Starts right now. Good evening from new york on this Martin Luther king jr. Day. Im chris hayes. There are now just four days until donald trump is sworn in as this nations 45th president. Right now, he is poised to enter office amid a swirling and growing tornado of controversy that at least for any other political figure would widely be seen as creating a major legitimacy crisis. Trump, of course, will become president despite Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote. The widest margin of any losing candidate in american history. He will take Office Despite any assessment from the Intelligence Community that the russian government interrupted to boost his chances and what influence the russian government may holdover him. While most president s have seen their popularity hit a high point right before they are sworn in, trump is at historic lows. Comparing to bill clintons favorable rating of 66 and george w. Bushs 62 and Barack Obamas nearly 80 , trump, by contrast, is sitting right now at just 40 . More than 20 points less than each of his three predecessors. Trump is viewed unfavorably by a majority. 55 of adults nationwide. A majority compared to 18 unfavorable rating for barack obama before his inauguration. Meanwhile, even before trump is sworn in, a Resistance Movement has taken shape against what republicans say is their top number one priority under the new president , that, of course, the repeal of the Affordable Care act with thousands pouring into the streets into the country into congressional offices this weekend to protest efforts to take away their health care. Perhaps the starkest scene was in colorado. A republican congressman mike kaufman snuck out of a constituent event early. After more than 150 people showed up, many of them there to confront them over the repeal effort. I am going to potentially lose my health insurance. Ive had a preexisting condition. Ive had Breast Cancer. Whats going to happen to me . E im trying to get an answer and i cant even get in. As for trump, he engaged in publ public feuds. He also lashed out at john lewis tweeting, congressman john lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart, not to mention crimeinfested, rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk, no actions or results. Sad. That would be this john lewis who helped lead the 1963 march on washington and had his skull fractured by state troopers after marching into selma, alabama, in 1965 and who described trump as an illegitimate president. I dont see the president elect as a legitimate president. I think the russians participated in having this man get elected and they have destroyed the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. I dont plan to attend the inauguration. It would be the first one that i miss since ive been in the congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel is wrong. Lewis decision not to attend fridays inauguration and trumps response has spurred many of lewis colleagues to follow suit. There are as of now at least 31 democratic lawmakers who have announced plans to boycott, including one, who i will speak to in just a moment. The question of the president s legitimacy is not a new one for trump, of course, a man who spent years questioning obamas legitimacy by pushing a false Conspiracy Theory known as birthism. Yesterday, Reince Priebus said that obama should side with trump over lewis. Its irresponsible for john lewis, as historic as he is, to have done this. The other piece is, chuck, that barack obama should step up as well and call it what it is. Its wrong what is happening. Its wrong how some of these democrats are treating president elect trump. Trump marked todays holiday at a meeting with Martin Luther king iii and pressed trump to make it easier for americans to vote. Lewis, for his part, urged young africanamerican men to stand by their beliefs at an event honoring Martin Luther king jr. So i say to you, young men, you must have courage. You must be bold. And never, ever give up when you know that you are right. Joining me now, democratic representative ted lu of california says he will not attend and a member of the House Democratic leadership who says hes undecided whether hell be there on friday. Congressman lu, let me start with you. Can you give me your reasoning for not going . Thank you, chris, for that question and its an honor to be on your show with the hakim j f jeffries. Donald trump won the election but i cannot normalize his bigoted statements, he abeing taed gold star parents, john mccain, latinos and africanamericans and now john lewis. Do i stand with donald trump or john lewis and im standing with john lewis. Are you doing something that is toxic or destructive to americans basic institutional character when youre doing Something Like this . What makes America Great is that unlike russia, we dont make people watch parades or ceremonies. Keep in mind, nothing is happening in terms of vote casts or policies being enacted. Its pageantry. Can donald trump have a good idea . Yes, he can. So when he withdraws the United States from the transpacific partnership, i will support it. But if hes got bad ideas, like creating a muslimamerican registry, im going to fight like hell to oppose them. Congressman jeffries, you have not announced what youll be doing on Inauguration Day. How do you communicate what youre feeling as a member of congress and Constitutional Office by going or not going . Well, the peaceful transfer of power is an important part of american democracy and very unique to the republic and something that we should respect. I dont think not attending the inauguration would be disrespecting that principle in this particular situation because john lewis is right, theres a cloud of illegitimacy around donald trump. The russians interfered with his election. James koep acomey and the fbi interfered with his election. He lost the popular vote. The majority of americans voted against him. Every member is going to have to work why is that different than just whining because you lost . Because, you know, the notion that a foreign power could have interfered with american democracy in a way that could have altered the results is a unique threat to the republic and thats a serious thing for each member to consider and to weigh. Im going to spend the next day or so in the district speaking to people in brooklyn and queens. Whats the equation . What are you balancing right now when you think about this . Again, the principle of the peaceful transfer of power and the opportunity, quite frankly, to be in the presence of barack obama for the final time as the 44th president is the only good reason that any democrat may choose to attend. But chris, the nerve and its great to be on with ted. The nerve that folks on the other side of the aisle who declared war on barack obama on day one to lecture any democrat about president ial etiquette is just striking. Congressman, first let me ask you this, congressman lieu, do you agree with hakeem jeffries, that its a cloud of legitimacy. Do you believe him to be legitimate . There absolutely is a cloud of illegitimacy and donald trump can remove that cloud. He can release his tax returns so well know if hes got special interests in russia or Business Holdings in russia that we need to know about. On day one, donald trump is going to be a violation of the constitution, article 1, section 9, which says you cant have conflicts of interest. If he takes his vast global Business Holdings and divest them or put them in blind trusts, he refuses not to. Its upon donald trump to remove this cloud of illegitimacy. That article, the emoluments clause, we should be clear, congressman jeffries, you talk about how republicans dealt with barack obama and theres that old drug antidrug commercial where the dad asks his son where did you learn how to do this . He said, i learned it from you, dad. And they are saying, well, they were i am plaquable opposition to barack obama and it kind of worked so maybe we should do that. The role of the majority is to govern. The role of the minority is to get back into the role of the majority. That said, were not going to follow the irresponsible model set forth by the other side. There are 30 people who are going to boycott his inauguration. Half didnt attend when barack obama was reelected in 2012. Keep in mind, their obstruction came in the midst of two failed wars and the worst economy since the great depression. All were saying is, donald trump has some issues that he has to work out. By the way, he was the leader of the birther movement. He perpetrated the racist line that barack obama wasnt born in the United States of america so hes got some things hes got to apologize for and deal with and then he has a broe mans with donald trump and then attacks a civil rights icon. Hes given us ever reason to say there are going to be some problems the day hes sworn in. Congressman lieu, i thought some tweets would come from the president elect when i saw chuck todd and congressman john lewis. The tweets from donald trump were completely inappropriate and shows one of the weaknesses of trump. Instead of addressing the very real issues of legitimacy, he attacks the messenger. Right. He attacks john lewis and his district, which is false, his district is doing great. By attacking the messenger, it shows a sign of weakness and hes not addressing the very real legitimacy issues that he needs to clear up. Congress men, thank you both for your time. Well check back with you, congressman jeffries, to see if well see you there on friday. Joining me now is michael steele. This is what is striking to me about the lewis thing, aside from the fact that anyone else would have taken a pass. You dont need to engage. Right. But the tweets about he should spend more time helping and fixing his district falling apart, not to mention crimeinfested, lewis represents buckhead and the downtown atlanta. The Atlanta Journal constitution, atlanta to trumpwrong. He thinks john lewis is black, he associates blackness with falling apart inner cities and attacking for a fictional district. Thats it. I mean, its the stereotype of the black congressman representing a black district thats got to be poorly uneducated, et cetera, et cetera. It speaks to this stereotype narrative that some have about black officials, black politicians, black leaders that they represent not prosperity and opportunity. Right. And a way forward but rather represent the misaligned. Its so bs that it drives me up the wall when i hear this. Not just with Donald Trumps tweets but in politics generally. I hear it from the right, i hear it from the left. These assumptions about black people, the black community as a whole whenever theres a tragic event its the first thing you hear about the person who was shot or killed was whether or not they had a criminal record. So its this constant stereotyping of a people that after a while becomes too much. I hear you on that. Thats something that i sorry. Ill get off my soapbox. Its something that is frustrating. I want to ask you about your reaction to watching john lewis, his comments, trump attacking him. I think trump attacking him ended up pushing a lot of members of congress to side with lewis. Yes. If im choosing between john lewis and donald trump, this is not a tough one. What do you think of the 30plus members skipping the inauguration. They can make it for personal, political or whatever reason. Thats fine. I do think it is a bit much. I think theres a lot more drama around this. This was really unfortunate. I think donald trump should have handled it better. As president of the United States, you should never punch down. The congressman expressed his own personal view. Thats john lewis choice. So you live with that. If i were in his shoes, what i would have advised the president elect to do is say, look, im sorry you feel that way. Id like to you come to the inauguration as my guest and if thats too much, lets you and i get together in the oval office after the inauguration and sit down and talk. That is a normal and gracious set of actions that one can take but at this point we know thats not the way he rolls. Its not how he rolls. Right. He punching down, feuds, he thrives on beefs. Its going to be that on friday, on saturday, on sunday and monday. You know, you raise an interesting question, then, going forward. And that is, how much does the office of the presidency change the man or does the man change the office of the presidency . Thats a great question. And i really think thats something that we will get a very strong inclination of over these first 100 days when he has to deal with the congress that will turn less friendlier as the process unfolds with the Supreme Court nomination, with the citizenry thats on edge. Not just those who are against him but those who are have an expectation level from him. Yep. Theres going to be a lot of things that the office of the presidency helps the man deal with and the question is whether or not donald trump will allow the office to do that or will he try to control it as weve seen so far. As very well put. Michael steele, thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate it. You got it. Ill talk to john than chait about h new book and really remarkable images from this weekend as president elect suggests his first concrete idea on what health care should look like under his administration. What he said after this twominute break. Americans 83 try to eat healthy. Yet up 90 fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. Lets do more. Add one a day 50 a complete multivitamin with 100 daily value of more than 15 key nutrients. One a day 50 . So we know how to cover almost almoanything. Hing, even a rodent ridealong. [dad] alright, buddy, dont forget anything [kid] i wont, dad. [captain rod] happy Tuesday Morning captain rod here. Its pretty hairy out on the interstate. Traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. Getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. December 14th, 2015. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum so what do the republicans want to do . They want to repeal and run away. I think repeal and run is for cowards. Senator Elizabeth Warren estimated 6,000 people showed up in boston yesterday. 6,000 people in support of the Affordable Care act. They rallied across the country this weekend in an attempt to pressure republicans against fully repealing obamacare, a move that could throw state Health Care Systems into chaos and strip coverage for millions of americans and as uncertainty reigns and some Cancer Patients who credited the aca with saving their life as they wonder about this fight, the president elect to highlight the Core Principles by which he would like to be judged for the success or failure of his version of health care. In an interview with the washington post, we are going to have insurance for everybody. Also promised to do so with, quote, much lower deductibles and dont worry about paying for it, according to trump. There was a philosophy that if you cant pay for it, you dont get it. Thats not going to happen with us. Now, these new health care promises from trump actually sound a lot like his old ones. Everybodys got to be covered. This is an unrepublican thing for me to say because a lot of times they say no, no, the lower 25 cant afford private. Universal health care . Im going to take care of everybody. Much better than theyve been taken care of now. What trump is saying sounds a lot like universal coverage which is wildly inconsistent and at odds with any republican alternative on the table and also important to note, in the face of trumps own actual plan, a thing they published on their own website during the campaign, Health Reform to make America Great again, would cause almost 21 Million People to lose their insurance coverage. Perhaps this is why it didnt take long for trumps spokesman, sean spicer, to come out and say, trumps goal is to get access to health care, not necessarily make sure everyone has insurance. Which brings us back to this weekends rallies and the fight to defend obamacare, something that has seemed to unify all the various wings of the Democratic Party and indeed the broader centerleft. The rally in michigan with Bernie Sanders there appearing alongside chuck schumer, senator gary peters and gary stabenow. Shes a democrat from michigan. The politics of this are fascinating because we all saw what happened in reverse seven years ago, eight years ago during the Affordable Care act. Is the goal of democrats to essentially reverse engineer their own version of that kind of citizen pressure . Well, first, chris, we missed you yesterday. It was bright sunshine and we had more than 8,000 people. We beat boston. I want that to be on the record. We will let the record reflect that. Please, yes. The truth of the matter is, ive always felt that once we put in place Affordable Health care, additional ability to see their doctor, take away the protection, give protections from Insurance Companies dropping you and so on, that it would be very difficult to go backwards on that, that we would only go forward. Theres more we need to do. I strongly supported a public option for more competition. Theres a lot more to do. But its very difficult to go back because its not political. For the 8,000 people in Macomb