if it's monday, nothing says 2020 like the packed day we have. we are following several breaking stories, just released numbers, more numbers from a "the wall street journal" poll with revelations how americans are losing confidence in the accuracy of the vote as democrats prepare to kickoff the convention. speaker pelosi plans to hold an emergency session of house of representatives in attempt to pressure republicans in the white house and vote on legislation to address the post office crisis. democrats would like to see hearings featuring the post master general. we'll see if he agrees. welcome to monday. it is press day.

i am chuck todd. the president has succeeded sewing doubts about the results of the november election. wait until you see the numbers, according to new results from the nbc news, "the wall street journal" poll you're seeing the first time on meet the press daily and nbc news. a divided nation is divided over this country's ability to carry out the most fundamental and vital action of this republic and what any democracy can take, counting the vote. roughly half the country are not confident the results of the election would be counted accurately. the same number say they are confident. look how numbers have shifted under president trump. double digit losses of confidence. folks, the president's near constant attacks on legitimacy of mail in ballots, abuse of the bully pull pet, attempts to politicize have taken a toll weeks before the first votes are

cast. the president isn't letting up, tried to sew doubt about mail-in votes this morning, speaking to reporters at the white house. an hour ago, took to kwitwitter talk about drop boxes for mail-in votes which leads to this. massive partisan differences are just stark and concerning. majority of democrats are confident all votes and mail-in votes will be counted accurately. republican voters listening to the bully pulpit say they will not trust results of the final tally, will trust mail in ballots even less. this crisis of confidence that the president has created is happening as speaker pelosi is calling the house back into session at the end of the week in attempt to pass legislation involving the post office as well as an oversight hearing that's been scheduled with the post master general. late this morning, the president spoke to reporters as he departed the white house.

>> this universal mail in is a very dangerous thing. it is fraught with fraud and every other thing that can happen, and we have to be very, very careful. we have a very big election coming up, i think we're going to do very well. i want to make sure the election is not stalled. >> the post master general -- >> i wouldn't do that. i encouraged everybody speed up the mail, not slow the mail. >> let's get the latest from the white house. shannon petty piece from nbc news digital with the latest, geoff ben nett and kasie hunt. i want to play something from mark meadows yesterday. some are saying the white house is ready to work with congress on the postal service. let me play it for the audience, then i want to know what reporting you've got behind the

scenes. take a listen. >> i'm all about piecemeal, if we can agree on postal, ledezt'o it, stimulus checks, let's do it. i have been advocating for that. speaker pelosi says she won't do anything unless it is a big deal. we offered $10 billion for the postal service. >> shannon, people probably heard the words piecemeal in there, and overall usually the more conservative lawmakers of which mark meadows once was were in favor of piecemeal legislation, don't like the big packages, that's where fat gets snuck in. how should we interpret what mark meadows said, shannon, that generally i'm in favor of piecemeal or in favor of doing something specifically about the post office as a stand-alone bill? >> reporter: well, the white house is trying to criticize pelosi for now wanting to do something on the post office as opposed to wanting to do

something on unemployment and eviction protections for people, so that's how they're trying to spin this. now, the administration was for including funding for the post office at some level, not the same level democrats wanted, at some level in a broader package. a lot of it is theoretical now. they're not substantive talks going on between the white house and pelosi any more. mark meadows can talk on tv about something he might support, but until there's an actual bill the white house hammered out with them, i think a lot of this is just theoretical, and for people, whether it is the post office or unemployment checks or insurance, it is important to know that yes, the parties are not really at the table at this point and we are in mid august. we have an election quickly creeping up. if there's going to be money for the post office, you have to see it in the relative near term because the post office needs money to ramp up all of the protections the democrats would like them to put in place.

>> geoff bennett, you're knee deep in the postal service story now. i guess the question is, number one, is the post master general going to show up for congressional hearings, and number two, we've heard over the weekend that certain things are now at least temporary halt is being put to, supposedly dismantling sorting machines, removi removing the blue bins. what have you learned over the weekend? >> yeah, as a result of push back from the american people as relates to removal of blue post office drop boxes, the postal service says they're putting a pause on removals for at least 90 days, which would carry us through the election. to the other point about the money and state of play here, we should repeat this over and over again because the president has said the opposite. but the postal service and postal workers say that the organization has the capacity to

handle election day mail, mail in ballots, even without a cash infusion from congress. what's causing the delay are the changes, the cutbacks, the crackdowns put in place by the trump mega donor turned post master general, lewis dejoy. if he reversed course next week, said policies i put in place caused week-long delays so veterans can't get prescriptions they need from the va, people that rely on the mail for their checks, there are delays there, too, we're putting a pause on that and going back to the way things were. i am told if he were to do that, he would see delays disappear, but he hasn't yet. he admitted unintended consequences of policies led to the delays. he has shown no signal he is going to reverse course, chuck. >> geoff bennett on the postal

service. there were calls for it over the weekend, now pelosi has done it, so what does this saturday's session look like, and some might ask why wait until saturday. don't wait for end of the convention, do it tomorrow. was there any thought of doing it sooner than saturday? >> reporter: well, chuck, i certainly think there are some members that would like to do it sooner than saturday but this is one of those things where there's a scheduling conflict and trying to undo, you know, pelosi sees the number one project as getting joe biden elected in the fall, so not messing around with the convention is an important part of that as is making sure that americans not only are getting their mail on time but are confident the system can actually handle all of this, and i want to go back to the numbers you showed at the top of the show. i think it is so important that 45% of people are no longer confident that the election

results will be counted accurately. obviously the u.s. postal service is a huge part of that, that 14 point drop since 2016. when you talk to people working on and around the biden campaign, they feel like this piece of it is just as important as what is happening in the post office. they feel this is a misinformation campaign from the president designed to undermine confidence in the election and give president trump either a way to drag it out if close or way to say it is not his fault if he lost, if the results are so clear they can't be disputed. i think that piece of the story is very important, and i think that plays into the optics of what nancy pelosi is doing here. she is rushing them back into session. it is a rare thing, especially in august. it is very rare to have a vote on a saturday. members of congress treasure their weekends back home in their districts. this of course is sandwiched between the convention, that's a huge part of it. i think being in public doing

this is as much a part of the message here as any legislation itself. >> very quickly, is mitch mcconnell feeling any pressure to follow suit? >> well, chuck, he told reporters in kentucky earlier today that he doesn't share the president's concerns about the post office which is -- mitch mcconnell is not known for over the top and potentially disagreeing with the president, but it is his restrained way of saying hey, i'm not totally there with you. i would keep a close eye on it, chuck. >> that's an interesting way for him to seek distance from both pelosi and the president for awhile while he figures out what his caucus may want. shannon, geoff, kasii, thank you. joining me, part of a meeting with mark meadows on a coronavirus relief package,

called for the post master general to be subpoenaed to appear before the house. i want to ask you about the meeting. we were all lamenting about the lack of talks between the president, won't speak to speaker pelosi, mitch mcconnell won't participate. i was intrigued when problem solvers caucus got a meeting with mark meadows, one time freedom caucus head. did you make progress? >> chuck, that's why our caucus exists, we're so troubled by the culture of congress that rewards object stinens, we are 50 members strong, democrats and republicans and look for opportunities to help break impasses, be a voice of reason. we found the conversation which lasted an hour over the weekend with chief of staff meadows to be very productive, will help us try to break some gaps, hopefully bring the negotiators to the table and get something done. i don't think it is as

philosophical as it is how to resource the categories appropriately. we'll keep trying. that's our responsibility. >> which mark meadows do you feel you were meeting with, guy that used to run freedom caucus, no friend of the problem solvers caucus or someone different? >> chuck, amy teri'm an eternal optimist. i hope the mark meadows from john lewis funeral is the one that shows up. he was respectful. i am hopeful, optimistic. i can't guarantee anything. i would like to think, i still have faith, despite americans' falling faith in our government and our election, i do have faith that ultimately people will make the right decisions and all will recognize how much human suffering is occurring in our country now, and if we cannot come together, shame on everybody. >> this issue with the postal

service, how much is an intentional misinformation from some, how much are you concerned is intentional sabotage of the service itself? >> you know, chuck, first of all we can't trust anything that comes from the president's mouth, a shame to say, but is becoming fact. we can't ascertain what the truth is. that's why so many of us have called for post master general to appear in front of congress and the oversight committee to ke testify. if he won't testify, we should subpoena him. if he doesn't come under subpoena, we should use the sergeant-at-arms to detain him. we have to stand up for our constitution and country. i should mention, resourcing the postal service with millions is terribly important. sending money to the postal service without correlating strategy to improve it is entirely different. i don't know if anything

nefarious is going on, i would like to think not, but we have a responsibility to understand it. i can tell you other things. i have spoken with postal carriers, stories from my district, got an email from a business owner from my district in minnesota, in the medical device arena. shipments are delayed by days now. many going to covid patients. it's real. mailboxes are being removed. sorting machines are being d dismantled. systems are changing before a historic election in our country, and post master general, a major donor to the president, past investments in competitors and vendors, another question we have to talk about is presidents appointing their big donors in a culture that we have got to break. it is corrupting no matter what president does it in what position, we have to start addressing these things proactively. that's our responsibility to restore faith in government. >> all right. well, you have a lot of work to do if you look at the poll sadly

now. >> yes, we do. >> congressman, i'm going to pause the interview early. the president is in your home state speaking now. let's go to the president. >> refuse to defend its citizens which was incredible there, lives were destroyed while the leadership of the democrat party cheered th cheered, their dreams burned to the ground. we saw it vividly on television or wherever. this is the difference between us and joe biden, mayor jacob fry, and governor tim waltz. weakness is also the currency of your liberal senator tina smith and you know she's running against a great gentleman. jason, get out and vote for him, get out and vote for jason. he's going to win. the polls are about even. that's a big step. he's a great candidate, going to do a fantastic job, get out,

make sure he wins. if we can't win now, nobody can win. what you went through so stupidly that they allowed that to happen, it is bikers for trump, saw you do that. he just turned around to show bikers for trump. they're all over the place. thank you. thank you, fellows, appreciate it. my message to minnesota is clear. i'm here to help you. we will bring back law and order to your community. we will bring it back and we'll bring it back immediately. and you know the words law and order are words that democrats don't like to use. they don't think they're politically good. there's nothing wrong with law and order. there's law and order, you shouldn't be ashamed of it. they're ashamed to use those words, it is incredible. as president, my goal to restore safety to our streets -- >> thought we would give you a taste of what the president is doing today, traveling the country off and on all week in

attempt to counter program the democratic convention, a highly political speech, more so than usual which is why it didn't seem necessary to linger on it beyond letting you know it was happening there. these little airport attempts are attempts by the campaign to give the president the feel of a rally when he can't really have one. airplane hangars may be the best he can hope for. up next, focusing back on the news, the state trying to fight back on attacks against the post office. i talk to the pennsylvania attorney general thinking of suing the federal government over this. and later, convention night one in the most unconvention f unconventional of years. i talk to a top bernie sanders adviser to look ahead to tonight's first big night. but first, at this hour we'll be sharing memorable moments from first night of past democratic conventions. start with 1988, then texas governor ann richards, now

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welcome back. as the president continues to attack mail-in voting and cast doubt on the integrity of the election, several attorneys general in a half dozen states are considering suing the trump administration to prevent further changes to postal service operations. one of these attorneys general is pennsylvania's josh shapiro, he joins me now.

mr. attorney general, appreciate you coming on. let me ask you the question this way. what specifically would the lawsuit do, are you looking for a suspension of changes? what specifically and who specifically would you end up suing? >> sure, chuck. first off, good to be with you. here's what i would say, i'm not getting into the specifics of what my colleagues and i are examining now as potential legal stand, but if you examine this administration, you've seen them over time act recklessly. you've seen them act outside the bounds of the law time and time again, look at a few court decisions on dreamers, on lbgtq brothers and sisters, on so many other issues. every time we go to court, we hold him accountable. we're prepared to do the same here. we've got two primary concerns. number one, the immediate threat

to people throughout pennsylvania. 800,000 veterans, of which 80% of them get them through the mail are struggling to get them. we have concerns about the election with the trump campaign suing is in pennsylvania to make it harder for people to vote, with the postal service at the behest of donald trump seemingly telling people in pennsylvania that vote by mail ballots may not get there in time, may not count. we're in court on both those fronts fighting back already, we won't hesitate to act again if the president and his enablers act outside the bounds of the law. >> right, i understand that, but it sounds like let me ask you the question this way, have you found a way that you believe they violated the law when it comes to the postal service? >> i think we're going to have more to say about that in the next couple days here. i can tell you when attorneys general hold this president

accountable, when we go to court, when the rule of law is measured, we win. this president, you know, was just on the tarmac in minneapolis, preaching about law and order. this is someone who dozens of times has been stopped in the courts by myself and other attorneys general because he refuses to follow the law. i want the people of pen pennsylvania, across this country, to know we're going to fight like hell to protect your vote, to secure your vote, and to make sure your vote is counted. donald trump will not be successful, nor will his appointed post master general be successful as undermining the vote. i want people to vote, i want those eligible to vote early, i want their voices to be heard in our democracy. >> do you believe there's a legal argument to be made that the postal service has to be able to deliver election ballots within a five-day period or, i

mean, do you believe there's some way that they have to -- that you can get a guarantee in the law that the postal service provide resources necessary to make every reasonable attempt? is that what you're looking for, to see if what they're doing is a violation of essentially the postal laws? >> chuck, what we're doing is gathering evidence right now, we're looking at how it has worked in the past, we're examining the time lines that things have taken, and we're looking at what the postal regulations and statutes require. let's remember what the postal service is about. it is a public service. it was viewed by ben franklin as a way to bring our nation together. it was viewed as something essential in the founding of this nation and it is every bit as essential today. again, whether it is delivering the prescription drugs for a veteran or making sure that everyone can participate in our

democracy, chuck, particularly communities of color, particularly people that can't stand in line on tuesday november 3rd, yet still want to make sure their voice is heard. we are not going to let the president sew doubt in that process, not going to let his appointees do that, we're going to make sure every law and regulation is followed and every timetable that's historically allowed people to participate in the democracy is adhered to. >> pennsylvania attorney general josh shapiro, democrat from pennsylvania. appreciate you coming on and explaining what you guys are up to. we'll be watching to see what you come up with. thanks very much. >> thanks, chuck. stay well. up next, amid all of the alarms sounded on mail-in voting, what are democrats doing to educate voters about how and when to vote? first, another memorable moment from a first night of a democratic convention past. won't go too far in the way back

machine. how about 2008 and soon to be first lady michelle obama's first stirring convention speech. >> barack and i were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, that you do what you say you're going to do. that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them. kuten app. look at that. rakuten's app is super helpful, i open the app, find the store i want to use, start buying and it gets me tons of cash back. i'm an on the go kind of rakuten user for sure. i love the rakuten app, it has all my favorite stores at the top. i use rakuten for almost everything i buy. i just got paid to shop. my favorite thing about rakuten is just getting money back in the mail. i mean, who wouldn't want cash back. and you should sign up using my referral code because then we both get money. rack it up with rakuten,

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we may be able to help. welcome back. with the democratic national convention set to begin virtually hours from now, the latest "the wall street journal" poll shows encouraging news for joe biden entering the convention and troubling news for the president. he still has a 50% problem as we called it this morning in first read. 50% of registered voters currently support biden, leads president trump by nine points. 52% have a negative view of the president, including 44% with a very negative view of him, and 53% ever those surveyed disapprove of the job he is doing, including 47% that strongly disapprove. biden has his own challenges as well when it comes to a few key issues. the president has an edge over

biden, including on handling the economy, where in our poll, we have the president with a ten point advantage on that issue. let's kick things off with david plouffe, former obama campaign manager, now nbc news politically analyst. david, this is a unique experience entering a convention in a pretty strong position where joe biden is, it means the convention needs to, quote, do no harm because it is hard to imagine a bounce because i think he's out of or close to the ceiling for any democratic nominee at this point. so what is the job of the convention this week? >> well, chuck, that's an incredibly important point you just said. i think he is close to a ceiling. you won't see the traditional three to five point bump. he has two main jobs, main requirements the rest of the campaign. hold onto as much support as he currently has with swing voters and increase both those that need to register in the next 45 days, make sure they're turning

out. the economic question is one you have a decent chunk of voters unsure who they trust on the economy. this is a great opportunity to talk about leadership of the recovery act in the past, what he will do in the future. part of the convention has to be elemental, make sure people understand how to vote. there has to be education done in the next four days and the next few weeks. >> interesting, two ways to look at the numbers, frankly all of the numbers we're seeing. look at it through the prism of the economy and say wow, biden is in an amazing place, even as he is losing on the economy. on the other hand, you could say that's the president's path back to relevancy in the campaign. let me ask you this way. 2008, you had one signature economic idea you threw out, middle class tax cut, you had that pledge, you weren't going to cut, in fact, middle class,

nobody making over $250,000 a year, it was a key part of your sort of economic pledge to the american public in '08. does joe biden need something similar to hang his hat on, something tangible people can connect on the economy, one simple thing they'll be able to hold him accountable for as president? >> well, it is helpful, chuck, although i think biden town hall, it was less that signature idea, who did you trust more, obama or mccain to right the ship, particularly after lehman prosecutors collapsed. the pandemic, distribution of the vaccine, the economy, all of these what seem like individual issues are tied together. i think the sense is you want coming out of thursday night for the american people to have a sense of, this guy can dig us out of the hole, has good ideas, focused on the middle class, people in poverty, going to lift

them up. it is less one idea than just a sense trump hasn't been up to this. that's what you have to say, people don't trust him on the pandemic. biden campaign has to link it to the economy. if you can't trust him on the pandemic, no way you can trust him to rebuild. economy. i still think there's a lot of work to be done there. i think you'll see speakers hammer that point home, including joe biden thursday night. >> so as we debate how important the conventions are, mark murray and i were discussing how nobody had a worse two weeks over a convention period in the modern era than donald trump, his convention was a disaster, ted cruz, that whole mess, that was not a party united, and then the president ended up picking fights with democratic speakers, gold star parents. it was a depabacle. he had to change campaign managers, yet won the election. are we to look back at that experience and say be careful

putting too much stock in the next two weeks? >> yeah, i think we should be careful about that. you know, they have mattered historically obviously, even in 2012 the clint eastwood moment with mitt romney wasn't a great moment, conventions are like free throats, you have pat buchanan's speech during george h.w. bush's time, it can hurt you. that race was different. 50-41 is different than 2016 which was hillary had a lead, but it was 44-41. you're so smart to focus on the 50% question. that's entirely different. show me any battleground state 30 days from now, if the biden lead is 46-44, i will have zero comfort. but if he has a lead like this where you're knocking on the doorstep, this is a national poll, but in a battleground state high 40s, low 50s, that's the key thing.

conventions are important, i look forward to the next four nights. of the two, much more important is the trump convention. does he try to appeal to middle of the electorate, tell a cohesive economic story or is it a bunch of insults. this convention is much more important to donald trump than the one in '16. >> excellent point and one a lot of folks need to figure out. trump is the one that needs this convention, biden doesn't, that's the bottom line what you're saying there as well. >> yes. >> david plouffe, thanks for getting us smarter today. appreciate it. we'll be talking with you quite a bit the next couple of weeks for sure and next couple of months. up ahead, talk with bernie sanders' former campaign manager on what the senator's speech tonight means for the party, as party unity is topic one for tonight. as we go to break, go back to the 2016 democratic convention when he offered and olive branch to his former rival, hillary clinton.

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i think what almost all progressives understand, that in this moment we have got to do everything we can to come together to defeat donald trump who in my view is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country and elect joe biden. as i have said many, many times, the day after biden is elected, we're going to be working with the grass roots in this country, with working people, with people of color, with young people to stand up and fight for an agenda that works for working families, not just the 1%. and that most certainly includes medicare for all. >> welcome back. i had the chance to speak to senator bernie sanders on "meet

the press" yesterday about support of joe biden ahead of his speech tonight at the dnc. joining me, former campaign manager. good to see you there. i thought what was interesting, faz, goes to something we had a larger conversation with, i almost feel as if the democratic party is sort of divided in two, and i say this more on not in some oh, the democrats are divided, but if you think of the larger left of center coalition, essentially this is a coalition campaign, left of center coalition against donald trump. you guys are united to do that. and as soon as the election is over, you're going back to having policy disagreements. is that fair? >> that's fair. i think you see progressives and ascending in the democratic party defining the policy agenda of the party, the idea is

kinetic er kinetic, we have to build a broad coalition of the willing. people understand the stakes of the election are giant. bernie sanders has understood that from day one. we're going to do everything we can to strike, every effort to defeat donald trump and put joe biden in the white house. there are probably differences of opinion that will play themselves out after hopefully joe biden won the presidency. >> you think if we were in a normal political environment, frankly, say we thought we were in a normal political environment four years ago, history will say we weren't, we'll look back on it and all of that, but we thought we were four years ago, therefore the robust debate that took place at the democratic convention, in platform hearings made a lot of sense then. it is surprising in some ways we didn't see the big debate in the platfo platform. without the pandemic and trump, would we have that debate?

>> that's playing into the democratic psyche a lot for sure, you understand that. we saw it through the cycle. the elect ability arguments in people's minds are part of the reason joe biden is the nominee. people are not conditioned to see or believe a medicare for all like bernie sanders could play on the national stage, to some degree that hurt us. i will say a couple things, chuck. credit to the biden campaign for reaching out after bernie exits the race, understanding math was not there for him. he said okay, we would like to see progressive direction from joe biden, they extended open hand, treated him with respect, built the bernie biden task force. that's one. and obviously bernie stayed true to his word from day one, he said i am going to get behind the nominee if i am not the nominee. he moved quickly. as a result, standing for joe biden in unifying democrats is

particularly good. >> could you see bernie sanders serving in a biden cabinet? >> well, that's obviously a decision for joe biden to make. i would obviously argue and i respect bernie a hell of a lot, think he brings a lot to the table, i think he represents a hell of a lot of people out there that want kind of a bold direction for the working class of america. he represents millions of people who as you know came into the process, people of color, young people, where do they reside? they reside with the agenda of bernie sanders. if it were not bernie himself, certainly progressives that represent the direction of bernie sanders. my two cents of advice, they can obviously take it or leave it, the biden transition administration should think about not just a token but building them in from the top through the administration. i have a lot of confidence they will do that. >> kamala harris, do you see her

as a bridge to the progressives or is it bridge to the establishment? >> certainly a bridge to progressives. obviously she has differences of opinion on some matters. we played those out during the primary, all threw our hat in the ring for bernie sanders to win the nomination, she did too, tried to make the cases for ourselves. now we understand that there's one choice and that's joe biden, but in my view kamala demonstrated that she's a believer of a lot of pieces of bernie's agenda. one quick story for you, chuck, a few weeks ago we were deliberating how to push for $2,000 to every american during this very difficult time. kamala was first on board, talking to bernie sanders directly, saying i want to push this with you, bernie. that gives you the sense of her instincts. i'm hopeful she could be somebody that's a bridge. i'm not going to be naive, tell you there aren't differences of opinion with her, of course there will be, but i think

instincts can be often very beneficial to try to move in a progressive direction. >> bottom line, faz, seems like a much more united democratic party today than four years ago. is that fair? >> i mean obviously for sure. trump trauma is doing 90% of the work in galvanizing people. we have differences, do you want to take on the corporate class, billionaires getting away with robbing the working class during the crisis. there are differences how to approach the problems. all of us understand you're not going to get anywhere with four more years of trump. it is devastating to think about four more years. bernie sanders spent a fair amount of his address trying to relay the stakes of that, envision four more years of the damage that can be done and obviously making an economic argument for joe biden as well. >> faz, good to see you. sorry we're not seeing you in

person in milwaukee, but you know, 2020. thank you, sir. >> we're thankful, things could be worse, we're doing the best we can, chuck. >> staying healthy the best we can. thank you. up next, is federal disaster relief finally on the way for storm ravaged cedar rapids, iowa? a week of winds that equal to a category two hurricane devastate eastern parts of iowa. first, another democratic convention moment, deep in the nbc archives. 1956. eleanor roosevelt echoed some famous words first uttered by her husband. >> i remember very well the first crisis that we met in '32. and i remember that we won out because the people were ready to

carry their share of the burden and follow and carry through the word. all you have to fear, the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. thing you have to fear is fear itself

welcome back. some breaking news. according to the democratic chair of the house oversight committee, the post master general, louis dejoy, has agreed

to voluntarily testify before the committee at a hearing scheduled for just one week from today, which coincides with the first day of the republican convention. so at 10:00 a.m., monday morning, one week from today, we expect to see dejoy in an oversight committee hearing with house democrats, and again, coinciding with day one of the republican convention. turning to the aftermath of that devastating storm in iowa, president trump told reporters he has approved a disaster declaration for the state. this is what parts of iowa now look like after a violent wind storm with wind speeds of a category-2 hurricane known as a derecho. we had one in this area a few years back. it is devastating when they hit and it ravaged cedar rapids big time. the storm left hundreds of thousands without power. destroyed 14 million acres of farmland, and most importantly, 43% of the state's soybean and corn crops which were due to be very healthy this year.

joining me is the mayor of cedar rapids, brad hart. i have been hearing from residents, and i have longtime family in the area there who have felt as if there wasn't enough action happening from state government, federal government. do you feel that is still the case today? >> i do not. i mean, we had about an hour's notice for the storm. no one would have predicted the storm like this. it wiped out all power in our community. there was no way to communicate. our streets were impassable. all of our 194 traffic signals were either down or damaged, not working. no one could communicate. we worked really hard to get the streets passable, so emergency vehicles could get places. we have had about 1400 emergency calls from our fire department and ambulance sense monday. we did search and rescue at homes, about 1,000, more than

1,000 homes were deemed not structurally sound for people to live in. partly because they had trees on top of them. so i think, and now like today, there are 14 different places where you can get a hot meal. this community and the state, and now the federal government, is really stepping up to help us. we need that help because it's really unbelievable. we probably lost 50% of our tree canopy, and somebody estimated there are 40% or 50% of the homes are at least have some damage. >> i want to talk about the -- yeah. i want to talk about the devastation to the crops. i mean, we're about a month away from, you guys were looking at a boom this year, both in corn and soybean, and some hope that maybe with the new trade deal, some soybeans would be moving out of the state pretty rapidly. just how devastating is this to the crops?

>> it's really unbelievable. it's hard to imagine something like this happening to us. i think the estimate, the governor's estimate was in excess of $4 billion in losses from this storm. and it's a big significant part of that are their crops. because everyone had reported it was going to be a bumper year. and now, we're faced with yet another natural disaster that iowans will recover from, but we could use all the help we could get. >> i was just going to say, mr. mayor, when did you guys feel like you recovered from the floods from a few years back ini feel like you guys have been hit hard the last decade. >> you're right. they said it would take ten years to recover from that flood. i think we have pretty much did tin five years. and in many ways, our community is stronger than ever. this is different because it's the entire community.

the flood was ten square miles. the city is 75 square miles. and all 75 square miles have been impacted by this. so i don't know how long it's going to take, but it's going to take a while. we're working as fast as we can. >> brad hart, looks like you're also physically working as hard as you can out there. mayor of cedar rapids, thanks for sharing a few minutes with us so the rest of the country can get a first-hand look at how bad it is there. good luck, and we're all pulling for you. >> thanks. all right, that does it for us this hour. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." the msnbc coverage continues with katy tur. i'll see you on streaming at 8:00. n streaming at 8:00 vision to life and save in more ways than one.

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california's economic challenges are deepening. frontline workers stretched too thin. our nurses and medical professionals in a battle to save lives. our schools, in a struggle to safely reopen, needing money for masks and ppe, and to ensure social distancing. and the costs to our economy, to our state budget?

mounting every day. we need to provide revenues now, to solve the problems we know are coming. good afternoon. i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. in the east. and just a few hours, democrats will open their computers and log in to a