Persio, politics editor for New York Times is here, sam stein. And also with us, nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of kasie dc. Kasie hunt. Along with willie, joe and me. Its never going to get old. There will be a day where were all wearing kasie d. C. Shirts. Rock on, lets do it. Joe, where are we with this shutdown at this point . Well i think the president was right when he was a private citizen. 50 years from now, people arent going to be saying you know, who is the majority leader, who is the minority leader . You know, it whats so fascinating, he says its all on barack obama when barack obama is president of the United States. And if its not on barack obama, then he suggests it maybe people might look at the person who is running the senate or running the house. What donald trump and the republicans are betting on, are two very, very faulty things. Their logic is so faulty. Number one, theyre betting that americans will look at washington, d. C. , knowing that washington, d. C. Is dominated by republicans who run the white house, who run the executive branch. Who run the senate. Who run the house, who control the supreme court. Their appointee do. Whose appointees are starting to filter down and controlling the judiciary. And donald trump wants to say yes, im in charge, we control the board, i am the ceo. But were going to blame the shareholders. Voters arent going to buy it. Secondly, leave it to my former Republican Party, to always have an uncanny knack for getting on the wrong side of a 90 10 issue. They did this with background checks. Where 90 of americans think that we should have background checks that are more expansive. That would stop domestic abusers from shooting their wives or girlfriends, that would stop terrorists from being able to shoot up schools and stop terrorists from being able to shoot up churches and synagogues and places of worship. But heres another 90 10 issue that republicans find themselves on the wrong side of. Should immigrants brought to the u. S. Illegally as children be allowed to stay . 87 of americans say yes. Only 11 say no. And the republicans of course mika, once again, find themselves on the 10 side of a 90 10 equation. If they think that they can shut down the government by going back on the president s promise of keeping the government open for a clean daca deal, if they think that they can shut down the government and not see the president s own promise back in the fall, that he wanted to shut down the government because he thought a Government Shutdown would be a good thing . Then they are dreaming and they deserve the minority status that theyre going to get this coming fall. They are on the losing side of history. The president said it himself when he was a private citizen. The new cbs poll out this morning says it. It is plainly obvious, will republicans, though, who have proven theyre willing to drive their party over the cliff, will they continue and try to drive the government over the cliff, too. And let the government be shutdown because they refuse to make a simple deal with dreamers . Well, thats the big question. President trump could be marking tomorrow, the oneYear Anniversary of his inauguration in which he forced his press secretary, the next day, to lie about the crowd size, with a Government Shutdown. Yesterday evening, the house passed a fourweek extension of funding. With the help of the republicans hardline Freedom Caucus voting for the measure but last night, Senate Democrats and a few republicans stood firm against moving forward without longterm action on immigration, and some other issues. Democrats and republicans have been negotiating for months on lifting the caps. Of defense and domestic spending. On health care issues. On Disaster Relief. On immigration issues. A bipartisan deal has been reached, ive been part of those negotiations. On all these issues. And now is the time to reach it. Not a month from now. The president has been impervious to compromise for several months. He cant maintain a consistent position. We all know that. He makes and then reskincinds a then remakes demands. He encourages compromise one day, only to thwart it the next, by saying hell only accept a deal that gives him 100 of what he wants. Thats not what a great dealmaker does. What our friends on the other side are saying here is, theyre prepared to shut down the government, over the issue of illegal immigration, its a bipartisan interest in solving the daca problem, but the president has given us until march last time i looked, this was january. Im not going to vote for a 30day continuing resolution. The house said they did their job. How much money did the Defense Department get from the house bill . This is the fourth cr. Every time we have a continuing resolution, it costs the military billions of dollars. I want to fund the military and deal with daca. Were not going to get one without the other. Im tired the playing this stupid game. The public hates the way we do business, count me in. This chaos has got to end. Im willing to keep the government open days not weeks to get a deal we should have got a year ago. Good for Lindsey Graham. Stating the case. Hes not going to do yet another shortterm fix. Because Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan cant do their jobs. And get a longterm fix. And you know another thing were talking about. Theres so many smoking guns. The president bragging last fall about wanting to shut down the government. And also last week, the president of the United States saying you guys go out and make this bipartisan deal. You have the answer, whatever you bring back to me in the interest of bipartisanship, i will sign it. That ended up being a lie. Does he want to shut down the government based on that lie . Based on the lie that he told this past fall . Based on what he told fox and friends when barack obama was t the president of the United States. And again, republicans dont know where the president stands. Yesterday, again, the president tweeted out that c. H. I. P. Should not be part of any longterm extension and the white house had to come behind him and says yes, it should be. I think Lindsey Graham is right, he made the point that i was going to make is that the public watches this, that says you cant even keep the lights on in the government. This will be the fourth shortterm extension since the fiscal year started in october. Just since october the fourth time theyve come to the brink and had to extend it. Kasie hunt, weve got less than 24 hours, 18 hours to go to the midnight deadline, theres c. H. I. P. In play and daca, whats at the center . Whats the key, the lynchpin that could prevent a shutdown tonight . Youre asking me what the lynchpin is to prevent a shutdown . I feel were heading to a point of basically inevitable shutdown. And the reason for that is that both sides seem to have calculated that its not in their interests to give in or to negotiate. Mitch mcconnell, you showed this at the top, was on the floor last night refusing to go to the next step in the voting process. Democrats wanted to do it last night. Hes trying to bet that democrats wont walk the plank and actually vote to shut down the government basically vote no on the next critical vote. Chuck schumer and his Democratic Party are essentially daring him to try that. Because the reality is, they are under so much pressure from, we describe it sometimes as the progressive base. But its broader than that, from democrats across the board who are engaged in this, as you know people who are partisans, its kind of the most expansive definition of that. They want democrats to take a stand. Especially after and i think we cant underestimate that the shole meeting now, now infamously called that. That changed the debate here. And quite frankly, these democrats dont want to see they dont want to see Chuck Schumer fold. He knows that. I dont see a way out of it, sitting right here. Lets say youre running the democratic parties, they decide to come to you and say we need to you run our ad campaign. We need you to be our pr guy. Youve done this. Youve done this a lot for some of the biggest corporations in the world. How do you tell the Democratic Party to buck up. Here you have an issue that theyre on the right side of. 90 of americans agree with them. The president of the United States himself when he was a private citizen said, you blame it on the president. The president of the United States, this last fall, just four months ago, was bragging about wanting a Government Shutdown. I mean how does Chuck Schumer, how do other democrats not stand firm after the president of the United States makes a racist declaration and you have republicans senators lying for him and youve got the director of the Homeland Security lying for the president of the United States . It is clear that the governing party in washington, d. C. Will not protect people who are not white in this immigration debate. Based on the president s own words. If youre a democrat. If youre an hispanic democrat, if youre an asianamerican whos a democrat. If youre a black democrat and you see your Party Collapse again when 90 of americans are on their side . Dont you have to be asking why am i a democrat . Heres what i would say, the democratic brand, what it needs, just become a student of 2016 and why trump won more than anything else. People gravitate towards his strength. The essence thats missing in the Democratic Party is testosterone. I dont mean from a gender point of view, i mean strength. That is what people gravitate towards and thats what ive said this previously on the show. You want to look forward to 2020 . If that candidate does not have what biden has, if that candidate does not have a chutzpah to use, i think you said it yesterday, chutzpah, was that the way you said it yesterday, joe . If that candidate im a bad i dont know how to say that. If this candidate does not have a set of you know what im talking about, it doesnt matter whats coming out of their mouth that is what people want now in this country. And what is interesting, i dont know if youre sensing this narrative lately for people pro and against trump this little bit about yeah, everybody says even the people who support him, hes a bad guy, hes a jerk, but things are so good in the economy im going to vote for him. And theres a little headfake in that. That cbs poll you talked about before. 22 of americans say the economy is good, but its not affecting me. So if republicans think or if democrats think we cant really go against him because people are starting to line up. Even his detractors wrong. But the democrats need to grow a set. Thats the thing that youre asking and hinting, its as simple as that. Its not about policy. Its about demeanor and its about having a set, period. That is what i would say. I guess youre talking about a set of glasses. Im not exactly sure what youre talking about. But susan, let me take it over to you. And this is not just genderspecific. Nancy pelosis tough. Shes one of the toughest speakers that ive ever seen operate in the house. She has that sort of power. And that drive on a legislative level. You have, you could say the same thing of course if you look at other countries. Margaret thatcher had it where she broke the back of all of her political enemies and turned Great Britain around. The democrats are at a stage now, its, its a defining moment for this party. And this is almost like a baby step. If we want to talk about that bill murray and Richard Dreyfuss movie. This isnt even a leap. 90 of americans are on their side. Everybody should be lined up. And at a podium telling the republicans we will not back down. Where are they . You cant throw out the d. R. E. A. M. Ers, you cant be a racist, mr. President , and guess what, youre a racist. You dont want people to come in that arent white. That arent from denmark, et cetera, et cetera. So somebody thats worked for democrats and republicans, what do you tell democrats right now at this critical moment . They should stand up. Because the republicans are going to get the brunt of the blame. Its all going to fall on them. They have the house, they have the senate. They have the white house. It will fall on them. What were seeing is a president that has no experience in governing and frankly in the congress, we see on house side, twothirds of the republicans in the congress, do not know how to work across the aisle because theyve never had a republican president. All theyve done is be the party of no. They dont know how to govern themselves. Lets look at it. When you look at the senate, a week ago they were really close. But it was donald trump who decided he wanted to fight. He doesnt want to win. He just wants to fight with people. And he, as a result, you cant trust him. And thats the biggest problem. So i dont blame the democrats for standing up and causing the shutdown. As a matter of fact, theres republicans on the senate side who wont vote for it, either. They may actually have a bipartisanship there. So sam, the nut of the issue here was presented on the floor last night at the senate where you had Mitch Mcconnell and Chuck Schumer going back and forth. And Mitch Mcconnell, the majority leader said my friends on the other side of the aisle want to shut down the government over illegal immigration. He said theyre willing to shut this whole thing down, put our military at risk, et cetera, et cetera, his comments paraphrased. On the other side the democrats say the republicans are willing to shut down the government in order to keep people who were brought here to this country as children, many as babies, through no fault of their own, to throw them out of the country so this is, Everything Else flying around, were talking right now, about daca. Were talking about the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. As joe said, according to one poll this morning, an 87 11 issue for the American People watching this debate. First of all, hello, everyone. Good to have you. Not my fault, it was the technicians fault. Im going throw them under the bus. Wow, wow. Shut them down. Boo im willing to die on this hill. When bear bryant won 633 at the university of alabama, son, he blamed himself for being a bad coach. You never blame anybody else, you blame yourself. Im merely taking donnies anatomical advice this morning im growing a pair and blaming the technician. No, no. Right here. Right here. Alex, right here. Hold on, excuse me sam, after you leave the set this morning, i need you to walk to starbucks and i need you to get a 50 starbucks card, deliver it, get on your knees and say youre sorry, okay . Audio guy, too. Isnt there a covenant in the favorite morning joe constitution this if somebody blames the crew, theyre immediately excused from the set . Joe, i read the morning joe constitution, i think its in there. I think this, we have such an extraordinary crew that works through the night, and does such an incredible job. That i think im, i think we should all get whatever unnamed technician, that millennial sam is blaming, i think we should all pitch in and get a 50 starbucks or Dunkin Donuts card or whatever itunes card they want. God, he was so pathetic. I think you should get up and go now to starbucks and get it. Hey, alex, lets go to alex for a second. Alex, can you put yourself in where sam is . Yeah. Do me a favor, figure out whos down there and we have seven people on the set and each one of us are going to give him, or her and everybody else that works down there a 50 Gift Certificate for the extraordinary work that they do also pan out to the room. Everybody in that room right there, in the booth, ive said it before, but everybody in that booth, they work through the night he just did pan out to the room. Thats all we got. Thats all we got. Here we go, yeah, there we go. So anyway youll get those names, right . Yeah, but i dont think we should have to pay all the people. I think sam should pay. Well make sam do it. Sam, sam is still aggrieved, were going to have to do it for him. You know ask him to forgive sam for he knows not what he does. When you grow a pair, sam, you own em, okay . All right. Can i speak about this deal or not . Sure go, ahead. From my reporting in from some analysis ive been doing, i feel less bullish than you guys do about how democrats will fare in this fight. And you know you talk to democrats on the hill and they feel very much morally responsible for doing this. He they feel like they do have some good political Strategic Moves to play. But in the end, there is you know shutdowns are basically blame games, right . If you shut down the government, it then becomes whose side gets to blame the other and which argument works better. From what i am getting, you know, the republican argument here is fairly succinct. We have a bill, the merits of the bill that the democrats do support, its whats not in the bill that they dont support. Democrats dont have the most cohesive rejoineder to that argument. This could change, because trump is apparently set to leave town today, go to maralago. Do a massive fundraiser type event at his estate in maralago to celebrate the oneYear Anniversary of his election. Those are terrible optics, he could bungle this whole thing. Its not the easiest argument for democrats to make. Its not clear who would be the democratic point person to make the argument. Often in these instances, do have the upper hand. Obama in 2013 had the upper hand against republicans. And in part because they have the bully pulpit. So i dont know if i share the bullishness of the panel about how democrats fare in light of a shutdown here. The biggest problem is what sam just said. Is hes correct, that this