mitch mcconnell cried. he cried on the senate floor after listening to the farewell speech of the retiring and utterly undistinguished republican senator from tennessee, lamar alexander. mitch mcconnell cried. for lamar alexander, who isn't sick, who wasn't dying like the 3,046 people who died in this country today from covid-19. lamar alexander hasn't suffered at all during this pandemic, hasn't lost any income, isn't worried about the rent. and that's who mitch mcconnell cried for. the one time we have seen him cry. lamar alexander was a fully reliable tool of mitch mcconnell in the united states senate. lamar alexander had no guiding principles stronger than doing what mitch mcconnell wanted him to do. and nothing could be more important to mitch mcconnell, more endearing to mitch mcconnell, than that kind of blind loyalty to mitch mcconnell and his mission. mitch mcconnell's mission was described today on msnbc on nicolle wallace's show by steve schmidt in one of those extemporaneous short speeches of h

and giving democrats control of the senate and we'll know mitch mcconnell's fate in just one week. leading off our discussion tonight, zerlina maxwell host of "zerlina" on peacock and errin haines, editor at large at the 19th, and an msnbc contributor. zerlina, i want to begin with your reaction to what we're learning about the breonna taylor case. apparently the officer who fired the fatal shot will be fired. >> sitting here today, it feels like the bare minimum. certainly after a case in which a sleeping woman is murdered in her bed, there needs to be some sort of systemic accountability. that's what protesters are asking for and certainly her family needs justice. and justice is not the -- in the form of losing your employment when you killed someone in their homes, in their bed, in the course of that employment. and in this particular case, one of the most egregious facts is the officer who received the harshest punishment, he shot a wall and yet the person who shot breonna taylor and killed her only loses his employment reportedly. so that is not justice, lawrence. >> errin ha

we know mitch mcconnell. he's told us who we are and he's telling us again. >> let me see if i get donald trump's pitch to georgia voters on monday straight because donald trump is going on monday as is joe biden, last day of the campaign before the election. donald trump is going to go to georgia on monday. he's going to say elect these two republican senators who now suddenly say they agree with me that you should get $2,000 checks. elect them so that they can keep mitch mcconnell as the majority leader who will prevent you from getting $2,000 checks? >> yes, it's madness. it's madness, lawrence. i'll say i actually don't know that i necessarily know what it is donald trump is going to do on monday. i think he's a total wild card in this scenario. and i think that argument you just laid out would be the logically consistent but obviously illogical piece of politics he would have to put forward if he was describing the situation honestly. but exactly what he does, the extent to which he tries to put the boot

mitch mcconnell in this sense, if donald trump is a fast terrorist, a fast racist, then mitch mcconnell is taking a slower train toward racial revulsion. he is enacting some of the worst practices we've seen in the history of this nation in regard to a senator blocking the coming to fruition of legislation that could relieve the hurt and suffering of black people. and to proudly stand up and say that he wanted to make obama a one-term president, this shows us that the real religion in america is whiteness. the wheel politics in mitch mcconnell's orbit are whiteness. the worship of whiteness at the altar of whiteness and therefore donald trump is the product of a womb that has generated this disfigured third person in terms of politics, but mitch mcconnell is part of that couple. mitch mcconnell gives life and breath to the very denunciation of blackness that donald trump has been so vehemently denounced for and puts forward a black face representation in daniel cameron so there is a vent rillo kwix going on and mitch mcconnell's thoughts are coming through his tongue. this is the worst

to mitch mcconnell anything anymore. protecting his 52-member congress, on winning those two seats in georgia right now. five republicans have come out and say they support the $2,000 checks. that leaves 47 republicans who are not coming out and saying they support those checks. if you want to know where mitch mcconnell is going to go, why he's presenting an alternative piece of legislation, he's trying to protect the majority of his conference. that could change. right now more than likely no stimulus checks, at least at the $2,000 level, are coming any time soon. >> it's not an enviable position for mitch mcconnell to be in right now. fighting the president. leaving office. he has to garner, figure out how much support the president still has, even though he's leaving. there's a lot of calculation that he has to do before he figures out what his strategy is going to be. >> no question. it's complicated. you're dealing with the president, who is the president. everybody has watched him and operated under his leadership

what's mitch mcconnell doing? >> so, look, there's real concern about the deficit and i voted for the $2,000 checks when they came up, i guess, yesterday or the day before, but, look, i mean, we're coming out of here with $29 trillion in debt, we're going to have to make some sacrifices. i think there is a legitimate question about what the size of that check needs to be, but, you know, my view on it is it's a time where we are in such a bad position that if you are going to spend money and put it in people's pockets so they can spend money it needs to be now and i don't know if mitch mcconnell is just slow-walking it or whatever, but keep in mind, i mean, the president has just gone after mitch mcconnell now, you know, and gone after anybody that's ever done anything good for the president because he cannot take personal responsibility for his loss. he's got to put it on other people. >> from where you sit are you seeing republicans distance themselves now from president trump? i mean, for instance, voting to ove

he signed on to the mitch mcconnell cult. he did whatever mitch mcconnell wanted whenever he wanted it and today lamar alexander complained in his farewell speech that the united states senate no longer really allows senators to offer amendments on the senate floor the way they used to. but he didn't have the courage to mention that it was his dear friend mitch mcconnell who has been preventing him from offering amendments on the senate floor. mitch mcconnell was moved to tears by lamar alexander's speech. that's how much mitch mcconnell treasures his spineless enablers, his quislings who cower in the shadow of donald trump. two hours before donald trump defaced the white house with his verbal graffiti about the election, mike pence did his duty as vice president and swore in the newest united states senator from arizona, democrat mark kelly. acceptance of the results of an election does not get more clear and more formal than that, actually administering the oath of office to the winner of that election. to find republicans

but mitch mcconnell, he doesn't say it explicitly. he speaks in his mitch mcconnell way. but if you read between the lines he's pointing out you guys didn't ask for this sooner so of course it's a lot harder to bring it to a vote right now. but i think the president is kind.95 this mentality where he's not really looking out for mitch mcconnell's republican caucus. he is in a burn it all down kind of mindset so far that he has been ever since he lost the election. the only person whose political fate he's concerned about right now is his own. yes, he is going to georgia on monday to campaign for david perdue and kelly loeffler. but as we saw with the president's only one other appearance he made in georgia on behalf of them, a lot of his rally had a lot more to do with his election loss than it had to do with the fate of the senate and what's going to happen. so i think that's the concern, and i think mitch mcconnell is aware of that. >> absolutely. it seems to all come down to soothing that ego, soothing those hurt feelings as he just can't get over the fact that he's lo

mitch mcconnell, in this sense, if donald trump is a fast terrorist, is a fast racist, then mitch mcconnell is taking a slower train toward racial revulsion. he is enacting some of the worst practices we have seen in the history of this nation, in regard to a senator blocking the coming to fruition of legislation that could relieve the -- the hurt and suffering of black people. and to proudly stand up and say that he wanted to make obama a one-term president. this shows us that the real religion in america is whiteness. the real politics in mitch mcconnell's orbit are whiteness. the worship of white ness at th altar of whiteness, genuflecting before the god of whiteness. and but mitch mcconnell is part of that womb. mitch mcconnell gives life and breath to the very denunciation of blackness that donald trump has been so vehemently denounced for. and, look. he then puts forward a black-face representation, literally, in daniel cameron. so, there's siren trill quizm going on. this is the worst we have ever seen and pulling those strings is one of the most -- was one of the worst white suprema

mitch mcconnell or donald trump? >> i think what joe biden has to do is reach out and become as close as he possibly can to the republicans and mitch mcconnell's caucus that might be willing to not always do the party line to get things done. i think you'll see joe biden trying to really seriously talk to people like rob portman and people like lisa murkowski and people like, you know, john thune and others who, you know, now mitch is pretty good at keeping everybody in the corral and that's what you're seeing now. he was having difficulty keeping everybody in the corral on denying that joe biden had won this election. so he finally capitulated because he had real friction in his caucus over people saying, wait a minute, we can't keep being quiet about this. so in -- i can't overstate how important the georgia elections are. it is going to make a big difference to -- as to the role of mitch mcconnell going forward. >> so, claire, let me start with you, then, is how this covid relief deal came together, is that the mo

mitch mcconnell will be able to say that democrats voted it down. and mitch mcconnell can also say that he gave president trump what he wanted, which was a vote on those three issues. so i think you're right, kasie. >> congressman curbello, we're all -- everyone here having this conversation is very steeped in the ways of washington. we've all been doing it for a long time. you were a member of the house. i think we can all explain we understand the processes, all of the strategizing and the ways in which people like mitch mcconnell act or don't act to try to get outcomes that they want. but if you're an american at home who has been out of work for months who has been putting debt on their credit card, scraping things together, worrying about whether they'll have enough money for food or presents for their kids, i think it's really hard to wrap your head around why, if two-thirds of the hour, the republican president, the democratic speaker, the democratic minority leader all want to send more money to people, they are not going to get that help an

to mitch mcconnell anything anymore. protecting his 52-member congress, on winning those two seats in georgia right now. mitch mcconnell's conference, don, i think this is really important, they've had five republicans come out and say they support $2,000 checks. that leaves 47 republicans who are not coming out and saying they support those checks. if you want to know where mitch mcconnell is going to go, why he's presenting an alternative piece of legislation that democrats call a poison pill, it's because he's trying to protect the majority of his conference. that could change. right now more than likely no stimulus checks, at least at the $2,000 level, are coming any time soon. >> it's still not an enviable position for mitch mcconnell to be in right now. fighting the president. leaving office. he has to garner, figure out how much support the president still has, even though he's leaving. there's a lot of calculation that he has to do before he figures out what his strategy is going to be. >> no question. it's compl

mitch mcconnell and the senate republicans. democratic leader schumer yesterday asked for unanimous consent to bring it up in the buffed byich was mitch mcconnell and republicans in the senate. in a block unit, they are in theyl -- in walking it, are in denial of the hardship american people are experiencing. healthwise, financially, in every way. they are in denial of that need in denying this benefit. i do hope that in the days ahead, we only have a few days in this session, that they will understand thend suffering that is going on in this country. i have said before, it is amazing to see the patients that some people have with other people suffering. senateepublicans in the seem to have and -- an endless tolerance for other people sadness. we urge mitch mcconnell to stop his obstruction and to bring that legislation to the floor of the senate. we urge republicans in the senate to encourage him to do so. note's really important to how important this money in the pockets of the american people are. if they have the resources,

the real politics in mitch mcconnell's orbit are whiteness. the worship of whiteness at the altar of whiteness, before the god of whiteness. and thereof donald trump is a product of a womb that has disfigured this person in terms of politics, but mitch mcconnell is part of that womb. mitch mcconnell gives life and breath to the very denunciation of blackness that donald trump has been vehemently denounced for. then he puts forth a black face representation in daniel cameron. there's a ventriloquism going on. daniel cameron's mouth is moving, mitch mcconnell's thoughts are coming through his tongue. pulling those strings is one of the worst white sprupremacists that we've seen in the last 15 years in american politics. >> and you're writing about reckoning with race. talk to me about how we do that when somebody like this guy can start off at the march on washington at 20 years old and get all the way here, right, get all the way to the place where he's denying a black president's humanity and right to even occupy the office. if he can fall tha

and mitch mcconnell of all people does know that. so he appears unwilling to do the president's last minute bidding on these checks. but there is another senate republican who is ready to do the president's bidding. a move that will delight president trump. josh hawley becoming the first republican senate to say that he will object when congress meets to certify joe biden's win. >> there is a very clear process. that is just what we'll do, dispense with them. >> reporter: hawley writing that they should investigate aelgtszs allegations of voter fraud. and mitch mcconnell warned his caucus against this very move. saying that it was bound to fail and would force republicans to defy trump or vote against a fair election. >> so you either have to say there was no fraud or donald trump had the whooorst legal ti. >> reporter: and others are considering their political futures. and meanwhile the president argued that because a gallup poll found that he was the moos most admired man of 2020, he won the election. and the fats e of the 2 thous

in the '90s when i was in the senate mitch mcconnell and joe biden were there and mitch mcconnell was one of the reasonable republicans who you could talk to and not necessarily get him into a policy compromise but he wasn't going to put up ridiculous road blocks to everything and jo joe biden knows better than anyone just how much mitch mcconnell has changed and the mitch mcconnell he used to deal with when he was a senator really no longer exists and biden knows that. no one knows, including joe biden, how you deal with this version of mitch mcconnell in the senate. it's going to be something, he's going to have to improvize every day and he knows that mitch mcconnell is, if he's the leader of the senate is there which will be either the publicly expressed or privately expressed mission of destroying the biden presidency, just like that was his mission about the obama presidency. so joe biden knows what he's getting into. it's going to take everything he knows about strategic maneuvering in the senate to figure out how to get anything through a mitch mcconnell senate. >> what's your

mitch mcconnell and the senate republicans. democratic leader schumer yesterday asked for unanimous consent to bring it up in the senate, which was blocked by mitch mcconnell and the republicans in the senate. in blocking it, they are in theal of the hardship american people are experiencing in healthwise, financially, every way, their lives and livelihoods are in many cases on the brink. so they are in denial of that need in denying this benefit. i do hope that, in the days ahead -- we only have a few days left in this session -- that they will see the light and the suffering that is going on in our country. now, i have said before it is amazing to see the patience that some people have with other people's suffering. these republicans in the senate seem to have an endless tolerance for other people's sadness. we urge mitch mcconnell to stop his obstruction and to bring that legislation to the floor of the senate, and we urge republicans in the senate to encourage him to do so. notereally important to how important this money i

mitch mcconnell is not letting that covid relief through. instead he's proposing combining the bill for $2,000 checks with some other trump demands, things like, say, investigations into how trump actually won the election, adding things like that to the relief bill is essentially the same as killing it. senator bernie sanders has come up with a plan that might, just might, get mitch mcconnell to crack. as the final days of congress tick down this week, senator sanders is threatening to do the worse thing you can do to united states senators, make them stay at work over holiday. unless mitch mcconnell allows a vote on the $2,000 payments, ben sor sanders will filibuster the giant defense spending bill, the one donald trump vetoed for a host of inexplicable reasons. the senate is set to override that veto. bernie sanders is threatening to make senators stay in town through the holiday weekend to do it, which would be especially problematic for the georgia senators who need to get home to campaign for the tight january 5th run offs. will senat

okay, mitch, i are -- i saw your instagram. are you going to cook up a tree? mitch? mitch: yeah. that happens when you work from home. they are taking the needles, they say the needles pair well with dairy. i do like the use the smoker out back, i may give it a try to the pine needles smoke salmon, that's something i may give a try to. cheryl: after you smoke the salmon, i think you scrape the needles off just to be safe. mitch: yeah,i will rinse them to make sure to get pesticides off of them. cheryl: i don't think anyone wants to eat their christmas tree. another story, ready to save the world again, wonder woman 1984 which was released on hbo max on christmas day, brought in $16.7 million, that's the biggest opening weekend of the entire pandemic. there's already more on the way. warner brothers has already given the green light to a third wonder woman film. lee, this goes back to are theaters going to come back, are we going to go back to the movies? lee: you know there's some movies that are worth going to theaters and those are action films larger than life. it's good news

mitch mcconnell, i mean, okay, i guess better late than never. he after more than five weeks finally acknowledged that joe biden will be the next president. and then president trump didn't like that and he tweeted, mitch, 75 million votes, a record for a sitting president, by a lot. too soon to give up. republican party must finally learn to fight. people are angry, exclamation point. i don't think president trump understands the math. yeah, 75 million. that is a lot. joe biden got more. he got more. >> 80 million is more than 75. somebody needs to tell the president this in the white house. anyway, and then you heard house members who want to do this on january 6th and continue fighting like congressman mo brooks said he hoped this announcement of what mitch mcconnell said was fake news. >> i mean, it's -- you know, you start to wonder if it's ever, ever going to end? and maybe it won't, until 2024. but i think this is another example of, you know, the fact that no matter how loyal you are to the president or how much you do for him, he will tur

senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has all but guaranteed there will not be a stand-alone vote on a measure passed by two-thirds of the house that boosts coronavirus stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. despite backing from president trump and a majority of senators. >> our colleagues who purport to be the champions of vulnerable americans now say what struggling people really need is the congress to stop focusing on targeted relief for them specifically and to instead send thousands of dollars to people who don't need the help. borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it. >> and here's how the democratic leader, chuck schumer, responded to that. >> when corporations get a blanket tax break, that's fine by republican majority. when the average american gets a little help from their government, it's poorly targeted. i hope they all heard the reason they will not receive $2,000 checks is because leader mcconnell thinks it could wind up in the hands of democrats' rich friends. >> nbc's sahil kapur is on c

this is a pure political calculation by mitch mcconnell. today was really his last off ramp before january 6th. as you pointed out, if he continues to say that, you know, president trump may have won this election, then on january 6th, if any republican senator joins the challenge, then we're going to have a vote in the united states senate. and mitch mcconnell and republican senators would have to vote to overturn the elections in pennsylvania, wisconsin and other states if they are going to continue to pick with the trump lie. so mcconnell recognized that today was really his only off ramp. >> there is, you know, while this is happening there is these sort of parallel tracks, which is that there is very urgent legislative business to be done on some kind of relief package, some covid relief package. mcconnell saying today that -- that something will be hammered out. i have covered this so much i start to feel like i'm losing my mind because i have just gone around, around and around for months. but where are things from your perspective?

american people, moscow mitch, mitch mcconnell, with this stimulus bill, he basically wants to keep the power in the senate. he knows darn well that if all soft and warnick win in georgia, he's going to lose power. you have to understand, the republicans in georgia, they are corrupt. they are traders. i'm not saying traders like traders and becoming powerful. i'm talking about greed. host: you are saying the deal was done to help the georgia street -- georgia situation specifically? caller: of course. mitch mcconnell is corrupt. how many decades? host: what convinces you that those things are connected? well, mitch mcconnell, , hehow long, 99 months didn't want to pass the stimulus bill. they are doing it because mitch mcconnell knows about georgia. off.i said earlier, also andll soft -- ossoff warnick win, his power will be gone. host: all right. republican mind, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. this should have been passed along time ago. pelosi the one that's been holding it up. not the senate. chuck schumer, he needs to get a new speechwriter. his speeches are get

with mitch mcconnell. getting inside donald trump's tortured adult brain is always an ugly mission. but to the extent he knew he was blowing up the relief package i think it's because he wanted to stick it to mcconnell, because mcconnell had the temerity. once the electoral college made it official to say joe biden had won. i think that's behind it. i think republican turn out will be strong, democratic turn out will also be strong. i think those races lean republican, but i think all the attacks on the voting system and can you trust the election may cause a haircut in republican turn out. and joe biden did about 100,000 votes better than jon ossoff did in november. so both ossoff and warnock need to up their game in suburban areas and match their turnout. i don't think donald trump is helping things much at all. donald trump is saying, yeah, give people money but it looks like a cluster. and i don't think it helps the two republican candidates who were just today running around saying donald trump is try

thanks for nothing, mitch. pat in marysville, indiana. company when he called for the stimulus check that mcconnell was not going to pass it. stop playing with people's lives. never been fore the poor people. and from wichita, kansas, just hilarious how the democrats attend about caring to give money to the american people. they fight harder for illegal aliens than they do for the american people. all they care about is power. when are you going to get that through your head? les, a republican. int about the debate washington over stimulus checks? caller: i'm opposed to it. as far as i'm concerned, this is just a debt that my grandchildren are going to have to pay, and i think that is wrong. humongous federal tax bill, that most of them probably don't even need. -- obama item also not 26. 1800 criminals, host: karl in chicago, democratic caller. carl, support or oppose, $2000 ?hecks ech caller: i support it. i'm going to make this simple. republicans never want to do anything for joe citizen. under george bush and trump when they had the

i applaud mitch mcconnell for talking to joe biden today. you know, it would have been better if it were earlier, but it happened. and that's what's most important. and so, let's move forward. let's move forward and where we can find common purpose and common ground, let's do that. let that be our priority. >> that interview just a short time ago. robin's full interview with the vice president-elect kamala harris tomorrow morning right here on "good morning america." >>> in the meantime, we turn next tonight to newly released police body cam video shows the moments just after the deadly of ahmaud arbery. two member chasing him through that georgia neighborhood. and what they told police at the scene. here's our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas now. >> reporter: tonight, newly released body camera footage revealing more insight into the death of ahmaud arbery. one of the suspects charged in arbery's murder, greg mcmichael, speaking to authorities moments after his son travis fatality shot the unarmed 25-year-old. arbery's body still

mitch mcconnell there of course. we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles. ina way in a way what mitch mcconnell is saying is a statement of the obvious but it is significant. highly significant. this is a very senior republican basically urging members of his own party to draw a line under this very contentious election cycle a nd this very contentious election cycle and sign off on the fact thatjoe biden is in fact the vector. the electoral college has spoken, mitch mcconnell said today and he also went on to congratulate joe biden said today and he also went on to congratulatejoe biden and kamala harris on their victory. it does seem as though those remarks have made the dam burst ina remarks have made the dam burst in a sense anyway. we have had senior republicans, senate republicans coming out since than to offer their congratulations to joe than to offer their congratulations tojoe biden. as far as donald trump though is concerned, the white house press secretary

and joe biden knows better than anyone just how much mitch mcconnell has changed and the mitch mcconnell that he used to deal with when he was the senator really no longer exists and biden knows that. no one knows, including joe biden, how you deal with this version of mitch mcconnell in the senate. it is going to be something he's going to have to improvise every day, and he knows that mitch mcconnell is, if he's the leader in fact senate, which will be either the publically expressed or privately expressed mission of destroying the biden presidency, just like that was his mission about the obama presidency. so joe biden knows what he's getting into. it is going to take everything he knows about strategy maneuvering in the senate to figure out how to get anything through a mitch mcconnell senate. >> what is your sense of the future of this covid relief bill? as we mentioned, the senate has adjourned for the evening. mitch mcconnell has gone home for the evening. he plans to return home tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. not exactly sure when the house would return. it would seem 1:00 p.m. at the ear

and that's why i ask mitch mcconnell to allow a vote on this proposal. you know, i have the opportunity to watch one of my colleagues talk about this, and i absolutely agree with the senator from angus king. he said i sit in these committees, in bipartisan committees, and i vote for relief for disasters,ing hurricane disasters, fire disasters, fire in the western states that i come from where you know so well that the fires are devastating our western states. but for the hurricanes that happen in texas, florida, you name it, i vote for relief because i know those constituents in those states are suffering. i don't look at them as blue states or red states. i look at them as americans who are in need right now, and i'm going to support that relief. so why are we doing that with this coronavirus relief package? i do not understand. it's not what the american people expect of us. i.t. not what they want, and it's not what they deserve. so, mr. president, i cannot stress this enough. it is time for the senate to get back to work on behalf of the american pub

so it's up to mitch mcconnell. it is long past time that he schedule a vote on making sure that american families have what they need to get through this pandemic. >> he doesn't seem inclined to do that. do you have any information that there is going to be a vote on this? >> no, not at this time, and that is a pattern that is well-established with mitch mcconnell. let's go back and think about in may when all of this was foreseeable, everything that your last panel just talked about with vaccine distribution, the economic hit to families, the suffering, the 40 million americans who are now on the serge of homelessness, the 8 million that have fallen into poverty, and what was mitch mcconnell's response then? he said let's hit pause. let's wait and see. and so we have been at a negotiating table for seven months often by ourselves as democrats, but here we are and we finally have the ability to garner some republican support and get this done for the american people. mitch mcconnell has to step up to the plate. >>

first of all, this move from mitch mcconnell, significant? highly significant. a senior member of the republican party, of course, and mitch mcconnell basically saying the electoral couege basically saying the electoral college has spoken sends a message to fellow republicans who, up to now in many cases have been unwilling to accept joe biden‘s victory in this election, to basically give up the fight, and more than that, mitch mcconnell also said, in a private meeting with senate republicans, that they should not endorse any moves by house collea g u es not endorse any moves by house colleagues to try to challenge the electoral college vote when it comes up for consideration by thatjoint it comes up for consideration by that joint meeting it comes up for consideration by thatjoint meeting of congress in three weeks time. so basically the message from mitch mcconnell is that it is over, we must now move on and he offered his congratulations as well to joe he offered his congratulations as well tojoe biden and kamala harris. just looking specifically at the sen

some republicans coming out like mitch mcconnell and acknowledging that. you have to wonder if the flood gates will now open for more republicans to do just that, give in what senator mcconnell just said as you heard it live right here. >> it's a remarkable moment. many republicans were waiting for the senate majority leader, essentially to give the green light and give them cover in terms of acknowledging a reality privately. they had already accepted, but publicly didn't want to go as far as to do what mitch mcconnell just did which is to congratulate the president-elect, joe biden, and vice president president-elect kamala harris and acknowledge the fact that they are going to be sworn in on january 20th. and president trump is somebody who will clearly watch this, and probably be frustrated, because he was also hoping certain of his allies would continue with this defiance and these baseless claims of voter fraud. it comes, of course, less than 24 hours after the electoral college vote which completely formal az oo formalized joe biden's victory. we've

mitch mcconnell doesn't want to do it. even if the republicans are afraid of trump, afraid of mean tweets, afraid of him calling for primary opponents, if they really have a strong feeling about a particular policy, he is not shown the ability to move them off that. >> the defense bill has passed every year for the past 60 odd years or so. which is why it's stunning we're in this position right now. but in terms of the $2,000 checks you say the remarkable thing about the house votes which shows 44 republicans and shows president trump could have gotten further if he bothered to engage while the bill was still being written, assuming mitch mcconnell was going to play ball at all. what does that say about him coming in after the fact? >> i think john makes an interesting point. it's not that he couldn't get people to do things legislatively if he wanted to. he's just never shown any interest in it. for four years he never bothered to understand the process, to engage in it, to drive towards any particular outcome. he has inc

that's what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is setting up for tomorrow. so we are hearing his displeasure on some legislation, issues on capitol hill, but, again, just a striking split screen as you saw there, ayman, the president golfing, spending most of his time at his private properties and resorts as millions of americans are still waiting for more relief and news. he's simply posturing and making some calls, we understand, behind the scenes but a very deliberate decision not to come out and speak to the american public and any other way than his twitter feed, ayman. >> all right, monica, stay with us. ming michael, put this in historical context for us for a moment. we talked about senator perdue pending to wh i bending to what the president wanted. mitch mcconnell is not on the same page with the president when it comes to the $2,000. it's safe to say the republican party is clearly divided with no clear indication as to where they're going. but how much of that falls on president trump's shoulders, how much has president trump changed his party ov

safe i bet mitch mcconnell shoulder his own moscow mitch shirts. he was hawking cocaine mitch stuffer while else i wish i would've bought some i'm not going to lie. god bless capitalism. which i don't have a problem peeping trolls, 27 getting people mad, that is what your candidates and that's her job at the center for american progress which is fine. but rob portman said you cannot have someone so overtly partisa partisan. and he knows what he's talking about, rob portman will not be accused of being a terribly partisan republican. think he's right there. if she had nothing to be ashamed of, don't delete the tweets. it's a sign of guilt. >> look, i think rob makes a good point. that shall be hashed out in the senate hearing. the fact that republicans like ned and others are talking about neera tanden tweets is so outrageous to me. i cannot even believe are having this conversation in 2020. last time i checked, what comes to may be calling people names on twitter thing saying bad things about people on twitter, i'm in a 1600 pennsylvania avenue or

one of those is mitch mcconnell. and the next steps that would unfold on the senate floor, with all the rules that can be used, and the strategy behind mcconnell's unwillingness to go so far as the $2,000 checks, but willingness, it seems, to give the president what he asked for, which is not only the $2,000 checks but two other more controversial elements that he is requesting, the social media liability protection being removed, and a commission on voter fraud. that makes it much harder for it to pass because democrats want no part of that. so will that make a difference for the president? what we can say is the $600 checks that were affirmed into law are in the pipeline now, those with direct deposit, for example, will see those more quickly. will it get plussed up to $2,000? that's an open question, but it looks like a long shot with the strategy that mcconnell is employing to bring those three proposals into one. >> what are the chances for those checks in the senate? >> mcconnell rejected a standalone effort to

mitch mcconnell has been a very solid governing partner for donald trump. when trump wanted to put something on the floor, mcconnell has always done it. but he's always done it in a way that tries to get the most republicans in his conference at the table and on board. so it will take mcconnell a few hours to pull that together i think. i would be surprised if he lays it out. >> let's pick this conversation up after we listen to mitch mcconnell on the senate floor. >> and be printed in the record. >> clerk will call the roll. >> mr. alexander. >> scott, they're calling the roll. let's pick the conversation back up while we await comments from the senate majority leader. talk a little about what a tricky situation it must be for georgia republican senators who have military bases in georgia. at the same time, the senate is voting on overriding the president's veto of that bill. >> this bill is important for georgia, has a lot of military facilities, and frankly important for the country. the country in a bipartisan way, we talk about the parties being at eac

mitch mcconnell has set up the process to override this veto. he did it a week ago. he was always planning to. expect a rebuke on this specific issue from the president, but the republicans at least now willing to split with the president who won't be in office in just a couple weeks, jake. >> phil mattingly on capitol hill, thanks so much. >>> right after president trump left the golf course this afternoon in florida, he went back to tweeting, including that rather threatening death wish tweet over the $2,000 stimulus checks. boris johnson who covers president trump is in florida. boris, has president trump made any attempt to speak to mcconnell about this today? he could be doing a lot more than tweeting. the business of legislation tends to be a little bit more complicated than that. >> reporter: and you would expect as much from someone who fancies himself a deal maker, right? so far we've got no indication that president trump is personally trying to lobby senate majority leader mitch mcconnell or other republican senators to come around to this idea of $2,000 s

i mean, if you're mitch mcconnell, it doesn't feel great. >> okay. >> but mitch mcconnell is lying in the bed he made, so it's not totally terrible, yeah. >> yeah, and it's not mean-spirited. it's more like, because mitch mcconnell's thing is not -- he's not like a proud socializing beer drinker. he's more of just, like, getting judges confirmed. i'm out of time. amber, i hope you'll come back. >> they printed the tweets out. >> that's her takeaway. that's what she took from this. everyone check out the show on peacock, "amber ruffin." my special guest cornell belcher in a segment for reasons he didn't understand. >>> we also heard all about this comic fallout from this election with former daily show correspondent larry wilmore and former dnc chairman michael steele. >> it is a tragicomedy. we have to make jokes about it but it is tragic. and like i'll tell you what is the thing that is really not funny, ari, is the people who believe the disinformation that is being put out there, especially about covid, and people who are dying while they're continuing to believe in all this disinf

so how is mitch mcconnell going to treat his old colleague joe biden? will he treat him that way? a lot depends who's running the senate and who's not. >> i imagine that president trump was not happy when he found out about mitch mcconnell's acknowledgement. is he responding at this point in time to it? >> i haven't looked at my phone in five minutes. we might expect he would given how gracious he's been about everything else -- that's a joke. i think he's not going to be happy about it, but i think at this point, mitch mcconnell is sending a clear signal to everybody, the election is over. he has given republicans permission to say that out loud, and if donald trump objects to it, the only problem mitch mcconnell will have right now is if donald trump goes to georgia and says, don't give mitch mcconnell the senate. and i don't think donald trump will do that, but then again, i can never predict donald trump. >> that's right. gloria borger with all the jokes in this segment! >> what is it with me today? >> you're very -- always funny, but especially today. gloria, great to see you