i mark oedther. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com. we have some breaking news at the 4:00 hour here in the east, 1:00 in the west. the breaking news coming out of the white house, what we're hearing from the white house in a statement released in the last 30 minutes is the president will address the nation, the nation's troops, as well as the country, tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. eastern, monday. there from fort myers in arlington. what he's going to do according to the statement we have is he's going to provide an update on the path forward for america's engagement in afghanistan and south asia. that is what we understand just coming in to us. the president huddling with his top national security aides at camp david friday to work on a new strategy after earlier telling his military leaders the united states is losing its

longest war, of course, eluding to afghanistan. let's bring in colonel jack jacobs, political reporter for "the guardian," neal stanitch, of course, myles jacobs is not a reporter, medal of honor recipient, as well. sorry for saying that, colonel. so much is happening there. what do you make and understand of what he will probably be announcing? we do not, at least from the reporting from kelly o'donnell, who's with the president at the moment, we don't have a lot of details behind this. colonel? >> first of all, i don't mind being a reporter. secondly, what we're hearing is that there's going to be an increase in american forces. first, special forces, second, special operations forces, and, third, some ground units and support, particularly artillery that can be fired directly at the enemies of afghanistan. the increase is liable to be somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000. it's difficult to say at the moment, which will bring, i

think, the total up to close to 15,000 american troops there. what their role is, is quite clear, particularly special forces are going to be training indigenous forces so that they can defend themselves, but the fact that we're actually going to have combat troops, if we do, artillery units in particular, who are going to be in relatively close contact with the enemy indicates we're taking a direct role in the combat on the ground. richard? >> colonel, as you have been telling us through your contacts and again your experience here as a military man, we have three generals that have very senior roles in this white house, and now that we have one as chief of staff, we have one as you know as defense secretary, h.r. mcmaster, as well. with this expertise so close to the president, is this why we're seeing movement on afghanistan? this is not necessarily a surprise. they've been saying and the reporting has been they've been discussing the strategy in afghanistan for quite some time. >> well, yes, i think so.

up until this point we've had people who are thinking about what we're going to do in afghanistan, making decisions with a direction toward getting out. but it's extremely difficult to get out either very, very slowly or very quickly, because the afghan government and its forces are not particularly skilled in taking care of the enemy inside. so there are two major problems, and quite frankly, neither one of these is going to be solved in my view by increasing the size of the american force on the ground. the force is that tactical competence doesn't necessarily translate directly into strategic competence, and at the end of the day it's strategic competence in kabul that's going to make a difference on the ground ultimately, and second, there's no addressing what's going on in pakistan. it's pakistan that contributes mightily to harboring enemies of afghanistan, to make it extremely difficult for

afghanistan to control the border area and so on, so no number of american forces on the ground are going to fix either one of those things. >> in context here, colonel, the number back in 2011 was about 100,000, then dropped, as you know, to just over 8,000 over the course of time. you're saying if this request comes out to be in that 5,000 to 7,000, we'll now move up to 15,000, but the question you have been putting out there is, do we have the strategic capability to do this? do we -- is army general john nicholson, the commander there, is he the right brain, do you think? >> well, i think just about anybody with any experience can actually execute a relatively narrow strategy, which is what we have. we have a very narrow strategy that says that we're going to train these guys to take care of themselves. quite frankly, anybody can do that. nicholson's a great guy, there are lots of other great guys, but at the end of the day, the scope of this mission is in

actuality is very much narrower than the scope of our mission back when we had 100,000 troops there. and i want to pass on something i'm reminded of something general mcchrystal said some time ago when he suggested that in afghanistan it would really take lots and lots of american troops, i mean more than 100,000, and more significantly a lot of time. he was talking about decades before we could actually have the kind of strategic impact that the united states is looking for. we're not going to stay there for decades. >> get to anita shortly, as well as niall. one more question, colonel, before i get to them. as we look at the strategy coming out of what may be that announcement tomorrow, is this everything that, and we were eluding to john nicholson, the commander there, is this you believe everything he is asking for? is this what he wants and believes he needs, if he is the

expert, because he's there on the ground? >> generally speaking, people who are near the top of the food chain like to look at things in the following way, what i'd really like to have and the way in which i can actually accomplish my mission and what i know i'm going to get, and my guess is the pentagon has received both requests. i think if general nicholson had his way, we would have lots more troops, any general would. there's no such thing as too many assets. you want to have as many assets as you can. and for as long as he possibly can. there's no will for that. i think he's going to get in the neighborhood of 6,000, 7,000 troops. >> sabrina, let me know your thought here. this is america's longest war, as we have heard in the past. what is the appetite for this topic right now, and what do you see in terms of the timing of the president's announcement

which will be happening tomorrow evening at 9:00 p.m.? >> well, i think as the colonel touched opinion, there are no easy options here and to add context, upon taking office in january, the trump administration did embark on a strategic review of u.s. policy in afghanistan. now, you'll remember this is a president who, of course, campaigned upon scaling back u.s. military involvement overseas, but then when you take office you realize the reality is a lot more difficult than that. it's not simply easy to withdraw the united states from a war that's been engaged in for well over a decade. the defense secretary, jim mattis, did say the president wanted to make this announcement to the american people himself. he, of course, met with national security advisers on friday, was presented a wide range of options, so i think what we'll expect to hear from him on is levels of troops, as well as i think the point that the colonel touched upon, what will the u.s. policy be towards pakistan? you heard some reporting that

the president is weighing also withdrawing military aid to pakistan, which also plays a critical role in the region, so that will be something, as well, to look forward to in terms of potential shift in afghanistan. >> what do you make of this? when you put in context you have the president meeting at camp david, not a location that he commonly likes to gather at, but there he was, along with his advisers discussing what the announcement will be tomorrow, the details of that announcement. >> i think it's a fascinating question, richard. this is an example of where can the president take on the more sort of conventional rule that we expect, a president making these big foreign policy decisions? i listened carefully to what the colonel said about the military's desire for more troops, but is that sellable to the american people? and more to the point, can president trump lay out what victory would actually look like in afghanistan? i think he will have to do that

if he is to sell the idea of more troops to the electorate at large, but it's a difficult task. the united states has been in afghanistan for 16 years, as we've all pointed out. what is going to -- what is the difference that is going to be made by adding 4,000 or 5,000 more troops, who presumably will have their lives in danger, so, therefore, what is the goal that is going to be achieved by that change? >> and splitting the difference here, colonel, about the goal, does he state it, the president tomorrow evening, he has been a president and a candidate that said i'm not going to telegraph my strategy, i'm not going to telegraph what the success criteria might be. i'm just going to go. why communicate my strategy publicly, and, therefore, the enemy will know what i'm going to do and what the country is going to be doing. is he stuck between a rock and a hard place? he will have to articulate to

some level detail. >> yeah, i think he's going to be very sly about this. i'd be surprised otherwise. i think he's unlikely to say, look, this is what our entire plan is. we're going to increase to 15,000 and then draw down over a certain period of time and be out of there. our sole objective is to train as few people as we possibly can and then we're leaving, because this is a fool's errand. i don't think he's going to say any of that stuff. my guess is he's going to talk in the most robust terms without suggesting we're actually going to increase it further. i think he's going to probably articulate this number of troops in this configuration with special forces, special operations forces, ground artillery support, further advisers and the like, is exactly what this mission needs in order to be successful over a period of time and he's not going to commit himself to either more troops or getting out. if he does do either one of those things, he's going to be completely different than the

trump you suggested in the intro. >> you know, sabrina, the question that now arises, as we see at least the reporting of the united states moving forward with an articulation of a strategy, the colonel saying we'll see what kind of detail we actually do get, is the coordination internationally. a place, at least we have seen within the first part of this presidency, that this white house does not do well and is not necessarily seen in positive ways. the coordination required here is -- cannot be understated as we look at an afghanistan policy, sabrina. >> well, that's a very important point, actually, because one thing that we have noticed is there's been a shift in how the united states is perceived by its own allies, and trump certainly has not had the same level of cooperation with international community that his predecessors have had. of course, he also operates in a very unconventional way.

he does not have a lot of respect, particularly from nato allies and others whose coordination would be key here. so i think what the ramifications would be as the united states chooses to move forward will certainly be a very important theme to keep an eye on. certainly, other point is that even here at home his poll numbers are historically low, so as niall pointed out, he's going to have to make the case to the american electorate for what the u.s. role in afghanistan will be moving forward, as well, and again, this does go and run counter to how he campaigned as someone who wanted to scale back the u.s. military involvement, so how will that impact his standing, that's also going to be key here. >> how you balance this out, niall, is on friday you lose, if you will, your chief nationalist in the white house, and then the criticism comes about while the globalists are taking over that very same white house. then on the sunday we're now looking at a discussion about an issue of globality.

>> yes, you actually took the words out of my mouth pretty much, richard. i think this is an important point here. steve bannon was very much associated with skepticism about this kind of military involvement and intervention. bannon made no secret at all of the fact he believed more orthodoxed foreign policy figures were trying to sell the president on military intervention, essentially. so, it's very interesting timing that steve bannon leaves on friday, we have this announcement coming on monday. i don't think anyone expects it to be either a reduction in u.s. troop levels or one of the ideas that had been put forth by bannon, which was essentially contracting out some of the military work to private contractors. that idea seems to have rather slipped down the list of probabilities. so it is an interesting turn of events here, i think. >> yeah, $64 question, was this one of those issues where he

laid down at the train tracks, bannon, and when he didn't get what he wanted, this is why he did exit last week. we don't know the answer to that, of course. colonel jack jacobs, great to have you, sir. the guy that's going to be a reporter, wants to be a reporter, but always been reporting for us based on his connections in military. sabrina, niall, perfect to have on this breaking news. also breaking news, jerry lewis dying at the age of 91 today. we're going to take a look at his life and legacy. this time it's his turn.

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jerry lewis dying today. according to his family he passed away this morning at his home in las vegas at the age of 91. looking back at his amazing career and what he meant for comedy and entertainment, let's

bring in jeff, a joke writer and close friend to mr. lewis. jeffrey, thanks for being with us. you and i were talking about how you spent a couple days with him just going through words, writing jokes, and giving a sense of who jerry lewis was. >> first of all, he was an icon. it was one of the most special moments of my long career. i was writing for the friars club at the time. this was back in 1986 and he was being roasted by the friars club. they sent me to his hotel and he and i spent two days together writing for this roast. i couldn't repeat any of the jokes, but one of the photos he sent me, i can still hear the ocean, which was the tag line to one of these nasty jokes he wrote. he was a very, very special guy and there will never be another. i remember watching his films as a kid and having a chance to work with him was amazing. >> what inspired him in his

physical comedy, you think? because for us as fans and watching him, it seems like it's completely natural. must be something that inspired him to do these things. tap dancer, chandelier in one of the movies, as well. >> he was multitalented. what inspired anybody is very hard to say. he told me the most wonderful stories about how he and dean martin got started and they were poor kids who couldn't even afford tuxedos and he actually was performing with another guy before dean martin, which didn't work out. he said dean was always his idol because dean was so handsome and he described himself as looking like a monkey. and he said, when they started working together, after about two weeks there were lines around the block to come and see him. what his exact inspiration is, i wouldn't presume to say, but he was a genius when it came to comedy. a multitalented performer. not like today. i think the only one who's as

talented is jimmy fallon, who's that multitalented in many different areas, he can sing and dance and do impressions, all kinds of stuff. >> as you know, one of his early, if not his first big national opportunity was here in this building in the very same studio that jimmy fallon now broadcasts from, that 6b right here on the sixth floor here. >> that's amazing. >> that's what our tour says. if you come through, that's what it shows. i'm trying to bring full circle in terms of what he means to today's generation. jimmy fallon, melissa mccarthy, jim carrey, another one, if you like tim conway possibly, as well. this sort of physical comedy he's brought forward to many different generations. when he -- we see dean martin here and jerry lewis in a lot of video we're showing. they had a little bit of a fallout for about 20 years. then they got back together. what did that fallout mean when they stopped after being so successful together for so many

years? what did that fallout say about jerry lewis? >> well, i think, you know, it's hard to say what it said about him. just like it's like a marriage. some marriages start out of love and then they break up. you know, you can't get divorced unless you were once married and we know how often divorce occurs in this country. i think they always had great love for each other. i think sometimes things just come to an but i really think deep down they had a great affection for each other even after all those years. i had gone to see jerry after i wrote for him, i went out to las vegas to see him when he performed to davis jr., who was his friend for 40 years and they had never performed together and asked me to write material for that. i went out to see him with pat cooper, the legend care pat cooper, the comedian. i was out there, we went back stage and hung out. >> we've got a few seconds, hold

them still, a little higher, a little higher. >> this was a photo of jerry and i at his roast in 1986. >> that you were writing for. >> this was jerry and i in las vegas. this was around 1989. >> 32, what's he wearing? what's the number? >> he was wearing some kind of jersey. this is a picture of me and sammy davis after i wrote for jerry, i had the honor of meeting sammy. and this is a picture that jerry gave me after the roast. thanks for all of your help from 1986. i can't believe it was over 30 years ago. >> time flies. >> amazing. >> thank god we don't age. >> you don't. >> thank god we all stay the same. >> i can't thank you for coming in and sharing how you worked with jerry lewis over the years, who had done so much, not only in entertainment as we know, also in his volunteer work. >> it was amazing what he did for muscular dystrophy. the night i was with him in his hotel room, they discovered a

gene for muscular dystrophy and i shared that moment with him. it was an unbelievable moment i'll never forget in my life. >> meant so much to him. joke writer and close friend of jerry lewis and also the writer of "laughing legends." this is his book that i'll hold it up this way so you can see it in front of the camera. thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. >> you bet. let's bring in nbc's morgan radford, who's also been following the story for us. the response from friends, also now being expressed on twitter and other places about the loss of jerry lewis' death. >> that's right, richard. this is hollywood mourning the life and legacy of the man iconic. lewis' agent didn't reveal the cause of death. fans and colleagues alike have taken to twitter to express their condolences. "we've lost a great comedian and

greater heart. thank you for the laughs, the feels, jerry lewis." gilbert gotfried tweeted, "the french were right about him all along, r.i.p., jerry lewis." "the king of comedy jerry lewis was a tremendous talent and good friend. rest in peace, jerry lewis, you'll be missed." rob schneider tweeted "oh no, jerry lewis just died. another comic legend has left us. martin and lewis, nobody bigger." lewis raised over $1.6 billion in 45 years. in an interview with "vanity fair," they asked him, how would you like to die. well, in true lewis fashion, he said, i didn't know we had a choice. richard? >> the key piece of trivia there you brought up, morgan, he was wildly popular across the world, but especially in france, once again, one of the hallmarks of his success over the years.

nbc's morgan radford, thank you so much. tribute there to jerry lewis. now if you're just joining us today, dead at the age of 91. we'll have more on him later. but for now, a break.

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in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. and welcome back. i'm richard lui here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. a lot happening on this sunday. first off, the white house announcing that president trump will address the nation tomorrow night, that's going to be at 9:00 p.m. on the war in afghanistan. this coming after the president and his top national security advisers huddled at camp david on friday to try to work on a new strategy for afghanistan and south asia. again, tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. also a 2.1-magnitude earthquake to tell you about. it's been confirmed near the north korean capital of pyongyang. officials say the quake was of a natural kind and no damage is expected from that. in other words, not caused by potentially a nuclear test.

plus, more tough talk from north korea to tell you. calling the u.s.-south korean military exercises that begin tomorrow, quote, reckless behavior, driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war. pyongyang also declaring that it can hit the u.s. anywhere with a merciless strike. the threat appearing in north korea's official government newspaper. also, civil rights activist and comedian dick gregory died at the age of 84. gregory introduced humor to the civil rights movement to try to spread the message of social justice. (boy) and these are the lungs. (class) ewwww! (boy) sorry. (dad) don't worry about it. (mom) honey, honey, honey, honey! (vo) at our house, we need things that are built to last. that's why we got a subaru.

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hate is in the news like never before with a new focus on white supremacists and right wing extremism. at last weekend's rally in charlottesville, white nationalists were seen carrying flags with swastikas and other neo-nazi symbols, a head

swimming display of symbolism of anyone who's not white, male, allied with a far right ultra conservative ideology and fits in with what the southern poverty law center has seen across the nation with over 900 active hate groups and white supremacist and antimuslim groups in particular. joining me now, former investigator for the southern poverty law center and carol anderson, professor of african-american studies at emory university. professor, when you look at the data coming out, again, from the southern poverty law center, as well as the headlines we've unfortunately had to report on, not only within the last couple of weeks, but within the last three or four years, what does this tell you in terms of what we're seeing happening today? >> i believe that what we're really seeing is the kind of culmination or the result of years of trolling in the ground of white supremacy, and

legitimizing that. first through dog whistles, such as welfare queen, thug, law and order, and then with the birther movement, and then seeing that person who is championed the birther movement then coming in to being the president of the united states because his racism was so virulent that it spoke to a broad base of american citizens. and that legitimacy is what we see. >> when we look at the map of hate groups in the united states, were they existent prior to some of the themes critics will say the president has re-enforced, quote, unquote, and therefore we do see all these dots on the map? >> well, look, the number of these groups has been growing for the better part of the last

ten or 15 years. we are at near record highs, close to 1,000 hate groups in addition to 1,000 patriot groups or militia groups. really the dramatic rise began immediately after barack obama's first election in the fall of 2008. we saw this explosion happen in 2009, and that continued over the next four or five years. at the same time, the polls show us very clearly that antiblack racism in particular among whites has also grown, perhaps somewhat counterintuitively during the years of the obama administrations. so i think there's one other thing going on, which is that the actual number of groups really doesn't tell us the whole story about the size of the radical right. what we are seeing increasingly is that people are essentially adopting this philosophy without

necessarily joining actual groups. so we're seeing more and more people like dylann roof, the author of the charleston massacre in 2015, man who murdered nine black church goers, but who was not affiliated with any hate group, never had discussions with people in the movement, simply read things on the internet that convinced him, as he said before he began to murder people, you're raping our women and taking over. so i think the movement is very large. i think it's growing, and i think, sadly, it's going to continue to grow as this nation essentially goes through a major demographic transformation in the next 20 years or so. >> following along with what you're saying here, mark, professor anderson, your book which you wrote called white rage, you say the unspoken truth of our racial divide. that fits in with what mark's saying. what is that unspoken truth that we need to know about? >> that unspoken truth is as

african-americans advance, as they get access to their citizenship rights, there has been a wave of uprising in terms of policy and judicial decisions in order to undermine that, and, i mean, i've tracked it from the end of the civil war, to the great migration, to the brown decision, to the civil rights movement, and then to the election of barack obama. and at each of those key major moments what we see then are policies that are designed to just erode, for instance, the right to vote. so just take where we are right now, so we're focused in on hate groups, but we're seeing that kind of backlash from the gop that instituted a wave of voter suppression laws after the election of barack obama because you had an overwhelming number, millions of new african-americans, latinos and asians and the poor voting for

him. and that kind of movement that could put a black man in the white house, you saw all kinds of churn happening in the system, policywise via voter suppression, voter i.d. laws, gerrymandering, closing the polls in black neighborhoods, expanding the polls in white neighborhoods, those kinds of things. >> quickly to you, we're out of time but i want your reflection on what the professor said, and that is the fabric of those who are feeling these hate incidents, feeling this discomfort, because we are talking about african-american, latino-american, asian-american, lgbtq, women, and more. >> i think what professor anderson said is exactly right. we are living through another backlash, something that has been with us since the very beginning of our country. i would argue that the backlash we're living through right now is more severe than many of the ones we have seen in the past,

comparable to what we saw during the civil rights era when there was an awful lot of violence. the country is changing and it is changing fast. i mention demographic change, there are economic changes that are hurting large swaths of the population, major cultural changes, and so there is a large section of the white electorate out there that resents this and resents it mightily. this is happening all over the western world. it's happening in western europe, as well as our own country, so it's a very serious matter. >> mark, carol anderson, tough issue to talk about, but thank you for your perspective, simplifying where you could, as well as giving us context. thank you both. >> thank you, richard. next we have for you the poll numbers. they are tanking for president trump, at least in three key states we've been watching, key states that helped put him in the white house. we'll have that.

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concerns. let's bring in sabrina and associate editor for "the hill," niall stange. the poll numbers coming out from an nbc/marist poll shows trump's approval rating in key three states, states he turned into swing states in his favor, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, you can see them right there. his approval rating in the 30s. mid 30s, where they theoretically should be higher because he won these states. when you look at those numbers, does that tell us that supporters, his base, have moved away? >> well, there has been polling to indicate that trump is losing some support from within his base, and that should be cause for concern for this white house, but it's also important to note that trump was underwater in the polls even leading up to election day when, of course, he took hillary clinton's campaign by surprise and precisely the states that you mentioned. one thing that democrats who might be using this as cause for

celebration should also be skeptical of is polling that indicates in the same numbers you mentioned that people still do believe in those states that the economy is improving under trump, and if you recall his appeal among working class voters helped propel him to the white house. that's something democrats will want to try to move further in his direction. >> showing they do like the president on that very topic in this very same poll. niall, there's also a question that's not been asked before, and that's the embarrassment factor that came from the poll i'm talking about, and it shows that 60%, at least 60, say it's embarrassing. 63, 64, in that range. but a quarter of them, 25% polled in this say they are proud of him. what do you take away from this embarrassment question? >> the embarrassment factor is an interesting one, and to me, richard, that is about the constantly intensifying opposition to president trump. i suspect a large swath of those

respondents have always been opposed to him, but have actually become more energized in their opposition. perhaps that will pay off for democrats next year in the midterm elections, we don't know, but i do think sabrina makes a very important point when it comes to personal favorability. donald trump as he then was seriously under water on election day last november and won the election nonetheless, so he can, to some degree, defy the standard laws of polling. >> when the summer ends, so begins the election for 2018. if not already, sabrina, as you know here, and the polling also showing that the democrats in double digits now seen favorably compared to the republicans, when we, again, look at those that these particular poll answerers, voters, are referring to right now. >> yes, i think that the november election in 2018 is still a long ways away and certainly there could be a shift

leading up to that point. we know trump is going to continue to be trump, so democrats, i think, will keep driving this election as a referendum on his administration. the question is, will that be enough. hillary clinton's campaign, one of the struggles that they had was they did try to make the 2016 election, also a referendum on his temperament, on his stability to lead, and that did not prove sufficient enough. so i think that's why you see democrats unveiling an economic platform, that's something they did a few weeks ago and at least recognizing they are going to have to give voters a reason to vote for them, not just rely on the prospect of voters turning out to vote against trump. >> while congress is away, we've seen many changes, the latest which is steve bannon now leaving the white house team. is it perhaps here potentially because they see this writing on the wall? let's readjust right now, because come september we have to hit the ground running here, especially when it comes to issues coming out of congress? >> so, it's a fascinating issue,

because steve bannon was, obviously, the keeper of the flame for president trump's base. and i think the president had pursued a very base first strategy. so neither panel has departed. are we going to see some movement, not the famous pivot which has become almost an in joke where the president never actually pivots, but is he going to reach out to somewhat more moderate conventional republican voters and could that pave the way for legislative action? it could, but it's by no means certain, because the president just in the past week has been blasting away at republican senators, including jeff flake of arizona, lindsey graham of south carolina. relations between congress and the president are still very, very strained. >> paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, let's add to that group why don't we. thank you so much, you both have a good sunday. thank you for sticking around all hour. >> thank you. >> thanks, richard. all righty, a total eclipse of the moon from coast to coast.

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i've been waiting for decades because i knew it was coming. what it means to me is a once n once-in-a-lifetime shot and somewhere close and i can see nature in all its glory. >> you can see, he's got all of his equipment. that was just one of the millions of people traveling coast to coast to get the best view of the solar eclipse. it will pass over 14 states, giving watchers roughly two and a half minutes to view this phenomenon. people in oregon will be the first to see the moon completely block the sun and joining us now from oregon, msnbc's jacor soberoff by the side of the road watching folks with their cars

arriving there, right, jacob? >> reporter: two and a half minutes, richard, a total eclipse and as someone just pointed out to me with their peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an hour and a half partial eclipse after and that's why you see such an epic line of people in oregon, which is one of the best place to view this total solar eclipse the first time since 1979 in the united states. i have not interviewed these guys. where are you coming from? weir live from msnbc. >> portland? >> how long have you been in line to get inside? >> two hours. >> roll down the front window and say hello to the driver, how are you? >> i'm maddie. >> you have this in your face? >> is it worth it. >> why did you decide to come out to the eclipse? >> we're students at the university of oregon. >> so for you it was worth it to check this out, why? >> i don't know.

it's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing and i thought i would see full totality instead of 99 pertz. >> keep driving because we don't want you to get stuck any longer than you have to here. >> the full totality. we are in the path of totality. oh, look out for the bus, and perhaps the best place in the united states to see it because the skies will be crystal clear here at madras, oregon. i don't know if you can see up at the sky, but it is crystal blue here, absolutely beautiful and we are on the right side of the cascades and the pacific coast mountain range. all of those clouds will be down by the pacific coast and here they'll be in a town of about 7,000 people, about 100,000 people. we have looky-loos here making it one of the biggest cities temporarily in the state of oregon just for tomorrow alone, richard. it's an extraordinary thing. it feels very festive out here. almost like coachella. >> almost like coachella. you have the oregon duck fans there. you have people with their feet out the window and pb & js all

together and some selfies with the solar eclipse will be happening tomorrow. thank you very much, jacob soberoff, getting folks and fans saying hello to him. >> all right, richard. talk to you soon. >> i want to bring in former astronaut michael massamino. you have to love that. people arriving from all over the state and potentially the country there in oregon to see the solar eclipse. >> yeah. i'm actually here in south carolina in charleston. i will be hosting a special for the science channel which will air tomorrow night at 9:00, and so we're getting ready for that and people are coming in from all over the place to see the sun disappear tomorrow. hopefully the weather will cooperate for us. >> what is the science factoid that you will continually tell everybody about this solar eclipse this year? >> well, there's a lot of interesting things going on. what's interesting about this one compared to the last one that passed by our country 99 years ago, and is as you mentioned the science factoid.

i think there is a bunch of them, but we have the capability to study this one in much more detail than what they were able to do 99 years ago. so we are going to be following nasa aircraft, high altitude aircraft and there's high altitude balloons that will be studying what's going on as well as telescopes and what they're most interested in is looking at that corona, the atmosphere of the is up. when the moon blocks it out, all of the light that comes from the sun makes it impossible to study this under normal circumstances, but when the moon takes care of the brightness of the sun, what we see is the ring of fire or the sun's corona. it will give us more of an understanding of how the sun works and it will help us understand what they call space weather which is solar activity and solar flares that can have an impact on spacecraft and astronauts and the electrical equipment here on earth. that's the scientific aspect of it, but overall it's something that we can all enjoy. it's a cosmic event and in space, you get to see this cosmic ballet that takes place

between the balloon, the sun and the earth and we're going to be able to see that from earth with our family and friends tomorrow, so i think it will be a great day. >> as we are with our family and friends and we're looking at the cosmic ballet, what's the best way to watch it to stay safe for the eyes and we have about 45 seconds. >> yeah. so you want to be really careful. i've got a pair of nasa-approved,ec ips-approved glasses and they have the right ratings so if you'll want to look up at a partial eclipse, even if you're in the path of totality before it goes totally dark, you'll want to get a pair of these or there are other things you can do and make a pin hole viewer and you want to project the image, but get outside. if you want to take pictures, i would suggest taking pictures of the reaction of your friends and family around you and enjoy looking up. >> i so thought you would put on the glasses. >> i can, if you want. >> there you go!

>> thank you, sir. you have a good one. >> thanks, richard. >> tomorrow nbc news and msnbc will have live coverage all day of the eclipse. you can get more information by heading to nbcnews.com/eclipse. that does it for me this hour, i'm richard lui, thomas roberts next on breaking news. president trump will address the nation tomorrow night on the war in afghanistan. stick around for thomas roberts. he's up next. we're on to you, diabetes. time's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done.

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award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. this august visit your local volvo dealer to receive sommar savings of up to $4,500. hi, everyone. great to have you with me. i'm thomas robertss. we have breaking news this hour with president trump set to address the nation tomorrow night from arlington, virginia, where he will outline his plan for afghanistan and south asia. we'll have that in a moment. the breaking news from legendary comedian jerry lewis passing away at the age of