chris cillizza, they don't have the votes. it's 50/50. mike pence has the tiebreaking vote. >> that's right. >> they are seizing on this nominee because of her performance at the confirmation hearing and because they've got a lot of support around the country. >> that's right. look, i think democrats would like to take down one of donald trump's cabinet nominees. betsy devos' showing at her confirmation hearing was weak, to say the least. there was a bit in the "saturday night live" they bring betsy devos out, too. she struggled. i don't think there's any question and democrats have seen activism grow up around in particular this nomination. the senate switchboard overwhelmed with calls. the problem is exactly what you just said, they don't have the votes. susan collins, lisa murkowski, two republicans voting on the record saying they're going to vote against betsy devos. you heard chuck schumer say they need one more. my guess is after a weekend of not getting one more it's hard for me to see there's anyone else out there. deb fisher fro

chris cillizza and jonathan capehart. we're seeing this represented around the country but what is the peril, if any, for republican office holders? >> well, the peril is when the other side's base is very energized, and that's what you see, people who are willing to take time out of their schedule and attend a town hall, whatever time of the day it is, that is a scary thing for the other side. there's always a tendency when you are where republicans are in control of the white house, the senate, the house, large majority of governorships, large majority of state legislative seats, there's a tendency to think people love us, that's why we have the jobs that we have. that's why we're in the majority. there's also a tendency to become complacent and changing something that people have or taking away something that people have, even if they don't love it, as in obamacare, there's a lot of political peril there, and chuck grassley as well as a number of other, jason chaffetz last week, republicans are seeing that reaction. >>

so chris cillizza, interesting here. chuck schumer, you saw it in the comment last night and now you really see it. he doesn't want gorsuch to get any of the benefit of the doubt from this. >> that's right. democrats are convinced -- there is some case to be made that this is a strategy on trump's part to make gorsuch look independent, moderate, that he is not taking his marching orders from trump. and the schumer statement is essentially we're not falling for this. trust me that chuck schumer doesn't think that sean spicer is exactly relaying what happened, that this was -- gorsuch was talking in generalities, not about the specific tweak. schum schumer knows to say he is an independent, is serves their purposes. which is we're back to -- democrats are trying to say, we are not fooled by this, the american public should not be fooled by this. i am not sure the american public is really paying attention, to be honest, but we're back in the political morass that we find ourselves in every 24 hours. >> we're only a few wee

as we await playback of the president's meeting with his budget advisers joining me chris cillizza ande gearan. anne first to you, the president's been pemeeting with his adviser, cabinet secretaries flying south. some of the challenges with the deportation decisions as secretary tillerson is about to go to mexico today with the homeland security secretary. >> yep, we'll have tillerson with now secretary kelly walking right into the teeth of mexican government outrage over the whole set of issues surrounding immigration and border security, president's executive orders, and now the deportation question. that is not only a policy issue and from the mexican government's perspective a moral one but also a logistical challenge, so those two will be meeting with everyone from enrique pena nieto and several members of his cabinet over a day and a half. >> without a whole lot of coverage because that's not something they welcome. >> yes, well they're only taking one reporter along with tillerson and kelly is taking no one, which they don't usually travel with a press corps. so yes. and that i

joining me for our daily fix is chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and founder of "the washington postg. is it bing crosby, accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative? >> yeah, i mean look he's the white house chief of staff. he's not going to say yeah, man, things are going really bad. it's his job to say that and look, what they have done well is take a lot of action. how those actions panned out, the approach and rollout of those actions are very much open to debate how well they have done. donald trump says it's a fine tuned machine. it does not appear to be that way, and we know from lots of reporting, citing lots of white house aides, that there is a level of uncertainty at least chaos at most going on behind the scenes with not that many people necessarily knowing what way the boat is going to be steered today. >> those that like donald trump saw for instance that press conference yesterday and what they saw was a man who was in charge and in control pushing back against the dishonest media who really deserved it. there are those who don't like donald trump thought it was o

earlier this week "the washington post's" chris cillizza trying to find out about these leaks comingwhite house. about ending the call early with the prime minister of australia. he asks how many people have access to those transcripts and who working for trump could leak it's a good idea to leak out transcripts that show trump attempting to bully two staunch allies? rick, how would you answer those questions? >> leaks from the white house are very concerning. they usually happen when people try to protect their own reputations. when there's so much chaos in the white house, their reputations will be damaged. what they really need to do is get their house in order and professionalize the operation. i think trump is well aware of this and hopefully they'll move in that direction. >> zerlina, is there any opportunity for democrats in these leaks? how should they be reacting? should they be jumping on this? >> absolutely. these leaks are very concerning and embarrassing because there's such a large quantity of leaks. you have sourcing up to a dozen people on the record anonymously talki

chris cillizza, an msnbc contributor, and political reporter for the washington post, and michael steele, he's in the hot seat to begin. help me out, my friend. >> a beautiful thing. >> mitch mcconnell -- is part of the gentlemanly order to shut down one of the most influential women -- >> warren works in the washington bubble and outside not that much traction. poticay this works for both. seriously. it works for both. it great washington drama. you appreciate this -- >> it's great for reporters. >> it's great for reporters. the setting up a fight with elizabeth warren in the senate, good. it works. it works for the base. it works for donald trump. if elizabeth warren wants to start to throw down her gauntlet for 2020, bring it on, we are ready for that. all the political srepbets played out. for mcconnell, he handled it as he would, downplayed it, warned her and told her not to do it and she did it anyway, what am i going to do. elizabeth warren being savvy went to facebook live, 5 million viewers, and it's washington and how it works. >> he has a point here. i spent 15 years of my lif

joining me is chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and founder of "the washington post" fix blog.you read that? >> you tell us one of the most republican states in the country, but this is a place where there's been a lot of resistance to donald trump. now i do think there was another town hall in murfreesboro, tennessee, last night, a strongly republican area, and in that one you saw more booing, more questions about obamacare, more questions about trump. what you see is an activated democratic electorate who is going out to register their disapproval with how people like chaffetz are doing things. now that said i think there are some republicans and independents there as well. i don't know what to make of it but i will tell you, remember, eight years ago in 2009, the leading edge of what happened in 2010 was the discontent registered in these town halls with democratic members about the affordable care act. so we may well be seeing that, or it could just be sort of a spurt here and an outbreak there. >> and another new development is i've confirmed now that elliott abrams is not

joining us is chris cillizza and susan page. he talks it's great to be back, i missed you guys.ately skipped it last year with a threat of a wakeout by attendees. the conservative event that donald trump is not talking about reforming reentightments, changing his position versus theirs on the issue of trade. what does this say short term and lg-term about this vement? >> loves this place because he's changed that place. he made cpac have less ideology in some ways and different issues in other ways. he got a lot of applause for his protectionist trade riff that he did on today's, in today's speech and you hear very little complaints, maybe a little bit under very quietly about the fact he is not taking a tough line when it comes to spending which is our entitlement reform issues, used to have a lot of residents at cpac. >> four, five years ago this was an, every speaker talked about gay marriage, abortion. he really did -- >> immigration, radical islamic terrorism, trade. >> he didn't talk about that at awe. at the end he said and we all are watched over by god, like at the very

joining me now, national political reporter for chris cillizza, and writer for the fix, thanks for joining us. let me start with you. on what we just saw outside st. louis. the vice president there delivering reiterating a message that he delivered a few minutes earlier in st. louis, condemning anti-semitism. there is no place for hatred, or acts of prejudice or anti-semitism in this country, and again, a number of statements from pence, from trump, trump calling the governor of missouri apparently today. there will has been a change here on the white house in the last 24 hours. >> this is significant, it shows an acknowledgment coming from the white house, coming from donald trump which we know from covering the campaign he's not necessarily quick to acknowledge perhaps missed opportunities or mistakes. and also, it shows that the administration is prioritizing this kind of message. given all of the missed opportunities that they had over the past week to condemn the rise of anti-semitism to talk about what they would do. i still think the question remains though what they are going to do