Challenging the president. I may very well do that. Im being as honest as i can. Where do you stand . Are you likely to run . This is not what im doing. How Many Democrats will jump in . And will any republicans primary President Trump . And the ways the president has influenced culture, from the words we use, to race. Very fine people on both sides. Welcome to new years eve sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer for nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning and a happy new years eve to everyone. Almost from the moment he put his left hand on the bible at his inauguration, President Trump signaled to the country that his presidency would be different. Different in ways that would thrill millions and different in ways that would appall millions more. It began with a jarring comment about the state of the country. This american carnage stops right here and stops right now. Within a day, press Secretary Sean Spicer lectured white house reporters, arguing implausibly that more people witnessed Donald Trumps inauguration than president obamas and a day latereer op meet the press, the president s counsel Kellyanne Conway oefrd this explanation. Sean spicer our press secretary gave alternative facts. That inauguration weekend kicked off a year of friction between the white house and press. Between the president s supporters and detractors, between liberals and conservatives helping feed an uneasy sense we as a country are more divided than weve been for decades if not longer. Over the next hour well look back at the past year and ahead to the next. Our panel this new years eve morning, charlie cook and patti kaye, showed beyond 1700 days will begin appearing on pbs starting tuesday and rich lauer. Editor of the National Review. Start things off looking at some of the promisals made by candidate donald trump and talk about whether hes been able to make good on them or not. Lets watch. Dornld j. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the United States. 1 trillion in infrastructure investment. The tax relief will be concentrated on the working and middle class. I will be the greatest jobs president that god has ever created. Repealing and replacing obamacare. A disaster. Save medicare, medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it. I pledge to every citizen of our land that i will be president for all americans. We will build a great, great wall [ cheers ] and mexico mexico. Mexico. Mexico will pay for the wall. All right, guys. Whats been the single most important promise he made and the single most important promise hes kept . Rich, start with you, because i think the wall is probably the single most important promise connected to him as a candidate. Yes. His signature promise and the most flagrantly unrealizable promise. The idea mexico would pay for this wall. Let alone build the wall. But the other country paying for it. Immigration is a Success Story for him. He doesnt have a wall, but reestablishing a certain baseline of enforcement it sent an Important Message and you have illegal border crossings down to i think the lowest level since 1971. Kind of surprised he doesnt boast about that more. Whats the most important one hes kept . The most important one i think that hes kept is that he would be the president for the people who voted for him, and he would carry on the culture wars in their favor. Carry on talking in ways that White Working Class voters felt neglected before, they feel they have somebody who is their president. They dont have to be p. C. Any more. Can say things he e they wanted to say for years and President Trump emboldened them to do that. Whats the one he missed . Repeal and replace obamacare. That didnt happen. Hes tinkered with it around the edges, but wheres the replacement . He also said he was going to prevent north korea from advancing its nuclear program. That hasnt happened and has proven to be one of the biggest Foreign Policy crises, and to pick up on what caty is saying, he has been a president for his base, but hes failed to be a president for all people. I think that in many ways the countrys more divided. You have the nfl. You have charlottesville and thats a problem. Charlie, i left you with the topic that is sort of interesting here. Thats the economy. In that its been a great year. And that has not translated or as john reese my e. P. Said, maybe it has or hed be at 25 if it werent for the economy . Its funny. Polls show so many people dislike him, disapprove of him, embarrassed by him, think hes a bull in a china closet on Foreign Policy, all of these things and yet the economy is doing really well. Either, a. , something hes done is right, or hes just really, really lucky. And i just kind of wonder whether the fact that maybe its the absence of president obama, or just sort of the idea of a president thats less adversarial towards business, whether its released animal spirits in the economy, or maybe its just lucky. Lets debate this. Luck or has he done something . Go to 50,000 feet. You can see there is a disconnect between political dysfunction around the world. Certainly in europe, too, not just in the United States, and National Security issues looming, crises in ways we havent seen for a very long time, and yet every single investor will tell you this is a great time to economically at what point does that disconnect come back to haunt us or doesnt it . Can we carry on operating where stock markets keep rising, unemployment keeps falling and have political insecurity, not just american insecurity but Global Political insecurity . Rich, used hear, lost two years of the obama administration. Everything is poised to take off. But it wouldnt. Trumps election, and whatever the animal spirit is, boom, its here. So its luck in that he inheritsed an economy that was in pretty good shape. Not like obama inheriting an economy cratering after a financial crisis but more than luck and that policy matters. The expectation of the market in the business community, at least no new regulations or taxes. No additional burdens on the economy and seen better than that from the business perspective, because youve seen a major deregulation roll back and now a tax bill that is a generational change on the corporate side and will, all things being equal, be progrow. The white house would argue the fact they have cut so many regulations is really what has burned this economy. Look at the way President Trump dealt with health care versus taxes. He got read in on the details, went out, sold the tax package. Ran as the jobs president and you have investors who feel good about that. The market obviously reflecting it, and were starting to see that in his policies. All right. Lets pivot a little to Foreign Policy. Year in. Do we know what a trump doctrine is . In ways its a continuity of what weve had in the past. He has not reneged on article 5 of nato, a company key campaign, and still have american troops in afghanistan in iraq, in syria. In way things are the same. Whats different is that in the Foreign Policy, the big Security Strategy review that the president gave at the end of the year. No mention of Climate Change as a National Security threat and no mention of american human rights and values. For me the single biggest change with the president , we are not seeing america leading the world through principle. America hasnt always got it right but has some sort of principle and highmoral standing. Rich, youre nodding a lot there. The basic structure, a centerright realism. You see what the actual policy is even on north korea. Rhetorically hes been aggressive, its a status quo of policy. Cautious in asia and more emphasis on ideals. The crusade, president bush fought for those but important against our adversaries and in favor of our interests. Seem, get tough on china and then goes to china. Theyre pals and youre going, what . You soo e that disconnect with his rhetoric around north korea as well. He talked about fire and fury. And that made a lot of people very nervous, that he was on the bring of taking some type of action, and he didnt. We wont really know what the trump doctrine is until we see how north korea plays out. Will he take some type of limited military action . Based on my conversations with senior officials, his military options are very few and very far between. So it doesnt look like thats likely. I do think, though, chuck, were seeing a retreat from multinationalism. He did pull out of tpp. Pulled out of paris. Thats the beginning, at least, of a shift. A legacy there. That National Security policy, that report that was referred to released just before christmas in. When i read it, it actually did provide some coherence to what through the past year looked like complete random ricocheting around, and i couldnt tell whether, is this thing actually more coherent than i thought, or is there just a heck of a speak writer onboard . I tend to think the latter. Let me ask you this. I feel like that the issue we dont cover enough in Foreign Policy is, how close are we to war . A hot war . Whether were involved or not . A hot war that involves iran and say, saudi arabia . It feels it a tinderbox between those two . Described to me like this. We have in yemen iranian proxies fighting saudi regulars. We have in syria, saudis proxies fighting iranian regulars. We are one step away. Pi the Yemeni Houthi rebel, thats a hot area in the world. And one Foreign Policy that seems to congeal with our domestic politics and its russia. The best of russia from this year. I have nothing to do with russia, folks. Okay . Why would there be any contacts between the campaign . I cant think of a bigger lie. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with russia there is no connection. Youve got russia. If the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow thats a russian connection. We have no dealings in russia. No projects in russia. We have nothing to do with russia. This conversations never happened. Theres no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. We have been going on this russia trump hoax for the better part of a year now, with no evidence of anything. There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven. Rich lowry, hes not getting the benefit of doubt on all this, seems to me, for one big reason. He seems to want nothing more than to cozy up to Vladimir Putin. If he were willing to be tough on Vladimir Putin . Just say meddles in the election was an outrage, wont stand for it and it will never happen again on my watch. He wont say it. Its a bit of a mystery. My theory, cant prove, considers the russian story a personal affront that undermines his victory. Its a psychological reaction rather than a deeper conspiracy hes trying to hide. One of the things so striking. Look at his tweets. Hes lashed out at just about everyone on twitter including china, who he says needs to wshg with north korea and yet never harsh words for russia. Never convened a meeting with his National Security team to address that issue. People are hungry for that and he begrudinglypproved more sanctions. People around him time and again seem to forget meetings they had with russians. Why the secrecy . Why have these meetings and then have to reveal them later . Why say things that possibly were true at the time and happens too often to seem like just coincidence. Final word . Nobody wants to think they won illegitimately. You want to believe i won on my merits. But i think rich is right. Why cant he just say, you know, they were meddling. I dont think it had an impact on the outcome of the election, but we need to make sure this never happens again. Thats pretty painless. Whats wrong with that . Youre doing something Donald Trumps never done before. Be humble. When we come back, a look ahead to the year that starts tomorrow. Its an even numbered year. You know what that means . Elections. Are we looking at a democratic wave or can republicans somehow maintain their hold on congress and, of course, that means on all of the power that comes with it. If yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. 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Welcome back, if theres one thing you can count on in politics, its the party that loses the seat looks to be no exception. President trumps record low approval r5i9ings to close the year giving democrats a hope they can win the 24 seats needed to take back the house and the partys unexpected upset win in alabama this month means democrats only need to net two seats to achieve a longer goal of taking back the senate. In 2005, you could smell a wave coming. The results last night smell exactly the same way. Our republicans friends better look out. We think well produce results. Results well be able to talk to the American People about in the fall of 2018 and in 2020 as well. Can you win back the house this year . The door is certainly open for us. Suggesting a wave election is coming your way that your majority is at risk. What do you make of that . Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, is what i say about that stuff. I think were going to win the senate and house. I feel very optimistic about 2018. Were going to do the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Lets talk about that in 2018. Welcome. Got to love speaker ryan. This is my wifes work and the hes blah, blah, blahhing over it quickly do this. Senate makeup after doug jones, essentially 5149. Talk about the democrats, blah, blah, blaye, house, 23193. Charlie cook you do this for a living. You saw the 11point advantage at the nbc news wall street journal poll 5039 suggesting the wave is building. The question, how big, and will it crest at the right time and right moment for democrats . This is what waves look like when youre standing on a beach looking out. Weve seen this before. You see it from afar. Wow look at thanks cant tell precisely how tall it is but you can tell its a big one. You know, could things change . You know, if we had a couple more quarters. Three more quarters of. Economic growth. Could it dissipate . I guess it could, but i dont think it will. Were looking at the senate. Its now plausible that democrats could take the senate back. I think its not likely, but its plausible in the house. If you had to bet today i think youd bet the house would turn. One of the reasons, why, rich, doesnt look like it will shift. Look at the demographic breakdowns on the generic ballot. Among millennials, nearly a 50point advantage for democrats. Among women, 20 points. Independents, 12 points. Senios essentially a base boat, the democrats, and among white voters only down two. Thats why it doesnt look like a couple of good economic quarters change things. Thats the best republicans could have going for them. Robust growth to take the edge off this. My fear, that this isnt a conditionsbased reaction. Its not an agendabased reaction so much. It is a profound personal reaction to trump himself. And there is no way to change that. The white house says the opposite. They say that that candidates are knocking down their doors to get in the door with President Trump and hes eager to by the way, there probably are some candidates knocking on their doors for endorsement. They just are not their door is not being answered. Exactly right. Look at ed gillespie. He tried to walk a fine line and it backfired. The white house saying, embrace trump. We saw that doesnt always work. Obviously, roy moore deeply flawed candidate in his own right, but he did run based on a trump playbook. I spoke with a democratic strategist who says were looking at the tidal wave. Wait. Dont you run the risk of overplaying your hand . Going into 2018 with that type of thinking . Thats the concern. The economy is a big unknown nap could i think shift the outlook. Whats interesting is that you look historically and the theres a very clear pattern. All but three midterm elections since the civil war, but were now seeing a more explosiveness. I mean, the last six midterm elections, either the house senate or both flippeds. Thats hasnt happened in 100 years. Yeah, yeah. No. I mean so its its people are voting. Its not more parliamentary but its more biparty and were seeing big, big explosive results, and thats got to be scary for republicans. And the challenge for the democrats, though, is on the senate side, at least, red state democrats. You could argue, how they handle red state america in order to win the majority will say everything. Put up the senate map here. These are just democratic seats that are in states in 2018 up where President Trump carried that state, and you can see montana, not a surprise. Floridas, ohios, wisconsins and mish is in there. Heres how a few red state democrats weve talked to in the last year have been walking the line of trump. Take a listen. One thing that we dont have and you see that out in public polling and when im out and about. What do you stand for . What are you about . The overarching discussion for the Democratic Party isnt there. My job is to fight for missourians. I get up every day. My feet hit the ground trying to figure out how to get things done for them. Not how can i criticize the president. Because im up for reelection in 2018, i guess people think in washington im going to vote differently or be different here. Ill have to cowell tail if you will to what they think may be popular. I dont think impeachment is something we should talk about. And interesting this year. I think we ale expected at least some of these red state democrats to somehow forge a partnership with trump and none did. I think some wanted to. I dont know joe manchin blames mitch mcconnell, not President Trump, which sigh think is convenient. What say you . We came out of alabama with democrats saying, look, we can win in true red states. Just done it in alabama. People, exactly those people you chose, north dakota, missouri, west virginia. They took some heart from that, but have very different populations. They dont have 30 africanamerican makeup in those states and know that. They have to be more careful how they run and cant expect to run up against a roy moore again. Its not going to happen and Claire Mccaskill told me many times. Donald trump is above water in my state, Approval Ratings parallel to mine and won my state. I cannot totally isolate myself from him but is not going to go there and actually sign up. Sheriff brown is interesting. He has. Not out. But a democrat that will try and work with the president. Im curious. If impeachment becomes part of the conversation in the fall, i assume its thesedemocrats that most nervous about that . I think youre right. This is so implausible. If democrats won every single senate race next year, every one, they would still need ten republicans to vote for impeachment. Thats not going to happen. So just shut up. Theyre not helping themselves. These democrats hate the conversation. They really dont want those up onhinted at the republican side. The reason they have a longer shot. Look at the senate map. This is a rosy scenario of senate targets for democrats, and i throw in a texas and a nebraska on there. Texas for demographic reasons, but thrown in nebraska because of what steve bannon promised, rich lowry. Primary republicans like a dead fisherman in nebraska. Little bannon versus the gop comp pew lation and talk about it on the other side. Right now a season of war against a gop establishment. I think what steve bannon is trying to do is completely inappropriate. Because they think youre a pack of morons. You need good candidates to win senate races. Mitch mcconnell in this permanent Political Class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country what hes a specialist in is nominating people who lose. I like mr. Bannon. Hes a friend of mine, but mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. Look, steve bannon isnt, he right now is the face of that sort of antiestablishment crowd, but before there was a steve bannon there was still an antiestablishment crowd that cost them, put it up here, at least five senate seats. Now blame i guess bannon for the sixth. Right . Three in 2010, colorado, nevada, and 2012, two, indiana, missouri and of course, roy moore. Bannon, when he cost them another state . Mississippi, for instance, i could put up there. I hope alabama was a blow to Steve Bannons theory you can run any loathsome kook and win a general election. Its not a new phenomenal, began before steve ban and in part because of republicans against, theyre not the blue blazers tie types anymore. They are the antiestablishment party, which involves oftentimes not just rejecting the establishments judgment about candidates but rejecting conventional norms. This is important. Mk connell and ryan are no more in touch with the base of the party than trump with the establishment . Right. And who did President Trump speak to after the Roy Moore Loss . He spoke to steve bannon that week. So he still sees him as a touchstone to his base. And to your point. Does bannon take a look at that race and say hey it was the candidate . No. We need to work harder. Well emboldened, energized and know what to do in the next race. The challenge, obviously divides resources and messaging and continues to van internal war. Go back to 2008 when barack obama won. This so radicalized the conservative republicans despised him so much it effectively radicalized a large element of the republican party, led to the Tea Party Movement and the election of donald trump, but it led to a nomination or this attraction of these exotic candidates that are just more exotic than can win general elections. And i think republicans are paying a price. If i were democrats i would worry about the loathing that they have for President Trump, whether it radicalizes an element of the Democratic Party and we start seeing that happen in coming years. Well thats actually a nice segue. The left subject, the list of candidates running for president. Easier tore make the list not jun the next debate. Once were done with 2018, it is 20 20 vision time. A look ahead to the many, many, Many Democrats who may decide to run for president and a handful of republicans as well. There are two types of people in the world. Those who fear the future. And those who embrace it. The future is for the unafraid. All because of you when you have a cold, stuff happens. { sneezing ] shut down cold symptoms fast [ coughing ] with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. Welcome back. From the moment a candidate is declared a winner, people in my business ask, whos going to run in four years . This is no different. Many democrats and perhaps a handful of republicans are viewing a run as a real possibility. One sign someone is considering a run at this stage, they write a book. Seen as a sign the author is serious about becoming a candidate. So far, we have seen books from senator Bernie Sanders of vermts. Former Vice President joe biden. Senator Elizabeth Warren of massachusetts. And senator corey booker of new jersey. Those are the democrats. Now you have senator john kasich and senator flake. All republicans. And get on a list to run for president , say youre not going to run. Take a look. Where should we be about that . 50 50, 80 20 . Are you likely to run . No. This is not what im doing. Other people make lists. Im not running for president. Sure, i just might that is not on my radar screen. I dont know what im going to do tomorrow. If a year from now im ready and no one has moved in i think can do it, then i may very well. Obviously, the most significant person in that list to say, yes, im thinking about it is the former Vice President. He decided to say, hey, im sending a message to national doan others, i want in. It was probably joe biden, right. The concern for democrats, the two white guys, most likely to run, youd have to give a reasonable shot at giving the nomination to joe biden, Bernie Sanders. Theyre going to be 78 and 79 on Inauguration Day of 2021. Thats problem for the democrats. Go through the whole list. Problems with all of the candidates, but two you know, old, white guys is that where the party needs to position itself . And chris, before you chime in, we put this together. All the travels in the early states. Another way to let us know youre thinking of running for president. Show up in iowa. Sanders, mark zuckerberg. Talk about that in a minute. And cotton, iowa trips. New hampshire, kasich, biden, sanders and omalley. So common denominators. Book tourish but biden and sanders among the busiest ones. Absolutely. And a surprised bien walked up to the line of running during the last election cycle. The one person not on the list, kirsten gillibrand. Not doing a lot of traveling but putting a marker down for herself around the issue of Sexual Harassment. One she has obviously championed in the part but is really i think out front on that issue, taking the lead in terms calling for al franken to resign, angering a lot of folks in her own party saying former president bill clinton should have resigned and eyeing a potential run seriously. Charlie in that vein, is it gillibrand . Has she had the break out17 to carve out the space . Who else had breakout, to start carving out looks theyre doing more than i want in. Theyre carving out space. Gillibrand, asterisk. People up for election in 2018 have to be more discreet. Pamela harris in california. That shes poised to do that. The way ive sort of looked at it. I have a list of like 25 people here and the thing is, some of these i think are laughable, but you know what . Three years ago today, donald trump was. And Bernie Sanders was, too. Im being a lot more humbled than i used to be, but the way im looking at it is, there will be at least one woman. Yep. There will be at least one. And when you say one woman, multiple women that one. You mean one in the final talking about the final four. There will be a woman. There will be an africanamerican. There will be one white guy, and then theres an atlarge. Some of these, like harris to be one of these. Look for categories because of powerful constituencies within the party that will gravitate behind just a bigger point. We can all do this on paper, but the lesson from the last two people elected president , donald trump and barack obama, is a personalities, they matter so much. Both in their own way completely dominated the media. Figures of fascination support others couldnt get enough of. Crowd size really adds up. Actually, a great segue. My 13yearold, literally, said to me, hey, dad, you know that Dwayne Johnsons thinking about running for ped. I said, why do you say that . He said so on ellen. I went, he did . Heres the evidence. Would you run . I mean would you, seriously, would you run . Im seriously considering it. Yes. Okay. Look, ive actually been following him for the last six months on instagram and social media. This guy is very good at his own public relations. Very good. See, hear many about a sick fan who many a kid. The rock is there with a ticket. Somebody in this space will break out. Is it a cuban . Is it a rock . Somebodys messing around with it. Live an era to run for the president of the United States you need to be a celebrity and have a television following and instagram following and be able to reach well through charisma and through your backgrounds, from having been on Television Screens for years and years, Donald Trumps way of doing it, then somebody like the rock has a chance. Donald trump may have been an exception. I dont know. Three years ago there are president s rolling in their graves. Yes. And as they should. What i dont get, though, kristen. Actually, i think when you try to do the other party does something and you try to do what that party does, it always fails. Try to do the exact opposite. Where is the boring who is the least charismatic boring, lowest crowd guy or gal out there . Because i have a theory that thats the person well turn to next. I think whoever can give President Trump a real run for his money has to be his counterpoint. No doubt about that. What does that look like . Does that mean that the person is unifying, though . Is that sort of the aspect people are looking for . One thing in addition to all of the charismatic all of those things you laid out, i think the person needs to come off as being authentic. Even if a little boring. Charlie . Go ahead. I would say ralph northam, doug jones, go down the list. The good Democratic Candidates this year were boring guys. Yeah. No offense. To your point, our friend mark shields has a theory that say youre in a subway car and it stops between stations. The lights go out. Panic. Chaos. Then a reassuring voice, a firm, reassuring voice comes on to make you feel comfortable. Things are under control. And will people be looking for someone that that would be reassuring, calm a good bedside manner . That sort of thing. The rock played tooth fairy boring, boring never in president ial politics. Could be opposite. George w. Bush on toughness. Barack obama emphasis on thoughtfulness. Not boring, though. Let me close with this. We all think trump will get a primary challenge for the sport of it. Question, who could be the most effective primary challenger to a trump . Rich, start with you. This is National Review may cover a lot of this. Its hard to see how this would work unless trump totally craters. Otherwise, youll get some sort of symbolic challenge from someone like john kasich, 25 , 30 . This juncture, he wouldnt even win ohio. What about a ben sasse . Mitt romney . The two names that come up. Mitt romney, the better chance. Done it before. More name recognition but a tough poll. Somebodys going to do it just for the coverage. Jeff flake ro be interesting. President trump runs, he will be the nominee. The question, if he doesnt, its pence versus the field. Free for all. When we come back, oh, how the political world has changed in just one year. burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum advil liquigels minis. Our first concentrated pill that rushes powerful relief. A small size. Thats fast, cause its liquid. Youll ask. What pain . Advil liquigels minis. We are back. Data download time. What kind of year has 2017 been . Look at our new nbc news wall street journal poll, end of the year, answers are mixed. Ahead of President Trumps inauguration january, 37 of americans felt the country was going in the right direction. 52 felt on the wrong track. An inprovement at that time from the months before the 2016 election. But in our yearend poll, 29 now say right direction. An eightpoint drop from january. While 63 say wrong track. Thats up 11 points. No surprise, how you view the year depends a lot on who you are. Republicans thought it was a pretty good year. For example, 79 say 2017 was the best year for the United States, above average or average. Only 20 thought it was the worse year or below average. Independents, evenly split. Hardly any democrat thought it was a good year. Have a majority saw 2017 as worst year for the country or below average. Majority of men thought good, women thought, bad. A similar breakdown across racial demographics. A slip majority of white americans. 52 , thought this year was the best, above average or average. Majorities of hispanics and africanamericans thought the worst year or below average. Finally, what did americans view as the most significant events of 2017 . Events like, the mass shooting in las vegas, and natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires were on folks minds the most. Third on the list, President Trumps inauguration followed by terrorist attacks, the tax plan in congress and Sexual Harassment revelations and, of course, the metoo movement. When we come back, words that came into being, and new words that gain new meaning in 2017. President trumps impact on American Culture is next. Trust 1 doctor recommended dulcolax. Use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. Suppositories for relief in minutes. And dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax. Designed for dependable relief. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Welcome back. Were going to look at some of the cull cheer changes that took place this year. For some people, inspired in part by Donald Trumps presidency. Guys, i think the biggest one in sports, has to do with his involvement in the nfl. Sort of with race. Take a look what sort of instigated this. Wouldnt you love to see one of these nfl owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now . Out hes fired. Hes fired and had you some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people. On both sides. Now, are we going to take down his statue . You know what . Its fine. You are changing history. Youre changing culture. Was sheriff joe convicted for doing his job . Ill make a prediction. I think hes going to be just fine. Okay . You know whats interesting, kristin. Especially the first one. Many times when he dabbles into sort of culture wars its at a moment of political weakness for him. He did the nfl ref, embarrassed to endorse Luther Strange at a time he knew that candidate would get in that runoff and it wasnt about Luther Strange about him and the nfl . Right. A great way to energize his base to rally supporters around him. It was similar during charlottesville when he made those remarks, by the way, enraged some people within his own administration. Youre seeing a backlash at polls. You saw that with how energized africanamerican voters were to come out in 2018. I think the white house knows they have a problem with diversity and need more diversity, particularly to senior staff. Just reported on ohm rosesa leaving for example, only africanamerican senior staffer he had in the west wing. I think possibly a focus fwh the new year. Would have guessed beginning of the year, unorthodox president stoking controversies with unorthodox agenda. Instead orthodox republican agenda, doesnt have anything for the signature trump voter but still unorthodox president and stoking controversies is what his voters are getting. Weird backlash, not from voters per se but Corporate America and nfl is part of this. Struggled with how to handle this. Dont know how, especially nfl has struggled with it. They sort of dont approve of the behavior. But meeting with ceo recently who said the tax bill will probably save about 350 million. So theyre torn. Good things, less regulation, laxer enforcement, things they like. But they dont like the tone and where this is going. Really torn. And watch out for customers, shareholders, brand and all of that. When the president says something, why weve had Advisory Councils disbanded, Corporate Leaders feel then the cant be aligned with the positions. Some is strategic but lot of it, he enjoys stirring the pot, everyone freaking out. Remote control goes and watches on his 90 inch tv screen and enjoys every minute of it. As he said to me, its trump show and its been sold out for years. I think thats part of the job he wanted, head of state and pot stirrer. And all this other stuff, gosh do i have to do this too . I think 2017, times person of the year, feminism is word of the year, understatement to say culturally i think many people think that women are speaking out more because of the election of donald trump but heres highlight of the year. Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein fired from his own company. Kevin spacey. Louis c. K. Matt lauer. Sexual harassment has no place in any workplace, let alone United States congress. In midst of cultural revolution. One revelation or two . John conyers is icon in our country, however congressman conyers should resign. Hes not going to be pressured by nancy pelosi or anyone else to step down. In the coming weeks, i will be resigning as member of the United States senate. The president has firsthand knowledge of what he did and didnt do. He can speak directly to those and he has and addressed them. I dont have anything further to add. I think everyone should be held accountable, starting from the president of the United States. Quite the moment this has been. And politics is struggling with it more than any other sector. And happening really fast. Snowballing effect. Sexual harassment doesnt seem to be tolerated. Concern among women that there will be backlash, revolution eat its own. But everyone agrees if we can make safer workplaces and bring men on board in that, dont feel victimized or objects of revenge, well be better off. Number of women running for office is stratospheric levels. Week before franken allegations, you said theres going to be some that wonder is that resignation worthy, do you throw him out . But ultimately thats what happens in moments of revolutions, not sure moments but larger things. Bizarre speech he gave. If hes innocent, owes it to himself and voters who gave him the seat to stay and fight. Doesnt surprise me theres been back and forth. But initial New York Times story, Harvey Weinstein is single bhoeft influential piece of journalism that instantly changed this country. Not bill oreilly, the fox firings, canaries in the coal mine. Its what requires Death Penalty and standard has gotten slim on what ends a career. But i think this is going to provide a lot of opportunities for women, younger men who behave themselves, this is a society changing event, set of circumstances. November 2018, i think when were looking at new faces of congress, going to see what House Bank Scandal did in 1992, wiped out people on both sides of the aisle. This moment on women and Sexual Assault may wipe out 50 members left and right. I think thats right and i think theyre bracing for the possibility. Lot of people both sides of the aisle think this is going to be year of the woman had it comes to 2018. Democrats have tried to seize the moral high ground on this, stress tried to because its complicated. And white house knows it has work to do. Lot of the president s accusers came forward, didnt feel like heard during the campaign and they are now. White house is infuriated. Say the voters have had their say. New words from merriam webster. Troll as verb. Dog whistle. Surprised hadnt been there before, and altright. What does that say about america . Wow, you know, im 64 years old and sitting here whole world is changing and im just sort of astonished by it all. One thing im going to tell viewers to do you have to start trolling people charlie. Its really a lot of fun. When charlie starts trolling stu rothenburg, well know the world has changed. Thats all for today. Thanks to our viewers for being part of the broadcast. We take your critiques seriously. Continue to send them in. On behalf of everyone at msnbc, wish everybody a safe, happy, healthy, politically less stressful year. Be back next week. If its sunday, its meet the press. Get awesomely fast wifi that gives you coverage here, here and here. And it even lets you take a timeout. Nooooooo yes amazing speed, coverage and control. All with an xfi gateway. Im to help you park safelyball danin your garage. Ring its part of my new years resolution no more mayhem. Making sure your car is pulled in far enough. But not too far. Prices of the season on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort your sleep number setting. And snoring . Does your bed do that . Its the lowest prices of the season on the queen c4 mattress with adjustable comfort on both sides. Now only 1199, save 400. Plus, 24 month financing available. Ends monday. Visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Good evening. 2017 is wrapping up. This is our final edition of the beat for the year. And what a year its been. So folks, cue the music. No, not that music. Although we have a fallback friday tonight with nominations for the whole year. But we actually begin with a very special report on the one force that has boxed in Donald Trumps first year in office unlike any other administration in history. A report on bob muellers russia probe. And in a moment my special panel and i will explore what mueller taught trump this year and why hes not done for 2018. Youll notice two of our favorite lawyers there