that we've been put on. thank you, as always and dan savage, thank you. good evening once again from our headquarters here in new york. i'm micolle wallace. brian has the night off. it is a big night for donald trump, it's been 106 days since he stepped foot in new york city. he was delivering a speech on the uss inrepresent the did capping a victory in his fight to repeal health care. here's a look at how the vote

and the victory lap played out today. >> we are moving out of conference. we'll go to the floor. we will have a two vote series where the bill will pass are somewhere around 1:30 today. >> this bill makes some pattern changes to how american families get quality affordable health insurance. >> tens of thousands of americans will die if this bill passes. that's a fact. >> it guarantees coverage for those with preexisting illnesses. >> my republican colleagues would like you to believe that they are going to cover preexisting seasons, and that is just not true. >> you vote for this bill, you have walked the plank from moderate to radical. >> end this failed experiment. let's make it easier for people to afford their health insurance. let's give people more choices and more control over their care.

>> the ayes are 217, the nays are 213. the bill is passed. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. ♪ ♪ good bye >> shame on you! >> shame on you! >> right now the republicans are in the rose garden having a beer party to celebrate one of the biggest transfers of wealth from working families to the richest people in our country. >> make no mistake. this is a repeal and a replace of obamacare. make no mistake about it. make no mistake. coming from a different world, and only being a politician for a short period of time, how am i doing -- am i doing okay? i'm president. hey, i'm president. can you believe it? right? >> i know that our friends over in the senate are eager to get to work. they are.

>> do you think you might have spiked the ball a little bit too early celebrating. >> in fact we are real excited we were able to get the bill over to senate so they can start helping working families get relief from obamacare. >> i don't think the house bill predicts what is in the senate bill. >> read through the time transcripts what have the bill was. and then we'll make a decision on how we try to make it better. >> let's bring in tonight's panel in washington. julie pace, white house correspond end for the "associated pres." and here with me in new york, msnbc anchor ali velshi. catherine rahm rampel, and steve kornacki. julie, start by telling us how the white house recalibrated after the last failed attempt to get this done to yield this different outcome today. >> i think the big recalibration that we saw happen was after the first attempt at health care

didn't even make it onto the floor. the president was really willing to walk away. he talked about moving on to tax reform, an issue that he feels personally a bit more passionately about than health care reform. part of this was just getting his head around the idea that this was important to the party and important to his -- to his start as president to go back to the drawing board on health care. and then i think you saw the president to some extent be less heavy handed in public with his dealings with lawmakers. he was real hely critical of the freedom caucus in the first go-around on health care. you didn't see that from him as much this time. he was working the phones in private. but a lot of this was left to staff at the white house and the lawmakers on capitol hill. and that's a lesson for this white house, that while the president obviously has a bully pulpit, he's got a platform, it isn't always helpful in terms of turning votes. >> ali, is that a good sign?

i know the $8 billion they put on the table yesterday to bring along some moderates -- i know you think they don't exist but some moderates along these sort of worries about the public outcry of preexisting conditions that brought them along but there are problems with the bill, right? >> huge, i think the people that came along by the $8 billion are going to get hit the hardest by their constituents, because the truth is the most conservative of organizations that have tried to make sense of it -- remember it's not scored yet. >> explain that. they took a vote on a bill. >> the bipartisan congressional office has not evaluated the effect of that bill, financially and the effect on people. we have guessed -- on something that amounts to a sixth of our economy we have taken a guess. >> nancy pelosi about obamacare said let's pass and it read it later. >> that most haven't read. >> the members of congress. >> right. doesn't matter whether we have

read it. members of congress haven't. taken $8 hldsl billion for these people who have been put into the high risk people. the conservatives have said we are looking at least a $20 billion shortfall. and liberals say it's closer to $100 billion. while donald trump isn't as into the health care as he is into the tax cuts, he needed this in order the make the tax cuts work. otherwise it's too big. >> didn't hold up. i think we have catherine's piece from today. what do big foot and moderate republicans have in common, to be sure, among the general population, moderate republicans are -- >> yes, you don't get to call

yourself moderate, sensible, rational, reasonable, if you are willing to basically entirely remake 18% of our economy without having a single hearing, without having testimony from experts, without having a cbo score, without each having read the bill. i'm sorry, you forfeit that right. i think it was a fantasy to think that the screwier ideas and the comments of the house freedom caucus were going to be held in check. they don't seem to have stepped up to the plate and have done their due diligence to make sure their own constituents let alone the other stakeholders who participate this the health care markets that they will not be harmed by this. >> steve, we spend a lot of time talking about trump's coalition. how do you think his voters are going to be affected by what passed today in the house. >> that's interesting. put aside if you think this was

good or bad. this is one of those votes r, they come along on capitol hill every once in a while where the government has to twist arms to got it across the finish line. you see those types of votes and they have to twist their arms at the end. the interesting thing about this one -- the real big deal that was cut to get this through was cut a couple weeks ago was the house freedom caucus. that's where they cut the deal. then it was the establishment, the moderate members who they leaned on whose arms they twisted to get this thing across. if you take the districts that are rep sented by republicans that hillary clinton won or came within five points of winning these are the most vulnerable republicans in the house. 34 of them fit that description. 23 of them voted yes today, a lot of them voted yes because they had no choice. their party was going to fail -- with ut complete control of washington their party was going to fail unless they cut this deal that was cut with the house

freedom caucus, getting a deal with the freedom caucus to get the moderates to walk the plank. >> i don't think he is all that offended by the substance of obamacare. i think he thought the brand of obamacare was a dud 678 i think what he said tonight with prime minister turnbull. let's watch. >> it doesn't matter whether you are republican or not in this case. i'm not going to have, if i'm president, people dying in the street because they can't afford a health plan than much less than obamacare, much less, sean, but it is a going to cost something. you are going to have people who can afford anything. people aren't going to be dying on the sidewalks and streets. we will get them something, into the doctors and the hospitals. peep are not going to die, when i make that in a speech in front of all republicans i get standing ovations. it is a crazy. who wants to let that happen, i'm not going to let that happen. >> obviously, that was sean hannity not the im proo of

australia but that was a better example of the point i'm taking. you could see sean hannity's blood draining from his face as trump all but endorses single payer health care. >> i'm not sure white house aides know what the president' ideology on health care is beyond repealing and replacing the current existing law. we saw that in both of these go-arounds on health care that the president is pretty flexible on the details of this. >> is that an understatement? i mean, flexibility, i think speaks to your sort of gripe with the republicans, flexible is lacking in washington. i think people -- i think it's probably accurate to say he believes in nothing when it comes down to it. that was him with sean hand knit the midst of the republican primary basically saying he wasn't doing to let anyone die in the streets, the only way to do that is single paler health

care. >> probably won't be the principle that's in whatever legislation gets through the senate, if anything gets through the senate. but it does leave republicans in this awkward position where they can move forward to some extent on their own without the specific backing of the president on policy. it's a position that i think they are not necessarily unhappy with, but it does leave them with this big uncertainty because you never exactly know where the president is going to fall on specific amendments or specific provisions in this legislation. >> julie is diplomatic because she covers him every day. you don't know where he is going to fall because he hasn't read night oh, yeah i have been interviewing people for the last weeks, members of congress. they say what it's going to do about preexisting conditions. and i asked them about that. they say you will have to get into the details with other

people. i say, well you are the ones who vote on this. the fact of the matter is if you listened to donald trump when he saukd to "hannity" and he said it other times, as you said, not only is the only way to make sure people don't die on the streets to cover everyone, but if you are a republican and you think government spends too much money and doesn't do it effectively, universal coverage is substantially cheaper than what we do. we spend over $9,000 a person on health care. most developed countries spend under $4,000. >> like australia? >> yeah. >> let's listen to what he had to say about australia and watch bernie sandersa react with surprise. >> going to get better. it is a good bill. the premiums are going to come down substantially. the deductibles are going to come down. it's going to be fantastic health care. right now obamacare care is failing. we have a failing health care. i shouldn't say this to our great gentlemen and my friend from australia, because you have better health care than we do. >> they have universal. >> i know. >> oh, okay. >> wait a minute, wait a minute, chris. >> all right. the president has just said it.

that's great. let's take a look at the australian health care system, and let's move -- maybe he wants to take a look at the canned can system. thank you mr. president, let us move to a medicare for all system that does what every other major country on rert does guarantees health care to all people at a fraction of the cost per capita that we do. thank you mr. president, we'll quote you on the floor of the senate. >> will paul ryan quote him on the floor of the house what does paul ryan do. >> that's the amazing thing about about how this played out. the clipts you are playing during the campaign it was about the social safety net. donald trump positioned himself as the anti-paul ryan. paul ryan's signature thing the path to prosperity was to reign in costs for medicare, for social security. here is trump saying i'm not touching social security or medicare. >> said he would not touch medicaid. >> what has he done as president?

ledges laid rooef aligned himself with paul ryan. the great fear of paul ryan, if you get donald trump you are going to get somebody you are at lalger heads with on all these core questions. so far, no. >> paul ryan knew how to be paul ryan if hillary clinton won. i don't think he has any idea how to be paul ryan in the donald trump administration. >> well said. >> when we come back, steve kornacki has heads to the huge big board that we have. back after this. did you know slow internet

can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's over 6 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business.

>> i don't think we should pass bills that we haven't read and that we don't know what they cost. would want to see health care reform done but we want to do it right. if you rush this thing through before everybody even knows what it is that's not good democracy that's not doing work for our constituents. what's wrong with going home in august having town hall meetings hearing from our constituents and coming back and reviewing. >> that was paul ryan in 2009. i feel a little bad, no, i don't. you are at the board. this new health care bill has a lot of hurdles to clear. >> let's show you exactly right there. celebrating like they got it all done today. what they did today, they can check off a box here. they did pass the house. there, on your to-do list, if you are a republican, you you can czech that box off. that's the good news. here's the bad news. look what else they have to do. now it goes to the senate. look, you are a republican in the senate, you are trying to

get it there. the margin of error there is two, you can have two defections. the concerns for republican senators are very different than they are in the house. let's say you need to make a deal to get it through the senate. maybe you need to change the defunding of planned parenthood to bring susan collins around. maybe you need to add more money to the high risk pools to get the conservative republicans. then you have got to reconcile the differences, take what they passed in the house, take the other version in the senate -- they could be very far apart and then you have to reconcile the differences. then you go back to the house. let's say it gets more moderate and moves to the middle in the senate. then you might have a revolt from the house freedoms. they were okay with what they passed today. what if it's more expensive when it comes out of the senate. you have got a revolt on the right. you have got to pass it through the house all over again.

if you do that, you have got to pass it through the senate all over again. maybe the changes disappear in the committee. when they reconcile it -- when you get it through all these steps then you put it on the president's desk and then he can sign it. today they checked off the first box. this is still left to be done. and it is a big, big if, if they can get any let alone all of athletes boxes checked off. >> it is a very, very daunting list. is anyone putting the odds or giving us any timing when they think they can get through all those steps? >> one of the other wild cards here is there is no cbo score, no estimate on the cost getting it through the house. that is probably going to change when you put it through the senate. what will the senate respond to here? ? if i get a rbo score, estimates on cost, estimates on coverage,

certainly that would affect the debate in the senate. there may be things they are forced to respond to and forced to make adjustments for. >> tell me what you think theity inical moderates in the senate are going to do with this. >> i hope they will run for the hills because this is bad for their zwents for a lot of reasons we haven't started to talk about, including the fact it guts preexisting conditions, guts essential health benefits, essentially the kind of core coverage areas, prescription drugs, maternity services. guts those kinds of things. lifetime maximums on spending. lots of those kinds of things that makes lots of senators concerned and could hurt the cbo score. cbo has said that unless the kinds of coverage that we see americans get under this plan meet certain bice baseline criteria they will not consider those people coveraged things to get worse. >> because they will have such lousy coverage.

>> people from the reagan administration said to me today people remember who takes something away from their family and children. >> right. >> do you think the democrats had a good day, sing -- i won't punish anyone with my singing voice but we know what they were singing on the floor today, was that a good thing to do, classy? >> it is good to fight the good fight. it would have been helpful inf there could beage knowledgement that obamacare didn't work on the costs side, on tort reform. it would have been better seven years ago. but this thing got bipartisan a long time ago. >> this thing got more acceptness now. >> since people realized it was going to be gone. i said this when it happened and i maintained, i think it might have been the obama

administration's worst handling of anything. they dropped the ball on obamacare the day they announced it. it became the rallies and don't he tread on me and they never got it back to explain we are going to do something republican, lower the cost of health care and get more insured. it got some of the way down there and they never got credit for that. >> julie pace, do you think the white house understands the shifting politics around the country at the grassroots level around health care and obamacare. >> i think they see the town halls happening when some of the house members go home but it hasn't changed the calculus which is that trump believes he owes it to those who showed up at his rallies when he was campaigning to end obamacare. he can't ends this year without having completed that promise to

his voters. >> thank you julie, thank you steve. coming up,w what did james comey have to say behind closed -- doors on capitol hill today? an update on the russia investigation when we return.

i think the hearing went well. i think it went better than the issue they covered yesterday because frankly i had such strong disagreement with the views expressed with director comey.

i don't think the choice was between speaking and concealing, i think the choice was between adhering department of justice policy and not talking about the pending investigation in the run up to an election. that was adam schiff talking to rachel maddow tonight and responding to yesterday's testimony from fbi director jim comey. they heard from comey and mike rogers today in a closed session. it's been two months exactly since the president of the united states accused his predecessor of wire trapping him. session. it's been two months exactly since the president of the united states accused his predecessor of wire trapping him. there remains no evidence of trump's claim. joining our conversation is rick stengel. thank for being here with us. >> thank you. >> we were talking before we came on the air about something

that struck me yesterday, too, and didn't get a lot of pick up in the discussion. it was comey's comment about how russia remains the biggest threat the world over. >> yes, i mean, i thought it was quite an extraordinary statement that didn't get enough attention. they are the most maligned actor on the world stage. not just affecting the united states but nations all around the world. they continue to undermine democracy, undermine democratic world organizations like the u.n., like nato. they are doing it in nefarious ways. they are using organized crime. they are using troll factories. they are -- all along a continuum they have been using for decades now. comey is aware of their role in world politics. i think it's fair that he talks about it. >> are you worried sort of in your former role, in our former life, are you watching what is

happening in france. >> yes. >> with some alarm, thank you russia is behind -- >> they have been operate nlg france for generations. they were operateding in britain for their brexit vote. they are constantly, they are like a person trying to get you to do the wrong thing. they are doing it both overtly and covertly. i'm hoping that the french will do the right thing despite what russia has done. there is a lot of comical stuff that they do that the french see but a lot of stuff they don't see as well. >> julie, what is the white house's best explanation for all the generosity they continue to excued toward vladimir putin? >> they don't really have a great explanation. you see this disconnect, particularly after the syria air strikes between what people like rex tillerson and nikki haley say about vladimir putin and what we were hearing from president trump. even after those strikes i was so taken by the fact that trump

himself still wasn't being particularly tough on putin. he would talk about russia and you how owe didn't think it was ride right they were continuing to support assad. but he was still fair lee friendly when he would talk about putin. and they had this phone call earlier this week where they basically end the door up again on cooperation with syria. even when you have people talking tough about the russian leader from the administration, the line from the white house has continued to be a bit more friendly. and we don't again have a great sense of exactly why beyond that desire by the president to form a better relationship. >> ali, what could this better relationship with putin possibly yield? >> well, we need it, for issues in the middle east in particular. we are not really going in the right direction in dealing with the calming influence we need to have in the middle east. although i think we are talk about the fact that the president has announced a trip there. >> he is on his way. >> on face the nation reacting to the hacking that everybody else in the world seems to

understand. the president said unless you catch someone in the act of hacking you don't know if it's russia or china -- he stopped making the reference to the 400 pound guy in the base men on the bed. people who know little about hacking like me know you don't have to catch someone in the act. >> they figure out everything i order on amazon, they can figure it all out. >> the important thing that comey said in the conferring with lindsey graham is they are not stopping. this is not going to get better. this was not a one off thing with donald trump. i think it's more important for us to understand whether the trump campaign hadding to something to do with the russians. it is the idea that -- >> the fact that trump has shared so much praise for authoritarian leaders not only in russia, but around the world, but in the philippines that undermines our values.

if we are trying to spread democracy around the world, it doesn't help in terms of cooperation with allies. they are going to look more concept particularly with us and it unmines the case we might be making with putin or others behind closed doors or in the open. >> how about that, are we undermining relations with other allies by always taking the putin line. >> absolutely. people don't understand it. and rex tillerson gave that speech to the whole state department yesterday where he said sometimes our policy has to be divorced from our values. i mean we haven't said that in decades. our values are our policy. and that's witness of the things that people like about the

united states. we are the rudder of the international system. they want somebody to be guiding it. when we say we are not practicing that anymore people have to recall cue late and recalibrate. i think it incentivizes the despots and dictators to act the way they want because they think they can do it with impunity. >> erdogan in turkey, duterte in the philippines. it's unusual. >> he like strongs men. coming up, donald trump packs his bags and his passport for his first overseas trip. when we come back.

my first foreign trip as president of the united states will be to saudi arabia, then israel, and then to a place that my cardinals love very much, rome. >> that was donald trump this morning announcing his first trip abroad as president set for later this month. i attended a briefing on the

trip this morning at the white house, a trip described by a senior administration official as quote a trip designed to define america's disposition in the world. >> as john kerry said over and over we are more engaged with the world now than maybe we have ever been. look at his flight schedule. we were talking to everybody. the obama administration was the engagement this idea of diplomacy that we need to talk to people. we should be shup be send missiles to folks, we should be talking to him. >> open hands -- something about open hands and fists. >> one of president obama's trips was to cairo, he gave a speech. an open hand to the world. he did not did to israel. >> a senior administration official described the ordering of this trip in part to be a trip designed to deliver a message of tolerance. i thought that was an

interesting acknowledgment that perhaps they sent a message of intolerance with the muslim ban. >> as much as the relationship between barack obama and netanyahu was not good strategic relations between america and israel remained as strong as ever. military funding remained in place, defense relationships remained in place. even with respect to the iran deal that netanyahu was angry about, the americans and theis reels had contingency plans if iran looked in the wrong direction toward israel. there are some in the diplomatic community -- i don't want to speak about things rick knows about better than i do who said that being in bed with the saudis for 50 years got us cheap oil not a lot of other things. we needed to reengage. we did. it is a recalibration. donald trump didn't like the iran deal. this is a repudiation.

it is a message to iran that you hate the most we are visiting the two places you hate the most. saudi arabia and israel. >> their answer is they are looking to recent relations with us. they are excited. they view president trump as someone who can reengage them. is that what you are hearing? do you buy it? >> i think to some extent when you talk about saudi arabia and israel, i think that is right. certainly netanyahu has made no secret of the fact that he is excited to work with president trump. he sees him as someone who is going to be much more favorable toward israel and netanyahu's agenda than obama was. with the saudi, it was a two prong problemed they were having with the obama towards the end. one the engage men with iran on the nuclear deal. but also it was the deal -- this

was more broadly felt in the gulf states and in the arab world that the obama administration wasn't doing enough on syria. on that front you have seen some of the leaders are pleased with the fact that donald trump came in and launched missiles at the syrian airbase after the chemical weapons attack to them. that's a sign that he is going to be more militaristic when it comes to syria. these are short-term views that both the israelis and the saudis have. we'll see when he actually gets there and has to engage on the issues over a longer term but yeah there is definitely a feeling in both of these countries that donald trump is a leader they are happy to have in the oval office. >> i've heard that too from u.a. and other countries in the region who welcome someone who is -- as you describe. i wonder if you think that this is sort of a pathway for donald trump to reboot his presidency, by stacking up some foreign policy accomplishments.

by having a well-executed trip aed broad. do you think he can erase some of the mistakes he made with a stumbled domestic agenda. >> in two cases. in that sense, he has some hope to get something done. maybe not in the next month but eventually. beyond that, his whole foreign policy doctrine is somewhat muddled. part of the reason why it was a bit disorienting to hear this language about how we are reengaging with the rhett of the world is that throughout the campaign trump talked about how we needed to turn inward. he didn't use those words. >> they addressed that today. one of the senior administration officials talked about and describe exactly how faerk first is consistent with strengthening these alliances we have been talking about. american first. i think they are prepared for that i personally think -- i'm sure you know a lot of folks on

the national security, general mattis. -- i think it's the nation's best opportunity to make a second first impression. >> exactly. that's where i was going to go with this. there was the perception is that trump saw himself as an isolationist and the administration says no we don't see ourselves this way. this is a chance for him to clarify what the trump doctrine is what role america should have in the rest of the word. coming up, donald trump's first trip to the big apple since he became president. we'll have that after this break.

[ chanting ] hey, hey, ho, ho, donald trump has got to go! >> the sounds of my city.

welcome back to "the 11th hour." protesters greeted donald trump on his first return trip here to new york since the day before he was sworn into office. the president was ring originally scheduled to stop at his pentagon apartment in trump tower which would have brought protests. today sanitation trucks filled with sand lined the street in front of trump tower. but instead, the president went straight from jfk straight to the uss intrepid to deliver a speech honoring world wore two troops. can donald trump ever go home again. >> i have flashbacks to when barack obama took the white house and he talked about how they were going to be back to chicago all the time. they almost never went back in eight years. trump talked about this to

friends during the transition that he thought he would be spending more time in new york. he has been spending more time in mar-a-lago. he is going to be at his club in new jersey. some of it is pure logistics. when you are president you travel with huge security details. in some ways his private clubs are better to accommodate that. of course you saw those protests. new york is not exactly friendly territory for this president. he is conscious of protests. he is always aware of the image. >> what do you make with the smoother interaction with australia. we had a diplomatic occur flufl. >> what happened? >> remember in february, i think we have the sound. the president blasted the australian prime minister over the refugee agreement. >> he gets in arguments with our allies and praises our adversaries.

>> were you pleasantly surprised to see tonight's events go well without any altercations all night. >> didn't he say the australian health system is better than -- >> i think he talked about it tonight. take a listen. >> they said we had a rough phone call. we really didn't have a rough phone call, did we? everyone was talking about the phone call. the media was saying what do you think about the phone call. you didn't really hang up. we actually didn't have a rough phone call, right. now the record is straight. it's true. we had a very nice. got a little testy. a little bit testy. but that's okay. >> got testy. >> you know i'm canadian, we got in a fight with -- >> new axis of evil, canada, mexico and australia. >> we -- canada and the u.s. have been arguing with soft wood lumber the wood you build your house with. it is an ongoing debate. it never got anywhere. it is a one one of the unresolved things. >> it is on the list. we went and slapped the terror

fund. at some point these are our absolute staunchest allies. we don't get into those fights. it is weird that donald trump can find testy discussions to have with prime ministers of canada and australia. it does seem he is now learning to not fight with everybody. can find testy discussions to have with prime ministers of canada and australia. it does seem he is now learning to not fight with everybody. >> is he learning? >> he is adapting. i think taking a foreign trip is a good thing. >> did he wait too long? >> i don't think so. he has a nato meeting and a g-7 meeting. part of the thing about those places is the bureiocracy and structure is so strong. i think hopefully he will learn some things there. >> we are going to make you cover those wall to wall with us. >> i hope so. up next, can you believe it? donald trump asks that he is actually our president.

coming from a different world and only be a politician for a short period of time, how am i doing? am i doing okay? i'm president. can you believe it? >> can you believe it? that was donald trump earlier today in the rose garden on day

105. he still sounds a bit surprised foobe president. i am, too. trump has been seeming a bit nostalgic lately for his life before the oval office. >> if i didn't win i guess i would be gone. i would be out enjoying my life, i think. >> are you surprised by how much he has been waxing poetic about his beautiful, wonderful, enjoyable prepresidential life? >> the thing about trump is that there is not really an inner monologue. there is just the monologue. >> outside voice. >> you just hear what is in his head come out of his mouth. i think he is probably expressing a feeling that other presidents have had. this job is really hard. there must be days where presidents just think my old life was a lot easier than this. with trump he just says it out

loud in the rose garden. >> you think obama had days like he is like i had it so great? >> definitely. remember he said i can't take a walk. i can't go for a haircut. thing that trump said in the rose garden he was evoking ed koch. and the old joke enough about me, let's talk about you. what do you think of me? >> you fell out of your chair. >> two things come to mind. you would know this well from president bush. watching president obama since the presidency is really most people's first taste of how tough it must be because you just see president obama looking like he never wants to get back to anything. >> george w. bush paints now. he is literally become a renaissance man. >> know that president bush and president obama they all sort of

knew this was a tough job. interesting thing with president trump is the number of times he brings up some reference to who knew it was so hard. that is number one. he had a very solid relationship with the press before he was president and didn't face a ton of criticism. he got headlines but ultimately the press is more friendly to him. >> entertainment figure. >> i think he thought you get more of that when you are president. he got probably the same amount and a whole lot more criticism. >> do you think there will come a point where he stops looking around in amazement that this has happened? >> probably not. >> will any of us? will the country? >> i wish things were normal enough that those conditions would exist. it does not feel that way right now. >> what does his staff say? i heard one of his very senior advisers say the one thing we know for sure is that anything can change until the last moment

with president trump and everything is always on the table because of the flexibility you mentioned earlier in the hour. >> that is really what has made this first 100 and whatever many days we are at so far so chaotic is that he can change his mind. that is why you have senior staff that tries to spend as much time with him as possible because you want to be in the room to know when he is changing his mind so you can redirect. this is just his style. it was his style in business and as a candidate. so it really shouldn't be a surprise that it is his style in the white house but you know it is funny to see him sometimes in these settings. i interviewed him in the oval office a week or so ago. when you see him in there you do feel the trappings of the presidency. and then he drops kind of a random comment or has one of those inner monologue moments and you realize this is donald trump sitting in the oval office. it is an amazing thing. >> i read your transcript twice.

i sent it to our producer and i said you have to read the whole thing. when he says do you want a coke i stopped. he is so normal sometimes but then he is not. what is it like covering him day in and day out? >> it is fascinating. it came at the end of fairly lengthy discussion on china and north korea. he is like you want a coke and presses the button and the butler comes in with a coke. it's watching a guy who comes from a totally different world settling into the most establishment job that exists. it's fascinating. >> fascinating indeed. we never run out of things to talk about. >> i had a bar fridge. >> thank you to all of you for staying up so late. that does it for this edition of 11th hour. i'm nicole wallace in for brian williams tonight. have a great evening.

coming from a different wormd and only being a politician for a little time, how am i doing? i'm president. how do you think i'm doing? i thought you needed a little more time, they always told me, more time but we didn't. >> a legislative win for the white house. president trump celebrates after the house passes a bill to start dismantling obamacare. president trump meets with australia's prime minister. heavy rain that flooded parts of the midwest is heading east from d.c. to boston. folks are getting ready for a weekend of wet weather.