tv Morning Joe MSNBC January 13, 2025 3:00am-7:00am PST
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whether that be a terrorist attack, a natural disaster. and donald trump loves those kind of kind of moments. i do think it is very much on the table whether or not he goes and it also he he is feeling emboldened. right. and going to california, a blue state that didn't vote for you or they're asking you for money also is going to speak to him. >> yeah. plus, newsom also or one of the california officials had referenced, like when he found out that orange county was a pretty republican hub, that that sort of changes the tune, right? just a little bit. it does. it does matter, even though i think many would agree it shouldn't. >> right, exactly. >> white house correspondent for politico, eugene daniels. thank you, as always for joining us. that was way too early for this monday morning. stick around. morning joe starts right now. >> i grabbed him by the hand. >> he couldn't even barely get dressed as he was trying to drag himself in the car. he had his phone, a charger around his cable and his walking cane and i dragged him in the car. the ambers were coming in the car at the same time. >> it's like we're living an
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alternate reality. >> yeah, i still don't feel like it's real. even this morning i was like, no, the house is still there. we'll be able to go back. and i was like, no, it's gone. everything is gone. >> it's a couple from southern california describing their frantic escape from the wildfires, helping a neighbor make it to safety as well. this all comes, of course, as the raging wildfires have claimed more lives. we're going to bring you a live report and the latest forecast straight ahead. meanwhile, it's a busy week in washington with the first confirmation hearings for donald trump's cabinet picks. we're going to go through what you can expect to hear on capitol hill this week. and we're going to have a look at president biden's final week in office and preview his farewell address to the country. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it's monday, january the 13th, and with us this morning we have cohost of our fourth hour, jonathan lemire, msnbc political analyst, elise jordan. she's a former aide to the george w bush
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white house and state department and us special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay. katty. a few things have jumped out in this morning's paper to me. let me read a couple, one from the new york times. the authorities reported making some headway on sunday, in which the fight against and the fight against these fires, which are still burning out of control and have devoured listen to this, have devoured a combined area larger than the city limits of san francisco, boston or miami. it's extraordinary the size and scale. and also, while these firefighters and heroes first responders are fighting the fires and fighting to save lives, the wall street journal has a front page story. biggest story across the front that talks about la officials race to
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fight rumors and conspiracy theories, and how that's getting in the way of what they're trying to do. and there, the wall street journal writes quotes. lapd public information officer scott says, we're trying to battle the most devastating natural disaster in los angeles history. it takes people and it takes time to track down or debunk social media rumors. it takes us away from doing important things. fast. proliferating online falsehoods are forcing public officials nationwide to adopt a new job when crisis strikes their community. their duties now include beyond saving lives, knocking down the inevitable wave of half truths and conspiracy theories some wild, some believable, that have lately become a part of every major public emergency. and they were talking this time about. a
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post by alex jones on x that 29 million people saw, saying that l.a. firefighters were battling the blazes using ladies handbags and buckets because officials donated equipment to ukraine. of course, just a complete bald faced lie and also, of course, allowed to be spread 29 million times on x. and of course, making the work of those heroes and first responders even more difficult because resources taken away because they have to debunk crazed conspiracy theories. it's a this, this, this fire is continuing, for the most part, to be out of out of control. and as the times says, now tearing areas up, devouring areas larger than the combined sizes of boston, miami and san
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francisco county. >> yeah. i mean, i read that wall street journal story. >> it was extraordinary. >> and actually, what it is, of course, is that firefighters were using canvas bags. >> all firefighters apparently carry these canvas bags because sometimes it's easier and quicker and more effective to carry the water in those bags, throw it on a small fire to put out the embers, than it is to try and go to a fire hydrant with a fire truck. >> so this misinformation is going to be a problem in every single natural disaster. and the situation is bad enough without people like alex jones spreading those kind of stories. because if you look at what's happening, the death toll from the devastating wildfires in southern california has now risen to 24. the eaton fire is now one of the deadliest in the state. officials say it's currently 27% contained, while its spread has slowed down. the fire, though, has already burned through more than 14,000 acres. that palisades fire that we've heard so much about that's now 13% contained and has burned
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through nearly 24,000 acres. and it's still threatening residential areas. meanwhile, the hearst fire is 89% contained. that's the good news. and the other two fires that broke out last week are 100% contained now. officials, though, however, are bracing for what could be, quote, explosive fire growth. that's because strong santa ana winds have returned to the area with gusts of up to 70 miles an hour. they're expected to last through wednesday, prompting red flag warnings from the ventura coast county coastline right to the mexican border. okay, joining us now live from pacific palisades with the latest is nbc's jay gray. jay, what do you have? >> well, look, the devastation here and we've all talked about it. we've all seen the video, which doesn't do it justice, by the way. but it's overwhelming. it's unimaginable. look behind me and you can see it. this area looks like the aftermath of a bombing attack. it is devastated
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from the flames, from those fighting the fire. and this type of devastation stretches for miles in other areas. there's just simply nothing left. no clue of what stood before the flames. and as you talk about, there's growing concern that we could see another firestorm over the next several days. here. let's talk about what's happening on the ground here in the palisades and other areas that have been hit the hardest. national guard staked out across the area, thousand more troops called in overnight. you've got law enforcement and firefighters that are constantly patrolling these areas that are locked down, by the way, they're, of course, looking for hotspots, trying to make sure that they douse those where they can, but also preparing for those severe winds. and that event, according to forecasters, is likely to start really ginning up sometime later this afternoon. you've got people thousands wanting to get
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back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes. we saw a few people over the last couple of days getting in, trying to find what they could and salvage anything they could from the rubble that's been locked down, that's that's been closed off. with these winds beginning to pick up again. and what officials have said is that they don't expect to let anyone into areas like this until at least thursday morning, and it could be longer than that. that will mean some of these folks have been out of their homes for over a week, and just the agony of what they're going through. sometimes the not knowing can be as difficult as knowing what's happened. and so a lot of people looking to find their way back in and really assess what's happening. but if you want to talk about cleanup, if you want to talk about recovery, you can't do that until the flames are under control. and right now, that's just not the case. >> okay. nbc's jay gray, thank you. let's go straight to meteorologist michelle grossman. michelle, tell us more about those winds that jay was just
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talking about in southern california. >> hi there. >> yeah, we had a bit of a break over the weekend. we're going to start to really see those winds picking up 50, 60, 70mph. the climate connection is we're drier. we're looking at those winds kind of staying in place. we have an atmosphere that is not moving a big area of high pressure, interacting with this area of low pressure. and that's funneling these winds. so we're looking at really bone dry conditions as well. 10 million people impacted this morning and through wednesday with red flag warnings. that includes places like ventura, santa clarita, pasadena, riverside, temecula, escondido, the places already hit so hard. and we will see those winds really gusting. and they're going to stay in place for quite a while now. the national weather service out of the la office has issued a pds. it's called a particularly dangerous situation. doesn't happen very often. it's really highlighting that we have extremely critical fire weather conditions really ramping up this afternoon. staying in place tuesday. also wednesday. that means a high risk for large fires with explosive growth.
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just like what we saw last week, we have an extreme risk that's in the bright pink color. also a critical risk in the red and yellow is that elevated risk. and we are seeing those fires burning. so we have the fire at 27% contained. palisades fire at 13%, hearst fire doing much better, 89%. but we're worried about more fires. we're worried about these fires also expanding. now as we look at the winds right now, not too bad. again, we had a bit of a break over the weekend. we're looking at winds anywhere from 10 to 20mph, but starting to ramp up. and we're going to see that big time later on. today. we're looking at winds gusting near 50 60mph, 70mph, certainly not out of the forecast. and this is why we have a atmospheric situation where we have this big area of high pressure, just pushing that storm track to the north. we're not seeing that rainy season and we're seeing those winds moving onshore as well. back to you. >> okay. meteorologist michelle grossman. thank you joe. it just i mean, this this storm. i'm in london. it is the only thing people are talking about here. it's the. it's leading the news. it's on the front of every
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newspaper. it's just devastating. people can't believe how much destruction there has been from these fires. >> yeah, it really is. i mean, the only comparison i can think of in my lifetime, hurricane katrina. as far as natural disasters go, this is just the size and the scale, the suffering, the destruction just seems unprecedented. and in the midst of all of that, jonathan lemire, a lot of political infighting and of course, donald trump and gavin newsom, donald trump going after gavin newsom and local officials, but also local la officials coming under fire from all sides. the new york times this morning, reporting in their lead story mounting criticism of bass threatens grip on leadership. talking about the mayor and it writes, the mayor told the times that if she was elected mayor, not only would i of course live here, but i would also not
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travel internationally. the only places i would go would be dc, sacramento, san francisco and new york in relation to la. and the times writes, that pledge has been spectacularly broken. and then they move. they move over on a14. hold on one second here. they move over and they they talk about how she left at a time when the warnings for extreme fire emergencies were up. now, though, the times writes her decision to leave the country at a time when the national weather service was warning of, quote, extreme fire weather conditions, has set off a political crisis for miss bass. and the question that the new york times asks is, will she be able to command the respect and the authority she needs to see los angeles through its darkest time? >> yeah, this is mayor karen bass. >> she was in ghana. she was in
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west africa attending the inauguration of the new president there when the fire in the palisades ignited. and as you mentioned, the times does a good job of chronicling. she had vowed to not travel overseas. she said she was open about how much she'd missed, that she was a member of the house foreign relations committee, spent a lot of time working on us african relations, spent a lot of time overseas, but did make that pledge, were she to be elected mayor, that she would not travel abroad. and certainly there's a long history of mayors being caught out of place when something does happen here in new york, famously, new york city mayor michael bloomberg was in bermuda when a major blizzard pounded new york. he was late getting back. he was able to his plane was able to land the last plane, in fact, to land at laguardia. and he was able to oversee the response, but took a lot of heat for not being there during the early hours of the storm. and as noted in this story, it's not like an earthquake, which of course cannot be predicted in any way, shape or form, but rather the weather. the national weather service had warned that these winds did present a real fire
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danger. they she knew that was overseas anyway. now she's defended herself, saying that, you know, she was in constant contact while in africa, while on the plane, on the flying back. but certainly there are real questions here, including some of her initial halting responses when she landed. since then, though, she has been holding news conference after news conference and saying that she understands how upset los angelenos are there. and as joe also just mentioned, president elect trump is criticizing a slew of california officials over their handling of the deadly wildfires in los angeles county. yesterday, in a truth social post, trump called the state's leadership incompetent. he's also made claims about the state's water supply, suggesting that governor gavin newsom is responsible for the lack of resources. newsom responded to the criticism in an interview with nbc's meet the press, saying he has actually invited trump to come to california to see the response firsthand. >> what we want to do in the spirit of an open hand, not a
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closed fist. he's the president elect. i respect the office. we have a president of the united states that within 36 hours, provided a major disaster declaration over a text. we had support from the president of the united states, joe biden, with 100% reimbursement. all the resources you could hope for. imagine constant communication. i'd like to extend that to the president elect. i don't know what he's referring to when he talks about the delta smelt and reservoirs. the reservoirs are completely full. the state reservoirs here in southern california, that mis and disinformation, i don't think advantages or aids any of us. >> so of course, gavin newsom and donald trump have had a contentious relationship for years. i traveled with donald trump on air force one. there was a fire in 2018 out in california, and that's when he criticized newsom for not proper forest management. that was ablaze up in northern california. and the war of words continues here. newsom of course, we should note the political backdrop is rumored to be a possible 2028, you know, presidential candidate and, of
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course, los angeles hosting the olympics that year, too, we should remember. so the rebuilding job is going to be immense. but talk to us about just the sort of sad inevitability that a natural disaster like this becomes politicized. but what's striking about this one is it didn't wait till the disaster was over. it's still raging. and trump went after newsom well. >> and for republicans, gavin newsom is just low hanging fruit and an easy target to begin punching at before we even know what really exactly all went down here. donald trump has shockingly been somewhat ahead of the game, a little bit on brush clearing and on the importance of, you know, the argument that that should happen before conservationists. >> and then there's the other argument, on the other hand, that you just got to let these wildfires burn. >> and, you know, this way more than i do, though, we're going to talk to you, david, about your about your wonderful article. but it it's going to just continue to be political football until we know a little bit more. and i think the lack of control is what's killing
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people here. >> and we'll get to david in just a moment on his new piece. but, katty, i mean, this is this is such a catastrophe. and to joe's comparison to hurricane katrina feels spot on and it's not over. and that's just it is that, you know, the firefighters heroic work there to try to contain these blazes, but there's only so much they can do against these winds that are going to they're going to ramp up today and potentially endanger whole new swaths of what is simply a sprawling metropolis. >> yeah, those firefighters must be exhausted now. right? and they are trying to draft in private firefighters. but you just need so much more manpower than is available at the moment. and of course, for the people who have lost their homes, it is awful. still, more than 100,000 los angeles residents are still under evacuation orders. frustrations are growing for many families who just want to know whether their home is still standing or not. nbc news correspondent ellison barber has the latest on that. >> do i just wait here or what? >> you can if you like. >> growing frustration outside
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the pacific palisades. massive lines of cars with residents waiting for hours, anxious to see what, if anything, remains in their homes. >> this is criminal dereliction of duty. >> we do care. >> we want to get you back into your homes. >> los angeles county sheriff robert luna warning about criminal activity. >> people that do not belong in these disaster zones need to stay out, or they're going to get arrested. >> on saturday, two people were detained in the evacuation zone near. vice president kamala harris's home. according to officials. l.a. fire chief christine crowley, adding that it is too dangerous for many residents to go home. >> there are still active fires that are burning within the palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public. there's no power, there's no water, there's broken gas lines, and we have unstable structures. tell me your first, last name. >> we met shannon degroot when she walked up to talk to police. >> we're just hopeful to get a
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couple minutes to grab some things and. >> and then get out of town. >> she was with her fiance, shay burns, and shay's 81 year old mother, judy mcelroy, trying to get back to their pacific palisades home. >> we don't have any answers and there's a lot of different information, which is why i'm posted up here. >> shannon couldn't get in. she told us about something she forgot to take. >> my aunt passed away recently and she left me a small diamond, and i was saving to be able to afford to make it into a new ring. >> i asked for her address, hoping that if we passed her house while we were reporting, we might be able to help. a couple of hours later, we saw it. amazingly, it still standing because if you look around just across the street there. neighbors. not nearly as lucky. >> they told us to. >> the door was unlocked because they had to evacuate so quickly. >> you can smell in here. it smells of smoke. >> i texted asking if she needed us to get stuff. she told us they needed some medicine for judy, things she'd left behind
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as they scrambled to evacuate. we couldn't find the diamond ring, but found the medical supplies. i saw these, and i know you didn't ask for these, but i saw these, and i just. >> oh my god. >> i showed them videos of their home with the windows closed. >> yeah, all the windows were closed right in the middle of chaos. >> a moment to help a family. still looking at an uncertain tomorrow. >> that was nbc's ellison barber. some people getting lucky, but so many not. joining us now is general secretary of the salvation army southern california division, major anthony barnes. major, thank you so much for joining us. 100,000 people are under evacuation orders. how are they living? how are they coping? what's happening to all the people that can't be in their homes at the moment? >> well, understandably, people are very concerned. they want to know what's happening with their homes, whether their structures are still standing or not. people waiting, as was mentioned. and so we're doing our best to walk alongside those folks and bring a little bit of help where we can share a meal,
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make sure they have their their needs being met. and i just want to take a moment also to say thank you to the brave and amazing first responders that are fighting this fire and those that are keeping each neighborhood safe. it's so important the work that they're doing. >> yeah, putting themselves in incredible danger with all of those fires. we there are a lot of focus has been on the pacific palisades area. there's incredibly wealthy homes, some of the celebrities that live there. but of course, we've also heard so many stories of middle class people, working class people who have lost their homes as well. and we know that california doesn't have much insurance for some of those homes. how is the state and how are organizations like yours going to try and help people going forward? because they could be out of homes for weeks or months? >> well, the beauty of this community, these communities, i should say, because so many that have been affected are the community agencies, our community partners, the government agencies. we have come together in just an amazing way to make sure that we are completely serving each individual and family with the
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needs that they have, whether those are immediate or the needs going forward. it's been several days in now. folks are starting to think what is really going to happen next. some folks want to leave town for a little bit and be with family, but they don't even have the resources to do that, and so we assist in that way. we make sure that those who can't and don't have another option, that they are taken care of as well. and so our community agencies, our community partners and government agencies have to come together. and i'm glad that we have we have served this community. we will continue to serve this community. the salvation army is committed to being here well beyond this, well beyond the disaster. >> such important work and will be so needed for weeks and months ahead. the general secretary of the salvation army's southern california division, major anthony barnes. thank you, major, for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> as we noted a moment ago, the new york times has a new piece out this morning about how climate change is supercharging disasters like these fires we're seeing out in los angeles. the report reads, in part, this way
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as los angeles burned for days on end, horrifying the nation. scientists made an announcement on friday that could help explain the deadly conflagration. 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history, with temperatures rising around the globe and the oceans unusually warm. scientists are warning that the world has entered a dangerous new era of chaotic floods, storms and fires made worse by human caused climate change. the firestorms ravaging the country's second largest city are just the latest spasm of extreme weather that is growing more furious, as well as more unpredictable. joining us now coauthor of that piece, david jealous. he is a reporter on the new york. reporter on the new york times climate team. david, thank you for being with us this morning. so tell us more about this piece and what you found in terms of how climate change played a role here, what we've seen out in southern california, but how it is poised to do so with increasing frequency with
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disasters around the globe. this is just what scientists have been warning about for years and even decades. as the planet warms as a result of continued emissions from fossil fuels, from agriculture, from just normal life that humans have to keep doing at this point until we make a full transition to cleaner energy, the planet's just getting hotter. we now know that 2024 was indeed the hottest year in recorded history, but that's no surprise. before that, 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, and each of the ten hottest years on record have come in the last decade. we mapped that against the increase in severe and as you said, unpredictable natural disasters. and that leads directly to the kinds of fires we're seeing in los angeles right now. >> you know, this seems like a good time to repeat a story that i have repeated oftentimes during catastrophic storms. and that is when i was with a friend 7 or 8 years ago, a republican
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who i think is probably never voted for a democrat once in his life. he works at his insurance company. he's in charge of, you know, the actuarial tables and, you know, one of the top leaders there trying to predict how much money they're going to be paying out. and he was complaining about all the money being paid out for natural disasters. i said, is there is climate change a reason? and he just scoffed. and he said, look at these numbers. you would have to be a fool to not understand what climate change is doing to this country and the world. and david, i want to along that line, i want to read here seven years later, what you write that lines up exactly with what he told me several years ago. wildfires are burning hotter and moving faster. storms are growing bigger and carrying more moisture, and soaring temperatures worldwide are leading to heat wave and drought, which can be devastating on their own and leave communities vulnerable to dangers like mudslides in the heavy rain around the globe, extreme weather and searing heat
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killed thousands of people last year, displaced millions, with pilgrims dying as temperatures soared in saudi arabia. in europe, extreme heat contributed to at least 47,000 deaths in 2023. and here's a key line regarding trends in the united states. heat related deaths have doubled in recent decades. for those who say there have always been heat waves, there have always been mudslides. there have always been fires. yes, they have. but, david, as you report here, as my friend in the insurance industry, republican friend told me, yes, they have, but not at this extreme level. >> and here's another way to think about it. billion dollar disasters, natural disasters that inflict a billion or more dollars or more of damage used to come just a few times a year in a country like the united states. now they're coming as many as a couple times a month. and we see it not just in los
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angeles. but let's not forget lahaina and the fires in hawaii just a couple of years ago. before that, it was paradise, california. it was santa rosa, california. fires took out whole neighborhoods in colorado not long ago. and those are just the fires. it was just months ago that the southeast was dealing with hurricanes helene and milton. and all of these disasters are exactly what scientists have warned are going to get more extreme as the planet keeps warming, as temperatures keep rising, and as the atmosphere holds more moisture. >> well, and david, you're exactly right. what's happening in california is happening in florida because of extreme temperatures. i mean, i followed hurricanes across the south and in florida for almost my entire life because i've lived here and the water is hotter than it's ever been. and we had a after
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after florida survived, just barely got through one hurricane. we saw something. i've never seen. the hurricanes usually go across the atlantic, and then they cut up into the gulf, or they cut across the atlantic here out of nowhere, just just to the east of mexico. i think it was milton. you had a hurricane, a cat five hurricane. i believe it was form right in the middle of the gulf and then shot straight toward tampa again. again, that's something i've never seen. and the fact that it was that extreme again, horrifying to florida residents, regardless of their political ideology, and that's that unpredictability that we've already talked about. >> and here's another almost counterintuitive way that weather and especially large storms are starting to behave in the new era of climate change. and that's that some of these large storms are actually moving slower. so once they get over land and they have all that moisture, they actually start
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slowing down and just keep dumping rain on these vulnerable communities, which is yet another way that communities are having to grapple with this unpredictable, climate fueled weather. and just as we're seeing in los angeles, where there's only so much you can do to prepare for a firestorm when the winds are gusting at 100 miles an hour, there's only so much you can do to prepare when it starts dumping a foot or more of rain in a day. that's the world we're in, thanks to climate change now. >> yeah, and as the scientists tell us, if we don't address climate change, then we will see more and more of these disasters. reporter on the new york times climate team, david gelles, thank you very much for joining us this morning. and still ahead on morning joe, the confirmation hearing for pete hegseth is set to take place tomorrow. we'll have a preview of what to expect as president elect trump's pick to lead. the defense department goes before lawmakers, plus, vice president elect jd vance appears to split with trump on the idea of issuing blanket pardons for
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january 6th. rioters. we'll show you his new comments. we're back you his new comments. we're back in j ♪ unnecessary action hero ♪ unecessary. was that necessary? no. neither is a blown weekend. with paycom employees do their own payroll so you can fix problems before they become problems. get paycom and make the unnecessary, unnecessary. that is their question. and nobody knows shoppers better than shopify. the undisputed, undefeated, checkout champion of the world. businesses that want to win, win with shopify. the itch and rash of moderate to severe eczema disrupts my skin, night and day. despite treatment, it's still not under control. but now, i have rinvoq. rinvoq is a once-daily pill... that reduces the itch... and helps clear the rash of eczema— ...fast. some taking rinvoq felt significant itch relief as early as 2 days. and some achieved dramatic skin clearance... as early as 2 weeks.
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some republican circles, according to the washington post. if moody is selected, desantis is also eyeing his own chief of staff to then become florida's top law enforcement officer. italy has freed an iranian businessman who is wanted by the u.s. justice department and accused of illegally exporting drone technology. as part of the agreement, iran released an italian journalist, the wall street journal reports. the deal was coordinated with donald trump. it comes after italy's prime minister flew to florida this month to meet with the president elect over concerns that releasing the iranian businessman could anger the incoming administration. big win for giorgia meloni there and blue origin, the rocket company founded by billionaire jeff bezos, had to stand down on an attempt to launch its first orbital rocket overnight. the launch had been scheduled to take place from cape canaveral, florida, between 1 and 4 a.m. eastern, but the company had to repeatedly reset its countdown
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clock before eventually postponing altogether. this was thought to be the long anticipated debut of bezos challenge to elon musk's spacex. at this point, no new launch date has been set. they have to fix the clock. john. yeah, they will is a problem. if the countdown clock doesn't work, how do you have a countdown? that's right. ten. nine. eight. >> seven. six. >> that's such a key feature of any of these rocket launches will be to know when to go. but of course, we expect they'll reschedule that as soon as they can. shifting to other news now, vice president elect jd vance is taking a stance on whom he thinks should and should not receive presidential pardons for their actions during the capitol riot on january 6th, 2021. vance made some new comments during an interview on fox news sunday, breaking slightly from what president elect donald trump has laid out in his pardon plans. >> i think it's very simple. look, if you protested peacefully on january the 6th and you had merrick garland's department of justice treat you like a gang member, you should
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be pardoned. if you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned. and there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. and there are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of january the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly, we need to rectify that. >> in a december interview with nbc news, trump said that on his first day in office, he would pardon his supporters who joined the riot, adding they have been prosecuted in a, quote, very nasty system. unlike vance, trump did not rule out pardoning those who pleaded guilty to violent crimes, such as assaulting police officers or joe. he said that a number of times, and of course, at the end of the day, it will be his decisions, not jd vance. >> that's sad. i don't know that jd vance is going to go out on his own and say, you know what? i think i'm going to i think i'm going to make policy for donald trump, or i'm going to get far in front of donald trump. i think i think that's what people around donald trump have
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suggested. he's going to focus on the violent offenders not getting out, those that did the crimes that we see and talked most about, suggesting those around the president elect, suggesting that it would be the nonviolent offenders that would get pardoned. but let's bring in right now the host of way too early, ali vitali and co founder and ceo of axios, jim vandehei, to talk about this a little more. and, jim, there are a couple of couple different areas where again you've got to be reading the tea leaves or talking to people close to the president elect to hear this sort of sort of friction or friction between how many people get pardoned and whether you're talking about the pardons or whether you're talking about mass deportation, like, for instance, that's a perfect example of mass deportation. you talk to people close to donald trump. they say, well, we're not going to get 14 million people out of here. it's going to it would be inflationary as hell. our own supporters don't want it. it would be bad for small
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businesses. it also would be terrible pr once again, having mothers ripped from the arms of their children. that's not going to work. but we are going to focus like a laser on violent offenders who, who, who illegally immigrated to this country. and we're going to get them the hell out of the country. so it again, nobody knows what's going to happen on january 20th. if you talk to people around the president elect, though, they will tell you he's focusing on the violent offenders, primarily on on immigration. and they'll tell you now if you listen. and i heard this before as well, that they're going they're not going to pardon those that committed the most violent acts on january the 6th. >> i think that's right, joe. i think two things are true there. you fully expect shock and awe a week from now. there it is going to be a dramatic day. >> it's going to be as many executive orders on the topics that you think it will be. >> but i think on those two
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topics, you're spot on. are most of the january 6th folks going to get pardoned? absolutely. are the very, very worst. they're not. and i think that's what vice president vance was saying. and even trump himself has been a little bit ambiguous on it. >> but they understand that the politics and maybe even the morality of letting off the worst of the worst would be terrible, would have a backlash. >> but the same thing if you even if you talk, if you listen to the people who are talking about running the border, the people actually involved every single time they come back to the worst of the worst, the worst of the worst, which means is, at least for the foreseeable future. yes, they're going to lock down the border. yes, they're going to tighten asylum laws. yes, they'll probably use the us military, but i think the focus will be on criminals, at least for the foreseeable future, because logistically, and even from a budget perspective, it is impossible to do some of the things that they talk about when they use the most dramatic language. so it's going to be a wild week next week. i think it's now been telegraphed pretty clearly most
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of what it's going to be done and it will be done quick. >> and that's the thing to remember. ali, again, i'm so glad jim brings it up. i mean, january the 20th, january the 21st, probably going to be a day with a lot of incoming. and it's going to be very interesting to try to figure out. and it may take two, three, four weeks even to sort through what is government by gesture, which donald trump focused on a great deal in his first term, and what's actually, as we always say here, separating out the ground, the ground noise from the signal, what actually is the signal here? and once again, we'll see what happens. a real indicator on whether he will follow or whether jd vance is, in fact, following what donald trump has already said. and that is we're not going to pardon the violent offenders. we will pardon those that got into the capitol but did not commit any violent acts. it will be very interesting to see how that
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breaks out. and we should know pretty early on january the 20th. right. >> it's going to be tone setting. i mean, there's some reporting on the immigration front that our colleagues here at nbc news have done around the idea of some kind of moment on deportation and immigration here in the nation's capital. that will give us a sense of if it is just them targeting the most violent of these undocumented immigrants, or if it is something more broad. because, of course, you and i had this conversation with the panel just last week about the signal versus the noise. trump throws out a lot. it is the feature, not the bug, of the way that he likes to do policy making in the full view of the media. he likes to throw out a lot of options, and then you actually get to see where he lands. and that's the thing that's going to be important here, both from an executive order perspective, what they will do on immigration with people like tom homan, who are dyed in the wool maga in terms of the way that trump has wanted to enact policies around deportation, around closing down
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the border, around asylum, all of those things that you and jim have talked about are true and are going to be things we see action on the january 6th, pardons as well, that has been in the ether for a long time. a lot of angst here in washington and on capitol hill to see what that actually looks like. but i think that you're right. the point that you made earlier in the show about jd vance not going out on a limb and making policy that he's not allowed to make, he's had his hand slapped for that before during the campaign. i think that this is a clear signaling of how it's going to be broken down and the tone that this administration is going to want to set on some of the more blanket promises. now they're starting to zero in, at least in sort of opaque terms before they put it on paper. >> and one thing to watch as trump takes office and starts rolling out this policy, what sort of reaction does he get from members of the base from right wing media? because we know in the past he's been very responsive to that and even sort of changed because of what he's heard on on television, most likely. so let's shift gears slightly. as noted, the inauguration a week from today. but even before then, some of
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the confirmation hearings for trump's cabinet members begin starting tomorrow with a trio doug burgum, doug collins and the headliner, pete hegseth, the pentagon pick. nbc reported that the fbi background check was completed and transmitted just on friday, and only to the committee chairs. and there's been that's sort of unprecedented how late in the game that report has been disseminated. give us a preview as to what we should expect tomorrow, when hegseth takes a stand and starts answering questions. >> this is the headliner, jonathan. it's been known to be the headliner since just late last year, when hegseth was nominated and then embroiled in multiple controversies around allegations of misuse of funds when he was running a veterans organization, misuse and abuse of alcohol during multiple of his jobs, including most recently at fox news that's reporting that nbc news has really dug into. and then, of course, the sexual assault allegation and the lengthy police report out of california. of course, those charges were never brought. but all of that
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is very much in the swirl. when i talk to senators on the republican and democratic side, there is a lot of consternation about the fact that this fbi background check. many of them want to see it. many of them have not yet gotten the chance to see it. democrats also have concerns about how comprehensive that background check actually is. they would prefer to see it, regardless of its level of comprehension, than to not see it. but it looks like they are very likely to be going into this confirmation hearing tomorrow without the information in that background check. nevertheless, my democratic sources say that the way they're going to treat these hearings is a way to sort of raise some early red flags that they can then point back to later in the administration if these folks are concerned. so really, in the words of one source, setting the table to be able to say, we warned you about this later on. but in order for hegseth to even get to the full floor, and i know that this is getting a little bit ahead of the initial opening of the confirmation hearing itself, there are going to be key republicans that he has to win over. we've talked a
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lot about senator joni ernst. she met with hegseth twice. she has her own concerns. that's going to be one member of the committee where when these hearings are going on, yeah, we're going to look at what democrats are doing. but what is joni ernst asking? and is it a sign that she's either on board with many of the members of her party who are getting on board, or is she not? >> jim elise here? >> following up on that, there's a lot of volatility sure to say, and anything could happen once these hearings start. >> but of the big four of the four most controversial nominees, pete hegseth, then you have rfk jr, then you have kash patel and then tulsi gabbard. who do you think is the least likely to get through if you talk to republicans right now? >> i think every single one that we've talked to wants all four to get through, believes all four will get through unless something new is presented during those congressional hearings. so if we're just
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litigating the things that are the known knowns in public, i think all four get through. i know there's a lot of work being done, particularly on hegseth, by democrats, to try to get somebody involved in the various allegations against him to testify, to go public so that they have new information to tie it to. so far, my understanding is there has not been a lot of luck in getting that done. and so unless that happens, republicans want to unite, want to be able to give trump the cabinet that he wants, whether people like it or not, he won and they believe that he has a right to have it. so and i think you saw it with jodi ernst, like, listen, like you got to be one hell of a tough person with the skin of a rhino to take the crap that you have to take on social media advertising back in your state. if you're thinking of running again, if you worry about a primary, there's been a lot of money, there's been a lot of agitation, there's been a lot of threats about what happens if you don't support the nominees. and so it just aren't that many people that are like, hell yeah, sign me up for that. i want to
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be the person to tank to tank one of these nominees. so it would take something new, i think, to do that. >> that said, it would be extraordinary to see joni ernst, a woman who's been a champion of women in combat, a woman who's been a champion of women, who have been sexually abused and harassed. it would be extraordinary to see joni ernst, of all people, bow down to the pressure because of twitter or because of x or because of meta, and deciding that, well, she can't stand up for women in combat. she can't stand up for women who have been sexually harassed and abused. and again, it's mother. despite what she said later on, her own mother wrote a letter to him accusing him repeatedly of abusing women. and so for joni ernst to somehow decide that it's okay to support pete hegseth nomination because
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she had a couple of bad days on twitter. wow. we'll see what happens. long way to go. hey, jim vandehei, i've got to tell you, i'm not sure how i would have held myself together if i had been on tv the morning after alabama lost to michigan. i must say, you you you're you are a pro. you've kept your head down. you haven't talked about the packers once. we appreciate you being on. and so sorry things went the way they did. i'm curious what do you think the packers need to pick up in the draft? >> i have the skin of a rhino joe i don't know, it sucked, man. we need defensive help. we need a cornerback. we need a wide receiver. one. give us any one of those and we'll have a happier conversation next year. >> that. that sounds good. and, ali vitali, are you going to carry the commander's banner this morning? for the people of washington? >> i have no choice. i mean, the
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giants suck, so i need to pick up a team that isn't absolutely abysmal. >> yeah, we could agree on that. >> yeah, i think we all i think this is one place that all of america can hold hands, reach out and agree. so thank you guys so much for being with us this morning. ceo of axios jim vandehei and the host of way too early, ali vitali. it is so great to have you on board. thank you both so much. coming up, pablo torre is going to be here to break down the nfl and college playoffs. morning joe coming right back baby. won't you be my baby. >> find me. won't you keep me >> find me. won't you keep me happy. baby please keep me. for more than a decade farxiga has been trusted again and again, and again. ♪far-xi-ga♪ ♪far-xi-ga♪ ask your doctor about farxiga.
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(driver gasps) (car tires screech) (pedestrian gasps) (both panting) (gentle breeze) - [announcer] eyes forward. don't drive distracted. alloy has been completely game changing. find relief at my alloy comm. >> herbert. puck throw. >> intercepted. eric murray, pick six. touchdown. >> texans second and goal. >> no sack. quick throws. someone's got to win one on one. >> jackson flushed out extends throws on the run. >> caught. touchdown. >> big play here. trying to go up top for it. >> he wants to run for it. >> jimmy he wants to just go get his legs. he's trying to find he
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wasn't there. >> so now he's got to throw it deep to the end zone. and is that caught. >> yes. ty johnson scrapes it off the ground above the ground for the touchdown. throw it here. quick nearside good adjustment and a catch by gordon who runs over his man still on his feet. and he scores from 37 to send washington to the final eight. the washington cup. here's off the upright and it is in. he finds their way to the divisional round. >> the sound of a dynasty doink! and it goes in. those are some of the biggest moments from the nfl's wild card weekend. the washington commanders get their first playoff victory since 2006, beating the bucks last night on a walk off field goal that bounced in off the upright. the commanders are going to be facing the detroit lions and the divisional round. commanders, we hardly knew ye. let's bring in
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right now. the host of pablo finds out on meadowlark media and msnbc contributor pablo torre. hey, pablo, before we get into the specifics of the games, yeah, i just want to talk about generally what what we saw this weekend. first of all, we saw a lot of really bad games. but secondly, you got the sense, you know, you and i were complaining, i think last year that there were a lot of mediocre teams. it was just one of those years. not a lot of standouts by the end of this weekend. i thought, my god, we have five, maybe four and a half great teams. the lions. yeah, you've got the chiefs. of course the bills, the ravens. and my four and a half team is the eagles. if the eagles get their passing attack going and everything clicking, they're going to be a great team too. i've got to say right now. and i cannot believe i am there. i've got to say of all those teams that if i were coaching the team i would not want to face right
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now would be the ravens with lamar and derrick henry. what a deadly combination. >> yeah, lamar is probably going to be the mvp at this point. we've seen the horse race develop in the closing weeks of the season. josh allen lamar was it going to be saquon i think the answer is lamar right now we know this also via the straw polling. so like the all pro teams have been voted, lamar did get the nod for the first team over josh allen. and when you look at how the. i mean look the ravens are gonna get the bills to skip ahead to next week. that is the game of the year. and it's because you have these two teams sort of mirror images of each other. an incredible starting quarterback with an incredible running attack. but lamar jackson, joe, the whole knock on him previously had been he's a runner. is he really a thrower? and now we're seeing lamar the surgeon lamar the clinician, the guy who can pick you apart. and the steelers. i mean look the story on the steelers. they've lost five in a row to close out the season. they have not won in five games. and so lamar jackson to your point basically has a has a
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cakewalk over a team that didn't really have expectations by the time we started the postseason. but big picture just return us to that zoomed out perspective you started with. i do think the saving grace for the nfl every season is that it's random in a way that always provides mess and entertainment. the ball is oblong, as they say. i don't think anybody else says that. actually, i say that all the time. the ball is oblong, the shape is engineered for randomness, so some stuff will happen. but you're right, the top four teams, there's a really big drop off i would say before you get to the eagles which again you're right the defense is the story. but the offense has been a total zero so far. >> yeah we'll we'll see what happens i mean and it is interesting. justin herbert obviously a terrible terrible weekend. but what he needs to remember and i'm sure he's got coaches around him telling him this. lamar jackson has underperformed in one playoff game after another up until now.
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that's why seeing lamar come out the way he did this past weekend is so exciting for ravens fans. because he's here, he's ready to play the big game, and it's almost unfair that after next week, either josh allen or lamar jackson have to go home. they're both so good. >> yeah i mean look the josh allen story by the way the trajectory of this right. you talk about lamar having struggles in the postseason. true. josh allen headed into the league. was a guy that all of the smart nfl people were like this guy is never going to do literally stuff like what we're watching in this clip. he was the guy who was very inaccurate coming out of north dakota state, and it was just sort of like, okay, i have one double leg, excuse me. and it was sort of like, well, is he going to develop? and the answer is yes. the answer is throws like the one i see a wyoming guy in wyoming. exactly right. north dakota state is another very disappointing quarterback that the 49 ers drafted. i digress.
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josh allen joe yeah i just i just think that as much as his story has been the guy who is second fiddle to mahomes in the afc, i think that josh allen and lamar jackson is sort of the heavyweight fight poster that you want to see. it is the exciting matchup that yeah, probably, what, 30 approximately one zillion people will be watching this weekend? >> a zillion they're amazing. jonathan lemire. i mean, josh allen i mean, how do you not love this guy? guy from wyoming that was dissed by other teams. he comes to buffalo. he is buffalo. you know, he the guy seems to embody the buffalo. just the fighting spirit. the bills mafia loves this guy. and yeah, again next week it is. it is the heavyweight fight you want to see. josh allen versus lamar jackson. >> yeah he's a perfect fit for that city. and i love that. the bills new stadium which is building in the parking lot of the old one. no roof. still
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going to be outdoors. that's right. they want to play with with the elements. so let's talk about a couple of other games. first of all, we should note the texans do beat the chargers. so the chiefs draw very favorable matchup there at home against the texans on one half. while the ravens and bills slug it out on the other half of the afc, nfc. we've got commanders lions. that will be saturday night in prime time. we don't have the other matchup yet, though, because we still have one more game to play as the nfl continues to stretch out these playoff weekends. we've got a game tonight. let's talk about that for a minute. it's vikings rams playing though in a neutral site being played in arizona because of the fires in southern california. vikings i know they lost that season finale to the lions and somewhat lost in somewhat convincing fashion, but i think they're still the better team here. >> yeah, the vikings are the better team. the bad news for the vikings is that in the regular season, they lost to the lions. and then they lost to the rams in that order in october. and now they basically have that same path here again where okay you lost to the lions to close out the regular season and that hyped regular season matchup.
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and now they get the rams. and the vikings are better. they are i expect them to win again. the story of quarterbacks in the nfl. we've talked about it already. the rejuvenation of these guys who are giving up on sam darnold is that guy. sam darnold is that guy. and sam darnold is somebody who. now it's just really hard to write off anybody. but if the right version of sam darnold shows up, the guy who is not seeing ghosts as he was once famously caught overheard saying on the sideline as a jet that made everybody think, this guy is broken, give up on him. if the guy who is not seeing phantoms of himself out there is the guy who shows up, this should not be that hard. the vikings secondary plus that quarterback attack they have the coach of the year in kevin o'connell. i think it's just a really, really favorable matchup outside of the history recently in october. but the commanders can we just talk about the commanders for a second. just to put a finer point on this, there is no more romantic word in the english language right now than doink, okay. and i mean this there is a there's a dao of
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doink that i want to just establish here, because when you hear that noise as a football fan, if you are the sort of team that has not won a playoff game in 20 years, about 7000 days, if you're a team that had to change its name, its ownership structure, its gm, its head coach, its quarterback, all of that, it's all it's automatic ptsd in this case, yeah, you drink it and it goes in. right. the rarest thing that happens when you hear that noise is victory. but this is the story of jayden daniels joe. they have won five games in a row. on the last play from scrimmage. and yeah i talked to you. we sing baker mayfield's praises all of the time. but he fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter. it was it was it was not great. and jayden daniels comes out of this looking like he is, in fact the guy who exorcized all of the demons. for a team that has no shortage of them. a really impressive, impressive playoff win for the commanders. truly impressive. >> yeah i mean the guy is great.
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i mean, what an incredible rookie year he has had. yes. let's very quickly talk about college playoffs. and yeah of course for me and everybody else that grew up like i did in places like georgia, alabama, mississippi and northwest florida, which i did a nightmare. when you have all these midwest teams kind of, you know, clunking around and playing. i must say this, though, yes, yes, we in the south think of big ten football over the last 20 years as high school football kind of go three yards, three yards, cloud of dust, a cloud of astroturf. they will say ohio state is the exception to that rule. i mean, they look so good, don't they? >> yeah ohio state has the best roster that money can buy. and that was held against ryan day, their head coach, when they lost to michigan. a lot of us in the sports press basically fired ryan day the head coach, because he hasn't beat michigan, which felt like an eternity. but the run he's gone on since that,
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this roster has gone on since. i mean, it's been just incredibly impressive. they blow out oregon, they beat texas. as we're watching these clips now, and notre dame just to pay them respect joe i know look notre dame they have a cowboys aspect to them. they claim to be america's team. they're a big tv draw. hadn't won since the 90s. but what they did against georgia and then what they did in the semifinal, they controlled the line, man. yes, they control the line. yes, they bullied teams around. and it's just really impressive for a team that's otherwise really injured to do this. and so yes, this is the midwest coming home to roost in a title game. but i wouldn't write off notre dame as much as ohio state on paper has the most nfl ready roster, and that's not particularly close on paper. >> yeah. all right. it'll be fascinating. all right. pablo tory finds out on meadowlark media pablo tory thank you so much. always great to have you here. hope you come back in a couple of days.
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>> yes. >> see you then. and kathy, of course. as you know, the premier league took a break this weekend for fa cup games. but next weekend, i promise we'll be getting all of your insights on all the all the clubs that your family loves from city to arsenal. and of course, we'll be talking about liverpool. >> yeah. i'm still wondering why any team would choose to play in buffalo without a cover when they could have played with a cover, but there you go. i mean, they're tougher than i am. okay, it's the top of the hour. and let's go straight to our lead story this morning in southern california, the death toll from the devastating wildfires burning across los angeles has risen now to 24. crews have been working, of course, around the clock to contain those flames. but strong santa ana winds that helped fuel the fires last week are now expected to return over the next several days. nbc's tom llamas is there and has the latest from the front lines. >> a glimmer of hope as crews make slow progress, containing some of the massive fires burning in los angeles.
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>> it is sad this this entire block here is wiped out, this massive palisades fire is still spreading. >> a big push as the dangerous winds pick up again. >> the battle involving crews on the ground. >> flames were right across the street from homes. >> we traveled with cal fire to the top of temescal canyon, where they stopped the palisades fire from burning encino and calabasas. >> the burn scar massive, but proof progress is being made. >> today is the first day that everything is looking really good. we're not out of the woods yet, and we saw that firsthand. so this hotspot just popped up just behind us. >> you can see the flames there rising. >> the good news is there's a helicopter in the air. it's going to attack it from above. >> choppers with long line buckets carrying hundreds of gallons of water. and on this drop bull's-eye. >> that's why these air drops are so critical. attacking these fires from above with machinery
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and aircraft like that, that's how they can make progress and get ahead of the fires. >> coordinating with crews like these, doing what's called cutting line, removing brush that fuels the fire. >> how are your teams holding up? >> well, the good thing is they're born and bred to work hard. so they're working hard. they're tired, they're worked. in the beginning we were working crews 36 to 40 hours, multiple days in a at a time. and they're ready here. this is what they do. >> meanwhile, flight crews working into the night making air drops an estimated half a billion gallons used so far to try to battle the flames. nelson. nelson. this video showing the view from inside an air national guard plane as it makes a drop. warnings blaring in the cockpit as it flies low to hit its target. but these critical efforts are being hampered by unauthorized drones in those flight areas. the fbi says there have been dozens of such incidents so far, and
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they're actively tracking who's flying them. we have equipment that can detect the drones in the air, but also we work backwards to identify the actual operator. these new photos from the fbi show the damage to this canadian super scooper. on thursday, a hole punched in the wing by a drone. this plane is now grounded. the super scooper. >> and that technique is our number one tool to fight wildfires like this. >> and when folks fly drones, personally owned drones in temporary flight restricted areas that hampers those abilities. >> significant. >> recently, the fbi has recovered pieces of the drone and the investigation is ongoing as this wildfire battle is an international effort. fire crews arriving from mexico on saturday, joining other teams from canada and nine western states from oregon to texas. >> we've got the resources. >> in an interview with nbc news, california governor gavin newsom telling our jacob soboroff there are now 14,000 firefighters battling these fires, and now nearly 2500
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national guard troops providing logistical support and security as residents grapple with what they've lost, the community stepping up to fill in the gap. >> thank you so much. >> here at the famed santa anita racetrack in arcadia, a marathon drive collecting much needed supplies like clothing, shoes and bottled water and dispersing them to residents. >> it's just amazing seeing the support and how the community just comes together. >> so awful people losing their homes, losing their livelihoods, losing, of course, all of their memories as well. that was nbc's tom llamas reporting. and joining us now is los angeles city councilwoman representing the 11th district, tracy park. councilwoman, thank you so much for joining us. it's four in the morning in los angeles. people are just going to be waking up soon to the news that the santa ana winds are picking up. do you have a sense of what we can expect over the next 2 or 3 days? yes. >> so we are expecting winds,
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santa ana winds, similar potentially to those that caused the massive destructive spread of the palisades and other fires last week. >> in some cases, the fire is continuing to grow and spread. >> but as listeners just heard, we have an incredible operation on the ground. there have been air assets in the air as our fire safety partners have worked through the night over the last several days to begin preparing for this. while the weather has cooperated, the assets have been in the air, dropping water and flame retardant. and so i am hopeful that things will be okay. but we are by no stretch out of the woods here in los angeles. >> councilwoman, what do your constituents need most? how can people around the country help people who are living in los angeles? >> we have thousands of people
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who have lost everything, who have no personal belongings, no where to live. a lot of folks with a lot of questions about what the immediate and long term future holds for them. there are some incredible organizations that folks can support. the lafd foundation is an incredible resource that works very closely, closely with our frontline responders, but mostly what we need people to do right now is comply with all directions that they're being given by police and law enforcement officials and understand, especially for folks who have been impacted, who desperately want to return to see what's left of their home, if they have any home left at all, they need to stay out of the area until it is made safe and stay out of the way of our first responders and others who are trying to get to these areas
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to protect lives and property. >> and councilmember, can you please tell us your degree of concern for these next couple of days? as we noted at the top of our show, the santa ana winds returning those strong winds that could fuel and spread these flames coming back today, tomorrow, stretching into wednesday. what's your worry? what should people be doing? >> folks should be following along with all official channels for the most current information on evacuation zones and warnings. they need to stay ahead of the information because this is a dynamic situation on the ground, and once those winds kick up, there is the potential for rapid increase and spread of fire. and that means people need to be prepared and ready and go when they are given the orders to do so. we have seen, if nothing else, over the last week, that the weather potential here could be absolutely deadly. so we are taking it very, very
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seriously. but as i said, we have an incredible operation on the ground and in the air, and our firefighters are ready for this fight. >> okay. los angeles city councilwoman for the 11th district, tracy park, thank you so much for getting up so early to join us. we wish you and your constituents, of course, all the best and good luck over the next couple of days. thank you. well, with the death toll rising, we are now learning new details about some of the victims of those devastating fires that are burning right across los angeles. nbc news correspondent dana griffin has more. >> these are the faces of neighbors, family and friends forever tied to the most destructive wildfire in los angeles county history. anthony mitchell, a father who stayed behind with his disabled son, justin, refusing to let him die alone. >> so before he hung up the phone, he said, baby, i gotta go. >> the fire made it to my yard. a sweet but stern 83 year old arlene louise kelly. >> we didn't expect to lose her
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so tragically. >> and that's that's what hurts most. >> tell them it's not what happens to you in life. >> it's what you do with it that counts. >> it was my baby and he died needlessly. >> former child actor roy sykes, born blind, also had cerebral palsy. >> he said, mom, leave me and i know mom can leave the kid and i've got a broken arm. i couldn't lift him. i couldn't move him. >> his mom shelly, telling an australian news organization she drove to get help from firefighters. >> when the fire department brought me back, his cottage was burnt to the ground. >> at least two victims tried to protect their homes from flames, where they raised families and lived for decades, like victor shaw and rodney kent nickerson. >> great person. funny the life of the party and love people. very intelligent man, loved to read. >> and there's randy millard, a malibu surfer who lived along
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the pacific coast highway and is well known red crab shack. he was found there, according to his mom, who also told nbc news his last words to her were pray for the palisades and pray for malibu. >> i love you remembering all of the victims. that was nbc's dana griffin reporting. i mean, joe, just so terrifying. the stories that are coming out of people being left in their cottages, and then poor mother who just couldn't move her son, it's unthinkable. >> it's just horrifying. it's unthinkable. and it also the scale of the damage for those that weren't with us this morning. read from the new york times lead story today, talking about how the devastation in los angeles now is larger than the combined areas of, of san francisco, boston and miami. and when you hear people that are talking about what's happened to their communities, and jacob soboroff is one of them for us,
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but you hear people who grew up in the parts of these, this city, the scale is just total. and all of the memories, all of the landmarks that dotted their childhoods, wiped away. and i must say, somebody that has been through dozens of hurricanes across my life. we've seen we've seen damage, but nothing, nothing to this scale. this is this is katrina and beyond. it's and that's why when you look at the ongoing damage, you try to fathom whether we've ever seen anything this devastating and this destructive in its scale outside of warfare. president biden, he's going to deliver a farewell address to the country on wednesday. and the white house says he's going to give the speech from the oval office.
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they haven't released the details about exactly what the president plans to talk about. but earlier this month, sources told nbc news that president biden's final address would reflect his time in various political offices and will include a message to americans about the country's future. and today, president biden is going to deliver his final foreign policy speech from the state department. the white house says the president will highlight his administration's efforts to restore america's global leadership, strengthen alliances and address challenges like the competition with china and the war in ukraine. with us now, let's bring in deputy national security advisor john finer. john, thank you so much for being with us. you know, we talk all the time about the data. that's pretty straightforward when you talk about joe biden's economic record, not what people are going to be saying today, but what they will say ten, 20, 30 years from now about an economy that's the envy of the world. jobless rates down at record lows, wages going up
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every year. we could go stock market at record highs. obviously, it's not as easy to get those data points when you go into the field of foreign policy, especially when there are two wars going on that president biden has worked so hard at ending over his last four years in office. talk about what we what we should expect the president to say when he looks back over his legacy. well, thanks, joe. >> you're right. that foreign policy doesn't obviously and easily lend itself to numerical metrics when it comes to assessing it. >> but when the president lays out how we see the record over four years, what i think you should expect him to say is, is actually to tie our legacy in foreign policy to where you started strengthening the united states at home, starting with our economy, our industrial base, our lead over the rest of the world in sensitive technologies that are related to our national security, that is a
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priority. he set from the very beginning of the administration, and one that we believe he has very much achieved. second foundational aspect of our foreign policy, the president inherited, in addition to an economy that was stagnated, a set of relationships around the world that had atrophied, some of which had grown hostile with some of our key partners and allies, the president saw those relationships not as a burden on the united states the way our predecessors did, but as a strategic advantage for the united states. and he went about repairing them, enhancing them in key strategic regions, principally europe and asia, as well as the middle east. so when the crises that you referred to, obviously, russia's invasion of ukraine and the gaza, the hamas attack, unconscionable attack on israel, the united states was able to address those crises from a position of strength. and as a result, our adversaries and our strategic competitors, russia, because it is now mired in ukraine with enormous numbers of casualties inflicted by the ukrainian army, backed by the united states and iran, which tried to press its advantage on
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israel after the october 7th attacks. those two adversaries have been left much weaker than they were four years ago. china, which many people were predicting was going to surpass the united states economically four years ago when we came to office. and technologically, those people are no longer making those claims because the investments the president made at home and around the world. so we feel very good about the record, and the president will be laying that out. and if you look at the adversaries, the people that that see us as their enemies, not the who we see as their as our enemies, but people, countries who see us as their. and you're exactly right about china. they are facing a series of crises at home. you look at russia, they are weaker than at any time since 2000, any time since. in this century. you look at syria gone, the assad dictatorship gone, and iran, the epicenter of international tourism, not tourism, terrorism since 1979, iran so weakened that they don't even have any
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air defenses right now. you look at the people who consider the united states their enemy. are they not weaker today than at any time over the past several decades? so, joe, i would agree with that. and i think a very important aspect of it is that the united states was able to achieve those outcomes without directly going to war ourselves, because one of the things president biden has also been committed to is not falling victim to the overcommitment of u.s. military forces around the world, which some of our predecessors he believed had overused. he ended the united states's longest war in afghanistan. he achieved this strategic advantage over iran by backing israel, not by going to war ourselves in the middle east. and he is able to back the ukrainians and bogged down russia again with these enormous numbers of casualties, without tilting that conflict into direct conflict between nato and russia. similarly with china, we have pressed our advantage. we
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have pursued vigorous competition with china, but not allowed that competition to tilt into conflict, which would be bad for the united states and bad for the rest of the world. we have put guardrails on the relationship that have allowed us to continue to compete without destabilizing the indo-pacific or the rest of the world. and so, again, i think the record on these issues speaks for itself. well, i mean, you look at the fact let's talk about russia. they're the world's we are the preeminent military power across the globe. there's not a close second, but the second most powerful armed forces in the world come out of russia. they have been gutted over the last few years, and they have been gutted without a single u.s. troop going to war there. let's talk about nato and also asia. but let's start with nato and the extraordinary gains that that this alliance that helped beat the communists and right now pushing back against russia's aggression. let's talk about the unprecedented
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expansion we have seen with nato, especially in sweden. and of course, finland. yes. so, joe, nato is not only larger, as you say, having added two new members and a thousand plus mile additional border that russia now has to worry about, it's also stronger. you have many more countries, almost three times as many countries, investing at least 2% of their gdp in their own defense compared to when the united states when the biden administration took office. so nato is stronger than it was when we came, and it's also more unified. and that was not inevitable. if you had asked outside analysts in in the context of a destabilizing event in europe, like a russian invasion of ukraine trying to essentially conquer ukraine, would that be divisive for nato or would that be unifying? it was not inevitable that it would be unifying. and it was in large part because of the investments the president had made before that invasion. and since that invasion, in holding the alliance together, the alliance has stepped up. it is backed ukraine. and now, as a result,
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heading into 2025, ukraine is in a strong position on the battlefield economically, in part because of the use of russia's own assets, which the united states has pioneered, giving ukraine access to those assets to help pay its own bills at home to pursue should it choose to do so and end to the war. through negotiations, we have strengthened ukraine's hand so that when the choice comes to ukraine for how to end this war, it will be able to do so from a position of strength, and it will be up to the new administration to continue to strengthen that hand. you know, john, we've been doing this show long enough that we've actually heard around the table four presidents and four administrations promise to take that pivot to asia, which they've never taken until joe biden. and let's talk about that for one minute, because i think that may i think some americans may. good number of americans may havheard how nato is expand and what's happening in ukraine. but but a lot of
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americans don't understand the investment and time and energy and resources that the biden administration has, has done to stop china's aggression all around, around the neighborhood. you look at what's happened in guam, what's happened in the philippines, the commitment that japan has made to rebuild their military, the strategic partnership between japan and south korea. you look at what's happening in australia with our nuclear sub deal with australia, talk about the incredible work the biden administration has done. my words, not yours. but i think the incredible work they've done in fortifying the united states position all around china and hemming them in a very expansionist china, doing our best to hold them at bay. so, joe, it doesn't always get as much attention as a hot war
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in the middle east or a hot war in europe. but the foundational priority that the united states has placed on the indo-pacific region from the moment this administration took office is going to pay dividends for the country, not just in the near term, not just in the present, but we believe for decades to come. and there have been major investments made in that region making real, i think, what several administrations have said they would do, which is place a priority on this most strategically consequential, economically consequential region of the world, in part by forming these diplomatic groupings and partnerships, enhancing our alliances with the japanese and the koreans, establishing for the first time a submarine and other security partnership that links our key european ally, the united kingdom, with a key asian indo-pacific ally, the australians. the quad, which is a grouping that involves seminal democracies in the region india, japan, australia, elevating that
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to the leader level so that the key leaders of that region are sitting around the table talking about enhancing our collective strategic position. none of this is explicitly about the competition with china. but the backdrop of it, of course, is that the united states is enhancing through all of these steps and through increasing our military force posture in the indo-pacific, our ability to maintain the stability and prosperity that has characterized this region for decades, and to increase the role and influence of the united states in it. our allies feel more secure, more reassured, more comfortable. in the united states has more influence in this region than we have had ever before. deputy national security advisor john finer, thank you so much. it's always great having you on. thanks very much. all right. and still ahead on morning joe, stacey abrams, a leading voice within the democratic party, is endorsing a candidate in the race for the dnc chair, citing her pick success fighting against, quote, destructive gop control in his home state. she's referring to
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wisconsin state party chair ben wikler, who has done a remarkable job in wisconsin. against all odds. he joins us. and the conversation next on morning joe. oh one. >> oh. something. >> well, you're in the big leagues now. >> how was your vacation, sir? >> oh, i needed one with your 10% loyalty program discount. that's $225 for the night. >> not bad. >> $155 for the night. hold up. how? >> it's easy when you know where to look. >> trivago compares hotel prices from hundreds of sites so you can save up to 40%. can save up to 40%. >> trivago is my secret tactic. [coughing]
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guardian. >> five foot nine men not included. >> a live shot there of the us capitol just after 7:30 a.m. there in washington. and just a week from now, right there will be the inauguration of president elect donald trump. and that moment will cap off a year that saw democrats lose the senate and the white house, giving republicans control of both chambers of congress and, of course, the oval office. now, democrats are looking for some new leadership, with eight main candidates vying to succeed jaime harrison as chair of the democratic national committee. joining us now is one of those candidates, wisconsin democratic party chair ben wikler. ben, good to see you again this morning. we'll get to the race in just a moment. but first, just how are you talking to your fellow democrats? how do they how should they prepare for what's coming in just a week's time? donald trump's ascension again to the oval office and republicans in complete control of the federal government.
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>> we should be prepared for an onslaught. >> this is a grave moment for the country. we remember 2017, that time trump came in without a real plan. now trump has a plan to reign down far right extreme policies on working families across this country. and that means we need to be ready to fight. that means communicating everywhere across the country, across every platform. it means organizing on the ground right away. and there are elections like wisconsin supreme court election on april 1st, like how special elections in florida, all over the country. we're going to have fights where we can show that we're on the side of working people against a trump administration that wants to divide folks so that he can rip them all off. and we need to be ready right now. >> so, ben, that sounds a little bit like your closing argument for the dnc election and coming up in a couple of weeks. but talk to us as to why. why as to why you think you're the right person for that job and what is clearly a pivotal moment for the party. >> well, i think we need a vastly stronger democratic party, and we have to choose now
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whether to do more of what we've been doing or change. the other leading candidate in the race, ken martin, has been the head of building up state parties since trump was first elected. he's been a vice chair of the dnc, and he hasn't done it. he's gotten the title, but he hasn't taken responsibility and state parties haven't gotten the resources they deserve. and that means when florida ran out of funds and organizers were about to lose their health insurance, i had to step in to fill the gap. i think we could keep doing what we're doing, or we could do what we've done in wisconsin, where we've transformed our party. the biggest year round organizing, fueled by the most fundraising of any democratic state party in the country, with hundreds of thousands of donors. and this year, when republican turnout rose everywhere. but democratic turnout fell in most states, including minnesota. we had more democratic votes in wisconsin. that's why we had the highest turnout in the country, so we could promote ken martin from vice chair to chair and get more of what we've had. or if i'm elected dnc chair, we can bring the kind of transformation we've done in wisconsin
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nationwide. and i think with the urgency of this moment, that kind of change is what we need. >> ben, i followed you fairly closely since around 2015 when visiting wisconsin on research trips. >> you agreed to be interviewed and speak to us, and you indeed have kept up the intensity and the momentum every year, treating every year like an election year. >> but how do you replicate that to you call it the 57 state and territory strategy? how do you go to, say, my home state in mississippi and give more resources and more energy? >> how does the wisconsin model transfer to these other states that are caught up in one party rule, essentially? >> well, the key is, you know, what happened in georgia over a decade with stacey abrams leading the way, what they've done in michigan with lavora barnes, with anderson clayton's work in north carolina. each of those folks supporting my campaign, it takes a strategy in each state. it's not 150 state party, 57 state party strategy. it's 50 state strategies and a
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strategy for each territory where you map out every fight and you build from one fight to the next. once you have that plan, you can you can pitch it to folks, you can build the resources. and we've we've raised, again, more money in wisconsin than any other state party in the country. each of the cycles that i've been chair. but folks want to invest when they see that you know how to build and win. and that's what we need at the dnc at this moment. it's not about dividing up the pie of what money is already there. fundraising can fall off a cliff when you don't have a democratic president. you need to be able to earn trust from people by showing that you can fight. you know, minnesota, we lost a state legislative seat. we lost the majorities in wisconsin. we flipped 14 state legislative seats this election cycle and reelected tammy baldwin. and now we're working on the supreme court race on april 1st. it is it is looking forward to the next fight, explaining what your strategy is, building transparency, not sticking with the same folks who made the same decisions that haven't worked out. it is building something new and innovating. that's that's how we've been able to do this in wisconsin. i think that's what
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we need, working with every state to map out the plan with with democratic candidates and electeds and unions and our partners up and down the ballot and then actually going out, executing and showing what we can do. the country needs us to do this right now, because things could get really dark if the democratic party doesn't get a lot stronger fast. yeah. >> chair of the democratic party of wisconsin and candidate for dnc chair, ben wikler. ben. thank you. we'll talk to you again soon. coming up here on morning joe, we'll go through the trump cabinet picks who will be on capitol hill this week for confirmation hearings and where support currently stands for trump's most controversial selections. morning joe, we'll be right back. >> i was drowning in debt. >> i had over $36,000 in debt. >> if i would have just made the minimum payments, it would have taken me 59 years to pay off. >> national debt relief can significantly reduce the amount
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>> the second inauguration of donald trump morning joe kicks off coverage. then at 10 a.m, rachel maddow and team will bring you key moments of the day, followed by analysis from our prime time anchors as the new term begins next monday, beginning at six on msnbc. >> the fight over president elect donald trump's cabinet nominees is going to escalate this week, with senate confirmation hearings that are set for more than a dozen prospective candidates. nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles has the latest. >> the clock is ticking down to trump 2.0, and this time around, donald trump has promised to create a cabinet that reflects his political movement. >> now we have a tremendous amount of experience. we have people that i can rely on. >> but several of his picks have raised questions from the senate republicans that will need to vote to confirm them. >> and this week, many of these nominees will have to demonstrate that they're up to the job. >> yes, some of them are outside the box, but i do think we have
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the votes. >> over the course of four days, senators are expected to hear from more than ten trump cabinet picks. on tuesday, pete hegseth, his selection to lead defense, will be on the hot seat and is expected to get questions about accusations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement, allegations he denies. while republicans have rallied around trump's pick, many democrats still have questions. >> i think it's in our best interest to have everything put out on the table. >> the confirmation hearings are heating up as trump has put his legal troubles behind him. he was sentenced friday in the new york hush money case without any penalty. the federal investigation into classified documents and january 6th were dropped after he won the election. it is unclear if the final reports by special counsel jack smith will ever be released to the public, but smith himself informed the court last week that he has resigned his post. one issue still outstanding whether the president elect will pardon the capitol rioters, including those convicted of violent crimes. trump has said
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he would consider it. i want to look at everything. >> we're going to look at individual cases. yeah, okay. >> but yesterday, his vice president elect, jd vance, speaking out, if you protested peacefully on january the 6th, you should be pardoned. if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. later posting that his remarks are, quote, not some walk back and we care about people unjustly locked up, including people provoked some mixed messaging there on the january 6th. >> offenders. that was nbc's ryan nobles reporting. and joining us now, msnbc political analyst anand giridharadas. he's also publisher of the newsletter, the ink, that's available on substack and contributing editor to the atlantic, kurt andersen. let me start with you. you sent us some notes that are interesting because, of course, there are many things that you disagree with incoming president trump on, but there are some things that he has proposed doing that you would actually support. what are they? >> there are a couple. >> it was a thought experiment that i that i have been doing
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because i spend my life and time, as many of us do, thinking about all the terrible, horrible, horrid, frightening things that he and his administration might do. but robert f kennedy jr, about whom i've written somewhat extensively and not flatteringly, has proposed that very clearly that we, the united states, should once again make prescription drug ads on television, not something that we do in this country. we are now the only country in the world, along with new zealand, oddly, who permit prescription drug ads on television. i think that's a great idea. i thought it's a great idea for a long time. i've written about it before, and so even though he's a deeply unqualified person who believes in all kinds of untrue things and about whom i've written for many years, i think that would be a perfectly fine
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thing. there's another one that i thought of, which is that he, trump, and they have talked about fully investigating the wuhan lab leak theory of the case, about how covid began. i'd be all for that. so, you know, to me, it's important to think, okay, what are the things that this team and this movement that one opposes so consistently and fervently could do that? like what you wouldn't reject just because the other team has has done it. >> so in the third you mentioned would be deporting migrants who committed serious crimes, noting that president obama did something similar when he was in office. but you've also made it clear there are a number of things that you would not support and that the you appointee that trump has named that you most oppose. kash patel, his selection to lead the fbi. tell us why. >> well, i mean, first of all, it's interesting to me that kash patel, as well as bobby kennedy
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and tulsi gabbard, the, you know, other than pete hegseth, the most controversial and variously unqualified and arguably dangerous of his appointments aren't they're not scheduled yet. the when those committee hearings happen, however, i think kash patel has both in terms of what he's said and everything i from reading about him and watching him sense about him, he is the most obedient to donald trump's extremist, capricious whims about persecuting and prosecuting and investigating people. and the head of the fbi. even if even if the cases that he brings against you, me, i don't know, whomever don't come to fruition have no basis for a prosecution taking place. he could ruin people's lives very easily. and i have no doubt that he, as head of the fbi, will do
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so. >> yeah. so we're one week from inauguration over the weekend. jack smith, who so many had pinned hopes upon as the person who's going to finally bring donald trump to justice, quietly resigned. these investigations, of course, being disbanded now that trump has won again. we also on friday. yes, trump now forever will bear the label convicted felon. he was sentenced though, but it was a slap on the wrist. no prison time, no. no actual meaningful change to his life whatsoever. he has gotten away with it. what are your thoughts about this particular moment in american history? with that as the backdrop and just seven days until he's president again? i mean, those two moments maybe will finally end for a lot of people, the fantasy that a lot of people held on to ever since he came down the escalator, that he would be stopped by various kind of accountability daddies coming onto the stage and saving you from bob mueller, all the remember bob mueller, wherever he is now. you know, to merrick garland to this and that. >> and it was all, i think in
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retrospect, this mistake of thinking you could defeat this with saviors instead of sideways with your fellow citizens, and now you have an inauguration coming up on monday. that is happening not because of a coup or a disputed election, but because actually, you know, people in a in a clear way that no one is disputing wanted this. and in fact, he made inroads with some of the very groups that he spent the last several years disparaging. and so i think, i hope this fantasy of, of, of the kind of savior dethroning trump is finally buried and people can refocus on the organizing challenge that has been neglected. while people were kind of pursuing the distraction of saviors. >> well, and you've also written, though, about how the resistance seems to be dead and that a lot of ordinary citizens came forward. >> they might not have been politically engaged, but first term they were in there and fighting. >> and this go around, they're
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watching major corporate figures like mark zuckerberg go to mar a lago and kiss the ring. and they're seeing the rise of oligarchs surrounding trump. what do you make of the fate of the resistance? and how do opponents of trump productively conduct themselves going forward? >> you know, it's the resistance was a single lane kind of strategy. in a way. it was to oppose this person, focus on the singularity of the threat he represents. and i agree that it was a very singular threat. and i think that was a very important stance in many ways. however, as you say, it's spent itself as a model. and i think a lot of people are looking for other models. and it's partly because i think there's a growing recognition of the ill health of a society in which a donald trump is possible. and i think when you look back over the last eight, ten years, there was maybe a lack of attention to the ill health and an overfocus
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on the one symptom of this ill health, which is donald trump. but we have a media environment and a truth environment that is in very bad health. we have a party that has been. we have oligarchs, as you were saying, who are essentially trying to bring back, you know, a 17th century world of kings and princelings and all of that and more is a reflection of the health of a of a society. so i in this in this piece about how to live under trump to talked about other postures besides resistance of him. and those might be reorganizing a democratic movement that can actually be persuasive to people rebuilding a movement for normie america, which the democratic party has lost hold of. and i think a lot of those postures are going to be more salient to people. >> all right, everybody, stay right here. we're going to sneak in a quick break. and when we come back, we'll talk about a
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not facing a global extinction extinction event, editorial board member serge schmemann writes in part, democracy, it is often heard these days, is in crisis. the election of donald trump and news of political turmoil in many other democracies has created the impression that liberal democracy is everywhere. in retreat. it's hard to travel in europe these days, or even to live in washington, without recognizing that liberal democracy is now in serious trouble in the world, a times columnist once wrote in these pages, we are living in a time of widespread doubt about the capacity of free societies to deal with the economic, political and philosophical problems of the age. many readers would agree. in fact, many did. in june 1975, almost a half century ago, when journalist james reston wrote
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those words. but democracy did not founder then. and while there is no question that it is facing serious challenges today, it is another question whether they amount to a universal democratic backsliding or, worse, liberal democracy in danger of collapse, it should be reassuring that democracy is not facing a global extinction event, but more a patchwork of storms, and that democracies have usually found a way to weather them. okay, kurt, i don't know if you've had a chance to read that. we've read a big chunk of it there. democracy facing serious enough threats that we might think that it's going to be in retreat in a significant way around the world, or these are part of the kinds of threats that democracies are built to withstand. >> i tend to have the 51% more hopeful view that the new york times shared. i think, you know, it is it is easy and in its in its terrifying, automatic way,
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tempting to say to take what's going on in everywhere from hungary to germany to the united states and india and israel and everywhere else, and extrapolate. well, we'll see. i mean, we haven't had that many years of this rise of authoritarian right wing populism to, in my view, to have conviction that, yes, this is where we're headed. it's going down everywhere. and even when it's we've had in the past, let's say, look at 1930s when this happened, it was not universal. it was not global. it became obviously, in that case, existential. so we'll see. i mean, you know, we haven't had in this country. i mean, my inclination about this country, for instance, is that we are at the end of a long period of that, that these are this is the last hurrah of, of a kind of right gone, decadent and
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extremist and, and we can get out of it now, i'm not convinced of that, but but that's, that's what i'm banking on in this country. >> are you optimistic if the setup is it a global extinction event for democracy, which is a very extreme question then? >> yeah, he's probably right that it's not an extinction event. i think, you know, thinking that t.s. eliot poem about when the world ends, it ends with not with a bang, but a whimper. i don't think we are having a bang event of democracy collapsing. january 6th is a bang event. you know, we're very attentive to the bang events. if the question is, is democracy whimpering out in a certain way? i think there's more evidence for that. which is to say, the whimper to me is not an insurrection. the whimper is most people in many places kind of falling out of the belief that this system makes their lives better, that this system is the place they should turn to when something's not working in their life. and i think if that
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is your measure, democracy is in a very bad situation. i don't think it means it's going to fall apart. i don't think it means it means violent civil war. but i think there's just a passive feeling that whether it's 2008 financial crisis, whether it's climate change, whether it's these fires, whether it's the crisis of truth, whether it's for certain people, the border that on issue after issue that people say, i this is a bigger problem than i can solve for myself. i want it fixed. and i just think a lot of people don't really think the government's going to fix it anymore. you saw it with the united health care ceo killer. you know, the amount of feeling that that undammed among people. the only thing you can read from that feeling is that is a lot of people who have given up on any other means of getting the kind of health care system they want, but murder, that should tell us, i think the depth of feeling out there that this system just doesn't really have the purchase
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in people's lives that that i think we all grew up in school being told it does. >> yeah, we do have to leave it there. but a really important conversation. one, we'll definitely revisit msnbc political analyst and contributing editor of the atlantic, kurt anderson. our thanks to you both, gentlemen. we appreciate it. still ahead here on morning joe, we're going to go back live to southern california, where los angeles is bracing for the resurgence of high winds. those dangerous conditions that could hamper the small progress firefighters have made in recent days against the flames. plus, fema administrator deanne criswell will give us an update on the current state of emergency in the region and what the federal government is doing to help. also ahead, pasadena fire chief will join the conversation as crews there scrambled to contain these massive fires. we're back in maya knows how quality care can bring out a smile. massive fires. we're back in just but it's been a few dog years since she was able to enjoy a smile of her own. good thing aspen dental offers affordable, complete care
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himself in the car. >> he had his phone, a charger around his cable and his walking cane, and i dragged him in the car. the ambers were coming in the car at the same time. >> it's like we're living an alternate reality. yeah, i still don't feel like it's real. even this morning i was like, no, the house is still there. we'll be able to go back. and i was like, no, it's gone. everything is gone. >> it's a couple from southern california describing their frantic escape from the wildfires. helping a neighbor make it to safety as well. this all comes, of course, as the raging wildfires have claimed more lives. we're going to bring you a live report and the latest forecast straight ahead. meanwhile, it's a busy week in washington with the first confirmation hearings for donald trump's cabinet picks. we're going to go through what you can expect to hear on capitol hill this week. and we're going to have a look at president biden's final week in office and preview his farewell address to the country. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it's
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monday, january the 13th. and with us this morning we have cohost of our fourth hour, jonathan lemire, msnbc political analyst elise jordan. she's a former aide to the george w bush white house and state department, and us special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay. katty, a few things have jumped out in this morning's paper to me. let me read a couple one from the new york times. the authorities reported making some headway on sunday, in which the fight against and the fight against these fires, which are still burning out of control and have devoured listen to this, have devoured a combined area larger than the city limits of san francisco, boston or miami. it's extraordinary the size and scale. and also, while these firefighters and heroes, first
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responders are fighting the fires and fighting to save lives, the wall street journal has a front page story. biggest story across the front that talks about la officials race to fight rumors and conspiracy theories, and how that's getting in the way of what they're trying to do. and there, the wall street journal writes quotes. lapd public information officer scott says, we're trying to battle the most devastating natural disaster in los angeles history. it takes people and it takes time to track down or debunk social media rumors. it takes us away from doing important things. fast. proliferating online falsehoods are forcing public officials nationwide to adopt a new job when crisis strikes their community. their duties now include beyond saving lives, knocking down the inevitable wave of half truths and
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conspiracy theories some wild, some believable, that have lately become a part of every major public emergency. and they were talking this time about. a post by alex jones on x that 29 million people saw, saying that l.a. firefighters were battling the blazes using ladies handbags and buckets because officials donated equipment to ukraine. of course, just a complete bald faced lie. and also, of course, allowed to be spread 29 million times on x. and of course, making the work of those heroes and first responders even more difficult because resources taken away because they have to debunk crazed conspiracy theories. it's a this, this, this fire is continuing, for the most part, to be out of out of
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control. and as the times says, now tearing areas up, devouring out areas larger than the combined sizes of boston, miami and san francisco county. >> yeah. i mean, i read that wall street journal story. it was extraordinary. and actually, what it is, of course, is that firefighters were using canvas bags. all firefighters apparently carry these canvas bags because sometimes it's easier and quicker and more effective to carry the water in those bags, throw it on a small fire to put out the embers, than it is to try and go to a fire hydrant with a fire truck. so this misinformation is going to be a problem in every single natural disaster. and the situation is bad enough without people like alex jones spreading those kind of stories. because if you look at what's happening, the death toll from the devastating wildfires in southern california has now risen to 24. the eaton fire is now one of the deadliest in the state. officials say it's currently 27% contained, while its spread has slowed down. the
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fire, though, has already burned through more than 14,000 acres. that palisades fire that we've heard so much about that's now 13% contained and has burned through nearly 24,000 acres. and it's still threatening residential areas. meanwhile, the hearst fire is 89% contained. that's the good news. and the other two fires that broke out last week are 100% contained now. officials, though, however, are bracing for what could be, quote, explosive fire growth. that's because strong santa ana winds have returned to the area with gusts of up to 70 miles an hour. they're expected to last through wednesday, prompting red flag warnings from the ventura coast county coastline right to the mexican border. joining us now live from pacific palisades with the latest is nbc's jay gray. jay, what do you have? >> well, look, the devastation here. >> and we've all talked about
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it. we've all seen the video, which doesn't do it justice, by the way, but it's overwhelming. it's unimaginable. look behind me and you can see it. this area looks like the aftermath of a bombing attack. it has devastated from the flames, from those fighting the fire. and this type of devastation stretches for miles in other areas. there's just simply nothing left. no clue of what stood before the flames. and as you talk about, there's growing concern that we could see another firestorm over the next several days. here. let's talk about what's happening on the ground here in the palisades and other areas that have been hit the hardest. national guard staked out across the area, thousand more troops called in overnight. you've got law enforcement and firefighters that are constantly patrolling these areas that are locked down, by the way, they're, of course, looking for hotspots, trying to make sure that they douse those where they can, but also preparing for those severe
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winds. and that event, according to forecasters, likely to start really ginning up some later this afternoon. you've got people thousands wanting to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes. we saw a few people over the last couple of days getting in, trying to find what they could and salvage anything they could from the rubble that's been locked down, that's that's been closed off with these winds beginning to pick up again. and what officials have said is that they don't expect to let anyone into areas like this until at least thursday morning, and it could be longer than that. that will mean some of these folks have been out of their homes for over a week, and just the agony of what they're going through. sometimes the not knowing can be as difficult as knowing what's happened. and so a lot of people looking to find their way back in and really assess what's happening. but if you want to talk about cleanup, if you want to talk about recovery, you can't do that until the flames
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are under control. and right now, that's just not the case. >> okay. nbc's jay gray, thank you. let's go straight to meteorologist michelle grossman. michelle, tell us more about those winds that jay was just talking about in southern california. hi there. >> yeah, we had a bit of a break over the weekend. we're going to start to really see those winds picking up 50, 60, 70mph. the climate connection is we're drier. we're looking at those winds kind of staying in place. we have an atmosphere that is not moving a big area of high pressure, interacting with this area of low pressure. and that's funneling these winds. so we're looking at really bone dry conditions as well. 10 million people impacted this morning and through wednesday with red flag warnings. that includes places like ventura, santa clarita, pasadena, riverside, temecula, escondido the places already hit so hard. and we will see those winds really gusting. and they're going to stay in place for quite a while now. the national weather service out of the la office has issued a pds. it's called a particularly dangerous situation doesn't happen very often. it's really
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highlighting that we have extremely critical fire weather conditions really ramping up this afternoon. staying in place tuesday. also wednesday. that means a high risk for large fires with explosive growth. just like what we saw last week, we have an extreme risk that's in the bright pink color. also, a critical risk in the red and yellow is that elevated risk. and we are seeing those fires burning. so we have the fire. 27% contained palisades fire at 13% hirz fire doing much better at 89%. but we're worried about more fires. we're worried about these fires also expanding. now as we look at the winds right now, not too bad. again, we had a bit of a break over the weekend. we're looking at winds anywhere from 10 to 20mph, but starting to ramp up. and we're going to see that big time later on. today we're looking at winds gusting near 50 60mph, 70mph, certainly not out of the forecast. and this is why we have a atmospheric situation where we have this big area of high pressure, just pushing that storm track to the north. we're not seeing that rainy season, and we're seeing those winds moving onshore as well. back to
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you. >> okay. meteorologist michelle grossman. thank you joe. it just i mean this this i'm in london. it is the only thing people are talking about here. it's leading the news. it's on the front of every newspaper. it's just devastating. people can't believe how much destruction there's been from these fires. >> yeah, it really is. i mean, the only comparison i can think of in my lifetime, hurricane katrina, as far as natural disasters go, this is just the size and the scale, the suffering, the destruction just seems unprecedented. and in the midst of all of that, jonathan lemire, a lot of political infighting and of course, donald trump and gavin newsom, donald trump going after gavin newsom and local officials, but also local la officials coming under fire from all sides. the new york times this morning, reporting in their lead story mounting criticism of vast threatens grip on leadership. talking about the mayor and. it
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writes, the mayor told the times that if she was elected mayor, not only would i of course live here, but i would also not travel internationally. the only places i would go would be dc, sacramento, san francisco and new york in relation to la. and the times writes, that pledge has been spectacularly broken. and then they move. they move over on a14. hold on one second here, they move over and they they talk about how she left at a time when the warnings for extreme fire emergencies were up. now, though, the times writes her decision to leave the country at a time when the national weather service was warning of, quote, extreme fire weather conditions, has set off a political crisis for miss bass. and the question that the new york times asks is, will she
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be able to command the respect and the authority she needs to see los angeles through its darkest time? >> yeah, this is mayor karen bass. she was in ghana. she was in west africa attending the inauguration of the new president there when the fire in the palisades ignited. and as you mentioned, the times does a good job of chronicling. she vowed to not travel overseas. she said she was open about how much she'd missed that. she's a member of the house foreign relations committee, spent a lot of time working on us african relations, spent a lot of time overseas, but did make that pledge were she to be elected mayor, that she would not travel abroad. and certainly there's a long history of mayors being caught out of place when something does happen here in new york. famously, new york city mayor michael bloomberg was in bermuda when a major blizzard pounded new york. he was late getting back. he was able to his plane was able to land the last plane, in fact, to land at laguardia. and he was able to oversee the response, but took a lot of heat for not being there during the early hours of the storm and is noted in this
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story. it's not like an earthquake, which of course cannot be predicted in any way, shape or form, but rather the weather. the national weather service had warned that these winds did present a real fire danger. she knew that was overseas anyway. now she's defended herself, saying that, you know, she was in constant contact while in africa, while on the plane, on the flying back. but certainly there are real questions here, including some of her initial halting responses when she landed. since then, though, she has been holding news conference after news conference and saying that she understands how upset los angelenos are there. and as joe also just mentioned, president elect trump is criticizing a slew of california officials over their handling of the deadly wildfires in los angeles county. yesterday, in a truth social post, trump called the state's leadership incompetent. he's also made claims about the state's water supply, suggesting that governor gavin newsom is responsible for the lack of resources. newsom responded to the criticism in an interview
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with nbc's meet the press, saying he has actually invited trump to come to california to see the response firsthand. >> what we want to do in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist. he's the president elect. i respect the office. we have a president of the united states that within 36 hours, provided a major disaster declaration over a text. we had support from the president of the united states, joe biden, with 100% reimbursement. all the resources you could hope for. imagine constant communication. i'd like to extend that to the president elect. i don't know what he's referring to when he talks about the delta smelt and reservoirs. the reservoirs are completely full. the state reservoirs here in southern california that mis and disinformation, i don't think advantages or aids any of us. >> so at least, of course, gavin newsom and donald trump have had a contentious relationship for years. i traveled with donald trump on air force one. there's a fire in 2018 out in california. and that's when he criticized newsom for not proper forest management. that was
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ablaze up in northern california. and the war of words continues here. newsom of course, we should note the political backdrop is rumored to be a possible 2028. you know, presidential candidate and, of course, los angeles hosting the olympics that year, too, we should remember. so the rebuilding job is going to be immense. but talk to us about just the sort of sad inevitability that a natural disaster like this becomes politicized. but what's striking about this one is it didn't wait till the disaster was over. it's still raging. and trump went after newsom well. >> and for republicans, gavin newsom is just low hanging fruit and an easy target to begin punching at before we even know what reallyxactly all went down here. donald trump has shockingly been somewhat ahead of the game, a little bit on brush clearing and on the importance of, you know, the argument that that should happen before conservationists. >> and then there's the other argument, on the other hand, that you just got to let these wildfires burn. >> and, you know, this way more than i do, though, we're going
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to talk to you, david, about your about your wonderful article. >> but it it's going to just continue to be political football until we know a little bit more. and i think the lack of control is what's killing people here. >> and we'll get to david in just a moment on his new piece. but, katty, i mean, this is this is such a catastrophe. and to joe's comparison to hurricane katrina feels spot on and it's not over. and that's just it is that, you know, the firefighters heroic work there to try to contain these blazes, but there's only so much they can do against these winds that are going to they're going to ramp up today and potentially endanger whole new swaths of what is simply a sprawling metropolis. >> yeah, those firefighters must be exhausted now. right? and they are trying to draft in private firefighters. but you just need so much more manpower than is available at the moment. and of course, for the people who have lost their homes, it is awful. still, more than 100,000 los angeles residents are still under evacuation orders. frustrations are growing for many families who just want to
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know whether their home is still standing or not. nbc news correspondent allison barber has the latest on that. >> do i just wait here or what? >> you can if you like. >> growing frustration outside the pacific palisades. massive lines of cars with residents waiting for hours, anxious to see what, if anything, remains in their homes. >> this is criminal dereliction of duty. >> we do care. >> we want to get you back into your homes. >> los angeles county sheriff robert luna warning about criminal activity. >> people that do not belong in these disaster zones need to stay out, or they're going to get arrested. >> on saturday, two people were detained in the evacuation zone near. vice president kamala harris's home, according to officials. l.a. fire chief kristen crowley, adding that it is too dangerous for many residents to go home. >> there are still active fires that are burning within the palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public. there's no
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power, there's no water, there's broken gas lines, and we have unstable structures. >> tell me your first, last name. >> we met shannon grooms when she walked up to talk to police. >> we're just hopeful to get a couple minutes to grab some things and then get out of town. >> she was with her fiance, shay burns, and shay's 81 year old mother, judy mcelroy, trying to get back to their pacific palisades home. >> we don't have any answers and there's a lot of different information, which is why i'm posted up here. >> shannon couldn't get in. she told us about something she forgot to take. >> my aunt passed away recently and she left me a small diamond, and i was saving to be able to afford to make it into a new ring. >> i asked for her address, hoping that if we passed her house while we were reporting, we might be able to help. a couple of hours later, we saw it. amazingly, it still standing because if you look around just across the street, their neighbors not nearly as lucky. >> they told us to. >> the door was unlocked because
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they had to evacuate so quickly. >> you can smell in here that it smells of smoke. >> i texted asking if she needed us to get stuff. she told us they needed some medicine for judy, things she'd left behind as they scrambled to evacuate. we couldn't find the diamond ring, but found the medical supplies. i saw these, and i know you didn't ask for these, but i saw these, and i just. >> oh my god. >> i showed them videos of their home with the windows closed. >> yeah, all the windows were closed right in the middle of chaos. >> a moment to help a family still looking at an uncertain tomorrow. >> that was nbc's ellison barber. some people getting lucky, but so many not. joining us now is general secretary of the salvation army's southern california division, major anthony barnes. major, thank you so much for joining us. 100,000 people are under evacuation orders. how are they living? how are they coping? what's happening to all the people that can't be in their homes at the moment? >> well, understandably, people are very concerned. they want to
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know what's happening with their homes, whether their structures still standing or not. people waiting, as was mentioned. and so we're doing our best to walk alongside those folks and bring a little bit of hope where we can share a meal, make sure they have their their needs being met. and i just want to take a moment also to say thank you to the brave and amazing first responders that are fighting this fire, those that are keeping each neighborhood safe. it's so important the work that they're doing. >> yeah, putting themselves in incredible danger with all of those fires. we there are a lot of focus has been on the pacific palisades area. it is incredibly wealthy homes, some of the celebrities that live there. but of course, we've also heard so many stories of middle class people, working class people who have lost their homes as well. and we know that california doesn't have much insurance for some of those homes. how is the state and how are organizations like yours going to try and help people going forward? because they could be out of homes for weeks or months? >> well, the beauty of this community, these communities, i should say, because in so many that have been affected, the
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community agencies, our community partners, the government agencies, we have come together in just an amazing way to make sure that we are completely serving each individual and family with the needs that they have, whether those are immediate or the needs going forward. it's been several days in now. folks are starting to think what is really going to happen next. some folks want to leave town for a little bit and be with family, but they don't even have the resources to do that. and so we assist in that way. we make sure that those who can't and don't have another option, that they are taken care of as well. and so our community agencies, our community partners and government agencies have to come together. and i'm glad that we have we have served this community. we will continue to serve this community. the salvation army is committed to being here well beyond this, well beyond the disaster. >> such important work and will be so needed for weeks and months ahead. the general secretary of the salvation army's southern california division, major anthony barnes. thank you, major, for being with us this morning. coming up, the first confirmation hearings for
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donald trump's new administration are set to kick off this week. we'll run through the schedule and what to expect on capitol hill when morning joe comes right back. >> do you want to ding to your credit? i don't want to ding. so when i needed a new credit card, i went to experian. see these cards with no ding decline. your credit won't take a ding if you're declined, so you can apply with confidence. get the experian app now. >> i told you i don't need these anymore, i have sling this critical time calls for the critical news coverage that sling provides. sling provides. >> okay, see you okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. yay - woo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. (♪♪)
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that helps relax tense muscles so i can rest comfortably and slow. mag tablets have a slow release formula that's gentle on my stomach. that's why i use slow mag. >> well, you're in the big leagues now. >> how was your vacation, sir? >> well, i needed one with your 10% loyalty program discount. that's $225 for the night. >> not bad. >> $155 for the night. hold up. how? >> it's easy when you know where to look. >> trivago compares hotel prices from hundreds of sites so you can save up to 40%. >> trivago is my secret tactic. >> hotel trivago. >> as we noted a moment ago, the new york times has a new piece out this morning about how climate change is supercharging disasters like these fires we're seeing out in los angeles. the report reads, in part, this way as los angeles burned for days
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on end, horrifying the nation. scientists made an announcement on friday that could help explain the deadly conflagration. 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history, with temperatures rising around the globe and the oceans unusually warm, scientists are warning that the world has entered a dangerous new era of chaotic floods, storms and fires made worse by human caused climate change. the fire storms ravaging the country's second largest city are just the latest spasm of extreme weather that is growing more furious, as well as more unpredictable. joining us now coauthor of that piece, david gillis. he is a report on the new york reporter on the new york times climate team. david, thank you for being with us this morning. so tell us more about this piece and what you found in terms of how climate change played a role here, what we've seen out in southern california, but how it is poised to do so with increasing frequency of disasters around the globe. this
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is just what scientists have been warning about for years and even decades. as the planet warms as a result of continued emissions from fossil fuels, from agriculture, from just normal life that humans have to keep doing at this point until we make a full transition to cleaner energy, the planet's just getting hotter. we now know that 2024 was indeed the hottest year in recorded history, but that's no surprise. before that, 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, and each of the ten hottest years on record have come in the last decade. we map that against the increase in severe and, as you said, unpredictable natural disasters. and that leads directly to the kinds of fires we're seeing in los angeles right now. >> you know, this seems like a good time to repeat a story that i have repeated oftentimes during catastrophic storms. and that is when i was with a friend 7 or 8 years ago, a republican who i think is probably never
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voted for a democrat once in his life. he works at his insurance company. he's in charge of, you know, the actuarial tables and, you know, one of the top leaders there trying to predict how much money they're going to be paying out. and he was complaining about all the money being paid out for natural disasters. i said, is there is climate change a reason? and he just scoffed. and he said, look at these numbers. you would have to be a fool to not understand what climate change is doing to this country and the world. and david, i want to along that line, i want to read here seven years later, what you write that lines up exactly with what he told me several years ago. wildfires are burning hotter and moving faster. storms are growing bigger and carrying more moisture, and soaring temperatures worldwide are leading to heat wave and drought, which can be devastating on their own and leave communities vulnerable to dangers like mudslides and the heavy rain around the globe. extreme weather and searing heat killed thousands of people last
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year, displaced millions, with pilgrims dying as temperatures soared in saudi arabia. in europe, extreme heat contributed to at least 47,000 deaths in 2023. and here's a key line regarding trends in the united states. heat related deaths have doubled in recent decades. for those who say there have always been heat waves, there have always been mudslides. there have always been fires. yes, they have, but, david, as you report here, as my friend in the insurance industry, a republican friend told me, yes, they have, but not at this extreme level. >> and here's another way to think about it. billion dollar disasters, natural disasters that inflict a billion or more dollars or more of damage used to come just a few times a year in a country like the united states. now they're coming as many as a couple times a month. and we see it not just in los
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angeles. but let's not forget lahaina and the fires in hawaii just a couple years ago. before that, it was paradise, california. it was santa rosa, california. fires took out whole neighborhoods in colorado not long ago. and those are just the fires. it was just months ago that the southeast was dealing with hurricanes helene and milton. and all of these disasters are exactly what scientists have warned are going to get more extreme as the planet keeps warming, as temperatures keep rising, and as the atmosphere holds more moisture. >> coming up, a look at some of the other stories making headlines, including a possible front runner to replace senator marco rubio in florida. morning marco rubio in florida. morning joe is back in just a moment. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need,
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and benefits plan that's right for your team. let our expertise round out yours. bring you key moments of the day, followed by analysis from our prime time anchors as the new term begins next monday, beginning at six on msnbc. >> a very busy day of news. >> we have never seen anything like it. we're going to report the facts out together. >> there are several stories breaking what protects the country? >> what protects the constitution? >> do you still believe that the collapse of the regime is inevitable? what's your level of concern and fear for your own future? >> america is dealing with many issues, from grocery prices to gun violence. >> it has been over 400 days since the war in gaza started. >> we are watching trump hire a fiercely loyal staff. >> much more to come here tonight. >> stay with us. it's. >> time now for a look at some of the other stories making
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headlines. florida governor ron desantis is reportedly leaning toward the state's attorney general to fill the u.s. senate seat held by republican marco rubio, who's been picked for secretary of state. ashley moody is considered a favorite within some republican circles, according to the washington post. if moody is selected, desantis is also eyeing his own chief of staff to then become florida's top law enforcement officer. italy has freed an iranian businessman who is wanted by the us justice department and accused of illegally exporting drone technology. as part of the agreement, iran released an italian journalist, the wall street journal reports. the deal was coordinated with donald trump. it comes after italy's prime minister flew to florida this month to meet with the president elect over concerns that releasing the iranian businessman could anger the incoming administration. big win for giorgia meloni there and blue origin, the rocket company founded by billionaire jeff
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bezos, had to stand down on an attempt to launch its first orbital rocket overnight. the launch had been scheduled to take place from cape canaveral, florida, between 1 and 4 a.m. eastern, but the company had to repeatedly reset its countdown clock before eventually postponing altogether. this was thought to be the long anticipated debut of bezos. challenged to elon musk's space x. at this point, no new launch date has been set. they have to fix the clock. >> coming up, our next guest is leading the federal response to the deadly wildfires in california. fema administrator deanne criswell will join us deanne criswell will join us straight ahead on morning joe. this is steve. steve takes voquezna. this is steve's stomach, where voquezna can kick some acid, heal erosive esophagitis, also known as erosive gerd, and relieve related heartburn. voquezna is the first and only fda-approved treatment of its kind.
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2021. vance made some new commentsuring an interview on fox news sunday, breaking slightly from what president elect donald trump has laid out in his pardon plans. >> i think it's very simple. look, if you protested peacefully on january the 6th and you had merrick garland's department of justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. if you committed violence on that day. obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned. and there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. and there are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of january the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly, we need to rectify that. >> in a december interview with nbc news, trump said that on his first day in office, he would pardon his supporters who joined the riot, adding they have been prosecuted in a, quote, very nasty system. unlike vance, trump did not rule out pardoning those who pleaded guilty to violent crimes such as assaulting police officers or joe. he said that a number of times, and of course, at the end of the day, it will be his
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decisions, not j.d. vance. >> that's sad. i don't know that j.d. vance is going to go out on his own and say, you know what? i think i'm going to i think i'm going to make policy for donald trump, or i'm going to get far in front of donald trump. i think i think that's what people around donald trump have suggested. he's going to focus on the violent offenders not getting out, those that did the crimes that we see and talk most about, suggesting those around the president elect, suggesting that it would be the nonviolent offenders that would get pardoned. but let's bring in right now the host of way too early, ali vitali and co founder and ceo of axios, jim vandehei, to talk about this a little more. and jim, there are a couple of couple different areas where again you've got to be reading the tea leaves or talking to people close to the president elect to hear this sort of sort of friction or friction between how many people get pardoned and whether you're
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talking about the pardons or whether you're talking about mass deportation, like, for instance, that's a perfect example. on mass deportation, you talk to people close to donald trump. they say, no, we're not going to get 14 million people out of here. it's going to it would be inflationary as hell. our own supporters don't want it. it would be bad for small businesses. it also would be terrible pr once again, having mothers ripped from the arms of their children. that's not going to work. but we are going to focus like a laser on violent offenders who, who, who illegally immigrated to this country. and we're going to get them the hell out of the country. so it again, nobody knows what's going to happen on january 20th. if you talk to people around the president elect, though, they will tell you he's focusing on the violent offenders, primarily on on immigration. and they'll tell you now if you listen. and i heard this before as well, that they're going they're not going to pardon those that committed
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the most violent acts. on january the 6th. >> i think that's right, joe. i think two things are true there. >> you fully expect shock and awe a week from now. >> there it is going to be a dramatic day. it's going to be as many executive orders on the topics that you think it will be. but i think on those two topics, you're spot on. are most of the january 6th folks going to get pardoned? absolutely. are the very, very worst. they're not. and i think that's what vice president vance was saying. and even trump himself has been a little bit ambiguous on it. but they understand that the politics and maybe even the morality of letting off the worst of the worst would be terrible, would have a backlash. but the same thing if you even if you talk, if you listen to the people who are talking about running the border, the people actually involved every single time they come back to the worst of the worst, the worst of the worst, which means is, at least for the foreseeable future. yes, they're going to lock down the border. yes, they're going to tighten asylum laws. yes, they'll probably use the us military, but i think the focus
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will be on criminals, at least for the foreseeable future, because logistically, and even from a budget perspective, it is impossible to do some of the things that they talk about when they use the most dramatic language. so it's going to be a wild week next week. i think it's now been telegraphed pretty clearly most of what it's going to be done, and it will be done quick. >> and that's the thing to remember. ali, again, i'm so glad jim brings it up. i mean, january the 20th, january the 21st, probably going to be a day with a lot of incoming, and it's going to be very interesting to try to figure out. and it may take two, three, four weeks even to sort through what is government by gesture, which donald trump focused on a great deal in his first term. and what's actually, as we always say here, separating out the ground, the ground noise from the signal, what actually is the signal here? and once again, we'll see what happens. a real
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indicator on whether he will follow or whether jd vance is, in fact, following what donald trump has already said. and that is we're not going to pardon the violent offenders. we will pardon those that got into the capitol but did not commit any violent acts. it will be very interesting to see how that breaks out. and we should know pretty early on january the 20th, right. >> it's going to be tone setting. i mean, there's some reporting on the immigration front that our colleagues here at nbc news have done around the idea of some kind of moment on deportation and immigration here in the nation's capital. that will give us a sense of if it is just them targeting the most violent of these undocumented immigrants, or if it is something more broad. because, of course, you and i had this conversation with the panel just last week about the signal versus the noise trump throws out a lot. it is the feature, not the bug, of the way that he likes to do policy making in the full view of the media. he likes to throw out a lot of options,
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and then you actually get to see where he lands. and that's the thing that's going to be important here, both from an executive order perspective, what they will do on immigration with people like tom homan, who are dyed in the wool maga in terms of the way that trump has wanted to enact policies around deportation, around closing down the border, around asylum, all of those things that you and jim have talked about are true and are going to be things we see action on the january 6th, pardons as well, that has been in the ether for a long time. a lot of angst here in washington and on capitol hill to see what that actually looks like. but i think that you're right. the point that you made earlier in the show about jd vance not going out on a limb and making policy that he's not allowed to make, he's had his hand slapped for that before during the campaign. i think that this is a clear signaling of how it's going to be broken down and the tone that this administration is going to want to set on some of the more blanket promises. now they're starting to zero in, at least in sort of opaque terms before they put it on paper. >> ali and jim, please stay with
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us to talk about pete hegseth looming confirmation hearings on capitol hill. and also ahead, the markets will look to rebound after a tough showing on friday to close out the week. we'll go live to cnbc when morning joe comes right back. don't go away. >> some people like doing things the hard way, like doing their finances with a spreadsheet instead of using quicken. quicken pulls all your financial info together in one place and updates it automatically. how easy is that for plant based, healthy blood pressure support? >> there's one brand at walmart that stands above the rest. >> it's super beats. >> discover why more cardiologists recommend super beats for heart health support than any other beat brand at super beats. >> com within two two and a half weeks, i noticed immediately a difference in my wellness. in my gut, it was the key element that
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alloy has been completely game changing. >> find relief at my alloy comm. >> new reaction now is the result of the presidential election reverberate throughout this country. >> we are getting a picture of what a donald trump cabinet will look like. >> president elect trump's return to the white house has shaken nato allies. >> president elect trump will likely inherit a chaotic situation in the middle east. >> firefighters on both coasts battling dangerous blazes. >> the federal reserve is widely
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expected to lower interest rates. >> in el paso from philadelphia in israel, new hampshire from msnbc world headquarters, msnbc premium gives you early access and ad free listening. >> to rachel maddow's chart topping series, msnbc original podcasts, exclusive bonus content, and all of your favorite msnbc shows now ad free. subscribe on apple podcasts. >> so, ali, let's shift gears slightly. as noted, the inauguration a week from today. but even before then, some of the confirmation hearings for trump's cabinet members begin starting tomorrow with a trio doug burgum, doug collins and the headliner, pete hegseth. the pentagon pick. nbc reported that the fbi background check was completed and transmitted just on friday, and only to the committee chairs. and there's been that's sort of unprecedented how late in the game that report has been disseminated. give us a preview as to what we should expect tomorrow when hegseth takes a
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stand and starts answering questions. >> this is the headliner. jonathan. it's been known to be the headliner since just late last year, when hegseth was nominated and then embroiled in multiple controversies around allegations of misuse of funds when he was running a veterans organization, misuse and abuse of alcohol during multiple of his jobs, including most recently at fox news that's reporting that nbc news has really dug into. and then, of course, the sexual assault allegation and the lengthy police report out of california. of course, those charges were never brought. but all of that is very much in the swirl. when i talk to senators on the republican and democratic side, there is a lot of consternation about the fact that this fbi background check. many of them want to see it. many of them have not yet gotten the chance to see it. democrats also have concerns about how comprehensive that background check actually is. they would prefer to see it, regardless of its level of comprehension, than to not see it. but it looks like they are very likely to be going into this confirmation hearing tomorrow without the information
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in that background check. nevertheless, my democratic sources say that the way they're going to treat these hearings is a way to sort of raise some early red flags that they can then point back to later in the administration if these folks are concerned. so really, in the words of one source, setting the table to be able to say, we warned you about this later on. but in order for hegseth to even get to the full floor, and i know that this is getting a little bit ahead of the initial opening of the confirmation hearing itself, there are going to be key republicans that he has to win over. we've talked a lot about senator joni ernst. she met with hegseth twice. she has her own concerns. that's going to be one member of the committee where when these hearings are going on. yeah, we're going to look at what democrats are doing. but what is joni ernst asking? and is it a sign that she's either on board with many of the members of her party who are getting on board, or is she not? >> jim elise here, following up on that, there's a lot of volatility sure to say, and
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anything could happen once these hearings start. but of the big four of the four most controversial nominees, pete hegseth, then you have rfk jr. then you have kash patel and then tulsi gabbard. >> who do you think is the least likely to get through? >> if you talk to republicans right now, i think every single one that we've talked to wants all four to get through. believes all four will get through unless something new is presented during those congressional hearings. so if we're just litigating the things that are the known knowns in public, i think all four get through. i know there's a lot of work being done, particularly on hegseth, by democrats, to try to get somebody involved in the various allegations against him to testify, to go public so that they have new information to tie it to. so far, my understanding is there has not been a lot of luck in getting that done. and so unless that happens, republicans want to unite, want to be able to give trump the
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cabinet that he wants, whether people like it or not, he won and they believe that he has a right to have it. so. and i think you saw it with joni ernst, like, listen, like you got to be one hell of a tough person with the skin of a rhino to take the crap that you have to take on social media advertising back in your state. if you're thinking of running again, if you worry about a primary, there's been a lot of money, there's been a lot of agitation, there's been a lot of threats about what happens if you don't support the nominees. and so it just aren't that many people that are like, hell yeah, sign me up for that. i want to be the person to tank to tank one of these nominees. so it would take something new, i think, to do that. >> coming up, another check on the wildfires burning through los angeles. nbc's morgan chesky is there and brings us an update in our fourth hour of morning joe. >> what drives your business? >> numbers. data? >> sales? >> sure. but it's your people
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extremely, extremely dangerous for the public. there's no power, there's no water, there's broken gas lines, and we have unstable structures. the first responders are working as quickly as possible to ensure that it is safe for you to return into your communities. >> that was los angeles fire chief christine crowley explaining yesterday why some residents haven't been able to return to their homes amid the devastating wildfires that are ripping across the city. welcome to the fourth hour of morning joe. it's 9 a.m. on the east coast and 6 a.m. out west. we are continuing to follow the latest developments out of california, where as sunday morning, more than 24,000 people had registered for fema assistance. as tight as fires kept tearing through their communities across los angeles county. let's bring in right now the fema administrator, deanne criswell. thank you so much for being with us. obviously, 24,000
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signing up is good. i'm sure fema would like mor to sign up. what should what should residents of los angeles do to apply and to get fema? help? >> good morning. >> i think, you know, i just want to start by, you know, reflecting on what we just heard from the chief. >> and my heart just goes out to all of these families that have lost so much as a result of these fires. >> and this is still such a dangerous situation. i think the first thing that i always want to tell people is make sure that you're in a safe place, and then once you're in a safe place, you can register for assistance. >> but you also need to contact your insurance company. both of those go hand in hand so you can go to disasterassistance.gov. >> you can call one 800 621 fema, but you also need to go to your insurance company to find out mostly what they're not going to pay. >> so we can then determine which programs you'll be eligible for. >> and we've got folks that are going out in the field right now. >> they're going to be going to
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local libraries. >> they're going to be going to shelters. >> they're going to be talking to the people that have been impacted by these disasters, helping them through this process. >> well, you know, we've seen it in one hurricane after another where sometimes insurance companies don't pay all that homeowners need them to pay. and it's fema that oftentimes steps in. i'm curious, what is fema doing right now across the region? we are, of course, living. if you look at the front page, let's see, i believe it's the wall street journal this morning. they talk about how so many people on the ground, first responders, and also organizations like yours are having to not only fight. firefighters not only have to fight, fight everything else, the human suffering there, but also the disinformation campaigns that unfortunately spread quickly. some of these fires. tell me what what do californians need to know about fema, about what you all are doing and about where you are around los angeles?
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>> i think the first thing that they need to know is that fema is here to help jumpstart their recovery. we're going to be able to help them with things like the costs that they have incurred as they've been evacuated, and then we're going to be able to sit down with them if their home has been destroyed or they can't get back into their home for a period of time to potentially help them with the longer term housing needs that they're going to have, we'll need to know what their insurance is going to cover first and then we can help with that. >> but as far as rebuilding, we're going to have to rely on people like the small business administration, such a critical partner of ours that's going to be able to provide the low interest loans to help them with some of their rebuilding costs, but also reaching out to the nonprofit sector and philanthropy. all of us are going to have to come together to help cover these underinsured or uninsured damages that these families have experienced. >> now, i understand that fema is fully funded, that congress provided you with $27 billion to
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not only take care of the hurricane relief that ripped through florida all the way up to north carolina, but also $27 billion that you can use for relief for residents in los angeles. it's so badly needed. is that true? >> yeah. we are very grateful for the bipartisan support that we got with the supplemental, and that $27 billion is going to make sure that we can support these initial response efforts, the initial recovery efforts that are going to happen. >> but as you said, the ongoing recovery for the six states that were impacted by hurricanes helene and milton, and we had 179 disaster declarations last year, all of those requiring funding. and so very grateful for the bipartisan support with that $27 billion, allows us to keep doing the job that we need to do. >> all right. thank you so much. fema administrator deanne criswell. we thank you so much for being with us, and thank you for the work you are doing out in los angeles. >> thank you.
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>> let's bring in right now, pasadena fire chief chad augustine. chief, thank you so much for being with us during just these absolutely horrific times. i will tell you, for those of us who aren't out there, it looks apocalyptic. and my friends in the area say, well, if you're here, it looks even worse. can you begin just first of all, for those on the east coast and middle of america, can you begin by telling them just the scale and scope of this tragedy? >> yeah, apocalyptic. >> and good morning to you. thank you for having me. apocalyptic is the exact word that i've been using, especially that first night where, you know, we had ember cast spotting, making spot fires at two plus miles ahead of a fire and 70 mile an hour, wind gusts and trees coming down. it was just something i've never seen in my life. and the amount of devastation is incredible. i'd
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also like to highlight the really heroic efforts, the hundreds of lives saved on the eaton fire by police and fire that in those first hours, as they were evacuating residents who really didn't get notice as that fire spread so rapidly. >> but we are so grateful for the work of the fire department, police, first responders all across southern california and coming in from other states and other countries helping out to. it seems to me, chief, you're you're a great person to talk to on this next question because, you know, there's a lot of debate. politicians on both sides are going to love to come in and unfortunately, start politicizing the problems here. and i've had a lot of people asking me just, hey, what's happening? why don't they have enough water? but i'm wondering, and obviously there will be politicians to blame, not only that are serving now, but have served over the last 30 years. i am wondering, though, what what
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can you do? what can fire departments do when you're dealing with wildfires from wild areas and winds going up to 100 miles an hour? i, i just can't imagine that the system that you have and we all have across america is, is prepared to fight that type of battle. >> you're right. our resources are are adequate most days for the normal 911 emergencies and the occasional structure fires and brush fires, an event like what we're seeing here both on the palisades and the eaton fire. two major fires in la county is at a major drawdown. none of us have enough resources, which is why you're seeing thousands of firefighters coming in from all over the western united states to help us. >> so, chief, can you walk us through how to prepare for a day like today, when the winds are forecasted to really pick up? we know that's a danger. we know
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that adds to the unpredictability of these blazes. how does a department like yours try to get ready for that? >> yeah, that's a great question. and so we talk a lot about preparedness here in southern california, both on the wildfire side, the earthquake side. and it's all the tips that we've talked about for our residents about being prepared. and then on the fire line, we have over 3400 firefighters attacking this fire. last night, the wind started kicking up, the fire lines held, and the crews did an amazing job keeping those fire lines intact. we will continue to deploy firefighters today over the next 36 plus hours, maybe even 48 hours. those winds are going to continue to increase and be erratic. but we have a lot of resources here in order to protect our community. >> chief, yesterday there was a press release about drinking water in pasadena area. could you tell me what is the
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situation with drinking water? >> is there water access? >> have lines been harmed and how long will it take to get water safe water up and running again? >> yeah, that's a great question. and so i think it's important to give context that this the eaton fire crosses multiple cities and jurisdictions. pasadena being a full service city, we have our own water and power department. and so pasadena water has been testing the water in the impacted areas. we believe that over 90% of the people that were on a do not drink tap water order in those impacted areas. if the tests return back favorable, today will be able to start drinking tap water, which is really good. again, there's multiple water jurisdictions across the eaton fire impacted area, so i would encourage residents to really defer to their jurisdiction. but on the
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pasadena side, our recovery on the water side is coming rapidly. >> chief, we want to end by just saying we're so grateful for the work that you're doing that so many first responders are doing. let me just ask you before you go, because millions of americans are watching the battle you're fighting and that your brothers and sisters on the front lines are fighting, and they want to know how they can help. what do you say to americans? what do you need right now? >> yeah. if you allow me to. for most of my career, we've talked about assisting other agencies in their time of need. up and down the state. but never did i think that it would actually be my community needing assistance. and this is personal. many of my city employees have lost homes, have loved ones that have lost homes, yet they're still here in service to our community. so first and foremost, if you're asking what we need, lots of thoughts and prayers we need, we
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also need rain. if you can say some prayers for rain and then go to your your standard areas for donation, red cross united way areas that you know are vetted and appropriate. but we have a lot of local resources coming in right now to help us with donations on those impacted families. but that's that's my current recommendations. >> all right. pasadena fire chief chad augustine, know that you're in my family's prayers. and so many americans prayers, and we're keeping you in our thoughts for not only you, but also your friends and loved ones who have lost homes, as well as those on the force, those on the front lines that don't even have a home to go to tonight after they finish saving other people's homes. thank you and god bless you. we appreciate you being with us. >> thank you very much. >> all right. jonathan. >> yeah, we certainly all of our prayers are with those in southern california,
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particularly as these winds are set to pick up. joining us now from altadena is nbc news correspondent morgan chesky. morgan's son not quite up in the sky yet there in southern california, we can see the damage behind you. what's the latest you're hearing from residents in that devastated community? >> yeah, jonathan, it is a day by day struggle here as they try and move forward from what has become really a generational disaster. >> but i have to tell you, as heartbreaking as it's been to see the scenes of devastation like this one behind me, we're also hearing some hopeful stories as well. >> volunteers from here in the eaton fire area to the pacific palisades, essentially saying it is all hands on deck to help get these thousands of displaced people back on their feet. >> this morning, as a wildfire disaster deepens, the city of angels is living up to its name. acts of kindness and generosity pouring into fire stricken
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areas. >> we got so many volunteers, guys, thank you guys for coming out. >> donation centers like this one at the santa anita racetrack flooded with much needed supplies and volunteers eager to help. even adams perez showing up to lend a hand. even after losing their own home to the eaton fire. >> we feel isolated, like, oh, no one cares. but then at the end of the day, when tragedy happens all over the town, they come and support hallelujah! >> in altadena, this family singing hymns over the ashes of the home they'd lived in for 35 years. nearby, the altadena community church was a fixture in the community for more than 80 years before it, too, was destroyed by fire, not far from the remains of that church. migrant workers leading a volunteer fire relief force, some 500 people strong clearing debris from roads and parks, collecting supplies and distributing them to victims. >> people need love and company
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in these times of difficulty. >> hope is built by this act of kindness and love. >> ruth judkins will celebrate her 90th birthday next month and never expected to see her altadena home of 48 years go up in flames. >> everybody on our street communicated and just made sure that. are you out? are you out? are you safe? % >> she's seen the damage in photos but told us life experience has given her some valuable perspective. >> i don't really need a lot of clothes. >> my life is really simple. >> have you found that facing a loss like this. >> that mentality is kind of helping? >> yes, i don't worry. >> and i am at the age where you can look back and actually know what's important. people. >> that's some wisdom and perspective for all of us from ruth. and believe it or not, that home of 48 years in altadena, this is what's left of it. ruth tells me she wishes she
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had had more time to grab some valuables, most notably her recipe box that she had been building up over the last 50 years. but she says she takes solace in the fact that she is surrounded by so many loving family and friends. and i have to say that angelenos across the fire zone, they are seeing some inspiration from this now international firefight, as you mentioned, with crews from canada and mexico now joining those from all over the west coast in this continuous firefighting battle, send it back to you. >> nbc's morgan chesky is heartbreaking stories there, morgan. thank you. we'll of course, have more from the fires in southern california as the morning goes on. but now let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines right now. first, vaccination rates against once common childhood diseases fell during the pandemic and have continued to drop in the years since. across the nation, roughly 93% of kindergartners received the measles vaccine last year, but that's down from 95%, according
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to the cdc. vaccination rates against polio, whooping cough and chickenpox also fell. meanwhile, the golden globe awards drew an average of 9.3 million viewers the other night for cbs, that was welcome news for the globes, which is on the verge of life support. just two years ago, critics gave the telecast rave reviews, with the new york times praising the ceremony's host, comedian nikki glaser, for her stellar monologue. and variety said the show regained its chaotic glory and some sad news here. r&b singer sam moore, one half of the soul duo sam and dave, has died at the age of 89. moore saying the tenor on such iconic hits as hold on, i'm coming, i thank you and soul man, which scored the duo a grammy back in 1968. i'm coming to you. >> on a dark road. good lovin. how come it's finally. and when
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you get it, you've got to know. so don't put off coming i'm a. soul man. don't. i'm a soul man. yes i am. >> their careers received a boost in 1978, when john belushi and dan aykroyd, performing as the blues brothers, recorded a popular soul man remake. sam and dave were inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame in 1992, and received the recording academy lifetime achievement honor in the year 2019. they last performed together on new year's eve in san francisco back in 1981, and according to moore, they never spoke again. coming up here, those devastating fires sweeping across southern california are likely to be one of the most expensive natural disasters on record, with estimates already topping $50
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billion. we'll dive into those economic costs straight ahead. plus, it's a multi-billion dollar social media platform, has 170 million american users. and now it could be just days away from being banned in the united states. the latest on the fate of tiktok. next. you're watching morning joe. we'll be right back. >> effective, healthy blood pressure support takes more than innovation. >> it takes vision. at human, our plant based supplements are scientifically formulated to support the center of your health. and at the center of super beats heart powder, groundbreaking nitric oxide science supporting your healthy blood pressure, circulation and blood flow with refreshing black cherry flavor at home or on the go. supporting your heart health and all the moments your heart and all the moments your heart beats for. get the virus that causes shingles is sleeping...
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that are coming out right now are very fluid. they're increasingly large. over the last few trading days, many publicly traded insurance companies, as you alluded to, have taken very big hits because the property and casualty numbers for just how much these so-called insured losses will be just continues to grow. now, we have seen estimates range anywhere from around 5 to $6 billion of insured losses, all the way up to $20 billion or more. now if the insured losses end up at the higher end of that range it would, as you point out, make it the costliest wildfire in american history. it would surpass the estimated $12.5 billion in insured losses from the massive camp fire that happened in northern california just back in 2018. now, as for the total economic losses, an initial estimate from accuweather puts that figure closer to around 135 to $150 billion. so it goes just beyond the insurers as well. it will be something to keep a close eye on. meanwhile, turning to the
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world of technology and media, there's a lot of attention focused on the supreme court, which heard oral arguments on friday for the case before it. that is challenging the law that would effectively ban tiktok in america, possibly as soon as next week. so the popular social media platform, which is owned by chinese parent company bytedance, is the target, of course, of a bipartisan law which passed in congress, which is forcing the sale of tiktok away from chinese controlled entities or face a ban here in america based on national security concerns. tiktok's legal team is arguing, amongst other things, that a ban in america would violate the constitution's first amendment free speech protections. now, during oral arguments, tiktok faced a lot of questioning from the court about the company's ties to the people's republic of china and the chinese government there. some legal experts do believe the high court will likely uphold the law that will force the sale or ban of tiktok. it's still unclear whether the
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court will make a clear decision on the case. and even bigger question right now is whether the incoming trump administration will actually enforce the law. if it were hypothetically to go into effect as planned. and sticking with technology rules and regulations, the biden administration unveiled a swath of new rules today that puts up guardrails on how artificial intelligence technology can be used and spread across the globe, specifically targeting how the new and next generation of computer chips, which are used to power ai, can be shared with foreign governments. it also targets how ai models and constructs can be shared with those governments as well. the white house says that the new rules are necessary to make sure that the important and increasingly influential technology remains controlled by america and its allies, instead of by enemies that might use that technology to attack the u.s. and its allies or its interests. so an interesting move here for the outgoing administration. of course, you can probably expect the trump administration guys will kind of
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go along those same veins for those ai regulations supporting american technology guys. >> yeah, we'll be watching that, of course. cnbc's dom chu. dom, thank you as always. crews have been working around the clock to fight the fires burning across southern california, still raging. but today the santa ana winds are forecast to return. we'll get the latest from the battalion chief and public information officer for cal fire. that's next on morning fire. that's next on morning joe. introducing new eroxon gel, the first fda-cleared ed treatment available without a prescription. eroxon gel is clinically proven to work within ten minutes, so you and your partner can experience the heights of intimacy. new eroxoon chewy,tment gel. save 35% and shop all your favorite brands. for any taste, or any diet, at prices you love. delivered fast. for low prices, for life of pets, there's chewy.
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msnbc. >> a very busy day of news. >> we have never seen anything like it. >> we're going to report the facts out together. >> there are several stories breaking what protects the country? >> what protects the constitution? >> do you still believe that the collapse of the regime is inevitable? >> what's your level of concern and fear for your own future? >> america is dealing with many issues, from grocery prices to gun violence. >> it has been over 400 days since the war in gaza started. >> you're watching trump hire a fiercely loyal staff. >> much more to come here tonight. >> stay with us. >> the show began and continues being the place to have the hard conversations. >> welcome back. now, 9:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 6:30 a.m. out in california. and that state's governor, gavin newsom, says he thinks that the southern california wildfires will be one of the worst in state's history. as firefighters try to gain control of the blaze amid flare ups and those returning strong winds. meanwhile, firefighters
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have complained that some hydrants ran dry in the first several hours after the fire began, something newsom now says he's calling for an independent investigation into that matter. nbc news senior national correspondent tom llamas has the latest from the pacific palisades neighborhood. >> this morning, those whipping santa ana winds making a return in the coming days. wind gusts expected to reach up to 70mph as the eaton and palisades fires broaden their footprint. officials say the death toll has now reached 24 and still expected to climb. we traveled with cal fire to the top of the now charred temescal canyon to see how crews are making critical progress as they battle the blaze. this massive burn scar is helping block the flames from reaching nearby communities, but the threat is not over. we're down here by one of these hot spots on the canyon. you can see it bubbled
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up really quickly, but luckily there's an air drop just above us. they're going to try to attack it from above. choppers with long line buckets carrying hundreds of gallons of water. and on this drop bull's-eye. that's why these air drops are so critical. attacking these fires from above with machinery and aircraft like that, that's how they can make progress and get ahead of the fires. crews acting fast to put out active flames. >> the other concern is not only this fire, but new starts where it's going to go. >> how do we respond? and as the fallout continues, the la fire department chief publicly saying they needed more support before the fires broke out. >> did we have enough resources? i will tell you, no. >> mayor karen bass has said any budget cuts didn't affect the response. >> the fire chief and i are focused on fighting these fires. any differences that we might have will be worked out in private. >> it comes as governor gavin newsom calls for an investigation into water supply issues on the fire's front line. the governor speaking out on
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meet the press. >> what are the questions that you're hoping to answer? >> the same ones you're asking. same ones that people want. i'm in the streets are asking. yelling about what the hell happened? what happened to the water system? was it? and by the way, was it just overwhelm or were 99 mile an hour winds determinative and there was really no firefight that could have been more meaningful. >> now, six days after the palisades fire first began, the massive inferno is still gaining new ground. the national guard tapped to slow the spread. aerial efforts hampered by unauthorized drones, including one that punched this hole in a canadian super scooper. the fbi, now investigating. >> that was nbc's tom llamas reporting. we should also note that l.a. mayor karen bass has received a lot of scrutiny for being out of town. she was, in fact, in ghana when these fires first erupted, then raced back to california. but many members of the republican congressional delegation from california, including those from southern california, spent this past
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weekend not at home monitoring the fires, but rather with president elect donald trump at mar a lago. meanwhile, a team of more than 12,000 fire and support crews are battling the flames in l.a. county. that includes assistance from nine western states, as well as international aid from both canada and mexico. joining us now, battalion chief and public information officer for cal fire, david acuna. david, thank you so much for joining us this morning. can you just give us an update as to containment of these fires right now and just the sheer amount of resources the cal fire and others are throwing at the blazes? >> yes. thank you for having me on. so we have people coming from all over the western u.s. and as you stated, canada and mexico, over 14,000 have now been committed with more en route. so the firefight continues along the edges of all of our fires. but with the winds predicted to shift again from the north and the east, with the very dry desert winds, we're
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expected for containment to be challenged. not to mention if there are any more wildfires that begin during that time frame. >> so how in particular do these santa ana winds, which we've been talking about all morning, they're forecasted to return today very, very strong, very dangerous. how is that going to impact fire response efforts? is there anything that can be done to blunt their damage? >> so santa ana winds are causing a big flare up of the fires that exist within the perimeter. however, at the edge, it also is a challenge, which is where we focus most of our resources. as you saw the helicopter put out that brush in the middle of the burned area, but that's needed because when under 70 mile per hour winds, those embers can fly 1 or 2 miles and reach over the current containment line. >> david, elise jordan here. do you what's the prediction for the speed of the wind?
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>> is it going to be as challenging for helicopters to deliver aerial water drops as it was during the initial days of the fire? because of the winds? >> so the initial days, we had 60 to 100 mile per hour winds, which shut down air operations. these winds are predicted to get near that area in 70mph. when our aircraft are threatened and they feel like they cannot safely operate, they will shut down air operations. and that is simply a matter of safety. we cannot risk the aircraft, the personnel, and of course, all the public and responders that are on the ground. >> and lastly, talk to us about the firefighters there who have been working around the clock for a week now. i mean, certainly brutal shifts, terrifying and extremely dangerous conditions. how are they holding up? what sort of relief do you need? are other firefighters from across the country still coming to the region to help? >> so we do have a work rest cycle, 24 hours on and 24 hours
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off, but not 24 hours. we expect them to get some sleep, some food, showered up and then get back to it. and some of the firefighters i've spoken to have said that they have a hard time resting while they know structures are burning, but we do make sure they get that rest. we do have additional crews incoming, but what we really need, the help, is for the public to be cautious in these new winds, to not start another fire. don't be mowing over rocks, don't be dragging chains and to go to ready for wildfire.org and be prepared in case additional evacuations are needed. so it is preplanned. >> battalion chief and public information officer for cal fire, david acuna, thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> so in its latest editorial with the headline fire victims need help, not political sniping, the editorial board of the sonoma index tribune writes in part this people who have lost homes and been displaced by fire do not care if food, a
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change of clothes and housing assistance come from a democrat or a republican. only that it comes from a fellow human being who cares about their plight. alas, in this partizan era, too many people prove incapable of coming together. they make this about perceived failures of the other republicans, led by president elect donald trump, howl that democrats misspent money and left the community vulnerable to this sort of disaster. democrats complain that republicans facilitate climate change, that fuels drought and high winds that contributed to the rapid spread of fire. someone will not provide enough relief aid. someone else will force taxpayers pick up too much of the tab. those small people who see everything, even death and destruction, as little more than an opportunity to score political points, deserve the public's scorn. so, elise, i mean, certainly those are words i would like to think everyone could live by. but we have seen political sniping, and that does
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happen after disasters. but what's so galling this time around is that this blaze is still raging. things may get worse. and yet the political points have already tried to be scored. >> i was i spoke yesterday for a long time with a dear friend who was caught in the middle of all of this and has been evacuated, been allowed to go home, then evacuated again. and one of the things that she said is most striking about being there is that the mood on the ground. >> you go to altadena to volunteer and there is such an influx of interest and volunteers and donations that there are signs, no more donations here. and people have such a wonderful spirit about helping their neighbors, even when they've lost everything. and it just is such a contrast to the way that politicians are looking to score political points. i want to get to the bottom of what happened, and if there's anything we can do to prevent this in the future, yes, of course we need to do that. but right now we just need to come together. >> the focus needs to be on helping those in need and
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helping those firefighters still struggling to battle these blazes. coming up here on morning joe, something very different that caught our attention over the weekend. do our dogs have something to tell the world? that's what our next guest wants to know. we'll dig into the new cover story for the new york times magazine and explain why scientists are less convinced. morning, joe. we'll be right back. everything will change. >> hey, ryan reynolds here for, i guess, my 100th mint commercial. no no no no no no no no no no, i mean, it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month. >> i mean, honestly, when i started this, i thought i'd only have to do like four of these. how are there still people paying 2 or 3 times that much? i'm sorry, i shouldn't be victim blaming here. yeah. anyway, it's still $15 a month, so whenever still $15 a month, so whenever you're ready.
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my terms. thanks. medical guardian. >> five foot nine. man not included. >> the opening round of the nfl playoffs conclude tonight in arizona, where the minnesota vikings are going to be taking on the la rams for a spot in the divisional round. nbc's kaylee hartung has the highlights from a wild card weekend. >> and it is in the nfl's wild card weekend, delivering commanding performances and
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punishing hits as sunday night's matchup in tampa bay finished in wild fashion. >> the washington commanders off the upright, the commanders winning on a last second field goal off the upright. >> it is good. >> they do it again. we'll see you in detroit. >> washington's first playoff victory since 2005. >> we're five years old. the last time washington won a playoff game. how big is this moment? >> i mean, it means a lot, man. you could just see all the fans over here. they waited a long time for this. >> in philadelphia, the eagles outlasting the packers. runs over his man still on his feet. >> and he scores. >> injuries hitting the packers hard as they finish the game without two of their top wide receivers and two offensive linemen. up in buffalo bills mafia celebrating their victory over denver. he's taking it home for the touchdown despite an injury to quarterback josh allen's thumb, the bills blew
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out the broncos on saturday. the texans defense destroying the chargers. herbert pump throw, intercepted quarterback justin herbert, throwing four interceptions, one more than he threw the entire regular season. but in baltimore, the most dazzling performance of the weekend when he has that time and can't find anybody, this is what he does. as the ravens ran over their biggest rival, the pittsburgh steelers. lamar jackson quieting the crowd's mvp chants while derrick henry set a ravens playoff record with 186 yards rushing. >> it's a great win, but we got three more. >> you know, we've been waiting all season for the lions. and the chiefs or the chiefs going up against the bills. but right now it looks like the game of the year may be next week when you actually have buffalo playing a tough baltimore team.
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nbc's kaylee hartung reporting. up next the dogs have something to tell the world. we have the answer to that question when we return in just a minute. you make me live. >> oh, you're the best friend i >> oh, you're the best friend i ever had. i been with do your dry eyes still feel gritty, rough, or tired? with miebo, eyes can feel ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ miebo is the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause of dry eye: too much tear evaporation. for relief that's ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ remove contact lenses before using miebo. wait at least 30 minutes before putting them back in. eye redness and blurred vision may occur. what does treating dry eye differently feel like? ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ for relief that feels
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this country, we are getting a picture of what a donald trump cabinet will look like. >> president elect trump's return to the white house has shaken nato allies. >> president elect trump will likely inherit a chaotic situation in the middle east. >> firefighters on both coasts battling dangerous blazes. >> the federal reserve is widely expected to lower interest rates in el paso from philadelphia in israel, new hampshire. from msnbc world headquarters. >> speak. >> hi there. >> what did that dog just say? hi there. >> oh, yes. brad. my name is doug. >> i have just met you and i love you. >> my master made me this collar. >> he is a good and smart master. >> and he made me this collar so that i may talk squirrel. >> this is a nine film up. introduced us to doug, a golden retriever. had plenty to say when he wasn't otherwise distracted. but now life is imitating art. take tiktok
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sensation bunny, for example, a sheep doodle whose owners claim she can communicate by pressing buttons on the ground that represent and recite certain words. >> do you want to go for a walk? >> with it? >> it doesn't look too windy outside. i think we can safely go for a no wind walk. >> afternoon fire. >> afternoon fire. >> yeah, and morning fire. see? it's going again now. i let it go out, but it's going again now. >> it's going to get the fire going. >> okay, honey, i know, i know, baby i know, i know, i know, i know, i know. >> and bunny is not the only dog talking to their owners. families across the world are using these buttons to try to learn more about what their pets are thinking. but do they really
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work? let's bring right now camilla bromley. she's the author of the new york new cover for the new york times magazine story titled do our dogs have something to tell the world? the article explores the science behind these buttons and the history of humans studying communication with animals. i've got to say, camille, yesterday is that we were putting the show together. this fell out of my sunday times and i said, res ipsa loquitur, baby. it speaks for itself. yes, we're going to do this story. but you know what's so funny is so, so by the way, darwin, alexander graham bell, i mean, a lot of people have tried this in the pre tiktok days, but i was skeptical going into it. and then i remembered i had a golden lab mix, and i would just talk to her like a human. and one night i just think back, i opened up the door. i said, hey abby, go get kate. it's time for dinner. and the dog not no training, just the dog. ran, barked about
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an acre back. kate, come to what? i said dinner and so thinking back without buttons or anything else. some dogs are just so smart. you can communicate on a basic level, can't you? >> oh, yeah. i mean, dogs will surprise you for sure. >> yeah. they're very they're very smart. >> yeah. so talk about these buttons. they've got, they've kind of taken off because of tiktok. but but they're actually there's an advanced study going on right now to test how much dogs can communicate with humans. right. >> yes. >> so i got turned on to these buttons after i adopted my puppy. >> she's a german shepherd, and i just heard about them from other dog owners. and then i, you know, there's videos all over social media that i started seeing. and the dogs, you know, with the buttons are doing pretty surprising, impressive things. you know, they're putting combinations of words
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together in creative ways. but, you know, as i also wondered, well, i wonder what a scientist would think of this. and after i talked to federico rossano, who is a university of san diego professor who's leading a study on the buttons, i started to think, oh, this is, you know, this is a story. this is really interesting because you have the perspective of the dog owners who, you know, of course, they they kind of believe in the abilities of their dogs because they're they're seeing this happen and it's so amazing. and then you have the perspective of the scientists and i would say, like the larger scientific community, these people who study dogs for a living, extremely skeptical of what's going on with the buttons as they should be. right, because it's the job of scientists to be skeptical and to test things. and so skeptical. yeah. go ahead. >> i was going to say skeptical and also frustrated. he said that he had one guy come up to him and go, so you're the one
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responsible for my wife having my dog press all these buttons? >> yes, exactly. so the leader of the study, who's, you know, looking at these dog buttons in a very systematic way, and he's looking at thousands of animals, dogs and cats and some other animals, and he's asking the right questions and moving slowly. but yeah, it's sort of it's an it's sort of an unbelievable thing. right. because we don't there is a hard separation in our culture between humans using language and animals not using language. right. and so when you see those areas where that area becomes fuzzy, it all our alerts go up. >> and one thing that scientists will will say, though, at least i think they've come to a conclusion that a lot of dogs have the intelligence of like a two and a half year old child human. so it's not like they're completely incapable of communicating. >> no, i absolutely agree with that too. and literally just said to camille that when my
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daughter was two and a half and then playing with my dog, i really felt like they were at the same level. and what i want to hear about from you, there's bobby sneakers right there. >> there's a very handsome, very handsome, naughty boy, bobby sneakers, 12 year old corgi. >> he might be a little too old to learn new tricks at this point, although he's very intelligent and i do feel like he knows probably 20 vocabulary words. but talk about your experience training ellie, your german shepherd puppy, which german shepherds are very smart, highly trainable. how many words did you teach her and did you keep it up? yeah. so i mean, as i was doing the reporting for this article, i thought, well, of course i have to try it with my own dog. right? i have to see firsthand how this works and how my dog uses it. how much of it is like me wanting her to use it. so i tried it out. and yeah, she does, so she does. i would say she uses it in a basic like non-genius way. she's not, you
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know, she's not composing like very like beautiful phrases with the buttons. but she's telling me that she wants to play. she's telling me that what kind of thing she wants to play with. she wants to play with a ball or she wants to play tug. she's telling me that she wants to go outside. and i learned about her. she surprised me. yeah. so i, i figured she would just slam the food button all day because she's a bottomless pit. and actually, no, she wanted she wanted to go outside and, like, look at the street and watch people go by some admirable restraint there. >> so what is next in terms of the science side of this in terms? are there experiments? are there future tests down the road to have more credible, if you will, understanding of whether dogs really understand us and whether they can talk back? >> yeah, sure. so there's two studies that are published. again, this is out of the university of san diego, and i believe they're publicly accessible. you know, you could go look them up. and the studies are ongoing. so yeah, i mean, this is this is something that that will continue. and it's a
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pretty rich area of study. yeah. >> it is fascinating. the new piece is available to read online now. writer and editor, dog owner, dog owner camille bromley. thank you so much. we greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. >> so jonathan, let's let's turn from from dogs and mister ed to the circus on capitol hill this week. obviously we're going to have some confirmation hearings. and most of those hearings are expected to go fairly smoothly. 1 or 2, though, 3 or 4 may may hit some bumps. what do you expecting? >> a dog and pony show, if you will? yes, that that begins in earnest tomorrow and in the trump era is upon us. he will be inaugurated one week from today. the confirmation hearings for his cabinet begin tomorrow. pete hegseth, the headliner there. he's going to take a lot of tough questions. let's remember to this point. we've been focusing on republicans and how
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they view him. well, democrats get to ask questions, too, and he's been put on the spot for a number of things. and as the week goes on, tulsi gabbard, another one of trump's more controversial choices, she will also appear here. and in the weeks ahead, robert f kennedy jr. kash patel and the like. but this week it starts. starts tomorrow. and it starts with pete hegseth. >> speaking of robert f kennedy jr, did you see the times story yesterday about fluoride? yes. so in other countries, not in america because our our numbers are lower. so the studies don't apply there. but in other countries too much fluoride in the drinking water has an impact on children's iq. so i'm sure we're going to hear more about that over this week as well. >> yeah, we certainly will. as well as his skepticism for other vaccines that most americans feel like are settled matter. >> yeah, but not skepticism that my mother gave me way too much fluoride when i was growing up. i've always had that. this morning, ana cabrera picks up the coverage
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