>> cristela, again, now i have to have the roller skating image. thank you so much for joining me tonight. that is all the time i have for today. i am alicia menendez. see you back here 6:00 p.m. eastern for more "american voices" next week. for now i hand it over to my colleague, mehdi hasan. >> hope you get your sneakers off the ship in time. good luck. tonight on the mehdi hasan show, holding refugees kids in detention are personal to her because she was once one of those kids. also, 20 people, we have the shootings in virginia. 20 people dead in the last two weeks in mass shootings. i'll ask a survivor of parkland why republicans won't act. >> plus later, bradley whitford isn't just one of tv's political

operatives. >> visibility and power and put them in a position to say no and be a hero to his party. to his py >> also a political activist with a lot to say about voting rights and joins me live tonight. good evening. i'm mehdi hasan. looking something like this as they toured the rio grande this week, dramatically swooping in by water to arrive for a news conference after touring portions of the u.s./mexico border with customs and border patrol, a reminder that the perceived enemy at the border is this. children. not soldiers. not terrorists. only girls and boys looking to be united with family in the u.s. that's right. gop senator tommy tuberville ready it take the fight to unaccompanied kids. everything the republican party is doing at the border right now, everything the republican party is saying about the border right now is a performance from

their fake outrage over how children are being treated to their attention-seeking rambo-style theatrics, it's meant to distract and enrage. they posted videos to their social media accounts of them crouching in the brush, in the dark, supposedly to hide from the evil drug smugglers at the border that apparently heckled them during their visit. so sad. senate gop decided to highlight this photo of senator ted cruz at the border wall. not in cancun at the time. the pose that he's striking, no comment really actually. there are lives at stake, not just vulnerable kids trying to cross into the border but the other brown-skinned people who already live in the u.s. are going to face a backlash because of this rising anti-immigrant sentiment. if we learned anything, it's that words matter and rhetoric

leads to violence. ask an asian-american or pacific islander what they've gone through lately. these stunts at the border are dangerous. there is a fundamental mismatch between what the challenge at the border is -- it's a mess, no denying that, with children in overcrowded facilities -- and what the gop is talking about. just listen to what texas republican congressman dan crenshaw had to say to me about the kids crossing into the u.s. last sunday. >> 75% of the supposed unaccompanied supposed minors are over 15 years old and vast majority are males. by the way, this is military age in a lot of countries south of the border. so, we're creating a falsehood. >> morality. >> why is it -- >> a 4-year-old child. >> let me ask you something. a 4-year-old child, we should take care of. i think there's a difference between a 4-year-old crying child and a 17-year-old male. do you agree with that?

>> military-age males. that's the insidious, deeply disturbing phrase the gop is using to describe children, as if they're people you could kill in a firefight, as if teenagers aren't children. >> this isn't about politics, and it isn't about playing games. it's about the humanity of these children. it's about respecting their dignity and it's about empathizing. >> did you know a delegation of democratic lawmakers, including representative ilhan omar also traveled to the u.s./mexican border this week? no? maybe it's because they didn't have a gun boat. we may think their antics are ridiculous, and they are. but unfortunately they're framing this so-called immigration debate. thursday, a third of the questions president biden faced at his first news conference were about the border crisis.

a third. which means the republicans are winning. their right-wing talking points are driving this latest panic. for more, let's turn to congressman ilhan omar, who you just heard calling for humanity to the border during her trip on friday. thank you so much for joining us on the show tonight. >> glad to be here with you, mehdi. >> you were at the border on friday, not in a gun boat like those republican senators, but you met with kids in detention. what did they tell you about why they're coming here and how they're being treated? >> thank you so much for asking that question. the kids that we met told us that they were coming here, want to be reunited with their family members. almost every single child i sat with and had a conversation with had a father, a mother, a sister, an aunt that was living

in the united states that they were reconnecting with. they also told us about the, you know, really horrific journey that they were -- that they undertook. you could see the trauma still in their eyes, even though they've been in the united states for a few weeks. and it also, you know, explained just the tragedies of the lives that they fled. and, you know, for me, i sat next to a young boy who was 12 years old, who as soon as he started talking, i leaned over and said i was your age when i came to the united states. and, you know, he lit up, i think realizing that there were lawmakers and others who also understood his journey. and, you know, we asked him what

message he wanted us to take to the president. and he said, he came to the united states looking for an opportunity and just wanted to be treated with dignity. and that's what these children -- these are kids who have seen unspeakable conditions. and they don't deserve to be in detention centers. they deserve to be reunited with their families and they deserve for us to treat them with humanity and dignity. >> indeed. and, unfortunately, they're not being treated with very much humanity and dignity. thousands of these kids are in detention. hundreds of them are held for longer than the 72 hours. many are unable to use shower for days or see daylight. you were extremely critical for the trump administration for putting kids in cages. are you as critical for this biden administration for holding children in horrible conditions, even if they say it's not their fault, it's what they inherited.

the children are still suffering. >> yeah. it's unacceptable and really shocking that we are keeping children in these situations. and it's not because we don't have the resources or the ability to move kids through our system and reconnect them with their families. you know, i didn't go into the border center where children are held, where these horrendous conditions exist. i went to a secondary location where kids were living in better condition, but still not an acceptable condition, that they shouldn't be there for a long period of time. and what those folks told us that were caring for these children is that there is an opportunity for the united states to deploy all agencies to the border to do a one-time processing of these children. kids were coming in with a

mother, a father, to process them through, get them reconnected with their families, those who are coming who have relatives, to process them as well. and those who are in need of a sponsor and a foster family, to put them in one of those nonprofit centers that we have and allow for the follow-up and the process that takes with case workers to take place after. i mean, the conditions that we are keeping children in, no children are living in -- other borders when people are fleeing their homes and to have these really horrific, traumatizing conditions to exist in the united states for children is quite shameful. >> so you mentioned the 12-year-old boy you spoke to at the border and your own experience that you mentioned to him. what was it like for you to live in a refugee camp in kenya when you left somalia and before you

came here, to be demonized and seen as a threat, as so many refugees, including child refugees around the world sadly still are. >> right. it is to forever in -- you know, internally and externally feel homeless when you are refugee. you become a political football, part of a conversation and games those in power want to play with your life. and, you know, it's really dehumanizing. and that's why i tried to focus this conversation about what's happening with these children and the solutions we need to find in their humanity and in their dignity. when i arrived at the age of 8 at the border of kenya, i was processed and given an opportunity to be sheltered, and throughout those four years i

waited for a process to eventually have a better opportunity here in the united states. and, you know, the conditions i lived in were not acceptable as well, but they certainly did not resemble anything like the conditions that kids are living at our border here in the united states of america. >> that is depressing to hear. just a shift to the big picture. it was reported by politico you were part of a progressive delegation that recently met with chief of white house ron klain. what asks did you make and what do you say to your critics on the left who say progressives in congress like yourself, the squad, haven't pushed biden hard enough on issues like the $15 minimum wage, universal health care, the filibuster? >> it is because we have been pushing, really, that the american rescue plan is deemed to be the most progressive policy in decades.

we certainly understand that there was a failed strategy not by the progressives in congress, because we put $15 in the package. by the administration, i think their early signaling that that could be negotiated out and it might not stick as part of the final package. really, i think, endangered the ability for us to pass $15. when we were in that meeting, we pushed for a strategy to get $15 minimum wage. we pushed for a strategy to pass the agenda that the administration ran on, that the democrats agree on, whether it is passing sensible gun laws, dealing with our immigration crisis and all of the things that we all care about. what we walked away from that

conversation with is an understanding that there is a limited window of opportunity for us to push these pieces of legislation. there are members in the senate within the democratic party that are certainly not there yet on the priority pieces of legislation that we have. and it's going to be up to the administration to come up with a strategy to push them, because progressives in the house are constantly told to get in line and to push policies that are going to have an impact on people's lives. that's what those democrats in the senate need to be told and that's what's going to take. >> we're almost out of time. i want to ask very quickly, the derek chauvin starts tomorrow in your district, ex-police officer accused of murdering george floyd. if he gets off scot-free, what will happen in your community? how about the public react to another officer getting away.

>> we are a community that has experienced, time and time again, injustice within the criminal justice system. and we are holding our breath. we know that he has lots of resources and a great defense, but we have faith in attorney general keith ellison and his team for the ability for justice. >> let's see what happens. congresswoman ilhan omar, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me. still to come, same story, different year. the gun reform debate again. will the outcome ever change? plus thousands of covid deaths that could have been avoided. could donald trump one day be held criminally responsible for them? later on, activist, actor and former west wing star

bradley whitford will join me about the voting rights some are trying to take away. richard lui is here with the headlines. >> four people died and 130 were rescued during floods in nashville, tennessee, trapping people in homes. new yorkers will be able to use an app that shows if they've been vaccinated or recently tested negative for covid-19. it's the first of its kind in the u.s. governor andrew cuomo says it will help entertainment venues and other businesses open up to other groups. finally, comic-con announces an in-person convention in november. they went virtual in 2020. they're still figuring out the cost of tickets and how many people will be able to attend that. more of the mehdi hasan show after this break. hdi hasan show after this break

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this weekend, two people were killed and another eight injured in multiple shootings. this, as the country is still reeling from the shootings in atlanta and boulder. just three months into 2021, there have already been 113 mass shootings in america. according to data from the gun violence archive, 10,000 americans have been killed by guns this year already. crazy. president biden has called on congress to ban assault weapons

and for the senate to pass the two house bills on background checks. one senator who won't be voting for those bills is republican lindsey graham who, fresh off his gun-toting play at the border had this to say about assault rifles. >> i own an ar-15. if there's a natural disaster in south carolina where the cops can't protect my neighborhood, my house will be the last one that the gang will come to, because i can defend myself. >> that is the kind of violent pair annoyed mad max fantasy world that too many white republican lawmakers inhabit. graham wants you to know if there's a natural disaster he will be getting ready to shoot his constituents rather than help his neighbors. the nra plays a role in this. cameron cassidy, parkland shooting survivor questioned senator marco rubio about taking nra money in 2018. >> in the name of 17 people, you cannot ask the nra to keep their

money out of your campaign? >> i think in the name of 17 people, i can pledge to you that i will support any law that will prevent a killer like this. >> but i'm talking nra money. >> no. no. >> cameron kasky joins me now. thank you so much for coming on the show. let's start with those comments from lindsey graham about ar-15s, cameron, the weapon responsible for the tragic deaths of 17 of your classmates in parkland in 2018, as well as so many others, sandy hook, aurora, but graham has to imagine a post-apocalyptic scenario to justify his defense when we know that those weapons are being used to murder innocent people. what did you make of his remarks today? >> graham's remarks are a pretty good sign that gun control with republicans is not a constitutional battle. it's not about policy. it's a culture war thing. the suggestion that lindsey graham can be some kind of tough

guy defending away apocalyptic invaders is what the message they want to send. and gun sales rocket after this kind of messaging. >> imagine responding to shootings in spas and grocery stores by inventing some weird societal breakdown scenario in south carolina. it shows, as you say, how desperate they are and how much they want to incite fear and division. i want to show you this graph. this shows gun homicides per 100,000 residents. 4.1 per hundred thousand. double the rate of second place chile and 100 times higher the rate in most other countries. why is it that grahams and others think they absolutely need these weapons when no one else in the industrialized world

does? ? >> it's a story that the gun manufacturers pay the gun lobby to use the republicans as mouthpieces to tell. it's how they sell weapons. it's their marketing techniques. guns are one of the only industries we're able to successfully have in this country. and they sell really well and they know how to play on fear. and they know what they're doing. i mean, it's a well-oiled machine at the gun lobby. in times like these, where there was a graph up about the support for the wildly popular bipartisan-backed universal background check bills, red flag laws, it makes you wonder. the republicans have always been insane on this issue. the republicans have always had the worst messaging, have always been actively acting in the interest of the gun manufacturers. what are the democrats doing right now? this is a story that's been told since before i was born. the columbine shooting was

before i was born. and the democrats, they got a lot of power right now. we can abolish the filibuster and get these wildly popular bills passed. there's a lot of things we can do. we're not getting the baseline level of the simplest reforms we can get. >> yes. and it is the simplest reform. background checks is the very basics. it won't prevent a lot of the shooting, sadly, but go to changing the discourse. recent polls from politico shows 84% of all voters, including 77% of republicans support universal background checks, wildly popular, as you put it, cameron. chris murphy from the gop and the dems spoke on ""meet the press"" today. even they think there are enough votes in the senate for some compromise. have a listen. >> i've gotten a lot of calls from republicans in the senate who don't want to fight this fight any longer because the nra's authority is fading, anti-gun movement impact is increasing. >> we ought to require background checks on commercial

sales. that's where i know senator manchin is. there are republican senators who are interested. >> cameron, do you think it can get done? are you optimistic about, you know, the nra is weak weaker than it was, people are angier about mass shootings than they were? do you think we can now get something basic done? >> the nra has been tripping over itself. it's obviously a mess. they got into the content creator space and that was clearly a financial issue for them. it's not about the nra. it's about this moment we have right now with our lawmakers. if the biden/harris administration isn't going to show up with a $15 minimum wage, if they're not going to show up for student loans, i'm a college-age voter and proudly voted for president biden. if they're not going to show up for the very gun control bills that they campaigned on, what was this about? was this about getting a better president than donald trump? that's great. the joker would be a better president than donald trump. we need the bare minimum. we need it.

and it's really up to the biden/harris administration to put the pressure on all the lawmakers to make this happen. >> agreed. we're almost out of time, cameron. a lot of people say this country is numb to mass shootings. we hear the news and carry on with our business. what's it like for you as a survivor of a mass shooting when you hear the news that something has happened in atlanta, something has happened in boulder? what's that like for you? >> well, with the shootings in atlanta, obviously, that was a horrible moment for our country specifically because of the racial violence and because of the fact that the united states has been fundamentally racist toward asian communities for a very long time. the messaging has been horrible. the boulder shooting was horrific. but what comes to mind right now is the fact that the entire country is traumatized. the events of the past year have been horrible for the entire nation. people have been losing family members everywhere. so the type of trauma you would see somewhere like parkland or aurora or sandy hook, it's

something that the whole country knows in a way it hasn't in a very long time. i think about the people in those communities that have to see this horrible thing happen in what's already been a horrible year. and the country is numb to deaths in a lot of different ways. it's not just about guns. >> yeah. >> and it's -- i send all of my love to the people who are dealing with this. and i send all the pressure i possibly can to the lawmakers who are still twidling their thumbs about it. >> well said. cameron kasky, thank you so much for being with us tonight. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. dr. deborah birx, who served as the white house coronavirus response coordinator says so many of the deaths could have been avoided. so why weren't they? who will be held accountable? stick around for that discussion. accountable stick around for that discussion thing

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there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge. all of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially. >> hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been avoided. that's nut message from dr. deborah birx over former president trump's handling of this pandemic. more than 550,000 americans have lost their lives to covid-19 with 13 million cases across the country. trump himself told fox news this past week that he chose to ignore his own experts, including dr. anthony fauci. >> i didn't really listen to him too much, because i was doing the opposite of what he was saying. >> he just came out and said it. he ignored the advice of his own medical experts. will he ever be held accountable? our next guest said he should be. calling on all 50 states attorneys general to investigate

all possible covid deaths. glenn kirshner, thank you for coming on the show tonight. you want trump criminally investigated over covid deaths. one ucla study said 400,000 deaths could have been avoided. deborah birx is saying something similar. most legal experts say it's just too hard. the bar is too high to criminally link trump, the president in d.c. at the time, to any of those individual deaths at the state level. >> i disagree, mehdi. here is the thing. as a former career homicide prosecutor, when i look at the elements of one of the lower-level homicide offenses, whether we call it involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide, different jurisdictions call it different things, there are only three things that need to be proved. donald trump had grocery negligent conduct, that it was reasonably likely to result in

death or serious body injury to others, check. the third element which sounds tougher than it is to prove is that he, thereby, caused the deaths of another. causation in the law is defined as your grossly negligent conduct being a substantial factor in bringing about the death. now courtesy of the introyou just did, mehdi, we have an admission of guilt from donald trump's own mouth. he said dr. anthony fauci, one of the preeminent infectious disease experts in this nation, indeed the world, was giving me advice on how to best protect the health of the american people, and i did the opposite. that statement will make an appearance in a court of law when donald trump is finally prosecuted for these manslaughters. >> i do hope you're right, because it seems to me bizarre that more than half americans can die, more than u.s. death

toll in world war i, vietnam, et cetera and no one is held responsible for that? people car a cause accident and people die, they get prosecuted. it seems bizarre that people in the administration wouldn't get prosecuted. yet you have a new administration, the biden administration, that doesn't seem interested in holding trump account for anything. january 6th, his role in that. let alone covid i would like to see a covid crimes commission to investigate people across the board for their role in this, at a federal and state level. we haven't seen any sign of that. >> we haven't seen it yet. and i know we're always waiting for the next white knight to gallop in and clean up donald trump's next. i'm not saying merrick dparland, the new attorney general, is that white knight. i am saying he is a deadly serious crime fighter. i mean, the man broke his sort of public corruption teeth on the mayor marion barry prosecution in my old office in d.c. he then cut his domestic

terrorism teeth supervising, overseeing the investigation and prosecution of the oklahoma city bombing. and what he said when he took over that investigation was that i guarantee you, i promise you, we will hold everyone accountable for what they just did to the federal building in oklahoma, but we will do it in a way that honors the constitution. i take merrick garland at his word, and i think he is going to tackle the crimes he sees in the trump administration. >> let's hope so. we need accountability. i have to ask before you run out of time, that was a stark assessment from dr. birx about preventable deaths on trump's watch but it's worth remembering she was saying something quite different when she was in the administration working for him. have a listen to what she said last year. >> he has been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details, and the data. and i think his ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real

benefit during these discussions about medical issues. >> this is all too little, too late, isn't it, glenn? >> it is. that was at a minimum an unseemly thing for her to say. and i can predict, though, what she will now say, mehdi, i was on the inside and i was trying to continue to massage donald trump's ego and i was trying to prevent as many deaths as i could. that may not be an entirely satisfying answer but good public servants remained in the administration still trying to help the american people. let's hope she was one of those government servants. >> you can stay in government and do your best without slathering praise on donald trump's brain, so to speak. always a pleasure to talk to you. >> thank you, mehdi. next, the 60-second round i shouldn't even have to give, including why men shouldn't refer to women as witches.

backlash, advocate for voting rights, bradley whitford, joins me to discuss. whitford, joins me to discuss. and it's definitely not "close enough or nothing." mercedes-benz suvs were engineered with only one mission in mind. to be the best. in the category, in the industry... in the world. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional lease and financing offers. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. ♪ ♪

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it's time now for what i'm calling the 60-second rant. start the clock. if you have any doubts that the modern gop is m rochlt phing into a cult. all women as witches and talked about getting them ready for, quote, burning at the stake. he joked the only way to get rid of the two michigan was voting them out or, quote, assassination. hilarious. this is no joke. there was a plot to kidnap governor whitmer six months ago. peter meyers talked about buying body armor because of the sheer volume of death threats he gets u up 94% this year compared to the same time last year.

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state legislator a greater power and influence over county election boards. georgia is one of 43 states that's introduced legislation restricting voting access. look at this map here. this is all the different major themes of the pending voter suppression bills across the country. limits on who can vote by mail, tighter voter i.d. requirements, same day voter registration, eliminate or prevent. to name a few. landmark legislation would create a national baseline for voting access that every american then could rely on. without it, bills in georgia could be the first step to anti-democratic dystopia more suited to the handmaid's tale. one of the stars of "the handmade's tale" and "the west wing," actor, activist bradley wittford. thank you for coming on the show tonight. there's a growing tv and film

industry in georgia. what should hollywood's response be to this law? after indiana and georgia passed previous controversial laws on abortion and lgbtq rights, are you going to start advocating that they stop filming in the peach state? >> i'll be honest, and thanks for having me. i'll follow the lead of stacey abrams, who has very specific reasons about why the film industry should not boycott georgia, because of the communities that it would affect. i trust stacey abrams' judgment on this. my first instinct is, yes, absolutely. we need to put whatever pressure we can. it has to come from industries. it has to come from corporations. let's take a moment to look at the insane place that we are. donald trump lost the election,

like seven of the last popular vote. republicans haven't won the popular vote in seven out of the last eight elections. the only way they can exist is by keeping people who might vote not for republicans from voting. the last election that we just experienced, the attorneys general from all the states, there were three recounts in georgia. there was no voter fraud. republicans don't care about voter -- about, you know, election security. and they don't care about, you know, consensus. they care about power. and this is a brazen attempt to disenfranchise mostly voters of color and young people. >> yeah.

so, you talk about other forms of pressure. if hollywood can't pull out right now because it would hurt communities on the ground, which is a legitimate argument, there have been campaigns to pressure georgia-based companies, like coca cola, delta,delta, ups, as know, headquartered around atlanta. you tweeted, hey coca-cola, none of your wildly successful slogans have anything to do with voter suppression, speak up. what actions can the rest of us do? >> i think we need to put pressure on these corporations. i think it is the pocketbook, unfortunately, not the moral imperative, that will get this done. i mean, clearly on top of this, no matter what the corporations do, we need to get rid of the filibuster and we need to put pressure on manchin and sinema because there is nothing that not only the progressives in this country but the majority of the country, there is nothing

that we need progress made on that will get done if we don't get rid of the filibuster. >> yes. 100% agree with you. you need to get rid of the filibuster in order to get hr 1 through. let's put that map up again on which states propose restricting voting rights, the bills that they're proposing remember the states across the country. these are the ones that would be foiled by hr 1, that's information from the brennan center which does brilliant work. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what's going on here, bradley, but is there another solution that congress can look at as a compromise? >> well, it seems to me at this point, look, my home state is wisconsin, i have watched republicans disenfranchise voters in wisconsin like it was alabama in 1963. i mean, it's extraordinary. it is shameful.

i think we need some sort of federal basis. you know, it's amazing. the chief justice of the supreme court of the united states gutted the voting rights act in 2013 with the rationale that racism was over, which is obviously completely absurd. i wish that a reporter could ask him if he still feels that. but we need some sort of federal insurance that the most fundamental right in a democracy is ensured. and i think hr 1 is the only tool that we've now. and i think this is an emergency. and i strongly urge everyone out there to get involved in this. anything you care about depends on the passage of hr 1. >> so listen to senator lindsey

graham speaking about hr 1 this morning on fox news. have a listen. >> i can't wait. >> what's sick is hr 1. federalizing state elections in our constitutions, states are supposed to run elections. hr 1 is the biggest power grab in the history of the country. every time of a republican does anything, we're racist. if you're a white conservative, you're racist. if you're a black republican, they're either a prop or uncle tom. they use the racist card to advance a liberal agenda and we're tired of it. hr 1 is sick, not what they're doing in georgia. >> what's your response to lindsey graham, who used to call donald trump a racist at one time. >> yeah, racists don't like to be called racists. this is a classic examples about how white supremacists reveal their own weakness and inability to compete on a level playing field. donald trump, i think i have it right here, said on "fox &

friends" last year, he chooses his words carefully so i want to read it, you'll never have a republican elected in this country again if we make it easier to vote. this is insanity. and sorry, lindsey, yeah, it's racist. you formed a cult around an incoherent racist whose entire career is based on a birtherism lie. so yeah, it's racist. >> and you've got not just donald trump, lindsey graham. you've got the entire party behind this stuff, event moderates. you were in "the west wing," bradley, which influenced a lot of democratic politicians in office today with its message of noble bipartisanship, democrats and republicans working together for the common good. but that world, that republican party doesn't exist anymore, does it? that's pure fantasy. >> it doesn't exist. a version of it did. but this party has gone

completely insane. they have no solutions. all they have is this kind of sort of, you know, fascist street theater. they have no solutions. and the only thing they care about is power. i've always said, the fakist thing in retrospect about "the west wing" was that we have reasonable republicans. they don't seem to exist anymore. and when mitch mcconnell pretends to care about consensus and bipartisanship, this is a guy -- we have one-third of our supreme court was appointed by individual 1, as he's known up in the new york district attorney's office. two of those seats were stolen. they're not interested in bipartisanship anymore. i don't know what their values are except for the accumulation of power. >> which means that democrats

need to stop obsessing over bipartisanship, and i'm thinking of certain democrats like kyrsten sinema and joe manchin. we'll see what happens next. bradley whitford, thank you so much for joining me tonight. >> great to see you, thank you. we're moments away from "the week with joshua johnson." the house whip will be discussing how to keep the filibuster from standing in the way. please stick around. we'll be right back. psst! pss! allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! you're good. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! tonight...i'll be eating loaded tots for march madness. ( doorbell ) thanks boo.

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thanks for watching. we'll be right back here next sunday. catch me monday through thursday, 7:00 p.m. eastern, on "the choice" on nbc's streaming channel peacock. now i'll turn it over to joshua johnson. >> hello, mehdi, nice to see you. coming up, the filibuster remains a potential roadblock. if none of these voting rights bills pass the senate, then what's the point? congressman james clyburn joins us live to talk strategy. covid cases are rising again all over the country. they are up 12% from last week. what does it mean for reopening our states' economies? we'll check in on nevada with its governor steve sisilak. there are 8,500