us todd akin, who talked about legitimate rape. if a woman is legitimately raped she can't get pregnant. he was the republican nominee against mccaskical in 2012, and she beat him. josh holly, just said the reason there's sex trafficking is because of the sexual revolution in the 1960s and '70s. and another is cortlen sykes. so missouri republicans have been having kind of a weird time of it even before their republican governor ended up in a grand jury investigation involving something i don't have time to explain right now. but, boy, look it up. but again tonight republicans in missouri may have lost a seat that they should have felt very, very comfortable about. we'll stay on this through the

night. thank you for being with us. now it's time for the "last word" with lawrence o'donnell. we're going to be discussing exactly what you were just talking about later in the program, an article today by a couple of nonpartisan authors saying that the necessary strategy at this point is to boycott the republican party. and they advocate this to actually save the republican party from itself. they're saying if you want this republican party to live and to survive trumpism now is the time to vote them out of office so that they can at some point return as a political party. >> well, seeing this swing tonight in these seats in missouri, seeing a 28-point trump margin, a legislative seat go to a democrat tonight, something is afoot. >> and these are the kinds of races that statehouse level, that democrats notoriously do not pay enough attention to or invest enough energy or

resources toward. >> at least in the past. they're trying to change that right now and they're showing off tonight. >> they really are. thank, rachel. well, tonight white house chief of staff john kelly told reporters that rod rosenstein came to the white house to discuss the possible release of the memo written by the democratic staff that disagrees with the memo released last week written by the republican staff. john kelly completely ignored when they faced the decision of releasing the republican memo last week. john kelly said the memo would be released before the republican memo, you remember last week. he said it would be released even before the president had read it. kelly was fully confident it would be released. and the president himself last week said that the republican memo would be released before the president even pretended to read it.

and we really don't know if the president ever did read it. tonight john kelly made it sound like the president and the white house were in respectful consultation suddenly with the justice department in the person of all people deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who the president hat reportedly considered firing since he appointed special prosecutor robert mueller to investigate the president. here's john kelly's description of rod rosenstein's input with the president on the democratic memo. >> we were having a great conversation, and i hope the president understands the differences between the first memo, the second memo. and just like in the first memo we received it late last night, so it's safe today that the doj, the fbi team that looked at the first memo, the dni director of the national security team is

looking at it, and the white house lawyers and don megan are looking at it. >> he never referred to anything other than white house lawyers looking at the republican memo when he say talking about how that was going to be released. and john kelly said something mysterious that he did not clarify about the democratic memo not being as clean as the republican memo. >> this is not as clean a memo as the first one. but, again, back to we essentially got today. the teams are doing exactly the same thing on this one that we did on the fist one. this one is more lengthy, but anyways -- >> it would have been nice to have a white house chief of staff who said all those things about the republican memo when they were considering releasing the republican memo. but we have what we have. here's what john kelly said when he was asked about releasing the republican memo before the president even read it.

>> rod rosenstein and the fbi director ray don't want you to release the memo. will you guys? >> the memo, four pages, came over the day before yesterday. >> right. did you see it? >> i did. >> what'd you think? >> it'll be released pretty quick, and the whole world can see it. >> it'll be released pretty quick, before the president can read it. here's what he said tonight about releasing the democratic memo. >> are you leaning towards releasing it? >> i would say this is different memo than the first one. it's length yier. so it will be done in a responsible way. but, again, the first one was very clean, relative to sources and methods. my initial cut is this one is a lot less clean. >> and then john kelly said something truly extraordinary.

he made it sound as if the president would decide to release this memo based on the recommendation of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is fbi director christopher ray, both of whom the president overruled in order to release the first republican memo. >> but at the end of it all it'll be guys like rod rosenstein, chris ray from the fbi, certainly the national security attorneys at the white house giving the president's recommendation on it. >> joining us now the chief council of the senate judiciary committee, and also a law professor at the university of michigan and nbc news and msnbc news contributor. ron, very surprising to hear that apparently it's all up to

rod rosenstein and christopher ray on whether they release the democratic memo. >> yeah, you know, i mean it's just kind of hard to understand why different rules are being applied this time. but i will say this, i mean, look, they should give it a hard look. and they should be careful to make sure that it's released properly. a big difference here is this memo probably has actual facts in it and true information in it. so probably it does indeed need a harder look than the completely fake made up memo than the president's put together as the legal defense team. in the end i hope they do the right thing and get this memo out there. the president was really big on transparency last week. and let's hope he still believes in transparency this week. >> there's the white house chief of staff saying they're depending on the advice of the justice department and the fbi,

precisely the advice that they overruled in making am republican memo public. >> well, they conveniently ignored the advice last time when the justice department said it would be extraordinary reckless to release the memo. my guess is they would not like to release the memo. the justice department has never given up the fisa application materials. they might very hard to keep that access protected. my recommendation is the justice department will be to not release the memo. interesting this time chief of staff kelly says they will abide by that recommendation. >> yeah, max boot, they could end up refusing to release the memo. >> the ironies are so rich. at the bottom there's no way you can pretend this is

dispassionate search for the truth. his deputy obstructer in congress, devin nunes, they are out to smear the fbi. they are out to impede justice. they are out to attack the justice department so as to decrease its credibility to investigate donald trump. and they don't care which secrets they trample on. they don't care which norms of american democracy they ignore. i mean this is such an appalling exercise, and of course they're very reluctant to have people get an even handed perspective from the democrats who may have actually read the underlying intelligence unlike devin nunes who admits he didn't. >> let's listen to what adam schiff said this morning about what he fears in this process, that there might be redactions but those redactions would not be for security purposes but political purposes. let's listen to this. >> what i'm more concerned about allison is they make political redactions.

not to protect access but redactions to remove information they think is unfavorable to the president. that could be a real problem and our main concern at this point. >> it seems like something to be worried. >> really the nunes memo really spoke for itself in the sense it showed what a farce the trump argument, that somehow the investigation was wrongly begun, that it rested on this dossier. you know, all these claims that trump has made from time and time again, you know, the nunes memo who was supposed to back it up chaeactually blew it all up. the schiff memo, and get the other side out, we know enough now to know what's going on here. what's going on here is that the republicans in congress as max alluded to are really going all in to protect the president. and no matter what we do or don't see of the second memo,

we've got enough of a picture to know that for sure. >> barbara, one of the developments on the committee investigation is that the testimony from steve bannon continues to get delayed. and the latest report we have on it indicates -- this is actually from adam schiff. i'm going to read what he said about this. he said this week steve bannon's council informed the committee they prohibit mr. bannon from testifying to the committee beyond a set of 14 yes or no questions the white house had preapproved. the white house's bar on bannon's testimony includes his tenor yr at the white house and his communicationwise the president since leaving government service, even though the president has not in fact invoked executive privilege. what do you make of that legally the. >> yeah, i don't think that's going to fly. the executive privilege may exist but during the time the president was in office, it wouldn't exist in the transition

period or after bannon left the white house. it isn't that the president or w the white house gets to say here are the 14 questions he gets to answer. and question by question the white house has to assert the privilege or not assert the privilege. i think they're trying to take charge of it process. i don't think that's going to fly. as long as the members of the committee push back, and we haven't always seen that happen. sometimes we've seen, for example, attorney general jeff sessions kind of getting away with deferring questions just in case the president wants to claim executive privilege. >> max boot, on the much more important investigation, the special prosecutor's investigation, indications are that steve bannon will be interviewed by the special prosecutor next week. the associates press is reporting that bannon plans to tell the investigators,

"everything." their word, everything. and that's the investigation that really matters. >> absolutely. and i think this is why you see this frenzy from trump and his members of congress to try to impugn the integrity of the fbi and robert mueller because they understand mueller is getting close. all indications appear to be he is moving forward at a pretty expeditious clip. he is getting testimony from people like bannon, from mike flynn, from various others who are close to donald trump. and donald trump has to be fearful of that. you see that fear coming out with trump's lawyer now saying he's going to recommend that trump not agree to testify to the special counsel, which is going to setup a constitutional showdown between the supreme court if that actually occurs. but it's clear trump is truly feeling the heat. and that's why he is lashing out in all these ways and that's why his minions in congress like devin nunes are trying to gin up

this conspiracy and trying to distract attention from the russia, they're trying to claim that there's this secret society out to conspire against donald trump. >> john kelly was asked by reporters up on the hill tonight if the president should sit down with the special prosecutor. kelly said, listen, i have nothing to do with that. that's all handled by the lawyers. i am just the white house chief of staff. and that is a believable answer to that question, that he wouldn't be weighing in on the legalities of that. but the suspense continues to build how this president is going to handle a special prosecutor's demand that he testify.

>> yeah, i mean, just an incredible claim yesterday in the press by four members of the president's legal team that their client can't possibly testify because he's too big a liar to testify. >> yes. >> that is astonishing position for a lawyer to take with regard to their client. i'm sorry he can't answer your questions because he can't tell the truth. and that is really the nub of the trump presidency. we have someone who controls our fate, the ability to launch nuclear weapons, but he can't answer questions under oath? and that is very, very sad state of affairs. >> barbara, i want to squeeze this in as a practitioner and lawyer working a case like this. if it a defense lawyer has a client like donald trump, the defense knows the person is a liar, can't stop lying, but this person is either going to submit to an interview with the fbi

where a lawyer can be present or will then be subpoenaed to a grand jury where the lawyer will not be present and you have to stop the proceedings in order to ask your lawyer a question. in which environment -- which environment is better for a client like donald trump who cannot tell the truth? >> yeah, i think the answer is obvious by your question, lawrence, that you would much prefer to have the negotiation setting where the lawyer could be present sitting next to the client, in this case, president trump, so you can take a break whenever you want to. you can ask to clarify the question. you can do a lot of things to signal to your client you have to be careful here of what you're saying. >> and even with all of that going for him, his lawyers firmly believe he will break the law if he sits down and talks to the special counsel. max, please stick around. and coming up next, john

kelly shows us once again there is absolutely no difference between john kelly and donald trump. john kelly is chief of staff to the laziest president in history. and today john kelly said young immigrants are too lazy. and he put in it in much worse language than that. that is exactly what some americans said about john kelly's irish relatives when they arrived in this country as immigrants. ♪ when you have a cold, stuff happens. [ dog groans ] [ coughs and sneezes ] nothing relieves more symptoms than alka seltzer plus maximum strength liquid gels.

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weith the government spendig deadline looming no president in history has ever said let's have a shutdown, i'd love to see a shutdown until today. >> let's have a shutdown. we'll do a shutdown, and it's worth it for our country. i'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of. so we have to strengthen our borders not by a little bit but by a lot. >> so there's the president of the united states saying i'd love to see a shutdown if congress doesn't agree it pay for a border wall with mexico. that's the very same president who said this. >> i will have mexico pay for that wall, mark my words. mexico will pay for the wall, believe me.

and who's going to pay for the wall? >> mexico! >> mexico, 100%. >> and so tonight donald trump would love to. those are his words, love to shutdown the government because mexico will not pay for the wall. that's what this has come to, a trump shutdown because mexico won't pay for the wall. in order to get democrats to agree to force you, the taxpayers, to pay for a wall that donald trump promised mexico would pay for, the president has offered what he and white house chief of staff john kelly believe is a generous deal on legal status for people whose parents brought them to this country when they were children and are now participating in the daca program. here's what john kelly said earlier today. >> there are 690,000 official daca registrants.

and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number to 1.8 million. the difference between 690,000 and 1.8 million were with what some people would say were too afraid to sign-up or others would say were too lazy to get off their asses but they didn't sign-up. >> john kelly is the worst white house chief of staff in history. his only possible competition for that distinction is the first trump white house chief of staff reince priebus. but reince priebus did not help donald trump steer the government into a shutdown during his time as chief of staff. reince priebus did not insult and lie about a member of congress and call her an empty barrel and lie about president obama while he was at it, and then refuse to apologize to

either president obama or congresswoman frederica wilson. reince priebus never did that. only john kelly did that. no other white house chief of staff in history has ever told such a poisonous lie about a member of congress or about a former president. and so we can no longer be surprised when john kelly opens his mouth and ugly prejudice and poison comes out as it did again today. there is not a shred of evidence now that john kelly has even the slightest bit more sympathy or understanding of the dreamers than donald trump has. there is not the slightest hint now that john kelly's heart is not as full of hatred as donald trump's is for all of the people that donald trump rages against,

from mexicans, to muslims, to undocumented immigrants including children. if john kelly is more enlightened than donald trump, if he is more humane than donald trump, if he is a more decent person than donald trump, why has he never said one word while in the service of donald trump to show us in any small way that he is not exactly the same as donald trump? donald trump spews hatred and never apologizes. john kelly in service to donald trump spews hatred and never apologizes. tonight at the capitol when reporters questioned john kelly about calling young immigrants lazy, he made no attempt to apologize, no attempt to clarify what he meant. instead he insisted that they just should have probably gotten off the couch and designed up for daca. >> i got to say that some of them just should have gotten off

the couch and signed up. >> joining us now a former white house press for president obama and also a msnbc political analyst. your reaction to what john kelly had to say today. >> thanks, lawrence. it is simply outrageous. the comment made by kelly just indicate he is out of touch with who young immigrants are. he is clearly ignorant, and that he shares trump's, miller's and bannon's white nationalist views about immigrants. kelly's comments today are just as offensive as trump's racial slurs against haitians and african immigrants. >> and josh, john kelly seems to be out of touch about what was said about his own relatives when they arrived from this country from ireland, poor and unskilled, most of them. exactly the kind of thing john kelly said about these young

immigrants today was said about john kelly's relatives. >> lawrence, you're right. in the history of our country we do have a long track record, unfortunately, of forgetting we are a nation of immigrants. and extending that same compassion to people who are coming to this country and working to improve themselves, their families and country are at least deserving of some respect. if you think back to when president obama announced this daca program, it was an effort to try to kick start a legislative process that had been mired in politics. there was broad bipartisan support and continues to be for a solution to this problem. dreamers are individuals who came to this country as children. they came to this country through no fault of their own. and to deport them would in many cases would send them back to a country where they do not know, where there is a language spoken they do not speak.

and this is practical solution, and it is a testament to the continuing dysfunction of congress, and, frankly, the effectiveness of this white house, that this problem has not gotten better since 2012 when president obama took this executive action. but rather this problem has gotten materially worse. and that's the fault of the people in charge, and it's no coincidence it's the republicans in charge of the congress at the white house right now. >> and senator dick durbin who has worked with senator john kelly in meetings in the white house and meetings in the capitol, when he heard about what john kelly said about lazy and saying it again tonight, senator durbin said it doesn't surprise me from general kelly. and marilane, i have to say to you that is truly condemning dick durbin when he hears this

horrible statement from john kelly, that doesn't surprise me. that may well indicate me may have heard things like this from john kelly. >> from 2001 we at the national immigration center have been fighting 16 years, lawrence, along with senator durbin and other champions. and the fact that senator durbin had to sit there and endure the racial slurs from the president of the united states and today confirms he like we share the outrage of kelly's comments is really just damning. and i think it's a testament to where this administration is at, the fact it is simply a white nationalist administration. >> thank you very much for joining us tonight. josh, please stick around for a later discussion. yesterday donald trump said that democrats in congress committed treason by not clapping for him. one of those democrats who served in the military for 24 years will join us next with his

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yesterday the president said this about the democrats at the "state of the union" address who did not applaud for him. >> you're up there, you've got half the room going totally crazy wild, they love everything, they want to do something great for our country. and you have the other side even on positive news, really positive news like that, they were like death and un-american. somebody said treasonous.

yeah, i mean i guess why not? can we call that treason? why not. >> democratic congressman from minnesota tim walsh tweeted this. i didn't serve 24 years in uniform of this country to be called treasonous for simply disagreeing with their disastrous policies, mr. president. joining us now tim walsh. how did you feel when you heard him say this? >> well, with this president nothing surprises you, lawrence, but this is line that's pretty dangerous to cross. and i guess the biggest frustrations i have is the silence from my republican colleagues, the basic lack of understanding that the principle of dissent is what we were founded on. i served those 24 years so people could speak their mind and they could disagree with everything i believe as a congressman, and that's the way

it's supposed to be. one thing i worry about as you well know it's one thing after a day we start to normalize this behavior. but they've been using our military, and recently the vice president went and stood in front of troops during a shutdown to try and blame democrats. and that is simply unacceptable. the anger that's there is always real, but my frustration with the lone voice of senator flake, other than that it's silence. >> let's listen to what senator flake said about this. >> mr. president, words matter. one who levels such a charge knows neither the meaning of treason nor the power that the words of a president carry. i have seen the president's most ardent defenders are now worried the president's comments were meant as a joke, just sarcasm, only tongue and cheek. but treason is not a punch line, mr. president. >> congressman, he wasn't exactly surrounded by republicans on the senate floor who agreed with him. and i want to read a tweet that

senator tammy duckworth issued on this same point. she said, "we don't live in a dictatortship or monarchy. i swore an oath in the military and in the senate to pruv protect and defend the constitution of the united states, not to mindlessly cater to the while whims of the cadet bone spurs and clap when he demands i clap. as you know she was a famously amputee in the iran-iraq war. >> dissent is patriotic and whether that would be standing at speech or walking in protest in your neighborhood, those are reasons we serve. and certainly tammy duckworth knows that with the sacrifice she's given, and there is a bit of hopefulininess, that there aa

few folks like senator flake who are willing to say it. but if they normalize this behavior, and there are folks who believe you're treasonous because you don't believe with the policy that says the opioid epic is caused because we have immigration -- i think we need to put pressure on our colleagues to say it's not acceptable to call someone treasonous because they exercise their patriotic right to dissent against the government. >> donald trump lived an insulated life in new york city and doing business and living his life in new york city. do you think he would have a different view of this if he had had your kind of experience or tammy duckworth's kind of experience in the military? >> yeah, i think so. my dad was a korean war veteran, and the day i turned 17 he took me out to join. and i always said i got far more out of the military than they

got out of me. i served along people of all religions, all creeds, all ethnic backgrounds. and that's the purest form of democracy. and that's why every time they step into that arena and try to use them as a backdrop, i can't standby for that. both he and the vice president, and i guess you can give them the benefit of the doubt since neither one of them served, but it is unacceptable. they know what they are doing, and i do think it would be different, lawrence. but he didn't. and i don't believe he has any intention of trying to learn, and always using the military as his personal prop is what he tends to do. >> and his latest idea about that, and according to reports tonight he want to have a massive military parade in washington because he was so jealous of the parade he saw in paris, and just apparently wants, i don't know, missiles, tanks, rolling down pennsylvania avenue. >> that's the stupidest thing

i've ever heard. and the insult it has to these professional warriors, the most professional people you'll find who understand their job it to defend this nation, and they understand what war brings and they do not want that. but they don't need to show this forwhatever the president's ego is trying to do. that is terrible idea. it's an insult to the professionalism of the warriors. so i certainly hope that the adults in the room stand up and make the case that's not who we are at a nation. those are not props for his personal use. and there's absolutely no justification for the pentagon spending money on that. we could pay them a little more than spend the money. coming up as we mentioned -- as i was discussing with rachel at the top of the hour, this very important article tonight

entitled boycott the republican party, why even republicans should be voting against republican candidates now in order to save their party in the longer run. that's coming up.

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the winter of '77.uring i first met james in 5th grade. we got married after college. and had twin boys. but then one night, a truck didn't stop. but thanks to our forester, neither did our story. and that's why we'll always drive a subaru. the cowardice among republicans is staggering. that line was written by a republican. that was the headline on

michael's oped in the "the washington post" today. he was the chief speechwriter for president george w. bush. and he is horrified by what he sees in the trump white house and by what he sees republicans in congress doing. he's not the first republican to turn against trump ask trumpism. and this is not his first column in opposition to trump and trumpism. it's not trump who surprises michael now its the republicans in congress who he expected to stand up to trump. he's particular disappointed in paul ryan. i've been a consistent defender of his good intentions, but after the 17th time saying he knows better, it dawns that he may not. the speaker has provided political cover for a weakening of the constitutional order. he has been used as a tool by loudly insisting he is not a tool. the way ryan is headed history offers two possible verdicts. either he enables an auto crat or he is intimidated by a fool.

in the atlantic two who have no history of partisanship coauthored a bo coauthored an article saying the best hope of saving the republican party from itself is to vote mindlessly and mechanically against republicans at every opportunity until the party either writes itself or implodes. they point out that they agree with many policy decisions, but that people should vote a straight democratic ticket despite their policy views. they offered this syllogism. one, the gop has become the party of trumpism. two, trumpism is a threat to democratic values and the rule of law. three, the republican party is a threat to democratic values and the rule of law. the rule of law is a threshold value in american politics and a

party that endangers this value, disqualifies itself, period. michael seems to have given up on his republican party, the party that worked so cooperatively with the president he served, george bush. he referred to the congressional republicans as rats. he wrote it should be obvious as well. this is rare case when the rats rather than deserting a sinking ship seem determined to ride it all the way down. conservative max boot will rejoin us next to consider if voting against the republican party is the way to save the republican party from itself. and josh earnest will rejoin the discussion with his perspective having worked for president obama who never threatened his justice department, who never threatened the fbi, never accused republicans of treason, was never investigated by a

special prosecutor, and who never met stormy daniels. yes, we once had a president like that, what seems leak a very long time ago. for 100 years, heritage and innovation have made gillette the #1 shave in america. now get gillette quality at lower prices - every day. brought to you by more than a thousand workers in boston. we're proud of giving you our best. gillette - the best a man can get.

none of us in congress pledge loyalty or service to the president. this is not a royal court. our oath is to the constitution and to the people. >> it no longer seems that the majority of republicans in congress agree with senator jeff

flake about that. max booth and jack earnest are back with us to discuss this. max, what do you make of that article i was talking about in the previous segment advocating voting against party-line vote against republicans, even if you are a republican, even if you believe in their policies, in order to save the republican party from trumpism? >> i completely agree with that, lawrence, and i say that as somebody who spent my entire adult life as a republican, and i worked on three republican presidential campaigns and finally resigned the party the day after donald trump was elected. i completely agree with what ben wittis and john have to say, which is the republican party is now objectively a threat to the constitutional order, to the rule of law, to everything that we hold dear, because now the republican party is not just looking the other way at donald trump's atrocious conduct and his inexcusable rhetoric, including, for example, calling democrats treasonous, but they are actively assisting him in

obstructing justice. they are assisting him in an unprecedented assault against the justice department and the fbi, and the men and women who keep us safe. this is so unconscionable, so shocking and it is being a countenance at the highest levels of the republican party, not just trump but mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, they could stop people like devin nunes, they can pass legislation to protect robert mueller. they refuse to do that. they're becoming complicit in this unprecedented attempt to subvert the rule of law. for that reason, i completely agree, vote against republicans because republicans have shown they will not uphold our constitution against the unprecedented threat posed by donald trump. >> and, josh earnest, when you look at michael gerson who used to work in the white house for president obama's predecessor, you used to work in the white house, you know the kind of institutional perspective someone like michael gerson has on all of this and he's staring at paul ryan, he's staring at that republican house of representatives, a republican senate, people his white house used to work with when he was in

the white house. and he doesn't understand what he's looking at. he cannot fathom why paul ryan's doing what he's doing. >> yeah, lawrence, the thing i was struck by, there are a lot of things in that column that i was struck by but the other thing i think is so glaring is actually in the headline. and describing the cowardice of republicans in congress to fail to fulfill their basic responsibility to serve as the check on the executive branch. that becomes before any responsibility is placed upon them based on their partisan affiliation. ultimately, though, lawrence, what it does come down to, they are scared of donald trump, they are scared of the base after their own party. and this is why one of the things that i think is important, in terms of what we're seeing across the country, people being mobilized to take political action, in some cases that's donating to campaigns, in some cases that is choosing to run for office, we're seeing a record number of people filing to be candidates in 2018.

and in some cases, that's democrats showing up to vote in special elections at rates that they never have before. what's remarkable about all of this, lawrence, is that it shows that there actually is an institutional response. that for all of the failures of members of congress, republicans in congress, to hold this president accountable, we actually are seeing citizens get engaged in a way that they haven't before. they're prepared to take matters into their own hands, consistent with the constitution, to make their voice heard. that, i think, is a powerful statement. in some ways the most important repudiation of trumpism possible. the only downside to this strategy, lawrence, is, of course, we're going to have to wait at least a year for it to take effect. >> and max, tonight, as rachel was talking about at the end of her hour, the beginning of this one, we are seeing in missouri, in state legislative elections, a real pullback from republican margins there. a big loss of ground. some of these districts that

donald trump won by massive margins, the margin is now half that. one of the districts, a democrat has actually beaten the republican and that's in a district that donald trump won with a massive lead. and so we keep seeing this evidence around the country of a wave going against republicans. >> well, all i can say is good, lawrence, i mean, this is coming from somebody who the very first democrat i ever voted for in my life was hillary clinton in the last presidential election. i've never been a cheerleader for democrats, believe me, quite the opposite, but now i am delighted to see democrats doing well because what it speaks to is this repudiation by a lot of the american people of everything that donald trump stands for. and it's really, i want -- the republican party deserves what's coming to it. what i hope it gets. it really deserves to be destroyed because it has sold its soul to somebody who is the most openly racist president

we've ever had, a president who has made the most shocking and unpress debcedented assault on rule of law of any president in american history, demonized the media, attacked the judiciary, tried to destroy every check and balance including up until now calling his political opposition treasonous and un-american. i mean, this is un-american, but this is what the republican party stands for. and, you know, what we desperately need in this country is a new, responsible, center-right opposition party. at the moment i'm homeless because i can't be a republican anymore. but i don't necessarily feel comfortable in a democratic party. what we really need is a center-right party that will stand up for people like me and stand up for the basic values of our republic and right now, the republican party just is not doing that. >> josh earnest, i think you'll agree with me that we will allow max, the homeless max boot, to have the last word in this segment. josh earnest, thanks for joining us, max boot, thank you for joining us. really appreciate it. >> thanks, lawrence. >> tonight's "last word" is next.

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and that is tonight's "last word." coming up in the next hour with brian williams, saw wisenburg, he is the lawyer who questioned president bill clinton under oath. he will explain how the special prosecutor and the staff will

prepare for the questioning of president donald trump under oath. and also in the next hour, are the olympic games going to provide a chance for the united states to actually engage in talks directly with north korea? h all that and more is in "the 11th hour" with brian williams and that starts now. tonight, president trump says he'd love to see a shutdown after suggesting democrats are guilty of treason, and his legal team mulls whether to sit down with the special counsel. all this and it's only tuesday. plus, inspired by his trip to france for bastille day, trump calls for a military parade here in the u.s. the reporter who broke the story standing by with details. and how does robert mueller's team prepare to sit down with a president unlike any other? the man who interviewed bill clinton is here tonight with us to share strategy. "the 11th hour " begins now.