asked about the film, he says he thinks it will inspire people to do the right thing. don't make the mistake montanez made. document everything. that is all the time i have for today. i'm alicia menendez. right now it's time for "the mehdi hasan show." hi, mehdi. >> hi, alicia. i have no idea who came up with the flamin' hot cheeto but i'm glad we no longer have president cheato. sl have a great rest of your sunday. tonight on "the mehdi hasan show," the anniversary of george floyd's death is tuesday but skong not ready to pass legislation in his name. what will it take? the january 6 bill may come up in the senate, but will republicans use to filibuster to block the commission on the insurrection? an accomplished woodworker but today he will give us the master class on why americans

should get vaccinated. good evening. i'm mehdi hasan. on tuesday, it will be a year since a 46-year-old man drove to a minneapolis convenience store where he bought a pack of cigarettes with a $20 bill. store employees, who believed that store was counterfeit, called the cops. for less than $20, that man was arrested, handcuffed and pinned to the ground. pinned to the ground and had one officer place a knee on his neck. please, he said, i can't breathe, he said. mama, he said. i'm about to die, he said. nine minutes and 29 seconds later, when the officer's knee was finally removed from his neck, that man would no longer have a pulse. he was murdered. a lot of things have changed since the killing of george floyd in 2020. for one thing, the officer who killed him is behind bars. derek chauvin is the first white police officer in minnesota to

be convicted of killing a black person. police brutality and racism in what's believed to be the biggest protest movement in american history. the president at the time george floyd was killed, who sent in federal officers, agents to break up protesters, who advocated for a stronger police presence. >> americans want law and order. they demand law and order. they may not say it. they may not be talking about it, but that's what they want. some of them don't even know that's what they want, but that's what they want. >> you want me on that wall. you need me on that wall. yeah, that guy. donald trump, not colonel nathan jessop, is no longer president. he has been replaced by this guy. >> the country is crying out for leadership. leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together. can't leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away and do nothing.

we can't do that this time. we just can't. the moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism. >> so what form will doing something actually take? because one thing that hasn't changed over the past year is the law. there has been no new legislation passed in this country to try and prevent more deaths like george floyd's. a police reform bill named after george floyd that would ban choke holds and no longer protect law enforcement did pass in the house back in march, and the president has said he wanted to see it passed in the senate by may 25th, by the anniversary of that murder. but sadly, frustratingly, that clearly isn't now going to happen. republicans have drawn a red line on the so-called issue of qualified immunity. to protect officers from lawsuits. and instead of capitulating, house progressives are insisting

that getting rid of qualified immunity, getting rid of that and making sure that's in the final package, well, that has to be in the final package, they say. senator cory booker leading negotiations for democrats in the senate, he says he has faith that a deal can be reached. >> i wouldn't have a negotiating partner in tim scott if mitch mcconnell didn't believe this isn't something that we should be at the table trying to work through. we are on the senate side, working in good faith to bring this to a conclusion. >> why do so many democrats always seem willing to believe that this time, mitch mcconnell will be an honest broker, act in good faith? for more, let's turn now to valerie jarrett, who served as a senior adviser to president barack obama in the white house and currently service as president of the obama foundation. he's the author of the memoir "finding my voice" out this week in paperback. thanks so much for joining me on the show tonight. are you as confident that the

george floyd justice in policing -- >> sadly, i can't hear a word you're saying. >> are you has trusting in mitch mcconnell, who are you also dealt with during your time in the white house, as senator booker and other democrats seem to be. >> i'm delighted to be here with you. unfortunately, i can't hear you at all. i hear nothing. >> she's answering. i don't -- what we're going to do -- there you go. this is the technical snags of live tv. we're going to take a break, come back and hopefully, fingers crossed, speak to valerie jarrett, former top white house adviser, about this important issue. don't go away. [truck horn blares] (vo) the subaru forester. dog tested. dog approved.

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joining me now, former senior white house adviser valerie jarrett. good to have you on our show. let me ask you the question i was asking you before. are you as confident that george floyd policing and justice act is going to be passed as much as senator booker and others seem to be? are you as trusting in mitch mcconnell, who you also dealt with during your time in the white house, as senator booker and others seem to be on this issue? >> you asked two different questions there. i think it will pass, but i don't have a lot of confidence in senator mitch mcconnell. i do have a lot of confidence in senator booker. i think there is bipartisan support for it. more importantly, i think the american people want to see it passed.

i think this isn't a matter of law and order. i think it's about making all americans feel safe and the act will go one step closer to ensuring that happens. >> but the problem is that there's a sticking point on qualified immunity. would you go along with the republican proposal to drop that from the bill or at least replace it with people being allowed to sue police officers over individual officers? >> i'm not so sure that the taxpayer should have to pay the burden. i think we need both carrots and sticks. we need a better job of recruiting and training those in law enforcement. i think we need to make sure we are not asking our law enforcement to do jobs that are not their jobs and for which they're not qualified. we need more social workers. we need more intervention types that don't involve the police department, but i think police are in a position of power.

we are -- should be putting our trust in their hands, and if they misbehave, i think we ought to be able to sue them and not protect them with qualified immunity. and for all those absolutely extraordinary folks in law enforcement out there every single day, it blemishes the entire department. i think it protects them, too. >> i want to come back to training of police officers in a moment. just sticking with the politics of it. joe biden and a lot of top democrats are keen on bipartisanship or trying for bipartisanship, even though it means mitch mcconnell, tim scott and the rest of the gop know they can block the george floyd justice and policing act if they want to, for as long as they like, block racial progress. this is what your old boss said at the funeral of the late john lewis last july. have a listen. >> another jim crow relic. in order to secure the god-given rights of every american, then that's what we should do. >> so, why do you think his

former vice president, now president joe biden doesn't agree with him on the filibuster, even though getting rid of the filibuster would just help fight racism, but help get through joe biden's own agenda? >> i think that president biden ran on an agenda that he was going to try to work with both sides. just as we saw earlier with the american rescue act, he moved forward without it. he decided those stakes were more important to get relief in the hands of americans and so he decided to forego the normal way of going through the process and avoided the filibuster. and he may reach the point here where he wants to do that as well. he wants to give them enough room to those who are negotiating to reach an agreement because that will be the best option but i won't prejudge what he will do if that option isn't available. >> you're no longer in politics. you're not working in government anymore. joe biden may have a strategy to get your own personal view, you would get rid of the filibuster if you had the chance, if you had the power?

>> i would. i think it's being used in a horrendous way. i think it's preventing congress from doing what the american people want it to do, and that is look out for them. it's used as a short-term political strategy as opposed to focusing on what is actually beneficial for the american people. the bad will we saw over the course of president obama and vice president biden's term in office demonstrates they're not acts responsibly with it, and so i would not let it get in the way of doing the people's work. >> so let's talk gun violence, a teenage girl is dead, five more were wounded at an overnight shooting in a park in columbus, ohio. new data shows that gun violence is up. the frequency of shootings has been unusually high more than a year, despite the pandemic. again, the senate filibuster is also potentially blocking gun reform, blocking two different bills on universal background checks passed in the house.

you were in government when sandy hook happened, when kids were massacred, and yet still no new laws were able to be passed at that time. given that, it's hard not to feel endlessly pessimistic for prospects for gun reform even as killings continue to escalate. >> i think what the american people have to do is call on their elected representatives to act. we have a crisis. it is an epidemic here in the united states. two-thirds of the people who die from gun violence take their own lives. that's a mental health challenge as well. you're right, after sandy hook, we really thought given the popularity with the american people to close the loophole and make sure people who have lethal weapons have background checks done on them universally. we thought it would pass and it didn't. the nra still has a stranglehold on members of congress. they pour money into their

coffers and tell we the people, push us back hard and continuously. we can't give up. this has to be a relentless, determined effort. we are seeing mobilization around the country that has been going on for a while now and eventually we're going to reach the point, i believe, where congress is going to have to act. they are not there yet. the republicans are not there yet. >> no, they are not, sadly and tragically. >> that's right. >> one last question, valerie, returning to the topic of police reform and police training. when you were in office, when you were in the white house, those two terms saw some very high profile, why became tragic killings. trayvon martin, michael brown, a number of young black men killed. the obama administration, in the second term, especially post-ferguson did put out a package of reforms that weren't

successful. i want to acknowledge all of that. there were good things done in 2015 and 2016 which trump tried to undo. having said that, a lot of activists, valerie, say you guys didn't go far enough over eight years. you dealt with police training reform but not the substantive issue of structural racism, of institution at reform. what do you say to critics who say you should have gone much further over the eight years? >> i feel proud of president obama's record. we certainly pushed, as you said, not just executive orders, but we pulled together a group of experts on whether it was those who were the demonstrators and people in law enforcement, faith leaders, all came together and created a task force on policing. and a blueprint of what could be done at the state and local level. keep in mind most of the issues involving police happen at the local level. 17,000 jurisdictions around our country. we created a blueprint for what they could do. there has been a lot of progress. president obama called on our nation's mayors to look at the

use of force working with their communities. and over 300 mayors working with their communities have put in place substantial reforms. so this isn't something that one president or one leader can do alone. this is something that everyone has to do. what you talked about in terms of systemic racism, that's left up to every single american. government is there to put in place rules that prohibit discrimination, that ensure that this system is fair and just. you're right, we put in place analysis, like in ferguson, pattern and practice of discriminatory behavior. >> yes. >> then we were able to insist that it change. systemic racism, that's in the hearts of every person who then has to change their hearts and minds and that happens over time. it doesn't happen overnight. >> valerie jarrett, thanks for your time tonight. a reminder that "finding my voice" is out in paper back on tuesday. thanks so much. >> thank you. next, the united states

government seems to be paying for the israeli/palestinian conflict on both ends. i'll explain in my 60-second rant. first, richard lui is here with the headlines. >> mehdi, good evening to you. some sories we're watching this hour. 14 people, including one child, were killed after a cable car fell to the ground in northern italy. it was on its way up to the peak in the alps when it dropped 60 feet and began rolling downhill before slamming into a group of trees. italy's prime minister called this a tragic accident. a hate crimes task force is investigating a pair of antisemitic incidents in brooklyn last night. three men jumped out of a car outside a synagogue and harassed four orthodox jewish men observing the sabbath. later that night the same group attacked two jewish teenagers, punching the victims and chasing them with a baseball bat. mayor bill de blasio said the men will beprosecuted once they

are found. a horse was rescued from a water-filled pit. in order to rescue the horse out of the pit, they had to dive under the water, right under the horse. the horse is said to be in good condition. more of "the mehdi hasan show" right after this break. ehdi has" right after this break oh um, doug can we talk about something other than work, it's the weekend. yeah, yeah. [ squawk ] hot dog or... chicken? [ squawk ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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welcome back. it's time now for what i'm calling the 60-second rant. start the clock. i don't know about you. there's something about our foreign policy i cannot get my head around. thursday after israel and hamas announced the ceasefire, president joe biden announced he would be sending u.s. aid to help rebuild gaza where 2,000 residential units were destroyed, 80,000 people displaced from their homes. how? from 11 straight days of israeli bombardment made in america, funded by america. by us. we give israel more than $3

billion of military aid every year. so, we are basically paying for the israelis to bomb gaza, then pay for palestinians to rebuild it. makes no sense. same with the saudis. we sell weapons to saudi arabia, then we send humanitarian aid money to yemen. here's a thought. maybe we should stop arming and funding foreign militaries, and in the case of gaza, one of the most densely populated strips of land on earth. maybe we wouldn't have to spend so much on aiding people if we didn't spend so much on arming people. [ buzzer ] former president trump is calling the investigation into his organization a witch hunt. it's not the first time he has used that phrase. this investigation may end quite differently. we'll get into it, next. crafted by lexus. we're good. the remarkable gx and lx. get 0.9% apr financing on the 2021 gx 460. experience amazing, at your lexus dealer. ♪ ♪i've got the brains you've got the looks♪

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former president trump's legal troubles got more series this week. you've heard that. bear with me. latisha jones says her investigation has morphed into a criminal one, working with cy vance to investigate long-time cfo allen weisselberg. his former daughter-in-law has met with the manhattan d.a. multiple times. listen to what she told cnn. >> will allen weisselberg flip on trump?

>> yes. >> attorneys for both weisselberg and the trump organization have declined to comment. trump, you'll be shocked to learn, calls the investigation politically motivated, calling it an investigation in search of a crime. i'm joined by andrew weissman, he was the lead prosecutor for robert mueller and he was the former chief of the fraud section at the department of justice. andrew, good evening to you. let's talk first about the new york attorney general's announcement that her investigation has shifted from a civil one to a criminal one. what would it take for that to happen, andrew? what's that say about what her office and the d.a.'s office now has in their possession? >> what's interesting is that the new york attorney general has limited criminal authority. in other words, they pry maybely do civil cases. for them to transfer the case

from essentially being partially civil to partially criminal means that they have run into probably one or two things. either a criminal tax fraud case as to which the new york attorney general has jurisdiction or the martin act, which is a very broad statute that the new york attorney general has authority to prosecute, which involves securities or real estate fraud. that's on the new york attorney general's side. you also heard that the new york attorney general was sending her staff to assist in the manhattan attorney's case. that suggests to me at least there's some there there. you wouldn't be sending somebody over there unless they had something that they were bringing. in other words, some evidence that would be useful for the manhattan district attorney's office. >> andrew, we know that allen weisselberg's former daughter-in-law is cooperating

with investigators. how damaging would it be for trump if weisselberg were to do the same? he knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak. >> one thing that is good news for trump is that the announcement this week that what the new york attorney general is doing certainly increases the pressure on weisselberg but makes it pretty clear he has not yet flipped. there's been a lengthy investigation. and so far it seems to have come up short. however, the bad news is that he now is facing not one, but two criminal investigations in the new york attorney general's office and in the manhattan district attorney office. he's now not playing russian roulette with not one bullet in the chamber but two. if you're allen weisselberg, the pressure to cooperate has gone up dramatically. >> a number of people close to

the former president are saying he will try to flip and blame this on someone else. have a listen to his personal attorney michael cohen. >> donald trump never put his name on anything. he had, as you know, no email. he very rarely texted, if ever, unless he was tweeting. so what he will do and say, it wasn't me. it was my cfo. he's the one who did it. he worked with my accountant. it wasn't me. he will blame everyone. he will blame ivanka, don jr., eric, the accountant, weisselberg, calamari me. he will blame anyone else not to accept responsibility. >> donald trump may well throw his own kids under the bus. i wouldn't be surprised if he did that. but the question is, if you're prosecuting this case, would you go after anyone but donald trump? he's the big fish here, right? the biggest fish of all. >> he is, but you obviously have to wait and see where the facts lead you. one thing that's important for

people to know is senior people are entitled to rely on accountants and lawyers, if they are misled or led to believe that what they were doing was not criminal because their lawyers signed off on it. not as part of the conspiracy, but legitimately signed off on it or the accountant signed off on it. you know, that is not blaming other people. that is actually a legitimate defense. if you're a criminal prosecutor, what you need to be able to show is either that the lawyers or accountants did not know the full set of facts, and so what they were signing off on was not actually the deal that the ceo understood, or that this was all part of one huge criminal conspiracy. but this is standard operating procedure for both ceos, who are trying to avoid responsibility, and for prosecutors. and so going back to the beginning, it is really important for weisselberg to cooperate. it is really necessary in order

to pierce that defense. you need him to be telling you what happened. >> andrew, last question. we know that investigators are looking into whether the trump organization inflated the values of their properties for tax purposes. how do you see this playing out if it does go to trial? are you talking actual jail time for a former president of the united states? seems unlikely. >> you know, i think that the answer to that is if there is to be a prosecution and if it turns out that he, like anyone else, committed a fraud or significant tax fraud, then he should suffer the same, you know, penalties that any other person would. i mean, this country is built on the notion -- >> yes. >> that a president is not above the law. so it may seem unlikely, because we haven't seen it before. but, you know, trump has certainly broken the mold in all sorts of ways. and we'll see if this is one of them. >> very good point. andrew weissman, thank you for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome.

>> this morning, republican congressman adam kinzinger spoke out against republican lies about the 2020 election and the subsequent insurrection. have a listen. >> the 74 million voters who voted for donald trump, that believe -- a number of them believe that the election was stolen believe it because their leaders have not told them otherwise. the people they trust have been silent or not told them the truth. >> but as ousted gop conference chair liz cheney will tell you, the odd gop voice, shouting into the republican void won't get you very far. take democratic bill to investigate the january 6th capitol riot. it passed the house this week with hardly any republican support. unsurprisingly, a laundry list of trump-loyal senate republicans say they'll oppose the creation of the commission because, after all, the insurrectionists were just

tourists. right? the senate could vote next week. thanks to the filibuster, this could be the first bill under biden to fail because of that ridiculous 60-vote threshold. joining me to discuss, congressman from south carolina and house majority whip james clyburn, who joins me on the phone. thank you for joining me this evening. let me ask you this. senator susan collins says she does think this bill could pass with some compromise. listen to what she said today. >> the two issues i think are resolvable, one has to do with staffing and i think that both sides should either jointly appoint the staff, or there should be equal numbers of staff appointed by the chairman and the vice chairman. the second issues, i see no reason why the report cannot be completed by the end of this year. >> we have this game in d.c.,

congressman, where republicans constantly ask for and get multiple concessions from democrats and then don't vote for the bill any ways. how many times are members of your party going to fall for this bad-faith gop trickery? >> thanks for having me. i think we are all quite aware that within hours of the insurrection, kevin mccarthy came to the floor and squarely put the blame at the feet of donald trump. and the next day, mitch mcconnell took the floor of the senate and did pretty much the same. now we don't know if all that is true or not. what we do know is that we did have an insurrection. and we ought to have an objective, fact-finding process by which we will find out what happened, why it happened and what we should do in response to it. and the best way i know is for this committee or commission

that we had certified republicans to vote for, to be passed by the senate not have any elected officials involved in it. just have ten people, five appointed by democrats, five appointed by republicans, who will then sit down and go through all the information. >> okay. >> and come back to the public. >> that's tricky in the sense that it doesn't have republican support in the senate. congressman, i hear so many liberals and democrats complaining that republicans blocked a bipartisan commission while spending two years and 33 hearings investigating benghazi. isn't that the problem? republicans are willing to do what it takes to get things

done. democrats sometimes aren't. why aren't you and the house democratic leadership saying loudly that if that commission doesn't pass in the senate you will follow the benghazi model, set up a select committee in the house and investigate the insurrection. why not say that now? >> it's up to speaker pelosi to say what she thinks ought to be done, whether she were to ask me for advice, i would say just do it. set up a committee. i would love to see even numbers. if you're going to make it appointed by the speaker, then it ought to have the speaker's choices, not anybody else's. if she wants to have kevin mccarthy or somebody else make recommendations, then she can accept or reject their recommendations, but they're not going to participate in a bipartisan committee then i think speaker pelosi, my advice would be to set up a committee, invite their participation.

if they participate, fine. if they don't do as we've done, with the select subcommittee, go forward with the investigation. >> well, i hope she asks for advice and takes it. congressman, republicans claim to be the party of blue lives matter. last week there was a vote to give nearly $2 billion to capitol police and every single republican in the house voted against it. isn't that hypocrisy of the highest order? >> yes, it is, but that is just the most recent manifestation of republican hypocrisy. they've had it over and over again and are showing it very clearly with this bipartisan commission, and they've shown it over the last several years. so, my part on that is let's just do it. we should not be be waiting on them to come along. just do it.

>> one last question, just on the police reform bill we were discussing earlier in the show. it's not going to pass, the george floyd policing act, by tuesday, as president biden wanted. there's sticking points over qualified immunity, whether to drop that request from the bill, to get rid of qualified immunity. you said you're okay with compromising. you would rather with a good bill passed even if it's not perfect. you've said that. isn't it a false choice? it's not just a bill with compromises yet no bill at all, isn't it get rid of the filibuster and pass the bill you want to? >> if you got rid of the filibuster you have to have all democrats on board and the question still remains will sinema be on board shall will manchin be on board? i don't know. if they go section by section and say this is what we're going to do on qualified immunity, qualified immunity as it is would be -- qualified immunity, getting rid of it, that's the full loaf. somewhere between those two extremes, we ought to find common ground.

look, qualified immunity, the word qualified is defined in black's law dictionary as limited. we seem to treat it as absolute. qualified means limited. so i suspect that the committee will do -- find all the people trying to reach a compromise by trying to find qualified in a way that would be amenable for everybody. i 1789 i 1789 -- trying to find qualified -- find it in a way that would be amenable for everybody. >> i guess we'll have to see what happens in the senate this week. congressman jim clyburn, unfortunately we're out of time. thank you for joining us on the show this evening. next, world leaders are condemning the arrest of a

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and who wins? you. some breaking news this evening. the president of belarus has forced the landing of a passenger plane in order to arrest an opposition blogger on board. ryan air flight from athens to lithuania was intercepted by a fighter jet while flying through belarus air space. he demanded that the plane land in the capitol minsk. a telegram channel that say popular opposition channel outlet in belarus. he was immediately detained before the plane flew on without him to its destination. the move has been widely denounced, including by the u.s. secretary of state. in a statement, he said --

he's been desperately clinging to power, despite protests over the last hour. in the past six months, more than 400 journalists have been detained throughout belarus. there's a reason he's known as unaffectionately as europe's last dictator. coming up, top of the hour, "the week with joshua johnson." this year's new york city's pride is telling uniformed officers they're not welcome, not even in the parade. joshua will speak to nrk city pride interim director at how they arrived at that decision. a name and face we all recognize, woodworker and actor, star of "making it" and "parks and rec" wants you to get vaccinated. stick around. how great is it that we get to tell everybody

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after 15 months, it finally feels like u.s. is winning fight against the coronavirus. new cases and hospitalizations are at record lows and half over the age of 16 have received one shot. under 2 million doses a day, 50% decrease from peak in mid-april, and vaccine hesitancy threatens to halt the progress we've made.

but fear not, someone with a lot of experience in local government is stepping up to turn it around. nick offerman, known for role of ron swanson in "parks and recreation," is set to testify before congress on wednesday, urging americans to get vaccinated. he joins me now. he's an actor, author, woodworker and catch season three of his show "making it" premiering june 3rd. pleasure to speak with you. when looking at vaccine hesitancy, one of the most difficult groups to reach are white, lesser educated men and men living in rural communities. why is that? and what message do you have to them and to congress? >> thank you for having me. great to see you again, mehdi. to answer your question, that particular group, which i feel representative of, we start with ignorance and stubbornness.

so we say, i don't know how this is supposed to go, but i'll be damned if i'm going to read the instructions. and eventually rely on others, usually the more sage members of society, i.e. our wives, to get us to pay attention to the scientists and experts who then direct us to something like the gift of this vaccine. >> my wife is definitely someone who has guided me through this pandemic and kept me sane and safe. on "parks and rec," your character of ron swanson was not a big fan of western medicine. have a listen. >> you've been sweating in here all day. are you drinking any fluids? >> yes, plenty. >> no, you need to drink water. >> usually i take it neat but i will make an exception in the name of health. >> take off the layers, rehydrate, go to the doctor. >> thank you for your concern, i will be fine, turn the

thermostat up to 90 and leave me alone. >> ron, this isn't safe. >> i'm a grown man. i've had a cold before, i need no help. so if you don't mind -- >> nick, big question i have to ask you, would ron get the covid shot if it had been offered to him on "parks and rec?" >> great question and what a great episode this would have made. ron at first would of course scoff at a vaccine and say i've never been to the doctor, i rely on my preternatural immune system to pro-hecht tim. then his wife, diane, played by the great lucy lawless, would step up and say, no, you're no longer alone. you've got me, i teach at school, we've got kids to worry about, your responsibilities are no longer limited to your own body. once convinced of that, he's a

good guy and once a good guy sees he's taking care of others, and that it's for the common good, of course, he would get the damn vaccine. >> so you mentioned the whole -- taking care of others and you're hinting at the whole libertarianism that undergirds this, ron swanson's correct and -- character and today, senator rand paul, announcing he's not going to get vaccinated because he already had covid, which most experts say is irrelevant. how dangerous and selfish is this rhetoric, quote/unquote libertarian rhetoric, individualistic rhetoric from a senior in america like rand paul? >> well, i think just think it's a shame. i would hate to vote for somebody who didn't think of his constituents. the question is now, how does this affect you personally? you know, we've been at this for 14 months. we made it through all the

disinformation of the last administration. suddenly, we're back on track, the cdc protocols worked wonderfully. now we have the vaccine, and we can see, the figures came out today. in los angeles county, january 5th, we had 8100 people hospitalized with covid. now, five months later, or less, we have 319 people hospitalized. that's the vaccine. you just look at those numbers and say, okay, regardless of any personal misgivings, we need to achieve herd immunity, so everybody pitch in, and do your tiny part. it's a very small thing to give to your fellow man and woman. >> yes, it is. and yet we're having to incentivize some americans to get them to take vaccines as the vaccinations have slowed down. states have begun to offer incentives like baseball tickets, offering the possibility of a $1 million lottery prize, depending on

where you live in america. so far it does seem to be helping, encouraging reluctant americans to get the shot. what do you make of these initiatives? if you were the governor of a state, what would youoffer to get people vaccinated? >> gosh, i don't know. it's complicated. we human beings are pesky critters. we require a lot of nuance. i don't think it's smart to give people a cookie to get them to do what's right. i wish i could go around and talk to people and say listen, here, i'll do it with you, it's not a big deal. there was a day when we had like polio sweeping the nation, and we came one a vaccine and there wasn't any of this hesitancy. everyone said, hooray, humankind has triumphed. our scientists have solved this problem of complex microbiology

in record time. the day has been saved. there wouldn't be any of this weird politicizing of, like, i don't know if i want to keep my germs from others. is that liberal, is that conservative? no. it's decent. it's just decency. >> i think that's a pretty good line. i hope that's what you say on wednesday in congress. it's just decent. >> i'm going to have to go back and write that down. >> or you could just watch this back. we rerun later tonight. it's just decency and it beats all the argument about political polarization. it is just decency. you're a very decent man, nick, and we appreciate you taking time out to come on the show tonight. thank sols much. >> thank you. great to see you. >> and thank you all for watching. we are off next sunday, but we will see you the week after that, right back here at 8:00

p.m. eastern. catch me monday through thursday at 7:00 p.m. on nbc streaming channel peacock. now it's time to turn it over to joshua johnson. good evening. >> good evening, mehdi. i hope you enjoy your memorial day weekend off. in the meantime, hello to you. good the see you tonight. . . . .