phil rucker, donna edwards, and john podhoretz. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press". >>> good sunday morning. it's beginning to look a lot like a covid christmas. and beyond for millions of americans this winter could resemble a rerun of the awful previous covid surges as the omicron variant speeds across the country. nfl games are being rescheduled. back to work plans being rescrapped and some schools including harvard are returning to remote learning. deaths are occurring at a faster rate than at any other time other than last winter's surge. in fact, the 7 -day case average is 130,000 nearly. that's nearly a 35 % increase over the case average since thanksgiving. omicron appears to be far more contagious than delta, meaning a spike in cases could once again overwhelm hospitals. hospitals that are already a bit overwhelmed in some parts of this country. >>> at the same time, months after president biden all but declared independence from covid, americans are simply fatigued with being fatigued. >>> his administration felt deflated, begging the

donna edwards and tim mill miller are back with me to talk about this.legislatures all the time. but what struck me was, a, the personal bounty system that was pioneered in the texas abortion law being sort of used, copy and pasted out to other places. also the kind of anti-critical-race-theory movement that started about a year ago is metastasizing in all kinds of ways that start to look very, very familiar to previous periods of american moral panics. >> yeah, it feels like the 1990s all over again. and indeed, i think republicans are clearly going to use this, quote, unquote, education, parental involvement, and what's taught in schools and what's in libraries as a mechanism to draw their base voters out for this election. and i think it's going to be really important to have a response to that that is responsible, that is about, you know, local educators making decisions about what happens in classrooms, working in concert with parents, bringing resources into the classroom. and that is going to have to be a counternarrative to this what is really an

donna edwards, it brings to me, it's sort of like where is congress heading?who simply said -- let me get this right -- it's been a horrible year, hasn't it. it began with an insurrection, it ended with a 4:00 a.m. adjournment, and a lot of not-so-good stuff in between. >> it's been a really tough year. and i think it also began with us still fighting covid, and we're ending the year, you know, in the same place. the reality is that whether we're talking about the economy or, you know, politics, what will help get us back to normal is getting people vaccinated, getting the economy going. and on january 6th, we're approaching the anniversary, and the really important thing here is for this january 6th committee to continue to plug away doing its work so that we can create the record that we need for the accountability of everyone from mark meadows to maybe even the former president and on down the line. >> john podhoretz, i found mitch mcconnell's support of what he's learning from the january 6 committee intriguing for this reason. he stopped at the chance of

i want to bring back peter baker, former democratic congresswoman donna edwards and douglas, presidentthe american action forum. doug, we were talking about covid fatigue with donna. the market and the employment picture have been on a pandemic roller coaster to say the least. hard to predict at times. holiday sales were up more than 8 % despite the supply chain issues. the u.s. economy is mostly proving to be resilient. what economic indicators are you going to be watching over the next few months? >> the economy is in pretty remacable shape at the moment. the fourth quarter growth is going to be in the mid 7%. that's extraordinary. it might get knocked down a bit by the arrival of the omicron variant but that's strong growth. one risk is inflation. that's much discussed. the american rescue plan was too much at the wrong time in the cycle. and generated a lot of inflation. and dealing with that is an issue. the second is the future of the public health effort. and i think the -- what we saw last year was exactly this same pattern. a surge of cases. it led to some downturn in the econ

is going to get us across the finish line with build back better. >> does this give you hope, donna edwards been hopeful all along even though i was really discouraged over the weekend. but i think that a good sign is that everybody is continuing to talk, and i think, you know, it's been -- it's really good sometimes when you get that break and they've got this holiday break now, cooler heads can prevail when they come back in january. but it has been a hopeful sign that there has been dialogue both on the senate side and also among house members that, you know, people think that there still is a path forward. frankly, for democrats, there's not a choice but to have a path forward. >> jonathan, what is the white house strategy if they don't get it? >> be very unhappy. they recognize how much rides on this. in fact, i spoke to jen psaki this week. she was a guest and said that's not an option but they have to find a way to get this done in some form, that they recognize, some severe breaches of trust to get the progressives to get out there to believe anything joe manchin has to say again. g

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>> with, that let's bring in our lead off guest on this thursday night, peter baker is the -- donna edwards, a former democratic member of congress, now washington post, columnist and barbara mcquade, a federal prosecutor and former united states process -- she worked for the department of justice, during the biden transition. she's a professor with the university of -- she host the podcast, sisters in, law along with kimberly atkins, and joyce vance, -- good evening to all of you. peter baker, let's start with you. rough week in general for the white house, particularly with the collapse of build back better unexpectedly on the news last sunday, but, the omicron virus in the testing requirements that it calls for our something the white house has been behind the curb on all week. >> yeah, look, the one thing that president biden promised as a candidate last year for office, he would tackle covid, and help us get through this pandemic. now, through fault of his own, or no fault of his own, were not there. a year later, we seem to be back -- at least when it comes to. infections not in terms

and former maryland congresswoman, donna edwards, polite cam analyst for msnbc. eing the one guest who has appeared the most times. at 14 appearances. actually, the four people you are seeing there, donna edwards is number one. michael steel is number two at 12 appearances. joan walsh number five at 10 appearances and connie schultz number 6 at -- joan walsh at 10 appearances, connie walsh at 9 appearances. enough about me. let's talk about -- let's talk about -- >> that went a little long. >> oh, oh, i'm sorry, chairman steel. i'm sorry. >> you're eating into my time. >> let's talk about the fate of the nation. let's talk about the fate of the nation. i am so fascinated by chairman benny thompson's letter to mark meadows' lawyer basically saying, you were cooperating and then you stopped cooperating after you gave us all of this stuff. and here's the one thing that leaped out at me. benny thompson writes the text messages you did produce, including november 6th, 2020 text exchange with a member of congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain

. >>> for more on this conversation, let me bring in donna edwards, also jonathan lemire. and former chief spokesman for the justice department, matt miller. dear friends of this program. jonathan, let me start with you. the omicron wave is hitting this really sort of fatigued and agitated country maybe for the first time settling back into the concept of a return to a new normal. what do you make of the precarious spot we find ourselves in and the task of the white house who i'm sure would like nothing more to turn the corner on the pandemic? >> it's a herculean task. i talk to white house officials all the time and of course they're fatigued, too, but they also recognize this is the central premise and promise of the biden administration. he was elected, sure, to get rid of donald trump, but to also gain control over this virus. and now this is the second time where the nation just as it seemed like we were starting to return to some normalcy, first over the summer and now we've been crushed by a new variant. delta and now omicron. they are, the white house is of course

joining us now, former republican congressman david jolly and former democratic congresswoman donna edwardsepublicans are declaring victory over the vaccine mandate. that's where we are, i guess, right? >> i think if you fast toward in a country, a culture, more responsible on public health we would look at downward trends and perhaps an end. but we're not because republicans largely settled on a political footing going into 2022 where they be between pro vaccine and your choice, your freedom on vaccine, but we're stronly antimandate. they want to package that on this kind of pro freedom and you should be able to do your job without your employer telling you what to do. and they believe it is resonating. it is a political calculus. the congressional review act resolution they passed last night as you mentioned will not get the signature of joe biden but it is a messaging bill for republicans, chris, they think will go all of the way through november. >> donna, you a new poll that asked americans about their top concerns, right? this shows if you look at every day bills and inflation, you lo

. >> donna edwards and tim miller, thanks for being here. have a good new year if i don't see you. who knows, maybe you'll be back tomorrow, as we try to get the show on the air. that's all for "all in" this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts now, with ayman mohyeldin in for rachel. >> i know the struggle is real, my friend. enjoy the rest of the night off. rachel has the night off, but we do have a lot to get to tonight. today the white house announcing president biden will speak to russian president vladimir putin tomorrow. that call was reportedly requested by vladimir putin, as russia continues to amass troops along ukraine's border. now, the white house has repeatedly warned russia over the last few weeks that a russian invasion of ukraine would have severe, severe diplomatic and economic consequences. one administration official told politico today that this call will come in the midst of a, quote, moment of crisis between the two nations. we'll have a lot more on that coming up later in the show. but we start tonight with a moment of crisis of our own right here at hom

donna edwards is a former democratic member of congress, now a "washington post" columnist. and barbara mcquade, former united states attorney for the eastern district of michigan. she worked with the department of justice during the biden transition. she's a professor with the university of michigan's law school, and she hosts the podcast sisters in law. good evening to all three of you. peter, let's start with you. rough week in general for the white house, particularly with the collapse of build back better unexpectedly on the news last sunday. but the omicron virus and the testing requirements that it calls for are something the white house has been on the curve. >> one thing biden promised as a candidate last year for office was he was going to tackle covid and help us get through this pandemic. now, through faults of his own or no fault of his own, we're not there a year later. we seem to be back to step one, at least in terms of infections. but for a lot of americans, it feels like we have yet to kind of move past this two-year crisis we've been living in and there's

also with us, msnbc political analyst, donna edwards and just climbing into her chair there. white house correspondent from pbs news hour, moderator of washington week, as well as msnbc contributor. looks like you're ready to go so i'll start with you. maybe she's not ready. she's plugging in. ready? got me? okay. >> i'm here. >> just want to ask you the first question because you're at the white house. you know, wasn't that long ago that our friend jen psaki mocked the notion of test every american at home. only a couple of weeks ago, and now we are where we are. what happened in the course of that two weeks? i know the answer is omicron, but what happened inside the white house in terms of their thinking? >> that's a key question and it's a question i posed to the president. which is essentially, americans are in line and a lot of them are taking why did this take so long? why is it only know we're talking about sending tests to people? ramping up testing sites? the white house is essentially saying that it's because no one foresaw omicron becoming the dominant variant. the

donna edwards is here. also joining us, matt miller is back. tim miller, no relation, is here. three, msnbc contributors. i want to start with you, tim miller, on mitch mcconnell. and i think you and i have had this conversation. i welcome anyone's enthusiasm for the investigation into the deadly insurrection on january 6th, but mcconnell, who is so stingy with his public pronouncements about anything, and who is so deliberate and who is so studied and who really doesn't care at all what the press says about it surely knows what he said to spectrum is a complete reversal to his public pronouncements before about investigating january 6th. >> i think so. you know, he's started to lean into comments like that a little bit more recently, not being as direct as he was in spectrum. here's what i bit on, i think everyone in washington knows -- i think it is the worst-kept secret in washington that if mitch mcconnell had access to magic beans that would make donald trump disappear he would take them. i think mitch mcconnell is sick of donald trump. i think that mitch mcconnell wishes

frank zig luisy is here, and former congresswoman donna edwards joins us, lucky for us, all three msnbctributor. john heilemann, we knew this piece was coming. i read it with my jaw on the ground and then read it again reaching for liquor cab knelt. he was wright right when he wrote before the election when he wrote about all the indicator lights blinking red. talk about this piece, the comprehensive case that the next coup is under way and not hitting many road blocks at all. >> well, nicolle, i'm glad that liquor is your prefer substance, because i'm driven to much stronger -- >> i did not grab it. i did not imbibe. that will happen at 6:00. >> i was going to say, let me help you out with that. this is -- you know, the pieces of the coming coup, if president trump runs and if he's the nominee and if he falls short again -- people have been playing these things out for the last few months from people like bill mahr on his show on hbo, also on the circumstance success, we did an episode called coup point two. what is trump doing to subvert democracy. what are the less oons from 2020, wh

joining us to discuss, former congresswoman donna edwards also an msnbc news political analyst and mickoman, great to see you, i love that backdrop, that shot, merry christmas, beautiful tree. you too, mick. congresswoman in the journal today, and it's not specific to the journal, but that the cbo estimate that some republicans requesting showing what the actual cost would be if the programs were extended like they are in all likelihood that is going to happen. the penn warharton model at 4.6 trillion do you have any regrets that maybe the democrats in congress didn't just sell it exactly for what it is it seems like they're trying to hide the actual cost >> i don't think that's true at all. we're making a big presumption that future congresses are going to extend all of these programs, and we don't know that to be true what we do know is that the ones that are factored into build back better, some of them have shorter time frames and it brings the cost to where it is and so, i'm not worried about that i'm more concerned that democrats just need to pass the doggone bill and get out and