are they getting released this week, the transcripts of these depositions? there's been some thought they could get released this week. should we expect that? >> you can expect as the speaker said it will be released some time in november. >> before the public hearings? >> i would expect it would be before the public hearings but i'm not sure. it's not about the timeline. it's about getting it right, making sure we're presenting the facts to the american people. >> one quick political question. there is a roaring debate in the democratic party between medicare for all or taking obamacare and expanding it. which side of the aisle are you on? >> i think we should take the

affordable care act and expand it. i represent alabama, where i have a lot of access issues. there's so many americans in my district that don't have any health care insurance. >> so medicare for all. >> it's about making sure we have access, universal access for all americans. >> do you think medicare for all is too big of a step and start with obamacare? is that the reason? >> i can tell you many of my constituents want to keep their -- if they have health insurance, they want to keep the health insurance they have. we have 10 million americans that don't have any coverage. we should be focused on that. >> terri sewell, democrat from alabama, thanks for coming on. >> in our poll, we asked people why they thought congress should or should not impeach president trump. among the 49% who say congress should impeach, check it out, the most common answers were that president trump was dishonest, unfit for office, self-centered, and had abused his power. among the 46% who say congress should not impeach, people say president trump did nothing wrong, is doing a good job, that there's no evidence of

wrongdoing, and the process itself is politically motivated. it's more proof that the country is listening to two different narratives of the same presidency. >> joining me now is congressman tom cole of oklahoma, the top republican on the house rules committee. you saw him a lot during the impeachment vote. >> good to be with you. >> let me start with a simple question here. do you believe there was a quid pro quo? >> no. >> not at all, because there is some question, some people believe there was and it doesn't rise to impeachment. you don't believe there was a quid pro quo? >> the things we know are this. we know the president says there was no quid pro quo. kwee know president zelensky said he didn't feel any pressure. we know there's no ukraine investigation. and we know the military aid got there. those are things we know. so no, i don't think there was a quid pro quo. >> interesting way you put it. we have seen five witnesses just this week that have testified to a quid pro quo. that military aid was being held up over these investigations. and we had rudy giuliani somehow playing a private role here. does any of that stuff, to you,

any of that a concern to you? >> well, concern is different than rising to the level of impeachment. but again, i look at it this way. the aid is there. and the investigations didn't happen. so if there was a quid pro quo, it certainly wasn't a very effective one. >> so why shouldn't the president be held accountable for this? >> you can hold any president accountable. you should probably do it through an oversight hearing to make your point. instead, we're going willy-nilly into impeachment. we're doing it in a process that's unacceptable to most republicans. we're doing exactly what speaker pelosi said we shouldn't do. that is we're proceeding in a partisan impeachment without a consensus in the country. you know, frankly, i think democratic caucus just got the bit between its teeth and decided it wanted to beat this guy one way or another. >> let me go back to the quid pro quo because you're taking the president at his word, and these witnesses you're not taking at their word. >> to be fair, i haven't heard the witnesses. but i look at it this way, chuck. i've got 40-odd republicans as my friend before me said, that have been sitting in the

hearings. they don't think this rises to the level of impeach nl offense and they don't think we should have proceeded in the manner we did this year. again, i have the transcript which i have read, i have media reports which i have paid attention to, and i have colleagues who have been sitting in the room, none of whom think this rises to the level of impeachment. so you know, it's pretty easy for me givien those things to sy we're off on a track that's going to divide the country and we can't resolve in congress. >> i want to play for you an array of responses defending the president by fellow republicans of yours. because that array seems to be sending a mixed message. take a listen. >> a whistleblower complaint is heresy here. the whistleblower was not on the phone call. >> it seems like a fair bit of heresy. >> no first-hand knowledge. >> no quid pro quo. >> there was no quid pro quo. >> no quid pro quo. >> we do that all the time with foreign policy. >> the president has had questions about foreign aid across the board. whether it's in central america, afghanistan, or other places. so it wasn't unique necessarily

to ukraine. >> no impeachable problem. >> i don't see that rising to the level of an impeachable defense. >> i think bill cassidy said it was possible it was a lapse of judgment. the reason i present all that to you is what is the public supposed to absorb from this? the republican party said no, this didn't happen. all right, maybe it did, but it's not this. do you see why some are skeptical of what the republican opinion is. >> the best thing for the public to do is read the transcript. it's the closest thing we have to a record, and you make a judgment as to whether or not you think what happened there is worth putting the country through an incredibly divisive experience that's stopping everything else from happening, and that we know how the story is going to end. there's very little likelihood that the president will be removed. we made a political decision to put everything on hold, divide the country, for an outcome that we know, and we're doing it, what's going to happen, and we're doing it essentially a year before an election. to me, that doesn't make a lot of political sense, and it's bad

for the country. >> it seems like we're in a bad spot. we're also setting a president with the presidency. if there's no guardrail to stop him from essentially bullying, you know, another lyeader to do his political work for him, and there's no consequence, how does that -- how do you not prevent the next president, democrat or republican, from doing the same thing? >> if we want to have a longer discussion about congress having routinely surrendered its powers, i think that's a good question. we went to war in libya under the last president without congress approving it. >> can i tell you my frustration how many individual members of congress admit that to me, but you have ceded your authority. >> too much, but i think you're seeing us begin to reclaim it now. when you do it over 40 years, you don't reclaim it in a single incident. you do it incrementally over time, and that's under way. >> is there, if there were a middle ground here, not impeachment but a censure of some sort, do you think that

would be a more appropriate way to go? >> if i were the democrats, i would have chosen that. again, that's up to them as to how they want to proceed. personally, you know, i don't see anything here that i'm likely to have censured the president for. again, fair enough if -- i think they made the decision, they want to go for the whole ball of wax, and it's not going to work, but i do believe, as leader mccarthy said, this is more about impacting the next election than removing the president. >> let me get your response to justin amash, the lone republican who left the party because of president trump. he tweeted this, the president will be in power for only a short time, but excusing his misbehavior will forever tarnish your mind. step outside your media and social bubble. history will not look kindly on disingenuous, frivolous, and false defenses of this man. what do you say to justin amash? >> i consider him a friend, and we just profoundly disagree on this issue. i think he's wrong. if i believed everything the democrats were saying, i would still say this isn't an

impeachable offense. i routinely went home for years and got yelled at for not impeachi impeaching barack obama. now we're going to do this on a phone call? i just don't think this rises to the level. and i think my friends on the democratic side are putting america through a terrifically bad experience. really because they have lost control. they confuse what their base thinks with what the public thinks. >> why is this on the democrats and their base and not president trump? do you think president trump has any responsibility for the horrible polarizing situation we're in right now? >> i think the poll rising situation has been building up for a long time, but i think you don't make it better by doing impeachment. you make it worse. so you can hardly complain about polarization when what i think is very flimsy evidence, you put the country through an incredibly divisive thing. you stop everything else, where we can work together, whether it's appropriations or usmca,

those things aren't happening now, and i think this is all political, and i think it's a situation where sadly the speaker lost control of her own conference. >> you have said you have not read all the depositions. >> i haven't been able to. >> that's right. we're supposedly going to see them before then. have you closed the door completely to approving an article of impeachment? >> you never close the door completely to anything like this, but again, we just adopted a process that every single republican said was unfair. we didn't do the clinton process, the nixon process. so i mean, i think the way the democrats have handled this has sort of pushed republicans together, whether they intended to or not. am i open to listening? of course, but all i know is everything so far that's been presented behind closed doors, every republican that has heard it did not vote for this impeachment process. so again, we'll see what they do, but look, i think this is pretty predictable how this runs its course politically in terms of the impeachment process itself. >> tom cole, republican from oklahoma, always good to have your perspective.

thanks for coming on and sharing your views. >> when we come back, what both political partyvise to gain and lose as the impeachment process moves forward. ocess moves forward. especially these days. (dad) i think it's here. (mom vo) especially at this age. (big sis) where are we going? (mom vo) it's a big, beautiful world out there. (little sis) whoa... (big sis) wow. see that? (mom vo) sometimes you just need a little help seeing it. (vo) the three-row subaru ascent. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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before they're out of the house. spend your life living. find an advisor at northwesternmutual.com. welcome back. panel is here. cnbc editor at large, john harwood. helene cooper, anna palmer, and rich lowry, the author of the new book, the case for nationalism, how it made us powerful, united, and free. welcome, everybody. let me put up a graphic of the impeachment inquiry vote of clinton versus trump. house defections, people being reminded, oh, yeah, 31 democrats back then that voted for this inquiry. i have one with an asterisk here. i don't know what you do with justin amash. he's not a republican anymore, but the fact of the matter, he sits there, too. it's a sign of the times. it's interesting. the evidence, anna, says oh, my

gosh, the president is in trouble. the politics say oh, my god, the president is fine. >> it's pretty stunning when you put those numbers out there. the thing that is kind of stunning to me is just that both republicans and democrats believe the same set of facts are true. they just don't believe whether it was wrong or not. and this just underscores how partisan capitol hill is right now. there's very little chance that any republicans you're going to see move over to that other column. >> that was what struck me in our poll, rich. oh, he can't get impeached and i don't know if he can win re-election. both things can be true. >> it's amazing. impeachment is 49/46, which pretty much exactly mirrors the popular vote. so the last three years we thick there have been a lot of developments, and the big scheme of things, there have been no developments. it's exactly the same situation. cole is working himself up to what i think is the best defense, which is that impeaching and removing a president would literally be an unprecedented act in american history. you need the enormity of the offense to match that severe and

unprecedented punishment. and even if this was improper, and i think elements of it were, i don't think it reaches that level. >> john. >> first of all, i disagree with anna slightly in that i think the two sides look at the same set of facts. i don't think republicans agree that it wasn't wrong. the question goes to what rich said, is the dwrgravity of the offense. secondly, the graphic you put up about the democrats voting against clinton and justin amash voting against trump makes the point about what's changed. first of all, when bill clinton was president, you still had a slug of conservative democrats in the party. the two parties have become more polarized since then, and as a reflection of that polarization, on the republican side, if you break from the president, you immediately get ejected from the party. that's why the republican number was zero. >> helene, let me put up some other impeachment historical numbers. we have polling numbers now. here's the impeach and job approval of trump.

49/45. clinton stood at only 24% supported impeachment. 68% approved of his job. look at nixons numbers. his job approval was below 30, but at the time, only 33% approved of impeachment. so trump does fall sort of in the middle between clinton and nixon. >> it's such an interesting contrast when you look at the three of them. it's also interesting that bill clinton was not going to be running for re-election -- nixon as well, so that changes the whole complexion of all of this, but i think we're seeing with these poll numbers exactly why nancy pelosi dragged her feet for so long on moving to impeachment. this is why, you know, i think that she did not want to do this. and the democrats are taking a huge, huge risk here. it's going to be really fascinating to see on the republican side, they, too, have gotten themselves in a fix. i don't think this is a question of them not thinking this rises to the level of impeachment. i think they just know that their political fortunes are completely tied in with this

president. if they go for impeachment, they're not going to win their own races. i think that's the dynamic we're seeing here. >> anna, there is a dilemma on the democratic side. it's the presidential race. i want to put up a few things here. ro khanna, democrat from california who happens to be bernie sanders cochair about impeachment. i certainly think it ought to happen before iowa. steny hoyer, we would like to do it as expeditiously as possible. jon tester, it's important they do their job in a very timely manner. this is that second bar that i felt like terri sewell acknowledged is probably a bar they can't meet, which is yes, they can make the case that what he did was a quid pro quo. but can they make the case it's so egregious the voters shouldn't have a say a year from now? >> i don't think democrats are there yet. i think you're going to see nancy pelosi try to move as fast as possible. i think the problem for democrats right now, though, is this next week, they're still going to be doing these depositions behind the scenes. it gives republicans the ability

to make the argument that democrats have gone rogue, they're going to do this no matter what. >> there's an npr maris poll a couple weeks ago, had 52% supporting the inquiry, but asked is the best way to removal him or have an election. it was 58/37 in form of the election. i don't think removing him at the end of the day would be good for the country. it would blow a hole in the center of our politics that would take years to fix. >> i have been citing your column a couple weeks ago. don't look for 20 republicans. basically, they're going to jump off the cliff together, because you can't split off. explain why. >> you can see a couple, romney and a couple others maybe, but the difference between the fourth republican senator and the 30th republican senator would not be huge. but for that to happen, i think it would take an earth shattering event, and republicans are also very cognizant of the fact that this would split the party desperately and probably totally ruin its chances in 2020.

>> i think the big drama is going to be when we switch from closed hearings to public hearings, what happens then. we have seen the phenomenon in our poll going from 11% support impeachment down to 6% as the partisan temperature has been raised by republicans with this process behind closed doors. fox newal poz showed the same thing. now it's down to 8%. i should say "the washington post" had 18% of republicans in a poll this week, so there's a little question there. but when it becomes public, can those republican numbers increase? i had republican operative tell me if you get 25% or 30% of republicans saying he should be impeached, then republican lawmakers start to look at this differently. >> but that would depend on do you have a john bolton -- somebody of a big persona. john bolton might fit that description. if he testified. >> let's say john bolton comes out and testifies that he basically backs up what colonel vindman said and what bill taylor said. are we really going to see the

needle move? i feel like that's been cooked in already. the public at this point pretty much knows what's happened, what happened. so unless we're going to be coming out, unless there are more revelations to come out, unless there are things that happened before this or after this that are -- that show even more of a pattern, i think a lot of this has been baked in. >> we're going to talk about outside of washington here. the next time we gather on this impeachment question. that's the other issue. what is acute here is more noise outside of here. >> when we come back, the most underestimated and overlooked candidate in the democratic presidential race. andrew yang joins me next. the r estimated and overlooked candidate in the presidential candidate in the presidential race, andrew yang joins me look. only one thing's more exciting than getting a lexus... ahhhh! giving one. the lexus december to rembember sales event lease the 2020 nx 300 for $329 a month for 27 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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welcome back. my next guest is someone democrats have learned they can't ignore. andrew yang is the child of immigrants from taiwan, an entrepreneur, the creator of a nonprofit, a political gadfly, and an advocates of something called universal basic income, which would give $1,000 a month to every american adult. he's surprised everyone by outpolling and outlasting a succession of democratic office holders running for president for years. and unlike many of them, he's qualified for at least one future debate. mr. yang, welcome to "meet the press," sir. >> it's great to be here. thanks so much for having me, chuck. >> let me start with something michael cruz in politico wrote about you after following you around. in delivering his alarming existentially unsettling message

of automation and artificial intelligence, wreaking havoc on america's economic and social wellbeing, he cracks jokes of his party's presidential contestants, he's the cheerful doomsayer. quite an interesting description. do you accept that description? >> i think i'm a hard-eyed realist about what's happening in our economy, chuck. i'm here in iowa. they're seeing 30% of their stores and malls closed because amazon is soaking up $20 billion in business every year and paying zero in taxes. we have to create a new way forward and rewrite the rules of the 21st century economy to work for us, but we don't have to be gloomy as we deliver what to me is the most important message of our time and the reason our campaign is growing and growing while other candidates are dropping out. >> four years ago, you had a lot of candidates talking about

bringing jobs back, bringing this back. you have basically said, you know, he told you this. it's not true. in fact, i think you use it as a way of saying that's why you won over some former trump supporters who have now seen it the way you see it on this. is that really what we need to do, sort of give up on creating new jobs? are we going to be in this kind of situation over the next 30 years where we just won't have enough -- we have too many people and not enough work? >> well, we're in the midst of the greatest economic transfo transformation in our country's history, but putting buying power in our hands will build a trickle-up economy and allow us to create hundreds of thousands of jobs here in iowa and across the country. that money doesn't disappear. it goes into local businesses and day care services and car repairs, little league sign-ups so this is the way we rejuvenate main street america, by putting the gains 92 our hands where it can actually support what's

happening in our families and communities every day. >> by the way, do you envision this being a permanent entitlement of sorts? >> well, if you look up, there's one state that has had a dividend for almost 40 years. it's alaska, the petroleum dividend. it decreases income inequality. it makes children and families stronger. it's wildly popular after almost 40 years. there's no reason to think it won't be wildly popular throughout the whole country. they pay for it with oil money in alaska. what i'm saying to the american people is technology is the oil of the 21st century. >> let's talk a little bit about the current debate happening inside the democratic primary, and i think in some ways you have tried to have a little piece of every bit -- of every lane there is that we in the media try to create. but let's talk about the specifics of medicare for all. you're essentially for it, but you haven't talked about how you would pay for it. we know we're having a big debate on how elizabeth warren

plans to pay for it, but let me ask this question. i had a democratic congresswoman in. if we haven't fully implemented obamacare, why should we rip it up and start over? >> certainly, i was a fan of the themes of obamacare, but many americans agree that it didn't go quite far enough in terms of coverage and allowing americans to have access to high-quality affordable care. >> how do you know? it hasn't been fully implemented. that's always my question. i have heard this critique before. medicare has not been expanded in 50 states. >> you know, and there's a reason for that. so we need to create a path forward for americans to have access to care. i would not get rid of private insurance. to me, the pay for it argument is misplaced because we're already spending 18% of gdp, almost $4 trillion in large part because the system is not designed to keep us strong and healthy. it's designed to make money for the private insurance companies and the device manufacturers and

the drug companies. >> let me ask you about impeachment. you have said you are in favor of this inquiry going forward. but there is a basic question that many voters are going to have. do you think what the president did is of such an egregious act that he shouldn't be on the ballot in 2020? >> i agree with the panel discussion that you just had. i am for impeachment, but the fact is when we're talking about donald trump, we are not presenting a new way forward and a positive vision for the country that americans will get excited about. that's the only way we're going to win in 2020, and that's the only way we're going to start actually solving the problems that got him elected. even when we're talking about itch peaching donald trump, we're talking about donald trump and we're losing. >> yet you talk about donald trump quite a bit in your rallies because you seem to want to appeal to former donald trump supporters. >> well, if you listen to my rally speech, chuck, the vast majority of it is just about the challenges that americans are

experiencing every single day. these challenges preceded donald trump. they will still be with us after donald trump is out of office. and if we don't get to work solving these problems, then we're just going to be trapped in this endless food fight, and the american people deserve much, much better. >> let me ask you one question that has to do with your own identity in this country. this was a criticism written about you having to do with something you said during the last debate. this was in the l.a. times. seeing yang on the democratic primary debate stage should have been a thrilling milestone for me as a fellow taiwanese american. when i heard him use stereotypes to describe himself, it was hard to feel proud. he still felt the most practical use of his identity on the national stage was as a joke. you had quite a few asian american columnists write critiques of this, bothered by this a bit. what do you say to that criticism? >> i am very proud of my heritage, and i'm very proud of being the first asian american man to run for president as a

democrat. and i think americans are smart enough and savvy enough to know a joke when they hear it. i think that dragging some of these myths into the light actually makes them less powerful and helps dispel them. >> has it bothered you that it has attracted -- i noticed earlier this week, you had to push back on this idea, i guess some white supremacists started saying nice things about your candidacy due to the political incorrectness, i guess you want to call it that. you pushed back hard on that. does it bother you that group of voters seems attracted to your candidacy? >> i have completely disavowed support from anyone who has those kinds of ideas. i'm a son of immigrants myself. to me, we have to solve the real problems of this time, and attacking each other for poor word choice or things that are of marginal importance to the american people, unfortunately, takes our focus away from the real problems on the ground that got donald trump elected. >> andrew yang, entrepreneur, again, you have taken this

democratic primary and made a lot of people take you a lot more seriously than they had planned to. stay safe on the trail. and we look forward to seeing you again. >> thank you, chuck. the yang is going to continue to grow. we'll see you soon. >> we'll be watching. >> when we come back, why it's possible president trump should be more concerned with the number 46 than with impeachment. stay with us. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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at the moment. >> it's a tribute to u.s. intelligence and special forces. >> if it's holding everyone to the same standard welcome back. data download time. president trump won the presidency in 2016 with fr46% o the vote, but there was another 46 number that should worry the trump re-election campaign. when asked whether they would support the president, 17% of registered voters said it dependents on who the democratic

nominee is. 34% said they would vote for trump no matter what. and 46% said they would vote against the president no matter what. the same 46, by the way, shows up in the 11 swing states. so is there any preference in the 17% that is waiting to see who the democratic nominee is going to be? well, in a two-way race, president trump loses to joe biden among these voters by one point. these voters, by the way, very mixed truly swingish looking voters. but mr. trump beats elizabeth warren among these voters by 23 points. still, it's that 46 number that should really bother the president's campaign. because it may prove insurmountable for him, even if he wallops eliz blabeth warren. >> when we knack, end game. tom brokaw joins the panel. he'll look back at what it was like to cover watergate in a very different media environment. tom was on "meet the press" the morning after the saturday night massacre. >> the president has ignored an order from the federal appeals court. he's fired the special watergate

prosecutor archibald cox. he accepted the resignation of elliot richardson and forced the resignation of william ruckalshouse. in view of all that, don't you expect now that impeachment proceedings will begin in the house of representatives. epreses what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ it's been a long time since andrew dusted off his dancing shoes. luckily denture breath

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switch now and see how you could save up to $400 a year. and get 50% off when you buy any new lg phone. xfinity mobile. click, call or visit a store today. back now with "end game." and joining us is tom brokaw. he is out with a new book the fall of richard nixon, a reporter remembers watergate. and, tom, i know, like many of

your friends, i have really enjoyed your two years that you've been working on this. you keep finding things and sending it to us. it's been great to watch you go through your watergate days. but it was remarkable. we just played a clip of you from october of '73. eight months later, that's nearly ten months before nixon resigns. we are at that same point, and we are expecting to have an impeachment inquiry and vote and trial and all that done in the next six to eight weeks. >> well, like everything else, it's all more speeded up now than it was when. the instrumentation, the time and everything. nixon held onto office after bob holdeman had gone to jail. these were his principal aides. they are all going to jail. stuff starts to leak out that closely ties nixon to the cover-up. he was in the office 35 times. and yet he was able to hang on. i think in part because the system took -- it was a more deliberate process.

>> methodical. >> i brought my typewriter because i did one story a day on my typewriter. then i was on the air that night. now our correspondents have one of these. and they're on from the moment they hit the white house until they go home at night. i was able to finish my day, then work on "the today show" the next morning. we said, if this doesn't work we won't go on the air with it. >> david brooks earlier this week wrote the following. for most impeachment is not a priority. it's a dull background noise people in washington and the national media doing the nonsense they always do. but the fundamental reality is that many americans are indifferent. we saw when we went back as much as people didn't like nixon back then, even fewer people were in favor of impeachment then than they are now. >> well, i think it's important because of the whole, if you will, the whole communication

culture of what's going on, what they had in front of them. what they were being told by social media, the single greatest change, not just in our business but in american life and the life around the world at the social media. everyone has access to an ability to a tool that will allow them to express their opinion or to be, if you will, misleading about what's going on. >> you know, rich lowry in 1973 nixon might've had buckley, a national review. he didn't have all these other communication tools. >> well, with nixon it really was the case the walls were closing in, and the way he reacted made it worse. it's just hard to see how this episode gets much worse and much better for the president. all of us have heard anecdotally from republicans and democrats. people out there don't talk about impeachment a lot at any events. it doesn't come up. even though the polls have slid pelosi's way.

>> we went out to find some voters. >> i think it's a waste of time and they are a bunch of little kids fighting and not accomplishing what the hell they are elected for. >> we have a system of checks and balances. and the way it should work is that, you know, the house and the senate should do what is set out in the constitution. >> i read the document, and there was absolutely nothing concerning to me from one president to another. it was absolutely inappropriate. >> these were in the early states. >> yeah, yeah, they are. but i wonder who were all the voters that you're talking to. because i am so inundated. whenever everybody finds out i'm a reporter, all they want to ask me about is impeachment and what's going to happen. i just wonder, just, you know, if you could have gotten ten other people saying something completely different. it is not as cacophanous as it is in the big cities i would imagine.

but i would think that it is still starting to rise. >> i think with all the communication we have going on now, what we have to say and the rest of the country. in north dakota they're a lot more worried about soy beans than they are about all of this. they can tell you what the weather and what the prices they are going to get. and that's the way it should be. >> it does feel like we are setting up a narrative that is going to be decisive in a presidential election, not an impeachment trial. >> i think that's right. this is just the beginning of what's going to happen in 2020 for sure. the. >> speaking of the presidential race, the democrats, one thing that happened this week, and, again, i don't know if it's going to break through because of impeachment. is elizabeth warren, pete buttigieg, and joe biden decided to go after each other. we are in a new phase of the democratic race. >> it's getting real. it typically has been around that iowa dinner. that's when you get to the final sprint. we've got november, december, january before the caucuses. very clear top tier in the race. and elizabeth warren took a risk

by coming out and laying out this medicare for all plan, which, interestingly, the likes of nancy pelosi says i'm not interested. >> terry saying i like obamacare. >> that's where the center of the gravity in the democratic party is. >> even in iowa, that is good afternoonab -- going to be a fascinating fight. >> particularly in some of these wins to keep the majority of the house. it's not where these presidential candidates are. >> she was dammed if she did and dammed if she didn't on this one. >> i wanted to express one other thing tom mentioned from watergate. my dad invited me down as an editor of "washington post" to watch nixon's final speech when he announced the resignation. very classy, very respectful for the institution. not going to see that from trump. >> we are going to leave you with scenes from the capitol celebration. the district of champions, baby, the victory parade for our world

series champion washington nationals. we are back next sunday because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." es washington nationals. we are back next sunday. we are back next sunday. because i it's the a "meet the press" chuck to cast free wherever you get your podcasts. st free wherever you g podcasts fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. from the day you're born we never stop taking care of you.

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♪ good evening, everyone. welcome to "kasie dc." i'm ayman mohyeldin. tonight one year until election day, believe it or not, brand-new nbc news polling the president in as precarious as a position as he will ever be. as most of the whistle-blower's claims have been corroborated. and the president makes threats against that person and a key witness from the white house ut