's re.al ♪ ♪ we have to get this right and our job is to press for answers and hold the leaders accountable because information and straight talk can overcome fear. we hope you'll continue to stay inform and stay engaged as we follow this journey together. i'm lester holt. and many of the colleagues working at home, take care and take care of each other. good evening. i'm joy reid continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. the president again used his coronavirus task force briefing to lash out at the world health organization. it's an effort to distract from

his own failure to prepare and respond efficiently to this pandemic. here was the president just a few moments ago. >> tragically other nations put their in the w.h.o. and they didn't do any form of ban and you see what happened to italy and what happened to spain. you see what happened to france. w.h.o.'s guidance had failed to control their borders at a very crucial phase, quickly up leashing -- unleashing the contagion around the world. that was a mistake or perhaps they knew. i'm sure they didn't know the gravity. >> coronavirus has killed more than 32,000 americans. it's a sobering reminder of what's at stake as this

president casts about for someone besides himself to blame. in defunding the w.h.o. yesterday trial accused them, saying they were too trusting of china. >> the w.h.o. willingly took china's assurances at face value and took it at face value. and defended the actions of the chinese government and praising china for the so-called transparency. >> but let's be clear. it was donald trump -- donald trump who praised the china's so-called transparency in a tweet in january. there it is on the screen. likewise, he praised the w.h.o. for working very hard and very smart in february. and that was after -- after his china travel ban. but in his search for a

scapegoat, he would rather us forget that he defended china and the w.h.o. and he took chinese president xi at his word and he denied any concerns about a cover-up. >> i spoke with president xi of china, and he's working very hard on this. china is very -- you know, very professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control. we just sent some of our best people over there, world health organization and a lot of them are composed of our people, they're fantastic. >> are you concerned that china is koovring up -- >> no, china is working very hard. they're in touch with our world health organization. cdc also. we're working together, but the world health is working with them. >> are you still satisfied with how president xi is handling the coronavirus? >> i think president xi is working very hard. >> donald trump's decision to halt funding to the w.h.o. has been widely rebuked.

you'll be surprised to hear. the american medical association warned of wide ranging ramifications. the u.s. chamber of commerce of all people said that the move is not in u.s.'s interests. bill gates said it's as dangerous as it sounds and speaker nancy pelosi said this decision is illegal. and will be swiftly challenged. tonight, donald trump said the latest data shows the country has passed the peak of the new coronavirus cases and he will announce guidelines to reopen the economy tomorrow. while he said companies and state governors will reopen, he threatened action if he disagrees with the decision. >> well, the federal government and if we're not happy we'll take strong action against a state or a governor if we're not happy with the job that the governor is doing we'll let them know about it. as you know, we have very strong

action we can take including a close-down. we have the right to do what we want but we wouldn't do that, but no we'd have the right to close down that they're doing. >> nope. i'm joined now by gretchen whitmer, the democratic governor of michigan. do you have any idea what he's talking about, that donald trump claims -- without any constitutional authority that he has the right to quote close down if he doesn't like what a governor is doing regarding the decisions they make to reopen their economies. >> you know, all i can say is that we governors, democratic and republican alike, are communicating with one another. sharing best practices. listening to our medical experts. that's what's going to drive these decisions. the worst thing for our economy would be to just pretend like nothing had happened the day after, you know, this -- these stay at home orders are lifted. go back to -- you know, life as

usual and then have a second wave that would be devastating. we have to be smart and we have to be data driven and making decisions that phase in the re-engagement of our economies. we have to make the judgment on the ground. that's in the purview of the governors. we stepped in and issued the stay at home orders and we're the best and the only ones with the authority to determine when it's right to lift them. >> there's been a lot of options to choose from, but one of the most outrageous this president say in what he believes is his authority. this is donald trump talking about federalism and what he thinks it means. >> we're letting the governors do in their states pretty much what they want. we have a thing called the constitution. which i cherish. number one. and as you know, i want the governors to be running things. they can't do anything without the approval of the president of the united states.

when somebody is the president of the united states, the authority is total. and that's the way it's got to be. >> your authority is total. >> total. >> governor, he says we are letting the governors pretty much do what they want. he says the governors need to be running things through him. he says the governors can't do anything without the approval of the president of the united states. and says that his authority is total. that is not an old clip of hugo chavez, that is donald trump. what do you make of his belief that he is essentially your boss? >> well, bullies hopes -- you know, desires, they don't mean anything right now. what is important is science. and facts. and understanding that this is a global pandemic. we need to stop pitting one another against each other whether it's the w.h.o. or it is

the nation's governors or it's the president of another country. right now, all of our energy needs to be focused on fighting covid-19. as the united states of america. and you have every american in this country no matter what state they live in, that's the kind of leadership that we need. that's the kind of leadership that i think we're seeing at the state level across the country. we governors have incredible authority and incredible responsibility and we are the ones who are going to determine when it is right to open up economies within our states. let me tell you this. every one of us is eager to do just that. but we have to be smart. we can't put people's lives in danger by going too fast or not making decisions based on our ability to test which is still not where it needs to be, our ability to trace those with covid-19 and ensure that we have the ppe that we need. the federal government has an

important role to be sure. they can be helpful on all of these metrics to put us in the position where we can start to think about responsibly and safely re-engaging our economies. >> yeah, i want to show you some video from today. this was a protest on a michigan street, i believe it happened earlier today. these were people who are protesting the stay at home order that you as governor with the authority to do to issued in your state. and hopefully we can show that on screen now. some of these people were flying not just trump maga flags but also confederate flags. here is what nicole hannah jones wrote about that. we're getting that video ready to roll. what nicole posted is ask yourself what do confederate flags have to do -- there it is. there's the video. what do confederate flags have to do with protesting a stay at

home order and why did those who fly the trump flag also fly the flag that honors the former slave owners. it was one of the places they went to after the civil war was over and what do you make of people flying confederate flags on your streets to protest a stay at home order that's meant to save their lives? >> it was essentially a political rally, a political statement that flies in the face of all of the science, all of the best practices and the stay at home order that was issued. this looks like a lot of people and it felt like a lot of people but in the bigger scheme of things, michigan's a state of 10 million people. the vast majority of whom are doing the right thing. our hospitals had stepped up, our nurses, our doctors. the average citizen who is staying home or contributing in some way to help people on the front line. that's the story of really of

what's going on here. this group that came together without masks on, passing out candy with bare hands to children who were congregating together, brandishing their weapons, having posters of being anti-choice, this was a political rally. it was a political rally that is going to endanger people's lives because this is precisely how covid-19 spreads. let me just add one more thing. the cars were blocking one of our hospitals so an ambulance literally wasn't able to get into the bay for ten minutes. this is the kind of behavior that extends the need for a stay at home orders, that spreads covid-19, that overruns communities and this is precisely the worst thing that could have happened today. i'm all for people having a difference of opinion. if people are angry and i know there's a lot of angst and people are feeling it and they want to direct it at me, that's fine. i can take it.

but showing up and being this irresponsible is not just endangering their own lives but the abilities to meet the needs of the people of this state who are trying to do the right thing. >> yeah. indeed. well, hopefully they'll catch on and care about the things. governor gretchen whitmer. thank you. joining me now is ann a on my, field epidemiologist at the fielding school of public health. jonathan swan, national political reporter at axios and david frum from the atlantic and former speechwriter for president george w. bush. the idea of this president -- there are a lot of us who had severe challenges with the up extensions of authority after 9/11, the question of the civil liberties were at the moment

after 9/11 but i can't imagine having a president coming out and saying that governors have to contact the white house and get his permission to either have stay at home orders or undo them. the governors work at the behest of the president of the united states. that does not sound like a democratically elected president, that sounds like a dictator. what do you make of the way that donald trump is speaking in this moment? >> well, in the year after 9/11, the bush administration was very controversial. one of the things that president bush had very much in mind was to create symbolic demonstrations of national unity to deal with economic issues and to work with the states. new york suffered so terribly and that strike was so constant in really a few blocks from manhattan. washington suffered too with the pentagon and pennsylvania too. and it was such a priority, for

the president. and the thing that's so strange about president trump, these are words. he gets all the odium of looking tyrannical or menacing but nothing actually happens. his main interest of course is in deflecting blame. looking tough but deflecting blame. >> but isn't it indeed also -- this is the dick cheney -- i'll make sure i pronounce it the chris matthews way, this is the executive that even after 9/11 that president bush didn't strive for. but this is the thing that bill barr, that dick cheney this is what they believe in. no? >> well, no advocate of unitary executive -- the unitary executive theory argue within the executive branch there are one executive.

no one ever thought that the president sub seems all the 50 other sovereignties of the states and of the territories. so this is from a theoretical point of view it's an attack on traditional conservative ideas, authority of the states is concurrent with the federal authorities and it's blow hardism. if the governors are accountable to the president, and the failings that are happening at the state level are the president's fault. it can't be both be true but everything bad that happens is the governor's fault and if you feel so strongly, you have so much control over the governors why aren't you testing at the states. >> jonathan swan, can i ask you in your reporting, do you know of a single governor -- maybe some of the red state governors that are willing to call donald

trump, call the white house and ask for permission, whether they're going to close or open their states? that a thing that governors are do, that they're going to ask donald trump's permission after what to do with their state's populations? >> no. they aren't. i think that what is going to happen sooner rather than later and potentially sets up quite a dangerous clash is you're going to have president trump tell people it's time, we have been closed long enough. we can't be closed forever. and we need to open up. and in whatever formlation that he releases it. whether it's staggered, you know, geographically or whatever. there are going to be some governors who like the governor you just spoke to who do not agree with his general thrust. you then get a situation where it's not about powers. it's about the power of the bully pulpit and his rhetorical

power and there's a lot of people in each of the states who listen to every word that president trump says and they will be out on the streets protesting in the ways you're seeing now. but you multiply that by when president trump turns the corner and starts to push for reopening. you could see some very troubling scenes in some of these states. because he does have tremendous rhetorical power. and i think we get too bogged down in the legal argument which is sort of irrelevant, i think. it's much more about his audience and what they'll do. >> let me play a congressman who represents indiana. here he is talking about which thing is more important. getting the money back flowing or human lives. >> it is always the american government's position in the choice between our way of life as americans and the loss of

life of american lives, we have to always choose the latter. it is policymakers' decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say this is the lesser of these two evils. it's not zero evil, but it's a lesser of the two evils and we move forward in that direction. >> if ayn rand were still alive she would say the exactly same thing. ann, in the real world, isn't the way that this is supposed to work is that we have a robust enough regime of testing so that we know who is at risk, who has had it, who has antibodies for the virus and is safe to send back to work and who is not. isn't that the way it really should work and if that's the case then we don't have enough testing. >> well, joy, exactly. here's the i think what. we are not where we need to be with testing. we are not where we need to be

withppe or the equipment we need. we are not able to trace the contacts and to be able to make sure that we have available to us what we need to do to reduce spread of this virus. we've learned over time here as money of us who are epidemiologists working in this field have known that pandemic preparedness has been very, very poorly funded, underfunded. for a very long time. and now we're paying the price. this is not just an issue of economics. this is of course an issue of human life and politics as somebody who has spent my entire career working in places like the democratic republic of the congo where i have been for more than 20 years, running studies on ebola and other diseases, epidemics and politics are inextricably bound and

intertwined and often get in the way of epidemic response. we have seen it in other countries, we're seeing it here now. this is an unfortunate truth but what we do know is that we have to put american lives first. and one of the things that is very concerning to me is this idea of defunding the world health organization speaking of putting lives first. if we defund the world health organization, we are going to be doing significant damage not only globally but right here as we have learned we are as safe as any other place in the world. we are all interconnected. and we must have the world health organization being able to manage this epidemic in other places. >> yeah. well said. ann, thank you for saying that. jonathan swan, david frum are staying with me for a little bit longer. coming up, the primary focus right now at the white house is not the pandemic, it's donald trump's political future.

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welcome back. donald trump reportedly sees the push to reopen the economy as central to his political fortunes. according to "the washington post" despite the president's push for a may 1st reopening, trump's advisers are trying to shield the president from political accountability. should his move to reopen the economy result in lost lives. adding, they are trying to mobilize business executives and other prominent figures to buy into the white house plan so that if it does not work, the blame can be shared broadly. well, trump and his team don't want to attach his name to the premature reopening of the company like his buildings and the golf courses and the hotels. the treasury department get this has ordered trump's name to be

printed on stimulus checks the irs is rushing to send to tens of millions of americans. a process that could slow the delivery by a few days according to officials. according to nbc news, it breaks with precedent when it comes to payments and indicates that trumps wants americans to associate whim with the cash transfers which were passed by congress as he gears up for re-election this fall. moments ago trump denied the checks were delayed because his name was affected to them. jonathan swan and david frum are back with me. jonathan swan, the idea that people have to wait longer to get the money that some people are desperate for because donald trump wants his name on them is so vulgar. but it appears to be the case. now he said i don't know about that. what's your reporting on it? >> well, treasury denies it and in "the post" report they have a

denial, they cite irs officials as saying it could delay it. i don't know where -- i don't have my own reporting on that story. but i do know that trump wanted to actually have his signature on the checks himself and that this was a compromise they came up with. he wanted his signature on the checks so there was no mistaking when someone got them in the mail that it was donald trump sending the checks to them. >> does he think people are going to frame it? people are going to cash it. anyway, the idea he's going to recess congress whether it's russia russia russia or whether it's impeachment hoax, this is a sound bite. he's going on and about adjourning congress is this something he'll do or is he just talking, jonathan? >> good question. i don't know that he's going to

do it. it would be a very extreme move. it's never been done before in american history. it's in the constitution, but i think he would run into real trouble with mitch mcconnell who i don't think would green light something like this. but i'm told it's something he's considering from white house aides. >> yeah. we don't know if the mitch mcconnell takes or gives orders. its not clear. let's talk about the other story that donald trump per "the new york times" said he envisioned having a two-hour radio show. he wants his own radio show every day and were it not for the fact that he didn't want to compete with rush limbaugh, he didn't want to cut into his time slot he would have done it. there was somebody who tweeted this earlier and i noted that somebody pointed out that this is something that hugo chavez did. he launched his own radio show

back in 2010. he talks on television an radio and he frequently seizes the airwaves to expounds his views and makes frequent use of the law to force private television and radio stations to broadcast his speeches. is that what donald trump is going for? does he want to be an entertainer or be like chavez? >> i interpreted the story in a slightly different way. i see them as a signs of a president who is jittery and losing his grip. that two hour a day radio story contained a slap at limbaugh. he could not forebear saying to one of his most important media allies -- by the way, i'm a bigger star than you. rush limbaugh is an ego main yak just like trump. he won't take it well. mr. president in your own kratss

terms, remember 80 million americans are having the checks put directly into their accounts and only the people who haven't set up direct deposit. it's not like as many as who get direct deposit you'll delay them. those tend to be older and rural people and disproportionately to be your people. you're going to delay their checks and you're going to -- all of the odium, you won't get much credit from the 80 million people who won't see it. just think in your own terms does this make sense. and the business about adjournment it's not going to happen. why do you get mitch mcconnell's back up and all of this is like a player bobbling a ball because he's nervous lost. president trump does -- they used to sort of work for him and now they've stopped. >> it is remarkable.

last question to you, jonathan swan. it is pretty remarkable he should have thought those things through. president trump announced he'd have an economic revival council, at least six of the ceos were unaware of the participation. your thoughts, jonathan? >> well, i think the poor guys trying to cover this story. it's been line a hundred different versions of the task force. we're briefed on different names. it was supposed to meet physically then they're not neating physically and the whole thing comprises of phone calls to business people. that's the latest on the task force. it's been the bane of my existence for the last three days but it doesn't actually exist. it's just a series of phone calls. >> this is the muppet show. this isn't even real. unbelievable.

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safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today. welcome back. as new york continues to make progress flattening the curve, washington, d.c. mayor bowser is

warning they need to do more work to flatten the curve. they have more than 70 deaths. three-quarters of the deaths are african-americans. mayor bowser warns that the city's outbreak isn't set to peak until late may or early june. and today she extended the public health emergency until may 15th. and mayor bowser joins me now. thank you for being here. and i want to start by playing for you one of the issues that you have raised repeatedly by is the funding that d.c. has, that you have available to try to flatten the curve and do what you need to do for your city. here is donald trump being asked about the fact that the district is shortchanged in your view on the funding you get. take a listen. >> the district of columbia argues they were short changed in the most recent funding bill because they were treated as a territory instead of as a state. will that be made right in phase four? >> well, we're looking at that,

certainly. i heard that complaint but the mayor seems to be very happy with everything we have done. >> are you happy with everything that's been done? my understanding is that while each state gets $1.25 billion of direct aid, d.c. only gets -- having a population like vermont. donald trump said you're very happy with things. >> no. i'm certainly not. and i have spoken directly to the president, the vice president and members of the task force. we still want to talk to secretary mnuchin because we think that the white house can make the district whole with funding. and we know that the white house and the congress can get together, can fix in the next bill this reference to d.c. as a territory. and we want to make perfectly clear that residents of washington, d.c. are unique in the american system but we are taxpayers.

federal taxpayers just like every state. so when we talk about our response to covid-19 we should be treated with federal funding just like we are with everything else from education to medicare to housing. you name it. we're treated as a state. >> yeah. i mean, the district is 46% african-american, so just like nationwide there's a disproportionate amount of death within the black community and in the district as well. have you been able to get the kind of metrics -- we know that the institute for health metrics and evaluation, when things are peaking, do you have anything on the table that you have received that helps you to mitigate against that which is really a racialized crisis? >> well, it is -- it really is. i knew early on when i saw some of the underlying conditions including diabetes that

african-americans would be hit very hard in our city. and across the country. today, in my mayor's order i charged one of our health care finance agency which runs the medicaid program to be more proactive the reaching out to those with underlying conditions that participate in one of the programs. so we'll try to flood them with information, make sure they're connected to care. and more than that, make sure that they're getting tested and that people around them know that they have conditions that would make them more susceptible to this virus. >> yeah. we know that there was some objection -- rand paul is not happy with the howard university getting a certain amount of money in the last bill. what do you need, what does the district actually need in terms of funding, where does that

funding need to go, what do you want to see in fourth bill specifically for the district? >> specifically, we want to be made whole. so that we need to be treated as a state and federal funding just like we're treated for everything else. education, housing, you you name it. we are following very closely what the city governments and in terms of housing responses, for example. we know that hud is going to have quite a lot of money and we think that recovery should also focus on the disproportionate impact this virus has had on many groups. and we know that housing is a condition that makes the health outcomes of african-americans less than the white counterparts in the city and across the country. we're also on the immediate response working hand in hand with fema on the supplies we need and just like other jurisdictions we continue to

need ppe and testing so that we can get our city back open as well. we know that the federal government plays a special role in how jurisdictions, states and when you say the 50 states and washington, d.c. so having 50 states and washington, d.c. can get back open because we are concerned about that. i extended the public health emergency today to may 15th. we're actually seeing -- we have less infection in the city today than our models suggested that we would. so that that sacrifices that the businesses and residents are making is flattening the curve and i'm hopeful by mid may to late may we'll see the levels of infection come down. >> absolutely. i know plenty of people who live in the district and thank you for what you're doing. really appreciate it. folks are staying home.

thank you so much, d.c. mayor muriel bowser. up next, joe biden is racking up the big name endorsements now that he's the apparent democratic nominee. can he unify the party enough to beat donald trump? we are back after this. hi, it's jan from toyota. we know how important it is to have a safe, reliable vehicle right now. so toyota is here to help. to ensure your toyota is in top condition, many toyota service centers are open to serve you- with certified technicians and genuine toyota parts. and many even offer online service scheduling- and no-contact vehicle drop-off. we're here for you. contact your local toyota dealer to see how they can help. toyota we've worked to provide you with the financial strength, stability, and online tools you need. and now it's no different. because helping you through this crisis

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we can't afford to let donald trump continue to endanger the lives and livelihoods of every american that's why i'm proud to endorse joe biden as president of the united states. joe biden is a selfless public servant. he is committed to the fight for social, racial and economic justice. joe biden will lead a government that works for the american people. >> welcome back. that was senator elizabeth warren this morning announcing her endorsement of joe biden.

it follows a string of big-name endorsements starting with bernie sanders on monday. and yesterday, former president barack obama had and these words to share about these vice president of eight years. >> choosing joe to be my vice president was one of the best decisions i ever made and he became a close friend and i believe joe has all of the qualities we need in a president right now. through all his trials he's never once forgotten the values or moral fiber that his parents pass tsdz on to him. he has the experience to guide us through one of the darkest times and heal us through a long recovery. >> for more, i'm joined by the chief public affairs officer for moveon.org and it's clear that elizabeth warren went to the barack obama school, with beautiful backgrounds behind

her. as you yourself. did you have it on your bingo card that elizabeth warren would be the last one in the door to endorse joe biden after bernie sanders and president obama? >> i did not have it on my bingo card but earlier this week after clearly after bernie, after obama i was like elizabeth warren might be next. you have to give it to the biden campaign. this was a well orchestrated rollout of back-to-back endorsements. we are talking about bernie, obama, warren. and what it shows is it shows the unity. it shows the momentum that the biden campaign can roll with moving forward. and also it allowed biden to break through a little bit in the media this week which he hasn't really been able to do. look, joy, the last time we saw the democratic party so unified besides 2012 when obama was running unopposed because of his

re-election was in 2004. something else that happened this week that shows where democrats are which is wisconsin. i mean, those results that we saw from wisconsin this week where you saw democrats were incredibly motivated. last tuesday when folks went out to vote in wisconsin, it was in the middle of a pandemic. a middle of a crisis and it was with republicans doing their voter suppression like they normally do, like they have been for some time now. and they came out and they voted and they showed they were ready to beat donald trump. and so i think that this is -- this is a good place for biden to be headed into the general election. >> yeah. you said 2004 and i had -- i got a minimigraine because i worked on that campaign. didn't go so well for the democrats. but within the people that -- that have endorsed donald trump,

there are a lot of his potential vp picks that are mixed up in there. let me put up the people who are talking as far as potential running mates. elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar. kamala harris. people early on were thinking a biden/harris ticket. governor whitmer and stacey abrams who gets a lot of buzz, about her being the best pick. janine shaheen, sally yates. is there a strategy that makes the most sense to you? >> i've got to tell you, this is a tough one. i mean, the one thing that democrats can say is when you're looking at the choices for a woman as vp, it is a very strong bench that the democrats have. look, it depends what biden wants to do. right? because here's the thing. when people ask me what does biden need to do now, basically

he has to figure out how to expand the map and he has a much -- many paths to 270 than donald trump does. when you look at the wonderful, amazing candidates t women he can choose from, how does he do that? which one will help him get to that 270, get that base invigorated, get that coalition going. you remember black women as we talk about all the time they are a force to be reckoned with so you have to think about that. you have to think about young people. you have to think about educated women. you have to think about the coalition and for biden what we saw in the primary it was older voters, it was black voters. it was the suburban women and so he was building that coalition. now how does he make that even stronger going into the general election knowing once again you have to get to 270. another thing too that we're seeing is in north carolina he's up in north carolina. he's up in arizona.

which is very good for him. of the two states going into play this is a much different race than 2016. that's kind of how they have to think about this, how do they get to think about the south. south carolina, kentucky, georgia has two senate seats open. you have to think southern. >> georgia. >> kareem john pierre. i meant georgia. you didn't tell us who he is going to pick. next time. health care workers across america grapple with their grim new reality. a grapplwie th thei new reality. heck, they'd come all the way out here just for a blurry photo of me. oh, that's a good one. wait, what's that? that's just the low-battery warning. oh, alright. now it's all, "check out my rv," and, "let's go four-wheeling." maybe there's a little part of me that wanted to be seen. well, progressive helps people save when they bundle their home with their outdoor vehicles. so they've got other things to do now, bigfoot. wait, what'd you just call me? bigfoot? ♪ my name is daryl.

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welcome back. across the country, health care workers are adjusting to new routines as they try to combat the coronavirus. caitlyn an icu nurse in st. louis shared her story. >> i am getting ready to go get screened, which is also part of the new normal. we have to get screened to enter the building, our temperatures taken, questions answered to make sure that we are not exposing our patients to anything from the outside world. i knew going into nursing going into being an icu nurse i would take care of the sickest of the sickest patients. did i know i would be a nurse during a pandemic? i don't think anything could have prepared me for that but i have seen some of the most amazing things in these last few

weeks. we have come together for a support system because nobody knows how to navigate and trying to get overwhelm. as icu nurses, we're used to having access to our patients. we have very sick patients and we're used to going in there and assessing and reassessing them but now we have to really cluster our care to try to cut down exposure time in the room, but at the end of the day, the most rewarding part of this job is to be able to take a breathing tube out of a patient and we've started doing that. patients are getting better. they're still incredibly sick but they're getting better. we know we're going to get through this. it's a tough road and at the end of the day, none of my co-workers regret this. none of my co-workers regret

being a nurse, a respiratory therapist, a doctor. we're here to help patients. pandemic or not, we're here and we will always be here. >> that is inspiring. we'll be right back. is inspiring we'll be right back. for nearly 100 years, we've worked to provide you with the financial strength, stability, and online tools you need. and now it's no different. because helping you through this crisis is what we're made for.

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lady gaga. all tomorrow morning. watch "morning joe" starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern with a special report, "isolation nation" at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" is next. good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. the winter solstice is the darkest day of the year and every day after the winter solstice is a little lighter but still very, very dark the day after the solstice and the day after that. that's where we appear to be here in the u.s. with the coronavirus pandemic with the first wave of the virus at or near the peak which is promising in the sense of what it means for where we might be in two weeks or four weeks or six weeks from now but it also means that what is happening now is as bad as it gets. more than 32,000 americans have died. we had our highest single day death