Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20240712

Senator cory booker of new jersey. Plus transfer of power. The president is complaining about his poll numbers. What would our popularity be if every day for almost four years you didnt hear any of this [ bleep ]. And refusing to commit to a peaceful transition if he loses. We do want a very friendly transition, but we dont want to be cheated. Facing pushback from democrats. The last thing we need is the equivalent of a coup. From republicans. It does matter what the president says. And raising alarms at pentagon. Ill talk to President Trumps normer retired security adviser h. R. Mcmaster. President trump is gearing up to launch personal attacks at tuesday nights debate. Hes always different when he comes out because hes on a different medication, i guess. Can biden stay focussed . . Im prepared to go out and make my case. Joining me for insight and analysis are peter baker, yamiche alsindor, clara mccaskel, and welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longestrunning show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning, with coronavirus surging a case and the president s poll numbers stalled republicans thought they had finally caught a break with the Supreme Court vacancy servingsa the october or shall we say, september surprise they needed to unite the party, but just as they were teeing up comfortable talking points on the court, preparing to announce judge amy coney barrett, once again, the president veered off message, but creating another crisis. The president s comments casting doubt on whether he will commit to a peaceful transfer of power. We will have to see what happens. Dominated front pages and rattled folks all across washington including across the river at the pentagon. Republicans were forced to distance themselves, though few condemn the president by name, rushing out statements calling for an orderly transition of power noting, its a hallmark of our democracy, a fundamental principle, its happened forever, were not a banana republic, and this from senator ben sasse, the president says crazy stuff. All this taking the focus away from his announcement late yesterday of the Supreme Court pick. Hearings on her nomination are scheduled to be on october 12th, with Senate Republican leadership pushing for a vote just before the election. It comes at a time when President Trump has largely failed to close the gap with joe biden in the polls. In our state polls, biden leads trump by ten points among likely voters in wisconsin and eight in michigan, above 50 in both states most importantly. It comes as the president desperately grasps for something, anything, to shake up this race ahead of the first debate with bidenn esday night. S my honor to nominate one of our nations most brilliant and gifted legal minds. President trump scrambling to get back on message and to fire up his conservative base. Most important of all she will defend your godgiven rights and freedoms. If confirmed, barrett, a favorite of religious conservatives would ensure a 63 conservative on the court, setting the abortion and the Affordable Care act in the final votes of the campaign. A vote for judge barrett is a vote it take away healthcare. Roe versus wade is a travesty. Its judicial imperialism. The president s pick can energize his opposition. Vote him out while theres plenty of debate over when an abortion in pregnancy should be legal the president is com paining about his poll numbers. What would our popularity be if every day for almost four years you didnt hear any of this [ bleep ], okay . Accusing the fda of delaying a vaccine to hurt him politically. Theyre trying to do a little bit of a political hit. Lets delay it just a little bit. You notice that . Lets delay the vaccine a little bit. And for the fourth time this week refusing to commit to the election results. I want to see a peaceful transition, but its got to be a legal process. Questioning the integrity of the election. On wednesday the president floated the idea. Would you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferral of power after the election . We will have to see what happens. You know that ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots. Some republicans pushed back. Senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, there will be an orderly transition just like theres been every four years since 1792. Were the United States, were not a banana republic. The white house attempted to spin the comments. I think his point of view is that its necessary and constitutionally correct to nominate and confirm the ninth Supreme Court justice, that that would give us a strong safeguard with respect to the coming election. But on thursday, the president doubled down. We want to make sure the election is honest and im not sure that it can be. The last thing we need is the equivalent of a coup. I mean, this is not who we are. And joining me now is a member of the Senate Republican leadership team. Hes chair of the approximately see committee, senator roy blunt. Welcome back to meet the press qwest press, sir. Good to be with you, chuck. I want to start with the Supreme Court nomination and the timing of the vote on confirmation. I know you have said that you think this can be done before election day. The question i have for you is should it be done before election day and if so, why . Well, what i said what ive said was this needs to take all of the time it needs to take, but it doesnt need it take more time than it needs to take. Ive talked to senator graham about this, and trying to make arrangements as the chairman for the rules committee for rules, space, security and other things, and hes laid out a plan that lays out the standards of past hearings and could be done before election day. If for some reason, its not done, well do it after election day, but i think were likely to get this done some time in the month of october. You have no you have no qualms about doing this before the election . Youve seen polling is pretty overwhelming on this issue. A large majority of the American Public do not believe that this president should pick this this president before the election should make this pick. It should be whoever wins the election. That is not an unreasonable thing for the American Public to think, is it not . Well, it may not be unreasonable, but the constitution sets up two standards to get on the court. One is the president has to make a nomination and two is that you have to have the senate that will accept that nomination and agree with that nomination and its been 15 times in the history of the country when theres been justice, vacancy in an Election Year and when the president and the senate are in political agreement they almost always fulfill the two obligations and if they werent they almost never did. So what would the deadline be . I said when president obama made ms. Nomination, that not only would he want to make a nomination that he was constitutionally obligated to make a nomination and the other half of that necessary formula just wasnt there to get that done and now it is there. Do you regret the hypocritical argument you guys made four years ago creating this this sort of standard out of thin air and then backtracking on it four years later . I know you guys came up with these footnotes and it depends on who controls the senate. Senator blunt, nobody made those footnotes and it was crystal cheer to the American Public what your views are. Are you concerned that the Party Looks Like hypocrites four weeks before the issue . The voters will have to look at that and decide. I said a number of times in 2016 exactly what i just said to you, that the two things had to be in agreement for this to happen and when it is in agreement then voters have to weigh in and give as much direction as they want to and in 2016 they retained a republican majority in the senate. In 2018, after two Supreme Court nominations they increased that majority in the senate and i dont know that we can make this decision or i know we shouldnt make it based on the politics of it, but what our job is and the agreement to get the job done. The president has made election disputes one of the rationales why she needs to be rushed on to the court. Does this not put her in a position to look like the courts being politicized . Again, this, the way this is being orchestrated, the way the president s talking, its it could end up delegitimizing the court in the eyes of the public. Are you concerned about that, particularly the president s comments . Well, i dont know that thats a reason for her to go on the court. I think there are lots of reasons for her to go on the court. Im eager to vote for her. She was on my short list the last time of people that i would hope the president might have nominated and im eager for that to happen. I am concerned, chuck, about this idea that somehow the election wont be fair. I think the election may be complicated. I talked about this on the floor of the senate last week. I said the best place to cast a ballot is at the polling place on election day. You have all the information if youd voted two weeks ago you wouldnt have been thinking about this particular circumstance right now, but you have all the information. You vote, you watch your ballot go into a counting system that youre pretty sure of, and then i said, but if you dont want to do it that way you should take advantage of all of the other opportunities to vote, but we really should remember the other opportunities are a little more complicated and there are always questions about absentee ballots, should you sign the envelope . Was the postmark correct . Yeah. I think we will see the litigation and to some extent the Electoral College will help us once again and it will take most of the stakes off the table Election Night and maybe a handful of states were going to have a fight about when ballots came in and whether they should be counted and whether the signature was necessar its way through that. If the president s be sworn in e 20th. If Vice President biden is elected hell be sworn in on january the 20th. At this point im sure there will an inauguration and i look forward to seeing that happen. You think the voting will be fair and it is going to be complicated. The president does not say those things. Are you concerned that he has undermined the legitimacy of the election in the eyes of some . Well, i hope not, and ive actually passed my views on this along to the white house. I think we need to encourage our voters to vote just like the democrats need to encourage their voters to vote, but voters should also understand that if you make the voting by mail or absentee ballot choice, its just a little harder than going to the polling place on election day and always some percentage of those ballots are argued about if any election is close, whether its city council or the electoral vote in a state. Senator, i want to actually go back to a couple of issues that maybe be impacted due to Supreme Court and that is the issue of abortion and the afford ka Affordable Care act. If ms. Barrett becomes Justice Barrett that she would overrule the Affordable Care act as unconstitutional . No. Thats not my hope. My hope is that on any case she deals with, she looks at the facts of the case and applies it to the constitution and the law, and then makes a decision and i dont know how you can predict any of that in advance. Do you want to see the Affordable Care act ruled unconstitutional and totally thrown out . Well, if it is thrown out, it will be months from the time the court hears it. Well have time to think about that argument and to do something about it. I think a lot of the Affordable Care act is now baked into the system. The one provision in the Affordable Care act that i authored said we felt nine or ten bills was keeping people on insurance and their parents insurance until theyre 26. I dont see that being reversed and i dont see preexisting conditions being protected and being reversed. No matter what the court decides, a lot of that discussion has already been had. The American People have accepted that as a basic part of the ongoing system. Right. And well have that happen. If they throw out the law it doesnt matter, you guys will pass a new one. Very quickly, you guys are rushing to confirm a Supreme Court justice. Where is the urgency on virus relief . Well, let me say on that if they throw out the law, a november hearing does not throw out the law. They wont do that until some time in the late spring or early summer before you even know what the ruling is and well have time to deal with this on virus relief, i think were doing some innovative things. There will be as many tests produced in october as people have taken up until now, about a million 150 million tests produced in october, more testing, vaccines that work but no relief from congress. But no relief from congress. Oh, on the covid, i think that is a huge mistake, chuck, to get back to school and to get back to work, to get back to Better Health we need a bill. We are very near agreement on all of the covid things that matter, what were not in agreement on is about a trillion dollars worth of other things. Senator roy blunt, republican from missouri, i appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Let me bring in cory booker of new jersey. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee. Welcome back to meet the barrett and i guess the question is its a question that ive been getting, how are democrats going to confront this nominee . Are you going to confront on the issues that are at stake or are you going to go after the process . Theres been some talk, for instance, of boycotting the confirmation hearings. Where are the democrats going here, sir . Well, i think the democrats and two republicans are with the American People. First of all, the process is not legitimate as Susan Collins herself said fair is fair. They are t they articulated a process under president obama and doing another process under President Trump and its not fair, wrong and delegitimizes the court. We have people voting already and the majority of the American People are with the democrats and two republicans who believe this should be waiting until after the election and finally, you said it, not only is the process illegitimate and should be called into question, but unfortunately, whats at stake here is stunning. Im surprised, frankly, that you could keep a straight face. You know that this is about thethe Affordable Care act. You know that this court and President Trumps nominee has put up is that she will tear down the Affordable Care act. She has written about that. This is part of his litmus test and unfortunately, americans are about to see a Supreme Court thats going to turn against a law that has provided really basic protections that the majority of americans really want. So this is about high stake, whats at stake, the right to control your own body, organizing, the right to organize into a union and its also about a process that undermines the legitimacy of the very court that is critical especially right now during a pandemic. Right. And during it seems like a crisis that this president will precipitate until after this election. Let me ask about process for a minute. In 2016, you said this, the cena the has no excuse to ignore, blockade or stonewall. The senate must provide consent and swiftly schedule hearings, debate in an up or down vote. Heres the question i have. Which president should be which should be the precedent . The ones that the republicans invented in 16 or the ones theyre inventing now . I guess you asked the same question i asked to Lindsay Graham and to republicans. Which precedent do you really believe in because you cant say one thing and then do another. Barack obama was putting up a nominee 269 days before an election. 269 days, and now we see donald trump doing it while people are voting, in the midst of an election. We clearly see the republicans have shown the height of hypocrisy in what theyre doing, as i said, even two of their members have said this is not fair. This is wrong and we should not do it. What is your this is a stunning moment in american history. Forget what the what do you believe should be the precedent, though . I think that if whether it was a republican president or democratic president , 269 days before an election you should most certainly be enough time for a hearing in congress, enough time to get this done. Is there a line you would draw . Is there a line you would draw to say, you know what . After when . I mean, you know, this does seem very subjective. Clearly i dont think its subjective at all. If voting has started and its a matter of weeks i think that thats too soon. Lincoln had a similar circumstance where it was days before an election and he did not put a nominee up. This is too short. You see the majority of the American People say wait a minute. Time out and wait until weve had a chance to vote on our health care. Wait until weve had a chance to vote for roe v. Wade and wait until weve had a vote on union rights. Right. These are the kind of things that common sense you see the the majority of the American People coming down on common sense and this is what frustrates me now in the midst of a pandemic is a lot of people are afraid about what donald trump is doing and hes injecting fear about losing their health care which is a clear and present danger during the pandemic as hes written someone about talking about this and there is a clear and present danger that a lot of us fear that a president has said hes not going to honor a peaceful transition of power and its a betrayal of the oath to defend the constitution and the United States of america and its an antidemocratic thing to say. Senator, do you plan to meet with judge barrett . It is my intention to do so. I think you know my spirit which is to sit down and meet with people and talk to them, and ill make it very clear. One of the things ill ask her is will she recuse herself . In terms of any election issues that come before us, because if she does not recuse herself i fear that the court will be further delegitimized. In other words, President Trump has said i will not accept the result of the election unless i win. I will push it to the Supreme Court and oh, by the way, during the election im going to put somebody on the court, as well. So i hope to have a conversation with her, and im blessed to be on the Judiciary Committee and have a good, informed dialogue back and forth. My larger hope is that the Republican Party realizes theyre undermining their legitimacy of the Supreme Court and that they stop what theyre doing and wait until the American Public has spoken on the election. Finally, i want to ask you about the debate tuesday night and i want to play a clip from you and joe biden from the primaries. A quick reminder. I put Forth National standards of accountability. Mr. Vice president ,spt, sir. We have a system right now thats broken and if you want to compare records and frankly, im shocked that you do. I am happy to do that. I put it up there for this reason, senator, you got the best of him quite a few times. Obviously the scoreboard is the scoreboard, we know who won the nomination, but what advice would you have for the former Vice President going into tuesday. You say i got the best of him. I say i saw the best of him. After that exchange in the back room i saw grace in him and backstage during a commercial where he came up to me and showed me the goodness and the decency thats in his heart and extended to me some of the best compliments ive ever gotten from a states person in my party. I just love the guy and moments like that dont build character, they show it, and i just think that joe biden has a chance to just lay his truth, his spirit, his character in front of the American People next to a person that even people within his own party, you saw it this week, cant stand up to his character and see him for his lies and see him as a danger and the great general mattis has said this guy is a threat to our democracy. General mattis words were pressing compared to what happened this week where he has menaced our democracy. I just want joe biden to go out and be himself. I have a lot of faith that the American Public will see his spirit and know that hell bring honor back to the office. Senator cory booker of new jersey, appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective. Thank you very much. When we come back, the growing debate in the military if an election leads to civil what if you could have the perspective to see more . At morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. We see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. We see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. Today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. We are morgan stanley. I was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. So when i heard about the applied Digital Skills courses, im thinking i can become more marketable. You dont need to be a computer expert to be great at this. These are skills lots of people can learn. I feel hopeful about the future now. stasha vo i used to braid my brothers hair, my sisters hair, stasha vo i really dont remember not being able to braid. [laughs. ] i feel hopeful about the future now. Neighbors hair. stasha vo when everything shut down, i thought, you know what . People have been asking for online classes for the longest. It was amazing. Business kept growing and growing and growing. stasha vo i feel blessed that i can still connect with others. Support others. And i am still going. Welcome back. Senior pentagon officials have gone public that the militarys role in a disputed election with repeated cases with civil unrest since may, officials have been talking amongst themselves about what to do pt president invokes the insurrection act which would give him Broad Authority to order the military on get involved in domestic disputes. Joining me is retired general h. R. Mcmaster and author of battlegrounds. The fight to defend the free world. General mcmaster, welcome back to meet the press, sir. Chuck, great to be with you. Weve had our own reporting on nbc news, and the New York Times, im sure youre familiar with both of them that theres been hand wringing among Senior Leadership in the military about what if and the fact that the president did bring up the insurrection act once already. What can you share and what concerns do you have . Well, chuck, i think whats really clear for the American People to understand is the military will have no role in a transition. In fact, even talk about it, i think, is irresponsible and thats maybe why if you detect some reticence on the part of senior military leaders or those in the pentagon that talk about it is because it shouldnt even be a topic for discussion. Our founders were very concerned about this, chuck. Its important to remember that George Washingtons grand patients fled the bloody wars of the 17th century in england, and it was the specter of Oliver Cromwell that was very much on their minds as they crafted our constitution and the separation of powers, and the very bold line between the military and politics. What did you what went through your head on june 1st when you saw what happened in Lafayette Square . Well, it was just wrong. It was more than unfortunate because what we cant do and this is really across the political spectrum, chuck, which really bothers me these days. We cant try to pull the military into politics. Some of the things the president said i think have been irresponsible and often times the reaction to what he says is equally irresponsible. I think all politicians have a responsibility of keeping that bold line in place. Certainly the military profession does, as well, to be studiously apolitical so all americans have confidence in our military institutions and that also theres never any infringement on our democratic principles and institutions and processes. Im curious, when you hear the president s views about not necessarily agreeing to a peaceful transition of power, take us back how did you interpret that . You were in the room with him. Youve probably heard him say some things that would shock people. How did you interpret those comments knowing him the way you do . Well, what i think is that its a gift to our adversaries, right . Who want to shake our confidence in who we are. Shake our confidence and our democratic principle, institutions and processes. What i write about in battlegrounds is that russia has engaged in this campaign of disruption, disinformation and denial, and if if the russians can just use our own words against us, thats the best way to pull us apart from one another. The biggest problem, though, in the russia conversation has been the president himself. You know, he still calls it a hoax and all of that, and you, right . I think susan rice, a predecessor who was the security adviser for president obama said this Political Division should be treated as a National Security threat. Do you agree with her . I absolutely agree with her and this is why i think it is so important for us to come together for civil discussions about the greatest challenges we face. Maybe thats a way for us to come back together as americans because as were at each others throats with this vitriolic partisan discourse, the world hasnt gone away, and thats what i hope will galvanize us to any back together and to reverse this polarization thats so damaging to our security and our psyche, as well. What let me ask this one more question on this, when you were if you made an attempt to get the president not to say divisive thing, how would that go . Well, chuck, i can only speak for when i was there, right . My job was to give the president the access to the best analysis across the government, and thent with his sensible limitation of those decisions. Those discussions were wide ranging and oftentimes the president evolved his assessment of situations and i think in many cases made decisions on foreign approximately see which was my area, not domestic politics, certainly, he made decisions that advanced our interests and in many cases put in place big shifts in the Foreign Policy that were long overdue. Did it surprise you that there wasnt a better handling of this pandemic . When you were there, you had a Pandemic Team on the National Security council . Were you surprised at the response given the preparations that maybe you had been familiar with . Well, i think that what we saw is a breakdown in a couple of area, right . There are three keys to Pandemic Response and one is stop it before it becomes a communist party, we couldnt do that. The second is to have a bee owe chemical repons our supply chains, and not enough stockpiles and the third area was to innovate and develop rapid therapies and ravaccines. I think the third area will be a success. What we ought to learn from this, chuck, is we have a federal system and also we have a mixture of public and private health care, and i think where there were breakdowns, it was in coordination, it was in common understanding of of the Resources Available where the gaps were and how to mobilize a response effectively. We have a team here at the Hoover Institution and were working on that with some amazing grad students to interview everybody who was at different points of this crisis and to identify the lessons and make recommendations in advance of the second wave or the next biomedical crisis. Its hard to say the words china and very quickly, but ill ask you to do it this way. Are they a competitor . Are they somebody we have to confront . Are they an enemy . How would you define them . Their arrival and we must compete with the Chinese Communist party because the Chinese Communist party is not only stifling the freedom of their own people, theyre exporting their model. If they succeed the world will be less free, less safe and less prosperous. Retired general h. R. Mcmaster, i really appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective. Former National Security adviser to the president. Good luck with your book. Thanks so much. You got it. When we come back, republicans believe that a fight a everyday its agetting closer going faster than a rollercoaster love like yours will surely come my way ahey, aheyhey [music playing] love like yours will surely come my way vo while you may not be running an architectural firm, tending hives of honeybees, and mentoring a teenager your life is just as unique. A Raymond James Financial Advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you help others. So you can live your life. Thats life well planned. Welcome back. Panelists here. Yamiche alcindor, lonny chen of the Hoover Institution at stanford university, former democratic senator Clara Mccaskill of missouri and coauthor of a book that a bunch of us knew needed to be written, its the big biography of james baker. It is fantastic. Congratulations to you and susan, peter, with that. So welcome to all of you. Peter despite me helping you sell that being boo, im going to Claire Mccaskill. What can democrats do about this confirmation fight and what should they do . Well, i think the most important fact is this is an abuse of power over a thick layer of hypocrisy. Not a good look six weeks before the election. They need to treat the nominee with respect to point out that the nomination is abusive, and then they need to really just focus on healthcare, civil right, voting rights, womens rights. This is an extreme candidate that would never have been nominated before 2017 because it would have been obvious she couldnt get 70 votes, 60 votes, so i just think they have to focus on the policy and treat her with respect and make sure the hearings dont turn into a partisan circus. Lonny chen, can this confirmation hearing become a benefit to the president without it becoming a partisan food fight . I think it could be of benefit to the president. I think certainly the big question here is how does this play for, not base voters. We know base voters will get excited about this nomination. The question is for those that remain undecided. Look, republicans and conservatives are on the cusp of remaking the Supreme Court for the next several decades. It is a momentous occasion. The president in that sense needs to focus on this nomination and focus what it means rather than getting into the other junk of about not potentially having a safe transition of power and focusing on what the nomination means and that will be his best shot to get a political vantage on this. Democrats have Public Opinion on their side and we asked the question, should the vacancy be filled immediately . Majorities in both states say postinauguration, and it matches national polls, but it is one of these things, yamiche, that democrats have Public Opinion on their side, but its not the first time theyve had Public Opinion on their side, but theyre powerless here. They are kind of powerless and when i talk to democratic sources the only thing they can say is they hope to slow down the nomination and yesterday i was at the white houses rollout of judge barrett and mark meadows said he hopes to proceed with this expeditiously and have it done before november 1st. It is clear President Trump has no way to have any roadblocks ahead of him when he looks at this nomination, and i think republicans here are feeling very confident in the idea that this will help bolster and excite the base to try to get people excited about President Trump. Peter baker, i guess the conventional wisdom on this one correct . You know, i know that, youknow, were all looking at past results here and yes, the republicans unite on judicial issues more quickly and more often than democrats do. Is this one going to play out the same way . Look, i think you presume that Republican Voters have been to some extent disenchanted with the president and so hes giving them a reason to put aside their misgivings about things like the coronavirus and other issues and come become to the full. Democratic voters were energized against President Trump and the question was whether or not this would energize him more and every day were talking about this and were not talking about the virus and thats not a political winner and 200,000 dead and he shrugged it off without giving a memorial tribute, testament to the people and im also thinking back to the first time the republican nominated a woman to be the Supreme Court justice and this is only the second time a republican has nom natsed a woman to the Supreme Court and that was last with reagan in 1991 with sandra day oconnor. Today the motivations have changed. So true. The president is going with the most ideological candidate rather than the least ideological candidate. Claire mccaskill, the history of 2018 elections continue to get written. Did Brett Kavanaugh help or hurt or was this one of those unique situations that it may have hurt the republicans nationally, but helped them in places like missouri . I think thats probably true. I think what really hurt about kavanaugh was the process. It really evolved into something that most people around the country said, you know on all their house. This is a mess, and i think that was particularly because of the facts and circumstances of that particular nomination. I actually think this nomination hurts the republicans because of the hypocrisy and abuse of power. The American People know whats going on here, and you combine that with her very extreme views on healthcare. Her very, treatment views on shes written in a dissent that felons should be entitled to a gun, but not necessarily entitled to vote. This is really somebody who is out there, and i think if that was exposed in the hearings in a respectful way i think it would help the democrats even more. Lahnee chen, could this backfire . What are you most concerned about for Republican Senate races . Is it the hypocrisy watch . You flipflop where you were in 16 and this or abortion rights and suddenly the popularity of roe v. Wade ends up hurting republicans . I think health care is the bigger concern here and even though im skeptical that the aca gets struck down even with this new conservative majority and i think health care is a topic and you talk about 2018 midterms and that was not a good topic for republicans in 2018. The more the battleground shifts to that conversation about health care, the tougher it is for republicans. If this court fight gets defined in terms of Health Care Issues and perhaps in terms of abortion, i do think it ends up being more of a challenge for republicans. Yamiche alcindor, was there concern about the way the democrats challenged the hearings or democratic leadership. Are you hearing anything this time . Im not hearing that. What im hearing is they feel like they need to be making the case more clearly about the judicial nominees and why the Supreme Court should be on democrats minds. There wasnt a lot of talk about the Supreme Court. Republicans have historically talked about judicial nominees and judges more and this shows that the democrats need to be talking about that about the fact that they need to be making it clear to democrats about what a Supreme Court conservative majority means for their personal lives. Yamiche, lonnie, peter and claire, stick around. Coming up next, when we come back, President Trump busted through the democrats big blue wall in 2016, but this is decision tech. Find a stock based on your interests or whats trending. Get realtime insights in your customized view of the market. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. Its ubrelvy. For anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if its too late, or where i am. One dose of ubrelvy works fast. It can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours, relieving pain and debilitating symptoms. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. Most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. Migraine hits hard. Hit back with ubrelvy. The anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. Find a stock basedtech. On your interests hit back with ubrelvy. Or whats trending. Get realtime insights in your customized view of the market. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. Data download time. As we mentioned at the top of the show. Joe biden is currently beating President Trump in the latest nbc news marist polling in wisconsin and michigan and hes doing so in comfortable margins and those are two states that President Trump flipped for the first time in a generation. It made us wonder why is President Trump having sch a difficult time in the polls compared to four years ago. 2012 may offer some clues. Democrats carried five of those states by five or more percentage rates. When President Trump flipped them the margin was very close. 2 in michigan,. 7 in pennsylvania and. 8 in wisconsin. Those suggest to republican erasing the historic edge in the Great Lakes Region or do at thef the vote President Trump got in those three states compared with mitt romney in 2012. Mr. Trump got two votes than romney in michigan. Each state, candidate trump coulded for less than a quarter of the total swing. He benefitted from those thirdparty votes and the current 538 polling averages look a lot more like 2012 than they do 2016. In michigan, biden is leading mr. Trump 50 to 43. In pennsylvania, hes up 50 to 45 and in wisconsin, its biden again at the 50 mark with President Trump at 44 . And mr. Trumps current percentages in those states, theyre almost exactly what mitt romney got in 2012. Look, mr. President trump was right to get credit for breaking through the big blue wall. Right now 2020s poll numbers look a lot more like obamas win in 2012 than Hillary Clintons loss in 2016. When we come back, bidens lead 20 years ago, i was an hourly associate cart pusher. The different positions ive had taught me how to be there for others. I started out as a cashier. I mean, the skys the limit with walmart. Its all up to you. Im a verizon engineer. And im part of the team building. A powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ula wiband, and its already available in parts of select cities. Like los angeles. And in new york city. And its rolling out in cities around the country. With massive capacity. Its like an eightlane highway compared to a twolane dirt road. 25x faster than todays 4g networks. In fact, its the fastest 5g in the world. From the network more people rely on. This is 5g built right. Only on verizon. At morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. We see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. We see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. Today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. We are morgan stanley. Welcome back. Tuesday is the first president ial debate. Peter baker, one of the findings we found in our polling about the president ial debates this year, i want to put it up, is how little importance it is to voters this cycle as compared to previous. We recorded the lowestever number on the question of how important are the president ial debates to you. 38 said it was important, and 2012 it was 38 . When you have 90 of people saying theyve made up their mind, perhaps we do understand that, but peter, what do you think the significance is of tuesday night . Well, i think youre right. I think the electorate has made up its mind most of it and they are prelocked in for four years. Americans have decided long ago what they think of donald trump, and they like him or hate him and that has really changed. We havent seen that with any other president in modern times and those numbers have remained remarkably static and its one of the only opportunities for t. You see the president trying to set up expectations and he tweeted this morning saying that joe biden should take a drug test. Hes trying to explain good performance saying if hes doing well it must be because hes somehow on a performance drug. Its an extraordinary thing. He tried with Hillary Clinton four years ago. Incumbent president s dont tend to do well in their first debate. They dont take it seriously and they are over confident and thats certainly what happened with Ronald Reagan in 1984, and it happened with barack obama and george w. Bush. This president is not preparing for the debate and he said he doesnt need to prepare. Well see what happens. I think youre right. This is a chance to change things, but things have been remarkably static. Claire mccaskill, your advice to joe biden after reading this Washington Post story about the debates, trump has told associates that he wants to talk about specifically about his son hunter biden. Biden is just not there. The president is so eager to lay into his rival that hes called aides to test out various attacks. Its an onslaught. Its a rhetorical onslaught and weve seen him do it before. How should biden handle it . First of all, trump has done him a big favor by lowering expectations and you always want low expectations going into that debate and trump has delivered that to biden and biden will have to challenge to make sure he focuses on tone, not content. This is going to be the American People looking at two men, one is making outrageous, nutball claims about biden using performanceenhancing drugs is going to attack him personally and he will be a bully, ugly and bizarre and the other one will be like a normal guy who wants to lead our country with unity and integrity. I think this is all about tone, and if biden can stay focused on his tone, i think hell win the debates decisively. Lahnee, i know what you would advise President Trump to do down five to ten points nationally depending on what you believe, but hes not going to follow that advice. How does he prevent this debate from, i think, getting derailed or derailing it . Look, im going to come back to the fact that the president s strong suit in every single poll including the one that nbc news has put out today is the economy. People perceive him as being strong or the economy. I know its oldfashioned of me to say, but if the president can focus that issue and if he can talk about the economy and what he plans to do, that is really the path way forward for making sure that this is an opportunity for him. Very few voters are undecided. We see that. 4 in michigan, 2 in wisconsin and to the extent that they are undecided the economy is what will swing them. I think he needs to put the pressure on biden. That will work to his advantage because the president hasnt been in very highpressure situations in the last couple of months. Yamiche, the question is can biden stay focused . For instance, this issue with the president and the peaceful transition of power. On one hand, do they want that to be half the debate or do they want to be focused on the Affordable Care act . Based on my conversations with people on the biden campaign, the former Vice President will really want to be focused on the coronavirus. Part of that will be on healthcare and peoples access to it, but a lot of it will be on the president and what they see as the president s failure to protect the country from this pandemic and the failure to see and to acknowledge it it and joe bidens going to be talking about the president admitting to bob woodward that he downplayed the virus, the danger of it in order to, quote, not create a panic. I think President Trump will derail this debate in some ways just in the fact that hes going to continue to have personal attacks on joe biden and the thing that biden donors as well as Claire Mccaskill and so many others are thinking can joe biden not lose it when someone starts going after his son. Can he make sure not to get too angry and a gaffe on when President Trump goes that ugly way and starts to really get at him. Peter baker, toward the end of your book, you make it clear jim baker at first says hes definitely going to vote for the president and then he doesnt respond to your question. Is there anything said at this debate that would flip jim baker away from trump . Jim baker does not make much of donald trump. His whole career was about a series of purposes, integrity, decency and dignitily yet he cannot break himself. He doesnt endorse trump, and has yet to vote against him. And theyre trying to accommodate themselves to the person thats had a hostile takeover of the party. Get peter and susans book. Thank you all. Youre a terrific panel and it was great to be back in studio. Before we say goodbye, a quick programming note, we debuted meet the press reports and on demand and peacock for 30 minutes and well do a dive dive in in a single topic and thou win a president ial debate, with those that have been involved in president ial debate prep for four decades. Watch this right now on peacock along with full episodes of meet the press. Well be back next week because if its sunday, its meet the press. Breaking overnight the New York Times revealing in depth reporting on decades worth of President Trumps income tax records the data suggests he paid no income tax in 10 of the past 15 years. The president fights back. Its fake news, totally fake news made up, fake. But thats just the beginning. Just out, new Police Body Camera footage that appears to be from inside Breonna Taylors home and women make history in the