joining me are eugene robinson. andrea mitchell. welcome to sunday and a special edition of "meet the press." >> nbc news in washington, this is a special edition of "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning, here is what we know about the attacks. and the number of wounded in the series of deadly attacks in and around paris friday night. france says three teams armed with assault rivals and suicide vests carried out this attack. authorities identified one of the concert hall attackers at a 29-year-old citizen of algerian origin. it's apparent that they were aware of him and his organization since 2010 but he was never actively investigated. one of them also entered through greece and was registered as a refugee in serbia. a number of arrests have been made in brussels leading the french to say this was a terror network. and the paris atrocities were called an attack on the civilized world. >> we will redouble our efforts to bring about a peaceful transition in syria, and to eliminate a force that can create so much p

joining me for insight and analysis are eugene robinson of the "washington post," molly ball of t at listhe "atlantic" , radio talk show host hugh hewitt. welcome to sunday, it's meet meet. >>> good sunday morning, no leftovers for this show, i promise you. this is one of those moments in the presidential campaign where you realize everything is about to happen. in just the next few weeks, we'll see a republican debate, two democratic debates the, christmas new year's break and before you know it iowa and new hampshire will be here in early february. we begin with a question that has confound it had political class for month -- can anything stop donald trump? even the truth? hillary clinton, ben carson, chris christie have been called out for what stephen colbert once dubbed as truthiness. but no one has had more controversial statements questioned than the man who will join us in a moment, donald trump. >> the truth? you know what? he may, but he's still going to get things done. >> this week, donald trump appeared to do more than merely bend the truth. >> i watched when the world t

and eugene robinson writes, obama's tone was all wrong. at times he was patronizing, at other times he seemed annoyed and almost offensive. it was shocking. and the reaction from the people i spoke with across the i'd logical divide and people on the front line of the battle find it shocking that what the french declare as an act of war the president calls a setback. and what dianne feinstein says keeps her up at night, the president says -- >> actually let's put that up. >> the president says i'm too busy for that. he says people with pop off if they want to. he was peevish, he was pet chew lent, not my words, the "washington post" words. he was clearly irritated through the entire press conference and i think most frightening is the fact that he seems disconnected from reality. the reality on the ground in paris, the reality on the ground in syria, the reality on the ground -- he is the opposite of a neocon that is more wedded to his ideology than his ideas on the ground and he's taking the world along for a ride. >> the news, part of wh

eugene robinson. wise man. and jay newton small, weekly magazines. coming up, the big republican victory last night in kentucky means one thing for the 2016 election. in den ken the new governor-elect sounds a whole lot like donald trump. az said the guy in the suit, the guy with the resume, the guy like bill clinton and walter mondale, got his ass handed to him. plus striking new poll numbers about the decline of organized religion in america. a rising number of americans say now they're not religiously affiliated and those people are for the democrats. it's up to the point here now where the nones, n-o-n-e-s, people with no religious affiliation are the second largest group in the democratic party. and finally tonight the "hardball" round table will tell me something i don't know. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> i've got breaking news now. a u.s. official tells nbc news that a bomb may have brought down that russian jetliner over the sinai over this weekend, killing all 224 aboard. the official also says the investigation is foc

joining me are eugene robinson. andrea mitchell of nbc news. jennifer reuben of "the washington post" and jeff greenfield of politico. welcome to sunday and a special edition of "meet the press." >>> from nbc news in washington, this is a special edition of "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning, here is what we know about the attacks. which pope francis yesterday called a piecemeal world war iii. this is the current death toll and the number of wounded in the series of deadly attacks in and around paris friday night. france says three teams armed with assault rifles and suicide vests carried out this attack. authorities have identified one of the concert hall attackers as a 29-year-old french citizen of algerian origin. it's believed french security had been aware of him and his radicalization since 2010, but he was never actively investigated. we also know one of the other attackers entered europe through greece and was registered as a refugee in serbia. not yet clear if he was a syrian. now, a number of arrests have been m

among those in attendance, eugene robinson and his family.n original member of the famed tuskegee airmen who fought in world war ii. >>> coming up, eagles have a confident quarterback as they begin homestretch of the schedule. john clark has the story. plus, big injury news regarding one of the eagles' key pieces on offense as they prepare for the dolphins. ono off-days, or downtime.ason. opportunity is everything you make of it. this winter, take advantage of our season's best offers on the latest generation of cadillacs. the 2016 cadillac srx. get this low-mileage lease from around $339 per month, or purchase with 0% apr financing. >>> this is the xfinity sportsdesk, brought to you by xfini xfinity. your home for the most live sports. >> the eagles revealed safety malcolm jenksens suffered a concussion in the game. missed a second day of practice. d'amico ryans limited in activities and at practice left tackle, jason peter. his back isn't the problem, it's the quad muscle in his thigh, related to a pinched nerve. peters is the key figure in

chairman of the democratic national committee howard dean, committee, howard dean and in washington, eugene robinsone and me. we'll begin this morning with breaking news. we've learned that turkey has shot down a russian military jet. it happened along the border between turkey and syria. footage from turkish television shows a warplane going down in flames in what looks like a wooded area. you can see a plume of smoke trailing behind the plane. the turkish government said the russian jet violated its air space. the jet was warned ten times before being shot down. let's bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel live in

before we get to that, i want to introduce associate editor of worst, eugene robinson and another writeror the post, jonathan capehart, and al hunt. >>> top republican candidates will square off in milwaukee tonight for a fourth time with only eight on the main stage, four on the undercard and three on the sidelines. a close race. ben carson and donald trump running neck and neck. 24 to 23. marco rubio coming up at 12%. ted cruz and jeb bush tie for fourth at 8%. this while 58% of republican voters say the more they hear about bush, the less they like him. a category he's doing far worse in than other top candidates. in the south carolina primary, the poll shows ben carson with a slight advantage over trump. 28-27. carson there is leading trump among evangelicals. 33% to 18%. that's a 24-point swing just since august. >> it really is. tonight looking at the race, you have ben carson and donald trump fighting it out for first place. in most of these polls you have ted cruz and marco rubio at least nationally in the beauty contest fighting it out. but tonight, you have to look at jeb bush

howard fineman, eugene robinson, gentlemen, i'm glad you're back on today. i'll start with this question. why does rubio want to have this as a clash of civilizations? i thought that was what isis wanted what al qaeda wants? to have the islamic world fight with the western world. why would he want what they want? to see the world in a religious struggle, a religious struggle? why say islamic? why don't we say terrorists. why does he want obama and hillary clinton to swallow those words. was that about? howard. >> i think it's about marco rubio trying to get as far to the right and as apocalyptic and his fear-mongering as he can because that's what the republican contest is going to be about now. you have jeb bush talking more and more like his brother george instead of his father george. you have ted cruz and donald trump competing with each other because they've been sling an us versus them theory of the world for this entire campaign. this is just their biggest excuse and biggest opportunity to sell that theme. >> gene, same question to you. there is one p

i am joined by eugene robinson of "the washington post" as well as heidi przybilla of "usa today." why does carson's campaign feel the need to walk this back? >> i'm going to try to hear and think about your question rather than something random that crosses my mind. obviously, they walked it back because it's not true. it didn't happen. he couldn't have seen it, the film or the news reel or whatever it was he thought for a minute that he saw. he couldn't possibly have seen. and maybe just a little ray of reality penetrated that campaign and they realized that, gee, it actually didn't happen this way. so he took it back. it's a very weird episode that is kind of a side show to the main event which is trump doubling down on this paranoid, frankly, racist fantasy. >> heidi, let's talk about trump's fantasy here. the notion of backing down period has not only been something foreign to donald trump's campaign, his insistence on his version of reality seems to in some way have strengthened him. >> that is something you see time and time again, whether referring to hispanics or statistic

with us here in washington, eugene robinson.ize winner, one of the greats of "the washington post." howard fineman is the political analyst. everybody is a general here. >> all of these epaulets. now that we have the wise people here. we have the masters of the cloth called here in rembrandt style. can you -- i remember in the old days i would go into the spin room and daresay, who had won? i had said it a couple times. i would say it. you might as well listen because that becomes the truth. today there isn't a scrum of people. >> also, if you look at what people were saying, they are all over the map. him people think that bush had a good night, for example. i didn't quite see it that way. >> it's always the people that want him to have a good night. >> exactly. i thought charitably maybe he gives some faith to his backers and supporters in his inner circle. i don't think he connected with the republican primary voters tonight. trump and carson are trump and carson. i think they are immune to anything that happens. >> jeb was d

chairman of the democratic national committee howard dean, committee, howard dean and in washington, eugene robinson along with willie, joe and me. we'll begin this morning with breaking news. we've learned that turkey has shot down a russian military jet. it happened along the border between turkey and syria. footage from turkish television shows a warplane going down in flames in what looks like a wooded area. you can see a plume of smoke trailing behind the plane. the turkish government said the russian jet violated its air space. the jet was warned ten times before being shot down. let's bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel live in istanbul. what more do we know at this point? >> reporter: there's a major dispute right now in the circumstances of this plane that was shot down. a russian sekoy 24, it was flying on a counterterrorism mission inside syria and that it was shot by ground fire, that the pilots ejected. the fate of the pilots at this stage is still unclear. the turkish government, however, has a different version of events. it said this russian jet violated turki

i'm joined by howie jackson, eugene robinson and howard fineman. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> it seems the republican party is becoming unglued. the rnc doesn't have much clout. boehner had no clout. the party establishment has been losing badly on all the polls to the outsiders. let's get into this. how combustious is this? >> if that is the word you want to use. >> i don't think it's a word. >> look at jeb bush. he's down 8%. this is emblematic. this insurgency trying to block out the rest of the establishment. that's what you're seeing not just with jeb bush but why he is trying to reframe himself as somebody disruptive in politics. >> they don't want a moderator in anything. they don't want anything organized. now they are saying we don't want ben ginsburg helping us to get together. >> no. this is like a riot. this is a riot inside the republican party. candidates want to take it over for themselves and have the power to do that. >> can trump declare some, my debate night" and invite other republicans to come? >> who knows. ben carson

eugene robinson from "the washington post," my colleague at nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andreaell, jennifer rubin writes the right turn column, and jeff greenfield, former correspondent for cbs, cnn, abc, a big contributor to the politico and the daily beast. jeff greenfeld, you wanted to ask a question. >> everybody seems to want a robust response. nobody seems to want to put american combat troops. if isis and iraq and syria is something more like a state, are we kidding ourselves? can this be done without a large infusion of american combat troops? >> michael liter? >> i think the answer is no. we may not need the same number when we needed when we first went into iraq, but we need more troops to push the iraqis faster, more than 50 special operations forces in syria to take the fight there, and we have to make clear that they don't stand a chance against us. and right now we are basically playing even, and that helps the movement beyond syria and iraq see that this is an attractive army to fight for in paris -- >> you said playing even. you mean that containment line that t

joining me are eugene robinson. andrea mitchell.y and a special edition of "meet the press." >> nbc news in washington, this is a special edition of "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning, here is at we know about the attacks. this is the current death toll, and the number of wounded in the series of deadly attacks in and around paris friday night. france says three teams armed with assault rivals and suicide vests carried out this attack. authorities identified one of the concert hall attackers at a 29-year-old citizen of algerian origin. it's apparent that they were aware of him and his organization since 2010 but he was never actively investigated. one of them also entered through greece and was registered as a refugee in serbia. a number of arrests have been made in brussels leading the french to say this was a terror network. and the paris atrocities were called an attack on the civilized world. >> we will redouble our efforts to bring about a peaceful transition in syria, and to eliminate a force that can cre

"washington post" column nis eugene robinson joins me, and republican strategist john fiore. we'll have more details in the coming weeks maybe within the month from ben carson but they're still riding high on this notion that he's wise, he's been a successful doctor, and that is what's keeping dr. carson at the top of the polls. is that how you see it? >> well, your guess is as good as mine. he's all over the map on a number of issues. contrary to what we just heard, he did say he wanted to replace medicare. he said that -- >> yes, he did. >> he's said that for quite some time. then he started saying, well, we want to give people an alternative to medicare and that once we see this wonderful savings account alternative they'll just naturally gravitate towards that. i don't quite understand how that's supposed to work, but it is an example. at least the campaign acknowledges that his positions -- his actual positions on the issues are very much in flux and very much still evolving. >> he describes it as a listening tour and that he's making himself accessible to people out the

eugene robinson, not exactly is somebody who writes a lot of nasty columns about the president, saidis. obama's tone in addressing the paris atrocity was all wrong. at times he was pate lonnizing. at other times, he seems annoyed and almost dismissive. is this a case of the president not being on the ground and not realizing the public's angst because he's overseas? >> chuck, my job isn't to do that type of analysis. what i can tell you is my personal experience. i meet with the president almost every day to discuss these threats and others across the globe with him. i was the one to brief him on the paris attacks. he was extremely focused on threats to our citizens in paris and across the globe. his first priority as it is mine and the rest of his national security team, is the protection of the american people. he does not take his eye off that ball. >> and very quickly, are you at all willing to entertain congress's, what may be a bipartisan majority in congress that asks you to put a pause on accepting syrian refugees? >> we don't think that's the way to go. now, we want to expla

eugene robinson, andrea mitchell, molly ball and hugh hewitt, radio talk show host who has been a must stop for the republican candidates. i can't wait until you and hillary clinton tussle. >> i look forward to it. >> i think she ought to do it. it will interesting. hugh, let me get your reaction to this. you saw in the the piece, trump supporters don't care if he gets fact checked and don't care if the fact checks prove to be false. >> trump supporters are like lincoln chafee -- blocks of granite and they are not moving easily and they're not going to move over the 9/11 story and fact checkers are themselves perceived to be agenda driven in many respects and they would like to see an equal amount of time give on the hillary clinton's claim to being under sniper fire in bosnia or trying to join the marine corps or any of her -- as are given to donald trump. but here's the key thing, elizabeth loftus, professor at the university of california irvine has given a talk on memory. memory is different than facts. you cannot fact check memory. >> you can't crawl inside his head. >> but you ca

with us on set, washington post and msnbc analyst eugene robinson.y deutsch, i'm going to be in it, right? >> you were in the first -- >> that's not enough. >> you're in episode four. >> this is exciting. >> i'm not in until episode 6. >> that's a shame for you. former treasury official and analyst steve rattner. >> and my feelings are totally hurt. >> get him a tub of money. come on, now. >> we did not want to go for the 000.0 -- >> we're starting ugly. >> donny deutsch -- >> i had that covered. i covered that. >> and in washington, washington anchor for bbc "world news america," caddy kay and kristen anderson is joining us as well. you heard donald trump talk about how he would bomb the -- breaking news overnight, jihadi john, the man who appears in those videos, showing the beheadings of three americans was targeted by u.s. air strikes and we await air from the pentagon whether or not he is actually dead. so we'll talk about that. but obama certainly hasn't held back on his drone strikes and just keeping that in mind, there's a phrase that's not n

and washington, columnist and associate editor, eugene robinson. lots going on.e'll get to politics because we have some exclusive looks at new ads by donald trump. we will also be going live to bill neily because when ices i claimed responsibility for bringing down that russian passenger plane over egypt, many were skeptical but now the u.s. and british officials are saying it might be true. we're going to go to egypt with the late et cetera, potentially scary and frightening development. >>> but first, we are under 90 days from the iowa caucus, this morning, donald trump is ready to hit the air waves with his first ads of $300,000 buy, and we have an exclus u first look at the very first radio spot. take a listen. >> donald trump learned the values of hard work, determination, and faith at an early anyone. he went on to build one of the world's most iconic brands and companies which employs thousands of people. donald trump is running for president because politicians are talk and no action. they will never make our country great again. he'll stop illegal immig