is falling behind, far behind. we're grateful to the companies, the doctors, the scientists, the researchers, the clinical trial participants and operation warp speed for developing the vaccines quickly. but as i long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should. >> to give you a sense of just how slow the vaccine rollout has been, here's what the top scientists at operation warp speed promised just two weeks ago right here on msnbc. >> overall in the month of december between the pfizer vaccine and moderna vaccine we expect to immunize 20 million american people and keeping 20 million second doses for a few weeks later. >> 20 million vaccinations. with just two days left in the month the cdc says 2.1 million people have gotten the vaccine.

that's a little more than a tenth what this administration has promised. and some experts warn there's no real plan on how to get this vaccine to every american. >> this is frustrating, right, because it's not like we didn't know vaccines were coming. it's not like this has caught us off-guard. two things have gone on. one is we've got gotten the vaccines out to states as quickly as we promised. that to me the less important issue. the more important issue there's not been much of a plan what happens after the vaccine gets to the states. how do we get it into peoples arms? and states are really stretched. we've given them very little money, and we're repeating all the mistakes with ppes and testing all over again. we can decide all our 50 states are failing us. i don't think that's the right way to look at this, or we can realize we need a federal government to be helping states and not just saying to every state you're on your own. >> it turned as a surprise the trump administration is

mishandling another aspect of the pandemic response. this administration is run by a president who admitted on tape who touted unproven cures like hidroclor anyone, ranted against common sense public health restrictions. trump has been largely awol during what's been the deadliest month of the pandemic with more than 63,000 deaths so far. he was been golfing the past five out of six days. the last time he spoke to the prez was december 8 gts th at a operation warp speed summit. since that day 4.2 million americans have gotten infect. more than 50,000 people have died from covid-19. and save for a handful of tweets trump has been focused on overturning the results of an election he lost decisively. of course he's been focused on

his golf game. and all this means it's already up to team biden to not just deal with the massive logistical challenges of getting this vaccine to each and every american but also to be honest with the american people about where this pandemic is going. a president-elect with a plan is where we begin this hour with nbc news correspondent jeff bennett. and dr. peter hotez. jeff, i'll start with you. so joe biden is laying out the facts today. he's laying into the trump administration. he's talking about his 100 days of asking people to wear a mask. i'm just curious how effective does team biden think that's going to be? from my perspective everybody who knows to wear a mask is already doing it. it's the people who don't want

to wear a mask that's the real problem. >> it's a serious request, that's not the first time the president-elect has said when he's president he'll work with mayors and governors to bring a mask mandate. in my mind it served three purposes. one, it was a warning, joe biden saying things as it relates to the pandemic will get worse before it gets better. he says given the holidays there'll be a surge in caseload and death count connected to the pandemic. it was also a calling out of the trump administration. you have the vice president, the current fda chief, the current dhs secretary all on the record saying by the end of the year there would be some 20 million vaccinations. the trump administration has fallen some 18 million people short. and the other purpose i think his speech served was an articulation of a plan. the trump administration has been focused on getting vaccines distributed. the future biden administration will be focused on getting americans vaccinated.

it's almost as if the trump plan stops where the really hard part begins. and the really hard part is getting that vaccine out of those glass vials and into peoples arms. so what you heard from the president-elect was the articulation of a plan that goes beyond getting those, you know, deep frozen boxes out to states. it's working with states and funding those state governments to make sure that, you know, small doctors offices and retail pharmacies can actually do the hard work and heavy lifting. you also heard them talk about sending mobile units out to hard to reach parts of the country and standing up, a real public health program to boost peoples acceptance of the vaccine, which will go a long way in helping, you know, communities that have really historically been disenfranchised by the medical community, getting this vaccine they so desperately need, jason. >> and geoff, one of the things biden has talked about also is

bringing out the defense production act so he can ramp up production and get this out there. i can drive by mcdonald's but that happens because there's a million mcdonald's on every corner. does that mean mobile units in every city? what's the future administration think that if they get that policy through what that would look like for the american people in say five or six months? >> and think of it this way, joe biden has talked about giving 100 million vaccinations into peoples arms in the first 100 days of his presidency. okay, that's 100 million syringes, glass vials, pairs of latex gloves, 100 million masks and gowns that people who administer the vaccine have to wear. that's why the defense production act is important and come into play. ramping up the production of all of that and all the raw materials needed to actually

produce the vaccine, so we won't find ourselves in a situation five or six months down the line where there's this great demand and not enough supply. so this is really the heavy lifting and hard thinking his transition team has been doing for these last, what, 80 or so days. and now in the next 22 days when joe biden is actually sworn in, they've got to hit the ground and running. they don't want to find themselves in a position they're trying to course correct in realtime. that's why this planning is so crucial. >> dr. hotez, i'm going to play you some sound from dr. celine gounder. she's a part of biden's advisory board. she's talking about the logistics of getting this vaccine out. i want you to listen and we'll talk on the other side. >> we need to be getting to a million doses per day if we're going to reach the president-elect's target of 100 million doses in 100 days. and even then when you consider these are vaccinations or vaccines that require two doses

of vaccination you have to multiply the american population by twos so that's 6,600 million doses. divide that 1 million a day, that's 660 days. so we need to be really ramping up the pace in which we're doing vaccinations. >> dr. hotez, when i hear this i don't just think about the raw numbers how hard this is going to be get out, but i think about the fall out. there's lots of people that come in for dose number one, they may get busy and don't come in for dose number two. what's a realistic sort of time line for getting significant numbers of americans vaccinated? >> well, remember we really have no choice by the fact that the trump administration has not led any federal program. it's all been left in the states and now we're at this dire situation over 3,000 deaths per day and 200,000 new cases a day. remember what that number really

means. those are underestimates by a factor or four or five. we're talking about a million new cases a day. and because we haven't that national program we're backed into a corner. we have no choice now but to vaccinate our way out of this. all of us worked really hard to avoid this situation so we wouldn't be completely dependent on vaccines. so now this has to be all hands on deck in getting two doses of vaccine into individuals. and we needed those two doses because the phase one studies showed the level of virus neutralizing antibodies is not adequate after a single dose. you get some production but not really enough to get our arms around this pandemic. so that's the plan right now. unfortunately, our public system has always come up small every time. it came up small with the diagnostic testing and happened again with the virus sequencing, the lack of national response. and we're already starting to see missteps with vaccines. i think what you're hearing today is for the first time

thank god national ownership, federal ownership that we're going to solve this problem. and sole i think the president-elect's remarks were so important today. you know, the other issue is going to be the fact that we don't really have a strong health system infrastructure for administering adult vaccines. our health system infrastructure is overly reliant on the big pharmacy chains, cvs, rite-aid, walgreens, i think that will certainly help. i think the other thing we heard from the president-elect the fact we're going to put these teams in place, create v vaccination sites. and that's what you need. we're going to need at least our estimates that we did with city university of new york you're going to need 60%, 80% of the population vaccinated. that's a huge number.

that also means vaccinating children and adolescents at some point down the line. massive undertaking. this is first time we're hearing about a plan to actually get vaccines into peoples arms. >> eddie, i want you to be my highly educated, incredibly eloquent translator right now. i see a fighter who he's pacing in the corner saying let me at him, let me start facing this problem. i want you to talk about the moral urgency joe biden is expressing here. he's not just saying yeah i want to get to my job and i'm excited about my new job. he sounds like i've got to save this country because the guy sitting there right now has got the blood of 300,000 people on his hands. >> absolutely. i want to return to what geoff bennett laid out for us at the beginning of this segment. he said there's three elements.

there's the warning the surge upon the surge was about to happen. you talked about as well jason what happened during the christmas holidays. more people traveled through tsa than since mid-march. so we know we're going to see a surge upon a surge. we're seeing over 330 plus thousand americans dead. there was the warnings. and then the calling out as geoff laid out, the fact he's actually shining a light on gross negligence, on gross incompetence. but the third point is really important geoff made, and that is around the plan and what the doctors said. what we're hearing here is in some ways, jason, i think evidence of shall we say the emptiness, the bankruptcy of a particular political ideology. >> yes. >> the fact that the federal government isn't doing work is not just simply because of incompetence and gross negligence, it's actually driven by ideological commitments. they don't believe that the

federal government should be playing this role. there's a reason we don't have this plan. and so what we have is evidence in testing, and now we see evidence in getting vaccines in arms of a bankrupt ideology that has put the nation in peril. i hope i'm channelling anger, jason, in that. >> you're doing a great job. i always want to say keep that same energy. we're talking about the failures of this administration. dr. hotez, i want to bring this back also to sort of the modeling realm. so, you know, we've had dr. fauci. he's talked about, hey, look, i have confidence in joe biden because i think he's actually going to lead from the top. we saw senator soon to be vice president harris getting her vaccine today at a hospital that primarily has a lot of patients and clients that are african-american in the d.c. metropolitan area. for symbolic purposes and modeling purposes do you think there should be a rollout of elected officials, do you think it would matter if governor

desantis and governor dewine in ohio and all sorts of governors? should they do a rollout similar to what we're seeing with harris? is that the thing that will break through and get people to start taking this vaccine? >> i think that's an important step and here's why. two weeks ago the kaiser family foundation released a poll of who's vaccine hesitant in this country and who may refuse vaccines. and you've already pointed out the african-american community has a high rate of vaccine hesitancy the highest rate of vaccine hesitancy refusal is what the republicans term quote up quote. and there's a reason why we've

seen the virus race through the upper midwest and texas all through this summer and this fall and in the southern states is because people have tied their political ideology to be defiant of masks, defiant of contact tracing, social distancing. remember the modern anti-vaccine movement that accelerated in 2015 was done under this banner of health freedom, medical freedom coming out of the extreme political right. we need those individuals out there modeling behavior and getting vaccinated as well. again, if we're really going to interrupt transmission of the virus our studies have shown up to 80% maybe more of the country is going to have to be vaccinated. that's a heavy lift, and we've got to move on this as quickly as possible. >> and geoff, i hate to be -- actually i don't. just be candidate about how i look at this. does wibiden's plan take into consideration what dr. hotez was talking about issues of safety

and security. let's say i live in louisiana, i don't have a cvs, a walgreens near me, a walmart that has a pharmacy in it. what happens if there's local resistance to the federal truck? what if they say this is the same defense of black helicopters, are they going to have armored carriers to protect these mobile virus machines or are they just assuming everybody's going to welcome these trucks in with open arms? >> that's a great question for which i honestly don't have a good answer. i will tell you this, though, i think it is instructive for two days straight we've now seen the president-elect call out this administration in ways he has not done before. and i think it actually speaks to your question. yesterday he was talking ability the roadblocks that the pentagon is putting up so that his own administration doesn't have a good view of the posture of the military around the world and

didn't have a good enough view of the national security threats here in this country. when you talk about does the vaccine need to be transported in armored trucks, well, potentially maybe it does. what we saw from the president-elect yesterday he was saying they don't know enough to answer that question. and today he was talking about the specifics of getting the vaccine distributed and into peoples arms. this is someone, joe biden, who's talked a lot about how he wants to lower the temperature of our politics following four years of president trump. but, you know, given the fact he becomes president in 22 days and he will inherit the challenges and frankly the problems that have been created by this outgoing administration, i think he is speaking to directly some of the issues that you deposit in your question. >> we're not done with this. geoff bennett and peter hotez, thank you for being with us. it's been great. when we come back the

stimulus checks so badly needed now depend on the gop senate, specifically mitch mcconnell. it's still unclear what he'll do, even as trump lashes out as him for rejecting his demands. and coast to coast people came out this year to fight against racial injustice sparked by the police killing of george floyd. we'll look back at the black lives matter movement in 2020 and what we can expect to see in 2021. plus the counter reaction to it all arising in white national terrorist groups and aggressive heavily armed police forces. we'll talk about all of that and more when "deadline white house" continues after this. don't go anywhere. ine white hou" continues after this don't go anywhere. see every delivery...

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there's a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law. will senate republicans fight for a vote on the house passed cash act, or will they look some other way? will senate republicans stands against the house of representatives, the democratic majority in the senate and the president of their own party to prevent these $2,000 checks from going out the door? >> senate minority leader chuck schumer today attempting unanimous approval of boosted checks for americans in need. moments before mitch mcconnell just blocked it from consideration. the renewed senate gridlock puts a vast and unclear path forward in mcconnell's hands as trump lashes out at senators of his own party in hopes it will lead to them siding with him on all fronts. trump is demanding the house passed $1400 boost he supports

to the already approved $600 checks leaving mcconnell and others with two options. approve it or defy president trump. this is how "the wall street journal" editorial board describes the political chaos caused at the last minute by trump with the fate of the senate majority currently under way in georgia. quote, the president writes a $2,000 check to make democrats the majority, end quote. meanwhile mcconnell delivered another at least temporary blow to trump announcing a final vote tomorrow in which he expects the senate to override trump's veto of the multibillion dollar defense funding bill. ayesha, i'll start with you. what on earth is trump's plan.

and i know that's a tough question to ask anybody, but i don't see how this makes any sense. he's putting the senate between a rock and a hard place even though he's going to be out of office in 22 days. >> indeed he is. first of all, jason, i'm glad to see you in the host seat. man, this is completely nuts. we're ending the year in this downward spiral of ridiculousness with donald trump. i just want to say this. what we know donald trump isn't doing is focusing on the people and seems to me the republicans in the senate still aren't focusing on the people either. we just came through a holiday season where folks are broke. they've been suffering with covid, with economic catastrophe and we've been talking about political football, is trump trying to get over, is he hurting the republicans, supporting the democrats? we're still not talking about the fact the american public is in dire straits right now. i don't think that's going to bode well for him because at

this point everybody is just going to need to hit on the man. >> to quote many an angry football coach, the goal is to win the game. what's the game that trump is trying to win right now? or is the game just embarrassing mitch mcconnell, or is there no game at all and he's just twiddling his thumbs? >> look, in some way it's a trick question trying to get it signed with the president's head on something like this. when he doesn't participate in negotiations for months and only after his administration signs off on a bill, both houses pass on bipartisan votes, signed off by leaders of his own party, then he then suddenly inject himself and say wait a second, i don't like the bill. and it's a rather remarkable situation. and you're right, part of is jamming mcconnell. because mcconnell basically said we're done with this election fraud stuff. the president-elect is joe biden, the electoral college has spoken, we need to move on.

that of course angered president trump who still refuses to accept he lost the election and in some way him see speaking out on this covid bill is an act of spite against leader mcconnell. because if he genuinely wanted $2,000 stimulus checks he would have said something before both houses actually passed a bill at $600. he didn't do that and come in at the last minute and suggest some discussion other than just the substance of the bill. now, is he going out on a high? no, he's going to lose two big, big legislative feats in his last days of office. he's going have to a veto written on a defense bill. that will be the first time any veto has been overridden on a presidency and not get his way on the covid relief bill and go out on a low note. but he doesn't seem to care about that. i think he's just stirring the waters and drawing attention to himself. and if everybody else is upset about it, so be it. >> peter, i have to find this

out because this is what kind of amazes me about the republican party. you would think because this isn't the only time donald trump has done this. it's sort of like when you're out with your friends like hey where do you want to go to dinner and the moment you pick a place, i hate that, i hate italian. are there republicans saying we're sick and tired of him trying to negotiate with democrats and come in and scuttle a deal. are some of them privately saying they're relieved this is going to be over? >> no question about it. there's no question republicans on the hill are tired of this disruptive game because they don't know how to operate. they don't know how to govern. they can go through all the motions and do all the things the they think the president wants them to doonly to have him cut the limb off from under them as they're hanging. you're seeing the effect of what looks like the beginning of perhaps a pivot in republicans

saying we're not going to go along with you on this defense bill and this covid relief bill and we're beginning to move on. they're not saying it vocally, not saying it in an outspoken way but that's what the votes add up to at this point. >> iesha, one of the things that also got me about this is mitch has no problem pushing through a defense bill what but he's going to drag his feet when it comes to getting checks for regular people. when i think of a $600 check, my first rent check when i was in high school was $640 a month and that was a few years ago. could we actually come up with an amount of money or a monthly check to help people? is this an opening? >> democrats already started off at a $3 trillion mark back in may when they were attempting to pass a measure, the second covid

relief number. so the number has been parcelled down in terms of the total package what the federal government is going to do to get americans out of this bind. absolutely nancy pelosi and chuck schumer need to go hard and demand everything and then put it all on top of mitch mcconnell's head. when he loses those senate seats in georgia, now the republicans are really going to be on a bind on the hill and not get anything done. i think they need to flex on them right now as a precursor of setting the tone of the working relationship they're going to need moving forward under the biden administration and especially if the democrats control both chambers. now is the opportunity for the democrats to flex. i don't know how hard they're going to do that but remember they started high and ended up quite low. i think they need to come somewhere back in the middle there. >> if democrats pull off those two seats in georgia they'll flex, stunt, they'll be doing doughnuts in the front yard. when we come back, a look at the protests this year calling

for changes to how citizens are policed. what's changed? will they continue? and how some protests turn to full fledge clashes with law enforcement. all of that coming up. hes with w enforcement. all of tt hacoming up. ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin.

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2020 may be remembered as the year of the pandemic that altered the way we live, but it was also a year that lit a fire in the spark for justice. sparked by george floyd in may

it forced americans to start a movement to make their voices heard. here's a look back on the protest that shaped the fight for justice in 2020. >> reporter: in 2020 america was on fire. from milwaukee to miami, los angeles to louisville, the fires of racial unrest burned furiously, exploding with the police killing of george floyd in minneapolis. >> it's a live execution and they wouldn't tell us -- we wear this uniform this is what we can do to you black people. >> reporter: the bystander cellphone video begins with police restraining a man on the minneapolis street monday night. >> later dying after a white officer kneeled on his neck. the man heard saying i can't

breathe. >> when i watched that officer taking the life of george floyd with his hands in his pockets looking out in that way, it was apparent to me that he did not think anything would happen to him. >> reporter: in the 7 minutes and 46 seconds that it took for floyd to take his last breath, a movement was born. and grew into the largest protest for racial justice the u.s. and perhaps the world had ever seen. >> george floyd's story has been the story of black folks. because ever since 401 years ago the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed of being is you kept your knee on our neck. >> reporter: soon after floyd's death on memorial day, cities across country began debating policy changes and limits to police power.

there's a new call for deep structural reform of policing across the country. many are now demanding departments be defunded, dismantled or outright abolished. the names of other black people killed by police or white vigilantes added fuel to the fire. >> drawing international attention ahmaud arbery who's african-american. >> you can still see some of the bullet holes on the front of breonna taylor's apartment. her family and their lawyers told me if anyone had barged into her apartment and shot and killed her, they would have been charged. >> video showing rayshard brook's encounter with police is sparking a lot of discussion tonight about officer protocols. >> amplified calls for justice this time in kenosha, less than 24 hours after police shot jacob blake in the back causing serious injuries. >> reporter: two days later a white 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse of nearby illinois shot three protesters, killing

two of them. >> rittenhouse walked by police hands up without being arrested. >> they let him literally go home. there are two justice systems in america, and that's why people are protesting. >> reporter: he claimed self-defense and was later charged with felony homicide and other charges including reckless endangerment and illegal underage gun possession. the racial unrest of 2020 reshaped how we saw american policing, our politics and even ourselves. did we ultimately get the kind of policy change that you think can effectuate some real movement? >> no, we actually haven't gotten the policy change that's going to be a multiplier yet. >> reporter: the year 2020 also marked a transition with the passing of civil rights icons, congressman john lewis and the reverend c.t. vivian. both men dedicated their lives

to justice and both died on july 17th during the height of the protests. >> when we do form a more perfect union, whether it's years from now or decades or even if it takes another 2 centuries, john lewis will be a founding father of that fuller, fairer, better america. >> reporter: the push for equality kept expanding. it crossed racial and class lines and elevated the voices of women and members of the lgbtq community as americans from all walks of life demanded change. but the movement for black life also spurred a counter reaction with a wink and a nod from president trump. >> proud boys, stand back and stand by. >> that exchange immediately picked up by the proud boys. one proud boys organizer saying that the president basically

said to go eff them up. >> reporter: the racial justice movement also collided with the pandemic as it exposed structural and systemic racism. >> do you believe that the epidemic of racism is more threatening than the pandemic of covid? >> yes, of course. our country was founded on slavery. it was founded on killing black men, innocent black men. >> reporter: racial inequality and the rise of hate in america were key voting issues. >> the african-american community stood up again. you've always had my back and i'll have yours. >> reporter: hollywood and america's multibillion dollar professional sports leagues were forced to confront racism, too. >> we the national football league admit we were wrong for not listening to players earlier

and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. >> reporter: nascar took down confederate flags. baseball and soccer players stood in solidarity with it black players. the women of the wnba helped lead the way. nba players forced the cancellation of games to protest black killings by police and allowing players to add pro-justice and pro-black slogans to their jerseys. >> i think collectively athletes felt much more empowered. the whole mask came off in this country. you can't unsee what you've seen. >> reporter: the fires of 2020 burned hot, but the question remains will we still feel the heat in 2021 and beyond? >> that is excellent reporting. nbc's trumaine lee with that. we'll talk about policing and what's to the come in 2020 with my guests when we come back

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as we just saw before the break, 2020 was the year that forced americans from all walks of life to pay attention to a movement and have some tough conversations about race. the question is will those conversations lead to any real change in 2021? joining us now is msnbc contributor brittney patnic cunningham, an activist and fellow at harvard institute and

politics as well host of the news and justice podcast undistracted. and plus eddie gloud is back with us. i'll start with you, brittany. what's your reaction to trymaine's great segment there? what things were inspired or elicited from you as you saw that clip? >> it was great reporting as you already said that really captured the cultural shift we experienced this year. that cultural shift wasn't random, didn't happen by accident. it was the result of painstaking work over many, many years and generations of primarily black and marginalized people struggling in this country to ensure that our humanity is fully recognized. in particular these generations over the last six and seven years have been pressing for the kind of policy change, the kind of cultural recognition and the kind of human acknowledgement we all deserve in that very simple cry, black lives matter.

so if people found themselves protesting for the first time or posting black lives matter for the first time this year, they have a lot of organizers and writers and academics and activists to thank for bringing them to that point. but what's critical to understand is that a cultural shift has to turn into a policy shift. we know that that work takes a long time, and we are ready and willing to take as long as it takes to make sure that that happens. because when we think about losing people like john lewis and c.t. vivian, we are forced to recognize the fact our imaginations have to expand u e urgently in this moment to prove ourselves worthy of all they sacrificed for us. it's not going to be enough to talk about it. it's only going to be enough when we fix the systems that continue to harm us. >> we always have to make sure it is a movement not just a moment. eddie, what struck you about what you just saw? in particular just seeing the

diversity of the crowds in these protests. what images brought forth things for you in the last year? >> well, i mean -- first of all, it was beautifully done and it captured the kind of reckoning, the moral reckoning, the racial reckoning we've experienced over the last 12 months and has everything to do i think with the fact the country generally is broken. and the video footage of george floyd gave us a sense of the depth of that brokenness. right, it was kind of distilled through the experiences of black folk. but it became a kind of broad accounting of the state of the country. and so, you know -- but americans have a tendency we like to pat ourselves on the back when we have these moments of recognition. and so the question that was asked at the end of the piece

and what will come concretely in the face of this reckoning? we know andre hill was just killed, we know casey goodson was just killed, walter wallace was just killed, that police are still doing what they do. and we know that the country is grappling with the reality black folk are disproportionately being killed by the virus but we snds the depth in policing, the depth of inequality in criminal justice. it's not enough to pat ourselves on the back and say black lives matter. we need concrete changes otherwise. >> along with what eddie just said we actually do have a potential change happening tomorrow with the defense authorization act. there's an amendment that would reduce provision 1033. 1033 is what allowed local police departments to get unfettered access to everything they could ever want from the surplus military. that would include bayonets. why would they have bayonets, grenades, tear gas, attack

drones. if it's passed there will be limitations on these resources. brittany, as someone who's been out in the streets what is the impact and importance of police being limited in the amount of military hardware they can get access to given what we've seen in their reaction to protesters? >> that kind of limit is both critically important and just the beginning. i think it's important that we look at the time line here. and i say this as somebody who has been tear gassed and pepper sprayed and seen a lot of that equipment on residential streets in the cities and places where i grew up. those kinds of materials should never be allowed to be in the hands of folks who are supposedly there to serve and protect us treating american citizen like enemy combatants. and you know what? we fought the militarization of police back during the obama administration. this act is not anything new or novel. what it is actually essentially

a return to things that already happened and a figtsing of something that was broken as time has gone on under this administration. it might not be the exact same program but the idea is one we have visited time and again. so what progress really has to look like is not just wrong, it is not just fixing the things that he undid. it is about actually expanding our imagination enough that we are putting our dollars where we say that we have our value. if budgets are moral documents and it means that at the local, state and federal level, the kind of reinvestment is that people on the streets are demanding, has to be seen. that the kind of money spent on police officers and parole system has to be put in food and housing and food and making sure that people have access to excellent food and health care. these are the kinds of things that people want to see moving forward. not simply a return to a status quo that left -- that was just as deadly as the life that we're living now. we're talking about real

progress and real change and people want to see it urgently. >> i would talk to you guys all afternoon. thank you so much. brittany cunningham and eddie glaude, thank you so much for joining me today. still to come, delivery of the coronavirus vaccine to those who need it most. the roll out to long-term care facilities in one hard hit state. we're live with the story, next. . kate's son jack, takes one too. kate works hard, and thought she had good insurance. but she still pays too much. that's no good. so kate downloaded the goodrx app. now she can compare prescription prices, to find the best discounts. she even beats her insurance price. good for you kate, good for you. goodrx, stop paying too much for your prescriptions. download the free app today. new projects means you need to hire.gers. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed

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isolation has been the unfortunate reality for so many this year. and around 121,000 americans will likely ring in the new year that way as well. alone in hospital beds. but there is some hope. so far more than 2.1 million americans have received the first dose of their vaccine. and now that number is starting to include more residents of long-term care facilities. nbc's vaughn hillyard is at a retirement community in phoenix, arizona, where the first residents are getting the covid vaccine today. good to speak to you. >> reporter: hey, jason. this is a situation here where patients, you know, are more so residents here of these communities have been waiting for this moment. and we saw as we were waiting in the parking lot this moment as cvs technicians and pharmacists arrived to drop off the vaccines and residents waiting, 38 of them here at this particular senior center and i want to introduce you to one of those

individuals. hootie, hootie wedwine. her partner is behind me on the third floor of this facility. she's in the skilled nursing facility. and they have been isolated from one another dating back since march. i want to let you listen ahead of her vaccine, peggy getting that vaccine today. take a listen to hootie talk about the moment. >> today, i could kind of remember what hope is like. we kind of didn't have that for a long time. but i think peggy would say the same thing. that we were rediscovering hope. >> reporter: and just this afternoon we watched over facetime as peggy -- as hootie watched peggy receive her vaccination. and it is moments like this forsome of us, we don't know what everybody has experienced in their own lives over the last ten months or experiencing now but we can do is stop and listen to folks and stop and share

stories as we keck with even other back with one another. jason. >> there is occasionally news g news in 2020. vaughn hillyard, thank you so much. that is a wonderful story. in the next hour of "deadline: white house" continues with jonathan capehart right after this quick break. qk that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now you're binge learning. see how you can become a smarter investor with a personalized education from td ameritrade. visit tdameritrade.com/learn ♪ if you have postmenopausal and a high risk for fracture, visit tdameritrade.com/learn now might not be the best time to ask yourself, 'are my bones strong?' life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones

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the trump administration's plan for vaccines is falling behind. far behind. we are grateful to the companies and the doctors and sciences and researchers and the clinical trial participants and operation warp speed for developing the vaccine quickly. but as i long feared and warned, the effort to distribute the vaccine is not progressing as it should and the pace of the vaccination program is moving now as, as it continues to move as it is now, it is going to take years not months to vaccine the american people.

the biden/harris administration will spare to efforts to make sure people get vaccinated. this is going to be the greatest operational challenge we've ever faced as a nation but we're going to get it done. it is going to take a vast new effort, that is not yet underway. >> hi everyone, it is 5:00 in the east. i'm jonathan capehart if for nicolle wallace. president-elect joe biden slamming the current administration handling of the coronavirus pandemic, attacking the slow pace of covid vaccination as the country grapples with mowning infections and hospital hospitalizations and deaths. so for mar than 2 million americans have received a dose. a far cry from the goal set for this month by operation warp speed of 20 million. getting shots into the arms of as many americans as possible as quickly as possible will be critical in slowing this virus that has already infected 19 million americans and killed more than 337,000.

december marked the country's deadliest month yet since the pandemic began this year and experts like dr. fauci are predicting more pain could be on the way following the holiday season. >> that is about a we're concerned about. that in addition to the surge, we're going to have an increase super imposed upon that surge. which could make january even worse than december. >> meanwhile, the current president has not answered a question from the white house press in three weeks. and has spent the past five out of six days, meaning every day but once since christmas eve, at his golf course in florida. according to "the new york times," since christmas eve, more than 8700 americans have died from covid-19. while the president remains nearly mia as the nation he leads reels from this devastating pandemic. all eyes are now on the senate and mitch mcconnell who today blocked consideration of the bill that would increase covid

stimulus checks to $2,000. something that the president is demanding and the house voted to approve yesterday. more republicans in the senate have now come forward in support of the increase. but the bill's face still remains unknown. biden addressed how crucial that money will be to the many americans currently suffering. >> i congratulate the bipartisan majority on passing the president's and the president on signing the covid relief bill. it's still in an important step and moving in the right direction. and it will help people in need. and it will pay for some but not all of what we need to fix the covid response. it is a down payment. >> a president-elect ready to rescue a nation in crisis is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporterers and friends. jake sherman from politico is here, also with us christina greer, professor and political

science at fordham university and charlie sykes, editor at large of the bulwark. three of my favorite people to talk to. christina, your my most favorite so i'll start with you. to get reaction to what president-elect biden had to say, to me i heard more urgency in his voice and also in his message about what this nation needs to do to get say handle on the pandemic. >> right. well, jonathan, first things first, congratulations on your new show. second, the president-elect is really struggling because in this trans is he needs assistance from the outgoing administration to help him peacefully transfer power but try to help him to get the coronavirus under control. as you mentioned, almost 9,000 americans have died since christmas eve and the current president seems just not to care and quite honestly not really noticed. he said nothing about this. so as joe biden not ome tries to

educate the public about the vaccination, he's trying to prepare himself so on january 20th and kamala harris could assist americans not just with the vaccination but financially. we both live in two very expensive cities. we know that $600 is a mere drop in the bucket for so many struggling families. $2,000 unfortunately is still a drop in the bucket. but it will provide some relief. and joe biden is essentially saying i'm trying to work with the congress that i currently have, obviously we're still waiting for georgia, but the president is offering zero assistance to help joe biden hit the ground running to assist the american people and sadly that is par for the course with president trump. >> i want to talk about leadership here and leader shifrp exhibited by the incoming president, joe biden and the leadership such as it is that is being projected by the sitting president. have a listen to what dr. celine

gounder had to say yesterday on cnbc and i'll talk to you on the other side. oh, okay. we don't have that sound. but basically what dr. gounder was saying to cnbc yesterday, and she's a member of president-elect biden's covid advisory board but talking about using the defense production act to get things moving in terms of getting ppe out and getting the vaccine out an and getting the doses from the syringes into the arms. charlie, from your perspective, as a former republican, are you still a republican, i should know this? >> no. >> as a former republican, but still, and contrast the leadership that we're seeing from the sitting president and the incoming president. >> well, jonathan, i'm glad you asked me that question because i still find it disconcerting to hear a president who is serious,

earnest and honest with the american people and actually committed to telling the american people the truth and to solving a problem as opposed to a president who regarding his office and role as being a reality tv show. but this split screen between these two men, donald trump being awol in every single aspect of this, not addressing this and not providing any leadership. parachuting in at the last second to deal with the covid relief bill. his complete indifference to the human toll. vice president pence, who is i believe still ahead of the coronavirus task force is off vacationing in vale, at the moment when this crisis is exploding. it is a really remarkable moment of the failure of leadership. and it is a huge job for joe biden. but i have to say that after four years of listening to donald trump, to hear joe biden is really, it is, as i said, it is disconcerting, it is bracing that this is the way a president

should sound. this is what a president should be doing. and it is rather extraordinary that it has been so long since we've heard that. >> you know, jake, because of the problems with the transition, the fact that i think it was yesterday president-elect biden was talking about the fact that the lack of cooperation that his transition teams are meeting is concerning, today he's talking about what he's long feared and warned in terms of getting the number of doses out of the vaccine is not meeting the goals that have been set by this administration, talk about how the experience that joe biden has with washington, will that be of use to him, helpful to him even without cooperation from trump and the transition to hit the ground running?

will he be able to hit the ground running january 20th to get a handle on the government but also a handle on this pandemic? >> well, jonathan, yes, you would assume that he at least is putting the right people in the right places. i think the important thing to remember when i think it is overlooked in news coverage and just think being washington, it is not as much about the president. the president sets the tone. but he puts people in the right places who are able to execute based on their knowledge of government and their knowledge of how the levers of power work. and that is jeff sients who is handling the coronavirus response and distribution and the things of that nature. that is very important. i think where joe biden is going to have a lot of difficulty, maybe not difficulty but one of the biggest challenges, i think the administrative side and the distribution side will work itself out. this is a large-scale operation as joe biden noted. i think it will work itself out

with biden's and other people's leadership. but the real challenge is working with a congress that is going to be as closely divided as any congress in our history, jonathan. people are for getting this, that this is either narrowly democratic or narrowly republican. this is the smallest democratic majority since the 1800s. i mean, joe biden has a big agenda and a very tight congress. and i think people are going to be disappointed if they don't keep that in mind. >> jake, let me stick with you on this. because we talked about this yesterday on this show in terms of president-elect biden continuing to say he wants to reach across the aisle and work with republicans and believes that he'll be able to pull republicans along, he told us on that call last week that he has been speaking with republicans behind the scenes about things that they could work on together from your reporting, jake, is president-elect biden on solid

ground here? will he be able to work with them from what you've been able to find out so far? >> well, listen, i mean i'm in the capitol right now. it is reasonable to believe that joe biden will have some length of a honeymoon period in which it will be in everyone's interest to get something done. on covid relief, on perhaps something like infrastructure. on a whole host of issues. i i think that is a reasonable expectation for people to have. i don't think we're entering a new era of bipartisanship. i don't think that the senate that joe biden left in 2008 is the senate of 2020. it's just not. we know that based on what we've seen in the obama white house and what we saw during the trump administration. we just know politics change, joe biden's relationships, there is a lot of new people on capitol hill. that doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to work the system and how to work members of congress and he has a working relationship with mitch mcconnell.

but i think the expectations are way, way, way, way out of wack compared to the reality i live as a reporter on capitol hill every day. >> that is a good point to put out there. christina, one thing that president-elect biden said in his remarks today in talking about the vaccine was vaccine hesitancy, or vaccine acceptance, getting people to accept the vaccine and to take the vaccine and to my mind that is a -- a message to the country at large but also i think to african-americans in particular and i want to play two bits of sound. because i've been focused on this for the last two weeks. i interviewed dionne warwick and here is what she said when skied her if she was going to get the vaccine. >> i just feel that we are at this very, very fast -- i've

been involved with other parts of medications going back to the aids issue and how long it took for those aids medications to be approve by the fda. and i know the science has really gone leaps and bounds made since the aids crisis 30 some odd years ago however, it still takes a good amount to be proven to be quite effective. so i'm going to give it a chance of getting effective. >> do you get the vaccine or the two shots and you're in the clear or do you have to get the vaccine again? like the flu vaccine? >> we have no idea. all of the clinical trials of the vaccines, both the moderna and pfizer, have been less than three months. so we don't have any durable data to look at.

when we look at people naturally infected and have recovered from covid-19, there is evidence that people are still making antibodies after six months. it remains to be seen what is the nature of a durable immune response to this virus. >> and so, christina, i showed two things because one deon warwick has been a global ambassador for world health since the raeagan days since th hiv aids came and then you have lori ploind and she said we still don't know how long the vaccine will last but we'll find out. and i played those two because i want you to talk about this, the fablt fact that people have to understand that there are two reasons why a deon warwick who

is 80 years old or my other mother who is 79 who are taking a wait and see attitude, they're not saying they'll never take it, but a wait and see attitude, one is because of science, the other is because of history. >> right. so, jonathan, first things first. i'm usually not an early adapter. i just got rid of my iphone 5. so i'm not on the front lines of things and i have the you the mest respect for the two guests, especially deon warwick. but neither one of them are scientists so when i talk to my sister who is the chief of the deaf is of ob gyn and penn, she took the shot and i'm listening to doctors an not celebrities and not journalists. and the doctors have is he very clearly, a., this is not a live vaccine and we have to combat disinformation while also recognizing history, especially explicit history for black americans in the u.s. government, and the u.s. medical care system. when you listen to black doctors, who are taking this

vaccine, and they're saying, yes, this is -- we're in the early stages of that vaccine, it is a new entity, however we must trust this thing because the science is proven. these are not journalists or celebrities. and so as we move forward, we know that the only way that we're going to get out of our living rooms and our bedrooms is to take this seriously and really think of the vaccine as our next step. and so i have to -- i normally am not one who wants to take any sort of vaccine, whether it is a flu shot or chicken pox shot or whatever it may be, but i'm trusting the scientists on this because i do recognize that we talk about the tuskegee syphilis experiment and the horrifying things that u.s. medical institutions have done to black people over the years. but this is not it. and so as we move forward in these discussions, i am more interested in the scientists who are telling us all of the reasons why we're taking this

vaccine. even those who want to wait and see. but logistically, hopefully by the time that the wait and see attitude approaches them being able to get the vaccine, they'll have read enough and heard enough from people they trust to take it. >> right. so as dr. cory abare said of new orleans, he said wash up, mask up, separate and vaccinate. and that is a mantra that we should get behind. colorado governor has announced that first case of the new covid variant has been identified in his state and that is the varnts first discovered in the united kingdom that health experts said is up to 70% more transmissible than the regular virus. do we have time for one more question for jake? okay. so mitch mcconnell, he decides that he is going to not let the $2,000 stimulus bill come to the

floor for a vote. me meanwhile in georgia, the two senators running for election in the case of senator loeffler and re-election in the case of the senator perdue, came out in favor, said they would vote for it if it came to the floor. and charlie then jake, what is going on here? what are -- what is mcconnell's machinations here? >> well, number one, there is an election going on and number two, mitch mcconnell does not want to be played by donald trump. what happened was donald trump dived in at last moment and came out with the $2,000 proposal. nan nancy pelosi called his bluff and mitch mcconnell is saying i'm not going anywhere. but it is awfully interesting that after railing for most of the year about the dangers of defunding the police and socialist, where is donald trump right now is defunding the military and he's proposing sending out $2,000 checks to virtually all of americans.

so apparently it was not about -- it was not a good faith policy debate after all, was it. >> no. and jake, your take, what is mcconnell up to? >> well mcconnell filed a little while ago a bill that would repeal section 230 which is the law that governors social media and sends out $2,000 checks and creates an election fraud bill. so he's telling donald trump that he's not much interested his $2,000 check idea and moving on with his life and i don't mean to laugh that and but in the sense that republicans are moving on from donald trump in a big way and stand those chance of becoming law. >> and with that, we'll have to leave it there. we ran a little over. jake sherman and christina and charlie sykes, thank you very much for starting us off this hour. when we return, one week to go before the all important runoff elections in georgia that will determine who controls the senate. steve kornacki is at the big board to give us the state of

play in georgia. plus, after a tumultuous year of racial injustice, pressure is building on president-elect joe biden as he narrows down his clois for a.g. and as we reach the end of the deadliest month since the coronavirus pandemic began, we'll talk to a doctor about those warnings from anthony fauci that things are about to get worse, especially now that the u.k. variant of the virus has reached our shores. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. so don't go anywhere. that make you boogie! (upbeat music) - [man] mmm mm mm.. - [narrator] get the food you love with perks from- - [crowd] grubhub! - [narrator] grub what you love.

one week to go before the critical senate runoff elections

in georgia and already more than 2.3 million georgia voters have cast their ballots. that total shattered the state's previous voter turnout record for a runoff election set back in 2008 by 200,000 votes. and it will continue to grow with more than 500,000 absentee ballots still outstanding as georgia braces for an election that will determine the balance of power in the senate. let's bring in nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki at the big board. and also with us, tia mitchell, from the atlanta journal constitution. what is the state of play in georgia right now, steve? >> you set the stakes pretty well. democrats got to go two for two. in these senate runoffs f. they do that, they could controll the senate. they do have a blueprint to win in georgia. joe biden won the state of georgia in november. over donald trump. first democrat to carry the state in a presidential election since way back in 1992.

now biden did this very narrowly and important to remember his margin there was less than 12,000 votes over donald trump. that was two tenths of one point. so biden ended up on top. but very, very little wiggle room there. and i mentioned that because if the good news for democrats is they have a blueprint for biden an the bad news is the senate candidates did not file that blue print in november. so let's compare guide biden an trump versus osoff and perdue. let's compare the biden trump to that. biden wins by a little under 12,000 and it was jon ossoff who finished 88,000 votes behind david perdue in the preliminary. now nobody hits 50% and they go to the runoff. but again, this did not trek exactly what the presidential race. there were voters who went out and votes for biden, but then who did not go and vote for the democratic senate candidate.

here or in that other senate race. the other senate race was a little bit more confusing, it was the jungle primary and multiple candidates but the key was if you took every candidate who ran in this primary for the second senate seat, the especially election, add up all of the democrats and add all of the republican votes, there were more republican votes cast than democratic votes cast in this senate race as well. so in both senate races the democrats lagged behind joe biden. not by a ton. but by a potentially critical amount. such that biden's able to win the state narrowly, but the democratic senate candidates were slightly behind the republicans so. so where do they look, the atlanta metro area. see the blue counties here. big increasingly democratic counties where democrats like to win statewide in georgia. and the key is this. take a look at fulton county,

atlanta, it is a democratic win here by a landslide. jon ossoff beats perdue in fulton by 216,000 votes. good, but not good enough because compare that to biden in the presidential race in the same county, biden three points better. and it translates to biden a margin of 242,000 votes. why is joe biden winning statewide by 12,000 and jon ossoff falling 88,000 short in the senate race? a place like fulton county and you saw it in gwinnett and cobb, there was a small but critical group of voters, especially in the atlanta suburbs who didn't like trump, who wants to vote against him and who did vote against him but then in the senate races they voted republican. and for democrats to follow the biden blueprint, win these senate races, they have to flip that voter on tuesday.

>> wow, steve, you are so thorough. you answered every follow-up question that i possibly had. and the key thing was what you said at the end, people in georgia split their tickets. they went for biden, well they voted for biden and then went and voted republican for the two senate seats. steve kornacki, thank you very much for the big board explanation. into let's bring in tia. your reaction to what kornacki was just talking about from your reporting. does it sound like democrats have a whole lot of ground to make up in order to good from being in the runoff to actually winning the seats? >> yes. democrats know they have a lot of ground to make up. because democrats have always struggled in runoffs in georgia. they just have voters who are less frequent voters, more likely to drop off when they're required to come back to the polls again. so democrats knew they had an

uphill battle. they've focused a lot on the ground game in georgia. texting, emails, calls, because we know that this election hinges almost strictly on turnout, which side could turn out more of its voters by january 5th. >> and so from what i understand, and correct me if i'm wrong, black turnout in terms of absentee ballots, well i should say overall the turnout, the absentee turnout, it is very, very high. >> yes, right now early voting which is both as you noted in person and mail-in early voting, the percentage of black voters is about 32%, which is a few percentage points higher than the overall percentage of black voters in georgia. so black turnout is trending a little bit higher than their share of the electorate which as

you know bodes well for democrats because black voters overwhelmingly tend to support democratic candidates. so they're hoping that they could keep that up again. the democrats are focusing on turning out just black voters but younger voters, other voters of color that make up their base. >> tia, let me get you on one more issue. i've noticed interviews that jon ossoff has been doing here on msnbc and other places sounding the alarm, saying we're not going to have enough money to do all of the things that we need to do in order to be successful. is he just saying that to gin up enthusiasm or is there a real concern they're going to run out of money to be really competitive on election day with the republicans? >> you know, i think any candidate is always going to say they could use more money. but we know this is breaking records. it is the most expensive race in

georgia history. and there is a lot of money not just flowing to each of the candidates of which the democrats outraised republican opponents but a lot of outside groups are spending a lot of money. so i think it is in the eye of the beholder whether enough is enough. but again, the candidates are always going to say we could use more money or resources toward turning out the vote. >> and with that we'll have to leave it there. tia mitchell, thank you very much for being here today. and when we return, 2020 was the year that put racial injustice front and center and now pressure is mounting on joe biden and his heyet to be named attorney general to fix what is wrong. that is next. that is next shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo

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it might be the most important decision of joe biden's pre-presidency. one he has yet to make. who to nominate for the last of the so-called big four cabinet positions. attorney general, consider the context of the moment from time. biden is set to take over a justice department that is suffered a crisis of faith externally and slumping morale during the trump administration experts say. while any incoming president and attorney general must see new -- must set new policy priorities, biden an his new top law enforcement official will face the added challenge of having to restore many americans' faith in the jifs department as an

apolitical party that meets out justice under the law. the three finalists are merit garland and doug jones an sally yales and all qualified but given what joe biden promised, a cabinet that looks like america one can't help but notice the lack of diversity in that group. and given where we are in america today and the racial reckoning the united states faced this year, should biden reconsider. and to that point we have breaking news from the current department of justice. the doj has announced it has ended its investigation into the 2014 shooting death of 12-year-old tamir rice. department has found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges against two cleveland police officers involved in the shooting. joining our conversation is michael eric dyson, professor of african-american and studies at vanderbilt university and tahjor

of the new book "long time coming, reckoning with race in america" and brittany cooper professor of studies at rutger's university and writer of the book k"eloquent rage." the two are fantastics when it comes to talk about issues of justice and african-americans place in this country. but to the overall question of who should run doj, how important is it that the next attorney general be a person of color, be black? because that is -- that is what some folks in the streets are talking about. that they should be black. >> well the most important thing is to have a black orientation. a concept that we could get at

here. it is not just a black face in a high place, it is about the ideals that are critical. it is about understanding the degrees to which black people are subject to arbitrary forms of violence and patterns of police miss behavior and conduct under eric holders with reined in with consent decrees have all been been thrown out of the window under attorney general barr. so while it is extremely important to have a diverse cabinet and different aspects of our identities, different aspects of our ideology of our politics represented, we need somebody who is deeply and profoundly committed to radical democracy when it comes to black people and to understand that the justice department which is supposed to be an arbiter of neutral value in competing claims about what is good and bad in the country, doesn't end up reinforcing the vulnerable position of black people.

so a., yes, it is extremely important. b., it is important that the ideas even more than the pigment be in place so that those who were there making decisions will have a tremendous impact upon african-american life in this country. >> brittany, what do you think? >> biden has to resist his desire to be centrist here. biden wants to make sure that he doesn't make republicans feel that he doesn't oft raw size those republicans and since you used his connection to obama to run his campaign, that he should at the very base level start with the obama model of how you run the doj. when eric holder comes in and said we're a nation of cowards on race, in many ways he's more forthright in his critiques of racial politics than barack obama was or felt he could be when he was in the presidency. and so i think that the joe biden needs to bring a fighter brand into the doj. i think that person should absolutely be a person of color.

i think they should have particular commitments around mass mass incarceration. when obama left office, the doj ended contracts with private prisons for federal incarceration measures. those are things that we need to bring back just as a base level to meet the set of commitment that's drove hundreds of thousands of americans out into the streets over the summer after the killing of george floyd. we've got to restore not just american faith, white people's faith in the doj as an objective sort of body, the justice is something that black people demand and that is a thing that the department of justice, depending on who runs the civil rights division of the doj, those are the kinds of things that biden can do. >> brittany, i have to push back on you for a second. i hear you when you say that president-elect joe biden should put a fire band into doj. but my feet are firmly planted on the ground and knowing full well that he ain't going to get

no fire bland through the senate no matter who wins the runoffs next month in georgia. the idea that biden is going to get a fire brand in doj is impossible. do you not then agree with dr. dyson that it is the ideas more than the pigment that is important here? >> look, when black folks are asking for representation, we always are thinking about the content of people's character. i don't like when it folks think that -- try to reduce the argument for a black face to an argument about pleer representation. we all learned our lesson with clarence thomas. i was only 10 years old but the country learn its lesson. and i know what biden's orientation is but i thought that american politics was the place where we as voters who put these people in office get to make demands so, yes i believe in pragmatism and if he's going to choose any of the white person, any person on the table with the exception of merrick

garland, but i like sally yates and i think doug jones could do a fine job. but black people get to make demands. frederick douglass said power concedes nothing without a demand and it never has and never will and this is the time for us to be bold. our country burned over the summer. we have lost over 300,000 folks. many of them disproportionality black and brown and indigenous. i'm going to make the demands that are going to make things better for black folks recognizing that if joe biden wants to work with congress he has to have black folks show up for him in a big way in georgia. and we say put people in office that will fight for us and if those are fight folks with good liberal sensibilities, we'll take them. but if we could get black folks, that would be even better. >> dr. dyson?

>> absolutely. there is nothing contradicting what i said. my point is, brittany cooper is right. we could get a clarence thomas. the point is we could get a kanye or a black skin and black pigment, there is no necessity associated with black skin. there is not a black skin nationalism that could dictate t the character and range and aspiration of those politics. i'm saying that true, the hurt and suffering of black people that i've documented if long time coming, the forces of suppression, need to be fought back against and i'm absolutely in the corner with professor brittany copper to say that black people deserved and have earned so and president-elect biden said black people, you hooked me up and now i'm going to hook you up. so there is nothing wrong with saying -- the beauty of joe biden and kamala harris in office is you have the ability to push and to cajole and to ask

and to demand and to seek and they hear. with donald trump there was nothing that was resonant with him that african-american people could put forward. so i think it is extremely important. and i think what she meant by fire brand, although she's here, someone deeply at their sole committed to serious principals of justice. eric holder was cool and mellow and the way in which he approached was -- >> that is true. >> -- and at the heart he was burning deeply. we need a nat "king" cole cool, we need a myles davis cool or a brittany cooper cool. and we need the jonathan capehart kind of mesmerization going on, we'd be in great shape too. >> it it is tuesday, but if feels like church. thank you very much for being here today. when we return, an out of control pandemic that left one in every 1,000 americans dead and now dr. fauci is warning

that things will get worse before they get better. we'll ask a doctor what we could expect next. expect next.

we continue to follow the breaking news we mentioned at the top of the hour. colorado governor announcing a man in his state has tested positive for the concerning covid mutation now put more than half of the u.k. in a strict lockdown. it is the first case of the variant found in the united states. which experts say could be up to 70% more transmissible than previous strains. this comes as experts are already warning the worse is still ahead of us. even as an average of 2200 americans are dying every day, about 180,000 are testing positive every day and a record 121,000 americans are hospitalized right now with the coronavirus as many hospitals extend their already full icu

units and contemplate rationing care. so far one of every 1,000 americans have now died of covid. and one of every 17 has been sickened. joining now now is nbc news and medical contributor and physician dr. lipi roy. thank you for being here. the most important question for you right now is what -- this new variant, what does it mean right now? >> good to be with you, jonathan. and it is a great question and a question on the minds of many, many people. really around the world. because we're seeing this new variant or new type of variant in many countries. you just reported the first case right here in the united states. but we're also saw this first in the united kingdom where we're seeing cases rise quite rapidly despite strict lockdown down or stay-at-home measures. we think it is attributed to the

new variant which as you pointed out is more transmissible and more contagious. but here is the good news. it is that it has not been shown to result in more severe disease. and, b., this particular has not been shown to not be susceptible or be responsive to the vaccines, which is really great news. the other good news is that we -- the other mitigation protocol that works is masks. masks distancing and vaccines. this is another reason why we need that, the vaccines to be rolling out as effectively and efficiently as possible, jonathan. >> okay. i want you to repeat what you were just saying about the vaccine as it relates to this new veariant that we're talking about. repeat that. >> right now, we have two vaccines that are rolling out. one from pfizer biotech and another from moderna. they are using mrna technology that's targeting the spike protein of the virus.

the beautiful thing about this technology is it's actually targeting several parts of the spike protein of this coronavirus. so that is the reason why we believe, at least experts believe that the vaccines will still be able to be successful at preventing the transmission of this particular variant, but jonathan, it's important to remember while the person that gets vaccinated is protected, we still don't know a, the duration of the protection of immunity nor do we know the person that's vaccinated is able to transmit the virus. for those reasons, jonathan, it's still really important for people to wear masks. >> with that, we'll leave it there. dr. roy, thank you for being here. when we return, remembering lives well lived. mbering lives well lived ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete,

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douglas' family says they're still getting used to talking about him in the past tense. doug was a good man. doug had a room brightening smile. he worked at a children's hospital in seattle. his co-workers told the fox station there that he always made a lasting impression on his colleagues, his patients, and their families. he was that kind of person caring and thoughtful. he had a passion for music and used to d.j. in his free time. but above all that, doug was an adoring father. ask anyone who knew him and they

would tell you he loved his two sons more than anything on the planet. so it's tragic. last month doug contracted the coronavirus and he died just before christmas at the age of 39. so yes, douglas was a kind person. he was a loving father. but he'll always and forever be a bright light for the people he leaves behind. we'll be right back. behind. we'll be right back. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis

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hour with us. we are grateful. nicole, nicky wallace will be back tomorrow. meanwhile, "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. >> hey, jonathan, thank you so much. welcome to "the beat." we're tracking a clash in washington with consequences for millions of american. the showdown over the size of this covid relief. president trump is in a political civil war with republican leaders. he's warning to have a death wish if they continue to oppose him which has mitch mcconnell caught between republican opposition to increasing these covid stimulus checks. checks that you could receive and the out going president now demanding after months of republican diterring on all of this covid relief, the year is ending with this important fight. it's a fight over action. there are people right now whose rent and emergency bills, whose lives could really turn on what happens next. house democrats have passed this bill that basically raises the stimulus payments that again,