we have michael beschloss standing by to talk to us about the history of what happened last night and we're also going to tell you about a big change in midtown manhattan with the new president-elect. stay with us. >> i know how disappointed you feel because i feel it, too. and so do tens of millions of americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. this is painful and it will be for a long time. but i want you to remember this -- our campaign was never about one person or even one election. it was about the country we love. >> someone pointed out hillary clinton wore the colors of mourning today but her remarks were very well received, as were the president's. to put this in perspective we call upon a wise man, as we always do, presidential historian and author michael beschloss actually here with us in new york and not in a box from washington. >> where we're knees and feet and everything else. >> that's exactly right. >> for all the people walking around today. there are republicans, but there are mostly democrats thinking what just happened, how did this happen, how

we have michael beschloss standing by to talk to us about the history of what happened last night andabout a big change in midtown manhattan with the new president-elect. stay with us. one of millions of orders on this company's servers. accessible by thousands of suppliers and employees globally. but with cyber threats on the rise, mary's data could be under attack. with the help of at&t, and security that senses and mitigates cyber threats, their critical data is safer than ever. giving them the agility to be open & secure. because no one knows & like at&t. [vo] a confirmation will be sent when new personal oright. small business checking, savings or credit card accounts are opened. we're taking action and renewing our commitment to you. anyone ever have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? she does. help defend against those digestive issues. take phillips' colon health probiotic caps daily... ...with three types of good bacteria. 400 likes? wow! phillips. be good to your gut. >> i know how disappointed you feel because i feel it, too. and so do tens of millions of a

let's talk about this with our friend and frequent guest michael beschloss, a historian who is with ustonight from washington, d.c. because donald trump knows to mention justice scalia. his death gave us the current vacancy. trump says he wants a nominee in does not know the story of william j. brennon, who president eisenhower called his great mistake who wrote beautifully about the majority however sickening and abhorrent we all find it, this has been a protected part of american law. >> that's for sure, brian. and, you know, you're absolutely right about justice brennan who wrote, as you said, the opinion of the court, in this case, texas versus johnson, 1989 when he said -- i remember the words. he said, it is poignant but fundamental that the flag protects those who hold it in contempt. that's what brennan said and also what scalia subscribed to. >> the man who co-authored a book with justice scalia said tonight on television, our president-elect needs a basic lesson in civics. i've almost taken to referring to it as old america and new america separated by what we witnessed happe

everyone who enters, and we'll see if that applies this time. >> presidential historian and michael beschlossoining us from washington. michael, thank you, as always. >> good to be with you, brian. >>> president obama gives out 12 purple hearts today. ♪ ♪ jon batiste has mastered new ways to play old classics. with chase atms, he can master new ways to deposit checks too. easy to use chase technology for whatever you're trying to master. ...and online content forsagie anafrican women as they try... ...to build their businesses and careers. this windows 10 device, you can configure it in so many... ...different ways it feels like a much more robust... ...computer than the old mac that i used to use. ♪ gaviscon is a proven heartburn remedy that gives you fast-acting, long-lasting relief. it immediately neutralizes acid and only gaviscon helps keep acid down for hours. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief, try doctor-recommended gaviscon. like bundling home and auto coverage, which reduces redney. tape, which saves money. when they save, you save. that's home and auto insurance for the modern wo

michael beschloss, invaluable as always. thank you for your time. >> so sorry to leave you with such a cheerful thought tonight. >> well, you know, it's our responsibility. >> right. right. right. thank you, rachel. >>> much more ahead tonight, including some news that is of an entirely nonnuclear variety but it will curl your hair. and that news tonight comes out of alabama. that's ahead. stay with us. did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's 10 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 150 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business. >>> outside of politics in the normal contours of the usual news cycle today, we have been following the developments all day today out of ohio state where there was that attack this morning which left 11 people in the hospital, left t

michael beschloss, invaluable as always. thank you for your time. >> so sorry to leave you with such a cheerful thought tonight. >> well, you know, it's our responsibility. >> right. right. right. thank you, rachel. >>> much more ahead tonight, including some news that is of an entirely nonnuclear variety but it will curl your hair. and that news tonight comes out of alabama. that's ahead. stay with us. generosity is its own form of power. you can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. >>> outside of politics in the normal contours of the usual news cycle today, we have been following the dev

joining us now is our friend michael beschloss, nbc news presidential historian. are you eating protein? are you sleeping? are you adequately hydrating? >> i'm not eating at all, and i don't think i'm going to breathe for the next four days. >> i'm turning to you for historical context. i raised the prospect of 1960 because i wanted to show that great footage you unveiled for us with nbc and their computing machine. the polls say this will be a close race, too. is that what we'll be looking at in the next few days? >> i think it is. it's almost become the rule that these things that happen in the last days and weeks affect public opinion. it's difficult to measure public opinion when things are moving. best example was 2000, the fact that george w. bush had been arrested for a drunk driving charge in 1976 was released. some of bush's aides said they felt that that moved as many as 20 million votes away from him. votes that are hard to get by pollsters in the last few days. >> late breaking stories like that, we talk about them as october surprises. this year they'

joining us now is our friend michael beschloss, nbc news presidential historian. are you eating protein? are you sleeping? are you adequately hydrating? >> i'm not eating at all, and i don't think i'm going to breathe for the next four days. >> i'm turning to you for historical context. i raised the prospect of 1960 because i wanted to show that great footage you unveiled for us with nbc and their computing machine. the polls say this will be a close race, too. is that what we'll be looking at in the next few days? >> i think it is. it's almost become the rule that these things that happen in the last days and weeks affect public opinion. it's difficult to measure public opinion when things are moving. best example was 2000, the fact that george w. bush had been arrested for a drunk driving charge in 1976 was released. some of bush's aides said they felt that that moved as many as 20 million votes away from him. votes that are hard to get by pollsters in the last few days. >> late breaking stories like that, we talk about them as october surprises. this year they'

how does that look from a joining us now is the great michael beschloss, the great presidential historian. thank you for joining us. >> happy early thanksgiving. great night here in washington, d.c. time i get to talk about nikki michael, the thing that seems surprising to me about this is i expected that because trump is who he is, i sort of thought he would make the kinds of did when he brought in -- >> same here. dad's administration to kind of reassure everybody. experience, but i'll bring in a you. following that pattern. >> no, they don't. and he kept on saying during the campaign, elect me and i will look everywhere and i will bring in the best people to do this. i would have thought he would have been sensitive to the thought that as we'd been saying, this is the first president with zero public service experience, zero would expect him to know what he does not know and do, for instance, what jimmy carter did, who had been one term governor spent years in the navy. he brought in cyrus vance, who had been deputy secretary of defense. or george w. bush bringing in colin powell, secr

joining me is michael beschloss who stuck with us until the wee hours of this morning. put up that live shot again that we had before. we've been keeping an eye on the protests in the streets. obviously elections are sometimes met with outrage, anger and surprise. what do you make of the magnitude and the seemingly organic eruption of protests in the country tonight? >> i think it's actually the sign of the strength of a democracy. what you would worry about is if there was an election of a controversial president in a close balloting and you didn't see expression from people who felt strongly. >> one of the things we've been sort of absorbing and contextualize is what appears to be the bottom line of this election is that donald trump clearly won the electoral college but hillary clinton appears to be winning the popular vote. >> right. >> that also happened in 2000 with george w. bush and al gore and got to the larger story of that being resolved in florida. do you think that ends up being -- there have been four or five times in history where the popular vote has not

bring in presidential historian michael beschloss. that first letter went to congress from james comey we started looking, when have we seen october surprise in presidential election. >> sure did. >> thought back to 1992, weinberger indictment on the eve of the election, bush dui. now the added twist of the story nine days later producing a second surprise. this really does feel unprecedented. >> look at the timing. the most recent one of these things was 2004 when john kerry was running against president george w. bush friday before the election. there was an osama tape that reminded people of the danger of terrorism, helped bush a lot. as you remember george w. bush just lost ohio or that flipped, j.k. would have been president. as you mentioned in 2000, the dui arrest of george w. bush in 1976 was revealed midweek before. in '92 the weinberger indictment which did hurt george h.w. bush by the special prosecutor suggesting he knew more about the iran contrascandal than he suggested. but those were four days before. here we are two da

. >> this is the time of night we often call in michael beschloss, presidential historian, author, and a frequent contributor to us. michael, we've had wave elections. we've had trend elections. we've had status quo elections. what in your personal scope of history are you comparing the possibility of tonight to? >> sure looks like a wave election where there's a trend through all these states. and one thing, brian, you know, we've talked about all sorts of reasons why the donald trump surge happened tonight. one of them is, i've been thinking about it all evening. you know, two years ago, exactly this month, president obama made a little noticed comment. he was talking about 2016 and who might succeed him. and he said, you know it may be impossible for me to pass along this job to a democratic successor, he said. the people may want that new car smell. that was the term he used. and i don't think he was thinking about this. but if you look through american history and go back through 200 years, it's extremely rare that one political party controls the white house for three terms in a

joining us is "newshour" regular michael beschloss.so good to have you back with us again. >> thank you so much, judy. >> woodruff: well, there is so much to think about on this election day after what the country has been through. is there any election, michael, you can compare this to? >> no. i spend my whole life looking for parallels, and usually i can find an implied one, but you cannot think of a campaign that's been this personal and in negative. these have been the nastiest debates. the difference is, you know, oftentimes people will say, well, didn't john adams and thomas jefferson dis each other. yes, they did, but they usually didn't do it personally and they sure didn't do it on tv. it seems to have translated into how vitriolic people are against the other candidates. has that happened before? >> not to disagree. if this was the election in american history with the biggest policy difference, you might expect that, like 1960 when we were fighting over slavery or 1940 when we were fighting whether to get involved in a war a

always the possibility that you could end up having a black swan election but i was chatting with michael beschloss, the nbc presidential historian and you have to go back to 1948, the dewey/truman race to find a contest, particularly in the age that we have so much public polling, so many interviews where you see at least where a race is headed. and to me also very importantly in mid-october before the james comey announcement, hillary >> it feels like we sat down in 1948, nicolle was here -- >> i left you an hour ago. >> we sat down at 6:00 p.m. eastern and got up at 4:00 a.m. from our chairs after covering this wild story. where are your thoughts today? your reaction to what chris christie said and your reaction to our discussion about polling. >> >> you deal in political science, i'm more on the arts side of the industry so it's not the what, it's the how and i think the how we got this wrong is that they were each viewed -- 60% of the public disapproved of each candidate yet we -- cultural leads in the media and political establishment of both parties, democratic political establishment, repub

. >> joining us now, award winning author, nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss, judy paceell. good to see you. what a white house you'll be covering. >> michael, it's almost shakespearean and you actually had a double down, mark halperin and john heilemann's last book, they had a scene where barack obama was mocking donald trump at the white house correspondents dinner and trump seething and one joke after another joke after another joke and it was at that moment he was going to run for president of the united states and show all of the people that were laughing at him. >> he thought about it before. >> that was the moment. we said, okay, fine, how shakespearean that some jokes at a white house correspondents dinner and feeling of being slighted led to the election of a man who could now dismantle what barack obama has fought for for the past eight years. >> you're absolutely right, joe. if you saw it in a play, you would think the playwright was over contriving this. a gracious outgoing president welcoming an incoming president even if the two guys are these hu antagonist

historian michael beschloss. >> we will see. >> thank you so much. yes, we will. >> thank you. >> we'll see michael later on a one-hour edition of "nbc nightly news" starting at 7:00, again, one hour right after news 4 at 6:00. >>> the lincoln cottage open until 7:30 this evening. the cottage says "we recognize that people are expressing a need to come together peacefully when we are a house divided." as a national monument where lincoln came to deal with epic division and chaos in our country, we are committed to providing a secular place of reflection and serving as your beacon of hope." >>> of course, the election of a new president means a new family moving into the white house essentially becoming our new neighbors. five children and he was on stage with his father last night. barron is 10. apparently speaks fluent slovenia thanks to his mom and when he was a baby, melania once said in an interview that barron was a very calm little boy and did not cry much. and the last young boy to live in the white house was john f. kennedy jr. it was more tha

michael beschloss, invaluable as always. thank you for your time. >> so sorry to leave you with such a cheerful thought tonight. >> well, you know, it's our responsibility. >> right. right. right. thank you, rachel. >>> much more ahead tonight, including some news that is of an entirely nonnuclear variety but it will curl your hair. and that news tonight comes out of alabama. that's ahead. stay with us. when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. (sighs sadly) try this. only aleve can stop pain for 12 hours. plus, aleve is recommended by more doctors than any other brand for minor arthritis pain. aleve. live whole. not part. (vo) your love is purely thoughtful, purely natural, purely fancy feast. delicious entrées, crafted to the last detail. flaked tuna, white-meat chicken, never any by-products or fillers. purely natural tastes purely fancy feast. generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't t

i spoke with a presidential historian michael beschloss who said the last time something like this happenedthere were a couple instanced in the mid-1800s. one was president harrison's wife, the other was president pierce's. not unprecedented but certainly not common in modern presidential history, stephanie. here's the thing. melania trump has said from the very beginning of her husband's campaign a year and half ago that staying home with barron, being a full-time mom was her top priority and that's apparently what we're continuing to see as they make the transition into being not just the candidate trump family but the president-elect's family. the next first family basically. here's the deal, melania trump will keep son barron in their manhattan private school until the school year finishes out and then the plan is according to the president-elect, thal wimove to washington full time. can't emphasize enough aides say there's sensitivity to wanting to keep stability for barron throughout the school year and then paking the move. they add the trumps are very excited about the obligations t

. >> we are joined now by tom brokaw, mike murphy and presidential historian michael beschloss. michael, let me start with you. this is the time of the morning we need perspective, all right? what do you compare this to? >> thanks a lot, matt. no one is going to argue that trump is andrew jackson, but that was a president who did run against elites, better comparison is the mid-1930s. unemployment in this country was still just under 20%. franklin roosevelt had been president and huey long was running against fdr saying every man a king, i'm going to redistribute wealth. long was assassinated, but had he lived could have really given roosevelt a run for his money, 1936. >> tom, a lot of people were thinking about the year 2000 last night. i know you have ptsd from 2000, a popular vote but the ultimate victor the winner of the electoral vote. and to see that happen again in such a relatively short amount of time. >> well, the big difference is, however, that hillary clinton has called him and acknowledged what happened and we'll hear from her this morning what she has to say. i wa

michael beschloss, evan thomas, thank you both. >> thank you. >> still ahead, protests in the streetsries to make the transition from bare knuckle campaigner to the man behind the desk in the oval office. and the incidents of violence against trump supporters as well. >> plus, more from dave chappelle's incredible s n"snl" return. you're watching "morning joe." >> why do we have to say that? why do we have to say that black lives matter? >> admit that is not the best slogan. but mcdonald's already took you bref deserve a break today. whether it's connecting one of the world's most innovative campuses. or bringing wifi to 65,000 fans. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. ♪balance transferot to othat's my game♪ bank you never heard of, that's my name♪ haa! thank you. uh, next. watch me make your interest rate... disappear. there's gotta be a better way to find the right card. whatever kind you're searching for, creditcards.com lets you compare hundreds of cards to find the one that's right for you. just search, compare, and apply at creditcards.com

. >> joining us from washington, award-winning author and nbc news presidential historian michael beschlossd situations like this ever before? >> we have never seen anything like this before, mika, all in sorts of ways. i think mike pence said it perfectly. i would suggest that we put him in charge of making sure that thebe business does not get mix up with government. usually in the past, at least in modern times, you had a situation like john kennedy in 1961, had a lot of money from his father. this was put in a pliend trust. he had no idea what stocks his money was invested in so someone couldn't say, you know, you're getting involved in a war, for instance, that might increase the stock you're invested in. richard nixon in 1968 took a different approach. he said i don't have all that much money compared to someone like kennedy. i'm just going to put it in houses and no one can doubt that -- question my decision making as president as being influenced by something like that. wendell wilke was the only person woo was sort of remotely like donald trump in that he didn't have political expe

. >> woodruff: interesting you point that out, michael beschloss, whatever people wondered about howclinton is going to run this campaign certainly at the end it has been a full flat out embrace of the president barack obama, his administration, policies, hardly been any daylight between the two of them except on trade policy. >> that's exactly right. as you know, judy, people were relying on the fact that barack obama's approval rate song high. so that was behind that decision to tie her to his coat tails but the fact that as his secretary of state would have been hard for her to establish a lot of daylight between them. but i think the point is that in retrospect, one thing that keeps on recurring to me tonight, barack obama, president obama, i think it was earlier this year, referred to the fact that sometimes voters like that new car smell, that was the term he used. what was -- what he was referring to was the fact that after two terms of even a president who still pretty popular sometimes people like what they don't have. >> woodruff: which when he was elected he was coming aft

to give us some perspective, we welcome a pair of well-known presidential michael beschloss. >> in 1948 every poll said dewey would beat truman. and they saw the support that truman had, james reston said, i apologize, i didn't take that into account. people didn't listen to what people outside were feeling. on the other whoever wins tonight, what this shows is there's going to be a divided country. we are going to need leadership. the scary thing is both candidates, people don't feel are trustworthy and more than ever we'll need somebody who can heal these divisions. gore helped to do it in 2000. i remember that night, with tom brokaw, we were up waiting forever and ever. gore was able to show grace and classiness. one of these two candidates will be expected to make a concession speech at the end of this night. given that they both are immensely unpopular, as doris points out, the country more than ever needs somebody to lead us through this split. what would you expect? >> however is president is going to have to heal and unite this country. that would have been true at the end of th