that does it for our hour. thanks to you for watching. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts now. welcome to friday. little food coma. welcome to a special post-thanksgiving edition of "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd here in washington. hope you are enjoying the holiday. and we're thankful you've decided to spend a little time with us today. look, we're not going to bombard you with angry debate. we've got an exciting hour for you ahead. a fun one. one that's going to make you think. focusing on what matters most to the people who matter most. you, the voters. amid this historic impeachment inquiry, the upcoming presidential primaries, at the end of the day, it's about you guys. this hour, we're going to talk about some kitchen table issues

that are very likely coming up at your kitchen table as you celebrate the holiday with relatives and friends. we're going to give you a special look at an ambitious project we're rolling out in counties that are likely to decide and tell the story of the 2020 election. and we're going to examine one of the most important trends right now in electoral politics. the suburban voter revolt against this president. we've got all that and a lot more this hour. but we're going to kick things off tonight with the issue consuming washington and on a collision course with ballot boxes everywhere. impeachment. i can only imagine what the conversation was like around your table. but we've seen a parade of public hearings. full of damning testimony. but it's changed few, if any, minds in congress and the public. impeachment proceedings could scramble the democratic primaries. there are multiple senators running for president who could find themselves in a senate trial rather than in iowa in january. but, folks as we saw with the russian investigation, as they crisscross the country with this historically large democratic

field, still large, the issue of impeachment is not top of mind. not at all. here's a dispatch from our embeds in the field. >> here in iowa, democratic caucus goers have ample opportunity to ask any question they want of presidential candidates and impeachment is rarely one of them. >> many voters i speak with say the impeachment process is going to play out however it does back in washington. but when they go to see candidates here in living rooms and backyards in new hampshire, it's not the first thing on their minds. >> many in the state feel that the proceedings will end up hurting the democratic party in the long run. >> we don't hear a lot about impeachment out here on the trail because i think a lot of the democratic primary voters have already made up their mind. they think president trump should be impeached. >> a lot of the voters i speak to here say they feel the president should have been peached after the mueller report was released. and at this point, they're very much focused on the 2020 election and what will come after the president is no longer in office should he lose re-election. >> voters i've spoken with think that impeachment is important

and they want an investigation to get to the facts. and they want to see the process play out. but when it comes to 2020, their focus is on issues like healthcare, climate, gun violence. and impeachment seems a bit of a separate issue for them. >> got the point there, huh? we see i think we know voters are thinking about a lot of other things other than impeachment. in the two months since the democrats began their impeachment inquiry, republicans lost control of the west virginia stay house. so twlet's dive in and here wit me to do that, nbc news capitol hill reporter leanne caldwell. michael steele. msnbc contributor and "washington post" columnist ruth marcus. so, ruth, that didn't surprise me to hear that from voters. and i do think the only thing i'm concerned about in singling out voters that go to events is,

well, they're self-selecting, right? they've decided what we don't know are the democrats that are not the ones going to events that are sitting back and waiting. but they, too, seem to be, i would say, passively for impeachment. >> sure. let's be clear. we know in america, among american voters, there's a very small segment of the electorate that's up for grabs. and up for grabs segment of the electorate is not the -- i mean, they may be up for grabs between bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. but they're not up for grabs between those and trump. and so that is not a crowd -- that's a crowd that's already -- as one of the bembeds said. they know their candidate. that's a given that their candidate's, you know, more than medicare for all. it's a given their candidates are going to be for getting trump out of office. but they also have priced in the political reality. voters have.

that their candidate, whoever it -- nominee, whoever it turns out to be, is going to be running against donald trump also. >> you know, leanne, it was interesting. the candidates. the last debate was the day of gordon sondland's testimony saying, yeah, there was quid pro quo. perhaps the single most important day of the democratic impeachment investigation. impeachment naturally was the lead of the debate. here's how the candidates handled impeachment on the gordon sondland day. >> you have to establish the principle no one is above the law. we have a constitutional responsibility and we need to meet it. but i want to add one more part based on today's testimony. and that is how did ambassador sondland get there? you know, this is not a man who had any qualifications except one. he wrote a check for a million dollars. >> what the american people understand is that the congress can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. in other words, we can deal with trump's corruption.

but we also have to stand up for the working families of this country. >> and i don't think it's a good idea that we mock -- that we -- that we model ourselves after trump and say lock him up. look. we have to bring this country together. >> you know, leanne, mark murray has asked this question just sort of rhetorically. you've probably heard him say it. simply going, if -- if you believe the president's an existential threat to the country, so much so that he should be disqualified from being able to seek re-election. the presidential democrats are not on the same page as the congressional democrats. >> no, which is kind of funny. so as a congressional reporter, watching these debates that night and seeing that first question. it was mind boggling. i -- i was not expecting them to lean away from it so much. it was really shocking to me. and our entire capitol hill text chain was in shock. but it's -- >> reminder of bubbles. we all live in bubbles. sometimes even smaller silos than that.

right. >> yeah. exactly. but remember elizabeth warren months ago came out for impeachment and that was a big moment. and then others slowly followed behind her. >> it was a big moment because remember, she wasn't doing so hot then. remember, she was looking for attention. she was looking to like get her mojo back a little bit and that's what she used. >> that helped her with the base. but politics are so tribal at this point. and so you have the progressive democrats. i mean, democrats are pretty -- it's baked on impeachment. they know where they stand. and i think that's why the -- the -- these democratic presidential candidates are trying to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. >> and, you know, the only disagreement was really whether we should chant lock him up or just hope he gets locked up. >> so it's not an issue in the -- for primary voters. president doesn't really have a primary. democratic candidates tend to agree. will it be an issue for general election voters? and can we tell if it's resolved in january, as i think we kind of tend to expect. senate votes, as we tend to

expect, not to convict the president. not to remove him. by november, how much of an impact does that have on suburban swing voters, on the president's base, et cetera? >> i don't know what the sped up news cycle has done. there's so many controversies. you can't remember which one is which. you know, ruth, there's two theories of the case here, right? if he loses in a landslide, we're going to all rewrite history and say, you know what, the impeachment had a huge impact. the voters made a decision a long time ago. they were just waiting. totally obvious. or not. you know what i mean? but like, that -- that -- that very well may be the case. >> so i think your point about the speeded up news cycle is really critical point. i -- i was doing a show on the friday after baghdadi was killed on sunday. >> baghdadi. when did that happen? >> did we buy greenland that week? >> it was a different week. it was too -- that felt so old. it was a huge event. so old five days later. so how is impeachment gonna feel

more than five months later? like old news. but it will be news that motivates the base. if everything happens the way we expect it to happen, it will be news the motivates the bases in two contradictory ways. president trump will claim that he was vindicated. democrats will -- will argue that he was impeached. and there will still be that middle that probably wants to talk about something else. >> i will say this. based on sort of what i think the white house strategy basically is, which is they don't ever want to see a senate trial. nobody wants a senate trial. i think republicans don't want a trial at all. but they've got to act like they want one. so the question is they're going to try to have this and try to blame the other side. each party's going to try to blame the other side of trying to short circuit this process. and the question's going to be does that fire up one base or the other on process? does the democratic basis get fired up? the right gets more fired up on process than the left usually does, right? >> why is that? >> i don't know. you have a whole book about this, don't you?

>> process arguments don't work. >> except they work with the base in the republican party. >> they motivate our voters. people who are particularly interested in one fairness, two particular issues. like, protecting unborn life. protecting the second amendment. the process matters in those things in a way that it doesn't in a giant legislative goal like medicare for all. >> but for those voters in the middle, the process arguments confuse them. and that is a republican tactic and strategy that they've been using. >> it's their best defense. >> it's their only defense right now really. >> smart. >> and they think it's working. we're getting e-mails from republicans on the hill pointing to polling, you know, in the past week or so. that's showing that the numbers aren't moving in favor of impeachment. >> that's true. >> and they're also not moving in favor of the president either. i mean, you know, one of the things here is the president may survive impeachment. but at what cost? he's got -- you've got on-the-record statements from defenders saying he's too

incompetent or this or that. i mean, steele, have you seen anything in this process that's been helpful to his re-elect? >> sure. he's going to be able to come out of this process, assuming the senate doesn't vote to remove him, complete exoneration. complete vindication. >> will it -- >> and with the people he's trying to motivate, it may well work. we may well -- to go to the counterfactual of what you just posited for the election result. if he wins a narrow electoral college, we'll say that it was a huge mistake for democrats to impeach him because it gave him the ability to claim vindication. >> but, ruth, go back to what does the data say? if trump couldn't use the threat of impeachment to rally a few more voters for -- in kentucky and louisiana. like, i do believe if -- if impeachment were having an effect at the ballot box in trump's favor at all, we would have seen it in those two places. >> but it won't happen until after the senate trial. when he can claim the complete vindication and exoneration. >> my point is, i don't think that's -- we're never going to have it. we're going to have a fight,

leanne, about schumer and -- and mcconnell are never going to agree to the terms of what the trial will look like. and each side is going to blame the others for being absurdly unfair about it. and it will turn into a campaign issue for senate races. >> that's absolutely right. but also, republicans in the white house are well aware that they don't have the votes to immediately dismiss this trial. so something's going to have to move forward. so you have the susan collins of the world who are up for re-election in 2020. that's who mcconnell wants to protect. and that's why he -- that's why he has a little bit of incentive to let this trial play out. but we're also hearing that they are starting to strategize to figure out at the earliest point they might be able to take that vote to acquit the president. >> they do -- the president says he wants to call witnesses. i don't think -- i don't think anybody else wants him to call witnesses. >> but you can easily see a point where if hunter biden is not there, it's a sham is the republican line and hunter biden's never going to come. >> it's an interesting way.

i think they're both going to say the other side's cheating on this process. >> it's rigged. >> it's rigged. there you go. leanne, michael, and ruth. you guys are sticking around. coming up, we're tracking what voters and candidates say is one of the issues that matters most to them in 2020. >> i care very much about this healthcare issue. >> healthcare. >> healthcare. >> health insurance. >> health insurance. >> health coverage. >> medicare for all. >> medicare for all. >> medicare for all who want it. that last bit's really important. an air force veteraf doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

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welcome back. campaigning on healthcare and protecting the affordable care act helped democrats win governors races this month in some red places. like kentucky and louisiana. and helped them win back the house majority in 2018. but for 2020, some of the top democratic presidential candidates are using a different playbook and focusing more on overhauling the healthcare system completely. the issue was front and center in the last democratic debate

and it's always front and center on the campaign trail. so we asked our team of embeds what voters say matter most to them and no surprise healthcare's at the top of everyone's list. here's what they told us. and we're going to start with julia jester. one of our hatch hacnew hampshi. >> every democrat i've talked to wants universal healthcare but it's just a matter of how to get there. and in a state where more than 40% are independents, it's going to be important to draw in everyone on that issue. >> medicare for all's become one of the biggest topics of the 2020 election between candidates and voters. voters tell me sometimes it's between putting food on the table and paying medical bills. >> many voters are nervous to go support a candidate that supports an option like medicare for all. and fears that it won't excite a democratic base to ultimately come out to beat donald trump. >> when i talk to democratic primary voters all across the country, the thing i hear the most often is access to healthcare. a lot of people are very concerned about medicare for all

or public option. but many voters say that the thing they are most interested in is ways to bring healthcare cost down by reducing prescription drug costs and reducing premiums. >> well, our road warriors have been crisscrossing the country as well with the candidates for months. three of them voin join me now. ali vitali. so, mike, let me start with you on healthcare. it does seem as if in the last three months, the -- the moderates or the pragmatists are suddenly winning the fight over the progressives. six months ago, the progressives were winning and medicare for all looked like it was on. now, it does look like suddenly the biden side of the argument is winning the day. >> oh, chuck, in philadelphia, they're smiling very broadly right now because this is really the fundamental bet that the biden campaign has been premised on since the very beginning.

this idea that the democratic electorate is much more pragmatic and in the center in the joe biden lane, if you will, than you would believe if you pay too much attention to twitter and to cable news. and healthcare is really the number one issue which the campaign has wanted to litigate. that we're in the headquarters of the biden campaign here in des moines. he's about to kick off this eight-day bus tour and you should expect to hear healthcare quite a bit. you know, for biden, it's both in line with his views on governance, policy making. he announced his what he now calls on the stump bind care, which is building on the affordable care act rather than tearing down the signature accomplishment of the last administration. and also, the issue on which he can really illustrate the connection. what better way to tell voters i'm going to restore the obama legacy, restore the obama presidency than by running on this idea of restoring and building on the affordable care act? and really, it's one of the only issues i can think of where they've gone after on the offense against elizabeth warren. saying this is a middle-class tax increase. what she's proposing.

and so that's really i think what -- what you hear a lot from biden and you will in the coming weeks. >> and, you know, ali vitali, it's interesting. the more you talk to voters about healthcare, you know, they're not saying -- they're not talking about medicare for all. right? they're not talking about a political legislative fight. it is interesting. you hear what our embeds heard. well, look, i wish price of prescription drugs were down. wish i could have better access to this doctor. what they don't want is to have the whole system change again. i guess that's the one thing i seem to hear. >> yeah. and that's true. i think that there is this desire across the board wherever i'm traveling that i hear from voters. that universal coverage is what they want, which is good because there's the baseline. which when you consider how far the party's coming on that even in the last ten years, that's pretty notable in terms of a shift leftward that right now the baseline is universal

coverage. but someone like elizabeth warren and bernie sanders, they're betting and warren advisors have said this to me multiple times. people aren't in love with their insurance companies but they're in love with their doctors. so central to the elizabeth warren messaging on her plan is that, yes, they have a way to pay for it. yes, they seem to have batted back at least in their plan that it won't raise taxes on the middle class. but they're just betting on the idea that in the way they transition to it, they're slightly putting off getting rid of private health insurance. and they're sort of letting the system, the way they think about it, bolstering ts affordable care act. allowing a medicare for all public option. and then in year three, they'll push to go full medicare for all, no private insurance anymore. that's i think how they're trying to thread the needle a little bit with voters. >> yeah. well, let me -- let me show you how elizabeth warren, monica, tried to sell her plan to implement the plan. right? she had to put out a second plan essentially to revise how to pay for medicare for all. take a listen. >> in the first hundred days, i'm going to bring in 135

million people and medicare for all at no cost to them. everybody under the age of 18. everybody who has a family of four, income less than $50,000. i'm going to lower the age of medicare to 50. and expand medicare coverage to include vision and dental and long-term care. and then, in the third year, when people have had a chance to feel it and taste it and live with it. we're going to vote and we're going to want medicare for all. >> now, monica, little fact checking. basically, elizabeth warren, 135 million people is basically the population of medicare and medicaid. so she's essentially saying everything we have here, i'm just going to put it all under the same umbrella. >> and that's what a lot of the other democrats have been pointing to, right? and asking a lot of questions in terms of how exactly this plan would work. we finally have seen her more recently discuss it in more detail after she was met with a

lot of questions and there was a lot of pressure on her to release that. i think that's sort of what we saw in the msnbc debate. a little bit of this sort of ideological debate. but there wasn't as much of a pile-on or as much of a clash on this issue. so has that kind of -- have people stepped back a little bit to say let's wait and see. and sort of as things shift, as we get closer. because this is such a heavily-debated moment in the primary. >> are we overestimating the importance -- the voters just want to hear you're going to fight for more healthcare. >> right. >> are we overestimating, oh, it's medicare for all. no. no. no, it's medicare plus. >> they're like, great, i'm glad you have a plan. the details are a little bit more complex potentially. and some people are calling for that. but others, exactly, are more focused on the actual broad umbrella approach. >> mike memoli, are the biden folks frustrated that it seems as if democratic primary voters have forgotten how hard

implementing obama care was, is, and still hasn't been? because that's gotten lost at least from some wings of the party. oh, you guys took the easy way out. and you're like, does anybody remember what that was like? >> no. that's exactly right. if you remember covering the obama white house when they were trying to pass that. at the time, one of the most difficult parts of this is any -- any idea of disruption. of disrupting the healthcare system is really scary to voters. and i think one of the reasons you hear biden focusing on this idea of building on the affordable care act is because he knows that. he can make that point. it was really hard to do that. and all of a sudden, the affordable care act is the status quo. so he's actually in some ways using what was the republican argument against the affordable care act at the time against the proponents of medicare for all. the idea this is going to be much harder than you think to get this done. and people like what they have. >> so, mike, elizabeth warren is right. joe biden is using republican talking points to criticize medicare for all?

i'm teasing. >> well, he also then -- he also of course will counter that, you know, he's been on the receiving end of those talking points himself. but he knows what can get done. and listen. this is a guy who spent more time campaigning in swing congressional districts. >> and ironically, ali vitali, the -- it's clear that defending obama care is a net positive with swing voters. disrupting healthcare is what scares swing voters. is it possible if elizabeth warn's twar warren's the nominee, that donald trump and the republican party become the party of obama care? >> look. maybe. i mean, i don't know. donald trump has never really proven to me that is wed to any one policy position. as long as i followed him in 2016, it was repeal and replace obama care. that hasn't happened in full. so i would in no way be surprised. but i do think democrats are aware that this is a tough

policy. medicare for all. to take into a general election. and so i've been struck when i've been out on the campaign trail with elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar. two people on the opposite sides really on this debate. they punctuate every healthcare message with this idea that no matter what, democrats are the party of healthcare. and they think republicans are the ones that want to take it away. because at the end of the day, democrats are aware republicans are going to paint this as socialism across the board. >> you may be right. very quickly. >> it's fascinating because we go to the recent trump rallies. healthcare's not on the top of the agenda for him. he lumps it in as a socialism point of all the democratic candidates. but he's not campaigning on healthcare in any particular way heading into 2020. >> and he needs to learn how to do it because it may be why they blew it in kentucky and louisiana. ali, mike, and monica. thank you. keep up the great work and stay safe on the trail. up next, the political

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a few weeks away. one slightly less week than normal because of the late thanksgiving. hanukkah will be here in 23 days. christmas in 26. kwanzaa in 27. the superbowl won't be long after that. that's just 65 days from now but there's not even time to let the nachos and dip settle into that horrible overnight cheese curdling because that's when the real fun begins. the iowa caucuses. they're 66 days away. the day after the super bowl when the packers win. that is of course the big event that kicks off all the others. new hampshire primary coming up in 74 days. nevada caucuses right behind it just 85 days from now. and south carolina's primary happens in a mere 92 days. but that's not all. can you believe we're fewer than 100 days away from super-tuesday? all of it is gonna happen within the next 95 days. and before you know it, we'll be electing a president just 340 days from now. so mark your calendars. get the date book out. put it all in there. whatever you got to do. get your alerts ready because we sure have. and while you're marking your calendars, mark the maps.

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and keep the public safe. welcome back. we're very excited about a new initiative here at meet the press. we're calling it county to county. from now until election day, we're spending time even more granularly than we normally are in five counties in five of the closest battleground states across this country. these places are going to tell the story of this election and a group of voters that will have a critical impact on who wins the white house. we picked our five counties because they help tell different stories of the electorate. they're not all swing counties. some are red. some are blue. here's where we're watching. first, milwaukee county, wisconsin. there we're watching the african-american vote. whether wisconsin stays red in 2020 likely comes down to turnout specifically in milwaukee with african-americans. kent county, michigan, is the one there.

grand rapids. we're watching what happens. the avatar republican might be gerald ford. this is almost home of the newly independent congressman justin amash. whether the president can sustain his super charged support with working class voters. miami dade county florida. we'll be watching how their unique brand of latino voters, particularly cuban and venezuelaen voters. how they're trending. finally, they're maricopa county, arizona. it's a very diverse county. if maricopa is flipping blue, the whole state may flip as well. joining me now, one of the brains behind the 2020 project. he's also the director of the american communities project which studies the different types of people and places that make up america. and he just got back from one of those counties, beaver county, pennsylvania. dante, hello, sir. >> hello. >> as we note more and more,

counties have more in common with counties from other states than with counties within their own state. which is why we do it this way. you just came back from beaver. that's a county john kerry carried in 2004 by four points. >> then donald trump carried by 19. >> they don't vote democrat, do they? >> they do not and it is a remarkable place to go because you get that sense when you're there. these are reagan democrats. you're in a town, many towns, a lot of towns around it, steel industry. there's one mill in particular when it closed, you're talking about 30,000 jobs going away, 40,000 jobs going away in the mid-80s. that's really impossible to make up but they're hopeful trump can bring back some of what they had before. bring back some of the manufacturing economy. they are getting a new cracker plant that's going to do a different kind of manufacturing. it it's still not the same as what they had. >> beaver county, which kerry carried.

and that was basically almost a 20-point county. kent county, michigan. in that same 2004 presidential, i think bush carried it by 20 points. i mean, look, it was the home of that wing of the republican party. and this is -- this is a county that it'll be a shock if -- if -- if trump wins it. >> yeah. so the interesting thing is, you know, we always talk about michigan's battleground state. but it usually ends up going democratic until 2016. and then what happens in 2016? trump wins the state. and then as he does that, kent county, which is traditionally republican, the support drops. >> he lost ground there. >> it's unbelievable. so it's a perfect place we think to look at this kind of establishment. gerald ford republican. >> maricopa county. is there -- is this the -- the swingiest county? >> it might be because the hispanic population there in particular, it's a latino, strong mexican ties. it's very young. very young. so you've got people aging into voting there. >> interesting. >> and at the same time, the

counterweight to that, which is something we also have to explore is you have older people retiring there. >> from those midwestern reddish to purple states. >> you kind of have these two population inflows that are changing. >> of our five counties, is maricopa the one that you would say as maricopa goes, so goes the nation? >> i would say this. if the democrats win maricopa, i think that means they win arizona. and i don't want to make any prediction. >> right because that would be a big deal. >> like you would say if they bin arizona, it's hard to conceive how they would win arizona and lose. but we know. >> i want to bring up miami dade here because this is a county the democrats are going to carry. >> yes. >> but the reason i was obsessed about putting this county here not just because i was born and raised there. but it was the decisive county in the florida governor's race. and it was on the issue of socialism that turned just enough hispanic democratics who voted hilary clinton to vote against the democrat and for the republican in that county.

it was a three or four-point swing that literally was the difference in that race. >> and that word has a different meaning down there, right? it really has a different meaning. >> been there tons saying the word. >> absolutely. you've got populations from countries where socialism is not just something that you hear about in a college classroom or people talk about in a coffee shop. it's real. it's very real and has very negative connotations. and it's a place where that can really matter. i think you're right. i will say this is when you -- that you really wanted on the list. >> i did. i pushed it. >> but i will say i agree. it is a place -- first of all, it's a massive pool of votes. >> look, it's hong kong. we're not going to pretend it's like any other county in the state of florida. it's the hong kong of florida and it's a unique thing. but if the republican shave of any hispanic vote, i think it's going to be in that county. >> i think that is a probably right. >> finally, milwaukee. boy, it is literally as milwaukee goes, so go the democratic efforts. the two low turnouts in the last 20 years in wisconsin were 2000

and 2016. democrats barely carried it in 2000. >> the most remarkable statistic to me. there are a lot of remarkable statistics in 2016. but one, donald trump won the state of wisconsin with fewer votes than mitt romney lost it with in 2012. it really comes down to the vote not turning out for democrats in milwaukee. >> dante, thank you, brother. >> thank you. >> and thank you in advance for the work on this project. coming up, president trump is losing america's suburbs. kent county. big time and it could be the single most significant trend in politics today. that's next. ext.

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one of the most interesting groups of voters i speak to here in south carolina are the suburban women who voted for trump in 2016. but are looking elsewhere in 2020. many told me they're still undecided. they don't completely align with any of the candidates in the field. but they're also unwilling to throw their support behind president trump again in 2020. now, this is a smaller coalition in the state. but it's also a group i think to watch out for as candidates work to build out broader coalitions. you know, how do they appeal to and try to win over some of these suburban, female voters? >> welcome back. that was our south carolina embed jordan jackson putting her finger on one of the absolutely key things we're watching in 2020. she's there in south carolina. charleston. when i think of the suburbs and i think of south carolina, it is what's happened in charleston that you're seeing happening

across the sunbelt. really across the country. american suburbs are changing fast. republicans are seeing advantages they used to have there go away. we saw this electoral realignment play out again. in both the statewide and local races. even in races where republicans won, they lost some suburban counties in mississippi that they hadn't lost in decades. in virginia, democrats took full control of the state legislation for the first time in a generation not because of the suburbs of northern virginia. they finally won the suburbs of richmond and norfolk and all those places. kentucky, matt bevin lost his election bid because he lost in places like the suburbs outside of cincinnati. lost the parishes outside of new orleans and baton rouge. so that suburban shift away from the gop and trump era . back with me now, leanne, michael, ruth. we should mention another reason women voters may be fired up about president trump.

and it's called "supreme ambition." it's a fantastic cover. very excited about the cover. it's rare that words -- no, it's rare that the words -- you don't have a photo and yet the words. it's a very compelling cover. >> great job with the cover. >> and i'm sure they did -- you did a great job with the words in there. how much of a galvanizing moment was the cavanaugh hearings do you think for suburban women? >> you know, the cavanaugh hearings and the political fallout from the cavanaugh hearings are a really contested issue because the biggest -- the biggest likely fallout was -- looked to be in the senate. but the senate -- the incumbent senators who voted against brett cavanaugh and lost were probably going to lose anyway. the most likely person who might've really hurt himself was indiana senator joe donnelley. but probably -- >> lost by a lot. not a little. >> but -- but looking at the others. >> yeah. >> he's the one who you sort of

think, well, maybe might've been. so i think that the court is and it should be a galvanizing issue. especially, for those voters. especially now. what this book is about is the 30-year battle that conservatives have undertaken to gain control of the supreme court. to have a conservative court. they finally have that with brett cavanaugh on there. they have five solid conservative votes. so what are the issues of concern to suburban women? yes, they care about healthcare. but they also care about things like reproductive rights. they -- so there's a lot of concern in those suburban areas about things likes gay rights. this court, this new brett cavanaugh court, is gonna help determine what that's going to look like in the years to come. >> michael steele, do you think your party's republicans -- the suburban women problem -- is more trump? or more positional? meaning, in how much of this is trump? and how much of this is

positions on gay rights? >> i think it's largely trump. i think that the party has evolved generally on gay rights. i think that this is one of the democratic -- this is why post-trump future is a very interesting question. it's also the reason the democratic nominee makes a big difference. there are a lot of people who are in these suburbs who are uncomfortable with trump. but if you have a very left-leaning democratic nominee. if you have a warren or a sanders, they're not comfortable with trump but they don't want to lose their healthcare. they don't want to lose their suv. they don't want to wreck their 401(k). they don't want the economy to go to hell. you can scare them into at least staying home. >> you know, leanne, in virginia in '17, these republican, suburban women decided to participate in the democratic primary. now, in virginia, it's very easy. you don't have to re-register. and it made a huge difference. the more moderate won and i think we know i mean that was powered by former republicans in the northern virginia suburbs. have we seen evidence yet that

the suburban -- the suburban are going to vote in the primaries? because if they do, suddenly michael bloomberg makes sense to me. right? he is the avatar for that -- that. but if they don't participate in these primaries, then i don't know if they're going to have as much of a role in shaping the nomination. >> it's an interesting question. i don't know if we have evidence yet. you look at virginia specifically. the -- the -- virginia '18 election was a huge election. >> that, too. >> and then the one that just happened. that just keeps getting more and more blue in virginia and these areas that -- i mean, virginia is now a blue state, right? but you saw nancy pelosi bring up the issue of guns again. late last week, early this week. she says drawing attention to the fact that the senate hasn't done anything. they're going to work again on guns. that is an issue that suburban women really care about. >> and i'll tell suburban women really care about. >> and i'll tell you this. i saw a lot of evidence, ruth, and michael, in '18, that in those suburban district, and i've heard, and i had republican

consultants who admit this to me, the gun issue worked against them. the first time it happened in a modern election. >> the transformation of guns as a political issue, we're in a cover mode on guns for a decade or more after the 1994 crime bill and the assault weapons ban. now for tragic reasons, doubly tragic reasons that we have had so many more terrible shootings and especially school shootings and also that congress has been unable tor unwilling to pass broadly, broadly popular measures. it has transformed itself from democratic problem to democratic weapon. >> selectively. >> pardon the pun. >> it's not everywhere. they can't take that everywhere. but you couldn't have that position and win missouri senate. >> no, and it's still possible for democrats to overreach. long after we've forgotten who bet o'rourke is, you'll still

see the clip of him saying they're going to come take the guns. and that's going to continue to be a problem for democrats. >> it does seem as if when we talk about the suburbs that we're going to have unusual swing voter groups. soccer mom, security park dad, all this stuff. it feels like in the trump era, it's college educated white women and -- non-college educated white women and college educated white men, that those are the two swing votes that are sitting there -- the non-educated women may be married to trump voters but don't like his behavior. college educated men are married to non-college educated white women and they can't stand that. >> the college educated men to me, those are the romney republicans, right? they're the ones who held their vote, voted for the president in 2016 because they didn't want to vote for hillary clinton.

and getting back to your point, michael, that's why the democratic nominee is critical and that is why you have, you're hearing from democratic donors freaking out a little bit. >> it's why michael bloomberg is jumping in. he figures if i get there, that's his base. his base is those people. he's one of them. if he had been not a billionaire, he would be a suburban dad. >> and he's got a record, a story to tell, a very progressive record on climate and guns but also a record in getting done in a city that's bigger than 40 states in the united states. >> a campaign is not just announcing you're running. you have to have the organization and years to put in that you're doing it. maybe he can throw $8 million -- >> he has to find a constituency and the only one that's natural to him are suburban voters and they're not ready to be democratic primary voters yet. >> you can write a really big check, but you have to do is --

build the ground game in order to do that. i was asking a democratic st strategist the other day if you could choose to be de val patrick or bloomberg to be, which would you pick? >> it's a no brainer right? >> that was not the answer i got. >> money gets people to show up at more houses. >> this conversation was just before the two people. just sharing. >> deval patrick three years ago would have been president of the united states, i do believe that. but these days, i think it's a little light. that's interesting. we'll have more interesting things to stay in a little bit. up ahead, we're going to go for a pspin. > up ahead, we're g for a pspin on it! audrey thinks she's doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk? [sfx: crash of football players colliding off-camera.] maybe not. jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease.

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welcome back. "planes, trains, and automobiles" are integral part of many peoples' thanksgiving and it has me obsessed again about where we are as a nation. the '60s atwood stock and the hippy movement. the '80s had the collapse of the berlin wall. what's the iconic image that portrays our mood now? with the holiday season upon us, i think it might be this. when a caters cart started driving by itself in circles in reverse. and really when you think about it, does that really say it all?

about how we are all feeling these days? like, we're all stuck in the wrong gear with nobody actually at the wheel, as you can see, carining wildly out of control. we're not going forward. we're not going backward. we're just sort of running around in circles repeatedly backing over the debris flung out by our collective national conniption fit. and we're wearing ourselves out as the world stands by waiting for a night and shining armor. fortunately everyone is fine after that incident at o'hare, and if you're traveling this thanksgiving hopefully it goes a bit more smoothly. that's all for tonight. thank you for end subpoenaing a little bit of time with us over the holiday. from all of us at "meet the press daily," we wish you a happy holiday and hopefully i'll see you sunday.

good evening. i'm ari melber. welcome back to "impeachment: white house in crisis." we join you, the public hearings are done. impeachment hearing are about to begin. we're going to dig into exactly what this mean. first a new report from adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, on the finding of those hearings. then the judiciary committee begins the most momentous hearing that it can really hold. beginning after thanksgiving break, these are the hearings on whether and how to impeach the sitting president. that can lead to a formal vote on articles of impeachment. so, tonight i ask you how did we get here to the brink