these graduating college seniors as a result of the outbreak. how is this going affect their if i tures a futures, and quite honestly, our futures long term? >> this is going to change things and folks who are graduating from college right now and who are going into college right now are going experience an economy unlike any that has probably ever been experienced in this country or any where in the world. because a lot of their internship programs are being canceled, being pushed back. a lot of the first-year programs, jobs being ufrd offer college graduates now being put off. about half folks who were set go to college are now seeing their classes pushed back. a lot of these internship that set folks up for learning opportunities or jobs that are going, you know, given them their first opportunity in the workforce are being put off. they're actually being told not to come to work, that the job they had isn't going to be

there. sometimes the positions are being cut. this is creating an atmosphere where folks really don't know what comes next. and it's impossible for anyone to speculate, because we've never been through a situation like this. we've never seen this before. so certainly things are being pushed back, things are being put on hold and no one's quite sure what the next step is going to be. >> all right. thank you. i've been reading axios a.m. in just a little bit. you too can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. that does it for us on this wednesday morning. i'm yasmin. "morning joe" starts right now. the world depends on are the w.h.o. to work with countries to ensure that accurate information about international health threats is shared in a timely manner, and if it's not, to infieldly te independently tell the world what's happened. they failed in this duty and

must be held accountable. you have 15 people and 15 in a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. that's a pretty good job we've done. w.h.o. took china's assurances at face value, and they took it just at face value and praised china for its so-called transparency. >> there's just some talk in china that maybe the transparency isn't everything that it's going to be. do you trust that we're going to know everything that we're going to know from china? >> i do. i do. i have a great relationship with president xi. >> our countries are now experiencing -- you look all over the world, tremendous death and economic devastation because those tasked with protecting us by being truthful and transparent failed do so. and we're prepared, we're doing a great job with it and it will go away, just stay calm, it will go away. >> come on. >> goodness gracious. as we've said before with president trump, it's either

projection or confession. >> you know, willie, i don't lecture people on talking too much because i know. >> i know, it's fine. >> if i lecture people on talking too much. >> it would be the pot calling the kettle black. >> that's why the kids call living in a glass house and throwing rocks. you just don't do it. when donald trump started this spiel yesterday, it reminded me of what john heilemann said on our show some time ago, that everything trump says is either profession or projection. every criticism he had of the w.h.o., you could find ten quotes that showed he was just as bad or worse. >> and on china. as you showed there with his comments that he had said, yes, i believe in their transparency. i mean, these briefings that we're having every day at the

white house are exercises in rewriting history, as if we don't have the tapes that we're showing you every morning and the tweets that we read to you every morning showing the positions the president's had. and i know we'll get into it a little bit more, but the w.h.o., which obviously has made mistakes and obviously has covered for china and obviously has not been perfect as public health officials will tell you, is now the person the organization that's going to be pushed out in front of the bus to cover for all those quotes and tweets that we've been reading to you every morning that show where the president was in all of this. >> john heilemann's with us. john, confession or projection, baby. and when he started talking about china, i -- all i could think of was that january 24th tweet where he said he talked to president xi and china is doing a great job and they're being so transparent. and we, the people of the united states, are so grateful to the people of china for what a great

job that president xi has done and how transparent he's been. now this is january 24th. at the same time all of our scientists and all of our doctors are begging china to tell us more. and this is, of course, this is the exact tweet, mr. president. i don't know if you remember it, china's been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts and, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, transparency. it will all work out well. in particular, on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. there is nothing, there is nothing this president has said or written in this horrific lack of leadership that he's shown over the past couple months that actually is more off base than that tweet.

and he's attacking the w.h.o. for -- can we put that tweet up again, john heilemann? i'd like you to read it for me, if you would. i don't know if you have a screen there, but could you read this for us and let's just -- i want to hear it again. >> alas, i do not. i do not have it here so i cannot read that tweet. >> china has been -- >> i'd love to. i'd love to. >> -- has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. it will all work out well. in particular, on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. >> i'm going to get back to you, john heilemann, but reverend al, do you have return where you are? is there any chance that -- >> there's no return. >> that you could read -- that you could read that for us? >> and i think what's interesting as we read it, joe, ask that it says china has been working very hard to contain

coronavirus. united states greatly appreciates the efforts and transparency. >> amen. >> it will all work out well, in particular on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. what's interesting to me about that is this past sunday i had dr. anthony fauci on politics nation and he said he told the white house in mid to late january that the information from china was wrong and that they were facing a serious problem here. this was -- this was not some hypothetical situation like he said later. this was sunday night on politics nation fauci said that to me and our viewers that he informed them because he became alarmed mid to late january. which is around the time of this tweet that the president sent out totally opposite of what dr. fauci told us. >> and, you know, willie geist, since donald trump was saying that china and president xi were

doing such an incredible job at the same time his own doctors and scientists were complaining that they were actually not cooperating at all, would send us no samples that we needed that would help us create a vaccine, start that process or start a process to testing, while the president continued to praise china and said everything was going to work out well for united states, something that he said, my god, he said that into march. well, yesterday in new york city we passed the 10,000 dead mark in new york city. and, of course, well over 20,000 in the united states after donald trump said everything's going to work out well in january. he said, don't worry about it, it's going to magically go away in february. going to go away in april. was saying that in february. and in march he was still saying don't worry, we've got this all under control. here we are in the middle of april when the president said this was going to magically go

away, and we had our most number of deaths in april. the deadliest day. and now we're almost at 30,000 deaths, willie. >> yeah. by the way, i do have a monitor so i'm available for any reading that will needs to come up further in the show. >> i like it. >> but the number yesterday is something we talked about actually in new york city just yesterday, you and i were talking about how we don't actually know the number of dead and it's probably far greater than we think it is because -- or at least than has been reported because people are dying at home. they're not doying in hospitals and we have to look into those numbers. coronavirus deaths surged yesterday to mark this country's deadliest day yet in the crisis. according to nbc news, nearly 30,000 deaths now have been reported in the u.s. the number of new deaths tripled within 24 hours from more than 1500 new deaths monday to more than 6,000 yesterday. in the state of new jersey where

projections had shown signs of improvement, the death toll jumped by more than 350 people. that is new jersey's largest single day increase since the outbreak began. that grim reality is similar now across the u.s., including in california which reported its deadliest 24 hours. covid-19 deaths gripping washington, d.c., maryland, and virginia spanning 61 deaths across that metro area. louisiana's fight against the virus is similar. the growing hot spot now has become the fourth state to exceed 1,000 coronavirus deaths. the fatality rate there nearly doubled in the span of just one day. and, as i said, new york city's death toll, mika, exponentially shot up by more than 3,700 victims yesterday after officials included those who never tested positive for the virus while they were alive but now are presumed to have died from it. just that increase alone has boosted the total number of deaths in the u.s. nearly 17%.

already the virus epicenter of the world, new york city's towering death toll has now crossed 10,000, despite noting a decrease in total hospitalzations, governor andrew cuomo tallied an additional 778 deaths to the state's staggering number. governor cuomo also vowed not to engage in a fight with president trump over when to reopen new york state. >> sometimes it's -- takes more strength, frankly, to walk away from a fight than engage it. the president will have no fight with me. i will not engage it. i sat here every day for 44 years asking new yorkers to remember that this is not about me, it's about we. this is no time for politics. and it is no time to fight. i put my hand out in total partnership and cooperation with the president.

if he wants to fight, he's not going to get it from me. period. >> and you know, we haven't talked a whole lot about politics, john heil man, duriem this time. barack obama yesterday, we'll get to that as well. but just the politics of this for donald trump are so bad. and it's not just because of the pandemic and it's not even because of just all of the really stupid things he said from the very beginning. the wishful thinking, the antiscience things that he said, the pro china, just the c kowtowing to president xi and the next day praising them and then kowtowing again.

i don't think the media should run the daily briefings, but it's not because i'm afraid they're helping donald trump. i just -- they're not news. but they're actually hurting donald trump day in and day out. people see cuomo, even lifelong republicans tell me they look at cuomo and they're like, god, there's a leader. why can't donald trump stop tweeting? why can't he shut his mouth? why can't he just do his job? obviously those are all rhetorical questions. he can't do it. but he's really damaging his political standing by going out every day and engaging in clownish behavior. and that's, by the way, conservatives -- not conservatives. you can't be conservatives and support donald trump. trumpists are even saying that now. >> right. right. i mean, you think about it this way, joe. you know you're on to something

in a situation like this in criticizing donald trump when lindsey graham agrees with you. and you got someone like lindsey graham who never has, you after the years which he used to criticize trump, once trump became president lindsey graham will never ever ever say anything to get on the wrong side of donald trump. his job, his sole purpose in life is to curry favor with donald trump, to pump up donald trump, and to inflate donald trump's ego and never say a crossword. even lindsey graham is on the record now with reporters trying to send that message, you know, the s.o.s. message with the blinking his eyes and the hostage video. he's trying to tell donald trump over and over again, you are screwing this up. these briefings are not working for you. all of your addictions, this one, the one to being in the constant spotlight, trump used to stay away from that briefing room as if it was, you know, as if it was the place that contained the crypto night, he never went in that briefing room. now you once he discovered he

could go in there and command the stage for two hours edet, na day, he's addicted to it. but even lindsey graham is saying you might want to do that once a week, buddy, because it's not helping you. because there's no world in which these briefings are helping dump. it's ju donald trump. he's telling everyone stop and he just cannot resist the lure of those cameras. because the one thing he's right about, a lot of people are watching. but the president doesn't understand that just a lot of people are watching doesn't mean that they're not watching and laughing at you or criticizing you or -- >> or angry. >> or turning away from you in disgust. they're watching, but that's not necessarily wani necessarily a winning hand. >> they watch train wrecks too. they're horrified by that too. and it's like the kids in willie wonka where they just keep eating and they keep blowing up and the democrats have to be like gene wilder in the first one, how about this, where gene

wilder, as they're running to doors and doing things they're not supposed to be doing and blowing up, gene wilder going, no, don't. stop. well, democrats have to be feeling that way because, stop, no, please, stop, because he's -- he's destroying his chance of getting re-elected by doing this every day. and, mika, he goes out there. >> yeah. >> and he's scaring the hell out of voters every day by what he's doing. and then when he went out yesterday or the day before, i forget, i think it was the day before, and he started -- he sounded like mussolini by saying the power of the president is complete and i have complete -- total authority. you know, rich lowery with the national review who tries to play it, you know, down the line as much as he can as a conservative, said it was the most reckless thing any

president has likely ever said from the white house. and that's a national review. and, you know, you also have people like brett talking about how reckless those statements are and how stupid those statements. you have a lot of people who have done their best to defend donald trump when they can defend him and attack liberals when he could attack them just finally giving up on donald trump and in these press conferences. these press conferences, donald, mr. president, these press conferences are bad for america. they just are. but also they're bad, actually, for your political standing. your polls aren't dropping because of the asinine things you said in january and february and march. they're not dropping because of pandemic has come to america. they're dropping, mr. president, because every night you go on and you show how small you are.

you show -- by your words, you're not obsessed with americans who are dying and suffering. you're not obsessed on making americans safe and letting them return to work. you're obsessed with yourself. >> not empathetic about the loss of life which is something that's sorely missing in a president. >> that's why it's damaging him politically. >> you talk about trumpist or lindsey, but i got to think about the trump supporter who works in a factory that is closed whose wife might be feeling like she might have symptoms who wants to get a test and then they hear the president every night saying we have more tests than any country in the world. we've done 3 million tests. but yet when they call trying to get a test, there's no test. and they're scared and they don't know when the next paycheck is going to come in and they're watching these, they're not feeling like it's a clown

show, they're feeling angry. they're feeling forgotten. these are trump's people. they can feel this. they can see the lies for themselves. and president trump continues to be eager to reopen the economy, saying yesterday that plans are close to be finalized, even as health experts warn he is likely moving too fast. as joe mentioned yesterday, we showed you his 30-day evolution from it's all up to the states to i have total authority. >> i don't take responsibility at all. we're letting the governors do in their states pretty much what they want. so you have to look -- you have to look at -- you have to give a little bit of flexibility. we have a thing called the constitution, which i cherish, number one. and, as you know, i want the governors to be running things. the president of the united states has the authority to do what the president has the authority do, which is very powerful. the president of the united states calls the shots.

they can't do anything without the approval of the president of the united states. when somebody's the president of the united states, the authority is total. and that's the way it's got to be. >> your authority's total? >> it's total. >> good god. yesterday he appeared to back away from his total authority over the states claims saying he'll give them the authority that they, of course, already have. >> the day will be very close because certain states, as you know, are in much different condition and in a much different place than other states. it's going to be very, very close. maybe even before the date of may 1st. so, that will be for some states. actually, there are over 20 that are in extremely good shape. and we think we're going to be able to get them open fairly quickly. and then others will follow. but we're all set, as i said,

the governors are going to be opening up their states. they're going to declare when. they're going to know when. some can open very, very shortly, if not almost immediately. we'll give a date. but the date's going to be in the very near future. so we'll get it open. individual states when the governors will be held accountable, if they need things we'll help them get those things, but we want them to do their testing. we want them -- bbecause they'r equipped do testing. some things are going to happen that we're not going to like. like the numbers are heading in a wrong direction. we'll have to do something that's very serious. we'll have to maybe close 'em up and start all over again. >> well, you know, he talks about testing. the problem is that testing is the failure on the testing front keeps getting worse by the day. you look at it per american. >> it's catastrophic. >> per citizen, the testing is

-- it's catastrophic. we go to donald trump's home county, palm beach county, the testing is just absolutely abysmal there. >> it's a mess. >> it's abysmal across middle america. it's ape business mall on both coasts. and it's really interesting. >> he didn't use the dpa to national lies it. >> you have some of these trumpists talking heads about let's reopen the economy right now. editorials talking about let's open the economy, let's get the economy open as fast as possible. the liberals want to keep it closed. actually it's the medical providers, medical people want to keep it closed until it's safe to reopen. and you have all of these people that are now, you know, sort of parroting larry kudlow's line, people need to get back to work and if they don't want to get back to work it's because they don't like working. i don't see these pro trump media outlets rushing their people back to work and they're not going to because they know

it's not safe. they don't want their people to die. they don't want to die. and, yet they continue to say these reckless irresponsible things in the press about quickly reopening the government. "the wall street journal" editorial page, you know, blamed the liberal media for wanting to keep things -- are you kidding me? is the "wall street journal" editorial staff rushing in to work today in their office? no, they're not. it's just a reckless thing to say. go ahead, i'm sorry. go ahead, reverend al. >> none of the trumpsters or the big supporters of the president that are saying we need to get back to work, they're not rushing back to work. many of them are -- >> no. >> -- at home with masks and gloves on hiding under the bed while they're trying to tell everybody else to go back to work. and i think that the president we saw demonstrated his fragile ego because some of the governors stepped forward and started doing what they're

supposed to do, governing. he couldn't stand for anyone else to take center stage, so he rushes out there. and part of it was his ego. the other part was a distraction, something you've been saying on this show almost every morning, that the strategy he has is to ignore people dying and ignore how they have not governed this right and let's pick fights over here so you're distracted and not think andrew cuomo, how the governor of new york, was bril dwroont sliant t not going to give you a fight. when i was a youngster i was very much a fan of mohamed ali who i did get to know, and he had a strategy called ropeadope. and that's what andrew cuomo did to president trump he leaned back and said you punch yourself out. i'm not going to exert any energy, i'm going to let you punch yourself out. that's what we're seeing at the white house. >> governor cuomo showed his

frustration with us in our interview and in his own briefing he said i'm not fighting it, too much work do in the state of new york. let's go to the white house. hans is standing by for us. may 1st the president said he wants to reopen some parts of the economy, whatever that means exactly. what will that look like? is there a strategy there or is that just a signal to some people who have been putting pressure on him to reopen pieces of the economy? >> reporter: there's always significant willi signaling with president trump, not just yesterday but throughout the entire crisis. he's tried to send different messages to different people. what i heard yesterday was reopening at least for parts of the country in april. i tried to press the president on that if that means he's really stopping his slow of the spread which is supposed to go through may 1. he said absolutely not. but when you listen to what he's actually saying, that is the individual states get to make these decisions in consultation with the federal government, clearly the president is back to being a federalist. you guys showed those clips

letting the states make this decision. president seems to be suggesting that certain states could be opening in the month of april and it's not just a handful, he at one point said 20. another point he came up to 29. so, to me yesterday's briefing was more about what the president didn't do and that is he didn't try to escalate his feud or his fights with these governors. remember that tweet we had midmorning about mutiny on the bou bounty. captain bly didn't show up yesterday. now, there's a glaring exception to that. that is going after the w.h.o., an international health organization in the time that there is an international health crisis. the president didn't articulate why he's punishing potentially millions, even billions of people around the world that rely on the w.h.o. for bureaucratic errors at headquarters. he didn't articulate that. and inside the administration they think that they can maybe funnel some money around and go directly to some of these

countries that may need it. that's exceedingly difficult in the middle of a pandemic. willie mentioned there are clear problems with the w.h.o., no one will deny that. but cutting off funding was really -- i don't want to say the nuclear option, but it was the big option. and the president is going to be reviewing it, but i can't imagine that house senators and clinics all across the globe aren't wondering what this means for them in a time of crisis. and the president has decided to go after them. we'll see what kind of follow-up there is today on that. guys. >> let me ask you about china. the president attacked -- attacked w.h.o. for being too close to china. i don't know if you've seen this before, but there's a tweet that the president tweeted out on january the 24th. of course if you've been watching our show you've seen it several times this morning already. but in this january 24th tweet -- >> there it is. >> -- the president of the united states said china has

been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts in transparency. it will work out well. we're over 20,000 deaths now. in particular on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. can you explain why the president of the united states would write that tweet at the same time that his medical people were complaining bitterly and others in the government were complaining bitterly that the chinese were not cooperating with us, they were lying about what was going on in their country? they were not helping our scientists prepare for this to come to the united states. >> i can't because it's inconsistent, right? i mean, we could say maybe the president didn't see those memos, there's mixed reporting on that. when he talked about his own response that january 24th, the time stamp on that is significant because it comes after the president decided to shut down the big thing that he claims, which is closing down travel from china.

even yesterday, given the opportunity to say, look, you're going after the w.h.o., they're retributions or consequences for the w.h.o., well, we do something similar or china and at president fell back this idea that he's in a trade negotiation with china and that they're going to be buying billions of dollars of agriculture and all kinds of equipment from the united states as well as goods and services. so throughout this he's been very dovish and very reluctant to criticize china with the one exception, that is when he receivers as the chinese virus or the wuhan virus. but, joe, it's inconsistent, right? so i think it's serving a point when we're standing here on the white house lawn, if the president says one thing like he did on monday that he has total power and then doesn't say it the next day, which he says yesterday and just basically says he's going to be cooperative and conciliatory think there those inconsistencies tell us there's tension in the administration or

the president is changing his mind day to day based on the information feeds coming in. as of yesterday morning, he was captain bly. he wanted to fight. he wanted to all but whip the governors. by the even, easter lamb is too strong, but he was pretty consill another sayico conciliatory in saying he's doing a big conference call. it's inconsistent and that's my only answer. >> exhausting as well. >> he's a day trader. nbc hans nichols, i said that not you. before we go to break, john heilemann, it's hard to get an answer to this, but i want to put this up one more time and maybe you can it will me what you think what the presidentet tweeted this when he did and why he was -- >> january 24th. >> yeah. january 24th he says china's been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. that's the communityist communi

10,000 new yorkers have died, more have died in one city than died on 9/11. the two iraq wars and the afghanistan war altogether. in particular, on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. john heilemann, before we go to break, what do you think the president is doing when heing toels toggles back and forth, calls. whew hahn virus, then attacks china, then goes back to kowtowing to president xi. what's going on there? >> well, i think, joe, you've said some times that he's a day trader. i think -- and that indicates a kind of like he will shift his

position, shift his rhetoric to score in the short run. he cares about the short run rather than the long run. i agree with that. but beyond that it's also the case that he'll not just shift tactically, it's what he thinks is in his interest changes a lot. so it's like it's not just that he's -- that he's willing to change on a moment's knots, ino he doesn't have a fixed compass for what's in his interest. there has long been a school of thought behind trump most loudly propounded by someone like bannon. and bashing china is in his biggest long term favor. i think there are times when he feels as though there's a deal to be made with china. if there's something he can do in the short run economically that will boost him with some important councilsy, nstituency suck up to china. but once this virus took a turn where trump had to acknowledge it was going to be a

catastrophe, he very quickly shifted back into the xenophobic, race baiting kind of donald trump with the wuhan virus, the kung flu, the china virus, the constant labeling. that was part of his broader shift which was, i think when we write the history of this we will start by talking about january, february, into the middle of march as the period of happy talking, of the period of downplaying. and then from there forward the last month has been the period of blame shifting. so the first of those was china, the second of those was the governors specifically particular governors, whether it's jay inslee or whitmer or cuomo or the governors in general that they were unprepared and now we have the w.h.o. we're now in the middle of the period of blame shifting, given the down-playing we're now in blame shifting. trump is great at blame shifting and that's where we are now. and china is always going to be among the primary targets of his blame because china can't really in the domestic context can't

fight back with him in the way that andrew cuomo can. >> right. and the thing is, mika, this is what trumpists have been doing in the media who support him. they went from attacking the media, the doctors, the scientists saying that their exaggerations of this, quote, flu, was a hoax. the second they found out that it wasn't a hoax and people were dropping like flies and people were dying and if you had a little contact in the wrong situation chances are good that you could die, they immediately shifted and started trying to find people to blame. then they blamed the media. after blaming the media for exaggerating it, they then tried to find articles where the media wasn't dramatic enough. it's just -- it's rank stupidity because everybody's got the receipts, everybody's got the transcripts. this all washes out very well in

the end for people who want to know what the actual truth is. but donald trump's done the same thing. and the problem is it's always extreme. he's either saying that china is absolutely wonderful and transparent and the united states is so grateful, or he's calling is the kung flu. there's never a middle ground, which is saying, yes, listen, we have a lot of problems with what china is doing, we'll worry about that later. let's be partners right now in getting through this pandemic. we can do it together and then we'll talk -- he can't do that. he's incapable of -- of doing that. he's incapable of showing any nuance diplomatically. and he is a day trader, which of course, just causes havoc not only in how we approach this pandemic, what he's called a war, what is a war against the pandemic, but also it explains why our diplomatic relations across the globe in shambles. because the man completely lacks

nuance. and the ability to build relationships or sustain relationships with our friends and to deal with those who consider themselves our enemies. well, coming up, the president's conduct son the ballot and there's a new ad aiming to hold him accountable. it's airing in places like florida, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. we're going to get a first look at that straight ahead. plus, house speaker nancy pelosi is blasting the president's handling of this pandemic in a new letter to house democrats. put simply, a quote, poor leader takes no responsibility. a weak person blames others. we're going to read through that straight ahead. "morning joe" is back in a moment. ht ahead. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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. throwing away the masquerade

away, i keep saying, how is it possible use so much? >> we're going to need billions of masks across america. >> the cdc telling doctors they can use bandannas or scarves abs a last resort. >> it's a war we're fighting without the right equipment. >> i don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. >> we're here right now scrambling to try to get a few additional ventilators. >> a lot of equipment is being asked for that i don't think they'll need. >> you know, new york city, donald trump has been saying oh, they don't need the ventilators. there were hospitals that were actually putting two patients on one ventilator they were so desperate, and they had to quit doing it because it didn't work. >> and doctors and nurses are falling ill and some dying. from this. >> yeah. >> as they're exposed without proper equipment. >> by the way, across the united states the press talks about new york city all the time. but nurses in florida. >> absolutely.

>> -- are dying. nurses in boston are dying. nurses in michigan are dying. nurses all across -- >> they graduated fourth year med students in massachusetts because of the shortage in doctors. >> and, by the way, they're dying in large part because they didn't have the safety -- the masks, the gloves, the gowns which donald trump kept saying they didn't need. and when they asked for more, he accused -- get this -- he accused nurses, doctors, hospitals of stealing masks and putting it on the black market. that's what the president of the united states did at the height of this crisis when they asked for supplies. and there's a story of a florida -- florida nurse who she's in her 30s, probably 15

minutes from mar-a-lago, 33 years old, she died and her family said she died because they didn't have the protective gear that she needed. >> it's a shocking lack of preparation. >> and yet the president, while nurses are dying, is blaming -- he's blaming nurses, he's blaming doctors, he's blaming hospitals and claiming that they don't have the supplies because they're putting it on the black market. >> so that ad we just saw, it's by priorities usa and they're out with it today and playing it in battleground states, florida, michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania. the chairman of priorities usa, guy cecil joins us now along with former chief of staff to the dccc and the former director of strategic communications for hillary clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, adrienne elrod. good to have you both on.

>> willie is with us and asks the first question. >> i'll let you speak to your ad in a minute, but i want to talk a little bit about the state of the democratic party right now. it's been the oldest cliché in media, dems in disarray, that's been the story. but actually if you look back over the last couple of months, the array has been pretty stark. you know, when you had pete buttigieg and amy klobuchar and people who couldn't win would step out of the race and offer their endorsement. bernie sanders did it much quicker this time than he did with hillary clinton. and yesterday you had president barack obama adding his name to the list of endorsements. as someone who's worked in the party a long time, how are you feeling about the array rather than disarray in the party? >> i think it's a sign that democrats understand what's at stake. and for many of us, we

understood that ovlong before t last three months of covid-19. we've had disasters perpetrated by this administration and it's an attest to how serious we take this election. it's also a testament to the relationships that joe biden has built over really the entirety of our party from bernie sanders and barack obama to the rest of the slate of candidates. so we are unite and we are focused on getting through what's ahead of us related to covid-19, but also continuing to hold this president accountable going into november. >> adrienne elrod -- >> only yesterday i thought -- go ahead, mika. >> go ahead, willie. okay, i'll take it it. adrienne elrod, it all appears to be coming together for joe biden or for the democrats when you have bernie sanders stepping out endorsing biden and then, of course, the big endorsement by president obama that came yesterday. but there are some challenges

ahead. the conventions, how exactly to carry them out, not to get that wrong. and also the challenge that the president seems to be facing toward the elections in general. what do you think? >> yeah, mika, i completely agree with guy cecil. and a he and i have been working in democratic politics for a long time and i've never seen the party more unified than they are right now behind joe biden. you think about this, mika, bernie sanders who represents the most progressive wing the party endorsed joe biden overwhelmingly on monday. and then, of course, barack obama who represents the more establishment moderate wing of the party endorsed him yesterday. so these are the two wings of the party coming together unified behind joe biden 6 1/2 months before the general election. when it comes to the convention, it's going to be a challenge to figure out exactly how do this. is it a virtual convention? is it some sort of hybrid of, you know, a virtual

convention/some of the party business taking place in person? that will be a challenge. but the challenges that democrats face are far less than the challenges that republicans face. you look at where independent voters have gone in the past few weeks. just three weeks ago trump was at plus five with independents in terms of the way they believe that he has handled the coronavirus. now we're seeing a 20 point dip, minus 16 with independent voters. that is not in a good place for trump to be right now because he needs those voters and he needs the moderate swing voters in order to get re-elected. >> as i mernntioned a minute ag there are was a moment yesterday when president barack obama endorsed his vice president joe biden. >> if there's one thing we've learned as a country from moments great crisis, it's that the spirit of looking out for one another can't be restricted to our homes or our workplaces

or our neighborhoods or our houses of worship. it also has to be reflected in our national government. the kind of leadership that's guided by knowledge and experience. honesty and humility, empathy and grace. that kind of leadership doesn't just belong in our state capitols and mayors offices, it belongs in the white house. that's why i'm so proud to endorse joe biden for president of the united states. the other side has a massive war chest. the other side has a propaganda network with little regard for the truth. on the other hand, paends have a w pandemics have a lay way of cutting through noise and spin to remind us what is real and important. this crisis has reminded us that government matters. it's reminded us that good government matters.

>> rev, you obviously can't overstate the importance of having barack obama, the most popular figure in the democratic party and perhaps in the country entering the campaign now on behalf of vice president joe biden. a lot of people wondered why it didn't happen sooner, but the president has signaled he was going to wait until there was a nominee and then throw his support behind that nominee. once bernie sanders did it two days ago, here comes the president the next day. there was another important moment i thought yesterday when bernie sanders said in an interview with the associated press that it would be, quote, irresponsible for his supporters not to support joe biden. that was an important signal from him. and, again, signaling the unity of the democratic party. >> i think that it was very important in terms of signaling the unity. i also think it was important that -- of the context in which president obama made his endorsement. he put it in the context of what we are going through as a nation in the midst of this pandemic. so it wasn't like joe biden is

my friend or joe biden was my vice president, but that we're in the midst of a national emergency and we need this kind of mature, stabilizing leadership. he spoke to what most americans will be voting about and looking toward what they will be voting for. and that's someone that can guide us through this. and if you have a campaign that says joe biden has been in the situation room when we've faced national crisis and when we faced the ebola pandemic, he knows what to do. and you put that and you jut a position with jump who's only been in the bargaining room of trying to sell his real estate or trying to deal with some other cut deals with people, i think that the american people will shift that way. and i think when you look at what bernie sanders says, it's important that those of us that call ourselves progressive raise our points, yes, we want to see

certain things represented in the platform. but do not kill the victory, do not dampen the ability to win and take out the most divisive and the most reactionary presidency we've seen in our lifetime by trying to just win on points. don't play checkers, democrats, play chess. that's what obama set the table for yesterday. >> and, john heilemann, it's interesting. bernie sanders has always been criticized by establishment democrats for being obstructionist, for being selfish. basically the larry david of democratic politics. and, yet, we blew past that endorsement. and what we've seen with bernie sanders certainly over the past several weeks, over the past month has been a guy who's actually politically been very selfless.

he's put the bigger -- the needs of the party, the needs of the country, in his mind, ahead of his own political needs. i think it's been quite striking how he's responded to this crisis over the past several weeks. >> yeah, i think that's right, joe. look, you have -- you have sanders obviously took a lot of criticism where you stand on this issue. he took a lot of criticism back in 2016 when he decided to fight on long past there was any chance of him becoming the democratic nominee. there was obviously discord in the party that hurt the party in the long run. people didn't know what the consequences of that were until -- what the consequences would be until donald trump won. and i think -- i think that bernie sanders had a lot of time to reflect on -- on what his role needed to be this time around. and he, you know, he fought a spirited campaign, we all know. but he got out in reasonable time. he did not try to fight all the way till the last primary.

there were people in his coalition who were urging him to continue to do that, even in the -- under the shadow of this pandemic you had people in the sanders wing of the party saying that sanders should stay in all the way till the end. he did not do that. not only did he not do that, but he very quickly moved into this endorsement space. i think it comes down to a couple things when you're a guy like bernie sanders, you're realizing this is now -- these decisions are decisions about your legacy and about how history will remember you. and i think if there's one thing that's clear is that democrats of every stripe across the ideological speck frum from the most moderate to most progressive all understand that beating donald trump is an expo chent sta existential. and to think they thought that prior to the pandemic, they think that times ten now seeing what the consequences, the consequences for real lives of having donald trump in the white house, if you're a democrat, it couldn't be more clear. i think in this moment just for a variety of reasons, both in terms, as i said, legacy but in

terms of the clear and present danger that someone like bernie sanders feels, he had the clarity of the moment to be like this is not a time to mess around and play around with trying to influence the platform or to have leverage in the convention. it's time to get this done and bring the party together. >> well, you know, you talk about democrats seeing this. i think americans, independents, anybody who's concerned about their health and well-being and of that their loved ones who you have a president who said we only have five people who have this and so it will be down zero. he would only had 15, soon it will be down to zero. here we air month re a month orr and 30,000 people are dead from this pandemic that the president isn't said don't worry about it it's going to magically go away. i think that is having impact. we've got to go, but guy cecil and adrian, i have and adrienne, i have to ask both of you to focus on the race. you've been focusing on kenosha

like everybody has. it's the macomb county of the 21st century. but kenosha is an important area. you look at the judges' race and, man, the liberal judge just absolutely pounded the wisconsin republicans choice for conservative supreme court justice getting -- staying on the bench. tell us what you got, guy, you first, guy, what did that wisconsin election mean? >> well, first of all, i think it's also important to note that she won despite the fact that republicans tried to use the legislature and the courtroom to suppress the vote in just about every way possible. look, the wisconsin supreme court race was, in many ways, a map for the democratic party. they -- we saw huge increases in the democratic base. we focused on turnout in places like milwaukee and madison.

we contested the suburbs and made sure that we were continuing to expand our vote. and then finally, we saw places like kenosha, but also other parts of the state that went from two, three, four-point advantages for trump to two or three-point advantages for governor evers, to now double digit leads in the really is a roadmap for the party. let's make sure we're focused on turnout, that we're talking to our base, that we're spending resources now on turning out the vote, and then let's build the biggest, broadest coalition ever fair-minded people, independents, some fair-minded republicans that are willing and have shown a willingness to change their mind about trump or to come out for the first time because they understand what is at stake. let me just say i know we showed our ad at the beginning. i want to say we can talk about ideology and the fights of the party which are important, but we have a president that at the

very heart of it doesn't value truth, doesn't value being direct with the american people, and it's going to continue to cost lives. i just want to say a big thanks to people like my cousin molly who works in a hospital in chicago, to all the medical professionals out there who under horrible circumstances made worse by this administration continue to show up to work every day to make sure that lives are saved and people are comforted as they face the last days of their lives. >> guy cecil, thank you so much. adrienne, stay with us. we'll get to your answer next, but we will be back and be talking about one of the most surreal scenes, mika, from this crisis. and it was in florida. >> yeah. hundreds of people left jobless by the pandemic were then forced to crowd together to file for unemployment. oh my god. our chief medical correspondent joins us with some of the hardest hit districts and stories from those districts.

plus, new reporting that trump wants to declare the country open by may 1st but the reality will be much slower. robert costa joins us with his new headline straight ahead on "morning joe." his new headline straight ahead on "morning joe."

welcome back to "morning joe." it's wednesday, april 15th. joining us we have msnbc contributor mike barnic he will. political analyst clair mccaskill, and political reporter for the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst robert costa. he's the moderator of washington week on pbs. and in just a few minutes we're going to be joined by former secretary of state madelyn albright. she has a new book out but also she has her take and her previous book, "fascism: a

warning on this presidency and all the dangers this presidency presents ". >> last hour we talked a good bit about how donald trump's press conferences were, in my opinion, not only bad for the american people because of the misinformation that's sent out there, also bad for the united states standing in the world because people across the world see a president who is rambling incoherent at times. >> yes. >> disconnect from the realities of his office. but also if you move it beyond that, it's bad for the president himself politically. and you can see it in the numbers. he's addicted to these daily press conferences. he's looking at the numbers and comparing it to the bachelor and sporting events. >> right. >> but at the same time you look at the numbers that are going to matter to him in november. he's losing badly among independents. he's losing -- he's losing more people in the suburbs. >>? >> yeah. >> the numbers keep going down. you can see this, adrienne

elrod, in wisconsin where you had extraordinarily important judgeship for the supreme court of wisconsin that was going to be determining whether, you know, tens of thousands of people were purged from the voting roles. and despite all of the republicans' efforts to hold this in a pandemic, to keep down democrat democratic turnout, democrats won in a big way that you can only interpret as a huge loss for donald trump. >> you're exactly right, joe. all you have to do is look at the photos that you provided in the previous segment of all of the voters who are standing there in line. you know, frankly putting their health at troirisk to turn out this vote. despite the fact that republicans are trying to suppress the vote and that the republican state legislature was relentlessly trying to, you know, trying to sue flppress th

vote and won by 120,000 votes. it was a big, big win for democrats. of course, joe, it's not just wisconsin. it's almost every special election, every midterm that we've had since 2016, since november of 2016. democrats have done well and it's not just democrats that they're bringing along, it is independents, it's moderate republicans, it's the precious swing voters that we need to beat donald trump. the trend has been continuing not just in the last few weeks, but really in the last 3 1/2 years. so joe biden's got a lot of runway here. you think about this, joe, we had -- we unified the party right around the convention in 2016. we now have party unification 6 1/2 months before the general election. this is a really good place for democrats to be. it's i great pla it's a great placetor joe biden to be. we're sitting in a good spot right now. >> adrienne, thank you so much

for being on this morning. bob costa, before we launched into the headlines, the one thing that's different during this time for the president, and i don't think trump is able to conceptualliiz it, it's a different dynamic. people are busy so the mueller report or the ukraine scandal, they're busy and he's rebranding in perhaps his new york way of commanding the headlines might have passed over his people. but this is different. people are home, they're watching, they're scared, they're reading, they're assessing this for themselves. they're calling their doctors. they know people who have died. they know people who are serving on the front lines. they are worried for their family members. their children are not in school. is there a sense in the white house that there is a different dynamic at play here and the president might be being held to an actual standard for once? >> in fact, based on my reporting, mika, today in the post with my colleagues you see

this white house prodded by more than anyone by the president trying to get the economy open as soon as possible. even as health experts express caution, you see president trump behind the scenes looking to states like texas and governor greg abbott, a republican down there, he's already committed to sign an executive toward outline the steps to reopen his state. so we've been told by top officials that president trump looking at governor abbott and others and satisfies saying if the states are going to start to move, hey, i may have some cover here to start to move forward myself to push them along. and so they're all calculating what's the move to try to keep his re-election on track? that's always paramount inside of this white house. he thought he would run entirely on the economy. now it's about trying to get the economy back. but he has to weigh in his official status, he has to weigh the health concerns at the same

time. >> bob, as the president in the white house, do they weigh the potential -- let's say they do reopen some of the states. obviously the president can't do that but in concert with the governors of those states, and there is a flare-up, there's a recurrence as people begin gathering in churches and stadiums and schools and other places. if that pandemic visits those states, if it visits those counties and those towns and we don't want to look at this through a political lens, but we know the president is in some part look at it this that way does he worry about opening too soon in places that could hurt him, frankly, politically? >> so with president trump there's always the political drama and that total authority line earlier in the week was exactly what he wanted to do to stir the pot politically, according to our reporting. but the real news yesterday, willie, to your question, was the president saying, hey, if states move forward even before may 1st, that's the state's decision. he knows, i'm told, that he does not want to be the one to be seen pushing his finger forward

and pushing everyone to reopen. but he wants to see some of his allies in some of these red states reopen on their own so it can seem like almost a collective red state effort that he can get behind so he doesn't have total responsibility, forget total authority, he doesn't want it to have total responsibility for different curveballs that come on the health front. >> we see in south dakota he had a governor who was too casual about it and we're seeing an outbreak in south dakota. you see it in other states as well. these governors are not -- it's like you said, people, this isn't the mueller report. this isn't something way off in washington, d.c. this is something in their local community. and if you're in a local community in the central time zone were if you're in rural america in the places where i grew up, you're going to talk to

your doctor. >> yeah. >> and your doctor's going to tell you that this is real. also going to tell you that a lot of rural hospitals are not prepared -- that's what i've heard from so many people that work in rural health care, they're scared to death of an outbreak in their area because they're ill equipped to handle this because the funding the medicaid funding has been gutted over the past five to ten years. and what republicans do that, they're thinking that they're somehow hurting democratic constituencies. no, guess who they're hurt something they're hurting rural health care providers. her hurting nursing homes. they're hurting the very people who are the most ill equipped to handle this right now because of the funding cuts from washington, d.c. >> again, permanent goiople are want information on this. they're going to go to their doctors and hear something very different than what the president is saying. perhaps they'

perhaps they're waiting for a stimulus check and it hasn't come. maybe they go online and read news organizations from the stimulus checks and find they're late because the president need dollars his naneeded his name o. they're going to see for the first time ever trump needs his name on something that might look positive to the american people. >> yeah. >> but what he doesn't understand is, they see the whole picture. >> it's delaying -- >> it's important to them. >> it's actually delaying the checks in the is, again, this is what an autocrat in training would try to do. it's absolutely ridiculous. delaying even for a couple of days people who desperately need these checks. by the way, you know what people are spending these checks on, according to reports? food. >> yeah. >> they need the money to buy food, to buy groceries for their families. and donald trump is holding it up because he wants his name on the memo line of the check. >> not going to wait to hear it from us. they're going to look it up.

by the way, house speaker nancy pelosi is blasting the president's handling of this pandemic in a new letter to house democrats. she listed a series of what she called truths that need to be understood before the country can move forward. the house speaker said trump dismantled the infrastructure needed to respond to the pandemic, ignored warning signs, and endangered lives and the economy by telling his followers the pandemic was a hoax. she also blasted him for still not having the appropriate testing in place. the house speaker called the president weak and a poor leader for refusing to take responsibility and blaming others. she urged americans to ignore trump and listen to the scientists and other respected professionals to, quote, protect ourselves and our loved ones. it's pretty staggering letter. coronavirus deaths, by the way,

surged yesterday to mark the nation's deadliest day yet. nearly 30,000 people, claire mccaskill, 30,000 deaths have been recorded. so nancy pelosi's letter coming at a time when, really, the president's leadership is in question and americans are seeing these numbers for themselves. they're living them. >> her letter lays it out really clearly. but maybe even more importantly is you guys talked about swing voters earlier. swing voters are where presidential elections are won or lost. let's make no mistake about that. it's not the people that are screaming on either end of the spectrum. it's the folks in the middle that maybe vote for donald trump in 2016 but turn around and vote for joe biden this year. those voters are so especially suburban college educated

republicans are so offended by this guy, by his lies and. and this deal he's doing about putting his name on the check, how insulting to the american people that he thinks the american people are so stupid that when they see his name on the check they're going love him? that that's going to make everything all better? he's delaying the needed money by these people to -- for an ego exercise. that really -- and that's going to break through to those suburban voters. that's what turns them off of donald trump. that's what turns them toward calm, not chaos which joe biden represents. >> you know, mike barnicle, the president told the white house press corps on april the 3rd that, no, no, he didn't want his name on the checks. he didn't want to sign the checks. and enough to course we find out that he did want to silent checks. again, it's a small thing.

it's what an autocrat would want. but, i can't imagine any president, i can't imagine any politician who would insist on that in a time of a pandemic when people were struggling to buy groceries for their families if they were told that it would actually delay the checks getting out there. but that's exactly what's happening. and, again, it's just -- it's just one data point in this entire episode of how self-centered the president of the united states has been during a time of really unparalleled crisis at least in this 21st century. but, man, it really does -- it really does encapsulate, does it not, the president's sorry self-involved pro i approaappro entire crisis? >> yes, it does, joe, sadly. which -- one of the finest

reports -- covering washington but -- the president decided -- >> we're having some problem -- >> let's fix his mic. >> let's work on mike's sound right now. willie, it's a very small thing and yet at the same time it really is symbolic, is it not, the president allowing these checks to be delayed just so he can get his name on the memo line, despite the fact that this money's being spent primarily for people buying groceries for their families? >> yeah. but not surprising, sadly. i mean, we know he wants his name on everything and if there's a political advantage to this, if he thinks that having his name on the check and having it appear that it comes from him, although of course it comes from us, from taxpayers, if he thinks it helps him, he's going to do it. i think to me, too, bob costa, yesterday as you listened to the announcement that the president made about suspending fund together world health organization, a lot of people had been waiting for the

president's big swing on something like testing, maybe a big national manhattan project around testing. let's get the country tested, let's develop and distribute these tests. his big swing, though, was to defund temporarily, he says, he's suspending payments to the world health organization, an organization that is open to criticism, as we've said in many times this morning, but perhaps right now in the middle of a pandemic not the best time to defund the world health organization. but that was the big swing which was to point at the w.h.o. and say there was the problem and here's the big thing i'm doing to address it. meanwhile, right in front of him, right in front of the country sits this question of testing and what do about it. there's still not a national effort. new york city announced yesterday that it's launching its own testing program because it's waited too long for the federal government. >> all right. we're taking a look at some -- >> here's what's really happening. >> go ahead, bob. >> go ahead, bob. >> oh, all right. here's what's really happening,

willie, about that w.h.o. push by the president. he's digesting cable news all the time. he's reading the papers and he's seen all this accountability journalism about what happened in january, february, and march of 2020. and he has become outraged about the news coverage, as we know. but it's forced many of his aides and providers to come out with different fodder to mount his own defense. we've seen press conference after press conference he's talking about his own efforts in january, february, march and he's looking for a new target of blame. and he sees in the world health organization a ripe target. at the same time, you must note that he's going after w.h.o. but he's not necessarily taking dramatic action against china because he has a trade relationship with china, he cut a deal with them earlier this year on trade. so it's going to be interesting to watch based on my conversations with trump officials about what he does with president xi in the coming weeks to push for any kind of

accountability. what beyond w.h.o. does he do? >> all right. we want to take a look now at new numbers from the front lines. according to a cdc report, as of last week, more than 9,000 health care workers had contracted the coronavirus in the u.s. the federal data shows that those infected are mostly white female and in their 40s while most were not sick enough to be hospitalized, 27 of them died. due to the lack of available tests in many areas, these numbers are believed to be grossly undercounted. that's something to keep in mind. some regions such as in new york city, the hardest hit in the u.s. by the pandemic, are no longer testing health care workers reserving kits for the sickest patients. this comes as reports continue to pour in highlighting the dangerous work conditions nurses face due to the critical shortage of protective gear.

in an outbreak at a nursing home in richmond, virginia, it's become the deadliest link so far to a u.s. long-term care facility. according to the associated press, at least 45 residents at the canterbury rehabilitation and health care center have died from the novel coronavirus. the report says the facility was following state enforced rules that required long-term care residents to first be tested for the flu to rule it out. by the time tests were finally conducted for coronavirus, more than half of the residents were infected with it. my god. and "the associated press" also notes that studies shown nursing homes heavily dependent on medicaid for revenue have fewer nurses per patient than care overall. >> this is what i was talking about before when the republicans were moving to cut medicaid, they thought that they were going to be hurting

democratic constituents. rural hospitals and nursing homes were -- were protesting at the time saying, no, no, no, you're damaging nursing homes, you're damaging elderly health care, you're damaging rural health care. and that's exactly what's happening right now in the time of this pandemic. this rush by republicans, and it has been a republican efforts predominantly. there have been some democrats pushing it too, but predominantly republican efforts to slash medicaid funding. it's, of course, hurting the truly disadvantaged, it's hurting people in nursing homes, it's hurting the elderly. >> it's killing them. other facilities with similar dependence on medicaid have also seen outbreaks, including homes in crown heights, brooklyn, and wayne, west virginia. still ahead, madeleine

albright will be our guest. but first, a look at the local economies decimated by the shutdown. "morning joe's" chief medical correspondent dr. dave campbell reports on that next on "morning joe." . dave campbell reports on that next on "morning joe." and private clouds, and hybrid clouds- things can get a bit cloudy for you. but now, there's the dell technologies cloud, powered by vmware. a single hub for a consistent operating experience across all your clouds. that should clear things up.

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i don't take responsibility at all. we're letting the governors do in their states pretty much what they want. so you have to look -- you have to look at -- you have to give a little bit of flexibility. we have a thing called the cops tution whi constitution, which i cherish, number one. i want the governors to be running things. the president of the united states has the authority do what the president has the authority do, which is very powerful. the president of the united states calls the shots. they can't do anything without the approval of the president of the united states. >> mr. president -- >> when somebody's the president of the united states, the authority is total. and that's the way it's got to be. >> the authority's total? >> total. >> oh my god.

>> joining us now, former secretary of state to president bill clinton, madeleine albright. she's out with her new book entitled hell and other destinations. what a title for a time like right now. we'll get to that in just a moment. secretary all bright, bright, it to talk to you on the phone and i'd love for you to share your opinions of president's leadership right now and what can others do to help us get through this crisis? >> well, i'm stunned by what is going on in terms of the president's lack of complete understanding of what the constitution says, which he swore to uphold. and the tenth amendment make vez clear that the powers delegated to the united states and the constitutions i'm reading this, not prohibited to the states are reserved to the states respectively or to the people. so he's got it backwards.

he's got so many things backwards. and i'm very, very troubled by his unpredictability and his swinging back and forth on what he says. in fact, it's important to deliver a message if you're president of the united states, one that makes some sense. and he's not doing that. and i'm very troubled by that. >> i'd love to, before we talk about your book that's out right now, point back to the book that you wrote fascism, a warning which came out, i believe, right at the beginning of president trump's presidency. looking at what's happening right now for those who are concerned that there's a lack of oversight, for those who are concerned that there's a lack of accountability, for those who are concerned that we are headed in a very bad direction, what are the possibilities? what are the levers that still could be pulled to get complete accountability? you saw, perhaps, speaker nancy

pelosi's searing letter just excoe excore yating president trump during this crisis. what is being done to fight this virus? >> i do think we need to understand that the first article of the constitution is about the power of congress if the is very deliberately that way because the founders did not want to have a king. they did not want to have an authoritarian leader. and so i think we need to make clear what we understand. i also, and i'm not just saying this because i'm on with you guys, the media, the press, has a role in democracy, a free press is essential. the supremacy not tpress is not the people. and we also need to be involved and we need to vote and get ready now for the november election. we need to be prepared. and i do think that we depend on

the fact that democracy is not a spectator sport, that we have to participate. >> willie geist is with us and has a question. willie. >> good morning, secretary albright, good to see you this morning. i'm curious of your larger view of all of this, as someone who served as secretary of state and ambassador to the u.n. as well and looking particularly at the behavior of china, the way it is sort of covered up its statistics, the way it was not transparent or forthcoming as the president suggestied it was the way it is silenced doctors. what's the culpability in your view of china in the pandemic around the world? >> i do think that china is going to have to answer for the things that it -- exactly the ones you've described of being secretive, no transparency. they ultimately are responsible for a major aspect of the problem. however, and this is the part about looking out at the whole world, we need to figure out, and this is the state craft of

diplomacy, is how to tell it like it is, cooperate where you can, and compete where you must. and china is a rising power, we need to deal with them, but i do think ultimately we will go -- have to go back and assess their culpability. but at the moment we have to move forward trying to figure out how to deal with what is an international problem, because the virus knows no borders. >> madam secretary, mike barnicle is with us and has a question for you. mike. >> madam secretary, eventually this administration will come to its conclusion, hopefully sooner rather than later. had that occurs r wh, what are first few steps that the next president of the united states must take in order to heal the world around us? >> well, there's no question that the united states needs to operate with other countries. president clinton said it first that we were the indispensable

nation i just said it so often it became identified with me. but there's nothing that says alone. we need to be partners. and we can't operate in the 21st century without partners. because, as i said, the virus knows no borders. climate change knows no borders. nuclear proliferation and all the issues that are out there, and we have to repair our relationship with other countries. americans don't like the word multilateralism, it has too many syllables and ends in an ism, but it's just a partnership and we need to do something to refurbish the various organizations. i've always been saying that people in organizations in their 70s need to fixing. and the u.n. does. and i think that we need to figure out what are the problems there. we can't deal with it if we aren't participate pantsnts. there will be a lot of repair work that has to happen because the u.s. is the leader, but we need to be part of working with others. there's just no question about

it. it's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. we need to be the ones that are, in fact, thinking about how to make the 21st century work. >> talk about hell and other destinations and the insights that readers are going to get, this extraordinarily time by reading the book. >> well, thank you. i decided that it would be interesting to write a book about all the things that one can do after one leaves a terrific job. and so i think that what i hope the book talks about the necessity of involvement, of feeling that one can, in fact, contribute, that you can do a lot of different things. and it's based on the fact that i believe in the resiliency of democracy. i'm an optimist who worries a lot. and in cooperation.

and so, as i describe things that i've done since i left office, i'm trying to show how all these things go together, how one can teach, which i love doing, run a global business, be chairman of the board the national democratic institute, operate with my alma mater wellesley. a lot of different things. and so make clear how they connect to the things that i cared about when i was in office. democracy, supporting women, education, and understanding the importance of international cooperation. the title was chosen long before all of this. it has to do with a statement i made many, many years ago that there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other. and, so, that's where it came from. but i didn't realize how truly apropos it is, how important it makes sense right now. i didn't plan it that way, and we need to look at other

destinations. >> i love -- i love that you say that you're an optimist who worries a lot. i think that describes a lot of us right now. but you -- you had an extraordinarily unique view of the world based on how your life began. and, in fact, you're wearing a pin right now that harkens back to world war ii. and, you know, listening to those bbc broadcasts of churchill and listening describe the kettle drums and that would start every broadcast. talk about the "v" that you wear right now. >> well, i -- my father, we lived in london during world war ii. my father was with the bb -- the

shek government czech government. so i listened to the bbc. i actually thought he was in the radio. but every broadcast began with the opening lines of beethoven's fifth. and it was morse code for "v" for victory. and, you know, churchill held up his "v," and so i thought it made sense to wear it now. we need a victory over the virus, and so it harks back to a period during world war ii where we thought we weren't in control because we weren't because of the bombs. we are not in control of everything now. the only thing we're in control of is our mood, and we have to be active and look forward and think about what needs to happen next. by the way, i want to thank all of you for being so really respectful and generous for those that are helping us. the nurses and all the people that are out there really working with us, for us, and you guys have been terrific in

making that clear. >> they are certainly on the front lines. and thank you very mitch, by uc personal note for reminding meek after my birthday, as you dover year, because she still thinks it's in, like, october. >> no, i don't. >> i used to remind her about her father's day birthday. and so i've been doing that for a long time. so now, you know, i love doing it and i love remembering your birthday and a little late, happy birthday to you. >> thank you so much. >> i love the phone calls. thank you so much. the book is hell and other destinations, a 21st century memoir. former secretary of state madeleine albright. thank you so much for coming on. come on anytime, we love hearing from you. >> thank you so much for having me. thank you. and this nice story before a quick break that a global pandemic can't stop one man from seeing his wife of 61 years.

the nursing and rehab center in massachusetts closed their doors to any visitors as a coronavirus precaution in march. an 88-year-old was feeling upset co he could no longer do his daily vis witness his wife, so his family arranged for him to visit her in a more unconventional way by bucket lift. the idea came to his son chris originally as a joke with friends around a bonfire, but soon it turned into a reality after he posted the idea on facebook and received a flood of comments. facebook actually did something good, chris told "the boston globe." after the family made arrangements with the nursing home, nick was flying high to see his wife once again. nick told the globe they could have lifted me ten stories, it would not have bothered me, as long as i got to see her. i was just anxious to see her.

we'll are right back. o see her. wel 'lare right back.

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the coronavirus pandemic has stripped thousands of americans of their lives and millions more of their livelihoods. "morning joe" chief medical correspondent dr. dave campbell reports on the unemployment crisis drifting ashore in florida. >> while governor desantis has

shifted his policy, the scenes of recent crowds in florida show rising unemployment and health crisis. i called early a charter boat and father of two young children in the florida keys. we last heard from captain ross after hurricane irma devastated his community. the keys are facing another existential throat their life. >> we have zero charters. business has completely stopped. no tourists in town. april, may, june are our busiest months of the year. people depend on these months to put away money for the rest of the year. >> have you got hurricane irma behind you yet? >> we're 99% back. the business were back, everything was great until corona came around. florida keys it's been a great community after the hurricane, we come together and get this place rebuilt. but this is different. it's not just us here, it's across the whole globe. >> tell me about your ability to

get through to the up employment office to try to get some help. >> i've had zero luck. i've probably called a hundred times and 90 of those times you get a busy signal. and the ten times maybe that it did ring, it will ring for ten to 15 minutes and finally when it answers it goes right back to a busy signal. i'm sure they're overwhelmed, there are not enough people. but we have had zero luck. >> and dr. dave campbell joins us now. obviously those lines are a health risk, dr. dave, but they're also -- also impacts to health due to this crisis, this unemployment crisis. tell us about them. >> you know, the unemployment crisis is a reflection of the health crisis in general. and if you're in areas like the keys where you can't even go visit, you cannot drive down to the keys right now to take your friends or family members food or diapers or baby wipes. so when you combine the lack of

touri tourism in lots of parts of florida, the stimulus checks that you've reported on being a bit delayed and 1 in 10 that have applied for unemployment as of a few days ago had actually received a check. and, florida has one of the lowest unemployment weekly benefits in the entire country. $275 per week is what people were standing in line for. and for those, that means a lot. that means food on the table, that means baby wipes, that means medicines, that means paying the rent. it's a problem that is not going away soon. >> yeah, you know, some up in reports across florida talked about how florida's unemployment benefits are the worst in the united states. the system is the worst in the united states. and they -- they don't put all the blame on governor desantis, they actually say that rick scott intentionally made it as difficult as possible for people

to get unemployment checks to save money. but we see the impact of that, the fact that you can't call in as the person you were talking about called a hundred times and could never get through. i've heard that story repeated across florida countless times. but that ends up forcing people to go down to the office, stand in long lines, and literally risk their lives, dr. dave. talk about that health care crisis. >> there are no lines in the florida keys. there are no unemployment offices, to my understanding. so for captain ross to be able to apply not online, he has to drive to miami or somewhere what he calls the mainland because all the keys are, of course, islands. so the -- it's different all across the state, joe. but for individuals who are searching for ways to at least get money to pay for food, it is

amazing that they are in the situation that they're in right now. and when i see that florida was one of the last states to relatively close down, and now i have this grave concern that it may be one of the first states to start opening back up. those scenes of nursing homes where they've become the outbreaks that we are all concerned about, just gives me a chill up my spine to imagine that we will create a situation not just with those that are unemployed, but with those that are most at risk, the elderly that are in nursing homes who have no control over their environment. and if we open up too soon or in the wrong way so that we can stimulate the economy and then stimulate outbreaks in nursing homes, we will be having a much different discussion the middle of the summer, joe. >> all right, dr. dave campbell, thank you so much. certainly you can look at what's happening in singapore, what's

happening in other countries in asia right now that seem to be doing well. but then, you of course, they're struggling again with outbreaks once again. it's a difficult path back and it's not like everybody's going to be able to reopen and magically things are going to be working out fine. clair mccaskill, we've talked about medicaid cuts over the past five, ten years that republicans have been pushing and how that's impacting a lot of republican voters in rural america. a lot of republican voters in nursing homes. and, you know, we talked about this as it was happening. i know you -- you on the senate floor talked about the impact to rural hospitals and seniors. now -- now we look at a state like florida where rick scott has spent years trying to gut the unemployment system, unemployment benefits for florida, and now has made florida one of the worst for

unemployment benefits. and here in a time of crisis when people need an unemployment check for groceries, they can't even get through to the office because all of the massive cuts that republican governors have placed in the state of florida, have placed on this unemployment system. >> yeah. and you think about there's been this back and forth this week, because the president got so upset about "the new york times" article laying now the stark evidence the failure of his leadership around this pandemic. if you look at that month of february, what they should have been doing at that moment was assessing surge capability of unemployment offices. anyone could see this coming. that this was going to be a huge problem. and i think the segment that we just did is so important, because the visual of people standing in line for food and standing in line for unemployment combined with the failure of these republican governors and the president to

acknowledge the importance of rural medicaid money, to acknowledge the importance of government working right when we need unemployment benefits, and the sfakt that tfact that the p willing to delay checks for groceries and people standing in line for food because he wants his name on the check. this is when people want to tear their hair out. you need government in times like this. it's great to make government the punching bag when you think you don't need it. but then when you need it, all of the sudden, you know, it lays bare the inefficiencies and the ineffectiveness of a government leadership. >> yeah, and, willie, again, you look at medicaid funding and how national republicans have been pushing the gutting of medicaid and how that impacts rural communities, rural hospitals. and on unemployment, there's this sort of cartoonish version

in a lot of republicans' minds about unemployment benefits going to people, as larry kudlow said this past week but just working in general, for people who really don't want to work anyway. i, of sourcourse, never had tha attitude because my dad worked for lockheed, got laid off, looked for a job across the deep south for 18 months when i was growing up when i was young and my mom went back to work and we got by on an unemployment check for a year, year and a half until my dad could find a job that supported his family of five. >> yeah. and that pain that we're seeing in the country right now on the economic side is very real. it's everywhere in the country. it's in every town and every state. we know people who are losing their businesses. everybody knows somebody who is unemployed who has been hit by this. so, mike barnicle, that's the real bals balancing act and it is real for the president and

these goch nors whivernors whic course i want to get these businesses open and people back to their lives, but i've got to do it in a smart way. and we've seen it on full display where the president comes we're going to get targeted areas back to work. dr. fauci comes out in an interview, i'm not sure we're there yet. looking state-by-state. he's trying to walk this line and saying to the president, we can't go too soon. i understand people need to get back to work, need those jobs for their families and lives, but we can't do it too soon. it's a tough line between science and jobs. >> you know, willie, take a step back and think about this for a second. robert costa earlier this hour used the phrase "stir the pot" to describe the president's thinking invoking the controversy who has more power. he claimed the president has all the power, he did this at a

point when, as you said and joe pointed out, people are standing in lines for unemployment, to register for unemployment, the contagion of the disease certainly not stopped. job number one for this president, two, three, four and five jobs is to contain the virus. instead he does that. stirs the pot. so now we have this visibly damaged human being, donald trump leading this country at this point in time, through this critical, critical stage of a crisis. that is historically tragic for america. historically tragic. >> coming up, valerie jarrett served along president barack obama for eight years. she'll weigh in on the former president's 2020 endorsement of joe biden. that and much more straight ahead on "morning joe."

>> i think if we are assuming that two weeks from now that all the curves are going to be down, that -- i think that's -- that's, you know, a bit overly optimistic. the thing we absolutely have to have in place, we better have in place, is the capability of very efficiently identifying, isolating contact tracing, getting people out of circulation if they get infected, because once you start getting clusters, then you're really in trouble. so, to me, we have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we're not there yet.

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still ahead on "morning joe," president trump is facing criticism for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, but he's pointing the finger at the world health organization. plus, speaker nancy pelosi's new message to america. ignore the president, and listen to the scientists and other health care professionals. we'll take a look at her stinging new letter to members of her party. "morning joe" will be right back. never run dry of... killer attitude. or hydration. neutrogena® hydro boost. the #1 hyaluronic acid moisturizer delivers 2x the hydration

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w.h.o. to ensure accurate information about international health threats are shared in a timely manner, and if it's not, to independently tell the world the truth about what is happening. the w.h.o. failed in this bake duty, and must be held accountable. >> you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to 0, that's a pretty good job we've done. >> w.h.o. willingly took china's assurances to face value and took it just at face value, and

defended the actions of the chinese government even praising china for its so-called transparency. >> there's just some talk in china that maybe the transparency isn't everything that it's going to be. do you trust we're going to know everything we need to know from china? >> i do. i do. i have a great relationship with president xi. >> our countries are now experiencing, you look all over the world, tremendous death and economic devastation, because those tasked with protecting us by being truthful and transparent failed to do so. >> and we're prepared and we're doing a great job with it and it will go away, just stay calm. it will go away. >> come on! >> as we've said before with president trump it's either projection or confession. >> you know, willie, i don't lecture people on talking too much. because i know -- >> i know. it's fine.

we love it. >> i'm talking too much, that's why -- >> calling the kettle black. >> -- the kids call living in a glass house and throwing rocks. it is so -- when donald trump started this spiel yesterday, it reminded me of what john heilemann said on our show some time ago that everything trump says is either confession or projection. every criticism he had of the w.h.o. you could find ten quotes that showed he was just as bad or worse. >> and on china. i mean, as you showed there with his comments, he had said, yes, i believe in their transparency. i mean, these briefings we're having every day at the white house are exercises in rewriting history, as if we don't have the tapes that we're showing you every morning and the tweets that we read you every morning showing the positioning the president's had. we'll get into it a little more, but the w.h.o., which obviously

has made mistakes and obviously covered for china and obviously has not been perfect as public health officials will tell you, is now the person, the organization, that's going to be pushed out in front of the bus to cover for all those quotes and tweets that we've been reading to you every morning that show where the president was on all of this. >> john heilemann's with us. john, projection or confession, baby. when he started talking about china, all i could think of was that january 24th tweet where he said he talked to president xi and china is doing a great job and they're being so transparent, and we, the people, of the united states are so grateful to the people of china from what a great job that president xi has done and how transparent he's been. this january 24th, at the same time, all of our scientists and all of our doctors are begging china to tell us more, and this

is, of course -- this is the exact tweet, mr. president. i don't nope if you remember it. china's been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts and -- wait for it -- wait for it -- wait for it -- transparency. will all work out well. in particular on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. there is nothing -- there is nothing this president has said or written in this horrific lack of leadership that he's shown over the past couple of months that actually is more off base than that tweet, and he's attacking w.h.o. for -- wait. put that tweet up again. john heilemann. i'd like you to read it for me, if you would. i don't know if you have a screen there, but could you read this for us and i want to hear

it, hear it again. >> i do not have -- i do not have a printer and cannot read that print. >> china has been very -- working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. it will all work out well. in particular, on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. >> i'm going to get back to you, john heilemann, but reverend al, do you have return where you are? is there any chance -- >> there's no return. >> you can read, that you could read that for us? >> i think, i can read it, and i think what is interesting as we read it, joe. >> amen, amen. >> it says that china has been working very hard to contain coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates the efforts and transparency. >> amen. >> it will all work out well. >> amen. >> in particular on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. what is interesting to me about

that is this past sunday i had dr. anthony fauci on "politicsnation," and he says he told the white house in mid to late january that the information from china was wrong, and that they were facing a serious problem here. this was -- this was not some hypothetical situation like he said later. this was sunday night on "politicsnation," fauci said that to me and our viewers that he informed them, because he became alarmed mid to late january, which is around the time of this tweet that the president sent out totally opposite of what dr. fauci told us. >> and, you know, willie geist, since donald trump was saying that china and president xi were doing such an incredible job, at the same time his own doctors and scientists were complaining that they were actually not cooperating at all. would send us no samples that we

needed, that would help us create a vaccine, start that process, or start a process for testing, while the president continued to praise china and said everything was going to work out well for the united states. something that he said, my god, he said that into march. well, yesterday in new york city, we passed the 10,000 dead mark, in new york city, and, of course, well over 20,000 in the united states, after donald trump said, "everything's going to work out well in january." he said, don't worry about it. it's going to magically go away in february. again, go away in april. saying that in february and in march. still saying, don't worry. we've got this all under control. here e are middle of april when the president said this was going to magically go away, and we had our most number of deaths in april. the deadliest day. >> oh, my god. >> and now we're almost at 30,000 deaths, willie.

>> yeah. by the way, i do have a monitor. so i'm available for any reading that needs to come up on the show, i like it. >> yeah. the -- the number yesterday is something we talked about actually in new york city. just yesterday you and i were talking about we don't actually know the number of dead and its probably far greater than we think it is, because there are at least, it has been reported, because people are dieing at hole. they're not dieing in hospitals. we've got to look into some of those numbers. yesterday, as you said, coronavirus deaths surged yesterday to mark this country's deadliest day yet in the crisis. according to nbc news, nearly 30,000 deaths now have been reported in the u.s. the number of new deaths tripled within 24 hours for more than 1,500 new deaths monday, more than 6,000 yesterday. in the state of new jersey where projections had showed signs of improvement the death toll jumped by more than 350 people. new jersey's largest single-day-increase since the

outbreak began. that grim reality is similar across the u.s. included in california reporting its deadliest 24 hours. covid-19 gripping washington, d.c., maryland and virginia is spanning 61 deaths across that metro area. louisiana's fight against the virus is similar. the growing hot spot now has become the fourth state to exceed 1,000 coronavirus deaths. the fatality rate there nearly doubled in the span of just one day, and as i said, new york's death toll, mika, exponentially shot up by more than 3,700 victims yesterday after officials included those who never tested positive for the virus while alive but now presumed to have died from it. that increase alone boosted the total number of deaths in the u.s. nearly 17%. already the virus epicenter of the world, new york city's towering death toll, has now crossed 10,000, despite noting a net decrease in total

hospitalizations, governor cuomo tallied a total 778 deaths to the staggering number and vowed not to engage in a fight with president trump over when to reopen new york state. >> sometimes it's, it takes more strength, frankly, to walk away from a fight than engage it. the president will have no fight with me. i will not engage in it. i've sat here every day for 44 years asking new yorkers to remember that this is not about me. it's about "we." this is no time for politics, and it is no time to fight. i put my hand out in total partnership and cooperation with the president. if he wants a fight he's not going to get it from me. period. >> you know, we haven't talked a whole lot about politics, john heilemann, during this time. i mean, we didn't even talk about the bernie endorsement of

joe biden, which we'll get to later on today. barack obama yesterday, get to that as well, endorsement. just the politics of this, for donald trump. they're so bad. it's not just because of the pandemic and it's not even because of, just all of the really stupid things he said from the very beginning. all -- the wishful thinking, the -- the anti-science things that he said. the anti- -- the pro-china. just the kowtowing to china to president xi and the start and the next day calling it the wuhan virus and the next day could yday kowtowing to president xi again. it's not because i'm afraid they're helping donald trump. i just -- they're not news, but they're actually hurting donald

trump day in and day out. people see cuomo, even lifelong republicans tell me look at cuomo and like, god, there's a leader. why can't donald trump stop tweeting? why can't he shut his mouth? why can't he just do his job? obviously, those are all rhetorical questions. he can't do it, but he's really damaging his political standing by going out every day and engaging in clownish behavior and that's, by the way, conservative -- well not conservative. you can't be conservative and support donald trump. trumpists are even saying that now. >> right. right. i mean, you think about it this way, joe. you know you're on to something in a situation like this in criticizing donald trump when lindsey graham agrees with you and you've got someone like lindsey graham who never, as you know, the years when he used to

criticize trump once he became president, lindsey graham will never, ever, ever say anything to get on the wrong side of donald trump. his job, pump up donald trump and to inflate donald trump's ego and never say a cross word. even lindsey graham is on the record now with reporters trying to send that message, you know, the s.o.s. message with the blinking, blinking his eyes in the hostage video. trying to tell donald trump over and over again you are screwing this up. these briefings are not working for you. all of your addictions, this one, the one to being in the constant spotlight. the fact trump who used to stay away from that briefing room as if it was, as if it was the place that contained the kryptonite, never went in the briefing room. once he discovered he could go in and command the stage for two hours a day, now he's addicted to it, but even people like lindsey graham, even lindsey graham is saying, you might want to do that once a week, buddy, because it's not helping you. and like i said, there's no,

there's no world in which these briefings are helping donald trump. i mean, he cannot help himself. everyone around him is telling him, stop, and he just cannot resist the lure of those cameras, because the one thing he's right about, a lot of people are watching. the problem is the president doesn't understand that just the fact that a lot of people are watching doesn't mean that they're not watching and laughing at you, or criticizing you, or -- >> or angry. >> turning away from you in disgust. they're watching, but that's not necessarily a winning hand. >> still ahead on "morning joe," former president barack obama is now all-in on the 2020 race with his endorsement of joe biden. we'll talk to valerie jarrett, the longest serving white house adviser from the previous administration. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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president trump continues to be eager to reopen the economy saying yesterday that plans are close to being finalized. even as health experts warn he is likely moving too fast. as joe mentioned, yesterday we showed you his 30-day evolution from, it's all up to the states, to, i have total authority. >> i don't take responsibility at all. >> we're letting the governors do in their states pretty much what they want. >> so you have to look, you have to give a little bit of flexibility. >> we have a thing called the constitution, which i cherish, number one, and as you know, i want the governors to be running things. >> the president of the united states has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do, which is very powerful. the president of the united states calls the shots. >> they can't do anything without approval of the president of the united states. >> mr. president -- >> when somebody's the president

of the unite, the authority is total, and that's the way it's got to be. >> your thought is total? >> total. >> good god. yesterday he appeared to back away from his "total authority over the states" claim saying he's give them the authority that they, of course, already have. >> the day will be very close, because certain states, as you know, are in much different condition and in a much different place than other states. it's going to be very, very close. maybe even before the date of may 1st. so -- and that will be for some states. actually, there are over 20 that are in extremely good shape, and we think we're going to be able to get them open fairly quickly and then others will follow. but we're all set, as i said. the governors are going to be opening up their states.

they're going to declare when. they're going to know when. some can open very, very shortly, if not almost immediately. we'll give a date. but the date's going to be in the very near future. so we'll get it open. individual states, when the governors will be held accountable, if they need things we'll help them get those things, but we want them to do their testing. we want them -- because they're equipped to do testing. >> and for some reason things are happening that we're not going to like. like the numbers are heading in the wrong direction. we'll have to do something that's very -- very serious. we'll have to maybe close them up and start all over again. >> well, you know, he talks about testing. the problem is, that testing is, the failure on the testing front, it keeps getting worse by the day. you look at it per american -- >> catastrophic. >> per citizen. the testing is -- it's catastrophic. you look again. we go to donald trump's home county, palm beach county. the testing is just absolutely

abysmal there. >> a mess. >> abysmal across middle america, abysmal or both coastc. >> and he still doesn't use the dpa. nationalize it. >> it's real interesting, reverend al, some talking heads, let's reopen the company right now. editorials talking, oh, let's open the economy. get the economy open as fast as possible. liberals want to keep it closed. actually, it's the medical providers, the medical people want to keep it closed until it's safe to reopen, and you have all of these people that are now, you know, sort of parroting larry kudlow's line. people need to get back to work and if they don't want to get back to work it's because they don't like working. i don't see these pro-trump media outlets rushing their people back to work. and they're not going to, because they know it's not safe. they don't want their people to die. they don't want to die.

and yet they continue to say these reckless, irresponsible things in the press about quickly reopening the government. the "wall street journal" editorial page, you know, blamed the liberal media for wanting -- are you kidding me? is the "wall street journal" editorial staff rushing in to work today? to their office? no. they're not. >> and -- >> it's just a reckless thing to say. i'm sorry. go ahead, reverend al. >> none of the trumpsters, or the big supporters of the president that are saying we need to get back to work, they're not rushing back to work. many of them are -- >> no! >> at home with masks and gloves on, hiding under the bed while they're trying to tell everybody else to go back to work, and i think that the president, we saw demonstrated his fragile ego, because some of the governors stepped forward and started doing what they're supposed to do. governing. he couldn't stand for anyone else to take center stage, so he

rushes out there and part of it was his ego. the other part was a distraction. something you've been saying on this show most every morning. that the strategy he has is to ignore people dieing and ignore how they've not governed this right and let's pick fights over here so you're distracted, and i think andrew cuomo, our governor of, no, was brilliant to say i'm not going to give awe fight. i'm not going to give you a distraction. when i was a youngster i was very much a fan of muhammad ali, who i did get to know, and he had a strategy called rope-a-dope. that's what andrew cuomo did to president trump. he just leaned back and said, you punch yourself out. i'm not going to exert any energy. i'm going to let you punch yourself out and that's what we're seeing, a rope-a-dope at the white house. coming up, the toddler in chief. author dan dresner explains what donald trump tells us about the modern presidency. that korves is just ahead on

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ventilators. >> a lot of equipment asked for i don't think they'll need. >> responsible for the content of this ad. >> that ad we just saw, it's by priorities usa and they're out with it today and playing it in battleground states. florida, michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania. the chairman of priorities usa, guy cecil, joins us now. >> hey, guy -- >> also i want to talk a little about the state of the democratic party right now. it's been the oldest cliche in media, dems in disarray, that's the story. if you look back over the last couple of months, the array has been pretty stark. when you had pete buttigieg and amy klobuchar and people who it way clear couldn't w came clear couldn't win, stepped out. bernie sanders stepped out sooner than with hillary clinton. yesterday you had president barack obama adding his name to the list of endorse mrnments.

as someone who worked in the party a long time, how do you feel about the array rather than the disarray of the democratic party? >> at the next change of pace, it's just a sign democrats understand everything that's at stake and for many of us, we understood that long before what's happened over the past three months with covid-19, but you know, we've had a rolling set of disasters perpetrated by this administration, and i think it's a testament to how serious we take this election. it's also a testament to the relationships that joe biden has built over really the entirety of our party, from bernie sanders and barack obama to the rest of the slate of candidates. so we are united, and we are focused on getting through what's ahead of us related to covid-19 but also continuing the whole the president accountable coming into november. coming up on "morning joe," our next guest a longtime critic

of the president. we'll talk to dan drezner who compares the president to a toddler. plus obama advisers valerie jarrett joins us with an endo e endorsement of her own. "morning joe" is back in a moment. i just love hitting the open road and telling people

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today i'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the world health organization while a review is conducted to assess the world health organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. american taxpayers provide between $400 million and $500 million per year to the w.h.o. in contrast china contributes roughly $30 million a ye40 mill even less america's leading sponsor the united states has a duty to assist on full accountability. >> president trump -- >> full accountability?

again, if you live in a glass house, you don't have people throwing rocks at others. he talked about full accountabili accountability. go back and look at his quotes. they're far worse than the world health organization's. the world health organization screwed up. china screwed up. donald trump screwed up. >> a lot. >> a lot. >> a lot, a lot. >> the difference is, americans really have one vote this fall, and it's for one of those three people, who really are organizations, countries, who really botched this. >> so to be clear. the world health organization does own a number of significant failuring in the coronavirus pandemic. for example, back on december 31st, taiwanese officials warned the w.h.o. they had seen evidence that the virus could be transmitted human to human but said its concerns were not passed on to other countries. >> by the way, world health

organization officials wouldn't even talk about -- wouldn't even talk about -- taiwan, in interviews, despite the fact they were passing along that warning. >> january 14 belong, w.h.o. tweeted, preliminary investigations conducted by the chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human to human transmission. the agency took another week to reverse that information. >> yeah, but what about donald trump during that same time, mika? >> ah, the trump administration said they were working closely with china, and that everything was "under control." >> we're working very strongly with china on the coronavirus that's a new thing that a lot of people are talking about. hopefully it won't be as bad as some people think it could be, but we're -- we're working very closely with them, and with a lot of other people and a lot of other countries, and we think we have it very well under control. >> the chinese government was still lying to us, and donald

trump. and here's the thing. donald trump's own administration knew they had been lying to him and knew they weren't working with us the way our scientists and doctors needed them to. when he was going out lying to the american people about china. >> on january 22nd, a w.h.o. emergency committee debated whether to declare covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern. at that point the virus had already spread to several countries. critics argue making such a declaration would have better prepared the world. >> what did donald trump do, though? >> well, nearly a full month later, president trump severely minimized the threat saying when-owhe "when you have 15 people and the 15 people in a couple of days will be down to 0, that's a pretty good job." >> that's a month after the w.h.o. was criticized? >> yes it is.

>> a month later. >> yes, sir. >> saying 15 people down to 0. okay. obviously donald trump's record far worse than the w.h.o.'s there as well. >> january 311 he 131, head of w.h.o. doesn't recommend trade and movement. a declaration many feel in retrospect was ill -advised. at least they believed it was real. something this president questioned nearly a month later. >> this is their new hoax. but, you know, we did something pretty amazing. we're 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have hadality more than that. had a lot more than that. >> 15. says down to 0. saying that back in february. he also said it was going to magically go away. don't worry about it. everything's under control. it's going to magically go away in april. here we are in april, 30,000 americans have died from it.

more americans have died of this epidemic than died in 9/11. >> 30,000 deaths. >> than died in both iraq wars. than died in the afghanistan war. and donald trump was guaranteeing in february that there was nothing to worry about. it would magically go away in april and yet in new york city alone 10sh,000 deaths. that's more than 9/11, both iraq wars and afghanistan. >> now, the w.h.o. also did a number of things right. for instance, on february 6th the organization shipped a quarter of a million tests worldwide. yet a month later president trump made this now infamous false statement about the number of tests available in the u.s. >> anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. they're there. they have the tests. and the tests are beautiful. anybody that needs a test gets a test. and i like this stuff. you know, my uncle, a great

person. was at m.i.t. taught at m.i. tinchtst. i lie number of years. a great supergenius. dr. john trump. i like this stuff. i really get it. how do you know so much about this? maybe i have a natural ability. maybe should have done that instead of running for president. >> it's all lies. has anybody ever been more ill-equipped for the president of the united states? don't answer. it's a rhetorical question. lying about everybody wanting a test can get a test? no. they can't even in his home county, where at least mar-a-lago, in palm beach county, there are hardly any tests there. there are hardly any tests across the country. >> joining us now, professor of international politics at the fletcher school of law and diplomacy and tufts yufrd, daniel drezner. new book, "toddler in chief:

what donald trump teaches us" and msnbc political analyst also joins us, susan del percio. >> let's talk about, dan drezner, talk about the most glaring mistake and that's testing. donald trump brags to 3 million people have already had tests in the united states. we of course have 320 million people around 320 million people in this country, and for millions and millions of americans, i sewed, noboaid, no get the test. unfortunately by the time many americans get the test, it's too late. they're already in the hospital suffering from coronavirus. we hear of people that get flu tests and then had to wait to get coronavirus tests in nursing homes and then they and so many others died. i mean, talk about the mismanagement on such an epic scale. >> where do you begin? you know, the fact is that the

administration was late in responding, and even when they did decide to respond, even when trump started taking this seriously, think about the press conference where he declared a national emergency, which was a month and a day ago, i believe. in which he promised there would be drive-thru testing promised google could set up a website there would be testing, people could go to test. made any number of promises about private/public partnerships none of which have come to fruition. the most frustrating thing about this is we are operating without any -- without really reliable data. for all the talk about trying to reopen the economy come may 1st, the only way you're going to be able to do that without immediately triggering a second wave of infections is by having quick and accurate testing that's relatively plentiful and we're not there. we're not even remotely there.

>> and, willie, every single scientist and doctor. dr. gottlieb, everybody, says the same thing. without widespread testing and tracing we can't fully reopen the economy until a vaccine. >> and there's no national plan to have widespread testing. remember a few weeks ago the president famously said what do you want the federal government to do? stand on the street corner handing out tests? how about a plan for the country, for one thing. susan del percio, where you sit in new york city yesterday the mayor announced that new york will make its own tests in the absence of a national plan and a national program. it said it looked around the world. what governors have been doing now for several weeks, shopping the world trying to find, you know, equipment, protective equipment, but also testing. so they've turn fed to company carmel, indiana that's going to give them 1,000 tests a week and beginning in may new york city

will make its own tests because there is no national movement to test everyone. >> it's interesting in response to that, governor cuomo was asked in his briefing why isn't new york state doing that? governor cuomo gave an interesting response. when it came to the tests themselves he said we're going to see the same problem we did with ppe. they're going to make contracts with municipalities and states and then they're going to have a bidding war. then he actually gave donald trump a great opportunity to show leadership and said, why not have fema take over and manufacture testing and put out the defense production act? like fema said they would do march 24th and put out 60,000 tests. have the federal government be responsible. donald trump could take credit. it could look like leadership. he won't do it, but that would be something the federal government could do, because, again, i think looking at what happened with ppe, and all of the people who ended up paying

so much more than they could afford for that production of that stuff, now it comes to testing and they can't -- they're not going to be able to get it. >> well, and because donald trump's administration failed miserably in testing from the very start, the fda was forced to throw open, i think it was february 29th, testing to private companies. and now they're complaining. many of the government complaining, that a large percentage of these tests are garbage. they're coming back with false positives, false negatives. and so that's why we're getting reports that people may be getting this twice. dan drezner, talk about your book. "toddler in chief." most important obviously that started and a twitter feed we've enjoyed since 2017. the subtitle intrigues me the most because it's what we need to learn from this terrible, i say terrible four years. what has donald trump taught us

about the modern presidency, and what reforms do we have to put in place moving forward, whether it's a democratic or republican president, because it seens to me our system relies far too much on the goodwill and the good intentions of the president of the united states, whoever he or she may be? >> right. that's correct. i mean, the deeper story here, i mean, the book has two arguments. first that donald trump acts like a toddler and there's a bounty of evidence for that. you can read the book for more on this. the deeper argument is this is a much bigger problem than it would have been, say, 50 years ago, because essentially all of the checks and balances that were traditionally placed on the president in the form of constitutional checks, from congress and the judiciary, to checks in terms of the bureaucracy, statutes that limit what the president can do to more informal things, behavior we might expect, have eroded badly. a lot eroded prior to donald

trump getting elected. essentially, polar snaiization r country rendered congress incapable of doing a lot of its functions. so over a long period of time congress began delegating more and more authority to the president, and in some instances presidents from both parties simply took that authority because they knew a divided congress wouldn't be able to take it back and essentially all done because it was thought that essentially the president would be the last adult in washington, d.c. and then we elected donald trump. so the thing we have to realize is that the presidency needs to be child-proof. you don't want to completely strip the executive of its power. obviously, if anything else this crisis teaches us that occasionally ke do need a strong executive. but you also want to make it clear that a president who acts in an incredibly immature way should, in fact, be constrained. not just by congress or the supreme court. also by things like civil

service rules or the military justice system or what have you. you need to simultaneously restore congressional control and oversight over the executive branch. we also need, frankly, to rebuild norms. we need to make it a taboo fomp the president to interfere in the military justice system. taboo for the president to fire inspectors general without cause can, and presidents need to pay a price for that. as a result, the best way to restore some of these checks is for donald trump to lose in november 2020. >> so, dan, this is an extraordinarily important conversation. >> complicated. >> i want to continue. we're up against a hard break right now. >> yeah. >> but i know you had a long commute to the studio this morning and wondering if you can take that long commute tomorrow, and if we can have you back and have a panel talk about this. because we have to talk about where we go from here after donald trump. >> the book is "the toddler in

chief: what donald trump teach ares us about the modern presidency." daniel drezner, thank you very much for coming on this morning. >> hope to see you tomorrow. coming up, joe biden just picked up some serious fire power with the endorsement of histomorrow. and we'll talk to longtime obama adviser valerie jarrett, next on "morning joe." jarrett, next on "morning joe." deep, sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. in nearly 100 years serving the military community, we've seen you go through tough times and every time, you've shown us, you're much tougher your heart, courage and commitment has always inspired us and now it's no different so, we're here with financial strength, stability and experience you can depend on and the online tools you need because you have always set the highest standard and reaching that standard is what we're made for

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network with little regard for the truth. on the other hand, pandemic have a way of cutting through a lot of noise and spin, to remind us of what is real and what is important. this crisis has reminded us that government matters. it's reminded us that good government matters. joining us now is valerie jarrett. her latest book "finding my voice, when the perfect plan crumbles, the adventure begins" is out now. more timely than ever, valerie. let's start with year endorsement this morning. take it away. >> good morning, everyone on set. i of course support vice president biden.

his proven track record, his intellect, his commitment to science and evidence, his willingness to galvanize not just our party, but our country, as we come out of this recovery, and i know we will, it would be more important than ever that the person at the helm has a track record that will make sure everyone recovers, not a few. willie geist? >> yes, al. i vitaly reporting that elizabeth warren will add her endorsement. the week included one from bernie sanders, and of course from barack obama, your former boss. a lot of people have wondered about the timing of president obama's endorsement, why he didn't hop in sooner. can you speak to you, now that

he has endorsed, was there ever a moment he considered stepping into the race? people forget it did not look good after new hampshire, say, or somewhere along the way. did president obama consider endorsing his former vice president? >> uh, no willie. first, he believes in the will of the people. it was important to go through the primary process, let vice president biden expos himself to the country so everyone could get to know him the way we do. but also, and importantly, he thought it would be important to have at the ability to galvanize, heal, pull our party together, and if he put his thumb on the scale earlier, i don't think he would be in a position to do what he's done now. let's face it, the entire party is galvanizing early. that gives us great running room between here and november to make sure that joe biden brings it home and wins back the white house. >> valerie, susan del percio has

a quell for you. >> when we last spoke, we were talking about increasing voter enrollment. now we see that there's a big drive for registering or in voting by mail. how concerned are you that the president is looking to privatize the post office, limit the amount of service that is possible for the post office with all of this effort on mail-in voting? >> very concerned, in a word. i think as, you know, earlier this week, michelle obama announced when we all vote, an organization she formed, a call on congress to ensure that we have the ability to have absentee ballots. we shouldn't have to choose between our health and our most fundamental right to vote. i think we should make it as easy as possible for people to

vote, and unfortunately beef seen some states have passed laws, practices have been put in place to suppress the vote. we should be doing the oop sit. technology is our friend. the ability to do absentee balloting is something we could fund and have in place if we get ready right now. >> that's what's so important right now, valerie. i said last week that maybe 30, 40, 50 million people voted by mail in the 2016 campaign, but what if it was over 100 million? what if we encouraged republicans, democrats, independenting to all vote early? and then i heard about when we all vote. tell us about michelle obama's plan, and what is the hope as we move forward? is it an education drive? what exactly is that program planning to do? and how are they going to get people to vote? >> well, so when we all vote is

all about changing our culture around voting. in the last presidential election 100 million people, 43% of eligible voters didn't vote. that should be a concern to us. our approach is if we change the culture and target particularly young people who have the most to lose, have the most at stake, over time we'll see an increase. we saw a big tick up in the midterm elections and that's encouraging. and it isn't about one election or one candidate. it matters who is in the city council, who is in the state legislature, who our prosecutors are. we have to have an education campaign and influencers reach people where they are and convince them that government matters. i think this pandemic is an example of how important a functioning, strong government is, led by people who are not putting themselves first, but

putting us first. >> valerie jarrett, thank you. her book is amazing. "finding my voice." i know because i've read it. >> great talking with you again. >> thank you both. stay safe. >> you took. a sign of hope emerged during yet another dark week. following a days of blustering winds and unrelenting rain, a remarkable double rainbow streamed over the city's skyline on monday night, the mesmerizing arch appeared just as the nightly cheers for our nation's health care heroes on the front lines began to die down. wow that's symbolism. >> willie, the hope, the positive sign that's coming out now is the fact that some of the numbers are going down while the death rate continues to be far too high. some numbers in new york are suggesting the curve is finally flattening. >> yes, i'm hearing cautious

optimism from inside the icus and ers, not to say they're happy places and everything has stabilized, but fewer people are now coming into the hoptsds. i'm hearing better stories about protective equipment. they don't have all that they need, but it's much better. they may still need it down the road. i think i'm hearing what you hear from dr. fauci and dr. birk. there's green shoots here, but the reason there's good news is because of the way we all have behaved in the last month. if we want the news to continue to be good, and for there not be as much bad news as there was in new york, it has to continue this way. >> will, my gosh, you've got to just salute the people of new york. the doctors, nurses, emt, cops, firefighters, but also the citizens of new york city who

came together after 9/11. they have done it again. if you want to know why the curve is flattening, if you want to know why 100,000-plus americans may not die here is because the people of new york city and the people of america followed the advice of the smartest minds in america, the doctors, the scientists. they have stayed at home. it's been difficult, they have sacrificed, and we just may be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for this first wave. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. thanks, mika. thank you, joe. hi there. i am stephanie ruhle. it's wednesday, april 15th. here are the facts this hour. this morning the number of u.s. deaths from coronavirus has shot up from 23,000 yesterday to roughly 30,000 today. the number of cases is