also writes, these views were in agreement with many of the world's top epidemiologists and medical scientists. dr. anthony fauci is one of the world's top infectious disease specialists. he and others have criticized atlas' lack of expertise. a month ago dr. fauci told "the washington post," quote, he keeps talking about things that when you dissect it out and parse it out, it doesn't make any sense. a reminder. don't miss full circle, anderson's digital news show. you can catch it streaming line at 6:00 p.m. eastern. the news continues. let's go to chris for cuomo prime time". i am chris cuomo and welcome to "prime time." i hope you all made some good thanksgiving memories. i hope you were able to keep perspective in a difficult time and avoid any potential nightmares. now we are back, and we are having a collective reset. we have a new leader coming into office. we have new problems that are coming sharply into focus.

and there's reason to believe that the coming months may be the worst of the pandemic. fittingly, the christian faithful begin what today? advent, the great period of waiting and awaiting that ends at christmas. the question is what kind of christmas are we collectively awaiting? what will christmas look like? that will be in president-elect biden's hands, but remember it's still the trump administration. and when it comes to the pandemic, there is not enough being done for any better days to be coming soon. now, as for creating better times ahead, president-elect biden is doing things. he added three more experts to his covid task force this weekend. that will help. biden is also harnessing the power of women more than we've ever seen. vice president is obvious and of course a big deal. senator harris, now vice president-elect harris. now they just announced these

guys, an all-women white house communications team. the bar for their success is simple. don't lie. don't baselessly deny things that we have to call out. and you will certainly compare very well to the current toxic team. women are also nominated for many of the top economic roles, including janet yellen at treasury and neera tanden for omb. now, a pause here. why? tanden is an early opportunity for us to #remember. why? republicans are saying, we may block her. we don't like -- wait for it -- her tweets. really? the same people who are saying nothing as trump continues to lie about our election, who said nothing about his lies, nothing about his savagery. they sit silently. they are complicit. they ignored it, and they empowered it. and even now, as trump tries to

sabotage the transition with baseless claims and does more to try to divide us than any russian ever dreamed of doing. republicans or republicants, as you've become, let's here where you are on that before you dare judge tweets by tanden or anyone else. remember what they did and what they failed to do. from the worst to another positive first. our next defense secretary could be the first woman in that role. sue gordon, shortlist for the cia. more women are slated throughout the administration. why is this good? well, women are more than 50% of our population. they are nowhere near that in terms of representation of power. maybe if they get in there, we will see perspective that we haven't benefited from. maybe when they're there in numbers, they will be more

opened and more empowered for that perspective to come out. let's see where it gets us. for saying, oh, man, i don't know. that's a lot of women on biden's team. perspective. the late justice ruth bader ginsburg, when asked how many women on the supreme court would be enough, she said, nine. eyebrows went up. listen to her rationale. we had nine mostly white men for a long time. nobody was upset by that. why would nine women when they're over hatlf the populatin be so weird? interesting perspective. so biden's picks are part of the big picture on how we make the most of our diversity. but big moves aside, as someone covering the white house for a long time now, i took a lot of comfort in something pretty small, like the size of a pinky toe bone. when biden hurt his foot, i appreciated it. why? because i'm a sadist. no. because we just got the straight truth about it. no lie, no deny.

just he was out playing with his dog. he sprained his foot or broke some bone in his foot. he'll probably have to wear a walking boot for weeks. so why is it a big deal for me? because there was no b.s. there was no blocking us from the reason that trump was rushed to a hospital. no fugazy doctors with these absurd lauding statements about biden being superhuman, the strongest pinky toe in history. just the truth. and the truth matters because when you lie about small things, you'll lie about big things. that's trump. that's why a record number of you kicked him out. he is going out the way he came in, a liar. and he's going out lying about the election he lost. he's even attacking gop governors in arizona and georgia for not doing enough to overrule your votes there. both states went for biden, certified today. i wonder if trump's shameful

savaging of our democracy may make the difference in that georgia senate runoff. you folk there, do you really want to stand up for him after he's thrown you under the bus, lied about our election? you really want to stand up for republicans who said nothing about it, who have shown that they'll be no better? really? look, we already know the big answer about this election. it worked. 153 million of you, a record, came out to remind the people who want to be in power who's really the boss. bravo. how do we know it worked? well, no one in charge says otherwise. no court has said otherwise. even trump's guy, who was put in on the federal level to oversee it, confirms it. that would be chris krebs. he was so committed to telling you the truth about the safety of the election, he was fired after making sure you knew the truth. his message in his first interview last night was this. >> there's no foreign power that

is flipping votes. there's no domestic actor flipping votes. i did it right. we did it right. this was a secure election. >> again, he says it, got fired. courts say it, they get attacked. republican and democrat governors, secretaries of state, legislatures, they all say it. they're all part of the problem. they're all part of the conspiracy. only trump and his complicit cronies in congress know the truth. and we all know that that is a lie. again, remember who sat silent when he lied to your face. remember them. let's bring in david gregory for some perspective. david, we're waiting on ana navarro. she's got some tech problems, and why do i say that? because it's good to have a woman when you're going to be talking about the significance of all the women picks that joe biden is making. how big a deal is this only for the politically correct, only

the political class, only the media, or could the implications be profound? >> i think it is profound. i think it's really significant. i mean some of biden's top jobs are still filled by white men. secretary of state, chief of staff. we don't know what's going to happen at secretary of defense. but i think there are key players who are significant advisers like janet yellen, who's his nominee at treasury, like neera tanden and others who would be top economic advisers who are women, who are going to bring a different perspective. it's a way of saying, look, these are powerful positions. these are going to be people who are influential on my thinking. and that sends an important signal. so there's the politics of it, of course, but i think it's biden recognizing that in a lot of ways, chris, he understands he's a transitional figure, that he represented a way to stop trump but to bridge what the democratic party is becoming and

will yet become, and that is going to be dominated by women, people of color, younger people, and i think the party is sorting itself out. >> are you surprised, or do you expect to see biden pick a republican? >> i think it would be his inclination, but i was thinking -- you know, i'm reading president obama's memoir and his reaching out to gates and ultimately to hagel. the fact that he reached out to jeff flake originally and jeff flake, former republican senator from arizona, was onboard, and then he ended up getting too much flak to go through with it. so i think the inclination was there then. i think biden would have the inclination, but i think he'll be careful. i think he'll be careful here because i think he really does have to watch his left flank. look, some of the references you were making, people attacking tweets, neera tanden and so

forth, we're going to get back too a good old-fashioned ideological battle. his nominees and his policies on the economy and otherwise are going to be attacked by the right on good old-fashioned ideological grounds. >> they better be ideological because if they're character-based, or if they're behavior-based, or if they're legitimacy-based or pedigree-based, they're going to have a big problem because i'm telling you this has been a different period. trump was not just a republican. in fact, i don't even think he was a republican, and i think that whole party now is just him. i don't even know what ideology they have left, you know? what? no taxes? taxing less after the tax cut they gave him that wasn't paid for. >> they have regulation. they have the courts, chris. >> oh, yeah. >> and, you know, the truth is he did a good job of getting right with social conservatives and the economic base of the party when he was otherwise

really a populist and was running a campaign and ultimately a presidency based on fear and grievance. >> i'm with you. he was a demagogue. he may have said he wanted to be a populist if he knows what that means, but he wasn't a populist. he did nothing to empower those people. he just harnessed their animus and left us in a worse place. but i hear you on all that. let's talk about it specifically. from biden picking women and the implication there -- i can't even talk about trump without losing my voice. here is what his lawyer said about the federal official who came out and said the election was safe and got fired for it. here is what his lawyer unfortunately an italian guy says about chris krebs. >> anybody who thinks that this election went well like that idiot krebs, who used to be the head of cybersecurity. >> the oh, the guy that was on "60 minutes" last night. >> that guy is a class a moron. he should be drawn and

quartered, taken out and dawn and shot. >> hyperbole? yes, but what is the instinct? the instinct is be angry, want to hurt them. and they'll play that they're victims, right? but i think it's important that as they exist, you see them for what they are and notice, no republicans said anything about it, david. >> yeah. well, because they're afraid to because they want distance from it. but you said something a minute ago that's important that plays into that clip you just played, which is i'm thinking, maybe wishfully, that we'll get back to, you know, two parties fighting one another in a contest of ideas. you're reminding me that, no, we got to realize that there's bad actors here and there's people who are trying to delegitimize. now, this goes on on both sides. we both know that. but the reality here is that biden comes into office with a high number, a high percentage of people, republicans, trump

supporters, who have been led to believe that he cheated without evidence. the courts are doing their job. i think trump is increasingly in the rearview mirror, but there is such a thing is trumpism that says, oh, these guys cheated, and they're trying to screw you in the end. the same, you know, politics of grievance that he didn't come through on but that he can still whip up. and that's what you have to watch out for because if it's a fight over taxes and regulation and the role of labor unions, fine. we can have that debate if we're really going to have that debate, and i don't know that we are. and it goes to your question about are republicans going to feel strong enough to come out and have those fights, or are they ultimately going to have to check everything based on, you know, trumpism and whatever role that it plays going forward? >> i think that there's a good chance that trump's going to be remembered, though a president, as basically an alex jones who hasn't yet come forward to tell you it's an act yet. he's been telling people things

that he doesn't really believe for a long time. and, look, we're seeing it now. he's attacking republican governors. he's attacking anybody who won't help him cheat. that's his legacy. that is, as you say, in the rearview mirror. the problem is he left us with a disaster with this pandemic. it's going to be worse than we've ever seen over the next few months, and that's going to fall on biden's watch. but between now and then, david, my biggest concern about trump ever is now. what will he do between now and january? what will he fail to do that may leave us very, very deep in doo doo. last word to you. >> it's a real concern. i think the legacy of trump beyond especially what he's doing now perhaps will be more consequential in certain areas, trade being one. it will depend how he's ultimately seen in areas that people think are legitimate that they separate from all these other things that he's done.

but the impact on things like the pandemic is real, and biden is going to come into office with a legacy of now people saying, okay. what are you going to do? where are the results? and you're going to have to do it under the cloud of suspicion of your legitimacy because, remember, a lot of people who even faulted trump, who might have been supporters of trump on the pandemic, may have said, look, this was a tough thing to manage for anybody, and we're tired of all of these restrictions. there's going to be a lot of pressure on biden to deliver and to have to own those results. as any new person coming in, just like obama did in the financial collapse would also have to face. >> listen, it happens on your watch, and it's good. you win. it happens on your watch and it's bad, you lose. trump tried to change those rules. didn't happen. a record number of people came out to reject him. the only thing i see a little differently is, yeah, you know, biden's going to have problems. he's going to have to walk on his own. no question.

no pun intended because of his foot. but the tactics and what was allowed and what was said to be okay, you don't get to come back and start talking about character and integrity and constitutionality and all that, not after this. it will be interesting to see what the state of play is. long way to go. i got to jump. >> real quickly, i do think there is a desire for people to kind of exhale. >> right. >> and to get back to a place of leadership that feels a little bit more normal. we're going to have a lot of fights, a lot of questions over legitimacy no doubt. but i think part of this result is a desire to get to that place, for people to feel less exercised, less manic in our politics. >> right. biden's got to figure out his left flank, as you said. you're right. the republicans or the republicants, they got way bigger issues. who are they? what are they about? you're all trump. you've all been quiet. you've all been scared. now what? we'll see. david gregory, thank you very much. we're going to have ana navarro coming on later in the show to

talk about what the impact of all these women's selections could be. we're going to walk you through where things stand tonight on the big issue, which is the pandemic. the worst days are ahead. accept it. accept it. is a big moment in the fight. what do we have coming our way? what does the vaccine mean? what does it not mean? the chief doctor is here next. [ fizz ] joining meeting. [ coughing ] [ gasping ] skip to cold relief fast with alka seltzer plus severe power fast fizz. dissolves quickly, instantly ready to start working. ♪ oh, what a relief it is so fast. now roomba vacuums exactly where you need it. alexa, tell roomba to vacuum in front of the couch. and offers personalized cleaning suggestions for a clean unique to you and your home. roomba and the irobot home app. only from irobot.

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dr. scott atlas is out. the controversial white house covid adviser, though had no experience in dealing with pandemics ever, let alone coronaviruses, let alone this one. he resigned from the trump administration tonight. apparently his 130-day window in the administration was up.

in his resignation letter to the president, he wrote, as you know, i always relied on the latest science and evidence without any political considerations or influence. that's all i'm going to read from it because it is complete b.s. this is the guy who told people in michigan to fight against wearing a mask and social distancing and restrictions on restaurants. that's science? record-high cases. record-high hospitalizations. our system is at its breaking point. i am not about hyperbole or exaggeration when it comes to covid, okay? 93,000 people were hospitalized. i talked to people in the system all over the country. they are more frightened than at any point except for the beginning when they didn't know what the hell they were dealing with. now they know, and they say, we've never had more to deal with. that's our fault. it is only our fault. where to point where rhode island is turning to field

hospitals? california considering a new stay-at-home order. why? the icus are surpassing capacity maybe before christmas. and we just saw what happened with thanksgiving. we have every indication that there's going to be a case pop from what we decided to do over the last week. we're not supposed to be letting our guard down. we did exactly that. and i think there may be a tendency to be even more nonchalant because we've all got the vapors from the vaccine. moderna, pfizer, they're getting closer and closer. it's getting better and better. the rollout. you're going to have competent leadership in there after the inauguration. people will be able to do it. so why don't we just live as we want? that is a horrible analysis. don't listen to me. let's bring in chief doctor sanjay gupta along with dr. elmer huerta, medical contributor to cnn in espanol and a participant in the moderna vaccine trial. good to have you, doc.

sanjay, i hope thanksgiving was good. i hope it was good for both of you. the idea of people not doing what they need to do as the holidays come and they love you, sanjay, but they're sick of the message. they miss their loved ones. it's been too much for too long. i got to live the holidays. the vaccine's coming. i'll be fine. what is your concern? >> well, you know, i mean i -- my concern is that it will get a lot worse before it ultimately gets better. and, you know, with this hope of the vaccine on the horizon, you know, you are finding -- and i'm seeing this among my own friends and colleagues as well -- sort of one of two camps. people are either saying exactly what you're allowing to, chris, hey, we're through this. the light is at the end of the tunnel. we can sort of let our guard down. and another group is saying, hey, you know, it's just not that much longer. let's redouble our efforts and try as save as many people as we can before the vaccine gets here. it's coming, but it's still going to take several months for

the majority of people to actually have access to this vaccine. so, you know, the message is the same, chris. i mean, you know, the idea that still in the united states the best that we could do is be the worst in the world is not something that i think anybody predicted or aspired to. we can still do things to save lives over the next several months. anybody can be part of that movement to save lives. >> now, the good news with the vaccine, on top of the scientific good news, dr dr. huerta, is the vaccine hasn't been politicized. so trump was telling people, vaccine good. so we don't have a block in our political culture to people wanting to take it. yet we're a little bit better than 50% of people say, i'll take the vaccine. now, as i said, dr. huerta was in a trial for the vaccine, and he went through it. i want to hear your experience, but start by telling people who say, i'm not taking it. i don't trust it. what do you say to them? and then what was your experience? >> hi, chris.

good evening. thanks for the opportunity to be with you on your audience. what i would tell them is that they need to have confidence because the clinical component, which is the experimentation with human beings, that has been following the scientific rules. phase one, phase two, phase three has been really scientifically well founded, number one. number two, phase one and phase two studies have been published in scientific journals. the papers have been reviewed by peers. so the scientific component of the clinical part of the development of the vaccine has been scientifically sound. people need to trust that very part. >> how was your experience with the vaccine? >> it has been great. i'm very proud, and i'm very happy, chris, that my

participation, my blood, my time, i'm part of one of those 30,000 people who got the injection. i got two shots. the first one on august 19th and the second one on september 14th. i don't know what did i get, if i got the vaccine. i don't know, or maybe the place placebo. but it is important for us as human beings to know that the best way to develop medications and vaccines in this case is through science. and these vaccines, all of them are following science as their guidance, and that is extremely important for the public to understand. >> and while you don't know if you got the placebo or the vaccine, you've had to track symptoms and any difficulties. so far so good. let's hope it stays that way. let's put up the schedule on the moderna vaccine timeline. remember, there are two vaccines. they both have to be kept cold, but the pfizer vaccine that came out first -- or whatever, we

heard about it first, that needs to be kept really cold. the moderna vaccine has to be kept cold, but not so cold that it's hard to store and to transports. so, sanjay, december 40 million doses. january, another 50 million doses. february and march, another 60 million doses. so 150 million doses. that sounds like a huge number, but what does that mean in terms of how many people and what kind of people get this? how much prophylaxis is that taking us through the spring? >> chris, first thing to remember is that this is two doses typically for this vaccine. so anytime you see these numbers, you got to divide it by two to figure out the number of people who could actually be vaccinated. we can show you, chris, what the likely scenario is in terms of who is going to get vaccinated first and what percentage of the population they represent. so, you know, it's going to go to the states, and the states are ultimately going to make these decisions.

what we're hearing is that health care workers are going to be part of the first phase, face 1a. why is that? why health care workers? because if you lose a lot of health care workers because they become infected, you're going to strain an already strained hospital system. after that is the rest of the essential workers and then people with high-risk medical conditions and adults over 65 years old. if you do the math there, chris, you're starting to look at 250 million people roughly, you know. so it's a majority of the country that really falls into some of these categories. and, again, you know, two doses, so that's 500 million doses. that's why when you start to look at the general population, young healthy guy like yourself, when would you be able to get the vaccine? it's probably going to be the summer because there's all these other people in line in front of you, either because they're taking care of covid patients or because they're at greater risk of getting sick. you've obviously gone through this, and you did get quite sick. >> that's a good point. there are a lot of mes out there. there are a lot of people who

have had it. what is the advice to people who have had it and let's say don't have the antibodies anymore? should you take the vaccine? >> i think the answer is going to be yes. i don't want to be dogmatic about this because we are figuring some of this out. in your case, again, you've been measured. i think your antibodies waned or they've gone completely, so you probably have less protection now although there are other components of the immune system. but what the guidance seems to be is if you've had it, if you've developed a coronavirus infection, recovered from that, you would still be a candidate for the vaccine. we don't know how long the immunity lasts from natural infection. it's still an open question, one that i hope we can answer at some point. but the guidance now is you probably would still be a candidate for the vaccine at that appropriate time. >> dr. gupta, thank you. dr. huerta, nice to have you on the show. i hope you had a good thanksgiving, and i hope that the study of your clinical side of taking the vaccine stays.

please come back. tell us how you're doing down the road. god bless. >> thank you very much, chris. i just want to remind people we're in the middle of the pandemic. we need to really prevent this infection and that's a very important thing. thank you very much. >> 100%. sanjay, dr. huerta, thank you very much. appreciate it. all right. took far too long, but joe biden finally got his first presidential daily briefing today. you know why it matters? trouble in this world. we've been very, very focused on one troublemaker in this country. but there are problems all over the place, and they're going to be made manifest. iran after the assassination of one of their top nuclear scientists, what do you think? nothing happens next? what was he told by the white house? tom friedman says there's a good reason why biden should not go back to obama-era thinking about the middle east. really? what does that mean? next. tonight...i'll be eating crab cakes with spicy aioli.

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high-profile assassination in the middle east. you hear about it? could land a foreign policy crisis in joe biden's lap. the iranians blaming israel. the reporting is it was an assassination. a top nuclear scientist taken out. the question is what? what's the retaliation? it's exactly the kind of attack that shows just how much things have changed in the middle east during the last four years. now, we're going to question that supposition and see what it means for us with tom friedman of "the new york times," also the author of "from beirut to jerusalem." again, i recommend the read not just because tom is a friend and mentor but because you need to understand where we were to understand where we are when it comes to the situation in the middle east. so, tom, i hope everything was better than worse for thanksgiving with you and the family. it's weird for all of us.

let's question the premise. what's change? we're stronger. trump was stronger. people are afraid of him, and he told people how it was going to be, and that's why we've had no terror attacks. so haven't things changed for the better? >> well, you know, chris, the way i look at it is that, you know, donald trump created a certain amount of leverage for joe biden on both the china front and the iran front. on the china front, he imposed 25% tariffs on about 50% of china's exports to the united states. and on iran, he broke the iran nuclear deal and reimposed crippling economic sanctions. trump in both those theaters, chris, was never able to translate that leverage into really sustainable new deals. so he's actually left that for biden, and that's a potential opportunity for biden. now, in the case of the iran nuclear deal, the point i was making in my column today is what's changed since four years ago is that while israel and some of our arab allies are

certainly concerned that iran not get a bomb, actually they're much more concerned these days about iran's proliferation of precision-guided missiles to lebanon, to syria, to iraq, to yemen. missiles that in the hands of these iranian proxies, because they are precision-guided, chris, can do enormous damage to their economies. so bottom line, what i think they're going to want a president like biden to do, soon to be president biden, is to use the leverage that trump left him not just to maybe get a better deal on the iran nuclear question, but also to try to curb iran's proliferation of these precision-guided missiles. >> what do you mean when you say think twice before you go back to the obama-era thinking? >> well, i wasn't really criticizing obama or obama-era thinking. what i was saying was the world basically has changed since the iran nuclear deal. a new threat has emerged, and

while israel, the arab states, they're concerned about the bomb, iran's chances of using a nuclear bomb are pretty small. that would be suicidal. the iranian regime is not suicidal. it is homicidal. it's ready to really use these precision-guided missiles and is on a daily basis. and all i was saying is that as we are now four years later, that's become a much bigger threat, and we should really think about not using the leverage we have just to curb a nuclear development program in iran but also these precision-guided missiles. that's really what i'm saying. >> if israel is responsible for this assassination as it's being called in iran, isn't the u.s. kind of hamstrung? i mean, you know, israel is our ally in the region, and we know they see iran as an existential threat. and you can't not support israel. and then if you don't, you know, take iran's side, which the

united states, i would assume, would not, how do you get anything done with them? it's kind of a box, no? >> i actually think the iranians are the one in the box because i think they're really afraid right now to retaliate while trump is there because, you know, iranians, they usually think they can outcrazy anyone else. i think they're worried maybe trump would outcrazy them. i at the same time, i think when trump's gone they're going to want to reach out to the biden administration to see if there's a deal that could be negotiated. i think the iranians are in the box right now much more than us. but i would also tell you something else. i'm sure the israelis did this. the mossad is very good. no question, chris. but you know what's the most frightening thing, i would say, for the iranians about this latest assassination, which is basically part of a long series of attacks that have been going on. it's the number of iranians, chris, who are clearly cooperating with israel. and i think it's because they

really dislike this regime. and i think that's the really interesting story here. the mossad is good, chris, but they're only as good as they get cooperation inside, and they've been clearly getting massive cooperation inside. and that is a real challenge to the legitimacy of this regime. >> this is scary, but you know what? there is something productive about talking about something other than trump's mouth for a change. we got really issues in this world that we have ignored because of his crazy, and now we got to deal with everybody else's crazy, and it's a good time to start talking about it because biden's going to have to do something about it. tom friedman, thank you very much for the perspective as always. i am thankful for you being in my life. >> thanks so much, chris. appreciate it. all right. did you see what happened in georgia this weekend? the rnc chief had to convince republicans to their faces that their vote will actually count in the runoffs deciding the control of the senate.

see, this is the problem with the toxicity of trump's mouth. now you got a problem in georgia. but you have a bigger problem in that party. what is the gop, seriously? what are they? i know a lot of good republicans, a lot in my family. what are they now? are they just retrumplicans? are they republicants? what are they about? what is their future? max boot, ana navarro -- there she is -- next. research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia.

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it's real. it's dangerous. and we do know how to keep you and your loved ones safe. wear a mask. wash your hands. stay six feet apart. we can do this. if we do it together. that's why i take osteo bi-flex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. while helping with occasional joint stiffness. osteo bi-flex. i'm sure a lot of you learned this as children, but we're living it out now in our country. when you give into a bully, it never ends. what are we seeing? from arizona to georgia, trump is turning out members of his own party. he preys on weakness. by the way, it doesn't matter that he openly endorsed all

these people in the past. it doesn't matter he said kemp was doing a good job by ignoring the pandemic in georgia. it's always been about fealty. if you don't serve trump, he crushes you. that's what he did to kemp in georgia. and this fear of blowback is what keeps the cronies in congress -- shh. they say nothing. they want to talk about neera tanden's tweets. really? after everything you've ignored with trump, you think you have the gall, the unmitigated gall? so what will the state of play be for this party? do they need a new name? what are they about? let's discuss the fate of the president's party, because that's what it is, with ana navarro and max boot. and i know you both don't like that suggestion, but you know i love you both. and i say it from coming from a good place. ana, i also want to ask you about the significance of all the picks that biden is making who are female.

but let's deal with your party, and then we'll finish on that. so, max, am i right to say, who are you people? what are you, the retrumplicans, the republicants instead of the republicans? do you have a party? do you have to redo it all? what's the state of play in your mind? >> well, chris, this is why i'm very glad that i left the republican party after a lifetime because the republican party does not stand for anything anymore other than loyalty to the mad whims of donald trump. and that's literally true because remember last summer the entire republican party platform came down to loyalty to donald trump. the republican party literally has no positions other than supporting donald trump. and now we're seeing the cost of that support because since the election, trump has mounted an unprecedented attack on the integrity of our electoral system. there has never been another president in our history who has refused to accept the results of

the election, and much to the disgrace of the republican party, most of them are too cowardly to call him out. and those few who are doing their duty like the secretary of state in georgia or the governor of georgia are suffering nonstop abuse from the president's partisans. they have to have bodyguards because their lives are being threatened. this is what the republican party has become. it is a thoroughly odious institution that has been completely corrupted by trump and his cronies. >> well, joe digenova, someone we both know, ana, just says that krebs, the guy that trump put in to secure the election, should be drawn and quartered. he should be taken out and shot. it's hyperbolic, but it's also frightening and it makes trump followers want to hate that person. the question for someone like you is can you go home? >> i don't know what home is. if by home can you mean can i go back to the republican party, i don't know what the republican party stands for right now. look, i think what you're seeing play out right now is the fact

that donald trump has so many on a very short leash. and until january 5th when those runoffs in georgia take place, he's got all the leverage. they know that one or two mean tweets from donald trump against voting in georgia can make or break the difference between and so, if you're mitch mcconnell, whose entire career rests on these seats in georgia, you're shutting up. and if you are his cronies, you're shutting up. and if you don't want mean tweets directed at you, you're shutting up. so, yeah, as cowardly, as infantile as it sounds, the republican party has been reduced to most people cowering in a corner in hopes that donald trump does not direct a mean tweet at them. now, the question is what happens after january 20th? what happens, then?

how much of his power does he lose? how much longer will people, who have been career-public servants, allow themselves to be hosta hostage? the question is, will they ever be able to regain their spines? maybe, find them? in whatever medical lab they're being held in formaldehyde. >> well, you got different -- different levels of play, right, max? you got the rubio/cruz play, which is i'm going to be the next guy. i'm going to be the next trump. let me say some kind of stuff that he'd say. i think they've got a problem. then, you have a different level of play, which is much more threatening. trump has people in georgia thinking they shouldn't come out and vote because it won't count. the rnc there had to say, no, no, no, your votes will count. please, come out. you know, they are being quiet because they don't want him to

hurt them in georgia but he may have hurt them in georgia because they're being quiet and not saying, no, no, no, the election system works, the voting system works. now, you have kemp who is not in a hurry to do any favors for trump. what does it mean for georgia? >> it's a mess. and donald trump is often his own worst enemy. you saw that during the campaign, where he kept insisting that there was going to be mail-in-voter fraud, of which, there was basically none. but, by saying that over and over again, he dissuaded his followers from casting mail-in ballots, and he may have cost himself the election. and right now, with his crazy claims about how the vote has been rigged. and you can't trust the voting systems and all the rest of it. it's all insane. literally, there's not a shred of evidence. but it may actually dissuade republican voters in georgia from turning out. so, there is kind of poetic justice in this, in that, at the end of the day, the people trump may hurt the worst are his own followers. because he is truly in it for himself it's a massive ego trip.

he doesn't actually care about the republican party and he will gladly destroy the republican party, in order to soothe his own ego. >> anna, is it as big a deal, as i think it is, that biden is putting, the all-women's comes team. yellen is already in there. maybe, secretary of defense. maybe, cia. other positions as well. to the people who say, oh, that's too many women. or, eh, it doesn't really matter. how significant is it to you? >> well, look. i don't know that -- that people have ever said, that's too many men in those jobs. how does it feel to me? you know, chris, i've learned how much representation matters. i can't tell you how many little girls tell me about how inspiring it is to see somebody at the supreme court that looks like them. to see somebody in positions of importance that look like them. and so, it really does shatter a glass ceiling. and maybe, if you're not a woman, you don't understand.

maybe, if you're not a woman of color, you don't understand. i like to hope that that -- that that's not the case. but, i can tell you, for those little girls, for immigrants seeing alejandro mayorkas. for women of color seeing the new u.n. ambassador, seeing the head of the economic council. it means so much because representation tells you. it sends you a very strong message that you, too, can reach for the stars. and that there are no glass ceilings. i bet you -- i bet you that, if you go home and you ask chacha, if you ask your little girls, they'll tell you how much it means to them. and christina. >> i know. as you know, in my family, i don't have to ask. i'm surrounded by women who are smarter, and telling me exactly what i need to know, all the time. and i know max's wife and i know we have had her on the show, seen her on msnbc. the timing is great, max, not just because we're about ten

years, too late, in recognizing the need for this diversity play. but, they would have to pray for a better opportunity to be compared to the outgoing administration than to get a better gift than they've been given with this. whatever agency, if you can't do better than who's been in there now, you should -- you should want the criticism. so, the timing is great, in terms of who they'll be compared to, no? >> absolutely. i mean, in terms of being compared to the outgoing administration. i mean, even if you're minimally competent, you're way ahead of where the trump administration was. but, there is also a downside to it, of course, which is the trump people are going to leave a lot of devastation in their wake. they have purged a lot of good people. they have cost the u.s. government a lot of credibility, both at home and abroad. and it's going to be a massive, massive undertaking to rebuild the u.s. government. but so far, i'm very impressed by the people that biden is appointing. men, women, they're all very

competent, they're experienced, they're moderate, they're centrist. they are the kind of people that we need to roll up their sleeves, and get this job done. >> yeah. he's got some work to do on the administration. look, i love firsts that are positive. and as somebody who is raised by a strong mom and sisters and has a wife and daughters, who make him better already, it's nice to see that we're doing the right thing, for a change. let's see what happens next but it's good. anna, thank you for fighting to get the technology to work tonight. max, pleasure to have you on the show. listen. you're here. you're beautiful. and you're beneficial. thank you very much. >> i've missed you. >> i was actually talking to max. no, i'm kidding. it's great to have you both. god bless and take care. we'll be right back. >> first time anybody ever said that to me. >> cuomo "prime time" brought to you by bath fitter. transforming bathrooms for over 35 years. visit bathfitter.com today.

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