Show: MTP DAILY Date: November 11, 2016 Guest: Chris Clayton, Chris Cillizza, Hampton Pearson, Chris Collins, Ruth Marcus, Xavier Becerra, Howard Dean
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: Yes, it`s Friday. A party in crisis looks for its new leader. Tonight, how do the Democrats rebuild after this week`s Election Day drubbing.
Plus, Trump`s transition team. Christie is out. Mike Pence is in. And what was the common thread from Reagan to Obama that should have told us it would be Trump in the end? This is MTP DAILY and it starts right now.
Good evening. Happy Friday. I`m Chuck Todd here in Washington and welcome to MTP DAILY.
Big news this afternoon. A bit of a shake-up in Trump`s transition team. Vice president-elect Mike Pence is now taking the reins from Chris Christie. In a statement, Christie said he was proud of the work his team had done in laying the ground work for Pence to take over.
Trump`s three oldest children will be taking top roles now in the transition effort along with his son in law Jared Kushner. Vice president- elect Pence along with Kushner, Senator Sessions and Trump campaign CEO, Steve Bannon, are leading the charge and whittling down cabinet positions.
New York Congressman Chris Collins, the first number of Congress to endorse Trump, is now also on the transition team. And we`ll be speaking with him later in the show.
But we`re going to begin tonight with a Democratic Party in crisis mode. When we started the week, it was the GOP that seemed to be teetering on the brink. Somewhere readying on dooms day scenario, losing the election, losing the Senate, an instant leadership crisis, lots of internal drama. Evan McMullen was starting about starting a third --- a new party.
Well, guess what? The worst-case scenario did come true but it happened to the Democrats. They lost the election. Couldn`t take the Senate. There`s a leadership crisis over control of the DNC and plenty of internal drama.
Add to that, anti-Trump protests flared across the country again last night and hundreds were arrested. Four thousand people took to the streets in Portland, Oregon and what police described simply as a riot.
That`s just the tip of the iceberg, folks. Democrats may not fully grasp how deep of political hole they`re really in right now. They are confronting total Republican victory. The White House, Congress, governors` mansions, and state legislatures across the country. Republicans are dominating everywhere.
What`s happened at the state level is simply breathtaking. Over the course of just two presidential elections, Democrats have lost power in 13 governors` offices. They lost Vermont, Missouri and New Hampshire on Tuesday.
And they are now controlling just 15 governorships total. They lost legislative control in 14 state legislatures. They now control just 13 total.
And their bench is being wiped out. They`ve lost more than 900 legislative seats in that time. In baseball terms, it`s as if the Yankees` entire minor league system got wiped out by the Red Sox.
But there is a potential bright spot for them. It`s called 2018. Let`s be clear. It`s not the Senate. Democrats are defending 25 seats in the U.S. Senate compared to just eight Republicans up for reelection in the first mid-term of a Trump year.
But where there`s hope for the Democrats, perhaps if mid-term mojos go their way, it`s at the state level. Because, historically, when the party out of power does well, it happens in a mid-term.
But Democrats can`t wait that long. They need to act now to get it together and take advantage of what could be an opportunity in a mid-term year. And that starts with the DNC which is a mess right now without a leader.
A lot of progressives are rallying around Congressman Keith Ellison. He`s the first Muslim member of Congress. They would like him to take the reins of the party as the DNC chairman. Former Maryland Governor Martin O`Malley and former DNC chair, Howard Dean, have both thrown their hats into the ring as well.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders have already thrown their official support behind Ellison. But we`ve yet to hear of any Hispanic or Latino members of the party signal their interest for the job. But one to keep an eye on is a Congressman, young Congressman, Ruben Gallego.
Bottom line, the Democratic Party was not prepared for any of this at all. They need a game plan and they need one fast. Well, joining me now is who`s likely going to be one of these people riding the game plan. It`s Congressman Xavier Becerra of California. He`s chairman of the House of Democratic Caucus. And he joins me now. Congressman, good to see you.
REP. XAVIER BECERRA (D), CALIFORNIA: Great to be with you, Chuck.
TODD: Let me start with, first, the protests of the streets. Is this -- I know plenty of Democratic leaders have said, you know, this is -- understand the protest, but, you know, don`t do the violence. Is this the time to protest or not? What is your message to the protesters?
BECERRA: Civic participation demonstration is always good. But civic but not violent demonstration. And so, I think any time people want to get out there, so long as they can do it and respect everyone else, that`s the American way. And we should applaud that.
[17:05:00] But the moment that there`s somebody who wants to make it violent, that`s when it starts to cross that line and you have to be very careful.
TODD: As a California Democrat -- I was just talking with my colleague, Conan Nolan, out in our NBC affiliate in L.A. And he just noted just the - - I mean, there`s California and there`s the rest of the country now, when it comes to politics.
It`s a Democratic dominance in the state of California. And it`s as -- literally, there is a fault line, no pun intended. You guys know your share of fault lines. How do you explain it? Why is California in one place and the rest of the country somewhere else?
BECERRA: Actually, I`d say, Chuck, that a lot of places are where California is. Take a look at Nevada. Nevada --
TODD: Fair enough.
BECERRA: -- did not follow the trends that you saw in the Midwest. There are other states as well.
And so, I think what you have to recognize is, remember, Hillary Clinton probably ended up with some two million more votes than Donald Trump did. We, in the House, actually gained more Democratic seats. And we, in the Senate, actually gained more Democratic senators. We didn`t gain enough to take the majority. And so, it looks like a loss but it`s not. And it`s something we can build on.
And I think on the Democratic side, the DNC, our party apparatus, is going to work real hard to make sure we can show folks whose side we are on. And I think that`s what people want to know, at the end of the day. Whose side are you on?
TODD: Which diagnosis -- what`s your diagnosis of what happened?
BECERRA: I think part of it is that people wanted change, greater change than I think most people recognize. Now, it`s going to be interesting for Donald Trump to deliver the change he talked about. He was talking about change that went way beyond what most people thought was possible.
Let`s see him deliver. Can he redefine what trade is and give us a North American free trade agreement that actually can work for working people? Will he, in fact, bring back jobs from overseas? Will he, in fact, impose currency restrictions for those who try to manipulate currency to get an advantage against the U.S. when it comes to trade?
TODD: So, those are things, if he works on it, you want to work with him on it?
BECERRA: We`ve been talking about it way before Donald Trump. And so, if he`s interested in going in that direction, he`ll find Democratic support.
But if he wants to tell an immigrant family, you can`t stay in this country. If he wants to tell a judge simply because of his Mexican heritage that he can`t be a good judge, then he`s going to have someone fighting against him.
TODD: I am curious, though, how you find that line here. I want to read you something Harry Reid wrote. It`s pretty tough. Here is what he said. The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America. Watching white nationalists celebrate while innocent Americans cry tears of fear does not feel like America.
If this is going to be a time of healing, we must first put the responsibility for healing where it belongs at the feet of Donald Trump. A sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate.
Some harsh words in there. I know many Democrats believe everything that he said in there and he`s feeding that passion. You sound like somebody that`s trying to not do that. Is -- do you feel as if that`s too much that Harry Reid went? Did he go too far?
BECERRA: Chuck, first, those words by Senator Harry Reid reflect what Donald Trump said during the campaign. And so, there`s nothing in there that I think most people would say isn`t accurate. It just happens to be very harsh. Harsh, but true. The guy still won.
And so, we have to live with the fact that all those things being true, he still won. And so, we have to respect the institution.
TODD: Because some progressives don`t want -- don`t want you to work with him at all no matter what.
BECERRA: Well, I --
TODD: What do you say to those progressives?
BECERRA: -- ran for Congress so I could respect the Constitution and the democracy and the people who vote.
TODD: Yes.
BECERRA: I have to live with the results. I don`t like the results but I`ll live with them. And I`ll work with the president because he is the president. But he should not expect me to work with him if he`s going to go out there and say that simply because you`re of Muslim faith, you don`t have a place in America or simply because you`re of Mexican heritage, you can`t be a good judge.
There will be places that we can work together but I -- we have to be ready to stand up. Because, at the end of the day, that anxiety that was expressed in this vote is one where we have to, as Democrats, convey to those families, we`ve got your back.
TODD: What -- where are you on the DNC race? It looks like there is a -- all of a sudden, a rush to endorse Keith Ellison by the leadership of the party. Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, those are three pretty powerful names to get behind Keith Ellison. It`s almost a coronation. Is it?
BECERRA: I think it`s going to be a race. But I certainly think that Keith Ellison deserves support. And so do the other names that you`ve heard, including some of the folks who haven`t yet announced who may get announced. We have a deep bench of people who could step to the plate.
It`s going to be good. It`s refreshing. And I think that it`s going to show that there is some change in the future.
TODD: Do you think it`s important that the face of the Democratic Party look like the Democratic coalition that you need to win so that it should be a person of color?
BECERRA: Fortunately, the Democratic Party has been moving closer and closer to reflecting the rest of the country. I don`t think we`re going to stop. And I think the folks that came out and voted for Democrats made it very clear.
TODD: Yes.
BECERRA: We look like the rest of America. And so, I think the party`s going to reflect that very well.
TODD: There is a danger. You do that, then it turns out for all America. And so, what do you say to that?
BECERRA: We`ve got their back as well. We want to prove to them that we`ve got their back.
[17:10:03] TODD: How do you do that?
BECERRA: Well, you make sure that, in fact, Donald Trump follows through and makes sure that jobs are coming back from overseas, because we`ve been talking about that for a long time.
I`d love to see how Donald Trump is going to work with his Republican colleagues to do that because they are the ones that have been fighting laws that would make sure that we could keep jobs in America.
We`ll do a number of things, working to make sure that rural America has the support it needs, including making sure we have affordable health care for them. Not getting rid of something that 20 million Americans have benefitted from.
TODD: As you see, president-elect Trump has -- was asked about Obamacare and he talked up -- he talked upkeeping preexisting conditions, keeping kids on health care. Does that -- does that make you feel a little bit better with what they may do with health care?
BECERRA: It makes it clear to me that what he was saying as candidate, he can no longer say as president-elect.
TODD: All right. Two quick political questions. Are you going to run for the DNC chair if people ask you to?
BECERRA: There are plenty of great candidates that are out there right now.
TODD: That`s not a no.
BECERRA: I`m not -- I`m not looking to run for DNC chair.
TODD: But if recruited, you might think about it?
BECERRA: You know, that was sort of the question that was asked about vice presidency and so there`s a lot of guys.
TODD: California governor. Have you ruled it out or ruled it in or where are you on that?
BECERRA: Oh, I`m -- I ran for Congress. I really love what I do at the federal level. And there`s some great candidates that want to run for governor of California.
TODD: All right, that also was not a --
BECERRA: That`s almost a certain. Almost a certain.
TODD: That`s closer to no than DNC chair.
BECERRA: Yes.
TODD: All right. Xavier Becerra, California Democrat, good to see you, sir. Thanks for coming in.
BECERRA: Thanks, Chuck.
TODD: Appreciate it.
Well, there are certainly no shortage of ideas inside the Democratic Party and how to right the ship. Here`s former DNC chair, Howard Dean, making his pitch to run the DNC earlier today on MSNBC with my colleague, Stephanie Ruhle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER CHAIR, DNC: We have a lot of work to do in the Democratic Party. My plan is to reach out to young people particularly. They are devastated by this loss. I think they now understand that politics matters.
I like Keith Ellison a lot. He`s a very good guy. There`s one problem. You cannot do this job and sit in a political office at the same time. It`s not possible. We`ve seen what happens. Debbie Wassermann Schultz was not the only person to ever do that. It does not work.
This is more than a full-time job. We have to rebuild from what has been a tragedy not only for the Democratic Party, but for -- perhaps for the country. We don`t know.
So, this is a big, big rebuilding job. And I like Keith. I`d be happy to help and support him, but not if he`s going to sit in Congress.
STEPHANIE RUHLE, MSNBC HOST: Can you convince --
DEAN: And there are very -- a large number of DNC members who believe that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Well, there you go. Let`s bring in my panel, former RNC chairman and MSNBC Political Analyst Michael Steele, "Washington Post" fix boss and MSNBC Political Analyst Chris Cillizza, and "The Washington Post" deputy editorial page editor, Ruth Marcus. Hello, all.
Well, Michael Steele, you`ve run for a chairmanship before.
MICHAEL STEELE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
TODD: You know what this weird campaign is like.
STEELE: Oh, my God, it`s fun.
TODD: It isn`t won on cable.
STEELE: It is not.
TODD: Explain how you win one of these races.
STEELE: It is won on tarmacs, on -- in little board rooms, in barns. Wherever you find your committee men and women, that`s where you are.
TODD: You`ve got to go to them.
STEELE: You have to go to them. We rented a plane from time to time. We were on commercial flights. We took trains.
TODD: You did.
STEELE: Oh, yes. You -- it -- this -- to run for chairman is at least a $50,000 to $60,000 proposition. When you -- you have to raise money for it. You have to get the grass roots. You`ve got to knock on doors, call people. It`s a small --
TODD: It`s small for voters but it`s like a caucus it sounds like.
STEELE: Here`s the thing. It`s 168 for the Republicans.
TODD: Oh, it`s, like --
STEELE: It is, like, four times that for --
TODD: For the (INAUDIBLE.)
RUTH MARCUS, DEPUTY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": What a surprise.
TODD: All right. It seems like this field`s going to get big in a hurry, Mr. Cillizza.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think that`s right.
TODD: I mean, you`ve got Keith Ellison. I`ve already heard about --
CILLIZZA: And you heard the congressman essentially say, we -- there are other good people that are likely to run which means other people that are going to run.
TODD: Well, and he wouldn`t --
CILLIZZA: And he could be one of them.
TODD: He didn`t rule that out. I`ve heard his name, Ruben Gallego, a younger --
CILLIZZA: Yes.
TODD: -- up and coming rising star in the Democratic Party and Congress as well. Martin O`Malley has thrown his name in the ring. And you`re right, I think we`ll see more.
CILLIZZA: It`s an -- it`s an interesting thing because this always happens when you lose an election, and particularly when you think you`re win as a party. Every -- not everybody. But there are several camps that diagnose what you now need to do --
TODD: Right.
CILLIZZA: -- very differently. It happens with Republicans. It happens with Democrats. Chuck Schumer clearly who is -- you know, I always think is probably the smartest political person who`s not in the White House on the Democratic side. Clearly sees we need to -- we need to find a way to make the base happy. Keith Ellison is a --
TODD: Progressive.
CILLIZZA: -- progressive. A person of color.
TODD: Yes.
CILLIZZA: You know, it`s an interesting argument though because if you look at where they lost -- maybe you say -- maybe those states are gone in the future. But they lost parts of Pennsylvania.
TODD: Yes.
CILLIZZA: They lost parts of Michigan and Ohio. I could make a strong case, I`m not going to do it. But I could make a strong case for someone like Joe Biden with that profile.
TODD: I`ll give you a name that I`m not going to throw to Ruth Marcus, Tom Vilsack.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
MARCUS: Yes, you think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
TODD: There`s a guy who`s been the lone wolf in the administration screaming about rural problems for the Democratic Party.
[17:15:01] MARCUS: Exactly. I have -- I am a big Tom Vilsack fan. So -- and I think that would be fascinating. He is a grown up.
TODD: Yes.
MARCUS: He is a governor. He is a veteran of this administration. And he knows rural America and the problems of rural America. He`s been talking about opioid abuse since --
TODD: Right.
MARCUS: -- before everybody else was.
TODD: Which the gets to the point of what do you want from your chair?
CILLIZZA: Yes.
STEELE: Yes.
TODD: Reince Priebus was an operative.
STEELE: Yes.
TODD: He was there to fix the mechanics.
STEELE: Right.
TODD: I would argue -- a lot of people wanted you to be a spokesperson --
STEELE: Right.
TODD: -- and a mechanic, right?
STEELE: Right.
TODD: Sometimes they wanted you to --
STEELE: Right.
TODD: -- they either wanted you to be -- they wanted you to be out in public.
STEELE: Right, right.
TODD: They didn`t want that in Reince.
STEELE: They didn`t want that in Reince, right.
TODD: No, not for personal (INAUDIBLE.) This is different what the committee wants.
STEELE: Right.
TODD: We don`t know what these DNC committee members want.
STEELE: Well, I -- if I could offer up a word of caution to the leadership getting behind a candidate. You will kill his or her chances if you do that.
TODD: It`s an interesting point.
STEELE: Because the base is making it very clear. I would not assume that because you label a congressman a progressive that that`s where progressives in California, progressives in Florida, progressives elsewhere around the country have their head.
So, they need to be very careful because they can do mechanidacy (ph) before it even launches. And that is something that is very important.
Right now, the public, writ (ph) large, Democrat, Republican across the board, they are about the grass roots. They are about something very different than what you see in Washington.
CILLIZZA: And I just -- I`m struck by -- I think it`s going to be a big field for one real reason. There`s giant power vacuum.
STEELE: Yes.
CILLIZZA: Not just a power vacuum. It`s a power vacuum that, 72 hours ago or 96 hours ago, no one thought was going to exist. It was, well, Obama will leave and then Clinton. A black hole opening up.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: The opportunity that now exists, right? Because who`s the leader of the party -- let`s -- assuming Obama is off the stage. Who`s the leader of the party? Is it Chuck Schumer?
I mean, you know, there`s a lot of opportunity there. I think that`s why you see an O`Malley. That`s why I think you`re going to see more people who are, like, wait a minute. Like, now is the time. Because it`s so unexpected. No one had a campaign ready to run for DNC chair because everyone just assumed, well, Clinton will be president and she`ll pick who she wants.
MARCUS: Well, and everybody will have so many other things to be scrambling after. This is kind of the only crumb, really, that`s left.
I had an e-mail from a reader who said, please, could you get Michelle Obama to run for it?
TODD: Oh, Michelle Obama for DNC chair.
MARCUS: As if. No, for DNC chair. As if. But that`s how (INAUDIBLE) people are.
TODD: I want to play for you though -- I get what you`re saying about Washington. But, boy, Elizabeth Warren is popular with the base and listen to her and Keith Ellison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: People have a right to be angry. Angry that wages have been stagnant for a generation. Angry that Washington eagerly protects the tax breaks for billionaires while it refuses to raise the minimum wage. Angry that Washington pushes big corporate interests in trade deals. Angry that Washington tilts the playing field for giant corporations. Angry that working people are in debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: You know, my producer listened to that and he said, sounds like a progressive Trump. Channeling some anger there that we didn`t hear that.
CILLIZZA: We have been talking -- we have been talking throughout the campaign, right, that the thing that Hillary Clinton has never been able to be and cannot be is a populist at a time when populism was what people were looking for. I mean, that`s no secret now.
I, personally, thought Donald Trump had done and said things image-wise that would make him unsatisfactory as an alternative. But we knew that she was not a good fit, not only for the Democratic primary, --
TODD: Right.
CILLIZZA: -- hadn`t Sanders been more competitive. But for a general electorate that is angry.
MARCUS: And this speech is fascinating. She identifies some very specific areas of potential agreement for president Trump.
TODD: And you heard it from Xavier Becerra, too. That`s fascinating and it`ll see -- interesting to see how the Trump White House decides to work with that.
Anyway, let me pause. You guys are sticking around.
A programming note, by the way, Michael Moore will join my colleague, Chris Hayes, tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern to discuss the country`s reaction to the election and to the protest movements.
Coming up, the one fact that should have told us all along that Donald Trump would win this election. How did we miss it?
[17:19:29]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TODD: On his final Veterans Day as commander in chief, President Obama urged Americans to look for the country`s veterans as an example for how to come together after the 2016 campaign.
Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, President Obama called the military the country`s most diverse institution where all members are forged into common service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Veterans Day often follows a hard-fought political campaign, an exercise in the free speech and self- government that you fought for. It often lays buried disagreements across the nation. But the American instinct has never been to find isolation in opposite corners. It is to find strength in our common creed, to forge unity from our great diversity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TODD: Welcome back to MTP DAILY, hindsight is always 20-20. And looking at the results of this election, I noticed a trend that I sometimes wish I would have noticed maybe a week ago.
Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, what do they all have in common besides winning? All of them were attacked for being inexperienced. Some of them were attacked for not having the right temperament. Some of them were attacked for both.
And you know what else? Each of them got the support of blue collar voters, working class voters over candidates that had the more experience and the deeper resumes. Think about it. Carey, Clinton, my gosh.
Here`s why that matters. When folks are living paycheck to paycheck, they want something better than now. And they often gravitate toward something different rather than the status quo. It`s a -- it`s simple in hindsight. And sometimes we forget the power of the change candidate and the change message and, in some ways, inexperience ends up being the asset to those voters.
Let me bring in the next guest. Chris Clayton is agriculture policy editor for DTN`s Progressive Farmer. And he is a journalist that covers and lives in rural America.
And as a fair critique of our coverage over the last couple of years is we didn`t do a lot of coverage of rural America. Mr. Clayton, welcome to the show, sir.
CHRIS CLAYTON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, DTN: Thank you for having me, Chuck.
TODD: You know, you had a very powerful analysis, I thought, of what happened in this election about rural voters. And you said, you know, everybody said, where were the signs? And you noted the signs were everywhere in rural America. The Trump-Pence signs, the Hillary for prison 2016 signs. But then, you noticed there weren`t a lot Clinton-Kaine signs.
[17:25:07] Explain how -- why Hillary Clinton was so unpopular in rural America and whether there was anything she could have done about it.
CLAYTON: There were so many different factors when it came to Hillary. When you think about, you know, she was really unable, in Iowa, to beat President Obama in 2008. She barely scratched out a victory over Bernie Sanders in the caucuses and that was contested.
So, there`s always been this somewhat resentment or unwillingness to embrace her. And I just don`t think she really was able to catch on and communicate with your average rural blue collar worker or a farmer.
TODD: What moved the Obama voting Iowan in, say -- you know, in some of those farm communities in northeast Iowa, traditional Democratic area? I think of -- I can`t believe some of the counties that flipped. Why did these Obama voters become Trump voters?
CLAYTON: Well, in 2012, you had a really strong farm economy, at that point. Farmland prices were really strong. Farm commodity prices were good. So, I think that there was somewhat of a -- you know, we`re going to continue to support and let this ride this out.
Right now, we`ve seen about two years now where commodity prices have continued to slip. Now, you`re seeing, actually, the Federal Reserve start to stress that the farmers are now really tight on capital and working cash. So, they are going to their lenders more.
So there, the farmers, themselves, are much more stressed. Those counties that Obama won, you have a lot of dairy farmers up there. You have a lot of very commodity producers.
TODD: Right.
CLAYTON: And overall, they just were not as willing to give another chance to a Democrat this time around.
TODD: Hey, Chris, I want to bring in some of my panel. They want to throw you a few questions. Ruth Marcus.
MARCUS: Tell us what attracted -- you`ve given us a wonderful vision of what the concerns were. What was the attraction of Donald Trump?
CLAYTON: Change, in one sense. There was also, I think, a belief among some people that he will be able to make changes, some of these trade agreements. It might be awfully tough. We export a lot of commodities under NAFTA right now. It might be a little more difficult to actually find markets in Mexico and Canada that aren`t already accepting a lot of our crops and meat and dairy products, things like that.
But the -- but also, just the regulatory issues. And that was something that a lot of people didn`t really key in on. There`s a rule under the EPA right now called the Waters of the U.S. under the Clean Water Act.
Every farm group under -- in the country, liberal and conservative, have really hammered on this issue. They want to get rid of it. They`re terrified of it. And if you read the rules, you would be -- it`s mind- numbing to actually understand what exactly it does.
So, Clinton supported it and Trump continued to hammer that he was going to get rid of that rule from day one. So, that right there was just a key point. They believe that the regulatory yolk is going to be lifted off of them. And that was -- as far as farmers were concerned, that really drove them toward Trump in a big way.
TODD: Michael Steele.
STEELE: Hey, Chris, real quick. In addition to the economic narrative, how did the social narrative play out? The descriptions of the rural America, the talk about deplorables, all the language that, sort of, cropped up in this election, how did that play, in effect, the thinking of farmers and people, middle-class workers in your area?
CLAYTON: It`s difficult because, honestly, a lot of the farmers, a lot of rural people, you know, they really gravitate towards conservative media. And they maybe were not hearing so much or paying as close attention to Trump`s rhetoric.
There might have been a belief that they didn`t take Trump literally but they took him seriously. I think was a phrase I had heard used once. But they also heard a lot of conservative media that constantly hammered on Clinton`s trustworthiness.
And, you know, among a lot of Evangelicals, and others, there was just a strong belief that -- you know, that Christianity, faith, has been lost a little bit in the country.
I had the same conversation with a man from my church just a few weeks ago, and he was really hammering on that point, that he just did not believe that the democrats, you know, put much emphasis on God and Christianity any longer. I know that`s not the case, but that is a perception.
CHUCK TODD, "MEET THE PRESS DAILY" SHOW HOST: Sure now. Chris Cillizza.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, JOURNALIST AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Mr. Clayton, a lot of the analysis, after action analysis, particularly among some democrats and liberal democrats as well is all about race. That -- that Donald Trump appealed to our darker natures, particularly in some of these more rural communities.
You offered a more nuanced take thankfully about it. Can you -- how much in people you talked to in your reporting, how much did race come up if at all. I understand it may not come up all that much because people are uncomfortable to talk about it, but is it a factor if not the factor?
CLAYTON: I think immigration issue is a huge factor in rural America. People are concerned that maybe they are losing the culture somewhat. And they are uncomfortable around seeing increasing number of minorities in particular areas that don`t speak their language.
Don`t go to the same churches that they grew up with. Those kinds of things. It was a concern, but you take a look at -- just simply look at Iowa. Barack Obama won Iowa twice.
TODD: Right.
CLAYTON: And Hillary Clinton got clobbered in rural Iowa. It wasn`t so much that she lost all of these counties, but it was by such a wide margin. So it couldn`t have been strictly race because these upper mid-west states supported Obama twice but they turned away from Clinton in droves.
TODD: Chris Clayton, I got to leave it there. We have about 17 more questions for you. I have a feeling that hopefully you will be a familiar face to our viewers. Mr. Clayton, thanks for coming. I appreciate it.
CLAYTON: Thank you for having me.
TODD: You got it.
CLAYTON: Thank you for having me.
TODD: You got it. Michael, Chris, you guys are stuck. Stay in. Anyway. Moving on here. Donald Trump`s transition team is already in transition. And a big name is out and a new big name is back in. Stay with us.
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TODD: We will have a lot more "MTP Daily" right after this including some transition news, but it`s time for Hampton Pearson with the CNBC Market Wrap.
HAMPTON PEARSON, REPORTER, CNBC: Thanks, Chuck. Stocks end the day mixed, but for the week they notched significant gains. The Dow climbed 39 points, ending the lead up more than 5 percent. The S&P sheds 3 but rose nearly 4 percent this week. The Nasdaq has 28, up also nearly 4 percent for the week.
Consumers are feeling pretty good this month, rose to the highest level since June. And Kenneth Cole are shutting down nearly all its stores. The company will continue to sell its merchandise online and through other retailers. That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.
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TODD: In the fast moving world of the presidential transition, the big news today is that Chris Christie is out and VP-elect Mike Pence is in when it comes to leading the transition effort formally. As we mentioned earlier, the transition team does now include three of Donald Trump`s children and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
What may be a related note to staffing at the Trump White House, we just learned that Trump`s former campaign manager but still an on again off again personal adviser Corey Lewandowski has resigned officially from his job at CNN. And, by the way, this new transition team also includes my next guest.
Congressman Chris Collins, of course, as you know, the first member of congress to endorse Donald Trump. He joins me now. Congressman Collins, welcome back to the show, sir, and congratulations.
CHRIS COLLINS, U.S REPRESENTATIVE FOR NEW YORK`S 27TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Chuck, it has been a whirlwind and before we start, I just to want to thank all the veterans today on Veterans Day for their service to the country and tell you how honored I was to present five congressional gold medals to World War UU Tuskegee Airmen who served so violently at World War II. What a great day it was.
TODD: That is amazing. Any day you get to spend with a World War II veteran, you need to cherish. They have unbelievable stories. That`s an unbelievable generation. Congressman Collins, let me start with your role. Can you explain what your is and what advise you are being asked to give?
COLLINS: Well, I will be one of 16 members on transition executive council along as you mentioned with Donald`s kids and as well as Jared Kushner, Ivanka`s husband, and some other great other members. It`s going to be a job of vetting the candidates for the 4,000 or so positions, 350 in the west wing.
We will see when Rick Dearborn who is the new executive director, Jeff Sessions chief of staff, how we divvy that out and so forth. None of that actually has been detailed. We just really put this together today. I`m sure when we are back Monday in D.C., we will detail more of it out. Right now, I`m just honored to be asked to serve on this transition executive council. TODD: You know, one of the challenges I feel like you guys are gonna face is very similar to what Barack Obama faced when he got here. He ran as an outsider. He promised, you know, that you weren`t going to see the same old -- same old types of people. He didn`t use the phrase drain the swamp, but it was implied with turn the page.
Donald Trump used drain the swamp. But at the same time, there are only so many people with the right amount of experience to do some of these jobs. So, how do you strike that balance to make sure you actually are bringing in people that don`t, you know, that aren`t just coming from the other side of revolving door and all that.
What are some of the rules you hope are put in the place to prevent that fell of oh, geez, it`s just the republicans in exile, now they`re in charge and vice versa.
COLLINS: Well, I know what we have to do. It starts with vision of smaller government less regulation are getting back to the federal government doing what it should and relying on the states the tenth amendment to do the rest. So division starts with the president-elect Trump.
And then as he -- we get into the cabinet officials, he is gonna have to bring people in who believe in smaller government, who believe in less regulation. I mean, that`s a mantra that we have. But you are going to need institutional knowledge. There is no question.
And at some point, we just need to make sure that those bringing in the institutional knowledge that had served in various roles also understand the ideas of fiscal responsibility less regulations. And I do believe that a work I know when I was county executive having to turn around Erie County which was effectively bankrupt, that was what I did.
But I certainly had to rely on folks of the highway department and the sheriff`s department to have that institutional knowledge but I drove division of smaller government accountability and fiscal discipline. So I think you can marry those two, but it starts with a strong vision that everyone adheres to put on the wall and says this is what we`re doing when we come to work today.
TODD: I was struck by a comment that Trent Lott made in the "Wall Street Journal" I think a day or so ago. He said, you know, he wants to drain the swamp, some of us have to help him navigate his way into the swamp and navigate his way out of the swamp. The point was lobbyists and community in K Street aren`t necessary evil. What`s your view on that?
COLLINS: I`m not sure we need any lobbyist. I`m talking about institutional of the folks that are doing the nuts and bolts of keeping our government running. Knowing that we have a different vision, we still need their skill sets.
They have to understand that it`s a smaller government, less regulation and understanding where the federal government starts and stops, where state`s rights starts and stops. I don`t think -- frankly, I don`t think we need any lobbyists coming in.
TODD: Would you propose anybody who has been a registered lobbyist shouldn`t be able to serve in the Trump cabinet?
COLLINS: I never go to extremes like that, because there may well be a few qualified individuals, but I think in vetting those folks. We got to know really where their values are, what their focus is.
And again it comes back to the overall vision of smaller government, less regulations, state`s rights and clearly what Donald Trump talked about whether it`s in all of the above energy policy or when we replace Obamacare, making sure we don`t disadvantage everyday Americans in any way and we won`t.
It`s a monumental task one that I`m up to and I know the others are as well.
TODD: I want to get in the health care but I`m running out of time today. We are gonna have more time to do that, I`m sure. Congressman Chris Collins, thanks for coming on. Always good to talk to you, sir.
COLLINS: Yes, you too. Have a great day.
TODD: You got it. On "Meet the Press," I`m gonna talk to one of the key figures who helped make Donald Trump president. And we`ll have a fresh perspective on what went so wrong for Hillary Clinton and the democrats. Up next, Why I`m already obsessed with the next big election fight. Stay tuned.
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TODD: Welcome back. Tonight I`m obsessed with the good news the democrats got on Tuesday. I know, you`re thinking of what? There was good news for them? Recent election cycles have followed this pattern. Democrats win the presidency, republicans win governorship, state legislatures and every other after the election.
The party out of power usually does. The result has been that while democrats win the White House, the republicans have basically wiped out the democratic party on the state and local level.
Now the situation that gives the democrats a chance could be reversed and it could happen in 2018, which might be the perfect year for the democrats to win some statehouses, win a few legislatures, replenish their system, senate, presidential candidates and don`t forget governorship.
And guess what? If they have success in 2018, suddenly that`s the year that state legislatures in 2021 will be drawing congressional districts after the 2020 census. Those democratic governors in 18 will still be there is 2021 if they win there. If you are looking for lemonade after all these lemons at this point, that`s the lemonade that the democrats have if they want to take over the house any time in the next decade.
So take our democrats very little turnout right on Tuesday, but hey, it`s possible the seeds have been sewn for the 2018 comeback which then serves as a 2022 opportunity. We will be back.
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TODD: Time for "The Lid." For the past two nights, we`ve seen anti-Trump protests in major U.S. Cities. We`re expecting more tonight in places like Miami and Chicago. These protests have been organized by various groups of students, some of that are LGBTQ rights groups, immigration advocates, members of black lives matter and more.
The panel is back. Michael Steele, Chris Cillizza, Ruth Marcus. Ruth, thoughts on these protest movements like this and how long do you think this goes?
RUTH MARCUS, JOURNALIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, I`m not -- I think they have every right to protest. I thought it was unwise and disturbing for Donald Trump`s first tweet to criticize the protesting. And I think there`s a lot of unhappiness in the country and it`s probably good to let that out.
I think where it goes too far is, obviously, in violence, and it also goes too far when you talk about calling for his impeachment. That`s just as wrong as it would be, to talk about Hillary Clinton`s impeachment.
TODD: Well, it was just as bad when Jason Chaffetz was talking about. Ridiculous then and progressives attacked it. It`s ridiculous now and conservatives are.
MARCUS: He was elected. A lot of people, myself included, were not happy with that outcome, but it is the democratic outcome. Popular vote notwithstanding. We solve our problems in America through elections.
TODD: Beauty of the ballot box.
CILLIZZA: He won. And you don`t have to like that, but he won. People say, well, he didn`t win the popular vote, but that`s not how the system works.
MICHAEL STEELE, FORMER RNC CHAIRMAN: Those aren`t the rules.
CILLIZZA: Somebody made a great point, I saw on Twitter, like saying, well, we got the most hits in baseball, so we won. Well, we don`t do it on hits.
TODD: John (ph) said it better. He said, yeah, one team can hit five home runs and the other team can hit two, but if all theirs are solos and the others are five-run homers, you lose.
CILLIZZA: I think that it`s -- I`m with Ruth. I think it`s totally -- part of democracy is we respect the result and we respect the rights of people to say, you know what, I want to voice my concern with that. The thing that I don`t like about it is the attempt to delegitimize Trump.
Simply because you don`t believe him doesn`t mean that the 59 million people who voted for him were wrong or it`s rigged in some way. He won! You have the right to protest. That is civilly, without violence, but it doesn`t.
TODD: Michael, what`s Donald Trump`s responsibility here? Because, he -- look, he blew it last night. Obviously, he woke up and realized -- self- corrected.
MARCUS: Self-corrected!
CILLIZZA: Corrected, one way or another.
TODD: It got corrected.
STEELE: It got corrected.
TODD: And you know, basically, crisis averted -- what could have been his first crisis, averted. But it is on him to calm the water, whether he likes it or not.
STEELE: My take on that is very simple. You`re president and a lot of stuff is going to be coming. Incoming every day. It`s not personal. It`s your job. And you cannot react the way you did initially and I think someone or at least he did realize that. I think for Donald Trump, what he has an opportunity to do now, he`s the first president in a long time to be elected the unencumbered.
He`s not beholden to the democrats. He`s not beholden to the republicans. So he in my view can create an opportunity for pragmatic populism, where he can go out into the country and put together the deals that makes America great again, but more importantly, addresses issues like we see on the streets right now and also addresses issues that go to the economic heart of the country.
TODD: Hey, I want to bring up something. We didn`t get a chance to sort of debrief after talking with Chris Clayton. There was one other point. Chris Clayton makes on my podcast, 1947, ding ding, be sure to download it.
STEELE: And subscribe. Podcast or so.
TODD: There you go. He said, the way we in the media analyzed the polls and we talked about the split between college-educated whites and non-college- educated whites. Get what America heard when we did that?
MARCUS: Dumb.
TODD: The smart people and the dumb people. Just because you didn`t go to college doesn`t make you dumb. And clinically, when we would describe it, when I would describe it, it was an academic, clinical.
CILLIZZA: But that`s not how it was taken.
MARCUS: I`ve been guilty of this. I said, I think it was on a different network, I described uneducated voters and you know what?
TODD: They`re plenty educated.
MARCUS: That was wrong. And I wanted to take this to actually responsibility that the president-elect has. He has said a lot of things that were hurtful to people. They are protesting in the streets in a way that they wouldn`t have protested president Romney, that they didn`t protest president Bush when he was elected after he settled. He needs to be aware of that just like we do.
TODD: I`m sorry. I know. Time cop! Sorry! Guess what, we can talk about it in ten seconds while we throw to break. Thank you, Michael, Chris, and Ruth. Wonderful comments, Ruth. Thank you for saying those, as well. We`ll be right back.
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TODD: Well, we`re running late. That`s all for tonight. We`ll be back Monday. More "MTP Daily." If it`s Sunday, catch "Meet the Press" on your local NBC station. "With All Due Respect" starts right now.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END