>> i thought it was pitch perfect too. so often you see images of war and it's easy to forget you're talking about a society, a culture of people. what a beautiful moment. >> beautiful moment for a very sad place right now, what we're talking about on the show tonight. thank you so much. see you soon. tonight, on the mehdi hasan show, in an unprecedented move, vladimir putin puts russian nuclear deterrent forces on high alert, but what is it about this man that brings thout worst in some people and the best in others? we'll ask yale university historian timothy snyder. plus, the former prime minister of finland, alexander stubbs, joins me to talk about putin's threat to his country, plus, pramila jayapal joins me for a preview of president biden's first ever state of the union speech. >> good evening. i'm mehdi hasan. as the capital city kyiv begins

another night of fending off an air assault and the advance of russian troops, ukraine and russia have agreed to hold negotiations on the border of ukraine and belarus. with security guaranteed by belarus's autocratic president, putin ally alexander lukashenko. but tensions continue to escalate. in a first for the post-cold war era, putin has put his nuclear forces on high alert, a move that the u.s. called totally unacceptable. the russian president blamed aggressive statements from the west. but i want to start the show tonight by asking an important question. what is it about vladimir putin that brings out the best and the worst in people? and when i say worst in people, this is what i mean. >> can we give a round of applause for russia? yes. absolutely.

absolutely. >> as you can tell by the american accented english, that didn't take place in st. petersburg, russia. it took place about two hours down the street from st. petersburg, florida, as a far right white nationalist conference, and any time you wonder why are you amplifying them at the top of the show? as you can see there, members of the house of representatives. two sitting members of the gop caucus, in fact, paul gosar and marjorie taylor greene, spoke at that conference. greene, the firebrand from georgia, is now claiming she didn't know the conference was organized by a white nationalist, which is nonsense. we know the gazpacho gestapo lady is dumb, but she's not that dumb. it also doesn't help greene's case that the idaho lieutenant governor also spoke at the conference. doesn't help the republican party, to be honest. look, it's not just me calling the organizer a white nationalist. you know, the can we give a round of applause to russia guy. that's how the anti-defamation

colleague and the southern poverty law center both describe him. he jokes about holocaust denial and happily deploys the n-word. he attended the deadly unite the right white nationalist rally in charlottesville in 2017, and last month, he was subpoenaed by the house january 6th committee who want to question him about his alleged role in the insurrection. this is the guy who republicans are cozying up to in the midst of an international crisis, a war against our ally. but look, i don't want to give the impression that it's just nick fuentes who is embracing putin even as the authoritarian russian leader continues his unprovoked invasion of ukraine. earlier this week, former president donald trump called putin's invasion genius. trump's secretary of state, mike pompeo talked about how much respect he has for putin, calling him very shrewd and elegantly sophisticated. and tucker carlson, on his show

this week, the tv dinner fortune guy, questioned why americans should dislike putin at all. in fact, tucker carlson has been boosting vladimir putin for months now. scratch that, he's actually been a putin cheerleader for years. >> the conflict between ukraine and russia. why shouldn't i root for russia, which i am? >> hot air from u.s. conservatives isn't just propaganda here. it's propaganda in russia, where state tv is proudly playing tucker carlson and mike pompeo's commentaries as proof of how the american right is onboard with russia's illegal invasion. that is dangerous. that really matters. look, you can be anti-american intervention in ukraine. you can be anti-war, without being pro-putin. those who oppose the iraq war were not pro-saddam. what makes the american right's weird love-in with the putin regime so odious right now is thousands of russians are risking their lives to stand up to putin and his war.

the russian president may have brought out the worst in the american right, but he's bringing out the best in some of his own people. like russian tennis player andre ruplev who wrote no to war on the camera lens after winning his match on friday. his doubles partner is ukrainian. the daughter of putin's own spokesperson of ten years standing, she posted an anti-war message on her instagram stories. a young woman in moscow who was arrested for hanging a no to war sign on his balcony skrx the thousands of russians protesting against their own government invasion of ukraine, and more than 5,000 of them have been arrested or detained. putin is being opposed at home and abroad. take a look at the size of the crowds that gathered in berlin to protest the war today. and in the uk, and in portugal, and in south korea, and in argentina, and in france, and in bulgaria, and in spain, and in the nether lnldz, and in israel, and in japan, and in italy, and in belgian, and in thailand, and

in greece, and here in washington, d.c., too. and across ukraine's western border in poland. should we be surprised? how can we not be inspired by the incredible images of bravery out of ukraine, as citizens from mere teenagers to men and women who should be enjoying their retirement are now taking up arms to fight for their country's freedom and independence. or by ukrainian president who when offered a chance by the u.s. to evacuate, replied i need ammunition, not a ride. every one of these people is a profile in courage. and while large parts of the world are finally coming together to call out russian fascism, here at home, our own american conservatives are going full fascist themselves. for more on this, let's turn to historian timothy snyder who teaching the history of central and eastern europe and the holocaust at yale university. he's also the author of the road to unfreedom. tim, thanks for coming back on the show. before we come to the shameful antics of our republican lawmakers here in the u.s., what

is going on with vladimir putin? you have studied the man for years. how concerned should we be about his nuclear saber rattling today? >> putin has been in power for about half of his adult life. and so when you get to this kind of late stage tyranny, you are really in literary or psychological territory. not just rational or strategic territory. and it's clearly the case that mr. putin is less tactical than he was eight years ago when he invaded ukraine the first time. and much more idealogical, much more concerned with grander goals, much more concerned with how he's going to be remembered after he's gone. that said, when he speaks about nuclear weapons, i think this should be understood as one more attempt to get us psychologically upset, to push us onto the back foot so we do something ourselves which we don't really want to do. >> yes. and in terms of what we don't want to do, we don't want this

war to keep escalating. we want this war to be over, both the ukrainian and russian governments have agreed to beat at the border of belarus. isn't the reality despite the amazing, inspiring achievems of the ukrainians in pushing back russian forces in recent days, they are still the much weaker party and they're the ones who are going to have to make the bigger compromised to avoid further bloodshed? >> i think we should stop on that point and just remind ourselves that a few days ago, everybody east and west expected the ukrainian state to fold up within a few hours. and it did not. and regardless of how this turns out, i think we should pause on the point you just made, which is that the president of ukraine and the people of ukraine have not just done something unexpected. they have done something inspiring. in fact, they have shown americans, if we're paying attention, what it looks like to care about your country and what it looks like to put down your internal divisions when something very important is happening outside. so it's up to the ukrainians what kind of compromises they're going to make.

i think in the meantime, it's up to us to help them. >> 100% agree it is up to ukraine. my worry is that as the world watches and cheers them on, we get to a point where they are losing lives, i mean, i look at syria, tim. hundreds of thousands of syrians, brave syrians, died fighting assad. assad is still president, the world has moved on, and obviously, none of us want that to happen in ukraine. you're right to say it's their decision and they have been inspiring. you and i talked earlier this week on my peacock show about vladimir putin's propaganda that ukraine is not a real country or independent state. isn't it ironic that his invasion has made ukraine as a country more famous and admired the world over than ever before, where civic nationalism in ukraine has gotten a shot in the arm from their heroic defense of their cities and their frankly heroic president, volodymyr zelenskyy. >> there's deep irony here. mr. putin wants ukraine to be close to russia, but he invaded in 2014, thereby solidifying the

ukrainian nation and turning them toward the west. the second more violent invasion in 2022 has created the situation where ukrainians basically have no choice but to defend themselves. it is really striking how europe and america and the world have seen in this an example of the weak standing up to the strong. the democrat standing up to the tyrants, and people showing just basic decency and courage, no matter what their background, no matter where they're coming from. this is in a sense the ultimate defeat of mr. putin's values or his lack of values. we'll remember there were people who stood for something as opposed to people who stood for nothing. >> yes indeed. so on that note, you have been calling out not just the putin threat for years but also the threat to democracy here at home from the american right. what do you make of republican lawmakers attending a conference at the weekend organized by a holocaust denier and where the

crowd chanted putin, putin. >> yeah, i mean, first of all, for those of you who don't spend all your time following mr. putin, it's important to understand that he is the center of attention of the worldwide far right. he is the person not just in the united states, but around the world, idol, the icon of white nationalism. his association with holocaust denial or holocaust minimization is no accident. that's where he is politically. the very form his invasion takes where he claims to be fighting neonazis when actually his mission is to kill a jewish president, democratically elected, shows he's trying to pervert and undermine the very values we might draw from the second world war, so it's not surprising. this is where mr. putin stands. he stands with those sorts of people. >> he does, and then you've got the people here in the u.s. who have been jumping around going from praising putin to suddenly

when they see the way the tide is turning, they're now praising zelenskyy. former president trump was praising zelenskyy on saturday. at the cpac conference, having praised putin earlier. tucker carlson was suddenly taking a stand on the republican line, we must defend ukraine. how about mike pompeo and what he had to say? >> in the last 14 months, we have seen a russian dictator now terrorize the ukrainian people because america didn't demonstrate the resolve we did for the four years prior. >> first of all, tim, i don't know what resolve the trump administration showed that mike pompeo is talking about, and suddenly they're all pulling their punches. they could teach a course on hypocrisy, these guys. >> that's what i mean about the difference of people who stand for something and the people who stand for nothing. the people who stand for nothing can turn on a dime. but there's one more irony there.

on the trump administration, it was trump's foreign policy to bully volodymyr zelenskyy. that was the first time trump was impeached, his attempt -- his failed attempt to bully zelenskyy and to deny him the very arms when the ukrainians need now to hold back russia. >> last quick question, tim. as the ukrainians stand up to authoritarianism from russia, is there any coming back from the growing authoritarian turn in the u.s. by the grand old party, if we can ever call it that again? >> that's just as there are important things that have to be sorted out in russia by russians, there are important things that have to be sorted out in the republican party by republicans, but all of the cynics and the nihilists aside, i would like to say i do see a glimmer of hope in the conversations between democrats and republicans that have been enabled by this crisis. and i do see a glimmer of a possibility that the very depth of this crisis might give people of goodwill a chance to think

about what it really means to belong to a country as opposed to frivolously worshiping someone who is a dictator somewhere else in a country where you know absolutely nothing. >> well said. tim snyder, we'll have to leave it there. thank you as ever for your analysis. >> next, i ask former finland prime minister alexander stub whether he thinks his country should join nato now in light of putin's aggression in ukraine. his answer after this short break. don't go anywhere. don't go anyw. meets verizon 5g ultra wideband. ultra-collaborative. ultra-secure. when you buy one, get up to $1,000 on another. verizon is going ultra, so your business can too.

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ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy announced earlier today his country and russia have agreed to hold peace talks on the belarus border on monday. ostensibly, that's great news, but what in the world are they actually going to discuss once they get to this meeting? will the russian delegation offer to abandon this siege of kyiv so long as they get to keep

control of the eastern regions they declared independent. perhaps they'll say ukraine pledge not to join nato. why would they do that not, especially when other non-nato countries in their part of the world, think finland, sweden, appear to leap into the alliance themselves. earlier, i spoke with the former prime minister of finland, alexander stubb, about what this crisis means for his country, his continent, and nato. thank you for joining me on the show this even. how worried are people in finland tonight they could be next? if vladimir putin is allowed to invade and overrun a non-nato neighbor, is allowed to implicitly threaten the whole region, there's nothing to stop him going after finland or even sweden at some point, too? >> i think in the big picture, people are very worried.

frustrated, angry. and scared. but i think in the short term, it's quite clear that finland is not under a military threat. we have gotten that message from our president, from our prime minister, from our defense forces as well. but obviously, zee to realize this is really shifting the tectonic plates of european and western security. so certainly, fins are not happy with what they're seeing happen in ukraine right now, and there's a huge sense of solidarity with ukrainians. >> and there was a time when finlandization was being pitched as a solution to the crisis in ukraine. staying neutral between russia and nato, as finland was often described as being. i wonder, is finlandization even an option anymore for finland, let alone ukraine? >> absolutely not. let me explain the whole term is really horrible for finland in the sense that for us, it meant that we were not able to express our free will of joining western institutions during the cold war

because we always had the 1,340 kilometers of border with russia. and on top of that, russia meddled with our internal politics so in many ways to use the whole term of finlandization which grew from a german professor in the 1960s, is an insult. and my answer to everyone who says should ukraine be finlandized, absolutely not. ukraine should be europeanized. >> so just to be clear, if you were still prime minister of finland, would you be pushing for nato membership for your country right now? >> well, when i left politics after eight years in government in 2016, i took a decision not to give advice to the people who came after me, because the job in and of itself is too difficult. but i have made it no secret throughout my career that i have been an advocate of finnish nato membership. right now what you're seeing in finland is the exact opposite of what putin wants. we're seeing opinion polls moving towards finnish nato

membership. we saw that actually in sweden yesterday. 41% of the population favored, 35% against, and 25% undecided. it's never been like that in sweden. i predict when we see the opinion polls next week, there's going to be an overwhelming majority of fins in favor of nato membership. i do think the political leadership in finland needs to tone down. gueye can't go into this, into nato right now. we're more nato compatible than most nato member states, we just purchased 64 f-35s from the u.s. we already have over 60 f-18s, so easy take it, easy does it, but i do think we're starting to see a shift towards finnish and perhaps even swedish nato membership. and that was certainly nothing putin wanted. >> the russian foreign ministry said this week if your country or sweden were to take steps to join nato, they would be forced to take, quote, reciprocal steps. do you see that as a threat from

moscow and is it the harsh reality that nato and the u.s. don't have much room for maneuver in your part of the world? as a region, it's much more of a core interest to russia than it is to the u.s. >> i would disagree with it. is it a threat? yeah, it's a rutoric threat, but we have heard it before from president putin and actually from foreign minister lavrov, so in that sense, it was nothing new. but you see, my take here is that if you want to go for collective security in the bolic sea region, and i count the norden countries of scandinavgons and baltic states, there are only two outliers, finland and sweden, because the three baltic states are nato members. if they were not, the threat to them would be real. now it is not. of course, we have three other scandinavian states, iceland, denmark, joining, so it would be quite natural for finland and sweden eventually to join, but

the process has to be pushed forward first, and i don't think it's going to happen tomorrow or next week. >> what is the finnish government going to do to help the ukrainian people right now? what more can european governments across the board do to help ukraine? >> okay, there are many different things. and actually, as we speak today on sunday, the finnish government has taken a decision to send a lot of material, there's some military licensing, et cetera, et cetera. i think what we can do right now is number one, show, of course, the solidarity and unification, basically, we are seeing across the board. secondly, send arms to ukraine. that's what the president, the foreign minister, the defense minister has been saying as well. help out with refugees. we're talking something north of 360,000 refugees coming out of ukraine, poland is doing a tremendous job at this particular moment. and then, of course, there is what i call the ecostrategic as opposed to geostrategic or

geopolitical plan, and that is the sanctions. so we have seen basically an onslaught of sanctions we have never seen before. i was there in 2014 for the crimea sanctions. and you know, this is full monty, including the nuclear option, which is s.w.i.f.t. i think what we're going to see in the next few weeks is the total ice laze of russia, both politically and economically, that's what europe and that's what the united states can do at the moment to help ukrainians. may i add, also, i look at the -- sorry. i look at the courage of the ukrainian president and the ukrainian people in resistance. it's not going to be an easy country to take over. >> we are out of time. alexander stubb, thank you for joining me. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. next, what justice breyer thinks of his former clerk, ketanji brown jackson, now president biden's supreme court

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chase. make more of what's yours. welcome back. it's time now for what i call the 60 second rant. today is more everything you need to know about judge ketanji brown jackson, who president biden revealed as his supreme court nominee on friday. inconfirmed, cutanga brown jackson would be the first black woman to serve on the supreme court, also one of the youngest justices, second only to amy coney barrett. named ketanji, the lovely one, she's a graduate of harvard college, and shed did improv with matt damon. she did work on and off at corporate firms before she reduced the racist disparity in cocaine sentencing. she was nominated by barack obama to be a circuit court.

she's got two daughters and she also has three republican votes in the senate when she was confirmed to the circuit court. lindsey graham who is now hypocritically attacking her. she even represented guantanamo detainees. if confirmed, she'll be the first ever public defender to sit on the supreme court. she clerked for justice breyer, and when she was nominated to the bench in 2012, officials called to get his opinion, and he just said hire her. >> next, congresswoman pramila jayapal here to discuss president biden's state of the union address, and check out the mehdi hasan podcast. listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. e wherever you get your podcasts. of brain perform. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger.

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we're just two days away from president biden's first state of the union address, and the stakes are high. in the midst of a major international crisis, a looming fight over his supreme court nominee, and lingering domestic road blocks, biden will have to make the case to a domestic audience who likely won't be casting votes in the midterms around foreign policy issues. but actually on skyrocketing gas prices and the years-long pandemic and health care and jobs and more. his speech also falls on the same day as the texas primaries. this first contest teeing up a fraught midterm election season where few first term presidents ever come out on top.

against that cheery backdrop, i'm joined by congresswoman pramila jayapal, chair of the congressional progressive caucus. thank you for joining me on the show this even. let's start with ukraine before we get to domestic policies. how do you believe the crisis in ukraine will shape the president's address this tuesday? >> well, mehdi, great to see you. obviously, the president is going to speak about this, and i think he's going to talk about all of the work that he and his administration did to really try to find a diplomatic solution, for weeks, and the continuing efforts to try to get to a cease-fire with the u.n., with other nato allies and partners. i think it's important to remember how different thing might have looked if we had had a different president in the white house. the previous president, who actually spent a lot of time cozying up to a dictator named vladimir putin. and actually refusing to send military aid that congress had approved to ukraine because he wanted president zelenskyy to do

him a favor of investigating joe biden's son and burisma, so i haven't forgotten about that and i think the president will talk about how much he's rebuilt the nato allies and the relationships that we have and the leadership that the united states has continued to show. and i also know that he's going to speak to the bravery and the resilience and the courage of the ukrainian people which we have all been watching for days as our hearts and prayers are with them and with the diaspora around the country. >> as a progressive, as chair of the congressional progressive caucus, you have no criticism of how biden has handled this major crisis, this war in ukraine, that he's doing the right thing in taking a very strong stance against putin by re-enforcing nato positions in the region. today we're hearing putin is putting his nuclear forces on high alert. >> yes, it's very, very troubling, and i mean, that's an understatement, and i think that the reality here is the progressive caucus has been calling for weeks for a

diplomatic solution to this. we do not believe that there is a military solution to this. we have just gotten out of a never ending war in afghanistan. and two nuclear powers going up against each other would be catastrophic for the world. that's why we have emphasized the diplomatic solutions and humanitarian aid. i think we have to continue to do that. diplomacy doesn't stop when the shooting starts. that is actually the most important time for us to continue the diplomatic push, and i think the sanctions are a nonmilitary way, unprecedented sanctions, are a nonmilitary way to make the cost and the consequences of what putin is doing clear to him. and so this is a tough time, but yes, i think the president has handled this generally very well. and really pushing for a diplomatic solution. actually pushing against even people in his own democratic party who wanted to push sanctions early on before anything had even happened, which would have simply

escalated, in our view. >> so congresswoman, turning to biden's domestic agenda, he's obviously not been able to get as much of it passed as he wanted to, thanks to joe manchin, kyrsten sinema, and the senate filibuster. when we spoke, you and i back in december, i asked you about the build back better legislation. and you said this, have a listen. >> i do still believe that he is going to do what he told me and what he told our caucus and what he told the country he would do. >> and if he doesn't? >> no, we're going to do it. we're going to do it. it will hurt everybody, families -- >> just to be clear, you're going to pass build back better by december 31st? >> we are going to pass build back better. i hope it is by december 31st. i think it will be. >> but build back better is now effectively dead, is it not, congresswoman? it was declared dead on live tv by joe manchin just a few weeks ago. >> it's painful, isn't it, to listen to that? >> think it's not dead in terms

of some form. i still believe that is possible, but obviously, we have run into a real road block here with one senator, and my belief is still that we can pass particularly the pieces i think that we do have some agreement around, climate change investment, half a trillion dollars, the health care investments potentially, and the care economy. some pieces of the care economy. we are going to continue to push for that. i know the president is still pushing for that. but obviously, it is not what we -- it's not where we wanted to be, and i think we're still hopeful that whatever you want to call it, whatever name it is, that we will still pass a significant piece of build back better. it's just not on the timeline i had hoped for, that's for sure. >> and the timeline is a problem because time is running out, as we approach the midterms. new polling out today shows voters prefer republicans handling of the economy over democrats by double digits. despite biden's clear economic

successes. does this reflect the collective amnesia on the part of a lot of americans, especially in relation to all of the damage republicans have often done to the economy and left behind for democratic presidents, or is this a messaging failure by your party, by the white house? >> well, i do think that this is why at state of the union it's going to be really important for the president to talk about what this huge bully pulpit of state of the union to talk about what we have accomplished as democrats, with the american rescue plan, cutting hunger by 32%, cutting child poverty in half, creating more jobs, 6.4 million new jobs in one year. that's more jobs than any president before in the history. keeping small businesses going through the covid crisis. so much good that we have done as democrats, and of course, we're going to have our first black woman appointed to the supreme court. with the confirmation of judge ketanji brown jackson. so i think there is a lot that we have been able to do, but we

do have to tell the story better. and we have got to focus on these things that we have done for pocketbooks, for the economic successes of families across this country, with the child tax credit, with the stimulus checks that we put out there, with the eviction moratorium, so many things, but we don't always -- we're always focused on the next thing, and mehdi, a lot of our cable news and tv is focused on the divisions, which is legitimate, i understand that, but we do need to talk about what we have gotten done, and we're on the road trying to do that as we go through. >> i mean, the problem is some of the things you mentioned there like cutting hunger and child poverty, huge achievements, but they're time limited. a lot of then ran out at the end of 2021 and were supposed to be renewed as part of build back better, but then joe manchin got in the way. i want to ask about congressman rashida tlaib, what do you say

to more centrist critics in your party who say that's a divisive move? >> well, that is from the working families party. that is not a progressive caucus response. and of course, working families party is a nonprofit organization, and they can ask any member that they want, and i'm sure that representative tlaib will have a lot of good things to say about president biden and the things we have done. but i just want people to understand the progressive caucus doesn't give a response to the president. we will all be out there talking about what we thought, and i believe that the president's going to raise some really important progressive priorities like anti-trust legislation, some of the great work he's done on anti-trust, can cutting costs for consumers. focusing on mental health and covid. i think these are really important pieces that he will talk about, and i do believe he'll talk about climate change and child care as well. so i think this is going to be a speech for progressives but really for the country in terms of what democrats have done and

delivered. >> we can only hope, and we'll be watching. congresswoman pramila jayapal, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you, mehdi. >> next, we celebrate a milestone for this show. you don't want to miss this. stick around for what's coming up after this break. up after this break. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin.

amid all the breaking news, i would be remiss if i didn't point out this is our one-year anniversary at the mehdi hasan show. it's our first birthday and it's been a wild journey on air, filled with fascism focused monologues, outraged commentaries and rants from yours truly, and even a little ben & jerry's. >> welcome to a new shore here on msnbc. >> one thing i was certain of is i would be seeing mehdi hasan on tv. >> ever since i joined msnbc, i

have been talking about the f-word. fascism. this show is committed to standing up for democracy. which has far from prevailed. the for the people act needs to be passed right now. >> i would say the deadline for s-1 is probably by august or so. >> first of all, talk to joe manchin. >> we're going to continue to work to move forward. >> come on, ron. ron, let's be clear to our viewers. >> give us credit for what we have done. >> you didn't do it with the filibuster. >> perhaps we have to start talking about dynos. what do i know? let's ask my expert guests. representative alexandria ocasio-cortez, senator elizabeth warren, nome chomsky, nikole hannah-jones, bill nye, the science guy, john legend, nick offerman. >> i also used to be really into acting, though i clearly wasn't good enough to go professional, but another kid i went to school with a few years below me was good enough.

do you have that practiced? >> how is this? >> do you come up with this stuff yourself? >> i would never let someone who works for me run with that kind of messaging. it's a little too spicy. my full-time job is after our twitter exchange on friday, dan crenshaw graciously accepted by invitation to come on to show. >> i'm not sure where you're getting your data from. >> those are cvp numbers. >> the fakest thing about the "west wing" was that we had reasonable republicans. all they have is this kind of fashist street theater. >> there was nothing normal about january 6th. those people were not tourists. would you accept the logic that your former boss, donald trump, is an inciter of terrorism.

>> i used to blindfully say avoid that like the plague. i no longer do because we don't avoid plagues. >> 18 months into the pandemic, why is it so hard for people to get a damn test. >> your father is currently hospitalized and on a ventilator. how is he doing, please? >> i wish i could give you good news, but the news isn't very good. it was the toughest decision of my life. >> saying we shouldn't mask up as well was a huge mistake at the time, not just in hindsight. >> if something changes and you change with the data, you are not flip-flopping, okay? >> i hand it over to meda. >> sorry about your team. i know it was a rough afternoon. >> they are wins. they are inspirations. and, you know, we'll win the next one. i still believe. >> it's time now for what i'm calling the 60 second rant. start the block. i'm sorry to break this to you. our nation has done awful things

abroad and we have talk about them. then paying for palestinians to rebuild it. it makes so innocence. why are so many republican elected officials and police unions opposing vaccine mandates right now? maybe blue lines actually never mattered to them. maybe just what bothered them and annoyed them so much was black lives matter. >> the gloriication of weapons in a christmas picture. sorry. what plan net are these people living on? is he having a laugh? don't gaslight us, joe. mayor romney is not your friend. we'll cringed, right? i'm from england. elon musk is not a genius. he's an attention seeking man child and you should pay as much attention to him as you would to a screaming toddler. it is a simple choice, no to the ice cream or yes to apartheid. you choose. now it's time to hand it over to my friend, ayman mohyeldin.

i would think that santa would need to bring body, armor, would he not? >> just imagine calling big bird pure evil. >> maybe they think dr. fauci is hiding inside the big bird costume like a two for one boogie man. >> trump and the gop are no longer in control of the monster they created. >> it's been amazing to see you and your journey. it's inspirational. thank you all for sticking with us this past year. it's been a pleasure and a privilege to see you here every sunday night on msnbc. i'm excited. although, let's be honest, too, to see what the next year on air brings. coming up at 10:00 eastern tonight, steve kornacki is live on the big board for his look ahead on what's ahead in the mid-term cycle. watch decision 2022, mid-terms pregame tonight on msnbc.

and i'll be right back after a very short break. don't go anywhere. a very short break don't go anywhere.

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thank you for watching tonight. we'll be right back here next sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. you can catch me monday through thursday on peacock. now it's time to hand it over to my friend ayman mohyeldin. before i go, some of the media coverage of the conflict in ukraine has been kind of off.

we have reporters and pundits making some rather awful remarks about the nature of this conflict and these refugees versus, say, conflicts and refugees in the middle east. have a listen. >> but this isn't a place, with all due respect, you know, like iraq or afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. you know, this is a relatively civilized, relatively european. >> i'm sorry. it is really emotional because i see european people with blue eyes with blond hair being killed with putin's missiles. >> now the unthinkable has happened to them. and this is not a developing third world nation. it is europe. >> ayman, first off, europe has been home to some of the worst war crimes in history, like the

holocaust. second, when they say civilized cities and in another clip well dressed people and this is not the third world, they really mean white people, don't think? we should care about ukraine. but not because they're white europeans. >> that's what's so disturbing in all of this. not only that, it is trying to make an excuse why the west should get involved. listen, let's be clear. you should encourage and actually help refugees because they are fleeing a war. i don't know if you saw this. there was an op ed today in which the writer, danielle hahn non, said that these people, the ukrainians, they're like us. they watch netflix. they have instagram accounts. they read uncensored newspaper. it goes on to say war is not

something visited upon impoverishes nations. oh, no. it is happening to us in europe. you're correct. europe has had some of the worst human rights abuses and wars in nothistory, in all of history. good evening to you at home. i'm ayman mohyeldin here in new york tonight. we are following everything starting with russia's invasion of ukraine. the united nation security council voted hours ago to convene a special session of the un general assembly. on monday, the assembly is expected to vote on a resolution to condemn the invasion, which russia does not have the power to actually veto. listen to what u.s. ambassador linda thomas greenfield said about that meeting. listen. >> russia cannot veto our voices. russia cannot vee you the ukrainian people. and russia cannot veto the un charr.