good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. as the stark differences between the two men running for president over the issue of police and protests could not be more clear today. the president heading to kenosha today, ignoring objections from the governor and the mayor, and defending the 17-year-old who is charged with two murders during the protests with an unproven argument of self-defense. >> reporter: are you going to condemn the actions of vigilantes of kyle rittenhouse? >> we're looking at all of it. that was an interesting situation. you saw the same tape as i saw. and he was, uh, trying to get away from them, i guess, it looks like, and he fell, and

then they very violently attacked him, and it was something that we're looking at right now and it's under investigation. but, uh, i guess he was in very big trouble. he probably would have been killed. >> joe biden saying in part that the president declined to rebuke violence. he wouldn't even repudiate one of his supporters who is charged with murder because of his attacks on others. he is too weak, too scared of the hatred he has stirred to put an end to it. this while biden criticized the president's barrage of misstatements and misoccasions. >> rioting is not protesting. looting is not protesting. setting fires is not protesting. none of this is protesting. it's lawlessness, plain and simple. you know my story, my family's story. ask yourself, do i look like a radical socialist with a soft

spot for rioters? really? >> joining me now, nbc's shaq brewster in kenosha. this is white house correspondent peter alexander. nbc's mike memoli, covering the biden campaign. brian buck, former press secretary to john boehner. and white house correspondent anne gearan. shaq, let me bring you in, because first i wanted to hear about what is happening on the streets. there is a family gathering, a neighborhood gathering to honor jacob blake who is struggling with all of his injuries. what are we seeing there? then we'll talk about the president who is on air force one as we speak. >> andrea, we expect to hear from the family of mr. blake any minute now. they'll be speaking here at the location where mr. blake, well over a week ago at this point, was shot in the back seven times by a kenosha police officer. one of the reasons they're having this event, you see

there's a bouncy house behind me, people here, food. they're trying to have a healing event, somewhat of a block party vibe, to counter what we expect to see surrounding the president's trip. we know he will be having events, we know there will be protests connected to that trip. they're trying to draw people here to have a day of community healing. the president was not able to make contact with the blake family directly, the white house saying he reached out but he found it inappropriate that their attorneys wanted to listen into the call. we know that the president's aides usually listen into his calls. but despite that, you hear the family's attorney with the statement, they say ms. jackson, who is mr. blake's mother, was prepared to ask president trump to watch the video of mr. blake's shooting and to do what she has asked all of america to do, examine your heart. that is the tone coming from the blake family today, as things remain somewhat tense in the city of kenosha. as you go across the city, some

buildings are still boarded up. there is still activation of the national guard, more than 1,000 members of the wisconsin national guard in place, 500 members assisting from three other states. so there is still that tense situation here. but the family is doing what it can to keep things calm, calling for no protests but instead a day of activities filled with community healing, andrea. >> and peter, just to put everything in context, the president keeps taking credit for a decline in the violence in kenosha once he claims he sent in the national guard. at different points explaining it differently. but it's the wisconsin national guard that was sent in, and which did in fact contribute, we believe, to an end to the violence. he just spoke after getting to andrews air force base on the way, on the way here. let's talk about what he had to say, let's play that first. >> i don't know yet, we'll see, we'll be making that determines. i don't know yet.

but i'm speaking really today, i'm there for law enforcement and for the national guard, because they've done a great job in kenosha. they put out the flame immediately. as soon as they came in, boom, the flame was gone. now maybe it will start up again, in which case they'll put it out very powerfully. >> peter, what are they hoping to accomplish today? >> so first to help explain what you heard from the president, when he said "they'll be making that determination," he was answering the question whether he will meet with the family of jacob blake. the scenes of rioting and looting just over a week ago in kenosha, he wants to present his law and order message there. despite this all happening over the objections of the state's democratic governor, the city's democratic mayor, the president insists that he's not going to be inciting violence or inflaming tensions as some have warned. he says that he will be creating enthusiasm. and the reason that's notable is because wisconsin is obviously a

crucial battleground here. so this visit serves two purposes for them. one, to deliver this law and order message, another to try to boost his chances in the state of wisconsin, a state that he is counting on winning again this fall if he is to succeed. we've heard nothing about the president making any trips to oregon or portland, obviously that city he's been complaining about for the course of the last three months, the president not going there, a state where the president has no chance of winning. but he has been inflaming tensions, critics suggest, especially about ken aon or about kenosha, conflating peaceful protesters with violent ones, and defending 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse who is charged with shooting three people and killing two of them. the president says he probably would have died if he hadn't done it, an act of self-defense,

but at the end of the day the president refused to condemn the violence as joe biden called for him to do. >> there is a law that says 17-year-olds can carry long gungun guns. we saw him walking past troopers with his gun, which has upset the community. mike memoli, let's hear more of what joe biden said in pittsburgh on monday. >> this is a sitting president of the united states of america. he is supposed to be protecting this country. instead he's rooting for chaos and violence. the simple truth is, donald trump failed to protect america. so now he's trying to scare america. >> is there some frustration among biden's supporters, among campaign officials? how do you counteract the interactions between the

president and a lot of these internet conspiracies, fox news conspiracy theories that are promulgated at night, just the constant barrage of misstatements about biden's past, present, and potential future? >> yeah, andrea, i think one of the real frustrations we have who are covering this race, one of the things that's been difficult about covering this campaign, is that it often seems that the trump campaign and the biden campaign are operating in completely different dimensions, different realities, have such a different fundamental belief about what is moving voters in this campaign. and i think there is some concern on the part of the biden campaign, especially in light of the republican convention, and perhaps because of the shock, frankly, of trump's election in 2016, that a lot of people didn't see coming, that too many supporters, too many in the media, frankly, were putting too much stock in the trump view of the world. that's why yesterday's speech was such an important opportunity for the biden campaign.

they think they really reset this narrative of what does it mean to be safe in america. and yes, they did things that there were a lot of calls on biden to do. he did strongly denounce violence, things that he has done before. obviously there was a new urgency to do that. he made it clear that he believes president trump is making that violence and making this question of safety more of a factor by exacerbating it, by pouring gasoline on the flames. but then they also wanted to say being safe means being safe from the coronavirus, being safe means having economic security and just about on every measure, donald trump has the former vice president said, has failed. and andrea, it was interesting, just in the last hour, we're getting a look at this new socially distant conference between joe biden and his running mate kamala harris, it was taped a week or two ago, but it had a perfect encapsulation of the reality they're operating in. as they ended the conversation, biden saying, yes, there are people who are fed up, there are people who are angry in this country, but he strongly believes that the vast majority of americans are decent, they

want authenticity, they want people -- they want to hear the truth from their elected leaders. kamala harris ended with, we're better than this. especially with polls not showing the kind of bump for the president that maybe a lot of people were expecting, that voters are really living in, andrea. >> for the republicans, brendan buck, those who are not supporting president trump or those electeds who are trying to decide and stay on the sidelines and ride this out, house members cannot, what are their view? you, you know, walked for two speakers of the house. what are we hearing from republicans, from the establishment? >> the concern that exists now is the concern that cost us the house in 2018, and that's the suburbs. those more educated voters, women voters, who for four years now have been completely turned off by the president's rhetoric

and the sort of chaos presidency that he's had. that has been the dynamic that has plagued us for years now. and what i'm concerned about is, kenosha, you know, my former boss represented that area, that is an area that has a small town feel, it's a community. i love to see that they're focusing on healing right now. i think what people want right now as a sense that things are going to get better. but the president is flying in not to talk about healing but to talk about law and order, to talk about division again. and i think that only going to make things worse, just north of kenosha, in the suburbs, where this election is going to be determined is in the suburbs of milwaukee, in philadelphia, in detroit. that's where this is going to be determined. and the rhetoric and the way that the president pits people against each other is just turning people off. he really can't help himself, but turn it into some sort of overtly racist or conspiratorial, and people just

aren't going to be buying that in those areas. it's going to have a real effect for him and people downballot. it used to be that the president was focused on turning out white, working class voters. but his campaign understands, there aren't enough white, working class voters to win. they need to win back the suburbs. they did a decent job of trying to probably someone who isn't as scary. but now he's going right back to the way he used to act. >> anne gearan, as you cover the white house, you of course saw how the hillary clinton campaign went off the rails, is this potentially a replay of that, where the president is trying to capitalize on whatever violence has been associated with some of these cities, and create a different narrative that could appeal to those suburban voters and cost them wisconsin, pennsylvania, michigan? and surprise conventional

wisdom? >> yeah, i mean, andrea, certainly the trump campaign and the white house working hand in hand are pursuing a strategy in which the president emphasizes law and order and his ties to law enforcement. obviously we've seen that for a couple of months now. but now that strategy is also very firmly placing the president in the position of saying that the suburbs are at risk, you people who live in the suburbs are at risk from a variety of forces that i will save you from. and of course that demonizes urban dwellers. obviously there's a racial component although he usually doesn't -- the president himself, go all the way there. but people know what he's talking about. and, you know, his trip today is an example of the campaign -- i

listened to a call among senior campaign leaders in which they confidently said they believe they're on offense. the trip today is an example of that, they feel they're stealing biden's thunder by going to kenosha where biden has not done so. obviously the state is an important swing state. the president's advisers say they think they can win it. and he is going there to show himself as a strong leader, which is what they bet people are going to in the end decide they want. >> and another thing the president was doing just exactly what you're doing, anne, on fox with laura ingraham last night, talking about some conspiracy theory about the people who are supporting joe biden. let's watch. >> who do you think is pulling biden's strings? is it former obama officials? >> people you've never heard of. people that are in the dark shadows. people that -- >> what does that mean? that sounds like a conspiracy

theory, dark shadows. what's that? >> no, they're people you've never heard of. they're people on the streets. they're people that are controlling the streets. we had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend and in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that. they're on a plane. >> where is this? >> i'll tell you sometime. it's under investigation right now. >> and, you know, that's spreading another theory, conspiracy theory, that he didn't want to talk about, when asked about it at andrews air force base. mike memoli, the biden campaign thought that they could focus on covid almost exclusively and the way they thought they were being responsible and contrast that with the president sending mixed messages, no social distancing, tulsa, all the rest. but now they really have to deal with this. >> yeah, that's right, andrea. the biden campaign is going to

be watching the president's behavior today very closely as they were his comments last night, because they feel like perhaps it's showing that the president was worried about the speech that biden gave yesterday, that it resonated with him. we know he's a consumer of this and they think it had an effect. we just had a statement, that comment from the president, from the biden campaign, their spokesman says this is bizarrely highlighting the unrest and division that the president has showed. he says, trump's incomprehens e comprehensi comprehensible case for doing more damage in his second term is more and more every day. it shows the impact that biden's speech had on him. >> mike memoli, anne gearan, brendan buck, of course peter alexander, thanks so much to all of you. we have breaking news from

louisville where the boyfriend of breonna taylor announced he's suing the louisville metro police department at a press briefing just moments ago. he recounted the night that breonna taylor was killed and was arrested, he was arrested, saying that the charges against him were meant to silence him and cover up the, quote, murder of breonna. the lawsuit says walker was a victim of police misconduct. we'll bring you updates as soon as we have them. before her u.s. open victory last night, naomi osaka decided to use her platform to continue to speak out for racial justice, the tennis star walking out in a mask bariearing breonna taylor' name. osaka herself, of japanese and haitian descent, says she brought seven masks with her to the tournament, each honoring a different person. she says she will be wearing them before each match in the hopes of raising awareness. as covid cases climb in the midwest, the facts you need to know, coming up next. plus are the missteps by the

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with coronavirus cases rising in several midwestern states and on college campuses, of course, here are the facts at this hour. positive cases continue to climb past 6 million and the u.s. death toll, still the worst in the world, is nearing 185,000. in south dakota cases have spiked more than 100% in the weeks since the sturgess motorcycle rally descended on the state. covid is not letting up on college campuses, at least 26,000 cases at colleges and universities since march. new york city, the former epicent epicenter, delaying the start of the school year to give teachers more time to prepare.

nbc news correspondent ron allen joins us live from new york. >> reporter: there's a lot of concern by teachers, staff, and parents about safety in the schools. and that's essentially what's pushing it back. the teachers' union was set to authorize a strike vote this afternoon in a couple of hours. and in negotiations with the mayor, the mayor decided to delay the start of school in person, that part of it. new york city is the only major school system in the country, and the largest, that was trying to open with some component of in-person learning, it's going to be blended. but again, the concerns about safety. now there is a plan in place to do monthly monitoring of staff and students that includes a lot of testing, random testing of students and mandatory testing of staff, teachers, at the schools. that's comforting to the staff because they want to know that things are safe. they've also raised concerns about everything from the ventilation systems in some of these old buildings, whether there's enough ppe, face masks. hugely emotional issue here in

new york city, 1.1 million kids. the mayor often tatalks about a that was done that says a lot of parents want their kids to go back to school, which is understandable. but mass transit, which so many students rely on to get to school, is questionable. the 21st is a target, andrea, and this is such an emotional, complicated debate, it wouldn't be surprising if in-person school is pushed back into later in the fall, if that. >> ron allen with the latest from new york city, thank you very much. joining us now, dr. kavita patel, former white house health policy director for president obama. thanks very much for being with us, dr. patel. let's talk about a couple of things that have all undermined, some would say, the trust in public health officials, because of different pronouncements. there's a pushback from dr. fauci today against cdc

reporting that fueled a false internet claim, later retweeted by the president, showing that there were only 9,000 covid deaths in america, not more than 185,000, by falsely claiming that the other deaths were caused by underlying conditions. dr. fauci today saying let there be no confusion, the 180,000 deaths are from covid. that plus the cdc and the fda missteps on convalescent blood plasma and asymptomatic carriers being tested, all of this causing some concerns. i don't know about your level of concern about the trust in the administration's statements. >> yeah, andrea, it's a great point, and i'm very concerned, as are many people who are not only health professionals but many of us who formerly worked in the government, who worked across -- you know, bipartisan, republican administrations, democratic administrations, and we've never seen such concern

internally by career staff that their scientific credibility is being actively undermined by political interests. to your point, this has been going on for months. if you remember, it started with the cdc rejecting the world health organization's tests which put america a little bit behind in tasting in the first place. it feels like, andrea, almost every day we're having some new issue with guidance. what's reassuring for the american public is that at least the major medical associations, including the ones that i get guidance from, are still following science and evidence. we are still recommending testing for asymptomatic people. we are still very concerned about looking at the data for vaccine safety. and we're also very concerned about making sure that americans understand their options with testing, treatment, and what we need to think about heading into this important fall school season as you reported. >> dr. adams, the surgeon general, today is also stressing

the need for diversity in volunteers for clinical vaccine trials. this is an appeal that would normally happen, but is there more concern now that minority communities, who are essential to getting a really heterogeneous population for these tests in phase iii trials, for instance, that minority communities in particular, because of historic discrimination where they were tested on without their knowledge, tuskegee of course coming to mind, most appallingly, that they will be reluctant to take the vaccine even once it's proved safe and effective? >> yeah, it's a great point we've already seen, andrea, that a higher proportion of african-americans, communities of color in general, have had delays in access to everything, from testing, even to hospital access. it's taken longer for black americans to be hospitalized for covid and it's simple because of access. your point about vaccine trial enrollment, and by the way three

manufacturers are in phase three trials in the united states, so we have tens of thousands of volunteers, and we need them to look like the united states of america, that diversity is critical. even more important is thinking about communication in these communities. these are communities that have felt left out, they've been marginalized. especially, when you take into account kenosha, wisconsin, there's a lot of distrust in general, not helped by the fact that you have dr. hahn, dr. redfield and others who have been unfortunately creating more mistrust in those government agencies. >> it all comes from the top, from a lot of political claims and conspiracy theories and pressure as well. thank you very much, dr. kavita patel, thanks for helping us today. if it is tuesday, there's an a primary election today in massachusetts, importantly. people there are casting their

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if you love politics, you'll love this democratic primary face-off in massachusetts today, pitting senator ed markey, one of the longest serving members of congress, a long time hero of the progressive movement on climate, anti nuclenuclear, ant issues, against a younger house member who also has a progressive voting record and is also a kennedy. no kennedy has ever lost an election in massachusetts, not since john f. kennedy became the first there to run in 1946. kennedy had the early advantage in the polls. but the 74-year-old markey is now running ahead because of his legislative record and his endorsements from elizabeth warren and more recently from alexandria ocasio-cortez. msnbc correspondent garrett haake joins us from the dorchester neighborhood of boston. garrett, you've spoken to both

candidates. what is their pitch in this final day? >> reporter: andrea, this is probably still ed markey's race to lose, but he could still lose it. pandemic has really scrambled things here, 900,000 votes have been cast already by mail. ed markey has really taken those endorsements from his fellow bay stater elizabeth warren and from congresswoman ocasio-cortez, and he has run with them, made that a major part of his campaign, using those endorsements online, on television, and even last night, i asked him about something else, and he brought up the endorsements. i'll play that for you in just a moment. whereas joe kennedy is essentially running as an outsider, a rare thing for a kennedy, running as new blood, saying we have to shake up this race, ed markey has not done enough. here is a little bit from both candidates' closing pitch in the last 24 hours. take a listen. >> i never had a doubt from the

beginning that my progressive message was going to be successful in this campaign. as alexandria ocasio-cortez said, it's not your age but the age of your ideas. and in this race, when it comes to ideas, i'm the youngest guy in the race. >> i'm running and challenging the notion that we can't do better, against a man i respect but who has been in office for 50 years. someone at my last location said, it's 50 years and this is all we have. it's time to find something new. >> reporter: so andrea, this is a progressive all-star match. a lot of democrats in massachusetts didn't want to see this race at all. voters like both of these men and don't want to see either one be out of politics. so it's an interesting choice nor voters in massachusetts, choosing between two candidates who has individuals and as families both have been around in politics here for a very, very long time.

>> i know i covered ed markey when he was a house member on the commerce committee, energy and customers, on all thoommerc issues, environmental issues. we've got a graphic up of all the races that kennedys have run in and won. there are no losses by a kennedy. so the name has always been magic. but as you say, ed markey has a working class background, his father was a milkman. he still lives in his working class neighborhood where he grew up. >> reporter: but it's interesting, andrea, it's kennedy who has become, if the polls are to be believed, the candidate of the working class voters in this race. he's made it his mission to reach out to voters who he believes are underserved and underrepresented. i've been talking to african-american voters in dorchester who told me social justice is in his blood, meaning joe kennedy. you see this interesting switch where markey, the son of a

milkman, is the guy who has the liberal elite voters in his corner, and it's joseph kennedy, a kennedy, who is the candidate of the working class voters in the state. the dynamics here have been fascinating to watch. >> and briefly, you know the house so well, garrett, there's another big race there in massachusetts, the first district, richard neal, defending his seat against holyoke mayor alex morse. and neal is a committee chair, a powerful member of congress. >> reporter: yeah, this is another one to watch. this is out in western massachusetts. richie neal, the house rules committee, it's not a glamour position but powerful within the house. he's taking on progressive holyoke mayor alex morse, challenging him from the left. it is not boston, it's not eastern massachusetts, so the dynamics there are a little different in terms of the electorate. folks i've talked to in boston, in massachusetts politics, expect neal to hold on. but he is certainly getting a

race here. and it's one we'll be watching when the polls close tonight at 8:00. >> the battle of the generations. thank you so much, garrett haake. next, the health care heroes. we'll meet the nurses who stayed behind during hurricane laura to care for newborns in the nicu. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. >> reporter: besides being afraid and, you know, distressed, we didn't go without anything. and the babies didn't even realize there was a storm going on. there was a storm going on are you still at risk for a heart attack or stroke?

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19 newborns from a nicu in lake charles, louisiana have weathered quite a storm, thanks to the dedication and incredible bravery of nurses who stayed with them during the worst of hurricane laura. nbc's morgan chesky has this amazing story. >> reporter: one week ago, it was a desperate race against time. hurricane laura on track to become a dangerous category 4

with forecasters predicting an unsurvivable storm surge. tabitha fawcett's 2-day-old daughter whitney where is tethered to a ventilator. >> the nurses came in and said, we just got an update, due to the storm surge we have to get you out of here. >> reporter: the neonatal intensive care team transferred the newborns to a hospital on higher ground with crucial equipment to keep them alive. >> transferring 19 babies, even just across town, is a big ordeal. >> reporter: that night, as laura's fierce winds how would outside, a team of nurses, respiratory therapists and a doctor huddled inside and watched over the tiny infants. >> the whole building was moving. >> reporter: you could feel it? >> you could feel the building shaking. you can see stuff flying out there.

>> reporter: in the middle of the terrifying ordeal. >> you're in the room and the windows are rattling and the building was shaking. it was a little bit disturbing, frightening. >> reporter: updating worried parents on facebook all night long. >> that reassurance right there really hechd lped me get througe night for sure. >> reporter: everyone surviving unhurt. >> besides being afraid and distressed, we didn't go without anything. and the babies didn't even realize there was a storm going on. >> reporter: the parents eternally grateful. >> without them, we wouldn't have kept our sanity. it was rough, but because of them, you know, we were able to really pull through. >> reporter: to those who helped their precious newborns weather the first storm of their young lives. >> morgan chesky joins me now from lake charles, a recovering lake charles, louisiana. morgan, what a wonderful story. some of those nurses are moms who were parapart from their ow

children during the storm, and making that sacrifice. >> reporter: you're right, andrea, the director of nursing for this program said when they were in that hallway and the windows were rattling, they had mattresses up against them to make sure the glass wouldn't shatter inside. she looked at her co-workers and realized these were people with their own families in the path of the hurricane. i asked her, what goes through your mind when you realize everyone's being equally impacted by this? she said there was no other place she would rather be. this is a testament to the quick thinking by this hospital staff. and it just goes to show what made laura so different. you had a category 2 hurricane swell quickly to a category 4, a predicted nine feet of storm surge that would have been in this hospital and that's when they made that quick decision, the day that laura was set to arrive, its outer bands were already casting rain across lake

charms. they loaded up those tiny infants, one by one, all 19 of them, to make that crosstown journey to that hospital. i had a chance to speak to one of the nurses on the mindset in going through this ordeal not just on their own side of things but keep in mind, every one of these 19 infants had parents that had to kind of wait out this storm and make sure they were okay. >> i just couldn't imagine what these children, the mothers of these babies felt during this time, because their babies were here. they had to put a lot of trust in us to take care of them. >> reporter: there were text messages, there were phone calls. these nurses fielding these messages from these parents all night long. the good news today, all of them are doing just fine and they've been taken to another hospital to make sure they continue to receive that adequate care, andrea. >> morgan, thank you so much to you. that is good news indeed. lots of love there as well. and the supreme court, speaking of love, has not been

seen since the early days of the pandemic. they did all their work by oral arguments on the telephone, conference calls. but justice ruth bader ginsburg has reemerged after her latest cancer bout, in her first public appearance since she was hospitalized last month, seen officiating at a friend's wedding, writing, 2020 has been rough but yesterday was supreme. a court spokeswoman notes the wedding took place outdoors at a private residence and the couple both tested negative for covid-19. i can personally attest that she is a good luck charm when she officiates at weddings. coming up, what are voters saying this time around? we'll have steve kornacki at the big board. stay with us. stay with us when the world gets complicated,

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for drug free relief that works fast. vicks sinex. instantly clear everyday congestion. campaigning is in full force in battleground pennsylvania. one of the three states that, of course, tipped the electoral vote to donald trump. joe biden spoke there yesterday. vice president pence is holding an event there today.

the president will head back to pennsylvania thursday. trump won the state in 2016 by a slim margin. the first republican victory there since 1988. nbc's maura barrett spoke with a welder in northeastern pennsylvania, a region that made one of the largest swings from obama to trump in the country. he's one of those voters the democrats may have already lost. >> my whole family is democrat, but my father would be rolling in his grave right now, but i don't see myself voting for a democrat. i think trump has done a great job. i really do. to be really honest with you, i probably just wish he'd stop tweeting. i think a lot more people would respect him a little bit more. that's the truth. you know, but i honestly believe if he didn't do that, he'd go down as one of our better presidents. >> but he's still going to vote for him. nbc national political correspondent steve kornacki joins me now. those are the key voters. that's what happened last time

in 2016 and there have been, of course, a whole record now. but they're not running away from him. >> yeah, no. northeast pennsylvania, let's take a look here at how trump won pennsylvania in 2016. what he needs to do, if he wants to hang on to it. if he wants to hang on to states like it, michigan, wis wirks those midwestern states that were so important to him. here's the final result. trump wins this less than a month. a fraction of a point there, about 44,000 points. his final margin. as you said, first republican to win pennsylvania since '88. and that's interesting to compare because in 1988, when republicans in that era like george bush sr. would win pennsylvania, the map looked totally different. what republicans used to do in a state like pennsylvania, you see it right here. right around philadelphia. right outside philadelphia, all those counties there, bucks county, chester county, outside the suburbs, montgomery. the suburbs of philadelphia used to be ground zero for a republican victory in

pennsylvania. that was certainly true for bush senior in 1988. in the trump era, the suburbs are democratic turf. they're getting blue er and blu. it's where republicans are trying to contain their losses. what happened with donald trump in '16, and what does he need in '20? it's in this area in particular. other parts of the state, too. let's look at northeast pennsylvania. i'll show you a couple of counties. la lackawana county, scranton. hillary clinton won lackawana county in 2016 by three points. but that's terrible for a democrat. barack obama when he got re-elected in 2012, he won this county by 29 points. so from a 29-point democratic win in lackawanna county in 2012 to clinton barely hanging on against trump in 2016. how about this? let's take a look. this is where wilkes-barre is. obama won this county.

barack obama won by five points in 2012. from 5 for the democrats to basically 20. they had a 25-point swing there toward the republicans. these are population centers. you got a lot of voters living here. we talk so much about the suburbs and democrats making strides in the suburbs. helps democrats across the country but we have to remember, we have to remember those gains in those suburbs are -- they have been offset in 2016 by tremendous strides for trump in places like scranton. can he hold on to those strides in 2020? can he build on them? that's his challenge. >> a sleeper issue there, fracking and false statements about biden's position. to be continued. we'll spend a lot of time on pennsylvania coming up, steve. thank you very much. legendary georgetown basketball coach john thompson's life is now being celebrated. he was the first black coach to lead his team to an ncaa

championship. he became a mentor and a father figure to generations of players. "the washington post's" front page today held him as lifting disadvantaged youngsters by demanding greater opportunities for black athletes to get a college education. we think of course of patrick ewing. he also took a chance no one else would on allen iverson, a hall of famer. thompson was a towering figure in sports and in life. he died at 78. that does it for today's edition of "andrea mitchell reports." join us tomorrow for a cable news exclusive with the leading infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci. he joins me. remember to follow the show online on facebook and on twitter. chuck todd is up next in the new hour of "mtp daily." so stay tuned right here on msnbc. 3 out of 4 people achieved... ...90% clearer skin at 4 months... ...after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections...

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♪ welcome to tuesday. it's "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd at the start of a very busy hour all over the country. president trump is about to touch down in kenosha, wisconsin, despite the city's mayor and state's governor pleading with him not to come. later this hour, the president is expected to tour an area that was impacted by protests and recent violence in the city. we'll go there live when that happens. also, friends and family of jacob blake, the black man whose