loyal, ever reliable. he could tame wild beasts with his whisper. not so easy to bring a human heart to heel. heal. hey, alicia. i have no idea who came up with the flaming hot cheeto, but i'm glad we no longer have president cheeto. have a great rest of your sunday. tonight on "the mehdi hasan show," the anniversary of george floyd's death is tuesday but congress isn't 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 it? i'll speak to house majority whip james clyburn.

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 bill was counterfeit, called the cops. and for less than $20 for the cost of a pack of cigarettes 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. momma, he said. i'm about to die, he said. 9 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 murdering a black person. george floyd's killing prompted protests in what's believed to be the biggest protest movement in american history. and the president at the time george floyd was killed who sent in federal agents, officers 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 jessup is no longer president. he's been replaced by this guy. >> the country is crying out for leadership. leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us

together. you can't leave this moment thinking that 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 of 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 death 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 that protect officers from lawsuits. and instead of capitulating

house progressives are insisting in a new letter 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 a deal can be reached. >> i wouldn't have a negotiating partner in tim scott if mitch mcconnell didn't believe that this is something 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 to valerie jarrett and currently serves as president of the obama foundation. author of the memoir, "finding my voice" out this week in paper

back. thanks for joining me on the show tonight. are you as confident -- >> sadly, i can't hear a word you're saying. i'm delighted to be here with you but unfortunately i can't hear you at all. >> this is the technical snags of live tv. we're going to take a break and hopefully fingers crossed talk to valerie jarrett about this important issue. don't go away. jarrett about th important issue. don't go away. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. crestwhitesmile.com

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joining me now former senior white house advisor valerie jarrett. good to have you on the show and i'm glad we got past our technical issues. let me ask you the question i was asking before. are you as confident that the george floyd justice and policing act is going to be passed as senator booker seems 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 other democrats seem to be this time around on this kind of 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's 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. >> 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 departments over individual offices? >> well, i'm not so sure the taxpayer should have to pay the burden. and i think we need both carrots and sticks. i think we need to do a better job of recruiting and training those in law enforcement. i think we need to make sure we're 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, more interventionest types that doesn't involve the police department. but i also think that police are in a position of power. we are 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, so i think it protects them, too. >> i want to come back to training police officers, just sticking with the politics of it. joe biden and a lot of top democrats are still keen on bipartisanship or even trying for bipartisanship even though they know they can block the george floyd policing act if they want to, block racial progress. 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 wouldn't just help fight racism as the former president put it but help get through joe bide's own agenda? >> i think that president biden ran on agenda he was going to try to work with both sides. but 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. 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. i think he's trying to give enough room to those who are negotiating to reach an agreement because that would be the best option, but i won't prejudge what he'll do if that option isn't available. >> you're no longer in politics. you're not working in government anymore. joe biden may have his strategy. just 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. because i think it's being used in a really horrendous way. i think it's preventing congress from doing what the american people wanted to do and that is to look out for them. it's used as a short-term political strategy as opposed to focusing on what is actually beneficial to the american people. and so i think that the bad will we saw over the course of president obama demonstrates, so i would not let it get in the way of doing the peoples work. >> valerie, let's talk gun violence. a teenage girl is dead, at least five more wounded in an overnight shooting at a park in columbus, ohio. new data shows gun violence is up. the data shows the frequency of shootings has been unusually high for more than a year despite the pandemic. again the filibuster is potentially blocking gun reform, blocking two different bills on

universal background checks passed in the house. you were in the 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 about the prospects for gun reform even after these shootings, even as killings continue to escalate. >> i think what the american people have to do is to call on their elected representatives to act. we have a crisis an epidemic here in the united states. and two thirds of the people who die from gun violence take their own lives and there'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 that people who have the lethal weapons have background checks done on them universally, we thought it would pass and it didn't. it shows the nra still has a stranglehold on members of congress. they pour money into their

coughers until the counter force, which is we, the people, pushes back hard. and continuously. we can't give up. this has to be a relentless determined effort, and we are seeing mobilization around the country. but they're not there yet. the republicans are not there yet. >> no, they're not, sadly and tragically. one last question for you, 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 which became iconic tragic killings. trayvon martin, michael brown, a number of young black men in particular killed. and the obama administration especially in the second term, especially post-ferguson did put out a package of reforms, did try and address it by executive order, by consent degrees that were successful. i want to acknowledge all that.

there were good things done in 2015, 2016 which trump tried to undo. having said that a lot of activists say you guys didn't go far enough in eight years. you dealt with things like police training, reform, but didn't deal with the substantive issues. what do you say to your critics? >> i feel proud of president obama's record and we certainly pushed for not just executive orders but also pulled together a group of experts. whether it was those the demonstrators and people in law enforcement, faith leaders all came together and created a 21st century task force on policing and a blueprint of what could be done at the state and local level. keep in mind that most of the issues involving police happen at the local level. 17,000 jurisdictions around in our country, and we created a blueprint for what they could do, and there has been a lot of progress. last summer president obama

called on our nation's mayors to take a look at the use of force working with their communities. and over 300 mayors working with their communities have put in place substantial reforms. and so this isn't something that one president or one leader can do alone. this is something that everyone has to do. because what you talked about in terms of systemic racism, that's left up to every single american. the government is there to put in place rules that prohibit discrimination, to ensure the system is fair and just. and you're right, we put in place analysis like in ferguson where we found a pattern and practice of discriminatory behavior. and then we were able to insist the community change. but systemic racism, that's in the hearts of every person who has to then change their hearts and minds. and that happens overtime. it doesn't happen overnight. >> valerie jarrett, thanks for your time tonight. a reminder that "finding my voice" is out in paperback 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. but first richy lui is here with the headlines. >> some stories we're watching this hour. officials say at least 14 people including one child were killed after a cable car fell to the ground in northern italy. the car was on its way up to a peak in the alps when it dropped 60 feet. it then began rolling down the hill before slamming into a group of trees. italy's prime minister called this a tragic accident. the nypd hate crimes task force is investigating a pair of anti-semitic incidents in brooklyn last night. police say three men jumped out of a car outside a synagogue and harassed four orthodox jewish men who were observing the sabbath. later that night the same group then allegedly attacked two jewish teenagers punching the victims and chasing them with a baseball bat. mayor bill de blasio says the men will be prosecuted once

they're found. and in spain a horse has been rescued from a pit. rescuers had to dive right underthe water underneath the horse. the horse is reported to be in good condition. more of the mehdi hasan show after this break. f the mehdi haw after this break is such a hass. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair. unlike my vacuum, it sneaks under and around places. look at that!! dust free and hassle free. stop cleaning and start swiffering.

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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 but there's something about foreign policy i cannot get my head around. on thursday after -- president joe biden announced he'd be sending u.s. aid to help rebuild gaza where in 2,000 residential units were damaged or destroyed and half of the clean water network wrecked. how from 11 straight days of israeli bombardment. israeli bombs made in america and funded by america, by us. we give our ally israel more

than $3 billion a year. it makes no sense and same with the allies the saudis. we sell weapons to saudi arabia when they use to ban and blockade yemen and then we send humanitarian aid to yemen. maybe we wouldn't have to spend so much on aiding people if we didn't spend so much on arming people. former president trump is calling the investigation into his organization is witch hunt. it's not the first time he's usedthality phrase, but this investigation may end quite differently. we'll get into it next. d quite differently. we'll get into it next surfaces? then they get release back into the air, so you smell them later. ew right? that's why febreze created small spaces. press firmly and watch it get to work.

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former president donald trump's legal troubles got a lot more serious this week. you've probably heard that before, but bear with me. new york attorney general letitia james announced her civil investigation into the trump organization has morphed into a criminal one. james's office is working with manhattan district attorney cy vance. weisselberg's former daughter-in-law met with the manhattan d.a. multiple times even providing them with documents and 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 discover claims the investigation is politically motivated. calling it an investigation in search of a crime. i'm joined now by msnbc legal analyst andrew wiseman. he was the lead prosecutor for special counsel robert mueller's office and chief of the fraud section at the department of justice. good evening to you. let's talk first about the new york attorney general's announcement her investigation has shifted from a civil one to a criminal one. what would it take for that to happen, andrew? what does that say about the strength of the evidence her office and inmanhattan d.a.'s office have in their possession? >> well, what's interesting is that the new york attorney general has limited criminal authority. in other words, they primarily do civil cases. for them to transfer the case

for essentially being partially civil to partially criminal means that they have run into probable one of two things. either a criminal task 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. so that's sort of on the new york attorney general's side. and then what you heard also this week the new york attorney general was sending some of her staff to assist the manhattan district attorney's case. so that suggests to me that there at least is some there there. because you wouldn't be sending someone 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 himself were to do the same? he knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak. >> yeah, so you know, one thing that is probably 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 it makes it pretty clear he has not yet flipped. so 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's office. and i analogize that to he's now not playing russian roulette with one bullet in the chamber but two. so if you are allen weisselberg the pressure on him to cooperate has really gone up dramatically.

>> andrew, a number of people have been close to the former president over the years saying he'll try to flip and blame this on someone else. have a listen to his former personal attorney, michael cohen. >> donald trump never put his name on anything. he had as you know, no e-mail. he very rarely texted if ever unless he was tweeting. what he'll do is turn and say it wasn't me, it was my cfo, he's the one that did it, he worked with my accountant, it wasn't me. he'll blame everyone. he'll blame ivanka, don, jr., eric, the accountant, weisselberg, me. he'll blame anybody else other than to accept responsibility. >> andrew, 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 important for people to know is senior people are entitled to rely on accountants and lawyers if they are misled or led to believe what they were doing was not criminal because their lawyer signed off on it, not as part of a conspiracy but legitimately signed off on it, the accountant signed off on it. that is not blaming other people. that is legitimate defense. if you're a criminal prosecutor what you need to be able to show is either the lawyer or accountants did not know the full set of facts so what they were signing off on is not the deal the ceo understood or this is all part of one huge conspiracy. but this is standard operating procedure for the 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, because it's 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. are we talking actual jail time for a former president of the united states? seems unlikely. >> well, 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 you know committed a fraud or a 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 that a president is not above the law. so it may seem unlikely because he 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 wiseman, thank you so

much 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 that voted for donald trump that believe -- a number of them believe the election was stolen believe it because their leaders have not told them otherwise. the people they trust have either 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 the democratic bill to investigate the january 6th capitol riot that passed the house this week with hardly any republican support. the proposed 9/11-style commission in it would put together a bipartisan panel to figure out to prevent it from happening again. surprisingly a laundry list of senate republicans say they'll

oppose because after all insurrectionists were just tourists, right? the senate could vote next week, and thanks to the filibuster this could be the first bill under biden to fail because of that ridiculous 60-vote threshold. joining me now to discuss is democrat from south carolina and house majority whip james clyburn. he joins me on the phone. thanks so much for joining me this evening. let me start by asking you this. senator susan collins has said she does think this bill could pass with some compromises. have a 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 issue is 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 they don't vote for the bill anyways. i wonder how many times are members of your party going to fall for this bad faith gop trick? >> first of all, thank you very much for having me. you know, i think we're all quite aware that within hours of the ininsurrection that 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 they're pretty much the same. now we don't know if all that's 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've just 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 terms of does it have republican support in the senate. and congressman, i hear so many liberals and democrats complaining that republicans blocked a bipartisan commission while spending two years and # 3 public hearings investigating benghazi. but 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 if that commission doesn't pass in the senate you will follow the gop benghazi model, setup a select committee in the house and investigate the insurrection for as long as it takes? why not say that now? >> well, it's up to speaker pelosi say what she thinks ought be done. but if she were to ask me for advice, i would say just do it. setup a committee. i would love to see even numbers. if you're going to make it appointed by a speaker, then it ought to have the speaker's choices not anybody's els. if she wants to have kevin mccarthy or somebody else make recommendations she can accept their recommendations. but they're not going to participate in a bipartisan committee, then i think speaker pelosi, my advice would be to setup a committee, invite their

participation. if they participate, fine. if they don't do as we've done in the subcommittee and going forward with the investigation. >> well, i hope she asks for a 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 recent manifestation of republican hypocrisy. they've had over and over again. and they're showing it very clearly with this bipartisan commission. and they have shown it over the last several years. so my point on that is let's just do it. we should not be waiting on them to come along. just do it.

>> and 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 some sticking points in the senate over qualified immunity, whether to drop that request from the bill, whether to get rid of qualified immunity. you said you're aokay with compromising. you'd rather a good bill pass even if it's not perfect. i know you said that. but isn't it a false choice? it's not just choosing between compromising and no bill at all. isn't there a third option, which is get rid of the filibuster and then you can pass the bill you want to. >> i'm not sure we can do that. if you got rid of the filibuster you'd have to have all democrats onboard. and the question remains would the senators be onboard, would manchin be onboard, i don't know. what i mean by that is simply this, qualified immunity staped

as it is would be a no-no. qualified immunity, get rid of it. that's the fall off. so somewhere between those two extremes we ought to find common ground. look, the word qualified is defined in the dictary at limited. we seem to treat it as absolute. qualified means limited. so i suspect the committee will do fine or the people who were trying to reach a compromise by trying to find qualified and finding a way that would be amenable for everybody. >> well, i guess we'll have to see what happens in the senate this week. congressman, unfortunately we're out of time but thanks for joining us on the show this

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some breaking news this evening. the president of belarus has forced the landing of a passenger plane in order to arrest an opposition blogger onboard. the flight was intercepted by a fighter jet while flying through belarusian airspace. among the 170 passengers onboard was dissident journalist 26-year-old roman. he cofounded a telegram channel a popular opposition 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 secretary of state antony blinken.

we demand his immediate release, this shocking act perpetrated by the regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers including u.s. citizens. lukashenko has been desperately clinging to power despite wite spread protests. more than 400 journalists have been detained throughout belarus. there's a reason he's known unaffectionately as europe's last dictator. telling uniformed officers they're not welcome not even in the parade. how they arrived at that decision. but first a name and face we all recognize, star of making it and parks and rec, and he wants you to get vaccinated. stick around. rec, and he wants you to get vaccinated. stick around

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after 15 months it finally feels like the u.s. is winning the fight against the coronavirus. new cases and hospitalizations are at record lows and more than 60% of americans over the age of 18 have received at least one shot. but while the nation is still administering just under 2 million doses per day, that's nearly a 50% decrease from our vaccination peak in mid-april. now vaccine hesitancy threatens to halt the incredible progress

we've made over these past few months. but fear not, someone who has a lot of experience in local government is stepping up to help turn that around. best known for his role as ron swanson in "parks and recreation" is set to testify before congress on wednesday urging americans to get vaccinated. he joins me now. an actor, author, woodworker and you can catch season 3 of his show making it on premiering june 3rd. 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 do you think that is, and what message do you have to them and to congress this coming week? >> well, thank you for having me. it's great to see you again, mehdi. and to answer your question, i would say that that particular group which i feel representative of, we've -- you know we started with ignorance and stubbornance, 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 we rely on others -- usually the more sage members of society,ie, our wives to get us to pay attention to the scientists and to the experts who can then direct us to something like the gift of this vaccine. >> my wife is definitely somebody who's guided me through this pandemic and kept me sane and safe. let me ask you this, on parks and rec, your character ron swanson was not a big fan of western medicine. have a listen. >> ron, 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. >> you need to take off those layers, rehydrate and go to the doctor. >> thank you for your concern.

i will be fine. please 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. >> the big question i have to ask you, would ron get the covid shot if it had been offered to him on "parks and rec?" >> that is a great question and what a great episode this would have made. ron i think would at first scoff at a vaccine and say i've never been to a doctor. i rely on my natural immune system to protect me. but then his wife diane played by the great lucy lawless would step up and say, hey buddy, you're no longer alone here. you've got me, i teach at a school. we've got kids to worry about. your responsibilities are no longer limited to your own body.

so once he was convinced of that, he's a good guy. and once a good guy sees he's taking care of others and it's for the common good, of course he would get the damn vaccine. >> so you mention the whole taking care of others, and you're hinting at the whole libertarianism undergirds so much of this and today senator rand paul, self-professed libertarian announcing he's not going to get vaccinated because he already had covid which most experts say is irrelevant. how dangerous and how selfish really is this rhetoric, quote-unquote libertarian rhetoric, individualistic rhetoric from someone senior in america like rand paul? >> well, i just think it's a shame. i would hate to vote for somebody who didn't think of his constituents. you know, the question is not 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. and suddenly, you know, 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 8,100 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. >> and yet we're having to incentivize some americans to try and get them to take vkseens as the vaccinations have slowed down. we've seen states begin to offer incentives like baseball tickets, offering the possibility of a $1 million

lottery prize depending on where you live in america. and so far it does seem to be helping, encouraging reluctant americans to get the shot. what do you make of these initiatives? and if you were the governor of a state what would governor nick offerman offer to try and get people vaccinated? >> gosh, i don't know. it's complicated. you know, 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 shake hands and talk to people and say, listen, here, i'll do it with you, let's do it together, it's not a big deal. you know, there was a day when we had like polio sweeping the nation and we came up with a vaccine. and there wasn't any of this hesitancy. everyone said, hooray, human kind has triumphed.

our scientists have solved this complex problem 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, you know, 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 decency. >> i might have to go back and write that down. >> or you can just watch this back. we rerun it later tonight. it's just decency i think beats all the rhetoric about polarization. you're a decent man and we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to come on the show tonight. thanks so much. >> thank you. great to see you. and thank you all for watching. we're off next sunday, but we'll see you the week after that right back here at 8:00 p.m.

eastern. you can catch me monday through thursday 7:00 p.m. eastern on the choice on nbc's streaming channel, peacock. now it's time to turn it over to joshua johnson. >> i hope you enjoy your memorial weekend off. i'll see two weeks. hello to you. it's good to see you tonight. they say the pen is mightier -- more encouraging signs in the fight against covid. the case numbers are dropping, but just how many more people need to be vaccinated to keep the virus at bay? plus, the white house appears to hit an impasse with republicans over its infrastructure bill. the question is what's the prann if the negotiations stall? and the most viral youtube video ever will soon have a new home. the question is what's next for charlie and his big brother's finger? it's way too early for this. ♪♪