Includes obama and it includes biden. With just three weeks to go, how does President Trump change the trajectory of this race . My guests this morning, senator dig durkin of illinois and senator ted cruz of texas. Plus, bill gates one on one. Were running the worst testing system in terms of who gets access to it of any country. Of his efforts to make Vaccines Available to low and middleincome countries around the world. Plus, the plot to capture Governor Whitmer. They hear the president not as a rebuke but a rallying cry. Does pret bear 1307b89 for encouraging hate groups . Joining me is nbc chief correspondent hallie jackson, hugh hewitt, teresa maria kumar, president of voto latino, and jake sherman, Senior Writer for politico. 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. From his fist day in office, donald trump has been the shauk and awe president. But its possible mr. Trump lost his ability to shock and awe us. With his poll numbers slipping, what weve seen in the past week has been President Trumpian, even for mr. Trump. He told americans not to let the coronavirus dominate their lives after he received access to treatments most Americans Still cant get. Claimed theres a cure on Rush Limbaughs show. And appeared on another show with a friendly box doctor in another city, urging his attorney general to indict joe biden and president obama, successfully pressured secretary of state mike pompeo to agree to release Hillary Clinton ee plals, pulled out of talks and begged back in and then pulled out of the debate and then it was canceled. Are we shocked, awed or or shrugging our shoulders and shaking our head . The flurry of activity helped put the president in political peril. Five battleground states have joe biden at 5 higher, including wisconsin and pennsylvania. When you look at the other swing states, biden is leading in every one but texas and its remarkable were even talking about texas, meaning that a 1980like reagan land slide is not totally out of the question. Even now with the president cleared by his doctor to return to campaigning, his sinking poll numbers have made fellow republicans nervous about their own prospects in november. Im feeling great. I dont know about you. President trump trailing in the polls and increasingly erratic spoke to hundreds at the white house on saturday, his first public event since being hospitalized. Were starting big with our rallies. Reporter still reeling from the poll performance, isolating in the white house, spent the week minimizing the virus. Dont let it dominate you. Dont be afraid of it. I think it was a blessing from god i caught it. Im telling you, we have a cure. More than just a therapeutic. We have a cure. Reporter in a 36hour media blitz, mr. Trump spent two hours on the phone with Rush Limbaugh two hours investigating me down an escalator. Reporter and took what was viewed as a fox news political analyst i know i was tested friday and im fear. Reporter blaming the outbreak two weeks ago for the outbreak. We had a super spreader at the white house and it was a situation where people were crowded together were not wearing masks. At what point do you think you contracted it looking back . It you know, i dont know. They had some big events at the white house. Perhaps there. The but this week the president appeared to blame his infection on goldstar military families. They come within an inch of my face sometimes. They want to hug me and they want to kiss me and they do. And frankly, im not telling them to back up. Reporter as his poll numbers drop, the president is searching for a political weapon, publicly pressuring the the prosecution unless bill barr indicts these people for crimes, political crimes in the history of our country, then we will get little satisfaction unless i win. Reporter and lashing out as senator Kamala Harris. This monster on stage with mike pence. Reporter senators looking to change the subject see Supreme Court nominee oscasiocortation lifeline. And telling the court trump led his guard down and got over the skis by playing out a virus threat and vulnerabilities across the country are distancing themselves. No matter who you vote for president , Susan Collins has never been more important to me. Are you proud of your support for President Trump . Im proud im fighting for arizonans on things like cutting taxes. Senator, the question was, are you proud of your support for President Trump . Im proud to be fighting for arizona every single day. Is that yes or no . Including legislation on President Trump. Are you proud of your support for President Trump . Im proud of the work were doing together. Joining me is a member of the Senate Judiciary committee and and author of a new book one vote away, how a sing the court seat can change history. Senator b what the president di over the past week, getting out of talks with congress in covid relief, pulling back in, pulling out of the debates, trying to get back in. Its been a whirlwind perhaps to be charitable. Do you believe the president s behavior is helping the Republican Party right its ship right now . Well, i will say first of all im certainly grateful that the president has recovered from covid. It was a scary several days when you had both the president and first lady diagnosed and sick. The entire country was lifting them up in prayer that they would get healthy. We need a strong president. We need a healthy president. I can tell you in the last week ive spoken to the president twice since he came home from the hospital, and on the phone he sounds strong. He sounds energetic and im grateful that the doctors were able to treat him and that he is he is getting healthy. That is a very good thing. Im sorry, go ahead. As i was going to say, look, as for the rest, were less than a month out from election day. Its the wild and woolly world of politics now, where both sides are taking shots at each other and both sides are trying to turn voters out. I guess well get the answer november 3rd. You seem to sound the alarm late last week in an interview with cnbc that you were worried about a complete sweep. What is it specifically that you believe has put you in a situation where you could lose everything, the white house, the senate and down the line . Well, you know, a lot of the headlines out of that interview caught half of what i said. So the point i made is i think theres an incredible volatility in politics right now. The delta between possible outcomes is as wide as i have ever seen. So i said look, i think theres a scenario, i believe President Trump can win. In fact, i believe he could have a significant victory and republicans could take both houses of congress. But i also think its possible that we see a democratic sweep where they win everything and it is a victory of watergate proportions. And i dont recall an election in my life with the spread, the delta between those two possible outcomes this close to an election being that wide. And, chuck, i think the outcome really turns on two things. Number one, it turns on optimism. If people are optimistic and hopeful about the future, if theyre going back to work, that will be a factor and very good election for republicans. If theyre pessimistic and depressed and hopeless, that will help the democrats. Number two, turnout. As you know, historically we have two kinds of elections, persuasion elections and turnout elections. Persuasion election youre fighting over a small band of voters who are in the middle, undecided. Turnout elections, both sides are trying to turn out their base. I think this is a turnout election. I think the hard left is showing up no matter what. They hate the president. The big open question is does everybody else show up . I hope they do. Im working hard to turn everybody out. If people turn out, it will be a good election. If people stay home, demoralized, thats how we get into a terrible election. I want to get your reaction to something the Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said this week about the way the white house handles the virus. I can tell you i have not been to the white house since august 6th. I personally didnt feel that they were approaching the protection from the illness in the same way i thought was appropriate for the senate. Senator cruz, i know you havent been i think to the white house since the middle east announcements in the peace agreements with israel. Do you share the same concern as senator mcconnell when it comes to the white house versus the United States senate . Look, i think the white house has put serious measures in place to keep people safe. I know for months the standing rule has been anyone meeting with the president has to get covid tested that day. So i have had multiple tests when ive gone over to the white house and every person in the room has been tested. Its frankly the only place you go where every person in the room is tested. As you noted, the last time i went to the white house was for the announcement of the historic middle east peace deal between israel and the uae. That was on the south lawn. It was outside in chairs. That was really a piece of history. So listen, any time you do anything right now in the age of pandemic, theres some risk of getting sick. Were fighting this pandemic. Were fighting it hard. But it remains a serious threat. I think we need to continue battling battling the virus and doing what we can to keep people safe but at the same time i dont think we should shut the entire country down to destroy every Small Business and destroy peoples job. So theres a balance weve got to find. A balance that reflects common sense. I think thats where most americans are. I know its where most texans are. If i want to ask you about the Judiciary Committee hearings but first the safety of it. Senator joni ernst from iowa, she said she thinks its a good idea if everybody did get a test before the confirmation hearings in judiciary, as she said, look, if were going to be working in close proximity over long hours, its probably not a bad idea. Do you think it would be prudent if everybody got tested considering youre selfkwa selfquarantining now because of mic lee. I think all of the senators are following the guiding physicians orders from the capitol. As to me you noted, im at the tail end of selfquarantine. I got tested and came out negative and i am spending two weeks in my apartment in d. C. , frustratingly away from heidi and the girls, but i want to do what is reasonable and beneficial to protect the safety of others. Whether you look at the hearing, the senate has had about 150 hearings that have been either remote or hybrid in the able of covid. The senate has got pretty good at this. Present. He senators are likely some may participate via virtual interaction with judge barrett and starting tomorrow, i think were going to have a full and fair hearing and its going to be an opportunity to consider judge barretts qualifications. I hope it doesnt go down the road it went last time. I hope we dont see Senate Democrats turning it into a political circus like they did with justice kavanaugh. I hope we dont see personal smears, smears directed at her family or faith. If discussions next week are about her record and jurisprudence and fitness to be a judge, great. Thats what the senate should be doing. If it becomes personal attacks, i very much hope the democrats refrain from doing that. Just a butt are you open to having everybody get tested before the hearing begins though . I think we should follow the guidance of the capitol physicians. One of the realities on this question, and its on every question that comes up, is the instant they can see it occur, the instant Justice Ginsburg passed away, Senate Democrats were united in saying do not fill this vacancy. Do not fill this vacancy. In every step theyre arguing for whatever will delay things and their on theive objective delay. You call the testing a delay tactic . I that i theyre looking for anything to delay things even a day, two or three and Senate Republicans will follow the guidance, medical guidance of the capitol physician. Weve managed to have hearings to months in a way thats been safe and protected everybodys safety. We do it socially distanced. We do it following medical guidance and will continue to follow the medical guidance. But the delay tactics of the democrats are not going to work. I think we will see, by the way, some more procedural gains and shenanigans. I dont know what theyre going to do, whether its try to boycott meetings osh try to impeach the president , but i think theyre going to try to do something to delay it. Its not going to work. I believe we have the votes and i believe judge barrett on the merits is going to be confirmed and confirmed by the end of the month, before election day. Senator ted cruz, republican from texas, thank you for coming on and sharing your speculative. Appreciate it. Thank you, chuck. Note briefly, the book on the Supreme Court number one best seller on amazon. There you go. Congratulations. If you want to know whats happening on the Supreme Court, good way to do it. You got your book plugin, thank you, senator. Joining me on the other side of the aisle, dish durbin from illinois. Senator durbin, welcome back to meet the press. I ended with the court so lets start with the court with you. You spoke with judge barrett this week. How did your conversation go . It was a good, constructive, positive conversation. I asked her not deep or legal philosophical questions, we just chatted for a minute. I really wanted to try to understand her experience as a person when it came to health care because she is being sent on assignment to the Supreme Court by President Trump and we know what that assignment is, eliminate the Affordable Care act, which protects 23 million americans and be there if the president needs her on an election contest. How do i know this . Because the president makes no secret of it. Hes said it over and over again. So we discussed my experience as a father with a sick child and no Health Insurance. And we talked about what that meant to families. Setting aside the issue of the timing of the nomination, do you find shes qualified for the job . Qualifications are interesting, because i voted against her last time because she literally had no trial experience or very little when are she was seeking this position. In terms of whether she understands the law, of course, shes been a professor, constitutional law professor at a law school. And thats pretty clear indication of her background. What is the democratic tactic here . And the reason i ask this is you do have some in your partys base that would like to see you guys go go after this nomination, fight this nomination hard. You have others who are looking at the election in three weeks and think, hey, dont dont create a situation that somehow disrupts what looks like a current trajectory for the democrats. What do you say to those at the base who are worried youre not going to fight this nomination hard enough . I can tell you this, the base is correct who believe the republicans changed the rules. Four years ago you remember very well Mitch Mcconnell and Senate Republicans to a percentette said president obama should not fill the scalia vacancy and we should wait until after the election, let the American People died. Now they completely reversed themselves. What we are fortunating on is a simple fact, two republicans senators said they will not participate in this. If two more join them, its game over. Were not at a point the American People do have the last word on the next Supreme Court justice. And take a look at the composition. Republican composition of the Senate Judiciary committee, lets start with texas. Senator cornyn is in a very tight race for reelection. Hes also in a state where there are 1. 7 Million People who lose their Health Insurance when Amy Coney Barrett votes to eliminate that program. Another 12 million who have preexisting conditions. Now you just go down the table there. I should have started with the chairman, Lindsey Graham in the state of south carolina. He has 242,000 who will lose their insurance if Amy Coney Barrett eliminates the Affordable Care act and 2 million with preexisting conditions. Iowa, joni ernest, 187,000 lose their insurance. You want to know a point were going to make . Were making a poin an impact o of so many innocent americans and impact members of this committee. I want to play a quote from you from former Vice President joe biden on the issue of expanding the court. Let me play it and ask you about it on the other side. You will know my opinion of Court Packing when the election is over. Look, the moment i answer that question the headline in every one of your papers will be about that. Other than other than focusing on whats happening now. Senator durbin, did the fact that Vice President biden used the phrase Court Packing, was that a tell of where the Vice President stands on this, that he doesnt want to see this happen . I can tell you that were getting this question. Its a common question being asked because the American People have watched the republicans packing the court on bias the past 3 1 2 years and brag about it. Theyve taken every vacancy and filled it. They sent us and we approved, only with their votes i might add, ten people whoa have been judged unanimously unqualified by the american bar association. You know how many judicial nominees came from obama who were judged unanimously unqualified . None. So we are dealing with people on the court packed into the court with little or no qualifications who are going to be there for a long time. So its understandable. The republicans raise the issue of Court Packing. Senator, the lack of answering this question sounds like as if the democrats are trying to game the results here and just trying to see what happens, and in some ways it may be that it comes across as a negotiating tool with trying to maybe convince the handful of Senate Republicans to delay these confirmation hearings. Is that what this is . Is it a negotiating ploy . It is not a negotiating ploy. Were dealing with the reality. Lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land. Mcconnell changed rules for republican senators. Were running this through at a breakneck pace without investigation that usually comes. And those are the issues. What were trying to drive home to the American People is this makes a difference in your life as to whether or not you have Health Insurance, whether or not with a preexisting condition you can afford Health Insurance. We believe once the Republican Voters across this country wake up to the reality of the strategy, many of them are going to say to their senators, listen, this is not what we bargained for. We may be conservative but were not crazy. Our family needs Health Insurance protection. When i hear ted cruz say it really hinges on optimism, i dont know what polls hes looking at but the ones i look at say 34 americans say this country is moving in the wrong direction. 23 say its going to get worse. Why wouldnt they with the antics of the president . The superspreader balcony scenes at the white house, dismissing the dangerous nature of this virus, saying hes had a miracle cure but dont release the results of his testing. I mean, its understandable people are skeptical of the republican message and are fearful of whats going to happen if this Supreme Court nominee goes through and threatens their Health Insurance. Quickly i want to ask you about Kyle Cunningham, democratic nominee in North Carolina, a state you brought up earlier in the conversation. Hes dealing with some allegations of an extramarital affair, some texts that came out. Are you comfortable the way hes handled this . Do you think he needs to provide further clarification . I havent followed it that closely other than through headlines in washington papers and chicago papers. I think hes admitted wrongdoing, apologized for it and the campaign continues. I dont know the impact of the voters in North Carolina. They make the final judgment. But hes faced it squarely and i think thats the best he can do. Senator dick durbin, democrat from illinois, thank you for coming on. Appreciate your why perspective. You got it. When we come back, very few people saw the 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. This was the theater i came to quite often. The support weve had over the last few months has been amazing. Its not just a work environment. Everyone here is family. If you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. Welcome back to the panelist. Nbc News White House expand aecht hewett jackson, jake sherman, Senior Writer of politico, marie teresa. And i want to start with peggy noonan, and what she wrote, a very elegant way to try to write about the current state of politics. No one will talk about it in public because theyre not idiots. Journalists dont want to be embarrassed if they got it wrong. Republicans dont want to demoralalize the troops and the networks have to keep everybody hopped up on the horserace. I will take a small offense to the last part of that comment. But jake sherman, is this the thing everybodys whispering about on capitol hill in washington as far as youre concerned as well these days . Yes, if you look across the board, polls out have donald trump down by 12 points, losing almost every state in the midwest. I have talked to people in the last couple of days, and i will write this in the next couple of days, republicans will lose seats in the house of representatives, who are at risk of losing their senate majority. Yes, absolutely, i think its undoubtedly true that republicans at this point in this clip, might become famous if im wrong, are in a really tough spot. Hallie jackson, how selfaware let me ask it this way how selfaware of this Current Situation are the people around the president . Thats a good question, chuck, as far as the distinction between the presiound him. I would say this, theres an acknowledgment the public polling is not obviously going their way. I still hear things from folks around the campaign, close to the campaign, internal polls show them doing better. Theres a sense people around the president four years ago in 2016 saw the polls maybe not moving their direction yet. Obviously it was a lot different landscape than 2016 but for so many of these folks underdog fighter sense they have lingering from the last four years. I will also say this, chuck, from the president himself, i think he knows if theres a way for him to change some of this, right, to change the slide that he seems to be on, its by getti getting out. Getting out and doing ral yils. His Coronavirus Diagnosis means hes not been able to do that. I can tell you based on sources i talked to this weekend, hes climbing walls to get out of the white house compound. Hes in a mode would hes in nobodys listening to me, im right and everybody else is wrong attitude. He feels he wants to be flexing his muscles, getting out, dictating some of these things. The challenge, of course, he has a team of people around him who are trying to channel some of that energy, if you will, into a way that could be potentially productive and theres a real question mark whether the president is willing to go along with these things or not. Bottom line he has rallies set up monday, tuesday, wednesday in various key ground battle states of florida, pennsylvania. To him, that will make the difference. Hugh hewitt, heeshz a republican strategist who told us friday republicans hoped we would would be talking about senate races in colorado, arizona and maine instead there are outcomes in states like south carolina, georgia and kansas. The point being about this time in october of 1996 when the word went out, its every republican for themselves. Dont worry about bob dole anymore. How close are republicans to that mindset . They were close, chuck. But this is a week of dozen repn senators. The Vice President ial debate really turned it around for a lot of republicans. As did the president s sort of powerful energy on conservative media getting back out there. Theyre not afraid he will be out of the picture generating base enthusiasm. I remember 96 when jack kemp just got completely creamed by al gore in the Vice President ial debate. This time Vice President pence played direct to pennsylvania on fracking, direct to pennsylvania on the Supreme Court. So i think across the senate map, i believe the down in double digits but closing nationally. But across the senate map, this was a very good week and thats not even counting the Kyle Cunningham collapse in North Carolina. Maria teresa kumar, i will say this, i was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm i heard from ted cruz about the president s political standing. He said hes expecting a bloodbath, right . And i think thats exactly why you have individuals now saying, shoot, we basically gave our Republican Party over to donald trump and he has such an outsized figure, our destiny is intertwined. You showed a clip of mcsally. She couldnt distance herself from the president because if she denounces him, shes on his bad list. Yet the people of arizona recognize shes not this person whos going to get him out of this rat. When you look at the polls and see 79 of individuals are fearful for this election, its not theyre fearful of covid or health care or environment, theyre fearful for the person at the top, the person at the white house making these decisions. This is going to be a an election folks are going out because theyre fearful and fearest about their safety. And what Kamala Harris did so brilliantly during the Vice President ial debate is she was talking to suburban white women saying, your life does not have to be this way. Youre right now feeling insecure. Come back to the democratic party, like you did during the 2018 election. Thats who she needed to win over and i think she does an excellent job. Maria teresa, you did a great segue for a graphic i want to put up. This issue of whos hopeful and whos fearful. This was fascinating. Your feelings on the state of the country and they asked a general question, are you fearful, or are you hopeful . What was interesting while the majority of the country said theyre fearful, biden supporters, hallie jackson, were more likely for fearful. 79 of biden supporters call themselves fearful, trump supporter called themselves hopeful. I will say this, fear motivates. Trump supporters were more fearful four years ago and that worked. And youre starting to see that. I was struck by something senator cruz said, chuck, which hes been talking about if fear motivates its an acknowledgment from the senator the democrats would likely do better. Youre seeing republicans try to take that and spin it as democrats are the ones painting a dark and dystopian message to motivate people to come out polls. In reality some of the language and rhetoric we heard from President Trump, what hes been running on so far, has been this message of law and order which his supporters appreciate. Critics say listen, youre talking about trying to scare suburban women and some of the key voting contingencies with the language youre using and picture your painting. I think that will be critical over the next coming weeks. I will say this, the political landscape, if it is a fearful landscape, we know that is usually a greater motivator. Let me pause the conversation there. When we come back, how likely is it we will have a Covid Vaccine soon and who will get it . Coming up, my interview with bill gates on my name is henry. Working within amazon transportation services, i really saw the challenge of climate change. We want to be sustainable, but when you have a truck covering over 300 miles, or you have flights going hundreds of miles, its a bit more challenging. We are letting the data guide us to the best solution. Its inspiring to try to solve a problem that no one else has solved. Thats super exciting. People are waking up tog withe whats possible with rybelsus®. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways. Increases insulin. Decreases sugar. And slows food. The majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. People taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. Rybelsus® isnt for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Dont take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. Stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Tell your provider about vision problems or changes. Taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. Side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration which may worsen kidney problems. Wake up to whats possible with rybelsus®. Please dont take my sunshine away. You may pay as little as 10 per prescription. Ask your Healthcare Provider about rybelsus® today. Welcome back. Despite what President Trump claimed on friday, there is no cure nor is there a vaccine for the coronavirus, at least not yet. But when a vaccine becomes available, bill gates will be ready. The Gates Foundation has committed some 350 million to support the Global Response to covid19. Much of that money is being spent to purchase and distribute a vaccine to low and middleincome countries around the world. And mr. Gates joins me now from seattle. Mr. Gates, welcome to meet the press. Thank you. I want to start with those ts from the president about the treatment he received, because these monoclonal antibodies, hes called this cocktail that he got, this experimental cocktail hes got, hes called it a cure. This is something youve been talking about too as well, and i think the foundation supported, research on this. Could this become the leading therapeutic for the coronavirus as we go forward . Yeah, the word cure is inappropriate because it wont work for everyone. But, yes, of all of the therapeutics, this is the most promising and so weve been working with companies doing antibodies. We reserved factory capacity all the way back in the spring, and now were partners with eli lilly, who with they can marate quite a bit. So far we only have dexamethasone and we helped fund a uk trial with that. Adding this to the tools would be a great thing. Whats realistic about getting access to this for hundreds of thousands of people that may need it . Right now the president is the president. So hes got some hes got access to this experimental treatment. How quickly could this be distributed around the country . Well, very, very few people have had it because its not approved, and the manufacturing is just ramping up. Now, the pharmaceutical companies are working with each other, sharing capacity, very focused on this. Its a very impressive story, just like on the vaccine side. Little bit you dont want politicians saying something should be approved because its wrong to think of political pressure needing to be appropriate in these cases. I hope the fda can take the data, which is looking quite good, and get these out in the next few months, because we have so little to save lives and were going back up to record levels of deaths here in the fall. Lets move to the vaccine. We know theres a lot of vaccine candidates out there. From where youre perched, where are we on this progress and when do you expect to see the first one that can be used for, say, elderly and those First Responders . Yes, its very impressive how the pharmaceutical industry has diverted resources, gotten involved. The u. S. Government, this is one category weve actually done a decent job, has funded the research here. And so i think its likely by early next year several of these vaccines will get that emergency use authorization. I want to end our conversation going back to the pandemic and overall response. Its interesting for the first the time in its 208year history the new england journal of medicine took a stance on the u. S. President ial election. They didnt name the president himself. But heres what the editors wrote the federal government has largely abandoned Disease Control to the state, instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed opinion leaders and charlatans that obscure the truth and that sill tate the promises of promulgation of outright lies. We should not abet them and allow the deaths of thousands of more americans by allowing them to keep their jobs. Let me ask you this, can we do a reset in our response or is it too late . Well, there are a lot of additional deaths coming if we dont get our act together. The fact the testing results dont come back within 24 hours, we should be reimbursed for these things. We are running the worse testing system, who gets access to it, of any country. Yes, thats not that hard to fix. You do have to admit you havent done a good job and make some straightforward changes in that case, just the way the reimbursement is done is crazy. So there is an ability to in terms of leadership that helps with the right behaviors to protect people. We can still do a lot better. Other than funding research, we fall very low in terms of how the quality of our response, which is the opposite of what you would have expected, so there will be a lot of work in the post mortem. Why didnt we Pay Attention to the warnings . Why didnt we distaff the positions that worked in these areas . Just trying to assess blame is not what the focus should be now. Focus should be get the diagnostics right. Dont pressure so their integrity is clear cut and vaccine cut to get it to everyone with the right message, including get it to the world so that the disease isnt constantly coming back in to our country. I guess the question is, do you fear that the mask debate basically its been lost . The state of florida, the governor there is telling the nfl teams, go ahead and fill your stadiums to capacity. Its okay. Theres no mask mandate, no anything. The football teams have decided not to do this, mr. Gates. But this is the rules there. If this is where we are, does it basically mean the vaccine is our only hope of getting back to normal . Yes, society should be able to have things like schooling that get a priority versus certain more entertainmentrelated things. And i guess politicians will show what theyre value system is there. The only way we will get completely back to normal is by having maybe not the first generation of vaccines but eventually a vaccine that is super effective and a lot of people take and that we get the disease eliminated on a global basis. That is where we can finally start taking all of the problems that have been created in education, mental health, and start to build back in a positive way. Bill gates, obviously, founder of microsoft, one of the biggest philanthropists around the world these days, thank you for coming on. I appreciate your perspective, sir. Great to talk to you. When we after my heart attack, everything changed. But i got a Second Chance to be there for the people i love. When i had a heart attack, my doctor chose brilinta. Its for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. Brilinta is taken with a lowdose aspirin, no more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. Brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. Brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack or dying from one. Dont stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. Brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. Dont take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. Slow heart rhythm has been reported. Tell your doctor about bleeding, new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. I take nothing for granted. Because im a survivor. Ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Astrazeneca may be able i remember herwho was because she had a bracelet that had the names of her children. She asked me, doctor, am i going to be okay . and i could not give her the answer that i wanted to give her. There is no excuse for why we dont have this under control at this point. Joe biden listens to medical experts. He actually has a plan that does the things that we should have been doing many months ago. And joe biden is not going to let his ego get in the way of fighting the disease. Ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. This is the feeling of total protection now that we protect your identity, and mobile phone, as well as auto home and life youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today welcome back. As joe bidens lead hits double digit nationally, a lot of republicans are and wondering what that could mean down ballot and not just house and senate. This year there are 86 chambers also on the ballot. In a census year, gop can take away the gops huge advantage when it comes to redistricting. How likely is it the democrats can flip some of these leggive chambers . First lets look at highly competitive states controlled by republicans for decades n all three republicans are in danger of losing majorities especially with joe biden ahead in the polling in michigan and North Carolina and also up by a point now in iowa. And then theres texas. Republicans have held the Lone Star State for almost two decades. The texas house was last controlled by democrats in 2002. Winning it back would be a team climb. They need to flip nine seats. But texas looks like a trump biden swing state now and that can filter down to the statehouse. What about florida . The Florida Senate was last controlled by democrats in 1994, last century. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to gain it back. Of course, florida is always neck in neck. Right now biden is up by four points in the averages. Nationally arizona. The last time democrats had control of the statehouse there was 1966. But they only need to gain two seats for a flip in a state thats clearly trending blue. To be clear, it would take a blue tsunami for democrats to seek seats in all of these states but with less than a month to election day, a lot of scientists suggest there may be real potential down ballot problems for republicans and with redistricting on the line, these legislative elections will help determine congress for the next decade. When we come back, that plot to kidnap 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. This was the theater i came to quite often. The support weve had over the last few months has been amazing. Its not just a work environment. Everyone here is family. If you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. We thought for sure that we were done. And this town said not today. Thats why i take osteo biflex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. While helping with occasional joint stiffness. Osteo biflex. A good education takes you many different horizons and that sticked to my mind. So, when 1 a day came out, i said, why not . Why not just utilize that resource. And walmart made that path open for me. Without the 1 a day program, i definitely dont think id be in school right now. Each week for me in school is just an accomplishment. I feel proud every step of the way. Hate groups heard the president s words not as a rebuke but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fratternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions and their complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit. That was Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer after the news of the arrest of 13 separate individuals charged with either state or federal crimes, basically, in a collusion in an attempt they wanted to kidnap the governor and apparently put her on trial. The president responded to Governor Whitmers remarks on twitter saying Governor Whitmer, michigan has done a terrible job. Rather than say thank you she calls me a white supremacist. Governor whitmer, open up your state, open up your schools and open up your churches. Maria teresa kumar, this was a frightening event, and im struck at how partisan the response already is. You have a president of the United States when asked on Public Television during a debate whether or not he would denounce the proud boys, a white supremacist organization, he not only said he told them to stand by and stand back, but thats not a denunciation of White Supremacy. When you look at what he was saying and tweeting against the governor back in april because she was encouraging the state of michigan to be safe, these individuals got politicized by his tweets. And they started mobilizing and doing a plot. But this is what is really interesting, you see what finally triggered them was the head of the plot decided he couldnt get into his gym and he was fed up, talk about incredible privilege of why he was deciding to do this. This was where the president cant even denounce even there that the this is what was hanning. What Governor Whitmer did was say thank you to the Law Enforcement. When were headed into this election, chuck, this is what concerns me. Im part of a nonpartisan National Election crisis task force. In my 20 years of working in politics, weve never had to convene such a thing. Michael chertoff is part of this task force. And our biggest concern is will Law Enforcement have enough support to ensure that during this election season that were currently in that they kind of can appropriately thwart these kind of attempts we will see . And the only way we can ensure that is true is if the president now starts denouncing that potential chaos. Hugh hewitt, the president s decision to go on the attack on Governor Whitmer and not denounce this terrorist threat against her, big political mistake by him . No, i think theyre terrorists and weve got to be very clear they dont define police define the people seeking police reform. Theyre terrorists. Theyre mcveigh level dangerous terrorists and im glad the fbi did their it ought not to put offlimits any criticism of the governors approach to the virus or praise to the governors approach to the virus. I think it will praise hard, hard to the energetic mainstream tactics from here until the end. I think he will seize on the Supreme Court. I think he will seize on Court Packing not being answered. I read about it in the post this morning but i dont think he has to respond to every allegation from everyone in every situation. Hallie jackson, heres what struck me about this. You would assume the president had been told about this in his pbd. This is not something you would keep from the president. The president had to have known about this probably for weeks. And he didnt even it was no thought of calling her up, no thought of doing Something Like that . It seems a very intentional decision that he wanted no part of this and then when he didnt like what he heard, he wentom w from the president in instances like this before. You have to remember, he is somebody and this is what i hear all the time from people around the white house, in the white house, on the campaign, the president denounced White Supremacy in the past. That is technically accurate. He certainly has done that. At the same time hes done that when hes come under immense political pressure to do so. It is not something in the past he has easily volunteered and that is where critics are especially concerned about the president s rhetoric, his language on this. You have to remember, too, chuck oftentimes the president will say he doesnt know about something until it is sort of the main headline hes getting pummeled with questions about. I think too what happened recently with the situation of the qanon conspiracy, for example, proud boys, the president said im not super clear what that is, even though the expectation is and presumption is she understands these sorts of National Security threats because shes right, this is terrorism what happened, but the president would have been briefed about those things, chuck. Jake, on capitol hill i was surprised there wasnt more bipartisan concern, more bipartisan sort of calls to, wow, we really this has gotten out of whack. There seems to be a lot of muted responses, particularly on the right. Thats right, missed opportunity, right . The story could have been very easily it was a terrorist group that have plotted to kidnap and harm the governor of michigan. Instead its a story, multiday story here on a sunday, about the lack of response from the president of the United States, not saying, you know, praising the Law Enforcement and saying its a horrible thing that happened but instead attacking the governor and on political same kind of tone. So i just its an unforced error by republicans to not just go out and say that immediately and move on from this awful this awful instance. Is it the same thing, jake, they dont want to get on the wrong side of the president . Thats probably right, chuck. Its a very tribal kind of response. No, and we hear it a lot on this show. Thank you all. And before we go, i i want to let you know about a special podcast we have go, florida, florida, florida, the fivepast series exploring the bush v gore recount and why it is still relevant today. That podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts and subsequent episodes will be released this week. Thats all we have for today. Thank you for watching this early hour. We will be back next week at our normal time because if its sunday, its meet the press. A week after being released from the hospital President Trump says he now is immune to coronavirus. His doctors have yet to disclose his last negative test and today he launches a comeback tour with 22 days to the election. Judge Amy Coney Barrett gins Supreme Court confirmation hearings today. Well preview her Opening Statement and also whats missing from her remarks. A protest turns deadly as Security Guard for a local tv crew allegedly opens fire and kills a protester. Nfl outbreak a major game delayed as players