Since 1987. Trading was halted this morning for the second time this week after falling more than 7 . Major professional sports are suspending their seasons, and College Basketball tournaments have been cancelled. In new york city all broadway theaters are being shuttered, and tom hanks last night shocked the world as one of the celebrities to have contracted the virus with his wife, rita wilson. Donald trump took to the oval office to address the nation last night but that speech has already been corrected on at least three major policy announcements by other white house officials since it was delivered. Subsequent comments made earlier today by the president were so riddled with misinformation that journalists and fact checker daniel dale described them as, quote, so thoroughly dishonest, its hard to know which ones to lead with. The New York Times writes this, quote, there were surprising and significant inaccuracies in the speech which Administration Officials and the president had to clarify almost immediately afterward. Mr. Trump said in his address he would suspend all travel from europe to the u. S. , but the ban, in fact, applies to foreign citizens. While he said the measure would apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo across the ocean, the order, in fact, affects only people. The president s attempt at casting himself as taking the pandemic seriously was also criticized for underscoring xenophobic themes about a foreign virus, but its the president s constant instinct to downplay the threat thats coming under fire from tom bossert, Donald Trumps own former Homeland Security adviser who criticized the travel restrictions trump just imposed, calling them too little too late. Unfortunately, george, those travel restrictions and additional screening measures are going to have little to no effect at this stage on controlling the spread of the virus. I think people perhaps misunderstand that the virus is here already in large numbers and the reason were only 10 to 12 days behind italy is that that disease takes some time to show symptoms in the people that have already been infected. So containment at this stage is not the best option. Today the top democratic contenders in the race to unseat donald trump in november stepping into the leadership vacuum each with a coronavirus address of his own. If there ever was a time in the modern history of our country when we are all in this together, this is that moment. Now is the time for solidarity. Now is the time to come together with love and compassion for all including the most Vulnerable People in our society who will face this pandemic from a Health Perspective or face it from an economic perspective. No president can promise to prevent future outbreaks, but i can promise you this, when im president , we will be better prepared, respond better, and recover better. Well lead with science. Well listen to the experts. Well heed their advice, and well build American Leadership and rebuild it to rally the world to meet the Global Threats that we are likely to face again. Ill always tell you the truth, this is the responsibility of a president. Thats whats owed American People. The public response to coronavirus amid mounting public fears is where we start with our most favorite reporters and friends, former Top State Department official rick stengle and basil smiegle. Alexa mccammen is back in wilmington. Nbc news correspondent mike mem ali and david gur. David, let me start with you. Take me through the day that was and help our viewers and me especially understand the impact or the connection to the president s bungled effort at reassurance last night. Here we are in a bear market. Im looking at the big board now and seeing the largest percentage decline weve seen since 1987 here with the dow, largest point drop we have seen ever. Ill go back even further than just today. A lot of investors here took notice when the president indicated yesterday he was going to be speaking to the nation last night and that was required viewing. Of course that speech taking place at 9 00 eastern time, 2 00 a. M. In brussels, not great for those Market Participants who were watching in europe but they were looking for specifics. To go back to something you said just a moment ago, this was a speech that was short on specifics to be sure. There were also so many corrections that followed, it did nothing to instill confidence in investors that the president had a plan for whats happening here or was really reckoning with realty. What weve seen since from dr. Fauci on capitol hill is a sense that this administrations policy and implementation of that policy has not been a success thus far, that the situation is much dire than the president has led on in recent days. Investors certainly taking note of that as they approach the market this morning. To walk you through the day here quickly, futures indicated we were going to see a big drop when the bell rang this morning. That did happen for the second time this week the sir sit brci breaker was activated, a 15minute pause for investors to gather their thoughts. The market rebounded a little bit, went down again and then around lunchtime extraordinary action from the Federal Reserve infusing a lot of money into the market because of concerns about the credit and bond market. That pleased investors a little for a few minutes but whats noticeable is how that didnt last. The market ticked up a little bit and went down once again. That illustrates, monetary policy, the Federal Reserve can only do so much in a circumstance like this. What investors are looking for and were all looking for is a plan here and part of that plan is a fiscal plan. As you noted over the course of the day theres been a lot of back and forth about what shape that plan is going to take but here we are at the end of the day and i dont think were that much closer to knowing exactly whats going to be in that plan. Is it your sense that what theyre looking for and i ask this as a viewer of our own netwo Networks Coverage because the seems like the policies theyve applied, the tools theyve deploy deployed, talk of a payroll tax cut, the fiscal policies if not hurt certainly have not helped. Are they looking for a disease policy . What are they looking for down there . I think theyre looking for acknowledgment of the fact that this is, yes, something thats affecting the economy, thats affecting markets, but its bigger than that. Theyre looking for realism on the part of this administration. When they look to Central Banks overseas, to the bank of england for instance or the European Central bank which had a meeting today and talked about this, theres collaboration in those settings. You had the bank of england working with the treasury in the united kingdom. You had christine lagardy at the ucb talking about this in a global context and you havent even that kind of working together here in washington d. C. Of course the chairman of the Federal Reserve, a man President Trump picked for the job, is the subject of the president s ire over and over again so any hope that there will be that kind of collaborative response with the central bank and the federal government has kind of diminished in this environment. Were that to happen, i think its something that would cheer investors here. David, thank you for that report. Were grateful to have you. Mike stepping into the Leadership Void today. Both of the remaining Democratic Candidates both delivering addresses that were long on details, long on substance with heavy emphasis on medicine and science. Take me through both of them from how you saw it. I know youre on the biden beat but i think all of us had our eyes on both candidates today. If joe biden is not going to be able to continue to campaign in the way you traditionally would and all indications are thats going to be the case for this foreseeable future, what you saw at least from joe biden today is something that i think youre going to see a lot more over the next few weeks which is essentially the campaign presenting joe biden to the country as shadow president , modeling not just what joe biden would do if he was elected president but what americans expect, frankly, from a typical president , a traditional presidency and what theyre not seeing right now in the white house with donald trump. I was struck, as you know, such about politics is timing and being able to meet the moment and i was watching this morning as the markets were tarnking, i had a deja vu moment thinking back and i hesitate to bring this back but to when i covered joe biden in the 2008 campaign when he was running for Vice President. One of the defining moments of that campaign was with the financial collapse and obviously john mccain chose to suspend the campaign and go back to washington. The Obama Campaign at that time chose to continue to campaign. Obviously obama did go back to washington but biden is familiar with this role. He went on the campaign trail to talk not just about what they would do if they were in the white house but to attack john mccain for his reaction, to talk about how he was acting ir errat erratically. This is something he did in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy forced him to stay in washington. Joe biden was able to continue the campaign and offer assurance that were dealing with whithis emergency moment. Very much unchartered territory right now. Joe biden has a Comfort Level in dealing with this. Quickly on Bernie Sanders before you get to Bernie Sanders, let me just add a headline and ill let you keep going. New york city mayor bill de blasio has declared a state of emergency in this city. Bill de blasio obviously an enthusiastic supporter of the Sanders Campaign as well. Another proof point that things are, as tony fauci said on capitol hill today, very much going to get worse before they get better. Take us through the sanders speech. Sorry, mike. For sanders this was an opportunity. Obviously he saw what the president did last night and knowing that joe biden was going to hold this speech that he had today that was on the books for a couple days, needing to meet the moment as well. Certainly biden on a path to clinch the nomination or take an insurmountable lead very well, he was able to do what we talked about yesterday, put forward his issues, talk about how in a country in which medicare for all is the law of the land we would not be seeing issues like were seeing now which is the lack of ability to get testing. Important opportunity for sanders as well to show what his vision for government would mean as well. Mike, thank you very much. Alex alexei, axios i think broke the news or the first report that i read about the botched production of tests for coronavirus at a lab in atlanta i believe, and you guys have had some crucial reporting on the federal response and on the white house. Take me through your understanding at this hour of how this speech came to be last night, a speech with three corrections around policy or misstatements of things that were drafted incorrectly. Ive made a decision not to air either one of those until the white house is done correcting them in terms of substance. There is still a problem with getting the facts nailed down before the president opens his mouth. Thats exactly right. President trumps speech from the Oval Office Last night was riddled with misinformation and thats because throughout this entire process President Trump has clearly been unwilling to listen to the facts around coronavirus and face the realities of this ever changing and quickly changing situation. Im not saying that the president should have known exactly the severity of the situation when it first unfolded but he has a team of people around him who have been giving him information that he either is not trusting or is bad information. That matches, unfortunately, the spread of misinformation and intentional disinformation around coronavirus that were seeing really take off online. The American People are confronted with misinformation around coronavirus both online and off line with the president himself. You mentioned at the top of this show that there were three major parts of his speech last night that had to be literally corrected either by the president himself or Administration Officials afterwards. The most alarming one to me was the last of those three which is that he said that Health Insurance companies would be writing off and waiving copays for coronavirus treatments. Thats just not true. Its for coronavirus testing. While testing could be an expensive part of this for people, testing is great but if you find out that you have coronavirus and then you find out after the president said otherwise that you have to pay for the treatment, thats a big blow that a lot of people might not be able to afford. Its a really dangerous thing when you look at the way in which President Trump, as weve seen from him with other things, whether its health care or immigration or any number of things, he is not someone who sticks to the facts because the facts dont often help his narrative. Im not saying that hes intentionally omitting facts because it doesnt help him but we know that Something Like a Global Pandemic is not great for the incumbent president and especially one thats looking like it could lead to an economic recession. Thats got to be something thats freaking President Trump tout. I agree with the analysis but while a pandemic is something that nobody plans for, nobody blames actually, a lot of people do plan for it. Most white houses and state departments and Homeland Security departments and cias do plan for things like this. I dont know if this white house ever practiced this. The white house i was in did in preparation for the bird flu. I know that the Obama Administration dealt with a lot of this with ebola and bird flu. I think swine flu also happened during the administration in which i served or you served, but what trump is suffering isnt blame for the coronavirus. I dont think any rational person blames him for the coronavirus on our shores. What he is suffering now is a credibility crisis of his own making. When i looked at that speech, there have been three major policy corrections delivered to that speech and counting. There are corrections being delivered to the comments he made in the oval office. Not that he was ever a careful communicator, he is now spreading disinformation around something around which people are i cannot tell you how many people have called me and said should i get on a plane and go to spring break, should i send my kid to school, should my kid go to baseball, ballet, the movies. People are desperate for credible information. And as you know an Oval Office Address is like the Ten Commandments that those words are gold, and in fact, he doesnt have that classic process to do that and doesnt even know how to do it. He used to lambast people for taking notes. The other thing thats ironic and sad and a little dangerous is he has to depend on a system that he doesnt trust, the deep state, health care professionals, on Public Health professiona professionals. This is what government is and he has no idea how to use it. In fact, one of the things that joe biden mentioned today that i think is important to mention over and over, look at how the states and localities and governors are i just got new information. Since we came on the air, new york city mayor bill de blasio has declared a state of emergency and this might be why. There are now 95 cases in new york, 42 new cases since yesterday. So the reason states and localities are important is those guys and women, they have to deliver for their people. The other thing that biden mentioned thats so important is all of these states have balanced budget amendments. They need to spend billions of dollars do help people and they need federal relief. Trump did not mention anything like that at all in part because people in his administration dont seem to understand how Government Works and the difference between the federal government, State Government and localities. This news breaking, the Ohio Governor i think has closed schools in ohio since we sat down, broadway being shuttered, sports teams and leagues cancelling their entire seasons and its not just the disservice of disinformation or information thats quickly corrected by other white house officials, it is this vacuum. While i admire joe biden and senator sanders for stepping into it, i think this is a moment where in normal times politics recedes and this is almost because there are very few times when its laid bare just how sort of hollowed out the leadership posts are in this country but watching the president and joe biden and Bernie Sanders, both those men who spoke had more facts, more science and more credibility than the president last night. Part of leadership is knowing what you dont know. We work with people who get elected to office and we try to tamp down any expectation that these folks are going to be experts in everything. What you try to communicate is that they will do whatever they need to do to have the best people around them to help them make really good decisions. That didnt seem to be happening here. Something you said really struck me. If you Pay Attention to what governors and mayors have been doing throughout this crisis, theyre executives and know how to manage complex systems. Earlier today Governor Cuomo had a power point presentation and you felt that there was really good, sound information about how to go through your day to day lives with this hanging over our heads. Thats not what you heard from this white house. Theres also a fundamental nonunderstanding of how bureaucracy works and everything thats at your fingertips. When i remember 9 11 and the two situations are very different mind you let me Say Something about that. The tragedies were very different. The attack was very different, but i think when you look at the psychology that a white house has to try to make better, not worse, i think the public fears there are similarities. The Trump White House should look at the Public Outreach and some of the ways of working with local leaders that were applied at that time. I was here in new york and you had mayor giuliani who im not a fan of but he stepped up to the plate, Mike Bloomberg after him. Basically what they did was tell people stay at home, were going to manage this for you and give you information regularly on what you need to do, even to the point of understanding how the markets work because if you cant get people out to buy things, demand is down, and that fuels a different type of panic. Alexei let me give you the last word on your reporting between the things that come out of Donald Trumps mouth and the things that come out of mike pences mouth and the team hes assembled. How is it that even within the white house they cant get the president on script . Weve seen this for almost four years from President Trump, that he is someone who very easily goes off script because hes either distrusting of the people around him who he has selected. He wants to take credit for handling a situation, or he just simply doesnt believe the situation is as bad as it is and he has ulterior motives. Weve seen that when mike pence, Vice President pence was supposed to give a speech or visit something and President Trump decided to come out and give an Oval Office Speech hamg himself. Thats not to say that they cant both be a part of this but if you establish a task force, you should trust them. The president and the people around him, whether its officials or allies on fox news have been working overtime to try to minimize the perceived dangers around coronavirus and i think thats the biggest part of how the misinformation and the wrong information that was put into the speech last night got into the speech and made it out of the president s mouth. Thank you for spending some time with us. Thanks. When we come barks tck, the failure to test large numbers of americans for coronavirus is adding to the lack of trust in the federal response. Well show you what one of the countrys top dogs had to say about this today. It was not in line with the president s promise that anyone who wants a test can get wone. Not even close. Also ahead, with congress, windowing on legislative relief for victims of coronavirus and businesses impacted by the crisis, well talk to a member of the house judiciary and intel committees about whether the United States can get ahead of a massive outbreak, and the cancellations and closures signal a complete shutdown of life as we know it. Well bring you the latest information coming up. W it well bring you the latest information coming up. No. Uh uh, no way. Come on. No. No. N. Ni ni, no no only discover has no annual fee on any card. [ natural drums and [ music begins to build ]] [ drums beat faster ] unlimited coffee for 8. 99 a month. Panera, your cup is always full. [sfx bikes passing,] [sfx fire truck siren, ambient sounds] onstar, we see them. Okay. Mother and child in vehicle. Mother is unable to exit the vehicle. Injuries are unknown. Thank you, onstar. My son, is he okay . Your sons fine. Thank you. There was something in the road. Its okay. Youre safe now. Shouldnt you pay less when now you can. Data . Because Xfinity Mobile gives you more flexible data. You can choose to share data between lines, mix with unlimited, or switch it up at any time. All on the most reliable wireless network. Which means you can save money without compromising on coverage. Get more flexible data, the most reliable network, and more savings. Plus, get 300 off when you buy a new Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra. Thats simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. Frankly, the testing has been going very smooth. If you go to the right agency, the right area, you get the test. With that being said, as you know, millions are being produced. Donald trump, the only person in the country who thinks coronavirus testing is going smoothly. In fact, heres what dr. Anthony fauci said less than an hour before trump made those comments right there. The system does not geared to what we need right now, what are asking for. That is a failing. A failing . Yes. It is a failing, lets admit it. The fact is the way the system was set up is that the Public Health component that dr. Redfield was talking about was a system where you put it out there in the public and a physician asks for it and you get it. The idea of anybody getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it, were not set up for that. Do i think we should be, yes, but were not. I want to put him on the phone with donald trump. The latest available data from the cdc indicates that only about 11,000 tests have been conducted in the u. S. So far. For comparison sake, south korea has the capacity to test 15,000 people per day. Joining our conversation, a former Obama Administration official who worked on the h1n1 response, also a practicing physician, dr. Patel, plus former republican strategist Steve Schmidt is back. Dr. Patel, let me start with you. Take me through not just how we got here on the tests but how we fix it. Sure. So the reason were here is that for months, even though data were coming out of china fairly early, that we would need some form of testing. It wasnt if, it was when. The food and Drug Administration did not mobilize the ability to authorize all these private labs that were clamoring to actually get authorization, regulation and testing up to speed which is why youre seeing such a delay. Now that were here we just have to deal with it. By the way, even the cdc is not able to provide the most accurate estimates of what each of the private labs and were not talking about obscure labs, were talking about cleveland clinic, the mayo clinic, harvard, stanford, even the cdc is not accurately monitoring the capacity of the lab testing. Now that were here, we need, as were talking to congress about a stimulus package, we need to send a clear signal. Theres a lack of faith in this white house, no surprise. We now need to rely on people like the governor that you had talked about, people like mayors to say were going to Work Together to make sure that we have Testing Available. Honestly, the worst case in all of this, im a practicing doctor, doctors are being told different things. The guidance to doctors is so far behind the times, we are missing the boat talking about trying to only test people that we need to think creativity in which you saw the Biden Campaign rolling out today. We need to start thinking about how we can get this test to scale for selftesting while youre quarantined in your home and thats the way were going to fix it. I read an interview with the World Health Organization doctor about how china turned things around to slow the spread and slow new infections. I think they were testing like every two hours. Thats enough tests to test quarantined people and anyone theyve been in contact with almost hourly. How do we not have enough tests to test everyone in the community that may have come into contact with someone whos infected . Youre asking all the right questions and im glad the media is continuing to put some pressure on this. Again, because the government which has to regulate these labs, because they have been so far behind, we literally i talked to two heads of labs in very prominent universities that said we have been ready. Once we get the approval from the government we can Start Testing people and have results in an hour. We can test up to 1,000 people in a day. So to your point, we are starting to ramp this capacity up but not because of the federal government and their support. Its in spite of it. I think thats the tragedy of all of this. Since weve been on the air disneyland in Southern California has closed. March madness has been cancelled all together. They were going to provide without spectatorspectators. Its now been cancelled. Whether you were planning to go to disneyland or march madness, the point is that people are terrified. What kind of calls are you getting from patients and what practical information can you give to people that are scared . By the way, some of the calls, most of calls im getting are from physicians who are scared because they are being asked to do their jobs with very little protection themselves. Patients including Health Care Workers are asking what can we do. Ill give you very practical advice. Youve heard about hand washing and why we need to do that but i think if youre in an age group 60 or older and maybe even 50 or older, start thinking about what we call social distancing and that practically means reconsider going into large groups, be very thoughtful about what you need to do and lets think about people who dont have an option and how can we facilitate for them to be safe. The other thing is that if you really feel like you have been at risk, advocate for yourself to be tested. Make it very clear that this is not something thats optional, that you really need to consider the health of yourself and the people around you. Dr. Patel rn, i have a milli questions for you. Please promise to come back. Thank you for spending time with us. Thank you. After the break, democratic congressman Eric Swalwell joins us with the latest on the congressional response to the Coronavirus Crisis. Stay with us. L response to the Coronavirus Crisis stay with us super emma just about sleeps in her cape. But when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide pods free gentle. Its gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. Tide free gentle. Safe for skin with psoriasis and eczema. Its our most dangerous addiction. So we took our worst vice, and turned it into the dna for a better system. We created bionic and put the word out with godaddy. What will you change . Make the world you want. There are intense negotiations currently taking place on capitol hill as lawmakers try to hammer out a Coronavirus Relief package as quickly as possible. Speaker pelosi saying the house will vote today on the legislation that democrats put forward last night despite the opposition from the gop and the white house. Pelosi has had at least four calls with treasury secretary mnuchin today to negotiate the bill. The senate has already left for the weekend so the earliest vote on the senate side would be next week. Meanwhile, the virus itself has already reached capitol hill. A staffer for senator maria cant well tested positive last night. You have this sense of the system trying to lurch into regular order around a president who is himself lurching around with wrong facts and strange explanations. I was surprised to see some of the first things coming out of the gop side. The coverage seem bare, kind of like on auto pilot, a reflex. The democratic ideas i think are more tethered directly towards the problem at hand which really is wage earners, people who are bagging groceries, working retail, delivering food here in new york who cant work and if theyre sick you dont want them to work. You also dont want them to go bankrupt or starve and cant put food on the table. I think theres an effort to find something and thats almost happening around the president. Steve schmidt . Well, i think what you see here is the merging of two crises, the Public Health crisis and also the political cries where weve seen a president whos lied to the American People more than 14,000 times, who has no credibility, and weve reached an hour of National Emergency. The president of the United States who should speak with canned candor, credibility is absolutely incapable of doing so and as a result one of the things that hes spreading is fear and fear is a contagion also. Franklin roosevelt, the greatest president of the 20th century, understood this when he said to the country, taking over at the beginning of the great depression, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. So we see now an administration that has hollowed out competency at all levels of government at the expense of for the purposes of imposing fidelity to donald trump and we are where we are. As the experts say were at the beginning of this, not the middle, not the beginning of the middle or the end, and we have a long way to go and things are going to get worse. This will take a leader of a nation, not the leader of a political faction to remind people that were all in it together and that this will require sacrifice from the American People for all of us to get through this and to protect the vulnerable populations that are most at risk. This president is woefully short in every conceivable way. Joining our conversation, democratic congressman Eric Swalwell. My question for you is sort of how this all intersects for the american voter, for the citizens who probably right now if theyre watching, they may have watched through impeachment, they may have been disappointed that republicans didnt want to hear from witnesses, that they ultimately acquitted donald trump but right now everyone is desperate for him to get this right, for this narrow slice of his responsibilities to disseminate accurate information, to let the buck stop with him when it comes to the production and distribution of tests, and to be a leader that this country can turn to in our hour of crisis. What interactions have you had with the white house that suggests that is remotely possible. We want him to win on this issue because its our health, our financial security. I was in a Leadership Meeting at 2 00 with Speaker Pelosi and she got up and out of that meeting with speak with steve mnuchin. I think its nearly six times theyve gone back and forth. There is a productive conversation going back and forth. We are results focused and so when we look at this first and foremost, people dont want to hear wash your hands, use Hand Sanitizer if theres a shortage of Hand Sanitizer out there. They dont want to hear go get tested if theres a shortage of testing. We want to have free Testing Available to anyone who is sick and presenting. We want the testing to be done off site, not at the hospitals. We want First Responders to have all the protective gear that they need. We want wage earners who are losing hours to be reimbursed for that. If you have to go home because you cant work, we want you to have paid sick leave. If you lose your job because of the coronavirus, because your industry is tied to it maybe in tourism, we want you to have unemployment insurance. Were focused on the urgent and important right now, not on whats political, and hoping we can strike a deal soon. There are very few historical periods to point to when congress wasnt en truftrenched some partisan divisions but years after 9 11, the months after 9 11 it changed pretty quickly. Ill go with months. An exception, the patriot act was passed i think 98 to 01 or 02 in the senate and in overwhelming margins in the house and im not saying that the crisis resembles 9 11 in any way, shape or form but the anxiety among the general electorate and the stress and strain on our economy, there are some similarities and i wonder if there are conversations we dont see or hear about with your republican colleagues in the house or senate that suggests that thats possible. Yes and ill give you an example. I was an intern on the hill when september 11th happened and i saw that comraamaraderie and th lessoned learned. Rick crawford of arkansas, republican, he and i introduced legislation this week that weve been working on in years past that would allow congress to convene remotely if we needed to, not because thats going to be the new normal but just in a crisis in the future, we may need to have that capability. We are looking at what are the lessoned learned in this. In future crises what can we do to make sure that we learn from this, whether its on the Public Health side or being able to function as a body. You work in a public building and come into contact with a lot of people, should you and your colleagues be tested weekly for coronavirus to make sure that youre not spreading it inadvertent inadvertently. We dont have tests here. But should you be tested . I think we should take precautions and if we have any of the symptoms have access to a test like every american but we have closed the building, as you know, to touchise tourists. My staff will begin working remotely from home. We hope we can get this bill passed as soon as possible because my fear is the longer that we wait for republicans who are bringing up issues like tax cut and abortion, the closer we are to a risk of not even having a quorum to convene. Theres an urgency here and we cant bring the partisan politics into a decision like this. Congressman swalwell, stay safe. Keep washing your hands. I hope you get a test as you need a test as i hope everyone american who needs one has access to it. Thank you. When we come back, the after shocks of the pandemic rocking american institutions and life this afternoon. Sports, the arts, time honored traditions, all of them facing a wave of cancellations and suspensions. A wave of cancellations and suspensions. Your mission stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On with rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for some. 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An american staple, march madness has been cancelled, that after Major League Baseball announced that its suspending spring training and delaying the start of the season by at least two weeks. The nba and nhl both suspended their seasons too just weeks before playoffs were set to begin. Here in new york, brad brod woa theaters are suspending performances for the next month and disneyland in california will close starting saturday morning. Steve, its just a massive, massive change in americans lives and i think we both lived this when we worked in the white house and the months after 9 11 that some of the blows, the blows you cant see, the changes to our psychology as a nation, feeling afraid for our families and our loved ones. The magnitude of all of this is almost hard to overstate when you consider that nhl, Major League Baseball, nba, the ncaa, disney world, cruise ships cancelled, broadway, that life as we know it has changed unalterably over just a couple of weeks. This would have been unimaginable a couple weeks ago, but when we think about politics and we think about the world we live in, we oftentimes discount events as controlling what the outcome to the great political contests of the day are, and now we see firsthand the crisis of leadership in the country, the crisis of truthfulness, all of it playing out, and what well see i think in the days ahead is more confusion, more errant statements by the white house, and thus more fear as this crisis continues to worsen. I think without trying to spread panic, the one thing thats true according to all the Public Health experts is that this is going to get worse before it gets better, and its going to go on for a considerable period of time. Every convention that you can think of, every conference can s are sending their employees home. Were seeing this play out in the stock market. The shocks to American Life are absolutely seismic. Were on the front edge of seeing primary and secondary school shut down. Universities shut down. Life as we know it in america will be just fundamentally changed in way that we couldnt have conceived of 10, 15 days ago. You know, rick, these cancellations are not done to scare people. They are done to contain the spread but youve got tom bosert, the president s, almost sort of the whistleblower among whistleblowers there who has been jumping up and down and yelling as loud as he can on the platforms in the Washington Post and abc news that everything is too little, too late. Yeah. I think one of the things that that sort of hit me the other day, is the reason were doing all of these things is this phrase flatten the curve. We dont want to have peak of infection happen but we want to have it be level and more consistent. The reason for that, as tony fauci said is because our Public Health system cant deal with all the illness and the people who have the virus. The ideas that someone who gets it six weeks from now will be better off than someone who gets it six days from now. Someone who gets it a year from now is better than someone who gets it six months from now. Thats the thing that people should be aware of. Its not about not getting it. People are going to get it. In fact, i know this sounds grim but its kind of good news. The doctor says when theres a certain amount of, when 40 of people had it, it becomes a herd immunity and it starts to go down. We can see the end at some point. We just want to push it off as long as possible. I guess whats so stark and the reason those words are still jarring is because they dont sync up with anything that comes out of the president s mouth. You saw the two Democratic Candidates step into that vacuum. Donald trump could say like the flu, its going to spread. 40 of the country may get it. Every doctor has said the vast majority of people will be sick for 10 to 12 days, will recover. Were worried about vulnerable populations but nothing remotely like that coming out of donald trump. I was thinking how three years ago the president came into office and told us the country with a mess. We were in carnage. Now we are under a threat from a virus, not from people. The president tells us everything is fine. Its all okay. The problems are surmounted. I was watching joe biden on that speech. I didnt have a chance to watch senator sanders. I thought this is not a great speech. Its a totally normal central casting politician in a time of crisis speech. That is what was so striking about it. That we never get that register from the president of just a steadiness and a clear message and here are the experts and here are true facts. Thats what was so striking as reminder of whats been absent from our National Conversation from a few years. Its such a good point. I have felt like there was always going to be a reck onnin. I wasnt sure if it would come in the first term or the second term. You dont wish these moments on anyone. You want to go a generation without having them. There is always a crisis and i think what this crisis has done more than anything is revealed that donald trump shortcomings are of the gravest detriment to donald trump. It would be in his interest to not be so bad at this. Thats right. As you were talking, i was thinking about when barack obama made the speech in dallas after the Police Officers were shot. Again, different circumstances. I always think that was probably the most difficult speech he ever had the make because hes walking this fine line between support for communities of lor and africanamerican but also support for law enforcement. Being as adept as that at being able to deliver a message, being able to comfort people and not just commander in chief of the military but of our lives. Give us the information that we need to live our daytoday lives. Thats something that this white house just fundamentally lacks and governors and mayors have had to fill in the gaps. They have done it very well. Just some quick advice for this white house that they catch some of the things you say. Stop lying. Start telling the truth. The American People deserve to be told the serious, full, total truth about the gravity of this situation and what to do about it. They deserve know the facts, not nonsense, not spin. The president has divided this country for the last three and a half years. Hes stoked a cold civil war. The virus doesnt care if youre a republican, if youre wearing a maga hat or a bernie brother. Were all in it together and the president , for the first time, needs to step up. He needs to act like a leader and he needs to understand maybe for the first time the seriousness and the honor of the office that he occupies in a time of National Emergency and crisis as pandemic is loose, the economy is cratering and the American People are afraid. Needs to do better. I knew you wouldnt disappoint. Thank you for spending time with us. Were going to neek in break. Well be right back. Ak well be right back. Whats for dinner . fake gagging noises its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. But when allergies attack,f any the excitement fades. Allegra helps you say yes with the fastest nondrowsy allergy relief and turning a half hearted yes, into an all in yes. Allegra. Live your life, not your allergies. We do it every night. Every night. I live alone, but i still do it every night. Right after dinner. Definitely after meatloaf. Like clockwork. Do it run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum. A load with as few as 8 dishes, is all it takes to save water. An Energy Star Certified dishwasher uses less than four gallons per cycle. While handwashing uses that, every two minutes. So, do it. Run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum. The surprising way to save water. Theres more breaking news to tell you about. Since weve been on the air a few moments ago, Maryland Governor has cancelled all maryland Public Schools for two weeks starting monday. I think what we need is some kind of certainty where people say this is the worst that might happen. The governors and mayors have been talking about have been taking the lead on that. I salute them. What about this terror that parents feel that school will be closed indefinitely. Its hard for working class parents and parents without paid sick leave. We all manage possibilities, not probabilities. We need to hear what the probabilities are. Maryland schools closed for two weeks. That news comes across the wire a few moments ago. That does it for our hour. Thank you to all my friends here. Thank you do you for watching. Mtp daily with chuck todd starts right now. Welcome to thursday. Its meet the press daily. Im chuck todd here in washington. There is a once in a lifetime Disaster Preparedness effort being