good morning and welcome to a special prerecorded edition of "morning joe" on this friday after thanksgiving. we have some great conversations lined up for the next couple of hours including our week long series on how america's founding principles are being tested today. plus, commentary on the coronavirus pandemic. and a special tribute to all those americans making their voices heard amid a very tough year. and that's exactly where we start this hour with one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in the nation's

history. it was three weeks ago tomorrow when joe, willie and i were live on the air on a saturday to break the news that joe biden was heading to the white house. >> okay, we have announcement to make. joe biden is president-elect of the united states. biden is being called with the pennsylvania votes that have just come in. biden has been elected, mika, and tell us about it. >> well, the president-elect of the united states, joe biden, has run for president three times and the third time had turned out to be the charm. not only the charm, but possibly the most consequential election of our lifetimes. he is 77 years old. he was born in scranton, pennsylvania, but calls wilmington, delaware, his home. at the age of 29, joe biden

became one of the youngest people ever elected to the u.s. senate and that is where he stayed for decades. even, quite frankly, through tremendous tragedy that has struck his life. he has been witness and a part of some major moments in american history during his time as vice president of the united states under barack obama. and that is the passage of the affordable care act and health care remains his top priority. >> willie, as we talk about this election, this race, we looked at joe biden in the eyes when we were in new hampshire. he knew he was going to lose that race badly in the democratic primary. just like he had been embarrassed in iowa. and i must say, it was one of the few times i have been around joe biden in my life where when he sat down i have nothing to say to him. it was a moment where you could tell joe biden knew that he was

hanging by a very thin thread in that race. he knew he had to perform well the next week in nevada. he came in second, that was good enough to buy him a ticket to south carolina. then, willie, i must say what happened over the next week in south carolina, what happened when jim clyburn, what happened when black voters especially women black voters across the state of south carolina came out en masse to support his candidacy, joe biden was on his way and while a lot of people will be focusing on the last few weeks of this campaign, we must say and we said at the time we'll say it now, few of us have ever seen a candidacy turn around as quickly as joe biden's did over the next week or two. he went from being a man who's presumed to be a three or four-time loser, to a man who was rocketing to the democratic nomination. now he's going to be the 46th

president of the united states. >> and an extraordinary election in so many ways not the least of which is that it was conducted in the middle of the pandemic. joe, you're right. i go back to that day in new hampshire. february 11th, the day of the new hampshire primary. joe biden had finished fourth in iowa. that night he would finish fifth in new hampshire. in our interview with him, the time we spent with him as we were preparing to interview felt like a political wake and if you go back and talk honestly to people around him, the mood was low. they didn't see a path forward. and then here comes south carolina, jim clyburn, congressman clyburn makes his endorsement. and african-american voters by and large step in to effectively save joe biden's campaign in late february and now here we are on this saturday, yes, three or four days after election day

at this point. but now we can say nbc news declares joe biden as president-elect of the united states of america. >> and mika, this breaking news from the bbc as well. following nbc news' lead the bbc is projecting that joe biden won, that he secured enough electoral votes to defeat donald trump. >> as we talk about joe biden's incredible path to victory, it would be amiss not to mention that right now we are also in another moment of incredible transition in history where we are going to be witnessing the first woman vice president of the united states. >> let's -- speaking of history, let's bring in jon meacham, pulitzer prize winning presidential historian. jon meacham, this has been an extraordinary presidential race. it has been an extraordinary

year and forgive me for being pollyannai pollyannaish, i was saying it before the call, i'll say it now. the fact that many americans were involved in this race, in the age of covid is remarkable, yes. joe biden got more votes than any person who has ever run for president of the united states. second place, donald j. trump. this election has been one for the ages. >> close elections produce consequential presidencies. i think this is on a par with 1860, 1864, 1932, 1960, 1980, 2008. this is a moment where the country had to make a decision whether we would follow reason or whether we would continue to only be engaged in partisan

passion. that does not mean that partisan passion is going away. there's an enormous amount of work ahead. but when historians look back, when citizens look back on this moment, it may well be that this was the beginning of the end of an era of perpetual partisan warfare and a lot of that will be determined by the character of the person we have just elected president of the united states. character is destiny. >> yep. >> the greeks taught us that. and joe biden's character is such that it may be that man and moment were made for each other. >> you talk about man and moment being made for each other. i know there are a lot of people who are disappointed on both sides, that a democrat has been elected president and that it looks like republicans will maintain control of the senate. but we actually have people that

are going to be running washington, d.c., that actually knows how washington, d.c. works. and they have been complaining for some time that we continue electing people to washington, d.c., of both parties who are outsiders who don't know how to make washington, d.c., work. but as you talk about the character of the president -- the president-elect, i go back to richard ben cramer and his remarkable stories about joe biden and i'm reading here about how joe biden was supposed to be on the operating table for four hours. he ended up being on the table for nine hours when there was surgery on him and -- >> brain aneurysm. >> for a brain aneurysm. and the timing the doctor said was appropriate and t.j., if we could, show some pictures here of joe biden as the next

president of the united states. but the timing was appropriate and what he meant was they weren't a minute too soon. in fact, the moment they cut into biden's head, maybe was just a godly coincidence, the aneurysm burst like a gusher. he was lucky. it burst outward toward the skull. if it had gone the other way, of course, joe biden would not have survived. and there were so many times in joe biden's life where he was dealt one tragic blow of another. of course the passing of his wife and his daughter in a tragic accident, mika, and then this -- finding out that he had a brain aneurysm. but also believing that he was guided by god towards a larger destiny and that's what he said after his failure in the 1988 presidential campaign.

he could not understand why he had come up short. why things had gone so badly. and then his wife jill, joe biden, val, all of those close to joe biden understood that if he had had the brain aneurysm while campaigning, he would not have come home and he would have been dead. when he woke up from that surgery, he understood why he had lost that race so badly. he believed that god still had a plan for his life and here we are, 40 years later. joe biden is going to be the 46th president of the united states. >> you talk about that brain aneurysm and that moment, that bedside moment when he told his sons he didn't need to see them grow into men because he was proud of them. you'd think it would end there in terms of tragedy but then

there is beau biden. beau biden who served as delaware's attorney general after returning home from iraq after he served as a captain with the national guard, beau biden died of brain cancer and joe biden always talks about health care being personal to him because it is. but it brings out something else that has struck me about not just joe biden but joe and jill biden and knowing them over the years. joe biden received the first brzezinski award after the passing of my father for a million reasons, but the one i look to is how grounded they are. when you meet joe and jill biden, you do not look at them and hear the sounds and -- see the sights of people who are creatures of washington. you see scranton, wilmington, people like you and me and that's everybody. they are people that never got changed by washington and grounded by that hardship. instead of broken by it,

grounded by it and god bless them, they want to go back to washington after serving there for decades and then the eight years serving under president barack obama. a lot of people left after something like that, they'd want to go home, get a break. no, joe biden wants to go back and serve. >> more news outlets now calling this race saying it is over. "the washington post" declaring right now joe biden projected to be the nation's 46th president, elected to lead a divided country amid a deadly pandemic and willie, talking about beau biden, beau was a friend of our show, like many democrats. many republicans, he came on the show many times. we always loved him, always respected him. it was surprised that he didn't run himself, to be senator of delaware. he could have won that, but he decided to stay where he was because he was committed to the

people of delaware. i remember talking to joe biden, he was on the show earlier this year with us and we asked him if he thought about beau every day and he teared up and he told us that in fact it was beau he was running for. it was beau who was on his shoulder every day pushing him forward. and as the young boy that was in the front seat of that ambulance racing down to walter reed hospital in the middle of the snowstorm when his father was dying, made all the sense in the world that it was beau pushing him forward because beau didn't want him to get out of the '88 race. beau wanted him to keep fighting and let's tell it like it is. most democrats and the democratic establishment at the start of this process had very few kind words to say about joe biden's candidacy.

they thought he was too old. they thought he was too shaken up by losing beau. >> they thought he hugged too much. >> they thought life had delivered too many hard blows to him. they didn't think that he could win the democratic nomination and beat donald trump. but time and time again over the past year, joe biden has exceeded expectations. >> yeah. i think lost in the failures of the trump administration and donald trump so controlling the air space and the stage during this campaign is that joe biden and his team ran an excellent campaign. now, it was a different campaign because we were in the middle of a pandemic. he don't the the events like he would normally do, but he resisted the tug left that he was encouraged by some to visit positions that may have hurt him. he was told that if you want to take this back, the central mission is to control the upper

midwest. get back those states that hillary clinton lost to donald trump. mission accomplished in wisconsin, in michigan and now we can say in the state of pennsylvania. he grabbed back the three states and he may not be done yet with as you can see on that map nevada, arizona, georgia, north carolina, alaska still outstanding, but, joe, back to your point about beau biden. there was an incredible moving moment -- we took it live on tuesday on election day. joe biden visited st. joseph's on the brandy wine, the roman catholic church he's attended for a long time in wilmington, delaware, and where his children are buried. to say a prayer and to visit the graves of your children on the day that you hope you may be elected president of the united states tells a lot of the story of joe biden's life that now culminates in this moment when he is the president-elect and will become the 46th president of the united states of america. >> it is every parent's fear to

have to bury their child. joe biden has had to do it twice. and he's had to bury a wife and if you ask him how he got through that, he will tell you only his faith in god moved him forward. and with a loss, of course, of beau, it was jill, the same jill biden that joe biden credited with helping him dream again. let's continue, willie, through the breaking news. "the wall street journal" now declaring joe biden as elected president of the united states. he pledged, quote, no blue states and no red states, but a united country. "the financial times" breaking news. joe biden wins u.s. election after pennsylvania triumph and "the new york times," joe biden defeated president trump and has been elected the president of the united states. he clinched the electoral

college with pennsylvania. willie? >> scranton joe clinches the electoral college fittingly with pennsylvania. and in an era that began for donald trump in politics on an escalator ride down 5 1/2 years ago now ends on a saturday where he learned this news at his golf course in virginia where he's currently playing and let us not lose what mika mentioned. senator kamala harris now vice president elect the first woman, the first black woman, the first indian-american woman to hold that position. this is a momentous day in this country on that count. that was just the start of it. up next, we'll continue with part two of that breaking news announcement when joe biden became president-elect. we spoke with nbc news correspondent mike memoli who's covered the incoming president for years and had some critical

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welcome back. in our last segment, we showed you the moment earlier this month when the nbc news election desk declared joe biden the nation's next president-elect. after breaking that news, we turned to nbc's mike memoli who followed the campaign every step of the way and is now charting the transition to power. >> mike memoli is standing by for us at biden campaign headquarters in wilmington, delaware. mike, you have been covering joe biden for 13 years. if i have my math right, this is a bit of a delayed gratification for the campaign that felt like a couple of days ago they had this wrapped up. but now nbc and other organizations can say it officially. joe biden is the president-elect. what's the reaction there? >> well, obviously, just incredible jubilation on the

part of the biden team. they thought we were at this moment yesterday, of course, when joe biden took the lead in pennsylvania. but the slow pace of results, the lack of a projection from media ordinaries that he was the president-elect put that on hold. i heard him very often quote irish poets. not because he's irish, he would say, but because they're the best poets and there's a particular poem he's fond of quoting. i want to read from it because i think it's particularly relevant. history says don't hope on this side of the grave, but hope and history rhyme. the delay of yesterday to today means that 48 years to the day that joe biden won his very first election to the united states senate, an upset victory over a popular incumbent republican, he is now the president-elect of the united states. he does this after winning

pennsylvania, the state where he was born. where he's campaigned more than anywhere else. this happens five years as you have been mentioning after the loss of his son, beau. i have talked to -- i want to call him the former vice president. i'm calling him the president-elect now. often during the course of this campaign, about his son, he said at one point during the campaign in one of our conversations that he just wakes up every day and hopes that beau is proud of him. he lost his son at the age of 46. joe biden will be the 46th president of the united states. it's interesting to note that he has said often that -- his wife said the same thing to me, dr. biden in an interview, they thought often during the course of the campaign how they should be campaigning for beau biden for president, not for joe biden as president. so joe biden when me did lose his son and he made that decision in late october of 2015 not to enter the 2016 race, there was a sense that of course

that was the end of the biden story, that there was -- his career in public office at least was over. but then donald trump happened. joe biden perhaps on the eve of the 2016 election more than any other democrats sensed that trump had a better chance of winning than a lot of democrats wished to believe and in fact on the eve of the election, he was campaigning with tim kaine and while tim kaine was almost in celebration mode, expecting to be the vice president in what was supposed to be the passing of the torch night, joe biden told the crowd, god willing we'll win this election but a lot of folks will vote for the other guy and we have to ask why. why did we lose the connection with working class voters that he considered himself part of. when the moment was coming to him, donald trump became president, a lot of democrats doubted whether he was the right candidate. he and his campaign had unshakable confidence that he could speak in a way that twitter and many in the

progressive base didn't appreciate to the very voters that have now put him in the oval office. that blue wall that he helped to rebuild, the suburban communities as well. that's now the triumph of the biden campaign. >> and mike memoli, you have been there covering every single day of this campaign. we'll let you go back and do some reporting. you can let us know when we expect to see the president-elect. mika, fox news also now calling officially this election for joe biden. >> okay. thank you, willie. and to mike memoli's point about beau, if there is anything you need to know about joe biden it's this. if beau biden could be on that stage right now winning the presidency, joe biden would happily step off. it is -- it's an incredible moment. his path to victory has been long, arduous and painful and

decades long, by the way. let's bring in claire mccaskill. i know, claire, there's so much to say about joe biden's path to the presidency, but i have to say as i look up, i think i just heard something. and it was a crack. it was a crack in the ceiling. i think it's worth talking about kamala harris at this month as well. first black american woman of indian descent to be the vice president-elect of the united states of america. >> it's -- first of all, congratulations to america and congratulations to the biden campaign who stayed focused where they needed to be focused and sincere congratulations to my friends joe and a double congratulations to kamala. you need to look at her path. this is not somebody who was tapped on the shoulder at a preppie school. this is anything but someone that the other side would call elite. this is someone who went to a

historically black college and university and -- at howard and then found her way into the top levels of our government, through intelligence, hard work, balance, listening and an incredible ability to communicate. she deserves this. she earned this the right way and it is such a great role model for all women in america. i am so proud of her and joe biden for selecting her and they have got a very difficult job in front of them. but both of them together i think have the equipment necessary to navigate a stark reality, mika. we can't forget this. donald trump is going to be a gop king maker for years to come. he's incredibly popular. he's seen as their hero. and this country is very divided and i think all of us in my party need to be patient and understand that we have got to try to do a better job of bringing people together or all

we're going to do is sit on the opposite sides of the room and yell at each other. >> well, it's a great point, claire. there are many people who haven't worked in washington like you who think you can just get your way. james madison and the founding fathers thought otherwise and created a system of checks and balances that require republicans and democrats work together. joe biden has said he's going to do that. he's going to bring people together. he's going to bring parties together and he will be president of the entire united states. not just the democrats, not just for people who voted for him. but for everybody. jon meacham, i'm reminded, mike memoli talked about poets and joe biden's favorite poets. i'm reminded of when we spoke of beau biden's passing after it happened, i quoted bobby kennedy

from april 4, 1968. something that you have spoken beautifully about on your podcast and kennedy's quote of escalus his favorite greek poet. he wrote about 500 years before christ's birth, he who learns must suffer. even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart. and in our own despair against our will comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of god. and joe biden knows that awful grace better than anyone. but when you see these moments on a campaign trail, where he

goes up and he hugs somebody who has lost a father, or who's lost a child, when he speaks to gold star parents he has that extraordinary connection. and that almost super human empathy because he has suffered so much in his life and he uses that suffering to apply that grace of god to others. >> joe biden is among the most empathetic men i have ever met much less public figures in that he's in the tradition of george herbert walker bush. they can put themselves in other people's shoes and it will be a political virtue that will benefit this country for at least four years to come and

possibly far beyond. because the deficit of decency, the deficit of hope, the acen dense of fear and selfishness we have seen in this country will not totally end with a single election, but a single election can surely help. what was on the ballot here was decency and democracy and empathy and joe biden is particularly well-equipped for this moment. he's not perfect. he'd be the last person on the planet to tell you he was perfect. there are vices, but there are virtues here and they are deeply human virtues. they are deeply american virtues and i think it's wonderfully poetic that it was pennsylvania that has ended what president ford called our long national nightmare. because it was in philadelphia

that as benjamin franklin left the constitutional convention an important woman in philadelphia said, what will it be, mr. franklin? have you given us a republic or a monarchy? and he said a republic, madam, if you can keep it. the republic is being kept today. we dedicated a full week here on "morning joe" to the promise of america's first principles and the assault they're coming under today. it's the subject of tom ricks' latest book and we'll bring our conversations to you straight ahead on this special taped edition of "morning joe." ahead on this special taped edition of "morning joe. select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. it also turns into an air fryer. bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you.

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it'syou can adjust yourate slecomfort on both sides...leep your sleep number setting.. add affordable protection to the devices that connect us. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me keep up with mom? you got this. so, you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. don't miss our black friday sale, save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus 0% interest for 60 months on all smart beds. ends cyber monday. welcome back. election years have a way of bringing out some deeper perspective when it comes to democracy and america's founding ideals. this year perhaps more than ever it requires a hard look at where the nation actually stands with

all of that. we spoke with acclaimed writer and journalist tom ricks whose latest book "first principles" tackles those very issues. >> tom, i want to start with you because you're studying our founders and actually how they studied. we have james madison deciding to break tradition and going to the radical university of new jersey, princeton. princeton. and then jefferson of course, william and mary and what he learned in paris and adams at harvard. but george washington, he had a degree from ft. necessity and the french and indian war. explain how his challenges in the french and indian war may have been his greatest education. >> you know, it's such a nice spot in america to have a morning tv show to discuss the french and indian war. one of my favorite wars that nobody ever talks about. the french and indian war, it's

a colonial fight and the americans are fighting with the british kind over whoever who's going to take over north america. washington goes in, helps to start the war actually and then gets his butt kicked and he surrenders for the only time in his life at ft. necessity and then he ends up at the battle, and the indians fought really intelligently. having gone and reconnaissanced the americans and the british coming in for weeks. the first peoples is the way i prefer to refer to them, the first peoples fighters really understood warfare in a different way and i think washington learned there's more than one way to fight a war as he saw the british suffer this terrible defeat. that really helped him 20 years later in the american

revolution. he had seen people born in america defeat a european army. he had seen that you could fight different ways that you should listen to dissenting voices and advance reconnaissance, getting scouts out, understanding the people on the terrain is essential. these are all things he eventually -- he eventually learned to use during the revolution. i have got to say, he didn't start the revolution well. he spent his first couple of years in the war as a pretty conventional thinker. the difference was that the british stayed conventional and he began to adjust and change. >> talk about this man who achieved greatness in spite of many of his personal failings. >> i want to begin by saying that it's particularly timely to talk about today as i was watching your discussions of the failure of the current president to acknowledge his defeat and to begin a transition.

the first president in this country to turn over power peacefully to the opposition was john adams and that was a great act. now being john adams he didn't show up at the inauguration of jefferson, his successor. he left home on a 4:00 a.m. coach to baltimore. but he is the most modern of the first four presidents in many ways. he wears his feelings on his sleeve. he is extraordinarily vain. he constantly thinks he doesn't get enough credit. i suspect -- this is because unlike the other peers in this book he never really had a mentor. he was so off-putting to people. he was so anxious, so ambitious in many ways that despite being an honest man, an intelligent man, nobody ever really wanted to take him under their wing. he's a very prickly guy.

i think he was also very fortunate that he married a wonderful woman. if it's possible have a crush on a woman who's been dead for 200 years i have a crush on abigail adams. but i think also that john adams' great failure as president was backing the alien and sedition acts and basically saying that anybody who criticizes me is a traitor and i'm going to throw them in jail. he threw a bunch of journalists in jail really maliciously, so an editor in new york thomas greenleaf is going to be indicted but then he's killed by smallpox so they indict his wife, his widow. she falls ill and they went after the opposition newspapers. and when jefferson became president, he put an end to all that nonsense. but it really was a reactionary reaction by adams. thomas jefferson, i would say

incredibly important and if only for the declaration of independence. a great document, both great literature and a great political document. that said, three things that really bothered me about him and led me to really reassess my opinion of him in my research. first, he was a lousily governor of virginia. he was asleep at the wheel, winds up getting chased out of monticello by british troops riding up carter mountain behind him. second he's a hypocrite about the country. he never goes west of the blue ridge. not that he doesn't like to travel, he lives in france he travels all over. and third and motion of all, worst of all, on slavery. i wanted to defer to the expert

here. but my opinion is he was a hypocrite, a man who dreamed of liberty, while living on the sweat of others. a man who talked a good game when he was in paris, but toed the slavery power line when he was back in virginia. >> i can't talk about madison without going back to george washington because madison along with alexander hamilton were two young, brilliant rising stars that george washington identified and helped -- and had them help him create this republic of ours. talk about washington using madison and hamilton to get this country moving. >> well, also i would say madison using washington. if george washington gave us the country by leading the revolution, and i don't think it -- it might not have succeeded without him, james

madison is the most important person i think in then designing that country. washington has led the revolution. what is it is going to be? at first you get the articles of confederation government, a very weak central government, the states kind of wandering around by themselves. not unlike the last four years under trump especially with the virus. james madison is such an extraordinary figure because he doesn't appear like someone who would play such an important role. he's small, he has a weak speaking voice, he suffers from some kind of epilepsy, not real social. yet, he has brilliant political insights and he's a very good politician. a surprising combination. he's the guy who says, you know, we really need to have a constitutional convention. he reads up for four years on ancient greek republics and

city, states and leagues and confederations to look for why republics sometimes don't last. how can we make a republic that lasts, that is sustainable, that doesn't fall apart. danielle actually in her wonderful book "our declaration" i think has the most striking comment ever on madison. sometimes early american history feels like reading madison, talking to himself, drafting a letter or a speech by george washington, sends it to congress. madison then drafts the congressional response. washington -- madison then drafts washington's response to congress. >> yeah. and danielle, tom talked about that in the book and at that point, you look at this man who really was so responsible for the framing of the constitution and then writing a letter to congress, for washington writing the response back. at that point, when i was reading tom's book i was

thinking my gosh, maybe it is james madison who is the indispensable person of the american revolution, even more so than george washington. >> well, i think they all played indispensable roles. you can't take them apart. they were a team and i think in some sense precisely because they have a good understanding of their different functions that they work so well together. washington was without any question the leader. the team captain and established exemplary standards for behavior. one of the favorite bits is the letters he wrote to hamilton, trying to encourage hamilton out of the tempestuousness. so washington is really clear on how people needed to treat each other if they're going to governor despite differences effectively. he knew madison's intellect is what they needed to map out a broad vision. not just madison -- i like to throw in james wilson too. i think he was his equal and really underestimated but

nonethele nonetheless, they needed that example of character. they needed the sort of forceful competitiveness of a hamilton actually for various purposes and then they needed the broad vision that the madison and the wilson provide. >> that was just a portion of our series on america's first principles with author tom ricks. you can find out much more on website at joe.msnbc.com. up next, coronavirus has hit every part of american life from health care to schooling to the economy. among the hardest hit is the nation's restaurant industry. "morning joe" put together a revealing look at how the pandemic has impacted so many business owners and we'll bring that to you next on "morning joe."

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as congress struggles to put together a stimulus package to

help out the untold number of americans affected economically by the coronavirus, the restaurant industry may be suffering more than most. in new york city alone, it is projected that up to one-half of the city's restaurants may close permanently in the next six months to a year. this as restaurants nationwide are facing mounting financial pressures and everyone from super star chefs to the local independent eatery is affected. >> restaurant danielle is 27 years old, and we have been in this location on 65th and park for 23 years. >> we've been managing this place together for ten years now working as a husband and wife team. >> having been in the neighborhood for 38 years now has really established us as a community restaurant. >> when the decision was to close down all our restaurants in new york city, i couldn't imagine what else to do besides waiting and bring back the staff

as soon as possible. >> when covid hit. >> scramble for us to try to figure out how it to essentially turn our restaurant into a giant takeout window. >> the to-go business with daniel for the kitchen was very, very welcome, and we kept the menu of daniel on the sidewalk, and i never imagine in 23 years that i would be putting tables out of daniel, and as the winter is coming, it's going to be very challenging for our industry. >> we'd have a night where we thought hey, we can do this, and then we'd have a night where it would pour rain and nobody would come out, and we would get concerned about whether we would survive the week. >> as time went on, we figured out that it's not enough money. >> of course the business is not sustainable the way it is, but at least it keep a lot of jobs active, and it help us support our community. >> it really took us actually telling our customers that we were closing and putting a sign on the door that we were closing to get the landlord to actually

reach out to us and make us an offer, and then currently right now we are in negotiations. >> it's something that has far reaching effects that you can't really see when someone just turns the key and closes their door, it seems like just one business is gone, but in fact so many businesses. >> we want new yorkers to wear their mask at all times like me right now, so out of our 750 people we had in new york we may have rehired 220 by now. that's great, but we're not there yet. >> is santa fe coming back, we wish we could say for sure. restaurants are being sort of quarantined or closed because there's an uptick in a specific neighborhood and we don't know how that's going to play out for the entire city over the coming months and that makes us all unsure. coming up in our next hour. >> mr. nixon has won. the democratic process has worked its will, so now let's get on with the urgent task of uniting our country. >> some of the words you won't hear from donald trump.

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and we'll make your first month's payment. finding the right words can be tough.n it comes to autism, finding understanding doesn't have to be. we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. go to autismspeaks.org. good morning, and welcome back to "morning joe." it is friday, november 27th. we're on tape this morning after thanksgiving in what's been a very challenging year for the nation. much of it stems from the one-two punch of the pandemic and a presidential administration peddling in fear and conspiracies. that last part is perhaps what makes this next clip so revealing, a look back at how past presidential contenders dealt with losing their prospective races for the white house. >> one of the great features of america is that we have political contests, that they

are very hard fought as this one is hard fought, and once the decision is made, we unite behind the man who was elected. >> i have no bitterness, no i say to the president as a fellow politician that did a wonderful job. >> mr. nixon has won. the democratic process has worked its will, so now let's get on with the urgent task of uniting our country. >> congratulations on your victory. i hope that in the next four years you will lead us to a time of peace abroad and justice at home. you have my full support in such efforts. >> the president asked me to tell you that he telephoned president-elect carter a short time ago and congratulated him on his victory. >> the people of the united states have made their choice,

and of course i accept that decision. >> he has won. we are all americans. he is our president, and we honor him tonight. >> he will be our president and we'll work with him. this nation faces major challenges ahead, and we must work together. >> there is important work to be done and america must always come first so we will get behind this new president and wish him well. >> i have said repeatedly in this campaign that the president is my opponent, not my enemy, and i wish him well and i pledge my support. >> this is america, just as we fight hard when the stakes are high, we close ranks and come together when the contest is done. >> but in an american election, there are no losers because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as americans. >> whatever our differences

werf, werfwe are fellow americans and please believe me when i say no association has ever meant more to me than that. >> i so wished i had been able to fulfill your hopes, but the nation chose another leader so ann and i join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation. >> we must accept this result and then look to the future. our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power, and we don't just respect that. we cherish it. >> you know, it's really -- it's just heartbreaking moments there for anybody. >> important moments. >> for republican or democrats, heartbreaking moments and yet moments that i think more aptly get to the heart of american greatness, of the power of democracy, the strength of

democracy that when somebody loses in probably the most heartbreaking professional moment of their career, they step back and they salute the winner, and they urge their followers to move forward with the peaceful transfer of power. willie, heartbreaking moments there. you look at nixon in '60 who conceded the race despite the fact he and his team believed that kennedy had stolen illinois. we, of course, asked pat buchanan one time why they didn't contest it, he said because we stole kentucky, joe. humphrey in '68, the pain of losing that sort of race. ford in '76, another close race. jimmy carter who had given his all and made -- accomplished great things on the international stage, heartbroken

in 1980 for good reason, and then you of course -- i mean, i just wrote this quote down, george h.w. bush, how blessed this country has been to have leaders like george h.w. bush. america must always come first. al gore in 2000 was stiff and wooden through the entire campaign, and yet -- >> yeah. >> -- he spoke like an american cicero that night when he had to give the most painful speech of his life, but he was -- you could tell he was strengthened in his resolve because of how much he loved america, because of how much he loved this country, and the most heartbreaking of circumstances. you could say the same thing about mitt romney in '12 and of course hillary clinton in 2016. it is actually how -- it's one of the key markers of this democracy's strength, of this

constitutional republic, and we pray to god that we will see it either tonight or in the coming days from whichever one of these candidates is not successful in their attempt to be elected president. >> amen to that. i mean, that was america right there, you know? this is how we do it, and it's easy for the last three and a half years we've become so accustomed to seeing norms shattered and our perceptions sometimes of our government and our country changed, but that's how we do it. that's how we do it. we don't threaten not to accept the result. we don't threaten to declare victory when all the vountes ha not been counted. if you start at the end with hillary clinton, she had an event on the election night at the javits center, that had a glass ceiling, and the devastation of canceling that event and having to give a concession speech the next day. she lost the electoral college, but my gosh, can you imagine standing out there and having to

give that speech just 12 hours or whatever it was after she thought she was going to be an historic president. also think about the notes, you know, when you mentioned george h.w. bush, '92 bill clinton prevents him from becoming a two-term president. the speech he gave that night and the there's a beautiful note that you can go online and read that he left in the oval office for bill clinton, and these are all pieces of this transfer of power that are so important to this country. so i want to echo, whoever loses tonight or whoever loses in a couple of days from now, i hope they rush to a stage to make a speech like the ones we just saw. >> you know, joe, we'll be talking more about this and showing these moments in our coverage on peacock tonight, but to see those concession speeches lined up like that and you're hearing their hearts speak, their love for america. that's sort of the core of who we are, the pillars of our democracy, a peaceful transfer of power and how important that moment to each of those men and

women was so important because they knew that it carried so much weight, such value. >> and none of those people on stage would have been there unless they weren't extraordinarily driven people who hated losing more than anything in their lives. >> right. >> and yet, in each case they loved america. >> more. >> more than they hated losing and this is my message again to both candidates, i mean, we know what joe biden will do if he loses this race, but this is to president trump as well. watching al gore in 2000 concede, that's not a sign of weakness on al gore's part. that was an extraordinary moment of character. you can say the same thing for mccain in '8 and romney in '12 and hillary clinton in '16, john kerry in 2004 after his patriotism had been questioned despite the fact he served honorably in vietnam.

all of these people showed extraordinary character. character that people will remember and they will see long after these candidates pass away. what they've contributed to america cannot be understated. mike barnicle, we don't know who that will be tonight or later this week, whether joe biden will be giving a concession speech or whether history will call upon donald trump to do the same. i will say i am hopeful that -- hopeful beyond hope that donald trump will do what he said this morning. he will not play games. he will not declare victory until he has victory, and that everybody will stay calm through the next few days. >> joe, we would do well as an industry, the media business, if

we show that extraordinary clip on an hourly basis throughout the day and throughout tomorrow because what we heard and saw was, you're right, underline the word, an extraordinary display of character in the most terrible of situations for the person involved after expending all of that energy and effort to win the presidency, they lost. one among many statements bounced off me. it was bob dole, when he referred to running against bill clinton, he was my opponent. he was not my enemy. and you just wonder how have we gotten to the point where we are today and hopefully someone in both camps will see that clip, and one person or another, either donald trump or joe biden is going to have to make a statement similar to the ones we saw, and i hope and pray for the sake of the country, our

country, that it would be a healing statement and not a statement of division. >> and again, a statement that will be around long after they are gone, and you're right, bob dole, a man who sacrificed so much in defending this country in world war ii, certainly understood better than most that there are no republicans or democrats in fox holes. there are only americans. >> we'll be watching as president-elect joe biden takes the oath of office just 54 days from now. and still ahead, as joe framed it back in february, quote, no matter how this race ends, i'm proud of joe biden. we look back at the race for the democratic nomination and the president-elect's long history of overcoming adversity. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. we'll be ri. and let the grill monitor your food.

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presidency, we featured a column written by our joe back in february that summed up the president-elect's long and hard fought road to the white house. >> so we're awaiting the results for pennsylvania, it could take, you know, an hour, hours still, 130,000 votes yet to be reported. the biden campaign is very, very confident. thought we'd take a moment to kind of give some context to this situation and to biden's approach to this entire campaign. i want to read a piece that, joe, you wrote back in february. biden had just gotten destroyed in the state of iowa. i remember a very awkward time with him on the set in new hampshire. he was sitting there, and there was nothing to say, but he was so steady, and he was so optimistic, and this piece covers the arc of his life and why it's really important to never, ever count him out. >> well, and also, everybody at this point had said -- >> yeah --

>> that it was over for joe biden. >> finished. >> he was being mocked and ridiculed, and people were saying repeatedly he couldn't finish better than fourth place in any presidential contest ask that he was embarrassing himself. >> this was written in february, and no matter how this race ends, i'm proud of joe biden. joe and jill biden retreated to the big bathroom upstairs in their delaware home to sort through the loss. for a proud man long driven by a belief that god had a special plan for his life, the latest humiliation was shattering. sensing her husband's pain, jill told joe it's hard to smile. i know he replied, but biden cri characteristically smiled. what it takes, the way to the white house movingly described how joe biden's departure from that contest would be followed by even more harrowing events in

the coming months. in february of 1988 biden would suffer a brain aneurysm and find himself at the walter reed army medical center where his doctor told the senator that his chance of survival was less than half. even if biden lived, the doctor continued, a long list of physical and mental limitations were likely. 15 years after losing their mother and sister in a shattering car accident, biden's son beau and hunter were called to their father's bedside after a priest delivered last rites. cramer wrote that there was no need for the critically ill man to make things right with his boys or to even say that he loved them. biden had made that obvious his entire life refusing to let anyone step in to help raise them after his young wife died. joe didn't want anyone else raising his kids, cramer wrote. he was there every night, every

weekend, they had stories at bedtime, a game of catch on the lawn, outings, trips, places to go. the boys never saw the air out of joe's lungs, not once. he would not allow that. from his hospital bed biden let his boys know that he didn't need to see them grow into men to know that he would be proud of them. he was proud of them already. when the surgeons cut into biden's head, the aneurysm exploded outward and was clamped immediately. had it gushed toward his brain, biden would have been dead in an instant, but he survived and continued raising his children while passing landmark legislation in the senate and then later serving as barack obama's vice president. more than 25 years later, that awful grace of god would demand that biden bury his oldest son.

fate would require that it be the father carrying the son's memory with him through the long days and nights that followed. last month while in iowa, biden quietly we want as he told me on air how beau pushed him forward every day on the campaign trail. that made sense because it was young beau after all who pushed back against his father leaving the presidential race back in 1987. a few months later, he would be in the front seat of his dad's ambulance driving through a fierce february snowstorm. it was beau's memory that also helped move joe biden to enter the presidential -- the 2020 presidential race. friends and long-time aides feared the former vice president wasn't up to the challenge of running yet again for president, that the pain and hardship biden had endured over his adult life left him too wearied to absorb

the hits that would surely come his way, but jill biden, whom joe credited with helping him dream again after his first wife's death supported his decision and helped him pick up the pieces of his life once more. that faith initially seemed to pay off with biden racing to the top of most democratic national polls through 2019, his losses in the first contests of 2020 held an overwhein overwhelmingl states discounted his support among black voters and put his candidacy at risk. whether his campaign can survive the body blows delivered by iowa and new hampshire remains to be seen, but joe biden has endured much worse. like that gravely ill father comforting his sons so many years ago, millions of americans do not need to see how this

political race ends to know that they are already proud of joe biden, and you can put me at the top of that list. >> you know, willie, it's hard to remember now. i wrote that piece and many people called up and said thank you for writing it. it was painful. they considered -- >> it's hard to read -- >> it to be a political obituary for joe biden. i said it's not a political obituary. this guy is not a quitter. he's going to keep pushing through, and south carolina straight ahead, jim clyburn would support him, the race would turn, and in one week's time everything changed, and biden remained strong and confident and optimistic through it all. >> yeah, i'm thinking back, mika touched on it a few minutes ago. that day in manchester, he know, february the 11th, it was the

day of the primary. we saw in that restaurant where we've been so many times together doing our shoi thew th and joe biden came in, and it did feel frankly like a political wake. he ended up finishing in fifth place that night. his campaign staff, he of course just didn't -- wasn't -- were not in good spirits because of where they knew that was headed. in fact, he left town before the vote even came in and moved on to the next. but yes, he was rescued by african-american voters in the state of south carolina, first by the endorsement from whip jim clyburn, then by the voters. >> that was a portion of coverage shortly before the presidential race was called for joe biden. coming up, what will the presidency and the nation look like after donald trump? nbc's tom brokaw tackled that question, and we'll bring you that commentary next on "morning joe." at commentary next on "morg joe. select your donene ss, and let the grill monitor your food. ss, it also turns into an air fryer. bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors

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throughout this year we've featured commentary by nbc's tom brokaw who has a unique perspective over last half

century of news. his take on the presidential election is no exception. >> it's a new day in america, but joe biden still faces a lot of the old problems. yes, he is a president-elect, but his own party, many parts of it, are at war with each other. we allso have to be dealing wit the covid virus, which is rapidly expanding once again. we're in a new season for it, and all the experts say it's going to get worse before it gets better. what do we do about that? i suppose what troubles me most is that neither side in this great contest is willing to give an inch at this point. president trump has lost this election, but he won't acknowledge that, and at the same time, people like rush limbaugh will be on the radio all day every day attacking the new president and what he hopes to do. so how do we get out of all of this? one of the ways i've been thinking about it is i think about abraham lincoln and what

he went through and more comparable to that. maybe president obama and president bush could form a committee over the best of america and all the parts, the sciences, the religion, education, the can do crowd that has created the greatest nation on earth and find a way to pull us together, not to separate us. that would be a step in the right direction. there are people waiting to be asked to serve, think about all those people in the hospitals across america risking their lives morning and noon and night to take care of the victims of covid. do you think that they say to each other are you a republican or a democrat? because i only work with a republican or maybe a democrat. of course not. they're americans who are on duty and ready for the call, and we have to faind a way to give them that opportunity.

by the way, that mountain chain behind me, they're called the crazies going back to the 19th century. what we don't want is for that mountain chain to be representative of this country, during one of the greatest challenges in the history of manki mankind. >> our thanks to nbc's tom brokaw for that. and still ahead, netflix has been a constant companion to so many americans forced inside due to the pandemic. we've recently spoke with that company's ceo about his business model and the platforms of the future. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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joining us now is reed hastings, the co-founder of netflix and has served as its chairman and ceo since 1999. he's the co-author of the new book "no rules rules: netflix and the culture of reinvention." great to have you. congratulations on the book. i want to dive right in to the

culture at netflix, which was so unconventional. you developed the sort of corporate philosophy. is there a way that you could explain it in sum? >> absolutely. we're really focused on employee freedom, hence no rules, to stimulate creativity, and it's trying to operate a large company, over 8,000 people with as few rules as possible. >> okay. so let's go through that. no rules. i like it. i'm not sure. let's go through them. no vacations or expense policies. you're part of a championship team. that's a concept, not a family. >> let's start with the unlimited vacation. most companies don't track how long people work in the day, eight hours, ten hours, 12 hours, they don't know, and yet they try to track how much vacation or how much work people do 46 weeks a year, 48 or 50. it really doesn't matter. and so what we did is said we're

not going to count vacation. take what feels appropriate. take what feels satisfying. take what keeps you stimulated and creative. so it sounds kind of crazy, but then no one went to fiji for six months and no one did the other extreme, which is take nothing, and i try to set a good example by taking five or six weeks a year to be stimulated and try new things. so it's another example where you don't really need specific rules. >> do you think that it spurred more productivity? >> yeah, i mean, no vacation it is just one small but powerful symbol of treating our employees like strong individuals that they can make their own life as they want. many other aspects that you went through like the no expense policy, you can, you know, just spend as you think is appropriate. you don't have to justify things. in the don't please the boss, we want our employees thinking

about how to please the customer, and otherwise in most companies people spend time thinking about what their boss wants, and again, we want people to think about how to please the customer. >> hey, reed, it's willie geist. great to have you on this morning, obviously this philosophy, all these rules are working if you look at the growth of netflix over the last decade or so. it doesn't feel that long ago that it was the red envelope in the mailbox, that's what netflix was. how did you begin to make that pivot to become the behemoth that you are today and have all these other companies chasing your model. what was that moment like where you said we have to change the way we do business? >> you know, we see many newspapers struggling to get to digital, of course we saw kodak, aol, so typically companies don't succeed at that, and part of our creativity throughout the company is having people question, having people argue with a strategy, and that makes it better. so bit by bit we were able to

license old television shows at first, and then, you know, we started getting newer things, movies, the original stars deal, and then started doing our own content with orange is the new black, stranger things, house of cards, and in that way continue to expand. really that's all driven from the culture. >> it's funny i was talking once to one of the stars of your biggest shows. i said congratulations the show's doing so well. he said is it? i have no way really of knowing. i haven't seen the numbers, i just know based on the buzz. a lot of people look at yours, and i know you're not going to open your books to us this morning, but how does the model work? if you're spending 10 down the line, maybe $20 billion a year on content, you've got 183 million subscribers, whatever the number is today, how do you make that model work financially when you're putting so much money into content? >> well, we are profitable today, so it is working today. historically we've been cash flow negative, but that's also

improving. so really, the model does work because we're so thankful to have nearly 200 million households paying us about 10 bucks a month, and then that allows us to spend a lot to produce content our members find satisfying. so it's a great virtuous psych m -- cycle. we continue to try to do the best concept we can do. >> where does the concept of equal pay fit into this philosophy? is that something you take note of? >> it is. one of the most unusual things we do is open up the compensation database so everybody can see not only what they're paid but what other people are paid. so the top 1,000 people in the company can see the entire compensation database, and with all those eyes on it, you can detect bias much easier and much more reliably than say if you delegate it to someone to just do an analysis and you as an

employee have to trust that. so that's another example where we're very open with employees. >> fascinating and fantastic. the new book is "no rules rules: netflix and the culture of reinvention." reed hastings, thank you so much. and we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." fermen. fermenting? yeah like kombucha or yogurt. and we formulate everything so your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. that's what we do, so you can do you. new chapter wellness, well done. itthe north pole has to and be feeling the heat. up, it's okay santa... let's workflow it. workflow it...? with the now platform, we can catch problems, before customers even know they're problems.

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welcome back, police reform took center stage over the past year, and the debate is far from over. we take a look back now at some of the changes that have been enacted so far as well as how the white house has responded. and amid this important discussion, the lyrics and video to one of joe's songs entitled "lift me up" are a fitting sound track to this important national conversation. >> i didn't grow up in fear of police, even in the segregated environment. we never feared the police, but all of a sudden now i do fear the police. the young blacks fear the

police. why? because we have built in a system that's responding once again to brown people of education and everything that comes with it. the fact of the matter is this is a structure that has been developed that we've got to deconstruct, so i wouldn't say defund. deconstruct our police. >> democratic congressman jim clyburn of south carolina speaking yesterday. as the debate over federal police reform continues on capitol hill, across the country we are seeing a growing list of policy changes at the state and local level. on friday, louisville mayor greg fisher banned the use of no knock warrants by signing brianna's law. named for breonna taylor. it requires a body camera

whenever a search warrant is served. new york governor andrew cuomo enacted the eric kbagarner antichokehold bill, with a signature that revoked the law that kept police records secret. in iowa, signed a ban that prevents chokeholds and precvens the police officers from being hired in the state if they are previously quite a bitted of a felony or fired for misconduct. in colorado the legislature passed one of the most sweeping statewide reform packages in the country on saturday. according to the denver post among the biggest changes, colorado's senate bill 217, bans the use of chokeholds and control holds, limits when police are allowed to shoot at a fleeing person and requires officers to intervene in cases of excessive force or face criminal charges. three sources tell nbc news that

the president has dismissed racial justice protesters repeatedly telling aides, quote, these aren't my voters. a source says he also made the remark during a meeting about how to respond to the unrest of the day that protesters were forcibly cleared from lafayette square park to make way for the president's photo op in front of the st. john's church. the revelation is part of a deeply reported piece on the divide inside the white house on the movement for racial justice. quote, it looks like he's bewildered right now, one political adviser said of the president. we're losing the culture war because we won't engage directly because we're so scared to be called racist. the advisoer said the president and his allies should be taking on the black lives matter movement by calling it a front organization far lot of crazy leftist ideas that are unpopular. another political ally said the opposite, that the president appears to be spinning wheels because he's not setting the

agenda on policing and race in the u.s. when he should be leading on these issues by taking steps like banning tactics like chokeholds. a white house official tells nbc news that the president doesn't want to make this trump versus the protesters, more he's the outsider factor that can bring about law and order. yeah, he keeps tweeting that, law and order. like, you know, just randomly tweets it. >> again, though, jonathan lemire, one of the things that has surprised me so much over this past year is this politician who's supposed to be so great at reading a room and be so great at reading a moment in time, and so great at using culture wars to advance his political career seems completely incapable of nuance, and we could talk about the gun debate where i kept getting assurances from the white house that they were going to move on background checks.

they were going to move on military style weapons. they were going to move on bump stocks, which took a long time for them to even move on those basic things. thousa now we have with the protesters, 75, 80% of americans supporting people on the street who are protesting. there has been a sea change in attitudes about race over the last two or three weeks, and the white house seems completely incapable of reading that room, of reading that movement, of reading that country. those aren't his voters. 75, 80% of americans who support it? those are his voters and -- but he can't see it. why? >> frank lunds, the republican pollster told us this week that

he's not sure he's ever seen a politician more out of step with a moment than president trump is right now with these protests on the street. it's reminiscent of the gun debate, which you just brought up, joe, where the white house sort of talked the talk for a while but then ended up sort of removing themselves from the conversation. and right now the president does not really have a voice in what is going on. i think i think the efforts -- there was initial instinct to paint the black lives matter movement as a leftist idea and that's clearly out of step with the mainstream support it enjoyed. every poll after poll reflects that. 75%, 80%, as you say. the president is so closely aligned himself with the idea of law enforcement. you know, he doesn't want to alienate them. he's counting on their support again this fall, but at what cost? others -- there are some in his orbit that have urged him. actually because you enjoy that strong support you have the ability to move forward with some change, with some reform. but the president has been slow to embrace that. there's still been no real

national address on the issues of race that have plagued this country. and he made passing remarks at that roundtable in dallas last week but that speech was overhyped. he barely touched in and those words he uttered were mostly in support of the police. there are still discussions about maybe this week he'd say something further but that's unclear. right now it's a white house spinning its heels. the energy on the streets has not dissipated and they're not sure in the west wing how to handle it. >> you know, rev, donald trump says the protesters aren't my voters, but he seems to miss the bigger point that suburban women that have been running away from his support and other people who have been offended about him talking about shooting people in his tweets, talking about vicious dogs. it sends a strong, powerful message to those swing voters who have been fleeing his camp

since 2017. and one wonders whether this will only harden that resolve to get out and vote against him in november. >> i believe it will harden that resolve to vote against him because they have taken a firm move in terms of supporting police reform and supporting what many of us have been fighting for long time to try to have the equalizing of the criminal justice system. and for him to not only be tone deaf, but to be opposed to that, is to enhance the numbers of those independents and those suburban women that voted for him to say, wait a minute, not only has he missed it in terms of the pandemic. he's missing it in terms of that. and that we believe now has come to this time period that we've got to deal with. and we'll not vote for him. and the strange part about it, joe, he's from new york. these were not issues that he

should have missed. he's from the city of arks due ahmadou dialo. he doesn't get it or he has a tin ear. >> you and joe have been talking for some time, for many months, about how to express this friction in the country and actually been talking about a song joe wrote and a music video that he put together which you are featured in, which we are about to show. but i first wanted you to set tup a little bit and talk about this ongoing conversation that you guys have been having. >> you know, joe and i started talking several months ago as you said, mika. and joe, people don't know, is really a great producer, musician. and he played this song to me, and i said to him, this needs to come out now because it gives us hope. it lifts us.

it's gospel oriented in terms of its music. but it's not just church gospel but in a broader pop sense to lift us up. i was saying if you look back to the martin luther king days movement all the way to the things we do now, there was always the soundtrack of hope. a soundtrack that we shall overcome, that we can make it, yes, it's bleak, yes it is -- we're being harassed. yes, we feel down, but we want to be up. and when he played this "lift us up" and he's redone it now with the videos that connects us from marching in selma to the marches on floyd now, it is something that i think will be the soundtrack as we go into 2020 summer. we need to be lifted up. we can't lose hope, and he's put it in music. >> well, take a look at this as sung by steven hayden, roz brown. here is joe's song "lift me up."

♪ i'm broken hearted knocked down on the floor ♪ ♪ i hear a whisper saying try once more ♪ ♪ still i can't erase the memories and try to pretend ♪ ♪ that after all we've been through lately ♪ ♪ we can be the same again ♪ lord, lift me up lord, lift me up ♪

♪ all that mattered once is now again ♪ ♪ but i still can hear that whisper pull me off the floor ♪ ♪ saying even in these dark times we can still be good once more ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up lord, lift me up ♪ ♪ lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up when the world knocks me down ♪ ♪ give me strength to carry others off the ground ♪ ♪ lift me up ♪ turn me back around

going to raise my hands ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ higher, lord, lift me lift me up ♪ ♪ higher and higher, lord ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ i'm gonna try a little more to get relief to get off the floor ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ i'm broken hearted

knocked down on the floor ♪ ♪ i hear a whisper saying try once more ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up when the world knocks me down ♪ ♪ give me strength to carry others off the ground ♪ ♪ i ain't going to let nobody turn me around gonna raise my hands ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up

♪ lord, lift me up ♪ i know, i know you can, lord ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lift me up higher ♪ ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ lift me up ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ higher, lord ♪ lord, lift me up ♪ higher and higher ♪ o lord, i know you will

lift me up ♪ ♪ i know you will lift me lord, lift me up ♪ good morning. i'm chris jansing. it's friday, november 27th. i hope you had a great thanksgiving. we've got a lot to talk about this morning. president trump finally seems to be coming to grips with his political fate, but his path to acceptance is littered with lies and allegations that could have massive implications for america's confidence in the electoral system and more immediately the gop's bid to hold on to the senate. following a thanksgiving call to u.s. troops serving overseas, the president went on for 25 minutes about how he was robbed, alleging fraud on an unprecedented scale with,