good evening, we have breaking news, hopeful news tonight on the effectiveness of the two publicly available covid vaccines even against new strains of the virus. dr. anthony fauci will be here live to talk about that in a moment. first, it's anything but a good evening for millions of americans without power tonight, some without heat or running water. for yet another record-setting day, they are facing the harsh reality of cold temperatures in places unprepared for it. hardest hit is texas where water lines have burst, gas lines have frozen and power lines are down.

some of the more than 2.6 million households without heat or power have been forced into community warming centers where available. other haves been sickened or killed by carbon monoxide from makeshift heating arrangements. one houston-area furniture store owner opened two locations for people to stay in and did the same after hurricane harvey but even remarkable individual acts of kindness can only go so far. the problems right now are statewide, affect millions, and instead of taking responsibility, it seems some top state officials are doing anything but. ed lavandera is in dallas tonight. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, anderson, right now the bottom line is the question that everyone wants the answer to is exactly when is the power going to be fully restored across this state? and sadly tonight, we don't have a firm timeline on when exactly that is happening. the state officials with the power grid system say that they are essentially at the mercy, at the power plants across the state to get the power systems back online.

there are about 680 power plants across the state, we're told, that about 180 of those have been impacted in some way. officials here are saying they're hoping that the power can be fully restored in the next day or two, but there is not a lot of certainty that goes with that and warmer temperatures above freezing are not expected to stay around until this weekend. so it could take some time for everything to thaw out. >> what are officials saying about when power will be back on? and how much credibility do those officials have tonight given what they've been saying? >> well, from every other resident here that i've talked to, the credibility supply is about as low as the power supply in this state tonight. so there is, you know, a great deal of concern as to how long it's going to take. remember, all of this started, everybody woke up to this on monday morning with state officials saying this was going to be a situation where we would see rolling power outages that your power would be off for maybe 30

to 45 minutes at a time and then it would cycle around to kind of spread the pain to most of the residents here in texas, but that has simply not happened because this situation is so much more dire than we originally knew on monday morning. that has been really what has inflicted the most amount of pain for so many people. people have spent days without power. i interviewed a gentleman we'll hear from tonight who has been without power since sunday night when this first -- this winter storm first started making it -- its way through the state. so a lot of questions as to exactly what this timeline and how quickly everything can get back online, anderson. >> ed lavandera, thanks. we'll come back to the story shortly. a number of significant developments on covid includes but not related to weather vaccinations in texas and and seven other states as far away as new york. there is welcome news that broke late today. a study published in the new england journal of medicine suggesting the pfizer vaccine can protect people against the

new coronavirus variants including the one first seen in south africa. separately, moderna and the nih published a letter outlining similar results for the vaccine and dr. anthony fauci says the new strains could quote dangerously accelerate the trajectory of the pandemic. that is on top of the news president biden made last night during our cnn town hall in milwaukee. >> when is every american who wants it going to be able to get a vaccine? >> by the end of july of this year. we have -- we came into office, there was only 50 million doses available. we have now, by the end of july, we'll have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single american. >> when you say -- [ applause ] >> when you say by the end of july, do you mean that they will be available or that people will have been able to actually get

them? because dr. fauci -- >> they will be available. >> they will be available? >> they will be available. >> joining us is dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. thanks for joining us. i know yesterday earlier in the day i think you had said maybe june, july, august. are you confident that the vaccines will be available to all americans in july? and what does that actually mean? >> well, that means that the contractual arrangement made by the federal government with the various companies to get 600 million doses for 300 million people, that contractual arrangement calls for exactly what the president, what you just showed what he was quoted as saying by july, by the end of july, there will be available that amount of vaccine to essentially vaccinate everybody in the country because that's what you would need is about 600 million doses when you have a prime and a boost for about 300

million people. so when he said available, that's exactly what he meant. how long it will take to vaccinate people will really depend upon the efficiency you get doses into people's arms. so they'll be available in july. it may take an additional couple of months, actually, maybe towards the end of the summer to get everybody vaccinated. so that's what he meant by available. it ready to go if people need to be vaccinated. >> the -- obviously, it is kind of a building effort. so those will be fully available by the end of july, according to the president and what you're agreeing with, but some of that will already be available earlier and therefore people can continue to get vaccinated? >> yeah. >> so the vaccinations will continue all the way through? >> exactly. what i was talking about you may have heard the comments i made is that you have now what are called prioritizizations,

anderson, where you have the 1a group, which are the health care providers, the people in nursing homes, 1b, the elderly and those in critical jobs and society and on and on. by the time you get through them, you're still vaccinating a considerable number of people, and the point that i had made is that i originally said april but i really probably now because of the gap between supply and demand it won't be probably until may or june where you get through that first group so now that you can say that anybody in the sense of you don't have to be in a priority group can actually get a vaccine if it were available. the july time frame means we have enough vaccines available to vaccinate everybody and beyond that is how long it would take to actually vaccinate them. so it all is compatible in the time frame going from month to month. >> what about the johnson & johnson vaccine? that's a game changer and overused term but it would be a huge help to get that potentially millions of doses

online. was there miscommunication about production? because there was obviously a lot of hope about the scope of the rollout which i'm confused about now. >> well, okay. we've contracted with them, anderson, for 100 million doses that we should be able to get by the end of june or july. we will meet that. we will get that. so they have sort of more back loaded than front loaded, so in a week or two, i guess it will probably be by february 26th, they likely will go to their advisor committee to talk about the possibility of an emergency use authorization. if the emergency use authorization gets approved -- and i don't want to get ahead of the fda, let's assume that it does, they will have very few doses available the next day to give. it will likely be single digits and the next month will be a bit more. but then as you get to may and

june, then you'll have a real escalation of the available doses. so essentially, they're going to come through with their contractual agreement of getting 100 million doses by a certain period of time except it will be heavily loaded towards the latter part of that time. as opposed to immediately after they get their eua. >> past the end of july, into august, september, everybody who has wanted one has been able to get a vaccine in their arm. what does that mean for herd immunity? >> well, that's a great question, anderson. it really is going to depend on how many people actually want to get vaccinated. that's the reason why we're putting a big push on getting out and extending ourselves into the community, particularly the minority community, to address what would some people refer to

as vaccine hesitancy. namely, not really wanting to get vaccinated or wanting to hear a little bit more about other people getting vaccinated. i had said and it's purely an estimate, that the so-called herd immunity percentage you would need would be somewhere between 70% and 85%. again, that's an estimate. you don't know what herd immunity really is until you reach a certain level. and then when you get below it, then you start getting infections in the community. we know exactly what it is for measles. we don't know what it is yet for sars-cov-2. but i imagine it's somewhere between 75% and 80%. i hope by the time we get to that point whereas the president said, we have enough available for anyone who wants it that people come forward and we actually do vaccinate that 70% to 85% of the population, which hopefully will get us to the point of herd immunity. >> so we also learned today according to the new england journal of medicine, studies

performed in labs suggest that both the pfizer and moderna vaccines can protect against the current known variant. that seems like great news. what more are you learning and is that as promising as it sounds? >> no, it is. particularly, for example, the two major variants that we've discussed now for weeks has been the 117, which is the predominant u.k. variant, which is right now in this country and models suggest by the time we get to the end of march, it might be the dominant strain in the country. we know the vaccines of moderna and pfizer, the antibodies they inentice do quite well against the the b.1.1.7. the south african variant, the 351 isolate is a different story. the efficacy of the vaccines induced by both the moderna and pfizer diminished multiple fold,

but there's such a cushion of efficacy at the level of antibodies that are induced, that even with that diminution, which there are for sure with the vaccines, there is enough protection to be able to protect against mild to moderate disease, not as well as you would protect against any disease but the good news is that it protects very well against severe disease. so all and all, the fact is we are challenged by these variants, we have to address them, but the good news is that the vaccines that we are currently using have very good efficacy against one of the variants and modestly good against the other. >> you've warned that the variants could really take hold in march or april. why is that? how concerned are you that people will see the daily infection rates decreasing and, you know, either stop paying attention and following, you know, all the guidelines, not

wearing masks and social distancing including governors who may loosen restrictions? >> right. great point, anderson. that's the reason we have two very good schools against the variant that is now in the united states and that's projected to maybe be the dominant one in a month or so. >> that's the 117 or the u.k. variant. the two ways that we can counter that is, one, continue to do the kinds of public health interventions that we talk about all the time. you know them well. the wearing of mask universally, physical distancing, avoiding congregate settings, washing of the hands. you do that, you're good against the wild virus and mutant virus. also, as the weeks and months go by as you vaccinate more and more people, you have a vaccine that works against this variant.

so if we roll out this vaccine appropriately and get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we possibly can while we maintain the public health measures, we should be in good stead. it's not going to be easy because you have this variant that could increase in transmissibility which is why we have to act quickly on that. >> as more and more people get vaccinated, there is confusion what you can and can't do afterwards. people should still wear masks, yes, and they should still isolate and social distance if they're exposed to someone known to have the virus, certainly, quarantine if they've supposed to someone known to have the virus. >> no, actually, it's not necessarily. you said one thing correct and another one that i'll just give a minor correction on. the fact is that after you've been vaccinated, it is conceivable, maybe likely, that you could get infected but because you're vaccinated, you don't get any symptoms. so the good news is you don't

get any symptoms but you could get still infected and have virus in your anyways virus in your nasal pharynx, you could spread it to someone else. that's the main reason for wearing the mask even though you've been vaccinated but the cdc has come out and said now if you are fully vaccinated, and you get exposed to someone who, in fact, is known to have covid-19, you don't really need to isolate and quarantine the way you did before. so that's a significant change. >> you should wear a mask because you may actually -- you can still catch it from somebody and spread it, you just won't get sick and have symptoms? >> exactly. because the vaccine is 94% to 95% effective in preventing you from getting clinically apparent disease.

we don't know yet. we'll know in sometime as we do followup studies, we do not know yet whether you can get infected and still be capable of transmitting it to someone else. hence, the recommendation of wearing the mask even though you've been vaccinated. >> finally, i'm curious if this is a question you've been asked a million times, last night president biden told me things may be back to normal by christmas. what is that definition of normal by christmas to you or when do you see normal? >> well, you know, i think it's perfectly reasonable to say that. we don't know. the president made an estimate, which i think is a quite reasonable estimate. i would be right in that ballpark myself. what we're talking about is that maybe not 100% exactly the way we were before all this happened, but what he was referring to and i would agree with that is that we're going to be able to do things that we right now are not able to do. for example, indoor dining, going to a theater, going to a movie, being able to congregate

in a setting with dinner, with people beyond those who are in your own household. if we get the level of infection to really very, very low in the community, not like it is now, we still even though we're doing much better, we still have up to 100,000 new infections per day. i'm talking very, very low level of infections. you can start doing some of the things that really resemble what we call normal life. >> dr. anthony fauci, appreciate it. thank you. >> good to be with you. thank you, anderson. coming up next, a closer look at the people left in the cold and officials that are supposed to be looking out for them and not spreading falsehoods about the problem. texas congressman beto o'rourke joins us. on the occasion of rush limbaugh's passing, the political climate he helped create and where it led.

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subfreezing temperatures with no relief in sight until the weekend. for millions that means going without things. trying to live without the necessities of life itself. once again tonight, it's ed lavandera. >> reporter: the temperature in jose's house in del rio, texas is 35 degrees. he lost power sunday night. >> i just stay in this room.

keeps the room warm. >> reporter: he can handle the cold but he needs a generator to keep his oxygen machine going. limon spent three weeks in a hospital intensive care recently battling covid-19. he has needs round-the-clock oxygen. >> i'm nervous. i'm nervous. i don't know what is going to happen, when the power is going to come on. that's a lot of around the house, a lot of people to have light, but not me. i don't know why. >> reporter: the bitter cold has now turned to heated anger over the catastrophic failure of the state's power grid. texas governor greg abbott made the rounds on texas television news programs to say it's a total failure of the organization known as ercot that

runs the state's power grid. he called for an investigation and executives to resign. >> ercot stands for electric reliability counsel of texas and they showed they were not reliable. >> reporter: most of texas runs on its own power grid separate from the rest of the country. state leaders designed it this way to avoid federal regulation. ercot officials decided the decision to take power away from millions of homes spared a system wide failure that could have take months to repair and left more people freezing. >> if we had waited and not done outages, not reduced demand to reflect what was going on on the overall system, we could have drifted towards a blackout. >> reporter: according to ercot officials, equipment failures at oil and gas plants account for the largest amounts of power knocked offline and right wing pundits used the texas freeze to blast the reliability of wind and solar power. in the middle of this crisis, governor abbott went on fox news. >> this shows how the green new deal would be a deadly deal.

it is essential that we as a country remain where we continue to provide access to fossil fuels for heating, for taking care of our homes. >> reporter: but before the governor made that appearance, he was telling texas news stations that one of the biggest concerns was frozen equipment at natural gas plants, which provides most of the heat for texas homes. >> the power generators froze up and their equipment was incapable of generating power. and then on top of that, the natural gas that flows into those power generators, that has frozen up also. >> there is no green new deal of texas. that is a j-o-k-e joke. >> reporter: he says the governor and state republican leaders are trying to shift blame. >> i would say 100% of the blame goes to greg abbott and the republicans for years and years of neglect and mismanagement. >> we are starting to get really frustrated. >> reporter: in the meantime,

texans like jordan orta and her little boy are scrambling to fight off the freeze. they slept in their car last night in fear they'll do the same tonight. >> it's uncomfortable as you can imagine. it not like sleeping in your own bed but we were warm and able to make it through the night and just hoping that tonight is a better night. >> wow. >> ed lavandera is back with us. it's not just a heating problem. what other dangers are texas families facing tonight? >> reporter: one of the other concerns of millions of people regardless whether you have power or not tonight, anderson is the water of situation. there are a number of hospitals across the state reporting water issues and water pipe issues. cities and municipalities across the state are issuing warnings to boil water for safety reasons and pipes are cracking. so this is a problem that i think will become a much bigger problem here in the next day or two so something to be on the lookout for there, as well.

>> lavandera, appreciate it, thanks. more on the politics of this. we want to talk about it with former democratic presidential candidate beto o'rourke. congressman, thanks for being us. you said the situation in texas is worse than we're hearing. have things gotten better? >> unfortunately not. i joined a bunch of volunteers tonight making calls across texas to check in, especially on senior citizens. and as reported, many of them don't have water or very low water pressure and many don't have electricity, and most of them are under a boil-water notice, which is tough when there is no water coming out of your faucet and you don't have electricity to heat it up if you could. there are others breaking up furniture and burn it in their fireplace to keep them and their kids warm. thankfully, texas has set up warming centers throughout the state that folks can go to that

are powered by generators and have the warmth necessary to keep people alive but most of the seniors i talked to tonight didn't want to leave their homes and are bundled up in blankets and as much clothing as they can get on their bodies hoping the electricity is going to be turned on. and as you know, too many people lost their lives and i'm afraid more will if we don't get this fixed soon. >> so the texas governor greg abbott is defending his comments blaming the state's power issues on frozen wind turbines and the green new deal and saying if texas relied solely upon green energy, it would be a challenge, which is not the situation there at all right now. does that make sense to you? >> no. there has been complete republican control of the state of texas for 20 years, so for example, the public utility commission, which oversees and regulates the electric utilities we're talking about now. he makes the appointments on to that commission.

the railroad commission that regulates not railroads but the oil and gas industry in texas, there are three statewide elected commissioners. all of them are republicans. the decision to deregulate our electricity grid in the first place and not require additional capacity in emergencies like these nor to connect to the rest of the national grids that we can draw down power, these are all decisions made by greg abbott, rick perry, their predecessors and other statewide elected republicans. but i think most texans right now don't want to deal in blame but want to make sure that we can get online and prevent this from happening again. so that means investing in weatherizing our power generation and transmission lines. it means having either a mandate or an incentive to provide extra capacity for situations like these. and it means rethinking ercot, our electricity grid in texas and connecting it to the rest of the country so we can sell off surplus, which we can drive the profits back into weatherizing

the grid and being able to draw down electricity in the rare emergencies that we have like this one. last thing, anderson, you also have state leadership that doesn't believe in climate change and it's very clear that's what is causing these extreme weather events, whether severe droughts in the summer or winter storms, the likes we haven't seen in anyone's lifetime in texas. these will become more common, more intense and more deadly and so we've got to take action as a state and energy leader to help lead the country on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and making sure those in the front lines of climate change are taken care of. >> it's interesting. i actually interviewed bill gates the other day. he talked a lot about the electrical grid, which a lot of people don't really pay much attention to in this country but he's saying essentially, it needs a massive increase and overhaul to handle all the

electrical needs coming down the pike as more people use electricity through wind and solar and a proponent of nuclear, saying in a situation just like this, when there is no wind, when there is no sun, and the grid in texas isn't connected to the national grid, there is no way to get power from elsewhere. do you support nuclear as a kind of a part of a green solution? >> i do. i think we need a diversity in power generation. we have that in texas. in fact, we have coal. we have nuclear. we have gas as well as wind and solar. but i want to make one important clarifying point. wind and solar are renewable energy portfolio actually outperformed the forecast over the course of this winter storm. so regardless of what greg abbott and other republicans and right-wing media are saying, our renewable's did well. it was nuclear, it was coal, it was gas where we had problems both in the transmission and the actual instruments freezing because we haven't weatherized

them. but to your point and the point of bill gates, yes, i think nuclear the part of the portfolio that gets us to a carbon-neutral america as soon as we possibly can. so that we have net zero emissions and we start effectively combatting climate change before it too late. if any state can really take the lead for our country, it would be the center of energy in north america, which is texas. i think we have the ability to do that and hopefully, it's a lesson we take from this disaster is we have to do a much better job going forward. >> beto o'rourke, appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thank you. up next, breaking news from the white house on president biden's latest strategy to pass the $2 trillion covid relief package. that when we continue. [ heavy breathing ] allergies with nasal congestion overwhelming you? breathe more freely with powerful claritin-d. claritin-d improves nasal airflow two times more than the leading allergy spray at hour one. [ deep inhale ]

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breaking news from the white house tonight there are new details on president biden's plan to pass his nearly $2 trillion covid relief package. our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins joins us now. what's the latest on how president joe biden the framing the stimulus bill? >> reporter: it seems like the closer it gets to getting on his desk for his final signature to be passed into law once it makes its way through capitol hill, he seems more and more divorced from the idea republicans are going to support this, there is going to be any compromise.

that had been what you heard president biden talking about, inviting republicans to the oval office, listening to their proposals for what they think the bill should look like, how they could meet in the middle. and you heard a reversal of that today. he was in the oval office saying the polling he's looking at is showing how popular his proposal is for a really big package, which he told you last night he feels like he's got to go big here. and he basically said that he thinks it's politically risky for republicans not to support this bill and they're kind of daring republicans not to support it to a degree. he said not just his polling but public polling he's seen supports this. he is framing it more as a risk for republicans not to get on board than the sense of let's find a way to meet in the middle compromise on this. he's staying with the top lines he initially proposed when he got into office. >> it's interesting. it's been more than two weeks since he met with gop senators. they were pitching a slim down relief package, certainly doesn't seem to be going the way he's going.

how does he work with congress on passing this? the democratic majorities in both chambers are slim. >> reporter: yes. that's what's key here. yes, they have the white house and the senate, but not by much. there still has to be some waffling here. it's being crafted in the house now, the bill is. it going to pass through the house likely potentially next week and then go to the senate and that's where things will be really interesting because of course, while democrats have largely been unified behind this bill, there is a major sticking point and that's that $15 federal minimum wage biden proposed that he did not think would survive in the bill but now moderate democrats are saying we're not going to support that while progressives, people like bernie sanders of the world are still saying they have a room full of attorneys still trying to get it into the bill. whether or not it ultimately survives is another question, but we should not -- note biden is looking ahead to infrastructure and what can come next. those will be the things that

form his legacy, shape his legacy while he's in office. what democrats look like on that will be another question. >> thanks. that leaves members of congress in the house and senate to negotiate in the coming days and weeks. with me is florida congresswoman val demings. congresswoman demings, where do things stand passing the $1.9 trillion proposal? >> anderson, it's great to be with you. i think president joe biden made it quite clear we need to go big or go home. the american people are hurting. small businesses are hurting. if there was ever a time we need relief, the time is now. and so i think he's also made it clear really since the campaign that he does want to work in a bipartisan way. we know that has been his style if you will in the past. but he is clearly prepared if we have to go at it alone on the democratic side of the aisle, we're prepared to do that to bring much-needed relief to the

american people. i got to say i'm a little shocked that republicans who obviously represent people, small businesses that are struggling, will not join. there is still time. we'll see. but we are prepared to go it alone, and i know the president is prepared to get relief to the american people. >> it's obviously not just covid relief being debated. there is the prospect of increasing the federal minimum wage of $15 an hour, possibly cutting student debt. president biden is not as bullish on those issues or going as far on those issues as some progressives in the democratic party would like him to be. does he go far enough? >> anderson, we've been talking about raising the minimum wage for a while now. so it is certainly nothing new. of course, we do have some challenges with the budget reconciliation process but i know that is a priority for president biden and it's a priority for his administration, certainly, we know it a priority on the democratic side of the

aisle and hope the final package would include raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. it may not, but what we do know is we will be back in d.c. and pass the relief package and we'll do that next week. >> so you think it will pass march 14th is when a lot of folks lose unemployment insurance. >> yeah, we're certainly going to do our part in the house of representatives. we know it will leave there and go to the senate, may go through some changes at that time but we're on a fast track to get much needed relief to the american people. remember, we started this process with the h.e.r.o.e.s. act. we know what that went through. the weeks and months in the senate i guess in the graveyard with the grim reaper but we need to get this done. as i said, we'll be back next week and begin the process of going to the senate and we've got to have the relief to the american people as you've indicated by march 15th. >> your home state of florida

continues to see high cases of the u.k. variant, the most instances of the variant in the nation. i just talked to dr. fauci about his concerns about these variants. do you think most floridians understand the threat that it's still very real? >> well, it's our job to educate them. i think the top question would be does the governor of florida understand what is going on? we know that we have well over 400 cases of the u.k. variant, more as you've indicated than any other state. and so we need to stay focused. we have almost 2 million cases of covid in florida overall most 30,000 people have lost their lives so it's certainly not a time to be taking a victory lap. we still have a lot more work to do here and get to the bottom of, number one, getting more people vaccinated. we need to do that in the state of florida. we also need to understand why the high numbers of the variant here. so we still have a lot of work that needs to be done.

>> i got to ask, both the governor ron desantis and marco rubio up for reelection. i'm sure you're not going to announce you're running tonight, but are you interested in either of those jobs or might they potentially interest you? >> i've had a lot of people reach out to me and talk about both of those jobs. let me say this. whether the governor's office or senate, floridians deserve to have a governor and a senator, two senators who are up to representing all floridians. look at the response to covid-19. we know black and brown communities, black and brown businesses have been adversely affected. we should not just represent some. we should represent all. and so we'll see what happens down the road. >> all right. congresswoman demings, appreciate it. thanks very much. one of top radio's most controversial and polarizing and

popular figures, rush limbaugh, is dead. a look at his life and assessment of the impact and following he left behind.

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he was polarizing, bombastic, loved by listeners. rush limbaugh died today after a battle with cancer at the age of 70. randi kaye looks at his life and legacy. >> you don't have to worry. about staying informed. >> reporter: he was the king of conservative radio and controversy. on "the rush limbaugh show," everyone was fair game. whether you were a u.s. president. >> god does not have a birth certificate, neither does obama. not that we've seen. >> reporter: or the president of china whom he mocked during his 2011 visit to the u.s. >> he was going ching chong -- >> reporter: for decades limbaugh filled the air waves with lies and conspiracy theories, racist comments.

one of his most outlandish moments was 2007 when he aired this racist parody called barack the magic negro to the tune of "puff the magic dragon" and often mocked women when nancy pelosi was the first female speaker of the house. >> i wonder when she loses if she'll go back to the question. back to the kitchen. >> reporter: he floated the conspiracy theory the coronavirus is being weaponized to bring down donald trump and nothing to fear. >> i'm dead right on this. the coronavirus is the common cold, folks. >> reporter: instead of knocking him off the air waves, his commentator turned him into a national hero for the right and made him a very rich man. >> somebody stand up for you. >> reporter: "the new york times" reports limbaugh earned $85 million a year. lived in a 24,000 square foot ocean front mansion in palm beach, florida, and owned a $54 million gulf stream private jet. not bad for a college dropout

from missouri. ronald reagan called him the number one voice for conservatism in the country, and last year he was awarded the medal of freedom at donald trump's state of the union address. >> rush limbaugh, thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country. >> reporter: limbaugh was a trump supporter early on and when trump lost in 2020, limbaugh helped incite anger by spreading the falsehood that the election had been stolen. >> you didn't win this thing fair and square and we're not just going to be docile like the past and go away and wait until the next election. so much i want to say. >> reporter: but on his final radio show, all that bravado was no more. limbaugh's usual sarcasm replaced by solemnity and a feeling the end was near. >> i can't be self-absorbed about it. when that is the tendency when

you are told that you've got a due date. you have an expiration date. >> this los angeles, that is little rock. >> now after 30 years, the chair at rush limbaugh's golden microphone sits empty. >> fair to say that while millions of his listeners will mourn him his death will also leave a void in the nationwide industry he is credited with launching sustaining more than three decades. we'll talk to our cnn analyst and former television critic for the "new york times" about this. bill carter, thanks for being with us. it seems in so many ways rush limbaugh laid the groundwork for this moment we've been living through. >> there is just no doubt about it. there is a direct line really from limbaugh to trump. listen to the litany of views and how different is that from what we've heard so much from trump supporters in recent years.

you know, he really is the guy who sort of created fox news and news max and the other right wing news outlets. they are feeding off his template. creating what is now really the conservative voice of media in america. >> in terms of talk radio and conservative talk radio i don't know if he was the first but certainly the biggest at the time and made it possible for sean hannity and all these others. >> no question. that industry absolutely owes everything to him. the right wing media talk industry. because he came along and radio was not strong. in fact, the rest of radio was obviously on the way out but he built an enormous following and every town and media market would have its own rush limbaugh. somebody with the same sort of outspoken kind of mean spirited nasty views that, you know, people wanted to hear on the radio.

i think you absolutely have to say radio owes all of that to rush limbaugh. >> how much an impact do you think he had on the past two presidential cycles? >> enormous. look, you know, trump winning obviously was a gigantic surprise. we all knew that at the time. but you had a drum beat of people going after hillary clinton the way this guy went after women was incredible. it was unbelievable as you just heard from randi. i think he was not as effective in this cycle because he obviously was not in good health, etcetera. he was speaking for so many people. you have to say it helped trump enormously and trump gave him the medal of freedom. >> there's been speculation about whether it is possible. did rush limbaugh believe everything that he said? i know you mentioned especially at the beginning he was very much about shock value. >> yes. he considered himself an entertainer.

if you look at his early work he was sort of absurdist. he would say things that were really out there and wacky in a way that made you think oh, this guy is kind of pulling my leg a little bit. but he was making enormous money from this and people were following him to hear this because he had views like that and he was affirming those views. he was giving them cover. if you felt like gay people shouldn't be married, if you felt women should not have an equal place in america, you didn't think he was kidding around or entertaining you. you thought he was telling you the truth and validating your views. i think rush went along with that. look, he was making these enormous amounts of money. he wanted to make enormous amounts of money. that was part of his ambition at the beginning. he overtly said that. i think he jumped on the carousel and said yeah this is going to take me everywhere i want to go. >> his career had ups and downs. there was an issue with prescription drugs at one point i recall. there was something with the nfl.

>> yeah. the nfl incident was he was working for espn. he didn't last long. a number of weeks at most. because he criticized a black quarterback named donovan mcnab who was a very good player by saying he only had the job because the media wanted to say a black could play quarterback. that was the only reason this guy was playing. he was an all pro five times that guy. but that kind of racist commentary espn would not tolerate and main stream media could not tolerate. but that niche that he carved out and that trump then jumped into, they not only tolerated they celebrated it. that's what they wanted to hear. >> bill carter, i appreciate it. thanks very much. >> great to see you. just ahead the forecast for the millions without power and heat from the extreme winter weather hitting texas and the central part of the u.s. when we come back. breast cancer. our time... ...for more time... ...has come. living longer is possible-

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breaking news to report cnn has confirmed at least 38 deaths across eight states from last thursday with the extreme winter weather about half occurring in texas. tonight the forecast is for this weather to continue. according to the national weather service, another weather storm is descending to reach from texas to the southern plains to the northeast. the new storm is predicted to bring a wintry mix of snow and east causing significant travel disruption, extended power outages including eastern texas where residents already have rolling outages some without power since at least sunday. all of the people there are in our thoughts and our prayers and we'll continue to bring you the latest.

a lot more ahead tonight. don't miss full circle our digital news show. catch it streaming live at 6:00 p.m. eastern at cnn.com/full circle or watch it there and on the cnn app at any time on demand. that's it for me. the news continues. let's hand it over to chris for cuomo primetime. today is ash wednesday. why is mine so good this year? because i did it. the catholic church has the priest spreading the ashes on my head. i said no thanks. you had an option to do it yourself. here we go. the beginning of lent. and it begins with a reminder what is this about? we're all dust. from dust we come and to dust we return and in that way we are all connected. we have to remember that. maybe the crisis in texas will help us reconnect. our brothers and sisters there are hurting and there is no end in sight. more than 2.5 million families and businesses are still without power.