charlie sykes and i -- i like charlie a lot. we would probably disagree on many, many issues. yet we are -- i wish i could have written that wonderful piece. we find ourselves on the same side right now of this sort of existential question i think for american democracy and certainly for the republican party. and i think -- i hope that last night is -- we look back on that as maybe not the beginning of the end but certainly the end of the beginning for trumpism and bannonism. i think it has not taken over the country. it is not all-powerful. it can be stopped, and it was stopped in alabama. >> charlie, does bannon's role have to be, look at this new candidate i found and we are going to come at you establishment, i'm going to run this man or woman? can't bannon be a force for good in finding quality republicans on ballots across the country? >> yeah, that seems rather unlikely, doesn't it? it turns out the rumors of steve bannon's political genius were grossly exaggerated. it turns out to be something of an urban myth. so you wonder even donald trump is rethinking whether or n

charlie sykes, out there in the heartland, is this going to be popular? >> well, let me start by saying, i think it will become more popular because, keep in mind, 80% of americans will actually get a tax cut. this, in fact, is going to make american business competitive internationally. i think it's going to be a big boost to small businesses. i do think that for people who are not sure how it's going to play out. now, here in wisconsin, we're going to be losing the state and local tax deduction. it's going to hit. then there is the question of salesmanship. that the republicans are going to go out and they're going to try to convince people that this is better than they think it is, but their number one number one donald trump. what have we learned about donald trump as a salesperson? number one, he's not credible. number two, he has a hard time staying on message. three, he's the symbol of this gilded age where the you mega rich are benefiting disproportionately from this tax bill. i think that's going to be a problem turning this around for republican

. >> ken vogual, "new york times" political report, charlie sykes, and rachel bay, politico congressionaler. charlie, let me start with you, sir. did you think that maybe it was just a bit over the top? >> yes, that was industrial strength there. apparently that's what you do with this president. republicans say we have to win. how do we keep, you know, how do we keep donald trump away from twitter again and attacking us? let's just turn up the suck it up meter as far as we possibly can. >> ken, did it strike you as odd and, again, it should also be noted this came on the heels of that bizarre cabinet meeting yesterday in which they sat around the table and thanked him in an odd sort of way. even prayed for him in an odd sort of way. >> yes, donald trump eats this type of stuff up. he loves to be praised. he likes people who like him. and let's face it, this is a rare moment. i mean, mitch mcconnell said it's been a year of tremendous accomplishments or something like that. it's not been. this is the first major legislative accomplishment. but it was surprising that they were able to come

. >> joining us the discussion now, charlie sykes, author of book "how the right lost its mind." and, charlie, there's steve bannon, hard to hear him and joining in the lock her up chants and calling on senator sessions, doesn't seem to realize that the title now is attorney general and does seem to think that he has the power to lock her up. actually, calling on jeff sessions to join in this lock her up crusade. >> well, this is an ugly and a defining moment that trumpism and bannonism brought the republican party, isn't it? i'm glad that howell raines pointed out the legacy of george wallace. this is not the legacy of ronald reagan here. this is the make wallace, you know, wallace-ite politics great again and very interesting whether or not you do have the coalition of the decent turning out in alabama, soccer moms or african-american voters or republicans of richard shelby looking and going this is too far. you look at that rally tonight, and you see this collection of the deplorables and, you know, one would hope that it would be the high watermark of bannonism but one way or

here to talk about it charlie sykes a long time radio host author and msnbc contributor. charlie, i'm going to pick on you because you're a republican. it's a bad bill, a wildly unpopular bill. and i would have thought having done it, they could walk away from it and say now it's done. but now these senators are going out there writing op-eds writing this is for the middle class. i worry if you write it down, it could come back and bite you sometime in september. >> they've had one legislative loss after another. for better or worse they're going to live or die on this tax cut bill. and i think they're making two bets. number one, people will find out that it feels better to them than the spend. and as you were talk about earlier on the program they're counting on the economy staying strong and people giving them credit for that. >> that's the best bet. >> and that is really what 20181 going to be about to republicans. to convince people things are good, things are rising, give us credit for all of that, ignore the tweet, ignore the president's character. >> here's the rub

i worry about the message that that sends. >> ana marie cox and charlie sykes, thank you both for joiningtonight. >> thank you. >>> coming up, barack obama attacked trumpism today too. they appear out of nowhere. my secret visitors. appearing next to me in plain sight. hallucinations and delusions. these are the unknown parts of living with parkinson's disease. what stories they tell. but for my ears only. what plots they unfold. but only in my mind. over 50% of people with parkinson's will experience hallucinations or delusions during the course of their disease. and these can worsen over time, making things even more challenging. but there are advances that have led to treatment options that can help. if someone you love has parkinson's and is experiencing hallucinations or delusions, talk to your parkinson's specialist. because there's more to parkinson's. my visitors should be the ones i want to see. learn more at moretoparkinsons.com >>> four more years! four more years! >> i will refer you both to the constitution as well as to michelle obama. [ laughter ] to explain why that will n

for more, i'm joined by author and commentator charlie sykes and karine jean-pierre. senior adviser for moveon.org. charlie, i'll start with karine. it looks like the republican party has an icky attitude about this guy. even the president is going to pensacola, but he's not quite touching roy moore. he's saying i'm against his opponent, doug jones, but he could drive. that plane will take him anywhere he wants to go, and that plane is not taking him to alabama, his own air force one. >> to your point, he could go anywhere today, but he is still in pensacola. i think this still is very much a full-throated campaign for roy moore, absolutely. i think the problem that you see when you see lindsey graham and flake talking in that video is that whether they win or lose, whether roy moore wins or loses on tuesday, they own this. this is like a skoex now, they can never get off it. >> that's strong. let me go to charlie. i think you might be right. is this a skunk smell. will they pay for this if he stands in the caucus and has his picture taken next to mitch mcconnell now a

[laughter] it is my honor to introduce charlie sykes. >> oh yes, there will be follow-up books here, i think. first of all, i want to thank you for inviting me here today with folks from the c-span, too. believe it or not i don't want to spend most my time talking about donald trump today. want to talk about what donald trump is doing to us, you know, including for living through this together.nc 2017 and bam. we of hurricanes that full eclipse of the sun, wildfires, aaron rodgers is injured. [laughter] it's almost like the universe or god is trying to tell us that we did something wrong. [laughter] i would suggest that if you ask yourself what would jesus do the answer would not be elected roy moore to the senate. [laughter] [applause] set i may be in the minority among conservative republicans on that issue. we are going to find out. i want to start off by giving you background. i was a conservative talk show host for 23 years and i thought i understood what the conservative movement was about. i thought i knew conservatives were but then along came donald trump. this is what he wr

jonathan lemere and charlie sykes. if there's someone in your family who's lost there's, it makes a perfect gift under the tree this season. >>> and coming up for us, when praise for the boss turns the corner and goes from unusual to borderline obscene. that story when we come back. run, jump, or swim in to experience the power of tempur-pedic sleep with our 90-day trial and being the highest ranked mattress in customer satisfaction by jd power, it's easy to love. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com >>> thank you for seeing through the course of this year an agenda that truly is restoring this country. you've spurred an optimism in this country that's setting records. i'm deeply humbled as your vice president to be able to be here. i want to thank you, mr. president. i want to thank you for speaking on behalf of and fighting every day for the forgotten men and women of america. >> it was really something to see, and if you can see the full-length dance mix of that video tape from today, there were nonstop e

msnbc contributor steve schmidt and charlie sykes. you guys are like bono, it's like no other information needed, just your names, and jason johnson, politics editor for "the root" and msnbc analyst. sarah huckabee sanders has a very difficult job, full stop. today's performance was ridiculous. >> she does have a very difficult job, and i have to say, she does a good job every day of keeping a very straight face in sort of going out and expressing disbelief that anyone would ever have possibly interpreted what the president said or tweeted in what seems to be exactly the way he intended it to be interpreted. but yes, i think today's sort of defied a little bit of cred-- there's clearly a sexual innuendo and there's clearly a sexual way to interpret that tweet, even if she wants to say it's not what he meant. >> let's put it up, because it's worthy some sentence diagramming and that placement of used in all caps. here's what he wrote, light weight senator kirsten gillibrand, a total flunky for chuck schumer and someone who would come t

jonathan lemere and charlie sykes. if there's someone in your family who's lost there's, it makes a perfect gift under the tree this season. >>> and coming up for us, when praise for the boss turns the corner and goes from unusual to borderline obscene. that story when we come back. us. it's what this country is made of. but right now, our bond is fraying. how do we get back to "us"? the y fills the gaps. and bridges our divides. donate to your local y today. because where there's a y, there's an us. turn up your swagger game with one a day men's. ♪ a complete multivitamin with key nutrients plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing. >>> thank you for seeing through the course of this year an agenda that truly is restoring this country. you've spurred an optimism in this country that's setting records. i'm deeply humbled as your vice president to be able to be here. i want to thank you, mr. president. i want to thank you for speaking on behalf of and fighting every day for the forgotten men and women

trump and some of the critical agencies he'll be overseeing in 2018 with nbc contributors maya and charlie sykeslet's talk about the impact of the president's twitter feed in 2017. we sometimes joke around about it, but the white house says this carries significance of a white house statement, and sometimes it's really helped the president mobilize his base, sometimes it's put him directly at odds with allies like attorney general jeff sessions, and sometimes he's put himself in a lot of heat for comments he's made about people like james comey and andrew mccabe, even saying -- you'll remember he made that reference that his offices were tacked by president obama. do you think the president will be able to resist the urge to send out a twitter next year with the name bob mueller on it? >> if history is any guide, this president cannot rtesist any ure to use his twitter feed to communicate with the public. in lawsuits the government is a party to, we've seen judges actually point to things he's said on his twitter feed, because as you've said, they really are truly presidential statements that ar

and charlie sykes, msnbc contributor and author of "how the right lost its mind." t pay off for voters? >> i think likely not. in part by the way they are enacting it. rushing through an 1,100-page bill that was released friday and putting it on the president's desk in the next week, what could possibly go wrong? you know, what i find amazing about this, nobody like john mccain or jeff flake or bob corker stood up is said, could we hit the pause button to at least figure out what's in there? are there unintended consequences? are there potential land mines in all of this? this is what republicans do. they cut taxes, but there's something about the rush here that just strikes me as potential for significant political downside. >> adrian, i want you to hear how president trump cast the tax plan earlier today. listen to this. >> this is gonna be one of the great christmas gifts to middle income people. the democrats have the sound bite, the standard sound bite before they even know what the bill is all about. they talk about for the wealthy. this is going to be one of

charlie sykes, neera tanden, thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> after threatening united nations member countries to support president trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital, nikki haley invites all the nations who back the u.s. to a party. what's the fallout for playing favorites? so this is the all-new chevy equinox. it's gorgeous. it offers rear seat reminder, built-in 4g lte wifi... apple car play compatibility... wow... ...and teen driver technology. that's crazy... now to get all of these features, you'd need all six of those crossovers. that's insane! yep, and you still wouldn't get everything that's in this equinox. wowww... six cars in one. use your employee discount for everyone to get forty -five hundred dollars below msrp on this 2018 chevy equinox. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. burning, pins-and-needles, of diabetic nerve pain these feet... liked to style my dog as a kid... loved motherhood, rain or shine... and were pumped to open my own salon. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain a

conservative commentator, charlie sykes, is also an msnbc contributor. to play some sound from steve bannon on his radio show. this is steve bannon on breitbart just a few hours ago. take a listen. >> huge turnout yesterday. and that's because the democrats hustled. and you know, people have got to understand, you don't turn out, they're going to turn out. hat tip to these guys at the dnc. they slipped here under the radar scope and did a great job of ground game. and you've got to -- of all the other convergence of forces, as you said, alex marlow, just out-hustling and out-working people is a big one. >> charlie, that sounded like a backhanded slap there at the rnc, as well. >> well, it is interesting that he would take that tack, because yesterday was a complete humiliation and rejection of not only steve bannon, but that whole bannonite, breitbart wing of the party. and, you know, the reality is is that steve bannon, you know, is toxic to other republicans. and obviously, you know, this is going to lead to a lot of second-guessing, you know, around th

the point of the mueller investigation, because in the previous block we were talking about -- charlie sykesthe point, that at a certain point once republicans get him to sign the thing they want the most in the world, the tax cuts for the wealthy, they don't really need donald trump anymore other than to sell it further to his base. once it's sold, passed, you know, there's a question of then what happens to his mental health when republicans stop sort of fawning over him which is what they've been doing. donald trump seems to be convinced that he'll be exonerated by the mueller probe. the "washington post" on tuesday reported that trump expressed certainty that the special council probe will be finished by the end of the year, complete with an exoneration by robert mueller. ty cobb, his lawyer, is not walking him back from that belief. he's echoing it. there's a piece in -- i think this is the "washington post." nothing about the guilty plea or charges implicates anyone other than mr. flynn. this demonstrates the special counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a

. >> charlie sykes, the epa has slowed down on cases filed against polluters.eadership, what is this republican obsession with deregulation about? because it doesn't seem that it's about the ordinary person who needs to breathe and drink clean water? >> when i was watching that video of donald trump standing in front of all those pages, kind of reminded me of the emperor joseph who told mozart, nice job but there are too many notes. you're getting this sort of crude picture of, hey, let's go back to 1960 before we had any of these occupational regulations. a lot of these are being scrapped at the behest of some of the new swamp creature that is the trump administration has brought in. you do wonder in secret who is is actually pulling the strings. somewhat ironic considering the r republicans just unveiled an 1100 page tax bill last night. apparently donald trump is not against all paperwork. >> i understand why the koch br brothers would be against deregulation. i get why big business or wall street would want to be deregulated, so they can reopen the casino t