a literal vote of confidence in his next successor, but because it's strikingly ordinary. the american president may be the most powerful person in the world, but they still vote like anybody else. that includes registering, showing up, and filling out a ballot like anybody else. in biden's case, it also meant waiting in line like everybody else. that's the commander in chief biding his time. he was posing for photos an helping push a woman's wheelchair. that's not all examples of american democracy and that's very joe biden by the way, to push the woman in the wheelchair, i don't know what is. that does it for me today. hey, rachel. for me today. hey, rachel. right now. hey, rachel. >> hey, jen. i love that image, those photos of joe biden today waiting there is part of me that thinks,

nobody should have to wait in line to vote. but seeing the president do it, is a democratic thing. >> the most powerful man in the world still does the thing everybody doeses to exercise thr right. >> a citizen like all of us. thanks, jen. much appreciated. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. tomorrow night kamala harris is going to give her big prime-time speech, tomorrow night one week out fromht election night. live from the e ellipse in front of the white house, which is, i think, a good choice for a setting, if for no other reason we'd like to picture political speeches in the ellipse that don't end with the politician behind the podium to direct his followers to attack the u.s. capitol and congress. let's take back the image. we here at msnbc will be taking kamala harris' big prime-time speech tomorrow night. we'll be taking it live in its

entirety. i'll be joining joy reid for that starting in the 7:00 p.m. eastern hour tomorrow night and live here on msnbc. we really hope you're going to watch that speech with us and then stay afterwards to get reaction and analysis with me and chris hayes and everybody else. again, that will all start tomorrow night in the 7:00 p.m. eastern hour. i'm really looking forward to that. i'm really interested toorwa se what this, sort of, closing argument is going to be from vice president harris. so, mark itnt in your calendars. i will see you then. tomorrow night. as vice president harris puts together her close argument in the final crucial schedule for the last few crucial days of the campaign, her campaign has also put out a somewhat controversial ad. i don't think this is going to be their closing ad, but this may be their last ad that is directly about her opponent. watch.

>> do you think he's a fascist? >> he certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist. a far-right, authoritarian, ultra nationalist political ideology movement characterized by a dictatorial leader. the former president using the military to go after american citizens iso a very, very bad thing. he admires people who are dictators. he commented more than once, hitler did some good things too >> if he was left to his own devices, would he be a dictator? >> i think he'd love to be. >> when somebody's the president, the authority is total.ty >> i'm kamala harris and i approve thisis message. >> one of the closing argument ads from the kamala harris

campaign. powerful ad. i mention that it's somewhat controversial ad not because of any of the factual assertions in the ad. it's all true stuff. it's controversial strategically because there are debates in democratic circles right now as to whether or not it'ses the mo effective thing to do in terms of voters' reaction, whether or not it's effective with voters to talk about trump's extremism and his unfitness and his dictatorial inclinations. and i have no idea whether it's effective with voters or not. it certainly does have the virtue of being a true thing to say about your opponent, which is always a nice thing in any campaign and not always something you can bank on. but, you know, as much as kamala harris and the democrats may want to be running this campaign on the basis of, you know, the good jobs record of the biden-harris administration or

restoring n reproductive rightsr bringing down housing costs or any other thing, as much as the may want this contest to be about those things, it's also just plainly true that she's running against the i wantth toe at dictator, terminate the constitution, hitler did some good things guy. that is who she's up against. and you can't ignore it. you can't let it frame the contest. but you can't ignore it. and he really did offer his own big prime-time closing argument with this thing at madison square garden yesterday, which i was very prepared to not compare to the german american boond rally inic february 1939 until heard what they actually said at this rally last night. again, i had no inclination toward this, no intention of doing this whatsoever. but i'm just going to play you two very quick clips.ve the first one is from trump's rally at madison square garden last night. and the second one is from the infamous pro-nazi rally at

madison square garden in february 1939. >> americans sleeping in their own feces on a bench in central park but the [ bleep ] illegals get whatever they want, don't they? five star hotels, cash, yankee-dodger tickets tomorrow night. >>s a few hundred thousand -- taking refugees who incidentally have more of this world's goods than you or i will ever possess. >> floods of tears for a few hundred thousand job-taking so-called poor jewish refugees who incidentally in general have more i of this world's goods th you or i will ever possess. that was from the 1939 rally. that speaker was gerhardt

koonce, who was a german american boond leader who would be indicted for espionage and sedition, leading the crowd to denounce these so-called refugees, these so-called poor people, whoso get so much bette treatment than realo americans. the argument doesn't change at all. you know, if you don't want to beow compared to those people i history, don't steal their lines. don't say you admire them. you know, if you don't want to be called a fascist, don't convert a normal governing political party into a one-man cult of personality and say all elections are rigged and the country used to be great but now we have to use force and violence against the enemy and terminate parts of the constitution to getrm them, rig? if you don't want to be compared to the folks who held rallies like that in 1939, don't hold

rallies like that.d if you don't want to be called a fascist, stop constantly acting outnt the dictionary definitionf fascist. and then we'll all agree we won't use that f-word anymore.e. what is this election ultimately going to be about in the end? i don't know. maybe it will be about the economy. u.s. economy leads the world, says imf, international monetary fund.mo quote, the united states is increasingly pulling ahead of thesi world's advanced economie with a surge of investment paying off in higher productivity and wages. in what has become something of a t trend, the imf upgraded the outlook for both u.s. and global growth, though moregl so for th u.s. they made a forecast of u.s. economic growth in january, which they then upped in july. they've had toin up it again because we're not only doing well, we're doing so much better than anyone expected. u.s. economic growth is, quote,

increasingly ahead of all the world's wealthy nations. u.s. economic growth beats everyone else in the group of seven, the g7 major advanced economy. and according to the imf, why is it thatco the united states economy is doing soed well, betr than anybody else in the world? well, it's because wages are up for regularag people, productivy is up. quote, investor money has flooded the u.s. in recent years, while big legislative packagesla funded green energy d infrastructure. meanwhile, abundant domestic supplies largely ens lated u.s. companies from energy shortages and price shocks. economists say that has led to a surge in investment in the u.s., which boosts productivity. and quote, productivity is the main ingredient for higher, long-term growth and living standards. so, is this election going to be about the economy? right? people always say, oh, it's the economy, stupid. it's always the economy.

you think politics is about something else. it's about the economy. is it going to be about the economy? it turns hangout ahead of the election next week, the united states is beating the pants off the whole rest of the world economically. why isf that? that's in part because -- what did they say -- because of, us quote, big legislative packages funding green energy and infrastructure. in other words, the u.s. economy iser doing great because of the signaturese legislative achievements of thegi biden-hars administration. and what have those signature legislative accomplishments achieved for the american people? they've resulted t in what for e americanwh people? quote, rising real wages and rising productivity, which is what? it is quote, the main ingredient for higher long-term growth and higher living standards. that's "the wall street journal." what the biden-harris administration has done economically has produced the greatest economy in the world,

with betterco prospects for americans on wages, on long-term growth, on living standards, than any other major economy on earth. here's "the economist." on the u.s. economy right now being, quote, the envy of the world. the envy of the world, the american economy. here's "the new york times" on how what we're experiencing right now in 2024 is the best jobs market, the most healthy job marketos we have ever had i the history of the united states of america. here's "the washington post" on how this is likely the best economic year of any of our lives, this year, 2024, when we're having an election, in which we are choosing between the vice president of the administration that brought you the best economy in the world or this guy. quote, trumpis rally spookers l racist insults, call puerto rico

island of garbage. quote, his rhetoric ranks among the most flagrant demagoguery by a major figure of any western nation since world war ii. quote, a closing carnival of grievances, misogyny, and racism. so, sometimes the vote in a national election is about the fundamentals, you know, like is this candidate a good choice on thete economy? sometimes it's about a different kind of fundamental. does this candidate say he likes hitler? sometimes it's a more personal thing. when it comes to just liking each of these candidates or not liking each ofe these candidat, americans broadly like kamala harris and her running mate, tim walz, and they broadly do not like donald trump and his running mate j.d. vance. the latest a.p. poll on this question, do you like them or don't you, it put kamala harris

plus five favorable, tim walz plus five favorable. j.d. vance, minus 16 unfavorable, and donald trump, minus a 17 unfavorable. that's its own kind of election fundamental as k well. you know?el and maybe this election will come down to the fundamentals, right? number one, economic basics. the harris and biden administration with a a rip roaring economic record to run on literally the envy of the world. maybe there will be a number two, likability of thea candidate. voters like harris roughly 22 points more than they like donald trump, who they really don't like at all. they just flat out like her and don't like him. she's positive. he's negative. she's positive by a little. he's negative by a lot. another fundamental, number three, quality of the campaign. i mean, just take a little snapshot of the quality of the campaign right now at crunch time one week out.

here yesterday was the local press coverage of kamala harris' day in swing state pennsylvania. "philadelphia inquirer," kamala harris goes to church, visits small businesses in yet another visit to philadelphia. simultaneously, here was the local press coverage of donald trump's day in not a swing state, new york. "new york daily news," racist rally, speakers insult puerto ricans, blacks, and jews. and, you know, when it comes to the quality of the campaign, not for nothing, but trump has also been focusing his campaign message in these final few days to include really important which yous like him saying that he thinks there's life on mars. his top surrogate and funder, elon musk, telling a trump rally crowd that there are aliens walking among us right now. trump has also ramped up his talk about robert f. kennedy jr. here at the end of the campaign. he says that rfk jr. is going to

get ar. big job in government. in jotrump's terms he's going t be in charge of making america healthy again. if trump is re-elected, robert f. kennedy jr. is going to get a biggo job. he's saying this more and more now on the campaign trail. he thinksam this is awesome whi rfk jr. himself is spending his end of the campaign talking about why we can't have wifi anymore in america because wifi causes something that he calls leaky brain. if you have wifi, you get leaky brain. also hiv doesn't cause aids. the early '90s called and they'd like their conspiracy theory back. so, you know, maybe it's the economy. maybe it's theyb candidates. maybe it's the campaigns. i don't know how this election is going to be decided. neither do you. but there are two additional wildcards that we need to factot in to how this election is going to resolve. and we shouldn't have to factor either of these in. but we do.

the first is the absolutely, totally telegraphed, easily foretold effort by the republican party to disrupt, subvert, ultimately to try to steal the election if they lose it, to try to flip the result or to cause enough chaos and delay and confusion that they prevent any clear election result from emerging.es and as you know, we have covered this in detail now for most of the past four years since their last effort to overthrow an election result caused chaos and intimidation and violence and death and ultimately led to hundreds of people being convicted of crimes and sent to prison. they have professionalized their approach to the matter since then. and i -- there's only a certain percentage, right, in covering this stuff add nauseam. we know to expect it. we are ready to watch for it. at this point, there is no doubt that it is coming.

there's not much to do to prepare for it expect to know that it'sit coming. get your knees loose. get ready. we're watching for republican officials to refuse to certify electionto results. we're looking for them to at least try to delay certification of local election results in order to make it seem like there's something wrong with the election in their area. so that can servehe as a pretex for some sort of larger effort to gum up the works in that state. we're watching forin republican state legislatures, especially in swing states like georgia, arizona, where republicans have control of the legislature, we're watching for state legislators to try to submit votes for trump even if harris wins the state. trump and house speaker mike johnson started saying this weekend they have a secret plan between e them, between trump a the republican controlled house that's going to result in them doing, quote, really well in trump's, terms. presumably that's something to do with how the republican

controlled congress is planning handle the counting of the electoral votes if harris wins. that, of course, is dependent o republicans keeping control of the house so mike johnson will still be in charge. but apparently, they have a plan, in case he is. republican state legislators recently refused to comment to politico.com when they were contacted last week. cnn reported late last week that the house administration committee in congress hired two people who were involved in trump's 2020 fake electors plot. they've hiredec them to come on board as staff at that congressional committee right now toff advise them on electio matters. house administration committee is the committee that actually reads the electoral votes and advises members of congress as to what procedures they should be following while doing things like reading and counting the electoral c votes.

again, they've hired two people from trump's fake elector scheme in 2020 to advise them as congressional staff for that process this year. so, yeah, that does not seem good. and we shouldn't have to worry about and watch for things like that in an election. but in the republican party's trumpub era, we absolutely do.te we should also expect that sometimes the goal will just be chaos, so nobody has trust in the result. you know, chaos and upset. that anger and dread you felt when you saw the headlines today and you saw these images today of burning ballots, of ballot drop boxes that were set on fire in portland, oregon, and vancouver, o washington. in vancouver,nc washington, hundreds of ballots were destroyed. in portland, oregon, interestingly, they think only three ballots were destroyed. that's because they installed a

fire suppressant system inside that drop s box. only three ballots considered to be damaged in the portland fire bombing ofpo a ballot drop box. they've been able, they say, to contact thee, three voters whos ballots were damaged in portland. in vancouver, where they believe it was hundreds of ballots lo destroyed, they're advising that people who put their ballots in that particular box that burned, people who put their ballots in sometime after 11:00 a.m. on saturday -- that was the last time it was emptied before the fire. people who may have used that ballot box in vancouver, washington, are being asked to contact the election office to get new ballots. they caught a suspect vehicle on surveillance footage, and they're pursuing that lead. the fbi is investigating both of these as well. we shouldn't have to deal with what everyone d is expecting to be -- subvert the election, flip the result, of the democratic candidate wins. we shouldn't have to deal with

efforts to stop the election, right, to burn ballots, to make us believe there's no real knowable result. we shouldn't have to. but in the trump era, we do. and we also -- and this is the last point. we also shouldn't have to deal with any other country trying to determine who we pick as our next president. we shouldn't have to deal with any d presidential candidates having secret communications with a foreign dictator who is hostile to the united states who is trying to determine who we choose as our next president. that just shouldn't happen. but in the trump era of republican party politics, this is now familiar. in the 2016 election, we know that 2 the russian government interfered in the election to help trump. they had leaked documents from trump's campaign. they mounted a propaganda

campaign trying to mess with us, trying to toward the election toward trump.o we also know that in 2016, trump's campaign chairman was, during the campaign, sharing proprietary non-public information from the trump campaign with a russian intelligence officer, while russian intelligence was mounting that operation against us. then four yearsop later, it was the 2020 election, and we know that russia once again interfered on behalf of trump. that time it was trump's personal lawyer working with a sanctioned kremlin agent to try to derail joe biden's campaign against trump. then now four years later, happeningye again. now in the 2024 election, we've got russia seemingly doing more than they've ever done. they are straight up paying in pro-trump podcasters and media personalities. we've got russia making deep fake videos about kamala harris supposedly hurting someone in a hit and run accident and tim walz supposedly abusing one of hisy students. both of those videos are completely fake, but both

circulated very b widely online. and both of them are now officially considered by u.s. intelligence agencies to have been created by russia. we've got russian military intelligence paying and directing an american ex-pat to make fake american seeming news websites and to produce conspiracy theory videos that have been promoted widely by pro-trump personalities and media outlets. now we've got the director of national intelligence coming out saying the recent fake video of ballots cast for trump supposedly being destroyed in bucks county, pennsylvania, that fake video, too, is an operation of the russian government. all designed to help trump and hurt harris and make us not believe in our own democracy. in 2016, it was trump's campaign chairman talking to russian intelligence while they did their campaign to help trump. 2020 it was trump's lawyer talking to the russians while they did their campaign to help trump. who's the contact person this

time for the trump campaign while russia's doing it again? cheaper to cut out the middleman. this time it's trump himself talking to putin, while putin is mounting this effort to get trump elected, reported in bob r woodward's most recent book. talked as many as seven times since trump left office as president e. when asked if it was true, trump said, quote, i don't talk about that. remarkable message of discipline from him on this subject and only this subject. what else is he so, you know, tight lipped about? in addition to trump, it's also reportedly elon musk, trump's top funder and cheerleader, who has reportedly not only been talking secretly to putin while putin has been mounting this effort to try to get trump elected, he -- musk specifically has also been talking to putin's first deputy chief of staff. and why would elon musk be talking to putin's chief --

deputy chief of staff? why would he be talking to that guyta specifically in the russi government? i don't know but he is the guy in the russian government who is in charge of operations targeting the american public, like, say, for this election. the guy who orchestrated the whole fake news websites that look like american news outlets, the guy who's running that part of the pro-trump russian campaign operation is in frequent communication with elon musk now. while that campaign is underway, while elon musk has taken a leading role in the trump campaign. that's who elon musk hastr been talking to while russia has been doing r this stuff. wonder what they talk about when they talk. when the republican candidate and his top funder are reportedly in frequent and secret communication with our country's most determined enemy while that enemy is messing with us in our election to help the

republican campaign win. how do you play that wildcard in this handth that we've been dea? that's ahead. stay with us. head stay with us [♪♪] did you know, there's a detergent that gets your dishes up to 100% clean, even in an older dishwasher? try cascade platinum plus. for sparkling clean dishes even on the toughest jobs. just scrape, load and you're done. switch to cascade platinum plus. (fisher investments) at fisher investments we may look like other money managers, but we're different. (other money manager) you can't be that different.

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i did not see this coming in ohio. i should have, i guess, but i did not. in the ohio senate race this year, democratic senator sharon brown is running for re-election. he's running against a

trump-endorsed wealthy car dealer named bernie moreno. this is a hard fought race. both candidates are working really hard. mr. moreno told a town hall, you know my rules, nothing is off limits. if you want to tape record, videotape anything i saw, you're welcome to do that. record everything i say, nothing to hide, tape me. of course that was before somebody at one of bernie moreno's town halls did record him talking like this. >> you know, the left has a lot of single issue voters. sadly, by the way, there's a lot of suburban women that are like, listen, abortion is in. if i can't have an abortion in this country whenever i want, i will vote for anybody else. okay. it's a little crazy by the way, especially for women who are, like, past 50. i'm thinking to myself, i don't think that's an issue for you. >> oh, thank god my wife didn't

hear that one. did i say record me? record everything i say. maybe that was bad advice. that piece of tape of ohio republican senate candidate bernie moreno saying a woman over 50 has no reason to support abortion rights because, you know, she's not making babies anymore so why should we care what she thinks. that got mr. moreno a lot of negative press coverage. one way to avoid that would be for their candidate to not say stuff like that. mr. moreno's campaign has decided on what they think is a better option, a safer option for them. they can't guarantee he's not going to say stuff like that. so, they've done one of the weirdest things i've ever seen in politics anywhere. credit to the publication, "business insider," for reporting this out. but watch this video that they've posted. this is -- this is bananas. this is a guy asking republican senate candidate bernie moreno a question. you can see that the question is

being asked. you can hear that the question is being asked. but then a staffer for bernie moreno runs up to the guy asking a question and holds a big black box that, kind of, looks like a speaker in the face of that guy. why -- what is he doing with this black box? the black box puts out an ultrasonic jamming frequency so no one can record any sound anywhere near it. and it makes the audio get squeaky and muffled so you can't hear from bernie moreno says. it sounds like dick tracy science fiction, but they're doing it. just watch this. >> mr. moreno, will you apologize for insulting. >> [ inaudible ]. >> do you have anything you would like to share? mr. moreno, do you have any other opinion on women over 50 you'd like to share? >> where have you been, though. send me the -- i'll be there.

>> do you have any other comments you'd like to share? >> so, you can hear him -- you can hear things a little bit until the box gets really close to the microphone. these are videos from the ohio democratic party. the campaign apparently bought an ultrasonic jamming gadget that they're now waving in front of microphones to be -- to stop people from being able to record anything that bernie moreno says. >> hey, mr. moreno. how many of your former employees do you think are going to vote for you? >> la, la, la, la, la, can't hear you, not over the sound of my ultrasonic jamming gadget that we bought at the spy store. i don't think putting an electronic noise box in the face of anybody shouting questions at you is going to stop people shouting questions at bernie moreno in ohio. but this is apparently their strategy. i've never seen anything like

it. joining us now is ohio's democratic u.s. senator, sherrod brown. senator brown, i appreciate you being here. i know you're in the middle of a busy campaign. >> honor to be back. thanks, rachel. >> i have never seen anything like this. i have to ask you your reaction to it. >> well, i haven't either. i don't think anybody is using a spy gadget. he's been hiding from ohioans the whole election. he rarely talks to the media. he doesn't seem to want to answer questions from much of anybody. when he does, he gets in trouble. so, he finds the spy gadget apparently made for the military so he doesn't really want to answer questions about ohioans voting 57% for abortion rights, about how he stiffed his employees out of their overtime, $400,000 worth, how he shredded documents. i guess this is the more high-tech way to avoid talking to the public. >> you know, your opponent did really, sort of, step in it when he said that women over 50

essentially don't have a right to have an opinion about things like an abortion since they're not making babies anymore at that age. i felt like that comment from him -- he didn't have the instinct like oh, i hope my wife didn't hear that. but he didn't have enough instinct to stop himself from saying it. do you think feel like the broader issue here is that he's an inexperienced candidate, that his campaign doesn't trust him to not be able to either say things that are more politic or that he ought not to -- ought not -- that he ought to be stopping himself from saying? >> well, he always thinks he knows better. he's one of those kind of candidates. but what you said, that his own staff clearly doesn't trust him to go out and talk to people and answer questions. so, it shows something about this race. he stiffs his employees and then refuses to talk about it or his staff steps between him and the questioner. so, i don't really know what to

make of this except that he really does want to hide his views from the public. and his staff really wants to hide his views from the public. when you're that out of step with the public, the only way to win is to spend a whole lot of money. this is, as you know rachel, most expensive -- there's been more money against me in this race we believe than any senate race in history. it's going to be a very close race because ohio has gotten more conservative, in spite of our 57% abortion rights vote last november. but he's going to continue to hide behind his $200 million ad campaign. and that's why i ask if people could help at sherrodbrown.com. send 20 or $25 to beat this machine of $200 million. >> you're right that this is thought to be the most expensive senate race in history. it's all because of the amount of money that has been spent against you. ohio is broadly expected to

select trump in the presidential this year. what's your closing argument to ohioans who are weighing whether or not they want to split their ticket? obviously ohioans who are going to be supporting kamala harris for the presidency are likely to support you as well. but ohio voter who is might be thinking about voting for trump and might be thinking about voting for you, what's your message to them? >> i appreciate you having me on again. politics to me is not so much left to right. it's whose side are you on. the reason they're spending $200 million is i take on the drug companies and stand up for workers and unions, take on the -- when they committed the disaster in east palestine. and the contrast is clear on abortion rights, on workers, on the dignity of work and voters no matter how liberal or conservative in the end they want to know who's on their side. and i think when they do to vote a week from tomorrow that they make that in their own minds,

they understand that i'm on their side on all these issues. >> senator sherrod brown from the great state of ohio. it's always good to see you, sir. thank you so much for your time. i know this next week is going to be hanging by the fingernails, a real nail biter for everybody watching the race and i know for you and your family. good luck to you, sir. and stay in touch with us over the next week. much more ahead. stay with us.

right now across the u.s., people are trying to ban books from public schools and public libraries. yes, libraries. we all have a first amendment right to read and learn different viewpoints. that's why every book belongs on the shelf. yet book banning in the u.s. is worse than i've ever seen. it's people in power who want to control everything. well, i say no to censorship. and i say yes to freedom of speech and expression. if you do too, please join us in supporting the american civil liberties union today. for over 100 years, the aclu has fought for your rights and mine. including the right to read all manner of books. so please call or go online to myaclu.org.

for just $19 a month, only $0.63 a day. you can become a guardian of liberty and help protect all the rights promised to us by the u.s. constitution. make no mistake, this move to ban books is a coordinated attack on students right to learn. this is a clear violation of free speech. that's why the aclu is working to fight against censorship in all its forms. it is so important now more than ever. so please call or go to myaclu.org and become an aclu guardian of liberty, for just $19 a month. use your credit card and you'll get this special we the people t-shirt and more to show you're helping to protect the rights of all people. the aclu is in all 50 states, d.c. and puerto rico defending our first amendment right of free speech and all of your constitutional rights.

because we the people, means all of us. so please, call or, go online to myaclu.org today.

if you're living through an election that russia is targeting with paid propaganda and deep fake videos about kamala harris and tim walz and supposedly destroyed ballots in pennsylvania, if you, in other words, are an american voter in 2024, where that is what russia is doing in this election while the republican candidate and his top funder, elon musk, are both reportedly in frequent personal communication with vladimir putin. and in musk's case with the senior russian official who appears to be orchestrating this attack on our election for trump's benefit. well, then it might help to check in with somebody who knows how russia works, who has personal experience with it. victoria newland retired this year after more than three decades of government service, the number three ranking official at the u.s. state department. she also became a top target of putin and russia's intelligence

agencies. putin's regime bugged her cell phone, leaked recordings of her calls with other diplomats in an attempt to undermine her relationship and america's relationship with our allies. russian state media has consistently portrayed her as a kind of uber powerful american boogieman. they've blamed her, for example, for single handedly causing the revolution that ousted ukraine's pro-putin president in 2013. that was 2013. they're still blaming that for her now. victoria newland is an american government expert on russian aggression. she also personally knows what it's like to experience it firsthand. joining us now is victoria newland, career diplomat. madam ambassador, thank you very much for being here. i know tv interviews aren't your favorite thing in the world. >> thank you, rachel. it's great to be back with you and to talk about this issue, as you and i did in 2016, as we did

as well in 2020. >> this is the third election in a row in which russia has tried to interfere to try to get trump into the white house. >> yes. >> how do you assess the magnitude and the type of interference they're attempting this year compared to what they have done in the previous two elections? >> well, as you said earlier, rachel, he's at it again. this time he's not even trying to hide his hand and he has far more sophisticated tools. you know, his a.i. is better, so he can make these fake videos. he has done things like spend $10 million trying to buy american influencers and get them parroting his lines and not even know it's happening. but he's also got a brand-new, very, very powerful tool, which is elon musk and x. you know, in 2020, the social media companies worked hard with the u.s. government to try to do content moderation, to try to catch this stuff as it was

happening. but this time we have elon musk talking directly to the kremlin and ensuring that every time the russians put out something like this, it gets 5 million views on x before anybody can catch it. so, it's quite dangerous. although i do think the american electorate has gotten more sophisticated and more savvy about this stuff. >> if an american citizen is talking to senior officials in the russian government about anything, aren't they supposed to be reporting those contacts to the u.s. government? and if so, is that just a nice thing to do, a patriotic thing to do, or are they required to do that? >> it's not a legal requirement but it obviously causes some suspicion and question about what musk's motives are here, especially because putin doesn't like it when he thinks we're interfering in his election, which we don't do, despite his views about that. but clearly he's interfering in

our election and musk is helping him. and musk is also helping trump. so, now you have this triumvirate all on the same team. and putin doesn't think it's important to try to look even with any semblance of even-handedness in this election. he knows what he wants. he wants donald trump elected. >> i wanted to ask you about something else that was reported today in "the new york times," which is that according to "the times" reporting, one of the ideas that's circulating in trump's campaign is if he's elected they should get rid of fbi background checks for security clearances, that instead the white house alone or the white house maybe with a private company that they appoint for this purpose should decide who gets security clearances without allowing the fbi to review, for example, people's past convictions, people's connections with

foreign governments, people's susceptibility to blackmail or other reasons they might be denied a security clearance. that feels like a very risky move in any circumstance, given the circumstance that we're just discussing here. it seems almost insanely reckless. but i wanted to get your take on it. >> insanely reckless is the right way to put it, rachel. that would mean that there would be no independent check on who anybody around trump was talking to, might be influenced by, might be paid by. and it would put putin, it would put xi jinping, it would put kim jong-un directly into the situation room and into donald trump's brain. and that's very, very dangerous. but equally dangerous, if i may, is what trump is saying about what he would do inside the united states, that he would

turn the u.s. police, that he would turn maybe the u.s. military against his enemies, that he would obviously use the courts to go after folks that oppose him. he is already suing members of the media and that he would deny licenses to media organizations that oppose him. who does this sound like? it sounds like his friend, vladimir putin, and the way putin operates in russia and what putin did to the tiny fledgling democracy that was starting to sprout in russia. so, trump is also taking putin lessons, as autocrats around the world are. >> the idea of an american led by an admirer of putin who puts the united states not as the leader of the free world but rather into effectively a sort of axis with the dictator of russia and the dictator of china and north korea and -- i mean, to join -- for the united states

to be aligned with those countries instead of our traditional alliances, i'm not sure people have absorbed the magnitude of what you're just describing there. maybe we will. former under secretary of state for political affairs, career public servant. it is an honor to speak with you, ambassador. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you, rachel. >> all right. we'll be right back. , rachel >> all right we'll be right back. but sometimes it can start to slow down. but did you know prevagen can help keep your memory sharp? the secret is the powerful ingredient, apoaequorin, originally discovered in jellyfish and found only in prevagen. in a clinical study, prevagen was shown to improve memory in subgroups of individuals who were cognitively normal or mildly impaired. stay sharp and improve your memory with prevagen. prevagen. in stores everywhere without a prescription. when we started feeding bogie the farmer's dog, he lost so much weight. pre-portioned packs makes it really easy to keep him lean and healthy. in the morning, he flies up the stairs

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election board's attempts to impose a bunch of last-minute new rules that experts say would have opened the door to real chaos in georgia on election day. the next day last week, wednesday, it was pennsylvania. that state's supreme court ruled that voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected, that should be allowed to cast a provisional ballot and have that ballot counted. they're going to allow election officials to count mail-in ballots that arrive without a postmark has many as three days after election day. so, yeah, there's going to be a big legal fight right there along side the political fight in the election. so far the league side of the fight is proceeding in an orderly and normal way at least in the state courts. and that shouldn't be something that counts as news, but in an environment like this, it counts as news. we'll be right back. l be right . w homes-dot-com helps them get quick answers about any property by connecting them to the actual listing agent. (agent) oh! so, i'm done?

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san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love.

san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love. one last thing before we go. so, i made this new documentary about russian interference in the 2020 election and trump's first impeachment. it's called "from russia with love." you can now watch it streaming. it's available on documentary plus. if you want to, you just scan the qr code right there on your screen. it will take you right to it, which is very cool. also msnbc films has another new documentary out that you may have heard about. it's called "separated: an un-american tragedy." it