normally, you are trying to guzzle your drink down before they make you throw it out. that was not the case here today. as you mentioned, nearly 3 million people are expected to be screened at airports across the country. we caught up with one woman who is traveling with a group of students heading to summer camp. here is what she said about the travel. >> it is pretty crazy today. there is a lot going on. the line has never been this long. 40 people in our group so, it makes it a little bit harder. trying to calm. >> reporter: one thing, that group arrived early, in case i had to deal with any delays. fortunately, for them, everything went smoothly but that was not the case for all travelers we spoke with today. one couple was trying to get back home to texas and their flight was canceled. they were trying to find a flight on another airline. one woman wanted to get home to her baby. her baby.

and if you are still at home hanging out with your family, they say now is the worst time to leave. between 2:00 p.m. ea and 8:00 tonight. >> let me tell you. nobody is going to find an empty middle seat next to any ea of them on those planes, that's for sure. hank you, adrian. a historian who accurately predicted nine of the last 10 elections has some thoughts about president biden's election. what he htis saying whether bid should stay in the race, coming up in just a few minutes. a day to all of you from msnbc world news headquarters. welcome to alex witt report . we begin with breaking news the decision 2024 with president biden arriving just a short while ago in harrisburg, pennsylvania, for a campaign event. he is in that battleground state just eight days before the republican national convention kicks off in milwaukee. and 43 days before the 43 democratic national convention

in chicago. president joe biden taking the fight to stay in the race to the battleground state under mounting pressure to step aside in the last hour. house democrats joined minority leader hakeem jeffries for a remote discussion on biden's candidacy. and tomorrow, lawmakers return from the july io4th recess. senator mark warner will gather democrats to call on biden to bow out. prominent democrats today as well are sticking with biden. >> i think this week is going to be really critical for him to answer those remaining questions. and let's just be honest, i think there are still questions out there in the minds of many voters. >> either he has to win overwhelmingly, or he can't. >> i think most importantly now, this is not a beauty contest. it is a contest of who stands with the vast majority of the people of this country. the elderly, the children,

working class, the poor. and that candidate is obviouslyi joe biden. >> donald trump is laying low, staying out of the public gaze while surrogate pushed back on growing threats of trump's retribution. >> i know we are not going to have televised tribunal trials of anybody else. here's what i do believe. 's i do believe that the country is at an inflection point. this is the most important election literally in decades, maybe ever. >> we have correspondence in place covering all these new ac developments. aaron gilchrist standing by for us in harrisburg, where the n president will be speaking shortly. you've been talking with voters. what are they telling you babo how concerned they are about biden, or whether or not they think he can go the disk ends? what have you been hearing? >> alex, we do know the president has landed here in harris berg and is on his way. he should be arriving any ho minute now. there are several hundred people gathered here to see him

here and speak. but really, this is set up much more like a picnic we l anticipate the president might sort of mix it up with people here as opposed to offering any sort of formal remarks. there's no podium or anything set up right here, microphone or anything like that set up here. the president and first lady likely to just talk to voters. we had a chance to talk to a few people who mostly supported president biden and said that they really are interested in hearing what he has to say here on the ground as opposed to simply making a judgment about his performance in the debate two thursdays ago. and so that is something we know we're going to see the president do here. the campaign has said this is a key part of their strategy for president biden. something that he obviously enjoys doing. actually having conversations with e individual voters. a lot of the folks here, supporters of his. we did talk to one woman who said she wasn't on board with president biden running again. she thought that he should step

aside. i want you to hear little bit about the mix of conversations we had today. >> i love joe biden. i think he's done a great job. however, i think that now is the time for joe biden to be the statesman, step down. st we all have bad days. ys and so i am not going to put all my eggs in that basket. i think we need to have opportunities to hear him, like today. and make that decision based on what facts. >> so the first woman you heard from there also said that she o would like to see president biden move into more of an adviser sort of a function. if you want to take a position in someone else's administration, if the democrats want to s win, she li to see him as secretary of

date, or something like that. we also talked to another woman who said she really wants to see president biden fight. she wants to see him continue on over the next days and weeks to get his message out there and talk to more voters. she thinks that he can turn the tide on the reaction that we seen from his debate performance here. we know that president biden has been in a couple of battleground states here in pennsylvania. he was in wisconsin on oufriday and will continue to be out there. next week, we know he will be in d.c. for the nato conference. we expect them to do a news conference on thursday. the first lady, the second gentleman, they are all expected to be out there, traveling to battleground states in july. we did just learned that the second gentleman tested positive for covid yesterday, so he will likely be out of the mix for a little bit. he does a lot of travel, a lot of campaigning for the biden harris ticket. we can expect to see him rejoining as soon as he is well again. >> we are certainly sorry to hear that and wish him well. i will be a few days off the campaign trail. may i ask you quickly, though, what is this gathering behind

you? i know you described earlier as a union event. is it one large union? is a compilation of unions represented there? >> so i will tell you, we are at the union facility here in harris berg. as the union that represents public workers, public service workers, people who work in different levels of government, the people that we talked to here today were actually not members of that union. this may just be a gathering place. you can see a decent number of people behind me here. on the other side of the camera, there are many, many ra more people at many tables. folks have already got their food and they are eating, waiting for president biden to arrive here. the democrats are supporters of him who were invited to be here today, and these are the people that the president will hear from. >> it shouldn't be too long. you can let folks know that we are watching the president and a first lady right now deplane from air force one. they are at the harrisburg rr international airport.

you may know better than i do the distance between the airport and where you are or gathered there, but again, he has reached the tarmac, and he will certainly meet with some c dignitaries there, greet them, we have seen the beast, if you will. that armored vehicle that will f transfer the president through the streets of harrisburg to that location. so we can keep this photo op if we want to. john fetterman, senator, we see you with him as well. the senator from pennsylvania wearing his trademark hoodie with the first lady. we are going to be following ol that, aaron. he shouldn't be too far away from you guys there, which means he is pretty much on time. it's about 7 after 3:00, he was scheduled at 3:15, and they will certainly make their way there to where you are. as a keep an eye on this as well from either on tv or through our control booth, we are also following some breaking news that is important. it is on house minority leader hakeem jeffries holding a virtual meeting with top house democrat about president

biden's future. let's go to julie sirkin on capitol hill with the latest on that. what we learned about this meeting? is it still underway? do you know? i know is you described earlier, these are being playede very close to the vest. >> alex, it is still underway. my colleague scott long and i were both told basically everyone on this call, the yo ranking leaders of democratic leadership, are speaking on the call, getting a chance to share thoughts and opinions. i'm told this call is focused, as you can imagine, largely on president haydn and what his id future looks like as a leader e of the party. he spoke to a number of democrats today, i spoke to a number of them all weeks and the debate. we really are hearing mixed opinions, at least publicly. democrats are certainly not speaking in one voice here. part of the reason for that as we talked about yesterday and today is that they have not gotten a chance to really get together to talk to one another. or hundred 35 members of congress scattered all over the place, more in the senate, of course. have not been able to get on the same page, which is why earlier efforts we saw in the forms of letters being sent by

certain coalitions and factionsc of democrats, in the form of just five, for example, which f is something to pay attention to, 5 coming out and calling for biden to step aside publicly, way more overwhelmingly recalling with conversations with our colleagues to step aside to exit this race. we are hearing a number of things be brought up on this call right now, alex. we will share more as we get it, but i do want viewers to take a listen to something debbie dingell, anti-member of the house, had to say this morning. >> i think this is not as clear- cut as anybody wants it to be. i've heard many people express their concern. i think democracy is one of those things that you have to really understand, even my colleagues are worried about what's going to happen and what will happen to democracy. but i will tell you, i have people in parades shouted me, tell him to stay! >> so that point that dingell makes there about democracy is an important one.

many conversations that i've had with democratic lawmakers, certainly what i'm hearing right now from this virtual meeting is that democrats who favor biden, who endorsed him, to respect his record, are worried that they will look like hypocrites if they are holding and sticking with biden, the candidate that perhaps, in due time, the polls and voters will show and tell that he is not the strongest to be former president trump in november, given everything that we've seen from trump since he left the white house, given his indictments and so forth. so democrats are certainly concerned. i think maybe they had oca stronger candidate at the top of their ticket right now. that person would be victorious. also, think about their own races. a lot of these members, they run for re-election every two years, so they are up in november, many of them vulnerable. you want a chance to flip the house in their favor, democratso do. this is the way this affects the entire party down ballot, down ticket. with this meeting today with the senate meeting tomorrow and with in person discussions in th both the senate and house this

week, i do anticipate you later seeing more calls or you'll see democrats come out in a more unified matter here. er >> i think you are exactly right, and that's what happened pretty soon, because it must. take you for that. more breaking news for you thiss hour as we are following tropicals or barrel. it is crossing the gulf of mexico on its way directly to landfall in texas. millions in fact under hurricane and tropical storm warnings all along the texas coast. it is expected to hit early tomorrow morning with life- threatening storm surge and some highly damaging winds. torrential rains could cause flash flooding, prompting voluntary evacuation orders right now from ptofficials. gh joining me now, we have nbc's priscilla thompson who is there in the path of the storm. how are things there this hour, priscilla? have you noticed any change in t the weather in the last hour since? >> yeah, alex. as you can see, i have my jacket on this hour, and that's because just five minutes or so ago, there is one of the first rain bans that came through,

and it rained really heavily for a couple of minutes, and then passed on. the sun came back out, but now you can see is cloudy again. the waves are starting to kick up, and so we are beginning to see some of the impacts of that storm as it is continuing to make its way towards the second texas gulf coast. and just a short while ago, we got our latest briefing from the acting governor and the texas department of emergency management, and the acting governor really expressing that his biggest concern is the track of the storm and the fact that it is still changing. you know, initially, it looked like it was when you hit really hard in corpus christi and south padre island, and now it has shifted. and so he wants to make sure that people are staying aware of where that storm is headed, and if they are in its path. he said the path -- for folks in the path of this form, it could be deadly. i want to play a little bit of the warning that he gave earlier today. >> and it will be a deadly storm for people who are directly in that path.

that's what we want to talk about. today. the store has already left nine deaths in its path to the caribbean. we don't want number 10 o to be in texas. it is a serious storm, and you must take it seriously. and be prepared. >> and officials, there's real concern from officials about folks who may be on vacation still celebrating this holiday weekend and some of these e coastal areas, not paying attention to the news and not realizing how serious this storm could potentially be. they are urging people if your family or friends that are vacationing in these areas to ti just give them a call and check on them and make sure that they have a plan. meanwhile, there's also concern not just for the coastal areas and also the inland areas. and specifically houston. we heard them saying that the majority of deaths and fatalities from storms do not come from the storm surge. it comes from the flooding. and there is real concern about flooding, especially in areas like houston that have gone

relentless reign over the past several months, and the ground is not going to be able -- is already saturated and may not be able to handle much more of that. officials trying to get the fi word out, making sure that people are preparing. your where we are, and up and down the coast, we have seen these coastal areas repairing, boarding up windows, getting sandbags to protect homes and businesses, buying supplies like water and food. but of course, the real question will come as that water starts coming in. the floodwater start coming in, and how people are able to deal with that. alex. >> thank you so much. it definitely looks windier then when we last looked. we moved to the very latest forecast. angie, what is the newest detail on the storm? >> alex, we don't have a lot of change in the forecast from ge what we've essentially been dealing with over the past 12 hours or so. we will get another update

coming along at 5:00 from the national hurricane center, and it continues its northwestern movement at 10 miles an hour. it's just over 260 miles from the bay. that's what we are going to be watching likely for the area of landfall as we get into early tomorrow morning. the timeframe looks to be 4:00 k to 6:00 in the morning. you can see places like portland vaca in that frame. we see that cohen kind of shrink, and i really want folks do not pay as much attention to exactly where the center of that system is, but more so where the impacts will extend to. got a whole lot of them here for the texas coastline over th the next day or so. we will see the system we can as we get through the day tomorrow and specifically into tuesday. it will start to abring some rain from folks in arkansas and the tennis he and ohio valley. but in the short term, our biggest concern is going to be that flooding rainfall. you heard priscilla mentioned how deadly it can be. we saw the potential to see some really intense tropical rain bans setting up one after

another. already, some of those coming re onshore this morning, so priming the ground for saturation over the next 24 hours and notice where you see the highest amounts closer to the coast. near where the system is likely to come onshore, but specifically east of it as well. we can see five ofto 10 inches rain at upwards of maybe 10 to 15 inches of rain in some of the spots. we know how vulnerable places like houston are especially onee with 80 setting up one after g another and impacting folks in those areas. we will likely see more of these, specifically flash flood warnings, coming up as we get into tomorrow morning. will also see the chance for strong wind closer to the center, 90+-mile-per-hour winds. notice as we get further out from that, we will see 50, 60 tropical winds and we will haved a potential for some storm surge anywhere from four to six feet in the highest areas. >> unfortunately, she said that's going to happen in the early morning hours, so that is

a bit frightening. thank you. it would be an understatement to say a lot of drama is building in washington right now on capitol hill and also behind the scenes of the white house with one aide describing the scene as shakespearean. i conversation with the authors of these articles in a former ic barack obama speech writer that next when we are back in 90 seconds. uncomfortable! dracula, let's fight back against discomfort. with new poligrip power max hold & comfort. it has superior hold plus keeps us comfy all day with it's pressure absording layer. time for a bite! if your mouth could talk it would ask for... poligrip. (aaron) i own a lot of businesses... so my tech and my network need to keep up. it would ask for... thank you, verizon business. (kevin) now our businesses get fast and reliable internet from the same network that powers our phones. (aaron) so whatever's next... we're cooking with fire. (vo) switch to the partner businesses rely on.

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we are following some breaking news out of france. early projections from today's legislative election showing his prized twist with a leftist party now expected to hold the most seats in parliament, beating the far right party which initially had been projected to win. go right to josh letterman in paris will make sense of all of this, because all of the news is coming in at this very moment. let's talk about where the numbers are, josh, and what kind of coalition we can see and what these results mean overall for france. >> alex, i'm standing outside of the election night party for the national rally, the far right group. this was expected to be a big celebration tonight. the widespread assumption was that the national rally, following their victory in the first round of voting, was going to be headed for a major victory tonight, if not an absolute majority, certainly the largest getter of votes. that did not take place. in fact, the various asset poles are coming in that pose slightly different estimates for how many seats each party will get, they all show the

national rally coming in third, and the leftist coalition coming in first with president mccrone's centrist coalition, which was really seen as having been gutted in recent weeks coming in with a surprising second-place showing. it's hard to overstate just how much of an upset this is for french politics. as far as what happens now, it will be up to the president to pick the new prime minister from the coalition the got the most votes. the question is, who will he pick? the leader of the largest leftist party of that coalition? he was considered very far to the left, and is accused by many of his critics of being anti-semitic based on some of his comments about the war in gaza. we don't yet know who the president will pick, we do know that this will be a period of divided government with no party having an absolute majority.

that means it's going to be very difficult to pass legislation. the parties are going to have to form one-off deals or coalitions to try to turn this into a functioning government, just as france is under a global microscope with the olympic games that to start here in a few weeks. a lot of uncertainty ahead for french politics as a result of the shocking election result tonight, alex. >> josh letterman, a lot at stake here. thanks for ironing all that out for us. as we go from france, getting a live look at a community organization. it's an event in harrisburg, pennsylvania. it is waiting for the president to speak any minute now. we were showing you just a short while ago, not 10+ minutes ago, the president landing there with air force one at the airport, and he is now making his way to that event. the biden team will be there to meet with union members and local democrats, all as part of his campaign activities in this important swing state today. once the president starts speaking, or at least making his way through the crowd, were

going to bring that to you. we are not certain he's going to make any sort of teach. i reporter on scene aaron gilchrist has said there is not a podium. are plenty of picnic tables and plenty of people there able to see the president. he may do some old-fashioned grassroots, just walking through the crowd, and we will see what comes of this event and bring you all that we can. joining me right now, we have political white house reporter my award. we have tosha correctly, and obama white house former speechwriter and democratic strategist jesse moore. hey, welcome to all of you. maia, i'm going to start with you. in the first televised interview since last week's debate, president biden really brushed off democratic concerns that his campaign is faltering. he defied calls for him to exit the race. let's take a listen to a congressman adam schiff had to say about president haydn earlier today. here it is. >> the interview didn't put concerns to rest. no single interview is going to do that. what i do think the president needs to decide is, can he put

those concerns aside? any demonstrate to the american people that what happened on the debate stage is an aberration and that he can and will be donald trump? either he has to win overwhelmingly or he has the pass the torch to someone who can. it's as simple as that. what the supreme court did in that decision was give the next occupant of that office, whether it's joe biden or anyone else, nearly dictatorial power. >> you spoke with democratic members of congress and some top operatives after that interview. what was their reaction? did you put any of their concerns to rest? >> yeah. like schiff said, no one expected this interview to, you know, immediately solve all of biden's problems. he was more forceful. he was very defiant. if you look at that rally in wisconsin and then also with an interview. but i think what people were most struck i was how his denial about his standing in the race, and his dismissal of

everything from polling to how members of his own party are feeling. we heard him say that, you know, he's not leaving the race. you know, leadership is not going to ask him to leave the race. it's when you come down to the lord almighty, which was a very biden quote for someone who feels that he has been counted out time and time again. and, you know, i think a house democrat put the feelings really well to us by just saying that, look, denial is not going to be the solution here or the path forward for convincing voters that he is up to the task to beating donald trump. >> that denial point, jesse, and curious your take away from the interview. what should be his messaging if he hopes to get his footing back in the campaign and get it back to solid ground? >> well, i think it is important to acknowledge, for him to acknowledge, i did it. this is a tricky decision, a tricky moment in the democratic already and in the country.

i do think he missed the mark on that with abc. there was a moment he needed to look into the camera and say, look, i get it. and i think missing that moment is -- is definitely going to cost him. but i think this week and next week are a chance to make up for that, to be able to be honest about that, and also for all of us as voters, we should be really honest about what is happening with donald trump. i worry that we feel like we are pivoting away from an important discussion about biden to talk about trump, but at the same time, we are not shocked by donald trump anymore, and that is a real problem. he can lie into the camera for 90 minutes and then wash his hands. >> why is that? i ponder this question all the time. not necessarily the immediate attention, but why is it that half of us in this country are potentially half of us that look at a convicted felon, a chronic pathological liar, a person who talks about absurd things at his rallies

sometimes, all for the sake of the entertainment factor, i guess it must be. how is it that we have become so numb to that? >> i think we should have -- we should teach a college class about this together, because -- there is a whole, you know, spring of thought around the modern media culture now training people to pretty much only notice what is new. you only notice what is quickly understood. and what is new right now is people feeling troubled or shook by the president's performance. trump being a liar is baked in, and people aren't shocked by that anymore. this tide that washes over us every time he speaks lotus to sleep. and that is really, really troubling. that is how a democracy can die. >> in a new nbc news article, which you share the byline, you report the paul out that it has sparked a long simmering tensions between the biden family and white house aides

and the families now becoming more involved in this campaign as well as white house affairs. tell us what's going on behind the scenes. is this all because they are blaming white house aides for the president's poor performance at the debate? >> that is certainly part of it. so what we found this week was that amid what's happening in the white house and all these questions coming down on president biden, there's this new dynamic, which is, the family is trying to get more involved. white house officials are seeing hunter biden appear more, and certainly he has been in events in the past, it is appearing more -- meetings of close advisers. different meetings were there were some white house officials were telling us, what is going on right now? i don't think it's good optics right now. so there is that happening, but -- what we were hearing is, you know, from the families side, they are very frustrated with daft. they think that in the fallout of this, in the immediate fallout of this, someone from staff should raise their hand, taken an arrow, taken a bullet,

and said, my bad. i did something bad. you know, it was debate preparation, there is family who thinks that they did not prop him in the right way and that it was too rigorous and too much for him, and that he wasn't doing enough preparation to directly combat trump, essentially. what they wanted to see was someone essentially resigned and say, you know, it's my fault. instead, what they thought they were seeing were leaks to different news organizations putting all the blame on president biden and saying, we did everything right. we don't know what happened. this is all new to us. and yes, this uncovers long simmering tensions between the family and the staff. the family has felt boxed out. now, the staff says, this is for good reason. there's bad optics around several people in the family, namely hunter biden for all the reasons that we know.

namely, he is a lightning rod with republicans, and there's questions around his ford business dealings. >> so we believe still underway right now is heist minority leader hakeem jeffries virtual meeting that is holding the rank-and-file members, leadership as well, did this us concerns over biden. when congress reconvenes, do you expect the list of biden defectors if you will to significantly grow from the five who have officially called for him to deaf down? >> i will say, just from people i talked to this weekend. a lot of people are bracing for that. but i think there's also a chance that we see people rally around the president. were just going to have to wait and see how that shakes out. i think one thing that was really striking to me was the silent in particular this weekend from schumer, from jeffries. you know, after that interview on friday, we just didn't see the show of force, particularly from party leadership, that the

president would have wanted in this moment. and i think the bigger question, if we do see more defectors in the coming days, how much does that matter for biden? i mean, he is saying that the voters want him to stay in and that is going to stay in this race. i think that's going to be the bigger question in all of this. >> jesse, your old boss, former president obama, reiterated his support for biden after saying that debate might happen, trust me, i know. however, the washington post reports obama has privately told allies that biden's already tough path to re- election grew more challenging after the debate. how might obama play a larger role in having biden get back on track ? what kind of advice do you think the former president might be giving the current one? >> i don't think that's a super hot take, that the path just got a little bit trickier. i think, you know, the president style is it to come out and publicly tried to push his good and trusted friend out of the race. i just -- i can't imagine -- i should say, i don't have insight into this. i don't have the president on

text or anything like that. but my instinct would be, he has to keep his hands re-and ready to help joe biden, or if it's anyone else on the ticket, to beat donald trump. he has to kinda stay out of the fray to be in the best position to do that. >> my a word, natasha, jesse moore. good to talk with all of you. the new questions about donald trump's sentencing in his hush money case. he money i saved i thought i'd buy stilts. hi honey. ahhh...ooh. look, no line at the hot dog stand. yes! only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty.♪ oh, why leaffilter? it's well designed, efficient, i appreciate that. leaffilter's technology keeps debris

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>> and also author of the book

attack from within: how disinformation is sabotaging america. barbara, welcome. glad you are here. first in the hush money case, why did the judge set aside the sentencing that was originally planned for this coming thursday, and his trucks convention potentially in jeopardy? >> i don't think it's in jeopardy, but i suppose it's prudent for the court to give the court arguments, synthesizing this opinion. there's an awful lot going on there and the supreme court's decision, but i don't think it's going to have any impact on the case because of the decision that was made. we talked about separating conduct into official versus unofficial act, and giving immunity to a president for his official acts. all of the allegations in the hush money case related to conduct before the election by donald trump, the candidate, even things that were occurring while he was the president, signing checks, writing checks, having meetings all relating to this conspiracy that was formed in 2015 when he first announced

his campaign for office. i suppose the judge wants an opportunity to air the arguments. he did set a deadline for himself to decide whether donald trump and his sentencing is still necessary, they will do it on september 18th. there's certainly a possibility that this case continues and goes forward. >> trump for his part is now asking for a stay in the classified documents case and an outright dismissal. yesterday, judge cannon granted a delay. does he immunity ruling now give judge cannon cover to even dismiss this case? >> you know, it's hard to delay a case were you don't you have a trial date set. he did agree to grant more delays for some of the interim deadlines that she had on

filing responses to motions and other kinds of things. i think the argument will be made that the case should be dismissed on the basis of immunity. there's already been a motion filed on that basis, but the trump lawyers asked for more time to digest the supreme court opinion and to bolster its arguments about that motion. certainly, there's an awful lot going on in that supreme court opinion, and i think it's hard to the all of the ramifications it's going to have going forward. again, this is a case -- all of the allegations in this case are about conduct donald trump engaged in while in office. his willful retention of documents after he no longer had and his obstruction into that. i think his theory is one relating to the presidential records act, but i don't think it will prevail. >> barbara mcquaid, you know how this goes. this is about the president. we are now seeing a union rally, so i think you for speaking, and let's take a listen to the president with microphone in hand at a local union hall there in harrisburg, pennsylvania.

>> joe, what's all this about pennsylvania? you are from delaware. it never leaves you. anyway, thank you, thank you. i'm the print most prounion history in american history. anyway, you've heard me say before and i will say it again and again and again. the middle class it built this country, not wall street. and guess what? unions built the middle class. a lot of people talk about labor. unions -- unions. i've been with you my entire career. and by the way, i know there's a lot -- we have a lot to talk

about. i'm not going to make a campaign speech now, just to say two things. one, things are going to change. we got 55 companies a didn't pay a penny of taxes, and we made them pay 23%. they are not paying 15%, they are not paying enough. you got 1000 billionaires in america. up to 1000 billionaires. you know what their average tax rate is? a .3%. but here's the point i want to make to you all. i'm not joking about this one. the fact of the matter is, trump wants to give them another $5 trillion tax cut over the next five years. i'm not joking. you know what we are going to do? we are going to stop it and spend that money on childcare. i mean it. we will spend that money on elder care. look, folks. all of those things that people

give me credit for -- for the critics said, biden is just a big spender, first of all, we ended with actually a little bit of a surplus. guess what? that other guy has the largest deficit any president has ever had in history. but here's the deal. i asked the treasury department to do a study. with all my prounion stuff and my organizing and marching and picket lines with you all, is that good or bad for the economy? when unions do well, the entire economy and everybody who is nonunion does better. everybody. so i really mean it. i came to thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. we are the most powerful country in the world, we have the best economy in the world, we need to make sure we start taking care of the families. i am from wilmington area, and i tell you what -- we lived in -- she had five sisters and a four bedroom house.

i have four kids, and my family in a three-bedroom house. with a grandpa who lived with us. a small house. i wonder how my mom and dad did it now, looking at it. but the point is, my dad used to say, your paycheck was a lot more than the amount of money. it's about your dignity. it's about respect. you ever look a kid in the eye at the end of the month and say, honey, were going to be okay. i mean it. there's a lot of people still struggling, because since we ended the pandemic, or since i ended the pandemic -- he didn't. corporate profits have doubled. doubled. and we got to do something about it. one of the things, you know, that we did, the first bill that i got past, i didn't have a congress to continue it, i made sure that we had -- we had childcare.

her child. and guess what? based on income. because child poverty in half. in half. the economy grew. we had childcare. guess what? mom or dad can go to work and earn money. it grows the economy. it's not a waste of money. it's growing the economy. i'm getting too wrapped up here. anyway, there's a lot we can do. i go all the way back to mcafee. if you think i'm kidding, i'm not. i got elected in large part because in my home state, in my home state of delaware. so we have a lot to do, folks. we can do it. we are on the cusp of getting so much done. i really mean it. and with your help -- with us working together, were going to get a lot done for the american people. so anyway -- i guess, if i stand here long enough, all those folks in the back are going to die of sunstroke. i'm not going to do that. anyway, i tell you what. i got a young guy with me who

is -- if you are ever in a foxhole, he went in with you. senator fetterman. tterman. >> thank you, mr. president. i just want to say -- >> and there you see pennsylvania senator john fetterman and the first lady and others traveling with the president on this campaign swing for the very important swing state of pennsylvania. in harrisburg, they are addressing a large crowd of union members, pretty much gathered around getting them checked tablecloths, picnic tables. it is a picnic event, and that may be the only formal discussion that we hear from the president, statements rather, he will be making his way through that crowd. so we will look to hear a little bit more from the president if indeed he does take up the microphone. but let's talk right now with professor of political science at howard university.

we also want to speak with history professor at american university and election victor allen lichtman. as i think you both for being here, ladies first. so in this abc news interview, resident biden said he is in good shape, and the parties best hope to be donald trump. let's take a listen to what he said there. >> can i run the hundred and 10 flat? no. but i'm still in good shape. >> are you more frail? >> no. >> so your reaction to the president, not only that comment, but also just in general from that interview on friday night. she looks like she might be frozen there. i think were having a little bit of technical difficulty. i don't know if you can hear me. but if not, we will go to alan. let me ask you allen, your thoughts about the president from what you witnessed and watched in that friday night interview, how he did, the image that he portrayed. how did you see it?

>> i'm not going to nitpick the presidents interviews. i think the media has been incredibly complicit in electing and helping to elect donald trump, upset the results of a fair election and has claimed to be governing as an authoritarian. why isn't that equally covered as well as bidens issues beyond that? all of those political journalists, critics, who, wanted him out of this race, have zero track record in predicting elections. i do, for 40 years. and the way it works is a fall against the white house party, their predicted losers. biden checks off incumbency and party contest. that means 6 of the 11 for the

defeat. if they want to force it now, you lose the incumbency, you lose the contest, and that means only four more teams would have to fall to predict the democrats defeat. plus, in 120+ years of american politics, when there has been the right house party has never won ever. but these critics, what they want to do is re- create the conditions of 2016 that elected donald trump in the first place. that is a plan b, though. if all these critics to succeed in pushing biden out, what biden should do is resign the presidency for the good of the country, contrast with donald trump he's only in it for himself. harris becomes president, takes on the incumbency, becomes a

consensus, and ticks off the context key. the worst possibility is when all of these operatives and critics are pushing for. biden withdrawing at a contested nomination. >> okay, you've laid all that out pretty clearly. it appears to me, it's going to be a while before were able to make our prediction firmly, and make it 10 out of the last 11 addictions correctly. you're waiting a little bit before you do that? >> i would say 11 of 11, because i think i got 2000 right. there was a stolen election. i proved it on the u.s. commission on civil rights. you are absolutely right. things are much too fluid right now. not just with what is going on with biden. we have two wars raging. one in gaza and one in ukraine. i intend to make my prediction after the democratic convention.

we are totally entrapped by the polls, which are not predictors. and what happens if biden achieves a cease-fire and a hostage release? is equity totally change the narrative and turn it around? >> interesting. we will see if that actually would have a huge influence. you are right. i would ask you a question at the top and change it up based on what alan was saying there. alan makes the point that he thinks the media has been somewhat complicit in all of the aches that his surrounding biden since his poor debate performance. that's not something you can argue, and he admitted it is much in health and that interview on friday night. but the fact that not enough is said about donald trump but the fact that not enough is said generally in the media about donald trump and who he is, what he does, how we have

tolerated and seem to accept his particular branding of lies and lack of reality and just absurdities that he spouts off when he's out on the campaign trail. what can the media do to turn that around? >> i think there's a little bit of space between what is happening in this conversation with joe biden and this conversation about potentially wanting to have a person who represents the party who is younger, who represents younger ideals and ideas. and talking about donald trump, what donald trump does wrong, what he should not do. i think it's possible to walk and chew gum at the same time, so i think more shows should be like yours. they should interrupt what donald trump is telling lies. he should be very clear immediately when he's telling those lies in not directly afterwards about what is happening. they should not agree to rules for space for donald trump can just pay what he wants to say without being fact checked in the moment or allowing members of the journalism community to

talk to him in real time. i think there are things we can do, but i don't really think that's a real issue. i hear from people every day in my community, in my circles. i hear from my students when they are in session, about their worries about joe biden's age. i think very much that he's done a great job, i think this administration has been fantastic. i would like to see a democratic administration win moving forward. i don't think that's what we are debating here, but i do think we are all asking ourselves a real question about what is happening with this president. and i think to the extent that we want to talk about everything else besides these individuals fears about the age of this president, and talk seriously about whether those fears are going to lead people to stay at home in november, we are not really willing to talk about that, and i think were going to be in a bit of trouble, and no focus on donald trump is going to be able to change that. >> we know allen is when he put

his prediction out there for who wins this race after the democratic convention next month in chicago. will the party come together before then? would you expect it to be chaos in chicago? what do you think it's going to take to bring this party together? >> i think it depends on what you mean by party. if you're talking about the people and the people in the electorate, that's a different thing than the party at self. i think for sure that the people who are going to be in the convention will find a way to -- i think they wish they were on the same page about winning and being the most important thing. and so they figure out about how to get the common ground. he made a speech of the 1988 convention making that same claim. this is not the first time trying to figure out how to get together, but i don't think it will be easy, and i think the real challenge is going to be getting the people who are at the convention together in the same space, having the same feelings, energized and motivated along with that base, along with those folks in the

electorate. and the electorate here is the real challenge, is the real issue. and i, to be frank, don't know what democrats are going to do in order to make people newly and freshly excited about joe biden's candidacy. >> i want to thank both of our professors for this discussion. professor there at howard university, and an american university professor, alan lichtman. thank you so much. president biden host nato this weekend in washington. take a look at what could happen to that group should donald trump win in november.

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magazine contributing writer michael hirsch. good to see you. and in part because you've been covering foreign-policy for years. so what is your expectation at the nato summit? what are you looking for from president biden? >> well, for biden, this is going to be all about, you know, the political platform of being the leader of the free world on a campaign trail even before his disastrous debate. he had pointed to his resurrection of nato, his revitalization of nato as one of his greatest accomplishments in the face of russian aggression ukraine. and so i think you are going to see him touting that accomplishment. i think you are going to see him expecting the other major leaders to be, you know, giving him compliments and patting him on the back, as it were, about what he has done. this is a great -- i mean, this is really the best opportunity biden has had since that debate to really kind of resurrect his image, his profile of his

presidency in a very powerful way. >> okay. but if donald trump were to be re-elected, what are european leaders doing to prepare for that? >> they call it trump roofing, and there are -- >> what do they call it? trump roofing? >> yes. that's really the term, and they are out there touting how much more they are spending. you know, one of tom's main complaints when he was president was how few of the nato allies actually met the target of 2% of gdp spent on defense, which was a target that way back in 2014 at the well summit. and that was, you know, a cause of complaint, not just by trump, but even president obama complains regularly about what he called nato free riders. what they are trying to do is get more of the countries spending that amount of money, and now they are saying collectively, were spending 2%, even though members of the key

country including germany have not yet reached that goal. they are also trying to set up a new command in east germany to address ukraine, to supply ukraine out of what was purely american command by getting it over to a european joint -- european and americans at the same time. so there are various ways in which they are trying to insulate nato from what could be an onslaught. you know, a new president and donald trump. >> trump has repeatedly said that he would, quote, and the war in ukraine, and russian president vladimir putin seems to think trump a serious. what does that look like, and how realistic is it to happen? >> well, what i've learned from various sources, the trump campaign it out, i should say, has not commented on this, and trump has been named a national security team. what i've been told from sources we think are pretty familiar with trump's thinking, he does have the

outline of a plan, and that would involve essentially meeting with putin, handing over to newton a portion of eastern ukraine that he has already occupied, and, and this is crucial -- alleging not to expand nato further eastward, which would mean that the promise of nato membership to ukraine, what you are going to hear this week at the summit, going to be talking about ukraine, if trump became president, that would basically be taken off the table. >> hang on, michael. what you said about donald trump would do to putin, wouldn't that be seen as appeasing putin? >> very much so. trump, he listened to trump. one of the means on the campaign circuit for him is how quickly he would end this war. he's actually said several times, and even before he was sworn in, if you won the presidency, he would solve the ukraine problem. he would cut a deal. and i think that this would involve, yes, appeasing putin in the sense that putin has

very much made an issue of nato eastward expansion, and trump would stop that, i believe. >> this is a sobering conversation. we will further again with you, michael hirsch. president biden has taken up a lot of our time with life coverage, we appreciated. thank you. today marks nine months since the start of a devastating war in gaza. hamas says it is willing to compromise on a key demand and hostage negotiations allowing for a phased cease-fire deal rather than insisting israel commit to a permanent cease- fire. and recently, the idf gave a few american news outlets an inside look at what's happening, lifting the embargo and improving correspondence reporting from the idf press trip, including reporting from our matt bradley. matt, to you. >> i'm in the city, which is putting the border with egypt in the southern gaza strip. i've been here a couple of times before, but now the city is completely unrecognizable, and it was only a couple of

months ago that this was really consider the last safe haven for palestinians. there's a lot of shooting that is going on here. according to the idf, one of the main challenges they are facing here is a highway of tunnels that run underneath the border with egypt, which is only just a couple of meters behind the camera. all the way underneath here, into rafah which runs into a tunnel system further into the gaza strip, it has been carrying in contraband and weapons for years now. that's one of the things that they are very carefully trying to dismantle. you can hear there still a lot of shooting going on. the idf of said they are entering into a third phase or a phase c of their fight in the gaza strip. that is kind of allusive. we are still hearing, as you can here, a lot of fighting. there's a lot of action and a lot of destruction that still is going on. hamas, according to the israelis, friends of the idf, is still very much active here. matt