good morning, everybody, right now on msnbc reports we've got breaking news, michigan supreme court rejects an attempt

to keep donald trump off the ballot in 2024, and overseas israel's expanding its ground offensive into refugee camps in central gaza in what it calls, quote, a new battle zone. the government there saying the war against hamas will go on, for, quote, many months. secretary of state tony blinken, and other top biden officials, set to meet with mexico's president in the next couple hours for critical talks about the border crisis happening as a caravan with a reported 8,000 migrants heading towards the u.s. border. ♪♪ hey, everybody, good morning to you, we're going to begin with the latest developments in the israel-hamas war. israeli defense forces saying they have expanded their war effort into central gaza where several refugee camps are located. it is the same area where just earlier this week 70 people were killed in the strike on a refugee camp, the announcement coming with no clear end in sight for the war, israel's army chief saying their operations could last for months.

want to start with nbc's josh lederman on the ground for us in tel aviv. josh, you just returned from a tour of one of the largest hamas tunnels israeli forces have actually discovered. walk us through what you saw. >> reporter: yasmin, we went into northern gaza for a brief visit to see those tunnels at the invitation of the israeli military which had first disclosed the discovery of these tunnel as few weeks ago but now is allowing some members of the media to see it for themselves. and they say that it really shows just how extensive an operation this was, particularly in civilian areas, with the tunnel that's fortified by concrete, you can clearly see how there's a shaft that goes from the entrance diagonally into the earth, then allows an actual vehicle to be driven into the tunnel, and you can see inside that there was electrical wires, there was clearly plumbing, the kinds of things you would need to spend quite a

long time in that tunnel. the israeli military says it goes about 2 1/2 miles, all the way from gaza to gaza city, with additional shafts that go down into the ground and lead to a whole network of offshoots that potentially lead to hamas homes or offices of some of their top officials. we can't independently verify where all those legs of the tunnel go to, but one of the things that's been most concerning for israel is the fact that this was a tunnel discovered barely a quarter mile from the israeli border. i asked the idf how it is that they are unaware that they had this massive tunnel, so close to their border, and they said, looks, we knew about the tunnel entrance. we had no idea how extensive it was, and that that is among the things israel wants to get to the bottom to. they said those are the kinds of questions they're deferring, yasmin, until after the war. >> thank you, josh, for taking us through that, appreciate it. i want to turn from israel to syria, militants are launching a series of rockets at u.s. and allied forces, on tuesday,

according to two u.s. defense officials, no injuries reported and the base's infrastructure was not damaged according to the officials there, there have now been at least 105 attacks on u.s. personnel in iraq and syria since october 17th, want to bring in now the tehran bureau chief ali arouzi to talk us through this. take us through these latest attacks and what we know so far. >> reporter: there's been a string of attacks by armed groups supported by iran, under iran's patronage, and as you ntned those u.s. strikes come in response to a group called qatib hezbollah, hitting u.s. rs, injuring three people, o o them critically and the u.s. felt like it had to respond. it's a militant group, financed, trained and armed by iran, and have been one of the most prom don't groups involved on attacks in the u.s. in iraq for some time now, for well over a decade. they're based in iraq, but they

also have a very strong foothold in syria, and they surface from time to time in bahrain, and lebanon, depending where iran needs them. and they are under the umbrella of a group of militias, also under iran's patronage, incorporated into the iraqi army and their purpose in the region is to expel u.s. forces and put israel uh under as much pressure. and their attacks can escalate depending on the regional situation, usually determined by tehran who feel at any given time it's in their interest to ratchet up or ratchet down tensions, currently iran feels like it's in our interest to ratchet up tensions in the red sea. yasmin? >> ali awe rue zi for us, thank you for taking us through that. bringing in former deputy commander of the united states european command and a military analyst, and also evelyn farkas,

to talk more about all of this. lieutenant general, i want to start with you on this one, specifically talking about kind of what they are facing right now when it comes to these iranian-backed militias, what ali was taking us through expertly there, how they're backed by iranian money, they are told by iran what to do and how to act, and what their objective and their mission is. how dangerous are they right now? these iranian proxies. >> yasmin, it's good to be with you. there are dangerous ones, in a sense that they are trained by iran, funded by iran, equipped by iran and told what to do by iran. and so all these instability that you're seeing going on in the middle east, whether it be hezbollah and lebanon, firing weapons into israel to disrupt the fighting there on the gaza strip,r the houthis down south in yemen that are firing

missiles and drones into the red sea, to disrupt commercial shipments, or the activities that you're seeing in iraq and syria. all of this is designed to, number one, provoke the u.s. >> right. >> into this war, and number two, to break greater instability in the region and take the focus off of hamas. and so, we must remain steadfast, and not get drawn into a greater war here, and i think u.s. central command is doing a great job by executing, protecting our troops and our u.s. interests in the region. >> for the most part, evelyn, we've been targeting the united states has been targeting weapons depots in response to many of these attacks from the houthis, from hezbollah as well, the fact is, since october 17th, there's been 100-plus attacks like this one, despite the fact iran has said it doesn't want this to go beyond the borders of israel and gaza and the u.s.

warning iran not to push, and hezbollah as well, beyond the borders of israel and gaza. it is still happening. it doesn't seem like this deterrence is working. what more needs to be done? >> well, thanks, yasmin, thanks for focusing on this. i think the general made a really important point, that we have to throw the focus back on iran and hamas. ultimately, they are responsible for this horrendous war, and right now it is -- it is, of course, accurate to put -- or accurate to say that israel is also responsible for the way they're conducting this war. and that we should put pressure on israel as well to come to a con -- to make it come to a conclusion quickly. but i think the part that we've been missing, and that needs to happen now in order to bring this to a diplomatic close is that we need to put the pressure on iran and hamas, and i think -- and hezbollah, all the proxies, the houthis, et cetera, by highlighting this through the media, and then of course our government needs to be communicating, and i'm sure they

are, very clearly with the iranians. but the fact, as you said, and i'll just conclude with this, that, you know, there were 100 attacks on land and we're not even talking about the attacks on sea, means that we haven't deterred iran and its proxies yet. we do need to take forceful military action that's proportionate, but that signals clearly that the iranians are playing with fire. >> how best to, evelyn, speak through the diplomatic channels, to iran, to ask them for more deterrence, to ask them to not make this into a war beyond the borders of israel, and gaza, what avenues are best to use? what countries are best to use? what leaders are best to use? >> i mean, obviously our -- first of all, egypt is right there in the neighborhood, it has an important role to play, they have already put forward a few proposals that hamas has rejected, the egyptians need to be applauded for doing so. and the pressure needs to be

continued to be applied onto hamas. second, of course, qatar, qatar is the place where the hamas political leadership is living. and qatar has been instrumental in getting hostages out, making sure that humanitarian assistance gets into gaza. they can play a bigger, and much more constructive role in getting us into the end phase of all this. hamas should be for all intents and purposes, dead as a political and military entity. and we need to move on to the future and that will require major powers weighing in and putting pressure on -- on, of course, iran, on hamas, and then, of course, on israel. >> i want to talk general if we can about this next faze of this war that we are seeing right? we know and we have been hearing reporting how the biden administration seems to be kind of separating from netanyahu, and how they're seeing the future of this war, wanting them to kind of practice more along the lines of accounting for civilian lives in gaza. when we think about this,

netanyahu said, in an op-ed, pretty recently that despite the fact they will avoid the safe zones if, in fact, hamas is found to be in these safe zones they will go after hamas, how worried are you about the next phase of this war in gaza and the mounting civilian death toll? >> yeah, i think there's more to come here. we must veb that prime minister netanyahu has said destroy, anytime you use the word destroy, that means you have to go after hamas, wherever they are located. and apparently they have intelligence that they're in central gaza now, in the camp, and of course in the south. so he is going to go after them, and he's going to be relentless just like he was in the north, and until he feels that they are destroyed, and you also heard

him use the term demille at a rise, all the tunnels, the weapons cache, the command centers, all those things associated with hamas will be destroyed also. and so, there are plenty casualties that will probably occur as a result of continued operations in the gaza strip. >> evelyn, i want to quickly read for you this quote from thomas friedman, in a piece he wrote right before christmas in which he said the best way to discredit and destroy sinwar, the leader of hamas, is for israel to leave gaza and make him come out of his tunnel, face his people, and the world, and own gaza's rebuilding on his own. what do you make of this? >> i think it's a brilliant column, and a great idea. it tracks with what i was just saying earlier and what the general was saying about putting the focus on iran and hamas, ultimately they are responsible for the palestinian people, the united states government does

not support a new occupation of gaza by israel. the best way to end this is for the hamas militants, the terrorists, to be put on the spot, release the hostages and more of your people will die. and you are responsible for the fate of your people, hamas leadership. he makes a very important point, and in his column he also makes the point that the people of gaza are likely quite frustrated with hamas and would like a better future and blame the hamas leadership for the situation there, rightfully so. >> steph tweetty, evelyn farkas, thank you, happy holidays. breaking news, the latest effort to get former president trump off of a state bol lot for 2024, live at the border in texas with what we know about a caravan of thousands of migrants heading towards the border. back in just 60 seconds. you're watching msnbc. gs... time stops.

(♪♪) and you realize you're in love... steve? with a laundry detergent. (♪♪) gain flings. seriously good scent. lowering bad cholesterol can be hard, even with a statin. diets and exercise add to the struggle. today, it's possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. with a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by 50% and keep it low with 2 doses a year. common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, and chest cold. ask your doctor about twice-yearly leqvio. lower. longer. leqvio® (dad) it's our phone bill... we pay for things that we don't need. (mom) that's a bit dramatic. (dad) we must tighten our belts! (mom) a better plan to save is verizon! (vo) that's right! plans start at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years. only on verizon.

breaking news out of michigan this morning, folks, the state supreme court rejecting a case to remove trump from the 2024 ballot is coming just a week after a ruling by the colorado supreme court removing him from the ballot in that state, want to bring in nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, and anthony -- merrick garland, an nbc justice and legal affairs analyst and republican strategist, susan dell percio, vaughan, start us off. >> we're just getting this filing in here, it's important to understand, right after colorado's supreme court ruled last week donald trump was disqualified from the ballot in colorado, there are questions how other potential supreme courts and states around the country would rule. we have a ruling here from michigan, this was an appeal, but we should note that instead they -- all but punt here, in fact, the supreme court is not actually taking up the appeal, instead of affirming the decision of the lower court here, there was one dissenting judge who stated in a dissent, a

five-page filing that he believed that the court should have considered this, yet sort of threw out his own writings here, essentially backed the decision of the supreme court, and the lower court's decision. writing that there's a difference between colorado state law and michigan state law. >> right. >> so in colorado he writes that there's a distinction under their law that one must attest to being a qualified candidate, versus in the state of michigan, somebody must sign an affidavit of identity, and particularly under michigan law, that does not apply to candidates for president. in that justice who wrote this and said that the supreme court should have taken this up under consideration, did write that, quote, i would affirm the court of appeals ruling on this issue, later in 2024, though, should trump become the republican nominee for president in the united states, or seek such office as an independent candidate, he suggests that at that point, perhaps, the michigan supreme court should take it up under consideration. again, like we've seen in other courts in other states, making a clear distinction, between the primary process, in the general

election, essentially the parties can put whoever they want on the ballot but it is come the general election when it is incumbent upon the secretary of state and the quarts to determine whether a candidate is actually qualified. >> stick with me, vaughan, if you will for a moment. take us through the distinction that's being made between colorado law and michigan law as well and this distinction between a primary ballot in which michigan is saying we are allowing the former president on the primary ballot, however, maybe this needs to be reconsidered once the general election comes to fruition. >> that's right, well, the how matters here, yasmin. plus, vaughan noted in his lead-in to this piece is that in colorado there really wasn't a trial here. and that's in direct opposition to what we saw in colorado, importantly in colorado we found a finding that trump had engaged in an insurrection. s that's not a surprise to any of us. all of us who watched what he

did on january 6th, and in the months leading into january 6th. now, the question before the court is one about qualifications, and how i view this is, you know, it's no different than any other qualification. you've got to be 35 years old to be president of the united states. >> right. >> you must be a natural born citizen to be president of the united states and of course, according to the 14th amendment, amendment section 3, you must not have engaged in a rebellion or insurrection and supported those who did. i think it's a clear cut issue, i don't know that the majority of the supreme court would agree, but this looks like it's going to be headed to them. >> what do you think of the political implications here, susan? >> i think they're pretty tame right now, colorado was certainly explosive, but colorado's case is the one that's going to the supreme court. so half the country will say that michigan validates what they thought as far as him not being qualified to be on the

ballot, others will say i want to know what happens in the supreme court. all of this will be a bit of noise until the supreme court ultimately rules, and that decision will certainly lead us going forward. >> vaughan, are we getting any response from the former president on this? >> he's pretty quick to respond to these things, yasmin, and in realtime. >> i'm checking. >> in fact, as you asked me this question, i'm looking on his truth social account. and he says, quote, the michigan supreme court has strongly and rightfully denied the desperate democrat attempt to take the leading candidate in a 2024 presidential election, me off the ballot in the state of michigan, it's a pathetic -- across the country. one place it's not failed is the state of colorado. and we are waiting for the u.s. supreme court to take this up. we still expect to hear this week sometime, donald trump's legal team to file the appeal in colorado, they have not actually -- >> today. >> it could happen any minute here. they have not done this at this point but they have a deadline of january 4th.

we should expect that appeal in the u.s. supreme court to ultimately take this up, and again, as michigan suggests here, these -- the litigants in the state of michigan, and in states across the country, could potentially have donald trump -- come back to the courts, and ultimately ask the same question, once he actually wins the nomination because, again, the suggestion here is that the political parties can put whoever on the ballot they like, but then once it goes onto the general election ballot, then that is the statement, or a question that is left up for determination of what qualification means. >> anthony, i'm glad that we have you this morning because we've got a couple breaking news stories when it comes to the former president, and also special counsel jack smith, seeking to block political disinformation arguments, in trump's d.c. trial, filing this motion, saying, quote/unquote, the court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrevt disinformation, and should reject his attempto inject politics into this proceeding,

that is part of the filing that was put into place by jack smith here, what do you make of that? >> yeah, haven't had a chance to read it too, but i have some thoughts. what struck me is, hearing vaughn talk about this trump social media post, yasmin, he described -- he used the term pathetic gambut. what's pathetic is what we learned in recent weeks as the detroit news reported of him calling two canvassers on the board to urge them to ignore the facts and work around the law, and to really sign onto this big lie, which i actually call a big conspiracy, that we are now seeing playing out in michigan, we saw it play out in georgia and i suspect we're going to see it play out in other states. as to what you asked about jack smith, you know, he's going to use everything he can, including what we just talked about in

michigan, to do -- to hold donald trump accountable. you know, he's making his -- he's making his case in the court of law, he's not so much focused on the court of public opinion like donald trump is doing, and the reason donald trump is focused on the court of public opinion is because he has such an uphill battle in the court of law. with mountains and mountains of evidence of people who voted for him, who worked for him, who wanted him to win, and now audio evidence from even people in michigan. >> anthony coley, thank you. vaughn hillyard, thank you as well. thousands of migrants march towards the u.s. border, we're going to go to eagle pass, texas with what's happening on the ground after a week of a record number of migrants trying to get through the crossing, you're watching msnbc. my daughter and i finally had that conversation. oh, no, not about that. about what comes next in life. for her.

i may not be in perfect health, but i want to stay in my home, where my family visits often and where my memories are. i can do it with help from a prep cook, wardrobe assistant and stylist, someone to help me live right at home. life's good. when you have a plan. ♪ ♪

there's challenges, and i love overcoming challenges. ♪ when better money habits® content first started coming out, it expanded what i could do for special olympics athletes with developmental needs. thousands of bank of america employees like scott spend countless hours volunteering to teach people how to reach their financial goals. it felt good. it felt like i could take on the whole world. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ get it with gurus. cargurus. when you shop wayfair, you get big deals for your home - every day. so big, we'll have you saying... am i a big deal? yeah you are, because it's a big deal, when you get a big deal. wayfair deals so big that you might get a big head. because with savings so real - you can get your dream sofa for half the price. wayfair. it's always a big deal. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ the chewy app has everything for pets. hungry pets, itchy pets, scratchy pets, and most importantly, your pet. every day great prices and 35% off your first authorship order. right to your door. download the chewy app. new emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? [sfx: video game]

emergen-c crystals. the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi

and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. welcome back, secretary of state antony blinken andal haund row mayorkas meeting with the mexican president. eagle pass, texas, morgan chesky is standing by for us. morgan, good to see you. walk us through what you're seeing on the ground there in anticipation of this meeting happening later today. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, good

morning, a surprisingly quiet morning here in eagle pass, one week after that record-breaking day with those migrants crossing the u.s.-mexico border. as for that caravan you mentioned it's still about a thousand miles south of where we are, but organizers say they are growing rapidly with more central american families, and so many children. this morning, the southern border's migrant crisis marching on, this video capturing the largest caravan in more than a year, an estimated 8,000 men, women and children in mexico near guatemala. all of them headed north. organizers say the group swelled by nearly 2,000 people in a single day. many hoping for a better life. many more, road weary and exhausted. the caravan moving as the mexican president welcomes u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. the mexico city meeting set for later today expected to focus on the unprecedented irregular

migration and border security between the neighboring countries. the visit following a recent phone call between president biden and mexico's leader. >> the two leaders agreed that additional enforcement actions are urgently needed. >> reporter: it comes as the number of migrants in cities across the country are reaching record levels with new york city seeing up to 4,000 people arriving each week. local shelters and services overwhelmed and struggling to keep up. >> we have no more room in the city. >> reporter: meanwhile, on the ground in eagle pass, a surprising lull in crossings tuesday following a record-breaking week, where thousands of migrants lined the banks of the rio grande, and processing took hours, if not days. outside a shelter, we met osma, mary ann and eddy son. where are you going now? oklahoma, los angeles, dallas. mary ann says she's now waiting until her asylum hearing. after a five-month journey here

she describes similarly to so many other migrants we've heard from, a dangerous, potentially deadly trek, that in her mind is worth it. and northern cities who are accepting migrants are now facing a new issue as the winter sets in. we know that in the city of chicago, the state is sponsoring hotel rooms for migrant families, and in new york city a tent city just opened up, yasmin, and in some cases shelters are at capacity. migrants after 30 days are being asked to leave and reapply to get back in. every inch of available space, in incredibly high demand right now. yasmin. >> morgan chesky for us, prior to it. up next, everyone, does it seem like almost everybody you know is getting sick? we're going to talk to a doctor about what's going on around and how to protect yourself while gathering with friends and family. the troubles words donald trump is using to describe 2024,

if he gets back into office. you are watching msnbc. ng dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. also try for fizzy fast cough relief. the subway series is taking your favorite to the next level! like the #20. the elite chicken and bacon ranch. built with rotisserie-style chicken and double cheese. i love what i'm seeing here. that's some well-coached chicken. you done, peyton? the subway series just keeps gettin' better. michael strahan: st. jude has helped increase the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to 80%. sofia vergara: we're helping kids grow up to be whatever they want to be. joanna gaines: like emmanuel, who's chasing quarterbacks.

subject: tina, the star of her quinceñera. michael strahan: and haley, who's an astronaut. sofia vergara: or maggie, who's a doctor. maggie: a doctor, saved by st. jude doctors. marlo thomas: give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give a gift that could last a lifetime. (singing )i'll be home for christmas. you can plan on me. please have snow and mistletoe. and presents on the tree. right now all over the country kids at shriners hospitals for children are able to go home and be with their families for the holidays.

and that's only possible because of the monthly donations from people like you. thanks to a generous donor every dollar you give can help twice as many kids like me and have double the impact. with your gift of just $19 a month, only $0.63 a day. we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue blanket as a thank you. and a reminder of the care you'll be providing so kids can be with their families. (singing) christmas eve will find me. where the love light gleams. it only takes a moment to call the number on your screen. or you can visit loveshriners.org. thanks to a generous donor your gift will go twice as far and help more kids like me. because every child just wants to be home for the holidays, and your gift makes that possible. your call is the best gift of all. your gift will be my favorite

christmas present this year. thank you for giving. please call the number on your screen or go to loveshriners.org to give whatever you can. and when you do, your gift will have two times the impact.

here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. 115 million americans traveling this holiday season with thousands of flights impacting, a winter storm whiting out parts of the plains, nbc's adrienne broaddus has more, chicago o'hare was

certainly ground zero for a lot of delays over the last couple of days to say the least, how are things looking today? >> reporter: smooth right now, but i will tell you, chicago, o'hare, and midway airports are expected to see 3.4 million passengers during this last holiday stretch. further west, in colorado, a blizzard caused hundreds of delays, and even stranded some passengers. this morning, the holiday travel crunch ahead of the new year continues, a blizzard pounding colorado, causing hundreds of delays at denver international, as more than 6,000 flight delays piled up at airports nationwide. it's causing a headache for families like the kellmans who just want to get from chicago to florida for their disney vacation. >> we just checked our bag, we've gotten a couple text messages the flight has been

delayed twice. >> reporter: hitting with snow and ice, creating pile-ups and shutdowns, nebraska highway state patrol responding to at least 150 accidents on christmas day. meantime, at the airports, things are getting back on track. >> i'm glad that the travel wasn't as bad today as i think it must have been pre-christmas. i took a risk, i put my heavy coat in my luggage so i hope it arrives back there. >> reporter: with southwest now back to a normal operating schedule after heavy weekend fog in chicago, caused hundreds of delays and for these two friends heading to ghana, it's all about a positive outlook. >> want to just get there before new year's. >> you don't want that flight to be delayed. >> put that into the atmosphere. it's going too smooth. >> reporter: fingers crossed, and if you're heading to the airport this week, the tsa predicts the busiest travel days will be this upcoming friday and monday, new year's day, back to you. >> fingers crossed, everybody

gets to where they're trying to go this holiday season, adrienne broaddus, thank you so much, appreciate it. heading home for the holidays, it may seem like everyone's sick. respiratory illness levels are high or very high. washington, d.c., new york city, including cases of rsv, flu, covid, and a new variant, beginning to dominate the country as well, medical contributor dr. kavita pa tell joins us with what we have to know to stay healthy this new year, kavita, happy early new year, good to see you my friend. a lot of people are getting sick right now. what do they have? what's out there? >> yeah, yasmin, it's all out there, we're seeing all three viruses in intense activity all around the world, australia in their summer is also seeing peak levels of activity, and it's all covid, rsv and flu in the united states more specifically we're still seeing, i would say, like some steady, almost exponential rates rising, and where i'm

watching all parts of the country, especially because of holiday travel, are going to experience these surges, and what i'm really kind of remarkable effect right now is the flu activity, yasmin, it's not quite at the levels that we're seeing, like the covid and rsv hospitalizations but you just watch, over the next couple of weeks, i think we're really going to feel some of the effects of the flu, and everyone can get the flu, including little babies and that also means people can get vaccinated. 42% vaccination for flu. i want to highlight, all three viruses are in activity. we're watching that flu, those rates are skyrocketing. >> we're talking about vaccinations here, you said 42% vaccinated for the flu, covid 18% or so, rsv, even less at 17. >> right. >> who should be focusing on making sure they're vaccinated this year? >> yeah, the youngest and the oldest, that's where we're seeing disproportionate hospitalizations, yasmin, so all three viruses, disproportionately have effect under the age of 5 and over the

age of about 50 to 60. and remember, if you're over 60, get an rsv vaccine, if you're under eight months, there's a monoclonal antibody, get it in the pediatrician's office and it can take effect pretty quickly, unlike other vaccines where we have to wait a week or so for that to take effect, the rsv one, the one kids are getting hospitalized with, and older adults, if you are not current, it's not too late. we're going to see these rates rising because of the holidays. like we see peak travel we're going to see those rates protect yourself, air circulation, if you're in packed settings, get at least the mask on and get some air circulating, get the windows open, all those things can protect us in the meantime. >> the kids most susceptible, what age? >> under 5. >> got it. >> but especially under the age of 1. especially 8 months and under, we're especially trying to push to get that rsv monoclonal antibody, that gets them passive

immunity, antibodies protect them pretty darn quickly, an amazing miracle for this winter and i encourage people to look into it. >> covid variant, about 40% or so plus cases in the country right now have this new covid variant. what should we be looking for? >> jn.1 is the variant, and we're still seeing the diggs tings amongst the different viruses, if you lose smell or taste it's probably covid but all the other symptoms, yasmin, kind of blur together. you see a dry cough, you can see a sore throat, you can see everything with the new variant, so, including eye infections, conjunctivitis. i've had patients show up with just a headache, i said, hum me, take a test, and sure enough, they have covid. so, it can mask and look like a lot of other symptoms, i think what's important to know is that this is the fastest growing variant we've seen over the last two years, it's not resulting in as many hospitalizations, that's good news, but if you are older, and have other chronic conditions, even if you're boosted, you can still get sick. there's treatments. don't forget that we've got treatments out there. if you get a positive test, stay

home and call your local health care practitioner to see if you qualify for the anti viral treatments. >> and you and i spoke about this a couple weeks ago, i had covid and because of his heart condition i had about a year ago now i did take paxlovid and it worked miracles for me, my symptom wrs gone and i did not get that rebound. dr. kavita pa tell, thank you, my friend, good to see you. >> stay safe. huge hurdles the next year, what can unite the party or divide it even further. you're watching msnbc. [bell ringing] and doug says, “you can customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual.” he hits his mark —center stage— and is crushed by a baby grand piano. are you replacing me? with this guy? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache! oh, look! a bibu. [limu emu squawks.] only pay for what you need.

♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ - "best thing i've ever done." that's what freddie told me. - it was the best thing i've ever done, and- - really? - yes, without a doubt! - i don't have any anxiety about money anymore. - great people. different people, that's for sure, and all of them had different reasons for getting a reverse mortgage, but you know what, they all felt the same about two things: they all loved their home, and they all wanted to stay in that home. and they all wanted to stay in that home. - [announcer] if you're 62 or older and own your home, you could access your equity to improve your lifestyle. a reverse mortgage loan eliminates your monthly mortgage payments and puts tax-free cash in your pocket. call the number on your screen. - why don't you call aag... and find out what a reverse mortgage can mean for you? - [announcer] call right now to receive your free no-obligation info kit. call the number on your screen.

there is a lot of information out there. hamas is a terrorist group oppressing the palestinian people. hamas refused a continued ceasefire, a continued pause in fighting and more aid from israelis in exchange for just freeing more hostages. instead, hamas resumed attacks. not to protect the palestinian people or obtain peace, only to destroy israel. we must stand against hamas and stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights. students... students of any age, from anywhere. using our technology to power different ways of learning. so when minds grow, opportunities follow. ♪ (son) dad. you ok? (dad)en minds grow, oit's our phone bill! we pay for things that we don't need! bloated bundles, the reckless spending! no more... (mom) that's a bit dramatic... a better plan is verizon. it starts at 25 dollars a line.

(dad) did you say 25 dollars a line? (sister) and save big on things we love, like netflix and max! (dad) oh, that's awesome (mom) spaghetti night -- dinner in 30 (dad) oh, happy day! (vo) a better plan to save is verizon. it starts at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years and get both netflix and max for just $10/mo. only on verizon.

it has been quite the year for the republican party, with multiple house speakers, a scandalous lawmakers ousted from his post, impeachment inquiries against the sitting president and the entire 2024 gop field against one person, donald trump. nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake has the year in review for the grand old party and what lies ahead. >> reporter: the strength of donald trump's hold on the republican party is one of the first questions 2024 may answer. the gop presidential field, which peaked with more than a dozen active candidates in 2023, ends the year with just five credible campaigns remaining, and polling shows the republican race remains donald trump's to lose. >> so we're leading with 51%, while ron desanctimonious is at

less than 19, and haley is at 16. what happened to the haley surge? >> reporter: the early states gauntlet of iowa, new hampshire, nevada and south carolina likely to winnow the field still further before what could be a decisive super tuesday on march 5th. trump's biggest roadblock on the path to the convention, and nomination in july, may not be another candidate at all. but his legal challenges, including 91 criminal charges, spread across four cases, and a civil fraud trial set to conclude in january, which has already bogged him down in new york. he's denied all charges. >> right now in iowa, and new hampshire, south carolina, i should be sitting in a courthouse. >> reporter: january could prove a pivotal month on capitol hill too, with the first of two government funding deadlines which could lead to a partial shutdown as negotiators resume work on a stalled bill to send aid to israel and ukraine and overhaul immigration policy. >> negotiations will continue in earnest, until we get there.

>> reporter: all while house republicans' impeachment inquiry aims to pick up steam. >> we expect to depose the president's son and then we will be more than happy to have a public hearing with him. >> reporter: the house will face those challenges with the majority somehow even slimmer than the one they began with in 2023 when they struggled for days to elect kevin mccarthy as speaker in an historic 15 ballots. >> he won't have the votes. >> reporter: with mccarthy who made history a second time when he was ousted from the speakership by eight rogue republicans in october, retiring from congress in december. >> i would do it all again. >> reporter: and new york's george santos, who practically rewrote the definition of congressional scandal. >> if i leave, they win. >> reporter: expelled in disgrace, and facing federal prosecution. and while new house speaker mike johnson continues to learn on the job top senate republican mitch mcconnell will likely remain the subject of speculation, over how long he'll hold onto his leadership post after a march concussion

contributed to two frightening freezes for the 81-year-old. >> all right, i'm sorry, you all, we're going to need a minute. >> reporter: whoever's in charge the party's key issues in 2024 seem set, addressing border security and the economy uniting them. >> we need to prove in 2024 that we have the policies and the will and the ability to make those differences. >> reporter: and finding consensus on abortion and, yes, trump, among the issues that divide the party's old guard from the new. >> the focus has to be just completely right now on making sure we don't return donald trump to the white house. >> what do we learn about from the new. >> the focus has to be just completely right now on making sure we don't return donald trump to the white house. >> what do we learn about republicans in 2024? >> we're going to win. that's what you'll learn. it will be tumultuous. it is going to be issues. there is going to be disagreements. there is disagreements in every household in america. >> reporter: garrett haake, nbc news, washington. >> want to bring back republican strategist susan del percio and

bazell smikle. welcome. happy late christmas and happy early new year's. let me show you this word cloud shared by the former president of the united states and the words that stick out to me, he's got economy on there, power, revenge, dictatorship, dictator, and america. you couple that with this morning former president calling the president, president biden, a quote, unquote threat to democracy, what do you make of it? >> that's donald trump. he is what he says. there is just no questioning it. when he talks about i'll be your retribution and revenge, he means it. and that's a reflection in what you just showed with that word cloud. the idea for revenge, though, i think something that will -- the biden campaign will kind of turn upside down and make it more about democracy. it is a good thing to do. because right now donald trump is locked up with the republican

nomination unless something drastic changes. >> what do you make of this kind of attack on democracy when it comes to the president of the united states? he's wanting to turn the tables on president biden. it doesn't necessarily work for him as it does for the former president, who incited the insurrection on january 6th, who said that the election was stolen from him, all of these kind of lies and what he put out to the american people and he's trying to now say that he is trying to save the democracy. >> well, you know, to susan's point, donald trump's language is all about retribution and revenge, retaliation, and he's been talking for a long time about the institutions of government in collusion with the democrats being out to get him. he's been saying it so long that his loyalists not only believe him, but are willing to give him the runway, the space to push

back. and push back include the push back includes every word you have seen in that sound cloud. it is incredibly -- it is incredibly dangerous for the country. i do think, again, to susan's point, the ways in which the biden campaign can address it is to focus more on this -- the sanctity of the institutions themselves, the importance of our democracy, and quite frankly also hitting on congress. look at the -- what they have been doing is really artful. it is opening the door for all of donald trump's policies. it is one part looking busy, and two parts showing fealty to the man himself. and so, you know, just consistently hitting on that and hitting on those important pillars like healthcare and abortion rights and the connection between the two i still think is a winning strategy. >> garrett haake showed us three minutes of republicans in disarray in washington on the capitol.

and as we're getting closer and closer to the primary calendar, a couple of weeks away now, the likely republican nominee for president, the former president of the united states, donald trump, polls are looking -- how worried are you he's going to drive a lot of the policy coming out of the house in the next couple of weeks and couple of months inside an election year when you have republicans holding up policy decisions, legislation based upon the whims and words of donald trump? he may very well go so far as to shut down the government if he doesn't like what's being done. >> yeah, oh, donald trump has no problem shutting down the government. he's done it before. as far as his influence on congress, it is not about policy. donald trump doesn't know anything about policies. he knows how to throw flames at -- flame throwers at issues that come up. what is interesting is the big thing for congress right now, it seems like the republicans are

using impeachment, which is exactly the wrong thing to do. as garrett pointed up in the piece, united on border security and the economy, divided on trump and the issue of abortion. this idea of impeachment, when they don't have all the republican votes they need, and may never have, i think it is really going to backfire on the republicans and between abortion and the impeachment they'll probably lose the house as a result. >> bazell, what is the winning strategy? i know that's not easy to say. but if you're biden's campaign, running for re-election against former president donald trump, what is the winning strategy here and i ask this to say because we were looking at the polling a couple of weeks ago, i remember in talking about abortion, "new york times" poll, less than 1% of individuals cared about abortion when it came to the 2024 election. however abortion has been a winning strategy in all the

elections between 2020 and now. so i can't help but think that abortion should still be and can still be a winning strategy for democrats. >> i think it can be. and, you know, it is interesting, i was thinking about garrett's piece earlier and mitch mcconnell, why don't we talk about mitch mcconnell's age, why don't we talk about donald trump's age, the age issue is always focused on biden, why? because in many ways republicans see mitch mcconnell and donald trump as vehicles, as vessels to pass the kind of legislation they want. why don't we think about that in terms of joe biden? why don't we think about if not just abortion rights, but also healthcare broadly. why don't we talk more about joe biden and the democrats being vehicles to expand voting rights to really have an opportunity to be able to achieve and aspire all of the economic -- all the economic votes that young people want and need in this country i think we need to start focusing

more on what not just the man, joe biden, but what the joe biden administration can do for the country. >> not focusing on the person on the top, all the people beneath them as well. bazell smikle, thank you. susan del percio thank you as well. coming up, israel vowing to continue its war against hamas as it expands its ground assault in gaza. we'll talk to ambassador mark regev, senior adviser to bibi netanyahu about what is ahead for the offensive and the efforts to rescue the hostages. you're watching msnbc. e efforts to rescue the hostages you're watching msnbc. you are,e it's a big deal, when you get a big deal. wayfair deals so big that you might get a big head. because with savings so real - you can get your dream sofa for half the price. wayfair. it's always a big deal. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪

♪ my name is josh sanabria and i am the owner at isla veterinary boutique hospital. i was 5...6 years of age and i knew i was going to be a vet.

once alexandra called me to let me know that bank of america had approved my loan... it was important to me. we not only just provide the financing piece, we do everything that we can to surround them with the right people. all you need is a perfect, amazing team that will guide you through the right steps to be successful. and that's what bank of america was for me.