don't you, s.e.? >> uh-huh. >> in the guest spot today is professor of constitutional law at yale university and authority of "second chances" in "the atlantic." professor, you go through four sort of what you call tips for the president to have a successful second term. designate a proxy, take advantage of your youth, go big and big and undertake filibuster reform. could you quickly take us through the four points? >> most important thing is to be succeeded by a like-minded successor, a wing man or woman, sort to speak. nothing succeeds like succession. the most successful presidents basically inherited a world in which the other political party was dominant. they first won election and they won re-election and then handed off power to someone like-minded and that coalition prevailed for a long time. lincoln, he doesn't live long in to the second term but the party prevails until herbert hoover. no democrat wins a yort in that period. the most important thing to build a platform for the party to win

. >>> i'm s.e. cupp on "the cycle" today. take two. no question of defeating republicans. he has. can he work with them? >>> i'm toure and making you an offer you can't refuse. a look inside the president's so-called senate mafia. >>> i'm krystal ball. we have a diamond in the rough today. an anthropologist searching for answers and now cycling back here to share the incredible experiences. >>> i'm steve kornacki, finding out who gave me the flu. really. it's a sick new app. >>> all that plus what kids, kesha and congress have common. we're all about making connections here on "the cycle." all right. it's just 13 days to the inauguration and if you thought president obama's first term was polarizing, just wait for the second. for instance, his first term was polarizing despite obama's efforts. his second could be polarizing because of them. need proof? already the president's putting up his dukes nominating chuck hagel to run the pentagon. he slammed the door on debt ceiling negotiations demanding congress raise it without drama and says he's ready to be tough on gun control but r

s.e. asked a reporter on earlier about this. you know the area well if you could more about this system of schools, about the role it plays in the houston community and the greater houston area, and also, like we're hearing the initial reports of possibly this was gang related activity. do you know, has there been any history at the campuses of anything suggestive of gang related violence? >> this is the first time we have ever heard of this kind of incident occurring. 90,000 students. one of the largest community colleges in the nation but as many of you know, community colleges are now getting to be sometimes the number one choice for first entering the higher education system and then many students will choose to go in to a four-year college based upon if i might say their finances. that's why these systems are important. they have an academic program but they have a technological program and one of the programs they have deals with first responders, police and fire and others so this k5campus is one their campuses and a whil

on that should be an important part of this discussion. >> well, you know, and you mentioned there, s.eti-war left quiet on this and a phenomenon in politics republican in the white house and suddenly top to bottom party discipline on the right and democrat, on the left. there's been as you said consistent descent on the left. i write for a progressive publication publication, salon, a mark of distinction is we have been aggressively questioning this program. >> you're absolutely right. get some credit. >> and there are other publications, too. this is not -- >> you're right. where's code pink and moveon.org? >> the left did not roll over for obama on this. you raise lots of two valid questions there. number one, when the administration is forced to make the case for this and they make an opaque case and boils down to some really bad guys going after and there's no other -- this is the most feasible way to get them. there's no conventional way to get them. thz the most feasible way to do it and i think i understand the basic concept there. the question is where is the oversight? where i

. >>> i'm s.e. cupp, women have reasons to take notice. >>> i'm toure and we need all the soldiers we can get. the monster squid is real. don't believe me? i'll show you the videotape. >> what? >>. >>> all that and something that didn't happen in 97 years. scott walker is probably marking the occasion. you're in "the cycle" and we are ready to roll. >>> the stage is set. the handoff has begun and to quote the beatles for secretary of state hillary clinton, she says hello and we say good-bye. hello-hello. this morning the present secretary and the future secretary appeared before the senate foreign relations committee as kerry's sure march to secretary of state began. >> if you confirm me, i would take office as secretary proud that the senate is in my blood. but equally proud that so, too, is the foreign service. >> this comes less than 24 hours after hillary clinton spent five and a half hours testifying before the senate in the morning and the house in the afternoon. >> wow. >> from the start, sho

aren't you excited, s.e.? >> i'm thrilled. the thrill is gone after four years. president obama about to change the tone in washington. unfortunately, d.c. is still tone deaf. >> i'm steve kornacki. we are taking you through our favorite inauguration moments today and since the footage of 1864 is a bit grainy, i go with something slightly more contemporary. >> i'm krystal ball, this is another historic event. what president's past, present and future can learn from it. >>> t-minus two days until president obama makes history again. on sunday, he'll be sworn in for a second term in the highest office in the land. but did you know obama will become the second president ever to take the oath of office four times? yeah. that's right. steve kornacki told me that. in 2009, he took it twice after chief justice roberts botched it the first time. good job, john. the president will again the lay hand on the bible, january 20th required by the constitution but since it's a sunday, the parades, balls and public swearing in, the fourth oath, pushed until monday the mlk holida

. >>> i'm s.e. cupp. the president looking to a new nis fiscal fight. >>> the rest of hasandy aid bill up for a vote. xlees with tax breaks for rum distillers? i need a drunk. >>> i'm kry is tal ball. are we turning our kids in to narcissists? >>> a dope. lance armstrong comes clean to the queen of talk but who needed the interview more, lance or oprah? >>> i'm shooting straight coming to guns. ready, aim? "the cycle" is on fire. >>> the house is back and getting serious about the constitution. members spent 1:05 reciting the entire u.s. constitution. it's the basis of our government, of course, but this is only the second time ever the entire document was read aloud in the house. >> we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union -- >> no person except a natural-born citizen shall be eligible to the office of president. >>> the powers to all cases of law and equity. >> full faith and credit given in each state to the public acts. >> congress shall make no law respecting an establ

the white house, s.e.eels confidently as the president is getting the roar of approval of the largely latino crowd gathered here today and even a warning effectively saying if the senate plan fails, if the president will put a bill forward and they feel strongly that if that is voted down largely by republicans, that that will obviously just be a dramatically different thing for the party to overcome in the years ahead given the popularity of latinos in the country. >> bring in attorney raul reyes, a contributor to msnbc. number one thing the president says, raul, is enforcement and then a pathway to citizenship. we heard from the senators is a pathway to citizenship after the borders are secure. that's potentially impossible thing to quantify and we could have a sort of commission where you have someone like jan brewer sitting back and saying, borders aren't secure. no pathway. borders aren't still secure. no pathway. are you pessimistic about that part of it or optimistic at all? >> we still have yet to

and thus began my political friendship s.e.. now you can find us on bookshelves throughout the country, we continue to hold minority views and towns in new york that times renders us on the popular. for instance we are both still unapologetically supportive of the president. we would intend to vote for and campaign for john mccain to be a summit brings me to the question of why should you -- what should you buy your book and read our book cracks [phone ringing] thanks mom. [laughter] particularly if you disagree with our views. if you are one of the people that does disagree with our view is i think this book will surprise you, and will show that we, like many conservatives are not these racist, homophobic and misogynist, elite is coming in tolerant that you might think. a lot of times people find out that we are conservatives and they try to exonerate their affiliation by saying well, you must not be one of those conservatives. well, the whole purpose of the book is to show you that those conservatives don't really exist you do

cohost of msnbc's "the cycle," s.e. cupp and gillian tete. >> he's not real. i can tell you. >> wait a minute. how did i get here? >> i asked siri. i've been dating siri. i don't know. i don't care about lance armstrong. >> you have no opinion or just dismissing the whole story? >> but he has to be the luckiest guy in the world. >> or the other way around. >> manti te'o comes in and just takes the whole thing away. >> back when i was a kid when you talked sports stories, you talked about real things like salary disputes and ratings, not all these controversies. >> the manti te'o thing, there's one aspect of it that i find kind of really, really interesting. and it is this. we live in a culture, if you look around today, people walking around on their cell phones, walking through traffic, almost getting hit by cars, texting people, we live in a no-eye-contact era. so it's not that surprising that someone is going to go online. that happens all the time, okay? this guy, what i think happened with this guy, first of all, i figure, he's not exactly a mensa number,

>>> i'm s.e. cupp.u know that the 14-billion-year history of the universe is found inside a rock. i thought it was in steve's brain. >>> i'm toure. it's the year of lincoln. surprising me a little bit but more locks than a hardware store. >> i haven't seen one of the movies and if you haven't either, don't be embarrassed. you were probably too busy watching "the cycle." >>> loyal lew. the president flushing out the second term cabinet today promoting the chief of staff jack lew to run the treasury. >> so for all of the talk out there about deficit reduction, making sure our books

. >>> i'm s.e. cupp. have you tasted an affirmative action cupcake?y're real and delicious. >> gross. >>> i'm toure. gun control advocates taking it to the bank literally. >>> plus due to popular demand, my thought tons new gdp numbers. >> finally. >> you're welcome. >>> chuck hagel is back on the hill four years after leaving the senate. hagel's former colleagues hold the nomination as defense chief in their hands. despite the thousands of dollars of ads running against him, hagel a republican is expected to be confirmed to president obama's cabinet. if so, he will be the nation's first pentagon chief to have seen combat as an enlisted soldier. he served in vietnam alongside his brother. but that doesn't mean hagel's record comes without dirty laundry that was aired at today's hearing. >> when i voted against some of those unilateral sanctions on iran, it was a different time. we were at a different place with iran. >> what do you think that the iranian foreign ministry so strongly supported your nomination to be the secretary of defense? >> i have a

>>> i'm s.e. cupp. did you know that the 14-billion-year history of the universe is found inside a rock. i thought it was in steve's brain. >>> i'm toure. it's the year of lincoln. surprising me a little bit but more locks than a hardware store. >> i haven't seen one of the movies and if you haven't either, don't be embarrassed. you were probably too busy watching "the cycle." >>> loyal lew. the president flushing out the second term cabinet today promoting the chief of staff jack lew to run the treasury. >> so for all of the talk out there about deficit reduction, making sure our books are balanced, this is the guy who did it. three times. over the past year, i have sought jack's advice on virtually every decision from economic policy to foreign policy. >> it signals a shift in white house priorities. if confirmed, lew replaces tim geithner whose background helped him navigate the financial vie sis and new wall street regulations and lew spent three years working with wall street the background is in b

>>> i'm s.e. cupp. there's new meaning of secretary of defense. we'll spin about the political fight ahead for the former senator dubbed man without a party. >>> i'm steve kornacki. did you hear they're adding a new game at the 0 bush administration picks? can kicking. >>> i'm crystal ball. we need to build an asteroid deflection system. i'm going somewhere with this. >>> live wrong. lance armstrong may come clean but what's that got to do with jimmy swaggart? this is "the cycle." >>> president obama's second term defense team is taking shape as long as the senate confirms his picks. my friends, the odds right now are in the president's favor. today, the president formally nominated a republican former senator chuck hagel from nebraska as the new pentagon chief. talking about the for weeks. hagel backed both the afghan and iraq wars. hagel's also a vietnam war vet with two purple hearts and would be the nation's first pentagon chief to have seen combat as an enlisted soldier. he's come under fire for a gay slur of 15 years ago and he's apologized

aren't you excited, s.e.? >> i'm thrilled. the thrill is gone after four years. to change the tone in washington. unfortunately, d.c. is still tone deaf. >> i'm steve kornacki. we are taking you through our favorite inauguration moments today and since the footage of 1864 is a bit grainy, i go with something slightly more contemporary. >> i'm krystal ball, this is another historic event. what

. >>> i'm s.e.

. >>> i'm s.e. cupp and trying to talk krystal to go to the bar with me.ths pregnant but i'm very convincing. >>> taylor hackford talks to krystal and taking the turn in "the cycle." grab the popcorn.

thank you very much, s.e. good afternoon. it's tuesday, january 29th, and for one day at least what happened in vegas is going to spread across the nation. >> i'm here today because the time has come for common sense, comprehensive immigration reform. the time is now. we define ourselves as a nation of immigrants. that's who we are in our bones. it's really important for us to remember our history. unless you're one of the first americans, a native american, you came from some place else p.else. somebody brought you. we have to fix the system. we have to make sure that every business and every worker in america is playing by the same set of rules. if congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, i will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away. thank you. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. ♪ >>> the time is now. those are the words of the president in las vegas doubling down on an immigration overhaul. yes, the president has just wrapped up a speech outlin

isn't it, s.e.? >> i have no idea but manti te'o, i have some questions, like, what is an online relationship and be specific. >> i'm toree. manti's the talk of the nfl. will this hurt the draft chances? will he be forced to become a jet? we don't want you! >>> it's thursday, so obviously i'm starting with sports and this is no sports metaphor, folks. it's a real story that rocked the sports world and developing minute by minute. bear with me because this thing is kree si. there's this football player named manti te'o. >> yep. that's true. >> that's true. a star for notre dame. >> true. >> yep. >> famous university and during the final college season the team is on the way to a national championship. >> sort of. >> he is a candidate for the heisman award. >> that's real. >> early in the season, we learned that he's playing with a heavy heart. >> why? >> suffering two enormous tragedies back to back. >> what? >> death of his grandmother and the death of his girlfriend. >> not real. >> no. >> a girlfri

there but it was incredible to watch and the other thing that struck me that you sort of alluded to, s.e. is that, you know, the very characteristics that we revered, the perseverance, the sing single-minded determination, the focus, when he took that over the line, it's the same thing that made him a monster and i thought one of the more fascinating parts of the interview was he talked about his fight with cancer. and how in that fight and admittedly he had been doping even before that but in that fight he decided he would do anything to beat cancer and he took that same mentality after he did beat cancer to cycling and decided he would do anything, no matter the cost to win. and it was amazing. >> a lot of people have that mind-set. a lot of successful people have that mind-set, i'll do anything it takes to win or get ahead. >> doesn't matter who i hurt. >> that's the turning point. it doesn't matter who i hurt. because sort of putting -- making sacrifices, that's part of being successful. >> sure. >> being ambitious. you got to make compromises and prioritize but when you say i don't

i also -- i wouldn't, s.e. your comment there struck me as if the left is decided to roll over for chuck hagel specifically on the gay rights issue. tammy baldwin said she'll ask tough questions and assurances from him that his attitudes really changed and in a way to reflect -- >> it's an outlier and good to see. >> you're saying some special break is made here. this is the nominee of the administration that ended don't ask don't tell. >> yeah. >> there's built-in trust there on the left and among gay and lesbian supporters because there's an assumption -- >> no doubt. >> there's an assumption to put somebody in place to end that. if mitt romney was elected, did we ever accomplish what he wanted to do as a candidate? reimplement don't ask don't tell? he never really addressed that. >> right. >> if a republican president were nominating somebody with a history of chuck hagel, there's more cause for alarm but they have such a good record of gay rights. >> i understand that but democrats i think and certainly gro

>>> i'm s.e. cupp, 100,000 american children potential victims of a horrible crime. today, they speak with one voice to the guys behind me. >>> hello, surface i'm steve kornac kornacki. america's future or enemy? fracking is here to stay. >>> does it matter whether we call him president obama or just obama? >>> and i'm going to take you inside the oscars and tell you how to win your office pool this year. guess who's ever where you want to be? "the cycle." >>> 5,924,000 since the u.s.-led invasion in to afghanistan started and today presidents obama and karzai met to flesh out withdrawal plans. >> the reason we went to war in the first place is now within reach, ensuring that al qaeda can never again use afghanistan to launch attacks against our country. if we have a follow-on force of any sort passed 2014 it's got to be at the invitation of the afghan government and they have to feel comfortable with it. nowhere do we have any kind of security agreement with a country without immunity for our troops. >> this was their first face to face since the nato summit last sp

. >>> i'm s.e. cupp and trying to talk krystal to go to the bar with me. she's 5 months pregnant but i'm very convincing. >>> taylor hackford talks to krystal and taking the turn in "the cycle." grab the popcorn. >>> vice president biden let a roundtable discussion on the administration's efforts to curb gun violence joined by janet napolitano, kathleen sebelius and jim cole. the vice president had these emotional words. >> what happened up in newtown, beautiful little babies, 6 and 7 years old, riddled, riddled with bullet holes. 20 of them dead. i've met with most of their parents. it is a national tragedy, and a window in to the vulnerability people feel about their safety and the safety of their children. and the president said, even if our actions would only save the life of one of those children, it's worth it. >> while the vice president remains optimistic about administration's plans, it is not just the gop has expressed doubt. some senate and congressional side stepping and questioning the president's push for new gun laws. our next guest saying n

and also to dealers who follow s.e rules and conduct checke why should someone going to a gun show have a different rules? there is no logic to it. i was the author of the brady bill, and that was something we were forced to put into the bill as a way to get the bill passed. but the last 15 years has proven it does not make sense. the second problem with the current system is that not all records are fed into the system. this is especially true with mental health records. 19 states have submitted to fewer than 100 mental health records to nix. i think we can get bipartisan agreement on a bill that solves these two problems by doing two things print one, it will prevent felons and the mentally ill from getting guns by requiring a background check before all purchases, and two, i will get relevant records into the system. right now as we meet here today, i'm having productive conversations with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, including a good number with high nra ratings. and i'm hopeful that we are close to having legislation we can introduce. and i would urge the nra, mr. lapierr