geoff: tia mitchell joining us for our weekend briefing. thank you so much. and nfl players association have agreed to update the league's concussion protocol following a joint investigation into the league's procedures. that's after miami dolphins quarterback tua tagovailoa crumpled to the ground last week, showing a telltale sign of a traumatic brain injury. tua started in that game, despite being sacked four days earlier, and suffering an apparent head injury. the severity of his injuries reignited debate around the effectiveness of the nfl's concussion protocol. i spoke with dr. bennet omalu, the neuropathologist who is credited with discovering the brain disease known as cte. he says over the years the nfl, instead of seeking his counsel on how to handle concussions, never contacted him and instead tried to undermine his work. dr. omalu: nobody has ever reached out to me. in fact, what they have done is that they have gone on doing a smear campaign to delegitimize me, sometimes very racist. every time they mention my name, theyay, he's nigerian-born, so

joining us now, washington correspondent for the "atlanta journal-constitution" tia mitchell. ou for sharing your saturday morning with us. last night, former president obama was in the area, one of several big name democrats going across the country to campaign for democrats. how big of a role do you think, obama, specifically, can play in the peach state, because democrats in those races, they're holding on by very thin margins? >> i think obama can play a big role because he remains hugely popular among democrats, particularly black democrats which we know make up the base of the party here in georgia. so, he's there. he also, you know, has a lot of credibility. so, it's not just popularity. but it's credibility. people trust what he says. people believe that what he says is accurate in the truth. and so they put a lot of weight under him. and so, he was here. he was energizing the crowd. not just for those at the top of the ticket, not just for stacey abrams and raphael warnock, but he went all the way down the democratic ticket. the candidate for secretary of state. and th

. >> tia mitchell, washington correspondent for the atlanta journal-constitution. tia, thank you for joining us, thank you for your time. let us turn now to my wise friend, my colleague, host of the readout, joy reid. joy, thank you for being here tonight. >> i am so glad to be here. he gave me a great excuse to stay longer and watch the debate! >> yeah, what did you think of it? >> so, i think that tia is correct, no minds will be changed, i don't think any could be changed in these races. people are locked, in and republican voters who are choosing herschel walker polling at 40, five 46%, they've already built in any of their feelings about his lies. i pulled in an exhaustive list of his lies. they trained at quantico. it's not exhaustive. he made up the charities that he gave her senate of his income to charity, not true, not true, not true. so he graduated at the top of his class in college, when he didn't graduate from college, right? >> in addition to everything else, in addition to everything else. they've baked that in, they say they don't care, because wha

. >>> let's talk further about all of is tia mitchell and lisa rand is joining us. n rather frustrated with walker's campaign, sort of, they are still static that they are the republican nominee and still seems to be in this neck and neck race. but we have learned that his campaign has now fired its political director with just a month to go before the election. what is behind the firing and does it in any way put the campaign thin disarray ? >> so the news reports say that the firing is because that political director was suspendth pic success penktsed of leaking information about herschel walker to the media. of course that has not been substantiated, that is just based on some unreported -- well, some anonymous behind the scenes rumors about that. but i don't think that it shakes up the campaign that much because we had already heard that new people were being brought into try to help salvage herschel walker's campaign even before some of this latest controversy came out, you know, maybe about a month or so ago go when they were trying to pivot the campaign after

insights on last night's debate is washington correspondent for the atlanta journal constitution, tia mitchell. a lot of negative headlines for herschel walker over the last few weeks. he needed a big win last night. how woo rate his performance? >> again, i think eva really laid it out clearly that the bar was set really low really by herschel walker himself, and so relatively he did well. his answers were coherent for the most part. he wasn't rambling. it wasn't hard to follow him. now, of course, there are going to be a lot of people who didn't agree with everything he said and some of the things he said were factually inaccurate. at least you could follow it. for herschel walker, compared to some of his other, you know, ex temp rainious speaking engagements, that is a big improvement for him. as i a result, i think most people are saying he won, but i think it's all relative. again, reverend warnock now senator warnock is a very accomplished public speaker. he has given these sweeping speeches that have been heralded both in the pulpit and on the senate floor. so i think people already had

. >> joining us now is tia mitchell.ment that i think got so much of the attention from the herschel walker/raphael warnock debate. what did you think of the debate overall? >> i think in the debate overall, that was the most viral moment, the policing discussion, the honorary badge. but in general, herschel walker i think exceeded the very low expectations people had for him. and in that way a lot of people considered the debate a good showing relatively. he's not a great debater, some of his answers weren't great. but he came across more prepared and more coherent than a lot of people expected. and i think that probably helps some republicans that were starting to lose faith in him get back in his corner. that being said, senator warnock, his answers were a lot more focused, but at times he also me and erred a little bit, he had antidotes that didn't translate to a debate. so i think people wanted him to be a bit sharper against herschel walker. in general, i don't think the debates changed anyone's mind. if you were w

of the missing i would call them why the work of biographers of the missing biographers such as tia mitchell, such as ida hartmann and lose your mother. why there is so difficult. the uncertainty of identification and also of empathy is why those biographers must constantly the forms they work with attempting forms social identification that can never be assumed or taken for granted. that uncertainty and the attendant strategies created to address it, i think, has given biography most artistic works. those are the works that now promise to revivify the field. and i think those are the works is mine. those are the works that the last two volumes, particularly in oates's career, very much just like a performance will try to do it. the uncertainty, the lack of inevitability of identification is why empathy remains controversial, because it can never be taken for granted. empathy always has the potential to work against own best intentions to widen social difference rather than to bridge it by recenter centering the empathizes on and hence reinforcing his or her power. textual well as social. i

tia mitchell, for helping us understand a debt of gratitude to you.ff this hour. >>> when we come back the mid-term elections now less than five weeks ago could be the last best chance to put a stake through the heart of all of this, anti-democratic conduct and election denialism. republicans all around the country are running on the big lie. our next guest called them to bad losers and if they win democracy itself is in more danger. >>> plus the one state where more 2020 election deniers are on the ballot for statewide office than any other. we'll have a live report from there from arizona, of course, where we'll soon find out how far liz cheney is going to go to make good on her promise to top election deniers from being elected. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. after a quick break. don't go anywhere. nergy bill? how? the lower the temp, the lower your bill. tide cleans great in cold and saves money? i am so in. save $150 when you turn to cold with tide. okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete balanc