when it comes to new cases per week, just take a look at this graph. the u.s. is in green at the top. that's how we've stacked up against europe in blue since the beginning of this pandemic. in terms of deaths, maybe this chart will give you a sense how the u.s. compares to several other countries across the globe. congress has failed to reach a compromise on economic relief. president trump signed four executive orders to address unemployment, efictivictionevict don't loans and payroll taxes. one play be sticking for folks, $400 a week in unemployment benefits. >> why did you decide on $400, previously $600, that will be a hardship. >> well no it's not a hardship this is the money they need and want, it gives them a great incentive to go back to work. >> democratic leaders margaret spellings and chuck schumer were

less than impressed with donald trump's executive actions and said in a statement we're disappointed instead of putting in the work to solve americans problems the president chose to stay on his luxury golf course to announce narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits millions need and endanger social security and medicare. we begin focused on the tens of millions of americans struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic as congress argues and the president signed the executive order the reality is things are dire for many of us in the united states. let's start with our msnbc weekend anchor david, i would love to get your sense what this will mean. the president seemed to say $400 is good to get people back to work, that this is what the american people want, is that

our understanding what the american people want? >> joshua, i've been talking to a lot of people that's out of work and talk about the issue of it being a disingenuous incentive' going -- going - d disincentive', to a tee everyone wants to get back to work but there's not jobs available. so i will quibble with what the president said and there's been a ton of confusion around this, it's been hard on men and women who are out of work. couple weeks back i fwhwas in tulsa, oklahoma, people going to get their applications looked at and number of them with great difficulty trying to figure out what would happen if this couldn't get continued. $600 may sound like a large chunk when you look at at the state level some get $250 or $300 a week. so you have to look at it in a larger sense what it has enabled

the u.s. economy to do, people have paid their housing, their mortgages, pay their rent, make their car payments. now that that's gone it could have profound ripple effects over all different parts of the economy. yes it will be bad at the micro level for those individual who's can't make those payments but it will start to effect the broader, macro economy. >> you've been talking to economic experts this week about some of the complicated factor that's exist in a pandemic during a financial crisis what did they tell you? >> this is a really important part of this story. i don't think a lot of people get it. these benefits are paid out at the state level and so many state agencies were unprepared for the inundation when the crisis set in. the job market was using technology that was out of doubt because it was working fine and we've learned how inadequate that is. so you look at what's happened

over the past 20 weeks and what's happening now that confusion i mentioned moments ago will play out at the state agencies again. they will look at what the president said and wonder is this law? is this something we can do now? i mentioned the technology, many offices operate on main frames from the 80's and 90's, very outdated technology and it will take a lot of time to implement the changes make it $400 versus $600. there's going to he a -- to be a lac lack. lac lack lag. lag. >> how well did that infrastructure handle the crush of applications we've seen. >> the state unemployment offices have really struggled and let me say, it's not their fault. that system has been under funded, under staffed and has not had up-to-date technology. you're trying to get an elephant through a system that's designed for a mouse and it's just not

going to work. so the system has really struggled and we've heard these deeply frustrating stories from millions of americans across the country of crashing websites. >> so that confusion i mentioned, now even more so, how these offices are going to be able to handle this, joshua. seth and i had a conversation about is this going to be the moment that focuses these agencies at the state level, the labor department and federal level as well to fix some of the systems and make the investments to deal with crisis like this. he hopes that will be the case. right now the focus is on what will happen in the coming weeks and how these agencies can get that money to people the fastest way possible. with what the president did just another degree of complication and confusion tooz as to what the path forward will be. >> computer systems from the 80's, you said. >> unbelievable. you heard me right. still using tape.

five-inch floppy discs, it continues to work so they haven't invested in replacing those machines. the heads of many of these agencies say it is woeful. it would surprise people to see the main frames they're using today. >> got more power in my anyonent tendo twitch. thank you. david. starting us off this hour. let's continue now with the member of the house budget committee, democratic congress man of california including the headquarters of apple, intel and linked in, all of which seem to have more computing power than some of our state employment agencies. congressman good evening. >> good evening, i think the technology companies should help the government so the benefit goes to the citizens insteld of just the companies that seem to be doing well. >> that's a whole other conversation between silicon valley and the federal government. that's an hour for another day. let me ask you about the four

executive orders. is there anything at all among any of the executive orders the president signed today that you like or that you are generally in support of. >> i'm in support of extended unemployment benefits but he's announcing a benefit cut, i mean, he's taking it from $600 to $400. there's month plan on when people will get this money, if this money will be there. i don't think we ought to be giving folks who are struggling getting food on the table and rent false hope when it is so simple. he needs to negotiate with schumer and pelosi. they lower the number by a million dollars and willing to meet the president halfway instead it's these gimmicks. >> you remember the budget committee i wonder what your sense is of what we can afford. i mean, america is spending money on number of things, gigantic piles of debt we have to pay off sooner or later.

are we prepared to spend money, even though we need to spend it that we really don't have a plan for recouping. >> well the spending right now will prevent larger deficits. let's say we don't spend this money and consumer spending dries up, the folks who are unemployed that will mean less tax revenue, more unemployment and will actually put us in a deeper hole. so this isn't just me, this is powell at the fed is saying we have to support people so that they can spend and don't wreak permanent damage on the economy and the president said he wants to terminate the payroll tax, that's literally a cut in social security and medicare. >> talk about what you think we can afford to spend. a lot of what we heard this week sounds like monopoly money, $1 trillion, $3 trillion, to me i'm

thinking can we average at $2 trillion. but i can't wrap my head around two. how do we think about the way the u.s. looks at the money we have and the money we need to spend and determine if they match? >> well, joshua, the way you're thinking about it is the way pelosi and shurmur said let's meet halfway at $2 trillion, that seems like a reasonable perimeter. let me give a broader answer to your question our gdp is $2 trillion is 10%, i don't think this will be safe until there's a vaccine. we're in survival mode. we can afford 10% of gdp to make sure people have food, medicine and a roof over their head. right now people are just struggling to keep life going and i believe it is our moral imperative that we spend 10% of our gdp, do it six to twelve

months, and for donald trump to accuse these folks not wanting to work in a country people paid hundreds and thousands of dues just shows he's not in touch. i have nothing against people who make wealth but have some perspective on what people are going through. >> when you say gdp, to be clear, we're talking about the amount of the value of the economy, not necessarily the dollars that come into the federal treasury as taxes. >> yes. but that gives us an ability to borrow. the interest rates are extraordinarily low. and if we're taking that kind of spending of the economy we can make sure we do right by people. they're not working through no fault of their own. they're not working because they're being responsible. businesses don't want to spread the infection. now, if this is something that confronted the united states for 10 or 15 years then we could have a debate but to say look, we want to keep families together, keep people healthy,

keep people enough money for their kids 6 to 12 months, most will say that's reasonable. we've had crisis before, whether world wars, whether depressions, whether the great recession, we as americans have come together and said that's the time government has to step up. >> what's the tone if your district like right now? you have a very interesting district, yours spans both sides of the bottom of san francisco bay. including cupertino, apple is headquarters. santa claritaa where intel is headquarters. sunnyvale where yahoo and linked in are and the 49erss stadium and freemont big production and wealthy district and very diverse district. the folks among your constituents are among those having the easiest time working in the pandemic because they're in the tech economy, apple and google, and other companies

saying stay home until june so they can kind of swing it. there's other folks in the district who are the people who empty the garbage cans at google. >> exactly. >> or who work in the cafeteria at apple park who are not able to just stay home. so how are folks in your district doing right now? >> well, joshua, that is the most thoughtful understanding of my district. you're absolutely correct. on the one hand extraordinary wealth tech companies are doing great as more people are working virtually and we're becoming a more digitized economy. but it's just highlighted the digital divide, those who can work remotely are in some cases benefiting, but the bus drivers, food service workers and janitorial staff are not keeping up, this is why we need to have an essential workers bill of

rights, treat them as employees, give them hazard pay and give them child care. the amazing thing is we can do this. we have four or five companies worth trillions dollars why not tax them so everyone can benefit, seems would be to everyone's interest in our society. >> congressman of silicon valley appreciate your time. >> thank you for the conversation. >> we have a powerful panel, an associate professor of political science and cohost of a podcast. and a host of sirius xm and former state department senior advisor and joined by senior political analyst. good to 150e -- see you all. professor, let me start with you and this move by the president, i can understand the critiques of the executive orders

certainly the legal argument considering whether this will hold up considering congress as the purse not him. the political caucus seemed obvious, beyond the president were reporter and beyond reporters were people of his club who were called in to say, hey, want to watch a presidential press conference. >> right, the visuals of that, we have a sitting president at his own country club making money while delivering formal news to the american public and criticizing the media and most people weren't even masked which is highly problematic. i think the press conference today really did illuminate just how little respect and understanding the president as for the separation of powers. the framers really did explicitly the congress has the power of the purse. they did give executive -- the power to have executive orders and so that's a presidential

power that's incredibly important but the president often times confuse signing an executive order and signing a bill, so he doesn't understand, when congress writes legislation they send it to the president to sign, that's how a bill becomes a law. the executive order doesn't have the weight of the law behind it. the next subsequent president can come and undo it and reverse it. we seen positive executive orders in the past, integrating the armed forces. we also seen negative executive orders, ie, putting japanese americans and italians in american concentration camps. the president doesn't understand what the role of the executive is and today we see him just projecting, obviously, going way off, not even talking about what he invited us to discussion -- discuss. just attacking nancy pelosi, chuck schumer and joe biden obviously and trying to turn what should be a policy

conversation into a low-key campaign rally with some invited guest who's paid $350,000 to say they heard the president ramble for an hour or so. >> i have to say, professor greer i wasn't expecting you to explain school house rocks difference between a bill and executive order, when i hear you do that i'm like we have turned the page, we have a school house rock bill versus executive order. jonathan, with regard to this executive order what happens now. the professor is right these are two very different documents. there's already a threat of a legal challenge because democrats argue the president is t trying to do something outside the power of the executive. do we have a concrete sense whether or not that's an actual plan, or an idle threat right now? >> number one the president has figured out if he does things it takes a long time for the law suits to work their way through

the courts so for the short-term he has the advantage to implement what he wants or perhaps some injunction to stop and on some of these things he actually appears to have some power to do, he may be able to suspend the collection of the payroll tax. there may be a lawsuit about that but there does seem to be some flexability there. on the policy level there's question about the political smarts of this. here's a president who campaigned proudly in 2016 on the idea he was going to protect medicare and social security and what he's doing now is robbing the fund from that payroll tax that actually put the money into medicare and social security. and doing it from folks who are actually getting paid right now, opposed to those who are unemployed. with this executive order it doesn't send out stimulus checks which is something he wants to do and something nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell wants to do.

it also doesn't address the small business issues that still remain and a variety of other things. so it is a short-term package, the best he can hope to do. >> lara, what is your sense of these executive orders, some of them if they went forward, if they survived would have enormous effects on our economy. >> well, this is a president who claims he's a deal-maker, has not actually gone to the hill or engage directly in any of the negotiations, he's been entirely absent in the process. he derided president ob trying to pass administrative law to executive order, it's exactly what he's doing now. and in his press conference he tried to claim credit for two of the notable pieces of legislation that president obama passed. veteran's choice as well as the insurance companies having to cover pre-existing conditions.

that's the context suddenly we have a president who is now trying to work around congress and trying to implement some type of, i can't even call it legislation, but some kind of policy that will effectively raid the government of trillion dollars if not more. that's what eliminating the payroll tax and ability to fund medicare and medicaid and social security will end up doing at a time we're not only massively in debt but looking at trillions of dollars in stimulus. so he's adding to the deficit and not fixing any of the fundamentals of the economy and he's using all of the tools he blames the previous president for using. >> everybody stick around. much more we'd like to talk about with you tonight. coming up new york state is suing to dissolve the nra. what's behind the lawsuit? and what are its chances if court?

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this week the national rifle association came under legal file as new york state attorney general argues years of corruption and misspending should be addressed by dissolving the nation's largest gun lobby. accusing the executive vp of raiding the organization's funds to bank roll personal vacations. following new york's lead washington, d.c. attorney general sued the nra and it's

charitable foundation alleging it misused millions in donation funds. the nra hit back against new york attorney general claiming her auction's actions violated the company's first amendment rights, tweeting, quote, we're ready for the fight. bring it on. our panel is back with us. joining the conversation is franklin former former fbi assistance of counter intelligence and msnbc national security analyst. what is the point trying to dissolve the nra, you're not going to dissolve the points of views of the members or the debate over guns, you're not going to dissolve the lifetime membership card in the wallet of my uncle right now. what is the point, really, of trying to do this? >> so i think -- i think we're headed in the right direction, but perhaps with the wrong strategy at the wrong time.

here's what i mean by that. first, let me say this clearly, i am no apologyist for the nra, i believe it is a deeply core up the organization and more importantly i believe they have blood on their hands when it comes to the slaughter of american school children in mass school shootings. they won't lift a finger to increase reasonable gun measures even most police officers endorse. those are the reasons i'm concerned about the strategy. in the course of one press conference the new york state attorney general may have turned the nra leadership from villains which they're rightly painted as into victims because she's seeking dissolution of an organization where she should be seeking the transformation and reform of a highly partisan corrupt organization to a gun safety and advocacy safety organization. it may be the absolute wrong

thing to do at this point in time. >> let's play it out, presuming the strategy is valid and viable, what's it look like from here? >> well, you've already heard the strong response from the organization. right. which again corroborates my concerns that now they are the victim and their membership has gone from instantly thinking we got to get rid of these people they should be in prison to oh, my lord my second amendment rights are under assault if you take out the nra. we're going to see a long battle. there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. what you heard described in the attorney general press conference were criminal acts she's addressing civilly. i hope and believe there's criminal referrals going on at the federal level as well and we all know the suspicions and investigations related on a federal level to the nra handling of money, the nra relationship with politicians, candidates, members of congress,

all of that is tremendous fodder and bolsters the argument for dissolving the organization but it may be premature to have moved for that right now. >> jonathan, what do you make of the timing of these lawsuits. we are about to come to the 2020 election and the nra and its members have been significant supporters of and zonors to the trump campaign in the past. >> anyone who thought it was good timing for the democrats and it was a great plot to take on the nra in court for their election hopes in 2020 they're not very good at politicking. the energy this creates on the republican side is huge. i'm not sure it makes any democrats angry about the nra or more likely to go to the polls. there's a backlash effect. even before the nra had releashed its statement a long-time democratic strategyist

sent me a note that said this could not be worst, timing-wise, saying democrats want to take away your second amendment rights and first amendment rights, how much of your bill of rights are they going to go after. now on the legal question, i'm not a lawyer, however, you know, it's not just a question of whether there's corruption in the nra there's broader question about whenever you see misuse of funds, the nra in its various entities and arms have an obligation to the american public it's not a private organization entirely. you're talking about a nonprofit and gets a tax benefit out of his nonprofit status. several of its arms are nonprofit. as they dig into that there will be a lot of questions whether or not they use this 234067nonprof in accordance with the tax laws they were using to shield themselves from taxation.

>> i wonder what your senses of this in a larger context. about an hour, almost two hours ago, the nra tweeted, quote, our rights don't end where your feelings begin. unquote. now from a first amendment standpoint, they're right. the first amendment is designed to protect various forms of speech, whether you like them or not. so if you just scrub off who tweeted this, yes, that's true. but then in a larger sense it also speaks to the political argument. if you don't like the nra is trying to have them dissolve in court the right way to go? >> can also look from a straight tax and policy perspective, the nra occupies a strange space, they're not a traditional nonprofit, they're a social welfare organization, similar to arp, they're not just a lobbying group, so they fill this space that's been very problematic for regulators for quite some time of an organization in theory is

going social well fairwfare but actually is doing heavy lobbying work. you will find organizations like arp watching to see how this all shapes out and the nra, unfortunately for its members and unfortunately for people who do feel like the second amendment is worthy of having an organization fighting for it, the nra went too far to the degree of lobbying, they did not fulfill the loyalty to fiduciaries they were responsible for. just from a strictly legal and policy perspective they have crossed the line. to give the attorney general credit this is not an investigation she just started because of political season, she's had to uncover information over long period of time and that is -- we see all the headlines about the corruption in the nra, this is part of a legal process that she's rolling out as she sees the fit to continue the process probably well beyond this election. i will say though, in all of this, the star witness being

ollie north will be quite the sight to see. >> it will make for one heck of a trial. glad you brought it up, this is not a process that is going to be resolved between 9:30 and the election is november 3rd, i don't think this will all be wrapped up in time for the election. this is definitely, potentially a longer game to be played. frank, appreciate you making time, everyone else on the panel stick around as the hour goes on. coming up, the horrific blast in lebanon was the last straw for many people who are demanding change from their government. we'll have the latest from beirut next. ♪

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of all things to make people demand government change, an explosion. today in lebanon protesters clashed with security forces on the streets days after that massive deadly blast. demonstrators in beirut swarmed government buildings avoiding

tear gas and shots fired, one police officer is reportedly dead, dozens of protesters have been injured, state of emergency is in effect after tuesday's explosion. the death toll stands at more than 150 people and counting. thousands were injured. hundreds of thousands lost their businesses and homes. and everyone is demanding answers from the government. now the latest from beirut. >> reporter: there was just so much anger in the streets of beirut, we saw massive anti-government protests. people blame the government for the blast that killed so many people and left so many of the city in rubbel, the same sort of corruption they've been suffering for decades that led to tuesday's blast. protesters clashed with security forces as security forces fired tear gas and even reports of live fire.

the prime minister came out and said he'll call for early elections. that doesn't seem likely to appease these protesters. they're so angry. now as these protesters are in the streets, the clean up and search and rescue effort are continuing, searching through the rubble hoping to find people who may still be alive and trapped underneath. and again today sweeping up glass and trying to assist residents that were effected. in talking to these volunteers, so many told me soon as this job is done they will take back to the streets and protest. this job is not done. there's just so much damage in beirut, so much work to do, they're just so angry they've taken to the streets to protest anyway, nbc news beirut. >> still to come, new york's

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so when you're ready, search 'my denture care'. poligrip and polident. fixed. fresh. and just between us. it's been nearly five months since the state of new york closed its schools, now governor andrew cuomo has given them permission to reopen if they so desire. local politicians will decide whether and how to reopen. new york state's education and health departments must approve

of each district's plans for in-person instruction. let's discuss with former white house health policy director in the obama administration, a primary care physician and msnbc medical contributor, i wonder what is your sense of what the rules and benchmarks need to be for schools in new york to reopen. they will all be a little different but is there kind of a baseline? >> yeah, absolutely, joshua. the baseline has to be the spread of the virus in your local community and certainly new york as a state and overall has one of the lowest positivity rates a little over 700 new cases a day. joshua, as you have seen from the reporting across the country, just one hot spot can break out if one school or one college, one neighborhood has an increase in the incidents of the environment regulation. so environment regulation so

virus. certainly the floor for all this is the spread in a small local region even potentially down to the zip code. especially when you think of higher density, urban areas like manhattan. >> with regard to the incident of the virus there are standards in terms of the limits for when schools would need to close again. schools would have to shut down again if their region goes above 9%. in new york city it's 3%. schools won't open if the positivity rate is higher. they will reclose if the positivity rate rises after they reopen. right now the average statewide in new york is about 1% in terms of the test that's come back positive. how likely do you think it is, based on the way things are going right now, that we might have to shut down schools once they reopen? >> yeah, so, i think by the way, that those limits are perfectly reasonable, and the issue is really more about what happens

in between those limits or as we approach those limits. it's the nuance, it's inside a school, a lot of school leaders are questioning, do we shut down if we have more than one case. we're able to identify cohorts and ways to have the children be totally separated. the younger they are that could be hard. the older they are might be more feasible. that's where difficulties lie with schools. certainly even with low positivity rates we have to ask the question, especially in school to school, the variation and just the ability to keep basic public health measures, so you're going to see in some schools there's no physical space to do the distancing and candidly even with a mask mandate which new york has, there are a lot of children i see and even adults by the way, who don't wear the mask

properly. i as a doctor have hard time wearing these masks and face shields for ten hours when i work. you can imagine for those not used it to it. so it will be hard to have the conversation with parents if there's a plan in place. you can draw analogy the team sports and how it's handled in camps, sports leagues, and i do think this is going to be absolutely the same type of issues as schools reopen in the fall. >> those are among the questions that the cdc is recommending that parents ask schools in terms of understanding their plans for going back. there's a decision-making tool on the cdc website with a long olivia list of things to ivia lio -- ligs of thing -- of thing - list of things to ask about. including whether the needs of your child are compatible with digital learn, especially if your

district is not reopening campuses. if they are staying home for virtual learning how to keep your child significantly engaged, especially sitting in front of the computer for a long period of time. if you rely on free or reduced lunch and campus is cloeps closed what is the alternative to the breakfast and lunch services. it feels like it had is exactly where rubber meets road for parents based on the age of their kids. elementary school kids will need different things than high school kids if you live on the east side of the tracks versus the west side of the tracks this conversation may be moot because you know what your school looked like before the pandemic. you ain't got no reason to expect it's going to look much different after. >> yeah, by the way, that's -- not just what the school looks like, the same schools that

don't have any school nurses, imagine what happens when you have a child that might even have a fever and about 43% of schools in our country, particularly those on, as you put it, on kind of the side of the track where's we know they have neglected funding and have time and time again neglected the facilities don't even have a school nurse, joshua. so i've seen the checklist. i've seen now dozens of schools plans which are all very good but as you said, the rubber hits the road in practicality and if i can offer a piece of advice for parents, have those conversations. i strongly urge parents, educator and health personnel to have a virtual what we call in public health a table top exercise, to go through real life scenarios what will happen when a child has a fever and you can't get hold of their parent because they're working and it's hard to have someone and you don't have space to isolate them. that's when the rubber hits the

road and that's when we see really well intended plans deviate off that path. >> role playing these situations definitely a way to see, maybe we're not quite ready for this. doctor, appreciate you making time for us, thank you very much. before we go, making sure your ballot counts, especially if you cast it by mail. looking out...for all of us. and though you may have lost sight of your own well-being, aetna never did. we're always here to help you focus on your health. because it's always, time for care. ♪ ♪ ♪ we've always put safety first. ♪ ♪ and we always will. ♪ ♪ for people. ♪ ♪ for the future. ♪ ♪ and there has never been a summer when it's mattered more. wherever you go, summer safely.

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ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. ♪ webut you can't lose sight of your own well-being especially if you have a serious chronic medical condition. at aetna, we're always here to help you focus on your health. because it's always time for care. why would they want to ban voter i.d. in all states? and why would they want to ban requirements for signature verification, in federal election? what's that all about? you know what it's about? fraud. the bill also requires all states to do universal mail-in balloting, which nobody is -- nobody's prepared for. regardless of whether or not they have the infrastructure. they want to steal an election. that's all this is all about. they want to steal the election.

>> president trump railed against expanded mail-in voting during today's press event. as well as continuing the false narrative, that voting by mail is at a uniquely high risk of fraud. this week, the trump campaign sued the state of nevada over its plan to conduct the november election almost entirely by mail. the suit claims that statewide voting by mail is unconstitutional. the president, also, tweeted this week that florida's vote-by-mail system is, in his words, safe and secure, tried and true. he also encouraged floridians to vote by mail. to be clear, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in any state. but mail-in voting can present its own, unique challenges. especially, expanding it so much, so soon. our panel is back with us along

with amber mcreynolds. she is the ceo of vote at home. an organization that works with election officials to help voters cast their ballots, in person or by mail. she is co-author of the book "when women vote" and the former director for elections for the city and county of denver. amber, give us a sense of how cities and counties and states are doing in the run-up to the fall election, especially as it relates to adapting to what we expect will be a big demand for mail-in ballots. >> sure. well, thanks for having me. and our organization is working with state and local election officials around the country to make sure that they're ready for this unprecedented election cycle, and the highest number of mail ballots that will ever be cast in a -- in a presidential election, to date. and so, election officials are working really hard around the country. various states are making improvements, now. such as, implementing ballot-tracking systems. and we've been working with various states to do exactly

that, and make sure that they have good systems in place that support voters throughout the process. >> let's talk through some of your advice for voters who are sitting at home tonight, and may be preparing to vote by mail in november. but either, have never done it or have done it, maybe, once or twi twice. there are a few tips you are sharing with us for people that want to get it just right. among other things, verifying that you're registered, making sure your address is up to date. requesting a ballot if you live in a state that doesn't automatically send them. signing up to track your ballot. some states allow that. some states don't. reading your ballot closely and the affidavit and signing your envelope and dropping your ballot in the mail, at least seven days, in advance, of election day. remember, the rules are different state to state so you will have to check that out. amber, it sounds like the majority of the ballots that are mailed in, that don't get counted, aren't counted because

of a technicality of a little detail that somebody might miss. >> yeah. so usually, when mail ballots are not cast successfully, it's usually because they're late. so, every state varies, in tempers terms of acceptance of postmark or not. and so, a lot of times, ballots can get rejected if they are late. so the last point of turning the ballot in or dropping it off ahead of election day is really important. and then, the signature verification aspect another important piece of this. that's a security measure that's in place, in many states. it helps election officials confirm that the voter who completed the ballot turned it in. and if there is an issue, in most states, voters are allowed to cure that issue. and that's a really important aspect of the process, that has been proven and tried and true, over many states, over time. >> professor, we mentioned the president walked back some of

his criticism of mail-in voting by saying florida's system is cool. what do you think is the overall impact of this? not necessarily the intent but the impact. i mean, is mail-in voting really expected to make the difference this november? >> i think it will, in this particular election, just because the president and his administration have handled the coronavirus so poorly. and we have over 150,000 americans who have died. we know that many poll workers are over the age of 60. and so, there are going to be quite a few americans who want to stay home. actually, we don't know where we'll be in november when it comes to covid. and so, many people will want to stay home and exercise their right to vote by mail-in ballot. the issue is the president has voted by mail, as his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law, and most of his cabinet. so that's not a problem when it comes to the president or republican-leaning states. there has to be a widespread education process to make sure people actually do fill out the ballot correctly. but what's keeping me up at

night and many who care about this nation is that the president is systematically trying to defund the postal service to make it more difficult for people to vote. but what we do know, in many states, is that they will not start counting absentee ballots until election night. after the polls are closed. so if we have a disproportionate number of people that are voting by absentee ballot, we may have a percentage that makes a real difference on election night. and we may not know things on november 3rd. so we have to make sure we counter the president's narrative that not finding out everything on election night means that there is automatic fraud, especially since we know many americans will exercise the right to vote absentee. >> definitely, worth educating yourself about the system. including just going to your election supervisor's office. quite often, they'll do tours, they will show you the materials. they'll teach you how to be a poll worker. you want to make friends with your elections office, volunteer to be a poll worker.

glad to have you y'all with us tonight. thanks very much. and thank you for making time for us tonight. i will see you tomorrow morning for meet the press on nbc. i will be on the panel. i will be back here with you tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. but until we meet again, i'm joshua johnson. stay safe, stay sharp, and stay tuned. there's more just ahead on msnbc. good night. ead on msnbc. good night second chances. but a subaru can. (dad) you guys ok? (vo) eyesight with pre-collision braking. standard on the subaru ascent. the three-row subaru ascent. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on select models during the subaru a lot to love event. i appreciate what makes each person unique. that's why i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car

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warning, in advance. here's one of those stories that starts one place. and then, boy, does it veer off in an unexpected direction. but here's where it starts. this is an ad. a political ad. that you might remember from a few months ago. it was launched way back in march. as coronavirus cases were starting to take off, like a rocket, in the u.s. just a 30-second ad. i am going to play it now to jog your memory. but you might remember from -- from back in march. >> the