well, i had two good meetings this afternoon with secretary mnuchin. they lasted about an hour and 15 minutes total. we went over a lot of details on a lot of the issues that we hope will be in the package. and i'm very optimistic that we can get something done. we're not there yet, but we're working all night and we're making very, very good progress. good morning, and welcome to "am joy." well, democratic leader chuck schumer is putting a positive spin on the negotiations so far with donald trump's treasury secretary. with more than 24,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 in the united states and counting, nearly 300 fatalities, congress is trying to hammer out an economic rescue package to try to forestall an economic collapse. the senate bill is phase three of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. first, there was an $8.3 billion

appropriation measure. then there was a $100 billion relief package, signed into law last week, after the house got the ball rolling with a measure that included paid leave for americans, who lost or will lose their jobs due to this crisis, extended unemployment benefits, and free coronavirus testing. the house will still have to approve the latest bill, but for now, it is the senate's turn. senators in the republican led body are negotiating with the white house on a potential $2 trillion economic stimulus package. i did say trillion. the holdup, republicans have proposed that any relief to small businesses come in the form of loans, not grants. plus a nice big bailout to this country's biggest corporations. democrats are insisting the assistance be focused on helping american workers pay their rent and their bills and put food on the table for as long as this crisis lasts. >> we propose this be not just a

one shot deal, but a paycheck every work period. and it should go for as long as the crisis lasts, we want to fund it for at least four months, maybe six. if the crisis ends more quickly, of course, we might be able to terminate it, but we need to give the workers of america the assurance that they will have paychecks, the same amount of resources that they had before this crisis that they have now. and it will occur ongoing. >> meanwhile, it seems donald trump's justice department is seeking to take advantage of this crisis, to gather more power unto itself and the attorney general. according to politico, quote, the justice department has quietly asked congress for the ability to ask chief justices to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies. and we'll certainly be keeping an eye on that. there are also questions on how this pandemic crisis will affect

everything from the 2020 census to the vote in november. joining me now to discuss all of that is former presidential candidate and senator cory booker of new jersey. senator, good morning, thank you for your time. >> good morning to you, joy. i hope you're taking care of yourself. we appreciate your voice on the air. >> thank you so much. the same to you. let's first talk about new jersey, your home state. i have ahoodli headline here ths one testing site reached capacity and it reached capacity 35 minutes after opening. the governor, phil murphy, issued stay at home orders for nearly all of the state's 9 millionresidents. can you give us the state of play in new jersey and from your point of view as a senator, are there enough tests available? >> the short answer to are there enough tests is no. our governor is doing extraordinary job in getting these drive through testing centers up. the first one was up and it was

oversubscribed right away. but we have a few others that are online to come up very, very soon. again, we are still doing nationwide, a fraction of the number of tests we need to do. a lot of this was a problem caused by this administration that they did not really do enough proactively to prepare this country, had mistakes and bungles along the way. but a lot of our governors, particularly governor of new jersey is doing skreea extraord job making the best out of a bad situation and slowly catching up. new jersey will see the number of tests being done continue to go up. one word of caution to all americans, do not go get a test if there is no reason to get a test. if you're showing no symptoms, and haven't been around somebody that had the coronavirus, don't clog our testing centers. one thing you might want to do before you go get tested is consult with your doctor to see if you need one, because what you do, if you go there, then you prevent others who might need a test and based on that

result of that test we could be actually helping to bend this curve. so, again, make thoughtful decisions when it comes to testing, please. >> yeah, i think that's an important thing to note. let's talk about this bill for a second. i think the concern for a lot of people, a lot of people tweeting at me and texting at me, the big concern is that what republicans and steve mnuchin are trying to negotiate is a giant bailout for companies that already got a trillion dollars in tax cut money that middle class taxpayers paid for. and that they want a bailout, but that the emphasis is that small businesses, like the one you recommended, the restaurant you recommended that myself and the crew go to when we came out and interviewed you in new jersey, you recommended a great small business that we went to, businesses like that are laying people off. and the idea that those businesses will have to get a loan and go into debt while big companies like mcdonald's that don't pay their workers fair wages get, you know, basically just free tax money, it disturbs a lot of people. is that something that democrats can stop?

>> yeah, we have a lot of leverage to do two things. let's understand that this is catastrophic. it is not just about businesses having to stop. many businesses may face permanent closure if this masts for a number of months. our small businesses are the backbone to job creation and so we understand the gravity of this crisis right now, and what we are fighting for is to make sure not loan money, not even zero interest loan money, but a tremendous amount of grant money available and we're taking steps to help them with those fixed costs that they close but yet still want to stay in business and merge on the other end of this, that they have resources to make sure they can continue to pay the rent, to pay the utilities as well. on the other side, there is a real concern as the airlines, for example, come to us for help, that these are folks right now that have used the last years of this incredible tax giveaway to large corporations and to the wealthiest in our

country, they didn't use those to create a -- a sort of rainy day funds for crises and the industry. what they just did with tens of billions of dollars of their windfall profits from that corporate tax break that donald trump gave them was to do -- stock buybacks, something illegal in the 80s, to manipulate the stocks up and get their incredible benefits, especially ceo pay and benefits tied to those stock rates. democrats are very aware of this and i'm confident we are pushing the line on making sure, especially for that industry, that there are things put in place to really stop that kind of behavior, and possibly make sure that benefits to corporations to the benefit of employees. this is an ongoing negotiation, it is something i'm highly skeptical of. we have to make sure that we use this as an opportunity to get reforms in our corporate culture, and that means everything from environmental concerns that myself and other senators have been pushing,

airlines and others could be taking more practices to help global warming, but the number one concern is obviously workers, workers, workers. >> yeah. and you wrote a letter, you wrote a piece that says that senators should not own individual stocks. and, you know, this, of course, is at a time when there are two members of the united states senate, senators loeffler and burr appear to have traded not long after receiving a very highly classified briefing that they did not turn around and share with their constituents, can it be added to the bill that -- can that language be added to the bill to make sure that individual senators cannot buy and sell stocks based on this crisis? >> yeah, i mean, could it, yes, will it, i doubt it. and frankly all the things that we want to pick up on the democratic side by pushing for reforms and the trades that we're making, the crisis, the

urgency now for me and others is helping people. i think when this settles down there will be -- the public outrage about this story, but i think when people are not worried about their rent and paying their student loans and finding how to have food in their pantries, when these crises are gone, we need to have a serious conversation about staving off potential corruption in this institution. and one of the things that fundamentally senators should not be doing in my opinion is trading individual stocks. there is too much information that we have available to us that it creates a contradict after conflict or potential conflict or appearance of impropriety as unacceptable. right now, americans, the urgency is their well-being and health. >> well, martha stewart, i believe, went to prison for doing something very similar. we are out of time. you sent a letter to mitch mcconnell requesting to add aid

to hsbcus, minority serving institutions that will be hit doubly hard, already struggling financially. do you get a response for $1.5 billion, did you get a response from mitch mcconnell? >> this is something i was working on until late last night, talking to some of our lead negotiators. i've got some ally or two on the other side of the aisle that have been helping me with this. we have to do for our hsbcus, many folks that are always -- have been for a long time in financial difficulties because they're reaching out to people that don't often have that much resources. so i have some confidence that we'll make some progress. it is still in negotiation and i want to say i know we're out of time, to everybody out there, our strength comes as a country when we pull together and not pull apart. everybody please take care of yourselves, but also reach out and help other people. this is the kind of time we should be calling each other, encouraging each other and keeping our spirits up during what is going to be a very long, long period of isolation for many people. >> senator cory booker, thank

you for saying that. thank you very much. be safe out there. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> thank you. joining the discussion is another former presidential candidate, senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. i want to go through two issues with you -- >> thanks, joy. >> -- that i think are very important. the census, the deadline has been extended for americans to, you know, to send in their census forms. can you, first of all, tell us what is that deadline extension, how long are people going to have, and do you foresee this crisis impacting the ability to count everyone and have an accurate count? >> well, first of all, joy, i want to thank you as senator booker did for having this very thoughtful discussion right now because we are at a point, i was again watching the tape of the president going after your nbc reporter, peter alexander, just for asking a simple question. i think leadership matters. i thisnk words matter right now.

that's what you're seeing with so many of our nation's governors and so many of us who are simply trying to get the facts out to people. one is the census, i'll get you that exact extension date. but what i can tell you is that we need more time for people to be able to get their census information back. that's why the extension is occurring. we simply can't not count people because we don't have enough time to do it. and because of a disease that is not of their own making, and we simply must make sure that voting, which i hope we get to, as well as the census is able to be accurate and people are able to participate. >> you've mentioned voting, that was the other part too of what i wanted to talk with you about. you have put forward a proposal to try and protect the election. there was a lot of concern that this will disrupt not just the primaries but the general election. explain your proposal and where it stands in the united states

senate and its chances of passing. >> well, i was working on that late into the night. and actually talked to stacey abrams last night, and many of us are working to get this funding. so this is a bill that i put together with senator widen and it simply expands early voting and vote by mail. why? because people should not are to make a decision between protecting their lives and their right to vote. so many states in this country, it is not even easy to do it. you have to prove up certain things, while you can do absentee ballots, it is hard to do. 16 states are like that. 34 states it is a lot easier. so what we say is get rid of the restrictions, make it like we have in many states where it is just a norm to be able to do it that way, and then also give them the funding for the postage. so many areas of the country, that is an issue. postage, making sure we got the ballots printed, making sure you

have early voting that the poll locations are open 20 days ahead, so that people aren't congregating in one place. i mean, joy, you saw what happened in ohio. while it was for benevolent reasons because of a public health crisis, you saw that an election could be canceled in one day. we can't let that happen in november. people have to be able to vote. so what we're doing right now is trying to get the funding in this package and working really hard to do that on a bipartisan basis, republican secretaries of state want this funding. >> yeah. and can you just reassure the public, because i think there is a concern, the president of the united states cannot cancel the election, i'm not a lawyer, but i believe that's true. can you reaffirm for the american people, he cannot cancel the election, but governors can impact the way the elections happen locally. if you could explain that to folks. >> exactly. that's going to be a state by state case and there is no reason to think right now that's going to happen in november. but i think it has set people to

be concerned and i think that's why we're getting so much support for our efforts, because you want to be able to vote. right now we have five, six primaries that are postponed. and so the whole idea is we actually have time to do this. we don't have a lot of time, but all we're doing is trying to get existing states to change some of their laws, built mostly trying to get that funding to them so that they can expand what they have now for their capabilities for early voting. also, training poll workers. because we need some poll workers that wouldn't be susceptible to the virus by november for whatever reason or not in a risk vulnerable group. and a lot of our poll workers are older. and so that's part of this as well. >> is there somebody -- somewhere on loine, on your social media feed so we can retweet that out? >> yeah, you can -- of course. you go to amy klobuchar, my twitter handle, amy klobuchar, and you'll find a whole number

of -- in our feed, a whole bunch of posts that go into the details of the bill. and we're really excited about this support we're getting. we literally had a bunch of secretary of states and this was for the funding part, not every detail in the bill advocating yesterday to get this as part of it. >> absolutely. vote by mail is a very good idea. i'll go ahead and endorse that idea for everybody out there, voting by mail is simple, safe, paper, it is something you can check. so, yes, i encourage that. we'll tweet that out and put it on our facebook page as well so people can read up on that bill. senator amy klobuchar, thank you very much. appreciate your time. >> thank you so much. great to be on, thanks, joy. up next, the desperate plea from healthcare professors on the front lines of the coronavirus fight.

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we are literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies.

we have identified 2 million n-95 masks which are the high protection masks. we have apparel companyies that are converting to mask manufacturing companies in the state of new york. we're gathering ventilators, ventilators are the most important piece of equipment and the piece of equipment that is most scarce. we're gathering them from all different health facilities across the state. we are taking more tests in new york than any place else. >> governor andrew cuomo in his briefing yesterday underscored how desperate new york is for supplies as hospitals try to meet the high volume of testing. and how determined the state is to get what its citizens need. new york is not alone. the washington post reports that in an effort to preserve these vital supplies, and personal

protective equipment, a number of hospitals in the hardest hit cities in the u.s. are restricting testing to hospital workers and patients. american medical association and the american nurses association are now urging the president to immediately expand the full powers of the defense production act to increase the domestic production of medical supplies, and equipment that hospitals, health systems, physicians, nurses and all front line providers so desperately need. joining me now is dr. irwin red liner, msnbc public health analyst. dr. james hamblin, preventative medicine physician. and dr. cory abear at louisiana state university. thank you for being here. can you just give us some perspective on what it would mean if the president were to use the authority he has to

maximize the production of hospital equipment? why is that important? >> well, good morning, joy. so the reality is that we are not going to be, but we are already in a very severe crisis in america's hospital systems. and it is all hands on deck. and every single stop should be pulled out to ensure that we actually have made every available manufacturer that can produce more masks and so on get to work right now. the national need is going to be in the billions of the supplies, wish we would have prepared for this a long time ago. 2 billion to 3 billion masks over the next year is not out of the question. you really should be changing them regularly between -- so on.

and they're told not to change them between patients. this is already something called crisis standards of care. things are changing fast. we're expecting huge numbers that are going to be coming to our hospitals. we're going to be in a situation resembling italy. and we need to really step it up as much as we can. >> yeah, i want to play another sound bite from governor cuomo yesterday, talking about the scarcity at hand. take a listen. >> okay. well, we don't have that sound bite. let me just go to dr. hamblin. he said the new york state is literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies. he says we have identified 2 million n-95 masks, which are the highly protective masks and we have apparel companies that are converting to mask manufactu manufacturing companies in the state of new york. he said we're gathering ventilators. they're the most scarce and we're gathering them from all

facilities across the stachlt we' state. we're taking more tests in new york than anywhere else. should people who have purchased masks turn them in, give them st state. give them to hospitals. what should people do to help? if the hospitals don't have enough masks, we're in real trouble. >> right. we're in a period of rationing thing like tests and masks where we need to get them to the highest priority people as quickly as possible. so doctors themselves are going around the city and trying to find people that donate from places like veterinary clinics, masonry studios, anyone who has anything on hand, there are are resources and places online where you can see where to donate, donate to the state, you're urged not to drop them off at the emergency department because there is already a lot of -- they're there are big croe and the virus is there. there are mechanisms through

which you can donate any mask that you have. we're in a real state of crisis and these are urgently needed. if doctors are not protected, they will not be able to, you know, continue to provide care. >> yeah. let me play dr. anthony fauci, the one trusted sort of person that stands at that podium in my opinion a little too close to everyone -- everyone is too close together. here he is talking about testing. this seemed a little -- i didn't understand this, i'm going to throw this to you, take a listen. >> when you go in and get tested, you are consuming personal protective equipment, masks and gowns. those are high priority for the healthcare workers who are taking care of people who have coronavirus disease. so what we don't want to do is to have a situation where we will -- we do have disparities and availability of ppes now and working hard to correct that. but currently today, we want to

make sure that the people who are taking care of people with coronavirus disease do not endanger themselves because they don't have the personal protective equipment. >> so are we at a point now, dr. abear, where we should limit the number of tests or we should maximize it? i'm a little confused at this point? >> okay, joy. there is a lot to unpackage and just let me just give you this, straight. we're at the beginning of the middle. i want you to understand that, we're in phase two, meaning that the numbers that you are going to see are going to skyrocket. because there are two reasons. the first one is, thousands of doctors took care of millions of patients before they even knew that the covid-19 existed. they took care of them without ppe at all. so all those doctors who didn't have ppe, nurses, that is medical office assistants, those people are going to be getting tested. as they get tested, those tests are going to be positive. when the tests are positive,

that is going to spark a hospital shortage of doctors, nurses and medical office assistants. let alone the shortage of the ppe. that is when the rubber is going to hit the road. we can no longer talk about it. we have to be about it. the infectivity of the coronavirus is -- that's what we use to look at the infectivity. it is two to three, every one person infected can actually infect three people. once we have that start to mushroom, people will panic. once people panic and their increased levels of cortisol in their body goes through the roof, that is a steroid, it will decrease your immune system, making you more apt to get the disease. we have to do what we need to do by social distancing. the ppe shortage will go throughout the world, because the -- we have to ramp up all of the manufacturing. but we have to also remember we will not have doctors, nurses and medical office assistants because we had thing like mardi gras, we had things like big

festivals and nobody knew. that's the problem of the federal government. nobody knew because nobody took it seriously. now we're behind the eight ball and have to catch up. we cannot talk about it, we have to be about it. social distancing. i see people playing basketball on the streets of new orleans, basketball in l.a., we cannot do this. we are behind the curve. we must flatten it. ask the people of philadelphia, 1918, when they had their big parade, thousands of people died in six weeks. st. louis distanced and 900 miles away, st. louis distanced and they had several hundred people die. very important. >> yeah. doctor, i want to know, apple, tim cook of apple said that apple is now sourcing and donating millions of masks for health professionals in the u.s. in europe. it is a sad day when you can trust a ceo from a big corporation when they say they're doing it more than the federal government when they say millions will be available.

that's my note, not for any of the doctors. to dr. redliner, donald trump is not a doctor, he has no background many medicine or science, i'm in the sure he believes in science, he looked directly into an eclipse, thought that was a good idea, but he tweeted out about the two drugs claiming they have a chance to be a game changer on this. we'll put that up. i won't read it. he also said that the fda has done work on trying to get a number of therapeutics, we're not going to play that, but they're claiming that these drugs as you can see them there are potentially an answer to this. the fda seems to dispute that. can you sort out what is true here, sir? >> sure. this is an important issue starting with what you first said, which is we don't want to hear from donald trump about anything having to do with the medical treatment or prevention of whatever. we want that to come out of the

mouths of people who are actually experiencing it and knowing what they're doing. as for as chloroquine and other anti-malarial drug and drugs used to treat with malaria, there was question whether it might work. but we cannot be distributing medications to the public without making sure that they are safe, and they are effective. that's it. that's the only reason that we would not use something that might work. by the way, there are many other drugs being tested now, and we may see something promising soon, which would be fantastic obviously. but we do not need to be calling that a medicine that has not been tested for this, as somehow the magic answer. it just isn't. if i could just come back to something that the other doctors are are talking about here, there say huge role for the american public here in preventing bigger spread than we might be getting otherwise. this idea of sheltering in place is serious. it is important. there is going to be -- we should know this, 150 to 200

million americans are going to be infected with coronavirus. but the vast majority of them will have very little or minimal symptoms and they're fine. what we're worried about now, the other doctors articulated perfectly, the rush on the hospitals and the exhaustion of our medical supplies is the most important thing to focus on. yes, we should have been doing more testing. we would have known a lot more about where this disease is going. the so-called trajectory. but we don't. we don't have that. we want people to stay out of the mremergency rooms and make sure every single face mask, gown and goggles are available for the people in the front lines. they're like, you know, front line combat troops. they are there in the midst of extraordinary danger. the loss of any of them is -- has a terrible impact on our ability to cope with what we're getting right now. >> yeah, and i think we should also know there should be more paying attention, we'll do this

in the show in the coming weeks, testing inside of prisons, jails, these lockup facilities and locking up migrants. none of that has been -- >> urban areas. >> homeless shelters, yes. >> absolutely. absolutely. none of that has been tested and, you know, easter is coming up. you need to reconsider that, do services online. we could do this all day. we are out of time. thank you so much. thank you all, very much. appreciate the information. more "am joy" next. ♪

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these daily briefings from the white house are a litany of things from the president that would be awesome if they were true, if they were happening, but they're not. and so the sooner we come to terms with that, i think the better for all of us. if it were up to me and it is not, i would stop putting those

briefings on live tv. not out of spite, but because it's misinformation. >> since it is sunday, can i give sister rachel an amen? amen. like rachel and all of us at msnbc, i watch donald trump's briefings so you don't have to. it is hard to escape a simple and sobering fact about those briefings. almost nothing that trump says in those briefings is true. he even once falsely claimed the fda approved a malaria drug for coronavirus treatment. the fda had to quickly release a statement postbriefing clearing up trump's, what are we calling it, error, mistake, made up thing in his head. he forced experts like dr. tony fauci to play clean up for him, and his daily briefings, they're dangerous. trump's followers believe him, they believe anything he says.

and the things that he's saying put them in danger. the false hopes that he's feeding to americans put us all in danger. and it is clear that this man is simply in the capable of telling the truth or he's just determined not to. so it is fair for you, those of you out there, to ask, why are we giving him national air time to lie to us in the midst of a global pandemic crisis? because what is clear is that trump seems to need these pressers, for him, it is not an original thought at all. but to paraphrase, many, many, many people who noted this, they seem to be his substitute for his rallies. where he can lather himself in the praise of everyone around him, they're forced to do while standing too close to him on the dais. they seem required to serve it up and he seems to need it. he can bathe in the reflected glory of actual experts like dr. fauci. so the question is, why are we continuing to do it? and i would like you to imagine, just for a moment, what it would

look like for one moment, if it was not donald trump, but it was barack obama, president barack obama, standing up there, doing these briefings, and making things up, and not being able to back it up with facts, how would they treat him? you don't have to imagine that, because, a, barack obama wouldn't have done that, and didn't do that, but let's take a look at the way that the former president, barack obama, was treated when it was not a pandemic, but the aca, the affordable care act website, went live, and it didn't quite work. here's how he was treated by the media. >> you know, that's on me. we fumbled the rollout on this healthcare. >> do you think the failed healthcare rollout led to a breach in the public trust and confidence in government and if so, how do you plan to resolve that? >> you hear criticism on the hill that you and your white house team are too insular. is that how this mess came to

be? >> you said while the law w wassinwa wassing dewas being debated, if you like your plan, you can keep it. americans believed that to you when you said that to them over and over. do you not believe the american people deserve a deeper more transparent accountability from you as to why you said that over and over? >> joining me now, jennifer rubin, opinion writer at "the washington post," kirk bardella, david corn author of "russian roulette," gabriel sherman, the author of "the laudest voice in the room," and republican media strategist rick wilson, author of "running against the devil". so subtle with his titles, that rick wilson. gabriel sherman, to you first, for your reporting on this. it is just an outside looking in observation that donald trump seemed to have substituted the

rallies that fed him emotionally, with these briefings is there any other reason he's doing them? >> yeah, it is a great question. for my sources who are in touch with the white house, several people told me that one of the things driving this is that the president has been furious and frustrated at new york governor andrew cuomo who has been holding these very widely well received more early morning press conferences and in the president's view has sort of hijacked the news cycle. and so now you see trump, you know, taking the stage after cuomo trying to take back the mantle. and unfortunately he's doing that with misinformation. so we're in a situation where the president's narcissism and his need to be at the center of every story, even though the story is not about donald trump, this story is about a global pandemic, is what is driving the white house's communication strategy. i had a senior former west wing official tell me that the president needs to be his own press secretary and that's

what's driving this. >> queens versus brooklyn jealousy is cute and clever in, like, the hip-hop back and forth every so often. this is absurd. he's mad another new yorker is getting the stage so he has to clamber on to the stage and pretend to be an expert in drug therapies? it is absolutely unimaginable. i want to play just a little bit, i don't want to imply the journalists have not held him to account. journalists have been stellar at trying, right, to hold him to account. i want to give a couple of these great journalists a shoutout by playing it. cecelia vega pushing trump on this reworking, we saw the close-up photo of his remarks in which he took coronavirus off, crossed it out, and put in chinese virus. so this is the other question i have is to whether or not donald trump is also using these press conferences as a way to put these xenophobic tropes into the public view for his supporters?

here are these two great reporters trying to call him on that. >> why do you keep calling this the chinese virus? why do you keep using this? >> because it comes from china. >> it's racist. >> it is not racist. not at all. it comes from china. that's why. it comes from china. >> there are some, least one white house official who used the term kung flu referring to the fact that this virus started in china. is that acceptable? is it wrong? >> do you know said that? >> i'm not sure the person's name. >> say the term again. >> a person at the white house used the term -- >> just the term. >> kung flu. do you think using chinese virus puts americans at risk, that it targets -- >> i think they would agree with it 100%. >> i want to just show you guys before i go to -- i'll go to curt on this. here are donald trump's remarks.

internally clearly they use the proper name for it, coronavirus. he in his giant magic marker he also marks up weather maps with, and signs his stuff with, there he goes, he added chinese virus. he wants to do this. we don't know who the white house official who supposely made the remarks to a reporter, but it seems that he believes this himself and wants it to be done. curt, your thoughts. >> let me just say, as an asian-american, yeah, it is racist, donald trump. stop using it. there are right now people being subjected to racism, they're being attacked, they're being targeted, partly because donald trump is driving this racist narrative and this is what he does. we know it is a distraction, joy. we know he wants to avoid accountability for his catastrophic response to this epidemic, so he's doing everything he can to try to push that responsibility away and blame it on somebody else. we have seen this time and again. whether it is using slurs against hispanics, people of color, whether it was referringing to a whole bunch of

african nations as s-hole countries, calling hispanics drug dealers and rapists, he goes back to this well because it is the only thing he naz hha his arsenal. they're seeing he's not equipped to handle it. it is a distraction, but also dangerous, because there are people who look like me right now who they can't ride the subway without being attacked. they can't go to school without being attacked. they can't go throughout their day to day lives without having to worry about someone targeting them. that's happening and being led by the president of the united states, that is despicable, disturbing and it take s s attention away from getting through the crisis. >> absolutely. david, you know, we hear, you know, the folks here at msnbc do a good job trying to fact check this man. he's saying things are completely out of sorts, make no sense, not factual. reporters, journalists, other networks come back and try to

fact check and it is not in real time. afterwards, they try to clean it up. the fda tries to clean item. his own administration tris to clean it up. there say lot of cleanup on aisle seven. then the question is being asked outside of here and since we do talk media in this block, nicole hannah jones, the person behind the great 1619 project tweeted at some point we in the media need to really consider why we are running these press conferences live f they're providing more disinformation than accurate information, what purpose are they serving? that's a critique we're getting. in the washington post, margaret sullivan wrote, the media must stop live broadcasting trump's dangerous destructive coronavirus briefings. she says business as usual doesn't cut it. minor accommodations like fact checking the president's statement come afterwards and don't go far enough to counter the serious damage this man is doing to the public's well-being. as somebody who is running a news organization at mother jones, where do you stand on that, david? >> i understand all the criticisms. i think there is a strong and

good point. at the same time, i think the public needs to see dr. fauci and the others, dr. birx, who is speaking out there, and cspan is committed to doing this. even if msnbc and cnn stop doing it, it still would be out and live streamed by the white house. i don't think you can keep it away from the public. i think that it has to be a way, whether it is a crawl on the bottom of the screen, and real time, breaking in. don't have to run everything live. you can come in and out. we at msnbc and other stations have done that as well. so it is on after the fact. i think the key thing is that in this time of crisis, there are no competing voices out there. democrats on the hill are busy, sort of working on the $2 trillion bailout. joe biden is trying to figure out how to engage as the leading democratic contender. we need other voices out there that get as much attention from the media, speaking to these

issues, reminding us that donald trump didn't do anything in getting out there about what is really happening. and accentuating the positive. i think you need that. and i think you need to cut in and not just show it straight. don'tstraight. don't just give him the camera carte blanche. >> let me play -- i'm sorry, i'm changing gears from my producers. i want to play dr. fauci, who is the person most people trust and respect the most. usually here he is correcting donald trump on that malaria drug on friday. >> this has been prescribed for many years for people to combat malaria. it's very effective. it's a strong drug. >> is was effective against sars. >> it was -- as i understand that. is that a correct statement? it was fairly effective on sars. >> john, you've got to be careful when you say fairly effective. it was never done in a clinical

trial that compared it to anything. >> so, dr. fauci in "the new york times" in a piece called, thank god the doctor is in, i think we're thankful for dr. fauci, i don't want to embarrass him, i don't want to act like a tough guy like i stood up to the president, i just want to get the fax out. instead of saying, you're wrong, all you need to continually talk about what the data and ed is. this is ab impossible position for anyone to be in. >> of course. >> in order to stay in the game, you can't embarrass trump or make him mad but you can't let him say things that his own supporters are going to suffer because of. can you explain what that life has to be like for somebody who's trying to serve the country and also work with this president. >> look, you can see anthony fauci's soul dying behind his eyes when donald trump comes out there and makes these absurd statements that are medically dangerous, that will put lives at risk. and it is a ka nun drum because you have the desire to stay in

the fight, as, god, we better hope fauci stays in the fight. on the other hand, you have the requirements of that end up being that donald trump has to be allowed to go out on stage and tell outrageous lies. going back to what david said a little bit, the thing that would help fauci and dr. birx and others who are professionals would be for some editorial judgment when the president's speaking, you either keep the sound down and summarize it or you cut aaway from it until the grownups are on stage because donald trump is putting lives at risk and he's telling people outrageous lies and it should be -- all these guys on the stage also knew, they understand that donald trump is part of the reason the severity of this will be higher. he spent seven weeks in his pet network, spent seven weeks saying this is the flu, it's no big deal, nothing to worry about, it's going away, it's under control, we have it on lock, et cetera. it is a tough place to be in. we have to keep those folks in the fight.

but, man, i do not envy them. >> yeah, it is difficult. the other reason, jennifer, i feel donald trump wants to do these briefings, it's another way to get the praise. everyone around him, particularly the vice president gets up there and lavishly praises him. he even has song ringers in the audience. sean spicer in the audience last one. he kind of creates the show. here is another reporter from one america network, which is a pro-trump network and shanell asking him a question that i'm sure was amenable to him and not considered nasty. here it is. >> do you consider the term chinese food racist because it's food that originates in china? >> no, i don't think it's racist at all. >> on that note, major left wing news in this room have teamed up with chinese communist narratives and claiming you're a racist for making these claims

about chinese virus. >> they are siding with china. they are doing things they shouldn't be doing. china is the least of it. >> we can cut out of it. you can cut out from there, jennifer. that is the show he wants. but that feeds the spirit of his base, but he's putting them in danger while feeding them that. your thoughts. >> yeah, i'm surprised there wasn't reaction in the room as this was going on to object. that individual is not a reporter. she's a propaganda, she's a cook, she's, she's a nut. i think there's several things going on. first of all, donald trump treats this like an immigration problem. his first impulse is to block out the rest of the world, to blame others. he doesn't seem to understand the problem we have is community spread. it's already here. the problem is, he did nothing, as rick said.

so, i think his effort to either rip up prejudice or toss the blame is this reaffirmation for an enemy to blame. i will say one thing, if they are going to broadcast these things, no reporter should ask donald trump a question. he's going to talk, but they should direct all questions to the experts. he may butt in, but they should come back to those experts again and again. i thought that was one of the most effective displays when dr. fauci did jump in of saying, hey, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. ist dangerous. stop. so, i think part of it is, if they're going to do it, stop asking him questions. and i do think we're getting to the point where there are other ways in which we can communicate this information. governors are reliable sources, the scientists are reliable

sources, news print and online can directly quote from dr. fauci, as they are doing. we don't need to inform the public by going to donald trump. that's counterproductive. >> gabriel, from your reporting, is dr. fauci's position safe there? this is a previous epidemiologist, i believe, who was told blunt truths and is no longer in the briefings. >> yeah, i mean, for everything i heard, dr. fauci is still secure. and i think that's a good thing for the entire country. even donald trump knows that a sudden move to sideline dr. fauci would be political suicide just because he is at this point the only credible bipartisan voice we have on this issue. i think the other thing i wanted to point out is that what is remarkable about these briefings in effect from donald trump how much real news comes out of it. the bully pulpit of the presidency is the most powerful

m megaphone in the world. it should only be used to announce americans understanding of our sharld reality. when donald trump held his oval office address earlier on in the crisis, he did not announce be a national emergency because he was scared the stock market was going to tank. therefore, it was just, you know, 15 minutes of donald trump into the camera. what happened? the stock market tanked. this is all about donald trump's need to be in front of the camera to fuel his narcissism. this is not about communicating real news. again, i thinkist the -- i think it's the problem everyone has talked about. i love that last point about just directing every journalistic question to dr dr. fauci and the experts so donald trump really has no role to play in these press conferences. >> i don't know how long he

would do them if no one directed questions and he wouldn't talk. to the point of view from someone who used to consult with right-wing media, with breitb t breitbart, what about that element of it? they now are in a position of -- you know, they are the -- they are the trusted source for -- i'm hearing my executive producer in my ear while he's talking, so hopefully they won't hear that anymore. kurt, you know, what about his affinity media, is is there a way -- do you see them pivoting away? fox news has begun to pivot away because i think they understand their own viewers, who tend to be older, they tend to be in red states where there isn't a lot of health care expansion, where aca wasn't expanded, i think they got the. memo they need to change their way they talk. what about other affinity media, can they get away with changing their view on something they chimed in with him and downplayed as a hoax?

>> i think that their role right now is to try to run block and tackle for this president and make sure none of the blame ends up on him. that's why you have people like sean spicer sitting in the room, and that reporter who asked that softball question from the president's favorite media resource. i think they're there as props and they're running the -- you know, the defense for donald trump as this crisis gets worse and as more facts come out to show that more could have been done to prevent the widespread passing of this virus. i think the right-wing media, as they have been throughout the entire presidency, is there to just run interference for donald trump and they'll take their marching ir from him as they try to executive produce donald trump's campaign from the white house briefing room. that's really the issue with these briefings more than anything. they are vehicles for the trump campaign. since he can't go out there and barnstorm the nation holding his rallies, he holds these productions knowing and believing the media will run

every second of it. it's like we haven't learned any lessons from the 2016 campaign. i can tell you, people like steve bannon when they were brainstorming the campaign, they believed very firmly their best ally, unwittingly, would be the media because they would not want to turn off from the trump show and here we are in 2020 facing a crisis and they're banking on that same strategy that no matter what he does, no matter how outrageous, no matter how dangerous, he's going to get all the air time. people will not want to tune away from the trump show. we so change our behavior about this if we want a different result. >> rick, i see you nodding in there because the challenge is, is that the tough coverage that donald trump is getting, you know, from journalists, that is deservedly tough because he really was slow on the uptake, then reinforces for his followers that the media is out to get him and that they're not saying that the coronavirus crisis is a crisis and pandemic because it's true but just because it hurts him. i've had friends emailing me things they're getting from

people -- family members and friends on facebook saying it's all a lie, they still believe it it. they believe his pivot isn't real. the danger is real. this keeping away from one another and doing our social distancing only works if everybody does it. if his people don't believe it and believe the tough coverage is just out to get him rather than trying to save lives, we have a problem. >> i mean, look, joy, the small number of true believer trumpers who will not be touched by this, i suspect they'll be going to a lot of funerals because they're going to be the people who helped spread this. we had a florida legislator, mike hill, post on facebook a bunch of guys joking they're not going to do social distancing. these people who believe everything trump can trump said heard seven weeks hearing this is a fake thing, it's a hoax, the media is out to get him and this is where science and the trump reality bubble collide.

and those people that are laughing it off right now are going to be the ones who have a proximate responsibility for the fact this is going to take longer and cost nor and cost more lives than it should have. i know -- >> let me ask -- >> it's true. >> yeah. i mean, let me go to david and jennifer on this question. what do you do, from your point of view, david, and then from "the washington post," jennifer, the two media you're coming from, just like the one i'm working with, are not going to break through to the other side. and so when you're approaching these stories, is your goal to try to break through to the other side or just to try to inform as much as possible those who are open to believing reality? >> i think we've lost the other side. i think, you know, and rick has written about this, it's become a cult. they believe what trump says. they believe what they read in breitbart and onaaaa, whatever it is.

they're not persuadable. i don't think they'll be persuadable at the funerals rick is talking about. we're about to go through this massive societal dislocation with thousands of our fellow americans, loved ones, neighbors, passing because of government ineptitude. i'm not sure that's going to sway anyone. the republicans, sorry, rick, spent four decades saying government was terrible. you can't trust government. and saying, a lot of them saying, the liberal media and bashing, bashing, bashing the liberal media. trump was not the first guy to do this. and so this is all colliding now after decades with trump being the culmination on both sides of that equation. and i think we've lost 20%, 30%, 40% of the population. it's all about the rest of us, which is a majority, banding together and doing the best we can to get through this and get through the remaining years of the trump presidency. >> yeah. and, jennifer, you know, as somebody who's been in the republican party, been -- you know, you're a conservative, a

conservative with a capital "c" rather than a republican with a capital "r," from where you're sitting, you still try -- i read your column. you are still trying to talk to the country writ large and trying to break through to other people who -- whether it's former republicans, never trumpers like rick or people who are like curt, but to the general population. how do you reach people? it's not a matter of just wanting to be frenz. it's a matter of we all -- we only can all survive this if everyone is doing it. everyone has to participate in social distancing. these mega churches can't keep meeting and say, you know, i don't believe it and we're going to meet and still all be together in church. it has to be everyone. it's a confounding thing for those in the part of the media that the other side doesn't listen to, but it's a question. >> right. this is not a majority rules situation. when 20% of the population -- >> i have to interrupt you.

i apologize. i have to interrupt you and go to this press conference that governor cuomo started. i apologize. >> state governments, local governments, manage an emergency unless the emergency overwhelms the capacity of the local government and then the higher level of government takes over. that happens even on a state level. a city will be in charge, a county will be in charge, unless it overwhelms their capacity and then the state comes in and takes over. the federal government has made a decision to leave the states in charge of deciding quarantine procedures, whether to open, whether to close, that's why you see illinois taking different actions, different states taking certain actions because the federal government has said different situations in different states, let the states decide dependent upon the number

of cases they have. and i think that has been right to date. that could change but it's been right to date. however, the federal government should nationalize medical supply acquisition. the states simply cannot manage it. this state cannot manage it. states all across the country can't manage it. certainly states dealing with the highest case load can't handle it. but you're hearing it all across the country from states. they just can't deal with finding the medical supplies they need. that's why i believe the federal government should take over that function of contracting and acquiring all the medical supplies we need. currently when states are doing it, we are competing against other states. in some ways we are savaging other states. i'm trying to buy masks, i'm

competing with california and illinois and florida. and that's not the way it should be, frankly. price gouging is a tremendous problem and it's only getting worse. there are masks we were paying 85 cents for. we're now paying $7. why? because i'm competing against every other state, and in some cases, countries around the world. ventilators, which are the most precious piece of equipment for this situation, they range in price from $16,000 to $40,000 each. and new york state needs 30,000 ventilators. this is just an impossible situation to manage if we don't get the equipment, we can lose lives that we could have otherwise saved if we had the right equipment.

the federal government has two options to handle this. voluntary partnership with companies where the federal government says to companies, i would appreciate it if you would work with us and do this, and the president has done that and he seems to have gotten a good response on a voluntary basis. the other way is what's called the defense production act, where the federal government has the legal authority to say to companies, you must produce this now. it is invoking a federal government law. it is mandating that private companies do something. but i think it is appropriate. if i had the power, i would do it in new york state. because the situation is that critical. i think the federal government should order factories to manufacture masks, gowns, ventilators, the essential medical equipment that's going to make the difference between life and death.

it's not hard to make a mask or ppe equipment or a gown. but you need companies to do it. we have apparel companies that can make clothing. well, then, you can make a surgical gown and you can make a mask, but they have to be ordered to do it. if the federal government does it, then they can do it in a very orderly way. they can decide how many they need. they can designate how many factories can produce and they can distribute those goods by need rather than having these states all compete against each other. it would also be less expensive. because it would avoid the price gouging that is now happening in this marketplace. i can tell what's happening. i'll contract with a company for 1,000 masks. they'll call back 20 minutes later and say the price just went up because they had a

better offer. and i understand that. other states who are desperate for these goods, literally, offer more money than we were paying. it's just a race that's raising prices higher and higher. we even have hospitals competing against other hospitals. if the federal government came in, used the defense production act, you could resolve all of that immediately. also, we need the product now. we have cries from hospitals around the state. i've spoken to other governors around the country. they have the same situation. they need these materials now. and only the federal government can make that happen. so, i believe the federal government should immediately utilize the defense production act implemented immediately. let's get those medical supplies running and let's get them moving as quickly as possible.

in terms of federal government funding, they should prioritize the funding. individuals need money. you're laid off, you're going paycheck to paycheck, we took care of the rent issue here in new york, the mortgage payment, but you have to buy food. you have to buy essentials. if you haven't worked and you're laid off, you're in trouble. so, i think the federal government is exactly right. the president has talked about this. get funding to the -- into the pockets of families that need it to live. second, money to governments. i'm spending money right now that we don't have. i'm not going to deprive people of medical services, but the economy has stopped. people are not paying their taxes. if you're not paying your taxes, that's a state source of revenue. so, funding from the federal

government is essential for me. third, the corporate subsidies the president is talking about i think is also right. but the corporate funding should not be a gift to corporations at the taxpayers expense. let's learn from what happened in 2008. i was attorney general at that time in the state of new york. where we bailed out corporations, they bought back stock, they paid paid their corporate executives handsomely. they benefitted from taxpayer money. and the taxpayers wound up getting none of the profits. the citizens should benefit from the corporate success. if the government takes equity, if the government charges an interest rate, but this time if

the taxpayers are going to bail out these big corporations, make sure the taxpayers share in the success of these corporations. let's do it right this time. also the federal government funding, they're working on another coronavirus bill. i was in washington for eight years. this should not be the usual sausage making of pork barrel, right? in a piece of legislation in washington, it becomes the expression, sausage making. it becomes pork barrel. it goes through the political process. and the political process says, everybody should get some money. which dilutes the funding, gives it to communities and governments that don't really need the funding and doesn't even address the need. it's one of the reasons why people are so suspect of

government spending, right, because it winds up pork barrel. every senator is going to say, i want money from my state. every congress person says, i want money from my local district. i want to be able to go home with a little package that i can hand to my local government. that's not what this is about in this case. this is about addressing a need and getting funding, precious funding to people in places that need it. and the rule here should be, money follows the need. it's that simple. what places need it. self-serving, but new york state has 15 times more cases than any other state right now. fund the states, fund the places that need it. follow the number of cases and use need as the basis for

funding. it's common sense. it will be respected by the people of this nature. and and the alternative to politicize this funding process is intolerable. to my congressional delegation, i say, look, new york received no funding from the first coronavirus pibill even though w york has the greatest need. that was a technical mistake in the way they wrote the bill. political custom is one politician or elected official should not pressure people of their own party. my congressional delegation is largely democrat. so, political custom would be, well, don't pressure another democrat elected official. i say that is baloney. i represent all the citizens of

the state of new york. that is my job. it's a very simple job i have. i fight for new yorkers, period. democrats, republicans, period. this is no time to play politics. and we need our congressional delegation to stand up and to fight for new york. also on the federal roll i'm requesting today from the federal government that the army corps immediately proceed to erect temporary hospitals. i went out yesterday. i surveyed the sites. there are several good options that give us regional coverage. an army corps temporary hospital at stoney brook, which is on long island, west bbury, on lon island, westchester, where we have that terrible cluster, which is, thank goodness, reducing, and the javits center, a very large convention center in manhattan and new york, and

new york city is obviously where we have the highest number of cases. i met with the army corps. they approve the sites. i approve it on behalf of the state of new york. now we have to get it done and get it done quickly. these temporary hospitals are helpful but they don't bring supplies and they don't bring staff. that compounds our problem of not having enough medical supplies and, frankly, compounds our problem of not having enough medical staff because we he are trying to increase the capacity in our existing hospitals. the sites that we picked allow for indoor assembly of these facility so they won't be out of doors. they'll be indoors. some places we may need to do them outdoors but these campuses also have dormitories where the

health care staff can stay. they're very large. there's space. again, i have made all necessary approvals. so, from my voipoint of view, construction can start tomorrow. these are pictures of the places where we would assemble them in stoney brook, old westbury, westchester county center, all indoor locations, all open, already accessible. jacobs javits center. we just expanded it. it's one of the largest convention centers in the country. it's open. it's ready to go. there is no red tape on the side of new york. we're also asking fema to come in, federal emergency management agency, to come in and erect four federal hospitals at the javits center. the federal hospital by fema is

different than the army corps of engineer temporary facility. the fema hospitals come with staff and with supplies. they're in 250-bed configurations. we're asking for four of those 250-bed configurations to be assembled in the javits center. the javits center can easily manage them. it's in the heart of manhattan. they're fully equipped. they're fully stuffed. again, we are ready to go as soon as the federal government is ready to go. that will then give us regional coverage in downstate new york, which is our most heavily impacted area. the president signed the fema emergency declaration, which allows fema to go to work. by that emergency declaration, funding for these services is split, 75% by the federal government, 25% by the state

government. the federal government can waive the state's share, as they call it, waive the 25% from the state. i'm also requesting that the president waive the 25%. i just cannot pay the 25%. we literally don't have the funding to do it. by the way, i don't believe any state will be in a position to waive the 25%. i don't just say that on my behalf. i say that on behalf of all the governors. i'm the vice chairman of the national association, i've been speaking with governors across the nation. no state has the financial capacity to participate, in my opinion. but i know for sure new york doesn't because we are the heaviest hit state right now. i'm asking the president to do what i did here in the state of new york, cut the red tape, cut the bureaucracy, just cut to the

chase, get the army corps of engineers moving, get fema moving, let's get those buildings up, let's have them in place before this trajectory hits its apex. time matters. minutes count. and this is literally a matter of life and death. we get these facilities up, we get the supplies, we will save lives. if we don't, we will lose lives. i don't mean to be overly dramatic, but i want to be honest, and that is the simple fact of this matter. we're also implementing the trial drug. we have secured 70,000 hydroxst xyclroq

xyclroquine from the government. the president ordered the fda to move and the fda moved. we're going to get the supply and the trial will start this tuesday. the president is optimistic about these drugs. we are all optimistic that it could work. i've spoken with a number of health officials and there is a good basis to believe that they could work. some health officials point to africa, which has a very low infection rate. and there's a theory that because they're taking this anti-malaria drug in africa, it may actually be why the infection rate is low in africa. we don't know but let's find out and let's find out quickly. i agree with the president on that. we're going to start tuesday. i also think the fda should start approvie inine ininger is

testing, which tests the blood to see if you have antibodies created to fight the coronavirus. remember, all the health officials say, the coronavirus was here before we started to test. many more people have had the coronavirus than we think. most people have resolved the coronavirus. who have had it. how do you know that? you can test and find the antibody that the body created to fight the virus. if you have that antibody, it means you had the virus and you resolved it. why do you want to know? i want to know who had the antibody which means they most probably will not get it again, and that can help us get our

medical staff back to work faster. so, it's a different level of testing, but i think the ted should move as expeditiously as they have before on this type of testing. find out who had it, who has the antibodies and that will help us, especially on medical staff shortages. also on the state roll, what am i supposed to do, i'm not just looking to the federal government. i understand that we are responsible here in the state of new york and we're doing everything we can on hyperspeed. we have to expand the existing hospital capacity. this gets back to the 53,000 current beds when we may need 110,000 beds. we have said to the hospital administrators, we have a goal of you increasing your capacity in each hospital by 100%.

yes, an ambitious goal. yes, very difficult. yes, it may be impossible in some places. but, remember, a hospital is highly regulated, space is regulated, the number of beds in the room is highly regulated. we're waiving all those regulations. and saying just from a physical capacity point of view, see if you can increase your capacity 100%. where do we get 100%? we have 53,000 beds. we have to get to 110,000 beds. everybody increases by 100%. we meet the goal. simple. a little too simple, but we understand many hospitals won't be able to do it. however, at a minimum, hospitals must give us a plan to increase capacity by at least 50% so we would be at about 75,000 minimum

against the 110 need. we would still have to find additional beds. i understand that. and utiliyou'll see what we're with the federal government. there's an opportunity there. but every hospital goal of 100% increase in capacity mandate of 50% increase in capacity. we also have an intensive care unit bed issue where we have to increase the number of intensive care units. that is limited by the number of ventilators? what makes an icu bed in this case is that the icu bed has a ventilator. that's where we get back to needing the ventilators desperately so we have the icu beds. we're putting out a department of health emergency order to hospitals that says we're not just asking you to do this, it wonts just be a nice thing.

i'm not just asking you as governor, as a civic only indication, this is a law that the hospitals must come up with a plan to increase capacity, a minimum of 50, goal of 100%. we're also canceling all elective, noncritical surgery for hospitals as of wednesday. elective noncritical. if it's a critical surgery, fine. if it's not critical, then postpone it. that alone should get us 25% to 35% more beds. again, that is a mandate that is going into effect for the hospitals. i understand the hospitals are not happy about it. i've heard that. the elective surgery is a big source of revenue for the hospitals. i understand that, but this is not about money.

this is about public health. and we're putting that mandate in place starting today. we're also creating additional beds in places where we can, we're taking over existing residential facilities, hotels, nursing homes, and repurposing existing facilities. for example, this is the brooklyn center for rehabilitation and health care. 600 beds that we're going to take over and it will serve as a temporary hospital and we're doing this in facilities all across the state. two different facts i want to make sure we're clear just so there's no confusion. fact one, young people can get the coronavirus. they're wrong when they say they can't get it. they can get it. 18 to 49-year-olds represent 53%

of the total cases in new york. this is not china. this is not south korea. under theory that, well, i'm an american youth and therefore i have a superior immune system than china or south korea. no, that theory is not correct. in new york 53% of the cases 18 to 49 years old. second fact, older people and those with compromised immune system, under lying illnesses can die from the coronavirus. you're right. the 18 to 49-year-old is probably not lethal, but you can get it and you can get sick and it's a nasty illness and then you can transfer it to someone else. that's the case for young people. older people, obviously, if you're a vulnerable person, it can be lethal. both facts are true.

and both facts have to be understood. young people can get it. you will get sick. you probably won't die. but you can transfer it to someone who may very well die. and you can transfer it even inadvertently without knowing you're doing it. you can touch a surface, walk away, a day later someone can sit at this table and put their hand in the same place and contract the virus. i was in new york city yesterday, it was a pretty day. there is a density level in new york city that is wholly inappropriate. you would think there was nothing going on in parts of new york city. you would think it was just a bright, sunny saturday. i don't know what i'm saying

that people don't get. i'm normally accused of being overly blunt and direct. and i take that. it's true. i don't know what they're not understanding. this is not life as usual. none of this is life as usual. and this kind of density -- we talk about social distancing. i was in these parks. you would not -- you would not know that anything is going on. this is just a mistake. it's a mistake. it's insensitive. it's arrogant. it's self-destructive. it's disrespectful to other people. and it has to stop and it has to stop now. this is not a joke. and i am not kidding. we spoke with the mayor of the

city of new york and the speaker of the city council, cory johnson. i told both of them that is a problem in new york city, especially a problem in new york city parks. new york city must develop an immediate plan to correct this situation. i want a plan we can review in 24 hours so that we can approve it. there are many options. you have much less traffic in new york city because nonessential workers aren't going to work. get creative. open streets to reduce the density. you want to go for a walk, god bless you. you want to go for a run, god bless you. but let's open streets, let's open space. that's where people should be, in open space areas. not in dense locations. there is no group activity in parks. that is not the point. we spoke about it the other day.

also kids playing basketball yesterday. i play basketball. there's no concept of social distancing while playing basketball. that doesn't exist. you can't stay six feet away from a person playing basketball. you can, but then you're a lousy basketball player and you're going to lose. you just cannot do that. we also have bigger parks in new york city. we opened shirley chisam park in brooklyn. 400 acres. van cortland park. we have other parks. i want a plan from new york city within 24 hours because this is a significant problem that has to be corrected. in terms of numbers, i said yesterday, new york is testing more people than any state in the country, and per capita more than any country on the globe.

that is a positive accomplishment, pardon the pun, because we want testing. we want more testing. we ramped up very quickly. we're doing it better than anyone else. and that is a good thing, because when you identify a positive, then you can isolate that person. and that's exactly what we're trying to do. when you increase the number of tests, you're going to increase the number of people who test positive. and the numbers show exactly that. we have now tested 61,000 people. newly tested 15,000 people. so, these numbers just are exponential to what is being done anywhere else in the country. and that's why you're going to see much higher numbers than anywhere else. total number of new cases, 15,000. i'm sorry, total number much cases, 15,000. total number of new cases, 4,800

new cases. you see the state more and more counties. we're just down to a handful of counties now where we don't have existing cases. as i said, that is going to be 100% covered. it's just a matter of time. on the hospitalization rate, which is a number that i watch very closely, it's 1900 cases out of 15,000. 13%. 13% is actually lower than it has been. we've been running at 15%, 16%, as high as 20%. this is 13%. this is the key indicator because this is saying how many people are going to come into your health care system as the number goes up. so this a -- is not bad news.

across the country, new york has 15,000 cases. washington state, 1,600. california, 1,500. so we have roughly 15 times the number of cases. do we really have 15 times the number much cases? you don't know. we're testing much more than anyone else. so that is a major factor in this. but i have no doubt we have more cases. we have more density. we have more people from other countries who come to new york than many other states. so, i have no reason to believe that we don't have more. i don't believe we have 15 times more. i believe that's also a factor that we test more than anyone else. 114 new deaths. total number of deaths, 374. and that is a sobering, sad and

really distressing facts that should give everyone pause. that's what this is all about. is saving lives. we've lost 374 new yorkers. keeping it all in perspective, johns hopkins has followed this from day one. 311,000 cases. 13,000 deaths. sta sta statewide deaths. to the extent we can research the cause of death and the demographics of death, what we're seeing roughly, 70% of those who passed away were 70 years old or older. and the majority had underlying health conditions, okay? is so it is what we said it was.

approximately 80% of the deaths of those under 70 years old had an underlying health condition. so, young people can get it. young people will get sick. young people can transfer it. mortality, lethality, older, compromised immune system, underlying illness. that's what we're seeing. but even within that population, the capacity of our health care system can save those lives. it doesn't mean just because you're 80 and you have a come myse compromised immune system and an underlying health condition and you get coronavirus, you must pass away. that's going to depend on how

good our health care system is. but in terms of overall perspective, i'm afraid for myself, i'm afraid more my sister, i'm afraid for my child. older, underlying illness. be very, very, very careful. this gets back to matilda's law. this gets back to my mother. that's my fear. this gets back to nursing homes, senior care facilities, et cetera. personal advice. this is not factual. i've tried to present facts. i try to present everything i know. i try to present unbiased facts. i try to present numbers. people need information. when you get fearful, when you doubt the information or you don't know what people are talking about or you think you're getting lied to. so, i present facts this is

personal advice. this is nonfactual. you can take it, throw it in the pail. we have to think this situation through. don't be reactive at this point to this situation. yes, you are out of control in many ways. you're out of control to this virus. you're out of work. situations are changing. they're not in your control. you don't even know how long this is going to go on. it's a very frightening feeling. that is true. but you can also take back some control. start to anticipate and plan what's going to go on. plan for the negatives and plan for the positives. there are going to be negatives and there are going to be positives. there are real economic consequences. how do you handle the economic

consequences? you're not alone. it's everyone in the united states. that's why you see this federal government acting quickly to get funding into the pockets of families who need it. but think through what the economics mean. think through the social issues and the social impact of this. think through the emotional issues of this. you know, it would be unnatural if you didn't have a flawed of emotions going on. it would be unnatural. either you wouldn't understand what was happening or you wouldn't appreciate it. but if you know the facts and you understand what's going on, you have to have a flood of individual emotions. positive and negative. and anticipate it. you know, stay home, stay home, stay home. well, you stay home, remember the old expression, cabin fever,

right? you stay home alone, you don't want to be isolated emotionally. you can be isolated physically. you don't want to be isolated emotionally. you want to keep those emotional connections. you want to talk to people, you want to write leshgtters, you w to have emotional connectivity. that's very important. if you're not alone and you're in the house with a family and the kids and everybody's together, that's a different set of emotional complexities. being in that enclosed environment, normally the kids are out, everybody's going to work and you're only together a short period of time a day. now you're all in the same place for 24 hours. i remember when the kids were young what it was like. it was pure joy. but i remember what it was like to be with them for multiple

hours. you know, and it's complicated. i live alone. i'm even getting annoyed with the dog, you know, being in one place. so, think that through because that is real and it's going to go on for a period of time. this is not a short-term situation. this is not a long weekend. this is not a week. the timeline, nobody can tell you. it depends on how we handle it. but 40% up to 80% of the population will wind up getting this virus. all we're trying to do is slow the spread but it will spread. it is that contagious. again, that's nothing to panic over. you saw the numbers. unless you're older with an underlying illness, et cetera, it's something that you're going to resolve but it's going to

work its way through society. we'll manage that capacity rate. but it is going to be four months, six months, nine months. you look at china. once they really changed the trajectory, which we have not done yet, eight months, we're in that range. nobody has a crystal ball. nobody can tell you. well, i want to know. i need to know. nobody can tell you. i've spoken to more people on this issue than 99% of the people in this country. no one can tell you. not from the superb dr. fauci to the world health organization to the national institute of health, but it is in that range. so, start to plan accordingly. it's going to be hard. there is no doubt. i'm not minimizing it.

and i don't think you should either. but at the same time, it is going to be okay. we don't want to overreact either, right? the grocery stores are going to function. there's going to be food. the transportation systems are going to function. the pharmacies are going to be open. all essential services will be maintained. there's not going to be chaos. there's not going to be anarchy. order and function will be maintained. life is going to go on. different but life is going to go on. so, there is no reason to be going to grocery stores and hoarding food. you see all this overreaction on the tv every day, which then makes you think, well, maybe i'm missing it. maybe i should run to the store and buy toilet paper. no, life is going to go on. the toilet paper is going to be

there tomorrow. a deep breath on all of that. but i do believe that whatever this is, four months, six months, nine months, we are going to be the better for it. you know, they talk about the greatest generation, the generation that survived world war ii. dealing with hardship actually makes you stronger. life on the individual level, on the collective level, on the social level, life is not about avoiding challenges. challenges are going to come your way. life is going to knock you on your rear end at one point. something will happen. and then life becomes about overcoming those challenges. that's what life is about. and that's what this country is about. america is america because we overcome adversity and challenges. that's how we were born.

that's what we've done all our life. we overcome challenges. and this is a period of challenge for this generation. and that's what has always made america great and that's what's going to make this generation great. i believe that to the bottom of my soul. we're going to overcome this and america will be the greater for it. and my hope is that new york is going to lead the way forward. and together we will. question? >> on new york city reducing its density, is it within your powers to do those sorts of things? and you're talking about closing streets to traffic, to increase pedestrian traffic. can you explain the logic of what exactly that would look like in new york city? >> i could make those decisions in new york city. in truth, jessie, i only --

look, first of all, i'm new york city, born and bred, if you can't tell, so i know new york city from every kind of dimension. i don't know the situation with the parks well enough, and i don't know the situation on opening streets, closing streets well enough. and, frankly, i think the local officials are in a better position to make those decisions. they see this issue also. it's not that they don't see the issue. they see the issue, they see the problem. i want them to come up with a plan. i think they're in a better position to do it. i want to know what it is. and i want to approve it. >> we are listening it new york governor andrew cuomo. he's giving the latest update on the coronavirus outbreak in new york. there are now more than 15,000 cases in the state. governor cuomo, i have to say, has emerged as a true leader in

this moment. he's giving not only real facts day to day but reality-based incouragement. even admonishment. stay out of the parks, stop playing basketball. do the right thing. it's well done. joining me is max brooks, author of "world wore z" and filmmaker, rob reiner. max, i'm going to you first because you've written this apocalyptic "world war z." in the movies, not real life, in "independence day" or films like that have leaders of the country who brings the country together, who tells the truth, who gives people tough choices but makes it encouraging enough that people want to follow him. that has not been the president of the united states in this moment, but it has been andrew cuomo. there's a lot of people who have a lot of criticisms of andrew cuomo, myself included, but you have to say, that dude is a leader, right?

he really has stepped up. >> no, definitely. a leader's job, first and foremost, before anything else is to keep people safe. and right now, our best weapon is clear, undenial information. and that's how he does going t save more lives right now than all the medical science on planet earth. >> yeah. i totally agree. rob, this is a moment when it's unfortunate that whether or not you are maximally safe from covid-19, from coronavirus, depends on what state you are in, whether that governor cares enough to expand medicaid, whether that governor goes along with trump as the governor of florida did, reluctant to close beaches. it shouldn't matter what state you are in how safe you are from this, particularly when we are one country of 50 states. if people are unsafe in state a, they can move to state b. this is problematic that we don't have that kind of

leadership that you are seeing from the new york governor in washington. >> yes. if you listen to that press conference he just gave, he talked about trump, he invoked the war production act but hasn't pulled the trigger on it. if we're going to be safe in this country -- >> i think we are losing -- >> shy away from dealing -- >> we had a problem with rob's sound. now we've got you back. go ahead. the say what you are saying. >> i'm just saying, governor cuomo has asked president trump to pull the trigger on the war productions act. he hasn't done it. we are a group of states. that's why he tried to team up with connecticut and new jersey and pennsylvania, because people can move from one state to the other. president trump has been behind

the curve since the get go. it's just exacerbated going forward. >> absolutely. max, we brought you on because you are both also famous sons, famous people who are sons of famous people. you did a great video with your dad. can we show a little bit of it? do we have time? a little bit where you talk about social distancing with parents who are older. do we have it? we may not have it. okay. we will talk about the video. >> great. it's a terrific video. max did an amazing job. >> i can say that, right now, we need to communicate to the public in any way we can. i used my father to illustrate the fact that it's not just about you getting infected, it's about who you can infect. we saw this just now with governor cuomo talking about the parks. you have to think as a responsible citizen, please don't be a spreader. don't pass it on. you could inadvertently get

people killed. >> yeah. absolutely. rob, you know, as also a famous person of a -- famous son of a famous person, what role can people in social power do to help? we're going to have to get everyone to play the role that the president should be playing? what are folks doing? what can folks do besides making fun video with their dad? >> that's a big thing there that what max did, because it's dealing with the problem and with a little humor, because that's what we need right now. if you look behind me, you will see the poster from "misery" which is where we are, but it's also dark humor, because it's misery but we still have to take care of each other. we have to love each other. i love the way max did this because it's funny and it also gets a great message across. >> yes.

last word to you on this, max. >> during world war ii, this is what we did. we brought in hollywood. we got the message out. remember, we are a republic. we are voters. we are taxpayers. we are the government. we cannot just blame the top. if there's a problem, we have to start fixing it from the bottom. the best way to do that is communicate facts and make everyone understand that just as in wartime, we have a role to play. >> absolutely. last night, oprah and -- i jumped in, too, partying -- ellen, everybody was partying with d-nice. he is on instagram live doing parties where everybody who is socially isolated get together and party. it was amazing. jump on that if you can. that's a cool thing. also max and rob, thank you very much for everything that you are doing. appreciate you. be safe. before we go on with the show, i want to take a moment, a

sad moment, to note a huge loss of life to all of us at msnbc. larry edgeworth, our pal and a 25-year veteran of the network, died thursday after testing positive for covid-19. larry was our audio tech guy. he was the guy who miked me and my fellow journalists on the road covering tough stories like the baltimore uprising, political primaries and more. larry was more than just a consummate pro. he was also the guy who would give you the business but give you the best advice and keep you laughing. he kept us laughing no matter how hard the story was. we are still all in shock, frankly, that he is gone. i still don't quite believe it even now. i feel like i ran him into the hallway at 30 rock. you say, okay, see you. because you are sure that you will. all of our thoughts and love go out to larry's wife and two sons. we are crying and in disbelief with you and for you.

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[ fast-paced drumming ] good day from msnbc headquarters, we are approaching high noon in the east, welcome.

america's new normal, cities in lockdown. the medical community running out of supplies. grim predictions for a u.s. city hit hard. >> we are getting progress. it's not nearly enough. it's not fast enough. we are way behind the curve. >> everyday people get right now, shelter in place is necessary to protect our families. >> if you don't need a test, if you don't have symptoms, please don't get a test. >> we have already created a new paid family leave program, a paid medical leave program. we will plus up unemployment benefits significantly. >> how much money, how much help? insight from capitol hill about what washington is doing to help. ignoring the warnings. why so many people ventured out in washington, d.c. yesterday. lat later, the big picture, best and worse case scenario for how this fends. we begin with breaking news on the pandemic. at this