joining me for analysis, mark leeb wishes from new york no magazine, donna edwards, ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post" and former republican governor of north carolina, patrick mccrory. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest-running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning. as if we hadn't faced enough already in this year, 2020 is about to deal us two more challenges. first, in just over two weeks our deeply divided country is going to have an election that will reveal its character and direction over the next four years. and our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll by a 54% margin registered voters say they're better off now than they were four years ago. good news for president trump, right? by cement a 58/38 margin voters say the country is worse off than it was four years ago. what do those seemingly contradictory results tell us? that this year it is not the economy, stupid, it's the coronavirus. which brings us to the second challenge, a frig

very quickly, donna edwards, right at the end of the judge barrett hearings, dianne feinstein praisedindsey graham for how he ran the hearing, gave him a hug, and let's just say that that did not sit well with the base of the party. demand justice, a fairly new group on the left, promoting judicial -- promoting sort of more campaigns in these judicial fights -- "it's time for senator feinstein to step down from her leadership position." how bad is this for senator feinstein? >> you know, frankly, i don't know that it's bad for senator feinstein. i think it really -- i mean, democrats need to be focused on the problems with amy coney barrett's nomination, the timing, the fact of where she is and can't even endorse the idea that contraceptives are, you know, within the right to privacy. and what she might do in terms of this election. i think that's a problem. and you know, i think from the biden perspective, you know, really focusing on the destruction of the aca is the focal point. and so, biden can't get away from the economy to covid to how you recover. >> i'm going to have to end t

former maryland congresswoman donna edwards. and rich lowry, editor at the "national review."k a big picture question of all three of you. we talked about what it might take in terms of this map to get biden elected, to get trump reelected. with nine days to go, what are you looking at? what are you looking for in the final week or so of this campaign? rich lowry, i'll start with you. >> i don't think there's much option, steve, for the president at this point except for trying to dance with the one that brought him, which means pounding on these rallies, working as hard as he can talking about the issue differences as much as he can and then hoping -- it's not implouzabi implausible that he nips and tucks his way into traditionally red states that are battlegrounds this year, that he retains florida. republicans won two big statewide races in florida in 2008. and pennsylvania, he's going to be traveling there again this week. they've always felt a little better in pennsylvania in part subjectively because they thought the crowds are a little bigger, there's more energy there.

donna edwards, former democratic congresswoman from maryland, "washington post" and a.b.ard at real clear politics. welcome all. rick, first to you. you know texas so well. we've seen john cornyn begin to separate himself from the president. could cornyn seat be in doubt in texas this year? >> well, look, andrea, it's amazing we're talking about texas, texas, texas. if you look back at the history, you have mitt romney who won texas by about 16 points, donald trump won it by 9. beto o'rourke lost it by less than 5. so it's been trending blue for a long time. you can see trending blue for those numbers. now according to there's morning news poll, biden is ahead of trump three points in texas. that's within the margin of error. that brings it down to zero. anything is possible. the thing with texas, there is a demographic now, largely latino voters voting in big numbers now. texas has been red for a long time. it used to be blue with ann richards. now it's starting to trend toward blue again. could they get it at this time, absolutely. i don't know. we'll have to see. >> do

congresswoman, donna edwards?ith my colleagues here on the panel. i'm going to choose another strong woman. i know it's not 2016. but this week, hillary clinton won the week because she stayed in donald trump's head. he pretended like he was running against hillary clinton all week long. that gave joe biden the lay of the land, from gettysburg all through the week. in my view, hillary clinton won the week for joe biden because she distracted donald trump. >> all right. these are all good. i think you are wrong. my selection for who won the week, i'm pretty sure some people have kind of figured out who i might pick. but i'm just go -- i'm going to show it to you. here is who i think won the week. two things, one, real quickly, your reaction to what's going to happen today on the truman balcony. the president speaking to 2,000 people. >> i don't give a [ bleep ]. i'm sorry, i -- hold on. i don't give a damn. i just did it. i don't give a damn what trump says on the truman balance connecticco -- balcony today. >> eve

very quickly, donna edwards, right at the end of the judge barrett hearings, dianne feinstein praisedearing, gave him a hug, and let's say that did not sit well with the base of the party, demand justice, a fairly new group on the left promoting judicial -- promoting sort of more campaigns than these judicial fights, it's time for senator feinstein to step down from her leadership position. how bad is this for senator feinstein? >> frankly, i don't know it's bad for senator feinstein. i think it really -- democrats need to be focused on the problems with amy coney barrett's nomination, the timing, the fact where she is and can't even endorse the idea that contraceptives are within the right to privacy, and what she might do in terms of this election, i think that's a problem. and i think from the biden perspective, you know, really focusing on the destruction of the aca is the focal point. so biden can't get away from the economy to covid to how you recover. >> i'm going to have to end the conversation there. thank you all. but before we go, i want to note this year's "meet the press"

back with me, former congresswoman donna edwards. rything that we just showed in that tape, if there's anybody who is left thinking, i don't know who i'm going to vote for, or, i don't know if i'm going to vote, what could you say to them to change their minds? >> well, donald trump brought the american carnage that he promised. and decency and integrity in the white house are on the ballot. health care is on the ballot. climbed change is on the ballot. race relations is on the ballot. all the things that we care about. so if that's not enough of a reason to vote, vote because are care about whether we're going to continue into a democracy or not. the all on the ballot. i cast my vote and got an email this morning -- >> i'm sorry. i have to interrupt and go down to miami, florida, where democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris, senator of california, has taken the stage for a campaign event in florida. >> -- where is he? what an incredible, incredible leader, american leader. i want to congratulate and thank all of the leade

washington post columnist, donna edwards is back.er baker, new york time white house correspondent. and dr. william schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at vanderbilt university medical center and an adviser to the cdc. peter baker, this is a stunny story could read through. you have to put your jaw back off the table when you get through it. but we have trump admitting to woodward that he knowingly lied to the public. the other side of that seems to be that they knowingly told the truth to investors. take me through what you're colleagues are reporting here. >> yeah, i think you've summed it up pretty well. they basically had a session with, you know, the hudson institute donors and patrons and so forth saying that the situation was more bleak than they were saying publicly. that something serious was afoot. around there was a memo that was spread around wall street and it basically said, you know, provided the dire message from the white house and guided clearly some investors to begin shorting stocks and otherwise changing

professor johnson and doing a second tour of duty for me today, former democratic congresswoman donna edwardsth us. donna, we started last hour together. i asked to you come through and start this hour with me because i thought you had the best intuitive sense for what this speech could be. in your view, did it live up to its billing that -- i'm sorry in joe biden's words this was going to be a speech about the soul of the country? >> i think it absolutely did, nicolle. one of the things that struck me in this speech, apart from the fact that biden didn't mention donald trump, but he didn't have to. his delivery was presidential. his message was american. it appealed to the best in us. i mean, it called this idea of division and he laid out all of the ways that were divided but he also spoke to the ways in which we could heal. the ways in which under his leadership we could come together as americans and it made you feel good. if you're listening to that speech, it made you feel like you could get a president who is going to deliver on pulling us together and i think that, you know, if this i

former democratic congresswoman donna edwards, a contribute be columnist at the "washington post." peter barraker some breaking ne trying to project confidence with his campaign team. woulder going to learn, learning from monica alba. he's calling dr. fauci a disaster, quote, and saying there's always a bomb when he speaks, when fauci speaks. i guess this after that "60 minutes" report last night, we showed a clip, then saying the president saying joe biden is a criminal who should be in jail, talking about his opponent, his rival who is going to be on the debate stage with him this week. is the poll -- are the polls driving that or is it also "the new york times" reporting on the front page today by your colleague maggie haberman that there's real concern among the insiders. >> there is concern among the insiders, they can see the polls like everybody else. even polls they pay for can't disguise the hill that the president has to climb in the next two weeks in order to win a second term. i think you hear that frustration in that call that he made today, a call that multiple report

. >> and donna edwards, the surprise of the year so far has been jaime harrison's strong run.new him as the democratic chairman, as a jim clyburn staff guy. he's made a hard run at lindsey graham. >> he really has, and it's caught senator graham off guard. lindsey graham was not taking jaime harrison seriously. but jaime has outraised lindsey graham, he's raised money and continues to do that. he has a really strong field operation. and i think it's going to bode well for him. you've seen this race move from republican, lean republican, and now a toss-up race. my money would be on jaime harrison at this point. >> and also we should talk about election security. lonnie chen, there was a really unusual video from the fbi director and three agency heads including general nakasone, the head of the nsa, they put this out on twitter about election security. and it puts them really against what the dni, former republican congressman radcliffe, has been saying, and of course the white house. [0

former usa congresswoman donna edwards is back and a.p.than lemire is here and my friend mark salter, senior advisers to john mccain for many years including his 2008 presidential campaign and more importantly today the author of the new book "the luckiest man" life with john mccain. we were talking to pete souza in the last hour and this is the same vain that used to be in politics. thank you for being with us. mark salter, i saw that clip when you tweeted it out. and i remember how painful those days were. but because the transfer of power is in the news, let me ask you, i remember when john handed me your draft of his concession speech. and we were in the hotel room. i had just come back from doing a round of interviews including with brian williams and the polls aren't closed in the west coast, let's not call it yet. and there weren't the most fun interviews i'd every done but i was happy to do them for john. and i remember walking into the room and he came over to me and he watched everything but he handed me your speech, the draft of

we're back with donna edwards and jason johnson.ts off the court get as much attention as they deserve, jason. i mean, we've been covering them because they're so much deeper and so much more tactical than using the bully pulpit. what are you in having awareness of what else is going on in the grassroots. what is the impact? >> so this is what i like about what lebron james is doing this time and he was sort of in "the new york times" article. he talking about issues instead of a candidate. in 2016 he did a lot for hillary clinton in ohio. but you can't change how people feel about hillary clinton. but you could talk about your local district attorney and what is your school board situation, is anyone taking care of your grandmother who has to deal with covid and this is the nonsense that is targeting. there is so much effort to suppress the plaque vote, in particular the african-american male vote that lebron and all of the other players recognize they have to be the antidote to ice cube and 50 sent which will represent a smaller p

donna edwards, former congresswoman and washington post columnist is here.s nbc news correspondent heidi pryzbyla and sam stein and ben rhodes security adviser to president obama. ben rhodes, i'm going to thank the steroids or whatever it is that is sort of letting trump just let it all out. just tell us what you wanted durham to do and tell us what you told bill barr to do. it is clear that someone told donald trump or donald trump convinced himself that the durham probe was going to result in the indictments and prosecutions of his political enemies and only mad at bill barr because that isn't happening. >> yeah. well the bottom line here, nicolle, is that he sent bill barr in search a crime that didn't exist, that nobody committed. and that is the root of this whole quote/unquote obama gate. we're just a few weeks from an election. and this is the logical re-election strategy. you recall in 2004 george w. bush was running on a very focused counter-terrorism message and obama in 2012 of keeping the economic recovery and obamacare going. that is what white

also former congresswoman, donna edwards is back and branding and marketing expert donny deutsch is in the house. john heilemann, i must start with you because you're now out and about. there is something about president obama on the trail in 2020. there is a feeling of pent-up disgust at all of donald trump's sort of abdication of any effort to lead this country. there seems to be a pent-up desire to whack him in a way that no democrat has been able to do. and donald trump responding in kind, literally live tweeting the obama rally. >> yeah, hey, nicolle, good to see you and donny and donna. it's good to be with you one week out. we've got one week to go, kids. keep it up, keep it up, keep it up. we can make it altogether. let's hold hands and stay plug. i'm going to plug something but for a good reason. the new episode of my new podcast has me talking to david axelrod, david plouffe and alyssa mastromonaco. and we were talking about what it was like to see their boss back on the campaign trail. the thing they all pointed to is that alyssa used to occasionally refer to himself when he

former congresswoman and msnbc analyst, donna edwards congresswoman edwards, i know that senator demintg the trump tax cuts and that that de facto would be an increase on some of the lower earners, the low 400,000, just by definition, do you take issue with that, that's true, isn't it >> no, i mean, look, i think one of the things i was looking at this analysis, and i think one of the things that's not taken into consideration are the tax breaks that middle income people get, including the child care tax credits, including things like the first time home buyer advance credit i mean, these are all things that actually go on the plus side of the ledger, and so when those $2 trillion tax increases are repealed, what you get is about, you know, 1.6 of that actually went to higher income earners so don't really apply to the middle class at all, i think if you look at the biden plan to totality, the plus and minus, i'm not an economist, but i know the difference between addition and attraction, you have to add the credits in before you begin to impute behavior of the korpgs -- corporations to