welcome to friday. it's "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd on a day when the coronavirus headlines go from bad to worse. cases are spiking dramatically across the sunbelt. in texas the governor has started rolling back the state's reopening plans. bars were ordered to close today. restaurant capacity is being scaled back. you can see why. the state is seeing exponential growth in cases and

hospitalizations and the rise continues. in florida the state said today, it will shut down bars as well. the number of cases there are exploding. the state reported an astonishing 8,000 plus cases. closer to 9,000 in one day. basically, doubling in one 24-hour period. that's one 24-hour period but it makes you wonder, what will the next 24 hours look like? these moves in two southern states may cause other southern states to scale back as well. cases are spiking all across the sunbelt. in some cases at exponential levels. while some places see their numbers decline, the sheer scale has men this country case curve bends in the wrong direction. we are almost back to square one. we're seeing an increase in hospitalizations which means we expect the number of deaths will start to go up as well. we just don't know by how much.

this afternoon the white house cyrus task force held the first public briefing in 60 days. since the last time they briefed the number of cases and deaths in this country have more than doubled. this afternoon the vice president claimed it was largely stable. he used an interesting phrase, measure of stability in 34 states. it's difficult to determine how exactly the white house is arriving at those figures. it was obvious that he and the other health officials appointed by the president were determined to downplay the severity of this outbreak. find any statistic to make it seem like a small hot spot. like using the idea of 3% of counties, not telling that you two of the four largest counties are among those. but mixed in was an acknowledgement that we have a serious problem right now in this country. the current strategy is simply not working. >> the substantial proportion of the people getting infected do not know they're infected. they're not symptomatic. they're asymptomatic individuals.

the classic paradigm of identification isolation and contact tracing to actually contain that is very difficult to make that work under those circumstances. >> he basically said we need to rethink our entire paradigm of how we isolate these outbreaks. we don't have a contact tracing program. as usual, with the warnings from doctors, pence had to awkwardly defend the president's behavior and attitude. pence would not outright say wear a mask, believe it or not, when asked about it. he defended the campaign's decision to buck local safety guidelines and hold indoor campaign rallies in hot spots. >> it really sounds like you're saying, do as we say. not as we do. you say listen to local officials but you defied local officials to hold an event. dozens of staffers are now

quarantined after positive tests. in arizona, one of the hardest hit states, you packed a church with young people who were not wearing masks. how can you say the campaign is not part of the problem that dr. fauci laid out? >> well, i want to remind you that the freedom of speech is enshrined in the constitution of the united states. even in a health crisis, the american people don't forfeit our constitutional rights. obviously he struggled to come one a better answer than that. in houston, just moments ago, texas reported another record day of hospitalizations. it is the first time texas has been over 5,000 on that metric. monica, let me begin with you. it was amazing to see all the different ways the vice

president could talk about following guidelines without uttering the word "mask." >> yeah, an artful tap dance with the vice president, certain that the president who was not at the briefing, was watching. so he wanted to be sure to sort of copy what the president of the united states has modeled, which he he won't be wearing a mask personally, even if his wife, the first lady, the top health officials believe that's one of the most important things that can be done to help slow the spread of coronavirus. what was also notable, the vice president went painstakingly into an effort to discuss all the other cdc guidelines that should be enforced but didn't want to go that far. he was actually wearing a face mask as he walked out to take the podium but he removed it before speaking and he never put it back on. you had the other doctors certainly wearing them. but it comes at a time when he's defending the president and his own 2020 re-elect effort which does say they'll continue to pack indoor venues and continue these rallies, despite the

warnings. and you have the vice president going to texas on sunday where he's going to be speaking to a mega church there. with several thousand people. again, indoors, limited social distancing, likely not required face masks. what is notable is that dr. deborah birx will join him on that trip. that's the first time we've seen her travel to these hot spots. she says she'll be visiting some others as well. the big question, we haven't heard the president reaction to what was said in that briefing. and of course the location, having the hhs versus the white house is significant because for so long, those officials were coming to us from the briefing room. they have decided they don't want to do that anymore. there's no plan to resume the coronavirus task force briefings from here at the white house. chuck? >> very quickly, the president was supposed to go to new jersey this weekends. new jersey has a 14-day quarantine for outsiders right now. marchly if you come from coronavirus hot spots and the president being in arizona this

week would qualify as that. i know the white house says he's not going because of that. have you gotten any other indication as to why the president abruptly essentially canceled his golf weekend? >> we don't know. when we asked the white house a couple days ago when the travel advisory went into effect if he was reconsidering it, they said absolutely not. he will continue to go in their words because he's not a civilian and these rules don't apply to him. they haven't told us why he's not going except to say they claim the 14-day quarantine they want from people coming into the tri-state area doesn't apply and had nothing to do with his decisionful it is notable because rarely does the white house advance give us a sense that he'll be going to new jersey, to his golf resort, so many days out. they did in this case. now they have to cancel the trim and it was hours before he was set to depart, add go another wrinkle to that, chuck. >> thanks. >> let's go down to the hot spot

within the hot spot. so priscilla, the big news this afternoon, the hospitalization number. explain what the governor has done today. and i guess the other question is, is he going to get harris county the power to do things beyond suggestions when it comes to this health crisis? >> reporter: well, chuck, those latest hospitalization numbers are certainly concerning. especially as the texas medical center reports, that they're already at 100% icu capacity. so we saw the governor issue an executive order this morning. and especially again with the positivity rate, too. that nearly 12%, which is incredibly high. he said that's part of what prompted him to issue this new executive order where he's going to be shutting down the bars at noon today. those bars were not allowed to reopen. we're here on washington avenue, an area full of bars that would normally be pretty packed on a friday or saturday night. now those bars are only going to

be allowed to do takeout and pick up options, and also restaurants. they were originally able to open their indoor space at 75% capacity. now that is being rolled back to 50%. and those outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people are being halted entirely unless folks are given special permission from their local governments which does not seem to be the case. we've heard from the local harris county judge and the mayor here today. both of them in full support of the governor's actions to close down those bars and roll back some of this. and you know, you talked about the issue of stay-at-home order, the judge saying that she would like the governor to give her the authority to do that. she issued a very severe warning that she does want folks to be staying inside. the governor has. that will be an absolute last resort and it doesn't appear he's there yet. >> and you know houston well. can you feel the slowdown today?

this went into effect. have you seen over the last 48 hours, just your observations? the city and county start to sort of change culturally on this? masks and otherwise? >> i think there's definitely a sense of change in the air. people i've spoken with saying they're certainly going to be more cautious and realliment onning for that to go option instead of even sitting on a patio at a restaurant. one of the interesting things here, we see the state and local officials enthese orders, dan patrick was on fox news last night saying there would be no going backwards in terms of these reopenings. and some people and business owners i've spoken to have expressed some level of confusion with this sort of back and forth about orders being issued and folks saying another thing. so part of it, too, people are really feeling the onus is on them to make a decision here because they're getting some mixed messages from the federal government, the state

government, and their local governments, chuck. >> i'm glad you brought up the lieutenant governor there. i think whether it's been political pressure on the governor or whatever it is, he's had an outsized role in this response. on the ground for us in houston. stay safe yourself, priscilla. thanks for your reporting there. i'm joined now by the atlantic's robinson myer, part of the one of the most widely cited sources. dr. barbara, we've gotten to know as the director of public health in l.a. county. i appreciate you both coming. on i want to play something the vice president said about the current spike and sort of why are we here? take a listen to his answer. >> i think there will be a temptation for people to look at these sunbelt states that have been reopening and putting people back to work.

and suggest that it has to do with what we're seeing in the last week or so. in the case of each of these states, they reopened in some cases, almost two months ago. and their test cases, their new cases, from testing, was low and steady. their positivity rate was low. >> robinson, break that down. what do you make of the vice president's explanation? >> thanks for having me. a strange explanation. saying these states opened two months ago, they opened before the white house guidelines would have suggested they open before the white house told them to. but arizona, texas, parts of florida, it is that they kind of reopened all at ones. instead of doing the staged reopenings where they openeds

abouts, restaurants just for outdoor eating, they went straight to allowing most businesses to open. and i think that, he doesn't mention that. as we discussed, it takes time for new infections to show up. two months ago, not many people were sick. they started interacting, they left their homes. six weeks later. the virus has had time to grow among the population and now it's really surging because we've reached the vertical upward line. >> barbara, i'm curious. i thought it was interesting. if you sort of muted the vice president, and you listened to birx and fauci, you would come away with a bit of an explanation of why we're here which was a failure on the contact tracing front. would you concur with that?

>> i'm not sure i would say it's a failure. i think there are lots of areas with a new virus where we've been hampered with the work. i think contact tracing is one tool. the mistake is to think that if you do contact tracing, you'll be able to fully contain the virus. there is no one tool that will fully contain the virus at this point. at the point we get the good therapeutics, a good vaccine, we'll be in much better shape. right now it's a combination of tools. you can do a lot with contact tracing. it relies heavily on good testing and capacity to test lots of people. then to have good information sent quickly to labs to a public health department so they can start that process of interviewing the case and finding their contacts. but you are going to lose some people in that process so you can't rely just on your contact tracing. you'll have to make sure that as

was noted earlier, we're all taking universal precautions at this point. we should assume we can be infected at any point in time and infect someone else and we have to assume anyone else can be infected and infect us. if we go about our business with that in mine, it gets easier to understand why we're face according, why we're keeping six feet of distance is so important. why you make sure you're not in a crowd situation. >> how would you answer the question of why the eu collectively has essentially put themselves in a place where they're controlling this virus a bit? or at least mitigating it so well and we are not? >> i want to differentiate. there are some countries in the eu that have let it ride out. but in most of the eu, it is not

as much of an issue and it is much more suppressed. what made those countries' performance different is first, they often had higher quality tests and better tests before we did. they didn't have this period in the spring where the virus was just allowed to spread without being able to be tracked. where you couldn't deliver a solid diagnosis. but also, the countries are different as they had a more stringent lockdown on travel, on how many people could be in a store that were more widely enforced and it lasted for longer. so even just tacking on two or three weeks to the length of lockdown that was for instance, in much of this country, it would have allowed the last of the cases to burn themselves out and left the latent virus in the population to avoid the surge we're seeing now. >> you've spoken out, barbara, on this issue. public health officials have been getting battered by our

politics a little bit. how much of that do you think has impacted the elected officials to not listen to their public health experts or to scapegoat they will, and that has hampered, you just heard one of my reporters, look at texas. the two top elected officials are giving mixed messages. the federal government is giving a mixed message. this has been a real challenge for people in your field. >> yeah. i really appreciate that question. i want to start by saying, i'm in a unique situation. that's not the story here in landfall county. a lot of support from elected officials and that includes the mayors in 85 plus cities. people are trying very, very hard to do what you just noted that is so important is to speak with one voice. it creates. so not could fusion. it is hard enough to understand this virus. if you had lots of leadership,

people contradicting each other, it makes it almost impossible for the public to know what's expected and what is the best advice. in that gray area, people will go off and make their own decisions based on information that may not be science-based. i appreciate so much this question. at the heart of us being able to actually contain the pandemic here in the united states is our ability to use the science in a way that allows to us speak with one voice so we don't create so much confusion. it is really, really asking a lot of people to try to navigate this uncertainty when there's confusion coming from different elected officials. >> big picture here. the south is the outbreak now. if we're going to continue to handle this virus like we are without sort of a national strategy, is this just what the

next six months will look like where we get a vaccine? they'll stamp it out here and we'll continue to have the rolling spikes around the country? >> in some ways we'll learn a lot watching the next week. there was this first surge in the northeast. it was followed by what seems like a general plateau across the country where we were seeing 20,000 cases a day with the vice president bragging about that, nothing to brag about, now we're seeing the surge in the thousands. they seem like they're not interested in the lockdown. i think we're going to learn basically, until we see the virus pull thank you population, like a region of the country without major -- [ inaudible ] that's going to determine what

the outlook is two or three months from now. the question is, if the south really gets going, or the sunbelt as a whole gets to get going, the northeast to the northeast in the spring. we are seeing it landing in the midwest and starting outbreaks there. so i think in some ways, the path for this virus over the next six months is determined by the actions over the next week or so where we see if the sunbelt moves forcefully to get ahead of the virus and contain it or whether it starts to let the virus roll through thousands or tens of thousands of people a day. we should have a nightmare that will set the calendar back on school reopenings and basically, put us in a place where the u.s. is dealing with a runaway outbreak that we've not seen until we take a national strategy and there's a vaccine

and really, really effective therapeutics. i appreciate you both providing your expertise and analysis with this situation. it seems grim. let's hope. should every governor in the sunbelt be rolling back reopening? you just heard the case for asking that question. i'll ask the governor of arkansas, as ia hutchinson. he said he's not planning any new restrictions. plus, a surging virus, ature blend economy, racial tensions. a grm of republicans is trying to use all of it to remove him from office. to remove him from office. balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health.

deposit checks, check balances, pay bills, and more. explore all you can do with our digital tools from almost anywhere. pnc bank. from almost anywhere. since your ancestors served in world war two. many of their stories remain untold. find and honor the veterans in your family. their stories live on at ancestry. and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward.

and its mission is to make sleep...feel...cool. so, no more night sweats. no more nocturnal baking, or polar ice cap air-conditioner mode. because the tempur-pedic breeze° delivers superior cooling from cover to core. helping you sleep cool, all night long. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, save $500 on all tempur-breeze mattresses... and experience your coolest sleep this summer, on our best breeze savings of the year.

welcome back. both texas and arkansas paused their reopening plans after

seeing a surge in coronavirus cases but they took some different paths today. texas governor abbott dropped restaurant capacity and mandated that all bars closed. he said the rise in cases is being driven by among other things texans congregating in bars. and in arkansas, the governor is not making those changes. he said the rise in new cases in his state is not due to businesses being reopened so arkansas republican governor asa hutchinson joins me now. i take it, how confident are you in your contact tracers that you feel as if you've got this contained in what's happening in texas isn't going to spread across the border? >> we took a little bit different approach, chuck. whenever we started reopening, we didn't do it all at once. we phased it in and that allowed us to watch the impact of new cases. so that's helped us. so today, we analyzed you know,

whether it is our restaurants, our bars, our barber shops, any of these that we've lifted some restrictions on, contributed to the increase in cases, and we didn't see a correlation. so we're not going to be punishing those business that's are trying to do the right thing. they're taking all the right precautions. we want to go where we are seeing the rise in cases, and deal in those environments. if we have to crunch down, put more restrictions on, we will. it is very important to follow that data. you ask how confident we are in it. our contact tracing is working. but as you know, when you have a rise in cases, that strains resources. so i'm asking to double the number of our contact tracers so we can continue to get ahead and to know exactly where this virus is originating and what we need to do to stop it. >> have you thought about a mask

ordinance coming from you? >> yes, we think about that and we see what we want to do, what works. we put out a statewide guidance on wearing a mask. we've emphasized it in a hundred different ways. the participation is increasing. there is always the debate as to whether it ought to be mandated and whether there ought to be penalties that go with it. right now we're trusting people, educating them, asking them to make the right decision, and by the large, they're doing that. we do enforce that in restaurants, and some other venues. when you're out, social distancing, if it can work, terrific. if not, you ought to wear a mask. and i'm setting the example. being consistent in that. that's catching on among our leaders at the municipal level and otherwise reinforcing that. >> where are you on opening schools? i say this so fairfax county is

close to here. they're offering two paths. they're finding out which parents want their kids to go four days a week, which want to do mostly remote so they're going to try to attempt to offer both. but the fact is, they're not quite sure. every school district is trying to figure this out. what is your guidance? >> let me back up and say, whenever we had our first peak, if you want to call it that in april. we knew we would be faced with an increase in cases. whether it is the fall or sooner. so this is not necessarily a surprise. so we've been looking at school reopening as to how we can accomplish that in an environment in which cases are rising or you're having a

resurgence. so we're first committed to having school. we'll have to be a blended environment of in-classroom instruction and from time to time you might have to go virtual or other parents might choose that environment. so a blended environment with a maximum amount of flexibility. education can't stop and to train ourselves for those two different options. we're surveying parents, making sure they're loop in the and having influenced the school district as to how that combination works. >> do you think you have an easier time getting folks to voluntarily wear a mask and social distance in if the president sent a simple tweet saying wear a mask? i saw liz cheney, and the former vice president, wearing a mask. would it help you to be able to convince more of your constituents to participate if

the president were doing it? >> a consistent national message supporting the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing is very important to making sure everybody understands the importance of it. nothing beats leadership. certainly it is important to convey the importance of that. the president is right. we want to open our economy. that's a great message. i'll for that. you also have to have the message of taking the right health care precautions. >> look, i want college football this season. if the cost is wearing a mask and social distancing, let's send that message, you know? there are ways. we've got to do hard work, if you want good things. are you going to have to lay people off in the next six months? >> not at all. we've really been pleased with our economic report.

our budget revenues are coming in. while we scaled them back, we've actually exceeded the revenue projections. we won't be laying off anyone. we have tightened it a little bit. our economy is coming back. we're that 4 percentage points in terms of unemployment. people are going back to work. we have to make sure it is a safe environment. we're in pretty strong shape in arkansas from a state budget standpoint. >> so does that mean you won't be asking for aid from congress? >> that's true. we will not be asking to fill the holes in the budget. i do recognize you have other states like new york and others that have been hit harder. so that's something congress should consider but no, arkansas won't be asking for budget filling money for them because

that will be coming from our children and grand children. we're managing it carefully. we didn't shut down. we phased in, phased up in terms of lifting restrictions, and our economy is moving right now. >> governor, appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. you're always open with us. i appreciate that. >> good to be with you. thank you. up ahead, history is made on capitol hill as the house votes to make washington, d.c. the 51st state. and history may be made this week, removing the confederate flag and they may now have the votes to do it. nohaw ve the votes to do it combines powerful suction with spray mopping to lock away debris and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad.

so to breathe better, i started once-daily anoro. ♪ copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way, with anoro." ♪ once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. do not use anoro if you have asthma. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma... prostate, bladder or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain... mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes or eye pain, while taking anoro. the most common side effects are sore throat, diarrhea, and pain in the arms and legs. ask your doctor about once-daily anoro to start treating your copd. we're here for you during this challenging time--and always. find support at anoro.com.

theand we want to thank times, the extraordinary people we're here for you during this challenging time--and always. in the healthcare community, working to care for all of us. at novartis, we promise to do our part. as always, we're doing everything we can to help keep cosentyx accessible and affordable. if you have any questions at all, call us, email us, visit us online. we're here to help support you when you need us. take care, and be well. to learn more, call one eight four four cosentyx or visit cosentyx.com

welcome back. washington, d.c. is one historic but largely symbolic step closer to becoming america's 51st state. the house voted. it was the first time since 1993. today's vote appears to be as far as this bill is going to go, at least for now. mitch mcconnell says he will not bring it up on the national floor. even if he did and it passed, president trump doesn't support it. he said you mean district of columbia, a state? why? so we can have two more democratic senators and five more congressmen? no thank you. that will never happen. they argue the district has more

people than both vermont and wyoming and they pay more federal taxes than 22 states. it has no senators and only one delegate in the house. they scrap the filibuster and joe biden is president, d.c. is the 51st state sometime next year. just keep that in mind. up ahead, from one historic vote to another. is mississippi about to change its state flag? why this moment may very well be the best chance supporters have. the best chance supporters have. in your feet?

get relief finally, with magnilife® pain relieving foot cream. while also restoring cracked, damaged, and itchy skin. and get living. available at your local retailer. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair®. we've got the retinol that gives you results in one week. not just any retinol. accelerated retinol sa. for not only smoother skin in one day, but younger-looking skin in just one week. and that's clinically proven. results that fast or your money back. unless you're attached to your wrinkles. one week is all it takes. neutrogena®. don't bring that mess around here, evan! whoo! don't do it. don't you dare. i don't think so! [ sighs ] it's okay, big fella. we're gonna get through this together. [ baseball bat cracks ] nice rip, robbie.

♪ raaah! when you bundle home and auto insurance through progressive, you get more than just a big discount. i'm gonna need you to leave. you get relentless protection. [ baseball bat cracks ]

you get relentless protection. this virus is testing all of us. and it's testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. so abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. and until this fight is over, we...will...never...quit. because they never quit. welcome back. right now as president trump is in the midst of possibly the worst week of polling in his presidency, we're in the midst of what appears to be a major cultural shift in this country. just look at mississippi. the democratic leader of the state house of representatives tells nbc news they have the vote to remove the confederate emblem. mississippi is the last state in the country whose flag includes the emblem and nearly two-thirds

of residents voted not to remove it in 2001. but public opinion has shifted some, i say some, and we'll get tom. that state is facing mounting pressure economically. celebrities, businesses and sports organizations are pushing hard for them to make a change and it is that pressure that might be paying off. stewart stevens who was born and raised in mississippi said, i ask myself why did it take so long for me to realize what it might be like for nearly 40% of my state to go to school and work under a flag that represented a cause dedicated to that right to own their ancestors. stewart, it looks like things are on the cusp of seeing this flag change. in some ways, we're seeing it, the last gasp of the confederacy symbolism to go away. nascar making the change that

they made. though it will take time to root it out with fans. and now mississippi. what do you think this will mean for the state of mississippi? >> well, i think you have to ask what it will mean if it doesn't pass. i think business come together with cultural institutions. and this is fascinating to me. i personally, and you and i have talked about this. fascinated by the inaction of college football changing, civil rights changing and it is changing football. you saw all the coaches of all the universities and mississippi arguing for this. so when it starts getting personal like that, like the will hurt recruiting in college football, i think the odds that it will change are looking better. >> so i had one consultant friend whom you and i both know. i don't want to name drop him

now because he didn't know he was on the record. he said there is one fear he has. if this happens via the legislature. that is supporters of the confederate flag symbol might put a referendum on the ballot and that would be an uncomfortable thing if suddenly the voters went the other way. how much concern would you have? the state is divided on this pretty much down the middle. >> yeah. it is one of these things, change happens gradually. then it happens suddenly and it is hard to imagine going back. i think it will be like segregation, like gay marriage. just one. these changes. once it is gone and you see the positive benefits of it and there won't be a paying point, changing the flag, taking the confederate battle flag out. just the idea of trying to bring it back would be trying to

refight gettysburg. >> let me shift to this other project you're on. squit a few groups popping up when it comes to republicans against trump in different ways. the lincoln project, you've been very involved in it. it has been very person will. ? it seems effective because the president can't help but respond to everything you've done. has this been easier than you expected? >> well, donald trump is the dog that will chase every car. as a consultant, you hate to have a client like that because he has no discipline. he takes everything very personally. he thinks it is about him and not about the country. a lot of us feel betrayed by donald trump. that everything we believed in, it's not that he's forgotten

that. he is against. that character counts. now we're the character doesn't count party. strong on russia. now we're the best friends of putin party. all of this we have to reclaim. i helped elect a lot of these people. we're going to fight. there's a few things many life that we're good at. we're going to try to use those skills to affect the outcome. >> i notice there's some talk trying on create a republican committee that would be devoted to saying, vote biden and then vote republican in the senate level. is that something you're going to get involved with as well? or do you think the republican senators are to blame for trump? >> i think definitely some of the republican senators are to blame for trump. i think i think really an abdication of responsibility. once you get elected, why hold

office if you don't fight for that which you said you believe? and there's a whole host of things that we said we believed. disagree on some but character counts, pro legal immigration. ronald reagan announced it from the stat you've libertyert. signed a bill that made everyone born after 1983 legal. these are things, the compassion, the decency of it. there are things you have to fight for. if you're not going to fight for a basic fundamental decency in government, i don't know why you want to be involved in politics. their when a political party is simply a vehicle for elections, you sort of, it looks like a party has lost its way. anyway. stuart stevens, thank you for being here. it will be interesting to watch this weekend vote. i have to think, if they're voting, they must have the votes. you have a knew book coming out.

it is due out august 4th. up ahead, we talked a little about sports and the impact on the flag debate in mississippi. are sports teams ready to get back on the field in the midst of two national crises? of two national crises from essential workers... to frontline responders... to you. whenever you're ready to get out there, enterprise is ready, too. ♪ with our complete clean pledge, you'll have the peace-of-mind that we'll get you safely on your way... wherever...and whenever that may be. enterprise. when you're ready, we're ready.

you may be learning about, medicare and supplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything ...only about 80% of your part b medicare costs. a medicare supplement insurance plan may help cover some of the rest. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes an aarp medicare supplement plan unique? these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarp's high standards of quality and service. you're also getting the great features that any medicare supplement plan provides. you may choose any doctor that accepts medicare patients. you can even visit a specialist. with this type of plan there are no networks or referrals needed. also, a medicare supplement plan... ...goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u.s. call today for a free guide. welcome back. in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, major sports leagues have spent months how they'll return to play but it will probably be the players who get

the final say. the nba says that 16 players tested positive for covid-19. athletes have to weigh if the cases are a deal breaker. some have already made that case. four playersment onned out before the results were released and they are not alone. when the women's soccer cup kicks off, it will be without several players including megan rapino. it is not only health concerns that have players examining their priorities. some are saying this moment is bigger than sports. wnba players including natasha cloud have announced they'll be foregoing the 2020 season to do social justice work. it's been interesting here. i'm curious how you think the leagues in general have the the forecasts on the four major sports in this country, how they've handled this and whether they've been too focused on

their bottom line and not focused on their players? >> that's always been the question. the question since march. are you callous by trying to get out and play or are you paying attention to the larger implications? i remember when this started in the first week of march. i was stunned by the number of people in the game who thought this was a massive overreaction. we found out it wasn't. the problem is that sports doesn't know what to do. sports has always taken the lane in times of national crises, sports is the healer. what do you do with a crisis like when when sports becomes the problem? nobody is going to sit around 50,000 of their best friends. now you begin to push back and reconsider where your role is in a crisis like this. and sports has not quite figured it out yet. i understand the pressure to move on. it helps the country to get on with it. but you have these players who have to go play and leave their

family. >> i'm going to paraphrase this nba gm. one of them. maybe this will work and the bubble will work and yes, there will be some positive cases but they'll be mild and they'll be okay. what if there is worst case scenario? and a player is so stricken that something tragic happens. then the question is, was it worth it? how much of. conversation is being had at the league level? >> i don't think it is nearly enough two two reasons. i don't think they're thinking worse case scenario. i think they're thinking, worst case is look at what's happening in major league player. these two sides, owners and players have been battling back and forth over margin. they're not arguing over safety. they're arguing over margins.

and then the other thing is that the public continues to look at it a couple. ways. one is that they look at it treating athletes as if they're essential workers or soldiers or paid by the federal government. the other thing is the money. people look at the athletes as you've got less to lose. you've got millions of dollars. because you're rich, therefore you don't have the right to say anything. i think you bring up a great point. what happens worst case scenario if a player's family gets sick or something like this happens, now we're having a very, very different conversation because the players don't really matter. that's the bottom line. >> in some ways, the players have never been more empowered. on the college level, while they don't have actual power, they have rhetorical power and they

have the public, i think, largely on their side when it comes to prioritizing their health or prioritizing social justice right now. and for instance, on the college level, do you think, i don't feel like i see this but it doesn't seem like the homes and the athletic directors realize, these college students are very likely to walk out on them if they push them too far on forcing them to play. >> well, the college level is different. you can't throw money at the college. you can't look at the freshmen and sophomores and say you're billionaires or mull millionaires. you can't use that argument. the other reason college is having a problem is because you have this huge disparity between the players uncompensated and the players making 50, 60, $70 million. and then the other thing, as we saw four years ago with the university of missouri. the players do have power.

if they want to walk, they can shut down the entire college system. the question of amateurism is really being brought up. how can you have campuses shut down across the country in september, and then expect the players to go out and play. are not they students, too? how can you have a shutdown campus and have the athletes there? >> bottom line. do you expect professional leagues to have any seasons? >> i don't, i don't. you have to shut it down. look at the nfl. already shut down the hall of fame game. everyone is expecting it. i don't see it. start, yes, finish, no. >> that's what it seems to me as well. it's always a pleasure to get permission to have you on a competing media conglomerate. we always appreciate your perspective. thanks very much. r

perspective. thanks very much. acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid. it then works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection. prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. the coronavirus continues to affect us all, and we are here, actively supporting you and your community. every day, we're providing trusted information from top health experts...sharing tools to help protect families from fraud... and creating resources to support family caregivers everywhere. as always, you can count on aarp to advocate for you and your family. join us and stay connected at aarp.org/coronavirus

with spray mopping to lock away debris and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad.

well, that's all we have for tonight. what a week, huh? if it's sunday, it's "meet the press" on nbc. we've got two perspectives on the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus from alex azar and andrew cuomo. plus my one-on-one interview with john bolton. we'll see you sundays. "the beat" with ari melber starts now. >> that's a big sunday show. we'll be watching. welcome to "the beat." >> we begin with breaking news. the "washington post" reporting the university has just set another record for covid cases. that's the third straight day of breaking records in a bad way. coronavirus clearly surging. i want to go through something right now. you can see that it is surging in these facts. breaking news. in the