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 hearing

from people there in little haiti? >> reporter: yeah, there is a population that immigrated here and stayed here in the united states following the 2010 earthquake. there's a population gain of about 100,000 haitian immigrants here over the last ten years. we are in the little haiti district of miami, and i want to let you hear from regine batiste, one of the individuals that was in the heart of port-au-prince back in 2010 in the earthquake that took the lives of anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000. as we see this new video today roll in, it is individuals like her that are now just watching from afar. >> what i saw left me jaw drop. i said, what in the world can happen again to haiti. 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 how it is. >> reporter: now, joe, we are distinctly talking about a different part of the island that's been impacted here today from this earthquake. you are looking at that, when you look at the map the southwestern peninsula whereas in 2010 it was port-au-prince, the heart, the capital, in which hundreds of thousands of individuals were displaced from their homes. you are looking at communities in tens of thousands here along that peninsula that were rocked. the number of confirmed dead is now at 227, but we expect that number to only increase here as more and more information comes in about the extent of the damage. >> all right, vaughn hillyard reporting from miami. vaughn, thank you so much. we will have more on this coming up. i will talk to the director of the aid group on the ground in haiti. now to the major breaking news out of afghanistan. taliban troops are closing in on the capital city of kabul and

nbc news has now confirmed the last major northern city in the country is now under taliban control. taliban fighters took mazar-i-sharif today. hun dreads are trying to get out of president biden is holding meetings with his national zurt team in an effort to get -- to help get trapped afghan civilians and u.s. troops still in the country. turning now to washington and how congress is reacting to the breaking developments out of afghanistan, nbc's ali vitali is on capitol hill for us. ali, first of all, what are you hearing from lawmakers? how concerned are they about the speed with which the taliban is moving right now? >> reporter: concern across the board here, joe, and a reminder of just how quickly external forces can move the conversation here on the hill. this past week has been all

about infrastructure, and that's clearly still a top priority here, but lawmakers from both parties reacting to this news of the fast movements of the taliban in afghanistan including one member who served in afghanistan, congressman jason crow. here is his assessment of what we are seeing on the ground there. >> i think one of the lessons for us here is there's a difference between arming, equipping, training and giving resources to an army and actually that army and that force's will to fight and their leadership or lack of leadership, and the issue of governance and corruption. >> reporter: joe, across the aisle in the senate hearing from senator lindsey graham in a tweet talking about biden's decision to withdraw u.s. troops and saying in a tweet, if biden truly has no regrets about his decision to withdraw, then he is disconnected from reality when it comes to afghanistan. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell in a statement calling the escalating tension on the ground in afghanistan, quote,

not only foreseeable but foreseen. the kentucky senator saying, quote, it is not too late to prevent the taliban from overrunning kabul and advising the biden administration to use airstrikes to prevent what he calls the seemingly imminent fall of kabul. look, this is the first real foreign policy test for the biden administration. congress though reacting across the board and the concern swift. >> ali, i do want to ask you. you talk about infrastructure as well. what has been the fall-out so far after moderate house democrats sent that letter to speaker pelosi on thursday pushing for a stand-alone vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill? >> reporter: yeah, joe, a reminder of the push and pull. a brief moment of victory this past week as the senate did manage to pass this bipartisan bill, but as it heads over to the house there is consternation and a reminder of the balancing act that speaker nancy pelosi has to play here as she considers what to do with the path forward. right now the speaker has said she's going to stick to the plan that she has made, which is to

say the house will wait to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure until the senate has also passed that larger $3.5 trillion human infrastructure bill. that could take some weeks though. right now they're all on recess, but the senate has been given a september 15th deadline. that's when they have to have the top line numbers filled in with actual policy written down, but that's, again, going to take some time for it to work itself through in the senate. a balancing act there to for majority leader chuck schumer, but once it gets to the house you have moderate democrats saying that they won't vote for the larger infrastructure bill unless they can vote first on the bipartisan hard infrastructure bill, and then to the same token on the other side of the political seesaw you have progressive democrats saying they won't vote for the bipartisan bill if the reconciliation bill with the $3.5 trillion chock full of progressive policy ideals isn't waited on. so a real push and pull for the

speaker and a reminder how slim the margins are on capitol hill >> all right. ali vitali reporting at the capitol. thank you so much. >> reporter: you got it. to talk more about the infrastructure bills to the president's desk we want to bring in congresswoman debbie dingell of michigan, also deputy whip to the congressional caucus. do you see this letter from democrats putting the success of the infrastructure and the reconciliation bills in danger? >> you know, joe, first of all i want to say this. i am a member of problem solvers in the progressive caucus. i believe in working across the aisle. i think we needed to get that bipartisan bill out of the senate. i think the american people are better when we work together. there's an old will rogers' saying that people with weak stomachs shouldn't watch sausage or laws being made. we have no choice. i don't care where you are on the political spectrum, i personally think of myself as an

american. we have to get this bill done. we have to figure it out. we have to have a long discussion. not only does the house matter, not just the senate, and everybody focused on the senate and we're an equal branch of government but we have to listen to each other in our caucus. we have to get this figured out and we are going to have to get it done for the american people. >> i want to take a look at something the moderates write in that letter. they say with the livelihoods of hardworking american families at stake, we simply can't afford months of unnecessary delays and risk squandering this once-in-a century bipartisan infrastructure package. some people see this as political jenga. do you think waiting for the reconciliation package to come to a vote is worth the risk of possibly derailing everything? in your mind how long are progressive democrats willing to wait? >> so if you were to look at what the realistic time frame was on this, this was not going to happen until the fall. we have to get the budget through. i think we need to lose the word

"reconciliation" too because i don't think most americans know what that is. there were a lot of good things in that bipartisan package. we need to fix our roads and bridges. we need high speed internet in every household in america. we need to get the lead out of water. i was at the white house last week when the president announced a target for 50% electric vehicles by 2030, but we need more money. if you looked in michigan and you saw the lead in pipes, there shouldn't be lead in any pipes in america. there's not enough money. we need to get that into the next bill as well. if we're going to get to 50% electric vehicle sales by the year 2030, we have to build out an infrastructure. so the people have confidence they can get where they need to go. so i think there's a lot of hard work ahead, but i don't think that there's anybody in our party that knows the risk of not getting this done. it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in so many critical areas. not going to be pretty but we're going to get it done.

>> i do think you are right. i do think most americans maybe don't understand what the reconciliation bill does mean. now, another argument from some centrist democrats was laid out in "politico". they say their biggest concern was missing out on an august recess messaging push that could be key to helping them keep their majority, something that hasn't been clearly articulated from the democrats who signed on to the letter. i mean is that crucial, this messaging from democrats saying, hey, we got something done, we saw president biden sign this bill into place? >> you know, before this bipartisan bill even passed i said to my colleagues, it's been written about, we're not getting through to the american people, we're not doing a good enough job communicating what we're doing on the economy. i come from the midwest. i am out and about every single day talking to people. so i think the fact of the matter is we all need to be talking about what we are doing and what we are accomplishing. you know what scares me, joe? i did three congress in the

community, three today, three yesterday, is the number of people telling me things that are categorically not true. we need to talk about what we have already accomplished, and we have done a whole lot. we need to be talking about what we're going to get done. it is up to each of us to tell the story of the investments we've made in america. >> all right. democratic congresswoman debbie dingell, thank you so much for taking time on a saturday to talk with us. we do appreciate it. >> thank you, joe. we do have breaking news right now. president biden has just released a statement on the situation in afghanistan, and we do want to read it for you. he says, over the past several days i've been in close contact with my national security team to give them direction on how to protect our interests and values as we end our military mission in afghanistan. first, based on the recommendation of our diplomatic, military and intelligence teams i authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 u.s. troops to make sure we have an orderly and safe draw down of u.s. personnel and other allied personnel in an orderly

and safe evacuation of afghanistans to helped our troops in the mission. the president says, second, i have ordered our armed forces in our intelligence community to ensure we will maintain the capability and vigilance to address future terrorist threats from afghanistan. the president goes on to make several more points about this which we will try to examine here as we move throughout the day but we want to bring in our panel of experts right now. david jolly, former member of congress, national chairman of the serve america movement and an msnbc political contributor, and donna edward, former democratic congresswoman from maryland, contributing columnist with "the washington post" and msnbc analyst. donna, i want to get your reaction. i didn't read the full statement there, but what at this point does the president need to say? is he saying the right things now as he deals with what is happening in afghanistan? >> i think clearly even from the president's statement today that he's committed to this full draw down of u.s. forces in

afghanistan, he's committed to making sure that as many of our partners who helped us on the ground for the last 20 years are able to get out, and that includes civilians including aid workers and others who were instrumental in our work in afghanistan. i think there are no easy answers here, and i regret what we know is inevitable under taliban rule, especially for women and girls in afghanistan, but i think the president has made the commitment that the american people have made that it is time to end our 20-year commitment in afghanistan. >> david, i'm going to read you the end of the statement the president just put out. he says, quote, when i came to office i inherited a deal cut by my predecessor which he invited the taliban to discuss at camp david on the eve of 9/11 in 2019 that left the taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a may 1st, 2021 deadline on u.s.

forces. shortly before he left office he also drew u.s. forces down to a bear minimum of 2,500. therefore, when i became president i faced a choice. follow through on the deal with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies' forces out safely or ramp up our presence and send more american troops to fight once again in another country's civil conflict. i was the fourth president to preside over an american troop presence in afghanistan, two republicans, two democrats. he ends by saying, i would not and will not pass this war on to a fifth. thoughts about what he is saying there and how he is handling this right now? >> yeah, joe, that statement is not going to go over well with a lot of capitol hill leaders, and, admittedly, republican ones. i love donna edwards. we're good friends, our friendship is stronger than our disagreement in this moment. i'm going to take disagreeable point here. first of all, for joe biden and that statement, the buck stops with him, not with donald trump. that's a tough statement to point back to donald trump and

say, "i inherited a mess." sure, that may be true. i mean donald trump probably should not have negotiated what he did, but joe biden is the president now. more importantly, we have learned in the last week that the only thing that stood between the taliban taking control of afghanistan was the 2,500 american troops there, and they were very successfully preventing the taliban forces from taking control. an army of about 300,000 afghans were technically the fighters, we were in an advise and consent role. we had not had a casualty in over a year fortunately. that 2,500 force from the u.s. was doing remarkable work protecting peace, actually protecting the region and protecting our national security interests. here is the great interest. whether or not it has a political impact now, it probably doesn't. this is a macro issue both for american national security and for joe biden's presidency because of this. the taliban is the leading governing coalition that will give safe harbor to al qaeda, a

terrorist organization that's declared war on the united states. now, what joe biden's statement says is, look, we're going to pay close attention to that and make sure terror does not arise, but it inevitably will. this is now a greater task for the u.s. how do we protect against an empowered al qaeda given safe harbor by the taliban? this is a totally different international footprint now that the u.s. has to now mobilize for and it is a result of the decision to ultimately withdraw our troops under this administration. >> donna, i will give you a chance to respond to your friend and co-panelist. do you worry that this is going to make things just harder as things move down the road? >> well, i do think it is complicated, but at the same time i don't know that had we drawn down troops, you know, five years ago, ten years ago, fifteen years ago that it would be any different than if we waited another five years. i mean that is the fact. i think the president is right

in identifying this as a civil war in afghanistan. we are not poised to fight in the middle of a civil war in afghanistan. so i think it was a tough decision and i think it is, you know, going to make the lives of everyday afghanis very, very difficult. it is unfortunate that billions of dollars have been invested in training and equipping afghan forces only to have them give up the fight. i think that, you know, if we can't wish more for afghanistan than afghanistan wishes for and wants to fight for itself >> all right. former members of congress, david jolly, donna edwards, thank you both for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you, joe. when we come back, more on the breaking news in haiti where more than 200 people are now confirmed dead after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook the country awake this morning. a search for survivors is ongoing as total damage from the

quake remains unclear. i will be joined by a former administrator of fema and haiti director of the mercy corps organization on where the country goes from here. . and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! [sighs wearily] here, i'll take that! woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and now with two new flavors! ♪

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welcome back. now back to major breaking news out of haiti that we are continuing to follow. nbc news has now confirmed at least 227 people have dead following this morning's 7.2 magnitude earthquake. hundreds more are wounded or

missing. president biden just released a statement on this, offering his condolences and saying that u.s. aid is already working to help with the situation. joining us now former fema direct craig few gate and kara buck, director of mercy corps. kara, i want to talk to you first. i understand you are in port-au-prince. what can you tell us about what you experienced earlier this morning and what you are seeing in the aftermath of the earthquake. >> sure. i mean, you know, we were jolted out of bed early this morning with a lot of movement and you can only imagine what the team and communities were feeling in the epicenter, which is, you know, located in the southwestern part of the country. phone and internet has been very spotty and really challenging due to the earthquake. you know, initially we are getting information coming in around collapsed buildings and, you know, roads obstructed, et cetera. so, you know, that along with the tsunami potential, tsunami

watch, threat of a tsunami, et cetera,, you know, we are just trying to ensure the team is safe and secure and, you know, they're all really worried about their families. >> and we should note that tsunami warning thankfully went away. you know you have a lot of contacts there, cara. i know people think back to 2010, the devastating earthquake then. what seems to be the damage so far? >> yeah, absolutely. a mercy corps is a team of 19 currently in nippes. we are still assessing the situation and really making sure -- the first step for us really is to send additional team members there to get a better idea of what the situation is on the ground. we would anticipate in a situation like this the greatest needs to be around clean, drinkable water, potential shelter, food, kind of all of the basics. but, again, we are still kind of

assessing what the actual needs are at the moment. >> craig, you were fema director when the earthquake happened in 2010 in haiti. what kind of help can we expect from the u.s. and other countries? what needs to happen right away? >> well, the most important thing will be the search and rescue and treating the injured. ambassador powers is the head of the usaid, was charged by the president to coordinate that. she was very engaged in her position at the u.n. representing the u.s. in the response in 2010. so from the united states coast guard to southern command, she will be looking at all of the resources that may be needed to support the haitian government, begin this initial response. >> are there lessons we learned from 11 years ago that can come into play now when it comes to this type of response, both in the short term and long term, craig? >> well, the most important thing is the power of the haitians. i think we brought so many people from the outside we forgot most of the response was the haitians.

unlike last time when port-au-prince was heavily devastated and a lot of government functions were knocked out, we do have those elements to work with. the lesson i think we learned is we need to empower the haitians if we're going to have both the immediate response but also long-term capability development. >> cara, i mean this has been a difficult time for haiti. just last month the president there was assassinated. i mean how worried are you about government resources, about getting what you need from people there in haiti responding to this right away? >> certainly. i mean, you know, it is a good question. i think any government dealing with a disaster such as this would be, you know, under pressure and, you know, it is not in question. there's a lot of pressure currently, you know, ongoing, political pressure, et cetera, for the government here in haiti. so, you know, we will certainly

do what we can to support, facilitate coordination and work with our teams on the ground to ensure the needs are met >> all right. cara, please stay safe. cara buck and craig fugate, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. coming up, arrest warrants are out for texas state house democrats who fled to d.c. to avoid a vote on voter restriction laws. the state legislature was in a special session with none of the members in attendance, but what is left for them to do with u.s. congress so far failing to act on voting rights? texas state representative trey martinez fischer joins us live now. we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change.

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texas democrats have hit yet another road block in their fight to protect voting rights. the state supreme court has overturned an earlier ruling that legally scheeled absent house democrats allowing law enforcement to round up anyone still missing and opening the door to civil arrest. with me now to discuss is texas

state representative trey martinez fischer. thank you for joining us. you know, texas law enforcement has been deputized to round up absent house democrats right now with the texas sergeant at arms reportedly searching for those who fled to prevent the quorum. what can you tell us about your situation right now and how worried are you about this development? >> oh, clearly when matters escalate you always, you know, think it is concerning. it is not going to scare us or deter us. i think it is going to make us stronger. we had a conference zoom this morning with our colleagues and, you know, our resolve is unbreakable. this escalation clearly is serious, but we have our rights. we have our remedies. we know it is a civil arrest warrant. they are very limited in what they can do and, quite frankly, they recognize if they try to execute these documents on private property texas is a very pro-private property state, and they recognize they could be trespassing or overstaying their welcome. i think they should heed those warning from those members if

they don't want to be bothered in their homes. >> one of the remedies you mentioned were some of your colleagues were previously protected by a court order that temporarily prevented arrest but the ruling has been overturn by the texas supreme court. without that legal protection, how do you and your colleagues intend to respond to the state's gop efforts to try to bring you back to the legislature or have those civil arrests. >> you know, what is really flummoxes me is it has taken the good part of a month and a half to decide whether or not the governor had the ability to defund the texas legislature. but, of course, in a matter of days they could make a political decision to say that the lawmakers, that we have no rights. really, i think the problem here is not the law. the problem is the texas supreme court. i do believe once you get into the federal court system, you get the texas supreme court out of the way. so i would expect we are going the review all of our options. we're not afraid to use the tools in our tool bucket and we recognize there may be other

courtrooms and forums where we can have this conversation in a just and fair capacity. >> you know, we are more than 30 days into this now. earlier this week senator ted cruz blocked senate democrat's attempt to pass federal voting rights legislation, a major blow to your group's efforts which is hinging heavily on the success of those bills. what's the strategy now? how long can you avoid going back into the texas legislature? where does it leave you and how do you move forward because congress has so much on its plate dealing with infrastructure, many are focused on afghanistan. what do you do? >> i think it is important to acknowledge i guess every decade, you know, you have your strom thurman. i degrees senator cruz is choosing to fill that role but we won't be deterred by that. i'm grateful majority leader schumer has indicated voting rights will be the first thing to come up after the august recess. we know the u.s. house is coming back early from their recess so they can take up voting rights

somewhere on or about august 23rd. we are moving in the right direction. you know, i want to give a special acknowledgement to senators klobuchar, merkley, warnock, testily, manchin, the entire group that continued to work even in the recess to find common ground on a consensus bill. i'm not giving up on the senate and i know the u.s. senate is not giving up on us. we are holding the line and going day by day, but we care about the democracy and willing to make the sacrifice. >> you mentioned some democrats there, but are you disappointed they haven't been able to get this done yet? >> you know, i am and i'm not. i mean let's be clear. voting rights is really the only domestic policy subject that's really come up for a vote in the u.s. senate twice. that tells me it is a priority. it tells me it is top of mind. the president and vice president, majority leader and the speaker of the house met two weeks ago to reaffirm and reaffirm and reaffirm their commitment to voting rights. i think they are saying everything that needs to be

said. we know that legislation doesn't happen as quickly as we want it to. we know there's a process. we know there's a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes. the country cannot be too patient, but i think we deserve to give them some more time. i take leader schumer at his word it is the first item up to bat in september, and i think the country is rememberie for ready for the rally after the recess. >> thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. right now american forces are evacuating u.s. embassy workers out of afghanistan as the taliban continues the advance towards kabul. how long can the afghan military hold the capital? is there no turning back from our military withdrawal from the country? we will explore all of that next. we will explore all of that next (vo) when you are shopping for a new vehicle, how do you know which brand you can trust?

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more now on the major breaking news out of afghanistan. a short time ago president biden issued a statement about the u.s. military mission. he writes, under advisement from his intelligence team he is deploying 5,000 u.s. troops to afghanistan to help get citizens out. he also goes on to say he inharlted the situation from former president trump. he says when trump invited the taliban to camp david it left them in the strongest position yet. meantime, the country is on the brink of a complete taliban takeover. taliban fighters have captured much of northern, southern and western afghanistan in an offensive, less than three weeks after the u.s. is set to withdraw the last troops. afghan civilians are flocking to

the international airport in kabul trying to get out of the country as taliban troops move closer to the capital by the hour. today mazar-i-sharif, the last major city under afghan control fell into taliban hands after one day of fighting. criticism is coming in from allies and the u.s. let's dive deeper into the situation with the help of nbc's jonathan allen and military contributor, retired colonel jack jacobs. thank you for joining us. jonathan, i want to ask about the statement we saw in the last hour from the president pointing back at his predecessor for the blame in all of this. what do you make of it? >> i think president biden is in a tough spot here. he wanted to get out of afghanistan, both on a policy level and politically, and he's watching what we're all watching here, which is devastating in terms of the taliban retaking territory and, you know, presumably going to retake kabul. it sounds like he wants to make sure there are enough troops there to ensure americans aren't

killed and allies of the united states aren't killed as we try to get them out of that country. you know, on a political level, i'm not sure that it is sustainable for the united states to continue to have forces in afghanistan. we saw president barack obama campaign on getting out of there. he didn't. we saw president trump campaign on getting out of afghanistan. he made a deal to do it but didn't do it. now president biden actually has ordered the withdrawal and now popping troops back in. the american people has spoken on this in elections, and they don't want americans in afghanistan. >> colonel jacobs, in the statement he just issued the president noted the 5,000 troops he deployed. is that sufficient to get americans and everyone they need to get safely out of the country? are you concerned at all that the taliban may try to target any of these forces? >> well, first of all, you never have enough troops. there's no such thing as too many troops. my guess is that when the commander of the task force got on the ground in afghanistan, immediately went to the centcom

commander who went back to the secretary of defense and then the president saying there were not enough troops with the 3,000. don't forget, some are support troops, and that he needed more people. thus, more combat troops. one should always be concerned that there's an insufficient number. with respect to the danger to the troops there, one interesting approach is to look at it this way. the taliban have probably very little incentive to attack american troops while they are evacuating americans from the embassy and are likely to wait until they're all gone before they close in on kabul. the principle reason for that is that once they attack sites in kabul, they will do so from fixed locations around kabul, and that will open up the taliban to devastating air attacks from the united states and allies. so it is likely that they want

attack american troops as we're trying to evacuate the embassy. >> a lot of people have been wondering why we haven't seen air attacks or attacks with drones or stuff like that. can you help us to understand why that is? >> well, the targets are there to be sure. one explanation is that there is some sort of arrangement to permit that, the taliban to not be targeted while they're taking over the area as long as they leave american people, americans and allies alone inside kabul. i mean that's a conspiratorial look. but another explanation, and they're not mutually exclusive, is we don't want to get decisively engaged again in afghanistan. even with just airstrikes, unless it is to protect our people. i agree with jonathan. the american people have spoken. there is no political will

anywhere in the united states for massively increasing the footprint in afghanistan. >> jonathan, despite that, just how surprised is the biden administration by the speed with which the taliban is taking over the country? >> well, a little bit i yield to colonel jacobs on this because he is obviously expert on military affairs and how fast military like the taliban outfit can move. but, you know, the white house has expressed surprise. i'm not sure how surprised they are. they talk about being surprised by the speed. i think everyone knew that once the united states left afghanistan the taliban was going to take over afghanistan, and that is part of the sort of tacit thing where the taliban is not attacking the united states, the united states is withdrawing as fast as it can. afghanistan will be left to the taliban, and i think americans are largely comfortable with that whether or not they want to talk about it. they're largely comfortable with that so long as the taliban is

not a direct threat to american citizens here or abroad. >> colonel, you look at the map we are showing right now. kabul is surrounded. so many gains made in just a matter of days. do you have any faith in the afghan military when it comes to trying to protect kabul from the taliban? >> well, they haven't protected the rest of the country. despite what president biden said, lauding the 300,000 afghans who are in uniform, the fact of the matter is that they're extremely weak in many respects, ammunition, food, other critical supplies including water have been malit is mal distributed. there's a lot of corruption. the morale is way, way down. three presidents in a row has said they're leaving and started to draw down, so the morale among the afghan troops is very, very low. it is clear once we are gone the taliban will close in completely

on kabul >> all right. nbc's jonathan allen and retired colonel jack jacobs. thank you both for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, bags are packed and vaccination cards are ready as college students prepare to move in. >> if i have to wear a mask it is worth it because my entire senior year was basically ruined because of covid. >> live on a campus in california with how the semester is going to look like no other semester has before. e is just a. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. get ready. it's time for the savings event of the year.

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breaking news as covid numbers continue to rise across the nation. thousands of college students across the country are moving into their dorms as covid cases surge. many universities are implementing mask mandates. scott cohen is at california state university east bay in hayward where students are getting tested before they can move in. you spoke with some students

getting settled in their dorms. how do they feel about returning to campus? >> reporter: you know, joe, it's all about striking a balance between this move-in day we all remember and safety in this time of pandemic. you can see that is pretty standard experience. the cars are lined up. they're getting ready to go into their dorms. they're all wearing masks. cal state east bay in hayward is one of about two dozen campuses in the cal state university system. that's the largest state university system in the country with half a million students. they have a vaccine mandate, but it doesn't go into effect until september 15th because they decided a couple weeks ago to do this with the delta variant. there are a lot of precautions even ahead of that. for example, as you noted, you need to have a negative covid. if you don't have it, they'll do it for you on the spot. we've seen a you remember in of people take advantage of that. all of this, again, trying to

get students back to campus and make it as normal of a year as it can be. >> everyone has to be more safe and stuff with all the health issues and all that. but learning and stuff, i feel a little better because i feel like i learn better in person than online. >> very different, you know, like, it's very time consuming. you just have to, like, be very patient with it. but that's all good. >> i think it's important because it allows us to move forward even with the new normal. but to move into the new normal. >> reporter: that parent is dropping off his fifth college student. she is actually a senior here at cal state east bay. but it's her first year on campus because she did two years of community college and a year here virtually. finally is experiencing life on campus. the try is to try and make it as

normal as it can be. across the country more than 700 schools have now decided to implement vaccine mandates, but there are as varied as there are different schools. there's still the specter of the delta variant ramping up, the possibility of going back to all-virtual learning. and unfortunately, that's something that they have done before. joe? >> all right. scott cohen in hayward, california. an inclusive magazine cover, my head-scratcher and high fives of the week. we'll be right back. 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.

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the new host of "jeopardy!" what is the topic of this week's head-scratch senator after months of mystery and with 16 guest hosts taking a turn behind the famous lectern, "jeopardy!" announced two people will replace alex trebek. may i didn't mean beeial lick and mike richards taking the primary program. that drew mixed reactions to say the least. was it the right choice? i'll let you have that debate with your friends and family. rather than focusing on that, the head-scratcher was the boss got the job, similar to 2000

when dick cheney was picked to run with george w. bush. the final answer was in the form of a question, who is dick cheney. many wonder if mike richards pulled a cheney. an episode was dedicated asking richards about the search for a new host and he was asked point-blank if they had a front-runner. >> i honestly, and i sound like a politician, there is not a leading contender at this moment that i know of. the sony execs may have one they may have discussed privately, but not with me. we're doing testing and looking at a lot of things. but there really isn't a "it's going to be this person." there isn't really that. >> now we know the answer, and the form of a question is, who is mike richards. to be clear, richards maintains he was not involved with the final decision, that it was ultimately up to sony executives

who say they did extensive testing, focus groups, social media and more. for viewers, the process may always be a question. now for this week's high five, we're delving into the world of fashion, obviously. when it comes to "vogue" magazine, no bigger issue than the september issue. it's harder to get on the coveted cover. but this year, one model is making history. aerial nicholsson became the first transgender model to be on the cover of "vogue." she wrote, to have the opportunity to participant in the shifting landscape of a fashion is a dream come true. we are glad to see it. congratulations. that wraps it up for this hour. i'm joe fryer. thanks for watching. "politicsnation" with the reverend al sharpton starts right now.

good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." we begin with some breaking news as nbc news has confirmed the last major northern city in afghanistan has fallen to taliban control. meanwhile, hundreds of afghan civilians are heading to the airport in kabul in an attempt to flee the country. president biden just announcing that 5,000 u.s. troops will be deployed to keep afghanistan from sliding into utter chaos as the taliban nears a complete takeover of the country. we'll keep you posted throughout the hour with the developments. also, we keep an eye on haiti, rocked by a massive earthquake earlier this morning that has left at least