our coverage. ♪ ♪ good afternoon, i'm joe fryer in for yas man vossoughian. today three majors stories we are following. massive earthquake hits haiti, which never fully recovered from a quake a decade ago. the united states scrambles to get our personnel and allies out of harm's way in a race against time in afghanistan. we are following new developments in the dangerous ride in covid cases across the country. hospitals are overwhelmed in the hardest hit states leading to a chilling warning from texas. >> if your child has a heart, congenital heart defect or something, needs an icu bed, more than likely if they have covid and need an icu bed, we

don't have one. your child will wait for another child to die. >> a message like that coming at the same time as the republican governors in texas, florida and other states try to force schools not to mandate masks for their students. we'll have more on that ahead. ♪ ♪ we start with that breaking news in the caribbean where officials say at least 29 people have died in haiti after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake. new video shows homes and churches reduced to rubble. it happened in the western peninsula just before 8:30 eastern this morning. multiple aftershocks have also rocked the region. the quake, which was felt in the capital of port-au-prince some 100 miles to the east, triggered a tsunami threat in the caribbean that was eventually called off. joining us is nbc's ed o'gostin. ed, i want to start with you. what reporting are you getting right now from inside haiti as

the government and global organizations begin to search for those missing or impacted? >> reporter: well, the 2010 earthquake was massive. it killed between 100,000 and 300,000 people. we don't know the precise number. this earthquake on the richter scale was bigger. the only good news if i can put it like that is it was further away from the densely populated capital of port-au-prince. dozens of people have been confirmed dead. we are expecting that number to rise substantially over the coming hours and days. and the haitian government has declared a state of emergency. >> ed, we know there are reports the quake's power was felt in nearby cuba where you are. what is being said on the ground there about that? >> reporter: well, i'm speaking to you from havana in the west of the island and i didn't feel

anything here and nobody i have spoken to in the capital didn't feel anything. it is a different story in the east of the island closer to haiti. on the eastern most point of cuba on a sunny day, you can actually see haiti. people there did feel a significant tremor in the provinces in santiago and guantanamo. there are no reports of buildings having collapsed. one of the reasons for that is that the quake was not as strong here in cuba as it was in haiti. another reason is that haiti's infrastructure is in a perilous state. cuba is famed for having crumbling buildings and infrastructure but it is not as bad as haiti's. that's one of the reasons that when earthquakes hit here, we don't see the level of collapse that we see, that we're seeing in haiti now and we saw 11 years ago. jamaica as well, southwest of haiti, tremors were also felt. unfortunately for haiti, cuba has a strong capacity to -- for

disaster management. after disasters happen in cuba, for example hurricanes and earthquakes, there's an ability to evacuate people and rebuild quickly. it is not the case in haiti. it is a very, very weak state. finances are very, very tight, and it has been in the international news an awful lot this last month because last month the president of the country was assassinated. so another natural disaster coming at a vital and very difficult time for the country. >> that's right. we all remember, of course, what happened in 2010, the devastating earthquake there in haiti. von, i want to go where you are, tens of thousands of haitian americans now live there. what has been their reaction to the earthquake. i have to assume many people are concerned, reaching out to friends and family to see how they're doing? >> reporter: exactly. after that 2010 earthquake millions were displaced from their homes. there's actually a sizable population that made the united states their home. there's about 100,000-person

difference between 2010 and the population here in the u.s. of haitian immigrants here today. here in little haiti district of miami, there's a few folks that are here in the community, and i want to let you hear from one of them. regine batiste who was there in 2010. >> what i saw left me jaw drop. i said, what in the world can happen again to haiti? and then i just found out that haiti was hit again by a mega earthquake, and it melts my heart because i'm a survivor from the 2010 earthquake. i know how it feels. i know hoy it feels. >> reporter: there are big questions in the hours ahead of what a potential u.s. response could be. samantha power, the usaid administrator here under the biden administration, confirming in the last hour that usaid has

been tapped by the administration to oversee the coordination of the response. at this time she said that there are already teams that are on the ground here from the united states that are evaluating the exact situation and what potential recourse the u.s. could take in helping throughout this recovery process. in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake several thousand, more than 7,000 u.s. military personnel were on the ground in the months after that earthquake there. at this point there is no word about any similar response at this time. again, there's still so much that is still unknown about exactly what the current situation is on the southwestern peninsula. >> von hilliard in the little haiti district of miami and ed augustin, thank you both so much. you run a clinic with the nonprofit friends of the children of haiti. your clinic is located about 90 miles from the epicenter.

first of all, tell us the scene around you. what did you feel when the earthquake hit and what have you seen now in the hours after that? >> okay. it was a little bit different than 2010 because the 2010 earthquake was bigger than here because the epicenter was closer. this morning i had the clinic going on and i had those patients waiting for triage, and then i kind of felt something like the land was shake, shaking a little bit, and then everybody is looking around and they said, oh, this is an earthquake and they all ran away. i said, no, no, stop, stop. after all, everybody is trying to make contact with their home, trying to call and make phone calls with their loved wants and try to know what is going on. then after a while, i was trying to make some phone calls also to make sure that we don't have

that much damage in town. so that was the situation this morning. but everybody was kind of panicked. >> have you seen much damage or has anyone been injured that you know now in the area where you are? >> right this second, no. the problem, i heard that the jail has one of the wall fall down and all of the prisoners was trying to run away. but i think the government, the police station and everybody put together so they don't have running away. >> haiti is, of course, no stranger to disaster. you mention at least what you experienced not as bad as what happened in 2010, but what do you think is going to be the immediate need right now, especially with the concern? there's a tropical system off the coast that could be heading there in the next few days. >> the next few days i think we need doctors, we need medicine, we need water, we need food for those people. most of them, i think they are not -- most of the people right now, they are not wanting to stay inside of the building.

so most of them are going to stay out. i think we will need a lot of, you know, like tents so people can stay in their yard, not inside of the building to stay overnight. i think this is most needed nor the people. >> we are thinking of you and wishing you all of the best. andre boyer with friends of the children of haiti. thank you so much. please stay safe. >> thank you very much for your support. a breaking story we are watching all closely, afghanistan at this hour. nbc news has confirmed the last major northern city in the country has fallen into taliban control. afghan troops were able to hold mazir-i-sharif one day before being overpowered by taliban fighters. many of fleeing to the airport to flee the country. at the same time 3,000 u.s. troops are arriving to help with evacuation from the city as taliban troops inch closer by

the hour. president biden is holding meetings with his security team in an effort to help those still in the country. let's get caught up on the rapidly changing scene in afghanistan. we have meagan fitzgerald in london. meagan, i want to start with you. we know the taliban is getting closer to taking control of the capital city of kabul. what is the latest there? >> reporter: you know, i can tell you it is a really significant development that the taliban has seized control of mazir-i-sharif. it is the fourth largest city in the country, a commercial hub and it is the last northern stronghold to fall to the taliban as they inch closer to the capital city of kabul. now, just to show you how quickly the taliban is progressing here, just yesterday they took control of the second and third largest cities. right now at this hour they are in control of more than two-thirds of the entire country. this is why we are seeing a

global scramble, so to say, the u.s. sending in some 3,000 troops to try to secure the safe departure of embassy personnel. we are seeing great britain doing the same. we are seeing countries like germany, norway, switzerland, canada, all closing their embassies or at least significantly reducing the amount of people inside as the taliban threatens that capital city. thousands of people are now fleeing to kabul, which relatively speaking is the safest place to be. today we're hearing from the president of afghanistan who says that he is trying to secure -- trying to prevent, rather, future blood shed and saying that he is remobilizing afghan forces to try to secure kabul, but this is a vastly evolving situation that is really changing by the hour. but at this point, joe, afghanistan is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. >> the taliban's movement seems to be happening faster than anyone anticipated, pauline.

help us understand just how surprised is the pentagon by how quickly this is happening? >> reporter: well, i don't know that the pentagon is that surprised so much as the white house is far more surprised. the pentagon has been warning for months now, for years, in fact, if we pulled out united states troops the country would descend into at least civil war and you would see a return of the warlordism and the taliban insurgency rule. that said, nobody at the pentagon expected that it would happen even before president biden's withdrawal of american troops deadline, which was supposed to be september 11th and now is august 31st. the white house in particular though i think has been quite shocked at how quickly this has happened because president biden got intelligence assessment from his intel community that he had been relying on back in march or april that said any collapse of the afghan government probably

wouldn't happen for 18 months after american troops left. he was hoping that that would give him enough space from his withdrawal that it would not look as causal an effect as it does look now. so it has been a big weekend of meetings. he's been -- president biden has been holding meetings at the white house with his national security team. i got a phone call this morning from a pentagon official who was on his way in. this has been a big deal because it is not only a mapter of evacuating americans, there's also sort of a coming to grips right now of the catastrophic failure of the $83 billion american effort to train, advise and build up the afghan military. the fact that you have so many troops melting away, not putting up any resistance to the taliban and mazar-i-sharif which fell

today, fell last night actually to the taliban, we have reports that the only people fighting the taliban were the militias that report to a couple of the warlords up there. the afghan military was not fighting at all. that says a lot about the 20-year american military effort in afghanistan. it is a monstrous failure at this point. >> i mean, helene, at this point what is the main goal? what is the main mission for the u.s. and the u.s. military moving forward? >> reporter: that is a wonderful question. i don't think they can answer that either. i think president biden wants out. he wanted -- he has not changed his mind, unless something has happened in the last few hours. as of early this morning, we're pulling troops out. the only reason why we're sending troops in there is to get americans out. he has said that he -- he had not decided whether he would stop air support to the afghan

military after august 31st, and the expectation had been that we would continue to provide limited -- when we say air support, i'm talking about maybe six or seven strikes a day, which is what we've been doing to back afghan fighting forces as they defend these cities from the taliban. but if the afghan fighting forces are melting away and have been trumped and trounced as they just have, you know, i don't know we will be -- what's there -- there's nothing there to support. so i don't have a good answer to your question at this point because i think things are moving very, very fast. yesterday the pentagon saying, you know, our mission has not changed, we're here to provide support to the afghan government, but if there's no government i don't know who they will be supporting. >> nbc's meagan fitzgerald in london and helene cooper with "the new york times." we will continue with ryan crocker, the former ambassador to afghanistan. why he says the u.s. has hung

afghanistan out to dry and how it could have been handled differently. it is coming up later in the hour. still ahead, we will continue to follow the aftermath of the powerful earthquake in haiti and bring you the latest as it becomes available. plus, code and kids. the alarming surge of covid cases among young people. until . fine, we'll sleep here. ♪♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. most bladder leak pads were similar. until always discreet invented a pad that protects differently. with two rapiddry layers. for strong protection, that's always discreet. question your protection. try always discreet. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete!

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concern than the sharp rise in pediatric covid cases. the american academy of pediatrics say there's been a nearly seven-fold increase in new child coronavirus infections in one month. by the first week of august, the number had grown to 96,000, representing about 15% of all new infections. pediatric cases are overwhelming children's hospitals across the u.s., most notably in regions with low vaccination rates where the virus has enjoyed unmitigated spread. dallas county, texas, which struggled to enforce mask mandates after the governor banned their use in july, there are no pediatric beds left. dallas county judge jenkins issued this warning about the situation. >> if your child has a congenital heart defect or needs an icu bed or more than likely have covid and need an icu bed, we don't have one.

your child will wait for another child to die. >> with me to discuss is msnbc medical contributor dr. natalie azar. doctor, good to have you with us. at one time it felt like children were the least at risk group when it came to covid-19, and i know we were grateful for that last year. now we are watching hundreds of kids get hospitalized nationwide with the virus. first of all, help us to understand, why are more children being diagnosed now than before? >> well, joe, it really comes down to numbers. there's no evidence yet that the delta variant, you know, is targeting children more than the original strains. it is really just -- it is really just sheer numbers. the more people we have getting infected, you know, the more children are going to obviously be susceptible. i think people need to remember while there is a bi-directionality to transmission, meaning that kids can certainly pass it to their parents and to the adults in their lives, the direction is most prominently the other way around, which is, you know, even

more of our, you know, desire and earnestness to guest adults around all children vaccinated, especially as the school year starts, particularly that adult bubble that surrounds our children. >> yeah. i think that's why this has become so alarming for so many as we've had kids return to the school in the past week, many more will be doing so in the next few weeks. does this add pressure to get vaccines approved for children ages 5 through 12, those under the age of 12 who can't get it right now? >> well, it absolutely does. you know, unfortunately, joe, there will be a significant -- the timing doesn't really work out that well for certainly the beginning of this school year. you know, really only a third of eligible kids 12 and older have actually gotten vaccinated. so i think we're talking about honestly at least six months before we can have a talk about vaccination in the younger group in terms of school safe. i will say at this point health experts are still saying, you know, if masks are worn, especially with younger kids, it doesn't mean hanging down below

the nose, it means doing it appropriately and, again, vaccinating as many people in the school system as possible with all of those other layered mitigation strategies such as ventilation, you know, and frequent testing, health experts still think it is safe for our kids to be back in the school and i agree with that. but i think there we are going the have to rely very, very heavily on masking as well as the other mitigation strategies because vaccination unfortunately will not be available for the kids right awhich when school starts. >> in the last few minutes we have been talking the white house put out 991,000 vaccinations, calling it the strongest back-to-back days we've seen in a while. when you hear something like that, what does that tell you? what is your reaction to that? >> you know, i'm certainly encouraged by that and i am really, really, as i'm sure everybody else is waiting, you know, for that final fda approval to come through because that will facilitate businesses and hospital systems and everything like that to require a mandate as a condition for

working. >> we have heard, of course, some people say one of the reasons they haven't gotten the vaccine yet is because it is still under the emergency use authorization. maybe if there is full authorization it will change things. >> absolutely. >> the fda recently authorized the third vaccine dose for immunocompromised people. help us to understand how necessary is that and do we think the rest of the population at some point will be told to get that booster? >> sure. so, you know, for the individuals for whom this is relevant -- again, it is not for the general population and it is not even, you would think that it would also include, you know, individuals with diabetes or people -- you know, elderly people in long-term facilities, no. it was fairly narrow scope of individuals who were candidates for this. this is, you know, people who have undergone organ transplant, stem cell transplants, autoimmune diseases. it is a pretty narrow list that is focused. we know that people that have an underlying condition that makes

them susceptible to infection or take medications that treat conditions that make them more susceptible to infection, not only do they run the risk of having a more severe case of covid-19 if they get sick and they don't mount an immune response to the infection, and if they get compromised they have more viral response. we know that the longer the virus hangs out in anyone the more likely it is to mutate further. had is great news. i'm glad that the cdc gave us guidance. people can make a self-attestation. we go live on tuesday and we will be able to order boosters for our patients and i can tell you there will be a line. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, joe. later in the hour, more on the contentious debate over mask mandates in schools. dr. meredith duke, a tennessee

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we all lose testosterone. force factor's test x180 works to boost it back. build muscle, increase energy, fuel desire, and improve performance. rush to walmart for test x180, the #1 fastest-growing testosterone brand in america. we're continuing to follow that breaking news out of haiti where officials say at least 29 people are dead from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake. video shows homes and churches reduced to rubble on the island's western peninsula where it struck this morning. haiti's civil protection tweeted initial reports indicated homes collapsed during the quake. multiple aftershocks have also been felt throughout the day. we will continue to update this story as more information becomes available. more now on the breaking story out of afghanistan where we're looking at the very real possibility of a full taliban takeover and soon. militants have seized two more provinces and are now rapidly

approaching the outskirts of kabul. the afghan military is rapidly being overrun, raising questions and drawing criticism about the plan to fully withdraw u.s. combat forces by august 31st. the former american ambassador to afghanistan during the obama administration, ryan crocker, is one of the critics. thank you so much for being with us. i know a few days ago you called this troop withdrawal a handover to the taliban, saying we have hung the afghan government out to dry. tell us more about what you are so critical of how this is unfolding right now. >> you have to go back a bit, joe, to the beginnings of the taliban talks between the u.s. and the taliban, without the afghan government in the room. i said at the time that excluding the government delegitimized it and delegitimized the security forces and also made pretty clear that these were not peace negotiations, these were effectively surrender talks.

we implicitly said, we're done, we're going home, let's talk about the best way to do that with the fewest losses on our side. what president biden did was basically doubled down on a really bad policy decision by president trump in saying that, yes, indeed, we are going and here is the date certain. again, this didn't happen with a snap of the fingers. the process that unfolded with our talks with the taliban, including, for example, pressing the afghan government to release 5,000 taliban prisoners which the government didn't want to do, we forced their hand, and they were immediately in the middle of it. that's kind of the context now i think for the rapid defeat of afghan security forces and the surge of the taliban. >> but looking, you know, at the unbelievable pace which the taliban has been taking cities since august 6th, i guess the question it begs is what could

we have done to stop this. many people say we can't stay there forever, maybe if we stayed, 5, 10 years, we still would have seen something like this. what would you have done differently? >> what i would have done is not to do this. we had a minimal troop presence there, maybe 3,500, probably a little low to be really comfortable, but when i was there we had 100,000. so down to 3,500 and, guess what? the taliban still did not hold a single afghan provincial capital. so the status quo was working okay. not perfect, but we could rock along with it. remember why we were there in the first place, because of 9/11. who brought us 9/11? al qaeda under taliban cover in afghanistan. so it is a direct threat to our national security to watch the taliban forward. they will bring al qaeda with them, and we're going to be back to the status quo after 9/11.

we didn't need to do this. we could have continued with the status quo and saved a lot of grief and trouble and a lot of lives. >> you are not the only one that has that concern. the uk defense minister ben wallace said he is worried about militant groups in afghanistan. let's take a listen to what he said recently. >> al qaeda will probably come back, would like that type of breeding ground, that's what we see. failed states around the world lead to instability, lead to a security threat to us and our interests. >> i mean are you worried about that? do you think there is a chance that al qaeda could come back? >> oh, i think there's no question they will come back. the taliban gave up the country rather than give up al qaeda. that was a proposition we put to them right after 9/11. hand over al qaeda and we will leave you alone. so they chose their ties to al qaeda. well, they're not going to give them up now. you have to remember, too, joe

what we are looking at here. the narrative that the taliban are developing, that they are the righteous forces of islam who are defeating the infidels on the field in afghanistan. this is going to be a huge shot in the arm for the taliban themselves, but also for radical movements around the world. so fasten your seatbelt. the story is just getting started. >> ryan crocker, we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us about this. former ambassador to afghanistan. thank you very much. coming up, in your face mask mandate debate. >> you better watch out. you better watch out. you better watch out. >> keep it calm. >> police escorts required after a school board voted to reinstate the mask mandate for schools in one tennessee county. after the break, we will talk to dr. meredith duke who says she was also threatened after supporting masks at that same meeting. [sfx: psst psst]

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more than 7,500 children have been diagnosed with covid across tennessee according to the state's health department. that's an increase of more than 860 kids in just now days. as children fill hospital beds and frontline workers remain overwhelmed by cases, anti-mask rhetoric continues to spread. in franklin, tennessee, near nashville a chaotic scene unfolded after a school board voted to require masks hoping to slow the spread of the virus among local elementary students. that decision incited angry parents to express their fears. among them, health care workers threatened. >> we know who you are. >> you can leave. >> we know who you are. >> but we will find you and we know who you are. >> you will never be allowed in people again. >> you suck. >> you will never be allowed in

public again. >> i know who you are. >> joining me now is dr. meredith blake, a surgeon in tennessee who attended the williamson county meeting. dr. blake, you were there. you are the mother of four kids at williamson county schools which will enforce this mask mandate. i want to know, what was going through your mind in that moment? what do you think when you hear things like "we know who you are, you can leave freely but we will find you"? >> it is duke. but actually, either way, i was shocked. i was sitting in the meeting and actually one of my surgical partners was outside in the crowd. he was texting me, letting me know how rowdy it was and he was concern for my safety. so he offered to stay and escort me and i thought he was being -- i just thought he was exaggerating. when we walked out i was with my 15-year-old son. next thing i see my partner

wading through a mob of people who are screaming and chanting, "no more masks," "you're not going to control us." hateful things were screamed at me and my son. two sheriffs and my partner and i guess a body guard escorted us to my car. they followed us and made sure that nobody else did. >> dr. duke, my apologies for getting your name wrong there a moment ago. >> that's all right. >> what was the mood just that entire evening like inside the meeting, outside the meeting? i mean what we saw there, was that a reflection of what was going on throughout the evening? >> the mood is not what i was expecting at all. i thought we were going to have a debate about the public health emergency and the covid-19 management in our schools. that's not the description of what happened that night. there were, you know, pro mask mandates crowd and there was the anti-mask crowd. it was multiple people were thrown out of the puig and they marched out in protest.

it was not a debate. >> when you see people react this way, with this much emotion, i mean just what do you want them to understand? what is your message to them? what is it you are trying to convey? >> i went to that meeting as a physician and a parent, and i wanted to share with them that my surgeries that week were cancelled because our hospital is full. this is a preventable disease. we have a cure that is safe and effective. it is a vaccine. until we have enough people that are vaccinated, the safest thing to do, particularly for our children who are not eligible for vaccination, is to wear a mask. i went there to say that. that wasn't going to be heard. it didn't matter. i didn't get the opportunity to speak, but if i did it wasn't going to be heard. my biggest request is that if you don't want to get vaccinated or you have concerns about it, if you don't want to wear a mask because you are worried about the risk, please talk to your doctor. talk to your local doctor who

knows your history, your risks, your local spread, and they can advise you whether it is safe or not. >> help us understand. you are a doctor. what is it you are seeing on the ground right now in your state, in your area when it comes to kids and covid, and i mean just your thoughts about the fact we are seeing so many more kids hospitalized which is different than what we were experiencing last year? >> we are just seeing that this disease is much more contagious. we're seeing more severe forms of it. as health care workers it is frustrating because this is preventable. we could prevent having children in the hospital. we could prevent limiting -- i can't take care of my patients. i had to call my patients last week and tell them, we don't have room for you in the hospital because covid is spreading in an uncontrolled fashion and children are getting it, children are getting sick from it. we had a couple of deaths in memphis just the week prior >> all right. dr. meredith duke, thank you so much. we appreciate it. thinking of you. wishing you and your family all

the best. >> thank you. still ahead, the 2020 census tells us that the country is getting more and more diverse, but even as people of color drive the population growth some voting rights advocates are seeing red. we'll explain. we welcome change? we can transform our workforce overnight out of convenience, or necessity. we can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change-- meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. faster. vmware. welcome change.

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we are breaking news in to msnbc on the haiti earthquake. the death toll has jumped to 227. officials made the announcement moments ago many we will have more on the story in a few minutes at the top of the hour. the u.s. is more diverse than ever according to the 2020 census. people of color are driving population growth with the highest increase seen among hispanics, asians and those who self-identify as more than one race or ethnicity. city living is also on the rise as americans gravitate toward urban centers down south and out west at the expense of the midwest and east coast. these changes could have big implications for redistricting

battles ahead. experts fear that gerrymandering could adversely affect the country's voters of color who is growing in number. joining us is jane tim, nbc news senior reporting. jane, good to have you with us. you are the one that helps us break it down and understand it better. first of all, where could we see the biggest fights when it comes to redrawing the districts lines? >> you know, look to the south. the last decade around we had a lot of fights in the midwest, but this year it is all going to be about the south. so look to places like georgia, texas, which just got two new house seats as well as florida. those are the states where republicans could easily gerrymander their way into a house majority. now, in the past republicans have redistricted in their favor, but really it is important to note the guardrails are off this year. the voting rights act was gutted in the last decade by supreme court rulings and the supreme court gave a green light to partisan gerrymandering.

there's nothing stopping republicans from drawing the most advantageous maps for themselves as possible. now, we should be clear, democrats also gerrymandered but they control so much less of the process because republicans invested in controlling the state legislatures to be part of this. this is a 20-year strategy in the making. the republicans know if you draw the maps you can control congress if you do it right. >> to be clear, yes, everyone gerrymanders. "the washington post" wrote about what it could mean for control on capitol hill, saying republicans need to flip only five seats to take back control of the house and partisan gerrymandering could give republicans an electoral edge. really democrats can't do a lot to control that process, so does that mean this battle over federal voting rights becomes even more important for them? >> you know, gerrymandering is as old as american politics, but what is so different now is that you can do these things so precisely. so we can move the dial by 1% in a district and therefore secure

control for a long time. we also talk about these state restrictive voting laws. so if republicans control access to the ballot box as well as where the ballot box is leading you to because they control the district maps, there's a huge amount of control here. this is why democrats fought so hard for the for the people act because it tried to ban partisan gerrymandering. it had all of the baseline access to the ballot box provisions. i mean this was their sort of only plan to intervene in all of these bills. one of the reasons democrats have controlled so little of the process, 75 seats compared to republicans, 187 in this redistricting process, it is because a lot of blue voters have embraced the independent commissions to draw their redistricting maps. they say, you know, that's a more fair process. but in the end they may not get a shot because they're really going to get drawn out of house and home, if you will. >> you know, already history tells us the party sitting in the white house typically has a disadvantage during midterms. so looking at all of this, what

is the possibility of a red wave in 2022? does it matter that population growth was in typically left-leaning urban areas or could all of this gerrymandering and gop-backed voting restriction laws hinder that? >> you know, i'm looking for that red wave in 2022, but i think the real question is does it last the full decade. so the redistricting process is about ten years usually in most states, and that can have some really big influences. but we've seen in the past that this diversifying trend is incredibly multi-racial, metro area america that we've seen born out in the most recent census is sometimes quicker than ten years. we might see a trend turning around in a few years from now, but it is not going to help the biden administration in the midterms, that's for sure. >> one question i have is we know there's gerrymandering, there's a bit of an art and science to it. is it possible to over

gerrymander? do the legislatures have to figure out a strategy to make it work just right? >> you know, it is a really precise way that you do it. basically what you do in the south, and this is why voting rights advocates are so worried about the south, is the way you gerrymander in the south is crack and pack minorities into different districts which means you put them all in a district and them separate them out so you have a majority white district. it is dluts the political power of the people that live there, but i guess you can out gerrymander but these guys are really good at it. there's whole legislative staffs that are good at it. i watched the process, they move one district to the left, one street to that district. it is incredibly precise. i don't know if you can out do it. >> i told you, jane timm educates us so much. thank you. derailing president biden's agenda, congressman from michigan debbie dingell joins me

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every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends. no! no! that's why comcast works around the clock constantly improving america's largest gig-speed broadband network. and just doubled the capacity here. how do things look on your end? -perfect! because we're building a better network every single day. breaking news in the atlantic basin where two powerful storms are lined up and could make landfall in the u.s. over the next few days. fred is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm tomorrow and make landfall somewhere near

the florida/alabama line monday evening. top of that, tropical storm grace is spinning in the baumts bahamas and is expected to hit haiti where they just had an earthquake. the dixie fire has been raging for over a month burning over 540,000 acres across multiple counties. as of this afternoon, the second largest fire in state history is only 31% contained. officials say they're still weeks away from full containment. fire crews are also worried about this weekend's triple digit temperatures plus storms that could bring lightning and gusty winds spreading the fire. approaching the top of the hour and this is msnbc reports. ♪ ♪ welcome back.

i'm joe fryer in for yasmin vossoughian. we continue to follow major breaking news right now. just moments ago the death toll rising into the hundreds in haiti after a huge magnitude 7.2 earthquake. the latest on the search for survivors and the widespread damage we are seeing in an already devastated country just ahead. in afghanistan the taliban on the move and kabul in the crosshairs. u.s. troops on the ground in the capital to get americans to safety. this as the situation deteriorates at lightning speed, leaving those who helped us for years feeling angry and abandoned. >> it is our turn to be helped. we helped them, you know. we saved their lives. we were the people who communicate with two cultures. otherwise without interpreters, they did nothing. >> reporter: so now you are abandoned and scared? >> yes. plus, we are following the latest developments in the house after a public threat from

moderate democrats that could derail nancy pelosi's plan. a high-wire act to pass a bipartisan infrastructure deal and a larger reconciliation bill filled with progressive priorities. in a few minutes i will get reaction from progressive caucus member debbie dingell. plus, millions of college students moving into their dorms as cases rise to dangerous levels in covid hot spots. we will look at that coming up. first, let's guess to the major breaking news out of haiti. we are continuing to follow. the death toll continuing to rise. at least 227 people are confirmed dead following this morning's magnitude 7.2 earthquake. the powerful quake, the biggest to hit haiti since the one that devastated the island back in 2010. let's go now to nbc's vaughn hillyard in miami's little haiti neighborhood with more on how the haitian american community is reacting to the news. vaughn, what are you hea