hey there. i'm joshua johnson. good to be with you tonight from nbc news world headquarters in new york. the goodness of humanity. few humans have the goodness of the late congressman john lewis. his body crossed the pettous bridge for one last time. today, roses fell along the path of a horse draub carriage as did the tears of the crowds that came to say goodbye. treasury secretary and white house chief of staff were back at the capitol today. they and senate republicans hope to find support for a new round of coronavirus relief. millions of memps are about to feel a gap in their coronavirus unemployment benefits. no one knows when those benefits will resume or what form they

will take. and today marks 100 days until the november election. president trump visited his golf club in new jersey. it's looking more and moore like his re-election campaign is struggling politically. polls in battle grounds show trump trailing. mr. trump made a big campaign change, replacing his campaign manager two weeks ago. today we canceled his public acceptance speech. florida passed new york with the state with the second most cases in the country. california has the most. calling off that big celebration came as a surprise to some of his allies and donors. apparently even his aides did not see it coming. but we begin tonight with the biden campaign and some new reporting from nbc news on where it goes from here. the latest national polls sew

biden leading trump. the race is tight in some critical battle ground states. an internal memo from the biden campaign makes clear that the campaign will increase staffing and tv ad spending after some strong fund raising. mike joins us now with more. what more can we infer from this memo in terms of where the campaign is headed? >> as we mark this 100-day milestone to the point where joe biden was about to officially be the democratic nominee, the pap democratic had just begun. it was really essentially broke heading into super tuesday, and then unite the party. as we head into the final 100 days, all indications are that they did so successfully. they outraised the trump campaign in may and june.

they're doing a live virtual celebration grass roots fundraiser, star studded events where they raised money after setting an initial goal of $250,000. they had a dws 15 million ad campaign last week. they're after another $14.6 million ad campaign this week. they've had to recalibrate their entire campaign to a virtual digital outreach. the biden campaign told me they reached out to 40,000 different voters throughout the country. they're heading into the final stretch run here feeling really confident that they've adapt method this new campaign environment that they don't believe the trump campaign, who already had their own issues, not just with their own pandemic. >> one of the things that the trump cam lane hasn't had a

problem adapting to is how do they compare between joe biden's and president trump's fund raising? >> it's really unpress dented to have a challenger outraise the income bent president of the united states but that's exactly what we've seen over the last two months and that's why the biden campaign is trying to press their advantage now. when the pandemic began, when biden had to scrap all the campaign appearances, there's a lot of question about whether he'd still be able to raise money. joe biden himself does virtual fundraisers almost every night. they've proved more successful than anybody anticipated. these able to spend more time with those donors who attend. they've seen their active e-mail list double in the last month or so. so the biden campaign has really been able to adapt to this digital campaign in a way that

they don't think they've gotten enough credit for and that's one of the best messages behind this memo. >> what about the states where the campaign might have more ambitious polls. in texas, in polls texas could maybe turn out to be a tight race. in fact, trump's campaign is almost daring them to. how confident is the biden campaign that it did take texas? >> they had three different tears of battle ground states this summer. they had the protect states, the ones hill hill won in 2016 and wanted to make sure stayed in the blue category. then they had the take-back states, states that president obama had one at least once or twice, pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, michigan. then there were the expansion states, arizona, georgia, and yes, that includes texas.

when you talk to the biden campaign over the last few months, arizona is the state they feel like is most in play. we saw a new poll showing joe biden with a fyfe-point advantage there. the biden campaign, let's say is dipping its toes in the water, not making the full commitment. in politics, you put your money where your mouth is. if you want to make -- think texas is in play, i'll buy your first campaign ad. the biden campaign has only been on the air, on cable and in small markets. more to come, though, is what the biden campaign is potentially saying. >> what we saw in the poll results was 45% joe biden, 44% donald trump, so it's not exactly looking like texas is up for grabs. the last technical to win texas in a presidential race was, i believe, jimmy carter.

thank you. we're joined by david jolly, michael singleton, jeremy peters, elena beverley, and nbc senior politics editor beth. with five of y'all it will be nice when we can be in the same room together. i think this would be much more fun if we were not doing the brady bunch, but i get it. categories, this is what we have to do. beth, let me start with you and the cancellation of president trump's campaign event in jacksonville. he made that announcement on thursday. it's kind of late in the game to have made this announcement, beth, especially since the president seemed gung ho about doing it. if not this event in

jacksonville, do we have any sense of what they're doing to do instead? >> you know, it's so up in the air. joshua, it was late in the game when they decided to move the festivities to charlotte, north carolina, to jacksonville. it was going to be an almost up sur mountment effort to get things moved to jacksonville to have that kind of even that president trump wanted. that was a late in the game play. this is completely late in the game. throwing out the whole jacksonville idea in order to have the president accept his nomination in some other way. it was a huge grudging admittance by president trump that this pandemic is not something he can afford to ignore anywhere. he tried to hard, so many months went by where he was making fun of the issue of masking, saying that the virus was going to go away, and this was the ultimate sign that he recognizes that the virus is here. it is the thing that he will be jumgd on as a cold weather candidate canned as the

president, anything he's doing making things worse or ignoring it is going to drive his polls even further down than they are now. >> what's your reaction to the jacksonville events being canceled? for me as a floridian, i was thinking jacksonville in august, when hurricane season is just about to begin peaking and the national hurricane center has already predicted it's going to be an above average outside in jacksonville in august,ing forget about coronavirus. what is your reaction to these events been cabsled? >> look why trump relocated the location to florida. it's similar to his spats with leaders armed the worrell. he was upset with the south carolina governor and went to desantis' state. he proemsed him we won't make anybody wear masks. we'll have it taken care of by the time you get there. donald trump is seen the same numbers that the media have

seen. his internal numbers are showing him dropping dramatically in the polls and that he is out of touch on the covid issue. that's different than just the policies he's chosen to use. he's shown himself out of touch. what the cam wayne paz seeing, the democrats with this very responsible virtual convention and then donald trump, the week before schools start in florida is going to be out flaunting every piece of public health advice there is in the country. so this is a retreat from donald trump. the question is he going to try to re-inslept his image when it comes to public health? it will be a very hard sell to the american people. but it's what he's done is to reinvent himself and try to suggest he was rights all along. we'll see if he can do that. >> it's not a cinch that this isn't going to happen. your colleagues wrote in the times that the party friday was looking for somewhere else to

hold this event, that he still wants to give the acceptance speech on august 27. also trying to find a place to host some of the planned programming. charlotte did not happen. jacksonville will not happen. do we have any sense of what the viable options might be for a third location? >> well, ever since president trump ran as a candidate in 2016, there's always been the reality of the situation that he's faced and what he imagines inside his head. in 2016 he wanted to move the convention out of cleveland. he didn't understand why it had to be there. couldn't he do multiple nights in multiple different cities? as we speak, yes, they are looking at options for a televise televised performance which happened somewhere else. certainly, this is a president

whose career was built on reality television. he will find a way to make this into a show. that's what he wants. i think what they are wrestling with right now is how to temper that show, the desire for a celebratory performance with the fact that you have 150,000 people now who are dead from the coronavirus. this could not look like an exult apt celebration while this country is going through such deep trauma. president trump has tried to deputy this in april. then he finally came to realize it was something that he cooperate ignore. he denied it then through the rest of the summer and now he finally realized that this is quite serious. he said between now and the time the nomination formally harngs we'll be having the conversation

about whether or not the isn't being too celebratory in accepting his nomination and denying the fact that the country is facing a much more dire outlook than he wants to accept. >> it's worth going back to a tweet that president trump wrote in wril. he tweeted "joe biden wanted a date for the democrat if national convention moved to later time period. now he wants a quote unquote virtual convention one where he doesn't have to show up. gee, i wonder j? whatever happen to that phone call he told the fake news he wanted to make to me? unquote. setting aside that the president mocks joe biden for wanting a virtual convention and now that looks like what's going to happen on the good. o.p. side. i guess why the parties and the networks and everybody flies into one city and we listen to the speeches of people saying that, you know, the land of 10,000 lakes, the home of

abraham link on proweledly casts it's vote for -- i get it, i get it. they could do it on facebook watch these days. do we even need the convention in 2020? >> well, the convention is important, joshua, i can speak to this from experience, both on the campaign of barack obama in 2008 and in 2012. conventions are important. trump wants his convention for morale reasons. he wants to stroke his ego. not having the convention will have an effect on the morale of trump's campaign. they also hold important implications for political mention. you remember everyone holding the signs and having a vision for what your party represents and the president needs that probably more than ever right now and some important implications of the mex of the campaign. we want to know who your

builders are? do you want to know what abilities. not necessarily your readership. you want to get them engaged and get all the gifts going back to the community and mobilizing them for you. there is something to be said for having the convention in person, having the momentum and using the mechanic sbied your voters. that said, it's a pandemic. we have a pandemic and the same reason he isn't lost to anyone that trump doesn't want to have the convention in person but are still -- should be open in a time where it could be costic to everyone's health. the convention as a party should not be something that trump forces in an effort to put every else's health and well-being at risk just so that he can have a moment. >> please do not take what i just said for a reason not to send me to the convention. just don't take me off the --

need to clear that up. everyone, stick around. i want to talk strategy. plenty for to discuss. just ahead with only 100 days until the election, pruch has lost significant ground, including in some battle ground states. we'll report from one of those states where donald trump won in 2016 by about 3 1/2 points. sit tight. 3 1/2 points sit tight. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. almost done. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (vo) ...especially when your easilyg distracted teenager has the car.

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president trump's poll numbers are dropping sharply.

that is partly because of our national health crisis that shows no signs of improving. his hopes for a flashy campaign reset were dashed when i was forced to cancel the event in jacksonville. turning to presidential campaign around with just a hyundais before the vote is no small challenge. we'll see if it turns out to be insurmountab insurmountable. the battle ground states are where the coronavirus continues to spread. let's bring in nbc's steve patterson in phoenix. our recent poll shows joe biden up by five points. arizona is a crisis hot spot. with 51% of its cases coming just this month. how much of a factor is coronavirus to arizona voters regarding how they may cast their ballots? >> it is top of mind for arizona

voters, as in some cases across the country, coronavirus is a troubling topic. it truly is a full-blown crisis. i think it's one of three major key pillars that we're seeing in the numbers today. the first is the shifting demographics of arizona. there's been an influx of m mexican population. you pair that with the moderate sort of suburban voters that are specifically in this area of suburb phoenix who feel like maybe the gop has moved a little too far to the right and it's a recipe for some of the numbers we're seeing in this latest polling. the second being a referendum on donald trump and those battle ground kpunts don't feel aligned. coronavirus, 49% of people polled say that the state is moving in the wrong direction. remember, the republican governor back in may that opened

up the state which contributed to this big spike that we're currently in. the people that were most disproportionally selected was the native community, the black community and the latin x community. so it's a huge contributing factor to what we're seeing today and will be moving forward into the months before the election. joshua. >> thank you, steve. that's steve patterson joining us from phoenix. as the pandemic continues, questions remain about how it might affect the lex. mail-in voting could become a necessity for millions of americans who won't be able to vote in person safely. our panel is back to discuss it. let me start with you. president trump tweeted about that saying the 2020 election will be totally rigged if mail-in voting is allowed to take place. it sounds like he's kind of sewing the seeds of not concede

fg he loses which we'll discuss later a little bit further on, but how do you see this strategy of kind of sewing doubts about the election before the election? >> well, he was sewing those doubts before he thought he was going to lose in 2016 and then he won and had to backtrack and say i lost the popular vote because peel cheated then. this is pretty consistent and i think one thing you need to key in mind, though, is trump's actions are often very different from his idle reps and this talk of losing or contesting the election if for some reason he doesn't win is just part of a long pattern of trump saying things, threatening things that he doesn't follow through on and it also denies reality as far as a lot of the republicans i talk to see it. they see mail-in balloting in a

place like pennsylvania to be incredibly helpful to them. they see it as a place where they can flexion their organizational grass roots muscle. president trump, who tends to see things conspiratorily, to put it chair tably doesn't look it through the lens of what is fact and what is fiction. he tends to look at these things through the lens of what have i heard on fox news, what have i heard and read in conservative media about voter fraud. and everything that is not a ballot at the polling place is going to be fraud in his mind and even then, it might not even be a real vote as far as he's concerned. >> how secure is mail-in voting by and large? how secure is it? j it's very secure. 34 states permitted mail-in

balloting. as of now around 41 states have decided they're going to allow individuals to vote by mail because of the concern for covid-19. we know typically you have people standing in line for nine, ten hours waiting to volt. just imagine that in this type of environment this far, coupled with influenza, we have no idea what type of scenario we would potentially being with. i don't think most governors want to. if you luke at the numbers, 65% of o americans support mail-in balloting, including a majority of republicans. so the president is absolutely off base his issue. i think if you're a republican and you're up for re-election, you're seeing your numbers decrease as a result of your support for this president, you're going to look at those numbers and you're going to recognize that a majority of voters are saying we want to participate in this process but we want to do so safely. that means you have go against president.

so i think at the end of the day the president's going to have no choice but to come around on this issue. >> since you remember pugh research. should it be allowed. 44% of republicans believe that you should be allowed to vote absentee without giving a justification. 80% of democrats feel the same. overall about two-thirds believe you should be able to vote an accept tee. coming up, speaking of mail-in voting and speaking of the nature of this election, president trump claims that he might not accept the results if he doesn't win. that's just a bluff. what if it's not? we'll think that through next. >> with joe biden ahead by 15

points, listen to donald trump very carefully and wait to hear him say something that you think appeals to a voter who hasn't already decided to vote for donald trump. that's what donald trump has toe do to close that 15-point gap. i haven't heard him do that yet. that's what to listen for. that's what to listen for.

you don't know. i think nail in will forming the election. >> you will accept the election? >> i have to see. look -- i'm not going to say yes. i'm not going to -- and i didn't last time, either. >> self-government keeps our democracy alive. if we cannot choose and see our leaders, there is no, sir democracy. he could be bluffing about maybe perhaps not accepting the

election results. if he is not bluffing he is playboyly saying that he as a constitutional officer of the united states would violate that constitution to remain in power. a piece in the new yorker considers what might happen if such a violation occurred. it lays out a few scenarios that could throw the election into chaos and not just if it's a close call. the author of the article joins us. the new book is "sur viefg ah to be ra si." there's another book by professor douglas in which he lays out three catastrophic scenarios that could lead to this kind of constitutional quagmire. in the first, president trump loses the popular vote, pins the electoral college, but then two republican electors in pennsylvania break ranks an vote for mitt romney.

how does professor douglas think that that would play out? >> well, what's beautiful about professor douglas's scenarios is they're all historically based on them. all of them are things we know could happen. we have seen them break faith before. we have seen -- we have seen which is another scenario. we have seep states file conflicting reports about the results. and what professor douglas makes clear is the constitutional laws that have been passed since, they presume a peaceful succession, they presume a peaceful transfer of power. what we're looking at is the very likely outcome of the failure to peacefully transfer power. >> i'll grant you that the presumption of a peaceful transfer of power is built into

the system and that's also kind of what comes up in these other two scenarios, the second one involves the election results being affected by a cyberattack on a big city's grid like detroit, basically, if the power grid goes down and there's a rebuild. the third, catastrophe involved mass mail-in voting presumably because of the pandemic that delays certifying the election results. there are different versions of the final report of who won. how likely do you think the scenarios are actually are o to happening. how hypothetical do those steam you in 2020? >> i think they seem perfectly plausible to me. again, they're based on things that we know have happened. we have seen certainly russia and other countries hacks, professor imagines the hack of the detroit power grid. and what would happen if for most of the day on election day

the power goes down in the city. and so mes of the votes were not counted. that is an entirely likely scenario. you don't have to go to an unknown -- for example, you wouldn't have to imagine what would happen if herb or another country hacked the voting system. this has happened. we've seen power grids hacked. i'd like to say that's -- i love the way he lays out these catastrophes which he calls catastrophe number one and catastrophe number two and catastrophe number three. we have to look at what the president has been telling us. he has been telling us very clearly that he does not plan to recognize the outcome of the race if he loses. >> i know my time with you is tight. but i find it hard to believe that there is one secret service agent, one u.s. marshal, one united states marine, one police

officer who would defend donald trump if he refused to be dragged out of the white house by his toenails. something about the plausibility of him being able to squat at 1600 pennsylvania avenue just feels implausible. i understand the concerns about him saying i don't agree with the results. but when push comes to shove, does that end with somebody shoving him out of the white house whether he wants to leave or not? >> well, i have two answers to that. one is that yes, if tsh if there are clear unambiguous overwhelming results that showed that he has legitimately been defeated. consider having this during a pandemic, a large number of votes are likely to be cast by mail, and we're really not set up to be able to count those votes in time, right.

i think that the likelihood of his ability to cast out on those votes is extreme. the other thing is that i don't think that donald trump's goal ultimately is to hold on to the presidency. i don't think he likes the presidency. his goal is to create confrontation. his goal is to create doubt, his goal is to create a situation of basically civil war. yes, there may be the political to act on the part of some of the services. influenced about all of the services. it depends on how overwhelming the losses. he is flexing his muscle with deploying the dhs. >> one thing i would say is not implausible. it's the possibility of a power grid attack. that is not implausible. the new book is called

"surviving attack si." thank you. >> joe biden will accept the nomination in less than a month, probably virtually. surveys give him an edge over president trump in historically red states, but what is being done to keep that edge. tom perez joins us just ahead. stay close. s us just ahead. stay close at its best? taking metamucil every day can help. metamucil supports your daily digestive health using a special plant-based fiber called psyllium. psyllium works by forming a gel in your digestive system to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. metamucil's gelling action also helps to lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so, start feeling lighter and more energetic... by taking metamucil every day. they're going to be paying for this for a long time. they will, but with accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident, even if it's your fault. cut!

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seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. ask your doctor about eliquis. and if your ability to afford... ...your medication has changed, we want to help. e pluribus unum, out of many, one. now, even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. well, i say to them tonight, there is not a liberal america and a conservative america. there is the united states of america. >> barack obama made that speech 16 years ago as an illinois state senator.

today's america often feels very different with not much unity to go around. recent crises have changed that somewhat in the wake of the coronavirus and george floyd. with voters in their party who chose donald trump in 2016. joining us to discuss that is tom perez, the chairman of the democratic national committee. good evening chairman perez. good to see you again. >> good to be with you joshua. >> what does the strategy look like now. good numbers for joe biden. fund raising looks good. there may be some buyers' resource among democrats who went for donald trump or under pepts who went for donald trump in 2016. what's the game plan now to turn this into a win. >> we're organizing everywhere, we're leading with our values. we have i think the perfect candidate joe biden who can

ignite our country. we have a remarkable partnership at the dnc with a biden campaign. we've veinvested in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, but our field continues to expand. and that is what we're doing day in and day out. we have a 100-day sprint right now. we'll have roughly 2,000 people in the coordinated campaign. we've been building up, as you correctly pointed out, we've outraced the trump campaign two months ago. we're closing that gap. i think what we have is joe biden at the top of the ticket. what you just had on there is senate obama from before. people are sick of a president who divide us. people want a commander in chief, not a tweeter in chief. people want someone who will have their back. someone they can trust. joe biden is someone you can

trust. joe biden's a dreamer and a doer. this is what we're talking about across america. people want a president who will fight for their health care. people want a president who will put an end to this pandemic, who will listen to science and who will pull us together. >> it seems like the country is trending in that direction but the polls seemed to make it look like it was in the barring for hillary clinton and donald trump shaved off just enough votes in just enough places to win. how confident are you feeling about the polling right now? >> the only poll that counts is on november 3rd. i'm very heartened by what's happening but everyone on our team is hungry. they're humble. they're hard working. i tell them don't get on the polar-coaster. do your work and listen and talk about what joe biden is fighting for. this is an election, i think, about trust. donald trump has a record now, a

record of broken promises. he has -- we have a manufacturing recession. it predated the coronavirus pandemic. he has promised to make sure that people could keep their health care during his campaign and then he tries to put an end to the affordable care act. we are far worse off than we were four years ago. you remember that question that ronald reagan asked, that famous question, are you better off now. we are not better off now as a nation. we are more divided than ever. we have a historic unemployment. we have people who are suffering, people who are dying and a president who can't even put a mask on. that is why joe biden is doing well. our coalition is a coalition of life long democrats, of under perngts of party of lincoln republicans. remember that party of lincoln was once the party of civil rights. that is the coalition that joe biden is bringing together.

in his capacity for empathy, compassion, people are longing for that. if joe biden was going to win texas, what does the dnc need to do right now to make that happen. ? >> we've be doing it since 2017, which is investing in organizing. we invested early on in 2017. you look at the results in 2018. they have a remarkable party chair down there. working together with him, you saw the progress we made in the state races as well as in the congress races. now you've had this exodus of republican incumbents from the house. here's the deal with joe biden at the to which of the ticket. every candidate i meet across this country, they tell me, joe biden helps me. that's how we're expanding the map. and in texas, we need to turn out voters, especially voters of

color. we're competing in every zip code in texas, and frankly, joshua, we didn't always do that and so that's why we're going to keep going. i don't know what's going to happen in texas. we are competing there. we're competing everywhere. >> with regard to that turnout and that's the second bumper state phrases you've used, you're out. my perception of the electorate in gem is that republicans are worried about donald trump losing but democrats are terrified about trump winning. i cannot tell you how many people i know who are joe biden supporters who feel like they're on the verge of a stroke all the time at the possibility of four more years of donald trump, particularly with any gaff that joe biden makes, if he says something that comes out sideways.

it's like you can feel everybody's heart just kind of squeak shut because they're terrified of four more years of donald trump. to supporters who are paralyzed with fear over the prospect of four more years of donald trump, whauld say to them? >> i'd say to them, look at 2017, 2018 and 2019 what they all have in common is democrats have been turning out and winning. look at this 2020 primary season. we had record turnout in new hampshire. joe biden outperformed barack obama from 2008. then on super tuesday we saw remarkable turnout. in the midst of the pandemic, people kept come out. more people voted early in 2020 than voted in the entire 2016 primary. people understand what john lewis taught us.

john lewis taught us that the most important -- he said the most important nonviolent tool we have to form a more perfect union is voting. >> yeah. >> people are getting out there, they're voting. they voted this year, they voted last year. they're voting for democrats up and down the ticket. if you're nervous, go to democrats.org. volunteer. make sure you vote, make sure your friends vote, make sure everyone gets out to vote. that's how we do it. donald trump wants us to crawl up in the fetal position. he wants fear to always be on the ballot. that is his currency. joe biden is putting hope and optimism, a building of better, brighter future for america. that's joe biden and that's the united states of america and that's how i think we're going to win. >> last ten seconds. do you think donald trump is bluffing when he says he might not accept the results of the election? very, very quick.

>> it's a distraction. it's like the care advance in 2018. as nancy pelosi said we whether fumigate the oval office and put joe biden and democrats in charge. >> tom perez, it's good to see you. thanks very much. >> always a pleasure, joshua. >> how will the black lives matter movement have on this election? this week vanity fair reported on a new poll by a democratic research firm about how they were reacting to the movement. there was plenty to track with officers in riot gear clearing protesters near the white house. it so too did that photo op across the street, a moment meant to appeal to his base. however, the poll tells a different story. on votes who were mixed on which candidate to pick for the president, support for the protests grew ten points among

those who leaned towards joe biden, support grew 14 points and among trump supporters orks 25 points. let's bring back the panel to discuss that a little bit further. i wonder, let's bring back the panel to discuss. i wonder, david what you make of that, that the support grew so strongly, including among voters who say they lean toward donald trump. >> i think it depends on how the movement that is black lives matter is framed for voters. it's why you see donald trump and republicans, and honestly, fox news, often trying to frame it in terms of these violent protests. where what we know is, it is a coalition of american voters, mesh citizens of all races who are asking for greater social justice for african-americans. and that is the issue. and so when the american people understand that issue, they're supportive. when they buy trump and the

republicans' narrative, that's where you see the numbers draw down. at the end of the day, though, given trump's polling numbers tanking, and we all get to judge his personal behavior on issues of race. as chairman perez pointed out, when they were on the brink of losing the '18 midterm, donald trump injected the culture war of the caravans, telling white america that brown nonamericans are coming for you. what he's going to do in this election when he paints pictures of civil unrest what donald trump is code wording for many in his base, many across the country, he's trying to paint a picture of black crime on white people. that's it. that's what he's doing. that is the racist core that donald trump is doing. i think where he has miscalculated, hopefully, to the better angels of america, that argument does not work in 2020. it worked in generations past, we know that. donald trump is making an argument of the past, and it's no longer something you can sell in 2020. >> beth, is there something about black lives matter that might help decide the election,

the movement itself or something that movement represents? >> well, we know that this is part of the major inflection point we're in in this country around the election. it is the pandemic, the reckoning of racial injustice. those things are separate but also combined right now, combined in voters' minds in many ways. as david was saying, the public opinion about black lives matter now is so different than when it was when it appeared first on front pages five, six years ago. it was then seen as potentially a little radical, a little scary, opponents exploited voters' or americans' confusion or discomfort with the concept. we're not seeing that with polling now, it is across the board supported by not only black americans but white americans as well and across parties. right now it really appears that president trump is making a huge miscalculation by going after the protests that black lives

matter and musicians of racial injustice have spawned. yes there have been instances of violence and property damage and destruction, which nobody wants to see that. but they are so overwhelmingly not that. they are so overwhelmingly filled with families and people from all walks of life standing up for these causes. the idea that president trump could sort of peel away folks, white people, frankly, suburban nights should suddenly be afraid of this movement and push away from it and embrace him as a second-term president seems very unlikely because it doesn't bear out in anything we're seeing, that that shift can be made. but that's what he feels he has to do, so he's taking a gamble. >> i wonder how the biden campaign makes this work for itself in terms of substance. my -- i always wonder about things like virtue signaling, right? everybody want to look woke

right now, nobody wants to look like they don't get it, like they don't know what 8:46 represents. but voters of color know what it feels like to have somebody virtue signal. you pretend to be woke, then we ask you questions and wes. that you're rather drowsy, you're not exactly what you said you were. what does the biden campaign need to do in this moment to not virtue signal, to not win support from voters of color, then have voters of color go, i knew you weren't what you looked like, i think i'll stay home on november 3rd? >> i have a couple of quick answers. first, i think the biden campaign is already doing it. they already are demonstrating that it's not just virtue signaling, they're actually looking at policy to try to dismantle systemic racism. i think that's part of the reason you see biden leading by double digits on issues of race right now. i think he's already -- yes, he said that black lives matter.

yes, he's looking at issues of race and justice. is he thinking about the conversation he recently had with president barack obama? they talked about the black lives matter movement as being the movement of our generation and making sure the policy approaches joe biden takes in office help make black lives matter changes make in this moment. a policy movement that focuses on everything from task forces to trying to figure out ways to change the standard so that police are not -- do not have qualified immunity, as well as looking at alternatives for funding to go to communities and not just going to our police departments, but also looking at opportunities for generational wealth and investment in communities that have been underserved for generations, that help to alleviate some of

the friction that we are seeing in communities of color. i think he is already demonstrating a policy agenda that is more than just virtue signaling. >> i think the president is aloof ands a lack of compassion and empathy for these issues. he risks increasing, i would argue, individuals on the other side who support vice president biden to turn out and say, we have to make sure this guy does not win re-election again. look, if i can say quickly, republicans should be concerned about this. demographics are changing, demography is changing. the fact that you had a state like texas competitive with ted cruz that should have been a red signal. they're not realizing it. the question for the party as a

whole has to be, do you want to go down with this president? >> glad to have had you with us this evening, thanks very much. finally, as we remember the legacy of john lewis, last night we asked you what should good trouble look like in 2020? thank you for sending us some fantastic answers and stories. here's a little bit of what you shared with us. brandon writes, to me, good trouble isn't vandalism, good trouble is being peaceful, also making a difference, and making your voice heard. to me, good trouble is voting, good trouble is peaceful protests, good trouble is voting out corrupt leadership. to me, good trouble never, ever involves violence. antonio writes, to me, good trouble today looks different than it did in the civil rights movement. today's good trouble should have attorneys with the expertise to bring the law to the issues, ergo violation of constitutional rights. these attorneys should be at the protests. one more before we go. olivia wrote, i feel we all

americans need to take a step back now. the white house is not the american public's friend right now, and they don't care about our rights, so any protesting that we do now will fall on deaf ears. so i wish my fellow americans that we take a good pause and not give the devil his due, because they just don't care about us and you're jeopardizing all the good trouble you have done up to now. thank you so much for sharing all of your ideas and your stories and thank you for making time for us tonight. remember, chuck todd is up next with decision 2020, 100 days to go. he will focus on this year's most important races and issues. i will be back next weekend. until we meet again, i'm joshua johnson. stay safe, stay sharp, stay tuned. "decision 2020" next on msnbc. how about no

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