happening right now. >> okay. jonathan swann, thank you very much for finishing us up on this friday. we really appreciate you being here and glad to have you back. on that note, to everyone out there, have a wonderful weekend. it is finally friday. thank you so much for getting up way too early with us on this friday morning. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" starts right now. i can say to you, the american people, help is here, and hope is on the way. >> i want to let you know, ininherited a mess. >> i can't guarantee we're going to solve everything, but can i guarantee we can make everything better. >> there's never been a presidency that's done so much in such a short period of time. >> we have to come together. we have to. >> i certainly didn't win by people listening to you people, that's for sure. >> the other thing we're doing, i might add -- am i giving too long an answer? >> russia is fake news. russia -- this is fake news put out by the media.

>> i'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy. >> the greatest thing i could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles offshore right out of the water. >> when i took office, i decided that it was a fairly basic, simple proposition. and that is i got elected to solve problems. >> i do get good ratings. you have to admit that. >> all in all, i've been hired to solve problems, not create division. >> are you going to include the congressional black caucus and the congressional -- >> well, i would, do you want to set up the meeting? are they friends of yours? set up the meeting. let's go, set up a meeting. >> but what i know i have now is i have electoral support from republican voters. >> i put it out before the american people. got 306 electoral college votes. i guess it was the biggest electoral college win since ronald reagan. >> my predecessor, oh, god win

, i miss him. >> wow. joe biden and donald trump's first news conferences as president. what a difference, joe. >> big difference. and you could talk -- i think most importantly, about the tone of it. you know, even trump supporters, by the end, were talking about how exhausted they were by the man, by the tweets. many voted for him, because they were voting against who they considered to be extreme democrats. but it was yesterday, even if you didn't agree with joe biden ideologically on every point, even if you were concerned about maybe his position on some issues, chances are good if you are an american and you were watching that, you noticed a change of tone. you actually heard somebody that was trying to bring americans

together. somebody who said, i've been elected to be a problem solver. to bring this country together, as opposed to, again, donald trump being extraordinarily combative, a couple weeks in, talking about no president has ever done as much as i -- again, it was just -- it was all about him. it was all a bunch of lies. it was all intended to divide americans and, well, he divided americans and he's in mar-a-lago because of it. >> with us, we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire, pullzer prize-winning columnist and associate editor of "the washington post," and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. nbc news and msnbc national affairs analyst, host and executive producer of showtime's "the circus" and host of "hell and high water" podcast, john

heilemann. and yamiche alcindor. she asked president biden questions at yesterday's news conference and has also been to many trump news conferences, so we'll get to that in a moment. >> yamiche, tonally, quite a difference yesterday. >> quite different in tone. we saw president biden giving robust answers, long answers, answers that were steeped a lot in data, in information. obviously, he was less hostile. there were some illuminating questions about the way that he's handling the situation at the border, feeling like he needs more time to get his arms around that, saying that he'll let journalists in after he can implement his plan in those kind of facilities. but also talking about the filibuster as a relic of the jim crow era, but not ever really going as far as to say that he would eliminate it, even though he came really, really close to doing so. and of course, setting a new goal on covid for 200 million shots before his first -- or by the end of his first 100 days.

>>. and john heilemann, a good bit of substance there. he certainly sent a message. it was a sort of more moderate, down the middle message on immigration. he talked about the possibility of running for re-election. i mean, who knows. but also talked about several other issues. but just stylistically, for a second, because that does matter. it did -- the tone that he's taking compared to the tone donald trump took in his first press conference is a radically different. more mainstream, and certainly, less divisive. >> yeah, right, joey. i mean, if you were looking for not just trump's first press conference, but all of them. if you were looking for continuity from that. if you were looking for more promiscuous lies, russian talking points, racism,

misogyny, attacks on the press, and a total disconnection from the sum and substance of policy, which is how you could sum up all of donald trump's press conferences, in total for four years, you saw none of that from joe biden yesterday. the exact opposite on every level. and you know, i think there were -- there were also none of the fireworks. and you know, i think -- and that, for some people, it's like, wow, that was kind of a boring, dreary press conference. you heard that a little bit on twitter. and as i read it, i thought to myself, that's the point. >> that is the point. >> what joe biden is trying to do on every level is to try to draw that contrast, not just in those ways with trump, but also to kind of say, these should be boring. these should be routine. these should be about information. these should not about theatrics. this should not be a circus. this should not be about reality television. and that's what you came away from yesterday, was that all of those contrasts were drawn.

>> john, how stupid can the republicans be? like, how stupid will they continue to be in manages expectations for joe biden. how idiotic. even i, when i was 29 years old, i thought, i'm not good at this and my opponent's been a lawyer for years -- that's what everybody has done since the dawn of the television age. republicans are so stupid. the right-wing talk shows are so stupid. donald trump is so stupid. let me say that again. you all are being idiots politically. because all they do, and karen tumulty pointed this out yesterday, john heilemann, they spend every day lowering joe biden's expectations so much that when he comes out, if he doesn't drool on himself, he wins! but actually, yesterday -- >> he's pretty good.

>> -- when president biden came out, he was a hell of a lot better than donald trump ever was, was a hell of a lot better in stringing actual salient points together than donald trump ever was. you actually, in relation to donald trump, you had a man who not only exceeded all expectations, but outperformed his predecessor remarkably. and again, republicans set the expectations so low for biden that he just stepped -- excuse me, guys, and just steps over it. and looks, you know, looks good politically. >> well, let's put it bluntly, joe, it's like, you know, in 2020, donald trump and his people spent much of 2020 telling america that joe biden was senile, that he'd lost it, that he couldn't -- that he could barely put two words in front of one another. and we saw joe biden in the two debates and he was not senile and he could put two words in front of each other. in fact, he was way better than

that. to your point, it's amazing that republicans are making the same mistake again. it's not just that they're making the mistake. it's that they saw how badly the mistake backfired just a year ago in terms of setting expectations in the wrong direction on biden, and here they are, doing it again. and you end up with a thing where right-wing media yesterday is reduced to having to criticized joe biden for having a three-wing binder with him at the podium. and i can't believe there's an american who doesn't look up and say, hey, there's a president who's got a briefing book. that's great. the president's got a bunch of details in front of him. he takes policy so seriously, that he walks in the door with his briefing books. and you've got these idiots on right-wing media going, joe biden has a briefing book, why does he have those notes? you have got to be kidding me. it's stupidity. it's stupidity -- >> in the words of will farrell -- >> -- to the thousandth power. >> i like watching the two of you freak out.

>> you look at him like will farrell looked at the hang glider, like, what an idiot! >> it's just incredible. >> i guess, jonathan lemire -- >> oh, no. >> jonathan, we've been talking about this on the phone for a week. republicans, trump people, right-wing media, all talking about how badly joe biden's going to do in that press conference. the biden white house had to be sitting there laughing every second, because he outperformed all of the low expectations that they put out there for him. and made some news on policy, as well, of course. >> and joe, this has been the biden white house's strategy, to underpromise and overdeliver. they didn't have to do the promising. the republicans did it for them, they did it for them. and biden cleared it with ease. the president had command of the details on a number of key

issues, including immigration. i do think that this was the point to be boring, for it to be routine, for it not to be a spectacle, for it not to generate countless, you know, screaming chirons on the bottom of cable news shows. it was about the information and update to americans on a series of crises his administration was facing. and he did make some news, in particular, he didn't go all the way to say that he wanted to get rid of the filibuster, but came as close as he ever has. he opened the door to significant filibuster reform. and it backs up what aides have been saying privately now for weeks. that as much as joe biden is an institutionalist, as much as he wants to protect the senate and his traditions, he knows this is his moment to go big. he thinks this was elected to do so so, big change, big reforms needed whether it be on immigration or voting rights, potentially gun reform laws, and he's not going to let the filibuster stand in the way of that. >> you know, gene, if you looked on twitter yesterday, the media

was getting bashed and getting kicked around for not asking any questions on covid. i looked at it a little bit differently than a lot of those critics of the media. i thought, well, if that's just not an affirmation that things are going in the right direction with covid, because it's a success story. people understand -- you talk about 200 million people vaccinated. he's talking about getting this country open by, you know, summer. again, i suppose somebody could ask a question about variants. but the fact that they didn't shows how far we've come in just three months. >> you know, i think it really does -- i mean, who would have thought that we would change the subject from covid, which has ruled our lives for the last year and changed the world in such substantial and for many people horrible ways, and it

definitely is a sign of the perceived success of the biden administration, in turning the corner and in getting us on our way out of this. there are a couple of covid questions that occur to me, that i think might have been asked. but, the fact that it didn't dominate the news coverage -- not just -- to stay nothing of the fact that no questions were asked about it at all, but the fact that it didn't dominate his first news conference, indicates that his plan is working. i mean, it just is. and it's -- that the people feel we are -- we're coming out of this. and we'll see, you know, how things have changed when we get on the other side of it. still have a really big question about, okay, the u.s. is vaccinated, what about everybody else? you know, how do we -- because we have to -- you know, it has to be eradicated, not just here,

but it has to be eradicated everywhere. but that was -- the lack of that question was significant. it really was. >> so we're going to get more to the key moments from the news conference ahead. and also, what's going on in georgia, with voting rights. but now to this. the republican party's attempt to simply dismiss the severity of the january 6th attack at the capitol. it's reaching a new level. we've heard it quite plainly. former president trump lent his influential voice to the false claim that the rioters didn't pose any quite a few threat to lawmakers. here he is speaking on fox news. >> it was zero threat. right from the start, it was zero tlet.

look, they went in, they shouldn't have done it. some of them went in, and they're hugging and kissing the police and the guards. they had great relationships. a lot of the people were waved in and then they walked in and they walked out. and i'll tell you what, they're doing things -- they're persecuting a lot of those people. and some of them should be -- some things should happen to them. but when i look at antifa in washington, even, what they did to washington or what they did to other locations and the destruction -- and frankly, the killing and the beating up of people and nothing happens to them whatsoever? why aren't they going after antifa? >> wow. >> i understand that this is supposed to trigger democrats and liberals and people in the media. who knows, maybe that's the same thing. >> i'm pretty the triggered. >> who am i to say? maybe it's supposed to trigger people like mika. >> well, just -- >> john heilemann, people have seen what happened on january

the 6th. and this bubble that trumpists are in, this bubble that donald trump is in. this bubble that those who are pushing trump propaganda in is getting smaller and smaller. they've seen the video images. we've shown the images. donald trump was talking about -- let's look at some of those images. donald trump was talking about these people that were coming and hugging and kissing the police. there you see a police officer getting his brains beat in, getting his head crushed. other police officers getting mauled -- >> this is inside the capitol. >> i want all of you to see this and understand that donald trump, who this country once elected as president of the united states, said there was zero threat on january the 6th. that these trump terrorists -- see what they're doing to a police officer there? do you see what they're doing to the police officer there?

breaking -- you know, trying to break his neck while all of these trumpists are in there. and they're not antifa. you will remember that kevin mccarthy, when he was under attack, when the capital was under attack, when kevin mccarthy was scared to death and donald trump tried to say it was antifa, kevin mccarthy screamed at him, and said, who the blank do you think you're talking to. these are your people. and yesterday, what did we show you about these police officers, who are brutalizing police officers. blue lives matter. not to donald trump. he doesn't give a damn about police officers, or else he would have strongly condemned this attack in its strongest terms. these terrorists, using an american flag to brutalize a police officer. these trump terrorists who brutalize a police officer as he lay on the ground being what he

thought beaten to death, all he could think of was his father daughters and was wondering how they were going to get by without him. because these terrorists were attacking, beating, brutalizing police officers. >> they had a noose for mike pence. >> they had a noose for mike pence and they went around screaming "hang mike pence." . hugging and kissing police, no. john heilemann. these people, these terrorists, these seditionist, that donald trump last night granted his absolution to, that sprayed bear spray in the face of police officers, one of them dying later on. and again, who tried to crush the head of police officers. right there, that's face of donald trump's terrorist supporters on january the 6th. that's the face of the people that donald trump last night was

saying were good americans who were, quite, hugging and kissing the police. it's beyond sick. >> yeah, and i think, joe, you know, i'm glad you're showing the images and i think everybody, we should remind people of this, but i actually don't think at some level it's really necessary in the sense that, you know, this is one of those instances where you know, trump has lied about a lot of things and has lied about some very big things, like the notion that the election was stolen, right? but part of the way the big lie works is that you can't really see. he's saying, well, there was voter fraud and you can't see it and you just haven't found the evidence yet, and so there's a lack of tangibility to that, right? how does that lie take root? you can't show an image to prove the negative, right? which is that voting fraud didn't take place. we know it didn't take place, but you can't show it on camera. what's crazy about this, as you guys are showing right now the

video, is that to your very first point, which is that this is the kind of lie that exposes the bankruptcy of the liar in a way that is kind of irrefutable. we all have seen these images over and over and over again. so to your first point, as trump tells these kind of lies, his credibility remains a bit, even with his fans, just reduces kind of inexorably down to zero. this is the kind of thing that's going to be self-undermining for trump. because he's told a lot of lies, a lot of blatant lies, a lot of obvious lies, a lot of disprovable lies, but few lies that are as instantly disprovable. there's no counternarrative here. there's so much video that even the people on the very far right have seen all of this video and they know. so when trump comes out and says something like this, there's a little bit of like, okay, you're either completely insane or

you're the biggest, fattest liar in the history of the world and you're trying to play right? i think that is the way that trump is writing himself an inevitable one-way ticket to irrelevance. telling these kind of lies is how trump reduces its importance on the national stage. >> i agree. and jonathan lemire, i've spoken with so many republicans who were deeply offended by this. i understand some of his most intense supporters, i understand people like ron johnson. i understand people on trump tv on scattered networks. i understand they're going to apologize for the president, but every rank and file republican i've spoken with was deeply offended by what happened on january the 6th. maybe other people's experiences have been different, not mine. >> joe, donald trump lies. he lied last night and continue to lie. and some of his lies to this day are dangerous and carry real

ramifications. in georgia and other states, they're cracking down on access to the ballot fueled by trump's lie about voter fraud, that his lie that the election was stolen, that people voted illegally. that lie really still matters. this lie here, outside of the most hard-core trump supporters, people will not believe this. we've all seen the footage. it was documented in the impeachment trial and running on cable news repeatedly. and the other part of this, trump is pushing himself into irrelevancesy, not just because these lies can't be believed, but it was really noteworthy last night, how little echo these comments had. sure, he was on a television show on fox news that does pretty good ratings, but it didn't take over the news cycle. it didn't dominate social media. it wasn't what -- you know, overshadowing everything else. in fact, it was the obvious. it felt many siloed while many people were still engaging with president biden's news conference. and i think it shows how hard it's going to be for trump to

maintain this foothold. he's not going to go away completely, but this foothold without twitter. it can't be overstated how much he misses that megaphone. and as much as there's talk of him launching some other social media site or partnering somewhere else, the reach won't be the same and it will be difficult for him to continue to dominate the news like he has done for so long. >> anytime you bring something us, lies like ron johnson and embraces terrorists like ron johnson did on the january 6th attackers. he actually said that trump terrorists are great americans. he actually says people that are going to be sent to jail for sedition are great americans. when he does that, again, all he does is hurts himself and he invites everybody to show these videos. my god, we probably have, i don't know how many minutes of video we have just of trump terrorists brutalizing and beating up police officers. so, when donald trump is cool with this crowd, when he's cool

with terrorists, he's cool with people who abuse police officers. >> and yamiche, the issue here, as long as trump is given a megaphone unchecked, promulgating the big lie, there is impact on law and policy. on the local level. and there are members of congress still standing by the big lie. >> i think that's incredible as you watch these images and as we are re-traumatized every time we see people bearing trump's name and trump 2020 signs and flags, breaking into the headquarters of the u.s. capitol is this idea that we're reminded that white supremacy, according to the fbi director, the biggest domestic terrorism threat in this country. this is not just a political argument, this is what the fbi

is worried about when they go to sleep, thinking about domestic terrorism. these people are an existential threat, an existential threat to our democracy as a whole. america doesn't survive if these people get their way. let's remember that they were trying to stop the certification of the vote and they were chanting "hang mike pence" and going after the people, the former president, trump laid out for them as the enemy that they need to be focused on that day. soipg the president is trying to continue to tell this lie about antifa and trying to frankly blame african-americans, which now republicans are trying to objectively trying to restrict their voting rights. he's trying to blame that group of people for this is just in some ways pretty absurd. and it's clear that that is something that's not going to fly. the video that you're showing

needs to be shown over and over again, every time a republican tries to blame antifa. the fbi knows it's not antifa. everyone knows that this is a problem of white supremacy. >> you know, after 9/11, the images were stark and they were horrifying. and i know that there was a debate and many in the media decided they weren't going to show images of the to. because americans needed to see the face of their enemy. to see what their enemy was capable of doing. these images that we've been showing you this morning, everybody needs to keep showing them. remember 9/11, okay? fine. remember 1/6. you know why? because josh hawley wants you to forget what happened on january the 6th. ted cruz wants you to forget how he was responsible, like josh

hawley, for january the 6th. >> while still churning up the same hate. >> donald trump wants you to forget about january the 6th. they all do. never forget january the 6th because it can happy again, unless we remain vigilant. >> still ahead on "morning joe," months after helping democrats win the white house and the senate, georgia backs the first state to enact restrictive new voting measures. plus, we'll be joined by white house communications director kate bedingfield on the heels of president biden's first news conference. but first, here's bill karins with a check on the severe weather that left at least five people dead when tornadoes touched down in alabama. bill? >> yeah, good morning. and unfortunately, that number could increase. we had some really bad tornadoes late last night and one especially near noonan, georgia,

went through a town of 40,000 people. we already heard the high school was destroyed there. that was at midnight. at daybreak, we'll see how bad that damage was. some of the other areas that were hit really hard in alabama, south of birmingham, the lake purdy area which had significant tree damage, homes were damaged, the roof torn right off this house. bed one tornado that was on the ground for an estimated 100 miles straight. for 100 miles! that's one side of alabama to the other. incredible pictures, incredible devastation and it's going to take weeks and months in some cases for some of these towns clean up. let's get to the maps and show you what we'll have to deal with for the rest of the day. we had 23 tornadoes reported yesterday. that number will grow. they were in lines going from west to east. most of these were in alabama, late last night, right there, were some of the storms just to the southwest of atlanta. no tornado watches at the current time. the storm responsible for it is

now over the top of detroit. a very windy day in the northeast. if you have any flight plans, you could have some significant delays. 87 million people under wind advisories, high wind warnings. and a heads up from little rock to memphis to nashville, additional severe storms saturday afternoon and evening. and on sunday, the severe weather threat will return to areas of the carolinas and all the way back up to the nation's capitol, richmond and in raleigh. the second tornado outbreak in nine days. the second tornado outbreak in nine days. and winning. but now, the for the people act stands on the brink of becoming law. ensuring accurate elections. iron-clad ethics rules to crack down on political self-dealing. a ban on dark money. and finally reducing corporate money in our politics. to restore our faith in government.

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what i'm worried about is how un-american this whole initiative is. it's sick. it's sick. the citing that you cannot bring

water to people in line waiting to vote. deciding that you're going to end voting at 5:00 when working people just getting off work. deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances. it's all designed -- >> you know, i mean, it's sort of interesting -- look at matthew 25, jesus asking people to give a cup of water in the master's name. here in georgia, mika. >> yeah? >> you have georgia republicans who have criminalized the handing out of water. you know, as somebody said last night, that when you make it a crime who people need water water, you know you're probably on the wrong side of history. >> i think republicans in georgia have just adopted a sweeping new election law, just months after that state helped

democrats take control of washington, fueled in large part by donald trump's big lie, about election fraud. the law tightens voter i.d. requirements for absentee ballots, a direct response to the surge of mail-in ballots during the pandemic that helped joe biden narrowly defeat trump in the state. it shortens the early voting period for runoff elections. that comes after democrats raphael warnock and john ossoff won their senate elections by early leads in the runoffs. it also limits the number of drop boxes for mail-in ballots, disproportionately affecting larger districts with majority/minority populations. and it allows the state to take over local elections. critics warn that allows republicans to toss out ballots in democratic areas. it also allows the legislature to appoint the chair of the state election board, which was previously chaired by the

secretary of state. that post currently held by republican brad raffensperger was targeted by trump and many georgia republicans. the law even prohibits food and water in voting lines. another provision that targets larger districts with mostly black voters, where some wait hours to vote. republican governor brian kemp wasted no time signing the bill into law. >> significant reforms to our state elections were needed. there's no doubt there were many alarming issues with how the election was handled. and those problems, understandably, led to the crisis of confidence in the ballot box here in georgia. >> it is worth noting, the new law is actually less harsh than initial drafts, which proposed restrictions such as a ban on sunday voting.

it actually does expand early voting options in some areas. gene robinson, your thoughts? >> well, look, this is -- yes, this is being done on the back of trumpism. but basically, it's being done because georgia republicans freaked out, they are freaked out that they lost. they lost the state. two republican senators lost their runoff elections. and the state is now represented by two democrats in the senate. and georgia republicans just aren't having anymore of that, or they're trying their best not to have anymore of that and so they're using the big lie about election fraud or election irregularities or whatever, to continue a process they have been doing for many years. this is not their first step toward voter suppression, when you look at, for example, how many voting stations they

provide for black neighborhoods and communities, episode to white suburban neighborhoods and communities. it's -- you know, the lines are longer and it takes longer to vote. it takes more effort. this has all been deliberate and it has all been going on for some time. and and it hasn't worked. it didn't work so far, so now they're upping it. it is -- it is the new jim crow. i mean, let's be honest about this. this is primarily about keeping black voters from voting. because they're like to vote for democrats. and that's what the majority republican party is trying to do. >> yamiche, there were two really powerful images that came out of this last night. when governor kemp signed the bill into law, he was surrounded by a group of white men, and an african-american state lawmaker, a woman, was arrested when she tried to knock on the governor's door, even taken into handcuffs. and these are the things we'll be seeing in the days and weeks

ahead, as the debate on what happened in georgia and could happen in other states grows. we heard the president talk a little bit about this yesterday at a news conference. he was pretty fierce in denouncing what happened. but what's your sense from your reporting, people you've talked to, how does the white house aim to get involved with voter rights efforts in this legislation and in states across the country? >> well, let's remember that republicans in 43 states are right to pass laws to restrict voting, now it's 42, because george was able to pass its law. my sense from the white house is that they find this to be a real threat to democracy, but that the answer is a really complex one that they're not quite sure that they have their arms around here. one of the reasons why the filibuster question that i asked yesterday and that others followed up with is so important, because when you talk to jim clyburn, of course, the democratic whip, he says that for this issue, for voting

rights and for civil rights, that there should be a filibuster rule, so that democrats can use the power that they have in the house and the senate, to actually get legislation passed, so that georgia can't tell people, you can't hand water to people standing in line. and that if you're in the middle of a pandemic, that's not a good enough reason to not to want to be in a room with a bunch of other people as they vote. so i think in some ways, president biden is still wrapping his head around this. i think that's why you saw him come so close to possibly saying he might move on the issue of the filibuster. but it's also one that he did not actually say he would change his mind on. and i think this is a space we really have to watch carefully. because if the filibuster is changed or if there is a rule that's made to go around it, it's going to be, my sense, talking to white house officials and to democrats, it's going to be related to voting rights. it's going to be related to civil rights. because as eugene just said, there are a lot of democrats who see this as the new jim crow, who see these laws as directly tied to targeting

african-americans. and let's remember, of course, that president biden owes not just his nomination as a democratic nominee for president, but also his actual win to african-american voters. so i think this is an issue that is not just a threat to democracy, it's also a threat if he wants to be re-elected. it's a threat as to whether or not he'll be able to do that. some of the people who want to vote for president biden are being targeted specifically by republicans. >> ann applebaum in her book, "twilight of democracy," talked about now poland, the law and justice party were quite blunt about what they wanted to do. orbine in hungary, the same. they didn't try to start the fact that they were starting an illiberal democracy, that they were going to attack democratic institutions. that they had become anti-democracy parties. didn't hide that fact. john heilemann, as we see what's

happening in georgia and across the country, they're now banning water being given to black people in lines. i mean, they don't say black people, but they might as well. because again, black people are underrepresented with voting precincts in georgia, so the lines are, of course, longer. but this is a party that understands exactly what it's doing. they're doing it out in the open. they are taking an ill liberal, anti-democracy stance, because, guess what? they lost the popular vote in 2000. they lost the popular vote -- well, let's go back to '92. they lost the popular vote in '96. they lost the popular vote in 2000. they lost the popular vote in 2008. they lost the popular vote in 2012. they lost the popular vote in 2016. they lost the popular vote in 2020. anti-democratic measures trying to undermine democratic

institutions. one person, one vote, a cornerstone of democracy, they're trying to get rid of that. because they know they'd lose if this country becomes more democratic. >> right, and it's, you know, the republican party, as you just laid the history out there, joe, they are -- they thank their lucky stars every day that we don't have a national plebosite, because the country, on the whole, has dramatically moved against the republican party over the course of the last 30 years. so they take advantage of the way the geography in the form of how gerrymandering works on the house level, the disproportionate level of low-population states in the senate, and the way the electoral college is structured, those oddties are things that republicans have leveraged to maintain a bigger voice nationally than they actually have support for in terms of the raw populous. and now they are faced with such a demographic tide and with, you know, we saw in 2020, that they

see that the geographic leverage they have isn't enough. so what they're stepping forward to do now in state after state is to try to suppress the vote of those rising demographic cohorts that would make a democratic majority stable long into the future. that's very clearly what's going on here. that's a slightly more abstract way of describing what is obviously a racist policy of trying to suppress the votes of non-white voters. and the only thing i'll say about it right now is it goes back to our earlier conversation about how idiotic these guys are. because i'll tell you, it takes a lot of dumbassery to take a process issue and puncture the national dialogue and make ate voting issue. the notion of the filibuster, the voter process, all of this stuff is stuff that most voters don't care about, don't pay attention to. but republicans have gone so far and are in the process of going so far right now, that they've evaluated this issue in a way that it is going to backfire on them. both in the -- in states like

georgia, where black voters will rise up and say, no, you are not going to take my vote away from me. but also, what happened yesterday in georgia was that the odds of hr 1, or a slimmed down version of hr 1 passing in the united states congress just doubled yesterday on the basis of this georgia legislation. it is incredibly -- it's incredibly self-defeating strategy that republicans are going about right now, because they're evaluating this issue, making it salient, and they are going to shoot themselves in the foot or in the head on this question, again by doing what they're doing. >> and by the way, mika. the idea that republicans are doing this in georgia, that this is becoming sort of the big issue, the republican base, shows that this isn't just people in washington, d.c. it's starting at the grassroots. even grassroots republicans know, their day is done. they can only win if they push

illiberal, anti-democratic measures through state legislatures. that's why, though i am always talking about the need for parties to come together, i'm always talking about finding that middle ground, what do i say all the time that drives you crazy? there's always a deal to be made in congress. there's always a deal to be made in diplomacy. there's always a deal to be made in politics. >> okay. >> let me make an exception to that. if joe manchin thinks, and joe's a really good friend of mine, but i had somebody tell me that joe is thinking that he's going to get a bipartisan hr-1 bill through the united states senate. if joe thinks a single republican is going to work with him to try to do that, you know what, just count me skeptical. this is -- this is who the republican party has chosen to be. they chose to kowtow to donald trump for four years and to

follow a fascist. look at the definition of fascist, this isn't hyperbole. just look it up on wikipedia. so they decided for four years to follow, blindly, a fafascist. he's left town. what have they decided now. again, i can't imagine how stupid they are politically. >> yeah. >> they've decided to go this anti-democratic, illiberal route, do it publicly by passing legislation and state by state by state. john heilemann's right, this does not end well for the wigs. >> well, joining us now, national political reporter for axios, jonathan swann, and nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt. kasie, i'll start with you. john heilemann says some trump republicans are taking part in dumbassery. your thoughts? >> thank you for that question, mika. a good way to kick off a friday morning. i will refrain from using the same sort of colorful language

that mr. heilemann just used, but i will say, i was sitting there thinking about this law in georgia. and to the point, overall, and this honestly ties back even to january 6th in terms of what you can see and what you can't see. some of these restrictions are less obvious than others or are more easily defended, but the fact that you can't bring people food and water in a line for a vote? i mean, if my or your grandmother was waiting for an hour and a half in line to vote and suddenly taking her a bottle of water, because it's, you know -- it's hot outside or she's thirsty is a misdemeanor crime? i mean, the -- it's just patently absurd. is it a free country or not. i don't even see how that would stand up in court. and i think the point joe is making overall is the right one. and joe biden overall, that

press conference that he held yesterday, he had this message of, just be patient, i'm going to get it done. and he's really letting republicans do the work for him. and saying, i know where the american people are. i know that they see it. >> you know, jonathan lemire, really quickly, it was aristotle, who i believe, first introduced the term dumbassery to western discourse when it comes to politics. you look at what happened in georgia, where you're actually banning, maybe children bringing their grandparents or somebody else bringing older people water in line, i think that's what aristotle was thinking about when he said that. >> like so many things,

aristotle coins it, heilemann perfects it. aristotle also had a wu-tang clan thing in the background as always. jonathan swann, i want to get you in on this conversation in terms of what you're seeing. we're seeing, obviously, the extraordinary reaction from what's happening on both sides in georgia. republicans, as yamiche has documented, in other states will be trying to do the same. what's your sense of it in terms of the republican national party, the role they're playing. do they think this is a gamble worth taking? do they believe that it could have short-term benefits in perhaps 2022, 2024, even if it cost them down the road. what's your sense of their strategy? >> the problem is, there isn't -- when you say the republican party, it's not a cohesive -- there is no sort of grand poo-bah or a sort of central committee where they decide this. it's actually very disparate and there are lots of different people who disagree about lots of different things. the one thing they all agree on, they all agree on maybe with one

or two exceptions, that hr-1, the democrats' bill to expand voting access is an existential threat to the republican party. and that word "existential" gets overused, it's a cliche. in this instance, it is literally the way they see it. they view it as a matter of survival for the republican party. and when i talk to people in the party at the leadership level, the view is that if this bill passes through congress and joe biden signs it into law, they are signing the death of the republican party. and that's the way to understand how they're thinking about this legislation. >> and to circle back on what jonathan just said, it's a great point. just like we've been saying,

that at the end of the day, joe manchin's going to have to figure out how to reverse engineer this thing back to getting him to "yes" on hr 1. joe is also talking about republicans compromising and coming along on a modified hr-1. just knowing how that place works, understanding that mitch mcconnell's already probably told them that f this is the vote i need you on, another vote after this doesn't matter. this is, as jonathan said, an existential threat to the republican party. how likely is it that joe manchin is going to find one republican, let alone the six or seven that he would need. actually, the nine or ten that he would need to break the filibuster. what's the likelihood that joe manchin would even find one republican to vote on a modified version of hr-1? >> i think it's basically zero,

joe. and it wouldn't be 10. and i think jonathan swann is absolutely right about how republicans view this. and that's why this is, if there's going to be a showdown over the filibuster, where it's likely to happen. because if this does become law, remember, getting rid of the filibuster is bad for a party that is afraid of losing power in the future, right? the argument against doing it is saying, hey, if you do this now to us, it's going to come back to haunt you, because power is going to shift, eventually. the wind will blow the other direction, you're not going to be in charge anymore. but if you think about it in these terms, an existential threat to the republican party makes it much less likely that they are able to take back control, that they become a permanent minority. that the senate becomes more reflective of the people that actually live in this country, because we all know, the way it was designed, it represents a lot of land and fewer people in different ways than say, the

house of representatives. this is -- this is an existential threat to the republican party. and it's why, if there's -- i think democrats think if there's a place where you blow up the filibuster and you change the rules, it's for this. >> and again, i pass no judgment when saying this. i just have served for a long time. if mitch mcconnell were in this position, he wouldn't be talking about it right now. he would have already done it. in this position. i know that trump was talking about getting rid of the filibuster in '17 and he didn't do it then. things have become so pitched, so tight right now that i find it hard to believe that he wouldn't do that. john heilemann, really quickly, while we're talking about things that shock the conscience, just -- you haven't been on since tom nichols has gone on twitter and just completely blown the entire platform up. attacking led zeppelin, of

course, we know, attacking neil young, and coming out with an opinion a few days ago that he preferred van hayguard to van halen. i don't even know what to say. >> i know, i know. you think about things that are like bad in america, you know, joe. and you know, the georgia voting law, for instance, really bad. terrible, you know, dumbassery at a very high level. when you think about the platonic ideal of dumbassery, the picture in the dictionary, at least on the question of music, tom nichols. i mean, we've been talking about things -- >> all right, boys. >> -- that shock the conscience, that's the thing. can i say this one thing real quick, though, about the voting rights thing. on the one substantiative thing, joe. i want to say this. everybody is going to seize on this, rightly so, and we have this morning, on the most egregious thing in the georgia law. which is, you know, taking to water to people in the lines and why that's so ridiculous and absurd. and you know, that's the thing

that makes the thing easily mockable and illustrates its stupidity and anti-democratic nature, and all of that. blah blah blah. that's true, right? but everything in the law is offensive when you think that on the merits, what is the argument against no excuse absentee balloting in all 50 states in america? what's the argument against it. you know, other than, it would hurt republicans, what's the argument against it? republicans used to like mail-in voting. they thought absentee ballots benefited them. there's a big argument to be had here about why is it that we shouldn't, on the merits, trying to be expanding the vote and getting as many people in the possible to vote never in every election. it's not just small things, the large thing that's at stake here. >> and you look at what happened in florida. early voting, absentee voting. it certainly worked in the republican's favor.

there were hardly -- it seemed any people showing up day of and the republicans doing extraordinarily well. the thing that concerns me the most, of course, people will be talking about water, because that is just so outrageous. but i'm concerned that the state legislature is talking about taking over local election official positions. taking over the secretary of state's position. if that had happened in michigan, if that had happened in pennsylvania, if that had happened in georgia this year. if the state legislatures had, then we would have -- we would have -- i won't say we would have had a civil war, we would have been in one hell of a constitutional crisis. >> oh, it would have been a huge crisis. and in the end, they likely would have found some way to declare donald trump still president of the united states. i mean, that would have been the stakes in this past election. it is outrageous. and in georgia, it's aimed at

fulton county. it's aimed at atlanta. it's aimed at republicans getting their hands on that machinery, where so many african-american votes come from. >> all right, john heilemann, yamiche alcindor, jonathan swann and kasie hunt, thank you all. happy friday. and coming up, more from president biden's first news conference, including how he handled pointed questions about the border crisis. white house communications director kate bedingfield joins us. we're back in two minutes. e bed us we're back in two minutes.

. in between naps, joe needs a lot of time to study his note cards. >> the truth of the matter is, nothing much changed. as people came, 31% in the last year -- in 2019 before the pandemic. in the trump administration. it happens every single solitary year. >> he supposedly on thursday is

going to give his very first press conference. i have doubts about his ability to take those questions. >> let me say that, number one, the u.n. resolution 1718 was violated by those particular missiles that were tested. >> biden referred to kamala has president harris yesterday. he had trouble going up a flight of stairs. so, what can we expect from his big press conference on thursday? >> are you worried that if you don't manage to pass voting rights legislation, that your party is going to loose seats and possibly lose control of the house and the senate in 2022? >> what i'm worried about is how un-american this whole initiative is. it's sick. it's sick. >> it's those unscripted moments where joe -- uh, uh, i need my card. my name is joe. my wife's name is jill.

i live at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> i think my republican colleagues are going to have to determine whether or not we want to work together or they decide that the way in which they want to proceed is to just decide -- divide the country, continue the politics of division. but i'm not going to do that. i'm just going to move forward and take these things as they come. >> you know, you would hope, when you keep telling a group of people, don't stick your hand on the stove, they'd learn. i said it before the debate, don't put your hand on the stove. it's going to burn. and they go, oww! and then move it back up there, owww! you just wonder, really, how thick are these people? how -- how bad are they when it comes to figuring out how

politics works and the game of expectations. they're saying this guy can't walk, he can't talk, he can't think, he's a drooler. and then he goes out and gives a press conference where he's far more articulate than donald trump ever was, because donald trump, he didn't know about issues, he didn't want to know about issues. nobody could ever brief the guy. so joe biden goes out is, all of these people have lowered expectations. and they're playing right into his hand. they keep playing into his hand every time. and you just wonder how stupid they're going to continue to be. by playing into his hand. if i were a republican legislature, i would be so angry at the idiocy of these people. they're just helping biden. >> they're just running on anger, and when you just run on

angry and you don't actually have something to be angry about, it starts to look stupid. >> starts? now they're mocking him for having a briefing book. >> for doing the work. >> so the executive time that was taken in the past four years, to hang out, watch cable and golf and now this president has a briefing book where he actually get ready for a press conference so he can brief the press -- and knows what he's talking about, unlike the last guy. >> it's unbelievable. anyway, jonathan lemire and eugene robinson are still with us. and joining the conversation, we have mike barnicle. donny deutsch is here. editor at large for the non-profit newsroom, the 19th, and an msnbc contributor, erin haynes joins us. and former republican congressman, carlos curbelo of florida, he's an nbc news and msnbc political contributor. good to have you all this hour. >> great to have you here. jonathan lemire, let's quickly go over it. how did he do, according to the

white house? >> well, the white house is very pleased. and frankly, there's some talk yesterday about sending "thank you" notes to member of the conservative media who continue to set the bar so low. and president biden cleared it with ease, as just discussed. he had command of the details, yes, he referred to his briefing book from time to time. that's okay. he clearly wanted to strike a real different tone, a sharp break from his predecessor. and one where he actually wanted to show some empathy and compassion for the situation at the border and some anger about republicans' efforts to limit voting rights. >> and actually, how he performed yesterday did make a big difference, because his opponents made it a big issue. and so he cleared those expectations. but some news made also. first of all, jonathan. let's talk about filibuster reform. it looks like joe biden is open to finding a way to get there on filibuster reform in a way that would pass hr-1. >> that's right, joe. biden, a veteran of the senate,

believer in his institutions. has said, he's told aides both publicly and the media privately that he would prefer to keep the filibuster in place, but he knows that may not be possible in this particular moment with the agenda he wants passed, the agenda he feels like the american people have entrusted him to pass. he voiced support for the talking filibuster, which would make it harder for republicans to keep filibusters going, but it would not eliminate it. but he left the door open for even bigger action, particularly for issues like voting rights. he didn't explicitly say it, but read between the lines, not hard to do, suggested that he would be willing to discuss getting rid of the filibuster entirely for something so important. >> he's had a history of being a skeptic on afghanistan and afghanistan's leaders. yesterday, he suggested he did want to remove all the troops out of afghanistan. not something they support, but something that a lot of people on the left and the far right do support. >> yeah, and this was an overlooked big moment yesterday, joe. and i'm glad we're talking about

it. he said that the u.s. would not meet the may 1st deadline that president trump had set, to remove all troops from afghanistan. but he said that it wouldn't be so much longer after that. this is a big deal. biden, of course, was tasked with afghanistan and iraq. that was part of his portfolio. as vice president, it was one -- he was a chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. this is -- we know how personal issues of veterans are to him. his son, beau, of course, was a veteran. and this is a -- this is, indeed, a significant shift. and when asked, he didn't give a firm date, but he said, it would be hard to imagine american troops still being in afghanistan once the calendar turned to 2022. and certainly, there'll be debate on both sides about the wisdom of that decision, but it's a significant one, and changes -- and draws to a close two decade' worth of american foreign policy. >> well, and on immigration, also, he struck a more moderate tone. he had been accused by many on the right, on taking an extreme

position on immigration. yesterday, there he was, talking about actually, if there's an unaccompanied minor that a mother sent up, he was asked, what would he do about that. he said, figure out a way to safely send that person home. again, he took far more of a middle ground on immigration that than he had in the opening weeks. >> that's right. he certainly showed compassion and empathy for the migrants and particularly the younger migrants in this situation. he says, they need to be treated better. he promised more improved media access to these facilities. that, of course, has been a real issue of late. but he also, as you said, kept -- hit a more moderate tone. the border is still closed. he wants to have a safe way to get these people home. that now is not the time for them to enter the united states, and he hinted at the idea of wanting more substantial immigration reform, but that, of course, is another one that's a steep hill to climb in congress. >> so president biden was also asked if he will run for

re-election in 2024. and in his answer, he gave a harsh critique of where the republican party stands now. >> the answer is "yes," my plan is to run for re-election. that's my expectation. >> do you believe you'll be running against former president trump. >> oh, come on. i don't even think about -- i have no idea. i have no idea whether there'll be a republican party. do you? don't you find it kind of interesting that my republican friends were worried about that the cost and the taxes that had to be had, if there is any tax to be had, when they talk about, in dealing with the act that we just passed, which puts money in people's pockets. ordinary people. do you hear them complain when they passed close to $2 trillion trump tax cut, 83% going to the top 1%. do you hear them talk about that at all? i love the fact that they found

this whole idea of concern about the federal budget. it's kind of amazing. when the federal budget is saving people's lives, they don't think it's such a good idea. when the federal budget is feathering the nest of the wealthiest americans, 90 of the fortune 500 companies making billions of dollars, not paying a cent in taxes. reducing taxes to a point that people who are making -- you know, if you're a husband and wife, schoolteacher, and a cop, you're paying it at a higher rate than the person making $1 billion a year is. something's wrong. >> i'm not -- i'm not sure what -- >> he seems to be talking fine. he's got his numbers. >> yeah. and they're not numbers, congressman, that look good for our former republican party. they're not numbers that look good. if you even look at the polls.

joe biden, yesterday, laid it out that, yeah, he's having trouble getting republicans in congress, in washington, to vote for him. and to vote for his legislation. but, made very clear that republicans across america, certainly, seem to support his policies. >> that's right, joe. and what the president did yesterday was he put his finger on the identity crisis that the republican party is going through right now. the great irony is that donald trump probably would have gladly signed the bill that joe biden signed, that no congressional republicans voted for. this is an issue for the party. do they continue following the populism of trump, where his only goal was to be popular and to get re-elected and to hold on to power for as long as possible. or do they revert back to being that fiscally responsible party, which the president certainly has the right to criticize. i discovered during my time in congress that the fiscally

responsible party is usually the minority party. not the republican party or the democratic party. but joe biden during his remarks yesterday, was very obviously poking at the republican party at a time when the party's in crisis. they don't know whether to follow donald trump. donald trump isn't there anymore, telling him what to do every day. and the president certainly is exploiting that. at the same time, joe, i would caution the president, don't underestimate the instability of american politics. republicans do have very strong minorities in both chambers. and especially on this immigration issue, and some others, the administration has to handle them competently or their majorities in congress will be at risk, no matter how lost the republican party is. >> yeah. donny deutsch, i'm just curious, as a brand manager your entire life, working for fortune 500 companies, seeing how brands are going and you're always of the attitude, your brand's never the

same. it's either going up or it's going down. talk about joe biden yesterday, how did he do -- how did his, quote, political brand do yesterday? >> as a branding guy, when we give ow marketing assignments, briefs to a creative team, there would be an advertising strategy and a tone and manner. and you touched on this in the first hour. the tone and manner was everything yesterday. and i kind of call it the three cs. competent, cogent, and calm. calm, competent, and cogent. versus donald trump's tone and manner, i give him three as, which is aggressive, angry, all over the place. and i think beyond the policy stuff, that was the headline yesterday. you can even turn off the tv and just watch him. and just that calmness, that

competentness, that cogentness, that's everything. it's all tone and manner to me. you got all the answers back. and to joe's point about how stupid the republicans are, setting up the lowest of low expectations. that's what they do beforehand. even afterhand, in the "new york post" today is stumbling biden lies and media swoons, glazed and confused. what were they watching? you know, you start to lose any level of credibility, the same way last night donald trump started talking about how the trump terrorists were just nice guys walking in to hug and kiss the police. the american people are not stupid. and they were able to see a man in charge, in control yesterday. he gets an a-plus for me. >> erin, this one is for you and me here. republicans in georgia just adopted a sweeping new election law, just months after the state helped democrats take control of washington, fueled in large part by donald trump's big lie about election fraud, the law tightens

voter i.d. requirements for absentee ballots. a direct response to the surge of mail-in ballots during the pandemic that helped joe biden narrowly defeat trump in the state. it shortens the early voting period for runoff elections. that comes after democrats raphael warnock and jon ossoff won their senate elections in part by early leads in the runoffs. the bill also limits the number of drop boxes for returning mail-in boxes, disproportionately affecting larger districts with minority/majority elections and it allows the state to take over local elections. critics warn that that allows republicans to toss out ballot in democratic areas. and also allows the legislature to appoint the chair of the state election board, which was previously chaired by the secretary of state. that post currently held by republican brad raffensperger. remember him? was targeted by trump and many georgia republicans after firmly

rejecting then president trump's false claims of voter fraud. the law even prohibits food and water in voting lines. another provision that targets larger districts with mostly black voters, where some wait for hours to vote. it's worth noting the new law is actually less harsh than initial drafts, if you can imagine that, which proposed restrictions such as a ban on sunday voting and it actually does expand early voting options in some areas. but erin haynes, talk to me about, i mean, i'm having a hard time getting my arms around some of these new restrictions that focus on black voters. >> well, good morning, mika. good to be with you. and you're exactly right. i mean, it is now illegal in georgia to give out food and water to those voters who, you know, often find themselves in

hours' long lines in the heat to cast a ballot. certainly, something that most of those voters and, you know, organizers would not expect to be a crime. but apparently, now, it will be in georgia. and listen, you're exactly right. it is -- you know, this is legislation, this 95-page bill is targeted at, you know, that expanded electorate, that cast ballots in the 2020 election. and this is something that has been happening in republican legislature in response to that expanded electorate, even before you had former president trump kind of pushing the big lie on a national level. so georgia is certainly not new to this kind of -- these kinds of efforts at curtailing the vote specifically for voters of color, for black voters, in places like fulton county, but also rural areas of the state

that saw the electorate expand again. so, you already saw people like mark elias, on behalf of black activists like the new jersey product, black voters matter and others filing a lawsuit. they said that that was coming, if republicans insisted on going forward with this legislation. because as far as they're concerned, they will continue to fight this, even as they fought it during the legislative session, trying to put pressure on a lot of the companies that call georgia home, to push back against this as a bad look for the state. you know, since that apparently, you know, was unsuccessful with georgia republicans. phase ii is already in motion, before the ink was even dry on governor kent's signature last night, you had legislation already being filed on these laws. >> mike barnicle?

>> yeah, you know. yeah, what? i'm here. >> yeah, sorry, i called out to you and i was told you weren't here. i didn't know if you had gone out to get a dunkin doughnut. >> i think he might have freaked out alex here. >> i'm here. i'm here. mike, do you have a question for gene robinson? >> gene, i'm wondering, it's going to sound silly, but i'm thinking and wondering if you know who will be the first democratic member of congress, in the house or the senate to introduce a piece of legislation to put these clowns in the republican party on record that legislation would state that it is illegal to prevent anyone from bringing water or food to someone standing in a voting

line in a state or federal election. just get them on record, just -- it sounds silly, but i mean, they are silly. they're worse than silly, they're nearly criminal. but we have to deal with this, because there are voter suppression laws filed by republicans, as you probably know, in 43 different states. and yesterday, president biden in a moment of rare passion during that press conference, you know, called it sick. and it's sick, but it's beyond sick. it's a real threat to our democracy, the way people vote in this country. >> it is a serious threat to our democracy. it's a serious threat to the the idea of this country. the idea of one person, one vote. the idea of universal suffrage. the republican party does not want universal suffrage. they want suffrage to be the privilege of those who are

likely to vote for republicans. and in the case of georgia, that's white or more affluent voters. that's who they want to be able to vote. but this is -- you know, this didn't just happen. in heavily african-american areas, that's what makes the long lines. and that's why you have to, you know, that's why people would be passing out water to people who have to wait, as studies show, in longer than white voters to cast their ballots. so this is not the first step toward voter suppression, by any means. this is just a leap occasioned by the fact that republicans lost in georgia in 2020. you know, who's going to be the

first in the house of representatives to introduce the water bill? you know, i would suspect they would be lined up to do that, but that's why hr-1, the voting rights provisions of hr-1 are so important. not just for the democratic party, but to the country. and why that's going to be, i think, the showdown over the filibuster. because it could -- it could undo and prevent a lot of these kinds of onerous restrictions. >> congressman curbelo, what do you make of all of this? this is the republican party, your party, trying to restrict voter access rights to georgia. we know there's efforts underway in other states. do you think this is the right thing to do or the politically smart thing to do both in the short and long-term for the republican party. that's the gamble that they clearly making. it has potential, though, to backfire significantly if it's firing up democrats and if it leads to this being the moment

that president biden says, enough with the filibuster. let's change this. >> well, jonathan, obviously, it's not the right thing to do. and secondly, it doesn't make sense long-term. right now, the republican party seems to be the only enterprise in our country that wants fewer customers. people to show up and participate. every business in america right now is dying to welcome people in, the republican party, in some states, at least, seems to want to keep people out. and by the way, there's also a hypocrisy here in what's going on in georgia and other states. here in florida, we've had no excuse absentee voting for almost 20 years. we have weeks of early voting. we get our election results in immediately and count all the votes at the same time, because they all matter. so florida and joe kind of pointed to this earlier, is a state that has been dominated by republicans for a long time, learned big lessons from the

2000 election, and actually expanded voting opportunities for people. and guess what, it has worked out for republicans here. so no, it doesn't make any sense. and one more group that this is going to cost republicans dearly with is young voters. anyone who's under the age of 40 and smells disenfranchisement, smells the politics of exclusion, they punish that big-time. so the republican party really has to change course if they don't want to continue losing those young voters for the last decade or so, especially after donald trump has abandoned the party. >> carlos, let's talk about just the 2020 election. again, what republicans are doing in georgia and across the country are idiotic. if they looked at what happened in florida, what you're talking about, how florida so expanded the ability of people to vote,

that i did on election day what i know, as a politician, you probably do on election day, you're always -- we're always politicians. election day, i get in my car and i drive around. and i go from one voting center to another precinct to another precinct. it's just an old habit. i want to see who's out there. i want to see how long the lines are. i've never seen anything like it. i was like, oh, my lord! oh, my lord, the rapture has come. there are only 14 people waiting outside of the voting booth. the turnout on election day in florida was so minimal, that you could walk up almost anywhere and vote, because, again, florida had allowed so much early voting, allowed so much absentee voting, that almost everybody had voted before election day. it was the most calm and orderly process i ever saw. and by the way, donald trump had an overwhelming victory in

florida. >> that's absolutely right. and mail voting, which donald trump criticized and a lot of republicans say is unfair and fraudulent, mail voting has traditionally been dominated by republicans in florida. until last year, of course, because donald trump told all the republicans that mail voting was fraudulent. and then they showed up and early voted instead. well, that's fine. but mail voting is what gave republicans in florida an advantage. so, again, this is not just wrong, it's incoherent. it makes no sense. it is self-defeating. and long-term, it is going to crash. >> incoherent. >> all right. former congressman carlos curbelo, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. let's turn now to white house communications director, kate bedingfield. kate -- >> let me just say, first of all, i've been watching other

networks. i don't know if kate will be able to complete a sentence here. she may fall down. she can't walk. have we lowered expectations enough. i think we've lowered expectations enough, so we're doing what the trump far right-wing media does to your boss all the time. >> so how'd he do? >> he was fantastic. he spoke clearly, he spoke forcefully, he took a range of questions on a whole host of issues. he took follow-ups. he was great. i think he showed the american people that, you know, he's doing what they elected him to do. you know, he is working to solve problems. he talked about the fundamental choice that the republicans are facing to deliver or continue to divide. and he talked about the progress that he's made in the first 65 days he's been in office. you know -- he upped the vaccinations goal from 100 million to 200 million shots in his first hundred days. he talked about the 100 million

checks that have hit bank accounts all across the country as a result of the american rescue plan. he was terrific and the american people saw that he was doing exactly what they elected him to do. >> kate, of course, you know, in georgia, republicans passed legislation that even made giving water to old people waiting in line a crime. i'm curious, how much more critical is it for the administration, for the president to make sure that hr-1 and john lewis' hr-4 are passed? and will the president do what's required, whether it's with or without the filibuster, to make sure that voting rights legislation passes. that will guarantee the right of all americans and, yes, the black americans that republicans are trying to disenfranchise, will the president be -- ensure that they have the right to vote? >> yes, he will. you saw him speak to this

yesterday, incredibly forcefully, you know, he said what we see going on here is sick, it's un-american. the fact that the republican party is trying to disenfranchise people, actively prevent them from voting, it runs against everything that we believe as americans. it runs against the fundamental foundation of democracy that our country is built on. so, yes, and he is going to work to push forward and ensure that we are signing this legislation into law. he's committed to it. it's something that he is going to fight for. it's something that he talked about a lot on the campaign trail, you know, he believes that this is a core fundamental right of all americans, that there's nothing more important than the right to vote, the right to make your voice heard, and he's going to push to see this legislation passed. >> mike barnicle is with us and has a question. mike? >> kate, can you tell us, give

us a sense of what the president's sense of our relationship is with the government of mexico, given its relative inability to help us along the border with the problems that continue to build up there? >> we're working with the government of mexico. we are pushing them. we sent roberta jacobson, former ambassador there, who is a senior official in our government. she actually just traveled there last week, to continue to push, to work, to ensure that they are holding up their end of the bargain, but also that they are working to process folks who are coming up from central america. you know, part of the challenge here is ensuring that we are able to process quickly these migrants who are arriving. and there's responsibility on the mexican government to do that, as they're arriving at mexico's southern border. so, you know, this is something that we continue to work with the mexican government on. and this is -- you heard the president answer multiple questions about this yesterday.

you know, this is something that he's incredibly focused on, working on trying to build the system that the previous administration dismantled. the influx of migration we're seeing, it's cyclical and seasonal. if you go back and look at the numbers, we saw spikes in 2019, when the previous administration had arguably the cruelest possible policies many place to try to deter people from coming. this is something that we see seasonally, it's something that we see cyclically, and it's something that the president is working relentlessly to try to get a handle on this situation at the border. so, i think you saw him speak to this yesterday. >> the ap's jonathan lemire is with us. jonathan? >> kate, good to see you. on the news conference yesterday, my first question is, when's the next one and certainly would advocate for them to be regular occurrences, please. but one topic that was briefly touched upon yesterday that i

want to get a little more from you on is schools. the president touted the progress that's being made, reopening k-8 schools for in-person learning. but let's talk about september. and i think parents throughout this country at this point, with this school year starting to wind down, are already looking towards the fall. the august/september start date. can this administration guarantee that all schools will be open for in-person learning for the start of the next school year? and if not, isn't that a failure for the administration? >> that's what we're working towards. we just this week announced that $81 billion from the american rescue plan is going out to states to help facilitate getting these schools open. this is a huge priority for the president. it's something he's tasked his secretary of education with ensuring that we get done. so, you know, the president has said many times, you know, he's -- he can't -- he doesn't have a crystal ball. he can't prognosticate about the state of the virus. but work towards getting schools reopened and ensuring by the

fall, schools are open for in-person session a key priority of his. it's something we've made good progress on. you heard him talk about this yesterday. we are very close to having the majority of k-8 schools in this country open by the end of his first hundred days. we are making big progress on this. the american rescuer plan is helping us do that and it's a key priority for the president. >> all right. white house communications director kate bedingfield, thank you! it's always great to have you on this morning. >> thank you so much for having me. >> glad you got through it. >> donny deutsch, so we were talking about brands before. and you're listening to what the white house is saying, what kate just said what democrats have been pushing for over the past several weeks. and the difference between the two parties are striking. i remember back, obviously, barack obama won big in 2008. yes, we can. but then they went to the

affordable care act, which republicans successfully branded as an act that would take your doctor away. you could lose your doctor, you could lose this, you could lose that. so they had the fear factor. here, let's move forward 11 years, because they keep talking about, i really am curious what your thought is. again, how the democratic and the republican brand lines up. here you have democrats who are saying, we're for a $1,400 check for you, to help you get through covid, if you're a working class or plaza family. that's what democrats say. democrats say "yes," republicans say "no." democrats say, we want to get vaccines in 200 million americans' arms. they say "yes," republicans say "no." over half -- about half of the republicans aren't even going to take the vaccine, all right. and then you can even look at voting. i loved on election day being

able to walk into the voting booth, like with no line, because the state of florida had been so expansive in the way that it allowed people to vote early and and to mail. so the you've got actually on the national level, the republican party being the party of "no" in georgia and across the nation. oddly enough with republicans in florida doing the opposite. and the democratic party being the party of "yes." trying to make voting easier for you, trying to make voting easier for your family, trying to make voting easier for college students. voting easier for grand moms, grand dads. trying to make voting easier for those who are challenged physically one way or the other. trying to make voting easier for minorities and for white people, for everybody. but here you have the democratic party again, the party of "yes." the republican party being the

party of "no." i just don't see, donny, maybe you can help me out here. i don't see how that lines up as anything but bad for the republican party. >> joe, this is weird. i was smirking a little bit, because alex said you would ask me about the republican party. and what you just said was literally -- i was going to go back to obamacare and the birth of the party of "no." and how it went into the covid bill and voter suppression versus the party of "yes." i got nothing to add. this is exactly what i was going to say. it is that simple. one party is the party of "no," one is the party of "yes." and america is "yes." american brand is all about "yes." so it started with obama and it started with "no" for something that was so universally liked. and every issue, democrats are on the 60 to 70 approval on, they're on the side of. because we are a country of "yes." i can't put any better than you put it. it was exactly where i was going

to go. >> it's funny, like i said, i guess we're both just the master of obvious here, but the republican party has been playing off the same playbook for 11 years. they're like the beta max of american politics. they haven't seen that the world has changed. and i'm sure you have examples of brands, of companies that moved too slowly. but again, 11 years of saying "no," and they think that what worked in 2009 is going to work in 2021. it's not, donny. >> the only thing that's going to change them, and it's not anywhere on the bench is a transformational figure. there is no one in the republican party that has a "yes" -- i'll go back to that, a "yes" tone to it. if you look at the up and comers, the josh hawley's or ted cruzes, you couldn't have a more "no" thesis to these guys. the only thing that's going to change the republican party right now, because it certainly

isn't going to be party is there's got to be a state senator, a governor somewhere that has a completely different tone and is more in concert with america, which is a "yes" country. it is not a "no" country. >> donny deutsch, thank you very much. and still ahead on "morning joe," president biden wasn't asked about coronavirus during the news conference yesterday. what that might say about the administration's handling of the pandemic. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. i have an idea for a trade. why don't you call td ameritrade for a strategy gut check? what's that? you run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. could've used that before i hired my interior decorator. get a strategy gut check from our trade desk.

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what we do know is that we're vaccinating people at 2.5 million people per day and we're really starting to see the positive effects of that vaccination. we know that people who are over the age of 65, their mortality rates have come down dramatically from 16 in 100,000 in january to 1 in 100,000 now.

so we know and we're getting that early evidence that this vaccine is working. and what we really want to do is make sure that we can reach all the population that will -- can get the vaccine, so that we can get that mortality rate down, because we're still seeing about 1,000 deaths a day. way too many. >> rochelle walensky, the director of the centers for disease control, speaking yesterday about the ongoing high covid death rate, even as vaccinations increase. joining us now, dean of the brown university school of public health, dr. ashish jha. i want to ask you about what you think some of the hurdles are ahead in terms of getting vaccinations to -- i know there are global hurdles, because if the entire world isn't onboard, we're dealing with a crisis still coming our way. but in the united states, it appears the younger population,

which will be the last to get the vaccine is the most risky. >> good morning and thanks for having me on. first of all, absolutely, we need a plan. i certainly worry about the hesitancy that's out there. and particularly among more conservative circles, where we've seen been questioning the lethality of the virus now wondering about the safety of the vaccines. obviously, these vaccines are extraordinarily safe. second is that we will need to get a lot of young people vaccinated. and i think i've heard at least rumblings from some young people that they don't worry that they're going to get sick. and obviously, the last thing is we're not going to get to herd immunity until we have kids vaccinated, and that's probably many months away. now, that doesn't mean things are not going to be much better by the time summer rolls around, i think they will. but there's still work ahead.

there's still challenges ahead. >> mike barnicle? >> so, dr. jha, could you help us out here and give us an understandable grade. a, b, or c on a couple of things. one, on the distribution of vaccine in this country. give us a grade on that. and in the view of the fact that cases are rising in some states, and hospitalizations are rising in some states, could you give us a grade on how well we're doing with obvious things to do to prevent the spread of the virus. wearing masks, watching your hands, taking care of basic things that were drummed into us a year ago but perhaps have been forgotten by large percentages of the population. grading please, doctor. >> absolutely. on distribution, i'm going to say "b." we've done a good job of getting vaccines out, but have not done a fabulous job of getting vaccines out to some of our highest-risk people. particularly communities of color. blacks continue to lag behind

whites in terms of vaccinations. and given that they have been hit so much harder with the pandemic, i find that particularly problematic. so that's why it's a "b." it's a relatively good job, but on the other hand, we're not hitting and getting all the key demographics. on the issue of how we're doing, i would have to give us a "c" right now, because we still have a lot of infections. 50, 60,000 infections a day. this is close to the height of the summer surge last year. a thousand americans dying every day and about half the states have decided the pandemic is over. and are kind of, you know, relaxing all the public health standards, while there are so many high-risk people out there who still haven't gotten vaccinated. that's frustrating to me. i think we can do much better on that. >> dr. jha, jonathan lemire, great to see you this morning. i wanted to get you to drill down a little bit more on that worrisome rise in cases we're seeing in a number of states. is this attributable, as you quickly pointed out, some states have acted like, well, this is over, let's move on. but how much also is this the

variants. the degree of how contagious they are, and part two is, have we gathered enough evidence about these variants to the severity of how sick they're making people and are they more lethal than the versions of the coronavirus that we've been dealing with to this point? >> that's a fabulous question. and i do think the variants are playing a very large role, specifically b-117. that's the variant from the uk. probably 50 to 90% more contagious. maybe about 30% more lethal. and my guess is right now, today, about half of the infections in america are from that variant alone. so it's very widespread. and it will be the number one -- it will be 90, 95% of all infection within the next week, ten days. it's rising pretty quickly. so that is certainly contributing to this. one of the ways we've been able to blunt a horrible surge that so many people have worried about is because we've done such a good job on vaccinations. and our vaccines are holding up.

i think they're going to hold up really well to these variants. if you want to avoid getting sick from these more lethal variants, get vaccinated. that's the message that needs to go out. >> dr. ashish jha, thank you, as always, for coming on "morning joe" this morning. coming up, former president trump's comments on the deadly capitol riot, saying there was zero threat to lawmakers that day. we'll play for you what he said and the video that shows just how big a lie the claim is. "morning joe" will be right back. e claim is "morning joe" will be right back

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now that we've got him secured, settled and relaxed, quite comfortable, i guess. >> so, it's past midnight. i'm standing on the shore of the rio grande, the water is right behind me. >> we'll get some buckets of water, cool him down, keep him moist because we've decided to keep him overnight. >> i'm down on the texas border with 18 senators.

we made the trip to see the crisis that is playing out. >> wash all this pit around so there is no chance of infection. >> we're at the edge of the river. on the other side of the river is mexico. >> try and keep him as happy as a pig in mud. >> this is a humanitarian crisis. it's a public health crisis. >> it's important that we leave him alone now for a few hours just to let him relax. >> stop sanctioning lawless chaos on our southern border. >> i can't. i can't. he's so embarrassing. i'm cringing. what? >> we need to get -- we really -- this gofundme account for his acting lessons, we really have to have -- >> he's in the rough. >> it's just -- mike barnicle, can you and your family please give a few dollars so bad acting can never be -- forever be -- >> that guy went to harvard,

okay? like they wouldn't even let me on the campus. >> they let that guy in princeton. they let that guy in harvard? >> he's just horrible. >> he's so bad. >> it was just no good. >> he's the only member of the united states senate -- actually he's the only american politician i can think of that, as you listen to him, you want to shower. you want to get out the old lifeboy soap. i mean, he's just incredible, he's such a fraud. oh, my god. >> erin haines, your thoughts. >> crocky. that's what i got. just really surprised. frankly that senator cruz would want his name mentioned, it was just a month ago he was crossing the border with his family to escape that texas weather crisis. >> oh, right.

>> for him now to kind of be down there making that video, i certainly wonder what his constituents make of him down there doing that when they've still got fresh memories of having no power and no water for days while he and his family were in texas, you know, vacationing in cancun, am mexico, vacationing in cancun. >> yeah. he's pointing across that river like it's syria. across this river is -- he was at the four seasons in that country himself, the four seasons to escape. nothing wrong being four seasons. i'm not being a populist here. if you're going to act like that syria -- erin brings up a great point. don't remind everybody that when things went down in your own home state, you fled to that country with your family to hang out by the pool at a four seasons. >> heart of darkness.

ted in the heart of darkness. it's just the most amazing thing. if you've ever met ted cruz, that is ted cruz doing the joseph conrad character on the border is just -- is just too much. it's just too much. kind of funny. >> and clearly there is a humanitarian crisis that we're talking about. it's just that the ridiculous theater that ted cruz put forward was -- it's not necessary. let's put it there. >> again, i don't remember, but did ted cruz go down to the border, jonathan lemire when donald trump and his cabinet sat around the table and voted to separate children to put them into cages? >> no. >> to lock them in -- did he go down then, jonathan? i can't remember. >> i don't recall him being there either, joe. and i appreciate also the blair witch project lighting he's using to really drive home just how ominous the situation there

is, just a few hundred miles from the four seasons in cancun. >> really painful. okay, up next, the top take aways from president biden's first news conference, including the stark differences from donald trump on tone and policy. "morning joe" is coming right back. ck a na ♪ na na na na... ♪ hey hey hey. ♪ goodbye. ♪ na na na na... ♪ hey hey hey. ♪ goodbye. ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na na... the world's first six-function multipro tailgate. available on the gmc sierra. the world's first six-function multguy fieri!ate. ya know, if you wanna make that sandwich the real deal, ya gotta focus on the bread layers. king's hawaiian sliced bread makes everything better! ♪ (angelic choir) ♪ and here's mine!

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i can say to the american people, help is here and hope is on the way. >> i just want to let you know, i inherited a mess. >> i can't guarantee we're going to solve everything, but i can guarantee we can make everything better. >> there has never been a presidency that's done so much in such a short period of time. >> we have to come together. we have to. >> i certainly didn't win by people listening to you people. that's for sure. >> the other thing we're doing, i might add, am i giving too long an answer? because if you don't want the details. >> russia is fake news. russia -- this is fake news put out by the media.

>> i'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy. >> the greatest thing i could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles offshore right out of the water. >> when i took office, i decided that it was a fairly basic simple proposition. and that is, i got elected to solve problems. >> i do get good ratings, you have to admit that. >> all i know, i've been hired to solve problems, solve problems, not create division. >> are you going to including the congressional black caucus and -- >> i would. do you want to set up the meeting? are they friends of yours? well, set up the meeting. >> i know some of them, but -- >> set up a meeting. >> what i know i have now is i have electoral support from republican voters. >> i put it out before the american people. got 306 electoral college votes. i guess it was the biggest electoral college win since ronald reagan. >> my predecessor, oh, god, i

miss him. >> wow. joe biden's and donald trump's first news conference. what a big difference, joe. >> you can talk, i think most importantly, about the tone of it. you know, even trump supporters by the end were talking about how exhausted they were by the man, by the tweets. many voted -- >> some, yeah. >> many voted for him because they were voting against who they considered to be extreme democrats. but it was yesterday, even if you didn't agree with joe biden ideologically on every point, even if you were concerned about maybe his position on some issues, chances are good if you're an american and you were watching that, you noticed a change of tone. you actually heard somebody that was trying to bring americans

together, somebody who said, i've been elected to be a problem solver, to bring this country together. as opposed to, again, donald trump being extraordinarily combative. a couple weeks in talking about no president's ever done as much -- again, it was just -- it was all about him. it was all a bunch ofs lies. it was intended to divide americans. >> it has. >> he's in mar-a-lago because of t. >> we have the white house reporter from the associated press jonathan lemire, pulitzer prize winning columnist, editor of the washington post, msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. nbc news and msnbc national affairs analyst, host and executive producer of showtime's the circus, and host of hell and high water post from the recap, john heilman. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor.

she asked president biden questions in yesterday's news conference. she's also been to many trump news conferences. so we'll get to all of that in just a moment. >> yamiche, tonally, quite a difference yesterday. >> quite different in tone. we saw president biden really giving robust answers, long answers, answers that were steeped a lot in data and information. obviously he was less hostile. there were i think some illuminating questions about the way he's handling the situation at the border, feeling like he needs really more time to get his arms around that, saying he'll let journalists in after he can implement his plan in those facilities. but also talking about the filibuster as a relic of the jim crow era, but not ever going as far as to say that he would eliminate it, even though he came really, really close to doing so. and, of course, setting a new goal on covid for 200 million shots before his first -- or by the end of his first 100 days.

>> yeah, and john heilman, a good bit of substance there. he certainly sent a message. it was sort of a more moderate down the middle message on immigration. he talked about the possibility of running for reelection again. i mean, who knows. but also talked about several other issues, but just stylistically for a second, because that does matter -- the tone that he's taking compared to the tone donald trump took in his first press conference is radically different, more mainstream, and certainly less divisive. >> yeah, right, joe. i mean, if you were looking for not just trump's first press conference, but all of them, right. if you were looking for continuity from that, if you were looking for more promiscuous lies, russian

talking points, racism, misogyny, attacks on the press, and a total disconnection from the sum and substance of policy which is how you could come up all of donald trump's press conferences in toto for four years, you saw none of that from joe biden yesterday. the exact opposite on every level. and, you know, i think there were also none of the fireworks. and for some people it's like, wow that was a boring dreary press conference. i saw that on twitter. that was the point of what joe biden is trying to do on every level, try to draw that contrast. also to kind of say, these should be boring. these should be routine. these should be about information. these should not be about theatrics. these should not be a circus. this should not be about reality television, and that's what you came away from yesterday was that all of those contrasts were drawn.

>> how stupid can the republicans be? how stupid will they continue to be in managing expectations for joe biden? how idiotic. even i, when i was 29 years old, if i went into -- i'm not good at this. my god, my opponent's been a lawyer for years, and i just hope i can -- that's what you always do. that's what everybody has done since the dawn of the television age. republicans are so stupid . the right wing talk shows are so stupid. donald trump is so stupid. let me say that again. you all are being idiots politically. because all they do -- and karen pointed that out yesterday, john heilman. they spend every day lowering joe biden's expectations so much that when he comes out, if he doesn't drool on himself, he wins. but actually yesterday -- >> he's pretty good.

>> he came out, it was a lot better on policy than donald trump every was, was a lot better in springing actual salient points together than donald trump ever was. you actually -- in relation to donald trump, you had a man who not only exceeded all expectations, but outperformed his predecessor remarkably well. and, again, republicans set the expectations so low for biden that he just says, excuse me, guys. and he steps over it and looks good politically. >> well, let's put it bluntly, joe. it's like in 2020, donald trump and his people spent much of 2020 telling america that joe biden was senile, that he lost it, that he couldn't -- he could barely -- he put two words in front of one another. we saw joe biden in the two debates and he was not senile and he could put two words in front of each other. he was way better than that.

to your point, it's amazing republicans are making the same mistake again. it is an just that they are making the mistake. they saw how badly the mistake back fired a year ago in terms of setting expectations in the wrong direction on biden and here they are doing it again. you end up with a thing where right wing media yesterday is reduced to having to criticize joe biden for having a three-ring binder with him at the podium. and i can't believe there is an american who doesn't look up and say, hey, there's a person who has a briefing book. that's great. the president's got a bunch of details in fronts of him. he takes policy so seriously that he walks in the door with his briefing books and you've got these idiots on right wing media going, joe biden's got a briefing book. why does he have those notes? you guys have to be kidding me. >> idiots. >> stupidity -- >> i like watching the two of you freak out.

the idiots these people are. >> you look at them like will ferrell looked at the hang glider. jonathan lemire, we've been talking about this, you and i, on the phone for a week. republicans, trump people, right wing media, all talking about how badly joe biden's going to do in that press conference. biden white house had to be sitting there laughing every second because he outperformed all of the low expectations that they put out there for him. and made some, made some news on policy as well, of course. >> right. and, joe, this has been the biden white house's deliberate tragedy, to set expectations low, to under promise and overdeliver. in this case, they didn't have to do the promising. the republicans did it for them. they set that bar so low, just like they did all of last year and biden cleared it with ease. as yamiche said, it was a different tone in that room yesterday. the president had command of the details on a number of key

issues, including immigration. i do think this was the point to be boring, for it to be routine, for it not to be a spectacle, for it not to generate countless screaming chirons in the bottom of news shows. it was to update americans on a series of crises his administration is facing. and you're right, he did make some news. in particular, you know, he didn't go all the way to say that he wanted to get rid of the filibuster. but he came as close as he ever has. he opened the door to significant filibuster reform. it backs up what aides have been saying privately for weeks. as much as joe biden is an institutionalist, he wants to protect the senate and its traditions, he knows this is his moment to go big. he feels like he's elected to do so. he thinks there is a big change, big reform is needed whether it be on immigration or voting rights, potentially gun reform laws, and he's not going to let the filibuster stand in the way of that. >> still ahead, the big lie gets even bigger.

former president trump tries to rewrite history with false claz claims about the crimes committed in his name. we'll talk about that. but first let's go straight to bill karins with the latest on the severe deadly weather. bill? >> yeah, mika, we were afraid of what was going to happen yesterday. it came true. we had at least 23 tornadoes. a couple of them were violent strong tornadoes that were on the ground for long periods of time. we had the first one that produced significant damage just south of birmingham, alabama. the eagle point subdivision, a lot of homes there were destroyed. that's where some injuries were reported, too. you can see some of the pictures here that were taken from these drone videos and heartbreaking for all these people. obviously out of their houses for an extended long period of time. maybe some of them have to be completely rebuilt. this was a pretty strong tornado. that was earlier in the day. after that we had other strong tornadoes that occurred south of the birmingham area, and late last night we had one that hit noonan, georgia, at mitt night. at midnight, 40,000 people were rushing with their children

waking them up, getting to their safety areas. we know we have a lot of significant damage. the high school in noonan was destroyed in georgia. i just saw a picture of a church that was significantly destroyed. we'll have more dramatic pictures throughout the day today and an update of a higher death count. let's get to the forecast. that's what happened in the last 24 hours. all the red icons where tornadoes were reported, mostly between birmingham and atlanta. during the day today this storm system is not going to produce any more tornadoes, but the winds are going to howl in ohio, western new york, all throughout the northeast this afternoon. we should see wind gusts 60 miles per hour. isolated power outages and there will be significant airport delays, and then this weekend we do more severe weather. watch out little rock, memphis, nashville on saturday, and then on sunday we're going to have additional severe storms from atlanta to charlotte to raleigh to richmond and right into our nation's capital. so it looks like our severe weather season has begun a little early this year and it's going to stick with us into the beginning of april. we leave you with a puck tour of

washington, d.c. it's going to be very windy this afternoon and warm. we should see wind gusts to almost 50 to 60 miles per hour. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. principal. for all it's worth. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... ♪ if you've been taking copd sitting down,

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the republican party's attempt to simply dismiss the severity of the january 6th attack at the capitol, it's reaching a new level. we've heard it quite plainly in the past few weeks from the likes of republican senator ron johnson and last night former president trump lent his influential voice to the false claim that the rioters didn't pose any kind of threat to lawmakers. here he is speaking on fox news. >> it was a zero threat right from the start, it was zero threat. look, they went in -- they shouldn't have done it.

some of them went in and they're hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know. they had great relationships. a lot of the people were waved in, they walked in and they walked out. i'll tell you what. they're doing things to -- they're persecuting a lot of those people and some of them should be -- some things should happen to them, but when i look at antifa in washington even, what they did to washington, what they did to other locations and the destruction and frankly, the killing and beating up of people and nothing happens to them whatsoever, why aren't they going after antifa? >> you see? >> wow. >> i understand this is supposed to trigger democrats and liberals and people in the media. who knows, maybe that's the same thing. >> i'm pretty triggered. >> who am i to say? maybe it's supposed to trigger

people like mika. john heilman, people saw what happened january 6. this bubble trump is in, this bubble that donald trump is in, this bubble that those who are pushing trump propaganda in is getting smaller and smaller. they've seen the video images. donald trump was talking about -- let's look at some of those images. donald trump was talking about these people that were coming and hugging and kissing the police. there you see a police officer getting his brains beat in, getting his head crushed. other police officers getting -- >> this is inside the capitol. >> i want all of you to see this and understand that donald trump, who this country once elected president of the united states, said there was zero threat on january the 6th. that these trump terrorists -- see what they're doing to the police officer there? you see what they're doing to the police officer there?

breaking -- trying to break his neck while all these trumpists are in there. they're not antifa. you will remember that kevin mccarthy, when he was under attack, when the capital was under attack, when kevin mccarthy was under attack and donald trump said it was antifa. he screamed at him, who the blank do you think you're talking to? these are your people. and then yesterday what did we show you about these people? that are brutalizing police officers, blue lives matter? not to donald trump. he doesn't give a -- about police officers. he would strongly condemn this attack in its strongest terms. these terrorists, using an american flag to brutalize a police officer. these trump terrorists brutalizing a police officer and beating him so badly as he lay on the ground being what he thought beaten to death, all he

could think of was his four daughters. and he was wondering how they were going to get by without him because these terrorists were attacking, beating, brutalizing police officers. >> they had a noose for mike pence. >> they had a noose for mike pence. they went around screaming "hang mike pence." hugging and kissing police? no. john heilman, these people, these people, these terrorists, these seditionists that donald trump last night granted his absolution to, that sprayed bear spray in the face of police officers. one of them dying later on. and again, who tried to crush the head of police officers, right there. that's the face of donald trump's terrorist supporters on january the 6th. that's the face of the people that donald trump last night was

saying were good americans who were, quote, hugging and kissing the police. it's beyond sick. >> yeah, and i think, joe, you know, i'm glad you're showing the images and i think everybody -- you should remind people of this. i actually don't think in some level it's really necessary in the sense that, you know, this is one of those instances where, you know, trump has lied about a lot of things and has lied about some very big things, like the notion that the election was stolen, right? but part of the way to which the way the big lie works is that you can't really see -- he's saying there was voter fraud and you can't see it. you just haven't found the evidence yet. there's a lack of tangibility to that, right? why does that lie take root? you can't show an image to prove the negative, which is that voting fraud didn't take place. we know it didn't take place, but you can't show it on camera. what's crazy about this is that as you guys are showing right now the video is that to your

very first point, which is that this is the kind of lie that exposes the bankruptcy of the liar in a way that is kind of irrefutable. we all have seen these images over and over and over again. so to your first point, as trump tells these kinds of lies, his credibility, what remains of it even with his fans, just reduces kind of inexorably down to zero. this is going to be the thing that's self-undermining for trump. he's told a lot of lies, blatant lies, disprovable lies, but as few lies instantly disprovable and nationally where people -- there's no counter narrative here. there is so much video that even the people on the very far-right have seen all this video. they know. so when trump comes out and says something like this, there's a little bit of like, okay, you're either completely insane or

you're just the biggest fat est fattest history of the world and you're trying to play us. that is the way trump is writing himself an inevitable one-way ticket to irrelevance. this is how he reduces his voice on the national stage. >> coming up, what's one way to keep voters from the ballot box? make them wait in the hot sun without any water for hours. georgia is rolling out all the stops to suppress the vote. we'll talk about that next on "morning joe."

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powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. what i'm worried about is how unamerican this whole initiative is. it's sick. it's sick. deciding in some states that you cannot bring water to people standing in line waiting to vote? deciding that you're going to end voting at 5:00 when working people are just getting off work? deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances? it's all designed -- >> you know, i mean, it's sort

of interesting. look at matthew 25, jesus asking people to get a cup of water. here in georgia, mika -- >> yeah? >> -- you have republicans, georgia republicans who have criminalized the handing out of water. you know if somebody said last night when you make it a skriem crime to give people who need water water, you know you're probably on the wrong side of history. >> i'm thinking republicans in georgia have just adopted a sweeping new election law just months after that state helped democrats take control of washington, fueled, in large part, but donald trump's big lie about election fraud. the law tightens voter i.d. requirements for absentee ballots. a direct response to the surge of mail-in ballots during the pandemic that helped joe biden narrowly defeat trump in the state. it shortens the early voting period for runoff elections.

that comes after democrats raphael warnock and jon ossoff won their senate races, in part, by their early leads in the runoffs. the bill also limits the number of drop boxes for returning mail-in ballots, disproportionately affecting larger districts with majority minority populations. and it allows the state to take over local elections. critics warn that allows republicans to toss out ballots in democratic areas. it also allows legislature to point out, chaired by the secretary of state, that post held by republican brad, rejecting then president trump's false claims of voter fraud. the law even prohibits food and water in voting lines. another provision that targets

larger districts with mostly black voters where some wait hours to vote. republican governor brian kemp wasted no time signing the bill into law. >> significant reforms to our state elections were needed. there is no doubt there were many alarming issues with how the election was handled, and those problems understandably led to the crisis of confidence in the ballot box here in georgia. >> it is worth noting the new law is actually less harsh than initial drafts, which proposed restrictions such as a ban on sunday voting. it actually does expand early voting options in some areas. gene robinson, your thoughts. >> well, look, this is -- yes, this is being done on the back of trumpism, but basically it's being done because georgia republicans freaked out that -- they are freaked out that they

lost. they lost the state, two republican senators lost runoff elections and the state is now represented by two democrats in the senate, and georgia republicans aren't having any more of that, or they're trying their best not to have any more of that. and so they're using the big lie about election fraud, election irregularities, whatever, to continue a process they have been doing for many years. this is not their first step toward voter suppression. when you look at, for example, how many voting stations they provide for black neighborhoods and communities as opposed to white suburban neighborhoods and communities. you know, the lines are longer in black neighborhoods. it takes longer to vote. it takes more effort. this has all been deliberate and it's all been going on for sometime, and it hasn't worked.

it didn't work so far, so now they're upping it. it is -- it is the new jim crow. i mean, let's be honest about this. this is primarily about keeping black voters from voting, because they're likely to vote for democrats, and that's what majority of republican party is trying to do. >> coming up, how racism undercuts the american dream for everyone. "morning joe" is back in a moment. " is back in a moment

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it's more than one year into the pandemic and we are only scratching the surface of its economic devastation, particularly on the african-american community. our next guest says black americans have been facing economic inequality long before covid-19 struck, and much of it has to do with the american taxation system. professor at emory university school of law, dorothy brown joins us now. she's the author of a new book

"the whiteness of wealth, how the tax system impoverishes black americans and how we can fix it." also with us, author and economic policy analyst heather mcgee, her latest book "the sum of us, what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together." jonathan lemire and erin haines are back with us as well. dorothy, in your book you write this. it's long been understood that blacks and whites live in separate and unequal worlds that shape whom we marry, where we buy a home, whom we have as neighbors and how we build a future for our children. race affects where we go to college and how we pay for it. race influences where we work, and how much we are paid. what my research showed was that all of this also determines how much we pay in taxes. taxpayers bring their racial identities to their tax returns.

as in so many parts of american life, being black is more likely to hurt and being white is more likely to help, the implications of this go far beyond the forms you file every april. so, if you could take us a step further into that notion, is it the reality of black american life that then puts them in tax categories that appear to be racist or work against black americans? or is there something different at play? >> what's at play is tax policy is built around white american behavior, and black americans in a society where we face systemic racism, we get disadvantaged. so let me take homeownership as an example. any tax subsidy for homeownership is going to benefit most homeowners who are disproportionately white. we have fewer black homeowners,

so that's one point. but a bigger point is how white americans experience homeownership is what tax policies subsidizes, not how black homeowners experience homeownership. so what my research showed is when black and white americans did the same thing, got married, bought a home, tax policy choices advantaged how weight americans were homeowners or how white americans were married versus how black americans experienced homeownership and marriage. >> so, okay. in your book you actually -- you discuss why being married while black hurts when filing taxes and how that impacted you growing up. and in one part you say, "when i saw that my parents' two incomes added up to a higher tax bill than had they remained single and filed individually, i started to question the

conventional wisdom and found that while, in theory, the provision should affect everyone equally regardless of race, in practice it has a disproportionately detrimental impact on black couples. how a tax provision used by almost all married couples -- the joint return -- came to harm black families and their ability to build inter generational wealth tells us much about american tax policy, its history, and its intentions." let's focus on those last two words, what were its intentions? >> its intentions were to benefit single wage earner white house holds where the husband worked in the paid labor market and the wife was a stay-at-home spouse. that household got a tax cut because of the joint return. black americans have never done marriage like that. black americans, like my

parents, my mother was a nurse, my father was a plumber, they needed two full-time incomes to make ends meet. the tax cut from the joint return was never designed with them in mind. and what my research showed is black couples are more likely to have two equal wage earners and white couples are more likely to have a stay-at-home spouse and another spouse who works in the paid labor market. >> heather mcgee, why don't you jump in. you write about racial disparities, and this is really i know something that must really strike home for you. >> i was so eager to get professor brown's book. i asked my publisher for an advance copy. it's really an important addition to the literature. and i think it should serve as a guidebook as the biden administration does what it said it was going to set out to do, to look at where systemic racism is showing up in hidden ways across the federal government

policies. this issue of wealth, which professor brown really zeroes in on, is where history shows up in your wallet. it's what i talk about in my book, the sum of us as the legacy of compound interest on decisions made often long before we were born that result in such things as a black college graduate household, having less wealth on average than a white high school drop outhouse hold. when you hear figures like that, you realize that we have a long way to go to come together as a people and make sure that we, what i call in the sum of us, refill the pool of public goods for everyone. recognize that this turn away for the past 50 years, away from the proper role of government helping to do its job to help our people, to make sure that our people -- all of our people have a decent standard of living, has been something that has been a big factor in the racial divide. it's something that has been driven by racial resentment politics, by an anti-government

sort of racial turning away explicitly by the white americans by social contract. the idea that, yes, we do all help each other. there is such a thing as society. we do need each other to level the playing field and make opportunity for everyone. >> hey, dorothy, it's jonathan lemire. this obviously -- the pandemic has brought to light so many, again brought to light so many inequalities. we know those of color have borne the brunt of it. the biden administration as part of their response has been trying to think big with their first covid relief bill, and now talk of an even bigger infrastructure/jobs program the progressives hope will include a lot of long-time democratic priority. some folks are saying this is the moment to try to use the crisis, if you will, to remake the system, to reshape things, to make things more equal. what would you say, how can they do it? what would be possible? >> so, i would say with respect to tax policy, they need to

completely re-imagine our tax system. and my solution is to basically get rid of these deductions and exclusions that disproportionately benefit white americans while leaving black americans behind. i, too, believe that we should have a living allowance so that if you don't make what it takes to survive in your area and thrive in your area, not only do you not pay taxes. you would get a refund from the government. and the rest of us who make above a living allowance would pay taxes at the progressive tax system. but i agree, now is the time, and i hope the biden administration doesn't just talk and put in an executive order racial equity, but when they talk about tax reform, include the racial impact analysis. it isn't good enough to say, well, we should think about data, but let's get this tax reform done. no, no, no, we don't want any more tax bills that disadvantage

black wealth building. >> all right. let's go to erin haines now. erin. >> well, professor brown knows how i've been looking forward to this book. we've been talking about her research for years. i mean, she opened my eyes to the idea that even the obamas' marriage, how their tax returns, you know, were really illuminating a lot of the issues that are outlined in this book, which i also have an advance copy of and am so eager to dig into. thank you so much for laying this out and congratulations on the book. you know, look, as the points were made earlier, the national reckoning on race is about an interrogation of institutions and that includes the tax system which you layout in your book, and that these inequalities were part of the pandemic of systemic racism that preceded the covid-19 crisis. and so my question for you, professor brown, particularly as we are also international conversation around reparations, right? >> yes. >> a lot of people are focused

on these cash payments as part of reparation solution. i'm wondering what you think it would mean for us to re-imagine the tax system as part of the reparations conversation for black americans. >> yes, absolutely. and i actually believe, you know, ideally we would have what i would -- what i call in the book, a reparations tax credit that would compensation black americans for the decades of higher taxes we have paid. unfortunately the supreme court would not bless that. that would be unconstitutional. so my second best alternative and i think something heather would like is a wealth tax credit that would go to all taxpayers with below median wealth. that is i think consistent with your targeted universalism approach, right? so we would have everybody with below medium wealth which, because of the racial wealth gap, would disproportionately benefit black taxpayers, getting a tax credit on their taxes.

but the issue of reparations -- i'm sorry. >> go ahead. i was going to say i think that's a great idea. i do believe that without wealth -- and what we're talking about here is not income, not your paycheck. wealth means your home equity, your ability to own a home, how much savings you have in the bank, your cds, your savings account, your investments, your pension, your 401(k), your ira. it's there that we see the massive discrepancy in our, in our -- by race in our economy. and it's costing the overall economy one to 1 1/2 trillion dollars a year according to a mackenzie study. it's something that really makes a difference. you have to go into debt to go to college or can you depend on a cd that matured from your aunt? can you start a business and do three months without an income and launch that new business? or do you have to go into debt on credit cards in order to start a new business? wealth is so important and it's

the kind of cushion that white americans today have on average because of explicitly racist policies to deny black people the advantages of property investment. when we were lining up government benefits to give handouts and free and free stuf they're derided today to help build the white middle class in the first half of the 20th century, it was exclusionary and that's where we see this wealth gap today. >> this is such a huge issue, we'll have to have you all back to continue this conversation. and dorothy brown, welcome to "morning joe." we'd love to have you back on this and many other issues as well. the new book is "the white-ness of wealth: how the tax system impoverishes black americans and how we can fix it." professor at emory university school of law, dorothy brown. thank you so much for being on with us and heather mcghee, as always, thank you for being on. heather's latest book is "the

sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can process together." up next -- a research i've been researching for four years now, food addiction and why it's so hard to beat. we spoke with one journalist who said the food industry is working very, very hard to get you hooked and they've got you hooked. that and what can be done to help people do better. keep it right here on "morning joe." ♪ hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid ♪ ♪ and all that glitters is gold ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. dad, it's a video call. with anhold the phoneburger. in front of you. how's that? get...get mom.

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there's a real struggle to eat healthy but it may not be a fair fight. our next guest says some foods can be just as addictive as heroin and food manufacturers may be using these addictive properties to their advantage. pulitzer prize reporter formally from "the new york times" michael moss joins us now. his latest book is called "hooked: food and free will and how the food giants exploit our addictions." i totally agree, michael, it's something i have been looking into for years and suffering from. but let's make the connection for our viewers. can you really make the parallel between certain foods and heroin? >> yeah, absolutely. i came full circle on this when someone first suggested food could be addictive thinking, what, are you kidding me? in fact if you take the definition from the food industry itself that addiction

is a repetitive behavior that some people find difficult to quit, i actually came around to think some of these foods are even more problematic, more addictive than even hard drugs. for one thing, food is everywhere in the food environment so it doesn't take a lot of stimulus to the brain to get as excited about eating and overeating but could the other thing is that the food companies have learned how to tap our most basic instincts that we develop through evolution to get us not just to eat but to eat more and more. >> is it certain substances in certain foods? what are they? i think we know what some of them are but i think we're surprised to find them in foods that don't have the taste that conjures up the notion of the word. >> yeah, obviously, salt, sugar, fat which i have written about are sort of key ingredients for the industry. but these are things that aren't

on the label. you can't see them. so we by nature are drawn to food that's inexpensive. so i was able to go into these chemistry labs that work for the food industry called flavor houses where their main job is to reduce the cost of ingredients used in products so we get really excited about that. i found internal documents that target us as variety seekers because we love by instinct variety in food. that's why you walk in the cereal aisle and there's 200 varieties of sugary starch because the brain gets really excited about that. but the most critical thing that the food industry is using is speed. speed is a hallmark of addiction. the faster a substance hits our brain, the more apt we are to act compulsively and there's nothing faster than convenience food in the that it's manufactured, presented to us and the way it strikes the brain. there's incredible tests people

did to see how fast we can taste sweetness. they put a dab of sweetness on the tongue, ask for a push of the button when they felt that sweetness. less of a second they were hitting that button, which is faster than the speed that smoking, alcohol, some drugs will hit the brain. >> interesting, like salt and vinegar potato chips. that just goes right to you. and who -- who just -- who has one? nobody has one salt and vinegar potato chip. and i'm dead serious. i mean, people are driven to -- i say people, like me, to eat half a bag or a whole bag and then feel horrible about it. >> that's the problem. look, addiction happens on the spectrum. for some of us it's just this troubling feeling that we've lost this ritual with food and eating, having fallen so hard for these convenience products. for other people it's a full blown eating disorder, bingeing, that's the issue. so depending what your trigger food is too, one of the things

that gets us going back to speed is stress, distraction. and food companies have been really great at creating this mindless eating snacking is now the fourth american meal. we're getting as many calories from that as we are the three standard meals. >> did like potato chips or sweet cereals, those are definitely my triggers, and i can't just eat one bowl. but let me ask you what we can do about this on two levels. first, what the food industry should do. and secondly, what people can do to try and help handle these addictions. but first the food industry. is it legislation? is it what the industry can do itself? what should they stop producing in their food? >> you know, i was really surprised to hear from some food officials that they need some government intervention because they're so fiercely competitive with each other that when one of them tries to do the right thing and reformulate, make their

products better for us, the others swoop in on sales to capitalize on that. i'm thinking i would love to have the food companies help solve the puzzle, but i don't think we can wait. what we eat has never mattered more. one of the huge pieces of advice that i heard from drug addiction experts who are now studying food is that you need to know what the companies are doing but you also have to plan ahead and no matter what you game plan -- and if you're somebody that gets that 3:00 p.m. craving for a cookie, if your alternative to that is stand up and stretch or call a friend or eat an alternative who would like a handful of nuts, you would really probably have to do that at 2:55, for example. once that craving comes on, it hits the brain so fast, that no amount of willpower will keep you from rushing to that cookie and wolfing it down. >> i totally agree you have to

cope with the cravings. i'm not sure it works for everybody. and i do think we need help from the government. michael moss, the book is "hooked: new free will and how the food companies exploit our addictions." thank you very much for being on the show. that does it for us this morning. geoff bennett picks up the coverage right now. good morning, i'm geoff bennett in for my friend stephanie ruhle. it's friday, march 26th. we begin with in the state of georgia, where the republican governor there has signed dramatic new voting restrictions into effect. democrats and voting rights activists say they're designed and intended to suppress vote are turnout, especially among black voters. among other things, it restricts voter access by limiting ballot drop boxes and requiring absentee voters to submit a driver's license or state i.d. number to prove they're identity. something more than 200,000 georgia voters don't have. it also makes it illegal to give people food or water while