moving towards biden but afraid to say so. but the biden supporters also like him for the fact that he's going to keep the affordable care act in tact and keep that for the millions of americans that won't lose their health insurance. >> appreciate it. thanks very much. the news continues. want to hand it over the chris for "cuomo primetime." >> thank you, appreciate it. welcome to "cuomo primetime". literally if this were the fight, the campaign, we are in the last round. this three weeks, this is it. you're going to see both campaigns coming with everything they've got. biden is making sure he doesn't get put in a corner. he's moving around the ring, going to the places he needs to, his hands are up, because he believes he's ahead in points. trump on the other hand knows he needs a knockout. he is going for broke. every punch is a haymaker. he's swinging wildly. every line is an insult. every rally is likely to get someone sick. and you will not hear him say to put on masks.

even though followers tell us they would do it if he asked. like i said, he's going for broke. but here's trump's problem. here's his problem with the analogy. he's not fighting one opponent -- he's fighting two. he's swinging at biden, but he keeps getting hit by the pandemic. america went from first to worst in terms of cases and deaths. and leadership has to be a reason why. florida and now pennsylvania, two places that trump needs -- pennsylvania tonight, florida last night, going back to florida. why? they are crucial. h he won them. now they're up for grabs, at best. the pandemic, that he is saying is no big deal, that he actually caught and needed to get two experimental treatments in the hospital to beat, is not only going away, it's in full effect in both of those states. his rallies may have thousands cheering in his corner but there

are millions in those states feeling the beating from the virus and the failing economy as a consequence. now, the irony is if trump actually took on the pandemic that is punching him in the face, he might win the election. we would surely be in better shape. instead, he's running away from the opponent. he's pretending it's not even a real fight for us. that coronavirus will just magically leave the ring. he says he's going to give you a big fat kiss, but he's not doing anything to get you the medicine that made him healthy again. why isn't it for everybody? why doesn't he have the wall mentality about getting us well? he thinks he's past the test of leadership, but he's not getting us the testing we need -- at work in schools with our kids. it's a mess. we can't get back to business. we can't get our kids on the right track, because we can't protect the right people the right way. but instead of throwing

everything we've got at the virus, he's throwing everything at the one man that you really trust when it comes to the pandemic, fauci. he is actually once again -- he didn't learn his lesson, right? that's trump. double down on dumb -- attacking tony fauci again for his prognostications. the president literally told us it would disappear like a miracle. that we'll be down to zero cases in february. you said it affects no one, ignoring the millions of us who have died or lost someone or been sick. it affects no one? you and your wife got it. white house is a cluster. you still telling us it's not worth attacking with everything we've got? look at it in terms of the numbers. 68% believe in fauci. let's be honest that can number is low because trump keeps giving him a beating and so do his emissaries on state tv. the president's credibility has

been like half that in the polls. what he should do is carry a picture of fauci with him, show it to everybody, because saying you're with fauci is a way better way to get votes than the flailing at everyone you're doing. think of this -- think about it -- this is the only time i can ever think of when the challenger in an election, biden, right? is running in support of the policies that the president's own task force is proposing, and the president is running against his own people's recommendations. think about how crazy that is. lucky for us, fauci says, let him say what he wants, i'm in for the long haul. >> i'm not going to walk away from this outbreak no matter who's the president. g >> good. pretending you can only trust him when most of his people have been forced out or indicted than

anybody since watergate, calling himself the best in the ring when he can't float or fly. he can just lie and deny. we are on the ropes in this fight thanks to pure trumpery. no, i'm not making fun of the president's name. that's his game. trumpery is a real word from long before trump. it means worthless nonsense. as in all flash, no cash. all show, no go. it drives from old english -- trompry, deceit. this president's name could not be a better fit. he and his team like to play with mob references, right? esh especially when it comes to me. there's one that applies to him and his last desperate round of antics. hen he said he wants to go into

the crowd and give everyone a kiss? remember the godfather? it's a kiss all right, the kiss of all kisses. coronavirus is making us sick, killing us, and his reaction, i want to kiss all of you as i dance the night away. look at him. ♪ "ymca." is he dancing or is that some of the long haul covid symptoms i haven't heard of yet? 215,000 dead. he's doing the masquerading as if you don't need a mask. not once has had he will a moment for. but soon enough he's going to be the one doing the talking. the fight is going to end soon, and he'll listen to your decision because ultimately you are the judge. the question for us tonight as we begin is what does the

present tell us about where we're heading between sfwhnow a the election. we've dr. lena wen and david gregory. the fact he's going to places li like florida and sayingware turning the corner, not true. >> not true. surges across the country. this is exactly where we didn't want to be in the months. it's not what happened so much at the event. we all know it's not good for all these people to be gathering together, not wearing masks, flouting restrictions. it's also what happens around the event, too. because these same individuals attending t attending the events are also probably not following public guidance. they're going to indoor bars. when they go home they're not going get quarantined and test themselves. i worry about this. you can make addition for

yourself, but i don't think you should get to commit others to a sacrifice they did not make. what about hospitals and health-care systems and public health infrastructure? that's going to get overwhelmed and other people are not going to be able to get the medical care they need. >> hospitalizations are on the rise. that's always the most important indicator. quick follow -- many people have optimism because he's giving it to them. look at me, i beat it. i'm immune, they say. nobody said that. he doesn't tell the truth. he's not telling the truth about people being able to get access to the drugs he got that made him better. is there any reason to believe any time soon anyone who gets sick is going to be able to get either of the experimental treatments he had? >> the company that manufactured the antibody cocktail he got, it's not even authorized for use by the fda, so we are a long way off from people getting the same kind of treatments the president got. by the way, we still have to do

the scientific research, because an anecdote of one is not science, is not research. >> david, good to see you, brother. thanks for joining us on "primetime" tonight. the idea of him going for broke, and his main bet is, i can beat the pandemic, i can keep people off of me for blaming me like it is. why did she he choose that as his strategy instead of saying, i'm going take it on 100% would be the more likely strategy in. >> you alluded to this in your fight metaphor. i think he just fights. that's his one reaction. it's not a thoughtful reaction. it's instinct for him. fight whoever or whatever is coming at him. but he didn't fight the pandemic and the virus with anything he had. now he's fighting the idea of it. and i think he's going for something else and i frankly think it's more desperate even though there is a real argument there. he's basically saying biden and other of his opponents are --

want to overreact. they want to overreact to the virus. they want to shove the economy down. today we heard pence say that on the stump today, that joe biden would shut down the economy again and donald trump is opening things back up. it's the same message he makes about, you got to find some way to live with the virus. it can't overwhelm you, can't defeat you. he gets in the way, but it's an argument many americans agree with. >> it's a good argument, by the way. here's the problem. i agree with you, david. here's the next step i want to you take on it. i agree with you. i think there are a lot of people who when he hear shut down again they are like, no way. i know, dr. wen. when they hear biden say, yeah, i'll be open to it, it frightens them. the problem is that has to go hand and hand with seeing the government is doing things to

keep it from happening. that's the president's problem is where is his strategy to keep it from happening? >> right, and i don't think he has one, and i think that's the problem. we spend a lot of time talking about things the president could be doing. mike pence can defend what the administration did to combat the virus better than trump. he knows it better and dcan get out of his way. trump wants to fight, talk about personally overcoming it, saying things that don't make sense and being a bad example on top of it and not using the bully pulpit to get people to change their behavior and simply follow the rules. but again, i do think there's a lot of people who have their kids at home who don't see their schools try trying to pig out how to get to yes, how to get to re-opening. you had dr. fauci on last week. i follow this every day. the data is confusing. i know that daily cases are too

high, over 40,000, but there are parts of this country that are handling this virus much better than other parts. i know the fear of our health-care professionals is if we continue to have people letting their guard down, you're in trouble. but again i think he's trying to you can ploit the idea, saying, look, we're doing the best we can, it's getting better and the other guys are going to shut everything down. that gets some people afraid. >> the problem is, the roles are reversed, dr. wen. biden should be making the case trump is making. he's going to screw it up. look how bad it is. instead, you hear trump saying, no, no, everything is fine. biden is a panicer. he's the one in charge. he's the one who has to own the reality. he's trying to make biden own the reality and the eventuality. what that gets us to is

strategy. you and i spoke to other night the someone else looking at the data differently, which is selective protection. certain areas are dealing better than others. we don't have any central plan, so how do we replicate what's working in some places in the places where it isn't working with no central planning? >> that's a really good question, chris. this is what happens when all along we know we have not had a national strategy. there have been pieces of a national strategy, as in there's a good plan around vaccines, so let's give trump administration credit for operation warp speed. although there have been problems with politicizing the process. some initial work being done around testing although i will say that getting 150 million tests out, that sounds like a lot, but that's a press release. that's still not a national strategy. now we're seeing what happens when basically we're playing

whack a mole across the country. we're seeing one part of the country do well and another part becomes a problem. that does okay and another part becomes a problem. i think having a national plan makes sense, but the principles upon which the national strategy is based we know what to do at this point. we need to stop talking about public health as the enemy of the economy or the enemy of school re-opening. if we could just say something like, wearing a mask is what would allow us to keep our businesses open or let's focus on restricting informal gatherings, that's what would allow us to get our kids back in school if we don't have play dates and birthday parties at the same time, we can take sensible steps of getting life back to normal as much as we can and continue to socialize, not be isolated, reduce the burden on mental health, on the mental health system, and actually try to get back to normal.

but with few of these public health strategies that we know are effective. >> david, last word to you. >> i agree with so much. part of the problem with trump not taking this seriously and being in denial and then being political -- it was your point. he should be holding tony fauci so tight so that they're shoulder to shoulder. because then the american public can see, i may have my problems with trump, but they have been shoulder to shoulder in fighting this virus. that is not the case. the president has lied and denied and he's been inconsistent and hasn't followed his own advice. the tragedy and key for biden at this point is to recognize how hard it's going to be if he becomes president, and that he's got to really paint a picture of how he leads and how it would be different under his leadership. because the reality is, the reaction to trump is also strong. you see it with schools. there are a lot of schools whoer

who are communities like washington, d.c. in large part they are teachers don't want to do it and that is in large part reaction to politics. there's all of this that's coursing through the response to the virus that is a reflection of how it's been politicized, and it's really unfortunate. >> three weeks and the pandemic will tell the story. we have been doing this a long time. i'm actually older than david, but i look up to him as a journalist, because we have never seen a president whose fate hangs on a situation he's refusing to confront. this is the first time we've seen it. we'll see how i plays out and soon. dr. wen, thank you. d. gregory, thank you. amy coney barrett just made it through an intense round of grilling by democrats. how did she do? she did the way they always do, okay? we have one of the senators here who pressed her about one word the judge used more than once.

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wildfie're looking at the se court as if it's one seat either way. i don't think we're looking at it the right way. today the supreme court decision to let the trump administration stop counting the census early, that's the kind of decision that what we're watching here with amy coney barrett, it's not about her. it's not about one seat. she's doing what every nominee does. she dodge everything. they get asked about abortion, health care, the election. they say, i can't do hypothetical facts on to the law. they all say that and oddly seem to follow almost without exception the party's positions that placed them. so this is about not seats -- survival. republicans already established

a generation of the jurisprudence on the supreme court. this is about ensuring the party's future. the numbers have the strategy. this is real court packing. mcconnell blocked obama's appointments on scotus but also below whenever and wherever he could. now he's packing courts all over the country with white conservative men, even though his party represents a minority in this country and the last two potuss did not win a majority of your votes. the end results go beyond abortion and health care. this is the party's survival in a country that is growing beyond the confines of conservatism. two examples are playing out as we speak -- texas and georgia. both traditionally republican controlled, right? they're both facing really long lines of early voters. this is why governors try to make it harder to vote.

because they don't like the prospects of this, because many of the people in those lines are not their people, okay? that's why we just saw federal judges rule against makes it easier to vote. what kind of judges were put there by republicans, all of them appointed by donald trump. the republican party holds power in the senate and white house not because the majority of you voted for them. i make that point twice because it matters. they are in power in spite of it. what are we going to do about it? three big names in the democratic party tonight. in the senate we have mazie hirono, stacy abrams and pete buttigieg. they're all going to tell you they have to win in november. right, but they've done that twice in the last three

presidential elections so cle clearly telling you that ain't enough. let's bring in all three and have a good discussion. senator mazie hirono. thanks very much. i know it was a long day. what do you make of what you heard today? >> i thought you described the situation so accurately. it is about retaining power and what mitch mcconnell and the republicans can't get through the legislative process there and packing the courts so they can get the courts to give them what they want. and in this case with amy coney barrett, the president said, i'm going nominate someone who's going to overturn roe v. wade and will strike down the affordable care act. she can sit there and say all she wants, i'm just going to follow the law, but we know why the republicans are rushing her through. a.c.a. will be -- and a whole kind of other cases that protect or civil rights and environment, you name it. >> does her faith create an issue for you more than you have

seen the other judges? if so, why. >> no. her faith is irrelevant. it's her positions on these issues that matter. her position is one that certainly led the president to think they -- a person who would strike down the aca, it's before the supreme court now to totally strike down the aca. >> senator, thank you. stay with me. pete buttigieg. it's good to see you. sorry, sorry, i'm going to bring him on. senator, i'm confused. i go two different lines of thought going on. i'll give them both to you. this is what i don't understand in terms of what the goal is. you're questioning here. she does have an afailuatifiliad organization, which make hearse different than most catholics. but let's put that to the side.

what can you do about any of this except expanding the size of the supreme court? >> welsh there al, there are a other things we can do, and i have been thinking about court reform for a while. if you want to have a serious discussion, the democrats need to take back the senate. court reform is not something you just toss out on a whim. you have to really discuss it and think about the consequences of whatever you're doing. so that's where i am. increasing the size is only one. but i'd like to see some really strong ethics provisions tied to the supreme court, which they currently do not. so there are a number of ways they can try to balance the supreme court so they can be not the partisan political court that it's definitely turning out to be, but one we can truly look at as being independent and objective.

>> do you think, senator, it would be less partisan if you guys made more of the choices than the republicans, or would it just be more partisan in your direction? >> i don't call wanting to provide people with individual rights, expanding equal protections partisan. you call that what the constitution requires and what we should be doing. but that's not where the republicans are, by the way. the decision that you just mentioned that would shorten the census is a case and point. they have okayed gerrymandering, a lot of things that make it harder for people to vote. so, that's not where we are. i expect our court nominees to not have written all kinds of things about how they don't want to affordable care act or they're against lgbtq rights or any number of things that the trump nominees have weighed in on, and that is why they are being nominated.

so he's ended up with one-fourth, or so of the entire federal judiciary. they will be there for their lives, decades. >> senator mcconnell said in a debate the other night, when his opponent was saying, they want barrett on there so they can get rid of the ark ca. it's been good for kentucky. it needs to be fixed, not rerad kated. he said, no, no, nobody thinks barrett being on the court will be the end of the aca. really? you think it. don't most democrats think if she gets on that court the aca is done. >> the president thinks it. and the republicans. the republicans know it too, and they just don't want to admit it. they're hiding it from the people, their own people that they're about to rush this person on to the court so she can be there november 10th to hear the aca case, which, by the way, was brought by 12

republican attornies general and the president is right in there. so, yes, they want somebody who will turn back the aca, destroy it. they have been wanting to do that for at least ten years. they voted 70 times in congress to get rid of the aca. to say, no, we're not doing that is -- please, just what? i just want to say, shut up. >> there's a lot of that going around these days. senator hirono, thank you, after such a long day, making the time to be with us on "primetime". it's a benefit to the audience and me. thank you, and be well. >> thank you, you too. >> thanks. the republicans raced to confirm a justice. we know why. if you want to make the case about the aca. if you weren't in to hear the case, you don't judge it. she's got get many to hear the arguments. millions of you are already voting, waiting in these insane lines in georgia for hours. like 11. loads of glitches.

this is just like what happened in the troubled primary there. why is it happening again? how is it not going to impact the vote? voting rights advocate stacey abrams makes the case next. also, we do have pete buttigieg. he's going to be here. he's got a great new book three weeks out. every second matters. let's make the most of it. how about no no uh uh, no way come on, no

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more dangerous and corrupt president than trump. he's harming our basic values, giving rise to hate, and he's selling out america to big corporations. i'm working to protect immigrants, women, communities of color, and lgbtq people. and i'm making corporations like pg&e and insurance companies play by our rules. we need experienced leadership to wipe away trump's stain on america for good.

this is what early voting in georgia looks like right now. ridiculously long lines. more than ten hours in some places. think about it -- would you wait ten hours to vote. it creates a big risk of de facto voter suppression. not technically by law, but just the way it is. now, it's so hard that many may come and leave or not come at

all. now, just over three months ago, georgia held its primary and the scene looks a hell of a lot like it did back then. once again, blacks disproportionately having to work harder to vote. it's called systemic inequality. that's what it looks like. let's bring in former georgia candidate for governor, stacey abra abrams. good to see you, counselor. >> thank you so much, sir. >> why is it happening? >> it's happening because we have two equal problems. or not equal -- two problems. we have a secretary of state who has refused to invest heavily in the areas where we needed to to support elections and we have unfortunately counties that are doing their best to scramble to fill in their gap, working with organizes and nonprofits but they cannot do the secretary of the state's job. the most important piece is we are also seeing voter enthusiasm to create change some as angry

as we should be about justice and the voter suppression that is on display in georgia we should be extraordinarily pleased that people are willing to fight back and make their voices heard despite the challenges they face. >> is there an end run? are you allowed to approach people on those lines and offer them an ability to mail in vote or is that not available by law or not allowed in terms of solicitation at the line? >> in georgia, you have to apply for your absentee ballot and go through a certain process. fill out an affidavit, receive the ballot and turn it in. so it's not a possibility to do it that way. because we're coming down the homestretch, georgia is one of the dates that you have they have to receive the ballot by the election, not postmarked. we're encouraging people, if you have an absentee ballot, return

it as quickly as possible. take it the a drop box, put it in the mail if you want to, but make sure you get the absentee ballot in as quick aas possible. >> you rang the alarm about this in your election and it seems as though nothing has changed. is that the case? >> well, it's not that nothing has changed. it's that the new secretary of state created new problems. where we faced purging, closures, what he decided to orchestrate are machines that -- we don't have an adequate number of machines. we have a bottleneck at the beginning of the process. today he said he's going to reach out to the state vendor for elections to make sure we have additional band width, because one of the challenges is checking people in. there was an alarm raised about this that we needed to have a backup of paper poll books, because that's what's causing part of problem, and he sued to stop that from happening.

not only has brad ratsen berger created new problems he's failed to solve old problems. we told them many times they need to look at the resourcing of areas and the likelihood of turnout. we know this is going to be a high volume election. all you have to do is look at the primary and look at the absentee ballot results. so far we have more people who returned absentee ballots in 2020 than the entire 2016 election. and so his failure to plan, failure to resource and failure to take responsibility is forcing georgians to have to fight to vote. but we're incredibly proud of not only their work, but the work of coach lloyd pierce who has the atlanta state farm arena where people can vote in fulton county, our largest county, and we're so proud of those who stepped up to fill the gap in leadership that has been open by a you are secretary of state. >> the state matters any way you look at it and part of the job

is staying on stories, not touching and never coming back. i promise you got this as a platform to tell us about what happens in this final round of the flight. you will have a platform here to discuss it, okay? >> thank you, sir. i really appreciate it. >> stacey abrams, thank you. good health to you and the family. another power house ahead. this is about if the democrats will get it done. we talk about trump all the time. what does pete buttigieg make of what this hearing today says about the future of the country? and he's got problems with this nominee. some of which i was talking about with with mazie hirono. the mayor has been paying a lot of attention to the way her faith was applied in ways you may not know. next.

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democrat, in there first chance to press supreme court trump nominee amy coney barrett. they talked health care, abortion, same sex marriage. and you know what they got? nothing. because you never get anything out of these nominees, and if they do say too much, it's the only thing that can get them nixed, as in judge bork. now, amy coney barrett played the game. she insisted she had not talked about specific cases with the president or anybody else, like the upcoming challenge to the aca. do you believe that? would they pick her if they thought they didn't know how she was going to rule on that case? she has said in the past she doesn't think it's good law. does that matter? how can it not? let's get some insight from former presidential candidate, the author of "trust, america's best chance", pete buttigieg. good to see you, mr. mayor. >> good to be with you. >> one step sideways and we'll go into it any way you want -- faith, doesn't matter if you

have faith. it matters about your positions. you're a christian, i'm a christian. she belongs to an organization called people of praise. you know this. it's a devout organization. the people who sign up, especially the women, sign on to very specific behavioral covenants that, at a minimum, make a man a divinely inspired ruler of a family. this is more than just every sunday. this is more than just a moral backstop in her life. this is a fundamentalist approach to her faith. does that matter? >> i'm sure that's an important part of her life, but i'm not interested in her faith or her life or her family except in as much as it might affect all of us in terms of her decisions. and it's her judicial philosophy that i'm worried about. as a human being, i wish her

well. it's what she's going to do to all of us that i'm -- >> that's not good. let's see if we can get pete back. no, it's never anything sinister. you guys always say, you cut him off. let's take a quick break. we'll try to get his signal back.

we're back now with mayor pete buttigieg. thanks, mr. mayor, sorry about that. so i get it, it's not about her faith. it's the reasoning she's going to apply to the law. however, you can argue that there was a conflags here because her faith does shape how she sees certains things as a part of the law. i don't know how it can't. it look like he's going to get through. what are your concerns? >> well, my main concern is that they seem to be wanting to put marriage equality back on the table. this was a move that america made, a move forward we made five years ago, in the belief that it was no going back. yet we saw two justices on the conservative majority that's already seated on the court

write in ways that made it sound like they're ready to go back on that. just imagine, if this doesn't already affect and you're watching the at home, imagine how you would feel watching this committee proceeding if you knew your marriage on existed by a one-vote margin on this court. and of course you don't have to use your imagination to think about how this facebooks you regardless of if you're lgbtq, because all of us, someone we know has a preexisting condition. it's very clear part of the idea here so to take out the affordable care act. they couldn't do it in congress. they were going to cry. john mccain with the famous thumbs down stopped them. now they're going the try to do it in the courts. the very same people made it clear the courts will -- that's

a life and death issue for so many of us. theth president promised. he said he would never nominate anybody unless he was sure they would get rid of the ark ca. this is a rare promise i prkt president trump is pretty serious about keeping. >> on the judge's side -- that's what mcconnell has done brilliantly. he stopped obama not just with scotus, but with federal appointments and now he's packing them with very much the same people -- white, male conservatives, even though they don't represent a majority of the incompany. that's court packing. why are democrats treating it like it's the third rail. nobody wants to answer the question about whether or not they'd consider expanding the supreme court. why not? >> because we know the republicans would love to talk about literally anything other than their effort to destroy american health-care protections so they would love for us to

talk about this. chris, this is a subject that i think is very interesting in terms of bipartisan court reforms that we could come together and look at to reduce the politicization of the courts. but we also know the republicans would do anything to get us talking about literally any issue. i think that's why we saw the president tonight doubling down on the crazy uncle strategy in terms of trying to make some news with the stream of consciousness and the insults. they don't want the talk about how this could affect our health care. something that could happen to us in our lives beginning in a matter of days. and of course the other thing they don't want to talk about is what's going on with the failed response to the pandemic some we're making sure with a level of discipline in the message that we have for the american people in these next three weeks to focus on the things that are most immediately at stake.

>> do you think the vice president should debate again? the former vp? do you think biden should debate again or no? >> i think it was really unfortunate when donald trump pull out of the proposed next debate. i think it would have been great to see the town hall format. i think the president pulled out because he doesn't want to have that conversation, and especially in some format that he can't just shout over everybody and distract us again. so, yeah, i would love to see that. but we also know that millions of americans are making their decision right now, and the most important thing on my mind is how do we reach those who were still thinking about whether to vote even now, and how do we reach those who are thinking at how to vote even now? because that's a lot of people and that could make a huge difference. yeah, the polls look good, the president's falling behind and you're seeing flailing on his side, but let's learn the lesson of past elections and not take anything for granted. we have got to turn out every

vote,er with some of the effort like what stacey abrams was just describing to get in the way or have long lines or make it harder. >> pete, your week goes to the heart of this, which is -- biden has his best advantage going into this race is he's not seen as the kind of liar that trump is. look, you know what a precious commodity it was for you. when people believe that you are not jazzing them the way other politicians jazz them, it's a precious commodity. you're writing about it. you see it as a fundamental building block. when i was looking through the book, here's my problem -- isn't it gone? how do we bank on something that seems to be gone? tell us about the book. >> that's why i wrote the book. the big issues with efface are problems we cannot solve without -- whether wie talking about the pandemic or racial justice on democracy itself. we need cooperation, but cooperation depp on trust and we don't have a lot of it as a

country. there's less trust in institutions. americans are less trusting of each other and the world is less trusting in america itself right now. the question you raise, that's exactly why i wanted to write this book and why i wanted toth it to come out before the election, so we could think not just about the problem, which i describe a lot of sources that led to it, from the lies this president tells to foreign efforts to build and sew mistrust in the u.s. to a lot of other factors like how social media has been used. but also i'm looking for patterns that give us insight on how trust can be built in a hurry. when i was deployed in the military, i learned to trust my life to people i barely knew. and that was because of a lot of factors, including the fact that we had been brought together to do something difficult, and we just had to trust each other in order to get through it. that's where we are right now as a country, and i actually think as terrible as they are, the pandemic we're living through and the climate crisis that's approaching are opportunities,

if we think about them in the right way -- for us to build opportunities across the world and at home, and i wrote about ways i think we can do that. >> the book is "trust, america's best chance". ace author, mayor pete buttigieg. thank you very much. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. take care. >> one of the reasons pete has to write that book is because we're in tough shape. it's hard to see silver linings. it's hard to see how the pandemic doesn't just stay here and keep making everything bad. that's where our next guest comes in. you didn't see him on a long board guzzling juice, but he ain't drinking the cool aid of despair, either. he wrote in "the new york times" about why we should have a dose of optimism and what role we as americans can have in shaping the future. thank you for coming sir.

donald mcneill jr. >> thank you for having me. >> it's us versus them, it's opposition reward in a culture where it's not about progress. it's keeping the other guy down. how do we get better? why not despair? >> i'm going stay away from the political of it. i think part of the reason it's shocking is because i have been a pessimist since the pandemic started. but now, although i'm a pessimist about fall and winter and i fear that many more people will die if we don't do better, we have learned to do better, even seeing the scare in the white house has been a lesson to a will the of people that wearing a mask may make more sense, so what happens in the

white house doesn't happen in your house. but beyond, that as soon as late december, early january, i expect that monoclonal antibodies will be deployed at some point, and i expect that we will have two or three vaccines begin to roll out. and then we have,en w you know, different vaccines in the works and there may be 600,000 doses by the end of the next year. which means not only all americans will be able the get them, but the rest of the world. and then that will be it. one hopes. if nothing goes wrong. >> i got 40 seconds left. it's all yours. what do you want people to think about when they think about why we'll make it there yrough this pandemic? >> there's no question we're going to make it through the pandemic. the question is how many people are going die along the way. if you look back at the mod it will white house used at the very beginning it suggested the pandemic would be over by now, but 2.2 million americans could

be would be dead. instead, 200,000 americans are dead, which is terrible, but we're doing better than in 1918 when we had no choice but to die. as tony fauci has said, it's going to be probably by the middle middle of next year. some optimistic think it will be closer than that. but by the end of next year it will be over and we have to rebuild the economy and help the rest of the world. >> keep the faith and get in the right place. i encourage everyone to read your piece. cnn tonight with don lemon starts right now. he sounds like you. >> the optimism you mean? i want you to go with me. you stole the open of my show. i'm trying to get people