people going from democrat to republican or republican to democrat. they did so in the 2016 election when you compare it to the elections immediately prior. we have seen these revolutions before. host: could you explain what we are seeing or not seeing in this republican primary. in 1980 when senator ted kennedy put up a formidable challenge against then president jimmy carter over 9092 when pappy cannon became a formidable opponent early on to george h w bush, many attributing that to his loss in november 1992, we are seeing them -- a number of candidates challenging president trump, but none of them seem to be making marks in terms of polling or traction. guest: that's right. we are seeing adhesion to the party leaders and i think you will see adhesion among democratic voters on the democratic side to opposing donald trump. that i callriod polarized partisan parity. than 53%has won more of the vote in a presidential election since 1984. ago.is 30 something years now clearly are liberal and clearly conservative parties. the political scientists of th

republicans are not. look at the united states senate, those four key races we keep looking at in colorado, arizona, north carolina and maine, those four senators are very worried tonight. because their fates, their prospects and control of the senate could very well now be within reach of the democrats if you look at the coalition building that's occurring among the democrats now nationally. >> mike murphy, when it comes to the question of impeachment, potentially a vote in the house and potentially a trial in the senate, that idea of republican senators trying to read something from kentucky into the president's capital, i'm curious how you read that. on one hand he came to the state on the eve of the election. a candidate he tried to get across the finish line lost. but on the other hand, as he does point out in his tweet, you got to say, five other republicans were on the ballot in kentucky. they all won. four of them won handily. does this say something about the president's political capital do you

he has written he's not a republican anymore. he doesn't identify with the republican party. he's free to give advice to people who do count themselves as republicans. he gives many people advice in many directions, but he would like to see a different republican coalition. i think the republican coalition may change over time, but also looking back over the last 25 years, since the 1990s, since bill clinton broke the democrats -- the republicans supposed lock on the presidency and newt gingrich broke the democrats supposedly eternal lock on the majority of the house of representatives, what we have seen is the democratic coalition has become gradually and then suddenly more up scale, higher education, high income people have moved towards the democratic party. one of the problems of the republican party in texas is that those affluent voters in houston and dallas, which had stayed quite heavily republican decided in 2016 and more so in 2018 house races that they didn't like the donald trump republican party, and they started voting more democratic. you've got the republican

out how they 90% of theted, people who called himself republicans vote republican.ou have close to half of the people saying i'm independent if you ask them -- ask them if they lean democrat or republican, of the independence is a they lean democrat, they vote for democrats like 80% of the time. same thing with the independence of the republican. when you boil it down, there are only about six or 7% that are is,pendent and the thing they are not watching c-span, they are not watching much news. they don't read the newspapers that much. they don't pay attention until very late. it is that six or 7% that is the most persuadable, and then you have concentric circles out of who are somewhat persuadable. it just depends on how you define it. host: we will go to gym in virginia, republican line. you are on the air with charlie cook. caller: gentlemen, good morning. charlie, i'm not sure this is directly for you, it's not necessarily a republican or democratic question. i happen to be a military officer. and i happen to also notice that it appears to me, for the first time

it's going to be very bad for the republicans. republicans are nervous now.se congressmen -- >> not yet. that's what i was saying last night. it was a whole bonding and cult like behavior. he shames people that leave him. he'll out them on twitter or bully them. and they're fearful of him. and lives rely on this guy. what will happen, thaim want to keep the senate. they'll say okay the white house is probably gone if we go with president trump. they don't have the bravery to do what needs to be done. seek his removal and get him replaced by a qualified functioning adult. any republican in good standing. they will lose the white house next year but want to keep the senate. they will disavow themselves. >> is it starting to weigh on republicans? the reception the president gets publicly when he's not at a rally. if you look at how republicans continue to support this president. then you see what's happening in kentucky and virginia. is this going to going to weigh on republicans and enough to distance themselves from the president? >> i believe that. i don't th

the republican line. >> good evening. as a republican who believes in our party. i voted for this guy. but let me tell you, it's been a real disappointment. the worst of it is that i'm looking at elected official like that guy jordan, lying in front of the cameras right there and misrepresenting what was happening inside as if those reporters were not inside watching the whole thing. this whole situation cannot be explained. it cannot be defended.okay? how can you twist this into a presser and tried to give president trump a pass. we are all americans. if those russians over there the vladimir putin guy drop a bomb on us, it's all of us, democrat, republican, whatever you want to call yourself. when there's a big hurricane somewhere in the deep south, everybody contributes. whatever it is, everybody gets together that's what we are. then all the sudden these people in congress, those congressmen, senators taking away from russians. calling themselves republicans. trying to defend the president and then you try to Ãbokay. they want witnesses. republican witnesses.

seems to be republican. arenk the independent owed another shot. -- i'm sorry terry that was walter. in new york.red i believe this in general is very morally dangerous. 44 people have been elected president. trump, when i found out he was elected i was frightened, terrified. host: since we are talking about the impeachment hearing, what do you expect? caller: i think whatever the outcome could be it could change the united states forever. host: how so? make everybody think. it will help make people do the history and try and make a better future. host: that is some of the collars we have gotten during the course of this morning. if you want to make your voice known you could give us a call. if you want to post on our twitter feed, you could do so. if you want to post on your facebook page, do it on facebook.com/cspan2. a lot of information on c-span.org about today's proceeding. online can monitor it with social media, the rebroadcast, all of that available to you at c-span.org. let's go to our next caller.

the republicans were for the tariff. by the 1970s or '80s they switched positions on that and with donald trump as president, they may be in the process of shifting their positions once again. the democratic party in the 19th century was the limit end government party. the party that attempted to favor local options. a party that was happy to tolerate slavery and segregation in the south and saloon in the moraling: to sew matters pitch changed and adapted but at the same time, this is the central argument of my book -- there has been a persistent basic character, personality, dna, of each of the parties that in my view has been relatively unchanging for 187, 165 years, and which accounts in significant part for their longevity and their resilience. the republican party is always been concentrated around a core of constituents of people seen as typical americans, even though by themselves they're never a majority. the composition has changed over time but continues from yankee protestants in the 19th snow shower white mar

the republican governors association. the republican national committee. and this person said let's face, it a republican president having to do rescue missions in louisiana, kentucky, and mississippi means something is happening for the republicans and donald trump and it's not good. >> well, david gregory, i want to bring you in. to their points, republicans are going to say this was a referendum, right? on bevin. but the president has made this a priority. i think he's tweeted about it seven times in the month of november. and there was a rally last night. and that may not have been enough. >> and the president wouldn't have gone down there if he didn't think he could make a difference. and so he put his neck out there. now we know president trump, he could come back and say well, you know, i was misadvised or he turned out to be a loser candidate. i think what's important to be point out tonight with all the caveats is that donald trump was not on the ballot but trumpism was on the ballot. so if donald trump as president is on the ballot against anothe

people don't remember this, but there was a republican governor in the mid '90s, the republicans held the majority of the state legislator in the mid '90s and two generations later because they went to the far extreme and embraced xenophobic rhetoric they've been wiped out at the state legislator. that path is exactly what the national republican party is doing right now. >> speaking of that, john allen, what do you think nikki haley is up to? >> i think she's up to good politicking, brian. there's some speculation she would like to replace mike pence on the ballot. i really see her trying to keep one foot in the camp of establishment traditional republicans and the other foot solidly in a place where some day she could take advantage of that trump base that is so powerful within the republican party. and i don't think there's any republican politician that's done a better job of appealing to both sets and both sides of the republican party. a very difficult thing to do. she's got a lot of detractors out there, people who don't like what she's saying, but this is somebody who has done

half have been trending away from republicans. it might be a good year for republicans there. am i wine only be the year where they are able to win back some of those districts. they losefirst time some of those districts. those 31 districts are not the same. there are suburban ones, white working class, they are going to split. >> you look at places hillary clinton won, the margin has been predictable. won 22, theyon flipped democratic. president to see the being a larger presence in the campaign trail does not help them. she is with political, and she is with the national journal. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> >> the house will be in order. has been years, c-span providing america with congressd coverage of and public policy events so you can make up your own mind. it is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. wax brendan car -- is our guest this the communicators. was anioner carr, there announcement about the c band and 5g. can you walk us through what happened? >> 5g and securing u.s. leadership has been our top priority. it is going to

republicans running it up. the only thing is at a time when we are seeing democrats outperform prior races during the trump ages. in virginia the democrats rebounding that state has been moving more blue. the republican is ahead here in the mississippi governors race. i want to make the point. this was a blowout four years ago. it's a big race and big win. big lead for the republican. everything even where they're winning. it seems harder for republicans in the trump years. >> thank you very much, mr. john king. i want to discuss this now with the former virginia governor. and scott jennings. fascinating evening. i'm sure you'll agree. governor, i'll start with you. democrats are having a big night in virginia. they flipped both senate and house tonight. how did they do it? >> well, this was a huge night for us. this the first time in 26 years since 1993 that the democrats controlled the house the senate and governors mansion. it's a huge win for us. democrats ran on issues people care about. lowering prescript

theater roosevelt acted as a o republican into the wind the republican nomination in 1920 and if he had not died at age 60 well short of the lifespan of our current presidential candidates by the way. if he had not died at age 60 in january 1919 he might've been the fort term roosevelt president rather than his fifth cousin which is considered inferior. in any case, that was a good test case for third-party and it did not work. i think also both parties have shown their resilience after devastatingin defeats. those of us who grew up reading american political history that has been written on well-known are very familiar with the republican devastating defeat in the great depression of 1932 when an appointment was 25% and franklin roosevelt democrat when smashing victories in 1932 1 in 1934 in 1936. to the point where there were fewer than 100 republicans left in the house of representatives and people were predicting the demise of the republicanth part. that story has been told vividly by new deal historians who were of roosevelt and terrific writers in his books were bestsellers. it's

that stands for republican. he had 52% before you went and did that rally for him, and he got those poor folks wearing that shirt that said read the transcript when the piece of paper itself said this is not a transcript. donald, this is not working for you. you should just stay home and watch like those cage fuights, right? sit down, drink some tang, the drink of the astronauts and maybe have some coffee, stir it up. this is what happened after you showed up in kentucky. donald, my friend, you lost the state for republicans. >> poor guy. lost his race. >> they said of bill clinton in 1994 that some candidates were thinking about putting antiaircraft guns up along state borders to keep his plane from coming into town to campaign for him. it was a joke, but it's pretty dark humor now for republicans. donald, he was ahead by five points and then you went there and he lost because of you. >> i think he get it is. >> god dang that's hard. >> can you believe that? >> republicans will watch these developments. >> can

host: republican in florida, susan. caller: i think that the democrats are going to cheat big , so i think the stock market is going to plummet. i wanted to ask, what are some of the things we could do? host: i will end it because you are getting in and out. guest: your concern is the stock market may go down? i think a couple of things. if you see an agreement which freezes the tariffs so they don't go up and hopefully they come down with china, i think you should feel very confident about the stock market. you see every time there is progress on the agreement with china, the stock market jumps. ,t is just trying to be better it is really offending the idea of getting stability. hopefully china stops dealing with intellectual property and trading her goods and services a little more fairly than they do. we are looking to get some improvement. i think the stock market is going to do well. the one thing that could damage the stock market is if people think that the democrats are going to win the house and the president t

>>caller: i have been following the republican mayor of santa barbara the republican mayor of santa barbara and ended up on a ship and then ended up in san francisco it's my understanding it was a bitter war and really that's when the republican party became strong in california. >> i think this is the importance of history of american politics in these experiences that people had the revolutionary war and the civil war and world war ii. influencing political feelings for long long time and multiple generations. when my favorite data subjects what was jfk number two votes his number two statement is your job. now we think of georgia as a conservative state southern democrats. why would they voting so heavily democratic cracks one answer ishr that sherman marched his union troops through georgia only 96 years before that election and people were still voting against sherman's march. there are songs commemorating that march and the future democratic president the democrat from south georgia. those experiences have ecrchasedd on people's minds long after they existed. >> why do we have somebod

if a republican criticizes the president, then that republican is a never-trumper and ergo a nev partisan. the president is now facing the protracted public airing of his wrongdoing, including his abrupt abuse of power. his approval rating, the trump economy is now showing real signs of slowing. and he has almost no tangible legislative accomplishments happening in nearly three years in office. today it's worth taking a step back to put the vote in context. this entire thing has been a sort of remarkable turn of events after waiting two years before the highly anticipated and secretive mueller report, an extremely successful spin job summary by attorney general william barr and declared there was no obstruction despite the extensive evidence there was, framed the coverage of that report. and then when special counsel mueller himself framed it on kopt it was pretty overwhelming. despite over a thousand federal prosecutors saying trump would have been indicted for obstruction were he not president, dozens of member of congress citing the mueller report saying this is high crimes and misdeme

republicans usually run up the numbers. two of these counties actually flipped and went for beshear, went for the democratic here. the other one, boone county, the red one, went with bevin, but his margin was a lot lower than it was last time he ran. in kentucky, you have these big suburb counties moving away from matt bevin. the third one, rural coal country, eastern kentucky, rural eastern kentucky. you saw numbers here, a couple counties where beshear -- this is a small rural county. beshear won this 55-44. put that in perspective. how did donald trump do in this county in 2016? donald trump won it by almost 40 points. this is a 50-point swing you're talking about here for beshear winning by 11. that's what the numbers look like. trump wins this county by 54 points in 2016. beshear actually won it last night. this is an interesting story. rural eastern kentucky. nationally these folks vote like republicans, they really like donald trump. they're blue collar, culturally conservative. kentucky is an interesting state in th

he is the chair of the national republican congressional committee, republican of minnesota. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> we will be right back. >> it was chairman emmer's assertion that the democrats gave away the majority because of impeachment. he gave reasons why. is there a reality to that? >> i think republicans want the election to be about a referendum on the social issues he touched on. even health care issues like medicare for all. i think democrats want it to be a referendum on donald trump. i don't think we know what the answer to that question is yet. republicans are betting on it being a referendum on the major social issues and health care issues, and therefore, something like the impeachment hearings wouldn't be helping democrats. but whether or not that is the case, it is way too soon to tell. >> the house is dependent on a lot of top of the ticket trends and the national atmosphere and there are so many unknowns. how does impeachment play out, how does the poll in battleground districts, what do voters think? who is the democratic presidential n

, consider themselves republicans. how much do you think there is persuadable room. when you are thinking about going to your constituents and talking about the facts of the case and what is being presented, how much do you think you can persuade folks? how much do the facts matter in those interactions? >> well, i think we're entering a really important next phase. i am on one of the committees of jurisdiction, so i have been able to attend depositions and read testimony up until this point. but i think the next phase of this inquiry will be vitally important. this is the portion where the american public get to participate. the american public gets to hear the testimony, see directly from the witnesses what it is that some of us on these committees of jurisdiction have already been able to see. i think that that is vitally important. i think that the next step is ensuring that the american people not just understand the allegations of the president but understand that we have career public servants of backgrounds hav

luis, rodrick sperry, virginia, a republican. -- fredericksburg, virginia. a republican. caller: i think what we are witnessing is something that the founders were really worried about, and the one thing that they were extremely worried about was the tear any of the legislate -- tyranny of the legislature. they put fences around the president and they limited what the president could do, and his duties were clearly stated, and they did all of the right things, but they could not quite of a handle on the tyranny the legislature, and that is what we are looking at. it is the very thing that the founders were the most concerned about was this problem. interested in watching it carefully and that is all i really have to say. host: who will you be watching during this committee hearing when it gets underway? guest: the first person is adam schiff to see how he answers these questions and devin nunes. beyond that, the staff lawyers on the committee, daniel goldman, and daniel noble on the democratic side, and steve castor on the republican side. usually when these are broadcast

shot for any republican. and i think neera is right, any republican member in the senate who's a street if it gets to the senate is looking at this saying it might not be as clear or easy as it looked a week ago and i might not want to go there. >> we have to squeeze in a break here. thanks for starting us off. we have much more ahead including a big democratic win in virginia. that one's really important. stay with us. virginia. that one's really important. stay with us ♪ things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ nothing is everything. keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ and it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything skyrizi may increase your risk of infections a

the republicans say it's not over.y can go through, recanvassing the vote and ask a judge to recount the vote if they want to. this is that thing that happens in these close races sometimes where both sides are going to argue, it's over, it's not over, it's over, it's not over. democrats say it is over and that is what this press conference is about. that's the message coming out of democrats in kentucky today. >> you know what i want to know, all the pundits we've had on the last two hours have their own opinions about whether this says anything about president trump or anything about that 2020. i don't really care so much what they say. i want to know what the people in kentucky say. is this about the president? is this about the party? is this about 2020 or is this about matt bevin, specifically? >> reporter: well, it's actually a fascinating moment on that issue, because i was with andy beshear on one of his last campaign stops monday night in bowling green and i asked him a bunch of times about the implications. t

, the top republican.r will be asking those questions for about a 45-minute round. then we'll get into the five-minute rounds of questioning from member, from member to ask those questions. so expect this to be a lot different to how we've seen impeachment hearings in the past because democrats hope that they'll be able to draw out this narrative for 45-minute question and answer session. allow these witnesses to get into real detail about what they witnessed and what they saw and republicans hope that their 45-minute round will allow them to push back. wolf? >> it's going to be very significant. manu, we'll get back to you, especially as the witnesses arrive and members arrive as well. gloria, this process, daniel goldman, the house intelligence committee's director of investigations, former u.s. assistant attorney, he's going to be focusing in on these two witnesses, getting them to say said in closed door sworn eady - depositions that there was this so-called quid pro quo, that the president of the unit

most republicans did not. that was one reason why in 1867, they tried to protect the secretary of war stanton was dismissed from the war department by andrew johnson, sending acting general lorenzo thomas to have him vacate the premises so that the defense department would be put in andrew johnson's hands. in the course of three days, the house of representatives overwhelmingly, by more than a two thirds vote, voted to impeach andrew johnson. it is a striking and remarkable moment and you have to ask yourself why. nobody thinks of a present president firing his secretary of state or the like, there would be impeachment resolutions brought. nobody in the past has occurred on this. why would this happen in the case of stanton of all people especially when you consider with a thoroughly unpleasant person he is? we have to understand that the only way we can understand the impeachment trial. that is bound up with the question of how in the end the republicans actually one. the republicans not only insisted on impe

tom emmer, the, chair of the national republican congressional committee, republican of minnesota. he is joining us to be questioned by national journal. go ahead. >> is there room for republican candidates, especially in those districts that hillary clinton carried, that republicans lost in 2018? is there room for them to say that they support the impeachment inquiry,. to separate themselves from the republican president like democrats separated themselves from nancy pelosi? again, let's separate it from donald trump and this current administration. i don't think voters are telling us a have a problem with investigations that are valid. i think they are having a problem with this being a complete hoax. there is nothing here. you had a witness yesterday that was cherry picked, we are going to offer him because he is supposed to say something we want to say. the morning he's is one thing, the afternoon he says something else. there is no basis for an impeachment that has been shown it is not a legitimate process. i would recommend to candidates they stay away from that. if you are g

in mississippi, republican tate reeves won a crucial governor's race, proving republicans still have a stronghold over the traditionally red state. but the biggest, the biggest surprise last night came in kentucky, a state president trump won by 30 points back in 2016. democrat andy beshear beat out the largely unpopular incumbent matt bevin in the governors race there. bevin has not yet conceded to the race. president trump was in the state just one night before the election campaigning for bevin, and according to his campaign manager, just about dragged him across the finish line. vaughn hillyard is in louisville, kentucky, and steve kornacki is at the big board. vaughn, let's start with you, reaction in the morning. i'm guessing a whole lot of people are stunned. >> reporter: yeah, this is a race that folks saw this as being a possibility. and if you were the bashwas bes campai campaign, there was talk of a one or two-point victory, but that was with everything going absolutely right. you had to have a strong surge of support in the suburbs, northern kentucky. you had to strengthe

are republicans.ow is it that nobody can jump either side? right is right and wrong is wrong. we are supposed to be americans as human beings but when it comes to politics it is about what is right for them and not what is right for all of us. once this goes through, you will see all the democrats against trump and all the republicans will be for trump. why isn't there anyone on the opposite side going if he has done something wrong, it's wrong. there is no back and forth. why is that never mention because it seems almost unfair because when you go to a real court of law, you've got 12 jurors. host: you were calling in on the line for republicans. than was the last time you jumped sides. caller: i never did. 52 years old and never voted until trump. anyone.t stand for if it is not who our favorite is, it is like we are against them. if it is our president, you should take pride. you don't have to like who they are but you should still have the respect for them, just like you have the respect for your

i've had republican operators tell me if you get 25 or 30% of republicans saying he should be impeachednd removed, then republican lawmakers look at this differently. >> then the numbers look different. >> that would depend on, do you have a john bolt -- it's somebody of a big persona. john bolton could fit that description. >> he could. let's say he comes out and testifies and backs up what colonel vindman said and bill taylor said, are we going to see the needle move? i feel that's all been cooked in already. the public at this point pretty much knows what happened. so unless we're going to be coming out, unless there are more re68ations to come out -- revelations to come out, things that happened before this or after this, that show even more of a pattern, i think a lot of this has been baked in. >> all right. we will talk about outside of washington here. the next time we gapts on this impeachment question. because that is the other is me outside of here. when we come back the most under estimated and overlooked candidate in the presidential race, andrew yang joins me ♪ ♪ i've been

decline of the republican party support for the republican party john in suburben areas is a big concern for republicans as they look towards 2020 not just in terms of the presidential race but in terms of what might happen in contested u.s. senate races, house races. this is a longer term trend to watch. but i think absolutely you can definitely read too much into what we saw here tonight. it's not entirely generalizable. so i think we have to be careful when we draw conclusions about what 2020 might look like because of what happened in virginia and kentucky here tonight. >> well, the president is drawing his own conclusions about the results in those three states. he has not mentioned virginia or kentucky, but he is talking about mississippi. congratulations to tate reeves on winning governor of the great state of mississippi. our big rally on friday night moved the numbers from a tie to a big win. great reaction under pressure, tate. exclamation point. i guess in many ways donald trump does move the numbers. he's proven that in the past. he can move them both ways, for and against a

it has surprised many of us that the house republicans of the republicans generally have stayed in suchstep of the president, not only because of what they say that they don't alally agree with the approach to governance but also true he is not pursued an entirely conservative agenda has been and remains a fascinating thing to watch and they are sticking with him -- the general rule as we talked about tribalism and polarized state of things, one side gets locked in ons a messe that tribe rallies behind the message and stick with it. it's what happens, since are talking about clinton and conversant to 20 years ago, it absolutely was what happened with republicans with both sides on the clinton matter even after the voters punished the republicans of the polls in 1988. they gave the republicans -- the republicans lost seats, it was the first time since the new deal, since a 1930s when the party opposing the president had lost to the midterm election and yet they stuck withpo him. he had to resign but they still stuck with the strategy until the end. >> this for marty, a tweet saying the d

no republicans voted for it.using on as they try to en - figure out how they'll move forward here. >> and one ib justin amash voted for it. >> new reporting tonight that mitch mcconnell, the leader, advising to stop insulting republicans. >> so they have a one-on-one meeting in the white house. and this is common sense. the senators will be your jurors. do not get them angry. do not insult them. what do we know about donald trump? discipline is not his strong suit. so will he listen? but the most interesting thing is that mitch mcconnell had to tell him that. if the republicans in the senate are going to hold firm, and they're not going on remove him from office, why did he have to warn him? >> interesting. i wonder how the people who voted against him, i'm wondering how history will portray this. when you look back through history, people say, oh, i was on the wrong side of history. what was the mood at the white house in. >> so i understand they had chicken. if that tells you anything. what is interesting here

, the president doesn't want republicans arguing process. we have heard this over and over from people in contact with him and people in congress. he doesn't want the process argument that they've been making which is they don't like how democrats have handled the hearings. there were selective leaks in their words about details from these hearing transcripts. that's been taken away now that the transcripts have been released, so what the president's left with tweeting repeatedly, these are doctored transcript, one hno one has sai that. very few republicans have been really that willing, except for a strong group of his backers in the house have been willing to do that. >> it's going to be so difficult for them to make that argument, the very few people who have after these people are coming forward and people are watching what they're saying. not everyone has read the transcripts through and through, but when these people who some of them were hand picked by the president are on camera under oath talking about this, it's going to be harder

when you were at the capitol this week, you hear republican after republican not want to engage on the substance of the facts of the president's behavior when it comes to foreign policy. but instead trying to turn the attention and the spotlight and the news cycle to the russia investigation and the i.g. report and then whatever attorney general barr decides to unveil. >> what if they don't find anything? >> that's a challenge for republicans. senator graham and others are convinced that the american people are going to find this intense interest. but it could be a story that only lasts a few days. and another challenge for republicans is not all the material may be declassified at this point. that's up to the department of justice. >> i think that's a very high-stakes play. i think that the president himself has been the one streaming at the top of his lungs for the country to move on for years. i think three years to be exact. but now he wants us to fwiing all of our cameras away from the ukraine and cover bill barr's, you know, globe-hopping where's waldo attorney general trip to lo

same as the republican party. the republican party is a political vehicle, and the conservative movement, we waste we, stood for ideas, -- always thought, stood for ideas. there was part was this governor way out in california which probably was the most consistent conservative on the national scene we had ever had. but yet a lot of people nationally did not know about him, and that was ronald reagan. so the idea was to give him a national forum to introduce him to the american people and conservatives. remember, this was way before talk radio and cable television. and a big deal used to be getting an article about your candidate in "the new york times" or "the washington post" and sending it around to people. it was a much bigger drop to get the word out about your candidate. those were the two main purposes of the conference. craig: how many people attended? frank: well, we put it together in about two months, and it really was not a bad attendance. i would say about 700 attendant. we put ads in some of the cons

host, and her district leads also republican by 10 points. the only democrat from his state, "the washington post" says republican leads his district by a whopping 13 points. we should note that's only because the one republican that came out for impeachment and voted for the resolution today,r justin amash was essentially ejected from the party for doing so.sh trump's republican party has this nifty bit of circular logic where if democrats criticize the president, that's partisan.em if a republican criticizes the president, then that republican is a never-trumper and ergo a partisan. it's what they do with mitt roll romney. calming him a lib. the president is now facing the protracted public airing of his wrongdoing, including his abrupt abuse of power. his approval rating, the trump economy is now showing real signs of slowing. and he has almost no tangible s legislative accomplishments happening in nearly three years in office. a other than a massive tax cut for corporate america. today it's worth taking a step back to put the vote in cont

passes its first public hurdle, and the republicans don't like it. the hearings are about to go public, and the president is trying to lock up his support, even as more closed door testimony comes in. as to just how big a moment this is, the one we're currently living in, one over our experts tonight is prepared to say it's the whole shooting match. this is now about the republic and the kind of country we want to have. >>> and previewing what one of our guest predicts will be a november to remember. it's possible the democrats running may find it tough to get attention. >>> also tonight, trump has discreetly made an important decision about the future, all of it, as "the 11th hour" gets under way on this halloween night, 2019. well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 1,015 of this trump administration, and the president has entered what is likely the most treacherous phase of his time in office thus far. this morning down party lines, the house of representatives took a major step in the effort toward the im

and house republicans, that gives republican voters and others an opportunity to say, maybe somethingird about this. so i think that that's a fascinating development. >> in the trump campaign, donald trump himself, selling t-shirts, trying to rally the base and make money off of this thing, too. there is a read the transcript t-shirt that they're selling on the campaign website, and trump again with his strategy on this says at some point i'm going to sit down perhaps as a fireside chat on live television and i will read the transcript of the call. because people have to hear it. when you read it, it's a straight call. bill clinton did things wrong, richard nixon did things wrong. i won't go back to andrew johnson because that was a little before my time. but they did things wrong. i did nothing wrong. the transcript is sort of nothing to see there. >> that's right, and it's an odd strategy, i would say, and it's got a lot of republicans nervous about sort of where will he go next, what is he going to ask us to defend next? how are we going to make potentially conflicting arguments? a

all republicans opposed the resolution.tin amash who left the republican party and is now an independent member of congress voted in favor of the impeachment resolution. two democratic congressmen who represent districts that were won by donald trump voted against the resolution, but both of those democrats calling peterson of minnesota and jeff van drew of new jersey said they will make a decision on impeaching the president only after all of the evidence has been publicly presented. so the likelihood tonight is that when all of the evidence is publicly presented there will be at least 232 votes in the house of representatives to impeach donald john trump and send him to trial in the united states senate. because the phone call cannot get better. that's the problem. the rough transcript of president trump's phone call with the president of ukraine remains the most damning evidence in the case against the president. that phone call did get a bit worse on tuesday when lieutenant colonel alexander vindman testified that he he

so far for republicans.they see it that way? >> they believe if he's on the ballot in 2020, and they're on the ballot in 2020 they're in a better spot than many of these candidates running, but they're also worried that every day is a new day. they don't understand where the facts are on a lot of this impeachment front. so they're trying to figure out or should they figure out to run more on health care issues or addressing the democratic attacks? >> there's also a dilemma to me they faced that they wouldn't in normal times barack obama understood there were certain members of their party that would distance from him or criticize him and we have stories and reporting basically saying do what you've got to do to get elected in your district. the president doesn't feel that way. if you're cory gardener, it might be smart to take a few things to criticize a president onto show some distance and independence with the voters of colorado who are independent, but he can't get away with that, can he? >> and many rep

was i surprised that the republicans, not a single republican voted? yes and no.republicans have to choose if they're going to vote for their constituents and the american people in the democracy that they were sworn to protect or if they're just going to back up the president at every step. i thought there would be a few more that would choose their constituents. i don't think that the founding framers really thought we would ever be in a position where you would have a president who was such a bully and would use the bully pulpit in that way and have so much control over the rest of his party. and, you know, so i think we're coming up against some of the limits of our constitution, but i hope that at the end of the day we can preserve it. >> i always ask every time there's a senator or congresswoman, we know what the republicans do in public. do any of them -- you chat with them and they roll their eyes and go we wish he wasn't here. give me the kind of 400 some odd and -- >> yeah. >> is there a behind the scenes sanity and they're just not showing it or is the

so this is formerly republican strongholds that are no longer in the republican kol ucolumn. that's a trump legacy. >> college educated -- you only have 23% college educated in a state that's 87% white. that was at play there. so ax was trying to help me understand something, david, in the break. the role of impeachment and the debate over whether or not this is a good thing or a bad thing for the democrats. we keep hearing tim kaine, what we saw in beshear, keep it local, talking health care here, talking jobs, talking local concerns, not talking impeachment, nobody's asking us about that, yet it is the dominant narrative in washington, d.c. how do you have reconcile? >> well, i think you are hitting on, chris, exactly why nancy pelosi was as reluctant as she was to move towards impeachment because of concern that by doing this in a partisan fashion, as the vote on the inquiry indicated this is in this partisan polarized era of american politics, for the democrats, if you're not bringing over republicans, if you're not bringing overwhelmingly independents to your cause, what

if republicans took that tack you could respect that. >> republicans remain devoted to the presidentle testing out evolving and at times contradictory defenses. >> it's all hearsay. you can't get a parking ticket conviction based on hearsay. >> there is no quid pro quo. there is nothing this president has done wrong. >> if there was a quid pro quo it certainly wasn't very effective. >> i have news for everybody. get over it. there is going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> get over it. you know? i mean, first of all, some of the defenses are ludicrous. one is they got the money eventually in september after this whole thing exploded. >> of course they got the money. >> everybody knew what was going on here. >> i mean, at this point we've been through so many different defenses that people are writing articles about the various different defenses and all of the counter arguments to each of them. i mean, you know, the truth is as ken said, there really isn't anything that's stuck and so i think what you'll start to see and what we are seeing is different people being, you