welcome to the show. i'm mehdi hasan, sunday marks 100 days until the 2022 midterms. we are devoting a whole of today show to those elections. what they mean and what might happen. because they are quite possibly the most important mid term elections of our lifetime, and yes, that said about every election, and let me just point out that if republicans had had a house majority on january the 6th 2021, donald trump might still be president right now. republicans are already trying to stack state election offices with the big light supporters who could do with trump's allies tried to do in -- they'll to do in 2020. through the electoral system

into chaos and create a showdown where the next president will be decided by a vote in the republican -controlled house of representatives. history suggests that democrats are all -- toward a midterm shacking, as president obama once called it. the party in the white house has few exceptions traditionally lost seats in congress. democrats are expected to perform poorly. there's almost a punchline at this point. yes, president biden's all-time low pole time certainly not helping his party -- on senate majorities. the true picture is, it's more complicated than that. there's a brand-new shiny budget reconciliation possibly on the horizon, with more money for health care, prescription drugs and the climate, there's also new polling this week suggesting that things might not be as weak for democrats as they first seemed. despite biden's 33% approval rating and the fact that 80% of the voters think the country is headed in the wrong direction, recent polls also show a slight majority still want democrats

in control of congress. the democrats real opportunity is in the senate where they have a chance to flip several seats currently held by republicans. in wisconsin, the democratic in telling mandala -- leading senator johnson by two points. barnes got a boost to win two of his endorsements dropped out -- demings is trailing by seven points not far off from the margin of error. in ohio, rob portman is retiring. j.d. vance -- turning himself into a trumpian candidate and secured the republican nomination. tim ryan, in what looks like a very tight race. vance at 40, to ryan at 39 in the recent poll. in pennsylvania, retiring senator pat toomey of the republican party opened the door to democrats to flip the state. democratically turned john fetterman leads longtime new

jersey resident, doctor oz, by almost ten points and the latest polling. the stakes are high. the margins are tight and the suspense killing me. luckily we only have about 100 days until we get the results. joining me now to talk more about what it all means and when might happen -- both for presidential about must presidential run, he's now the president of the -- research. and political analyst rachel -- host of the cycle news later on substack and all through the forthcoming book, hit them where it hurts. how to save democracy by beating republicans at their own game. i want to start with a question to both of you. if you had to guess, i know we don't like predictions anymore, they let start with a prediction, will democrats lose or keep control of the house and senate? cornell? >> you know, it's interesting they asked me that. today i would say there's not

going to be away the election. if you asked me this for five months ago, i would say the odds are that there is going to be a wave of election and they're going to lose. i'm gonna talk more about this, but it's a complicated. question i do think they do hold. >> yeah, and rachel? >> so, here's a great way to explain it. you're interim is a thing we're going to use. that senate map that we're facing the cycle, if we have faced it in 2018 we would have cleaned it up. florida, pennsylvania, wisconsin, all primed to flip. we'd be talking seriously about ohio if the nominee was the same. that's why i mentioned and i want people to understand, -- fundamentals are really bad for us. the senate map is really good. we could overperform with the fundamentals allow for us because of that. a house is a different story.

you are showing that we are seeing action in the generic ballot. i started in january talking about how the preference for which party controls congress would tell us where the conversion, the swiss voter -- swing voter -- enthusiasm gap will tell us whether the democrats in their coalition which includes independents would galvanize to show up. what we are now seeing for six months, it didn't move. but the combined force of eviscerating women's right to privacy and roll, and the committee, what the committee has brought to the republic a stunning. no matter how bad you thought the insurrection plot was. it's 1000 times worse. it has provided a momentum to change and what we do to tap into enhance it. le pen >> let me double down real quickly on that when. it's such a good point. to educate our viewers on the dynamics and context. if you go back to 2010 where ahead ringside seat, if you

look at the metrics, it wasn't like two or 3 million people who voted for barack obama and democrats in 2008 said you know, when i made a complete wrong mistake and go the absolute opposite way. you have is an ebbed and flow. these mentions are important because what we saw in 2010 as we saw a large swaths of the obama coalition actually pull back and not participating in the midterm election and that's what happens a lot of times. he especially minority voters pulling back. you have an electorate that is older and less diverse in the mid term, which tends to benefit a bit of the republicans. one of the things i've seen and the data right now, which is different and what we saw on 2010 is there is more interest in the midterm election by democratic constituencies right now then i saw on 2010. even though younger voters and minority voters are not in love

or happy with democrats, they're actually saying they're more interested in motivated to vote right now and i cite any point in time. >> cornell, you mentioned younger voters. rachel, younger voters climate is a big issue. how much do you think this new reconciliation bill being described as the biggest bill in american history if it passes, a caveat, would inspire younger voters to get to the polls. how much would that change the game in november? >> it's really critical that they get this climate bill done. but at the end of the day, when it comes down to is disqualification. i'm in terms elections about changed. with cornell is pointing out as the pressure with the democratic coalition -- political science the expectations gap, which is a difference between what presidents have to stomp on with hearts and minds and what the american system, which is so diffused -- there's always a gap.

republicans did in 2010 was they said let us purposely create and enhance and expectations gap, depress the democratic coalition with bomb a carrier. it worked. when we tell people today, listen to this and channel in other progressive media, is that it's so critically important that we put the onus on the republican party. it's true that manchin and sinema would napoli ball, but at the end of the day -- we're not gonna get it until we -- the republicans. >> one of those republicans there's been a real problem for both the democratic agenda. both our american public life. public health, ron johnson, wisconsin, cornell, let's zoom into the race in wisconsin. what can you tell us about the reaction to mandela barnes's primary rivals trump dropping out this week endorsing him -- deciding not to fight amongst themselves and focus on the big prize, ron johnson's seat? >> democrats see as, it's very

good news for leader schumer that they've been able to clear that field. so that you have the lieutenant governor there spin-off's resources fighting at a primary. look, 40 6:44, i want to sort of caution our viewers, because oftentimes, and we're viewers will see barnes leads -- oh barnes is gonna côte d'ivoire win -- there still voters out there who are so on the fence. still making up their minds. the lead doesn't mean a win. however, he always want to be in front, not behind with a lot of voters out there still on the fence. i think what's barnes has an opportunity to do is paint johnson to radical extremist agenda that we see coming out of the republican party. one of the things i think is important for democrats across

the country right now is that this is increasingly turning away from a referendum on joe biden, and more like a referendum on republican extremism from everything from climate to women's rights, to voting rights, and it becomes a referendum on republicans more than a referendum on biden. you've gotta -- >> hats easy to do a referendum on republicans when they're dominating the kind of candidates they're nominating. rachel, j.d. vance, the republican darling is not performing as well as they'd hoped. he's tied with his democratic republican congressman tim ryan. he's been on fire for suggesting people in violent relationships should not get divorced. what do you make of the race in ohio and how tight this isn't a state that trump always bragged about? >> this is why said it's important to get policy gates, we've got a lot of policy, but this is one of the most historically effective administrations in history actually. it was so bad of the problem.

what we want to do now is we want to take these extremist that allows us to create a national argument -- then tie it down to each of the states. j.d. vance is too extreme for ohio. they need to find out that extremists will affect the individual voters, health, wealth and safety. you're really talking about creating a referendum effect, which is as i wrote months, ago the key to destructing the mid term effect. we have to make it about them, not about us. the attacking is more important. >> cornell, quick question on florida and north carolina and the democrats -- jerry beasley, both black women running for the senate, one former judge and one former police officer. are you surprised to see the campaigns these two women of color running? or is it the way it has to be done? >> i'm not surprised that val demings is leading into her law

enforcement background, because that makes a lot of sense. it's authentic to who she has. look, crime, violence will be a big issue. republicans have tried to use crime and balance as a hammer to sort a beat as a hammer -- with these two candidates it's hard to make a case that these two candidates are soft on crime. it makes a lot of sense for these democrats to inoculate themselves from one of the biggest hits that you're going to see coming and particularly -- there are trumps an isms around women that are different than around men, and oftentimes it got to show their [inaudible] these are the two women who have credentials to stand up to this attack. >> quick last question, rachel. you mentioned the map being good for democrats. that's 2022. with about 2024? it looks bad for democrats.

it's now or never. >> it really sets. it's about 2022. that will determine the governorships in michigan and pennsylvania along with the senate. if we lose anything we are going to be hurt, if we lose all three, 2024 is going to be very hard to have a free and fair election. can you imagine a republican governor? no. >> we will have to leave it there. cornell belcher, rachel bitcofers, thank you for your analysis. much appreciated. still ahead, if democrats want to hold on to the senate they will first need to hold on to the scenes they already have. colorado senate michael bennet is in a fairly close race and joins me next after the break. don't go away. joins me next after the break. don't go away. don't go away.

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>> it's what joe biden likes to call the ftc, a big effing deal. on wednesday, senators joe manchin and chuck schumer announced a long awaited budget reconciliation plan, that with more than 400 billion dollars over the next ten years towards increasing health care access, lowering prescription drug prices, and reducing carbon emissions by 40%, funded in part by higher taxes on the corporations. it's a plan that joe manchin was opposing, just two weeks ago. it's worth pointing out that it's a significant down version of the original 3.5 trillion

dollar package by biden asked congress last year. you remember the build back better, right? also, the colonel has yet to get through the senate and the house. i mean, joe manchin says he is on board. good, but radio silence so far from his fellow obstructionist pod, democratic senator kirsten sinema of arizona. if it happened, it will be good for them in the midterms. but it will be enough to cancel out all the harm that manchin and sinema have done over the past 18 months. imagine a 50/50 senate right now, if the democrat acosta's had been blocked by them at every turn. the senate could've gotten rid of the filibuster maybe, and secured voting rights and abortion rights. they could have passed a much bigger budget bill, and then it almost a year ago. remember, even manchin and sinema's fellow quote unquote centrist in the senate spent much of the past 18 months, exasperated at the kind of things that to either blocked or killed, like expanded child tax credits, which expired started the year. listen to one of those centrist senators from colorado, michael

bennett, lamenting it's and. >> 90% of the children all across this country, directly benefited from a bill we passed here. we cut child poverty nearly in half. we've got hunger by a quarter, for families with kids during the pandemic. which feels like a worthy thing to have done. we did it without adding a single bureaucrats to the federal democrat. we did it without adding one more federal agency. we proved we could do it. and then, we didn't extend it. >> the colorado senator is now running for his third full term in office, and in a state biden won by 13 points in 2020. bennett is now warning of a tough road to november's midterms. he knows a thing or two about tough races, after his 2009 appointment to the senate, colorado state gop branded him an accidental senator, as bennett had never held office. but then you come approved he

was no accident, bringing a tight one for his first full full term in 2010, and more decisive 2016 win. this time, he's up for republican businessmen joe they are a, man who beat up the insurrectionists and it, democrats may have been hoping gop nomination. bennett knows it will be a tough race especially when you are in the same party as an increasingly unpopular president, who has been leading a country during a pandemic, rising inflation, and a blocked agenda, something the colorado senator i know is frustrated by. so, how is the two plus term senator bennett campaigning this time around? where does he feel the democrats have done gone wrong? and what is he hoping to see in his party, come november? let's ask him. colorado senator michael bennett joins me now. senator, thanks so much for coming on the show. as of sunday, we are 100 days until the midterms. you are running to keep your seat, and you yourself said it's gonna be a tough race. what is your main message at this point in the campaign? what are you running on exactly, given have a president in

office whose popularity is it an all-time low, how to work around that? >> my main message is we need an economy that when it grows, it goes for everybody, not just the people at the very top. for 50 years, we've had an economy, basically since ronald reagan became president, and brought us trickle down economics to washington, d.c.. we've had an economy that's been going really well for the top 10%, and not everyone else. it's a combination of housing, health care, higher education, early childhood education. i'm fighting to change that. you know, we've got to save this democracy. we need to create an economy that really works for families, and gives people a sense that they are making a productive contribution to the economy, and to the society. >> and you've got this big reconciliation bill now on the table, thanks to the schumer manchin deal on wednesday. if the budget reconciliation passes, still a big if, it will be huge, yes. but will it move voters, i wonder. because last november, biden

signed a big infrastructure investment in jobs act into law, it was a landmark legislation meant to overrule countries roads, bridges, broadband. you said at the time, and i quote, we can we are from the american peoples faith that our democracy can deliver change in their lives. and yet, americans don't really know about this change you've helped bring about. a recent poll by the third wave think tank found in the most voters don't even know this happened. 30% think it's still being worked on. 30% don't on the status of it. only 24% of americans know it is law. that's a huge messaging problem for the democrats. is it not? if it falls in a forest and no one here is that, no one's gonna care about that story. >> you are right about that. that's with 100 days is really about. there's almost not a weekend, when i go back to colorado, which is every single weekend. there is almost not a weekend where i'm not doing something that has to do with infrastructure. and it's a great story. people come out. republicans and democrats were across the state. i think that will be true, if we pass this reconciliation package as well. there are massive benefits for

colorado's economy and the climate provisions, the tax provisions for clean energy manufacturing, for example. and of course, very important provisions that will dramatically reduce the cost of drugs and prescription drugs in this country. i mean, we are gonna cap seniors at a pocket expensive, about $2,000. and for the first time in american history, medicare is gonna be required to negotiate drug prices for the american people. i can't think of anything you can do right now, to be more popular with the american people, especially when they are facing the kind of inflation they are facing. >> so, let me ask you this question. if you guys get hammered in the midterms, we will know that it will be a kind of a postmortem. and there's already rallies going on within the party between the various wings. there are those who would say, you know, there is a centrist quote unquote moderate centrist, and progressive, like elizabeth

warren who has begun yesterday. the progressives would say that joe biden, the democrats who are doing really well at the beginning of 2021, when they were doing lots of ambitious radical, progressive things, the american rescue plan, sending checks out to people, spending money. and as they became more moderate and restraint, perhaps, pushed by manchin and sinema, he became less popular. what is your response to that argument? >> i don't agree with that. first of all, the characterization of progressive versus moderate, let's put that aside. i think we are dealing with very high inflation. we've got very high gas prices. it's true all over the world, you know, but that's cold comfort to people in colorado to pay for dollars and 50 cents for gasoline. people will be able to have a conversation, which cost this, the supply chain issues that we are confronting as a result of coming back from covid, the energy crisis that we are confronting as a result of the economy getting much better. and then, putin invading ukraine. these aren't excuses.

these are the facts. and my opponent in this race, who by the way has said that donald trump bears nor sponsor billeting for january six, who said he would have voted for everyone of trump's supreme court nominees. he says that he opposes the law that we've passed in colorado that codified a woman's right to choose. he keeps saying the only number that matters is 9.1%, because that is the inflation number. well, the number is 9.6% in the eu. i'm not sure joe biden cost that as well. we have to be out there explaining this. and we have to win, by the way. i don't want to talk about postmortems today. we have to win the. democracy is at stake. this is not just about people being on the ballot. this is not just about names on the ballot. and if you believe, as i believe, that the democracy is at stake, it means democrats have a moral obligation to win seats, and wisconsin, pennsylvania, ohio, colorado, nevada. we have two windows seats,

because if we lose them, we are gonna lose them to people that don't actually believe in democracy. >> yes, indeed. as we were discussing earlier, especially in places like michigan. let me ask you this, you brought up, by the way on the postmortem point, it's a fair point, but it's a pre-more than right now because your party already discussing who is to blame for what's going on. but let me just ask you this. you mentioned your opponents views on january the 6th. i am glad you mentioned their views, because a lot of the polls recently show that democrats prospects for november have improved. and many would argue, that's because of the january 6th public hearings. it reminded people of extremism and radicalism of this gop. it reminded people of the donald trump that still exists. isn't that an argument for your party to be much more expressive about donald trump, and about gop extremism, which maybe haven't been as expressive about as you could have been? >> i think, i hope very much that what comes out of the january 6th hearings is that donald trump never has the chance to run for president of the united states. that is what i hope the result will be. i think for people like my opponent who is saying, donald

trump there's no responsibility for january six, i wish you would watch some january 6th hearings, because he would know that is completely untrue. and i do think that the party is very extreme. i mean, you see it with mitch mcconnell saying he might pass a national abortion ban. you see it in the wake of the supreme court overturning roe v. wade. you see it in their inability to even vote to cut drug prices for seniors in this country which is what we are doing right now. you see it in their inability to support provisions that are incredibly important to dealing with climate change. and i think above all else, you see it in a world where they want to double down on an economy that has worked only for the people at the very top, and not for everybody else. i think every single democrat can agree with the last thing i said. am i disappointed that we haven't reversed the trump tax cuts on the wealthiest people in this country? absolutely. and my outrage the democratic party didn't fight hard enough to for the child tax credit,

which i talked about for so many years? i absolutely am. but now is the time to win these races. that's what we have to do now. we cannot afford that mitch mcconnell become the majority leader of the united states senate. that would be a disaster. >> we will have to leave it there. senator michael bennett, thank you so much for your time. appreciate. >> still to come, why do we naturally focus on congressional races in the midterms, maybe statewide races prove to be the most consequential, when it comes to the future of our democracy. that is because supporters of trump's big lie, running to become the top election officials, in their states, throughout the nation. more on that, a scary story after a short break, do not go away. away because flowers find a way to break through. just like we will. join the fight at alz.org/walk make your home totally you. i did with wayfair.

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of the upcoming midterm elections and congress. those races will decide which party has a majority when congress is set to -- the next presidential vote on january six 2025. but across the country, voters are also selecting governors and secretaries of state that are officials who oversee future elections in their states. some of the leading republican candidates are 2020 election deniers and wears. take arizona. we are next tuesday, republicans will pick a nominee to replace outgoing democratic secretary of state, katie hobbs. the man to beat in the primaries mark finchem, a trump endorsed state legislature in

2014 said was a member of the oath keepers. and chum attended trump's january 6th rally near the white house. according to campaign filings, finchem got paid thousands by the trump campaign while he was challenging joe biden's election victory in arizona. and election result he denied again onstage just a week ago. >> there are people that are in this race who they didn't like the audit. they say it undermines democracy. they didn't believe that there was a problem. to this day, there is at least one who says there is nothing wrong with our elections. joe biden won. >> finchem still has to win a republican primary on tuesday, but election deniers have already cleared that hurdle in other states, like jim marchant we told nbc news, he would not have have certified joe biden's win in nevada in 2020. he's now the gop nominee to run elections there. march launched in america first secretary of state candidates coalition to install people

like him across the country. people like christina crumble, another 2020 election desire -- denier when -- karamo has called and son-elect dissed minion of george soros. -- had set some truly, truly strange things. these are just election deniers running in big battleground states, but in red states like indiana, the republican nominee is almost guaranteed to win in november. indiana is where big lie candidate diego morale is unseated the incumbent republican -- morale of said he would quote, help take back the presidency in 24. even though morales was fired for poor performance in election he now wants to run. according to the associated press. he was fired because of, quote, office politics. you know the metaphor about foxes in the house? is it. these are candidates deeply committed to the lie that trump

won and could potentially pave the way for another trump term. now they're laying the ground road for 2024. it's an orwellian crusade. more evidence that democracy is on the battle hundreds from no. possibly for the last time. coming up, president obama had a, quote, shellacking in 2010. he certainly was not the first rough mature night. what can president biden learn from history? that's next. biden learn from history that's next. that's next. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq

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the democrats are in the days. and the countries in for a ride. it is one of the most radical political shifts of the 20th century. >> from our election headquarters the surge of american voters sweep republicans into office in the gop takes command of the house. >> if you're just waking up this morning, democrats have recaptured control of the house for the first time in eight years, when they picked up at least 28 seats. that number could go higher.

>> the conventional wisdom says midterm elections are referendum on the sitting president and his party. the truth is, midterms are more of a -- in the past century only to first temperance have gained how seats in the midterms. franklin roosevelt's democrats picked up nine how seats in 1934 as he battled the great depression launched a new deal. the republicans on the george w. bush picked up eight seats in 2002. the first federal elections after 9/11 and the launch of the war in afghanistan. both were special historical cases. to tell the truth, both were very small gains. in fact, since true ford was an office -- the party has lost more than an average of 30 congressional seats in their first midterm contests. this november, republicans need to flip less than a quarter of that amount, just seven seats to take back the house, and one seat to take back the senate. democrats hope that widespread anger of the end of roe v. wade and donald trump's insurrection will improve their chances of holding on to congress. they have gotten a recent poll --

but nothing about the past few years is gone according to plan and washington. what lessons should biden be drawn from his predecessors or deals at this point, and what will happen in this election when the hair evaluate of historical precedent meets these unprecedented times? who better to ask than nbc news and msnbc presidential historian and author of the new york times bestseller, presidents of war, michael beschloss. thank you for coming back on the show. which presidents, in your view, have handled congress in a way that joe biden could learn from? he's facing a likely gop majority in the house, at least come 2023. >> i think harry truman is a perfect example. in 1946, harry truman loss both houses of congress. a lot of democratic leaders said trump was never elected. succeeding the presidency after franklin roosevelt -- for 1948. we've got to get rid of them. rather and being downhearted, truman said all right, i'm in

the minority, but i will try to work across the aisle with the new republican speaker jill martin and the republicans in the house and senate and so he did. and came the marshall plan, nato, the response to stalin marching through europe. all of that would have been impossible if truman had just said, i'm finished or i'm going to do nothing but fight the other side. >> so that's truman. if you look more closer to recent years, we've got democratic presidents like obama, clinton, both getting shall lacked to use obama's freeze. wood comes to mind from those two presidencies. especially bill clinton. we just played a bit of tom brokaw 1994. we're seeing even more radical republicans about to takeover in the house, possibly. what could you learn from their? >> that's for sure. i'm so glad that you used that historical video from 1994, because of that does tell us a

lot. that was when you can bridge came, in the first speaker who said i'm not going to get along with the other side. this is going to be a war of all against all. we are going to try to stop the opposition. it sounds like 2022, but in 1994, that was unheard of, and that was radical. if we don't like the way the house operates nowadays, this stasis and inability to get very much done, it really dates back to 1994. what clinton said was, even though i lost both houses to congress, some going to be like truman. i'm going to put one foot in front of the other. i'm going to try to get things done. he was able to work with the other side for better or for worse on things like welfare reform and the balanced budget, and despite the fact that many democrats in 1994, -- bill clinton's office politically dead, he was able to be reelected.

i would say almost exactly the same thing about barack obama after he lost both houses of congress in 2010. >> so, let's talk about barack obama. when he did lose in 2010, the tea party election, he famously went on tv and this is what he said. this is what you biden said. let's have a listen. >> i'm not recommending for every future president that they take essential lacking like i did last night. >> we make mistakes. we could have done things differently. we could have prioritize things in a different way. and what we have to do now is learn from those lessons and move forward. >> so, let me ask you this. joe biden was there in 2010. he was in the white house, this talk that he wanted a stronger push after 2010. looking back at 2010, is he thinking, why did barack obama doing right or wrong that i

could learn from? >> everything we know suggests that joe biden's vice presidency -- after 2010 he said barack obama should be is another truman. going to congress. asking for all sorts of things trying to get then and if the republicans turned them down, so be it. it would be an issue with obama and biden running for reelection. biden was telling people that he loved and admired barack obama, they did not think he was enough of a fighter, so that criticism gives us a little bit of an idea of what we could expect from biden this coming year. >> so, unlike donald trump, clinton and obama, who we just talked about, took their midterm shellacking's. and then, when we election two years later. didn't stop them from getting a second term. both pretty handedly. joe biden is gonna be much older than either of those candidates when he is up for reelection in his 80s. and your cnn poll this week,

michael, says 75% of democratic voters wanting to step aside for someone else in 2024. that is massive. the last time a president declined to run for reelection, correct me if i'm wrong, was lbj. will these midterms, do you think, well the results of them, or what happens in the wake of them can affect joe biden's own internal decision as to whether he wins again? it's gonna be either even bigger target for republicans, if they win the house, because they love the house, and they will be doing his hearings on hunter biden, and all the rest. >> i think that is exactly right. my estimation is, from what i know about joe biden is that, if his health is up, he is running. and it's not obvious, to him within the democratic party, for 2024. and if you use the parallel to harry truman in 1948, mehdi, i know that 1948 was a long time ago, but when truman wanted to run for election his own right after having inherited the presidency after fdr's death,

probably about 75% of democratic leaders set, you know, you've been a failure. you are unpopular. you lost both houses of congress. let's turn to someone else. they even turned to dwight eisenhower, who some of them did not know was a republican, who was not likely even as a democrat. that is how desperate they were. but the point i would make joe biden, and to everyone right now is, chill. a president looks very different in a reelection year from the way he does at the time that he wins or loses the midterms. ronald reagan, 1982, had a terrible showing in the midterm elections. many people said that reagan is a one term president. two years later, reagan won reelection by one of the biggest landslides in history. it doesn't predict too much. >> what is interesting there, michael, you have this unpopularity of biden in the same polls that also show a generic lead for the democrats and the generic congressional

ballot. it feels like voters this time have rather disconnected. they've accepted whatever happened to biden happened to biden, but right now, 2022, this is an important metropolitan for the future of democracy, until you have these polls showing that its unpopularity is not hurting people down ballot. >> i think that's right. and also, if there was an obvious democratic alternative to biden, who was hugely popular, that would be one thing. but the fact is there isn't. for instance, bill clinton has told me and many others that the candidate of the republicans that he was worried about after losing the midterms in 1994 was colin powell. he was worried that power would be nominated by the republicans as a centrist, hugely popular at the time, military background, and clinton felt because of his own weaknesses, he would have a very hard time defeating powell. imagine that, colin powell in today's republican party, how life has changed? >> last quick question for you,

michael. democracy is on the ballot in november, is it not? it's depressing to have to say that, but this could be the last time that we have a proper free and fair election, where everything goes according to, you know, how it supposed to go. >> very possibly. and that's why all these parallels don't matter very much because i think with this election should be this fall is that democracy, or dictatorship. choose one or the other. one is the party that wants to protect our democracy. another party is, at best indifferent, or perhaps even want to undermine and bring you some kind of authoritarian form of government. and a choice like that, two thirds of americans should find their choice obvious. >> yeah. when you frame it like that, it shouldn't be a hard choice. but let's see, if it's framed like that, and if people do turn out to save democracy. michael beschloss, we would have to leave it there. thank you so much for your time, as ever. >> when we come back, one last look at why these elections in

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go golo. ♪ ♪ ♪ (soft music) >> we started this so by noting that this election might be the most important midterms of our lifetime. and yes, that is often said about every election and every cycle, but that is just the reality we live in now. each new election cycle right now really does carry an

unimaginably high stakes. as we discussed earlier, there are statewide candidates who embraced trump's big lie, wanting to become the highest ranking election officials and their states. people like mark finchem, and arizona, who once said he wasn't okay per. he is running to be secretary of state in a key swing state. what do you think he's gonna do in 2024 with that power? if people like kevin mccarthy on course to become speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy, who joined more than 100 of his colleagues and voting to overturn the election even after the attack on the capitol, on january the 6th, 2021. this upcoming midterm elections on just about which political party will be able to advance their policy agenda. it is about the very future of american democracy. the january six committee has helped to make that especially clear over these past two months. so, before we go, let's take a moment to hear how chairman bennie thompson put it, in his opening remarks at the very

first hearing of the january 6th committee. >> the cause of our democracy remains in danger. the conspiracy to throw out the will of the people is not over. now, those in this audience who are thirsty for power, but have no love or respect for what makes america great devotion, to the constitution, allegiance to rule of law, a sheer journey to build a more perfect union. january 6th and the lies that led to insurrection helped put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. the world is watching what we do here. america has long been expected to be a signing city on the heel, a beacon of hope and freedom, a model for others when we are at our best. how can we play that role, when our house is in such disorder?

we must confront the truth with candor, resolve, and determination. we need to show that we are worthy of the gifts that are the birthright of every american. >> so, yes, maybe it's become cliché to say that this election is the most important midterm of our lifetimes. but it also happens to be true. american democracy is on the ballot this november. that does it for the mehdi hasan show this week. make sure to join us on instagram, twitter, tiktok, and facebook. and i'll see you monday on the msnbc hub, on peacock, where i will kick off another week of in-depth interviews with key news makers. for now, for me, goodbye. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ liberty mutual customizes your car insurance,

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we are officially 100 days away from the midterms. for the next hour we're going to take a look at what's at stake in this pivotal election. it's extraordinarily important boss. includes the control of the house and senate. and key governors races in states like pennsylvania, georgia and arizona. these midterms calmest fallout from the january 6th insurrection continues and the country braces for a likely 2024 campaign announcement from the man who inspired that