have much of a future, in donald trump's republican party. welcome to tuesday, it is meet the press daily, i'm chuck todd. president biden approaches the halfway mark in his first 100 days in office. facing a prior of different crises that's going to test his presidency in different ways, facing tremendous pressure to keep the momentum going on what is clearly an improving covid outlook. to hold the positive trends that we're seeing. cases going down, deaths going down, hospitalizations down, and most importantly vaccinations up, up, up. but health officials continue to urge caution and there's already a bit of brewing confusion over the cdc's recent guidance, which okays a fully vaccinated americans to potentially see their families but discourages the kind of travel required for many to actually see their families, diving into that coming up. and there's biden's signature piece of covid legislation, $2 trillion in relief that he is expect today sign into law this week after the house formally passes the senate's version. now contrast the improving covid crisis with the brewing crisis at the border. right now the white house is facing difficult questions about both the cause and the remedy for a surge in unaccompanied migrant children in border patrol custody. two sources confirm that nearly 3,200 children are being housed in holding facilities, nearly half held beyond the current three-day legal limit. the cells are not designed for children, concrete rooms with concrete metal benches and no beds. jen psaki acknowledged during "morning joe" that they're in a tough spot. despite the baggage from inhumane policies. gop leaders are seizing on it, calling it a crisis of the president's own making. >> i watched this morning, i saw the white house press secretary jen psaki say that she was heartbroken by what's happening at the border. and to that i would say policy has consequences. when you say that you're not going to enforce our immigration laws, that you're not going to build a border wall, it has consequences and we're seeing the tragic consequences of that right now at the border. >> in a moment i'm going to talk with former congressman cedric -- one of the most trusted advisers in the west wing. let's bring in our chief white house correspondent. peter alexander. i know right now the focus of this white house is to let the country know what's in this covid bill, very specifics, president biden out there talking up ppp loans today, he's got a speech to the country on thursday. but this immigration issue is turning into the -- you have planned events that you worry about. this is turning into an unplanned, unplanned problem that is confronting this administration. >> yeah, chuck, i think you're exactly right, and in conversations from this white house it's clear that at least for the moment they're doing their best to try to blame the previous administration, the trump administration for its cruelty, in their words, that they say in effect has tied their hands on this issue. but the issue is very clearly now in their hands as they try to combat this. but there is a very different policy that they're embracing right now. they believe it would be inhumane to return these children back to their previous countries for the treacherous journey as jen psaki describes it. their desire is to take in these migrants, within 72 hours, get them into these shelters, get to the families that sponsor them. they're trying to do that in 72 hours. as you just reported, the numbers are rising dramatically, joe biden, i'm told, the president, was briefed on this issue just last week, with dhs communicating their expectation that it could be 117,000 unaccompanied migrant children in the u.s. this year alone. the president deploying top advisers and aides and even the homeland security secretary to a border patrol station, into one of those shelters in texas to see the issue firsthand as they try to deal with it. but clearly, chuck, as you note, this is a very significant challenge as they describe it. the president just moments ago as he was trying to raise the focus on covid relief bill was asked by a reporteder whether this is a crisis, what he would do about it but he didn't answer that question. chuck. >> i'm going to move to the cdc guidance for fully vaccinated. his big fear was you get to the point and maybe the delay is they're trying to strike the balance of still keeping up some precautions. but at the same time acknowledging the reality that, hey, you're vaccinated, you obviously are in a much better place to circulate in society. these are -- i think some people look at this and think they're pretty strict for a vaccinated person. are folks in the white house nervous this is going to be discouraging to people getting vaccinated? >> well, it's clear that in some parts of this country the white house agrees that some people are playing by their own rules already. it was the president who said to me that it was in effect neanderthal thinking. in places like mississippi and texas. if they lock things up too strictly, but most people where they are adhering to the restrictions they want the best information why this white house believes the consistency of its messaging with covid briefings they have on a near daily basis is really helping here. chuck, you're right, it's a real challenge, as more and more people get vaccinated, more and more people feel like they can return to their lives. you're dealing with separate populations, how do you communicate a singular message to all of them where you don't risk a rebound as it were, another surge in this virus, especially given those variants that have produced so much concern in large parts of the country with the potential to be spread more easily but also in some places perhaps more deadly as well. >> peter alexander getting us started on the white house north lawn. our chief white house correspondent, peter, thank you. i want to dig deeper into the situation at the border. i'm going to turn to my colleague julia ainsley who of course has been covering this for a few years now through the trump administration and now here. so let's do this in layman's terms, julia, why is there a surge at the border? is this due simply to the election? >> no, it's not simply due to the election. i think that that is a part of it. one thing that i'm hearing internally at dhs is that they are worried about false narratives getting out through spanish media, or through cartels that are trying to convince people to make this journey, telling them that it's okay, there's a new slf sheriff in town, biden will let people in, the borders are open. there is concern about that internally within dhs. that's not the case. if you show up to the border now you are not guaranteed to come in and be able to claim asylum. they have a number of people ahead of them who have been waiting during the trump administration to come in and make that claim. but the other piece of this, chuck, that's so important is that under the trump administration the trump administration used the cdc authority known as title 42 to keep out all immigrants, to very quickly expel them because they said it was protecting immigrants and americans from the pandemic, from covid-19. now, a judge in november put an injunction on that for children and the biden administration has kept that going saying we're not going to turn children back away, which is why we are now looking at a larger number simply of unaccompanied children because they're no longer being expelled and some of them were waiting to get in, fleeing desperate situations and they are now at a point where they can come in, claim asylum and be processed but they are coming into a country that hasn't been able to revamp systems for them. a lot of these border processing facilities were built in the early 2000s dealing with migrant men. what's more, health and human services facilities, much better equipped to take in children are at a decreased capacity because they too had to go to smaller numbers during the pandemic. >> so, julia, president biden did make three changes at the border via executive order and i'm just curious how you would say these have impacted what we're seeing there down there, he ended the remain in mexico policy. he ended the metering policies that limited the asylum seekers. you brought up the cdc role with that in there as well. by ending the asylum seekers it's pretty obvious you have those that were sort of in the front of the line as you brought up. they now want their shot and we're treating them as normal asylum seekers, new poem are coming in thought i couldn't do it before but now i can. explain how the remain in mexico policy is impacting this now. >> i'm so glad you brought that up. what the remain in mexico policy did is it created camps, tents, cities along northern mexico right across from some of the main ports of entry into the united states where people were living sometimes more than a year in terrible conditions where they could be kidnapped and held for ransom, all while trying to get into the united states just to have their day in court. sometimes they would show up at the bridge for the day they were going to get their hearing only to be told, no, it's been cancelled, come back at another time. right now one of those key cities, matamoros, mexico, they were able to process all of those people are waiting and anyone who did remain they've put in other facilities. they've been able to move them to different places along the border. what that does is yes it means many of those people are being processed, but it's also an optics thing. someone in central america about to make this journey and they find out their family member who left a year ago is still waiting in that condition where they're being kidnapped and having to stay in tent cities in mexico, not able to get in, that's a different message back to central america and often times we can see one policy have an effect that has nothing to do with the specifics of that policy simply because of the mood and the messaging and i do think that that could potentially be more of what we're seeing here, but what we really need are those february numbers, which should be coming soon, which should show, and we expect it to show, a very large spike in overall migration, not just with those children and we're going to want to know how many of those immigrants just recently left their countries and how many have been waiting to get in. >> because that's something we don't yet know. julia ainsley is on top of this story for us, thank you. joining me now is white house senior adviser, a former member of congress from louisiana, cedric richmond. cedric, thank you for coming on. but first let me start with covid relief bill. is there any reason to believe you're going to have any problems in the house or is all systems go that you expect to see this bill signed, and i guess the question i have for you is, when should somebody who's expecting a $1,400 check see that $1,400 check? >> well, thank you, chuck, the answer to both, one, we don't have any evidence or reason to believe that the house is not going to pass this historic piece of legislation. it is progressive, it is transformational and we think it's going to happen. the second question about checks, i think that our goal is for people to start receiving checks by the end of the month if we can hurry up and get the bill passed and the president is able to sign it then we're going to workday and night to make sure that we get checks out as quickly as we possibly can. >> is that -- what is realistic? should people assume by the end of the month, is that sort of a realistic timeline? >> yes, i think people -- i think some people will start to receive checks before the end of the month, absolutely. >> okay. let me move to immigration, i'm sure you heard our report there from julia ainsley, i know you're on top of this story. last week president biden was asked if this was a crisis and he was like no this isn't a crisis yet. you still feel that way? >> look, i do agree with the president that it's not a crisis yet, look, it is something that we are dealing with, and we have procedures in place to help. we're trying to do it in a different manner, a more humane manner. so when children present themselves at the border unaccompanied we take them into cbb custody and we try to get them into hhs custody as quickly as possible because that way we can put them into a setting where they can receive educational services, mental health services, legal services and then we can place them with a family or in a place full-time. but part of the process in terms of housing is the fact that we were sticking to covid-19 guidelines in terms of not inundating the place with a number of of people, trying to have social distancing and all those things. it's something we're monitoring, working on and we're concerned about but we're going to keep working to see if we can get it right. >> let me ask the question in this way, cedric. do you believe there is a limit into how many of these unaccompanied minors we can place in the united states? >> well, i'm not sure, chuck, that that's the question. the real question is, you know, what are they fleeing from? two tornadoes, gangs. and we -- we assume, and look, i have a 6-year-old. we assume that it is easy for a parent to make the decision to ship their kid off a thousand or so miles with the hopes that they land in america because it's a better place because they know that if they keep them where they are they will probably not make it or they will be killed or they'll die or they'll end up in human trafficking. that's the real question. so we have to put some real emphasis and the weight of the country into all of those things because, look, if they come and they present themselves at our border we're not going to turn -- we're not going to turn an unaccompanied minor around. there's a procedure to do it and that's what we're going to do. >> you know, i feel like you're in a trap here, cedric, and the trap is this, is the previous administration didn't care if they were seen as inhumane on how they handled this. they just didn't care about it. and they had a -- whatever you want to call it so it didn't bother them, whatever, for whatever reason, maybe individuals it bothered but for whatever reason it didn't. and you also have a political party that has no interest in helping you fix this. so it feels as if you're on this alone but you can't fix it alone. so that's what i mean when i feel like you guys are in this, in a no-win situation. are you going to be stuck dealing with this by executive order because you're just not going to get the cooperation of the republican party? >> look, we would hope to get the cooperation of the republican party. we were hopeful we would get it on the american rescue plan that is going to help so many millions of americans, 185 -- 158 million americans will get a check. but on this issue, we're going to try to go at it in a bipartisan manner. but again we will not let obstruction get in the way of values and progress. and this is something we're going to have to work on. no one said that any of this stuff would be easy. and we accepted that but we also accepted that we're going to work, work, work until we make progress and get things right. i think the american people are okay with the fact that we're going to work to get it right. and that we're going to do it in a humane way because that's who president biden is, and vice president harris. and so it's a work in progress. but it's something we're dedicated to getting right. >> let me get you to respond to henry -- a former colleague of yours in the house. border congressman, democrat. take a listen to what he said. >> the administration in my opinion is listening to the immigration activists. that's okay. but they're not listening to the border communities, the people there at the border, they're being affected, that's what's missing in this agenda, they need to talk to not only the public officials, the mayors, the ngos, but they need to listen to the men and women in green and blue at the border. they know what's happening. >> senator, do you think that's a fair criticism? that you guys are listening to the activist community too much? >> well, no, i don't think it's a fair criticism. i think we've been listening and talking to everybody. that's what we do as an administration, we search for facts and we engage our stakeholders. i think congressman quaia is one of those. to some extent i understand his frustration but we have to weigh a bunch of different interests, a bunch of different sides and engage with a bunch of different stakeholders. of course he's one of them. he's been a leader for a long time. he's a valued democrat and valued friend but i don't think that that criticism is totally accurate at all. >> and finally, before i let you go, and look i know you've got a lot of things on your plate, i want to ask you about vaccine issues in the south. there was this headline in kaiser health and it caught our eye. an alabama, south carolina and louisiana, your home state, cvs is saying its vaccine appointments are going unfilled. do you have a good explanation as to why that is? >> no, i'm not. to tell you the truth if cvs is saying that then the people they should be saying that to is us and i just left jeff zients office a few minutes ago talking about vaccine and reports of what happened in community health centers yesterday which was a good report. i'm just not sure on what cvs is saying but i can tell you this, we've left no stone unturned in what we're willing to do to get vaccines out to communities of color, why we went to pharmacies and community health centers. my statement would just be that, you know, we will contact cvs, we will find out what it is they're talking about but we're seeing demand and african-american communities, even in the south, and so maybe there's some glitch in between that demand getting to cvs. so the major point is, we need to get it right. >> senator richmond, senior adviser for president biden in the west wing there, former member of congress, good to have you on and your perspective, thank you, sir. >> thank you. coming up house democrats say they are 110% confident the covid relief bill will pass when it comes to a final vote tomorrow as house republicans continue to stand against it unanimously. what does that $1.9 trillion in stimulus mean for the average american? we'll answer those many questions out there after the cdc guidance is released. why hugging grandparents is okay, but flying to see them, not so much. 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>> that child tax credit of up to $3,000 a year for families is going to be really hard because people are going to be getting monthly checks. it's not going to get -- be consumed with their tax bill at the end of the year. and democrats know that when you create a program like this, it's really hard politically to take it away. and that is their plan. it's only in this bill for one year but they are pretty confident that they're going to be able to extend it, especially one year before an election year. there's another big cliff, though, chuck, and that's on the affordable care act. there's a massive subsidy increase in the affordable care act and that expires in two years, right around the midterm elections and so that is -- democrats put that up so that it's going to be a big campaign issue in the midterms. >> i was just going to say, both of those provisions, you identified the two i was hoping you would there, and we didn't plan this, i think those two provisions are going to be fascinating election year politics when they come up for another vote in 2022. leigh ann, thank you. i want to turn to the -- the green light some small get togethers without masks. we have a senior scholar at the johns hopkins center for health security. doctor, i know the concern, and dr. osterholm was talking to me on sunday, his concern was if you get too prescriptive on what vaccinated people have to do you may be wasting your time here. so how do you feel about these guidelines as they're set out, and are they realistic? >> i do think they're realistic. i do think they're also very cautious. and it's what we expected from the cdc, that basically take baby steps towards normalcy for vaccinated individuals and many of us infectious disease physicians are talking to patients, talking to other individuals who ask us in a more bold fashion, being more liberal with what people can do once they've been fully vaccinated and i suspect the cdc will revise these. this is the first version. as they get more comfortable with the data coming in, public health guidance will catch up. they're probably lagging what people are actually doing who are vaccinate and had we want this guidance to be relevant. we need to keep updating it on a continual basis as they feel more comfortable. >> it was really nice to see our daily death toll under a thousand over the weekend on a couple of different days and hopefully we're going to continue to trend in that direction but there's been a lot of concerns here about the potential for a fourth surge. what are you seeing, do you feel better today than maybe folks felt last week, particularly with the variants? >> i do feel better. i think we saw a little bit of stalling. if you look at the 14-day average everything still looks to be going down. even in the face of the b.1.1.7 or the uk variant increase. it seems our vaccine rollout is working and we're getting more and more of our vulnerable population vaccinated which is going to have an impact on hospital capacity, on deaths. so i do think we'll see the virus be tamed by this vaccine, even the variants. if our vulnerable populations are vaccinated, this virus will not have the ability to cause severe illness, hospitalization and death and that's really what's mattered through the pandemic. as long as rollout continues and we continue to have people getting shots in arms i think we're looking at a good summer. >> project ahead little bit here, considering the situation in brazil, are we going to be a globe that is living with covid for a few years so we have it under control, our vaccination process is working, maybe testing and tracing is improved here right now that we've got our numbers down but eradicating covid, feels like, is going to be a much harder challenge globally here. >> there should not be any talk of eradicating covid. you cannot eradicate a virus that's part of a family of viruses that causes 25% of our common colds, that has an animal host, we don't know. we know it comes from bats, we don't know what the intermediate host is. it's already going into minks. we're dealing with covid but it's a different type of disease, one that doesn't cause hospitalization or death, more like our other respiratory viruses. that's been the goal throughout, to tame this and make it much less likely to cause a public health emergency. we have to tell people that covid zero is not realistic. only one disease has been eradicated from the planet and that's smallpox. >> we're looking at something more, is covid our new flu shot, you'll get your flu shot and your covid shot, maybe the covid shot is not every year, maybe it's every five years. >> we don't know when we're going to need to up our vaccines, boosters or updates. that's still unclear but i do think covid is going to become a seasonal respiratory virus, and one we get better at dealing with year in and year out but it's not going to disappear magically. >> are you going to be a mask wearer? are we going to culturally -- are we going to be like our friends in asia, where even two years ago if you went on a subway system in japan, everybody was wearing a mask, except the american tourists. do you think that we'll culturally probably be a mask wearing society off and on? >> i definitely think there are going to be a group of people that will continue to wear masks when the guidance is gone, especially in public transportation or crowded congregated places, likely a benefit not just for covid-19 but influenza and all of these common cold causes viruss that are out there. people may see it as a way to keep themselves healthier and that may decrease the burden of respiratory infections. i think there will be a substantial portion, much more than prior to the pandemic. >> i'm sure you've had this conversation, so have we, which is an amazing amount of people have not gotten a regular cold this year. i think we all know the reason for that. anyway, doctor, as always, appreciate having you on and your expertise. thank you, sir. >> thank you. up next, we will turn to the george floyd murder trial after a day of legal twists and turns a third degree murder charge still up in the air and yet jury selection is happening. we are live in minneapolis after this. waking up to what's 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® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't 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 what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. just over a year ago, i was drowning in credit card debt. sofi helped me pay off twenty-three thousand dollars of credit card debt. they helped me consolidate all of that into one low monthly payment. they make you feel like it's an honor for them to help you out. i went from sleepless nights to getting my money right. so thank you. ♪ instantly clear every day congestion with vicks sinex saline nasal mist. for drug free relief that works fast. vicks sinex. instantly clear everday congestion. during photosynthesis, plants convert solar energy into chemical energy, cleaning the oxygen we breathe. plants clean the air. when applied to stained textiles, plant-based surfactants like the ones in seventh generation detergent trap stains at the molecular level and flush them away. plant-based detergents clean your clothes. it's just science! just... science. seventh generation. powered by plants. tackles stains. keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo i want my kids to know... they come from people who... were brave. and took risks. big risks. bring your family history to life, like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com jury selection is under way in the trial of derek chauvin, the former police officer accused of kneeling on george floyd's neck for about nine minutes, something too many of us saw on video. the court appointed the first juror this morning after jurors were abruptly sent home yesterday as the prosecution and defense argued over whether third degree murder can be added to the charges against chauvin. the issue of allowing that charge has not been resolved but the judge decided the selection will go ahead anyway until an appeals court intervened. the third degree murder charge would be another avenue to conviction for the prosecution in addition to the charges of second degree murder and manslaughter that chauvin already faces. shaquille brewster is following the trial for us from minneapolis. shaq, here's what i'm confused about. they went ahead with jury selection. would they allow the trial to start itself if they haven't resolved the third degree murder charge situation? >> reporter: that's very much an open question, chuck and that actually is what the state is arguing right now. they have asked the judge to hold off on the trial. to pause the trial until that appeals process is complete regarding that third degree murder charge but the judge is making it very clear he believes he can impanel a jury, as that process is under way. we know the appellate court has ruled that the -- to reconsider, but the defense is challenging that ruling up to the minnesota supreme court. as that process is going out and as the appeals court is still considering different things the judge here is saying let's go forward without it. that was the reason why we had the delay yesterday. today we saw the process of jury selection in -- the court, and i'm looking at the pictures now, the court just went into an afternoon recess. and what we saw this morning was about five potential jurors questioned. you mentioned one of them was seated but you saw several others were dismissed for different reasons. some said that they couldn't go -- let go of any bias that they had. that they had a preconceived notion or they had an idea of how they wanted this trial to end. other reasons they brought up. one thing was a judicial move that the juror said he was too familiar with, and that is why the defense struck that juror. so you're seeing this process play out before the jurors even came in to the room they had to submit a questionnaire that went on for about 14 pages. both the defense and the prosecution are pretty familiar with who they're talking to and now you're starting to see them ask questions and probe a little bit to see if this person -- if these people can be impartial if they're truly impaneled. >> shaq, this looks like this is not going to be finished today, does it, that this is at least one more day of jury selection if not more? how many -- are they prepared for this to last all week? >> they scheduled three weeks for this, chuck, which is longer than usual time. so we know opening arguments, no matter what happens, if they rushed and got a jury impaneled today, opening arguments would not begin until march 29th. it is a slow process. so, you know, we've spent about three hours on jury selection, and we've gotten one juror out of this process. you get a sense of the pace that's going to happen here. it's going to be at least this week, it seems like, unless something dramatic changes but you're going to have this period of jury selection again, the court scheduled about three weeks for it and no matter what opening arguments will start in two and a half weeks. >> are they sequestered or have they made that decision yet? >> they will not be sequestered during the argument. so during the arguments that the prosecution gives and the defense gives those are expected to last somewhere between two and four weeks. they will not be fully sequestered from that. they'll be told not to watch any news, not to talk to family members but they won't be fully sequestered for that. they will be sequestered for the actual deliberations. so once the arguments are done, the closing arguments have been made and they're deliberating, that's when you'll see them sequestered. >> shaquille brewster in minneapolis for us, shaquille, thank you. up next, establishment republicans are getting out of dodge. rory blunt bams the latest republican senator to say he's not running again in 2022 and it says a lot about the future of the gop. the gop. plus an immediate cooling sensation for your throat. feel the clarity, and live claritin clear. my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 14 day system. with a painless, onesecond scan i can check my glucose without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. you can do it without fingersticks, too. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. and visit freestyle libre.us to try it for free. ♪ for decades, most bladder leak pads were similar.m. until always discreet changed that. by inventing a revolutionary pad, that's incredibly thin. because it protects differently. with two rapiddry layers that overlap, where you need it most. for strong protection, that's always discreet. it's time to question your protection. it's time for always discreet. wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. principal. for all it's worth. if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. the country in the last decade or so have fallen off the edge, saying if you will vote for me i will never compromise on anything and the failure -- that's a philosophy that particularly does not work in a democracy. >> welcome back, yesterday missouri senator roy blunt issued a surprise announcement that he won't seek reelection in 2022. the 70-year-old has served in congress since the clinton administration. blunt is now the fifth senate republican, it is only march, folks, but he is the fifth senate republican to announce that he's not seeking reelection. richard shelby is 86. his retirement, not unexpected. the departures of richard burr, pat toomey, rob portman and now roy blunt. that's an exodus of what we called the governing wing or the legislating wing of the republican party, the senators that would still try to cut a deal even if they didn't like what was happening. and it wasn't long before president trump urged supporters to donate to him over the so called republicans in name only and at this point the deem identified as rinos in the republican party are anybody that donald trump doesn't like. it may -- any republican that's hesitant about fully embracing trump and trumpism. former missouri governor greitens says he may -- in ohio former state treasurer and trump loyalist josh mandel became the first republican to enter the race in portman's seat and he's fighting to be the most trump supporting candidate and in north carolina trump's name nay be on the ballot, trump's daughter-in-law is running. how does the party govern without its governing wing? where is this party headed? we're going to take a closer look at all of this when we come back. their only friend? the open road. i have friends. 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(vo) and on top of that, nobody gives you more entertainment you love like disney+, hulu and espn+ on select unlimited plans. we can binge that stuff all day. you even get a galaxy s21+ 5g when you buy one. only from verizon. there are a handful of things for all people that you probably would never do. but it seems to me too many politicians have rushed to create this huge list of what they'll never do, which means when they get there, they never get anything done. >> welcome back. that was roy blunt offering a critique of what he sees as what's wrong with today's politics, as he was announcing that he won't seek re-election. i'm joined by the national editor and host of the radio show "politics." also with me is matt gorman, former aide to both jeb bush and mitt romney. amy, whatever happens to the senate republican conference, it's getting a dramatic makeover, because a bunch of wayne lapierre senators who enjoyed being sort of, you know, conservative dealmakers are going to be either replaced by democrats or by trumpees. what are we looking at here? this is quite the, i think, fork in the road moment that we're in. >> yeah. it's quite the change. you know, chuck, remember in the house we had that big changeover after 2010 when we came to see that most of the republicans who hold office now in the house were elected in the sort of post-george w. bush -- they were really elected in the obama era and then the trump era. so they don't have any experience in any other moment than that. and the senate, you still had these experienced hands who had been through, like blunt, like portman, like toomey, who had been through multiple administrations, who had sort of seen how dealmaking was done or understood that there's a lot of churn. and so you have to be really cautious about how you put coalitions together. but those folks now are being replaced every year with those who only know the sort of smash and grab politics that we've had for the last few years. and so you're right, this establishment wing, this dealmaking wing is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. in fact, the number of senators on the republican side who will have worked with any other president besides an obama-a trump, or a biden will be about 20%. >> no, it's really remarkable. you know, matt gorman, i look at this list and i'm wondering who's next. and the first name i think about -- this is an extraordinary list of accomplished republican lawmakers. by the way, i believe all of them, i think shelby was a democrat in the house as well. i think they were all house members at one point. so they really truly got establishment training, if you will, governed in the house, governed in the senate. is john thune next? >> possibly. i think he's given all indications that he does plan on running. but that would be another huge body blow. and, remember, he won in 2004, took out tom dashel. but, to amy's point, roy blunt had been in congress since i was in second grade, for a very, very long time. but i think the other thing i would look at in the short term, this does increase the chances for an infrastructure package getting through because a lot of these retiring members are willing to make a deal getting from those 53 votes to include the collins and the murkowskis possibly to the 60th. that is possibly a short term if you're joe biden. >> that is a fascinating point. suddenly you're a lot closer to the ten votes you need if you start including those folks there. so, amy, let's handicap these races here a little bit. look, alabama's not in danger of being flipped. i think i would say the same thing about missouri. but you tell me. >> yeah. it wasn't that long ago, chuck, well when, we started in this business, missouri was the ultimate swing state. >> the ultimate swing state. >> no more. and then it was ohio, which is now no longer that swing state. interestingly enough, north carolina may be that new swing state. that would be the most interesting and the most likely of those. and pennsylvania close behind that. so those two states the most problematic. but i think ultimately, chuck, your point that you made at the very beginning, regardless of democrats win those seats or not, it's more likely than not that the republican conference in this senate is going to be more trumpy than ever, that these are seats that are going to be filled coming from that wing of the party. i remember talking to a republican consultant last year, the same can be said for the senate that the only thing that mattered in the primary, the only thing was your fealty to trump. your accomplishments, anything else, really fell by the wayside. >> matt, what do you expect -- how much realism do you expect sort of if we want to say unofficially that sort of mcconnell's political team will be the ones trying to exert some influence against trump forces, particularly in places probably like north carolina where they think it could make the seat more vulnerable or in pennsylvania or ohio. how aggressive do you expect them to be? or do you think that the mcconnell folks would be, like, boy, the food fight isn't worth? >> i think if one thing that mitch mcconnell and his folks are determined is to win back the senate, that's what they care about first, last, and only, i think the key is -- and i've seen this, whether it's them now or back then in '14, no half measure. you can not go in halfway. if you were going to go in and win a primary, you need to go all out. otherwise it's a disaster. and this is going to be all around the country. arizona, georgia will be some sticky primaries. i think also what we've learned is save your fire a little bit because if you go into alabama which is going to be a safe seat anyway, that could hurt your ability in these swing states. >> would you put eric greitens in that category of is he worth worrying about? is he somebody that could make that seat vulnerable when it shouldn't be and you fight that? or do you let that go saying you're better off fighting in ohio or pennsylvania? >> i would torch eric. you demolish him in a primary by all means necessary. i think you have something like ann wagner who has name i.d., money, institutional support. she's run tough districts. watch her. >> that makes a lot of sense to me. amy walter, matt gorman, terrific segment there to break down a huge transformation that's coming to the senate republican conference no matter what happens in 2022. thank you all for being with us this hour. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." more coverage with katy tur is back. coverage with katy tur is back income, even when you're not working. a plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. along the way, we'll give you ways to be tax efficient. and you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving...to living. when we started carvana, they told us that selling cars, 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com. if you wanna be a winner then get a turkey footlong from subway®. that's oven roasted turkey. piled high with crisp veggies. on freshly baked bread! so, let's get out there and get those footlongs. now on grubhub, buy one footlong, get one 50% off. subway®. eat fresh. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ hey limu! footlon[ squawks ]50% off. how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? 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