a rare rebuke of president trump and are republicans on capitol hill. as a group congress convenes, it faces futile fight by conservatives to overturn joe biden's win. >> congress won't take any action until they're forced to. that's what this is about. and in two days georgia voters decide the future of the senate. >> there is a new day dawning in georgia, and in this country. retirement is coming for david perdue and kel can i loeffler. >> and on the first day of 2021,

the u.s. surpasses 20 million covid-19 cases as a new variant of the virus spreads. >> it's been a very tough year. this is the worst we've had literally in 102 years in. the good news is that science has and will come to the rescue. >> welcome to "inside politics". thank you for joining us. a new year and a new congress. the 117th congress convenes for the first time today at noon. the last act of the outgoing congress was passed friday with the first veto override of the trump presidency. a bipartisan supermajority voted to enact the national defense authorization act despite the president's objections. one of the first acts of the congress has both chambers in turmoil. a dozen senators and 140 house

republicans could vote to throw out electoral votes awarded to joe biden. >> this is the one opportunity that i have as a united states senator. this process right here, my one opportunity to stand up and say something. that's what i'm going to do. >> they've got to choose. simple. there's only two choices. you choose democracy and the constitution, or you choose the big lie in trump. it's as simple as there. >> the 11 gop senators who joined josh holly said they intend to support an objection and propose an election commission to conduct an audit of election returns in disputed states. this is despite no credible allegations of any issues of voting that would have impacted the election. president trump's legal team and his allies have lost 59 out of 60 cases they've brought to court disputing the election results. mitch mcconnell privately urged republican senators not to join the efforts. and some republican senators

spoke out publicly against the moves yesterday. senator lisa murkowski said i will vote to affirm the 2020 presidential election, the courts and state legislatures have found nothing to warrant overturning the results. mitt romney, it may enhance the political ambition of some, but threatens our democratic republican. and pat toomey, the republican from the state holly pointed out said i intend to defend our government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others. there's zero change of chances the election outcome only to delay for a few hours the inevitable affirmation of biden's victory. joining me now new york times congressional editor, and white house correspondent. thank you both for joining us this morning. and julie, we'll start with you. a new congress, a new plan among conservatives to try to disrupt

the win. it's not going to succeed, but it's stunning to see the lengths at which a sizable contingent is going to undermine the will of the voters. what's the real motivation behind an effort they know has no chance of succeeding and risks sewing more distrust over american democracy? >> well, listen, i think we've all talked about the desire of the conservatives to show loyalty to president trump. and that certainly is a motivation here. but there's also another motivation which is connected to that which is the desire to curry favor with their base and to avoid being punished by voters in the country who support trump unflinchingly no matter what. believe there was fraud in large part because the president keeps saying falsely that there was fraud. and that this election was rigged. these republicans have been taken up that charge, and amplified it as well as some of

the right wing media, and then you have a vicious cycle of republican senators saying look, my constituents think there was fraud. the president saying yes, there was fraud. and you have republicans saying if we don't go forward with this, challenge this result, we're going to be disrespecting the beliefs and desires of our constituents. and so you have a real desire not to offend the president, but also a dilemma for republicans who are now in a position where if they say the election was free and fair and validly decided, they are going against somehow their constituents. and that puts -- that's the dynamic that mitch mcconnell was trying to avoid when he quietly asked republicans not to take up this pursuit. that's the dynamic we're going to see play out on wednesday where you have essentially republicans being asked to choose between the president and

what their constituents think invalidly happened in the election which is fraud, and the unambiguous result of the election. >> and we're already hearing some republican senators pushing back publicly since yesterday including ben sass who said it a couple days ago. he hasn't heard a single congressional republican dispute the election in private, and most republican senators i spoke to don't dispute the outcome. this is what adam kinsinger had to say a couple days ago. >> right now members of congress are planning to try to overthrow this election by using the debunk conspiracy theories. they won't succeed, and they all know it. i've heard from so many members of congress who know this isn't true but they fear their next election, and a snowball of self-protection has grown rapidly. >> yeah. now the scenario that mitch mcconnell is dreading is happening. republicans are going to have to choose between voters and donald

trump. and late last night white house chief of staff mark meadows said there could be over 100 members joining hands on this. ultimately do you think a majority of house and senate republicans will go along with this and where will the republican leadership in the house and the senate be? we know mitch mcconnell is not part of it, but what about the larger republican leadership in both chambers? will they join the president on this? >> that's a really great question. i mean, i would not be surprised to see a majority of house republicans support the president in this very futile effort. if you look back, remember, 126 house republicans, a stunning number, signed onto baseless lawsuits challenging the president-elect biden's electoral college victory. so i would not be surprised to see a majority of house republicans endorse that. obviously we know that kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader is a close ally who hadn't been on the outs with president trump like mitch mcconnell has been.

mcconnell, the senate republicans have been more forceful in the past several weeks telling their members what a bad vote this would be for their caucus. it's not just mitch mcconnell. john thune was vivid and vocal about how this effort would be. threatening a primary or threatening to support a primary challenge to soon in 2020. blunt has similarly been vocal. it is going to be a tough vote for a lot of republicans out there, and it shouldn't be. this is just simply affirming the votes of a free and fair democracy that by all evidence shows was carried out like it was supposed to be. if you are rob portman in ohio, you're up in 2022 in a trump-supported state. you have to watch your right flarng, watch for a primary challenger and win in a general election. and this is -- the president is making this into a tough vote

for the republicans. >> yeah, and someone else to watch, julian, on wednesday is mike pence, the vice president. he has a tight rope to walk as trump's loyal vice president, but there's not a whole lot he can do. watch how al gore handled this in twun aft2001 after he conced following the contentious florida battle. >> while pence's team pushed back by a recount that tried to give the vice president the green light to disregard the electoral vote. his chief of staff said pence welcomes the efforts to raise objections. what do you expect to see from pence this week? >> well, he is in a very tough position. and he has been -- he has understood for many weeks he was going to be in this position and trump was unlikely to be pleased with him doing what his ceremonial task is in this

proceeding, simply to read the results, and then if there is a challenge, to announce that the challenge falls. if it falls, and as you mentioned, we do expect this challenge to be futile. that's his job. and that's really the only thing he can do, and that's the position that he took when these house republicans brought this lawsuit to try to force him to unilaterally overturn the result on wednesday. what was fascinating about the statement was that clearly he understands it's not going to be seen that way by the vast majority of members of his party. and he has political aspirations of his own beyond president trump. he's trying to be careful to seem to be sort of on board with this challenge, and yet, his job on wednesday is to effectively announce that this challenge has failed. it doesn't have the votes. the result is the result. and that will be, i assume, what we'll see from him. if it's not, it will be a very

striking moment in which he basically goes against what his legally laid out role is. that's what president trump has made very clear that he wants to see happen. and as it was said, this should not be a hard call. this is a clear process. we all know what happened in the election, and the outcome is very clear. but president trump has made it into a litmus test, and that can become dangerous both for the members and the vice president hir himself. >> and if he listens to the president, it's different than what al gore did in 2001 and joe biden in 2017. trump has shown no restraint in going after those who don't meet the litmus test. mitch mcconnell and john thune. thune said he thought it would go over like a shot dog. perhaps that's what prompted trump to tweet, i hope to see

the great governor of south dakota run against rhino senator john thune in the upcoming 2022 ply mare. south dakota wants strong leadership now. she said she doesn't plan to primary thune. what does this say about trump? days before critical election, the next senate majority in georgia and trump is attacking the very leader who is have for the most part often defended him at length over the past four years. >> it shows that at least in the immediate future, even as the president leaves office on january 20th, that trump and trumpism and trump himself is going to have a hold on the party for the immediate future in terms of the immediate upcoming election cycles. we know the president hasn't ruled out a comeback bid. i would imagine he teases it out like the reality show producer that he is for some time. and as long as his kind of -- as long as he is out there, his voters are going to be attracted

to that. you know, the people who are running for reelection in 2022 or for their presidential nomination in 2024 are going to have to contend with that. contend with trump voters. so really, it shows he's going to have an impact on the party for some time. obviously how far it goes, you know, depends on the republican party it, and depends on just whether trump decides to run again. but it really just shows how much the president has transformed the republican party in such a short amount of time and how loyalty. even if it goes against basic democracy, it's really what's most important to him. >> and the question is how long will that last once trump leaves office? particularly over house republicans who are seeing senate republicans break, house republicans that's another question. thank you both for joining us this morning. up next for us, america marks another grim milestone.

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as the world ushered in a new year friday, the u.s. reached a grim milestone. 20 million coronavirus cases.

hospitalizations around the country hit record highs as health care workers struggled to keep up with the surge of coronavirus patients. the cdc is now predicting that in the next 20 days the u.s. will hit up to 424,000 deaths. plus some disappointing news on the vaccine front. health officials expected to inoculate 20 million people by the end of 2020. so far some 4 million people have received the vaccine. joining me to share their expertise, er doctor lena wynn and the director of the public health association and former head of the maryland department of health, dr. benjamin. thank you for joining us this morning. dr. wynn, start with you. so far 12.4 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered to states but only 4 .2 million americans have been vaccinated. this is a far cry from the trump administration's initial goal to

vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2020. is it time for the federal government to step in with a national strategy and if so, what should that strategy look like? >> first, anyone looking at the numbers should be disappointed. i think a lot of us are having deja vu of what happened with the rollout of testing and of ppe, because there were so many promises made, and yet, the federal government abandoned their responsibility. in this case, the federal government seems to have seen their role as distributing the vaccine to the states and after that, it's let me wash my hands and let the state and local health departments take over from here. the problem is local and state health departments have been doing everything else in this response. they've been the ones figuring out how to ramp up testing and doing public education, and now we want them to also take on the duties of launching the massive vaccination campaign. they really need the assistance of the federal government.

they shouldn't be forced all of them to come up with 50 different strategies of vaccinating the public and we're seeing now what happens with the piecemeal approach. absolutely the federal government needs to step up with resources and listen to what the locals are saying and helping them with the resources that they need. and there needs to be a federal strategy, whether it's with setting up mass vaccination sites or recruiting the individuals, the workers needed to do the vaccination. there's more coronation that should have been done months ago. we've months behind, but the work is needed now. it would be a tragedy to have millions of doses of vaccine languishing in freezers when there are thousands of americans dying every day. >> what could the u.s. do to close the gap between the vaccine doses that are distributing and those being administered to people? >> first, we set a goal, and 1

million a day is great, but 2 million a day would be a better goal. we want to get this done by the summer. they need a secure, reliable vaccine supply line. that means making sure all the vaccine companies have all the materials they need. 24 /7 operations. this is not something we need to do monday through friday days. we need to do this with some intention. and technology for appointments. we shouldn't have people sitting in parking lots all night waiting to get to their appointment. we can do a lot of this stuff up front. getting their screenings. that can be done online, up front. and then getting them just to get the vaccinations, doing things we call fast track. that means moving people with few health problems through the system. it's the 8 items or less line in the grocery store. and dealing with the issue of vaccine hesitancy and recognizing we need a all hands approach.

that means stopping the if i thinker pointing -- finger pointing. and a partnership where the feds are in charge. >> in los angeles they are dealing with this unprecedented number of co-vid cases. according to l.a. times, hospitals have been strained by the surge. hollowa hollowa hallways are lined up. the national guard has been called to move bodies into storage. there's a shortage of people who can take care of patients as many frontline workers are out sick with co-vid. what needs to be done, doctor, to help the hospitals keep up with the increase in patients? >> we need to remember hospitals are the last line of defense. they're not the first line of defense. we're seeing what's happening in los angeles. los angeles is not alone. there are hospitals all around the country that are filled to the brink, and, in fact, are over capacity. when that happens, it's not only the patients with coronavirus who suffer. it's also elective surgeries

being cancelled, but that means they're not urgent. it doesn't mean they aren't important. and patients are now waiting for cancer surgeries. there are individuals coming in who otherwise should be treated for heart disease and diabetes who are waiting in the er for many hours and may not be getting the treatment they need as well. we need to be helping the hospitals. the idea we talked about last march and april of flattening the curve is true now as well. the community is the first line of defense. what everyone needs to do in particular in hard hit areas but all over the country is to see it as our role to try to reduce our interactions with others as much as possible. make sure we wear masks. avoid indoor gatherings. avoid any type of space that's crowded space, continue with physical distancing. keeping people out of hospitals is what's going to help these hospitals get the ideal care that every patient needs. >> i mean, on top of all the problems, doctor benjamin, the

new uk co-vid strain has been found in three u.s. states. experts say it's up to 70% more transmisable. the u.s. has surpassed 20 million co-vid cases. but will this new strain accelerate the case count? >> oh, it absolutely has a risk of doing that. but we know the solution. it's wearing a mask, washing our hands, keeping your distance. if we do that, we can do prevention. we cannot treat our way out of this pandemic. ending this pandemic means doing the nonfarm collage cal things we've been emphasizing and giving an effective vaccine program up and running. >> and to follow up, the south african co-vid variant produces 22 mutations compared to the uk strain which produces only 17 mutations. will the south african strain effect the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccine? >> you know, we don't know. but we think that at least right now the vaccine we've constructed should cover the

strains that we're seeing. but that all remains to be seen. i think we need to stick with the plan. vaccinate as many people as possible. look, we know how to do this. we change a vaccine every year for influenza. that means right now the companies also need to be making sure that the vaccine can keep up with any virus that changes, but for what we know right now, we believe that this vaccine will be effective for what's in the planet that we're seeing. >> doctors, thank you so much for your expertise. your insight this morning. answering these questions that are difficult to answer. appreciate it. and up next for us, all eyes on georgia. control of the u.s. senate comes down to two runoff races on tuesday. ♪ still warm. ♪ thanks, maggie. oh, alice says hi. for some of us, our daily journey is a short one.

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georgia voters are set to decide in two days which party

will control the senate in the first two years of the biden presidency. now, with that at stake, biden himself will campaign in atlanta on monday, along with president trump and vice president pence stumping for republicans and conservative northwest georgia. the president-elect vice president is due at a rally today. who controls the senate will determine how much of biden's agenda can pass. both sides have views to motivate supporter's turnout to vote. >> total democratic control. that's their goal. if they're in charge, america will never be the same. save america. vote for david perdue on january 5th. >> you can send jon ossoff to senate to beat this virus and make sure everybody can afford health care. joining me, the atlanta journal constitution's -- a

record 3 million georgians voted early, many in democratic leaning areas. take a listen to the early optimism of stacey abrams. >> it's gratifying to see so many turning out. we're pleased with the level of energy and excitement, especially giving how often -- especially among the 100,000 voters who have shown up today and did not vote in november. 40% are african american and we've seen increases among young voters. those are all good signs for democrats and democracy. >> now, what do you make of the early voting numbers and can republicans close the gap on tuesday? >> yeah. i mean, these were the p prerequisit prerequisites. we knew the republicans enjoyed the advantage. perdue led. jon ossoff, when you combine the

loeffler and collins vote, that was ahead of democrats fmt for democrats to run in the runoffs which are typically lower performing, they had to have a strong early vote and had to see an increase in the vote share from black electorates and young voters. they saw it in the early results. that's a good step number one. that does not, of course, mean this thing is over. we're expecting republicans to have a better showing on election day. it's going to be critical to look in the northwest georgia areas where the president and vice president are going to see if conservatives are really going to come out on the day or whether the numbers we were seeing in the early vote are a sign of lesser enthusiasm on the republican side, because that is really what this is going to come down to. >> no question about it. and president trump has escalated the post election feuds with georgia republicans because he doesn't like the fact that he lost the race in november there. even this past week going as far as calling on the republican governor kemp to resign. take a listen to his and

lieutenant governor duncan's reaction to the president. >> well, all of these things are a distraction. i mean, i've supported the president. i've said that many times. i worked as hard as anybody in the state on his reelection. >> unfortunately the president has committed to the way he's going to act and react to losing the election, and at this point, it's not helping us here in georgia. i'm going to stay positive and continue to encourage him to try to build up kelly loeffler and david perdue to their accomplishments? >> the president will be there for a rally ahead of the election. are his efforts to sew anger about the vote count and to create distrust over voting in georgia, are those going to hurt republican turnout at the end of the day? >> that's the great fear among republicans. we're certainly hearing the effects of the president's attacks on georgia elections among those crucial georgia republican voters who senators loeffler and perdue need desperately to come out on tuesday. i have not talked to one person

at a loeffler perdue rally who believes that joe biden won the last election. some of them don't believe he will be inaugurated on the 20th. and we're hearing from the president, and these are supporter who is believe their president and trust their president. he is telling them that the elections in georgia are rigged. that doesn't help to get people out on january 5th to vote in another election. and the senators are doing the best they can to use the emergency energy of anger and telling voters to channel that into jab, but it has created a massive unknown where there didn't need to be one for the senators. >> and what will the president say tomorrow? another big question. instead, election day is in two days. you reported this week the republicans closing message is ginning up fear of democratic control. here's what lindsey graham said on new year's eve. he said anything that comes out of pelosi's house will come to the senate and will kill it dead. anything that comes out of

pelosi's house will come to the senate and kill it dead he said. how are voters receiving that message, and how does it compare to what the democrats are pitching in the final days? >> it is all negative partisanship and using the fear to try to drive turnout among the republican base. so much so that you barely here the senators talk about what they support, the bills they have tried to implement and kind of vision even kind of trufr-esque vision of where the country should go. it is all about i'm sticking close to president trump on his claims of voter fraud and then also just negative attacks on what the democratic side is doing. they're hoping that what unites republicans in the end is not anything besides trump and also kind of fear of democrats and those would be the motivating forces. on the democratic side, they are pitching a center left message. expanding health care but not medicare for all. they're talking about criminal justice reform but not defunding

the police. that kind of splitting the difference between the two wings of the party. that's part of the message. democratic message, driving the partisanship to really try to see a big increase in turnout among their base. >> joe biden won georgia by 12,000 votes. jon ossoff loss to senator perdue by 2% in november. neither got 50%. that's why we're in the runoff. there's late factors here. i wonder what you think about the impact they'll have on the race here. perdue off the campaign trail due to quarantine because of contact with someone who had covid-19. and also, the president calling for a vote on $2000 stimulus checks and jon ossoff was pushing for that too. no vote ever came before the u.s. senate. how do you think the factors are going to make an impact on the race or will it not at all? >> so i think that this is a really set electorate so far.

and the question is just who is going to turn out on tuesday. senator perdue had kept relatively low profile. he's been going to small towns, not telling the atlanta journal constitution or cnn where he was going to be. he's zooming into these events instead. but senator perdue got more votes on election day than anybody else on the ballot, including trump. he goes into tuesday with a large advantage. and so jon ossoff is going to have to find new voters. democrats think they have done that, and they are using that $2000 stimulus check as an example to say look at what the senators could have done, look at what they could have done for you but didn't do for you. i think that has been, again, a way to motivate voters on either side. i haven't seen a lot of crossover between the two. but this is really a base election, and these two sides are using anything they can to try to get everybody out on tuesday. >> and president-elect kamala is in the state today ahead of joe biden's visit tomorrow.

but republicans say that spotlighting harris's role as a tie breaking vote in the senate helps them make the case for a check against the biden presidency. what kind of impact do you think she could have ultimately on this race? >> yeah. i think harris is, again, another one of the democratic figures that allows warnock and ossoff to lean into the message of representing a new version of democrats. not necessarily joe biden, but kind of rising tide of a new type of democrat. certainly she is an em policewoman of that. republicans and democrats are saying in this race if the democrats win, big change is coming on the policy front to america. it's only a question of whether you think that change is good or bad. the democrats think it is a good thing they can provide to stop republican obstructionism. republicans are saying that will lead to rad lical changes. there's a shared agreement that the united democratic house, senate, and white house will

bring those changes. it is just about the impact of it. certainly senator harris will then reinforce the democratic message on that side. republicans are trying to seize it for a backlash. >> the reality is no matter what ps on tuesday, the senate will be narrowly divided and will need bipartisan support to get things done. thank you both for taking the time this morning. up next for us, nancy pelosi set to win the gavel for a fourth term later today. but what challenges are facing her smaller democratic caucus in the new congress? to help you lose weight! more simplicity with what's in your fridge? which h suggests meals based on what you have. more motivation with on-demand workout classes. more freedom with over 300 zero point foods. and new tools to boost your mood and help keep you hydrated! get more of what you need to help you lose weight. lose weight on us this winter! get three months free!

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in hours the new congress will be sworn in. it's a historically diverse class with the most women, black, latino and lgbtq members ever. the north carolina has the first member born in the 90s. ritchie torez and jones, both new york democrats are the first -- democrats kept their house majority, it is slim and later today nancy pelosi's first test of keeping her caucus together as she vies for a fourth term as speaker. in the senate republicans remain in the majority. to do elections in georgia could give democrats control for the first time since 2015.

joining me now, time magazine's molly ball, the author of the book about employeely call -- pelosi called pelosi. in a few hours, the vote for house speaker taking place. pelosi has not had to fend off potential democratic challengers in what's likely to be her final bid to be speaker this. but she has little room for error as she needs to keep the majority to keep the gavel. at least two democrats say they won't vote for her while 15 democrats didn't vote for her in 2019. and meanwhile some members will not be present due to the coronavirus and family emergencies and proxy voting isn't allowed for this vote. they have to appear in person. molly, pelosi an her team are confident they have the votes. few on the hill doubt her. getting a majority vote for the speaker's gavel in the nearly divided house is going to be close.

>> it is, and there could be some surprises. it's the last factor, attendance, that's the biggest wild card here. because we just don't know, and she needs a majority of however many people are there and voted. there are family emergencies and people on both sides expected to stay home because of co-vid, either because of exposure or being diagnosed. it's going to be tight, and the factor, the crucial factor this time is not as it was last time. those internal divisions within the party. there is widespread agreement. there are a couple of democrats who have said they don't want to vote for speaker pelosi, but for the most part, she has the party behind her, particularly because this is seen as her last term. and so it's really those republican members who may be staying home, they're not exactly telling the democratic caucus what their plans are. and nancy pelosi likes of her ducks in a row and know exactly

where every vote is coming from. even as they have been projecting confidence, we know that the speaker's team has been scrambling, making a lot of calls, trying to make sure everybody she needs to vote is going to be there. >> one thing to watch is some of the democratic members who don't want to vote for her voting present on the house floor, not for her or another candidate. that would help her. it brings down the threshold to get the majority. this close speaker's vote today is going to foreshadow the challenges in dealing with the competing focus in her caucus to get bills past. tell us about her leadership style and the limits she might face in trying to get her caucus to fall in line. >> well, i would say on the one hand, yes, this is the slimmest majority for either party in 20 years and that poses inherent challenges for any leader. and there are more of those far left progressives, the

sympathizers with the so-called squad in this new congress who have signalled they want to use their leverage. they want to use their numbers and the fact of that narrow majority to try to put pressure on the leadership to go in a more progressive direction. on the other hand, speaker pelosi has been around for a while. as you notice, i have written about, and if she has -- if she only had one skill, i would say her number one skill is keeping the democratic caucus in the house together. she has political scientists will tell you, has enforced record levels of party unity throughout her time as democratic leader in the majority and the minority. it is her number one skill, and she has a lot of experience with it. so it may be difficult. it may be messy. it may be bruising. there may be some real actually moanny and fights and among the democrats. but if anyone could keep them together, and i think that's why she has the confidence of the

caucus, is because they recognize this is going to be a tough job. it's going to be tough to keep this caucus together. and it's hard to think of anyone who is better suited to do that than speaker pelosi. >> and she has rejected the idea that a smaller majority will actually imperil their ambitions. listen to what she had to say about that this week. >> our caucus is unified around our common ethical belief, and our responsibility to america's working families. that's what brings us together. of course we have our differences in approach and some other ideas. and that's our vitality. i would not want to be a leader of a party that was rubber stamp lock step. that's called republicans. >> quick, in what's your reaction to that? >> that sounds like something she's probably said 100 times over the course of her career.

and that is -- they have disagreements on actual policy, particularly when it comes to things like health care, medicare for all, the progressives are interested in it. or is this about tactical differences and how to use the leverage. we'll have to see if she's right. >> we'll have to see. thank you for joining us. outgoing senior lamar alexander on whether they should contest the 2020 election. his advice for the next congress and how donald trump is like ronald reagan.

the 117th congress meets for

the first time today and both gop senators from tennessee including the incoming freshmen are part of the dozen republicans who plan to oppose counting the electoral votes to certify president-elect joe biden's victory. the outgoing senior season lamar alexander sat down with us before christmas to caution his party to take a different course about challenging the lex and reflect on trump's presidency and how the gop has changed in his 16 years in the senate. what kind of impact does this on the faith and belief and democracy when the president is refusing to accept these results? >> it's important, the united states has always prided itself in being the world's leading democracy and one of the most important aspects of that is the election. george washington said when someone asked him that it wasn't the first election that was so important, it was the second one to show that we had an orderly transfer of power.

and we go around the world expecting other countries to follow our lead. we even sent observers and then tell them that they have. so it's perfectly fine to challenge the result of an election. that has been done. but when it's over and it's now over, we ought to respect the result. >> you clearly said you want joe biden so get off to a good start. does it worry you this voter to view his presidency illegitimate? >> i don't think. i would think even for president trump's strongest supporters the fact that we took 37 days or 38 days, that the governors in the states counted and recounted and then certified and then went to court 50 times and that the president's own attorney general found no widespread fraud and the electors then voted that say that the election was valid. i look at it way i look at the

vaccine. you know? if the food and drug administration on which we rely for most of the things we buy in the pharmacies, if they take all of this time and the career scientists tell me the vaccine is safe and effective, i'm going to take it. i'm going to rely on them. if the governors and the courts and the electors are telling me the election is valid and it's over, i'm going to accept it. >> you, obviously, have been serving for quite sometime and you have seen a lot in the party, how it's changed over the years. in the in the last four years under trump, how much has the republican party changed? >> well, president trump has done a pretty spectacular job of drawing support within the republican party. i mean, we used to think of ronald reagan as the great communicator and he was. but president trump has mastered the way to communicate in this, what i would call an interpret democracy. nobody else has 72 million people paying attention to whatever he tweets in the morning. so he has developed a lot of support.

>> but he also, you know, he lies a lot. he has done a lot of controversial things in his tenure. a lot of republicans on capitol look the other way when things like that happen. >> well, depends on what you think our job is. i say the people didn't elect me to come to washington and give a running commentary on donald trump. if i wanted to do that, i would have stayed home and got a radio program or stood on a scope box in downtown street. i came up to get things happen. whether it's president obama or president bush or trpresident trump. i've worked for the people who elected me and i hope they succeed because if they succeed our country succeed. i tried to work with each president whether i disagreed with their policies or behavior i felt what i was elected to do. >> what advice do you give to the new congress about how to be functional again? >> number one, get back to

confirming the president's nominees. any president has more than 1,200 nominees to confirm. the senate most important and best known role in many ways is advice and consent. the democrats have basically slowed down the device and consent process so that we only can consider seven or eight nominees a week. that is not good for the country. so we should get back to confirming presidential nominees. two, we should get back to allowing aemeallow ing amendments. doesn't it distant happen because they dopted bring at the time to floor and often it happens because the minority says no. fountain senate would get back to confirming presidential nominees and allowing amendments offered evon the floor a lot mo would get done and get more respected. >> biden and mcconnell were able to get things done in the obama

era. do you think they have an actual ability as to bridge that divide into the new congress? >> yes, i do. coming to an agreement starts with knowing each other and trusting each other and so they both know and trust one another. i think the key will be whether president-elect biden is able to withstand the left wing of his party. if he comes forward with a bernie sanders and elizabeth warren agenda, he won't get much support. if he comes forward with a center left agenda, he'll find a large number of republicans who agree with him. to get an green light in the senate you can't play on the far left or the far right and ever get much done. >> you're one of the -- one of the things you said on the floor during your farewell speech is concerns about the filibuster and not getting rid of that the filibuster here on the senate on legislation. we have seen the filibuster get weakened over the years. you voted for getting rid of the filibuster on supreme court

nominees. do you regret that vote? >> nope, i don't. because the senate never denied a federal judge or a cabinet member a seat by requiring that person to get 60 votes. not in the history of the senate until the democrats started doing it to judges to george w. bush. so what the senate is for is to see if we can get a broad agreement on big issues that most of us can vote for and the country will accept and the filibuster forces us to do that. >> that is it for "inside politics." i hope you can catch the show weekdays and at noon eastern. up next, "state of the union" with jake tapper. surgeon general jerome adams and ohio republican governor mike dewine and stacey abrams and jon ossoff are his guests coming up next. s, you get the freedom of the seven-day return policy. this isn't some dealership test drive around the block. it's better. this is seven days

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falling short. america's vaccine rollout falls far behind schedule, despite promises to vaccinate tens of millions by the end of last year. >> of course we need to be doing a better job. we are leaving no stone unturned. >> surgeon general jerome adams is here to explain what went wrong. denying reality. more and more republicans in congress say they will vote to block joe biden's electoral victory. >> is there no impetus to overthrow an election. it is a scam. >> i'll as