Jeff: Congress spent the week on yet another chaotic, down to the wire funding battle.

We turn to the analysis of our guests.

What is your assessment of the drama?

Keeping the government-funded is the basic purpose of the government.

They were coming up with what we can now call a new plan.

It was not what speaker Johnson had promised.

It kept the government open.

It got disaster aid.

Elon Musk started tweeting against it.

Donald Trump joined in.

You cannot expect anything to get past if you sweep it at the last moment and blow up the deal.

When you have people who ran on cutting the debt.

What is surprising Tuesday actually got a deal done and they got it passed with a lot of votes.

Jeff: There were Republicans who said that by taking aim at the Washington status quo, since the government is viewed with so much distrust.

>> I thought I had a positive week with this.

I thought all parties had peace of the truth.

We should get rid of the debt ceiling.

It is kind of a sham procedure.

The 38 Republicans who defied Donald Trump were right.

They said if we are getting rid of the debt ceiling, we should actually cut spending.

Speaker Johnson was also right.

This is not the time.

You cannot do something massive like cutting all of this out of the federal budget.

I think speaker Johnson did the right thing.

Donald Trump learned a lesson.

You can say things on the campaign trail but there are realities in governance.

He weighed in at the wrong time.

He is on the right chorus but he cannot do it at the last minute.

I think what we learned is that is the reality.

Jeff: What about the influence of Elon Musk?

He led the rebellion against the initial bill.

His swift accumulation of power has sparked criticism.

>> Remember, this all got started not because Donald Trump waiting first, Elon Musk waited first.

No one elected him to anything.

Republicans on the hill listens to what they had to say.

If what we saw this week is prologue, we should be prepared for weeks like we have now.

Jeff: What can this suggest about moving forward?

Donald Trump will rightly have to renew his tax cap plan.

He says he wants to embark on deportation.

That will take or dating with congress.

>> It is reality.

Donald Trump has been against the debt ceiling for a long time.

He did not let Elon Musk tell him about that.

This is going to end in tears.

I give it 30 days.

We will all be crying as they part ways and to start taking shots at each other.

I don't expect Elon Musk to be around very long.

If he can do some good, maybe he can do some good.

One of the things that even Democrats saying is they missed a chance to reform government.

If you are trying to improve the delivery of veteran services or medicare, there are rules and regulations that impinge that.

Sensible Democrats know that.

They should've done something about it.

If some billionaire walks in and can perform some of those rules, I expect that Donald Trump has some correct instincts.

But he does not know anything about the reality of governance.

My posture right now is let's let him try.

He has some instincts that are terrible and some that are not terrible.

Changing government is phenomenally hard.

You have to really know what you're doing.

Neither Donald Trump nor Elon Musk knows how the game is played.

Jeff: Where was president Biden in all of this?

At one point Donald Trump posted on social media, if there will be a shutdown in government, let it begin now.

There was no response.

>> Why should he respond?

If this were any other time or any other president, everybody would be saying that the president is staying out of it because when your opponent is digging the hole, let them dig the hole.

That is what I think was up with president Biden.

To go back to Elon Musk, I will not be crying when it implodes.

While I understand that government needs to be reformed, what concerns me most about the world's richest person being in charge of an agency that does not have any power, I don't really know what his values are.

I don't know if that is what he will be focused on.

>> This is your final appearance before the holidays.

This is been quite a year.

So much to mold in the world.

What you find yourself most grateful for?

>> I am in New York right now.

I am a few blocks from the Christmas tree.

This holiday season, this is a time that is more alive.

You walk over to the tree here in you watch the children with glory in their eyes and you cannot help but think this is a magical season.

It is a season when the lord is more present in the world.

The radical reality of god coming down and being born in a manger that smells like dung is magical.

>> I can't even top that.

I don't know about grateful.

I answered this question during Thanksgiving.

I guess my answer is a little more political.

I don't think of it as grateful as much as what brings me optimism for the new year.

The 50.1% of the American people who voted for someone other than Donald Trump.

That brings me optimism because after he is inaugurated on January 20, it will be those Americans who would be called upon to defend American values, their communities, and defend their loved ones for whatever may come their way from a new trump administration.

Jeff: Optimism seems to be in short supply in our politics these days.

What can we look to to feel better about the current state of our politics?

>> Postponement.

I have started to postpone my panic.

Terrible things might happen but I will wait for it.

I will not react to everything Donald Trump says.

Maybe there will come time in January and February were things will be very harsh but right now I will just enjoy the holiday season.

Jeff: Our best to you both and your families during this holiday season.

>> Same to you.

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