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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  February 17, 2022 9:00am-10:00am PST

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reports" in washington. as russia is moving towards invading, not deescalating. all signs point to invasion in the next few days as lloyd austin calls out russia for misleading the world about withdrawing troops. >> they have not moved any of their troops out. they've moved more troops in. every indication is they're prepared to go into ukraine, attack ukraine. my sense is within the next several days. >> i was a soldier myself not that long ago and i know first-hand that you don't do these sort of things for no reason. and you certainly don't do them if you're getting ready to pack up and go home. >> other troubling signs today that russians are accusing ukraine of firing on a kindergarten class in a russian-held part of ukraine. president zelensky says it was russian separatists that fired on the class.
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two teachers were injured, no children. pewen's foreign minister sending a written response, flatly rejecting proposals for a diplomatic path forward and on his way to a security conference, secretary blinken detouring to tell the security council russia is in effect lying. >> we don't know precise lee how things will play out. but here's what the world can expect to see unfold. russia plans to manufacture a pretext for its attack. this could be a violent event that russia will blame on ukraine or an outrageous accusation that russia will level against the ukrainian government. they may describe it as ethic cleansing. or genocide. russian media has already begun to spread some of these claims to maximize public outrage, to lay the groundwork for an
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inventive justification for war. >> and secretary blinken has now taken off for munich and president biden is in ohio in cleveland to refocus on the economy. hoping to stop his can cline in the polls as he sets his stage for the first state of the union speech. at the same time stealmate has stalled tookz keep the government open. only 36 hours away from the threat of a shutdown. and another olympic champion joining us today. the first black american woman to take gold in 500 meter speed skating four years after being the first black woman in american history to make the olympic speed skating team. she'll tell us her remarkable story. we begin with chief correspondent, richard engel and kristen welker, cohost of "weekend today." i want to play what we just heard from secretary aursen today about the shelling of the
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kindergarten. >> we've seen reports of the shelling and [ inaudible ] where russian-backed separatists are in charge. russian troops they're directly arming the separatists. host of the artillery rounds did not cause much damage when they
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fell in ukrainian territory. but that one of the explosive rounds hit a kinder garden. the students in the kindergarten were upstairs voing a meal at the time. none were hurt. but at least kindergarten staff members were injured according to ukrainian accounts. and what ukrainians are saying and they're describing this multiple location assault as the biggest assault from separatist-held areas into ukraine since 2018. what you yanian government is saying is that the separatists, backed by russia are trying to promote a conflict. they're trying to get ukraine troops to respond. and we understand that they did and russia could use it as a pretext to say that ukrainian troops are attacking the russian
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community, attacking the separatists and therefore russia needs to move in and defend them in an operation that could see russian troops moving, not just in the separatist areas but other parts of ukraine as well. >> and kristen, the sense of urgency from the president on down today clearly what we're hearing from tony blinken, lloyd austin. the facts that he was at the security council before leaving germany. and the president said what he said on the south lawn. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. the tone has shifted. it has become more urgent. the fact you heard president biden say that an invasion could take place in a matter of days. that is the first time we're hearing that type of timeline, even though they've used words like imminent. the fact that the secretary of state changed his plans. he wasn't initially going to speak before the u.n. security council. all of this points to the fact that the administration is
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bracing for a potential invasion of russian troops into ukraine. and it's familiarly notable because remember where we started this week, andrea. we started with russia saying they were pulling back forces. and yet yet the administration continued to insist they could not verify those accounts and instid only seeing more forces amas at the ukrainian border and late last night we learned from senior administration official that russia moved 7,000 more troops to the ukrainian border with some of them moving just yesterday. and so, that is the type of escalation that the white house is watching and that is adding to the heightened sense of bracing for potential invasion. i would add in addition to the number of troops amassed along the ukrainian border, what is also making the administration so concerned is the diversity. the different forces they have in place for a potential invasion.
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they do say that there is still room for diplomacy. that is why the secretary of state appeared before the u.n. said he was there to stop a war not start one. so, they very much want to give the diplomatic channels a chance, even as they realistically believe the window for some of the diplomacy is closing, andrea. >> and just to set the stage also, richard engel, military that is amassed is on three sides. they're at sea in the black sea. it's effectively enabled blockades, making it much more difficult -- even though they're in international waters, making it very difficult to cross their paths. and what of the atmosphere now in the ukrainian government? president zelensky is supposed to go to new york himself.
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is he really going to leave the country now? >> i think you're seeing them mobilize in a way they haven't in the past. the you yanian's line had been -- to a degree, they weric taing the western argument, that this was western hysteria. now, even though they're saying those lines, you're seeing the government being much more active. zelensky himself is on the move. he's touring the country. he's been meeting with troops, trying to show that he does take this seriously. this is not a crisis in which he's ignoring and that was something he's been accused of in the past. a short while ago there was train that arrived here and we were down at the old train station and it was called a unity train. it was a scene reminiscent of the cold war when you had people coming from the west of the country eto the east. they were greeted formally with balloons and people singing the national angtsm and it was a show of solidarity that the west
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is standing together in solidarity with the people here in the east. so, they are bracing now for what might be coming.know, as president biden said, that it may be coming in days. butted we're sewing more from the people here to accept this might be ea reality. >> thanks so much, are are and thanks to kristen. and james cleverly was at the u.n. addressing the security council today. he's the minister of state at the foreign common wealth and development office of the u.k. and joins me now. we're pleased you could take the time to join us today. you basically said, as secretary blinken was saying on behalf of america, that it's time to show they're serious about diplomacy. have you seen any sign that russia is serious, especially after today rejecting all the american initiatives delivered
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to them tlooer weeks ago for arms control? >> reporter: what we are seeing is, unfortunately, still very negative. we're oseeing an increase to the north, east, and to the southern borders of ukraine. we're seeing the instance that you reported on earlier on in the show, which we know have been used in the past for pretext for invasion. we're seeing lots of the things that i think everyone would regard as negative but we're not seeing any of the things we would want to see to indicate that they're serious about deescalation. that's why we're still of the belief that an invasion could be imminent. >> and your foreign minister was in kyiv today and meeting with top officials. is ukraine ready? >> well, one of the things thatm
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the foreign secretary has made clear and indeed this is the mejs we're seeing from the international community that an invasion by russia to ukraine would be a huge strategic mistake. they're ready and prepared to defend themselves and an theivation would come at huge cost to human life. the u.k. just toughened our sanctions regime so that we can impose a very significant economic cost on russia were it to pursue this aggressive posture towards ukraine. so, whether it be the loss of life or the economic impact when the message we are sending is that russia should deescalate, move troops away from ukrainian border and engage meaningfully with the diplomatic process. >> have you seen any sign -- because secretary austin, of course, was also saying at nato there's no sign they've pulled
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back. floors contrary as the white house said yesterday on background. but russia claims it's exactly opposite and secretary austin was -- he was questioned. put up the evidence, show us the intelligence. is there anything you and the u.s. can do to declassify some of the intelligence? >> well, the u.s. and u.k. have been working very closely with each other and our european friends and allies. the u.s. has declassified a selective intelligence, which i think proves that the claims by russia of moving numbers of troops away from the ukrainian border are not credible. far from it in fact. we're seeing increasing numbers of russian troops on the ukrainian borders. and there is no credible explanation for that scale of military build up. the ukrainians have used an international process to call
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upon the russians to explain why those troops are there. tlrs russians have failed to put forward any credible explanation for the troop build up. and as you repord ported earlier. it's not just the numbers of troops, it's the type of troops that are there. and military exercises do not explain away r the bread gts and scale of the military build up and that's why we're saying -- internationally we're saying the claims just not credible at the moment and we want to see russia meaningfully engage with the process and from the ukrainian borders. >> is there anything more u.k. is planning to do as a commitment to ukraine or troops to some of the nato border countries? >> well, those two things we need to make clear are separate. so, as part of our nato commitment, they remain a strong
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and committed member of nato. we reassure nato's eastern allies and that's something we have done and will continue to do. with regard to the military situation in ukraine, obviously ukraine is not a member state of [ inaudible ] to defend itself. >> we just had a hiccup in the transmission there. i didn't mean to interrupt you. i want to thank you because i know this is a very complicated day and for you making time for us, we are deeply grateful. thank you so much. >> thank you. and joining us now is retired four-star admiral mike rogers, former national -- and national spokesman for national integrity. and admiral, secretary of state blinken at the u.n. sending a very strong message to russia. let's listen to a bit of what he said. >> let me make this simple.
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the russian government can announce today, with no qualification, equivication or deflection that russia will not invade ukraine. state it clearly. state it plainly to the world and then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes, back to their barracks and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table. in the coming days, the world will remember that commitment or the refusal to make it. >> admiral, you're such an expert in the cyber war, cyber defenses. what many people tell us is that we would expect to see in the early stages if there is no diplomatic out and we eproceed towards an invasion is cyber. a series of waves of cyber
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attacks by russian, who knows how to do this very well. tell us what you would expect with the u.s. respond? would we then be in an escalating cyber war? >> thank you very much for the opportunity and it's always good to see you. so, cyber wilt play a significant role, both in the cries scenario. as well as the execution oochb armed conflict itself. you have seen russian activity directed against ukrainian military. economic targets and governmental parties. mostly in terms of denying access, stopping individuals from being able to use them. what i expect you'll see if the crisis deepens further, designed to not just deny access but ultimately destroy or degrade infrastructure within the
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ukraine to take away ukrainian military capability, fortom is ukrainian government to coordinate forces and i also think there's an important dynamic. frifrltser designed to create a story and you're seeing that play out with reports of the russians claiming we're pulling away from the border when no other nation in the world is able to verify that and says quite the opposite. we don't see them moving at all. >> and only today the russians ordered the departure of the deputy ambassador from moscow. how do you interpret that and their very tough letter responding to the u.s. proposals for arms control and other diplomatic initiatives, transparency of three weeks ago? >> well, regarding the what
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happened to our diplomat and he's in diplomatic security. so it's an important role. that's petty and tragic and tells you where the bilateral relationship is right now. are spect to the responses. there's nothing there. it doesn't sound like they're serious about negotiations. maybe it's the first round and we'll have an opportunity to get more serious. but so far very little indication that they want to git serious about a negotiated slugds in the crisis. >> and blinken said lavrov should meet him in europe some day next week and that could set up a summit between the leaders. do you see that as one effectivive way, if they said yes, of at least forstalling an invasion? >> yes, i do. and i want to applaud the biden administration.
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they're leaning into diplomacy, engaging with the allies, having allies fly to mosque oo. there's never been so many leaders in moscow in recent time that i remember. as long as there's not war to try to work with vladimir putin to say if you want to talk seriously about european security issues, we're ready to do it. from what i understand they floated some pretty -- you know, bold ideas on things we wouldn't have talked about, in the biden administration, for existence. the problem is does putin want to negotiate. >> and part of your expertise was what russia tried to do in the past to our elections. certainly they can reach our infrastructure as well as corporations. how good of a defense is here both in the political system and in corporate america?
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>> there shouldn't be any doubt they can cause extensive damage in the united states and should we choose, we could cause damage in russia. we have to acknowledge. what we're seeing over time is this focus in the united states and elsewhere on increased results. i hope that as we work our way through crisis we step back and ask ourselves this highlights the importance of cyber, what's inherent in our government structures. we need to really be focusing. and i think that is something that's going to take time and a significant amount of attention. >> we thank you so much. we're going to go to ohio where the president is speaking. just outside cleveland. let's watch.
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are. >> we have life, work and recreation for millions of people and we need them. we need to invest in that. we want oo brighter, more pros's future for the region. they are and we're investing like never, ever in history. back in 1987 an independent commission identified 43 places called areas of concern along the great lakes. the are areas where pollution has, as epa director, were from poor waste water treatment, and put the great lakes and everyone who depends on them at risk. 26 of these areas ron the united states side of the border. 12 in canada and five shared between the united states and canada. our mutual nations made a commitment to clean them up, be good partners, to protect these
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shared treasures and for decade as a lot of talk, plans but very little progress. it was slow. that changes today. today we're announcing investment of $1 billion, $1 billion -- [ applause ] from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. going to allow most significant restoration in the great lakes in the history of the great lakes. we're going to accelerate clean up of sites across six states in the great lake basin from minnesota, gary, indiana and buffalo, new york and everywhere in between. we know these are sites were dangerously polluted for decades. and we got a couple done, like right here and a couple of my old hangouts. i waa was a lifeguard and i know the oswego river in new york.
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that was another one that's been taken care of. now we're talking about clean up the cioogau river behind the gorge dam and -- i always mispronounce it. mow waumy river. waumy. river. in toledo. i can say toledo. [ applause ] restoring the shoreline around the detroit river and minnesota, wisconsin. the great river indiana in and so much more. dredging polluted sentiment. >> president biden obviously talking about politics and key states and key areas and his key achuvment, the bipartisan infrastructure bill. one of his key achievements, i should say. it's his test drive as sticker
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shock takes a chunk out of poll numbers. the president testing his strategy before the next state of the union. s strategy before the next state of the union ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ [ footsteps approaching ] -caroline, wait! -mitch? look, i know i messed up, but i told diane it's over. can we have some space? oh, yeah. of course. switch to progressive, and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says. -mitch, you live in a van. -i'm a free spirit.
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the white house trying to road test his state of the union as russia has the world on high alert and the president's self-imposed deadline is rapidly approaching. joining me now kimberley atkins, white house bureau chief, ashley parker and former u.s. attorney and law professor. and this shows the approve rating is at 35% and handling the economy at a troubling 33%. it doesn't help the republicans are blocking the president's nominees to the federal reserve amid pressure on the central bank to do something on inflation. how concerned should the white house and democrats be? >> there should be concern whether poll numbers are low, you're in a midterm year where history has shown voters tend to vote against the party in office. that should be concern for the white house as well as democrats
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in congress at the same time you have the president going out and trying to tout the accomplishments they've made in the infrastructure bill. you're right, right now republicans are blocking all the nominees to the fed over an ubjikz over one. jay powell's still doing his job in the meantime. but interest rates may rise at a time when inflation is high. they're connected. it's americans in a double way. president biden is going to have to try to express to voters that he understands what they're going through. coming out of oo a pandemic. economic recovery lagging and he's trying to do everything he can within his power and point out it is only block fed nominees and preventing him from passing additional measures in the build-back better plan. that remains to be seen. but i think at this point the president is trying to connect with the people of america in a
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meaningful way. >> and ashley, he's facing a big test on the international front and giting a lot of praise from the west, other leaders for the way they're handling it, pivoting and declassifying things. you have vice president harris heading to the munich security conference. diplomacy so far doesn't seem to be working in russia. >> that's right. the president has been very clear his preference is diplomacy and deterrent and that's what you've seen. this international game of chicken. but playing out on the public stage with the united states making the deliberate choice to declassify intelligence and share it with the world. so inand when russia does something, the fact everyone knows that a false flag is just that, a false flag will hopefully serve as a deterrent.
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but starting last thursday when there was an impromptu scramble meeting and you had jake sullivan coming out of the briefing last friday with how imminent this could bow. has been working on parallel tracks and that other track is they're fully expecting, as biden said today, russia to it invade ukraine and they want to be ready to handle that if and when it does happen. >> i was struck as well in his speech two days ago. his afternoon speech where he was telling americans they have to be prepared to be on a war footing for paying a that pump, for all kinds of other actions that will effect markets. will effect their pocket book. >> that's exactly right and talking to white house officials, that's one of the reasons he did want to speak. not because there was new intelligence. but he wanted to lay out the
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state of the situation and the stakes of the situation and some of those would be domestic economic means and that was important for him to be aware of where it's going to be headed. are >> and let's talk about the supreme court nominee because he said before march first. that means next week. she'll be named by the end of this month. he obviously wants to talk about this at the state of the union. senate judiciary chair says he'd like the confirm by april 9th. congressman clyburn is pushing for the district court judge. >> so when the white house released a photo of doug jones, who will be the shurpau for the white house nominee, my old boss and in that photo, doug is busy working the phones in advance of a nominee being formally named, signaling that the biden administration is on top of this, trying to rally the troops before the nominee is announced.
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we're at the point in time where folks jockey for position with their favorite candidate. that means we'll see sniping in the press but when you have this emaculately well qualified field, that sniping consists of finding one isolated case a judge may have worked onmany years ago and complaining about the outcome in that case. that's the sort of criticism we're seeing. maybe a sentencing that was too heavy handed or a class action lawsuit that favored big business. they'll be focussed at this point with this tremendously excellent field of potential supreme court justices on finding someone who can easily pass and that perhaps give said a slight edge to ketanji brown jackson who has been confirmed by the same group of senators already and should have the easiest path forward of the three being widely about.
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>> having lindsey graham on your side, who's a fierce partisan republican on the judiciary committee certainly helps. thank you to all three of you. really appreciated today. with covid cases dropping and mask mandates, possibly putting some people at risk. ma putting some people at risk. if you have copd, ask your doctor about breztri. breztri gives me better breathing and helps prevent flare-ups. before breztri, i was stuck in the past. i still had bad days, flare-ups which kept me from doing what i love. my doctor said for my copd, it was time for breztri.
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nationwide covid cases are down 40% last week, reaching the lowest numbers this country has seen since september. deaths have fallen by 9% but still at a distressingly high average. a little over 2, 200 deaths per day. joining me is vice probst at university of pennsylvania. good to see you. thank you so much. the cdc is preparing to change its indoor mask guidance days, probably early next week and states already rolling back these protections. but immuny compromised americans
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across the country are feeling left behind. as the country is moving forward, what should they do to acknowledge frustrations of communities at high risk as people are taking off their masks? >> i think we have to acknowledge their fears. and we have certain programs that we need to put in place. one is that we really need a very clear test to treat pathway so that people who test positive, especially if they're in uno compromised, say over 65, very rapidly get a treatment, whether it's a mono kroenl antibodies or one of the antivirals that have got emergency use authorization from the fda. that's probably the best material way we can protect them. there are 330 million americans, about 7 million are immuno compromised, 2.5%.
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the other 97.5% of americans can't continue to wear masks just to protect them. there are other ways we can protect the immunee compromised and we have to do that. expeditiously. >> help us to better understand if you're immuno compromised, let's say you're in immuno therapy -- >> yeah. >> someone very elderly and having other conditions, underlying conditions and you are wearing a good mask, the right kind of mask, you're really minimizing your risks no matter where you are, reasonably? >> absolutely. you're right. wearing a good n-95 respirator or kn 95 substantially reduces your risk. you got to be clear that the nose piece is bent, that you have a good seal around the face.
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those are are importants for not bringing in air from the outside that isn't filtered through the special five layers of the masking. you're 1line% right. that adds to protection and those are things the immuno compromised can do themselves. >> now, i want to ask you about the political outrage over masking that still has infected our country. it really is toxic, to mix my metaphors here and republicans are now dead fast against creating a no fly risk that some airlines want for unruly passengers saying this is out of control. flight attendants are at risk. flights are at risk. majority of recent infractions have been in relation to the mask mandate. what do we do with people so inconsiderate and obsessed with their false notions of freedom that they refuse to wear masks
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on public transportation? >> we should be clear,and rea a, this is a subset of what's become clearly a larger problem of people being frustrated, angry, fatigued and taking it out in all sorts of ways that are often very violent. we've seen this, not just on airplanes but the mortality in car traffic accidents has gone way up because people are running red lights. they're being more aggressive and we shouldn't put flight attendants in the middle of it. and they should not be enforcing these eprocedures. and if people had been violent, i do think there's got to be a way of identifying them and preventing them from flying. there has to be consequences for this behavior and as i said flight attendants should not be in the middle. they're not enforcers. they're not deputized police and we need to protect them as well as other passengers on the
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flight. and if people can't control themselves, they don't have the right to fly. it's a privilege. >> dr. zeke emmanuel. always getting tliegt point. thank you very much, sir. >> thank you, andrea. nice to be here. and revenge of the patriarchs. male ought krats around the world, why they fear strong women. that's next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" that's next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes.
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not just common -- joining me is two harvard professors. i think i missed -- comorbidities was the world, not commodities. sorry about that. anyway. erica, thank you very much. telt us what's inspired the two of you to write this article? >> well, thanks for having us, andrea. the main inspiration for the article comes from a broader book project that zoe and i are working on which explores how women's participation in mask movements is a major factor for understanding how democratization spread during the 20th and 21st centuries. and that led us into understanding that autocrats and would-be autocrats want to crack down on feminist movements and
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inshrine sexism into policies in response to the threat of mass mobilization and that's because women's participation is often the engine for mass mobilization that leads to democratic breakthroughs. >> and zoe, let's go down on some of the examples you site. certainly president putin is front and center, rolling back reproductive rights. he decriminalized some forms of domestic abuse. we know his own photo opportunities in the past, he seems to be obsessed with his own masculinity. >> absolutely. andrea. and it's common to focus on vladimir putin as an individual and sort of cultive personality that he creates. but i think bhauts more telling is the direction that russian society is being pushed with his policies. and particularly with the roll back on froprotection of women
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who have experienced violence, and harassment. what it does is have a negative impact on the ability to pulley participate in politics, which is the goal of an authoritarian leader. >> let's talk about china, president xi in china, and the tennis star. what are leaders rbz like president xi so afraid of? >> people expressing their individualality and autonomy and doing so collectively with broader demands for representation in government and the workforce and equality. and what's been happening in china is that many people, in particular minority populations have been subjected to very dangerous increases on state control over bodily autonomy.
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for example, forced abortions and these are assaults on the rights of people to express themselves politically and ultimately to mobilize collectively for broader claims about democracy and degovernance. >> and let's talk about turklets president erdogan. he's called women who pursues careers over having children half humans. >> in 2013 there was a mass uprising in turkey called the desi park protest that expanded into a broader claim for democracy in turkey. that movement had massive representation of women, of lgbtq people, and lots of people from all walks of life within turkey. the movement wasn't able to achieve a democratic breakthrough and it was defeated through lots of different
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machinations and power grabs on the part of erdogan. ultimately, what we see is that when movements have large-scale participation by women and other gender and sexual minorities, what happens is that there is a backlash against them if those movements don't actually result in the democratic breakthrough. that's what's happening in turkey. it's basically an effort to put people in their place and to bolster more traditional conservative kind of pro-authoritarian elements in society. >> fascinating. the article is in foreign affairs and sort of explains -- draws together a lot of things we've seen individually, but it creates wonderful context. thank you for that. >> thank you. >> thank you, andrea. and history is being made at the games. she is the first black woman to win gold in olympic speed skating, a sport she only picked up, incredibly, five years ago.
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team usa's erin jackson joins me next with her gold medal on "andrea mitchell reports." she's beautiful. she's beautiful.
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life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible. she only first stepped onto the ice a few years ago after being a star in inline speed skating. now she is an olympic gold medalist. erin jackson's win is not only impressive, it's historic. she's the first black woman to ever win an olympic speed skating medal and the first american to take home the gold in the event nearly in 30 years. we are fortunate enough to have her with us from 30 rock. congratulations. you look wonderful. your medal looks wonderful. and the title is incredible, olympic gold medalist, has it
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all settled in yet? >> it's getting there. it's stale lot to take in, but it's awesome. >> you went from placing 24th in korea, in pyeongchang, to being first this beijing. so what was your path to victory in these few short years? >> yeah. it was just a lot of listening to my coach. my coach, ryan shimabukuro, he's amazing. my job is easy. i show up and listen to him. >> is there something in the water we've been wondering in ocala, florida, where you're from, you and two of your teammates call that city home. what's going on there? >> i think it comes down to amazing coaching. we all came from the same inline speed skating team, coached by renee hildebrand, an amazing coach and person and really great at motivating us to know what we're capable of. >> so, speaking of ocala speed skaters, we have to talk about
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your friend brittany bowe. she offered up her spot so you could compete in beijing, and today she won bronze in the 1,000 meter. tell me about your friendship with her and what did that mean to you? >> yeah. it was amazing because it's hard to imagine someone making that big of a sacrifice for you, and i was just honored and grateful that she would do that for me and have that faith in me, you know. then i was just really glad that, you know, the faith paid off with that gold medal, so i feel like it's one that we share. and being able to see her win a bronze medal today was icing on the cake. it was really cool. >> tell our viewers exactly how it came about that there was only one spot and you hadn't placed on the team. is that what took place? >> yeah. so, going into the olympic trials, we only knew of two olympic spots in the 500 meter distance, and, you know, going into trials i was ranked number one in the world so i kind of expected to make the team, you
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know, to, like, qualify to go represent at the olympics. but unfortunately, i had a pretty big slip in my race that cost me some placement so i ended up placing third just outside of the two spots that we had. brittany was like, if it's up to me, i'm going to make sure that we bring you to the games. so, yeah, she declined her spot. she qualified in first for that distance. that allowed me to get onto the team. >> and how did you decide to switch from inline skating to going on the ice and only a few years ago? >> yeah. that goes back to the ocala crew, as well. so, i got to see brittany bowe and another teammate, joey mantilla, make that transition years before me. that was inpish spiring for me to see my hometown heroes going on to go to the olympics. i was, like, well, i want to do that. so, yeah, after i graduated from university of florida, i was, like, okay, it's time to give ice skating a shot. >> so you're obviously a mentor, a role model now for others to
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follow. what is your advice to young women and men, especially people of color who are so underrepresented in the olympics, what they can achieve if they try something hard? >> right. yeah. just definitely don't be afraid to try something new because ice-skating was definitely new for me, especially coming from a sport that i thought would be so similar, and then, you know, i transfer to the ice and i was, like, why is this so hard? don't be afraid to try something that seems really hard. go out there, take that first step and keep taking more steps and you're on your way to your dreams. >> such good advice for all of us in life. love the medal. how do you get it on the airplane? >> yeah. i had to pull it out of my bag. they're, like, what is this? >> i bet they were a really shocked at the tsa. >> yeah. >> well, take care, take care of the gold. we know we'll be seeing a lot of you. it's a joy to meet you. >> thank you. nice meeting you too. >> that does it for this edition
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of "andrea mitchell reports" on a happy note. tomorrow, we'll be live in germany where secretary of state blinken and vice president kamala harris are taking part in the munich security conference, a gathering of leaders and a large bipartisan congressional delegation lead by house speaker nancy pelosi as the world makes on vladimir putin's next move. i'll be reporting from munich in next couple days. but "meet the press daily" starts right now. but "meet the press daily" starts right now welcome to "meet the press daily". i'm chuck todd in washington and what may be one of the more consequential days of this biden administration. the president spoke in ohio. the white house looks to road test a new message and tone on the economy ahead of the state of the union address. by the way, that's less than two weeks away. right now, there are bigger problems. he's also facing the prospects of a war in europe,