good to be with you, i'm katy tur. we are in a hold your breath moment. the u.s. working with the uk has now been drawn further into the conflict between hamas and israel. no longer just with funds but now with a u.s.-led air strike on houthi targets in yemen. after weeks of trying to avoid

direct action, president biden says the strikes were defensive, meant as a deterrent. the houthis are vowing to not back down and experts in the region believe them. is this the moment israel's war officially expanded into a regional war. if so, who else might get dragged in. turkish president erdogan slapped the u.s. and the uk for what he called a disproportionate use of force and so did iraq, warning such strikes don't deter but rather expand the scope of the war. like hamas and hezbollah, the houthis are backed by iran to which the white house issued another warning this morning. here was nfc's john kirby. >> we're not looking for conflict with iran, and there's no reason to escalate beyond what happened over the last few days by the houthis, they are the ones who have been escalating. we're not looking for conflict with iran. that said, we know that iran supports the houthis, we know

that they supply them with the missiles and drones, the same things they have been using to attack shipping, and we have made it very clear, iran should stop that support. we have in the past and we'll continue to hold iran accountable for the support they give not only to the houthis but groups like hezbollah, and groups in iraq and syria, and we're going to do that in concert with allies and partners. >> joining us now is pentagon correspondent, courtney kube. why was this the moment the u.s. and uk decided to strike? >> so, katy, they have been going through these options for weeks, since late 2023. a couple of things came together this week. one, what they wanted was a coalition, the u.s. didn't want to do this on their own. the british military wanted to be a part of it. but the u.s. wanted to have other nations that they could say were also a part of this, even if they were in a nonoperational role. they weren't up there in aircraft, dropping bombs on the

target. we can't discount there was a massive attack by the houthis, more than 20 projectiles fired at a busy shipping lane in the southern red sea and that got a lot of people's attention, including big shipping companies. the u.s. does not want this to have a ripple effect on the global economy, so when you put those things together, that's one of the reasons we saw these strikes actually be carried out here. now, we just actually a few moments ago walked out of a briefing where we learned a little bit more detail about what happened last night, in addition to the fact that there were many more target locations than we originally rlized. last night, the u.s. military saying there were 16 different locations. we know there wearl 30 different locations, more than 60 targets in total. they went after things like the launchers that the houthis are using to fire ballistic missiles, they went after warehouses where they are storing some of the one-way attack drones. the real goal, katy, was to go after their capability to keep attacking and targeting

threatening some of these ships in the southern red sea. >> those locations, you're talking about how there were other nations in support of this, even if they were not in operational support. who else was there? >> the australians were a big part of it. remember, katy, last week, there was also a much bigger 14 nations that put out this statement condemning these continued houthi attacks. this was a smaller group, and also you may remember, the u.s. is also part of this large maritime contingent. they're a defensive task force operating throughout the area. we should point out, these strikes last night were completely separate and apart from that ongoing maritime mission. it's called operation prosperity guardian. it's had an impact. the u.s. military officials believe they have been able to defend against some attacks, some houthi attacks in the southern red sea by having this patrolling mission there. but the reality is, another thing we have just learned, katy, the houthis have tried to retaliate. they fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into the red

sea earlier today. it didn't strike anything but a senior u.s. military official saying they do believe this was a retaliation. also saying that, in fact, while they have not seen a large scale response from the houthis besides their verbal condemnations, they are prepared that there will be some sort of a retaliation or a larger response from the houthis to these strikes last night. i got to say, katy, this was a large number of strikes that the u.s. and uk took last night. >> what do they plan to do in response if the houthis don't back down, which they say they won't? >> we keep hearing, they don't want a tit for tat, back and forth of strikes one after the other, the reality is we could see something like that. i have to stress, the there were more than 150 precision guided bombs and missiles that were fired into the houthi area of yemen. this was a large, punishing set of strikes that the u.s. and the british carried out last night. the houthis have a pretty decent capability here, but they really

took out a lot of their capability with these strikes. i think what will be interesting in the next few days is to see exactly how much the houthi capability there really is, that they can continue to carry out these attacks in the red sea, what they have left, but if they went after some of their ballistic missile launchers, warehouses where they're storing these mu munitions, they may have to reset before the continued series of attacks we have been seeing over the past few weeks. joining us the senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace, aaron david miller. what do you think the impact of the strikes is going to be more broadly? >> i don't think we're on the cusp of a regional war. i think we have to be clear what a regional war means. it means a major escalation between israel and hezbollah in which thousands, scores of thousands of high trajectory weapons are launched against israeli civilian and military

targets and the israelis preempt or respond with a massive ground, sea and air campaign. that's to be followed by pro iranian strikes against american forces in iran and syria. escalation with the houthis and probably to make it a real regional war, you'd see an israeli and/or american vik strike against iranian assets. >> are we on our way there? >> i don't think so. i still believe that teheran looks to the houthis, it gives them range, it gives them reach. it gives them some measure of plausible deniability. it creates problems for the americans. you see the regional reaction. almost every arab state, bahrain was mentioned as a contributor, intelligence or political support. there have been protests on the streets of manama over the last 24 hours. this gives the iranians quite a

lot with very little. it's a problem without a solution. you know the houthis at some point, i think your reporters got it right, they took a big hit. this was not a symbolic strike. it was designed to degrade capacity to lessen the houthis capabilities to use uavs, short range ballistic missiles, drones, to fight shipping. you believe in freedom of navigation or you don't. and if you do, you got to do stuff, and the stuff necessarily won't solve the problem. >> these are all proxy wars for iran. iran is backing the houthis, hezbollah, they're backing hamas. how do you degrade the capability of these three actors without going directly after iran and what more can you do short of actual military strikes? short of even boots on the ground? we're already basically strangling them economically. >> yeah, well, we have a

strategic problem with iran. we have no strategic solution. a military strike against iran, frankly, is going to be more trouble than it's worth. the only real effective way is to basically get a new iranian government, and we're not very good at regime change. and not very good at all, i might add. and even if there were a change in regime, it may be a harder line regime. controlled by iranian revolutionary guard. and the security services. so i think this, again, it's a strategic problem without a strategic solution. i'd only point out the fourth month of this war, and you still have not seen what people fear the most, which is a real regional war, which is going to spike oil prices and lead to plunging financial markets, and involve the united states and

significant military activity. we don't want that. >> i'm sure there are people out there looking and thinking why is the u.s. involved at all in the middle east. can't we just pull out entirely? because our actions there don't make us popular on the arab street. they might, you know, be working in concert with middle east leaders but there's a tension there. does anything we're doing now in the middle east make us safer here? >> no, in fact, i think it's just the opposite. when christopher wray talks about all red lights blinking in the wake of the israel-hamas war, he worries more about indigenous elements here, and not, by the way, just from jihadi groups. the major threat to america right now is a threat from extreme right wing nationalism, and it's enablers. that's the real key. as far as our interests in the middle east, we have three, avoid a galactic strike here at home, a la 9/11, preserving

access to hydrocarbons at fair and reasonable prices. we may have freed ourselves of hydrocarbons but the rest of the world hasn't. and those are our three core interests that affect american security and prosperity. there are a lot of others, including what's going on between the israeli asks palestinians which we have a significant stake in trying to diffuse, deescalate and perhaps maybe at some point down the road, help to create a better pathway for israelis and palestinians, but you know that song by the eagles, "hotel california," you can check out but you can never leave, that's the problem here. >> yeah. >> middle east keeps drawing us back in. and it's not a happy region. and it's usually a place, frankly, katy, where american ideas have gone to die rather than to prosper. but, you know, that's what president, secretary of state

get paid the big bucks for. >> yeah. >> so, again, we'll see how it plays out for the rest of 2024. >> the only western style democracy in the middle east is israel. aaron david miller, thank you very much. joining us from tel aviv is nbc news foreign correspondent raf sanchez, what is latest in israel? >> reporter: it's been interesting. we have been asking israeli officials all day, what's your response to these strikes in yemen, strikes that the entire region talking about, and officially it has been total silence from the israeli government, neither welcoming these strikes, nor condemning them, which you wouldn't expect them to do, and what's likely is there is a feeling here in israel and probably in the u.s. that any israeli gloating about these strikes might just be pouring gasoline on to what really is just fiery anger all across the region here. you were talking about it a moment ago, katy. i cannot stress to our viewers there was so much anger directed towards the united states already here in the middle east

at this perception that the u.s. is standing by as the civilian death toll in gaza mounts and mounts, and now there is just disbelief in many arab countries that the u.s. moving in so decisively in yemen to respond to missiles being fired as cargo ships, but seemingly in the eyes of many ordinary people in arab countries doing little as children, women, civilians die inside of gaza. the houthis remain defiant. they say that they are going to continue shooting at cargo ships in the red sea. they say they are going to retaliate against the united states directly. i can tell you there was a lot of concern in saudi arabia, yemen's neighbor right now, that as the houthis lash out, it could be saudi that is in their sights. we have seen the houthis attack saudi oil facilities in the past. we have seen the saudis struggle to defend themselves against these barrages of missiles,

using technology from iran. so this is a tense moment. we don't at this point know to what extent these strikes actually dealt a major blow to the houthis' abilities. we know that the u.s. and the uk targeted radar sites, missile launching sites. it is notable that the houthis so far have not responded with fresh missile strikes. it may be that they're regrouping. it may be that their capacities are seriously damaged. they are saying they are not deterred and if the goal here was to convince them that the cost is too high for shooting at container ships, they say they are going to keep going. so we will see, katy. >> raf sanchez, thank you very much. and still ahead, republican hard liners are trying to pressure speaker mike johnson on spending. what happens if he caves, and what happens if he does not? and why is nikki haley suddenly feeling good about iowa.

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even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. there is just one week left to fund the government, and now house conservatives are demanding that speaker mike johnson walk away from his handshake deal with senate majority leader chuck schumer to keep the lights on. joining us now, "punchbowl news" cofounder and msnbc political contributor, jake sherman. we have seen the speaker in this position before. what does mike johnson do? >> reporter: that's a good question, he's given no hints as to what he might do. he said our agreement, our spending agreement remains, that's an agreement he cut with senate majority leader chuck schumer that he announced on sunday, and has been selling to the conference, but i'll tell you, katy, of all the speakers i've covered, pelosi, boehner, mccarthy, and johnson, this is

the most indecision i have ever seen in the speakership in my time up here. there's just everybody walks away from meetings with mike johnson thinking different things and not understanding where he's heading. there's a stopgap that needs to pass. they need to fund the government by next friday. mike johnson has told his associates he does not want to shut down the government. he has to take steps to indicate what he might do to not shut down the government, but, i mean, i'm telling you, this is the most -- this is really quite bizarre behavior in the house republican conference right now. >> do you get a feeling his job may be on the line much the way the speaker -- >> reporter: i do get that feeling. i get that feeling. here's the thing, katy, and i have been wrestling with this myself and with our colleagues in our reporting, you know, everyone said with mccarthy they'll never kick him out, they don't have the guts to do that. and they did. and they kicked him out. now we have a narrower majority, and the same people are

agitating about the same things against the speaker. why should we think that they won't kick him out. they don't have an alternative? they didn't have an alternative last time? >> a personal grievance, though, does mike johnson have the enemies that mccarthy had? >> reporter: he does not. that's the one thing that's in his favor. if you removal the personal grievance, johnson effectively enacted the same spending deal that mccarthy did except for $16 billion in spending cuts. i don't know that they'll try to kick him out, but i think it's certainly in the realm of possibility, and, listen, katy, the bigger thing here is if johnson walks away, he says he's not walking away or the deal remains in place, a passive statement about the spending deal. you know, i don't -- it's a very confusing situation. i mean, the government needs to be funded by next friday. if the deal stays in place, it's going to be the same spending he

could have from the beginning, katy, which is confusing to me. he could have said this deal in place, tgs the law of the land. it's kevin mccarthy's fault, let's fund the government, move beyond it and win an election in november. he didn't say that. he's taking meetings upon meetings and meetings and working everyone into a tizzy and leaving everyone confused. >> let's talk about the other big issue a push pull between republicans and democrats, and now democrats themselves. what's happening with immigration? >> reporter: that's a bigger issue as well. i mean, the senate has been in talks over border reform or rder security and immigration. republicans in the senate are suggesting it's not good enough for them, and you have house democrats who are frustrated they have seeded this issue to republicans. they say it's about time the president does something on this issue, a great item we had on the am edition this morning, and there is a lot of behind the scenes frustration, which is now breaking into the foreground,

and quite frankly, katy, speaker johnson said he spoke to joe biden a couple of days ago, and biden, in his view, what he said, is that biden now understands the issue, and seems like he's going to do something about it. i don't know whether johnson -- i wasn't part of the conversation so i can't tell you weather johnson is get a sense. >> the republicans want it to be hard line. do you have a sense of any contours about a deal coming out? >> well, yes and no. so whatever -- i think this is missing in the narrative, katy, whatever comes out of the senate is going to get over here to this side of the building, to the house and is going to be torn apart. the senate notching a deal means a little bit but doesn't mean a lot. in the house of representatives, this is their big issue, and they're going to want hr 2, this big conservative hard line border bill and immigration bill that will never pass the senate. might not even pass the house at this point, and will never be signed into law by president joe biden ever.

so listen, the traditional tradeoff in border security and immigration is security and legalization on the other end. that formula doesn't hold true anymore. >> jake sherman, jake, it's going to be a busy week. good luck. >> thanks, katy. >> and things are getting bad for boeing. what the faa says it's going to do to ensure that boeing's doors don't blow off on any more of its passenger jets. >> the weather in iowa is getting worse and worse. what turnout changes could do to monday's caucus. p. -let's go! -get in the pile! ugh, i'll deal with this tomorrow. you won't. it's ripe in here. my eyes are watering. i'm a busy man. look how crusty this is. shameful. ugh, it's just too much. not with this. tide. tide can tackle any pile. that a tackle pun? just clean the pile, ron. okay.

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iowa is now three days way. nikki haley might be thinking if she can come in second, she might be able to pull off a two-fer, gain momentum going into new hampshire, and two, lose a competitor going into new hampshire. with donald trump looking to

expand his lead by counting first time caucus goers, how much will second place matter. in other words, how close could she possibly get. joining us from des moines, iowa, nbc news correspondent garrett haake, also with us is senior writer at the dispatch, and in trump's shadow, david rucker. i hope you're okay out there. i hear it's blizzard conditions and getting worse. what can you tell us about what that's meant for the get out the vote effort and what trump's team is doing in the final stretch? >> reporter: hi, katy, the feels like temperature is 0 degrees in iowa, but i think i'm acclimating. look, donald trump has had a unique ability since he got into politics to attract people to him who have not traditionally been part of the political system, people who didn't vote before or didn't think of themselves as republicans before. that's just as true now as it was in 2015 and 2016. what we're seeing that is different now is his ability to organize those people, to turn them into volunteers, into caucus captains, which is a critical role here in iowa, and

to

where nikki haley is prime to do well if she's going to do well. she couched it as though you can't trust him to run the government if you can't run a campaign. that's not really what that was about. what it was about is her saying he had a lot of money, he's only gone back ward, why do you want to take a chance on him unless you're voting for trump and when they look at the newer people showing up at their events, and cited this yesterday in a post on x, when they look at just the

fact that it has been negative momentum, i think they feel and people associated with her campaign have told me that they feel as though they can do better than some people might have expected on the basis of there is a percentage of voters that want to move on from trump, and if you're choosing where to put that vote and where to take that chance, especially because of the polling in new hampshire of late, nikki haley looks like a better bet. >> that makes sense. david drucker, thank you very much. joining us now chief strategist for the bush/cheney 2024 presidential campaign, and senior msnbc political contributor and analyst, matthew dowd. good to have you. >> thanks, katy. >> do you think there's a chance for somebody not named trump? there's all of this talk out there that when the race, if it gets down to two people, that the republican party, 50% might be very into donald trump but 50% might not be, and then suddenly it's not just an easy

run for trump any longer. he has real competition. >> when you say there's a chance, i think of the dumb and dumber movie, so you say there's a chance. you know, i think that's her chance. i mean, we have to set the table of this race. 80% of republican primary voters like donald trump. 80%. by far better than any other candidate. donald trump is by far positioned better than any other republican who has run for the nomination process, not an incumbent, any other republican, including george w. bush and every republican to follow and before him. and so i don't actually get fundamentally the nikki haley strategy. when you look at the numbers, she finishes second in iowa, she loses by 30 points. and then maybe an outside chance, she wins new hampshire, but then she goes into the nevada caucuses, where donald trump is going to win by 40, and then she goes into south carolina where donald trump has a 30-point lead in this, and so,

this idea that they keep fighting over who's going to finish second in the course of this, nobody has dented donald trump's margin in any state. whether it's iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, any state. none of them have dented that margin. all they seem to be doing is fighting over a smaller pool of voters and who's in second, and who's in third. >> the reason i'm going to inject skepticism here is only because i don't know how much we can fully rely on polling. i know that polling has been good to us for many years, but the past few years, it hasn't been so good to us in terms of predicting. obviously the margins were much smaller, and i think it's dangerous to assume what voters are going to do before voters actually start voting. there was an interesting piece that my colleague vaughn hillyard had, talking to republican voters who said that they voted for trump in 2016, maybe in 2020. who now say they don't want to vote for trump any longer but they're afraid to say they're

not going to vote for trump because they're worry about the vitriol they're going to face from their neighbors, online, having people come after them and threaten them as donald trump's supporters want to do, when somebody criticizes the former president. do you think there's anything -- could there be anything more at play here, that is not being registered by, you know, an unnamed guy making some phone calls? >> i mean, looking at one, any one poll is a problem. looking at the average. the average of the polls were right in 2008, were right in 2012, were right in 2016, were right in 2018, were right in 2020, were right in 2022, it's what happens is people adopt a narrative and look for one or two polls to confirm the narrative, and people are like what happened in the course of this. i look at totality of the

average of this. every piece of data about how people perceive donald trump since he has been president has been pretty dang accurate of how much they like the guy. now, is there a group of voters that are not going to participate in the republican primaries or in the democratic primaries that are all over the map? yeah, they are. and i think that's why we're going to be facing with this quandary in the general election because i think it's going to be very difficult to understand that group of voters. that group of voters dislikes donald trump, and dislikes joe biden in the course of this. but donald trump, if you look at the positioning of this, if you look at the positioning of this, and chris christie found this out, full force, is that republican primary voters, the majority of them don't want people to attack donald trump, and they actually, the majority of voters want donald trump to be the nominee, and a majority of voters think donald trump can beat joe biden and think he's the strongest candidate. so, you know, we debate all of

this all of the time, about this, but in the end. donald trump when he arrived, and as he's preceded has been solid. he gets more republican support than any other republican has ever gotten. >> that's a good point. matthew dowd, matthew, thank you very much. i appreciate the pushback. all ght. we have some special coverage of iowa tomorrow here on msnbc. an extra day you'll see me and steve kornacki and a host of all of our friends. that's 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. and a judge in new york state has ordered donald trump to pay "the new york times" nearly $400,000 in legal fees, brought against the paper, and several times reporters over the coverage of his finances. the judge wrote this in his ruling, quote, courts have recognized that reporters are entitled to engage in legal and

ordinary activities without fear of tort liability as these actions are at the very core o protected first amendment activity. it's nearly $400,000 that he has to pay. president biden meanwhile is on the campaign trial in pennsylvania today. and he just took some reporter questions on yesterday's air strikes against the houthis in yemen. also, on the health of secretary of defense lloyd austin. >> we will make sure that we respond to the houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior, along with our allies. >> do you have an update on secretary austin? [ inaudible question ] he has confidence in his secretary of defense and that iran does not want a war with

the u.s., he says. coming up, sorry, i jumped the gun there, details on the winter storm that could derail the iowa caucus, three days away, and what the faa announced it will do in response to the alaska airlines scare. plus, the class action lawsuit that was just launched on behalf of passengers. don't go anywhere. the feeling of finding the psoriasis treatment she's been looking for. she found sotyktu, a once—daily pill for moderate—to—severe plaque psoriasis... for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding that outfit psoriasis tried to hide from you. or finding your swimsuit is ready for primetime. ♪♪ dad! once—daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred.

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the faa announced today that

it will audit boeings production line after last week's midair square, to put it mildly on the boeing plane. passengers aboard that flight are now calling a waking nightmare, and they are suing in a new class action lawsuit. joining us now, nbc news correspondent tom costello. so explain what exactly the faa is going to do because frankly, tom, i don't want to get on a plane right now. >> yeah, well, let's be clear. we're only talking about the max 9, boeing's latest plane, and now what's happened, as you know, there's an ntsb investigation into why exactly that plane had that midair emergency a week ago tonight. now the faa has said they are investigating, it is investigating, rather, exactly what happened at boeing that would allow this production defect to make its way on to a plane and then actually get into the skies. number one. number two, the faa announcing today it is going to dramatically increase its oversight of boeing

manufacturing, of the production line. it's going to audit the production line, and it's now thinking maybe it needs a third party to come in there and oversee quality control. it's so concerned about this breakdown of quality control at boeing. take a listen to the faa chief in an exclusive this morning. >> so this is a brand new aircraft. it has just come off the line, and it had significant problems. and we believe there are other manufacturing problems as well. so this is all about finding where the risks are, identifying the risks and mitigating them. so we're going to increase oversight by auditing the production prose at boeing and at spirit. >> spirit is spirit aero systems that made the fuselage that had that problem with the door plug that then blew out. they gave that fuselage to boeing, boeing put the wings on and made a plane people were flying in. the faa is including oversight and also starting this formal investigation. boeing says it will cooperate fully with both the faa and the

ntsb in their investigations and boeing says it will work, and it actually welcomes, i should say, this new oversight action by the faa. make no mistake about it, katy, the pressure is on boeing, its reputation is on the line because this accident follows the most recent one five years ago when 346 people died in two max 8 crashes. boeing's reputation for quality control being called into question by the top aviation regulator in this country. >> that's why i'm scared. has the faa commented? are they sure there's not production line issues on any other planes that are out there, that this is just a boeing issue, and right now it's just a boeing issue on the max 9? >> so we're only talking about boeing as an aircraft maker, that's the only manufacturer of aircraft that has had these kinds of significant issues and has suppliers, spirit aero systems, they're focusing on the max nine. that's where we had this problem, the problem with the door plug that blew out.

but as you know, there was a significant problem with the max 8, they had a computer system program which put the plane into a stall if the pilots flipped a particular switch and weren't expecting a particular reaction. so they've had a series of issues there at boeing in terms of quality control, in terms of not being fully forthcoming with the faa about the issues with their planes. and in the case of that max 8 actually hiding some issues with their planes. >> tom costello, thank you very much. >> you bet. and it is gross outside. and by outside, i mean outside pretty much everywhere. every state in the lower 48 has some kind of weather warning, high winds, blizzards, flash floods, you name it. joining us now from chicago where it is not great either, nbc news correspondent adrienne broaddus. so i'm not seeing the blowing wind and driving snow anymore, but tell us what it's like there? >> reporter: you know, right now

it's wet. we've seen the snow transition to rain, and chicago is part of that midwest group that will see the heavy snow. the worst of it is coming tonight, and we're going to talk more about that in a moment. but at one point, at least 1 or 2 inches of snow across the midwest fell per hour. chicago is expected to get more snow over this weekend compared to what we saw last year. so right now, a little bit of a break, but let's take a look at some of the numbers across the country. this weather system is impacting travel. let's talk about air. 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., om according to flight awar there were about 847 delays, and 325 cancellation w, if we look at total cancellations for today, and we're talking about flights coming into and out of the u.s. at least 2,700 cancellaon and about -- or excuse me,yeah, about 1,900 total cancellations

within, into or out of united states today. now, thister storm warning here in chicago is in effect until noon, but it is not the snow people are worried about. >> first time on any weather news, any news that was with the weather, it said wickedly cold. that's an interesting word for a weather person to use, so yes, i am. i have a 94-year-old mother. i'm concerned about that. i'm concerned about being out in this weather, all the kids and the people who have to walk to work. >> my plan is keep my sidewalk as clear as i can, stay inside, drink a lot of hot chocolate, watch some movies, but overall, i like to stay out of the cold when it gets that bone chilling. >> reporter: bone chilling, we're talking about dangerous cold, and it could feel like 40 to 50 degrees below 0 when you factor in the wind. not the type of weather you want to be out in or even have your skin exposed, katy. >> no, it's not, i covered that

during the polar vortex years ago, and there's very few items of clothing that are out there that are made to handle weather like that. adrienne broaddus, i got it right this time. adrienne broaddus, thank you very much. and joining us now nbc news meteorologist bill karins. >> whatever you want. >> bill "careens" is with us. >> this is a brutal storm, it's going to be a brutal week and a half. we're watching a blizzard developing. iowa is by far the comes in lat. tonight turns back to snow tomorrow's it will be blowing around really nasty. blizzard warnings in green bay, almost all of iowa southern portions of idaho and that's the second storm. another storm. the next one in this endless line of storms. the difference this time is cold air in between the two. additional snowfall. chicago, only getting a couple another inches. areas in wisconsin northern portions of michigan have to dig

out between another 6 to 12 inches. winds cranking up. des moines up to 30 miles. columbia, missouri, 45 miles per hour. last storm almost a million without power. now 100,000. it doesn't have intensity or impacts of the last storm but has cold air. watchous for the flash flooding and richer flooding throughout all the 95 corridor. the rain overnight while people are sleeping. windchill. negative 39 in montana and negative 32 in wichita. by sunday and monday as far south as dallas, texas, negative windchill values. dallas, three straight days with temperatures below freezing. we all know what happened about three years ago, katy, texas had a horrific power outage middle of winter. what everyone is watching to see how they handle this one. >> do not like the sound of any of that.

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in a few hours voters in taiwan will choose a new president in an election china has frames of choice between war

and peace. all three candidates in a tight race focused how to approach relations. both with its most formidable backer of the united states, and its most formidable foe. china. joining us now nbc news foreign correspondent janis mackey frayer. it's early in china now. thank you for being with us. help us understand who china is paying attention to in particular in taiwan and what they're warning. >> reporter: well, this presidential election here in taiwan is seen as most consequential yet since the first election here back in 1996. the outcome is going to impact relations with china at a time when china is making no secret of its intentions, that it says reunification with the mainland is inevitable. theser the words of xi jinping and china's military yesterday vowing to smash any attempt at

taiwan's independence. so this has potential to be a conflict that the u.s. gets drawn into. we have three candidates who are locked in a very tight race. the front-runner is from the dpp. loathed by beijing called a separatist because his party favored independence. the main opposition party, the kmt running neck and neck and a third party, the tpp, taiwan people's part splitting the vote between the two old mainstays. this really could be anyone's race. the u.s. has been watching this very closely. the u.s. will send a delegation after the election that president biden announced this delegation before the vote, was meant to telegraph that to the united states ultimately doesn't matter who wins the election but

that the process is seen as free and fair, and there have been a number of incidents that have called that into question with chinese influence campaigns and disinformation. katy? >> the u.s. says it doesn't have a horse in this race, but who is, if you were to call it, who would be the u.s.' most favorite candidate? are the the u.s. is saying it will work with anyone in taiwan. there are some differences between the three candidates. while the dpp has not had talks over its last eight years in power, the kmt and the tpp are saying they're open to dialogue across the taiwan strait, because that's the only means of dialing down the tension that has been ramping up under the dpp's rule. remember, the u.s. is the only country in the world that supplies weapons to taiwan. so in that regard, all three candidates are aligned in saying that they want to maintain those

strong contacts with the u.s., build those contacts with the u.s. so that they can shore up protective measures for taiwan. but if you look at the polls in terms of what people are actually looking for in this election, there's all of the usual issues. there's housing affordability. there's wages. but they more than anything want the status quo. it's not that people favor independence or reunification. they want taiwan to stape the stay the same and the concern china will make moves to change that status quo. >> janis, thank you very much from taiwan. that does it for me today. reminder, i'm back here tomorrow night with special coverage days before the iowa caucus. steve kornacki also will be here with me. that is tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. stay home. get some hot chocolate, watch some tv. it will be fun. "deadline: white house" starts right now.