we are grateful to our armed services. we are grateful to our military families. we are greatful to our veterans. without you, we could not enjoy the incredible blessings that we do in this greatest country on earth. >> good morning and welcome to "a.m. joy." i'm tiffany cross back in for joy reid. it's hard not to feel misty-eyed

nostalgia for obama during this era of trump, especially when you compare that speech from the fourth of july five years ago to what we heard yesterday on the white house lawn. >> american heroes defeated the nazis, dethroned the fascists, toppled the communists, saved american values, upheld american principles and chased down the terrorists to the very ends of the earth. we are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the marksist marxists, the agitators, the looters, the anarchists, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they're doing. >> trump once again, and unsurprisingly, is amplifying racial divides in america rather

than attempting to unify a country that is in crisis from both the coronavirus pandemic and a national reckoning on race centuries in the making. his us versus them rhetoric comesemboldened white people pulling guns on protesters. this viral video shows a woman holding a gun on a black mother and her two daughters in a chipotle parking lot. another case occurred in st. louis, missouri, where a couple pointed a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle at black lives matter protesters marching in front of their house this week. incidents like these have inspired countless memes and the infamous "karen" dub on social media. but this is a pattern in this country of white people who love

their guns as much as they love their privilege threatening the lives of black people for doing the most basic everyday activities. in this backdrop, trump's rhetoric is not just a campaign strategy. stoking a race war, a from what we're seeing, that race war is armed. joining me, brittany cunningham, erin haynes, curt bardella, and natasha brown. i have a full panel of friends this morning and nobody better to break this all down for the american people, brittany, i'm going to come to you first. the thing i find most disturbing about the landscape right now, these gun toting parents. what is the deal here and what are we to make of this, how do we combat this? i'm going to turn it to you to break it down for us.

i think we're having a problem with brittany's audio. we're going to work on your audio, brittany, stand by. i'll turn it over to erin haynes at the 19th. listen, we're seeing a lot of people stoke violence, really, and break out guns and point them at peaceful protesters. you've covered political landscape for a long time, have you ever seen anything like this? we've had a lot of divisive presidents and people regurgitate hateful rhetoric. in your years of reporting for the ap and now the 19th, have you ever seen anything like this? >> tiffany, good morning. let me just say it is so great, there's a joy to be here with you not just as a fellow panelist but to see you in the host chair, congratulations on that. >> thank you. >> you have people that are documenting these instances of white people, you know, with

guns and attacking black folks on camera, it's part of a pattern. this is a long history, particularly of the westernization of white womanhood in america. we know how that's resulted in the past, it may have invoked a lynch mob and today it often invokes the police. there can be consequences not just for black folks but for black men in particular. listen, i think it also has complicatio implications, because the president is not stoking a culture war but a cancel culture war in which white women may see themselves as victims in the same way that white men saw themselves of racial and economic anxiety in 2016. i think the first thing for a lot of the white women voters especially in this centennial year of the 19 thchlth amendmen whether white women see themselves as allies or victims

in america. >> brittany came out with so much fire she burned the audio cords, but i think we have her back. brittany, tell me you're back with me. >> i am back with you, great see new the anchor chair. >> great, brittany. break down the gun toting karens for us. what are we seeing? >> this is a story coming from my home town of st. louis but its unique. massachuset the mccloskeys live in a private street. these private streets became popular at the end of the civil war, and i wonder why, it's because missouri was a slave state and they didn't want to live anywhere near black folks. there were covenants that forbade black people from ongoing property there. the mccloskeys wanted to protect

their land by any means necessary. the problem is it's not their land, it's most likely osage land. just like white men helped chop it up, we saw the same behavior at the sacred black hills of the lakota sioux where folks chopped up that mountain and carved in four presidents' faces, two of whom were slave owners, on land that should be returned to their rightful owners. the ma class canccloskeys are n aberration, they are not crazy, they are not random. that idea makes it easier for folks to separate themselves from this kind of behavior. but the truth is that they are a product of their environment, because the american environment prioritizes white people, white wealth and white land at the expense of all others no matter how many poor folks, black folks, or indigenous folks had to suffer along the way. it is as american as apple pie

with a nice tall glass of the second amendment to wash it down and that's the spirit donald trump invoked yesterday on his independence day. >> brittany did an amazing tweet offering that historical perspective earlier this week, thank you for breaking that down, brittany. natasha, you're out there saving democracy one race at a time, working in the swing states. you're literally out there talking to voters every day. what's their response when they see this type of behavior? are people inspired to cast ballots? or are they depressed that really nothing has changed? >> i think part of this is a culture of hate and fear. we look at racism as individual incidents, it's part of a larger structure of racism in this country. as i go across the nation, what's interesting is when we look at the protests, you see

multiracial, multigenerational folks who say no, black lives matter. there are more people i think who are on the side of right than on the side of those paren karens. ultimately we have to be mindful we don't make this about a couple of individuals. it's a culture of hate and fear that was unleashed since the trump presidency. when you say that he's a nationalist, those are dog whistles and they're dangerous and it creates an environment of fear that literally america will shift and really increase the divisiveness in this country. what i am hearing, though, as i'm talking to people, that people want really change. they don't want transactional change, they want transformation. they're sick and tired of it. ultimately we'll see dramatic

changes in the senate races. i think we'll see it on the local level and in the presidential election. >> latasha has talked extensively about different culture shifts that have happened throughout this country. so i appreciate you breaking that down. kurt, my friend, i'll turn to you and put you in a bit of a hot seat because something i found interesting about this time, the republicans are saying or reporting is claiming that republicans are a bit nervous about some of the racism donald trump is exhibiting. there was an article in "the post" this week that broke this down, by phil rucker. kurt, you've seen the light, my friend, changed your affiliation and distanced yourself from the party that accepts this kind of rhetoric. but i have to point out that this problem didn't start with donald trump and won't end with donald trump. because you were formerly a member of this party, what are your thoughts on what's happening and how do we change, like how do we bring this

country together when there is a significant member of the republican party who has never stood up to this president, never checked him on this behavior. what's the path forward like? >> well, i echo everybody's sentiments, it's wonderful to see you in this chair and have this opportunity, empowering voices like yours to have these opportunities i think are so important. and i think that's actually part of the solution, is we need to start as a country listening to other people that we wouldn't normally listen to, to have that exposure and have that conversation, frankly to have some uncomfortable conversations. i make no bones about it, i was a lifelong republican, spent my life working in republican politics, spent the entirety of the obama administration working with house republicans to investigate him. yet at the end of the day, you have to turn that corner and have an honest conversation with yourself about what's going on, what's being said, what the direction of that party is, and then act accordingly.

i think the most disappointing thing to me, it's not a surprise to me that donald trump is a racist, anybody who has looked at his record from just being in business can tell you he's been a racist for a very long time. i think what's the most large and disappointing to me is the number of republicans, the entirety of the republican party that's been elected to office who has just lined up behind him, rank and file, all because they are scared of him tweeting at them. i don't necessarily believe that every single person in the republican party subscribes to donald trump's racisracism. i think tha4háha4háha4háhkóp)dse sold their souls because they're so afraid of him and his twitter. the solution is ultimately part of what we started in 2018, tiffany, an electoral wipeout of these cowardly republicans. it's the american people making it known with their voice and their vote where their priorities lie when it comes to race relations and equality and social justice in america. let's not forget that for all the talk about 2016, we had a

midterm election in which 40 republicans got wiped out of the house of representatives. more people voted in the midterms than ever before in our history. we had republicans losing in places they had never lost before, orange county in california, san diego. there is a path to victory here. and we've seen that when the trump agenda is put before the american people, they've overwhelmingly rejected it. i think we have to remember and keep in our thinking that we had this massive wave election in 2018 and that was in the back of all of trump's fearmongering, his warning about the caravan at the border, which by the way he never said a word about after the election. where did that caravan go? i don't think the race baiting worked in 2018 and i don't think it's going to work in 2020. >> kurt has joined the lincoln

project, they broke that news earlier this week on "morning joe," i'm sure they're very pleased to have your knowledge and expert there, kurt. brittany, i want to give you the last word on this. i think a lot of people are very nostalgic, a lot of us have an obama hangover, a lot of people are looking for an obama-type figure now. given that people are looking for that, very quickly, we have 30 seconds left, what would you say to voters who maybe aren't as excited but they know that it's a problematic slate right now? >> i would remind folks that we never had a perfect white house in american history, but most certainly we have opportunities that lie before us. the public opinion on just the phrase and idea of black lives matter is not swinging trump's way, it's swinging our way. that should not be a radical notion. folks should make sure they get their voice heard not just at the voting booth but in the census, and hold their elected

officials at all levels accountable, to show not just through rhetoric but through policy that black lives do indeed matter. >> you heard them here, a panel, an oracle, i would say, this amazing panel. i wish we could have more time but i'm told we've got to go, so thank you, brittany, erin, kurt, and natasha will be back in the show later this afternoon. coming up, the latest on rising numbers of coronavirus cases. - [narrator] this is joe.

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experts' worst nightmare with 2.8 million cases nationwide. the sharpest increases are in the sunshine states. in texas, hospitals in two counties are at full capacity amid a surge of cases across that state. meanwhile, donald trump insists that everything is under control. >> we'd made a lot of progress. our strategy is moving along well. it goes out in one area and rears back its ugly face in another area. but we've learned a lot. we've learned how to put out the flame. >> joining me now, dr. cory a. bear, the chief medical editor

for wgsu new orleans. the director of the columbia university national center for disaster preparedness. and nicki fried, florida's commission commissioner of agriculture and consumer service. nikki, what is happening in florida, why is it so bad, what is the mood there? i have to say first, i saw ron desantis say how everything is fine in florida months ago. where do things stand now and is there any humility coming from him in the sunshine state? >> that's one of the big issues, we head yet 11,458 cases. the governor basically said mission accomplished, he went on a national tour across the country saying this is behind us, reopened our state without following data points with no enforcement. he spent a couple of weeks after

reopening blaming young people, blaming hispanic workers, blaming nursing homes, blaming the media, instead of focusing on what needed to be done here, which is enforcement, no mask ordinance. he basically said this is behind us. he even had the vice president in our state this week who said, thank god for president trump's leadership for dealing with coronavirus. if that's leadership, i don't know what failure looks like. we're in serious trouble in the state of florida. >> i want to stay with you, nikki, because last week ten state legislators called on governor did esantis to mandate masks. what's the resistance to this? >> the resistance is president trump. he's been taking his cues from

the president. it's time the president starts to wear a mask and starts to show some concern about the expansion of this pandemic across our entire state. we' i called on us to shut down our state three weeks prior to the governor doing so. he wouldn't do it until the president gave the thumbs up. so right now all of our local governments are having to stand up. we've got a lot of local ordinances on masks across the entire state but the governor refuses to do so and refuses to make this a priority. he's so focused on our economy and inviting wwe to open up, inviting our sports complexes and professional sports to come here, inviting the rnc to come here, instead of focusing on what's happening in the state and showing some empathy for the people that are really scared. all of my family is in south florida, my 90-year-old grandmother went through chemo, and i have to tell her to stay put because numbers are increasing in palm beach county

and i can't protect you. wear a mask, but unfortunately people around the state are taking their cues from the governor and the president and are not seeing this pandemic as serious as they could be. our numbers are going through the roof. >> doctor, i want to turn to you. listen, what can people do? absent a lack of state leadership, federal leadership, local leadership, what can people do to chart this course and protect themselves? we don't have state borders. people travel from state to state. how do people protect themselves at a time when people have made masks, for some reason, a political issue? >> in this patriotic weekend, the most patriotic thing you can do in america this weekend is stay home. the line between science and politics is being dangerously blurred right now. and furthermore, this line between the so-called patriotism and this health issue has diverged, which means that the public outcry and not the scientists and the data points, that wins the day.

and that's a really bad thing, especially as we go into the second phase of this pandemic, which we haven't even gotten out of the first phase. these large public gatherings with no masks, under the leadership of this country, rallies? i mean, come on. this is causing the spread of covid-19. and the sad part is that black people and poor people and disenfranchised dying from this disease. we're trying to open up schools. i sit on boards where we're trying to figure out how to open up schools and you are trying to have a pool party? we're talking about opening up schools for children and colleges. look, we at this point are in a very serious crossroads. we're at the crossroads. i'm going to tell you, i don't like to quote things from '90s singing group, but the '90s singing group guy, remember

that, because we have to buckle up for this ride. if you had told me literally in march that i would be sitting here on the fourth of july weekend thinking that, oh, my god, we're about to go into phase ii, because we didn't wear masks and social distance because people think that you shouldn't do that because that means you support donald trump? what i like to say to folks out there is, please, what you need to listen to are people with a lot of initials behind their last names, meaning m.d. and ph.d. and you need to listen to the people out there on the front lines, taking care of sick people, which i am doing as well. when you think it's a one and a million for you to get the virus, when it hits you, it's 100%. i don't see people who are dying from covid-19, gee, i wish i had gone to that pool party. >> thank you for that.

doctor, i want to turn to you, because initially what we heard from the president is when it gets warm, the virus is just going to disappear. well, it's been 90 degrees a few days this week and clearly the virus continues to spike. i'm afraid to ask but what does the fall look like? >> the fall looks terrible. we're really in a pickle here. not only do we not have a phase ii yet. we're going to have a phase ii. right now we're in an out of control phase i. t(áutáutáu thing that's going t happen in the fall, we'll get of course this coming year's seasonal flu which will also cause death. so we could have a collision course right now between the continuing and growing pandemic on top of the seasonal flu that we expect to have in the fall and winter also. the level of irresponsibility here from the president, the vice president, governors like

desantis, is absolutely staggering, tiffany. like dr. eber, i just don't understand. this is of course something to do with the developing narrative for his reelection complain that is spreading throughout his party, and i just wonder, if these governors did not have sovereign immunity which means they're not accountable, they're not going to have responsibility for the blood that will be on their hands, it's just outrageous. and you could imagine, if they did actually have responsibility for the consequences of their actions and inactions, i wonder what their decisions would be. certainly not the irresponsibility that we're seeing manifest right now all over the country. >> all right. i have a lot more questions for you, but in the age of television, we have a limited amount of time, so thank you guys so much for joining us and giving some advice to the american people.

and absent any leadership guidance, guys are giving guidance to our viewers so we truly appreciate your input and your work. thank you all. coming up, another outrageous celebrity is considering throwing their hat in the ring in the 2020 race.

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okay, so last night a very thirsty man lit a firecracker that sparked a social media wildfire. that's right, 43-year-old kanye omari west threw his hat into the ring to be the next president of the united states via twitter. yeezy dropped this tweet roughly at the same time his besty, donald trump, was performing yet another stephen miller joint on the white house lawn. nbc news points out it marks at least the third time west has

vowed to run for the nation's highest office. in 2015 he announced, quote, i have decided to run for president in 2020. it's still too early if west 2020 is a real thing or yet another piece of performance art designed to provoke the american public. if only someone could have warned us about kanye years ago. >> why would he do that? >> he's a jackass. ♪ ♪all strength ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat

i think there's significant chance he doesn't run. i mean, this thing is going so poorly, he's so far back. to me it doesn't make much sense for him to run. people are just outraged and they're coming together and they don't care if they're democrat, republican, liberal, conservative. it's wonderful to see the way certain creative, energetic people in this country are coming together to extract this menace from the body politic. >> okay. we're four months before the presidential election, and jails carville and other democratic strategists are sounding pretty confident about beating donald trump and with some good reason, because joe biden has built up a commanding lead over trump in a bunch of the national polls. but can we really trust these numbers? we all know what happened in 2016. and we all know that anything could happen in the future. in january, who would have

predicted a global pandemic and a revolution in the streets? so who knows what the next four months will bring and how that could affect the 2020 race? back with me, my friend latasha brown, co-founder of black voters matter, and my friend, the host of the podcast "strange days," i appeared on that podcast, it was a pleasant experience, so fernand, thank you for being with us this morning. i interviewed you for my book, we talked about polls. i get so many tweets and dms and emails from people who say, i don't trust the polls, i've never been polled. every time i say this i draw the ire of social scientists like yourself and you set me straight a few months ago. so tell me, can we trust these polls? >> first off, happy fourth of july, tiffany, you're doing an outstanding job while you sub for our friend joy, a tip of the hat to you. let's start with the polls

themselves. as you alluded to, there is no question that right now the polls are very encouraging for joe biden. and given where this race was four years ago when it was hillary clinton as the democrat, biden is overperforming donald trump now, at this same stage of the race, compared to four years ago. coupled with the fact, tiffany, that the approval numbers for trump are now in the low 30s which is a very, very bad indicator for him, i think there is ample reason for optimism with the polls. to your question, can we trust the polls, well, to paraphrase barack obama, yes, we can. that's the wrong question, though, tiffany. we should not be ask whether or not we can trust the polls, and i say this as a pollster. the question america and the world should be asking right now is not can we trust the polls, but can we trust the integrity

of the election where the voters will be voting and where their intent will be reflective of what the polls show today. and tiffany, as i sit here before you, i don't think i can say confidently with 100% confidence that we can trust the integrity of this upcoming election. we know that the russians interfered four years ago. around this time, by the way, it was exactly four years ago this month in july where that interference began in earnest. and if anything, it has gotten worse now. we've had the president of the united states, donald trump, not candidate trump, openly ask for the support of foreign influence. last week the senate passed legislation have they suggested they would not have to necessarily support foreign support for an american election. so again, i don't say can we trust the polls. yes, we can trust the polls. the question is can we trust the integrity of the election where

the american voters will reflect what we're now seeing in the polls which is an overwhelming advantage for joe biden. >> that is a very important point, fernand. latasha brown, you're on the ground, like i said earlier, saving democracy one race at a time. you're on the ground in georgia, and you posted a lot of interesting videos of voters standing in long lines. i really want to hear from you, will republicans capitalize on the fallout of covid-19, the continue to close polling sites across the country to make voting as hard as possible? what have you seen and what do you think we'll see come november? >> what i saw in both georgia and also in kentucky, what i saw is this increase in voter suppression. when you have a polling site that's for 612 people in one space, regardless of how you say that it didn't go as bad as people expected, the fact of the matter is any time you restrict free and fair access to the

ballot, that is a form of voter suppression. we've been seeing a rise in that in the last year. so i think that's a major concern. i think when we're looking at the polls, what the polls do is what polls are designed to do. they are an indicator of in this moment. four months is a long time in an election cycle. it's what the temperature is now. it does not necessarily indicate in terms of turnout numbers, and it doesn't take into consideration voter suppression. we have got to deal with voter suppression in this country so that millions of americans who go to the polls in november, their votes are counted. i also, as i'm talking to people out in the streets, when we're talking to folks in different states, folks are looking for but different. it's not going to be enough to say we've got to beat trump. that's a critical mistake that was made in 2016, folks thought there was an element of beating him that would drive it.

i think we're going to see something very different. while we can take the polls as being an indicator that trump is losing ground, two, that the senate republicans are vulnerable, particularly in arizona and north carolina and michigan right now, what we can't take it is that biden is going to be able to beat trump. what will determine that will be turnout and the protection of the vote of those people who turn out and vote in november. >> fernand, you just heard what latasha said, it's going to be who can get out the vote. you're in florida, a swing state, an important battleground. tell me what you predict for the fall for florida. >> i think latasha is right, it's difficult at this stage to predict because this type of an election is so unlike any other election before in american history, tiffany. we know the variables are changing constantly. take even our governor, ron desantis, who as recently as

three months ago was one of the most popular governors in all of the united states. today his approval rating has dramatically dropped because of his lethally inept management of the coronavirus. we're seeing records of cases and deaths throughout the state. with these types of variables where things can happen literally on a day's notice or a week's notice, it's very difficult to predict. one thing i will say, unlike 2016, people and voters now have the opportunity to judge donald trump on four years of what he would call governance, what we would call a disastrous type of governance. and they're no longer voting on what they think donald trump will be like as president. they will be voting on what he has been like as president. and as long as this continues to be an election that is a referendum on the job donald trump has done, i think florida

looks good for joe biden and the democrats. >> florida had a big amendment, amendment 4, in the last election cycle. it was caught up in the courts. will citizens appealing from felony convictions be able to vote in november? >> the republican party is doing everything in their power to make it impossible for them to do so but luckily the courts are coming through, we'll see them participate in numbers which will certainly add to the electorate and that certainly favors joe biden and the democrats. >> all right, we'll stay tuned. thank you for joining me. we've got a lot more "a.m. joy" after the break.

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we know the saying, desperate times call for desperate measures. trump gets more and more desperate. joe biden is beating trump in the polls and has outraised him. donald trump is trying to win

over the media by using the shiny object method. will the american public fall for it? will newsrooms fall for it? stay here. to do. to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424.

the house select committee on the benghazi incident revealed hillary clinton permanently deleted all the emails from her personal server, wiped that server completely

clean. >> hillary clinton's emails. >> prepare for the final debate. as she stepped out of the spotlight, wikileaks released another batch of emails. >> the fbi announcing it's investigating evidence related to her emails. >> her dishonesty numbers are through the roof. if the democrats -- they have not shown an inclination towards trump. how does this play? >> good morning. welcome back. during the 2016 presidential campaign, it wasn't just fox news that was obsessed with hillary clinton's emails. a survey found that in the week leading up to the election, the major newspapers focused on her emails twice as much as stories about donald trump. despite trailing in the polls in 2016, trump's campaign rallies and other campaign stunts dominated media coverage.

we are seeing that this time around. joe biden is not only beating donald trump in the polls, he is outrai raising him. yet, they aren't getting near the media attention donald trump got in 2016. as election day gets closer and trump gets more desperate, we know he will throw everything at his opponent from the juvenile nicknames to questions about his mental stability, which is frankly a little iconic coming from trump. will the media be able to ignore the noise, or will they once again be distracted by the latest shiny object. we will dig into this. joining me now, erin haines and editor at large for "the 19th." kurt barbella is back. elise jordan, former aide in the george w. bush. and eric bowler, author and

editor. and my friend gabriel sherman. eric, i have to start with you. i founded a newsletter. you are a critic of the media. i love your take over everything. i'm going to fan girl out with you and go to you. we have a lot going on in this country. we have the fallout of covid-19, unrest happeningememememóv÷ . we have foreign election interference. we have a host of things plaguing us. how can the media responsibly, accurately and fairly cover all these nithings and the upcoming election? >> that's a great question. as you say, this is an election unlike anything we have seen. the good news is, in a weird way, news organizations at the beginning of the year last year set aside extraordinary amounts of resources to cover the campaign.

the media has gotten spoiled to the blockbuster events, close races, great ratings, cultural phenomenon. there's a chance that's not going to happen this year because there's a chance it's not going to be that close. there is no campaign thanks to covid. no convention. no rallies, minus the weird things trump is trying to pull off. no donor events. the press has a chance to say, what are we going to do with those resources? what are we going to do with those reporters we thought were going to be in planes and buses following the campaigns around the country? how should we best use them? you can't cover polls from now until november. that's not enough content. i think this gives them an opportunity to do interesting work on all the other i objecting interesting topics. the goal for the president is to tell the truth. drop the silly word games.

let's be honest. drop the word games. tell the truth about what's happening. >> you are preaching to the choir. if i hear racially charged one more time, i might explode. i want to go to erin. you are helping to build and run a newsroom. you have been in the political space for a long time. i want to ask you, as we enter this election stretch, one of the things we saw last psych until 2016, because the media got it so wrong, they overcorrected in an incorrect way. they started this, we weren't listening to the trump voter. but a lot of people of color said, we understand the trump voter very well. you saw a lot of profiles on the new yo"new york times" and segm where trump voters try to talk through policy, what a slap in the face to voters of color across the country. as you cover this election, as you survey the landscape of what's happening, what are you seeing? how are you covering the myriad

of issues as you cover the intersection of race, gender and politics? how are you juggling that? >> thanks for asking that. i do believe -- i said headed into this primary that race and gender are not a story of the election, they are the story of the election. that was true before the coronavirus and race factored into the primary. i think it will be a major factor headed into the fall. the pandemics are political for many of the voters i'm talking to. i will say that during the primary, it was black voters who were pragmatic and maybe even predicted that biden was going to be the best counterweight to president trump, who we have seen struggle trying to redefine him. four years into this, we know

the racial playbook that he has gone to again and again is something he will continue to use headed into this election. we know after half a century in politics who vice president biden is. it's unclear whether trump's attempt to redefine biden is n effective. listen, voters, whether -- of either party who i talk to say they are weary of a presidency of a reality, whether that's republicans who wish maybe the president didn't tweet so much and it's a distraction, if not downright offensive, or voters who are longing for a president who speaks with empathy and who can unite the country. >> elise, you want to ask you,

you spent a chunk of your career in republican politics. how are people in the republican party reckoning with this president, given this is the monster the gop helped create and now you have never trumpers. how are they navigating this landscape when they are politically homeless? how do they receive a ticket like joe biden? >> you look at just all the carnage -- the american carnage as donald trump promised in his inaugural during donald trump's presidency. all of the horrible, horrible racist comments by donald trump that republicans are forced to either defend or they silently defend by not saying anything. their silence speaks for itself. behind the scenes, there are plenty of republicans who are scared they're going to lose the senate in november. i think that's a really big risk when you consider that there's just not as much split ticket

voting as there has been in the past. republicans are fearful that not only they're going to lose the presidency, but they are going to lose the senate. their souls left a long, long time ago. >> that's incredibly sad to hear. gabe, i want to turn to you. you have spent a long time when you were interviewing over 600 insiders at fox news -- i think fox news is a major problem. they are a propaganda network at this point. what influence do you think they will have on this election? is there any way to penetrate that layer of ignorance of the fox news viewer or the fox news anchor or anybody over there in that orbit? >> you know, what you pointed out is that fox news is really the last line of defense that donald trump has. consistently, donald trump's approval ratings have been in the low 40s to low 30s.

that is largely because that 30% core of supporters that are unmovable are the diehard fox news viewer. if fox news did start reporting the truth and reporting on the carnage that this president has brought, you would see donald trump's approval ratings collapse into the teens, i have no doubt about that. the role of fox news in this election as far as donald trump is concerned is to keep that base in line that he needs to win in november. as i reported in "vanity fair," donald trump called tucker carlson and asked him, what should i do? he is seeing his polls slipping. he is reaching out for campaign advice. as we saw over the weekend, clearly the advice from fox news is to pivot hard to his native angry white base. that's the role that fox news is going to play from now through

november. >> before i go to kurt, i'm curious your thoughts on the tucker carlson 2024 rumor. do you think he is setting up a plan to run for president? that's to you, gabe. >> to me, i'm sorry. i thought it was to kurt. i don't think anything is ruled out at this point. i'm sorry, donald trump has clearly demonstrated that television is a powerful platform to run for president. whether tucker carlson wants to submit himself to the exposure that running for national office demands on a candidate, it's too early to tell. it's important to note that he set up residency in florida, which is a much more hospitable state to run from than washington, d.c. where he lives for most of his professional lie. so i think whether or not he actually runs for president, i think his show in some ways is

going to be the gathering place, if you will, for the trumpism, the trump ideology of that kind of politics. sean hannity blows with the wind. he was for george w. bush. now he is diehard for donald trump. i think tucker carlson in a way is the more natural place for the trump voter to go. >> i have to tell you in full disclosure, i used to work with tucker carlson 20 years ago on another show. he has ventured more and more to the fringe of the party. kurt, i have to bring you in. do you think donald trump's base is enough for him to win the presidency? should there potentially be other issues at play here? >> no, it's not. the reality is, ever since donald trump took office -- i have said that the day that donald trump was sworn in was the best day that it would ever

be. he had nowhere to go but down from there. we have seen ever since he took office, a president who has not been interested at all in trying to broaden out his base, expand his coalition. he has done everything to alienate the people that helped get him elected, independents, female suburban voters. they are turning away. when you look at what this election is about -- i go back to the '90s, it's the economy, stupid. when you look at what's going on with the deficiencies of the president, millions of americans out of work, with pain and suffering being inflicted upon the american people, the president going around -- the media needs to focus on the consequences of this administration, the president's actions, how they are impacting real lives. people of color are disproportionally impacted by the coronavirus. the economic losses we are absorbing are lihistoric and ar

going to get worse. this president tries to ignore it. in the last few hours, lincoln project put up a new spot aimed at the economy. if all these people have lost his? that no matter what donald trump tries to do, no matter how much he goes back to the racist place book, how many times republicans look the other way and enable this, nobody will be able to distract from the fact that this presidency is having real-time impacts on the american people and those working families, those out of work families, they will not forget that in november. >> kurt, i have to stay with you. your analysis is invaluable. you are uniquely positioned to answer this question. what will republicans use against joe biden -- what could against him? >> we see two strategies.

one, trying to paint biden as somehow not mentally able to do this job, which is a laughable comparison when you look at donald trump ever single day. then the other trying to go after his family. trying to recreate the hillary clinton benghazi controversy. they tried to do that with republicans issuing subpoenas related to hunter. i don't think that will work. joe biden isn't hillary clinton. when you look at the analysis of crooked hillary and her emails, those things to this day get more reaction from the right than anything related to joe biden. all of the trump nicknames, sleepy joe biden and all of that, it doesn't really catch on. trump is once again -- he is a man out of time. he is trapped in the past. he is running the same campaign he ran against hillary clinton, except hillary clinton is not on the ballot. for trump and the republicans, that's a big problem that they don't have a solution for. >> you referenced the lincoln

ad. we want to show a quick bit of that right now. >> since donald trump took office, almost 8 million fewer americans are working. if trump lost jobs for a state it would be larger than 37 states. donald trump's incompetence, ignorance and indifference has made him the most deadly job killing president in our history. with so many losing their jobs, isn't it time donald trump lost his? the lincoln project is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> wow. the lincoln project is like watching a battle. they don't let up on this president. we are keenly in tune to this. erin, i want to come back to you. what i witnessed in 2016 and every election cycle before that is every political conversation that we had in this country centered white people. since you are focused on the intersection of race, gender and

politics, how do you think the american electorate, the body politic, will receive conversations that have shifted now? we're in the middle of a cultural shift. we have black lives matter isn't controversial anymore. we are highlighting issues to the rising majority of the country. we see the voting electorate get less white. how do you think that will be received this cycle? >> i think a couple of things are different in 2020. i have to say that media diversity is definitely part of the equation. you have more reporters of color. you have more women covering the 2020 election cycle. i think that that matters. i think because a lot of those folks reporters of color and women saw a lot of the racism present in the 2016 election. they tried to point that out. often that message was not a message that broke through in

journalism. 2020 is a very different story. women are the majority of the electorate in this country. we are in the midst of a national reckoning on race that i don't think is going to let up headed into november. censuring those voters i think is something we are going to see in mainstream journalism. it's somethinbphinbphinbphinbpp seeing. i think that that is something that was overdue to happen but am grad lad to see that's happe. frankly, that's the direction that the country is going in and journalism is about leaving the most accurate record behind for generations beyond us. to do that, to tell the truth on race and to tell the truth on gender in this moment is to really accurately report on who and where we are in our politics. >> eric, you started us out. i want to close with you.

i'm curious your thoughts. as the culture shift is happening in the country, how do you think that the american body politic will receive this new media landscape where white people are not always at the center of every conversation? >> it is quite a break. you mentioned it earlier after trump won. we saw the white diner stories, white ohio voters, i couldn't stop -- it was ridiculous. it was just an obsession with white voters. i think we are thankfully past that. we need to embrace the opposite and really delve into voters of color and what is driving them. a quick point about what kurt mentioned. trump is not running against hillary clinton. trump has a record of carnage which has been mentioned. trump cannot run on misogyny. you eliminate misogyny from a national campaign, and it looks very different in america. joe biden is finding that out. i wrote a couple weeks ago, why aren't the attacks sticking against joe biden in the way they did against hillary

clinton? he is a white man. that's the state of politics in america. it's harder to paint someone like joe biden as the villain, untrustworthy swamp creature, than it is to depict women like that. that's sad. trump doesn't have that weapon at his disposal this time. >> until joe biden picks a woman. i have to tell you, the panels have been great today. this is my favorite panel. i begged for more time with this panel. thank you for bringing this conversation front and center. erin and elise will be back later. coming up, the director and producer of "john lewis goodtrouble" joins me next. get your tissues. stay tuned. it's a reason to come together. it's a taste of something good. a taste we all could use right now.

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murdered for helping people get registered to vote. >> this is a time for action. that's what i learned from john lewis. >> there are forces in america today who want to take us back. but we're not going back. we are going forward! >> goose bumps. two highly anticipated movies celebrate the spirit of true american democracy in action. on friday, disney plus released "hamilton." i won't ruin it with a version of my own singing. released friday was the movie "john lewis, good trouble," how his fight for justice under the law, particularly for voting rights, is very relevant right now. joining me now is the director of that and my good friend erica

alexander and a producer. thank you, ladies, for being with me. i have lots of questions to get to. erica, i will start with you. i'm curious, how did you get involved with this project? >> good morning. you look fantastic. it's always good to see you. i campaigned in georgia with congressman lewis in 2016. that was like the dream team. we traveled around georgia. we learned from john lewis how to be young and hip and black in the south in american politics. i started color farm, me and my production company. she's our conduit for the film. a different friend introduced me to ben and her producing partner. that's another dream team. we decided to work on the film together.

there you go. destiny brought us together. >> this film is amazing. i want to quote from anticipate article in "the undefeated" that gave you rave reviews on this film. it says that as many times as john lewis has been interviewed, you were able to find something new, which includes archive footage and photos, including from a lunch counter sit-in that he participated in at a segregated restaurant in nashville, tennessee. talk us through this. how did you get this archived footage? what was your time like that you spent with the congressman? >> we worked with just spectacular archivist rich rumfield who searched for footage. congressman lewis told us that

he received footage he had never seen before. my hat is off to a fantastic team which included erica and ben and laura, my produce, and to cnn films to release the movie in the fall. it's out streaming but will have a big cnn broadcast. speaking about being with the congressman, we spent a year filming with him. it has been a really tough year for so many of us. the thing that strikes me about him is, he is still out marching and speaking and telling -- encouraging everyone. he has never lost his resilience, his fight, his ability to inspire people. he really inspired all of us as well. it was a joy and a privilege to make this movie. >> let me ask you -- i think a lot of us have read graphic

novels about him and looked at so much information available publically. what is the one thing -- for those of us a little obsessed with john lewis, what's the one thing that will surprise us in your film? >> i think there's a number of things. one is that he is a big art collector. he has a beautiful collection of african-american artists. i think we all know from his famous viral video that he loves to dance. john lewis is a very -- so forceful in public. i think people might be surprised to know how quiet he is. he is a really thoughtful leader. that's one of the things i wanted to highlight in this movie. john lewis is known for being brave. but i really wanted people to focus on the fact that he is a political genius. to be 19 years old and to be one of the organizers of the sit-ins that integrated the nashville lunch counters that had been

segregated more than 100 years, i want to give him his political props as the political genius he is. strategy was so important to the movement. that's the lasting change we have seen. >> political genius that he is, i cannot agree with you move. erica, i'm fascinated by this league of actresses and people in the entertainment industry fighting for social change. we have you on the campaign trail with candidates. now we have a movement in alabama to change the name of the bridge. tell me how important the political involvement is to you and why at this time? >> i'm glad you mentioned a friend. i appreciate what she has done in mississippi. she's from there. she takes it seriously.

there's people who do. racism is about power. white people created the system of laws, policies, financial networks, visual narratives to control in the press african-americans. it works. it prevents us from creating wealth and health and prosperity and things that go with it. to destroy it and bring about change, it's about voting up and down the ballot. else locally, all politics are local. this election, look in the mirror. take action. we need to partner with other minorities to organize our collective power. it's what reverend barber, the poor people's campaign, fusion politics, martin luther king's call for economic justice and revolution, black women are key. we are the moral majority.

it's a powerful group. i think it's a wrap on all the shenanigans that's happening. we will defeat the clown show running us into the abyss. >> the intersection, the rying rising majority. this has been a great panel. i wish we had more time. i have to leave it right there. thank you, ladies. more after the break.

we have breaking news out of florida. a new national hot spot and not because of its weather. today is the third time in four days that florida has announced more than 10,000 new cases of coronavirus in a single day. only yesterday, more than 11,000 cases were reported on the

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silence pain, sleep soundly. if, in fact, the president is surrounded by such cowards and incompetents that even when he is trying to invite putin into the g7 and has phone calls, nobody has the guts to say to the president of the united states, mr. president, we still,

i want to remind you, have intelligence that the russians are trying to kill u.s. servicemen and women in afghanistan, this is not the time to handle putin an olive branch. this is the time to work on options to punish him. that's not what happened. >> president obama's national security adviser this morning underscored the fact that ten days after "the new york times" first reported on russia allegedly paying bounties to militants who kill american soldiers, we have no sense of how donald trump will punish russia. joining me now, para nadel, lindsey granger and back with me elise jordan. elise, what is happening? this russia story is bonkers. even if people hold hostile views on race, if people want to save the confederacy, whatever that is, it seems like the line

would be drawn at killing u.s. soldiers. tell me, what is happening with this administration not addressing this issue? how is this going to play with the republican party? >> donald trump's response has been tepid, if you want to say that. he has had no response or really any defense for not defending american troops in an active war zone. this is not going to go away, especially in an election season. it should never go away. the most important responsibility of a commander in chief are when the decisions he makes with our young men and women that he chooses to send into battle. you can tell that with this, donald trump has some kind of superseding loyalty that keeps him from doing the best things for american troops in the national interest. >> i gotta say, i don't know if

this is just donald trump. it seems like the entire republican party has been penetrated by this trumpism, this cult-like dedication and loyalty to this president. senator ernst punctuated this earlier today. >> if president obama showed failed leadership, do you think president trump is showing failed leadership now? >> i think we all have responsibility in stopping the spread. certainly, i've heard some of the discussions earlier, wearing a mask is appropriate, social distancing is entirely appropriate. >> is the president right now exhibiting failed leadership? >> no. i think the president is stepping forward. >> what? please, i mean -- listen, i'm not making light of this. you have to laugh to keep from crying. there are people dieing.

breaking news out of flooof flo. senators are banging the drum for his leadership on an issue which he is clearly failing on. what do we do? how do we convince people to see reality? they are living open a different plane than we are. >> democrats need to focus on people who to our base, of course, we need to focus on interests. we need to focus on folks who are democrats who haven't been actively engaged in the process but who identify with democratic policies and who are outraged by this. i think that the bottom line here is that republicans are never going to hold donald trump accountable. it does not matter what he has done. we have seen this musical play over and over again, this tragedy play other and over again.

there has been no accountability. at this point -- to be clear, the reason why there's no accountability is because accountability from both parties comes from our voters. if our voters indulge this behavior, if our voters don't penalize us at the ballot box, then there's no accountability. the republican voters have shown that they are not going to penalize this president and the senate and those republicans in the congress have taken notice of this as well as local -- state and local republicans have taken note of this. so what's happening is, they are saying, we're going to participate in all this corruption, too. we're going to be unaccountable as well. i want to punctuate that point. the expectation that we are going to get accountability from the republican party or trump at this moment in time i think is an unrealistic one. we have to focus on people who are reasonable and rational. that's it at this point. that's all you can do is educate

and inform those voters and expose the corruption. >> reasonable and rational, a fading party in the republican party. i want to stay with ernst on this. as we are in the midst of this, she refers to it as a blemish. let's play that. >> senator, somebody who is on the ballot with the president in november, are you comfortable with that? >> well, i think that there is a great level of frustration across the united states all the i way around. we need to come together and have hard discussions about our past. the great thing about this nation is that we can learn from those blemishes, learn from those hard times in the past and continue to evolve as a continually blessed nation. >> watching that, i can't tell if i'm watching an snl package.

i don't know if she was challenged on that. i hope so. >> we have to look at the overall picture. when we have the president who is having a rally in tulsa, not acknowledging race riots, it's igniting the fact he is playing into race relations we are having that are negative for everybody. i'm hoping we get more than talking points from people coming out. like you said about ambassador rice saying something to the president is okay. she has to understand why people from national security advisers to governors of the states where people want to lead with no mask is okay and we have no national strategy or plan for masks. things that simple are things that will bring us together if they want to talk about bringing us together and come together and protect people. we all know a lot of people that have passed away from coronavirus, specifically with my family living in new york and knowing people there. to use it as a political tool and not just say this is a mandatory national strategy and

not stay on point and try to better race relations and maybe run on something that tells black people that you care about their lives is problematic, especially now when this is the number one cause to me going into the election in november. >> elise, i would love for you to weigh in.[r[r[r]é the republican party has certainly contributed to some of the landscape that we see. now that there are people out there trying to fix it, what is the course forward? how can the republican party put this together with the current landscape of the country? >> the republican party isn't going to be allowed to approach any kind of reckoning as long as donald trump is the power broker at the top, as long as he is the party leader. we are going to see more of what we saw this weekend, a race-baiting speech at mount rushmore that really gives any american pause over the incendiary rhetoric coming from

the american president. as long as donald trump is feeling desperate about his electoral prospects, he will go back to always racism, whether in the form of build the wall or now it's den graigrating the bl lives matter movement. as long as he is in power, this is not going to go away. the republican party can't even start to have a reckoning on race. >> tara, the final word. we know race and gender on the ballot like erin said earlier, this isn't necessarily a race between donald trump and joe biden, but for many people it will be a race between joe biden or stay at home, what do you make of the political landscape with how voters are feeling about the choices they have this november? >> i think that most people who are reasonable and rational -- i go back to that point -- seeing what is happening with donald trump and they are outraged.

we need them to carry that outrage all the way through to november and express it not just in protests but in voting as well as holding people accountable. i want to pufrnctuate the point. it's not just joe biden and donald trump. we have elections occurring up and down the ballot. the mistake we made in the past is not recognizing the power at the local level and how much that has over our lives in terms of police chiefs. those are mayoral elections. many sheriffs and judges in this country that preside over our criminal justice system in an unequal way are elected. we need to vote in those elections and understand the significance. >> all right. thank you for our wonderful panel. thank you for joining me. up next, i finally get to ask everyone's favorite question. who won the week? don't go anywhere.

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it's time to ask my favorite question and yours, who won the week? back with me, tara, lindsey and erin. who do i want to go to first? i will start with lindsey. tell me, who won the week? >> listen, i have some honorable mentions. representative presley, she has been saying if you like black lives matter, don't just say it, legislate it and invest like it, which i appreciated this week. stacey abrams, she's not giving up the fight for voting rights. we need to continue fighting for that. what really blew my mind was breaking news that i didn't know i needed. i know you might have saw this. ang l angela yee did this amazing interview. he had a relationship with jada

pi pinkette smith. she's saying she going to bring herself to her own red table for

a billions of dollars so this is an issue we need to get policy

around. i know there's some efforts that have been underway. these brothers fought for their land for years and they were sentenced for not vacating the land to eight years in prison. >> wow. >> eight years in prison. so i just want to -- that point. this is something we can move the needle on from a policy perspective. we need to have wills. >> yeah. >> this is something that's really near and dear to my heart. >> no need to apologize. thank you for highlighting that story. erin had pop culture, politics, the wealth gap. you're my sister from the atl. represent, you're from the a. so tell us. who won the week? >> okay, i got you. these are all the choices. i'm going to let y'all finish, but for me, it was absolutely no

contest. twitter is undoubtedly alexis of annie jr. 2 years old. already an icon. leave it at that. alexis and her mother out there in matching purple outfits with a purple matching power stance out there on the tennis courts this week. posting this on her instagram. is that not the pandemic era you need right now? we're in the midst of a pandemic that has taken away from us yet another you know, rite of passage of the summer, wimbledon. seven champions. we should be seeing her on the screen this week, but i guess if we can't, that little 2-year-old's power stance is the next best thing in this moment. >> i love it. that's a great thing. thank you for representing. all of you guys had great picks and i thought this was going to be the week that i finally get to have my choice since joy

always wins, but you all had great picks. how do you compete with a baby? okay, fine. for me, it is definitely without a lynn miranda. the fact hamilton is streaming on disney plus now. first of all, all of us who have been stuck in our homes have bemid binge watched everything. thank you for finally watching the show. i am happy you tune nd to hamilton on disney plus. it's the best thing for those people with kids. it was something to watch. but what really struck me about this at this time that we are reimagining america and to see people of color in these leadership positions and reimagine history in this way, i think it says, the amazing wind at our back that we need right now as we go through this cultural shift in america. so i loved it. i think miranda is such an

amazing artist and he's long been celebrate d and i hope we kopt to celebrate him. so kudos to him and to you for winning the week and closing us out on a great show. thank you to my channel. lindsey, and aaron. that is our show. thanks for watching. keep it right there. and stay tuned, because tomorrow morning, i'll be on "morning joe" to talk about my book that drops tomorrow. for now, keep it here on msnbc and thanks for tuning in. see you next time.

good day, everybody, from new york, it's noon in the east. 9:00 out west. welcome to weekends with alex whit. crucial tests. the fear that this holiday weekend could be a superspreader for covid. people packed the beaches despite the warnings. the warnings signs in wisconsin for the president as the pan responds brings new disapproval. plus, the president's plan to pay tribute to 30 americans. who's on the short list and who'sówdm in arizona, a record number of new patients were hospitalized yesterday. more than 3,000.

icus in the state are at 91% capacity and that's a high. in texas, the number of new cases also surging. yesterday, the state reported more than 8,000 new infections. the most tex has seen in a single day since the start of the pandemic. we'll have a live report from dallas in a minute, but first, to new jersey. crowds flock ed to the shore nr holiday weekend as governor murphy sounds the alarm over the national response. >> we're starting to see a small spikes of reinfection from folks coming back from places like myrtle beach as well as in florida. other hot spots. to me, it says we need a national strategy. we're only as strong as our weak link. as you mentioned, i said we went through hell, we can't afford to again. we need a national strategy right now and masking has got to be at the core of that. >> in new york city, the