out. see you tomorrow. thanks so much, craig. a great day to all of you, i'm alison morris at nbc headquarters in new york. president trump is slamming nancy pelosi and the democratic party over impeachment, saying she's desperate. of course impeachment is in limbo right now because pelosi is in a standoff with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell until she gets assurances on how the senate trial will run. nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson is traveling with the president. hallie, those strong remarks came after the president's annual holiday videoconference with the troops this morning. >> reporter: the clouds have definitely cleared here in south florida, alison, although you could say the shadow of impeachment yet hangs over the president. he knows we're here in sunny west palm just down the road

from where president trump has his mar-a-lago holiday every year this time of year. he was at this videoconference with troops he was asked several questions from my colleagues in the press corps including about impeachment. the president says he believes he's into good position even with negotiations in the senate about a holiday hiatus. democrats are in one corner, republicans in the other. and nothing we've seen in the last 24 hours, even as we've heard from all of the key players involved, has done anything, it seems, to move the needle on these negotiations. now, check back with me in a week and a half, let's talk on january 1st, 2nd, after the new year, when senators and congresspeople get back from their holiday break. it's not whether there be a senate trial but rather when the is that the trial will start. the timing as it relates to the

2020 campaign, every week that senate trial goes later in january or start date is later in january, initially they were talking maybe january 6/7th, now maybe a week earlier or later than that. the iowa caucus is at the beginning of february followed by new hampshire soon after that. there are five people running for president who also happen to serve in the senate. that's where some of the timing questions come in. that said, both sides really do feel like they have leverage here. i've been talking to republicans, democrats, strategist throughout this holiday week, and you'll hear from conservatives, nancy pelosi is way out over her skis here. you'll hear from democrats that mitch mcconnell doesn't have a leg to stand on. at this point you have people pretty entrenched on both sides. i think it will take the ball drop to get people ready to move as the reality of coming back to washington starts to sink in. >> so we will look forward to that ball drop and the new year to see if things move along.

hallie jackson in west palm, thank you so much. natasha bertrand, national correspondent for politico. david ignatius, columnist for "the washington post," and harry litman who served as deputy attorney general in the clinton administration. let me ask you about this standoff between mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi. she wants assurances about what the senate trial might look like before she sends off the articles of impeachment. the president says mcconnell can do whatever he wants. how will they solve this problem? >> first, they're not going to solve it for a couple of weeks, as hallie good, in that good report from mar-a-lago. pelosi i think is clearly seeking some leverage to get some assurances that the senate trial will not simply be a rubber stamp instant acquittal of donald trump.

the partisan rage that greeted the house's passage of impeachment articles made it sound like we're going to rush through this and it's going to throw a lot more logs on the national bonfire. pelosi wisely decided to slow it down, to bargain for terms if she can about how the trial will be conducted, to negotiate over issues like witnesses, other aspects that will shape the trial. it's interesting that trump seems furious at that, he wants it to go as fast as possible. i think the policy has been tactically wise. >> harry, the possibility of new articles of impeachment, can you explain the argument from lawyers for the house judiciary committee about why there could potentially be more here? >> yes. remember, don mcgahn and his important testimony here. it matters for the articles themselves where they say there is a continuing course of conduct. so harkening back to trump's telling mcgahn to fire mueller

and then telling yhim to lie about it. they came forward in court monday, or yesterday, and said, hey, we could still have another article of impeachment. that's really more of a technical, legal argument, alison. they're saying this is a live dispute, it's still in play. they're telling the court who asked them, could it matter still. and the answer is, of course it could, both in the articles and in the future. there's nothing that's different about the mcgahn testimony than it was before. it's less of saber-rattling as it's played in the press, of "yes, we're going to impeach again," and more of a legal argument, to say to the court, decide this case, it still matters. >> natasha, harry brings up don mcgahn. why are democrats still interested in talking to him? he's the president's former white house counsel, of course. >> he could provide powerful evidence of the president's alleged obstruction of justice. as harry mentioned, he did ask,

the president did ask don mcgahn to have robert mueller fired. don mcgahn was present for a lot of the conversations about attorney general jeff sessions. and trump's overall attempts to interfere with the russia investigation. the democrats decided not to include anything from the mueller probe in terms of evidence against the president for obstruction in the articles of impeachment. but they have raised the possibility that they could add additional articles of impeachment, right? there's nothing in the constitution that says that they can't impeach the president twice. now, that sounds kind of like a fantasy at this point because it's been so difficult, you know, to get even one fair senate trial, let alone potentially a second. but i think they're kind of hold onto their cards for post-2020, possibly. if trump is reelected, then they believe there say chance that he might commit more impeachable conduct, and so they want all of the testimony and evidence that they can possibly get from these

witnesses, that they can get now, and potentially revisit their options later on this year, later on in 2020, or even after he is potentially reelected heavy. >> david, i would love to talk to you about rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, and your reaction to highlights from a new interview with "new york magazine." in it giuliani said i have no business interests in ukraine. then later he says i've done two business deals in ukraine, i sought four or five others. he said he wanted a case to learn about ukrainian money laundering so, quote, i could figure out how they used the same money laundering system for hunter biden. david, there is a whole lot to unpack there. what do you make that have article? >> i think giuliani is responding to what has been pretty intense reporting, looking at the extent of his business and legal involvement in ukraine and elsewhere as part

of this unusual legal practice where he's the president's unpaid lawyer and he's also out doing business around the world for clients whose interests often intersect with foreign policy concerns of the united states. giuliani obviously feels he has to respond to what's been written in "the post" and elsewhere. i think there's a continuing set of issues. just what were giuliani's business connections in particular with the two russian americans, parnas and fruman, who had big ideas of what could have been multimillion-dollar contracts to export natural gas to ukraine? what was giuliani's role in that? throwing in george soros as a reason to fire ambassador yovanovitch strikes me as really kind of a desperate effort and unpleasant, beyond desperate.

but the facts are clear, giuliani and his partners fruman and parnas wanted yovanovitch out in part because she was resisting their efforts, fruman and parnas' efforts, to do deals with the ukrainian national gas company. george soros is an entirely -- where did that come from? >> natasha, you've been following the ukraine story. what's your reaction to the interview in "new york magazine"? >> olivia nuzzi who wrote the article said giuliani called her afterwards and was upset on how he was portrayed. she made the point that he seems to lack any kind of self-awareness. he railed against the southern district of new york and the investigation that they have launched into him and his business ties to ukraine, knowing that anything he says really at this point can be used against him. so it seems like he feels like

he is invincible at this moment and that anything he finds related to joe biden or marie yovanovitch could exonerate him or the president. he lives in this alternate reality now and he thinks speaking to the press will be helping him, at least be a pr effort. but at the same time he's under criminal investigation and intelligence investigation. it doesn't make a lot of sense, his strategy right now. his ties to these two ukrainian-born associates will potentially come back to bite him because one of them, lev parnas, is eager to cooperate with congress and with investigators as part of the criminal inquiry. so he has a lot of documents, text messages, video recordings, tape recordings that he is eager to share with investigators because he's not happy with how the president has distanced himself from lev parnas and distanced himself from anything having to do with ukraine.

>> natasha, david, and harry, thank you for being with us, happy holidays to all three of you. and next up, nancy pelosi's impeachment pause. is holding on to the articles of impeachment a win or a fail? we'll dig into her strategy. and we'll look into the economy in 2020 and some economic factors that could make or break president trump's reelection bid. rump's reelection bid your school. your job. your dreams. your problems. (indistinct shouting) but at the y, we create opportunities for everyone, no matter who you are or where you're from. for a better us, donate to your local y today.

it's an honor to for tell you that [ applause ] thank you. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you!

only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ can you tell me the story again? every family has their own unique story. give your family the chance to discover theirs this holiday season, with ancestry. some things are too important to do yourself. this ho ♪ y season, get customized security with 24/7 monitoring from xfinity home. awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. simple. easy. awesome. call, click or visit a store today.

the impeachment process on

pause, of course, during the holiday recess. house speaker nancy pelosi has so far declined to move the impeachment articles to the trial, looking for assurances from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell that the senate process will be a fair one. margaret carlson, both republicans and democrats are using this time to bolster their arguments for and against removing president trump from office. who had the messaging advantage, do you think? >> nancy pelosi has the upper hand at the moment. that's partly because mitch mcconnell made one of the few mistakes he's ever made, the few tactical errors, he's made a lot of mistakes. he usually knows exactly what he's doing. but trump has been telling him what to do for a long time but now he's telling him how to do it and mcconnell came out and said he wasn't providing a fair trial, that he was coordinating with trump and his lawyers, it would be a quick trial and there

would be no witnesses. why would anyone planning to do that kind of thing show their hand that boldly? that was a mistake. but trump is a man of immediate gratification. and he wants people out on air defending him. and that's what mitch mcconnell did. but he went too far, and it gave speaker pelosi an opening, because why would she walk into a trial that's completely unfair? while mitch mcconnell says that he's doing -- he's following the process of clinton impeachment, he isn't really, because while they agreed 100-0 on how they would proceed, they did it keeping witnesses on the table. and in fact they had three witnesses. mitch mcconnell completely blocked that out. so in fact it's not at all even as fair as clinton's was. >> we heard, claire, from the president on impeachment, on twitter and in person, blaming the democrats, calling this a

witch hunt again. what are you hearing from your white house sources, is there a strategy here other than attack the democrats? >> that's always the strategy. but also i think mitch mcconnell in a way, the senate majority leader, is leading the strategy here. and what president trump said was, you know, i'll go with what mitch mcconnell wants. president trump initially had said he wanted a full, robust trial. republicans in the senate have prevailed upon him to not want a full, robust trial, necessarily. and the president can continue saying he wants a robust trial but the direction that this is heading is that it will be a quick process. now, these negotiations of course are ongoing between mcconnell and chuck schumer, the senate minority leader. they're at something of an impasse. and while they are at an impasse, also it's a holiday, and so european this is two weeks of full scale messaging

without much consequence until they actually get back into town, and then the question becomes, wait, is there still no agreement about how to proceed? >> and alison, what belies trump wanting a robust trial is he's denied every witness and every document he's been asked for. what he means by a robust trial is calling joe biden and his son hunter biden. by no means does he want the others to be called because he's been blocking it with all his might for these past months. >> margaret, let me ask you another question as we head towards that trial. the chief justice of the supreme court, john roberts, will preside. in a profile of him the associated press writes, as roberts moves from the camera-free relatively anonymity of the supreme court to the glare of the television lights, he'll have a chance to practice what he's preached in recent years, judges are not

politicians. what can we expect from him as he takes on this role? >> the pressure on him is to prove that, in what's become a political and toxic environment. fortunately impeachment is not all political. it has a judicial content. chief roberts is presiding. but they take an oath. it's a very solemn thing to raise your right hand and take an oath, it's one that mitch mcconnell has said he's not going to live by because it requires that you'll swear to god that you'll be impartial and he's already said he has no intentions of being impartial. you don't go to a political debate and raise your right hand, so it's not purely political. and chief justice roberts will bring a note of solemnity to it, to take this out of, you know, the kind of pickle we're in in this country, which is everything is tribal, and put it on another level. now, does that mean mitch mcconnell is going to behave, you know, against trump? i don't think so.

but he's going to have to modulate his behavior. >> ladies, thank you so much, margaret carlson, carla keith, thank you so much. happy holidays to you both. president trump calls this the greatest economy ever. we'll break down that claim and look at how the economy will play into 2020. plus christmas in syria. the powerful story of a christian community returning home to celebrate the season. is that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

all i look at, we have the greatest economy in the history of our country. we've never done so well. if you remember the famous quote, it's all about the economy, stupid, i never believed it was all about the economy, but the economy is a big thing. >> the economy of course a key indicator of whether an incumbent president can win a second trump. purchas president trump has repeatedly touted the economy and using it as a reason to not impeach him. in a column for "the washington post," dan balz writes, joblessness continues to decline

and the expansion that began in 2009 is now the longest in history, a record the trump campaign will sell hard between now and november. he also makes the point that taxes would go up for many americans under some of the plans the 2020 democrats are pitching to voters. the question is will the economy be enough for voters to overlook some of the issues they may have had with president trump. joining me now, basil smikle and rick tyler. rick, let's start big picture. he has had a great economy throughout the first term. but president trump's approval ratings haven't really moved all that much. how much can he rely on the economy as he heads towards november? >> if he stayed focused on it, he could. for a little bit of context, every president since 1890 could claim to have had the world's biggest economy. it's been true because the economy expands and nearly every president can claim their stock market hit record highs, and we did hit record highs yesterday

and may close at a record high again today. but -- and that's all great, and a president with an economy where the unemployment is low, interest rates are low, inflation is low, the dollar is strong, i mean, the president should be, you know, polling well over 50%, probably 60%. but he's not, he's stuck at 42%. his high water mark is 46%. he has the lowest approval ratings of any president since we've tracked it. if he could stay focused on the economy, and i do think that presents a problem for the democrats, they need to learn how to talk about the economy in a way that people don't feel threatened that the economy is going to change. they want the economy to keep going, keep growing and keep being strong. that doesn't mean it's great everywhere. there are some manufacturing states like michigan that have had setbacks and that will make a difference in the electoral college. but don't threaten the economy,

promise to keep it going. i think joe biden he's a big advantage on this because he can talk about the economy under obama, which has been on the same growth trajectory since 2009, up until now. trump has kept that going, or it's kept going, i don't actually believe presidents make a big difference in the economy, entrepreneurs and people in small companies do. so we'll see. >> basil, let me ask you, rick mentioned the manufacturing, job losses, unemployment ticking up in battleground states. could that hurt president trump in 2020 as far as the economy goes? >> there is some language and narrative that the democrats could raise in addressing those voters, particularly with the volatility over some of his trade decisions with china and other countries. but i do want to sort of pump the brakes a little bit, because it's important to note that in the face of an improving economy, donald trump said that the economy was going bad and

tied that narrative to ethnic nationalism, so a lot of voters we presumed were voting on economy but they were voting on cultural issues. democrats need to find a way to extricate one from the other. number two, in trying to answer this question i look at who is on the debate stage right now. andrew yang who has talked about guaranteed income. elizabeth warren and about his have talked about affordable alcoholic or free college and changes in health care. voters, even though they look at the economy and see the numbers as they're improving, they're also considering their position rather precarious. so they're concerned about economic security going forward. you pair that with how private sector entities are freezing or changing the way they deliver pensions, the attack and assault on organized labor. these economic security issues as folks go forward i think is

the way that democrats should be talking about the economy. >> the economy came up in last week's democratic presidential debate several times. let's play some of the answers and then i would like you both to give your take on the other side. >> trump goes around saying the economy is doing great. you know what real inflation went up last year? 1.1%. that ain't great. >> the middle class is getting killed. the middle class is getting crushed. >> where i live, folks aren't measuring the economy by how the dow jones industrials looks. >> rising gdp, rising corporate profits is not being felt by millions of families across the country. >> basil, what do you like and what don't you like about how democrats are phrasing the message here? >> i liken the economy to how we talk about crime. crime may be down, but do you feel safer? the economy may be doing well

but do you feel like your situation is improving, do you feel like you can afford more? generally that answer is going to be no. the vast majority of this country lives check to check. when you talk about economic security for these families, if you're young, you're concerned about having to pay back student loans and the inability to have the american dream. if you're older and retiring, you're wondering whether or not your company is going to be able to pay out your pension. if we talk about it in those terms, then it's an opening message. >> rick, how can the democrats better counter the president's economic pitch here? >> i don't disagree that to win the democratic nomination you might want to talk about the economy that way. but there's this whole other side, half of the country, people that you've got to win over, and they don't want to -- they want to beat -- there's a lot of people who want to beat trump but they don't want to beat trump and lose their private health insurance. they don't want to beat trump and have these massive reforms, we talk about free college, but

when we start to add it up, people are struggling to pay for their own college, and then all of a sudden it's like, now you've got to pay for somebody else's college. i don't think people want to go in that direction. i think they want more economic opportunity. of course they want better pay, they want better benefits. they don't want the government managing all the money and deciding -- and making all the purchases, because by definition those are all third party purchases where people don't care about the quality and don't care about the price. so i think they need to figure out how to appeal to the vast majority of voters who want to keep a very good economy going. again, i don't attribute it all to trump. i can't point to any policies other than some deregulation that you could say had a positive effect on the economy. and it's in the consumer confidence numbers. if consumers confidence is high, you have to acknowledge that and find a way to tell them you're going to keep this going. >> rick, let me ask you another

question about the president. we love bringing up this point, it's the economy, stupid. we talk about it it a whole bunch. >> james carville. >> of course, it's a famous quote. a piece recently said, normally it is the economy, stupid, but trump has a base here so that makes this different for him, that this is not your normal situation. do you agree with that? is it different with president trump or is it always about the economy, stupid? >> quickly, we don't know what the choice is yet. when we know what the choice is, we'll know what the answer is. if the choice is between keeping the economy going, you know, making sure i have my job, people will choose that. if that means voting for trump, they will vote for trump. if it means that possibly i'll lose my health insurance and it's all unknown and the trump campaign and the republicans start spending money scaring everybody to death, that's a different story. it's always the economy.

people vote on their best -- you know, what's going to be best for them and their family, then they'll look beyond that. cy as i say, trump should be in the 60 percentile range given the economy but he's not because it's just a very unpopular presidency mostly based on his personal behavior. >> basil, rick, you'll both be joining me later today, we'll give basil the last word then. thank you very much. coming up next, syrians returning home after nearly a decade of war. a decade of war. that's what we do at 3m, we listen to people, even those who don't have a voice. we are people helping people. thouwhich is breast cancer metastthat has spreadcer, even those who don't have a voice. to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance.

ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance.

audrey's on it. eating right and staying active? 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. so it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and it lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack? on it...with jardiance.

ask your doctor about jardiance. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. a place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. a place for mom. you know your family we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean! i'll only use an oral-b! oral-b.

brush like a pro. in syria a very special christmas eve in a town that was home to christians for more than 2,000 years. forced out by war, the fall of isis means they can gather once again to celebrate the holiday. returning to churches once under attack, they're now symbols of survival. nbc's bill neely traveled to syria to bring us their powerful story. >> reporter: christians in syria have had little to celebrate over the last eight terrible years of war. but in one small town, where christians have hidden in the mountains for hundreds of years, they can now celebrate christmas and their freedom. in the biblical landscape of a country scarred by war lies a place almost broken by it. malula is a christian town in mainly muslim syria and once a place of pilgrimage.

until it became a battleground. rebels captured it and fought off syria's army. nuns were kidnapped. i was there, caught in the middle of a firefight. 500 yards away, rebels are pinning them and us down here. a christian monastery became a sniper's nest. the bullet holes remain. but today the church is ready for christmas and ready to celebrate. >> a resurrection, if you like. >> reporter: for almost 2,000 years this has been a place of refuge for christians. they literally dug themselves into the side of the mountains. now they say they feel safe again as the war draws to an end. >> it will not be threatened anymore. remembers robles, gunmen,

snipers have never tried to come back. >> no, no. >> reporter: but they have suffered. and they grieve lost lives like millions in syria. for many, there is no rebirth. rebuilding this town isn't quick. some who fled have never returned. nor have the tourists who once came to malula in their thousands. like many syrian christians, most people here support president assad and believe america didn't do enough to defeat islamists like isis. today there's no hatred in the town where they speaka ar a aas speak aramaic. tens of thousands have fled the war and lost their homes and are still living outside syria. in that amazing place, at least

the language of jesus will be heard again this week. back to you. >> that was nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely reporting from syria. next we'll take a look at the past year in protests as we keep an eye on another major demonstration happening in hong kong right now. kong right now

ever since darrell's family started using gain flings, their laundry smells more amazing than ever. ah, honey! isn't that the dog's towel?

hey, me towel su towel. there's more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. gain. seriously good scent. hi, it's real milk, just00% farmwithout the lactose, id. so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive. delicious. now, i've heard people say lactaid isn't real milk. ok, well, if it isn't real then, i guess those things over there can't actually be cows. must be some kind of really big dogs, then. sit! bad dog.

hong kong's silent night protests turned violent earlier. check out this video, this happened earlier on christmas eve. police there clashing with hundreds of activists in popular shopping areas and in the streets. in one instance police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. in another they used pepper spray. they've also made some arrests. it's one of the many we've seen this year. in "this year in protest," nbc's mariana atencio takes a look at uprisings from around the world and how people and governments have responded. >> reporter: for over six months, hong kong has been consumed by pro-democracy protests, a movement primarily led by students. on june 16th, organizers say nearly 2 million people took to the streets in defiance of the

chinese government and a controversial extradition bill. since then the protests have become increasingly more violent. in november, city-wide demonstrations erupted after police began raiding college campuses to make arrests. pro-democracy candidates did win big in november's local elections. still, the protests are still to continue into the new year. in iran, it was an increase in gasoline prices that triggered several days of civil unrest in november. it was like nothing the country had seen since the iranian revolution 40 years ago. in total, at least 300 people are believed to have been killed, according to amnesty international, with thousands more wounded or detained. in iraq, it was a movement primarily led by young and lower income people, calling for an

end to corruption, poor infrastructure, unemployment, among other issues. at least 354 people have been killed since protests began at the start of october, according to the united nations high commission for human rights. the prime minister resigned from his post amid pressure from the protests. not far, in lebanon, their prime minister was also forced to resign after a proposed fee on internet voice calls that triggered government-wide protests calling for the end of government corruption. several hundred thousand people took to the streets in what have mostly been peaceful protests. meanwhile, the symbolic protest which involves the banging of pots and pans in south america,

where i'm from, could be heard from the streets of several countries, the most of the surprising being chile, the country with the reputation as being the most stable south american country. a tax hike unleashed people's fury. these protests have been extremely violent. at least 20 deaths and thousands injured according to chile's national institute of human rights. the chilean government was forced to cancel two major international summits including apec in november. in colombia, the sounds of pots and pans could also be heard echoing through the nation. since mid-november, hundreds of thousands of protesters have been taking to the streets. what originated as a planned labor union strike has since transformed into widespread

actions against the government and their use of unconventional weapons toward protesters. many now calling for the resignation of president duquet. in bolivia, it took several weeks of upheaval before president morales fled to mexico. claims of election fraud surfaced after his october election win in which he disregarded term limits. clashes among rival protesters were intensified by security forces whose actions were deemed unnecessary and disproportionate by the u.n. the widespread tensions have left more than 600 people detained and at least 17 dead. and finally, my home country of venezuela. since mid-january, the nation has been consumed by protests

over the reign of nicolas maduro. the demonstrations began after maduro's second inauguration and led by opposition leader juan guaido. the conflict as well as the humanitarian crisis has caught the attention of the international community, most notably the united states. both president trump and vice president pence have taken a hard stance against maduro. a breakthrough appeared to be in reach in february when the opposition attempted to bring in aid by truck over international bridges. but the tense standoff would subside and maduro would remain in power, which he still does to this day. >> thanks to mariana atencio for that report. next, a look at the markets and the economy in 2020 with our very own ali velshi. as the decade comes to a close, we're asking you, what was the biggest story in the last ten years? go to nbcnews.com/decadestories and tell us what you think. what does help for us k heart failure look like?

it looks like this. ♪the beat goes on entresto is a heart failure pill that helped keep people alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. ♪la-di-la-di-di don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb.

the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. ♪the beat goes on yeah! there's just something different to a disney movie. i think we've watched every single movie at least twice. (vo) verizon knows there's no better way to screen your disney favorites than on america's most reliable network. that's why we give you disney+ on us with your unlimited plan. he loves star wars more than anything. and since we have verizon, we're gonna be able to stream it... (snaps) like that. (vo) plans start at just $35 per line. and now buy one of our best phones and get one free. plus get $400 when you switch. anybody wanna join the dark side? i will! (vo) because the network more people rely on gives you more. when youyou spend lessfair, and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com nyquifor your worst cold andrful relieflu symptoms, on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine.

we are covering near record highs today. it doesn't look like we're going to get quite a good finish here. the dow and nasdaq not budging on this santa claus rally. we're seeing what everyone would consider a nice santa clause raleigh. i was thinking back, you put it

out of your mind to last year at this time. i forgot what a mess we were in. >> that is really important to remember, i like the s&p better, the s&p will also close down a little bit today, but up for the year, to date, from the same date last year from the beginning of january to today, up 28.5%. from a year ago today we're up 37%. the last quarter of 2018 was so horrible, it was the beginning of the trade war and nobody knew what was going on. . we're coming off of a really, really bad year, but if someone wants to give you 77%. it looks light a light at the end of the tunnel, and the president has put remarkable pressure on them for the year.

something they didn't think was necessary, but it has served to help problem up the reception. that is the first time and the danger when you have a recession you need the fed to reduce interest rates. and they have blown a little of that in the last year. so there are some concerns, gdp growth is high, on the other side of the ledger, wages still remain low. half a million people still sleep on the streets. that is a developing world problem and we need to figure it out. >> i don't think so, let's see, i love to talk about, just for starters, china trade.

it looks like there will be ink on that, isn't the faze one deal sayi saying. and when you stop wrecking it people say it should not mean anything, the bottom line is it does mean that people are a little more relieved as you're seeing in the stock market. and some terrorists may come down. more will have to happen, but it calmed investors down a little bit. >> some people say a recession is inevitable. are you in agreement here? you're thinking 2020, you're thinking 2021, still looking at 2% growth, recessions don't have to be like the last one, if everyone reacts properly, we can

have progression that is slow growth. i think once we got past the political noise we're in but have to think about a world in which we have to think about retraining and unemployment. some people feel like they have been in a recession for ten years. that is not trump specific, it gets worse with ai and automation where people will find for no although of their own. >> does this rally have to look like the last one. some people may think it has been like the last year. is it inevitable that in 2020 it will have to cool down? or can this rally be even longer than the last? >> we don't have a history where you see 30% gains, there is people hesitant to put their money in the stock market. people were doubting this a year

ago and two years ago. and there is something to be said for talking the market up. donald trump does talk this market up a lot. and it has met with success in doing it. the luck can run out, but it is worth doing. >> if you were talking to folks today, your holidays say you know the new year is a week away, how do i play this? what do i do? what would your approach be? >> know what your password is for your 401k. go in there with a strategy for what your portfolio should look like. stay with that. when it starts to go wrong you will get sounds that could go wrong. i don't think they should get in for preparation. if you got out of the market you would have missed out on 37%. >> yeah, we'll see you with news now later on today and as wall

street enjoys a santa rally, we're enjoying the santa tracker. right now it is looking like santa is making his way to saudi arabia. he also delivers more than a billion presents with that work efficiency. we hope he gets some extra milk and cookies. if you want to see where his sleigh is, go to right now we're seeing live pictures of the man who claims to be santa, that's right another so called santa jet skiing. we have seen a couple over the last week. where is he? there is he, is this the tiniest santa ever. >> there has even been a grinch sighting. it's unclear how ke be in in two

places at once. we will try to figure out precisely where he is and we will bring you all of the news as it breaks but great to see santa out there. delivering presents to the kids at home. that does it for this hour, you can catch me on news now today at 3:00 p.m. eastern. >> you have a busy day. >> that's okay. >> not as busy as him. >> he has a lot going on too. have a nice holiday. it is tuesday, december 24th, ahead this hour, another impeachment in the works. one house committee says it is possible if they get system from one of trump's former aid eer a what kim jong un's christmas chris could