surging, and it doesn't get much clearer than this. >> what is it going to take to get people to get shots in arms. >> i don't know. you tell me. folks supposed to have common sense. but it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. it's the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down. >> as the leader of the state, don't you think it's your responsibility to try and help get the situation under control? >> i've done all i know how to do. i can encourage you to do something but i can't make you take care of yourself. >> wow. that is remarkable. governors are furious, hospitals are overwhelmed, the economy is shaky and yet americans are still refusing a life-saving tool that the rest of the world desperately wants. also, secretary of state antony blinken is our guest this morning. we'll talk about the global fight against covid, the war in

afghanistan, and the cry for freedom in cuba. we have a lot to cover on this friday, july 23rd, and willie, we'll start with this. how about those yanks, they're so great. the yankees, love them. >> why would you do that? sounds like joe has been up telling you what to say. we'll skip the yankee game last night. too much to get to. as you heard from governor kay ivy, also the republican senators in that state coming out, imploring the people of alabama to get the vaccine. frustration is mounting over the unvaccinated. coming up kelly o'donnell, talks about the white house and masks. but miguel almaguer has more. >> reporter: painting a grim picture of the new reality

inside some hospitals, the numbers from the cdc reflect our nation slowly slipping back towards crisis. as we surpass 50,000 infections a day, new cases, hospitalizations, even daily deaths are spiking again. >> it is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses that we know of and i have seen in my 20-year career. >> reporter: struggling to contain the delta variant, florida, texas and missouri, three states with lower vaccination rates now account for 40% of the nation's new cases. one kansas hospital turning away patients as they struggle to manage their own caseload. >> we're past the tipping point we're in trouble. >> reporter: in los angeles county, construction teams are back at providence st. joseph's medical center expanding their just shut erred covid ward. in the previous covid capital,

infections are up 1200%. nurse manager chris rice says with vaccinations his team is on the front line of a battle they don't need to be on anymore. >> just feels like we're going backwards. i know that me and a lot of other people here, we are feeling very discouraged, disheartened, in some cases a little bit angry. >> reporter: as the cdc heard evidence today on break through infections and discussed boosters for those with compromised immune systems. there is some progress in hard-hit states where more americans are choosing to get vaccinated. mia watched her husband brad lose his battle to covid through a glass wall after they both became infected. >> i wish we would have gotten vaccinated. one shot could have prevented all of this.

>> reporter: regret and loss as more families face dark days ahead. >> reporter: the delta variant mask debate. president biden says he has talked to his covid experts about mask rules for vaccinated americans. but so far no change is planned. >> 25 person group we put together are looking at all the possibilities what's happening now. >> reporter: the cdc director has a message for the fully vaccinated. mask wearing is up to you. >> you may choose to add an extra layer of protection by putting on your mask. it's a very individual choice. >> reporter: but in covid hot spots some local officials push for mask wearing, authorities in new orleans and philadelphia advising masks indoors for the fully vaccinated. and atlanta public schools, all masks necessary regardless of vaccine status.

let's bring in dr. kavita patel, an msnbc medical contributor. also with us, white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. dr. patel, you can hear the frustration in the doctor's voice there, in the governor of alabama's voice saying we've done all we can do. we've tried to signal what the best steps are to keep you safe. a vaccine in a miracle fashion and speed was created to protect all of us yet so many americans will not get the vaccine and we see the spike. it's a question we've been talking about with you for a couple of weeks now. what is there left to do? the governors are speaking, senators are speaking, ministers, pastors, football coaches all these trusted people are saying get the vaccine for the benefit of our community and yet millions of americans are not. >> willie, frustration is -- honestly it feels unanimous amongst health care

professionals, myself included. number one we absolutely need to take harder stances around the mask debate. we've tried, when we had the release on wearing masks for vaccinated people. the science is incredibly sound we didn't have a delta variant surge. we also didn't have this unpredictable way of knowing who's vaccinated, who's not, who's not wearing a mask and we have evidence it's not working. we've seen higher infection rates, this is a more transmissible version of the virus. so we'll have to go back to not just saying you choose to wear a mask if you want protections but a place where there's a high likelihood of this event. second we need full fda approval of the vaccine. it would make not some individuals change their mind but it would give employers and probably state and federal governments the jurisdiction to say you need to be vaccinated to come back to a certain setting.

and third we need to keep pounding individually this message, you're unvaccinated, you will get infected. >> dr. patel, what's the time line on full u.s. government approval? because that does seem to be the -- you know, the last hurdle here that could solve the problem even for people who don't want to be vaccinated. it at least could protect populations because they could be mandated. >> it's such a relevant question because we're watching the fda make all types of decisions people are questioning. pfizer put in their application early april, there is a time line the fda has to consider for rapid approval. that timeline can extend to the beginning of next year, but the commissioners and others have been clear they're on a much faster time frame. i hope or expect by august or september -- so soon, we will see approval. but you're right, we no longer

have the luxury of time. this summer surge hit a lot of us by surprise because we were thinking it would be around the fall when the weather is cooler, people go back to school. we're shown once again this virus will always throw a curveball at us. >> it's a failure to communicate. how do you think the u.s. government and our health leaders have handled this? has it been a failure to communicate the vaccine, its efficacy, its safety? why are people remaining unvaccinated, creating a fourth wave and a pandemic among the unvaccinated at this point? >> yeah, i'm going to say this very clearly because a lot of these people are people i consider my friends. the science was clear, the communication at the time when we released this mask guidance, it was correct and accurate. unfortunately the policies and the interpretations by

individuals was wholly insufficient. people saw it as an individual license to do whatever they wanted. including going into areas where there were high levels of unvaccinated people. so the communication is not working and it's not clear. and even more concerning, now the communication feels as if we're falling behind and saying choose to do what you want. a message that's clearly not working. so we need to all get on the same page and we need to support these local health officials. there's been controversy about this. i support the counties that have stuck their necks out and said we need to wear masks because cases are surging, period. >> and a mask can protect, it really can. jonathan lemire, case in point, to what dr. patel was just referring to right now. what's happening at the white house as it pertains to mask wearing, do they want to mandate masks again? what is the source of the, the

crux of the debate. >> as my colleagues and i at the associated press reported yesterday, there have been discussions in the white house between aides and officials at the cdc, other public health officials as to what should be done with masks. it was categorized to me by west wing aides that these were routine discussions, they've been having them every so often in terms of overall health policy in response to the pandemic but they have taken on heightened urgency the last couple weeks. the white house said they're deferring to the cdc, the cdc was issue the guidelines and the white house will support them. to this point the guidelines have not changed. unvaccinated people are to wear masks indoors. vaccinated people there's no recommendation they do so yet. there have been discussions and certainly there will be further talks in the weeks ahead whether

that could change. jen psaki was asked about this yesterday and she said though nothing was on the horizon, she did not rule out the possibility that there could be a change down the road. even down playing the nature of these discussions, of course, you want health officials to discuss all options, it's not imminent. but this is something they're watching care flif here and it's, beyond the public health crisis, would be a political moment for this president who a few weeks ago was declaring our independence over the virus. and if more masks come back and more lockdowns come back, that would damage the economy too. this is something the white house is watching very carefully, they know we're at an inflection point. >> and there was a lot of talk about kids in school being masked. here's why, the united states is seeing a string of covid-19

outbreaks tied to summer camps. one struck in new york where more than 30 campers at camp pontiac, a seven-week sleepaway camp for children 7 to 16 have tested positive for the virus. nurses began testing last weekend after campers were showing symptoms of covid-19. according to the public health director for the counter, 31 of the camp's 550 campers tested positive. all the infected are under the age of 12, making them too young to receive vaccines. so dr. patel, this gets at an important question. no one who had the vaccine, none of the kids 12 and older contracted covid-19 in this case at this camp, all of the cases were among those unvaccinated because there was no vaccine. which raises questions about schools this fall how safe they can be and what mitigation events are necessary until the vaccine for younger kids becomes

available. >> look, i am such a strong proponent of schools in person, but exactly as you say, we'll need mitigation measures. the secretary of education has been traveling around the country to make sure that reinvestments are made in air quality, ventilation, that matters. i do support the american academy of pediatrics and their policy of universal masks in schools 12 and under as well as staff and faculty because of what you said. we're not trying to create fear among parents we want to make you feel safe and confident that when i send my child to school they're safe. there's been controversy over what testing to do. the united states has been trying to stand up regional testing hubs to support schools. we need to do it as soon as possible all over the country. one thing about that camp that's really frightening is the

secondary attack rate, the 31 children were more likely than a year ago to spread this to other people in their households. a phenomenon we did not see earlier. if you're unvaccinated in that household or older, immunocompromised, you're at risk. >> i want to make sure i understand this clearly, because there's going to be, obviously, a lot of people who are like incredibly -- who are incredibly against wearing masks and the kids wearing masks and closing of schools. but, you know, we came into this show with governor kay ivy just remarkably saying it like it is. that, you know, she can't teach people common sense. you need to -- she doesn't even know what else to do to get the people of her state to get smart and listen to the facts and get vaccinated so people don't die. it's like that simple.

and yet, now we're going to be talking about masks again and whether or not to open schools. is it not the people who choose to remain unvaccinated right now who are causing all of this. . >> yeah. there's no doubt. the data supports that. and the governor's frustration is just echoing everyone else whose seeing unnecessary hospitalizations, unnecessary deaths, unnecessary infections, we haven't talked about long covid or what could be happening to people years, months from now. we already know that's something to be concerned about. so yes, it is selfish at this point to not get vaccinated and let me say this. if you are one of those people, absolutely get it out in the open, talk about your concern. there are many of us who want to be able to kind of not just give you the facts mika, but be able to tell you why you need to get this vaccine for yourself but to protect anybody you love. that's the way to think about

it. who do you love that you worry about dying. that's your responsibility in getting vaccinated. >> quickly, dr. patel, pregnant women, i'm hearing so many different points of view on this, should they get vaccinated? >> yes. absolutely. >> any point -- >> yes. >> at any point in the pregnancy? >> yes, they should. it should be however earlier if they can get their series so they can develop antibodies and absolutely take it up with your obstetrician. but we know this is safe for pregnant women and we can actually give antibodies to the fetus, which can be protective for the baby, and that's critical. >> dr. kavita patel, thank you very much for being on this morning. willie? the opening ceremony for the 2020 tokyo olympics comes today as three more athletes have tested positive for coronavirus.

tokyo organizationers said last night olympics related cases rose to 19. tokyo itself hit another six-month high for new coronavirus infections, nearly 2,000 cases just yesterday. that's the highest number reported since january as tokyo remains under a fourth state of emergency. this one put in effect on july 12th. joining us from kyoto, japan, kier simmons who sat down with japan's prime minister for his first television interview. games going off at the opening ceremony today, what's the feeling on the ground there in japan? >> reporter: hey, willie. tension i would say. it's easy to forget, unless you're here in japan how many prime minister suga has riding

on the games. his ruling party runs out at the end of september. so he faces trying to get a renewed mandate weeks after the olympics is over. his party did badly in tokyo elections just recently. the polls are against his decision to hold the games, although it's come back in his direction a little bit. we'll get to why this should matter for the white house in a moment but first i wanted to press him on the fact that he's betting his job on this game. many japanese people are worried there will be a rise in infections. did you consider canceling the games? >> translator: i think canceling the games is easy to do, however as i said before, while facing the coronavirus and holding a safe olympics and paraolympics this faces many challenges. but as the nation hosting the

games i believe we must fulfill our obligation to the rest of the world. what worried me the most was that public opinion was divided. i wanted the japanese people to understand the games will be held safely and securely. >> reporter: there's a huge weight on your shoulders. your political career perhaps depends on these games. are the olympics worth it? >> translator: as i mentioned before, over 4 billion people across the world will be watching these olympic games and in that context, overcoming the hardship of the coronavirus and to be able to hold the games, i think there is real value in that. >> reporter: now why should this matter for the white house? well, apart from the fact that, of course, japan is a close ally for the u.s., third biggest economy in the world. president biden has invested in his relationship with prime minister suga, the first world leader to be invited to meet with president biden in the

white house. prime minister suga told me the two of them were working together on policy particularly at the g-7 last month. the policy to counteract china in his own words. so i wanted to ask him about that relationship and how he views it. take a listen. are japan and the u.s. more aligned than ever in their view of china, and how would you describe the challenge of china? >> translator: well, in terms of how japan and the united states view china, with the establishment of the new administration i think we will face the issue based on a new relationship between our two countries that's different from the relationship between the two leaders of the previous administrations. i think president biden is a president who tries to build a consensus among allies and like-minded countries in order to advance policies. i think he is that type of president. >> that's different from the previous administration?

>> translator: yes, i think the previous administration advanced issues based on the individual personality of the president but the president biden tries to steer allies and like-minded countries towards the same direction. it's a different kind of political method. >> reporter: and you saw that way of president biden working with allies particularly at the j-7 where prime minister sue ga told me he and the president worked together for an unprecedented part of the communique talked about supporting taiwan, vis-a-vis china. china is the next country to hold the olympics but first, japan, needs to get through its games and again the outcome of these games and whether they cause political instability here in japan is going to be watched closely from the white house because it's really crucial for the white house. willie? >> the world watching these games take place under a state of emergency in japan.

kier simmons in kyoto, thank you so much. the last comments from the japanese prime minister about president biden reminded us of something pedro sanchez said earlier this week in our show about the biden administration and the former guy. >> i think that when president biden says america is back, i think it's good news, not only for you but also for the world. and unfortunately the situation we had before with the previous administration, the u.s. administration, the trump administration, was, you know, i would say, very difficult to understand. you know, to see a president of the u.s. saying that european union is kind of an enemy against the u.s. interest, i think it was a complete mistake. >> jonathan lemire, he was answering your question, your take. president biden is really -- he's working to sort of

reassert, reclaim america's position in terms of its credibility around the world and these leaders validating that there was an aberration, to say the least, for four years. >> no question about that, mika. look, there's some worry among foreign leaders there could be a return to that, to trump or trumpism if biden, let's say, serves only one term and donald trump or someone like him follows him into office. right now there is a global sigh of relief. i was there in europe for the president's first foreign trip at the g-7 at nato. his message was meant to be so aassuring, this is normal, predictable, you can could want -- count on the united states again. and it was met with relief from these leaders, who want united states to be a predictable reliable ally again. are there some world leaders who

miss no doubt. we know president biden was tougher in his rhetoric with russia than president trump ever was. and as a final point, even on the olympics, even though it's held under a state of emergency, there won't be fans, first lady jill biden will be there today because this was the white house's messaging, japan you're a crucial ally, we know the games mean a lot to you, we want to be part of it, signal we've got your back so the first lady is in attendance today. >> all of this we can talk about with secretary of state antony blinken coming up straight ahead on "morning joe." still ahead on "morning joe," house speaker nancy pelosi eyes another republican for the house panel probing the january 6th insurrection. what the addition of adam kinzinger would mean for the investigation. and as i just said, secretary of state antony blinken is our guest this

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let's be crystal clear about this issue, and i want you to start reporting the facts. the new cases in covid are because of unvaccinated folks. almost 100% of the new hospitalizations are with unvaccinated folks. and the deaths certainly occurring with unvaccinated folks. these folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain. y'all we've got to get folks to take the shot, the vaccine is the greatest weapon we have to fight covid, no question about that. the data proves it. >> these folks are choosing a

horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain. that's straight talk there from alabama's republican governor, kay ivy, about the unvaccinated creating a pandemic within themselves. let's bring in columnist and associate editor of "the washington post," and be msnbc political analyst eugene robinson, and alicia menendez and donny deutsch. donny, if i can start with you before we get into these editorials. governor kay ivy i think is doing a real service, even though she's talking about her own constituents, she's fed up and saying it like it is. this is your choice to get covid and die. >> yeah, look, that little r where you put the r after it to designate whether it's republican or democrat, i had to

look really hard because that did not feel like a spokesperson to the republican party. even though there are other republicans coming out. that's the plain talk we need at this point. we talk on the show about what can we say and how do we say it. we have to say what are you people doing? you're killing yourself and other people, that's it. there's no gray here. no two sides to the argument. you talked about that camp in new york, i have friends whose kids are in that camp. i think the only thing left to -- well, a talking point beyond that emotional plea of the government, kids, how about the kids. no, i think that's a poster spokesperson, a poster tone for how this country needs to be spoken to. there's no messing around, tipping around. no your philosophy is this, my philosophy is this, no you're killing people. >> i think what makes it

resonant, is she is a republican. this is a republican governor saying stop making yourself die and others as well. get the vaccine. i cannot teach you common sense. my gosh. i'm moved by it and i hope it helps. i really do. let's look at this recent editorial entitled "the case for vaccine mandates. this is the bloomberg arguing that hospitals, nursing homes and other businesses should require their employees to be inoculated writing in much of america vaccine hesitancy has turned into vaccine defiance. president biden should go beyond cojoling the vaccine hesitant and call on hops and nursing homes across the u.s. to insist their employees get their shots. the health care industry is the

best place to issue vaccine mandates. to discourage people from getting their shots is unconningable. but it's no longer good enough to call on vaccine hesitant to protect themselves and others. hospitals, schools and businesses are within their rights to insist on vaccinations and ought to be doing just that. the problem, and you see the mayor of new york, he's done a vaccine mandate among front line workers or choose to get tested weekly. and the reason again is we need full federal approval of the vaccine to really have a clear shot, excuse the pun, at doing this without legal implications and political implications and all sorts of other things. >> that's the point dr. kavita patel was making earlier on the show when she said it has to clear the fda bar before these things can be implemented.

indiana university won a court case earlier in the week because it's requiring students to be vaccinated before they return to campus. a group of students challenged that and a court upheld, no, they're a public university but they can require those vaccinations. mayor de blasio requiring hospital workers. nursing homes is something people will look at. and now schools as well, given the fact that students under the age of 12 a, as we're seeing in these camps, who cannot be vaccinated are carrying this disease that people who can ought to be vaccinated. what do you think about the idea of mandating vaccines in some of these places? >> willie, it seems to me that for the health care industry it ought to be a no brainer because you're putting potential patients at risk by not being vaccinated.

so why would you want to run any risk, any chance that you're adding to the burden of covid and an infection could, you know, run rampant, the delta variant especially, in a hospital system. that to me is absurd. so that seems to be a no-brainer. for other institutions, universities and others that are able to require the vaccine, they require vaccines for measles and other diseases, they ought to go ahead and require the vaccine for covid-19. but i think all this will be on firmer footing once there is full fda approval for the vaccine. i understand, and i can see, why that is a hurdle for a lot of institutions and for some people. once that is given, i think it will be firmer sort of perhaps

legal ground and perhaps in terms of public opinion to start imposing -- and i guess imposing is the right word, more widespread vaccine mandates. it is just absurd that we have these vaccines that keep people from dying period from covid and not everybody is taking them. i don't get it. >> given the amount of misinformation out there, our culture right now, online, you have to wonder is fda approval going to change a bunch of people's minds or are they set in conspiracy theories or things they read on facebook that fda approval is not going to change their minds on it. perhaps it will. allow it to be required in some schools, for example. we forget all the vaccinations that for generations kids have had to have as a requirement to go into schools. this is not something new. >> you say that as a parent who has clearly filled out all of the immunization forms, of

course, that's standard practice. i saw a heartbreaking story, it went viral, about a hospitalist in alabama who's seeing a spike in young patients coming in with the virus, coming in very sick. and as she's about to intubate them. she tells the story how she's about to intubate them, and they say doctor can i get the vaccine now, and she says i'm sorry it's too late. it's important because those stories drive home who the variant is hitting, the implications of it, not to just their patients but the medical community who has been dealing with this for a long time. part of the reason we're now having this conversation about mandates is because for a long time we were having the conversation about trusted messenger, were there republicans, were there conservative messengers who could go out and say, listen, take the vaccine, because cautious about this virus. in the past few weeks we've seen that. we've seen representative steve

scalise after months where he could have had access to the vaccine, could have gotten the vaccine, finally getting it. you have fox news hosts going take the virus seriously, consider the vaccine and even that is not breaking through. that is part of the reason we are now pivoting and having this conversation about mandates. >> donny, obviously public health officials say vaccines are key to defeating the pandemic but another element of protection are masks. we reported there were discussions between the white house and cdc about reinstituting mask mandates we're seeing some jurisdictions like los angeles county already bringing them back. how do you see it play out if, let's hope it doesn't get there, if in the weeks ahead there's a consensus from the federally mandated or governments saying masks have to come back. how does that play? we've seen a rise of masks a little bit, there's a return in places like washington or new york. whether it's places where there's vaccine hesitancy or

places where people were vaccinated. there was a sense of being relieved and not having to wear masks anymore. how will this play? is this a political fire storm waiting if masks are asked to come back? >> i think the fact -- the point you just touched on is you've been there before. i think it was harder the first time around creating new behavior versus creating behavior we've been through. whether it's a mandate on mask, vaccine, is at this point there is a percentage of the population that who cares whether they're angry or upset about it. there's 330 million people in the country, we need to protect ourselves. as willie mentioned, look, there's been mandates throughout time. i grew up having to get a smallpox vaccine, we all did, other vaccines also. i'm done worrying about what people think. i'm done worrying about is there going to be a fire storm. whether it's a mask or vaccine,

there's an idiot percentage of the population that needs to be told what to do and guess what, you don't have a choice. too bad. >> as we talk about the power of this misinformation, we had an interview on our show a few days ago with a doctor at the university of mississippi who said these people who i treat, who have trusted me, trusted our doctors for years and years and years on everything else suddenly have decided we're not to be trusted on the question of this covid vaccine. so it gets to the point everyone here is making. what is the power of trusted people inside the community over facebook. and unfortunately facebook for a lot of people wins the argument. >> facebook is so unbelievably responsible for the disinformation out there. such a huge part of the problem in this country. facebook has done so much damage to this country in the past four years it's -- we wouldn't have enough time on this show to talk about it. but it is worth doing perhaps

town hall meeting or some sort of three-hour discussion on the impact of facebook alone and how facebook needs to be held accountable. but to your point, willie, these republicans and what we've seen this morning with kay ivy, republicans need to come forward. republicans need to step up. i know a lot of these republicans so scared of donald trump and they like to put kind of like information out there that's sort of supportive of the vaccine, but sort of not, and sort of whatever. and folks on fox, folks on fox news, you know, having people come on making fun of the vaccine, airing the lies of people putting out conspiracy theories about the vaccine and leaving them unchecked. you're all responsible for the misinformation that has pervaded into the american population and left a huge segment of it exposed to a deadly virus.

and here's the thing. it's not like hard to find now. it's not like is this true? it might not be true? you're fake news. nope, the people who are unvaccinated and followers of donald trump and followers of these republicans and followers of fox news, and followers of news max and followers of right wing garbage on facebook, are the ones who have chosen to believe the conspiracy theories and the bad information out there, and they are the ones going to the hospital and dying of covid and spreading it around the country and keeping our country from being able to move forward out of mask wearing. out of all these things that constrain your rights and that you think democrats are so stupid to be supporting. we're just supporting facts. yes, democrats like facts and some republicans do too. i'm hoping more do. follow the lead of governor kay ivy, and tell people the truth

for once. we'll move to some other politics now. house speaker nancy pelosi is considering unilaterally appointing a second anti-trump republican, congressman adam kinzinger of illinois to the house committee investigating the january 6th capitol riot. when asked by nbc news if she thinks adam kinzinger would be a good member of the committee she said, quote, everybody else does. as a veteran, his service is considered, of course, as an asset in what we have to do next. but she would not say whether she'd appoint him. emerging from a meeting with speaker pelosi, benny thompson confirmed that kinzinger is being considered. >> i think his reputation speaks for himself.

from all indications he's a fine representative, and that's the kind of person we'd want to have on this committee. >> a source tells nbc news former virginia congressman, denver rigleman who's been outspoken in his criticism of donald trump, may be an adviser to the committee. nbc news caught up with him as he approached a meeting with the speaker. >> are you serving on the committee? >> so jonathan lemire, let's get an update on where all of this stands. republicans have been talking about having their own committee, does this muddy the waters? and also, it does -- it does -- i think it's fair that you don't want someone on the committee that you would then be bringing as a witness to testify as to what happened that day and what

their actions were that day, and that could be some problems for key republicans. >> sure. i think that's the point that house speaker nancy pelosi is making but republicans are objecting to that. pelosi's committee has the first hearing on tuesday. so if adam kinzinger is going to be appointed, it'll be done between now and then. what we're likely looking at is republicans holding their own if not full-fledged investigation but will be issuing some sort of report at the end of it. which is clearly meant as a distraction to try to muddy the waters, make this a he said/she said if you will about what happened there. we should never lose sight of the fact, mika, there isn't a bipartisan commission, a september 11th bipartisan commission about what happened on january 6th solely because of republicans in the senate voted it down. had that been approved we would be spared this political

jockeying over the select committee and we've have a bipartisan commission that could take its time and do a deep dive into what happened, akin to what we saw after september 11th. but it's gone and this is that much more representative of the purely broken partisanship in the nation's capitol with republicans trying to turn the page, put up distractions and move forward with their eyes on next year's midterms. >> gene, we have to underline and can't say it enough as we've said this week why we got here, that's because mitch mcconnell and senate republicans voted no. they voted down the idea of an actual bipartisan commission like the 9/11 commission, drove the congress into a select committee, nancy pelosi is the speaker, she establishes the committee, picked who she was going to pick. and kevin mccarthy knew by putting jim jordan on the

committee that would cause problems and nancy pelosi would say that's not fair. so it's theatrical. even if adam kinzinger is on there, they'll say, of course, he and liz cheney want to look into this because they're partisan and they voted to impeachment donald trump, we're right back in our partisan lanes on a question that demands clear eyed nonpartisan analysis of what happened that day, even as more videos come out every day showing the truth of what happened. >> first of all, we should recognize and say that liz cheney and adam kinzinger are partisan republicans. they are republicans to the bone. they are not democrats. i know they will be accused of being democrats by the house republicans, because that's what they do. it is all theatre, as you said. it's all the house republicans are doing, putting jim jordan on the committee in his shirt

sleeves, you know, put on a coat. putting banks on the committee who announced that he wanted to investigate the response of the biden administration, which did not exist, on january 6th. i mean, it's just ridiculous and kevin mccarthy had to know it was ridiculous and nancy pelosi would call him on it because she doesn't play. there is theatre happening on the republican side. there is an official committee of the house of representatives that will, in an official capacity, investigate what happened on january 6th. and that's really what we should pay attention to. and that's what we should make clear when the republicans try to muddy the waters. when they try to make it he said/she said. it's not he said/she said. it's, there's a committee and there's a side show and we should street the side show for

what it is. >> and one more item i want to ask you about this, vice president kamala harris met yesterday with daca recipients, reassuring the administration's fight to help dreamers and other undocumented immigrants find a pathway to citizenship. >> i want to make clear to the dreamers who are here and those who are watching from home, this is your home. this is your home. and we see you and you are not alone. the president and i, needless to say, and i hope many of you saw his town hall yesterday, we are unequivocal that we recognize you for the americans that you are and that we recognize that you deserve all the rights that come with american citizenship. and so we will be tireless in fighting for a pathway to citizenship.

>> last week a federal judge in texas ruled that daca is unlawful and blocked the biden administration from approving new applications for the obama era program. where does this go from here? >> it goes to congress. that's where the focus is going to be. and that's part of what advocates wanted to make sure that they expressed to vice president harris. the critical role she will play in making sure that immigration remains a part of the reconciliation process. you think about the human cost of this, mika. you have tens of thousands of people applying to the program for the first time, many of them applied months ago. their applications have been held up, haven't been processed yet because of a backlog, which means they can't get work authorization, driver's license, and they're not shielded against deportation. then you have the 600,000 people who are part of the program

already who now see it as a threat to the program itself. you have biden saying that the department of justice is going to appeal this ruling opinion that means it's going to head to the fifth circuit. the fifth circuit in the past has upheld rulings against be the program which means it could be paving the path to the supreme court. remember a year ago the supreme court decided that the trump administration had acted unconstitutionally in decided to rescind the daca program. but advocates look at this court and it is a very different court than a year ago, which is why pressure has amped up on congress to find a path forward through congress. the question, it seems, given what joe manchin said last week about his openness to immigration being part of the reconciliation package, this likely comes down to the senate

paralymin tearian making a decision where it goes from there we'll see in the next 30 to 35 days. >> allye a mendez, thank you very much. and eugene robinson, thank you. coming up, fines, even forfeits, the nfl issues harsh new penalties hoping players get vaccinated. plus ron desantis stressed coronavirus vaccines earlier this week so why is his state fighting a new law that keeps cruise lines from requiring proof of vaccination? more on the politics of the pandemic next on "morning joe." pandemic next on "morning joe. [relaxed summer themed music playing] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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teenagers in new jersey were celebrating a birthday on one of those slingshot rides at an

amusement park when something unexpected happen. watch this. >> happy birthday. >> bye! [ [bleep] ] . >> what? oh, what? that girl will now go through her life of a phobia of not just rides but birthdays in general. can we see that again? that's insane. [bleep] >> afterward her friend was like we are going to buy the photo from that ride. >> so, mika, that was 13-year-old kylie holman in wildwood, new jersey. let's watch it again.

seagull to the face in the opening seconds of the slingshot ride on the pier there. she's a legend, a savage. look, the bird comes and she just dispatches. there you go, get this off me and keep riding. incredible, kylie. we're happy to report the bird was okay, flew away and kylie finished the ride. >> go kylie, but no, never. norwegian cruise line filed suit this week against the state of florida challenging a new law that prevents cruise companies from requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination against the covid-19 virus, imposing a $5,000 fine each time a cruise line mandates it. norwegian said it violates federal law and the company's constitutional rights and is

threatening to ban the state if the law is not overturned. dave, these cruise ships are obviously like mini super spreader events in the way there are people that are close together in a boat out to sea. i would think that cruise companies would want to put their best foot forward and be responsible and require that people are vaccinated so they have a safe ship. but what are some of the complicating factors here? >> good morning, mika. i think norwegian cruise lines has a good argument, i think they're going to prevail in court. they're basing their lawsuit on the first amendment, saying the state is blocking communications between a private company and its customers and also saying that the new law in florida, it has the effect of conflicting with the cdc's federal guidelines for cruise ships. what's interesting, mika is only norwegian cruise lines is suing

the state. the other cruise lines are laying off, carnival, royal caribbean instead are trying a work around because they don't want to upset the governor. so they're saying to their passengers that everyone is welcome but if you don't show proof of vaccination you have to pay extra for insurance, you have to pay extra to get covid tested and you're going to be restricted where you can go on the ship like the casino, so the other cruise lines are saying what ncl is saying, buzz off if you don't have the vaccine because who wants their ships to be floating petrie dishes in the middle of the ocean. >> that's it. >> i think the governor may have miscalculated here because this is not just good policy for cruise ships and good business, it's good for politics because three quarters of floridans opposed the governor's new anti-vaccine passport law so

we'll see if it bites desantis in the end. >> and at lot of republicans, donny deutsch, i just wonder what is happening and is this an example of the republican brand destroying itself. aren't they not supposed to be getting deeply involved in how businesses do their business? that's one thing. but secondly, this covid story that the republicans have clung to, the wrong side of, it actually is going to end badly for them, with people dead. so i know that -- i know that donald trump has turned upside down just how bad things can go before there's actually a consequence. the consequence here is death. and republicans keep -- florida is a state that's now seeing an upswing. i know that local hospital that i'm close to went from zero to 38 patients in the er with covid because of their inability to take a straight shot at this

virus and push the vaccine 100%. >>, you know, i have an interesting branding idea. it makes me sick on one level but i think effective on the other level. is that let's call this trump vaccine. let's give our old fearless leader kudos here and say donald trump this is your vaccine, this was warp speed under your thing and sell it that way to the american public. to these people who -- actually, if donald trump came out if somebody could appeal to donald trump, saying donald we're going to rescue your legacy here, you are going to get credit for the vaccine, you are going to get credit for saving tens of hundreds of millions of lives and repackage this as the trump vaccine. there was obamacare, this is the trump vaccine. give the big guy credit. and i think that would start to motivate and change some minds. i know that's probably not going to happen but to me that would be the final push. and the other answer is mandate.

you can't spoke cigarettes inside, why? yes, you have freedoms in this country but you don't have the freedom to get other people sick. we got there with cigarette smoking. but let's call this the trump vaccine, give the guy credit. >> whatever works. >> exactly. >> so dave aaronberg, in terms of legal parallels we have these cases around the country, republicans pushing voter id, everyone has to have an id or identification to vote, some say it makes it harder to vote, blah, blah, blah, but then they're against vaccine passports and mandates. are there legal parallels with this where they're showing some hypocrisy? >> it shows an ignorance of the law because they keep losing cases. the governor just lost a round at the 11th circuit court of appeal on this related issue. when it came to the big lie

republicans lost all their cases before the courts although when it comes to the suppression laws that may lead to a different outcome. this is all motivated by politics. when you ask what's happening in florida, the reason why governor desantis push this law which most floridans oppose is because he is singularly focused on becoming the 2024 republican nominee for president. that's why last weekend he went down to the mexico border, 1,000 miles away from tallahassee while florida endured a spike in covid cases. he wants to inherit the maga base and it seems to be working for him. that's why he'll continue to politicize the pandemic and do things like sell anti-dr. fauci merch on his website and push this kind of legislation. this is getting in the business of a private company. it's ironic the people who claim

to be against socialism love to push legislation that looks quite socialist. dave aaronberg thank you very much. and donny deutsch thank you as well. we'll be listening to your podcast. willie? >> let's focus on coronavirus inside the hospitals right now. in new jersey where university hospital in newark will soon require all staff to be vaccinated. joining you now president and ceo of university hospital in new jersey. doctor, it's great to have you back this morning we spoke two days ago to mayor bill de blasio in new york city who's putting in a city wide rule if you work in a hospital you have to be vaccinated. your hospital taking that same step in newark, new jersey. explain the decision. >> thanks for having me. i think it's a very wise move. i made the decision because i just simply could not abide by the risk of my staff spreading

it to each other but certainly spreading it to the most vulnerable folks in the community to covid-19, our patients. we now have vaccines that have been given to over 150 million people in this country, real world effectiveness is sky high and they're overwhelmingly safe. if we are going to be providing health care we have to be the ones to set the example and keep each other and the community safe. so i strongly support mayor de blasio's move there. >> it makes sense to most people. i think obviously shaming and condescending to people not getting the vaccine isn't probably the best way to persuade them to get it. what do you say to people who are hesitant. it surprises people that a doctor or nurse wouldn't get it knowing the ravages of covid having seen it with her or his own eyes. what do you say to those who are hesitant? >> our mandate kicks in about ten days. in the lead up to the mandate

i've been having lunches with groups of employees that are unvaccinated. i had one last week. these were folks who were not vaccinated, were skeptical, almost all of them had gotten the shot. you can have the conversations on a personal level and if you come with credibility and the facts, to this day you can get people through that journey. you can't do this from the podium, and you can't do this on camera nearly as effectively as you can on a personal level. and the surgeon general released a report recently about misinformation and spelled out the role that everybody can take in having these personal conversations with their loved ones, community members and their doctors and health care professionals who know what they're talking about. so i urge everybody to take that advice. >> if you don't mind taking us inside the lunches you've had, it could be constructive to a lot of people, not just those working in hospitals.

what do you tell someone who has read something online that the vaccine is going to make them more kick or they're putting a micro chip in your arm or dr. fauci and bill gates is getting more rich. >> this is why the person having the conversations needs to be trusted, needs the baseline level of trust with whoever is across the table from them. trust means that people will believe you, and simply dispelling notions like hey, these vaccines make you infertile, even the claims about surveillance or what have you on these vaccines. you can easily dispel those things if if you have that baseline level of trust, which is why it requires everybody in our communities and our health care professionals and institutions to set the example. so i really do think and we're proving this every day, with the canvassing that we're doing before mobile vaccination events

going door-to-door, these conversations can be a few minutes and you can get people through the end of your journey and get them to accept the vaccine. everyone should be taking that personal responsibility, not only getting vaccinated themselves but having those tough conversations with folks that are skeptical. everybody has folks in their lives that are skeptical about the vaccine, myself included, so really do take the vaccine. >> two questions i'm curious whatnot who, what the conversation is with the hospital worker who refuses to get vaccinated still working in a hospital, seeing firsthand the results of this virus. can you share with us what the push back is, what the reasoning is to not get the vaccine? and where are they getting their information? >> it's a good question because it spells out how dangerous misinformation and disinformation is. even for folks who are in the

health care setting every day or even have some level of health care training, certification, degrees are susceptible to misinformation and disinformation on facebook and on social media. and i have seen that first hand and discussing with my employees the concerns about side effects that aren't real, the concerns about adverse events that just simply don't exist. these things can pervade even into a group of health care professionals. so that surgeon general focus, the fact that every level of leadership should be focused on having these conversations, dispelling this information and everybody doing their part to do so could never be more important. >> i'll start with one issue just i want to get your weigh in on this. i've heard from people in the medical community that there is controversy over whether or not pregnant women should get the vaccine. should pregnant women get the vaccine at any time in the pregnancy? >> well, the recommendation that

i'm aware of from the american college of the obstetrics and gien kolg is that the vaccine is recommended for pregnant women. getting vaccinated is a choice but not getting vaccinated is also a choice. and remember that covid-19 can have significant risks to pregnant women not only themselves but to their unborn child. premature births, other adverse outcomes are more likely with covid-19. so we don't know yet the long term effects of this vaccine. but remember, the history of vaccines and try to think of a vaccine causing a long-term side effect, it's difficult to do so. i think that's what informs the recommendation and that's what i tell our pregnant employees who have been concerned about this. i think we have to get behind the professionals who know about this and i endorse the professional society's recommendation. >> doctor, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. we will see you soon.

let's bring in columnist for "the washington post," max boot. in your latest column you argue it's time to stop pleading and mandate people get vaccinated. you said, quote, for the past six months president biden joined by every public health authority in the land has been begging americans to get vaccinated. the pretty please approach isn't working. right wingers are dying to own the libs. in the process they are ensuring that deadly variants will continue to circulate, endangering school reopenings and a return to normalcy. this is madness, stop making reasonable appeals to those who will not listen to reason. it's a waste of time. we should not grant an unreasonable minority the chance to mess with political health. i agree with you. the problem is i don't think the

white house would want to do that or states would want to do that. i think the drug has to go through the federal process to be going through the entire approval process and it's not there. we're in the emergency authorization mode. and right there is causing a little bit of a complication as it pertains to taking that approach. >> well, mika, i certainly think and hope the fda will grant regular approval, not just emergency approval to the vaccines, but i don't think that prevents us from having vaccine passports. right now companies have the ability to say you will not enter our premises, shop in our stores, work in our offices unless you can show proof of vaccine and governors have the capability to do that as well. president biden can order vaccination for members of the military and unfortunately a third of the military still has not gotten a single tap. and these are things i think it is well within the power of the president to address, governors to address and businesses to address.

we need to do something because vaccine resistance is actually growing, despite the fact that 99% of deaths are among those not vaccinated. it doesn't matter. the vaccine resistance is still growing. this misinformation is being spread by fox and others. so pleading with people to taken the vaccine isn't working. i think we need to tell people, hey, you have a right not to take the vaccine, but if you're not going to take the vaccine, stay home. don't infect others. if you want to travel by air, if you want to shop in a store, if you want to work in a business, you have to ensure the health of everybody else who is there. and you have to show either proof of vaccination or proof of a very recent negative covid test and we have the power to do that, i think we need to do that. >> max we saw in france recently president macron is putting in new rules saying you have to be vaccinated if you want to go into certain establishments, do certain things and so on. could a similar measure work

here? but what can president biden do on the federal level when so much is about the states. isn't it possible he could say we need to do this, but isn't it the governors' decisions and what happens if they balk. >> that is a state decision and certainly some governors are an obstacle because they're playing politics with this. but i think president biden has authority. the faa, you can mandate just like right now, you can't get on an airplane without a mask, now they can mandate you can't get on an airplane without a vaccination or test. even in red states people want to fly, travel. president biden can also mandate that you -- federal employees have to have proof of a covid test or vaccination. he can mandate people who enter federal buildings, he can mandate members of the military have to have it. i think having president biden come out and saying i am in

favor of verifying people's vaccine status, that will send a powerful signal to companies all over the country and i'm mystified that president biden hasn't taken that step yet. they're relying on the voluntary approach, pleading with people. with a lot of people it's just simply not going to work. >> let's add to our conversation, senior reporter for nbc news, ben collins. new reporting on how anti-vaccine groups are using code words. good morning. talk about how this works because i was reading through it and it's written in a jargon that most of us wouldn't understand but anti-vaxxers flagged by facebook have now found a way around it. >> yes. so there's no big group where everyone is saying the vaccine has poison in it, don't take the vaccine. that doesn't exist on facebook.

facebook has banned that kind of group from forming. what they haven't banned those moderators creating new groups like dance party or dinner party. and those groups the word vaccine is dance, pfizer is pizza. and they have a code at the top of the page, they have a legend for the codes at the top of the page. so that's how they get around this. these groups have tens of thousands of followers sometimes. facebook took some down yesterday after our reporting but it doesn't stop there. on instagram, the same thing. groups about swimming that are really about vaccine. they say i'm not going swimming. my nonswimming doctor -- so those code words are in effect allowing these groups to thrive on facebook. >> so as they morph and metastasize, what's the solution here? it's game of whack-a-mole for

platforms. what's the solution? >> they're borrowing from the extremist playbook. so you have to get people who live in that space to see how it evolves next. specifically the boo ga loo movement, responsible for the death of many cops last year in in the united states. it comes from skirting these bans, code words on facebook. they changed their name on facebook to the big lieu wow. to get around the measures on facebook. the number one way to do it is to stop tracking the moderation of words like vaccines. that goes pretty far. you know, bots moderate that stuff but on the actor level that's how it really gets enforced, you have to start moderating lists. groups that are versed in getting around platforms like

this. the antivaxx movement has been built up for decades. >> am i right when i heard you earlier say that facebook learned about this problem from your reporting or were they aware that these groups rr trying these methods, creating their own language to get around their rules? >> i think it's a combo, i think they're somewhat aware this is happening. but when we flagged these groups to them, they weren't really aware it. a couple of them are down now. they're going to find new ways to do this. this is an identity to these people. they are inherently driven by the fact they believe the government is poisoning their children. that is an enormous thing. they really, truly believe they are fighting the good fight here so they're not just going to stop when they get banned from facebook. and facebook by the way we have trashed them for years for not

doing enough on the extremism side, and that is absolutely correct by the way, they department for years. they are really trying on this. this is just a very difficult thing to maintain, when so many people believe this stuff, it's been seeped into their culture through various different avenues, through the religious avenue through the natural health avenue people have infiltrated many communities well before covid. this is just the chick that's coming home to roost there. >> we're seeing the impacts of this in icus across the country right now. before i let you go, president biden had the comment a few days ago where he said, facebook is, quote, killing people. he walked back those comments a little bit the next day. but what is the relationship between the white house and facebook and what pressure can the government downward push onto facebook and other social media companies on this question? >> facebook pushes back and says we are -- they point to some

numbers that are unquantifiable, frankly because facebook is a black box saying they're taking down millions of antivaccine posts a day and all this stuff. that's true, that's true. but we don't know the actual true percentage of that, these groups we talk about where they use code words that's never in that quantification. so both of these sides kind of have a point here, facebook we're trying. there are much worse places on the internet which this stuff is more pervasive. that's correct but they are not doing everything they can do because they're worried about backlash and speech implications there. i would say the relationship is not great here, but it has not been wonderful to start. so this is just another example of that. >> it's bad information, these conspiracy theories are killing people. nbc's ben collins with more great reporting.

thank you so much. sports leagues working on getting people vaccinated as well. the nfl added a new layer yesterday which includes threatening teams with losses. joining us now mike florio. mike, it's great to see you, especially in the off season here. so explain a little bit yesterday this letter from the nfl to the teams, which will certainly snap many of them to attention in terms of getting their players vaccinated. >> absolutely, willie. this is just the next step in what has been a long process by the league and the nfl players' association which represents all players in the league, to persuade players to get the vaccination. it's not mandated. they've been creating incentives, and yesterday's news the strongest disincentive yet to remain unvaccinated because the forfeits will flow from an outbreak among unvaccinated

players or staff that's when the forfeit happens. an outbreak among vaccinated players and staff, no forfeit. so another way to try to squeeze players to try to choose to get vaccinated. this has been really the biggest play yet by the league to get the attention of the players who are still hesitant. >> as you say, nothing gets the players' attention more than a loss perhaps missing the playoffs because your team had to forfeit a game due to a covid outbreak. it does raise the question, how is the nfl going to monitor this? how do they know who's vaccinated or not? >> they'll require from day one, when players show up, the teams must identify players who have been vaccinated so the ones who haven't been vaccinated will stand out. we reported last week the league and union are working on a system for allowing vaccinated players to be identified during practices in games.

so when preseason games begin in a few weeks, it'll be obvious. we'll see who is or isn't vaccinated. i think as players begin to get their brains around that. they'll realize that everyone can see they chose not to be vaccinated and after yesterday's memo, everyone can see these are the guys putting the team at risk of a forfeit during the season. just another a little bit of pressure to get the players to choose to do what the league and union believe they should do, get the vaccine. >> doesn't the nfl run into some risky ground here with players who don't want to do it. deandre hopkins, from the arizona cardinals, tweeted yesterday, i never thought i'd say this, but being put in a position to hurt my team because i don't want to take a vaccine is making my future in the nfl. he's clearly suggesting that he doesn't want to be vaccinated or at least is reluctant to do so.

now he's in a position he's considering walking away from the sport. he's one of the biggest stars in the game. what are you hearing in terms of other star players who don't want to be vaccinated? >> that's a great point. and deandre hopkins, i think the biggest star yet to come out and suggest he would possibly walk away from the sport because of it. last night he said he's got nine more years of football left. so i think he's processed whatever anger and confusion he had from yesterday's news. i think the league's attitude is simple. if you don't want to play, there's plenty of other guys out there who will. the supply of willing and able professional football players far exceeds the demands. think of all the college programs out there churning every year a class of guys, many good enough, many clearly aren't, but we see it every year, guys get injured, august, t somebody steps in, the train keeps rolling.

that's the nfl's attitude, if you don't want to play, don't play. we'll find somebody else. in deandre hopkin's case if he were to retire this, he would owe his team $22 million over what he was paid already. when you come back in a couple months we'll talk about the new york giants march to a title. his new book "play makers" is available for preorder next week. mika. we're joined by contributor mike barnicle. and mike we still have max boot with us. and i believe you have a question for him. >> i have sort of a question for him for you, max, and the question is posed with this start. this is madness. we have listened now for 20 minutes about people refusing to get a vaccine for a

life-threatening virus that's out there that's claiming more and more lives each and every day in this country. it's highly infectious. we have famous people, pro-football players. we have obviously some smart people, health care professionals. we have our neighbors who are refusing to get the vaccine. and i'm wondering if you thought that it would be possible to get the vaccine impetus going even further if the president of the united states or governors of each and every state who were receptive to the vaccine worked with teachers unions to order teachers to get the vaccine before they are allowed in a classroom to teach our children, especially our younger children, because i think that's the heart of each family. you want your children to be better in life than you have been. but if your children are struck with a virus, that's a critical condition for them, obviously. aim at the children in public

schools, get the teachers mandated vaccines, i'm wondering if you think that would work. >> i think it has to be part of the overall approach, mike. i think that's absolutely right. and i'm terrified, as a parent, as many parents are around the country, i'm terrified by the notion that if the delta variant keeps exploding the way it is. and if people aren't getting vaccinated, we could endanger school reopenings in the fall. that would be a catastrophe for families and children across the country to have another lost year of kids not going to school. we cannot afford that. our children cannot afford that. we need to have a vaccine mandate for everybody in a school because the vaccines have not yet been approved for those under 12 years old. they are at risk. you just had had a 5-year-old who died in georgia of covid. this is not a risk to run. we should not allow teachers unions to prevent full

vaccinations of everybody who's in the school environment. i'm concerned about that being the case. yes, absolutely we have to mandate that everybody in the school has to be vaccinated. which should not be unusual. none of us had been educated if we had not complied with the vaccine mandate when we went to school. why should covid be any different than any of the other diseases, it's actually more deadly than the other diseases. max boot thank you for coming on this morning. we'll read your column for "the washington post." still ahead on "morning joe," the 2020 olympic games are officially under way in tokyo. japan's ambassador to the u.s. joins us next. we'll be right back. new dove men, plant based body wash is different. with plant based cleansers.

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the 2020 tokyo olympic games taking place in the year 2021 now officially under way. the opening ceremony taking place right now inside that stadium. it is a scaled down version without spectators, about 1,000 people inside there. the kickoff in tokyo comes as the city hit another six month high for new coronavirus infections. joining us now is the ambassador of japan in new york. mr. ambassador it's good to see you this morning, thank you for being with us. the games are under way, under a state of emergency in the country of japan with many japanese saying they don't think the games should be held. are you confident that these games will go off successfully and make it to the finish line? >> yes. i'm very confident. by the way, thank you very much for having me this morning, thank you very much. this tokyo olympic games, are

great opportunity to unite the world. and bring people together. and also this is a great moment to show that we can overcome the covid-19 in this difficult time and the heavy shadow of the pandemic. i think we will overcome that. >> what about the cases in tokyo right now as i said, they hit a six-month high inside japan. how concerned are you about the outbreak taking place in japan right now? >> yes. the -- this is serious situation. but i would say, the recent vaccinations that japan has reached over a million dose per day. and sometimes 1.2, 1.3 million dose every day. so this vaccinations now reaching higher to more than one-third of the japanese people have at least one dose.

and also, if we see the number of infections, much lower than other countries. for example, in japan, it's about 90 infections per 100,000 people compared with the 85 infections per 100,000 in the united states. so anyway, the medical experts, the japanese government and tokyo olympic committees have been working so hard to make sure that this olympic games will be carried out in a most safe way. >> mr. ambassador, i think a lot of people around the world, especially here in the united states, were surprised to see how low the vaccination rate is in japan, a country we think of as so advanced in so many ways in technology and medicine and everything else. why is the vaccination rate in japan as low as it is today. >> if you see the numbers that

say a month ago was lower but now i just said more that you know one-third of the -- more than one-third of the japanese people have at least one dose and this number is increasing. >> sir, it's jonathan lemire. there's a significant portion of the japanese people, according to polling, who don't want the olympic games to be happening. they have expressed real concerns or the possibility of a major virus outbreak. they say the government's focus should not be on the sporting event. what is your message to the japanese people who don't want this in their own backyard right now. >> i would say the olympic games are the great opportunity to unite the world and bring people together and also, we will be able to see the great, great achievement in sport and also we will see the pride in country through this olympic games. and also, the people are a bit worried about this situation. but as i just mentioned, the

government, the olympic committees, iocs and medical experts are working so hard to make sure that this game will be carried out in a most safe manner. >> we certainly hope it is. before we let you go, mr. ambassador, our viewers might be surprised, if they haven't seen it already, to know that you became something of a viral star last summer on the fourth of july with your rendition of the star spangled banner, inspired by jimmy hendrix. let's watch. ♪♪ >> close your eyes, that's hendrix playing the anthem. mr. ambassador, when did you take up the guitar? how did you get so good? >> i don't know. i'm not that good.

but i have a great affection and great love with american music. and that was my way to express my gratitude to new yorkers and to the american people. and also i'd like to express my deepest respect to the front line workers in the middle of the pandemic last year. >> well, you can certainly shred, mr. ambassador. as i said, we are hoping for the best at the tokyo olympic games which now are under way with the opening ceremony and will continue for about the next two weeks. ambassador, thank you very much for your time, sir, we appreciate it. very cool. coming up u.s. secretary of state antony blinken joins the conversation. we'll talk about the global vaccine effort, how the administration is battling back in cyber space against american adversaries. and much, much more.

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issues. her proposal would look to create an exemption to a current law called 230. klobuchar wants to strip the protections away when it comes to spreading falsehoods about things like vaccines. and on the path back to normal, first the american ballet theatre is coming home to lincoln center in new york city this october. october 20th has been set as the date when the company's season will open for indoor shows, those tickets by the way, will go on sale september 8th for the fall season. earlier in this morning we had a chance to speak with the executive director, karen barnett. she said she expects demand for performances to be the highest in years given the pent up demand from not seeing regular shows during the pandemic. and we like talking about food every once in a while people are

getting back to normal when it comes to eating, at least from domino's pizza perspective, the return of late night and weekend orders is fuelling sales growth as covid restrictions ease. in an interview he said while the company clearly benefitted from a rise in takeout and delivery orders during the pandemic it had to weather the loss of sales at key times like lunch and weekends. their stock hit a record high yesterday it's worth $21 billion in market value. mika, willie. >> wow. cnbc's dominic chu, have a great weekend. thank you very much. a day after chicago saw a series of mass shootings in a matter of hours, attorney general, merrick garland, met with the city's police yesterday after announcing the formation of strike forces aimed at going after gun traffickers in several cities. nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez has more.

>> reporter: in new york city, police are looking for the gunman who shot a 16-year-old in broad daylight, just another example of surging gun violence in major cities across the country. >> this strikes not only at the communities we serve but at our own community of law enforcement. >> reporter: the justice department launched what it calls anti-gun trafficking strike forces in five cities, new york, washington d.c., los angeles, san francisco and chicago. where just yesterday three people, including a teenager were killed by gun fire and 32 others were wounded. in d.c., outrage after 6-year-old nia courtney was gunned down. >> our family is broken and we will never be the same again. >> reporter: the biden administration is focussing on a crackdown of illegal gun sales but similar tactics have been tried before. you believe the main reason for this is bail reform? >> without a doubt. >> reporter: detectives argue going after guns is not enough.

they highlight recent cuts to police department budgets and the elimination of cash bail. >> new york city detectives from year-to-date have made approximately 3,500 gun arrests and 75% of those individuals are let back out onto the street so there are no consequences. >> reporter: the attorney general says the new initiative will make it easier for local cops and prosecutors to share information helping to arrest people with outstanding warrants. we heard gabe mention washington d.c. as one of the cities struggling with violent crimes and it is. last night two men were injured in a shooting along a busy dining area. joining us from the scene of that shooting, josh letterman, good morning, you can tell us about that shooting, the one outside national park last week that sent people ducking for cover and speak more broadly to

what's happening in cities across the country. >> reporter: on a thursday night this area is packed with folks going to restaurants and bars and authorities say police were nearby. they responded within five seconds. according to video captured from the scene, the shooting took place right around this area. the two suspects hopped into a car and went down this street, turning on this street over here, which is the last time they were seen. you can see this morning some of the debris leftover, broken glass on the ground, medical debris over there from the two folks who were treated on the scene and brought to nearby hospitals where they are expected to survive. we just saw a car that was still here from last night that had bullet holes in it, the guy showed up to remove his car he left overnight to find shattered glass and bullet holes in it. i've lived in d.c. for 15 years, i've never seen a time we're seeing incidents at this pace and scale. that shooting at nationals park,

we had a 6-year-old last weekend gunned down in a drive by as she was riding her scooter. and about a block from here, a 53-year-old shot and killed. we heard the mayor murial bowser. she says she is outraged. seven outraged. they are trying to surge resources to high-risk areas. but mayor because ter mayor said really it's about stopping people before they use their guns. she wants family and friends who might know someone to try to intervene. she wants the community to step up. so far, the community has not been able to get a grasp on this problem that is affecting the nation's capitol and so many cities across the country. >> it's a scary fight. josh letterman on the scene there in walk. josh, thanks so much. mike, this the a very real problem. it's happening in cities across the country where you live, in

boston where i live, new york, obviously been a long problem there. if you need any indication how americans, voters are feeling. new york city just nominated a former 24-year veteran of the new york city police department to be the next mayor of new york city. >> and why did they nominate him? because he received more votes than anyone else based upon the way he ran his campaign saying, we're not going to de-fund the police. we need the police and we do need the police. we also need, willie, a realization finally that guns are the problem. they really are. there is a notion of guns in this country. in city after city after city the people using these guns, by and large, are not going into gun stores to buy them. the guns are stolen, borrowed, rented, they go from one criminal to another. they're used in crimes for murder and on down. and the introduction of federal task force in various cities. we just heard the report from

chicago. that could be effected. because one tipping that does really rattle the cage of younger shooters is doing federal time as opposed to city, state time. federal time scares a lot of people. in the use of the federal law in putting people if jail might be far more effective than what we've seen in new york city where the bail reform was. you get arrested at 8:00 at night and 10:00 the next morning of a court appearance you are back out. federal tame, let's look at that. >> it's first and foremost a safety issue and a political one. the biden white house is watching this with great concern if recent weeks. the president convened two different public policing law enforcement anti-gun events just in the last three weeks. we had one just the other day announcing the strike forces. we heard the attorney general

discuss. it needs to be more than that, unfortunately for the federal government, their hands are tied. congress has not taken up any meaningful gun reform as much as the white house would love that. they rely on local jurisdictions and they give enough resources as they can to local police departments. but there is only so much they can do. shootings are up that grab the headlines. it's not just the ones in the affluent neighborhoods in washington, d.c. there the a rise in other neighborhoods, in big cities across the country. we've stein e seen violence go up. there is a concern there can be a backlash against democrats, the party in power, as much as the white house feels that president biden is insulated from the defend the police because he never advocated that. in fact, he has given out more money to the police departments. his anti-crime efforts across his time in office. they feel other democrats are vulnerable and worry margins so

slim, that i can lose seats of congress next year if violence and shooting remain on the rise. still ahead, quote, we're not out of the woods yet. that warning from the cdc director as the nation reaches another crossroads in the pandemic. plus, the extremely strong words from alabama's republican governor calling out the unvaccinated. morning joe is back in a moment. .

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the olympics kick off in japan amid the grueling marathon race against covid. back here at home, cases are

surging and it doesn't get much clearer than this. >> what is it going to take to get people to take shots? >> i don't know, i tell me. folks are supposed to have common sense. but it's time for to start blaming it on the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. the unvaccinated folks are letting us down. >> as a leader, don't you think it's your responsibility to try to get the situation under control? >> i've done all i know how to do i can encourage you to do something. i can't make you take care of yourself. >> wow. that is remarkable. governors are furious. hospitals are overwhelmed, the economy is shaky and yet americans are still refusing a life-saving tool that the rest of the world desperately wants. also secretary of state antony blinken is our guest this morning. we'll talk about the global tight against covid, the war in

afghanistan and the cry for freedom in cuba. we have a lot to cover on this friday, july 23rd. willie, we'll start with this. how about those yanks? they're so great, the yankee, love them. >> why would do you that? it sounds like joe has been up telling you what to say. we will stop on the yankees. it's too painful. the republican and senators in that state coming out very publicly imploring the people of alabama to get the vaccine. in a moment, kelly o'donnell reports from the white house on the new pressure the biden administration is facing over macprotocols. first, nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer has more on the spike in new infections in hospitalizations. >> reporter: painting a grim picture of the new reality inside some hospitals. the numbers from the cdc reflect

our nation is slowly slipping back towards crisis as we surpass 50,000 cases a day. new case, hospitalization, even daily deaths are spiking again. >> it is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of and i have seen in my 20 years. >> reporter: three states with lower vaccination rates now account for 40% of the nation's new cases. one kansas hospital turning away patients as they struggle to manage their own case load. >> we're kind of at a tipping point. we're in trouble. >> reporter: meantime, in los angeles county, construction teams are back at st. joseph's medical center, expandinger that just shuddered consecutive ward. in the nation's capital, cases increased 2,000%. >> we're talking reopening covid

wards in the hallways. is that disheartening to see? >> it's really, really hard. >> reporter: the nurse/manager chris rice says with vaccinations, his team is on the front line of a battle they don't need to be on anymore. >> it feels leak we're going backwards, i know me and people here are feeling very discouraged, very disheartened, very in some places a little bit angry. >> reporter: as the cdc heard evidence on barack through infections and discussed possible boosters for those with excised immune systems, there is some progress if hard-hit states, where more americans are choosing to get vaccinated. mia watched her husband brad lose his battle to covid through a glass wall after they both became infected. >> i wish we would have gotten vaccinated. i mean one simple shot could have prevent all of this. >> reporter: regret and loss as

more families face dark days ahead. the delta variant macdebate. president biden says he has talked to his covid experts about macrules for vaccinated americans. so far no change is planned. >> we have a 25-person group we put together who are looking at all the possibilities of what's happening now. >> reporter: the cdc director has a message for the fully vaccinated. mask wearing is up to you. >> you may choose to add an extra level of protection by putting on a mac. that's a very individual choice. >> reporter: but in covid hot spots, local officials push for broader mask wearing. authorities in new orleans and philadelphia now recommending masks indoors for the fully vaccinated. atlanta public schools said max will be mandatory for all students and staff regardless of vaccine status. >> kelly o'donnell reporting there. let's bring in physician and

fellow at the brookings institution, dr. vidal, white house reporter for associated press jonathan lemire. jonathan, you can hear the frustration in the governor of alabama's voice saying we have done all we can do. we've tried to signal what the best steps are to keep you safe. a vaccine in a mer cal fashion and speed was created to protect all of us. yet, so many americans will not get the vaccine. we see the spike. it's a question we have been talking with you for a couple weeks now. what is there left to do? the governors are speaking. the senators are speaking. minsters, pastors, football coaches. everyone is saying all these trusted people are saying, please go get the vaccine for the benefit of our community. yet, millions of americans are not. community yet, millions of americans are not. >> reporter: yeah, willie, it's frustration. honestly, it feels unanimous

with healthcare people and we need to take harder stances around the macdebate. i think we've tried when we had the release for vaccinated people. the science is incredibly sound. we didn't have a delta variant surge or an unpredictable way of who is vaccinated or not. we have obvious evidence it's not working. we are seeing higher transmission rates of the more transmissible virus. we will have to go back to not saying you choose to wear a mask for protect but in places where there is a high likelihood of these events, wear ac mask indoors. second, we need approval of this soldiers full fda approval would make some individuals change their mind. it would give employers and probably state and federal governments the jurisdiction to actually say you need to be vaccinated to come back into certain settings. third, we need to keep pounding

individually this message. if you are unvaccinated, you will get infected. >> dr. patel, what is the time line on full u.s. government approval? because that does seem to be the last hurdle here that could solve the problem even for miami that don't want to be vaccinated, it could protect populations because they could be mandated. >> it's such a relevant question because we are watching the fda making all types of decisions. number one, pfizer put in their full application early april. there is a time line the fda has to consider what they would say is rapid approval, which they are doing him that time line can extends all the way into the beginning of next year. the commissioner and others very incredibly clear, they're on a much faster time frame. i hope or suspect by october, we will seek approval. >> you are right. we no longer have the luxury of

time. this summer surge hit a lot of us by surprise. we were thinking it would be around the fall when the weather is cooler. when people go back to school him we are being shown, once again, this virus will always throw a curve ball at us. >> it's a failure to communicate. how do you think the u.s. government and our health leaders have handled this. has it been a failure to communicate the vaccine, the efficacy, it's safety. why are people remaining unvaccinated? creating a fourth wave and a pandemic among the unvaccinated at this point? >> i will say the very clearly. because a lot of these people are people i consider my friends. the science was clear. the communication at the time when we released kind of this mask guidance, it was correct and accurate. unfortunately, the policies and the interpretation by

individuals was wholly insufficient. people saw it as an individual license to do whatever they wanted, including going into areas where there were high areas of unvaccinated people. so the communications is not working. it's fought clear. more concerning, now the communications feels as if we are falling behind and saying, choose to do what you want. a message that's clearly not working. so we do need to all get on the same page and we need to support these local health officials. there has been a lot of controversies about this i support the counties that said you need to wear max because cases are courager surging, period. >> dr. patel, stay with us. we want to get your take on a covid outbreak at a new york city camp. what it says for the potential outbreak at schools this fall. "morning joe" will be back in just one moment. "morning joe" will be back in just one moment.

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there has been a lot of talk this week about the making of children, including the american academy of pediatrics saying children in school should wear masks. they seen a summer camp outbreak. one struck in upstate new york where 20 catchers at a seep away camp for children ages 7 to 16 tested positive as of yesterday. nurses began testing last weekend after campers were showing symptoms of covid-19. according to public health direct for the camp 31, 31 of the camp's 550 campers tested positive. none, thank goodness were seriously ill. all the infected were under the age of 12, making them too young to receive vaccines. this gets to an important question. none soft kids 12 and older contracted covid-19 in this case at this camp, all of the cases

were among those unvaccinated because there is no vaccine. which raises the questions about schools this fall how safe they can be and mitigation necessary inside those buildings, until the vaccine for younger kids becomes available. >> i am such a strong proponent of schools in person. exactly as you say, we will need mitigation measures. the secretary of education has been publicly traveling to make sure reinvestments are made into ventilation. i support the masks for 12 and under as well as faculty. it's not to create for amongst parents, we actually want to korea it a safe environment, so you feel confident when i sendpy child to school they will be safe the third element is

testing. what to do. the united states been trying to stand up these hubs. we need to do that as soon as possible. one thing about that camp david that's flight frightening to us. is the secondary attack rates children are more likely than a year ago to spread this to other people in here households. if you are vaccinated in that household and older, are you at risk. >> dr. patel, thank you so much for coming on. coming up, a support from japan as the olympics kick off amid the pandemic. nbc news' keir simmons was speaking to officials there and brings us the very latest, next on "morning joe." . latest, next on "morning joe.

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opening ceremony for the 2020 tokyo olympics taking place today. this comes as another three olympic athletes tested positive

for the coronavirus. olympic cases rose by 19 to where i the total number of disclosed cases up to 106. tokyo, itself, hit another six-month high for new coronavirus infections. another 2,000 yesterday, the highest number reported since january as tokyo remains under 74th state of emergency. this one put in effect july 12th. joining us from kyoto, japan, national correspondent keir simmons who this week sat down with japan's prime minister for the newest interview since assuming office last year. good morning, games going off with the openinger is.today. what's the feeling on the ground there in japan? >> reporter: hi, buddy. tension i would say. it's easy to beget unless are you in japan and hear how much the prime minister has riding on these games. his term as president of the ruling liberal democrat ig party here in japan runs out at the

end of september. so he literally faces trying to get a renewed mandate weeks after the olympics is over. now, his party did badly in tokyo elections just recently. the polls have been against his decision to hold the games. although, it's come back in his direction e direction a little bit. we will get to why is this should matter for the white house. 1st i wanted to press him on why he is literally pressing the games. many are deeply worried there will be a rise in infections. did you consider canceling the games? >> i think canceling the games is very easy to do. however, as i have said before, while facing the coronavirus and trying to hold a safe and secure olympics and paraolympics, this will pose many different challenges. but japan made the bid and was awarded to be the host country. as the nation host of the games, i believe we must fulfill our obligation to the rest of the

world. what worried me the worst was the public opinion was divided. i wanted the japanese people to understand the games will be held safely and securely. >> there is a huge weight on your shoulders. your political career perhaps depends on these games. are the olympic i think so worth it? as i mentioned before, over 4 billion people across the world will be watching these olympic games n. that context, overcoming the coronavirus and to be able to hold the games, i think there is real value in that. >> reporter: now why should this matter for the white house? well, par the course, japan a close ally for the u.s., president biden has really invested in the relationship with prime minister suga. he was the first to be invited

to the white house. prime minister suga told me they were working on policy to counteract china, in his own words. so i wanted to ask him about that relationship and how he views it. take a listen. are japan and the u.s. more aligned than ever inner that -- ever in their view of china? >> well, in terms of how japan and united states view china, with the establishment of a new administration, i think we will face the issue based between our two countries different from the relationship between the two leaders of the previous administrations. i think president biden is a president who tries to build a consensus among allies and like-minded countries in order to face policies. i think he's that type of president. >> and that's different from the previous administration? >> yes, i think the previous

administration faced issues on the individual personality of the president. but the biden administration tries to steer allies towards the same direction. it's a different political method. >> so that way of president biden working with allies, particularly at the g-7 where prime minister suga told me he and the u.s. president were together for an unprecedented part of the community kay that talked about supporting taiwan visa vie china. now, of course, china will be another country, this country, japan, needs to get through these games. again the outcome and whether they cause political instability in japan will be watched closely from the white house. it's crucial for the white house. willie. >> the world is watching extraordinary games under a state of emergency in japan. keir, thanks so much.

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tens of thousands of milwaukee bucs fans showering giannis with chances of mvp as the team celebrated the first nba championship in 50 years with a big old parade in the city of milwaukee. all right. mike barnicle, jonathan lemire, the yanks, red sox, mike you were in the bidding. the yankings had a 3-1 lead and

tie it up. and as we go to the 10th, the yankee takes a lead and disaster strikes as the reliever, you see it throws four wild pitches in a single inning. that's a record for a single extra inning. four wild pitches. >> oh. >> he was i noticed trick i quickly optioned to aaa hours after that game the yankees are eight games out, a huge swing, three to play at fenway him we thought we could pick up a couple this weekend. >> you know, willie, you know this, a lot of people know this, you can always expect to go to a baseball game and perhaps see something that you've never seen before at a baseball game. has i've never seen four wild pitches in a row from one really relief pitcher and, yeah, hunter renfro put a man on third who got there from a wild pitch. hits a soft wide ball to deep if you have into the outfield deep

enough for the run to score. and the game is over in the 10th inning. wonderful for the red sox. tough for the yankees the yankees are an odd-looking team. they're very unathletic for a yankee club. i don't know hoy it was put together. but you got real issues. >> yeah, some of our stars, jonathan lemire, i'll be the sacrificial lamb here. what did you think of last night's ga im? >> willie, i have been guest hosting at the 5:00 a.m. ocean. i was in bed, i will admit, before this gail was over, this morning, i saw one wild pitch after another, i thought it was a replay of the same wild pitch. it took me a few seconds to realize these were four distinct pips and laughed outside. i'll take the high road.

it's one game of a four-game series. mike barnicle, i enjoyed it immensely. >> yeah. it's been a uphill climb for the yankees as the die newscastic red sox trample all over us. we'll continue to fight like hell to the very end now we are eight games back. >> let's bring into the conversation, kenny mane, championship of tokyo tonight on peacock. it launches tomorrow night 7:30 p.m. eastern. it will feature quick turn around highlights and interviews and great story lines with a couple great hosts. it's great to see you. of course, we're so happy to have you over here on the nbc side of things. you left espn a couple months

afought. you were an institution. a lot of us grew up watching you. rich eisen, all those guys do highlights and changed the way people talked about sports so why'd you walk away? >> those are a lot of bombs. they came if as a lead minimum. there is plenty of food insecurity and those are the things that matter. they gave me an offer i didn't like. i said i will beat you over. they sent a football on me, over and under. so i'm playing over. i'm happy to be doing this thing for peacock and maid make commercials that will be good and i also have my political freedom. can i now retweet just like it. so it's a sport.

i can try to say it out loud and stand up for our brothers and sisters. >> did you feel you couldn't say those things before? >> i didn't say them before now, did i? what i will do, when this guy was speaking or you haven't done nothing from personally, we are amazed, not amused. it's been a long three years. but i think encouraging people to vote, if you do it down the middle way is the all-american thing that will ensure every sport. >> kenny, let's talk about tokyo tonight on peacock him you got a great host and star from espn. what can people expect when they get on our streaming network tomorrow night? >> i think it's going to be a battle to hog cameras.

as champions, she's great. we've gotten to know each other. very cool, very funny. very smart. i think we will have fun. we're kind of like the olympics. they'll be the regular. we'll be the less serious and still cover it. like i said, you just set up in a previous segment about the seriousness of what's going on. we're like a movie here in a pandemic. you know, we'll take them seriously. we hope not seriously these things happen and we have highlights. we have great guests, sue bird, bill walton, my friend from pearl jam, snoop dawg. that's just the first segment. then that will be over sometime. we're calling out dale, jr. will be involved. it will be fun. we will cover the wrists up.

we went out to seattle and saw the blue print like we did at some point. >> hey, kenny, great to see you want let's focus on the sports for a minute. are there particular story lines you will be tracking here. any american athletes, you will be looking forward to see? and give us a prediction on the men's basketball team, which created a lot of headlines recently by dropping a couple games in the run-town tokyo. >> wasn't that in vegas? they'll be fine him i'm looking super. i hope she does. she looks so young and fresh out there i saw her up in seattle when i was up there. it's so fun. i wished jamal crawford made it in the league this time around. obviously that, a basketball a. world record in the fall. i present it always falls at the olympics. i don't know. i think we will follow what happens pause you never know at the olympics, notice the coffee backdrop. i thought that was like an ode

to the show. i had to rent a jack hammer going out behind my room. we were getting it moving again pain-free. i'm looking forward to the whole thing, nothing in particular. there is always a character, somebody shows up. whoa, we didn't see that happening. that will kind of create its own momentum. >> i was going to ask you if you were interrupting the continental breakfast. you got the full spread behind you. mike barnicle has a question for you. >> heying kenny, throughout your career is, which we have all followed religiously. you know you have a lot of mix and match on espn him they were all great stuff. they were like mini essays that gave the view ter absurdity of american sports and american culture. so my question to you is do you think those features that you used to do on espn and hopefully

you have a long career at peacock, but those features specifically, do you think gump the pace of our culture today and the attention span or lack thereof in american culture means that we'll not see those things again by anybody? i think espn will cease to exist within two/three weeks after my departure. no, they will be fine. all the friends there will raise up. i tell you what's funny sort of in the middle of your question there we were into mini golf imcommented. i did for the heck of it. it turns out somebody sponsored the creative work. i told gretchen june is good. gretchen is a good family by the way. she is watching him we got 3 million impression and did one at 2.5 minutes. it went way down. i'm a ken burns documentary.

so i can sit for three hours. i think shorter kind of works on the internet. i think there is still a place for a longer foreign truck that's good. hopefully merritt wins out, if it's good, it's good. i will keep doing something for somebody. the peacock thing is for the olympics. we'll see what we do after that. >> let's look at your big interviews you posted online the other day. check this out. >> here comes kyra. tentative as she approaches the rectangular blue mat so many favor here in this competition. kind of a landing spot for everyone. it seems safe. kyra is still contemplating her first move. what will she do next? probably nothing. i think these e she's made the

political statement she wanted to make. >> did kyra ever make it across that mat? she never moved or said anything either. jason, miniature golf kind of work. let's do wit gymnastics and i saw something similar with peacock yesterday so we will mimic woo we saw. we'll put it out there. >> it's fun. somebody said do whatever you want. i'm not saying bragging that's the answer. this will be funny, let's do it. we'll do something, a story for the l.a. times on the direction, which i'm glad i did. so by the way, i want you to know i am a big fun. >> thanks, kenny. we love john walsh too.

we can't wait to see what you do with these olympics and going forward. kenny mane tokyo tonight on patchy dock launches tomorrow fight at 7:30 p.m. great to sea you, my friend, come back soon. have fun out there. secretary of state anthony blinken is next on "morning joe." keep it right here.

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they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. . as covid-19 cases rise once again in america, health officials say the delta variant

is now the most dominant strain not only in the u.s. but across the world. this setback comes just weeks after the biden administration pledged to lead the way in global vaccination efforts. will the virus reemergence at home slow down efforts to vaccinate the rest of the world? joining us now, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. tony, it's great to have you back on the show and to speak with you. i guess we'll start right there as it pertains to the coronavirus. how will the united states collaborate on the world stage lead on the world stage when you have a rejection of the vaccine here at home that is creating a pandemic among the unvaccinated? >> first, it's great to see you and be with you. we are leading at both fronts and around the world. we have to do both. as long as this virus is out

there anywhere replicating, we will see variants and they will come back and bite us as we are experiencing with delta. so as we are pursuing every effort to get every american vaccinated. we are at the president's direction. as you know, we had vaccines in our stockpile 80 million that we're making available to countries around the world. we started doing that about a month ago. 60 million have been distributed. and the president announced when he was in europe key g-7 the country would provide a half million around the world, no strings attached. to make sure we can within this race. the other thing that's happening, because of our leadership, other countries are stepping up, the g-7 partners, japan are committing additional vaccines. production is happening. we have to get to a place where

we get as 'vaccines to as many countries as is fast as we can. if we do that, we can get ahead of the variant and win the race. >> so i understand you are announcing a trip of where you will take this message on the road. i'd like to hear more about that and push you a little bit on the pandemic among the unvaccinated here at home, which really appears to be based on disinformation. we are hearing even republican govgs like kate ivy fed up with the disinformation and with the choice of people to not vaccinate themselves, to not protect themselves from a virus that could kill them him meanwhile, there are many countries around the world just hoping to get their hands on the vaccine. >> that's right. we know it. the numbers are very clear. of the people hospitalized now, are people dying from covid-19 in the united states.

97/98/99% are unvaccinated. it's the clear reality. hopefully, as more and more people speak out about this, you know, people will soon take action. this is not a partisan issue. it's an american issue. we are all in this together. i hope people will protect themselves against covid-19. yes, i'm going to india this week. this is is up a critical country in the fight of covid-19. the indians stood up for us in the early days when we were having great challenges helping to provide ppe, for example. we have stood up for them as they have encountered wave after wave of covid, providing a quarter of a billion of assistance to them. we have millions of vaccines ready to go to them when they finisher that own legal process to bring them in. india is the leading country queen it comes to the production vaccine. okay, they're focussed understandably on their own

internal challenges now. when that production engine gets fully going and can distribute again to the rest of the world, that will make a difference, too, i will be talking to our indian friends next week. >> will you be addressing in the weeks and months to come the disinformation from u.s. tech companies, perhaps happening abroad where companies like facebook and others have so much information that is just flat wrong about covid and is leading to deadly decision on the part of people around the world? >> all we can do is ask everyone to step up to their responsibilities, to try to getting a rat information out there to people who feed it, whether that's here at home or whether that's around the world. and you know, ultimately, because this is a global challenge, because no one is safe until everyone is safe, countries or groups that may engage if disinformation are

doing themselves a disservice. what we are doing is making sure that one the right information gets out there and, two, the resources get out there. the vaccine get out there. the production is out there. one of the things we are doing is investing in production in different parts of the world. for example, we do that both to get ahead of covid-19, the pandemic, but also to set ourselves up for the next time because unfortunately there will be a next time. we have to make sure we're in a much better place around the world to prevent it, to see it, to mitigate it more effectively than we do this time. >> i want to move on to cuba which has seen protests in the past few weeks. yesterday, the white house announced new sanctions against cuba's defense minister and special forces brigade. what happens if there's not the result the united states would like to see in reaction, in

response to sanctions? >> mika, what we saw a little over a week ago is quite extraordinary. thousands, tens of thousands taking to the streets across cuba, not just in havana, in dozens of cities and towns to say they're fed up, fed up with repression, lack of freedom, fed up that they don't have food and medicine, have a government that is not providing for them, and making their voices heard. i think it is evidence about government and regime that lacks confidence when it has to stifle the voice of its own people. the smartest thing the regime can do is listen to its own people instead of repress them. unfortunately, they continue to repress them, took violent action. we sanctioned the leaders, black berets on the frontlines of taking violent action against people speaking out for freedom and for their needs will continue to do that, and it is

very important that the cuban people have an ability to communicate and one of the things we're very focused on, working with the private sector and others is doing everything we can to make sure they have internet access, speak to one another, have contact and communication with folks off the island. that's an active effort. >> is the regime responding, showing signs of improvement of responding to what the united states is requiring for sanctions to either be pulled back or for more sanctions not to come their way? >> no. we haven't seen that kind of response. the regime tends to double down in these situations. again, this is not about us, this is about the cuban people. i think one of the big mistakes the regime makes is to try to point the finger at the united states saying we are responsible for the protests. we're not. these are the cuban people. they are speaking out.

they're standing up and speaking out. a regime that doesn't understand that and that lacks confidence to allow voices of its own people to be heard i think is making a very big mistake. >> let's jump to russia. the issue of cyber warfare which ends us in china. what is the united states prepared to do to make sure this doesn't happen again. what's next when the next attack happens to kind of send a message to vladimir putin that there's a new sheriff in town. >> i think the message has been sent and is necessary. will be sent again. president biden addressed it directly with president putin with the meeting in geneva and more recently on the phone. one of the things we're seeing is increased use of ransomware.

this is tremendously destructive, overall, one in four americans a victim of cyber crime, $40 billion lost on an annual basis. ransomware is increasingly dangerous. what we make clear to russia but to other countries around the world is if you're harboring individuals or organizations engaged in cyber crime and ransomware, that's unacceptable. if he will not take action against them, we will. >> secretary blinken, willie geist. want to ask about the taliban has strategic momentum, that it may overrun the country, didn't concede that point just yet. as troops come home from afghanistan, how should americans think about the mission from our point of view, if it becomes a training ground for terrorists again, if there's some threat posed to the united states, what will be the american reaction there?

>> willie, we are determined it not become a training ground for terrorism directed against the united states or allies. that's why we went there. attacked on 9/11, went to get those that attacked us, bring them to justice. osama bin laden was brought to justice ten years ago. al qaeda has been dramatically diminished in terms of capacity to attack anyone from afghanistan. we are going to make sure we keep our eyes on that. if we see the threat reemerging, we will be able to take action. that's why we are there. 20 years, a trillion dollars, thousands of americans lost later in the campaign. i think the reason we went there is what we have to keep focus on and we largely succeeded doing what we need to do. we have deep concerns about actions the taliban is taking, indicating it may be trying to take the country by force.

but were that to happen, afghanistan would be a pariah state, would not get the assistance it is looking for and the taliban wants if it has responsibility for the country, would not get support from the international community it says it wants. we are actively engaged in diplomacy because there's no military solution to the conflict going on more than 40 years in afghanistan. and we are working to try to bring it to an end. one other thing. we are sustaining our support through the embassy and other embassies for the afghan people, at the same time working to make good on our commitment to those that helped us, put their lives on the line, interpreters, translators. they're benefitting from a program, special visa programs that allow them to seek visas to come to the united states. we are moving very rapidly on that program. >> when you say take action, mr. secretary, is that air strikes or do you see a world american troops are back in afghanistan?

>> look, i don't want to get into hypotheticals where it might go in the future. what i can tell you, willie, we are going to make sure we have the capacity to see if the terrorist threat from afghanistan reemerges and be in position to do something about it. >> mr. secretary, final question. and it is not really a fun one, but i have to ask. we have a president for four years openly admitted to getting dirt on political rivals from a foreign leader, meeting without note takers were vladimir putin, having meetings with kim jong-un which were a joke at best. geo strategically, how much ground was lost during the donald trump presidency wildfire his corrupt and undemocratic approach to foreign policy. are we less secure and if so, how much? >> mika, happily in my job, i don't do politics. i focus on the future. i can tell you this. a short while ago, the president

traveled to europe, met with g7 partners and nato allies, partners in the european union and met with vladimir putin. he has asked us the first six months of the administration to focus first and foremost on revitalizing our relationships and partnerships with allies, with partners. that's exactly what we have done. there was a telling poll that came out during his trip. across the democratic countries we have been engaged with, the president engaged with in europe. on average 75% of people have confidence, trust in american leadership. that's up from 17% a year ago. i think that speaks volumes. >> secretary of state antony blinken, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning. we look forward hearing about the trip to india and fight against covid. thank you, mr. secretary. and that is it for us this morning. we have a few moments for final

thoughts. mike. >> well, it was nice, mika, to hear the american secretary of state speak sensibly about the world without rancor, anger, or political objective of his own down the road. >> i'll jump in, simply say i look forward to watching the olympics this weekend. i know they're fraught, being played at a time of pandemic, and willie, keep an eye on red sox, yankees, in which case i hope the sox win a couple more games and you don't get hit in the face by a pigeon. >> wow. what a nice call back to the new jersey roller coaster moment. mika, i'll end with a theme we talked about all week, governor kay ivy, republican governor of alabama, imploring her citizens to get a vaccine for the benefit of the community, for the benefit of the state. there are trusted voices all over on both sides of the aisle calling for people to get vaccinated. it remains to be seen if they'll listen. >> i hope every republican follows kay ivy's lead.

thank you so much for joining us. that does it for us. stephanie ruhle picks up coverage right now. hi there. i am stephanie ruhle. it is a jam packed friday, july 23rd. following several breaking stories, including start of the olympic games in tokyo. first, we have to begin here in the u.s. where the cdc is warning we are at a pivotal moment in the fight against the coronavirus and specifically the delta variant. the cdc director rochelle walensky calling it one of the most infectious viruses she's seen in her 20 year career. at the same time, a growing number of companies and organizations are announcing drastic actions about the surge in new coronavirus cases. covid outbreaks among unvaccinated players could lead to