charlie sykes, conservative commentator and msnbc contributor.nie deutsche and sirius xm radio karen hunter. let me start with you. i love this topic. >> first, does anyone believe donald trump would actually run into a building with children being shot? you know, that was the most stunning thing that came out of this today. five deferments and you actually would go in? without a weapon, he said. every day is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep my sanity as each ridiculous thing happens and it's sort of making us numb, which is the fear that i have, that the temperature gets turned up so high that what's our normal, you know? this is now our new normal where we accept these things, we laugh it off and move on to the next ridiculous statement as our country country erodes. >> no one in the special prosecutor's office is laughing. bob mueller is working away, grinding away, proving anyone on television who said the obstruction case was more fruitful at this point than the collusion case, proving them to not know what they were talking abou

. >> charlie sykes, you are also proud to live in america, in the great state of wisconsin, home of, i note, the speaker of the house paul ryan. so whether i'm asking about ryan or anyone else in the party, the question i posed in the previous segment, is there a limit for republicans in congress? is there a tipping point for anybody in this thing? >> not so far. i think you saw that. shift the focus from the state of the union from the podium to the audience. what you saw was a republican party that has completely basically pledged its loyalty to donald trump, including going so far as to joining his attacks on this investigation. to your other question, do people care about this? look, there are two americas out there. two realities. and if you are -- listen to the conservative media and are part of the pro-trump grassroots, you don't think this is a very big deal. in fact, this memo which has been this elaborate charade, building up as the great reveal, there are a lot of americans right now who think that the reveal of this memo is going to be the greatest thing since geraldo riv

charlie sykes, thank you. erica werner thanks for the reporting. john kelly was supposed to keep the trains running in the trump administration. now he's embroiled in another controversy about defending an aide accused of domestic violence. the question is what did kelly know when he came to the staffer's defense. plus, eric holder says based on public evidence alone, robert mueller has an obstruction of justice case against this president. is that why we're seeing such a smoke screen from trump and his republican allies? it seems like the closer the special counsel gets to bringing charges, the more ferocious the pushback and the distraction from trump world. >>> and who cops out on top after the latest deal in washington? will either side pay the price for not being able to deliver on daca? finally, let me finish tonight with trump watch. he's definitely not going to like there one. this is "hardball" where the action is. ing innovation. you see it in the southern tier with companies that are developing powerful batteries that make everything fro

i'm joined by charlie sykes, and shawn steele, republican national committee man from california. arlie, i'm amazed for years we heard the buildup about paul ryan. he's an ayn rand ideologue, he believes in individual liberty. he has principles. and yet, he operates so much like a partisan character, defending trump no matter what trump does and attacking all of trump's targets for him. >> this is very disappointing particularly given the distance that he had between himself and trump back in 2016. this is a dramatic escalation here. the only theory that i can come up with is that enjoyed passing that tax cut bill so much he wants to stay in trump's favor. on the other hand, also, he probably didn't want to be in the crosshairs of his own members, the crackpotry you saw with that whole release the memo. had he been the voice of reason and said we're not going to be cherry-picking this or become willing accomplices to the obstruction of justice, he would have been the focus of all of this conservative media attack and probably he figured i just don't need that. but we have seen this

festival of books without her talks and call ins, this festival features ms nbc and katie torok and charlie sykes, military historian max boone, investigative journalist david johnson and many other authors. later in march, the virginia festival of the book in charlottesville and the national writers conference in brooklyn, new york. in april, we are headed to texas for the san antonio book festival and we will be live at the los angeles times festival of books. for more information on upcoming book fairs and festivals and watch previous festival coverage click the book fairs tab on our website, booktv.org. >> i am not an expert on fa >> but starting a conversation about patriotism and what it is to make sure that people do understand by the dictionary definition is the difference between patriotism and nationalism patriotism is a deep love of country but if you think of being a patriot if you are a true patriot that you don't beat on your chest to say we are better than everybody else the best in the strongest but to be in search of the more perfect union to say in order to seek a more perfect u

thank you, charlie sykes, thank you jen palmieri. and red-handed. tillerson echoing that warning from mike pompeo, russia is already gearing up to interfere in this year's elections. and there's nothing we can do to stop them. really? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management. >>> i think it's fortunate we just continue to say to russia, look, if you think we don't see what you're doing, we do see it and you need to stop. and if you don't, you're going to just continue to invite consequences for yourself. the point is if it's their intention to interfere, they're going to find ways to do that. and we can take steps we can take. but this is something that, once they decide they're going to do it, it's very difficult to preempt

now those fever swamps as charlie sykes likes to call them have risen to the point they control the party. that's what it is. now it's even harder to stand up for them. >> i wish hatch and the others -- mccain is doing and a few others. i wish more would do it. thank you maya and evan. >> coming up, the senate reaches a big bipartisan deal to fund the government again and avoid a shutdown. will house democrats go along with it if there's nothing in it for the dreamers? >> marching orders. the president tells the military to start planning a grand military parade in the streets of washington like the ones kim jong-un presides over over in north korea. unbelievable. the democrats get another sign they might win back the house in november. history is on their side, but only by a little bit. we'll talk about that, how close this could be in november. let me finish tonight with trump watch. it's about the parade. he loves a parade. this is "hardball" where the action is. rokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $4.95 per trade? uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage of

and conservative commentator and msnbc commentator charlie sykes. i can see your shot and moderating the way i do when i start the news. i'm going to start with you, jonathan sykes. your thoughts, your observations about what it looks like when a white house obviously doesn't have sort of command and control of the basic functions of government. i mean, this person, if he works on the white house staff in a normal white house, would have been investigated by the fbi. these sorts of things would have been brought to the attention of the white house counsel and the white house chief of staff. those systems either broke down or they knew about it and did nothing. your thoughts? >> yeah, either way it's not a pretty picture. it's almost malfeasance without doing basic vetting. they either had no idea this was out there which is bad enough, or they knew and somebody decided to ignore it which in some ways is worse. but you think about this administration and how many of the problems have been created by bringing in this kind of, you know, just the cast o

i want to get in charlie sykes and i want to ask him this because you are a conservative. the nra funds republicans and conservatives more than it funds democrats. that is just a fact. one of the arguments is that a good guy with a gun will always stop a bad guy with a gun. here is the thing, there was an armed guard at columbine and an armed guard at stoneham douglas high, is that the best argument or are we starting to see that argument not hold water among folks in this country? >> no, it is a good talking point but it is not a good argument. when you think about what the ar-15 does, it is a fantastic article in the atlantic where a radiologist of what happens to a body when someone is hit by a round. it obliterates your organ and compares to a cigarette boat through a tiny canal. even an adept teacher with a handgun is no match for that. and that is what is tragic about the debate, you have these tired old talking points that are rolled out every time in order to not have a really intelligent discussion here. and i guess i would like to throw out that i think it is hig

joining me is jerry bader, former host of "the jerry bader show" and charlie sykes, an msnbc contributort our audience listen to one more clip from your show, and this is you describing donald trump. >> if the dems and never trumpers would treat trump with respect and dignity, he would act with respect and dignity. that's just patently not true. he is a narcissist, he does like to attack people. >> how long ago were you fired from your show? >> thanks for having me, joy. i was called in, and right after my show a week ago thursday, they said we're going in a different direction. i said, what does that mean? they said, trump. they've since issued a release saying it's about many other things. i will say my ratings were down in this last period, and that's something we can discuss later. but it was a week ago thursday that i got the word. >> to read that statement, talking about, midwest communications sent the following statement on your termination and said there were many reasons that had nothing to do with president trump, but bottom line, the ratings have dropped to half of what they

festival of books without her talks and call ins, this festival features ms nbc and katie torok and charlie sykes, military historian max boone, investigative journalist david johnson and many other authors. later in march, the virginia festival of the book in charlottesville and the national writers conference in brooklyn, new york. in april, we are headed to texas for the san antonio book festival and we will be live at the los angeles times festival of books. for more information on upcoming book fairs and festivals and watch previous festival coverage click the book fairs tab on our website, booktv.org. >> i am not an expert on favoritism but the effort of the book is to start a conversation about favoritism and what it is in this time and to make sure people do understand by dictionary definition there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism. patriotism is deep love of country but one key of favoritism and being a patriot is humility. .. and the danger with nationalism carried to extremes, you can have extreme economic nationalism, and also racial nationalism as an arrogant nation