By 20 points in 2016. Overall democratsage overperformed in the eight special elections since 2016 by an average of more than 12 points compared to the president ial race in 16. Last nights contest became a litmus test of sorts for the president and his party. Today some republicans expressed a sense of dread. If youre a republican in a safe seat, youd better be ready. I dont think you need to be alarmed but certainly need to be reflective on what happened. Every race is a wakeup call. See what we did right and what we did wrong. The president who travelled to the district twice dispatched two of his children there, his Vice President there, and his top an strategist claimed credit for cutting the loss. Paul ryan agreed with the president and that nonsense. Lets watch. Look, i think the president helped close this race. You saw the public polling. It wasnt looking good and the president helped close this race. Toldie. Meanwhile, trump allis told the Washington Post the poor showing tuesday was not a reflection on the president. Instead a reminder the gop should be embracing candidates who emulate the unscripted former reality tv star. Heres why last nights results are so scary for republicans. Currently there are 114 republicanheld house seats now considered easier for democrats to win than pennsylvanias 18th district. That means 114 potential past for democrats in november, all easier than what they pulled the victory at last night. Democrats need just 23 seats to take control of the house. Taking control would mean dras controlling committees on the house. That means intelligence and judiciary, having subpoena power and ultimately controlling the president s fate through the democrats control of impeachment. Nearly 60 dras have already voted to move the house toward impeach tag trump. Already 60. Im joined by robert costa, from the Washington Post, susan page, usa today and our big guest tom perez, chairman of the Democratic National committee. Susan del io, republican strategist. The two reporters up top, robert you first, this victory last night. It turned out going into it that if saccone, the republican candidate, had won it would have been an upset. I know were calling it an upset. It looked so bad for the republicans. If he squeaked a victory, that would have been considered a big one. Republican lawmakers are very troubled today. They say if you cant win, if a republican cant have a clean win in a district trump won by 20 Percentage Points in 2016, that doesnt bode well. This is trump country, are, a land of steel mills and coal mines. Its not the suburbs. Its western pennsylvania. Ful democrats run marines and always a marine, not axe marine, if they run guys run and clean with no record to run against and they look attractive and Everything Else going for them, thats the right message. Will the democrats get that message . You cant just run candidates. You have to run the right ones in the right places. Thats the question for perez. Primary season just started in texas. Look at what happened in texas. There there was infighting going on in those texas primaries a couple weeks ago. A whole round of democratic primaries soon. You wont have conor lamb and roy jones. Are they going to have the same war they had in 2016, the Bernie Sanders democrat versus the establishment democrat or can they come together and have the same candidates and recruitment they had in 2006 when they won the house last an time. Susan, how does it look in texas . Theyre looking at all the big states for the dems come november . I think texas is one of those places that democrats often think is about to turn their way. But it seems to me this is maybe still a little bit early in the transition of the demographic and other transition of texas for this to be a great state for them. Wham pennsylvania shows, there are republican held house districts in places like michigan and wisconsin and illinois and new york and new jersey that now look much more, the prospects seem much brighter than they did 24 hours ago. What about the picking of candidates . Its very hard for Party Leaders like the one well talk to in a second to pick their favorite candidate but there are candidates who look better going in the general election than others. You can be very left, for example, in, some parts of the country and successfully and other parts youd better not do that, trim your sail a bit going into say places like texas or western pennsylvania. You can be prochoice but be careful how you say it, for example. I think the way lamb said it personally prolife. Dont be too militant in that area in certain parts of the country. What do you think . You need a candidate that fits the district. The candidate you want to run in california is different from the candidate you want to run in ohio. So that is something that i think the party mounting the challenge, Democratic Party this time, has to be pretty sensitive to. The question is, will they have that big tent strategy where democrats backed conor lamb even though he said he was not in favor of nancy pelosi as their leader and not in favor of gun control, not in favor of banning assault weapons. This is a question for the Party Going Forward how flexible theyll be on some of these issues that have been litmus tests for party up to now. It will be interesting if he says he wont vote pelosi when you runs in the next district where you has to run for a full term. Hes not going to get to vote for pelosi in this term. That props is meaningless. Sorry, mr. Lamb. Tom perez, thats a great question. Are you ready to do whats necessary . As he once heard in a great movie, to win 218 votes in the house . Find candidates who may not pass the litmus test of the real progressives but pass the test of the voters in that district . Conor lamb is a great example of what were doing. Ive known conor. Conor lamb has to does whats best in his district. The beauty was, chris, this wasnt about nancy pelosi. The republicans are they say it is. The republicans tried to make it about the reason he won is because he was fighting for those mine workers who didnt have their pensions. Health care was the number one issue, chris, in that district. And they vote fod for democrats. Health care in pennsylvania, because health care says to a wife of somebody working or a woman, middle aged woman, if the husband loses the job, that means no health care. It means in all families, you lose your job, you lose your health care. With obamacare, its even more fragile sometimes. What ive been learning, this is not an aberration. This is a continuation of a trend. Weve seen it in state special elections in 2018. Weve won special elections in kentucky, wisconsin, New Hampshire, in florida. The list goes on. The common denominator is we are fielding spectacular candidates. How many conor lambs you got in your pocket right now . A tremendous stable of remarkable candidates. In texas, we can take on Pete Sessions and elect the first two latinas to congresses in texas. Mr. Chairman, you found the new jack murtha in this guy, the perfect guy for southwestern pennsylvania. In the wake of last nights loss, House Republican leaders are working on messaging. Heres what they had to say earlier today. Its important to also talk about what would happen if nancy pelosi became speaker again. Last week we got a good glimpse of that because the democrats laid out their alternative to our tax cut plan. They get the majority. If democrats get the house and senate, their bill will raise taxes. 40 million in the hands of real people in our communities will go a lot further than if it was just sitting in washington, d. C. We need to execute. We need to get our message and make sure our candidates arent massively outraised and outspent on tv. Susan, give me a sense what the republican message will be to lose in a safe district for them thats not safe . Last nights results should be very concerning to republicans. If 2017 was the canary in the coal mine, last nights result is the first case of black lung for the republicans, theres no question. Now what republicans need to do is focus on their district. When they Start Talking about nancy pelosi in a swing district, the other candidate will talk about donald trump. There were a lot of very good points brought up earlier. How far to the left will some of these candidates go in a swing district against a republican. And that will be the challenge for the democrats. Of course, the challenge for the republicans in swing districts is to run from their home base and not from washington. If they run from washington, people are sick of it. That was part of congressman elect lambs message was he hasnt gone washington. Is the name trump a plus or negative for the typical candidate for reelection this year . Susan . Its a double edged sword. Some candidates need to get the trump base out for them to win. That could be the margin of victory. At the same time, they cant turn all the independents. Im asking you the question, whats better to be for trump or question him . If youre a republican. Depends where youre a republican. If youre a republican from a swing district, you cant talk about trump. Hell bring you down. Even with trump up 20 points two years ago or not even two years ago, trump does not endorse well. His endorsement is not meaningful. People dont care. Thats why his Approval Rating is in the 30s while people think that the economy is doing well and its rating in the 50s. What do you make, tom perez, youre the democratic leader. Im blown apart sometimes by what conservatives and evangelicals will taking from trump. They were so tough on clinton. I was tough on clinton. He wasnt square with us about the monica business. A lot of people said move on, a lot of progressives said that. You can see progressives because they are more tolerant. But when you see a conservative evangelical saying give account guy a mulligan, doesnt that amaze you . Does that is work with Stormy Daniels stuff and firing your secretary of state like hes a criminal, treating him like a bum. Is that bad behavior hurting had im . You usually get one mulligan every 18 holes. Not one every hole. I think whats happening now and why you see donald trump becoming such an albatross is that people understand that hes dishonest. Hes deceitful. He promises were going to deal with the dreamers and then he turns around and does the opposite. He promises on common sense gun violence. Then he literally turns around and does the opposite. He pronlss im going to help workers out and in green county where you have all the coal miners hes screwing them on the issue of pensions. Hes hurting people on health care. Its honesty. The culture of corruption here, and one of the people in this clip on the republican side, catherine Mcmorris Rogers has a great opponent in district 5 out in Washington State, a woman named lisa brown. I believe we can win everywhere. I was out in Washington State recently. Were leading. Congratulations, mr. Chairman. Last night you won a big one in pennsylvania. Thank you, robert costa. You could talk a lot more about pennsylvania and thank you mr. Chairman and susan page. Coming up, one day after firing his secretary of state by tweet, Donald Trumps planning more changes to his administration. Hes remaking his cabinet in his own America First image. And surrounding himself with people who agree with him. Yes men and yes woman. Let trump be trump. Of course, thats ahead. Plus, students across the country are leading the fight for common sense gun laws. Today they protested washingtons doing nothing on guns with a nationwide walkout. Like the kong gres gres has walked out, too. Will it force congress to act . Trump says he hires the best people and likes to listen to many different gaenz when it comes to his actions, its the opposite. The west wing is a revolving door. If you Say Something he doesnt like, youre gone. Whats this say about trump as a leader . No link in there. Finally a big thing that happens 50 years ago tomorrow. This is hardball, where the action is. Ke most of you, i just bought a house. Oh very nice. Now im turning into my dad. I text in full sentences. I refer to every child as chief. This hat was free. What am i supposed to do, not wear it . 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She called the attack a defining moment for u. N. Security council. Lets watch. If we dont take immediate concrete measures to address this is now, salisbury will not be the last place we see chemical weapons used. They could be used here in new york or in citieses or any country that sits on had council. Member states say they oppose the use of chemical weapons under any circumstance. Now one member stands accused of using chemical weapons on the sovereign soil of another member. The credibility of this council will not survive if we fail to hold russia accountable. For its part, and the United Kingdom has taken swift action against russia. Theresa may voted the immediate expulsion of 238 Russian Diplomats living in the country. The white house said it supports that decision. Is she different than trump or what . Well be right back. Watery near. For all the people who sneeze around dust. Theres Flonase Sensimist allergy relief. 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According to the Washington Post, the president as rash decision to go it alone on tariffs and north korea having shaken and learned the west wing staff. With less dissent from his closest advisers they say trump has been liberated to manage his administration as he did his private business. A person who has spoke it on the president tells the Associated Press that trump in recent days has told confidantes he feels emboldened and less willing to put up with disloyalty around him. There are signs more departures could come from the white house possibly including h. R. Mcmaster who has butted heads with the president. The uncertainty is feeling anxiety feeling it within the west wing as one official tells axios, this is the most toxic working environment on the planet. This atmosphere is ripping people apart. Theres no leadership, no trust, no direction. And at this point, theres very little hope. Meanwhile, it was announced today gary cohn will be replaced by larry kudlow, the long time cnbc anchor and economist. Joining me is karen bass of california and phil rucker White House Bureau chief at the Washington Post and an msnbc political analyst. First the news, phil. You guys know whats going on. You have been sniffing out trouble for a long time now. How many more heads . It seems like trumps kawing it hunting season. He said on the driveway a couple days ago, yeah, im almost where i want to get. In other words, more heads to go. So chris, i was just talking to a few senior white house officials this afternoon about this. Theres a feeling there will definitely be more departures and changes to come. In part because the president is more than a year into this job. He has a clear sense of who he thinks is doing a good job in the cabinet in the senior staff, who is doing a bad job, who he gets along with and ho doesnt. One official said think of it as a thinning out of the inner circle and he is going to try to rely on people who he feels like get him and understand him. And so thats why youre seeing a move like replacing Rex Tillerson with mike pompeo at the state department, someone the president has a real Comfort Level with. You know will, just thinking back to our best president s that succeeded politically. Roosevelt had harry hopkins. Reagan had jim baker. They relied on certain people. They relied on certain people all the time. They needed a con sill aere. You dont know what this is going to lead to, mr. President or the consequence you havent considered. You need somebody to secondguess you, not challenge you all the time but be a bigger brain for you. Does trump think his brain is enough to answer all the big questions, make all the Big Decisions without help . Is that what he thinks he can do . I think