if it's thursday, president biden announces more military aid for ukraine and plans to ask congress for another round of emergency war funding as zelenskyy looks to the west, desperate for even more arms. this as russian forces intensify their attacks in the east. putin claims success in the critical port city of mariupol, but did the kremlin declare victory prematurely? and a memo from bernie sanders camp says he is not ruling out a run for president in 2024 depending on what the current president decides to do. what does that mean? i'll be joined by the adviser who wrote it. that's ahead.

happy thursday. welcome to "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd. with the war in ukraine in its ninth week, believe it or not, president biden is once again sending hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to ukraine. the additional aid comes amid new questions about the war and efforts to end it. is the u.s. doing enough to support ukraine? are we giving ukraine enough to win the war rather than just simply keep russia from winning the war? and is russia's declaration of victory in the key city of mariupol premature? this morning president biden announced yet another $800 million package to ukraine for heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, dozens of howitzers, some tactical drones among ere things. in addition to that aid, a ban on russian-affiliated ships from all u.s. ports along with plans to ask congress for another round of emergency funding for the war. >> every american taxpayer,

every member of our armed forces can be proud of the fact of our country'srosty and the skill and service of our military helping to repel russia in ukraine. to beat back putin's savagery and trying to seize ukraine's capital and wipe out their government. now we have to accelerate that assistance package to help prepare ukraine for russia's offensive that's going to be more limited in terms of geography but not in terms of brutality, not in terms of brutality. >> the president's announcement came hours after ukrainian president zelenskyy once again made an urgent plea for assistance from the u.s. and other western allies, wanting more than what we're doing. with the mayor of kharkiv reporting intense shelling, russians claim to have 80% of the luhansk region. the last remaining ukrainian troops and hundreds of civilians

remain holed up in a steel factory. they have not surrendered. despite putin's claim of success, he told his defense minister today not to storm the factory. president biden says he's soon no evidence that mariupol has totally fallen into russian control. >> we don't know how long this war will last, but as we approach the two-month mark, here's what we do know. putin has failed to achieve his grand am biggss on the battlefield. after weeks of shelling kyiv, kyiv still stands. president zelenskyy and his democratically elected government still remain in power. and ukrainian armed forces, join by many brave ukrainian civilians, have thwarted russia's conquest of their country. >> ukraine's prevented russia from winning. the next phase, are we going to do what it takes to make sure ukraine wins? carol lee at the white house, matt bradley in ukraine, and i've got nbc news national security analyst clint watts to

help us dissect what remains of the russian strategy. let's start in ukraine with matt bradley. matt, here we're delivering more aid and already zelenskyy feels as if he still needs more, he's still not getting enough. i've heard a phrase yesterday, if you give us more, we can win this war, but essentially what zelenskyy seems to be saying is the aid he's getting is not enough for them to win, it's just enough for them to fight. >> reporter: the question is where is this aid going to go and how fast? it was an epic journey for me to get to dnipro and it will be an epic journey for the materiel the u.s. is putting to bear in ukraine, getting it across the entire country to the front line. before as you mentioned this massive assault on the eastern part of the country, this is where the aid is needed most.

now so far, we haven't really seen this huge assault happening. it sort of started with a whimper rather than a bang, but bang it has. we've been seeing air strikes all over the eastern part of this country. what we haven't seen yet is a ground incursion, and that is probably going to happen very, very soon. it looks as though putin and his generals are giving some time to try to reconstitute their military. how much time we don't really know. that's the question because the clock is ticking. can call of these weapons make it from the u.s. to here -- or from elsewhere in europe to ukraine and all the way across the country to the front line? that's going to be the big question because there are troops ready to use this. when we hear from president zelenskyy that it's not enough, we also have to remember it's not enough in -- you know, not enough time. it's a logistical nightmare getting this across the country that's one of things that president zelenskyy is going to be worried about.

>> what do you know, what do you sources tell you about the situation in mariupol? i know you're not there, it's difficult reporting, but what have you learned from ukrainian officials? >> reporter: well, we actually spoke with -- i got some videos from a major general who is a marine, in mariupol. he sent these videos to a couple news organizations. he was saying that, you know, time is ticking. this was before vladimir putin -- the clock is ticking. excuse me. that was before vladimir putin announced he wasn't going to be moving into the underground bunkers underneath the plant. it served very well for the soldiers and estimated thousand civilians underneath there. they say that they are, you know, subsisting on very little food. the russians have hit some hospitals. as i mentioned, there are a

thousand civilians who are down there. they are in desperate need of help according to this military officer we spoke with. then i spoke today with a family who left a month ago and they were describing it. it feels heartwrenching hearing their story about leaving their city, making it up to zaporizhzhia, which is about an hour from where i am in dnipro, you know, just crossing checkpoints with russian soldiers, trying to make it out alive. a lot of these humanitarian corridors, they didn't leave through one of the established humanitarian corridors, but, you know, a lot of these corridors have had to be cancelled in the past month because as president zelenskyy said yesterday while they've been offering the russians time and time again optionings to get civilians out of the city, the russians have complicated things by firing in the area of these humanitarian corridors. so it really is a desperate situation for those trying to get out. chuck? >> matt bradley painting that grim picture for civilians in ukraine. matt, thanks very much. carol lee, i feel like we're on

repeat here. i think it was two weeks ago we announced an $800 million military aid package to ukraine. we just announced another one. we know zelenskyy believes there's not enough and it's not getting their fast enough. do our own folks believe the same thing, that we're doing what we can but maybe we can do more and maybe it can go faster? >> reporter: chuck, you heard president biden say he wants to see a steady flow of weapons going into ukraine and that that needs to be accelerated. so there's generally a recognition of that and of what president zelenskyy has been saying, that he needs much more, much more quickly. we are told from a senior defense official telling courtney kube in the next 24 to 48 hours those first flights from the u.s. with some of this equipment that's in this $800 million package will be leaving the u.s. this is going to include howitzers and those artillery

rounds. this official says that artillery will be in the hands of ukrainians by the end of this weekend. so that gives you a sense of the time frame. now, if you're president zelenskyy, you wanted them yesterday. so that's not exactly, you know, going to satisfy him. but i think from the administration's perspective and that's why you heard the president say he's asking congress for more money to send more weapons, you know, they recognize that they need to do this and need to send more and get it there faster. the question, though, is, you know, the president talked about this being a critical window or russia's laying the groundwork for this next phase of the war. is what they're sending enough for ukraine to be successful in this critical window, though? that's the question. >> carol, i want to dissect something the president said. he talked about at the end of our opener there, we quoted him as saying -- he talked about the issue of, hey, we've denied putin kyiv. they've denied him -- we've

protected the sovereignty, the democratic government is still there. i note this and still wonder what is our policy? is our policy for ukraine to win this war or simply to prevent russia from winning the war? >> reporter: it's a really great question. in fact, it's a critical question. when i talked to administration officials, in fact, one said to me last week we want russia to lose, and that -- you know, it's a bit of a passive way of saying we want ukraine to win and defeat the russians, but that's not really been the official policy that the u.s.' goal here is to completely move russia out of ukraine. it's a little more murky than that. i think, though, the question that is paired with that is are the ukrainians getting enough to be able to be successful to, as that official said, for russia to lose. >> one final thing, carol.

this new -- i guess it's a temporary immigration status with ukrainians. explain how it would work. >> reporter: well, basically, it's designed to help the administration reach its goals, that it would allow 100,000 ukrainians into the u.s. but you have to have a sponsor, so a family member, for instance, would have to be sponsoring someone. it's designed, the administration says, to make this happen a lot faster. the question is will that actually be the case. >> carol lee at the white house for us. thank you. clint watts, let's try to discern what the russian strategy is. i want to start with what we heard from putin about mariupol and his -- he essentially said, well, we control it enough. and then president biden seemed to question whether they did have full control of that city. do you have a sense just by troop movements and what you've seen of what is happening in mariupol? >> chuck, the ukrainian military is basically just at that steel

factory at this point. from the russian perspective, they absolutely do not want to assault that steel factory any more than they've already done. they've taken significant casualties in mariupol. that was an objective they thought they would take in the first week. it is starting month three and they're still trying to secure all of it. separately, putin needs to claim victories even though there's no real way for his audience to know that it isn't a full victory. and separately, mariupol is just about dead center in the middle of russian-held territory, not far from the ukrainian-russian on the sea of azov, completely encircled by the russians. they know over time they can literally wait it out in terms of warfare. i would not be surprised and i would hope some sort of negotiations can happen between the ukrainians and the russians to remove those remaining people from mariupol, both the civilians and the military. i think it would make sense for

both parties. the russians don't want to go in there and fight, you know, room to room in underground spaces. they would take massive casualties. at the same point, the ukrainian military can't last much longer due to food and water. >> are we giving ukraine the type of weapons it needs to win this war in the east? >> i think slowly it's happening, chuck, but it's really a retail sales of logistics at this point. can the russians move their combat power to the east and put it into attack corridors? s there some artillery, some preparation on the battlefield. you're seeing some russian reconnaissance, slow movements forward, however, those are armored formations that will be facing off against what is essentially dug-in ukrainian defenses. so far they've done fairly well. now, over time, when you add all of that russian combat power focused on one front instead of three, russians have a sizable advantage. there's another aspect to this, too, which is it is the wet season.

it's muddy out in the east of ukraine right now. it's very difficult to get off roads. so the russians are essentially buying time with indirect fires, artillery, missile attacks. just as we heard at the start of this, to get all of that military support out to the east to employ it effectively and to train the soldiers -- many of the howitzers we're sending, they have to know how to use this equipment. lastly, there's just not enough tanks for the ukrainian military. they've recovered some from the russians and have some on the way, but it won't be near enough over the longer term to hold off the russian assaults at donbas. >> in short, you're saying they do not -- is it a weapon issue or manpower issue for the ukrainians when it comes to fighting russians? >> it's a weapon issue. the fighting is going to be very different. in the east, we're not talking about ukrainians in their hometown defending from dismounted positions with and anti-air weapons. they did well in that situation.

this is wide open, more rural areas, towns spaced out over think ukrainian military will again impose significant losses on the russians, but went you just look at the numbers, the russian man-pounder and equipment is staggeringly more than the ukrainians have at present. >> clint watts, who is one of our national security analysts here, really dissecting the russian military strategy for us. clint, always learn something from you. still ahead, with the next phase of the war in ukraine under way, where exactly does the conflict go from here and what is putin's next move? we'll be joined by another top military expert. and a fierce political battle in the magic kingdom as ron desantis moves to put an end to some special privileges for disney after the company denounced the governor's controversial "don't say gay" bill. where that feud stantsds and what it says about the florida governor's broader ambitions

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how long can the u.s. maintain the level and anticipation of this military support for ukraine? >> well, we have the capacity to do this for a long time. the question is are we going to continue to maintain the support of the international community and keep the pressure on putin to prevent him from overrunning the country, number one, and number two, make sure we continue to maintain the economic sanctions, which over time -- and we're beginning to see they're devastating their economy and their ability to move forward. >> welcome back. president biden may say the u.s. can sustain this level of military support for ukraine and economic pressure on russia for a while. but the question now is whether that's the best strategy for ensuring a ukrainian victory.

and the president seemed to hint he knows the bigger challenge may be keeping the entire coalition together. joining me is retired army colonel peter mansour. he's the mason chair in military history at the ohio state university. colonel, i have to get that right so i don't get those buckeyes on my back. let me start with what the president said there that i led in to this segment with. wasn't very reassuring about what he felt like -- there feels like there's a clock here on the alliance, a clock on the economic pressure, and i felt like the president was acknowledging that. how much should that dictate how much we accelerate our pace of help of ukraine in this war? >> well, we should accelerate our pace and help for ukraine regardless of the clock or the lack thereof. it's just the right thing to do. putin cannot be allowed to seize portions of a neighboring state

because if he were to do so, it would tell any nation that has nuclear weapons, say china, vis-a-vis taiwan, that you can invade a neighbor and not pay any consequence for it. so i think the president should ignore the clock and he should continue to arm ukraine and seek victory and define victory, a free and sovereign ukraine with its territorial integrity intact. >> from a military standpoint, are we giving ukraine enough weapons to win this war? >> we are beginning to. i mean, we've given them now five battalions, artillery, 144,000 rounds. that's a nois down payment. we need to figure out a way to get them tanks they can operate, which means russian-made tanks. we need to get them more drones and eventually better aircraft so that they can compete for the

skies over the battlefield. and that will prevent the russians from winning, but it will also give the ukrainians the capacity to launch a counteroffensive and take some territory back. >> what is the issue in your mind with the fighter jets? is it logistical or really this sort of, well, maybe that's escalatory, which at some point i'm wondering why that continues to be a concern when the only person escalating is putin. >> you're exactly right. at first we didn't want to enflame the situation any more than it already was, and now we realize, you know, we've gone down that road already. the fact that we are parsing what types of weapons to give to ukraine is ridiculous. now, in terms of say the polish mig 29s, those are a 1980s technology. we need to get ukraine the weapons that can compete with top-end russian fighters. >> the russians obviously tested

this icbm. it was about sending the west a message. what should our response be to something like that? you know, if he's doing that, you know, should we be sending our own fighter jets there or something, you know, sort of calling that bluff? and i guess the question is, is there a downside of not responding with some form of rhetorical strength here? >> yeah. i think we should just ignore it and not take his bait. you know, this is what he wants, to get into a nuclear saber-rattling contest, and that will enflame the passions of the russian people and perhaps put fear into the western olympic. this is exactly what putin wants. so i think in this case just ignore it and move on, continue to arm ukraine to the best of our capability and help them win this war. >> what's your diagnosis of what's been a surprise to many military experts, and that is russia's utility so far with

their military? >> you know, this is just -- it's astonishing. they have had since the fall of the soviet union, 30 years so resurrect their military, and although they have pretty good equipment in some cases, they just have not shown the leadership and the capacity at the staff level to combine arms and services to gain and maintain air superiority, to handle logistics. this is the blocking and tackling of modern armored warfare, and they just can't do it. i'm not sure the war in the donbas is going to turn out any differently than the battle for kyiv did. it's going to take a while to sort out this mess and put in leaders that actually know what they're doing. >> why do you think we all overrated the russian army here? is it a case where we believed the hype? >> yeah. i think the russians did a pretty good job of trumping up their military. we do know the capabilities of the equipment, so that was a known, but it's very difficult

to understand the culture of a military and to understand how good the leadership is. it's not like we have observers at their maneuvers looking at what they're doing. >> right. >> it takes a war to figure out who actually can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. >> colonel peter mansoor, retired colonel, onetime member of general petraeus' team, now instructor at the hoe ohio state university. thanks for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. let's get an update on the fight over the federal transportation mask mandate. the doj has moved to appeal the ruling to overturn the mandate on planes, train, and transit after a request by the cdc. they didn't ask for a standing order, though. this comes after uncertainty, mixed messages about how the biden administration would respond to the ruling if at all. the doj has not asked the appeals court to block the order, so passengers can travel

maskless while the decision is being litigated. that could take months. this appears to be about future cdc rulings, really, than about this one. still to come, 15 months later, how big-name progressives on the ballot this november are signaling their concern about president biden's standing. how does he stack up against the competition of his recent oesm office successors? steven kornacki is here.

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welcome back. president biden took his oath of office just 15 months ago and his standing in the polls has gone down significantly to such an extent we've seen democratic candidates on the ballot move away from him. and others cautiously raising their public profile perhaps jacking for a scenario where biden chooses not to run for re-election. bernie sanders' folks put it in writing. before we dive into that, put president biden's standings in context. steven kornacki is at the board. he's taking a look into how president biden's numbers stack up with his immediate predecessors and what it could mean for him going forward. we know where the midterms are going at this point, bad or catastrophic. this is about biden in '24. what do you have, steve? >> we'll go back to bill clinton in his first midterm in '94. that sort of ushered in this modern era, three presidents starting with clinton who lost

control of the house in their first midterm, biden if that happens mid-november will become the fourth. his approval rating is 41.3%. if you average the polls together for all those predecessors at this exact same point in mid, late april, their midterm year, you can see how he stacks up. the number most similar to his predecessor, immediate predecessor, donald trump. obama was still actually slightly more favorable than unfavorable at this point, though the trajectory was going in the wrong direction. w., this was post 9/11, a completely different political universe. bill clinton had a 49% approval rating at this point. >> that was considered bad back then, steve, if you recall. under 50, oh, now, 49, everybody would be, like, whoo-hoo! >> it was bad and nobody knew how bad it could get that november, which it was in the republican revolution.

the other big change starting with trump is it's this right here. this is where biden's numbers are most similar, the disapproval number, biden is over 50. we talked about trump's being over 50 for the bulk of his presidency. at this point, obama was getting into trouble in 2010 but the disapproval was mid-40s. clinton was in trouble but disapproval was low 40s. so you have that disapproval figure for the past two presidents staying over 50% a lot earlier and more consistently. these two presidencies very similar looking at the numbers. when you look at where they ended on election day, midterm election day, that's where you have converging. take bush out of it a year after 9/11, but clinton at 44%, obama at 45.5%, democrats lost 63 seats. there's trump, 43.5%, republicans lost 40 seats. that is the history in the

midterm year they're all up against. to underscore the point, here's the generic ballot. if you average our nbc polling, on average republicans leading the generic ballot by a point. 2018 at this same point it feels democrats leading. you could see that wave coming in 2018, that one-point democratic lead was shaky in 2010. you could see bush's big year for republicans coming in '02. you go back to '94 and that was a little different. it was the start of all of this, the president comes in, loses control in the midterm. you couldn't quite see it coming in '94. since then you have been able to. >> steve, the idea that biden and trump are aligning here, that's calcifying the polarization potentially. you know, what you're outlining, one instance, that he is a recipe for a lot of one term presidents. >> it also raises the question of this idea of trump hovering over politics that biden was

elected as the anti-trump, does that lock if the polarization of the trump era, now kind of transfers. >> i story a story in the french people and we've exported american politics to france. steven kornacki, thank you. still to come, feeling the burn? 2024? maybe. we've got details on a new memo from the bernie sanders camp telling supporters he's not ruling out another presidential run if biden doesn't run. the person who wrote that memo joins me next. i'm so angry, i'm singing a song ♪ ♪ cause i'm paying so much ♪ ♪ for home internet and that's just wrong! ♪ ♪ i've got t-mobile home internet! ♪ ♪ i feel happy ♪ great ♪ very happy! ♪ good for you ♪ look how much money i'm saving right now ♪

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welcome back. we're not yet at the midterms but it appears there's an invisible 2024 presidential primary on the democratic side that may not be so invisible

anymore. a leaked memo from bernie sanders' top adviser to allies says he's not ruled out another bid for high office in 2024 if there is an open seat essentially, if no incumbent is running, meaning joe biden. the memo went on that sanders and his popularity and appeal to progressive voters, president biden has given no indication he will not seek a second term and tells people behind the scenes all the time that he is going to run. but his political standing has raised concerns among plenty of democrats across the ideological spectrum about the future of the party in this year's midterms and on. the author of that memo, his former campaign manager joins us now. >> good to see you, chuck. >> i have to start with a leaked memo. is this a memo that was intended for public consumption? >> no. >> you're here. >> i'm not running away from the memo, a better way to put that. let's discuss. >> fair enough.

i want to start with why you chose to write this memo. >> right. >> it seems as if, you know, what motivated it and what i thought i took away from it is what is happening in the pennsylvania senate primary where you have conor lamb attacking fedderman for having the support of democratic socialists like bern been. >> there is a divide within the democratic party and sanders has been winning that. joe biden is supporting that and moving in that direction. there are still some stalwarts. this kind of ideological debate, do we stand with working people, is what we're driving at. why is bernie sanders popular? if any democrat is running out there, why is bernie popular? >> what is your theory in this? is it personal or is it his position? >> there's a credibility of fighting for working-class issues, one, right, an authenticity and a belief over lifetime that's what he does. secondly, somebody with progressive muscular ti wields

power and authority with a sense of a moral vision of justice for our economy. i'm going to take the fight to amazon, to starbucks. and when warkers are standing up, i'm going to get behind them like a freight train. it has resonance. ask the question, the democratic party is certainly losing support. with whom? young people, working-class people, disaffected people becoming cynical about politics. who speaks to that? how do you get people who aren't already with you? i think senator sanders' vision does that. >> so the fact that a superpac was spending money on felderman on this was -- >> not only fedderman. look at the congressional races, these crypto billionaires, all kinds of people spending money in these races and they'll make you feel afraid of oh, the progressive vision, inflation, we can't go down this rabbit hole. we can't stand with people on a fight for the working-class america. what we're trying to do with the memo says there is a fight, embrace those attacks, don't get soft or meek, kind of lean into the fight. elections are about choices, chuck. i think one constructive

critique i would have for biden and the team is you have to elevate fights, pick them and elevate them. >> i would argue you said here, this is the critique i'd have. everything you said sounded like a critique of the administration right now, not picking fights. >> not just that. i look at senator schumer, why haven't we had a vote on build back better? i urge them to put up things and i see them saying we don't want to lose. i get it. sometimes people need to know the fight. how much do you believe in this that you're willing to go to the mat and call out people even within your own ranks who aren't with you? wield power and authority with muscular ti. >> why hasn't sanders endorsed fennerman? >> he hasn't solicited the endorsement. >> you won't endorse anybody as -- >> that's a premise of the operation, we don't endorse unless somebody asks. >> do you get a sense he's waiting until after the pry fair for the endorsement?

>> you can speak to their team. >> you have no reason to believe that the senator has less enthusiasm for fedderman. >> oh, if he were to emerge in this primary, we'd be supportive, certainly. >> obviously the thing that caught the attention of most reporters was the decision on a frequently asked -- faq. are there frequently asked questions of bern western that he'll run again in '24? >> yes. maybe not from chuck todd but certainly from our allies, and there are a number of them, people and groups who have endorsed us, supporters around the country. >> not a primary -- >> i don't think -- he's supporting president biden aggressively, trying to get the agenda passed. the primary is not. >> but he does not have that same deference with the vice president. >> he respects senator harris. i think that -- >> vice president harris. >> vice president harris. of course. thank you.

i keep doing that. >> that would get you in trouble. >> yeah, of course. i think, you know, that the question on vice president harris, is she were to run or anybody is saying what are you going to run for? what's your agenda going to be? and senator sanders would make his judgment and determination at that point. hey, what are you going to be fighting for? not just i'm running. i'm leaving my options open to see what does the field look like and what kind of agenda are we as an democratic party looking for? >> what would you like to see done now that's realistic with the way the senate works tuch for democrats to campaign on in the fall? >> god, it hurts me in my soul, honestly. not your question, but it hurts my soul that the answer is so easy. right now you have amazon workers organizing in staten island, senator sanders visiting there this weekend, starbucks workers across the country, like a national field campaign. these workers are the courageous heroes. they are doing the hard schrocking.

you could think of a democratic party, does this align with your values? are they elevating the fight you need to be in? yes. constructively for my friends in the white house, invite them to the white house, elevate them, put them on the platform, on behalf of the nation thank you for taking on corporate power because you care about dignity for working class. >> elizabeth warren had an op-ed in "the new york times" saying democrats can not bow to the wisdom of out of touch consultants who tout our accomplishments. democrats need to deliver more of the president's agenda or else we will not be many the majority much longer. i snow senator sanders and warren share the same ideology and views on this. it does look like you're both jockeying to see who's the leader of the progressive movement. is that fair? >> they're putting forth ideologies and advocating for them. there's a lot of overlap here. i wouldn't see it as a competition. we both have visions we believe

the strongly and advocating to get people engaged in politics. >> do you accept the idea that you publicly in this memo talking about 2024 that it sort of rips the band-aid off of an invisible primary on the democratic side? >> arguably, the campaigns are always going on, people are always thinking politically. i think that's the case. for senator sanders, he's built a movement of millions of people, talking about how popular he is across the country, he would be doing a dissurveillance if he weren't speaking to fact a lot of people want to know is somebody maing the fight, making the argument for work people. he'll continue to do it as long as he can. >> does the senator accept the idea that the checks that you said were enormously popular actually contributed to our current inflation? >> again, that hurts my soul. because if you're on the administration, the democrats,

this is an opportunity. what happened with the stimulus checks? we gave money to people, child tax credit, unemployment, stimulus checks. what happened when we did that? corporations came around and stoem it, took it out of your paycheck. why? because they wanted to report not profits, chuck, record profits. s&p 500, profits off the charts. that was a choice by corporations. i could raise that bag of potato chips by 25 cents. i could increase the cost of this car by a thousand dollars. but everyone think it's supply chain snarls. >> you're saying it should be on corporate. >> 100%. maybe there should be some price increases but what happened was price gouging, price collusion, corporate power in america -- take -- reach into your pocket, i see you have money. coming back to me. look at the record profits of the corporations, that is the fight. the people are asking who is going to take them on? it is the government's responsibility. >> i think you have made clear you'd like to see the democrats have some fight in it.

you've used that word a lot. >> muscular ti. >> it seems that that is among the biggest problems. >> we appreciate -- sometimes these fights are hard, but you have to lean in, whether it's executive orders, legislative votes on the floor again, go around the country, wield it. wield that authority. >> senior adviser to senator sanders, good to see you. >> thank you. up next, desantis versus disney. why he is trying to take down special privileges in place where is dreams come true. live in tallahassee at the state capitol after this. ter this

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welcome back. disney will no longer be able to govern the magic kingdom by the old rules anymore. the bill that will make disney part of the real world or part of florida again will go into effect next summer after its signed into law by ron desantis. and he got mad that disney's executive said to call it a don't say gay bill. and they announced the company would work to repeal that legislation. nbc's national political

reporter who is based in florida joins me now from lovely tallahassee. mark, first i want to start with, this is such, to me, when you watch governor desantis as a political analyst here, this special session was about his congressional map. are we even having a conversation about the congressional map and he quickly flipped it to be about disney. is this an accident or coincidence? >> well, it's not an accident or coincidence, however democrats just seized the spotlight a few minutes ago by shutting down the florida house for about an hour in a protest over the redistricting maps. they took to the center of the floor and was not recognized and the speaker had to throw the republican-led house into recess while the democratic members chanted, and then they came back

and the republicans just steamrolled the democrats, and then they brought up the disney bill and passed it without much of a discussion. it was done pretty quickly after quite a kerfuffle on the house floor. >> this is wielding power, and when you have it sometimes you weird it sometimes without a motion or anything else. let me talk about the disney fight. a month ago the florida legislature did not care about this. i am a former floridan and you are one, and the daytona speed way, for instance, and airports have it, and is this new-found interest in this going to expanded beyond disney or this just about punishing disney politically? >> it's about punishing disney

politically, that's clear. and the reedy creek is massive, like 25,000 acres, and it spans two counties. they even have the ability to build with less regulation than even a county, a nuclear power plant if they want. now that having been said, it's not like the legislature is, like, oh, we need to stop nuclear power. no, we want to punish disney for saying don't say gay, and that's what is happening. >> i have seen some polling on this, and those that are politically following the story, i think desantis is building his base, but there's a vast middle of america going what is with the fight against disney? this seems to be a little riskier of a move than he thinks? >> maybe. i mean, let's wait and see the polling. currently when you look at the polling, fundraising and the amount of media attention he gets, desantis is doing quite well. for what its worth, he's able to

launch attacks that his base loves and opponents hate, and one thing in that campaign territory or discussion, it doesn't go into effect by resolving reedy creek when the governor signs it, and it will happen in june of 2023. what does that mean? the legislature will have a year to decide if we have a year to do that and disney will have a year to come to heel and say sorry, and disney pauses donations, and to a degree, especially when you talk to critics, it's a mafia feel to it, nice park and it would be a shame if something happened to it. >> is florida a good place to do business if you are a private corporation, or only if you are a private corporation that

cheers the ideology of the republican governor? >> or if you are a corporation that keeps your mouth shut when the governor wants you to. so far desantis has drawn his line in the sand on the quote, woke -- he calls it crt, and it's more of the anti-racism changing, if you engage in that you engage in the social justice values publicly, and he has shown the willingness to come after you. >> as desantis has been saying, small government, republicanism is dead, and it's strong government and that's what the ideology on the right is these days. mark, thank you and thank you all for being with us this hour. a quick programming note. be sure and check out the latest episode of our streaming show "meet the press reports: the hardest problem: climate

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good to be with you. i am katy tur. it's day 57 of russia's war in ukraine. here's what we know right now. president biden announced a new round of