programming for sirius xm zerlina maxwell. all are msnbc analysts an contributors. you are doing the reporting on what's going on inside the white house and the effort to try to figure out who this is. they are going through speech patterns. how seriously is this being taken and does the white house think they will be able to discover this writer? >> it's being taken very seriously, trying to figure out who this anonymous official is. but i have to say, in terms of people i have talked to today, they are really no closer than we were before. we were heard a lot of theories, maybe a dozen specific names of who people are confident or believe it may be, which all gets back to absolutely no one knows. if they knew definitively who it was, they would have taken action against this individual. another thing that is striking is all of these statements you see coming out from all of these top officials in the white house. some whose names did rise to the surface in the d.c. parlor game

beth fooey, john horowitz, zerlina maxwell. we set it up there a little bit talking about the politics of this. i'm curious here if they're shifting a little bit. we've spent so much time looking at these democrats in the red state, and the answer was whether going to be so much pressure on this to vote yes. now the flip side of this becomes susan collins, lisa murkowski, moderate republicans. >> cory gardner. >> the possibility if they were to turn, and that would potentially give cover to democrats to vote no as well. >> suddenly everybody is looking at 20-20. it's how we do things in politics. well cannot even pay attention to the next race and go to the one after that. but it's a legitimate concern. these are folks who do come from moderate states who are in no hurry to jeopardize themselves with women than republicans have under trump. basically, president trump's popularity among women has gone into the toilet. he is down in the 20s that is going to bring down republicans with him if there is not some major change in the

the panel is back, zerlina maxwell, susan del percio, philip bump.what's happening in texas, i'm finding totally fascinating. because you just assume, texas wash, it's going to be republican no matter what. in 2016, there were some moments when hillary clinton's camp thought, right, maybe there were some openings in texas. >> certainly. >> there was certainly less enthusiasm for trump there than was expected. >> right. >> ted cruz was running after him hard, calling him a sniveling coward and a pathological liar. but now ted cruz is -- he needs the president. it is -- it is one of the purest examples of political opportunism, i think, there is out there. >> yeah, but it's not surprising that it's related to ted cruz, when we're talking about opportunism. and i think that it has to go to the demographics that are changing, not just in texas, but around the country. and some of the specific policies that this administration has put forward that impact communities of color and communities on the border, that you may not necessarily need to be undocument

your thoughts, zerlina? >> i do think it's very funny if you noticed, chris, we haven't mentioned the name of this sex crimes prosecutor. >> we don't know yet. >> republicans are withholding her name to protect her safety. they're putting more thought into the safety of the prosecutor they're bringing in to basically shil on their behalf and not thinking about dr. ford and what's appropriate for her and that is proof because they've already scheduled the vote, chris. so if they are really going to take her word seriously. >> friday morning. >> then you can't schedule a friday morning vote because you don't know what anyone is going to say on thursday. >> when you said to protect her safety, what do you mean? >> it's been reported that they're withholding the name of this prosecutor that she'll become the target of attacks. >> are you sure that's for real or that's for shows? that sounds like theater. >> look, chris, i'm going based upon reporting. >> your based upon reporting of what the republicans are sayi

and msnbc political analyst zerlina maxwell. rachel, you said the president kissed you against your will, without your consent and he was then elected and many people either believed it or didn't believe it. what was it like to watch dr. blasey ford come forward today and the treatment she got? >> hi, chris. thanks for having me. i thought, you know, dr. ford was so brave and so credible and composed while she was up there. and, of course, her treatment was interesting. i mean, i think that the republicans on the committee trying to divert everything and make this political, and she was just so composed and held true to her story and did what she should have, which is call for an independent investigation. >> zerlina, there have been so many women and there have been some men too who are survivors of sexual assault. talking about what this has meant for them. there is this just sort of incredible rawness in the air among the millions and millions of people who have experienced this today. it was kind of a watershed moment for th

that puts a different stamp on it. >> if you follow bob woodward's books, zerlina, michael, you know he has so well sourced with anybody that's a member of the military. and there's two key people with key anecdotes, one a former four star general john kelly, one is former four star general jim mattis. that's what's dangerous with this book. we know woodward sources are probably a large chunk of them in the national security community. >> right. that's why it validates my greatest fear since election day, that president trump doesn't have the temperament, that was a talking point in the campaign, doesn't have fitness and acumen, he doesn't know anything about foreign policy, but isn't willing to learn anything about foreign policy. that's validated by the book. when you have the secretary of defense hang up the phone and say i'm not going to follow that order, that's a dangerous precedent. obviously in this context it was a good thing he did not follow the order of the president to go assassinate assad, but in a different context or with a future president, that's a dangerous precede

. >> what do you think, zerlina? >> i think with anita hill and her history, what dr.ing to avoid is anita hill 2.0. i was really young at the time, but that was one of my first examples of what sexism looks like because it was very clear that a panel of white men were berating and shaming this very poised and articulate african american woman who really dressed up like she was going to sunday school to make the point that, you know, i have credibility. i'm just coming in to tell the truth. i have no agenda here, and they still shamed her and smeared her. and so i think dr. ford is doing the right thing here, asking for an investigation. because at the heart of this is something very serious. i think when you see orrin hatch say she is a little mixed up, that makes it seem like this is a misunderstanding and not a crime, that if he had been caught at the time it happened, he would have been investigated by the police. we're talking about something that's a crime. so while it's way back in high school, it's still relevant because he is denying that any of it ever happen

. >> you know zerlina, it's only recently that they think a democrat is within reach for texas.driving the shift? >> to joe's point, i think the recent shooting of an unarmed black man in his own home by a police officer is an issue that will encourage black voters in texas who may not have even cared about a midterm election, because texas is such a red state historically, will care and go out to support beto, who has authentic talking about the issue, whether senator cruz literally said the victim found himself murdered. that's a horrific way to talk about the tragedy. and so severessentially what yoe is a change in the electorate, that's what democrats are trying to do, make it more people of color and younger millennial voters, so that the outcome is different. that's what barack obama did so successfully in to 08. so i think beto is one of those politicians who says the unpopular thing, because it's actually what he believes, and we'll see how it turns out, but i think he's teaching -- don't try to be rep, be authentically use, that is going to resonate with voters. >>> all

zerlina for you, i think you might enjoy the absurdy of this.got enormous support in alabama, they love donald trump. how can he now quote on "dumb southerners," he is not dancing with the one that brung him. >> a bad political move. his base is those folks that you are talking about, in alabama, louisiana, and mississippi. it is normally to those places, the places that are the most red and contain the most members of his base. which believe in the deep state, believes in the conspiracy theories that we have been talking about for the past two years. and earlier, i was chuckling because we are in a moment where this keeps getting more and more ridiculous. but at the same time this is so, so incredibly dangerous in this particularly moment. everything we have learned about this president tells us that he is impulsive and do things off the cuff because he is upset and in a peak. that is dangerous when you are are commander in chief. we have to ask yourself what do we do next. sarah sanders' statement was interesting. she did not call it fake news

. >>> my thanks to steve schmidt, jim messina, tim miller, and zerlina maxwell.r hour. i'm nicole wallace. mtp daily starts right now. >> let's start our beverages starting tomorrow. >> i didn't say until what, i said we're changing. >> fair enough. fair enough. we'll find out. i'm sure it will be fun on friday. >> start handing off 20 minutes early, you'll know what. >> i'll know why you're doing that. >> hardly anybody knows who everybody is talking about. >> good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to "mtp daily" and

zerlina maxwell, jim manley and linda chavez, thank you all. that is "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening. thank you very much. much appreciated, my friend. and thank you at home for joining us this hour. happy tuesday night. one year ago, hillary clinton published this book, which is simply titled "what happened." it's her perspective on what happened in the 2016 election. it contains what is still one of the most comprehensive timelines of what happened to the democratic party, what happened to her campaign when it came to the russian attack on the 2016 election. there is lots of other things in this book, but that, like 50-page summary starts on page 325. it's very, very readable. as i said, i think it's one of the best summaries anybody's done anywhere in terms of what happened with the russian attack. it is highly readable, highly recommended. this came out last year. now as tonight, there is this version of the book as well. and this version of the book has a big new caboose. she has written a new chunk of the book, and it is a

. >> how much will this play into the midterms, zerlina?f democrats take back one of the chambers, there should be investigations into the failures of the federal expense. i agree with mattie, making sure this any happens again, because it's completely unacceptable and the president is demonstrating that he has no empathy every time he reminds us that he doesn't think 3,000 people died in puerto rico under his watch. >> i'll tell you, like minded from both sides of the aisle on this broadcast, we'll make a note of that. good to see you, thank you, ladies. >>> the ending to a story nbc's joe fryer told us about at the top of this hour. we lost contact with him just when it got particularly interesting. well, joe is back to tell us all he learned. there are some pretty cute puppies involved in this one. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it helps block six key inflammatory substances.

>>> my thanks to steve schmidt, jim messina, tim miller, and zerlina maxwell. that does it for hour. i'm nicole wallace. mtp daily starts right now. >> let's start our beverages starting tomorrow. >> i didn't say until what, i said we're changing. >> fair enough. fair enough. we'll find out. i'm sure it will be fun on friday. >> start handing off 20 minutes early, you'll know what. >> i'll know why you're doing that. >> hardly anybody knows who everybody is talking about. >> good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to "mtp daily" and welcome to what should be a constitutional crisis. there is either a soft coup underway inside the executive branch or the president is unfit for office. pick your poison. folks, it has been a wild day of fallout after an anonymous senior official, to "the new york times," in the trump administration wrote that explosive op-ed in "the new york times," describing a team of like-minded senior officials, who view the president as an impulsive, amoral, anti-democratic reckless danger of office he holds and the people he