welcome back to "morning joe". look how pretty the tree is. it's going to be so beautiful. the tree lighting is wednesday? >> i don't know. >> so exciting. all the kids love it. >> they do. >> it's exciting. >> all the people around the general area like it. when you look at that tree, what do you think? >> i see commerce, joe. >> exactly. >> we get tourists from around the world. >> why does he do that? >> you create a bottleneck and put them into the nbc store. you merch. >> "sunday today" mug. i like that. >> i don't want to spoil anything. for my kids, especially jack,

because he loves "sunday today" so much. i'm getting him "sunday today" merch. when they go up to 30 rock and they are around that christmas tree, they run. jack is, papa, do you have any cash? buy uncle willie's -- we get the coffee cup. it's exciting. all very exciting. >> there's a christmas ornament. i think there are slippers. fanny pack. you can get the complete package for the ones you love. >> i like the fanny pack. >> this is so good. i'm very excited. 2:00 today -- >> they are back in style. >> 11:00 a.m. on the west coast -- >> what? what? >> we have a soccer match. >> oh. >> as you americans call it. the rest of the world call it football. iran versus the united states.

man, if you want to know how testy things are between the two countries, just listen to the lackeys for the state-run media in iran asking nasty questions of our captain. this time, it's personal, willie. >> we will play that in a little bit. it was the state-run media going after team usa's coach and the captain of the team, who handled it beautifully, with class and with dignity. you know what? we have it right now. let's play this exchange yesterday at a news conference for the u.s. men's national team. >> first of all, you say you support the iranian people. but you are pronouncing our country's name wrong. our country is named iran, not i-ran. let's get this clear. second of all, are you okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders and we saw the black

lives matter movement over the past few years? are you okay to be representing the u.s., meanwhile there's so much discrimination happening against black people in america? >> my apologies on the mispronunciation of your country. yeah, that being said, you know, there's discrimination everywhere you go. one thing that i've learned, especially from living abroad in the past years, and having to fit in in different cultures and kind of assimilate into different cultures is that in the u.s., we are continuing to make progress every single day. growing up, for me, i grew up in a white family with an african american heritage and background as well. i had a little bit of different cultures. i was very easily able to assimilate in different cultures. not everyone has that ease and the ability to do that. obviously, it takes time to understand. through education, it's important, like you just educated me on the pronunciation of your country.

it's a process. as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing. >> that's tyler adams, captain of the u.s. men's national team. >> goal! >> handling that moment beautifully. the subtext was, i'm not going to take lectures from people beating women in the strees and funding the russian war with weapons that kill ukrainians in the streets. >> the nerve of the blanking iranians, it's hard to even say blanking iranians. we are getting moral lectures and attitude on pronunciations from a regime that shoots little girls in the street? >> takes them into custody and sexually abuses them. >> takes little girls into custody, rapes them, sexually abuses them, that executes

anybody that dissents. >> morality police. >> these people have been the epicenter, the iranian -- i say these people, these thugs that have run this government since 1979 have been the epicenter of international terrorism for the decades since they have taken over. rushdie is fighting for his life, recovering, but completely shattered because that thuggish government put a price on his head, a very long time ago. we got lectures from iran? give me a break. >> yeah, iran is the principal transporter of terrorism throughout the world, certainly within the middle east. that was an incredibly sophisticated response by team captain tyler adams, incredibly sophisticated. we should play that every hour

up until the game begins at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon when we will all be praying and rooting for matt turner, the american goalie from fairfieliral clip from years ago when it was an incredible goal scored against matt turner, the ball hitting the goalpost and then his back and his head and rolling down into the goal and it was -- it went viral immediately. today is going to be his day. today is america's day. >> all right. >> let me just say another thing that is so deeply offensive about this regime is the fact that they have held hostage an extraordinary people with an extraordinary heritage. unbelievable civilization. we measured the birth of western civilization by the greeks being able to stand up to the persians in war.

but it's an extraordinary culture with an extraordinary people. we're seeing that with the young women over there who, again, these thugs are shooting in the street. but the young women who are standing up for their rights and sending a message around the world of what courage looks like. let's bring in democratic senator tim kaine of virginia. he is a member of the foreign relations committee. i will defer to you. i'm sure you will be able to be more articulate than me when talking about how preposterous it is that a lackey of iranian state media is lecturing the captain of the usa men's soccer team. >> well, yeah, he could lecture the u.s. team during black lives matter protests, the u.s. government went out and mowed down all the protesters. instead, many officials in the u.s. government, like senators and house members, joined in

peaceful protests. the difference is, a society allows peaceful protest and learns from it to progress and one that ruthlessly suppresses it. you know this. we are seeing it all around the world, these authoritarians that think they can just dictate terms for everybody else. in china, they are finding they can't. in iran, they are finding they can't. and russia, putin is finding that he can't just take over property in another country and have it go his way. authoritarians are learning some painful lessons because regular everyday people are willing to stand up. that should make us all feel very, very proud. >> in light of the protests in china, so much has been made about maybe some sort of a renewed approach toward a relationship with china. how do these protests play into that? and also the global economy. >> well, you are right, the global economy, you know, wobbles when china's uncertainty

is out there. nevertheless, you have to stand for human rights. if there's an economic cost to instability, but it's driven by people standing up for themselves, then we have to stand with them. the war in ukraine obviously, russia's illegal invasion, is creating economic consequences. but we have to stand with ukraine's pro-democratic forces even when there's economic challenges. what about more cooperation with china? this is a tough, tough world, as you know. so often, you have a nation that's at once a trading partner and a cooperator in some ways and a competitor in others and an adversary in others. you have to manage all that at once. i hope we might continue to look for ways to work with china on things like climate change or humanitarian relief. if we can do things together to avert hunger in parts of the world that are affected by drought or that are hit hard by declining food exports out of

ukraine, then we should try to do that. it's hard to balance all those things at once, i admit. >> senator, good morning. want to ask you about gun violence that's taking place inside your state in the last couple of weeks. two horrific incidents within the space of a couple of days. the six people killed in a walmart. before that, the three university of virginia football players killed by a former teammate. there is some talk in this lame duck session of attempting at least an assault weapons ban on ar-style weapons that have been used in so many mass shootings. is there any hope? is it folly to think that can go through? if not, what do you take away? >> willie, first, it's almost ptsd. i've been dealing with this too long. i was the mayor of richmond when it was second highest homicide city in the united states. we brought it down. i was the governor of virginia when the shooting happened at virginia tech. i hate seeing these happen again

and again in virginia and elsewhere. i support an assault weapons ban. i support something that i think would even be more effective, which is a ban on high-capacity magazines. i don't believe we have the votes right now in the senate for it. i hope we will put it up for a vote. let's have people declare where they are on this. here is what i'm sort of focused on right now. in the shootings at virginia and in colorado springs, and in chesapeake, in each instance, there were warning signs that likely were missed. people saw things but they weren't sure how to respond to them. so often in shootings like this, that is a factor. i think we maybe need to dig into that a little bit more and equip employers but everyday citizens, to try to help somebody if you see them sort of going off the rails. virginia and colorado have

extreme risk protection order, red flag laws. the evidence suggests they are being implemented in an inconsistent way depending upon which county somebody lives in. if a colorado sheriff says i'm a second amendment sanctuary, it doesn't get enforced. the next county over, it does. we did a little of that work in the gun bill that we passed in congress a few months ago. we ought to look at these laws and trying to figure out ways to make sure they are consistently enforced. >> democratic senator tim kaine of virginia, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. we appreciate it. we are now one week away from georgia's senate runoff election between democratic senator raphael warnock and republican challenger herschel walker. more than 400,000 people turned out to the polls over the weekend, including about 70,000 on saturday. yesterday alone, more than 300,000 georgians cast their ballots, beating the state's

previous single-day early vote turnout of 233,000. let's bring in nbc news correspondent vaughan hillyard live in fort valley, georgia. what's the latest there, vaughan? >> reporter: good morning. you saw yesterday more than any early voting day in history here in the state of georgia, that includes the 2020 general election and the 2020 runoff and even last month's general election, the largest number of early day voters in a single day was yesterday, more than 300,000 voters. why does it matter? in georgia, it means everything for herschel walker and raphael warnock. in the case of the republican, herschel walker, just look at the general election results there. there were more than 200,000 voters who voted for brian kemp but then chose not to vote for herschel walker. if he had just won 40,000 of those 200,000 who chose to vote

for brian kemp but not him, he would have eclipsed raphael warnock. what he needs to do is get those republican voters to turn out for him. on the flip side, if you are raphael warnock, you need to replicate what you were able to do in the 2020 election, along with the likes others. if you go back to the general election, there were fewer votes received than david perdue. he gets an advantage of more than 140,000 voters. herschel walker gained even more than that. that was largely because in the runoff compared to the general election in 2020, the democratic voters turned out in a greater share than republican voters. more so for black voters here. what raphael warnock needs to do is that here 2022 to secure a

six-year term. one campaigned alongside dave matthews last night and will appear thursday with barack owe -- obama and herschel walker who has nothing on his calendar to be with trump. >> this is no longer about republican and democrat, right and left. this is right and wrong. >> being in a runoff is something i was born for. this election here is about controlling the senate in a sense that we're not going to let them take the senate away. right now, we can have everyone have different committees to be

even. if the republican loses a senate seat, the democrat got total control. >> reporter: what you heard from warnock is trying to play that middle ground and win over some brian kemp conservatives or convince them to not show up and vote for his republican opponent, herschel walker. >> it sounds like it might be news to herschel walkers that democrats have earned control of the senate. this would be one more seat for them if senator warnock holds on to it. let me ask you, vaughan, about the state of arizona, where you spent so much time, basically set up shop this year ahead of the midterm elections and on election day. a lawsuit from the secretary of state of arizona to a county that has failed to certify its results. last night, we saw a raucous conspiracy fuelled hearing where you had people spewing insanity at the members of the board there before they unanimously

certified the results. what do you make of everything you have seen in the last couple of days? >> reporter: more evidence i could have moved to arizona full-time again and called it home. this is a process where you see maricopa county certified its election results yesterday. there's only one of 15 that did not meet the deadline. why is this interesting? it's actually a republican county. the two republican board of supervisors suggested the long lines and printer issues disenfranchised voters that could have swung the election in favor of republicans, like kari lake for governor. this is under state law, the counties are required to certify their elections. there's also a state statute that explicitly says if a county

does not certify, then the state of arizona, the governor, secretary of state and attorney general must certify the statewide results without that county being included. that deadline is next week on november 8. what took place last night was secretary of state, she filed a lawsuit against the republican in the county making the case that the voters of the county should not be disenfranchised. this is wild here. we are going to follow this over the course of the next week, because in the scenario that the state of arizona were to certify 14 of the 15 counties, what would be the national implications? look at arizona congressional district 6. the republican candidate narrowly beat his democratic opponent but just over 5,000 votes. if you were to subtract the

county's vote, he would lose to the democrat flipping the seat in democratic control. again, do we expect that to happen? no. it's hard to fathom that more than 47,000 arizona voters would be disenfranchised. right now, that's exactly what the republican board of supervisors in that county is looking to do unless they change course over the next week. >> you cannot make that up, that they will fight to prevent their own votes, their own republican votes from counting. vaughan hillyard covering a lot of ground this morning. in less than an hour, the supreme court will hear arguments on a key immigration case. the biden administration wants to set the rules for deportations putting a focus on those who pose a threat to national security or public safety. a number of states, including texas, want the power to enforce more sweeping tactics like some of those in place during the trump administration. let's bring in washington

correspondent yamiche alcindor live from outside the supreme court. yamiche, good morning. what's at the heart of this immigration case? >> good morning. what's at the heart of this case is whether or not the biden administration can set priorities for who it wants to enforce immigration laws on and possibly deport. this centers on a memo sent out by homeland security secretary mayorkas. last year he said he wanted to focus on people he saw as threats to national security, public safety or border security, saying essentially that the federal government doesn't have the resources to go after the 11 million people who are living in the united states without proper authorization. this is the biden administration saying we have to have some system in place to focus on the people we think are most dangerous to our well-being as a society. texas and louisiana sued saying that was wrong, the federal government does not have the right to decide who it wants to enforce its immigration laws on. the supreme court will take up this case and wondering -- and deciding whether or not whether

the biden administration has the authorization to do what it decided to do or whether the states have the standing here. i should note that the supreme court has let a lower court standing rule in stopping this memo's directives from going into place. that was a trump appointed judge who made the decision. the supreme court said that could stand. but we want to see this case. of course, the other part is that the immigration politics in this country have become so incredibly polarized. you have people like kevin mccarthy in the last week going to the border saying he wants to see the homeland security secretary resign. he might impeach him if he becomes the house speaker which he is trying to do. this is in some ways centering not only on the biden administration's authority but also on a big topic that republicans have wanted to focus on, that is immigration, saying that our border is out of control. democrats say a lot of this has to do with the fact that these are people trying to be good americans, trying to be productive parts of our society. some of the people, including

people who don't have criminal records, who aren't threats, those people should not have to be deport and targeted in the same way as others. >> something has to give at the border. yamiche alcindor outside the supreme court. thanks so much. get this. roughly 200 people were rescued in minnesota after a chunk of ice they were fishing on broke off the main shoreline. it started floating ies arrived receiving calls from those stranded. they used boats, drones and all-terrain vehicles to figure out how to get them. they made a bridge to get them back on solid land. >> we went ice fishing. >> did you push the ice away?

>> stand over there. a little farther. >> take a picture. >> yeah. boom. separates the ice. we pushed it off. >> then he came back. >> he can swim. >> i can tell you, joe, she indicated she was in on this to help me. because she stood in the background, as you remember, as you and willie kept telling me to back up, she was shaking her head, knowing what your intent was. i didn't fall for it. that's why i'm here today. >> i guess so. >> i saved his life. >> tell me something. you go up to nantucket thanksgiving. do you do -- what do they call that? the turkey plunge or whatever. >> i remember my family did it. true story. every member of my family, including my wife, right in. >> my gosh. >> how cold is -- is it 40, 30

degrees? >> no. the water temperature is 52, 53 degrees. >> that's nothing. >> i do it on new year's day. i used to do it in connecticut, the polar plunge. it was fun. >> how was it? >> cold. after a five-mile run. >> it's not as cold as ari's ice bath. you are talking 52 degree temperatures in that water. you know what they call that in maine? that's july. that's july water right there. >> you talk ari's ice baths too much. hall of fame quarterback -- >> i'm wondering -- >> there's an obsession. >> why does he do that? is it good for him? >> i'm not comfortable. >> the great ari emanuel. i think most of us should try it. something is working for ari. it's a little early for me, a little cold for me. i like to hit the buffet at the

cheesecake factory. we could consider it. >> i guess. >> the buffet. >> do you seriously have to give away all of our trade secrets. they open it up for us. >> you need to bring it up one more time. i will be really worried. >> they have cheesecake waffles. put butter and syrup. it's all natural. >> okay. >> breakfast of champions right there. >> like everything at the cheesecake factory it is served with a hand shovel. it's so big. >> so good. >> okay. hall of fame quarterback brett favre is asking to be removed from a lawsuit that's seeking to recover millions of dollars in misspent welfare funds in the state of

mississippi. >> i don't think that's going to happen, buddy. >> favre was paid $1.1 million it was alleged. he paid back the money. the state is looking to collect over $200,000 in interest. the former quarterback has denied any wrongdoing in the case. >> where do we begin? where do we begin? a guy that's this multimillionaire, talking to the governor, figuring out how to skim money off of the welfare rolls in one of the poorest states in the country? >> highest rate of poverty in the united states of america. they need every nickel of the money. he is a millionaire many, many times over. initially, a lot of this welfare scam was to build a volleyball arena at southern miss university, which he could have paid for himself. >> because his daughter was attending the school. >> played there.

>> how does a guy say he had nothing to do with this and yet repays the money? >> right. >> why would you do that? >> that's a good point. up next, live to qatar where as we mentioned, a politically charged soccer match will kick off. the u.s. takes on iran in a world cup match for the first time in nearly a quarter century. you are watching "morning sn jo" we will be right back. joe." we will be right back. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. and by switching, you could even save $652. thank you, liberty mutual. now, contestants ready? go! why? why? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪

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it's the bottom of the hour. it's time for those of you on the west coast that don't usually watch our show, it's time for our regular segment. we were talking about the proper pronunciation of the country where the world cup is now. >> qatar. >> people in the region, qatar.

nbc says qatar. >> hold on a second. >> qatar. >> one second. can i finish? what do i do? i go to the google machine. this is what they say. >> qatar. >> can you hear that? >> yep. >> qatar. >> she says, i can do it better than that. >> i have a good voice. that's not enough. >> let's compare. >> qatar. >> qatar. >> loeld on. >> i have to hear her voice. hold on. >> qatar. >> now you go. >> sounds like she's saying guitar. >> it rhymes with guitar. >> on the gps in the car, i would like to be her. >> you want to do that? >> i would love to say you have arrived. >> they do have -- they have celebrity voices. you get -- >> i want to do it. >> you will get alec baldwin.

somebody's voice that sounds cool on a machine like that. >> really? >> it's your time. >> it is my time. i want to be the gps in the car. i don't want to hear her. she's not good at it. >> qatar. >> i don't know. >> my daughter, when she was 10, she named the gp firma because she has a firm voice. let's talk about the most important thing in u.s. soccer history. team usa is in a must win situation against iran this afternoon. what country? >> qatar. >> exactly. a draw or a loss eliminates team america from the world cup. after the team tied both matches against wales and england. let's bring in a person who has been patient for all of this. meagan fitzgerald, she's live from doha. what you got?

>> the excitement is growing here in qatar. i know it's growing back home in the states. the controversy around this tournament continues. >> reporter: at the world cup today, it's win or go home for team usa. excitement building for the game that is standing between the young team of stars and the rest of the tournament. >> i'm hoping for a 3-1 win. >> reporter: the americans getting in a final practice before their make or break game against iran. >> their confidence is good after the results so far. their work effort will bring it home for us. >> reporter: the two countries not just rivals on the field but on the real world stage as well. that animosity spilling over at a pre-game press conference that got testy after earlier this week the u.s. soccer federation briefly posted a graphic showing the iranian flag without the islamic republic emblem. the american coach grilled by iranian state media. >> we're not focused on those

outside things. all we can do is apologize on behalf of the players and staff. it's not something that we are a part of. >> reporter: the team captain scolded by an iranian reporter. >> our country is iran, not i-ran. >> reporter: who questioned him about the treatment of black people in the u.s. >> my apologies on the mispronunciation of your country. that being said, you know, there's discrimination everywhere you go. in the u.s., we are continuing to make progress every single day. >> reporter: the coach and captain aiming to keep the team focused on moving to the next round. despite everything off the pitch, team usa told me it's all about mindset going into the game. as american fans are getting fired up, ready to cheer the red, white and blue to victory. if team usa does win tonight, they will likely take on the

netherlands saturday. this is going to be a game that all eyes are going to be watching. >> absolutely. nbc's meagan fitzgerald live from doha. thank you very much. >> the iranian media should focus more on girls getting gunned down in the street by the thugs. >> the morality police. >> the morality police and young girls getting sexually assaulted and abused by those people. they should probably focus more on that. coming up, will smith talks about the slap that got him banned from the oscars and tries to explain why he reacted that way. "morning joe" will be right back. (snorting) if you struggle with cpap... (groan) (growling) (chuckle) ...you should check out inspire. no mask. no hose. just sleep. (beeping) learn more and view important safety information

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ever wonder why they call it the american dream... and not the american goal? announcer: derek jeter ...or plan? maybe... it's because in dreams, you can do anything. in dreams... you can hold your entire world in the palm of your hand. and turn time inside out... again and again. and you can do it all with your eyes wide open. welcome back. 39 past the hour. flu hospitalizations across the u.s. shot up 30% in just one week. the health and human services department reports that more than 11,000 people were hospitalized with the flu last week alone. experts believe the flu is hitting harder this year because

of waning immunity in the population after two years of masking and social distancing, because of covid. experts still consider this year's flu vaccine to be an effective tool in fighting the flu. will smith gave his first interview since slapping chris rock at the oscars. sitting down with trevor noah, he spoke about the night that changed his life forever. erin mclaughlin has the latest. >> reporter: will smith speaking out. >> at the end of the day, i just -- i lost it. >> reporter: on "the daily show" in his first sitdown interview since he slapped chris rock at the oscars. >> wow. wow. will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. >> reporter: smith promoting his new movie "emancipation" and opening up. >> i was gone.

that was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time. >> reporter: trying to explain his reaction to this joke from rock. >> jada, i love you. "g.i. jane 2," can't wait to see it. >> i have always wanted to save the damsel in distress. >> reporter: smith referenced childhood trauma. >> the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother. all of that just bubbled up. >> reporter: says he now has to explain himself to the children in his life. getting emotional as he discussed talking to his 9-year-old nephew. >> he stayed up to late to see his uncle will. we are sitting in my kitchen and he is on my lap and he is holding the oscar. he is just like, why did you hit that man, uncle will? you know? damn it.

why you trying to oprah me? >> reporter: the interview comes after online statements, apologies and quiet public appearances. his resignation from the academy. the board of governors has banned smith from all events for the next ten years. smith now hoping his reflection and apologies for his past action will not undermine his future. >> i had to humble down. you know? realize that i'm a flawed human. >> erin mclaughlin with that report. coming up next, we have made it through two of the biggest shopping days of the year and have arrived at a day to give back. the creator of giving tuesday will join us ten years after his simple idea has grown into a global movement. we'll be right back. my husband and i have never been more active.

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47 past the hour. to a look at the morning papers. "the citizen" reports the gunman who killed ten people and wounded three others in a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in buffalo has pled guilty to all state charges held against him. those include multiple first degree murder charges and one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate. he will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. in california "the los angeles times" leads with the lastest academic strike in history, entering its third week. nearly 38,000 graduate workers across the university of california campuses are striking in an effort to secure significant pay increases. there's now growing uncertainty over how to handle final exams and projects as the term comes

to a close. "the grand rapids press" reports lawmakers have passed a bill to make cocktails to go a permanent menu item for restaurants and bars across the state. >> mike has been fighting for this day. >> this is silly. this is a bad idea. no, mike. >> it's a great idea. >> no, it's not. it would eliminate the 2025 expiration day on previous pandemic-era legislation allowing restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages to be taken off premises. the bill now heads to the michigan house of representatives. >> there you go. >> bad idea. >> taste of freedom. >> no. to ohio where "the dayton daily news" has a feature on declining gas prices. the average price of gas is about $2.99. that's 11 cents cheaper than last week. the nation's average price has

declined for three consecutive weeks. in ohio, gas costs 21 cents per gallon less compared to a month ago. now that we have made our way through the long lines of black friday and the mad rush of cyber monday, it's time to put our money to more generous use. today is the tenth anniversary of giving tuesday, held on the first tuesday after thanksgiving when we pause those shopping sprees and focus on giving back. joining us now is the creator of giving tuesday, henry timms. he is president and ceo of the lincoln center for performing arts. it's always so great to see you. can you believe ten years ago you came up with this idea? it has become a phenomenon around the world. we're at $10 billion donated. you say by the end of the day,n. you say by the end of the day, it may be more than that. >> it's an amazing story. there's so many tough stories. and we had this idea ten years ago. the first time we talked about it was on this air. people just grab this idea and

took it everywhere. from this country where it began in the u.s., 85 countries around the world, people are cleaning up their communities, donating blood, food, giving gifts, it's a symbol of something we all have in common, which is the at capacity to care for each other. >> to go back to it, it was a reaction to the black friday and the cyber monday of it all, which can be gluttonous, put it mildly. >> this is the giving season. the giving season began with consumption. it was about bringing things to ourselves. so the idea was simple, which was black friday, cyber monday, days good for the economy. what about a day good for the soul? something that helps to give back. the aamazing thing is it does so much for you than just helping somebody. if you think about giving, it's proven to reduce stress, it will bring down your blood pressure, it will create social connections. one thing on this show this morning is howdy provided we

are. giving to someone else strengthens those bonds in our communities. if you give today t will encourage others. it will turn into other donations because people will follow your example. it just brought those three trends together. >> it's extraordinary. i was telling you in the break. any charitable organization i have had anything to do with sent out an e-mail saying can you stop and help. have you been surprised by the reach of this and how big it's become? >> it's been extraordinary to watch it grow. there's so many people whose stories that don't get told. people in the nonprofit community who don't get to tell the story of their work. but day in is and day out, they are never trending on twitter burks they are repairing our societies. giving tuesday ukraine has been a partner for a number of years. this year they are having an online giving festival. especially focused on the

pregnant women in ukraine and the challenges they are facing. those stories are everywhere today. so at a time when there's so much division, i hope giving tuesday can be something that shows that unifying spirit that no matter where we are in the world, we can give more to each other. >> two questions. is there ab average amount that's given? $10 billion is an enormous amount of money. is there an average amount that's given? where does the money go whereby. >> the average gift size is $100. this is $10 billion made up not of mega gifts, but everyday giving. the money goes wherever it needs to dpo. it was designed not to funnel things not through one gaelt. giving tuesday no matter the cause, you support the cause closest to you. all around the world. it's essentially a decentralized campaign. that was the idea that you would trust people to take this

campaign to make it more relevant in their community. that's what you see today in kenya. you're seeing a cleanup campaign. it's what you see in the uk where the national health service is doing a campaign to get people to donate blood. wherever giving tuesday goes, it changes. itshearted remains the same. >> it's an organization in your community or somewhere half way around the world, you can go to the website. you want to ask you about lincoln center. the complete resurgence and revival of that new york city icon. mike and i both live not far, walk past every day and it's been great in the last year to see it so vibrant and to see all the restaurants come back to life after a couple long years. how are things going at lincoln center? >> we're thrilled to see new yorkers back home at lincoln center. that's true of performing arts organizations across the country. we realized we take these things for granted. especially in new york, every night there's amazing things you can do.

there was a long period where you couldn't. we took for granted it was off limits. when you see audiences come back, you see thunderstorm not coming back. there's something different. it's reclaiming to some degree, that part of ourselves we're not scared of each other. we're not hiding away. we're demonstrating we can find a social connection. in a way, that's a through line between what giving tuesday is going and what lincoln center is doing. whatever we create, our bedrock is creating community. we are better than being alone on our own divorced from reality. we're trying to create theses communal experiences. rituals is what make the strong society. >> lincoln center is a light in our city. thank you for your stewardship. >> come see a show. we have a great holiday seasonlined up. >> we'll be there. mike goes to the opera from time to time. >> i can believe that. >> pause of his wife. >> extra points.

>> thank you so much. happy holidays. for more information on how you can participate in giving tuesday, visit giving yn tuesday.org. that does it for us this morning. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning with more "morning joe." my name is douglas. i'm a writer/director and i'm still working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line

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football is off side. willie got a little ahead of the ball there. >> i just want to be clear. that was no one's fault by anymy own. at some point, it stops firing and that's on me. the continue now. >> it's time for us to go to the cheeds cake factory and have our show. why don't we do what we learned today. what i learned is mika wants to be the google. and barnacle goes to the opera. >> i learned that there's something about you and ari and ice baths that i need to look into deeply. >> i deent really think so. willie? >> i learned huge game coing up in a few hours. u.s. men's national team. if they win, they move on. if they lose, their world cup is over. >> i learned to leave the opera at halftime, even