operations in haiti after the earthquake there including multiple u.s. military field hospitals that are going to haiti right now as we speak. the reason the news feels heavy tonight is because it is. we pray for better days ahead. that's going to do it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow come hell or high water. "way too early" is up next. we're in contact with the taliban to ensure the safe passage of people to the airport. the taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport. and we intend to hold them to that commitment. the white house under pressure to accelerate evacuations in afghanistan. as many as 15,000 americans are still in the country following the taliban's takeover. the question is how long will it take to get them out? plus, the death toll is rising in haiti as the tropical storm grace drenched the country yesterday. the question is how much did the

storm complicate earthquake relief efforts? and after banning mask and vaccine mandates, texas governor greg abbott has testified positive for coronavirus. despite being fully vaccinated. the news come as a breakthrough in infections in a handful of states. the question is what does it mean for vaccinated americans? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. welcome to "way too early," the show that wishes the baseball season was over already. i'm john lemire on this wednesday, august 18th. we begin with the race to evacuate thousand of americans in afghanistan following the taliban's takeover of the country. biden administration officials told staffers yesterday that as many as 15,000 americans are still in afghanistan. about 1100 american citizens, permanent residents and their

families, have been evacuated so far. nbc as you chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the latest from kabul. >> reporter: we made it on the military side of the kabul airport. this is where the u.s. is carrying out its final withdrawal from afghanistan. the american flag still flies here. this side of the airport has long been an american and nato base and it's full with extra american troops brought in for the evacuation. this has become the last military base in afghanistan, the last presence of american troops. the evacuations are mainly bringing out americans and other foreign nationals, along with afghans who managed to get visas and who are happy to be leaving. hundreds packed into one american cargo jet. the biden administration has promised to expedite visas for afghans who worked for the u.s. military.

tens of you shoulds are still waiting. i think spoke to a group of afghans, they've all worked on this base for over five years. not one has a visa. what did you do? what was your job? >> i work in the visiting office. >> reporter: in the visiting office? >> visiting office. >> reporter: if you go back home, are you worried? >> of course, they will kill us. >> reporter: you're here. you are here, you can't get out. that seems like a total collapse of bureaucracy, or it seems like they just don't care. >> yeah, they don't care. >> reporter: so what is it like for all of you to watch these planes take off, in front of you, and know that you can't get on one? >> we're trying. we're so fearful. >> reporter: do you feel betrayed? >> yeah. >> reporter: even worse than the lack of action, they say, is the lack of concern. >> this is the first time that

somebody nobody understand what your problem, and how dangerous it is. nobody. >> reporter: it is us. >> us. >> reporter: outside the airport, there's utter desperation, afghans pushing and pleading to get in. and board a flight away from taliban rule. they don't believe the taliban which promised to be different that women will have rights, a free press and a general amnesty for translators who helped the u.s. military. men like tom which is what u.s. troops called him. we've been following his story for months. he went on combat missions and helped american troops find and kill taliban fighters. he's been waiting for his visa for four years and asked to us blur his face because today he's in hiding. >> they will kill us. they will kill us tomorrow, today. >> reporter: afghans we spoke to say they were wrong to trust

america's promises as they're leaving them in the hands of extremists and leaving allies behind. >> our thanks to richard engel. national security agency are finger-pointing. the top military are furious with president biden's security team because they wanted to start evacuated afghans as early as may but were not allowed to do so. many officials are expressing annoyance at the state department, saying leaders there have been extremely slow processing paperwork needed to deal with afghan leaders and others for settlement. but officials are pointing the official at congress which created a tedious 14-step process for the special visa program that diplomats by law must complete before they can issue the visas. congress ultimately passed legislation to streamline the program but not until the end of

july. joining us now, white house correspondent for politico and co-author of "the playbook." eugene daniels. he's also an msnbc contributor. eugene, thank you so much for being here. how do you match up comments that we heard from national security adviser jake sullivan when he said he believes taliban officials when that group does not, shall we say, have the best record at keeps promises. >> yeah, that's a nice way to put it. we do know that the taliban has lied often about the things they're going to do especially when it comes to holding up their end of bargains. those comments are aspirational at best and naive at worse for some of the critics because we know the taliban doesn't keep their word. talking behind the scenes, this

administration polly ann-ish about the trust. and jen psaki said there are consequences of the full weight of the united states military if they don't allow the evacuations to take place that. but what i think is happening, in front of the cameras, they're trying to keep things calmer, they don't want to the say, you know, as they're verifying and all of those things but it's really important to remember that the taliban wants to be taken seriously in the international community. as much as that's hard to believe talking about the taliban if you've been around them in the last 20 years and how we've been thinking about them. so, they have to be careful here, because the united states has made it very clear here, literally, our generals talking to their military leaders that this has to happen or they're going to have that. that's something that this administration is hoping these

sticks are going to keep the taliban from acting stupid here, really. >> of course, things can be different when the spotlight lifts when the american presence ends in two weeks. what happens. eugene, while we have you, we want your take on the voting rights. standing at the end of edmund pettus bridge, making the case for the john lewis voting rights act. >> i guess you could say i'm here at the foot of the bridge to get into good trouble. in honor to honor the legacy of john lewis and of so many known and unknown foot soldiers, we in congress must, must have that. >> could return it to its full voter and combat the voting

laws. and the measures are expected to pass when the house returns from the august recess next week. meanwhile, as the recess draws closer, house speaker nancy pelosi is making sure all democrats are in line to pass their legislative authority. overnight, the speaker sent a letter hoping to push the reconciliation. she writes in part, while the bipartisan infrastructure bill offers important progress it is not reflective of the totality of the democrats' vision. we must also deliver the build back better bill. the speaker is trying to balance the wishes of the democratic party. progressives have said for months they're not willing to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package is also done. moderates say the opposite. pelosi has a razor thin margin

to stick together. congressman gottheimer will join the conversation later on "morning joe." eugene, we've known all along this is going to be pretty tricky for democrats that nancy pelosi and others need to thread the needle as i dramatically mix metaphors there. how do you see this playingout do you think that the department democrats -- do you think at the end of the day, pelosi will advocate and what role does president biden play? >> nancy pelosi knows what she's doing, so i think at the end of the day, they will get her caucus together when the voting actually starts. i think it's because it's not just progressives who say both of these things have to pass in tandem, she has made that clear. while moderates like gotheimer

have sort of beat their guests and saying they're not getting on board. 96 progressives have made tell clear. and moderates -- you know, they don't always use all of the tactics that they could in the house. they love notoriety, but usually they kind of get in line. whether that's going to happen this time is unclear. and what president biden sees here, he's agreed and talked with schumer in the senate, pelosi in the house, that these things have to pass together. even though he wants them to pass, give him a big win. his approval numbers are going down just a built. we've seen some of them going under 50% for the first time in a while. he can use a boost with this passing by itself. but he knows and so does the house that to get this passed, they have to have both of these things passed in tandem, and particularly on voting rights. when it comes to this actually

happening this is a point to remember, it may pass the house but once again there are not ten republicans in the senate right now who will even sign on to the john lewis voting rights act. that's not something they're interested in doing. it's unlikely to help and paer . unless he do something about the filibuster. >> eugene lewis. we'll forgive your use of the word biff. and still ahead, the disappointing red sox in a doubleheader yesterday. plus, transportation secretary pete buttigieg and his

husband welcome a new addition to the family. those stories and a check on the weather when we come right back. . i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. 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.

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welcome back. time now for sports in a segment that i tried to get dropped from the show. the yankees are back in playoff position after yesterday's doubleheader sweep of the struggling red sox which moves new york a percentage point ahead of boston in the race for an american league wildcard spot. the yankee reliever stranded four sox runners on base, yankees held on to save a 5-3 win in the first game. in the second game, they each hit solo home runs in a 2-0 night cap, on an impressive start on the mound by a rookie luis gil puts the most up since 1961. new york has now won five straight and 12 of 15 to move a season-high 16 games over .500.

it's a big turnaround for the yankees after trailing the red sox by as many as, don't remind me, 10 1/2 games since july 5th. not good, folks. the deeply disappointing red sox will look to avoid the series sweep in tonight's finale. a scary moment when athletics starter chris bassett was struck in the face. bloodied but thankfully awake. bassette remained on the ground, his face covered for several minutes before being helped on a cart. the a's released a statement saying the pitcher was conscious and awake adding he was taken to a local hospital. to detroit where miguel cab cabrera had one with ohtani. cabrera snuck behind ohtani and swiped, there you go, one of his

batting gloves. ohtani had his other glove fall out of his back pocket, flashed a smile. turning now to the nfl where the seattle seahawks have made jamal adams the highest paid safety in league history. adams signed a four-year contract. the deal is reportedly up to $70 million with $38 million guaranteed. meanwhile in san francisco, the 49ers have cut ties with josh rosen, waving the overall top pick in saturday's preseason opener. while rosen's future is now uncertain, former quarterback's tim tebow nfl comeback as a tight end appears to be other. tebow was released by the jacksonville jaguars. tebow defeated, i've never

wanted to make decisions out of fear of failure. i'm grateful. time now for the weather. we'll go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. bill, any chance that the yankees can bet rained out tonight? >> a slight chance. maybe we can get that sweep in tonight. >> no, no. >> if it happens, it's over. all right. let's get into all of these tropics. we have three storms out there, fred, henri and grace. fred produced tornados in south carolina and north carolina flash flooding. now the storm is over west virginia and heading for pittsburgh this morning. it will drag storms and heavy rains into the northeast. 24 million people have flash flood watches from richmond to baltimore to harrisburg. as far as the wet weather, 1 to 3 inches from pennsylvania, all the way into interior sections of new york. watch out, isolated tornados

from d.c. to baltimore. finally, i'll end with this, we have to watch tropical storm henri. this one is trying to inch closer to the new england coastline while it goes for the upcoming weekend. that includes nantucket and a portion of cape cod. one model brings it into the picture on sundaying into monday. this one, we take seriously. bill karins, thank you so much. >> still ahead, as the debate rages over mask and vaccine requirements, children across the country are paying the price. the latest on pediatric covid. so you get it all. wondering what actually goes into your multivitamin? at new chapter, its' innovation, organic ingredients, and fermentation. fermentation? yes. formulated to help you body really

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>> reporter: there is perhaps no rise more troubling than the spiking covid cases among children, inside some pediatric units beds are nearly full and kids are sicker than ever. in just the past week, there's been 121,000 new child cases. the stunning explosion is hospital admissions spiking 300%. >> i feel with the patients i've cared for in the units in the last couple of weeks, critically ill children. >> reporter: at arkansas children's hospital, every number is a name. it's measured one family at a time. doctors say low vaccination rates, the delta variant and loosening restrictions as kids return to school could turn their crisis into a catastrophe. >> it's not one of those things where you can say, oh, my kid is healthy, so we're going to be fine. we can't predict which kids are going to end up in the icu with us. >> reporter: with less than 13%

of children fully vaccinated, it could be months before those under 12 have a vaccine. just as kids return to school in nashville, 1,000 students are in quarantine or isolation, after an outbreak in infections. in florida, one school district has more than 8,000 students and staff, also in quarantine or isolation. >> while children are far less likely than adults to be infected with covid and to die from covid, the numbers are trending in the wrong direction. >> reporter: doctors say most kids never get seriously sick, but many of those that do are fighting for their lives. protecting the youngest americans as far too many fall ill every day. texas governor greg abbott has tested positive for covid-19. a spokesman for his office said the governor is fully vaccinated, in good health and currently experience nothing symptoms. the news comes after the republican issued an executive order late last month banning

evasion wageses and mask mandates even as case numbers surged in the state. and despite the pushback from local leaders in school districts and children prepare to return to the classroom. sources tell nbc news abbott has told people he received a third dose of the vaccine. abbott's office did not responsibility to request for comment. a booster shot has yet to be authorized by the fda. preliminary data from seven states suggest the delta variant may be affecting the vaccinated more than originally thought. according to figures gathered with "the new york times," breakthrough infections account for 1 in 5 newly diagnosed cases in six of the seven states with the most detailed data as well as higher percentages of total hospitalizations and deaths. the "times" reports the absolute numbers remain very low however, there's little doubt that the vaccines remain powerfully protective, this can be a

pandemic. the seven states examined for keeping the more detailed data are california, colorado, massachusetts, oregon, utah, vermont and virginia. it is not certain that the trends in these states hold throughout the country. still ahead, the u.s. exit from afghanistan is opening the door for other countries to extend influence in the region. we'll take a look at china's approach to the taliban. before we go to break, we want to the know why are you awake? email your reasons to waytooearly@msnbc.com. or tweet me @jon lemire. i have a feeling what's coming. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ we gave new zzzquil pure zzzs restorative herbal sleep to people who were tired of being tired.

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♪♪ welcome back to "way too early." it's 5:30 on the east coast. 2:30 out west. i'm jonathan lemire. in recent weeks, cia intelligence assessments began to warn in increasingly stark terms about the potential for a rapid and total collapse of the afghan military and government. according to the "the new york times" just last month, many intelligence records were questioning whether any reports would muster serious resistance to the taliban. the "times" wrote that should the taliban start seizing cities a collapse could happen and the afghan security forces were at

high risk. the u.s. troop withdrawal has left the door open. the taliban takeover until afghanistan has redrawn ages old geographical maps. diplomats tell the "times" that early discussions suggest that china would adopt a very different to the united states. instead of military force, beijing may seek for diplomatic options to coax the taliban on to a path of peaceful reinstruction. joining us live, janis mackey frayer. janis, thank you for being here. what are the u.s. reports disseminating about the evacuation in afghan. and how do you think it helps to build a relationship with the taliban? >> reporter: well, china was never entirely happy with the big u.s. military presence on

the order until afghanistan, even though the militancy was somewhat contained in that u.s. credibility is being undermined among its allies. beijing had already been laying the groundwork for what they call friendly operations with the taliban a few weeks ago. they hosted a taliban with talks led by mullah baradar, china has economic interests looking to protect in afghanistan. but the main driver for these forming ties right now is security. china is fearful, extremism, in the western portion of the country that borders afghanistan. it's how they satisfied tensions with hundreds of thousands of uighurs. the taliban will offer assurances to say that they wouldn't allow fighters to use

afghan territory as a base to launch attacks within china. but china at this point is publicly saying they need to be convinced. so, they won't recognize the taliban as a legitimate government. but they are recognizing that the taliban is in hour. >> janis yesterday u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan was pressed on the idea what you just hit on. the u.s. reputation around the globe has taken a hit here because of what's happened in afghanistan. and what sort of message that sends to other citizens of country where is they feel vulnerable. on that china appears to be using this u.s. withdrawal to intimidate taiwan. tell us more about that. >> reporter: well, the chinese state tv, state media, social media, they've been having a field day with the u.s. withdrawal, calling the u.s. the biggest exporter of unrest. there was even a suggestion that state tv had reprogram its

movies to have ones that hinted at the flawed administration in kabul. the one within the "times," it was effectively a warning to taiwan to say once, not if, there was war over taiwan, that taiwan shouldn't count on the u.s. that the u.s. will abandon it, too. how this all plays into the u.s./china relations remains to be seen. there was a phone call on monday, secretary of state blinken called the chinese foreign minister discussing the situation in afghanistan. they're saying they're willing to work with the u.s. in order to have a so-called soft landing in afghanistan. secretary blinken suggests that china could play what they call a positive role in the region. >> janis mackey frayer, thank you very much. officials have raised the

death toll to more than 2,000 as the situation worsens with hurricane grace hinderering relief efforts. gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: the desperation in haiti is growing. if the earthquake weren't enough, these survivors jut endured tropical storm grace. an punishing wind and rain blew through. the u.s. coast guard rushed in part of a massive effort. what is impressive about the relief operation is getting supplies into the people that most need it. the many roads are shut off, it's a challenge. like savannah brewer from alabama who has served seven years. >> it's extremely difficult to see the people with their suffering and injuries. >> reporter: we landed in the same town with earthquake survivors in stifling heat hoping to get evacuated.

now -- we can still feel the rain falling and tropical storms just moving through. we're about to find out just how extensive the damage was. this young child with a broken leg. patients waiting for days. some even younger in their mother's arms. the hospitals overrun. >> significantly overrun, the bed supply and personnel support is critical. >> reporter: the wounded are careful by loaded into the chopper one by one. >> just what we've been seeing, a lot of broken bones. >> reporter: the petty officer brewer cares for the young boy. he speaks not one word. a lot tell you everything. >> some of these kids have seen buildings come down on their parents and they're all alone. it's heartbreaking. >> our thanks to nbc's gabe gutierrez for that report. still ahead, from the sunday line to gymnastics, the totally different field where robots appear for outperforming human

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taliban officials are trying to shape the narrative surrounding their return to power in that in a news conference translated by al jazeera yesterday the spokesman incivilitied that the taliban

does not hold grudges and nobody would be harmed within the country. on the surface, taliban officials have distanced themselves from the rule of 1990s saying, quote, this is a huge difference between us and comparison of 20 years ago. in a group of sensitivities about public image, a taliban spokesman was interviewed by a female reporter yesterday, this comes as afghans peer that their safety and freedoms will be stripped away. joining from us the former aid from the bush administration elise gordon. she is thankfully, an msnbc political analyst. elise, thank you for getting up early with us. what do you think, do you believe the taliban has actually changed and they will conduct themselves differently than what we saw 25 years ago? >> no, i think that things change in 20 years, but the nature of what the taliban believes and their repressive regime, that's not going to change. it's within their advantage

right now to try to win over the international community. to try to look like they're going to have a more inclusive society, a more diverse society. but you look at what's happening outside of kabul, outside of the conference where micro management know what they're doing, they're playing to an international audience, there's a lot of retribution. so, i hope the taliban embrace the new mantra. but they are the new taliban, but i'm not just buying that. you look at how afghans are having trouble getting to the tarpt, getting through taliban checkpoints. and the promises of evacuation, i want to see that fulfilled. >> the taliban is the phrase we'll take from this. talk to us how you recommend the biden administration sort of deal with the taliban. how do you think that relationship should go forward junior and contrast that with what the bush administration did. >> well, at this point, the

beneficiary administration wouldn't woe the taliban. they've ended that war. i do think we need to come to a war until afghanistan, but i want a responsible end and not the chaos that leaves our allies stranded and afghan women and civilians completely in a lurch, not like this. hopefully, they'll be able to get it together, get assurances from the taliban, first of all, to get all americans out of the country and move afghans out of the country who worked with americans. women who are prominent out of the country, to get minorities threatened under the new regime, to get them out of the country. until that kind of movement actually happens i'm not really taking anything that the taliban say on face value. >> elise, the last couple days, you've tweeted very powerfully about your friends still over there. you spoke about this on "morning

joe" yesterday. can you speak to their safety? >> no, they're not safe, just getting to the airport in kabul has become a nightmare of checkpoints you this is a tragedy. we have to figure this out, and there has to be a way, you know, to help our afghan allies exit the country, and the taliban said, it was translated to me, that they don't want afghans who worked with the coalition to leave the country, that they are going to punish them, and they are going to, you know, have retribution, but they want their capacity to say because the taliban frankly need the educated class, and they know it, but is that going to -- is that a promise that we can trust that they really aren't going to harm men and women who worked with the americans and who have been working for women's rights

and other causes. you know, it really remains to be seen. they did say they're going to let women still work as teachers and as doctors, which is, you know, kind of a fair minimum concession, but also it's a test to the need for education and health care in the country that women can fill. >> there's such a spotlight right now on those evacuation efforts and real pressure to bring home not just the americans but indeed our friends. elise jordan, thank you for being here, and please keep us posted as to what's going on. earlier in the show we asked why are you awake, ramon writes, up early, planning our route 66 trip. nothing works like an old school map. take that google maps. and i reconsider this exercise before work plan. and janet shares this photo, still up because i went to see the foo fighters first ever

concert in alaska and my ears are still ringing. it was a great show. and to answer your question, yes, i banned all yankee related tweets from this segment. up next, a look at axios one big thing, and coming up on "morning joe," we'll hear from the cochairs of the progress caucus, josh gottheimer, about the push to pass the bipartisan bill. and billie jean king, "morning joe" is just a few short moments away. few short moments away so you can focus on what matters most. that's how we've become the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. this couple was on a camping trip... ...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them.

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so you get it all. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes it. pshh, mine's so fast, no one can catch me. that's because you all have the same internet. xfinity xfi. so powerful, it keeps one-upping itself. can your internet do that? joining us now with a look at axios am, political reporter for axios, hans nichols, what is the axios one big thing this morning. >> the one big thing is the session, you can see yesterday my colleague was reporting this was a 90-minute conversation,

and what they're basically doing is trying to strategize on how to get these two bills passed and we have got later in the show. there's a big roadblock. there's nine centrist democrats, they want her to go first on this bipartisan package and then maybe have a conversation about proceeding forward on this bigger $3.5 trillion package. we have always known this is going to be exceedingly complicated. we also have always known that house speaker nancy pelosi likes to get things done, and this shows that there's not a lot of daylight between the house and speaker pelosi and the white house and senior officials like ron klain, and like luisa terrell, they're trying to get this done. it's pretty complicated. >> a common refrain among democrats is don't bet against speaker pelosi. when she wants to get things done she usually gets things done. what is she doing right now?

talk us through what she's doing to ease the tensions and bring together and satisfy the moderates and progressives. >> pelosi works the phones. she's back in her district, so that's one of the reasons why this call was on zoom. there's a conference call between her and her caucus, between the all house democrats yesterday, and she referred to this group of nine as amateur hour, and it was sort of insulting. so remember sort of the way pelosi dealt with the squad when they first were emerging a couple of years ago and her basic question was do they have the votes to block things, can they pass legislation. her message to these nine centrists is similar but it's a little -- insulting is a little harsh, right, but she's certainly not sort of humoring them, and kind of indicating she doesn't really appreciate their efforts. that's what pelosi does. it's a combination of carrots and sticks, and we are seeing her come out against these people, again, you know, and this is a question for

gottheimer and others, how firm is their opposition to moving forward on both packages and within that group of nine, how many of them are hard noes on the whole 3.5 trillion or is it just procedural, and that's what we're going to find out when the house comes back next week, jonathan. >> moving back to the dominant story line right now, afghanistan. hans, watch republicans play this. certainly there are some republicans like former president trump and others who have been sharply critical of how the biden administration has handled the withdrawal and evacuations but of course many of those same republicans supported it when it was trump's decision to do the same. how do you assess the dynamic here, is this something the republicans are going to use as a political cajole against the biden administration? >> talking to republicans around town they think they have almost won the house majority back just

over events of the last weekend. events can change, and lot of things can happen. the see the potential to wound the white house and wound the president. there's a broad consensus within the republican party that getting out of afghanistan was right thing to do. after all, that was the policy of president trump. former president trump put out that statement on sunday, that two sentence statement saying it wasn't necessarily that he wanted to leave afghanistan, his criticism of biden is how he afghanistan and that will be a dominant story with images refreshing it, and republicans using it as an opportunity to hit the president. jonathan. >> we'll be hearing from president biden later today in a speech designed to talk about the administration's covid response undoubtedly he'll be asked about afghanistan as well. hans nichols, thank you so much, and thank you all for getting up way too early with us on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. we are in contact with the taliban to ensure the safe

passage of people to the airport. the taliban have informed us they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport, and we intend to hold them to that commitment. >> a remarkable turn of events 20 years in the making. there are fast moving developments this morning on the situation in afghanistan, and the many thousands of americans still there. we're joined by a pulitzer prize winning reporter who was once held captive by the taliban before escaping. plus, will a third vaccine shot help ward off the delta. the biden administration is betting on boosters to help beat back the surge in covid. plus, what about all of those americans who haven't even had their first shot yet. we're going to talk about that and show you what's happening to children inside the icu. and the dev