tv The Weekend MSNBC December 21, 2024 6:00am-7:00am PST
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welcome back to "the weekend." unelected co-president, that's how one congressional democrat described elon musk this week after the tech billionaire helped blow up the bipartisan funding agreement, tweeting more than 100 times against it and spreading lies about the bill in the process. in an indication of the outsized role, president musk is likely
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the play during trump's second term. here's how senate appropriations chair patty murray described the week's events. "bottom line: i government should not hang on the whims of an unelected -- whether or not we lurch toward a devastating shutdown. should not depend on whether elon musk has the self-control to think for two second and do basic fact checking before mistaking the most obvious twitter trolls for policy experts." joining us nbc news correspondent julie sirkin and "new york times" technology reporter kate conger. she the co-author of "character limit: how elon musk destroyed twitter." >> where is julie sirkin? julie is on capitol hill because that is where the action is this morning. julie just -- the capitol hill streets seem to have cleared out. the government has been funded. but who is the biggest winner
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and the biggest loser here on capitol hill? i think the winner writ large is the american people because the government is funded. people are going to get their checks. in terms of members, who won and who lost in this battle? >> well, a loaded question early this morning. yes, the capitol's empty, but i live here now. so i'm always here attached to this marble ground. that's a great question. i think it you look at what they were able to pass last minute that rfk stadium in d.c.'s control, the pediatric cancer research, the fact that democrats are able to block this debt limit suspension that trump wanted at the 11th hour, it kind of feels like democrats are maybe the winners of this situation, although of course trump also could notch some wins, as well. taking the 1,500 plus bill to 180 pages or less. so definitely winners and losers, i would say on both sides. certainly if you listen to leader mcconnell who gave a floor speech yesterday slamming the whole idea of using government funding, government
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shutdowns as this political football, that is an idea that is unfortunately dying among the new conservative members, the new republicans, some of the hard-liners that were very willing to shut this place down. again, this would not have passed if all democrats didn't vote for it. >> i sort of gasped listening to michael read the title of your book, "character limit: how link destroyed twitter. -- elon musk destroyed twitter." martin o'malley is talking about this is a boy who breaks his favorite toys. if the u.s. government is his new toy, given his track record breaking previous toys, what should that tell us ? >> i think there's so much that you can see in the twitter acquisition that's going to play out in the federal government. musk came in with a vision just to slash and burn the budget and really cut back on what twitter was spending. and he did that to sort of catastrophic levels and really cut i think more than the company could handle. ended up having to bring workers
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back and bring systems back that he had originally wanted to cut. so i think there's a lot of guidance for how this is going to go if you look to the way he's handled twitter. >> i think, julie, the interesting thing for me is the dynamic that has emerged of this -- and democrats and not just democrats, even some republicans, you know, i know have started this co-presidency sort of narrative between trump and musk, particularly given the fact that trump was largely silent in all of this week's events. it was musk know who drove this narrative. so you have this environment in which these two men are sort of controlling and working together seemingly. how is that playing out from your reporting on the hill, and
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some folks have noted on twitter republicans having two daddies is kind of woke. so you have this sense out here that this dynamic in the republican party is one that's going to be around for a while. how does that play out on getting things done on the hill? >> there's definitely bipartisan consternation i would say. i think more than anything even taking apart the co-presidency line, i'm sure not all republicans feel that way at this point. however, they do feel like elon musk helming x, getting all this pressure going, riling up essentially the base that is then putting pressure on members -- remember back in the senate leadership race, when elon musk had everyone riled up for rick scott who ended up losing, people had protesters at their offices. when you have this happen around a government funding bill demanding to shut down the government instead of passing the original bipartisan bill, blaming speaker johnson on x for
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it, certainly that is extremely stressful and a new dynamic for machines, one they -- members, one they didn't have to contend with when trump office twitter because elon musk has a completely different following. then you add in all the billions he has and his ability to challenge primary members and that threat. of course that it extremely concerning for members up here. they don't want a billionaire on the outside telling them what to do. they don't want an unelected official telling them what to do. i think the better chance for musk to go away is when president-elect donald trump, if and when, gets tired of him. remember we had reporting after the election that maybe trump was starting to get a little bit tired of how much musks hanging around him. certainly at this point musk needs trump more than trump needs musk after he won the election with his help. and that is definitely a dynamic we are watching. i will point out that musk and trump had different issues this bill, adding to the complications. musk didn't want the debt limit to be blown through.
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he's about slashing spending. it's an interesting dynamic to watch even when comparing the two statements from them. >> i'm just kind of like -- julie's last comment struck me. musk and trump had different issues with the bill. except one person is the president-elect of the united states of america, and the other one just, you know, happens to be a billionaire that owns a couple of companies. i'm just kind of like, wait, there are a lot of ceos of companies that have issues with what was in the bill, right? not all of them, though, had the ear of the president-elect. and the platform to be able to marshal and corral republican members of the house of representatives. should we be concerned here? are you concerned? what is the reporting tell us? >> yes. i mean, i think it's concerning for sure. it's going to represent a really big shift in how our elected
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leaders think about their jobs. you know, do you listen to this man with a very large following on line, or do you listen to the president-elect? people are going to make those choices. and i think the thing about musk that is really his superpower is his ability to be really loud and to sort of force the changes that he wants to see through using his large platform. and he's done this over and over again with his businesses, with the twitter deal itself. and now with the federal government. he will just say something over and over and over again in the hopes of it becoming true and him making it true by virtue of speaking about it so frequently. >> julie, there's this large platform. there's also the $277 million he's reported by cbs news to have used to boost trump, to boost other republicans. that, of course, is a factor here. we played in the last hour your great sound asking speaker johnson if he even wanted to be speaker of the house anymore. i want to play some additional sound for you of the speaker
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joking about offering musk the speakership. >> elon musk and i talked within about an hour ago, and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job. i said, you want to be speaker of the house? i don't know. he's said this may be the hardest job in the world. i think it is. we're going to get through this. >> ha, ha, ha. julie, what are people saying on the hill about that? >> well, i think johnson brought that up because it is very clear that even elected republican senators were floating elon musk and vivek ramaswamy to take the speaker's gavel because you don't need to be a member of the house to be the speaker. that is why you had trump floated, as well, when they couldn't figure out who will lead them last year. but all this aside, any serious republican up here knows that that just would never happen. elon musk would never become speaker of the house. apparently according to mike johnson he doesn't even want to because he thinks it's the hardest job in the world. but at the end of the day, i
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don't know how -- how confident johnson could be in musk and trump staying on his good side and keeping him afloat here. because the moment that elon musk decides to go on x and bash mike johnson -- again, interesting to see if he's coordinating with trump or not through all of this because trump it not like when people speak for him or act more powerful than he is. and of course he's going to be the president sitting in the white house soon. but it is notable that musk at any given moment can just blow this whole thing up for johnson. and that is why i chased him off after that, asking if he even wants this job given how chaotic the last 36 hours have been for him. getting elected speaker or re-elected speaker on january 3rd might be the easiest moment of speaker johnson's life over the next two years, dealing with the unpredictability of musk and trump. >> kate, i find it interesting that musk has found a way to insert himself into the national
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party politics in such a way that, a, you have republicans offering him up to be speaker of the house, okay. that's dumb. but even more so that -- to earlier questions he's been able to control the conversation. i don't know if i buy this donald trump is allowing this to happen and coordinate -- i think there's an irritation there. but trump does need musk. you were saying before not so much the other way around. but i think trump does need musk because the end of the day trump likes the idea of having access to that cash. >> you didn't ask me. >> go ahead. >> but okay. i'm just saying, he needs musk -- i can't believe i'm sitting here about to defend donald trump. >> that's what i just said. >> i don't think he needs him. i don't think he needs him at all. elon musk needs donald trump and needs these republicans. >> that's a given. >> like he needs them. he's the one with these government contracts that he wants to keep and this access he
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wants to continue to have. he's the one that didn't want these rules about doing business in china to go through. he put the pressure on people and got it out. elon musk is playing the h-l-l out of republicans in congress and the president-elect. and i'm wondering when trump going show up. where is the donald trump from "the apprentice," the man talking about hired, fired, hired, fired, you go. the donald trump i thought the people elected, not me but the other people, he's the one that would usually like to lay down the law. clear about where he stands. he posts through it all. >> maybe he's too old for the job now. maybe that donald trump is just too old. >> maybe so. he is aging. >> i think one of the things that's interesting to neat in this, too, is that -- to note in this, too, is that sk has posted on line yesterday saying, you know, this is trump's bill, this is the speaker's bill, this is j.d. vance's work, this is not my work. i'm just, you know, speaking
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about my opinions, but i'm not in the driver's seat here. and he's even said this idea that he's sort of a shadow president is something that's concoctsed by the media -- concocted by the media and is utterly false. the fact that he is aware that this is going to be a friction point between him and the president-elect and is trying to push back on that speaks volumes. >> he can speak volumes, but facts are facts. we see it. it's happening. kate conger, we appreciate you. julie tsir kin. thank you for being part of the conversation. don't go away, because you're watching "the weekend." ou're watching "the weekend. so dad grabbed puffs plus lotion to soothe her with ease. puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin and locks in moisture to provide soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin...
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electorate who is frustrated with washington and isn't necessarily as tied to the nuances of things like a government shutdown, the way we are, it looks like part of the same. the first time this guy was president, you had the longest government shutdown in american history, 34 days. it's not as though this is a new movie. elon musk is a new character in the sequel to a film that i didn't like the first time around. and so inasmuch as what i want from santa this year is some normalcy, some ability to come together and get stuff done. i am concerned that they believe that on some level this is just fine. >> it does work for them. it does work for them to the extent that you have a media that tries to report all of this as normal and tries to give context -- >> asking what does joe biden think about it. >> asking what does joe biden think -- joe biden did the most politically smart thing this
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past week he could have done as president, and that was to shut the hell up and let the drama on the hill play out. because he knew at the end of the day the democrats were going to be the ones who were going to save the day because the republicans didn't have the vote because they don't know how to govern. and when you fundamentally understand that you can write that story press, you can contextualize this in how they're governing and stop with the whole, you know, who's up, who's down, who's in charge, who isn't, and look at exactly what the results are and who are bringing about those results. that's what joe biden figured out. y'all can say what you want about the man and try deflect this off to, you know, oh, the old guy down on 1600, but the old guy that's about to come into 1600 clearly had no control over this or ceded control in a way that he lost control. so the reality is he didn't get what he wanted. we began -- ended this thing the
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way it began, with the bipartisan bill that was negotiated before he got involved. and to your point, alicia, about the new characters that are showing up who are now in the sequel who are now in this reality tv crazy, they will play whatever role they think they can play. but that still touches on how the republicans govern the country. >> yeah. yeah. yeah. yeah. yeah. i want to start clapping. i was like -- i was at the show. yes, i hard agree with the both of you. you know, sometimes as you goes know fridays i answer people's questions on instagram. the number-one question i got when i did it this past week was how are we going to survive the next four years of this crazy? how are we going to survive? what are we going to do? how -- where is the resistance? i'm like, y'all on the wrong instagram account for the resistance. however, when people are asking how they're going to survive i think they're talking about the
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chaos that alicia mentioned, just the uncertainty where the news -- when you turn on the television it feels like the sky is falling. and we are going to be here to help people parse through it all. if the sky looks like it's going to fall we're going to see it. if the sky isn't falling, calm down. the sky isn't falling, this thing is not that big a deal. for things that seem just crazy, we're going to call it crazy, we're going to sip our coffee and work through it all. that's just -- that's what it is because, you know, some people voted for this. again, not me. but some other people did. and they won. so that's how it is, folks. y'all just going to -- work through it together because we're not going anywhere. >> at the end of the day it's about governing. the country's got issues we've got to get addressed. hopefully they'll do that. alicia is about to say good-bye. >> she was tired of michael. i got to go early. >> and you know, in my christmas thing -- wait until tomorrow.
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>> lord. alicia, please come back tomorrow. >> i promise. i. promise. >> she'll be back tomorrow. you at home, don't you all go anywhere. if you do, i'm going to have to come after you because there's more of "the weekend" ahead. after the break we'll talk with congresswoman joyce beatty about democrats saving the government from the government shutdown again and again. this is "the weekend." ." it's built for apple intelligence. that's like peanut butter on jelly... on gold. get four iphone 16 pro on us, plus four lines for $25 bucks. what a deal. ya'll giving it away too fast t-mobile, slow down.
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each helping to protect their money with chase. woah, a lost card isn't keeping this thrill seeker down. lost her card, not the vibe. the soul searcher, is finding his identity, and helping to protect it. hey! oh yeah, the explorer! she's looking to dive deeper... all while chase looks out for her. because these friends have chase. alerts that help check. tools that help protect. one bank that puts you in control. chase. make more of what's yours. we're grateful to everyone stood together to do the right thing, and having gotten this done now as a last order of business for the year we are set up for a big and important new start in january. >> but not everyone stood together, mr. speaker. more democrats than republicans supported the stopgap funding bill. if it was left to republicans, we likely would be in a shutdown right now. here's what senate leader chuck schumer said after the deal passed in the house.
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>> this was a compromise, we got some major things we wanted in the bill. there were three major victories. we dent get everything -- didn't get everything we wanted. if you look at the vote, people felt pretty good. it was unanimous. >> and one of the members of the house of representatives, democratic congresswoman joyce beatty of ohio, joins us now. >> congresswoman, welcome. welcome. i mean, i know sleep and all of those things are wanting right now. but it has been a very telling, i think, and important week as a setup for the way congress is going to function and the role that democrats can play should they choose in this next congress. how do you see this house coming together under the trump administration, under the control of the republicans and the senate, as well, in terms of
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having to deal with this issue again in march and having to deal with other issues that are going to come out? democrats prepared to be the governing party of the country. >> absolutely. i think what you're going to see in the upcoming year is the same as what you saw last night. hakeem jeffries believing. we know that we're in the fight of our life. democracy is at stake. but what you saw last night was us standing up for the american people. look, if you look at it as a game, we won, we had a knockout in the first round with bicameral. we had everybody on board. they went and got somebody from outside the ring to enter the fight, and we knocked him down, too. they came back with the most ridiculous, self-serving plan for billionaires. we know elon musk was calling the shots. we knocked that down. republicans needed us, and we were very strategic. no one fights stronger, better
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for the american people than democrats with hakeem jeffries. so we were able to prevail. it was a big victory for us last night. we were united. we fought for medicaid and medicare. we had a few things we didn't get, but the senate was able to come through. when you think about that they wanted to keep language in to help them invest in china or not them but elon musk, the real acting president-elect, and when you think about the senate was able to put in the language for cancer, we fought hard for that in a bipartisan way. cancer for our children, congresswoman terry sewell's deal was so important not just to us but the nation. what's going to happy, we have 215 democrats we know in the first round of next year, they will only have about 217. look at that first vote, michael. almost 40 republicans went
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against speaker johnson. he sent it up -- >> very uphill. and democrat later jeffries said the democrats would not support bailing out johnson in a speaker's battle. >> absolutely. >> is that going to hold -- that's going to hold going into the new year. >> what i can tell you in the new year, we have one thing we're going to say and that's hakeem jeffries. we have a proven track record on it. we know our future is at stake. not only for our democracy but for the democratic party. we have so much that we have to fight for, not having the administration as democrats. >> i heard a rumor, michael. >> i did, too. i regard this rumor, too, and i want to contextualize this rumor because i'm curious of the congresswoman's response. we had governor martin mally on in the last hour talking about, last segment, talking about his role as hopefully becoming the
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next dnc chairman. i raised up with him the point that elon musk has vowed to fund moderate democrats in primaries in an effort to, a, cause democratic incumbents who are running to spend money, b, therefore be -- cash poor in a general. but also maybe in certain blue districts, you know, changing the composition and creating consternation for the dnc. what do you think about that strategy? and what democrats can do to block and tackle elon musk's outsized role in american politics? >> well, let me just tell you, democrats are going to stick together, and we have a proven track record. when you look at the frontliners who belong to the congressional black caucus, every one won and
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against the odds. when you look at ohio with those who were in a fate for their life, we won. we're ready, and we're not going to be bought out because it has been proven that money is not the only factor. people have won against that. look at the largest state in the country, karen bass went up against a multimillionaire and won. right here in ohio and across our states, democrats were able to prevail against those who only wanted to put money in. now, the seats that we lost some will say look to north carolina. that was because of gerrymandering, not because of money. we're ready for their tactics. we proved them -- proven them wrong before. we just did on the biggest thing we could do. we did not have a vote on the debt ceiling. and so i can tell you we're ready for the fight. you can see a strong party come out with strong leadership because when we're in the battle, we're in it to win. and i'm going to be a part of that. >> and how -- >> how are you going to be part
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of that, congresswoman? last night i was with some folks in the public affairs community, and i heard that you would potentially be throwing your hat into the race in terms of not the dnc chair's race, but one of the other positions. is that true? are you running for dnc position? >> as of yesterday, i was certified by the dnc. i have enough signatures. i'm running for the number-one vice chair spot, civic engagement and voter participation. i'm coming out swinging. i'll send you my materials. i have people all over the country rallying and standing for me. i bring change, and i bring continuity. i've served on the dnc before, and i'm real to roll up my sleeves. i have a track record. i'm chair emerita of the congressional black caucus. i'm active with win with black women, put 44,000 black women on a phone call. so i'm in the race, and i'm in
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it for change. i'm in it for leadership and in it to win. >> all right. well, michael -- >> there it is. rumor confirmed. >> congresswoman joyce beatty, thunk. we will be talk -- thank you so much. we will be talking to you soon because we are interested in the dnc chair's race. next, democrats, they're already working to expand that congressional map in 2026. we'll get into this. 2026. we'll get into this. pursue a better you with centrum. ♪♪ it's a small win toward taking charge of your health. ♪♪ so, this year, you can say... ♪you did it!♪
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debacle has reinforced once again the importance of who controls the house. democrats fell short of taking back the chamber in '24 by just a few races, and they're already -- this is good for them to know -- working to make sure they don't miss their chance in '26. now house majority pac and independent group closely aligned with democratic leader hakeem jeffries just launched a new effort recruit democratic challengers for republican held congressional districts in states like arizona, michigan, california, and virginia, that were not contested this year. the fund will pay for an extensive effort to find attractive candidates across the country with an emphasis on people who may not already be in elected politics but have excelled in their chosen fields. joining us now to unpack all of this and get into it is the president of house majority pac mike smith. welcome to the table. >> i'm glad mike came into the
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studio. hard to get you on the road. >> on the road -- >> remind me of old school when i was -- >> okay. >> the view of the world. >> mike, talk about these recruitment efforts. why people in these unlikely chosen fields, so what i'm hearing is not people who maybe have run for office before, maybe business owners, why? >> so i'd say in 2024 over 148 million votes were cast. 7,300 votes determine who'd had control of the house of representatives, that's it, 7,300 out of 148 million. >> what? >> 7,300 votes across three districts. the through line for whether we won or lost most districts related to the quality of the candidate running. and we know '26 is going to be ground zero for the house of representatives. the only way to keep a check donald trump and make sure republicans can't enact some of these extreme policies is if we elect a democratic majority and elect hakeem jeffries as the next speaker. we've seen how crazy it's been. whether it's threatening to defund childhood cancer
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research, you know, four days before christmas, threatening to withhold parkwaychecks to our military -- paychecks to our military service members. we're going to be there if we have candidates, strong candidates in districts that are going to be ultra competitive, whether it's mike lawler in new york, deeper into territory in florida, in california, and other places. and i think to your point recognizing that we can't use the same playbook if we want to win. you look at pennsylvania, it was a district that we didn't think was going to be incredibly competitive. she had an unusual background, she was a republican switched to democrat. local news broadcaster. she came with win two points of winning. we need to see who we can get to run and how we can be supportive. >> i think that's smart. it's a lot of what i did in the 2009-2010 cycle winning state legislative races, winning down ballot races which actually, as
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i keep trying to remind people, creates energy for top of the ticket races for federal office, for example, even statewide for governor. but of course republicans are not without their sass about your efforts. so it was interesting -- from axios reporting several house republicans who won by comfortable margins scoffed at being included on the hmp's list -- want to say hit list. i won by 25 points. i guess it's razor thin, representative jimenez of florida told axios that being on the hmp list will make me work harder, saying it's unrealistic that democrats could win his seat but they could dream. i know a lot of that cockiness back in the day. people, democrats who thought they had the seat because the district was made for me and
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then the behind was sent home. that's the opportunity. you see something that these members don't see even in their own districts. >> uh-huh. >> right? >> yeah. i think to your point, take those seats for granted, take the seats for granted. you look at a couple of things. one, 2018 -- not to say this is the same election cycle. 2018, beginning of the election cycle, the nonpartisan race raiders said there was maybe 13 races that republicans had that were going to be trail competitive. before the election there were over 70. there are races that people don't think are going to be competitive, and that's why we laid down a marker down to say raise your hand, we're going to be in the states talking to you, trying to figure out how do we build a robust campaign. if we can make it real, we're going to be and invest in the races. >> the other part that i find interesting, and this is one of the things that i think the democrats should keep an eye on, is that you're already beginning
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to see emerge within the republican party two camps. there's the hard-core maga, trumtrump, yeah, baby, get the hat. i got the hat, right? but there's now emerging musk republicans. >> yes. >> i find that to be interesting. it will be very curious to see how that plays out in the types of candidates republicans have emerging in primaries competing against each other for those seats that the democrats are looking at. >> the democrats are targeting. can we put the -- i'm going to call it a hit list, i'm sorry, but i like that. the hmp list. but it's a hit list. i like the hit list. put the hit liss up on the screen, please. these are the districts to watch first. >> i see vulnerables on there. >> these were republican districts to watch. that you all are saying, hm, we think -- look at nancy mace, circle won. and then the next list is the targeted districts list. so these are the folks that you all are saying like these are the targeted districts, these
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are the potential open seats, john james, michigan, these are mike lawler. can we talk about mike lawler for a second? he may run for governor. he wants to be governor potentially of new york. but he also has been on tv in this last debacle talking about the money to -- the money for veterans who are affected by 9/11, that was in the bill. he was dismissive of it. i'm like, not the man want to be governor of new york. not the man who sits in a seat that is truly purple. these are the kind of members you're talking about. >> these are the races that we're hyper focused on. i think you look at the past week. we haven't even sworn in the new congress at this point yet. look how dysfunctional it is, how chaotic it is. if i'm a republican in an ultra competitive at i'm probably looking for an exit. you're not going to win, i think democrats are taking back the majority. you basically have to teal deal -- to deal with donald trump
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tweeting at you and elon musk tweeting at you and what's the point of doing it? our effort is we're putting them on notice now, especially in places where we think they're going to run for office. that's john james, mike lawler. going deep, and i think the next few weeks you're going to see a robust accountability effort focused on some of the -- they've taken some of the things they've said, whether it's cutting social security and medicare, withholding veterans' paychecks or military service member paychecks four days before christmas. they're putting them on notice early on and significantly and continuously three election day. >> i would note it is -- it is pro- pro-verbally -- >> yes, you get phone calls in you're not. at least an email. the thing that -- i just want to put in front of you, so you'll have opportunities if donald trump continues to pluck folks from the house. >> uh-huh. >> to put outside in other parts of the government.
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so those seats will be in play. but is the strategy or should the strategy also be about not just winning the house but winning the house? >> yeah. >> i got 63 seats, baby. there's your number, right? >> that's -- michael, 63 seats? >> that's what i got. >> you got 63 seats? >> he got 63 seats. >> yeah. >> wow. >> so my point is you've got to in this next cycle not just win the house but overwhelm the house. you cannot -- you will not be able to set up opposition if you are a four-seat majority. you will not be able to set up opposition i think appropriately with a ten-seat majority because you're going to have members in some districts in the next presidential cycle worried about the seats. you need to create cushion. what's your thinking and strategy as you put up these wonderful lists -- >> put the hit list up. >> put the list back up.
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the hit list back up. what is -- what is the strategy to maximize those seats? >> i say two things. i think when we had democratic control of washington, we had a five-seat majority in the house. a slim majority in the senate. we had president biden as president of the united states, and we were able to accomplish a significant amount of things h. one of the most significant presidencies in history. we did that with a five-seat majority in the house. that's because democrats have continued to be united over and over again. we saw that just now, saving the government from -- from closing. so i think focus, our goal is electing hakeem jeffries as the next speaker of the house. we need to have a democratic majority and a check on donald trump. with that we announced this list, and it's a broad list and goes deep into republican territory. our theory is if we can find quality candidates that have an authentic message to tell and we can supply resources to help get
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that message out, we can win those seats. whether that's a five-seat majority, ten seat, we want to make sure hakeem jeffries is next speaker of the house. >> they're going to take the majority. >> i'll say you just don't want a mansion problem. that's all i'm saying. >> in the house i know. >> that's all i'm saying. send up a -- tie up the senate for democrats and for 18 months talking about filibuster and people in the country saying who the hell is phil and buster? anyway -- >> you got come back, mike. >> come on back. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. got a seat for you at the table. next, president biden has reached an important milestone and beat trump in the process. t. . one fire extinguisher beats 10 buckets of water, and for zero heartburn 1 prilosec a day... beats taking up to 10 antacids a day. it's that simple, for 24 hour heartburn relief... one beats ten. prilosec otc. ♪ one be♪ts ten. with verizon, trade in any phone, any condition.
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late last night amidst the government funding chaos the senate confirmed president biden's 235th federal judge surpassing the number trump confirmed during his first term by just one judgeship. in a statement president biden said, "i am proud of the legacy i will leave with our nation's judges, and i am proud of those who have stepped forward and heeded the call to serve. very big deal." the senate was working until late last night. they worked until 2:30. >> yeah. look -- there's something in there, i got one more than you did, you know. there's something to that. but it is the quality of the judges that we see -- i would be hard-pressed to find an eileen cannon in the bunch that have been approved by the senate.
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and so yeah, i think the president's right to note what his legacy will look like, and he should be proud of that legacy and the achievement. >> they're demographically diverse, diverse in terms of background. more public defenders, usually prosecutors are elevateded to judges. >> that changes the way the court system looks at what, you know, what happens with the criminal defendant in front of them. and it's not just this prosecutorial mindset but one that looks objectively when you understand both sides and try to figure out, okay, this is the judgment that needs to come. >> i've had -- something on my mind this morning. >> uh-oh. too i need to -- do i need to take a -- >> i don't know if we have the photo. but this is not about the president and his judges, okay? i'm taking a hard turn. >> hard turn. >> luigi mangione. why was he rp walked like the joker in a "batman" movie and why was the mayor of new york standing -- i was confused by
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what i was see, the sensationalization of it. this is not movie. >> this is not a movie. sensationalization is an appropriate way to put it. >> yeah. >> i think someone was trying to sort of get the vision out that there they're tough on crime even though they may be under criminal investigation themselves. >> you talking about the mayor -- >> talking about the mayor. yeah, it was embarrassing. and it did not fall or land the way i think they thought it would with a lot of folks. this is -- this man is not a hero. >> no. >> i don't care how handsome people think -- he's a stone-cold killer, and the system needs to adjudicate him appropriately. we've got to stop this glamorization of criminals and bad behavior in this country because the end is not good for the community nor the country. >> yeah. i mean it was just -- to your point, everyone that has been out there poo-pooing the people
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on line that have -- he's a -- luigi mangione has a following on line where photos, people are posting about him, talking about his eyebrows, saying his jumpsuit was like jail chic. it was crazy. the sensationalization coming -- the video, the perp walk. it's just -- >> too much. >> it's too much. >> and inappropriate. >> inappropriate. i'm glad to get that off my chest. we've got a lot more after this. and next, congresswoman jasmine crockett on why she voted present on the spending bill. that's at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. 0 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. so i saved hund. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. oh! right in the temporal lobe! beat it, punks! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ (children speaking)
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a little sad to say that does it for the weekend this saturday morning. we'll see you back here tomorrow at 8:00 eastern. we will be here to talk to the acting secretary of labor and congresswoman angie craig just won a bid to be the top democrat on the agricultural committee. be sure to follow us on social media at the weekend msnbc. velshi is up next and guess what, ali velshi is back. lord have mercy. >> it is the gingerbread man for me, honey. >> i have gingerbread man i have just that from the streets. i have
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