the president calling it the most significant attack on democracy since the civil war. i'll have a conversation with a texas state representative who traveled to washington with fellow lawmakers to try to stop republicans in her state from passing restrictive voting laws. how long is she willing to hold out and is she getting results from lawmakers in washington? plus this. >> on covid misinformation, what is your message to platforms like facebook? >> they're killing people. i mean they really -- look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that -- and they're killing people. >> the president puts his passion on display when it comes to spreading misinformation about coronavirus and vaccines, but was is his administration doing behind the scenes to stop it? we'll so you. plus, the interview stunning prosecutors in the investigation into former president donald trump's company. what the ex-daughter-in-law of

long-time trump organization cfo allen weisselberg is reportedly saying that might directly implicate the 45th president of tax fraud. also, undercutting trump's frames of winning last year's election. >> we won the election by a landslide. we won it big. >> but when you win in a landslide and they steal it and it is rigged, it is not acceptable. >> we won this election and we won it by a landslide. this was not a close election. >> this was a landslide. >> we won this election in a landslide. >> he and his backers have been focused on arizona. we will explain why you probably will hear a little more about votes in the grand canyon state. as the nation remembers john lewis on the one-year anniversary of his death, the voting rights bill he inspired is facing an uncertain future in congress. president biden continues to issue dire warning about the fight to protect voting rights, activists remain concern that his actions are falling short.

nbc's josh letterman is at the white house with more. josh, how is the administration responding to some of these criticisms, people who are worried that these plans to try and help with voting rights just aren't a top priority right now? >> reporter: right, exactly. those activists, they want to see president biden make voting rights as big of a priority as he has infrastructure spending and the response, frankly, to the covid-19 pandemic. now, the white house obviously says they are doing everything that they possibly can to try to move this forward, including using executive action, devoting more resources at the justice department where attorney general merrick gerald has put merrick garland put more attorneys on the case, the u.s. government suing the state of georgia over their new voting rights law. look, at the end of the day, the biggest tool that the white house has is the president's bully pulpit. that's why we saw president biden this past week in philadelphia to give that major speech that focused on what he called the sacred constitutional

right to vote and vice president kamala harris, a meeting just yesterday with a group of black voting rights activists, including some who had been involved in peaceful civil disobedience outside the capital this week. listen to what vice president harris told the activists. >> no one is going to make us do what we know is our right and responsibility, which is to fight for our democracy and fight for our rights every day of the week. this is -- let's be clear. not about any one racial group or gender group. this is about all americans. this is not an issue about democrats versus republicans. this is about americans. and this group of national leaders are very clear about that. this is a fight for all people regardless of who they voted for in the last election or who they vote for in the next election. >> reporter: joe, this issue has really been dominating vice president harris's agenda and schedule. in addition to that meeting, we

also saw her meet this past week with those texas democrats who are in town trying to protest that new voting law in texas. the white house trying to show solidarity with them and support for what they're trying to do. >> josh, we know this issue is gaining some urgency among democrats, the texas democrats flying to washington is a good example of that. where does the legislation actually stand right now? >> reporter: well, the prognosis is not good at this point. democrats don't have the ability to get anything through with the 60 votes that they would need to pass a filibuster, and even though you are seeing folks like whip james clyburn in the house a long time key biden supporter, urging him to embrace perhaps reforming the filibuster or having a carve-out for the filibuster for voting rights legislation, there's already push back on that from folks like senator joe manchin who say they're not going along with that. right now there's no clear path to getting federal legislation through that would codify the voting rights on a national

level. joe. >> josh letterman, thanks so much. we will stick with the theme of texas and the voting rights legislation that did lead more than 50 democratic lawmakers to flee the state to block a vote on it. texas democrats have been in washington, d.c. for nearly a week to deny a quorum in the state's house of representatives. they're now facing retaliation from republicans. governor abbott is threatening to arrest them once they return home and house speaker joe moody was stripped of his position. they say they're not backing down, meeting with vice president harris and senator joe manchin in order to push forward voting rights legislation. we have learned today three of the lawmakers have tested positive for covid despite being fully vaccinated. joining me is democratic texas state representative julie johnson. thank you for joining us, representative. first, i want to ask, how are your colleagues doing who have been diagnosed with covid and what kind of impact could this have on your efforts there in

washington to meet with lawmakers, ideally face to fay, face to push for what you want. >> thank you. my colleagues are doing well. they're getting appropriate medical care and it highlights the need for vaccination. we have all been vaccinated and we need to make sure everyone out there gets vaccinated in order to minimize any side effects of a reinfection. but nonetheless, despite the risks here, we are here because fighting for our voting rights is one of the most important fundamental principles of our democracy. we're here to fight because it is that important, until we actually achieve success. >> do you think you are still going to be able to meet with lawmakers and other key figures this week in the wake of having three of your colleagues test positive? >> i'm certainly hopeful we will be able to meet. you know, we are testing regularly. the rest of us are all negative. we are following, as i said, all appropriate cdc guidelines but there's lots of ways to meet. we can meet in person, we can meet in zoom, we can meet over the phone. the main thing is we're here to

get our message out that the voting rights legislation we are facing in texas is horrific. it is suppressing. it restricts the people's freedom to vote, and that is a fundamental right we have in our country. we are here to educate our federal colleagues on the risks of not passing federal legislation, and every meeting we have we are able to enlighten them, to educate them on what is going on the ground and how important it is they come together, work with their colleagues and pass what they can. work in a bipartisan fashion an get a deal done. >> for you what has this week been like? what have you heard from capitol hill leaders group has spoken to, especially senator manchin who is so key perhaps to getting anything done? do you feel any progress was made, as josh letterman just pointed out, it is going to be very, very difficult? do you think you can get any progress? >> well, what has really been interesting is how unaware they were of the actual details in the texas legislation. when they hear that, for

example, those insurrectionists who stormed the capitol on january 6th could be recruited to be poll watchers with no regulation, and under the texas law they could stand within two inches of a voter, look over their shoulder and see how they vote, and that is unacceptable. so when we educate each of the senators, including senator manchin, on the actual details of the legislation that we're fighting, they're horrified. they understand that federal action needs to get done. >> do you have any concerns that the focus on capitol hill for so many right now is moving toward president biden's economic agenda, the infrastructure deal? i mean "the washington post" writes that while many democrats insist that passing a voting rights bill remains a top priority in the coming weeks, momentum on capitol hill is pal paably shifted away from the voting rights push following a failed test vote last month and for democrat's vast spending plans. are you worried about that right

now? >> no, because infrastructure is important. as you know, texas, we had a critical failure of infrastructure. our electric grid almost completely failed and the texas governor did not even see fit to put it on the call for the special session and give us an opportunity to work on that. so the fact that our federal colleagues are trying to address infrastructure is something that our state critically needs because our governor is inept at fixing the problem. that is not mutually exclusive, however. we can walk and chew gum and we can do multiple things. fixing our infrastructure is obviously critically important. 700 texans died not too long ago because our critical electric infrastructure failed us. likewise, our voting rights is going to fail us if this legislation passes. they're all important, and people elect us to take care of all of these important issues because they all affect us. so i believe that our federal colleagues are perfectly capable of helping to solve critical infrastructure needs and also taking a clear and divisive stand for federal voting rights. >> i have to ask you a questio

i know you have been asked often. how long do you and your colleagues plan to stay in d.c. and how is it being paid for? obviously it is not cheap to stay in washington, d.c. for weeks. critics have said it is costing taxpayers. the of "the texas tribune" reports without the per diem and dwindling caucus funds the democrats will have to look to other sources to keep them in washington. how are you going to pay for this and how long do you plan to stay? >> well, we are going to stay until -- as long as it takes in order to get done what we need to get done, which is to preserve the freedom to vote in the state of texas. and in terms of paying for it, let me assure you, not any taxpayer funds are being spent on this trip. our house democratic caucus is paying the bill. fortunately, a lot of our constituents out there value what we're doing. they think it is critically important and have sent contributions to support our caucus efforts. so no taxpayer funds are doing it. it is done by the sheer will of the citizens of texas and within our caucus resources.

>> democratic state representative julie johnson. thank you for taking time to speak with us today. we appreciate it. >> my absolute pleasure. thank you so much. joining me now on where texas democrats go from there, and the latest federal ruling on the daca, is president and ceo of voter latino and msnbc contributor. first of all, your reaction to what we're hearing and what texas democrats are doing. compromise doesn't seem to be an option, so how long do you think they will be able to hold out? >> i think one of the things we're hearing is there will be another special session in september, and that is going for them to talk about specifically redistricting. so the longest they can stay is going to be sometime in the middle of september when there's another special session already on the books in texas. but the real issue here is that texas republicans are trying to circumvent a fair, certified election and start scaffolding their voting booths so that the

voters of the future can't vote. what i mean by that is there's about a quarter of a million more young latino eligible voters that will be able to cast a vote in the next election. so it is not just this bill, but it is bills that have already been passed. in may they passed sb-1111 which prohibited and created college residency requirements in order for a freshman in college to register on their campus. that is because they recognize that in texas you are seeing a rise in young people, and they want to vote and the republicans are saying, no way, not on our watch. >> i want to switch gears now and talk about another important topic that is happening this weekend. i know your group has been tweeting about last night's federal ruling on daca, which declared the program illegal. you and your group have been saying that undocumented folks can't continue living in limbo. what do you think congress needs to do now? do you think this adds some urgency to the issue that's been talked about for so many years? >> we're going now on almost

over 25 years since the last time we had a modern immigration legislation that would transform our government. what daca does is a temporary fix, and sadly now you have millions of young people who woke up today learning that they can't even apply for a shot at getting daca. so congress needs to act. one of the few issues that unites this country across party lines is a fair immigration system. in order to get daca status you have to have the most rigorous of background checks, and the majority of them not only pass the background checks but they're gainfully employed. that has to get out of an executive order and into legislation where we can have not only a comprehensive immigration reform but also a pathway to citizenship. what most americans don't realize is that the majority of undocumented folks living in this country today have lived here for at least 20 years. they're a lot older than most people realize, and the closer that we can get into having a just immigration bill, the

closer we are to also recovering our economy because we have so many people who are, unfortunately, not able to work but that want to and that we know that business esz also desperately want them to. it is one of the few pieces of legislation that has support across industry, whether you are an evangelical, whether you are in business, whether you are in the pro-labor movement or an activist. you have an understanding that immigrants is what helps fuel the economy and a fair, just, clear system allows us to get a lot of the things done that we need post-pandemic. >> if this judge's order is appeals, it goes to the fifth circuit court of appeals which can considered extremely conservative and it make it it to the supreme court, how much of a battle do you think folks should brace for right now? >> i think the only way we get it out of the courts is for congress to do its job and to pass an immigration reform bill. i know that the president has signalled that's what they want, that's what he wants, and we also know that there's plenty of republicans that have also said that they would find some sort

of carve-out, if not the full piece of legislation, that the majority of perhaps democrats want but some sort of carve-out that allows us for, again, clear rules and a pathway to citizenship for individuals. >> maria teresa kunard, thank you for joining us. >> and thank you for not flinching for the fact i'm in a car. you are amazing. >> i know you may have tech problems. not judging anymore. we've been going through it for 15, 16 months, so we're happy to have you. >> you're a pro. thank you so much. still ahead, a battle on both fronts. the biden administration under pressure to address two major issues that could overshadow his current agenda. plus, qanon and congress. the surge in candidates from the fringe conspiracy group. what it says about our country's grasp on reality. at philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. the recipe we invented over 145 years ago and me...the world's best, and possibly only, schmelier. philadelphia. schmear perfection.

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welcome back. as covid cases spike in the u.s., president biden had some choice words for facebook in the spreading of covid misinformation. >> reporter: what's your message to platforms like facebook? >> they're killing people. i mean they really, look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that's -- and they're killing people. >> facebook, not surprisingly, is taking issue with the president's characterization with its role in spreading lies about the pandemic. let's bring in jeff mason who covers the white house for

reuters. first, we should get a response from facebook, what they had to say, which was, quote, we will not be distracted by accusations which aren't supported by the facts. the facts show that facebook is helping save lives. period. facebook points to the widely used vaccine finder as an example. but critics point to a plethora of conspiracy theories not taken down quickly. this seems coordinated by the white house. do you think the white house is going to double down on this? >> i think they have double downed. you have listened to the white house over the last week doing a big push against what they consider misinformation, from the briefing room podium, jen psaki as well as the surgeon general who talked about misinformation, you had dr. anthony fauci talking about it on the airwaves as concerned. they're concerned that these conspiracy theories are what are keeping people who have decided not to get vaccinated from doing so. let's pivot to another issue prepare is dealing with, and that's the removal of afghan

citizens living in afghanistan. they helped american troops living in the world. some 20,000 afghans applied for visas, stating their lives and the lives of their families are in danger when the troops leave. 10,000 have been granted so far. what is going to happen? >> what is going to happen is for starters about 2,500 of the numbers you just cited will be able to be transported directly from afghanistan to a u.s. base in the united states. the rest who have visa applications in process will be transferred to a third country. you are right to say that the u.s. and president biden in particular have been under pressure because of this. he, of course, made the decision to pull troops out of afghanistan and there were thousands of afghanis who helped u.s. troops for more than 20 years. so they are under pressure, the administration that is, to help those friends of the united states be safe and come to this country or to another country in the meantime so that they don't face retaliation from the taliban. >> all right.

jeff mason, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. coming up, book bombshell. new reporting on the real fear felt by the top generals as the former president nearly spiralled out of control after losing the election. our power political panel digs in. hey, everyone. i'm alicia menendez. ahead for us, i talk with state representative jessica gonzales about how she and other texas democrats are pushing back against the latest gop efforts to limit voting efforts. plus, how transforming the child tax credit is transformative across the country. s transfoati across the country (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) hmm, that is really something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. see ya. (kid) may i have a balloon, too? (burke) sure. your parents have maintained

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welcome back. two men have been indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges in connection with an alleged plot to attack the democratic party headquarters building in sacramento. federal authorities allege the men were specific, detailed and serious in their plan to attack

democratic targets with incendiary devices after the 2020 election. rusty hicks, chair of the california democratic party said in a statement, we are relieved to know the plot was unsuccessful. it points to a broader issue of violent extremism that is far too common in today's political discourse. i want to bring in my panel, adrian el rod, democratic strategies and former senior aide on the biden campaign, and contributor to "the boston globe". >> thanks for having us, joe. >> adrien, i want to get your reaction to what was pointed out, and some people would say january 6th. what are your thoughts as we see these type of incidents and allegations unfold? >> it is highly disturbing because this is what happens when you have a party in america

that is perpetuating fake news and saying what we saw with our very own eyes on january 6th actually didn't happen. there's no repercussions so far for what happened at the capitol besides a handful of folks arrested and put in prison. the fact there's been no recourse, that there's been no real systematic change in congress thus far largely because republicans have obstructed those efforts, gives other people this permission slip perhaps that they think they can go out there and make these veiled threats, or not-so-veiled threats on other democratic national committees across the country without any repercussions. it is very disturbing. >> and on monday we will see the first person with a felony get sentenced. maybe that will send a message to some people in the wake of january 6th. shermichael, how much of the extremism do you think goes back to the big lie by president trump and other things that he pushed throughout his presidency? >> look, joe, i think a lot of distrust and division amongst

political opposites have been percolating for a very long time. i'm not necessarily certain that it did start with january 6th. i would say that this is something that has sort of been bubbling up for maybe the past four or five years now. i think you are seeing an increase in this because you don't see enough leaders speaking against these types of antics and speaking towards more of a coalesce around and against these types of things and unity and bipartisanship that some people may find that it is okay to exhibit and behave in these types of ways. i think that at some point you do have to sort of send a clear message that we won't tolerate this. it is okay to have political differences. it is okay to debate aggressively about those things, but we don't want to do so in a way that causes potential harm to our political opposites. i don't think we have enough leaders speaking towards that. >> adrien, i want to talk about the book everyone has been talking about the past few days and read an excerpt obtained by nbc news of "i alone can fix it" in which then attorney bill barr

warned president trump about losing the election saying, quote, i feel a sense of déjà vu, which is i think you're going to lose this election. barr continued, i think that if you wanted to you could walk into a second term, covid and all. you could go down in history as an amazing president, and it is yours for the taking, but it is about you and you're turning off enough people to lose this election. that's according to the book. trump later claimed barr went soft. some might say he was being realistic. what does this tell you? >> well, first of all, joe, it tells me that a lot of members of the trump administration, senior members are basically trying to save themselves right now by saying, oh, i warned him, i said if he doesn't change his ways, if he doesn't change his behavior that he's going to lose this election. of course, as we all know, all three of us now, phil rutger and carolyn are two of the best reporters in the business. they're getting a lot of folks willing to talk. if those folks aren't talking, people with firsthand knowledge

of what those conversations entailed. but, look, this is a very close election regardless. we have a very divided country, as shermichael stated. but trump all along the way, we have to remember how he mishandled the covid situation, how, you know, he was not quick in getting people vaccinated or getting vaccinations ushered through. he continued to say that covid was fake news. he waited way too long to actually address the root of the problem, and a lot of those issues manifested into him not getting reelected. also, of course, president biden, vice president harris being very strong candidates against the president. so, again, you have a lot of folks who are willing to go out there right now and say, "we told him so" because, you know, these guys have their own reputations to save and they want to make sure they can keep working in republican politics. >> shermichael, the book says barr essentially told trump he was losing touch with his own base and was turning away enough people to lose the election. the former president denies that

barr said this to him. first of all, do you believe that's true? do you think he was turning away his base? if so, why do you think maybe trump didn't listen to him? >> yeah, i don't agree with that. i do not think that trump was turning away his base at all. now, i think if barr would have stated there are certain republicans who may be more of the moderate wing of the party that you're potentially turning off such as those suburbanites that we have debated over the past two years, i would say, sure, i agree 100%. i think the biden campaign was able to pull a small per sent, but certainly a measured amount of those individuals. but the hard base stayed with trump. if you look at the current data about the energy and their commitment to the republican party because of trump today, it is clear those individuals didn't go anywhere. i would say, joe, while trump did indeed lose the elections democrats didn't perform very well in the house. i think republicans are going to have an opportunity next year to have a make-up if you will where

i do predict they will likely regain control. i think that will put biden in a precarious predicament. you lost one but i think you live on to fight the next battle. i think that's the way most republicans will look at this. >> and they certainly seem to be sticking with trump right now. i want to turn to reporting from "the daily beast" that includes possibly new revelations in the new york trump tax investigations. now, these claims are not independently verified by nbc, but they say a witness in the new york investigation against the trump organization has told prosecutors that donald trump personally guaranteed he would cover school costs for the family members of two employees in lieu of a raise, direct live implicating the former president in an ongoing criminal tax fraud case. the explosive claims come from jennifer weisselberg, the ex-wife of a long-time company employee during a telephone conference call with investigators on friday, june 25th. that's according to two sources that agreed to speak on conditions of anonymity. despite the fact for trump's actions to be illegal, we need evidence he instructed someone

not to properly account for the payments. what do you make of this? >> what i make of this is the broader picture because we could sit here and talk about all of these small machineations happening in the investigation every day, but the bottom line is this. we know donald trump, one of the reasons he was so focused on being reelected is he would have presidential immunity. he is now a private citizen. he is privy to the same type of, you know, recourse that any other private citizen would have now that he's not in the white house. so, you know, you have multiple investigations going on and, you know, people who used to work for trump don't have the same feelings of, oh, i have to protect him, you know, by putting myself in danger first. i mean people are starting to talk and they are starting to, you know, make sure that they themselves don't go to prison or that they have reduced sentences. so i think we will see more of this information coming out because, again, at this point nobody is protecting the president. they are all trying to protect their own selves in making sure that they do what they can to

have, you know, as few repercussions against them as possible. >> shermichael, finally, i want to get your thoughts on new ap reporting on this arizona recount. it says that arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast. so far only four cases have led to charges including those identified in a separate state investigation. no one has been convicted. no person's vote was counted twice. what do you make when you see that report? >> yeah, i mean i think, joe, to be honest it is a waste of time. from a strategic perspective, i would not focus on this if i were in the arizona state republican party. again, as i mentioned, i think the focus needs to be on those house seats. republican won over ten house seats in 2020, according to cook political report if democrats lose four more seats, republicans regain control. so from my perspective as a strategist, if i'm in arizona i'm looking at those very tight districts and figuring out where do i need to put my money, where

do i need to focus on turning individuals out, that grassroots to potentially flip some of the seats to help in the overall national strategy of regaining control of the house. this is a waste of time. it is a waste of money. those resources could be better utilized trying to win in november of next year. >> but why do you think trump and his followers continue to believe the lie? i mean in arizona it seems like the republican party is really controlled by people who are pushing this. >> yeah, i mean, look, after the election we saw the messaging of this, that the election was stolen. we still hear that. we still see that in reports coming from the former president. i'm not exactly sure why. i would imagine that perhaps it is a way to keep the base energized around a certain concept, if you will, but, again, from a strategic perspective i don't think it adds any value to the overall goals and objectives of what i would presume the party is interested in, and that is winning. and if that is the case, there are some better things that i think the party could focus on to do that. again, i think i understand why

they're chasing this rabbit, if you will, down the rabbit hole. i would advise them, focus on other things. focus on winning in november. don't focus on this. it is just a waste of time. >> we'll have to leave it there. lots to cover on a saturday. adrienne elrod and shermichael singleton, thank you both for joining us. i appreciate it. coming up, code rising. understanding the surge and what the cdc calls the pandemic of the unvaccinated. after the break, dr. peter hotez, co-director of the center of vaccine at texas children's hospital, he is going to weigh in. stay with us. ♪ ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service.

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announced they will halt all vaccination outreach. meanwhile, in arizona, an increasingly tragic situation is unfolding. the state recorded more than 2,300 confirmed and probable covid cases on friday and more than 1,300 hospitalizations. the state has not seen numbers this high since the winter surge. one doctor told "the st. louis dispatch" although this outbreak has been more managing thus far, it is perhaps more tragic because the deaths are preventable. with me is dr. peter hotez, co-director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital and dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine. dr. hotez, always good to have you on. i want to ask you about what we heard from dr. scott gottlieb. he said that the u.s. is vastly underestimating the spread of the delta variant, namely because those who are vaccinated are no longer getting tested. i guess what should vaccinated

americans be doing right now? should they go back to what life was like before they got the vaccine, should they bewaring masks, should they be tested regularly, what should they be doing? >> it may depend on where in the country they are. first of all, the delta variant, dr. gottlieb is correct, is very aggressive. it is twice as transmissible as the original lineage. clearly, we should anticipate anyone who has not been vaccinated and not been recently infected with covid, their luck is about to run out and there's a high likelihood they're now going to get infected. that is the terrible tragedy, especially here in the south where so few young adults and children are vaccinated. in terms of if you are vaccinated, you know, it may depend partly on where you are. because if you are in the northeast where they've done a very good job of vaccinating almost all of the adolescents and almost all of the adults, the risk of your contracting covid between being vaccinated and the fact transmission is

reduced is probably a lot less than say if you are in missouri, northern arkansas or north florida where transmission is starting to rage again, see you may have to fine tune your behaviors depending where you are in the country. >> we heard dr. wilensky call it a pandemic of the unvaccinated. unvaccinated communities are being battered by this. what are your predictions? what are we going to see in the coming weeks here? >> i think what we're going to see is, you know, what we have seen so far, is we look for the one-two punch, high delta, low vaccination rates. that's why it started first in missouri, it has gone down into arkansas, into louisiana and now it is spreading east across the southern united states. and there are some big areas of vulnerability here in texas, especially in our rural east texas and parts of the panhandle. that will be the epicenter of the epidemic i think for the next few weeks across the summer. if you notice, it doesn't look

too different from what we saw last summer where there was a big surge across the south. so all of this was predicted and predictable. the only silver lining on this is because more older americans are vaccinated, we will not see as many deaths. what we will see is a lot of young people hospitalized and a lot of young people with what is called long covid. we don't know the exact numbers. it ranges anywhere from 5% to 50%, probably more in the 10% to 30% range, but a lot of young people are going to get pretty debilitating symptoms, especially neurologic probabilities in terms of brain fog. we know there are maybe some more worrisome effects. this is a time in their lives when, you know, they're applying for colleges and taking s.a.t.s or graduating college, looking for their first job. so this is, i think, going to be the heartbreak this summer, is young people failing to achieve

their ambitions because of covid-19. >> just one of the many impacts of this pandemic over the past year plus. dr. peter hotez, as always, thank you so much. i appreciate you taking the time to speak with you. >> thank you, joe. still ahead, our head scratcher of the week. also, the high five of the week, including what a team pop star taught the nation's top doc in a very special clap. like many people with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease, i was there. be right back. but my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. so i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people with uc or crohn's disease. and humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers,

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a surprise trip to former president donald trump's bedminster golf club is raising questions yet again about where kevin mccarthy's loyalties lie. that's my head scratcher of the week. the house minority leader is the latest in a parade of republican officials traveling to kiss the former president's ring. in another sign the gop is placing its faith in trump as it seeks a path back to power. you would be forgiven thinking that mccarthy disembarked from the trump train. after all, remember this?

>> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. >> and this. >> he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. >> and this. >> some say the riots were caused by antifa. there is absolutely no evidence of that. and conservatives should be the first to say-so. >> it seems that while the former president's president's . it seems that mccarthy is not just a passenger on the trump train anymore. some would argue that he is the one steering it straight into the 2022 midterms. during an interview with fox news's sean hannity this week, he painted quite the picture with the president which six months earlier he blamed for the insurrection. >> if president biden had done nothing in office, america would

be stronger today. these were some of the discussions i had with president trump talking about the border, talking about his success in the last election, talking about the first six months in fundraising. we've talked about you too, sean, and it was all good. >> it seems while the former president's eyes remain glued to fox news, his eyes are fixed on donald trump. that brings us to my high five of the week. olivia rodry go encouraged people to get vaccinated and talked about gen z lingo. take a listen. >> happy man crush monday to this hero. thank you, dr. fauci, for all the hard work you do. we appreciate your intelligence, honest, bravery, impassion. we love you. that's very nice to say in a.

no idea. >> on mondays people post pictures of their crushes. >> whatever it takes. if man crush monday makes you get vaccinated, go for it. >> she can also share that with her 28 million followers on social media. olivia, good for you. coming up, qanon, congress, and britney spears' conservatorship. what's fueling the flock of conspiracy theories to capitol hill and how the legal struggles of a pop princess play into the picture. you won't want to miss this conversation. do you see the tow truck? yes, thank you, that was fast. sgt. houston never expected this to happen. or that her grandpa's dog tags would be left behind. but that one call got her a tow and rental... ...paid her claim... ...and we even pulled a few strings. making it easy to make things right: that's what we're made for. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. get a quote today.

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. about one month back, we did a segment on the 19 qanon affiliated candidates running for congress in next year's midterms. since then that number has more than doubled to 40. all but two of those are republicans spread out over 16 different states. the alarming surge comes amid new polling this week from yougov showing at least 21% of registered republican voters in this country have a favorable view of qanon and its conspiracies. that despite the elusive leader of the movement failing to post or communicate with followers for the past seven months. joining me now to break down his reporting is david gilbert of vice news. good to have you with us. first of all, take me through how drastically the numbers have changed over the past four weeks and how much of a shot do these candidates have at winning

whether it's a primary or a seat. >> it's quite shocking. when i was speaking a month ago about this, i think people were shocked at the figure of 19. it's now 40, more than doubled in the space of a month. and its captain who maintains the tracker for media matters about these candidates told me that -- he just discovered these candidates and suspects it was probably even more out there right now he doesn't even know about or we don't know about. it's surprising, but in one way it's not because, as you mentioned in your previous piece about kevin mccarthy, he's still calling donald trump president trump, and that's speaking directly to qanon followers who also believe that donald trump is the legitimate president of the united states. so they're hearing it from the leadership, so why wouldn't people who believe in qanon decide, well, maybe i should run for congress as well? in regards to whether they have a chance of winning, it's

possible to say, but if you were speaking prior to the 2020 elections, you probably wouldn't have given lauren boebert or marjorie taylor greene a chance of winning a seat in congress either, but both of them are there right now. >> now, you referred to one republican candidate, ruben lan din dante right now. i want to play "the dawn is upon us." >> the way to fragrant someone from the ultimate truth and resonance is to create something seismically different with a little bit of truth, so essentially in this political climate, for example, you have democrats or republicans. we're going now through the darkest point of the night before the dawn where people realize that we are not our emotions, we're not our body, and we're seeing this, really, with this whole issue of identity that's coming up all over the world. >> he's also paid for multiple facebook ads with the qanon

hashtag #thegreatawakening. >> he's probably up there, but i'm not sure he would be -- there's another candidate in florida, joe perkins, who would also be very openly embracing qanon. but i suspect that they're not the more -- the ones we should be worried about because they're the ones who have less of a chance because they're so open and overt about their support of qanon. it's the candidates who are maybe talking about qanon openly on their twitter but have, i suppose, support for the police in the past. so they're kind of -- like taylor greene. if you asked her if she supports qanon, she's likely to say no. but she still supports all the conspiracy theories that qanon is espousing. so i think the fact that these conspiracies have become so

mainstream in the vept concerning. >> david, thank you so much. we're tight on time and not going to get to the our question about britney spears. qanon is inserting itself in the controversy. i'm joe fryer. thanks for watching. reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" starts right now. good evening, and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lede, a time for struggle. right now i'd say i'm watching the opening skirmishes in the central political battle of this next year. texas democrats are staying away from their home state to protest its special legislative session to pass voter restrictions. but in reality, they are still