accepted it, though she never really accepted it and she is running again. the problem is donald trump is a unique political figure. >> and that was first. >> when you rerun it, you may not end up in the same place. thank you both. that is all in on this wednesday night. alex wagner tonight starts right now. good evening. >> good evening point i want to start tonight and talk about the evolution of a lie. this is the penned tweet on the republican national committee's twitter account rnc research. pending it, meaning sticking it to the top of their accounts page and they are proud of this. they do not want this post to get lost in the shuffle of all their other posts. the post shows of president biden at the g7 summit, watching a parachuting demonstration with other world leaders.

biden doing adds to th but ifat you watch a longer version of that same moment or watch it from other angles, you can see biden is watching other parachuters out of frame and giving them a thumbs up. but 90 minutes after the rnc posted their video, the new york post reposted it, but this time with the video cropped so you never see any of the parachuters biden is looking at, making him seem even more out of it. and of course hours later the rnc's video got the fox news treatment. >> during a parachute demonstration biden got dazed and confused, how shocking and started to just wander off like that as other g7 leaders looked on in agony. >> fox news says the other world leaders looked on in agony, never mind the fact the other leaders are quote on the record calling biden's acknowledgement of other parachuters, quote,

very polite. the next morning the story was the front page of "the new york times" quote, meander in chief. trump's campaign quick to push that out on his own accounts. it's a conservative echo chamber and doesn't seem to care what it's echoing back and forth is true or not. we've seen this cycle again and again. two weeks ago it was the rnc pushing anc d-day video making seem he was reaching for a chair that wasn't actually there. the issue with that being there was a chair there. biden was just waiting to sit until defense secretary lloyd austin's name was announced as were others if you look at the actual noncropped video. this week the rnc is pushing a s misleading clip of biden at a fund-raiser claiming a that bid freezes before obama grabs his arm and leads him offstage. as the ap points out in its own

fact check what the video actually shows is biden cheering for applause before exiting the stage with obama. but, you know, facts didn't stop trumpno posting a video of himsf complete with the caption, is this really who you want to be your president? misleading photos, videos, not a new phenomenon in american politics. what is new having a conservative party and a presumptive nominee for president all pushing misleading videos with no regard for the facts.eg last night in wisconsin trump continued toon lob disingenuous personal attacks against the president as part of a 90-minute rant just filled with lies. trump, of course, also repeated the false claim that he won the 2020 election. he also implerred supporters to be on the lookout for more fraud this time around. >> we want to watch it. we want to watch for the cheating. we have the guard the vote. we have to stop the steal.

the radical left democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020, and we're not going to let them rig the presidential election in 2024. >> liberal activist lauren winder released secretly recorded audio of long time advisor roger stone talking about what he sees as trump's plan to challenge the election results this time around if trump loses. this recording recording without stone's knowledge who believes the 2020 election was stolen and get him to respond about what he thinks will happen if trump thinks the election is stolen again. >> at least this time when they do it, you have a lawyer and a judge his home phone number standing by so you can stop it.

>> if you recall as i know you do after the 2020 election trump and his campaign filed 62 lawsuits claiming the election had been stolen. one of those lawsuits ended with trump's team winning three days for pennsylvania voters to cure ballots that weren't counted. but the other 61 lawsuits, well, they failed miserably. in this newly released recording stone isn't trying to relitigate thosest failures and claim the election is rigged. he isn't just saying he expects the 2024 election is rigged, he's also saying the republican effort to take those false claims to court will be much bigger and better run this time around particularly now trump's daughter-in-law, laura trump, controls the rnc.

>> stone down-played the statements he made in those recordings saying that, quote, all the election integrity provisions he mentioned are perfectly legal, but that's not exactly a denial that these bad faith election challengeserize indeed coming. in the misinformation ecosystem that is priming for exactly this kind of stuff, how do we protect our democracy? during the 2020 election former white house counsel bob dower helped lead the response. bauer is out with a brand new book that tackles these issues. it's called "the unraveling." in it bauer examines the line between hard nose political combat and the politics devoid

of ethics. quote, political actors bear responsibility to demonstrate ie the choices they make that politics can and should be an honorable and ethical calling. good politics can be played hard and passionately but also with respect for the limits beyond which it cannot go -- it cannot ethically go. not all the limits are clear. not everyone agrees on the limits. however, there has to be agreement that there are limits of some kind and that political actors are accountability for honestly confronting choices and accepting responsibility for those they make. joining me now bob bauer, president biden's personal attorney, former white house counsel in the obama administration. again, his new book, "the unraveling, reflections on politics on democracy and ethics without crisis." thank you so much for being here. i'm fascinated by the fact in the book you describe yourself as having a warrior mentality, but you also question whether

winning at all costs is worth it. i wonder how you walk the fine line between those polls when you know that the other side, they're not afraid to go low. >> it's a bipartisan question what kind of politics we're going to have in this country, whether it's going to be a true small "d" democratic politics or anti-politics that treats an adversary as an enemy, an adversaryem not to be defeated t an enemy to be destroyed, that treats the law as something that can be shunted to one side or as you pointed out in your opening there's no limit to lies pedaled to voters, no responsibility on those who write the ads or cover the ads to police them for some measure of honesty and fairness to voters. andrn a policy without ethics i not a democratic politics.

now, to the question you asked, i want to stress this. i reject the premise and i think i andmi others and democrat campaigns have done this for quite some time. i reject the premise you can't compete hard, you can't be vigorous in your campaigns and at the same time run them ethically and win. you can win. i was with the obama campaign of 2008. hepa won. in 2020, he won. so victory is possible but the overall effect, corrosive effect of those without ethics, is something we have to be deeply concerned about and that is an issue for democrats as well as republicans. >> bob, understanding past is prologue, i want to talk a little bitwa about 2020 and howt applies to what you're looking

for 2024. so summer 2020 you outlined a multistep strategy in the summer in anticipation of trump questioning the results of the november election. i wonder whenof you realized yo were going to actually need to execute on this plan. >> remember former president trump made no bones about his belief he couldn't honestly lose an election and the election he lost would be a rigged election. in fact, hegg claimed he hadn't lost to ted cruz in the iowa caucuses, that there was something fishy about that election as well. so he flagged that as did others ind his campaign circle, and a lot of energy and effort went into thinking through what sort of steps they might to challenge the election, to undermine the process beforehand or challenge the process after. and i write in my book how much effort went into identifying any conceivable ntchallenge. by the way, thousands of lawyer hours, thousands of pages of

memos, not all of it came to pass, but having said that, there were threats we anticipated. they did come to pass, and as you pointed out in your introduction, trump and his campaign did not succeed at all. >> so as you just laid out setting the groundwork this is possibility, he's doing the same thing this time around already saying he'll call into question the results of the 2024 election. it is interesting we're talking tonight because as wewe come on the air there's a fox news poll that actually shows president biden leading trump 50% to 48% nationally for registered voters, which is notable because that's the first time we've seen that in this poll this cycle. do you believe that team biden is prepared for the novel ways, right, the new ways that team trump has imagined once again subverting democracy?

>> well, i recount in the book how we prepared in 2020, and it was exhaustive. and i can say the preparations areep just as exhaustive if not more so this time around. and i want to be clear the effort here is not just to prepare to protect to win, it's to prepare to protect the process. and i will say at the same time i'm involved in this campaign -- and i am very involved in the campaign --am i also work with republicans on issues that are meant to be bipartisan, to support our election officials in the conduct of elections. that's where the partisan politics has to stop. it has to stop at the point of which we're attacking the process we all depend upon for the fulfillment of the democratic process, for fulfillment of democratic will. >> forgive me, bob, in as much you're clear about the fact this is a bipartisan challenge,

you're also clear about the fact when we talk about republicans, this isut bigger than donald trump. you t fault republicans in the senate for what you call an egregious offense against norms, when they ignored president obama's nominations of merrick garland ins the supreme court. you also note that, quote, when another election year vacancy developed on the death of ruth bader ginsburg, the senate decided to rush the delegation of amy coney barrett months off. it somehow lost its force for them in 2020 when the nomination was theirs to make and the seat was theirs to fill. how corrosive was that specific breach iniv ethics? >> in my view, this is the kind of step taken just to win, to push through that result because you can push through that result that added together on all the other actions of that kind that are taken really does have a long-term undermining effect not just on the way the process

should operate but on the public's confidence in the process. the public loses faith that politics is an honorable calling, and that at some point in seeking their favor, seeking their vote inhe the campaign, there is a limit -- there's a limit to what responsible political w actors will do, in e same way that they have to hope in trying to enact public policies, there's a e limit to what people in government will do to win a policy debate. there haspo to be those limits. i'm convinced, by the way, that victory is possible while adhering to those limits. but nowo the public's confiden that's true has been shaken. >> bob, you write in the unraveling after the moment affjanuary 6th where you thought, quote, democratic life will get back to normal. that seems very quaint now. i'm sure you'll agree nothing feels normal. we're in the middle of what we keep calling the most consequential election of our lifetime. i just wonder five months out what it is that keeps you up at night. >> you have to worry about

everything. we are living through a period of very polarized politics in which we have seen a lot of ethical compunctions fall away, norms challenged. not just norms challenged, literally repudiated, repudiated in principle. and i do believe, however, if i can strike an optimistic note having traveled around the country and spoken to election officials and community leaders both democratic and republican, that, yes, there is a wing of the republican party that donald trump commands that is prepared to repudiate those morals, prepared to challenge elections, prepared to say the system is irredeemably corrupt. but there are others some of them quiet who think even if they will vote for republicans, that we haveil to defend the democratic process and that there is a form of democratic politics that is ethical and respectful of the voters and respectful of democratic traditions andat norms. i've heard that from republicans, and i believe that there is a large number whether

their republicans, independents, democrats, more than a majority that wants to stand up and defend the democratic process in the united states. so as much as i worry at night because you've asked what i worry about and it's a fair amount, i have confidence that ultimately as i have confidence in 2020 that we're going to see the country, the voters stand up for the processe that is currently under such severe attack. >> that optimism that you shared is iphigh demand and short supply, so thank you for ending this y there. president biden's personal attorney, former white house counsel in the obama administration, and the author of the brand new book "the unraveling, reflections on politics withouts ethics and democracy in crisis." thank you so much, bob. all right, coming up for us a big applause line of donald trump's rallies these days, his threats to cut funding to public schools with vaccine mandates. but first the strengthening alliance between kim jong-un and vladimir putin. it was on full display today. what it all means for national

security and the 2024 presidential election. that's up next. 4 presidential election. that's up next

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♪ ♪ [ grunts ] [ laughs ] these were the scenes outside of north korea's capital today where the red carpet was rolled out for a carefully choreographed parade of two dictators. for the first time in over two decades this week russian leader vladimir putin paid a rare visit

to his counterpart, kim jong-un, as part of a continued effort to strengthen russia's alliance with north korea. there was a welcome ceremony complete with goose stepping soldiers, thousands of north koreans lined the streets chanting putin's name. his por for from the russian flag plastered basically everywhere. but it was a defense agreement that vladimir putin and kim jong-un signed today which calls for russia and north korea to defend one another in the event of a, quote, aggression against either country. in other words, a nato-style defense pact, which "the new york times" is calling one of the most visible rewards mr. kim has extracted from moscow in returns for the dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 shipping containers of munitions that north korea provided in recent months to support putin's war with ukraine. although the details of the agreement were not immediately clear, it could mark the strongest bond between the two

countries since the end of the cold war. last month six senior u.s. officials told nbc news the biden administration is increasingly concerned about the intensifying military alliance. those officials said the u.s. is also bracing for north korea to potentially take its most provocative military actions in a decade close to the u.s. presidential election, possibly at putin's urging. the timing could be disciped to create turmoil in order to hurt president biden's electoral chances and help donald trump's. joining me now to discuss, former u.s. ambassador to russia and the obama administration, michael mcfaul. ambassador mcfaul, thank you for being with us. i wonder what you make of this trip, of this agreement. does it suggest that putin is, in fact, desperate? >> without question putin is desperate. he would not have made this trip, first time he's been here in a quarter century. and when i say here i'm sitting in seoul, so it's up the street from where mr. putin was.

that is by coincidence, by the way. i'm not trolling mr. putin. i just happen to be here. it is nerve-wracking for people of south korea as well because what you see is a real genuine just like you said nato-style mutual agreement. they've never been this close, and i think it's important to remind people it wasn't that long ago. it's just literally a few years ago before putin invaded ukraine when the united states and russia and china disagreed on many, many things. but what they cooperated on was trying to prevent the expansion of kim jong-un's nuclear weapons program. what this suggests -- what this treaty -- i shouldn't call it a treaty. what this security package suggests is right now all those bets are on, and putin is not just trying to prevent it, he's trying to help them expand their nuclear arsenal. that is very, very dangerous new development that we're seeing here in north korea. >> help me understand,

ambassador mcfaul, what this means practically for ukraine in its ongoing fight against russia? >> it means that putin will have more munitions, more weapons to kill ukrainians. it's just that simple. and the fact that he doesn't have those weapons i think underscores how desperate he is. there's been a lot of chatter recently about how well the russian military is doing and the russian military complex is back. i think we needed to pump the brakes on that. yes, they are growing stronger. yes, they are getting technology from countries like china but also countries from the west. that's disturbing, and it's important i think that president biden at the g7 last week focused on that. but the very fact that he needs this pretty, you know, crude kinds of technologies, these munitions, soviet era munitions from north korea suggests that putin's running out and this deal will help him advance his war into ukraine. it's bad news for the ukrainians. >> i want you to help me also

understand this in the context of the 2024 election, which is we know what former president trump thinks of putin. we know what he thinks of kim jong-un, the way in which he has praised both of these leaders. if he were to be elected to a second term as these two nations are cozying up to one another in part because they were both anti-west, anti-u.s., what does that then mean for this country? >> well, you said that we know about those relationships, but i hope the american people remember just how crazy things got in the first term under mr. trump when he just reaped out and putin was one of his closest allies and friends. he said it repeatedly for years and years and years about kim jong-un -- i'm paraphrasing here, but mr. trump, president trump said we fell in love. think about that. these two leaders are meeting

today, putin and kim jong-un to, one, threaten in a more direct way ukraine where we're trying to help ukrainians. and i'm sitting here in south korea, and let me tell you our south korean allies here are extremely nervous about what they're seeing in north korea, and they're very nervous that mr. trump has embraced both of these gentleman. so for our allies in europe and for our allies in asia, they are nervous about the return of mr. trump, and i think we need to think about that hard before voting him back into office. i think it will create tremendous disruption with respect to our alliances, and even if not immediately, everyone will begin the hedge their bets. that will lead to a very unstable world that i don't think is in america's national interest. >> ambassador, before i let you go, your level of concern that north korea, that russia, that another u.s. adversary could, in fact, be planning an october surprise. >> well, there's no doubt in my mind that mr. -- i know mr.

putin better than kim jong-un. there's no doubt in my mind that putin wants trump to win. he wanted him to win in 2016, and remember he helped him. he stole e-mails and published them, doxed secretary clinton to try to help him. this time around it's clear as day he wants to help him, so if there's anything he can do before november, i suspect he will try to do it. whether it works or not, i don't know. but there's no doubt in my mind that putin is -- has the intention and the capability to try to help disrupt our elections. >> former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, joining us from south korea. ambassador, stay safe and thank you so much for your time. coming up, republican and state lawmaker's bizarre action against a democratic colleague shedding a light on the loss of civility in our politics. but first, donald trump's threat to defund schools with vaccine and mask requirements proving to be red meat for the

maga faithful. more on that after a quick break. maga faithful. more on that after a quick break.

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mandate or a mask mandate. >> as recently as last night former president trump made the same terrifying promise at rallies and events across the country. he's doing that. he's promised to cut funding to schools with vaccine or mask mandates, but think about the practicality of what donald trump is threatening here. all 50 states have some form of vaccine mandates on the books, so trump is essentially saying he'd be prepared to cut federal support from every single public school district in this country. even in trump's beloved florida where ultra-conservative ron desantis is governor, the health department says all children who attend florida schools public or private required to be immunized. and why is this? well, you know, because vaccines work. they've been accepted as a key component keeping kids and families from getting sick. joining me now ven gupta, nbc health policy analyst, and zerlina maxwell host on mornings with zerlina on sirius xm.

dr. gupta, let me start with you. just to set the record straight why are vaccines so important? >> let's take for example measles and mejite s vaccines. why does this matter? we've noticed in places like ohio, florida, just in 2024 had significant outbreaks amongst unvaccinated children, which, by the way, alicia, has resulted in 1 in 3 ending up in the hospital. 15% with meningococal virus die. what if we don't abide by these

common sense routine vaccinations, we're talking about serious risk of death. >> zerlina, what we heard from the former president i'm not accustomed to that level of message discipline from the former president, so that tells me what he is saying is ginning up some portion of his base and actually working. this wasn't always a partisan hot button issue. how did we get here, and why is it continuing to benefit donald trump? >> well, we got here because of the global pandemic, and i think that there is a portion of the republican base at this moment that is very much anti-science and anti-vaccine, and donald trump has proven time and time again he will say anything regardless of the harm to people and the american public to get an applause. i mean you played a number of clips there, and right after he said that, there was a loud applause, and so he will say anything to pander to the extreme wing of the base that is anti-vaccine. and this is a really dangerous

precedent not just because of the reasons that dr. gupta laid out but also because people need to trust their leaders to base their decisions on fact and science, and we have to get back to it. i feel like this election is so important, alicia, because we really need to vote like our lives depend on it. and if we're not basing our decisions on science, then issues like climate change, a future pandemic, those are things that are going to put the american peoples lives in danger, and we need serious leadership to address those issues. >> so dr. gupta, i think zerlina really helps us set the stakes there. this is really about life and death, what would it mean if these mandates were lifted? >> we're seeing it play out in realtime. in ohio in 2022 what happened in columbus children ended up unvaccinated largely ended up getting exposed to measles. one in three ended up in the

hospital. to zerlina's point and also to the stakes, the cdc and fda under the wrong leadership if they appointed individuals that were enabling this, they could do some serious damage here. the cdc has the capability -- we have great leadership now, but the cdc has the capability to say you know what, we're going to move everything toa optional when it comes to whether childhood vaccinations are required or optional. the fda could introduce delays when it comes to clearing the next booster shot. there's ways they can manipulate the ways in which people receive vaccination guidelines. and it goes to say 35 states across the country have requirements on the meningitis vaccine. the other 15 including arizona recommends something for which it prevents a disease that has a 15% mortality rate. why are these things even recommended in the first place?

>> you answered your own question. you had glenn youngkin winning the governorship of virginia with a parents rights platform. this seems like an outgrowth of that energy, which as you know is not really about parental right. what has parental rights become a proxy for? >> i think parental rights are effectively this libertarian wing that doesn't want government involved in any decisions. but in a moment where we have just gone through a global pandemic where millions of americans listened to anti-science rhetoric and lost loved ones or lost their own lives because they did not pay attention to the directives of the cdc, of experts like dr. gupta and get vaccinated, wear masks when we were told to do that, and i think that we need to be very serious in this moment. donald trump's rhetoric is not only dangerous because of the impact of our democracy but also on our safety. and he has said himself i don't

even care about you, i just want your votes. and so we have to remembert the end of the day as much as the political debate is entertainment, donald trump is not an entertainer. he once was, but he cannot play act as president. he needs to take it seriously, and i am certain that this will come up at the debate where we will have the contrast between somebody who is leading the country and somebody who has been involved in a performance of the role of president. >> dr. gupta, i often talk to zerlina's point about the trump hangover, about the fact even when he's not in power there are still reminders everywhere of the effect he had on public opinion. and these attitudes about vaccines are just one example. >> oh, absolutely. we saw pre-pandemic to now to zur linea's point to build on that, there's been a 50% increase on the number of parents who think pre-pandemic to now that routine childhood vaccinations like measles,

mumps, and rubella should be voluntary. just over the last few years but the spillover effect is real and seeing the expertise dr. fauci talked about the unwillingness of expertise. what does that mean? we've created an unsafe environment that they're going to rely on supplements, things that are not fda approved because they don't rely on the fda, whatever it might be. now we have a bunch of individuals willing to take their own health care decisions leveraging the internet or favorite podcast hosts, and that's not where the expertise is found. and that challenge of expertise here is posing multiple challenges. again, we've seen this in just over the last five years. >> as we talk about the decline in expertise what a treat to have an actual medical doctor with me, dr. gupta, my friend zerlina maxwell, so good to see you on my tv. thank you for taking the time to be with us. still to come tonight he helped bring donald trump's shady behavior to light and paid a price it for and running

congress on a message of saving democracy. we're going to talk to him. but first a truly weird story of politics in 2024. some folks are calling it watergate. we'll explain. that's next. alling it watergate. we'll explain. that's next. if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54. what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular

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sleep more deeply and wake up rejuvenated. purple mattresses exclusive gel flex grid draws away heat, relieves pressure and instantly adapts. sleep better. live purple. right now save up to $800 off mattress sets at purple. visit purple.com or a store near you today. one of the strangest enduring mysteries in local american politics, well, it has finally been resolved. this is vermont state representative jim carol, democrat from the small town of

bennington. for five months representative carol has been tormented by an inexplicable daily phenomenon. every day representative carol would arrive at the state capitol in burlington and hang up his belongings and at the end of each day he'll return to find his tote bag was soaking wet. representative could not tag yr out why this was happening, so he decided to setup his own sting operation. he bought a small surveillance camera for $23 and hung it up. you can see representative carol checking to make sure his bag is dry, he reaches his arm into the bag and walk away. then just seconds later the video captures a woman walking up to the bag and dumping a small plastic cup of liquid into it and then walking away. that woman is republican state representative mary morsy who represents a different part of the same small town democrat

carol is from. turns out representative morsesy had been engaging in this bizarre drenching ritual for months. the local scandal has since rocketed to national attention with some social media users dubbing the controversy watergate. get it? it's not entirely clear why that republican state representative was dumping the water in her colleague's bag over and over and over again. the two lawmakers grew up in the same town and have known each other for years. representative carol claims his republican colleague had been acting nastny towards him for months and would say demeaning things in front of other legislators. despite that representative carol had planned to keep his secret sting video private. that is until a local independent news service called seven days vermont filed a public records act request, after which carroll relented and released the security footage to that local news outlet. in response to the public backlish representative morsy

has now publicly apologized. >> it is conduct most unbecoming of my position as a representative and as a human being and is not reflective of my 28 years of service. >> representative carroll was asked by the guardian newspaper if he accepts his colleague's apology. he said i guess i would have to say yes in the spirit of forgiveness reluctantly, but if i had to be a smart ass i'd say her apology holds as much water as my canvas bag. there's a lesson everywhere. the lesson about civility in politics and in journalism and the lesson in the durability of a proper tote bag. i don't know what the lesson is, but it is certainly a reminder we deserve better than immaturity and cruelty from our leelders. in just a second i'll talk to someone who lost their white

house job thanks the cruelty and vindictive nature of donald trump and now trying to return to washington as an elected member of congress. that's next. an elected member of congress that's next. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or

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as donald trump tried to extort president zelenskyy into digging up dirt on his political opponent, my brother alex listened on. shaken, alex came into my office. we reported the call together. i'm running for congress in virginia's seventh district because the threat remains. i'm running for congress to stop authoritarians and extremists. i never thought politics would be in my future, but when i hear the call to serve i answer. >> in 2019 lieutenant colonel eugene vindman along with his identical twin brother sparked what would turn into the first impeachment of donald trump. days after the senate acquitted trump in 2020 both vindman brothers were fired from their white house jobs at the national security counsel. last night colonel vindman handily won his primary race for virginia's seventh congressional

district vanquishing a field of six other democratic contenders. joining me now is democratic candidate for virginia's seventh congressional district retired army colonel vindman. your democracy message and contests and name recognition really propelled you to this nomination. why do you believe that message resonated with voters in your district and? and do you plan to stick with that message as you move into the general? >> alicia, thank you for having me on tonight. last night was quite a whirlwind. i'm still enjoying what was a resounding field of my campaign against capable leaders, an impressive field and i thank each of them for running. to run is to serve.

we're at a cross roads and there's going to be a stark contrast in world views. on the one side there's hope. i came to this country as an immigrant, less than $800 between the five us in our pocket, and we built the american dream. on the other side is a party of extremists led by donald trump, a felon, that are interested in having politicians take away people's rights. politicians decide abortions whether apportion is appropriate and ban books and burn books. that's a problem in this district, so my message will continue to be that democracy's at stake and so are all our fundamental priorities. >> let's talk just a little bit about the contours of your race. the district you're running in has been targeted as a flip possibility by house republicans. your opponent also a veteran who deployed multiple tours

overseas. is derek anderson the opponent you wanted to go against in this race? >> he's exactly the kind of opponent that i anticipated would be coming out of a republican primary an extremist, somebody that is interested in taking fundamental rights and freedoms away from people. look, the voters that i've interacted with -- and there have been thousands over the course of the last seven months that i and my team have talked to, they care about preserving the right to an abortion, reproductive freedom, having safe high qual fae public schools. these are things that maga extremists, which mr. anderson represents, are interested in taking away. i spent 25 years in the army defending rights and freedoms, swearing an oath to the constitution, and anybody who comes out of a republican primary these days swears an oath and fealty to just one man, and that's donald trump. >> i'm old enough to remember when it was republicans who ran on the idea of freedom, how wild

wild to see the way in which they have absolutely absconded. on that principle, i have to ask you given where we started the show tonight when you see putin and kim jong-un actually codifying their relationship, how do you take what is happening on the world stage and communicate to voters the stakes of this november's election from the president down the line? >> you know, the stakes couldn't be higher. i think this is -- there's a growth in a theiritarian regimes around the world. democratic regimes are under fire. there seems to be this axis forming between putin and north korea and iran. and you have a leader in donald trump somebody that wants to -- that said putin can do whatever he wants to nato countries. and so he is propelling these -- these regimes, these

authoritarian regimes. and in fact he's attempting to emulate them with his plan 2025 and his attacks on fundamental rights and freedoms, and that's exactly what mr. anderson represents, and that is not in line with the values and interests of the voters in the seventh congressional district. they're interested in -- and why they were drawn to my campaign is they were interested in integrity, in moderation, and they're interested in a government that will work for them. >> retired lieutenant army colonel eugene vindman, thank you so much for being with us. that is the show for us tonight. "way too early" is up next. we're just a week away from the first presidential debate, and there's new polling that is swinging in president joe biden's favor. we'll go through those numbers and the issues that matter most to voters. also ahead, a major escalation