Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20200707

Positive for covid19 as has her husband and one of her four children. She says her state is paying for governor brian kemps rush to be the first to reopen. And Brazils Jair Bolsonaro announcing he has tested positive for the coronavirus. For months he resisted safety precautions like masks in his country, instead promoting the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine and making it available to all brazilians. Ill be joined shortly by the director of Harvard Global Health Institute who has been delivering a blunt message on the importance of wearing masks. I dont get to walk into a retail store and light up a cigarette out of my desire to smoke indoors. I shouldnt be allowed in without wearing a mask. Its the same thing. We also got a message on relying on science and not false hopes from tom hanks on the today show, his first live interview since fighting the virus. Its not illegal to have opinions that are wrong. I think you flout a number of realities when two and two dont add up to four. And granted, this is a mysterious thing, you know, eight people are asymptomatic, they dont know they have it, they feel bad. But thelets not confuse the fa its killing people. Joining me now from two of the coronavirus hotspots here in the u. S. , msnbcs Garrett Haake in el paso, texas, and nbcs Steve Patterson in phoenix, arizona. Garrett, youre on the border with mexico, that has been partially shut down because of problems in arizona. Youre in texas, were also seeing it in el paso, but one of the states in mexico is closing the border to americans because our coronavirus cases are hitting new highs. Reporter yeah, andrea, make no mistake, this is a binational community here. 700,000 people in el paso, more than 2 million in juarez. Its a binational pandemic. Here in el paso, the citys relative isolation nationally has protected it from earlier phases of the pandemic. But now they are seeing this spike in cases. Im at the University Medical center here. Theyve erected tents outside the hospital to make sure they can handle a surge of cases so they can continue to operate as a hospital for patients not just with coronavirus. They want to make sure they have all the things weve heard about before, ppe, bed space, being prepared for that certainsurge. Doctors here say that is less of a concern than is the staffing, having the experts, skilled nurses, doctors, and respiratory therapists in this for the long haul. Here is the chief medical officer of this hospital in an interview i conducted this morning. It is a surge. We are seeing it all across the country. But in particular here, we do have that issue of being able to place them in the appropriate spot. And with the staff necessary to take care of them. The labor is always an issue. This is a marathon. People get tired. People want to take a break. People decide they dont want to take care of covid patients. So were looking at all our options on how we can get an adequate staff, trained staff, to be able to take care of some of these very sick patients. Reporter andrea, the other thing to watch here, the profile of the people who are coming into the hospital is changing. Doctors here tell me theyre seeing more younger patients and in many cases theyre seeing entire families come in, all of them infected with the virus. That is really troubling indeed, garrett, thank you so much. Steve patterson, Public Health officials in arizona are now giving residents a reality check. Theyre speaking out against governor ducey and what he has done. Reporter yeah, well get to that in a second, but andrea, there is breaking news overnight, arizona just updated their numbers, they added 3,600 plus new cases, meaning a total of more than 105,000, up from 101,000 yesterday. New deaths now total 65 overnight. The total there is 1,900, now close to 2,000 deaths in this state. I spoke to the Public Health director last night. They were concerned about the direction of the state, specifically the increase in the number of cases weve seen since the may 15 stayathome order lapsed. Governor ducey, as we all know, let that lapse, and let businesses reopen in a very fast fashion. We saw bars open, nightclubs open, restaurants open, malls open, all really at once. The Health Department says they were accounting for some spike in the number of cases as things kind of settled out, but what they didnt count on in this state were people just simply not paying attention, disrespecting the fact that this virus is ravaging several community all across this state. And really the population theyre focused on are young people. 44 and younger. It bears repeating, ive been saying it all morning, they make up 62,000 of the now 105,000 cases in this state. The majority of this state, the positive cases are that of young people. So the focus now is on the mission, i should say, is targeting on those young people, getting more advertising out to say this is wrong, youre killing your elders, essentially, and this is not sustainable in this state. I asked, why not then have a mask mandate for the entire state, why not reintroduce the stayathome order, if things are this bad, if youve got an icu capacity at 90 , thats up 1 from last night . They say theyre looking at that, those options are on the table, but they want to use those as a last resort, they think that weve narrowly tailored it specifically to each individual community and thats what theyre sticking to at this point. But hospitals are really struggling and the curving has not flattened here, andrea. Back you to. Another governor who has been behind the curve, indeed. Steve patterson and Garrett Haake, thank you so much. Correspondent bill neely joining me now from brazil, bill, you have been reporting extensively from brazil, now president bolsonaro, a close trump ally, testing positive. Reporter yes, and i think since Boris Johnson tested positive and he was in intensive care, and now of course now he is okay, i think this is the most high profile leader in the world to test positive, and how ironic that it is jair bolson o bolsonaro, a man who right from the very beginning has downplayed the virus, he called it a cold or a little flu and now he has tested positive. Interestingly, he made the announcement in the classic bolsonaro way. He was actually wearing a mask, something he doesnt normally do. But he said to the assembled press corps in brasilia, im well normal, i even want to take a walk around here, but i cant due to medical recommendations. It started off that he had a fever, then on monday, yesterday, he told brazilians that his lungs were clear, whatever that means. But today, just in the last hour, he has announced that he is positive for coronavirus. Of course probably no one else in the world, andrea, has been as much of a covid denier as Jair Bolsonaro. When he was first asked, when the death toll in brazil passed 5,000, what do you think of this, he said, so what . He has said its a little influence or a cold, and he said because he used to be an athlete, that it would be no problem for him. Well, we now wait to see what happens, because simply having a fever and testing positive initially of course, andrea, is only the beginning of this, and he has perhaps many days, maybe many weeks to see how this disease affects his body. And interestingly, one of the final things that he did on july 4th was that he had lunch with the u. S. Ambassador to brazil, in brasilia, and he was even pictured with his arm around the u. S. Ambassador. None of them were wearing masks. So i imagine the u. S. Ambassador to brazil will also be tested now. And of course brazil has one of the most horrendous rates in the world, second only to the u. S. In numbers of cases and in numbers of deaths. And Jair Bolsonaro for the last few months has been, you know, not just a covid denier in the sense that he doesnt believe that the disease, you know, is as much as anyone says, but also just in urging people to ignore social distancing, to ignore the lockdown, to get back to work. And indeed, when i was there, at least half the people that i spoke to were listening to him and they werent listening to the governors and the mayors who were telling people, look, this is dangerous, lock down. So how ironic that Jair Bolsonaro, president of brazil, has now tested positive for coronavirus, andrea. Back in march 6 and 7, he was at maralago with the president as well. One of the concerns for the ambassador, of course, is that on july 4 in most of these countries the ambassador hosts a very large july 4 celebration for the locals, for the staff, for the embassy staff, so the Contact Tracing on him is going to be difficult indeed. Dr. Ashish jha is director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, he joins me now. The implications of this, modelling really bad behavior by this political leader, a country in a disastrous situation, now its all come home to him. Yes, andrea, thank you for having me on. It is a really concerning situation for a couple of reasons. One certainly is that its important for political leaders to model Good Behavior and president bolsonaro has not been doing that. And so that is has been a concern, and brazil has been one of the hardesthit countries in the world. Of course now that hes infected, first of all, we all hope he recovers quickly and without getting very sick. If he were to get very sick, that has all sorts of negative effects for the country, psychologically, to have the president get sick. So were all hoping and praying that president bolsonaro recovers quickly from this. And earlier we heard about mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in atlanta. She said she was asymptomatic, her husband had been in bed asleep, and they got tested as a family, they discovered he was positive, she was positive, one of their children. How typical is it for her to be asymptomatic, because she said they had been careful, wearing masks, in fact she was the one who had been pushing back against the governors reopening. Yes, what we know from the data is 20 of people, one out of five people infected, never develop symptoms at all. A minority but a sizable minority. We also know that a lot of people shed virus, spread the virus while they are in an asymptomatic phase, what we often call presymptomatic, and then go on to develop symptoms later. We dont know whether the mayor will develop symptoms down the road. Its not a total surprise to see political leaders getting infected because obviously theyre interacting with a lot of people. They may wear masks but masks are not 100 . Theyre helpful but theyre not 100 . The truth is when you have political leaders out in public space, theyre going to be at risk. So this is always a concern for any of our political leaders, including mayors, governors, and president s. I also want to ask you about hydroxychloroquine, because the brazilian president has been pushing it. Our president again today or last night in a tweet in all caps was tweeting about it. And one of his top advisers, Peter Navarro, again today was talking about it, even though the fda took it off of its approved emergency use on june 15, and the World Health Organization followed suit just a few days ago. Lets look at Peter Navarro at the white house today. A phenomenon which i call hydroxy hysteria, its its the politicization of this medicine, uh, by the Mainstream Media and portions of the medical community, uh, that have have somehow made this a battle between President Trump and and them. The idea that this is a dangerous drug, its just silly. They keep emphasizing, dr. Jha, that its been used for years and years, decades, but not for covid19. And the fda says it can be dangerous for covid19. And its not effective for covid19. So why would he be pushing it, why would the president of the United States be pushing this . People are listening. So i completely agree with mr. Navarro that we should not be politicizing medicine. Its a very bizarre thing, by the way, as a doctor, you know, doctors often debate medicine this way or that. But politicians weighing in on the therapeutic benefits of one medicine over another, we find ourselves in unprecedented times when politicians have weighed in. Unfortunately i think it has led to a politicization of hydroxychloroquine. There have been a few good Clinical Trials suggesting that for covid19 its not helpful. Whether its useful for people with mild disease, we dont know yet, some of the trials are still ongoing. I want to let the science and evidence drive us to decisionmaking about what the right thing is, not whether the president likes it or whether you dont agree with the president. To me those are irrelevant as a doctor. I just want to figure out is hydroxychloroquine effective, as a doctor. I want to let science help me answer that question. Finally, dr. Jha, briefly, were approaching 3 million cases in the u. S. How concerned are you about what were seeing in places like l. A. , california, which led the way in trying to prevent the surge . So andrea, im very concerned about where we are as a country. Large chunks of the country have large outbreaks happening right now. And it doesnt seem to me like were doing nearly enough to get those outbreaks under control. And if we dont, theyre going to continue and theyre going to grow and theyre going to grow into the fall and were going to have a very difficult fall ahead. So im very worried about where we are as a country and i want clear leadership to bring this outbreak under control. Dr. Ashish jha, as always, thank you so much for your expertise. Coming up, the future of sports, taking center field. Baseball, basketball, among the pro sports looking for a way to play while staying safe amid the coronavirus. And next, well talk to jemele hill about what that means for athletes as they come under fire from the president , and her take on the president stoki stoking anger at a nascar driving, something which Actor Tom Hanks is pleading for unity in his appearance on the today show. What has lingered here is this societal question, really, of doing our part. I dont want to invoke not everything i say has to be tied to somehow the war effort back during world war ii, but there was a sensibility that permeated all of society which was, do your part, were all in this together. And that meant doing your part meant there was a tiny bit of stuff you could do in order to aid the ongoing stasis of an effort that had no sign of its conclusion, world war ii went on for an awfully long time, a big portion of everybodys lives. They didnt know when it was going to come to an end. And we dont know whats going to happen with covid19. The idea of doing ones part, though, should be so simple. Wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands. That alone means you are contributing to the betterment of your house, your work, your town, your society is a whole. And its such a small thing. I dont i dont its a mystery to me how somehow that has been wiped out of what should be ingrained in the behavior of us all. Simple things. Do your part. Now is the time to support the places you love. Spend 10 dollars or more at a participating Small Business and get 5 dollars back, up to 10 times with american express. Enroll now at shopsmall. Com. Just between us, you know whats better than mopping . Anything at the end of a long day, its the last thing i want to do. Well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. Its an allinone so its ready to go when i am. The cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. And the pad absorbs it deep inside. So, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. Plus, its safe to use on all my floors, even wood. Glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. Try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee several major sports leagues are planning their comeback, but because of the coronavirus, the state of play is very different from what you would call a regular season. Nbcs Kerry Sanders has our report. Reporter Major League Sports are fighting their way back, despite coronavirus surges across the country. Superstar lebron james and the rest of the nba now just weeks away from resuming their season here at orlando. The league was the first to shut down when the virus started spreading. The nba is trying to be the First Major League sport in america to fully, successfully have a daily testing protocol and a daily process to return. And so far its all lining up, so far its all making sense. Reporter but does it . The Milwaukee Bucks shut down its practice facilities after two players tested positive and it will remain closed for workouts until the team leaves for orlando thursday. The clippers and nets also closing facilities in recent weeks because of the virus. Major League Baseball unveiling its new condensed season schedule. Theres a lot of fascination around this schedule for 2020. Reporter first up, last years champs the nationals, hosting the yankees on july 23. Instead of 162 games, each team will play 60 games in 66 days, some wondering if major League Baseball can pull this off. Major League Baseball players arent as optimistic as they were a few days ago. But still they believe if everybody follows their protocols, they have a chance to pull this off. Reporter players are being testified every other day for covid19. Monday, delays in those test results halting practice for the nationals and the astros. But players say theyre getting used to this new normal. You know, the moment you pull into the clubhouse, were living in a different world right now. Reporter like the nba, the nhls season was shut down in midmarch. The league and its Players Union reached a tentative deal to return to the ice by august, just as three dozen players tested positive. And joining me now is nbcs Kerry Sanders in florida. Kerry, all of us are waiting for july 23. Its the nats versus the yankees. The first big game. But of course everything depends on testing. As you pointed out, they didnt have their practice yesterday morning because the test results from last fridays tests werent back yet, which kind of is stunning. And there are also a couple of big stars like ryan zimmerman, hes opted out because of family conditions, his mom, 1monthold baby. Some of the players are still nervous about whether the protection are real. Reporter castillo also opting to opt out. So much is still unknown, i think the players who are opting out recognize that even though theyre incredible athletes, in the top shape, that even they could be susceptible and coronavirus is incredibly dangerous. As much as people want to believe that the only people who, sadly, are dying are over the age of 65, that is not the case. And so because they recognize that, theyre making decisions which are very much personal decisions here, andrea. Great piece, thank you so much, kerry. Im not going to ask you to twirl a soccer ball, i saw you on the today show, you cant do that twice on live tv. Reporter thank you. Always good to see you. President trump stoking controversy in the sports world, first lashing out at nascars only fulltime black driver, Bubba Wallace, wallace now responding on twitter saying, always deal with the hate being thrown at you with love, even when its hate from the potus, after trump called on wallace to apologize for what trump is calling just another hoax, after the fbi determined last month that wallace was not the specific target of a hate crime when a noose was found at the nascar speedway. The president weighing in on a longsimmering debate coming to a head over those Controversial Team names, tweeting, they named teams out of strength, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins and cleveland indians, two fabled sports franchises, this is the president speaking, look like theyre going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Not exactly. Joining me now is jemele hill, contributing writer for the atlantic and host of a spotify podcast. The president is talking to these teams, this has long been an issue, of course, in washington, and dan snyder, the owner, said he would never even consider it, but now he is because of economic concerns. Fedex, the naming sponsor there at fedex field, is asking for it to happen, and others, nike and others, pepsico, joining in. Yeah, i mean, look, the president , i guess to stick with sports analogies, is going to a playbook and resort to go plays hes used many times. When in doubt, he tries to stoke and provoke the most intense racial conflict possible. Hes trying to sic his base on Bubba Wallace who did nothing wrong. Bubba wallace didnt even find the noose. It was found in the garage and the fbi investigated it. So what would he be apologizing for . Rather than see that nascar, which itself has been caught in racial tensions because of the Confederate Flag being such a hallmark of their sport, then banning that, and now with Bubba Wallace, showing him support, rather than celebrating that, you have a president only trying to invite more of a broader target upon a driver who already has to deal with enough. Its one thing to be the only fulltime black driver in a sport like nascar, the one who has been very vocal about black lives matter and about the banning of the Confederate Flag. And now you have the president purposely sending more hatred your way is really repulsive, frankly, and unbefitting of somebody in Donald Trumps position. Getting to washingtons football team, this has been a long standing issue. Theres no doubt its a racial slur, its been this way forever. Daniel snyder is just doing this because the Public Opinion and for that matter the money has shifted. He is not making a moral decision, hes make an economic one. As you mentioned, all the sponsors were threatening to pull out. You also have three minority owners who dont want anything to do with the franchise. And as long as that continues, and that pressure is applied to daniel snyder, he will have no choice but to change this name. And cleveland doing the rierght thing and getting in front of this, and they already eliminated chief owahu who was a racist symbol for the franchise, they want to get ahead of this without having to incur economic pressure. The franchise has been shifting this way for a while now and now they sense this is the right opportunity to make a bold statement. And, you know, as you point out, the president in that tweet about Bubba Wallace who did the right thing and has done a favor for nascar, and nascar and the other drivers are supporting him, nascar put out a statement supporting him for getting rid of the flag and for taking the leadership, Peter Alexander asked the White House Press secretary about the president defending the Confederate Flag, i never thought i would hear a president of the United States defending the Confederate Flag, and take a look at what the press secretary said. Reporter why was the president so supportive of flying the Confederate Flag . So i think youre referring to a tweet this morning, is that right . I think youre mischaracterizing the tweets. Reporter the president said nascar saw bad ratings because they took down the Confederate Flag, banned the Confederate Flag. Does he believe nascar should fly the Confederate Flag . Why dont they fly it here . The point of the tweet was to point out that the hate crime was not in fact a hate crime. It was absolutely a base play. Nbc sports says last weekends race, the nascar race sunday night, the ratings were up 46 from last year, jemele. I mean, the president is a liar, weve known this for some time now, and it is no surprise that the press secretary is often covering if not expanding the lies he tells while telling her own lies. What you have hear is a very obvious and direct attack by a president who is insecure about his ability to be reelected, so that is why it is much more fashionable rather than dealing with the fact that you have over 100,000 people dead in this country from covid19, the fact that there is no comprehensive National Plan to deal with this pandemic, he would rather shift attention to what has worked for him so well in the last three or four years, which is provoking division, stoking culture wars, stoking a race war, essentially, in order to deflect from the fact that he is inincompetecomp has failed as a leader. Im not surprised but i continue to be disappointed, im an american, i live in this country, i want to see a leader who is able to unify and hes made it impossible by continuing to spew language that pits people against each other. Jemele hill, thanks for joining us today, thank you so much for your views, really appreciate it. Coming up, back to school. As President Trump tweets that schools need to reopen, what are individual universities and School Districts planning for the fall . Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay with us on msnbc. Place that you laughed about well the names have all changed since you hung around but those dreams have remained and theyve turned around whod have thought theyd lead ya back here where we need ya welcome back, america. It sure is good to see you. President trump has been tweeting in all caps that schools must open in the fall. Is that a realistic goal . Here are the facts at this hour. In florida where cases are surging, the education commissioner issued an executive order requiring all schools in the state to reopen their buildings for inperson instruction but allowing local Health Officials to override that order. Harvard has announced all classes will be taught online but the university is allowing 40 of undergraduates to live on campus including all freshmen. At princeton, most teaching will take place online and students will be allowed back on campus on a staggered schedule. An outbreak at the university of washington two weeks after sororities and fraternities reopened there, clearly a surge there. Nbc correspondent Gadi Schwartz joins us from l. A. Gadi, theres been no statewide decision about schools in california, theres pushback from students at usc where you are, on tuition. Reporter theres pushback from students on tuition, they say its not fair theyre pairing full price for virtual learning. Now theres even more pushback on students for what they see as a attack on International Students. These students are not being issued visas if they are doing Online Learning and they could end up being deported. Its pretty confusing to see whats going on here at usc, a very deserted campus. Over the last weeks the school has been struggling with what to do with the fall semester. They had an outbreak of covid19. Originally they tried to get students back into the classroom, then usc saw what was going on in california and decided most of the classes would be held online, encouraging the students to live offcampus. Then we saw the announcement from immigration and Customs Enforcement that for those students coming to the United States and will be taking mostly virtual classes, they will be denied their student visas and if students are already in the United States and they find themselves at an institution like harvard, where there are almost all online classes, they could face deportation if they dont transfer to a school that has inclass learning. All that have is now being considered by schools across the country including here at usc. Students are outraged, theyre saying that this is an attack on the International Students. Just to put this in perspective, andrea, here at usc, the amount of International Students is enormous. Were talking about 25 of the student body, the United States government now putting the onus on those students as well as these institutions to prove that they are actually going to classes inperson. Obviously a very large burden, and its unclear exactly how thats going to be proven. So this will be facing legal challenges that were hearing could be starting in the next couple of days, andrea. Its more than a Million Students nationwide, gadi, its just a disastrous decision at this stage to face these universities with. Thank you very much for your report. As coronavirus cases are surging in cities across the country, as weve been reporting, doctors, nurses, and hospitals have stretched to their limits. Its like the scenes we witnessed in the northeast months ago, and in chicago. We asked professionals who were at the center of the fight in the spring to speak out about the emotional struggles theyve had to deal with firsthand and to give advice and encouragement to their colleagues in the hot zones. This message is to all our brothers and sisters out there who are seeing spikes in the covid19 cases. I want you to know that i know what youre going through, because weve done this. Its frustrating because this could have been prevented. We could have taken preventive measures by social distancing, wearing masks. I saw people in their 20s, i saw people in their 30s, i saw people in their 40s that were healthy people. And covid knows no race, it knows no political ideations. It affects who it affects. Its going to be tough. Youre going to see a lot of suffering and youre going to be overwhelmed and sad by people getting sick, not only the patients who youll treat, your family and loved ones, but your coworkers. We experienced a lot of people stopping their work, they want to go to a corner and just want to cry. Weve seen that. Weve seen families saying goodbye to their loved ones by phone. Im sorry. As a physician who treated covid19 patients on the front lines here in new york city. You will get through to the other side. There is another side. There is light at the end of the tunnel. In new york city, our cases have dropped significantly. We are learning so much about this virus, this disease, and the disease process. The conservative measures are not working. Dont delay intubation, dont delay putting the patient on a ventilator. Youll have to find something to help with your psychological and spiritual state. Rely on your colleagues. Acknowledge what theyre doing is unique in this special time. Because your chapter in this story is yet to be written. And it will be something to be proud of. By spreading any missed usaa insurance payments over the next twelve months so they can keep more cash in your pockets for when it matters most find out more at usaa. Com for when it matters most vo verizon knows how to build unlimited right. Start with americas most awarded network. Give people more plans to mix and match at a price built for everyone. With 700 off our best phones when you switch. Because everyone deserves the best. This is unlimited built right. The veteran cia officer who is President Trumps private intelligence briefer is speaking out in a rare conversation about how you have to adapt your briefing style depending on who is in office. She does not name mr. Trump but its clear who shes referring to. Is this a person who reads, is this a person who likes a story, is this a person who operates on visuals . You figure it out before you go in, and by talking to a lot of people, doing your homework, what does that person need from you . You have to watch your audience and pivot. Theyre done, youre done. The white house claims it was that speaker who decided not to flag for mr. Trump the intelligence that russia was paying bounties to taliban militias to kill americans, even though it was in the president s written daily brief on february 27. The president claimed he did not know about it until it was publicly exposed in the New York Times ten days ago. Joining me is richard haas, president of the council on Foreign Relations and author of the New York Times bestselling book, the world a brief introduction. Youve taken on the world, so you can take on this whole issue about russia and what it tells us about our relationship with Vladimir Putin. Youve been in the office as Deputy National security adviser when these briefings take place. How likely is it that the briefer would take it on herself rather than being guided by the dna, cia director, or National Security director not to flag something for the president . Its not likely. Its one thing to package the briefing in a way that the person absorbs information, thats actually smart. One shouldnt censor the content of the information for any reason. And even if it was done here, she obviously, though, or others would have briefed the senior aides. The fact that it was a National Security Council Meeting discussing this shows that all the senior people knew about it. And its hard for me to imagine that the National Security adviser didnt take it to the president , either before or after that meeting. So this is a breakdown in the process, if in fact people are telling the truth, and ill simply leave that sitting out there. And the fact also that they did not brief the president before six phone calls with Vladimir Putin and an invitation to come back to the g7, to camp david, they didnt flag any of this. If it was important to tell the allies, it certainly should have been important enough to tell him. Absolutely. Its hard to believe. If that was the case, its a real dereliction of responsibility and duty on the part of those who are meant to serve the president , protect him from himself. You wouldnt let him get on the phone with putin or somebody like that who was intimately involved in this situation. Again, i find it hard to believe. If it is true, andrea, its a terrible sign about telling a president or a principal what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear. And that is, hes not being wellserved, the country is not being wellserved if in fact there is any resemblance between what was being said and what actually happened. I want to ask also about president bolsonaro in brazil now testing positive after being such a covid19 denier. Yes, hes that, and worse. Its interesting, what it shows is that the ability of a country to deal with covid has nothing to do with the nature of the system. Weve seen democracies like in germany and taiwan deal wonderful wily with it. And weve seen democracies like the United States and brazil deal awfully with it. Weve seen russia and iran do poorly and vietnam do well. Bolsonaro is a poster child for irresponsible leadership. Meanwhile, the amazon rainforest is burning down at an alarming rate and thats going to make Climate Change around the world much worse. He is one of the worst leaders in the world right now. Richard haas, a lot to worry about in the world, which is of course your new book, thanks for being with us today. Coming up next, the trust factor. Whom do Americans Trust when it comes to handling the coronavirus . Weve got some new data when we come back. Other around the corn . Or could things go a different way . I wanted to help protect myself. My doctor recommended eliquis. Eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. Almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didnt experience another. And eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Whats around the corner could be worth waiting for. Ask your doctor about eliquis. President trump is taking a big hit on his leadership of the pandemic with Americans Trusting their governors more than they trust the president according to a new Online Survey from survey monkey and nbc news. It says that 7 out of 10 americans say that they trust their governors over President Trump to decide when to reopen businesses in their area. And only 25 say they trust mr. Trump over their governors. Joining me now, msnbc National Political correspondent steve kornacki. Steve, what warning signs are you seeing here for the president s reelection. You can talk about the coronavirus being on the forefront of everyones mind. This is the president in our pole, this survey monkey poll. This is the president s Approval Rating specifically on handling of the coronavirus. Theres a majority disapprove, 55 of 43 approvalerate i rati. So it may not just be the coronavirus, but the contrast here is interesting, too. If you take the president on the one hand, then you ask folks, what about your individual states governor. How do you think your governor is handling this . 60 there say they approve of their individual governor compared to only 43 who say they approve of trump. Again youll get that contrast here, too, on this question of when it comes to reopening here, who do you trust more on that one . The president , 25 . The governor, 70 . In fairness here, theres a question of local versus national. Youre probably going to get a tendency in any poll when asked, who do you trust on a local matter . The person closer to it. The state, the local leader is probably going to do better. But all these questions youre just seeing consistently here. Handling of the coronavirus. Comparing it to governors. Trust on these issues. You are seeing the president consistently score very low on these questions. And, of course, its tuesday. There are primaries today in new jersey and in delaware. Theres a big race in new jersey. A hot congressional seat. Heres a blast from the past. A couple of months ago. Remember this name, jeff van drew. A democrat who got elected to the house from new jersey in 2018 in the blue wave. And then last year, in december, he switched parties. Jeff van drew has become a republican. Remember, this was during impeachment that he did this. He had that photo op with President Trump. He is running today, primary day in new jersey. He will be the republican nominee for congress, likely to hold onto that seat. Hell be challenged by one of these democrats. This is the primary in the Second District of new jersey. Well find out who challenges jeff van drew. Its an interesting district to watch. It had been represented for a generation before 2018 by a republican. It went for trump as we showed you in 2016 by a few points and now van drew, a former democrat, who has aligned himself with trump, will try to hold onto it in the fall. Whoever emerges here, theres going to be a lot of interest among democrats in trying to get this seat back. And, steve, weve got results after a week of counting votes. Weve got results in utah. Jon huntsman losing his bid to get back into politics and run for governor. Really interesting race here. Republican primary for governor in utah. The Associated Press has called it. Huntsman conceded it. Spencer cox, the Lieutenant Governor, the republican Lieutenant Governor right now, huntsman, the former governor, former president ial candidate, losing this very narrowly. It was a very interesting race to watch. Utah is a very republican state but its a different kind of Republican Party than you see basically anywhere else in the country. Here, in utah, as a republican, being aligned with President Trump, not necessarily an advantage. This is mitt romneys state. And cox actually distanced himself more from trump in this primary than huntsman who had been the Russian Ambassador under trump and cox wins. Wow. Thats a famed name in utah indeed. Thanks, steve kornacki. Its tuesday. Its election day. We love seeing you. That does it for Andrea Mitchell reports. Remember, follow the show online, on facebook and twitter mitchellreports. Ayman mohyeldin picks up our coverage after a short break. Mo. For small prices, you can build big dreams. Spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair today. Balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. Little things can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. 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Over 130,000 people in the United States have died so far. And at least 10 states have broken their record single day highs as new cases are skyrocketing in california, florida a