birx. the cases jumped by about 2 million in the month of july. the united states ended the month with about 4.5 million infections up 2.6 million at the end of june. the previous monthly high for infections was in april when more than 880,000 new cases were recorded and data shows the virus is picking up speed in the midwest. state and local leaders in many missouri, wisconsin and illinois are imposing restrictions, and they're issuing warnings about a rise in hospitalizations. california recorded 219 deaths on friday. a new record, daily total for that state. it marked the fifth time in july that california broke its single day record for deaths. and florida, florida is nearing half a million cases on friday. the state reported 257 deaths,

another grim record, another grim milestone for the sunshine state. nearly 100 of those victims were in miami-dade county. that's where things stand on this monday morning, august 3rd. with us we have contributor mike barnicle. white house reporter for associated press, jonathan lemire. host of kasie dc on msnbc, the great kasie hunt. and politics and journalism professor, politics editor and msnbc political contributor, jason johnson will join us in a moment. jonathan lemire, i want to start with you and then go to kasie and get her take on what's happening on capitol hill or what's not happening on capitol hill with the coronavirus outbreak and then i want to go to mike barnicle and you and i

are going to pile on mike barnicle and ask him how he allowed the red sox pitching to get this bad. jonathan let's start with you first and talk about a piece you wrote for the associated press about donald trump and the campaign. something you've been saying for some time. and that is that his staff keep telling him, his campaign advisers keep telling him, mr. president stop thinking this is going to be like 2016. there's not going to be a last minute surprise. that's not when the charge starts. it starts right now. and it starts right now because early voting is coming up. and a lot of people's opinions about you, mr. president, are already set in stone. >> the president, joe, has been telling people for weeks now to try to reassure allies that he has plenty of time, it's still early. he points to election day being

three months away. he calls back to 2016, how there were these late breaking events, particularly the james comey letter, that shifted things his way. and his aides have been telling him, perhaps the last week and a half they were able to get it through, this is 2020, people vote when they vote, whether it's election day or early. we'll see this year a historic surge in early voting, fuelled by the pandemic where people are not going to feel safe traveling to the ballot box and they'll mail them out ahead of time. north carolina, that begins in a month and several others begin soon thereafter. even if there were an october surprise, a reversal of fortune for the president say in the stretch run. millions of ballots will have

been cast. so they had a pause in advertising for several days to reassess message and strategy. they're going back on the air today, monday, focussing on the attack that joe biden is under the left wing elements of his party. >> lots of luck with that one. >> they can't have rallies -- so far that's right, that attack has not struck. and they're planning a ton of day trips to states, battleground and otherwise, to get the president in front of voters. the president usually in august takes a week or two or longer vacation in bed minister, new jersey, that's off. he'll take occasional week ends, but that's not going to be an extended time. they're rethinking the national convention, so they're trying to

see what they can do to put him in his voters' minds. if he can cut into deficits, deficits they think aren't as high as public polling, he has to show he has a handle on the coronavirus pandemic. that's what's weighed him down since march, unless he can show progress there, it's going to be a tough place to win. >> of course, the president was ruminating trying to figure out why his poll numbers were low, dr. fauci's numbers were high and why things were going the way they were, and he suggested people just didn't like him, it was his personality. it's not his personality, which is offensive to a lot of people, but it is the fact he's called it wrong from the very beginning on this pandemic that's now killed 150,000 americans. donald trump in january saying it was just one person coming in

p from china, would be gone. in february saying it was 15 people but soon it was going to be down to zero. and march, saying it was going to magically go away in april when the sunshine came out. april telling people to use disinfectants and uv lights. maybe to inject the disinfect t disinfectan disinfectants, to have dr. birx check that out. of course, he promised this was going away, was going to magical disappear. said it would be with us in the fa fall. tried to reopen schools in april or may when 80% of americans didn't want them reopened. i can go down the list, you know the list yourself. is somebody trying to talk? i'm sorry i keep getting interference. anyway, you can go through that laundry list. people aren't making a decision

based on his personality. they're making a decision based on just calamity policies that have put the united states in the worst position of any country on the planet. we should not be where we are right now. and we are where we are right now despite the fact we have the best hospitals in in the world, the best research universities in the world. the best scientists and doctors in the world. i've said it for months now, we've won at least half of every noble prize given out for science since 1950. we are better positioned than any country in the world to face down this pandemic, but because of bad leadership we find ourselves where we are. as we've been saying since march, you can't bully a pandemic.

you can't lie to a pandemic. you can't wish away a pandemic. and we've been saying that constantly since march. the president's ignored it. joe biden was saying back in january, can you believe that, six months ago, joe biden was saying in january, listen to your doctors, listen to your scientists, let them lead you, mr. president. we're not ready for the pandemic, mr. president. but the scientists are. talk to your scientists, talk to your doctors, let them lead you. let them guide you. and he just hasn't done it. he's ignored them, pushed them to the side and kept saying this was going to magically gone away. it hasn't. one thing that has gone away is economic relief for americans whose lives have been shattered

by this pandemic. and apparently no one in the senate cares about that because the benefits have expired and it doesn't look like mitch mcconnell's senate wants to do anything about that. tell us what's the latest? >> they could have done something earlier, now here we are, and the benefits have expired and they're scrambling to try to pull something together. the reality is because of that failure you just walked through, the only thing that congress can try to do to help people is shovel money out the door because now the economic crisis is worse because the medical crisis is so bad. it's clear the white house, if you listened to mark meadows and steve mnuchin yesterday morning they still want to do a big package to try to send money to people, because they realize just how bad things are for so many americans and they are facing an election in just a couple months.

but for senate republicans, joe, it's almost already turned into a scramble for what the republican party is going to look like after trump is out of office. people are very down on the president's chances right now. and so you have posturing from ted cruz in the senate lunches talking about how much money they're spending. arguments between people like tom cotton, keep spending the money. democrats will spend more money anyway, and we need to prop up these republican senators who are at risk of losing their seats. that's the backdrop for when they're sitting down across the table, and mitch mcconnell wasn't in washington this weekend, his staff said he was kept abreast of the situation, but he has a campaign going on in kentucky. and the reality is if the administration says they want to pass it, mcconnell may have to do it with democrats in the senate. that's kind of the state of play with where things are here.

republicans have gone back with counter proposal, with no clear major progress with where, you know, democrats are saying we have to do this. and, you know, they're also refusing to look at things like voting, which is a huge problem. the election is three months away and there's still no real plan to allow americans to exercise their votes amid this pandemic. so we're far away from a deal sitting here this morning, joe. >> and you are right. there are a lot of vulnerable republican senators who understand they need to pass legislation to give economic relief to people whose lives have been destroyed by this pandemic and also to make sure that people in their states can actually vote. democrats really need to come together, and republicans need to make sure that they're able to fund this voting process, so it's not a nightmare in the fall. and i know a lot of americans are going to be looking. and jason, right now, mitch

mcconnell is more than just a majority leader who is worried about where he, you know, where the caucus is. he's got to worry about his own race. look at martha mcsally who's in a lot of trouble politically. look at corey gardner in colorado. joanie ernst is iowa is probably in trouble. susan collins in maine in big trouble. even if you look at what's happening in georgia, you have us doing much better than expected and yesterday in north carolina this poll came out on thom tillis, and thom tillis is getting beaten by nine points in north carolina. the deep south losing 48 to 39

to cunningham. and donald trump also in that state, a state that's gone republican every year except 2008 for my gosh how long? probably 45, 50 years. donald trump still losing this time by five points to joe biden in north carolina. four points, i'm sorry. it seems the republicans are just sitting on their hands, not doing anything about voting, economic relief for working class and middle class americans in many states like arizona, colorado, maine, north carolina. can mitch mcconnell and the republicans really sit back and let donald trump rig the election and let donald trump -- you know, try to rig the election. and let donald trump basically tell millions of americans, let them eat cake? that's where donald trump and the republican party is right now. >> joe the real challenge, if you look at some of the biggest

sticking points to the republicans coming up with a plan to help these vulnerable senators, it's tom cotton, rand paul and ted cruz. the guys who want to run in 2024. the safe republicans who think that, hey, donald trump may be out of here and i want to set myself up to be one of the new leaders of the party. they're also the people standing in the way of creating the kind of relief that would help susan collins, thom tillis, martha mcsally and joni ernst. the other issue is this, as we talked about earlier, even if magically some relief is developed. i think at some point they will, look usually the republicans are in a position of strength we've seen daca negotiations and things in the past, eventually the democrats will cave because they're worried their constituents will get mad at them. that's not the case anyone. you have democrats and independents united saying i

don't like the job that donald trump is doing. the republicans in are in the vulnerable position of having to defend what the president is doing and they don't know how to come up with a valuable plan. you know, it's not just that we had the susan collins of the world and the corey gardners of the world, the fields they're in is more competitive than six weeks ago. i don't think mitch mcconnell realizes how tenuous his position of power is, that's the reason everyone is scrambling for the doors. >> i think mitch mcconnell has to worry more about his own re-election than ever before. probably why he was in kentucky this past weekend instead of trying to get the bill passed. there are two elements to the bill, one is economic relief but also more and more people are getting concerned when donald trump talks about rigged elections, once again he's confessing or projecting, because a lot of talk about the

new postmaster general's changes at the u.s. postal services and they're already reportedly creating backlogs in delivery that could threaten the arrive for the mail-in election. luis dejoy, who president trump appointed, has put in measures, including limiting overtime, shutting down sorting machines early and requiring letter carriers to leave behind mail. delivery days of at least two days in parts of the country as a result of that. but claims that mail-in voting is inaccurate and unreliable. now there are observers that believe the changes are

politically motivated and designed to undercut the postal service. workers told "the washington post" that the backlogs are so dire if the new procedures remain in place, workers may not be able to locate all the ballots in time for them to be processed. quote if they keep this up until the election, there's no telling how many days worth of delay there could be a post worker from california told "the washington post." so, mike, there it is. donald trump's best case scenario where he goes on tv last week and he talks about the delays that we could have with mail-in voting. and then he implements policies in the u.s. postal service that are designed to delay voting. he predicts the future by shaping the future, by putting one of his political hacks inside the postal service to try

to slow things down. >> yeah. you know, call me a cynic joe, if you will. but one thing we all learned in the year 2000 is that republicans are good at fixing the way we count ballots in the country. now with this furor over mail-in votes we could be sitting down for thanksgiving dinner not really knowing specifically who the president-elect of the united states is. so we all have to pray that there's going to be a landslide for joe biden in order to avoid this conflict. but the larger topic here this morning is one you can't ignore and you can't miss if you go out of your home for five minutes. and it is that we have elected people, specifically in this case, to the united states senate to take care of problems that come up with their constituents in state after state after state. what we're talking about this morning, literally, is the

economic present today and the economic future near term and long term for millions of american families whose lives, economically speaking, may never be the same because of the inaction of the united states senate and the inability of the united states senate and specifically donald trump's administration to cut a deal to keep the families afloat in the short term. and it is unbelievably outrageous they're wringing their hands and walking back and forth from one end of the capitol to the other complaining about the negotiation process when there are millions of families that are going to sink into an economic meyer and never come out of it. >> a lot of americans get the checks from the government and immediately turned around and

paid their rent, paid part of their mortgage. they depended on that to be able to hold over and keep their family inside their apartment or inside their town home or inside their single family home. now, you're going to have eviction notices going out in martha mcsally's arizona and corey gardner's colorado and joni ernst's -- and i can keep going, and mitch mcconnell's kentucky and are they really going to be able to explain to their constituents, you know what, we didn't pass that to keep you in your apartments or to keep your in your family homes because ted cruz and tom cotton and people who want to be president four years from now -- because they didn't want us to pass it. and we just didn't have the power, the strength to roll them and get it passed.

are they going to really say that? also, when people are lined up to vote and they can't vote or they find out that their ballots, their mail-in ballots, their absentee votes, ballots, don't get there in time because republicans wouldn't pass legislation, now in august, i'm warning you again republicans like i started warning you in march, i'm trying to help you here. if there is chaos in november and you say no to giving the post office the money it needs, the funding it needs, to giving states the money it needs to protect the american democracy this fall, it'll be another mark against you. just like this pandemic. just like i've been telling you,

just about every single day since march to make your president take this virus seriously. to stop lying to the american people. to stop being polly ann-ish to the american people. to stop making promises that obviously were never going to be fulfilled. to stop saying we're going to be able to open by easter. we're going to be able to open by memorial day. goo good lord, the fourth of july has come and gone and it's only getting worse. and it's only getting worse because you didn't hold your president to account in march. americans keep dying because you didn't hold your president to account in march. hell, you wouldn't even start

wearing masks until recently. some of your governors wouldn't let localities pass mask ordinances. what is that about? right. you've screwed this up terribly. you're probably going to lose the presidency and the united states senate and the house. so here's another chance, here we are in early august, i'm going to try to help you again. i shouldn't. i don't know why i do. you know, people tell me, my problem is i care too damn much. i do. i care too damn much. so here i am again telling you, do your job. push the president to be responsible on the pandemic. push mitch mcconnell to pass economic relief that will help

struggling americans at least get a paycheck that will keep them in their apartment, that will keep their family in their town home. that will save their american single family home. donald trump talks about the american -- what does he call it, the boogie oogie american dream -- whatever he calls it. some stupid, stupid tweet about the american -- you know what the american dream is? the american dream is to be able to feel security living in your own home or your own apartment with your family. and that dream is being torn away from so many americans right now because of the economic fallout of this pandemic which did not have to be this bad. but since it is this bad,

because you didn't listen to the warnings from joe biden in january or so many of us starting in march, a lot of people are sumpiffering and you have to help them now. it's going to cost a lot of money and for a small government conservative, yeah, it makes me flinch. but we have no choice. just like you have no choice you have to make sure that american democracy is protected this fall and make sure that everyone who wants to vote can vote, whether donald trump gets re-elected or whether joe biden gets elected. you have to do that. and it's early august, okay. don't screw up like you did on the pandemic. hold the president accountable on the pandemic. make him get real. protect americans who are suffering, who are about to be evicted, okay. that's real to them.

they're more than a cross tab in your polls. and finally, make sure every vote is counted. whether trump wins, biden wins, at the end of the day, that's not your job to worry about. your job is to protect american democracy and right now you're not doing it. right now you're not protecting american workers. right now you're not protecting american lives. when mitch mcconnell comes back, tell him that. we'll be right back. back, ll him that. we'll be right back. looks like they picked the wrong getaway driver. 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! sonny. was that good? line! the desert never lies. isn't that what i said? no you were talking about allstate and insurance. i just... when i...

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at this point in time, there's been five randomized control trials that do not show any benefit to hydroxychloroquine. so at this point in time we don't recommend that as a treatment. there's no evidence to show that it is. i think most physicians and

prescribers are evidence based and not influenced by what's on twitter or anything else. and the evidence doesn't show that hydroxychloroquine is effective. we need to move on and talk about what is effective. >> whoa! mike barnicle, who would have ever seen that coming? a member of the white house coronavirus task force, admiral brett giroir says hydroxychloroquine doesn't work! who -- this is like the ending of "the sixth sense". i never saw that. the ring's rolling around on the floor and i'm trying to figure out what happens. you never saw it, did you? maybe i need to do this with jonathan lemire. but he says what people have been saying since march, i think, and that is hydroxychloroquine doesn't work and the president just keeps coming back to it. i'd love to follow the money, i

just don't know where that money goes. why donald trump keeps pushing this medical scam. >> you know, in this administration, that statement yesterday by the admiral qualifies for a chapter in profiles in courage. you wonder today whether he'll be forced to retire, you wonder what will happen to his career because he spoke the truth. and that is the truth. this is a quackery theory and yet it's been carried on for months and months, led by who else, the president of the united states. amazing. hydroxychloroquine no good. forget it. move on. >> i keep going through ann applebalm's the twilight of demock democracy. you look at the book and what you see in there is people warning long ago about how cranks and crack pots are chosen

to fill regimes because people who tell the truth get pushed aside. that's what happened to this regime. somebody tells the truth like dr. fauci tells the truth and they get attacked by donald trump's political hacks. we'll see if the op dump comes on him this afternoon like it did with dr. fauci. because what is dr. fauci doing? he's telling the truth. and would be autocrats hate when people on their staff tell the truth. we'll get to our doctors in a minute. but first, quickly, i want to talk about the poll we showed you last block out of north carolina and another from georgia. the latest cbs news yougov poll shows joe biden up 48% to donald trump's 44%. while in georgia, a state that seems like it's been tied for months, joe biden is up one, 46 to 45%, falling within the

margins -- the poll's margin of error. and back to north carolina for a moment where it is worth noting that thom tillis is trailing challenger kyle cunningham by nine points. it's going to be hard for thom tillis to come back and win the race. he's been fighting approval ratings for some time, tried to get a little trumpier and that drove his numbers down if further in north carolina. look at north carolina, look at the fact that georgia is still tied i'm told, the first time a democrat has been tied in a poll in georgia since 1992 when r.e.m. released "automatic for the people". i don't know who did that research but bless them. we look at texas with another

outbreak in houston, 29% positivity rate in houston, texas. every texas poll has been within the margin of error except one last month that showed joe biden up by five points. you have donald trump who thought he was fighting in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, now fighting in texas, georgia, north carolina. he can't lose one of them. they've given up on michigan. that makes their position more dire. >> these states, he can't lose them, right. the problem is now it's moving to the sun belt. joe, what's important if you dig into these numbers, the biggest strike against president trump has been people believe that joe biden will handle the coronavirus better than trump has. that goes back to what we've been talking about all along

that the president's grotesque mismanagement of these issues and ackoe lites in georgia, in arizona have gone down with him. and now it's too late to turn this car around. i always had my doubts going back to 2018, brian kemp is a master at suppressing the vote and cheating, i suspect there will be difficulties in georgia on election day. but this is not a state the republicans thought they were going to have to do work in. if you look at the numbers in north carolina with a nine point lead for cunning home and roy cooper is running away with the state, that might be enough to drag joe biden over the line. if you have situations where democratic governors and senate candidates are poplular, that my change the vote. that's what donald trump has done and that's what he's facing in these southern states.

>> jonathan you wrote a piece about it and we've been talking about it for some time. michigan is off the board pretty much for the trump team they know it's next-to-impossible to win that. i look at pennsylvania and see polls of two or three points i don't believe those polls any more than i believe 12 or 13 points in florida. but texas and georgia perhaps those states remain close but i look at a state like pennsylvania, in the philly suburbs, speaking of "the six sense" -- or maybe that was "signs," forgive me i'm confusing my movies now -- but donald trump is going to get hammered in the philly suburbs. look at philadelphia proper. he's going to lose badly there. scranton, he's going to do far worse than any republican has done in quite some time because

joe biden is from the scranton area. people saw him as a delaware senator on philly newscasts and i suspect biden will do better in the pittsburgh suburbs than hillary clinton did. you start looking at michigan being out of reach, pennsylvania being an uphill climb, you got a position where donald trump is going to have to run the board on all of these states that are now either toss ups or leaning in biden's direction. what do they do with their new strategy? where do they aim their campaign dollars? you can't ignore texas now, georgia, north carolina, you can't ignore florida, you can't ignore arizona. >> joe, first the two pop culture notes. i believe several of m. knight's moves are set in philadelphia. automatic for the people a classic. the path is narrowed -- >> i have to stop you.

i can't let that go by. if you're not going to pick murmur then you have to go with fables for the reconstruction. >> murmur might be the greatest debut album of any american band in 50-odd years. the entirety of the r.e.m. cannon is hard to -- >> okay. you can continue. >> good. glad we're on the same page, joe. in terms of the map, the president's team they know this. i think we've talked about michigan being all but gone. pennsylvania is one that's interesting. the philadelphia inquirer reported how republicans have had an advantage in the voter regs there in the last four years. democrats are up by a smidge but it's close. pennsylvania is a state that may trend republican in some ways but this year with the democrats landing on joe biden as their

candidate they feel good about that and the president and his team knows he has a climb there. they now think that is a true battleground going forward but advantage dems at this moment. i think the president's travel also indicates where there's some concern. he had to go to texas last week. there's talk of a stop in ohio this week. these are states that four, five, six months ago, the trump camp thought they had all but put in the bag. that is no longer the case. now they have to play a lot of defense and though the president has not had trouble raising money, there is a finite number of resources. you can only allocate your campaign's money and your candidate's time, maybe your most precious assets, in so many places. if they have to be in texas, in ohio, that takes away from the time they can be in florida, a state they cannot win without.

as well as wisconsin and some of the other upper midwest states and recall also the path of the virus. right now -- for weeks now it has wreaked havoc in florida, texas, arizona, it's still bad there. the white house says they're monitoring hot spots in places like pennsylvania, wisconsin, ohio. and if those states start really suffering as well, that, of course, is only going to hurt the president's political chances further. >> it will because again the worse the pandemic is, the more people are going to be focussing on those comments that it's just one person coming in from china and it's going away. it's 15 people coming in. we'll be perfectly fine, nothing to worry about. i'm not worried. all the things donald trump said. kasie, i know the president raised a lot of money. he has wasted so much money -- of his donor's money.

you think of the millions and millions of dollars they spent and he keeps falling further and further behind. and now, instead of six months ago they thought we're going to focus on -- we're going to laser focus on wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania and florida and hold down all the other states that we won last time and be in great shape. now we're writing down this list, they're tied in texas, georgia. behind in north carolina, behind in arizona, tied in ohio. those are states that donald trump thought, the campaign thought, they had in the bag. and those are huge states, texas, ohio, florida, they're going to have to spend a ton of money to stay competitive there. >> yeah, huge states, expensive media markets. and frankly, a limited arsenal of options for how to try and compete there. the president has lost what was

his number one campaign tool in 2016 and that was those massive rallies that generated all kinds of free media coverage for him that did not require him to spend any campaign money. so that's definitely a problem. i want to go back, as you were ticking through that list of people who have their senate seats at risk suddenly because the president has mishandled the virus. and i covered all of these senate races in 2014, the 2014 guys are the ones up for re-election. a lot of them won their seats attacking then president obama's handling of the ebola virus. a virus that never spread in the united states. a virus that, you know, we treated a handful of people here on american soil who had come in from africa where they were fighting that epidemic. people like thom tillis spent that campaign attacking the democratic opponents over the

president's handling of that. now they have to turn around and defend what this president has done with this virus? i think it's worth pointing out and considering that as we cover all the races across the country. >> yeah, with 150,000 americans now dead, thom tillis is going to have a hard time obviously defending what the president has done and the fact that he sat quietly by while the president has made one mistake after another. still ahead, new reporting that health experts are worried about the potential for political influence for the race in the coronavirus vaccine. and, you know, a bigger question i'm hearing from donald trump's own supporters, can they trust a vaccine that is rushed to market. "morning joe" back in a moment. ♪ cancer won't wait. it won't wait for appointments to open up or test results to come back.

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an overnight summer camp in georgia was hit by a coronavirus outbreak. it took a number of precautions but did not make the campers wear masks or have ventilation in buildings. now on friday, the cdc released a report on the outbreak that hit 260 children and staff in june. according to the report, of the 600 residents who attended 344 were tested and 260 tested positive for the virus. 231 of those were under the age of 17. and the camp was only open for four days before being shutdown. the cdc said the camp required staff to wear masks but didn't follow guidance to require campers to wear masks as well. health officials said relatively

large groups of children slept in the same cabin where they regularly sang and cheered, likely leading to the spread. let's bring in dr. dave campbell and dr. olivia roy. she is an nbc news medical contributor. dr. roy, let me begin with you, a lot of parents like myself have children who want to get back to school. i know a lot of parents who want their children to get back to school. we're not in that category because we have children with underlying conditions. but what does this experience in georgia, this terrible experience, this virus spread like wildfire, what does it tell us about the possibilities of safely reopening schools in america in a couple of weeks? >> well, joe, good morning.

earlier you were talking about "sixth sense". unlike the end of that movie we we could not predict we can predict how the virus is playing out. it's now august, joe, august. back in march, april, health professionals like me have been talking about the same thing in terms of how to prevent the disease. in terms of school reopening, the same things really apply but we now have more data today than we did in march and april. you cited a couple studies, there was a south korean study that revealed older children, 10 to 19 can spread the virus at the same rate as adults. and last week a chicago study showed that children under the age of 5 carry high rates of viral rna. both basically show that children are drivers of covid-19 amongst the general population. so this clearly has

repercussions for school reopenings. so how are we going to test children? are they going to be tested every day? are they going to have to wear masks? i do not leave my home without a mask because we know these simple measures can be really preventative in terms of reducing the risk of a virus. so we're going to really run into problems if children then transmit the virus to their adult teachers and other staff members at schools, the bus drivers, and then bring it home to their own families. >> dr. dave we've been talking about this now on air for five or six months with you hoping that this country can make progress, that we could move forward unfortunately we've had a lot of problems with testing. we've had a president who said he actually went to his staff and told them to slow down testing. we have a president that resisted the wearing of masks and setting a good example for very long time.

we had a president that was still pushing hydroxychloroquine last week. we've just seen mismanagement from the top time and time again. and so this weekend, it is distressing. it's distressing for me to hear, as an american, who has children, again want to get the children back to school but i have friends fighting for their economic life. i also have friends whose parents were fighting for their lives and lost their lives. this pandemic just keeps going and dr. birx this weekend was very responsible, and she was very truthful with the american people and she said, the coronavirus has entered a new phase. the united states has entered a news phase in the pandemic. tell us what that means to all of us, dr. dave. >> well, dr. birx, of course, the white house task force coordinator explains to all of us how the virus has now spread to the midwest.

even as areas like the south and southwest where i am here in florida we're starting to see a leveling off of new cases, even though the death rate is still very disturbing, but across the midwest we see spiking surging numbers of new cases and we'll see spiking surging numbers of new deaths. it's like you take your hand and rub it across the map of the united states and this virus is going into the rural areas. it's going into areas where people's guard is probably down because it's not densely populated. what her point was, and it's very well taken, is that everywhere, particularly now, in rural areas, people have to wake up, wear their face mask, socially distance. that's this new phase she's talking about even as the death rate for the last six days has been over 1,000 per day. i would add to the new phase of

the epidemic. as we see evictions kick in or people leave their rental homes or apartments, there's another multi-generational family set up, people are going to move back home, bring kids into the homes where parents and grandparents are. i would implore them, and many are now, to wear face masks even in the home because we somehow tiptoe around the inside of the house when we're talking about face masks and social distancing. but if you have older folks living with younger folks and as schools open back up, you have to be extra careful even in the house, joe. >> again, we've learned some things about this virus. it does spread in close quarters, in family quarters. it does spread, we found out in this georgia camping incident, it does spread when people are sleeping in confined rooms when there's not good ventilation.

and dr. roy, you had dr. birx saying that wearing a face mask and using eye protection and even wearing face masks in homes with multi-general families remains recommended. not just a couple weeks ago you still have the viral videos of idiots going around coughing in people's faces, knocking over face mask displays in walmarts which working class americans have to go back and pick them up and put them back up. but you have people acting like complete idiots about not we wearing masks in public and not only endangering others but endangering themselves. now we're getting to a phase that the government is saying, guess what, in multigenerational homes especially you may need to use face masks and eye protection inside the homes because we're at this new phase.

this is where leadership matters. telling people the truth. the question is, will the president follow suit and tell them the same thing? >> you mentioned the key word there, joe, which is leadership. our elected officials need to lead by example. we've been saying this now for five months. again back to another reference to "sixth sense," what i'm sadly seeing is i see dead people. 150,000 plus men, women, and sadly some children, just continue to die because we're not leading -- our elected officials are not leading by example. look at the map, look at the states with rising numbers. those aren't little embers. let's be clear we're talking forest fires of the virus spreading to dr. campbell's point in rural areas. the virus doesn't care. it doesn't care if you're in arizona or nevada. it's going to infect people if they're closely congregating.

and to your point, public health professionals ask for something simple, covering your mouth and nose and maintaining a physical distance. we're not asking people to go to the hospital and undergo major surgery, donate an organ we're asking for something as benign as wearing a mask and keeping a distance. that's it. >> that's it. you talk about what happened in georgia and what you have dr. birx talking about and you're just curious how americans are going to reopen schools in the next few weeks. doctors, thank you so much. really appreciate. ahead, retired lieutenant colonel alexander vindman who testified at president trump's impeachment inquiry is out with a piece describing campaign indimation, bullying by his allies. plus jim clyburn is going to be our guest when "morning joe"

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i can tell you we spent the last three days, actually last four days, trying to get to some kind of consensus at least to start negotiating. yesterday was a step in the right direction. our staff are actually working today, we'll be meeting again tomorrow. but i'm not optimistic there will be a solution in the near

term. >> welcome back to "morning joe." it's monday, august the 3rd. with us we have mike barnicle, jonathan lemire, kasie hunt and jason johnson and joining the conversation former senator claire mccaskill. errin haines is with us, editor at large for the nonprofit 19th. and we have political analyst robert costa, the moderator of washington week on pbs. claire mccaskill, while the boston red sox have been struggling with some of the worst pitching i've ever seen in the major leagues, you got guys pitching 81 mile an hour fastballs high down the middle of the plate. if they want somebody that could pitch faster call the staff at

pensacola catholic high school. i think you have guys that can pitch 83, 84 miles an hour there. i've never seen anything like it. obviously the thoughts with the cardinals and the marlins. bad outbreaks. those two teams share spring training facilities but both right now suffering with an outbreak of coronavirus. what can you tell us? >> well, i think, first of all, in some ways it is helpful to the rest of missouri. we love our cardinals. and we have a terrible outbreak going on in missouri. we have a governor that refuses to wear a mask. we have a governor that refuses to mandate a mask. he is totally walking in trump's shadow. doesn't do anything that trump doesn't tell him to do. so the fact that this has hit the cardinals who used every protocol possible and still are seeing this kind of outbreak hopefully is a wakeup call to more residents that the mask stuff is not a joke. this is not about government

telling you what to do, this is about saving lives. that's what donald trump has done. he has made wearing a mask a political statement and that has cost lives in my state and across this country and he should pay a steep price for it. >> well, it has turned into a political statement, wearing a mask. mike barnicle, i'm sorry i have to ask you, what in the hell happened to the red sox pitching? i don't know if you remember we won the world series in 2018, two years later we've collapsed. this is what happened with the miami marlins. this is -- these -- i can pitch a whiffle ball faster than these guys are throwing fastballs down the middle of the plate. what's going on? talk baseball for a second. but more importantly, what's major league baseball thinking

of doing, are they going to push ahead with the season or are they going to have to shut it down? >> to answer the last question you asked, i think they are going to keep pushing ahead until or unless several other teams come down with the virus and they'll be unable to play then they may have to take a look at it. rob manfred said in an interview over the weekend, they're committed to playing as much as the 60 game season as they can. the red sox organization, led by john w. henry has had a love for baseball. what they're doing in the wake of so many high school seasons being cancelled, so many summer baseball little league seasons being cancelled, they're giving these young kids a shot at playing baseball. >> that's great. >> unfortunately they're doing it at yankee stadium. the other thing that claire mentioned, joe, and it's so obvious and so sad that much of what we're enduring right now,

much of what we're living through, the fear and anxiety felt by millions of americans every day about the virus could have been mitigated more than a little if the president of the united states, in january, february, march or even now, took to the tv and addressed the nation about the virus. something he has never done. he has chosen to abandon his leadership role as president of the united states. he could have looked into the camera and said, look, if you wear a mask, it's going to help an awful lot of people, in addition to you. the choice is, wear a mask or maybe die. it's a simple thing he could have done and it would have mitigated a lot of pain we're feeling. >> no doubt. and again, still talking about hydroxychloroquine a week or two ago. again, i just don't understand it. i never will understand it. as we've been saying here since march, this is a health care

problem that causes an economic problem, that causes political problems for the president. he took care of the health care problem from the start, the economic problem would be far less than it is right now and same with his political problem. he just hasn't been able to discipline himself to do it for more than five seconds. bob costa, looking at these numbers -- and i'm thinking of what mike barnicle said about letting little league players pitch. it's school instead of having to wait for williamsport this summer we're pitching wiright n. and bob who was on my team a few years ago, maybe they can give bob a shot, too. if you've seen any red sox games you know what we're talking about. but bob costa, martha mcsally, joni ernst, corey gardner, susan

collins, thom tillis, mitch mcconnell, i can go on and on, there's so many republicans right now who are at risk of losing their seats and having the senate swing in a big way to the democratic party after this fall's election. what are you hearing about those senators pushing mitch mcconnell to pass some sort of package that will provide relief to americans whose lives have been shattered by this pandemic? >> it's a fascinating story. talking to republicans in arizona, in texas, they all now see the coronavirus pandemic as not a blue state problem, it's a red state problem, it's their problem. but they're still boxed in in many ways by president trump and by their own conservative base in their states who don't

necessarily want to see many americans get a $600 extension on that unemployment federal supplement. and so at this point, some of them are still pressuring the white house not to move forward with the stimulus package yet their own economies in their states are cratering. yet this leaves leader mitch mcconnell and others on edge because it's not just about navigating president trump anymore but it's ant navigating the pandemic and an economic crisis and conservativism is not providing the same boost that it once has. >> let's go to the heart of texas. who would think you'd be talking about texas in 2020, august, and the president is either tied or behind there if you believe the dallas poll out a couple weeks ago. ted cruz is telling reporters it's a competitive state. you have john cornyn running for re-election that's not going to be a walk.

and yet you have ted cruz trying to stop any relief bills along with tom cotton and others running for president in 2024. what does that do to john cornyn in the state of texas? especially with houston now seeing coronavirus cases still exploding and up to a 20% positivity rate there for testing. >> you're so right to pay attention to texas. i was with the president in texas last week. there's this image politically of texas being a rural state. i was in odessa, texas, home of "friday night lights" when you look at texas i love being in on d decemb odessa, but that's not necessarily the political map, it's major metropolitan areas in texas. those voters in 2018 and recent other years moved the state more to the left. you see senator cruz is right

when he says it's a battleground state. but governor abbott is sticking with president trump. this is a state we've seen in races it's starting to turn and that makes president trump have to run up the numbers in the rural areas. but for someone like john cornyn who's never going to reach the 90% republican votes in the rural areas, when you're running with trump how do you balance out in the suburbs, it's going to be tough for him and others. >> you look at the suburban vote that bob just brought up. areas that used to be reliably conservative, whether you're talking about the philly suburbs or the i-4 corridor or suburbs around dallas have actually seen white republican voters run away because of the president's actions on not just the coronavirus but before that on race, you look at

charlottesville, you look at so many other things that actually hurt the president in 2018, hurt republicans in 2018, and they're losing these suburban seats they always had a lock on. >> yeah, good morning, joe. thank you for asking me about baseball, but i'm excited that sports are back, too. baseball is out, the 19th is out. people want to talk about sports. i think a lot of the athletes are trying to set an example. you see a lot of them wearing masks when you see them headed to facilities, trying to protect themselves so maybe people with favorite athletes who see them mirroring this behavior that could be a positive for as long as sports are allowed to continue. listen, a lot of those suburban conservative voters, particularly women, who are the majority of the electorate. what we heard in 2016 when president trump was elected,

let's gift this president a sisi what it is he's going to do. and what he's done in the past four years over issues of race, gender, family separations, things like guns. these are things i'm hearing from suburban women voters that have been off putting to them and are making them at least think about weather they plan to cast a vote for president trump again if not just stay home because they maybe can't support, you know, vice president biden on the ticket. but that is certainly that concerns the president. he is, you know, understanding that his support with those types of voters is something he's going to have to shore up if he plans to get reelected. >> you talk about major league baseball, one of the things that major league baseball has done as it's come back is reminded all of us who have sheltered in place and maybe fallen asleep a

little bit on how contagious the virus is. if you look at the marlins, it's so contagious that even young, strong, healthy athletes can get it and pass it around. it reminds all of us again just how dangerous this pandemic is. if we've been sheltering in place and are just hearing about it on the news or reading about it in the papers. claire mccaskill you have a tweet, you say once again trump goes after rural america, no one is more dependent on the u.s. postal service than rural residents and privatization would make their mail more expensive. first task force and now he's destroying the usps. this guy knows how to hurt his supporters. you can talk to lobster men and women in maine, they'll tell you about the task force that have hurt there. talk to soy bean farmers in

iowa, they'll tell you the same there. but look at the president trying to gut the u.s. postal service. you look at republicans who aren't going to spend money on it. you're right, it's rural americans who are going to be hurt the most. it's like medicaid funding cuts. republicans, trying to explain this to them for years, they think when they cut medicaid they're going to be hurting poor, black people in inner cities, it's a racist thing to think, it's cold hearted, but it's also stupid. they're actually hurting rural hospitals as well. they're hurting senior citizens in nursing homes and nursing home care is getting gutted. rural hospitals can't face the coronavirus the way they should be able to face the coronavirus because of years of cuts from republicans in medicaid. this stuff is not hard to figure out. yet republicans keep going after their own supporters like donald

trump now is with the post office. and like they're doing with absentee voting and mail-in voting. as we've talked about it, claire, we republicans figured out how to do that a long time ago. democrats are the ones that aren't as good in that area. they get people to show up in person, but don't try telling donald trump and the republicans that, because they keep shooting themselves politically in the foot. >> yeah, if you look at trump's numbers where the slide has occurred, first it was older voters because of his total bungling of this pandemic then you saw suburban women begin to fall off his support column. but the third leg so important to donald trump is rural voters. first hyou had the task force ad most rural people i talked to said we're going to give him a chance we think he's trying.

so that was strike one. strike two is the post office. the post office in a rural community is so much more important than the mail. it's a place you see your neighbors. a place you can go to get your medicine if you don't want to wait to take it down that last mile of the country road. so the post office is a big deal. and now covid is moving into rural communities. i can speak to my state. that's where we're seeing huge increases in covid. when you look at the health care problems in rural missouri it's echoed across the country. they have ignored rural hospitals shutting down in states with an expanded medicaid. they have ignored the fact that doctors and nurses are in scarce supply in rural america. you have trump in court trying to do away with protection for preexisting conditions. so this is really the third strike. if he starts losing rural voters we don't need to worry about

whether or not the mail-in ballots are counted that night because it will be a tsunami for joe biden because he's blowing it with rural voters right now. >> jonathan lemire, i do not understand why he's turning his back on rural voters. he thinks -- and the republicans think they can wave the bloody flag of abortion and religion and guns and these social issues and that will be enough to carry them to victory. well, you know, you can be pro-life and support rural voters economically. you can be pro gun and defend rural voters when it comes to health care. but it's this either/or choice and you look at the post office, you look at medicaid cuts, and one instance after another, you've had donald trump and the republican party on preexisting conditions going after rural

voters. >> you're right, joe. i think you hit it right on the head here, that these are voters, rural voters that donald trump and the republican party have largely taken for granted. while those voters probably wouldn't swing for joe biden necessarily they might not turn out at all. this is an election about u turnout. the trump campaign knows it's about the turnout, they need to get their base out, which they believe is more excited and willing to vote in november. we can perhaps dispute that as a matter of whether -- that's a strategy that work but that's their plan. but they don't seem to be playing into that strategy. they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot greatly, no more than president trump advocating a robust federal

response to the pandemic, which is now surging in rural areas. jason, i want to go to you on the idea of mail-in voting. the president's attacks on this practice to muddy this waters this november. he's been suggesting there's been widespread voter fraud like in 2016 when there wasn't any then and no evidence there will be now. he's calling about delays for reporting results on election night. americans should prepare themselves we may not have a winner that night. it may be days or weeks before we know who is the next president of the united states. talk about how dangerous this rhetoric is, in terms of not just disenfranchising the voters but as america holds its breath to see who the next president is. >> i've been sounding this alarm for months. it's no surprise that the president of the united states is attacking the post office it's all the groups he hates, government employees -- that was

loud. it's government employees, 21% of the employees at the post office are african-american, 8% latino, 40% women. this is the perfect agency for donald trump to engage in the sexist, racist rhetoric he's engaged in. i used to live if a small town, taught in a college in a village, the post office supports baseball teams, it's a centralized location. when you shutdown the hours you're not just attacking the delivery of mail you're affecting one of the most stable employers in the region. and the president, it's not just economically damaging i have said this for a long time we will not know who the president of the united states is on election night. we will not know for weeks. there will be battles where blue state governors say keep counting the votes.

he may send in federal troops all of this a nexus on the post office and the president is setting up the battle already. >> kasie, following up on what jason said, like the post office is an employer, a good, solid employer in rural america, the number one employer for so many small towns are hospitals, doctors' offices, health care services. and again, going back to republican cuts in medicaid, those are the places that are hurt predominantly and it's rural americans who lose jobs from those cuts as well. >> and it's rural americans who suffer when the one hospital that's within an hour or two driving ding distance of where live suddenly closes down because their finances fallout from under them. that is one of the major inequalities in our system that

has been exposed. people catching covid-19 in these rural areas already have limited options to take care of themselves anyway. fewer icu beds. and this crisis has been really, really hard on those rural health systems. but i also do want to ask, this is all obviously incredibly important in the context of joe biden's presidential race. he's manafort and gatesing this argument that he wants to make these dramatic changes here. and we know his focus this week is figuring out who to choose for his vice president. errin you have a piece out called "the outsize importance of biden's vice presidential pick". in 1984 she was too knew. in 2008 she was too inexperienced. in 2020 will it be third time's a charm or three strikes you're out as a woman vice president.

the pandemic has dried up the fire hose of campaign news but because of the hushed acknowledgement this could be a legacy pick for the white male and we've seen women jockeying for this position and the post has a piece out this morning about how there are some sexist overtones coming into this, particularly as people have talked about kamala harris quote/unquote ambition which we know can be code for a lot of this. how do we see it playing out in the next week or two? >> unfortunately, i see these racest and gendered troeps continue to resurface as we see black women rise to the top of this conversation. what is politics about if not ambition? right. so i don't understand why something like ambition is a bad word when we're discussing what is probably the most

consequential election many of us will cover. but this is the most important decision a lot of people telling me that joe biden has had to make in his political career and he does have an embarrassment of riches in terms of the talents and experience of these women he's considering. there's never been a woman vice president, never been a black woman nominated for vice president within a major party. so where this ticket they have the potential to make history and defeat trump which was two things so many democratic voters told me they were looking forward to heading into december. >> errin haines, thank you so much. congratulations on the launch of "the 19th". very excited to have you with us. >> thank you. > bob costa, talking about the vp selection.g what

saying about kamala harris being too competitive and maybe being too ambitious, it sounds like the sort of thing that ronald reagan had to balance with gerald ford in 1980. the sort of thing that you see time and time again, you know, bob dole and george h.w. bush in '88, there's a question of whether two very competitive people can be on the same ticket there. it's always been a delicate balance and this year is no exception. i'm just wondering with kamala harris, is there a feeling that kamala harris is the safest pick for joe biden right now because she's been california's attorney general, she's been a u.s. senator, and she's been under

the red-hot glare of those presidential -- and debated -- and really there's no change to that. so despite the concerns of her attacking joe biden in some of those debates, suggesting actually that he's a racist? >> when i've been talking to top democrats and biden allies, it's clear they respect senator harris but vice president biden's experience in the white house informs how he's approaching this decision. he wants a person that he has a rapport with behind the scenes like he did with obama. i'm hearing representative bass is someone who has a rapport

with vice president biden and someone the campaign is watching as she does the interviews with chuck todd and others and feel she could be a solid fit. you have senator harris, senator warren, senator duckworth and so many others. the other people competing with congresswoman bass is ambassador rice, who also has a rapport with the vice president. she's seen as someone who can help him with international affairs, going to europe and other u.s. allies around the world would be a priority for the biden administration should it happen. she's seen as an asset and voice for him in that effort. my short list is ambassador rice, senator harris, and congresswoman bass and not necessarily in that order. >> mike barnicle, again we talk about kamala harris, joe biden wants a personal rapport with

her. mika and i know kamala well, she's very personable, very likable. i want to go back to the campaign for the democratic nomination. senator harris went after joe biden aggressively, talking about segregation, suggesting that he was racially insensitive. but joe biden's been in this game for a very long time. and i'm curious, is that the sort of thing that he's going to be fretting about or is he going to be looking forward to see who would be in the best position to be his vice president? >> joe, my information from the biden campaign and people around the former vice president himself is there's no residue of bitterness or anger or anything having to do with the debates in the primary, kamala harris and joe biden. none. he likes her very much.

errin haines said something interesting and accurate in the last segment when she was here. she said politics is about ambition. that's true for every one of the candidates that robert just mentioned and we've been talking about. but this year for joe biden and the democrats and america it's different. the way they view it is this year politics is about winning. and so his selection for vice president is going to, obviously, be someone he's comfortable with, but it's going to be someone he views as doing no harm. doing less harm than any others who might be in the field. i would agree with robert's rankings -- well, he didn't rank them, but the three people. and i would point out in terms of personal -- getting along with someone, knowing someone, feeling comfortable with someone, susan rice is right at the top of the list. kamala harris is also there, too. not quite as close as susan rice is. but kamala harris has something going for her that susan rice

doesn't, she's a professional. she's been out there, she's run for president, and there's nothing you can do to gain that experience other than to do it. karen bass, comfortable, familiar, great marks from her colleagues in in the house, gets along with both sides of the aisle and would not run for president in 2024. which is also being factored into this. >> it should be about winning, as you said, whether you're republican look for a vp or a democrat, it should be about winning and who can do the best job once they're in that position. but again, i just i just want to say, and i'm a member of congress, members of -- i was a member of the house. members of the house just aren't vetted like senators for the most part.

they aren't vetted like vice presidential candidates. kamala harris, and again i'm not pitching kamala harris at all. i'm saying, you don't want surprises. it's hard to remember but a lot of people were excited by the unknown factor of a certain governor from the state of alaska. and you're right, number one rule is, do not harm. number two rule, no surprises. mike, i want to ask one more quick question. it's in your state. it's about two guys you like very much. two guys that i like very much. but i have to say it's weird. it seems strange in this year of donald trump, when all democrats and a hell of a lot of democrats and independents are focused on

what they see as a threat to the future of american democracy to see two democrats in massachusetts fighting like hell, spending money in a democratic primary against ed markey. ed has been a democrat -- i served with him. ed has been a democrat for a long time. and i like -- i like joe kennedy. i love the family. but for the life of me, i don't understand why he jumped into that race in the anyone of trump. it seems like a waste of resources. well, joe that question is being asked right now, as we proceed to an early primary here, september 1st and mail-in voting begins in a very few days. that question, why is he running, has not been answered, i don't think, by joe kennedy to the point where voters accept

the answer, they wonder the same thing you just raised, why are you running? he hasn't had a tangible, really pointed answer to that question. ed markey has been in the house and senate now for 40 years. he is also, you know, right out front in terms of the new green deal, a big environmental guy, always has been and his secret weapon is alexandria ocasio-cortez, who has cut a tv ad for him already, a very powerful ad in which he takes on his supposedly big liability, his age, in his 70s, been around a long time. she says it's not the age, it's the ideas that matter. it's a toss-up right now. hard to believe but it's a toss up. even with a kennedy name it's a toss up. >> they're both good guys, joe kennedy regardless is going to have a great future in the democratic party. i just don't understand why this year. bob costa, thank you for being

here. what are you going to be looking at today and this week? >> you got to pay attention to mark meadows, the chief of staff and whether he's going to cut this deal or secretary steve mnuchin. it's a new test for the new chief. he's a former house member like yourself, these deals have come down in recent months, who's going to be the power player inside this white house? that's an open question this week and a lot of americans are on edge waiting to see if they're going to get another check. >> so given the economic crisis that so many americans are facing this election year, my instinct would be, it's not a question of if but when this week a bill passes? is that the feeling on the hill or do they believe that republicans would be dumb enough to let this drag on a couple more weeks? >> that's such a good point, joe, because the person who watches well is leader mcconnell

in the senate his majority is at risk. he wants to overhaul the judiciary in 2021 but to do that you need to run the senate, so he needs to lean into this, he's the person with the pull to make this happen. let's bring in staff writer at the atlantic, ed young, his new article entitled "how the virus won" anatomy of an american failure. we had dr. birx on yesterday saying we are now entering a new, more deadly phase in this pandemic talking about the need for people to wear face coverings inside their own home. how did we get to this point? how did the pandemic win in america? >> i think like clearly the federal inaction, the lack of clear leadership allowed this virus to take hold in this

country, to spread rapidly among its most vulnerable people. and we are still not fighting the pandemic as well as we could do. but i argue in this piece that every vulnerability that america had stems not just from the last few months but the country's entire history. its devaluation of public health its legacy of racism and that so many communities have suffered disproportionately at the hands of the virus. we built a world more prone to a virus like this but not ready to handle it. if we are meant to control this current pandemic, we need to grapple with the full reality, the full picture of

vulnerability. >> jason johnson is with us and has a question. >> i want to ask this as a faculty member whose school has gone virtual. with your work, give us the worst case scenario. i still don't think a lot of local school districts across the country realize how dangerous it's going to be to bring children back into school who will spread to teachers, to staff, who will come back home that will cause spikes from from major cities to small areas. what's our doomsday scenario as we open schools this fall in states that have not gotten a handle on the pandemic at all. >> it's partly everything you said. that's what i mean by the fact the problemspredictable. we know that viruses spread. if you don't control a raging pandemic spreading through your communities when you reopen

schools in those communities you are inviting disaster. let's be clear, the problem isn't just the covid-19 pandemic, we are also about to enter a flu season that is going to hit children and everyone else on top of this existing disease at a time when health care facilities are already seriously stretched. and that, to me, is my worse case scenario. it's not just the pandemic, which we have failed to control, 150,000 plus deaths, but also every other -- every other dy st disaster that might layer on top of it. the longer we allow it to continue without controlling it, the more vulnerable we are to everything else that might happen. >> ed, can you speak to the mask mandate and how the mask mandate has become really a lightning rod of political implications in

our country? compare that to other countries around the world as it relates to wearing masks and the cultural issues around mask wearing in united states versus many other countries who have done a much better job controlling this virus. >> so much has been said about america's individualist streak and they might be less likely to do things like wear masks because it's seen as an infringement on your personal liberty. now that might bear out in some places but i think it is remarkable how many americans have taken to wearing masks. this is a public health measure that went from zero to majority adoption now in just a few months. that is utterly unheard of. now, think of how much better we could be doing if the people in charge and people in positions of power were to send clear consistent messages about the benefits of mask wearing, if

they were to roll out policies that encouraged and mandated mask wearing. americans have gone a substantial way towards the public health measures that would save this country and to their acting almost in opposition of leaders who are meant to protect and save them. that truly is one of the greatest tragedies in this country, in this crisis. >> we'll be reading the new issue of the atlantic, ed yong. thank you so much. and coming up on "morning joe," we talked this morning about the policy changes by the new postmaster general that have created a mail delay with many now concerned that ballots could possibly not be delivered on time in november. garry kasparov has been warning about the signs of authoritarian

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. you might hold on to the delusion that everything will be fine. you might think critics are overreacting. that this is america. the votes will be counted, the winner listen declared and life will carry on as normal. have you been watching? everything is not fine. we've seen a constant trend of mismanaged elections. many states are struggling to process an influx of ballots. even those that do show up to the polls, long lines and faulty machines suppress their rights, not to mention the safety issues of voting in a crowd in a pandemic. >> that was a video released by the renewed democracy initiative. and if you're too ignorant to know what liberal democracy, it's not left wing democracy,

it's actually american democracy as it's been defined for the past 240 years. with us now, chairman of the renewed democracy initiative garry kasparov. i loved something that you said a few months ago on twitter. somebody said, what would most of your twitter followers be surprised by. and what you said, you responded that they're going to be really surprised that i'm kind of a conservative guy. you look at ann applebalm and you both have had books about warning about creeping authoritarianism, ann was a consider are courier, as i found out, helping to deliver packages to

dissidents behind the berlin wall back in the '80s. so you both come from an anti-communist center right position. and both of you are warning in the starkest terms because you've seen it up close about the creeping authoritarianism not only in hungary and poland but the possibility of it here in the united states. tell us how the postal service debacle is playing into that. >> we come from center right but it's not about center right, center left. it's about democracy. it's about democratic institutions. and it's the video that you showed a portion of it, it's a part of the series that we're doing to illustrate the threats to american democracy. we want to show the threat and also want to break through the apathy that saw nearly 100 million americans not voting in 2016 by choice. and almost all of them -- it's

not just suppression, it's choice. when democracy is in great danger, not voting, not participating is also choice. we want to remind that billions of people around the world, they fighting for the right to vote. and it will be ridiculous for americans who care about american democracy not to show up, even against all the obstacles and vote. and recognize the threat is real. >> i'm sorry we have a delay, forgive me. and it has to be astounding to you, given your background, that so many americans seem almost glib about the creeping authoritarianism that's happening in the united states are also looking at how some of the so-called cold war hawks that spent their life claiming to be cold war hawks attack

people like you and also, of course, drove a jewish refugee from the soviet yuanunion out os position at the white house, lieutenant-colonel vindman. it's shocking. an american hero who earned a purple heart in iraq. donald trump pushed him out of service to this country and republicans stood by and let him do it. >> you know, what scares me the most isn't that i know what people like trump and his cronies can do. it's that authoritarians always come up with things we cannot imagine, cannot predict. and it's a special talent of people who think only about themselves, their money, their power and you'll often hear, doesn't he know how that looks or truly he would never do that. they don't care. they will do anything because

they have to lose. the way authoritarian think anything they do to stay in power is fine as long as it works. because with power they can avoid consequences, they can avoid prosecution, they can cover their tracks, so, breaking traditions, breaking the rule, even breaking the law, they think it won't matter if they win. so, they're capable of absolutely anything. >> hey, it's kasie hunt. my question for you is, what responsibility do republicans in -- here in the united states have in this context if, in fact, we end up with a president in november who is questioning the election results? >> look, republicans already bear responsibility for voting against impeachment and leaving a man in the office who was capable of doing anything,

violating american law, just to stay afloat politically. those who are enabling this abuser understand they will be treated as accomplices. i don't want to hear, oh, we didn't know or, oh, i was just falling orders. maybe they didn't know in 2016, but now in 2020, they know who trump is and what trump is. and i think that should be a very clear message from the voters because the only way to astop the abuse is deterrence. we don't know exactly what is coming. even my experience, being born and raised in a communist country and being in putin's russia, i cannot predict everything trump can do, but i don't want to think about it because he will do absolutely everything to stay in power. and every republican who is helping him do so must be held accountable when it's over. >> mr. kasparov, what about authoritarianism as it's sweeping across europe right now. can you speak to that and what your organization is doing.

i saw a large group of protesters in germany that had neo-nazi connections over the restrictions that have been placed in germany around this virus. is this a problem that you see not just in the united states, but really across other democracies that have been our allies? >> absolutely. we can see this virus is spreading around europe. you can look at hungary, for instance, where the far right government violating even the european union rules. and you can hardly call hungary a democracy today. you have many questions about poland, but all over europe, you can see the rise of far-right group. by the way, even far left groups. you can even look at moscow, kremlin, as the main enabler. the fact putin succeeded in spreading care around the world and supporting these groups financially, that's a -- not the

least important thing for their success. and it's not surprising that putin is betting heavily on trump being re-elected because trump staying in office, god forbid after 2020 elections, will guarantee that nato will go bust. that will make putin the ruler of eastern europe because i don't know what else or who else can stop his aggression. >> and, of course, he's celebrating donald trump's retreat from germany, one of our closest allies, west germany, during the cold war and one of the most important players in all of europe in counterbalancing putin. jonathan lemire, with the associated press is with us, mr. kasparov, and he has a question. jonathan. >> mr. kasparov, i was hoping you could walk us through the worst case scenario here in the united states. you have talked about how the

president may undercut testing to keep the numbers down to make it look like there's progress, perhaps, battling the covid-19 pandemic when there really isn't. what else could he be doing? how carefully should americans be watching the department of justice under attorney general william barr, other leverages of government the president might use. what could you see as darkest case scenario if we don't have an obvious result of -- of the results of the election on election night. what else could the president do? >> anything other than landslide victory for democratic ticket may lead to this -- lead up to this kind can of catastrophe, this doomsday scenario. i think if trump has one chance of staying in power by violating if not the laws but some kind of traditions and just finding the loopholes and, sadly, there are too many in the current regulations, he will definitely use it. the country being divided,

fighting gulgz um obvious accidents thaudz awe drilt l-- t only for putin but every authoritarian in the world. so giving trump any chance of surviving politically and staying in power could be disastrous for america. of course, it will lead to the collapse of the alliances like nato and many american allies -- traditional alies in the world will have to think again so how they should position themselves. and every country that's stuck in the middle will have to make -- cut deal with the authoritarian regime to survive. >> the project is renew democracy initiative. garry kasparov, thank you so much for being with us. we really do appreciate it. hope you come back soon. still ahead -- >> thank you. >> -- with coronavirus cases on the rise, a top health care official is warning the u.s. is entering a new phase in the pandemic. a look at where the united states stands as several areas of the country see a surge of

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what we're seeing today is different from march and april. it is extraordinarily widespread. it's into the rural as equal areas. for everyone that lives in rural areas, you are not immune or protected from this virus. that's why we keep saying, no matter where you live in america, you need to wear a mask and socially distance. >> boy, i tell you what, that's something we've been worried about for a long time. we're talking about it when so many people from places where i've lived throughout my life were thinking this was a new york city problem. it's not. as dr. birx said, it's extraordinarily widespread. and it's just impacting all of america. that was, of course, white house coronavirus task force

coordinate deborah birx. from coast to coast, the numbers of confirmed cases jumped by about 2 million during the month of july. the united states ended the month with about 4.5 million infections. that was up from 6.2 million infections at the end of june. the previously monthly high for infections was back in april when more than 880,000 new cases were recorded. data shows the virus is picking up speed now in the midwest. state and local leaders in missouri, wisconsin and illinois are imposing restrictions. and they're issuing warnings about a rise in hospitalizations. california recorded 219 deaths on friday. a new record daily total for that state. it marked the fifth time in california broke its single record for deaths. and florida is nearing 500,000 cases on friday.

the state reported 257 deaths. another grim record. another grim milestone for the sunshine state. nearly 100 of those victims were in miami-dade county. that's where things stand on this monday morning, august 3rd. with us we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, white house reporter for the associated press jonathan lemire, msnbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "kasie d.c." on msnbc, the great kasie hunt, and politics and journalism professor at morgan state university, msnbc political contributor jason johnson will join us in a moment. jonathan, i want to starts with you and go to kasie and get her take about what's happening on capitol hill or what's not happening on capitol hill with the coronavirus outbreak. and then i want to go to mike barnicle, and you and i are both

going to pile on mike barnicle and ask him how he allowed red sox pitching to get so bad. jonathan, let's talk about a piece you dropped this morning for the associated press about donald trump and the campaign and something that you've been saying for some time. that is that his staff keep telling him, his campaign advisers keep telling him, mr. president, stop thinking this is going to be like 2016. there's not going to be a last-minute surprise. that's not when the charge starts. it starts right now. it starts right now because early voting is coming up. and a lot of people's opinions about you, mr. president, are already set in stone. >> the president, joe, has been telling people for weeks now to try to reassure allies that he has plenty of time, it's still

early, he points to election day being three months away suggesting -- he calls back to 2016 how there were these late-breaking events, particularly the james comey letter, that shifteded things his way in the stretch run. his aides have been trying to tell him for a while now, and it seems perhaps just in the last week or so they've been able to break through. this is a very different race in 2020. first of all, any election is a snapshot in time. people vote when they vote. whether it's election day or early. we're going to see this year a historic surge in early voting because -- in part, fueled by the pandemic where people are not going to feel safe traveling to the physical ballot box and mail out their ballots ahead of time. north carolina, which is a key battleground state, that begins in a month and several others begin soon thereafter. even if there were to be an october surprise or reversal of fortune for the president in october in the stretch run, millions upon millions of ballots will have already been

cast. they had a pause in advertising for several days to try to strategize on ads. they are going back up on the air today to attack joe biden. the white house in the campaign are trying to -- they can't have rallies -- so far that attack has not stuck, nor have ones about china or hunter biden. because they can't have rallies they are planning a ton of day trips to battleground and otherwise to get the. the out in front of voters. the president usually in august takes a week or two or longer to his vacation home in bedminster, new jersey. that's off. he'll do did occasional weekends but not going for an exended period of time. they can't have something in person in jacksonville but hoping to have a few high-profile events to put him in a big showcase where he can, perhaps, change voters' minds. as a final point, joe, there's a

daunting realization. the thing he must do if he's going to make a comeback and cut into the deficits in the battleground states, deficits they think aren't as high as we're seeing in public polling, he has to show he has a handle -- an improved handle on the coronavirus pandemic. that has weighed him down since march, dragging him down now. unless he can show progress there, it's going to be a tough race to win. even his advisers know that. >> of course, the president was ruminating, trying to figure out why his poll numbers were low and dr. fauci's numbers were high and he suggested people just didn't like him, that it was his personality. it's not his personality. which is very offensive to a lot of people. it is the fact that he has called it wrong from the very beginning. on this pandemic that's now killed 150,000 million -- 150,000 americans. donald trump in january saying it was just one person coming in

from china would be gone. saying in february it was 15 people. soon it was going to be down to zero. in march saying it was going to magically go away in april when the sunshine came out, in april telling people to use disinfectants and uv lights, to have dr. birx check that out. of course, he promised this was going away. it was magically going to disappear. it hasn't. said it wouldn't be with us in the fall. tried to reopen schools in april and may when 80% of americans didn't want those schools reopened. i can go down the list. you know the list yourself. people aren't making a decision based on his personality. they're making a decision based on just calamitous policies that have put the united states in the worst position of any country on the planet.

we should not be where we are right now. we are where we are right now despite the fact that we have the best hospitals in the world, we have the best research universities in the world, we have the best scientists and doctors in the world. i've said it for months now. we've won at least half of every noble prize given out for science since 1950. we are better positioned than any country in the world to face down this pandemic, but because of kbad leadership. as we've been saying since march, you can't bully a pandemic. you can't lie to a pandemic. you can't wish away a pandemic. we've seen saying that constantly since march.

the president has ignored it. joe biden has been since january, can you believe that, six months ago, joe biden was saying, listen to your doctors, listen to your scientists. let them lead you, mr. president. we're not ready for the pandemic, mr. president. but the scientists are. talk to your scientists, talk to your doctors, let them lead you, let them guide you. he just hasn't done it. he's ignored them, pushed them to the side and kept saying this was going to magically go away and it hasn't. kasie hunt, one thing that has gone away is economic relief for americans whose lives have been shattered by this once in a century pandemic. apparently nobody in the republican senate gives a damn about that because the benefits have expired and it doesn't look like mitch mcconnell's senate wants to do anything about it. tell us, what's the latest? >> they could have done

something about this a lot earlier. here we are, the benefits have expired and they're scrambling to try to pull something together and the reality is because of that will failure that you just walked through, the only thing that congress can try to do to fix or at least to help people is to shovel money out the door because now this economic crisis is worse because the medical crisis is so bad. and it's clear the white house, if you listen to meadows and mnuchin yesterday morning, they still want to do a big package to try and send money to people because they realize just how bad things are for so many americans. they are facing an election in just a couple months. but for senate republicans, joe, it's almost already turned into a scramble for what the republican party is going to look like after trump is out of office. i mean, people are very down on the president's chances right now. so, you have posturing from, you

know, ted cruz in the senate lunches talking about how much money they're spending, arguments between people like tom cotton between, well, let's keep spending the money. democrats will spend more money anyway. we need to prop up these republican senators who are at risk of losing their seats. you know, that's the back drop for when they're sitting down across the table from democrats. mitch mcconnell wasn't in washington this weekend. his staff says he was being kept abreast of these negotiations. he has a campaign going on in kentucky. the reality is if the administration says they want to pass this, mcconnell might have to do it with democrats in the senate. that's kind of the state of play for, you know, where things are here. so, democrats hold a lot of the cards and republicans have gone back with counterproposal, counterproposal with no clear, major progress with where democrats are saying, hey, we absolutely have to do this.

and, you know, they're looking at things like voting. the looming election, they're three months away and no real plan to allow americans to exercise their vote amid this pandemic. we're pretty far away from a deal sitting here this morning, joe. still ahead on "morning joe," we'll be talking about mitch mcconnell's top races in november. it may explain why the majority leader spent this weekend in his home state rather than washington, d.c. first, let's talk to bill karins. he has a check on the tropical storm conditions for the east coast and what the east coast is going to be facing this week. bill? >> good morning to you, joe. isaias is accelerating up the east coast. a lot of rain moving up the coast. let me give you the new update from the national hurricane center. the storm is tucked off the coast. it's not going to do any damage today. as the afternoon progresses into the evening, it will head up to myrtle beach and wilmington.

70-mile-per-hour wind, just below hurricane status. now moving to the north at 13 miles per hour. we have 114 million people. we only have like 330 million people in the entire country. this storm is going to be affecting about 1 in 3 people in our country over the next 36 to 48 hours. it's this area in red, though, that's of most concern. that's the hurricane warning from georgetown to myrtle beach to wilmington. the national hurricane center thinks this could can become a hurricane later on this afternoon and make landfall as a hurricane around 10:00 p.m. this evening, somewhere near the south carolina/north carolina bord border. anywhere between myrtle beach and wilmington. the highest storm surge will be to the north-northeast of the storm center. and then we have the rare occurrence of a tropical storm heading right over the top of philadelphia and new york city tomorrow afternoon. we could see wind gusts as high as 60 to 70-mile-per-hour gusts along new jersey and the long

island shore. the rainfall, even though it's a fast-moving storm, tropical storms, 50 million people are in flash flood watches from charleston to northern vermont. it's going to be a brief period of heavy rain. 1 to 3 inches, that's everywhere in the yellow. the orange stripe, we could see 3 to 5 inches, isolated up to 7 inches of rain. it's been very dry on the east coast. isolated flash flooding is possible. and then the final concern, this will be as we go through landfall tonight, that storm surge of 3 to 5 feet, it's bad timing because we have a full moon tonight and right near the high tide this evening, which is at 8:30 for myrtle beach. we have numerous concerns for tropical storm, possibly a hurricane making its way up the east coast throughout the day. you're looking at myrtle beach, south carolina. about 12 hours from now, we expect possible hurricane conditions. you're watching "morning joe." ns you're watching "morning joe." ♪ book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night.

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jason, mitch mcconnell right now is more than a majority leader who is worried about where -- where the caucus is. he has to worry about his own race. you look at march that mcsally, who's in a lot of trouble politically. look at cory gardner in colorko a lot of trouble politically. joni ernst in iowa is going to have a tougher race than a lot of people expected. she's probably in trouble in iowa if the trends keep moving the way they are. susan collins in maine, in big trouble. even if you look at what's happening in georgia, you hadoi much pert than expected. and yesterday in north carolina this poll came out on thom tillis and thom tillis is getting beaten by nine points in

north carolina. north carolina, that can -- still the deep south. losing 48 to 39 to cunningham. and then donald trump also in that state, in a state that has gone republican every year except 2008 for, my gosh, how long? probably 45, 50 years. donald trump still losing. this time by five points to joe biden in north carolina. it seems to me -- four points, i'm sorry. seems to me republicans are sitting on their hands, not doing anything about voting, not doing anything about economic relief or working class and middle class americans. and states like arizona, colorado, maine, north carolina. can mitch mcconnell and the republicans really sit back and just let donald trump rig the election and let donald trump try to rig the election and let donald trump basically tell millions of americans, say of them, let them eat cake because

that's where donald trump and the republican party is right now. >> yeah, joe, the real challenge is, if you look at some of the biggest sticking points to the republicans coming up with a plan to help these vulnerable senators it's tom cotton, rand paul and ted cruz. oh, the guys who want to run in 2024. the safe republicans who think that, hey, donald trump may be out of here and i want to set myself up to be one of the new leaders of the party. they're also standing in the way to create the relief that would help collins, tillis, mcsally, joni ernst. that's the real difficulty. this is not just ideology. these people are planning and scheming for the future. the other issue is this, as we talked about earlier, look, even if magically some relief is developed, and i think at some point they will because, look, usually the republicans are in a position of strength. we've seen daca negotiations and things of the past. eventually the democrats will cave because they're worried their constituents will get mad

at them. that's not the case anymore. now democrats are ferreted and -- or saying, i don't like the job donald trump is doing. the republicans are in the vulnerable position of defending what the president is doing and they don't know how to come up with a valuable plan. you know, it's not just that we have the susan collins of the world and the cory gardners of the world. the democratic field of locations they are now competitive in is much bigger than it was even six weeks, two months ago. we didn't think thom tillis was going to be in trouble. i really don't think mitch mcconnell realizes how tenuous his position of power is. that's the other reason everybody is scrambling for the doors. coming up, new concerns that president trump is undercutting the u.s. postal service before november's vote. those details next on "morning joe." those details next on "morning joe.

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mike barnicle, there are two elements to this bill. one is economic relief but a lot of people are getting concerned when donald trump talks about rigged elections, once again, he's either confessing or projecting because a lot of talk about the new postmaster general's procedural changes at the u.s. postal services.

and they're already reportedly creating backlogs in delivery that could threaten the rival of mail-in ballots for the november election. lewis de joy, the former campaign donor that donald trump appointed to lead the post office has ordered cost-cutting measures that include prohibiting overtime pay, shutting down sorting machines early, and requiring letter carriers to leave mail behind when necessary to avoid extra trips or late delivery on routes. which has resulted in delivery delays of at least two days in many parts of the country. couple that with the president's repeated claims that mail-in voting is inaccurate and unreliable. now a lot of outside observers believe changes are politically motivated and designed to undercut the postal shortstop ahead of the election.

"the washington post" says the current backlogs are becoming to dire that if the new procedures remain in place, workers may not be able to locate all the ballots in time for them to be processed. quote, if they keep this up until the election, there's no kelg how many days worth of delays there could be, a postal worker from california told "the washington post." mike, there it is. donald trump's case best case scenario where he goes on tv last week and he talks about the delays we could have with mail-in voting and then he implements policies in the u.s. postal service that are designed to delay voting. he predicts the future by shaping the future, by putting one of his political hacks inside the postal service to try try to slow things down. >> yeah, call me a cynic, if you

will, joe, but one thing we all learned in the year 2000 that republicans are pretty good at fixing the way we count ballots in this country. and now with this whole furor over mail-in votes, we could be sitting there for thanksgiving dinner not really knowing specifically who the president-elect of the united states is. so, we all have to pray it's going to be a landslide for joe biden in order to avoid this conflict. the larger topic here this morning is one that you can't ignore and you can't miss if you go out of your home for five minutes. and it is that we have elected people specifically, in this case to the united states senate, to take care of problems that come up with their constituents in state after state after state. what we're talking about. this morning, literally, is the economic present today and the economic future near-term and

long-term for millions of american families, whose lives economically speaking, may never be the same because of the inaction of the united states senate and the inability of the united states senate, and specifically donald trump's administration, to cut a deal to keep these families afloat in the short term. and it is -- it is unbelievably outrageous that they are wringing their hands and walking back and forth from one end of the capitol to the other complaining about the negotiation process when there are millions of american families that are going to sink into an economic mire, and never really recover. coming up, one of joe biden's closest confidantes in the house, majority whip jim clyburn is standing by, the south carolina democrat joins the conversation next on "morning joe." joe." i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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dr. anthony fauci tells abc power house that attending rallies, protests are risky even though today his position seems to have changed. obviously his opinion has chapged many times. but i ask to enter those two articles for the record. >> what do you have to say to that, dr. fauci? >> like i said, any crowd, any crowd, whether it's a protest, but any crowd in which you have people close together without masks is a risk. and i'll stick by that statement. it's a public health statement. it's not a judgment on why you're there in the crowd. it's a statement related to the fact that you're in a crowd. >> thank you, dr. fauci. >> mr. chairman -- >> without -- >> i didn't ask him a question. you let him respond. i was making unanimous content. >> and i'm going to run this meeting. >> but i would like a chance -- >> just remember, i'm going to chair this meeting. >> no, i understand you're the chair. that's why i said mr. chairman. >> without objection, your statements, whatever you got

there, will be entered into the record. and without objection. any gather, whether you're protesting or whether you're politicaling, any gathering would be risky, and that's what the man has said. >> the man you saw chairing the coronavirus hearing on friday, house majority whip, democratic congressman jim clyburn of south carolina. jim, it's always great talking to you, buddy. thank you very much for being here today. so, jim, i'm -- i know you're concerned. i know a lot of people are concerned about working americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, through this pandemic. and the fact that mitch mcconnell and the republicans in the senate will not pass a bill to provide those working class americans relief to be able to

pay their rent checks or be able to pay their mortgages so their families so they don't get evicted or kicked out of their house, is there any progress, are you hearing of any hope of that bill passing in the senate? >> well, i think so. i think there's a little bit of progress. wa not as much as i would like to see, as you know. the house sent the bill over there over a month ago. mitch mcconnell made fun of it when it got there. he's now decided that he wants to do something within a week. but he has had it the last four or five days and still not put anything on the table. joe, you know as well as i do that these people are in need of funds. not just for housing, rent and mortgages, but to take care of their children. their staying at home, they have children at home, day care centers are closed, and so they need the resources.

and we should provide it. my goodness, 100% deduction for business. what is that all about? building a new fbi building. those are not emergencies. that's something we can do at any time. let's concentration on the american people and let's get them back to work to help them, and let's do what is necessary to get the country beyond this pandemic. >> yeah and, you know, the president seems obsessed on building a new fbi building. the fbi is supposed to protect american democracy. and yet you look at what's happening at the united states post office, the real threat to american democracy is an election where every american doesn't get to vote. now, you've spent your entire life fighting for the voting

rights of all americans, just like your friend and my friend, john lewis, spent his entire life, almost died for that right. how concerned are you right now that the united states post office is making moves that's going to make it harder to count americans votes so donald trump can throw into question the outcome of this election? he's already said it's going to be a rigged election, which even had the national review and "the wall street journal" saying, stop talking about rigged elections. how concerned are you about what's happening at the post office? and what can congress do? >> i'm very concerned about that. and i believe he's talking about it because that's what he has planned. he's trying to transfer to other people what he does. that's the problem. here's what congress can do. i feel strongly that election day will be election day, but we ought to have an election week.

we can start voting 30 days out. most states have absentee or early voting starting about 30 days out. so, what's wrong with us passing a law that says all voting should begin 30 days out and all ballots are supposed to be postmarked the midnight saturday before election day. and don't stop counting those ballots until polls close on election day. there's a very simple fix to this. and congress ought to pass it and the president ought to sign it. and if he refuses to sign this, i think that is what the american people will need to know about what his plans are. i've been saying for two years now that this man does not plan to have an election. he does not plan to leave the white house. he plans to install himself as america's first strong man. that's the record that he would

like to establish, in my opinion. >> yeah, you know, jim, i've always valued our friendship and i've always loved talking to you because you talk straight whether you're in person, whether you're on the house floor or whether you're on tv. so, let's talk straight about some of the things that have been happening in portland, the federal troops are now talking about coming out. but the head of the naacp over the weekend had to have a refocus rally to say, hey, let's stop this nonsense. let's stop this violence. let's refocus on george floyd. this is not about anarchy. this is not about violence. this is not about flashing lasers in police officers' eyes. this is about peacefully demonstrating. i'm just wondering when you look at some of those images out of there protesters, a lot of white protesters as well being violent and with the lasers, identify seen a lot of these people at --

whether it's protesting wto or environmental marches, it seems they pick whatever gathering they can to try to cause chaos. how angry does that make you that in portland and in other cities, people have come in and tried to distract from what you've preached your entire life and what john lewis preached his entire life about nonviolent protesting for the rights of black americans and all americans? >> john lewis and i had a long discussion about this the last day that i talked with him on the floor of the house. john and i saw a real danger in this. we feel at the time that there's a threat to this very successful black lives matter movement taking place. and we wanted to call attention to what happened to us back in the '60s. when we lost that effort,

headlines, burn, baby, burn, cost us tremendous progress back in the '60s. we didn't want to see that happen here. i said very strongly that we ought not play their game. you know if the opponent gets you to playing his or her game, they will win. violent is not our game. that's their game. let's not play their game. being insulted. not our game. that's their game. let's not play their game. so, i am very concerned about whether or not these are protesters or pretenders. pretenders like we had in annapolis. we saw the images of the guy going down the street, camouflage, busting out windows. they found out he was a white nationalist. i feel some of that is going on. there are pretenders out there

and they're causing a lot of trouble. some are doing things they ought not do and jeopardize the success of this movement. i'm calling on everybody who wants to see this country improve. focus on what the real issues are. stay as john lewis would tell you, keep your eyes on the prize and as we used to conclude back in the '60s and hold on to re-election day. >> and all the people said, amen. house majority whip, congressman jim clyburn. it's always great talking to you. thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> talk soon. be safe out there. a new report shows 1 in 3 u.s. restaurants are now facing permanent closure by the end of the year. let me say that again. 1 in 3 restaurants. now, the independent restaurant coalition has a new ad out this

morning produced by award-winning tv personality and chef andrew zimmer and narrated by morgan freeman and it demands congress target the nation's half million independent restaurants in the next relief package and pass the restaurants act. here's a first look at that new ad. >> neighborhood restaurants are the lifeblood of our communities. they are where we come together. and make life-long memories. and right now, they are facing extinction. the covid-19 crisis threatens to permanently close 85% of independent restaurants. 16 million people risk losing their jobs, disproportionately impacting people of color and single mothers. they are our friends, our nations, our farmers, our

bartenders, our family. 1 in 4 people who lost their jobs during the pandemic were restaurant workers. without your help, our favorite places to eat will be gone. forever. tell congress to pass the restaurants act now. saverestaurants.com. >> you know, we were just talking with jim clyburn about the fact that right now a bill that they sent over a long time ago, the house sent over to the senate, was mocked by mitch mcconnell and now is going nowhere. and because of that, more than 100 ceos are warning congress of catastrophic consequences for small businesses without that relief bill. let's bring in nbc news senior business correspondent and msnbc anchor, stephanie ruhle, with her new reporting. stephanie, we talked about it with you before.

some of this money in pass packages went to the wrong places. we're finding out this weekend that a lot of chinese businesses got millions and millions of dollars. but, man, right now restaurants are in trouble. small business owners are in trouble. is mitch mcconnell's republican-led senate, are they going to pass a relief bill to save some of these people from bankruptcy. >> it's unclear. right now, joe, as of this morning, you've got 100 ceos led by starbucks chairman howard schultz signing a letter, sending it to mitch mcconnell, to nancy pelosi, steve mnuchin, urging them saying, this is going to be the fate of small business in america, okay? a year from now, joe, we will only be eating at chain restaurants and big box stores. yes, there is the ppp, the small business program, but you just referenced it. with little to no oversight of that program, billions of dollars went to businesses that

didn't need the money. now you're seeing bipartisan support, you're seeing senators todd young from indiana, michael bennett from colorado saying, extend ppp but focus it. put it to small businesses who actually have had their revenue drop 25% or more and give it to them for a longer period of time. joe, this original idea, we're just going to give businesses some money to tide them over until we reopen and then we'll be all set. news flash, jared kushner who said the economy would be rocking and rolling by july, it's not. it's devastating. specifically for small businesses. joe, go to any town in america, you're going to see restaurants, bars, dry cleaners, gyms, spas closed down. it won't be temporary. what these ceos are saying to congress, if you don't do something major now, they'll be gone forever. >> steph, it's kasie. can i ask you about entrepreneurs and startups because we've heard from steve case and others that one issue

is the way this money is going out, it's only aimed at those that have lost jobs already when, in fact, the businesses that need it most are the ones in the earlier phase and that could also have incredible implications going forward. >> kasie, absolutely. think about the way ppp worked and what you had to submit. your payroll, all your employees over the last year. what if you were just starting up in the last six months? that's lost. that's gone forever. while you could hear the president say, well, landlords are going to need to ease up. landlords are small businesses, too. what all of this is doing to new business and entrepreneurship. if you're trying to start a business right now and trying to raise money, good luck. what has happened here is the rich have gotten significantly it richer and those small businesses, those startups are suffering. it's somewhat of a positive to see the likes of a cheryl sandberg, a facebook, a doug mcmillan from walmart sign this, microsoft. these are the exact businesses

doing so extraordinarily well, they are giving grace to the likes of mitch mcconnell or the president to say, the economy's booming. the economy is not booming. a portion of publicly traded companies that were already doing well before, are doing significantly about this, kasi. if you are a new business, a start-up, okay, you have no control of supply chains. you have very little ability to have a robust digital footprint. if you are walmart, if you are microsoft, you own those spaces and you're only going to own them in a bigger way. steve case isn't wrong. he's spent a lot of time focusing on other parts of america, and those other parts are being forgotten now more than ever. >> stephanie ruhle, thank you so much. and we're going to be handing off coverage to you at the top of the hour. greatly appreciate you being here. and this morning, the world health organization is suggesting that there may never be a silver bullet out there to

take care of the coronavirus crisis. despite promising vaccine trials. during a virtual briefing, the w.h.o. director general stated there's no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be. the way out is a long way out and requires the sustained commitment. he also stressed the importance of face masks and the virtual call and suggested that they become a symbol of solidarity around the world. and kasie, more news about surges. >> yeah, so this morning, joe, more than a quarter of a million people are expected to travel through western south dakota as friday marks the start of the 80th edition of the sturgis motorcycle rally in sioux falls. the nine-day event is obviously raising concerns that the rally will cause an unmanageable outbreak of covid-19. the ap reports that in a survey of residents conducted by the city, more than 60% said the

rally should be postponed. but businesses pressure the city council to proceed. rallygoers have spent about $800 million in past years, according to the state department of tourism. and sturgis officials realize the rally was going to happen basically whether they wanted it to or not. they've tried to scale it back canceling city-hosted events and slashing advertising for the rally. organizers are still expecting at least 250,000 people to attend. joe, what an event in the time of coronavirus. >> my goodness. let's hope they can be as safe as possible. now to news for subway-weary travelers. major cities across the world are finding that public transportation may not be as risky as thought. with us now, transit reporter for "the new york times," christina goldbaum. she has a new piece "is the subway risky? it may be safer than you think."

thank you so much for being with us. mike barnicle, we're trying to get her picture back, but i read this article yesterday and was really surprised and was really surprised because, obviously, back in march, we were sure that one of the reasons why new york's coronavirus numbers exploded so badly had to do with subways. but this report yesterday in "the times" suggests it may not be the superspreader that we once thought. >> yeah, well, it certainly isn't now, joe, given the scarcity of riders on the subway. but the subways have taken a quick turn around during the course of what we'll be going through with the pandemic. and that they've been cleaned up. there's been a lot of attention paid to them. and i would be unafraid to ride a subway if i saw that most of the other passengers, if not all of the other passengers, were wearing a mask. again, we get back to the mask,

joe. that's the key. it's the key in the subway. it's on the sidewalk, in office buildings, and that's a simple thing. we talk about it endlessly but it's the mask. >> yeah, okay, fantastic. let's bring christina in now. i think we have your picture. so when i read the article yesterday, i was surprised because again, you've heard the stories as a "times" transit reporter that the subway is what carried the virus around all over new york city, why it exploded so quickly there instead of other places. but that's not what you found when you started reporting the story. tell us about it. >> yeah, so we looked at cities around the world and if they were able to trace back any new outbreaks of coronavirus to public transit. and what we found is that in no other cities where ridership has rebounded even more than in new york. so far, there haven't been any new outbreaks connected to mass transit. that's in part because the subway car is different than,

let's say, a restaurant or bar. people are wearing masks. they're not talking that much so they're not producing as many aerosols. people tend to spend less time on mass transit than if they're going out to see friends at a restaurant. and also the ventilation system is effective in new york. the exchange air rate 18 times an hour. the recycled air inside a car is replaced with fresh air about every three minutes. and so this means that perhaps right now is not as risky as people assumed it was many months ago. there are some caveats. that is to say back in march and april when people were not wearing masks, it was probably much riskier than it is today. right now if you are riding the subway today, as you said, almost everyone is wearing masks right now. and it is the crowding is very much reduced because they only have 20% of their usual ridership. >> jonathan lemire, who knew that air inside new york city subways was as clean as it was.

that was filtered as it was. >> joe, as a veteran of the new york city subway system, that does come as a surprise because i've been on plenty of subway cars where that air did not feel particularly fresh. christina, let me ask you, though, staying on new york. obviously, some of that cleaning process, which has taken a lot of these cars out of service and in new york for a time is not offering the 24/7 subway service that has been its hallmark for decades. what can you tell us about ridership levels. i know they plummeted in the early stages of the pandemic. you see photos online of some subway cars are crowded. what are the ridership levels now, and what is the city and state, the state controls the subway system, what are they drag doi doing to encourage people to ride, to get back on these trains? >> back in april, march, ridership plummeted around 90%. it's plateaued around 20% of its

usual 5.5 million riders. it's been that way for about the past month. so part of i think the disinfection that the subway is doing, the mta is doing, part of that is because it's important for public health and the mta's job right now is to convince riders that it is safe to ride the subway. and they have two goals essentially. need to lure more riders back because their fares make around 40% of the mta's operating budget. but they need to do so and not until crowding gets so bad that the risk calculation changes. so you need to lure more riders back. if crowding gets back to that sardine can subway that we are used to, that means the subway will be much riskier in terms of transmission. >> all right. transit reporter for "the new york times," christina goldbaum, thank you for being here. we appreciate it. and we appreciate you watching this morning. that does it for us today. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage after this break. leak

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hi there. i'm stephanie ruhle. it's monday, august 3rd. a new month. according to dr. deborah birx, a new phase in the coronavirus pandemic. here are the important facts at this hour. 4.6 million americans have now been infected with the coronavirus. that is an increase of nearly 2 million cases in just the last month. more than 156,000 americans have died from the disease, and the average number of deaths is rising now. more than 1200 a day. here's dr. birx on sunday. >> what we're seeing today is different from march and april. it is extraordinarily widespread. it's into the rural as equal urban areas, and to everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus. and that's why we keep saying, no matter where you live in america, you need to wear a mask and socially distance. >> so