Congressman Joe Scarborough said today if obama or clinton did half of what donald trump was doing, republicans would have torched the capital. I have resisted comparing what is going on here with watergate because i thought that was unique. Now there is a whiff of the tactics that we saw during the days of water gate. It goes against every constitutional norm. And if barack obama had done that, republicans would have burned the city down. This is a shredding of all legal and constitutional norms. We have a very special guest list here on the beat tonight. But we kick it off right now with reverend sharpton and Kathleen Parker. Reverend al, not a normal president , speech, or climate. What do you think of the comment there, basically blowing it up this morning saying if obama did half of this people would freak out. I think that he was spot on. If he did even a quarter of it, you would have seen outrage. As we wait to see what the first state of the union is, you have to remember that we have a climate of the russia investigation, but you have all of this disunity and all of the kinds of things that have fired up different parts of the public against each other set in orchestrated by this president , so i dont know anyone that i can think of that entered the chambers to give a state of the union address, that has been responsible, themselves were for dividing america and it is more divided than it has ever been. Since the height of the civil rights movement, they were not the ones that were the orchestrators of the division. He has been the one that normalized a lot of behavior. He called countries sholes. It is like a man walking in to something that he created trying to then call for people to unite when he was the one that drew them even further apart. How does an arsonist become a firefighter. Lbj was a civil rights activist that pushed him to a place to say we should overcome. Having that credibility to do that. I want to talk a little policy with you, is that all right kathleen . It depends on what it is. Let me quickly say one thing to add on. I think barack obama would have been impeached his first week if he started out the way that trump was. You said first week, but his first year with this record . Absolutely. Absolutely. If he said the things it would be hard to go through the list and imagine a barack obama saying some of those things, but talking about the mexico cans being rapists, trying to block muslims, these things would not have happened, but there is no way he would have got p the pass. So i dont think it has to do with the bipartisan rhetoric. It is just viewed as unstable. We do know that he would be judged differently, that is just a fact. Let me go on the policy part. There is no reason that judging the president factually should involve judging him differently and there has been an effort to lower expectations. We will talk about that later in the show. The big policy news here reading from the Washington Post, the white house says no need for the new russia sanctions. Mandated by Congress Last year because of the threat itself acting as a deterrent. In the world of bombshells, this is a big one, this is outrageous by any estimation that youre going soft on a foreign adversary, against a law that congress passed. I have news on that, that was just unbelievable to many people, even if you bring skepticism to this story. Here within the last hour, our own chuck todd was at the white house appearing to back pedal on this piece. Take a listen. Its not clear whether the president intends on enforcing these sanctions as strongly as congress intended. Can you clear this up . I dont know if i can clear it up. I have full faith in secretary mnuchin that hes going to be taking the time to do this properly. We signed the bill, the bill is the law we will enforce the law, we will dont have any intentions other than to follow the law. The white house appears to go from were not doing it, oh, its a delay, we might do it later. Thats typical white house backtracking, but the thing is its such a crazy idea that first of all the shaanctions, jt the threat of sanctions is sufficient. Putting aside the legal aspect of it. On what are they basing this . This was intended to be punishment for interfering with the elections, as i understand it, in 2016, so by what gauge are they saying that its working . And moreover, to place sanctions on other countries that do business with russian businesses, in that way punish russia. But that seems a little farfetched. I dont know how they can anticipate what those outcomes would look like and what effect it might have on us, as between other countries and businesses. So i dont understand what the thinking could possibly be, it just seems yet again another example of President Trump not wanting to do anything to antagonize russia. And yet another attempt to make nice with putin. So that ongoing narrative of why cant trump fire russia . Wow. Let me add to that quickly. Not only is she absolutely right, he cant seem to fire russia, this is the same president that was tweeting and going into all kinds of language about why we ought to have sanctions against north korea and theyre a bigger threat. Right. Its not like hes not one that would advocate strongly about sanctions. So get this right. He is being accused of collusion, or people around him with collusion, today youre dealing with nunezs report coming out, youve already got some of your circle that has been arrested and indicted and you are going back and forward on Something Congress has already voted to do about the very country that youre being in collusion with . I mean, maybe if theres smoke and flames, ive got a reason to call the fire department, you think . You think the plot of this movie has at times become obvious. Kathleen parker, thank you for joining us, now we turn to howell reigns and john meecham. John in the book you right, in order jacksons arrival signaled the destruction of the rules of the nation, and ultimately those attacks brought his loyalists together in a pure sense of persecution. I feel there might be some parallels but you are the expert, how does trumps first year compare to jacksons . History doesnt repeat itself, but it does rhyme, theres some of that here. I think the first great populist figure coming to washington, there are some jacksonian overtones here, jackson was an experienced political figure, he had been a general, he had been a senator twice, he won the popular vote. And he had an idea of our union, that we were one great family, and we had to stick together no matter how great the fights within the family were. Th thats what were going through today, were having simultaneous and absolutely no intersecting conversations in the country. Lets put up some of the iconerry on jackson that President Trump seems to like, you can see over the shoulder of steve bannon who talked about the historical legacy of jackson. Again, youre the historian, but one would be that jackson actually had at least a defined sense of policy goals for the nation. He did, he believed and he really redefined the presidency. Hes an immensely consequential figure. He was the first president to assert that he was the directly elected representative of all the people, this is back when we had an article 1 which is congresss view of the president , and the rise of the imperial presidency in many ways was accelerated by jackson. I talked to then candidate trump about historical parallels in may of 16, i think it was. And jackson never came up. Jackson did come up from steve bannon after the election. When president s look back, they often see as they wish to be seen. That is theyre looking for someone who gives sanctions what theyre doing that actually pushes their agenda forward in the glow of history. I think embracing jackson is problematic for trump. But to be fair, its about the only person in the other 43 folks he can do. I get what youre saying there. Howell reigns, you have been thinking about the state of the are republican party. And katri al sharpton and Kathleen Parker were talking about how hes blowing through this deadline, hes going soft on russia, amidst the russia meddling. So the elephant in the room, the russia investigation, dont mention it . No. I dont think theres anything he can really say about it that makes any sense. And i think if he gets in and gets down that rabbit hole, he tends to get angry got it and thats not the person you want to see tonight. What do you think, al . First i want to say, johns Excellent Company tementary on , he said to john p. Calhoun, the union, sir, must be preserved. One doesnt get any of that kind of thinking of what the president s done including on the russia issue. Whats interesting to me about todays action is only five members of Congress Oppose the sanctions and its almost as if on this occasion, donald trump is saying to the congress, i feel basically about you the same way i feel about reporters, theyre all the same. So its a very peculiar interduinte introduction to this evening. I want to say one more thing about the state of the union, its junot just a show about th president and t president , its how much this new president has learned about his job. And i think thats the dramas going to play out tonight, because president s are expected to inhabit a role of leadership and grow into reliable protectors above and beyond party. Do you think, howell, do you think hes growing or do you think hes diminishing himself . Whatever i think, i think the challenge for him tonight is he has shown himself to the American People in snapshots. He dismisses comey. He gets mad at paul ryan. He dumps bannon, he makes up with paul ryan. All these snapshots. Successful president s have to use this event to start making a movie about their leadership and that was true of anyone you can name from eisenhower to obama who had reasonably successful presidencies. And trump, this is the night that he really has to start his movie. And even down here in deep red alabama, there its a sense that its time to start being president in ernest. I think you put it so well and i want to give john meecham a chance to respond to that. Y john, howell talks about a movie, and many president s in both parties have used the state of the union to include other people movie who has stars in that movie. The Public Policy that they hope for. I think at times there is a perception that this president doesnt care about the movie of america, and is only interested in his own narrow selfagrandizing diary, which he is willing to share on twitter, but is ultimately always only about him. I think thats well put. You know, howells exactly right, great president s put us not only in a sweeping narrative, but they put us in that narrative so we have a place to go, so we have motivation and energy to follow them to a place where they have taken us in our minds. Trump has a narrative, but its a reality show narrative. As the New York Times reported, he said we should see every day of the presidency as a day in which i conquer my enemies. And thats a very 21st century narrative. Most other american president s have had a kind of our authorian quest, where theyre kind of an their way to someplace. I think thats the distinction. Right now were in this remarkable situation, if the market were way down, this would be a radically different conversation, more people would know about russia, theres a kind of a false lull because some classes in america are quite prosperous right now. But if that begins to get shaky, i dont think trump has a great deal of rope. John meecham and howell reigns, thank you both for your perspectives as we approach this momentous evening. Maxine waters is boycotting the state of the union, but sches here she is here on the beat tonight. And Andrew Mccabes departure from the white house and a debate on some of the divisions tonight and a very historical debate. Youre watching a special edition of the beat on msnbc. A big show, agent of guests, please stay with us. You always pay your insurance on time. Tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Welcome back to our special coverage tonight. An unusual president has he heads into his first state of the union. You see here he is the most unpopular president at the first state of the union ever. A public opposition dove tailing with some democrats saying theyre boycotting the state of the Union Tonight and that includes maxine waters. A resident of california, i appreciate everything youve done. I dont want to make up my time. I also appreciate the student to yreclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chairman, i thought when you read the rules you acknowledged that i shouldnt be interrupted. Reclaiming my time. What he failed to tell you was when youre on my time, i can reclaim it. Ask is the bill that you and others passed into law regarding russia, whats your next move if they dont identify these antirussian sanctions . My staff has just gone through that with me. And im looking to see what we can do to repeal some of the language that was informs sanctions bill that gives him the authority to wave or not to wave. Obviously he is not going to move forward with those sanctions if he can get away with it. Hes too tied into putin and i do believe that in addition to several ways that were looking at, you know, causing those sanctions to take place on russia. I have always believed that he never wanted sanctions, he wanted to lift those sanctions that we already have. So that putin can drill into the arctic and its all about the oil and its all about money, so i dont trust him, i dont think that he would ever move to carry out the sanctions that we have voted on and so im not just disappointed, its all that i have expected of him. I dont expect very much of him. Congresswoman waters, i thank you for giving us your perspective tonight. Youre welcome. Up next, a lawmaker on the Intel Committee today says the state of the union is lawless, that a response to trumps escalating attacks on the fbi and launching a political debate. Tonight we welcome a Trump Campaign surrogate along with our own reverend al saharpton. And a republican who left the party because of trump has a view on why the state of the union might be overrated. The president addresses our congress tonight, and the state of the our union is lawless as the president tried to remove bob mueller with tactics like this, his aides in Congress Seek to help him. Top democrat on the Intel Committee there, saying the president is lawless, heading into tonights speech. Theres a lot going on, with a view from the fbi. So consider the context, reports last week said the fbi director threatened to resign over trumps effort to oust the deputy there, andrew mccabe, a story the white house didnt even deny, and yet tonight, that fbi director wray publicly explaining why that fbi agency out like trump wanted. The same case that was the pretext for firing comey. If youre keeping score, trump wanted comey out because of russia, but his doj said it was because of clinton bias, and this official wanted mccabe out, and now the fbi says, wait for it, its all because of clinton bias. One might get the impression that the white house isnt even working very hard on these cover stories anymore, theyre the same stories. And put that in the context of the wire personal. The fbi director fired, bob mueller, trump attempted to fire him, then trump attacked comey, jim baker, hes been reassigned, and we have bob muellers boss, rod rosenstein, and trump has long blasted Jeff Sessions for rekucusing from russia. If you look at the picture, any one of these moves might have been seen every senior investigator involved in the criminal probe into the trump white house. It may not be a trump what if the personal is chasing the same nixonian goals but spread out slowly instead of one lawless night. Students of history are now asking that question. It looks like a slow motion saturday night massacre. I wonder if some people in his entourage have at least studied the saturday night massacre, its not that nixon did it, its the way he did it, and the way he may have gotten away with it if he had done it more slowly and more obliquely and maybe thats what were seeing tonight. Speechwriter for four president s, and al sharpton who has covered the last six state of the unions for nbc. The challenge going into the state of the union with this kind of controversy and the question of whether this is a slow motion massacre. Hes giving the state of the union, and the questions you always ask, should it be pessimistic, or optimistic, but he gives this with a big cloud of impropriety over his head. His is acting guilty. The question is why are the republicans choosing to act guilty along with imthis. We have plainly got an attempt to subvert our democracy by a foreign power. And its an immunization, were getting used to these one at a time. But its really quite an extraordinarily exagrgregious a of power that we havent seen in a long time. And you see mr. Nixon when he tried to tackle a similar challenge in his state of the union. I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of watergate is enough. Rev, he, like this president felt like he should decide how long an investigation goes. And i think that was something that did not help nixon and if mr. Trump tries that tonight, it will not help him. I think that one of the things, how do you handle the presidency . Many people are going to look at tonight, whether or not he has grown into the presidency, and if he comes with Something Like that, which really dispels the function of justice departments and investigations. It shows then adequacy of his learning curve in the first year. If this president talks about law and order as