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tv   Decision 2020  MSNBC  November 8, 2020 1:00am-2:00am PST

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eastern, 3:00 to 5:00, seven days a week. >> do not miss it. >> i'm sorry, today 3:00 p.m. eastern. i keep saying tomorrow as if this is not tomorrow. thanks for watching msnbc and the special coverage of the 2020 presidential election. good sunday morning, everybody. thanks for getting up with us. i'm here in new york. >> i'm geoff bennett here in wilmington, delaware. it's 4:00 a.m. on the east coast, 1:00 a.m. out west. and after an historic night comes the question of what's next. ♪ former vice president joe biden now president-elect defeating president trump in a bitter
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campaign that extended days past election night. in his victory speech, at a tailgate early here in wilmington, biden called for unity and promised to work for all americans. >> the people of this nation have spoken. [ cheers ] they've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we the people. for all those of you who slvote for president trump, i understand the disappointment tonight. i've lost a couple times myself. but now, let's give each other a chance. >> it was also a history-making moment for his running mate, senator kamala harris, who became the first woman and first woman of color to become vice president. the night's celebration spilling into the streets from coast to kroe coast across this country. thousands turning out to celebrate the victory. the current occupant of the
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white house is vowing to fight on. the president threatening further legal action on ballot counting as he is refusing to concede. this hour, arizona, georgia, and north carolina are still too close to call. it was pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes that put joe biden over the 270 threshold needed to win the white house. by nbc's count, biden has 279 electoral votes, donald trump has 214. >> all right. we have our team of reporters and analysts covering all angles of this historic moment. it's, in fact, very historic. first i want to start with geoff. you have been in wilmington all week. tell me what you've been seeing on the ground and what the reaction has been so far to joe biden's speech. >> i'll tell you what, the stage behind me is being dismantled now. last night the mood was electric. there was a palpable sense of pride given all that senator,
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now vice president-elect kamala harris represents. and the fact that democrats got joe biden in the white house. something he'd been trying to do for some 32 years. there was also a huge sense of relief i think. you have joe biden stepping into the caldron of chaos that has been our political culture over the last four years. but now urging calm. i want to bring in, and i'm going to put my mask on since we're not socially distanced here. i want to bring in our reporter. great to see you. you have been -- first of all, congratulations. >> thank you. >> on a job well done. you've been on the road for two years at least covering the biden and harris campaign. more so kamala harris. what's your sort of reaction to everything that you've seen, that you saw last night and everything you've seen on the road? >> it was a combination of, again, like you said, almost two years i've been following kamala harris as she traveled the country running for president in her own race. we go through a pandemic. we can through the veepstakes,
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as we call it, her being selected in august as joe biden's running mate. it was an extraordinary culmination of all of that, geoff. to see her step on to that stage in white, a nod to the suffragettes, a nod to all the women she has built her career on and the women who have come before her. it was interesting, jeff, because she also talked to the children. she talked to the next generation who will come after her and the steps that they will build went her. take a listen to some of the things she said last night. >> when our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of america at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for america. and the road ahead will not be easy, but america is ready. and so are joe and i. while may be the first woman in this office, i will not be the
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last. [ cheers ] because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. >> i want to ask you about that. one of the great things about your coverage, as i've been reading it these last two years really, is that you have keyed in on certain language that kamala harris uses that hits people like us, people of color, differently than i'd say other people. tell me about that. >> no, that's a great question, geoff. i was smiling listening to that because i've heard that so many times from her. especially words from her mom, that she said her mom told her you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you're not the last. that's something she repeated throughout the primary, through the general election. i think of everything that she stands for and her long political career all the way back to 2003, that is the most important for her to break through these barriers but make sure she's holding that door open for others to come behind
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her. up see it reflected in her staff, the number of diverts people of color who walk with her, who work with her at all levels, and it opens the door and expands who we consider a part of public service. you hear some of those words there, she's talking about making sure that she is not last one. again, talking to kids, making sure this is a moment of possibilities which, if you look at joe biden's speech, that word, possibilities, is something that he has, as well. it's a mirroring going on. >> great to see you. >> you, as well. >> take care. thank you. joining us is nbc's josh letterman in washington covering the president -- covering president trump. josh, the president still saying this election is far from over which, to be clear, he's wrong about that. it is over. >> reporter: it is over, but the message, geoff, from the president, his top allies and his campaign do not give up yet. overnight, the president issuing several tweets talking about 71 million legal votes that he says he won. the most ever for a sitting president. he says going on to talk about
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the issue over election observers and to say "i won this election by a lot." as his campaign continues to pursue new legal challenges, including a case in arizona. but a lot of these cases, geoff, they have to do with procedural things. no indication that any of this is likely to change anywhere near the kind of votes that would be needed to alter the outcome of the election. and these efforts seeming to take on an increasing air of desperation as the outcome of this race becomes very, very clear. just yesterday as this race was being called for president-elect joe biden, the president's attorneys including rudy giuliani, were giving a news conference about the issues they're raising that it first seemed like it was going to be at the four seasons hotel. later turned out that was going to be taking place at a four seasons landscaping company in pennsylvania. but as the president continues to pursue this, geoff, the rest of the country is starting to
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move forward with what happens after an election and the transition with world leaders around the world now congratulati congratulating joe biden and kamala harris. major corporations and republican elected officials starting to congratulate and recognize that victory. and geoff, it's 4:00 a.m. at the white house, but there are still folks outside as they have been all throughout the night partying, chanting, honking their horns, making a lot of noise. based on where we're at and where the white house is at, i think there's a decent chance the president may have been able to hear at least some of that activity taking place outside the white house as president trump remains ensconced in the white house residence, contemplating what to do next. >> yeah. ensconced is a good word for it. josh letterman -- we have a question for you. >> yeah, sorry, geoff. as you know, i always interrupt you. josh, quickly here, quickly, do
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you have any information on any aides basically trying to talk the president off the ledge saying, look, it's over, it's important now at this point to concede and move forward with the next two months and the lame duck period of your presidency? >> reporter: certainly the president is getting different advice from different people that he speaks to. there are some of his most staunch supporters who want the president to continue to fight and to litigate this. we've seen calls from the republican national committee and other gop groups for the president to push this forward. but others are saying that it's important for the president to take stock of the fact that it's not going to change the outcome of this. and as you said, to make way for the transition that needs to take place as president-elect biden begins to put his team in place and necessary to carry forward the work of the government as we deal with this pandemic and all the other critical issues facing the incoming administration. >> we're watching video of the president -- go ahead.
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go ahead, geoff. take it away. >> i was -- i was going to thank our friend, josh. great to see you. thanks for getting up early. >> reporter: sure. >> thank you, josh. it's always awkward when you do the remote anchoring. and now thanks for rolling with us. basil, i'm going to start with you. there's a lot to cover here. first and foremost, some of what deepa and jeff were talking about, the historic nature of kamala harris being the next vice president of the united states as a woman of color and as a woman. when i was in the streets last night, there were a lot of folks, they were celebrating the election of president-elect joe biden along with kamala harris, one, because they felt as if they were breathing a sigh of relief. many saying to me democracy is back, it is coming back to this country after four years of donald trump. others especially black women that i spoke to being so incredibly emotional, now seeing someone that looks like them in
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the white house. >> no, it's incredibly important. you know, joe biden often talked about empathy, but i think other things like restoration and reclamation always stood out to me, as well. and one of the -- when i talk about reclamation, it's reclaiming the promise of the obama administration, the promise of that election because as you talked about people in the streets yesterday, i remember people in the streets in 2008 when obama wonme. i was out thinking this was an opportunity for young people to really see something that -- someone that they can aspire to and levels of power and prestige in the office of the president that they can aspire to. a lot of -- during a lot of the last four years, you know, those of us, and i teach at universities and work with a lot of young people, and the question was can we talk to them, how do we talk to them about getting into public service when you have a president that behaves this way. so for kamala harris to sort of make that -- make that
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connection to young people is very important because we do often think about the next generation. i'll say quickly, when she talks about that young girl, i also think about the young girl that she talked about herself in that first debate when she actually, you know, went into joe biden a little bit on the issue of bussing. she kept referring to how young people are solarized in this country -- socialized in this country, the things young people had to go through in this country. her trajectory mirrors that of so many. it's an important tie-in and important language and important for so many of us to be what others see. >> geoff? okay. kurt, i want to talk a little bit more about what we were
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hearing from basil and the historic nature of everything. also the speech from joe biden last night. it was incredibly different from what we've been hearing from donald trump the last four years. and we've heard this on the campaign trail. he talks about blue states and red states. and he makes this really important and has been throughout his campaign and saying it is not about blue states, it is not about rheed states, it is about the united states of america. this is something we heard from donald trump on inauguration day when he first began his presidency. it sets the stage for what we can expect from joe biden going forward the next four years. >> yeah. i mean, i think when you have someone who is true to himself and continually stays within his own character, it's such a refreshing moment of candor and authenticity. and i think it illustrates why for donald trump throughout the campaign he had such a hard time trying to label joe biden as
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someone that you couldn't trust, as someone who the american people should be suspicious of. of all the things that he tried to assign to hillary clinton back in the 2016 campaign. why it didn't work in 2020. joe biden is exactly all those things that he's talking about. he is genuine, he doesn't see a red or blue america, he sees the united states of america. he promises to be the president for those who voted for him and those who didn't vote for him. he said, i hope if you didn't vote for me we can give each other a chance. when you look at how divisive and ugly things have gotten the last four years, it was refreshing to actually have someone come up there and give a speech. we weren't all sitting here wondering, gosh, is he going to say something that might be racist, or is xenophobic, is he going to rung to the china virus, the kung flu. i kept thinking, wow, we're not
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going to have to say this is the moment that joe biden became president because he already breathes that into the presidency from the moment that he came on to the stage. it was such a heartening moment and i think a healing moment. and hopefully, you know, president-elect biden can help bring the country back together after four years of watching donald trump rip it apart. >> basil, kurt, stand by. geoff, want to bring you back into the conversation. let's talk about what you're hearing when it comes to joe biden's transition to president along with his plans for the first 100 days. >> yeah, he created a transition plan and a transition people a couple of months ago as required by federal law after he was named the democratic nominee. now that he's president-elect, his actual transition will officially launch on monday. the first thing, job number one for joe biden, is to come up with a plan to tackle the
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coronavirus crisis. he's going to name his own coronavirus task force, and it's going to be led by dr. vivek murthy. he's the former surgeon general under former president barack obama. and also on that team will be the former fda commissioner who served in the '90s. the team will be a team of scientists and experts. and you heard joe biden say last night that bedrock of that. that should not be an extraordinarily statement except given what we've seen from the last eight months, nine months of the administration, it is. and so i'm told that at the sort of career official level that communications between the trump administration and the trump transition team have been pretty good. that does not include the political appointees, right. and so at this point, one of the things i think we're going to be paying close attention to is the
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degree to which this administration is cooperating with the biden transition, especially on this issue of vaccines. that when a vaccine comes on line, making sure they are distributed fairly and equitably and to scale across the country. >> all right. we're also learning in his first 100 days, joe biden will likely be instituting a flurry of executive actions to reverse some of the actions of donald trump over the last four years, including rejoining the paris climate accord and the world health organization. so we're going to be bringing you a lot more of that. first, after four long days of waiting, joe biden was declared the 46th president of the united states. the state that put him over the top and sealed the former vice president's victory. richard lui is back to break it down. as we head to break, i spent the day with hundreds of people celebrating in times square. many of them emotional and hopeful for the future. >> what happened the last four
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years, going to bed every night worried. i just feel like joe biden is the right man, the right person. he has the heart, the character to make everything better. >> feeling like america made the right decision, and that we'll be back to the foundation of america which is equality, coming together. >> this message is so surreal. it's telling our young black female girls anything is possible, yes, you can be whatever it is you dream of. two hospitalizations every minute. understanding how to talk to your doctor about treatment options is key. today, we are redefining how we do things. we find new ways of speaking, so you're never out of touch. it's seeing someone's face that comforts us, no matter where. when those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. the first steps of checking in,
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the smallest moments can end up being everything. there's resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. when we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. when we understand what's possible, we won't settle for less. the best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. managing heart failure starts now with understanding. call today or go online to understandheartfailure.com for a free heart failure handbook.
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if philadelphia, thousands celebrated president-elect joe biden's win. in a state that gave him a last-minute push to victory. nbc's mara barrett is in philadelphia this morning. >> reporter: good morning, geoff. it was no question that philadelphia was going to go blue. it's a very democratic section
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of this overall swing state. but it was going to come down to turnout. i was looking at the numbers. 680,000 philadelphiaians came out to vote in 2016, and more than 705,000 did this year. so when we saw such a close margin with donald trump back in 2016, i spent the past seven months here talking with people in this city. and they've really been focusing on when they are using their get out the vote efforts to talk about turnout. that philadelphia could be the one that brought donald trump -- lost donald trump the presidency. and obviously that is exactly what we saw yesterday. as i showed up to city hall this morning, there's confetti littering the ground. remember, this is a city that saw unrest over the summer after the deaths of george floyd and breonna taylor. most recently after the death of walter wallace jr. last week. i talked to people in line at the early voting centers saying this inspired them to vote as they were looking for a change in this country. it's also a city where people are facing a record-breaking
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number of evictions, one that's hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic. and so yesterday this overall feeling of hope, excitement, and relief. take a listen to some people that our team spoke to the ground. >> one of the best days. i just hope that him and kamala hold up their end of the bargain, and this will -- we will survive. we can do this with them elected. >> yeah. you know, it's a really happy day. we weren't expecting this to come right now. but we've been waiting for this for four years, this is a lot of energy. it's awesome. >> this is just wonderful, and it wasn't this landslide, it was this slow burn. then we got the answer. and it's like we're shaking. our city feels love right now. and go, biden, go, ka mala, go! >> reporter: you heard it there. the special feeling that
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philadelphia was the one that brought joe biden over the finish line. it's important to also point out the margins that joe biden was able to shrink over trump, especially in the surrounding suburbs. joe biden turned out more people especially in the counties like montgomery, bucks, seeing higher turnouts than we've seen the past couple of election cycles. so when we talk about him -- interesting to see as we dig into these numbers going forward how exactly people decided to vote. but as we look forward, these counties, philadelphia still has about 14,000 votes to count, allegheny is still counting. and when i talk to election officials and experts, they're going to continue counting ballots as they anticipate in pennsylvania legal challenges from the president. as they say, if a vote is counted, it cannot be uncounted. geoff? >> that's a great point. nbc's mara barrett who's been doing a great job for us, live if philadelphia. thank you. geoff, you got to love the
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lau last woman who said go, rights, go, and ran away from the camera. richard lui is at the big board. and we were reporting from philadelphia. as we know, philadelphia essentially helped deliver joe biden the presidency. >> how about that energy, right? it's tough to follow. you're absolutely right. let's dig in. how did we get to the projection that the next president of the united states would be joe biden? and it came out of pennsylvaniament when i left and got off air around 8:00, we knew we were going to have a large tranche of reports coming out of pennsylvania. around 9:00 or so. and what happened in those reports that were coming through, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., we got eight of them, eight batches of results. and each of those batches, as we look through the data and the way they came through, they were biden, biden, biden, biden. the issue is when those reports would come from pittsburgh and allegheny as well as philadelphia county, those big spots here of the blue votes, as mara was talking about, there
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are 70% for biden, 85% for biden. that's when the decision desk around that time decided the next president of the united states -- because pennsylvania being called -- will be joe biden. looking at the numbers. in both of these areas, philadelphia specifically, since mara was there, again an area that was blue but how blue would they go, and how many of those votes would be going for joe biden? if you look at this right now, 561,000 so far this year. i want to just show you what it was in 2016 for hillary clinton. 584, took 561. then let's go back to barack obama, 588. it is more pronounced in allegheny where in 2012 you see barack obama had 352. 415 in allegheny. this underlines that thematic that we saw across the midwest of joe biden being able to get
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votes in greater proportion, small, medium, and large areas. let me take you to the midwest. the midwestern firewall that barack obama was able to get starting with pennsylvania which got joe biden the projection to become the next president of the united states. there was michigan back again. as you remember, in 2016 went red. a total of 80,000 votes in the area. if we drill down into detroit, for instance, and we look at the vote for joe biden, 587 votes. 587,000, and with hillary clinton, 519. so that was the dynamic that we saw in these three states in 2020 that late blue wave here, the biden campaign was patient about, just watching the results come in. >> just quickly here, richard, talk us through the populations of folks that helped deliver this win. >> yeah, the populations when we look at them, i'll go back here
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to michigan. and when we look at detroit and we look at ann arbor, detroit specifically, that's a large minority vote. african-american, asian american, latino american, also those same numbers when we gohe to philadelphia, a melting pot. areas of the country, that is where joe biden was able to outperform donald trump in the 18 to 34, also in small to medium to large metro areas. if i were to go one more time back to the midwest here in wisconsin, i just want to show you one dynamic here. since you were asking about how -- what do they look like. kenosha, very interesting. that is a trump county. but this is where joe biden was again able to get the suburban vote. 42,000 in 2020. let's go back last year. 35,000. so joe biden was able to reach
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those suburban voters that we were talking about so much. of course, there's been some debate in terms of gender and which way that went. he was able to get to those places that the last democratic candidate was not able to do. >> all right. msnbc's richard lui for us. thank you, richard. >> sure. through another barrier as the first woman of color elected vice president. don't forget, her husband is also making history as america's first second gentleman. what all of this says about the country coming up next. says ab country coming up next when you switch to xfinity mobile,
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generations of women, black women -- [ cheers ] asian, white, latina, native american women -- [ cheers ] who throughout our nation's history have paved the way for this moment tonight.
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and what a testament it is to joe's character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman as his vice president. [ cheers ] >> while i may be the first woman in this office, i will not be the last. >> that was vice president-elect kamala harris making history just hours ago here. she'll be the first woman, the first black woman, the first person of south asian descent, the first child of immigrants, the first hbcu graduate to serve as vice president of the united states. joining me is christina greer, associate professor of political science at fordham university. and author of "black ethinix: race, immigration, and the pursuit of the american dream." great to see you as always. thanks for getting up early with us. one of the things that struck me last night listening to the vice
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president-elect was the degree of specificity when he talked about black women, latina women, all that means, and spoke about black women who are so often overlooked. when you heard her give that speech, how did it hit you? how did it strike you? >> it struck me to the bone, geoff, because, you know, keep in mind we're only 52 years from shirley chisolm becoming the first black woman ever to serve in congress from the great state of new york, brooklyn. we've only had two black women who have ever been u.s. senators in this country, carol mosely braun in 1992, then kamala harris. we've never had a black female governor elected in this country, in the history of our nation. so this is a historic moment, and i think the representation of kamala harris hopefully resonates with little girls across the country, but also little boys. i mean, you know, this moment is really important to understand some of the barriers and many of the barriers that women still face in all facets of their
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lives. and she's broken a ceiling. and she's, you know, climbed a ladder and clear going to pull others up. but we have a lot of work to do even as we celebrate. >> yeah. you know, one of the things that made joe biden an effective vice president for barack obama was that he had a certain lived experience that he brought to the job. he had all that foreign policy policy, he had good relationships with senators. when you think about a vice president kamala harris, what kind of lived experience do you think she brings to the table that will make her an effective partner for joe biden? >> i think that she's pragmatic. you know, the great thing about joe biden and this is why i think people are encouraged about his presidency is because he was vice president for eight years, he'll be able to utilize the talents of kamala harris. geoff, we have rebuilding to do on the domestic level, on the international level, our rebuilding on the international level's so great, secretary of state or a u.n. ambassador won't
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be able to do it alone. joe biden will likely have to deploy kamala harris to repair some of our relationships abroad. but also the two of them will have to think of a strategy together on how to repair our relationships domestically. 70 million people voted for donald trump. 70 million people said that they wanted to keep this country in the direction that it had going. for others, the anti-semitism, the anti-asian sentiments, anti-muslim, the anti-lgbtq, the anti-immigrant, the anti-mix, the anti-black rhetoric, the coronavirus, the recession, all those things were just too much to bear, and they needed a change. so joe biden with the help of kamala harris is going to have to have hard conversations about race and racism, about sexism. but all of the issues that have sort of divided this nation for generations, but definitely and explicitly in the last four years under a trump administration. >> and on that point, in the last question in the time we
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have left, joe biden's instinct is to be a moderate. he's an institutionalist, but a win is a win. and even if democrats don't necessarily have a mandate reflected in the vote count, do you think democrats should lean in and go super progressive and focus on the issues that you articulated? >> i think it's going to have to be incremental change. we also have to be real stiblg th -- realistic, the vast majority of the country is not progressive. some of the issues joe biden and kamala harris have to tackle are a myriad of issues. the democratic party is -- you can go down the list. in trying to undo what has been done the past four years, i think their best sbbet is an incremental change but it has to lean toward progressivism. something akin to what lbj did with the voting rights octobact
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housing act, it will take time because we have so much rebuilding to do from the past four years of donald trump. but i think that they need to take stock of the extreme ideological diversity within the party and make sure that the progressives are heard and at the table and represented in some of his appointments across the cabinet. >> christina greer, brilliant at 4:00 a.m., i'm not sure how you do it. we appreciate it. great to see you. >> great to see you. >> all right. >> so right, geoff. all hours of the day, that is for sure. let's talk the current president. the trump campaign filed a new election lawsuit in arizona. that state is still too close to call with president-elect joe biden leading president trump by less than 1% point. we have more live from phoenix, morgan, let's talk through some of this. as all of this is happening and developing, we are actually still waiting on a call from arizona, one, and then also the filing of the latest lawsuit. talk us through it. >> reporter: yeah, good morning.
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in this lawsuit is allegedly claiming that a substantial enough number of votes were miscast on actual election day. it's stemming from what the lawsuit's claiming that was filed by the national republican committee and president trump's election team that poll workers here at the maricopa county elections department, polling locations, misinformed voters on how to operate some of these voting machines. specifically, whenever they were at one of the machines about to cast their vote, they would receive a notification that was saying that there had been an overvote. they were then instructed or acted on their own and pressed a green button that in turn this lawsuit claims resulted in a ballot that was not counted. the secretary of state here in arizona has already come out and said that they have proven on mou multiple occasions that the overvote followed by the pressing of the button does not result in a ballot that was not counted. that said, that's what this lawsuit is claiming. the secretary of state going on
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to say that this is essentially a repackaging of a prior lawsuit claiming that ballots that were colored in with sharpie marker were shown to be not counted. and they've gone on to say that that's been disproven, as well. there's no legal recourse for either that lawsuit, nor this one that's just been filed. as you mentioned, there is a narrow gap between the candidates in arizona right now, making it too close to call, about 19,000 votes. there's still about 70,000 votes that still need to be counted. officials here are confident that joe biden is the winner as of right now. rather, the democratic officials here that we've spoken to. back to you. >> all right. nbc's morgan chesky live in phoenix, great to see you this morning. president trump will be gone on january 20th, but what about his brand of politics? we're going to talk on our political panel about whether trumpism is here to stay.
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plus this -- >> now i ask that we stand behind our new president and regardless of our differences, all americans share the same purpose -- to make this the world's greatest nation, more safe and more secure, and a to guarantee every american a shot at the american dream. that is what we're used to hearing from losing presidential candidates here in the united states. we're not used to hearing something like that the last four years. president trump so far has refused to concede. what that could mean for our already divided nation.
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managing heart failure starts now with understanding. call today or go online to understandhf.com for a free hf handbook. welcome back, everybody. ballots are being counted in georgia as we speak. the presidential race there still too close to call. it is likely headed to a runoff. here's a look at the votes right
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now. president-elect biden and trump are separated by a fraction of a point. nbc's catie beck is live in atlanta. good to talk to you this morning. appreciate you joining us so early or staying up for us, whichever one it is. talk us through what you've been hearing so far and what we can expect from the state of georgia. >> reporter: well, here on the ground, obviously atlanta like so many other cities has been filled with celebration over the last 12 hours. folks were in the streets dancing, screaming, honking, celebrating the biden/harris ticket success. and i think there was a real sense of joy and jubilation from about noon until about at least 1:00 a.m. was our last live shot at that point. there were still people screaming and dapsi ingdancing street. that said, it is assa-- as you -- too soon to celebrate the state turning blue. biden is up by 7,000 points.
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but there are still votes left to count. we know gwinnett county is one of them. it's a major, major county. very large in the atlanta area. they know that they have over 500 military and absentee ballots and about 1,000 provisional ballots that they've got to get through today. they say they're going to start doing that this morning, and then hopefully by tomorrow morning their board of voter registration is going to be able to certify those votes. but that's just one county. we understand there are a few others outstanding. we hope that the vote title is under 2,000 -- total is under 2,000 vote. it's hard to get a meaningful measure. because the counties are working at their own pace. right now still too close to call. most certainly will be going to a recount which means that once these votes are certified, we immediately go into recount mode. and that could take about a week before we really get a definitive answer in georgia as to who actually won the state.
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also in the state, two critical senate races that are going to be going to a runoff. we expect to see tens of millions of dollars pouring into the state over the next two months as these two candidates battle for that january 5th runo runoff. >> yeah. a lot of eyes are going to be on that senate race, for sure. different perdue, jon ossoff, we'll be watching that. catie beck live in atlanta. thank you so much. and american presidential elections have ended with a concession from the losing candidate for more than a century. >> the people have spoken, and we respect the majesty of the democratic system. i just called governor clinton over in little rock and offered my congratulations. >> a little while ago, i had the honor of calling senator barack obama to congratulate him -- [ boos ] please. to congratulate him on being
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elected the next president of the country that we both love. >> last night i congratulated donald trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. i hope that he will be a successful president for all americans. >> it appears president trump will forego that tradition, at least now, refusing to concede. instead he launched a legal war against several states claiming without evidence that nationwide voter fraud cost him the election. again, there's nothing to suggest that's true. joining me is national political reporter for "vanity fair" abigail tracy. great to see you. so what's the latest? and to be clear, the constitution does not require a concession in order for joe biden to walk into the white house on january 20th. but what are you hearing based on your reporting? >> i'm hearing that it is unlikely that we're going to see the tape that you just showed showing the previous presidents making those concession speeches, hillary clinton among
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them. no one is expecting we're going to see that from donald trump. i think what we're going to see is what we've seen over the last couple of days. we're going to see more tweets. we're going to see, you know, a continued legal effort that is spurious and scatter shot over the next couple of days. and there is no expectation that we're going to get the same traditional concession speech from donald trump that we've seen from previous presidents. >> what do you think happens to trumpism after this era is over? donald trump certainly will continue to have a twitter feed. he continues to have followers. what do you think happens? so much of who he is is based on his cult of personality. what happens when joe biden's in the white house and donald trump still has his twitter fingers going? >> yeah. so i don't think we're going to be necessarily saying good-bye to donald trump any time soon. but i actually think there is a bigger question for the republican party moving forward now. what do they do in a post-trump world when he's no longer the standard bearer of the party?
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earlier, they met -- catie mentioned the two senate runoffs. i think there's go going to be a real question. trump has never shown an allegiance to the gop, only at times when it benefits himself. i think what we're looking ahead to that race, is he going to help the republicans in those races try and eke out victories, especially when senate control is up in the air with them. i think the republican party is going to have to grapple with that. grapple with the fact that, you know, for four years they enabled donald trump as their president. but he is very unlikely to show any real allegiance to the party moving forward. >> that's a great point. and of course, the president i'm told and certainly his adult children are blaming the rnc. the president's blaming fox news. at least in part for his loss. what do you think the next 70-plus days look like, donald trump as a lame duck president? i have one source telling me he might go to mar-a-lago and stay there and skip all of the
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festivities and the traditions that go with the traditional transfer of power. >> yeah. i think that's highly likely. you know, he stead himself in a speech -- said it himself in a speech. he's not somebody who is accustomed to losing. he's not somebody who likes losing. i think he's probably going to avoid some of the traditional aspects of, up, this period of concession. and i do think, you know, donald trump has been an unusual president for the last four years. i think it's going to be continuing as we go forward. i think we can expect chaos, continued attacks on the process and the votes and sort of what we saw in the election moving forward. but again, you know, he hasn't been a traditional president. and i highly expect him to be traditional over these next 72 days or so. >> he's going to be breaking norms even on his way out. right about that. abigail tracy, thanks for your
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time this morning. >> thank you. geoff, i got to say, it's interesting from what your sourcing is saying and that the president could feasibly go to mar-a-lago and stay there. i could imagine him doing that. he would likely be welcomed because florida, in fact, did deliver for him. and that is his new home. talking about timeline, geoff, just quickly. at this point back in 2016, hillary clinton had already conceded to donald trump. and then two days after the election, if we -- i remember correctly -- president obama met with then-president-elect donald trump, just two days after the election. it certainly seems like the current president is not on the same timeline. it is ceremonial, many of these things. nonetheless it doesn't seem that the president was going to be following cultural or ceremonial noerm norms. >> quickly, the white house is a coronavirus hot spot right now. the notion that joe biden would walk into that environment, not going to happen. even dr. fauci saying he doesn't go to the white house right now because of the way they're
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handling pandemic precautions. >> all right. we've got much more ahead, everybody. we'll be right back. right back.
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good sunday morning, everybody. thank you for getting up with us or staying up with us, whichever it is. i'm yasmin vossoughian here in new york. >> i'm geoff ben nnett in wilmington. 5:00 a.m. on the east coast, 2:00 a.m. out west. america is waking up knowing the outcome of the 2020 election. ♪ president-elect joe biden's victory capping one of the longest and most tumultuous

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