good day, everyone. it is high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." in a few hours, it will be official the impact amy coney barrett could make on the supreme court and america. >> i'm confident all the irresponsible, outrageousvotingn election in this country as we always have had. and and he'll leave. >> joe biden in an msnbc exclusive, taking on the president's efforts to undermine trust in the voting process. checking the pulse of the race with 38 days to go. the pages from the obama playbook that biden needs to borrow. plus how latinos might jump-start the economy and the

message voters want to hear from the biden campaign. an in-depth look for you. the president's supreme court announcement coming this afternoon. nbc news has learned from multiple sources the president's pick, amy coney barrett to fill the vacancy left by justice ruth bader ginsburg. she serves on the seventh circuit court of appeals, former law professor at her alma mate r, notre dame. a devout catholic and, if confirmed would cement a conservative majority on the high court. carol lee is in washington for us. carol, good day to you. we have the president settling on judge barrett. what all led to his decision? >> well, judge barrett was on the president's short list the last time there was an opening on the supreme court and he had to put forward a nominee. she is seen as someone who is a

known quantity. she's seen as someone who can move quickly through the senate process. as you know, this will be a process that the president and senate republicans hope moves very quickly, in a matter of weeks. and she's seen as somebody who the senate republicans can really get behind. this is not a time when they can -- the president can afford to have fractures within his party. he was hearing from a number of senators they wanted somebody who had that long paper trail that showed they were a conservative, that demonstrated that, that demonstrated they were against the way that roe v. wade was decided and the feeling among republicans, and significantly evangelical leaders was a judge like amy coney barrett was somebody who felt they would side with the way they think the votes should go in the supreme court on a number of issues. the president was feeling pressure from a number of his allies, and there were some advocates for another candidate who was seen as a contender for

this. barbara laguoa from florida, she had a number of officials, particularly in the state of florida, who were advocating for her, saying her background as a cuban american and a very appealing choice. the president got a lot of pressure from really religious conservatives who said we want somebody who is clearly a conservative. barbara lagoa doesn't have that long paper trail and demonstrated conservative cre t credentials, and the president ultimately went in that direction, according to our reporting. it's notable, alex, the president has a meeting at 3:15 shoorlt before he's to make the announcement with evangelical leaders. from talking to some of them since this has come out are quite happy that the president has moved in this direction. >> a pick that senate republicans can get behind, i'm curious on the timetable behind this when we know quite clearly that he wants this all to happen and to be a done deal before the

election. is that possible? >> certainly it's something that he's going to try. the president has said that he wants whoever his nominee is to be confirmed before the election, specifically because -- and he said this himself, that he believes the supreme court is going to have a say in some of the litigation over the election, over whether it's ballots, the way the votes were cast, and that he wants somebody who is sitting on the court, that it's a nine-justice court, not a tie with what it is now with eight. because he thinks that's going to be very significant. now, there are people who are allies of the president who think that this is something that he should wait until after the election to get confirmed because it could be seen as a motivating factor in the election. i spoke to one evangelical leader, robert jeffers, the head of the baptist church in dallas, who said why would you give your kid the dessert before you make them eat their meat and

vegetables? that's how some of the president's allies see this, it's better to wait until after so you can use that as a motivating factor. >> the president talking already in advance of the legal expectations, the lawsuits that could be filed. carol lee, many thanks. the biden campaign will appear virtually today at several events ahead of the first debate on tuesday. we're hearing from biden in an exclusive interview with msnbc stephanie ruhle. deepa shivaram is following the biden campaign. what's on the schedule today? >> reporter: it's a busy week coming up for joe biden. he will face off with donald trump in a series of debates we'll be seeing in the next couple of weeks as we head into november 3rd. in the background, as we were talking about, is this whole supreme court nomination, the process that's going to fold out 38 days before the election. this is something that joe biden actually spoke about with nbc's stephanie ruhle, this whole

process of confirming the next supreme court process and what the division essentially looks like in washington right now. take a listen to what he said. >> look at congress right now. republicans are trying to push through, jam through a supreme court pick while many democrats are saying they're going to vote no before they even know this person's name. you said you're the one who can actually unite people. how are you going to do that? look how things are right now. >> number one, i'm not being facetious when i say this. get rid of the worst president in american history, donald trump. he holds a lot of people his way. a lot of people in the republican party know he's vindictive. with him gone, i think it opens up a different avenue. >> reporter: so you hear, alex, him talking about the number one priority is getting rid of donald trump. that's what democrats are saying. that's what joe biden is saying. he's tying that idea and this whole process of putting the next supreme court justice

through the nominating procedure as a question of unity. he has stressed this up until this point, talking about how he will be a president who doesn't just talk to red america or blue america but unites the country together especially after all the division we've seen since the 2016 election. that's the message he has been pushing the last couple of months and is likely to come up on the debate stage. he's talking about how he will be able to draw contrast between donald trump's issues on a lot of issues and his own. >> indeed. thank you so much, deepa, for that. stephanie ruhle's exclusive interview in conjunction with l'attitude is under way right now. she will be interviewing joe biden about 20 minutes from now. jim macina, big welcome to you. look, biden's approach to

campaigning during this pandemic has been a lot more low key than what we're used to seeing. associated press is reporting, as you know, that biden's aides insist his approach is intentional, showcasing his respect for public health guidelines aimed at preventing the sprez of the coronavirus and preventing a responsible contrast with trump who has resumed large-scale campaign rallies, sometimes over the objections of local officials. still, some democrats say it's critical that biden infuse his campaign with more energy. what do you make of that, jim, in this pandemic era, does a lack of actual campaign presence hurt? >> i don't think so. i don't think you can have more than this current we raised a quarter million dollars online since the rbg passing. historic early vote numbers in early states like north carolina that we're seeing numbers every day.

you're seeing an absolute fired-up base. i don't know how much more energy these folks want the base to have. >> what are you hearing from inside the biden camp on this polling? he is leading in all of the six state polls, almost all of them there, somewhat swing states, although texas isn't necessarily one. where does the biden campaign need to focus its energy moving forward? >> first of all, they have to lock down the blue wall of the midwest. we cannot sit back and assume as we did in 2016 that pennsylvania and michigan are ours. trump won by those three states. carrying those three states has to be job one and expanding the base into florida, into north carolina, arizona. you know, we lead in all of those places. and those are really, really good. and i have lots of friends saying oh, my gosh, we're competitive in texas. we're competitive in georgia. mission number one has to be the

midwest and locking those states down and building up into states like arizona. >> are they confident about success in those states, those numbers? >> we're in the bed-wetting time of the campaign right now. everyone is freaking out. i certainly hear it. if i hear one more friend tell me how scared they are, i'm going to lose my mind, alex. however we're doing whatever we have to. the early numbers look good. we assumed a lot of things as a party in 2016 and i think a little bed wetting is fine right now. we should absolutely assume nothing. the biden campaign is trying to reinvent modern campaigning in this middle of this election. instead of having traditional organizers on the ground, now they have virtual organizers and they're led by a really smart campaign manager who knows better than anyone in american politics and they're quietly

confident but they're not going to assume anything. given that there's over 200 lawsuits in the battleground states right now, contesting everything about some of these early vote numbers and same-day numbers and all these things, we can't assume anything. the best thing we can do as democrats is run hard to the tape and win this election handily so we don't have to go to the courts. >> do you worry at all, though, particularly in those midwestern states? it would seem that voters appreciate that one-on-one outreach, right? as you know npr has been reporting that the trump campaign knocks on about 1 million doors a week. joe biden's campaign has not knocked on any doors for months, in lou of the personal meetings, they want to focus on the conversations they can virtually have there. does that worry you, the lack of personal touch, if you will? >> well, a couple of things. if donald trump's campaign has knocked on a million doors in a

week, i'm a super model. who exactly is answering these doors? would you answer a door in the middle of a pandemic crisis? come on. university of chicago poll shows a touch of social media, from a friend on facebook, twitter, et cetera, is as effective as door knocking in the days of pandemic. we ought to get past our 200-year history of politics and realize we're in unprecedented times. there are many different kinds of touches. the amount of texts, facebook posts and things i get from volunte volunteers on the biden campaign, who make sure i'm voting in my precinct of montana, not a battleground state i think i've already decide who had i'm voting for. i think you have a whole bunch of energy going on in the biden campaign and i'm not as worried about it. it doesn't mean we shouldn't assume anything. it doesn't mean we shouldn't go the whole way but i think they're reinventing politics before our own eyes and i think it's going to work. >> okay. 38 days to go, jim, what did

obama do in '08, in '12 that hillary clinton did not do in '16 that joe biden must do in '20? >> win rural voters, rural white voters. eight points, the margin in pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan. get out the vote strategy with our coalition in trying to let these folks vote. 6 million americans voted for both donald trump and barack obama and the biden campaign and the super pacs are absolutely focused on those people from an roi perfect spespective, the sit people to go get. they used to vote democrat and didn't last time and we can get them back. second thing that biden needs to do is have a good debate. >> yeah. >> as you remember in 2012, barack obama lost the debate, the worst that anyone lost the debate. >> what can he do to ensure?

>> don't take the bait. donald trump is going to come out, down six points nationally, down in every single battleground state. he's going to come with a chainsaw at joe biden. he needs to stay calm, have his lines, rye mind people of the choice. be the guy that can bring us together and not answer every attack and fire back. it's going to be hard, but i think he has to be joe biden. if he does that, i think he will have a good night on tuesday. >> okay. anecdotally to your point earlier, my handsome friend, jim messina, thank you very much. see you again soon. appreciate it. be sure to, all of you, catch our coverage of the first presidential debate tuesday night. brian williams, rachel maddow, joy reid and nicolle wallace are leading our coverage. coming up in a few minutes, nbc exclusive interview with joe biden. he will respond to president trump casting him as a socialist. stephanie ruhle speaks with the

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. a reminder, how you vote is as important as who you vote for this year. our guide has everything you need to know to cast a ball ougballot in the presidential election. visit nbcnews.com/planyourvote to learn more. this weekend in person, no excuse absentee voting is under way in michigan. some clerk offices already offering weekend hours to all you early bird voters. michigan shapes up to be a critical battleground state as campaigns target white suburban voters in areas like rochester.

what's different about voting there this year? >> reporter: alex, it is that in-person, no excuse absentee voting that is new in 2020. it's the first election cycle where voters can come early to vote absentee. i spoke with the city clerk, who said that in a city with 10,000 registered voters, 4,000 have already requested those ballots. with michigan requesting 2.39 million record absentee ballots, that is pretty striking. and in a state that was decided in 2016 by about 10,000 votes, every vote counts. i talked to the clerk, who seems confident that here in rochester those ballots, absentee or otherwise, will be counted by election day. here is why. >> michigan has one of the best processes in place. mainly because the local clerks are the ones that handle the

elections rather than at the county -- even though we have a county elections director, we are the ones doing the absentees. it's not at the county level. i think having more people involved makes it better. >> reporter: now michigan has really been doing a lot to ensure that ballots will be cast -- will be counted in a timely manner. there was legislation passed just last week that allows larger cities to begin the process of processing ballots the day before election day so that they can streamline that, get those votes counted by the end of day election day. a judge recently ruled ballots that arrive two weeks after election day but postmarked will be able to come through. they're doing a lot to ensure that we will know the results in a timely manner in michigan. >> as well they should, julie jester. thank you for that. meantime, stephanie ruhle is

next with joe biden to discuss his vision for america with less than six weeks to go for election day. it's part of the l'attitude, which will have extensive coverage for you during the next hour and a half here on msnbc. i'll see you again at the top of the hour. stay with us. with us 2020 lowest 5-year cost to own brand, and most trusted brand for 6 consecutive years. no wonder kelley blue book also picked subaru as their 2020 best overall brand. a trusted brand and a proven value. it's easy to love a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on select subaru models, now through september 30th. eh, not enough fiber... chocolate would be good... snacking should be sweet and simple. the delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. with nutrients to help

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good day. welcome to this cnbc special edition event. i'm stephanie rulle. msnbc will be sim ul caulcastin next 90 minutes with l'attitude. i spoke with joe biden, the democratic presidential nominee. he spoke to issues that affect the latino community, an important vote being block. we'll get reaction and insight

from a panel of key voices at the l'attitude conference along with some of my colleagues. first, here is former vp joe biden. >> mr. vice president, we have got to start with one of the biggest concerns on voters and lawmakers' minds. twice now president trump has refused to agree to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. what are you going to do if you win and he just won't leave? >> number one, the american people won't be shut down in this election. they're going to vote and vote in large numbers and they're just not going to be denied. it's going to be clear from the beginning exactly where this is going. but, look, no, this is a typical trump distraction. trying to make everybody wonder whether or not the election will be legit and whether or not absentee ballots matter. he's writing his absentee ballot out in the oval office to run in

florida -- i mean to vote in florida. every vote in this country will be heard. they'll not be stopped. i'm confident all the irresponsible, outrageous attacks on votie gvoting, we'lln election in this country as we've always had, and he'll leave. >> back in 2016, he did the same thing. he included baseless voter fraud claims, saying he wouldn't accept the outcome. but this time it is different. this time, he has the power of the oval office behind him. does that not put our democracy at risk, given the power he has and the position he's taking? >> i just don't think -- the power of the oval office depends on those with authority to enforce what he says. he already has six members of his administration who were four-star generals and in major positions on homeland security and the like who have said this guy is not fit to be president. i don't think he will get the fbi to follow him or anybody

else to enforce something that's not real. what i do -- am concerned about is whether he generates some kind of response in a way that unsettles society or causes some kind of violence when he talks about, well, you know, the time the polls close, i was winning on the vote, you know, but now these votes coming in late -- but i don't think it's going to go anywhere. i think the american people are on to this guy. >> but come november 4th, we know all the votes won't be counted, and if they're not and people are fired up and take to the streets, what will you do? >> well, look, i'm not going to even entertain that, because i'm not anticipating that will happen. what will i do? we're assuming that even a republican court would respond in an appropriate way, based on what the law is. and that our democratic and republican friends in congress

would respond. the last thing we need is the equivalent of a coup. this is not who we are. no one is going to back him when that occurs, if that were to occur. i think this is his whole -- the whole notion of him talking about this, stephanie, is to take our eye off the ball, not to talk about what's happening to the people dying of covid, not to talk about all the unemployment, not to talk about him being unwilling to bring the congress together, get off his golf course, out of a sand trap and have a meeting in the white house. it's always about distraction with him. i think that's what this is about. >> something we are being distracted from, something important, is russian election interferen interference, fbi director chris wray has raised this issue twice in the last week and there's absolutely no sign that president trump is going to address it. what is your message to vladimir putin? >> my message to vladimir putin

is if i'm elected, i'm coming. i've made it clear before and i'll make it clear again i was part of the trans-atlantic commission where the former secretary general of nato and i, and former republican homeland security director, we all got together and met in europe and made a commitment of all those standing for election, we committed if there's any interference from outside and we knew about it, we would call it out and not accept it. i took that pledge. they took that pledge. this president refuses to take that pledge. he refuses to take that pledge. he would like very much to see vladimir putin to continue down the road he is. but i promise you -- i promise you, there will be consequences -- there will be consequences if i win for this involvement and our sovereignty. >> i want to talk to you about voters, specifically latino voters. it's one of the reasons you and i are speaking today. >> yes. >> a hugely important voting bloc, especially in key

battleground states. why is it, given president trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric and actual policies, why aren't you polling better? >> i'm doing well with hispanic votes. should i be doing even better than i am is the question. the fact is, if you're an h hispanic voter, thinking about how donald trump has treated puerto rico after hurricane maria, or treating them like second-class citizens, how covid hit the hispanic community across the country in a deadly way. 40,000 latinos. you have a pretty strong case for their vote. in addition to that, he hasn't -- he's not doing much of anything to help them at all. look at what's happened with covid. look at all the small businesses that have gone -- latino small businesses that have gone out of business. look at all the turmoil that it's caused. here is the situation. i want to make it clear to the people -- by the way, we're

expending significant resources to get my case across. they make up about, you know, if you look at the whole thing, they would be the eighth largest economy in the world if you took all latino votes and all those latinos and what businesses they had. we cannot do well in america if the latino community doesn't do well. the idea of holding them back is totally counterproductive. we should be investing and giving them opportunities and increasing opportunities. we're committing the most resources in history, working as hard as we can for this vote. and i'm determined to work as hard as i can. more than any other community, they've been hit by the pandemic very badly. the economic impact has been badly -- badly hurt them. that's what i've been talking about. >> economic policy is hugely important. they're the fastest growing group of small business entrepreneurs in this country. does it surprise you, then, that the president merely saying, i'm

going to cut taxes and i'm going to deregulate, that works for you? you know it doesn't. why do they hear his message and somehow agree with it? >> i'm not sure they agree with it. i think they've seen when the carnie show comes through the next time they're not willing to accept it. his p hispanic businesses and families have been hit hard by the pandemic. they've been significantly more likely to contract covid but die from covid at a higher rate. four in ten hispanic families had kids going how longry. more than a quarter of hispanic families are unsure they can make rent or mortgage payment next month. one in three small businesses in the hispanic community have been hit badly. we need to stop trying to take away health care from millions and they should be receiving a

relief package now. congress has passed such a bill. but he is refusing to bring -- well, you know, i'm not in control. he takes responsibility for nothing. he should be pulling the leaders of congress together right now to deliver the relief that is needed for small businesses that are hit hard by this pandemic. he should be expanding insurance. shd be providing nutrition assistance to families. all those things he has the ability to do because congress already passed, the house already passed such a bill. if they don't like it exactly the way it is, negotiate it. for example, paycheck protection act, 1% of the money has gone out. 1%. 1% of the -- that's not the paycheck -- the, um, the -- the bill for small -- for major -- >> lending. >> 1% has gone out and paycheck

protection act went out. it should be focused on businesses under 15 employees, that's 90% of latino businesses. the house has already done this. he is just up there, squawking away and not telling the truth all the time. as i said it's time to get off the golf course, start doing his job. >> the president does spend a lot of time talking. one of the things he says over and over is that you will push a socialist agenda. you've said it very clearly, you are not a socialist. and you actually have a record to prove that you're not. but what the president does, he says you are, he says it twice as often and twice as loud. how do you combat that lie when he keeps pushing it, and some voters start to believe it? >> well, um, i'm not sure anybody hasn't already made up their mind, but who knows? you say the lie long enough, keep repeating it, repeating it, repeating it, it becomes common

knowledge, they think. look, the other week i was too tough, and now the american people -- i think they know who i am. they know my heart they know my story, my family's story. trump is using socialism to scare and distract floridians from a failed pandemic. look, here is the guy -- he has refused to grant temporary status to venezuelans, embraced dictators around the world. it's ridiculous. people see clearly the difference between me and donald trump. trump is, you know -- trump is, is -- is clearing protests in front of the white house that are peaceful, you know with, the military. this guy is more castro than churchill. >> money matters to all voters. you and i both know that the stock market and the economy are the same thing. you say it all the time. while most americans aren't wall street investors, they do look at the market, many of them do, firefighters, cops, teachers, because they care about their pensions, their retirement accounts. >> they do.

>> when the president says look at your 401(k). do you like it? without me it's going to go down the tubes. what do you say to them? >> first of all, did you see that moody's report that came out today or yesterday? moody's compared my financial, my economic plan to his, pointed out that i would, in fact -- under my plan we would have 7 million more people employed. more people would own homes. we would grow the gdp a trillion dollars more than his plan would grow. that's moody's, not me. that's wall street operation, that's not me. here is the deal. one thing about wall street, i think having the stock market go up is good. look what's happened during the covid crisis. the 100 top wage earners s in america, billionaires, and what happened to people -- i know you don't like the comparison to scranton. what happened to people in scranton? they can't pay their rent.

they have trouble paying their mortgage. they have food shortages. they can't pay their bills. they're worried about whether or not he's going to strip away their health care, he's going to strip away aid to education. he's going to reduce the amount of money for public school. they're worried about that. their standard of living has decreased, not increased. that is not inconsistent with saying if you have a pension plan you want to see the value of that plan go up, because it's invested in the stock market. but that is not the primary or only measure of whether or not people are going to succeed. my dad used to have an expression. he said joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. it's about your dignity. it's about respect. it's about your place in the community. it's about being able to hold your head up and being able to look someone in the eye and say it's going to be okay. if they're still employed, notwithstanding they have a pension and many, many, many don't have a pension plan.

they are wondering where do i go from here? how do i keep up? how do i pay my bills? >> dignity, integrity and honesty. i know you're deep in debate prep. i don't want to keep you much longer. >> i have time. go ahead. >> speaker pelosi has said you shouldn't debate the president because he has no fidelity to fact or truth. does she have a point? >> she does. people in the press have written articles about that, leading columnists, who to the best of my knowledge are not democratic or republican, just leading columnists and one of them said i shouldn't debate him unless there's a crawler underneath everything he says, fact checking as we go. look, the people know the president is a liar. they know that. it's not like it's a -- it's going to come as a surprise to them. and so i'm prepared to go out and make my case as to why i

think he has failed and why i think the answers i have to proceed will help the american people and the american economy, and make us safer internationally. it is going to be difficult. i know -- i mean, my guess is, it's going to be straight attack. they'll be mostly personal. that's the only thing he knows how to do. don't know how to debate the facts. he's not that smart. he doesn't know that many facts. he doesn't know much about foreign policy or domestic policy. he doesn't know much about the detail. and so he can do what he wants. i think like you said, he will be mostly, you know, personal attacks and lies. but i think the american people are on to him. >> lastly, mr. vice president -- >> we'll see. >> -- your message to americans who think the government isn't working for them. look at congress right now. republicans are trying to push through, jam through a supreme court pick while many democrats are saying they're going to vote know before they even know this person's name. you said you're the one who can

actually unite people. how are you going to do that? look how things are right now. >> women, numbell, number one, being facetious when i say this. get rid of the worst president in american history, donald trump. he holds everybody at sway. everybody in the republican party knows he's vindictive. when sessions left and he went after him in the primary. people are worried, i think, about what he will do. with him gone, i think it opens up a different avenue, number one. number two, you can't find any republicans in the senate and i don't know that many, whether i can say the same in the house, who don't know that i just level with them. i tell the truth. we've had reports on your show as well where there are leading republicans, if biden gets elected, we could work with biden. everybody knows there are things that have to be done and they can get done. for example, infrastructure. for example, dealing with the

plight of people with covid. there's a lot of things that i think there's room to get done. things get done. it's going to be hard. i'm not suggesting there's anything easy about it. it's what i've done my whole life. i've said to you before, stephanie, i think, that i learned a lesson a long time ago. it's always appropriate to question men in their judgment but not their motive. once you question their motive it's personal. you're in the pocket of the cement industry, by the way, let's work out something on building highways. it doesn't get done. and so i've never done that. and people know i don't play that way. i believe we can come together and put it another way, we have to come together. we have to. we cannot be this divided country. trump is solely determined to divide this country when it needs to come together. and even trump's four-star generals have left the administration saying this is the first president who does not unite the country. matter of fact, he goes out and tries to separate them instead of dividing us. these are people in the administration.

so i think, you know,''s determined to stoke the flames of racial division and nation -- when the nation is ready to deal with a long history of racial injustice, he just pours, you know, fuel on the fire. he's determined to rip the soul out of the nation. when i said this before, people criticized me, about bringing in -- saying i was naive, talking about we can bring people together. but it's the only way forward. the president of the united states has to be part of the soluti solution, not the problem. i'm running as a democrat, but i'm not a democrat president. i promise you this. i'm going to be a president for those who vote against me as well as those who vote for me. i'm not going to fan the flames of hate. i'm not going to go out there and make things worse. as president it's my commitment to everybody, i'm going to lead on these issues and listen because i truly believe in my heart of hearts that we can overcome anything when we stand together. i really believe it. and i think a lot of my

republican colleagues still do, too. >> sir, that's a really important message and important words, just like saying breonna taylor's name is important, but what will you do for those people in the streets protesting tonight, who say they will not see racial justice in their lifetime, will you appoint, say, a criminal justice czar if you're elected president? >> what i'm going to do is bring together a national commission and in the wake of breonna's death, we mourn for her mom and her family. they're asking can justice ever be equal in america? i know so many people that this recent decision doesn't satisfy. a federal investigation remains ongoing but we don't have to wait for the final judgment to deliver justice for breonna. here is what i know. we have to start by addressing the excessive use of force by policing, overhauling no-knock warrants. i'm going to set up a national commission where we bring in police and the community to talk about what we have to do.

the cop ice know are cops who, in fact, want to get rid of bad cops as much as bad lawyers want to get rid of -- good lawyers want to get rid of bad lawyers. violence is never acceptable. that's the one thing we have to communicate. john -- look, the whole notion of what's going on here is we cannot let -- have an excuse for him to avoid what needs to be done. those who engage in violence must be held accountable. shooting of a police officer in louisville the other night, our prayers are with that family. we can express grief, anger and disappointment with the way things are, but build trust in communities. we have to continue to speak her name. we have to continue. but when i'm president there will be a national commission that will be sitting in the white house and they're going to bring these parties together and make sure we get some serious reform within police departments across the board and we're going to get it done. >> words, action and justice.

mr. vice president, thank you so much for your time today. i sincerely appreciate it. let's bring in our panel to discuss. l'attitude co-founder and chair and co-founder of the latino collaborative. ceo of the national association of hispanic retail professionals. msnbc's elisia menendez, anchor of american voices, and maria teresa komar. maria, to you first. joe biden making his case to latino voters. latinos, almost 40,000 have lost their lives to covid. 3 million are unemployed and one in three latino small businesses have taken a serious hit because of covid. >> what joe biden was able to lay out is what a different world will be when he is president of the united states, because all of that, underneath

everything you're talking about, there is an incredible level of anxiety in the latino community that took place the moment that donald trump descended the elevator and we've not been able to shake it off. children that are young as 3 years old in the dallas system, school system have anxiety levels and depression that are through the roof. this is an opportunity for the latino community to come together to recognize that not everything they want to hear right now may be on the -- may be coming out of joe -- vice president joe's mouth but as a community we can negotiate with him. he will have a seat at the table. only way we actually change the course of where we are in this country is to ensure that the second largest group of americans are helping to find the 21st century. you mentioned, stephanie, we are getting decimated in the latino community. we are. but we're also the backbone of this country. we are the eighth largest

economy, $2.37 trillion purchasing power. disproportionately young compared to the rest of the americans, that we have action toes health care and are addressing the racial inequities in this country. look, under trump, we've not suffered more, but the possibility of him taking office once again will be incredibly difficult for the latino community to recuperate from what the covid pandemic has done. we've never seen so much excitement, so much engagement when it comes to registration. we've registered over 357,000 new voters in five battleground states, including florida, texas and arizona. there is just a different energy, because i think now that people are paying attention to the stakes, they're seeing how irresponsibly this president has actually hurt the country. they're paying attention because

we can't afford another four years. >> maria, why isn't he polling better, vp biden? >> i think a lot of the polls, often times, don't actually address the younger voters that are often left off the table. i also think that what happens happened historically and has happened in the last two elections, 49% of registered latino voters don't ever get a contact from a political campaign or a candidate. yet 79% of us register and vote, and go out. this is the challenge, stephanie. in the latino community it will be a peer-to-peer conversation around the dinner table. and also around labor day it tracks when people are paying attention. it will be interesting is for us to take a temperature check of the latino community after this week's debates because that is when the most of americans are tuning in.

that is when people will start paying attention. >> gary, you just heard vp biden's -- he laid his case out of why people should vote for him. are latinos listening? >> part of what the vice president said definitely was music to my ears. it was really great to see the latino community characterized for what we are, an economic force in this country. we know that latinos are suffering right now. we know 10% of them are unemployed. there are also many, many latinos starting businesses that are buying homes right now and are the most optimistic segment of our population i want to hear more of that, frankly, from the vice president. i want to hear more of that from all the candidates up and down the ballot moving forward this is what the latino community really is. we need to start characterizing the latino community for what it stands for, which is prosperity, which is ambition and optimism.

>> saul, what is your take? often when we talk about latino voters we immediately go to immigration. it's hugely important but certainly is not the only issue. when talking about trying to get votes those at risk for being deported are not in a position to vote for the next president. those who are in a position of running small businesses, they care about a lot. >> you're absolutely right, stephanie. and i think what gary said, though, is really important. this cohort is really optimistic about our country. when we talk about latinos, we should talk about them as this country, because they are the future. you've seen some of the data. to your point, the u.s. -- the latino cohort probably one out of every three or four families owns a business and they do care about business-like issues. they want to know what this

candidate biden has to say about their future. good news for us here at l'attitude is that he did provide a message to the attendees here, and anybody that's registered in terms of a viewer of l'attitude, and that message was very spot n. and was very clear about his business perspective on our economy and the notion that the latino cohort is critical, critical to this nation's gro h growth. not just for latinos but all americas.

>> there isn't one latino vote. look at latinos, for example, who supported bernie sanders. he does not have that pro-business agenda. he much more identifies with democratic socialism. even though democratic socialism is not traditional socialism we know every day president trump pushes this idea that a joe biden presidency is a pro socialist presidency and you've got a lot of cuban-americans and venezuelan-americans who are afraid of that. >> a lot of that isn't in the nuance of that argument as much as it is to go back to something maria teresa said. we know that young latinos are particularly policy sensitive. and the truth is, they still, many of them, need to be introduced or reintroduced to vice president biden. they need to know what his agenda is going to be. to echo something that a lot of people said here, there is still

incredible opportunity for joe biden to continue to grow his numbers among this electorate. another place where there's opportunity is among latinas. we heard a lot about young latino men are considering donald trump, defecting to donald trump. we have heard less about the power of latinas. they are among the most invested and engaged voters in this election, and yet we know from past elections that they often perform 14 to 20 points lower than nonlatina, black and white women. there's opportunity there, both for the biden campaign to persuade them and there is room there for them to turn them out. what does that mean? you talk about young voters. you talk about latinas, very often these are voters who feel they are outside the process. they feel this is all happening around them. that's why the work maria teresa does is so critical, showing up, getting in front of them on the biden campaign, getting the right surrogates in front of

them and convincing them that their vote matters. that means playing on absolutely every medium they have available to them, steph. >> elisia, do you think that's not happening? >> i have one more thought for you. >> i'll jump in and then i'll let you go to that next thought, steph. yeah, i think there's always room to do more, right? if you look at these numbers, because there seems to be this debate of how is biden doing in the polls? in a normal environment, whatever you consider a normal environment to be, the republican candidate was going to get somewhere between a quarter and a third of the latino vote. i think what people are surprised by is we are now seeing the type of numbers we would expect in a normal environment this is an incumbent, republican presidency. and he is benefiting from what

comes from being an incumbent. i think it is telling that in your interview with former vice president biden, you heard him talking explicitly about the investment that he and his team are making in this vote because there is an understanding of how critical it is going to be in some of these swing states. >> gary, last point to you. sol, we'll see you in the next hour. so while we have a minute left. >> okay. >> yeah, i will just end with this. that is -- i've said this many times. latinos come to this country not because we don't like where we came from, not because we don't like the food, music or the people. we come to this country for economic opportunity. we come because we want to create a better quality of life for our families and we want to hear candidates who speak to that. >> all right then. gary and elisia, thank you so much. sol, i promise, you'll get that point in, in the next hour. you and maria teresa will be back with us as we continue to

cover critical issues that matter most to latino voters on november 3rd as we go into election season. that's what we have in 2020, election season. specifically the latino economy which, as we said over the last hour, is becoming a force to be reckoned with, and how immigration is going to play in the upcoming election. elisia, we'll see you at 6:00 p.m. eastern tonight for your new show "american voices." for now i'll toss it back to my friend and colleague, alex witt. >> thank you so much, steph. great interview with the vice president and terrific discussion afterwards. in just hours, the president will announce one of the most consequential choices for the supreme court in generations, but is confirmation a guarantee? but is confirmation a guarantee? hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums

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welcome back, everyone, to "weekends with alex witt." in just a few minutes, economic power of latinos in america as we take you back to the l'attitude conference. first, this breaking news to share with you. we are four hours away from the president announcing his supreme court pick today, 5:00 p.m. eastern from the white house rose garden. nbc news has learned from multiple choices that the president has chosen amy coney barrett to fill the vacancy by justice bader ginsburg. the president teasing the