joining us now are former rnc chair michael steele, and mark leibovich, staff writer at the atlanticdonald trump's washington and the price of submission." chairman, what is happening here and what is going to happen? this kevin mccarthy still stand a chance? i mean how do you read the tea leaves on this? >> yeah, you know you always stand a chance until you don't. i mean that's -- that's how it works in washington. i mean seriously! it sounds crazy, but that's true! if he thinks he's in the game it's going to work the angles which is what that piece of represents. now, is he having a conversation with senior leadership? yes. is a meeting with key allies? absolutely! is he talking with those 20 members who are against him? he's trying his best. but the question that boils down to this -- what more can you offer that you haven't already offered that they are going to be willing to accept that will not lose you parts of the 203 votes you already have? because that's the other side of this equation. you have 203 votes! so, you -- would think you would have some negotiating leverage with

michael steele and mark leibovich. thanks for joining me. >> take care. >>> we have a lot more to come, the 118th congress is not yet in session, but house democrats have something to celebrate on their side of the aisle this evening. stick around to find out what it is. but first as house leader, republican kevin mccarthy plays let's make a deal to shore up more votes for speaker. what has he already given up to appease the fringes of his caucus? we'll bring you those details coming up next. need a backup plan? get plan b one-step. plan b helps prevent pregnancy before it starts by temporarily delaying ovulation—and you can resume your regular birth control right away. i've got this. ♪♪ well, we fell in love through gaming. i've got this. but now the internet lags and it throws the whole thing off. when did you first discover this lag? i signed us up for t-mobile home internet. ugh! but, we found other interests. i guess we have. [both] finch! let's go! oh yeah! it's not the same. what could you do to solve the proble

michael steele, i think mark leibovich it's right, as a man who has constantly misstep in his -- on ist! yes >> it did seem like aoc was kind of entertaining this idea of a coalition government. giving i think some credence to the criticisms of the freedom caucus and so far as they feel power is too concentrated at the top of the republican conference. if you're in a leadership position, are you talking to democrats right now if you are kevin mccarthy? >> no ... there is no upside for kevin mccarthy to have a conversation with democrats. what's the team gonna say to him? what is he going to say to the team? let me 18 votes. i mean how does that work? it's just not -- know. i got a lot of the noise that you hear today, folks talking about coalition governments and the democrats helping out the republican. democrats, get your popcorn baby like mark said! sit back, put your feet up on the desk, and look across the aisle and a smile! because that's all you need to do here! they'll work it out, eventually, they will work it out. but the reality for kevin -- kevin has two choices at this poi

following up on what mark leibovich said, following up on what charlie sykes said earlier today, eddie talking about the 20, maybe the five that can't even agree on how they start their congress. imagine every single bill that comes up, we saw last night, they almost lost the most basic vote that any party can take that's in control of the house floor and that is a motion to adjourn, and there was chaos and panic on the floor, and they had to gavel that vote closed because they were about to lose even that vote. i mean, this is going to be -- you talk about the nihilism and the anarchy, we're going to see it play out live for the next two years on the house floor. >> absolutely. we have been talking about institutions holding, institutions being broken. this is an example not only of the kind of infrastructure, the republican party being cracked wide open. it's an example that the house of representatives is deeply dysfunctional in many ways. many of these folks are election deniers, anti-vaccinations, matt gaetz, lauren boebert. think of who we're talking about as having some kind of

. >>> joining us now, mark leibovich, author of "thank you for your servitude." great to see you. perhaps you as a wise man in washington can tell me -- you know, the moderate wing of the gop is not content or perhaps bold enough to use the power that they have to keep the hard line conservative, you know, extremists in line. and my question to you as someone who studied the sort of republican class of politicians in washington, why is that? kevin mccarthy holds the gavel by one vote. one naysayer could oust him as speaker. why not use your power. >> and they have the majority of four votes. and there is a fairly high number of mainstream moderate, whatever you want to call them, republicans whoen are a and won in districts that biden whoen are a and won in 2020. so they are clearly vulnerable to some kind of re-election battle. which turns out he was because all people who were sort of holding his, holding him over the neck of the capitol, were awarded big committee assignments this week. and ultimately, these moderates, or whatever you want to call them, none of them voted again