so her spirit can live on. >> give me a kiss. thank you. can i have another kiss? swan,. this sunday, a divided this sunday, a divided america. >> people are enraged on both sides of the issue, and it's completely tearing this community apart. >> the country split in two on multiple fronts. one battlefield, covid and masks. >> masks do not stop the spread of this virus. it at least stops the spread of friendship and learning. >> this is all smoke and mirrors. this is tyranny. >> even as the pandemic is again killing 1,500 americans a day. >> i feel like i'm in a twilight zone. why we're still going over wearing masks and having safe schools for our kids. it's bananas. this morning i'll speak to two governors trying to bridge the divide, larry hogan, the

republican from blue state maryland, and andy beshear, the democratic governor of red state kentucky. plus the newly elevated fight over abortion. texas enacts the most restrictive abortion law in the country, dismaying abortion rights advocates. >> as a matter of reality, roe versus wade is a dead letter in texas today. >> the supreme court lets the law stand for now, cheering abortion opponents. >> a child is a child. this person is a person. my guests this morning, former democratic senator claire mccaskill of missouri and former republican congresswoman barbara comstock of virginia. also, long-term power outages in louisiana. record rainfall and flooding in the northeast. what hurricane ida tells us about the threat of climate change. joining me for insight and analysis, yamiche alcindor, the moderator of "washington week," washington post contributing columnist, matt bai, betsy woodruff swan of politico, and republican strategist brendan buck. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press."

>> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. and a good sunday morning. the u.s. enters this labor day weekend suffering from two viruses, covid and polarization. it is not an exaggeration to say we are more divided than at any time, perhaps since the 1960s and, frankly, maybe since the civil war. as one of our guests today put it, we used to be divided over issues like abortion and guns, we're used to those divisions. we're still divided on those issues. now we can't even degree on covid or january 6th. covid has become an mri of america's soul. who would have imagined that masks, wearing or refusing them, would become such a political statement. this morning we'll take a look at how and why we're so divided primarily through the lens of two issues. one is covid where the seven-day average of infections has risen to more than 161,000 driven

largely by vaccine hesitancy and refusal. the other is abortion, the supreme court letting stand, at least for now, the restrictive texas law that has left abortion opponents believing roe could finally be overturned and pro-choice advocates believing they could be right. with the country increasingly divided by geography, race, age, education, the question we're asking this morning do we have the political leadership to meet this treacherous political moment? >> people are enraged on both sides of the issue, and it's completely tearing this community apart. >> the political divide has become deadly with vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation and the politicizing of the virus leading to the harassment of health care workers, hospitalizations, and deaths. >> things are just escalating, the rhetoric, the bullying. >> i feel like i'm in some weird twilight zone, why we're still going over wearing masks. >> just 53% of americans are fully vaccinated. despite the nation's early start, that rate trails more than 30 other countries.

as covid hospitalizations and deaths rise, red states with the lowest vaccination rates are driving the surge. >> you've got to help me get the people vaccinated. >> we are suffering the most at a time when it is the most preventable. >> in a recent nbc news poll, just 55% of republicans said they were vaccinated compared to 88% of democrats. among republicans who said they support donald trump over the republican party, the number was even lower, 46%. 79% of democrats favor a vaccine requirement. 75% of republicans oppose it. >> do you regret not getting the vaccine? >> absolutely. i 100% regret it. >> what were some of the things you were hearing? >> that the vaccine was not a real vaccine, that it was like a tracking chip the government was trying to use on us. >> misinformation has spread rapidly on conservative media. >> a plan is now under way to use vaccine mandates to take your guns. >> virtually everything they told us about the covid vaccine was wrong. >> and on social media. >> what's in the vaccine?

give me the insert sheet. >> we literally have come up with an incredibly safe and efficacious vaccine. people are behind me screaming about how it's tyranny and communism. >> there are also sharp divisions between the two americas over the results of the election, the january 6th insurrection, the border, guns, and abortion, now likely to produce a national political battle leading up to the next election. the new texas law, which bans abortion after six weeks, provides at least a $10,000 reward to any individual who successfully sues someone for performing, aiding or intending to aid in an abortion, including the driver who drops a woman off at a clinic. >> it's going to be nearly impossible for folks to access the care they need. >> we're over here celebrating this historic day for the pro life movement. >> the texas law is by far the most restrictive in effect.

15 states have attempted to ban abortion before viability, but have been stopped by court order. 54% of americans say abortions should always or mostly be legal. 42% say it should always or mostly be illegal. still several states are already considering copycat legislation after the supreme court upheld the texas law. >> when the supreme court goes out and makes a decision like this, it clearly is going to send a signal to all the states that are interested in banning abortions. >> joining me now are two governors who are living our political divide. andy beshear is the democratic governor of a very red kentucky where the republican legislature has a veto-proof majority. larry hogan is the republican governor of a very blue maryland where the democratic legislature has a veto-proof majority. in the spirit of bipartisanship the two governors agreed to appear together today. i thank you both and welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> good morning. >> governor beshear, let me start with you. look. i'm just going to put up the case curve.

you know this curve very well with covid right now. it's astonishing how fast delta has surged in the state of kentucky. you're trying to deal with it, but you've been limited in your ability to do certain things by your republican legislature. what can you get done now to try to slow this surge in kentucky? >> well, our situation is dire. we are setting case records. we have a record number of kentuckians in the hospital battling covid, in the icu battling for their lives. we have a record number of families praying for their loved one who is on a ventilator needing that assistance to breathe. recent supreme court case and our legislature limit my ability to do some things like masking. if i had the ability to do it right now, we would have a masking order when you are in public and indoors. we know that's a proven way to slow the spread of the virus and ultimately help our health care capacity, but that doesn't mean there aren't things we can do. i sent the national guard to our hardest-hit hospitals.

they do the logistics and free up more clinicians. we've taken over the testing for those hospitals so those nurses, again, can be tending to patients. we have brought in fema who have sent some strike teams. now we've deployed nursing students all over kentucky again to try to provide more staffable beds. it is a challenge. we are hit very, very hard, but we're going to continue to fight. when you're at war, you don't get to cry about what you can or can't do. you've got do your very best every day because this is a battle of life versus death. >> governor hogan, you lead a state that has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. but let's be frank. if two-thirds of your electorate were republican, do you think you'd be this successful? >> well, look, i think we're very proud of the fact that we're one of the most vaccinated states in the country. as a result, our metrics are almost completely opposite of what governor beshear is dealing with in kentucky. we have vaccinated 81% of all

the people that are eligible, everybody 12 and over, 95% of our seniors. as a result, our hospitalizations are down 70-some percent from their peak, deaths are down, but we're still dealing with the unvaccinated folks, which account for most of our hospitalizations and deaths. some of it has to do with the fact that there's been tremendous disinformation campaigns, and people are believing things that are simply not true. it's not just in the red areas where we're having difficulties. we're one of the states with the highest percentage of minority populations, and in some of our urban areas we have similar challenges. we're doing really well. i'm pleased with the results of where we are. it's convincing those last 19% of our people that they've got to take action. that's where we're focused on. >> let's talk about this issue of misinformation. we've got this issue of the dewormer situation. i think kentucky poison control has had extra calls about this.

governor beshear, are there just certain groups of people that aren't going to listen to you, and you have to acknowledge that and find other spokespeople to try to convince the unvaccinated to listen to public health? >> when it comes to misinformation, i really don't think this is a red or a bluish you. it is a fact versus fiction or sometimes sane versus insane issue. my first job in life was mucking stalls at a horse form. taking a horse dewormer is crazy under any circumstance. we are well past i think all across america the populations that are going to listen to a government official and take the vaccine because of it. we're probably past even the point where a local official, a pastor or others. where i think we're at is where people are going to have to break that thanksgiving dinner rule. they're going to have to call or

go see that person they love and care about that is unvaccinated, and they're going to have to put their relationship with that person on the line because they've never been at greater risk. i think it's that type of carrot and the person willing to do that and make that sacrifice that we'll finally get through to those that are not vaccinated. that's what we're seeing here in kentucky. and we need all americans to do it. yes, you might lose a friend because of that conversation, but that friend might lose their life if they don't get vaccinated. >> governor hogan, give advice to the current covid task force and the biden administration. let's talk the issue of a third shot or booster shot. you're a cancer survivor, you've gotten the booster. you've got the former president now out there saying he's not going to take it, and earlier he seemed to chalk up some sort of profiteering by pfizer. i think it's clear that the biden administration can't speak to the folks who need to be spoken to. who should? what would be your advice on the covid task force team on how to talk to the trump folks? >> well, i don't think it's just

about the trump folks. i was fairly critical of president trump when i thought they were bad on messaging, when i thought they were doing things wrong and not providing the assistance we've needed in the states. i've seen the same with the biden administration. we're getting mixed messaging out of the administration, out of the cdc, the fda, and the white house. we need clear guidance on these booster shots because it undermines the credibility of it. they came out with -- i guess they slipped and preleaked an announcement about booster shots with all three vaccines and then had to backtrack it and say you can only use pfizer. what about the people that took j&j? what about the people that took moderna? they haven't messaged properly about how to take care of these breakthrough infections. it does reduce hospitalization and death, but not stopping people from getting breakthrough infections. the messaging was not clear with either administration. that's one of the ways we've

been successful in our state is clear, direct messaging that people can believe in and listen to. that's been a problem all over the map. governor beshear, i'm curious of your thoughts on the biden covid task force. i know you talked about having just a metric that, you know, if you hit the number, mask mandate triggers. if you're below a certain number of infections, no. why has it been hard to create a statistical line here? we know when a tropical storm becomes a hurricane because you measure the wind speed. why has that been difficult with covid? >> well, it has been difficult, and it shouldn't be because it's just basic science. our health care providers have been wearing masks for decades. why? to prevent infection in different areas. i think this is a test of our humanity. i believe that that's what this pandemic is. remember, a pandemic isn't an issue. it's a virus that's trying to kill as many of us as possible. so i think it comes down to, are you willing to be selfless and

wear that mask, loving your neighbor, and protecting them? or is it more a question of selfish, i have the right to do whatever i want even if it causes harm to others. you can't walk unto a crowded movie theater and yell fire. your freedom of speech doesn't extend that far. so let's remember that liberty is the right to live our lives, not to cause someone else's death. that should be pretty easy for people of faith, for people of values, and i hope we can start living that faith and those values to protect one another once again. >> let me lift up and talk about the larger challenge of polarization. the abortion debate, frankly, is only going to exacerbate our divide here. both of you i could argue -- you may disagree. i'll play political analyst. both of you have benefited when the other party went too far. right? i could argue that's why you're both governor today, certainly why you may have a second term, governor hogan, and why, governor beshear, you're there.

is that the only way, when the other party goes too far and the voters create a check? is that about it? it doesn't seem as if the middle ground gets represented unless one party goes too far. >> well, it's an interesting idea. i think that may be possible. certainly in our state they raised taxes 43 times in a row even though we're the most democratic state in america. even the democrats got frustrated with that. i think right now in america, there are certainly people on both ends of the extremes, on the left and the right who get all the attention, the ones making the most noise, and that's what we hear about when we're watching television. about 70% of the people are somewhere in the middle. they're either moderate or right of center, left of center. they want their elected officials to figure out a way to do something about this toxic politics and want us to come up with real bipartisan commonsense

solutions. it turns out that's the most popular thing in america with most voters. >> governor beshear, both you and governor hogan share another thing in common, when you've had abortion bills come from your legislature, you chose not to sign them, one had to do with medicaid funding with planned parenthood on the maryland side of things, you with the current law that's there. how much do you expect abortion to divide your state going forward? do you have a plan on what to do in a post-roe world? >> i think it remains to be seen exactly what impact this texas decision will have, especially with another case coming before the supreme court here pretty soon. as the state's former top prosecutor, i have seen the worst of the worst situations. young girls raped, impregnated, sometimes by members of their own families. i hope whatever comes down the line provides those victims that have been harmed in ways most of us could never imagine, the options they deserve. >> governor hogan, do you believe the abortion issue, if it's going to be state by state,

you seem to basically say you know your electorate is perhaps pro choice. you may be pro-life and you've taken a hands-off approach. do you believe it should be the public sentiment that should dictate where we go on abortion laws? >> well, i happen to be personally opposed to abortion and i believe states do have rights to pass some reasonable restrictions, but certainly in this case, this bill in texas seems to be a little bit extreme with this problem of bounties for people that turn in somebody that drove somebody to an abortion clinic. i think the supreme court will take this up. they haven't made the final determination on it. legislatures have rights to pass bills. governors have the right to sign them into law or not. and the court gets to make the ultimate decision. >> i understand. if it's by the states, should it reflect the will of the people or the will of the elected

officials? >> well, the way our system works is we elect officials, and they make decisions for us. the people get to decide whether they want to keep them in office or not. in our state the voters actually made this determination long before i became governor. my legislature is 70% -- more than 70% democratic. i chose not to try dwroefr turn the will of the legislature or the voters. >> governor andy beshear, democratic from kentucky, larry hogan, republican from maryland, thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. when we come back, we'll turn to the issue of abortion and whether the supreme court just signaled it's ready to overturn roe v. wade. former democratic senator claire mccaskill and former republican congresswoman barbara comstock join me next. comfortable by sensing your movements and automatically responding to both of you. and, it's temperature balancing to help you stay comfortable all night. it even tracks your circadian rhythm, so you know when you're at your best.

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when the supreme court declined to block what is now the most restrictive abortion law in the country, it sent a signal that the court's conservative majority may be ready to unwind or overturn roe. abortion rights supporters are hoping the far-reaching law will energize democratic voters in the next midterm elections. joining me now are former democratic senator claire mccaskill of missouri and former republican congresswoman barbara comstock. claire, let me start with you on this. that s how much -- what should the biden administration be doing right now? and is there anything that democrats in congress or the biden administration should be doing that can be done before the next election? >> well, i'm not so sure there's a huge role for biden and/or congress right now other than

shouting from the rooftops that this law that the supreme court blessed -- and you can try to dress it up and put a bow on it, but they blessed a law that embraces vigilanteism, that embraces the most extreme position, no exception for a 13-year-old who has been repeatedly raped by her father who didn't know she was even pregnant until after six weeks. no exception for that. chuck, 63% of america supports roe v. wade. i guarantee you 80% of america does not want this law with vigilante embraced by the supreme court to become the way of life in america. i really think they've gone too far, and i will not accept both sides on this. this is one party that is doing this, not both parties. this is not the place for, oh, both sides are a problem. no. one side is a problem. i got re-elected because of an extreme position on abortion.

i believe a lot of democrats will get elected over this. >> former congresswoman barbara comstock, do you accept that, that this is being driven more by one party at this time, that you can't have the both sides conversation on this particular topic? >> well, this is obviously a polarizing issue, and this is a polarizing bill. as someone who is pro-life and has always wanted to change hearts and minds and focus on creating a culture of life and respecting the dignity of women and the children, i don't think this is a good bill and i agree with the "wall street journal" editorial board who said it was a blunder. i do think it's important to point out, i don't agree with claire, the majority and minority have said clearly this does not overturn roe v. wade. a texas county judge blocked the enforcement of it over planned parenthood who didn't have a good legislative strategy. this is a flawed bill that i expect since similar bills have

been blocked before and i think farley quickly this will be. so i think neither side is going to be pleased with where the court may come down. i think the key issue on abortion from the original roe decision is the viability issue. that's where you've had republicans usually focus, is on -- we had -- i think it was in 2016 a bill on banning abortions after 20 weeks, which is sort of the viability area now, and the original roe decision highlighted viability as part of that. i think there's going to be -- there needs to be some calm conversation on this. i think the supreme court, when you look at whether it's bush v. gore or the trump election, these judges who got attacked as they were going to be trump judges, look, they upheld the obamacare decision. let them take up these cases, which they will, i think, shortly, and i think people will be pleasantly surprised where they end up.

i don't think pro-life or pro-choice are going to like the ultimate, where they come down, maybe where the people are in the middle. >> claire, this is something you brought up, you got re-elected because you had an opponent who had an extreme position on the idea of rape. legitimate rape is something that todd akin at the time called it. you look at this texas law. what is the slippery slope, if we go down this idea where you take enforcement and put it into the hands of the people? i mean, i've already seen some folks on the right who don't like what texas did fear that this could turn into -- that a blue state could do this on gun issues. >> well, let's be clear about what the republican party is now. it's a stewing pot of grievous. and what they have done with this law -- by the way, they've done it with other laws too. republicans, not democrats. they've done it on what is taught in school. in my state they've done it on whether or not local law enforcement enforces federal gun laws. in other states, they've done it

on what rights people have that are trans. so this vigilantism, our courts have always operated on a concept of standing, that you are in court because you have standing. what the republicans are doing, they're giving standing to anybody who has got a social grievance. they're taking culture wars to a place our country has never gone. it is dangerous. it is wrong. and the democratic legislatures are not doing this. these are just republicans doing this. i think this goes in the column of they are only listening to their calcified circle of disinformation and conservative media. they think everybody agrees with them. it's only about 20% of the country. 80% of the country is not going to like this, and i do believe -- i don't want the democrats to start doing this kind of b.s. it's wrong. we should not be empowering vigilantes to support social grievance, whether it's guns,

climate, or anything else. >> justice roberts pointed out in his dissent, he was in the minority, in this case whether you can outsource to private parties and it's a very important issue. i am confident that will not stand. that's where the focus and information is here. as you had that discussion with those governors, we've had a lot of polarization on whether it's january 6th or covid. these issues have been polarizing. we need calm right now. we don't need another january 6th at the supreme court. the supreme court knows how to handle these issues and will be doing it quickly, i believe. then you're going to have -- ken paxton, who's the attorney general who will be defending this, he lost in court on obamacare. he lost -- in three days the supreme court kicked him to the curb on his bogus trump things. remember, there were a lot of democrats saying these judges are going to uphold trump, trump even said it. what did they do? they kicked him to the curb. these are judges who follow the law. that's why they take up the cases, look at what the

established law is, and have them briefed. i think since the judge in texas has already said planned parenthood can go forward, this is going to go through the normal process. >> let me ask you a big picture question with the government party. can you have governor hogan's position, essentially pro-life, but he also lowered pro-choice legislation to pass, can you have that position and be viable in a republican primary? >> i think governor hogan has been very pro-life during the covid crisis. he's gotten people together -- >> you get what i'm asking. >> i know. he understood his bill would be overridden. yes, i do believe -- everybody understands there are different positions on this which is why, instead of having extremes drive this from both -- whether it's a democrat -- claire was attacked

by a.o.c. in 2018 when she pointed out that abortion and guns were polarizing the country, and that's why she lost. nancy pelosi was attacked by planned parenthood in 2016 when she said i'm not for abortion on demand for the whole nine months, when we were discussing the 20 -- then she had to coming ba and apologize to planned parenthood. we have to be able to discuss this. i got attacked for an over-the-counter birth control bill that republican women supported. it wasn't just opposed by right wing men. it was opposed by planned parenthood who didn't want the competition in the market. fortunately technology has taken that over and you can get it online. >> claire, is there a reasonable ground for the democratic party -- hard to say there's a middle ground on abortion. but the public seems -- there is a middle ground there, which is they don't want it completely banned, and they don't want it without some limitations. what does the middle ground look like in a place like missouri? >> well, all the noise will be on the far extremes. listen. i have great respect for barbara comstock and who she is and how she held office, but women of

america are not calm right now. the supreme court had an opportunity to stay this bill. if it was so bad, all they had to do was stay it, and they didn't. that is telling. that's why women are not calm right now. they are very upset over the idea that this is going to be allowed in any state in the united states. so is there middle ground? yeah. and the more extreme the republican party keeps becoming, and the next thing they're going to do -- missouri says they're going to copy it. they're going to do this on immigration. they're probably going to have vigilantes with a tip line, you can get $50,000 if you turn in an employer who hired someone who is illegal. that's going to happen unless we do something to stop the extremism in the name of vigilantism. this is a republican party who

used to hate -- >> it's bad policy and it's bad law. if republicans are going to try to be todd akin republicans, claire is right, they will not succeed. we have a lot more larry hogans, jaime herrera beutler, the leader on helping women with tough pregnancies and kids who have disabilities. that's the kind of pro life community i've always worked with and that's the one that needs to stand up now. >> i will say this, in the spirit of our polarization broadcast, claire mccaskill and barbara comstock appearing together in a very high-minded discussion. i appreciate both of you. >> thank you. when we come back, joe biden has just come off one of the worst weeks of his presidency, and he has the sinking poll numbers to prove it. before we go to break, we learned that weather man, funny man and every man willard scott died this week, the "today" show weatherman from 1980 until his semi-retirement in 2010, a big personality on and offscreen. trust me, when you'd see him in

the halls of the d.c. bureau, a big smile on his face. best known for his birthday wishes of those who turned 100 and beyond. willard scott was 87.

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welcome back. the panel is here. yamiche alcindor moderator of "washington week" on pbs, washington post contributor matt bai, republican strategist brendan buck, and politico's betsy woodruff swan. brendan being the only happy commentator at the table today.

cover grail congratulations to your bulldogs there. some day yam will be s.e.c.-caliber. i want to start with joe biden. yamiche, you cover the white house very closely. i want to put up his poll ratings, 43, 44, 46. we had him at 49. two weeks ago it was clear he was still going down. he hadn't hit bottom. perhaps this is bottom here. does the white house think they have an afghanistan problem or covid problem? >> i'll say this. these numbers underscore a real fact which is that presidents try to create agendas, but real life events and circumstances actually define their agendas. here you had a president who took such fierce criticism over his withdrawal from afghanistan, plus the idea that he declared independence of the virus or something close to it, talking about the idea of a return to normalcy on july 4th, only to then have americans say we have to put our masks back on, we have to see children have surging rates of covid. so this is a problem that the president is faced with, this idea that he's been talking

about solving these problems. he ran on the idea of being a clear-headed, experienced president. the white house is saying we're trying to do this. we understand our number one job is still covid. the american people are looking and saying, okay, all of this experience means what exactly for my lived experience. add to that, of course, the economics of this. we have to remember that the economy is the thing that is driving this. our original sin of this pandemic was polarization and lies, and that is leading people not to get the vaccine. that's also leading people to die of the virus and take dewormers. now the president and white house officials tell me it really is about explaining to people that science evolves, explaining to people that challenges are part of the job. these poll numbers are really challenging for him. >> you know, it's interesting. i want to put up a poll of independent voters. betsy, this is moving. democrats don't move up or down. republicans don't move up or down. it's the color of their jersey. it's the small slice of independents. you can see his approval rating

sitting at 36% now. in april, it with us over 50%. maybe they're calling the competency voters. they react to what's happening. they're not happy with how covid is going. whether it's biden's fault or not, he's at the wheel. >> it's a nightmare for the biden administration. i talked a strategist yesterday and what that person said, afghanistan, that in a vacuum probably would not have significantly damaged biden's poll numbers the way we've seen them change over the last few months. the point this particular strategist made, it's the totality of everything that's happened since april. it's covid, inflation. there's evidence voters are concerned about the immigration system. it gives republicans an opening to argue that things are spiraling out of control for the white house. whether or not that's accurate, this number tells you what you need to know at least in terms of the way that this administration and this white house are communicating to the american people and to these persuadable independents how exactly they're governing and their ability to shape circumstances rather than be shaped by them.

>> you know, matt, biden's campaign was defined by -- speaking of chaos, trump was chaos. i'm not going to be chaos. we're going to be science-focused. we're going to be this. i wonder if some might say the expectations are too high that he could govern a polarized environment? >> he wasn't going to say where he was. independents will come back to their general skeptical outlook. i don't think it's a panic number. it's not a good number. it's not what they want. they've got a lot of time. things are going to change. i think it's important to your point, he was elected, given a very wide margin because he did represent a return to normal see and dignity in the presidency. that's what people wanted. he held himself out as a return to stability and candor. he has gone out throughout this and has spoken directly to the american people several times, taken responsibility. he's explaining things. i think that's going to stand him well over time. if that were eroding, then i think you might see a more permanent slide.

i don't think it's time to conclude the president is hobbled. >> brendan, is joe biden hurt by the fact that donald trump is on mute? >> actually there was a relatively low bar for joe biden. he was basically elected to end chaos, and things were supposed to be better by now. let's stop -- this poll was conducted during the afghanistan evacuations. it's not surprising necessarily that he took a hit right then. there is still a real level of anxiety in this country. i think a lot of it is from covid. when joe biden was elected, you have your partisans on one side. but the middle said, i just want to go back to feeling better about my life. you've got kids going back to school, covid speaking. the anxiety is back. they thought things would be a lot better by now. >> and into this morass is going to be this fight for the rest of his agenda.

joe manchin -- let me put up what joe manchin said, yamiche. he wants to see a strategic pause on the $3.5 trillion build back better half of this proposal. bernie sanders, pretty blunt, no infrastructure bill without the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. the white house is going to have to be the leader here, not schumer, not pelosi, not pete defazio. it's going to have to be joe biden. are they ready to figure out how to get manchin and sanders come together? >> based on what's going on in the white house, this is what they're going to have to focus on in september. august was an ugly month. there were so many different challenges, but september can be even worse because you'll have to have the president on the phone with his own party saying we need to get on the same page when it comes to this reconciliation bill. there is this idea of a climate change having come to the front door of the east and the west. fires on one side of the country, floods in new jersey, the idea that the more people died of the storm in new jersey than in other parts of the

country really, i think, scares some people into saying, we need to be taking action in congress to deal with this. this is going to be on joe biden. he ran on the idea that he could bring people together, he ran on the idea that i know these people, i've been three decades in congress, three decades in the government and public service, and as a result i can bring these people together. that's going to be a test for this. white house officials tell me he's going to be personally involved. he's going to be calling folks and spending his time doing this. >> joe biden could use a signing ceremony. there's a bill that deals with infrastructure that's ready to go. you see what's happening. i get strategy -- if you're a person with a flooded basement, you're like, we have to do something. >> if only there were a way. i talked about this with a democratic strategist yesterday, a democratic hill aide. he said part of the problem here is the tension within the house and senate democratic conferences, but also one reason that this person found optimism is that both progressives and moderated who are kind of at each other's throats right now,

they both need both of these bills. progressives need to go back to their districts and say we got this spending bill done, we expanded the social safety net. moderates need to go to their districts and say the two most wonderful words everyone wants to hear, bipartisan infrastructure. that puts a lot of pressure on house dems that in some ways is generating quite a bit of optimism. >> very quickly. >> this is where the agenda hits the poll ratings. for democrats, there's this thought that more money solves problems. for voters there's a skepticism, a trust factor there. do i know you're going to spend that money well? do i know you're going to solve the problem with that money? that's where the approval ratings and dissatisfaction with what the biden administration is doing may affect their ability. >> very quickly. >> new majorities get greedy. there's an infrastructure bill that the president could sign right now if they would take it. what they need to be able to do is take a win, take a half love if that's what it requires. scoreboard.

when we come back, scenes like this in the northeast are a sign of what is a changing climate and what that climate has in store for us. we'll look at how some counties are the center of the climate change bullseye. stick with us. stick with us. add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

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it's "data download" time. we saw once again the issue of climate change is not a hypothetical. it is here, and it is deadly, and with this year's new census numbers, we're learning where people are choosing to move is going to mean more and more

americans are going to be in places where climate change is having a pretty devastating impact. let me show you where our movements are. obviously the fastest growing cities in america are in the southwest and in the west. you already can see where we're headed. the number one thing that brings up is the issue of water and drought issues, as you can see here. some of the fastest growing counties are in places that are basically water-stressed. we already know with the colorado river and restrictions going there. yet the fastest growing areas are in phoenix. are they going to be able to have enough water? then you've got the issue of rising heat issues. well, guess what? some of the fastest growing places in the southwest also are going to be places where we'll have some extreme heat. we already saw what happened with extreme cold weather in the texas power grid. that's going to have more implications there. then, of course, we saw this week what happens when you get extreme rainfall in the northeast and whether the infrastructure there is going to hold up, but where you have some fast growing populations in places that are also getting extreme rainfall, whether it's in the pacific northwest or down here in the texas gulf coast.

then, of course, where are we going to have more people in line for potentially devastating hurricanes, those fast-growing areas in texas and the gulf coast meansmore people in line for that. the bottom line is this, our population shifts in this country are going to places where we have a lot of climate-related problems. when we come back, could the abortion ban in texas, possibly followed by other states, energize the abortion right advocate vote in the midterms? stick with us. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? taking align every day can help. align contains a quality probiotic developed by gastroenterologists. it adds more good bacteria to your gut to naturally help soothe your occasional bloating, gas and abdominal discomfort.

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welcome back. all right. the politics of abortion. here is where the american public is. when should abortion be legal? the american public is in a very mushy middle. 31% believes abortion should always be legal. 23% say most of the time. 34% illegal with some exceptions and only 8% it should be illegal without any exceptions. brendan buck, if abortion is at the top of mind in a political campaign, is this good or bad for the republican party in 2022? >> absolutely bad. there has been this -- we have taken for granted a number of years now that abortion politics animates republicans and it's good for republicans. i just don't know that that holds true anymore. look at the kavanaugh fought. we lost in the midterms, lost in the house. look at 2020. donald trump nominated three supreme court justices. he lost. i don't know that we can assume that republicans are going to get animated in the way that democrats are.

you are seeing incredible energy among democrats coming out saying that they're upset. i don't know that this is going to be a conversation that any republicans want to have. in evidence of that, do you see any republicans talking about this right now? >> i had formers on to talk about it for a reason. >> no one is celebrating on the right. it's an uncomfortable conversation that they don't want to have. and i think democrats are eager to take advantage of that. >> one thing i want to add, if you talk to the leaders of the conservative movement in washington, including leaders who want abortion laws in this country to be more restrictive, they'll tell you two things about this texas law. the first thing they'll say is they think it's clownish, and the second thing is they think it's strategically useless to them because the biggest long-term law to roe v. wade is not the texas law. it's the mississippi law.

the court will rule on it next year. the fact that texas has this six-week vigilante justice law make mississippi's law look like the moderate position. it puts kavanaugh and amy coney barrett, those two supreme court justices, in a much more comfortable spot. >> democratic women are horrified, and women who believe in some form of abortion are horrified. that is, based on numbers, the majority of women in this country. i can tell you that when the supreme court ruling came through, i got calls in the middle of the night from people who wanted to go on the record immediately to say how upset they were. that's not a regular response to a supreme court ruling. what it tells you is democrats are going to start to get animated about this issue. that's not what republicans want. and republicans, while they might not want to talk about it, this is the consequences of the gop working for deindicates to get to this moment. they took over state legislatures.

they now have the supreme court majority. this is also, while they don't want to talk about it, this is what republicans want, even if it's not this exact law. it is the idea that abortion will be curtailed in a real, real way. and democrats, they feel as though this seems like the thing that could galvanize people in the midterms when they badly need to maintain the midterms and maintain seats. >> terry mcauliffe and gavin newsom grabbed onto this immediately. in the virginia race, glenn youngkin was like, can we talk about something else. >> this is a republican party that lost women in the last election by 15 points, lost independents by nine, ten points. they can't afford -- this only helps them in places they're already winning big. i will say, though, i do agree with what congresswoman comstock was saying. i don't think the court has signaled they're going to overturn roe v. wade. the majority of the court says there's a procedural issue, we'll wait until there's a case in front of us. i would be shocked if this stood up. >> that said, in looking at the ruling that came out from the five justices where they

declined to pause the texas law, one piece of that that's missing from that very, very brief order that several legal folks noted to me is it didn't say explicitly that the texas law was unconstitutional. those justices could have said this law is blatantly unconstitutional given current supreme court precedence. they could have said that but they didn't. that's an ominous sign to those who want to protect abortion rights. >> you know, brendan, legitimate rape became a sticky phrase. it took down not only one senate republican candidate, but a second one in indiana. it may make mississippi look reasonable, but the bounty thing has a stickiness thing to it where the average person is going to question it. >> it's an asinine way to set up a law. you asked the right question of claire mccaskill. what happens stops california from banning guns by saying you can sue anybody who owns one. there's nothing conservative about how this is set up. i think it will end up failing, but there are going to be other challenges, and this if ends up

being the issue in november, it's not just bad for moderates. it's bad for everybody. claire mccaskill got elected in red state missouri on this issue. if this is the conversation we're having, it's going to be bad -- >> it's a conversation that the white house is having. they're scrambling, and the president put out a forceful statement saying, we're going to have an immediate response, have the department of justice, health and human services look at this. the president is standing up as a catholic saying i support roe v. wade. he doesn't want to talk about afghanistan and some of the things making august and september so challenging for him. this is something where he can stand up and say i believe this and i will try my best to do something about it. >> here's what's going to happen. every elected official is going to have to go on the record on their position on abortion. they've ducked that for 30 years. thank you, panel and the rest of your day. thanks for watching and we'll be back next week. because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." "meet the press. be back next week. because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

♪♪ good evening, and welcome to this very, very special edition of "politicsnation." tonight's lead, tenth anniversary. i'm in a bit of emotion. i celebrated my tenth year as the host of this prags,