Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20180710

Administration and president a graduate of yale college and yale law school, judge kavanaugh currently teaches at harvard, yale, and georgetown. Throughout legal circles, he is considered a judges judge. A true leader among his peers. Hes a brilliant jurist with a clear and effective writing style universally regarded as one of the finest and sharpest legal minds of our time. Some background now on judge kavanaugh in addition to what you just heard the president said. In addition to being a graduate of yale, yale law school. Hes a former clerk to Anthony Kennedy and that is critical. He served as an associate counsel to ken starr during white water. He was staff secretary to president george w. Bush and served on the d. C. Circuit of the federal bench since 06. He married the personal secretary to president bush 43. Together they have two daughters. Hes a catholic who would maintain a twothirds catholic majority on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is 53. Hes a product of d. C. And maryland suburbs. And only child the son of two lawyers, his mother also taught Public School and at the white house tonight with his parents in the audience, he talked about his life and upbringing. My mom was a teacher in the 1960s and 1970s. She taught history at two largely africanAmerican Public high schools in washington, d. C. Mckinley tech and h. D. Woodson. Her example taught me the importance of equality for all americans. My mom was a trailblazer. When i was 10, she went to law school and became a prosecutor. My introduction to law came at our dinner table when she practiced her closing arguments. Her trade mark line was use your common sense. What rings true, what rings false . Thats good advice for a juror and a son. My dad went to school at night while working full time. He has an unparalleled work ethic and has passed down to me his passion for playing and watching sports. Some big names in this process are already weighing in tonight. The Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley republican of iowa released a statement that read in part, judge kavanaugh is one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees to come before the senate. He is a superb mainstream candidate worthy of the senates consideration. The lead republican Mitch Mcconnell called kavanaugh a superb choice. Democrats among them senators harris and cory booker of california and new jersey respectively have already come out in opposition to the pick. We could see judge kavanaugh on capitol hill as early as tomorrow to start meeting with senators former Republican Arizona senator john kyl has agreed to be kavanaughs sherpa, helping him navigate the halls of congress. Long time member of the judiciary and meanwhile, these four red state democrats were invited to attend the event at the white house tonight, but declined. We also know that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski declined invitations. All six of the folks considered critical votes that republicans in their case need to protect and the democrats need to keep on their side. Importantly, they both voted the two republican women did for kavanaughs confirmation to the d. C. Circuit court in 06. Now earlier tonight, senator collins of maine released a statement that highlighted judge kavanaughs extensive experience and read, i will conduct a careful, thorough vetting of the president s nominee to the Supreme Court, as i have done with the five previous Supreme Court justices whom i have considered. I look forward to judge kavanaughs public hearing and to questioning him in a meeting in my office. With all that, lets bring in our leadoff panel for a monday night, National Political reporter for the washington post. Moderator of Washington Week on pbs, chief washington reporter for the Boston Herald and tom goldsteen also back us with, veteran d. C. Attorney who has personally argued 41 cases before the Supreme Court as we like to remind our viewers, there are only three people in the modern era who have argued more cases before the Supreme Court. In his spare time, he is publisher of a blog about the court. He taught at harvard and stanford law schools and in that book that allows him to go first tonight. Tom, what do you make of the pick and what do you think the folks at home should make of the pick . Give them a viewers guide to what well see play out here . You got a pick who would have expected to see any republican president going into any republican controlled senate. There is nothing remarkably extreme about him and nothing really the democrats can grab hold of along the lines of abortion that would give them a really good chance of peeling off the one or two votes they need in order to stop him. You did see a rush of republican senators to endorse him and Democratic Senators to oppose him. But in general, i think what the president did is picked someone who is a really well known person, has a lot of very strong credentials, a lot of experience and probably going to sail through this process as much as anyone can in this kind of fraught political environment. Tom, what you just said was important to me because the president did have some pressure on him to pick, i dont mean this as a pejorative, but some rookies on the federal bench because they didnt have much of a paper trail. In making this choice, the president knows there are 300someodd opinions out there that can be poured over. Thats right. But what is really important is that they studied all the words that involved abortion, affirmative action and gay rights and came to the conclusion that he hadnt written anything that would create a real opportunity to block him. Now he has conservative decisions in a lot of the areas. And also in gun rights. But nothing so extreme that someone could say to americans, look, this would be a vote to overturn roe versus wade, therefore, you have to stop him. Instead, what you have is a very, very solid conservative jurist. So robert, talk about what you know about the lobbying for and against this choice. There was actually an outcry on parts of the Republican Party inside parts of the Republican Party about as we were just discussing, his rulings on Certain Health care cases, abortion cases he was not conservative enough in the way he wrote up his opinions on those cases. As the president thought through his options, that conservative frustration with judge kavanaugh actually seemed to work in his favor inside of the white house because he wasnt seen as someone who would be too far out on the right that couldnt bring along a senator Susan Collins or the senator lisa mukowski. To pick up on bobs point, do you think this will be enough to satisfy the right . Even the never trumpers that is court selections from this president. This is one area where republicans tend to be unified and while bob is right, there are some very conservative members of the senate who may have raised questions about whether kavanaugh is conservative enough whether he went far enough, for example, in his opinion that went against the federal Health Care Act but not on the merits. Whether he really went far enough on a case involving a teenager who was seeking to be released from immigration custody in order to have an abortion. He went against that decision. But not far enough. There is going to be a lot of questions like that. A lot of parsing by democrats and republicans. But at the end of the day, he is a middle of the road sort of right of Center Justice that is probably going to have the best chance right now with just a one senate one senator majority in the senate to get through. Tom, what has he said about the presidency and president ial power and distracting a president . And here, of course, i see you nodding is why i ask. This appointment does not come in the clear. This appointment comes while a case is being litigated on a rolling basis against the president appointing him. It is not in the field of wild speculation that should he make it, the day he is sworn in, a case arrives on the doorstep of the Supreme Court involving this president who just appointed him. Thats exactly right. And that may well have played a tie breaking role. So Brett Kavanaugh worked for ken starr who people will remember from the clinton investigations and there was involved in pursuing an investigation of the president. But after that, he wrote a law review article in which he talked about how it is that he thought that those were investigations were too much of a distraction on the president , that the president needed to have his attention focused on his job. And in addition, his rulings on the d. C. Circuit have really favorite president ial powers. I think all that pointed in the direction of President Trump if he was concerned about a nominee who would really take his side in those cases. Not out of bias, but out of kind of his view of the jurisprudence. He did really well with Brett Kavanaugh. Since, tom, thanks to attorney general sessions, everyone who watches Television News can now recite the definition of the word recusal. Wouldnt there be grounds for him to recuse himself from a case having to do with the president who just appointed him to the court . No. There will be a lot of people would would think that and be concerned about the appearance of bias. But the rules about recusal in the Supreme Court are very, very, very tough because you cant replace a justice once they step out. So it is actually quite rare for a justice to take themselves out of a case. Its only when theyve been personally involved. So, for example, if he had heard a case on the d. C. Circuit he would be recused in the Supreme Court. But the fact that President Trump nominated him would not lead him to take himself out of any case. Robert costa, join us in watching and listening to senator durbin, democrat of illinois. Well talk about this on the other side. I cant predict how all of my 49 or 48 colleagues in the senate on the democratic side will vote. I will tell you simple math tells if you john mccain is absent, its a 5049 senate, one republican senator can decide the fate of any Supreme Court nominee. So importantly, thats from meet the press yesterday morning before we had the name in hand of judge kavanaugh as the president s nominee. Robert, talk about where you see the math that building behind you right now tonight. Its complicated for the democrats especially those running in states won by President Trump, if youre joe donnelly or bill nelson, democrat in florida, tough choices ahead. You realize youre running in states with a rough path to reelection. This nominee is not someone whos going to immediately revive the culture wars in the same way judge Amy Coney Barrett may have done if she was nominated. So youre going to see leader schumer in the senate really try to get the Democratic Base engaged in this fight. Kim, we all have favorites. Members of the senate were going to be watching, who are yours . We are going to be watching, of course, Susan Collins and also Lisa Murkowski who are the only moderates on the republican side who will definitely have questions about particularly abortion rights. And the senators that bob just mentioned on the democratic side, senators from red states who are probably safe as long as murkowski and collins say within the yes votes. If they vote against, that will put some pressure on those red state democrats. But i dont see anything so far that really seems that this is going to be a big, big push. I think republicans go into this with the advantage. President trump goes into this with the advantage with his nominee, as he would with just about anybody on this list made up by the Federalist Society and the heritage foundation, very conservative groups. I think unless there was some big thing that comes out, i think that republicans can probably hold on and get him through. Tom, you had the first word. I want to give you the last. Isnt one of the leading reasons to choose a federal judge for the Supreme Court that they have already been confirmed by the u. S. Senate . Thats right. And there are people who voted for him. Now hes been on the court for a long time, more than a decade. So its not like you have Amy Comey Barrett who had just been confirmed by the senate. But it really is the case that it would be shocking to see any republican defect and vote against Brett Kavanaugh unless something came up in a background investigation. I think its right that theyre going to hold this vote closer and closer to the midterm elections, maybe three or four weeks before to put a huge amount of pressure on red state democrats and also to get the conservative base to the polls and really show them that this is why they voted for donald trump, which many of them did, despite holding their noses about him as a person. Cant thank you enough. There is still breaking news story just hours old tonight. Robert costa, Tom Goldstein and kimberly atkins, appreciate you coming on. New signals in the russia investigation over truth and testimony. Well talk about both. And later, more on what this president s Supreme Court nomination could mean for this president s legacy in office. Were just Getting Started on a monday night. Ahh. Summer is coming. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. We would not recommend an interview with the president unless they can satisfy us that there is some basis for this investigation. What were asking him for is there the witch hunt that a lot of people think it is or is there a factual basis for this . George, he wants to testify. Thats hard to believe that anymore mr. Mayor. It is hard to believe given all the things that show how tainted this investigation is. This is the most corrupt investigation i have ever seen. You think Robert Mueller is a biassed man . , no but i think he is surrounded by biassed people. Rudy giuliani reemerged. Tonight he was at the white house as trump announced the nomination of judge kavanaugh to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. After going dark for a time, rudy suddenly reappeared on three tv networks over the weekend. Laying out the latest requirements for a trumpmueller interview as you heard. He was also speaking about his clients former personal Attorney Michael Cohen who is currently under federal investigation. You are concerned that Michael Cohen is going to start cooperating with the feds . No. In fact, you know, if he wants to cooperate, i think its great. It will lead to nothing. Look, mueller gave it away. If this had any chance of leading to President Trump, dont you think mueller would have kept this . So you have no concerns at all about anything that Michael Cohen might tell the prosecutors . As long as he tells the truth, were home free. I dont know what he has to flip over. What i do know is there is no evidence of wrongdoing with President Trump. I think hell tell the truth as best he can given his recollection. The newest lawyer former clinton aide lanny davis fired back at giuliani on twitter writing, did Rudy Giuliani really say on the sunday shows that Michael Cohen should cooperate with the prosecutors and tell the truth. Seriously . Is that trump and giuliani definition of truth . Stay tuned. Truth matters. It would all seem to indicate mr. Cohen would like to cooperate with the feds. As for rumored possible pardon for mr. Cohen from President Trump, giuliani, no surprise, says thats off the table, at least for now. Ive advised the president which he understands no discussion of pardons. You cant abridge your power to do it. That is something you can decide down the road. And honestly, it would confuse everything. With us now to talk about it, mima roca for district of the Southern District of new york and from the Pace University school of law. And Michael Schmitt back with us as well, pu rudy is in the room there tonight at the white house. At one point greeting Rob Rosenstein and other points greeting current u. S. Senators. How does that work . How does it work nominating a justice to the Supreme Court when youre under federal investigation . And what if that justice is then asked to rule on your case . I think this is problematic. Look, i dont think that he should be able to nominate a justice while hes under investigation. I think this puts the president in the lame duck category that Mitch Mcconnell put president obama in when he was, you know, too close to the election and under the mcconnell rule. It seems that ship has sailed and this nomination is going to happen. I think what democrats need to do now is really look at what kavanaugh has said about the president ial power and about a president being whether a president should be under investigation. And there is some debate about what his article that he wrote the minnesota law journal. Exactly. We think hell get grilled on that. And he should. Because whether or not trump picked him because he seems to have this view of the strong executive, many people will think that is why he was picked. People expect that of donald trump to look out for himself first and foremost. If kavanaugh cares about his own reputation and integrity of the court and what the American Public thinks about the Supreme Court and its independence, then he better have some good answers for that and he really should voluntarily recuse himself. He doesnt have to but he could voluntarily recuse himself from any cases growing out of the scenario about criminal investigation involving this scenario about criminal investigation involving the president. Michael, what do you think is behind the reemergence of one Rudolph Giuliani on tv over the weekend and serious question, how much law do you think he is practicing these days or is he mostly practicing what we see television . He was traveling in france over the past week or so. So thats why things were quiet. Hes back obviously now. What rudy has done for the president has been the public advocate that trump has wanted all along. Trump has wanted someone on the front lines who is going to fire as much as he was at mueller. He was going to be a fighter for him. Thats why he went out and got him. He didnt go out to get him for his legal mind. He didnt go out to get him to use in litigation. He got him to be a fighter for him. And the president thinks he is successful at this. Giuliani can make things very confusing. He says many different things. He pushes many different theories about what is going on, some of them unfounded. And what he has done is he has helped erode Public Opinion about the investigation. A poll that came out at the end of last week showed many more americans than at any point since the Mueller Investigation began in may of 2017 are skeptical of mueller and skeptical of the investigation. They think its gone on for a year. In terms of that Public Relations fight where the president s lawyers think this will ultimately end up if theres a problem in the house for an impeachment vote. They think they can erode public sentiment. Shorthiring sky writers, do you think theres any doubt that cohen plans to work with the feds . Theres no doubt that he wants to. I always try to add the caution that he needs to have something to offer. He needs a charging document, for starters. He doesnt have to be charged before he cooperates. But not everyone gets to cooperate. There needs to be valuable information, information that the government can use. I think were all assuming that. That seems like a reasonable assumption built thats one predicate to him cooperating. The second one is he needs to be truthful. They need to believe what he is saying, test him. So assuming those things are true, yes. It does seem that his mind is now set on trying to cooperate. And, you know, i think lanny davis is the public advocate for cohen now. We said that giuliani is trumps. This is cohens answer to giuliani really. It will get to trump that lanny davis is playing in this game. Michael, lets talk about the work of one of your colleagues tonight. This was posted. Trumpputin phone call back in march. He told mr. Putin that russia and the United States, this is the president on the phone, should get along better. And he commiserated with mr. Putin over Trump Administration officials whom the russian president said had tried to prevent the call from happening, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation. Those are stupid people. You shouldnt listen to them, mr. Trump told mr. Putin, the person said. So that is our president talking about stupid people in quotes on his staff. Michael, i dont know where to begin except that what does this show about the trumpputin relationship . The president has been incredibly consistent on the russia issue. He refuses to say anything negative about putin, whether it was on the campaign or whether it was when he was in office. And this is obviously unusual because we have a president who is not afraid to say negative things about anyone. But on this one particular leader from this one country, he has held fast. Now why is that . Obviously, we dont know. But this is a consistent theme that we have seen. It continues to repeat itself. If you remember, it was back in may of 2017 right around the time that he fired comey that he told the russian officials that by firing comey he had relieved pressure on him. So he feels certainly comfortable confiding in them intimate details about where he stands politically on a very difficult thing like firing comey. Our thanks to mimi rocha and Michael Schmitt with the new york times. Really appreciate it tonight. Coming up after another break, north korea accuses the u. S. Of gangster like behavior over denuclearization. But the president points out there was a hand shake. He also says they signed a contract where the talks go from here when we come right back. alex trebek but you dont need any of those numbers to get affordable Life Insurance. You just need this number. Im alex trebek, and if youre between age 50 and 85, this is the number to call about the number one most popular whole Life Insurance plan available through the Colonial Penn program. 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With the right conversation, you might find youre doing okay. So, no hot dog suit . Not unless you want to. No. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today with td ameritrade®. Im counting on chairman kim to be determined to followthrough on the commitment that he made. And so if those requests were gangster like, the world is a gangster. There was a unanimous decision at the u. N. Security council about what needs to be achieved. This takes just a little bit to explain what is going on. That obviously the secretary of state mike pompeo firing back at north koreas criticism of this past weekends nuclear talks. Now initially pompeo had praised the negotiations as productive but the sentment was quickly undercut by the North Korean Foreign Ministry statement. They called the u. S. Gangster like in the demand for denuclearization. The attitude and stance the u. S. Showed in the first high level meeting was no doubt regrettable. President trump stressed his faith in the u. S. north korea relationship on twitter, writing today, i have confidence that kim jongun will honor the contract we signed and hand shake. We agreed to the denuclearization of north korea. China on the other hand, may be exerting negative pressure on a deal because of our posture on chinese trade. Hope not. Tomorrow the president leaves for the nato summit in brussels. That is followed by oneonone sitdown with russian president Vladimir Putin a week from today. There are reports the president s friendly approach to north korea is further stoking anxiety ahead of his trip abroad. They report senior european officials have told axios theyre worried that trump will spend the entire nato summit beating up on americas closest allies especially germany, for not spending enough on their defense. Theyre worried hell make the deficiencies the focus of the summit rather than solidarity in the face of the russian threat. And that hell have a friendlier summit with putin just a few days after a tense nato gathering. Well, here to talk about all of it, Andrea Mitchell, nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent. And retired four Star Army General Barry Mccaffrey who is a democratic veteran of vietnam, former battlefield commander in the persian gulf. Welcome you to both. The only way to start on north korea is in simple english and that is did we get played . We sure did get played. And pompeo with the best of intentions to try to flush out what in fact was agreed to in singapore if anything, he got snubbed. Sarah sanders said he would be meeting with kim jongun. He was not. That meeting was never in the cards. And, in fact, he spent two days going through endless long, multicourse dinners, lavish dinners that he had no taste for, appetite for and didnt get to the substance. They never got to the meat as to what really was agreed to in singapore. And thats the problem. The president referring to a contract . What they signed were promises, empty promises, in fact. When he said in the tweet today that he relied more put more importance on the hand shake with kim jongun, why on earth would he be trusting a hand shake from someone who is from a regime that has a history of Family History of having cheated and lied to the United States and to other allies to their own neighbors in the past . General, meantime this has become a standard line now in the president s rallies, talking about how much safer we are. That there are no longer missiles in the skies over the pacific. Question to you is are we any closer to denuclearization and remind me again what north koreas motive is in agreeing to denuclearization. You know, Andrea Mitchell pretty much summed it up. I have a great deal of empathy for secretary pompeo and jim mattis, the cia director. Theyve got to remain objective. Ive been dealing with issue since i was a jcs strategic planner during the clinton administration. The only difference between then and now is they have 60 nuclear weapons, maybe, and some icbm capabilities, striking the United States. They have no intention of denuclearizing. So the secretary of state has got to somehow maintain a dialogue lower the tension, keep our allies close to us. South korea and japan are concerned. Try to keep the chinese supportive of the economic embargo and stop raising the nonsense expectations. You know, the president saying hes an honorable man are a veered by his people that, is not translating in north korea. This guy advisedly is a monster. Hes murdered hundreds of his own senior people, thousands of his citizens. So were in a very strange and concerning place right now. General, because youve held posts in and around nato in your military career and because you talked about it this week, i want to head over to that and preview that gathering. You said this, the United States is spending nato states is spending nato central to u. S. And european peace and deterence, president of the United States has savaged the utility of the alliance and embraced putin, a threat to western europe and his own people. It is also the case that our partners have shamefully not paid their share. So general, whats your biggest fear as the president goes in to this nato gathering . Well, to be blunt, the germans completely disarmed. In the 80s there were 12 divisions in central europe. Very powerful air force. A competent naval force. They were the biggest land force in nato. Theyre gone now. The french are just about disarmed. The brits are disarming. So we do have a problem. And russia is a danger. Less so to germany than the baltic states, poland, you know, the ukraine, their neighbors. So we do have to put some iron in the nato alliance. But at the end of the day, brian nato is deterrence and peace for the United States and western europe. So it has to be nurtured. We need leadership out of the president. Rather than this public rudeness and denigration. And embracing putin, i mean this guy is a threat to the russian people and to his neighbors. Hes an impoverished deeply dictatorial regime, why he is embracing mr. Putin . And Andrea Mitchell to that last point, what is the level of concern in your orbit about a president asking to sit down with putin with just translators, no other record of their conversation . Extreme. And that is certainly the concern of our allies. Ive spoken to a lot of senior european officials. They were nervous before quebec. But after that g7 meeting when he went into the meeting, the president did, arguing that russia should be invited back despite the fact that they took crimea and Eastern Ukraine and havent really paid or acknowledged that to say nothing of attacking our election as well as other european elections. That so unnerved our allies at the g7 who overlap with our nato allies that this is really concerning. The attacks, the personal attacks against angela merkel, the really dishonorable way he apparently talked to her at the table in the private sessions as well as what he said in public to both trudeau and macron and merkel. And now youve got a weakened british leader now, theresa may, with huge problems within her cabinet within her party. 48 members of parliament from her party signed letters that is going to face a no confidence vote in parliament. So all of this happening with the brexit problems that she faces at home, weakening her hand as well and now she has to face welcoming the president very unpopular in the uk for a played down state visit with enough pomp and circumstance to satisfy his ego. Thats going to be really tough with hundreds of thousands of people protesting in the streets of london. Two of the people well be counting on to help us cover the gatherings, our great thanks to Andrea Mitchell and Barry Mccaffrey. Coming up, few decisions to find a president as much as a Supreme Court nomination. President himself has been saying that. What tonights announcement likely will mean in terms of legacy when we come back. Think about when you get in the voting booth the United States Supreme Court. Just think about it. Because ill tell you what, you put the wrong justices on the Supreme Court and this country will never, ever be the same. It will never be what you had hoped it would be. While on the campaign trail, the man who is now president talked about it all the time. The importance of a Supreme Court selection. Say nothing of two of them. He clearly saw this as a red meat issue to motivate the base, get out the vote. Tonight just 18 months into his presidency, the president has indeed nominated a second judge to the highest court in the land. Tonights nomination is critical, not just for the Trump Presidency if confirmed, a justice Brett Kavanaugh at age 53 could have a Lasting Impact on Supreme Court rulings for decades, generations to come. And with us tonight to talk about all of it, john meachum author and historian, the soul of america the battle for our better angels and david marinis, a author and president ial biographer and veteran of the washington post. Gentlemen, thank you both for coming on tonight. David, im going to begin with you. Your take on this pick and i just want to lay out one stat that a Justice Kavanaugh would bring the average age on the right side of the court to 61 by our math. The average age on the left side of the court would be 72. What do you make of this man who was introduced to the public tonight . You know, brian, i think that in most cases Supreme Court nominees are judged based on their political philosophy, the political context and the individual characteristics of that judge. In this case, i think the individual characteristics, even the age are less important than the political context and the philosophy. And, you know, so often with Supreme Court justices you think about where sort of the history of judges. And President Trump was right in saying how important it is. You cant overstate the importance of this choice in terms of womens reproductive rights, in terms of health care, and so many other issues. Two things. One is that, can you think of a president whose legacy was determined by Supreme Court choices . Richard nixon picked four judges. I cant say thats in the top ten list of how you define richard nixon. And secondly, i think the legacy here is more to do with Republican Party than with President Trump. I think that they made a bargain, some would call it a devils bargain that they would hold their nose on so many other aspects of donald trump just to get to this moment today. And so you see so many other things exploding around trump. And yet, this is what they were waiting for. John, you and david as writers of history, it strikes me youre entire business is all about timing. Look back at the last three president s, two term president s. They had two picks over eight years. Along comes donald trump and he gets two picks right off the bat. 18 months and sooner or later, guys like you are writing about legacy, whatever else happens that defines whatever this presidency is. Absolutely. Its interesting. If judge kavanaugh is confirmed, well have one justice from the one term president from George Walker bush, clarence thomas, then two from clinton, two from 43, two from obama and two from trump. And so interestingly the court itself will reflect the president ial elections of the era. And as you say, we dont know how many more he may get. The generational aspect of this is fascinating. I think david is right. President s are not often defined by the choice necessarily. But eras are. But there is also this longer term drama that is unfolding which if trump gets two or three or even four, Franklin Roosevelt actually had appointed most of roosevelt and truman had appointed all of the justices on the court when in 1954 earl warren joined it. And became i think the most consequential justice of the 20th century and arguably the most consequential since marshal since the court did what the political system failed to do which is take on integration directly. And so these are long term bets. I dont want to call them sleeper agents exactly. But they are particularly as they come on younger, youre talking about 35, 40, 45 years of jurisprudence. And you also wonder in the court we all change our minds if were i think if were thinking and living and you wonder whether any of these justices will evolve over time. David, i was reminded today the vote on ginsburg, justice in our lifetimes was 963. She was not a puzzle to us. She was not enigmatic. We knew about her jurisprudence. There were zero issues with her character. So youve got to look at that as the last vestiges of an era when a decidedly left or right jurist could get affirmed 963 in the u. S. Senate. Will we ever see those days again . Not in the near future. Those days are over for the time being. You can never say what this country will be like in 15 years, but the political situation now is so fraught that no vote is going to be 963 on anything these days. This is where we bump up against your book, which is on so many coffee tables and bedsides. That is because folks on the left are so dark about this Supreme Court development, youre in the business of reminding us all, as you do so well in these pages, its been worse, its been darker. But were hearing from folks especially on the political left this is bad, this is for keeps. What do you say to them . I know it feels cataclysmic and each of these nominations seems like the thunderdome means cspan somehow. But the court does have a way by and large of reflecting the middle of the country. There are dramatic exceptions to that. But the court now is proof that president ial elections matter enormously. Again, clarence thomas, ginsberg and a llito and gorsuch and perhaps now cakavanaugh thats pretty even span over the president s weve had. What we have to insist on in our daily politics, which is now minutetominute politics, is understanding that every vote counts. I understand why senator warren was out there with the quickly printed stop kavanaugh signs. I understand why senator booker was on television, senator harris. This is in many ways not the beginning of the 2020 race, but it certainly is related to it. But the court certainly does have a tendency to surprise. I say to those who are about to set their hair on fire, at least wait until morning. Of the justices that nixon appointed Justin Renquist recused himself. The other three voted to make nixon turn over the tapes, which was the precipitating event that actually led to nixons resignation. Three of his appointees went that way. Earl warren went in eisenhower wasnt quite sure what he was going to get. Things do unfold. These are human institutions. If youre really concerned about judge kavanaugh, you need to get out and elect someone else president. What a pleasure it is to have you both on the broadcast. Coming up for us, we mentioned it earlier. Big troubles across the atlantic tonight having to do with what that man did today when we come back. Booking a flight at the last minute doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. Welcome back. The last thing before we go on a monday night is, trouble on the other side of the atlantic. When you think about it, it was the brexit vote two years ago that was our first big indication that we might be witnessing something of a prairie fire as we near the end of the second decade of this new century. If our times have indeed just been redefined as a battle between norms and tearing down those norms, whether to stay in the home weve built or burn it down, then you could argue that it all started with brexit, which like the trump election months after that, was the first vote that stunned the establishment, when the people of the u. K. Voted to leave the eu. Two years later, that hasnt happened because decoupling is complicated. The choice before the u. K. Appears to be somewhere between fullon divorce versus staying good friends, versus staying together for the sake of the kids. Well, tonight, the government of the Prime Minister theresa may is in trouble and so too is brexit. Theresa may has suffered some cabinet resignations, most notably this morning the foreign secretary Boris Johnson resigned. Respectfully, to americans who dont follow u. K. Politics closely, he may be more widely referred to as the guy with the hair. Johnson is a bona fide intellectual and a big backer of brexit. He is worried the Prime Minister is too attached to the eu. The Prime Minister has filled the vacancies to her cabinet, but she must now watch her flank as leader of the conservative party. Its been said by headline writers for the better part of the last two years, it remains true, breaking up is hard to do and its less certain tonight for the eu and the u. K. And a reminder, our president is due to arrive in the u. K. This coming thursday. So that is our broadcast for us tonight. My thanks to my friends for allowing me to sneak away from here for a few days. Our thanks to you for being here with us and good night from msnbc news headquarters in new york. Well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. We wanted to begin right here at the top of the hour with a late update on what is tonights breaking news story