good evening and welcome to "politics nation." tonight's lead, unfollow the leader. as i continue to pray for the swift recovery of the president and his wife, treated now for the third day for the coronavirus infection, i take no pleasure that the number of trump's white house staffers and

trump adjacent lawmakers diagnosed with the virus continues to grow. as with last night's broadcast, i won't invoke karma as some have done, but it deserves mention that so many of the elected officials were willing to risk their lives, not for conservative principle or moral objection, but in political bondage to one man who is now indeterminantly ill. and on the heels of this diagnosis, seems to have finally realized just how real this pandemic is and has been for more than 7 million people, more than 200,000 of whom have lost their lives while he modulated the danger for his own ends. many assume because the hottest spots were places republicans didn't lead, at least at the beginning. but this week the gop learned

just how far this pandemic has grown beyond minorities living in blue state cities, though they continue to disproportionately suffer in every way. no, donald trump cynically played with his supporters' lives, too. but threw enough red meat along the way to make believe they alone were being fed the truth. but president trump may not legally hold that title in 30 days if trends hold, as a brand-new poll out from nbc news today has him 14 points behind joe biden after tuesday's debate. so tonight my anger is mostly directed at the president's enablers in congress. at least some of whom will survive election day if they're up, that is. and right now even as they are humbled by this plague in their

ranks, they're still pushing two looming fights over the next round of pandemic relief and, of course, the fast-track nomination of amy coney barrett to the supreme court. joining me now is senator chris van hollen, democrat of maryland. senator, let me ask you first before i get into the relief for american citizens around this pandemic and the nomination of judge barrett, how do you read these conflicting signals we're getting on the president's health? we see one day his doctor says something, then his chief of staff meadows says something else, and it seems now the doctors came back out today to try and, in many ways, denounce what his chief of staff said yesterday. what is going on with these mixed signals and the way you

look at it? >> well, reverend al, it's good to be with you. as you say, there's been a total lack of transparency, no clear guidance to the american people as to the president's situation. you've got one part of this white house saying one thing. you've got doctors saying another. this is a moment where it's very important that the united states and the world understand exactly what the president's condition is. and yet what we're seeing now is what we've seen all along, which is the white house wants to throw out a lot of confusion. and i hope that they will get their act together for the good of the american people. >> now, when we say this, we're not just talking gossip or that we are anti this president or a different party. but we are talking about the president who has the power as the head of state as a president

and the commander in chief, and what signals this sends to enemies of the country abroad. i mean, there are all kind of ramifications to this instability at many different levels in terms of how the u.s. deals both domestically and globally. >> well, that's right. i mean, this is a national security issue. any time you have the commander in chief in the united states under uncertain health conditions, obviously our adversaries as well as our allies are wondering what's happening. that's why it is important that we speak with clarity and that we have good information on the president's conditions. and what we've seen is just the opposite, total confusion. but as you know, reverend al, this has been part of this white house's m.o. from the very beginning. they don't like to level with

the american people, but at this point in time it's not only misleading the country, but it could create dangers and risks for our country because of the way the rest of the world is watching us. >> now, they have three senators right now who have tested positive to covid, all republicans. will this have an impact on the supreme court hearings? >> well, it certainly should. you know, this was an illegitimate process even before this latest outbreak at the white house and the senate. mitch mcconnell, of course, completely reversed himself from the position he took when president obama was in office. but on top of all that now, if they move forward, they will be putting at risk members of the senate. but not just senators. i'm worried about much of the hill staff. i represent the state of maryland. many of the workers who will be

supporting those committee hearings come from maryland. and what they're saying is that they don't care about putting them at risk. all they care about is moving forward to put this, you know, person on the court. and, by the way, as you know, their first order of business will be that hearing to take away access to affordable health care and protection for preexisting conditions -- >> in the middle of a pandemic -- in the middle of a pandemic, that's the first thing on the calendar. >> exactly. and, look, walter reed military medical center is also in the state of maryland. we're very proud of all they do, and i'm glad that the president of the united states is getting first-class medical treatment paid for by the taxpayers. but it's outrageous that at the same time he and all those republican senators are working hard to take away access through affordable health care for millions of americans and put them at risk when they have these preexisting conditions

from covid-19 and other things. so that's outrageous. it's outrageous that on the one hand we appreciate the care the president is getting, and i do, but those same people should not be trying to take that protection away from tens of millions of americans. >> well, we also for the life of me can't understand just fast-drive this confirmation hearing and want to also rush the vote to stack the court in the supreme court. but they can't seem to come to terms for a relief package for the american people and for small businesses. their priorities still seem very much out of whack as far as i'm concerned. but thank you for being with us today. >> you're right. the house just passed round two, as you know. speaker pelosi and the house. and still mitch mcconnell refuses to bring that up to a vote.

at the same time he's trying to rush through this confirmation, put people's health at risk, and ultima thule ultimately jeopardize the american's health. >> thank you for joining me. the black rock founder c.e.o. of advancing health strategy, ayesha mills and former republican from florida and an msnbc political contributor. let me start with you, david. dr. blackstock, i want to play your comments made this morning by the president's physician. i want to play this. about why his update to the american people on the president's health on saturday may have not been entirely truthful. listen to this. >> i was trying to reflect the

upbeat attitude that the team, the president, his course of illness has had. i didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. and in doing so, you know, came off that we were trying to hide something, which isn't necessarily true. he is -- the fact of the matter is he's doing really well. he is responding. and as the team said, if everything continues to go well, we're going to start discharging him back to the white house. >> now, david, is this an acceptable level of transparency about the condition of the commander in chief? >> it is not, rev. look, the doctor should not be concerned whether his words are going to steer the narrative of the president's health, but rather whether or not his words will reflect the accuracy of the president's health. we are in a campaign season.

donald trump is somebody who tries to control the narrative at all times, but we have to recognize nations only have one president at a time. and ours currently has been stricken by a virus that has proven fatal in many in the president's peer group. that is a matter of national security, of domestic security, and it is a matter that should fairly inform the voters' decision going into november. the president is now a walking billboard of his own failures on the pandemic and it is true this weekend, it is true this week going to november 3rd, he will try to obfuscate that. at the end of the day, this is not a president who can be trusted. and his council cannot be trusted. >> let me go to you, dr. blackstock. he has certainly in my opinion done all that david just said.

but questioning the doctor, is this appropriate behavior, for a doctor to engage in deciding he wants to give a different message for whatever reason, political or whatever he thought he was doing, is this the right behavior for a medical doctor? >> thank you for having me on, reverend al. so, what we've seen is a total lack of transparency in terms of the communication about the president's health status. a lot of conflicting messages. we were told that he is doing very well and he had a mild symptoms. but at the same time, he's had fevers. his oxygen level has gone down twice to dangerously low levels. he's been given experimental medications. >> right. >> as well as other medications we know are typically given to patients who have moderate to severe symptoms. what this is doing is confusing the public and worrying us even more about what is the real

situation, what is his accurate condition. we don't know. >> if someone is given oxygen twice and the other things that they have said, does that sound like a mild condition to you? i mean, i'm not a doctor, but is that mild? >> absolutely not. it's not mild. and what he's been given so far in terms of supplemental oxygen and all those medications he definitely does not have a mild case. his on set of symptoms, we don't know the exact day of diagnosis, but he has a few more days before he's out of the woods. and so to say that he will be leaving the hospital on monday i think is very optimistic. >> now, ayesha, obviously our allies and enemies are watching this chaos surrounding this situation. here's house intelligence chair democrat adam schiff. >> if he's fighting off this virus, what does that do to his

decision making at a time when we have the russians actively interfering in our -- >> um-hmm. >> we have iran still, you know, burning to retaliate for the killing of soleimani. we need to know what the president's condition is and we need to make sure that we have all those contingencies covered. >> ayesha, we have real threats out there as mr. schiff said. you have the threat to avenge for the death of their military officer in iran. you have -- you don't know what's going on with north korea and others. i mean, and this kind of instability can only, in my opinion, put us in danger of those that may want to exploit this and potentially do things that could be -- and i'm saying could be -- of danger to the

united states when the commander in chief is projected in this way. and we don't even know for certainty what's going on with him. >> exactly, rev. and here's the thing. i just want everybody to remember -- and i hope everybody who is watching this programming is a voter and intends to vote. elections have consequence. donald trump's entire political strategy -- much of the strategy for his life and his business. but his entire political strategy has been to destabilize our democracy, to create distrust around it, to propagate misinformation in a way that creates a break down that he then is able to benefit from. here's the thing that people who supported him in the past should realize, and all of us should understand about how we're thinking about going and voting in the next 30 days, is that we also now have been destabilized with regards to our role in the world. we used to be for, you know, all

intents and purposes, the beacon of hope for people all around the world. now we are the laughing stock, and it is because from a national security perspective, from a diplomatic perspective, all of the antics and the lies of the donald trump and his own personal gain, political strategy, are also allowing our reputation to tumble around the world. and so i just want to put the plug in that as we consider, despite his health, which frankly is very much our problem, but after -- in november we have an opportunity to choose who we want to continue to be an unstable country, to continue to be particularly vulnerable with regard to our posture around the world because of this president's strategy, or do we not. we get to make a choice. so i think what's really important is we focus on our power at this moment and we make the right choice in november how we vote. >> david, it's not only just a choice in november. people are voting right now. you can vote in minnesota and

virginia. early voting has already started. and all of this confusion is going on as the election has already started. the election will not be november 3rd. there are many states like virginia and minnesota has already started that will have early voting. in that climate, in the fact that people are voting, how do you see the importance and how would you handle if you were advising either side wednesday night's debate of presidential candidates vice-president mike pence and senator kamala harris? >> i think we're in a position, rev, where the biden/harris campaign should cancel all remaining debates because we are in a public health pandemic that has touched the president of the united states. biden/harris also have the ability to do that, "the comfort" of doing that with a significant lead. and what i believe we'll see is biden and harris taking on the air of the presidency because

there is a sense of inevitability that will begin to grow. donald trump is desperately needed momentum. three weeks ago he lost it talking about suckers and losers in the military. then there was the woodward book, then the supremacy around the debate. then the president's health. donald trump is going to go viciously negative on joe biden. it is the only thing he has left. i think biden and harris can elevate themselves in the voters' minds and give them the assurance that the vote will count in november, that they need to get out and vote. and to my florida friends, tomorrow is the last day to register. and watch biden/harris take control of this campaign nafrtive in the next three weeks. >> i have to leave it there. thank you, dr. blackstock, ayesha miller and david jolly. coming up, evangelical christians have long supported trump.

nbc's lester holt will host a town hall in miami on msnbc. then on wednesday mike pence and kamala harris are set to take the stage for the only vice-presidential debate. join our primetime coverage at 8:00 p.m. eastern wednesday right here on msnbc. now to my colleague richard lui with today's other top news stories. richard? >> good afternoon, rev. here are some stories we're watching this hour. out of control wildfires blaze in california. more than 16,000 firefighters are trying to contain 23 major wildfires. in addition, there were 27 new fires of varying sizes reported just yesterday. this week the flames engulfed white sulfur springs, the oldest resort in the state's history almost destroying the entire structure founded in 1852. today marks the sixth day in a row another tennessee titan player tests ---ed positive for

covid-19. ten players have the virus. the titans/steelers game was postponed to october 25ing. the chiefs game scheduled for monday pending the latest covid-19 test results after players on both teams tested positive this week. the u.s. virus death toll now hitth over 210,000 and confirmed cases now surpass 7.4 million. more "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton right after the break. fter the break. ese backstories? i got help from a pro. my financial professional explained to me all the ways nationwide can help protect financial futures in peytonville. nationwide can help the greens get lifetime income because their son kyle is moving back home and could help set up a financial plan for mrs. garcia. and he explained how nationwide can help mr. paisley retire early and spend more time with his pal, peyton. and their new band. exactly! yeah. don't forget the band. i haven't. ♪ i try so hard, i can't rise above it ♪

♪ don't know what it is ♪ ♪ get a dozen double crunch shrimp for one dollar with any steak entrée. only at applebee's. now, there's skyrizi. i have moderate to severee. plaque psoriasis. 3 out of 4 people achieved... ...90% clearer skin at 4 months... ...after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections... ...and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection... ...or symptoms such as fevers,... ...sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs... ...or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. i feel free to bare my skin. visit skyrizi.com. - with spray moppingrk vacmop to lock away debrisuction and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one disposable pad.

for this week's gotcha, i want to talk about secretary of state mike pompeo and the glaring religious hypocrisy of the administration he serves so loyally. the pope himself refused to meet with secretary pompeo fearing that would -- a meeting would be exploited by the trump administration in its floundering reelection bid.

if you ask me, it's a savvy analysis from pope francis because the administration's approach to christianity has always been more about good optics than good works. like when the president of the united states had peaceful protesters tear gassed so he could stand in front of a church for a photo op with a bible. he has obviously never bothered to open. so since it's sunday and i'm a preacher by calling, allow me to layout the various scriptural exhortations this president and his administration seems to have missed. let's start with romans. quote, give to everyone what you owe them. and yet the leader of this administration famously does not pay his bills. famously cheating dozens of hard working americans out of the pay they earned doing work for him. and he didn't stop this miserly behavior upon taking office.

from the gospel of luke, he that has two coats, let him impart to them that has none. and he that has meat let him do likewise. and yet in the richest country in the world on the planet, millions of people go hungry each and every day while this administration fights to cut food assistance in every budget proposal. despite the teachings in the gospel of matthew, quote, for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat. i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. i was a stranger and you invited me in. trump's faithful towedies have not invited in the "stranger things"ers, immigrants and refugees who need our help. instead they have locked them in cages and separated them from their families. even when their desperation was directly caused by missteps in

american foreign policy. the so-called christians in this administration have long locked those out and looked the other way at the undecidedly and unchristianlike and christlike actions they carry out, and they justify to themselves because of anti-abortion judges appointed by this president. but i have some bad news for those people. you cannot call yourself pro-life and applaud the return of federal executions, especially when capital punishment has been shown to disproportionately target black americans. you cannot call yourself pro-life if you look the other way at the extra judicial killings of civilians in drone strikes just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. and you cannot call yourself pro-life if you refuse to wear a mask in the face of a pandemic

that has already prematurely ended more than 200,000 american lives. this administration hides behind the bible at every turn, wrapping themselves in shallow christian symbolism, while ignoring both the teachings of jesus christ and the constitutional mandate that religious leanings of american leaders should have no bearing on the direction of our government. and while i believe a higher power will eventually judge the men and women of the trump administration for their come accomplicity, hypocrisy and enabling of evil deeds, the beauty of the american system of government means we don't have to wait that long. no, for secretary pompeo and every other trump lackey, a secular judgment day is just weeks away. and americans of all religions or no religion at all will band together to show them the door.

but don't worry. even once you've been sermon iously booted from power, you are always welcome to repent, your fellow sinners in church, i got you. night it's true, i will rescue you oh, i will rescue you

i may not be able to tell time, but i know what time it is. [whispering] it's grilled cheese o'clock. - with spray moppingrk vacmop buto lock away debrisuction and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one disposable pad. 20 associate cart pusher.urly the different positions i've had taught me how to be there for others. ♪ i started out as a cashier. i mean, the sky's the limit with walmart. it's all up to you. ♪

♪ [yawn] you. look. stunning. want the truth to why i wake up feeling... [growls softly] ...so darn awesome? [makes playful sound] i take care of my skin. not this skin. that skin. and when you've got incontinence, you sure need to. tena intimates pads lock liquid in, and are now 100% breathable to care for your intimate skin. are you still here? kind to skin. protects like tena.

we have some breaking news. president trump just posted a minute-long video on twitter with an update on his health. he convenient left walter reed, but no one knows where to. here's part of the sound. turning back to politics,

evangelical christians have a long history of supporting the republican party. in 2016 an overwhelming number of evangelicals voted for donald trump. 80%, this in spite of headlines that called into question trump's personal character and integrity. now, with just a month to go before the 2020 election, president trump has nominated his third supreme court justice, giving evangelicals a chance to finally realize their goal of a conservative majority on the high court. so will evangelicals continue their unwavering support of the president? joining me now, reverend dr. franklin richardson. he's the author of "witness to grace, a testimony of favor" and senior pastor of the grace baptist church of mt. vernon, new york. dr. richardson, as we watch the president motorcade, where he's

going and why he's leaving, let me ask you, there's been strong evangelical support for this president, but we are also seeing that the racial and ethnic makeup of evangelicals in the united states, about 6% of them are black, 11% latin, asian 2%, 76% white. convene faith leaders, inter denominational and in the black church. have you seen any decrease from the 80% i referred to in support for this president? glitch with dr. richardson's mic. you're watching, as we get that fixed, we're watching -- moments ago, we had some breaking news

that president trump just posted a minute-long video on twitter with an update on his health. he then left walter reed, but no one knows where to. here's part of that sound. >> it's been a very interesting journey. i learned a lot about covid. i learned it by really going to school. this is the real school. this isn't the, let's read the book school. and i get it and i understand it. and it's a very interesting thing. i'm going to be letting you know about it. in the meantime, we love the usa and we love what's happening. thank you. >> let me throw this to richard lui to clarify exactly what's going on. >> yeah, rev, we're just getting this video. we're seeing the president's motorcade leaving moments ago. as you know, we've had a couple of days of a lot of developments getting different reports from the president's doctor, in varying degrees of concern. there is also reporting coming in from mark meadows, first on background and then confirmed

later on to say they were very concerned at one point for the president given the conditions. the question has been, has he taken on supplemental oxygen. but with this video just coming in moments ago, now comes the question of what changed today that allowed the president to be released and under whose decision did that come. did it come under the decision of the president's doctor, who is out today saying that he was better? of course, there was some back and forth as to whether the president had indeed at any one point taken on supplemental oxygen. we just played a little bit here, as you see, of what the president tweeted out. he seems well certainly as he did in the other videos that have been put out of the president so far. one at the white house, as he did leave, and then after that one of him at walter reed sitting at a table, and then this video here of the president presumed to have been recorded

right before we saw this video of the president leaving in his motorcade. so, a quick couple of days for the president, walter reed under watch of many doctors it would appear if we were to count the white coats that came out yesterday. the question, as i was just bringing up, of how severe of a case of covid-19 did the president battle over the last several days, after being diagnosed. and there was a question of whether he was diagnosed earlier or later in the week. of course, that then leads to contact tracing, and who is it that the president did come into contact. and many, including our news organization, msnbc and nbc news, have gone through those details. there's a lot of concern here in terms of who now is quarantined and who is not in the white house staff as well as those that are on the hill, as we have

seen senators having now being diagnosed positive with covid-19. senator johnson, senator tills. of course, that's of concern on many fronts as we look at maintaining the governance here in the united states from the top levels in the federal government. that was much of the discussion over the last, last couple of days. so, rev, we're watching this right now. and, again, not a lot of information coming into us, only that video and what we saw from this announcement from the president. and if you're just joining us at this hour, we understand now the president is back at walter reed, not at the white house is what we're seeing. so waving to supporters in the motorcade outside walter reed hospital. he's not gone back to the white house, so that brings up a couple of options here. one, he was about to head to the white house, that's one option.

and then they turned around. two, he wanted to go out and say hello to his supporters and those that have been outside walter reed. if you've seen our reporting here at nbc, there has been plenty of flurry outside walter reed. that might be an understatement based on the time of day. just last evening we saw much noise and many flags and many cars and many individuals going to walter reed as is with the president often, a spectacle, those who support him and those who do not. so the president we're hearing right now, we got that video of him leaving in a motorcade. we were not sure where he was going. we then also saw this video of him out today as well. and now we're getting the report that he's back at walter reed. so potentially here, a couple options as we were discussing. and, rev, we don't know the

answer yet, but we'll be looking into it. he could have just been doing a round-robin, as you know he might have wanted to do to say hello to his supporters. >> yeah, well, knowing this president, you don't know what we have just witnessed. i would say with the options that you raise, it may have been him just wanting to project that superman image he always tries to project and say hello to his followers. i don't know, or his supporters. i don't know who could have turned his motorcade around without his permission. but we'll see. we don't know what we don't know. but it's very interesting that he is now reportedly back at walter reed. we can't get d dr. richardson's audio straight, so let me bring in my next guest who has been a vocal critic of the president and a vocal supporter of blue collar americans, especially those in his home state of michigan.

joining me now is academy award-winning film maker michael moore. thank you for being with me this evening, michael. first of all, your reaction to this latest event, i guess i can call it, of the president going for a ride, apparently leaving walter reed, returning to walter reed, as richard lui and i have discussed certain options here. what do you think we're looking at, as one that has studied and have dealt with looking at the various things this president has done over the last 3 1/2 years? >> i want those doctors. i want -- if i'm ever in the hospital with a disease that could be fatal, i want those doctors so that i can leave the hospital bed any time i want, get in an suv, go to shake

shack, whatever. this is madness. this is so insane to watch that footage. i know we're going to watch it on a continuous loop for the next 48 hours, but that was just the craziest thing. there's no sound to it. somebody should put some marching band music, like a parade music under it. i'm sorry, i don't mean to be glib about this, but we are not being told the truth. zeke emanuel was on this network earlier today saying they're lying. over at cnn, sanjay gupta is saying the same thing. they're hiding things from us. there is no truth being told. the doctors, the doctors just allowed this idiotic parade, they are -- we need -- they're doctors, yes, but dr. conley is a commander in the navy, and dr. coolly is a colonel.

colonel coolly and commander conley answer to their commander in chief. >> would the president be able to just walk out on a motorcade, get this done without the doctors' permission? and if they permitted this, then why would they permit this if the president is still in some danger? certainly he was diagnosed positive of coronavirus. and that requires isolation. certainly this is anything but isolation. he's not even -- >> it requires isolation for 14 days. >> correct. >> this is, yes -- no, he doesn't need his doctor's permission. like i said, his doctors work for him. he's the commander in chief. they are in the navy. everything they said at the microphone has been dictated to them by him. they don't have a say in this.

and that's my point, is that, yes, of course, he can do whatever he wants because he's always been doing that. why would today be any different? but i don't want us to get off the focus of what's really going on here. and what i appreciate about your show today. you know, reverend, you and i have talked about this before. i went to the seminary when i was a teenager to be a priest, catholic priest. >> right. >> you made it through, i didn't. but, you know, and i'm a passivist. i have a lot of passion in me. i understand the teachings you must love your enemy, you must do good to those who persecute you. i have to say, and i've said it on this network about my compassion for him as a human being even though i disagree with him politically. we're beyond disagreeing politically. there's 209,000 dead people. where is their voice? i want to speak for the dead

here today on msnbc. i want to speak for those who didn't have to die. but because of the decisions that this manmade -- not reckless decisions, not a mistake. he knew. he told bob woodward back in february that this was airborne, that this was a killer, in march this is the plague. he knew all of this and then went out and told the american people it was a hoax, they didn't need to wear a mask, ignore the advice of the doctors. listen to me, donald trump. and by listening to him, it killed a lot of people. and i have to ask you, reverend, because i'm just dealing -- i'm grappling with this as an issue of faith. 50, 60 years ago, if the sheriff of birmingham, alabama, who organized and led the hosing and beating and sicking the dogs on civil rights protesters, if he had a heart attack while he was

helping beat the protesters and had to be taken away to the hospital with a heart attack, would we have said, our thoughts and prayers are with bull conner today? if george wallace while he was standing at the door of the university of pam bam prohibiting black students from coming into the university of alabama and all of a sudden he tripped and fell, or he was taken to the hospital because he had horrible migraines and chest pains, would you and i back then, if there had been cable news, would we have said, we're praying for him, we're hoping for the best. we don't want him to die. we don't want anybody to die obviously. the fact the national security issue that has been discussed on this network all weekend long, are we in danger because our dmander in chi commander in chief is in the hot president we are in danger when he's out of the hospital. he has killed all these americans. this is what the real danger is. the more he's in the hospital -- again, i don't want him to be in pain, i don't want him to die, any of that.

but the more he's separated from us, the safer we are. he's like -- >> i think -- to answer your question -- >> yes. >> and i was trained in social justice. i did not go to seminary. i was already a boy preacher. but i was trained by people like dr. william jones to believe that we can address the sin without condemning or even condoning harm to the sinner. and i think the way that we are able to do so in this country is by voting. the problem that we have with that is we don't see a lot of efforts to protect our vote, like right there in michigan, like other places. michael, stay right here for a moment. let's go to nbc's josh letterman outside walter reed hospital. do we have josh?

>> reporter: yeah, we had some really interesting developments just in the last few minutes outside walter reed where we were not expecting to see the president again today. the president tweeting a short video from inside walter reed where he announced he was going to make a brief appearance to see his supporters who have been gathering throughout the day here at walter reed to show their support for the president and his recovery. the president in that video talking about how it's been a very interesting thing, learning about covid and the recovery process, and he's going to be letting people know about it. and then just a few minutes later, the president was visible as his motorcade briefly drove past the crowd here. the president able to be seen through the window. we should note the white house did not notify the press core in advance they were going to be making this trip. the president is now back in the suite of his hospital area, but we have to say this is clearly an attempt by the president to show that he's still doing well

to try to calm the country, as well as the markets which are going to be opening tomorrow morning. the futures markets actually opening this evening in just a few minutes. the president clearly trying to show that he's here for his supporters. he had actually tweeted earlier about how appreciative he was of all of these supporters who have gathered out here throughout the day as well as yesterday. a clear indication from the president that he does not want to be perceived as sickly or as unable to show the strong support for his supporters that have become such a hallmark of the trump presidency as well as his re-election campaign. >> all right. thank you. let me go back to you, michael moore. you've heard that report. so this clearly, as i suspected and still suspect we don't know definitely, the president showing i'm all right and i'm in charge and trying to rally up his troops or his supporters or at least try to make them feel

all the fine. but i think you raise the question is he doing this against doctor's advice? certainly he can overrule his doctors and certainly -- >> and i'll -- >> they had to have knowledge. if you take whatever security measures that are pretty extensive for a president to move, this was not a last-minute decision. that had to be made with some kind of forewarning to those in the hospital. at least the administration of the hospital. >> yes. and i'm also raising the fact that it was just days ago at the debate that this man said that he would again reiterate he will not give up power should he lose. he will not guarantee the peaceful transition of power. he said that this week. the week before he told -- at the debate, he told armed white supremacists to stand ready.

that was tuesday. this is sunday. this is the man that can't wait to get back to work, i'm sure, so that he can get a nominee to the supreme court passed before he's defeated to get her on the court so, why? so he can get rid of obama care and take away woman's right to choose, which i guarantee you taking away obamacare, before obamacare, the statistics, look it up, 50,000 americans every year died for the simple reason they did not have health insurance. and tens of thousands of women died in back alley abortions when women didn't have control, the legal control over their own bodies. this is what this individual has been perpetrating. it's caused the deaths of thousands of americans. he will cause the deaths of -- i mean, 1,000 will die today of covid because this man didn't do his job and ruthlessly when he understood that it was a danger, he went out publicly and said that it wasn't.

i think it's a law in most states that if you have hiv and you have sex with somebody and you do not tell them you have hiv, that's a crime. in some states it has a life sentence. because obviously you're putting a person at risk who doesn't know, who hasn't agreed to this. and that's exactly -- those two guys driving in the front seat right now, i worry about them. i mean, this is absolute madness that we allowed this man who is encouraging an armed civil insurrection over this election. who can't wait to get back to work to suppress the vote. this is what we're up against here. >> and to stack the supreme court if they go forward will vote about affordable care act the middle of a pandemic. everyone that has -- >> the middle of a pandemic. >> everyone that has covid-19 has a pre-existing condition. >> he weaponized covid-19.

and like a person who takes a weapon into a church or a school and fires it, he has accidentally shot himself. that's exactly what this has happen heerd. by weaponizing covid-19 and making it so that it grew and grew and grew, it came back to wound him. now, i don't want to see him wounded. i don't want to see him die. >> i certainly don't want to see anyone wounded including him. >> but he -- the reason he's in the hospital is because he brought this on himself. he helped to create the robert wood johnson foundation report on friday. that the single greatest reason as to why we had this massive spread in this country was because, they said it, because of donald j. trump. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. we're out of time. but thank you. >> thank you. don't forget, everybody, this is an incredible book. i'm halfway through, al.

this is a great book. >> thank you. >> thank you for writing it. >> i appreciate you doing that. michael moore. >> i'm reading it right now. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us. > up next, my finas stay with us could protect you from cancer? what if one push-up could prevent heart disease? one wishful thinking, right? but there is one step adults 65 or older can take to help prevent another serious disease - pneumococcal pneumonia. one dose of the prevnar 13® vaccine can help protect you from this bacterial lung disease that may even put you in the hospital. it's not a yearly shot. prevnar 13® is used in adults to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. don't get prevnar 13® if you've had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. adults with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, less appetite, vomiting, fever, chills, or rash. even if you've already been vaccinated with another pneumonia vaccine, prevnar 13® may help provide additional protection.

get this one done. ask your doctor or pharmacist about prevnar 13® today. ask your doctor or pharmacist - with spray moppingrk vacmop to lock away debrisuction and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one disposable pad.

try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%. and everyone can do it. it's from optum, a health care company that's trusted by millions of people. you don't have to sign up for anything. just go to optumperks.com. and get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. that's it. i opted in. i opted in. you can, too. opt in and save big today.

♪ tomorrow is the last day of registration in the state of florida, a critical state. it's also a state where there's been the battle back and forward around those that had been felons having the right to vote.

amendment 4, something that many of us in the civil rights community supported, i went down and campaigned for it, and it won. and then they tried to stop those that were felons or former felons by saying they had to pay their fines or court costs and other things and even would not tell them what that is. and when former new york mayor bloomberg said he's putting up money, they threatened to sue him. people need to vote. and people need to be allowed to vote. and all over this country where early voting has started in some states and beginning to start, we need to vote like we never did before because this country is at a cross roads. i write about it in my book that michael moore just referred to "rise up, confronting a country at the cross roads" and we are there. i talk about how we're there in race, in policing, in climate

change and lbgtq rights n women's rights and tell you how i think we need to make a decision and how you can stand up. you may not do what i do, but you can stand up in your own way. it is that important. that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next week at 5:00 p.m. eastern. up next my colleague alicia menendez picks up our news coverage. >> all right, thank you, reverend sharpton. hello i'm alicia menendez. thanks for spending part of your sunday with us. we are following breaking news, of course. the president coming out of walter reed hospital, doing a drive-by to say hello to his followers outside of the hospital just a short time ago. here is the video. you can see the president in the backseat of his traditional black suv. but here is the key point, there are other people inside that car, too. a