February. First stop, trumps border wall fight. We live in a country where with these people call the shots. They are the ones who told President Trump not to sign the bill to keep the government open. Its a textbook example of what the drive by media calls compromise. Trump gets nothing and the democrats get everything, including control of the house. Itll just have been a joke presidency that scammed the American People, enraged, you know amused the populists for a while. You will youll have no legacy at all. I think not funding the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall has to be built. The president tonight made sure they knew he heard them loud and clear. Ive made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include Border Security. Has to. Not for political purposes but for for our country, for the safety of our community. This is not merely my campaign promise, this is the promise every lawmaker made. But up until this morning it was expected that the government would remain open. All that changed, as trump was bombarded by the fuselage from the right. Thats all that happened. The scene was reportedly in turmoil. A person close to the president described him as 100 in a tail spin. Republicans on capitol hill were left in the dark about what the president would do next. Trump tried to shift the blame to the republican leaders. He tweeted this morning, i was promised a wall and the Border Security by leadership. It didnt happen. Republican house leaders were called to the white house this afternoon where they were unable to convince the president to take the spending bill thats already passed the senate. We just had a very long, productive meeting with the president. The president informed us that he will not sign the bill that came up from the senate last evening because of his legitimate concerns for Border Security. That comes as trump personally called Rush Limbaugh to let him know the news. Just received clearance. The president has gotten word to me that he is either getting funding for the border or hes shutting the whole thing down. And now House Republicans are left with few options. If they pass a bill that includes the president s border wall funding it will surely fail in the senate where republicans lack the 60 votes they need. Theres no plan b on that at this point so it looks like the government will face at least a partial shutdown tomorrow night at midnight. Thats friday night. And joining me right now is carlos corbello, Donna Edwards and robert kosta, National Political reporter for the washington post. Robert, thank you for coming on tonight. This is a strange, chaotic night in our country. Mattis is leaving. The governments about to shut down and the president seems to be taking the lead of the hard right media listening to Rush Limbaugh slamming him for allowing the government to stay open without the wall being put up and ann coulter, my god. As was laura ingraham. Explain why the president has elephant ears for the right wing media. Its a chaotic night here in the newsroom at the post, chris. I feel like were rewriting tomorrows story by the hour due to all of this turbulence, the changing story. The bottom line is that this is a president under siege, a president who governs in part by watching television to see where his base is going and he saw his base breaking with him on the eve of divided government and hes thrusting his government toward a shutdown to make a point, a political point that hes with his core voters. Hes listening to the media, rich limbaugh, lead the people. Is Rush Limbaugh the chicken or the egg here . Is he telling his constituency where to go or is he listening to them . I get the sense that the hard right media are telling a president who represents 45 to 50 of the country what to do. The media cant tell 50 what to do. The media even on the hard right successful, big audience, right wing audiences at Rush Limbaughs radio show, fox, the big shows, they dont represent more than 5 of the country or 10 . Why is he thinking they represent the country . This is a president who doesnt come out of congress, has never governed until he was elected to the presidency. Chris, at the capitol all last night lawmakers were telling me they thought the leadership had backed the president away from a shutdown, that it could have some kind of shortterm compromise and live to fight another day next year over a border wall but the president listening to limbaugh, watching fox news both at night and in the morning, hes trying to tweet to signal to his base, dont break with me. It was not only ann coulter, it was mark meadows, North Carolina congressman and a whole chorus of people on the right. Well, moments ago Democratic LeadersChuck Schumer, nancy pelosi laid the responsibility of the shutdown squarely on the feet of the president. Lets watch them. The president is doing everything he can to shut the government down. You have to ask the question, why . Does he not believe in governance . Does he not care about the American People . Doesnt he know that the economy is uncertain . Hasnt he followed the stock market that he likes to brag about sometimes . Theres something wrong with this picture. Unfortunately, President Trump was attacked this morning and last night by the hard right and fearful he backed off his commitment to sign this bill. Lets talk about it with Chuck Schumer, i think hes got it just right. Its the way we all saw it today in our newsroom. Hes listening to the talkers from the right. I keep reminding people, left or right, that when youre in the media, youre very much passionate about the news, youre talking to progressives, activists, you recognize that they are not 50 . He has to talk, the president , it seems to me 45 of his own people and hes listening to limbaugh who represents 11 Million People on a good day. Thats right, chris. These unelected officials, theyre influential. Theyre unelected. No one has voted them into office. They are making big decisions. A lot of republican members of congress, i can tell you that probably a majority of my republican colleagues do not agree with this decision. A majority of my republican colleagues believe the right thing to do is to pass the bill that the Senate Passed unanimously. And with regards to whos at fault here, i think the president has left very little question because he said last week in his office that he would be the one thats responsible for shutting down the government and he has now put us on that path because even if the house tonight passes the bill with the border funding thats unacceptable to the senate, its going nowhere. So were walking right into a dead end. Donna, you know the difference between commentary and government because youve done both. In this case there is going to be an opening of the government at some point, maybe not tomorrow night, maybe not after christmas, new years, whenever, but theyll eventually reopen. Theres not going to be a wall. What is going to happen here . It seems like the market could keep going down. This could be a long term stalemate where nothing gets agreed to. There isnt going to be a wall an even if you know, say you go to a Government Shutdown like the one we had in 2013, 2014 t will cost the economy 25 billion over the course of that time and so and it doesnt the numbers dont get better for the president because in january then hes dealing with a democratic house. Let me explain. Why does it cost the government . It costs it costs money because, one, you lose the money that you lose because youve got workers who are out of work. Two, you lose you lose money because theres a whole bunch of business that the government does that it just cant do. By the way thats like traffic. It slows everything down. We know the president catches up on fox news. Heres a taste of what hes watching. The president should veto this bill. This breaks a promise with his supporters. Everybody looking at this views this as odius. Were right on this issue. This is a fight worth having. Im troubled by whats going on. I feel like the republicans have caved in again. I think the president should dig in his heels. Im a little bit disappointed that theres been a mixed message going on. This is a fumble and we need to make sure that the president stays firm and a lot of people are very nervous this morning about whether the president will cave or not. This was the top issue, why people voted not just for this president before this administration and it continues to be a top concern for voters across the country. Robert, talk about this, the executive time the president calls it when he listens to this stuff. Does he just turn on the tube, turn on fox, check the other cable stations . What does he do, walk away steaming . Whats his reaction . He seems to be in this case getting his marching orders from rush and ann coulter . During the campaign the president used to tell me and other reporters that hed watch television to make sure he knew where the news was going and hed try to jump into it like it was a river so instead of paying for advertising he was always reacting to the news. Thats why now even as president two years in regardless of what advisors tell him about the whip count on capitol hill, hes always keeping an eye on the television. Where is the news cycle . Where is that chyron . How can he adjust it . When he sees them going a certain direction, he may try to jump in against all of the advice of those around him to try to change the news and change what he thinks is his policy and his perspective. What happened last night . What happened with syria . I mean, i think hes taken his lead from rand paul, people like me are against it. Its unusual for him to break his behavior seems uneven lately. A little dodgy lately. Hes jumping around. Im going to maralago, im not going to maralago. Im letting the government stay open, im nclosing the government. Im getting out of syria. Pull it back. Hes looking at divided government and from the border wall to afghanistan to syria hes trying to check the box and all of these Signature Campaign promises. Remember during the campaign he wanted to shrink the american footprint abroad. Hes trying to tell his base with all of these moves regardless of the consternation at the pentagon and elsewhere that hes ticking off those boxes for his Political Base as they get ready for the whirlwind thats going to be 2019. Hows it going to look, donna, to see the president of the United States in 75 degree florida teeing off . May not go tomorrow but hes going to go sooner or later. Its going to look like it sounded from his office, that hes proud to shut the government down. People are going to start feeling the reverb racgragserat. He went to bed, cut a deal with Senate Republicans and then got up this morning and is easily swayed by the last people who were on the news. This is erratic. Its chaotic and it fits with a president who just doesnt really have a handle on governance anymore, not that he ever did actually. Anybody that has money in the stock market is having a bad time right now because especially old people and 401ks, rich people, anybody who has money in there. Trump has always been mr. Cheerleader. Its got to be the back story here. Every day 500 points, every day. Chris, heres the bottom line. The president ran on Border Security. I think he has every right to insist that we invest more at the border. He did run on the issue and he did win the election. What he doesnt understand or what some people around him dont want to allow him to understand that, if he wants that, hes going to have to compromise. Theres a very symmetrical solution out there. More Border Security. We proposed that 1678921 of our colleagues in the house voted for it. Half republicans. No democrats voted for it. Thats the solution not demanding my way or the highway. I think youre right but i think you have to go further saying comprehensive im all for it. People have been here 10, 20 years. Nobodys going to go home. Just got to deal with some of the illegal hiring and a lot of things have to be dealt with. Thank you. They dont want to do it. Thank you all for offering reasonable scentrism on that. Is that all right . I think so. Robert kosta, close to the president. I mean in reporting him. Coming up another high profile departure from the trump administration. Is this in response to trumps decision . It must have something to do with syria last night. Cause and effect look like its here, although we can argue about syria. Latebreaking news by the way on the status of the Mueller Investigation. We told you a moment ago is the special counsel about to wrap it up . Thats the word from nbc news. Looks like sometime in february were going to get the big report. And to sign or not to sign, trumps in a pickle with his stopgap spending measure aimed at a funding measure will he tore bead doe this bill . The joy and reassurance our political leaders are capable of providing. Did you see the former president with the kids at the childrens hospital. What a scene. This is hardball where the action is. Action is. And just like you, the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. And while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. [laughter] whoo. [crash] and your cutrate insurance might not pay for this. So get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. Mayhem is everywhere. So get an allstate agent. Are you in good hands . So shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, corded and cordfree. Kayla our dad was in the hospital. Josh because of smoking. But we still had to have a cigarette. Had to. Kayla do you know how hard it is to smoke in a hospital . By the time we could, we were like. What are we doing . Kayla it was time for nicodermcq. The nicodermcq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. And doubles your chances of quitting. Nicodermcq. You know why, we know how. Welcome back to hardball. More now on a major story breaking. President trump announced defense secretary james mattis will be quitting at the end of february. Nbc news saying general mattis met with the president earlier today and told him hed be leaving due to a difference of opinion on some issues. This comes one day, of course, after the president announced his plans to withdraw troops from syria. Nbc doesnt know if the topic of syria came up in their meeting today. Senator Lindsey Graham said that mattis had told him it wasnt the right time to leave syria. In his striking Resignation Letter to the president today which he hand delivered this morning mattis wrote, you have the right to make a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours citing differences between their approaches whose countries whose Strategic Interests are in tension with ours and stressing that my views on treating allies with respect and being cleareyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. After the announcement today Illinois Republican congressman adam ki nzinger tweeted thats what happens when you ignore sound military advice. And an official told nbc news that the wheels are coming off in the trump administration. The wheels are coming off. Im joined by chris coons. Thank you for joining us. What did you make of mattis . Thank you. What did you think the difference was . Sometimes it doesnt matter whether you are pushed or you jump, because in the end its he pretty clear to both of you you arent getting along, as i read that exact passage i got a lump in my throat. He is one of the most seasoned, most respected military leaders in modern american history. Hes given encouragement and reassurance to our allies, strong and steely eyed leadership to our armed forces and he has stood down our enemies and adversaries in combat commands over years and if he has that clear and that sharp a break with our president in terms of their strategic views, that compounds my grave concern from yesterdays abrupt announcement by President Trump of an illconsidered withdrawal of our troops from syria, a decision that will simply hand control of a wide swath of syria to iran, to russia, and to Bashar Al Assad. I think that was a terrible decision and i think secretary mattis decided to resign following that terrible decision by our president. I think this is a moment for republican and Democratic Senators when we likely gather again in washington tomorrow to reconsider the path that were on here in terms of our National Security and our president s leadership. Do you think those words in his letter referred to those adversaries . Was he talking about russia, china, north korea generally in the globe or do you think he was talking specifically about those in the area of syria in the letter . Theres also news reports, chris, that the president has asked the pentagon to draw up plans to withdraw from afghanistan. My hunch is that the decision to withdraw from syria and other moves President Trump has made with regard to north korea and potentially afghanistan in kbi led secretary mattis to conclude that President Trump doesnt have a wellgrounded or well connected view of how to work with our adversaries and allies. Thats what i read in the letter of resignation. Nbc news is saying the trump mat tigs relationship had been teetering. Pausing u. S. Military