Skip to main content

tv   Morning Joe  MSNBC  November 11, 2022 6:00am-7:00am PST

6:00 am
6:01 am
all right. welcome back to "morning joe." it's 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and 6:00 a.m. out west. just ahead, we're going to have live reports from arizona and nevada, where poll workers in both states still have a big backlog of ballots to go through in races that could determine which party controls the senate. also this hour, women made history in a number of races across the country, and one of them, the governor elect of massachusetts. maura healey will join us in just a moment. and we're looking at wall street this morning. stock futures are rising before the bell following yesterday's inflation report that sparked a wild rally. yes. there are some new interesting economic numbers to go over. but first, politics. >> while we're still on this election thing, it's not decided yet. we begin with races for senate and governor, arizona and
quote
6:02 am
nevada, still too early to call. garrett haake has the latest on that count that continues in both states. >> reporter: georgia once again the center of the battle for control of the senate. >> overtime. that means we got a runoff. hey, i was built for this. >> reporter: republican candidate and former football star herschel walker back on the campaign trail, hurtling towards a december runoff against democratic incumbent senator raphael warnock that could ultimately decide who controls the chamber. >> we've done this before. >> let's do it again! >> we know how to win a runoff. >> reporter: races in arizona and nevada still too early to call as vote counting continues. >> we're going to win this thing hopefully and be an important race for the country and my great state. >> reporter: on social media, former president trump attacking the process without evidence as corrupt and allowing more time to cheat. mr. trump also lashing out at one of election night's big winners, florida governor ron
6:03 am
desantis, a possible 2024 presidential primary opponent, calling him a, quote, average republican governor with great public relations. but some republicans are trying to turn away from the party's former leader, placing blame for a worst-than-expected election at mr. trump's feet for backing unelectable candidates and talking about conspiracy theories. sean patrick maloney in new york. >> you want to see the party move forward from trump. >> yeah. i think moving in a different direction is a good thing. >> reporter: in battlegrounds from maine to california, 30 house races have yet to be decided. after defying expectations of a red wave on election night, democrats still have a chance to keep the house, but they need to run the table to preserve their majority. >> a lot of extreme candidates were put up around the country, and i believe that the voters are kind of over that and want practical, reasonable people on
6:04 am
both sides of the aisle to represent them. >> reporter: while kevin mccarthy has projected confidence he'll have the votes to be the next speaker, some far-right republicans appear ready to pose him. >> i'm not saying that's what we're looking for. >> garrett haake setting the table for us there. live to both key states. nbc's erin mclaughlin is in phoenix, stephanie gosk in north las vegas. erin, let's start with you. where do things stand there this morning? >> reporter: hey, willie. well, here in arizona, there are roughly 520,000 ballots still left to be tabulated. mark kelly, the democrat incumbent, senator, now has 115,000-vote lead over his opponent, blake masters. katie hobbs running for governor has the slightest of leads over kari lake, 27,000 votes. but that all could change. here in maricopa county, all eyes are on a specific set of
6:05 am
ballots, 290,000 mail-in ballots that were dropped off in person at voting centers on election day. they're still working their way through those ballots. there's a lengthy signature verification process involved. we're expecting the results from that batch earlier tonight, but in elections past, that particular batch of ballots has been historically significant, helped kyrsten sinema in 2018 clinch her victory, her seat as senator, and then in 2020, they trended toward president trump. republicans are hoping far similar sort of situation this time around. blake masters just yesterday tweeted that he is hopeful that so far the momentum will start swinging in his direction. he said there are hundreds of thousands of pro-republican ballots to count. we will overtake them and win. we're also hearing of course
6:06 am
from the kelly and hobbs campaigns expressing confidence this will ultimately end up for them. >> all right. erin mclaughlin live in arizona. steven kornacki said circle 10:00 eastern time tonight if you want to know what's going to happen in arizona. in neighboring nevada, about 50,000 volts remain to be counted in that state's largest county. those include mail-in ballots and ballots placed in drop boxes at polling sites on election day in clark county. stephanie gosk as we said is live at the clark county election building in north las vegas. stephanie, what are you hearing? >> reporter: you know, willie, the top election official spoke to us yesterday and he says they are working as fast as they can to get through those ballots where they've got their maximum staff and machines and space. and, you know, i asked him, i said, listen, if you had more space and you had more people and you had more machines, would it go a little faster, and he said maybe, but i don't. and he tells us they're going as
6:07 am
fast as they can. last night you had a vote drop, about 31,000 statewide. once again, those votes broke heavily, almost two-thirds of the vote, for cortez masto. and the lead that laxalt had going into the evening, agent 15,000 votes, that shrunk down to 9,000. if you take what's remaining, and we think there are more than 50,000 here in clark county, statewide that could be less than 100,000, they continue to break that way for cortez masto, she could take the lead. the question is by how much? and you could have a lead here shrink to a very, very close race. it already is a very close race. and then you're talking provisional ballots. then you're also talking about something called the cure, sort of a funny nevada name for really just checking signatures on mail-in ballots. people have an opportunity to come in and fix their ballots. the deadline for that is monday. that's a few more thousand
6:08 am
votes. all of those votes in the end could end up mattering here. >> absolutely. stephanie gosk live in north las vegas, nevada. a lot of intrigue. could be a few more days there. thanks so much. we've been talking about the number of women running for governor and the midterm saw historic races for women in several races including governor. next year for the first time in u.s. history, there will be 12 female governors serving at the same time, beating the previous record of 9 female governors in 2019. one is maura healey, who will be the first elected female governor of massachusetts, and governor-elect healey joins us now. you've made history on a number of levels. congratulations. thank you for being on today. i love the message that you sent straight out of the -- straight out of your win when you tweeted a picture of four women, and you said, we might be the first, but
6:09 am
we won't be the last. to every little girl out there, we want you to know there is no ceiling you can't break. and up and down the line, governor-elect, lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, all women in massachusetts. >> yeah. it was a really special night in massachusetts. we did something historic. i'm proud of our ticket and really pleased because i think we know more than ever that representation really matters. it means we're going to have better policies, better laws when we have more diversity reflected in those who are in office. sorry about that. and also the other thing is -- last couple days of being out -- but, you know, seeing is believing, and yesterday i had an opportunity to go visit with young girls in an after-school program. and their faces just lit up because they saw, i think in me, someone who looked like them. and that was just really, really powerful. it's one of the reasons i'm so
6:10 am
excited about this election and what it represents. i'm also excited that the voters here in massachusetts completely rejected trumpism and completely rejected those who want to take away abortion rights. >> so, were those the top two issues up and down, democracy and was january 6th a part of that? and also obviously, rights that women have had for 50 year, for younger women voting, rights they've had their entire lives, taken away. it's probably a feeling they've never experienced. >> it's certainly something i heard a lot about on the trail. that was something that i think we see has energized voters across this country. it certainly did in massachusetts. and also people here in mav maa were really clear that so many are tired of the noise, tired of the vitriol, tired of the politicians trying to polarize
6:11 am
and exploit and really tired of -- my opponent, look, the guy on the other side was -- he was trump's campaign chair here in massachusetts, and voters just rejected that. and so, you know, those are some of the things we saw, obviously a record of eight years here as attorney general and, you know, i think that it was a little bit of a referendum on that, i suppose, and the great work of my team and the attorney general's office. but it was an exciting night, i'll tell you, that we had in massachusetts, to see all these women elected up and down the ballot, something we just have not seen before in this state. >> governor-elect healey, great to have you on the show. mr. boston, mike barnicle, texted to say, don't forget, she was captain of her college basketball team. >> nice. >> a little school in cambridge some may have heard of. she's a leader. that's from mike barnicle. >> shout-out to mike, thank you. >> always. as attorney general, you took on the trump administration going back to the muslim ban,
6:12 am
immigration, environmental regulations, all kinds of things. you talk a little bit about this question of democracy in this election. of course the economy and abortion and all those things. but there does appear, not just in your race in your state but across the country to have been a movement where people said we need to pull back from the brink a little bit. did you hear that talking to voters out on the trail? >> absolutely. absolutely. and, you know, i think we saw that across the country. so many election deniers just rejected, and that is a good thing for democracy. it was sad to me as i looked across the country and saw the number of people running for important seats -- governor, secretary of state, attorney general -- who were still denying the results of 2020. the good news is the voters, it looks like, saw through that and rejected that, and that is incredibly important for democracy because, you know, people need to have faith in government. and it's so good to see that so many were able to come through in the face of opposition by
6:13 am
those who would deny elections in this country. and also, you know, to see the work of those who are out there at the polls, the strength of our system, to make sure that people have the right to vote and they're able to do so, and that's what happened here in massachusetts. of course i'll be focused on the top issue, which is affordability in our state. i talked about that a lot on the trail, the economic message, the need to deliver for people in the state. but i'm proud of the state for the values we stood for, the freedoms we stood for, and grateful to the voters for giving me and a host of women up and down the ballot an opportunity to serve. >> that's really cool. democratic governor-elect maura healey of massachusetts, thank you for being on. great to be with you. >> take care. >> still ahead, the election saw the second highest turnout among voters under the age of 30 in at least the past three decades.
6:14 am
we'll look at what races that key age group influenced this year. also ahead, the stock market had its best day in years following softer than expected inflation numbers. we'll get a live report from cnbc as futures continue to surge this morning. you're watching "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. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred.
6:15 am
people 50 and older... with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq... as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc in check and keep it there, with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq. and learn how abbvie could help you save. president biden has now signed the inflation reduction act into law. ok, so what exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything,
6:16 am
but it will save your family money.
6:17 am
6:18 am
we saw extraordinary results in these midterm elections that no one thought possible. more independents voted for democrats than republicans in this election. young people, you voted historic numbers just as you did two years ago. young people voted to continue addressing the climate crisis, gun violence, personal rights and freedoms, student debt relief, all those things, which you stepped up to do. >> president biden praising young americans for showing up to the polls in near record
6:19 am
fashion in this year's midterms, if you can believe it. director of polling at the institute of politics at harvard university, also an msnbc political contributor joining us. also are with us, victor xi, the youngest elected delegate for president biden in 2020. and the co-founder and ceo of all in-- lauren leader joins us. there are so many different ways to be surprised here because some of the focus groups we saw, a lot of young people didn't even know there were midterms. and yet a lot did. >> yeah. absolutely right. let me break it down as simply as i possibly can, mika. just look at first of all the majority, 60% of voters in this country over the age of 45 by a
6:20 am
margin of ten points they voted republican in house races across the country and most senate races as well. the democrats went in with a minus 10 advantage. they put a tremendous amount of pressure on young people to do two things, a, to show up, and b to support democrats. young people under 45 supported democrats by 13 points. young people under 30 supported democrats by 28. this would have been a red wave election if not for millions and millions of young millennials and gen-z'ers. >> in arizona, looking at the current numbers, mark kelly among voters 18 to 29 is plus 56, voters 30 to 44 plus 19. once you get past 44, masters wins. so this is a story of the young vote. there's no question about it here. and i guess the question, larger question going forward is what are the implications for sort of
6:21 am
the shift in vote here, which is which is to say young people by and large going for democrats? voters, putting it bluntly, who will be around far long time. >> willie, this is not a surprise. we've been talking about this on your show for years now. this is the third election in a row where democrats have relied on the youth vote to make the difference. in '18, '20, '22, it's the same thing. republicans now are a small melting iceberg. republicans lost white noncollege voters under 30. that's the heart and soul of the republican party right now. they lost the new generation already for this demographic. >> victor, what was it that brought young people to the polls? talk about the issues that really drove them there. >> yeah, so what we see from the data overwhelmingly is that abortion was the number-one driver for young people showing up to the ballot box and voting. i was listening to your earlier segment before this panel and
6:22 am
you were mentioning the fall of rome and what it's like for young people, especially young women to face that political environment with roe. for so many women across the country, that was the first time we saw a right get overturned by the supreme court. young people grew up in a time when abortion was basically a guarantee. to see that was alarming for young people, and you could see in the data after the fall of roe the young people who registered to vote and made their cases heard. you saw that in kansas in states like michigan and others where abortion was very much on the ballot pop you also had other issues like climate change and student loan forgiveness and gun reform. these issues are immediate for young people and they showed up to vote. >> victor, if you look at the numbers, the young people who showed up to vote went overwhelmingly for democrats and probably stopped the red wave. but among eligible voters 18 to 29, turnout was only 27%.
6:23 am
how do you get that number up in this country? >> i'll start by saying we don't have the final turnout number yet, but based on early data, one thing is clear, that's young people voted overwhelmingly for democrats in this election cycle and young republicans stayed at home, which i think is driving a lot of the turnout down. in terms of what we should do going forward, i'm grateful to be part of an organization called lawyers of tomorrow. there are so many other gen-z-led organizations out there making calls, doing relational organizing, and that's what it's going to take going forward. we'll need all hands on deck. we have an election in georgia coming up in december, 2024, millennials and gen-z'ers will outnumber. it will take more young people at the helm doing the work and take democrats investing in young people. like john said, there is no path to victory in any election going
6:24 am
forward without young people turning out and voting for democrats. >> so in terms of the issues that drove the young voters, in a way it portends far lot more to go to the polls in 2024 given that this was a midterm, which is usually not really where young people end up showing up, voting in a midterm. also these are the kids, some of them, that grew up in the era of school shootings. like, they know somebody or heard of something or were there when these slaughters were happening. >> i just did a focus group last night, mika, and every member of my focus group from eight different states across the country still talked about the trauma of growing up in this era. i want to put a finer point on what victor said. this victory for democrats and young people is not in spite of but because of joe biden.
6:25 am
you have this energy from the grassroots, but unless it's empowered from the top down, we won't optimize that. the work that the administration put in to listen to and to provide and to deliver on the promises from 2020 and to engage with young people over the course of the last couple years, that's what i think was able to spark the energy to make them organized. >> john della volpe and jonathan shi, thank you so much. lauren leader, your piece on "the hill," "it's the women, stupid. the narrative in these midterms, as in so many recent elections, has been reductive, grouping women into overly simplistic categories -- think soccer moms, security moms, et cetera. women are more complex than that. the supreme court's dobbs v. jackson decision drove a voter
6:26 am
registration surge and motivation to turn out among a coalition of women that democrats needed and that made a huge difference in the election. many of us who work on women's political participation called it correctly -- we knew that the early vote count and polls that focused on them all pointed to abortion as a high motivator." i think in the days leading up to the election, a lot of analysts looking at the polls kind of fell away from that and thought no, no, what is it that's bugging people? it's crime. they're not talking about abortion. and you stayed true because you know what women are thinking walking into the voting booth. >> i think when you have polls like the "wall street journal" poll we talked about on election day, which ultimately was 150 women in our poll, these were not reliable, and i think those of us who follow this closely knew there was no way that women were swinging 15 points away from where they'd been for the last six months on these issues in the last week before the
6:27 am
election. it defied logic, didn't make sense. and it turned out to be true. clearly people care about the economy, but women are capable of caring about more than one thing. we're complex people, as we all are. and these very reductive polls that listed top issues and thought women would vote exclusively on that were just wrong. they've been telling us all summer, all year this is an important election for them, the dobbs decision, galvanizing, driving them to the polls, the reason they were turning out, true for independent women and democratic women and super true for the younger women. it was transformative. dobbs rewrote the political landscape. >> if you look at the state of michigan, as you write about, they took back the statehouse. they took back the legislature for the first time in 40, 50 years. >> wow. >> abortion was on the ballot. >> yeah. >> it was literally a measure on the ballot.
6:28 am
governor whitmer ran up a big margin and abortion had a lot to do with it. >> whitmer won 75% of the female vote. it wasn't even close. that's what you saw across the country. this coalition of women -- the fact is we talk so much about political divides in this country. the truth is they're really gender divides. the republican party has become increasingly white and male. the democratic party has become increasingly female. and women are the majority of the electorate. they've turned every election since 1908. they're more likely to show up. they turned this election too. >> fair to say that women stepped up, as they often do, in cases like this, but especially they're sensible. they don't like insurrections, people crawling over the capitol, defecating on it, beating up people, breaking windows. it's not something they want to be involved with. secondly, they don't like their rights taken away. and i would argue a lot of men feel that way as well, whether it's, you know, not -- supporting the rule of law but
6:29 am
also supporting the women in their lives to have rights. >> i love that story maggie hassan told this morning about the door she knocked on, the older gentleman pulls out his granddaughter and says, "i'm voting for her." exactly right. it was a beautiful illustration of that. and, you know, we said it all summer, dobbs is a galvanizing issue and you're right about the moderate candidates who saw that across the country. independent women are so vital to the democratic coalition, and those are the women who turned away from the extremes. i think they'll stay away from the extremes. i think this is a long-term trend. as nancy pelosi said, and we should listen, she's usually right, america is fundamentally a centralized country. >> lauren leader, as always, thanks for coming on. great to have you. coming up on "morning joe," there is some optimism that inflation may have peaked based on yesterday's bether than expected consumer report. the data sent wall street to its
6:30 am
largest rally in two years, and it appears the markets will build on those gains today. we're live with cnbc with that. but before we go to break, willie, your week isn't over. >> i have a good one sunday. >> what is it? >> daniel radcliffe. >> stop it! >> he's starring in the new weird al jankovic parody biopiccoli. he's amazing. hilarious movie. and he's incredibly thoughtful about being harry potter, the most famous 12-year-old on the planet when cast in that role. >> so sweet. >> he's lived with it in a grateful way for a long time. we talk about that and this funny movie where he plays weird al jankovic. that's "sunday today." >> double life.
6:31 am
6:32 am
it's nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need!
6:33 am
(limu squawks) he's a natural. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪
6:34 am
you've put your dreams on hold. remember this? but i spoke to our advisor, and our vanguard investments are on track. “we got this, babe.” so go do what you love. thanks for being our superhero. only at vanguard, you're more than just an investor—you're an owner. giving you flexibility to follow your dreams. that's the value of ownership. rainy day in new york city. welcome back to "morning joe" at 34 past the hour. some encouraging news out of wall street. the market is soaring in the biggest rally in two years. all major averages are way up
6:35 am
after last month's inflation numbers were better than expected. nbc news correspondent emilie ikeda has the details. >> reporter: while prices remain painful for many earns, early signs sky-high inflation may have finally peaked. year-over-year price growth dipped below 8% in october for the first time since february, coming in slightly below expectations. [ bell ] it's welcome news for investors who sent markets soaring on hopes the fed will slow its pace of interest rate hikes. >> the markets thought they saw a big green light to buy stocks. they love this report coming in lower than expected. >> reporter: president biden also bullish saying -- >> this is a positive sign of the resilience of the economic recovery. >> reporter: but inflation is still way above the fed's target rate of 2%. is this report enough to change the fed's thinking? >> it's not enough to change the fed's thinking. what it is enough to do is to start a countdown. the fed wants to see several
6:36 am
months of declining inflation before it limits its rate hikes. >> reporter: with tlifg two weeks away, holiday budgets are stretched thin by the essentials, groceries up more than 12% since last year, gas surpassing 17%, and rent soaring 7.5%. that's the largest increase in four decades. with one in three americans planning to cut back on holiday spending because of higher prices -- >> i think the traffic will be lower than it typically would be. >> reporter: longtime diner owners are worried about his business. what are the essentials hammering your business? >> the past two months or so it's been egg. there are 1.50 for a dozen and i think think peaked last month at $4.25. we're changing the menu weekly, which is something we used to do annually. >> emilie ikeda with that report. let's bring in cnbc global markets reporter seema amo di.
6:37 am
what more can you add to emily's reports in terms of inflation? what could get in the way of it continuing to go down? >> well, mika, first of all, markets enthusiastically embracing the cpi report. it showed inflation is slowing, still high, but lower than last month. that's a hopeful sign that prices have peaked and the federal reserve may not have to raise rates as aggressively to get to that 2% target. the question is if prices continue to moderate from here. economists and investors we've been speaking to seem to be split on this idea. activist investor carl icahn joined us yesterday. he still thinks inflation is stubbornly high. but jeremy siegel says inflation is over and done, we've tackled it, enjoy. the key metric to watch of course will be interest rates. will they continue to move lower. we did break below 4% for the 10-year yield. >> there has been in recent months almost a consensus that there will be a recession of some degree next year.
6:38 am
but there have been wall street firms like goldman sachs who've said not so fast, we may not go into a recession. has the calculus changed at all based on yesterday's numbering, saying maybe the trend on inflation is going down and maybe the fed won't have to raise rates again? is this causing people to recalculate what they think might happen next year? >> yeah. i think what economists are waiting for is confirmation of this trend, right. a lot of people will say one month does not make a trend. we looked at december and get that next cpi report, if we see inflation cooling again, that could definitely change the forecast we get from wall street economists. it's certainly an encouraging sign to see inflation come down at a time when gas prices are still moving up over the past two months. so that will be key. the next report we get on inflation. and then the fed policy meeting in december. you could say that the ball is in the fed's court to either support or reject this notion that inflation has peaked.
6:39 am
>> cnbc's seema mody, thank you very much for that report. on this veterans day, we are highlighting a groundbreaking program for wounded warriors. we'll be joined by an air force veteran and the executive director for operation mend. "morning joe" will be right back. back my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. hey sammy, what kind of movie are we going to make? ask your asthma specialist make something real, not imaginary. i want to make movies though. sammy,
6:40 am
you do what your heart says you have to. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis help make trading feel effortless and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market with powerful, easy-to-use tools power e*trade makes complex trading easier react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity ♪ hit it!♪ ♪it takes two to make a thing go right♪ ♪it takes two to make it outta sight♪ ♪one, two, get loose now! it takes two to make a-♪ get double rewards points this fall. book now at bestwestern.com. moving forward with node- positive breast cancer is overwhelming. but i never just found my way; i made it. and did all i could to prevent recurrence. verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence
6:41 am
of hr-positive, her2-negative, node-positive, early breast cancer with a high chance of returning,... as determined by your doctor when added to hormone therapy. hormone therapy works outside the cell... ...while verzenio works inside to help stop the growth of cancer cells. diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. at the first sign, call your doctor, start an antidiarrheal, and drink fluids. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor about any fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. life-threatening lung inflammation can occur. tell your doctor about any new or worsening trouble breathing, cough, or chest pain. serious liver problems can happen. symptoms include fatigue, appetite loss, stomach pain, and bleeding or bruising. blood clots that can lead to death have occurred. tell your doctor if you have pain or swelling in your arms or legs, shortness of breath, chest pain, and rapid breathing or heart rate, or if you are nursing, pregnant, or plan to be. i'm making my own way forward. ask your doctor about everyday verzenio.
6:42 am
my father didn't know his dad. with ancestry i dug and dug until i found some information. birth certificate. wow. and then you add it to the tree. it's like you discover a new family member. it's the greatest gift. now on sale at ancestry.
6:43 am
the marine corps. and i need support. i don't have a problem picking up the radio and calling. yet when i get out of the marine corps, that seems to be an issue. >> half a dozen medications. i put my foot down eventually and said chemistry isn't working for me. i stop take them all. reality was here. my head was as clear as ever and i was in pain, miserable pain.
6:44 am
>> we have put together truly an elite system to take care of these service members, their psychological injuries, their physical injuries, and each physician, each surgeon is handpicked to be not only the best in their field but somebody that cares, somebody that understands what this service member has gone through. >> operation mend is the best thing that could ever happen to me. >> operation mend is family. >> operation mend has been a lifesaver. >> they allow me to be who i am today. >> operation mend is a fresh breath of air. >> operation mend is an elite unit. >> in honor of veterans day today, we are highlighting a groundbreaking program called operation mend at ucla health. it provides comprehensive physical and psychological care from some of our nation's most seriously wounded veterans. per the u.s. census bureau, there are approximately 19 million veterans in the united states. operation mend works to help those injured in war or those suffering from its lasting
6:45 am
effects. joining us now is the executive director of operation mend, and members of the military. i'm on the board of operation mend. we had fun at the event last night. so great to see you. joanna, you can hold a crowd up on stage. very, very impressive. dr. jo, give people an idea about what you all do. we know about the physical, the plastic surgery, free care, wraparound care for veterans who need it but also now moving into the tbi and ptsd care. we'll talk about that for just a moment. >> yeah. so we've expanded quite a bit over the last couple of years to focus on both treating posttraumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, but we have a traumatic brain injury treatment program so our warriors come for a couple weeks and we really focus on occupational therapy,
6:46 am
neurology, psychiatry, so we're treating them holistically. we've added substance use disorder for those folks struggling with posttraumatic stress and using substances as a coping strategy. >> my wife and i, our first patient our beloved aaron mankin. he needed complete surgery, 70 surgeries he's had. and operation mend provided that. there's aaron speaking on stage last night. still trying to convince him to run for office. >> yes! >> right? he's up there. it was about the physical. it was about remaking their bodies. and now what is the transformation you've seen in the kind of patient who shows up there? >> it's combination of those that have had a physical injury and worked with health care systems to try to address that. and they get to a point where something's not working, either it's chronic pain or it hasn't
6:47 am
been a complete procedure that they've needed. at the same time, they're struggling with posttraumatic stress. so in 2016 we launched our intensive treatment programs and focused both on mental health as well as we continue with our surgical program. >> so adrienne, you are a great example of what operation mend can do for a vet ran and a family. share a bit of your story and how you found your way to operation mend. >> it was really by chance we stumbled into operation mend. at the behest of my wife, i was working to get my v.a. claim upgraded. we found an officer to help us out and she and her husband had come through the program a year prior. she could see the struggle we were having, very similar to what they were struggling with. and as soon as she told us, we trusted her, immediately we applied. there was no question. i think i knew i wanted a different life. i just didn't know what that would look like or how to get there. >> you served a couple tours and
6:48 am
were involved in a vehicle rollover accident. >> yep. >> you suffered tbi. >> some of it. >> tell us about your struggles before you got to operation mend and how that changed when you got there. >> oh, man. it's just been life changing. and it's really -- it's hard to eve gone back and think about where i was before operation mend. before it became a part of my life. just having the vehicle rollover accident, it took about half an hour to get any services. i was in a remote location. i was ejected from the vehicle. always wear your seat belt. that's how i got my tbi. three weeks later i was in iraq because we didn't have the information, we didn't have information we do now about tbis. i had been suffering for so long, and so finally, it was very clear that something needed to change. yeah. it was incredible to find this program. >> joanna, tell us a little the perspective of a caregiver of a
6:49 am
loved one, of a wife. i take it a lot of feelings of helplessness probably would be a big narrative here. >> yes. absolutely. i went from working full-time outside of the home to being a full-time caregiver inside the home. after we got married less than a year. and watching her struggle every day with symptoms that just seemed out of her control, impacted our entire life. we have two kids, and, you know, just in the midst of family messiness, and i felt alone, felt isolated, and felt like i was solely responsible for all of it. so having operation mend give us a structured environment to heal, to do trauma therapy, to finally address issues that had gone undiagnosed for 13 years, honestly, to -- 13 years it took for adrienne to be diagnosed with ptsd and the tbi was a delayed diagnosis as well. that just compounded symptoms.
6:50 am
by the time we met -- adrienne is a wonderful, lovely person, and you could see she was struggling, white knuckling it most days. it was hard to watch as a spouse. >> you said it didn't just save your marriage but saved adrienne's life. >> absolutely. >> 100%. >> dr. jo, if there are veterans watching, families watching right now who are struggling with some of the same things adrienne struggled with, who haven't gone into a program, haven't sought help, what would you say to them if they're watching today? >> that it's never too late. absolutely seek help. certainly operation mend. but we have been very successful with healing the wounds of war for our post 9/11 veterans and active duty. so, get help. so get help. >> and the help is there. >> it is there. >> the door is open and all you really need are patients to keep it going. >> absolutely. and with operation mend, caregiver haves been a significant part of the program, and we are still the only
6:51 am
organization in the nation that includes the caregiver as part of treatment. >> that's an important factor, too. >> it is uclahealth.org/operation mend. >> congratulations on the anniversary. doing incredible work trying to evolve as veterans do in these post war years. dr. joe, the executive director of ucla health operation mend and thank you air force adrian purchase and johanna purchase. see you at the parade in a couple hours. again, if you're looking for a veteran looking for support for yourself or want to get involved and help out with this extraordinary organization, go to ucla health.org/operation mend. >> there you go. >> we'll be back with important health news on rsv, covid and flu surging across the country. we'll be right back. u surging ay we'll be right back.
6:52 am
6:53 am
6:54 am
6:55 am
medical experts have been predicting a triple-demic with flu, covid and rsv. >> reporter: this morning, triple demic fears and fall
6:56 am
viral surges hitting home in missouri. 2-year-old rosie's nasal swab capping a miserable week. >> she's been sick the past few days. she's been pretty bad. a bad fever, flu-like symptoms. >> reporter: rosies parents among the many that rushed to this st. louis drive-through clinic to test kids for the flu, covid and rsvu three pillars of the tripledemic. >> the doctors went from go home and let us know if it gets worse to quite literally checking him for a pulse. >> reporter: new now evidence pediatric hospitals overwhelmed with severe rsv indeed face a second faux, the flu with 6500 flu patients admitted to america's hospitals this week and three pediatric flu deaths. >> if you add an omicron surge to the rsv surge, there is no place to put them.
6:57 am
>> reporter: in arizona 100% of children's hospital beds are full. nationwide, that number at 77%. >> i don't want her to have to end up in the hospital. >> reporter: while worry mounts, this morning hope on the horizon. on rsv vaccine in the works. drug maker pfizer vowing to apply for fda approval by the next year. >> the vaccine when given to pregnant women protected their babies from getting severe respiratory virus up to 80% in the first three months of life. >> reporter: the earliest the vaccine could be available, next season. this mom of two is nervous now. her 11-year-old already had the flu this season. now, the toddler is sick. all these viruses going around, how freaky is it as a mom? >> oh, yeah, it's scary. it's a lot of kids getting sick. i work at a school, so yeah, it's a lot of kids getting sick. >> nbc maggie with that report. did you get your flu shot? >> i'm going to go today. did you? >> of course i did.
6:58 am
i dragged joe to cvs. he got one. you need to get yours. that's how we'll end the week, me yelling at willy. >> she's right. jose diaz balart picks up the coverage after a quick break. z balart picks up the coverage after a quick break. supports cognitive health in older adults. it's one more step towards taking charge of your health. so every day, you can say... ♪ youuu did it! ♪ with centrum silver. ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. this season with audi. okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition.
6:59 am
together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein. ♪ ♪ ♪♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ 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.♪
7:00 am
♪young people.♪ ♪good times.♪ ♪insurance!♪ only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty. liberty. liberty.♪