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Inside Politics

Trump Talks Supreme Court Pick; GOP Praise Supreme Court Pick; Senate Votes for Confirmation; GOP Bypasses Democrats; Tensions High in Senate Committee. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 01, 2017 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People understood. I think I was left something that is in -- had a lot of problems. But I think we'll straighten out those problems. I think we'll straighten them out very strongly.

Judge Gorsuch is an exceptionally qualified person from the standpoint of experience and education. Columbia with honors. Harvard Law School with honors. Oxford at the highest level. Great, great student. Great intellect. Supreme Court Justices White and Kennedy, he clerked. And so I just think it's really great that we're having this meeting because we want to -- we want to have him go through an elegant process as opposed to a demeaning process because they're very demeaning on the other side, and they want to make you look as bad as possible. And, of course, the press can be very demeaning too. So -- but I'm sure the press will be very dignified in this case.

But I really want -- that's the word. I really think he's a very dignified man. I'd like to see him go through a dignified process. I think he deserves that. And hopefully it will go quickly. And we'll see what happens.

So what we might do is just because -- I mean we might ask for the folks in the room just to give yourself a quick your name and a little introduction. And, Wayne, I would say they know you. Perhaps they know you better than they know me.

WAYNE LAPIERRE, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: I doubt that. Wayne LaPierre, National Rifle Association.

PENNY NANCE, CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA: I'm Penny Nance. I'm the CEO and president of Concerned Women for America.

CHARMAINE YOEST, AMERICAN VALUES: I'm Charmaine Yoest. I'm with American Values.

And thank you, Mr. President, for this nomination.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

JUANITA DUGGAN, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS: I'm Juanita Duggan with the National Independent Business Association, NFIB. Thank you.

TRUMP: It's great to have you here.

DUGGAN: Thank you.

TOM COLLAMORE, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: I'm Tom Collamore with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. President, congratulation on a fantastic nomination.

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you (INAUDIBLE).

GROVER NORQUIST, AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM : Grove Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform.

And thank you in (ph) the election (ph).

TRUMP: Thank you. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leonard (INAUDIBLE) federal (INAUDIBLE).

MARJORIE DANNENFELSER, SUSAN B. ANTHONY LIST: Marjorie Dannenfelser with the Susan B. Anthony List.

MORTON BLACKWELL, THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: Morton Blackwell, The Leadership Institute.

DAVID O'STEEN, NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE: David O'Steen, National Right to Life.

Thank you for such a quick, excellent nomination.

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much.

PAULA WHITE, EVANGELICAL ADVISORY COUNCIL: Paula White, chairman of the Evangelical Advisory Council.

TRUMP: Thank you for -- thank you for the help --

WHITE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: During the campaign.

So, with that, I'll ask you to all hit the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE), Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No --

QUESTION: As you pointed out last night --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) was confirmed by a unanimous --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, come on.

QUESTION: Can I ask a question, Mr. President. TRUMP: Sure.

QUESTION: Thank you.

As you pointed out last night, Gorsuch was confirmed by unanimous voice vote in 2006. Now a number of Democrats say they're going to oppose him. What would you say to those Democrats, and would you encourage Senator McConnell to invoke the nuclear option if he feels he can't get 60 votes?

TRUMP: Well, I think there's a certain dishonesty if they go against their vote from not very long ago, and he did get a unanimous endorsement, and he's somebody that should get -- I mean you can't do better from an educational, from an experience, from any standpoint. A great judge. He will be a great justice.

So, no, I feel that it's very dishonest if we go about doing that. And, yes, if we end up with the same gridlock that they've had in Washington for the last -- longer than eight years. In all fairness to President Obama, a lot longer than eight years. But if we end up with that gridlock, I would say, if you can, Mitch, go nuclear because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web. So I would say it's up to Mitch, but I would say, go for it. OK?

QUESTION: Mr. President --

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. You're watching there tape of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, smartly bringing in a number of leaders of conservative groups from around the country who are now going to help him push the confirmation of his brand-new Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

A lot to talk about. Let me bring in the panel and introduce them. Abby Phillip from "The Washington Post" joins us today to share her reporting and insights. CNN's Dana Bash, David Drucker of "The Washington Examiner," and "The Atlantic's" Molly Ball.

I want to get into the judge, into the pick, why the president picked this man, what he was just talking about there. If you don't understand at home what go nuclear means, it involves Senate procedures. A lot of times we have to translate Washington to the rest of you.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Not an actual weapon.

KING: It's part of our job. Not actual weapons.

But the -- the most thing that I'm so struck by, picture-perfect last night, the president rolls this out in the East Room. A very good event. Brings in the Senate Republicans. Brings in House Republicans. Very well done to bring everybody on board.

Judge Gorsuch goes up to Capitol Hill today, sees Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence is with him, former Senator Ayotte, who is going to be his Sherpa, feed him through the nomination process. The president brings in these groups the morning after who are -- have already helped him make this pick and go through this process, but are now going to get out there and work the grassroots for the votes, especially for the Democratic votes he needs in the more conservative states out there.

This is how you do a roll-out. Whether you agree or disagree with something, and after the last few days, how can something like the travel ban be so rocky and so confusing where government agencies are not talking to each other and they do this one, again, whether you like the judge or not, whether you like the president or not, from a marketing and branding standpoint, that's perfect.

[12:05:18] ABBY PHILLIP, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, this is the dividing line within the White House. I mean the travel ban was ushered into being by Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, who are disrupters by nature. They create this sort of environment of chaos as part of their governing philosophy.

But the Supreme Court pick is a very conventional Washington thing. This is a Reince Priebus operation. It was done by the book. It was, contrary to what everybody thought, it was a very conventional roll- out. Just a standard press conference standing there with his wife. They brought in Antonin Scalia's widowed wife and his children.

This is the White House. It's two camps -- at this level, two camps. The Priebus camp, the Bannon camp, and they're functioning on parallel plains, but you see a kind of bipolar White House emerging out of all of this.

BASH: Yes. Well, and --

KING: Well, if the president's scoring it day by day, I think the establishment camp, or the traditional camp, wins the last 48 hours. I'm sorry.

BASH: Yes. No, no, and this process for the Supreme Court nominee is kind of rinse and repeat.

KING: Right.

BASH: I mean it is different players when it's a Democratic president, but it's the same process. You have the Sherpa, which now, you know, we know and we've seen today is the former senator from New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte, which -- she was brought in because she was -- obviously was defeated, which is why she's not a current senator, but she does have good relationships across the aisle. OK, so you do that. You have a communications person in charge, Ron Bonjean. You have somebody who is the aide who's going to make sure that the nominee gets ready for the hearings. We know who that person is. And you bring in the groups.

President Obama had the same kind of thing, the same players when he had his nominees. This is something that is not hard to figure out. When you're doing something that has not been done before, at least in modern times, like a, you know, a partial travel ban, travel restrictions, whatever you call it, and you want to do it fast and you want to do it by executive order and you want to disrupt, as you say, that's a completely different thing, and we saw that there were big problems with that, obviously.

DAVID DRUCKER, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": And, John, I think what was most noticeable last night was how normal the roll-out was. The president introduced Mr. Mr. Gorsuch. Didn't talk about himself at all. He just mentioned that the voters had a choice in November and they chose to go this route, but he didn't talk about his victory. He didn't talk about himself. He talked all about the nominee. That, to me, was fascinating.

BASH: Great point.

KING: Right.

DRUCKER: He also, even though Democrats didn't attend, he invited Democratic leadership down to the White House for the roll-out. They chose not to attend. And the one thing I thought though was interesting and why this worked well is that the White House didn't have to work with anybody really to do this. One of the things that we saw over the past week as they rolled out executive orders, to do it right, it requires a lot more coordination with Congress, especially because you need their help in selling this, and a lot of coordination with the executive agencies that are charged with carrying out various executive orders. That's really where the Trump administration tripped up. With this roll-out, it was strictly the president's decision. They were completely in charge of the roll-out. And I think that's one of the reasons this worked so much better.

MOLLY BALL, "THE ATLANTIC": I think that --

KING: I associate the value -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

BALL: I was just going to say, that's a really good point because it -- this doesn't prove that any of those problems have been solved, right? Because this was a solo decision, all of those problems still exist. All of the worldwide problems and the problems with conservatives over the ban still exist. That hasn't gone away. That hasn't gotten any better.

KING: Right.

BALL: What was most remarkable to me about the announcement last night was how relieved Republicans were.

KING: Right.

BALL: They were still on tender hooks right up to the last second thinking, maybe he's going to surprise us, maybe he's going to disappoint us, even though he promised this, even though we knew who the finalists were, even though, in the end, they ended up being extremely pleased and Republicans and especially conservatives are ecstatic about this pick, they couldn't be sure that he was going to follow through on it until he actually did. KING: And a Republican rallying moment after days of even Republicans

mostly being polite in public, but some of them not only disagreeing with the travel ban, but how it happened and the use of -- heavy use of executive actions in the early days also alienating the Congress. A little bit of a rallying point there.

If you missed it last night, let's go back into the East Room last night, the president of the United States and his new choice to fill a seat on the Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute. He is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to insure the rule of law and the rule of justice.

JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: It is the role of judges to apply, not alter, the work of the people's representatives. A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge, stretching for results he prefers rather than those the law demands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:10:07] KING: That's the judge last night and the president in the roll-out. Everyone's mentioned how happy conservatives are. They view this as a younger, kinder, gentler, in some ways, and that's not to criticize Antonin Scalia, the justice he is replacing, but Justice Scalia was more of a brazen, outgoing personality. Conservatives love this. I just want to read for a second. This is a -- Judge Gorsuch in a case about federal power, executive power, was -- wrote the decision with other judges, but then he wrote his own consent to his own decision because he wanted to give more of his personal views. You have to have consensus in the opinion. And he talks about executive power. This one's interesting to me because think about the president who just named him.

"There's an elephant in the room with us today. The fact is Chevron and BrandX (ph) permit executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power and concentrate federal power in a way that seems more than a little difficult to square with the Constitution of the framer's design. Maybe the time has come to face the behemoth."

This is why conservatives love this guy because he reads the Constitution and he's an originalist. He reads the words. If it's not here, you can't do it. and he's criticized liberals saying, if you have a problem, get the state legislature or the Congress to pass your law, stop coming to court.

PHILLIP: And this may also be why Democrats, at the end of the day, might look at Gorsuch and think, actually, given the current environment, given the speed and the sort of intensity of President Trump's executive orders, maybe Gorsuch is the right person on the court right now, the best we can do under a Republican administration. You know, some Democrats right now are facing a situation that Republicans were in a couple years ago saying, wow, the president is doing so many things that Congress should really be doing. You know, there are some Democrats who are arguing Gorsuch is as middle of the road as one could get under a Republican administration. He might serve as a check on, you know, on a strong executive power, which could be very important for Democrats for the next years (ph).

KING: And conservatives are hoping it's the opposite, that he's a former clerk to Anthony Kennedy, who's the swing vote on the court. And that you have a more conservative guy who's very close with Justice Kennedy, that maybe he pulls him the other way in some of these five to four decisions.

Let's unpack a little bit of what we just heard from the president at the top of the show. He talked about, he wanted a dignified process. Again, the Senate will decide whether Judge Gorsuch gets confirmed. I want to give him some props here, Democrats are calling this a stolen seat because for 10 months Judge Merrick Garland was waiting for a confirmation hearing the Republicans refused to give him. And our Ted Barrett (ph) on Capitol Hill reporting that the first call Judge Gorsuch made after that event last night in the East Room was to call Judge Garland. So clearly trying to say, look, I'm sorry, not my doing, but it's a club. The judges are a club, just like the Congress or the Senate.

But the last part, let Mitch go nuclear if he wants, or Mitch go nuclear, that's -- the president doesn't speak Washington, which is probably one of the reasons he's president and got elected. But the idea there is right now Senate rules say you have to have 60 votes to break a filibuster to move to the finally vote on a nominee. Mitch McConnell says that's his preference. He's an institutionalist and a traditionalist. But -- but he has made clear, and we've seen other developments we're going to talk about in a minute where the Republicans are getting a little frustrated, but he's willing to go that way if he has to. Is that where we're going to end up?

BASH: Probably not, only in that the 60 vote threshold is to -- is for, at least at the beginning, is to allow a vote for the nominee. And we have seen little by little Democrats come out, particularly those from red states, and even a Democrat like Dick Durbin, who's not from a red state but -- and he's actually the leadership, but he says that it is his preference, at least in the short-term, to vote to allow a vote. So -- which I know it sounds like, like, really, a vote to allow a vote, but that's what you have to do in the United States Senate.

DRUCKER: Welcome to Washington speak.

KING: Yes.

BASH: Yes. But you -- but you do because if the Democrats had enough that they could actually block the vote from even coming up. So I think that that is the first.

But the answer is, we're going to have to see what happens in his hearings.

KING: Right.

BASH: If he charms everybody, if he reassures people that he is not a big bad wolf and he's not going to, you know, blow the Supreme Court apart, then it's going to be hard really for Democrats to filibuster him. And also, this is not something that Mitch McConnell wants to do. It's not just because he's a traditionalist. It's because they know from recent history the shoe is very quickly on the other foot and there's a Democrat in the White House and Democrats in control of the Congress (ph).

KING: Right. Everybody hold that thought for a sec. We'll come back to this in a moment. The Democratic strategy, more on the Supreme Court pick, Judge Gorsuch making the rounds on Capitol Hill already today. That's important.

Up next, though, Democrats tried to stage a boycott today. So Republicans threw out the rules. A power play to confirm some of the president's cabinet picks. We'll be back in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:19:04] KING: Live picture there. The floor of the United States Senate. That's the Democratic leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, talking at the moment about President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court and how he would like the Senate to proceed on that front. Back to that story in a moment.

But there's other drama on Capitol Hill today as well. President Trump trying to get his cabinet approved. Democrats boycotting several of those members. And a Republican chairman of the Finance Committee, Orrin Hatch of Utah, usually a gentile kind of fellow, deciding today to change the rules of the United States Senate. He says he's so frustrated with the boycotts from the Democrats, and without a Democrat at the meeting under the old roles, you can't advance the nominee. Today, Senator Hatch changed those rules and moved the nominees forward, and the senator explains his reasons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), CHAIRMAN, FINANCE COMMITTEE: This is a ripple in an otherwise calm sea and -- and -- but -- but I don't think they can -- I don't think they can complain. My gosh, we've used the rules the way they out to be rules to use, and they used the rules in the way they thought they could use them, which are -- but there's no excuse for what they did yesterday, and there's no excuse for them not coming today. We notified them, and -- and they just plain -- they -- they followed a cheap political ploy. And -- and they should be ashamed. They should be ashamed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:18] KING: Hatch also using the term "idiots" to describe the Democrats. The power play by Republicans allows the president's nominees for the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to move to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. Now Democrats say they have questions. They don't want to have that vote just yet. Our senior congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, you're up there in that -- what Senator Hatch calls a calm sea, Manu. How are the ripples?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's pretty choppy right now, John. You know, the Republicans indeed taking this pretty dramatic move, an unprecedented move, but they said it was unprecedented for the Democrats to boycott that Senate Finance Committee hearing this morning and yesterday to try to deny a quorum and deny a vote in that committee, taking matters in their own hands to try to push this through, change the rules to get Tom Price confirmed to HHS, and also to get Steven Manuchin confirmed to the Treasury Department.

Now, this coming as Democrats trying to delay the committee proceedings on other fronts too, including Scott Pruitt to head EPA. They boycotted those proceedings this morning. But the chairman of that committee saying they're planning to take matters into their own hands and probably emulate what Senator Hatch just did and push their -- his -- Pruitt's nomination through to the floor of the Senate.

And, similarly, Mick Mulvaney to be the budget director, that vote was actually postponed this morning when the Democrats wanted more time to review his FBI report. And there are questions about whether or not he would get support to pass that committee because of John McCain's concerns about Mick Mulvaney's views about defense spending. But I talked to the chairman of that committee, Ron Johnson, who said, no matter what happens in that committee, they're still going to try to push and jam the nomination through, take it directly to the floor of the Senate.

So what you're seeing here, John, is a really concerted, aggressive effort by the Republicans to do -- use the power of the majority to get their nominees for Donald Trump's cabinet confirmed. And while it's taking a little bit longer than Donald Trump would like, he probably will get all these nominees confirmed, no matter how much -- how many obstacles Democrats put in their way, John.

KING: Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. A power play by the Republicans to help their president.

Angle into the wake, Manu, that's my advice, angle into the wake up there in those rough waters.

Let's come back into the room.

This is extraordinary. The town's been polarized a long time. We knew the Democrats don't like this president, weren't going to like most of his picks. They say they have legitimate questions about some of the financial dealings otherwise here. But we are seeing this again. Senator Hatch changes the rules. You move those two forward. Out of the Judiciary Committee today, Senator Sessions comes out on a party line vote. Every Democrat voting "no." Every Republican voting "yes." The education choice, every Democrat voting "no," every Republican voting "yes." What does -- does it mean anything? Is it just the partisan split that is Washington, or is this a new level of toxicity in the environment? DRUCKER: I think this reflects where each party's base is.

BASH: Exactly.

DRUCKER: Neither has any use or any desire to stick with senatorial courtesy or Senate rules. What they want to see are results. And for Democrats, they're kind of in a pinch because there's not really much they can do and their base wants them to fight everything, and I think strategically that hurts them because they might do a better job and get more results if they focused in on a couple of Trump's cabinet picks and put all the attention there.

And for Republicans -- and understanding the Democrats and Republicans play this game and both feel like they've been slighted unfairly -- Republicans are still smarting from Senator Reid's use of the nuclear option a couple of years ago when he changed -- broke the rules to change the rules, as we've been discussing. And so they just don't care as much about following rules as they might have had that never happened.

BASH: But I -- and I would even go further than you on the question of the Democratic base. It's not just that they want results. Sure, they would love results. They want a fight. They want their members to stand up and fight. And I agree with you that it might not be in the long run the greatest strategy because there are some things that Democrats can get done. And at what point does the cycle stop?

DRUCKER: Right.

BASH: We thought perhaps at the beginning that there was going to be a little bit of a give and take. Stand up to the Republican president and the Republican leaders in Congress when it mattered, and, otherwise, don't. But for the nominees, you know, which is traditionally, unless there's a huge problem, something that you give to a president, the fact that they're standing up on this issue tells you a lot about the fact that the base is so rested and they're dying for their members to go (ph) fight (ph).

DRUCKER: There is (INAUDIBLE) --

KING: Chuck Schumer is a new leader.

BASH: Yes.

KING: I mean he's a known figure here in Washington, but as a national Democratic figure, he's a new leader replacing Harry Reid. He voted against Mitch McConnell's wife. Elaine Chao was confirmed as Transportation secretary. She got 94 votes, I think, 90 something votes. He voted against the other leader's wife. That is unheard of in the United States Senate.

PHILLIP: Yes. Well, and what's funny about that is that there were some Democrats who worried that Chuck Schumer wouldn't be willing to fight enough. The fact --

[12:25:05] BASH: Which is why he's fighting so hard. PHILLIP: Which is why he's fighting so hard.

DRUCKER: Right.

PHILLIP: But, I mean, you know, the -- given what, you know, Dana and David are saying, we also have to remember that the precedent for this was set by Republicans over the last eight years. Democrats are just adapting a sort of Tea Party strategy in Washington to deal with this new administration. It would be -- it would be unprecedented if the last eight years hadn't happened, but because it did, I think the Democratic base is saying, Republicans did this, and they were rewarded with the White House, the House, and the Senate. So it's hard to -- you know, the sort of trade-off here is a little bit -- the calculus is a little bit different. And I think that some Democrats, you know, they're looking at 2013 when Republicans failed to show up at an EPA confirmation hearing meeting for one of President Obama's nominees. They refused -- or they delayed votes on the labor secretary nominees. These are all tactics that have been used before and they're just coming right back around.

KING: But so -- so for somebody -- for somebody watching out there who's like, I got to get the kids to school or run a business or pay their bills, this sounds kind of fifth grade, though. It sounds like a bunch of petty grievances. You did this to us in the last Congress, so I'm going to do this in this Congress. So some of it, is that right, it's just -- this is payback, and then we escalate? You did that pretty well in the last Congress? I'm going to take what you did and I'm going to do it even better in this Congress.

Some of it's personal. Listen to this exchange here in the Judiciary Committee vote. Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, Ted Cruz of Texas was not in the room. What Al Franken was saying was that Ted Cruz, at the Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing where they were questioning a nominee, he says he misrepresented his facts. Ted Cruz's Senate colleagues, not always his best friend, but his Senate colleague from Texas, John Cornyn, jumps in to defend him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AL FRANKEN (D), MINNESOTA: But Senator Cruz did the very thing that Senator Cornyn is accusing me of doing. In my absence, he misrepresented me, he misrepresented Mr. Heber (ph). He personally went after me. He personally impuned (ph) my integrity. You didn't object then, did you?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: OK, I'm not sure I was here, and I'm not sure of the characterization.

FRANKEN: I wasn't here either. But let me continue, sir.

CORNYN: But it would be a decent and honorable thing to do, to do it in the senator's presence and not --

FRANKEN: Well, get him here, but he'll have a tape of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: It's good theater, and clearly their person -- at least some of them don't like each other or some of them -- maybe some of them like each other just fine and they're performing. I guess my question is, does this affect what does the president get for a tax reform plan? Does the president get his ISIS strategy through Congress? What happens to repealing and replacing Obamacare? You know, when it comes to the specific policies, and especially the ones he needs Democrats on, replacing Obamacare, an infrastructure plan, is this toxic environment just for show, or does it affect what this president's going to get a week, a month, and a year from now?

BALL: I think -- you're absolutely right, this is not just about process. This is about results. And it's a reminder that when there are things that the Republican president and Republican Congress all agree on, they can make them happen. And so, with the cabinet, you have the Republican Congress wanting to show support for President Trump. The White House has been quite anguished and annoyed and frustrated that it has taken them longer than it took President Obama in a lot of cases to get their -- get the cabinet through. This is something that the Republican Congress can all agree to do for him.

It will be different when they don't agree with him. Either when he proposes something that Republicans in Congress can't agree on or that they don't support, and so that's going to be a completely different kettle of fish. Trump benefits to the extent that senators do look like a bunch of fifth graders squabbling in a sandbox, right, because that's very much the sort of --

KING: The fifth grade might sue you for slander.

BALL: Second graders, excuse me. Even my second grader is more mature than that. So -- so, you know, to the degree to which, you know, he was elected by saying these guys are all a bunch of fools and I can overpower them, that helps him.

KING: Right.

DRUCKER: Let's keep in mind that the insurgent conservative tactics that Republicans used during the Obama years were not successful at all. And Republicans -- where Democrats may perceive the Democrats -- the Republicans having profited from that by winning the White House, they won for other reasons. It was always the leadership and the establishment that had to come in and save the bacon -- save their bacon when these tactics failed and went down in flames.

BASH: That's true.

KING: But the Democrats seem to be enjoying trying at the moment. We'll see.

Up next, the Democrats call it a stolen seat, but do they have a plan to deny the president his pick?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)