overnight, knocking down trees and damaging small planes at a local airport. on tuesday, president biden promising federal support, sending some 700 fema workers to potential disaster zones ahead of the storm. simultaneously warning residents to take hurricane ian seriously. >> the forecast can change, but for now the experts say this could be a very severe hurricane. life-threatening. >> reporter: late last night, florida's governor had this message for his state. >> you need to evacuate now. you're going to start feeling major impacts of this storm, relatively soon. >> reporter: despite repeated warning to evacuate in gulfport, these buses meant to transport hundreds of seniors going largely unused. >> this will all be underwater. >> reporter: volunteers telling us they were hoping to pick up 200 people, but only transported a few dozen. >> reporter: thank you for coming and getting me. >> reporter: among them, 91-year-old elizabeth hartman, who ultimately agreed to go,

worried her roof might collapse. elizabeth, were you on the fence about whether or not you were going to evacuate. >> i was so afraid either way, i didn't know what to do. >> a lot of people have that idea that they can just wait and see what's going to happen. and that's the problem, because if they wait to see, we won't be able to help them. >> reporter: and it's not just seniors refusing to leave, going viral online, some florida residents adamant about riding out the storm. >> our family lives right outside of tampa and we have decided to hunker down. >> for the people who are not from florida, right, i've got these big old windows. i don't know if they're going to hold up. >> reporter: but most are taking the warnings to heart. major roadways have been jammed for the last 24 hours and tampa's airport, completely shut down operations at 5:00 p.m. tuesday. >> reporter: it was nerve-racking. i literally got the last flight for the day. >> you're counting your lucky stars right now? >> i really am. >> nbc's sam brock with that report. and with us live from bradenton florida is nbc's jose diaz-balart. jose, what are you seeing so

far? >> reporter: mika, joe, good morning. what we're seeing is the wind starting to pick up. we are in the bradenton area, just north of sarasota. and you can see that the wind is picking up here. this is the bay of sarasota. behind it is the gulf of mexico. we're seeing some movement there of the wind. i'm going to tell you, just coming into where we are in this location, we're already seeing how there are a lot of areas that are boarded up. there are a lot of, quite frankly, homes that don't have any lights in them and no cars, so i would think that a lot of people took heed of the governor's warning and went to places closer inland. there are a lot of centers that have been opened up throughout the state. but especially in the west coast here. and a lot of people are going to it. we just drove up last night from miami and the way up here, on alligator alley, crossing up, and going up 75. you know, we were pretty much the only car heading up north,

but there was traffic all the way down south. and i'm worried about areas here in bradenton and sarasota, unta gorda, ft. myers. there are so many areas that are low lying and could be seeing the effects of ian. it's really almost a category 5. i mean, we're at 155 miles an hour. category 5 -- 4, i should say, that's a very strong 4, 158 miles would make it a category 5. category 5, i've got to tell you, are just devastatingly destructive. the last one that hit florida in 2018 hit the panhandle. joe, i'm going back to 1992. august 24th, 1992, when hurricane andrew slammed into south florida as a cat 5. it was a fast-moving, small storm, but man, did it destroy. >> it really did. it also, though, as you know very well, it changed. it changed florida, for good.

you have pre-andrew or pre-miami houses, you have post-miami, post-miami houses. explain that really quickly about how after that, the building codes changed radically in the state of florida. and that's why fewer people will die during this storm, fewer houses will be destroyed, even though it's going to be devastating. but andrew really was, it was this defining line in florida hurricane preparedness. >> joe, what a great point. there is a before and after hurricane andrew for florida, especially for south florida. the building codes changed completely and drastically. and they changed as well for much of the state. but south florida, specifically, really changed dogmatically, its building codes. the issue here, joe, is that at 155, let's go to 158 if we get to category 5, it's relatively slow moving. it's so slow moving and so large, which is different than

andrew. and i'm just -- look, the structure here and we're in the bradenton area, i went to new college here in sarasota, florida, an incredible university. but that's right here and this whole area joe, has been beefed up in terms of building codes. the roofs are certainly hunkered down more than they were previous to 1992, but, you know, what structure holds up to a cat 5 for 12 hours or 14 hours? this is a really serious, dangerous situation. and i just hope that the people that are watching us, you know, we've just been going around sarasota and bradenton, so many folks are tuned into msnbc. you know, that they realize that if you have the opportunity to get out, if you're in a low-lying area or close to the water, do it, because there's not a lot of time left.

>> jose diaz-balart, thank you very much. we'll, of course, be handing off coverage to you at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we'll see you then. all right. let's get the storm's current track from meteorologist michelle grossman. michelle, what do you have? >> hi, there. we are looking, as jose said, at a very, very strong storm. whether it makes to it a category 5 or not, we're still looking at an upper tier of a category 4 storm with 155-mile-per-hour winds. it could reach category 5 status, but it really doesn't matter at this point, because we are looking at really catastrophic conditions as we head throughout the next couple of days. here is the latest. again, we are looking at 155-mile-per-hour winds. it's moving northeast at 10 miles per hour. it's going to start to slow in speed. jose mentioned that, too. once it makes that landfall in the next hours, we only have a few hours left before it makes that landfall, we'll see it slow down drastically to a walking pace. that's why we're going to see catastrophic rainfall,

catastrophic storm surge, life-threatening flash flooding, as well. so it's 60 miles west of naples, florida. we'll see that landfall in the next couple of hours. we're seeing very heavy rainfall right now in spots, where you see those brighter colors. this is the track, really well-defined here. category 4 now. as it makes landfall later on this afternoon, let's say 12:00, 2:00, 1:00, we're looking at 155-mile-per-hour winds. the hurricane hunters are in and out of there. they could be higher. we could see another advisory come out saying we have higher winds. then it will make landfall. still holding its strength. what's really interesting about this storm, we're talking about the west coast, we're focusing on the west coast, because it's historical. and we haven't seen a hurricane make a western landfall in the west coast of florida in five years. but this is going to encompass the entire peninsula of florida, from the north to the south, we're seeing heavy rainfall, we're seeing those winds gusting up to 150 miles per hour in some spots, as it makes that landfall. as we go throughout time here, we're talking days and days. it's not really until the

weekend where it kind of jumps back into the atlantic, and we'll see it make a turn towards the northwest and impacting portions of georgia and also south carolina. somewhere between georgia and south carolina is where we're going to see that landfall. but we'll see storm surge there, heavy rainfall, as well. flash flooding will be a concern. this is what it looks like on radar. it sort of looks like a textbook hurricane, right? we have the eye here, we have those thunderstorms bubbling up around it, showing the strength of it. we have those heavy rain bands coming onshore. they're going to continue to come onshore. where you see the reds, the oranges, the yellows, that's where we're seeing those particularly heavy rainfall. and we have the threat for severe weather, tornado watch. we have had tornado warnings, even just a half hour ago, we have had two tornado warnings. that's what we'll be watching today, thursday, and friday. we'll start to see that fatigue set in with these warnings coming in and out. the winds are starting to pick up above tropical storm status at this point. they're going to be hurricane storm status as we go throughout the next couple of hours. sarasota, 54 miles per hour. same story in ft. myers, 49.

that will cause some problems, because the ground will be so saturated. september was very, very well. they had 12 inches of rain. we'll receive two to three months' of rain in two to three days over the next couple of days. this is what storm surge looks like. this is a big concern, as well. it's literally a wall of water that gets pushed by wind and goes over dry land. you have storm surge, which is really threatening to life. we also have fresh water falling from the sky. you combine these two, those are the number one reason why people die in hurricanes. we're looking at 12 to 16 feet. this is new. this came out just about an hour ago. this is a really serious situation. it's life-threatening. and we could see the land being changed. houses being pulled into the ocean. and we'll continue to watch this very closely. >> all right. meteorologist michelle grossman, thank you very much for that. this is really scary. >> 16-foot storm surge s at high

tide, you have storm surges possibly approaching 20 feet. this is one of the reasons why you always have peoples that are told to evacuate, they think they can ride it out and they get caught in that storm surge and there's nowhere to go. >> you have to hope as many people as possible heard the evacuation order and took heed. we're going to turn now to the latest on the war in kroon. russians continue to flee their own country, attempting to escape vladimir putin's latest military call-up, this as a leak in major pipelines from russia have some european officials using the word sabotage. >> using the word sabotage as an organization now. >> nbc's erin mclaughlin has more. >> reporter: this morning along major russian gas flooins europe, clear signs of sabotage, according to european leaders.

following reports of underwater explosions and multiple leaks along the nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines. ukrainian leaders blaming russia for an act of aggression designed to cause pre-winter panic, while russian state media pointed to outside involvement, u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan tweeting about apparent sabotage, noting that an investigation into the leaks is ongoing. meanwhile, in russian-occupied areas, polls are closed, bringing the kremlin, the west says, one step closer to illegally annexing 15% of ukraine. russian state media claiming over 90% voted to join the russian federation. results ukrainians are calling a sham. this as the backlash over president putin's draft continues, with mile-long lines of cars stopped at border crossings. those who can afford it are leaving aboard private jets. >> in russia, every day, you can

get maximum 50 requests, maybe hundreds of requests. >> how many requests are you getting now? >> between 1,000 and 2,000. >> reporter: and the destroyed ukrainian town of izyum, the aftermath of the kind of violence that tens of thousands of russian men are hoping to escape. a resident tells me one night the missiles were raining down on this area, they struck her car parked just outside in the yard. the engine went flying. you can see it right there, lodged into the side of her house. at a checkpoint just outside the town, 9-year-old anya gives a ukrainian soldier a drawing. how does this make you feel? we understand who we need to defend, he says. children are the most precious. >> that's nbc's erin mclaughlin with that reporting. and more on those gas pipelines. as you said, joe, eu officials are now warning of retaliation for any attack on its energy networks. in response, a kremlin spokesperson said the sabotage

allegations, quote, predictably stupid and absurd. president volodymyr zelenskyy, meanwhile, virtually attended the u.n. security council's meeting yesterday and here is some of what he told the group. >> russia has ignored the iaea call for the immediate deoccupation of the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and the termination of any hostile actions against any nuclear facilities of ukraine. this fact, it's additional proof that russian is deliberately keeping the world on the brink of radiation disaster. the second is a nuclear blackmail. the threats of using nuclear weapons have become a constant narrative of russian officials and propagandas. this proves that russia has no right to possess nuclear weapons, as it is unable to guarantee the safety of the world, even against the threats of using nuclear weapons.

>> okay. joining us now, former u.s. ambassador to russia, now the director of the institute for international studies at stanford, michael mcfaul, and former spokesperson for the u.s. mission to the united nations, higar somali. she also worked at the national security and the treasury department. ambassador mcfaul, where do you stand on the nuclear threat that vladimir putin is putting out there? does he have any other options? >> well, he has other options and he's going to try to change what's on the battlefield with the call-up of this mobilization of these soldiers. i don't predict it will have the affect he wants, but that's one thing he's doing, but simultaneously, you know, i don't like the word "bluff." i actually just think that he's trying to deter the west from providing ukraine with the weapons that they want to try to push him out of ukraine. and he's achieving those objectives, right?

the west is not proviing mig 29s, for instance, the fighter aircraft, they're not providing the long-range missile systems. i think there's a very specific reason why he is threatening to use nuclear weapons. he's not just a crazy guy, the rat in the corner, desperate. i think that's the conventional wisdom. i see a very concrete military objective from these, you know, talks about using nuclear weapons. and i think he's achieving results. >> so, how should the biden administration respond to the nuclear blackmail that we see putin once again enacting? he did it at the beginning of the war, to little effect. he's doing it now that he seems to be backed even further into the corner. what should the biden administration do in response to these obvious blackmail attempts? >> i think they did the right thing by talking more openly about it over the weekend. jake sullivan, secretary blinken, being very public about

catastrophic consequences. they didn't define it. but i think it's better to do that then to just stay quiet. that's a different change in their policy. second, stay the course. don't be blackmailed, don't be deterred. i would like to see them provide these other weapons. i think there are ways to agree with the ukrainian government to give them the weapons, but with guarantees that they won't use them against russian territory. i don't think they're going to do that, but i think on everything else, stay the course, keep providing the weapons, more sanctions, because what's happening now, these sham referendum, we need to see it for what it is and increase sanctions and increase weapons to help the ukrainians stop putin's military on the battlefield. >> so two questions for you, explain to viewers just how important those pipelines are and the fact that they've gone offline. what that means. and secondly, give us your

assessment of what you're seeing in russia right now with these thousands upon thousands of men fleeing the country, resisting putin's draft effort, heading to the borders, hopping on planes, whatever they can do to get out. what tells you about how things are going at home? >> sure. to start with the pipeline. this wouldn't be the first time we've heard europe say that putin is deliberating trying to siphon off this gas. and sabotage sounds very part of his playbook. one of the things that the europeans have been saying, he's using energy as a weapon to react to europe's support for ukraine. europe was, at the end of last year, was importing 40% of its natural gas came from russia. that is a huge chunk. and there are certain countries like germany, italy, who depend on it even more than other countries. it's causing an energy crisis inside europe and they're fearful for the winter, of course. it's not easy to import from other places, but they're working on it. they're building other ports and refineries to be able to import gas from qatar and the united

states. on the part about russia and what's going on inside, you see putin acting desperate. and the system in a lot of ways is crumbling and collapsing, but i don't want to sound overoptimistic just yet, because what ambassador mcfaul said was very important about putin threatening nuclear weapons. on one happened, you have putin coming out saying, i'm going to draft 300,000 people. you have 261,000 men who fled russia over the course of three days. you have protests, arrests from those protests, and you have men who have been conscripted who have gone and attacked in listening centers or military recruitment officers. so you see this fraying at the edges or more than that, right? they're asking conscripts to bring their own helmets, flashlights, food, medicine. this is ridiculous, right? on the other hand, putin still has a lot of tools in his tool kit he hasn't used yet. biochemical weapons, nuclear weapons. and he's not someone who typically bluffs and he's not afraid to play ugly. which is why the strategy that the united states and europe and

ukraine are pursuing to pump zelenskyy and ukraine with military might in order to really corner putin into diplomatic negotiations is right one. it's just that you don't want to get to a point where putin acts erratic, can't admit defeat at all -- i mean, he's not going to -- but where he ends up lashing out and doubling down with something super dangerous. >> so, we want to bring in ilya krichillsick who has created a website to help those affected by the actions of the russian government. you recently wrote a guest essay in "the new york times." i want to read from the piece that you wrote. russians are are terrified and have nowhere to turn. providing a first-person account of what it's like to help russians right now. hello, i have a pregnant wife and a mortgage. my wife is panicking and i have no money to go abroad. how can i escape the draft? this is a message we received at helpdesk.media, a website i and

other journalists set up in june to help people with information, legal advice, and psychological support affected by the actions of the russian government. in the days since vladimir putin announced a partial mobilization, clearing the way for hundreds of thousands of men to be conscripted into his failing war effort, we've fielded tens of thousands of messages like these. some were plaintive, others defiant. some were simply defeated. along with russians desperately trying to board flights, crossing borders or attacking recruitment centers, they have testified to the same desire, to avoid the draft. the truth is, they probably can't. the initial number of 300,000, for example, already seems an enormous undercount. in the face of a monstrous regime, hell-bent on war and widespread international isolation, russians are caught in a disaster.

and judging from the response so far, they are terrified. >> ilya, it must seem overwhelming to you. talk about your days, day in and day out, what they're like. >> so i think our life completely changed in a day. and not for the first time. this is the second catastrophe in our life, in a year. so from my i think professional side, after the mobilization started, we we -- so wing we got thousands and thousands letters per day of people who are afraid of the draft and people who got the invitation to military camps, people are in panic, people are in shock. some people trying to protest, as you see, but you see how tense in russia. the problem is that it's really hard to escape. hundreds of thousands of are trying to escape, but there are

only so many ways to leave russia right now. all the european countries, almost every european countries who have borders with russia are closed for, if you have a visa, you can go to norway, it's far, far, far north. there is only one border crossing. you can come to finland, but finland announced that they will close the border for russians. so you come to asia, to kazakhstan to mongolia, there's only one border crossing in jordan where i am right now. and there are border crossings where i think right now -- what's happening right now, we can call a humanitarian catastrophe. there is -- right now, there are something like 6,000 cars and the wait is for five to six days. so people will need something to eat, to drink. there are a lot of bandits, there are a lot of people who are trying to pay to go through the border and if they do it

successfully, there are already market where people are trying to sell their cars. so this, i think it's -- yeah. >> so, ilia, thousands a day are writing you with pleas, basically, they are pleas. what do you do -- what can you do to actively help these people? you're in the country of georgia right now. what can you do to actively help the people who are pleading for help? >> yes. this is actually how the russian society works right now. if you want somebody to help, you need to be outside. if you are a journalist, if you are an activist, you need to be outside to help people inside. the main thing which we can do is try to divide. so we can help this information. and actually, it's really powerful. actually, there is one rule. only one rule. which, unfortunately, a lot of people don't understand it. the rule is, don't believe your

government. don't believe your government, don't go to the camp, even if you have this invitation. you don't do it. because. we know that what the government -- what officials said that we will recruit only people who has war experience, this is untrue. they've got people with epilepsy, with a lot of kids. they said that they will want to recruit people from i.t. this is not true. basically, everything is untrue. the main advice we can provide people is, don't believe officials. don't meet officials anywhere. just hide, just run, and i think, in a couple of days, they will -- a lot of people will start organizations, which will

help people to escape russia or escape one town and will leave in another town. because you just need to avoid your government. this is how we live right now. >> ilia krasilshchik, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. ambassador michael mcfaul, what do you make of this remarkable mass exodus of men from russia? is there any precedent for this? is this a tipping point? >> first, congratulations to what ilia is doing. we need people like him. for months i've been arguing wherever i can that the west has to have a much better strategy for encouraging defections from russia. and now this is another moment are we have to do it, we just have to have a strategy for encouraging these people to leave and the brain drain. we want every smart person in russia to leave today, come work here in the silicon valley. we've got to change our system to make that work.

and third, i would just underscore, we've been talking about and listening for years about how popular putin is, everybody loves putin. guess what?! they don't. and here we have some very strong evidence that there's real turmoil when this war was far away and not, you know, not on the -- not affecting families, it was one thing. now that it's affecting everybody, it's another thing. and i think we need to be encouraging that to whatever -- other ways we can. and to the point, are there historical examples? yes. vladimir putin loves to talk about russian history. he's always writing long essays about what happened in the 16th and 17th century and how ukrainians are not really russians, they're just russians with accents, et cetera. he should be studying world war i and especially what happened with russian soldiers in 1917. >> ambassador michael mcfaul, thank you very much for being on this morning.

appreciate it. good point. all right, jonathan lemire? >> so i want to switch gears now, hagar to iran. we are now almost two weeks worth of protests. it is largely women, who are reacting to the death of a woman in the custody of the morality police there in iran. we have seen protests before, but you believe this one's more significant. what makes this one different and more important than we have previously seen in that country? >> yes, these are significantly different. so iranians protest often. and they have had major protests in the past as well, especially in 2009, with the green revolution, the green movement when they protested against the regime. these are different because first of all, they span across a wide range of people from different classes and socioeconomic backgrounds, that's a first. and the second is that they are really spreading like wildfire. across 40 cities, they've been consistent and there's a sense of fearlessness among these people. they know the threats that they're facing of detention and violence. and there's -- they're also sparked by this youth that knows that -- that watches the

internet. >> 2009, president obama said very little about it. now, president of the united states, joe biden, spoke about it at the united nations. difference? big difference? >> yes, i think they lander a lot of lessons from how the obama administration reacted in 2009. they were faster in a few ways. first, president biden came out obviously to condemn what was going on, but to stay very loudly that he stands with the demonstrators, as have other countries as well. and also, the treasury department took some steps not just to sanction the morality police, but to walk back sanctions on technology and telecommunications to bolster people in iran trying to access the internet and so on. so that is also going to make a difference, which is good. now the u.s. administration has to grapple with the question of, does this change their policy in whether or not they deal with the regime at all. and i'm talking about the nuclear talks in that regard. >> hagar, chemali, thank you so much for being on this morning.

and later, we continue to monitor the latest on hurricane ian as it creeps towards the florida coast. plus, the cofounder of aol will be here on how the internet continues to be a limitless source of information for good or bad. and later an an nbc news interview with arnold schwarzenegger who is in poland this morning, visiting auschwitz. "morning joe" will be right back. hwitz. "morning joe" will be right back l-new subway series menu the new monster has juicy steak and crispy bacon. but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick? research shows that people remember ads with young people having a good time. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a pool party. look what i brought! liberty mutual! they customize your home insurance... so you only pay for what you need! ♪young people having a good time with insurance.♪ ♪young people.♪ ♪good times.♪ ♪insurance!♪

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33 past the hour, new polling out of the battleground state of ohio shows the race for the open u.s. senate seat there statistically tied. the latest spectrum news siena college poll of likely ohio voters finds democrat tim ryan leading republican jd vance 46 to 43%. that's within the poll's 4% margin of error. the poll shows ryan ahead in two key voting blocs. support from independents by 12

points and women voters by 20 points. early voting in ohio begins on october 12th. >> jonathan lemire, wisconsin, ohio, nevada, north carolina, georgia, all states too close to call, all senate races within the margin of error. you go to florida, you have the republican plus four. you go to pennsylvania, new hampshire, colorado, it's plus 7, plus 9. but even those races could tighten up. i expect the arizona race to tighten up by the end. this is a -- we're in a situation here, depending on which way things break where republicans could have a four or five-seat lead in the senate after the election or democrats, the same. i mean, i don't know if i can remember, again, one, two, three, four, five -- five races

just virtually tied. >> yeah, pure toss-up right now for control of the senate, with six weeks to go. talking to strategists on both parties, it's a real split of opinion. a lot of people think it's going to be around 50/50, plus one, plus two, or depending on how things break right now, they're watching gas prices, watching inflation. of course, we know that the abortion rights is a huge animating factor of this election. women voters registering new voters registering. but going quickly around some of the states, democrats feeling nervous about nevada. that's one that's been a little bit below the radar. but they're concerned there. the republicans have a good candidate. they have not a big lie candidate there. they feel like that one's up for grasp, very much so. the republicans have shown some strength with latino voters that may yield a victory there. pennsylvania, there's a sense that this is tightening. there have been some questions about mr. fedderman's health, the debate that looms large in a few weeks. georgia also showing itself to be tight.

but, democrats feel good about a few other states. new hampshire, you mentioned. they think that north carolina could be a good one for them. ohio is harder. that feels like more of a red state, but they feel like tim ryan, if any democrat could do it, it would be tim ryan in this race against that opponent. if ohio is in play, that shows you how tight everything is. >> joining us now, former spokesman for the house oversight committee, kurt bardella. he is now an adviser to the dnc and dccc. your latest op-ed from nbc entitled "think, from desantis to mccarthy to trump,". you write in part this. i don't think i've recently experienced a span of days that quite so neatly captures the difference between being a democrat and being a republican in today's america. biden spent last week defending freedom and democracy on the world stage while his predecessor defended himself from allegations of fraud and claims that he may have

compromised national security. republican governors plotted to fly human pawns to martha's vineyard, while democratic governors unveiled measures to combat the climate crisis. the gop has had other bad weeks in the past, and so has the democratic party. and to be fair, last week wasn't the most dramatic week for the democratic agenda. just politicians and officials collaborating, ideating and brainstorming solutions at the local, federal, and international levels, which is, precisely the point. neither side is perfect, but one side is trying. i left the ranks of the republican party because i was worried it had fundamentally lost its way. looking back, i have never been more convinced i was right. >> it has fundamentally lost its way. what was defined as conservatism when i was running for congress, when i was in congress, it's just no longer the same thing.

it's -- the radicalism is crazy. we could talk about all of it, chapter and verse, but we've talked about it before, so my question to you, kurt is, if, in fact, house republicans especially, because the trump wing of the republican party is, in fact, run by election deniers, freaks, radicals, why are all of these races still up in the air? why is it so close? why could republicans still have a big day on election day come the first tuesday in november? >> yeah, john, i remember back even when i was in congress, when i thought about the republican party at that period of time, it was a party that was governed by substantiative policy. that our system, when it works at its best, is when you have two competing sides trying to offer solutions to the problems. they might be differing solutions, coming from different perspectives. but they are actual solutions. now we have a party that's

replaced that with conspiracy theories. with lies, with alternate realities. and what they have done is, they have turned that into just a nonstop outrage machine that just funnels and talks to itself. and they invent these culture wars. meanwhile, we're left trying to actually fix the problems, but we also then get assigned with a lot of the blame for the problems, because we're the only ones participating in that conversation. i think the challenge of this election, in part, is that combination of things that we inherited, the covid crisis, an economy on the brink, businesses not sure where their next payroll was going to even come from. and the global pandemic. and now we've put that aside. we've saved the economy. we've gotten things done. we've passed gun reform, we've passed things that people didn't think were possible that are historic in nature. but all the while, you have republicans continuing to gaslight and continuing to use invented and fictitious grievances to try to dupe and fool and grift the american people into seeing it their way. >> so kurt, let's talk about the

aforementioned tim ryan in ohio, and the way he's conducted his campaign. do you think that if more democratic candidates for the senate and the house across this country spoke to issues the way tim ryan speaks to issues, that they would have more success? >> i think that the campaign that tim ryan is running is one of the model campaigns that all democrats should be paying attention and should be modeling for themselves. you have to meet people where they are. you know, i spent a lot of my time, my other life, in the country music space, going to other parts of this country, seeing people where they are, their communities, how they interact and talk with one another. we have got to get out of that beltway speak, that beltway mentality, and realize that most of this country lives between new york and california. and the way that they view the world and the problems and challenges that their families face is very differently than a lot of us here do. tim ryan has done an astounding job in talking to people a very relatable, approachable,

understandable way and i think it's a model campaign that a lot of democrats should emulate. >> kurt bardella, thank you so much for being on this morning . up next, we'll get the latest from florida, where hurricane ian is bearing down on the west coast of florida. the extremely dangerous category 3 storm is set to make landfall in just a matter of hours. we're going to have a live report from sarasota, coming up next on morning joe. sarasota, c next on morning joe. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb.

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15 minutes before the top of the hour. turning back to our big story this morning, hurricane ian barreling down on florida as we speak as a major category 4 storm with winds only about 3 miles per hour short of making it a category 5 storm. joining us live from sarasota, florida, is nbc news correspondent sam brock. sam? >> reporter: mika, joe, good morning. look, it's certainly pretty terrifying to think that at some point in the next couple of hours, hurricane ian will come rushing ashore here at potentially 150-mile-per-hour sustained winds. i'm in sarasota, fortified

garage. i am say here. over my shoulder, we're seeing some trees swaying. sarasota, about 80 miles south of this, you will find ft. myers. somewhere in that 80-mile stretch is where ian is expected to make landfall. and it's not just the speed of the winds, wherever it makes landfall. there is an 18-mile diameter where hurricane-force winds are projecting, and then another 175 miles, in each direction, for tropical force winds, which is to say this will affect an awful lot of people. this is the most eye-brow raising aspect of all of it. 12 to 18 feet are the projections. this is an area of florida that you know very well. a lot of people come down here, retirement communities, cute little downtown charming strips where you have coffee shops and ice cream shops. people love to get away here. and suddenly, they could be transformed in a matter of hours, depending on what happens. 12 to 18-foot storm surge. you think about the average house. two stories, it's 20 feet, typically. so you're talking about water,

all the way up to nearly the top of your roof. that is a scenario that they're trying to prepare themselves for here. traditionally, southwest florida, which has dodged some bullets in the past and certainly has been hit by hurricanes like irma, but has never seen storm surge above 6 to 7 feet. you're talking more than double that. there's also record-shattering rainfall that's projected between tampa and orlando. 15 to 20 inches of rain. you might see that over the course of two to three months, we're about to see it in two to three days. you heard governor desantis pleading with floridians to heed the evacuation zones and get out of town. they were driving on the shoulders of roadways and the toll enforcement was dropped, just to try to get as many people out of the zone as possible. hopefully they did so, but if they did not, it's too late now. it's dangerous to get out there and these conditions are hair-raising. back to you. >> nbc's sam brock, thank you very much for that report. we'll be, of course, tracking the storm all day here on msnbc.

so back in 1985, a group of computer scientists launched aol, forever changing the way we use technology. >> can you believe what's possible these days? conversations through your computer? worlds of information one click away. all the things you find only on the most popular internet service. >> seems so sweet at first. looks so wholesome. nearly 40 years later, even one of the company's creators says he cannot believe how far the internet has come, for better or worse. that is aol cofounder, steve case. and he joins us now. he's author of the new book entitled, "the rise of the rest: how entrepreneurs in surprising places are building the new american dream." and it's great to have you on the show.

>> let's first of all talk about, before we get to the book, steve, just the absolute transformation of technology from '85 forward in ways that you couldn't foresee. and i've got to say, as a member of congress, when i voted for section 230, in ways that i couldn't see. we were trying to protect the small little sites that would have reader comments. we had no idea, though, back in the '90s, what that would morph into. talk about what surprised you the most. >> well, you're right. when we started aol, it was wonderful to see that commercial, i haven't seen that in a while, only 3% of people were online, and those 3% were online an average of one hour a week. so it's super early days. we spent a decade really trying to get people to day attention to the internet. finally, obviously, it took off in the late '90s and has now become more ubiquitous, even during the pandemic, society kind of functioned on the internet.

so it's been amazing to see. and for the most part, it's been a fabulous, you know, kind of addition to our capabilities in society. but certainly, there have been some challenges, as well. >> you know, when i was growing up in the '70s, you would hear stories challenges as well. sglz when i was growing up in the '70s, you'll hear stories of these guys in texas that would be billionaires one day and broke the next day. these booms and busts and the same thing in florida real estate. people would be multimillionaires one day, bankrupt the next. now it's tech. we have a boom and a bust. i'm curious where you find the tech sector right now. investing heavily in the tech sector. right now it's down. what are we going through? >> it's just a classic reset after a 13-year bull market, a year ago valuations of public companies and private compaies

were a little overthe heated. so a reset was not surprising in some of the issues around inflation. the fed is fueling this as well. part of the reason i wrote this book is what's happening across the country with entrepreneurs across the country is really remarkable. there's so much attention on places like silicon valley, through there's dozens of cities that are starting. it's much more diverse across the country and include more places. which is important that ties in with the politics that you focus on. part of of the divide this in country is an opportunity gap. some people are doing well. lot of people fell left behind three states, california, new york and massachusetts. we need to get more capital going in other states to create more jobs in those other places

and that's what the rest is all about. this book is trying to tell the storys. >> and that's what's so exciting. and so bullish on entrepreneurs on the u.s. economy long-term. and this book really lays it out. that you're talking about, again, more of a democracy of the technology boom. as we go into the next wave. you're right. it's not just on the coast. it's in middle america across the country. can you talk about some examples of some of these entrepreneurs? stwl there's one entrepreneur in chicago where his wife got diagnosed with breast cancer. was concerned that the confusion of that. started a company with a thousand employees worth a billion dollars. he's rying to help people when they are diagnosed with disease

or in virginia there's a company that's focused on sustainable packaging trying to rid the world of styrofoam. food companies and drug companies need to keep things cold, but styrofoam is bad for the planet. so that has a lot of traction. they have raised $140 million from goldman sachs. another company in atlanta, they are building mock 5 engines and planes so you can get from atlanta to europe in 90 minutes. and one of their first customers is the air force who wants to make sure they can move things more quickly. that company is not in silicon valley. that's in atlanta because it's an aerospace hub. that's what the book is all about. trying to tell the stories of dozens of companies like that in dozens of cities that are creating that new phase for american entrepreneurship, which will be less reliant on places like silicon valley and much more inclusive. >> so the growth of tech is enormous. it outpaces the growth of jobs in places that need jobs. i'll give you an example.

kendall square in massachusetts, m.i.t. is right there. huge explosion of growth in the last ten years there. you go 50 miles west in central massachusetts area, it's a ghost town. the mills have left. the great jobs have left. what can be done to have people invest in areas like that or central ohio, indiana, as you just mentioned. what can be done to make that happen? >> first of all, understanding they are there are great entrepreneur neuros and getting capital to them. and then having breakout successes. eastern kentucky, coal country, which the last few decades have been difficult. unemployment high, opioid abuse high, so he started a company called app harvest that has the largest indoor greenhouse in the country. also uses 90% less water so it's

better for the planet. the reason to do it there is 70% of the population is within a 24-hour drive. he's created 500 jobs in that area where most people didn't think it was possible. they just saw job loss not increase. that's why i wrote the book. there's a lot of negative things happening. right now a hurricane, inflation, ukraine, january 6th, et cetera. this is an optimistic book about what could be a new future, a new face for america, which is innovators everywhere creating companies everywhere, creating jobs everywhere, creating opportunity everywhere, and maybe even in a small way this could help knit together a divided country by trying to close that opportunity gap. >> the new book is "the rise of the rest." steve case, thank you very much. >> thank you. great to be with you.

. finally this hour, arnold schwarzenegger is in poland to speak out about anti-semitism and hate. he visited the auschwitz concentration camp, where millions of jews were murdered during the holocaust. earlier this morning he met with the son of a holocaust survivors and lit a memorial candidatal and held a moment of silence to recognize the mass extermination that took place. back in june schwarzenegger was awarded the auschwitz jewish center foundation award for fighting hatred. as the former governor walked through the concentration camp this morning, he signed a memory book writing in it, i will be back. he also met with one of the last living survivors of auschwitz. he stressed the importance of sharing her experience. >> this is the story that we have to tell over and over again. and it is important not only the

jewish people say never again, but that we all collectively help to come together and i say, never again. this is why i have been fighting this cause against prejudice, against hatred and discrimination for years and years and years. >> it's all over the world, this prejudice. we just have to push back if it is in ukraine, if it is in russia, if it's in america it's all over the world. there's still prejudice. so we just have to make sure that we educate the people and to show them what is the outcome of this prejudice and this i hatred. look at what happened in auschwitz. there's millions of jews that were killed for no reason. just because of stupidity and hay tred. we can do better. we have to love each other and embrace each other. that's what i'm trying to promote and this is why it's important that they came here. >> arnold schwarzenegger

speaking with nbc news this morning as he visits auschwitz. we continue to follow the major hurricane about to make landfall on florida's west coast. the west part of the coast. jose diaz-balart picks up two hours of special hurricane coverage live from florida, after a quick final break. teafr.

good morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern. i'm jose diaz-balart in sarasota, florida. right outside we are awaiting the arrival of hurricane ian. an extremely powerful we're

talking about 155 mile per hour winds. this is dangerous and it is barrelling towards florida as we speak. let's get latest. governor ron desantis is in tallahassee giving the latest update. >> if it's as simple as schismly just hooking up a few more power lines, then that's what they will do. but in those areas that have the most severe impact, it's likely going to require to have some reengineering, to have some structural fixes and that's going to require man power. it's going take a little bit more time. so people understand how significant this is. they understand how important it is to get the services back up