. this sunday, new president, growing challenges. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> joe biden takes the oath of office with a message of unit. >> politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. >> president trump leaves washington without attending the inauguration. >> goodbye. we love you. we will be back in some form. >> and mr. biden immediately gets to work undoing the trump presidency with executive orders covering issues from immigration to the economy. >> there's no time to start like today. >> my guest, president bide dean's chief of staff ron klain.

plus full-scale wartime effort against covid. >> let me be the clearest on this point. help is on the way. >> we need more vaccine. we need more vaccine. >> mr. biden reverses the trump approach, launching a centralized response to fight the pandemic. >> if we get 70 to 85% of the country vaccinated, let's say, by the end of the summer, by the time we get to the fall, we will be approaching a degree of normality. also, impeachment part two. the senate trial begins in two weeks. what could impeachment mean for the new president's call for unity. >> it's unconstitutional, sets a bad precedent for the presidency and comes continues to divide the nation. >> i don't think it's unifying to say let's forget it and move on. >> i'll talk with senator dick durbin of illinois and mike rounds of south dakota. joining me are nbc news white house correspondent andrea mitchell, "new york times'"

david brooks, yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for pbs news hour and tim alberta, chef political correspondent for politico. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> reporter: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning from our brand new studio where we are broadcasting from. after more than 60 years at our historic location in upper northwest washington. a new stud i don't for a new administration. much as president trump sought to undo the legacy of his predecessor barack obama, so joe biden is moving to escape the shadow of donald trump and unwind that presidency. four years after president trump's american carnage speech, joe biden stressed a theme of unity in his inaugural address. moving on from rhetoric, mr. biden went to work immediately to erase much of what he could with a pen of donald trump's presidency, issuing 17 executive

orders on day one on everything from economic relief to climate change to racial justice to immigration, to the pandemic and, of course, an order that stopped construction on the wall. in addition to all of that, the house will transmit its article of impeachment to the senate tomorrow with a trial in two weeks. but it is one issue, the pandemic, that presents the new biden administration with its greatest challenge and greatest opportunity. the president's ambitious multitiered national strategy to combat the virus is precisely the kind of muscular response the trump administration avoided. will it work? 418,000 americans are dead from covid-19 and another 100,000 are likely to die in the next 30 days. it's not hyperbole to say the biden presidency hinges on its success against the pandemic. his administration's success in taking on all aspects of this health catastrophe will not only determine america's trust in this new president, but in

proving government still has the ability to get big things done. >> we're in a national emergency. we need to act like we're in a national emergency. >> president biden whose campaign was defined by a single issue -- >> covid-19. >> covid-19. >> covid-19. >> covid-19. >> -- mao is faced with a challenge on delivering his promise to make government effective again. >> we will be judged, you and i, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. in an nbc news poll, 11% of voters say vaccine administration has been going very well. among those who say delivery falls short, 64% blame the federal government. >> we spent hours, two or three hours at a time, often with no luck. >> the president is doubling down on his pledge to deliver 1 >> we need more vaccine. we need more vaccine. we need more vaccine. >> the administration is struggling on how best to assure

the public. >> we certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution. >> president biden faces two challenges, making red state republican governors into partners. >> this shouldn't be the hunger games like it was with ppe. >> including some trump allies who are dismissive of his plans. >> i saw some of the stuff that biden is putting out. he's got to create these fema camps or whatever. that's not necessary in florida. >> forging enough cooperation with republicans in washington to deliver on his ambitious agenda. >> it requires the most ill collusive of all things in a democracy, unit. >> president biden's call to dial down the temperature of political disagreements may quickly face its limits when it comes to policy consensus. >> president biden sounded notes of unit in his inaugural address. unfortunately when he got back to the white house, he implemented a bunch of far left policies. >> republicans and democrats can't even agree on ground rules

on running the senate, especially whether to keep the filibuster. >> i can't believe the democratic leader would rather hold up the power sharing agreement than simply reaffirm that his side won't be breaking this standing rule of the senate. >> leader mcconnell's proposal is unacceptable and it won't be accepted. >> biden economic adviser brian december is scheduled to have a call today to push biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. while president biden urges congress to tackle his priorities quickly -- >> the more time we get up and running to meet these crises -- >> -- a senate impeachment trial may make it harder to change the tone and delay passage of its agenda. >> it's unconstitutional. it sets a bad precedent for the presidency and it continues to divide the nation. >> i don't think it's very unifying to say, oh, let's just forget it and move on. >> joining me is president

biden's chief of staff, ron klain. welcome back to "meet the press" and day four, i believe now, of this presidency. let me start with a contradiction -- a potential contradiction. jeff zients indicated you had to build the vaccine distribution program from scratch. dr. fauci said no, we're not building it from scratch. give me an assessment now after three or four days of this of what you inherited in this vaccine distribution program. >> i think, chuck, those two statements actually rerk siel more than you might think. i think what dr. fauci is saying is, of course, a year of really amazing scientific break dlooe through and discover created this vaccine in record time. we have seen the initial wave of vaccinations take place. that is progress we are building on. there's no question about it. the process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of

nursing homes and hospital, out into the community as a whole did not really exist when we came into the white house. as everyone in america has seen, the way in which people get vaccines is chaotic, very limited. we've seen this factor all over the country where millions of doses have been distributed, about half of that has been given out. the process of getting that vaccine into arms, that's the hard process. that's where we're behind as a country and that's where we're focused in the biden administration in getting that ramped up. >> let me ask something very specific on that. we have about a 20-million-dose gap over what's been distributed and what's gotten into people's arms. where is the holdup? is this on the staelgts and how they've been distributing? we all have personal experiences. my mother is in florida. needy say more about what we've watched in florida. what is this gap, this holdup? where is the bottleneck?

>> chuck, i think it's many bottlenecks. like all complex processes, this is a very complex process that needs help on all fronts. we need more vaccine. we need more vaccinators, more vaccination sites. in the biden administration we're tackling all three. you said at the top, the fundamental difference between the biden approach and the trump approach is we're going to take responsibility at the federal government, we're going to own this problem and work closely with the states. they're key partners in getting this done. we'll set up federal vaccination centers to make sure that in states that don't have enough vaccination sites we fill those gaps. we're going to work closely with the manufacturers to ramp up production. one of the first orders the president signed was using his legal authority under the defense production act to mandate the production of more vials that can extract more doses -- more syringes that can extract more doses out of the existing vaccine vials. we're going to use all the powers we have in the white

house. we're going to work with congress to get more funding to also accelerate this so we can improve the rate at which we're vaccinating people. >> when you set out the 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days. that was before the election, before we had the vaccines. it was considered both i think aspirational at the time, and at the same time we better meet that goal. so i guess -- where are we now on that goal in your mind? is that a point where you're going to raise the bar when new vaccines come online? >> chuck, i think it is still a very bold and ambitious goal. you wrote about it just before the inauguration, that the biden presidency will be measured by this goal. we understand that. we take responsibility for that, and i think it is -- this country has never given 100 million shots in 100 days. if we can do that, it will be quite an accomplishment. obviously we're not going to stop there.

100 million shots is a bold and ambitious goal, but we need to keep going after that. that is our goal. that is our first goal. it's not our final goal. it's not the end point. it's just a metric that the american people can watch and measure how we're doing. >> as you know, there's always going to be a lot of people second-guessing a lot of things. here we are asking about vaccine distribution. now i have to ask you about vaccine skepticism. hank aaron's death, robert kennedy jr. jumped on hank aaron's death because 18 days before he died he was vaccinated. here is robert f. kennedy's tweet. hank aaron's tragic death is part of a wave of suspicious deaths among elderly closely following the administration of the vaccine. this is something a lot of people warned about, that the antivaxers would take advantage of situations like this. how do you counterprogram this? >> chuck, it's a great point, a great concern. i understand in some people's

minds it's ironic, we have a lot of people who want to get the vaccine who can't get it and why are we worried about the people who don't want to get the vaccine? we have to worry about those people, because unless we can reduce vaccine hesitancy and get all americans to take this vaccine, we'll continue to see covid as a problem in this country. we have a task force focused on health equity. a lot of this hesitancy is in communities of color. we'll tackle the problem with trusted communicator, direct on-the-ground communication to win over those who are vaccine hesitant. obviously try to work with the social media companies to lessen the amount of information available online and get the truth out there. of course, the president himself has tried to set the example. he got his vaccinations in public, as did the vice president, to try to show people that the vaccine is safe and effective. this is a big challenge, chuck. there's no question about it, something we'll be working on every day. >> one more thing on vaccine distribution. a couple of governors have talked about trying to purchase

vaccines directly, governor whitmer of michigan, governor cuomo of new york have hinted at this. is that helpful to you? or can that actually make your job harder? >> well, i think, chuck, as a matter of law, this vaccine is under an emergency use authorization. i don't think that's possible. i understand why the governors are frustrated, and understandably frustrated. we're going to ramp up production and distribution. we're going to work closely with governors. we're going to get this vaccine to the american people. it is going to be bumpy. the president acknowledged this week there are going to be setbacks. there are going to be bad days. we're working on this hard every single day. i'm sure i'll be back on this program to discuss it again and again. you can hold me to account whether or not we make progress or not. >> i want to ask you about covid relief, the $1.9 trillion bill that you have proposed. here is what punch bowl reported about speaker pelosi on saturday. speaker nancy pelosi told donors on a zoom call thursday night

she wanted to pass biden's covid relief bill in two weeks using budget reconciliation. look, i think a lot of us have identified that congressional democratic leadership may have much less patience than president trump has in trying to find bipartisan cooperation. how much patience does president biden have in trying to find ten republicans and avoid having to do this on a party line vote? >> well, we were going to move fast and we're going to move bipartisan as you said at the top of the show. the president's chief economic adviser is meeting by phone, zoom today with 16 senators, eight democrats, eight republicans. we're reaching out to people. i don't think bipartisanship and speed are enemies of one another. the need is urgent. americans, both democrats and republicans are dying. kids' schools that take care of both democratic and republican kids are closed.lines.

that's not a party issue. let's try to move on a bipartisan basis and try to move quickly. speed is very important here, chuck. >> are you willing, for instance, to table your push for upping the minimum wage if it got you the ten republicans you needed and you got everything else? >> chuck, i'm not going to negotiate on "meet the press." >> why not? >> our goal is to raise the minimum wage. it doesn't seem like the most effective way to get things done in my view. here is the point. the president put a plan before the country. i think that's what the country wanted to hear. without delving back into the past, we didn't have this kind of leadership before. he said here is what needs to happen. we're very dedicated to passing the minimum wage. we think that's an urgent priority. we're going to push congress to pass our priorities. that includes the minimum wage. what we want to do is work with the congress, reach out to members in both parties. see what can get done as quickly

as possible. we think the minimum wage should be part of this emergency relief package. >> i want to ask you about your relationship already with senate republicans, mitch mcconnell and joe biden we know have a long personal history. how would you describe the cooperation you feel you've gotten so far from senate republicans? >> you know, chuck, i think by and large we've seen a lot of progress on this front. obviously we got some senate hearings held, held by republican-led committees for our nominees before the switchover this past week. we've seen two cab nat nominees confirmed already, and we hope to get votes on a number of others this week. i which we could get a little less republican blocking on secretary mayorkis. our homeland is under threat. i wish we could move faster. hopefully we'll see progress

this week. we're grateful to the senate republicans who worked with us on these national security nominees. >> is president biden ever going to tell the publy how he would vote, how he wants senators to vote on the impeachment trial? is that something he'll share publicly before the trial is over? >> i don't know, chuck. i think he's busy doing his job, which is being president, fixing these crises we've been talking about. he's not a senator. he's not going to vote on impeachment. i think his focus is on being president, not doing the job he used to have, which is being a u.s. senator. >> ron klain, there is about 7,000 other issues i'd like to ask you questions about. how do you tackle an elephant? one bite at a time. we did our first ten-minute bite. ron klain, chief of staff for president biden, thank you for shaeg are your perspective. >> you got it, chuck. is there any chance democrats and republicans can democrats and republicans can work together e ♪♪

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welcome back. tomorrow evening speaker nancy pelosi will walk the house's single article of preemt against former president trump to the senate. that will trigger the start of the trial process, but delayed two weeks to give both sides time to prepare their cases and perhaps the senate to do other work. there's never been an impeachment trial of a former president and republicans argue it could jeopardize the spirit of unit president biden is urging. joining me is dick durbin of illinois and mike rounds of south dakota. welcome to both of you. senator durbin, i want to do the first interview with you. let me start with sort of the only case of negotiating covid relief. you've got the impeachment trial. let me ask this. is it realistic at all that you could come to a compromise, find your ten republicans before february 8th and get this covid relief passed, or is that a

little pollyanna-ish of me? >> i hope it will happen that way. the american people know we're in the midst of a deadly pandemic. our economy has been damaged and is struggling. the rescue package that president biden has sent to us is one of the highest importance and sense of urgency. i hope we can roll up our sleeves and get it done in the period of time that you mentioned. >> what is the role you would like president trump to play in these negotiations on covid relief and how much patience do you have to work with republicans versus -- we know speaker pelosi is ready to go now to budget reconciliation. how much time do you want to give it? >> well, i can tell you, i think among some republicans in the senate there's a feeling that we can have a constructive, not confrontational, but a constructive dialogue. you mentioned the group of senators. i'm one of them who will be on the phone this afternoon with 16

senate torts, bipartisan group, eight democrats, eight republicans. the object is to try to see if there's an area of agreement that we can launch when it comes to this rescue package. i am hopeful we can show right off the bat -- >> are you open to that some things might not get there? if the minimum wage hike is what's standing in the way of three republicans versus 12 republicans supporting the rest of the deal, is that worth tabling, tabling that debate to another time period? >> come on, chuck. you asked ron klain the same question. >> you weren't supposed to listen. i was hoping you hadn't heard that answer. >> i can just tell you, no, i'm not going to negotiate on the television program. will we put things on the table and discuss them? of course we will. that's the nature of compromise. there are some goals -- i certainly share all of the goals

of the president. i hope we can keep as many as possible in the package. >> there's a lot of groups -- i want to get to the filibuster. a lot of progressive groups have no patience on this filibuster debate. i know you guys are going to get inundated with ads on social media, here is one, the time has come here. it looks like a movie trailer. they quote barack obama saying jim crow relic. aoc calling it a cherished tool of segregationists. former senate majority leader harry reid saying it's outlived its usefulless. where are you on the filibuster question, and is there a point where you'll say, you know what, i tried long enough? >> it getsown to the bottom line here. the american people want us to take action, action on this pandemic, on the economy and on ahost of other issues. if this filibuster has become so common in the senate that we act, that we just sit there helpless, shame on s.u

of course we should consider changing the rule under those circumstances. let's see, let's see if we can initiate a real bipartisan dialogue and get something done. that's the bottom line. >> harry reid suggests giving it a couple months. i almost wondered, when senator schumer and senator mcconnell negotiating, are you willing to say, we won't do it for six months, let's see how you behave? >> let me answer your question by citing another thing. we're trying to pass an organizing resolution. you know what that's about, so the committees can get down to business. what chuck schumer put on the table was word for word the bipartisan agreement the last time we had 50/50 agreement. if we gave him that, the filibuster would be on everything every day. here is the bottom line. if we're going to work in a bipartisan fashion, let's pass

the organizing resolution without the extra mcconnell language. let's get down to business, roll up our sleeves and pass this rescue package that deals with getting these vaccines out across america as quickly as possible, getting help to people who are unemployed and giving businesses a helping hand. we want to get the economy back on its feet. we want to get kids back in school. let's do that as a priority on a bipartisan basis. >> i want to end with a question i will be asking senator rounds as well. when you heard president biden's call for unity, what did that mean to you? define his call for unity. >> it means a lot. it means a new president who truly is going to reach out in a respectful way to the republicans and to the democrats to get something done. i know joe biden and i served with him and kamala harris. they know how to pass legislation, by working in a respectful way, constructive way

with republicans who want to help us get america moving again. i heard that loud and clear and that's why i think joe biden won the election on november 3rd. >> senator dick durbin, democratic from illinois, the number two in leadership, chair of the judicial committee or will be when you come to an organizing agreement. senator durbin, thank you for coming on and sharing your perspective. >> thanks, chuck. let me turn now to you, senator rounds. as i promised, that last question to him is my first question to you. when president biden called for unity in his inaugural speech, how do you define that call for unit in your head? >> well, it begins, first of all, by recognizing that there are different points of view about how we move forward with regard to the pandemic. i think we all want to have the same goal of eliminating this pandemic as quickly as we can. but what's the right philosophy? second of all, it's with regard to how we move things through the senate. are we prepared to actually take and to look at both sides, and

what's the best of both? can we sit down and work together on issues? infrastructure is one area where we may be able to work together on things. let's test it and find out whether or not we can come to a consensus that will last long term, not just for one or two years. >> i want to ask you specifically about the covid relief bill, the $1.9 trillion here. i'm wondering if you believe that, look, the election has consequences. joe biden won by 7 million votes. is that a mandate -- should that not be considered a mandate to go in his direction on covid at least for a period of time? does he not get some benefit of the doubt in your mind, or no? >> i really don't think we're that far off with regard to the direction for covid relief, specifically in targeted areas. i think we all want to make sure we properly funded the availability of vaccines. a good plan forgetting it out in

all states. in south dakota one of the biggest challenges is knowing in advance how many we'll get per week. as soon as we get it here, we're getting it out. those are the types of things i think we'll find ourselves in agreement with a number of different areas there. the real challenge is whether or not democrats are prepared to release some of the items that are not specifically targeted to covid relief. chuck, you brought it up earlier. minimum wage development, when i was a governor, i looked at it here in south dakota. when i was in the south dakota legislature, i actually voted for it. but that doesn't mean i did it without putting together consensus on it. if you're going to talk about an emergency operation, why would you then include and demand that that be a part of it? i think that's just looking for a way not to get some things done that might very well have to be done in the next couple weeks. >> let me ask you this, would you support some raise in the minimum wage? when we consider -- it does seem as if some of these things are

negotiable. we haven't raised the minimum wage in years. it's sitting at $7.25. if it was 12 instead of 15, would that make it easier for wru to support this bill? >> i think the bigger issue here is whether or not we're going to be specific on covid relief. if you want to do those other items, such as that, let's break it out, separate it out, take correct. let's go back in and focus once again on covid relief. i'll say this again, republicans and democrats alike want to get ahead of this as quickly as we can. warp speed worked. it was done literally june announcely. the senate worked together to get that don. we've done something in a matter of ten to 12 months that has never been done before, with the creation of new vaccines and getting millions of these out. it was a consensus-driven approach that everybody in the united states senate literally supported or it couldn't have been done that quickly. that's doable again. we didn't try to include other

things that many of us would have liked to have included because we knew we had to find consensus. let's focus on those things that we can get done that we agree are specifically targeted to covid relief. >> let me move to the impeachment. do you believe donald trump committed an impeachable offense? >> to begin with, i think it's a moot point because i think right now donald trump is no longer the president. he is a former president. the constitution, and i know there are other people that may disagree with me, but article one sections -- i think it's six and seven, specifically point out that you can impeach the president, and it does not indicate that you can impeach someone who is not in office. i think it's a moot point, and i think it's one that they would have a very difficult time in trying to get done within the senate. for right now i think there are other things we would like to work on. i know the biden administration

would like to have more of their cabinet in place. there are a number of republicans that feel the same way. we should allow this president the opportunity to form his cabinet and get that in place as quickly as possible. if we start working on an impeachment, which looks like we're going to end up doing, we've only got a couple of weeks to actually work through and allow this president an opportunity to form a cabinet. a lot of us would prefer to maybe work through those issues instead. >> senator, i want to note something you did on a press release the day before the insurrection. you wte i whole heartedly support an independent investigation into the 2020 election. i'm interested in restoring faith and transparency for the american voter. i feel americans' faith in our electoral process is in great jeopardy. the next night colleagues including mitt romney said part of the problem of appeasing this belief that something went wrong with the election is that people were lied to. do you regret this statement that basically you helped

further this lie even indirectly by implying there should be some investigation for allegations that just don't exist? >> i still believe that we should have an investigation, and i think it should be bipartisan in nature. 74 million americans supported president trump. there's 50 million americans out there who have questions -- >> whose fault is that? they were fed a lie. >> i think democrats should have an interest in doing this as well. in a bipartisan approach, they can actually point out what they believe to be the purpose, and very honestly, i will tell you, if you move this forward and you allow for an investigation to actually look, you're going to find that the election was fair. that's bly belief, but at the same time let's show it to the american people. let's point out, if there's

misinformation out there, which i believe there was, then let's put that out and lay it out so people can see it. we've got a piece of legislation in senate bill 13 which would do exactly that. republicans and democrats alike should support that. we want those 50 million americans-plus to feel that they have full fail in the election process. we think those states did a good job. the best way to do it is work our way through it and show them publicly how well it was run. >> senator rounds, republican from south dakota, i appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. thank you very much. >> thank you. (judith) at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. (money manager) because our way works great for us! (judith) but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. (money manager) so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? (judith) nope, we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. (money manager) but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right?

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welcome back. the panel is joining us. nbc news chief white house correspondent andrea mitchell. yamiche alcindor, tim alberta from politico. i'm sorry you guys don't get to enjoy our new green room as well. i swear, it's unbelievable food and everything, david and andrea. you won't believe what you've missed. andrea mitchell, i feel like we're suddenly in a race here. we've got the impeachment trial, the pandemic, covid relief. we're going to know in about three weeks how functional washington will be in a bipartisan basis or not. do you see it the same way? we're going to find out quickly whether this is going to be a functional bipartisan government or not? >> absolutely. from my sources within the white house and the hill, the democrats believe that they can at least try to do this in a bipartisan way, that covid is so

urgent, that the country is crying out for vaccines to be drishted equitably and quickly. the white house believes they have at least some time on their hands in the first few days to use pressure, public pressure against the republicans to try to get not only organizing the agreement and get the committees going, but get this legislation going, that they're not going to have to face the filibuster crisis until later down the road. >> yamiche, it feels like one of the first interesting cease is when congressional democrats leaders run out of patience but president biden hasn't? >> this is a new washington with some of the same old problems and some of the same increasingly hostile and increasing, in some ways, apparent divisions. what you see here is joe biden talking about unity. even in his inaugural address said some people might see that as foolish because there's this

democratic base that wants to see accountability as well as help with this covid-19 pandemic. sources in the white house i've been talking to say they really hope the fact americans, that that will push republicans to get on board because the trump administration from my understanding, their plan was to dump the vaccine into states and get them to figure out how to deal with it. you already saw this week, republicans are really talking about power more than unity. you see senate minority leader mitch mcconnell exerting in the minority power trying to get as much as he possibly can out of the senate. that to me tells me how republicans will play this. how minority leader mccarthy saying biden has the wrong ou he playing this. >> david brooks, do you think in order to pursue a bipartisan washington, president biden has

to pick basically between going big and gold on covid relief and other things or trying to get bipartisanship, that you can't do both? do you buy that? >> no. there's some stuff they put in the bill in order to take it out. there's a bunch of stuff like that. my view is biden has to do bipartisanship. if he doesn't do that, he makes his campaign a lie. i'm reasonably optimistic they can do that. every republican i talk to says, i know joe biden, joe biden is a trustworthy guys. some things they're for like the child tax credit and other things. the republican party is incredibly divided in a way that i've never seen. they've always been divided over ideology. but now it's in every family. the republicans have the potential to go along. finally maybe joe manchin or some of the moderates who don't like the filibuster or want to keep it, they'll be willing to vote to end it. >> tim alberta, what about a g

like mike rounds? you've covered him, i've covered him as governor and senator. we know he's moderate in tone. he may be conservative in ideology, but moderate in tone. i can tell he's uncomfortable perhaps where his constituents are pushing him, maybe where his insingts want to be. how many of those senators exist? how hard is this pressure they're feeling about they might want to work with biden, but their constituents believe, woulding with a democratic is akin to working with china or something like that? >> chuck, it's a great question. i think there are probably more of those republican senators than many of us realize. i think one of joe biden's sort of unique gifts here stepping into this role as president at a time like this is that he knows not just how many there are, but who those individuals are, and he knows sort of which buttons to push and when to push them and then went to sort of back off. keep in mind, joe biden was in a

similar position 12 years ago as vice president incoming in the obama administration, and there was some belief that with the stimulus package that was pushed through very hastily without any republican votes, that that was a tactical mistake, that in some ways it poisoned the well with certain republicans on the hill who, had they taken a little more time, would have been willing to sign on to that deal. i think that memory still haunts biden a little bit. i think he is going to want to give some of these folks, like a mike rounds. he's going to want to give them a little more time, make sure he gives them every opportunity to say yes before he has to move forward without them. >> andrea mitchell, i want to quote something from bloomberg from a couple weeks ago, much of biden's agenda as president will depend on how well chuck schumer rises to the occasion, though bide dlen be able to draw on his own relationships dating from his long tenure in the senate. boy, harry reid, mitch mcconnell, those guys went back

and forth. now it's chuck schumer's turn. is he ready for this? is he up to it? >> well, that's a big question because harry reid and mitch mcconnell never talked to each other, it was so toxic up there. a quarter of the senate has changed in the four years since joe biden was given his fond farewell from the senate to leave as vice president. a lot has changed there. schumer doesn't have those muscles. he knows the senate and the rules as well as mitch mcconnell does, but they have not worked together. this is new memory they have to learn. >> we shall see. new scar tissue will develop. before we go to break, a word about one of the greatest and most underappreciated athletes in america. hank aaron was best known for breaking babe ruth's record. he was so much more than a slugger. he was also a graceful

outfielder, fast base base runner. most of all, a kind modest j who endured unspeakable racism as he approached a white man's hallowed record. he appeared with tim russert two decades ago. >> do you ever wake up in the morning i broke babe ruth's t baseball? >> i think about it sometimes. i don't dwell on it. it went through tough times. i'm happy i did it. it eefrs with, done with. >> he went through a lot having to break that record. aaron finished with 755 home pick up like a pro. just order on the subway app and it's ready to go with contactless curbside. turkey sub in a hot tub! now get 15% off any footlong when you order in the app.

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right? yes and no. there's the traditional red-blue divide you're very familiar with, but a lot more going on below the surface in parties. let's set the table. about four in ten registered voters identify as either democratic or lean democratic. a little fewer that identify republican or lean republican on the other side. the remainder are the very hard independents or people who simply don't care to answer. if you dig into those two partisan groups, you find that four political parties are emerging in the data. let me show you. 17% consider themselves to be mostly supporters of former president trump. we'll call them the trump republicans. another 17% call them supporters of the republican party more so than donald o the aisle. 17% say they are democrats who support joe biden in the primaries. we'll call them the biden democrats. another 17% supported more

left-leaning candidates, senators bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. those are 17 across the board. does it get more divided. trump republicans are firmly against compromising with biden in order to gain consensus on legislation, as you can see. but party republicans, they feel very differently, with more than half in favor of making compromises with biden to gain consensus on legislation. on the democratic side, the divides are there, too, they're not as wide, though. seven in ten biden democrats want congressional democrats to work on passing the biden agenda. among the more liberal sanders/warren, support for passing the biden agenda is still high but falls to 60%. if you understand this four-party world, you can actually make it easier on yourself to form a governing

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james brown and bill cowher welcoming you back to the midnight snack run. this is one tricky obstacle course. he's reaching... but he pushes it away! he's approaching a plate of iced cookies... he blows right by 'em oh the fridge looks like he's headed for the soda. wait! he jukes left! grabs the water bottle now he's just gotta get out of there. look what dropped from the sky! don't do it dennis. that's the way you execute a midnight snack run. stand up to cancer and rally want you to reduce your risk for cancer, go to takeahealthystand.org.

welcome back. so let's focus on impeachment. yamiche, what's the politics of this country going to look like after impeachment? >> it's a great question, and in some ways i think the politics of this country is going to look much like it looked right after the siege on capitol hill. there are so many democrats who want to see president trump held accountable and to see him barred from office because they don't want to see a resurgence of president trump in particular or his brand of politics that was so embedded in racist tropes, in white supremacy. then you see republicans who say, yes, the election was free and fair, but we should go off

and make sure we spend time investigating it. if that's what someone who believes the election was free and fair says, you the imagine what the people who don't believe the election was free and fair would say. one other thing, i think it's really interesting that joe biden in calling for bipartisanship, he's having to contend with republicans who voted to say he wasn't a legitimately elected president. >> david brooks, how do we deal with the trump era on the accountability front? look at the latest stuff out of the justice department. it gets more cringe worthy by the drip, especially if he ends up acquitting? >> i'm all for prosecuting everybody who did everything wrong. i'm all for prosecuting. as for impeachment, i'm hoping it will be a passing wind. it will go on for two days, we'll have an extremely partisan vote and we can get back to the new america, the joe biden america. i would have faith that the senate can do impeachment and covid at the same time.

i see the three stooges up there and the gang that couldn't shoot straight. i don't have faith in the senate's capacity to do both at once. i hope they do it. get it out of the way in a um co-days and move on. >> tim alberta, what's the republican party going to look like after impeachment? >> chuck, it's pretty interesting. i've spoken with a number of republicans in recent days including a couple of republicans who are going to run for president in 2024. and what i've heard has been pretty striking, that many of them actually would like to see president trump convicted. whether or not they'll follow through on that vote remains to be seen. they'd like to see president trump convicted. what they fear is that right now, without a conviction, the president has already begun to fade from public consciousness. his twitter feed was taken away. he's not the 800-pound gorilla dominating the news cycle. they fear a conviction could drag him right back center stage, make a martyr of him and

allow him in some strange way to exercise even more influence, more control over the party moving forward than if they were just to let him alone and let him fade into obscurity on his own. >> i tell you, i don't think any of us expected how powerful the deplatforming would be in getting him to fade away. he's a little lazy in figuring out how to get around it. before we go, we have a word about someone who has been a huge influence on me, on my executive producer, all of us at nbc news. tom brokaw is one of those men who truly needs no introduction, particularly here. he's retiring after 57 years at this network. we'd need another hour to name everything tom has done here. as he wrote to me yesterday, the first television news broadcast i swauz the huntley brinkley report and i was hooked. by 1966 i was briefing david brinkley on ronald reagan's campaign for governor of california. that was quickly followed by white house correspondent during

watergate, interim anchor of "meet the press." tom went on to say i never tired of it and the men and women of nbc were and will remain family forever. andrea, i got the privilege after the tragedy of tim's death in 2008 to basically be tom's wingman as he was the interim host at "meet the press." one thing he instilled in me, nbc. other networks can do other things better than us, but nobody does politics better than us. don't forgets it. andrea. >> that's absolutely true. he coined the phrase the greatest generation, the book he wrote in 1998 after his first trip to normandy in '94. think about it, one day, i think aboudecember 9, 2015 t date candidate trump announced the muslim ban. tom was in new york having three hours of chemo, arm in an iv. with one hand he writes an essay, writes an essay and flies to d.c., about the dangers of

paranoia trumping, about the internment of japanese americans, about mccarthy, the way black americans are speaking. he speaks about this muslim american who enlisted in and has a permanent home in arlington. that same night he goes to the german embassy, i was there. he gets the highest possible award from the german government for what he did in 1989 in front of the berlin wall, the only american anchor to foresee, because of the great reporter he is and was. that's a legacy. >> he's not going away. >> the diplomat. he's not going away. >> he's an important touchstone pour me on a weekly and biweekly basis, for all of us. you'll be hearing from him a lot. thank you, tom. we love you. that's all for today. thank you for watching. we'll be back next week. because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." go packers.

♪ new week, new travel bans, the biden administration is set to halt all foreign travel from south africa and other nations as the new spread of coronavirus spreads there. >> could there be good news on the horizon with new cases of covid and hospitalization falling. is the holiday surge over? >> as teachers battle whether to return to in-person teaching in classes, while some forced to go remote and private schools manage to stay open. speake