This was day 313 of the trump administration. It brings two new reports that offer a glimpse into the president s thinking as he tries to pass his tax bill, as he faces a growing russia investigation and a new look at several Sexual Harassment accusations that women have made against him. Well get to all of it here. The first report of the Washington Post boils down to something near and dear to the president s heart and thats branding. It says this, quote, trump has sought to paint the rosiest picture of his presidency and character and has tried to will others to see it his way, like the big promises salesman he once was. The second piece from the the New York Times just tonight paints a picture of a president peddling conspiracy theories and questioning the authenticity of his own voice on the access Hollywood Tape saying he wanted to investigate it. The report goes on, quote, mr. Trumps falsehoods about the access Hollywood Tape are part of his lifelong habit of attempting to create and sell his own version of reality. Advisers say he continues to privately harbor a handful of conspiracy theories that have no grounding in fact. In recent months they say mr. Trump has used closed door conversations to question the authenticity of president Barack Obamas birth certificate. He has also repeatedly claimed that he lost the popular vote last year because of widespread voter fraud according to advisers and lawmakers. Mr. Trumps journey into the realm of manufactured facts have been frequent enough that his own staff has sought to nudge friendly lawmakers to ask questions of mr. Trump in meetings that will steer him towards safer terrain. This look inside what trump says privately comes as he put on a public display today, baath at the capitol and at the white house. First he visited republican senators right before the Budget Committee voted to pass the partys tax plan on a partyline basis. Heres how he described the meeting to reporters. Its going to have lots of adjustments before it ends but the end result would be a very, very massive, the largest in the history of our country tax cut and lots of good things are going to happen. So we had a good day today. We had a phenomenal meeting with the republican senators. We had it was very special that meeting. In many respects i wish could you have been inside that room. It was very, very special, the camaraderie. It was somewhat of a love fest. They want to see it happen. Earlier in the day, a few hours before he was set to meet with leaders for both parties at the white house, he wrote this on twitter and this is important. Meeting with chuck and nancy today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want Illegal Immigrants flooding into our country unchecked, are weak on crime and want to substantially raise taxes. I dont see a deal. Well, when they saw that, schumer and pelosi decided against attending the meeting with the president , which led to this appearance by the president , please note the chairs left empty for dramatic effect. Chuck schumer and nancy pelosi did not show up for our meeting today. Im not really that surprised. We have a lot of differences. Theyre weak on crime, theyre weak on illegal immigration, they want the illegal folks to come pouring into our border and a lot of problems are being caused, although weve stopped it to a large extent, as much as you can without the wall, which were going to get. They want tax increases and we want tax decreases. Theyve been all talk and no action. Now its not even talk. Nicole wallace later said it was staged like an eighth grade play. If the empty chairs were at all ambiguous as a visual, for those who missed the point, there were name placards for both schumer and pelosi both absent. Our fanl, peter baker, correspondent for the New York Times, Ashley Parker, White House Reporter for the Washington Post, one of the authors of the piece we just quoted and sam styne, all three are msnbc political analysts. Peter, id like to begin with you. Can you shed some light on the thinking of this man who you so closely study, especially in recent months. We saw him on camera today, we heard his voice, we see the political Skull Duggery hes about and then tonight we hear from aides, from elected representatives, this is a guy still pushing conspiracy theories. This is not new. This is who donald trump has been all along. He creates narratives in his own mind and then either convinces himself or tries to convince others that theyre true. Weve seen this time and time again, whether its the obama birth certificate conspiracy theory, the obama supposedly wire tapping trump tower, whether its the notion that he somehow won the popular vote but was cleated out it of by three million phantom voters out there who all voted against him. Not only does he create narratives, he is immune to any facts presented to him that are con trtrary to that, to the poin that lee listens to his own voice that acknowledges its true, hes twisted himself around to expect this is fake in some way. It shouldnt be a surprise to anybody. This is something we knew before the election. Sam, i am not a Mental Health professional, i may need one before this is over. Ive heard them talk about that they have not treated the president but this is one of the markers of narcissism, needing your world to adhere to your story, all of it has to be together as a package going forward. The problem is on a tay like today with all of this happening, if the north koreans had figured out a way to straighten out the track of a missile like todays, we may be yanked into a very different story. Yeah. I want to step back for a second and just tell the viewer how remarkable it is that were even talking about this. This used to be a political train that people didnt touch, arm chair psychology, the goldwater rule, stuff like that where you are werent supposed to diagnose or attempt to diagnose or even talk about the psychology of a president. But we are at this point in large part because trump has brought us here, where he questions realities, where he creates his own realities and the real existential question is does he believe the universe hes creating or is this all perpetuated for a larger means . I dont think anybody does know. Thats the critical question. Then the other critical question you raise, how much is this distraction and is he distracting himself from a Bigger Picture and bigger problems . North korea is the most morning thing that happened today but were also in the midst of a massive tax overall in this country. Were wondering is trump really fundamentally believing that obamas birth certificate is fake. Its a bit of mixed priorities here. Youre absolutely right to call this uncomfortable territory. This is new ground. We dont talk about the Mental Health of our president. Seems to me the last time this rose to the publics fear was Richard Nixon during times of whats now written about heavy drinking, heavy delusion in the final days of his presidency. Ashley, theres another thing and that is maralago. This president has a kind of terrarium atmosphere of friends and paying guests that become his world of contact for the days he is down there and its very important because of what he takes away, the Echo Chamber Effect that he takes away from these encounters. Thats exactly right. Its sort of an atmosphere of courtisans coming to pay their respects to their king. During the holiday a lot of wealthy club members were going up to him and giving him messages that fit into the reality he was trying to great, which is youre doing a great job, you do have all of these accomplishments and the media just simply isnt reflecting that. That was a message he internalized, he stewed over and he was happy to hear as it aligns with what he said. Youll notice his first tweet back on his first day back on monday was one attacking the media and that we will be vying for a fake news trophy. Its an environment where hes a little unfettered. A lot of aides didnt go down with him, he was talking to friends freely there and calling friends freely on the phone but he does come back with some of these ideas in his head that are often based in conspiracy theory. Peter baker, youre a journalist but of course first and foremost a citizen and a patriot. I know youve reflected on the following for you to do your job, think about what has to happen. Staff Members Around this president have to either react with such humor or alarm as to share with people like you the stories, the behavior they are witnessing in the chief executive of our country. Thats true and you hear from people who have spent a lot of time with President Trump, even those who really admire him, concern about these kinds of episodes, concerns that lee undermines his own credibility by fighting fights that are unnecessary and seemingly at odds with reality around him. And its, you know, in every white house of course every president engages in a certain amount of myth making and myth building about their own, you know, presidencies, how they got there, where they came from, but i cant remember one that seemed so intensely and persistently at odds with the facts as we seem to know them. Now, as part and parcel of the environment in which were in as well, we live in an environment where if you want to find a different set of facts, alternative facts to coin a phrase, you can find them. On the internet, you can find them on television, you can find them in various places and it doesnt matter how far fetched they might seem, somebody somewhere is going to give it a veneer of respectability these days. So people latch on to these theories and latch on to these sort of separate realities and we now see somebody in the oval office doing that. Sam stein, by our count 63 million americans give or take voted for this president. Of that base of voters, how many do you think are excited by the prospect of relitigating whether an americanborn former president was actually from kenya . I havent taken a poll. I would actually gather that a fair amount will believe whatever trump tells them to believe and are firmly in belief that the birth certificate is a forgery to this day. Like peter said, you can find a set of data points theyre not really data points, lets be honest. You can find a set of things that reflect your world view anywhere on the internet. Thats what happens here. The thing that we should note, though, is this isnt trump just creating his own narrative as he sees fit, this is trump cherry picking things he wants to be factual. He come completely believes roy moores accusers. But he also now doesnt believe that he himself was on tape on the access hollywood point. Those things dont compute with each other. They are selectively cherry picking things to fit his own political ends. This is not him creating a narrative ala j. F. K. And camelot. He is going to be deliver as few speeches on the senate floor, the first of which will be about truth in the american political system but looks to be designed at going after President Trump. Ashley, how much of today seemed normal, the histrionics, what Nicole Wallace called the eighth grade play, the back and forth between schumer, pelosi and trump that happens in washington . I think it goes to peters point of what are we measuring this against. Is it normal compared to past presidencies . Probably not. I think it stands in stark opposition. Is it normal compared to the way President Trump has comported himself thus far, having a sense of the dramatic and a flair for images and what two empty chairs might signal and a tweet that blows up the best laid plans in talking about things that have nothing to do with the legislate of agenda of the day . Sure, at this point in trumps presidency, it is fairly normal. Peter, i ask this with a straight face. Do you think the president is a wear on a tax bill its the rules weve become accustomed to recently, 50 votes. Then when you go to funding government continuity, its 60. Do you think he is aware he is going to need dems . Well, you know, he seemed to be aware of this back in september when he first cut a deal to keep the government open until december. He seemed to understand that was a shortterm, punt the ball down the road and ultimately he would have to Work Across Party Lines in order to make that happen. But today is a little bit of theater and stunt. It doesnt necessarily mean all that much. When the president said i dont see a deal here, thats his opening line and we presume the democrats make their opening line. Fine, both sides are posturing, we have the empty chairs. None of them necessarily means all that much if theyre serious about coming together and ultimately keeping the government open. We dont know whether they are serious about that or whether they do see some advantage in a confrontation that leads to a Government Shutdown that one side will try to blame on the other. Not so important if we get to the final outcome. We just dont know what the outcome will be. Sam, do you think we see a Government Shutdown, a first ever when the white house, senate and house are controlled by the same party . I honestly wouldnt be surprised because i think trump has it within himself to do this. Again, he controls all the powers. If he wants a deal, its there. He had a deal with schumer and pelosi that he blew up over daca. But it is something i can see him do. You want to shut down the government . Im blame you, youll get the deal and people will reward me with a better deal. We are grateful to have guests of your caliber. Thank you to the three of you. Coming up, why the president believes this russia investigation will be over by years end and that he will no doubt be in the clear. And up next, what the launch of the latest missile by north korea means in terms of their reach in that region and beyond. That and much more as we continue on a busy tuesday night. If your moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. This condition has not been reported with entyvio. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. A missile was launched a little while ago from north korea. I will only tell you that we will take care of it. It is a situation that we will handle. Mr. President [ inaudible ]. Does it change anything about your basic approach to dealing with them . Nothing changed. Nothing changed. We have a very serious approach and nothing changed. We take it very seriously. The threat from north korea has become a lot more serious. Tonight the Associated Press is reporting that in a special state tv broadcast, of course there is no other kind, north korea announced it has successfully launched what it says is a new type of intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Its one some experts could put the east coast of the u. S. Within kim jong uns reach. Earlier today the pentagon also confirmed the launch of this icbm. North korea fired its last missile on september 15th. Lets look at this latest launch. It followed a steep arc. It went up high, give or take 3,000 miles up into the sky. The International Space station only orbits around 200 miles up. This was at 3,000. It traveled out about 600 miles into the sea. It crashed harmlessly into the ocean off the japanese coast. It was in the air for a total of 54 minutes. And the significance of the route of flight today is this experts believe a lower arc would of course mean greater distance. Thats what potentially put some big, important American Population centers within reach. Here was the defense secretary, james mattis, on this topic today. It went higher, frankly, than any previous shot theyve taken. Its a research and Development Effort on their part to continue buildings Ballistic Missile that could threaten everywhere in the world basically. In response the south koreans have fired some pinpoint missiles into the water to make certain north korea understands they could be taken under fire by our ally. But the bottom line is its a continued effort to build a Ballistic Missile threat that endangers world peace, Regional Peace and certainly the united states. Tonight were told the president discussed the actions of the north with the leaders of both south korea and japan and secretary of state Rex Tillerson released a statement saying Diplomatic Options remain viable and open for now. But senator Lindsey Graham who sits on Armed Services was less optimistic tonight. Reporter senator, this north Korean Missile launch, are we out of options at this point . Not yet but were getting closer. With us tonight, bill richardson, former new mexico governor, he has successful negotiated for the release of americans held in north korea and remai