let us unite against hate and bigotry and violence. that is what will make this country work for everybody. that does it for me. thank you for watching. i will see you back here next saturday at 5:00 p.m., and meanwhile, like us on facebook.com/politicsnation, and follow us on twitte twitter @politicsnation. up next, "meet the press" with chuck todd. this sunday, a nation on edge. 11 people killed in a mass shooting at a pittsburgh synagogue. >> one of the worst i've seen. i've seen plane crashes. it is very bad. >> the suspect, a man with a history of anti-semitism and hostility towards refugees. >> this evil anti-semitic attack is an assault on all of us. >> this just after 14 pipebombs are mailed to trump critics. the president briefly attempts the role of healer. >> my highest duty as president

to keep america safe. >> but minutes later -- >> the crisis on the border right now is the sole result of democrat laws and activists. >> are these violent incidents separate or linked as a product of our angry political environment? joining me this morning, the mayor of pittsburgh and jonathan greenblatt. a campaign filled with rhetoric from missouri -- >> this whole campaign has been a big scare tactic. >> to florida -- >> i'm not calling this racist. i'm simply saying the racists believe he's a racist. >> to a former president. >> that is not spin. that is not exaggeration. that is lying. >> nine days before the election, house campaign chairman steve stylers and his democratic counterpart ben ray louhan.

our analysts are kristen welker, erick erickson, amy walter, and joshua johnson, host of one-on-one npr. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press". good sunday morning. as our colleague journalists wrote on twitter yesterday, the worst anti-semitic attack in u.s. history took place today, day as of the largest attempted assassination of u.s. leaders in history. it's a deeply unsettling assessment that has the advantage of being accurate. this after a week of violence and terror. on friday a florida man cesar sayoc was arrested for sending as many as 14 pipe bombs to critics of president trump. and as the country tried to exhale as the mail bombing danger seemed to have passed, we

learned yesterday of the horror in a pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were shot and killed at the tree of life synagogue. it is a congregation synagogue in the city's heavily jewish squirrel hill neighborhood. last night there were vigils around the city and country including this one in pittsburgh in remembrance of the victims. and our hyper partisan atmosphere we will inevitably debate was the mail bomber inspired by president trump who cast his political opponents as enemies of the people or was he just a loner filled with anger and political resentment? was the synagogue shooter a product of a toxic environment on the right that treats refugees and others or was this the hate filled mass murder we've seen too many times in this country before? we have both stories covered and we're going to look at the amped up political rhetoric that serves as the backdrop to this year's midterm elections. but let's begin with my colleague pete williams who has updates for us on both stories. pete, good morning. >> good morning, chuck. well, bowers is now going to face -- robert bowers, the alleged shooter in pittsburgh is going to face 72 counts now.

he's been charged both by the federal government and by the state. >> the feds took this over, correct? >> well, they both filed charges. so i think it's not clear who -- where he's going to go on trial first. the federal government was very eager to step in and say this was a hate crime. just as pennsylvania authorities have said. there seems to be very little doubt of that. for three reasons, basically. one, his social media postings. months and months of vile anti-semitic comments, and secondly, the fact that he singled out a synagogue speaks for itself, and thirdly, the police in pittsburgh say that as he was being transported to the hospital, and as he was being treated for his wounds, he e said, all jews must die, because they are committing genocide against my people. >> did he -- who does he refer to as his people? in this case? >> who knows? i mean that's what he told the police as they were treating him on the way to the hospital. >> there was other than his whereabouts over the last year, there's not much known about mr. bowers before that.

is there? what profile are they able to draw up so far? >> no, you're right and if you contrast the two here, cesar sayoc, accused of the bombings, sending out the package bombs, he had many run-ins with the police over the years. he made a bomb threat over florida power and light at one point. bowers seems to have absolutely no contact with law enforcement. they said he was never on their radar before. he was a loner. neighbors say he never got out much. he seemed to have -- his life seems to have been led online. i think one question is had he ever visited that synagogue before? did he know the layout of it? because, you know, ultimately it ends on third floor. that's where the shootout with the police ended as th ed as he hiding from them. >> did he purchase all his guns legally? >> there's no indication he bought anything illegally. one question about the weapons is this.

many of the witnesses said they thought there was automatic weapons fire. well, you have to assume that these are people who don't spend a lot of time listening to gunfire. the police say it sound like automatic weapons fire. a question is did he modify that semiautomatic rifle, it's possible to do it. it's illegal but did he do it or or was he using a bump stock as used in the las vegas shootings. >> and moving to cesar sayoc, as of friday, he was not talking. is there any update on whether he is yet to cooperate with the officials? >> no, and their ability to question him now is reduced. he is going to have his first court appearance on mownday. they initially questioned him under an exception to the miranda rule, and normally, you have to advise somebody under the miranda rule rule. it normally -- you have to advise someone of rights before can you question them if you want to use that evident in the

trial against them. there is a public safety exception. and that's what they used here. basically saying are there any more bombs? well, he refused to say whether he had anything to do with the ones that were already out there or whether there were any others still waiting to be discovered. it's been 36 hours now since they found any. >> i was going to say, at this point they can't say -- i notice the postal service won't say definitively yet at what point will they feel comfortable assuming it's out of the system. >> another week maybe. you know, they have been finding these closer and closer to the mail system the last ones were discovered inside the mail system. so they're all carefully looking for them. i think you have to assume that there aren't any more. this is the longest gap that we've yet had since any were discovered. >> on the late ones discovered were west coast. it sort of made sense. that that might be so the so the assumption has got to be that. >> right. the last two, sent to senator harris and to tom stier. >> pete williams, been a tough and busy week for you. thank you very much. throughout the day yesterday and in a vigil, members of the community in pittsburgh were shocked and heart broken. >> it is very unthinkable. very, very unthinkable. this is our community whether you're jewish or not.

>> i just could not believe it. in light of the other things going on across the nation to see this right on my -- really right on my street to where i was heading. >> i hope this helps us stop ignoring it. we have been ignoring the hate and grown numb to it. something like this, it's so hard to ignore. >> joining me now is the mayor of pittsburgh. welcome to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me just start with what you, and let me ask you this, what new information can you share with us about what new you have learned about the incident and the killer? >> well, there's press conference that's scheduled this morning where we will be releasing the names of the victims. the families were notified yesterday evening. as can you imagine, there is a lot of sorrow right now within the city. >> many synagogues have protection, sadly, constantly because threats are constant in

the jewish community. sometimes low level, sometimes very serious. so sadly this isn't -- this isn't a shock and yet it is unexpected. can you just share with how the community is sort of reacting, how particularly in the jewish community there? >> well, in pittsburgh our hearts are broken. right now we're trying to grapple with this horrendous crime, something that is one of the darkest days in our city's history. our city is a small city, and all of our communities are connected together. we understand an attack against our jewish community is an attack against our entire city. we're here right now to help the victims' families. that's the foremost part of what we need to do. the second part is to get to the folks who have been injured. our officers and others. and to be able to help them and their families as well. >> president trump said he

had spoken with you yesterday. how is that conversation and what can you share? >> it was cordial. we basically talked about the horrific tragedy i was able to share with him the details of just how bad it had been. and he basically said that any resources that would be necessary would be given and right now there are federal officials from the fbi coming from all parts of this country to help pittsburgh. >> that's what he can do with the federal government. is there something -- did you ask him, is there anything he personally can do? is there something you'd like to see him do personally? >> there is. i belong to an organization, a bipartisan organization called mayors against illegal guns. i don't think that the answer so this problem is solved by having our synagogues, mosques and

churches filled with armed guards or our schools filled with armed guards. i think we're dealing with an irrational person who acted irrationally in trying to create laws around that is not the way that we should govern. we should try to stop irrational behavior from happening at the forefront and not try to create laws around irrational behavior to continue. >> before yesterday's incident, if i asked you if you had personally seen or felt as if the tone had changed or hateful rhetoric had been on the rise in pittsburgh and you'd seen it, what would you have said before yesterday's events? >> no. it was another saturday october morning like so many others in western pennsylvania. and it has forever changed this city. there wasn't a drum beat of anti-semitism or any type of behavior that would have ever

warranted any reaction by public safety that something like this could have happened. >> the president says he wants to come to pittsburgh. would you like to see him attend a vigil event? >> that's really up to the families themselves. you know, we're going to be working together as we have. we've had good cooperation from the state and the governor and, you know, this is a conservative synagogue. so the funerals will be very quickly as soon as tomorrow. so that's really up to the families and whether they would want the president to be here. >> mayor bill peduto, tough day to be mayor of pittsburgh. tough morning to come on much it's only going to get tougher as you continue to meet with these families. thanks for coming on and sharing with us, sir. >> sure. thank you. >> appreciate it. joined now by jonathan greenblatt, ceo and national director of the anti-defamation league. welcome to "meet the press."

sorry it's under these circumstances. i want to get you to react to something that the president said, because according to your organization this is likely the deadliest attack on the jewish community perhaps in the history of the united states. this is the president yesterday in indianapolis. >> this was an anti-semitic act. you wouldn't think this would be possible in this day and age, but we just don't seem to learn from the past. >> it's that last sentence i'm curious for you to react to. he said you wouldn't think this would be possible in this day and age. is he right? >> well, unfortunately, he's wrong on that. i mean at the adl, we've been tracking anti-semitism for over 100 years. we look at anti-semitic incidents and in 2017, chuck, we saw a 57% surge of acts of harassment, vandalism and violence directed at the jewish

community across the country. it was the single largest spike that we have ever seen. and literally, just last week, we released a report, because we also monitor anti-semitism online and we have seen a marked uptick of the anti-semitic harassment of political figures and other individuals simply based on the faith. so we are living in a moment where anti-semitism is almost becoming normalized and that should shock and move all of us to act. >> well, you say it's normalized. there was a time in this country it was normalized. trust me, my mother reminds me of it quite a bit in the '40s, '50s and '60s. it went away for a while. what is your explanation to the are re-rise of this? >> i don't know that it ever went away. the adl worked to fight it then. and today we're seeing resurgence. i think there are a few factors. number one, we are seeing an environment in which anti-semitism has moved from the margins into the mainstream as

political candidates. and people in public life now literally repeat the rhetoric of white supremacists and they think it is normal and permissible to talk about jewish conspiracies or manipulating events or jewish financiers controlling activities. and that is awful. secondly, not only is the political environment contributing to this, social media is amplifying and accelerating it in shocking ways. and so silicon valley is part of the problem and needs to be part of the solution. >> i hear you on the social media, and what about in the political world, and financiers, and george soros is a democratic donor and he is frequently described and the religion is frequently described in the description, and other billionaires are not always described by their religion when

contributing to candidates, and what do you say to that? >> the attacks on george soros are appalling. and the continued invocation of classic anti-semitic themes. to see this way the man is mischaracterized online is repulsive. i don't agree with every donation he makes. but i also don't agree with every donation sheldon adelson makes. but you can see it from the left and sometimes from the right, and it is all incredibly troublesome. so whether you are, you know, an elected official bringing the holocaust denier to the well of the house of representatives for the state of the union or you are a political candidate again invoking anti-semitic myths about the ju with wish conspiracies or a religious leader who calls jews termites --b >> i was just about to ask you about louis farrakhan and the tolerance of the people on the left for him. >> yeah. this is not an issue of left and right, it's about right and wrong. we should be able to speak truth to power whenever people in

public life speak out with stereotypes and scapegoats that we know that you have been alluding to before have been e used for hundreds and thousands of years and not you just have sland ter jewish people, but to wound them and kill them, and so like you said at the top of the the show, this is the single deadliest attack the on the american jewish community in our history, and it is incumbent upon us to stand up and speak out and to the say that we will not accept this, not for another minute. >> all right. what could the president do in a perfect world? >> well, you know, whether you're the president of the united states or the president of a university or the president of your pta, i would expect leaders to lead. we would hope and we should all demand that those in elected office won't just give platitude after the fact but they will help ratchet back the rhetoric right now. and they will, you know, if the white supremacists are saying and celebrating what you're doing, that should be a problem for all of us. so i'd like to see him and other

electeds across the aisle stand up and shut it down now. >> jonathan greenblatt, thank you. and thank you for sharing your views, and sorry for the circumstances of which we had to the invite you on. and coming up, how big of a role did president trump's rhetoric play in the week's violence? it is a big top theic of debate, and the guests next -- >> i heard gun shots. >> i'm totally stunned. i can't believe it. it's sickening. take off to the big city. find fortune... romance... ...find freedom, just one touch away. ♪

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welcome back. this week was a snapshot of our political era, three moments of violence in a nation already on edge. 11 people gunned down in a synagogue in pittsburgh. the gunman reportedly yelling all jews must die as he opened fire. a fervent supporter of president are trump arrested for allegedly sending at least 14 pipe bombs to critics of the president. earlier this week a man fatally shot, two african-americans at a kentucky supermarket after failing to break into a black church to shoot people up according to one witness when another man approached him with a gun the gunman said don't shoot me, i won't shoot you. the whites don't shoot whites. panelists are here. joshua johnson, amy walter, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker and erick ericson, the editor of the conservative website "the resurgent."

the president last night played for you the one sound bite he said about anti-semitism. he said that at the top of the remarks. and then he went right back into rally mode. amy walter, take a listen. >> how about the democrats? ladies and gentlemen, speaker nancy pelosi for the next three years. you have the hatersed and they continue to hate. they are foolish and very stupid people. so i can't call her pocahontas anymore, but i think that i will. do you mind? >> this moment with president trump, he seems to be struggling with it. or maybe not. >> this is the mode that he's been in since he was a candidate. politics is never about nuance. it's a zero sum game when you are campaigning. it's us or them. it is binary, but when you become the elected official, the campaigning is supposed to stop for a while and you go into the mode of unifying. this is a president who's never been interested in unifying, but interested in keeping the base

engage and enraged, and he has done an amazing job at that. but at any moment he believes that it's still the middle of the campaign. the other thing i want to bring up just with all of this is, you know, look, our country has a long history of division. who is an american? who's not? it seems to me the time we're in right now what i feel like is no one is taking any responsibility for any of this. not the gun law -- it's not our fault. guns don't kill. people kill. right? it's not our fault. who posts on social media. don't plame -- blame us in social media, blame somebody el else. it is not us, political leaders, because people are just doing these things, because it is a h history of mental instability, and it is not what we are saying to them. nobody is raising their hand and saying that we have played a role in this, and we have to fix it. it is always somebody else's fault, and this is the world that we live in and until we fix that, we won't get better.

>> the president says what about this? i say there is only one president. do they accept this? >> they don't. the response within the white house and i spoke to a number of officials is, look, everyone bears responsibility. and when you put that question to them squarely, look, he is the president. he has the loudest microphone. doesn't he bear the large effort responsibility? they say, look, he has changed some of his rhetoric. he has struck a unifying note. on friday he was asked if he's going to tone down the rhetoric, he said, no. he thinks he can actually tone it up. now that was prior to yesterday's tragic shooting. but i think amy really hits the nail on the head which is that white house officials say this. yes, he feels like he needs to have unifying notes at the same time we are ten days out from the mid terms and so he knows what he needs to say to fire up his base and a lot of that rhetoric is divisive. that's the bottom the line. >> erick erickson, david phrfre said, don't call this person crazy, referring to s.e.c. sar

sayoc, he's not an ainngry obsessive person, and that the matters. not all listening ears are sober minding. thunder against the political opponents with extreme language and sometimes they take extreme action in response. this is david french putting some of the burden on the president. >> yeah. i think so. the problem i have with putting the burden on the president is how much do you put on him? i think a lot of people want to put a lot of the burden on him. it really does belong on the american people as a whole. the president is the american comment section of the white house. and he is the president who does this. we're not going to change this president. what can we do to change as a people if we're not going to change the president? amy is right. no one wants to change. but the fact of the matter is that it is larger than president, and the society is crumbling around us. politics is amplifying it. the president is amplifying it. there is something going on in society as a whole that is translating into politics. the president is not the cause, he's a symptom. >> he's the president. >> true. the president bears part of the responsibility, a significant part of the authority for the tone of the country. but i will say i do have a fair amount of hope coming out of

this. i know it seems very bleak. i find a lot of hope in the younger people that montage you played in the first segment of the program with the cool fuchsia hair, she was one tof te organizers at squirrel hill and she got people on facebook to come together to just talk. i got a tweet from a guy in wisconsin that says i combat the hate of the world by coaching high school debate. they learn to see both sides of an issue and how current events relate to real life. a poll came out that said the younger you are, the better you are able online to discern factual statements from opinion statements. >> it's the older people. >> exactly. it's the generation that has grown up -- >> it's the babyboomers. blame them. >> i'm not blaming them. i think it's the generations -- and i'm a generation removed -- who have grown up with the advent of social media who haven't been able to navigate it. our kids have watched our example. now the question is whether we

will be bequeath iing to them a nation that is connected, but i come out of this worried, but also hopeful that these are people who are taking responsibility for this. look what happened after parkland. look what is happening now after squirrel hill. there is a generation ready to lead but the question is what will they be leading with? >> i'll tell you somebody that is not hopeful, charlie sykes. he wrote this, the result is familiar and across the board refusal to engage in any meaningful self examination or refusal to acknowledge the failures. hatred, violence and bottomless hatred. so will this will get worse. sorry, josh wash, we live in combustible times the and the president is arsonist in chief, and he is not alone, this will get worse. do you buy it, amy walter? >> i want to be on team joshua, but, but unfortunately, i get asked that question all of the time, what is going to break the fever? where do we go from here?

historically what breaks it is something really devastating. we brought together by events that are so overwhelming and tragic whether it's a war, depression, something like. th that. i don't want that to to be the case for a unifying event that is so terrible, but right now, i don't see that one person is going to be able to rise up, heal all of the division and get us all on the same place. >> and eric, you have had to deal with the conspiracy theory os on your site, and sometimes people are mad at you thinking that you are helping to traffic the conspiracy theories, and i know that there are others -- but whose job to get rid of this stuff and purge this stuff and educate the americans to the facts? >> we all is have an obligation here. let me address conservativism for a minute. last week you had people pushing maybe this bomber was -- >> rush limbaugh was pushing it, erick. >> now we know the facts. yet there are still people pushing this. i have to tell you, from my perspective, when we know all of facts about the guy last week and you're still pushing the

theory, you're at war with the truth and if you're a conservative at war with the truth, you're not really being conservative. >> rush limbaugh was questioning the stickers on the van. >> across the board we saw a bunch of conservatives doing. this now we know the facts. the question is do they continue? the problem is in this situation we have a lot of people who no longer trust the media. they don't trust institutions. they don't trust their neighbor. we have gone inward. unfortunately i think it's going to be an external threat that brings us together. there is nothing left in this country that unifies us as a whole. we all have our different media outlets and social media outlets. they're not our next door neighbor anymore. there is no sense of community. >> the 11 people dying not the tipping point. that is sadly what you're saying. >> a mass assassination attempt last year on republicans. >> in terms of reaction to the pipebombs, you saw the president got very frustrated, put the term bomb in quotes. sort of expressing frustration

that could this hurt turnout? and going to at which time -- going to twitter and saying republicans get out. i was surprised at how much finger pointing there is on both sides. the president saying, look this is democrats ginning this up, and it is not the president's fault. to your point, there was no constructive discussion in the wake of that. will there be after this tragedy? >> deflection instead of reflection. when we come back, nine days until the mid terms. we thought we knew where things were headed. but how will this week's events affect voting. (avo) life doesn't give you many second chances. but a subaru can. you guys ok? you alright? wow. (avo) eyesight with pre-collision braking. standard on the subaru ascent. presenting the all-new three-row subaru ascent. love is now bigger than ever.

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welcome back. almost lost in the pipe bombs, the story we thought we would be focusing on today, the midterm elections. before the events of the last 72 hours, the republicans looked like they had a solid hold on controlling the senate while the democrats were particularly optimistic to take back the house, bu t it is possible that the landscape may be shiftingsing beneath our feet. and joining me now are the two men charged with getting members of their own party elected, the chairs of the house campaign committees, republican stivers of ohio and ben ray-louhan of new mexico. they both agreed to come on together. i appreciate that. gentlemen, welcome back to "meet the press." >> great to be on. >> good morning. good to be with you. >> i want you both to react to a

woman in pittsburgh reacting to yesterday's tragic events. take a listen. >> we have to stop it. our leaders have to stop it. it takes leadership to stop this. and our leaders are not stopping it. it's too much. we're a civilized society. we have to stay civilized. >> congressman, this is a woman who is, i think, connecting all the violence and the anger over the last few days in the one what would you say to her about how would you respond to her saying we need leadership here. we need to tone this down. how would you respond to that woman? >> i agree with her. i think we all need to keep our dialogue civil. and frankly, i've not been shy about showing world leadership. -- moral leadership, and we are the only major par committee to cut off a candidate for their

behavior. a candidate in new jersey seth grossman who said bigoted thi things. we cut him off. we're the only major committee to show that leadership. the democrat congressional campaign committee continues to support leslie coburn and scott wallace who said anti-semitic things. and i think we need to -- we all bear some responsibility. and we need to try to clean up our act and try to bring more civility to our congress and frankly to our dialogue. >> before i let congressman to are respond to those charge s that you threw out there, but let me ask you about the president. what role should he be playing here? has he played the proper role yet? >> you know, i sometimes disagree with the way the president treats people. i thought that after the pipe bombs he initial ly set the rigt tone of unity and coming together. i hope that he will continue on that path -- >> you said initially, but it sounds like you didn't think that he continued on that path. >> i said i hope he'll continue on that path. >> fair enough.

congressman, you heard congressman stivers there. he said you continue to back people he says have trafficked in hate speak. what say you? >> chuck, first off that's simply not true. but with the concerns that woman had in pittsburgh, look, another senseless act of hate stricken another community and a place of worship in the united states of america. the congress has a responsibility to act, to keep people safe. it's not too much to expect the le leaders to bring us together to the unite our country, aed on the find a way to reach out to us to our greater good and make sure that we rise above all of the accusations and the hate and the finger pointing, chuck. so i am certainly hopeful that we will see it out of the leader of the free world, and we will see it out of each and every one of us individually and our colleagues. >> and i would like to say i'm proud of the way ben responded when steve scalise was shot. we did not blame bernie sanders.

when we all come together, and it will be about nine days for that to the happen, but we will come together. >> it should start today, steve. >> it should start today though, steve. >> it should. i hope that the finger pointing will stop and we can come together. i believe we need to come together, ben. >> i have to tell you, i think dan balls is the perfect person to insert. he writes the following, this is a time of the politics of the apocalypse. all or nothing view of the difference between winning and losing an election and holding power or not holding it. politicians say that it is time for the country to come together. as you two just did, but on who's terms? i think that is the issue. congressman lujan, what does coming together mean to the democrats, and i will ask the same question to congressman stooifrs. congressman lujan? >> it's making sure we're able to reach across the aisle and work on a bipartisan basis. democrats have been clear if we're fortunate to win back the house that we work immediately on lowering prescription drug

prices for the american people. that we work on a bipartisan infrastructure package to make investments across the country and clean up washington, d.c. and to find ways to overturn citizens unite and jerry ma gerrymandering and increased transparency and disclosure of the federal government to restore fifth in the plit al cal proce -- political process and those are all areas that we can reach across the aisle and find common ground. >> congress mman city macongre does that mean to you? >> i think we need to come together not on any one's terms but on america's terms. we're americans first. i agree with ben that infrastructure is something we all need and need to come together on. lowering prescription drug costs. i'm not sure why he didn't talk about lowering health care costs. we need to come together on lowering health care costs. i think question do that. we need to listen to each other no matter who takes the majority and i think we're going to hold the majority. but no matter who takes the

majority, it will be a razor thin majority and hopefully that will mean people will come together, republicans and democrats, to get things done. but i do worry about, you know, making sure that we do it in a way that we're focused on getting things done, not on just abolishing i.c.e. or the things on the extreme. >> congressman stivers, i want to ask you about an ad you're running last week, one of the people targeted by the pipe bomb assailant was george soros. here is an ad you're running against a candidate there. take a listen. >> billionaire george soros bank rolls the resistance and dan thien, and he is employed by a liberal outfit in the d.c. his campaign propped up by out of state super pacs. look who finances his employer. rad come george soros, the biggest banks a crooked lobbyist tied to pelosi. they fund his campaign. >> why do you target george soros? >> you know, our independent expenditure arm is independent.

but that ad is factual. and it also has nothing to do with calling for violence. that ad is a factual ad. >> congressman lujan, do you believe that attacking folks of big money, you do it too, i guess with the koch brothers and things like that, but are we inadvertently putting people in the private public in the crosshairs of politics that we don't need to? >> i think we need to re-evaluate how people are being targeted. kevin mccarthy pulled out a tweet where he is targeting george soros as well across the country. i think both committees should begin to look at how they operate into the future and what's going on even during the rest of the election cycle. but look, we built a strategy at

the group calling on a strategy talking about service, men and women that serve the united states in the military, cia officers, fbi agents, people that are committed to to keeping our country safe. we're going to continue to run ads that are telling their positive stories and the candidates are connecting with the american people. >> your ads in colorado and washington are called sleazy and personal attacks. it happens on both sides. we both need to figure out how to clean things up. but that's a fact. that is not us, but the media calling us that. >> steve, we're running -- hold on, chuck on that. >> go ahead. >> steve, you've been running racist ads in new york, in cincinnati, ohio, and out in california. you can do something to pull those down. i think on all sides, people should monitor the tone here. no more finger pointing, steve. make sure we look within ourselves and find the great ger there, chuck. >> i agree with you, ben. let's both look within ourselves. >> all right. steve stivers and ben ray lujan,

i fear you're right. it may be nine days before everybody is willing to sort of calm things down. let's hope there is a little more calm before nine days. >> we can start today. >> i hope so. >> you should, ben. >> all right. i'll let you both go. >> we both should, steve. >> we both should. >> i hope everybody is safe on the campaign trail. thank you for coming on. when we come back, a lot more people are voting early this year. what does that tell us about where the vote on election day may be heading? freak alert. jaylen... jaylen's a freak about hand slicing all natural meats

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welcome back. data download time. we are nine days out from election day, and no question that the voters are tuned in. between the early voting and voter enthusiasm, it is clear that this is going to be a blockbuster midterm in terms of voter turn out. our latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll showed 65% of respondents telling us that they were highly interested in this election. it's the highest number in our poll since 2006 for a midterm election cycle. we have more than polling to help us understand how engaged this electorate is. we have actual voters. according to data from target smart, as of two weeks out from election day, over 8.1 million americans have already voted early. believe it or not, that outpaces 2016, a presidential election 7.9 million, two weeks out.

but how does this stack up to the last midterm election in 2014? it blows the doors off in battleground states. in nevada, early voting is up 134,000 votes compared to this point in 2014. in arizona, it's up 308,000 votes. texas, up nearly a million. tennessee, georgia, florida also up significantly. of course it's true that more people participate in early voting every election cycle out of convenience. but the rate at which some of the battleground states are outpacing 2014 is notable. and while it's too early to know which party definitely benefits from this surge that we've seen so far, but what it's worth in the past high turnouts usually are better for the party out of power. at a minimum, this is what an engaged electorate looks like. no more apathy talk. when we come back, end game and what voters told me these last two weeks as we head towards election year. coming up, "end game" brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to protect, explore and inspire.

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and steered billions of federal dollars to california projects such as subway construction and wildfire restoration." "she... played an important role in fighting off ...trump's efforts to kill the affordable care act." california news papers endorse dianne feinstein for us senate. california values senator dianne feinstein end game, brought to you by boeing. continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore, and inspire. >> back now with "end game." i spent the last two weeks traveling across the country's newest biggest battleground. the sunbelt. they're getting used to their reality as a swing state. voters don't particularly like it right now. then to las vegas, where you see the culinary union hoping

latinos can flip a seat there. tampa, where environmental concerns seem to cross the political divide, and finally to dallas where suburban republicans may be the swing vote. here's just some of what i heard from voters in those four states. >> i know that the supreme court nomination process was something that impacted my decision making. >> education is important for us now to focus on. >> you fake news because there's a lot of people who they don't cover the things that have to be covered. >> wages don't increase along with the cost of living. >> clean up the environment. take care of this red tide. the fishermen, it's destroyed my hobby and my lifelong pursuit. >> you have been on the water 50 years and never seen a red tide like this. >> not like this. >> have you always been politically active or this year more than others. >> this year more than others. >> why? >> two years ago, i became a u.s. citizen, so it's time for

me to know who's the candidates and what are their beliefs. >> you don't win in texas unless you're talking to brown and black voters and talking to them at their doorsteps. >> are they doing it enough? >> i think we need to see more. >> i support pt. p's message and agenda. >> if you could send a message with your vote, what's that message? >> things need to change. >> cut all the bs out. >> drain that swamp. >> get it together. >> we're one that says it's time to put our politics aside, step up to the plate, pull up your pants, and let's get to work and get this solved. >> well -- >> here we go. >> here we go. i will tell you this, and look, i don't know, amy, what the 72 hours are going to impact, but i can tell you this. all those voters i talked to, they were ready to vote but not optimistically. they were ready to vote. they were gung ho, and i think this is going to have an impact. >> it's voting out of anger, not

out of hope. which is traditional in midterms, what gets people out to vote is they're frustrated with the party in power. what i find fascinating about this year was, you know, when we started talking about this, what the battle for the house was going to look like, we said the real challenge for democrats is a structural problem. between gerrymandering and partisanship, there aren't enough seats in play for them, and they have a problem with dropoff. their most loyal voters, younger voters, voters of color aren't going to show up. now here we are, and it's republicans who have a structural problem. it's suburban voters who used to be reliably republican. president trump is toxic with them. and now the real question is are those dropoff voters, especially latino voters and younger voters, going to show up. that could turn a good night for democrats into a blowout for democrats. >> i'm curious what you guys think of the amped up rhetoric. it's popping up in debates. i want to play an exchange in the missouri senate and then an

exchange between ron desantis and andrew gillum running for governor in florida. take a look at the heat from both. take a listen. >> when you hear leaders of the democrat party like hillary clinton saying that you can't be civil with people that you disagree with, when you have eric holder, another democrat leader, saying the new democratic party kicks people who they disagree with, i am disappointed that the democrat party seems to have embraced this. >> ronald reagan, i may have disagreed with him on a few things. but he worked hard to unite this country. you never would have heard him use that rhetoric. >> how am i supposed to know every statement. >> i'm just saying the racists believe he's a racist. >> there you go. i found interesting there, kristen welker, the different tone. so you have claire mccaskill invoking ronald reagan in a red-leaning state, in missouri, but andrew gillum feeling much more comfortable in a purple state going harder at his

republican opponent. >> and addressing the issue of race head on. >> never would have heard barack obama go back on something that way in '08. very interesting. >> very interesting, a very different tactic and reflective of this moment. i have been on the campaign trail this week, chuck, and i can tell you people are fired up. and the president is going back to what he sees as the basics. what is he talking about to fire up his voters? he's talking about the caravan. he's stoking fears over immigration again. we expect him to give a speech some time this week in which he's going to announce a crackdown on those migrants who are heading toward the u.s. he sees that as a way to get out the base. anger, fear. >> erick is closing with immigration the way the president should close? >> for a large segment of republicans. yes. the problem for the republicans, though, is suburbs. i get a lot of people who call my talk radio show and get upset when i say the house is probably

gone for the gop. the problem for the gop is their voters in the suburbs aren't voting for them. >> you think they're voting on trump? >> i think a lot of them are. republican women are more and more, just enough of them, moving away from the president. they may not vote democrat, but they won't necessarily show up. the senate is probably safe for the gop, but the congressional districts where republicans have been voting republican, they're not now. >> by the way, barack obama, somebody lit a fuse under him this weekend. let me play you an excerpt of that from michigan. >> what we have not seen before in our public life, and in my -- is politicians just blatantly repeatedly, baldly, shamelessly lying. >> josh, what do you make of the -- last week, i said, where is the leader of the democratic party? they are obviously not in power. the de facto leader is president obama. and he had been sort of hesitant

to be that campaigner, and then boom. >> well, you know, we're talking about civility, and all of a sudden the reverend dr. barack obama shows up. it's interesting how the selection has become more about civility. even those two clips you played in the senate debate and gubernatorial debate are about the tone of this country. >> but it isn't civil. not having a civil debate. over civility. >> they were talking about civility in an uncivil -- it's kind of meta. >> i think there's a real longing among some democrats for the days of barack obama when the politics were a little moore civil. he is the strongest campaigner they have. i'm still skeptical, though, if that's enough to drive people to the polls. >> i'm convinced there are people who want the tone of reagan and obama back, but i'll leave it there. thanks for watching. we'll be back next week because it's sunday, it's "meet the press." ♪

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if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. (woman) we found our tresiba® reason. find yours. (vo) ask your health care provider about tresiba®. welcome to "kasie dc." i'm kasie hunt. we're live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, terror strikes again at the american consciousness. 11 people slain in a mass shooting at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. plus, 14 bombs shipped around the country to past presidents, members of congress, cnn, and liberal activists. we'll have the latest on the investigations, but also talk about how we got to this moment in our country. >> i'm joined tonight by former white