presidential election. labor day means there is now a full core press underway from both campaigns. all four nominees, two for president, two for vice-president were out in full messaging mode today. the president speaking from the white house. joe biden in the battle ground state of pennsylvania and the vice-presidential candidate, each of them in the critical state of wisconsin. this afternoon trump defended his handling of the coronavirus and continued to talk up the possibility of a coming vaccine while also attacking senator kamala harris for saying that she wouldn't necessarily trust a vaccine that's been approved by the trump administration before election day. >> under my leadership we'll produce a vaccine in record time. biden and his very liberal running mate, the most liberal person in congress, by the way, is not a competent person in my opinion, would destroy this country and would destroy this

economy. is this immediately apologize for the anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking right now. now they see we've done an incredible job, and in speed like nobody's ever seen before. this could have taken two or three years. and instead it's going to be -- it's going to be done in a very short period of time. could even have it during the month of october. maybe even before a very special date. you know what date i'm talking about. >> there are now more than 6.3 million cases in the united states and more than 190,000 have died. some experts warn of a possible surge after this labor day holiday weekend. today biden again slammed trump for his response, and also weighed in on the issue of vaccines potentially being ready before election day. >> he has just sort of waved the white flag on dealing with covid. and he only -- all he wants to

do is just reopen. [ inaudible question ] >> i would want to see what the scientist says. full transparency on the vaccine. if i could get a vaccine tomorrow, i'd do it. if it cost me the election, i'd do it. >> the president spent the weekend vehemently denying he called veterans suckers and losers. first reported by the atlantic magazine. the atlantic also reported that trump was angry when flags were lowered to half staff after senator john mccain's death and that he referred to mccain as a, quote, loser. today trump was asked about his denials. >> some people are having a hard time believing your denial of the atlantic story because of what you said about john mccain. >> i don't understand it at all, no, because i've always been on the opposite side of john mccain. john mccain liked wars.

i was never a fan of john mccain. who would say a thing like that? only an animal would say a thing like that. there's nobody that has more respect not only our military, but people that gave their lives in the military. >> had campaign is also underway against the backdrop of protests against police use of force and incidents of civil unrest. this weekend brought more demonstrations over police shootings in louisville, kentucky, along with rochester, new york, and portland, oregon. the latter two cities also seeing outbursts of violence and property destruction. the president has pointed to these incidents as he's pressed his campaign message of law and order and blamed democrats for the ongoing demonstrations. >> these are democrat-run cities all, and there's no, there's no retribution. they stand there, they throw things at the people that are supposed to be protecting something, and nothing happens.

i was with the governor in texas. he looked at me and said, i can't imagine how they allow this to happen. >> meanwhile kamala harris met with the family of jacob blake during her visit to wisconsin. she also spoke to him on the phone. blake was shot in the back by kenosha police officers responding to a domestic incident two weeks ago and is now unable to walk. >> they're an incredible family. they've endured and they just do it with such dignity and grace. you know, they're carrying the weight of a lot of voices on their shoulders. >> here for our lead-off discussion, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." anita kumar, white house correspondent and associate editor for politico. and clint watts, former fbi special agent in member of the joint terrorism task force. thanks to all of you for being with us. as we enter, i guess we say labor day is the start of the homestretch two months from election day. of course, early voting, mail-in

voting that could begin -- is beginning sooner than that. peter, let me start with you to set the stage here for where this race is. we see national polls with the president trailing by about 7 points. we see him down but a bit closer in the swing states. from the white house's perspective, how do they get from here to victory in november? >> right, that's a great question. in fact, one of the things you hear from them is their polls are better than our polls. their polls are better than the public polls and they think they have some momentum. public polls aren't showing it. this race is directly where it was. biden has a substantial, though not overwhelming lead at this point. and the question is where can trump go to make sure he locks up that electoral college majority, right. their theory is that if they can hold onto florida, arizona, and north carolina, then all they have to do is win one of those four midwestern states.

minnesota, wisconsin, pennsylvania and they keep biden out. the strategy is to make biden unacceptable, to make it a choice, not a referendum. to talk about why trump voters, voters sympathetic to trump should get out to vote because biden is too much of a threat to their livelihoods or the safety of the streets and so forth. again, whether that's going to work or not that's what the next two months are going to show. three chances for them to go head to head and compare them rather than make it a referendum on trump, that's going to be one of the defining moments of the next 50 days or 57 days. >> peter notes wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, those four midwest states right there. so much attention on wisconsin the last couple of days, last couple of weeks, i should say. the polling right now will show more of this later. but the polling is not budging in wisconsin. what are you picking up from folks around the president?

are they surprised the numbers are still where they are in wisconsin? does it give them any pause about the message that they're playing with here, the strategy they're employing in those states? >> well, there are people that have been convinced for months now, weeks -- months this law and order message for suburbanits, women is the right message. they don't think it will change until the last couple months. they think these are the times after the conventions as we get into post labor day might change. they plan to stick with this message. they think it can work in some of the states you mention. minnesota, wisconsin, places that are heavily white, but the problem is that this might backfire in other states where more diverse states where they also need to win and it's the polls are showing they're not doing so well or down. we're talking about places like

north carolina, carolina, georgia. this has been president trump's problem. he's been reaching out to his base and talking to them, but he's trying -- while his campaign is trying to reach out to other groups, what he's doing is undermining that. so it's a very conflicted message, much like we saw at the republican convention. >> clint, again, with each of the campaigns trying to get a message out here, from your standpoint when you look at how this campaign is going to play out, sort of the mechanics over the final two months, what variables do you see that have the potential to shape this race? >> honestly, steve, i don't think there's a whole lot that could be a big, big game changer. if you look at the message about the military over the last week that's come out from the atlantic, i don't see any military members. i come from the military. their impressions of president trump really came from how he handled general mattis and general kelly who both became secretaries for him. i think when you look at the political issues that are happening, the law and order

message has been established by president trump, the russia investigation, what we see from overseas, we've seen the ukrainian debacle go down with rudy giuliani. it can't get into the airwaves at this point. and so i'm interested to see what can move the needle at all. what could be a serious game changer. we're always looking for an october surprise. but i just don't know what's left in the canon for either of these campaigns to make a sizeable shift. i know the vaccine is going to be one, but i'm not sure that the public could believe the president six months ago and now believe him about the vaccine now. >> peter, let's talk about, too, the comments from the president that the atlantic reports -- they cite unnamed sources. some other outlets have said the same thing. they have some high-ranking unnamed sources, too, saying the president had made these disparaging comments about veterans. what are you picking up, again, in the white house around the president here in terms of how they are thinking about the

impact of this story? >> well, you see in the intensity and ferocity of the response, the military they see as part of their base has already been sliding away from them. the military times showing the active duty troops are siding with biden right now. i think it's 41 to 37. that's a dangerous sign for this president. if this narrative that he belittles them behind closed doors, losers and suckers outside of camera range becomes the established narrative among military families, that's an obvious political explosive for this president. that's why he's going out there and trying to diminish it as much as possible, to make sure there's at least some question in the minds of people that they can say, look, there are all these denials, why should we

believe this? as jeff mason pointed out, it's so in keeping with what the president said on camera about john mccain. he said, look, i never called john mccain a loser. we see that very word on videotape. he used it on twitter. there is a credibility issue. some people will always believe everything the president says. some will believe what his opponents say. he'll make sure the people who are sympathetic to him in the military community do not accept this as a genuine report. >> anita, and obviously we've been talking about it well, the coronavirus looms here -- before election day there is a breakthrough when it comes to a vaccine. politically, the way the president is positioning himself here, if you could talk a little about potential risks there from the president's standpoint. is he promising something that

if it doesn't come through could cost him at the polls? and also the flip side, the response you're seeing from democrats here. kamala harris, president going after her on that. is there a risk politically for democrats being too skeptical, being seen as too skeptical here at all? >> well, obviously the president needs to have something in these next two months. he needs something pretty big to change the dynamic. most of what america is still dealing with is the coronavirus. so it needs to be a vaccine, a reduction -- significant reduction in inaffects. this is why he's talking about schools. he needs something to change. what he's been focused on he's been focused on for weeks. he said the end of the year, today he mentioned october. the special day is the election he's referring to. he's very much pushing this. this is his number one goal for,

politically speaking, for the coronavirus stipt. yes, you saw senator harris, senator biden pushing back on this. the president may not get the vaccine he wants in the next few weeks. if you listen to public health experts they say it's quite unlikely. is he promising something he can't deliver? probably. democrats are saying he's lied before. he's promised things that just haven't happened, so we don't trust him this time. both sides are looking at this. for all the talk about law and order and the military and everything else, most americans today are still at home dealing with schools and businesses being closed. this is the thing that they want to be resolved. so it's really going to come back to the coronavirus and how much things have changed or will change. >> clint, when you look at the

atlantic story that's out there, the comments the president is purported to have made, you get the sense from the reporting here we're talking about very high-level people who were or are in the administration. the prospects of one or more of those people coming out publicly between now and the election and putting their name on it and flesching out some of the context do you think realistically there is a prospect like that happening? whether it's related to this story, there were stories that came out, high-level folks, maybe former administration folks making this kind of comment, the prospects of somebody coming out between now and election day? >> steve, i put the prospects as low. i would say that would be a serious game changer. there were two, two individuals in particular, that were looked at. maybe even a third.

but they were, you know, general mattis and general kelly. they were seen as the responsible adults that were going to go into the administration. they would be the ones that led policy in the military and protect homeland. you saw them leave in a spectacular way in terms of the resignation. general mattis loving a darning matter. they have been consistent about remaining silent. these are people inside the inner circle that have heard possibly these comments or other comments about the military, about law enforcement, about christianity as being another one that's sort of a bed rock of trump supporters. and if someone were to come out and say, hey, look, i was there. i'm not going to support this any further, i think it would be a game changer. i just know the folks that are in there by and large are known to keep their mouth shut.

they thought public servants are there and they don't want to be seen as influencing politics. they could put a shift particularly with military veterans. >> clint watts, anita kumar, peter baker, thank you all three for being with us. we appreciate that. coming up, president trump calling that report in the atlantic a hoax. we'll ask a four-star army general for his take on the fallout. and later as we mark the official end of summer why officials warn we're headed for a surge in the coronavirus. you're watching msnbc.

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soon could be a big change at the pentagon. nbc news reports the white house officials have spoken to v.a. secretary robert wilkie about taking over as defense secretary should the president fire mark esper. our own carol lee and courtney kube ee report the president has

long been unhappy with esper, adding this quote. two senior administration officials said trump discussed the position directly with wilkie last month. two other senior administration officials said wilkie had senior level discussions with the white house about becoming trump's next defense secretary. this as the president continues to deny reports that he insulted fallen u.s. soldiers. not long ago during a virtual campaign event, joe biden had some tough words for the president over those alleged remarks. >> when it comes to veterans, he's downright unamerican. i've never said that about a president ever, ever, ever. but calling those who have served, risked their lives, even gave their lives to our nation losers and suckers, these are heroes. >> and with us to talk more about this, general barry

mccafree, former battle commander in the persian gulf and now a msnbc military analyst. thank you for joining us on labor day. i want to ask a question i asked in the last block, but i think you might have an interesting perspective on this. when you look at these explosive reported comments, the indications are that the reporting here is coming from some very well placed individuals, folks we'd know if they stepped forward. why somebody like that wouldn't step forward in a situation like that and put their name on it. i'm curious what you think about what might be behind that reluctance. and do you think anything could compel them to come forward to put their name on it between now and election day. first, i think they've been

plausible. they've been verified by too many news organizations. to include a.p. and, of all things, fox news. that is the way mr. trump talks in private about a lot of people, a lot of institutions, never mind fallen soldiers at a world war i cemetery, the war that changed the world. 118,000 u.s. troops that stepped forward and were killed trying to preserve democracies in europe and the united states. i think that's what went down. he's a person that is basically contemptuous of so-called experts. i think a bigger story today, to be honest, is the notion he's going to dump another secretary of defense, probably replace him with an acting. mr. trump is defying the constitution, the senate

prerogative, and is running most of our bureaucracy with acting slots or senior people. mr. trump has become a huge menace to u.s. national security. embracing dictators attacking allies. it's an astonishing occurrence. by the way, biden used the proper word. this is unamerican behavior by a senior politician of the united states. >> the president asked about this today. he's been denying over the weekend and denying he made the comments. here's what he said about his relationship with the military. let's take a listen. >> i'm not saying the military is in love with me. the soldiers are. the top people in the pentagon probably aren't they want to find wars, the companies that

make the bombs and make the planes stay happy. we're getting out of the endless wars. you know how we're doing. >> what's your reaction to that? >> that is the most sickening statement by a president of the united states i think ever heard. these senior officers in the army, navy, air force, marines, have been in combat since they were lieutenants and captains. some have been wounded some have ptsd. feeding his base the notion these people are unamerican and they're in the sway of the industrial community is an astonishing statement. what would be going on right now in a jcs tank session with that comment out of the commander in chief who has ultimate command

authority with the secretary of defense over he a couple of men and women in the armed forces. >> i want to return to the question, again, there does seem to be potentially, at least, a difference between the reporting that's out there from multiple sources right now in terms of what the president said privately, but not having a name on it saying, i'm the one who heard this. here's my name. here's my position. hires' what i heard, somebody coming out between now and election day and saying that, you have a sense of the world we're talking about here. what do you think of that? >> well, look. most senior military officers in the back of their mind both think -- they're remarkable marine senior officers. they have loyalty particularly to a president they actually

served. i think it's unlikely that they want to become part of the political process. and i might add, who needs their testimony? i mean, we're reading books from the president's lawyer, family members, bolton who served in the administration. senator mccain, a hero to the armed forces, 5 1/2 years being tortured by the north vietnamese, he said senator mcdoon cam mccain loves war. he is a fearful person and causes him to be fearful of the administration. >> general mccaffrey, thank you for joining us.

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in the pandemic, the united states has experienced some of the lowest case fatality rates as any major country in the world. and we are an absolute leader in every way. >> the to from the coronavirus man united this labor day weekend. the university of the washington institutes of health and metrics evaluation predicts over 410,000 americans could be dead from covid by new year's day. based on current trends. adding to concerns, "the new york times" points out, in terms of daily case counts, the united states overall was in worse shape going into labor day weekend than it was for memorial day weekend. the nation is now averaging 32,000 cases, up from 22,000 ahead of memorial day weekend. joining us now dr. avita pavel,

aid to jarrett in the obama administration. doctor, thank you for joining us. we say it's about 40,000 new cases a day. i saw dr. anthony fauci i think it was last week saying his target in his mind for that number is 10,000 or less per day. the prospects of eaching thatener future. what do you think? >> yeah, steve, it's a great question. i think it's possible. first of all, we're doing better in terms of wearing masks and distancing, you showed footage with crowded spaces we have hot spots at campuses in faculty and student. in order to get to dr. fauci's goal, it is within sight. we're going to have to continue to really encourage masks, mask mandates. we're also going to be really

increase groups. we have to do everything possible to kind of limit the numbers of people that are infected and limit them from contacting any other people. but it's possible. it's just that the signs we saw over the weekend are not that reassuring. >> and you mentioned, too, we see these numbers now on college campuses. it seems as if starting in march and april when this took off in the new york city area it's kind of worked its way into different regions different times. two months ago we were talking about georgia, florida, texas. now talking about midwest states. this seems different what we're talking about right now than what's been described as a potential second wave of this. when we say a potential second wave, what are you looking for there? >> yeah, with the second wave, first of all, we need to continue to see declines just as dr. fauci was hoping for. and then with a second wave we

would really be looking, steve, at that are not or infecteffecty rate. one person is affecting other person. we saw one person infecting three, four other people. so that would be a very concerning trend that would indicate a second wave. and i think the reason you saw those dark ovminous projections. they are taking into account an outbreak of the flu or pneumonia which we could see in the november/december time frame, adding to the covid deaths as well. >> so when we talk about this issue of a potential vaccine here, i know there are several candidates for the vaccine that have now entered stage three. hear it's a complicated process.

even if they arrive at one that works, actually getting it out to the population is going to take some time, too. in terms of looking at this scientifically, medically where they are, how close do you think we are to being at a point where it can be said, okay, here's a vaccine that is going to work? >> yeah, what you said is very important for viewers to understand. that here is a vaccine that's going to work -- in other words, that it's safe and effective. and we will likely see from one of several who are in phase 3 trials some data that shows us it is safe and effective. it woz puuld push the food and administration to jump through hoops they would need to jump through they would put forward an emergency authorization. i don't think the american public to think that means fda

approval. like when you and i pickup a medication that's gone through the process and has full approval. there will be phase three enrollment by october. and soon thereafter we could see emergency approval. i think for a regular kind of american to get what seems to be two shots that they will need, we're still looking at 20, 21. it is going to be a very small population of people that will virginia high risk to the people. we're talking about the american the storage, the supply chain, the physical logistics of getting vaccines to people, we're looking at spring, late springer 2021. >> dr. kavita pau sell, thanks as always. appreciate it. we're going to go over to the big day. labor day up there.

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the air is getting just a little bit chillier or a less bit humid. the calendar is flipped from august to september. the holiday weekend is here. 57 days now until election day. the homestretch is upon us in this presidential election. can you believe the homestretch is upon us? let's take a look here by the numbers nationally, state level, electoral college. where does this race stand? here we go. from 30,000 feet, this is the broadest view we can take here. this is the national popular vote essentially, the national polling. this is the average of the national polls as we hit labor day weekend. biden leading trump basically there by 7 points. about a 7-point lead nationally for biden over trump. that's relevant for two reasons

there. number one, that's basically where it's been -- that's basically where it was a month ago, give or take a few fractions of a point, basically where it was a month ago. you had the democratic convention, you had the republican convention. you've had the issues in kenosha, wisconsin. you've had a lot happen in the last month. but the bottom line in the national number, it really hasn't changed. that's probably significant. just in terms of no obvious new trajectory in this race. the other thing that's significant when we look at national polling between now and election day, it's very true obviously. we do not elect the president by the national popular vote. but keep this number in mind now. 7 points. if it does start to move from there, that's going to indicate that the electoral college is probably moving, too. so in 2016, hillary clinton won the national popular vote by two points over donald trump, but lost in the electoral college. so if clinton won the popular vote, lost the electoral college, it means that the

battle ground states, right, that are going to decide the electoral college, they're probably going to be closer by a few points than what the national popular vote is. so if it's 7 in the national polling right now, that means -- and you're seeing it here -- this is where the six big battle ground states are. each one of these six states was a trump state in 2016. each one of these six states right now, biden leads in the polling. you notice these numbers, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1. each one less than 7, less than that national lieead. that's what we can expect. the battle ground states will be closer than the national horse race. that's something to keep in mind when you see the national numbers. let's zero in here on wisconsin. trump won the state by a fraction of a point in 2016. his campaign has been saying that law and order message we're talking about here, kenosha, they say that's going to help them in wisconsin in particular. we've got a direct measurement we can show you. the same pollster u-gov, just

before the convention, biden ahead by 6. took the poll again, take a look, 6. they found no change. let's see if that itself can change going forward. but i think that can be an alarming sign there at least for the trump campaign. they have been talking about those numbers needing to move in wisconsin. so far they're not. a quick look at the electoral map. this is where it landed in 2016. 306 to 232. the most direct route for democrats to get the white house, it's those three states. pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. again, less than a point with trump's margin in 2016. we just showed you the polls. biden leads in all of them right now. they hadn't gone republican since the 1980s, until 2016. if biden flips them, if he flips those three states and nothing else changes on this map. that alone gets joe biden past

270. so trump has a lot of challenges when you look at this map right now. he's trying to shore up support. one bottom line looking at it, the three states he barely won in 2016, if he doesn't find a way to hang onto at least one of them, that's probably it for him. his campaign has been talking about wisconsin in particular. we just showed you the numbers there. the bottom line, he's got a lot of work to do. we'll see if he can get it done. coming up, the race for the white house, kicking into high gear. we're going to talk to two veteran political journalists about what the next 57 days might bring. the unmistakable lexus is. get zero percent financing on the 2020 is 300. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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this pandemic has crushed our country. the sad thing is it didn't have to be this bad. but i have a plan to rebuild this nation. not only rebuild it but rebuild it back better. and start getting this virus under control. >> former vice president joe biden was in pennsylvania for some socially distant and virtual labor day campaign stops today. trump meanwhile spoke from the white house. and with just about two months now until the election, it's the holiday weekend when we typically see campaigns kick into high gear. the "new york times" said no president has entered labor day

weekend, the traditional kickoff of the fall campaign as such a clear underdog since george bush in 1992. and joining us now senior politics editor for msnbc and msnbc news and a national political reporter for nbc news. he is covering the biden campaign. mike, let me start with you. we talked at the top of the show about how the white house looks at these final two months, what they're trying to pull off, how they think they're going to. take us through how the former vice president's campaign is looking at things from their vantage point right now. >> yeah, steve. labor day is a great time to take stock of where we are and how we got here. i'm thinking back to the conversations i was having with the biden team before and then in the early stages of his candidacy in april of last year. and i'm really struck by how consistent the situation is in their eyes, how much of the game plan is still very much the same when they got into this race. for them the formula for a joe biden presidential run was always to improve or at the very

least hold steady with what hillary clinton did among african-american voters. they certainly think they can improve among that category. you look at the post-george floyd, jacob blake, the way the biden campaign has really leaned into this social justice messaging, kamala harris on the ticket now. and we haven't even begun to see what barack obama will do in the fall campaign. you look at what the biden argument was about electability, that president trump has already tried to throw the kitchen sink at joe biden. it wasn't going to work. and what have we seen now in the fall campaign so far? the trump campaign really hasn't been able to land a consistent message about joe biden. you heard the president today now just calling him stupid. and then you look at what labor day was all about for the biden campaign and really what they always thought was going to be decisive for him. and that is this cultural connection he has with working-class union voters. hillary clinton won among eight points in union households in 2016. the biden campaign confident they can rachet that number up.

that's the difference in pennsylvania, in michigan and wisconsin. especially if we look at certain counties in pennsylvania and then what has changed, stephen, it's obviously the pandemic. the biden campaign thinks that's the number one issues that voters are going to be deciding on. they think the trump campaign hasn't engaged on that in any meaningful way because they don't think they can win on that. and that's why the biden campaign expects to tighten this. but can voters get to the polls safely and have their votes counted on election day? >> and, beth, mike mentions the word consistent there when it comes to sort of the trajectory of this race. we mentioned trump's in worse shape than any incumbent since the last one to lose re-election, bush in '92. but you look at '92 and bush was facing a double-digit gap at this point. we just showed the trump gap is only seven. and if he got it down to, say, three or four, the electoral

college could potentially come into play for him there. the issue with trump seems to be that even cutting this lead three, four, five points, a seemingly small number, has been elusive for him this year. >> yeah, that's right. i've got to agree with mike. it's the consistency that we've seen from the biden campaign, the consistency that we've seen in this polling that you went through when you were at the board is really what's the hallmark of this race at this point. and that is a problem for president trump because, as you know, he just went through this big effort to tie joe biden, tie the democrats to the law and order -- or law and disorder, as he calls it, happening in some cities and warning of apocalyptic future for suburbs if joe biden and kamala harris are elected. seems to be a very racial ploy that he was engaging in very obviously. and we saw all sorts of polling come out last week to show that didn't work. and, in fact, joe biden is seen by more voters as handling race and unrest better than president trump. so it's like mike said.

president trump hasn't figured out a way to land a message successfully on joe biden. he tried that today in the press conference. he rolled out a number of things. he talked about joe biden being a pawn of china, that he'd be a trojan horse for the left. he brought up the subject that took him to impeachment, ukraine and hunter biden. he tried all sorts of things and it really does have the feeling of throwing spaghetti at a fall. nothing is sticking, nothing is working. he tried a few messages today against kamala harris and we're worried about if that's going to be more of a sign against the vice presidential hopeful. he called her an incompetent person who's never going to be elected vice president. like mike said, the mentioning against biden isn't working so far. and the calendar is counting down fast. >> mike, we've only got about 30 seconds here. we heard earlier the trump folks putting a lot on these debates. how are the biden folks looking at the debates?

>> yeah, obviously an important milestone for joe biden, especially when they know what the larger wrap against joe biden has been is that he's not ready for prime time to use the words that president trump used today. a lot of the importance i think placed on how to handle president trump in the debate, i think the biden approach at this point is to just sort of look at him and sort of write it off. the country is tired of it, fatigue is sort of the order of the day. for biden just to stay on message and speak directly to the voters he needs to win. >> thanks to both of you for being with us. we really appreciate that. coming up, at the top of the hour, both candidates zeroing in on the economy. trump talks about law and order, kamala harris speaks with police shooting survivor jacob blake. we're going to have all of that and more. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc.

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good evening. i'm steve kornacki at msnbc headquarters in new york. and we are now 57 days away from election day. president trump and joe biden are now at the most crucial stage of this campaign. they are focusing their attacks on a number of issues including the economy on this labor day weekend. the latest jobs report shows that more than 1.3 million jobs were gained with the unemployment rate now at 8.4%. that is considerably higher than where it was before the coronavirus took hold, but it's also down from its pandemic peak of nearly 1