u.s. and nato still try to walk a fine line between aiding ukraine and igniting a war with putin. plus, a bipartisan show of force against russian aggression. we'll speak with the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee since returning from the ukrainian border over the weekend. and the consequences of war abroad beginning to be felt here at home. and president biden urged americans to blame russia for the spike in gas prices. and a political environment

roiled by war. that's ahead. welcome to "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd. two weeks into russia's full-scale invasion of ukraine, the fighting is intensifying the humanitarian crisis is worsening. and any prospects for a quick resolution of this conflict has all but faded. putin is doubling down on the aggressiveness. and a temporary cease-fire along several humanitarian corridors is set to expire in less than an hour from now as ukrainians try to escape. 2.1 million people have fled the country, more than half to poland. ukrainian officials are accusing russia of shelling the evacuation route in the port city of mariupol. you're looking at images, some extraordinary graphic. just fed to us a few moments ago, what we believe is a scene from a children's hospital that

ukrainian officials say was destroyed by russian air strikes. the damage is catastrophic. president zelenskyy tweet out this video, reportedly showing the aftermath of the hospital. nbc news has not been able to independently verify the videos that zelenskyy sent out. the world health organization reported more than a dozen ukrainian health care facilities have been attacked since the start of this invasion. and a senior pentagon official tells nbc news that the ukraine is seeing targeted attacks to civilian and civilian infrastructures. secretary of state antony blinken secretary of state after meeting with the british counterparts, meeting with humanitarian efforts despite recent calls for it despite what we're seeing in devastating pictures. back here in washington, congress is poised to approve a nearly $14 billion bill to aid ukraine. the house could vote on that as

late as today. $3.5 billion would help refresh equipment sent to ukraine. courtney kube at the pentagon and supreme command leader for europe and nato, now a distinguished chair at the middle east institute. matt, though, let me start with what you can tell, you're in lviv in the western part of the country. all americans are getting familiar every day with the geography of ukraine. it does appear the russians are not being discriminate these days with their bombing. how intentional? how unintentional? what do we know? >> reporter: well, one of the really troubling things in addition to the humanitarian catastrophe we've seen until mariupol and in the eastern city of kharkiv, and chernobyl, this bombing around chernobyl, which has severed the power lines, cut

off power, to some of the cooling systems there are keeping the old reactor debris from 1986 cool and keeping it from sort of defrotdefrosting a spreading around. that has caused a big scare. we've heard from experts and politics from the u.s. department of energy saying this is not really a major issue. you know, that this cooling would be a low process. it could take seven days. and the fact is it's already pretty cold outside. and it would actually be a slow process. and it's not really a major risk. we already just heard from the defense ministry of russia saying it was actually the ukrainian fault for severing the power line that led it to chernobyl. we saw that with the zaporizhzhia power plant, the larger power plant in europe, to the other side of the country that was a major scare all night long a couple days ago.

it just drives home the fact as we're seeing images in mariupol, with civilians getting killed but the russians as you say, aren't using discrimination. it looks as though their going willy-nilly throughout the country attacking to the best they possibly could without any regard for civilians or for things like nuclear installations that could set off meltdowns and endanger the whole continent. >> matt, i'm curious with more evacuations, how is lviv handling it, it's almost like a pit stop to evacuate? >> reporter: yeah, it's a sad spot, chuck. the major stopping point for poland and humanitarian aid coming into the country. we're seeing a lot of that humanitarian aid making it

through into lviv, and then it's being spread out across the country. the fact is getting humanitarian aid into the city isn't the challenge. you can go by road. >> right. >> reporter: the real challenge is getting it to places that need it within ukraine. and those places are using the same humanitarian corridors that they're trying to arrange to get people out. and today we saw what could possibly be the successful day of the humanitarian corridor. yesterday was the actual cease-fire that led to several convoys of people going out of that northern city of sumy. but it takes those humanitarian corridors to bring that humanitarian aid into the cities. and then those trucks are unloaded and they take the people out. that's the real challenge. chuck. >> matt bradley in lviv for us. matt, thank you very much. courtney kube. let's focus, the vice president is heading to poland. i believe she'll be landing in a couple of hours. what is the situation here, with the ability of getting russian-made fighter jets in the

hands of ukrainians, but not using nato or u.s. air bases to do the transfer? is this logistically possible? >> logistically possible, yes. but difficult. so the concern here among the u.s. officials is that flying these aircraft, whether it was from poland or from germany is just dangerous. the airspace over ukraine is contested. it's an extremely dynamic situation. and the reality is, even though the ukrainian military is able to fly their aircraft in some areas. most of the country is under the threat of russian air defense systems. surface-to-air missile systems. including the areas that most likely these migs would fly through. it doesn't mean that they couldn't do it. but it means that it would be an extremely dangerous mission. so, if we step back a week or so, the u.s. and poland started discussing this idea, you know, a week or so ago, several days ago, the idea at the time was that the polish government would

transfer the migs directly to the ukrainian government. and the u.s. role would be that they would potentially backfill f-16s but backfill was a fighter jet. the u.s. potential was always they would be helping the polish government not get into a situation where they have a readiness impact. then pass forward to yesterday when the polish government put out this surprise statement, the state department, pentagon, u.s. officials were surprised by this offer because it included the jets being transferred to u.s. authority, in germany, which was never something that was on the table. that's where we saw this pretty strong statement coming out of the pentagon late yesterday calling this deal untenable. it was really that component of it, chuck. the u.s. is still until favor, if the polish government wants to transfer to ukraine, the u.s. says, great, it's one sovereign nation to the other. it's getting the u.s. in the middle of it of having the loftic? ic al hurdle that the u.s. is

opposed to. >> courtney, was this at all discussed a few months ago? >> no. there has been discussion of providing all kinds of foreign military sales, lethal, nonlethal to ukraine for months. in fact, we put out a story back in early december about this, the first $200 million package, that the u.s. had under discussion but the equipment that the u.s., particularly and that other nations have been providing and talking about has gotten increasingly bigger, more lethal. things like stingers. you know, the u.s. was resistant to sending stingers to them for months. last week, we found out that they did. there's other ones still being talked about potentially drones. the fighter jets is another one. it is getting bigger and bigger equipment that seemingly was off the table a number of weeks ago. a senior defense official we spoke with pointed out, look, the ukrainian military, they're

just not flying a lot of their fixed wing right now. the pentagon, they're focused on getting them what they need right now. air defense is one. these stingers. there's things that they need right now and not as focused on the fixed wing at this point. >> both ukraine and russia have their air defense systems impact. that is something that is important there. courtney, i'm curious. what's the pentagon saying about the russian strategy, what are they doing next year? >> so, it's pretty significant. so the russians have made some progress in the south, not a ton but definitely more than they're making in any other part of the country. and the concern is they're trying to build a land bridge that ultimately would go through donetsk to have mariupol which is getting pounded, all the way to the border, to odesa which is believed to be the next potential attack, potentially

even amphibious assault. but up in the north, they've opened a new line of attack or advance on kyiv. so the belief is that russia is trying to not only surround it from two sides but bring in a whole other side from sumy. you can see that in the eastern part of the country on this map. the idea being that they're still hoping and planning to isolate and circle and size late kyiv, and ultimately, take that city. there has been a little bit of progress in the east. it's not a lot but a little bit up around kharkiv. and i point that out because that's actually been one of the very first lines of assault that russia opened at the beginning of this two weeks ago. they've not made a whole lot of progress but in the last 24 hours they have moved closer to the city. it's another place seeing tremendous fighting, heavy fighting. and the civilian population is absolutely suffering right now from the russian bombardment. >> courtney kube at the

pentagon. courtney, thank you. it's a good way to bring in the next guest, retired general reed. there's a lot of would have, could have, should have, before this began. let's start with the mig issue for ukraine. it would have been a lot easier to deal with the fighter yet issue three months ago than obviously it is now. what would be your advice how to make this happen? >> well, i think that the way they're approaching it now, even though it's late and we seem to have stumbled a little bit in this is correct. we need to have a direct country-to-country sort of hanover. but we seem to be against that in large sense. like so many other things we are deterred from these actions that are seen as more risky. >> everything seems to be this concern of, it creates a direct conflict. and some are some people that

look at this, like this debate over the no-fly zone. what do you say to folks that say instituting even a limited no-fly zone inevitably starts a hot war with russia between russia and nato? is there a way to avoid a hot war in instilling a no-fly zone? >> so, right now, there seems to be this impression out there that we can conclude this conflict with no risk. and we're already at risk. mr. putin has literally said everything that we're doing san act of war. most recently that all of our economic sanctions are an act of war. so mr. putin considers us at war now. certainly, a limited no-fly zone adds some additional risk. and i think that's where we need to be thinking right now, is what are the risks that are appropriate to what's going on, on the ground. as you've seen the pictures there, we listened to the deputy mayor of mariupol this morning.

when that hospital was hit, and the fact that he still has had russians firing into the humanitarian relief corridors they've tried to create there. you heard this just previously here, that we had some success today of actually getting some people out of the humanitarian corridor. but the fact of the matter is, the russians are still attacking them. and their bombing is ever more indiscriminate. >> general, two weeks ago, the idea of a no-fly zone and more nato involvement did seem like say high-risk strategy. i had a congressman on yesterday, mike quigley, who said ukrainians earning the support of the west for every day that they're able to withstand this russian aggression. is that a -- should that factor into our decisionmaking? >> i believe it does.

i mean, after the holocaust, we said never again. so now we have to look at what's going on in we going to find ourselves in a couple of months or a year saying never again. and i'm not dictating that we take these risks but i think we need to consider them. i think that right now we are focused like laser focused on sanctions and additional sanctions and more sanctions. and the impact of the sanctions. they have not -- they have not changed any of mr. putin's behavior. and we need to look at all of the other instruments of a nation's power, diplomatic power, informational power, military power, on top of the economic power, to see how to move forward. >> putin seems weak right now, seems vulnerable. how do we avoid looking back on this moment in three years and wonder, boy, we had a chance

here when he was really weak? >> well, i won't argue with what you said, but i would also look at it from the other side. again, back to this discussion of risk. people think that if we don't do anything military we don't have risk. well, i think that we need to be worried about what mr. putin might do if he continues to fail. if his forces continue to slog down and this senseless murder continues. what does he do then? what is the risk of seems to me that's sort of the problem. we don't know what's going inside his head. let me ask you one final question, did we overestimate the ability of the russian military? or have they not brought the full brunt of their abilities to this? >> well, there's a little truth in both of the things you just said. i think that we, the world, and the west, thought that mr. putin

and his military would be much more efficient than they have been. but we need to give credit where credit's due. we also grossly underestimated how fiercely ukraine would fight. >> yes. >> what we paid attention to for weeks and months was the russian buildup on the border. but it's very apparent we didn't pay attention to is even though the ukrainians are grossly outmatched and outgunned, they have been preparing and, quite frankly, they've done a really good job of that preparation. >> general breedlove, appreciate the time and expertise. thank you, sir. >> thank you. coming up a joint interview with gregory meeks and ranking member michael mccall, they'll be here to speak about congress' willness and what they witnessed days ago. they traveled together there. download the new episode of the

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welcome back. as we are monitoring the latest situation in ukraine, the white house press briefing is under way, white house press secretary jen psaki addressing the confusion over the polish situation with the planes. the vice president landing there landing in poland any minute now, also hearing from speaker pelosi in her press conference. the spending bill that now includes $13.5 billion in aid to ukraine, about $4 billion above the original request by the white house. the aid seems to have increased urgency in government talks. it's part of the broader $1.4 trillion spending package. it also offers $15 billion in funding for president biden's

new covid plan. the house is expected to vote on that measure with the senate as the current stop gap bill that's funding the government expires friday. still to come, the top lawmakers from the house foreign affairs committee join me here together on set as they just returned from the poland/ukraine border. you're watching "meet the press daily."

♪♪ making friends again, billy? i like to keep my enemies close. guys, excuse me. i didn't quite get that. i'm hard of hearing. ♪♪ oh hey, don't forget about the tense music too. would you say tense? i'd say suspenseful. aren't they the same thing? can we move on guys, please? alexa, turn on the subtitles. and dim the lights. ok, dimming the lights. welcome back. as you heard before the break the house is getting ready to pass a nearly $14 billion aid

package for ukraine it's more than double the amount that the administration asked for two weeks ago and comes days after the delegation travelled to the polish border. with the scale of the crisis so rapidly. here on the set, two members on that trip to poland. the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, democratic congressman gregory meeks. and michael mccall. we have a lot to get into. we've got some time to do it. congressmen, thank you for coming. >> thank you for having us. >> tell us what you guys saw at the border. you were there over the weekend. we've already had the flood of refugees. compare it to other crises you've witnessed before? or does it even compare? >> it doesn't, because if you look at what took place, the number of refugees in the shortest period of time, i guess, since world war ii, we saw, when we arrived they said there were 700,000 refugees. in two days after, you know, we

had been there two days. when we were leaving, 1.3 million refugees with a wave coming right behind it. it was devastating to my heart. and to all of us that was on this, to see primarily women and children and some elderly men. >> right. >> who had not slept for days. cold. had not had any food to eat. looking and seeking shelter. it would break your heart. you saw children who really didn't realize what was going on, but parents wondering, women, primarily, wondering if they will see their husbands again. because the males there, if you're 18 to 60. >> right. >> you weren't allowed to cross the border. it was devastating. >> are we going to need to do an airlift? >> we talked about the berlin airlift-type situation, i think that's something we should think about. to echo the chairman's points, it is heartbreaking, and it is

nostalgic, going back to world war ii, to see refugees on this scale, 2 million in ten days. it's going to get worse, chuck. the bombing is going to escalate. and civilians being targeted. but children's hospitals being targeted. he's really in violation of the geneva convention and is now a war criminal. >> $6 billion in aid. military aid, specifically, what's that going to get them? and is that going to be enough? >> well, i know we're going to get them what they need to continue to defend themselves. you know, a lot of people didn't think that they would last this long. in fact, our own intelligence said two to three days max. >> is that the briefings you were getting? >> absolutely. >> so, the fact that this has held up -- go ahead, finish your statement. i'll have a follow-up after that. >> so, to see how ukrainians are fighting, and pushing back to a

large degree, a number of the russian soldiers and moving forward is almost a miracle. it is indeed a david versus goliath situation. so, i think what we need to do is make sure they continue to have the necessary weapons to continue to fight. because as the fight goes on, it gives a chance, number one, for some of the sanctions to really take place. because sanctions, you know, don't flip off and on. so the people are really feeling the heat of it. gives us a chance to try to utilize information to russia, so they're not subject to the disinformation that putin is putting forward. so, yes, the money that we will be appropriating for lethal aid, tremendously important to reflen -- replenish it. >> i assume you're giving

weapons -- >> the chairman, we doubled our appropriation. after our trips of $3 billion. what they'll tell you we need weapons. we don't need your troops. we need weapons. >> where do the weapons come from? other nato countries? >> other nato countries, of course, the united states. we visited the 82 around airborne operation to get these weapons into the country and ukraine. and it's vital that we get more lethal weapons, particularly air defense, the drones that are lethal. and the surface-to-air missiles. we need to get that in now. the good news, we're going to vote today. we're going to get that done. >> also what's important, we're all together, the nato allies, is this one of the things putin has done is united us. that's why you see weapons coming from different nato allies altogether. and we are surrounding putin in russia.

he thinks he's going to surround kyiv. if you look at that 141 individual countries that voted against putin it shows that we're surrounding him internationally. >> mike quigley, democrat, member of congress from chicago was on the show yesterday and he said that he's warming to supporting a no-fly zone because the ukrainian people in his mind have earned it. what you guys just thought about, u.s. intelligence thought they were going to fold in two days. is there a point the longer ukraine holds up the longer we have to think about helping militarily? >> i think the more humanitarian or genocide we see, in violation of the geneva convention, that may pull us into the conflict. >> it happened in the mid-90s. in kosovo. it was the pictures that drew us in. >> with nato, that could cause immediate. >> you see it happening now. there are certain things considered now that were not

considered, say, a month ago. it's because of the action that's taking place on the ground. and we want to make sure -- and we're talking to our nato allies and that we're doing it collectively. that we're not divided. i think as things evolve, then you step up to the plate. >> role of the ukrainian people is far stronger than the russian military. we completely underoverestimated the military of russia and underestimated the resistance. >> without getting yourself in trouble, guys, the status of the russian military, is it a strategic failure? or is this a military -- there's an aid, sort of dining out from boris yetten security adviser saying the oligarchs told putin we've got this. and saying if people profit in our defense industry, imagine what you see in russia. so what is our intelligence saying, is this strategic failure or the military?

>> i think it's an incompetent military. i think they are not able to do what they were trained to do. i think you have a lot of young individuals who also don't have their heart in this -- once they land on the ground and see what they're -- some of them are their relatives. >> it's like canadians and americans fighting. >> that's correct. so, it just -- they just don't have it. and, you know, they're today, also, it looks like climate -- the tanks were stuck in the mud. they thought it would be colder. >> i know. you kept hearing they were waiting for the ground to freeze. >> that's right. never froze. >> they're far more incompetent than we thought. i think strategically, militarily, putin, there was a

hubris that general donahue briefed us on. >> and let's talk about politics of oil. look, stalin, we're on the side of stalin, whether we like it or not. so, i know in times of war, the overton window changes. stalin is the ally, is that -- >> i think what we're looking at, a scenario, as far as i'm concerned, if we can read off nicolas maduro from being an ally, selling oil and dealing with russia, it's to our benefit. but we still have to make sure that we stand with -- there's three things that we wanted to make sure of nicolas maduro. we wanted to make sure, number one, he would go back to the negotiating table. number two, get our hostages back. >> and two -- >> we got to continue to work more. number three, we want to make sure we pull away from russia. we're trying to see whether that

works, strategically it makes sense. >> cold war pragmatism, that's what that are sounds like to me. your parties want to have a field day on this, at the same time, cold war pragmatism matters in a fight of good and evil? >> this is very reminiscent of my father's war. and that brought americans together. and i think putin has done one thing that i think is good in that he has united nato. he's united the g7 and eu. he's united republicans and democrats. >> do you support this attempt with venezuela? i notice you didn't quite jump in there? >> well, i personally think we ought to be producing more energy in this country and not rely on dictators like maduro and venezuela or iran. however, i did agree and urged secretary blinken to say we're going to stop the importation of russian oil.

it's immoral, at the end of the day, for us as americans to fund the killing of innocent civilians. that had to stop. and i'm proud the administration did that. >> i think we can work it out. i'm not going to allow anyone to separate us on this issue. we know who the bad guy is. >> do you support a reproachment to saudi arabia? >> i think the conversation that's being ahead now, you know, saudi arabia, and i know what i'm doing, looking at those countries particularly that may not have voted with the 141. i'm going to be calling them to say, look -- >> they didn't abstain, they only voted for the one. >> we want to make sure, you know, we want to make sure that we're working collective together in that regards. and i think it's part of my job to call them on issues, you know, saudi arabia, venezuela. you know, iran in a whole different ball game for me. >> i understand that.

do you support this to the saudis? to have to cut themselves off from russia to get back in good graces? >> well, they're a little cozy. and we would like them to provide the lethal weapons, particularly the drones. >> they have weapons that could help right now? >> 100%. but they're hesitant because of their relationship with the russians. i think that's something that the chairman and i agree on as well. >> absolutely. >> we'll be talking to their ambassador. >> thank you both for taking a few minutes with me. up next, we're going to take you a place where mothers and babies are trying to escape the chaos of war for even just a moment. you're watching "meet the press daily." riders! let your queries be known. yeah, hi. instead of letting passengers wrap their arms around us, could we put little handles on our jackets? -denied. -can you imagine? i want a new nickname. can you guys start calling me snake?

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welcome back. as we said, ukraine is trying to establish humanitarian corridors in hardest hit areas to evacuate citizens being bombarded by russians. refugees including young

children and elderly women board trains to continue to their safety. mothers and children were able to find a brief respite in a train station in lay everybody where our own molly hunter spoke to them as they sheltered for the journey. >> reporter: up the stairs just mothers and youngest children. 5-year-old and mother natalia left zaporizhzhia. you lost your husband? >> yes. >> reporter: natalia said she finally believes that once again. olga and the 9-year-old left kharkiv as the bombing expense fied. russian air strikes over minute, she says, the circle getting smaller and smaller around their house. but here, there's still smiles and plenty of hugs to go around. women arriving sometimes carrying just their children and greeting them young volunteers eager to help their country in

some way. >> you are in the right place. >> reporter: the 28-year-old ira and her two children left kharkiv just yesterday. my children are traumatized she said. so they knew it was scary, they knew it was war? they think it's some kind of game. ia said she's so disappointed with how her life has turned out but doesn't know what's next. but here in this room, there's relief and shared gratitude for making it this far. >> more than 2 million people, mostly women and children, as able-bodied men stayed back to fight. they pled what is the worst crisis since world war ii. still to come, the war creating a much different and more pragmatic situation than two months ago. months ago yling .

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. welcome back. russia's responsible. that's how president biden yesterday described the continued rise of gas prices after calling it putin's gas hike. the gas is up $4.25. a spike from last week. the white house is making a calculated adjustment to adjust its messaging.

indicating americans are willing to pay more at the pump if it's to punish putin. but how much more is the big question, blaming the policies across the board. joining me now is nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell and anchors "andrea mitchell reports" here on msnbc. strategic doug fornell. i just had my crack team research the midterm elections 1938, 1942 midterms. democrats didn't do so well in the 1942 midterms. you know, as much as the politics, maybe history suggests these were good ideas at the time they came together, but domestic politics still could rule when it comes to domestic feelings and this gas price issue is a potent one. >> it's a potent one, and i really do think, in talking to

members of congress that they now see the projects right now, and it may not last, that the american people are behind us. and more likely, are willing to take a hit at the pump. i don't think it's been sold adequately. >> well, if it means not bringing war here, right? that's another way to message it? >> yeah. and putin's price hike is a great way to message it. the pictures are just so devastating. the children, people want to know where can we help? we're trying to put pages up and tell people where the credible sources are held for the refugees. 2 million people on the move. we haven't seen anything like this since world war ii, the hospital in mariupol, the maternity ward bombed today, artillery fire, i should say, rocket fire, the children's hospital in kyiv, the military hospital. i think seeing the faces, people are willing to put up with it,

that is what at least the democrats in congress think. >> right. >> i really thought that the republican leader kevin mccarthy was maybe premature in his new messaging that people aren't blaming president biden for this. and at least for the state of the union, he managed to make the case. >> barbara comstock, you've been on the ballots. you begin first here, the politics of war, it does change your mind-set. >> i think there's a moral clarity here, the people are leading, leaders are following. and you see back in charge with the agreement today on the budget. you just have two of my former colleagues. >> amazing how functional congress gets. >> well, the american people and the international community are watching and seeing this hero in zelenskyy. you're providing that moral clarity and how he's been usual the social media and the media to get his message out. he's changing things on the

dime. he changed things in the eu, he changed things in germany. ronald reagan only had maggie thatcher and the pope in those days. and now to have all of this uniting against the evil putin. andhis, and seeing when you stand up to bullies and dictators, they are doing better than expected and everybody is on team zelenskyy now, and this is a time where the leaders need to follow republican or democrat, because people want to help in the situation. >> look, i think you better hope she's right, right? democratic incumbents in general could benefit if they are on the right side of history. >> we're on the same tone on that. >> i tend to agree. gas prices are going up.

if people see that washington is functioning, and the president is being strong and republicans and democrats are working together like they did today to get a budget deal done on banning russian oil, you know, when you have the ranking member and the chairman of the foreign relations committee together, that's going to help. i think it will be hard for republicans to make this case against biden on gas prices right now. i think there's an easy retorque, if you want to blame vladimir putin for the gas prices, go ahead. what he's doing is causing serious, serious harm. as long as there's a plan in place and i think the president is communicating well here and he's getting ahead of the gas prices issue in a way where the democrats did not get ahead on the inflation, and he's telling them who is at fault. he's saying, look, here's what we are going to do.

i think that's about as good as you can be right now. >> let's talk about the moral clarity. i guess you will like this that pat mccory is running in the race, and this is the first time a republican is running against a republic. >> ukrainians bled and died, and congressman budd excused their killer. these are serious times and we need serious senators. >> good for him. andrea mitchell, ted budd is the trump endorsed candidate, and borrowing those words almost purposely here, this is -- i will be curious to see if this is effective. >> these are serious times and we need serious people, and

sorkin, the american president? excuse me. >> i never put that pair together. that's interesting. >> i am channeling my brian williams here. this is, as you pointed out, a serious time. i think we are all in agreement, the moral clarity here is so apparent. you talked about ronald reagan and maggie thatcher who i covered, and the pope. think about that. >> zelenskyy in a way gave that same sort of voice. >> exactly. >> you think about good policy and good moral clarity is good politics. pat mccormick was already leading, and ted budd was a lightweight that trump endorsed. i think you will see the shrinking of the trump crazy people, and joe kent was voicing

support for putin, who was running against butler and i think she will win that race. i think it will help republicans who stand up and say no to a lot of trump stuff and it will help the president, and if the president triangulates and -- >> but what about trump? >> you will see a lot of trump primary losses. kemp will win in georgia. >> because, look, i think it's a real liability for them. there are tons of quotes. they defended a president that was trying to withhold lethal weapons to ukraine. >> the first impeachment becomes more of a political weapon than the second in this case. >> if republicans are dumb

enough to nominate budd, and i would like to see pat mccory. >> a lot of the democrats are running, and there are people running that are going to be real liabilities in a general election. >> doesn't it feel like the 1980s are back? you would see cold war policy used in campaigns. we have not seen that in a long time. >> absolutely. what is interesting also, is not only the midterms but 2024. and the pompeo trying to get to the cruz and all the wannabes. the nikki haley -- >> it seemed like she was more concerned about trump. that's what it seemed like.

>> and i can't get past -- live and living color as we say, and as we sat there -- >> tom cotton probably positioned himself best because he never allowed him to get sucked into the weird pro russia commentary. >> yeah, the truck suckups are shrinking every day, and people want grown ups and somebody that takes things seriously. these other battles look small now. >> just one thing, arizona you still have republican candidates running on trump. they are featuring him in ads. >> good luck with that strategy against the astronaut anyway. >> thank you all for being with us this hour. we will be back with more meet the press daily tomorrow.

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good to be with you. i am katy tur. it has now been two weeks since russia invaded ukraine, and here's what we know right now. the pentagon will brief reporters in a few minutes. we expect the spokesperson to be asked about what the united states is doing