good day, everyone, from msnbc headquarters here in new york. it is 9:00 a.m. on the west coast and 12:00 p.m. in new york. swing state voters, what they want in wisconsin and whether anything could make them

change their vote with now 59 days to go. a milestone reached in several weekend protests where the movement is headed. plus, bracing for another spike. how crowded beaches may get this holiday weekend, and worries it could cause another covid surge. but we begin this hour with decision 2020. 59 days until the election. the traditional start of the campaign season, labor day weekend, by the way. anything but traditional in the covid-19 era. new polls, new protests and even early voting starts this week. first, growing backlash over president trump's comments on fallen troops. the president again slamming reports he referred to injured and killed u.s. soldiers as losers and suckers, tweeting today the allegations are made up. nbc's kelly o'donnell at her post, typically at the white house for us on a saturday. this is clearly still weighing on the president's mind as the

white house is scrambling to try to contain this story. >> reporter: definitely they are in damage control mode. the president has used his twitter feed and arranged a briefing yesterday afternoon where it certainly came up. he addressed questions in the oval office when he was with the leaders of serbia and kosovo. right now the president is at his virginia trump branded golf property, getting some time on the course with some golf mates, but he has clearly been concerned about this and is pushing back in the areas that you outline, discrediting the report, claiming that there are current and former administration officials, and we have seen them step forward on the record, so attaching their name to their comments to say that they were on this trip, which was in paris, in 2018. it was the commemoration of 100 years since world war i. the original article says that during that time, the president made comments about fallen american soldiers and service members, talking about them being suckers or losers, not

wanting to go to one of several events during that weekend and there was one in particular at an american cemetery outside of paris where that trip was canceled due to weather and transportation issues for the president. the helicopter could not fly there, given the fog, and they did not take what would have been a several-hour motorcade to and from. so, that was the source of the story. that was a story back in 2018, about not going to the cemetery. this came back because of this new reporting that shed some light, according to the reporting and to unnamed sources who are described as having direct knowledge of this. it describes the president's comments at the time. and that's what brought this to the surface. during the election, at a time he needs to rely on military support, both service members and their families, also his stature with the military, all of those things. the president defending himself at a briefing yesterday where he was hitting hard on these

issues. >> i think it's a shame when a second-rate magazine -- i don't read it. i know very little about this magazine. but when a second rate magazine can write things like that, about somebody that's done so much for the military, can write things like that and get away with it, where you actually ask questions on it. it's a disgrace. >> reporter: the president has been largely defending himself, saying that he does so much for the military. he points to things like his support for programs that have benefited veterans, talking about expanding resources, equipment and salaries for the military, things like that. the president didn't want to engage in that same briefing about his own on-camera, public comments about, for example, john mccain back in 2015 where he said he wasn't a war hero and the president said he didn't like people who were captured. he wouldn't engage on that, wouldn't say he regretted saying it. so this is one of those controversies that has some

credibility, just because of the things the president has said publicly, where there is no dispute, that it was his intention to say different things, disparaging a gold star family like the khans or john mccain, et cetera. then you get this report that has behind the scenes accounts and, for some people, it rings true. joe biden said he believed it. others are saying in the administration that this did not happen and they stand behind that, and they're pushing back forcefully. alex? >> all i can say about what he said about john mccain, one line i can quote "the atlantic" we're not going to support that losers funeral. the rest of them, a lot of bad language so i'm going to keep my job and not say all those words. the former vice president tearing into president trump over comments about wounded soldiers. this, as the biden campaign unveils updates to its strategy aimed at unseating the president. mariana sotomayor is joining us.

joe biden is pushing back on the comments, right? >> reporter: that's right, alex. yesterday he was angry, saying himself he had to control his temper and was never as frustrated in responding to any comment the president has made before. and as kelly noted, vice president biden does believe that "the atlantic" article is true, calling the president's remarks deplorable, disparaging and even unamerican. and just to understand why he was so visibly upset, one of the things that biden has said unprompted and repeatedly on the campaign trail is that the number one sacred duty for a president and also the u.s. government is to protect the lives of those who go abroad, because they are willingly protecting americans and democracy. so, take a listen to just a bit

of his remarks yesterday, where he says and demands for the president to apologize. >> if what is written in "the atlantic" is true, it's disgusting. if these statements are true, the president should humbly apologize to every gold star mother and father and every blue star family that he has denegraded and insulted. who the heck does he think he is? >> reporter: alex, he did mention that the campaign has unveiled its latest general election strategy on their pathway to 270. they are projecting confidence that they can beat president donald trump. however, one thing to note is that we actually ask them, is this more passionate, more aggressive joe biden, something that we will continue to see? and while they say that's not necessarily a change in strategy, you will be seeing not only the former vice president,

but senator kamala harris, dr. jill biden and many others on the campaign trail traveling to battleground states and blanketing airwaves in those very important states, saying that the president is incapable of leading simply because he has failed time and time again to protect americans amid a pandemic. alex? >> marianna sotomayor, thank you for joining us. thousands are gathering in louisville ahead of the kentucky derby to demand justice for breonna taylor after they execute aid no-knock warrant. this, as protests for racial justice in the city passed the 100-day mark yesterday. gabe gutierrez is outside of the derby fours at churchill downs. welcome to you. talk about the police presence. what is that looking like? how is that developing? >> reporter: hi there, alex. we've been moving around the last hour or so. we went to a counter protest, or

at least where several hundred militia members were gathering in anticipation of the kentucky derby. right now we're at jefferson square park. this is where a lot of the protests have been happening. this is where a lot of the protests have been happening the last 100 days or so, alex. as you can see here, there's a lot of passion in anticipation of this kentucky derby. many are demanding charges, as you mentioned, for the officers involved in breonna taylor's death. we spoke to one of the organizers of one of the main group of protesters here yesterday. take a listen to what he had to say. >> generally this is a reaction to something that's violent, to something that's a threat. the issue is there's been no violence, there is no threat. so, to come out here and see armored vehicles, to see caging all the way around, miles of caging, is ridiculous. it is offensive.

>> reporter: certainly a very heavy police presence here in louisville. jefferson square park where there is a major memorial for breonna taylor here. alex, as you can see, we're seeing dump trucks blocking the streets, many of the businesses here are boarded up, have been boarded up for about 100 days or so as these protests have unfolded. the question will be is how the protesters and the counterprotesters will interact later on today. the hope is that this will all remain peaceful. local authorities again, they have the kentucky national guard as well as state police trying to funnel the groups into different areas so that prevents any serious clashes. but the race, the iconic american institution, set to get started here in a few hours later on this afternoon. some of the protests are set to begin a few hours before that. again, people here are just starting to gather. what we had seen about five miles away, right-wing militias are also gathering here. again the hope is this remains

peaceful. alex? >> gabe, we'll check back in with you and see if it does, indeed, remain peaceful. thank you for joining us there in kentucky. let's go to rochester, new york. take a listen, everyone. >> there you hear it. the third night of protests over the daniel prude. that's the name they're chanting there. 11 people were arrested, three officers injured, in fact. in an autopsy provided by the prude family's attorney, the medical examiner says prude's death was caused by complications of asphyxia in restraint, excited delirium and acute pcp intoxication. the video was released to prude's family and that led to the demonstrations. kathy park is in rochester for us. you've been there a while following all of this. you spoke to prude's brother, joe, earlier this week. we also saw him, kathy, reacting

to the protests at a press conference. give us a wrap-up of what he has been saying. >> reporter: well, alex, good afternoon to you. when i had a chance to sit down and talk directly with joe, he said that he was very close to his brother, daniel. he would visit from chicago to rochester often, and the night of the incident on march 23rd, he said he called 911 because daniel was just acting very erratic, something he hadn't seen before. and then as far as the protests go, he said he supports the protesters as long as they are doing the demonstrations peacefully, but he said on the night -- thursday night, when these protesters clashed with police, it was actually officers who got out of hand. take a listen. >> this is a public safety building, what the hell does safety mean then? there wasn't nothing safety about what they pulled last

night. this is not what i came down here on behalf of my brother to see. that thing last night, that was a damn disgrace. >> reporter: we do want to point out that those comments were directed to what played out on thursday night. but, alec, as you mentioned, there was another round of tense moments all across rochester last night. in total there were 11 arrests, three officers were injured. the police department released a press release this morning, saying that there were acknowledge at a timers in the group who launched fire works and, therefore, officers had to deploy pepper spray as well as pepper balls. there is a lot of tension here on the ground. and demonstrators say they will be out here until all the officers involved in the arrest are fired. alex? >> three nights of protests thus far. we'll see how long it extends. kathy park, thank you, from rochester. "law & order," great television show, yes, and the

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we are back with the growing backlash today over the president's reported comments over fallen troops. the president slamming reports he referred to injured and killed u.s. soldiers as losers and suckers, treating today the allegations are made up. joining me now, ohio congressman tim ryan, house appropriations committee, also former 2020 presidential candidate. welcome back to the broadcast. thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm guessing you have a couple of thoughts on these alleged comments by the president on fallen and wounded military members. you want to share them? >> yeah. the first, just to say i don't think there's anybody who doesn't think that the president makes these kinds of comments to people who, you know, he looks down upon, veterans who have served, veterans who have given their lives for this country. there's no question that he says

things like this. and i think it's abhorrent but is also consistent with his public statements. you can go back to see what he said about john mccain. you can go back to what he said about our allies, the kurds, in the middle east, and russia, the bounties that they're paying the taliban to kill american soldiers. he has said nothing about that. the russians are interfering with the election. he says nothing about that. when so many veterans gave their lives and made so many sacrifices to preserve our democracy. this one stings. this one hits. and he knows it, which is why he's pushing back so hard. but i think, you know, the horse is out of the banner rn at this point. >> so you think that what the president is alleged to have said sounds like typical trump talk, this language? >> no question. i've been getting texts from veterans who have taken their trump signs down.

this is hurting. everybody who knows him knows he says things like this. he's lying and veterans know that better than anybody. general mattis, secretary mattis and all these others who have served and left the administration because they can't stand the incompetence and disrespect he brings to our country every single day. >> the president is leading joe biden 50% to 45%. the president won ohio by 8 points in 2016. by the way, here is something people should remember. no gop president has ever won the presidency without winning ohio. so what do ohio ans want to hea from joe biden? what does he need to say to win more of them over? and do you think he will? >> i think he's saying it already. it's about pounding that message home, which is why we really want the biden campaign to play here in ohio, because we know we can win this thing. it's about build back better. it's about the infrastructure.

it's about these manufacturing jobs. it's about making things in america again. we want to make electric vehicles. we want to make the batteries. we want to make the charging stations and that's what we do here. we have a legacy in the oughto industry. joe biden's plan throws jet fuel on making things in the united states again, in lordstown, ohio, again. we had a gm plant that had 16,000 workers. now with a potential around electric vehicles and batteries, we have the potential to create those thousands of job s again. that's what joe biden's plan does. i've never seen a presidential plan connect so directly to the economic development that's happening on the ground in places like ohio. so, the american workers want to hear this. they don't want to hear about the stock market. they don't want to hear about the top 10% making money. they want to hear about how they get cut in on the deal. that's what joe biden is going to do. the workers are the economy. president trump doesn't

understand that. but joe biden and kamala harris do. they are the economy. they want cut in on the deal. and that's what joe biden is going to do. and so ohio is very much in play and i think at the end of the day, after the next couple of months, we're going to win ohio. >> and i should point out that you talked about with gm it also addresses environmental concerns, a sidebar of that. >> right. >> let me take a look at something that this is a buckle up effect of election day. democratic data and analyst firm hawkfiche told axios on hbo of its highly likely situation that the president will appear to have won on election night. their model predicts that trump could hold, in fact, a landslide of a lead on election night. look at all the red for those of us seeing this on the screen. about 15% of the vote by mail ballots would have been counted potentially by election day. look at four days later, once every single legitimate vote has

been counted, biden actually would have the lead. do you think the president would try to declare victory, or the time to tally every legitimate vote to try to delegitimize a bi biden victory? >> look, he's going to do everything he can to try to delegitimize this election. he has already started. he started with the postal service. he started with the mail-in ballots. i think he's going to try to continue to do that. in a jujitsu move, he's going to hurt himself because the americans are going to know that he has been screaming about this for months. maybe the final answer won't be there, but he holds very little credibility in the public eye right now.

he's losing the crowd right now. if president trump says the vaccine is okay, are you going to take it or wait for the public health officials to tell you what to do? the vast majority of the public are going to wait for the public health officials. he's losing that credibility. so he may whine and complain, which we expect he will do because that's what he has done his whole life. and so we're going to expect that, but at the end of the day, the american people will want a legitimate count. and if that comes 24 hours later, they're going to be prepared to say trump lost because i think it will be overwhelming and we will win the senate. that's why we're encouraging everybody to get their vote in early. we want to win this in an overwhelming way so we can put this dark chapter in the american history books to bed and turn the page. >> all right. ohio congressman tim ryan, awfully good to see you.

come see me again. and i'll see you again. >> absolutely, alex. love seeing you. >> thank you. >> thanks. more now on decision 2020 with just 59 days to go. series of warning signs for the trump campaign as several new polls show joe biden leading the president nationally by a 7 to 11-point margin. key battleground states, those beyond ohio, fox news poll shows biden ahead by nine points of likely voters in arizona, eight in wisconsin and four in north carolina. good to see both of you. sahill, you first here. you wrote about how these new poll polls show the new strategy against biden spell trouble for donald trump. >> the conventions don't seem to

have changed the race massively. it was a seven to eight-point lead before and after. the president spent the convention and several weeks hamering the message that biden was weak on crime, that he was kind of in league with the violent looters, none of that seems to be resonating in the polls. crime does not rank as a high issue for voters. vast majority site tcite the pa. it's not even clear that president trump has an advantage on the crime issue over joe biden, cnn poll finding six-point margin, biden is more trusted by americans to keep them safe from harm than president trump. the single biggest warning sign for the president was that fox news poll from wisconsin that found him down eight points and down five points on the issue of which candidate voters in wisconsin trust in policing and

criminal justice. that's bad news for the president if he wants to keep carrying on with this message. >> i want to pick up on that last point he made with you, ayesha. the president has been using this law and order messaging. biden is leading in support of suburban women nationally by a pretty big margin there. 64 to 31%. is there any concern behind the cenes at the white house beh effective, at least to this poi point, as they had hoped? >> it doesn't seem like they are making any moves to make a change. i don't know whether it's just basically the president's instincts to just go in on culture wars. i think that he feels like this has worked for him before. when he ran in 2016, he was talking about being a law and order president then, mostly focused on illegal immigration and terrorism. but now i think he's honing in

on this idea that the cities are out of control and they're run by democrats. so you need to vote for me. and i will protect you. i think this is something that resonates with the president, and that he feels like is going to resonate with suburban women because i think in his view, he still is thinking in the 60s and 70s, the suburban housewife, as he called them, and that they're going to be concerned about crime. it's not being born out in the polls. and you would think that the president would try to make a message on the economy, because voters do trust trump on the economy. that's his one bright spot. he doesn't seem to be leaning into that as much. >> interesting. sahil, something else you wrote in your article was about this. trump benefited in 2016 from the baggage clinton carried as a polarizing public figure for three decades. biden has been in public life even longer but without attracting the same antagonism. trump has struggled to find a

scandal that similar ly goes against his character. >> it may be the single most factor he won in 2016. this month in september of 2016, there was a poll by cnn that showed him leading hillary clinton by 15 points on the question of who voters think is more honest and trustworthy. again, 15 points. trump was leading hillary clinton. now four years later this month, the situation is almost precisely the reverse. joe biden leads 17 points on voters who thinks he is more trustworthy than donald trump. this issue of biden is controlled by the radical left, biden says i'm condemning the violence. this is false.

it's hard to make these attacks stick if voters don't trust you to begin with. i think that will be a challenge for the president going forward. >> ayesha, michael cohen's new book comes out tuesday and he sat down for an exclusive interview with my colleague, lester holt. let's listen to part of what he said. >> donald trump will do anything and everything within which to win, and i believe that includes manipulating the ballots. i believe that he would even go so far as to start a war in order to prevent himself from being removed from office. my biggest fear is that there will not be a peaceful transition of power in 2020. >> do you have a sense, ayesha, of what more the white house is bracing for from this book? >> you know, i think that when it comes to these types of books, this white house is used to it at this point.

i think what you will hear from them is a lot of michael cohen is a liar. he cannot be trusted. you know, he's incompetent. >> what's one thing, though -- ayesha, everybody with whom i've spoken about this book suggests, though, michael cohen was his lawyer. he has got documentation of everything he alleges in this book. that might be a little bit different. >> it may be different. but i feel like this president has felt like he's kind of the teflon don when it comes to these sorts of things and these sorts of books, because so much of his base is baked in, and he calls everything fake news. but i do think michael cohen does present a particular challenge. as you said, he has had documents, recordings that have shown -- and one of the biggest handles about the stormy daniel payments, that came out because of michael cohen. and so that, he does have some

particularly damaging information about the president, or he has in the past gl indeed. all right. that's a wrap right now, you guys. ayesha, sahil, good to see you. thank you so much. a big surge in coronavirus cases after the july 4th holiday. will the same happen after this labor day weekend? we'll take you to south beach, florida, next to find out. florida, next to find out. ♪ after we make grilled cheese, ♪ ♪ then we're eating grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ because it's time. ♪ yeah. ♪ time for grilled cheese. you can't claim that because it's inanimate! [ sigh ] people ask ... what sort of a person should become a celebrity accountant? and, i tell them, "nobody should." hey, buddy. what's the damage? [ on the phone ] i bought it! the waterfall? nope! my new volkswagen. a volkswagen?! i think we're having a breakthrough here. welcome to caesar's palace. thank you. ♪

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now to the coronavirus. with thousands heading to the beaches this weekend coast to coast, a live look at cape may, new jersey. very pretty picture with the matching red and white umbrellas there. let's go nbc's morgan chesky, joining us from miami beach. tell me what you're seeing there and whether or not people are staying six feet apart and wearing masks. what do you know?

>> reporter: alex, good afternoon. a far different scene here for this labor day weekend than a year ago when you probably see folks lined up towel to towel here on this stretch of south beach. different vibe this year. that's good news for officials. they're trying to prevent, as you mentioned, that spike in new cases following the fourth of july holiday. we've been here the better part of today. so far it seems like everyone is socially distancing, doing their best to wear a mask to and from the beach. that is hopefully going to stay that way for the remainder of today. this is an area that is celebrating a decrease in covid numbers. back in mid-july, the state had 9,000 people hospitalized. a few days ago that number sits at around 3,000. that number is going to continue to trend downward, then people need to continue to do their part, that's what the mayor of miami beach stressed to me in an interview a short time ago. >> if you're walking on miami beach without a mask you're

going to get a $50 fine. police officer will come up to you very politely, tell you, you have to have a mask on, likely give you a mask, and likely give you a ticket, too. >> i have had a chance to speak to several beach goers here. there are code enforcement officers walking on the beach. there's police officers along ocean drive, that famous strip here in south beach. so far, i haven't seen any tickets handed out, alec, but i'm told it is early in the day and people are just now coming to the beach. it is a long weekend ahead, the mayor telling me they've handed out thousands of these tickets and, as you mentioned, following that ticket, they're also handing out masks because he says it's been proven that if people do their part, these numbers are going to continue to go down, and that's why they're at least at this point cautiously optimistic about the remainder of this popular labor day weekend. >> absolutely. morgan, real quick, you mean that those enforcement officers

patroling the beach, they're actually out on the sand? they're going to ask beach goers sitting there, sunning, to put on a mask or if people are socially distanced, do they not have to wear a mask while wearing their bikinis? >> from what i gather if people are staying to their specific spot or are in the water, it's not a problem. to and from the beach or walking on the sand going from point a to point b, you do mac yourself a potential target for an officer to walk up and encourage you to mask up. and that's definitely the case once you leave the beach and make your way to the sidewalk even more. miami beach police have been on bicycles, going up and down, keeping a close eye for that as date progresses. alex? >> thank you for that. morgan chesky, appreciate it. >> more fallout from the president's comments who called military officers who died in war losers and south

carolinaers, according to "the atlantic." 14-year-old jordan kennedy responded to his comments with stephanie ruhle. his father was killed in 2006 when he was only 6 months old. >> he doesn't know what it's like to go to war. he hasn't been to war. and everybody's families, if they are alive or not, are still heroes. they risked their lives for the country to protect the citizens, and that is donald trump included. >> 14 years old right there. the president strongly denied the report and took his further grievances to twitter with a dig at the late john mccain, even though mccain died more than two years ago. i want to bring in admiral james sa savrides, chief national security and diplomacy analyst for nbc news, and our good friend. admiral, i have to think this strikes a nerve for you.

what's your reaction to this story? >> as a former supreme commander for nato, i walked the cemeteries across europe and north africa. these are sacred shrines to those who gave everything, alex. just like that young man just told us. and that's why this story is resonating so strongly, because everybody is connected to it. and to call people who have gone into battle for the nation losers and suckers, i can hardly get those words out, is just reprehensible in a commander in chief. i don't have personal knowledge if he actually said that, and he denies it, but, a, it sounds a lot like him. these are exact words they use to talk about one of my heroes, john mccain, for example. and, b, there are those who were in the room, who were sourced. i hope some of them will step forward, go on the record. let's put this to rest one way or another. if he said those things, he needs to be held to account. >> it's hard, though, admiral. many people would like to have

anybody who did hear those things, military leaders, come forward and say yes, this is what i heard. what is it about that code, though, the military code, a differential one, respectful one that they may try to stay silent? >> i think these are intensely personal decisions for everyone who is in a position, in senior military positions. and you're right, alex, in the military there is a tendency to put a lot of faith in the idea of civilian control of the military. this feels like you're working against it. there are times you must stand and deliver as a senior military officer, and if there are such officers, retired, who have direct knowledge, i would encourage them to come forward. >> this president, as you know, admiral, keeps touting all that he has done for the military. can you tell me exactly what he has done for the military? >> in fairness, he has been

supportive verbally. he has put more money into the defense budget. but, alex, it's interesting to look at his approval rating among military, both active duty, retired veterans. pretty credible polling from military times, which is one of the big newspapers that kind of covers the military, shows that his disapproval rating among active duty military is now 50%. his approval rating only about 38%. that's a reversal from four years ago. part of it is this corrosive effect of how he comes across, his relationship to the truth. part of it is his policies in favor of the confederate flag in opposing renaming confederate bases named after generals, and finally many in the military and in the retired veteran community don't agree with his policies, denegrading nato, pulling out of

afghanistan entirely, pulling out of iraq. he's not doing well with the military despite putting money against it. >> admiral james savrides, appreciate you. thank you. >> thanks, alex. a state that voted for president trump in 2016. how is it leaning now? we'll take a closer look, next. t no sweat! try it and love it or get your money back. when you think of a bank, you think of people in a place. but when you have the chase mobile app, your bank can be virtually any place. so, when you get a check... you can deposit it from here. and you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. you can save for an emergency from here. or pay bills from here. so when someone asks you, "where's your bank?" you can tell them: here's my bank. or here's my bank. or, here's my bank. because if you download and use the chase mobile app, your bank is virtually any place.

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battleground wisconsin new poll shows that voters are leaning toward vice president joe biden. the president won wisconsin in 2016. joining me to discuss it all, charlotte alter, author of "the ones we've been waiting for: how a new generation of leaders will transform america." charlotte, good to see you. i know you've been in wisconsin this week. you've been talking to swing state voters there. what's your biggest takeaway from the conversations you've had? >> thanks for having me, alex. my biggest takeaway is that the voters that i'm talking to are not changing their minds. and, frankly, if i were the democrats, i would be worried, and i would not be sitting on that poll. i am not hearing a lot on the ground for the democrats to be happy about. >> what are the grievances? i mean, clearly, you're thinking folks are entrenched there. let's not pay attention to this

poll any longer. we were going to bring up details. let's not go there. what is it that they're telling you as to why they're supporting donald trump? >> i've been mostly in southeastern wisconsin, around kenosha, and what's important to know about kenosha and the region in the aftermath of what happened with jacob blake and the protests is that kenosha, as a city, appears blighted. it is totally boarded up. there is a perception that there was violence in the streets and that donald trump came in and helped to heal -- if not heal the city, then end the violence. i mean, of course, many of these protests were extremely peaceful and orderly, but walking around downtown kenosha, it looks like a city that has been under siege. all of the windows are boarded up. even if they're not broken, they're boarded up to protect

them from being broken. and the people that i'm talking to felt like this was, in some ways, a tipping point for them. i have talked to people who told me that they were sort of on the fence and -- but then appreciated that donald trump came to the city and also appreciated that the national guard came. >> okay. >> so i -- go ahead. >> flip on that, though. joe biden went there. what was the reaction to that? >> reporter: the reaction to that is also not something that i think democrats would be happy about. i was outside of the event where joe biden was, and the support for him was weaker than the biden campaign would like. i talked to black voters who were only reluctantly going to vote for joe biden. i talked to a couple trump voters who were waiting for biden to come out and say hello to the couple dozen people who were gathered there to see him. he did not, partly because of

covid concerns. the campaign has been, you know, keeping him pretty much, you know, inside, in very controlled situations in order to not gather big crowds and risk spreading covid. but i wasn't hearing a lot of real, excited enthusiasm for joe biden on his visit. and i was seeing a lot of real enthusiasm for donald trump when he came. >> so, donald trump won the state by about 23,000 votes. not a significant margin, but nonetheless did bring the win. is there anything -- just do like a mental algorithm right now. do you think there's that much still in flux, those that are still undecided, that many people, or how entrenched are the people with whom you've spoken? >> so, i've spoken to a little more than five dozen people, just roughly in the kenosha and racine areas. i only met one person who was a

trump person in 2016 and is now voting for biden. i met a couple of people who didn't vote in 2016 and are now voting for biden, but i also met a lot of people, more than a couple, who didn't vote in 2016 and are now voting for trump. so in an area where donald trump only won by less than 300 votes, i think that this is still very volatile for democrats, in particular, and for a state that they need to win. i just don't think that they should be sleeping on wisconsin. >> okay. i know that this is the beginning of a swing state tour for you, my friend. charlotte, after every single state you go to, you're booked on the show right now. we're going to talk about it and go through this with you. got it? just nod and say yes. >> sure. >> thank you so much. we'll talk with you again soon. north carolina has kicked off mail-in voting. what are they doing to make sure that every vote is counted and just once?

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election officials are pushing back on the president's suggest that people in north carolina should vote twice to make sure the new system, quote, works. nbc's jordan jackson is in winston-salem, north carolina. welcome to you. what are officials there doing to make sure every vote gets properly counted? i'm going to emphasize the word "properly." >> reporter: that's right, alex. election officials tell me they are really working around the clock, trying to make sure that this all goes as planned. this is not typically a state that likes to vote by mail. normally that number is just around 4% to 5%. election officials tell me this year that number could be as high as 40%. they've started these premgss as early as possible. they're getting those first ballots sent out, stuffed into

envelopes. it's a challenge, alex. this comes as the president just this week encouraged voters in north carolina to test the system, if you will, by voting twice. i actually spoke to an elections board member here in forsythe county about those comments from the president. take a listen to what he said. >> if you want to go to jail, vote twice, because it is illegal to vote twice. the president may not be up on that. and, you know, he's entitled to say what he thinks. but when you vote twice, that's a felony, and you will go to jail for that. i hope that folks know you get to vote once. if you drop off your absentee ballot and then decide to go to your polling location on election day and deliver another vote, that's going to be problematic. >> reporter: now, this official is worried that people will listen to that advice and then they will be one to suffer the

consequences that come. again, leaders here just really stressing the importance of following the law. alex? >> nbc's jordan jackson, winston-salem. thank you, jordan. we're following protests in louisville, rochester and portland. we'll take you around the country next. portland we'll take you around the country next my bladder leak pad? i thought it had to be thick to protect. but new always discreet is made differently. with ultra-thin layers that turn liquid to gel and lock it inside. for protection i barely feel. new always discreet.

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good day, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." so much to talk about. let's get started. keeping an eye on three u.s. cities, portland, oregon, louisville, kentucky, and rochester, new york. three cities in the midst of a call for racial justice, and an end to police brutality. we have reporters in place to bring us the latest on what's happening there and what the residents want. we'll start with gabe gutierrez, joining us from outside the derby at churchill downs, the kentucky derby, of course. welcome to you, gabe. you've spoken to activists on the ground there. how do they feel about this

race, and what they're