that is why it is confusing. nobody laughed here and you didn't laugh. >> i hope you have a great time trick-or-treating. i want to welcome everybody. it is halloween. the top story begins with mike johnson's first full week as speaker of the house. after the offense of swift, many are still learning about him, let alone the rest of the nation that had never heard of him. the point became a funny punchline this weekend on saturday night live. >> your name is what? >> mike johnson. no one will forget that. >> how did you end up speake >> no one knows. >> there e clues. reports diving into who and how he might lead. why a party that was so paralyzed infighting settled on this particular man. part of the answer stems from weakness. the top elected republicans and visible figures were too divisive to went over the caucus. that is unusual. it down to mccarthy and scalise and brands like jim jordan. part of the answer turns on the wolf of wall street problem. that is the challenge of advertising a week or unpopular product. i will come back to that. movie buffs may recall that. let's get into why mike johnson has suddenly become leo stratton oakmont. the gop felt saddled with divisive baggage and firebrands and people like jim jordan that were really the fox news face of a kind of endless grievance culture against biden, that didn't work. they turned instead to a figure that is cast is calm, dry and boring. that is how johnson often sounded since his election. it is how he sounded last time he was here on the beat. he was overwhelmingly, and stylistically mellow. just hours before republicans elected him as speaker, jeffries began to preview the democrats opening salvo against johnson. this is what he told me. >> mike johnson has a pleasant demeanor. his voting record is as extreme as the most extreme members of the conference. someone like kevin mccarthy or steve scalise or jim jordan, voted to overturn the 2020 election. >> that is the opening argument against him. democrats are saying that is now on display. the mild demeanor is a mask for now seeking clashes with the biden lighthouse. speaker johnson taking what in other years would be a point of unity and trying to wedge his effort to undercut biden's past domestic programs, including climate attacks into legislation on the middle east. white house official c johnson who just met with the president as basically trying to give republicans and arguably powerful face for the same old attacks on everything from budget ideas to the approach to ukraine. as for johnson's actual record, it is clearly more conservative. or more extreme than some members of the republican caucus. johnson was promoted so fast that background and statements are geing vetted in reverse. they are coming out after he got job. the united states of america is not a democracy. democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner. you don't want to be in a democracy. majority rules is not always a good thing. >> there is also reporting of how he likened environmentalists as being devil tacticians and that is what you heard about hohe said democracy works which is striking, considering as trump tried to overthrow his legal lawson stage a coup in 2020, johnson was the important architect of the electoral college plank of that strategy. he also backs national abortion bans and wants to overturn marriage equality. though he did tell members recently, but he sees this rule as representing the whole party, not just the past views. his ideology or what he said was representing his district. many republicans view him as the better political face than those i mentioned or the longtime figures that flailed and ultimately failed. that is how he became the answer to the wolf of wall street problem. let me explain. this is a party that even before trumpets and was losing over and over. if you check the numbers, not opinion and not personality, the republican party lost the total vote in seven of the last eight elections. they have seen trump and politics drag down the results in every midterm sense trump emerged. when a product is weak or unpopular, that is when we can bring back the wolf of wall street. these were the penny stocks that leo's character was talking. you can't benny penny stocks or something at the value of zero. you can't say what you are selling. you have to spin or divert or outright lie as leo did in selling the junk stocks, pretending the warehouse was actually a top-tier financial firm. they made up this branding and called it stratton oakmont. this is what some republicans appear to see johnson as with the record i mentioned in the losses i mentioned in the way jim jordan couldn't even get the party together, they have their hopes, even if in the movie, it was a bid to hide talks or toxic agenda and toxic assets he was selling. >> can i finish eating first? >> it is done. sell me that penn. >> write your name on a napkin. >> i don't have append. >> supply and demand. >> the firm whose roots are so deeply embedded into wall street that our very founders sailed over on the mayflower and chiseled the name stratton oakmont. >> from adenosine where he did this shady work to that brand presentation of the new stratton oakmont and its faults pledges. at least in the movie they all turned out to be false. that is the brand or perhaps the mask for an agenda. we are discussing this on halloween night. data that mask sounds spooky. democrats say the consequences will be scarier than any ghost costume. one obama veteran linked mike johnson to the season on the night he became speaker. this was last week after that rebel assist. >> do not be fooled by the costumes. matt gates's bipartisan centrist reasonable anticorruption guy. mike johnson is every bit the flamethrower that jim jordan is. he just wears glasses and on the clark kent the size -- disguise. >> he is striking a similar point. when house democrats blast mike johnson as potentially the worst thing yet, it is worth noting the fact. democrats use their votes to help very few republicans. about eight of them firing mccarthy. that is a mathematical fact and that times has gotten lost. did all those antics lead to a speaker that is worse than mccarthy? that is part of the debate in time he tell. top democrats stress this was a republican implosion. it is not their job to save speaker mccarthy when he wouldn't seek any compromise or nod of wanting to get there. how do you build a bipartisan deal when someone won't make a deal to save their own job. they argue that republicans picked johnson as the replacement. until that is fair, the numbers go and the numbers,. a different kind of speaker who was at least willing to publicly engage might have pulled some of those votes another way and we might not be talking about mike johnson who fnl said is so hard to remember. the branding matters. whether you call it a brand or costume or deceptive advertising. we are actually living through this public inflection point and shift, at least in republican branding if not substance. it tells you something about how where they are that jim jordan just like matt gates or speaker scalise wasn't going to do the trick. too unpopular and too divisive. what do we have? is that there bridge to something better as some argued? a stratton oakmont moment. we have the after mentioned political halloween expert and -- . i want to get into this with both of you. we are back in one minute. min. i started a dog walking business. oh. [dog barks] no it's just a bunny! only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ hey, grab more delectables. only pay for what you need. you know, that lickable cat treat? de-lick-able delectables? yes, just hurry. hmm. it must be delicious. delectables lickable treat. with the freestyle libre 2 system, know your glucose level and where it's headed. no fingersticks needed. manage your diabetes with more confidence. freestyle libre 2. try it for free at freestylelibre.us welcome to stratton oakmont. a firm whose roots are so deeply embedded into wall street that our founders sailed over on the mayflower and chiseled the name stratton oakmont right into play for them. >> there you have it. welcome to both of you and happy halloween. you brought up the halloween so we wanted to get that in there. i put the question to you, i walk through what we know about mike johnson. his first big move which is leaning into a fight you didn't have to pick. i ask you as so many get costumes ready. is this a move for leadership and change and reform by the republican party or is it a stratton oakmont style -- >> i think it is a con. with the gop, everything is a con. what is striking about the last couple of days, this is a time when people put on a costume. this halloween night looks like the sky is is off. the house republican caucus is a full extension of the trump campaign. if you see mike johnson do two things. i was going to call him mike stratton for a second. >> he has more experience than both of us. you and i might make that fumble. >> i have watched wolf of wall street way too many times. you have seen mike johnson do two things. in line with vladimir putin and provided in comfort to rich -- by thing he wants to cut the irs. a cause dear to donald trump's heart. i think you will continue to see everything the campaign wants to happen. mike johnson will make it happen. >> same question to you mark. so much of politics is the fury that signifies nothing. who is speaker of the house matters. everybody is reminded. he is involved in if and how the united states funds and there are two wars going on. along with a lot of other stuff. your thoughts on the speaker? >> it is not like there is a lot of nostalgia you here, certainly among democrats from the glory days of kevin mccarthy. the truth, kevin mccarthy was not the firebrand of the jim jordan were some of the other visible leaders in the party. matt gaetz or marchitelli green. johnson is a palatable figure. i also wouldn't underestimate the power of the unknown. people are not sick of a guy like him. he does present fairly well. it is clear where he has coming from. he clearly has a constituency mainly of the far white -- right. >> as we learned in the last round of chaos, the moderates, if they have a spine, it doesn't hold up for long. maybe they drew lines in the sand, certainly around jordan potentially becoming speaker. it remains to be seen what they are willing to fight over or whether there will be internal rebellion. numerically, johnson is vulnerable. it is not that hard to do another motion to vacate. if you lose is four or five votes, he is in trouble. there will be a honeymoon and that serves him well. >> it is the same reason some of the press, people say this hasn't happened since when, we are living through a time where a lot has changed in politics. in the old days you say, the speaker usually goes two years. both of even dealt with the rebels decided to back away rather be ousted. they have much more of a mechanism for the no-confidence vote. johnson came in this way. he is different than past speakers. he also seems to benefit from the people that do know him. members have been around him a bit. he did not earn the enemy us for example jim jordan. i'm not talking about indians or liberals, enough republicans said no way were as i want to read to you from the post that had an exhaustiveunt. they talk about how at one int , they went through a list of all house republicans to see who doesn't have four enemies. johnson and bruce westerman are the only two he could think of. >> it does help. >> that i also wouldn't underestimate the exhaustion factor after going through what republicans did. people were very eager to just end this. so little was known about johnson. he didn't have the bad will that jordan and others did. >> -- is tighter with biden. then came back and did the opening stint as chief of staff and has not been as of tonight, involved in as many criminal or coup investigations. >> andrew wiseman is coming up later. i want to tell you what he said about how the white house and biden might look at this speaker. >> that is where the republicans are in the house. >> that is what you expect of a top official. >> have you balance that with what people like you work on which is revving up for a campaign. is unpopular. biden and trump are not highly unifying of popular figures right now. how do you tear up for that? while also holding an outstretched arm to get work done. they're not dying to hear a year of biden and trump fights. there is a message environment that mike johnson will try to create. you have to avoid it by finding those republicans. have no interest in seeing donald trump go back to the white house. they are more interested in seeing themselves returned to congress. then create that working coalition. that is something ronald reagan was able to do in the early 80s. there was a group of democrats which gave him a working majority in the house of representatives. that is something joe biden will have to try to do going forward. >> that is how the party works. in theory, these are the next few months were you get a few things done before you are deep into campaign season. in practice, things look less functional than ever. that is why tonight's news is the speaker isn't taking what again? even i don't know pick a name. there is a new war on, let's have a week of that and then if you want to do the irs thing, do it later. >> he wants to have a fight. >> he is signaling where is bread is butter. it is more chaos. there was a disastrous 10 months or so. they have had a lot of spectacles around that speaker vote. what is interesting, maccarthy did two responsible things. one was doing that debt ceiling deal with the white house and averting the government shutdown a month ago. both of those things were his undoing. especially the latter. that is what triggered the motion to vacate. it is -- to the most responsible thing mike pence ever did was voting like the sky is blue. he's going to vote for the certification of joe biden. that was responsible and will be remembered well. >> that is interesting. >> we thought of that film because it is a reminder that people can be, and. other people get conned, not us. to see any final thoughts from matt. is there anything else we should know? >> one of the things that is interesting is it is not just jordan belford that is doing it. he has a huge office full of people that are all in with him making it work. that is something to keep in mind. we have to think about the fact there is a huge apparatus. mark leibowitz has written about it really well. the other final thought is martin scorsese was in his 70s when he made the movie. he said it was incredible to see a man of his age making a punk rock film. we should remind ourselves, age is not determinate as to the kind of person or things to create. >> you see what he does. an interesting point that is true. you can think about that in many context. not just one person. that comes through in the film. too many people involved. then he fits in a democratic advertisement of don't be anxious. anyone can do anything at any age. >> he was calling for joe biden to pivot to a punk rock presidency for the remaining time. we will see what that looks like. >> next time when we reconvene, we want to figure out who is rob reiner of the administration. >> thanks to both of you and happy halloween. andrew wiseman is here. we going to bring him into that conversation including the newly gagged defendant trump. y new pronamel active shield actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a gamechanger for my patients- it really works. kate is going big and going home for the holidays. that's the plan. at michaels she got everything to make cookies that were anything but cutter. turn ideas into i-did-its. ♪ (holiday music) ♪ hi, my name is damion clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. all of these plans include a healthy options allowance, a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. other benefits on these plans include free rides to and from your medical appointments. and our large networks of doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. so, call the number on your screen now and ask about a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. humana. a more human way to healthcare. hey, grab more delectables. you know, that lickable cat treat? 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[ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. andrew wiseman is about to join me. i want to begin with the setup. donald trump has a strategy that is well known. he will blaster and claim he will take on any investigator. it is a pr thing to project the idea that is not intimidating. that is how he played the mueller probe. trump claimed he would go face-to-face with miller and would take questions. there were headlines about something he never did. he never took live questions. then trump talked tough about the attorney general. then ducked her questions and subpoena until he was held in civil contempt and forest to show up for deposition where he had to go so he did. all that bluster faded and then trump pleading the fifth. i don't mean a couple mes, he did over 400 times. that record is why it has been so unusual to see him on the stand. this is the same case were he was running from the deposition. than avoiding her. that is the legal right. it was a long way from the bluster. today, he is claiming to talk tough and posting a photo claiming she sits in court all day while crime goes rampant. the problem with that is, the attorney general is in court dealing with alleged fraud. that is how the courts deal with lawbreaking. the post even as an attack does not make sense. trump is headed back to the stand, along with family members that he has tapped. don junior is scheduled to testify tomorrow followed by eric trump and ivanka trump next week and then trump himself. the lawyers going out to them alleged fraud. they are hoping don junior will be as loud on the stand as he has been in some of the right- wing interviews. >> they want to throw trump in jail for 1000 years and with the death penalty. >> is like the start of the revolution. we don't like you so were gonna confiscate property. >> it is owned in an llc. that is a corporation. because i am a part of it somehow, that has to be disbanded. >> trump junior sounds horrified that the corporate ownership structure which they picked and they designed for their self- interest to house the basic legal architecture of the ownership is no longer serving his interest. this was their choice. a lot of people that own cabins don't house them in shelter. this fraud civil trial is a big threat to his business empire while he also faces three separate criminal trials. two likely caring prison time for anyone convicted on charges that he is legally presumed innocent. the washington, dc case will come first and march. he is also lashing out at prosecutors and potential witnesses they are. he began this week doubling his gag orders from one in new york to 2. jack