our friend nicolle wallace has the day off. we begin with the headlines. just moments ago we heard from the newly revealed democratic presidential ticket. joe biden, kamala harris received a briefing from public health and economic experts on the state of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our economy. they called for the implementation of a national mask mandate. this comes as the coronavirus took the lives of another 1,500 american souls just yesterday, the highest daily death toll since the middle of may. 17th day in a row in our country with a daily death toll of over 1,000 americans. the number of confirmed cases in the u.s. stands at nearly 525,000. the government reported that

963,000 americans have filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week. first time the number has been less than 1 million since the middle of march. 28 million people are still receiving some form of unemployment benefits as the economic catastrophe. president trump tells fox news why he opposes a funding booth for the u.s. postal service. >> they want $25 billion, billion, for the post office. they need that to have the post office work so it can take all these millions and millions of ballots. in the meantime they aren't getting there. by the way, those are two items. if they don't get those two items, you can't have universal

mail-in voting. >> the u.s. postal service disputes the notion they're not equipped to handle the load. they say they're able to adjust to the high volume of political mail. in the midst of all this the president announced a diplomatic break through. it's a lot. he said israel and the united arab emirates agreed to normal relations. israel will not declare sovereignty over the palestinian territories. israel had agreements with egypt and jordan. it's a lot. joining us now is the director of the center for vaccine development at the texas children's hospital. anna palmer, "politico" senior

washington correspondent and jason johnson professor of politics and journalism at morgan state university and a contribu contribu contributor. welcome to you all. dr. hotez, your topic leads this hour. your opinion on what biden and harris are calling for, a national mask mandate as opposed to the policy of lack thereof we've seen thus far? >> this is what we've been missing from the white house this whole year, is having a national strategy, national unification about what we need to do. this, as you point out, has led to the worst covid epidemic anywhere on the planet. the united states still remains today the epicenter of the epidemic with just in the seven days we lead the world in new coronavirus cases and new coronavirus deaths with this

terrible number yesterday with 1,400 deaths or more. we need to take action. we've been calling for a national strategy. what the biden and harris team has called for is a good first step. let's have masks on everyone which can prevent the number of cases of increasing. the unknown part about the masks is whether that's enough to really bring it down to where we can safely open up schools, especially in the southern states where the epidemic is still raging and whether we'll need more aggressive measures in the southern states. right now you can't open schools safely in georgia, mississippi, parts of texas and florida. we have to fix that. at least we heard finally about the national agenda which we haven't had and putting scientists out front and debunking a lot of anti-science misinformation. these are welcome developments

to say the least. >> on the anti-science misinformation front, vaccines of course have been your life's work. part of your life's work, nothing you asked for has been fighting the anti-vaxxers, something in which you have years of experience sadly. when we finally had a vaccine and did a long segment on this last night, it's not too early to start trying to counter some of the misinformation we're bound to see and hear. >> yeah, that's absolutely right. we have two surveys now coming out of rueters and the associated press. we have two third of americans who won't take the vaccine if available. this was linked to some elements from the far political right.

it's caused a lot of damage in terms of declining vaccination rates for existing vaccines across texas and many other states. now we're worried about americans not accepting covid-19 vaccines. those groups have enlarged their remit. under the banner of what they call medical freedom they're campaigning against masks, contact tracing and social distancing making it impossible to fight this epidemic. we need an aggressive effort. i've been fighting this for years with their assertions that vaccines cause autism. vaccines did not cause autism and debunking that aspect. they continue to gain strength and momentum. we have to put a stop to it. >> anna, to help us make the turn to pure politics, not that medicine and politics don't have

a vast intersection these days. for people not watching the last hour i want to play the democratic ticket individually talking about their proposal for a three-month national mask mandate. >> every single american should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months at a minimum. every governor should mandate, every governor should mandate mandatory mask wearing. the estimates by the experts are it will save over 40,000 lives in the next three months. 40,000 lives. if people act responsible. it's not about your rights. it's about your responsibilities as an american. >> so what real leadership looks like is joe biden to speak up,

sometimes telling us the stuff we don't want to hear, but we need to know. the need for this mandatory mask wearing will also be about what joe has articulated and what a bide/harris administration will do. >> anna, just to reorient everyone, health briefings are to come from the public health experts within our government. that's what they are. members of the coronavirus task force have been almost invisible and silent over these past several weeks. we note the president has added dr. atlas to that list, a doctor who we've seen on fox news, strong advocate for getting back to school. is this ticket and the advisers around them, are we getting into kind of a public health government in exile, two alternative views of the world here? >> i think what you're seeing is

the biden/harris ticket trying to differentiate itself. obviously the president takes up all the oxygen in the room with either doing interviews and when you look at what this administration has done around the coronavirus it's been fits and starts. for the long time the president would not encourage people to wear a mask. now he does. he feels like he's the best messenger for the white house. he doesn't like it when they have dr. birx or dr. fauci doing press. he's going to do a press briefing today. this is a ticket that has said we're going to be the party of science. we're going to be the party that listens to what health experts say. they're trying to show as much as possible in the campaign sense what leadership under president biden would look like. >> jason johnson, the daily

briefing at the white house really does seem to describe a pandemic other than the one we are living. all of the stats are rosy. everything's on the up and up and the president emphasizes the percentage of our country where the pandemic is not a problem. >> yeah, brian. i mean, this is a preview of what we're going to see after election day. it's like in england where you have the sitting government and shadow government. they're presenting two different ideas as to what america is. the two americas as we heard from john edwards ten years ago. you have joe biden and senator harris running on competence. not just science, but competence. actually having a plan. on the other side you have an administration that is literally running on maintaining power. an administration saying not only is the pandemic not an issue, but we've given up on any

attempt to come up with financial or structural assistance to people still suffering from the pandemic they don't want to acknowledge. we'll continue to see these opposing views. what's going to be interesting is how the american people feel and not whether they agree with joe biden and senator harris, but can they implement these things should they win in november. >> jason, can you believe your good fortune being able to see a president trying to slow down and diminish the u.s. postal service? >> i got to tell you, i got a new car. i've been waiting for this new license to show up. this slow down mail is a real thing. when the president is attacking the postal service, veterans,

the disabled -- there's a story that came out in vice today that 19 mail sorting machines have been taken out of five processing sites across american that will slow down the ability to sort mail. this is nothing but a naked power grab by this president to make sure he can't be voted out of office. it's terrifying. >> the group vote vets is out with a devastating spot today reminding everybody -- the stat is 330,000 american veterans expect deliveries on a daily basis of prescription drugs via the u.s. postal service. >> yeah, i mean, the dependence that we all feel whether it's i'm waiting for my license to get delivered because the government -- you don't go in

and get your license anymore. these are real life issues that people need to have the postal service working. there's a conflation here around what pelosi and chuck schumer want to do with the money for the post office in the covid relief talks. the president is alone in his party. there's not a lot of republicans who are echoing him. a lot of people think it could be beneficial to republicans who have older voters who are susceptible to covid who don't want to go to the polls. you have these parallel tracks of what is fact and what does this presidency say around mailing in voting in terms of funding the postal service. it's been a long-time fight the president has had pre covid-19 all the way back to the battles

he was picking with jeff bezos and amazon and the fact that they use the postal service. >> look at us here in 2020 debating mask wearing in the middle of the pandemic and talking about the slow down of the u.s. postal service. thanks to our guests this hour dr. hotez, anna palmer and jason johnson. a break in our coverage. when we come back, breaking barrie barriers, the first indian american woman elected to the u.s. house of the representatives. we'll talk about that means to her. later how president trump's push to re-open schools quickly is facing challenges from the virus itself. from the virus itself

this week's announcement

that joe biden has selected senator kamala harris of california as his running mate marked a history making moment for women and girls of color across our nation. harris happens to be the first black woman and the first asian american to be on the presidential ticket for any major party. as the "washington post" puts it groups all over our country celebrated harris' candidacy. that pride was shared by washington state democratic congresswoman who noted in a tee tweet that on the same night she became the first south asian american woman elected to the house, kamala harris became the first south asian american elected to the senate. she added this quote -- i'm ready to get to work as we make history again by electing her the next vice president. we are so pleased to be joined

by the democrat of washington state, also happens to be a member of the house judiciary history. congresswoman, you're aware fox news is painting you as a member of the radical left who is holding back before you load all of your issues and then try to move this ticket to your will. for today, let me get your reaction to the naming of senator harris. >> yes, well thank you to fox news for giving me so many more followers. i'm joyful about kamala harris being nominated to be the next vice president or about to be nominated. this is a great moment for our country, not only because she is extremely intelligent, competent, capable, but she represents the future. she represents a future that is in deep contrast to the one that donald trump and mike pence and republicans are putting forward to americans. this is a stark contrast.

i have worked with her. as an indian american we were elected on the same night into congress, same night as donald trump. i celebrate her blackness. i celebrate her being an aapi. my family in india is thrilled. >> on shear politics, i've been amazed that there has not been more realization, more out reach on the part of our major political parties toward the south asian community, indian american community. look around you in the united states. i was very curious to see the trump campaign had a big fund-raising event in texas in the indian american community there. no one need tell you the size, the prosperity of this population and how we are as a country. hold a mirror up to the united

states. i think the naming of senator harris to your point is going to ignite a major chunk of our population. it is. you know, i think the aapi community broadly is often left out of the discussion and there's lots of reasons for that. the reality is that south asian americans, indian mile per hoam particular, have been a strong democratic block, yet have not got the attention they deserve in politics even as we have tremendous consumer power. we're in all sectors of the economy. we're in all states across the country. as we get to november, what's very important is south asian americans, asian pacific islander folks who are across the country and see themselves in somebody who is deeply connected to her immigrant

history. senator harris, i think, can utilize all the multiple identities she has embraced as a woman, as a south asian american, as a black woman to appeal to the hope and possibility of a future that recognizes all of us and the beauty of the diversity that we bring and the strength of the experiences we bring to policy making. >> now let's switch to your day job. what is your message for the folks who have been economically sidelined or worse crushed by this pandemic who may have reason to expect a little more assistance from the federal government and may be gob smacked to be sitting at home seeing the stalemate as their checking account balance draws down to a close? >> it is so horrendous to watch

the devastation that is occurring in my district and across the country. i just got off a constituent town hall meeting. people are describing how they can't get their medications because of the lack of money for the postal service. they can't get health care because it was tied to their jobs. they can't get unemployment benefits because they expired. republicans have done nothing to address the cruelty. in fact, they backed in to an even worse scenario where donald trump has now admitted that part of the reason he's not giving -- maybe the whole reason he's not giving money to the postal service -- is because he doesn't want mail-in ballots to count. they're threatening to withhold funding from schools that don't come back in person. that's unconscionable for parents who are worried about sending their kids to school and

are pushing for virtual education and to invest the money so schools can do that. across the board, brian, there's no money in people's pockets. in a time of the greatest need, i think that we have to continue to reassert that government is for the people and we need to step up and republicans need to stop blocking action and get to a solution that puts money in people's pockets, extends unemployment benefits, gives money to the state and local governments and funds contact tracing, testing and all the things that will be needed to address the virus as well as of course the postal service and making sure that we can get mail-in ballots across the country. >> we're in a heck of a place right now, you have that right. the democrat from washington state. congresswoman, thank you for making time to be our guest this afternoon.

another break and when we return, the push by this president to open schools 100% as he puts it. as you heard the congresswoman mention, it may be having the opposite effect in some places. [♪] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. it provides 60% more protein than the leading diabetes nutrition shake. try boost glucose control.

our strategy to safely re-open schools mirrors our approach nationwide as we race towards the competition. i'm not competing with anyone. we've got to open up our schools, open up our businesses. a lot of it has been open, but we can do better. >> president trump offered the same message yesterday. he has been pushing for weeks now that schools must re-open as his white house new guidance to do this is vague and encourages mask wearing. number seven on an eight-point list rather than requiring it. nationwide the president's push to re-open schools 100%, as he puts it, may have backfired. "the new york times" puts, quote, rising infection rates were the major driver of the move to continue remote le