than six weeks. and that comes as the u.s. military is becoming more aggressive in its response to attacks against service members in the wider region. we're going to go through all of that in just a moment. plus, the new donald trump dilemma for democrats. party officials seem to be shifting their strategy on how much coverage they want the former president to receive. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this wednesday, november 22nd. the day before thanksgiving. i'm jonathan lemire, and we're certainly grateful you're starting your day with us. we will begin this morning with breaking news. israel and hamas have agreed to a deal to release some of the hostages kidnapped during last month's deadly terror attack. qatar, which has been -- made the announcement late last night. the term of the agreement include a four-day pause in fighting. during that time 50 women and children will be released in stages. now, in exchange 150 palestinian women and children who are being detained in israel will also be freed. more humanitarian aid will also be allowed into gaza during the pause in fighting including fuel trucks. all of this is likely to begin tomorrow once israeli judges review any potential legal challenges to the prisoner release. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's office confirmed the agreement last night in a stement explaining that if the pause in fighting is extended an additional tenostages will be ased each day, but netanyahu made clear that he warned his country's mission is not over. writing that israel will, quote, continue the war in order to return hll of the hostages, complete the elimination of hamas, and ensure that there will be no new threat to the state of israel from gaza. now, the white house is welcoming the hostage release, which is expected to include some of the aricans who have been captive in gaza. in a statement theredent thanked the leaders of egypt and qatar for helping negotiate the adding that he'll be stayn close contact with everyone involved to ensure the deal is carried through. biden added the safety of the hostages is his hhe priority, writing in part this. today's deal should bring home additional american hostages, and i will not stop until they are all released. the agreement only allows for the release of 50 hostages, but it's believed that about 240 people are being held captive. biden administration officials tell myself and others at politico that there's more work to do, but the deal is for some is a sense of vindication. u.s. officials also stressed the deal could still fall apart and that nothing is final until the hostages are brought home and the guns go silent. joining us now one of my coaltogetherers of the piece, national security rorltser for politico, alex ward. alex, good to see you here. take us behind the scenes, if you will, on how the deal went down and why, indeed, many biden administration officials believe it is proof their approach to the wider conflict is working? >> so it was a five weeks worth of excruciating, pain staking negotiations that required the united states, qatar, egypt, israel requiring u.s. officials to travel to the region beyond multiple calls, having biden on calls with hostage families, you know, tons of times where the deal just didn't look like it was going to happen. hamas at one point went silent. part of that was because of the communications blackout with gaza. and only over the last cup of days did the terms come together for the deal that you laid out. for the biden administration they feel that, you know, despite all of the criticism they've gotten from democrats, progressive democrats, i should say, who are calling for a cease-fire and end to u.s. support for israel, some administration officials say, look, the policy is working. you have to support israel in public. that's what allows the u.s. to have any influence over israel. and then you in private push for many thing said including a hostage deal and reduction to civilian harm, and injection of humanitarian aid. and so even though it took 6 weeks, the fact that 50 hostages look like they're coming home including three americans for some biden administration officials they say, look, this works. all the other suggestions especially from progressive democrats, would not work. and the only to do hostage deals that leads to a pause in fighting which then leads to a bunch of other good things potentially to happen. >> so, alex, talk to us about what comes next. and obviously we should note this is all somewhat tentative, if the fighting picks up again, you know, the pause certainly could end, and we'll see about the hostages. but let's assuming this holds for the next four days or so, what is, "a," the plan to get more hostages out, and "b" we just read netanyahu's pretty declarative statement this is not the end of the war. where do you u.s. officials think israel takes the fighting next once it resumes? >> well, there's been some indication that israel would actually escalate its bombing in gaza after this. that said, i think you would see actually sort of a continuation of the same. israel will continue its military operation of gaza. the u.s. will proceed with its two-prong strategy, which is be very supportive of israel's military campaign with the objective to remove hamas from gaza while the other prong being try to alleviate palestinian suffering in gaza as much as possible. and they want to do this through a series of pauses that will include every time there's a pause more humanitarian aid going into gaza, providing water, fuel, hopefully to get some bakeries online so more food can be provided. and the goal here if there's not let's say all hostages removed during this initial pause, which no one expects to happen, there'll be more pauses down the line, and hopefully more hostages released then. so i think this could be the first of a series of pauses we'll see in the weeks ahead of fighting. >> all right, national security reporter for politico, alex ward, great stuff as always. thank you for joining us this morning. elsewhere in the middle east, the united states launched air strikes into iraq earlier this morning targeting and destroying two separate facilities used by iranian proxy groups who were targeting american troops. this marked the second round of strikes conducted by the u.s. in roughly 24 hours. it comes after an american military gun ship opened fire on monday destroying a vehicle carrying three iranian backed militants. the pentagon said those targeted were involved in a missile attack on an american air base in iraq just moments earlier. reuters reports there have been 66 strikes launched against u.s. forces in iraq and syria since october 17th. at least 62 u.s. service members have reported minor injuries or some sort of traumatic brain injury as a result. there certainly have been a growing cry for the u.s. to strike back harder and seems like we are. still ahead here on "way too early," we'll bring you an update on an effort in one state to keep donald trump off the ballot next year. we'll have that, a look at sports, plus a check on the holiday travel forecast when we come right back. y travel foreca come right back. 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some of of the morning's other top headlines. a judge yesterday modified the bond conditions of one of former president donald trump's codefendants in the georgia election interference case. superior court judge scott mcafee ruled against a motion by district attorney fani willis to revoke the bond agreement of harrison floyd yesterday. willis argued that floyd's tweets about the case amounted to witness intimidation. as part of his agreement he was barred from communicating directly or indirectly with any witness. >> here the bond conditions are not arbitrary and capricious because the conditions are a reasonable response to the trial court's functioning of balancing the defendant's rights with the public safety interest while avoiding the intimidation of prosecution witnesses which was the exact purpose here. you can say you know what calling witnesses pieces of -- it don't even malter. i don't find that to be intimidating. do you find they communicated with codefendants? do you find they communicated with witnesses? if you find that, then you find he violated the bond order, and you have to decide do we have an interest as a society in keeping witnesses in this case safe? do we have an interest in ts case of keeping the other defendants from having a fair trial? >> but as nbc news reports, judge mcafee said the posts may have been a technical violation of floyd's bond,ut not every violation compels revocation. he said that the current bond order doesn't addsshe nuances of social media, and that he didn't see floyd's posts as witness intimidation. now, floyd was the former head of black voices for trump, and is accused of working on a plan to pressure election worker ruby freeman into making false statements about election fraud. freeman was one of the witnesses that floyd criticized on social media. the d.a.'s office called freeman's lawyer to the stand during the hearing who testified that there was a spike in her threat level tied to floyd's posts. floyd's lawyers say the d.a.'s office is retaliating against him for rejecting an earlier plea deal. elsewhere in trump legal news, a lawsuit in colorado aiming to keep him off the state's ballot in 2024 will be heard by the state supreme court. the court agreed yesterday to hear appeals filed by both parties in the case. trump took issue with the state's judge finding that he, quote, engaged in insurrection while the voters that initially brought the suit disagreed with the ruling that the constitutional clause about ineligibility does not apply to the presidency. a colorado judge last week ruled that section 3 of the 14th amendment, which says any official who has taken an oath of office, but then engages in insurrection against the u.s., cannot hold another position. does not apply to the executive branch. the clause lists all federal elected positions except for one, the presidency. oral arguments before the supreme court are scheduled for december 6th. and elsewhere, a federal judge in pennsylvania has ruled that incorrectly dated mail-in ballots or ballots not dated at all should still be counted in upcoming elections. now, previously mail-in ballots with no date or the wrong date in pennsylvania were thrown out entirely. that meant in last year's mid-terms more than 16,000 ballots in the state were not counted due to a wrong date or lacked a proper signature or envelope. a u.s. district judge ruled that rejecting the ballots violates a provision of the civil rights act that aims to protect voters from being disenfranchised. if her ruling stands, it's expected to result in more democratic mail-in votes counted than in past elections. republican syleste malloy won a special election in the state of utah yesterday. she'll replace her former boss, congressman chris stewart and serve out the rest of his term in the house. stewart resigned in september after ten years in congress fo citing his wife's ongoing health issues following a streak. malloy, a trump supporter who was heavily favored in the reliably republican district, beat the state senator kathleen reeby, malloy's win puts a woman back in utah's five-member congressional delegation for the first time since 2019. and she will be only the fifth woman in history to represent utah in the u.s. house of representatives. utah has never elected a woman to the u.s. senate. now, weather is slowing down some of the country's busiest airports and highways potentially impacting millions of people with travel plans over the thanksgiving holiday. it's down right miserable in new york city right now. nbc news new york correspondent tom costello reports on the rest. >> reporter: across the eastern u.s., that heavy rain is testing travellers's patience on clogged highways as 49 million americans drive over the coming days. >> whatever happens, we're just going to roll with it. >> reporter: to long and winding airport security lines. >> it's just a lot -- a lot of people, a lot of -- it's just chaos. >> reporter: 5 million people flying. >> we kind of go into this knowing it's going to be a real busy travel time. >> reporter: chicago o'hare, the nation's fourth busiest airport, is united's megahub with 850 inbound and outbound flights each day. it's a 24/7 logistical juggle. for medical and meck kgal issues to weather, catering, fueling, crew schedules, flight delays, passenger and luggage reroutes. >> everyone here is engaged and connected to make sure we can keep the airline on schedule. >> reporter: high stress on the ground and high above. >> so this is an area most people don't get to see. it's the ramp tower for united here at o'hare. >> reporter: the controllers here act as traffic cops directing hundreds of planes moving on united's ramp. all of the ground traffic in the alleys between the bravo and charley concourses, and then departing flights are turned over to air-traffic control. this feels like a pressure cooker job up here. >> it can be. but usually you're too busy to notice. >> reporter: the ramp tower manager. anything from a blown tire to a broken airplane or somebody making a wrong turn can take the field from just relatively quiet to chaos. >> reporter: the big test comes sunday. nearly 3 million flyers nationwide setting a new record. >> that was nbc's tom costello reporting for those traveling today, good luck. still ahead we'll turn to sports. lebron james adds another record to his hall of fame career. plus, we'll bring you highlights from a different nba game where defense appeared to be optional. and we'll show you an early season upset in college hoops. that's all straight ahead. upse. that's all straight ahead. for long-lasting cough and sore throat relief. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills. if your moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward 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also earning a spot in the knock out stage the indiana pacers who improve their turning record to 3 and 0 in one of the east group, the "a" group after, get this, a 309-point shootout against the atlanta hawks. the pacers erased 20-point deficit on the road last night to beat the hawks 157-152. let me say that score again. 157-152. no one played any defense. let's turn now to college hap hoop, and baefb got an upset on the court night in honolulu defeating the number one team in the country 73-59 in the maui invitational semifinal round. marquette will take on second round perdue. meanwhile the university of washington i now in the college football playoff position for the first time this season. the huskies leapfrogged florida state in the new rankings joining georgia, ohio state, and michigan in the top four. the seminoles dropped to number 5 after losing quarterback jordan trav frs the season. machine and ohio state looms this weekend. and of course tomorrow is thanksgiving which neenz nfl football. we've got three games. the packers visit the detroit loy ones, the washington commanders, and the knight cap the 49ers play the seattle sea hawks. time now for the weather and a lot of holiday travelers out there waiting to see what michelle grossman has to say what it will be like today. >> not great right now. but we're looking much better as we go through the afternoon. you mention the weather in new york city. hard to get out of bed this morning, but we are improving over the next couple of hours. look at all this clear air. we're looking at dry conditions across most of the country, really wet weather, and we're talking about this storm system we've been talking about for two days straight. it is finally moving off the coast. we still have heavy rain falling throughout portions of of the carolina. that's where you see the brighter colors especially the reds, oranges and yellows. especially the northern part we're seeing snow. we could see up to 8 inches in some pots in northern maine. and we're look at freezing rain. that's not great to travel in. and that's going to linger in the afternoon hour even into the evening hours. otherwise we're looking at this messy commute lingering and even a bit of sunshine in the north east and also the midatlantic, so showers and storms clearing. that is good news. we could see up to 2 inches some spots along the coast and new england, same story with snow. we could see up to 8 inches in some spots. that's where you see the pinks and purples. mostly sunny skies, breezy, not a bad forecast at all. and i love the graphic. >> i was going to say the snoopy graphic a moment ago perfect. >> it's like ding. >> there it is. that's good to hear about the parade tomorrow. michelle grossman, thank you. still ahead here on "way too early," some democrats are reportedly raising new concerns about donald trump and the media's coverage of the republican front-runner. we'll dig into what that could also mean for president biden and his re-election bid when we come right back. s re-election b come right back. welcome back to "way too early." it is 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this wednesday morning, the day before thanksgiving. i'm jonathan lemire. thank you for being with us. so after years of criticizing the mainstream media for giving donald trump too much airtime, democratic officials are now saying the media isn't paying enough attention to the 2024 republican front-runner. speaking of "the new york times," a biden campaign spokesman and several democratic operatives, expressed the view that the media has allowed trump to slip too far-out of the public consciousness. "the times" writes it up this way. now, the democrats worry the fever of trump fatigue has passed and that some of voters are softening toward a man they once loathed. democrats concern comes as most recent polls show president biden tied with or even losing to trump in a 2024 general election matchup. but until recently biden himself was reluctant to even use trump's name in his speeches. and even now the president is still maintaining what "the times" describes as a, quote, vow of silence as the 91 criminal charges. joining us now white house correspondent for politico and coauthor of "the play book" you gene danielss. eugene, one has to wonder what network they were watching. i'll also note myself and some of of our colleagues wrote a piece a few weeks ago that first floated the idea that democrats feel once the american public does start hearing trump again like day to day hearing his speeches as opposed to just reading his name in the headlines he'll be horrified, think about his erratic rhetoric and plans for the future. seems like the democrats want that to happen now. >> yeah, they definitely do. and lot of this is working the refs, right? telling the refs what you want to see help. the refs in this case they want us to do the things they haven't -- they haven't really been doing for a while themselves, right, talking about donald trump. but i mean let's be real here, you alluded to it. we talk about donald trump a lot on this network and a lot of others. at politico, "the new york times," at "the washington post," axios. all of the pieces that are part of the quote unquote mainstream media. and i think the frustration that they have is that they see in their minds and folks i talked to in biden world largely sometimes think that we see him like a normal candidate, right, that, well, not every reporter, not every newscast reminds people this is also a man who called people to the capitol and was happy that they went into the capitol on january 6th and did what they did, right, who has said that he would, you know, do mass deportations. he would kind of gut the government -- the federal government. this is all about trying to figure out how you cover and also for them run against a man who already ran for president and who has all the baggage and views and rhetoric that donald trump has and continues to use because that hasn't changed since 2016. >> yeah, there's no question some media outlets and some reporters probably do normalize trump. a lot of us aren't. we are not. and we've been talking a lot lately about how there's been great reporting about what trump plans to do if elected again. and as i talked about on "morning joe" yesterday an emphasis on the stakes of the election, not just the day to day. eugene, it is thanksgiving weekend. . the the president arrived in nantucket for his thanksgiving holiday. what are white house aides saying to you about how they feel things are going right now? >> you know, in the white house they feel kind of how they felt for a long time that people outside of the white house, other democrats not in biden's orbit, the reporters, kind of doubt this white house and that over and over they've been able to prove that they're right. there is an anxiety both in the white house and a little bit of the campaign concerns what they want to do. when you have a campaign and a white house dealing with a litany of things that could shake the electorate and flip them to another candidate to stay home or to vote for a third party. and i think that is largely where a lot of folks are right now as we head into thanksgiving tomorrow. >> all right, well we appreciate it as always. white house correspondent for politico eugene daniels, happy thanksgiving, my friend. still ahead here on warl, we'll get a live report from cnbc with the latest business headlines including the roller coaster ride at open ai. we'll explain why they're bringing back the ceo that their board ousted less than a week ago. that's coming up next as we take a look at the rockefeller center christmas tree going up outside. christmas tree going up outside. new emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? 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(vo) black friday starts now. turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. it's holiday every day, with verizon. hey, you should try new robitussin honey medi-soothers for long-lasting cough and sore throat relief. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills. time now for business, and for that let's bring in cnbc's julianna tatelbaum who joins us live from london. good to see you, julianna. so nasdaq futures down this morning as investors are ingesting the latest fed reserve's meeting. what's the latest we can expect on wall street today it. >> i would say it's going to be a pretty quiet day judging by the reaction we saw yesterday and the u.s. futures this morning. we're looking at a really muted start, i would say. this follows yesterday with the s&p and nasdaq breaking five-day win streaks. we had all three of the major indices end lower. we did get those fed minutes as you alluded, and they essentially confirmed what we already knew, that there was agreement to proceed carefully and that further tightening or in other words higher interest rates could be needed if inflation were to be persistent, so no huge surprises there. i think overall it's a fairly quiet week with the thanksgiving holiday, of course, coming up tomorrow. >> yes, indeed. so earnings season, though, continues to pace with chip maker nvidia posting results after the bell. what are some of the things we've learned? >> yeah, so this was absolutely the focal point of the day yesterday. i say the week was quiet but nvidia earnings certainly did cause a stir yesterday after u.s. markets close nvidia reported revenue that was tripling where it was before as the a.i. chip boom continues. nvidia beat expectations on both revenue and income, but if you look at the stock pre-market this morning shares are lower. why is that inmany would say the stock is so-called priced for perfection. in other words, expectations were just sky high coming into these results. and the company warned that they will see a negative impact on their sales to china given u.s. export restrictions. now, what we also heard from lowes yesterday. shares in the home improvement company dropped after the company cut full year sales and earnings guidance after weaker than expected spending on diy projects. rival home depot has also said they're seeing cooling demand from americans for their product. this was certainly interesting as we try to gauge the health of the u.s. consumer. >> it's been almost impossible to keep track of the twists and turns of his last story, but now in a drumaltic reversal sam altman appears to be returning to openai or so we think. explain this to us, breeze. >> john, this one certainly feels ripe for a documentary to be made about him. what a dramatic few days for openai. i woke up this morning to news sam altman would be returning to openai as ceo, and we would see a new board initiated. we're going to see the former u.s. treasury secretary larry summers join the new board of aepai along with brett taylor, the former ceo of salesforce. so huge changes here. now, all of this comes after major backlash from openai employees, the majority of whom said they would leave and follow sam altman to microsoft if he was not reinstated as ceo of openai. >> we know thanksgiving is not so big where you are there in london, but julianna, we're grateful for you and hope you have a nice long weekend. >> thank you. all right, still ahead here on "way too early," we'll take a closer look at the break through deal to release dozens of hostages in gaza and the impact that this could have on israel's ongoing war effort. we'll be right back with that. 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[ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. welcome back. as we return to this morning's breaking news of an agreement between israel and hamas on a deal to release more hostages who were being held in gaza. the terms of the agreement include a four-day pause in the fighting. during that time 50 hostages all women and children will be released in stages. now, in exchange 150 palestinian women and children who are currently being detained in israel will also be free. more humanitarian aid will also be allowed into gaza during a pause in the fighting including some fuel trucks. all of this likely to begin tomorrow once israeli judges review any potential legal challenge tuesday the prisoner release. prime minister bechgnen netanyahu's office did confirm the agreement last night in a statement explaining if the pause in fighting is extended, an additional ten hostages will be released each day. joining us now to discuss it, director of research at the sufan group, collin clark. his research focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. collin, good to see you. let's get your impressions. what's your reaction to the news of this hostage negotiation? >> i think it's finally a glimmer of good news in what's been brutal conflicts. this is the result of pain staking negotiations, behind the scenes shuttle diplomacy with the united states, qatar, the egyptians. so this hopefully could be a confidence building measure to other -- you know, other humanitarian advances. we'll see. although there's still going to be questions about the durability and the sustainability of the cease-fire. but i think, you know, some -- finally some good news heading into thanksgiving and great news for those families that now have their loved ones back home. >> certainly so. and we believe americans will be included in that first batch of hostages released. collin, let's talk about how you foresee the next phase of fighting. there's no guarantee of that, sadly, but if it does how do you think israel will respond and move forward once it concludes? >> i think the israelis are going to, you know, kick start the next phase of their counter insurgency operations. we're going to see more urban combat. we're going to see really some more hard fighting, and i think the same for hamas. we've seen ambushes, the use of imp provised explosive devices, rocket propelled grenades. while this is a good news story from the humanitarian aspect, i don't expect much to change on the ground militarily. i think israel is going to press the advantage and continue to encircle hamas and palestinian islamic jihad fighters, and we're in for, you know, i think -- a couple more weeks and possibly months of what we've seen so far. >> so we mentioned earlier in the show the u.s. hitting back on some of the proxy -- iran proxies that have struck at u.s. troops in recent weeks. give us your eread as to how things are currently elsewhere in the region. have you been surprised we haven't had more violence from like, say, hezbollah, or do we think that could still come? >> i think hezbollah is the kind of measure of last resort for iranians. they're the most capable of all of iran's proxies. we've seen iraqi and shia militia groups becoming more active, and i think there's been building pressure on the administration to, you know, do something to respond in kind, and we're finally seeing that now. so if we do start to see hezbollah becoming more involved, we're heading down a very dangerous path. i hope that doesn't occur and the administration's been signaling behind the scenes for hezbollah to stay on the side lines. you know, hezbollah is the real wild card here. >> and last week, collin, a person close to the process told me and i reported last night there is some fear in the administration during this coming pause there in gaza, there's probably more media access to the region and then we'll have more images of the devastation in gaza. that might actually this person said turn public sentiment more against israel. what do you make of that? >> i think that's true. you know, whatever gains the israelis are likely to make militarily, they could very well lose in the battle for international public opinion. i also think, you know, arab governments in the region are likely struggling to balance, you know, their relationship with israel. as you know much of it has been progressing over the last severh building anger and resentment from the publics in those countries. that's going to be something to watch as well. >> important analysis this morning from the director of research colin clark have a good thanksgiving. up next on "way too early," the discord among ron desantis's campaign as the florida governor struggles to gain ground in the race for the republican nomination. we've got some brand new reporting you're not going to want to miss. then coming up on "morning joe," a live report from israel, many reports throughout the morning on the heels of that breakthrough agreement to free dozens of hostages from hamas. plus, a senior adviser to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will join the conversation, and we'll hear from deputy national security adviser jon finer about the united states' role in brokering that deal. and also ahead, acclaimed film maker rob reiner and we'll talk about his new project, investigating the assassination of john f. kennedy that happened 60 years ago today. 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the ron desantis team, as the florida governor struggles to gain traction. leaders of desantis never back down super pac met privately to work on a plan to fight back against nikki haley's rise in the polls. the meeting did not go as planned as two members of the super pac nearly coming to blows. got into a heated argument with scott wagner while a small group of nine board members and senior staff were discussing budgeting. that's according to a source inside the room. the infighting highlights an escalation in the long running war between never back down's professional political operatives and the governor's tallahassee-based inner circle over who's to blame for desantis's failure to compete effectively with donald trump. the haley campaign made a statement. the ron desantis campaign admits its multiple attempts to attack nikki haley have backfired in spectacular fashion. future attempts will have the same result. joining us now senior nbc news politics reporter and one of the reporters on the story, jonathan allen. great to see you. tell us more about this fight, and what it tells us about the state of the desantis campaign. >> good morning, jonathan, yeah, you've got two guys going at it, one is the consultant, the sort of political professional, the other is a board member for never back down, the desantis super pac who's close to the governor, and, you know, there's tension because they have spent $100 million or so, and all we have seen is desantis, his trajectory go downward and plateau. there's a lot of attention in the camp more broadly, and certainly specifically between the campaign and the super pac. these guys are yelling at each other about who's got a stick where in their body, and who should come remove it. at one point, wagner started to get up out of his chair. two board members had to restrain him. the bigger question is what's going on here, this is a campaign that's failed to launch, and for months and months and months it has failed to launch and that's got people pointing fingers at each other, blaming each other, and in this case, almost coming to blows with each other. >> there's almost a cottage industry of stories about jeff row, the consultant, he's not going to be happy about these headlines. nbc news has obtained a copy of a new attack ad by a newly formed. we know her as crooked hillary, for nikki haley, the reason she ran into office. >> she said, and that's the reason you absolutely have to, and i walked out of there, and said i'm running for office. >> hillary clinton is actually the reason. >> you write about her being a big inspiration for you in terms of a leader. >> she is actually the reason i made the jump. >> john, it's important to note this ad takes past quotes from haley about clinton completely out of context. let's say that again, completely out of context. we're airing it, really, because it shows a desperation of the desantis camp. talk to us about how they're viewing haley. >> some of the knocks have resorted to twisting the truth. you know, there was this sort of whole attack line against haley at one point that she wanted to admit palestinian refugees to the united states. she had not said this. now you see this attack invoking hillary clinton. it sort of touches on something interesting. there are generations of republicans that got into the game because of hillary clinton or hillary clinton and bill clinton, maybe not always for the reasons suggested as a role model. so, you know, i think what desantis has got here is, you know, he's looking at a map where -- a political map where nikki haley continues to rise and he continues to fall, and it's getting harder and harr to make the argument that he should be the republican nominee, much less the one republican to take on trump in the primary. >> that's why this matters, donald trump is so far ahead of the rest of the field, he's only going to be challenged if the antiforces consolidate against one candidate. haley seems to be that person. do you think her rise is real and will last. >> the context you gave is important. there are some who believe she can rise and take on trump and has a path to victory. most of the republicans think the primary is over and donald trump will be the nominee. >> that's certainly where we are, and there has been no sense, john of any reverse of course there. last, we have heard a lot of the biden team has ramped up their attacks on trump. a one-on-one contrast, how is the trump team responding? >> trump has been going after biden since he first launched. his first event was against biden. you're getting more of the same, i think, you know, both camps look at this as basically a general election going on right now. i mean, i think the trump camp understands that there is that minor distraction of a primary that they have to win. they have been focused on biden for quite some time. >> it does feel like the general election is already here. see your nbc news national politics reporter, jonathan allen, thank you, and thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this wednesday morning. have a happy thanksgiving, everyone. 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