♪ if it's friday, joe biden delivers an historic convention address to a nation in turmoil. the democratic nominee did what he needed to do as the saying goes, so what does president trump do now? how desperate could he get? we're about to find out. plus as the president assails mail-in voting, his embattled postmaster testifies in front of the senate vowing he will pause every change and make sure every

ballot will be counted. i'm chuck todd with 74 days to go until the election. after last night's convention address, joe biden cemented his position as the front-runner. now the question turns to how the president and the trump campaign will respond. >> the current president has cloaked american darkness for much too long. too much anger. too much fear, too much division. character is on the ballot. compassion is on the ballot. decency. science, democracy. they're all on the ballot. look, i understand, i understand how hard it is to have any hope right now. this summer night, let me take a moment to speak to those of you who have lost the most. i have some idea how it feels to

lose someone you love. i know that deep black hole that opens up in the middle of your chest and you feel like you're being sucked into it. i know how mean and cruel and unfair life can be sometimes. >> this was just an example how this address was very biden, if you will. that was a very -- anybody that knows biden, has covered biden, that's the essence of who he is. it's an address that capped off a convention week where democrats tried to stretch the tent as wide as possible without tearing a hole in the middle of it. they seem to have succeeded so far. in a moment i'll speak with former defense secretary, chuck hagel, part of a group of former republican national security officials endorsing biden. now it's the president's turn. the republican convention begins monday. what does he say and do? one thing's clear after last night, his strategy to paint biden as mentally incapacitated

may have helped biden exceed expectations by drastically lowering them. take a look. >> joe's not all there. everybody knows it. and it's sad when you look at it. you see it for yourself. >> biden can't put two sentences together. >> is joe biden senile? >> i don't want to say that. i say he's not competent to be president. joe doesn't know he's alive, okay? joe is shot, let's face it. joe is shot. maybe people are going to feel sorry for him and maybe he'll win, but our country is too important for that. you can't have a guy that's shot. you can't have a guy that doesn't know where he is. you can't have a guy afraid to leave his basement because he can't speak any longer? >> did you notice -- i shouldn't say it, they'll put it in his piece, he'll read it, if he can.

>> the other big question for the president is what kind of tone they want to set in reaction to biden's event. up to this moment the president has been doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on the dark foreboding and hyperbolic rhetoric that he obviously sees as his strength. the concern for his campaign may be he ends up looking desperate. here's some of what he said moments ago. >> if our opponents prevail, no one will be safe in our country. no one will be spared. no one will be spared. i'm the only thing standing between the american dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos. that's what it is. if we don't win, it's all gone. okay? it's all gone. we mentioned -- second amendment, gone. all gone. and many other things. it will be a totally different

country. ultimately it will fail. it will fail. >> joining me from wilmington, delaware where virtual ba llloo are falling, mike, let me start with you in wilmington with team biden. it's odd to see after a successful convention. they feel good. there isn't the bus tour. >> that's right. >> across the state of pennsylvania or the riverboat tour down the mississippi. it's sort of a weird day after the convention day isn't it? >> yeah, that's right. the only time we'll probably see this ticket for sure over the weekend is in an interview that they'll be taping today that will air over the course of the weekend. 12 years ago after the obama/biden ticket had a

successful convention in denver, we were on a plane heading to pennsylvania for a busy week of campaigning. the biden campaign feels strong about what they've seen over the last week. they want to carry that momentum forward and there are decisions being made today about the best way to do that in this odd virtual campaign that we have. there was thought that he would lay low during the other convention, so we may not see a lot of biden, we will see some of kamala harris. they can take a lot of the pieces of the convention they just ran and give it new life. i think we'll hear more from braden harrington, more about the ordinary republican voters. the biden campaign has had a theory of this case and this election since day one. it's been often questioned at times ridiculed and frequently in the pain he pages of the "ne times." they always thought it was a

persuasion election as well as a turnout election. that's what we saw last night, joe biden speaking to not just persuadable, moderate voters, but also those people tired of politics, exhausted over the last four years. the theme of the night in some ways was just normal, chuck. >> that's very interesting that they are admitting that's exactly the goal of biden's speech. it felt like he was not there to talk to the base. he was there to talk to either the disaffected independents, suburban voters, whatever you want to call them. anybody that's exhausted. this was a convention that felt like a telethon. i mean that not in a negotiate dif comparise i mean that not in a negotiate dif comparis i mean that not in a negotiate dif comparise i mean that not in a negotiate dif compari negative comparison, it was a constant social media, trying to pull at heartstrings. it was also designed to be a massive fund-raising event. what kind of numbers are they seeing financially this week? >> chuck, there are some members

of the biden campaign who can't wait to get those numbers in their hands so they can get them in our hands quickly. we heard from tom perez on twitter last night saying the dnc had the best online fund-raising day ever, in history, in the history of the dnc. the fact we kept hearing 303 30 from convention speakers themselves. you don't often hear that from keynote speakers tells you everything about the strategy they have to run here. so hopefully they will be able to share that information soon. >> all right. let me move over to shannon. are there regrets behind the scenes for the charactaricaturee biden that blew up in their face yesterday? >> in his remarks today he continued to call biden stupid,

hillary clinton smart, saying he would rather be running against someone smart than someone stupid. so he's obviously continuing that message. these attacks on biden's mental acumen, i wrote about this a month ago or so are essential to their theme and their argument that biden is this trojan horse for socialism. and that he has been coopted by the radical left, taken over. people know who joe biden is. they know him as barack obama's folksy vice president. he is part of this long-time democratic washington establishment that is not the extreme radical far left antifa movement that the president wants to tie him to. so they have to convince some that biden lost his mental acumen and that's why he's no longer obama's former vice president. it's a difficult logical needle

they're trying to thread. >> very quickly, this -- the president is -- seems sob running out of ways to escalate the rhetoric about how dark and foreboding it will be if there's democrats in charge, which only four years ago was the case. i don't think the country disappeared or anything like that. do they think these are good arguments to make beyond the base? >> well, it's another area where they're trying to thread a complex logical needle here. at the same time the president is painting this dark dystopian future under joe biden, they're also trying to have their convention about improving the country's mood and paint a story of optimism. the president criticized the democrats convention just now calling it the gloomiest, darkest, angriest convention in american history.

he said where biden sees american darkness, i see greatness. again, this tug and pull between these two messages of the president trying to paint an optimistic and improve the country's mood and make everyone feel better about the direction they're going in and also having everyone be scared and testimony t petrified about what will happen november 3rd if he loses. >> joshua johnson, that description from shannon on these complex logical -- it feels like the trump campaign twisted itself into a message pretzel in order to support where the president wants to go with this campaign, which logically nobody else thinks probably is a good idea. >> quite possibly. especially since we'll be seeing president trump pretty much all week next week throughout the republican national convention. you may be hearing more of this from the president. i'm really glad you picked that cut at the beginning from the

president's event about being the only thing standing between the american dream and total ann na a anarchy. i'm waiting to find out more about who these two candidates are talking to. clearly lots of people have already made their decision for joe biden or donald trump. last week gallop put out a poll asking who do you think you would vote for president? biden, trump or neither? 25% voted for neither. that could change the election. so is joe biden talking to the voters who believe we need to have a more unified response as a country or are they just looking for one person to get it

done like mr. i do it alone donald trump. is donald trump speaking to the voters who like to think they put all their eggs in one basket or looking for someone who can paint a more positive picture. both of those could be in that 25%. if last time around a few votes in a few places could decide the race, this 25%, we have to know who these people are to see whether or not they dig one speech or another. >> we found about 1 in 5 voters don't want to see a straight ticket democrat or republican win, so that matches that 25%. we noticed that they're not that into politics at all. some of them may not vote at all in this. in our numbers they preferred biden and a republican congress. so i thought that was an interesting split there. >> i think part of that is we've seen a lot of polls that people tend to trust the republican party and the republican candidate more on terms of the economy, the economy is a huge issue now. we had 1.1 million new people

applying for unemployment, though home sales are doing very well, employment is not doing very well. i also think tonally they're probably going to be vastly different. i think the attacks on joe biden and whether he can get through his speech, whether he is all there, having braden harrington on the bill just before the vice president kind of reminds you, wait a minute, we're listening to a guy who stuttered as a child. now he's running for president of the united states. will it seem too mean spirited to support that rhetoric? will it matter in the end? that will factor, just wondering how much it will factor in terms of the kind of country that undecided unsatisfied voters want to live in. >> mike, shannon, joshua, appreciate the three of you getting us started. joining me now is former republican senator and defense secretary under president obama chuck hagel. he's one of 73 former public and

national security officials to endorse joe biden. yes, you served under a democratic president. you did not endorse hillary clinton in 2016. you sat on the sidelines publicly. so tell me why no on hillary clinton four years ago and why yes on joe biden today. >> first, thanks. i'm a republican. i've always been a republican. and i hope there will be a republican party that i can continue to support. but today it is a different world than 2016, chuck. as you all know. you've been talking about it. 2016, i just didn't have a role in it. i didn't take a role in it. didn't take a position. this time i am. i'm concerned about the future of this country. what's been happening the last 3 1/2 years, the incompetency,

corruption, the dangerous erosion of our alliances, our allies, our trade. and that's why i have come off the bench and still a republican, but i'm not the only republican supporting joe biden. >> and what is the case that you would make to fellow republicans that they should trust joe biden when donald trump is arguing you may like him personally, but it's aoc, it's bernie sanders, it's elizabeth warren who will be pulling the economic strings. what would be your case to a republican that could be persuaded but is nervous about some parts of the democratic party. >> well, first, i would remind everyone that we are each individuals regardless of your pr politics products of our past.

joe biden, you look at an individual's past. what has he done? what does he believe? how has he voted? what actually has he accomplished? what has been his position on issues? joe biden is not going to change if he's elected, he will have to govern. he will have to listen to people. he does this very well. i saw him do it in the senate and in the administration. he listens. he makes judgments on all of that, but he's fundamentally who he is and where he came from. all you need to do is just check his record. i would say to my republican friends who are not quite sure about him, he is not going to be a tool for the wacky left or the right. he is going to be joe biden. he's always been joe biden. sometimes that works. sometimes that doesn't. you agree or not agree. that's the strongest case.

this guy didn't just drop in from out of space. he's been a leader in this country for a long time. that's a good sign of what kind of leader he would be. what kind of president he would be. >> it's interesting to watch the current senator that sits in your seat, ben sass. you get the sense that there's probably a lot of alignment about how the two of you think about washington, about what government should be. maybe some generational differences. i'm not going to say you guys are in total alignment, but he clearly stops short in how critical -- he's been critical on social media but he stops short in how he carries it out. what's your take on this situation and how he's straddled this line that cheerclearly he' decided to walk? >> as a matter of fact i spoke with ben sass last week. had a long conversation with him. we talked about the presidential election and about the republican party.

one thing i said to ben is after this election, ben, and i think joe biden will be elected. i think he will be. ben, the republican party will have to be reborn. there is no republican party. it's a trump party. unfortunately the republican party has enabled trump to get away with things that no one would have conceived allowing any president to do. i said to ben you will be one of those leaders that can reshape and bring the party back. that's what i hope he will do. and that's what i hope the republican party will do. and be a different kind of party. be the kind of party, at least that i joined, the first time i voted was in 1968 in vietnam, absentee ballot. the party i joined and i knew why i joined it and the party i represented in the united states

senate. so i have be do look to ben sas others like him to be the leaders to put a new republican party together for the 21st century. >> i think the challenge -- here's the question, it's an open-ended question. i had this talk with other conservative reporters on this and analysts. who is going to be allowed to rebuild the republican party post-trump? who will be -- if you were a never-trumper or you opposed him, are you not going to be allowed back into the tent at the same time if you were with him and he lost, do you not have kr credibility to say we need to reshape the party? i think some of this post election reality, we're not quite sure what the mood of the republican -- the republican base will still be a trump base. >> that's right. i think that reflects on the question you asked on why ben

sass and maybe others have not been more outspoken. because you just said it. that's it the reality. if the republican party is going to be rebuilt, they're going to have to -- those new builders of the republican party have to deal with the republican party as it is and those who have been big supporters of trump and so try to bring them together as much as you can based on common consensus issues. for example, republicans used to be -- have an agenda of fiscal responsibility. where is that going? >> yeah. >> that's a joke today. >> right. >> free trade. international engagement. smart government. that's all gone. there is no agenda or philosophical base. so, yes, sass and others are going to have to deal with that

trump base and all other republicans. so i can understand. they can't get too far out on any of this because i quite frankly think after this is over, and i think biden is going to win, that they're's going toe recriminations. i think it will be politically still polarized in this country for a while. this won't change january 20th with a new president who will be reaching out. i know joe's style, he'll try to expand and build consensus, that is going to take some time. >> it is. chuck hagel, former defense secretary in the obama administration, long-time republican senator from nebraska, good to get your perspective and take on this. thanks for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. up ahead, could a traditionally republican voting bloc be trending towards biden? we'll talk to a key group of voters in the key state of flori florida. and under fire for cutbacks at the postal service in an

election year that will rely heavily on the mail, the postmaster general testifies before the senate today. it's pretty inspiringate t. the way families

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. welcome back. let's go to florida. miami-dade is one of the counties we're watching in our "meet the press" county project ahead of the election, specifically how latino groups in that county are trending. the cuban population makes up about 4% of the voters and traditionally leans republican. it's been split a bit by generational divides. in 2016, donald trump did win the cuban-american vote there a bit bigger than what happened to republicans the last couple of cyc cycles. but there are signs that joe biden may be able to peel off some of that support from traditionally republican voters which could be the key to turning florida from red to

blue. >> chuck, we put together a small socially distant watch party last night. we brought three people together who had never met each other before last night to watch biden's acceptance speech. all of them live in miami-dade county, all of them have cuban heritage and all of them say right now they're leaning towards and plan to vote for vice president joe biden and kamala harris in november, but only one of the three identifies as a democrat. if joe biden is going to do well in this state, if he wants to win florida, he needs people like these three who we spoke to, young voters, independent voters, disaffected republicans. the question is are these three anomalies within the cuban-american community or are there more like them? if there are more like them, is there enough thinking along their lines to possibly move the needle in the direction for joe biden among a group that's

typically thought of as a republican voting block. the people we spoke to said there are more cuban-americans thinking like they do than many people would assume. listen in. >> there's such a tendency to think of cuban-americans as a bit of a republican voting bloc. is there something happening here generationally where we're seeing younger people move more to the left? >> if we get four more years of trump, good luck. good luck with the future attracting younger voters. >> i initially thought i was a republican part my parents were republicans. my whole family is cuban-american. nicaraguan. very conservative people. but my first exposure to the republican party was in the 2016 election. i said, oh, my gosh. what is this? >> one of the things that joe biden said during his speech that resonated with me is what defines america's possibility? the main reason the three of us are sitting here now is because

our family at some point left a situation where there was no possibility. you can't have possibilities if all you're getting is a show. there has to be substance there. is joe biden that substance? you know, we'll find out. >> there is no question republicans and donald trump still have strong support here among the cuban-american community. in 2016 cuban voters in florida were twice as likely to vote for donald trump compared to non-cuban latinos. chuck? >> ellison barber, that was very fascinating and i think that's something maybe we'll do again for the debates. nice work. thank you. up next, the ripple effect of post office cuts. was the postal service prepared for the national outcry over service disruptions? did the usps study the far-reaching impacts its policies would have? we'll talk to a senator who just grilled the postmaster general

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welcome back. six states and washington, d.c. just filed a lawsuit against the post office arguing that recent service changes have hampered their ability to conduct fair ele elections. the lawsuit was moved a day before nancy pelosi is proceeding forward to ensure $25 million for the post office.

today louis dejoy said all mail-in ballots would be counted. >> we will deploy processes and procedures that advance any election mail in some cases ahead of first class mail. >> of course he doesn't count its delivery. garrett haake joins me now from capitol hill. it looks like we've tabled the larger fight that will take place about changes to the postal service, that is whether it can be run as a business. but do democrats feel like they got enough assurances today that they think the mail-in ballots are safe? >> i don't think so. that's why you will see even more pressure put on dejoy at the house hearing being held on this on monday. you heard a number of democratic senators ask follow-up questions about the processes that were used by dejoy to make some of these decisions.

they asked the effects on veterans, older people, deployed people. they asked for data to back up some of the decisions he made. dejoy said the oy change he proactively made during his time here was changing the truck schedule, trying to make sure the trucks ran on time. democrats have been asking him to show his work, to bring his homework, in many cases asking him to deliver that by sunday night so it could be in the hands of house democrats when they are in control of that hearing that will happen on monday. you had -- this is a republican controlled hearing in the senate. a lot of republican senators were running interference for dejoy, praising the work he was doing, asking more friendly-toned questions. the hearing on monday could be much more useful if democrats get what they wanted in terms of dejoy providing some of his documentation prior to monday. >> you're right. i was -- i saw that you had some senators like mike enzi from

rural wyoming who brought up the issue of rural mail service and was concerned that rural communities would be hurt. i only got one guy in our post office, he said, that was an interesting reminder that there is bipartisan concern here. >> absolutely. dejoy's answer is so much of this is covid related and he sees their problems more focused in the big cities where folks are concerned about going to work. the postal service is even more important in large, rural, largely republican dominated states. that's why i think you saw susan collins being one of the first republicans to speak out on this issue. the postal service is critically important in maine. as we've become mini postal service experts over the past few weeks, we know in many of those rural place, even if you send something fedex, it's the postal service that goes the last mile.

republicans would be wise not to turn their backs on this issue entire limit i think you saw more republicans willing to take dejoy's testimony at face value when he says don't worry, it's all going to work out. we'll suspend the changes. election will be fine. democrats are far less likely to trust something that just sort of presented to them in this fashion. >> garrett, you just expressed why i think we have some of the best jobs you can have if you love to never stop learning. you never know what you have to become an expert in and you never know how cool it is to know that information in the long run. it's one of the better parts and lucky parts of our jobs as reporters. garrett haake, nice work there. thank you. mail-in voting wasn't the only issue that democrats grilled dejoy about today. take a listen. >> did you do an analysis to see how veterans might be impacted knowing that so many of our postal workers are veterans, we employ so many veterans, that

they are not getting their medication? you can look me in the eye and all the nevada veterans in the eye, all the nevada seniors in the eye and tell us you will not continue these policies in the future that you know will harm my seniors, my veterans here in nevada and all of our seniors and veterans across this nation? can you look us in the eye and commit to being sure that they have on-time delivery? >> i'm working towards on-time delivery, ma'am. yes. i can commit to that. >> that was nevada senator jacky rosen. senator, you asked him to look you in the eye, a little tougher in zoom, make sure when you can truly catch facial expressions. do you feel better or not? >> no i'm not satisfied with his answer. he wouldn't -- he wouldn't commit to being transparent. he wouldn't commit early on when i asked him if he would provide the minutes or memos of meetings

that he had about any of these conversations behind-the-scenes. he would not commit to being transparent. he didn't know if there were analysis done. he didn't think about the impact. mr. dejoy, he's a businessman. no good businessman doesn't have a business plan that's based on some kind of analysis. all we're asking him is to show us the analysis, let us know what the post office needs. i have veterans, i have seniors, i have rural communities, we are all depending on the united states post office, the framers of our constitution put the post office right there in article i. it's a civil service. we need to do everything we can to be sure that they get out to that last mile to every person who needs it every single day week, week in, week out. >> yeah. i want to actually ask about where i think this is headed. we saw there's a "washington post" report this morning that indicated some of the changes he

wants to make, now that he's agreed to wait until after the election. but some of it has to do with the last mile that you just talked about. there's an idea to charge more to send mail to alaska and hawaii, or to some areas. if that's the direction the postal service goes, is that something you think there's going to be broad support for? do you believe the postal service should be run as a business so depending on the state you live in could depend on how much it costs to mail something? >> that's a great question. i can tell you the framers of the constitution didn't think that. they said it was our job to have post office and post roads. they knew even back then, hundreds of years ago, that we had to deliver whether it was goods, mail, communication, it's changed over the years, to everyone. i wouldn't want any state, hawaii or alaska, do you think

those veterans in alaska or in hawaii are any less deserves than our veterans nearby a post office? i think that's not the way we should be going. let's be clear, the post office receives no tax dollars, they get all their funding from what they sell retail. we have a job to do to be sure they can get to everyone. it is our responsibility to conduct that oversight to make sure the postmaster general knows what's going on. i talked to postal workers here yesterday. they're removing mail sorters from our general mail facility, a couple miles from my house. so the buck stops with him. it's his job to know and it's his job to protect the postal service for everyone. >> would -- what else did you learn from them? did they tell you, though, that without those sorting machines it was going to slow down? obviously nevada will have a lot

of mail-in ballots or did they say the postal system has the capacity? >> well, you know, we just had our primary in june. we did not mail out ballots to everyone and that was successful. we actually always mail sample ballots to every active registered voter. we do that any way. when i spoke to the people from the post office yesterday, up and down the state, they said mail is piling up. their ability to sort, their ability to do those late afternoon trips, just their amount of yoef tiovertime, what happening on the ground is not what mr. dejoy is telling us. he needs to come out to my post office. i'm glad to show him around and what's going on. it's his job to know, if he doesn't, that's not acceptable to me. >> what recourse do you think you have -- it sounds like senator mcconnell is also willing to do some postal money even as stand-alone. he seemed to hint at that given

that he thought maybe the sides were too far apart to do a bigger coronavirus relief fund. is that your sense? >> well, i certainly hope so. like i said, all across america people -- we talk about our medicine, our social security checks, medicine for veterans, there's no greater joy than receiving those birthday cards from your nana and papa. mail does so much for us. and our postal workers who work so hard, six days a week, week in and week out, they go nearly every address in america, it's a great public service. we need to be sure that it runs. it is my hope that senator mcconnell can bring us back to vote on that. we need it for a good election. but we need it for everyone going forward. and i think that he must do that, it is our responsibility. i tell you, an hour ago, since i've been in that hearing, i had a veteran call my office in las

vegas and say to one of my team that it is the first time he felt that somebody was really talking to him and advocating for him. he gets his prescriptions in the mail. and he called and thanked me. i've had thousands of emails and calls every week for the last few weeks since postmaster was appointed. and this is just unacceptable. >> right. senator jacky rosen. i think the one thing every politician has learned, everybody likes getting mail. maybe it's not the bills, but there's something we look forward to in getting the mail. senator jacky rosen, thank you for womancoming on with us and sharing your perspective. >> thank you for having me. up ahead, we're tracking a couple of potentially major storms heading towards the southern united states. and more coronavirus issues on college campuses and what one

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welcome back. in california firefighters continue to battle more than 350 fires across the state. at least five people are dead. dozens have been hurt. tens of thousands of people are waiting to find out if they'll have to evacuate their homes. most of the evacuation fear is in the bay area and in central california. many of the fires were sparked by essentially dry lightning strikes, which ignited dry brush and trees. fire crews say they are stretched thin, though reinforcements are coming from neighboring states. so fort fires have destroyed 175 buildings and homes. this is all due to extreme weather that normally california has not experienced before. in the southeastern united states, they're bracing for the possibility of two tropical systems perhaps at the same time becoming hurricanes.

one has just swelled into a named storm. tropical storm laura. it's closing in on puerto rico and could intensify into a hurricane threat for the florida peninsula. another is on track to hit mexico and then potentially hit some of the gulf coast of this country. forecasters say the storms would not hit the united states until the beginning or middle of next week. again, by the way, we're already on "l," it is still august. we'll be right back. sofi literally chang and save without breaking my back or breaking the bank.

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welcome back. a glimmer of good news today. nationally, that is. coronavirus cases are declining. the seven-day average of the new daily cases is under 47,000. the lowest it's been since early july. here are more facts on the virus as we have them at this hour. louisiana senator bill cassidy is the latest elected official to announce that they have tested positive for the virus. in a statement, he said he was tested after being exposed to someone with the virus. he will quarantine for 14 days but did not say if he's experiencing any symptoms. >> former secretary of state jim baker and his wife also have the virus. a spokesperson for the former secretary says the couple hasn't been hospitalized but they, quote, feel crummy. baker is 90 years old. >> the new york mets have postponed two games after two positive tests in their organization. the team says they're conducting

testing and contact tracing to see how widespread this is. >> in college sports, georgia state's quarterback says he will now sit out the season after being diagnosed with a coronavirus related heart condition. in a statement on twitter, he thanked the team's coach and trainer for, quote, providing a safe environment for us to train and practice. and the university of notre dame has canceled football practice for the time being after at least five players tested positive, six more are in quarantine. the university already had to move classes online for at least two weeks after an outbreak on campus. >> and look at this. the front page of the notre dame student paper with this powerful headline. don't make us write obituaries. one school that is not moving to online classes right now is oklahoma state university where an entire sorority house is quarantine after two members tested positive. university officials are trying to keep in-person learning on track by launching a high-tech contact tracing program. well, our own morgan chesky is in stillwater, oklahoma, where

he got a look at the university's contact tracing effort. morgan. >> reporter: yeah, chuck. greetings from the campus of oklahoma state where the first week is just wrapping up. as you mentioned, they do have reason to be concerned. that's sorority house still under quarantine at this point in time, and they say they believe some of this stemmed from an off-campus party that was captured on social media videos that were widely shared right as classes were going. and i had a chance to speak to some of the students here who were actually doing their part to follow the rules, wear those masks, socially distance, about what they thought about having that happen and being put at risk themselves. and here's what they had to say. >> you see these videos on social media of the partying. how do you take that? >> it makes me a little worried that we're going to have to go online and then all this is going to happen and people are going to get sick. hopefully people just keep wearing their masks and social distance and maybe these can be more isolated cases as opposed

to this becoming a campus-wide issue. >> now, officials say this contact tracing program that was created right here by administrators uses a variety of things, chuck, whether it be credit card swipes at the student union, wi-fi check points that will ping a student's phone whenever they move on campus to the student's schedule to kind of create this master view of where this student could have been on campus if they come back and do test positive for covid-19. so we're not just talking, i walked into the library, but i walked into the library on the west side of the building down a certain hallway, and that can allow officials to contact the students there at the same time. chuck. >> amazing technology, morgan, but of course, it raises some privacy concerns when you think about that. but perhaps that's the price you have to pay if you want to be on campus. anyway, morgan chesky on the campus of oklahoma state, thank you, sir. and thank you all for being with us this hour.

thank you for trusting us. we'll be back monday with more "meet the press daily." it will be day one of the republican national convention. and if it's sunday, it's "meet the press" on your local nbc station. i'll see you then as well. msnbc coverage continues, though, with katy tur right after this break. takes care of yourself. so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right direction. - oh.- oh, darn! - wha- let me help. i'm on it. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard.

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good afternoon. i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. here in the east. we begin with a tale of two realities. in the first reality, the democrats close their convention by promising to restore order and trust in our democracy. joe biden said he would end the season of darkness in this country. and conservative media took notice. fox news called the speech a home run and enormously effective. the drudge report and the banner on its page called it a biden barn burner. and today, the democratic party seems more united than it has been since barack obama was president. in the second re