that's mcconnell on mcconnell. but ask mcconnell about maga and the midterms, turns out you'll get a longer answer. let me tell you, it's been obvious for a long time, most voters oppose trump. and most voters in most places opposed trump's -- now, those maga folks can win in reliably red states. but go purple or to the main stream, let alone a perry winkle blue that capture ms. of the left of center voters in many parts of the nation, you'll find a rejection of trump and trumpism. in 2020, we saw it. we saw it again with some of the maga type candidates in this cycle. especially the arrogant, content driven and selfishness that captured some of these extreme candidates who lost. and there's evidence supporting the political facts i just mentioned. today, mcconnell landed in the same place. so go home and listen to an analysis of the midterms by mitch mcconnell who knows politics. as he refers to the political math showing republicans blew it by embracing those selfish maga candidates of chaos and negativity. >> he

the mcconnell wing of the party, some of the more moderate, not that mcconnell is moderate, the moderate side the party, think extremism did not work. election denialism did not work. you have the far right of the party who says, we didn't go hard enough. we compromised too much. we didn't fight enough. we gave shoourm aschumer and pelosi what they wanted and biden won and there is a huge disconnect amidst the party. >> that huge disconnect plays out the segue to this. up next, it's part of the same story, donald trump is officially a candidate for president again. his announcement speech was an indictment of president biden and an effort to blame the gop's miserable midterm showing on anyone but himself. these days, our households depend on the internet more and more. families grow, houses get smarter, and our demands on the internet increase. that's why we just boosted speeds for over 20 million xfinity customers, on us. so you get more of the speed you need for day and night streaming. more speed you need when you're work from homeing. and more speed you need as your family keeps grow

mcconnell mcconnell's 80 years old. he has an opportunity of the next two years to cement his place in history as one of the strongest and most effective leaders the party has ever had. but he has already done able to good job on judges. remember roe versus wade was possible because of the judges at mcconnell make sure they were confirmed in the center. d a bunch of legislation in the trump-era as well. if he does not cement his position in history alternatively, he could shun the published movement and spent the next few years helping biden, helping schumer, helping joe manchin permit their agenda. and that will be done another misguided presumption that this will help the party in 2024. this is what republicans want. as long as it is called bipartisan, it has to be good. >> my message to the administration, let's find some things between the 40-yard lines that we can agree on and do them. >> my message to the senate republicans is this. where us. >> laura: let me tell you. if this is mcconnell's main focus, and he sho

and he will run against mcconnell for leader. now, as everyone knows from "the wire", when you come at the king, you best not miss. because mcconnell will surely punish and ice out any republicans who oppose him if he does. he's held power for 15 years, precisely by knowing how to use power. it is notable the attempt to take him on looks coordinated by some senators in public, with prominent conservative senators going after mcconnell. >> if anybody wants to say something smart at a cocktail party or dinner party, say this -- i think the next speaker of the house may not be a member of the house. >> well, i appreciate james carville, and anyone who watches this knows i think we have a tech glitch, he is not a republican senator. let me check in and see, do we have that sound? we don't have it so i'm going to summarize it. you've got basically republican senators in hawley and ted cruz calling out mitch mcconnell in public, plus rick scott who's actually running. so, those are strong attacks from senators on the conservative side.

i don't believe those things were mcconnell's fault. >> mcconnell still had the support of 37 senators in the room and pushed back an effort by marco rubio, ted cruz and others to delay the leadership elections until after the december runoff in georgia and jake, i asked rick scott whether or not he has confidence in mitch mcconnell's republican leader after the election. he told me i support the republican leadership, jake. >> that's not really an answer. kevin mccarthy at the house secured the republican nomination for house speaker. can he get 218 votes? he needs that. he did not get that when they voted who would be the republican leader. he got 188, i think. >> 31 voted against him voting for another challenger, conservative challenger andy bigs. that's a big question whether or not kevin mccarthy can get that 218 votes. that's the challenge as they face a likelihood they will have a narrow house majority. he can only afford to lose a hand full of those. that could keep him to the 218 threshold. he am ucknowledged to reporters has work to do and has confidence he'll get there. can

>> i think mcconnell will be fine. trump is venting about mcconnell for two years, ever since mcconnell acknowledged that biden actually won the 2020 election. he's been calling him names. there is a faction inside the senate republican conference that is unhappy with mcconnell. like five, ten members out of 50. or at least 49. so i mean there are some unhappy members. they're unhappy -- unhappy senators, unhappy with the election and they're, you know, they're looking to blame somebody. rick scott is one of these. rick scott was the chair of the nrse who wouldn't get involved, yeah, the group that he lekt senate republicans, he wouldn't. he wouldn't get involved in primaries like mcconnell wanted him to, and you ended up with blake masters in arizona, mehmet oz, don bolduc in new hampshire. they lost winnable races. mcconnell was saying, i'm not to blame for this. it's trump and scott, he's saying are the ones that are actually to blame. i think the mcconnell camp, we talked to him for a long time yesterday. they're h

the fact is , mitch mcconnell runs a mitch mcconnell pac and then raises the money as though he's going to fight for control of the senate. >> he's fighting for mitch mcconnell, not for the republican party. all right. it's so good to see you tonight. no better person to talk about all this than gingrich. all right. up next, bond villain or head of the great reset, the last bite. >> we'll tell you coming. but you have go and all you got was with crazy. this is all you can eat. holiday buffet. a smorgasbord of all you want. all you need. did i sit at the wrong table? >> the awards show that matters is that the twenty twenty two fox nation patriot awards and it's bigger >> laura: what is the global ted in the world economic forum doing at the g20? we will let in tell you. >> we have to confront these deep, systemic and structural restructuring of our world. and since it will take some t time, the world will look differently after we have come to resist the reception process. >> laura: the resistant prosperous, well, up next, greg gutfeld. ♪ ♪ >> todd: a fox news alert,: investigating

the day of romneyism that day is over. >> laura: when mcconnell, i don't mean to dwell on mcconnell but when he says basically the party is mean and it's attacking and negative and the tone is bad and it's chaos, how is that different from what any pundit on msnbc says every morning? >> there's a fundamental problem with mitch mcconnell's approach, one it's old, old faked says you can wait until after labor day to spend money and also very vindictive. he spent money trying to stop don bolduc and then pulled the money when don bowl dick said something not nice about mitch mcconnell. that ace not how a you achieve majorities. they either exist to put republicans in a position to be in majority or they exist only to backup what mitch mcconnell wants and i think unfortunately this cycle proved without any shade of doubt that that's the actual reason why they exist. >> laura: yeah. victor you mentioned the desantis snowball effect but tonight fox is reporting that the florida governor delivered the key note presentation at the republican governor's association annual meeting. now, according

jeff, could rick scott have the votes to challenge mcconnell? how do you see this battle playing out? >> in a word, no. rick scott is coming off of one of the most disappointing and some would even say disastrous times as the chair of the national republican senatorial committee. rick scott is not going to be the leader of the senate republicans. there's no question. now, it is an open question what the timeline of this is. senator lindsey graham said he thinks the leadership elections should be put off until after that georgia runoff. so, the timing of this is still an open question. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader, certainly has the support of the majority of his conference. at least it seems like that right now. it would be hard pressed to see who would step forward to challenge him. take a listen to what senators bob cassidy and -- had to say about mitch mcconnell. >> the great wrestling champion rick flare used to say, to be the man, you've got to beat the man. so, i support senator mcconnell. >> going forward, mitch will be our lead

. >> obviously, mcconnell had done that to great affect. >> but mcconnell also has slowed that down quite a bit when he got control of the senate. this will shape the judiciary. just these 9,000 votes in nevada and 125,000 votes in arizona and the georgia runoff will determine in many ways what the court is going to look like moving forward. you figure, biden will continue at this clip if the democrats hold the senate. if not, he is going to get much fewer. >> there's reporting that according to gop sources, former president trump is calling around to folks in the senate suggesting it's mitch mcconnell's fault what happened. mitch mcconnell who invested a lot of money in republican candidates which the president -- the former president did not. >> if donald trump preferred a cloudy day, he would blame a rooster for the sun coming up. this man's attempts to project blame on everybody else instead of himself is ridiculous. they tried to elect the poor candidates that donald trump himself got nominations for. how much did donald trump spend? $15 million. mitch mcconnell spent more in new ham

they frightened voters in the middle, that's strong range from mitch mcconnell, but even mcconnell didn't blame trump. some other republican senators did hint at that, they made clear that the former president's talk about election denial, his refusal to accept his own defeat in the election overshadowed the republican message, and there's plenty of data that shows that as well. >> it brings me back to my original point. the thing that has inspired republican voters, and you're a republican politician for a time when you were still in the party, the thing that motivated republican base voters for decades since i was in high school is abortion. it used to be that when you did a poll and somebody said abortion is important to me, 72% of the them were antihch abortion, and they would actually vote for people they didn't even like that much because they thought they could get roe overturned. here's mitch mcconnell bragging in 2019 about getting these judges on. here's mitch mcconnell. >> i was shocked that former president obama left so many vacancies and didn't try to fill those positions. >

to be honest, i've made the argument we have been living in mitch mcconnell's america for 14 years. he's been the most decisive political finger -- figure in terms of what would be done and what would not be done and that was before trump came along. now, if we have a situation where most likely, the senate -- it might be 50/50 again, it might be 51/49, one way or the other, mcconnell will have a disproportionate amount of power whether he's in the majority or still the minority leader, but close to 50/50. what does that mean? let me give you the optimistic scenario. having achieved his overriding objective of stacking the supreme court, mcconnell, age 80, might have some incentive to finish his career on a more positive note, trying to be something like the senator and statesman he once thought he might be rather than simply a partisan. it's not totally impossible to me. he has been on good behavior this year, joining in some bipartisan legislative efforts on the one hand and strongly supporting president biden and joining with him on the ukraine war and funding for the efforts to

we know how mitch mcconnell himself feels about donald trump. he hasn't talked to him through the full cycle. i think since the january 6th incident, he hasn't talked to him and in some ways, that created the landscape that we saw which was all of these trump candidates and mitch mcconnell talking about candidate quality. i want to get back to biden, right? we say oh, biden might have been a drag but i think if they had lost,, we should give some credit to joe biden for some of the choices he made of labeling, maga, ultramodern, and framing those folks as a threat to democracy, he got a lot of blowback from democrats for doing that, and kind of broke with his sort of bipartisan agenda and his bipartisan manner but i think it helps, right, to brad republicans as a threat, the maga republicans, you know, essentially as a problem, and you see some of that in the polling, voters concerned about extremism, the fact that they win independent voters . i think biden himself, had a real sense of what the american public was feeling, it was a bookend to w

scott write an op ed essentially attacking mcconnell, even though he said it wasn't about mcconnell, it was totally about mcconnell in september. the fact it's coming to a head is the most surprising part. >> the other chamber. kevin mccarthy on his way to becoming house speaker where the gop is expected to have a slim majority. what does donald trump's candidacy mean for efforts in holding the party together? >> kevin mccarthy was going to have a complicated job no matter what, particularly because of the razor thin majority he's going to -- we think he's going to end up with at the end of the day. he was always going to have an external trump force pushing into his leadership but now that the former president is running and is the front-runner by getting in, it just creates another layer of pressure and of influence on future speaker potentially mccarthy. let's not forget, he's the one influence on future speaker potentially mccarthy. let's not forget, he's the one who brought former president trump back into the fold. after january 6th he went down to mar-a-lago, visited him and r

what we know is we just heard from mcconnell's spokesperson, they did fight back and mcconnell managed to win in the first round, and they are not delaying this vote. there had been a push for some senate republicans, including scott and others to delay this leadership vote. that did not go through. they are not imminently moving to their leadership vote. as you mentioned, it's mitch mcconnell against rick scott, scott mounting this long-shot challenge. it doesn't appear he has nearly enough votes to beat mcconnell. it is worth noting that he is challenging mcconnell. he's never had a real challenger like this, so it speaks to the deep division within the republican party both on the way forward, how close they want to be to donald trump, how central he will play into their path moving forward, and the messaging, what the path is forward. before all of this, you know, scott and mcconnell in leadership they would show up, stand next to each other, but it began to become very clear they were on very different pages, scott pushing out hits owns agenda items, mcconnell not really following

mcconnell's super pac pulls out, rick scott pulls in. the slf, the mcconnell super pac pulls out and rick scott comes in with some money. is this a washington parlor game? >> for rick scott he thinks it will benefit him regardless if they win or not. he will be able to say i stood up for the maga candidates and did not give up on them when you had the party establishment pulling out. if he does try to run or whatever his ambitions are he will try to claim that mantel which could be advantageous for him in today's -- >> you made the point politely some of the text messages around mcconnell that scott is using this committee to prepare for a presidential run. if you look at tv ad spending, tv ad spending, actually money, the mcconnell super pac spent $131 million, $131 million. the national republican senatorial committee $23 million. that's a pretty good exhibit. >> this is one of the oddest things in washington. the chairman of the campaign committee and the leadership usually work in concert, the whole thing is -- >> had that job a long

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sadly than mccarthy and mcconnell. why are those observers wrong? again, we need a real conversation here. there's no shying away from it. somehow, despite democrats leaving us with 8% inflation, spike in crime, and an open border, millions of voters in battleground states didn't blame them for it. what three things do republicans stand for right now that the leadership can articulate with clarity, specificity and conviction? is it opening up immediate drilling and fracking to bring down energy cost. is it middle class tax cuts? we have lot of questions. whoever wants to lead the gop should be giving us answers. let's not forget, we've had successes in the history book, 2022 will probably be remembered as the year roe v. wade was overturned. as the near nancy pelosi lost the house. it maybe remembered as the year the democrats lost florida for good. the year that republicans started showing new life in new york, huge victory there. those are great accomplishments. as we've been telling you, it's not enough to keep winning the same states over and ov

the fact is mitch mcconnell and a mitch mcconnell pac and then raises the money thtthough he's going to figh for control of the senate. he's fighting for mitch mcconnell, not fornnell. the republican party. >> well, of course, gingrich is correct. >> and his assessment was confirmed when mcconnell shared his theory about why republicans suffered some disappointing losses in the midterms. >> w repubede underperformed amg independents and moderatesf the because their impression of many of the people in our party in leadership roles is thatis ca they're in government chaos.os negativity, excessive attacks, and it frightened independent and moderate republican voters . now, someone please explain to me how exactly mcconnell'sfrw assessment is different from what pelosi or schumerha would say about the gop nonmarket. >> republicans will join with us and work in a bipartisan way to get the kinds of things we got done in the last two years.e to if they continue to embrace maga, they're going to lose. and this election showed that that is not where the american people are at. they're not at

wasn't for. >> mitch mcconnell, the quote that has led to so much uprising is mitch mcconnell saying in august, i think, candidate quality matters in the senate. well, november 8th, candidate quality mattered in the senate. blake masters was a weak candidate. mark kelly was a strong candidate. blake masters in a state like arizona should have run stronger. he did not. i don't think that's mitch mcconnell's fault. and, again, i just keep coming back to you don't beat someone with no one. rick scott can talk a big game. josh hawley tweeted out it's time for the new party to arise. you've got to win the votes. and right now it seems to me mitch mcconnell still has the votes. >> what do you attribute the fact that republicans failed to win the senate and underperformed so much in the house? who do you actually blame? >> well, i think it's a little easy to say it's all donald trump but i think it's 70% donald trump. and a good chunk of the remaining 30% is primary voters who were valuing some of the same things that had led them to embrace trump in the first place. i think the trump examp

. >>> rep senate leader mitch mcconnell can claim one key election victory. "the lead" starts now. a secret vote, and mitch mcconnell beats back challenger tim scott to keep his leader position. >>> and now, the missile is saying that it did not come from russia, but they are still pointing finger. >>> and now, a cloud of investigations over the former president trump's elections and to incite the deadly capitol insurrection. >>> welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper, and with the politics race to 218, and that is the number of house seats needed to control congress, and right now, the republicans are on the cusp of snatching the control of the house of representatives from the democrats, and they are just within one gaining control. 11 seats are uncalled. fresh off of securing the republican nominee running for house speaker, kevin mccarthy is facing a key vote on a host of rule changes pushed by the magna wing of his party meant to curve the power of his own leadership as mccarthy is working to secure the house gavel. but in the senate, while they are still wondering about the c

and, you know, mcconnell, obviously has. he has a lot of allies. it's not as if the other members of leader shinn, a john sununu, or john cornyn, for instance, are often talked about as the people who will follow mitch mcconnell and he's no longer a leader. they aren't setting up here, right. >> right. >> they have said it's time to move forward in the elections and so because you have those strong allies it's unlikely that rick scott is going to be make party has to stick together, because it's in such a small majority. he lost 31 votes in that vote yesterday. what kind of challenges is he going to have to shore that up? he can only lose about, we estimate, two or three to get to 218. is it possible, is it possible that he goes to democrats to help put him over the finish line? i know he said he's not going to, but does he get to the point where he says i need to get two or three votes from the opposition? >> i have a hard time seeing that. that would be a pretty weak way to go into the leadership. today is the first day of seeing that full pull o

the point is, mitch mcconnell, look, donald trump once mcconnell gone. he's been saying that for a long time. and audibly in this moment, where everybody the republican party is reexamining their attachment to donald trump. he has decided to pick a fight and no with mitch mcconnell, and there are some republican senators who are trying to lay the leadership elections in the senate very much aligned with trump, very much aligned with what scott, the republican senate committee chairman, who wants to run again against mcconnell, what they want to see happen. the truth is behind closed doors. i don't think donald trump has that much influence in the republican conference. and it's odd to pick another political fight that he will lose again, as republicans are looking to him. remember, he promised he, ask people frequently, are you tired of winning and republicans are saying to end right now, losing success and they're tired of it. >> wow, so in this donald trump wants to be done with mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell has wanted to be done with donald trump f

but we've got -- here's what mitch mcconnell said when i brought out my plan. he said we're not going to have a plan, we're just going to talk about how bad the democrats are. we can't do that. we've got to say what are our ideas, and let's fight over those ideas, and let's act like a caucus and win on those ideas. people agree with us. they don't like inflation, they don't like an open board, they don't like $31 trillion in debt. in the last 16 years, the debt has gone from 9 to $31 trillion. we've got to change. @hurting our families. -- it's hurting our families. i i mean, my family was dealing with inflation when i was growing up. i watched that. it's hurting our families. we've got to deal with these issues. maria: yeah, but how do you deal with it? you and your colleagues talked a lot about inflation before the election. voters were very clear that they felt the inflation and the economy and crime were the top issues, and you still underperformed. >> because we didn't have a plan. i mean, because leadership said, no, we're not going to have a plan. look,

in terms -- and mcconnell in terms of how things were handled. they are very upset about the way mcconnell's team in their vi ew, they think he hurt the candidates and that he directed money away from those campaigns. and instead sent it to his own. mcconnell would be quick to point to all the ways in which they were correct about all the problems these candidates had. scott refused to intervene until the primaries. that is not how mcconnell does business. that risk is extremely real. the perception is scott was doing it for his own political benefit, it backfired, all those candidates lost. whoever the republican leader is will be the minority leader. that is not good for any of them. they are all pissed off about it, but the reality is there is no obvious answer for anyone other than mcconnell to step into that role. and mcconnell's allies are very silently in his corner -- solidly in his corner. >> is joe biden going to run for reelection, yes or no? >> i don't think either will be the nominee, trunk or biden, for their party. >> that is not y

mcconnell moving full steam ahead with a planned vote tomorrow. editor-at-large chris cillizza joins us now. how much is mcconnell's leadership at risk in this moment? >> sure. short answer, erica, not that much. longer answer, there are people within the republican conference who have issued some worries about mcconnell and want to delay this. one is josh hawley, tweeting the old party is dead. time to move on. ted cruz who we know from running for president, ted cruz went on his podcast yesterday and essentially said mitch mcconnell is all about being leader. he cares more about being leader than he cares about republicans being in the majority. all of that said, i just named two people, right, there are 49 republicans. we have that quote up there. mitch would rather be leader than have majority. there are five or six or seven or eight voices. i'm going to quote tom cotton quoting flare, the senator from arkansas quoting wick flare, to be the man you have to beat the man and what that means is you have to have someone who is going to stand again

is trump going to give mcconnell any credit afterward? scott: i think when trump called mcconnell an old crow, that was kind of the end of the relationship, and i don't think that is going to be repairable. mcconnell is a pro. there is a reason he is the longest serving senate leader in history. he does not want to run for president. he wants to be the senate leader. and he is and probably will be until he passes away. he runs it with an iron fist. the trump-mcconnell relationship was gone and january 6 that has never come back. -- was gone on january 6 and has never, back. -- never come back. gerald: let's go to wisconsin, which has become a string state -- swing state drifting more republican. it has ron johnson running against the fairly brand is -- the fairly progressive democrat mandela barnes. it looks a little less as if johnson is in trouble now. how do you read it? scott: ron johnson is an incumbent two term businessman, totally new to politics when he first ran. ran on a two term limit. changed his mind and decided to run again

appears to be a bit of a challenge for mitch mcconnell. it clearly appears that mitch mcconnell has more than enough to be the republican leader in the senate. i know some of them are trying to say, some of his challengers are trying to suggest that somehow the problem was with republicans in the senate who had an a but with the midterm election. they are with the party in power, the president, but the party in power. it's not so much about the agenda but the party out of power. and some of the folks that are challenging mcconnell right now by trying to deflect blame by trump themselves. because they were too close to the election denial movement, just too close to too much of the excess of donald trump. and supportive of too many of these candidates that the american people rejected. because they are seen as too extreme. the republicans lost the election. not because of mitch mcconnell. but because of the dobbs decision. donald trump's on handful interventions into these primary contests that nominees and other -- election denialism and t

wednesday, mitch mcconnell is likely at this point to be re-elected. and if he does serve for two more years, it is the longest serving senate history in the history of the chamber. >> you raised the trump factor, and this is your cue, as we've been on the air having this conversation, you have new reporting out in the "washington post" along with your colleagues, and when we talk about donald trump, we're looking ahead to tomorrow night. this event at mar-a-lago where he is widely expected to announce another run for the presidency, even after everything with jake and sahil and everybody here on the show has laid out. the real issues that his candidates had in key states, he is making this apparent, again, not confirmed but apparent presidential bid, even under the shadow of multiple investigations, you are writing federal agents and prosecutors as it relates to the classified documents that the former president had mar-a-lago, that the agents and prosecutors have come to believe that the motive is largely the ego and a desire to hold on as trophies o

at the heart, there's a long running feud between scott and mcconnell. and an interest in scott possibly running for leader one day. what man faesed in the meantime is these two top level republicans refute g and walker looking for extra money as he faces an uphill climb as he looks to take the senate seat back from rafael warnock. >> thank you so much. speaking of cash, if you're still dreaming of how you'd spend a billion dollars if only you'd won the power ball, how about this. a mere 37.1 billion bucks was the winning bid to make your home more like a museum. hung just a few blocks from where i'm sitting. it was in the museum of modern art. if not a painting, how about shoes? steve jobs, late founder of apple, was widely known for his sleek black turtle neck, but also part of that iconic uniform, birkenstocks, worn during many pivotal moments in apple's history, acknowledging they were well worn, the obvious question was do they smell? the auctioneers answer, they do smell. of success. the auction price was $218,000. that's going to do it for us this

what happened with the supreme court is because of mitch mcconnell. but nancy pelosi isn't going to be speaker of the house. it is interesting, jim clyburn said he doesn't know what role he'll have, he wants to remain in leadership. and i find it fun to watch what people who are really good at their jobs, that are clearly very old, right, have been doing it a long time, want to bring in new generations but aren't ready to retire do about that. we are watches how they get a position for jeffries, how they bring in talents, moderate democrats that won districts, stan burger. >> greg: everybody drink. >> dana: slotkin, no st stefanek. >> greg: i don't know who they're talking about. jesse, joe is urging pelosi to stay around. what's he saying? what are your people telling you? >> jesse: my sources inside joe's world? if i were pelosi, if you don't want to do the ambassadorship, want to stay in a closely divided house and have influence, you stay because she has a big sympathy vote for her. she is not going to have the squad going crazy because her husban

many don't blame mitch mcconnell. many blame rick scott. mcconnell yesterday sounded confident he will get re-elected. answered simply of course when asked if he had the votes. >> with a small smile as well. ali, it's not just drama on the senate side. we saw some on the house side. we've known mccarthy has his eye on the house speakership and by the way, the other huge news. we haven't even still called the balance of power in the house of representatives here at nbc news. we think republicans have the map it seems? this is a super confusing graphic. republicans only need a few more seats. tbd on when that will happen. not too, too long, but mccarthy was challenged. got something like 180 votes of support. which sounds good. you think about the fact he's going to need 218 to become the speaker when the real vote happens in january. >> and january is a long ways away, especially in political time. so mccarthy, what we see in the vote, is he's going to need to do some dealing to get to that requisite 218 number. not just because it's a taylo

the point is, mitch mcconnell, look, donald trump once mcconnell gone. he's been saying that for a long time. and audibly in this moment, where everybody the republican party is reexamining their attachment to donald trump. he has decided to pick a fight and no with mitch mcconnell, and there are some republican senators who are trying to lay the leadership elections in the senate very much aligned with trump, very much aligned with what scott, the republican senate committee chairman, who wants to run again against mcconnell, what they want to see happen. the truth is behind closed doors. i don't think donald trump has that much influence in the republican conference. and it's odd to pick another political fight that he will lose again, as republicans are looking to him. remember, he promised he, ask people frequently, are you tired of winning and republicans are saying to end right now, losing success and they're tired of it. >> wow, so in this donald trump wants to be done with mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell has wanted to be done with donald trump f

mitch mcconnell went back to capitol hill. kevin mccarthy, the republican leader who wants to be the speaker of the house holding court for several minutes in a combative, tough tone challenging the biden administration on several fronts, a very lot to talk about. let's start with the urgent news of the day, which is the effort to stop this rail strike, mj lee standing by. man new raju on capitol hill. mj, the president called these leaders down and has a long list for the lame duck end of year session but he wants them to have them stop the rail strike and had progress on that front. >> reporter: the congressional leaders all just came out and talked to reporters so we got a pretty good sense of how this meeting went. two big headlines to walk you through, one on this bill to try to avert a rail strike. nancy pelosi saying that a bill is going to be brought to the house floor tomorrow morning, just goes to show you how fast moving and what a big priority this is for congressional leaders and notably kevin mccarthy said i thin

mcconnell says he's not leaving. also democrats tapped patty murray to serve as senate president pro tem. the job usually goes to the most senior senator of the majority party. she would be third in line to the presidency. she would leap frog 89-year-old dianne feinstein. patrick leahy is retiring. martha? >> martha: with that, we bring in shannon bream. fascinating to watch the shuffle that is going on post election where, you know, it looks like the gop is going to pull out a win in the house. i'm going to show everybody these ridiculously still going on races at the end of our discussion. i want to play this for mitch mcconnell. mcconnell has not spoken to president trump for a very long time. rick scott, who challenged him, had the support of president trump. so we see the two sides really battling it out. here's another sound bite from mitch mcconnell. >> we underperformed among independents and moderates because their impression of many of the people in our party in leadership roles is that they're involved in

so, there's clearly a few people who wouldn't vote for mcconnell. but, if anybody is going to put together 25, mccarthy has the worst. john let's assume in the next 24 hours, republicans are declared one of the house. the margin is gonna be three, for most. i, mean what a nightmare that's going to be. and, of course, to your question, what they should do is that you've got the marjorie taylor greene's and the jim jordans of the world saying these are our list to kevin mccarthy's that he must listen to. the people who should be driving the bus are those, not that they're moderate, but less crazy republicans in new york state. in arizona who gave them the majority, who are going to have super tough race, don't, forget 2024. this is a pretty even map across the country in the presidential year. you know, the republicans, right now, i think, should be considered underdogs to hold on to the majority in 2024. but that's not how they operate. they don't think about some voters. they don't think about expanding the base. they think about policing tucker car

mcconnell didn't care for donald trump. we no that mitch mcconnell thinks donald trump is an albatross on theis republican party. that r the last three elections that the republicans have lost in mitch mcconnell's mind is because of 2016, 2018 and 2022. and with the tie, and the democratic majority, he's going tode focus on that and use thats an excuse not to talk about donald trump, what the truth serum with mitch mcconnell would tell you that he's a disaster to the party and would like for donald trump to go away. he's not probably going to say it thatin bluntly, but that's wt he thinks. >> you bring up georgia, trump's own advisers were on television saying, sir, we urge you not to announce until after december 6th. if herschel walker loses and raphael warnock is re-elected, do you think trump pays a price for that? saying, oh, yeah, that's for the party but doesn't do anything? >> well, for confirmation, because the control of the senate is now hinging on that race it wouldn't be quite the same thing as it would have be

mcconnell faces first ever challenge. ten senators, 1 out of 5, basically, voting against him, including one of most visible, the guy who came second to trump last cycle, trump -- i mean cruz. excuse me. >> i led the charge to say, what we're doing isn't working. listen, i am frustrated. i am pissed off at the election results from last week. we need to ask what senate republicans could have done differently, and in particular i believe we need to stand up and fight. ten republicans voted against mitch mcconnell. that's the first time that has ever happened. >> fact check -- true. ted cruz referring to the vote, that's dwr there are these kind of votes, and he's saying that means they should go in a different direction. it was mcconnell out of owl republican who is stood upmost publicly to what he called the low quality maga style candidates. we're going to turn to someone who's independently reported on those issues. mark leibowitz, author of "thank you for your servitude," donald trump's washington and the price of subm

i think mcconnell will win, it is ironic that mcconnell's entire career is about packing the court, lying about the supreme court nomination process, putting people up there who certainly deceives a public on the issue of abortion. that is why he is going to be the minority leader, more than anything else. but, i do not think that rick scott, he is just a weird guy, is going to beat mcconnell. >> rick scott, if you are watching, stewart does not think you have it. jackie alemany, stuart stevens, thank you both. when we come back, the legal challenges for the nation's newest presidential candidate are getting worse by the day. but does any that matter? we are going to try to find out when the 11th hour continues. the first-ever all-electric chevy equinox ev. up to 300 miles of range on a full charge. and a starting price around $30,000. evs for everyone, everywhere. chevrolet. away things. fit together with away things. ♪ ♪ that's our thing. ♪ ♪ >> the january 6th committee is weighing next steps, if donald trump refuses to testify. earlier today vice chair liz cheney gave an updat

senators fume at mcconnell and trump. republicans challenging their leadership for the midterm losses. this is sandra in louisiana. a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. that caller little while ago that couldn't think of the person in louisiana that she thought would be good for leader in congress. i'm sure who she was talking about eez mike johnson. that's his name. mike johnson. a very calm, extremely well spoken, knowledgeable, it would be wonderful. and then for the senate, my choice would be tom cotton. that's all i have to say. and tom cotton, i could say the same thing about him, he's very calm, extremely well spoken and knowledgeable. >> you think those of the three key qualities for a leader in congress. >> yes, i think so. >> this is nick in irvington, new jersey. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. for the senate i think romney is a -- he has honesty on his side i think. and schumer should still be for the democrats because he's been there for a long time and i think he understands how

mcconnell allies to point to. like look at the numbers, look at what the senate leadership fund did here. >> and it is kind of a similar argument that pelosi makes when people criticize and she is like just go in baby, and there is the mcconnell version of it, and you criticize him and take his money and coming in and voting for republican pirates and he will set those. that said, one of the biggest recipients of the money this cycle is ron johnson, one of the authors on this letter, and notably not on the list is marco rubio. so we'll see how this all plays out. the tell will be pretty early. mcconnell and his leadership team decide when these leadership elections happen. if they kick this seriously to delay, that tells you something. key simply call the election and get a simple majority if he thinks he's got the votes. >> and i don't think if is mike lee, ron johnson and rick scott, right? >> that's right. >> thank you very much, garrett. let me turn to you for the picture in the house. and before we can even t

the reality is, mcconnell is far from certain. there is a kind of insurrection, if you want to call it that, brewing. a number of senate republicans, including ron johnson, ted cruz, they are not calling for the vote of mcconnell's leadership to be delayed until after the senate runoff election in georgia. that is where trump backed republican herschel walsh walker will face up against ruffalo or not. he just got a big win in florida. you just stated that he was heavily towards republicans. and he said that the next and that leader should be someone who was generally committed to fighting for the priorities and values of working americans of every background who give us a big wins like states like florida. in one report, long johnson, a trump ally, is also eyeing the leadership spot. and trump himself is encouraging, get the, senate republicans, because he knows that there is going to be a blame somewhere, to blame mcconnell for the parties losses. leadership says, for their part, they are going to go ahead with elections anyway a

that's not how mcconnell does business. that risk is extremely real. i think the challenge is, the perception is scott was doing that for his own political benefit an attempt to get close to trump. it backfired. all those candidates lost her mcconnell, whoever the republican leader is will be the minority leader. that's that good for any of them. they are all mad about it but the reality is there's no obvious answer to someone other than the call to step into that role. and mcconnell's allies are very salty and is going to. >> let me ask you all the same question in just one word answer to is joe biden going to run for reelection, yes or no? >> i don't think either would be the nominee, either trump or biden, for the party. >> okay. that's not yes or no but i guess -- [laughing] yes or no, biden is going to run or not? >> today, yes. >> i inspecting to run. >> brett? >> no. >> yes. >> while, we are split. so if he runs for reelection will he keep his current vice president, yes or no? >> yes. >> 100%. >> yes. >> if he runs for reelection, yes. >> if he

. >>> moments ago, senate republicans voted to keep mitch mcconnell as their leader. that is despite a challenge from senator rick scott. and while we have been watching that news conference at the pentagon, mcconnell was taking questions from reporters. nbc's ali vitali is on capitol hill. how did it happen and what did he tell you in the reporter's squad? >> well, look, it went down the way he said it would which is that mitch mcconnell is still the top republican in the senate but you can't talk about this reckoning that they're having right now both in the senate and in the house around leadership without thinking about the trump factor of it all. for someone like mitch mcconnell, part of the reason that he even had a challenge is because someone like donald trump has been so critical of mcconnell-led efforts on the senate side, but also senator rick scott, a close ally of former president donald trump and the man who ultimately challenged mcconnell. he got ten votes, mcconnell got 37, far larger number than what he needed to actually keep his role atop the caucus