at this hour, a split screen at the southern border, president biden and former president trump planned dueling visits to texas on the same day as the battle over immigration heats up. shake up at the rnc, ronna mcdaniel makes it official, announcing that she is stepping down. will donald trump get the loyalists he wants for leadership and the money he wants to help pay his legal bills? battleground michigan, why this primary is being watched so closely for big clues in november's election. and ready for rafah, israel's prime minister says idf is invading that key gaza city, even if hostages are released. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. we begin with nbc white house correspondent aaron gilchrist on that rare border trip for the

president. what more do we know about this trip, and why now? >> reporter: chris, we were just able to ask the white house secretary about the president's trip to texas. she reiterated it will happen on thursday, brownsville, texas, on the southeast border, near the gulf of mexico, and the president through the white house is saying this is an opportunity to meet with border patrol agents, other officers in the area and local leaders. it will be a chance for the president to really hear from the people on the ground dealing with the issues at the border, as migrants cross in large numbers and have for many months now. he'll have a chance to see what it is that those agents and officers are doing on the ground there. at the same time, obviously, this is an issue that has been a political one here in washington, at least for the last couple of months, and so we will hear the president again reiterate his calls for congressional republicans to take action on the bipartisan

border security plan that the senate came up with right at the beginning of the year, end of last year, and the house ultimately chose not to take action on. the white house believes and many other believe at the request of former president donald trump, who as you noted, chris is going to be in texas on the same day that president biden will be there, on the other side of texas, and we were able to ask the white house about that, to react to the fact that these two men will be in texas, talking about border issues and immigration issues at the same time. the white house said it did not have any comment on that at this point in time either. we also wondered whether the president might be taking some action. there's been a lot of pressure on the white house and on the president to take executive action. republicans said the president has authority to do that and the press secretary said today that there's no executive action that the president could take that would do more or be better than what was in the supplemental, excuse me, on the security bill that the senate was able to pass

and send on to the house and that the house needs to take action beyond what the president might be able to do. chris. >> aaron gilchrist, thank you. let's go to garrett haake with what donald trump is planning when he heads to the southern border. i think the two men are going to be 330 miles apart geographically, but politically they are much further apart than that, garrett. what can you tell us? >> reporter: about a five-hour drive between those two border communities and light years apart in terms of the messaging you'll see. the trump campaign is taking credit for the fact that joe biden will be visiting the texas border on the same day they are. a spokesperson calling it an insincere attempt by the white house to chase joe biden to the border. perhaps they mean it literally, but they argue the point figuratively that this has been the issue that has been driving donald trump's campaign, arguably going back to 2015, but certainly in this cycle and that only now does president biden make his second trip to the border as president. they feel like this is sort of their editorial high ground

within the context of this presidential campaign. i expect to hear a lot of focus on crime committed by migrants around the country. that's an issue that donald trump and his campaign think is salient, particularly in battleground states a long way away from the border and the former president's actions when he was presidential, building the wall, resuming that effort should he be reelected in november of this year, chris. >> let's talk about the big shakeup at the top of the rnc. we knew it was coming. now that ronna mcdaniel has a date to leave and for practical purposes what does it mean? >> i think it shows the consolidation behind the republican party of donald trump. it's one more data point this that argument. you typically see changes at the rnc and dnc. there's not a nominee yet in this process, but there is consolidation that you would normally see in time. donald trump teased out the

process of new leadership over the rnc in the last several weeks. he had the opportunity to see those people who he endorsed, including his daughter-in-law, to be cochair of the party, elected after super tuesday. that's when the next scheduled rnc meeting was set to take place. you could perhaps see symbolically a very rapid consolidation. someone has a big night on super tuesday, and his people are put in chart from the rnc. from there, it's all systems go. they think they have the delegates by the middle of march. that would be a quick time line for all of these things to happen in succession, chris. >> garrett haake, thank you for that. let's go to michigan, where the critical, revelatory primary is tomorrow. nbc's shaquille brewster is in kent county. he has been talking to voters there as part of msnbc's series called the deciders, what are they telling you, shaq? >> reporter: hi there, chris. outside of trump's base of

support, there's a lot of frustration over the options that they're seeing. let's step back a little bit. we're not here in kent county just because nikki haley had to stop in grand rapids earlier today. this is a county that you have seen trends that have been mirrored across the country. this is a republican -- used to be a republican stronghold, a reliable republican county here in michigan. in 2016, you saw donald trump win it by just 3 percentage points and then 2020, joe biden flipped it, and also flipped the state of michigan. as nikki haley is failing to stop trump's momentum in early primary caucus states. many people say they are viewing this already in a general election context, and they're not happy about what they're hearing. listen to what they have been telling you. >> >> scared and said. i don't feel comfortable picking joe biden, but also i don't feel

picking trump either. >> i think they're too old and out of touch. at this point, it's more like a pissing hatch. they're not, i don't know, i don't think either of them are the right people to be running the country right now. >> reporter: and that sentiment that you hear, that speaks to why nikki haley says she is still in this race. i just left her event where she talked to reporters. she was asked about the rationale for her candidacy, and she said if donald trump is the nominee, republicans will lose. she paired dissatisfaction with joe biden and donald trump, i'm trying to give voters another option here. the problem is, and we continue to see it when you look at the delegate battle, her likelihood of securing any nomination becomes harder and harder as we continue to see donald trump win with more than 50% of the vote in many of these early states, chris. >> shaquille brewster, good to see you my friend, thank you. a cease fire deal or not,

israel says it will invade rafah. the southern gaza city where more than 1.4 million refugees are sheltering. raf sanchez is reporting from tel aviv. i know you have new details on israel's plan for the refugees, what's the new info? >> reporter: well, chris, the white house has been saying consistently for weeks that the u.s. opposes any israeli attack on the city of rafah without a credible plan to get those more than a million palestinian civilians to safety. so we have been asking the israeli government, do you have that credible plan? two israeli officials now tell nbc news that ahead of any israeli attack on rafah, palestinian civilians there would be allowed to move to the city of khan younis, just to the north, to other areas of southern gaza. they would not be allowed to return to their homes in the north of the gaza strip. jake sullivan, the national security adviser said on sunday on meet the press, the u.s. has

not seen the details of israel's plan. it is not clear if that outline would meet the benchmarks that the white house has set out. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is also saying, as you mentioned, that if there is a deal to pause the fighting to free some of those hostages, it would only delay his plans to attack rafah and that his forces would move into the city on the other side of any deal. i want you to take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say. >> i've asked the army to submit to me a double plan. first to evacuate, enable the evacuation of the palestinian civilians, and second to destroy the remaining hamas battalions. that gets us a real distance towards the completion of victory, and we're not going to give it up. if we have a deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen. if we don't have a deal, we'll

do it anyway. it has to be done. >> reporter: chris, the united nations is saying an israeli attack on rafah before a deal, after a deal, it doesn't matter. it would be absolutely devastating for palestinian civilians, many of whom may not be able to get out of the city even if there are evacuation route, and the secretary general of the united nations saying an attack on rafah near the critical border crossing with egypt would be, quote, the final nail in the coffin of our aid programs. it has been such a struggle to get that badly needed aid in to the 2 million palestinian civilians in gaza. the u.n. says half as much aid made it into gaza in february as it did in january. and the situation especially stark in northern gaza where there is fear of famine growing, saying they are unable to get food deliveries into the north of the strip because there has been a total collapse of the security situation there, and

you have people starving, running and storming these trucks the moment they enter the area, chris. >> raf sanchez, thank you. in 60 seconds, a judge makes a major decision about the fbi informant at the center of the republicans' impeachment efforts. publicans' impeachment efforts. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost.

a judge has now ordered a former fbi informant who's charged with lying about the bidens to be held until his trial. alexander smirnov had been rearrested over his concern he's a flight risk over his access to russian intelligence and his millions of dollars. david noriega is outside the courthouse in los angeles, also with us, prosecutor charles coleman. since you were in court, they came out and spoke. what did they have to say?

>> reporter: the main thing is they intend to appeal the decision in the 9th circuit. the decision keeping smirnov in prison until his trial begins. there were a couple of interesting things that happened in court. this is the first time we have seen smirnov. he's a 40 something man with a salt and pepper beard and close cropped hair. the defense was arguing that she should be allowed to go free because he is a first time nonviolent offender. they used bernie madoff as an example. he has ties to the united states. he has no intention of fleeing, otherwise he would have tried to flee in the two days he was free. the judge wasn't amenable to this. he said there was nothing garden variety as a case. something as crude as an ankle bracelet could keep smirnov fleeing the country. the prosecution's argument was the extensive ties to russian intelligence, which they say

could help resettle him outside of the united states, and he lied about having access to $6 million in liquid funds, according to the prosecution. one last nugget that we got to this, that sheds light on smirnov as a character who up until this point has been shadowy, the u.s. marshals opted to arrest him at his lawyer's office, rather than at home. they say he owns nine firearms, including an assault rifle. chris. >> okay. charles, that's an interesting little tidbit there. how high must the concerns have been for the judge to make this decision? >> i think the concerns were high. i think you also have to consider what we're talking about in terms of someone who has international ties and basically you could argue was being involved with foreign espionage in terms of their connection to the fbi. you're talking about the chief law enforcement organization until the united states. it's someone with foreign ties. this was a no brainer for the

judge to make a decision to hold him in custody. it's not difficult to imagine that the russian government and russian intelligence would have been helpful in trying to secure him to get out of the united states, and elude law enforcement here. though it seems out of the ordinary, the facts of this case seem so straightforward. >> he could free potentially with aid from russia. they also say he was actively peddling new lies that could impact u.s. elections after meeting with russian intelligence officials in november. what impact do you have that would have had on the judge's decision, that he can continue to do, what clearly the u.s. government doesn't want him doing. >> i think that plays into where are we going with this. we have had the conversation about foreign interference, our

eyes and ears will be perked, playing close attention to the forces in the past. if you have someone with connection to u.s. government official or has had access in such a way that could create the disinformation that is disruptive to our election signing l, keep close tabs on him. and ultimately that probably did factor into why the judge made the decision. separating this case with bernie madoff, because q4 not talking about the support and influence of a foreign entity, particularly this close to a u.s. presidential election. it's really destabilizing and has the potential for enormous chaos to result if the judge doesn't make the decision. >> david noriega, charles coleman, thank you both. in a brand new and rare interview, hunter biden just opened up about what he calls maybe the ultimate test in his

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"the new york times" calls it the most important first amendment case of the internet era. today, the supreme court is hearing arguments in a pair of cases that could change how social media companies have been operating for decades. at issue, republican backed laws in florida and texas that restrict companies from banning or censuring users because of their political viewers. both laws were passed in 2021, the same year that donald trump was banned from facebook and twitter for his handling of the january 6th attack. joining me now, nbc's ken dilanian, and editor and chief of the verge. >> this is a case that could transform the internet as we know it. it was very close the justices

were grappling with these issues today. they seem torn. they're troubled by these laws. heir also troubled by what some see as the censureship that social media canes engage in. this stems from platforms like facebook and twitter to ban donald trump. that's led conservatives, to relative late political speech. experts say it goes well beyond that and could end up restricting their ability to regulate all kinds of things, vaccine, child exploitation, racism, extremism. the platforms are pushing back, and saying they have a first amendment right to do this stuff, and it really depends on how the court decides these platforms are to be viewed. are they more like newspapers that have a right to publish what they want or exclude what they want or more like the old

phone companies, they're so yuk bik -- ubiquitous. >> i want to play a little bit of what justice samuel alito said today gl there's a lot of new terminology bouncing around in these cases and just out of curiosity, and one of them is content moderation. could you define that for me? >> it's editorial discretion, a way to take all of the content that is potentially posted on the site. exercise editorial discretion to make it less offensive to users. >> is anything more than a euphemism for censorship? >> is that what's at the center of this case? help us understand that in the context of everything we heard today. >> the back and torte over

whether content moderation means censorship. is facebook so big that it acts like the government, and should the government, our government, go beyond the first amendment and impose speech regulations on facebook. the justices did not agree on this at all. justice kavanaugh said when you talk about censureship, that's orwellian, the very conservative 6-3 supreme court has to contend with the idea that it has to support government speech regulations over these social media companies, and i think there's more of an ideological rift to support that position than people think. >> there was a lot of back and forth in the arguments about section 230. help us understand what that is and why it was so important that they talked about it so much.

>> quite frankly, i thought the justices were confused. section 230 was passed in 1996 explicitly to allow platforms to do content moderation. section 230 said if you take actions to moderate your platforms, make them hospitable for your customers, then we won't hold you liable for everything. you hold that up against texas and florida, you have to allow some things, and now there's a tension between wanting the companies to do content moderation, protect chirn, lies, to open ur election safe. and that consistency requirement is impossible for platforms to uphold its scale, and you saw the justices run head first into their own desire for the platforms to moderate.

congress's own desire for the platforms to keep children safer. that tension with can only be resolved in the free martin luther king. i think the justices are going to have to walk a fine line here. >> raises a frequent criticism of both congress and the supreme court, how much do they understand about what they are adjudicating here. >> i just want to add to that. the question here is how much do you want the government to make speech regulations. >> eli patel, ken dilanian. >> those answers are challenging. >> boiling that down. very well for us, thank you. we've got more breaking news out of trump legal world. manhattan d.a. alvin bragg is seeking a gag order against former president donald trump before they get to trial at the end of next month in the criminal hush money case. i want to bring in msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin. charles coleman is back with me. what is the argument here, lisa?

i know you're getting ready and on it. >> the argument that they are making is not unlike what we have seen before from federal prosecutors in the case before judge tanya chutkan. this is a people that has a proclivity of saying things that threaten people in the united states, and may not have access to security. we're talking about potential witnesses, prosecutors aside from the elected district attorney, alvin bragg, and they are also adding a third component that's missing from the order before judge chutkan. they want the gag order to apply to prospective juror as well, saying the president's former conduct has endangered people like this, and given that this is a jury trial, they think that's really important. >> i'm going to try, if i can, charles, to over simpfully this. is this about free speech versus a fair trial sfl.

>> -- fair trial. >> well, if you're trump's attorneys you're likely to go to make that argument. donald trump is basically going to say i have a right to be able to exercise my free speech and the fact that i have a social media pampl of literally hundreds of millions of followers is not necessarily my fault and can't be held against me. one of the things that's interesting, this ask for protection from jurors, ultimately that may be one of the more persuasive categories that gets this granted, at least in part in some form because you want to be able to preserve the integrity of the trial, and donald trump's mistake so far, one of them has been what he has shown people he will do given the opportunity based off of his civil trials. remember, this is the first criminal trial we are going to see take place with respect to donald trump.

alvin bragg, as well as fani willis have been watching what donald trump has done thus far in front of judge engoron, and the other judge that was responsible for the e. jean carroll case. with all of this, they have enough evidence to put before a judge, not to mention what they know from judge chutkan as well, to say, look, we know what he's done. this is his play book, we need to get ahead of this. i would expect this narrowly day i lored -- >> one of the things i honed in on, lisa, was that mr. bragg asked that their addresses, the jurors, be kept secret from the former president. they're allowed to know the jurors' names, but he doesn't want donald trump and his team to know where they live. >> yes, but the fact that they're allowed to know the names is different from what we

have seen. in the e. jean carroll case, both cases, actually, the juries were fully anonymous. not even the lawyers knew their names. in new york state, a defendant has a statutory right to know the jury's names. they're counter balancing that here. the reason that alvin bragg has asked for a gag order about the jurors is because trump has a statutory right to know their names. that wasn't a danger, and the two prior federal trials about e. jean carroll, no one knew their names. the other thing i want to point out is alvin brag has asked for protection for his staff, his line prosecutors. that's an issue because trump has gone after at least one of them by name. there's a gentleman who is one of the lead attorneys on alvin bragg's team, he has spent time in the biden department of justice. trump has cited that as proof that this is a collusive case.

you can see why they are taking proactive measures to protect mr. coangelo and his defendants. >> another filing asking that the judge prevent michael cohen from testifying. in my experience covering trials, not uncommon when there is someone who's either a convicted criminal or specifically has been convicted of perjury. in every case i have been in when that was requested, the judge said that's up to the jury to make a decision how credible this person is. does this filing have any chance of being successful, keeping michael cohen from testifying? >> it will not be successful. the reason for that, as you said, the judge is going to instruct the jury, ultimately, that it's up to them to decide the creditability of the witness. the notion of michael cohen being a witness who lacks credibility because of his

convictions in the past is something that is going to be the juror's decision. they're going to be given the information about the fact that he was, in fact, charged, prosecuted, and ultimately convicted of whatever he was convicted of that landed him in prison. so they will have the burden of deciding how they choose to weigh his testimony. the judge is not going to summarily decide the jury will never hear from you. this is a waste of time for team trump to move this forward. the judge is going to allow him to be heard and allow the jury to make the decision they need to after he instructs them on how to evaluate credibility. >> charles coleman and lisa rubin, thank you both so much. we have even more breaking news. the pentagon has released its preliminary review of the circumstances around that delayed disclosure of defense secretary lloyd austin's hospital stay. nbc's courtney kube joins us now. what have you learned?

>> this is based off the 30-day review that secretary austin ordered in early january to look at the procedures that surrounded his being hospitalized and his staff not notifying the white house. january 1st, new year's day, secretary austin was taken by ambulance to walter reed hospital experiencing nausea and leg pain. he was admitted for complications to his prostate cancer surgery which at the time no one knew he had at the pentagon or at the white house. over the course of the next several days, whale he was hospitalized and after he had transferred his authorities and responsibilities to his deputy secretary, kathleen hicks, the staff here in the pentagon, his senior staff still neglected to tell the white house. secretary austin not performing the president or senior staff until that thursday, january

4th. and not notifying congress until january 5th. with all of that as the background, this review which has just come out is a memo, what's been released today is a memo laying out steps, basically codifying procedures that the staff here at the pentagon should take in similar situations in the future. so notification procedures if the secretary of defense has to transfer his authorities to his deputy and who needs to be told about that. in addition to that, this review was largely classified because of some of the ways that the secretary would be moved around. some security measures that would be taken. the pentagon did release a short, unclassified summary of the classified review, and one part that i found really striking, chris, is an acknowledgment here that his staff, secretary austin's staff were hesitant to pry or share information about his health, and that may have been one of the reasons, according to this,

again, unclassified summary of the classified review that the information about his health was not shared more wildly. chris. >> nbc's courtney kube, thank you for that breaking news. still ahead, democrats cranking up the message on reproductive rights with a visceral new ad. will it work? nothing like a sidekick that steps up in crunch time. [laughing] not cool man. every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick. [stomach growling] it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief when you need it most.

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a woman handcuffed to a hospital bed is the latest imagery that democrats are using to target republican policies on reproductive rights, framing it as part of a larger war on women. take a look. >> criminalizing young women who travel to receive the reproductive care they need. >> that was an ad from the super pac supporting california governor gavin newsom who warns that the threat is serious and growing. >> these guys are not just restricting the right to bear a child for a young woman but determining their fate as it relates to their future and life saying they can't even travel. it's not just a war on travel. it's not just a war on reproductive health care, it's a war on women more broadly defined as we know, contraceptives.

>> yamiche alcindor is following this story for us. ashlee parker is "the washington post" political correspondent and msnbc political analyst. what more can you tell us about this ad? >> this week, governor gavin newsom's super pac, campaign for democracy is launching this ad in tennessee. the group is launching there because there are two bills in tennessee in the state legislature there that would create a crime lawmakers are calling, quote, abortion trafficking. the bills would make it a felony to help minors obtain abortions without parental consent. of course this all comes in the aftermath of the alabama supreme court ruling that embryos are children. since then, not only have several clinics stopped providing ivf, but a number of companies won't shift or receive embryos from alabama. there are travel issues in alabama, too. >> in every election since the dobbs decision, voters have said they want to increase reproductive rights, not take them away.

so that now you have the controversial ruling out of alabama that's put the spotlight on an issue that arguably has more support, which is ivf. how much of a nightmare do republicans see this as. >> it's a tremendous nightmare for republicans, and they're well aware of it. you can just look at as soon as this decision came down and the implications became clear, which was that there were women and couples in alabama who had, you know, invested tremendous money and time and more importantly than all of that, emotion and hope into this process, and they might have it paused. that it was just devastating, and you saw republicans scrambling from donald trump, to kari lake, to the nrsc, to come out and say we support ivf. the challenge, of course, is that when it comes to issues of reproductive rights after the dobbs decision, regardless of what they say, republicans in the minds of voters, at least so

far, what we have seen in elections and polls own all of these decisions, and this alabama ruling feels very out of line with where voters are, where the mainstream is and where a lot of conservatives are. it's going to rebound electorally on republicans. >> and it has been something to watch, yamiche, republicans trying to distance themselves from this ruling, what are they saying? >> we have to remember, it took republicans almost a week to coalesce around the idea that they are broadly supporters of ivf. since then, former president trump, after he came out on friday, there have been vocal republicans on this issue. take a listen. >> there will be a correction of the alabama ruling by the state legislature in alabama. the governor has come out. but we want to keep these clinics out. >> we want the alabama legislature to make sure that procedure is protected. >> i have to tell you, chris, i have talked to so many women

impacted by this, including some forced to stop their treatments in the middle of a cycle when i went down to alabama. they tell me they are scared they won't be able to get the families they have dreamed of for so long, and they are also traumatized. that experience of feeling trauma is going to last past whatever comes next. whatever republicans are saying, you have a large swath of women and their families and their families that are going to remember the government told them they couldn't build families at a critical time. >> yamiche alcindor and ashley parker, thank you. the big names leading the pack to become donald trump's vice presidential pick. not found in traditional dish soaps that remove food and grease 5 times faster. and, because it cleans so well you can replace multiple cleaning products for counters, stoves, and even laundry stains. try dawn powerwash dish spray. brand power, helping you buy better.

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with donald trump easily sweeping the republican primary so far, attention is already turning to his choice of a running mate and a cpac straw poll this weekend offering maybe some surprising results. at the top, a tie between south dakota governor kristi noem and former presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy, each with 15% support. former congresswoman tulsi gabbard, a democrat turned independent came in third with 9%. congresswoman elise stefanik and senator tim scott each tied with 8%. i want to bring in matt gorman, former senior communications adviser to tim scott's presidential campaign. vaughn hillyard is back from cpac and joins me here. what does this poll tell us

about the faithful base that goes to cpac, and i wonder if you're surprised that your former boss wasn't higher on the list? >> a couple of things. you look at the audience, it's very far right, also very online. these are folks that really make their presence known on x, facebook, formerly twitter. what you're looking at are the online activist audience. and two, you notice, i think people realizing the need for diversity on a ticket, you see women up there, vivek, tim scott, african-american, folks realize the need for diversity. so i wouldn't expect another white male like a pence in 2016. those are the first things i see and take away from that. >> in fact, vaughn, donald trump's, there was a visceral reaction. tell us about is that. >> there are considerations around demographics being

considered by the trump team, when lara trump brought that up just the other day before a south carolina event there was a room of about a hundred people, there were immediate jeers when she asked the question whether donald trump should choose a woman for vice president. the jeers were on the basis of pick the most qualified. this is a republican party that has been vocal about dei efforts and about picking people who have the best qualifications to earn any type of a job, and lara trump after those jeers was quick to say, she assured her father-in-law would be picking based on their merit. at the same time, it was a notable response, especially when talking about these demographics and the political concerns being taken and calculated on. >> so, matt, i want you to listen to a bit of donald trump's cpac speech which happened saturday night, and frankly, a lot of it was spent with him defending his cognitive

abilities. here's that. >> in beverly hills, you pay a fortune in taxes. they say you can only brush your teeth once a day. there's no cognitive problem, if there was, i would know about it. they'll say he rambled, he's cognitively impaired. no, it's really the opposite. it's total genius, you know that. he did announce the other day that he would much rather see biden as president. and i agree with him. i agree. >> as i watch that speech, matt, i wondered, given donald trump's age, not as old as joe biden, but up there, and his looming court cases, should trump supporters be paying more attention to who he picks as vp? >> look, i think the vp, whether it's biden and trump, will have an outsized role, just period, just because of their age. we talked about when mccain

chose sarah palin, many years ago. this will have outsized attention, absolutely. we need to pick the most qualified person, the person god forbid, ready to take over and be president of the united states, i think you're right. i think no matter what, vice president harris and whomever trump picks as his vp could have outsized attention. outsized scrutiny, and also goes to the importance of make sure they're picking the right person. again, much like we saw with sarah palin in '08, the candidate's age can put more scrutiny and a lot of heat in areas they might not be ready for. >> we've got 30 seconds left. donald trump is appeals for the black vote, something democrats have long had sort of, you know, extremely sewn up. what are they doing, and what's the feeling there realistically about how much of the black vote they could get. >> number one, donald trump is trying to appeal to black voters. perhaps in a head turning way

this weekend, suggesting because he has been indicted and facing criminal trials, he has been discriminated against like black people have. donald trump, he has made end roads with black voters. the crowds are more diverse. in 2020, he won 12% of the black vote, which was a record for republican nominee in recent decades and our nbc news polling at the end of 2023 shows he has 16% support among the black electorate according to our polling. for donald trump, they see this as a real potential and possibility to make end roads. >> a critical demographic to watch. matt gorman, vaughn hillyard, good to see you both. thank you. still ahead, the eclipse economy, april's cosmic event may cast a huge shadow. it's also lighting up economies. we'll explain on "chris jansing reports." ing reports. gmg symptoms. and, ultomiris is the only long-acting gmg treatment with 8 weeks of freedom between infusions.

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right now, cities across the country are jockeying for who

will have the best view of the solar eclipse come april 8th. and already across local headlines, panic about the crowds for what could be one of the most viewed space events in u.s. history. nbc's priscilla thompson is covering this story. >> reporter: a cosmic event for the ages shaping up to be the hottest ticket in town. on april 8th, a total eclipse of the sun will plunge many viewers from daylight to darkness for more than four captivating minutes in parts of the country. an excitement is already building as so called eclipse tourists rush to book travel to be in its path. >> literally the stars are aligning. >> reporter: the total eclipse will span a 115 mile wide path across 13 states from texas to maine. that's nearly twice as wide as the last major eclipse in 2017, and it will also last twice as long. towns and cities lucky enough to be in the path of totality have

been preparing for months if not years. like the small city of columbus, indiana. >> i feel like we've kind of hit the cosmic lottery, we're planning, you know, downtown festivals with bands playing and vendors and food trucks. >> belle county, texas, already declaring a state of emergency because its population of nearly 400,000 could double, maybe even triple. >> everything from our first responders to our health care systems, to our fueling stations, to our highways, to our emergency management stations and more, all of these could be strained by the influx of people. >> reporter: the owners of the mint restaurant and bar are looking forward to the economic boom. some resorts offering luxury cosmic themed stays for thousands of dollars. others will get the chance to catch the eclipse from the sky. delta offering a fright from austin to detroit to give onlookers an out of this world