it's unclear. >> woodruff: karen tumulty, read the tea leaves a little more. what do you see?nald trump, how many times during the campaign tell us his plan for dealing with foreign policy is to be unpredictable? well, there we have it. increasingly, the evidence does look like this was not just a casual -- world leaders don't just pick up the phone and call each other. it does appear that this was a deliberate move, a deliberately provocative move, and seems very much in line with his rhetoric during the campaign that he intended to be tough on china and, don't forget, we've seen a lot of presidential candidates, memorably bill clinton who used to criticize george h.w. bush for coddling dictators and took a softer line once in office. i think donald trump is signaling that's not going to be his way of doing business. >> woodruff: it plays into the other phone calls that were reported overseas, calls, for example, with the prime minister of pakistan whether he was apparently overly complimentary in the words of one observer who seemed to know abit, and the -- to know about it,

karen tumulty on the look. thank you so much.m the "washington post." >>> next, just into cnn, the certainian army has declared aleppo free of armed groups. we'll take you live to the turkish/syrian border coming up. weand sustainability goals asool one of our top priorities.mental i definitely rely on pg&e to be an energy advisor. anything from rebates, to how can we be more efficient? pg&e has a number of programs, to help schools save on energy. when i see a program that fits them, then i bring it to them. with the help of pg&e we've been able to save a tremendous amount of energy and a tremendous amount of money. we're able to take those savings and invest it right back into the classroom. together, we're building a better california. >>> breaking news out of syria. the syrian regime says it has taken full control of aleppo, marking a major turning point in the country's five year civil war. the syrian state-run news outset will reporting the last convoy carrying rebel fighters and their families have left, the evacuation of

i'm joined by "the washington post's" karen tumulty, michael steele, and washington bureau chief for mother jones, david corn, and our msnbc political analyst. karen, i have to go to you first on this, because this is your story. this is kind of remarkable. i think we've heard lots of reasons for presidents choosing members of their team, but looks has not been among them. let's talk a little bit about that. >> first of all, i'm so happy that you balanced this panel with a man with a mustache. >> it's important. we have to defend the stach. this is what we have to do. there you go. rock it, michael, rock it. >> well, we certainly knew all the way through the campaign how important appearance was to donald trump. don't forget near the end of the campaign, he said that people wouldn't vote for hillary clinton, because she didn't have a quote/unquote, presidential look. he talked about introducing his running mates, he said that he might pit mike pence's economic record was the reason he picked him on top of the fact that he looked good and had a good family. and certainly this focus on

. >> karen tumulty, let me bring you in. we've been hearing from mike shields, if you want to throw the graphic up again, mike says this is a diverse cabinet. these are people who have the resumes, who have the stuff for the job but one could -- in terms of being uber conservative is this essentially picked by the conservative think tank the heritage foundation and mike pence, karen? >> well, i don't think these are people who necessarily come out of the sort of traditional conservative movement, sort of the william f. buckley roots, these are people for some pretty unconventional background. you look at something like linda mcmahon comes out of wrestling. ben carson is certainly not somebody you would consider a conventional background for hud secretary. and also the sheer number of general, people who come from the military culture into the civilian government culture. i don't know that traditional ideological lines even begin to define what kind of team donald trump is trying to build here. >> and what it says about how h

karen tumulty from "the washington post," andrey brower, former lieutenant governor of south carolina and cnn commentator bakari sellers. welcome to all of you. what do you want to talk about first? we got a lot on the plate this morning. let's start with jill stein. she's expected to speak at any moment about this recount and is holding this rally in front of trump tower. what is she expecting to gain from that? >> i can't answer that. i don't know what she's expecting to gain. it's not moving america forward. it's not continuing to get ready for the new president to take office. to me it seems like a side show. i don't want to negate anybody's opportunity to challenge something they feel is not right, but i don't know what the goal is here. i don't know what she is trying to accomplish at this point in time. to me it just doesn't seem like anything that actually has any legitimacy and we haven't seen a shift in the numbers, and it just seems like a side show to me although i'm not trying to be critical of her. i just don't see an end game here. >> jill stein is doing her side show a

. >> charlie sykes, karen tumulty, together we wait.> as 2016 comes to a close, so does one of the most deadly years for police officers. ahead, a special msnbc report, remembering those fallen officers. stay with us. "under the gun" next on msnbc. american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. i've got a nice long life ahead. find out how american express cards and services big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it could save you in out-of-pocket medical cost