♪♪ a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters in new york. it's high noon on the nose in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "alex witt reports." developing now in washington, president biden gearing up to hit a 100-day milestone as well as a joint speech to congress. new nbc polling out this morning gives fresh insight on how the country perceives biden's first few months in the oval office. overall, the president garnering approval from a slim majority of americans. but will that honeymoon last? polling shows the president is receiving high marks on his handling of the coronavirus

pandemic, the economy, and uniting the country. also reveals today, potential warning signs on a couple of issues as the white house faces low marks on immigration and guns. vice president kamala harris speaking broadly on issues such as stemming migrants crossing the southern border. >> we're making progress, but it's not going to evidence itself overnight. it will not. but it will be worth it. we're working on a plan to get there. we have to deal with covid issues. but i can't get there soon enough. >> this as the president is set to address a joint session of congress for the first time, and as democrats are praising the president's early actions, republicans are already preparing a defense. >> you have to look at what he inherited, whether it was the economy, whether it was lack of attention to covid-19, whether it was the injustices. we're in a unique time now.

i think he's going to deal with it face on and i'm very pleased what he's done in the first 100 days. >> if i look at the hundreds days it's more like a bait and switch. the bait was he was going to govern as bipartisan but the switch is he's governed as a socialist. >> it comes as congress is inching closer to compromise on police reform legislation. this morning, members of both parties appearing cautiously optimistic about a bipartisan deal. one sticking point currently stands in the way -- qualified immunity. >> i believe we can get there, i absolutely do. what's most important is that we come up with ways to hold police officers accountable so we will stop seeing these videos. so ending qualified immunity, decreasing the standard that is needed to prosecute an officer. >> there is a way to find qualified immunity reform. take the cop out of it. my idea, along with senator scott is, you can't sue the

police officer, you sue the department if there is an allegation of civil rights abuse or constitutional right abuse. we can solve that problem. we can solve the issues if there's will to get there. and i think there's will to get there on the part of both parties. >> more on that over the next three hours. at 1:15 i will speak with congressman adam schiff about expectations for the president's speech to congress. and an historic announcement the white house made this weekend. then at the 2:00 p.m. hour, a new report on many americans skipping their second covid-19 shot. the potential dangers in that. later at 2:15 p.m., reverend sharpton. what the last few weeks have meant and how they might have changed him, that will be a good chance. first, monica alba, what do these new polls tell us about biden's first 100 days? >> reporter: the first 100 days, alex, are a snapshot and scorecard of how the president has done so far, largely

symbolic given most of his works will come likely in his next 3 1/2 years. he has a 53% approval rating compared to 39% and disapprove in our latest nbc polling. you look at where he got his highest marks, that's specifically on the coronavirus pandemic and his handling so far. passing that covid relief. and of course increasing vaccinations. as well as on the economy and uniting the country. those numbers are slightly lower than how he did as it compares to the health crisis that is ongoing. in terms of where he's getting his lowest marks, that comes on gun safety and immigration reform, two issues that plague this country that for right now the president is trying to work on legislative options. but we know the priority has been more on covid and his infrastructure and jobs plan. so how does this compare to other presidents, for example the president's predecessors?

former president donald trump's approval rating at this point at the same time was 40%. he never really got over that 50% mark, with 54% disapproving. but former president barack obama for instance had a 61% approval at this same point. so we now are understanding a little more from the white house about why they believe this has been a successful 100 days so far, in their view, particularly from vice president kamala harris who did an interview talking about the president's decisionmaking style. >> this is a president who has an extraordinary amount of courage. he is someone who i have seen over and over again make decisions based on what he truly believes, based on his years of doing this work and studying these issues, what he truly believes is the right thing to do. i'm going to tell you something about him. he is acutely aware that it may

not be politically popular or advantageous for him personally. >> reporter: of those surveyed, the phrase that jumped out from all those who participated is that what they like about this program is that he is, quote, not trump. one voter from north carolina who voted for joe biden in november said the thing he liked best about the current occupant of the white house is he doesn't have to spend every day thinking about joe biden, alex. >> i get it. okay, thank you so much, appreciate that, monday cake. president biden will give his first address in the house chamber on wednesday. let's go to nbc's amanda golden on capitol hill. amanda, welcome. how will biden's speech be different? >> reporter: alex, as we can expect, president biden will be touting his perceived accomplishments within these first 100 days in office including on the legislative

side, pushing forward that covid relief bill, that massive package that worked its way through congress that he signed into law. he has other key legislative priorities. we will however getting a good snapshot of how his relationship with congress that has been operating over the last 100 days has been perceived by the congress. the poll says 47% prefer democrats in control of congress compared to 42% who prefer republicans in charge. with this upcoming infrastructure package that the president has proposed, we're starting to see republican pushback coming in the form of senate republicans issuing this new counterproposal at 568 billion dollars. the real elements that cross over are what the republicans are saying they consider traditional transportation based infrastructure. those are largely similar between the two packages. for the republicans to push that forward and eliminate elements

of the more human components of transportation that biden tried to include, that's what they're trying to do to move forward. we can expect biden to be pushing this forward in his address. when asked earlier today on the sunday shows, however, both democrats and republicans have differences in how they would expect to pay for this. democrats say they want to raise corporate taxes in order to fund it. republicans are saying that they might prefer other avenues or not looking to raise taxes on any component at this time. we heard from house minority leader kevin mccarthy earlier today speak to that as well as moderate democratic senator joe manchin when asked about that very thing. take a listen. >> republicans will be the first ones that would work with them but i think the very first thing we need to do, define what infrastructure is. roads, bridges, airports, broad com. i think what people want is fairness in the tax code. >> all of these things should be explored before we start raising taxes exponentially. >> so you don't support raising

taxes at all right now? >> oh, yeah, i always support, basically -- i support anything that is common sense and reasonable. >> reporter: as we work to see what the legislative text that makes it through will look like, we're getting key differences into what this wednesday address will look like as far as style. this will be very different from previous addresses here that previous presidents had made during this time. first off, it's coming several months later than we usually expect to see them and hoon historic note we'll see president biden sitting -- or excuse me, delivering his address with two women sitting and framing behind him. we'll see vice president harris and house speaker nancy pelosi. they'll be wearing masks to abide with protocols. there will be elements of this upcoming address that will be different as well as the size of it audience. we expect 200 members of congress to be in the house chamber, far fewer than the nearly 1,600 that would usually be there. no guests are allowed. they're very much scaling this back by way of covid protocols. we actually now know who the republican response will be

delivered by, and that's going to come from republican senator tim scott who as we know has been so instrumental in those negotiations that are ongoing around police reform legislation, whether or not he can bring other represent senators on board to move that legislation forward. so it will be very interesting to hear how he delivers that republican rebuttal to biden's address on wednesday, alex. >> okay. very comprehensive report, amanda, thank you so much for that. joining me is chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and nbc news political analyst peter baker, my good buddy on sundays. hey, peter, welcome. president biden's approval rating is 53%. how do you read it? >> i think it tells us that president biden is governing at a time when we're very polarized, right? he's obviously doing better than president trump did at this point in his presidency and better than president trump did frankly better than any point in president trump's presidency.

at the same time, it's historically low. all the presidents going back to eisenhower except for trump hoo much higher net approval rating than biden at this time, which speaks to how dramatically polarized we are. the 52 or 53% he's getting in these polls are pretty close to the popular vote he got in november. he's getting a lot of support from democrats and independents. only 9% of republicans are saying he's doing a good job. some of his policies are more popular, and his handling of coronavirus is more popular. i think it says something about how we are looking at our president today. we are one side or the other, regardless what have we think about the specific policies, you're either for the guy you voted for or against him and it's not changing by, you know, in terms of actual performance. >> 82% think that this country is divided, right? and how much do you attribute that, because you make the point that preceding donald trump, typically presidents have a

higher approval rating at this stage of the game. how much do you attribute it to the trump era, the four years, the fact that things were said at that level that had never been said like that before, thus legitimizing this, and really legitimizing this divide? >> yeah, i mean, look, we were becoming polarized obviously before donald trump came along. but he certainly spent the four years, you know, furthering that rather than curing that. and obviously he spent the last ten weeks of his presidency telling the country and ever since as well that this election was stolen, it was illlegitimate. therefore you're less open to considering biden and what he's doing there, whether you think he's doing a good job or not. i'm struck that only 82% of us

say we're divided. i'm surprised 16% think we're united. but maybe they know something we don't. certainly president biden has not succeeded in his promise of uniting us even though he's produced some policies that have generated republican support. but i think what he has succeeded in doing is lowering the temperature, as you heard, obviously, from that voter in north carolina, not having to think about joe biden every day or the presidency every day or politics every day i think has been a big change from the last four years. >> yeah, which i think, to the point that 82% in some ways seems kind of low, but you're right, it's the tenor of things, and these things don't change overnight, and that said, the poll shows president biden has a higher approval rating than president trump at the 100-day mark. and the anecdote that some say they just don't have to think about the president every day, how much is that part of joe biden's success so far? >> yeah, i think so. i think people were exhausted after the last four years.

we were obviously so consumed, day in, day out, by whatever great conflict was going to happen in washington that day, whatever tweet was going to be out there causing controversy. i think there's sort of a relief even among people who like president trump that we're not having to do that every day, that joe biden is a more conventional president, that he is more of a return to this sort of normal bipartisan style of presidency that we had before the last four years, sort of a more reality show, dramatic confrontational leadership. he's a comforting figure, obviously, and he doesn't stir anger the way president trump did. people don't necessarily support his policies or him, necessarily, but i think they find him less provocative, obviously, than president trump was. >> okay, thanks for the chat, my friend, peter baker, see you again next week, i do hope. thanks. the push for change. after 20 police-involved shootings across the country this month. the sticking points as lawmakers work for reforms. for reforms rae

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police in los angeles say they shot and killed an unarmed man on sunset boulevard. officers say the man cut in front of a police car yesterday, hit the brakes, and backed his vehicle into the police cruiser. and they say when the man got out of his car, he was wearing a bulletproof vest and held one hand behind his back. >> the officers gave him commands which he did not follow. and he started counting down, saying "three, two, one." he started to pull his right hand from behind his back out to the front. and at that time there was an officer-involved shooting. >> turned out to be unarmed. but this makes at least 20 police-involved shootings across the u.s. this month, several of them involving traffic stops. police officers and civilians have lost their lives in these incidents. and new developments in the fatal shooting of andrew brown

jr. in elizabeth city, north carolina. the county sheriff under pressure from city officials and the local naacp, now saying he will take steps tomorrow to begin the process of releasing body cam video. nbc's kathy park is following this for us. kathy, good day to you. >> reporter: alex, it has been four days since the shooting death of andrew brown jr. and the community and his family want to know where is that body camera footage. now the sheriff says he's taking formal steps to release it. more demands from protesters to release body camera footage in the death of andrew brown jr. also calls from family. >> my nephew did not deserve that. say his name. >> reporter: elizabeth city officials. >> we are demanding that we have transparency and accountability. >> reporter: and now, the sheriff of pasquotank county,

who was asked to resign by civil rights leaders on saturday. >> we want the body cam footage made public. people claim my office has the power to do so. that is not true. only a judge can release the video. >> reporter: brown was killed wednesday as deputies were attempting to serve an arrest warranty. first responders can be heard on dispatch moments after the shooting. >> we've got one male 42 years of age, gunshots to the back. >> reporter: seven deputies are on administrative leave and according to the sheriff's office, three other deputies have resigned for reasons unrelated to the shooting. with the footage turned over to state investigators, the sheriff will file a motion as early as monday to release the video. an outside sheriff's office will now be coming in to investigate the shooting and question all those involved. the focus will now be to see if any sort of disciplinary action

will be taken. alex? >> all right, kathy, thank you so much for that. also new developments in the ma'khia bryant shooting. the associated press is reporting today on the 911 call and chaos at the scene. the report says a female voice told the dispatcher, quote, we got these grown girls over here trying to fight us, trying to stab us, trying to put their hands on our grandma. get here now. nbc's chris pollone is joining me from columbus from the very latest. chris, this is new, what more are you hearing about it today? >> reporter: alex, the 911 tapes were released wednesday, the day after the shooting. that's been the biggest question in this entire incident, is who made those two 911 calls, and the call that you just referenced was the longer, was the first one that originally brought police to the scene. police have been asked a few times who made those calls. family members of ma'khia bryant have said that she was the one

who actually made the call, that she felt like she was under attack, and that she called police to the scene and that the altercation ended up with the police officer shooting her dead. that's what's driving a lot of the anger and the frustration out here, the protests who come out every day for the last five days, they are maintaining that ma'khia bryant was the victim who was trying to get help and that she was fighting back in those videos that we saw, all of that is pretty evident, but it's these 911 calls that are really raising questions about whether she felt like she was under attack. as a matter of fact during some of the protests yesterday i heard people invoking ohio's relatively new stand your ground law, essentially saying that if she felt like she was in danger, that she was under attack, you know, perhaps she would have a right to fight back, to not have to retreat. so that's part of the

investigation here. now, since this move from the columbus police department when it became an officer-involved shooting to the state investigators, the bureau of criminal investigations, they have not commented on any aspect of this investigation whatsoever other than to say -- the attorney general said it could take 400 hours of investigation to come to a determination of exactly what happened. and they're the ones who are handling all the witness interviews. so when our reporter, meghan fitzgerald, spoke with paula bryant, ma'khia's mother, she would not say who she thought made the call but she did maintain her daughter was protecting herself. yesterday i asked one protester why they have been coming out every single day in this case. >> because of ma'khia and it's a lot of people that want to, you know, support the movement for her, even though there's only so much we can do, we still want to let her family know we're there

for them and we don't support what happened. >> reporter: so alex, that's the big question, is what can we glean from these 911 calls, what information will come out from them. the family maintains it was actually ma'khia who made the call. but that is not confirmed at this point. and if it is confirmed, does it change the way we look at this incident? people who come out to protest every day in downtown columbus say yes, it does. >> lots to figure out still. thank you so much for that, chris pollone. joining me, congresswoman yvette clarke, congresswoman, welcome on this sunday. i'm curious what you make of the flurry of police-involved shootings we've seen in these last few weeks. >> first of all, it's great to be back with you, alex. you know, it's so disheartening. it beckons out for us to make sure we pass the george floyd justice in policing act.

it's an imperative at this stage. the lack of trust between communities of color and the police department are at an all-time high. and we can't continue to go on like this. it's for every family, we're on edge. we're traumatized, we're terrorized. and it should not be that way in the 21st century. we have the ability to change that. and, you know, i have a colleague, congresswoman gwen moore of wisconsin, and she says, what is it that we are pretending not to know? we know we have a broken policing and justice system in this country, and it's time that we fix it. >> on that effort, let's take a listen to what your fellow congresswoman karen bass had to say today about her informal police reform talks she's been having with republican senator tim scott. >> i do not believe he's acting on his own. he is acting with the approval and support of his leadership.

and so to me that is a tremendous advantage and also i know that senator lindsey graham is supporting tim scott, and he's the ranking member on judiciary. >> lindsey graham in fact said there is room for compromise and reform. are you confident that senate republicans will do that, compromise on the thorny sticking points like ending qualified immunity protections for police officers? >> they seem to have a little stutter where that's concerned. and at the end of the day, you know, again, what are we pretending not to know? when you don't hold police officers accountable for their conduct, you're shielding sort of the bad apples within the bunch. and at the end of the day, we all pay for it anyway. you know, here in new york city, just recently in minnesota, cities are having to pay out

very large sums to families that are winning in court as a result of the conduct of rogue cops. and, you know, it's the same people who are the victims of bad policing that end up paying, you know, for settlements. and so i think that at the end of the day, accountability is the critical element to all of this. and if that means that the threat of a civil litigation against an officer has to be a part of that equation, then so be it. >> and you know what else pays, the image of policemen and women across the country when you have so many of them that are doing the right thing and are doing a good job, and yet you have these rogue cops, to your point, that are really tarnishing the image and therefore we're having to have these really tough conversations, painful, in fact. let me get to minority leader mccarthy who tried and failed to

censor congresswoman maxine waters over her comments supporting protesters. let's take a look at the ad put out against him by the republican accountability project. here it is. >> kevin mccarthy is suddenly worried about extreme rhetoric from some democrats. but where was he when members of his own conference said -- >> today american patriots start kicking ass! >> call your congressman. you can lightly threaten. >> you have to go to the streets and be violent. >> you can't allow it to just transfer power peacefully and allow joe biden to become our president. >> this is our alamo. >> more bad behavior is what we need! >> so what we heard there was a lot of republicans inciting with no repercussions. >> you know, the hypocrisy is so blatant. you know, at the end of the day, this is a man who supported the insurrection, the attack on the capitol, and would not hold donald trump accountable, though

he had called donald trump to let him know that he had a role to play in ending the insurrection. so we're dealing with a level of disingenuousness, of blatant disregard, of hard core partisanship that is not to the benefit of the american people. and it's childish, and it needs to end. >> so what about some of your democratic colleagues who are still calling for defunding the police? where do you stand on that? >> yeah, you know, i think that the terminology has really created a conundrum for a lot of them. but at the same time, what they're calling for is a 21st century public safety program. we have to reimagine what policing should be like in the united states of america. and that takes into account a

number of different factors, all of which have to be funded, right? at the end of the day, no one is saying we don't want policing. the folks who benefit from the policing the most are the most vulnerable in our society. however, we can't be subjected to a broken system that has broken lives, that has built mistrust, and that continues with impunity to take out the lives, disrupt the lives of millions of americans across this nation. >> absolutely right you are. before you go, i want to ask you about speaker pelosi who is offering concessions to republicans for a commission to investigate the january 6th attack on the capitol, now offering an equal split of republicans and democrats. do you think republicans will accept this? do you even get the sense that they want to get to the bottom of what actually happened that day? >> you know, again, they're in

deep denial, to a large extent. there are some outliers, as we know, within the republican party, who voted to impeach donald trump, knowing what this insurrection meant to our democracy. but for the most part, you know, we've got a rogue republican minority in the house of representatives. and they're in denial, they're into conspiracy theories, they're into insurrection. and so, you know, we will do everything we can to try to get to a space of sanity, where we can really do an objective look into what took place and prevent it from happening in the future. that's what that commission -- that's the work of that commission, that's what it needs to be focused on. but if we're going to have characters from the other side of the aisle who already walked

through the door with a bias towards what took place and their bias is that it was a fun day for families, intergoing to work. >> yeah, okay. congressman yvette clarke, thank you, it's good to see you again and i'll look forward to seeing you again in the future. thank you. what's happening in new jersey today could be the key to reaching herd immunity in this country. the bowls are back. applebee's irresist-a-bowls all just $8.99. look ma, no cavities! oh debbie, that's great! you'll always need a healthy smile... because in 60 years, you'll be taking tons of selfies and sharing them on something called the internet. moms know best. that's why they trust crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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we're back with coronavirus numbers out of michigan where a record number of children are hospitalized with covid. 70 children are being treated with severe symptoms, twice the number from november. the number of kids is the highest at any point in the pandemic. new delhi set a new record for new cases for the day. more than 2,700 people have died in just the last 24 hours.

back in the u.s., johnson & johnson vaccination are back up and running in at least 25 states with some planning to resume vaccinations this week. the indianapolis motor speedway is offering doses of j&j's shot. yesterday they vaccinated nearly 5,000 people. new today, health experts are worried about an alarming new trend in vaccinations. cdc data shows about 8% of americans who got the first shot in a two-dose vaccine skipped the second shot. u.s. surgeon general telling msnbc's jonathan capehart today that second dose is vital. >> it's really incumbent upon us to make sure that people have the right information about the vaccines. that they know that both doses are necessarily in a two-dose regimen like pfizer and moderna. johnson & johnson is a one-dose vaccine and a number of people prefer johnson & johnson for that reason. it's important that we continue to build access points. >> msnbc's cory kaufman is

joining me from rockaway, new jersey, outside a vaccine megasite. is there any investigation into why americans are skipping that second dose, did they have a bad experience the first time, are they afraid? do you have a sense of that? >> reporter: there's actually multiple factors going on here, alex. one, some people feel nervous about getting the second dose. we're hearing reports of more severe symptoms that are flu-like, fever, chills, body aches. they're concerned, they don't want to get that, so they'll stick with the first. some locations canceled second dose appointments because they ran out of supplies. there's a lot happening here. a spoke to the ceo of this mega site. he acknowledged the pause with johnson & johnson didn't help with vaccine hesitancy. you mentioned about the children in michigan, this surge of cases happening there.

that has been a major concern for many states, getting this next round of younger people vaccinated. they feel that that will help with this vaccine hesitancy and this plateau that many states are starting to see, getting up to that rate of 70 to 80% vaccination rate, to achieve that herd immunity and this next to younger group is going to be key to that. 16 and 17-year-olds right now, possibly even younger following that. listen to what the ceo of atlantic health system told me. >> i think that this younger age group was a bit distanced from the impact of covid. in many instances it's just not very real to them. and this is a significant disease. and so if we're able to get to this group using something like graduation, they can begin to talk through their social media networks and their friends and families, that's all part of the goal of getting to vaccinate 70% of the population here in new jersey and throughout the country.

>> reporter: and according to the cdc, only 0.4% of 16 and 17-year-olds are currently fully vaccinated. pfizer is also trying to get emergency approval through the fda for those 12 and up to receive the vaccine. that answer could come in the next few weeks, alex. but to round it out to what we first started talking about here with the latest news of people only getting shot one, i'll say even though this is concerning news, a 92% return rate is higher than what we see for other double dose vaccines such as the shingles vaccine which only has a 75% return rate. but another big reason that this is going to be so important for people to get both shots, no matter what age you are, is that experts say it could make you more susceptible to the variants if you just get the single dose, alex. >> a lot to digest there, thanks for bringing it to us, my friend cori coffin. today's nbc news poll shows

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a new nbc news poll out just a short time ago pegged to president biden's approaching 100th day in office. so far the president has received high marks on his handling of coronavirus, the economy, and uniting the country. the poll showing lower marks on guns and immigration. joining me now to break it all down, don callaway, democratic strategist and founder of the national voter protection action fund. susan del percio, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. and david jolly, former congressman from florida and an msnbc political contributor who's got some big news to share which we'll get to in just a minute. let's go ladies first with you, susan. the president is coming out of his first 100 days with a 53% approval rating. to put that in perspective, biden's job rating is higher than donald trump's was at this same point in time but it's definitely lower than barack obama's was at 100 days.

so what do you make of the polling, is it just a 100-day honeymoon or do you think this is something that's more durable and long-lasting? >> oh, i do think it's durable, mostly because of joe biden's tone and everything that he's speaking about. he's taking away the hair on fire attitude and washington is burning, and basically focusing on the issues that matter. now, we do see also in that poll that people think we're deeply divided at the rate of something like 82%. that still will exist. the question is, can the administration keep delivering for people. and they're going to say not so much how was the first hundred days but what are you going to do for me the next hundred days. and that's where his numbers have to look forward to. >> interestingly, to that point, don, joe biden entered office during a very pivotal moment in history, battling multiple crises, some of them huge. do you think in his first 100 days that he's meeting the moment? >> oh, absolutely, no doubt about it.

joe biden's first priority is to get shots in folks' arms, whether it be the moderna, the pfizer, or the johnson & johnson. and i think he's succeeded even more than he thought he would or the american people thought he would. the second thing is the stimulus package, the stimmies hit and people have been able to take care of basic necessities. so he's had tremendous successes and now he has kamala harris working on the border crisis. of course there's always going to be a deep red republican news machine which is saying he's failing. that's why you see 47% of people, quote unquote, disapproving, or 39%, whatever it was. >> how about you, david. let's say you were a republican in congress right now. how would you interpret these numbers? >> yeah, look, this poll has a lot for everybody, right?

joe biden has a majority of support of the american people. he's over 50%, ten points higher than donald trump, but lower historically than his democratic predecessors at this point. two things jump out to me as questions. one, is this just the new normal we live in, the partisan divide, where we're never going to return to seeing 60% numbers for a president in 100 days? that might be the case. the second, though, is the poll that shows over 40% think that joe biden is too liberal and in fact more liberal than barack obama and bill clinton. if that didn't already exist, certainly the right wing news media and republicans are going to make that exist. but that's an interesting thing for the biden administration to keep an eye on, whether he's going to be branded as kind of the bipartisan unifier or if his opponents will successfully brand him as a liberal. >> you make a good point there. relative to the president's infrastructure plan, you've got

59% saying it's a good idea, 21% disagree, 19% don't have an opinion. susan, we saw this with covid relief, we saw it with gun control, now with infrastructure. why is it that these issues that are very popular among americans across both parties, it's still so hard to get bipartisan support in both chambers of congress? >> i think at this point, we're starting to see legislation that is too big to succeed. i think that they're very broad-reaching pieces out there, whether it be infrastructure, the voting rights bill, there's others, that need to start focusing on the challenge at hand that people are talking about. when it comes to the infrastructure bill, everyone loves the sound of infrastructure but a lot of people do not think that human infrastructure should be part of this bill. yes to broadband, yes to roads, yes to water infrastructure, but there's other components that are not traditional. and i think that it would be in biden's best interests, instead of trying to get everything done at once, let him go forward and

put this traditional infrastructure bill together and put it out there, and then take votes on the other things. i'm surprised they haven't pushed a vote for the minimum wage yet, that would have been a good thing to do on its own, and it's okay to do individual bills. >> biden's promise since day one was unity. there's been a lot of skepticism that in the times we live in now, whether that's even possible, david, you were saying that, you were saying it may never happen again. but this poll says 82% say the country is divided, only 16% say it's united. don, moving forward in his presidency, does joe biden have to choose between what some consider a more progressive democratic agenda, or uniting the country? are these things mutually exclusive? >> they're not mutually exclusive. but i think it's a false choice. i think he can choose a progressive democratic agenda and then he has to go sell, he and the vice president have to go sell that agenda to the american people and make the

case for why this is the right thing, make the case why you have to lift past the veil of partisan politics and understand why a minimum wage, expanded health care, and robust infrastructure package, are good things for all of us regardless of your partisan agenda. >> is there merit to susan's idea of taking things one by one? >> yes. the one thing she didn't mention is we're at the renewal of earmarks, so it will be difficult to rein in these massive infrastructure bills when you have every member of congress putting in their request for community funding projects, earmarks, because they're coming back for the first time in 25 years. so an exciting team in d.c. >> that's a good way to describe it. there's certainly a striking divide by party here when it

comes to where people stand on vaccination. among democrats, 74% say they're vaccinated. 4% say they'll never take it. among republicans, 40% say they've been vaccinated, 24% say they'll never take it. david, why is the vaccine so political and somewhat should high level republicans be doing to encourage their constituents who are skeptical? we're aiming for herd immunity not only in this country but globally. >> republican leaders, led by donald trump, missed the opportunity to lead in this moment. >> but he got one. he got his shot. >> i know, but they politicized it for purposes of trying to win an election, and i guess to cater to the ego of donald trump. the critical thing here is those leadership voices matter. and alex, i think we should hold republican leaders responsible for the public health behavior we've seen. look, the bottom line is, a

layperson does not know more than a public health official. also true is, public health officials make mistakes during emerging research environments which was the public health pandemic. republicans seized on that to p of the pandemic. voters will remember that. it's part of the reason you saw them throw republicans out last november. >> the big news this week, on tuesday, teddy wilson was welcomed to the jolley family. are you getting any sleep? that's the big question. >> we're doing great. two years ago we welcomed our daughter. my wife said this may be the happiest we've ever been. there's a lot of joy in the jolly house this week. >> i'm about to cry hearing that. that's just the best news of all. congratulations. we love it. >> thank you. >> we'll see you all again soon. you're not off the hook, just

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is mealtime a struggle? introducing ore-ida potato pay. where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. a tragic ending to the search for a missing indonesian submarine. investigators say they have found the sub broken into three parts in the sea. none of the 53 crew members on board survived. it lost contact on wednesday with its crew which was conducting a drill. more than a dozen ships and helicopters had joined the search for that missing submarine. more breaking news. this from baghdad where a fire in a hospital has a death toll as a result that stands at 82 killed. authorities blame last night's fire on negligence and say it started when an oxygen container

exploded in an icu ward. at least 28 people on ventilators battling covid, more than 100 people have been injured. both bad news stories there. in arizona today, a gop-backed recount of maricopa county's 2020 presidential election ballots will resume. the recount not without controversy and legal action. joining me now is a reporter for "the arizona republic." jen, welcome. first of all, can you explain what is happening and why there's a recount of these votes, what, almost 100 days after joe biden took office? >> sure. as you know, this is a battle ground state. when the results were announced that joe biden won here, and in particular, maricopa county, trump immediately began to challenge those results. he went to court with his team trying to prove there was widespread fraud here. all those court cases were dismissed. the county did multiple audits, trying to show people, including a hand count of statistically

significant number of pal lotsings trying to show people that the election was fair and everything went well. republicans in the arizona senate still weren't satisfied, so they subpoenaed the county for ballots and voting machines. and since then they've been trying to get them and set up their own audit to do election results. >> and who's footing the bill for this? >> that's a great question. that's something that we're trying to figure out, all the arizona reporters are working hard to try to figure out who exactly is paying for it. $150,000 were put up by the senate, but this is going to cost a lot more. we know that one american news is fund-raising. we know that pal is somehow involved but the contractors hired by the senate will not tell us who is involved. >> what is the ultimate expectation here? what do they think they're going to find? >> the senate president said it's not about overturning the election results.

more, they want to try to see if everything in election law in arizona is going well, so if it's not, they can introduce laws here that change the voting process. so, what they're looking for is any irregularities in voting information. they got all that data from the county. they got all the balance -- examining the ballots, it looks like with microscopes to see whether the paper is real. and then, of course, they're doing the full recount of all ballots cast in the county. >> interesting. okay. well, keep us abreast. i think the results are not expected until next month so we'll have you back and talk about it then. thank you. as india sets a world record for covid infections, the need for vaccines appears more dire. america could be india's life line to vaccines, but will the u.s. share its overabundant supply? overabanundant supply

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good day, everyone, from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports." developing this hour as president biden nears 100 days in office, a brand-new nbc poll gives us a glimpse of how americans think he's doing o