through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. good morning, it's sunday home of the xfinity 10g network. january the 7th. happy orthodox christmas to those of you who celebrate. i'm ali velshi.

if you paid any attention to the u.s. jobs report at any point over the last three years, there's a good chance you've heard the phrase, better than expected. you've probably heard it again over the last few days following the latest job in december. 216,000 new jobs were created. much better than expected for cnbc. back in the old days, weeks 150,000 or more jobs created in one month was good. there are now 100 -- one point 42 open positions for every job seeker in america. well every available job is not matched every available job seeker, mathematically, america has more jobs than it has available workers. that's just the fact. december's 2100is not anomaly either. that's largely been the trend of the biden presidency since the office in 2021. you can find similar headlines about better than expected numbers for june 2021, january 2022, june 2022, september 2023, for example. this has been one of the top

achievements of the biden presidency. it shows that he's been able to sustain a long term economy throughout his first three years in office. unfortunately for him, the optimism that outside experts have about the economy is not shared by the general public. it's entirely, and seemingly, willfully, ignored by republican voters. an nbc poll from never found that 39, 38% of registered voters approved biden's handling of the economy compared to 59% disapprove. in a separate poll of are just voters in six battleground states by the new york times and siena college, the majority responded 59%. they said trust donald trump to do better with the economy than they trust biden. the disconnect between republican perception of the health of the economy versus how the economy is actually reporting is deeply, deeply troubling. regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum because it is a sign of how

well propaganda works. it doesn't help that biden is running to gets trump who will take every opportunity to distort the reality of the situation, so let's put that to a quick tests. especially for those who think they prefer trump to preside over the economy, over biden. during his first run for president, trump set the bar very high when he pledged that he would be the greatest jobs producer that god ever created. jobs he did create. remember, i told you, more than 150,000 a month was good. trump added an average of 190,000 a month in 2018. that's the best year during his presidency. which pales, under 90,000 pales in comparison to biden's greatest year, weakest year of job creation, 225,000 jobs a month. i want to take 2021 out of the equation for a moment, that came because of the end of covid. while trump is been claiming that everyone had jobs when he

was president, it is better under biden. the unemployment rate, rather than the number of jobs created per month, has been another good indication for the economy. remember, those who have been watching me for a long time note that i have never liked this number very much because it is a percentage. the denominator changes every month. trump loved it, so imagine it's the comparison. the average unemployment rate the next two years has been better than the rates had any point during trump's term. under biden, this percentage or lower for 25 straight months, the longest since the late 1960s. again, in my youth is an economics reporter, it was looking up 5%, that's full employment. it doesn't get better than. that will take 2021 out again because that was covid. we'll take that out of the mix. biden stuff makes trump stuff, it beats it every time. it beats it every month. there's a number of other indicators for president biden, despite what misinformed americans believe. last wednesday, the register

published an op-ed on the topic of the economy by nikki hal. it was titled, and been reckless spending will boost our economy and stop inflation. it gives off the impression that the economy is still in a downturn, and the inflation rate is continuing to skyrocketed unprecedented levels. that is an absolute lie. one which adds to the overall feeling that things seem worse than they actually are. here is what one trump supporter and iowa said to nbc news last week. >> our economy is really takes in the past four years. everyone is heard in. the inflation numbers are, they say single digits to ten i think percent. i see much greater numbers, i see my own life probably at 30% increase in inflation. it's just really, really tough. >> i study inflation closely. that woman's matt eight

methane. and case her or anyone else is watching, i've got good news for her and nikki haley. ever since the inflation rate hit a peak of 9.1% in june 2020, one lower, by the way, than it was in most of the worlds because of covid, it's cooled down considerably. it's been on the downward trend since then. it's under control. now the inflation right in america is now 3.1%. that's lower than wage increases. while it's higher than the feds target rates, it's never the most global condiment make sense for an economy like america's, for the long term. presidents have, by the way, little control over gas prices, but they often add to feelings about the economy. in that regard, there's good news. to the gas prices are also down. having gone down from a peak of $4.93 per gallon in june 2022. to $3.13 last month, the lowest it's been two and a half. here's the stock market, with donald trump loves to brag about on a near daily basis during his presidency, and i intend to prefer not to talk about all that often, have been

doing better under biden. the dow has reached record highs in recent weeks. the s&p has been doing close with the same thing. the disconnect between how people feel about the economy and what that number is in the data actually demonstrate is a real head-scratcher here. it is willful ignorance on the part of voters who actually earn money and have retirement accounts, and buy gas, and buy food, and continue to believe that biden's economy is doing badly, even though, i can't use the words on television, but the initials are bs. the economy is doing well, and much better than expected. those are just the facts. joining me now, jennifer rubin, opinion writer for the washington post and msnbc political analyst, author of the resistance. how women save democracy from donald trump. also with, us norah bernstein, yeah -- at contributing editor at the atlantic, and a co-host of the words matter podcast. good morning to both of you. thank you for being here. norm, let me ask you this. here's the issue. i think you both, now because

we both spend a lot of time together. you know that i think, i think you both, think that this election is probably about democracy, and democracy is in peril, in america and around the world. that's probably how people make their decisions. you also both know that people vote and how they feel about the economy. what do you do in a situation like this? more people like that woman in iowa are just making things up. unless she has substantially changed the way she loves her life, it's not possible that she's experiencing 30% inflation. >> you're absolutely right, ali. what matters is how people feel, not the reality. we know that the reality is that there and part because when prices go up, people feel it, they don't notice it as much when they come down. won the press coverage takes every good news story and turns it into a bad news story, and i think because people believe that the system isn't working, which is because of republican lunacy in congress, but it doesn't matter what that is. you can't go wrong telling

people you are wrong and how you feel. you have to find some way to tell the reality that our economy is the envy of the world, but also to show that you feel peoples pain. i do think that democracy and women's reproductive rights, and social security and medicare, are going to be big issues for democrats. they have to focus on the things that will resonate with people, and voters, and remember, we're talking about two groups of voters here. the democratic parties base, and the 250,000 or so in those seven swing states who might be republicans, or independents, college educated, and that's where the democracy issue may trump the economic issue. >> jen, to norm's point, the media tends to report bad things in terms -- it's a very astute points. not everyone feels that way about the economy. we saw the consumer confidence

index jumped 110 points last month. that is up 101 in november. you can see this going back to 2007. we are getting back to good levels. it's just that people are participating and a good economy without actually realized it explicitly how good it, is you articulating that. tell me how you see this playing out in the next several months. >> well, i think it's a great thing to look at the consumer confidence. that is the honest number. when you take the politics out of, bed and you don't make it about joe biden, then people say, oh, yeah i'm optimistic. i think the future looks great. they start spending. when you look at the spending numbers, consumer confidence numbers, that tells you what people really think about the economy. when you strip away the politics. what we are dealing with is a mass cult. what we are dealing with, when we ask people questions, factual questions, is a very large pool of americans who

refused to believe reality. that is the bigger problem. that does go back to democracy because that is a fascist totalitarian cults. that is a brainwashing phenomenon. we have trump say that the january six convicts are hostages. when you have him say that our blood is being poisoned, all of that is propaganda nonsense. it is the same with the economy. anything he says, they believe. that is a very serious threat to democracy. it's not just a misapprehension about the economy, it's a lack of appreciation for reality. that is the underlying problem you have when you have someone who is a demagogue who is intentionally lying, intentionally creating disinformation for his people. >> so it goes back to the concept of make america great again, right? for a lot of people, they'll say kind of like america the way it's becoming, or i'd like to see greater equality and more fairness, all that kind of stuff. but make america great again is

a cult. a lot of people get that that's the code. make america back to a place where certain groups of people enjoy more power than they did. for these voters, particularly those who are polled by journalists or focus groups in iowa head of the caucus says, they say they want the trump economy back. they want to use these figures and say to them, what would you like back? higher on employment? right more jobs created per month? the low were -- like what exactly do you want back? how do you have that conversation? how do you get people to sort of say, i understand that you want the president who's going to give you a better economic circumstance, greater prosperity, but your mouth is wrong. >> so part of it is that we have to have some patience. it takes months. there is a lag between the time when things are really getting better, and people feel that they're getting better. that may be part of it. i will tell you, ali, one of the events that gave me chills over the last several months was the election in the netherlands. a highly sophisticated country

where this strong social network, and they basically elected a racist, nativist, extremists who they knew all about, but it was, we don't like the way things are going when he establishment is active. we're going to throw it out. we have to guard against that. i actually think the story here is we wait and hope that the people see the economy not just overall, that is going to do better, but that we're not doing so well, or we're doing okay, but the rest of it isn't. we have to focus on the threats to our future. remember, for all that we have with donald trump, make america great again, we also had 400,000 unnecessary deaths because of the way they mistreated covid. there is a lot, there but it is mostly the threat to democracy. when i winced when mitt romney the other day said, never mind,

democracy in january six, it's four years, passed in the rearview mirror. it's not even about january six, it's about what he's saying. jim pointed this out, every single day he wants to bring us to a vicious dictatorship. we have to make americans aware that we throw away everything. the economy, and our freedoms, if we somehow find a way to reelect this linda tech. >> jen, there is some evidence in the elections that we just saw recently, and the votes, again, the statewide ballot initiatives about abortion. the moms for liberty people who didn't get elected and many of the constituencies they wrap. there are some sense, we saw in the midterm elections, that people do believe that this threat to reproductive rights, you we will remember in the midterms, the counter argument is that it's about the economy. do you believe that they, that

joe biden and the democrats would do a good job with the economy? do you think that, to norms for, and if you see a few more months of these, things people will start to lose that narrative? >> i think that's slowly, the people who are persuadable will come around. there will be a group of people, obviously, who are the hard-core trumpists who refused to believe reality. but i think you raise a critical issue, which is it's not simply reproductive rights, its freedom. and the phrasing and the messaging has really been excellent by the pro-choice forces, and by the vice president who has been leading this. when you talk about freedom, when you talk about not allowing the government to control your life, to control your body, that resonates with a lot of people, including republicans. and i think it perfectly jives with what we've just been talking about, which is donald trump wants to be a dictator. he wants a government that's going to tell you how to live, that's going to squish dissent, that's going to set a national

religion, and americans don't want that. they don't like people meddling in their lives, and i think the more that democrats talk about it, the more success they're going to have, they had great success with it in 2022, as you just said. they're on a string of victories on various pro-choice ballot measures. there's going to be a ballot measure in florida in 2024, and perhaps as many as a dozen other states, and democrats really have to lean into this. because this goes to the point that i think norm was making is that it's about your future. do you want an america where you are pre, where you're able to make your way, where you have opportunity, where you have choice? and i think that's a powerful message for the president. >> i appreciate you both this morning. thank you for being with us. jennifer rubin is an opinion writer for the washington post and an msnbc political analyst. -- is a senior fellow emeritus at the american enterprise institute and a contributing editor at the atlantic. still to come, in 2024, america is not the only country voting in a critical election.

across the globe, more people than ever will cast votes in national elections, and in many of those countries democracy itself is also on the ballot. we know what that's like. plus, the faa has temporarily grounded some of the boeing max nine airplanes after this happened on a recent flight. a side panel came off as an alaska airlines flight was in midair. scary stuff. we'll bring you an update, next.

i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. planes have been grounded after i know what year it is.

a scary miss up took place yesterday. -- to temporarily stop flying roughly 171 boeing 737 max nine planes in order to conduct inspections. two days ago, and alaska airlines flight suffered a terrifying structural failure when an emergency exit panel ripped off the side of the plane. at that point, the plane was at 16,000 feet.

that's nearly three miles off the ground. miraculously, no one was seriously injured. the plane was able to make a safe emergency landing at portland, oregon. joining me now is msnbc's -- george bush intercontinental airport in houston. priscilla, good morning to you. as scary as this was for everyone, definitely a bigger crisis was averted when a panel comes off an airplane in the middle of a flight, that sounds like something that can and very badly. >> yeah, ali. we are talking about very scary stuff. and that's exactly what the -- said yesterday, when they briefed. this is the first full day that investigators are on the ground there in portland, looking to find out more about what happened there. what they told us so far is that that aircraft had only been in service since november 11th, so we are talking about less than two months old. but we know that it had been modified, because there were less passenger seats on this plane, it didn't need an emergency exit door where you

see that big hole, where that big chunk of plane came off. so it appears that that door had been effectively plugged. and what experts are suggesting to us is that it seems that when that plane took off, the plug was not able to handle the pressurization that was happening, and so that's what caused it to fly off midair. it was about ten minutes into the flight, as you noted, the re-about 16,000 feet off the ground when that happened. you see the oxygen masks were deployed, and that wind was just rushing in there. the ntsb saying that thankfully there were not passengers sitting in the two seats closest to where that happened, but that the head rests on both of those seats had been torn off and part of the seats also destroyed. so you can imagine the strength of the wind that was gushing into that plane. i want to play a little bit more about what the ntsb had to say about how dangerous this could have been. take a listen. >> fortunately, they were not at cruise altitude of 30,000 or 35,000 feet.

think about what happens when your in cruise. everybody is up and walking, folks don't have seatbelts on, they're going to restrooms, the flight attendants are providing service to passengers. it we could've ended up with something so much more tragic, and we are really fortunate that that did not occur here. >> reporter: and the ntsb is hoping to recover that side panel in order to look at the hinges and the components of that panel. they're also going to be looking at maintenance and repair records, but the good news is they do not appear to believe at this point that this is a widespread malfunction, but as you mentioned, the faa has grounded all of those bowing 737 max nines until they're able to get to the bottom of all this. ali? >> it's a pretty popular plane, so anyone who's traveling in the next few weeks, just make sure to check that your flight has been canceled.

priscilla, thanks very much. good to see you as always. msnbc's -- still ahead, russia's increasing its attacks on ukraine as kyiv's military resources are running dangerously low. what's at stake in ukraine and global stability in the u.s. could be to blame if ukraine's democracy crumbles. that's next.

>> yes >> last week alone over 60 people were killed by missile and drone strikes that struck ukraine's capital, kyiv, kharkiv in the northeast, zaporizhzhia in the south, odessa on the southeastern -- southern coast, and even lviv in the far west of ukraine. and on friday, according to a senior kyiv official, russia hit ukraine with missiles supplied by north korea for the first time since the start of the invasion. signaling a dangerous partnership between vladimir putin and kim jong-un. a partnership that could be

catastrophic, not only for ukraine, but for the world. while russia brings on the heaviest attacks we've seen since the very beginning of this full scale invasion of ukraine, almost two years ago, ukrainian society is becoming more weary. almost every day for the last two years president volodymyr zelenskyy has taken to social media to speak directly to his people. he shares messages of strength, motivation, optimistic updates on the war. he always speaks in ukrainian, addressing his people. his troops. in the very first video posted on february 23rd, 2022, the day before the war broke out, this is what zelenskyy looks like. you haven't seen it look like this ever since, still wearing his presidential suit and tie in an office. the ukrainian flag over his right shoulder. as the days went on, zelenskyy, refusing to leave his country and his people, walked around the empty streets of kyiv with soldiers, no more suit and tie. we were introduced to his signature army green fatigues. he posted this message last night. he told ukrainian people that it's been long weeks of

meetings. he's preparing new lines of cooperation with partners regarding weapons. he doesn't say who those partners are, nor does he emphasize just how crucial it is for more international aid to come ukraine's way. just before the new year, the u.s. senate what could be its last package of military aid to ukraine, at least for a while. republicans in congress continue to block a much needed aid package until they get assurances on hard-line immigration policies at the u.s. mexico border. republicans must think this is a game. but if they continue to play, they will let a u.s. ally, a democratic nation, crumble. failure to share a millers -- is so much bigger than ukraine. global stability is at stake, and so is our nation's credibility. russia, china, north korea, and iran are watching very closely. joining me now is the retired united states lieutenant colonel alexander -- he's the former director of european affairs for the u.s. national security council. he's the author of the

important book, here, right matters, an american story. colonel, thank you for being with us. the days are ticking. this was a big issue before christmas, but for the new year, because we knew that congress had to do something, and then congress didn't do anything. and now we're into this new year and we have since -- i'm hoping it's not true, but we've sent the last congressionally authorized money to ukraine. there isn't more at the moment. >> ali, thanks for having me on. it's a lovely sunday morning. i think the fact is that the time has expired on this block for aid to ukraine in a lot of ways. we were supposed to pass a ukraine aid supplemental back in september, we didn't do that. ukraine has been kind of in certain regards running on fumes for their budget, their ability to pay their soldiers, their ability to keep the government running. what we saw recently is the last bit of military aid come from the u.s.. there is going to be a trickle going forward from the u.s. unless we do some fundamental

policy changes. the europeans in certain regards have stepped up and started to pick up some of the burden, there have been some fairly significant aid packages going forward. but that's a stopgap. nobody can fill the vacuum of the absence of the united states. i'm increasingly i'm confident that the republicans will get their act together. we will have a difficult 2024, we will have to hold republicans accountable at the ballot box. but what do we do between now and november? >> right, that's a lot of fighting months. that's a lot of missiles. i want to read you something from the carnegie endowment, entitled the west seneca over ukraine. risks dangerous conclusions in moscow. if putin is convinced that western support for ukraine's petering out, the world will soon have to cope with a bruised, overconfident, and vengeful russia that believes it has outlasted the will of the west. this outcome could have major consequences for nato's core mission of deterring future russian aggression, a mission that so far has prevented the kremlin from expanding its military adventurism beyond ukraine's borders.

i think that's well said. you've been making this point for a long time, volodymyr zelenskyy makes this point all the time, that why would you think this would end at ukraine? ukraine was an absolute sovereign country that russia had no right to invade, but it invaded them. why stop at ukraine? if russia can outlast the west. >> that's exactly right. russia has been an attract bill threat to ukraine and to the west for years. it is now fueled on grievance, that grievance has only been exacerbated through several years of war, and embarrassment that russia suffered earlier on. long worsen aerial makes russia even less tractable on this issue, makes russia more entrenched on threatening not just ukraine but a broader regional stability and security, including european and nato member states. i think this has been a mistake to not provide ukraine aid early on. now we have to deal with the problem. of course, we need to keep the pressure on --

keep up the fire on the republicans to get them to pass aid. but there are other potentials solutions. one of those actually is the 300 billion dollars in russian fusion bank assets that reside in u.s. and european member states. there is a movement underway to conduct an asset forfeiture and transferred to ukraine, where we are in a crisis situation, especially with the absence of the u.s. providing ukraine supplemental's, this might be the crisis solution to take those central bank assets and ship them to ukraine so ukraine can start buying some additional equipment. these are all things that come from the commercial sector, the defense industrial base. they've come through u.s. spending, sending that money to the defense industrial base. but if ukraine receives those frozen bank assets, they could do the same thing. >> what would it take to get there? is that a real discussion that's happening? i know you used to be in the white house, so you would've been having that discussion. do you believe that's a conversation that's happening right now? >> it is a conversation that's

happening. there has been some reporting around it, there are different factions around this issue. one of the major impediments would be the fact that it violates norms. and this administration, the biden administration, is very dead set on preserving norms. kind of the status quo, before this russia ukraine war started. and they're still living in the past. so i think getting past that major hurdle is a concern to u.s. assets overseas, and that they might be threatened by other countries trying to nationalize u.s. assets. but frankly, that suicidal for any foreign power to toy with u.s. economic power. they would not threaten u.s. economic interests. this is a legitimate approach, and there are still some diversion -- or diversity in views, but we're moving towards consensus, the u.s. is actually starting to play a leading role amongst the european powers, amongst the g7 leading economies, and moving this direction to move towards asset forfeiture transfer. i urge that we do this sooner

rather than later, because we run out of time. because we have failed to pass a supplemental, this is the logical step. and then we have the russians paying for the damage they've created. russians paying for the ukrainian defensive effort. i think to me that's a very, very good narrative to the american public that the russians are paying for their own disaster and geopolitical instability. >> all right, we are going to discuss that more as the days go by. thank you for being with us, again. retired lieutenant colonel -- is the offer of here, right matters, an american story, as well as the why it matters new substack. all right, when people in ukraine are fighting for democracy, some of their neighbors could be voting in a way. that's ahead, on velshi. that's ahead, on velshi. >> woman: what's my safelite story? i'm a photographer. and when i'm driving, i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right. i scheduled with safelite autoglass. their experts replaced my windshield and recalibrated my car's advanced safety system.

♪ acoustic rock music ♪ >> woman: safelite is the one i trust. they focus on safety so i can focus on this view. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ oh... stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow! sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh!

every day, more dog people are deciding it's time for a fresh approach to pet food. developed with vets. made from real meat and veggies. portioned for your dog. and delivered right to your door. it's smarter, healthier pet food.

want the power of 5 serum benefits in 1? olay super serum activates on skin to hydrate, smooth, visibly firm, brighten, and improve texture. it's my best skin yet. olay >> ray bribery's masterpiece, fahrenheit for 51, depicts and near future america where books are outlawed and systematically

burned. although bradbury doesn't specifically say where fahrenheit for 51 takes place, many readers and literary scholars agree that it's probably chicago. our nation is sadly moving closer and closer to two the totalitarian dystopian depicted in the book, but unlike the novel, chicago, or anywhere else in illinois for that matter, will not be the epicenter of a real world literary censorship epidemic. i'm jen you first, illinois became the first state to outlaw book bans. the measure was first signed into law in june of last year, under the law, illinois can now withhold state funding from any public library that tries to take books off it shelves. state librarians and library staff must also adopt the american library association's library bill of rights, which states that quote, reading materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation, and quote. it's worth noting that illinois isn't among the top five states when it comes to book banning, which are florida, missouri, south carolina, texas, and

utah. according to the elite, illinois attempted to restrict or ban excess to 98 different titles between january 1st and august 23rd of last year. texas, comparatively, took aim at over 1100 books. but one book ban is too many. the illinois governor made his thoughts on book banning clear quote, book bans or about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. regimes banned books, not democracies. and. quote governor pritzker, you're welcome to join us on the velshi banned book club anytime. you're already an honorary member. we will be right back. ry member we will be right back. we will be right back. when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt.

with nurtec odt, i can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc.

one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. >> the theme for 2024,

democracy. more people than ever before across the globe are set to cast votes this year, many of them in elections where democracy itself is on the ballot. according to the washington post, 60 countries with roughly four billion people are set to vote in national elections this year. seven of the ten most populous countries in the world are expected to host elections, but other countries of varying sizes will do so as well. many of which are dealing with national reckoning's, struggling economies, and fights for freedom. so let's drill down on a few, starting right here in the united states. as things stand, it seems like we're heading for a 2020 rematch between joe biden and donald trump. but as we all know, trump has been criminally indicted four

times since leaving office, and now faces 91 felony charges. so far, his campaign is focused on political retribution against his enemies, and he says he will try to expand presidential authority, should he take office again. meanwhile, mexico is set to make history by electing its first female president. in june, claudia shine bomb will face off against social galvez. the -- more pragmatic than the current president, who is still widely popular, but faces term limits. as a number of republican candidates in the u.s. have endorsed the idea of using american military to fight mexican drug cartels, on mexican soil, a current election in both of these countries could dramatically alter the relationships with our southern neighbor. the united kingdom last held general elections in 2019, and since then, it's had three different prime ministers. eight years removed from practice, it a cost of living crisis has left britain's unhappy with the conservative party. the labour party, which hasn't controlled government since

2010, is ahead of the embattled conservative party, which is in control now by more than 20 points in the latest polls. then there's the eu itself. people in the 27 different european nations will cast votes for the european parliament, a complicated but not very powerful legislative body of the european union, based in brussels. the election will be a useful yardstick for the popularity of a united europe, especially as your skepticism and extremism grow across the continent. africa's going to see the most number of elections on the planet this year, molly was supposed to hold presidential elections next month, but the country's been in jeopardy and it seen two coups in recent years, and in september, the military junta delayed its upcoming february elections until -- further slowing down its return to democratic rule. chad recently passed a new constitution and plans for 2024 vote, but its current military leader already delayed the elections two years, they were meant to be in 2022. south sudan, which became

independent in 2011, hasn't yet held a national election. it's been delayed until this year, and the united nations has signaled that it's unsure whether its longtime leader and candidate we'll run fair and free elections. in south africa, the anc, or the african national congress, the late nelson mandela's party, which has ruled the country since the end of apartheid, is facing the most serious challenge to its control to date. high unemployment and rolling power blackouts have worsened, while political corruption has been showcased through multiple high-profile scandals in recent years. iran, by the, way has elections. it's legislative elections will see it supreme leader strengthen his hard line religious control over the country. among those up for election, all 88 seats of the assembly of experts, which appoints iran's supreme leader, which is of note, because the ayatollah, the current supreme leader, is 84 years old. in russia, big surprise. vladimir putin is running, though he may not need to say it, putin announced in december

that he would seek a fifth term in office, with the short lived wagner group revolt behind him, he is set to strengthen his hold on russia. he also intends in holding votes in occupied ukrainian territory. four plus, his opposition leader is in prison, -- also in prison. in india, you're -- looking side to win another term under a rising tide of hindu nationalism and increased public spending by the government. he is gone after india's muslim population, his political opponents, and the free press since rising to power in 2014. but his domestic popularity remains a very high. and lastly, taiwan is set to elect a new president next week, the current president, who is term limited, made new strides in taiwan u.s. relations by top american lawmakers in the last two years. while full-blown taiwanese independence is not an immediate option, the results of those elections are going to indicate who the taiwanese

citizens are backing amid the growing friction between china and the united states. all of that is set to happen in the next 12 months, and we've barely scratched the surface. across the world, democracy is being tested by autocrats, by zealots, by authoritarian movements, this year's election results will have deep reverberations throughout history. power dynamics, diplomatic relationships, unspoken agreements will shift and change no doubt, but when we advocate for democracy, it's years like this that can showcase why democratic governments across the world are so crucial. just after the break, i'll speak with two journalists who have analyzed this year's most important elections and can tell us what is at stake. and ca tell us what is at stake tell us what is at stake re with unresolved symptoms? it may be time to see the bigger picture. heart failure and seemingly unrelated symptoms, like carpal tunnel syndrome, shortness of breath, >> as we said before the break, and irregular heartbeat could be something more serious called attr-cm, a rare, underdiagnosed disease that worsens over time.

sound like you? call your cardiologist, and ask about attr-cm.

countries that are home to four billion people, half the world, are set to cast ballots in elections this calendar year. to help break down some of the most consequential races, i'm joined by the editor and -- whose winter issue is focused entirely on this very issue. it's called the year the world votes. joining us also, he is a foreign affairs columnist at the washington post and the author of today's worldview newsletter, one of his latest columns is on this exact issue, elections to watch in 2024 with global democracy on the ballot. guys, good to see. you thank you both for being with us. you shawn, let me start with you, because there's a refrain that president biden uses a lot

in his speeches, he is certainly on the right side of democracy but it keeps on saying that democracy is six eating and authoritarianism is feeling around the world. it's actually not really true. >> that's right. we are far past the age when you can confidently say that freedom is expanding, history is ending, liberal democracy is the final state of our governments. we're well beyond that. and what a host of organizations, political scientists, think tanks, have been charting for the last decade, is a pretty consistent retreat of democracy and the quality of democracy around the world. you are seeing the freedom house for example, here in washington, has charted 17 years of democratic recession. another major group in sweden recently pointed to six consecutive years of democratic decline and the quality of democracy elsewhere. and we're really seeing, and these elections this year may show, is that the dominant spirit of the age is a

liberalism, not liberalism. >> ramy, this concept of the quality of democracy is important. i pointed out russia, i pointed out iran, both of them have elections, but there's a quality of democracy problem there in. timothy snyder yale points out that often when countries move away from democracy, and the way that the freedom index shows that the united states has dropped, it's not in a revolution. it's not somebody -- it's not a coup. it's not somebody overtaking the democratic government, its people actually giving up their rights slowly, often through voting. >> that's exactly right. i think people tend to conflate just the pure active voting with democracy, and say even though we have in 2024 more people voting that in any other year in the history of the world, as you shawn just pointed out, this is also a year where democracy has declined in quality for the 17th consecutive year. and part of the challenge here is to understand why people seem to be giving up certain rights that they have.

whether it is press freedom, whether it is the independents of the judiciary, whether it is rapid nationalism. why people in elections around the world, again and again, seem to be voting for people who are more illiberal than liberal. and part of that could be because a certain trend we've now seen over the last couple of decades, where leaders are more and more skeptical about globalization, leaders are increasing -- on nationalism, and what it means to be a member of a nation. what it means to define, who are we? how do we define ourselves? whether it's through memory or history. and you put all of this together, whether it is india, whether it is bangladesh, countries where you have actually in fact leaders who are immensely popular. if you look at many of the countries around the world where incumbents are coming up for election, some of them are slated to come back to power in part because they've been able to use the levers of the state

to their advantage. whether it is bending the judiciary to their well, whether it is controlling the media and putting in place ownership structures of media organizations that end up leaning towards them. all of that put together, as well as the fact that you also have, in some countries, a tyranny of the majority, -- some of these elections are more elections than others. we definitely say that if america retreats further from democracy, has influences on other places in the world, one of them that i'm looking at is taiwan. tie once not voting on its own independence, it's widely believed that they'd like their independence from china. but the results of that election could further provoke and already tense situation between china and taiwan. there are many of us watching and wondering whether china will at some point invade taiwan. what do you make of that? >> taiwan is curious and deeply

important, it also kind of bucks the trend that we are talking about more broadly about illiberalism and nationalist governments elsewhere. you have in taiwan an incumbent party that is pro independents, that certainly works beijing and some of its own domestic political rivals. and the return of the group in taiwan will be perhaps interpreted by beijing as a signal for the need for a greater kind of escalation, and greater ratcheting up of tensions. because the prospect of reconciliation, reunification, whatever it is that beijing says it wants over the future of this island, is very remote under the government. >> robbie, i think i might be talking from india. i never know these days where anybody is. india, literally the biggest democracy in the world. it's a perfect example. it's got the vote, it's a

democracy, the majority will elect the person they want to elect, but very much like hungary, very much like potentially what happens in the united states, it is getting increasingly illiberal. >> that's exactly right. and you're right, i am in kolkata, in india this week. so this is a country that's going to have elections spread out over five weeks. every time india goes to polls, it is the biggest election in the history of the world. purely because of the size of the indian population. and the prime minister is immensely popular. however much the west might criticize his style of leadership, the fact that he's a strong man, the fact that human rights and minority rights in particular have suffered under his leadership, the fact remains that this is in fact what most indians tend to want. they see him as an embodiment of a strongman leader that finally is allowing for hindus to have their way in the world, and part of this also is a narrative that has continued in india over these last two terms,

but even further back. hindus have been hard done by by centuries of first muslim rule through moguls, and then british rule. but again, part of the myth making of him and part of the making of nationalism is this sense of us versus them, which his party is very effective at creating, and they're very effective at using social media to their advantage to try and make very clear to the people that they're on their side. they're on the side of a majority of indians, which is more than 80% or hindus. but it must be pointed out as well that india's economy has done very well under him. and in as much as regular people think about things like democracy and human rights, the economy tends to be the thing that ends up deciding many of these elections that we are discussing this year. >> which actually is a thing that's going to work against the ruling party in south africa. this is a party that since

independence, philosophically the majority of south africans supported the anc and it's liberation movement that led to the end of apartheid. but the economy is not getting better for a whole lot of people there. the anc, for the first time in a long time, is in real trouble. >> yes, potentially. and you are seeing the possibility that a party that essentially draws its origins from the previous apartheid era, that has become a wide-leg democrat party, may come into power with a coalition. that at this point is still not very clear. it's going to be a close race that the anc, you can never really count against them. but absolutely, as you said, concerns over the economy, over crime, over the various status quo's that define south africa over these decades, are really coming to a boil. and, you see this more broadly around the world. opinion polls show that especially quite worryingly among younger voters, there's

far less idealism about what a democratic system represents and can be, and far more impatience and frustration with perceived corruption, of the political classes, the impunity for which they operate, and of, course the capacity that our societies and governments to deliver economically to them. >> guys, thanks very much. this is a conversation we could be having four hours that i fortunately we will have to have this conversation for hours over the course of this year. but i appreciate the remarkable coverage you are both giving this really, really important topic. i encourage my viewers to follow you and read your material. ramy is the editor and chief of foreign policy, and -- is a foreign affairs columnist at the washington post. i just want to issue a correction. while talking about elections in the country of chad, we showed you an image of the longtime leader of south sudan. that was just a technical error on our side, but we apologize for that mistake. still ahead, anti government protests across israel demanding the removal of prime minister benjamin