♪♪ hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. at this hour, millions of people along florida's gulf coast are bracing for one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the atlantic basin. the outer bands of hurricane milton are already hitting parts of the state. it is forecast to make landfall some time tonight between 10:00 p.m. eastern and 2:00 a.m. and is expected to double in size before making landfall. this is the scene right now in ft. myers, florida, being battered by high winds and rain. the top concern for officials at this moment is making sure that residents get to safety. the window for evacuating is now rapidly closing. even as the storm is already complicating those efforts. this video shows a tornado

touching down near i-75 in south florida, that's hundreds of miles from hurricane milton's core. just a few hours ago, president joe biden called hurricane milton, quote, the storm of the century. and made a plea to people in the storm's path to please evacuate. >> first, many communities in hurricane milton's path do not have a moment to catch their breath between helene and milton. two historic storms in two weeks. i want to thank everyone who has followed local guidance to evacuate ahead of the landfall. i know it's really tough leaving behind your home, your belongings, everything you own. but i urge everyone in hurricane milton's path to follow all safety instructions as we head into the next 24 hours. it's a matter of -- literally a matter of life and death. >> now president biden and vice president kamala harris led a briefing earlier today where officials flagged the risk of storm surge that they are

describing as unsurvivable, up to is a feet and incredibly high affect a large portion of the state. hospitals and clinics have been preparing for the worst. the region's only level 1 trauma center, that's tampa general hospital, is located in one of the lowest-lying areas in tampa. it is put in place a flood barricade called an aqua fence to fend off the storm surge. the rest of tampa, florida's third largest city, now a ghost town. the city's mayor, jane caster, warning those that stayed behind may not be able to get help once the storm hits. >> wherever that storm surge comes, if it's 10 to 15 feet and people are trying to ride this out in single-story structures, there's no place to go. and once the winds get up to hurricane speed, there's nobody to come and get you. >> that's where we start today with my friend and colleague, "today" show co-host, al roker.

al, when we get to see you by virtue of your presence heerks we know it's a storm that's really important, that we communicate with our best experts about. so tell us what's coming. >> well, here is the latest on the storm. again, i try to tell people, don't pay attention to the category. i mean, it's one way we catalog these, but the effects of it, whether it's a 3 or a weak 4, it's going to be devastating. right now it's just 100 miles southwest of tampa. its winds at 125 miles per hour. and it's got a fairly decent forward speed 17 miles per hour, which means it won't linger, but what it will do is cause a lot more problems as far as that storm surge is concerned by the very notion of its forehand motion. now, we've got tornado watches from daytona beach to key west until 9. a good news a number of the tornado warnings have subsided, but we can't rule them not firing back up again. we had an official tornado outbreak, at least ten visual sightings of tornadoes. so in this area from melbourne

to engelwood, ft. myers, sarasota, this area, this hatched area, could still see ef-2 or stronger tornadoes. in fact, this year we already had two tornadoes with ef-3s. that's never happened before. we expect landfall sometime between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning as category 3 storm. and then continues across and out into the atlantic by thursday evening. but make no mistake, it's still going to have an impact. first of all, storm surge. that's one of the things that we are most worried about. you heard all the officials talk about it. so right now, from boca grand to sarasota, we're talking about 9 to 13 feet of storm surge, right around high tide, which is at 6:15 or 6:51 in the morning. however, the high tide is rising before that. so, even though it may not occur simultaneously with the peak high tide, it's still the high tide is going to have an issue. peak surge expected between midnight and 5:00 a.m. and as it exits, the return will

be -- bring a 3 to 5 foot storm surge to the eastern shore. now what is the storm surge? it's this initial rush of water. three feet of water, could be life threatening. and then as you start to move up to about 6 feet, you cannot drive. roads are washed out. the weight of the water breaks through doors and on into windows. now, if you're in a one-story home and gets to 10 feet, you have to basically -- you're stuck. there's nothing you can do. 10 feet, maybe you can get to your second floor, but if it continues to rise you have to move into your attic and that's just a place where you do not want to be. homes can get swept off their foundations. entire neighborhoods could be destroyed. we saw that in helene. this storm surge could be worse than helene. as far as the impacts, major wind damage. winds blowing out, high-rise windows, cranes that are in tampa, those could come down with wind gusts of anywhere from 55 to 100 miles per hour. and with those wind gusts, power lines and trees coming down,

widespread power outages, ft. myers and orlando and some of these outages could last for weeks. infrastructure will be a major, major issue. and the risk of flooding with up to 18 inches of rain, we are talking about a high risk, a high risk of flooding, flash flooding stretching from the eastern end of florida all the way to sarasota. catastrophic flash flooding. places generally about 7 to 12 inches of rain, but as i said, nicole, we could see even higher amounts before this is all over. >> and what would you say to people watching and trying to make decisions for their family or viewers who may have family in the region. what is your best case, your best argument, your best advice? >> well, if the window has not closed for them to get out, it's almost done. and so, now you're going to have to shelter in place. and the problem is once power goes out, once roads are washed out, there's nobody going to be able to come get you.

and that's the danger. so if there is the slightest chance you can get out and get some place safe, i would do that. if not, you're going to have to hunker down and hope for the best. >> these are long days for you. thank you for taking some time to talk to us. >> you bet. after a briefing -- or at a briefing today, president joe biden blamed donald trump for the disinformation that is swirling and coming from the right in the wake of hurricane helene and millions are in the path of this hurricane, hurricane milton. watch. >> the last few weeks there's been a reckless irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people. it's undermining confidence in incredible rescue and recovery work that's already been taken and will continue to be taken. it's harmful to those who need help the most. there's simply no place for this to happen. former president trump has led the onslaught of lies. now the claims are getting even more bizarre. congresswoman marjorie taylor

greene, a congresswoman from georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. we're controlling the weather. it's beyond ridiculous. it's got to stop. moments like this there are no red or blue states. there's one united states of america. where neighbors are helping neighbors. volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their own lives to help their fellow americans. >> joining us now is united states secretary of transportation, pete buttigieg. mr. secretary, it's great to see you. >> good to be with you. thank you for having me. >> i want to get to your personal fight with disinformation one of its biggest purveyors in a second. can you share with our viewers what the department of transportation is doing to prepare for and protect folks in the path of this hurricane and florida hurricane milton? >> well, we've got folks positioned now and that's everywhere from faa to federal highway administration ready as soon as it's possible to get

into the affected area afterwards to help. we've been engaging up until now to support things like evacuation, making sure that the shoulder lanes are in use on i-4 and i-57 to take one example. doing anticipatory approvals for drone flights that wouldn't normally yet be licensed but are going to help florida utilities, for example, survey the damage that may be happening. so whether we're talking about sea, air or land, we're doing everything we can to help make sure that florida is well positioned to recover. i'll note, of course, this is happening at the same time as we continue to work on the response to hurricane helene. between those two events we've got hundreds of d.o.t. personnel on the ground, participated in the briefing yesterday, briefing president biden on our work alongside several cabinet agencies and i was reflecting, it's the only time i can think of when we had to provide updates on what we were doing to deal with the last disaster and what we were doing for an upcoming disaster in the same

meeting. that just tells you how much the u.s. is being hit all at once by this. but extraordinary people are showing extraordinary teamwork and resilience from the responders and the response personnel to ordinary people impacted by these storms. and that's what we're really counting on that teamwork, that focus and a lot of federal resources to make sure that everybody gets through this. >> mr. secretary, the head of fema responded to what you're giving voice to, just the sheer number and the gravity of the disasters hitting our country right now. let me show that to you. >> this is a high number. this is the most open disasters that i have seen with fema. this increased in the number of severe weather events we're seeing as well as the complexity of many of these events because of the amount of damage they're doing is increasing the number of open disasters because the recovery is more complex and it takes longer to help reimburse these communities as they

rebuild from the weather events that they have experienced. >> just talk about how vital that makes the quality of the information and people's ability to trust the information they're getting from the government and people there to help them? >> well, information is a basic need when you're dealing with a disaster, just like you need clean water, you need power, you need transportation, you need information. and we're working to make sure people know the good, trusted sources of information to turn to, for example, when it comes to transportation. that includes the information available through a 5-1-1 system where the state pulls together the best information about what routes are available and open and safe and what routes might be closed down or impassable. it is so important right now to turn to trusted sources of information. whether it's 5-1-1, whether it's fema, whether it's your local mayor and first responders.

and not be listening to some guy on the internet because it can make a life or death difference in the context of the disaster and in the aftermath of a disaster. people need to know what is available to them. so for example, when somebody pushes a lie that the $750 that fema makes available for immediate needs like food, water and diapers, is all you're going to get -- you know, somebody believes that, they might not get the resources that they actually deserve. so we're going to continue working hard to make sure that good information is reaching people. and by the way, i have to say, in my conversations that i've been having with senators, governors, mayors, you would never know which of them belong to the same political party as i do and which belong to the opposite political party. it's not about politics. it shouldn't be about politics and we have to keep it that way. >> well, but to your point, about some guy on the internet, there's a guy named elon musk who spread disinformation about hurricane helene, that entered

into the political ecosystem almost immediately. and certainly had potential victims the people who were impacted by the storm. talk about your efforts to combat the lies he was spreading about the air space. >> well, i saw something go up on his feed that wasn't right. i responded directly and pretty soon after that we were talking. i will say what we determined was while it was certainly not the case that faa was causing the problem that they were being accused of causing, it was the case that people delivering starlink satellite equipment were running into issues and faa was able to help resolve that. to me it's a good example the difference between human beings talking to each other in order to solve a problem versus everybody just kind of being behind their twitter accounts saying things that aren't verified. >> i feel like if we got rid of the things that we hide behind we would solve a whole lot of problems. let me show you what the vice president had to say about this phenomenon in a phone interview

with cnn. >> i have spoken with local officials who have been struck, for example, by hurricane helene. and they are doing an extraordinary job in trying to combat the misinformation. i'm talking about sheriffs. i'm talking about mayors. i'm talking about local officials. i don't know their party affiliation, by the way. leaders on the ground who know it is not in the best interest of the people living in those areas to not know their rights, not to know what they're entitled to and to be afraid of seeking help. it is dangerous. it is unconscionable, frankly, anyone who consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled. and that's why i call it dangerous. and we all know it's dangerous. and the gamesmanship has to stop. at some point the politics have to end. specially in a moment of crisis.

and the crises that we've been seeing. >> do you feel confident that the administration can play whack a mole and successfully combat all the disinformation? or is the quantity and the ease with which it's disseminated another thing that's coming up in meeting behind closed doors as one of the things that needs a federal government response? >> well, it is an enormous challenge. speaking to the fema administrator yesterday, she mentioned how there have always been issues in disasters. maui, this certainly happened where there's misinformation or scams. but we have never seen anything like we have at this level. and it makes it all the more important, certainly for us to get good information out, for trusted sources to make themselves heard. the editorial role of journalistic organizations that have standards and do fact checks is incredibly important at a time like this. but i will also say, there's a level of just responsibility,

that if you are in a position of responsibility f you're an elected official, major business leader, anybody with a platform needs to know that a lot depends on their telling the truth. some of the most outlandish things we heard -- we heard about somebody saying that a member of congress saying that this was the result of somebody controlling the weather. a lot of us have views about that member of congress, but there are people out there, because that's a member of congress, will believe that sort of thing. and it's never been more important, specially when you have life and death decisions depending on people understanding the information that they're getting from real, credible sources like mayors and police and fire departments and fema to have good information flow and to have trusted people. this is not the time to be listening to anybody who isn't credible. >> and i know you're here in your official capacity, but how would you judge the character of

someone who is indifferent to the ability of their own supporters of any americans at this hour to make life or death decisions about evacuations or reimbursements or the help they need from the federal government? >> all i can say is that the people whose lives depend on good information are americans. they're -- they may be democrats, republicans, independents, doesn't matter. they're our fellow americans. they deserve support. they deserve resource which is is exactly what our administration is mobilizing. more than 8,000 federal personnel on the ground, hundreds from my department alone out there helping. that's what they're getting because they deserve, help and support. and they deserve good information. they deserve the truth. and i don't care if you're in office or you're just very visible person out there. anybody who has a platform has a responsibility as well to use that platform, to make sure people get good information and to tell the truth. >> secretary pete buttigieg, with everything you're contending with, we appreciate that you took some time to talk

to us. thank you. >> glad to speak with you. thank you for having me on. when we come back, much more on all of this. we'll look at just how much the maga lies and distortions are getting through to the people who, as the secretary said most, need the help the most. some republican lawmakers have to choose between the presidential nominee and keeping their own constituents and neighbors safe. we'll have that conversation next. plus, kamala harris big tent strategy coming into sharper focus with 27 days until election day. following days of interviews that reached all sorts of new audiences and millions and millions of americans. tonight the anti-trump republican women are out in full force doing everything they can do to help her win in november. and later in the broadcast, the national hurricane center will be out with an update on hurricane milton, expected to make landfall later tonight. we'll bring that to you and president joe biden will be making remarks on the storm as well. we have all that and more when

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the ex-president's unpresidential and dangerous and frankly deadly lies amid back-to-back hurricanes has left local leaders of both parties scrambling to counter the disinformation. for one that hurricane helene was not geoengineered by the government, something you heard secretary buttigieg knock down himself in the interview as well as the lie that fema is somehow diverting disaster funds to aid

immigrants. false stated without ed. there's the lie that his running mate jd vance dangerously spread in a "wall street journal" op-ed, a lie fact checked on air by fox news when trump attorney conspiracies proved tooout ray jous and extreme and dangerous for them yesterday. and the lies having to be quietly fact checked by republicans in congress who fox news says found, quote, no funding connection between fema's migrant shelter program and the disaster relief fund. when in reality, that was actually something trump did himself when he was president in 2019 right the middle of that year's hurricane season. joining our conversation, executive director of republican voters against trump and publisher of the bullwork, sara longwell. you're here. even when you're not here, we quote your expertise and things we learned from you about this cycle. and one of the things that i think if you look at the ark of

2020 and the biden victory, one of the things that was in focus in front of people was that trump wasn't just indifferent to human suffering. he was enthusiastic about lying about something that was going to determine whether people lived or died. and i wonder, you know, no one would ever wish for any of these things to be the things that are happening in this country, the things that are in the news, but it is true that in every campaign, sometimes the way voters make their decision, is in watching the two candidates respond to something outside of their control. and i wonder how you evaluate what trump is showcasing. >> yeah. i mean, look, here is what trump does, in a moment like this, when normal politicians would be -- because of the very real consequences, they would be looking to unite people, right? not to divide them. that's not how donald trump thinks. donald trump only cares about winning. he is utilizing this disaster, this natural disaster, which

cannot be, you know, engineered by anybody as some people are saying because as republicans are now having to reassure people, one cannot engineer the weather. democrats are not engineering these storms for some reason or other pernicious influencesinfl. but these republicans who constantly support trump are forced now to grapple with the very real consequences of his lies on their constituents at a moment when they are trying to help people. see, this is the thing. oftentimes donald trump's lies don't have a personal consequence for the people who repeat them. you know, like the election being stolen or migrants eating pets in springfield. but they have real consequences for somebody. and when those consequences affect you, as they are now the republican leaders on the ground were having to deal with the consequences of them, i feel like this should be the moment that they realize this is why this person can never lead the

country again. and one of the things that donald trump does, it's a very specific tactic from trump where what he does is he elevates the notion of scarcity at a time when people are frightened. right? so people are much more likely to buy into these conspiracies because they are suffering at the moment. right? they don't have wi-fi. they don't have water. you know, they are dealing with a response to a natural disaster. and so they're scared. and donald trump manipulates and uses that fear to sew distrust for the agencies that are trying to help them. and that is unique to trump's character. other politicians, even ones that aren't very good at their jobs, don't usually do this because they're at least decent enough people to understand that real lives are at stake. >> i think because it's been such a slow boil, right? we've all been in the boiling pot for nine years, it doesn't

even feel warm anymore. it's hard to see what you're articulating. but i wonder if seeing scenes like this on fox news, where the rare instance where fox news anchor is correcting a very high-level trump associate. let me show this to you, brings that home. >> there are babies floating in the water and we're on podcasts? that's what the harris team is doing. so, i think what cedrik is doing is completely -- >> where did you see that report of a baby floating in the water? >> we have absolutely heard there are children floating -- there's missing bodies, dead bodies. we know that. there are dead people up to 250 -- >> 32. >> thank you. >> so the lie on tv goes from there are babies floating to there are children floating to there are bodies floating to there are dead to there are dead people to there are 250 dead people to none of that is true there are 32 dead, thank you. i wonder -- when you look at

sort of the breadth of an evolution of the folks you talk to all the time that the one or two time trump voters who soured on him, if seeing this under the lights in the final 27 days, what does this do? >> you know, i'm not sure. i would like to say that what this -- something like this does when donald trump behaves this way, that it should sort of trigger that gut-level instinct from a decent person to say, this is horrible what he's doing. the same way that what he did to that community in springfield was horrible. the thing is, though, there is always an issue where kamala harris and joe biden are in charge right now. and so, when it comes to voters, they oftentimes if they feel like something is not going well, even if it's being handled as well as it can because these are big events outside of anybody's control where people are losing their -- there are lots of loss of life, lots of

loss of property, people are displaced, people are unhappy for good reason. it's an enormous tragedy. and so, you know, i do think that it is really important -- right, this is where donald trump wants to take that fear and the fact that people really are hurting and exploit it and turn it into the fault of biden/harris. and i don't -- i think that he understands that that can work with people at a time like this, at a tragic time. normally, though, politicians don't exploit moments like this. and so there's no choice for biden and harris to do anything other than i think what they're doing, try to correct the misinformation, show that they are doing their best, defend the institutions and the people that are helping, like fema and that's all there is. i wish i could say i thought there was going to be a big voter rejection of this. but it's a tricky one because, you know, you see the wreckage. you see the terrible things that are happening to people.

and sometimes when people do look for somebody to blame, this is what donald trump knows and he tries to put it on harris and trump -- i'm sorry, and biden. >> martha says 232 people who lost their lives in this storm. i want to ask you about messages that the campaign is putting money behind, the thing that is a do work and that's the endorsement from general stanley mccrystal up in a powerful ad and featuring olivia troy talking about trump's indifference to helping people in california who were damaged and lost their lives, lost their homes, lost their businesses from the wild fires, having to show him the data that some of them voted for him. i wonder what you think of the messages the campaign is paying to put in front of swing voters in the final 27 days. >> i think they're excellent. and look, it's paying off. "the new york times" siena poll from this weekend, we now see a full 9% of self-identified republicans saying that they're

voting for vice president harris. now, you know, to reach that level when already a lot of the republicans who are sort of out on trump a lot of them have already moved and changed, you know from independent to democrat and so these are still self-identified republicans who after eight years of trump still identify as republicans and you've got 9% of them saying they're going to vote for harris. that is an enormous number. in 2020 that number was at 6% and that number was the margin maker in a lot of these places like pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. and so i was thrilled to see that. and i've been thrilled to see the way that kamala harris has leaned into figuring out how to scoop up every last sort of available let's call them a nikki haley voter, these right-leaning independents, soft gop voters. she's been leaning into, her relationships with liz cheney and other republicans and looking for their endorsements, touting their endorsements, holding these republicans for harris events.

obviously we run republican voters against trump. we're getting out on the road with a bus tour in pennsylvania and in michigan next week. and i think that there's just a big appetite among these swing voters for something knew. and that is something i'm seeing in the focus groups. and so right now it is actually the bigger fear is more will the numbers of hispanic voters that typically support democrats, the number of black voters hold? she is doing very well -- extraordinarily well with college-educated suburban voters and older white voters in general. if she can hold those numbers, the good news for her, there are a lot of older white people in pennsylvania, nebraska, and wisconsin, too. >> sara sticks around. we never get enough of her wisdom. up next for us, the bipartisan coalition that we've been talking about supporting kamala harris is getting bigger as we've been discussing in the final stretch. liz cheney delivering on her promise to do everything and

anything to make sure that kamala harris is elected in 27 days. we'll talk about that next. lk at (children speaking) conflict is raging across the world, and millions of children's lives are being devastated by war, hunger, disease and poverty. we urgently need your help to reach children in crisis. please call or go online to give just $10 a month. only $0.33 a day. we need 1000 new monthly donors this month to help children in crisis around the world and right here at home. you can help us provide food, essentials, and lifesaving medical care to children in the most need.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ this one is for you. you know, my opponent, the former president, has been running since 2020. >> literally filed the day after the election. >> so we have a lot of time to make up for, but you know, i'm traveling around the country.

i'm spending a lot of time talking with folks, listening to folks. and the one thing i can report back from the field, if you will, is that people are exhausted by that old tired play book of donald trump's. they really are. let's chart a new way forward. and what i'm seeing is that a lot of americans, regardless of their party, republicans, democrats, independents, they're ready for a new generation of leadership that is about solutions and common sense and finding common ground. and that is what i am offering. [ cheers and applause ]. >> vice president kamala harris last night on "the late show" with stephen colbert showing why voters see her, according to that same poll sara and wi were talking about as the change candidate. part of an all-out media blitz for the vice president this week as she criss-crosses the media landscape leaving no voting group untouched. harris appearing everywhere from the podcast "call her daddy "to

"06 minutes" and "the view" and howard stern whose audience is massive and diverse and usually open to hearing things beyond just politics. their also 75% white. she's ending the week at a uni vision town hall tomorrow. harris's appearances will reach approximately 27 million people of all walks of life as she reaches out to all americans regardless of party. harris's big tent approach is part of the reason why so many prominent republicans have now publicly endorsed the vice president and are eager to stump for her as well. case in point, later today, liz cheney and former trump aides griffin, hutchinson and sara matthews are campaigning for harris in the must-win philadelphia suburbs. joining our conversation is msnbc political analyst tim miller, former rnc spokesman, host of the bullwork podcast

sara is here as well. tim, tell me how you see the race today. >> too close for comfort, nicole. i don't know. i would rather be kamala than trump, but it's very close race. you know, and it shouldn't be for all the reasons that all your viewers know and that all of us on this panel know given how donald trump has disqualified himself over and over again. but unfortunately that's where we're at. and so it will be important to kind of squeeze out as many voters from all of these different elements the big tent coalition as possible. i was listening to your previous segment sara pointed out, i think that reaching to these college-educated republican voters will be critical but so is the core base of the democratic party, younger voters, black voters, hispanic voters. i'm happy she's going on uni vision. since i'm the boy on the panel, those names, cassidy, alyssa, sara matthews, liz cheney, good on all of them. but man, the men that were

around donald trump have really let us down. and i'm very proud of sara and cassidy. i've gotten to know and alyssa i know well. and for their courage and bravery to be out there. but it shouldn't really just be mark meadow's assistant, you know, that's out there. there should be people higher up the food chain and unfortunately the only ones that had the courage to stand up around the close inner circle seem to be the women that went in to work for him. good on them. >> why do you think that is? >> well, i don't know if i want to get into the boy/girl sociological analysis about that. sara might be better for that or bring in a psychologist. i don't know. i think maybe it's possible that the guys around donald trump have too much pride and too much potential concern about their access. you know, i think there's a lot of -- especially in washington, there's a lot of ego. there's a lot of desire to be in

the mix, to be in power. and you know, they had this kind of emptiness inside them, a lot of people around donald trump, meadows and my old boss priebus and they want to get phone calls so they don't have the courage to speak out. and luckily these younger women with their whole careers in front of them did and liz cheney, though, really more in their shoes. liz cheney gave up everything. good on her. she would do it again if you asked her. and there are others, obviously kinzinger and others out there. but i think the people who worked for trump, man, a lot of people have let us down who went in there to work for donald trump. >> you can extend the analysis, which i agree with, sara to the books they have written. cassidy hutchinson makes clear if she kept her mouth shut, she had an opportunity go to florida with donald trump and continue her assent in maga world. she made different choices. she has legitimate security concerns and she became one of the most important witnesses in

the january 6th congressional investigation and history will determine the role that that committee and that problem played in moving justice department to pursue donald trump as the instigator of january 6th. but it's a stark contrast to the book h.r. mcmaster wrote, who saw everything, was in the oval with donald trump and his minions went out and made sure we all knew that trump couldn't have leaked classified information because we didn't tell it to him. he knew in the room at the time that donald trump was a very dangerous threat to u.s. national security. what is it in the man sphere that also reflects this inability to see something and do something when you know it's not masculinity to act like donald trump does, to lie and to cheat and to refuse to concede contests that you lose. >> well look, i'm not going to say it's about men or women. there's something different in their psychology. i will say in particular with

these men, the one that tim is referring to, the people who are around donald trump, i think it's fair to call it cowardice. and one of the reasons that it irks me so much to see them maintain their silence, to sit on the fence after everything they've seen and what they know, is that everyday with republican voters against trump, i listen to just regular people, people who voted for trump in the past talk about why they can't support him because of january 6th, because he didn't engage in the peaceful transfer of power, because he's not a good person, whatever their reasons, real people who live in their communities are willing to put their faces on billboards and their voices in radio ads. they're all getting negative email. they will be attacked. the fact that people who have worn our country's uniform, who have been generals, who are supposed to be among our bravest

people can't seem to find the courage in this moment to defend the country from somebody that they know is manifestly unfit and who will do things that i know they view as catastrophic. whether that's abandoning ukraine, whether it's pulling us out of nato, they know how frightening donald trump is. they know he is a person who is bereft of character. and for them to not say something in this moment -- and let me just say, guys, if you're sitting there saying, boy, i think this is unfair. prove me wrong. there's still time. we would love to hear from you. come say what you saw. you tell us after 9/11, you said if you saw something, say something. that's what we should be asking of these guys. we know they saw something. so say something now. defend your country. do the right thing. it's not -- there's still time left. george w. bush, there's still time left. anybody. mitt romney. come in. the water is fine. >> i'm going to let that be the

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his own vice president isn't voting for him. >> that's exactly right. >> i mean, how could anyone justify any of this? i don't get it. it's madness. and i know donald trump so many years. he was at my wedding. i always had a good time with him, but not as president of the

united states. you can't come out with these wacky eating cats and dogs. and now these poor people who were living in these communities are getting threatened. >> you know, howard -- >> you can't dine with nazis. you can't do it. >> we're back with tim and sarah. howard stern is a great interviewer, great conversation. and i wonder, tim, if you can speak to your thoughts. you've had no trouble telling the truth at every twist and turn of this cycle, especially the difficult days of summer. neither of you have. and i wonder what your thoughts are in terms of how to close and how to win in these really, really tight swing states in the next 27 days. >> yeah. for sure. well, it's good -- i think more is more when it comes to the vice president. you've seen that in her poll numbers going up. the more people been exposed to her. there will be slip-ups. things that the right criticizes. that will happen no matter what.

she has to be flooding the zone, continuing to do interviews as she has the last few days. i think that's been really great. i could -- i guess if i was offering one piece of advice that a campaign has done an a-minus job since she's taken over, they have done a really excellent job. i could see a more aggressive effort at driving a message daily against donald trump. and donald trump's out there and he gives you so much. it's like what pitch do you swing at when he's doing conspiracies about helene and saying he saved obamacare. attacking the cats and dogs, sharks. there's so many lies and beard stuff. and i think dialing in on the things that are really disqualifying for people out there. reminding people why they cannot get there. when people are on the edge, not swing voters deciding between harris and trump, people deciding between trump and the couch or the couch and harris. they've done a good job of making the case for harris. i think really dialing in on

trying to disqualify trump. and i think that exchange with stern is a good example. i think she should lean in -- these guys we were talking about in the last segment, aren't going to stand up and do it themselves, she should -- the campaign should make the case for them. it is extremely telling that vice president pence is not supporting donald trump. people need to be reminded of that and think about that. why is that? why isn't pence supporting? can i really support for someone whose vice president can't vote for? i think a paid campaign really using the pence lack of endorsement would be effective. i had an exchange with congressman crenshaw on a youtube show. these guys struggle to answer that. why can i vote for trump but his own vice president can't. and so i think going a little more on offense would -- for the final three weeks would be helpful. >> i want to hear your answer to the same question, sarah longwell. i have to sneak in a quick break first. we'll be back with that on the other side. first. we'll be back with that on the other side

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sarah longwell, you get the last word on the best strategic advice for mid point of this week. >> well, i'm going to reference somebody that is unexpected, but you know, newt gingrich had this concept of permanent offense. and that is where the harris campaign needs to be right now. you got to own every news cycle from here to election day by going on offense. this is going to pick up where tim left off in terms of i think going straight after trump but doing it in a lot of these

nontraditional media scenarios, right? i love that she's going on howard stern. i love that she's going on these different podcasts, podcasts i never heard of but have these enormous audiences. that's the right way to do it. i was just in nevada talking to swing voters. and one of the things that stops them up short when they start to go, well, but i think trump was better on the economy. but you know, i like her. maybe a breath of fresh air we could turn the page. the thing that tips them over that they reference, is the idea that donald trump's vice president and many of the members of his cabinet won't support him. and so, going back to sort of the sarah matthews, cassidy hutchinson, these former trump officials out there talking about why they can't support him, i think that's incredibly important and that they should emphasize that. kamala harris should emphasize it in every single one of these media appearances that she does, that even his own people can no longer support him because reminding republicans of that does remind them of trump's chaos and unfitness.

>> everyone who knows better should say something. tim miller, sarah longwell, thank you both for spending time with us this hour. up next, we're set to get another update on hurricane milton at the top of the hour. much more news ahead. don't go anywhere. "deadline white house" returns after a quick break. eadline whis after a quick break. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. our advanced matching helps find talented candidates, so you can connect with them fast. visit indeed.com/hire a chewy order is on the way for (interrupted by dog)... (dog howls) roo. who can speak for himself. but can't shop for himself. so when he gave his roo of approval of the food dad bought on chewy, dad put it on autoship. so it always gets delivered, right on roo's schedule. the flavor roo loves. the savings they love. (dog howls) for automatic delivery and 5% savings.

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we're as prepared as we can be. >> just going to get really nasty and really dangerous to be outside. >> you don't have to leave the state. you don't have to cross the state. just get out of the evac zones. >> we're going to have to stop soon, and we're not going to be able to get to you. if you don't have a second story, you're going to die. >> there will be trees down. there will be power lines down. it will be dangerous to move around. >> this is going to be a punch to face. hi, everyone. it's 5:00 in new york and in florida where hurricane milton is just hours away from making landfall.

as you just heard, there have been dire warnings from local officials to get to safety. hurricane milton, which president joe biden referred to as, quote, the storm of the century, is forecasted to bring historic levels of destruction and devastation to a state still reeling from hurricane helene just two weeks ago. the national weather service has already announced that it is now time to shelter in place until the storm passes. here is what we know at this moment. the currently category 3 hurricane is expected to make landfall between 9 and 11:00 p.m. near sarasota, florida, generating a catastrophic storm surge which could reach up to 15 feet and life-threatening flooding across florida's west coast. already floridians have seen massive winds and rain, even multiple tornadoes. fema administrator while briefing president joe biden and vice president kamala harris earlier today spoke of the threat of this dangerous storm. >> have you ever seen a storm

like this since you've been in charge? >> i think this is going to be one of the biggest ones that we have seen after it makes landfall. we saw a lot of impact from hurricane ian. but this one is different. this one just looks different. and i think we're going to have a lot of impacts and people that are going to need our help, sir. >> later this hour, president joe biden will deliver remarks on the hurricane. we'll bring them to you when they get under way. this is where we start the hour, "today" show co-host al roker back with the latest update from the national hurricane center. it's been an hour and things have changed. explain. >> they have, nicole. we were thinking this might slow down a little bit before making landfall. but now, in fact, it is maintaining that forward motion, moving northeast at 17 miles per hour. what we're going to be looking at if we can get the satellite -- there we have it. we'll be looking at winds now down a little bit to 120 miles per hour. but still a category 3, but that northeast at 17 miles per hour

forward movement is a big deal. it's 170 miles southwest of orlando, florida. the tornado warnings have lessened a bit. that's good news as the main thrust of that has pushed through. that line of heavy showers and thunderstorms. but tornado watches are still in effect until 9:00 p.m. tonight from daytona beach all the way down to key west. and we could see tornadoes developing again still for the next couple of hours from engelwood, ft. myers, ft. pierce, on in to acadia as well. these are rain wrapped, harder to see. we'll continue to track this for you. now, as far as the path, we look for this coming on shore -- here is the other thing that's been developing. we have slowly with each run seen a little further north movement of this. so coming on shore as a category 3, if we continue to see this, now tampa is in play. tampa bay, st. pete becomes in play. then by 2:00 a.m., it's a category 1 storm between

sarasota and melbourne. out into the atlantic. the storm surge already starting in ft. myers. we have seen about 2 to 3 feet of storm surge already. 9 to 13 feet possibly stretching from sarasota all the way down to boca grand and 8 to 12 feet to bonita springs, 8 to 12 tampa into sarasota. the peak surge is expected sometime midnight to 5:00 a.m. and could travel inland. what is the surge? it's this wall of water that starts to push. specially when you have a high tide developing at 5:00 a.m. so that tide will continue to rise. that storm surge pushes inland, pushing past almost everything that's in its path. so, once you get to 3 feet, it's hard to walk. you get to 6 feet, you can't drive. 9 feet, forget about it. and 10 feet that inupdates one story buildings. the wind will be a problem, too. 100 miles per hour right along the coast. that will bring a lot of damage

and the damage including power outages. they could last for weeks. as we move through and watch these trees come down, power lines come down as well. now, again, rainfall is always a big problem. the storm surge is the deadliest, but you add that rainfall to it, we're talking life threatening, catastrophic, flash flooding in streets, rivers, lakes as well and the highest storm totals upwards of 18 inches of rain but generally anywhere from 5 to 10 inches of rain, nicole, with this system. but again, the big problem is its forward speed. while the good news is, it makes landfall quicker, gets out quicker but its forward speed exacerbates that storm surge as you add the momentum of that along with those hurricane-force winds. >> if you look at how this changed even in the last hour since we last spoke, what are you looking for in the next update? >> well, we're probably -- right now, my concern is the actual path itself. if the trend continues,

continues to move a little further north, that means now all of a sudden tampa bay and st. petersburg are in play and that's a more heavily densely populated area. but anywhere along that coast, it's going to be problems. but again, the further north it moves, the more it's going to get into those more densely populated areas and that storm surge is going to be that much more catastrophic. >> i'm thinking of the picture we had up in the last hour of the only level 1 trauma center in tampa in a low-level area. >> yes. >> what is that aqua net designed to do and how reliable and tested is it? >> well, it's tested up to 12 feet. they know it can hold 12 feet. but if we go much beyond that, hopefully it can hold, but for how long? because water finds a way. and it's going to make its way through, if it gets much above 12 feet that is going to be a major issue. and the other thing i think people have got to listen to the people they trust.

whether it's your local nbc weather person, whether it's that local sheriff, those are the people who are there day in and day out and give to you straight. you don't need to listen to other people. listen to those people who live in your community and take care of you day in and day out. >> when you hear the president and the vice president and the secretary of transportation and the fema administrator saying what you just said, please listen to your sheriff. please listen to your mayor. regardless of their party, please listen to your member of congress, do you remember a combination of a storm this size and a level of distrust so worrying to officials? >> no. you know, this is -- we're kind of in uncharted territory. but i think at the end of the day, people know who they can trust. they know who has been there for them, whether it's in a weather emergency or whether it's in any other kind of situation. those are the people day in and day out who make those decisions

whether -- no matter what party you're affiliated with. they make these decisions because they have the public trust at heart. >> you're one of those people. and so we thank you for being here with us. thank you so much. let me bring into our coverage, nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk is in tampa for us. stephanie, what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, we're really just starting to see the rain really come down here, nicole. as well as the wind pick up ferociously. you know, taking what al just said, people in this city have been so nervous about that path. there was some indication that it might go further south over night and now what they're seeing is that tick back up to the north. and that is worse case scenario for tampa bay and this entire area, that includes the city tampa where i am but also st. petersburg. if you look up close on the map, this area has been described as a kind of cul-de-sac around tampa bay, with some of the most populated areas of the west

coast of florida right here near where i am standing. a lot of those places have evacuated. we have been told that shelters, many of them, are filling up to capacity. people have been heeding the warnings. but when you talk about that level of surge, which could be anywhere up to a foot of surge here in tampa, on top of a foot of rain, it is really hard to wrap your head around where all that water would go and what it would do. it would be an incredible amount of damage. that hospital that you were talking about, that level 1 trauma center, is arguably the most critical infrastructure in this entire region. they have done a lot to prepare themselves. you talked about that wall. they also have their own power plant that is 32 feet above sea level to make sure there's enough power. they have food for five days. food and supplies for five days. they also moved everyone off of the first floor, all patients and staff and moved them up higher. they're doing what they can to make sure that they stay operational, because, of course,

you'll have people injured in this storm who will need their care, nicole. >> tell me what you understand from your sources and your reporting about how responsive folks were to the local officials, the types of people that al roker were talking about, people who were trusted noo these communities, sheriffs, mayors and local leaders. >> reporter: they are listening. but also think about what these people are going through. we were in a community today, a neighborhood in st. petersburg, where we have been talking about all the debris from hurricane helene. but that debris is also indicative of families who have been displaced. homes no longer in many cases inhabitable in the first place. so, people picked up and moved to maybe a safer place or a home that wasn't damaged as much. but then found themselves in another evacuation zone for this storm. and it seems as if people are listening, they are already weary of what happened after helene and the warnings from officials here, whether it's the mayor, whether it's other emergency service people, have

been so stark where they've basically just said to people f you stay and the water rises as high as it might rise, you will die because we won't come and get you. it doesn't get any more stark than that. even people here in florida who lived through a ton of hurricanes, and are certainly weathered in that degree, they know that this is a serious one and potentially historic one, nicole. >> stephanie gosk, please stay safe. thank you so much for your reporting and for taking time to talk to us. joining our coverage the mayor of sarasota, florida, liz alpert. mayor, tell us how you're doing and how your community is holding up. >> well, i think we're doing all right at the moment. we haven't seen the worst of it. you have been getting some squalls and some rain, so there is water building up on the roadways, but for right now, we're kind of in a holding pattern. we're as ready as we can be and ready to go to work as soon as the hurricane passes.

>> do you have a sense from your team, from local officials, how responsive your residents have been to the evacuate orders, how many people have actually left and how many have decided to ride out the storm? >> our sense from everything that we -- everything that we've seen, our deputy city manager was out on the barrier islands last night and he felt like most of the people had left. there may have been a few stragglers, but mostly after helene, people have taken this seriously and they understand how dangerous a hurricane can be, and they evacuated. >> to anyone listening, what is your advice for your constituents or anyone impacted by this storm heading to florida very shortly? >> you know, right now stay where you are wherever you

decided to stay. we want you to stay safe and stay sheltered and stay strong. and once this passes, we'll be ready to go to work to recover, but they're going to need patience. it's going to take some time. and we'll all work together to make it happen. >> i worked in florida government for a little bit. and i know hurricanes are not new, but this storm feels different. can you tell me your thoughts knowing a little bit about the storms that hit florida with some frequency. what is different about this one? >> it does feel different. i know in my 50 years living in florida, this is the first impact that i've ever experienced, believe it or not. always seem to bypass us no matter where i lived. so, but the sense is different. i don't see people joking about

having a hurricane party or i'm just going to stay and ride it out. they're truly frightened and want to get out of the path of this storm. >> have you been able to access thaefrg you need to prepare and protect your community at a state and federal level? or are there more things that you need? >> no. i think everybody has gotten to us what we needed. and you know, the federal government has, you know -- they've contacted us from president biden's office. i got a call from secretary buttigieg, got a call from the vice president's office, got a call from senator rick scott. you know, everybody has been really supportive to make sure that we have everything that we need here in sarasota. >> if there is anything that we can do, if there's anything that you would like to communicate as

your community endures this unbelievable storm, please don't hesitate to reach out. we're thinking about you. please stay safe. >> thank you so much. and thanks for having me on, nicole. >> we will continue to monitor hurricane milton throughout the night as it is expected to make landfall on florida's gulf coast later this evening. still ahead for us, the fire hose of lies and disinformation we have heard and continue to hear from the disgraced ex-president, as he tries to tear down the institutions that are actively protecting their constituents and trying to bring relief to victims of the last hurricane, hurricane helene how his latest false claims are underscoring his veracious appetite for authoritarianism. that's next. and we are expecting to hear from president joe biden, about this new hurricane, hurricane milton, and the false claims by his predecessor. we'll bring them to you when they get under way. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. nywhere. my luke would be a very different luke. look up. where you going?

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we did much better in 2020. we won. we won. we did win. it was a rigged election. it was a rigged election. we did a phenomenal job with the pandemic. in springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. they're eating the cats. they're eating -- >> this is unbelievable. >> they're eating the pets of the people that live there. >> they stole the fema money just like they stole it from a bank so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season. >> none of those things are true.

but you already know that. the reason we showed it to you is because no matter the issue, there's one thing that donald trump will always do, as part of his wanna be autocrat play book and it is rely upon the reactions and emotions that are stirred up by those kinds of lies and disinformation. the ex-president relies on this constant stream of falsehoods to create anxiety and sew chaos and undermine the institutions necessary for a democracy to function. and then to cast himself as somehow above the chaos is the only person who can fix them. it's the kind of leadership that threatens the very office trump is running to serve. tom nickels is out with a stark new warning in the november atlantic cover story about how a second trump term could end the american presidency as we know it. nickels writes this, quote, donald trump and his authoritarian political movement represent an existential threat to every ideal that george washington cherished and encouraged in his new nation.

today, america stands at such a moment, vengeful and emotional unstable former president desires to return to office as an autocrat. trump has left no doubt about his intentions. he practically shouts them every chance he gets. his deepest motives are to solve his ego, punish his enemies and place himself above the law should he regain the oval office. he may well bring with him the experience and the means to complete the authoritarian project that he began in his first term. joining our conversation, staff writer for the atlantic, tom nickels, new piece we just read from. also joining us washington bureau chief and washington correspondent april grillo is back. co-founder and executive director ian bass is here. tom, take us through your extraordinary new piece. >> well, we looked at washington as -- to measure how far we've

come or fallen because every president comes up short. that's part of being george washington. every president falls short of the standards that washington managed to set in the eight years that he was president. the bigger problem is that washington set up expectations and terms and traditions that really protected this nation. that really protected the institutions of government, gave us the ability to survive as a democracy under terrible conditions and trump is threatening them all. including ideas such as stepping down from power, handing back institutions. washington felt this very strongly, very keenly that the army was not his army. they were his fellow citizens. and he was fighting alongside them. but the presidency did not belong to him. that it was a sacred trust that

was -- he did something really unheard of for the 18th century. he went to congress and he took the piece of paper that had his original commission -- back. he said the war is over. i'm glad to have served my country. i ask that i may be allowed to return to private life. trump believes in none of that. a man of principle. a man of integrity. and knew that the country needed to be able to -- and that they're his to use against his enemies as soon as he can scrabble his way back into the oval office. >> on that specifically, quote, during his term as president, trump expected the military to be loyal but only to him. he did not understand or care that members of the military swear an oath to the

constitution and that they are servants of the nation. not of one man and one office. trump viewed the military like a small child, surveying a shelf of toy soldiers referring to, quote, my generals and ordering up parades for his own enjoyment and to emphasize his personal control. there's a darker side of that as well, he didn't want all of them. they weren't all his generals. only the ones who didn't die and were not injured serving the country. just talk about the dark pathology with which he views the american military, tom. >> he thinks of the american military as a group of men and women who owe their service directly to him. and if they disagree with him, they don't belong in the military. he has even gone so far as to suggest that people like mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs when he was president, should be executed for actions they took while in uniform.

when, in fact what milley did in cooperation of the secretary of defense was to call china and reassure them that before and after january 6th that the united states was a stable partner and that we were not in the throes of some giant civil upheaval. trump hates that notion. he is intimidated by people of principle. and the united states military, i'm happy to say, after working at the naval war college for 25 years, the united states military is full of people of principle, full of patriots who understand their duty to the constitution, but those principles baffle trump. they enrage him. and this is why when he stood in arlington cemetery and looked around at all these graves he turned to kelly, his chief of staff and said, i don't get it? what was in it for them? >> why is this not disqualifying, ian? why are we looking at an election in the margin of error in every poll. >> first off, it's absolutely disqualifying. when you talk about that sense

of loyalty -- so, i was a lawyer in not just the white house the president, but lawyer at other levels of government for elected officials. lawyers have duty of loyalty to their clients. there's an interesting intellectual discussion that lawyers often have, given we don't have the kind of client that a lawyer has out in the private sector, who is our duty of loyalty to? and there's a couple of candidates when you're serving in government. your duty of loyalty could be to the public in the jurisdiction in which you serve. your duty of loyalty could be to the constitution or the city charter if you're working in new york city hall. your duty of loyalty could be the branch of goth. so i might be a lawyer in the executive branch and i might have some loyalty to represent the interests of the executive or the interests of the office of the presidency as opposed to the interests of say congress in a battle between the branchs. there's a lot of discussion among government lawyers, how do you order those priorities of your loyalty to the office.

your loyalty to the document. your loyalty to the public. but do you know who is not part of that ever in those conversations, your loyalty to the individual person. >> ever. >> who occupies that office. never was there any discussion among government lawyers we owed any loyalty to barack obama, the person. not only did we know that, but president obama full well knew and that would be horrified if we considered we had loyalty to barack obama the person. what's so disqualifying and so amazing here, in donald trump's mind, the people who serve him have no loyalty to the public. they have no loyalty to the office. and they have no loyalty to the constitution. the only expectation of loyalty and their testing for this now who will staff his administration is loyalty to mr. donald trump, the person. >> you explained as disqualifying. and i served in government and view it as disqualifying. but i think if you ask the harris campaign and trump campaign, they view this race as, again a margin of error race. how do you make that mean something to voters with 27 days

to go? >> well, tom's piece in the "atlantic" is fantastic, i just read it, excellent. he talks about in that piece something that washington fundamentally understood the most precious thing that existed in the early days of the country and the most precious thing that still exists today, i would argue, is that power, choice, the ability to determine one's future, is not the property of the president. it's not even the property of the government. it's our property. it belongs to every american citizen. americans own the choice about their own future. and what i think people need to fundamentally understand is that donald trump is threatening to take that choice away from us. here is the thing, if he is successful, if he's returned to power and you are somebody who supports him and you like what he has done, then you should hold on to the choice four years from now to decide whether you want to keep going down that road with a potential successor of his or he would argue himself

for another term or whether you want to change your decision. that's your choice. but here is the thing, if you put him in power and you don't like what he's doing, what do you do then? if you given away the choice of whether to keep him or not. that choice is precious and we should hold it. >> what you're saying is something that liz cheney says, april ryan, this is an election whether we choose to choose our presidents through election. liz cheney has a stark warning, if he wins, he will never leave. he himself, donald trump, has said he will be a dictator on day one and expressed willingness to tear up his constitution. the really dangerous thing is the enablers, mitch mcconnell and bill barr, lampooned by him, targeted by him, but plan to vote for him. >> yes. >> what do you do if you love the democracy and like the experiment to continue, but there are men and women who know better who are unwilling to protected it. >> you're right, the experiment.

we've experimented once. and tom is right about the autocrat. but you are also right as dictator. donald trump wants to break the underpinnings of this nation, the framework of this nation. he's never, ever, and you can check it out in history, he has never, ever followed rules. he's always crossed the line. he has never -- even before he was president, even before he thought about it, he was in trouble with the law. and at this point, donald trump it seems like wants to walk away from the constitution, as you said, but the question is, will his constitution, project 2025, that we are so upset about, so what do you do in this moment? you have to really take a look, a hard look, if you say you're a patriot, being a patriot is following the constitution, following what george washington put in place, thomas jefferson, all of the founding fathers of this nation. donald trump wants to be the new age founding father of

dictatorship. he will not leave. he will give it to an heir. it could be donald jr. or whomever he chooses. we will once called the melting pot. we will never be that again. if you are not loyal, if you do not defend donald trump, you, too, could go to jail. what happens to the free press? the questioning of a president, the first line of questioning of an american president, every piece of life that we see today will be totally different. we will, all of us, will be affected by what happens 1600 pennsylvania avenue if donald trump becomes president and carries out the dictatorship as he says he will. believe him when he says things. >> april ryan, one of the hallmarks of this run, and you know because you covered all of them, is that it's all out loud. a lot of it was the things that we learned about through investigative journalism, now in his stump speeches, garbled in with slurred words and what he calls the weave, which is just straight up incoherence. but what do you make of the fact

that that has normalized all this conduct among his base of support? >> nicole, i believe there are people who feel that politics is too cerebral. and people want to be able to be fed information the way they understand it. so many of us do not know civics. and we have to give people the laws, the rules, the understanding and the way that they can take it. and when they can't. they find someone or gravitate to someone who speaks their language, who is close to them. and on either side, there are people who have been left out and donald trump is banking on those who have been left out to stand by him and listen to him and love him. that's what's happening. people are supporting him because they give it to him, give it to them, the way they see life. and people have got to be brought under an umbrella,

everyone. not on the left. not on the right. everyone needs to be placed under an umbrella so that they can actually be heard and seen so we won't have this extremity that we have right now, called donald trump. >> just so that i don't have to rudely interrupt anyone without you knowing why i'm doing it, this is the podium from which president joe biden will speak in a couple of minutes. i'm going to keep going and apologize in advance for cutting you off. this is the harris campaign's message. oh, here is president biden. i'll let you think about that and answer it on the other side. let's listen to president biden. >> good evening. within a few hours hurricane milton is expected to make landfall on the west coast of florida, the western coast of florida. already we're seeing impacts from the storm, including significant winds and heavy rain. and there's also been frequent and widespread tornado warnings throughout the day. and they're continued and expected to expand as milton moves over land. including a few that have

touched down in south florida. currently, milton is a category 3 with wind speeds up to 120 miles per hour. but no one should be confused. it's still expected to be one of the most and worst destructive hurricanes to hit florida in other a century. you know, both the heads of the national hurricane center and the national weather service made it very clear in conversations i've had with them earlier today, milton still carries incredible destructiveness, can wipe out communities, can cause loss of life. storm surge still expected to be up to 13 feet. i urge everyone in hurricane milton's path to listen to local officials and follow all the safety instructions they give. at this point, evacuation is probably difficult. i encourage people to look for safer shelter. sometimes moving just a few miles can mean the difference between life and death. we already approved emergency

declarations for florida. we have thousands of federal personnel on the ground. we are staged and ready to go, we have 20 million meals, 40 million liters of water. at my direction, the secretary of defense, austin, as prepositioned search and rescue teams, helicopters and high water -- high water vehicles as close to the storm as possible so they're ready to conduct life-saving missions. and the administrator of fema will be on site tonight in florida in the state's emergency operation center. both administrator chriswell and i will be in constant contact with state and local officials in the hours ahead. once this storm hits, we're going to work with state officials to clear debris, restore power and do it as fast as possible. the army corps of engineers will pump out weather and decrease flooding. we already directed department of defense to be ready to

provide active duty service members support florida after the storm surge if governor desantis requests the help, which i expect he might. just like we did in north carolina. i have served over 1,000 coast guard personnel to reopen the port of tampa as soon as possible and perform search and rescues. now, i want to reiterate a point, i made clear earlier today to the folks who have been impacted by helene. this impact and will now be impacted by milton, other the last few weeks there's been reckless and irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies about what's going on. it's undermining confidence in the people in florida. incredible rescue and recovery work that's been undertaken. literally there are thousands of fellow americans who are putting their lives at stake and putting it on the line to do the

dangerous work that needs to be done now. and it's harmful to those who most need the help. quite frankly, these lies are un-american. and there is simply no place for them, not now, not ever. former president trump has led this onslaught of lies. assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. it's simply not true. they're saying people impacted by these storms have received $750 in cash and no more. that is simply not true either. they're saying that money needed for these crises are being diverted to migrants. what the hell -- heck are they talking about. stop it. it's outrageous. stop it. it's not true. now the claims are getting more bizarre. marjorie taylor greene the congresswoman from georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. we're controlling the weather. it's beyond ridiculous. so stupid. it's got to stop. let me close with this, as

difficult as these days and weeks have been, we have seen incredible courage by so many of our fellow americans. i want to thank all the first responders. running toward danger instead of away. saving lives. climbing on hillsides to reach people who cut off by helene. army national guard flying through the gail wind force. it's amazing what they're doing. firefighters lifting collapsed wood and metal in an attempt to see if there are any survivors under the debris, risking their lives. coast guard teams repelling from helicopters to rescue people and risking their own lives. there are countless friends and neighbors who have sacrificed for the greater good. volunteers leaving their own families behind to help search for someone else's family. fellow americans looking out for one another. that's america at its very best. that's who we are.

so my final message tonight to the people of florida and all the impacted states, we've got your back. we have got your back. kamala and i will be there as long as it takes to rescue, recover and rebuild. god bless you all and may god protect those serving in the eye of this storm on behalf of our nation. thank you. >> do you have a comment, sir? >> un-american. >> why do you think trump is spreading misinformation? >> i don't know. i simply don't know. you can speculate. but i just find it -- i know i used the phrase more than i ever used in my whole career, un-american. it's un-american. it's not who the hell we are. what are they talking about?

>> sir, have you considered calling him and asking him to stop doing that? >> oh, god. >> mr. president, does governor desantis need to take vice president harris' calls? >> all i can tell you is i'm talking to governor desantis. he has been very gracious, thanked me for all we've done. he knows what we're doing. and i think that's important. >> can you say florida has everything it needs for the storm? how was your call with netanyahu today? >> we didn't talk about the storm. >> rather extraordinary moment in american presidential history and american political history, current president describing the conduct of relentless dissemination of disinformation and quote, outright lies as un-american, describing marjorie taylor greene's lies about democratic elected officials

creating weather as, quote, stupid and imploring the disseminators of disinformation to, quote, stop it. >> right before we heard the president speak, april was talking about how people today -- a lot of people very understandably feeling very anxious about the world. we've talked about this, at this table before, how the world is changing rapidly. we're in a period of exceptional rates of change, not unlike the early 20th century and moments like that when people are looking for solutions, there's an invitation for demagogues to come in with snake oil and lies and extremism and say, i'm going to shake everything all up. and i think that's what trump has been doing and it may be one of the reasons for some of his appeal. but when you watch what's happened today in florida, and you realize how serious and how life and death the situation is so often in this country in crises like these, and how important it is to have

competence in government, you realize that the lying and the snake oil and the flailing of the arms and the extremism and all that reality tv sensationalism is no replacement for people who are seriously committed to doing the hard work, to protecting americans and keeping us safe. and i think the split screen between donald trump's antics and the seriousness you're seeing from not just president biden, not just vice president harris, but the republican and democratic governors of the states of the southeast is a contrast the american people need to look at when we decide who do we really need in charge to help us through these challenging times. >> tom nicoles the contrast is now the american people have agency a choice, that the american people will make in 27 days. and under one tent is vice president kamala harris, the legacy of president joe biden. the practice of responding to a natural disaster and helping everyone regardless of what

party your governor, your member of congress is in. the practice of calling out lies and disinformation as, quote, un-american, as well as the belief that the fundamental purpose of being in government is to help and protect your citizens. and that when that was trump's job, when he was our president for better and for worse, he sent covid tests to vladimir putin. president joe biden just now also described that impulse as, quote, un-american. >> i think the people that are voting for trump, they don't think, as you just said that the purpose of government is to help everyone and promote the general welfare. they think many of these voters think that the purpose of government is to hurt people you don't like. and to take care of people you do like and to kind of stick it to people that you just happen not to like. and i keep thinking about something april said earlier about, you know, everybody under one tent. i think what a lot of these voters don't realize is that trump will abandon them just as

shortly as he will abandon everyone else. even eight years later they just don't get it that he doesn't care about them. he doesn't care about anybody but himself. if it's in his interest to let the southeast drown, if he were president and for some reason he just didn't want -- as he said during covid, i take no responsibility at all. if that's what he thought was in his best interest to do, it wouldn't matter one bit whether you voted for him or not. and i think this is something that is -- i think this explains a part of the conversation you were having with ian about why are we so stuck in this election. because there are still millions of people saying he will take care of me and only going to hurt people i don't like. and the experience of donald trump from his first term and the things he's saying now that he's promising to do again, is he will hurt anybody he chooses to hurt if it's in his interest to do so. he doesn't care about people who

support him. he doesn't care about people who don't support him. everyone around him is just an obstacle to things he wants. and at this moment, where there are so many of our fellow citizens in danger and they are our fellow citizens in the southeast, whether republicans, democrats, independents, none of that matters right now. millions of our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters, are in danger in the american southeast. and what you expect from a president and a federal government is to act and to save them and to help them. and you just -- you're not going to be able to count on that with donald trump because he doesn't see the job that way. he thinks the job is to seize power, protect himself and own the assets of government as if they were just another shell corporation that he happened to raid. >> joining our conversation in progress, democratic congressman eric swalwell of california. you've been a part of so many of

these conversations and example of this phenomenon other the last nine years. i believe this can't surprise you. i want to show you the intimacy and the depth of donald trump's concern about vladimir putin's health and well being. >> trump will always choose putin over the american people. and now we have evidence. a new report that he secretly sent putin covid tests. while with holding them from sick and dying americans. >> so i said to my people, slow the testing down, please. >> who will trump look out for in his second term? >> i think i could have a very good relationship with president putin. >> i'm not disavowing that he called me a genius. >> it's not you. >> i guess congressman, there is a pattern of the fox news hosts denigrating the vaccine and social distancing and masks while taking the vaccines,

practicing social distancing and wearing masks. their indifference to their audience. but the leader of that practice is certainly donald trump. your thoughts on this today. >> when it comes to donald trump, nicole, he will always put himself first. and when it comes to you and your viewers, as they've been told that his agenda is an american-first agenda, now we know that during one of america's worst crises it was america after putin. that putin got the tests before you got the tests. so, as families were scouring grocery stores and pharmacies and going online to find tests and the supplies they needed, donald trump was looking after vladimir putin. and then we have to ask the question, why? well, putin invested a lot of money to help donald trump in 2016 to amplify his campaign and

to try and take out his opponent. and every single time while investigations have looked into this relationship, we have been gas lit as a country being told it's a russia hoax. it's not a hoax at all. he put putin ahead of americans. and in every situation, that's who he's going to choose. somebody who can help him, donald trump, before he's ever going to look out for us. why can't he just put us first? i think a lot of americans are asking as they look at this story. >> and april ryan, the story is told by bob woodward is a story not just of the extraordinary act of taking covid testing, resources and getting them to vladimir putin. it's also participation in the cover up where bob woodward reports that vladimir putin told donald trump don't tell anyone. they'll be mad at you, not me. >> you know, and again, this is

all about that russia issue that has been investigated, been in courts, been ever where. but at the end of the day, donald trump is more concerned about another country than his own country as he is or was the leader of the free world in trying to become president yet again. and that's one of the reasons, i guess, president biden yesterday when i had this interview with him talked about disinformation, talked about how -- who donald trump is. he said he's a different breed of cat. talking about how donald trump is out of control. he is a racist. he said those words. and he's just not the material for 47th president of the united states of america. donald trump, during covid, looked at it as no big deal. he talked about bleach and alike in the body. he never understood the severity, as millions were sick,

as millions died. the severity of that moment and in giving away tests -- we were looking for swabs and masks and things of that nature and giving away tests to another country. that says a lot for a sitting u.s. president when your people are hurting. what will you do when it comes down to a hurricane of this magnitude if you are president? what will you do if there is another pandemic? what will you do at 3:00 a.m. if you get that call? that's the question that people need to ask about donald trump and who he is. does he really care about the american public or is it more about others that boost his very fragile ego? >> you know, and i wonder -- i always look to you to tell me how far down the path toward autocracy we are, large amounts of americans are. i love the frankens in which

president biden is calling out the disinformation. the language he uses is warm knife is cold butter, stupid, outright lies. but we're 27 days out, and i had people i know and trust sending me articles about the airspace over north carolina. pete buttigieg was on my program an hour ago and said he picked up the phone and called elon musk and said, that's absolutely not true. the lies are so deeply connected now to maga republican politics that i wonder if you think we have time to set the record straight so that people have the right information before them in 27 days? >> we absolutely have time. but i think the situation is dire. look, not to make light of this. but what i wonder on this putin thing is that donald trump didn't walk over the to department of health and human services, grab some tests, then walk to the post office and write, vladimir putin, one red square. >> how did he get them there, right?

i wondered the same thing. >> and it's not like everyone in the white house can get a package to vladimir putin. there's only certain people that can do that. and none of them said anything about this? which i think just underscores that already in term one, trump had a lot of people around him willing to do some pretty devious, un-american, as the president said, thing. and what we know is going to happen in trump term two, should there be one, those people are going to be multiplied. they're going to be deeply loyal to him and vetted. and you've asked a bunch of times in this program, how is it that this race is so close? i think one of them is what we are calling the believability gap, which is that people don't fully believe that it can happen here, that all of the -- as tom notes in his article, all of the promises donald trump has made to govern as an autocrat couldn't really happen. and i think what we need to do in the next 27 days is close that believability gap.

and my colleagues, amanda carpenter, who you've had on the show, and jessica marsden just put out an article showing how the 2022 coup hasn't ended. going case by case, everything jack smith laid out and it's what trump and his allies are planning for this time. i think if anyone doubts -- if anyone is in that believability gap, just look at not only what happened on the first term but how all that is planned for the second term by removing obstacles. we have 27 days to close that believability gap. >> congressman, what's the plan? >> well, the plan is to contrast the choices. by the way, nicolle, it should be the contrast decision because a choice is deciding between waffles and pancakes for waffles. deciding between donald trump and kamala harris is a decision. it's a decision that is going to affect whether we have a

national weather service that can warn people to flee, as millions are doing in florida, or whether trump's project 2025 completely guts it and it's not there and people don't know what is real and what is not when a storm hits. that's a decision. and this decision that we're going to make in the next 27 days, it will not only affect us when the next hurricane or the next crisis hits. it will affect our children, and it will live beyond us. that's why we have to get it right. this is not a time for liars. it is a time for leaders. and that's why the decision must be to choose kamala harris as the president. >> tom, you've written this extraordinary piece. the case has been made over and over again. and men like mitt romney are the kind of people who would be moved by these facts. are you surprised that he hasn't endorsed kamala harris? >> i'm surprised that many of them -- i think there is a, kind

of, an instinct among people who have been in the republican party a long time. i was one of them. you were one of them. where the idea that, you know, you bolt from the party and then endorse a democrat. i think for some of those older establishment republicans, it's just -- it's too hard to imagine. but, you know, if dick cheney -- never mind liz cheney -- dick cheney -- no one's going to call dick cheney a weak sister or a rino or a squish. if dick cheney can do it, anyone can do it. there's a consistency bias that we have to get along as republicans. we have to put the party together and we can't be endorsed democrats because you don't get back in the door later on. this is lunacy. the republican party -- i mean, this is the moment. this is -- to steal a republican phrase, this is a time for choosing. this is the time to make that decision the way liz and dick

cheney did, the way other republicans have. and it would really be something to, you know, see a former president bush, other prominent republicans. when you have someone like john bolton saying, i'm going to write in ronald reagan, there's still a lack of appreciation of the existential threat facing right now. >> i know dick cheney, and i worked with dick cheney. and in doing that, john bolton is no dick cheney. congressman eric swalwell, tom nickels, ian bassin, thank you all very much for being here. really grateful to all of you. another break for us. we'll be right back. another bres we'll be right back. so, we switched to tide free & gentle. it cleans better, and doesn't leave behind irritating residues. and it's gentle on her skin. tide free and gentle liquid is epa safer choice certified. it's gotta be tide. at humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana can help.

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