i'm not a debater. i've never debated before. i've never been on a stage debating. i don't want to be unreal. i want to be me. i have to be me. i've always counterpunched. you have to counterpunch. i'm not looking to start anything, that's for sure. >> mr. nice guy, donald trump on what to expect from him in the first gop presidential debate. the results of a new nbc poll. air show scare. a military helicopter pilot loses control during a stunt. alive and well relief in africa and around the world over the scare over another african lion. hey there, everyone, high noon in the east 9:00 a.m. out west.

welcome to "weekends with alex witt." there are four days to go for what is expected to be one of the most exciting presidential debates ever. only 10 of the 17 republican candidates will make the cut. at center stage, the number one spot none other than donald trump who has the rest of the field preparing for battle. on this morning's "meet the press" press", trump offered a preview of his debating style. >> i think i'm a nice person. i really do. i think that's why my numbers always go up as they get to know me better. frankly, i'd like to discuss the issues. i'm not looking to take anybody out or be nasty to anybody. as you know when i made harsh statements about various people that was only in response to their criticism of me. >> and those numbers keep going up. in the new nbc news poll out this morning, donald trump is still on top with scott walker and jeb bush trailing close behind. is the democratic field about to get a lot more exciting as well. if today's headlines are any indication vice president joe

biden is now actively considering entering the presidential race. the associated press reports his decision could come as early as next month. in a new interview this morning, bernie sanders gave his assessment. >> i've known joe biden for many years, and i'm very fond of joe. but i think the american people in the middle class, a campaign finance system which is literally corrupt now, owned by billionaires as a result of this disastrous citizens united supreme court decision want to go beyond conventional establishment politics. >> so for more on the poll imd joined by the political editor for nbc news. good day, carrie. good to see you. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> let's put trump -- considering his numbers before he announced his candidacy? >> the last time this nbc news wall street rrp poll was in the

vote this time six weeks after his announcement 19% of those republican primary voters are saying they would back him. it's sort of a broad part of the republican party. it's not just one trench. he's getting support from those who consider themselves very conservative, and those who are independent leaning. he's running strong in different areas of the gop right now. >> the other candidates specifically walker and bush, they're pretty much neck and neck. >> walker is at 17%, jeb bush at 14%. you see a fall for jeb bush down about six points since last month. marco rubio, 14 at% in june now at just 5%. precipitous fall for him in the last month. >> what about ben carson up to 10%. why so high? >> that's right. ben carson has been very consistently across all public polling hanging in there, right below the top tier. i think that it might be that same appeal that donald trump

had for somebody who hadn't run for office before. ben carson retired neurosurgeon. he's outside of that washington -- casting himself outside the washington elite, and so far it's paying off for him in double digits in this poll. >> on the "meet the press," talking about the cut for the debate. they talked about how they're going to be seated on the stage. here's that. >> candidates have been told they will likely be lined up on stage according to their polling averages. that means we'd see donald trump right in the center. surrounded by scott walker and jeb bush to his left and right. then you'd have rand paul ben carson marco rubio, mike huckabee and ted cruz. then, of course, who's in spots nine and ten or stage right and stage left? of the three candidates vying for the final two spots, the averages right now have kasich and christie on the wings making it onstage. rick perry as of this morning would not, because as you know this is not the spinal tap

debate this tape does not go to 11. >> let's talk about the seating arrangement. how important is it, i mean is it all about camera angles the volume of time you're getting on camera? what is it? >> i think the biggest thing to watch for is the 9 and 10 spots. up until this new poll rick perry was slated to be in one of those 9 or 10 slots. he has been one of the most aggressive republican candidates going after donald trump, outside of lindsey graham. if he is not in either the 9 or 10 spot as it stands today, which he would not be it might be -- it might make for a very interesting dynamic. >> carrie good to talk to you. thank you so much. >> thank you alex. >> on the report of vice president joe biden, longtime friends senator john mccain weighed in on that possibility during a campaign stop. >> i think that joe has always wanted to be president of the

united states, obviously, because he has run on several occasions. i think that he sees this trust factor of hillary clinton in a steep decline. and i think that he is examining his options. and frankly, it's understandable that he would be. >> nbc's kristen welker is joining me now from the white house. kristen, this whole topic literally blew up following maureen dowd in her column yesterday. what are you hearing from your sources? >> reporter: well, sources are telling me that, look, this is a former presidential candidate. he's not just the vice president. so he is of course thinking about it talking about it. as you point out, alex the speculation really did start to mount yesterday with that report in "the new york times," first by maureen dowd and an actual report by amy chosick. that joe biden is looking at a new look at a run. mr. biden's advisers have started to reach out to democratic leaders and donors

who have not yet committed to mrs. clinton. this is important, alex. one possible factor biden's late son beau who passed away in may from brain cancer at age 46 he was reportedly urging his father to run before he passed away. the vice president's press secretary, i spoke to her yesterday, she's playing down all this speculation. a lot of the phone calls she said are from friends and associates checking on biden to see how he's doing. she tells me quote, as the biden family continues to go through this difficult time the vice president is focused on his family and immersed in his work. just a little bit of a reality check, though, alex while we're talking about all of this. some of biden's key aides have started to work with help secretary clinton on her campaign. clinton has a lot of support from a lot of democrats. she's a very strong candidate right now. democratic sources say the reality is biden would likely only really seriously consider running if she were to stumble in a big way. having said that as i say,

alex, he has run for president twice before and once you run, a lot of folks around here you're always bitten with that bug, you always have that inherent desire. vice president biden will take some vacation with his family. he will probably discuss his decision then. he has always said he will make the decision at the end of the summer. >> his son hunter said they're doing very well with the biden family values. thank you so everyone kristen. developing news on missing malaysian airlines flight mh-370. they collected more debris today. on wednesday, investigators in france will begin analyzing the wing flap along with part of a suitcase m the hopes of connecting them directly to mh-370. joining me is allister jamison. >> reporter: a small metal

object was spotted on the beach, about 30 miles from here. it was reported to authorities who sent them to collect it. they took it away this morning. officials not commenting at all. they have no suggestion if it has to do with the disappearance of mh-370. they are understandably taking no chances. however, one malaysian official has reportedly said it's just a piece of a domestic stepladder. another example of the ocean trash that washes up along these shores every day. we've spoken this weekend to beach combers who are going up and down the coast looking for plane debris. this is likely not the last time authorities will be called out to pick these items off the beach. meanwhile, malaysia is asking other island nations in the region to be vigilant for items on their shoreline. they've pleaded to the world to

be patient, to be wait until the outcome of forensic analysis of that wing fragment in france. that process won't begin until wednesday. it could take several days. yet more waiting in what has already been a 16-month mystery. here on reunion, church services offered prayers to the families of the 289 people onboard who are still no closer to knowing what happened to their loved ones. alex? >> thaurng for that. other news now, in tennessee, police are searching for a gunman who shot and killed this man, memphis officer there. police say the victim has been identified as 33-year-old shawn bolton. he was conducting a traffic stop when he was shot multiple times. he died at the hospital. a 9-year-old bat boy is in critical condition after he was accidently hit in the head by a bat. kaiser carlisle was helping out a wichita baseball team out on

the field picking up a bat from a player who was just struck out when he got too close to a player taking practice swings. he was fortunately wearing a helmet when the bat hit him. >> the bat boy retrieved the other bat and ran right by him. he was swinging. it hit him in the helmet. knocked him down. he got back up. but he went right back down again. and everybody came out and helped him. >> that team gathered to say a prayer for carlisle. he remains in intensive care. talks were suspended six years amid political unrest. secretary of state john kerry met with egypt's foreign minister in cairo after they delivered warplanes to egypt. in qatar he will hold discussions with the foreign ministers on the iran deal as well as the implications for the region. a break from the heat that

has been gripping the northwest. many people have been heading to the olympic mountains as a way to escape the heat wave. cooler air is returning to that area this week. in tampa, drivers had a pretty rough go at it. a storm dumped four inches of rain on the city. many drivers were caught offguard. >> i got stuck right about there. my car was parallel straight facing that way. it's starting to terrorist. drift. >> as more rain is expected reynolds wolf is joining me with the headlines. >> alex my friend a lot of people are going to be dealing with a chance of storms today, especially across parts of the great lakes, the western areas, central areas. we're talking about michigan madison, chicago, ft. wayne, davenport. many of these thunderstorms will form later in the afternoon, possibly spilling over into the weekend hours.

you can't rule out the chance of tornadoes. certainly in the mix for you in florida, not tornadoes, but heavy rain. one of the reasons why is because of the abundant moisture and lifting mechanism, the stalled front just like the thing that won't leave. rain will definitely be in the picture. some locations are going to get a slight trickle. other places a heavy downpour at times. three to five inches. some areas as much as eight. in seattle, no rain for you. a lot of heat though. take a look on sunday going to 91 degrees for your day today. we see the temperatures are going to be dropping off a little bit along puget sound and up into the cascades. monday 84 degrees. the low 80s when tuesday comes calling. keep in mind july 2015 the warmest month on record. we're melting out there with the temperatures. today and tomorrow the trend is going to continue. it will ease up which will help some things by tuesday.

talking about the 81-degree heat. still warm in medford. sakes alive, look at that 94 degrees. let's send it back to you, alex. >> thank you, reynolds. the scare in africa after the heart ache of losing cecil the lion now there's much happier news today about a lion friend guarding cecil's cubs. he first ingredient. we leave out corn,wheat and soy. and we own where our dry food is made-100 percent! can other brands say all that? for nutrition you can trust and your pet will enjoy... does your food go beyond? learn more at purinabeyond.com. ♪ turn around ♪ ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ [ female

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it's been a confusing 24 hours for online followers of the death of cecil, one of africa's most famous and protected lions. there were reports last night that jericho, who many call a brother to cecil, had also been killed by a hunter. but now we know those reports are not true. we're following this story from london. kelly, so much confusion. what happened? >> well alex volunteers with

this small wildlife protection charity in zimbabwe told nbc news saying they got a call that jericho had been shot by poachers late yesterday. the only way to verify whether the second male lion part of this pride, part of cecil's group, was alive was to hike into the bushland. a team of researchers set out at day break to find jericho. cecil, the famous black-maneed lion wasn't the only one being served. he is said to be believed looking after cecil's cubs. the task force posted this on their facebook page. we have just been informed that jericho, cecil's brother, has been killed at 4:00 p.m. today. we are absolutely heart broken. but this morning, one of the

oxford scientists studying the pride tweeted, jericho is alive and well. seen him at 7:06 zimbabwe time. he posted this picture of the healthy lion. the scientist said he was with his lionesses who had just made a kill. with cecil now gone the pride is weaker. >> the death of one male lion can cause a cascading effect which leads to other lions being killed. >> reporter: jericho and the cubs could face threats from other dominant male lions. for now the zimbabwe government is trying to protect them from hunters, banning all hunting around the park where cecil lived. >> hunting of lions, leopards and elephants outside the park is suspended with immediate effect. >> reporter: restricting the kind of hunting practice by dr. palmer. >> hunting has been suspended immediately. >> reporter: dr. palmer is still in hiding and still wanted by the zimbabwe government. >> i understand that already the

processes have started, and we are looking forward for his extradition. >> reporter: the dentist has not been charged. and has said he believed he had the proper permits. authorities in zimbabwe are looking into other killings near the park. one in july and a second back in april. and alex they say they've arrested a landowner in the second case. and have now named a pennsylvania man as the trophy hunter who they say killed a protected lion. alex? >> it's just most disturbing. i hate seeing these pictures. thank you for bringing us the story. in california fast-burning wildfires are forcing new evacuations. this video you're about to see coming in north of san francisco. that's one of the largest wildfires. the rocky fire grew 20,000 acres in just five hours, and so far has burned 24 homes. in all, there are 21 major fires raging across the golden state.

gabby schwartz is in lake county, where one of the highways there is closed. good day, gabby. >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. the flames were very high. just above the ridge. very intense fire burning throughout the night. firefighters actually back-burned this area hoping to create a break. they wanted to stop the fire from crossing the highway, right here. overnight, huge flames and more mandatory evacuations in california's lake county. just days after fire captain david rule was killed while scouting a fire in northern california. a husband and father of two, now hailed as a hero as a tight-knit community of firefighters work through this difficult time. >> all kinds of things go to your head could that have been me, what happened. >> reporter: fires in the west are offering no reprieve. drought conditions heavy wind and lightning making conditions even worse. >> because much the drought, and the lack of water throughout california, the fuel conditions in the brush that is burning is what we would normally see in

late august. >> reporter: homeowners returning to find their houses destroyed. >> i raised all three of my babies in here even him. it's crazy. >> reporter: in southern california, it was round two in the busy cajon pass. the major thoroughfare connecting l.a. to las vegas. two weeks ago, a wildfire moved in so fast it torched cars stuck in gridlock. today another fire near the same stretch of highway, but this time firefighters were able to divert traffic and the flames. now the main focus for firefighters in california is up north, at the rocky fire. so far, 14 homes have burned while others have been saved. >> we had the big tanker come in, the big jet, drop a lot of the retardant. i don't think if it wasn't for that, my property would still be here. >> reporter: still, chris hagen is packing up and evacuating along with hundreds of others as the fire continues to grow. a relentless fire season only expected to get worse. so far, this fire has burned tens of thousands of acres, more than 10,000 people have been

evacuated. alex, at this point, this fire is far from over. back to you. >> gadi schwartz, thank you so much. the new list of america's top colleges is out. we're going to show it to you next. and just days before the first gop debate trump tries to lower expectations, but is that just part of his plan?

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." for headlines at the half. one person is dead after a military helicopter crashes during an air show in russia. officials say the helicopter was performing acrobatics when it crashed. the pilot of the helicopter was killed and a crew member was injured. no one on the ground was hurt. on monday the president will announce steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from u.s. power plants than previously expected. president obama said this will represent the most significant steps the u.s. has ever taken to fight global warming. opponents say they'll go to court to try to block the action. american pharaoho will be back on the racetrack, to face seven other hopefuls in new jersey. he is overwhelmingly the favorite at 1-5 odds. this could be american pharoah's

eighth win in a row. donald trump takes the stage along with the rest of the top ten gop contenders, for the first debate of the 2016 election. >> i'm not a debater. i've never debated before. i've never been on a stage debating. i guess my whole life has been a debate in some way. but i've never been on a formal stage debating. i understand there will be nine other people shooting at me that may be true it may not. i don't want to waste money on pollsters. >> joining me, former rnc chairman michael steel, and former pennsylvania governor and dnc chair ed rendell. good to see you both. >> hi, alex. >> hello. >> i'm thinking buckle up. michael, how do you think we should read this? is he just using the standard debate tactic to try to lower expectations? >> i think there is a degree of lowering expectations.

i don't think donald himself knows how he will perform under that kind of pressure. you've never been that stage haven't had those lights on had nine other people whether they come after you or not have opinions that will shape the debate itself. you've never been in that space. it's kind of hard to say how you yourself will react. i think donald trump is bringing the temperature down a little bit, and rightly so because the expectation bar right now is going to be more laugh time and circus than something of substance. i think donald wants to begin to change that narrative a little bit. >> in terms of the others on the stage, governor "the new york times" is looking at the ways the gop contenders are preparing for thursday's debate. it appears everyone is indeed focused on trump. frank lutz said you only attack the king if you can kill him, otherwise you leave him alone, because the king will kill you. they better be ready. they might remind trump

something that another candidate said that really bothered him. sounds like they're describing how to avoid the schoolyard bully. how nervous should everyone be on that stage? >> well, i think the front-runner is the bushes the walkers, the rubios they would be wise to ignore trump and, unless they are attacked directly and donald trump said with check todd this morning he would only counterpunch. at the guys down 3% chris christies, people like that maybe they should go after trump so they can get noticed. that's the key. donald himself has a lot to gain. i think he's peaked out with the angry disaffected voter. he's now got to convince others he can be presidential. the debate format is great for him, alex. 60-second, 30-second rebuttals, a good format. he can do well if he acts presidential. >> michael, as we look at the new nbc news poll out this

morning, it is further confirmation of his ascendenceyascendency. at some point do you think the party should stop dismissing him as a flash in the pan side show? should they accept that he just might be in this for the long haul? >> yes, i think they should. because the only person who takes donald trump out of this race is donald trump. he said i don't have any pollsters, i'm not paying for any pollsters. he's not driven by the conventional tools. money, he's got butt loads of it. polls, he's not using them. yet he's able to connect with people in a big way. and i think the party needs to recognize that this thing could go on with donald trump on every stage here on out. and just adjust and recognize, to the governor's point, you've got to have a substantive conversation at some point. maybe it begins this thursday

maybe not. that's going to be the pressure placed on donald trump whether he has a pollster or not. people are going to know how are you going to solve this problem? >> let's take a look at the dems here governor. almost all the morning papers have articles saying vice president biden is actively considering entering the race. if he should run, what would it mean for the race? >> if he was going to run, he should have started a year ago, consolidating support, getting donors. almost all the biden donors have gone over to hillary clinton already. i think it's too late to mount a serious campaign at this stage. joe biden's been in my judgment, one of the most meaningful vice presidents in american history. i don't want to see him go out with a loss. i want to see him go out as a great, great public servant. >> with that history, michael, add that to maureen dowd's particularly touching column on beau biden, in his final days sitting his father down urging his father to run and not revert to the clintons.

is that maybe the type of story that could inspire stories, particularly the independents and anybody in the middle? >> i think you make the more salient point, which is given the frustration a lot of democrats who are in polite company will tell you, they're not happy with the hillary clinton campaign they're not happy with the way any of this playing itself out. her numbers are in the toilet when it comes to likability and trustworthiness. that's not a good space for the standard bearer to be. i think a joe biden possibility is something that people will talk about. whether it comes to fruition is another thing. it's something the hillary clinton people should talk about, because they're not talking about her in a positive way, they're talking about bringing someone else in the race to take her out. >> if you look at dowd's column it focuses on the growing concerns among the democrats, her treatment of the press, perception that the rules don't necessarily apply to her. do you think clinton is not the shoo-in for the nomination that she once appeared to be?

>> well i think she's a shoo-in for the nomination because i think right now there's no one in the field who i think could be the nominee. it's when mitt romney ran, i always believed he would be the nominee because i couldn't see anyone else in the field being the nominee. if joe biden gets in that changes it no doubt about it. michael talked about hillary clinton being -- her numbers, favorability are negative. everyone has negative favorability numbers. there's not a candidate out there in either party who has -- except for bernie sanders, because bernie isn't very well known, who doesn't have -- >> but would joe biden have the negativity numbers? >> he's positive now. he's 49/39 now. hillary clinton was at 60% when she was not a candidate. and as soon as you become a candidate, your numbers start to tank. it's just the nature of the business. >> okay. the nature of the business is to thank the two of you, and so glad to have seen you both.

come see me again. thank you michael and ed. rumors another famed african lion was slain by hunters are not true. jericho many called the brother to cecil is alive and well according to oxford university. the dentist who has admitted to shooting the lion remains in hiding today. palmer in a statement claimed he had the proper permits and placed the permits on his guides. the lion's death brought new attention to the impact of trophy hunting in africa. my colleague and friend joins me now in this studio. >> people were outraged. you know this better than i, alex. everything passes. everything dies down. our attention span can't sustain a focus on these kinds of issues. as much as there are people out there who are still passionate about the very serious

conservation issues raised by this story, it's also a story in decline. july 28th, 2003, thousands of hash tags for cecil the lion. we've moved on to the bachelorette. >> don't say that. having said that there was all the twitter abuzz with jericho. what happened here and what does it say about society that we looked at tweets and we said jericho's dead and confirmation is that he's not? >> there's a flip side to that too. these two lions were in the park the size of connecticut. to verify whether jericho was alive and well they had to send out rangers to physically check. so whether it's in the social media age or years ago, you get those kinds of bursts of confusion in a story. it's through social media that this story was cleared up. that the supposed death of jericho was debunked with the oxford researcher tracking him saying he's alive and well.

>> the social media pressure the legal pressure the situation in zimbabwe our standards here. does dr. palmer get extradited to zimbabwe? >> extradition questions are almost always dictated by political and diplomatic stakes economic stakes not at all by legal stakes. in technical terms, if both parties wanted to extradite, there would be a legal process they would have to establish that there was due process on this end in this country before he's extradited. there are a bunch of waivers that the u.s. government could take. they would say if the prison conditions are unduly bad, there were prison riots just this year for mistreatment of prisoners, there are a million ways they could get out of it. beyond that we've never done it. can you imagine the unprecedented story it would make if the united states extradited a united states citizen to zimbabwe?

>> bringing awareness to this practice of trophy hunting. >> trophy hunting takes such a huge toll. there is a recent study by one conservation group that said 105,000 animals are killed every year in trophy hunting in africa. 600liens. there are game hunters that bring in a lot of money to $200 million a year to africa through the hunting trips. the proponents of this donald trump's sons prominently in recent days that's come out of the woodwork. say that goes to conservation in part. this helps sustain these animal populations. almost every expert who studies these species, many that are dwindling will counter with the situation that is dire for these animals. >> hasn't anyone heard of a photographic safari? how one of the country's most recognizable companies is trying to build a better workplace.

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in the economy this week verizon workers staying on the job despite a strike threat. the unions say they are prepared to schedule regular bargaining sessions. cybersecurity experts are heading to las vegas for two separate hacker conferences this week. one of the most watched events will be a talk by the two programmers who hijacked a jeep recently. the hacking prompted chrysler to recall 1.4 million cars due to that security flaw. on friday we will see july's unemployment report a positive one is expected. gains expected in health care food services and professional services. june saw the lowest job reports in seven years. in today's tech trends facebook, one of the world's biggest social media networks wants to impress with the diverse efforts. facebook released the company's anti-bias training program. among other companies in silicon valley, facebook came under fire

for failing to do just that. the report shows the vast majority of facebook staff is white, with only 4% made up by hispanics and blacks. the training program includes role play exercises that help employees recognize their own biases. >> i'm sonja. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> hello, my name is dustin holt, and it's nice to meet you. >> joining me now, nbc news.com reporter, julianne welcome to you. employees were later asked to say who they would hire based on first impressions. are these training programs more about raising awareness than anything else? >> facebook did say we worked with researchers, it's really important to manage unconscious bias not about people saying

no, i would never hire a black person. we find in these kind of situations people are more comfortable hiring people who look like them. facebook does say, hey, we worked with researchers, we think this is a really great program. but as you said this is some good pr for them too, honestly. they're able to say, hey, look at us we're really able to develop this internal program. we're going to share it with everybody. but we might not have it perfect yet, but we are trying and we want the world to see that we're trying. >> the reason facebook is getting criticism is because of its own diversity numbers it has put out there in 2013 out of the 1,231 new hires, only 7 of them were black. last year the percentage of women in tech positions increased to 16%. that's an increase to 16%, which is up 1% from the previous year. so you say they're doing a pr program there. but should companies be forced to create a diverse workplace, or do they have the right to hire based on other qualifications? >> well i can tell you anytime

i read about diversity in tech i get a lot of commenters saying, there's not a lot of white guys in the nba, and that should be allowed. it's a very charged discussion. so i don't know you can lay out a straight line policy and say everything has to be 50/50. but for a company like facebook somebody that's supposed to be for everyone the argument is if you don't have a work force that reflects that how are you going to develop a company, a service, a product that's for everyone when you don't have people who represent everyone working on this product. >> okay. i guess that's not a rhetorical question. before i let you go, i want to ask you about google. they just added a new feature helping users avoid crowded areas. >> take a look on your phone and look on google you're now able to scroll through and check out a chart that shows, hey, it's really busy on saturday night, so you might want to avoid it then. check it out on sunday it tends to ebb a little quieter then

that might be a better time to go. it is important to note these are not realtime. you might go and find long historical averages. >> just trends. good to know. thank you very much. we'll see you again. despite record breaking rainfall last month, the drought continues to plague california. but could the el nino weather pattern bring some relief? some answers next.

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quite the welcome sight in southern california in recent days -- rain. this was the scene wednesday after a rainstorm. there were some flooded roads outsides of los angeles. it is encouraging news but it is not a solution yet for the state's four-year drought. there are, however, headlines about july's record breaking rainfall. plus el nino and how it can help northern california in particularpy joining me ron lin of the "los angeles times." ron, briefly give a description of el nino and how it can help california.

>> el nino is a warming of waters west of peru. it seems kind of if unny but that kind of warming can cause changes in the atmosphere that can cause worldwide changes in weather patterns. what that means for california especially southern california could maneean rain pand a lotand a lot of it. we're seeing in the eastern pacific ocean temperatures are warming up producing this weird weather we're seeing this summer. >> can el nino also affect northern california? >> yes. that's really important for california. whereas l.a. was built to kind of flush out a lot of excess rain water into the ocean, northern california is where our reservoirs are our largest reservoirs and they supply much of the state. what we do know is that in a typical el nino rainfall can only comes to southern california but in a really monster el nino you will get

rainfall that approaches the entire state. >> when we're talking about el nino and scientists and you're tracking this and the like what are the implications if el nino does not pan out and bring the sufficient rain with it that we're expecting southern california and northern california? >> yeah. i mean there is a chance that that could happen and what that means is california would go into perhaps a fifth year of drought. that's a real big problem. what we have in lake oroville it is one of the state's large aes reservoirs, it is now at 35 capacity. it is a real problem up in california. we're already at 25% rationing for the first time in our state's history. the big question is whether we'll have to ration even more. >> well i should say, we have to note that california water use fell by 27% in june and conservation's been very strong for the four largest cities. how much further do you think cutbacks can really go? people were asked to cut by 25%

so they exceeded that. >> yes. that's a definitely a good step. the question is whether or not -- the thing is if the rain still doesn't come that's going to pose a big problem and the folks that we've talked to is that california has really only thought about droughts that can last this amount of time, four are o five years. in australia, they've had to deal with multi-year long droughts. there you've had to get down to really disastrous situation where you'd have to cut down outdoor water to perhaps zero or go into showers and just shower just for a brief moment. that's something no one in california really wants to encounter. >> we are due for el nino. 82-'83 was one, and '97-'98. we're due. why the annual raise may be on the way out and specs perks

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soaring to the top on the strength of candor and controversy. donald trump takes the lead in the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. but how will he be treated in this week's first presidential debate? plus will he run? what's behind the increased speculation than vice president joe biden just might run for president after all? climate control. president obama prepares to unveil a new attack on global warming. it's an invasion of privacy. we were in our own yard. when had he been flying around and never stopped over my house, we wouldn't be having this conversation. >> drone spotter. what right did this man have to shoot a drone out of the sky? the police have an answer for him.

i think i'm a nice person. i really do. i think that's why my numbers go up as they get to know me better. thankly i'd like to discuss the issues. i'm not when i make harsh statements about various people that was always in response to their criticism of me. >> so far the excitement of the republican primary has far outshadowed the democrats but today's headlines indicate that could soon change. vice president joe biden is reportedly now actively considering joining the race for the democratic nomination

almost all the biden donors have gone over to hillary clinton already. so i think it's too late to mount a serious campaign at this stage. >> so for more on that report on vice president joe biden's 2016 plans, let's go right to the white house and kristen welker is standing by for us. with a welcome to you again. what are your sources telling you, kristen? >> reporter: alex good afternoon of the my sources are telling me vice president biden is a presidential candidate, he's talking about the possibility of running. but the question is will he actually throw his hat into the ring especially since hillary clinton has already hit the ground running. could democratic front-runner hillary clinton be getting some fresh competition? according to "the new york times" times", vice president joe biden is taking a new look at a potential run. the newspaper reporting that mr.

biden's advisers have started to reach out to democratic leaders and donors who have not yet committed to mrs. clinton. one possible factor? biden's late son, beau who passed away in may from brain cancer at age 46. >> beau it actually encouraged his father to run before his death. they had conversations about this even when beau was sick he still said i think you should run. >> reporter: the vice president's press secretary downplayed the speculation writing, as the biden family continues to go through this difficult time the vice president is focused on his family, and immersed in his work. biden's longtime friend senator john mccain, telling kelly o'donnell -- >> i think he sees this trust factor of hillary clinton in a steep decline. and i think that he's examining his options. >> reporter: and there are other challenges, alex. some of biden's key aides have already begun working with and helping secretary clinton. clinton has broad support among democrats. she's polling very well right

now. democratic sources say, look the reality is biden would likely only really consider running if she were to stumble in a big way. he has always said publicly he will make the decision at the end of the summer. he is going to take a vacation with his family and talk to his family about it. >> certainly the family man, had ewould certainly consult. looking ahead to tomorrow the president going to a power plant. he's going to make the big announce rmt on the power plant emissions. what has been the reaction in congress? >> reporter: this could potentially be the strongest action taken to combat climate change. but there's a big "if." if it survives there are sure to be a number of challenges. these are tougher versions of proposed regulations first rolled out in 2012 and 2014. according to a senior administration official, the president's going to call for reducing carbon pollution by 32%

from 2005 levels by 2030. now, this is a 9% increase over the initial proposal i just mentioned. the program also calls for investments in energy efficiency projects particularly in low-income communities. these new regulations could lead to hundreds of coal power plants shutting down and a lot of new wind and solar power production. you asked about the reaction in congress, some republicans already expressing their opposition, including and especially senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. he, of course is from kentucky where there are a number of coal power plants. mcconnell announced the plans could cost jobs. you could expect a big fight about that when president obama unveils his plan tomorrow. an important thing to remember this is a key part of president obama's regulatory priorities. he is well affair of the fact that he has just 18 months in office. that's why you're seeing him take these aggressive steps now. >> thank you for the preview,

what's to come tomorrow kristen welker. >> reporter: indeed. missing malaysian flight mh-370 collecting more potential debris today. whether it is connected to the wing flap recovered this week and whether it will unravel the mystery of the flight, remains to be seen. alister, what are you finding about this latest find? >> reporter: that's right, alex. this find was made a few hours ago on a beach just about 30 miles away from here near the capital. it was reported to authorities, they sent people to come collect this item from the beach. they took it away in a sealed box. officials here aren't saying anything about this, alex. they don't know whether it has any connection at all to mh-370. because frankly, they simply don't know. but understandably after a suspected finding of a wing fragment found on wednesday, you

can understand they're not taking any chances. they are coming and collecting it so it can be looked at properly by investigators. having said that a malaysian official saying it's just a piece of domestic stepladder that washed up. that's typical all along this coast. you'll see hundreds and hundreds of pieces of ocean debris and metal fragments. the task of the person is to decide whether it's related to the missing airliner or not. and there will be lots of beach combers going up and down the coastline this weekend, specifically looking for plane debris. this won't be the last item that's reported to authorities, i would suspect. meanwhile, malaysia is asking other island nations near the indian ocean to be vigilant for possible wreckage particularly the seashells and maricious.

this weekend, there have been special prayers at weekend church services for the families of the 289 onboard. >> given the thousands of miles to coastline to follow from a news perspective, thank you very much for doing that for us alastair. another report of a famed african lion being slain is not true. the brother of sececil is alive and well. it dominated social media last night. kelly is following this story for us from london. kelly, with the welcome to you, how did we finally learn jericho was indeed alive and well? >> a team of researchers from oxford university have been tracking jericho along with cecil. he has a gps collar. they had seen movement from the gps last night. they suspected he was fine. but really the only way to

confirm that is to go out into the wilderness and to actually see with your own eyes whether or not the lion is still alive. so at day break this morning, a team headed out along with a park ranger. they found him at about 7:00 in the morning zimbabwe time took a picture of him, tweeted out the news that yes, in fact he is alive and well and still protecting that pride. >> that is good to hear. the question is, though the government of zimbabwe what are they trying to do if anything to prevent any additional deaths of these protected animals? >> they announced yesterday they're suspending hunting around this national park. it's known as a place that is teeming with wild life hunting inside the park is not legal. but if the animals stray outside of it they are fair game for lack of a better term. government officials have suspended all hunting, all big game hunting around this park. they've also suspended bow

hunting indefinitely. you have to get a special permit and special permission from the government if you want to do any sort of bow hunting in the area. this will have a real effect on some people in this country, on parts of this economy. these big game hunters, they make a living out of this. in some cases there is no alternative for them. for example, the hunter who is working with dr. palmer has told other media organizations that his land was taken by the government. he was a farmer. he's now a professional hunter. it's the only way for him to make a living. so it's a much more complex issue than it appears on the surface. >> absolutely, there are a lot of angles to this. but with regard to bow hunting, dr. palmer did not do a clean strike when he went at cecil, and that animal had to be tracked through the night and shot with a second bow by dr. palmer. that has to be taken into account as well. >> it's one of the issues that really has gotten penalople riled

up about this. >> it seems inhumane. i appreciate that. thank you so much. a kentucky man is facing criminal charges for shooting down a drone that he says flew over his backyard. william meredith sid the drone appeared to havre a camera onboard and hovering over his backyard where his daughters were sun bathing. >> reporter: flying the drone. one of america's fastest growing hobbies. for others it's sport, to shoot them down. but in one kentucky neighborhood, a neighbor with a drone and the other with a gun are now in a fight that goes beyond a neighborly quarrel. david boggs captured this video of his neighbor 47-year-old willie meredith. meredith arrested and charged with public endangerment and criminal mischief for downing the drone with a shotgun. meredith claims nobody was in

danger when he did it. and the drone was hovering just over his 6-foot fence. its camera allegedly aimed at his two daughters in the backyard. >> we don't know if they're pedophiles looking for kids if they're thieves, if it's isis. >> he didn't tell the truth. >> reporter: the pilot said if that were the case by all means shoot it down. >> if somebody was flying in my backyard, ten feet hovering looking around playing peekaboo under a canopy i would shoot it down, too. the problem with willie is, he's not telling the truth. >> reporter: boggs says this recording of the flight path proves he was flying above 200 feet. but neighbor willie meredith said there was more than one flight that day. >> it's an invasion of privacy. we were in our own yard. had he been flying around and not stopped over my house, we wouldn't be having this conversation. >> reporter: a feud in kentucky. isn't this sort of how that other feud in the other part of the country started? you know the hatfields and

mccoys? kerry sanders, nbc news. >> ending that with a bit of a chuckle, thank you kerry. a manhunt is under way in ten see. police are searching for a man who shot and killed a memphis police officer during a traffic stop. it happened last night on a residential street. police say the suspect who has not been identified shot officer shawn bolton multiple times. he was later taken to the hospital and died. will he or should he? coming up opinions on the prospects of abiden presidential run. i will take beauty into my own hands. olay regenerist.

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today secretary kerry is in egypt for the first stop of his middle east tour where perhaps his top priority will be selling the new claar deal to many of iran's biggest regional enemies. >> the united states and egypt

recognize that iran is engaged in destabilizing activities in the region. and that is why it is so important to ensure that iran's nuclear program remains wholly peaceful. there can be absolutely no question that if the vienna plan fully implemented, it will make egypt and all the countries of this region safer than they otherwise would be. >> joining me now is democratic congressman james mcgovern, co-chairman of the house human rights commission. representative, glad to have you. thanks for joining me. >> happy to be with you. >> let's talk about your statement following the agreement which followed secretary kerry's words today. you said it was essential to the security of the region. critics are going to say it's going to make saudi arabia and the gulf states nervous. it is making israel very nervous. it could lead to an arms race. what is your response? >> i obviously disagree with that. the fact is that it's in the interest of the entire world community to make sure iran

doesn't get a nuclear weapon. and given iran's behavior the idea that they would have a nuclear weapon i think would be destabilizing. i think that would encourage an arms race. i think this agreement is a solid agreement. people have legitimate questions and i think secretary kerry and the president have been answering those questions. but i think, you know this is the right way to proceed. and the alternative, i think, would, again, fuel an arms race and give iran the green light to go ahead and develop a weapon. then we'd be confronted with do we go to war, or what? i hope that this agreement succeeds. and i think secretary kerry deserves a lot of credit. >> i know there are many who concur with those thoughts sir. but the secretary touched on human rights today. that is something you've championed. let's take a listen to what he said. >> president obama said when people are oppressed and human rights are denied when dissent is silenced it feeds violent extremism.

the success of our fight against terrorism depends on building trust. between the authorities and the public. this is always true in every country. it's never easy. >> do you figure this deal as putting the u.s. in a better position to try to fight for human rights in both iran and throughout the region? >> i do. because i think it hopefully will pave a way where we can have some more direct discussions on the issue of human rights. quite frankly, you i agree with what the secretary just said. i think the united states could be more forthright for human rights. i worry sometimes we get too cozy with some countries, especially in the middle east countries like bahrain, that oppress their people. but tell us that they'll be on our side in the fight against the islamic state, so we kind of look the other way. i think humidity rights ought to be central to our foreign policy. i think engaging countries, even countries we have strong disagreements with get us to face these issues more directly.

>> in iran the retired fbi agent, "washington post" reporter, a former marine and christian pastor, if these negotiations were not the perfect opportunity to demand their release, when will be? >> my hope is that as this agreement moves forward, that we will have a climate where we can talk about the release of these americans. think i itst's unconscionable that they're being held. i think we'll be in a better position to deal their release. i think more isolation, will get us nowhere. my hope is that as this agreement moves forward, we'll have the opportunity to be able to negotiate the release of those americans. >> this, of course has been a historic summer already, with the other being cuba. hillary clinton saying she will elect the embargo if elected.

>> this is difficult. because the republican leadership in the house and senate have already indicated they don't want to allow congress on lifting the embargo. i think what secretary clinton did deserves to be applauded. i think she recognizes that over five decades of diplomatic and economic isolation has been a miserable failure. that we ought to try something new. and engaging cuba not only diplomatically but economically that means congress has to lift the embargo, i think would create more opportunity. i think would open up more political space for the cuban people. i think it will be better for the cuban people. my hope is that with president clinton, we will be able to finally do what we should have done a long time ago and end this cold war policy which all measures has been a failure. >> should they advocate for regime change in cuba or work with the enemy you know? >> i don't think we should be talking about regime change. i think we should be talking about how we engage countries,

and negotiate with countries from a position of respect. you know part of the -- all the changes that are going to happen in cuba are going to happen because the cuban people are going to demand changes. the change in cuba is not going to be dictated by washington. we ought to get over that notion that somehow we can just call all the shots. i think we can create opportunities. we can create political space. we can create a climate where entrepreneurs in cuba can actually succeed, and we can strengthen civil society. i think those are the kinds of changes that will ultimately be a better life for all cuban people. in terms of who governs cuba that should be up to the cuban people, not up to the united states congress or whoever the president is. >> you said president clinton. i'm sure you've seen all the stories today about vice president biden considering a run in 2016. did you think he should join the race? >> i love joe biden. he's been a great public servant

in the senate and a great vice president. for me i'm not only ready for hillary, i'm enthusiastic for hillary. i think i speak for a good chunk of not only the democratic electorate out there, but even independents, and even some republicans believe it or not. i hope he doesn't. on the other hand look deciding on whether or not to run for president is a very perm thing. and he needs to make that decision. whatever he decides, i respect. he is an incredible public servant. he deserves our thanks for all that he has done. but for me i'm with hillary and excited about it. >> thank you so much congressman james mcgovern. >> thank you. it has the wing span of a 737 and can lead millions to a world of new discovery. you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future we're here for you. we're legalzoom, and for over 10 years we've helped

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high-altitude test, the goal is to deliver high-speed internet access to remote areas where wired access is difficult to provide. msnbc's jamie is here with all of these details. okay pretty exciting. kind of thrilling. how close is facebook to making this a reality? >> facebook officials said during a press conference on thursday that it's designed and built this drone. it's got the wing span of a boeing 737 but only weighs around 900 pounds. the company says it will beam a laser signal down to earth, where the signal will then provide internet. the company says it's now ready for testing. google has also developed its own plan which calls project loon to provide internet through a balloon. google has rolled the project out in new zealand, delivering wi-fi to agricultural areas there. here in the u.s. things are still in the testing phase. other prominent companies are developing satellite systems that would beam the internet down from space, and investors and developers say all of this

shows just how fast technology is moving. there are some 3 billion people on the internet right now, some four decades after the birth of the internet. another 3 billion people could come online during the next five years alone, that's according to one research group. that group, incidentally is led by a man who says that he himself is advising google. this is all just one more indication, alex that the sky is becoming an ever busier place. facebook and google say their aircraft will fly above 60,000 feet which is well above the earth's space reserve for jets. >> i'm stunned thinking about all this. thank you. we'll have to talk about air space another time and what kind of trouble that could provide for that. anyone, thank you, jamie. the next what can we expect from donald trump in thursday night's debate, coming your way.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." let's go to politics and the countdown to the republican party's first debate thursday.

here's how donald trump's fellow republican candidates are sizing him up. >> donald trump wants to be the commander in chief of the united states, and he does not know that it is the federal government's responsibility to secure the borders. it's not the state of texas or any other state's responsibility. >> i think there is a vein of anger that represents some of those who are thinking about donald trump. but i think there's also going to be a serious debate ultimately starting this week in the presidential debates about who has ideas that would fix the country. >> i think that donald is going to be a serious a candidate as donald wants to be. he's going to determine through the depth of his answers and the seriousness of his answers whether he's a serious candidate or isn't. >> joining me now, political journalist aaron mcpike, and eli from politico. ladies first here. erin, what pressure do you think trump's participation puts on the other candidates and do you think any of them will push back on his rhetoric or offer up

personal attacks? >> i think the pressure is all on donald trump. we talk about the ridiculous things he's saying but that's not pushing him down in the polls. in fact, all of the media attacks are helping him to go up in the polls. in the "washington post" today, there's a story about the proposals he's been making over the last couple of weeks, and how he would pay for them. i think that's what we're going to see the moderators do thursday night is pin him down on some of these proposals and how he would pay for them. if he can't answer those questions, that's when you'll start see him come under some trouble. >> jeb bush was interviewed, and eli, let's take a listen to how bush describes how he thinks they'll interact on the debate stage. >> do you expect he will be the unfiltered donald trump, and does that take you off your game at any level? >> no no. i really don't know what the --

what to expect. i think there will be lots of interaction between us and the other candidates. i think it will be a lively debate. >> eli i know you've reported on how the candidates are preparing for the debate. let's talk about bush trump and the others. what is your takeaway? >> a lot of them have done what you expect which is do mock debates and have their staffers and bring people in to actually play the roles of the other candidates, including trump. i don't know jeb bush's campaign has actually gone quite that far. he's focused on telling his story about his florida record. even jeb bush who gets a lot of attention compared to some of the other candidates who are not doing as well in the polls, even he's competing for the media's attention with trump. whatever he says he would like to -- they would all like to knock trump down a peg and refocus this race around other issues, around their candidacy so they don't have to be answering the first question out of every reporter's mouth, what do you think about this thing that donald trump just said. i don't think anybody will be

punching first against trump in the debate thursday night, but they've all practiced their counterpunches. i think they do want to unmask a little bit the lack of substance that so far trump is offering. >> taking a look at some of the other candidates erin let's talk about ben carson getting 10% of the vote. what do you make of this? >> ben carson has been polling quite well throughout this process. the other person i would point out is scott walker staying in the top two or three all the way along since early spring. he hasn't had the kind of national attention that jeb bush has. and seeing him on that debate stage basically on the one side of trump, of course jeb bush will be on the other side of donald trump, can he really hold court against jeb bush and donald trump. the person really to watch is scott walker in that debate. >> let's listen to what senator bernie sanders said this morning on vice president biden's 2016

plans. >> i've known joe biden for many years and very fond of joe. i think the american people who are seeing the middle class of this country disappearing a campaign finance system which is literally corrupt now, owned by billionaires as a result of this disastrous citizens united supreme court decision want to go beyond conventional establishment politics. >> i want you both to weigh in on this. erin how the democratic establishment will handle this kind of challenge to hillary clinton. >> handle the challenge from bernie sanders or joe biden? >> mostly from joe biden, that's what he was talking about. >> i think you hear bernie sanders feels threatened by this idea of a potential joe biden candidacy. two months ago, when we were first talking about joe biden, thinking about the presidential race right after beau biden had died, it was really a tribute to joe biden that people were talking about him still running for the presidency. of course he has never ruled it

out. he has wanted to be president of the united states. but there was one report at that time that said he came to terms with the fact that he would never sit in the oval office as president. where this opening congress from is hillary clinton is not doing as well as people thought. and her favorability numbers continue to go down in ohio and new hampshire. there really is an opening for another candidate. it doesn't seem like most of the democratic democratics don't feel bernie sanders is that person. so there is an opening for someone like joe biden. and when she's testifying on october 22nd on benghazi and her e-mails, and she's still dealing with these two story lines, he could come in and do real damage to her. >> the timing has a lot to do with what i want to pose to you, eli. former governor ed rendell, widely respected democratic analyst, he said too late joe biden, it's too late for him to jump in. what do you think? >> it may be.

it will be tough for him to build any sort of organization that rivals what hillary has built. i think what it does speak to though like erin says it's revealing whether he runs or not, there is an opening in this field. what joe biden offers is authenticity. that's one of the things people say hillary clinton lacks. she has all the other advantages, the money, the organization, the three decades in the public eye. she's been vetted. but when people hear her, she doesn't inspire the same emotional response. and joe biden is a very authentic guy. even with all his baggage and gaffes over the years, he is a guy that is very endearing to a lot of people especially in light of his son beau's passing. it may be too late for him to actually mount a serious challenge to clinton. but you never know in a race this volatile when bernie sanders is drawing 10,000 people to every speech he gives, you don't know exactly which direction this could go. >> we will watch how it develops with your help. eli and erin thanks guys.

the shooting death of motorist samuel de beau by university of cincinnati police officer has raced new questions about the reach of campus police. the cincinnati enquirer reports that samuel du beau's stop was beyond the traffic enforcement by university police. 932 tickets have been issued so far this year. let's bring in "washington post" reporter mark berman to talk about this. you've been writing about the growth of the college campus police forces. talk about the change in the role of late. >> in some ways really the change has been that they've grown. there are more campus police officers now than a decade ago, according to the department of justice. more of them are armed. more of them are patrolling areas off campus and around campuses, so they really just expanded their reach into the towns where these campuses are located. >> and look at the traffic stops. that alone, we put the number up

there, university of cincinnati police, more than 900 stops this year. so far. we're only seven, getting eight months into the year as opposed to 286 in 2012. does this sound typical to you, as you've looked at these campus police forces around the country? >> in many ways it speaks to what police officers do across the country in any department in any municipality. what you really have is the most common interaction between a civilian and police officer is going to be a traffic stop. in a lot of these campuses most campus police officers have arrest abilities outside of the campus. most of them also have the ability to patrol. many of them not just areas around the campus but even areas beyond that. if you have this increase in the number of officers in these cities they're going to be doing this sort of day-to-day policing, which means there will be more interactions and traffic stops between residents who have nothing to do with the universities and university police. >> this all comes as news to me. i was unaware before this incident that campus police

would have some jurisdiction in areas that were off campus. why are municipalities allowing that? or is this just par for the course? >> in some ways this is really -- universities, either they exist in a city like in washington, d.c., you have the george washington university, which is plopped in the middle of downtown. there are other universities in the middle of small towns where they are their own mini towns. what you have is a blurring of the lines of where the campus ends and the cities or towns begin. what you see is the universities will buy up property off the campus. they'll be more and more faculty and students living off campus. they still become almost de facto satellite portions of the campus. in cincinnati parents are going to want to know that the university police, their protection doesn't end when they walk across the street off the campus and residents near the university who are not going to want the -- they're going to want the campus police to be involved if the students are

having parties. >> i know the post has been compiling all this data on fatal police shootings. so far 564 people have been shot dead by police across the country. 91 in the last 30 days alone. what was the catalyst for the post undertaking this task and what have you learned about the nature of these fatal shootings? >> well last year we obviously saw a very large increase in the attention paid to these kinds of shootings. at the same time we really haven't had sort of the key data that can help us figure out a little more of what's happening, how often it's happening. federal officials have acknowledged their data was incomplete. what we found is this year it took basically a matter of months, six months before we had the same number of shootings in our database that they've recorded in any other year. what you really see here is we've been having a discussion but not really able to discuss every part of what we want to know. if we want to figure out if there are patterns if there are things they're more typical or not, we want to talk about how often they're happening, how

often it's happening to them it points to some issues facing police officers and people in these communities. you know one thing we've seen is a quarter of the people shot and killed by police have either had mental illnesses or in the throes of a mental or emotional crisis. police officers are often in the first line of defense in encountering people with mental illness. >> i thank you for the discussion. very interesting. mark berman there from the "washington post." thanks. >> thanks for having me. will donald trump walk back his recent inflammatory remarks in this week's debates? two million, four hundred thirty-four thousand three hundred eleven people in this city. and only one me. ♪ i'll take those odds. ♪ be unstoppable. the all-new 2015 ford edge.

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all day relief from knee pain. we're just four days away from thursday's republican debate. while racial issues have become a leading topic in the presidential campaign candidates will no doubt be asked to weigh in on immigration, especially in light of donald trump's comments last month. meanwhile, he's sticking by his claim that he is popular with hispanics. >> a couple of polls came out

recently where i'm number one with hispanics. for example, in nevada. north carolina was very strong. nevada was very strong overall, too. number one place in both cases. it's been terrific. >> joining me now is victoria an msnbc contributor. welcome to you. always glad to see you. i want to ask you right off the bat, how do you explain donald trump's popularity among hispanic republicans in states like nevada? >> well that's exactly it alex. among republicans, because what trump has been saying hey, i'm really popular with hispanics, with latinos. latinos love me. we've got to dig down into the polling. the poll he's speaking about in particular is this nevada poll where among gop voters and keep in mind the gop voters across the country tend to be only about 20% to 25% of the latino

population. and so we're talking about a third of those latinos, of the 25%, named trump as the most favorite candidate. we're not talking about huge numbers here. that being said trump has great name recognition. i mean whether you don't follow politics, you may have watched the "apprentice," so you know who trump is. the other fact is that trump is talking about jobs. that's one thing that he's very clear about. he doesn't give specifics, but he says i'm going to bring jobs. and we do know that with latinos, that's a very important issue. so among latino republicans, i'm not surprised that we're seeing those numbers. >> okay. but again, make the case that it is latino republicans, and there is a big caveat there that it's not the entire latino population. >> yes. >> okay. in terms of name recognition, how important is that at this point in the game and do you think trump is having an impact on the overall republican brand? >> i do alex. i think that donald trump has

been pulling the republican party further and further to the right, with regards to immigration. we know that after the 2012 election, the rnc came out and said you know what, we've got to figure out a way to incorporate african-americans, latinos, lgbt communities, and they're going in the opposite direction. it will be interesting to see starting this thursday night if the rust of the gop field, especially those more moderate candidates say we're going to pull it back to the center. we're not going to go 2010 tea party anti-immigrant rhetoric here, we're going to try to be a little bit more conciliatory and figure out how we can solve immigration. we can't just bash it we've got to say, it's a problem. there are 11 million undocumented immigrants here what are we going to do it. >> several republican candidates were denouncing donald trump. cutting ahead to this thursday do you see jeb bush for example, calling out trump during the debate? >> i would like nothing more.

but, i do not think we're going to see any of the candidates go with trump on immigration. i think they'll across the board say we need more border security. jeb bushes and marco rubios who want to cultivate the lass know vote both in the primary and the general election speak on the merits of reforming an immigration system speak about the merits of immigrants and what they do to our economy. i don't think you'll see them criticize, hey, you made some really insulting remarks about latinos latinos, instead they'll talk about the strength of reforming this country. if you count on an annual pay raise at work you could be soon out of luck. i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered

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gym memberships, commuting subsidies, even pet health insurance instead of that salary hike. joining me now, "washington post" financial reporter ilan louis. what is behind companies doing this. cost? >> there's really two things happening here. the first is the long hangover from the great recession. a lot of companies still remember in 2008 2009 even 2010 where they had to slash their workforce dramatically because we saw such a deep contraction in the economy. they're thinking the same thing, let's not get too far ahead of the game. we saw already this past week that the economy is not growing as rapidly as people would like it to so they're being very cautious and not giving people those annual raises they may be accustomed to pre-recession. the other thing is a more fundamental change in the workplace. that is that the contract between you as a worker and your boss as an employer is changing. no longer are people staying at one place for 30 years.

you don't expect to stay there for 30 years. your boss doesn't expect to you stay there for 30 years. they're shifting a lot more risk on to the worker. instead of raises people are looking for things like bonuses, stock options, flexibility in the workplace as those are the things especially for the millennial generation as opposed to the traditional raise. >> you don't hear about the 50-year gold watches, that's for sure. do you think the focus on benefits rather than salaries is the new normal or might it be a sign of weakness in the economy? >> hard to say at this point. you are seeing sort of the model shift here but you might expect that if the economy was growing stronger, if we were seeing a 3% expansion in gdp every quarter, that businesses might be forced to provide both. they might be forced to say we offer great benefit and we offer a really strong salary as a way to sort of compete for the best workers. you see that in places like silicon valley and some of the high-tech industries.

it is important to note that you can only increase benefits at a workplace where you are already receiving benefits. this is a really a story happening amongst white collar professional workers and not so much in the lower skilled workforces such as retail food service that have been fighting for higher wages. >> do you get a sense what better serves employees? is it the higher salary or benefits like health care and vacation time? >> it is a philosophical question really. which is more important to you? time or money? a lot of millennials are actually opting for time. they prize that flexibility. they prize the idea of being able to work from home they prize lots of vacation time so they can maybe head to the beach. but folks who are a little bit older, people who are in the boomer generation or later might prize that money as they head toward retirement. >> you make a good point. it is a philosophical question and answer. that's a wrap everyone, of this sunday edition of weekends

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nomination. this sunday a potential political bombshell -- word joe biden is now seriously considering taking on hillary clinton for the democratic nomination. we'll have the latest on what we really know. also, game on. it's republican debate week. >> oh, hit trump, hit trump. i'm going to be in the lion's den. >> how will the other contenders deal with a wild card like donald trump? >> i'll be showing up with my big boy pants on. >> the man himself, donald trump, joins me. >> plus our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll as to who's in and who's out. and i'll be joined by the other non-politician