about, it wasn't like let's go out on a canoe on a pond and hears a black box with an engagement ring. it was honey, i'm pregnant, okay, let's get married. so thinking about, that it gave me some perspective on why our relationship was just so tangled. >> and that does it for this sunday edition of morning joe. enjoy the game today, and thanks for joining us right here. we will see you back here tomorrow morning at six a.m.. msnbc's the weekend starts right now. >> good morning, it is sunday february 11th. i'm alicia menendez in new york, i'm simone sanders townsend. -- nikki haley reached a new low. the former member of an administration joins us with a

stark warning. he, donald trump, not fit to serve another term. plus, trump's legal team now using the report to argue that he, donald, trump -- were going to ask andrew weissmann all about that. and congressman jamie raskin is here with a scathing review of the special counsel's findings. grab your coffee, settle in, welcome to the weekend the weekd >> reporter: in today, yes. super bowl sunday. on the aid package for israel and ukraine. expect the first votes to happen sometime this afternoon. the new 95 billion dollar package also includes aid to taiwan and humanitarian relief for gaza. it does not include anything about the border, or immigration policy. after republicans change their minds about that being a priority. it is still unclear if this new package actually has enough support to pass in the senate.

>> reporter: joining us now is eugene's got, senior politics reporter for axios, it msnbc political analyst and special correspondent for vanity fair, molly -- she is also the host of the fast politics podcast. greetings, everyone, greetings, greetings. eugene, i want to start with you. what do you think about the state of play. i mean, i don't know if you had on your bingo card that the united states senate would be in session on super bowl sunday. >> i did not. >> reporter: attempting to pass security assistance legislation. >> yeah. i think has been really interesting, seeing the ongoing challenges that republicans have had getting on the same page about immigration after years of working towards a very specific idea of throwing things up next week, is ukraine israel, and there's been more support from gop lawmakers for this type of legislation, and

because there's so many outside forces playing apart. >> reporter: you've got a number of dynamics, and the senate dynamics is which seems to be quite frankly -- how those pressures, trying to set up with eugene. let me see here, the washington post reporting and says until now, speaker johnson has walked a fine line, professing to be an open due to be open passing ukraine aid with doing everything possible to avoid actually doing anything about it. how long is that sustainable given the pressure, both from the senate, and the white house as well as within its own caucus to trying get something done? >> respectfully, johnson can be as open as he wants, but johnson is not the most powerful republican in the house. it's actually donald trump.

seeing that -- >> we've seen that really. >> we know we've seen when it comes to endorsements, when it comes to policy and agenda. so while it's open, we understand that the freedom caucus has been very vocal. he has to get those people on board. it is a very thin majority that it's working on right now. and from the leader of this party, because it's an election year, and johnson was a state speaker. >> at least for a little while. >> reporter: there's something i worry about for getting lost in all of this, which is, yes. donald trump presented with an opportunity to actually have congress do something about the border. decided that it was politically more advantageous for him for it actually to remain in his words, not in mine, chaotic. there is that piece of it, there's an immigration piece of it, there's him taking that. there's also the piece of this, which is eight ukraine, and his

lack of appetite for aid to ukraine. and motley, we know just how close former president trump's to russian president vladimir putin. for him, there was a duality here of why he did not want to see a move forward. >> yes. and last night, he was speaking at a rally, and he said that, if you don't pay your debts to nato, and already very ironic here, because this is donald trump. if you don't pay your debts to nato, it might encourage russia, it might tell russia to do whatever they want to a non- nato pain country. because basically, i think trump is really a person for whom none of this means anything. this incredibly important alliance that is been part of america. that is been one of the tenants of american democracy. i think trump has become even more emboldened, then its previous run for president.

and i think it was quite scary. but i think was also more control of his republican party than he ever has. >> reporter: michael, that is been on full display this past week. >> it has, been absolutely. and that is the reality to eugene's earlier point about trump being the ringmaster here, the leader that is a dynamically pulling at the party. molly, the question i have for you is, where is there an escape route? is there an off ramp that the leadership can somehow contrive to pull enough republicans in the house, or to hold those who are at least waffling a little bit, and sort of reaffirm the current in the senate to actually move something to get something done finally on ukraine. the board is a separate piece that has its own complications. but how are you assessing a possibility of an off ramp from crazy to actually getting a

bill passed? >> this week, we saw two votes fail in the house. the -- what were the votes? the majorca's vote where they -- >> in the israel only aid. >> those were two votes that failed. and i think that is a really important data point out. because johnson took those out because he thought he had the votes, and then it turned out he didn't. and democrats were able to get their people together in a way, and al green came out there from surgery, came out of the hospital to vote. so i think that was pretty spectacular. the numbers -- johnson had a very small majority. and it -- is if i were -- if he were a skilled politician the way nancy pelosi was, perhaps that would be a problem for democrats. but the fact that he cannot matt ultimately has this served. >> reporter: the green vote really did show that, they cannot math, they cannot do basic counting. the thing that i wondered about

eugene is that when there is, quote unquote, chaos on capitol hill, it translates that chaos is led by one political party. in this case republicans, translates to voters as things about their houses. institution doesn't work. congress does not work. washington d.c. does not work. i have to believe that the way that this went down this past week, where we had members of both party negotiating over the course of weeks finally agreeing upon a framework for border tied to foreign aid that they could all agree on, having leadership sign off, in that at the 11th hour, -- i got a call from donald trump, that call from donald trump changed the whole game. but in the eyes of voters, once democrats go out there, they make their case, and they do their ads, it is easier to lay this at the feet of republicans specifically. >> this specific week of chaos

than other times where we have seen this type of ineffectual- est on their part. >> that is certainly going to be the talking point that we see. we're talking about swing voters on tuesday about what happened last week. and previous months, each time something like this has happened, they have said we see issues with both parties. we can't really identify who has messed up and who is responsible. and whether or not that continues to be their perspective, i think will be based on how democrats respond to this. and we've seen biden already come out and say what he is going to do for the rest of the year. in terms of blaming the inability to get immigration across the line on republicans. if that message does not get down to voters, things aren't going to work out the way democrats want. >> reporter: yes, if democrats have to bring their message, but we have to tell the truth about what happened. and i think it is incumbent upon all of, us on television, and in the written press, and

with a great newsletters. -- it is just to tell the truth. and the only reason there was not a deal on the border, the only reason the supplemental is being held up is because of republicans in congress going down to donald trump. that is a fact. that is not partisan language, it is specific. and now we're talking about the supplemental, and the aid to ukraine, israel, and taiwan. what we are talking about is most of the money being spent here in america, the 60 billion dollars we are talking about, 48.4 billion has gone into the pentagon so they can buy weapons from america. i, mean talking about patriot batteries that are made in arizona. artillery shells that are made in 12 states in this country. what happened to america first? [laughs] >> that is a good question. the whole america first mantra out of the mulga ethos, or echo chamber, is all performative. it is not based substantively,

because if that were the case they would then be supporting this aid to ukraine, and they would in fact had done something on the border. and i think, alicia, that for me is one of the bigger parts here. it is, as simone says, when you pull it back and you look at it, these are the facts. that you had a deal, you had a deal on the border, but donald trump told to take the deal because they wanted to take advantage of it. dam the country, screw the opportunity to help those governors on the border who are complaining and concerned with the citizens there. so what is next here, do you think, from the republican playbook? stay on the pressure than, because i think it's important, as that pressure continues to grow to at least get this ukraine deal done. you had former first lady, senator ambassador, and

presidential candidate mrs. clinton say, she thought she would get it done. so what do you think will happen? the >> reporter: can we play this sound of mike lee trying to turn the tables in this conversation? because i think it tells us what is there. take a listen. >> extortion is the word i would use, because they are trying to get out of congress, something that congress is reluctant to do. i'm leveling a threat, and the threat is -- i will enforce the border even less than i have been. i will make this even more chaotic if you don't pass the ukraine supplemental aid package. >> -- >> reporter: >> reporter: i mean, it is incredible, molly. the hot spot that it takes to have something clearly been your fault, the opportunity to do this. the way that your own party wanted to do it and then try to lay blame at the foot of the president. there is one sort of minor truce slipped in among the lies, which is there are

resources, there are monetary needs that this republican congress has not made good on at the border for an issue they supposedly care about. >> they need money at the border. anyone you talked to on the left, on the right, they need money, they need more judges, they need more enforcement, everything. this is a problem because it's not being funded in the way it needs to be funded. and this border deal, which was very conservative, by the way, cooked up by james lankford. democrats would have ultimately had a sort of come to jesus moment on, it because it was so conservative that a lot of people in the party immediately -- >> reporter: it would fundamentally change the nature of immigration, yes. >> but the first legislation we've had on the issue in 20 years. if you ignore a problem, it gets worse, and worse, and worse. which is what we are seeing right here. and i think it is just an amazing bit here that republicans are not taking credit for the fact that they said, we will not find ukraine unless we fix the border.

democrats then put together a border bill that is exactly what they wanted, and then they were like, no, we don't want this. because trump told us we couldn't go for it. >> reporter: michael steele, a very long way of answering your question and saying what i think republicans do next is point the finger back at democrats. >> reporter: of course. we're good at that. >> reporter: we all tell the truth. >> reporter: eugene, molly, sticking with us after the break. the crucial special election this week that could shrink republicans majority in the house. also ahead. former national security adviser john bolton is here with a warning about a second trump term. you are watching the weekend. (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want, when they want it.

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>> reporter: when it comes to immigration, democrats have a new campaign weapon. calling out republican obstructionism. nbc news reports, quote, democrats believe they finally have an opening with voters to neutralize their vulnerabilities on immigration now that republicans have just torpedoed a bipartisan asylum and border security measure. this very specific dynamic played out thursday during a debate for the special election to fill the house seat democrat tom susie slammed his republican rival for opposing the bipartisan deal back with us, eugene scott, and molly john fast. i would tell everyone, abortion was a topic of conversation at this debate where the republican candidate in the

race, specifically, did not have an answer. they also got into gun violence. it was built by the middle class, it was a very robust conversation. >> reporter: it was. and the interesting part, for me, was the fact of how tight this race is given everything that we know about. the district, everything that we know about what has already occurred in the house, and how voters are looking at this special election. it is one of those things that you see, alicia, a road map, i guess you could say for democrats. at the same time, that roadmap has some potholes that you need to fill. if you look at polling, for example, nbc news poll on the economy showing trump holding a 22 point advantage over biden on the question of which candidate would do a better job of handling the economy.

trump having 55, 33% on that. trump has the edge of securing the border and controlling it. 57 to 22. how do democrats in a special election like this begin to create that kind of messaging that the administration's head. and the obstruction of republicans are putting up >> reporter: if you look at the way that this is being messaged, i think it is interesting that they try to jiu-jitsu this question of the border, which, again, this week they sort of handed a gift in terms of their ability to do it. but molly's point also reminds us that in this district, issues like abortion access remain incredibly salient. so simone was sort of sitting at this, but to be even more specific, there you have a republican candidate who is trying to turn this into a binary. who is saying i am pro-life, but i would not vote for a national ban.

she doesn't want to touch any of the shades of gray in the middle. she does not want to talk about things that might come close to a national ban, but are a national ban, she does not want to talk about reinstating roe. and to me that demonstrates just how perilous this issue remains for them. in some of these districts. >> first of all, this republican party is so hyper partisan. the whole idea that you are running someone who is not going to vote on a national abortion ban -- these republicans voted to impeach -- they did not have the votes, but they voted to impeach mayorkas. obviously they voted to impeach a cabinet secretary, has not happened in 100 years. they are so partisan. but i also think it's important to pull back and remember. this is george santos's seat. george santos, a republican, a serial fabulist. a person who said he was jewish, but then he said he was due-ish-ish. the idea here that you would vote for another republican for this seat, one who has had the

seat before, who is a known candidate. you know that he does not have some kind of crazy -- he is not -- there is no -- you know, you know who he is. we know his name is his real name versus santos. i think that is an important data point here. >> reporter: eugene, i think the reason that we are so interested in this race is, as michael and simon teed off, the fact there is a possibility of this creating a playbook of allowing us to read tea leaves. there's also the implication for republicans and congress, which is the very slim majority, eugene, could become even slimmer. >> absolutely. republicans need a win, which is why johnson was in new york campaigning alone side trump to convince these voters to back another republican after santos so that his party can get things done that he thinks people in this district want to see get done under republican leadership. whether or not that holds to be true, it is not clear.

to molly's point, many of these forces have a history of backing a democrat. and the democrat that they've supported is actually running this time. so you have the opportunity to go back to something that you know that is not the chaos and craziness that they currently see, and they recently experienced without having to worry about this democrat going too far left. because this district is not with the progressive when it comes to democratic policy. >> reporter: if you want to look at demographics of the district, we see them in long island. it is suburban. it has some of the most affluent and educated voters in the country. >> reporter: it ranks 16th and medium earnings, and 30 in the percentage of adults across the country with college degrees. this is a battle for the suburbs, eugene, and democrats often talk about the suburbs when it cuts to midterm elections and general elections. and the suburban voter is going to be a voter that democrats and republicans are going to be after if they have a chance of winning, if joe biden has a chance of winning in november.

he is going to have to win suburban women in the suburbs, which are increasingly diverse. what are you looking for on tuesday? >> i am looking for tonight among women and turnout among people of color. the suburb is more diverse ethnically, as you noted. and people who are really concerned about abortion rights, which has not been in the headlines in the last few weeks. but it is still a major issue for republicans, and -- has not provided an answer that i think gives a lot of relief to voters who do have fears. i mean, respectfully, saying i will not vote if i'm elected does not carry the weight that it used to for a lot of people. because we see people say that, get elected, and do something different. >> reporter: and white suburban women are the achilles heel of the democratic party. >> reporter: the suburbs are more diverse, so again, i like to say, one of our senior producers brittani is one of those suburban women. a young black lady who lives in the suburbs. eugene scott, molly john fast, thank you very much. up next, the former scott

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and rehardens enamel. i am a big advocate of recommending things that i know work. >> reporter: former insiders are warning americans about the dangers of a second trump term. and i knew forward to his book, former trump national security adviser john bolton writes, quote, nothing in politics is inevitable. in fact, even now, to shape politics, facts are blunt instruments and a mountain of instrument that donald trump is unfit to be president. former u.n. ambassador john bolton joins us here at the table. mister ambassador, thank you for being here, is so good to have you. so simone, do you wanna take that first one? i know you have been champing. >> reporter: i read in the wall street journal that your book is out again in paperback, the uk stretch the forward, and there's op-ed in the wall street journal from i believe january 31st. and then i saw donald trump

last night, i think there synergy here. i want to play for you what donald trump said last night, in conway, south carolina, about nato. >> one of the presidents of the big country stood up and said, sir, if we don't pay, and we are attacked by russia, will you protect us? i said, you didn't pay, you are delinquent, he said, yes. let's say that happened. no, i would not protect you. in fact, i would encourage them to do what ever the [bleep] they want to pay. you have to pay your bills. that they -- >> reporter: mr. trump will withdraw on his atlantic treaty organization. he came precariously close in 2018. the supreme court has never ruled protectively whether the president can aggregate, senate, ratify treaties. but congress at the end of last year passed a bill to say presidents cannot just withdraw from nato. but you hear that from donald trump, you wrote these words

that you're reading in january. >> right. that stature that you mentioned is almost certainly unconstitutional. i've been with president withdrawing from treaties, the senate has no rule on it. and i just think people need to take donald trump very seriously. too many people don't. supporters of trump, and even opponents of trump. when he says he wants to get out of nato, i think it's a very real threat. and it will have dramatically negative implications on the united states, not just in the north atlantic, but worldwide. >> that is the part that i don't understand. why people don't take him seriously. why they don't appreciate what he's already tried to do, and has done in some instances. in the face of what he's telling us he's going to do. i write with regard to the constitutional crisis of your new forward, quote, if we turned office, trump will need others to carry out his directives. he will want white house staffers to follow his orders of troubling questions, in the

classified documents case demonstrates these staffers will not be known for independent creek of thinking, just personal fealty to trump for whom loyalty flows only one way. why don't people appreciate that? why don't they see that he is trying to build a sycophantic army of, i am calling them manga zombies, to do as he is instructing them to do. what is the disconnect that people don't seem to get that you now have, and to have warned about in your new folder. >> i think people really don't believe that it's as bad as it might be. i think the trump victory whisks continuing constitutional crisis will survive, it and i don't think democracy is threatened. but i think we could suffer a lot of damage. and i, and many others have tried in different ways to convince, especially republicans, that this is serious. but, as you say, they have not been successful so far. and i think, what it reflects is, many of the people who support trump support him

because he hates the same people that they hate. and they don't care what he's prepared to do to try and solve that problem. and that is something that i think, really, republicans bear responsibility for. we got him into office in the first place. we need to get him out of office. >> reporter: the getting out of office parties the difficult part. because we were talking in the last segment about the polling right now. where biden is losing on the economy. he is losing on the border, which is sort of a quasi- foreign policy issue, if you will. what do you think it will take for the biden administration to begin to echo what you are saying, and really give people juxtaposition of the reality out there to try and understand, we have an existential threat in front of us. and it is in the form of this guide. when he means we want to be the

dictator for a day -- >> reporter: specifically republicans. because i think his democracy message, he went out to get the speech, after speech, after speech, about democracy. what are republicans privately saying? what are the conversations you're saying? you've got a name names, but you can if you'd like. >> i think republicans say this is a binary choice, there are many who will say exactly that. it is not as bad as biden, or his potential successor, kamala harris. look, i personally think we've got two people running for president, nine or one of whom is fit for office. and i think -- >> you're talking about joe biden. >> you're talking about with the biden administration should do, i think the president needs to leave the stage gracefully. i think the democrats need to switch generationally who they are running for president, by the, way republicans could see that lesson to. i think people don't appreciate how unpopular biden is. it is not a question of messaging. they look at it, they think he is too old. that's a surrogate for

confidence. and i don't see biden being able to fix that. i think a different democrat could say, i don't have to defend all the biden baggage, and could defeat trump. but right now, you've got a large group of people that don't like either candidate. and in november, the only question is, who they dislike more? the other person will win. we don't know at the moment, but it could very well be trump. >> reporter: to pick up on that, ambassador bolton, hi, alicia menendez. good morning. if you say that trump is unfit -- you argue that both candidates are unfit -- but ultimately it will come down, potentially, to a binary choice of who you like or dislike more, who you decide is more or less fit, that you yourself have said if it is this choice, if you're not gonna vote for president biden, you're not gonna vote for donald trump, instead, you're going to write in this. anything between now on november, if we accept the premise that it is going to be a choice between these two candidates, that would change your mind? >> i can't say it.

both are unacceptable to me, although for different reasons. i feel very beleaguered. but i'm not going to violate my principles by voting for biden. i'm not going to risk the constitution by voting for trump. that's why haven't given up yet of a stopping trump before the convention. there's a lot of things moving. and this is still out there, the media had the earth. there's a lot of things that could happen to stop trump. >> reporter: ambassador bolton, i just asked, because we live -- you've been a u.n. ambassador, you've been a national security adviser. you've worked over many administrations, not just donald trump. and, while this is a two party system. so if you do not pick one of the candidates, people often say, if one is not voting in this race for joe biden, or donald trump, a third party option, or writing a name and does nothing but to support, at this, point the data shows, trump. you say that you're private for

different reason, you think they're both bad candidates, but we just played sound of donald trump saying, russia should go invade nato countries. meanwhile, joe biden has strengthened nato. so these cannot be two sides of the same coin. >> they are for different reasons. but it is a matter of conscience for me. i am not going to violate my principles. i live in maryland, as michael knows, the odds are joe biden's going to carry maryland. however john bolton votes. >> reporter: let's talk a little bit about republican party. and the fact that a lot of us, myself and a handful of others back in 15 to 16 were jumping up and down and saying, do not do this. and at what point did you realize that? what point did you say, in your conversations with him in 16 17, 18, oh my god.

what happened here? and how do they get the so wrong? >> i didn't support trump in 2016. i was with many republicans who said was our last choice. i joined the administration because i believed that trump, like every other president before him, would be impressed by the gravity of the responsibility he had a national security. the weight of the decisions that aged many presidents. it would discipline him, it would require him to think in the national interest terms. and i've spoken to him many times, i don't think people called me naive recently, i think i noticed getting into. but i thought that pressure would have an effect. i learned it whatsoever, and i learned within days of taking the job. i did what i could for 17 months, but my book is really a 500-page explanation of how i got it wrong. >> reporter: there will not be people like john bolton in that administration of donald trump is reelected i can tell you

that >> reporter: there are no more bones coming to washington for trump. but ambassador, we are happy you're here with us today. thank you so much for taking a time to be a part of the conversation this weekend. in the next hour, congressman jamie raskin joins us with this damning reaction to the special counsel's report on president biden. you are watching the weekend. rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect

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liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, i've bee telling everyone. baby: liberty. oh! baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: ♪ liberty. ♪ >> reporter: we have breaking news out of yemen. the u.s. military says it conducted strikes against vessels and cruise missiles yesterday. the pentagon saying that those missiles were set to launch against ships in the red sea. the military says the strikes and targets in houthi controlled area of the country that presented a, quote, imminent threat. we are going to bring you more information as we have it. here is the thing, michael, simone. you take that breaking news in the context of the conversation we were just having with ambassador bolton, and we are reminded of what the stakes are here, of having someone in the

oval office as commander in chief, whose primary objective is not keeping the homeland safe, as not being a leader on the world stage, but instead, his own power. >> reporter: and who is measured, right? because a lot of the time, the consternation from many republicans, elected officials currently and commentators, was that joe biden would need too long to strike and hit back against the iran-backed rebels. and some folks have even suggested that he needs to go directly at iran, he needs to hit tehran, and that is putting us in a war. so i'm just saying, what i'm getting currently is quite different from what we would have if donald trump were back in the oval office. >> reporter: we know what we would have. we saw what we would have with donald trump in the oval office. and we have a dysfunctional foreign policy that started

with imposing tariffs on our alice, and demanding payment from them. the arguments to be made when i have the fair share. the reality of it, there is a dynamic that has worked among the nation states, and that was disrupted. so joe biden has spent the last three and a half years sort of admitting that back together, and i think that what ambassador bolton left us with was the reality that a lot of people don't necessarily appreciate exactly what it will mean to have, a donald trump back. that they are angry at certain people, and donald trump is angry at those people, so therefore, that is enough. well, their anger is great. but you've got to do something with it. and we know what donald trump wants to do with it. he wants retribution. joe biden is not angry at

anybody. he is just trying to solve problems. so how they need that together is going to be a very difficult strategy for the administration, in the face of everyone being so mad at stuff they can explain. otherwise saying i'm just mad. >> reporter: what about the fact that i -- i know a lot of people, i'm reading comments, i know we read comments. folks are like, oh, john bolton, why have him on? obviously we talk about the need for republicans to speak out, and john bolton is a real republican who is speaking out. but it is, he is a republican who is speaking out. but he is not willing to back joe biden. and i'm wondering just what does that mean? >> reporter: i know what it means from folks. it is a principled argument here. and for a lot of republicans, principally, they can't make that leap. because it's a philosophical disconnect from this. they don't weigh up, if you will, simone. the democracy argument that some of us make the country

trumps the party. >> reporter: but if they don't want trump, and they don't vote for joe biden? it's not my best subject. >> reporter: i get the math. in my hope is for folks like bolton, and others, and he sort of created that little bit of crack out there at the end. that as this election unfolds, and those narratives become much more stark for them, because that's really what we're talking about, what donald trump is fully engaged one-on-one with joe biden. so, a, let's get off the table, joe biden, and go nowhere. you stop talking about somebody else. having them come, and having them take over for joe. but that's not happening. there's a whole lot of political reasons and other reasons that's gonna happen. so you all need to get a grip, and move on. i think when that one-on-one starts to happen, that dynamic may change the minds. >> reporter: we'll be watching. next, folks, we're going shift years to a very important

subject. a role that race plays in health care. dr. ha blackstock has a new book on the issue, and she joins us next. make sure to follow our show on social media, our handle everywhere is at the weekend msnbc. weekend msnbc. as the world keeps moving, help prevent covid-19 from breaking your momentum. you may have already been vaccinated against the flu, but don't forget this season's updated covid-19 shot too. j.p. morgan wealth management knows it's easy to get lost in investment research. get help with j.p morgan personal advisors. hey, david! ready to get started? work with advisors who create a plan with you, and help you find the right investments. so great getting to know you, let's take a look at your new investment plan. ok, great! this should have you moving in the right direction. thanks jen. get ongoing advice; and manage your investments in the chase mobile app.

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>> reporter: right now, just 5.7% of all physicians in the united states identify as black.

that is according to the association of american medical colleges. it is a reminder that black people do make up more than 13% of the population. dr. ha blackstock is drawing attention to the impact race has on our health care system in her new book, entitled, legacy. a black physician reckons with racism in medicine. in the book, she explores systemic inequity in health care from the beginnings of western medicine, to her own experiences as a medical student, and a doctor. dr. ha blackstock joins us now, with this book, part memoir, part really exposi on health care. >> reporter: a book that had me crying on the airplane from start to finish. doctor, because the legacy piece here is your mother. the original dr. blackstock, as you say. talk to me about the impact that she had on you, and your sister, but also how her own health decline really helped clarify for you some of the inequities you see in our system. >> i love talking about the original dr. blackstock, who was born in brooklyn, new york.

single mom, on public assistance, and against all barriers, and i'm going to college at harvard medical school, then came back, and worked in the same neighborhood that she grew up in. so that is the inspiration for both my sister and i needed to do the work that we do today. unfortunately, she was diagnosed at 46 with a cute my logical leukemia, and looking back at her childhood, we know that perhaps, she may have been exposed to environmental racism, some neighborhoods she grew up in were super fun sites, and they made contributed to her early and short death. >> reporter: some of the inequities we see in the system, right, michael? >> reporter: exactly. that's where i wanted to go, dr. blackstock. my sister is a doctor, so we have these conversations quite a bit, particularly around the idea, not the idea, but the reality of inequities. and health care disparities that exist right now for black and brown people remain, even in the aftermath of the aca,

obamacare, you still have this reality for how health care is delivered, and believed in black communities. and that was exposed during the covid crisis. talk a little bit about what that meant and how those inequities in our health care system remain, and can be addressed? >> i always say how the pandemic revealed the deep fissures in our health care system, especially with what happens with black patients, another patients of color interfacing with health professionals. often, our concerns are dismissed, or ignored. or minimized, even. and we saw that happening in the pandemic, even to people who were physicians. black women physician sought covid care, and unfortunately was treated with disrespect and no dignity. and ended up dying prematurely. so one of those issues is what

happens when black patients interface with health professionals. how can we educate health professionals to just listen. it is just listening better to our patients, center their concerns so that black patients don't feel like they are going to war when they have to seek care, and they're at their most vulnerable. >> reporter: dr. blackstock, you write in your book, there is an essay in this book about the flex new report. and it talks about how you discovered in this report amid covid, about how black doctors just banished, across the country. can you just talk a little bit about the flex now report? because i do think it is something that flies under the radar, in terms of knowledge for folks across the country? >> absolutely, symone. fluid under the radar, even for me as a practicing physician. i did not even learn about the flex new report until after medical school, after my training. i thought was very important to mention my book legacy about

this report, in 1910 that was commissioned by the american medical association, and the carnegie mellon foundation. essentially, they commissioned an educational specialist in abraham flex near, who owe through her very avidly racist writings about black people, that led to the closure of five out of seven of the historically black medical schools in the country. at the time, leaving only behind howard and the harry. it's estimated that those five medical schools, had the remained open, would have educated between 25,000 and 35,000 black physicians. if you can imagine, that is such a tremendous loss to our community, imagining the hundreds of thousands of patients they would've cared for, the students they would mentor, the research and black health that they would've done. so what to help connect the dots for people why, in 2024, only 5.7% of black physicians are black. it is not because there's anything inherently wrong with

us. but because it's with congresswoman ayanna pressley calls, policy violence. there was a cause -- policy called the flex now report that is contributed to the low number of physicians who are black and we see today. >> reporter: dr. blackstock, next year will be the year that you have outlived your mother. i know it's an emotional turning point. your decision to walk away from medicine, how does that square with the reality that we need more black women like you practicing? >> absolutely. i left its career in academic medicine, where actually looking back was a life seizing decision. because for me, it was a very toxic decision. we need to be in alignment, and do the work we're doing our and health equity advocacy, continuing my mothers legacy, as well. but my sister is doing the same, because in 2024, we actually had worse health outcomes for black communities than he did 30 years ago. there's a tremendous amount of work to be done. i'm glad that i am helping to amplify some of these issues in my book, legacy, but we need

everyone, all hands on deck. we need committee members, pelosi members, to think about these decisions. >> reporter: my friend, thank you for being with us. her new york times bestselling book, legacy a black physicians, going with racism in medicine, available wherever books are stalled. we have another packed hour of the weekend straight ahead. former january six investigator is going to join us, along with andrew weissmann, and congressman jamie raskin. so fill that cup of coffee or tea and stick around. we'll be right back. right bac. ? 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.

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