if it's thursday, the u.s. is grappling with a nationwide

covid surge unlike anything we've seen yet. smashing case records and pushing health care workers and hospital systems to the brink with no clear government strategy to get any of it under control. plus, president-elect biden names his white house chief of staff as more republicans pressure the white house to accept the results and begin kwaupera cooperate with the transition. the president's former national security adviser john bolton joins us live. why he believes time is running out for republicans loyal to trump. it's not going to stop for covid. pneumonia is not going to stop. the strokes aren't going to stop. nothing is stopping for covid. so it's -- you already are going into a busy season and now you have covid on top of it. >> we don't have enough caregivers to manage the increasing amount of patients. and we know that even if

transitions stop today, our hospitalizations would continue to rise for weeks. >> the volume of paretients and the illness of each individual patient and their individual needs, it's just a higher level than anything i've ever been involved in. >> welcome to thursday. it is "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd. the u.s. is facing a covid surge unlike anything we've seen before. sadly, public health officials predicted what we're facing right now. this is a dark winter. cases are soaring and growing at exponential rates. yesterday alone we reported nearly 150,000 new cases. smashing the record yet again. hospitalizations, perhaps the best measure of the severity of an outbreak. they're also surging prompting nightmarish headlines all over the country. from des moines to kansas city, st. louis to missoula, north dakota to tulsa and el paso. reports indicate that hospitals are at or nearing capacity. the stress on medical workers is

immense. as we reported earlier this week, this headline may best sum up the hell that frontline workers are facing. north dakota health care workers have been permitted to continue treating covid-19 patients even if they, too, have tested positive for the virus themselves. that's how bad the situation has deteriorated in north dakota. positive covid asymptomatic health care workers are being asked to continue to treat covid-19 patients. let that sink in, america. as cases nationally approach 10.5 million, some governors across the country are trying to warn a covid-weary public that the worst is yet to come. >> i know you're tired. i know you're weary. i know you want this to be over. but in words often attributed to winston churchill, during one of the most dangerous and darkest times of world war ii, when you're going through hell, keep

going. and so tonight, i ask you, keep going. >> we must now return our undivided attention to the covid-19 pandemic. we must start fighting this virus together and we must start tonight. >> help us get this thing under control, and let's really buckle down. and let's see where that takes us. >> how concerned are you that your state, this region is at a tipping point right now? >> i would say very concerned, savannah. our numbers have gone up dramatically, whether it's new cases, hospitalizations, our positivity rate, everything is going in the wrong direction. >> and even though our ability to treat this virus has improved greatly, the number of daily deaths are on the rise. more than 1500 were reported yesterday alone. there's fear we could start averaging 2,000 a day for some time. some health experts and analysts

are warning we're entering a stretch of the pandemic that may be worse than the nightmarish spring which shut this country down. and as bad as everybody warned us this would be, it looks like it's as bad if not worse than feared. joining me from fargo, north dakota, the state with the most cases and deaths per capita in this country right now is antonia hylton. also from minneapolis is gabe gutierrez and dr. nahid bhadelia, an infectious disease physician and associate professor at boston's school of medicine and msnbc medical contributor is also here, as are medical expert for the day. but antonia, let me start with you in north dakota. i would say it's ground zero for the country right now. sadly, everybody is in dire straits. this just happens to be the worst of this region. we know it's bad if people who test positive for the disease and our health care workers are

being asked to stay working. any hope that mitigation efforts might kick in and be helpful? >> that's exactly right as you just described, chuck. the situation here is pretty dire. we're looking at 100% hospital capacity and we just found out that the state set a new single day case record of 1,801 cases. and i have been talking to health care workers, nurses, doctors, administrators. and as this new policy potentially comes into effect for them, people are on kind of all sides of the debate here. some say that if their community is in dire need, as many places, especially rural parts of the state are, they'll raise their hands and they'll do this. and others are saying, no, i don't feel comfortable. the state doesn't have a mask mandate, so if the governor isn't going to ask the broader community here in north dakota to take simple, proven steps to mitigate the spread and to keep people safe, i don't know that i feel comfortable coming into work while technically ill and potentially subjecting

colleagues or other workers in the facility where i am to this virus. and i actually talked about all of this just last night with an e.r. nurse named sarah lostpike. >> honestly, i think we have to think about the patients that don't have covid, the staff that don't have covid. the amount of times -- so i've thought about this. whenever somebody leaves my facility with covid, how many doorknobs have a touched to leave? who is thinking about those doorknobs? who is cleaning them? who is sterilizing the room? you know, we are, but things could be missed. so i know that might sound a little crazy to think about doorknobs, but i just think about the risk of exposure with somebody that has covid-19 to somebody that does not. i think that risk is just too great to -- the benefit isn't good enough. >> so sarah told me that, as of right now, she is not willing to

work. if she finds out she is covid positive, even if she's asymptomatic. i spoke to many other nurses yesterday who told me that as they see acutely ill patients if they become sick and they're healthy enough to keep working, they'll do it. however, they wanted me to know that all of them feel like this is potentially sending a very dangerous and conflicting message to residents here in north dakota. they say if people here in a state that's already struggling to follow cdc guidelines hear that nurses are going to work, asymptomatic and that's okay, they may say, well, i want to keep going to work. i need my wages. so we're going to do that, too. that would be incredibly dangerous. >> so antonia, what happens when the hospitals are at 100%. are we talking rationed -- are they going to start rationing care or basically doing that already? >> in some cases, they are doing that already. there are tons of outside agencies right now within and outside of the state that are calling on nurses from across the country to see if they are

willing to come here to north dakota and work. a nurse told me last night that actually some staff and hospitals who are not nurses are doing some of the work that nurses typically do. things like warming up blankets, bringing food to sick patients. and so that's another one of the reason yes they're worried about having covid positive people come to work alongside folks, right? it's not just the nurses and the patients who are on these floors. >> yeah. antonia hylton on the ground in fargo, north dakota, thank you. let's move a state over to minnesota where gabe gutierez is. you got a firsthand look at the surge from the front line. what did you learn? >> hey there chuck. i should point out just today, minnesota reported a record number of cases here in the state. yesterday it reported a record number of deaths as well. but behind me is abbott

northwestern hospital. yesterday we got a look inside its covid icu. it has about 30 covid icu beds. right now about three-fourths of them are full. and doctors and nurses here, chuck, are worried about what will happen over the coming months. you heard antonia there talking about the fear of doctors and nurses, health care workers getting sick themselves. their concern is not just getting sick while at work but getting sick in the community. community spread. i should also point out that we spoke with a 36-year-old patient. her name is kelly meager. she has been at this hospital, chuck, for about a month and a half. she just got off a ventilator several weeks ago. she's now in recovery and out of isolation. take a listen. >> a lot of people think it's older people that are affected by this, but you are pretty young. what would you say to people who

think, oh, this is something that affects perhaps the elderly or maybe isn't as serious because, you know -- >> wear your mask. wear your mask because i almost died from it. it's more serious than people think. i just think people aren't taking it serious enough. >> and, chuck, yesterday was actually the first day that she managed to take her first steps since coming out of that coma. her mother was there by her side. she says that she felt helpless during some of her sickness but thankfully she's doing better. still, a long road to recovery. and you heard her message right there. to anyone who doesn't take this seriously, wear a mask. chuck? >> i tell you, gabe, i almost want to clip that and make that a psa. people need to see that. she's telling us this from her hospital bed. how much more of a credible firsthand account does someone need in order to learn to wear a

mask. gabe gutierrez in minneapolis, thank you for bringing kelly's story to us as well. let me go to dr. bhadelia. i have to say, i almost want to make that a clip and say, you know, i think about what it took to get people to quit smoking. what is it going to take for people to wear a mask? does it take people on what was near death experiences? is that what it's going to take to convince people to wear a mask? maybe it does. seems nothing else is. >> good afternoon, chuck. actually for those of us who have seen this play out again by bedside since this pandemic started, i mean, we have been trying to bring this story out. and i do think that those are powerful, but we shouldn't have to depend on people sharing their painful stories for us to see the change. you know, the trouble here is, if you have sensed a change in the tenor of the doctors and public health experts that you've been talking to recently it's because we're desperate. the cases today are becoming

already the hospitalizations and will become the deaths of tomorrow. with our actions today, they'll already determine that we're going to be in for a really rough, rough month and a half at least and the level of how rough it is depends on our actions. this is in a setting where last week after the election, half the people polled said they thought the pandemic was mostly or completely under control. half of the country thinks the pandemic is out of control. as we're walking into the worst public health emergency, potentially worse than spring. i would bet it's going to be worse than the spring. the trouble is it's so many different areas. but this is how it plays out. the cases -- we hit 100,000 last week, and we thought that was a record. we hit 150,000 daily yesterday. this is the definition of exponential -- oh, today, yeah. this is the definition of exponential increase in cases. what happens next is our testing falls behind. our testing positivity sort of goes up. lag times -- testing return

times are -- turn around times go up. we start missing more people who are sick in the communities. then we get hospitalizations which we're already seeing which then lead to more deaths and in between all of those things you're seeing all the benefits, all the successes we had in decreasing mortality get overturned because health care workers are overwhelmed. health care systems are overwhelmed. it impacts other people trying to seek care and all in all, the group that pays some of the hardest costs of this are health care workers. as you're already seeing this play out. it played out during ebola during my work there. you saw this. the activities that people are doing, they need tond the overall impact it's having on their community. we haven't even seen the worst surge that's going to come from the travel during thanksgiving and the growth of the flu rate. still low. we're going to see them increase over the next month. >> so the only -- there's only one answer then. and yet it does seem as if the political leaders don't want to deal with it.

we're going to have to do some sort of temporary shutdown or slowdown or massive slowdown if we're ever going to have a chance to give the health care system a chance to breathe. no? >> we need a reset. maybe that looks different than a complete shutdown or a lockdown. maybe that means a very consistent rollback of reopenings, right? so there's a few very easy steps we can do today. how are there still 15 states that don't have mask mandates? do we really have to wait until a state is in crisis for them to pass that? i don't understand that. >> well, florida has been in crisis. north dakota has been in crisis. they're still not mandating masks. >> right. and the second bit of this is, you know, rolling back the high-risk activities. we know where the most number of cases come. if we roll back indoor capacity in every state right now, maybe we can continue schools for a little bit longer in schools that aren't completely overwhelmed. and, three, where's our covid passport? what is going on as we're entering into this chaos?

where is our plan for what's going to happen when we run out of health care workers in multiple states? why isn't our covid task force sharing integral data so the state can plan together. why are they sharing it with the public so that we can change our behavior? >> dr. bhadelia, we're trying to get evidence to see if they're even meeting still. it's unclear whether this task force is even meeting. i know there are good people on this task force working their tail off right now, but the people in charge are doing nothing. dr. nahid bhadelia, thank you for sharing that plea. we'll talk to a mayor in one of the cities dealing with a hospital crush. that's coming up. later in the show. also ahead, some politics. some republicans appear to be running out of patience with the president. we'll talk to former national security adviser john bolton who says his party needs to stop coddling the president. don't miss toebnight's all w

episode of "meet the press reports." we're looking at the art of a concession speech. we planned this pre-election. why even in defeat, politicians can come out winning. perhaps somebody in the oval office can watch and learn. watch "meet the press reports" tonight at 8:00 and 11:00 eastern on nbc news now or on our streaming service peacock. we'll be right back. eucerin advr and switch. it doubles your skin's moisture and repairs dry skin over time. so tomorrow can be a different story. eucerin - recommended and used by dermatologists. and at fidelity, you'll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing what's most important to you today. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward.

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welcome back. a growing number of republicans appear to be losing some patience with president trump's refusal to accept the election results and recognize joe biden as president-elect. bolton, along with others like senators grassley and lankford are expressing concern about the trump administration depriving biden of national security briefings. and lankford said he'd intervene personally if necessary. >> there's nothing wrong with vice president biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare

himself and so that he can be ready. the president is already getting those. there's nothing wrong with the former vice president getting those. if that's not occurring by friday, i will step in as well and be able to push and say, this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task. >> all of this comes as trump advisers tell nbc news that while president trump might accept the election results, it is not likely that he'll concede or admit that he lost. meanwhile, president-elect joe biden made his first major staffing announcement last night tapping his longtime aide ron klain to be his white house chief of staff. making ron klain perhaps one of the most prepared and experienced white house chiefs of staff ever. joining me is mike memoli in wilmington with the biden campaign and white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. obviously, covering the trump white house. mike, let me begin with you. the ron klain announcement, this

was something that in some ways has been, i guess, internally a done deal for a few days. will we now start to see more and more announcements as a way to sort of create this air of inevitability, or do they want to wait until it's official from the government? >> no, chuck, they are proceeding much as they had expected to on the staffing front and building out their administration. what we should expect to see, as soon as next week is another batch of names for west wing positions. what biden has been huddle with his advisers all week doing is trying to sort out clear lanes, clear responsibilities, trying to balance out an additional circle of close trusted aides who have been with him for a long time. also some of the newer faces to the campaign who were welcomed into that circle. folks like jen o'malley dillon, the campaign manager who really wasn't expected to join the biden administration but she really did earn the respect of the biden team for running that campaign in very difficult

circumstances. cedric richmond also expected to get a big role. he's on an upward trajectory in the house. former cbc chairman but was a key part of the biden campaign operation. they want to see him there. as it relates to this question of the gsa, chuck, the biden team has always been walking sort of a very fine line this week. y they raised the prospect of legal action but biden's posture is much as he's always conducted his politics and negotiations on the hill and also diplomacy on the world stage. you have to understand your opponent, your negotiating counterpart's pressure points. he didn't want to going to unnecessarily escalate this to the point where it led republicans, especially president trump to dig in. when you see senator lankford speaking up the way they are, that's an indication of the success of that approach to all of this. >> mike memoli in wilmington. mike, thank you. let me move over to kelly o'donnell covering the trump white house. kelly, we are -- i'm just doing

my math here. we're eight days removed from the election. we're five days removed from the major media organizations calling the presidency. they have yet to produce anything that -- to sort of give any facts behind their allegations on what's going on. i feel like every day that goes by without that is another reminder that maybe they don't have the goods. >> well, and it was a we will win day on twitter as well where the president still pushing his argument that somehow he was robbed of this election and asserting fraud without evidence and talking about things that resonate with the 70 million-plus voters who chose him in this election. at the same time, we understand from talking with our sources, allies and advisers to the president, that they understand the math. they understand the data. and they have heard voices like karl rove who is respected in

republican circles for understanding how to count votes. and that he says there is no pathway to overturn. even if they identified some instances of irregularities or problems, that it's not a substantial enough number. or a recount, for example, in the state of georgia that is expected to proceed, that that wouldn't net enough votes to change the outcome. so then the question becomes, is there some other pathway short of the gracious concession that typical one-term presidents have offered. is there some way for the president to acknowledge that this outcome is heading toward a swearing in for joe biden on the 20th of january without the president losing his ability to fight this claim as he says? and that's part of what they're trying to figure out. and the timing of that remains a question mark with the georgia runoff of two senate races that is very important to keep republican voters engaged on. chuck? >> it's sort of funny.

they a plan. they know there's no reality to this, but they've got to plan on when they accept reality. very quickly, kelly, the covid positive list on the trump campaign has expanded by one. who is the latest? >> actually two now. corey lewandowski, the 2016 first trump campaign manager tells us through sources that he has tested positive and is not feeling a lot of symptoms. and then richard walters, who is chief of staff at the rnc, according to our team's reporting, also tested positive. and lewandowski, of course, was at one of those public events in philadelphia, press conference, that got a lot of attention. speaking on behalf of the president in this voter fraud period. we don't know what other contacts he has had, but we understand that he took a test separate from any white house mechanism so this wasn't the white house flagging a positive with lewandowski. >> interesting. kelly o'donnell reporting for us from the white house. thank you.

up ahead, one of the republican voices calling for his party to start to recognize the election results. the president's former national security adviser ambassador john bolton joins me live, next. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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welcome back. as we mentioned, there are some republicans urging president trump to accept the results of the election. john bolton who was president trump's former national security adviser says it's up to all republicans to accept the outcome. he writes in "the washington

post," the real issue is the grievous harm trump is causing to public trust in america's constitutional system. trump's time is moving out even as his rhetoric continues escalating. and time is running out for republicans who hope to maintain the party's credibility. ambassador john bolton joins me now. you've heard the argument that probably have been made to you quietly, which says, and john thune said it publicly, that the rationale for sort of enabling this -- whatever it is the president is trying to do right now, that they need his -- him and his supporters engaged for those georgia runoffs. it sounds like you think, if you are doing it for that reason, the long-term damage is going to be a lot greater than any short-term gain. >> yeah, let me be clear. i think winning those two georgia senate seats is absolutely critical. and i really wrote this op-ed as a message to other republicans.

clearly the national interest is the supreme concern we have here, but for the republican party, the idea that if we just kind of allowed trump to work his way through the seven stages of grief and finally decide to allow himself to be wheeled out of the white house, that we'll be okay. i think it's false. i think the democrats and with all due respect, many people in the media will try and lump trump forever together with republicans. i think he will be the hooverville of the rest of this century if we're not careful. i think we have to look to what the interest of the country and the party are as opposed to donald trump. donald trump is pursuing his highest interest, which is donald trump. and i think republican leaders need to think of our bigger interest, which is the country and then the party. >> ambassador bolton, this seems plainly obvious to me what you're articulating, and yet, in fact, if you have, and i'm sure if you have individual

conversations with certain republican senators, they don't disagree with any of the way you just laid this out. but collectively, they are not acting that way. and it seems as if they think they fear the president more than clearly you do. >> well, you know, what's the president going to do to me? sue me? the -- a lot of republicans -- >> i think he's trying that, isn't he? >> come at me again. i'm ready. a lot of republicans on the hill are fearful of his twitter rants. there's no doubt about it. but i'm not asking everybody to climb mt. sarabachi and plant the flag. you can do this in small steps, too. senator james lankford, senator charles grassley are doing the right thing in saying, look, we don't know exactly how this is going to come out, but against the contingency that joe biden

actually won, we owe the country the obligation that he be fully prepared. let's let the transition begin. let's not make the mistake of 2000 where george w. bush was denied access and lost 37 days during the recount. let's do this responsibly. i think those steps that separate key party leaders and the party from trump are valuable for the country and for the party. and they shouldn't care what donald trump thinks. >> in fact, you brought up 2000. in fact, here's the 9/11 commission said the transition was an issue in preparation for 9/11. page 198. the dispute over the election and the 36-day delay cut in half the normal transition period. given that a presidential election in the united states brings wholesale change in personnel, this loss of time hampered the new administration in identifying, recruiting, clearing and obtaining senate confirmation of key appointees.

it just reinforces what you just said. the national security implications of delaying this transition. we don't know what we don't know right now. and that's scary. >> yeah. you know, i think the 9/11 commission had a good point. it's very hard to prove there was a causal connection. but i guess i'd put it this way. who wants to take the chance? what is the responsible thing to do here? and it's not to pretend like the process that the president is going through now is going to produce a change in the election results. when you say, well, the president has a right to do this, that's fine. but at some point, he has to produce compelling legal arguments and evidence. and he has not produced either one so far. and in the cases i've seen, on file, i don't see it's going to happen in any of them. so if he won't do it, the rest of the party needs them. >> why are you so confident he's going to end up sort of becoming the mayor of hooverville? i don't know if i quoted you

exactly, but i get what you're trying to say that he's going to be a relic of history that you assume over time, he's less and less influential. he looks more influential today on the republican party than he did at times during his presidency given the surprising performance of republicans down the ballot. >> the hooverville metaphor is every republican after herbert hoover was said to be bringing a new generation of hoovervilles. we're going to be told we're all a bunch of trumps from now on. i don't think trump say republican. i don't think trump is a conservative. when he walks out the door of the oval office, his influence will diminish considerably. he's just not going to be as interesting anymore. he may fight to remain a force within the party, but that's what political leaders who oppose his approach and his lack of competence need to make clear to the party base and others we can attract back. you don't have to take the state of play today as a given, as something that can never be

changed. quite the contrary. i think to get forward -- to go forward from here and put trump aside, it's going to require people to explain what he did wrong. i think that helps us justify to the american people how to take control of the house and increase possibly in the senate in 2022 and win the white house back for a reaganite republican in 2024. >> ambassador john bolton, the former national security adviser, one time to president trump. appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. always a pleasure, sir. thank you. >> thanks for having me. 54 days to go until election day in georgia. i know, the countdowns don't end around here. republicans are hitting the trail and air waves in georgia doing everything they can to nationalize this race. is that a good idea? idea? we're all finding ways to keep moving.

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welcome back. while the republican party is beginning to divide over president trump's refusal to concede, all republicans are united on one front -- georgia. you heard it there even with ambassador bolton. the two january 5th senate runoffs will determine the senate majority and the gop is trying to nationalize this race. a new ad featuring rick scott lays it out in stark terms. democrats aren't just coming for georgia. they say they're coming for the whole country. using chuck schumer's words there. florida's other senator, marco rubio, also got in on the action joining candidate kelly loeffler in front of a packed and at times maskless indoor rally to kick off her runoff campaign yesterday. jon ossoff was on the trail yesterday as well campaigning outside. both democratic candidates, ossoff and raphael warnock see a path forward by focusing on georgia voters. joining me, two who have ties to republicans.

democratic strategist james carville, host of the politics war room podcast. the first time i came across james carville professionally, he was working for a guy named zell miller, if i'm not mistaken, there carville. let me start with the republican side of things there. which is, the decision to nationalize this race, maybe it's inevitable it's going to be nationalized anyway. but are perdue and loeffler going to run as a ticket here, and does that become uncomfortable at any point during this campaign? >> i think they sort of have to. i don't really know any other way. look, what kelly loeffler needs to do is get to where david perdue already was. david perdue was ahead in the election by three points. he was just a tip under the 50 to avoid the runoff. he was able to run a relatively traditional georgia race. you know, he talked about his conservative credentials but also the metro atlanta area where joe biden did so well, he was actually running relatively mainstream campaign.

he was talking about police reform and supporting, you know, racial equity and things like that. so he just needs -- georgia is still a red state, even though joe biden run it, a lot of people who, i think, flipped this state for biden were women in the suburbs who were coming out to vote against donald trump. they weren't necessarily voting for the democrat or against republicans. they were voting against donald trump. so really they need the state to regularize, get back to what it normally is, and i think they should be able to win. >> you know, james, georgia is the only state that biden flipped where there's not a single county that trump carried in '16 that biden carried in '20. it was all margins. it's as unique flip, all margins. not one area. so how do democrats win this, in your mind? >> well, the first thing is, there was enormous turnout among trump voters. i don't think anyone would say

that they're going to come out in the same numbers with him not on the ballot. also an enormous turnout in particularly metro atlanta, and some of that was driven by trump being on the ballot. and this is going to come down to, will the trump people come out and vote again or will the anti-trump people come out and vote again and what margins is it going to come down to? that's the question before the house. and i don't argue whether georgia is a red state or purple state, but biden did carry it, and perdue is an incumbent senator and did get below 50. so i have no idea what's going to happen. it's going to probably be razor thin. they have to fight some real covid issues in northwest georgia which is a republican stronghold in the state. and i don't think there's much way you can stop this from becoming nationalized at some level. it's just going to be -- that's the way it's going to be. a lot of it depends on between

now and january 5th what happens with trump. how do these republicans land this plane? i have no idea. >> and let me ask you the same question i asked brendan which is, do ossoff and warnock basically, do they fuse their campaign -- do they go ahead and fuse their campaigns together? i'm sure there's probably some of -- some strategists in their orbit that say you'd be better off playing for the, you know, being the -- for those voters that may split between the two parties in the ticket. but ultimately if they want to win, they have to run together? >> i don't think there's much choice. i mean, if they -- i don't think there's much choice. they can certainly be together in the public. one may win by 10,000 votes. one may lose by 10,000 votes. the margins here are so minuscule, who knows? but i think in people's minds, and i see them appearing

together and i saw perdue and loeffler appearing together. it's going to be very hard to get much separation on either side of this equation. i think they're pretty much joined at the hip. i am open to another interpretation but where i sit in mississippi, i don't see a way to -- >> brendan, would you if you were working for perdue or loeffler right now, would you be begging mcconnell, go cut a deal with pelosi and get some covid relief paths before january 5th? >> that might help on the margins. what they need to be doing is running against ossoff and warnock. biden was able to flip this state, a, because people came out and voted against donald trump but because he was a centrist and relatively an offensive to the suburbs that i think really changed. those margins you were talking about in cobb and gwinnett and north fulton springing 20%, 30%.

they are not joe biden democrats. they are liberals. they are far left. they are not the type of democrats you can get elected in georgia in a normal race. but i think what they would really love is for the president to drop the election fraud nonsense because all that does is tell republican voters, and i've talked to a lot of people down there, they're internalizing this, that their vote doesn't count. elections are rigged. ultimately, you can say that's going to fire people up but it's also going to tell people not to come out because their vote doesn't matter and it's going to depress turnout. that's what they'd really love to see. >> and james, trump or mcconnell, what is the better bogeyman for the democrats to run against? >> well, i think mcconnell is -- it's going to be obvious that this is what -- if they win, you are going to get the following things. you'll get an expansion of health care, increase in minimum wage, something aggressive on prescription drug benefits. you'll have tax cuts for the

middle class, not the wealthy. you just fundamentally run a 2018 strategy. i think that's the way to go. and i don't know if there's much difference between ossoff and warnock and biden. brendan is right. trump brought out people in the suburbs of metro atlanta. but also you have to remember, trump brought out a lot of people in rural georgia and northwest georgia and all over that are not going to come out and vote without trump on the ballot. this is just a yin and yang kind of thing. isn't that in the bible somewhere? sounds like it should be. >> james, that's a great way to end. whether it's in the bible or not, it does sound like it should be. brendan, james carville, i hope to talk to you both before january 5th. up next -- as the covid hospitalizations soar, we'll talk to the mayor of a city that was, for a time this week, down

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and at fidelity, you'll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing what's most important to you today. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward. more covid-19 patients are in the hospital right now than at any other point during this pandemic. so m of the hardest hit places and cities they're getting an inflection where they don't have the staff to care for very sick patients.

oklahoma reported a record number of hospital sdagss now for two days in a row. more than 1200 just yesterday. for a time this week there was not a single icu bed available in any hospital in tulsa. i believe you just won reelection. congratulations on that. let me ask you about this hospital situation. i assume you're talking in patients from the greater regional area. how close are you to rationing care? >> you really summed up where we are really well. at that point we were at our peak for hospitalizations and resaw a three month decline. now we're far exsedding that all-time high in cases and

hospitalizations. but over 68% of the population that is coming into the hospitals in tulsa have r not from the city in sul ta. they' tulsa. our hospitals said they will continue to provide care but the way they're doing that is being really restrictive. you have to be basically in danger of respiratory failure before you're in a hospital with covid. we had two city employees. one had a 106 degree sustained fever. another city employee, first responder, who had to wait until they developed pneumonia to get a hospital room. so that is the way that rooms are being rationed right now. you have to be one of the worst hobble cases before you get a bed at this point. >> you made a point that there is a lot more rural communities,

and i think i read where the state's public health commission said if you ask people to wear a mask than fewer people would wear masks, i hope that we're not that cynical about how political this has gotten, but would you like the state to institute a mask mandate at this point? >> absolutely. i have been public about the need for that for awhile now. i told the governor's office the night before last when we found out we maxed out on beds that we need help. we have reached a point where us doing this alone as a city government, which we tried to do our best, we reached a point where we can't control the spread of this virus any more when we're getting 68% of our hospital patients from outside of the city limits where we don't govern.

it is something that i think our hospitals need that statewide mandate. and the argument has been made we want to ep encourage people. my response to that is every law would be fine. but at this point -- >> the election is over, could we just send that message out. hey, there is no more election. the masks are not a political statement. the coronavirus did not evaporate into the ether the day after the election, but ewe right. i wish that this was not political. it is incredibly frustrating to hear our hospitals and our doctors tell us repeatedly what

they need and not get it in the midst of a public health crisis. the likes of which that we have not seen before. >> mayor, the republican mayor of tulsa. again you just won reflection, i'm sure given what you're dealing with right now sort of not front and center in your mind. thank you for coming on and sharing were perspective. >> i appreciate your time. >> msnbc's coverage will continue tomorrow after this break and i'll see you tomorrow. . these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal.

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>> good afternoon. it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 in the east. the clouds are gathering as we now face what is likely going to be a very dark winter. more than 148,000 americans tested positive and more than 11