strategy. first i think it was fair to qualify them as risk averse, but that is no longer. i think just to your point about how the vice president has been perceived she said in that radio interview that so much about her campaign is just fighting misinformation and disinformation. so both trying to fight that disinformation that the trump campaign and republicans have put on her campaign, but also trying to do a proactive message, that is what we're going to see the vice president and her campaign and all of her surrogates really try to focus on in the last stretch, because they believe that this election is incredibly consequential. i think the vice president is right when she says she feels the weight of responsibility about her role in it. >> you mentioned obama. president obama will be hitting the campaign trail next week. jasmine wright, thank you very much. her latest reporting is "inside

kamala harris' small, quiet transition team." it's available to read at notus.org. coming up, we'll get a live report from tel aviv as the u.s. looks to secure a cease-fire deal following the death of hamas leader yahya sinwar. also, donald trump blames the war in ukraine on the country's president volodymyr zelenskyy. we'll play for you his disturbing remarks when "morning joe" returns. returns

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this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in gaza without hamas. >> president biden earlier today in germany speaking about the war in the middle east and the killing of hamas leader yahya sinwar by israeli forces. for the latest, let's bring in erin mclaughlin, who joins us live from tel aviv. what's the latest? >> reporter: hey there, mika. yahya sinwar was often referred to by the israeli military as a dead man walking. they've been looking for him for more than a year, but according to the israeli military, in the end they found him by chance and killed him during a routine operation in southern gaza. i have to warn you the images you're about to see are disturbing. this drone video shows the moment just before israeli says the leader of hamas and the

architect of the october 7th terror attack was killed. in the footage, the idf says yahya sinwar sits alone, his face covered and throws a stick at the drone. nbc news cannot confirm the video shows sinwar. the images of his body lying in the rubble surrounded by israeli troops sent shock waves through the region. according to an israeli official, there was a fierce battle in southern gaza. israeli troops initially had no idea sinwar was at the location. his body later discovered and identified using dna tests and dental records. >> sometimes they are hiding in bunkers down deep, and sometimes they have meetings or whatever. that's how he was caught. >> reporter: president biden called prime minister netanyahu from air force one, saying he was pleased with his actions, but telling him it's time to move on. >> move onto a cease-fire in

gaza. >> reporter: but netanyahu said yesterday the war has yet to finish. sinwar spent 23 years inside an israeli prison. he was released in 2011, one of more than a thousand palestinian prisoners netanyahu exchanged for a kidnapped israeli soldier. sinwar would go onto master mind the october 7th attack, killing 1200 israelis and taking 251 hostages to gaza. among the hostages, his daughter-in-law says she's terrified sinwar's death could spell even more misery for the remaining 101 hostages. >> i want the hostages to to be back home. i think this will be impossible now. >> reporter: while sinwar's death is seen as a blow to hamas, here in the region there

is skepticism that it will mark the end of the war. last night we heard from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu say that the war will end when hamas puts down its weapons and releases the hostages. but this morning a senior hamas leader telling nbc news, we believe that our destiny is one of two things, either victory or martyrdom. whoever wins the election in 18 days will have the middle east war to deal with as well as the ongoing war in ukraine. yesterday donald trump continued to make known his disdain for ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. let's take a look. >> i think zelenskyy is one of the greatest salesmen i've ever seen. every time he comes in, we give him $100 billion. who else got that kind of money in history? there's never been. that doesn't mean i don't want to help him, because i feel very

badly for those people. but he should never have let that war start. that war is a loser. ukraine, remember, is not ukraine anymore. every city almost is knocked down to the ground. all those beautiful golden domes are laying on their sides, smashed to smithereens. >> joining us now matthew brzezinski. he previously covered russia and ukraine for the paper. good to see you. it is incoherent, donald trump blaming volodymyr zelenskyy for, quote, letting that war happen when, of course, it was vladimir putin who gave the order for russia to invade. it continues a pattern of trump blaming zelenskyy for many things, including, in part, his first impeachment. what does it also tell us about what would happen to that conflict if trump were to win in just 18 days' time?

>> that's not even the most ridiculous thing that he's said in the past few weeks when it comes to foreign policy. last week he all but invited china to invade taiwan. he said that taiwan is not paying us enough to protect them from china. then a couple of days later, he went on this long rave about how wonderful xi jinping is and said he's, quote, brilliant and that he's certainly not an enemy of the united states, that our enemies are within. then he went onto basically say that gaza should be turned into a seaside resort, that it could be, quote, better than monaco, you know, echoing his son-in-law's words jared kushner, who said there's going to be some tremendous waterfront real estate opportunities.

look, donald trump is quite frankly when it comes to foreign policy at the moment, he's going around telling everybody that a vote for me is a vote for peace while a vote for kamala is a vote for world war iii. frankly, he's unhinged and the things he's saying are dangerous, whether it's ukraine or asia or the middle east. if this continues, he's going to get us all killed. >> there is a sense that in some way what he's saying is resonating with american voters, isn't there? there's a simplicity to his message that under him there weren't wars, america wasn't involved in wars. i've heard donald trump before repeat that line that america was not involved in foreign engagements when donald trump was president and they think if he's reelected, there won't be again. >> well, it is actually,

unfortunate, quite an effective, as you put it, extremely simplistic foreign policy platform. it hinges on appeasement that every bully dictator in the world is going to get free range to do what they want. history has shown us -- just ask neville chamberlain this is not the right approach. the role of the united states has been to effectively act as the world's policeman. if we withdraw from that, there's going to be complete chaos and violence, and we could get sucked into some of the conflicts. frankly, i think the biden administration is not getting enough credit for trying to rain in both the israelis and the iranians. there's been undoubtedly a tremendous amount of back-channel communication between the biden administration and iran.

and iran has acted fairly reasonably with restraint. these two missile barrages that it did in retaliation didn't kill a single israeli and did very, very minimal damage. similarly, in ukraine our policy has been to effectively give the ukrainians what they need to bleed the russians to death without creating some kind of direct confrontation. we're almost going onto year three, and that has worked. i think biden should get credit for both of those things. >> former reporter for the "wall street journal," matthew brzezinski. thank you, matthew, for being on this morning. >> thank you, mika. >> good to see you. still ahead we're going to take a closer look at the battleground state of arizona and how indigenous voters could play a key role in the november election. vaughn hilliard will join us with that report. before we go to break, this

weekend on "sunday today" willie has his sunday sitdown with actor jason segel who is starring with harrison ford in the acclaimed series "shrinking" which i love. such a good show. that is this sunday on nbc. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." we'll be right back with more "morning joe." in.. big orders! starting a business is never easy, but starting it eight months pregnant.. that's a different story. i couldn't slow down. we were starting a business from the ground up. people were showing up left and right. and so did our business needs. the chase ink card made it easy. when you go for something big like this, your kids see that. and they believe they can do the same. earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase with the chase ink business unlimited card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. it's time. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time

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welcome back. back to politics now. in arizona, multiple republican lawyers who were involved in the party's election litigation efforts in the past, well, they're keeping their distance this time around. this comes amid growing concerns over gop senate candidate kari lake's history of questionable fraud claims, questionable to say the least. that senate race between lake and democratic congressman reuben gallego is a must win for democrats to have any hope of keeping the senate.

gallego packed a pair of liking boots along the campaign trail. >> reuben gallego from downtown phoenix, your bluest district. he was a progressive member of the house caucus on capitol hill. if somebody suggested a couple years ago that reuben gallego would be in the running for a statewide position, you would say what happened to the republican party? kari lake is running for the u.s. senate. gallego, we joined this week to go meet some of the hardest voters to get to in the state. take a look. the tribe tucked into the

crevices of the grand canyon, its land in sacred waters. now potentially crucial to electing its first ever latino senator from the state. >> you win in arizona by bringing as many people together to vote for you. >> in august, a massive flash flood swept through the canyon and parts of the village, killing one person and damaging dozens of homes. >> we were actually due to come before the flash flood that really affected the canyon. >> the rushing waters symbolic of the more extreme weather from climate change. ♪♪ >> we have a diamond in the rough of the united states of america. >> it's why he's here with just three weeks until election day. >> we don't have, like, street lights. we only have trails. we only walk from and to the store and back home in our village. >> we hiked with gallego eight

miles into the canyon with the village. >> this tribe lives at the bottom of the grand canyon. if you want to visit them, talk about their needs, their wants, you have to physically come down here. >> because the tribe is only down here. >> correct. >> the indigenous vote helping tip the scale for democrats in 2020 and 2022, the elections for president and governor both coming down to less than 17,000 votes. native americans make up about 5% of arizona's population and historically favor democrats. >> it's always been democrats. mainly, i at the issues with the environment. >> reporter: one of those issues, uranium mining near the grand canyon. there's staunch opposition out of fears of irreversible stills

that would taint the water and harm to the soil and food supply. >> we have something really special here. >> that's the drinking water you rely on. >> yes. >> reporter: he's running to replace senator sinema and tried to court the indigenous vote marching last month in the navajo nation. >> i don't blame them. both parties in d.c. have frankly been not very good for the people. >> reporter: in a state known for its independence streak, the likes of former republican senator john mccain held reverence here over his relationship with the tribal communities. >> john mccain, my grandparents said he was a very good perp. >> reporter: he's now taking steps, a lot of steps, to meet

his state's expanse of electorate. you consider yourself a progressive. how do you describe yourself politically now? >> the same thing, i'm a fighter for arizona. sometimes that takes me to different spectrums of the political world. but what happens, no matter what, i'm always looking out first for arizona making sure it gets what it wants and needs in its representation. >> it's been three u.s. senate cycles in a row which democrats have won a race. now arizona is on the cusp of being a one-time republican state, but one that has gone to democrats several cycles in a row. joe biden won the state in 2020 by 11,000 votes. we should expect a very close election. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you for your reporting. coming up next, actor, writer and director brian jordan alvarez will join us to discuss his new series "english teacher" straight ahead on "morning joe." "

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a nonbinary person is somebody who doesn't identify as a male or female. >> there you go. >> an f? >> with grades like this, i'm going to have to hit the corner, sir. >> you're being investigated. >> why doesn't mark ever get investigated for the stuff he says. >> there he is, eric "not so speedy" gonzalez. 17:51, wow. >> it's going to go all the way around. ises they're saying the "r" word again. >> do you even have a masters, what did you major in, ranch? >> and that was a look at the funny new fx series "english teacher" that follows an openly gay high school teacher in

austin, texas, as he deals with a fast-changing younger generation, the community's conservative roots, as well as his own personal struggles. and joining us now, the show's star, creator, and executive producer, there he is, brian jordan alvarez, and serving as writer and director on the show. safe to say, this is your baby. >> it is, it is. >> let's start, what's the origin, how did this come about? >> mostly because this incredible, producer paul sims said we need to make a tv show. i had tried to make tv shows and i found it too hard to get through all the steps, and i felt like it was hard to get my voice through. paul said, i'm going to guide you and take you through this. this is meant to be. we're going to make a tv show together. he's delivered spectacularly. so he's been the godfather of this project. >> it's delightfully funny. just for the viewers, set the stage where we pick up our hero.

>> in high school in austin, texas. he's been investigated because he kissed his boyfriend goodbye in front of a students and a mom complained about it. we find out in the same pilot episode that this mom is maybe complaining about it because she found out her son is in college and come out as gay. so she's wondering if seeing this kiss created it for him. obviously it didn't. and it plays with a lot of subjects like this, little trickily things. >> even in the clip we played there, you're not shying away from it. >> you played like 80% of the trailer. getting free ad space here. >> let's talk about, though, how you approach that, you go into, you know, writing a script or episode, the issues you decide you want to take on, and what sort of feedback, what pushback do you get from network or viewers? >> the network has been very

supportive. john is a brilliant guy, a deep, intellectual guy. there were times when i would be like are we sure we can tackle this subject? the network would say yes, go for it. i make the joke, but it's true. fx's moto is "fearless." and they really are. they're not afraid to talk about this stuff. so i -- we felt like if we handled these issues with empathy and wrote the characters with intelligence and in a way where you can see that each character was just doing the best with what they knew how to do, you can have a dynamic show and it can be extremely funny. that also was these people that were saying, we have to keep this show funny, even when the subjects get heavy, this is comedy, comedy, comedy, and we want to be in the comedy category at the emmys. >> "the new york times" wrote this to say that the show strives to not be preachy, and

mostly avoids hammering home any specific point of view, but there's obviously a heart there. >> yeah. >> i wanted to ask you that, is part of the goal to maybe be a way in for some difficult conversations for people watching at home? >> it is. we don't want to be preachy and something i try to say a lot, this show isn't mad at you, it's not trying to teach you a lesson. but we do like the fact that our show allows us to have conversations that maybe feel a little uncomfortable, and maybe if it sparks conversations among people watching the show, you watch it with your mom and grandma, a lot of people are saying i've been watching this with different generations and it has sparked conversations. >> very briefly, this is three weeks before an election. >> it is, and yeah, if it sparks a conversation, good. we also set it in austin, texas,

in a very blue city in a red state. i grew up in tennessee, so that dynamic felt familiar with all these different perspectives coming together in one place. >> it's also a lot of perspectives and a lot of laughs. all episodes are streaming now on hulu and disney plus. brian, thank you again. >> thanks for having me. >> that does it for us this morning. we'll be back here bright and early monday morning. ana cabrera picks up msnbc's coverage right now. right now on "ana cabrera reports," new reaction from hamas to the killing of its leader, as israel faces renewed pressure to pursue peace following the hamas chief's death. we're live in the region. 18 days to go. the presidential candidates descending on michigan today. their plans to campaign just miles apart.