then, new overnight, the trump campaign has officially filed suit against the state of nevada over its plan to hold the 2020 election almost entirely by mail-in ballot. and of course, president trump's attempt to say the word yosemite. >> when they gazed upon yosemite's towering sequoias, their love of country grows stronger and they know that every american has truly a duty to preserve this wondrous inheritance. >> twice for emphasis there. with us, white house reporter for the "associated press," jonathan lamire, nbc news and msnbc contributor shawna thomas, senior writer at politico and co-author of "the playbook," jake sherman, an msnbc political contributor as well, and co-host of "the circus" on showtime and contributor for "vanity fair," mark mckinnon. joe and mika have the morning off. so, jonathan lamire, does alex

trebek give you credit -- do the judges give you credit for yosemite, when we know what you meant, but the pronunciation was just a little off? >> yo, willie! >> hey. >> i'm amazed it isn't on a t-shirt yet. how is the biden camp already not manufactured these, started to distribute these shirts? yo-semite is -- look, he tried, but it does highlight that we know that the president and his campaign have tried to point out that -- they suggest that joe biden maybe has lost a few miles on his fastball, that he did point out a gaffe here, a blunder there, a misstatement there. moments like yesterday go to show you, that's sort of a risky strategy for this particular president, whose at times, relationship with pronunciation is, shall we say, shaky. >> you're being very generous there. that was at the bill-signing for the great american outdoors act, a great bipartisan piece of legislation. amazing, though, you can make it

to 74 years old and not see the word yosemite written somewhere. but we digress and move on to more important matters. yesterday saw a potential step forward in the congressional negotiations for another coronavirus relief package. after weeks of resistance, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said he will support an extension of the now-lapsed $600 federal unemployment insurance relief every week, that is, if president trump backs it. >> the american people in the end need help, and wherever this thing settles, between the president of the united states and his team that have to sign it into law, and the democrat, not insignificant minority in the senate and majority in the house, is something i'm willing to support, even if i have some problems with certain parts of it. >> so, jake sherman, you cover mitch mcconnell. you know him very well. that's as close as you'll get to seeing mitch mcconnell concede

there, where he effectively said, okay, i know this bill's been sitting on my desk for three months. i've got some problems with it. the democrat bill from the house. but i may be willing to budge on that $600 weekly payment. the original counteroffer from republicans, as you know, had been $200 a week. so, if he concedes on that point, gets $600 a week of unemployment benefits to people who need it so desperately right now, does that mean we're going to get a deal here? >> well, i think, willie, we're going to get a deal at some point in the next week. it looks not promising, but it looks possible. here's the catch. mitch mcconnell's not a part of these negotiations right now. so, for the first time in a long time, we can kind of say that mitch mcconnell's view here is a little bit tangential to the overall negotiations. now, mark meadows and steven mnuchin, who have been in the negotiations, have offered $400 a week until december 15th, which also, by the way, is a very big concession for the gop. but we actually, in "playbook" this morning, give a

blow-by-blow, chock-full of quotes from inside of that negotiating room during a 2 1/2-hour meeting yesterday in the capitol, illustrating that there are a lot of issues that remain open to get coronavirus relief to the american people, just to give a sense, willie, about how far we kind of are from a coronavirus package. they are bringing in the postmaster general today to talk to the negotiating team about the needs of the u.s. postal service because there is such a divide on how much the post office might need to complete its operations. so, again, these negotiations are very fraught, very complicated, and they're dragging on. we're now almost two weeks in. i think we'll have another week, at least, before this bill is passed. and both sides want to get a deal before friday. >> so, jonathan, mitch mcconnell's not involved here specifically. neither is the president of the united states. he's taken a hands-off approach to this entire negotiation, sending his chief of staff, mark

meadows, and treasury secretary steve mnuchin in to do the negotiating here. how badly does the white house need a deal? does the president recognize that more than 30 million people just lost that $600-a-week check that's allowing them to survive for the last several months? is there urgency from the white house on this? >> reporter: there is, willie. the president in the last 24 hours or so has insisted that he is playing a role in these negotiations, but we know that is largely not the case, that he has, indeed, deferred it to his chief of staff and treasury secretary. and jake's certainly done an excellent job outlining how these negotiations have gone. but yes, there is a keen awareness that this is a president who's facing voters in under three months and that americans are hurting right now. and beyond just wanting to have a helping hand to those who have suffered so much during this pandemic, of course, there's an eye towards his re-election chances here. and if unemployment numbers continue to go up, if the economic slowdown -- if the economic recovery slows down, that only hurts his chances.

they are trying to push here. they understand that they're in a bad spot. these negotiations have not gone well. each day that it drags on is a bad day for this president, who, again, is trying so desperately to point to the idea of a recovery, an economic recovery, as opposed to how he has handled, or perhaps better said, mishandled the coronavirus pandemic to this point. >> and of course, president trump has said, i will sign executive orders, if congress can't get this done. remains to be seen if he has the power to do it on some of the questions we're talking about. meanwhile, on the health side of this, the united states averaged more than 1,000 deaths from coronavirus for the ninth straight day yesterday. the number from the virus here in the u.s. now approaching 160,000 deaths. meanwhile, the president continues to cherry-pick data to downplay the death toll here in the u.s. here's the president yesterday, questioned by nbc's shannon

pettypiece. >> you've talked a lot about, when you've talked about the mortality rate, the deaths as the proportion of cases, which i understand that is significant when you look at how deadly the virus is or how good a country does at keeping people alive who get infected. but when you're talking about the scope of this virus, when you look at the percentage of the population that's died, there's only three countries that have more deaths than the u.s. so, how do you explain that, why the percentage of the population has died is so much higher in the u.s.? >> well, i think, actually, the numbers are lower than others. i'll get back to you on that, but we proportionately are lower than almost all countries. we're at the bottom of the list. and we're, relative to cases, also we're at the bottom of the list, which is a good thing being at the bottom of the list. but i can get back to you. we have about four or five different lists on that, and we're generally speaking at the very bottom of the list. >> you don't have to wait for the president to get back you. we'll show you the actual numbers in just a moment. but first, here's the exchange the president had a couple of days ago with jonathan swan of

axios on this issue. >> because we are so much better at testing than any other country in the world, we show more cases. >> the figure i look at is death. and death is going up now. >> okay. no, no -- >> that's 1,000 a day. >> if you look at death -- >> yeah, it's going up again. >> let's look. >> daily death. >> take a look at some of these charts. >> i'd love to. >> okay? we're going to look. >> let's look. >> and if you look at death -- >> started to go up again. >> here's one. well, right here, the united states is lowest in numerous categories. we're lower than the world -- >> lower than the world? >> we're lower than europe. >> in what? in what? >> take a look. take a look. right here. here's case death. >> oh, you're doing death as a proportion of cases. i'm talking about death as a proportion of population. that's where the u.s. is really bad. >> well, well -- >> much worse than south korea, germany, et cetera. >> you can't do that.

>> why can't i do that? >> you have to go by where -- look. here is the united states. you have to go by the occasions. the cases are there -- >> why not as a proportion of population? >> what it says is when you have somebody where there's a case -- >> oh, okay -- >> the people that live from those cases. >> it's surely a relevant statistic to say, if the u.s. has "x" population and "x" percentage of death of that population, versus south korea -- >> no, you have to go by the cases. >> look at south korea, for example. 51 million population, 300 deaths. it's like, it's crazy compared to -- >> you don't know that. >> i do. it's -- >> you don't know that. >> do you think they're faking their statistics, south korea, an advanced country? >> we have a very good relationship with the country, but you don't know that. and they have spikes. >> germany, low, 9,000 -- >> here's one right here, united states. you take the number of cases -- now look, we're last, meaning we're first. we have the best. >> i don't know what you're referring to. to what? >> again, it's cases. >> okay, um -- >> and we have cases because of -- >> i mean, 1,000 americans die a day, but i understand on cases

it's different. >> no, but you're not reporting it correctly, jonathan. >> i think i am, but -- >> if you take a look at this other chart, look. this is our testing, i believe, this is the testing. yeah. >> yeah, we do more tests. >> now wait a minute. don't we get credit for that? and because we do more tests, we have more cases. in other words, we test more. we have -- now, take a look. the top one, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. the top -- jonathan -- >> if hospital rates were going down and deaths were going down, i'd say terrific, you deserve to be praised for testing, but they're all going up. possibly 60,000 americans are in hospital, 1,000 dying a day -- >> if you look at the newspapers, they usually talk about new cases, new cases, new cases. >> i'm talking about death. death is going up. >> you look at death. death is way down from where it was. >> it's 1,000 a day. it was 2,500, went down to 500, now it's going up again. >> excuse me. where it was is much higher than where it is right now. >> it went down, then it went up again. >> it spiked, but now it's going down again. it's going down in arizona, it's going down in florida, it's going down in texas.

>> nationally -- >> look at this. these are the tests. >> it's going down in florida? >> yeah, it leveled out and that's going down. that's my report as of yesterday. >> all right. let's suss through this. when the president says we're at the bottom of the list, he's talking about deaths in proportion to the number of cases in the united states. in that list, the u.s. still has the 14th highest number of deaths out of the 20 countries currently most affected by covid-19 around the world. but the cdc, as you know, defines the mortality rate as the number of deaths compared to the population. here we find the u.s. has the fourth highest death rate per 100,000 people out of those top 20 countries. only the united kingdom, peru, and chile, have a worse number. to frame it another way, the u.s. is just 4% of the world's population but represents 22% of the world's covid-19 deaths. so, shawna thomas, that was a painful clip to watch, obviously. the president was reeling there.

but the cdc, i want to underline again, to be clear because there is so much misinformation flying around -- the cdc defines the deaths as a percentage of the population when it talks about the death rate, not as the number of reported cases. >> yeah. i think, number one, i do want to give some credit to axios and jonathan swan for being able to grasp the information that the president was handing him in paper form and actually create the argument that he did in that clip, and i'm sure hbo's very happy you just played basically almost the whole episode. but i think the thing that i keep coming back to from an analytical perspective is that you don't really want to see the president arguing about which death rate is the better death rate, especially when we have the number of cases and the number of deaths we're having. and you pointed out that the average for the ninth day in a row is over 1,000 americans dying from covid-related

problems. so, the thing is, the president doesn't actually -- i mean, a president in general, when doing an interview like this, doesn't actually need to engage in this tit for tat. it is really, really easy to change the perspective of that conversation and come at it from the idea of that -- and this president has said that before -- that there are too many deaths in this country and we need to fix the problem. and the ways we go about fixing the problem and opening up the government. because the fact that he's even engaging in that actually makes him look lesser in some ways, and that isn't the way necessarily to run a white house. that isn't the way to run a campaign. there's nothing from that interview that they can turn into a campaign ad. but overall, it doesn't necessarily show that the president has compassion for people. and the more people who get sick and the more people who die and the more people who know someone who dies, you look at something like that, and you start to

think the president may not understand what i'm going through. and one of the biggest things he can do right now -- and i don't know if he has this ability -- but one of the biggest things he can do right now is actually show compassion for people and then turn to congress and tell them, hey, you need to get something done to at least make people's lives a little bit better in this terrible situation. >> in fact, he's doing the opposite of that, compassion. he's saying, this isn't actually as bad as the media is making it out to be. and mark mckinnon, we don't play those clips for entertainment. we play them because that's the man in charge of this country's recovery. that's the man that's sitting in the oval office, of how we get our way out of this. and as a man who's run a bunch of campaigns, you understand why the biden campaign is already out with an ad that the clip when the president says "it is what it is." he says, "we have this under control," talking about coronavirus. he says, "it is what it is," making it pretty easy for the biden campaign in that interview. >> well, that may be the line of the campaign for the bidens, for

the biden campaign, of course. it's just, we just cut through a massive distortion field in watching the president unable to grasp the reality of the situation. and the reality of the situation is that his electoral prospects are not going to improve until he embraces the reality first. and secondly, addresses the reality. and through that interview, it is quite clear that all he wants to do is deny the facts. in fact, at one point in that interview, as you saw, he talked about five different lists that he had that related to one supposed fact. so, he had five versions of one fact. so, i mean, it's really astonishing that, you know, the person who's running this country and trying to get a hold of this crisis, is unable to understand what the crisis is. and it's so obvious. the bottom line here is you can't get a hold of a crisis, you can't deal with a crisis, until you're able to confront the crisis and admit what it is. and that's the biggest problem,

is that the president is unable to confront exactly what he's facing. >> admitting that would admit the failures of the last six months, so i won't hold my breath for him to do that. jonathan lamire, your new piece just this morning out, the "associated press." you're writing about this chasm between president trump and the doctors. his own doctors. the people on the white house task force, the experts who have been trying to pull him in one direction, he and the other. when you say the chasm has grown, we know that he and dr. fauci have never been terribly close, as dr. fauci has gone out and done a number of interviews recently contradicting precisely what the president had said earlier in the day. what about, say, dr. birx and the other members of that task force, though? >> reporter: yeah, this is becoming a far more widespread phenomenon, willie. let's remember, in the early days, the coronavirus task force briefings, the president would be up there accompanied by these public health experts, the medical officials, and his administration, to deliver the message to the american public as to how best to handle the

virus, update the status of what's going on with the pandemic, and certainly, those briefings didn't always go very well and the president at times seemed to deliver one message very contrary to what the experts were doing. but there was at least an attempt to have some sort of unified front. that has not been the case for some time. first of all, as the president has revived the briefings, it's just him, no experts alongside with him. no one else is speaking to the public. the west wing has clamped down on dr. fauci's media appearances. there's been tension there for months. the president jealous of dr. fauci's approval ratings. some in the west wing think that dr. fauci was more willing to criticize the president on media appearances, rather than in the west wing where he would temper his disagreements. but it's not just dr. fauci. dr. birx is another one who, for weeks and months, had sort of really closely aligned herself with the president, to the point where in recent days, some democrats, other health experts were very critical of her, suggesting that she was white-washing, that she was soft-peddling some of this information. that changed in the last few days, when she said in interviews recently that things

were -- the pandemic was spreading out of control, spreading like wildfire. the president was furious, according to our reporting, as to why she said that, also that she was -- birx was -- with nan nan. we've seen it with the cdc, with the surgeon general, willingness of the experts to break with the president on the use of masks, on the efficiency of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, the president is obsessed with, that they are willing to say that that's not helpful, that's not useful here, that's not what americans should be doing. so, we're seeing here, as the pandemic rages still in the southwest and is really growing and becoming a real worry area in the midwest, states like ohio, wisconsin, missouri, and others, we're seeing, again, an administration talk with two voices, the president trying to spin this to present an optimistic portrait of how the country's handling this. we just saw him stumble through that interview with jonathan swan while trying to insist the numbers were trending in a good direction, while his health

experts are trying to stay with the science, with the data, and they seem to be a little more willing, subtly, of course, but seem to be a little more willing to break with him and not endorse some of his flagrant misstatements. >> it's an incredibly difficult line to walk for those doctors to keep their scientific integrity and keep their jobs and keep the president happy. most of them have been doing it for months now. we're going to come back to coronavirus. but we want to turn now to the massive warehouse explosion that rocked lebanon's capital city of beirut yesterday. maybe you saw the video, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands. the latest death toll is at least 100 people and 4,000 injured. that's according to the lebanese red cross. the aftermath of the explosion left shattered glass, damaged buildings, and plumes of smoke. hours later, the u.s. embassy warned of toxic gases, advising people to stay indoors and to wear masks. lebanon's prime minister said the blast was linked to a warehouse at the beirut port, which stored more than 2,700

tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate for six years without preventive measures. the source of the ignition's still unclear. the chemical compound is often used in fertilizers and explosives. lebanon's president yesterday called for a two-week state of emergency in beirut. joining us now from london, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. richard, i know you've spent a lot of time over your career in beirut. what exactly happened yesterday? >> reporter: so, this was at the main commercial port, which is really in the center of beirut. the whole city radiates around from the port and from the beaches. and in the early evening there, first there was a fire. the cause of that fire is unclear, but it drew a lot of attention. it sent plumes of smoke up into the sky. the fire was sparking, and some people thought that it was an electrical fire. and there have been frequent

power cuts in beirut over the last several weeks. the country is going through a serious economic crisis. the currency has collapsed. the infrastructure is under strain. this fire, which drew a lot of cameras, was burning in the center of the city. then it started to grow. it started to make more noise, make more heat. and then it set off a secondary explosion, the likes of which few people in the world have ever seen. it was a massive blast, and it sent a shock wave barreling through the city. people could feel it for miles around. people who were in the mountains surrounding beirut -- because the city goes down to the sea, but it is ringed by mountains -- were knocked off their feet. people could feel it and see it in cyprus, which is 150 miles away. and most of the windows in the capital were blown out. the hospitals were quickly overrun. they started to issue emergency

calls for donations of blood. all of the ambulances in lebanon were recalled to the capital city, beirut. and now they're trying to deal -- they found themselves dealing with another aftermath that the u.s. embassy started warning about, all of this chemical residue in the air that people were afraid to breathe in, but they had no choice because they had no windows. so people were trying to put plastic tarpaulin into their windows, board it up as best they can. and then nightfall came, people were living in their homes amid the debris, amid this chemical smell, in the darkness, because the power went once again. and now they are trying to figure out what happened. the government promising an investigation as to why more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate was left at this storage

facility in apparently unsafe conditions for six years. >> six years. we've been watching the video that you described while you've been talking, richard. it is just breathtaking. you mentioned the cause of this, which they're still investigating. president trump yesterday, though, spoke about that explosion in beirut. and citing unnamed generals, he said it looked like an attack. here's what he said. >> you called this an attack. are you confident that this was an attack and not an accident? >> well, it would seem like it, based on the explosion. i've met with some of our great generals, and they just seem to feel that it was. this was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event. this was a -- seems to be, according to them -- they would know better than i would, but they seem to think it was an attack. it was a bomb of some kind. >> so richard, according to the people you've talked to in beirut, your sources in lebanon, is there any evidence yet that

this was an attack? >> reporter: no. at this stage, there is no indication that this was a deliberate attack. when you get ammonium nitrate together in very large quantities, it is effectively a bomb. it is something that is often used to make fertilizer bombs. the oklahoma city bomb was made of 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate. here we're talking about over 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate. so, yes, in a way, a bomb did go off, but the reason why remains unclear. the lebanese officials suggest that this was some accident. but there is a great deal of mystery. why was this material being kept at the port? who put it there? the lebanese officials suggest that some corruption may have been involved because this was confiscated material that was then stored in unsafe condition. also, don't forget, there is the

militia group hezbollah, which has tremendous influence in lebanon, has great influence over the ports, over the airport. but nobody is suggesting that hezbollah would have deliberately set off a device to kill so many people and to cause so much devastation in a city where it lives and operates and has a great deal of authority. so, no, he is the only person making this suggestion, at least publicly, that this was some sort of deliberate bomb attack. >> at least 100 people dead, unfortunately, as lebanese officials have said, that number is likely to go up with more than 4,000 people reported injured so far. just devastating. nbc's richard engel, thanks so much for your reporting on this. still ahead on "morning joe," seven states led by the governor of maryland step up what to do what the government so far has failed to do -- pursue a national testing strategy. a closer look at the deal and why our next guest says this is

the key to safely reopening schools and businesses. but first, here's bill karins with a look at the aftermath of yesterday's tropical storm that blasted its way up the east coast. bill, this one was ugly. we've got some trees down in the yard behind me to prove it. >> yeah, there's trees everywhere, willie. and we saw what a strong tropical storm can do, going through areas of the northeast. it's a lot different than a tropical storm going through the southeast. so, let's start with six fatalities from this storm. different causes. two of those fatalities were from a tornado that struck in the middle of the night in areas of north carolina. this was right after landfall. this looks like it was a strong tornado. about ten mobile homes were destroyed. we also on baldhead island, that's where we actually saw the landfall. had significant storm surge there. there's, you know, numerous areas, roads that are still closed that we have to see recovery from. and you know, all the houses are up on stilts, so the houses didn't get water in them, but you can see what a four-foot storm surge in the aftermath

looks like. and then even yesterday, despite, you know, not a lot of flash flooding, but we did see some significant flash flooding around philadelphia. upper darby was one of the hardest hit areas, and there were businesses and homes that did have water in them. and even right now, we still have 3 million people without power. so, in the midst of covid, you know, people trying to work from home -- no wi-fi, no air conditioning, you know. not the easiest. the storm's completely gone now, so that's good. as we go throughout the day today, it's not going to be brutally hot for all those people who don't have air conditioning, you know, no power in their homes. it will be about mid-to-upper 80s in many cases, everyone around new york. by the way, out of those 3 million power outages, 1 million of those are in new jersey alone. new jersey was by far the hardest hit state for power outages with new york state being second. right now 800,000 people without power. and then tomorrow, kind of a similar forecast. actually not that hot. a good type weather for power crews to get everything back on. we're still watching a hot weather pattern from the rockies to areas of west texas.

we've had a big spread of large wildfires over the last couple days. right now we're tracking 50 of them in areas, mostly in the western half of the united states. on friday, some showers and storms in the mid-atlantic region. i'm happy to say there's nothing brewing in the tropics that's going to be coming our way any time soon. we have a pretty quiet weekend coming up. it will be hot in the middle of the country, but very typical weather for what you'd expect in august. so, we are done with isaias. and unfortunately, for all of us trying to pronounce that name, it will be back in five years. that's how often we recycle all of these hurricane names, unless they get retired, and that's only if you have like a really big, bad one. so, new york city. we've cleared it out. we're trying to get power on for a lot of people in the region. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ orning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night. the open road is open again. and wherever you're headed, choice hotels is there. book direct at choicehotels.com.

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without a national testing strategy for the coronavirus pandemic, seven states under the

leadership of maryland governor larry hogan, have banded together in a deal with the rockefeller foundation to pursue 3.5 million rapid tests to address outbreaks in their states. governors from virginia, louisiana, massachusetts, michigan, north carolina, and ohio, in addition to maryland, have signed on to the deal, which governor hogan, the chair of the national governors association, described as the first interstate testing compact of its kind. the governors -- three republicans and four democrats -- say other states may join them. talks already have begun with one of the companies approved by the fda to sell point of care antigen tests that can detect the virus in less than 30 minutes. joining us now, the medical director for the provider global executive medicine, dr. jennifer peña. dr. peña was a physician in the white house medical unit assi assigned to president obama, former vice president joe biden, and most recently, vice president mike pence. dr. peña, good morning. it's good to see you. let's start right there with testing.

what does it tell you about our national strategy on testing now all these months in, that states are having to band together to come up with their own solutions to get their people tested quickly? >> good morning, willie, and thank you for having me. you know, the president says it is what it is. i like to say it should not be what it has become. and this kind of leadership, interstate leadership, is exactly what it is. we need to see a strong leadership that directs our resources towards this national testing strategy, fixing that slide -- really allocating those resources. you know, i like to say, this pandemic is like a marathon, and we're kind of hitting a wall, but we still need to keep going so we can get to that finish line. and so, again, the governors of these states -- maryland, louisiana, massachusetts, michigan, ohio, virginia, i believe north carolina might be joining in as well -- you know, is exactly what we need to safely reopen these states -- more rapid antigen testing that yields faster results. it allows us to identify those niches, those clusters of

infection, really to respond much quicker than we're doing right now with the pcr testing that can take up to two weeks to yield results. and again, allow us to really safely reopen our schools and our businesses. >> you mentioned reopening the schools, dr. peña. that is top of mind for so many parents, so many families, not just because of the implications for education and kids, but people who may need work, who may need child care, if their child has to take school at home. where do you look at school right now? what has to happen? again, we underline that it's not a national question. it's a case by case, a state by state and a district by district question. but what are some of the factors you believe should be going into decisions being made by school board directors, principals, and teachers? >> right. it's an excellent question. my sister's an educator, and we have this discussion very frequently. and so, i think most importantly, we have to follow examples. you know, we have examples of other countries that have attempted to do this.

some are being a little bit more successful than others, but for example, israel, you know, they were at a better position when they reopened than we are right now, in terms of the cases, day-to-day cases, but they opened a little too prematurely and they had a spike in cases. right now, germany has just reopened. i'd be curious to see how they do, how they fair. they're making social distancing for the children and hygiene guidelines very strict. so, again, it will be interesting to see how successful they can be with these guidelines. some schools here in the u.s. have reopened, right? and you know, with varying results. some of them have been able to continue. some, like in the case of the indiana school, had to close up right away because they had positive results. and so, i do agree with dr. fauci. you know, he mentioned, regarding the reopening of college campuses specifically, but with schools in general, that we're going to have to really monitor the case counts, case numbers, in the individual states, and that's going to be very important. not every state is created equal. not every school district is created equal, so we have to be very vigilant about cases and

hold back in those areas where the uptick is still significant. >> dr. peña, shawna thomas is here with a question for you. shawna? >> good morning, doctor. i'm kind of curious, because we were talking about these states forming this compact, instead of kind of the national government actually doing some kind of larger testing strategy. how are doctors informally talking to each other? how are y'all learning from each other? i know there are private facebook pages. i have a friend in san francisco who talks about that. but how do you all share information to kind of get the best of this virus? >> good morning, shawna. and that's a question we tackle frequently because of the lack of transparency that has been, as we say, medicine, pathanumonic has been classic of our pandemic response, unfortunately. it is difficult to find data that is made ubiquitously available to us as providers.

and so, it is challenging. and so, it behooves us as medical providers to go above and beyond to make sure that we're coordinating institutions, like you know, academic institutions, different hospital systems, feeding their own databases so that we can share among each other until some sort of federal database is readily available to all of us, that makes all of this information readily available and transparent. >> it's amazing. six months into this, states scrambling to get testing done still. dr. jennifer peña, we really appreciate your insights this morning. thank you for being with us. a couple of other headlines related to coronavirus. reuters has learned that the shortage of clorox wipes likely will last into 2021. that's according to the company's ceo. the world's largest supplier of cleaning materials has struggled to keep up with the six-fold increase in demand from this year's pandemic, despite ramping up its production. in addition, the material used to create the wipes also in

short supply, as it is used in other products in high demand, including masks and medical gowns. that, along with the usual demand of the flu season, has delayed the output of disinfecting wipes significantly. and defending champion rafael nadal says he will not play in this year's u.s. open because of the coronavirus pandemic. the news comes days after the current number one-ranked tennis player, ashleigh barty, announced she would miss the open. nadal cited concerns over the pandemic and called sitting out "a decision i never wanted to take," but he added, he would rather not travel. nadal had hoped to win his 20th grand slam at this year's open, which would have equalled roger feder federer's record for grand slam titles, but he will sit this one out. still ahead on "morning joe," why biden's vp pick could cinch the 2020 race. that's the headline to mark mckinnon's latest piece. plus, a slew of new polling on the 2020 election. "morning joe's" coming right back. back

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welcome back to "morning joe." mark mckinnon, let's talk about the vice presidential choice that joe biden is weighing right now. we expect it to come in the next week or so, at least ahead, obviously, of the democratic national convention. how are you looking at this as someone who has worked on campaigns? you say in your new piece that his choice could cinch the race. what do you mean by that? >> well, willie, historically, with a few exceptions, vp picks are not that consequential. in this case, it is consequential for one primary reason. that is that joe biden, if elected president, will be the oldest sitting president in history. so, right off the bat, people are going to look at the vp not just as the number two, but the potential number one. so, whatever happens, the vp for joe biden, it's highly likely that biden, although he won't say it, will not run for a second term, and therefore, the

vice president will be in the cat bird seat for the democratic nomination for the next president. so, that's why this is important. that's why people are looking at it so closely. and that's why my suggestion to joe biden -- of course, he doesn't need my input -- he's got a great team and it's a very buttoned-up, vetted process because he's been through this before, which i think is really helpful. but the key here is to row the boat and not rock it. he's not in a position, like john mccain, where he needs to throw deep, has to throw deep. he just needs a solid number two that will be there, but also that somebody can see as taking the reins somewhere down the line. >> so, mark, conventional wisdom at this point -- in fact, there's some reporting from axios this morning that suggests joe biden is down to two, kamala harris and susan rice. but in your piece, you write, "don't forget about elizabeth warren." do you think she's still in this conversation? >> i don't really, willie. i think that she really did

herself well during the campaign. i think she's been a big ally and an important ally during the recent months on the policy side. i just think at the end of the day that joe biden is going to pick a woman of color and in he'd get a lot of blowback if he didn't, and he doesn't need a lot of blow back right now. that's what he can't afford. that's what i mean by rock the boat. so, i think susan rice or kamala harris would both be great picks. i have said for a long time that i think kamala harris is the strongest -- in the strongest position, just because she checks so many boxes. you know, sort of like, i think about being at the horse track and checking the racing form. you know, there's just so many things that she does well that you need as a vp, particularly, and especially, having been in the national spotlight before. because also, this pick, willie, is going to get more attention than most picks do for a lot of reasons, but especially because we're in the coronavirus, there's been such a news vacuum, that reporters haven't had much to cover. and, by the way, trump hasn't had much to attack.

so, get ready, because you know, the dark forces of the trump campaign are going to come pretty strong after the vp real quick. >> and there will be debates. kamala harris would be on the stage with mike pence, and we've seen her on debate stages as well be able to handle herself very well. jonathan lamire, how is the white house looking at this pick? does it matter to them one way or the other? are they hoping for someone that they might have a better chance to attack? the argument against joe biden that we've heard most prevalently from them is that he's a tool of the left, that he's just a vessel for the radical left, as they put it, in this country. are they hoping he picks someone in particular? >> reporter: well to further that argument, elizabeth warren would be helpful for the president to make that case. but according to our reporting is that, you know, certainly, she was a contender there, and certainly, you know, during the era, the stage of the pandemic,

but after george floyd's killing, there was a shift in the biden camp to wanting to pick a woman of color for that slot, for the vp pick. our reporting lines up with axios. certainly, i wouldn't go quite so far as to say it's just two, but certainly, kamala harris and susan rice are the two leading contenders. and shawna, i wanted to ask you on something. you know, as mark suggested, the first rule of the vp pick is do no harm. and to willie's point, the president and his team, they're eyeing, in particular, susan rice, who they feel like they can paint -- if joe biden were to pick president obama's former national security adviser -- this would be a full-fledged continuation of the obama administration. obama third term. and we know that joe biden is very important -- it is very important to joe biden that he gets the sign-off of both barack and michelle obama to his pick. what do you think is the downsides to a susan rice pick? and up sides. certainly, she's not a conventional politician, has never done a campaign before. this would be new scrutiny and i

think if she were to be picked, washington, d.c., hear about n benghazi again. walk us through what you think the pros and cons of a susan rice pick might be. >> yeah. i think you started to lay them out. yes, the word benghazi. now, i don't think the word benghazi turns off a lot of democrats who have already decided to vote for joe biden and people who may be excited about the first black female vice presidential candidate and possibly the first black female vice president. but what i think she knows and what i think the biden campaign knows is they've got to come up with their benghazi sound bite when it comes to susan rice. she has to come up with a way to, in one or two sentences, get past that, because we are going to see thousands of campaign commercials that tie susan rice to that incident, which was an incredibly sad incident. but i don't think that necessarily diminishes the kind of excitement that might be risen by susan rice.

i think her other issue, though, is this question of, because she has never run for electoral office before, elected office before, you know, how does she answer the question of do you want to be president of the united states? because i think a question like that is something that would be natural in this situation because of what, you know, mark mckinnon has said about joe biden being the oldest possible president to ever sit in that office to start his term. you have to wonder if she's never, like, sought that office, if she's never campaigned in that particular way, you know, does she want to do that job? now, i think she's perfectly qualified to do that job, but she has to figure out how to answer these questions. so, overall, both of my answers sort of come to this idea of how do you run for office? how do you be someone who excites people via digital means? because there's only so many campaign stump speeches that are

going to happen for joe biden or susan rice, if she is chosen. but does she know enough to know how to actually energize, excite people, make that person who you're talking to feel like they're the only person in the room, which is what a good politician can do? and we don't quite know that about susan rice. >> so, jake sherman, he'll make his choice, joe biden will, in the next week or so, then it will be on to the voting, much of which, as we know, will be by mail. you and politico and "morning consult" polling every week and you ask people how they feel about voting by mail. and it looks like there's a split along party lines. >> yeah. i just want to add one more thing on the susan rice thing, then i want to get to the poll. susan rice and joe biden have the same strengths. that's what i don't really understand here. foreign policy was biden's calling card. and i understand, first african-american vp candidate, but there are other african-americans in the mix, and i don't quite understand that. but anyway, this is an important

issue, so i want to talk about the mail-in balloting thing. 68% of republicans say they're going to vote in person. and 65% of democrats say they're going to vote by mail, which is just a massive, massive, massive chasm here. and this plays into real policy decisions that are being made now, because republicans and democrats are haggling over billions upon billions of dollars for the united states postal service in mail-in -- that would help mail-in balloting, that would help shore up the postal service ahead of the election. and again, i mean, just think about where we are. people are barely going out in public safely. how are we going to have people go to the ballot box in the beginning of the winter? i just don't understand. congress is going to really need to wrestle this issue down in the next couple weeks, because this is critical for democracy and critical for our election, which is going to begin, frankly, just in the next couple -- about 90 days from today is election day. so, very important to think about. and these decisions are being made now, being made today, tomorrow, and friday, on capitol hill.

>> so, mark mckinnon, when you look at mail-in voting, joe's made the point for a long time on this show that mail-in voting historically has helped republicans. then you have the republican president of the united states saying that it's fraudulent, that it could lead and will lead to a rigged election. so, with the way people are going to vote, whether he likes it or not, by mail this time around, how does that change the sort of complexity of this election? >> well, the irony and the complexity we saw in sharp relief yesterday, willie, when the president, after talking about how problematic mail-in voting is, talked about how important it was in florida. you know, suddenly, somebody got in his ear and said, mr. president, you know, one way we lose this election is we lose florida, and the way we lose florida is we lose the mail-in ballot. so, suddenly, we're getting very mixed messages about mail-in voting coming from the president, because he sees that in certain parts of the country, it's to his advantage. so, very mixed message, because in certain parts of the country, it's to his benefit, and he's realizing that kind of late in the game.

>> it will be interesting to see what other states he cherry-picks for mail-in voting. mark mckinnon, jake sherman, thank you both. good to see you. just ahead, president trump says mail-in voting is okay in florida, but he's now suing nevada over that same issue. we'll sort through that just ahead. plus, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell now opening the door to extending emergency unemployment benefits. nbc's kasie hunt joins us with her new reporting on how close we may be to a deal. "morning joe's" coming right back. " coming right back

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>> the biden campaign out with that new ad, highlighting president trump's response to the rising number of fatalities across the united states due to coronavirus with that quote, "it is what it is." welcome back to "morning joe." it is wednesday, august 5th. jonathan lamire, shawna thomas still with us. and joining our conversation, msnbc contributor and so much more, mike barnicle, nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "kasie dc" on msnbc, kasie hunt, and professor at princeton university and author of the book "begin again," eddie glaude jr. guys, good morning. we've got a great crew assembled. kasie, let me begin with you about these senate negotiations. we heard yesterday late in the day from mitch mcconnell that he may be open now to this $600-a-week unemployment benefit being extended. that had been a big point of contention. that expired at midnight on

friday. tens of millions of americans going without that $600 check as we speak. how close do you think we are to a deal here? >> i still think we have a little ways to go, willie, but you're right. and i actually asked mitch mcconnell about the $600 yesterday, and his answer was pretty noteworthy. he didn't come out and say, "i support that," but what he did say, functionally, was that, hey, this isn't going to be the way it was last time. i'm going to move forward, even though i know many republicans aren't going to back this. so, i think the question is really, what is the white house going to do? and that's really been an "x" factor here, because mark meadows, the white house chief of staff, very conservative, former member of the house in the tea party, a ringleader, really, for them, and steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary, their dynamic is kind of what we're watching to see how this goes for the next couple of days, because meadows has been said to be pushing back more than mnuchin maybe did in terms of trying to keep the total price tag of this bill down.

now, what does that mean for people, you know, who are waiting on this? it sounds like nancy pelosi, who really has a lot of the leverage here, has drawn a red line in the sand on this $600. perhaps it will move a little bit, but it sounds like we're trending in a direction where it may be more substantial than we originally thought. and that's why what mcconnell said matters so much. so, if the white house gets on board with this, it looks like it will go through the senate, willie. >> so, kasie, we've heard many times from democrats who say, look, we passed a bill through the house in may. it's sitting on your desk, mitch mcconnell. just for the benefit of our audience, what is mitch mcconnell's protest of this bill? he says in part that it offers a tax break to rich people in blue states, that it costs too much money. the headline, though, is that people who need the $600 a week aren't getting it right now. so, what is their objection right now to the bill as it stands? >> they basically say it costs too much and it has too much in it that they say is unrelated to

the coronavirus and to fighting the coronavirus. but i think the price tag is really the main sticking point. what mitch mcconnell moved forward with was closer to $1 trillion, the heroes act, the democratic bill you're talking about, is $3 trillion. so, there's a big difference there. if you dig down a little bit deeper, you know, there are three major pieces where they disagree. the first big question is this unemployment insurance. and it looks like republicans may be willing to cede a lot of ground to democrats on that. the other big piece of this is, what are state and local governments going to get? i mean, there are so many of our police officers, firefighters, teachers, who are staring at major state budget shortfalls that could really hurt them. and so, you know, there are disagreements about how much and how to spend that money. and then the third piece of this is education. you know, there are schools -- you can throw money at a lot of problems our schools have and really help in this case. i mean, it costs a lot of money to build extra classrooms to hire more teachers for smaller class sizes, to buy plexiglass

to put up between student desks, to buy new air conditioners, all of those things. so, democrats want a lot more money for that than republicans do right now. >> that's such an important point. as the president says, throw open the doors of all the schools in the country, that doesn't happen magically, if you want to do it safely. you need resources to get it done, and schools already have reached their opening day in many cases. late last night, the president's re-election campaign followed through on the threat to sue the state of nevada to stop the implementation of universal mail-in voting. the republican national committee and the nevada republican party joined in the argument that the new law is unconstitutional. they also claim vote-counting will be delayed beyond a reasonable time frame because of a potentially sluggish mail delivery. the suit argues the new law is unconstitutional for requiring election officials to accept and count ballots received after election day, even those ballots when they lack objective evidence that voters cast them on or before election day. they go on to say, "the law

effectively postpones and prolongs nevada's 2020 general election past election day established by congress." at the same time, as we mentioned, president trump tweeted this about mail-in voting in florida. "whether you call it vote by mail or absentee voting, in florida, the election system is safe and secure. tried and true. florida's voting system has been cleaned up," he says, "we defeated democrats' attempt at change, so in florida, i encourage all to request a ballot and vote by mail!" the president was asked yesterday why he sees florida as different from other states where he says mail-in voting will be fraudulent and lead to rigged elections. >> why does that apply to florida and it doesn't apply to mail-in balloting across the country? >> so, florida's got a great republican governor, and it had a great republican governor. it's got ron desantis, rick scott, two great governors. and over a long period of time,

they have been able to get the absentee ballots done extremely professionally. florida's different from other states. i mean, in nevada, where you have a governor -- he said, let's just send out millions of ballots and the post office cannot be prepared. i haven't spoken to the post office about it, but i don't know how they could possibly be prepared. florida has been working on this for years, and they have a very good system of mail-in, and that would be absentee or even beyond absentee. so, in the case of florida, there aren't too many people that would qualify. they're so well run. florida's a very well-run state. >> jonathan lamire, is this as transparent as it looks? i mean, you cannot make this up. when the president has been saying now for months that mail-in voting is fraudulent, that it will lead to a rigged election, we may never really know who wins in 2020, except in a state that i desperately need to win and where mail-in voting is used by seniors who i think may vote for me.

>> reporter: and a state where he votes absentee himself, as does his press secretary, kayleigh mcenany. willie, it does seem fairly transparent to have such dueling views of this procedure. certainly florida. look, the president's re-election campaign all along has been encouraging voters to vote by mail. they understand that this is something that traditionally helps republicans. they understand there are going to be a lot of voters who are going to be very reluctant to go to the physical polling place on election day because of covid-19 pandemic. president's campaign has even cut ads. his daughter-in-law, laura trump, who's a senior campaign official, appeared in videos urging voters to do so by mail, to vote absentee, and so on. the president himself, though, has convinced himself that this is a plot, that this is going to lead to widespread election fraud.

it's certainly also a talking point he's grabbing on to so he canmalfeasance, without ea evidence, if things don't go his way in election night. and we've seen that he's focused in particularly on states that are trying to expand mail-in voting that have democratic governors. and he's suggesting that's a plot against him. in florida, of course, though, it is, as he just said, a republican governor, so therefore, he is saying that it will be done on the up and up. of course, ignoring the countless civil servants and bureaucrats who are trying to do this correctly in states across the nation, correctly and safely. and yes, as a final point, florida itself, he can't win without it. there is simply not a path to another four years if he loses florida, and it is a big concern of his campaign. he's already seen his support from seniors slip and amidst a pandemic, he needs all the votes he can. and those are the voters in florida, particularly the elderly, who are going to try to vote by mail do it absentee. and this is him reversing

himself to encourage them to make sure that they do. >> eddie, this is a president who has said things like children run around to mailboxes and steal ballots. that's one of his concerns about mail-in voting. we had the commissioner for the federal election commission on last week who said, we just don't have evidence of widespread fraud in mail-in voting. we've been doing it for a long time. a lot of states do it exclusively. this time around, it is completely different, but the president continues to sew doubt about the collection of mail-in voting, except now in the state of florida, because he needs that vote so desperately and he knows people vote by mail there. >> you know, willie, it baffles the mind. as i was listening to donald trump, and as i was listening to jonathan, i was trying to wrap my mind around, what does it mean to take such a claim seriously? in the first instance, he says, you know, the republican

governor in florida will manage this. you have rick scott, now you have ron desantis. so there's a sense in which he immediately makes it a partisan issue. there is the idea that only florida has gotten it right, when we know places like oregon and others have been doing mail-in voting for years, right? so, it's obviously politically motivated. it's not an argument to take seriously. we need to understand it for what it is. this is part of his -- part of an ongoing effort to delegitimize the outcome, to sow doubt, and in some ways, to disrupt the democratic process in the united states. and i keep trying to figure out, willie -- and i don't know how to do this -- is how to engage a claim that is patently absurd, right? and we want to respect the office, but we know -- you generously put it -- this is transparent. we see what he's doing. because it's obvious what he's doing, right? i just don't know how to then respond, respect the office of the presidency, but understand that what just came out of the president's mouth made no sense,

if that makes sense. >> it does. and mike barnicle, you always have a good 30,000-foot view of this stuff. as you watch the president, those briefings that he's resumed now at 5:00, a lot of people wonder and they worry, is he undermining the integrity of the election? what comes after november 3rd? will he leave? all of these questions that are out there. it seems to me he's already done that to a certain percent of the population who takes him at his word, who now believes that the outcome, if he loses, was rigged, that it was somehow fraudulent, despite all the evidence about mail-in voting that we've put out there. he has already poisoned the conversation by speculating. remember, he asked if we should delay the date of the election, walking that back later. but to a significant percent of the population, they already believe that if he loses, it will have been a rigged election. >> well, willie, you know, first of all, we heard the president. we just heard the president talk about the skill level of florida

in counting ballots and everything like that. i would urge everyone to call al gore for a second opinion on that. but this is the president's behavior. this is what he does. i mean, it's always, you know, something to skew the system, always something for you to take your eye off the ball as a voter. last week, when he indicated that, you know, he might want to postpone the election, he said this within minutes of the fact that the bureau of economic advisers issued a statement saying that the economy has collapsed in a percentage basis, the biggest in history, the biggest in history. but we were all talking about the fact that he wanted to delay the election. i'm still stuck on the president's phrase to jonathan swan in that remarkable interview -- "it is what it is." and i'll tell you what it is. when he said that, 38 americans an hour died of the virus. that's what it is.

and today, the evictions begin, mortgages to come. food lines exist in america. there are 30 million people unemployed. that's what it is. it is what it is? that's what it is. >> it is what it is, and it's not pretty. ninth consecutive day with 1,000 deaths in this country. it is what it is. jonathan lamire, it appears the president himself has joined the conversation here about mail-in voting. what's he saying? >> reporter: mr. president, thank you for watching. it does appear that he is, indeed -- he'd like to chime in. he just tweeted a moment ago, "nevada has zero infrastructure for mail-in voting. it will be a corrupt disaster, if not ended by the courts. it will take months or years to figure out. florida has built a great infrastructure over years with two great republican governors. florida, send in your ballots." so, again, we are seeing him try to differentiate, willie, these two states.

suggesting republican versus democratic governors, suggesting that in florida, this can be done safely and securely, for senior voters to vote for him, while in other states, suggesting it would be widespread fraud. and we just can't overstate this enough, willie, that there's simply no evidence of that, that he -- the president in 2016 made similar claims about widespread voter fraud. he even launched a white house commission to look into that, chaired by kris kobach, mind you, who just lost his bid for the republican senate in the republican senate primary in kansas last night. so, his own commission was disbanded and didn't find any evidence of it. cycle after cycle, election experts look for this. you know, outside of a handful of cases here or there, there's simply no evidence of widespread voter fraud. but that is what he is alleging again this time around, and i think that in an election that will be conducted amid a pandemic, an election that we probably will not have results that night, there are states

that have been very slow to tabulate their votes during the primaries. in fact, new york just now took six weeks to declare a winner in one of theirs. it is going to simply sow chaos and doubt among the results on election night or what maybe we need to start referring to as election week or election weeks before we get the answer. >> and it's important to remind our viewers what election officials have told us time and again, which is, yes, it will take a while to count votes. you may not have a winner on the night of november 3rd, but the reason for that lag will be because they're counting mail-in votes and certifying those votes, not that it's fraudulent. just the opposite, to make sure it's not fraudulent and that they can certify an election. part of the reason, as mike said, the "it is what it is" and we are where we are is because there hasn't been a national strategy for testing during this pandemic. so, now seven states under the leadership of maryland governor larry hogan, have banded together in a deal with the rockefeller foundation to pursue

3.5 million rapid tests to address outbreaks in their states. governors from virginia, louisiana, massachusetts, michigan, north carolina, and ohio, in addition to maryland, have signed on to the deal, which governor hogan, who is the chair of the national governors association, described as the first interstate testing compact of its kind. the governors, three republicans and here is the president talking about the issue of testing in that interview with jonathan swan of axios. >> when can you commit, by what date, that every american will have access to the same-day testing that you get here in the white house? >> well, we have great testing. what we're doing -- and -- >> by what date? >> let me explain. the testing. we have tested more people than any other country, than all of europe put together times two. we have tested more people than anybody ever thought of. indiana has 1.4 billion people. they've done 11 million tests.

we've done 55 -- it will be close to 60 million tests. and there are those that say, you can test too much. you do know that. >> who says that? >> oh, just read the manuals, read the books. >> manuals? what manuals? >> read the books. >> what books? >> what -- >> no, i'm sorry, who said -- >> let me explain. what testing does, it shows cases. it shows where there may be cases. other countries test -- you know when they test? they test when somebody's sick. that's when they test. and i'm not saying they're right or wrong. nobody's done it like we've done it. we've gotten absolutely no credit for it. but we've come up with so many different tests. the only thing that we have now is some people have to wait longer than we'd like them to. >> it's a big problem. >> we want point-to-point -- we want to have a five-minute to a 15-minute -- >> right. >> -- test. >> when do you think -- >> and like many others -- >> every american. >> from what i understand, we're close to 50%, where it's point-to-point test. we are making thousands of instruments, thousands of tests

right now, tens of thousands, that can be distributed to various parts of the country. but you have to understand -- and we've even sent some of them to other countries where they had a big problem. jonathan, almost 50% -- in fact, i think the number might be over -- is immediate testing. the other's tough. you take a test, you have to send it to a laboratory. let's say that takes a day. let's say it's a -- >> it's typical. i understand. >> it's three or four or five days. there's nothing we can do about that. >> but when do you think we will have that, what day? >> i think relatively soon. >> what does that mean? >> again, you already have half. >> yeah. >> i would much rather get back to you, because i don't want to have you write in one month, i missed it by a day, it's a headline. >> yeah, i get it. >> our friend dr. vin gupta works in covid units out in washington state, points out that 50% of our tests are not rapid tests. the number's more like 0.5% of our tests being rapid. a lot of people can relate to that who have had a coronavirus

test. it takes you ten days or a week, maybe, rendering that test effectively meaningless. but the president -- i'm sorry, you're one of the sharpest analysts i know, so i'm sorry to insult your intelligence, but the president again saying that we only have more cases because we do more testing. it seems to be a horse he's going to continue to ride, even though it makes absolutely no sense. >> it doesn't make any sense. and if he hadn't said in that interview, "it is what it is," i would have thought his comments from oklahoma, where he said maybe we should slow the testing down, would have been the slogan for the biden campaign to blast out in a bunch of ads, but he topped himself in this case. i mean, the thing is, americans are not stupid. they get it. they get that they need to know what their status is when it comes to covid-19 to be able to go back to work, to send their kids to school, to be sure that the teachers don't have covid, all of that.

testing gives us more information to make decisions about how do we reopen this government, which is basically the answer the president of the united states should have given jonathan swan. so, you know, i think it's going to drive us all a little collectively crazy if we keep trying to parse that part out. but i think it's our job to basically say, no, more testing is good, we need to know this information. you need to know that information, willie to know what to do with your kids. i need to know that information to know if i could go back to our offices in new york. it's baffling, but you know what, it is what it is. >> well done, shawna thomas. kasie hunt, let me ask you about republicans on capitol hill, as they shape this deal, and hopefully, come to a deal that gets money into people's pockets again and food back on their tables. how are they looking at the president's handling of this crisis, not that they're completely divorced from it, but when they hear him say, "it is

what it is." when he says, we only have more cases because we do more testing than anybody, when they watch that interview with jonathan swan and he fumbles through these bar graphs that he's been handed. do they believe that the federal government is doing a good job and has done a good job over the last six months? >> willie, if you look at what they're facing down themselves in the polls, the answer is obviously no, even if they won't say that in public because they're afraid of presidential tweets. i mean, it is completely clear to everyone just the level of disaster that we are grappling with. and we're here trying to solve this problem after these benefits expired because republicans were waiting to see, okay, did what we do help? and the answer to that seems to be, well, congress, you know, shoveled a lot of money out the door. it has kept a lot of people out of poverty. it has kept a lot of people, you know, hanging on by the skin of their teeth and with their

fingernails. and now they're in a position where they're falling off a cliff, and the reality is that the response has been so bad that congress now has to spend at least another $1 trillion, and likely, much more than that, just to keep people afloat. this isn't even necessarily to solve the fundamental problems that would get us out of this, although there is money in this bill, potentially, to try and help with that. and to pick up on this point about testing, i mean, imagine if we had just focused all of our energy on finding these rapid tests, making sure that they were reliable, and trying to distribute it. our lives would be completely different if we had easy access to rapid testing. if you wanted to go visit your grandparents to celebrate a 90th birthday, you could go down the street, get a test and then feel fine about going to do that. if kids were able to be tested quickly when they walked in the school day, you could send one child home who tested positive. think about how they handle air force one. that's how louie gohmert found

out he had coronavirus. anyone that gets on that plane gets a test. if your test comes back positive, you don't get on the plane. you're sending one person home, instead of whole classrooms or whole groups of people. corporations could use it to test people who are coming into their offices. i mean, we could fundamentally change, even with the pandemic and the virus still spreading, that would completely change all of these policy problems that we are grappling with. and yet, somehow, you know, the country that has one -- i think joe says this over and over and over again -- won more nobel prizes than any country in the history of the world, can't seem to figure that out. and i think that's what's pretty stunning. and you know, we had the gentleman from "the atlantic" who's got this cover story about how america was sidelined by this pandemic. i mean, it is a devastating place to be for, you know, the country that basically, you know, resurrected europe in the wake of world war ii. i mean, we have come so far from where we were at that point in history.

>> and now you have to see, as we pointed out, governors like larry hogan leading an effort for a state-by-state attempt to at least get that kind of rapid testing you're talking about, because it's one thing to say you do 55 million, 60 million tests, but if those tests take a week to come back, none of those mean much. still ahead on "morning joe," the author of the best-selling book "how to be an antiracist," ibram kendi joins us. why he says president trump has given america its best chance to defeat racism. he'll explain. and later, two former u.s. attorneys general, loretta lynch and alberto gonzales, will be our guests. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ l be right back. ♪

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i did more for the black community than anybody, with the possible exception of abraham lincoln, whether you like it or not. people say -- >> really? you believe you did more than lyndon johnson, who passed the civil rights act? >> i do -- >> how?

>> because i did criminal justice reform done, i did prison reform -- >> lyndon johnson. he passed the civil rights act. >> how has it worked out, if you take a look at what lyndon johnson did -- >> do you think the civil rights act was a mistake? >> how did it work out? because frankly, it took a long time. but for african-americans -- >> but you think that was a mistake? >> jonathan, under my administration, african-americans were doing better than they had ever done in the history of this country. so, i did a lot. job numbers, all of the money, they had money, they were getting great -- their percentage was up, their housing ownership was up. they did better than they've ever done. >> president trump in his interview with jonathan swan of axios, claiming he's done more for black people in america than any president in history, with the possible exception, he notes, of abraham lincoln. "the atlantic" magazine's new issue is a pair of cover stories asking the question, "how did it come to this?" on monday, we had ed yong on the show. he answered that question in terms of the pandemic.

joining us is the author of the other piece for the cover, ibram x. kendi. his piece is called "the end of denial," which takes on the issue of race. he is founding director of the antiracist research and policy center at american university, author of the best-selling book titled "how to be an antiracist," and he recently launched boston university's new center for antiracist research. ibram, good to have you back on the show this morning. i cannot wait to dig into your piece here. you say that donald trump has actually given the country an opportunity here to defeat racism once and for all. what do you mean by that? what has he done to sort of open the door? and what do you make of the widespread support that you've seen and that you write about for the movement in the streets over the last couple of months in the wake of the killing of george floyd, across generations, across races? polls show 75% of americans support the movement for racial justice in this country. what does it all add up to for you?

>> well, i think it all adds up to americans, or really, an unprecedented number of americans no longer denying this nation's racism, no longer even potentially denying their own -- >> we've lost ibram. we're going to get his signal back up. eddie, ibram writes in the piece -- and we'll dive into it -- about these scenes that played out not just in big cities across the country but that you've seen, that i've seen, in places where we wouldn't have expected them, probably even a couple of years ago. he writes about, you know, protests in nantucket and bar harbor, maine, and in the hamptons, of people saying, yes, i am a part of this movement, i want to be a part of the solution. so, as you look at -- well, as i said, multigenerational, multiracial coalition of people who want change, do you see us moving in the right direction so that this isn't more than just a moment in time, but that it has

legs to it? >> i think we have an opportunity, willie. i think the demographic shifts in the country are having tangible effects. you have a generation of americans growing up in perhaps the most diverse america we know, we've known. they have different sets of expectations, and they're growing up and imagining themselves against the backdrop of a country that's broken in some ways, in many ways. so, i think we have an opportunity. there's no guarantee. i would love to hear ibram think about and reflect on, once we get him back -- but we tell have 40%, 30% of the country, or however we describe that hard-core base. so, just as we see what's going on in portland, what we've seen in nantucket and across the country, we also have the boogaloo boys. we also have, right, staunch trump supporters. we have tucker carlson on fox news.

so, the country is still polarized. i think what's happened is that the ugly underbelly of american politics has been revealed. and as long as we see it, we have a chance to address it. and that may be the silver lining in the story, that the ugliness is out in the open now, so now we have an opportunity to not only see it, to name it, but to perhaps respond to it. >> and eddie, that is, we'll get ibram back just as soon as we can. we're working on his connection. but that is part of the argument he makes in this cover story for "the atlantic," which is that donald trump in many ways has pulled the mask off this problem, that we can't pretend it's not there, that he's cracked something open, and we all see it in front of us and can no longer deny it. but you make a point that's important, which is that 38% of the country, or whatever it is, still supports donald trump, has watched him for the last 3 1/2 years or 5 years, going back into the campaign, and said, yes, i agree with this, this is what i want. so, do you see the opportunity

here that ibram sees in his piece? >> i'm not as -- i do see an opportunity. let me just say that. yes. but i'm not -- i'm rather sang yid about how we will respond. the genie's out of the bottle. that's clear. when we hear donald trump in that interview with jonathan swan sounding like a plantation owner, you know, treating african-americans as if we're wards of the state. i've done more for african-americans than da, da, da, da, right? it's not simply the question, but the answer is insulting and infuriating, you know, in terms of how african-americans are thought of in terms of the body politic. and you have a whole range of folk who support him, who in some ways respond to the issue of racial justice and racial equality as a philanthropic, charitable enterprise, something that they can give to others. so, until we change the frame, which we have an opportunity to do, which we see in places like portland and across the country, we have a chance to change the frame. but we cannot pause, pat

ourselves on the back, congratulate ourselves, and then expect gratitude, because we've done something that we should have done a long time ago. >> all right, i believe, guys, we have ibram on the phone, actually. so, ibram took a power hit, like many of us on the east coast. his power is out, but we have him on the phone. ibram, are you here with us? ibram, are you here with us? all right, i think we don't have the phone connection either. why don't we do this? we're going to take a break. we want to continue this conversation because it's an important one. ibram has a great piece. we can't wait to hear from him on it, one way or another. we'll be right back with ibram kendi on "morning joe." we'll be right back with ibram kendi on "morning joe. try wayfair. you got this!

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do you believe, though, mr. president, that many police treat black people differently from white people? >> well, i hope not. i hope not. certainly, the -- >> you've seen the statistics. >> the knee on the neck was a

disgrace, okay? it was a disgrace. >> i'm talking about, what does systemic racism mean to you? >> i hope the answer to that question is no. do i -- does anybody really answer that question accurately? does anybody really know? >> what about hope? what about analysis? what's your -- >> i have seen where there is a difference, and i don't want there to be a difference. i don't like that there would be a difference, but with that being said -- >> why do you think black men are 2 1/2 times -- >> black people kill white people in a larger number -- >> in -- >> police have killed white people. >> why do you think black men are 2 1/2 times more likely to be killed by police than white? >> that i don't know, but i don't like it. >> but you must have thought about it. >> why? i don't know why, but i don't like it. >> does it speak to something systemic? >> i know that police have killed many white people also. >> but what does it speak to? >> it speaks to something -- if that's the number. >> it is the number. >> okay, if that's the number, it speaks to something that to me is unacceptable. >> president trump attempting to discuss systemic racism with jonathan swan of axios a couple

of days ago. i believe, thanks to a pair of soup cans and some string, we have ibram kendi back with us. ibram, i feel you. my power's out, too. i'm running a generator right now with three trees down in the yard, so i understand you took a power hit, but we're glad you're back. eddie glaude did our very best to convey your piece, but better to hear it from you. i'll let you lay it out, exactly, why you see this as an opportunity right now to defeat racism. >> well, really, the heartbeat of racism itself is denial. and i think president trump, more than any other american figure in recent history, has allowed americans to see that heartbeat in all of its ugliness. you know, i think when you look at the trump political career, you see a person who was classifying the president of the united states before him as not american, who called for

congresswomen of color, who said that they needed to go back to their homes, who classified nations in africa and even latin america in ways we don't want to say on national tv. but then when he was challenged for saying those racist ideas, his typical response was, i'm not racist. and indeed, he said, i'm the least racist person anywhere in the world. he says, i'm the least racist person you've ever interviewed, the least racist person you've ever encountered. so, the relationship between practicing racism, between expressing racist ideas, and denying that racism has really -- trump has put the mirror for all americans to see. and they don't like it. and they recognize that when they express a racist idea and then say "i'm not racist," they're acting like trump. and i think many americans have decided to stop denying racism because they see that the

president consistently denies his own racism. and obviously, once we stop denying a problem exists, then we can start the hard work of fixing it. >> ibram, shawna thomas has a question for you. shawna? >> good morning. i think covid -- >> good morning. >> covid-19 has laid bare this idea of the haves and the have-nots and how wide the gulf is in this country. i think george floyd and the protests we've seen have also laid bare the systemic racism issue we have in this country, which we all knew existed, but now it's in front of our faces. as we move forward and, let's say we get a vaccine, and you know, some of the protesting stops, how do we take these lessons that are in everyone's faces and actually do something about these issues that you point out? how do we use these lessons? >> i think that 76% of

respondents to a monmouth survey, i believe in june, said that racism is a big problem. and so, what that means is we need to have big solutions to this big problem. if the problem is covid racial disparities, black people being 2 1/2 times more likely to die of covid-19, we need to realize that it's not because there's something wrong with black people. it's because there's something wrong with our policies. there's something wrong with society. there's something wrong with that black and brown people are more likely to have to essentially be essential workers. they can't work from home or they're more likely to live in polluted neighborhoods. they're less likely to have access to health insurance or high-quality care. and those are systemic issues that need to be changed. >> eddie glaude, your turn, my friend. >> brother ibram, it's so great to see you this morning.

so, i have this question that i've been grappling with. i think you're right, that we're seeing this extraordinary kind of confrontation with the ugliness that has driven our politics and driven this society for so long. but then you have fox news. and then you have, you know, millions of americans who are not only deny, but who are comfortable in their denial. they are comfortable existing in a particular kind of space around race and racism. how might this moment -- how do you respond to them, 38%, maybe 40% of the country, who's comfortable in their support of donald trump? >> well, i think we should first and foremost figure out why. you know, what is propelling them? for instance, if they're a white working-class male who has been struggling economically and have been told that the cause of

their economic pain are latinx immigrants or are black people or are so-called muslim terrorists, then i think it's critically important for their loved ones to show them definitively that, indeed, it's actually trump's policies that is contributing to their pain more than the people who are struggling even more than they are. and so, i think that we really, obviously, that's why i think the president of the united states has attacked that itself, has attacked truth, has attacked, you know, analysis and evidence, because he knows that even for his supporters that if we provide them with evidence and data, we will show them that he is actually the true source of their pain, not people who don't look like them. >> ibram, mike barnicle has a question for you. mike? >> mr. kendi, in years of

covering the city where you sit now, boston, massachusetts, two words that begin with "a" always struck me. one is awareness. the awareness of what happens within the black community. and i'm not just talking about violence, friday night, saturday night shootings. i'm talking about the awareness of institutions that don't respond to people, which is violence in and of itself in a separate way. the other word that begins with "a" that i twin with awareness is access. and in this case, the lack of access, the lack of access to health insurance, to good schools, to good jobs, to better incomes, the access that means that you can walk into a company and apply for a job and not be looked at as someone different as they. what do we do about improving access? we've improved awareness.

the demographics of this country have greatly changed. we've improved awareness. but what can we do to improve access? >> well, i think, first and foremost, when we think about access, we're typically thinking about policies. so, you know, policies determine sort of who has access. or in many cases in american history, who is being denied access. and so, i think that we need to be razor-focused on asking the question, you know, is this policy that's being proposed, is this policy that's on the books creating equal access for all or only creating access for a few? and is that few predominantly white? and i think that's the types of questions we need to be asking. and so, that's why those who are demanding policies that increase access for all of us, for every single american, no matter what they look like, no matter how

they worship, no matter who they love. i mean, those are the types of policies we need to be advocating for, and those are the types of policies black folks have been pushing for, because they know that as access increases for everyone, you know, access is going to increase for them. >> ibram x. kendi, we really appreciate you being on. we appreciate your hustle getting back on the air for us this morning. thanks so much. ibram's piece is one of the cover stories for the new issue of "the atlantic" magazine, and his best-selling book is "how to be an antiracist." ibr ibram, thanks so much. let's bring in democratic congressman jason crow of colorado. he is a member of the house committee on armed services. congressman, good to see you this morning. i know you're pushing hard to get something done on unemployment insurance in this massive coronavirus relief package. it appears that mitch mcconnell may be willing to meet you all somewhere at that $600-a-week check that was going out that's no longer going out for the time being. as you talk to people in your

district, as you talk to people in the state of colorado, how desperate is the situation right now? >> yeah, hi, willie. the situation is very desperate. i mean, washington continues to have an enormous empathy gap. we tend to look at things in aggregate. there are those in washington on capitol hill that just want to look at large numbers, you know, the tens of millions of unemployed. they're looking at the trillions of dollars that some of these bills constitute. they're not looking at the actual individual cases on the ground. so, i've been spending a lot of my time talking to the recently unemployed, talking to first responders, health care workers. the suffering is deep and it's getting much worse. and then on top of that, if we continue to turn our heads in a blind eye to that suffering, the economy's going to get worse, too, because basic economics tells us that if people are evicted from their homes, if they're losing their jobs, if they're not able to pay their rent, if they're not able to buy

food, that creates a spiral, in effect, in our economy that will get worse for everybody. >> congressman, good morning. it's kasie hunt. i want to ask you about something that's bubbling up this morning, and that's the po. that's something a lot of people are worried about, especially with the increase in mail-in balloting amid a pandemic. there's reporting this morning that democrats have been willing to scale back their demands in this bill for the number of dollars for the u.s. postal service, possibly meeting with the postmaaser general later on today. do you think democrats should compromise on this with republicans if you make this compromise? do you think the post office is going to have what it needs? >> well, the post office issue for me is really an issue of mail-in voting between now and november 3rd. you know, colorado has almost all mail-in voting. we're one of the best in the country. we do it really well. there's no fraud. you know, these allegations of fraud and the system not working

have been disproven a year after year in colorado. our voter participation rate has gone up over 20% since we've implemented mail-in voting. it's gone up for both parties. so, this isn't necessarily benefitted one party after another. so, we have to provide the support to the postal service to make sure we are providing mail-in voting and expanding that, which we're also doing that within the heroes act. i'm a veteran. i served in iraq and afghanistan. and many veterans are over 65 and many have pre-existing conditions. so, this is also a veterans issue for me to make sure that we have a solvent and healthy postal service so we can provide mail-in voting for those veterans and many others throughout the community. >> congressman, as you know well, the president has been railing against mail-in voting. he's doing so again this morning. in certain states, states where he may need it, he's more forgives, like florida, for example. if your state of colorado, how

has that process gone? has there been fraud? >> no. the answer is, no. we've had it since 2013. we passed it on a bipartisan basis. we implemented it on a bipartisan basis. the secretary of state that helped implement and put the situation together was a republican. the democrats and republicans agree the system works very well. as i mentioned, our participation has gone up 20% over the last seven years and it works for people. we can vote now. people don't have to risk their lives or health to stand in line at polling stations on election day. it makes so much sense, so why the rest of the country wouldn't adopt it is somewhat nonsensical to me. this has to get done. the president's misplaced the views about mail-in voting are just that, misplaced, they're wrong and driven by a larger desire to disenfranchise folks and make sure he's winning the

election. but there's not even data that would support that. >> congressman jonathan lemire of the associated press has a question for you. jonathan? >> congressman, good morning. there's been so much focus of late from the white house on the coronavirus cases in states like arizona, texas and florida. in the last couple of days i attended a briefing in which dr. birx and others highlighted a few new states they're really concerned about being hot spots in the midwest, and colorado was another one that was singled out. can you give us an update what you're seeing, conditions on the ground in colorado. are there enough adequate hospital beds and icu units? what sort of measures do you need right now as the federal government being responsive to what colorado needs? >> jonathan, you're right. a couple months ago we started to go down. our cases started to go back up. governor responded to that. he's been very data-driven, very

science-driven. in this process. we reimplemented some procedures. we did a statewide mask mandate, closed bars and some other establishments that were helping spread the virus, or some of these super-spreading events and locations. our numbers have plateaued. they're higher than they should be but they're plateauing. now is not the time to let our foot off the gas. we have to make sure we're doing what's necessary to keep it going. at the heart of this issue, i think it's really important to recognize what's driving some bad policy coming out of washington, the administration on coronavirus. fundamentally, the challenge that we still have in washington is that we view this as separate problems. we view it as a health issue and then an economic issue. a health issue or a school closure issue. at its heart, it's a health issue. our economy will not be healthy, our businesses won't be healthy. we can't safely open schools until we get our arms around the coronavirus. that's driving everything else. one of the single biggest

drivers of our economy is consumer spending. one of the biggest drivers behind consumer spending is consumer confidence. if people don't feel like they can go shopping or go to restaurants or go back to their work and places of business and be healthy doing so, they're not going to. until we're serious about addressing the coronavirus and contact tracing, we won't be able to do the things we want to do, like send our kids back to school and reopen our businesses. >> it underlines everything and too many politicians separate them from each other. without lower transmission rates, you can't have any of the things you just laid out. congressman jason crow, democrat of colorado, thank you for your time this morning. coming up on "morning joe," new remarks from president trump moments ago defending his stance for mail-in voting in florida but against it in nevada. we'll be joined by two former attorneys general, loretta lynch and alberto gonzales will be our guests when we come back in a moment. s you.

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"morning joe." a live picture of the white house on wednesday, august 5th. i'm willie geist. we're following a number much stories this morning, including the massive warehouse explosion in beirut that killed dozens of people, left more than 1,000 injured. back at home on the coronavirus, senate majority leader mcconnell admits relief measures saying now he'll have to rely on democrats to come up with a deal and showing some signs he may concede. then new overnight, the trump campaign has officially filed suit against the state of nevada over its plan to hold the 2020 election almost entirely by mail-in ballot. of course, president trump's attempt to say the word yosemite. >> when they gaze upon yosemite -- towering sequoias,

their love of country grows stronger and they know every american has truly a duty to preserve this wondrous inheritance. >> twice for emphasis. we have white house reporter for the associated press,on that lemire, msnbc contributor shauna thomas, and jake sherman, an msnbc political contributor as well, and co-host of "the circus" on showtime and contributor to "vanity fair," mark mckennan. does alex trebek give you credit, do the judges give you credit for yosemite, when we know what you meant but the pronunciation was just a little off? >> yo, willie, i'm -- >> hey. >> -- amazed it's not on the t-shirt yet. how is the biden camp already not manufactured these, starting to distribute these shirts? yosemite, he tried, but it does

highlight that we know the presidency and his campaign have tried to point out that they suggest that joe biden maybe has lost a few miles on his fastball, he did point out a gaffe here, a blunder here, misstatement here. moments like yesterday show that's a risky strategy for this particular president, whose at times relationship with pronunciation is, shall we say, shaky. >> you're being very generous there. amazing, though, you can make it to 74 years old and not see the word yosemite written somewhere. we digress and move on to more important matters. yesterday saw a potential step forward in the negotiations for another coronavirus relief package after weeks of resistance, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said he will support an extension of the now lapsed $600 federal unemployment insurance relief every week. that is, if president trump

backs it. >> the american people in the end need help. wherever this thing settles between the president of the united states and his team, they have to sign it into law, and the democrat, not insignificant is something i'm prepared to support. even if i have some problems with certain parts of it. >> jake sherman, you cover mitch mcconnell. you know him very well. that's as close as you'll get mitch mcconnell to concede where he says, this bill has been on my months more three months, i know there's some problems with it but i might budge on the $600 weekly payment. the counteroffer from republicans is $200 a week. if he concedes, gets $600 unemployment benefits to people who need it so desperately here,

does that mean we'll get a deal? >> i think we'll get a deal at some point next week. it looks not promising but possible. here's the catch, mitch mcconnell is not part of the negotiations right now. for the first time in a long time we can say mcconnell's view is a little tangential to the overall negotiations. mark med do yadows and steve mn who have been in the negotiations are offering $400 a week, which by the way is a very big concession for the gop. we actually in playbook this morning give a blow by blow chock-full of quotes from that meeting room during a 2 1/2 hour meeting at the capitol illustrating there are a lot of issues that remain open to get coronavirus relief to the american people. just to give a sense, willie, about how far we kind of are from a coronavirus package, they are bringing in the postmaster general today to talk to the negotiating team about the needs

of the u.s. postal service because there's such a divide on how much the post office might need to complete its operations. so, again, these negotiations are very fraught, very complicated and they're dragging on. we're now almost two weeks in. i think we'll have another week at least before this bill is passed and both sides want to get a deal before friday. >> jonathan, as jake says, mitch mcconnell isn't involved specifically, neither is the president of the united states. he's taken a hands-on approach to this entire negotiation sending in mark meadows and steve mnuchin. how badly does the white house need a deal? does the president realize 3 million people lost that $600 a week check. is there an urgency from the white house? >> there is, willie. the president in the last 24 hours or so has insisted he is playing a role in these

negotiations, but we know that is largely not the case. that he has, indeed, deferred it to his chief of staff and treasury secretary, and jake has done an excellent job outlining how these negotiations have gone. yes, there's a keen awareness that this is a president facing voters in under three months and that americans are hurting right now. and beyond just wanting to have a helping hand to those who have suffered so much during this pandemic, of course, there's an eye towards his re-election chances here. and if unemployment numbers continue to go up, if the economic slowdown -- if the economic recovery slows down, that only hurts his chances. they are trying to push here, they understand they're in a bad spot. these negotiations have not gone well. each day that it drags on is a bad day for this president who, again, is trying so desperately to point to the idea of a recovery, an economic recovery, as opposed to how he has handled or, better said, mishandled the coronavirus pandemic to this point.

>> of course, president trump has said i will sign executive orders if congress can't get this done. remains to be seen if he has the powers to do it. still ahead on "morning joe," a fact check on the president's claims about the coronavirus pandemic. first, bill karins has a look at the aftermath of that severe weather. bill? >> isaias was an impressive tropical storm. bestarted first off with what happened right after landfall. this is probably the most destruction i saw anywhere on the eastern seaboard. this is north carolina. this was a tornado that was produced by this storm at 1:00 in the morning. it went through this trailer i of ten trailers that were tossed. this was a strong tornado. we had two fatalities from this region. they were doing search and rescue all day trying to find some other people that were missing. you can see how they were on their foundations and just blown into the woods.

this is bald head island. this is where the center and the eye made landfall. obviously, a vehicle tipped over there. that's impressive. that was done by the waves and the wave action from the storm surge. we know that the water rose about 4 to 5 feet on the island. there's obviously sand everywhere. all the dune structures were crushed. a lot of clean-up. that's going to take a long time there for that little island community. so, in all, six fatalities have been reported from the storm, two from the tornadoes and two from other causes, most from down falling tree limbs and some people drove off roads into floodwaters. this hour, 3 million people without power. 2 million of those is new jersey and new york. those areas were hit the hardest. it's not like the storm was stronger when it got up here but there's so many more trees, so much more dense and they're not tested the way the south is when they get these storms every year. it's pretty rare for a strong, tropical storm to move through the northeast. a good day for clean-up.

temperatures surnl-like, mid to upper 80s. tomorrow is kind of the same. we're watching the heat wave continue in west texas through the rockies and we're still dealing with a pretty bad fire season that's developing. we have 50 large wildfires burning throughout areas of the west. we're gone with isaias. that name, by the way, will return in five more years and the next named storm we'll get will be called josephine. hopefully we'll wait a week or two before we get that one. taking a look at chicago, 70s. that's gorgeous summer weather. you're watching mg mlg. that's gorgeous summer weather you're watching mg mlg you're watching "morning joe." a you're watching "morning joe." little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression.

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and voice solution at a great price. call or go online today. the united states averaged more than 1,000 deaths from coronavirus for the ninth straight day yesterday. the number from the virus here in the u.s. now approaching 160,000 deaths. mean meanwhile, the president continues to cherry-pick data to

downplay the death toll in the u.s. here's the president yesterday questioned by nbc's shannon pettypiece. >> you talked about the mortality rate, the deaths and proportion of cases. i understand it's significant when you look at how deadly the virus is or how good a country does keeping someone alive. when you're talking about the scope of this virus, when you look at the percentage of the population that's died, there are only three countries that have more deaths than the u.s. so, how do you explain that, why the percentage of the population has died is so much higher in the u.s.? >> i think actually the numbers are lower than others. i'll get back to you on that. we are proportionately lower than other countries. we're at the bottom of the list and relative to cases we're at the bottom of the list, which is a good thing being at the bottom of the list. i can get back to you. we're generally speaking at the very bottom of the list. >> you don't have to wait for

the president to get back to you. we'll show you the actual numbers in a moment. first, here's the exchange the president had a couple of days ago with jonathan swan of axios on this issue. >> because we are so much better at testing than any other country in the world, we show more cases. >> the figure i look at is death. death is going up now. >> okay. >> it's 1,000 a day. >> but if you look -- >> it's going up again. daily death. >> take a look at some of these charts. >> i'd love to. >> let's look. >> let's look. >> if you look at death -- >> starting to go up again. >> here's one. well, right here, united states is lowest in numerous categories. we're lower than the world. >> lower than the world? >> lower than europe. >> in what? >> take a look. right here. here's case death. >> oh, you're doing death as a proportion of cases.

i'm talking about death as proportion of population. much worse -- >> you can't do that. >> why? >> you have to go by -- you have to go by -- look. here is the united states. you have to go by the cases. the cases -- >> why not as a proportion of population? >> what it says is when you have somebody that has it where there's a case, the people that live -- >> sure. >> -- from those cases. >> it's surely a relevant statistic stat to say if u.s. has x percentage of population versus -- >> no, you go by the cases. >> south korea, 51 million pop laying, population, 300 deaths. >> you don't know that. >> i do. >> you don't know that. >> you think they're faking their statistics? >> we have a very good relationship with that country. and they have spikes. >> germany, 9,000. >> here's one right here, united states, you take the number of cases -- look, we're last. meaning we're first. >> i don't know what we're first in. as of what? >> take a look, again, cases.

we have cases because we're testing. >> 1,000 americans die a day. i understand on cases it's different. >> but you're not reporting it correctly, jonathan. >> i think i am. >> if you take a look at this other chart, this is our testing, i believe, this is the testing -- >> yeah, we do more tests. >> well, don't we get credit for that? because we do more tests, we have more cases. in other words, we test more. we have -- take a look. at top one, that's a good thing, want a bad thing. jonathan -- >> if hospital rates were going down and deaths were going down, i would say, terrific, you deserve to be praised for testing but they're all going up. 60,000 americans are in hospital. 1,000 dying a day. >> if you look at newspapers they talk about new case, new cases, new cases. >> i'm talking about death. >> death is way down from where it was. >> it's 1,000 a day. it went down to 500 and now it's going up again. >> excuse me. where it was is much higher than where it is right now. >> it went down and then up

again. >> but now it's going down again. >> it's going up. >> it's going down in arizona, going down in texas. take a look at this. these are the tests. >> it's going down in florida? >> yeah, it leveled out and it's going down. that's my report as of yesterday. >> all right. when the president says we're at the bottom of the list, he's talking about deaths in proportion to the number of cases in the united states. on that list, the u.s. still has the 14th highest number of deaths out of the 20 countries currently most affected by covid-19 around the world. the cdc, as you know, defines the mortality rate as the number of deaths compared to the population. here we find the u.s. has the fourth highest death rate per 100,000 people out of those top 20 countries. only united kingdom, peru and chile have a worse number. to frame it another way, the u.s. is only 4% of the world's population but represents 22% of the world's covid-19 deaths.

so, shawna thomas, that was a painful clip to watch, obviously. the president was reeling there. but the cdc, i just want to underline again so we're very clear because there's so much misinformation flying around, the cdc defines the death as a percentage of the population when it talks about the death rate, not as the number of reported cases. >> yeah. number one, i want to give credit to axios and jonathan swan for being able to grasp the information that the president was handling him in paper form and actually create the arlg ume argument he did in that clip. i'm sure hbo is happy you played basically the whole episode. but i think the thing i keep coming back to from an analytical perspective is you don't really want to see the president arguing about which death rate is the better death rate, especially when we have

the number of cases and the number of deaths we have. you pointed out the average for the ninth day in a row is over 1,000 americans dying from covid-related problems. so, the thing is, the president doesn't actually -- i mean, a president in general when doing an interview like this doesn't need to engage in this tit for tat. it's easy to change the perspective of that conversation and come at it from the idea that, and this president has said that before, that there are too many deaths in this country and we need to fix the problem. and the ways we go about fixing the problem and opening up the government, because the fact that he's even engaging in that actually makes him look lesser in some ways. that's not the way necessarily to run a white house, that isn't the way to run a campaign. there's nothing from that interview they can turn into a campaign ad. overall, it doesn't necessarily show that the president has compassion for people. and the more people who get sick

and the more people who die and the more people who know someone who dies, you look at something like that and you start to think the president may not understand what i'm going through. and one of the biggest things he can do right now, i don't know if he has this ability, but one of the biggest things he can do right now is actually show compassion for people and then turn to congress and tell them, hey, you need to get something done to at least make people's lives a little better in this terrible situation. >> in fact, he's doing the opposite of that, compassion. he's saying, this isn't actually as bad as the media is making it out to be. mark, we don't play those clips for entertainment. we play them because that's the man be in charge of this country's recovery, the man sitting in the oval office, how we get our way out of this. as a man who's run a bunch of campaigns, you understand why the biden campaign already is out with an ad where the clip, when the president says, it is what it is, he says, we have this under control, talking about coronavirus, he says, it

is what it is, making it pretty easy for the biden campaign in that interview. >> well, that might be a line for the biden campaign. we just cut through a massive distortion field in watching the president unable to grasp the reality of the situation. the reality of the situation is that his electoral prospects are not going to improve until he embraces the reality first and, secondly, addresses the reality. to that interview, it was quite clear that all he wants to do is deny the facts. in fact, at one point in that interview, you saw -- you said -- he talked about five different lists that he had, that related to one supposed fact. so, he had five versions of one fact. so, i mean, it's really astonishing that the person who's running this country and trying to get ahold of this crisis is unable to understand what the crisis is. it's so obvious the bottom line here is that you can't get ahold

of a crisis, you can't deal with a crisis until you're able to confront the crisis and admit what it is. that's the biggest problem, is that the president is unable to confront exactly what he's facing. coming up, the kasim grows. jonathan loo mere brings us his new reporting next on "morning joe." joe. >> tech: at safelite, we're committed to taking care of you and your car. >> tech: we'll fix it right with no-contact service you can trust. >> tech: so if you have auto glass damage, stay safe with safelite. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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♪ jonathan lemire, your new piece out in the associated press, you're writing about the chasm between president trump and the doctors, his own doctors, the experts who have been trying to pull him in one direction, him the other. when you say the chasm has grown, we know he and dr. fauci has never been terribly close as dr. fauci has gone out and done a number of interviews countering what president trump has said earlier in the day. what about dr. birx and others on that task force, though? >> yeah, this is becoming a far more widespread phenomenon. in the early days of the coronavirus task force briefings, the president would

be up there accompanied by health experts, public medical officials in his administration to deliver the message to the american public about how best to control the virus. those briefings didn't go very well and the president would deliver one message contrary to what the experts were doing but it was an attempt to have a unified front. that hasn't happened in quite some time. as the president has revived these briefings, it's only him. no one else is speaking to the public. the west wing has clamped down on dr. fauci's media appearances. there's been tension there for months. the president jealous of dr. fauci's approval ratings. some in the west wing think dr. fauci was more willing to criticize the president on media appearances rather than the west wing. it's not just dr. fauci. dr. birx for weeks and months has closely aligned herself to the president where in recent not days democrats and other health experts were critical of her, suggesting she was whitewashing, she was sort of

soft-pelding some of this information. that changed in the last few dayses where she said in interviews recently that things -- the pandemic was spreading out of control, spreading like wildfire. the president was furious, according to our reporting why she said that. also birx was complimentary of house speaker pelosi. we've seen it with the director of the cdc, the surgeon general, willingness of these experts to break with the president on the use of masks, on the efficiency of the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine that the president is obsessed with. they're willing to say that's not helpful, that's not useful here. that's not what americans should be doing here. we're seeing as the pandemic rages still in the southwest and is really growing and becoming a real worry area in the midwest, states like ohio, wisconsin, missouri and others, we're seeing an administration talk with two voices. the president trying to spin this to develop -- to present an optimistic portrait of how the country is handling this.

we saw him stumble through that interview with jonathan swan while trying to insist the number were trending in a good direction while health experts are trying to stay with the science, with the data. they seem to be a little more willing suddenly, of course, but seem to be a little more willing to break with him and not endorse some of his flagrant misstatements. coming up, two former attorneys general join forces in the fight against the pandemic. loretta lynch and alberto gonzales join our conversation straight ahead. plus, the perfect guide to beating donald trump. long-time political strategist paul begalu joins us with his new book titled "you're fired." new book titled "you're fired. migraine medicine.

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glaud all back with us. and joining us aformer attorneys generals loretta lynch and alberto gonzales. they will develop a road map for immediate and long-term reforms to better balance public health and public safety. welcome to you both. we appreciate you being here. attorney general lynch, i'll begin with you. i look down the list of people on the panel and it's judges like yourself, attorneys general, but also mayors and police chiefs and public health officials. so, how do you describe this initiative? what are you trying to get at exactly. >> good morning, willie. thank you very much for having us on and bringing a light to this important issue. we're trying to focus on the systemic inequalities that are coming to it is surface in our criminal justice system. this pandemic has hit every system of our life in an incredibly difficult way. frankly, the criminal justice

system is really buckling under the strain. long-standing problems are coming to the surface. these are problems that are not just limited to what's happening in court, in jail. they affect the way in which we think about criminal justice, the way in which we police, the way in which we prosecute, how we incarcerate people. and because these issues and concerns are long-standing and have been simmering, they span not just administrations but generations. and so we're hoping to take a nonpartisan look at these issues and bring some guidance and some expertise, some statistics and da data to people struggling with these issues and working to make our criminal justice system more efficient but also more fair. >> attorney general gonzales, what's a good example for our viewers to sink their teeth into here about something that was there but, perhaps, has been brought to light by the covid-19 crisis, and something you all are trying to solve here? >> well, good morning, first of

all. thank you. it's a pleasure to be involved in this effort with a.g. lynch, who i respect and i welcome the opportunity to work with her and a distinguished panel of members on this commission to deal with the very -- i think, a very important issue. i think criminal justice system is one that, of course, is not perfect, but the fact we can never reach perfection doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try to do better. and the purpose of this commission is to identify the effects of the pandemic upon our criminal justice system and hopefully relying upon the expertise that other members of the commission come up with possible solutions and recommendations to make things better. both a.g. lynch and i care very much about our criminal justice system. we know that there are problems and those problems have been exasperated by the pandemic. we feel an obligation to try to be helpful and lending our voice

to try to make improvements here. >> so, attorney general lynch, how about for you, what's an example of -- what's one issue of criminal justice that you think has had a light shine on it because of this crisis and how do we do better with it? >> look, i have to say, when we've already been talking about the rising rates of incarceration in our country, and certainly we have to hold people accountable. we have always worked and fought to try and do it in a way that really reflects not just their liability but our values as a society. and as we look at the rising rates of incarceration, impoin that where a pandemic that has been ripping through our correctional systems, exposed inequalities in our health care system, exposed inequalities in our criminal justice system from the beginning. we have individuals who are essentially moving through the system that is now frozen. how do we really mete out justice when the courthouse is literally closed?

how do we police effectively when people can't interact even with their neighbors or the community organizations that's such an important part of violence reduction strategy? this pandemic has highlighted the need to have essentially an all-hands on deck effort at reducing crime, preventing incarceration, making incarceration something that works for our system and moves people through the process, not lets them sit stagnant in the process. >> attorney general lynch, eddie glaude jr. has a question for you. eddie? >> a.g. lynch, thank you for this commission, along with a.g. gonzales. i have a question. we know that there are protests in the streets, claims, demands to douefund the police, claims around what's happening in prisons and jails, but we recently heard your colleague attorney general barr say before congress that he doesn't believe there's a systemic problem of

racism throughout our policing communities. what do you say to that, do you agree with attorney general barr that there's not a problem of systemic racism in policing in this country, or do you hold the view that, in fact, there is and that part of the commission's work is to address this inequality and how policing and criminal justice takes place in the country? >> well, thank you for that, professor. look, i think we're all grappling with the way in racis society has been highlighted in recent months. i know from experience that the criminal justice system is populated by many people who are striving to do the right thing and striving to bring fairness and equality to a system, but i also know that's a difficult thing when you are operating within a system that has inherited, you know, processes, methods of doing business. frankly, has drawn from the greater society in terms of how

it views certain people, how it treats certain people and, frankly, how it dehumanizes certain people. these tend to be people of color that move through the criminal justice system. i've seen that throughout my 20 years as a prosecutor. we have to address the issue of systemic racism. not just in our criminal justice system, but throughout our society and how it impacts that system. and we can do it in a way that recognizes the harms that it brings to all of us. that's everyone. everyone. if the system is not fair, then no one has faith in it. we're all the poorer for that. we can do that in a way that addresses those issues and tries to find solutions for the problem. i think it's really important that we think about this pandemic as a marathon and not a sprint. it's already lasted months. it will last for months more. we all want to get back to normal. but what we've seen in so many areas of life, normal wasn't

working for us. we've got to deal with these issues and we've got to deal with the issues of systemic racism throughout our society. frankly, it harms all of society. >> attorney general gonzales, it's kasie hunt. i want to ask you about something that's been in the news for the last few days. that's the president threatening a lawsuit against the state of nevada when they said that they would mail a ballot to every eligible voter. do you think there's grounds for the. the to sue in this case? >> kasie, you know, i appreciate your question. i obviously know there's a great deal of interest in this topic. i'm here to talk about the criminal justice system and covid and its effect on our criminal justice system. i'll leave it for others to talk about the position of this president and this justice department. we're here -- a.g. lynch and i are here to talk about a very important issue. we'd like to focus on that. >> mike barnicle?

>> here's another important issue for both of you, please. let's start with you, general lynch. last week senator tim kaine asked incumbent attorney general, bill barr, whether he agreed with the. the of the united states that he tweeted it was possible for the president of the united states to have the power to postpone this november's election. and when barr answered, he said, i really haven't studied that question. what would your answer have been to that question? >> i have to tell you, having been in front of congress a number of times, you do get a lot of questions. i'm not going to comment on what attorney general barr said. but i will note i think a number of people have opined on the fact that our election is going to go forward this november. it's going to happen. life will move on. as i noted before, this pandemic is going to come with us and it

will follow us after november 3rd. i think as we look at the criminal justice system, which is really a reflection on the faith that people have in government writ large. the way they feel disconnected from the criminal justice system or the lack of trust that we see so many communities talking about and exhibiting and, frankly, showing examples of shows us that we have to look beyond this coming election and how we manage this issue. how are we going to recover from this when people who are currently sitting in washington are gone because that happens. it does happen for all of us. what are we going to be left with as a country? how are we going to connect with people who has felt this was a system that pushed them away, marginalized them and not lynned to their voices? how are we going to deal with people who are saying and the world is now seeing there are large swaths of our community that have always felt the burdens of our criminal justice system but have felt none of the

benefits of it? so, obviously the election will happen. people will express their views on a host of things, but i hope one of the things everyone keeps in mind is that regardless of who sits in whatever chair in washington, we have to ensure that when it comes to the system that is often the only face of government, so many people see, that it's as fair and open as possible. we've had a light shown on the system that shows that hasn't been the case. >> attorney general gonzales, as your commission looks at the links between coronavirus and crime, which is one of the areas you all are focusing on, i know, many people have said that, in fact, the health crisis is linked, others have said it's because of the attacks on police, defund the police movements, taking resources away from them or making their jobs more difficult. as you look at this national increase in violent crime, this national increase in murders and big cities, what do you chalk it

up to? what's going on in our cities right now? >> well, we're still in the process, we're in the early stages of our work here, so we're getting information from experts with respect to, in fact, what are the crime rates? certain kinds of crimes are down. obviously because you have people staying at home. businesses are closed. certain kinds of crimes are up. we did see a spike in the summer with respect to violent crime and certain kinds of looting of businesses in downtown areas. i think it's more critical to a reaction to the george floyd killing as opposed to the pandemic. again, these are things that we're in the process now of gathering up information. it's very, very important that we make our recommendations to the nation and to the council based upon solid facts. we have -- we're going to try very, very hard to make sure this is a bipartisan effort based solely on facts.

the fact you've got two former a.g.s from different administrations, different parties, i think, is a common demonstration of our commitment to that effort. again, it's very early in the process. wea we've only had one meeting. we understand the urgency of this issue. our goal is to try to have our recommendations presented to the council and to the nation by the end of this year. >> we look forward to your findings. former attorneys general loretta lynch and alberto gonzales. with the 2020 election less than three months away, our next guest says he has the perfect guide to beating donald trump. paul begala is on "morning joe" next. how about no no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

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how billions in federal funds are spent on local services every year for the next decade. so when they come knocking, say hi from a safe distance and do your part to support your community. time is running out. shape your future. start here at 2020census.gov. a number of states held primary elections yesterday. there were several notable results. in kansas congressman roger marshall will be the republican nominee for a key senate seat after defeating former secretary of state chris kobach, who has helped ease primary concern that a victory by that controversial firebrand might have cost them a seat this fall. concerns shared by majority leader mitch mcconnell, among many. and in missouri cory bush, a one-time homeless woman who led protests following a white police officer's fatal shooting of an 18-year-old black man in ferguson, missouri, named

michael brown, has ousted long-time congressman william lacy clay in the state's democratic primary. clay has held that seat for nearly two decades. the victory by bush, now a nurse, a pastor and progressive activist came on the same night missouri missouri vote rs decided to expand medicaid eligibility. notable milestone for insurgent progressive candidates and supporters across the country. a quarter million more adults could choose to be covered by government health insurance beginning july 2021, according to estimates. joining us now, long-time political strategist paul begalla, author of the new book titled "you're fired: the perfect guide to beating donald trump." good to see you. welcome to the other side of msnbc. we're happy to snatch you while you have a book out. for joe biden, the guide has been to sort of lay low and let donald trump go out and talk on

television every day. what recommendations do you make to joe biden and democrats trying to defeat donald trump? >> it's great to see you again. it's great to be on with you. it's very gracious. i think that -- i start the book by saying what i got wrong in 2016. i have to show my own personal responsibility and show what i've learned. what i've learned is that i think jack palance, the cowboy in city slickers would have been a much better strategist than me in 2016. he says to billy crystal, the main thing is to always keep the main thing the main thing. the main thing should be voters, and trump is so distracting -- i know he's the president. he's terrible. people like me hate him, the party line. when we take our eyes off what's happening in voters' lives, those folks in missouri want health care. they voted to expand medicaid. something is going on out there.

when we only focus on trump and his sewer-level character, it distracts us, actually, from making effect on people's lives. we have 160,000 dead from covid in part because this man can't do his job. 71,000 dead last year from drug addiction. 38,000 dead because of gun violence. we have millions of people out of work. democrats have got to focus on voters more, and on trump less. i say joe is doing that. joe has really, actually, retooled his campaign. he has given thoughtful speeches about rebuilding the economy, called build back better, focus on the middle-class populism that i like to advocate. he's doing quite a good job and his empathy matches up perfectly against trump's narcissism. >> where are the traps for democrats? where should they be cautious? joe biden has a lead in all these battleground states that we talk about every single day, the states that flip from obama

to trump, in many cases, and earn him the election, gave him the victory there. if you are on the biden campaign or you are a democrat, trying to fight the idea of complacency, where should you be focused right now? >> well, obviously, everything is covid. covid has radically altered the political landscape. on that, biden has some real credibility, because he helped pass obamacare. remember, he said it was a big deal. i don't think that the democrats can turn loose the economy either. covid and the economy hasv come together, health care and the economy. i like biden's speech about build back better. i also want democrats to embrace national service. we've got 42 million young people between the ages of 20 and 30. half of them are probably out of work right now. we've got 75,000 in americorp. that's great. i worked for bill clinton. he created americorp. chris coons thinks so, too.

this is a time for particularly vice president biden to focus on the economy and really focus on young people and people of color who have been really left out, even when times were better, but are just getting hammered right now. i think that should be the focus. keep it on the economy. the other thing that democrats are rightly worried about, and focused on, voter suppression, election manipulation, the kinds of things that an autocrat does when he thinks he's going to lose. we saw this where hundreds of thousands of georgians were disenfranchised and stacey abrams lost the race by 2%. >> it's kasie hunt, paul. i want to pick up on the second to last point you made about energizing young people, and bringing in new constituencies. we're watching for the vice president's vice president this week, next week. what do you think that pick -- what should he do with that pick to try to maximize his chances

of winning? >> yeah. i always get these things wrong, because i think like a political strategist. biden has had the job. really i know. i know this. i haven't talked to joe, but i've talked to people very close to him. he wants -- first, god forbid something happens, somebody could take over. god willing, if i remain healthy, who do i want to be a governing partner? as a political strategist, i think it's great he's focused on women. i think it's terrific that these women of color have emerged as the leading contenders. i have no inside knowledge, again. this is what's great about diversity. this is what's great when at least democratic party throws oech t open the doors of opportunity. you get more talent. when you widen the ranges of draft choices you get more challenge. houston rockets years ago drafted a guy named yao ming from china. the more you open the talent pool, the more talent you get.

i think it's terrific. i do hope -- i know joe is going to pick a woman. i hope it's one of these leading candidates we're hearing about because i think voters will respond to that very energetically. >> eddie clod has a question for you. eddie? >> we see in missouri, and democrats, chris bush just won. extraordinary upset in so many ways of congressman lacy. there's been a tension within the party over the last few years, the progressive wing. of course, we might describe it as clinton, as the clinton-esque, as you might describe him. in your assessment of how we have to beat trump, how do you navigate the internal divisions within the party as some folk clamor for a different way of thinking about how we get out of this mess that we're currently in? >> first, professor, it's great to see you again. nothing unites the people of

earth like a threat from mars. trump is from mars. he has united the democrats. it's hard to do. this is why democrats make a better president. people like barack obama or bill clinton, in my day, they have to unite a broad, diverse, multiracial, multiethnic, multigender coalition. republicans just have to kind of unite the white and the whiter, and the old and the older, the male and the maler. so, that makes democrats better presidents. right now, i will say as somebody from the clinton wing and more moderate wing, i suppose some might say, i've been so impressed with how the left has united the party behind joe biden. they could have taken their marbles and walked home. and too many did in 2016, but what we've seen now is a coales coalescence. i can only do virtual campaigning. but when i do that, i see young, progressive justice democrats

working side by side with us old white guys, all in common cause. this is a coalition. right now the democrats have a coalition that goes from four-star generals to black lives matter. by god, that's america. i have to give tremendous credit for the left for unifying behind someone who is not their first choice. let's face it. >> paul begalla, helped to run the 1992 clinton campaign, put clinton in the white house and worked for him there. also author of "you're fired:the guide to beating donald trump." thanks for coming on. >> great to see you. we close with sad news just in that the great columnist pete hamill has died at the age of 85. a legend of journalism, editor for the new york post and new york daily news. aptly capturing hamill's essence in a profile of him last year, writing mr. hamill was a star

city columnist when such a thing was still possible. his gritty, yet soaring dispatches about cops, immigrants and crooked city hall cronies earned him a reputation as a tabloid poet long before the word tabloid was synonymous with celebrity fluff. a friend of yours, a fellow columnist for many, many years. what did we lose today with the news of his passing? >> well, we lost at its inception, really, a decent human being, tremendously decent human being. he was a giant of american journalism, as you just indicated, a true tribune of the city, new york city. he wrote about people whose lives matter, order people who don't often find their names in the paper unless it's surrounded by some clamity. he wrote about how people live. he was a gentle person as well

as a tough person, if you can imagine that combination. advice and counsel to young persons. he was accessible. he was decent, kind, generous. he was everything you would want in a human being, never mind a city columnist, a great journalist. pete hamill, who will be missed by me and many, many others whose lives he touched over many, many years. >> an absolute giant of journalism, now dead at the age of 85. we send our best to his family this morning. that will do it for us. we'll see you right back here tomorrow morning. for now, kristen welker picks up the coverage. hey, kristen. >> hey, willie, thank you so much. i am kristen welker, in for stephanie