they think people of color and women are going to go to the biden ticket. they're worried about that. they're going to be telling the president this isn't going to help him. if he's trying to get those people over there more than his base he'll need to speak in other ways. >> two longtime members of our extended family. thank you all for kicking off our live coverage on friday afternoon. when we return -- alarming new numbers out of texas, where 1 in 5 people who are tested for coronavirus now testing positive, 1 in 5. another presidential norm on the verge of being shattered. find your keys.

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m. turning now to the spiking number of coronavirus case s specifically in state of texas as of today over 534,000 texans have contracted the coronavirus. nearly 10,000 texans have died from it. testing has plummeted in the last two weeks. still, roughly and get this fact, 1 in 5 people in texas getting tested are testing positive. that's the worst statewide positivity rate in our country. nbc news correspondent morgan

chesky is outside of a testing site. the governor of course an ardent supporter of the president. the governor acted late of this. here we have the texas of today in 2020. >> reporter: well the governor to his credit, brian, has launched what is he calling a investigation and why the positivity rate has surged. across the state, the numbers did spike after the state reopened back in late may and that's when started to see so much trouble all across this state and the frustrating part right now is really trying to nail down on what caused this positivity rate to skyrocket over the past two weeks and really for a variety of reasons what officials are saying so far, you have the fact that testing results were taking up to several weeks before people to receive the them, led to potential frustration and

discouragement, here at this drive-in clinic we're seeing the smallest amount of people pulling in than we have seen since we arrived to report here since the beginning of the pandemic. they believe there are still asymptomatic people out there unknowingly spreading the virus, only driving these numbers back up, coupled with the fact, really as testing across a whole goes it's dropping by significant amount statewide, so as it stands right now that positivity rate did dip to about 15% over the past week, but the world health organization says brian, contact tracers can't do their job until that number drops below 5%. long way to go here in texas. brian. >> correspondent morgan chesky in texas.

morgan, thank you very much. have a good weekend. with that we welcome back to the broadcast, dr. vin gupta, an e.r., assistant professor at the university of washington and doc, the control room tells me that you wish to react something that just came out from the cdc that you've seen. >> good to see you, brian. yeah, thank you for that opportunity. you know, we were talking about the new cdc guidelines that were just released, "the new york times" and other outlets have been reporting on, this notion, tested positive for covid-19 in the last 90 days that you are then protected from reinfection for the subsequent 90 days. what they're saying if you don't have symptoms that you don't need to quarantine, you don't need to get re-tested if you've

been potentially exposed in the that you're protected re-infection after an initial positive, i think that's significant and a little alarming because the data they're basing that on, you'll see there are not any cited studies and if you dig deeper, the studies they're basing this policy is on maybe 50 people. >> talk to me about and we're all lay people listening to the doctor here, what about people as carriers or as transmitters of this, after a positive test and i want to make sure that i have this right, there's no need to quarantine? >> that's right, so you get a positive test, you recover, if you're symptomatic you recover from your symptoms.

asymptomatic and you had a positive test, regardless the person who's symptomatic has shortness of breath or a cough zthe cdc has just said for the next 90 days, if you don't have symptoms again you don't need to worry about getting tested or quarantining if you're exposed to a case of covid-19 in the community or at the workplace or in a school and that's deeply, deeply consequential, because what they're saying here, for 90 days if you had a positive test, 90 days afterward, you're protected reinfection. that data, that data that exists is very unclear, it's very early, based on studies that maybe have 50 to 100 individuals, there's lot to unknown. for us to say in the middle of pandemic, one of the highest death tolls sincestarted,

yesterday, 150, we take seriously in most normal times to come out and say this is deeply, deeply consequential. they need to be cautious as well, they're taking a little amount of data and putting something out there that people are going to find confusing. meaning, not complying with social distancing, maybe not wearing a mask. this is not the message people need to hear right now. >> doctor, as i keep reminding you and you've only been candid about in the old days we used to call this public health that's the role of the cdc, this is public health, this stuff should be disseminated with great care. >> you bet, brian. it should be from a pulmonologist sitting higher in seattle, for us to translate to the broader public is

consequential information. go to the cdc website, look at the guideline, you can find the link on "the new york times" front page what you'll see there's no studies that are cited backing up this new guideline, it's just maybe three lines, that's it. but what's grandmother, grandpa, what are they going to think, school teachers in school districts that are poorly ventilated, what are they going to think? based on very primary data, it's not disinformation it's poor information, this is not high quality information that we should basing policy on nor cdc be putting their imprint on. >> the medical advice doesn't come any fresher than e.r. doc just off the e.r. dr. vin gupta, we always thank you for taking a few minutes from your work day.

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- wow, i had no idea. - [announcer] goodrx, stop paying too much for your prescriptions. president trump now says he'll give his republican national convention speech at the white house. drawing criticism and questions about something like the legality of such a decision and in an interview with the new york post the president explained his reasoning, quote, it's a place that makes me feel good, it makes the country feel good. trump told the post. despite the crisis brought on by the pandemic. . the president added we could have a quite a group of people. it's very big, a very big lawn. we could have a big group of people. surrounded by a crowd of supporters. but using the white house or any federal property for political purposes is an unprecedented

scenario as we like to say with critics arguing it could be a violation of the hatch act which limits partisanship activities by federal employees to ensure the government operates fairly. we welcome back to our broadcast our good friend and colleague michael steele, former chair of the rnc. michael, take us back to those lazy, hazy, crazy days like before 2016 when there were laws and standards that governed behavior, back in 1979 when the earth was still cooling i was the lowliest of lowliest of white house interns one of the first things you learn they drill you on the hatch act and importance. tell our viewers what the hatch act is and how viewers another presidential norm may be about to fall. >> well, simply put the hatch act is a prohibition against

federal employees being involved in any political activity, they can't participate, they can't volunteer, they can't contribute, they cannot use their position as federal employees in a political environment or political context, that applies to every government player, official, all the way down to the truck drivers, to everyone except the president of the united states. they were carved out the time this act was passed because no one thought that a president or vice president would do such a thing in the first place. no one thought the president would use the office to go about using federal employees or government property in a political way. here we are. so i can guarantee you that this

there will be the first thing the new congress in 2021 with a biden administration sitting in the white house will begin to look at, how you begin to claw back these norms in a way that the president has been able to take advantage of them. >> and remind people -- when we talk about federal employees, the president's going to want to say, look, i need a venue somewhere, this is my speech, my moment in the campaign, how many federal employees would play how many roles, this is public property, it's on the 18-acre white house campus, there's security, there's rigors and stagers and there's white house aides presumably, all kinds of groundskeepers, it's kind of endless? >> it is endless. it gets even more complicated

because not technically, in fact they can't know white house official, personnel can touch this event. they can't can't use government or printers to print it out. they cannot touch it. what does that mean? that means donald trump is going to import his campaign into the white house operations. that is a security problem. that is also an ethical and governmental problem. this is ripe with issues. common sense of party lead eserf the president go to him and say dude, this is not going to happen. it's not a good venue. the public will not like it nor appreciate it. that's mcconnell, that's anyone else who can get into this president's ear and tell him no.

>> i want to be in that room when they go to him and say anything, dude. >> i do too. >> michael steel, our friend as always, thank you very much for joining us. have a good weekend, if at all possible. up next, breaking news concerning the post office and the very large number of mail sorting machines that seem to be taken out of service. not that such a thing would be important to collect ballots during a mail in election during a pandemic. we'll have a live report on it after this. we'll have a live report on it after this when the world gets complicated,

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as we mention before the break, we're following sop breaking news in the ongoing post office controversy after trump's conflicting stams regarding funding the post office. nbc news has obtained an internal u.s. postal service document that reveals plans to remove 671 high volume mail processing machines from postal facilities across this country. in statement to nbc news, the postal service with straight face has described this move as normal business adjustments. nbc news correspondent geoff bennett joins us with more on this breaking news. this bears repeating, this is the removal of 671 mail sorting

machines. what on earth for? >> reporter: i'll tell you what, according to that document i obtained this stretches from coast to coast. it breaks out by region and city and state where all of these machines are coming from. the postal service circulating this document back in june. they say this is normal business procedure. these machines are being removed and reallocated. based on my reporting we only have reports of these machines being removed. we have no reports of the machines being reallocated. in speaking with post office officials, it's almost become a call and response. you ask about why have there been cutting to overtime. why have there been staffing cuts. it's an issue of effectiveness. why are they charging states to send more ballots. why are that removing high volume processing machines which are what they sound like. it's what they do. it's a matter of effectiveness

and fishts efficiency. we heard from one veteran who said you can't get more efficient and effective than the machines. they are designed to sort 35,000 pieces of mail per hour and spit them out with 99% effectiveness. so all a letter carrier has to do is show up and get the bags and hit the street. this is part of the postmaster general plan to make the agency more solvent. democrats have a kplacompletely different view and say it's part of the president's plan to attack the upcoming election. >> we'll stay on this story. i want to hear their explanation once people, veterans start missing their medications arriving by mail. geoff bennett, our thanks to that and those watching at home for spending this hour with us. i'll see you tonight at 11:00 eastern time for the friday addition of the 11th hour. deadline white house begins right after this break. deadline white house begins right after this break less and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

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it's 4:00 in the east. disturbing kpamplgs of election interference on display and no we're not talk about meddling by foreign powers. this time it's coming from inside the house. our democracy under siege by a president and his allies desperate to ensure a trump victory in november. just in the last day we witnessed the president giving oxygen to a racist lie that joe biden's runni innin inning mate

ineligible to hold the office of vice president because of her parents heritage. we saw trump's ally in the senate ron johnson of wisconsin speak about his probe into the russia investigation in a way critics say expects to an admission he's using the probe as a political weapon. johnson's exact description of his efforts quote, i would think it would help donald trump win re-election and be pretty good, i would say, evidence about not voting for vice president biden. speaking of saying things explic explicitly. the shock waves from his revelation he would oppose funding the post office in order to suppress vote by mail are still being felt. the public on edge over the kun k tri's ability to hold a fair election during pandemic. 46 states and washington, d.c. have been warned by the post office that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail will arrive in time to be counted. states racing to figure out how

to respond to that warning. the president and his team are bracing for a fight from the washington post quote, the rnc and trump campaign advisers are mapping out their post-election strategy including how to challenge mail ballots as they anticipate week long legal fights in an array of states. according to people familiar with plans who spoke on the condition to describe internal discussions. the campaign plans to have lawyers ready to mobilize in every state and expects legal battles could play out after election day in such states as pennsylvania, north carolina, michigan and nevada. joining ours conversation outside the white house, nbc news kor spo-- correspondent ca lee and donna edwards. you look at these attacks on all froents including the fact the trump campaign is preparing for legal fights after election day. what does that signal to you?

it we >> reporter: we have seen a president who has been highly critical of mail in voting for months now. he said it would lead to widespread fraud. there's no evidence of that. at the same time, try to differentiate mail in voting from abcentury see voting. the president votes absentee by mail. what we're seeing here and the reason why the president is coming up so much criticism is he appears to be using the levers of government. reno his campaign has been challenging efforts to expand mail in voting in a number of states across the country. that's been going on for some time. what's happened in the last few weeks is the president appears to be using the levers of government, the tools he has because he's president of the united states to try to put his thumb on the scale to make it difficult or more difficult for americans to vote by mail. that's where all of this criticism is coming from. that's where all these concerns are being -- what these concerns

are being raised about. the president was asked about this yesterday and saying do you have plan, what are you doing to ensure there's free and fair election. he said didn't answer the question. he doesn't necessarily have a plan. he's really focused in on this running for the postal service and the funding for mail in voting that democrats want saying he would be willing to sign it. something that funded the postal service. if they do what he wants to do. making all of this political issue and a political football at a time when a number of americans, every poll shows are have a lot of anxiety about voting amid a pandemic. >> donna, if you were congressional democrats, how do you face this new reality? >> well, i think what we're looking at is a president of the united states and his collaborator allies in the congress who are increasingly

showing their desperation about the upcoming election. i think for congressional democrats, i think it's important to continue pointing out to the american people one that is trampliing on the constitution. the united states postal service and the call for post office is in article one of the constitution. two, making sure that americans understand what is at stake. not only their ballots for the election but their medications and other important supplies that they need that are provided through the post office. if you go across america whether it's in montana or maine or right here in the washington, d.c. area, the post office and individual post offices in local communities play a tremendous role in providing services to people in those communities, to businesses. i think for democrats it's really important to continue to hammer this home because the president of the united states,

desperate as he is, is really trying to rip this election out from underneath it by depriving the post office of the resources it needs and call forward all these theories that undermine the election. we can't allow for it to continue to happen. >> to donna's point look at this headline frp the washington post. postal service warning 46 states their voters could be disenfrn chi -- is enfranchised by delay and is shaking their confidence part of the chaos this administration is trying to sow. >> i think democrats will be very clear about messaging on this. how their voters need to find out about voting whether it's requesting absentee ballot, going to an early voting location so they are in shorter lines and safer from the fear of election than they would be on election day.

every one needs to take care of their vote plan now. what is interesting about how early this is happened, when we woke up this morning, we had all only seen one account of state being warned that they weren't going to be able to have their ballots process. that was pennsylvania. now it's 46. we're halfway through august. the president seems to think he has snuck up with this plan on the american people. people in every community in this country are already noticing their mail is slow. veteran who is have representatives, unlike civil yan seniors have reported their medication delays are two and three and four and five times what they used to be. these things will be felt and noticed across not only the country but the trump coalition. people in rural communities, senior, veterans. this is not only cruel, it's so politically bone headed. it's amazing that republicans have stood by in silence.

i was to give credit to senators who have come out and said this is a huge problem because they represent rural communities that will suffer. if the other republicans can't stand up and see how completely stupid this is, they'll have to own this outrage if they don't stand up to the president who is trying to break the post office, every voter in their communities and their districts are going to feel this. it's going to wreck the economy more. t going to make people sicker and it's going to be the huge scandal for anyone standing for election this fall. >> they may be noticing it but there's less than 90 days to rap our hand around how to fix this. this from the washington post. a long time gop fund-raiser is in frekt contact with top republican party officials and met with the president in the oval office last week in advance of a tense meeting.

carol, we have seen trump weaponize other government offices. seems to be what we're watching here. what happens next? >> it remains to be seen what happens next. there's increasing pressure on the white house to kind of come up with some sort of plan to ease the anxiety that people have around this. one of the concerns that a reason why the president is getting so much criticism of because who he installed as the postmaster general. that's obviously his own. somebody who he thinks might do or the perception is would do what the president wants him to do. we saw that the president was asked today, yesterday if he had plan for what he would do if there was -- if he had to have mail in ballots. he said he didn't have plan.

he said he wants the post office to work properly. he wouldn't do that. we see the postmaster general sending laet ining later out sa were some unintended consequences but asked staff to bear with him through this. it's hard to see where this goes but the pressure will be mounting. you can bet the democrats are likely figuring out how they will handle this after the election. >> donna, part of this is institutional but part of it just about repeating the lie about voter fraud. you see that beginning to bear out in polling. you have 70% of republicans in this poll saying they think voting by mail is less likely to be more accurate than in person. how does that change the contours of this november's election if you have a partisan divide on the belief in mail in voting.

>> there is nothing unsafe about voting by mail especially in this environment where people are worried about their own health and their safety because of covid. let's be clear. the president of the united states and the first lady of the united states both requested mail in ballots from florida. they are now residents. if it's good enough for the president of the united states, it is good enough for every american whether you live in maine or minnesota. >> whethere's the practice of t. you have republicans voting one to one absentee versus in person where democrats voted five to one. you have gop leaders pulling their hair out. is trump shooting himself in the foot with his own base? you mentioned rural communities by continuing to harp on this message, by continuing to cut

funding for the post office. >> it really attacks his own voters what he's doing to break the post office. as for the balloting by mail, the idea he would just make an exception for florida where he requests absentees and needs to win the senior vote to win the presidency is laughable. he's telling the rest of the states theirs aren't effect ifr because they don't have a republican governor. it's hard for republicans to run up enough vote in these races where they want to hold the senate majority with people either scared to vote on election day, who want to be elected but maybe that day comes and they are afraid of long lines and only a few places open and afraid of getting affected. he votes by absentee. all of this stuff with the post office, i encourage every one to read up on this.

he is going to come under increasing scrutiny from the congress and every one needs to do their part to find out what is going on with all these changes of the post office besides just talking to their mailman. i think the biden campaign would make this an issue they talk about. >> take a listen to what he said. >> if you're a state where you have the option to vote early, you need to do that now because the more votes are in early, the less likely you're going to see a last minute u crunch. i'm confident that if we get a high percentage of people voting, i'm confident joe biden will be the next president of the united states. that i think is the big hurdle that we're going to have to overcome, but look, this is not

the kind of hurdle that john lewis had to overcome to cast a ballot. >> this is the big challenge in talking about voter suppression which is on one hand, you want to be ringing the alarm bell as loudly as you can to get people aware. to get people activated. at the same time, we know that when you tell people it might be harder to vote, that also tamps down enthusiasm. do you agree with what president obama was saying there? how do democrats deal with this reality? >> i think that you're right. it is a double edge sword when you caution people about what might happen. you don't want to scare them away from voting. what president obama was saying is that if you have the ability to cast a vote early, do it. if you have the ability too drop off your ballot in a drop box, do that or stand in line early. which ever way it is that you could vote, it does take the pressure off early of the postal

service delivering a lot of last minute votes that come in through the mail. i think more states are providing multiple options for people to take advantage of to vote and they should do that. >> carol, before i let you go, i want you to take a look at these two headlines. barr says results of probe into russia investigation could come by election. the next one, besieged on all sides. ron johnson said his probe would help trump win re-election. areme are dwoms like today's not earth shattering guilty plea in the durham investigation taken seriously there? >> reporter: the white house takes them seriously. you saw the president come out and talk about them directly today. you'll see more of that as this report comes out. you did hear the president this week really kind of sending a very clear message to the attorney general saying he could either go down as the greatest

attorney general in history or just wind up being an average guy depending on how this report turns out. the president saying he didn't want it to be politically correct. the president has put a lot of stake in what's going to be in that report. he's clearly thinks in his campaign of people who are support ifr think this is something he can hammer on in the closing weeks of the election. what you saw today is just kind of an appetizer for what you'll see once the full report comes out. >> just an average guy. incredible. thank you both for spending some time with us. when we come back, as the mud and the lies start coming for kamala harris, she acknowledges today in her first sfwer view as the nominee, joe biden took a risk on her. we'll talk about that and how she and biden can run against donald trump through all the noise. there's still so much about the coronavirus we don't know. what we do no has work. why is the nation still having a hard time committing to mandate. as long as trump is

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for at least the second time in his political life, donald trump calling into question the citizenship of a non-white american running for office. yesterday he didn't dispute a debunked right wing lie flying around social media surrounding kamala harris's vice presidential eligibility. wondering allowed if she was legally permitted to seek the office based on fact her parents were immigrants.

the allegation that she can't be veterans hospital vice president is a lie. she is eligible. off you have to do is read the 14th amendment. for her part, she has avoided talking about that baseless accusati accusation. she has spoken about race more broadly as it relates to the 2020 race. here is what she told our new msnbc contributor about how a woman of color on the ticket affects voter enthusiasm. >> when you have one ticket that can say the phrase lives matter and another who has been full time sewing hate and division in our country, those are the things that will motivate black women to vote. there will be a point of pride, you don't want to have any false n modesty about a black woman being on the ticket. it takes more than just that for black women to vote. people have to speak to their issues and the biden/harris ticket does that.

>> joining our conversation, host of politics nation and president of national action network, reverend al sharpton and donna is still here. i'm going to guess you saw that attack coming from a mile away. is it any different? >> it is not. what is the thread here is that donald trump either initiates or in some ways supports the idea that an american is not an american citizen only when it's dealing with a person of color. he attacks every one. calls people names but he never questions the citizenship of people other than blacks or people of color, which shows this whole racist tendency to say we're not true americans. you can always question whether they are one of us. it's u.s against them.

it's a clear mess aage he's tryg to send to white voters. they are other than us. how you let them lead the country. if you go there awe the bitter arguments he's had with people in political life and all of the public attacks, he only attacks people of color in terms of their birth right. that is a basic racist instingts. >> donna, it would seem there's a conceit baked into this line of attack which is the way you go after a vice presidential candidate. this person doesn't have enough experience. we're not sure they can take over on day one. kamala harris, ag, u.s. senator. it's very hard to launch that more sub ststantive attack agai her. >> well, the president doesn't have that line of attack against kamala harris. just as usual, there's a through line from the president racist instingtss to the words that come out of his mouth.

in this case, that is true. i think frankly, that kamala harris is right to like stay focused, stay on message. talk about the broader issues around race which we know exist and i think that for a president, the more he does this, the more he will alienate some of the people he will have to have on his side. not just the one third of voters but to add to that to win an election. imsimil i simply do not believe america will go down this line again. he pulls out this birther attack, this racist attack which is another time in a play book which he's used before and we're all onto it. >> rev, i want to know if you both agree with donna's assessment about kamala harris decision about not to engage in the line of attack but i want to know what you think the responsibility of the media is

when it comes to this conversation. do we treat it like other disinformation where we call it out, where we label it as a lie or by doing that do we give it more oxygen? >> i think kamala harris is running for vice president and she ought to run for vice president. deal with the broader issues and not come down to trump's level. show herself as someone is prepared and i believe she is and is qualified to be vice president. keep moving on. i think the media has to ignore foolishness but when it is raised, call it foolishness. this is foolishness. remind people this is the same donald trump that did this to barack obama, promised the birth certificate that he never delivered and here we go again. i think if we're going to deal with it at all in the media, deal with who is saying it and the track record and then move

on. if we fall into the trap, if we bite the bait of him trying to make this a campaign issue, then i think he wins. if we use it as it is and that's some side show he's used before then i think people will look at the real sub stan tistantive is ought to be dealing with and a guy that doesn't know any card to play but the race card. >> talking about the real sub stan tifr isstive issues, donnan on some of the sound we heard from senator harris earlier talking about the ways in which having a woman of color, specifically having a black woman on this ticket will potentially motivate communities of color to come out and vote. what are the issues that the kpanl ne campaign needs to be driving on? >> we do know that joe biden has been challenged when it comes to younger voter and younger voters

of color. i think what you saw today in one of these earliest interview, the first interview of kamala harris is she has the ability to speak the language and to give voice to concerns that communities of color have had and to put it into some context that is both personal and also speaks these broader populations. i think she's going to be an asset to former vice president joe biden out on the campaign trail drawing in some of these consistencies that need to be shored up and she has their voice. i thought it was interesting to see that on a this first real day of campaigning, that she was able to speak the language that many of these young people understand and to draw them in. i think that's only going to be really strong asset for her and

for the biden/harris team going forward. >> i want tow to listen to one more clip. take a listen. >> joe biden had the audacity to choose a black woman to be his running mate. how incredible is that and what a statement that made about joe biden. that he decided that he was going to do that thing that was about breaking one of most substantial barriers that has existed in our country. he made that decision with whatever risk that brings. >> she calls it a potential risk. wouldn't it have been just as much a risk not to put someone like her on that ticket? >> i think if you're trying to draw the vote in terms of turn out of blacks and other people of color, it would have been risky. i was one of the first ones to

say i wanted to see a black woman as vice president when he said he would choose a woman. i had him on my show, late april, early may on "politics nation." and said it to him. i think there was risk on both sides. now in a general election is what kamala harris is referring to. in a general election there is the risk in certain pockets of this country that is more politically risky. i think that joe biden, who is no stranger to politics, understood that. he showed that he would hear the appeal of people but make racial decisio -- rational decisions on their qualifications but saying who can be the vice president, this is the one qualified.

i don't think he would have done it. i don't think we would have raised it if we were not saying black women are qualified. >> thank you for spending time with us on this friday. after the break, the cdc director says americans should be ready for the worst fall we have ever had. dr. anthony fauci appraisal of where we are in the fight against the coronavirus, next. w against the coronavirus, next. sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on...

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the coronavirus continues to break records here in the u.s. the latest nbc news tally shows we have reached the highest number of fatalities in two weeks. california became the first u.s. state to top 600,000 cases yesterday even as the governor there says his state appears to be turning a corner with hospitalizations in decline. one of the factors credited with california's recent slowdown can be linked to statewide mask man date back in june. joe biden called for masks to be enforced nationwide for next three months saying tens of thousands of lives could have been saved. donald trump mocked that proposal a few hours later. >> well, joe biden would allow rioters and looters and millions of illegal aliens to roam free. he wants the federal government to issue a sweeping new man date to law abidesing citizens.

he wants the president of the united states with the mere stroke of a pen to order over 300 million american citizens to wear a mask for a minimum of three straight months. i guess he thinks it's good politics. >> it's more than just good plongs. according to his own cdc director, masks are critical to prevent the spread of the virus and avoiding what redfield said could be the worst fall we had. thanks so much for joining us. i want you to respond to what dr. redfield said. the worst fall we have seen. do you agree? >> i think everybody who is anywhere in medicine realizes this is not the same as entering fall last year. the concern is even though we're

seeing a decrease, that's a result of individual action. any moment if people stop following those, if we stop following physical sdadistancin and efrgs else we have a chance of that blowing up again. the concern for the fall is that's when flu season and the current coronavirus pandemic intersect. when you come to the hospital the doctors don't know which one you have. we still have the high use of tests that we need to do to diagnose people with covid-19. people who survivor can have scarring for a short period of time after they recover. do you get more severe flu? we don't know yet.

>> so much we still don't know about this virus, as you said. dr. anthony fauci, i want you to listen to something he said thursday. take a listen. >> unless we all pull together to get that down and we don't have disparities and some states are doing this and some are doing that, we'll continue to have this up and down. that's the thing i'm concerned about because i believe we can. we have it within our power to get that down. bottom line is i'm not pleased with how things are going. >> a subtle critique of our lack of national strategy. what should we be doing? >> about 35 state, over 77% of the coverage of the population of the united states is under mask mandate which is why we're

finally seeing coming off the peak in this high plateau. we need to look at the mask man date. president trump will still own this response between now and january even if vice president biden is successful in the fall. if we don't control it, the necessity for lockdown which is very real if you see a lot more cases in the fall will be something that falls on his administration. the thing we all have to do is to continue to physically use those masks, physically distance. we need to have a national mask mandate to decrease this transmissions and keep our testing capacity up. we need to bring the cases down low enough to do contact tracing. >> fauci also warned that if we went the way of herd immunity that the death toll would be unacceptably high. do you agree? >> i do. i think there's a percent of our population who is still just hoping that we'll get herd immunity. even countries that have pursued this early strategy in sweden,

they found only one third of population and in our own country where we had high level outbreak, we only had 20% of people known to have anti-bodies. we don't know how long it lasts. banking to get to the other side is unrealistic. it doesn't take into the fact it's a very high death toll. over a million americans could die. death isn't the only outcome. the only way we have to get to the other side of the pandemic is to bring the cases down until we have the vaccine. >> deaths are only a part of it but i want you to weigh in on this report from the new york times that looks a t the cdc numbers and found that 200,000 more people have died in the

u.s. than usual since march. that's about 60,000 higher of deaths linked to the coronavirus. do you have a sense of what might be responsible for discrepancy. >> i talked to the washington post about this. we have seen this across the board from early spring and middle of winter when this started. we started seeing deaths that were not expected from higher years. there's two reasons. one part of that population. these are deaths not accounted by covid-19. we're still seeing a number of people more than usual. of those, even beyond those who are diagnosed with covid-19 there's a portion of those that we don't have an explanation for and the concern is it's twofold. one is maybe people who haven't been diagnosed who died and never got the diagnosis. the other is this is the impact on health systems and people staying at home in areas where there's high pandemic influence and health system.

>> all right. thank you for spending some time with us. after the break, we talked about voter suppression. what about the people working to make voting easier. a conversation about an admiral effort, next. about an miadral effort, next ♪ water? why?! ahhhh! incoming! ahhhahh! i'm saved! water tastes like, water. so we fixed it. mio

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♪ drinkin' it after class milk ♪ ♪ 3,2,1 blast milk ♪ full of calcium milk ♪ make you number one milk ♪ twist milk, tough milk ♪ howdy do. what up milk? ♪ shuffle milk ♪ shot milk ♪ question: got milk? while voting news may seem bleak, it's important to know there are others filling the void. lebron james and hi group have made it their mission to make it

easier to vote. their goal is to connect teams with local election officials and convert arenas into voting sites, leveraging their side and good for social distancing, easy to access and on a map. they are part nered with the los angeles dodgers to make dodger stadium a polling place for the november general election. marking the first time a major league baseball team has offered its facility as a voting center. let's bring in editor at large for the bull work. she's skipping this system to focus on social justice. he's working with lebron james organization more than a vote. thank you both so much for being here. renee, walk me through how this idea, how this plan came together. >> thank you for having me here. this plan came together because more than a vote campaign, the goal is to provide as many safe voting options as possible.

if you want to mail in your ballot, great. if you want to cast your vote, we want to make sure it's safe when you do so. arena polling does this with space it provides. it's already in multiple major city, atlanta, charlotte, detroit, sacramento and now los angeles. you can see the trend is starting. we hope to see it continue. >> charlie, i have to plaj thim this is the type of initiative that has the potential for bipartisan support. >> it ought to if we had those bipartisan commitment to voting access. i will say this. 81 days until the election, i think the people need to take very, very seriously the worst case scenarios about efforts of voter suppression, disrupting the postal service and you know what, the courts and the politicians are not going to save us. that's why initiatives like this, i think are so important. i hope that others, including clu churches and other organizations understand the importance of reacting early to all of this.

if you want to make sure your vote is counted, you need to vote early. need to make sure it's safe and secure. i think some of this advice is very important. i think these high profile initiatives are going to have a big impact on the election because, and you mentioned this earlier. part of the concern is that as people hear about the threats against voting it mielght be discouraged. hopefully this will do the opposite. >> renee, what do you see as your sporesponsibility of getti more people involved in our democracy. >> it's an american responsibility. it's not just my responsibility. it's everybody's. you have to think back there was a lot of people that fought for the right to vote.

he want everybody to be safe but it's not just my responsibility. it's all of ours. >> they write american democracy does not have pause button. during a civil war, two world wars we have managed to provide our citizens with tools they will eat. each time it has required innovation and collaboration and in this instance and the absence of live sports some of our most treasured civic institutions are sports teams can still open their doors to ensure that voting is convenient and safe for all. charlie, this would be an important and impressive initiative in a regular election year. this is far from a normal or regular election. why does something like this

matter so much in this moment? >> first of all, there's nothing in that editorial that should be controversial at all. republicans should not that ought to unite americans. it may be a cliche that democracy is on the ballot, but i do think there's something more important on the ballot than who wins. that's obviously immensely important but you want to have a country where you feel the country reflects us, that the election is legitimate, that people's votes have been counted, and that all of these voices and votes have been heard. and i think that if that doesn't happen, there are real questions about the legitimacy of democracy and democracy relies on that kind of trust. so i do think these initiatives are going to have an impact long beyond november if we want to have americans have confidence that this system works.

>> renee, all eyes are on election day right now. but election day is not the end. it is the beginning of the work for so many. it's my understanding that your organization is building a platform. what is the work you want to see in the year ahead? >> i want to see a lot of work in changing the laws. in florida there's a poll tax. the more than a vote campaign is tackling that by paying those fees for the formerly incarcerated people so they can vote. but you have to tackle those laws so that doesn't happen anymore. paying the fee, that's a band-aid, but those laws shouldn't be there. this is an american right to vote. whether you went to jail previously or not, it's still your right. there's different initiatives like that. we understand voter suppression comes in many storms and we want to tackle all those different forms. >> all right, charlie sykes and renee montgomery, thank you both for spending some time with us. after the break, wrapping up

the week with a celebration of lives well-lived. lives well-lived

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♪ liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ it was the saturday night before he had officially filed his paperwork to run for mayor. it was still kind of hush-hush. matt hodges of washington, north carolina, known around town as "bear," was at a restaurant talking about the idea with friends. fast forward a few hours and they couldn't contain it. everybody at the oyster bar was yelling at the top of their

lungs, "bear for mayor." of course he won. people adored him. that's one of many little stories shared over the past few days, because after seven years in office his beloved hometown is now mourning his passing. matt "bear" hodges died of the coronavirus on wednesday. described as a force for good, a legend, a leader, and a huge east carolina pirates fan. his daughter says he made friends wherever he went, even in the hospital, in his final days. we're thinking about bear's family today along with the entire washington, north carolina community. we also want to tell about you carrie lynn patrick of michigan. she was such an impressive woman. two masters degrees in education, put to extraordinarily good use. she was a special education teacher. admirable and honorable life's work. but her greatest love was her family, her husband tim, their four sons, and a brand-new grandson. carrie lynn patrick, a patient woman, a loving person, so full of kindness, died of the coronavirus earlier this month. she lives on through her family and through her good works.

that does it for this hour. i'm alicia menendez in four nicolle wallace. our coverage continues with chuck todd after this quick break. k break. another treatment, ask about xeljanz a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can reduce pain, swelling, and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra

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♪ welcome to friday. it is "meet the press daily" and i'm chuck todd. we begin with more breaking news. the post office is telling states that there is a significant risk that certain voters who cast their ballot by mail could be disenfranchised in this november's election. nbc news has confirmed that states from coast-to-coast, maine to pennsylvania, north carolina, texas, and california, among others, have received letters from the post office's general counsel telling them it cannot guarantee that some ballots cast by mail will arrive in time to be counted. according to "the washington post," at least 46 states have