-Obviously one of the craziest things that's happening
right now would think an impeachment of a President
would be the standout lead story in the news.
Right now, it is not.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that anything
in the present will fade very quickly in the past
based on the future.
I mean, that seems to be how this is happening,
is nothing holds for very long.
Are you shocked at how quickly impeachment has faded
and can we expect it to come back
into the forefront of the news?
-We're still in the middle of it.
I mean, the most shocking news I have heard all year in 2020
so far is that impeachment was only 20 days ago.
-Yeah. -Really?
That wasn't 20 months ago?
It feels like it has been so --
I mean, they're still in the middle of impeaching him.
The House impeached him. He's yet to have a Senate trial.
I mean, there's been progress toward that today,
but we still don't know when that's gonna happen.
And in the less than three weeks since he was impeached,
all this additional evidence has come out
about the core allegations at the heart of the impeachment.
His National Security Advisor,
like his 35th national security advisor,
John Bolton, has also said
that he will testify if he's subpoenaed.
That's is a really big deal given what we know
about Bolton's involvement in this thing.
So that's still live, still evolving,
and still animating the President
if you go by his Twitter feed, which I don't recommend you do.
So it's all still -- And, by the way, Iowa is in a month.
-Yeah.
-We've got the next Democratic debate happening within a week,
except they might cancel it if it conflicts with
the Senate trial for the impeachment.
The fight to replace Donald Trump in the White House --
I mean, this Democratic nominating process
is the most consequential, most interesting Democratic primary
of my lifetime.
It's like story number 16, you know,
in any given newspaper or on any given TV show.
So there's a lot going on at once.
There is a lot to absorb.
-There's a lot going on in the minute,
and obviously, you, like us,
you're creating a show day to day,
but you also found time to write a book,
a very well-researched boat -- uh, book,
which is about Russia and about Ukraine
and about natural resources,
and, yet, the timing of this book,
it was as if you wrote it on the day
because to write, obviously a couple years ago, to decide,
"I'm gonna write about Russia and Ukraine,"
you never could have never predicted
that right as your book comes out,
Russia and Ukraine are in the news
in a way that really ties into this book.
-It was really weird.
I set out to write a book that I was really sure
nobody unrelated to me would read.
[ Laughter ]
I've been totally obsessed with
the Russia story from the beginning.
I make no qualms about it.
I'm still obsessed with it.
And I felt like the fact that Russia doesn't have an economy,
that their whole economy is based on oil and gas,
and oil and gas tends to be a very corrupting thing,
I felt like that was just a piece of the puzzle
that I was interested in, that I wanted to do
more research on that maybe my family members
I could guilt them into reading a small book about it.
And so I wrote this thing,
and then a week before the publication date,
when I have just received
my first hardcover copy of the book --
oh, I wrote it, it's actually been published --
as I get my first copy of the book,
Nancy Pelosi announces they are launching
impeachment proceedings against the President
for a corruption scandal
involving the President and Ukraine and natural gas.
And I was like, "I should be investigated."
[ Laughter ]
Clearly I wagged the dog.
It ended up being so weirdly on the nose that I am unnerved.
-It's a wonderful book.
You mentioned you thought maybe only your family would read it.
Your parents do watch your show, yes?
-Yes, they do.
-My parents watch my show every night.
Do you get notes?
-Yeah. Do you think about it when you're doing the show?
Like, when you're doing something, do you think,
"I wonder what my mom's gonna say about this"?
-It's more that I do something and I will think,
"I'm gonna hear about that from my dad." Yeah.
I know what my mom thinks.
She thinks that was the best show until the next one.
-Oh, really? -Yeah.
My dad is like a little -- Yeah, like, and he'll be like,
"Did you notice?"
And I'm like, "I did notice and I won't do it again!"
-Is he disapproving or is he trying to be constructive?
-Oh, very constructive and incredibly essential
to every piece of success I've had in my life.
He's the one who kind of rounds off the edges,
whereas my mom is just like,
"You be quiet. He's perfect and he always has been."
-Oh, God! -What about you?
How do you get it?
-My mom notices -- Okay.
So, I wear the same thing every day on TV.
Like, I've been wearing the same uniform.
-What? -I know. You can do this.
It turns out people don't care, unless they're your mother.
So I have three jackets and three shirts,
and I just rotate them.
That's all.
That's the secret of my visual success.
But my mom can tell -- There's one that has a stray thread,
or she gets very upset if I wear the velvet jacket
in a month where you could buy oysters.
-Oh, interesting. -She's got seasonal concerns
about what I look like and stuff.
So I worry about that.
Also if I get anywhere -- I never swear on TV,
but if I get anywhere near a swear word,
it's like the antennae go up, the whole family responds,
I have to answer to everybody.
-Alright. That's good.
But it is nice to find out that they're --
You know, 'cause then every now and then I would recommend
just dropping an F-bomb to make sure they're still watching.
-Exactly! [ Laughter ]
Hey, Mom! You still there?
Exactly.
-Hey, thanks for making the time.
Have a great show tonight. Always good to see you.
Rachel Maddow, everybody.