his song "omg" debuted on latin's digital song survey. that's him performing for the first time live last month. a cuban american baseball player, his song is about overcoming hard times and staying positive. it has become a mantra for mets fans with players celebrating with an omg sign at games now. [ speaking non-english ] that wraps up the hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president biden still defiant, despite

deepening doubts in his own party. >> i'm not in this for my legacy. i'm in this to complete the job i started. i'm determined on running. but i think it's important that allay fears. >> he fails to stop the bleeding. minutes after his nearly hour-long news conference, influential democrat jim himes says mr. biden should be replaced. >> the trajectory, what means feel in their bones right now suggests not only that joe biden would lose this race, but that we would lose the senate and the house. >> even the president's closest ally in the house, congressman jim clyburn of south carolina, backing his friend but leaving his options open. >> i'm with joe biden. if he were to change his mind, i would answer the question that i

would be all in for the vice president. >> hakeem jeffries announcing he met last night at the white house with the president to relay his members' concerns. this hour, all of the latest reporting and insight on this unprecedented moment in american political history. ♪♪ good day. i'm andrea mitchell reporting from new york today. president biden is entering a high stakes weekend with party defectios racking up. importantly, he had a late-night reality check from hakeem jeffries visiting the white house. he was expected to relay significant concerns from his members about the president's ability to hold the house and defeat donald trump. this morning, on "today," the

president's closest ally in the house, south carolina congressman jim clyburn, endorsing his friend but leaving the door open a crack should he decide to bow out. >> if he decides to change his mind later on, then we will respond to that. we have until the 19th of august to open our convention. >> if the president does decide to step aside and it's vice president harris,endorsement. >> absolutely. no question about that. >> this rarely happens we do instant analysis. did you leave the door open just a little bit for these continued questions about president biden? because he said he made up his mind. you are saying -- >> i take him at his word. that's why i am all in. i'm riding with biden no matter what method he takes. i'm with joe biden. if he were to change his mind, i just answered the question that i would be all in for the vice president.

>> the president himself praising vice president kamala harris during his press conference, despite this verbal gaff. >> look, i wouldn't have picked vice president trump to be vice president if i think she's not qualified to be president. >> donald trump jumping on that mistake, mocking the president in a post. the president responding later, i know the difference, he wrote. one is a prosecutor, the other a felon. that came after another slip-up while introducing president zelenskyy. >> ladies and gentlemen, president putin. president putin? going to beat president putin. president zelenskyy. i'm so focused on beating putin. we gotta worry about it. >> that one he caught. four more democratic lawmakers are calling for the president to step away from the ticket, bringing the total to 20. the president still insisting that he is in this race until the end.

>> i'm not this for my legacy. i'm in this to complete the job i started. i'm determined i'm running, but i think it's important that i allay fears by let them see me out there. i believe i'm the best qualified to govern. i think i'm the best qualified to win. but there are other people who could beat trump too. but they have to start from scratch. >> we begin with our reporters, mike memoli, garrett haake and ryan nobles. mike, the president, he has made gaffs in the past. since the debate, everything he does is under a microscope. is this sustainable for another four months to live through a campaign like this? >> reporter: that's right. as you know, i have been covering president biden for 16 years. when i was covering him in the 2008 campaign after he joined the obama ticket, these were the

verbal miscues that we would document and have some fun with from time to time. they take on a much higher level of seriousness now as every word the president utters, every move is highly scrutinized. we knew it would be a consequential week for president biden. it has been even if he is ending this week in the same place he began it, very much committed to staying in this race. but there has been something of a tone shift around the president's team and those close to him as one person put it to me, there's more of a reality-based conversation happening within the west wing, within his campaign about what the political stakes are moving forward. they do look at these same public polls we are looking at and see a race that's very little changed. but the counterpoint is the debate was supposed to begin a process in which this race broke open, as adam schiff put it last sunday, this is a race that democrats should be winning more easily than they are at the moment. that's at the heart of the concerns relayed by hakeem

jeffries to the president last night. we expect the president will continue before he heads to michigan today to have some of the direct conversations with key democratic allies. this event today in michigan, an essential battleground state, is interesting because it signals where the campaign wants the focus to be. the president is going to, we're told, lay out what he intends to do in the first 100 days of a potential second term and compare that to what the potential second trump administration would look like, project 2025, all this on the eve of the republican national convention when democrats hope the spotlight returns to donald trump. >> ryan, we know from your team that the president's going to speak to the hispanic caucus in the next few minutes. we know he met with hakeem jeffries, really importantly last night. deal with the hispanic caucus first, but you want to drill down on what hakeem jeffries was

likely relaying. >> reporter: the meeting with the congressional hispanic caucus is supposed to start any minute. these two important caucuses, the black and hispanic caucuses, have individual members that are some of, if not the most vocal supporters of the president and insistent the democratic party needs to rally around him to continue the fight. however, the caucuses have not put out endorsement and affirmative stations. we have seen statements issued by the chair of the congressional black caucus, by prominent members in the congressional hispanic caucus, but there are underlying concerns within the caucuses that still exist. the chairman of the congressional black caucus said the conference is not a monolith. that speaks to the wider level of anxiety in the democratic party.

it was not at all reduced by the performance they saw last night from the president. if anything, it just kept it at bay. i have had several democrats describe the situation they find themselves in as a bit like purgatory. they feel as though they can't make this aggressive effort to push president biden out of the race, but at the same time, they fear that if they come out publicly, it's going to further damage him more. if he does stay in the race, make it impossible for him to win. >> would you expect that what hakeem jeffries told him in terms of what i have been tolder -- told earlier that it would be a reality check, that a majority have a concern? >> reporter: that's the hope. that's what hakeem jeffries promised he was going to go directly to the president, look him in the eye and tell him what his members are saying. that has been a big concern among congressional democrats,

that the message is getting lost between this end of pennsylvania and the other end of pennsylvania. the subtle hints that they are concerned about the future of the race aren't piercing either the insular bubble he has around him or just the president's comprehension of the reality of the situation. the hope is that that was relayed last night by hakeem jeffries to the president. >> garrett, the president telling voters to listen to what trump is saying, trying to recast the focus on donald trump. it's hard to do in terms of the democratic and republican politics when all the focus is on this crisis on the democratic side, but donald trump has been saying some pretty controversial things. point out, he was with viktor orban last night. it's very alarming to world leaders certainly as the nato summit was progressing.

he is a pro-putin member of nato, just came from moscow and beijing. >> reporter: yeah. i think if the consensus on this race is that it's not decided by who is more cozy with which nato members. if you are focused on the nato group and how joe biden is handling that, you are probably voting for joe biden. the diagram of people who know who viktor orban is will not alter the race. the trump team understands that and if your opponent is melting down, stay out of his way. donald trump has spent much of the last couple weeks in meetings and just golfing and staying out of the spotlight. he has only held two large-scale in-person events since the debate, basically staying out of joe biden's way while the focus

has been on him. it's a recognition of how the contours are from the jump and how they are likely to go. whichever of the two men is having the most attention paid to him tends to be the one who is losing the day. the way that donald trump has been able to stay out of the spotlight up until the start of his convention next week, which would be tightly scripted, i think is something that his team is proud of. they feel it's working to their advantage. >> i agree that foreign policy is not the major concern. i'm just saying that they would normally -- there would be coverage of a party presidential candidate doing such extraordinary things and some of the things he said in the rally got completely overlooked in mainstream media. i want to point out that the white house does have a few tools at its disposal. we will check this out. this say post on x, formerly known as twitter, of course.comg

the framework has been agreed upon with israel and hamas. this is a big step from all of the things that have to be agreed to. but they have been negotiating. we know william burns has been there. we know the players are there. netanyahu, despite his disavowal, promised the president a week and a half ago, on july 4th in fact, that there is an agreement, but they had to work on the steps. we will work on this reporting. i want to say, there are ways that any white house can grab attention and that there are times when foreign policy is not completely removed, because one of the big draws on the president's polling, especially

among young people, has been the continuation of the gaza war hanging over his head and the likelihood there would be protests in chicago and the rest of that. put a pin in that. mike, garrett and ryan. joining us now is nbc news chief political analyst chuck todd. i can't think of anyone better to talk to at this moment, because you and i both know of all of the ups and downs in any negotiation on the middle east. let's start there right now. they may have been rushing this out. there's always the possibility that netanyahu and the right wing cabinet members are going to press him to try to play this down. we know there was another friday announcement by the president that was immediately disavowed by netanyahu over the weekend. they were getting close. we did hear -- i was on the briefing and spoke to one of the briefers afterwards that on july

4th it was a significant breakthrough, that hamas had agreed to the earliest stage and was no longer demanding preemptively a full cease-fire before anything else can be done. >> look, this is a prerequisite for biden or any democratic ticket at this point, whether it's biden or harris, to have this not be a hot war in the fall. if this is a hot war when younger folks are back on college campuses and we're having -- there's daily exchanges of gunfire and then some, i think this is a nightmare for the incumbent president or the incumbent administration, whoever is at the top of the ticket. look, this is sort of an -- i think it's necessary to blunt the political interference that the israeli prime minister is participating in by coming to speak to a divided congress.

i don't understand why he is doing that. it's not in the best interest of israel overall. it's only in the best interest of his own politics and perhaps what he wants to see happen in this country's politics. i would call it a necessary development for this administration. >> absolutely. the other thing is that you can expect a very strong push against iran at the very moment when there is at least a chance of a less radical leader just elected in iran and the possibility of getting them to back off of supporting all of their proxies that have been waging war around the region. we will put a pin in that. we will do more reporting. chuck, i do want to play another portion of the president just last night. let's listen to this. >> you earlier explained confidence in your vice president. >> yes. >> if your team came back and showed you data that she would do better against former

president donald trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race? >> no, unless they came back and said, there's no way you can win. me. no one is saying that. no poll says that. >> i will ask you for a reality check on the polling. people are saying that. >> here is the problem. in theory, it's a winnable race for biden. but the question is, can he do the things he needs to do to win? when you look at even recent historical context, nobody with this low of a job approval rating as an incumbent president has ever won, period. it's just a fact in the modern era of polling. that's why all of these very well qualified and very experienced strategists look at what appears to be a close race and says, yeah, but when you look under the hood, you realize, one candidate is a lot

stronger than the other candidate. that's the issue. another thing on harris -- i have talked to with some democrats, while she polls similarly to biden, what's interesting is that it's a different -- potentially a different electorate. when i have talked to down-ballot strategists, they made the argument that maybe she doesn't do as well with swing voters as you would want a democratic nominee to be, but if she gets younger voters and african american voters a little more enthusiastic about showing up, that even if she loses to trump, she gives democrats a better shot with an electorate that would allow them to win the house in new york and allow them -- the fear with biden at the top of the ticket, particularly why the house democrats i think are the most panicked right now at their situation, is that you will have a bunch of demoralized democrats in blue states who say, i don't

have to go, i don't like it. then all of a sudden, those swing districts in new york and california, which are the key to democrats winning the house, they come up about two or three points short and it's a turnout problem and it's a base problem. that's why house democrats are almost on edge. frankly, senate democrats knew they are probably losing control of the senate, the map is what it is. there's a reason it's the house democrats that are more vocal right now than even the senate democrats, because they see control of the house slipping away. >> frankly, that was their last hope, because with the math, the senate was very likely to be lost. with the supreme court what it is, they view that as trump world, the supreme court. so the only branch of government, if donald trump were to win, would be the house that would be the final bar. >> really quick, if they're

going to make a move against biden, they have to do it this weekend. they can't keep dragging this out. they can't wait. >> it's a terrible conversation. to that point, hakeem jeffries went last night. i have been told that he might go last night, might go this morning. for them to have him go to the white house and see the president -- he didn't finish that news conference until 8:29 last night. jim himes came out a minute later. >> 8:30, exactly. >> he couldn't have -- maybe he was waiting in the west wing for the motorcade to get back. i'm timing it from the convention center, minutes. they were meeting around 9:00 last night. that is very unusual and that was -- from what i understand, it was supposed to be a reality check. >> i think it's a heads up. >> it was probably a majority of the members really don't want you on this ticket. >> right. i have a feeling it was as much a heads up as a reality check.

look, the dam may break this weekend. i'm preparing you. >> what about jim clyburn today? what was your read? >> it's the same thing as what former speaker nancy pelosi did on "morning joe" a couple days ago. it's signaling, look, i'm not going to dump on my friend joe biden, but i am living in reality. this is clyburn -- he is a political pragmatist. that's how biden got the nomination in the first place and got his endorsement the first time. that was a pragmatic move. nancy pelosi, she's a political pragmatist. she played hard ball but she's a pragmatist. that's what's happening here. they look at this top of the ticket and they realize the house is unwinnable under these circumstances. period. that's why this is coming to a head, perhaps, this weekend. >> chuck todd, your experience is invaluable at a moment like this. as always, on all things.

thank you very much. >> thank you. the backup plans. james carville joining me to talk about what's being discussed in democratic circles all over town. the party might move forward if the president were to step aside. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. i'm andrea, founder of a boutique handbag brand - andi - and this is why i switched to shopify. it's the challenges that we don't expect, like a site going down

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pennsylvania or wisconsin. they are all important. he remains deiant as he dismissed calls to step aside. last night, mr. biden dismissing his low job approval rating which sits at 37%. >> there are at least five presidents running or incumbent presidents who had lower numbers that i have now later in the campaign. so there's a long way to go in this campaign. so i'm just going to keep moving. >> joining me now is james carville, veteran democratic strategist who helped get bill clinton elected and is calling on president biden to step aside. thanks for being with us. >> you bet. >> i can't offhand remember five presidents who were elected and they were in their upper 30s. help me here. >> i can't help you. i'm sorry.

chuck knows history better than anybody. he said it was the lowest he had seen. we have to move forward. we can't fact check everything. we're in the middle of a crisis here. >> there's more fact checking required on the republican site. you are proposing town halls with democrats competing. is that chaos? is that the recipe for chaos? you have chicago, memories of 1968, if there's no peace in gaza, you have demonstrations. >> you know, it might be chaos. i tell you what we are doing right now. we are doing what donald trump and mar-a-lago want us to do. the democratic party is hell

bent on pleaing donald trump, do this. it's that simple. what always happens is, washington types, clinton and obama, that's not going to work. i don't care. do something. don't just stand there. the way washington kills everything is -- fill in the details. the details are, we are on track to lose an election to a major criminal who is going to destroy the western alliance, the constitution and everything in between. we ought to act like it. we ought to act like -- >> what do you think nancy pelosi and jim clyburn -- well, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer maybe, hakeem jeffries, what do you think they are up to? >> i think they are mortified. i think they want to see a change. they see the path we are on. people like president biden for good reason. he is a very personable man. he has an incredible record. there's no one that has close to the experience he has in foreign policy.

the torch passes to different generations. the democratic party has to refurbish itself. we are losing young people that don't hardly exist anymore. people are crying for change. we're telling them that you can't have that. it's not good for you. you don't have the details flushed out yet. i have to see a better plan in this. think about it. you know exactly what donald trump wants us to do. you know precisely what steve bannon wants us to do. we are hell bent on pleasing them. i think it's a big mistake. i thought it was. i still do. highly unlikely to y mind because of some technical reasons about how you put a town hall together. >> let me ask you this, in your scenario, how do you bypass kamala harris without losing a huge part of the democratic base? >> two ways that we can go about

this. you have -- right now, you have to coalesce. the correct answer is, i'm running for president, i intend to be our party's nominee, i intend to support our nominee and i look forward to debating people in my own party and more importantly, i look forward to debating donald trump, because i think i can do this. you have to express confidence. you have to think you are good. you have to say, bring on anybody you want. i'm ready to go. the press is all stuck in, if you don't do this, that, everything else. she comes out and says, i trust democratic voters. i trust this process. i'm going to work hard for it. not only would she -- she would likely put herself in a good position to win a general

election. if she say, how dare anybody oppose me, that's not going go over well. >> big question, how do you persuade the president of the united states, given everyone around him in the immediate circle is telling him, keep going, how do you persuade him to take that big step? >> first of all, i am not going to persuade you. what happens in these things -- you have been around. the staff is saying that. i understand that. they are loyal to him. the leader of the house, the senate majority leader -- let me tell you another thing. the donor class is shutting down. i know these people. they are not -- not only are they shutting down contributions to the biden campaign, they are shutting down to the senate and house committee. this has been reported on. it's way underappreciated. unlike me, all i can do is shut

my mouth. that would make people happy. they shut their wallet and they will make a lot of people unhappy. that's going on. it's beyond just the top of the ticket. >> james carville, thank you, as always. >> thank you, andrea. thanks so much. nervous energy. new reporting as speculation swirls over the president's future. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. eports." this is msnbc.

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the number of democrats calling for joe biden to step aside from his re-election bid continues to grow today. joining me now, "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker, yamiche alcindor and jackie alemany. peter, let's talk about where president biden is right now. there were a couple of gaffs, but he got through the news conference. he didn't quiet the dissenters. they were waiting until after nato concluded, literally after nato concluded in the case of jim himes, under direction from nancy pelosi and others before they would articulate it. in fact, last night, hakeem jeffries went to the white house.

the message is that the caucus isn't with him. right? >> yeah. there's a lot of nervousness there. he did obviously calm the waters to some extent with a steadier than debate performance. but if that's the standard, a lot of democrats are worried it won't be something he can sustain. at some point there's a worry he will have another bad moment, a bad performance. even if he gets through the next few days, they will spend the next three months or so on pins and needles. your point with james from earlier, we have looked at this. there are not five american presidents who have had approval ratings as low as president biden and gone on to win. i can't find a single one. what we found is the only two presidents in modern times, since truman, who had approval ratings as low as president biden does at this time of their presidency were jimmy carter and george h.w. bush, neither one, of course, went on to win

re-election. it's not as positive a situation, anywhere near as what president biden is saying. does he believe it? is that what people are telling him? hard to know but telling in a way. >> what more do you know about the meeting between jeffries and president biden last night, jackie? >> we don't have a detailed readout of what was conveyed last night. based on all of our previous reporting this week about the position that hakeem jeffries is in, we know that he potentially was telegraphing certain things that he might have included in that meeting with biden, which was essentially that members, as you noted, do have concerns. there are wildly varying opinions here. we do know members were told to go to jeffries and to nancy pelosi and to outline their concerns, talk about some of the polling that they have been seeing that have become a drag on them, especially the frontliners who are in

vulnerable jeffjeffries -- positions. jeffries has to balance the cheerleading for biden amongst black democrats. vulnerable members are fighting for their political lives, especially as the common refrain amongst staffers, senior aides and members privately has been that there's no path to recapturing the house anymore for democrats if biden remains at the top of the ticket. >> it seems the president is fighting. clearly, still fighting. he was talking to the hispanic caucus earlier today. now i understand from our team he has been talking to the -- or about to talk to the asia pacific caucus. he is trying to shore up those groups that were in his camp.

there was some reporting earlier this week that there was some dissent within the congressional black caucus, that the caucus had come out so quickly with a statement of endorsement and that there were some who don't feel quite comfortable with that. >> that's right. a source close to the congressional black caucus pointed out to me and underscored the statement came from the cbc chair, but was not actually an endorsement from the entire caucus. my reporting is that most members of the congress am black caucus remain loyal to president biden. but they are very, very worried this continuing questioning of his ability to serve, his ability to be at the top of the ticket, it will be possibly fatal for his candidacy but could bring down the whole party. i've been told by lawmakers that for months black lawmakers have been telling the biden administration, the biden campaign that there needs to be a redirection when it comes to money and messaging and when it comes to the overall direction

of the campaign. they want to see president biden talk more about kitchen table issues like wages and housing and less -- even though these are important issues -- on the democracy and abortion, which is a big issue and one the vice president has talked about. the lawmakers say there needs to be a course correction here. even if biden stays at the top of the ticket, he needs to take that advice, even though they are saying if he does step down, it has to be the vice president or there could be a civil war in the democratic party. >> peter, earlier this week you were reporting on a group of aides -- allies coming up with a way to persuade president biden to step down. can you elaborate on what you were reporting? >> yeah. inside biden's camp, there are people who still are very strongly for him, defending him, angry at the critics, want everybody to back off. there are people who think it's not tenable anymore. think what outsiders think, he can't win and the only path forward for the party is for him

to step aside gracefully and to anoint kamala harris or open the process to an open primary kind of situation for the convention. they understand that they are not going to be able to convince him by putting pressure on him. that doesn't work. he reacts badly to that. he is a proud man. the way to frame it is to convince him by showing him data he cannot win, data somebody else can win and promising him a transition would be smooth and not chaotic. he alluded to that last night. he said at the press conference that nobody has shown me data that i can't win yet, which is a challenge to those who are arguing that he can't. the polls have been mixed. if you pick your poll, you can find something that will make you feel like he is okay. others point to polling suggesting problems. >> thank you. the exit interview. my conversation with outgoing

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this week's nato's summit was overshadowed about the political crisis. the talk was about if the

president would be the candidate by the time of the convention. stoltenberg completed a tenure as leader. i talked to him about the summit's big achievementachieve outhcalling out china. how you can assure this will happen for ukraine, nato membership, given some of the members, including hungary and donald trump? >> the reality is that more important is what we do, the actions. actions speaks louder than words. we have taken many important actions. delivering more weapons, more air defense, more ammunition to ukraine. we are setting up a nato command for ukraine. we are setting up a training operation center in poland.

these are concrete things which will help ukraine. that's the only way for ukraine to become a member that putin doesn't win, but ukraine prevails. >> what right does russia have to move aggressively against this new structure for ukraine? >> russia has no right whatsoever to react against nato allies providing support to ukraine. we are not party to the conflict. we don't have troops in ukraine. what we are doing is helping ukraine to uphold the right for self-defense. russia violated international allow. they attacked another country, ukraine. according to international law, basic standards, you have the right to defend yourself when you are attacks. they are defending themselves. we are helping them uphold that right. >> what can nato do to prevent china from continuing to support vladimir putin? >> china is has been an enabler

of russia's illegal war against ukraine. china is propping up the economy. they are delivering microprocessors, dual-use equipment, which enables russia to build the weapons, the missiles, the planes, which russia is using to attack ukrainians. we state in this declaration that this will impact china's interest and reputation. >> is it just words? do you think member nations should have sanctions against china for the support to vladimir putin? >> well, the declaration words matter because it sets an agenda that define policy. then, of course, it is up to allies to implement sanctions and economic measures. we have a clear, unified message. that's a clear message to beijing, china.

>> what concerns are you hearing -- we are hearing from nato allies that they are very concerned about donald trump's presidency. >> the alliance is 32 democracies. you don't have guarantees. we are different, from different countries, from different political parties and government. nato has proven extremely resilient to political changing across the alliance for decades, for 75 years. i expect the united states will remain a strong nato ally also in the future, because it's in the security interest of the united states to have a strong know ta. >> you have known president biden for many years. how would you assess his ability to contribute to the summit? >> i worked with president biden when he was vice president. we have a very good meeting now here in washington. we made important decisions on the terms of defense on ukraine, on stepping up our support and partnership with asia pacific

partners. i will not go into domestic debate, which is now going on united states. >> how did you feel when you got the medal of freedom? >> that was a great honor. i felt -- i felt it very strongly, that was a touching moment. i was very surprised, because i wasn't aware that this was going to happen. >> they managed to surprise you? >> they managed to surprise me. very good at keeping secrets. that's a moment i will remember for the rest of my life. >> finally, do you have any more appreciation for american baseball after throwing out that first pitch? >> very much so. because i've never had any relationship to american baseball before and never touched a baseball before. i started to exercise before that first pitch. >> you practiced? >> he did? practice. i did have a way to go to become

a baseball player but it is a great thing to do. >> congratulations mr. secretary general. >> thank you so much. he needed some help on the mound but that is our thanks to the sect general. coming up, as cracks get wider, how is the president going to connect with voters. but first time is running out to get your tickets to see jen psaki and rachel maddow for democracy 2024 hosted by luke welter. "andrea mitchell reports" is back right after this. right af. (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. ♪ (cheery music) - they get it. they know how it works... and more importantly... it works for them. - i don't have any anxiety about money anymore.

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despite for democrats calling on president biden to step aside, polls show the race as it stands now remains tight head-to-head nationally. but behind in battleground states and a majority of voters are not happy. 87% of the voters say the campaign does not make them proud and 76% said it is not focused on important policy debates. both parties failing the test. joining me now michael beshear. thank you for being with us. i want to focus on the middle east because both of us were on called and it seems like that presidential tweet is exaggerating as he did last night where they are on that, quote, framework, because they

feel all of those steps, the implementing steps which are the critical details? >> right. i was struck, as i'm sure you were, by his statement and the tweet. the problem for the president is he would very much like to take credit and it would certainly be a good political opportunity for him if something -- if there was a breakthrough and the hostages came home in this political crisis. but that is playing with fwier, frankly. knowing what the administration and the people that are an ott ground negotiating are saying, they are much more cautious than that. and we've seen so many times that it is essentially gotten right up to point of optimism, everybody thinks that something is happening and we're dealing with hamas and israel and other players in the region that are unpredictable. so, you know, from his perspective, he has to, i guess, hope that they do finally close

the deal because otherwise i think you're raising expectations that might not be at least in the short-term reachable for him. >> and perhaps trying to box netanyahu in before netanyahu lands on u.s. soil for that big speech. >> that hasn't seemed to work very well over the last eight or nine months. >> well, in terms of our politics here, of course it is so critical as chuck todd was saying to get this to some kind of resolution before the campaign is over for the democrats at large. but with so many missteps, are we missing the focus on what donald trump has been saying? >> i mean, i think, yes, absolutely. and believe me, my inbox is filled with email, readers making that point. >> they have a point, yeah. >> it is a totally fair point. i mean, i don't make any apologies for the coverage of

the crisis that the current president faces, he's the sitting president of the united states and we're in kind of remarkable times and the questioning of his leadership and his ability to continue is something that should be covered. but, you know, the things that president trump -- former president trump continues to say at his rallies, the extent to which he's laying the groundwork for dramatic plans for a second term, all of that needs to be covered. and look, part of that is on us as the media but part of that is also on president biden. because the point that his critics are making is that he needs to be the one to prosecute this case. he needs to be the one to point out to the american people in a vigorous and aggressive way all of the things that donald trump is saying and i think that the doubt is there that he could do that. >> michael beshear, "new york times," thank you.

and to be continued. and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. thanks for being with us. chris jansing reports starts after a short break. us chris jansing reports starts after a short break.