The greatest presidency that weve seen not only in generation maybe ever. Paul ryan just said how good was that eh. Good morning. Define good. You could just give maybe good for erdogan or putin. Or trump. I do think, mika, that most autocrats and im really serious. Thank you. Most autocrats around the world would be embarrassed to have so many people fawning over them in public like that. You looked at what mike pence said in the cabinet room also, im really serious here, you wonder, of course, it was such a gross display that of course donald trump as donald trump always does gets in his way of a successful day for the Republican Party, for himself and for the biggest corporations in the world. But he didnt force all those people to say that, my god. They knew that just like the saudis and foreign leaders know, the price of admission is sucking up and treating him like hes the most insecure autocrat on the globe, but i wonder what man, what man of any character would sit and listen to that without stopping, stop, stop, being embarrassed, then, of course the question, especially for mike pence is what man with any dignity would do the sort of thing that these people did yesterday. Take a listen to this, mika. This is mike pence. Myer would you loo tobacco say a few words . I know i speak on behalf of the entire cabinet and millions of americans when i say congratulations and thank you. Thank you, you have spurred an optimism in this country that is setting records, mostly, mr. President , ill end where i began. I want to thank you, mr. President. I want to thank you, i want thank you, mr. President. God bless you. Willie, unspeakable. Were not making, no president in American History would sit and listen to that and this is, of course, were going to get to the news in a second. We will introduce it. What does that say about donald trump and what he thinks the presidency is about is this, again, its oautocratic. Well, those people know exactly what the president wants to hear, which is that hes responsible for this, that hes great. Its the same thing the saudis knew when they projected his fate that he responds, he is flattered easy by that praise, it goes on a day when some people at the table know it or no. That is a major once in a labor platform the way they celebrated is unlike anything i have seen before. We have msnbc john heilman. Its like a cultive personality. It is. You know, at least they waited until the bill was passed this time. The time. Rather than doing it partway through like the Health Care Bill within they celebrated just the house passage, i just dont understand. Its not just, yes, the president obviously likes to be praised. I just find it strange in the context. These are politicians that have seen a lot. They should be. They are aware of a larger political context to praise the bill as a giant accomplishment. To sit there opposite a president with 35 Approval Rating who has an existential crisis on his hands, to know that, howell battled he has been, how polarizing he is, its odd that they would want to be caught on video, archived for all eternity, saying those things about a president who could ill not saying predicting he will, who he is facing severe challenges over the course of the next few weeks and months. I dont understand that. How do you say that to a president already is on record, one of the greatest who has already proposed banning 1. 5 billion from this country because of the god they worship, denying the existence of the kkk and david duke before super tuesday . Making a racist attack against an american judge because his parents came from mexico, peaking an attack against a gold star family, who gave the ultimate sacrifice giving tear son. Charlottesville, a president that forgave White Supremacy and tried to paint it all in moral relativism. Over and over again. That is who these republicans, you can say its a great tax be ill. You can say they got something done. It will get the xi kickstarted. To say hes one of the greatest president s ever, to do what they did is unspeakable. Well, if you cant see all the things that joe listed there actually happening before your eyes to see something wrong i wish you could have heard Madeleine Albright, gosh, a yearandahalf ago, or during the campaign in georgetown and l literally put the finger in my face, someone that group in the throws of something leak this in its full form or you could have heard my father on his death bed talking about the dangers of our strategy cal alliances and everything breaking down and crumbling, that actually, i know this isnt fun morning fodder. It isnt fun to wake up to Something Like this. This is the reality. So also with us is former White House Press secretary to president obama, now a political analyst for nbc news and msnbc josh earnest. Also with us, republican strategist and political commentator susan dell persio host of casey d. C. On msnbc, casey hunt. So, that was a little. We went there at the top of the show. Its just there are moments where you have to stop, susan, and say, remind viewers and americans and people who love this republic, this is not normal. This is a personality cult. This is a very small step in a much larger cons spushl republic is heading that is so dangerous we have to remind people is there we do, if you know, he did not show any respect to those folks. He calls everyone by their name, mike, this one, get them by their first fame. I think because he knows he has to be called president. It goes to autocracy that he loves and 39s off of. Whats so surpriseing is to see republican lawmakers just embrace it and to the point, they have to, the leadership numbers for trump on the economy are actually better than his Approval Ratings for himself. When asking about the president , hes at around 35, 40 . When it comes to handling the economy, hes around 50. So thats what they should be embracing. The tax reform, stockmarket et cetera. But they are going down a really slippery path. Because i dont know how orrin hatch for everything weve seen. Oh god. Went there and said what he did was just it was terrible. It was a heart breaking stage. His legacy. That is a stain on his legacy, it will forever be a stain on his legacy, if you dont believe me, watch this tape two years from now. You are right. Heres the thing, republicans made this bargain more than a year ago. They knew what was going to be acquired. They knew all of the offensive, outrageous incompetent things they would have to overlook in order to get this tax bill passed. So its not particularly surprising to me that they made good on it in the end by pragz President Trump. Heres the difference between President Trump and basically every president that has come before him. Every president that has come before him have used that large platform as a position of National Service to serve the country. President trump does not view the responsibility that he has to serve the country. He views it as an opportunity to make himself look good and all of these members of congress, members of the staff know its not about appealing to whats best for the country. Its about appealing to whats best for him. Thats what they do to stay in his good graces. Again, lets not wake up like every day is a magic am new day and pretend were a character and we dont remember anything that happened before. I saw a picture yesterday of the daily news the day that paul ryan came out and endorsed donald trump. The headline, what im with a racist. This is again after he pretended he didnt know who david duke was, would not condemn the klu klux klan, the sunday before super tuesday, tried to ban 1. 5 people from coming because of tear faith. On and on and on and on. So, yes, they knew exactly what they were getting into and why theyre doing a deeper dive now is beyond me. Why dont we talk about the tax bill . Yes. It is good news for the republicans. Casey is still to get to. It was the celebration they have been waiting for. Unlike the rose celebration in may when the house passed an obamacare repeople, but the senate couldnt follow suit. So it was kind of premature. Yesterday republicans enjoyed the passage of tear tax bill by both chambers. The president enjoyed the moment. Its been and i amazing experience, i have to tell you. It hasnt been done in 34 years, but actually really hasnt been done because we broke every record. Its the largest i always say the most massive but its the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform, a tax cut, really something special. [ applause ] statistically, thats not accurate. Thats actually a lie, craig surely was talking about it yesterday, John Kennedys was bigner 64, reagans was bigner 81, its what donald trump does, he cant say we passed the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan. Hes got to lie. Again, taking something which would be a good day and just mucking it up. Hes undeterred by the fact that that is not true. The fact that he lies over and over again and in high moments, he cant take the victory. He has to lie about the victory. So casey hunt, this, obviously, is a crowning achievement for paul ryan, for Mitch Mcconnell, something theyve long sought. To joshs point earlier, every time one of these stories came up, whether charlottesville, a tweet about vis i Kristen Gillibrand or the answer is they want tax reform. So they will hang in with him until they got tax reform. Well they got it yesterday. What itself the vibe . Whats the mood on capitol hill this morning . Reporter they did get it yesterday. I think a part of why you saw what you saw yesterday. I was right there with joe being kind of stunned to hear paul ryan calling the president exquisite, exquisite president ial leadership. Oh god. Go home. Go back to wisconsin. Its painful. Save your dignity. Have you children. Not. Go ahead. So now when you sa they to a man, will it become a screaming headline . I hope it does. Because when i said that about a him who, it was like i was attacking a woman and it was unusual curious how people think. You dont call somebody who is a racist who said what he said after charlottesville, who treats white supremacist. You have children. Fall from grace. Its inspired by a party that inspired an assassin to kill a member of parliament. Those are not the people you call exquisite. Go ahead. Casey. Yes, casey. Reporter the point i was going to make simply that this is paul ryans crowning achievement. He has been working on it for decades, he is thrilled t. Mood among republicans is one of jub lation i would say around this. But theyve also learned a lot about how to manage this president and theyve learned that if you go out on television, he will see it, it will come around and bite you if you try to have a private meeting with the president. You want to get something done. That sounds like an autocrat. I am struck by the degree to which it was obvious yesterday that they have absorbed this lesson and are acting on it. Wow. Not many people, i think most people watching know exactly what we are talking about, donald trump is trying to build a personality cult. Have you ever seen or have any of your colleagues ever seen such a display of cravenness of members of congress who are duly elect and equal to the president in power being so o bse queous to the president . Reporter i would say i have never seen anything, he called them one by one notified somebody by tear first name, which, of course, as you guys know, having worked with him for a long time, hes demanded that in business as well, everybody at the table calls him mr. Trump. He uses their first name, hes mr. President. I remember when president obama was kind of at the height of his popularity. He swept into office in 2008 and there was just an incredible degree of excitement around the fact that he had been elected and democrats at that time were certainly falling all over themselves to say positive things about the president. But that was because they wanted to be associated with him and they felt proud of where their party was and the accomplishments. I think the opposite is true in private. I was so struck by the disparity between what they were saying in public what we hear all the time behind the scenes if private about kind of the general exhaustion and unpredict ability of working with this administration. This will give them solace that maybe this was all worth it. Their signature is on this bill. They can point to the judiciary and areas where things have changed in favor of conservatives. Right. It was a striking day. And what is so strike again is if you look at what these members say behind closed doors, saying he is not mentally fit, saying that he is a horrific president , that hes got terrible leadership skills. Those are people on the stage. Very few people on the stage saying those things are the ones quietly behind the scenes telling every reporter that will listen to them, howell barrased they are to be associated with him. Every one of them. They rolled their eyes. They mock him. Theyre humiliated to be associated with that man. Then they go out and get behind the microphone and say, now, lets, so i think weve defined this problem. The personality of cult, an american autocrat in waiting. I hope americans are aware of that. Now, lets talk about what this means for the Republican Party. Now, im going to do a complete 180. Okay. You have a Republican Party saying we were fought able to accomplish anything of significance can now say, if im a republican, im going out, im going home for the christmas brake, holiday break. If they hold town meetings, i will say, listen, its been a rocky ride. Look what we did. We got neil gorsuch in the supreme court. The federal judiciary, liberals complain about it every day, how conservative its getting. We passed the largest tax cut since the early 1980s. Corporate tax rates for the first time in a generation are competitive with other countries across the globe. Regulations have been cut in record rates. The economy is humming along faster than its ever hummed along before as far as Consumer Confidence goes, a recent poll shows more americans think the economy is doing better than in any poll thats been taken before. Stockmarkets are hitting alltime high. That means a lot for the college your child goes to. That means a lot for the company you work for. That means a lot for your 401k, yes, we have some problems for this president. But we republicans have stood and delivered. And the individual mandate is gone for this tax be ill. And the individual mandate is gone. So if you are republicans and you deliver that message, whats the democratic response . Well, so many things to say. Certainly you focused on the tax bill. We should focus on, people comment for weeks, how unpopular this bill is, this will be the centerpiece of republicans, what they will both about and what democrats will tackle over. They will look at the piece of legislation, which is unpopular for good reasons, its a bill that largely favors rich people and corporations. But if you are a working class american and you get a tax cut you dont care that corporate guys are getting a 20,000 tax cut. Are you looking at the 600 tax cut that you really need. Maybe. Maybe they are. The only data we have is the bill is incredibly unpopular. It should be unpopular. Its a horrible bill. Im simply saying, if people vote their interest, like when boerne my runs around saying, can you have free college and you can have Free Health Care and can you have a free car and were going to give you a free cruise to alaska. Everybody goes, oh, wow, i like that plan. Well, if somebody is getting 600 more in their check, paycheck, theyre going to think, i like this. Well maybe. They will pay 650 more in Health Insurance the premiums will go up as a result. That hits the timing of that is much different. Because they will see those paychecks come in, they will feel good until around okay or november within they get their notification right before election time. Yeah, josh. So, josh, whats the democratic response to what republicans are sure to say . Mika is right about this. We experimented with this in 2009, what economists said when we were passing the recovery act, the most efficient what i to stimulate the economy was to give people a small increase in tear pay checks every two week so what we did was cut the payroll tax, it had a small impact in terms of the political conception of the assistance people were receiving from the federal government. It had an important benefit for the broader commitment it ended up being good for the economy, not for political argument. They may see a good thing, with one added benefit, which is the reason republicans did this hass will to do with individual tax rates than it does with the corporate tags rate. Sure, its all about their donors. By the way, 100 , by talking to donors and talking to republicans, if anybody goes out there and says that they pushed this and voted for this for any reason other than to keep their donors calm, theyre not telling the truth i they they have a began, profiting a at a sophisticate Corporate Tax cut and the people at tear base works are wondering why arent people in washington doing for me . You are right. This will be a good thing politically for republicans because they took a huge toll over the course of this year. It showed up in virginia and alabama. Republicans had not done anything and that did serve to suppress turnout in those important elections, you will have republicans saying, you may not like it, this is what we got done. That is going to help them politically. That is something democrats are going to have to grapple with. We will continue this conversation. A little more news before we go to break. Senator al franken will officially resign on january 2nd. Franken announced last month hed be stepping down amid a string of Sexual Misconduct allegations. In a Facebook Post the senator says he plans to spend his last few days delivering a series of final speeches on a number of issues. Minnesotas democratic governor tina smith will fill frankens seat. She is scheduled to be sworn in on january 3rd and this, the New York Times has announced yesterday that glen thrush was suspended as they look into allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior will be allowed to return to work. The times stated that thrush will remain suspended until late january and removed from the