amy: talk about the relationship between lbj and dr. king.eally significant, especially lbj's alarm as riots are ,reaking outcome uprising rebellions. who did he call? dr. king. so interesting you have the audio recordings. what did you get them from, fbi surveillance tapes? >> no, those are presidential recordings. lbj is talking to hoover and saying that dr. king is a faker, trying to undercut him. blanket hostility. it also lbj talking to martin luther king saying this is terrible, what can we do? because in onead of the conversations, it was too long to fit in the film, lbj said, what we did in selma with you mobilizing the public and me being able to give that speech, that is the way democracy is supposed to work. energize citizens and responsive government. that is about the best thing that ever happened. in the same conversation, they're talking about vietnam. you can feel vietnam pulling them apart will stop johnson just -- he said my legacy is civil rights, for that is being threatened by these riots and i have this war and my ally d

it also lbj talking to martin luther king saying this is terrible, what can we do?ecause in onead of the conversations, it was too long to fit in the film, lbj said, what we did in selma with you mobilizing the public and me being able to give that speech, that is the way democracy is supposed to work. energize citizens and responsive government. that is about the best thing thatat ever happened.. in the same conversation, they're talking about vietnam. you can feel vietnam pulling them apart will stop johnson just -- he said my legacy is civil rights, for that is being threatened by these riots and i have this war and my ally dr. king is turning against me on the war. there's a lot of passion in those conversations. amy: let's talk about vietnam and how king ended up making speech, why i oppose the war in vietnam. i want to turn to a clip of since harding before he died. we had a long conversation with him about the speech and his conversations with dr. king. harding who helped craft that speech. worse the endmuch of his life, youou may remember, by the last years

lbj accomplished a great many things. if one measures the success of an administration by legislation, then lyndon johnson was one of the most successful chief executives of all-time. some of the credit goes to the remarkable 89th congress, which swept in with johnson's landslide victory in 1964. between february and august of 1965 that congress passed the voting rights bell, the medicare bill, the odd indication bill, which for the first time ever authorized federal funds for the general support of local schools, a housing bill that included rent for the general -- rent supplements to for a family and appalachia bill targeting more than $1 billion for the economic development of the legion a series of environmental bills, and the control of billboard advertising. these are only highlights. it would be understatement to say the johnson administration introduced a wide range of legislation to the congress. it was more like a bombardment. observers said that lbj set the bar too high. he himself -- he set himself up for the

i happen to think that the lbj library has set a pattern or is setting a pattern. three weeks ago we had two stars on this stage; bob schieffer, moderation, in conversation with former secretary of state madeleine albright. well, tonight we've got two more stars on this stage, john avlon and mark updegrove. johnjohn avlon is a true risingr in this country in the media and journalism world. john got his start as a speech writer for rudy giuliani both when he was mayor of new york and later as a presidential candidate. john avlon today is the editor-in-chief and managing director of "the daily beast," but he's way more than that. he is a very active writer in this country. every major magazine has seen one of his pieces. moreover, he's on television all the time. you can look at cnn, you look at msnbc, you can look at pbs, you can look at c-span, and you'll see john avlon. i will also tell you he is a prolific writer of books. he's written multiple books. the one that's most prominent, the one that's most spotlighted is about washington's farewell address. and he rem

flight to the lbj ranch gave the prime minister the chance to see some rugged land. satisfaction to those who worked to give it life. texas, iteat land of reminds me very much of parts of .y country i can see the results of pioneering and dedication. .en can create >> both men shared visions of a national purpose far brighter than their abilities to make business boom. >> this past year has been a in the middle east and vietnam and many places around the world. they have found the stubborn isth confirmed, making peace punishing work. >> with the departure of the prime minister, long needed rain drenched the land leaving promise of a good spring. the president will remain at the ranch throughout the first two weeks of january. he will continue to concentrate on the message, budget outlays, international partners. same time, he would reflect on the nation's moon. ,,owing restlessness questioning voices were being heard. this was part of the state of the union and must be part of the message. perhaps at the core of it. return toe to washington. ♪ was january 15, and in

he said i think lbj is sonny liston. sonny liston was the most fearsome heavyweight champion of all time until he simply sat on the stool at the end of around and refused to go back into the ring against caches clay who after winning the championship changed his name to mohammed ali who he said he's going to quit and jack neufeld was completely right.anybody else? >> is there any lines between the corker decision and lbj decision ? >> not really. the question was can you draw any comparison between senator jeff flake and senator bob corker's decisions not to run for the senate for reelection this year. having worked in the senate there is one decision that i always understand and that the decision not to run for reelection. if the decision to run for reelection you've got to explain to me . if you're a junior senator like jeff flake. once you've got a chairmanship, you've got a reason to go to work but before you have that, i could spend most of my time describing the powerlessness of the job. once you throw in all this

since fdr, neither ixon nor lbj were particularly wilsonian, you're quite right. have book, i do people.tions for these on the other hand, no one talked -- in dently against other words, they would engage worldwide.nomies they certainly saw democracies and nato as important to us. either lbj or nixon would have said, quoting trump, nato is obsolete, that saluted the british exit trump e e.u., that repeatedly mocked german eadership of the e.u., and singled out angela merkel for articular criticism, it's unthinkable that lbj or richard ixon would have adopted positions so extremely anti-liberal as that. to someone like me it's shocking. ow, he's begun to reverse himself. good. just like that fleet that was going toward north korea headed for elf and australia. >> amen. yes. i don't know. >> my second quick question is, ould you define the difference between capitalism and and give us some idea on how it affects democracy as we're living in today. really hard question, okay? but i would say is that be of many an different types, in many different countries, it all d

we had lbj who you did a movie about, you said really nice things about lbj, fascinating character. i think had it not been for the vietnam war he would have gone down as one of the greatest presidents of all time, second to roosevelt, passed more legislation than anybody. >> true. >> laura: he had another side to him. >> yes, he did. >> laura: urinating into the sink, inviting people into his bathroom. >> i showed the bathroom scene. >> laura: exposing his private parts. nothing surprises the biographer of lyndon baines johnson. brag about his womanizing, said he was more of a womanizer than jfk. >> what's the point? >> laura: he had a lot of flaws personal flaws. >> i'm not judging donald trump by -- >> laura: you don't like his policies, that's fine. >> no, no, no. i don't like his policies, that is true. >> laura: the booming economy? >> i don't like the way he conducts his life. the way he treats other people. >> laura: you did a movie about lbj who had horrible personal flaws. >> i don't like man who goes like this with towels, with paper towels. i don't like that. i don't lik

you know, the only couple i knew that both kennedy and lbj wanted to socialise with was you and yournd, and you own the damn paper. that's the way things worked. politicians and the press, they trusted each other so they could go to the same dinner party, and drink cocktails and tell jokes, while there was a war raging in vietnam. i don't know what we're talking about. i'm not protecting lyndon. no, you've got the man who commissioned the study, he's one of about a dozen party guests out on your... i'm not protecting any of them, i'm protecting the paper. the thing i like about this film is it has a number of intertwining stories. one is the story of kay graham finding her own voice. she's surrounded by men in boardrooms at the beginning. she doesn't really speak, she's slightly like a fish out of water. but during the course of this, she has to step up to the mark and decide what's the right thing to do. second thing is, it runs almost like a prequel to all the president's men. the end of this film runs right into the beginning of all the president's men, which is a film that i was

we either use to say that lbj had a resignation all the time. he was kind of a quitter. there were times it was lady bird who was the strength that kept him in. he lived in fear of bobby kennedy. it is very rare to hate one another but they each said enough wind an then lived in complete fear. then bobby jumps in and simply couldn't see how he could successfully campaign against bobby. he was the only one that said if you get into, johnson will get out. he was the most peer peers haven the champion of all time until he sat on the school at the end of the ground and refused to go back to after winning the championship changes to mohammed ali. so he's not even listening, he is just going to quit. >> [inaudible] the question was can you draw a comparison between the decision not to run for the senate for their reelection this year. having worked in the senate,, there is one decision that i always understand and that is the decision not to run. it's the decision to run that you've got to explain to me. if you are a junior senator once you have a chairmanship, you have a reas

tell me about lbj and his fixization on water pressure. >> i think a lot of presidents do feel under in the white house and lbj is great example obsessed with the white house shower, wanted it to come in very hot with needle like intensity and made lives held. he would calling the mr. upping foreman and scream if i can move 10,000 troops in a day, referring to vietnam, you can fix the bathroom anyway i want it. and i think we see some of that. and him in some ways is larger than life personality, there are some comparisons you can make to donald trump. so i wasn't surprised about the food poisoning concerns. because i interviewed white house chefs really being on the front lines in terms of like keeping the president and his family alive. that their jobs are very important. and they actually have someone in charge of going out and buying food for the first family at a local super market. in unmarked secret service van. so this is not that shocking. and the kind of idea that donald trump has no control over his life, so he locks the door and tells the staff when to clean up and wash t

i started after five months and was immediately signed to lbj to protect the vice president. >> reporteraines johnson was vice president under john f. kennedy. he was not in dallas was canon -- when kennedy was assassinated in 1963 hoops guard guarded so many in his long career. >> i was with spiro agnew, jerry ford and the president during his campaign. george wallace, sargent shriver, eagleton. >> reporter: he retired as deputy director of the secret service. all things lead back to basketball and family with the former terps champ. >> last year was our 60th wedding anniversary. and, the 60th anniversary of the team. i'm proud of them. >> reporter: he said protecting presidents and vice presidents was his major responsibility and he enjoyed the criminal side of his secret service career, including check forgery, his area of expertise. diane roberts, wusa9. >> i will say that wee with the 1958 championship team on the facebook page and on our website. we will have him on another future story on saturday or sunday and you will learn more about him. if we hear the dirt he has, he may shar

the democrats are meeting at this second in the lbj room in the capitol. i've been in that room to do interviews. they set up interviews because it's fancy. hopefully it's inspiring them to some higher purpose. the democratic senators have been in there talking about what they will do for this vote that happens at 10:00 p.m. i think we'll ishave a democrat senator in front of us or in front of a camera in just a couple minutes, just as she's coming out of that meeting. hopefully, she'll be able to tell us what the democrats decided to do. that said, right now, that yes or no vote, that crucial vote is scheduled for the top of this hour and as far as i'm concerned, only frank thorp, only frank thorp, nbc news reporter could possibly tell us what is likely to happen. mr. thorp joins us now live from capitol hill. thank you for your time tonight. i'm not over stating your powers, am i? >> no, that's a lot to live up to. >> what's up? what's going on there as best you can tell. what should we be watching for over the course of the next hour? >> we're looking a

you know, the only couple i knew that both kennedy and lbj wanted to socialise with was you and yourticians and the press, they trusted each other so they could go to the same dinner party and drink cocktails and telljokes, while there was a war raging in vietnam. i don't know what we're talking about. i'm not protecting lyndon. no, you've got his defence secretary the man who commissioned the study, he's one of about a dozen party guests out on your... i'm not protecting him or any of them, i'm protecting the paper. the thing i like about this film is it has a number of intertwining stories. one is the story of kay graham finding her own voice. she's surrounded by men in boardrooms at the beginning. she doesn't really speak, she's slightly like a fish out of water. but during the course of this, she has to step up to the mark and decide what's the right thing to do. second thing is, it runs almost like a prequel to all the president's men. the end of this film runs right into the beginning of all the president's men, which is a film that i was really, really affected by in the 1970s

and the democrats, i guess they never listened to lbj tapes where he used not only foul language but language against black americans, so when dick durbin said language has never been used in the oval office, then he should be listening to the lbj tapes and lbj, what was he able to do, he passed civil rights legislation and the president wanted to deal in good faith, the democrats, they renigged on that. >> look, no one is denying that he said it other than one man, the president who has a history of saying things that are a little untrue. what we have here is a situation, it's so sad because this is a look right into his dark soul, these are chilling and disparaging comments. you do so to emerge from tough situation. we should want people with fortitude and wherewithal to come here. >> we are heading into, perhaps, potential government shutdown in less than a week, he needs to get democrats that vote for some things, to get some things across the finish line, what about the timing and what about the week ahead. >> i still think we are going to get through. i don't believe they'll be

let's bring in professor at the lbj school of public affairs at the university of texas. and joe watkins, former aide to george h.w. bush and author of "the new pc," practical consideration. and msnbc political analyst rick tyler, former cruz campaign spokesman. good saturday morning to you all. let's get right to it here. >> good morning, alex. >> rick, there has been a mild response from republicans to this so far. how about you? what is your take. does this move the needle on possible obstruction by the president? >> i'm not sure it does in and of itself. it certainly would lend to a case preponderance of the evidence. he fired mueller. he said so very clearly on this network, on nbc that he did so because of the russia investigation. now we learn that he continued to fire mueller. and so that should be very concerning. they should move this week on protecting the mueller investigation. >> but victoria, let's look a lot what we have witnessed the last year. the president has made all kinds of threats that he does not follow through on. if it fair to make the case that

give me a break they're defend ing donald trump and lbj at nixon? >> even today haiti was loyal to the u.s. when we went in front of the u.n. but haiti actually, well norway voted against us so i just -- charles: i mean, but getting back to tuesday, because again, listen, we know we'll never get the sort of credibility that i think we should get in the mainstream media but the president trump did do the things you wanted him to do adam he did act the way you wanted him to act and maybe he will do it again. ben: and he did it was a break, it was a giant breakthrough in many ways. i'm sorry adam for taking your time. sorry for taking your time adam. adam: clearly, president trump is capable of conducting a you know a mature adult responsible conversation and that's exactly what he did and yes, charles i think it's a wonderful thing. we should have more of it and the american people should get to see our leaders. charles: hold on a second you know, charlie, it always feels like when we have these conversations it's the exact reason of what the folks wh

let's bring in professor at the lbj school of public affairs at the university of texas.mer aide to george h.w. bush and author of "the new

you know, the only couple i knew that both kennedy and lbj wanted to socialize with was you and your husband and you owned a damn paper. >> we'll have much more of that conversation on tomorrow's program when i sit down with tom hanks and meryl streep. >>> now to the media and its struggles in the modern era -- sexual harassment, claims of fake news, and the ever-changing face of technology are all fights where my next guest has been at the forefront. barry diller is the chairman of the leading media company iac, having been chairman of fox incorporated and head of paramount studios and he joins me now. welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> so you've just heard the conversation with grietchen carlson. you've been listening too this as it's been unfolding. what was it like when you were head of all these companies, when it was all happening, all these companies were being built. >> you mean before the great reckoning? >> yes, before the great reckoning, before it was de rigueur. >> a completely different world. it is the great reckoning. it is -- all of the practices that were go a

lbj illegally spied on martin luther king. which is time at the king day yesterday. they spread of vietnam war veterans, nixon had an enemies list. president after president has abuse this power. president obama had a fight with the tea party groups, it turns out they were given a scrutiny and people are denied being allowed to form as a charitable group or activist group under obama because they disagreed with president obama. we now have a current administration and people in the fbi have interpersonal -- against the president and discussing how they could blacken. it had members of the department of justice to an oppositional research on president trump paper by hillary clinton. there is without question that power has been abused and will always be abuse. -- said that power corrupts. the history of our country is about trying to -- the power of government. we have the ability to collect all of the phone calls in italy in one month. there is a story saying we did it. who gets trapped in that? if you collect everyone's phone calls in germany or jordan who gets caug

versus board of education, desegregation, president john kennedy short-lived new frontier frontier, lbj's great society. now we are into -- you've also been through the amend welfare to change welfare to such a degree as we don't know it anymore, change welfare as we know it i think was the moniker. you've been through that. we are in this new jim crow era as michelle alexander put it so you've seen a lot during your 80 years and you've seen a lot that has changed for the better and have you seen anything change for the worse? >> guest: yes and yes, and i do find it remarkable and my brain works on some days, yes i certainly was alive during franklin roosevelt and in many ways in reading about the progressive era and the things that were done there, a sense that we have the capacity for change and of course we very definitely -- i was a young adult then during the 1960s. so anybody who says that they are despairing and this is a time when people do despair, we need to remember that change is very possible and in fact what we have seen from the historical record is we can do it if we organ

board of education president john kennedy short-lived new frontier, lbj great society and now we are into what you've also been through with the welfare to change to such a degree as we don't know if any more as we think is the moniker that you've been through in this new jim crow era as michelle alexander put it. so you've seen a lot of that has changed for the better and have you seen anything change for the worst? >> guest: i certainly was alive during franklin roosevelt and in many ways in reading about in the sense that we have the capacity for change and of course we definitely saw it as a young adult they are despairing and this is a time when people do the despair and we need to remember that the change is very possible and in fact what we see from the historical record is that we can do it if we organize and get together if we push back and push forward. the 1960s of course there was a piece of that history. we were the only economic power in the world, so trade was always to have been the japanese and german economies destroyed and so we had a terrific bad year that was the

lbj was a civil rights activist that pushed him to a place to say we should overcome. having that credibility to do that. i want to talk a little policy with you, is that all right kathleen? >> it depends on what it is. let me quickly say one thing to add on. i think barack obama would have been impeached his first week if he started out the way that trump was. >> you said first week, but his first year with this record? >> absolutely. absolutely. if he said the things -- it would be hard to go through the list and imagine a barack obama saying some of those things, but talking about the mexico cans being rapists, trying to block muslims, these things would not have happened, but there is no way he would have got p the pass. so i don't think it has to do with the bipartisan rhetoric. it is just viewed as unstable. we do know that he would be judged differently, that is just a fact. >> let me go on the policy part. there is no reason that judging the president factually should involve judging him differently and there has been an effort to lower expectations. we will ta

we can go back to nixon, jfk, if you want really racist remarks let's go to lbj.olutely ridiculous and a distraction from the amazing things this president is accomplishing. jillian: we touched on this yesterday. a lot of people wondering what we are missing in this conversation because most people would agree that word in particular is not racist. >> absolutely and not even directed at people. what he allegedly said. no one is arguing the factual connotations that go to these terrible countries who are really struggling. the bottom line is this is something the left likes to do to republicans when they don't get their way, they want to cry racism or sexism and bully the opposition into getting what they want and this time it is not going to work. rob: john lewis, democrat georgia, frederica wilson, maxine waters, a lot of these people have been president since he got elected anyway. he said she said as we have gone through. until i see a tape or hear a tape it doesn't even matter. the idea is merit-based immigration is what we are trying to get done in the white

until he finally woke up late in the johnson administration, obviously lbj, nixon lied about vietnam. ehrlichman and halderman and agnew and others lying about what was going on in watergate. but in watergate there were at least a few howard bakers, there were barry goldwaters, that would step forward and speak truth to power. doesn't it seem to you over the past several months that even the senator from your state, bob corker, that i've got great respect for. he seemed to go a bit mute on this as james fellows at the "atlantic" always brings up, floor speeches are great, but two republican votes needed in the senate. just two republicans with a conscience are needed to say no to this madness. where are two? >> and of course, what creates the courage to do that is either not running for office, or perhaps being sick. and as much as we appreciate their service, that's an interesting point. nobody who is really in the arena right now, who might face voters again, is stepping up to play sam irvin or on the republican side, a goldwater or a hugh scott or howard. it seems to me that someth

. >> let me employ an lbj term. what about the good government types?d government types that want to see immigration reform. >> there is a lot of them there. we're seeing a lot of the same voices on the republican side there during the 2013 immigration debate when they passed the bill through the senate. lindsey graham, jeff flake had been advocating for this. one of the remarkable things is unify both sides in opposition of this deal. you mentioned check schumer, there is blow back from the democrats but it's been unanimous from the republican side opposing this because of how many d.r.e.a.m.ers it protects. the senate for immigration studies which is a conservative group that wants to reduce immigration dubbed it the art of the choke from a group at first willing to provide citizenship to 800,000 d.r.e.a.m.ers. once it ballooned up, all of a sudden, all these groups ran away saying this is is getting out of control and too much for us to handle. >> i want to -- we've asked our guests to stuck around. we'll take a quick break and when we come back, pre

reagan did, and lbj did, and all sorts of things they do that never get publicized and it's unfortunate that people try to ensi say something is wrong with this. he's not in his bed at 6:30. >> you don't think so? >> i know he's engaged -- i don't get the sense he's a multitasker, and he didn't sit there and watch tv as he talks to you. he's very connected in the phone calls. he doesn't use the internet, other than tweeting and he'll go on his smartphone and do. i think this is hype and we are missing the big story which is all of the major accomplishments he has made on the economy and tax bill. >> listen, chris, we have done the economy and talked about the jobs numbers and all the tax reform and all that stuff, but today the big story is this window into what is going on inside the white house, and it sounds in a word, dysfunctional. >> well, i would say that it's transitional and they are working it out, and for steve to have said these things indicates why he should not have been there in the first place and he was not suited for a advisory job, and he does great at breitbart, and

bernstein ushered in a new era of journalism that opened up the white house in a way that would have made lbj and jfk and fdr very uncomfortable. >> marcus, everyone asks the question, could the "post" do a story like watergate or do watergate now? what is your -- >> you know, in today's world that story would catch fire much faster. the minute the break-in occurred, you know, you would tweet it. both sides would seize on it. it's an election campaign. they would be using it immediately as fodder for their both sides in the battle. everybody would chase it. there would be bloggers. as a result it would be much harder to do what you did probably because there would be such -- they would clamp down much faster. >> it's a great question how watergate might unfold in the current news environment. >> you could look at the sort of glass half full argument and say with all of these people on twitter and all of these reporters the 24-hour news cycle, if a big story began to emerge, it would never be two lonely guys pursuing it forever because the entire pack of the cyberuniverse would bay like wolves

i mean, lbj some of his habits were unbelievable. jfk who i idolized had some habits who if you looked at it they would say oh, my god. so i think every one these guys had strange habits. buff b bu but you have to judge them on results. in terms of the economy or retaking rackqqah are really go. and i think he has a lot of really good military people around him and lets them make those -- >> how does a guy like you go from backing jfk to donald trump. >> that is a huge leap. >> it is a new jersey leap and i knew bobby kennedy very well. i didn't know jfk. met him a couple times as a kid. but i guess first of all, the trump that people don't see frankly is when my dad was sick, he would call a lot to see how he was. is there anything that he could do. when our friend bob kraft from the patriots, his wife was dying, he would call almost every day. david friedman ambassador to israel, when his wife died, it was a terrible snowstorm worse than now and he went out there for 3 1/2 hours to get there to be at the shiv democratic a. and i wi

the news coverage was 90% negative about lbj, we would hear that he exposed himself to his aids and we wouldn't hear anything about the civil rights act. trump hasn't done anything remotely near that. >> laura: they're deranged, victor, they are so deranged at this point. they're questioning trump's mental fitness? these people, they don't have one oar in the water, they have lost their oar and their boat. since we're in nevada, victor, and nevada has, like california, opened its doors to a lot of illegal immigrants, i want to put up a full screen for our viewers that i want you to react to. nevada and las vegas immigration, 170,000 illegal immigrants live here in the las vegas metro area, 170,000. nevada illegal immigrant population is 4.5% more than the national average. and illegal immigrants account for 35% of the foreign born las vegas residents. back in 2009, victor, the last time they were tracking the actual cost of illegal immigration to nevada, it cost the taxpayers according to the group fair, $630 million. you know, nine years later that figure is exceedingly higher. >> yea

i'm going back to lbj and nixon. and you hear some really bad stuff. at the same time as they are trying to negotiate bills as l.b.j. was trying to push forward civil rights there is a time a president has private conversations or no? >> there is. this wasn't a private conversation at least this meeting. the previous presidents have said ho rent s things. we shouldn't use that as the measure. >> i do agree that what the president said was absolutely outrageous. i guess what i'm saying is that in trying to negotiate and work a deal -- it wasn't a totally open meeting, he is expressing something. it was a question, actually, to which he got a response and said here is why. i guess this whole idea, you are always having to be on your guard even when trying to negotiate? >> i think it is correct. i think it would be good to have some space for presidents and legislators to negotiate as they did decades ago. the reality is that doesn't exist. for many reasons from social media to polarized washington environment where there is an incentive to report what ha

as lbj said, you can pick their pockets all day long and that's what's happening with his base. tax bill, health care, all of these things. the conspiracy theories support that. >> you're sticking around, we have an entire hour to talk to my panel about all this stuff and more. i know the two of you wanted to weigh in, as well. we'll move on and be right back. president trump playing nice. the last time he faced the joint session of congress. will he try to hit the reset button? a preview of that coming up next. >>> this president is trying to solve a problem that's been perplexing our country for decades. he's offered a very rational compromise to get it done. >> a lot of anticipation for tuesday. a white house legislative director marc short on the immigration plan. the white house will release more details tomorrow and is expected to be a major focus of tuesday night's state of the union address. last night trump tweeted, "i have offered daca a wonderful deal, including a doubling in the number of recipients and a 12-year bathway to citizenship. democrats are not interested i

. >> neil: shelby, harken back to ronald reagan and tip o'neill, lbj, twirnlted arms, these were theeans on that end. what do you think? >> they were means to an end a lot of the backlash was this pork barrel spending. some say if we bring them back we might want to name them something else, don't call them earmarks, don't call them pork barrel spending. >> neil: i-marks. >> there may be some branding, the president loves new branding. it is a tool that members of congress use, to direct federal spending to projects that need funding. they also saw the removal of earmarks as a bit of an inhibitor to what they hoped to accomplish. that's why we hear them talk about it right now. >> neil: i don't see this going anywhere but i could be missing something, charles. if it means two stiedz can start talking, the president seems to be reasoning all to the good. >> yeah, i keep hearing people, everyone on the panel saying this is a way to get congress to do their jobs. how about doing your job. how about doing the things the american publishes elections to you go to washington to do. and voti

and lbj, and reagan, and bush.very time, you saw tax revenue go up in to treasury, you saw the economy improvement why is it now people saying that is impossible and will not happen in this climate? >> because they are nuts. a quick side bar. you are doing a fantastic job subbing in for the great charles payne, good on you. second, why are people saying? the mainstream media is saying it. we've discusses bulls and bears, they hope for trump to fail. why? because they are still mad he -- mad they lost the election. to your point, you ask average person, on the street, i'm going to give you $100 to spend or give it to the government? what do you think abser would be? they will say, i can pend it better than the government, that is what the tax cuts are doing. people right now don't believe in the tax cut, majority they have been spoken to by mainstream media saying it will be horrible. wait until they file their taxes and get more money back in their pocket. this economy is going to take off. john: jonus, are the tax

. >> it's like the lbj quote, if you want to get the white people, just tell them they're better than the worse of the black people. and also voting for rich people as they basically take their money. >>> the president has a history of these types of remarks, i've been saying it since we heard of trump for president candidate. let's take a look. >> trump comes along and says, birth certificate. he gave a birth certificate. whether or not that was a real certificate, because a lot of people question it, i question it. they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. they're rapists. he's a mexican, we're building a wall between here and mexico. >> donald j. trump is calling for a complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> his wife, if you look at his wife she was standing there, had nothing to say, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. >> we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago, they call her pocahontas. >> look at my african-american over here. are you the greatest? >> i don't know anything about david duke, okay. i don't

immigration reform that has not been accomplished by nine consecutive presidents who tried starting with lbjying to get the deal done. but the hypocrisy of the democrats is this. they were exposed today. they're more interested in power. they want chain migration because that is cheap labor for their doaners and some of the republicans and cheap votes. they don't care about the kids. if they did they'd jump on this. to say that $25 billion more a wall is too expensive here the is democratic party that obama took over the debt was $8 billion. he left off it was $18.5 billion. he spent all this money -- trillion. i'm sorry i spent all this money. now to say -- >> john. >> let me finish. >> but what you're not addressing. >> you if you think. >> john what you're not addressing is can be campaign promise the candidate ma made, the american would not pay for that. and please don't sit here and look like $25 billion is chump change it's not. >> i didn't say that but i said compare it -- compare it to a $10 trillion increase in debt from the democrats they're complaining about it is simply laughabl

lbj in 1965 describing his plan to alleviate poverty and advance civil rights.residents, right, using that moment to define an agenda, to set their administration's path. but in the modern era, has the purpose of this speech changed? how. joining me now to answer those questions is presidential historian and nbc news contributor, john meacham. we asked you to do some homework and pick some state of the union moments that you think have defined these speeches in the modern era. we'll go backwards, 2002, george w. bush. i'm going to play the moment and talk to you about why it's so significant. >> iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward america and to support terror. states like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world. >> why was that such an important state of the union moment for you? >> well, we were five months from september 11th. for many people, i think george w. bush really became president after the chaos of the florida recount on that friday after the attacks, remember, when he stood in

bernstein ushered in a new era of journalism that opened up the white house in a way that would have made lbjcomfortable. >> marcus, everyone asks the question, could the "post" do a story like watergate or do watergate now? what is your -- >> you know, in today's world that story would catch fire much faster. the minute the break-in occurred, you know, you would tweet it. both sides would seize on it. it's an election campaign. they would be using it immediately as fodder for their -- both sides in the battle. everybody would chase it. there would be bloggers. as a result it would be much harder to do what you did probably because there would be such -- it would clamp down much faster. >> it's a great question how watergate might unfold in the current news environment. >> you could look at the sort of glass half full argument and say my goodness, with all these people on twitter and all these reporters and the 24-hour news cycle that if a big story began to emerge it would never be two lonely guys pursuing it forever because the entire pack of the cyberuniverse would bay like wolves after th