>> still the fun-loving kid that he was. and joking and teasing. and i think he would be looking to have a very bright future somewhere as an athlete. >> but the boy is buried now with the artifacts of his brief childhood, including that ripstik. garrett exits forever frame left. the mystery surrounding his killing still abides. abides this sunday, this sunday, violent assault. >> this was not a random act. and it's wrong. >> the husband of house speaker nancy pelosi attacked with a man with a hammer inside their san francisco home.ci this did not happen in a vacuum.

lawmakers on both parties are experiencing growing threats of violence and intimidation. >> condemn what produces the violence. >> why political disinformation and perceptions of election fraud may be fuelling this latest spike in threats. plus, the closing arguments. >> if we get people out to vote, we win. >> with nine days until election day, republicans are hoping the battle for congress hangs on trying to make voters reject the party in power. >> we're not going to just see a red wave. we're going to see a red tsunami. ot >> who is going to fight to actually make our democracy work for you? >> my guest this morning, democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. and youth turn-out. democrats are worried that voters under 30 are not motivated and won't turn out in

big numbers. joining me is garrett haake, marianne that sotomayor and kimberly atkins stohr, senior opinion writer of the boston globe. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning. friday was yet another reminder that these are not ordinary times. consider we're just nine days away from the first national election since the attack on the u.s. capitol. and obviously the threat of violence has an edge. the chilling and violent attack on paul pelosi is raising fears

of more political violence. pelosi's husband had surgery for a skull fracture and is recovering after beaten by a man with hammer after he broke into her home. speaker pelosi was in washington at the time with her security detail. there was no secure detail at t the house. both president biden and president obama addressed the assault. >> it is one thing to condemn the violence. but you can't condemn the en violence unless you condemn those people who continue to argue the election was not real,

that it's being stolen, that all the malarky that's being put out there undermined democracy. the talk has to stop. that's the problem. >> politics where some in office or who aspire to office work to stir up the vision, to make 'slks as angry and as afraid of one another for their own advantage.r and all of this has been amped up, hyped up 24/7 on social media. tdi on platforms that oftentimes find controversy and conflict more profitable than telling the truth.ut >> donald trump has yet to make any statements about the attack. the house republican leader kevin mccarthy did denounce the violence. targeted violence is not new in american politics. our country has a long history of it. 11 u.s. presidents have been direct targets of assassins. both almost died.es but since former trump's election in 2016, the number of recorded threats against members of congress has increased by 967%. that is not a typo, folks. to more than 9,600 last year. a month ago republican senator susan collins told "the new york times" this, i wouldn't be surprised if a senator or house member were killed. and the recent record speaks for

itself. a man was arrested near brett kavanaugh's home. in july a man was charged with stalking after threatening to kill a democratic congresswoman. the governor of new york was attacked on stage at a campaigno event. in august, a man was sentenced after threatening to kill dr. fauci and his family. a man tried to breach the fbi cincinnati field office in the days after they executed a search in september. a texas woman was charged after making death threats against the judge overseeing the mar-a-lago document heist. and a man who pled guilty to threatening to killer wick swalwell and his staff.

and none of these incidents are directly related to january 6thn that's where more than 880 people have been federally killed in the capitol insurrection so far. including a man this week who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for dragging a police officer into that angry pro-trump proud where he was brutally assaulted. yet, there is little evidence some on the right have tempered their rhetoric. and pelosi herself has often been a target. >> he must go. he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love. >> i'm going to washington to stop the pelosi agenda, and they're not going to stop me. >> biden, pelosi and other democrats hate america, hate god and hate our way of life. >> we're going to end nancy pelosi. she's nuts.

she's crazy. we're going to end her political career. her political career is gong to be ended once and for all. before friday's assault, the suspect con fronted mr. pelosi shouting, where is nancy? where are you, nancy. the words would be eerily similar to these. >> are you nancy? we're looking for you. nancy! oh, nancy! nancy! >> let's get the latest on where this investigation stands. so, tom, we know there is multiple law enforcement agencies involved. we know that the suspect, david d., will be charged tomorrow. what else have you learned overnight?

>> it is our understanding now that this individual as you eluded to, 42, no known address, no recent employment that we're aware of, was able to get into the pelosi bedroom where paul pelosi was, all that according to district attorney brook jenkins in an interview with nbc news yesterday she said this rd individual has been interviewed police and indicates he is at least talking to them which might help out figuring why he was there, but perhaps just as importantly what he intended to do when he was there. certainly anybody that brought a hammer and intends to kill paul pelosi is something that has violent intents if the speaker was there. but we're hopeful to get more information about that. as you said, they are expected to be charged on state charges tomorrow. she also indicated that it's possible that federal authorities could move charges in a parallel investigation or a parallel case as well some time

in the future. ie >> you know, there's been a lot of the reports have indicated sort of how police got there, and they witnessed the beating at the time.w and there seems to be a hint that there was a third person in the house. you've got some new details on that as well, tom. what can you tell us? >> that's correct, chuck. the police chief came out and did a press conference on friday when most people started to go to bed on the east coast. and in that press conference, he stated there was a third person inside the house that opened the door for police when they were called to that house. and that's when they saw the struggle over the hammer between depepe and pelosi and he struck pelosi in the head with that hammer. you know, we have done an analysis on his social media over the years. he had some fringe left wing views, some fringe right wing views. but according to ben collins, really over the last year or so, this individual went to the alt

right type ideology that we have seen, talking qanon, talking pizza gate and a rot of anti-semitic postings. >> and, tom, this attack happened and it was coincidental that dhs and other law enforcement agencies put out a public warning of domestic political violence events in the next couple weeks surrounding the election. what more can you tell us about it? >> they're clearly concerned about it. we could take a look at it. but they're saying following the 2022 midterm elections, perceptions of election-related fraud and dissatisfaction could result in heightened threats of violence against a broad range of targets, such as ideological opponents, such as other people on the other side of the aisle and election workers. the justice department set up a threats to election workers task

force. in the past year up until june of this year, they had a thousand threatening and harassing messages to people that work the polls. we're not talking about politicians. ta >> right. >> and over 10% of those led to further investigations. >> tom winter, this is a story, i know, you have a lot more reporting to do on. thank you very much.ve i'm joined now by democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. n she chairs the committee that is responsible for overnight of the u.s. capitol police and federal elections. she has been on this topic for quite some time. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. it's great to be back on. >> all right. let me just start with that. all right. you are the committee chair. you oversee capitol police. have you learned anything now about this investigation in the last 48 hours? >> well, i think your correspondent did a great job.

i'll say this. this was a vicious attack meant for the speaker. ends up hammering the speaker's husband, and our prayers are with her and her husband, their kids, their grandkids. a vicious attack in which she has been villanized for years and, surprise, it's gone viral and it went violent. and i think it's very important to note, as you mentioned, that homeland security warning that this has been going on for years. the attacks on her and this group of maga extremists who, by the way, are putting up candidates on the ballot that donald trump supports have been not ending when donald trump left office. they have been expanding into

our politics. and many people have stayed silent during this time, not liz cheney, not adam kinzinger, within their own party. i think it is really important that people realize that it is not just this moment of this horrific attack, but that we have seen violence perpetrated throughout our political system. people showing up at polling places, intimidating election officials. 1 in 6 local election officials have received threats of violence, doubling the number of threats against judges in just the last four-year period. and then you have got, as you noted, elected officials in congress. ten times the amount of threats in a five-year period.

this has to end. and there is several things we can do from the security point, which i'm happy to share with you, but it is also about making sure we don't add more election deniers into our political system. >> i want to unpack this in a couple of ways. first let's talk about security of the big four leaders, the speaker, the republican leader, the majority leader in the senate and the republican leader in the senate. they have protective details that followed her person. they do not have protective details that also extend to their house. is that going to change given these threats now? >> i think that that should be strongly considered for the supreme court after the threat on judge brett kavanaugh, the actual perpetrator going into his neighborhood. we actually did pass legislation that i strongly supported on a

bipartisan basis to extend to their family. so that is one possibility. but as you know, just limiting it to the top four is one of the problems. >> right. >> pause threats are received against many members. >> and that's the question. look, you can figure out how to protect those that are in line, direct line to the presidency. but what about the other 531 members of congress? what are they supposed to do? can we afford to protect them all? >> there can be various leveling of protections, chuck. it doesn't have to be the full-out protection for people that you see in line for succession to the presidency. but certainly there has to be a different level of threats thatt

allow members to get protection. maybe it is local police. maybe it is more funding for the marshals, so that's part of it. something to watch for immediately when we get back. i have a motion to take their private information off of the internet. there is a similar provision iv that has been put forth for judges. this is part of the national defense reauthorization act. i'm hopeful that finally i will be able to get the support to get this done. again, it is bipartisan. that's something to watch for. local officials, local elected officials we should pass the bill that makes intimidation a crime, a federal crime and we should extend it to counting the ballots and certifying the election. we have a hearing of a local philadelphia commissioner who talked about how when he was certifying the results in philadelphia that joe biden had won, he had threats against his three kids. said if you don't say what we pd want, we're going to go and we're going to shoot those three kids, put their address out on the internet.d that's happening all over the country to democratic and republican officials. so we have to up what we do whe it comes to protecting local election officials. and certainly protect them in this next election. on >> so we got a deescalation, obviously, challenge in front of us. there is one thing to get elected leaders to deescalate. and then there is the issue of e the social media companies that make money amplifying all of en this.ke what's the biggest challenge, he getting republican leaders to deescalate or figuring out how to get these tech companies to stop amplifying this garbage?la >> they're both humongous challenges. on the republican side, it is making sure that whether you arb a democrat, republican or independent, when you go cast en your vote, you don't go vote for an election denier or the people that are coddling them. and you don't listen to donald ' trump because he is the one that said to go wild and march down the mall.us when it comes to the social media companies, i'm one of the

people that has been way out there on this because i think that there is one thing, if someone is posting stuff on the internet. it is another when they're he making money amplifying it. and that is the difference. so i would reduce their immunity, and then that would allow people to go after them when they are making money off of amplifying election falsehoods, hate speech, you know it. of course, there has been interest in both the democratic and republican side in making a change to them. let me be clear. number one is to go after this perpetrator who committed a violent, violent crime. number two is to change what we're doing to give more

security to our elected officials no matter what party we're in. number three is make sure we're not adding more election deniers. and number four, yes, once we get some people in that care about our democracy, we have to do more about this amplification of this election denying hate speech that we see on the internet. >> now that elon musk runs twitter, do you trust him? >> no, i do not. >> what is your biggest fear of him running this social media platform? >> well, i think you have to have some content moderation because when you look at what this guy was looking at, he was looking at just horrendous things you don't even want to talk about on your show. he was posting anti-semitic tropes. he was saying memes that showed violence and all of this

election denying pro-trump maga crowd rhetoric. >> right. >> that's what we're dealing with here. elon musk has said he's going to start a content moderation board. that was one good sign, but i continue to be concerned about that. i just don't think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff that's a bunch of lies. you couldn't do that on your network. >> nope. >> chuck. >> no. we have rules, right. >> you have to look at commercials. and you decide if they are false or not. that is not a requirement of these companies, and we have to change the requirements on these companies. they are making money off of us. they are making money off of this violence. >> there is no doubt. the tech companies are huge, huge problem in this, and they've got to take some responsibility. senator klobuchar, democrat from minnesota, thank you for coming on and sharing. >> thanks, chuck. when we come back new hampshire's republican governor will weigh in on the heightened state of alert ahead of the midterm. e m igoll as still stuc.

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home internet shouldn't be a luxury. everyone should have it and now a lot more people can. so let's go. the digital age is waiting. welcome back. some republicans were quick to condemn the violent attack against pelosi, including republican whip steve scalise. >> i reached out to speaker pelosi earlier today to express my thoughts and prayers and

concerns about paul and hopefully paul is going to get out of this okay. but, you know, it is just alarming when you see any kind of violence, whether it is political violence or not. you know, it is a sad state of affairs where we are today. >> the ads targeting nancy pelosi are still on the air right now and republicans have faced criticism to how they reacted to the attack, including glenn youngkin. >> there is no room for violence anymore, but we're going to send her back to be with him in california. that's what we're going to go do. >> new hampshire, by the way, is one of the top five battleground states to watch. joining me now is new hampshire's republican governor. he's also on the ballot. governor, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks, chuck. >> look, i want to start. you had to cancel your outdoor inauguration at the start of 2021.

it was the day after the january 6th attack. you talked about direct threats against your family. i think it was your covid policies that seemed to fire up people to do these threats. look, you have had to deal with this. where do you think this rise in political violence is coming from? >> well, look, you can go back to the beginning. this started back in the summer of 2020, right? you saw not a whole lot of accountability there. the line for folks that were disagreed for what might have happened, not happy with what's happening in their community, the line completely moved with very little accountability. that set a new standard in a dangerous way. and that carries over into the politics and what will happen in 2020, the insanity of what we saw on january 6th, what has happened to steve scalise. that was years before 2020,

these threats on justice brett kavanaugh, gabby giffords. look, people have to just take the heat down here. i mean, this is america. this is one of the most amazing places on the planet earth. we should all wake up and be grateful. we could disagree and have heated arguments, of course. when you cross the line into violence, it does your cause no good. it does the system no good and it brings everything to a more fragile state. >> do you not see any connection to former president donald trump in all of this? >> oh, there is a connection to everybody in all this. absolutely. it is not just about former president trump. people are getting upset about inflation. they're getting upset with issues that happen on what we would consider a very minor level. but to them it is passionate. it is just the end of days for them and they will go to that degree. it is absolutely insane.

it is. the answer isn't just, well, we will have more security. of course you are going to have to do that at some level. but the answer as a society, as a community, it is not a government solution. it is a cultural solution here in america and we all, all 300 million of us have to take a deep responsibility toward that. >> i want to drill down here because governor youngkin, it was surprised how laissez-faire how he was after the attack. are you no, ma'am to this escalating way of conducting our politics? >> absolutely. we're becoming numb to it. that's even more scary than the actual act sometimes because it's becoming the norm. the line is moving. well, i'm not taking it so far as to threaten kidnapping the

governor of michigan, which we saw which was very scary as a governor right. i'm not taking it to that level, so it's okay. that's a crazy set of reasoning. if you have a disagreement, get involved in your local community, have the debates, whatever it might be. keep it civil, of course. keep it heated. you have to keep it civil because it is the only way as a society we will move forward. >> one of the things that the fbi and dhs warning of why these threats appear to be higher right now than they have before is because of this rise of election denialism. and i bring it up because the republican nominee for senate has been an election denialist. here is what you said about him during the primary season. >> i don't take him as a serious candidate. i don't think most people. kind of a conspiracy theorist type candidate. >> and i say that because he did a debate this week where he talked about an election conspiracy. let me play it for you, governor. >> we need to make sure that school busses loaded with people at the polls don't come in and vote. >> just to be clear, you're claiming that busses full of voters who are not permitted to vote, you are claiming that happens in new hampshire. >> i am claiming that is what they tell me. i am saying we need to respond to that. >> can you verify that information before you say it. >> i think we need to verify it.

i am saying that is what granite staters are telling me, and i think it's valid. >> you're supporting him because you say you are supporting the republican ticket. liz cheney was on the show last week and she said supporting election deniers is almost as bad as being an election deny. >> i think you could have chuck schumer on this show because he put money behind his campaign in the primary. you have democrats that put money behind his campaign and they did so with other conservatives. i think you should get the democrats on here that tried to manipulate the process through the republican primary. don and i didn't see eye to eye during the primary. that much is obvious. but again i will support the republican ticket because the issues that folks are voting on are inflation, gas prices, heating oil skyrockets here in new hampshire and causing us a major concern, electricity rates driven by bad policies out of washington and folks just want a change. you cannot change washington if you keep sending the same people back. again, i know a lot of folks that want to talk about this issue or that issue.

and i might disagree with folks in my own party on that. but the november election will be about what is affecting low and middle income families the most and folks just want to send somebody different to washington, mix things up, change things up and get some accountability. >> each of the democratic campaign committee heads that have done these ads supporting election denialists i have put on this show. i have put on this questioning. so i go back to you. why are you supporting an election denialist. and do you think the inflation issue is enough to sort of rationalize support for somebody who thinks school busses of voters will show up in new hampshire? >> yeah. yeah. let me tell you. you are in a bubble, man. i love it, chuck. but you are in a bubble if you think anybody is talking about what happened in 2020 or talking about mar-a-lago and all that. i know the press loves to talk about it. people are talking about what is

happening in their pocketbook every day, buying groceries. that far outweighs. should they be? how could they -- of course! oh, my gosh, chuck. this is hitting people. they're having trouble paying their mortgage and making car payments because of bad policies out of washington. should they be? look, the beauty of the american citizen is every voter has the right and responsibility to be selfish with their vote, to vote in terms of what is best for their family, better schools, better economic opportunity and that's exactly what is going to happen in a week, which is why haskins will get fired because folks that think that the average voter is worried about 2020, it is a serious issue, of course, but it is not what people are going to be voting on in the next week. and that has baffled me this whole campaign season, the fact that democrats keep pushing this stuff when talking about things that aren't really what voters want to hear about or aren't connecting with the empathetic challenges that the voter is seeing every day. >> i don't disagree on the economic issue. i guess i go back to this question, though. do you believe the democracy is an existential problem that we have to deal with? sometimes some things are bigger than others. and you can feel the current threat to the democracy is an

existential threat? >> look, there is no doubt there are threats to democracy. there is no doubt there is a serious issue. when you talk about what folks will be voting on in november, what the top priority issues are, it is inflation, the economy, getting those things under control. those are far and away the most important issues. you could take care of those other issues. doesn't mean the folks going to washington are going to focus on one or two things. you have to take a broad spectrum. at the end of the day, folks worry about what's happening. i will talk about new england. it is 35 degrees out right now. folks are filling up their tank and it is costing $200. kerosene is limited because there is no incentive to create more opportunities for this country. that should be our priority, keeping people warm this winter. >> are you concerned that concern over inflation sweeps in a bunch of republicans that

frame the party as election deniers? kerry lake in arizona being exhibit a? >> look, again, when those folks come in, if washington finally starts doing after decades of inaction, finally starts doing what they should be doing and saying what are our top issues, let's go to the critical things first and that's a whole list there. everything from inflation, immigration reform, all of these things that neither party has taken on in the past six years like they should have and putting those first and it doesn't mean you ignore what happened on january 6th. you have to come to some sort of conclusion. as a voter, i can't tell you what the results of the january 6th hearings are yet. i would like to know.

i think everybody would like to know what changes are being made. what else are we finding out that isn't just affordable but can help secure those individuals. because as we elect these folks, they have to know they can go down there and cast a vote in a secure and safe manner. so that is all part of the mix. and the only way you are going to get there is bringing new people to washington. >> very quickly, do you think republicans should tone down their pelosi attack ads in this last week? >> well, i don't think there is any need for that, no. yeah. i don't think there is any need

for the attack. and, again, right now all our thoughts and prayers and sympathy have to go out to nancy pelosi, her husband of course and put all the politics aside. ignore the election. she will get re-elected. let's make sure she and her family are safe and hopefully extend that safety out to the other members of congress. >> other, governor chris sununu. appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. >> thank you, brother. up next, does the pelosi attack change anything in the final stages of the midterm? your 995 plan fits my budget just right. excuse me? aren't you jonathan from tv, that 995 plan? yes, from colonial penn. i love your lifetime rate lock. that's what sold me. she thinks you're jonathan, with the 995 plan. -are you? -yes, from colonial penn. we were concerned we couldn't get coverage, but it was easy with the 995 plan. -thank you. -you're welcome. i'm jonathan for colonial penn life insurance company. this guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance plan is our #1 most popular plan. it's loaded with guarantees.

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our internet isn't ideal. my dad made the brillant move to get us t-mobile home internet. -which... we have to share our signal with the entire neighborhood. yeah, now we do some weird things to get our speeds. well... i'm up. -c'mon kids. this sucks. well if you just switch maybe you don't have to be vampires. whoa... -okay, yikes. oh sorry, i wasn't thinking. we, uh, don't really use the v word. that's kind of insensitive. we prefer pro-lunar. yes, much better. just look around. this digital age we're living in, it's pretty unbelievable. problem is, not everyone's fully living in it. nobody should have to take a class or fill out a medical form on public wifi with a screen the size of your hand. home internet shouldn't be a luxury. everyone should have it and now a lot more people can. so let's go. the digital age is waiting.

let's bring in the panel. congressional reporter for "the washington post," nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent and the senior opinion writer for the boston globe. garrett, i want to start with you because capitol hill is your beat. yours, too. i shouldn't say that. both of you share this beat. how has the attitudes changed from the members in just the

last 48 hours? >> members are shaken up by this, there is no question. earlier this year there was an opportunity to access $10,000 to harden their homes, put in alarm systems. there has been some buy-in into that, but especially post january 6th you were never entirely safe in this job. this brings the tone that you and your families are not entirely safe in this job. this will carry in the minds of members through election day and through the new congress. whether there is some new policy change or something that comes out of that, i doubt it. no amount of cash from congress is going to change the overall security picture for members on the proverbial front lines of this debate we were talking about any time soon. >> look, i want to bring up a quote that we heard in december of 2020 from a republican in georgia. take a listen. >> mr. president, you have not condemned these actions or this language. senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions.

someone is going to get hurt. someone is going to get shot. someone is going to get killed. and it is not right. >> here is what susan collins said on october 1st of this year to "the new york times." i wouldn't be surprised if a senator or house member were killed. what started with phone calls is translating into active threats of violence and real violence. this is not in a vacuum. >> no. ever since january 6th and of course beforehand members of congress, especially democrats were actively telling leadership, i need more help. to garrett's point, i would like more money to make sure my kids are safe. you have seen members of congress actually say, you know what, i'm going to step back. one of them notably is congressman anthony gonzalez from ohio. he said, my family is getting attacked. i have young kids. this is something that's very much front of mind. it is inside the capitol as well. we talked to republicans and democrats who say the tenor has changed. and jokingly almost, they say, i would not be surprised if we come to blows at some point.

>> physical blows like the 19th century. >> you're correct. >> the first thing you see as you approach are the metal detectors put in after january 6th and will stay there. it is a physical symbol or reminder of the threat of violence every day. >> when it comes to pelosi, these are ads all running this month in october. take a listen. >> nancy pelosi has big plans for america, but first she needs allies like liberal tony vargas. >> if republicans stay home and don't vote, we're letting them. >> pelosi can't make things this bad all on her own. she needs dan kilde, pelosi's right hand man. >> pelosi and the president have declared war on working americans. >> kimberly, we have -- i do think it's the frog boil

metaphor when it comes to negative ads. i have done this 30 years. the tone was not like this 20 years ago. it has gotten amped up. it is harsher than ever. >> it is. i mean, mariana is right. this isn't new, but it has been increasingly over the past several years getting worse and worse. and i do fear about that normalization about violent rhetoric in campaigns, not just negative rhetoric against nancy pelosi. but we have a toxic brew of polarization, increase of in extremism, conspiracy theories being believed. you add on top of that violent rhetoric and it boils over. for years, we have had christmas cards of member of congress

holding guns with their families. we are talking about people. you need gun rights in order to protect yourself, not just protect yourself but also protect yourself from the government. these are violent messages that are on top of an already very dangerous situation. although it is true that it is affecting members and public officials on both sides, that side of the sooirl. rhetoric is coming from one island. >> i don't think it is one side of the aisle. chuck schumer stood on the capitol steps and said to the supreme court, you stirred up a whirlwind and you will pay the price. immediately democratic left wing protesters flocked to their neighborhoods. and merrick garland, the attorney general refused to get him out. they refused to say whether protesters should leave the neighborhoods. this is happening on both edges of american politics. "reuters" did a poll in august that said 85% of americans condemn political violence and intimidation. i think we have to be very clear where the public is and i think we have to insist that the leaders of both parties be very careful about it.

>> i hear you. but it is -- you can't look at the entrance of donald trump in our political system and the increase and sit here and say there is not a connection. >> well, first of all, you can look at things like alexander pelosi applauded the attack on rand paul. we all condemned the attack on alexander pelosi. >> i do think that those -- and i heard it from the senator. there is this fear of calling the truth the truth, which is donald trump is who is the ring leader in all this. >> i worked on capitol hill in the '90s. i had friends when russell westin broke into the capitol. there are people who have serious mental breaks and they are motivated by a lot of things. sometimes it is who they see on the internet. shot steve scalise blocks from where i live. he was a bernie sanders supporter as you pointed out earlier in the show. you are seeing people who are really mentally disturbed motivated by things they see on the internet. some of it is because twitter

won't take down threats to clarence thomas' life right now. the internet is causing a lot of people to make connections they might not always make. in the end, we have a mental health crisis. we have to talk about that. >> it is not just the internet. one of the clearest examples is when donald trump finally, finally told the people at the capitol to stand down and they did immediately. these are people reacting to messages they are getting, that they have been getting consistently. if you look at the political messaging that's coming out, you don't see democrats threatening violence or holding guns. >> get in their face. if they are in a restaurant, get in their face. tell them you are not welcome here. you are seeing plenty of this motivation on both sides. >> hanging pots and pans in a neighborhood or telling someone they're not welcome in a restaurant is not the same as going into their house and hitting them with a hammer. >> no one is condoning what happened to paul pelosi. kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, no one condones on the

democratic side was condoning steve scalise being shot by a left wing protester. >> if you conflate protests and violence, they are not the same thing. >> i want to address something governor scalise said. he said i was in the bubble asking questions about inflation. does this have an impact? doesn't? i have to tell you, i saw a lot of nancy pelosi attack ads yesterday. >> it's not going to change. we are not going to see these ads pulled down at all. listen, we will know in a week and a half whether there is -- what is the motivator. and of course the economy is a huge motivator for people. but in these swing districts that i have been to, a lot of voters, independents that haven't made their mind up yet still bring up democracy, still bring up trump and his behavior and not wanting to vote for

republicans because they know that extremism could continue on capitol hill. >> well, we also need to know there are 80 ads and in every senate race where democrats are targeting mitch mcconnell. since you are going to mention the ads about pelosi. >> it is a pretty lopsided. >> well, it's 100% of the races. >> i hear you. again, i understand the what about the arguments. it's another level. >> if you are trying to split control of the house, obviously the speaker is an issue. same with the senate majority level. >> you got it. all right. when we come back, democrats are worried that voters under 30 are not motivated and they will turn out like they did in 2018.

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we are back. it is download time. democrats want to deny the usual pattern of midterm selection. they're going to need some parts of the electorate to exceed expectations. at the top of their wish list that show up in droves young voters. let me show you why. when you look at our most recent poll, there was one age group that democrats were leaning on when it comes to which party should control congress. look at this advantage. it is a 30 point advantage. that's pretty good if young

voters show up. and the pattern when it comes to mid-term elections is not great when it comes to young voters. young voters in general usually are below the national average of turn-out even in presidential elections. once with barack obama's election and of course the most recent one during donald trump's attempt at winning re-election. as you can see in the midterms it usually goes down in half with one exception in 2018 at a pretty high youth turn-out. guess what happened? democrats did pretty well in those midterm elections. well, let's take a look at what the interest in the election has been this year when it comes to young voters. it's been sitting at 42%. the good news for democrats, that's much better than what young voter interest was in 2014. but it is not yet at 2018 levels, which is why democrats look like they're poised to lose the house. now, when you look at the growing interest in this election season, it has grown for voters under 35 before october 35%. it went up 7 points to 32% in our most recent poll. look at that compared to all voters. 59% in october. and the high interest voters are now hitting 79%. the fact of the matter is democrats don't need young voters. but they need young voters to have any shot at holding the house. before we go to break, this week we wrapped up season 5 of "meet the press" reports with a deep dive into the #metoo movement and its impact on gen z. catch up on the whole season. we've got episodes on the rise of christian nationalism. we look at oligarchs and their impact on elections.

america's changing gun culture. wisconsin is a place we went to look at ground zero for polarization and of course a whole episode focused on securing the vote. when we come back, elon musk takes over twitter. and he promises it's not going to be a free for all hellscape. will he allow information to flow freely? that's up next. planning aisle no prescription, no id. i've got this. ♪♪

just look around. this digital aget this. we're living in, it's pretty unbelievable. problem is, not everyone's fully living in it. nobody should have to take a class or fill out a medical form on public wifi with a screen the size of your hand. home internet shouldn't be a luxury. everyone should have it and now a lot more people can. so let's go. the digital age is waiting.

welcome back. i want to talk a little bit about politics. but let me start with elon musk. he's taken over twitter. he's now fact checking and responding and acting like somebody who wants to dabble in a lot of twitter memes, some of which may not be very factual. what does congress want to do about elon? >> well, senator klobuchar who you had on does have a bill on social media companies, that we could see some action on in the future. but he is a figure that democrats kind of love to hate a little bit beforehand and i think they will love to hate a lot more now. he could be a punching bag. republicans are thrilled about having someone that seems like one of their own. elon said he wants to vote for ron desantis. house republicans have really embraced him in a major way. but this drives the wedge between twitter and real life

and normal people that much further. >> i was going to say. will this flip twitter a little bit where the left runs away from twitter because of musk and the right comes -- runs towards it in. >> we might see something really weird. we're used to these things nowadays. but i honestly don't know if there is the appetite to get this done in the next month. there are a lot of things that congress has to do. democrats realized they still have the majority to try and pass that bill, but it is unlikely. it might be something the next congressmen have to deal with. >> we really don't know. elon musk, the reason he gave for buying this does not make sense. this is not an open marketplace for ideas. it is a private media company. it doesn't work that way. also, he has fought with trump. so this idea that the right will suddenly rush there may not pan out at all, particularly if that hype continues. i think none of us know what we're in for. >> it is a terrible business. it does seem financially a mistake.

>> one thing we know is 100% of journalists will stay on twitter. that's the one thing we know for sure. that's okay. you know, i think elon musk, ownership of it will be very interesting. there is an article this week i found interesting of what will happen when china resists elon musk because tesla does a lot of business in china. which will he pick? >> how about the federal government who is in bed with him on starlink and spacex and all of this and need him for our space program? who has got more leverage, garrett? >> that's an excellent question. the spacex contracts with the federal government are enormous. elon musk is a space billionaire first and a -- i guess a media

company billionaire second. but we'll see. he didn't get to be a billionaire by being bad at making financial decisions. presumably you have to give him some benefit of the doubt that he knows what he's doing here, but he has strange bedfellows here. >> we're seeing barack obama on the trial. what do you make of it? sometimes you see him and it's a reminder that he's probably the one democrat that can fire up the base, not the current elected democrat. >> yeah. the democrats hope that he's the closer. i talked to two people yesterday just in regular conversations. barack obama is so good at this. i think that's what they're counting on, especially for that. we talked about the other swing vote, which is the young people who are choosing either vote democratic or not vote at all. and that could be the game changer in the midterms. >> it looks like donald trump listened to consultants. he's going to northwest iowa, republican areas of ohio, pennsylvania. he helps in those unique ways, doesn't he? >> i think there is a chance he could. but republicans don't have a turn-out problems. republican enthusiasm is really high. i think on the youth vote

question for democrats, you know, i see a lot of polls, it is the only age group democrats are carrying on the democratic ballot. that's not an age problem. that's a platform problem. democrats have to recalibrate their platform to win over voters. >> all right. quite a week. that's all we have for today. thanks for watching. i am contractually obligated not to take a platform on bills versus patriots. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." test. test officials are