sorry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture squawks.] oh boy. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ if it's tuesday, president biden prepares to deliver his first state of the union address, this perhaps as a wartime president amid an intensifying crisis abroad and a stalled domestic agenda and falling poll numbers here at home. in a single speech, can he meet this complicated moment? plus, we are live in ukraine where the death toll continues to rise, the fighting continues to escalate, and a massive 40-mile-long russia convey heads towards kyiv as putin decides how brutal he will get. if it's tuesday and a midterm year, we'll meet the midterms. opening day of the 2022 primary season. we'll tell you what to watch

tonight as texas voters become the first to cast 2022 ballots. welcome to "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd in washington where tonight president biden delivers his first state of the union address. at home he faces a stalled domestic agenda and falling poll numbers, abroad a russian siege on kyiv continuing where five more deaths were reported late this morning on a an attack on the city's communication tower. the ukrainian government released this video showing smoke near that tower, and these satellite images from yesterday show a 40-mile-long convoy of russian military vehicle heading toward's ukraine's capital. a senior u.s. defense official tells nbc news the convoy has stalled with troops facing gas and food shortages. u.s. intelligence agencies have determined that putin is growing

increasingly frustrated by his military struggles in ukraine and he may see his only option is doubling down on violence and brutality. that's according to what current and former u.s. officials briefed on the matter have told nbc news. as russian troops try to approach kyiv, russia's shelling of ukraine's second largest city, kharkiv, continues. ukrainian officials say this explosion at a government building killed at least ten people. russia has attacked nearly every region in ukraine. a senior pentagon official says they have fired more than 400 missiles in the last week and as attacks continue more than 660,000 ukrainians have pled the country. in an address to the human rights council delivered today, our secretary of state tony blinken questioned whether russia should be removed from that council all together. >> reports of russia's human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law are mounting by the hour. one can reasonably ask whether a u.n. member state that tries to

take over another u.n. member state while committing human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering should be allowed to remain on this council. >> they're committing more crimes, folks. during that meeting about 100 diplomats walked out if protest during a speech by russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. and ukrainian president zelenskyy received a standing ovation before his address to the european parliament. >> translator: our people are very much motivated, very much so. we are fighting for our rights, for our freedoms, for life, for our life, and, yes, we are fighting for survival. and this is the highest of our motivation. >> moments ago, the white house confirmed that president biden and zelenskyy have spoken again today about the crisis. karolyi is at the white house, richard engel is in kyiv.

carol, that phone call, is it initiated by president biden or by president zelenskyy? and who was making the most asks? >> reporter: we know, chuck, they spoke for 30 minutes. the white house has yet to issue a read-out of that call, just saying they spoke for 30 minutes. president zelenskyy tweeted and aid they discussed both the need for aid to ukraine and more sanctions on russia. so you can bet that president zelenskyy pressed president biden for more supplies, more aid, more arms, frankly, so they can continue to fight russia as russia advances across the country and also put more pressure on russia so that president zelenskyy tweeted that they spoke about anti-russia sanctions, in his words. so, both of those topics obviously came up again. we don't have a readout yet from president biden, but this is something that certainly is going to be a topic in his state

of the union address later tonight, and whatever the contents of that call were is likely something that he's going to convey as part of his discussion on ukraine in that speech. >> it wouldn't surprise me if that was one of the moments president biden had to bring everybody together, quoting zelenskyy. you know, who knows, dare i say, having a recording of zelenskyy saying something to that chamber, something like that. who knows, right? it wouldn't shock us there. do we have an idea of what new announcements -- we assume there will be some new announcements for the president on ukraine. do we have an idea what those are yet? >> reporter: we don't, but, look, we know where the areas are that announcements could potentially come from. we know what president zelenskyy is asking for. we know what the u.s. has said it's willing to do. there could be more sanctions announcements, for instance. that's something that president zelenskyy would like, obviously, and announcements of more support. the u.s. announced some $350

million in support the other day. but, again, that's not necessarily the limit of that. so we could see that. also congress, chuck, they're going to potentially move on putting more support into the hands of ukrainians. but how to get that there is really the question now. it's the challenge we're hearing from administration officials is you can put all the money you want towards sending arms and supplies, but getting them into ukraine and into the hands of people who need them is a totally different story. >> well, we have to remind people, think of what we were talking about just six days ago, and even the first 12 hours after the invasion, the fact that not a single ukrainian city is under russian control yet, is not something anybody i think would have thought where we are right now. i think everything is a bit in flux. let's move over to ukraine in kyiv where richard engel is now. richard, it looks as if whatever strategy putin and the russian

army have, they realize it failed and now something more brutal may follow. what are you seeing? >> reporter: so, this city is bracing for a frontal assault. it is literally staring down the barrel of a russian gun, actually 40 miles of russian guns. that convoy, which is heading toward the city, but then a short while ago, the military official briefing, the pentagon briefing, courtney kube and others, that the convoy has slowed, that it is facing serious logistics issues -- fuel, food. that is also consistent with what we're hearing across this country. there are numerous videos that have emerged, numerous anecdotal reports of russian tanks not just running out of fuel, and there have been numerous verified accounts of russian vehicles just stopping because they don't have enough diesel and sometimes ukrainians going up to them and mocking and

jeering the soldiers, but vehicles that have fuel in them that are in good condition that have just been abandoned. and something does seem to be very wrong with the offensive. perhaps it's the morale of the troops. perhaps there is a breakdown. it is unclear. but the massive convoy heading toward the city facing those logistical issues hasn't moved much since yesterday, and then these pockets of abandoned russian vehicles, which is highly suspicious. all of this is very encouraging to ukrainians. they don't just think they want to defend. they don't plan to just defend this country. ukrainians tell me they want to beat russia. they think that if vladimir putin loses here it could be the end of his rule in russia. they hope that they can reverse the tide here and take back donbas and take back crimea. now, these are still early days, but the spirits are certainly high in this city even as some

bombs are falling and the city of car skeeve taking a very heavy assault with a major blast right in the center in freedom square, which is described as the largest square in all of europe with a huge explosion at the administrative headquarters that also damaged an opera house and at least ten people were killed there. so they're encouraged, they're optimistic, they're curious about these vehicles that keep turning up abandoned, and now they're taking some relief in the fact that this huge convoy may still be heading this way but it's slowed down. >> i don't know if this is what you're trying to imply, but there have been some reports, is there a morale problem in the russian army with the rank and file? is that what's leading to these abandoned vehicles? is that the speculation, richard? >> reporter: that is the speculation. it is hard to know if that's the case, but there have been many videos including from cctv

cameras of russian troops going into grocery stores, foraging for food, other accounts that the russians have meals that have been found in their abandoned vehicles that were five and six years old, expired. so it's hard to know if they're experiencing morale problems, but the evidence in the vehicles that have either broken down or been left behind suggest that it is not a well-oiled military operation. >> president zelenskyy, his ability to speak to various groups, he's been on his own, i think, push the e.u., pushed the allies much farther than they would have gone a week ago, whether on sanctions or aid to ukraine. is he going to be able to get the ukraine into the e.u. by his sheer force of will? >> reporter: who knows? normally it's a process that takes years, but he received a

standing ovation today and we're seeing unprecedented moves with monaco sanctioning russian oligarchs and russia and switzerland doing the same and sweden sending weapons and germany, which refused to send anything but helmets, suddenly switching on major sanctions. so it is possible these are -- i don't want to say unprecedented times because we have been in these times but we haven't been in these times for 80 years. so could the european union swing open its doors? it's possible. everything seems to be in flux these days. >> absolutely. and, again, as i mentioned to carol, a lot has changed since six days and a lot more could change in another six days. carol lee and richard engel, thank you. joining me is doug lew, former ambassador to nato. let's start with the status of the russian military. it seems as if it didn't go

well. obviously, he's got to alter his plans. tkt ged more brutal and violent. it will be a lot harder to sit back and watch as a nato member, nation, no matter who you are, if it gets as brutal and some officials seem to expect. is that what you expect? >> well, chuck, i do expect it to be more brutal. we should appreciate we're in the early days, just a few days into this, and we should expect this to be a long, protracted, brutal campaign. if he want an example of what the russian regime is capable of, think back 20 years to the campaign they took to their own russian citizens in chechnya, and look at the pictures of the city of grozny, the capital of chechnya, from 20 years ago. they leveled it. you can imagine that kind of city fighting, mass bombardment, disregard for civilian casualties, that's what's bearing down on kharkiv and kyiv now. if given the choice, putin will

double down before he backs down. >> his decision to amp up his nuclear posture, i read one analysis that said that the u.s. should be careful not to overrespond because that's exactly what putin wants, that he's trying to take the focus off of the fact that he's failing in ukraine and he wants to make this a war with the united states, a war with the west. how do we balance that and still make sure we're keeping an eye on the idea that the thing we've always feared is a mad man with a nuke? what if we suddenly have a madman with a nuke? >> i think the administration, the biden administration's response to this has been spot on, and it is very prudent, not escalatory in any way, and just reassuring that the american deterrence posture, our nuclear force, is safe, it's secure, and it's the right way to go here. somebody's got to be the adult

in this room. i think what we'll watch carefully now going forward is to see if president putin has any actions that match this increased readiness level of his nuclear forces. there are four levels of nuclear readiness in the russian system. they just move from the normal status quo level one level up. we would now expect to watch for movement of warheads, does he put nuclear armed submarines to sea, does he disperse nuclear bombers, does he change protocols in the command and control network. these are things that are knowable, seeable, and we'll watch it carefully. >> do you think he is a rational actor right now? or do we assume he might not be? >> well, i think there are disturbing signs, but one thing that is clear without debate is that he's an isolated actor. he has placed himself at the very pinnacle of this autocratic

regime. i don't know that he has any trusted advisers who are willing to give him dissenting views. and that alone, that isolation at the top, is dangerous. >> so, this is what you can't help but wonder, you know, three or four days ago, there was concern, hey, these sanctions might not be tough enough, it might not strang it will russian economy enough, it might not move putin. now there seems to be a reverse fear, wait a minute, he's really feeling cornered, where the ukrainians have been a much tougher raens and the economy is getting choked off, oh, and by the way, this turned out to be unpopular at home. it's that feeling of feeling cornered and humiliated. what's the exit ramp for him now? >> well, it's unclear. he's burned most of the exit ramps that might rely on diplomacy. it's quite clear that given the events of the last weeks, leading up and through the invasion itself, that no one

will trust him. he's led himself into a pariah state status both politically and economically, so there are no clear exit ramps now. this will now become the art of diplomacy, and the art of trying to give him a way out while keeping him under the pressure of the sanctions and the political isolation. that's a tough call. >> i'm curious, to walk that line, say helsinki said today we want finland in nato and the helsinki government said we're applying formally. i had admiral stavridis on saying if they applied on today, they should approve it by friday. how fast do you think the process would work with finland? and, two, how walking that line of would putin view that as escalatory by the west even if we're doing it in response to a nation in distress?

>> well, the question does start rightly with the finnish people. i understand the finnish parliament, considering this topic now, and that's appropriate. that's where all nato membership questions begin. it might start on a wednesday and ends on a friday, but i don't know that that wednesday and friday will be in the same week. >> right. >> so it may take a bit of time to deliberate. but what's quite clear, if you go into the washington treaty, the nato treaty from 1949, article x outlines what qualities a new member, an aspiring member must have. it's quite clear that finland meets those qualifications. so really the first step begins with the finnish people and then, interestingly, may well spill over and have a similar effect in sweden next door. >> yeah. one would assume if one comes the other is likely to come as well. ambassador doug lultd, -- lute, appreciate you coming on. thank you. up next, how the turmoil

abroad is shaping the president's tonight and the difficult task of delivering this speech amid all that, and his domestic political struggles. house majority leader steny hoyer will be here to discuss what democrats want to hear from the president tonight. beverage companies, our bottles are made to be remade. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back.

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welcome back. as we mentioned at the top of the show, as biden prepares for the state of the union, his presidency perhaps has been transformed by putin's thereto of nuclear engagement. it comes at a point of major political weakness for biden at home. every single poll has his rating below 40%. most of them show support from his own party on approval in the 70s. that's a sign of growing unrest inside the democratic base. the public's views of the biden economy do not reflect the job gainings or the gdp growth that had been touted by the administration. huge chunks of the country describe the current economic

climate as a recession or depression and even more describe it as not good and pour despite the fact it's never been easier to get a job or a high-paying job. joining me is jen palm merry, former white house communications director for president obama, matt gorman joining us. let me start with you and the balance. obviously he'll lead with ukraine in some form or another. i think the question is how does he do the domestic messaing? we know he'll do some of it. how is it framed? >> interestingly enough, they are going to try to strike bipartisanship, you know, surprise, surprise. it hasn't worked out much too far. we got infrastructure done, but supposedly they'll try to talk about issues where they think that there's overlap between republicans and democrats and things that they can get done, kind of acknowledging, probably not tacitly, but acknowledging the fact that, look, they're not going to get all the stuff they

wanted to get done. it's not happening. so what are those issues they can say maybe we can get some republicans on board, like mental health stuff or, you know, other things, environmental stuff that they might be able to get some people to come together on. it's going to be a tough sell either way, though. >> jen, i heard if you're progressive you might not be thrilled with the laundry list tonight because as it was portrayed to me, look, it will be things that lower the cost for people's lives. they want to emphasize that, whether it's prescription drugs. >> right. >> you can see where they're going, but i don't think we'll hear the phrase build back better. >> that's the way they'll say they're going after inflation, is taking steps that will lower cost in people's lives. and i think particularly with the war in ukraine, to have a bipartisan ethos run throughout the speech is, you know, a smart thing to do because even with the domestic agenda, you can't just look at it in the silo of domestic politics. you have to realize all of the speech -- i mean, if you're

writing the speech in the white house, up to consider all of it will be looked at through that lens. this is the leader of the free world, the leader of the western world. it's not just the democratic president. >> it's an interesting opportunity tonight because as i discussed with somebody else, matt, he's probably going to have a more bipartisan audience for the state of the union than any other president has had because we're in a moment. >> yes. right. the first five or so minutes will be about ukraine, you'll get nice bipartisan applause for that, but the risk is there is so much to cram into this speech, how much about ukraine? >> it's inevitable. >> the danger is are you playing small ball with that unifying theme you can take out of it. that is the risk. >> there are so many risks for him. even talking about bringing prices down, the president can only do so much about inflation. the problem for biden right now is americans want him to fix that, but it's not clear that he can. >> i want to go back to this,

jen. 51% believe the economy is in a recession or depression. i mean, look, it's just not true. >> i know. >> this economy is frustrating. this economy with covid has been -- i've got money and i can't find something. but my god, there's jobs. there's good jobs. is this the right-wing echo chamber is better than democratic echo chamber? >> sure. >> or is there something else missing? >> for sure, the right-wing was always better than democratic. it's not because democrats aren't smart or strategic but we don't repeat what we're told to say and we never will. >> not good at echoing. >> so, yes. >> she's going to be quite the echo chamber tonight. >> there are a number of democratic speeches being given tonight. but moreover, people don't feel like the economy is secure and

that they're doing well. >> that's the real issue. they don't feel secure. >> but the good thing for biden is, you know, there's a lot that is going right in the economy, so people's feelings could turn around quickly. you know, it could -- by the time you get to the fall, people could be feeling a lot better. and then, you know, you'll see -- >> matt, you guys -- every hit works right now. >> it does. >> where was this in 2018 when i was trying to get the coms? people go to a restaurant and there's not enough wait staff. they go to the grocery store and they can't get what they wanted. >> i want to tell people live in another country. we have a pretty good one. >> the mask mandates across the country, i think this is broader. i think the recession -- the idea it's a manifestation but so broader about our way of life. >> you know, every president

always ends up with a crisis they never campaigned that they were going to touch. every one of them. >> yes. >> you think your presidency will be about one thing. and it's not. there is an opportunity for joe biden. if you were to say, oh, my god, we have to have a cold war president, there probably isn't anybody in the democratic party that has better credentials to manage this moment. >> yeah. >> this could be an opportunity for him. >> it could be. interestingly enough, like, he's not polling well on this issue. >> that's right. the afghanistan factor. >> he's not polling well on it. and unfortunately, if you have gas prices and energy prices go up, which they almost certainly they will go up more, that will be counted against biden. but this is a moment. the fact is that biden wanted to ton towards china. he didn't want to be dealing with russia. he wanted to put them to the side and focus on asia. that did not happen. but he is someone who has been able to unite nato, unite -- you know, he has been able to doden.

>> jimmy carted wanted to make peace in israel and egypt. barack obama ended up with the great recession after iraq. >> this is a kind of moment that defines a presidency. this is going to be a defining moment in american history. i think even though it's not what the white house expected a lot of the state of the union to be, when you are doing the state of the union in a crisis like this, up to look and say what does the world need to hear from the american president tonight. and then i think in terms of politically, i would think what is going to put him in the best position to lead the american people to restore his credibility, restore his leadership. so even though we've loved to lay out a great agenda for midterms, having him lead in this moment is probably the best thing that he can do to also boost his -- >> don't try to hit base notes, meaning, like, i'm going to give that constituency group something and that -- is that a waste of time? >> it won't come through. >> hit that note and that note

and that note. >> the state of the union does allow you to lay out a blueprint for the entire year. and you can maintain that. but i would not -- the real opportunity in front of you is to capture the leadership mantle and that is probably the most important thing to get out of this speech. i wouldn't sacrifice that opportunity. >> dirty little secret, in 36 hours this will be forgotten. this changes nothing broader. ukraine is a defined moment in the long term. >> long term. >> but in the short term, it will be inflation and it will be the economy. so, look, if i'm a republican right now and if i'm advising them, i'm saying keep exactly what you focused on with virginia and been focused on the whole time with what works -- the inflation, economy, crime. >> and you would ignore putin or would you sort of amen whatever biden's doing for now on putin and then shift towards economic -- >> i don't think it's either/or. elections are about contrast. almost everyone is on the same page regarding putin, go with

the contrast. >> one to have odd things that gives credence to what jennifer is saying is the president the polling below every other elected democrat in the country. it's a fact. i can't think of another one polling less than 40%. so in a weird way, they're already separated from the president. >> well, you know, part of the problem i think that biden has -- and i've been thinking about this a bit -- is the fact that, like, he does not have this locked-in base that was in love with him, right. >> a george h.w. bush problem. same happened to him. >> he can function. he can do well. he knows government. he knows all of that. but people are not in love with biden. so he has that problem. so there are a lot of people who are ready to be, like, okay, you didn't get voting rights, nothing on police -- they're ready, like -- >> i hate to draw a broad brush, but the two one-term presidents we've had, the three we've had, before trump, the two we had before came in without real

bases. carter and bush didn't have a real base. biden has that in common with them. it's also why bush got 91% approval at one point. >> health and wellness. >> exactly. >> that 91% approval rating, that's what that is about. >> he went after it strongly. in a weird way, biden might want to emulate that. >> you want that 91% to last. >> didn't work out for george h.w. bush. >> didn't help with the midterms actually. >> no. >> appreciate you guys coming in. happy first day in d.c. that we can do this. >> yeah. really niles. >> thank you very much. breaking news here surrounding the stage for tonight's state of the union. the ukrainian ambassador to the united states will join first lady jill biden tonight. it will be a very public show of support for the ukrainian people on a very large stage. that won't be the only visual show of support.

several on capitol hill have been spotted wearing yellow and blue, colors of the ukrainian flag on the hill today. i have two ties with yellow and blue. i wore one on sunday. we're all doing our best, i think, to get those colors out. another quick programming note. be sure to tune in to our special "meet the press" coverage of the state of the union tonight. it starts right after the speech ends and the reaction begins. i'll be with kristen welker. up next, steny hoyer joins me to discuss his party's message at this krill moment. you're watching "meet the press daily." who said you can't do dinner? who said only this is good? and this is bad? i'm doing it my way. meet plenity. an fda -cleared clinically proven weight management aid for adults with a bmi of 25-40 when combined with diet and exercise. plenity is not a drug - it's made from naturally derived building blocks and helps you feel fuller and eat less. it is a prescription only treatment and is not for pregnant women or people allergic to its ingredients. talk to your doctor or visit myplenity.com to learn more.

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welcome back. the number you should know today, 31, the official number of house democrats who have chosen not to seek re-election this year. the latest florida congressman ted deutsch. he announced his retirement, seven-term congressman whose district includes parts of palm beach and broward countys, parkland, will become the ceo of the american jewish committee when he leaves office. 30 other democrats on theed out of running for another term. the number is larger than the margin democrats currently hold over republicans in the house. the majority of democrats are fighting an uphill battle to keep. in comparison, 14 republicans have announced their retirement. fred keller said yesterday he won't seek re-election after redistricting put him up against another sitting republican member of congress. by the way, the ted deutsch seat will likely stay in democratic

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100 days since i took the oath of office, lifted my hand off our family bible and inherited a nation, we all did, that was in crisis. >> that was president biden addressing a joint session of congress last april where the message above all was a hopeful one. but the last year has been a roller coaster for the president and his party -- delta, omicron, rising inflation, falling poll numbers, the afghanistan withdraw, and now war in europe. as the president prepares to address the nation in his first official state of the union, house majority leader, congressman steny hoyer from maryland. congressman, it's good to see you. i was thinking today, you know, you've been serving in congress since -- >> a long time.

>> we're coming full circle. tonight is going to be the first speech in at least 20 years, state of the union in 20 years, that is a foreign policy focus. what do you want to hear from the president tonight? and what don't you want to hear from the president tonight? >> well, what i do want to hear is a call for unity and focus and a unity of purpose. we are now confronting the worst real risk of war that we have since 1945. general milley said that yesterday, and i agree with him. the fact of the matter is we have one president at a time. he has i think handled himself extraordinarily well leading up to what apparently was this inevitable intention of putin to violate international law and make a criminal act of aggression against a

nonthreatening country, a free country, an independent member of the united nations. and i think that our country needs to come together in unity. we're obviously -- we have a lot of differences and we have a lot of polarization, but now is not a time for polarization. now is the time for unity not only to confront the challenge in ukraine and to assist the brave and courageous people of ukraine but also to come together on domestic threats that we have, the pandemic being one, obviously inflation. we need to deal with that as a unified country because that is a great stress on the american people, and we need to come together and do what the president is going to talk about, and that is of course building a better america. i think we're in the process of doing that. we've done some with the bipartisan pieces of legislation

and some with partisan legislation like the american rescue plan. >> what should be congress' top priority starting tomorrow morning? i say this because the president has his own priorities i'd argue confronting putin right now. i think everybody would be it should be the commander in cheech's first focus. congress has got a lot of things it can focus on. what should be the congressional priorities starting tomorrow morning? >> well, the most immediate challenge we have is making sure that we pass an omnibus by the 1th of march, because at that point in time the authorization for funding ends. but we also need to have a priority of getting the competes bill done. that was not the senate name, but that was our name for a bill that in effect makes america stronger and better by making sure that we can manufacture and be independent of supply chains from abroad as we found during the pandemic, where we needed to rely on china and other entities

to provide us with medical equipment that we needed. so i think that passing that bill is critical. i also believe that we need to continue to focus on voting rights, absolutely essential to make sure that americans have the right, not just the right to vote but are facilitated in casting that vote, making it easier rather than states around the country are doing, making it more difficult. >> you didn't mention the three words build back better. and i say that not -- it's my understanding that we are going to hear a pared-back version of maybe two or three highlights from that original big piece of legislation. what do you think should be -- what's realistic from that agenda that can get passed this congress? >> the president will be talking about building a better america. i think as i just said that we've done two legs of that. the competes is the third leg, and the build back better is the

fourth leg of that very, very critical agenda. those are really the major items. voting rights is a critical agenda item, but i think we're moving in that direction. i would hope we could do so in a bipartisan way. to the extent the republicans differ from specifics, we ought to breach those gaps. but building a better and stronger america is i think the president's agenda and vision. >> how is unity inside the democratic caucus? i say this because i think there are three different house democrats that are giving their own reaction to the state of the union, the decision has not sat well with moderate members, but i think there's a centrist member with the republicans going to be doing one. sounds like political wounds, doesn't it? >> chuck, the reality is there are going to be 535 responses to the president's speech tonight. >> we'll head to tiktok soon.

i am amused by that. but have you had that conversation with the progressive wing? this is going to be a frustrating time for the progressive wing of the party. focus will be on national security. certain things won't get the same level of attention. are they as focused on finding bipartisanship as you are? >> look, i think we've been a very solid party in terms of our unity. and i think you see that in the bills. for instance, build back better, which we mentioned briefly, not only had one negative vote. it was not one of the progresses, it was one of the moderates who didn't like one of the tax provisions but liked the bill. we unify voting rights, unify in the compete, unify in almost every piece in the infrastructure bill, so we've been a very unified party. are there voices who want to talk about the nuance or

difference that they have or addition or subtraction they old like to have? we're going to have that. but when you look at the votes, chuck, and you know this, you see a unified party that we can only give up four votes and we have passed everything in the house that we wanted to pass. we're a unified party. but, yes, do we have different voices and different perspectives? of course we do. and they want to be heard and they speak out. but when it comes to passing legislation -- >> what's your diagnosis for why the american public thinks the economy is in such poor shape? it is not near recession or depression, right. it is certainly a frustrating economy. there are certainly a lot of things we wish were better, but there's not high unemployment, target is having to raise wages up to 24 bucks an hour. this is certainly -- and yet if you just look at the perception the public has, you would think we are on a third great

depression here. why do you think the public thinks this economy is so bad? >> because i think they're fed up with this pandemic. they're fed up with masks. they're fed up with having to be worried about getting sick. they're fed up with, you know, relatives getting sick and they can't go in and see them. that's not biden's fault. it's not anybody's fault per se. i'm not going to go into what trump's response to the crisis was, saying it would go away in 30 days. but having said that, and they're fed up with inflation. inflation is at a very high rate. we need to recognize that and we need to recognize -- and i think the president will -- the pain that that is causing people. they go many the grocery store and want to buy meat or bacon or whatever they want to bring home, and they find out how much it's gone up in the last year or the last six months or last two months. and that is causing them a great deal of angst. and you combine the pandemic

with inflation, you know, who takes the blame for that? the president of the united states historically takes the blame, notwithstanding the fact it may not be within the president's power or fault for that occurring. i think that explains we're not in the right direction. i think as the pandemic turns around, and it is turning around, why, because of the american rescue plan, we put shots in arms, and the president has been disciplined in giving a truthful message of the challenge of the pandemic. and i think you combine those two, and then the supply chain, which is probably as a result of one of the shortage in -- when you go to the grocery store and you don't see the shelves filled, you think, gee whiz, things are in bad shape. they're not in bad shape, but i get why there is so much angst around the american people. >> steny hoyer, always good to

have your perspective. thank you, sir. >> good to be with you. up next, if it's tuesday, it's opening day of the 2022 midterm primary season. we'll talk texas with steven kornacki at the big board after this. [copy machine printing] ♪ ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ hey businesses! you all deserve something epic! so we're giving every business, our best deals on every iphone - including the iphone 13 pro with 5g. that's the one with the amazing camera? yep! every business deserves it... like one's that re-opened! hi, we have an appointment. and every new business that just opened!

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somebody is voting somewhere. somewhere today is in america's second largest state. the first state to hold a primary this midterm season. steve kornacki, it may be a big state, steve, but there's not a lot of action going on. in fact, it's somewhat -- i don't want to say uncompetitive but less competitive. >> certainly less competitive when we're talking about the house races. texas the only state in the country to gain multiple house seats through redistricting. they will have 38 house seats as opposed to 36. but check this out when you say noncompetitive. here is the old map, the one that's no longer in effect. this is the 36 district map. when you see yellow on here, that's the key here. yellow means it's a district with a margin between trump and biden in the 2020 election with single digits. inside ten points. you could call it competitive. all over the state here, 14 out of the 36 districts -- >> nearly half. >> were potentially competitive. now one of the problems for the

republicans who redrew the lines in texas the demographic changes in texas were making a lot of these republican-held seats vulnerable. they redrew the lines dramatically and you see a noticeable lack of yellow. there are 38 and a grand total, you see them, there are three where the trump/biden margin was within ten points in 2020. so a lot of republican seats were fortified by this. some democratic seats were fortified as a tradeoff but not a lot of competition. and what it does, a couple of these primaries worth keeping an eye on tonight -- i would circle three republicans here, van taylor, chip roy, and dan crenshaw. the same thing happened in each one of these three districts is what we're talking about on those last couple of charts. these were all politically competitive districts under the old map. they are dramatically republican districts like 15, 20 point republican districts.

very, very core republican primary electorates and each one of these republicans for different reasons has gotten maybe a little bit cross wise -- >> not maga enough. they had to say something to swing its district and suddenly it's coming back to bite them. >> it's a question -- i think an open question. trump hasn't directly thrown himself into these races. there's been talk radio resistance. i'm curious when the results come in tonight if there's a penalty in any of these three. >> and very quickly, steve, one of the spins is look at the number of republicans versus democrats who voted. o'rourke doesn't really have one and there are some competitive statewide republican primaries, right? >> the marquee race will be the republican primary for attorney general, ken paxton. george p. bush is running.

looks like a question of what top two to get into a run-off. on the attorney genocide, some democrats will tell you they think paxton with his baggage could be vulnerable in the fall. the republican ag race will be the closest to a marquee race tonight. >> and probably will tip turnout to the republicans. steve kornacki, good to see you. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." i'll be back tonight with nbc news now coverage and our coverage continues now with katy tur. ontinues now with katy tur. now, she uses a capful of therabreath healthy smile oral rinse to give her the healthy, sparkly smile she always wanted. (crowd cheering) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment.s. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be remade. not all plastic is the same.

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and ask how to add securityedge™. or, ask how to get up to a $650 prepaid card. good to be with you. i'm katy tur. it is day six of russia's invasion of ukraine. day six of war. and here is what we know right now. that 40-mile-long convoy of russian tanks and troops headed to kyiv is stalled, according to a senior u.s.